"We promised to give them that," Leo reminded the platinum blonde girl with the shoulder-length bob cut hairdo pouting at his side. "Besides, we rake in ten percent from their spoils anyway, and that's before they spend their stones on the new merch we're rolling out next week!"
"Fi~~ine…" Morgana gazed longingly at the glowing mountain of soul stones close by. "I guess they do deserve a reward for ridding me of that annoying fiend of a cyclops."
She snapped her fingers, and soon afterward, several notification windows popped up in front of the players standing by the gathering of spoils.
[TWO HUNDRED LOW-GRADE SOUL STONES RECEIVED.]
[TWENTY MID-GRADE SOUL STONES RECEIVED.]
[FOUR HIGH-GRADE SOUL STONES RECEIVED.]
"Lord of Death, that's a lot of stones," Morgana's violet eyes were twinkling now which Leo translated as her version of having dollar signs for irises. "I didn't think that old cyclops had that much power in him…"
"Didn't you say he gave even you a hard time?" he reminded her.
"I said he was annoying, dearie," she countered. "I never said I couldn't zap him out of existence with a snap of my fingers."
"Well, why didn't you?" Leo asked. "Would have been easier for all of us if you took him out the moment he invaded your territory."
"Because he's protected from a reaper's scythe by the master who owns his contract," she said in an annoyed tone.
"Ah, yes... the Death Knight, Maleagant," Leo nodded thoughtfully. "I assume he's as badass as his name sounds?"
"Hold on," Morgana said right before she snapped her fingers once again.
New notifications popped up in front of the players.
[RARE ITEM: THE CYCLOPS' RED EYE RECEIVED]
[NORMAL ITEM: GIANT BONES x3 RECEIVED]
[NORMAL ITEM: RESURRECTION TICKET X4 RECEIVED]
"There," Morgana wiped her palms together in a satisfying way, "that should be enough spoils for our new heroes."
"Hold on." Leo swiped at the items so that he too could see their status windows. "Interesting…"
[CYCLOPS' RED EYE [ITEM CLASS: B] [TYPE: ACCESSORY] the spherical crimson jewel represents the resentful eye of the Red-Eyed Decapitator. The malevolence the cyclops bore for all beautiful things continues to reside within the eye, allowing its wielder to inflict eldritch damage against their chosen enemies. [BENEFITS: MAG +3, INT +1, MAG DEF +2, ARCANE ABILITIES COST 5% LESS SOUL ENERGY, CYCLOPS BLAST]]
Leo thought this was an excellent accessory for a spellcaster to use so it was no surprise to him when he saw Black Howler toss the red gem into Thorminator's hands.
[GIANT BONE [ITEM CLASS: C] [TYPE: MATERIAL] the bones of a giant are forged with the same strength as the roots of a mountain. The many scratches on the bone are a remnant of the monster's ferocity and resilience. It can be used as material for creating normal to rare relics.]
"I've got to give credit to Agatha and her staff," Leo said as he swiped away the windows floating in front of him. "They really know how to write interesting flavor text."
"She's a little too obsessed with the scenario's though," Morgana added with a shrug. "And the way she insists on having an origin story for everything is quite annoying."
"That's because she understands that there's nothing like a good story to pull our players in," Leo argued. "Speaking of stories…"
He cast a furtive glance at his partner.
"I think it's about time I heard more about this rival of yours, our death knight neighbor who already sent an assassin into your borders," Leo said.
Morgana shook her head.
"Not here…" Her eyes darted left and then right, almost as if she was looking to see if anyone were nearby. "We don't want our voices to carry into the wind and into the ears of prying eyes."
"Fine," Leo replied. "I was planning on calling a dev meeting anyway. It's time we talked about our future plans."
On that ominous note, Leo and Morgana began their trek back to Adventour while leaving Ath3na's party to continue reveling in their hard-won spoils.
---
Thud!
"Maleagant… that is not a name I like to hear," Lagertha had just finished striking the obsidian table with her ax.
"Same," Dani the Ghoulie raised a hand in agreement. "That crazy bastard's bad for business…"
"He is certainly a problem we'll have to deal with if we want to continue with our plans for the game's expansion," McCloud nodded.
Lagertha suddenly burst out laughing, alarming the werewolf into raising his hackles involuntarily.
