AHARRG Guild Hall

The Ad Hoc Adventurer's Recruitment & Resettlement Guild was at one point a humble guild made by a forward-thinking philanthropist. However, by the time the guild was gearing up to celebrate its 100-year anniversary, it was clear that it had vastly outgrown not just its original guild hall but also the stopgap solution of acquiring random other buildings in the area. At the same time, the City of Wrath - an established city of over 300 years now - was needing to address its own concerns. Known as a prolific center of the smithing, artificing, and alchemic arts, the city had a dreadful air pollution problem, with the health of residents notably impacted. So, the decision to accommodate the City's proudest business in a place of honor at the heart of its walls, with infrastructure planned to make use of the new building to address their other problem too.

Rooms & Services

Mess Hall

The entry to the guild hall opens into a vast chamber that also serves as a cafeteria for adventurers between missions. Several food stalls with rotating chef menus from across Ostelliach set up here, offering their meals at a discounted rate to AHARRG members. They all make use of the same fireplace, the vast hearth at the center of the room that includes a chimney stretching hundreds of feet above the city to safely funnel the fumes of the city's smiths.
Plenty of wooden benches and tables, worn smooth by hundreds of years of butts, are lined up in rows around the room to comfortably seat at least 200 people at a time even with the foot traffic of non-dining visitors in the mix. Adventurers can bus their dishes into a space set into the wall that whisks them away to an unseen room where they are cleaned by magic before redistribution back to the mess hall.
There is also a well-stocked bar with a readily available bartender and well-worn stools.

Sleeping Quarters

AHARRG does not intend the guild hall sleeping quarters to be someone's dedicated living space. That said, they are very comfortable (especially after a long stretch of traveling) and are free for adventurers to use. The sleeping quarters are a series of rooms with several bunks in each (intended to be rented out by party) with an attached bathroom/washroom in each and trunks, weapon racks, and other storage on hand. The rooms also feature a table with as many chairs as there are bunks to allow discussions in private. These are all located on the first floor, for those so weary they can't fathom climbing more stairs.
Each room is individually soundproofed from the rest of the guild, and a simple sign-in log outside the set of rooms allows parties to claim theirs. Once claimed, the party writes their name on the placard on the door and they are entitled to it for 2 days time. After that, they must re-rent the room to ensure others get a chance as well.
(If all of the rooms are full for some reason, AHARRG has standing deals with many of the inns in the area, offering discounted rates to adventurers. It is, after all, beneficial to pretty much any building to be in the guild's favor.)

Classrooms & Meeting Rooms

Given that one of AHARRG's primary aims is educating parties in safe, ethical adventuring, there is a series of classrooms available on the second floor of the hall. When not in use for classes (which are hosted on a recurring basis as needed), these rooms are available to reserve by the hour for private meetings (such as with clients seeking discretion). Like the sleeping quarters, these are each individually soundproofed. People not in the guild are also able to rent them out for private meetings similar to a tavern room, but for a fee.

Library & Lab

Though it is certainly nothing like the Scriptorium, the guild does of course have a library of its own, along with study carrels and other standard library fare, on its third floor. The library is overseen by Norville Aurabithin, the guild's chief arcana specialist and mage contract manager. He also oversees the set of artificing and alchemical labs also located on the third floor, ensuring they are kept stocked and that people who reserve them keep them clean.
The labs provide basic supplies (alemics, beakers, anvil and tongs etc.) as well as a collection of basic material such as common herbs or metals. Adventurers are expected to furnish their own specialized materials, however, and if a tool is broken or a material completely exhausted they are expected to replace it or reimburse the guild.
Like the meeting rooms on the second floor, the labs and study carrels may be reserved by the hour. Longer-running alchemical or artificing projects can be left in a dedicated room to simmer or harden or whatever they need to do, though if something is going to take more than a few days it's politely suggested that a donation to the guild is provided for the space.
As for the library, adventurers are allowed to check out material to take to their sleeping quarters, the mess hall, show as reference to people assisting them around town etc. However, they are not permitted to take materials out of the city (including by portal). If a person needs a material that is not available in the local library, they are encouraged to use the teleportation circle (also located on the third floor) to visit the Scriptorium Soiram themself rather than request a text. The materials kept in the local library are regarded as standard fare (general primers, introductions, and quick reference materials) rather than in-depth studies into specific areas.

