The warehouse by the river outside the city walls looked dilapidated and unused from the outside. However, a good observer would have wondered why people kept turning inconspicuously into the side alley next to it and being let in through a side entrance.

Thick cloths darkened all the windows so that the light from the numerous illuminated crystals in the hall could not be seen from outside. From the inside, the countless cracks and holes had been carefully sealed. Numerous figures crowded around one end of the room. One by one, they crossed the open space in the middle to be questioned in front of a desk. There was a murmur when one of them joined a small but growing group at the other end of the hall, beaming. Others, however, left the hall with their heads bowed or walking upright and grumbling.

The Dark Paladin ran a relaxed hand through his orange hair and leaned back in his chair. He leafed carelessly through the papers on the wooden table: "So so... a Defiler Druid... I've never worked with one like that before. What can you do?"

The anubian bowed with one hand to his chest. His jackal ears were proudly erect and his black fur was carefully brushed to shine. His voice rang confidently through the room, "I am quite good at elemental combat magic, but my focus is on body control magic. Especially when it comes to creating pain. My class is also very good at fighting plant creatures and non-magical animals. We get a lot of bonuses for that. My spells draw additional mana from the life force of animals and plants in the area."

OrcSlayer nodded, made a note on the papers and pushed a bowl of freshly steaming chocolate cookies across the table: "You're hired. Welcome to the League of Evil. Have a cookie."

The anubian hesitated uncertainly. The Dark Paladin sighed: "You've come to the right place. We are the Brotherhood of the Heralds of the Return of Nistrul, but League of Evil just sounds better."

The anubian grinned and walked away, chewing and crumbling. The next contender stomped forward. OrcSlayer had already seen him in the group of waiting noobs, so he could pretend he wasn't impressed at all. The aspirant towered almost three steps tall, consisting of two-thirds upper body. The legs were disproportionately short and stocky and the head looked like something that had been stuck on after the creator had almost run out of material. Green wart-covered skin covered muscles that bulged over other muscles.

"Okay. I'm rarely impressed. But you are really something special. How on earth did you manage to play a troll as your race?"

The troll looked at him for a while, then scratched his head. He held something in front of his eye with three fingers, looked at it with interest and then put it in his mouth. Only then did he reply in a low, slow voice: "Umblai not play troll. Umblai troll."

"Trolls are not a permissible player race."

The troll just looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"Well, just tell me your background story."

More staring, followed by head scratching.

OrcSlayer sighed, "Where... do you... come from?"

"Umblai pulling cart of dogface boiling smelly stuff. Many colors. Smoke also colorful. Then robbers. Robbers kill dog face. Robbers stab at Umblai. Umblai do not like. Umblai crush robbers. Then thirsty. Umblai look for drink in wagon. Many small bottles. Uselessly small. Umblai put whole flasks in mouth. Chew. Crunchy. Strange taste. Then someone cursed Umblai! Not seen who. Otherwise crushed!"

"You emptied the wagon of an anubian Alchemist and drank all of his elixirs at once? Oh dear. That must be the worst case of elixir poisoning ever. Apart from a troll, nobody would have survived that. Still, if you drank an entire wagon, you should have gotten some permanent drawbacks. You look perfectly healthy. I can't see any debuffs with my skills either. How does this curse affect you?"

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Umblai struck with curse of problem. Everything easy before. Suddenly everything problem. Complix... Comlikei... Difficult."

"You're not a player at all, are you?"

"Umblai not good with board games. Too small. Always crush."

The Dark Paladin shrugged his armored shoulders, "Well, why not. What advantages do you have?"

"Umblai Troll."

"How exactly does that manifest itself as an advantage?"

The troll placed his large paw on the table and pulled a meat cleaver from his belt. It looked like a toy in his hands. Without hesitation, he swung it out and chopped off a finger. Green blood splattered across OrcSlayer's armor. He wiped a few drops from his face. He couldn't show weakness in front of so many observers, so he watched calmly as the wound immediately stopped bleeding and closed up. The skin bulged out and the finger was soon as good as new. OrcSlayer whistled through his teeth, impressed: "Do you have any disadvantages?"

"Umblai Troll."

The Dark Paladin stifled a sigh: "How exactly does that manifest itself as a disadvantage?"

"Umblai sometimes crush too much. Sad afterwards."

OrcSlayer looked closely with an analysis skill and then noted "Advantage: Regeneration. Disadvantage: Bloodlust." Then he looked up again: "Have you chosen a character class yet?"

"Umblai now berserker." The Dark Paladin nodded: "The wilder version of the barbarian. That fits. What talents did you choose at first level?"

"Umblai did not choose anything. Voice tried rushing Umblai. Umblai not like rushing. Umblai ignored. Then voice decided."

"You let the deadline expire and your talent points were randomly distributed? What did you get?"

The troll opened a pouch on his belt, which would have been worn as a sack over his shoulder by normal people. He pulled out a shapeless bundle of wool with two long sticks sticking out of it: "Umblai now good at knitting and crocheting. Also good at recognizing letters."

"You can read?"

The troll nodded, "Recognize letters."

OrcSlayer drew a large "A" on the back of one of the application forms and turned it towards the troll. "What's this?"

The troll bent down, narrowed his eyes, frowned and looked at the sheet for a while. Then he straightened up: "Letter!"

"Yes, but which letter?"

The troll shrugged his big shoulders. "Letter."

"You are enlisted. Welcome to the Brotherhood. Have a cookie and wait with the group over there. You and I will go find a class trainer for you tonight and order custom armor and weapons from the local craftsmen."

The troll carefully picked up the bowl of cookies with two fingers and tipped them into his mouth all at once. He chewed three times and swallowed. Then he put the bowl down again and stomped off.

"Next."

A woman in a knee-length leather dress approached, swaying her hips. Her pointed neckline went almost to her navel and the leather creaked under the strain of keeping her breasts in check. In her hand she carried a magic wand with a shimmering sphere of countless mirror facets that would have looked good on the ceiling of a disco.

OrcSlayer grinned at her, "You're hired. Name and class?"

The mage smiled seductively at him and leaned slightly over the desk: "Shannara, mage level 5, specializing in mind-control magic."

"Do you really need magic to make everyone do what you want?"

"It depends on what I want."

"Does mind-control magic also work on berserkers in bloodlust?" He looked meaningfully over at the troll.

"Domination doesn't normally work on enemies in a bloodlust, but trolls are particularly susceptible to mind-control spells. Otherwise, they couldn't have been enslaved everywhere and used as draught animals."

"That's what I thought. You'll be on my personal team with the troll and the anubian. You and I will meet tonight at the inn to discuss whether you are immediately suitable for a leadership position in the Brotherhood."

"I'm sure we'll come to an agreement. By breakfast at the latest." She ran her finger over the bottom of the empty bowl and then licked the crumbs without losing eye contact. Then she walked away on her knee-high leather boots.

OrcSlayer watched after her until she had left the room. He shook himself briefly, stood up and adjusted his armor. He walked over to the other candidates and surveyed the group.

"I'm now through with the applications from the unusual candidates. You're all noobs, but with useful standard classes. The Brotherhood needs a lot of helpers for its plans. You'll all be recruited at the rank of novice. There are packages of equipment in the crates at the back. Weapons of journeyman quality and armor with set bonuses. In addition, everyone takes two healing potions and a berserk elixir. This should get you through the beginner quests and level you up to level 6 in no time at all. Anyone who hasn't managed this in a month's time is out."

The noobs rushed at the crates with shouts of joy. With above-average equipment, a month was a very generous amount of time to reach the desired level.