The Consul escorted us toward the back of the Curia, ignoring comments and attempts to take up his attention that were thrown his way by numerous senators as we passed by. I was surprised when I noticed he kept no guards at his side. There were certainly a number of guards outside the Curia, but from what I knew of Roman history, having some inside would not have been a bad idea. Perhaps Heracleum simply hadn’t hit that phase of its history, or would even avoid it entirely. More likely, was that he had some type of protection I wasn’t aware of. He hadn’t even seemed terribly concerned when he spoke to Ran.

I noticed an immediate change in both Tristus and Tib’s demeanor as we followed the Consul. Tib was usually a solid, stalwart type, but I could tell he was perspiring heavily and very nervous. Tristus on the other hand had a hard look on his face that reminded me of the stone-faced expressions I was so used to receiving from his cousin.

We were led into an office, or a living room. It was difficult to tell because of the number of couches scattered throughout. We all took a seat and the consul looked over each of us.

“So, two of our own, four foreigners, and a Kobold. Quite the group you’ve got.”

Tristus nodded. “We like to keep our groups as cosmopolitan as the city.”

“Flattery. Good to know the diplomats are still taught the fundamentals. I’ll keep this brief, then have your reward brought to you. I just sent my son out with the dragon you decided to work with rather than kill, and I need to know whatever you can tell me about her.”

Zev spoke up, finally out of whatever creator’s fugue he’d been in up to that point. “She’s incredibly powerful. Able to alter a large valley to her tastes, summon an army of puppets, change her shape at will. She can breathe fire. Her scales are all the colors seen and even some only imagined. She-.”

The consul lifted a hand and I was surprised to see Zev immediately stop talking. Usually it takes more than that when he’s on a roll. “And her temperament? What’s she like? Her goals?”

Tristus was about to start talking, but paused and looked at me.

I took a breath. “She’s really very simple. She likes to be entertained, is bored easily, and prefers clever and creative problem solving to outright violence even though she’s more than capable of it.”

The Consul rubbed his chin. “I can work with that.” He looked at the group. “Names? Origins?”

“Why?” asked Nica, drawing a surprised look from Tiberius.

“Well, I’m not going to just hand you the reward. I’m a bit old to be lugging around sacks of gold, and I have no illusions about what might happen to someone walking around with that kind of coin, even adventurers such as yourselves. I’m going to give you slips, bound to you and your name, that you can take to our bank and withdraw at your leisure.”

Tiberius spoke first, finding his usual unbendable spine after Nica spoke. “I am Tiberius of what was once house Sulpicia.”

Tristus stepped forward to stand next to Tiberius. “I am Tristus, also of what was once house Sulpicia.”

The consul’s eyes widened. “Oh no. I’ll have to call the guards!”

Tristus and Tiberius exchanged a worried glance.

The Consul waited for us for a moment, then chuckled. “Forgive an old man a joke in poor taste. So, you’re the ones whose ancestor killed my ancestor? I suppose this effort to make a treaty with a dragon was an attempt at restoring your family name?”

They both nodded, slowly.

The Consul smiled. “Consider it done. Honestly, from the research I’ve done, those families that have been exiled or removed like yours always come back worse and devastated things far beyond what would’ve happened if they’d just all been killed or only the actual culprit had been. I’ll take any excuse to remove that possibility for my son. Your former holdings will remain the property of the state, but your name is that of a patrician once again, and combining that with the reward you just received, I’d say you’re well on your way back up.” He cast his eyes on the rest of the group. “Names and origins for the rest of you?”

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“Nica, of Itlan.”

He nodded, and made a note on a piece of parchment.

“Millicent, of Kingsland.”

“Patience, of Crofton.”

“Zevrack, of Buried Claw.”

“How do you spell Zevrack?”

“With a CK.”

He nodded and noted that, then turned to me.

“Cor, of Elfland.”

