Zilean's Revenge (Part 3)

"That was what I was trying to say, our actions are going to be known to the people of this city. If bards decide to us as material and they will need to give us a fitting title. Would save us the time no?"

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Boss, we can only be like that if we can use Raise Dad just as liberally as we can in Magicka. But to be honest I feel like our party is a few insults away from that exact scene.

Skitter shrugs and replies with a smirk, "Well, you guys are pretty clumsy sometimes. Though, Knifey is the worst there. And I hardly mind if people call you Mr Pink."

Then he looks back to the Deva (I forgot her name already) and says, "Who said we weren't expecting a reward?"

Zarhon wrote:

Lyntermas wrote:"That's...all fairly accurate. I didn't know that City Hall had such...extensive records."

"Oh, it doesn't.", she replies. She sets aside her previous parchements, takes a letter-sized piece of paper, and begins to write on it with a quill. She taps the pipe a few times as she does do.

Lyntermas wrote:"Who would actually take the time and give you an employee evaluation?"

"Those with proper motivation to do so, of course.", she replies, not taking her eyes off of her writing.

Rolf was puzzled for a bit. "But...if these aren't City Hall records, then...you just happen to have extensive profiles of citizens, criminals, and even recent arrivals to this city available on hand...as a hobby?" The wheels started to turn in Rolf's head. Something was a bit fishy about the situation. At the very least, Damiana wasn't simply a busybody looking for something to make her feel important like he had first suspected.

"...I'm not entirely aware of if Fezaris has its own spy network or not...But if it did, then I would guess it would be most impressive," Rolf said. He decided to simply leave the statement there, it would be up to Mrs. Dale to elaborate on or not.

"All of this would, in my opinion, be adequate for a Bard to earn plenty of coinage from a eager crowd, while a name would be a trivial matter.

"Hmm...well, if we're going off of the foes we've faced, then "The Bone Serpent Smashers" or "The Blood Zombie Blasters" could work. I...can't think of any names based of our propensity for property damage. Well, any I'd want to use anyway. As for helping people..."The Hopebringers" sounds nice. What are your thoughts, everyone? Jeraylia, you're a bard, if you had heard our feats of daring for the first time, what would you think to call us?"

Skitter makes a more and more displeased face with each idea Rolf offers.

(I've been cleared!)

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Tiffany looked up after hearing how Damiana had records on recent arrivals and criminals. "Um, do you mind if I ask you some questions?" She asked aloud, taking a step forward. "It's about this one person I'm looking for."
She really didn't care what the group was called.

"Hmmm. Alright, let's recount what you've done so far. I'm only going off what I heard, so if you'd like to add anything..." She brought up one hand and stuck up one finger. "First, Zilean's initial entrance. Rolf turned into a Lich, Horizon erupted from the crowd throwing fire from his hands, while Skitter himself was a knife from the shadow. The usual sort of embellishment would make Tiffany sound like a goddess reincarnate come down to mete out justice. Next," she said lifting up a second finger, "You saved the temple from the vile cultists, and save their saviour, the High Priest. If I recall correctly there were also a large abomination and a gigantic snake consisting of bones involved. After that, Zthulan and I joined up. We then investigated the bowels of the temple, and cleared the catacombs of skeleton kobold cave-diggers. Shenigans concerning portals and boxes were had, but I don't think that would make the last edit of the saga. What would make a good verse was the battle between the enlivened coffin, whose metal limbs screeched wickedly and jeweled heart glowed with an ominous red menace." With that, her fingers number three. Bringing up another, she continued, "And then there was our last encounter with a determined cultist preying on an innocent child. The hoard of zombies, exagerations aside, was wiped out by power and skill of our group, with special mention given to Zthulan, whose healing and fire breathing came to the fore. And won't they have a field day with Rolf's offerings. A lightning hammer and a succubus of fire? Bawdy tales will be sung of it to come. Finally," she said, holding up a total of five fingers. "Our work in the medical wing. No doubt word will go out to the young and brash about a certain soldier's miraculous healing. I hope you can drink Zthulan. You'll be getting a lot of free mugs." Looking up at the party, Jeraylia concluded, "I miss anything?"