Supply and Equipment

On the second floor, guild members can find quartermaster Dortlitt overseeing a store or rental area of equipment for adventurers. Some of this is given freely--primarily beginner's adventuring gear such as camping supplies, simple armor, or basic weapons and shields. Some of it, however, is much higher quality or rarity and is offered at a discount to adventurers. Much of this is acquired by adventurers on quests (either looted or gifted as rewards) and given to the guild in exchange for a fair gold rate, such as if no one in the party can use or has need for a specific weapon. Dortlitt in fact keeps a running list of most-wanted items for adventurers that he will pay higher rates for acquiring, either because they're constantly running out of it or because it's rare and highly-sought.

Training Grounds

While the guild does not outright teach people how to use a sword or bow or magical staff, they do provide classes that encourage best practices in form and safety as well as places for people to practice under the protection of a good teacher who can give tips (sometimes other adventurers, sometimes someone stopping in etc.). These are located behind the guild hall, with a spacious fenced-in training ground for sparring, archery, whacking dummies etc. A separate building is on the other side of the training ground, about the size of a standard classroom, that offers shelter and privacy to practice magical techniques (including trying out different styles of staves and wands).

Equipment Upgrade & Repair

The guild smith, G'Vi Na T'For, keeps her smith running hot for any equipment repairs, either private equipment from adventurers for a reduced rate or guild-owned pieces for free. She also offers limited upgrade services for things if time and space are willing, reinforcing and making things sturdier. Several smithing students serve under G'Vi Na so someone is always available.

Medical Services

Not only does the guild keep a trained staff of medical and spiritual practicitioners ready to banish a curse, cure a poison, or splint a leg, but they also provide mental health counseling services under the loving watch of One Who Smiles For the Dark. These services are offered on a donation-based basis (especially the medical ones) and often see external donations flowing in as well. The care is generally considered state-of-the-art and contributes frequently to research in advancing medical science.
For Oney's part, xe oversees a group of trained mental health coordinators who assist adventurers in working through trauma, pain, grief, or changing life circumstances due to their adventuring. These are for the most part an opt-in service, but Gleddy is known to firmly recommend someone go talk to Oney after a particularly difficult quest and if a party member is killed (even if they are resurrected) it is recommended that the entire party does a group session and required that the resurrected do at least one private one. There are also support groups regularly hosted, such as for people who are suddenly forced to change profession or acquire a disabling condition.

Staff Offices

On the third floor are a series of dedicated offices for the heads of each guild focus:

• Gleedy Goodvine, coordinator of team building and contracts; the guild bounty board is located outside of her office for contracts that are straightforward, not particularly dangerous, or otherwise don't require special briefing.

• Norville Aurabithin, coordinator of contracts that require specialized arcane knowledge as well as Head Librarian; his office is located off the library and it's largely suspected he sleeps in it more often than not.

• G'Vi Na T'For, the guild smith and architect who oversees contracts regarding specialized smithing or acquisition of smithing materials

• One Who Smiles For the Dark, guild counselor and mental health support coordinator; One Who Smiles For the Dark (known affectionally as Oney, one-ee) is often the person organizing education activities and splits xyr time between the classrooms on the second floor and the counseling rooms on the third.

• Dortlitt, quartermaster and equipment acquisition specialist; commonly found on the second floor near his storerooms.

