He still had a responsibility to pay dues and go on missions for the guild. Guilds needed to make money to keep going and have influence in the city. As an apprentice of the guild now, David needed to learn the ropes. Making the simple items and then moving on to actually producing them was what was expected of them. Then he was going to go on fetch quests to get all the ingredients needed. Due to the fact they were apprentices to the guild with no real master, those quests were very general. They could go to any blacksmith to learn and any one higher than them in the guild could order them to fetch stuff or send them on delivery runs. Since it was an artisan guild, it was not about the number of quests that one did, but the amount of money you could bring in for your crafted wares that determined the promotion of members. The first task was to fetch some coal from the mines. There was a big mine half a day's travel outside the city. The forges needed good coal to feed the fires and make it hot enough to actually make the items and weapons needed for the customers and the town.
In a party, there could be 6 members. Since David had 9 minions, there was no way for them all to be in the same group. Along with the apprentice NPCs from the city, there were 15 of them in total. That meant 2 and a half full parties. He decided to take Alec, Alex, Wendy, Claire and Sasha. They were really happy that they were going to be on David's team. The others were very upset. Quinn, Chris, Bitey, Maria and 2 of the other recruits were on the second team, which left the remainders to themselves. The mines were along a long, paved road. It was known to be beset by monsters and bandits. We would all be setting out together. Obviously, those that got the best quality coal fastest would be seen as more favorable to the guild. It was going to be David's party. They were given some starting equipment for their travels, a lamp and a pickaxe. David then walked off and the rest of his selected party followed his lead. There certainly were bandits and monsters on the road. The peaches were able to handle that. They had maxed out strength stats, so they beheaded the bandits.
All of them made their way to the mines. There was a foreman the group needed to meet. Once the leader, a recruit named Henry, talked to him, he told the apprentices where to go to start mining. "We don't have any time to babysit you lot. All the kitchens of the duchy need this coal to keep people fed." he said. David found himself in the Duchy of Azul. There were 4 counts that were under the purview of the duke. The guild he joined was in the big city of Babi, located in the duke's smaller county called Cerulean. The main seat of the duke's power was his castle in the County of Cyan. Henry bristled and said "We don't need your help then! We already know what we are doing." He seemed more upset than would be necessary. Probably a large chip on his shoulder. When they got down to the mines, they had to mine the coal manually. The peaches had no problems taking massive chunks out of the rock. The peaches were able to get some really good quality coal much faster than the others could. Once they had the required amount, he told the peaches to double what was needed.
