"Alright everyone!" A scarred woman suddenly bellows. "Caravan's going to start walking in one minute. It's a routine trip, so don't worry - and if any monsters attack, stay calm and listen to me!"

Thorn nods, checks her holster and her sheath again, and starts walking when the group starts moving.

Abyssia is not very talkative on the march. At least it's no faster than a walk. She can tolerate it.

They encounter a batch of Forest Spiders two hours in. The scarred woman detects them first, indicates their direction, scouts ahead a bit, then calls for volunteers to join the extermination.

Thorn volunteers to help out. She needs to get in some proper target practice with her new gun.

"Just be aware you'll take a loss on those bullets," the caravan leader comments sardonically.

The Forest Spiders are about a foot and a half across each, covered in green mossy fuzz and with relatively dangerous looking fangs. There are about a dozen of them - and they charge forward erratically as soon as the approaching group (Sword-wielding leader, Bys, Thorn, and some guy with a mace) is close enough to hear!

Thorn snaps off a shot, then holsters her gun and draws her dagger.

The bullet hits home and causes one to tumble, dead. The spiders' erratic, savage charge is not particularly coordinated. Thorn can account for another with her dagger as it tried to leap onto her. Abyssia harpoons two. The guy with the mace gets three, and their leader with her sword accounts for the remaining five in a flurry of violence that begins with a barked command word that shoots a bolt of green light from her glove and ends with three lightning-fast sword strokes that each bisect a spider.

The monsters lie dead on the ground, already going slightly fuzzy at the edges.

"Right. I don't give a shit about Forest Spiders. Damn nuisances. You three can split them."

"Here," Bys says to mace guy and Thorn. "The fangs and eyes are the only thing on these that are worth anything. Four spiders for each of us. Let's all harvest them together."

Mace guy shrugs and starts hauling the messy spider corpses into a pile.

Thorn's accustomed to this sort of messy butchery on occasion. She's a deft enough hand to pass.

"Works for me," she says.

It doesn't take very long.

"I think the shares will earn about three copper each, but I don't know the Guild's official rate and cut. Forest Spider fangs and eyes aren't exactly rare. We could try to find a buyer ourselves, but it's not worth it for coppers. The Guild is a trusted clearing house for monster parts. We should wait until you sign up, or just have me sell both our cuts."

"Probably better for me to learn the basics of a guild account on my own," says Thorn, pocketing a few eyeballs and a fang into her belt pouch. "I mean to sign up as soon as I can in any case."

Nod, nod.

Back to marching. The rest of the trip is uneventful, aside from a half-hour pause for lunch when one of the civilians tells a rambling funny story about a monk and a child's amusing misunderstandings.

The walls of Marondel are higher, and topped with actual parapets. The guards here once again want to ask their names and business, but they don't do that truth effect again.

"Thorn, here to sign up with the Adventurer's Guild and do some dungeon delving."

"Abyssia. E rank adventurer. Here for the dungeon too."

They're waved through with directions to the Guild office - second right, then third left, and then you can see it from there.

Bys is getting a lot more suspicious looks here than in the fishing village. There doesn't seem to be a Fischer community in this town. She tries to ignore the looks, but embarrassedly says, "You might want to go around without me. Fischers aren't, well, you see."

"I'd rather have a solid guide with me than go alone, and I enjoy your company. I can deal with the looks."

She follows directions to the Guild.

She digs out her badge and pins it to her robes. The looks dial down a lot after that.

The Guild's front is an expansive lobby-like area, like a bank or a government office. There's couches and bulletin boards to one side. The greeter asks their business, then directs them to the appropriate line for new registrations. Abyssia splits off to go sell her spider parts, and says she'll be in the cafe across the street.

Apparently registering as an E-rank adventurer involves a fee of three silver coins, monthly dues of five silver coins, and then they take 1/3 of all loot earned in a dungeon. This is used to upkeep the Guild's services as a centralized broker for goods and work, to serve as insurance against security risks and untimely deaths (they pay out quite a lot for deaths of registered Adventurers, to whoever is listed for them, no you can't waive this), and to pay Crown and city taxes.

She puts down Abyssia's name as her next of kin, hands over her last three silver, and registers as Thorn. 

She can also optionally have a Skill and Stat reading done, to help her gauge her strengths and weaknesses! And she should be aware that some Adventurers Guild organizations have different policies and most memberships are non-transferrable, at least not directly.

... that skill and stat reading is going to throw some major wrenches, isn't it. She'll decline for now. 

Off to meet with Abyssia again, brandishing her shiny new badge. 

"Hey, check it out. We'll have to make that dungeon run for dues if nothing else, but I am officially an E Rank Adventurer!"

"Huzzah!" A rare smile from Abyssia. "Dungeon money adds up fast."

"Glad to hear it. How do you advance to D or better rank anyway?"

"There's a couple different milestones. So many missions, or so much loot turned in, or killed a certain boss, then you apply for it - and the monthly fee goes up but the cut they take goes down, so it only makes sense to rank up if you'll make more money on net."

She nods. "Let's see about our first dungeon experience then, since we aren't going to get anywhere standing around yakking. If we could find someone experienced to party lead that would be lovely."

"Hey, I've done a few dives... Fair, though. Come on."

She takes them back into the Guild, and asks around the waiting area. People do seem to be forming parties there. There are about a dozen folks hanging out, mostly human, mostly seeming to fight with ordinary weapons. Though one guy apparently makes and uses stored spells in crystals- An artificer.

After making a circuit of the room she asks Thorn, "Do we want to go in with that fighter and artificer pair, or those two crossbow-and-spear girls, you think? The latter seem more veteran, but, magic."

"Experience first in my book. Magic can be powerful but it's no substitute for a sensible head."