Deep inside, Garath worried that his words would fall flat, and he would just look like an idiot standing on a table. On the outside though, his fierce eyes and commanding presence paired with his Leader of Man bonuses to inspire the frightened people sitting before him. The eruption of cheers all around the large room helped to relieve his insecurities, but Garath knew the peak of his speech would only hold their attention for so long. He took the opportunity to lay it all out one more time as clearly as he could.
"Gary’s Guild will make this building a much safer place until we can claim the Dungeon and make it our new home. That's it. That's the plan. Questions? Concerns?"
"How long will it take?" asked Daisy, seated next to Gary on one of the many couches lined up with a good view of Garath standing atop the table. “To make the Dungeon ours, I mean.”
"I honestly have no idea," the Necrologist told her. He shrugged. "I've been watching the forums for any information regarding these Dungeons, but I haven't seen a word. I’ve been in contact with someone that claims to know more and is willing to help us prepare, though. But to answer your question, I really don’t know.”
"Who's going?" Daisy asked from the couch as if she were simply having a one-on-one conversation with Garath.
"I don’t know,” Garath said again. “The Dungeons have a 10-person maximum and I want to start getting a Party together immediately. I have some friends on their way here that want to join the team. Which brings me to the third and final thing I wanted to discuss while everyone is all together. When my friends get here, I want to have something like a block Party down the street, by the Legion Memorial cliff that looks over the ocean. We picked up some canned stuff from a few of the restaurants while we were at the mall yesterday. I was thinking maybe we could put together something a little more exciting than salmon and more food rations," he said. That got an enthusiastic cheer from everyone in attendance. Even the mention of having anything other than salmon and tasteless food rations for dinner raised everyone's spirits. "In the meantime, if you're interested in being a part of the Dungeon team, send me a private message. There are five open spots as of right now."
Garath waited, standing alone on the long oak table for any further questions. When none came, Garath stepped down and walked to where Athios was standing. The crowd dispersed slowly, migrating into small groups and talking amongst themselves.
"Did I come off a bit strong?" he asked her.
"It was good," she said, raising the last syllable in a way that made it almost sound like a question. "A little fatalistic, but good."
"Fatalistic? More like manifest destiny," said Warrion, who had followed Garath away from his pedestal. “This will be our land. And we shall call it, this land.”
Garath knew he had come off strong, but that was his intent. He was strong. He needed to exude the confidence of a leader that knew what he was doing. His friends meant well, but he didn't need their validation.
There were plenty of things that Garath knew he should see to, like keeping an eye on the World Boss or grinding to Level up, but the only thing on his mind was getting back to where his egg was planted on the cliff. He longed to feel its soothing presence again. The Necrologist almost turned to leave, to go back to his peaceful little clifftop by the ocean when he caught a glimpse of Gary walking his way.
With a sigh, Garath took a seat at a nearby table and motioned for Gary to join him. He sat down and the Garath walked him through the Guild creation process. In a moment of abhorrent imagination on the part of the two G’s, they decided on the guild name ‘BoTH’. It turned out that choosing a Guild Hall to make inviolate was as simple as having the new Guild Leader, Gary, take a step outside and mentally select the old school building. There weren’t any visible changes to the building itself after Gary confirmed his choice, but the bearded man informed Garath that he’d completed the process. Gary even relayed a prompt to the Necrologist stating that the building itself, as well as an additional ten-meter perimeter around it, would be impervious to damage.
Garath left Gary to the mundane task of inviting everyone to the new Guild, then made his way back into the building. He found Warrion and Athios right where he’d left them by the large oak table in the front of the new Guild Hall’s main hall. It took some quick talking, but Garath got Warrion to agree to go into Stealth and keep an eye on Rum’bah with orders to send a warning message to everyone when the World Boss was getting close to the building.
Now, standing alone with the beautiful, dark haired mystery, Garath smiled. He wanted to spend more time with Athios, to learn more about her and who she’d been before forced to become the badass Dimensionalist that was responsible for saving his life at least a half-dozen times. He wanted to see her smile and make her laugh.
All of those feelings, yet the lust he felt pushing at the forefront of his conscious mind wasn’t for Athios. It was the taint. He’d been fighting it since he shifted out of Crow form to meet with his little community and, while he was pretty sure he could keep himself from doing anything crazy, like murdering said community for Experience Points, he wanted to get back to the cleansing presence of the egg buried on his clifftop as soon as possible. He knew it was a crutch, and that eventually he'd need to find a way to