Broken Logic wrote:"Hmmm. Alright, let's recount what you've done so far. I'm only going off what I heard, so if you'd like to add anything..." She brought up one hand and stuck up one finger. "First, Zilean's initial entrance. Rolf turned into a Lich, Horizon erupted from the crowd throwing fire from his hands, while Skitter himself was a knife from the shadow. The usual sort of embellishment would make Tiffany sound like a goddess reincarnate come down to mete out justice. Next," she said lifting up a second finger, "You saved the temple from the vile cultists, and save their saviour, the High Priest. If I recall correctly there were also a large abomination and a gigantic snake consisting of bones involved. After that, Zthulan and I joined up. We then investigated the bowels of the temple, and cleared the catacombs of skeleton kobold cave-diggers. Shenigans concerning portals and boxes were had, but I don't think that would make the last edit of the saga. What would make a good verse was the battle between the enlivened coffin, whose metal limbs screeched wickedly and jeweled heart glowed with an ominous red menace." With that, her fingers number three. Bringing up another, she continued, "And then there was our last encounter with a determined cultist preying on an innocent child. The hoard of zombies, exagerations aside, was wiped out by power and skill of our group, with special mention given to Zthulan, whose healing and fire breathing came to the fore. And won't they have a field day with Rolf's offerings. A lightning hammer and a succubus of fire? Bawdy tales will be sung of it to come. Finally," she said, holding up a total of five fingers. "Our work in the medical wing. No doubt word will go out to the young and brash about a certain soldier's miraculous healing. I hope you can drink Zthulan. You'll be getting a lot of free mugs." Looking up at the party, Jeraylia concluded, "I miss anything?"

Another quandary, as Horizon silently debated filling her in on what exactly he had been up to when they were fighting the zombie hoard. He kept quiet, as even though it was rather impressive, it would also be counterproductive to his reputation if word were to spread that he went out of his way to save two lives for practically no reward. He turned his focus back to being very suspicious of the Deva.

"What?" Tiffany was confused now. Why would Ratatosk be working for Zilean's group?

"With all the heroics, I wouldn't be surprised if some unimaginative writer tried to label us as the warriors of light. But given all our forced reposing of the dead, not to mention Rolf's supposed communion with Death, an interesting and exciting angle to work into a story, by the way, I might suggest, and this is just a quick labeling done in haste without the usual arduous consideration, the Reaper's Scythe." Jeraylia shrugged with the annoyance of a bard that had too little time to perfect a story before telling it.

"Shorten that. Just Reapers, or the Scythe. I like that, gives the impression that we work enforcing the will of our employer- whoever that may be- are highly effective and skilled, but still just the right level of shady and anonymous. Also, we kill people."

"But, we don't have an employer. I think dropping the the would be better. So that we were Reaper's Scythe. Though, I'm fine with Reapers or Scythe as well. Excellent suggestion Jer." Skitter says. After he's finished speaking he gives Rolf a look as if to say 'unlike your suggestions'.

"..."The Scythe" has a nice ring to it. I'm open to the other variations, but it seems we're getting closer to something we can all agree on. Good thinking, Jeraylia," Rolf said while giving Skitter a look as if to say, "Oh, like your's were any better".

"Oh," Jeraylia said, surprised the suggestion was greeted with this much acceptance. Shrugging, she continued, "Alright then, 'The Scythe' it is. Well, a weapon isn't a bad thing to be named after, I suppose. There are much worse things. Trust me, I know. At least this has the right amount of mystery and foreboding. But the puns will take getting used to. They are a common problem with using weapons as names. We'll just have to get a handle on it very fast."

"I still think it sounds better as just Scythe." Skitter comments.

"Oh, man. You do not want to go down that path, Skitter. 'The Scythe' or just 'Scythe'. One is a metaphor, while the other aludes to the similarities. Are we the definitive scythe? Or just one of many? Is our function that of a scythe, or do we merely have the impression of the harvesting tool? Thinking about it gives me shudders." Jeraylia shook her head voilently. "Someone else decide."

Skitter replies, "The Scythe sounds a bit pretentious, The Scythes sounds... just sounds silly, Scythe just sounds like an organization that doesn't care about posturing. A single word that speaks for itself. It's simple and clean and, I'm sure you'll agree on the importance, lends an air of mystery. It could mean just about anything and that's more or less what we want. A name that people will recognize and we'll be able to use to ease our way, doesn't give away more information about ourselves than that we're part of the organization, and doesn't incite ridicule. The fact that it could suggest many, possibly conflicting, things works to our benefit in keeping our relative anonymity."

