The next morning, the party met at Green Luna’s diner for a quick breakfast.
“Alright, so let us go over the plan for today one more time,” said Grimmy, “after we are done with breakfast here, we will head over to the guild and post a vacancy post for our party. We will only have three members total so we will post just one vacancy. The guild will require us to register a party name before we are able to post the vacancy. Do you guys have any suggestions?”
“Mmm, how about the ‘Killing Machine’?” quickly said Bonetta.
“The ‘Killing Machine’ is a little too intense for me,” said Alice.
“How about, Reaper’s Soldiers?” said Grimmy.
“Mmm… I do not feel comfortable being in a team named after the god of death if I do not have one of his boons. People will think I am a poser. Also, most people do not like anything related to the god of death and might get us in trouble. Better if we keep away from naming our party after him.” replied Bonetta.
“How about ‘The Infernal Mayhem’?” suggested Alice. It had both a badass sound which would appeal to Bonetta, and a subtle hint towards the god of death that Grimmy would approve.
Neither Grimmy nor Bonetta argued against that one.
“Great! So, ‘The Infernal Mayhem’ it is,” concluded Alice, grinning knowing exactly what she had done.
The Infernal Mayhem, or TIM for short, made their way to the guild to post the vacancy and start interviewing people. After they posted the vacancy on the board, they commandeered a table from the guild and set up shop in one of the corners near the bar.
“Hey girls, can I offer you anything to drink while you wait?” said Rami.
“Oh, hi Rami, so nice to see you!” said Alice cheerfully. “You know what, I’ll have one of your delicious Sour Pearls if you don’t mind.”
“Coming right up!” answered Rami.
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“Make it two,” added Bonetta. Rami nodded.
A few minutes passed when the first applicant for Team TIM approached the table.
“Hi, I’m here for the vacancy post,” said a male human dressed in full body armor with a battle axe strapped to his back.
“Lvl 8. Warrior. He specializes in defense rather than offense. Pass,” said Grimmy telepathically to Alice.
“What! You can use telepathy?” said Alice, surprised.
“Of course, I am your familiar. It is common knowledge.”
“Oh yeah of course,” lied Alice telepathically, regretting not picking up that book on familiars when she was at the library. “Anyway, ok I’ll let him down easy.”
“Nope. You can leave,” said Bonetta.
The dwarf was a little taken back by the sudden and immediate outburst from Bonetta, but just nodded and left.
“Bonetta! You have to be nicer to them. Let them down easy you know.”
“Why? They are adults and they are adventurers. They can handle me not being nice,” replied Bonetta.
“Still, let me handle rejections from now on ok?”
“Sure,” said Bonetta, relieved that she did not need to deal with any more people.
The second applicant approached them. Male human. He was dressed in what was clearly a hunter’s apparel with a dark green cloak and a bow strapped to his back.
“Lvl 9. Hunter. Specializes in poisonous arrows. He could potentially fill the role but seems a little cliché for some reason,” said Grimmy telepathically.
“Yeah, feels like the whole cloaked, mysterious and specializing in poison or afflictions has been done before,” agreed Alice. “I’ll tell him we are not interested.”
The third one came by. A male elf this time.
“Lvl 6 Healer. Pass,” said Grimmy.
The applicants came in little by little. The day went by, and Team TIM interviewed close to 20 candidates with none of them really checking all the boxes.
“Ughhh… why is this so hard,” said Alice with her head against the table.
“Let’s just go,” said Bonetta, “we can handle it just the two of us.”
“No!” said Grimmy. “We need a third member. Our chances of success dramatically improve with a third member.”
“Fine, Grimmy, but you got to be more lenient, dude,” said Alice. “You need to lower your standards.”
“That is not possible, Alice,” replied Grimmy, “not everyone deserves to be part of the team representing Lord Death.”
“Shhhh! Grimmy, what did I say about saying those things out loud.”
“Sorry… sorry… won’t happen again.”
“Alright, Grimmy, remind me again. What profile are we looking for?” said Alice.
“Long-range damage dealer, preferably magic oriented,” replied Grimmy.
“I know a guy…” said a voice behind them.
Team Tim all turned their head around to see Rami.
“Rami? You know someone? We have been here 4 hours now and you did not think of mentioning it?” said Alice, annoyed.
“Well, you didn’t ask me before.”
“We didn’t ask you now either,” said Bonetta.
“Yeah, but you guys look miserable, so I decided to lend you guys a hand,” responded Rami. “Look. you guys are staying at the Green Luna, right? He will meet you all in the diner in one hour.”
“And you are sure he meets Grimmy’s requirements?” asked Alice.
“I believe he does.”
Team TIM left the guild and made their way to the Green Luna. Since they had a little bit of time before meeting the candidate, they took a quick detour to restock some of Alice’s potions and poisons with their friend Hanz. After breaking Hanz’s heart by telling him they did not have any more Gladulus flowers for him, they finally made their way back to Green Luna.
They sat at the diner at exactly the time Rami indicated. Alice felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and… Rami was there.
“Rami?” said Alice. “Where’s the guy that you said would be joining us?”
“It’s me!” said Rami, standing in a superhero pose.
Before Alice could respond to Rami, Grimmy jumped in.
“Mmm, how did I not notice you before. Lvl 9 Water Mage. Specializing in long-range water attacks. You will do just fine,” said Grimmy, looking Rami up and down.