Founding Date

237 AB

Alternative Names

The Hall, Home Base

Type

Guildhall

Parent Location

Cities of Mercy and Wrath

Owning Organization

Ad Hoc Adventurers Recruitment and Resettlement Guild

Characters in Location

• G'Vi Na T'For
• Norville Aurabithin

Related Report (Primary Locations)

• Session 0: 2-21-24

Related Report (Secondary Locations)

• Session 8: And the Shit Doth Poppeth Off

Related Historical Events

• 235 AB
  AHARRG Permanent Guild Hall built & City of Wrath smiths restructured

Purpose

The guild hall of the Ad Hoc Adventurers Recruitment and Resettlement Guild as it exists today was created as a way to accommodate the dramatic growth of the organization in both members and clients as the disasters post-The Breaking continued to ravage the land of Ostelliach.
In the 90-something years since the guild had formed, they had been purchasing or renting much of the property in the center of the City of Wrath anyway, and so the decision was made to demolish old buildings and create a new, state-of-the-art guild hall that could accommodate the amount of people coming in and out, as well as the many services they'd started offering.

Design

The guild hall is primarily built of stone to withstand the plateau's winds, with secondary internal components (rafters, doors, additional rooms added later) made from wood. Most of the rooms are vast, with high ceilings and open concepts to accommodate many people of many sizes coming and going frequently. The outer walls tend to have several windows per room, tall ones that swing fully open to accommodate different creatures (or allow for safe egress in case of fire).
The rooms of the guild hall tend to be odd polygons, none of them particularly uniform but instead contributing to the large decagon that is the building's general shape. The walls are cool light grey stone, as are the floors, but the rafters and doors are warm cherry-colored wood. Almost all ceilings/walls feature some sort of tapestry or wall hanging to help keep the place warm, and there are frequently rugs running the hallways and occupying rooms to give it a homier feel.
The guild hall features a huge set of thick wooden doors reinforced with steel cross-beams stretching from floor nearly to ceiling that open outward. However, these doors are rarely used, and instead most visitors make use of a more standard-sized set of doors set into this larger pair. (Even these smaller doors are able to accommodate a giant if they needed to; the larger doors are for mass entry or exit only.)
All of the windows also open outward fully to allow people to make a quick exit that way if they needed to. Typically several of these are left open unless prohibited by weather, allowing avian visitors to come in a way that is easier for them.
(All doors and windows have sturdy locks to keep them barred, as well as safety mechanisms in the hinges to lock them open against slamming in the City Plateau's strong winds.)
Additionally, the guild hall features a room dedicated to Teleportation Circles, permanent rune-etched markers on the floor. One allows visitors to travel from the guild hall to the sending station in the City of Mercy. Another allows travel to the Scriptorium Soiram. These are open to guild members for free use, but people in the city may also make use of them for a small fee. These portals are closely guarded both by personnel and magical means, as standing portals are known to be like sweet honey to certain types of ill-meaning creatures.

Sensory

The hall is constantly abuzz with energy and noise, no matter the time of day or night. (The one exception to this is the sleeping quarters, which are magically soundproofed to bar this constant hubbub from deterring much-needed sleep.)
The first room visitors enter upon visiting the hall is a huge entryway that also accommodates the stalls that make up the mess hall, adding the sounds of sizzling, cooking, frying, and cutlery clinking to the din. This also means you are greeted with a wash of different smells--spices from across the continent combined into a hundred different dishes.
In addition to the smell of food, however, is the warm smell of a campfire, courtesy of the massive hearth and flue of the great hall's fireplace. This is the crowning structure of the building, the most distinct one in all of the City of Wrath; all of the cooks making food for adventurers use this flame, and all of the smoke from every forge in the city is funneled up and through it to the skies above. (It truly is a testament to the smiths and artificers who conceptualized this system that the guild hall itself smells only of cozy fireplaces and food and not a dreadful smithing accident constantly.)
This hearth combined with the constant hustle and bustle of people in the area prevents the large stone structure from being too chilly.
As for lighting, the hall tends to be well lit; large windows plus the fire burning constantly see to this. There are also mage lights set into the stone at regular intervals on the walls, though most of these are either near the floor or about 2/3 of the way up the wall and are meant to provide additional diffuse light (especially on staircases) rather than, say, reading light.