As an afterthought he adds, "It has the added benefit of sounding like a larger group than we are. Which is good for keeping our individual members from being focused on overly and helpful if we later decide to expand."

"He's right, and for more reasons than I had. Scythe by itself just sounds better as a serious group name." Horizon watches as she begins scribbling more notes about Rolf. He needed to remember in the future never to talk about himself around her.

Keeping to the background Zthulan can only nod in agreement with what Skitter said. Despite originally going to argue against the name, Skitter insight on the matter eased many of his complaints.

Not making a serious post but some names I kept thinking of are "Terra Destroyers", "Bone Bashers", and "The Guys Who Keep Doing Dumb Things AKA Horizon."

"Oh, you need not concern yourself with that, ma'am," Jeraylia interjected. "He just hit his head too hard and started seeing things. It's just that arching the truth for a more riveting tale is the calling of a minstrel. And a meeting with Death is pretty awesome. Leastwise, it is as such in the stories." She gave the Deva a knowing, long-suffering smirk and turned around to survey the room. Mid turn she gave Rolf a look with a slight grimace that said 'You can explain if you think you should.' She then heads over the the tubes and starts poking around.

"I think "Scythe" will work as a name, for the reasons Skitter mentioned," Rolf said. He had to admit Skitter had a few good points, but part of it was that they could be here all night arguing what to call themselves otherwise.

"As for my "communion with Death", I'm not sure if it's a spell, a curse, or simply me hitting my head. All I know is that after activating an orb from a civilization predating the dragons, I have started seeing the Grim Reaper show up right before someone is placed in a fatal or near-fatal position. I thought I had physical evidence at some point, but I...used it for something important. My guardian summon has been able to see him as well, but there's a possibility that's simply an extension of a curse that has affected me."

"All I know about him is that he's not always right about if someone is going to die, and that he's...well, not actively malevolent to the living. He seems to be more of life's janitor, only showing up to "clean up afterwards". I've been using his appearances as sort of an "early warning system" to danger, but...that's about it, really. I mean, I can't say that I've laughed in the face of Death, but I have started getting used to him."

"I still think its an imaginary friend." Horizon offered.

"He just hit his head too hard and started seeing things. It's just that arching the truth for a more riveting tale is the calling of a minstrel. And a meeting with Death is pretty awesome. Leastwise, it is as such in the stories."

Bronymous wrote:"I still think its an imaginary friend." Horizon offered.

"...Duly noted."

"As for my "communion with Death", I'm not sure if it's a spell, a curse, or simply me hitting my head. All I know is that after activating an orb from a civilization predating the dragons, I have started seeing the Grim Reaper show up right before someone is placed in a fatal or near-fatal position. I thought I had physical evidence at some point, but I...used it for something important. My guardian summon has been able to see him as well, but there's a possibility that's simply an extension of a curse that has affected me.

"All I know about him is that he's not always right about if someone is going to die, and that he's...well, not actively malevolent to the living. He seems to be more of life's janitor, only showing up to "clean up afterwards". I've been using his appearances as sort of an "early warning system" to danger, but...that's about it, really. I mean, I can't say that I've laughed in the face of Death, but I have started getting used to him."

"...I see...", she says, quickly scribbling a number of extra lines of notes to the parchment. "Out of curiosity, what exactly was this 'physical evidence', that you 'used'? The orb you say you activated, I assume?"

"As for the troupe name, as you wish it, "Scythe" it is.", she says, taking out a very large book and writing something down into it. "Congratulations. Now, before we go into matters of benefits, assignments and other things your recognition entails, let us deal with the personal details. Do you have any marks, symbols, crests, badges or other form of visual recognition you wish to submit for your group, or do you wish something made or supplied for you? Are there any relatives, family, or institutions you wish to be informed of your new status, and future 'outstanding' changes of status, or to be the proxies for legal matters such as those of inheritance, insurance, or wills, for any permanent assets you may gain? Will any of you be taking aliases, semi-anonymous identifiers, or have any personal information you wish to submit for proper legal identification?"

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The new boons are out! They're a bit different than what I expected, but they should all mostly work, story-wise. You can probably still expect some of the old boons to make an appearance as well.

In any case, decide on the new boon, as you are now all level 3! The actual in-story changes (e.g. combat items you pick) will be addressed once you decide on your changes. This includes you too, Kris.