Now, the present Guild Office was one among many that were scattered throughout the City, serving as an intermediary between Adventurers and enterprising Merchants. As with many such establishments, it was connected to a tavern and eatery where its members could lounge, exchange news, and find coworkers for their quests.

The connected tavern was close enough that Adventurers at some of the tables were able to observe the goings-on at the Reception area. One of these Adventurers, who had been drinking since morning, noticed what was happening at the Reception desk and prodded his companions.

They were all familiar with the rigmarole of registering and there could be no doubt that this goblin was in the process of being accepted into the Guild.

"What?! Rediculous!" (the Tipsy Adventurer, quite outraged) "Utterly rediculous! A goblin? mere goblin? and a registrant to my, one and the same, guild? Quoi?"

Other Adventurers glanced over. Some of them got up and approached the Office to watch the proceedings.

Some of them were evidently amused.

"Amazing! Whose brilliant idea was this?"

"They even dressed it up like a doll."

"Look at its equipment. Can it even swing that sword?"

"It's glowing violet! Doesn't that mean it's over level 25?"

"Rediculous!" (the Tipsy Adventurer, elbowing his way through) "Simply rediculous!"

The Tipsy Adventurer was followed by one of his mates.

"What is this! Explain yourself Leila! Explain yourself!" (Tipsy Adventurer)

"Do not draw your weapon in the guild." (Senior Guild Official sternly, now visibly regretting his decision to let the goblin register)

"What?" (He looked down in drunken surprise at the sword he was leaning on) "I am merely carrying my weapon. As support... hah!"

"That is true." (agreed the Tipsy Adventurer's sober friend) "Nothing in his pose suggests an interest in battle...no more an interest than's suggested of any of the audience here. Many of us carry weapons. But out of all of us only the one asking questions is targeted...? Hmm? How come? Our friend has asked the Guild to give an account of itself, quite valid. Have you deflected the question...? even so far as to levy an accusation without basis in truth? Hmm?"

"The Guild policy is... You see, no rule expressly forbids it. It's given to the discretion of the Guild. And legal precedents do exist... Monsters registering as Adventurers. You remember the vampire at the capital...? Hmmm...? Ring any bells for anyone...?" (Senior Official, tugging his collar)

"So you're saying that you're registering this monster as an Adventurer." (the Soberer Friend, bluntly)

The Senior Official could only nod.

The Receptionist stood as still as she possibly could.

The Sober Friend looked around him. Nearly all of the Adventurers brunching at the tavern had come over to watch.

"So you are saying you would register this monster, known for its savagery, particularly in the countryside... A monster through which brothers have suffered countless nights of regret and self-hatred... Brothers among whom some of us number..." (glancing at the Tipsy Adventurer, who puffed his chest out in righteous fury) "...for the sake of someone's ill-advised joke? Jokes are a specialty of Guilds in Marvar City and everyone appreciates what they add to the workplace culture. But there's a limit to how far we can go for jokes. I advise whoever's pet prank this is to step forward and reclaim it presently... The perpetrator is likely listening in somewhere in this room, nestled behind our backs..."

Everyone glanced around except for the Receptionist and the goblin.

"It may be a great joke, it may have been executed perfectly, it may have cost great pains...travails... Yet a joke cannot be accepted simply for its ingenuity and effort! There are absurdities...and then there are dishonors. And whoever is the Author of this conceit, do you not feel this dishonor? Can you look at this situation and not see the disgrace?"

The audience, realizing the shame of accepting a goblin into their guild, and feeling a little envy besides at the cleverness of such a prank, which would be sure to win the trickster more than a little infamy in Marvar, began to chime in agreement.

As the room began to lose its lightheartedness and take sides, the Senior Official also began to lose his calm.

This was not the first time that the Guild had been called into question that month. The Senior Official wanted desperately to explain himself. There was the letter from the ship captain, which he clumsily adumbrated, convincing no one. Searching for more reasons, he remembered the Promotion Crystal.

"The Promotion Crystal shows Violet. It'll be useful to the guild to have another Violet level Adventurer. You can't call its worth in question. And besides (the Official added a bit maliciously), Violet is higher than most of you in this tavern..."

The last part did little to win the Adventurers to his side.

"It is impossible for a goblin to be that high! It would be a hobgoblin if it were 25! But it's not! A goblin, a mere goblin, a bony glabrous goblin!" (the Drunken Adventurer)

"And how do we even know that the crystal measures the same for monsters as for humans? Maybe the scale is different, and the same level that would produce violet in monsters would produce a much lower rank in humans." (a female Adventurer in the crowd)

"Right!" (Everyone chimed in; the novelty of that possibility had almost established it as a fact in their minds)

"That's a good point! Good going Ailena!"

"And it's not like there haven't been incidents of deception in the past either. I remember there was the case of a Thief who used a substance that produced a magical reaction in the Promotion Crystal, and used it to manipulate the results of the exam." (continued Ailena)

"Well come see for yourself! Let's test again. Leila! If that will settle the matter and satisfy you. You can see for yourself! See for yourself! Come on, place your hand there. Come if you don't see! Leila place its hand on the crystal. See if there's any tricks. I'm only a public servant. I don't know all the latest tricks. You tell me!" (Senior Officer, gibberingly; he seemed to think that everything rested on whether the goblin elicited a violet glow from the crystal or not)

"Are you going to turn the monster out or not?" (the Sober Friend)

"What?? What?? Leila, its hand. Turn the monster out? But..! (he gestured agitatedly at Leila, who was trying to coax the goblin into touching the crystal again)

"Listen. Save your breath. We care not for the impenetrability of your conceit." (the Sober Friend)

"We care not! We care not!" (the Drunken Adventurer echoed)

"Here's what we'll do." (the Sober Friend) "If you deny us our request, deny the will of your membership the second time this month, then we will have no other choice. When a party turns a deaf ear to the reasonable arguments of the other, when they break off obliging dialogue with silence, with a tyrannical 'But!', when they cease to respect the rule of healthy debate, surrendering honorably when their points are overwhelmed, just as they would expect their opponents to surrender when their points prove dominant...when this happens, then agreement can no longer be reached without force. The Guild has proven in consecutive incidents that it will pretend in an open dialogue only insofar as doing so will placate its members. But you don't seem to understand. We only surrender to the argument of the opposition, in the expectation that the opposition will honorably do the same for us, when our arguments are superior. But when the conduct of honor is broken by one of the parties, then the civility of conduct no longer holds... We will defend the honor of the guild, even by arms if necessary." (the Sober Friend, ceremonially raising his staff)

The Drunken Adventurer had not been following most of the conversation. But when he saw his friend and a few other members take out their weapons, he raised his sword abruptly, believing that the goblin or its owner was going to attack.

The Senior Officer put his fingers on his brow and began shaking his head. He had become confused as to whether it was right for him to accept the goblin into the guild. Perhaps the letter was a forgery, part of the prank. But even if it was, that was not obvious at a glance, and it was not part of his job to speculate so deeply, just to deny a capable registrant.

Nonetheless, he did not know what else to do but shake his head as if in disappointment, hoping that the dramatic gesture would have some palliating effect.

It didn't.