He started writing, then paused. “You wouldn’t happen to be the Cor that assaulted and robbed the patrician Dominus?”

“I didn’t rob him.”

“But you did assault him?”

I glanced at the door.

The Consul sighed. “I’m not going to have you arrested, don’t worry. A young Paladin told the story of what happened, it’s been all over the city. Dominus spoke poorly of your companions, so you struck him and escaped all the other adventurers with him, her included. The story has built you quite a reputation, as has the fact that you survived a blow from Rancor, and your party saved him. Adding this business with the dragon on top of it, and the fact that several other senators have been speaking against Dominus and pressuring him to drop the matter, and I’d say you don’t have to worry about it. At least not from the guard. If he himself wants to send someone after you, well that’s between you and him.”

He finished writing and handed each of us a slip of paper, and two additional documents that he sealed in wax and handed to Tristus and Tiberius. I looked at my slip and saw a document with such immaculate handwriting, that it looked almost printed, and containing my name, place of origin, and even class along with a physical description. I glanced up and made eye contact with him.

He smiled. “Perks of my class.”

I looked back down, and suddenly received a notification.

Congratulations! You’ve completed The Dragon Dilemma!

You receive 5000xp, Improved Renown within Heracleum! Improved Renown with ALL adventurers! 7143 gp!

Congratulations! You’ve reached level 10! You receive 4 stat points

Congratulations! You’ve unlocked your first advanced class selection!

Choose from the following

Catalyst- A bringer of change, the way you fight, talk, and act shifts the world around you forever. Class type: Warrior/Rogue/Mage. Class Abilities: Synergy, Eye of the Storm

Arcane Trickster- A user of the arcane to aid in skullduggery, even without the tools of your trade, you’re never without a trick up your sleeve. Class Type: Rogue/Mage. Class Abilities: The Prestige, Nothing Up my Sleeve

Spellsword- A warrior that wields magic and a blade in a perfect fusion of martial power. Class Type: Warrior/Mage. Class Abilities- Arcane Might, Mind and Body

I took a breath. That was a lot to take in all at once, but it was also, very, welcome. I’d broken through, and made it to level 10. I looked at my companions and saw their expressions were all lit up as brightly as my own.

The Consul was looking at us, with his eyebrows raised. “Am I to presume that all of you have just leveled?”

I nodded at him, being the first one to dismiss their notifications.

He shook his head. “When I was young it was considered rude to check notifications while speaking with the leader of a major continental power… Though I honestly did it anyway, I just got good at checking it while talking. I’ll leave you in the office. Feel free to steal whatever you like, I’m just borrowing it from Senator Lychus while mine’s being renovated, and he’s a pain.” With that, he walked out and left us to sort through our sheets.

I dove into the specifics of my class options. It made sense that all three of my choices were blended options of one kind or another, I had been utilizing all three disciplines from the beginning. I discounted the Spellsword class fairly quickly. The abilities all seemed to rely on me being much tankier than I was, with Arcane Might allowing me to use magic to boost my strength at the cost of Mana, and Mind and Body tying my INT and STR together for the purpose of combat abilities. Arcane Trickster had serious potential, with The Prestige giving me immediate access to a number of illusion spells, and Nothing Up My Sleeve allowing me to store a single item in a pocket dimension of sorts.

Finally I turned my attention to Catalyst. It was a blend of Warrior, Mage, and Rogue which intrigued me. I looked at the abilities,

Synergy- Your Mana and Stamina bars are combined and can be used in place of one another

Eye of the Storm- While the world and the system change, you can choose to remain as you are, selecting which changes you accept and which you reject.

That was certainly an interesting ability. Being able to reject system changes…that could be either incredibly useful, or useless. So far, the system changes had all yielded more positives for me than negatives, but this was only the first round of them from each god. It was always possible that they’d move on from strengthening their own aspect, to weakening those of the others. Being able to reject those for myself, that was hard to pass up. I took a breath, and selected Catalyst.