Email: Interview Requested

[Ezrihel]

from: talentrecruitment@vengefulspirits.org
reply-to: mengaurora@logistics.pbmil
to: anarchyinthegalaxy@nomorehero.com




Dear Mr. Touchdown,



We hope that this correspondence reaches you well. We at the Phantom Blossom saw your performance in the latest Carnivale Rosa Games and noticed your follow up Multwitter post, and decided to reach out to you with a unique work opportunity we feel will fit your experience and style.

The Spirits of Vengeance are a loosely bound network of bounty hunters seeking to root out the repugnant evils infesting the greater Crossroads. This may range from battling back the forces of Darkseid's Unmade malice, to chasing down various terrorists and high-profile public enemies to restore peaceful order to a region. Besides experiencing the pleasure of knocking dire villains off their pedestals and keeping the common decent folk safe, there are a few choice benefits that come from working with us, including but not limited to:

↠ Access to one of the most focused bounty hunting organizations in the Crossroads,
↠ Frequent job opportunities with the greatest heroes of the Crossroads,
↠ Extensive networking with various governmental bodies,
↠ Subsidized* travel! See all of the various worlds and experience what they have to offer!
↠ Flexible work hours that YOU choose!


If you are interested, please follow this link↗ to set up an appointment time for your video interview.




*Subsidized travel dependent on availability of relevant funds. For questions regarding the Riders of the Crossroads program, please place an inquiry with the Travel & Logistics Department.​

 

[Ezrihel]

Congratulations! You have been invited to complete a recorded video interview with the Spirits of Vengeance. We understand that this process may feel daunting or confusing, so to remedy that we have provided below several tips to help ensure your recruitment goes as smoothly as possible.

Make sure to have an available and working webcam. You are free to use any smartphone, tablet or computer, or other device with an operational camera and microphone. You will have the opportunity to test your camera and microphone before starting the interview.

Plan for the interview to last about 30 minutes and ensure that you are in a quiet, distraction free location with as little background noise as possible. Once you are ready to begin your interview our recruitment officer will ask you a series of questions and record your answers. Be authentic, relax and allow for your true skills to shine. Once completed, your responses will be reviewed and our recruitment officer will contact you in three to five business days with further instruction.
​

Start Interview↗

​

The Interview

Quest Giver: talentrecruitment@ vengefulspirits. org ( NPC @Ezrihel )
Quest Length: 1,000-2,500 words
Quest Location: Communications Boards
Quest Prerequisites: Receive Invite to Interview
Quest Reward: Standard + Admission into The Spirits of Vengeance
Repeatability: Upon success, no longer repeatable​

Upon clicking the link you are taken to a webpage in a new window. The interface of the website is sleek and sophisticated, the UI stripped down to an elegant minimalist style in white and blue. In the midst of the blank white page sits a large black box that asks for permission to access your camera and microphone to record audio and video. When your scheduled interview begins you will be greeted by your recruitment officer, a fair skinned woman with neatly tied back black hair, and dark brown eyes. Her nametag reads 'MENG' in full capitals and she is in a burgundy red formal military suit known as a Dress Red uniform, with several ribbons and metals decorating the left breast of her jacket.​

Objectives:
- Answer all of the Recruitment Officer's questions sufficiently

 

[Travis Touchdown]

Travis was on his computer waiting for any responses to his Multwitter post. His motel room was a lot crappier than the one back from where he is from. And it doesn't even have nearly as many collectibles as he had. He had to start from scratch to make ends meet—one of the many downsides of being isekaied into a new world.

He finally got an email from some group of bounty hunters interested in him called the Spirits of Vengeance. By their badass name alone he is already hooked even if he is more of an assassin than a bounty hunter. Yet if this was going to allow him to get more work and get paid doing it then so be it. He gets chased after bounties and all that, but he has no idea who the Hell Darkseid is or what the Unmade is. He goes to search it and search it online.

And apparently, Darkseid and the Unmade is very bad news. Now he has faced some overpowered baddies not too long ago that were freaking aliens. Yet he is not sure if he wants to deal with that. Probably better to let the professional and more experienced people in this organization handle it. While he goes after lesser threats.

He clicked the link and read the invite before getting everything set up. Throwing away trash off of his desk. And getting an Eastern-style folding screen for the background so that the interviewer wouldn't have to see his shitty motel room. Gets his mic set up which he bought to use for his podcasts.

He makes sure that the camera is aligned correctly. Giving them both a quick test and sure enough they worked just fine. Finally, he clicks the link to the interview.

 

[Ezrihel]

[The app connects you to the recruitment officer, a dull ringing sounding. It takes them all of five seconds to answer, saving your ears from the noise. As the video cuts on a fair skinned woman with neatly tied back black hair and dark brown eyes appears on the feed. Her nametag reads 'MENG' in strict capitals and she wears a burgundy red military suit known as a formal Dress Red uniform, several ribbons and metals decorate the left breast of her jacket. A braided golden cord wraps around her shoulder. Not a single hair or seam is out of place as she smiles cordially at you.]

[Aurora Meng:] Good evening, Mister Touchdown. I am Aurora Meng, Chief Warrant Officer of Logistics on the Phantom Blossom. I trust that all is well for you today? ... ... ... That's good to hear. As you know, today we will be doing your talent interview with the Spirits of Vengeance. As stated in the preceding emails, please plan for this session to last at least thirty minutes, and make sure that your environment is calm and noise-free. Would you like to take a moment to check? ... ... No? Alright, we'll get started then.

[Meng leans forward in her chair, typing something out on her keyboard before straightening back out.]

[Aurora Meng:] Let's start this out nice and easy for you. We've already seen you in action, but why don't you go ahead and tell us more about yourself as a person, Mister Touchdown? What is it that drives you to take on the work that you do?​

 

[Travis Touchdown]

"Well I've certainly had better days," he responded to the question about his day.

Luckily the place he was living in was quiet at the moment, hopefully, his neighbor's pet doesn't start barking or anything like that. The only background noise is the humming of the light fixtures in his room. He is then asked what exactly drives him as a person. And that's honestly a difficult question for him to answer.

"That's a tough question, back home it was originally just money, being the best, and getting the girl. Then it was just for revenge. Then it was helping someone revive someone I killed. