"I think this is everybody" Vulthathar said, scratching his head underneath his horns. "Gather 'round then."

"If you didn't get the chance to hear, my name is Vulthathar of Sunset. I have been with SODE for about fifty years. You are the twenty fifth adventuring party I will ever sign. Now, with my introduction out of the way, I only need one thing before we can all step off." A great sheet of paper manifested, this one in a much different type of parchment. The print was gold and appeared quite ceremonious, big black letters on the top reading "CERTIFICATE". Under that, was a thick black line.

"I'll need you lot to come up with a name. Once you've thought of one, I can send it to SODE for approval and we can begin our adventure."

"Behold my power, knave!" Alice Loftheart shouted. In all the ego-stroking, she cast Comfy seven more times, and several more chair and drink sets now littered the room.

Taking a sip of her hot chocolate, still perched on her chair, the wizard turned to face the Demon, a smug grin on her face.

"I think we already know we're going to call ourselves Team: Alice, so write that down now." she declared.

We were sooo dead. SOOOO dead. And she'd signed the bloody contract already, no backing out now. She sighed and hopped down from the stool, deliberately forgetting the vile drink on the bar top. As she walked over, the Demon continued, manifesting yet more paperwork.

"I'll need you lot to come up with a name. Once you've thought of one, I can send it to SODE for approval and we can begin our adventure."

"I think we already know we're going to call ourselves Team: Alice, so write that down now."

Bumble righted one of the summoned comfy chairs unfortunate enough to not land on its legs, dragging it to a better position in the circle of her new party members. Bumble didn't mind what the name was, the success of the trip was far more important although part of her disliked the idea of dying under the banner of Team: Alice though. The conjurer seemed pretty set on it and Bumble had never seen adoration like the frankly quite ordinary girl's, convincing her could be difficult.

Something to fight for.
Something to die by.
Something to bind us.

The Silence came to mind.

"How about, Whispers?" She chimed in, "Bumble by the way, nice to meet cha."

It wasn't subtle, it was still certainly a name that would mean more to her than it would anyone else, but it was a damn sight cooler than Team: Alice.

The weather outside was cold,but to inkflame it was as if the temperature didn't exist,he was wearing a hooded cloak to mask the fact that he was a monster,he came across a tavern, inkflame was rather tired so he figured he could rest there, as he walked up to the door he threw his cowl over his head which drooped down to reveal only his mouth.

He opened the door and stepped in.

Mimi eagerly took a chair and a mug. She hoped that she could save the mug to eat later, because it looked just as tasty as the hot chocolate. The chair and the blanket really were quite comfy, just as Alice had said they would be. Magic really was incredibly amazing, and so was the wizard that did it. Mimi then went back to reading the contract and confirmed that the chair really was excellent for reading as well. Having seen nothing amiss, she soon signed it and held the contract out for Vulthathar to take. She then looked to the new Hobgoblin arrival.

"Oh, hello there Bumble! I'm Mimi the inconspicuous Human girl. Isn't this amazing? Have you ever seen magic like this?"

Mimi wriggled around in the comfy chair to get more properly acclimated to it before speaking again.

"Whatever our name is, I'll be just fine with it. As long as everyone gets along well, it shouldn't really matter right? Compared to important things like that, what is a name?"

As Inkflame stepped through the entryway, a band of pirates was just about ready to leave.The rough and rowdy group had got up more or less unanimously, leaving behind empty mugs and a messy table. They pushed Inkflame aside as they stepped nonchalantly into the cold. A man with a large, feathered hat opened the door for all of them before following his crew outside.

Meanwhile, Vulthathar walked casually to the bar and leaned against it between two stools. He tapped the toes of his shoes as he waited. "All in favor of Team Alice... All in favor of Whispers?" the demon asked.

?Hmm. I'm completely against the first." Ozend commented. Team Alice seemed an entirely self-centered theme that relayed very little other than Alice was in the team.

"Whispers, however. I could work with Whispers. We should take it a step further and call it something to strike awe in the hearts of passerbys. Something memorable like the Band of the Whispered Venture. As you can see from Alice, subtlety doesn't seem to be our thing in common. Yet we could do with a little glory. Let them speak of us in hushed tones, fallen still with amazement that they were able to see us in person." Ozend paused clearly realizing he was getting ahead of himself. "Right, I favor the Whispered Venture. If you all want Whispers I can settle on that."

"Hang on, now. Whispers? That's no party name." Alice said, hopping down from her chair. With her blanket-cape, she was no doubt an intimidating sight.

"Whispers are quiet, and don't do anything. What we want is for people to know our party has a bang. It has pizzazz. To that end, we should name it after the best wizard who ever lived."

She paused for a second, sipping her hot chocolate before adding, "The strongest wizard is me, by the way. We should be Team Alice."

"Oh dear, it seems it hasn't even been 5 minutes and our soon to be dungeoneering group has already reduced themselves to irrelevant petty squabbles. This doesn't seem like it bodes well. If it were up to me, I'd place my vote on naming our group with a naming convention that not only promotes strength, but elegance, knowledge and perfection..."

The door opened up as the timeoid walked into the room with a pleasant smile laid bare on his face. Approaching his new group, he swept a hand across his hair, the shine reflecting into his odd, mystical eyes. Standing firmly beside the one known as Ozend. Louis smirked, and shook his head, displeased with all the displeasantry so far, and decided to come up with a team name of his own.

"Might I recommend we name ourselves... The Yliastrum...? We are basis for all foundation, by our hand we shall sketch the history of the future, from us, all living things will be created, our actions shape our landscapes, our minds change the perceptions of the world. From us, contains everything, raw, unimaginable power that when released will surely give birth to something... Most excellent."

Louis gazed around himself, confident in his choice. It sounded excellent to him, though he didn't know exactly just how well the others would react to his choice of name. Louis approached the demon and held his hand out politely to get done with the paperwork.

"My apologies for being late. Getting here took quite some distance. That and I had some vital preparations to complete, I do hope you can forgive me~"

Mimi nodded to herself as she took in the opinions of the group around her. Somehow, creating a name seemed to mean quite a bit to each of them and they all had a different idea as to what it should be. Mimi just didn't get it, but then again she was young yet. She at least knew that she was happy to get her own name when that happened, so maybe it was something similar?

"Well, Alice does have a good point," Mimi interjected, "I don't think we're much of a 'Whispers', but-"

And then Mimi was cut off by the entrance of yet another new man. He seemed to talk a lot, but ultimately ended up saying very little. Mimi remembered that big sis said something about people who spoke a lot and acted like they were smarter than everyone else, and while Alice seemed to come close, this guy hit the nail on the head.

"Well, mister," she addressed the newcomer, "I don't really think anyone was squabbling, but instead discussing. That aside, you say that we were arguing over something irrelevant, but then you go on to suggest your own name for the group instead of just helping settle the ones we already have on the table. Thus for an 'irrelevant' issue, all you've done is stir the pot when what it needs is to be off the fire."

Mimi shook her head.

"I don't know that we'll get anywhere quickly like this. Why don't we just let Vulthathar decide between each idea suggested? That way it will be fair no matter the outcome. Not to mention, he probably knows better than we what makes a good party name. What does everyone think about that?"

As another patron entered the tavern, Vulthathar turned his head abruptly. The demon raised an eyebrow as he poofed up another contract and held it in his hand, playing with it slightly. There was a bit of anticipation in his action as if he were impatient about something until the new person had revealed himself as a member of the party almost immediately after stepping through the door.

"I knew there was another man in my group" Vulthathar stated. The demon presented the new patron with the contract. "Just sign here" he said, opening the contract and pointing next to a big black X.

"Whispered Ventures" was Bumble's kind of compromise. Ozend understood the strength of the silence, it must have been his noble warrior blood; Bumble already knew they were going to get long. As he spoke she nodded in agreement, his mastery of the common language allowed him access to the missing pieces required to illustrate the power to the others.

The conjurer perked up again and Bumble tried hard not to roll her eyes. Bumble had met many wizards, many far more powerful than this purveyor of cheap tricks but she far exceeded any of them in smugness and lack of self-awareness and those that came close had the some of the skills to back it up. Unless Mimic dwelling creatures were deathly afraid of furniture she could very well end up as dead weight or dead, for the rest of the trip. Mimi was only making matters worse, at least Alice did have enough spine to throw in her own name. Bemused by magic and hardly a physical build, what was she even capable of?

Bumble really did roll her eyes when yet a second smug type made himself known. Yliastrum? Really? this was getting out of hand.

It wasn't a fair competition really, any suggestion that wasn't a party members name or in a foreign language was going to win.

"I change my vote to Whispered Ventures so now it has two votes. For the record, furniture pedlar, whispers topple dynasties and have the power to fundamentally change the course of history. Its exactly the sort of power you need to learn."

"If whispers aren't the embodiment of strength, elegance, knowledge and perfection I honestly don't know what is."

"Well" Vulthathar started "I actually like Team Alice. All the professional adventurers really love those dark sounding names that sound really cool, dark, and serious. That's not you lot though. If the comfy furniture and female majority if you don't count myself says anything, I think a cuter fluffier name would be more suitable. Of course, I've never actually named a team before- the members never let me get away with it."

The barkeep, finished washing his mugs leaned up against the bar and towards the adventurers. "I'm not paying for those chairs" the barkeep commented.

"Anyway, Team Whisper does seem to be winning by a majority vote, with the other two presented options only getting one apparently." the demon pointed out. He spread the certificate out on the bar and was ready to sign. "Now, any objections?"

Mimi sighed. In truth, she agreed with the Demonoid. She thought that a cuter, more comfy name was probably best for the group. This particular team was far too loud and ostentatious to be 'Whispered Ventures', after all. However, she doubted anyone else would be swayed at this point. It would be best if they just decided and got it done.

"No objections here, but we should at least have a policy of being comfy," she stated. She liked the idea of a friendly party like that. Big sis was really far away now, and Mimi didn't have any other friends. If her companions could also be friends, she bet she would be happy. That was the sort of adventure that the young Mimic desired for her first.

"That sounds like three for Whispers." Vulthathar stated as he wrote the name down in pen. He rolled it up in a scroll and put it into his coat. "I'll have to wait until the snow stops before sending though." The demon said. With his last sentence, he finished his cigarette, and took it out of his mouth. The demon snuffed the cigarette out on the bar surface, put the butt in his pocket, and reached into his coat for his carton.

"Anybody want one?" the demon offered, sticking a cigarette out of the box. Without awaiting a response, he took the cigarette from the carton and put it in his mouth. As he did, the front end appeared to light itself. Vulthathar shook the carton, letting out a cigarette. "Anybody?" he asked.

Alice stamped her foot, saying nothing as she turned her head away, puffing out her cheeks.

"...Alice begrudgingly concedes." she muttered, her face reddening. Damned democracy always got in her way. Still, she may have lost the battle, but Alice Loftheart would show them. She'd be so good they'd have to rename the group after her, and then give her titles to make her sound as great as she was. Something like "Milady", or "Princess". Giggling, a smile crept across her lips as she imagined crushing the world beneath her feet, shooting fire from her eyes as terrified non-wizards ran in terror...

Snapping out of it, Alice looked at her teammates.
"...Harumph!" she said, throwing her blanket-cape over her shoulders as she turned away again.

Louis gave a light chuckle at the little girl who completely cut through his words like a knife through butter. Oh this little one surely was smart to see through his deceitful desires to name the group himself. Such a smart child! Though Louis thought to himself that hopefully the child wasn't too smart for her own good. People like that tend to get killed. And a child being murdered? That would be... problematic? No, that's not the word he was looking for. He did ponder to himself, about whether the child really was a child, perhaps a beast in sheeps clothing? He decided not to call attention to it, taking the paper, he signed himself up for the dungoneering crew and handed the parchment back to the demon.

"Since it seems everything is in favour for Whispered Ventures, I suppose I shall vote for that one as well, why bother arguing about it, it seems like it won't grant us anything. Still, I do think my idea was much more grand and superb, but of course, if we're going to be a team, the majority shall win, isn't that how these things always work with subhumans and lesser beings? Oh the joys of living in such times."

The Timeoid refused the chemical killer that the demon shared, finding the substance positively disgusting, he instead decided to bring up another topic.

"Well, now that our team name has been clearly decided, it's about time we all got to introducing ourselves, I figure that is something that should be mandatory in these situations. We'll go from most important to least important. First being me, since I see no other timeoids in the vicinity and lastly should be... Alise? Alice was it? Yes, the lesser subhuman who has the magicka capacity of a earthworm. At first I thought she was hiding her strength, but then I was surprised to find she is really that w- Oh sorry, i'm rambling, mhmhm~!

You may call me Louis, or "Louie". I'm a timeoid, who shall soon become a master of Astral magic, and... Oh why bother explaining, it's not like that's important! What is important is that I can crush foes with merely a few thoughts! So the skills I bring will definitely be of use to us all! using the cosmos and time itself as my weapon... You will be impressed, of that I am sure~"

Her brows furrowing, Alice's face managed to turn a tomato color as her shoulders began to tremble. Uttering a singular syllable, a large cone of paint spattered itself in Louis' direction, while also giving off a loud, shrill ringing noise that was audible throughout and even outside the tavern.

"Tell me where the dungeon is!" Alice shouted at the demon. "If I have to spend another moment with these guys, I think I'm gonna lose it, Mister Vulthathar!"

As the tiny wizard sounded off her paint spell, the tavern seemed to shake a bit as something seemed to be moving just beneath the floor boards. As the ringing sound died off, the tavern-goers grumbled before continuing their business of drinking, bragging, and arm wrestling. The barkeep pounded his fist against the bar. "Dammit, give a little warning next time" he groaned.

"The dungeon?" Vulthathar started "You're standing right on top of it. This man here actually hired SODE to do the pest control when he saw the door to a dungeon opening up right in his cellar."

"Yeah. Now the little rat problem I had is a big rat problem. They're huge! About the size of that girl's head" the barkeep babbled, nodding toward Alice. "Come over here" the barkeep opened the door behind him.

Through the door were a series of wooden steps, which turned back and into the cellar proper. Each step seemed creakier than the last. Closer to the bottom, the smell of rat feces being ever more present. The cellar itself seemed normal, however. Shelves were lined with different barrels and boxes presumably all containing some kind of alcohol. At the far left corner, however, was a wide opening lined with cobblestone brick which looked noticeably different from the wooden walls which lined the tavern's basement. An eerie green mist seemed to permeate from the entryway.

Mimi was once again amazed by this new loud paint spell. All magic, really, was amazing to her as she had not seen much of it before, but it was even more impressive that it came from such a young Human. From what she had read, most wizards couldn't do things like that until they were quite a bit older than her. Perhaps Alice really was as amazing as she said, not that Mimi had reason to doubt her.

While the Mimic did think that it would be a good idea to introduce themselves properly, the idea was hidden behind so much snark from Louis that she didn't want to dignify the behavior with a response. How a group of adults could lower themselves to pick on a small child like they seemed to be doing, Mimi did not know. Mimi had learned from big sis that special concessions had to be made for children when interacting with them, because Mimi was a child herself and thus was treated with at least a level of understanding even when she misbehaved. Like that time she got hungry and ate that pretty necklace because she didn't know any better.

Thus, Mimi ignored Louis and left to check out the dungeon. That was what they were there for, after all. She just hoped that Alice's feelings weren't too hurt by the crass behavior of the rest of the group.