"I never thought I'd see the day when you two would agree on anything," Lagertha laughed.
"We have not agreed on anything," McCloud protested. "Our reasons for hating Maleagant are entirely at odds."
"Yup, we can't seem to find synergy between corporate and creative," Dani the Ghoulie shrugged. "It's just not happening."
"Because I refuse to be associated with your craven, soul-sucking need to monetize everything," McCloud argued.
"Oh, quiet down, you rascals," Agatha slammed her mug down on the table. "I have an excruciating hangover and I could do without your incessant banter for one afternoon…"
"Agatha… have you been drinking yourself into a stupor again?" Shannon, the only member of the team who hadn't taken her seat yet, asked.
"A strong glass of Lethe-whiskey gives me that burst of inspiration I need to write all the best origin stories," Agatha boasted while she waved her mug in the air, effectively spilling drops of dark brown liquid onto the table.
"Um, I don't think you're supposed to overdo it, though, ma'am," Bront son of Brontes said in a teensy voice that belied his large physique.
Leo, who was watching all of this with a slight smirk on his face, felt right at home in this chaotic environment. It had been the same back when he was alive. Creatives and corporate butting heads, team leads sniping at each other over petty grievances, even the intoxicated writer claiming her overindulgence of alcohol was simply for creative purposes and wasn't, in fact, an alarming sign of obvious dependence.
"Wipe that smirk off your face, silly," Morgana whispered into his ear. "At least act like their leader in moments like this one."
Leo sighed. Morgana had ruined his remembering, forcing him to return to the present and thereby reminding him of the fact that he was already a dead man, and it would take much sacrifice to send him home to the world above.
"Alright, alright, settle down now," he slammed his gavel on the table. "Let's get this show on the road."
Morgana's eyes narrowed slightly. "Where did you get that?"
"I had Masamune make it for me," Leo showed her the obsidian gavel with the silver runes lining its head. "Doubles as a weapon too… cool, right?"
"It looks… expensive…" A frown was beginning to form on Morgana's face. "How much—"
"—Don't worry about it," he said quickly, and then he immediately turned to face Shannon and said, "Let's get to it, please…"
Shannon nodded her head and then began her usual speech, "The Creative Director has started the meeting. We will now begin the roll…"
After everyone finished with indulging Shannon's need to complete roll call, and after it was made known that neither the representatives for Accounting and Human Resources were around yet again, Shannon finally asked the leads to share their report on the event's finale.
"The afterparty's still going strong as we speak," Dani the Ghoulie reported. "Loads and loads of soul stones are flowing into our town coffers from the shops and restaurants that are currently selling our event-exclusive merch."
McCloud, who was up next, growled to show off how distasteful he thought Dani's reporting was.
"The celebratory effects we've placed in the town are working fine. Posters of the winning party have been placed all over the main street with highlights of the battles showing on the big screens we erected in the town square," McCloud reported.
"Um, no bugs so far on the effects front," Bront agreed. "But reports have come in about faulty merch…"
"True enough," Lagertha cut in. "It's only been an hour since the afterparty started and I'm already getting complaints about malfunctioning Decapitator dolls… and don't get me started on the salty players who have raised complaints that the event was rigged… Whiny little sh*ts, the lot of them."
Another bout of arguing ensued, one Leo was only too happy to end with his gavel.
"I know there's a lot of improvement that needs doing, but by all accounts, our first event was a big success," He raised his own mug of Lethe-whiskey high. "I believe this calls for a toast!"
The others raised their mugs as well.
"Morgana," Leo turned an expectant eye at her. "If you will?"
Morgana raised her cup beside Leo's and smiled her perky smile at each one of the team members, "A toast to a wonderful beginning!"
"Hear, hear!" the others replied.
"And may the Lord of Death keep us from a terrible end!" she added.
"Hear, hear!" the others laughed.
The sound of mugs clinking together coupled with the sound of merry voices as everyone enjoyed the time-honored tradition of patting one's own back.
And after he'd taken his fill of drink and merriment, Leo called in a voice that cut through the din, "So, why are you all so scared of this Maleagant guy?"
All eyes turned on him.
Just like that, the celebration was over, replaced by a foreboding silence that would later seem an accurate response for the trials ahead.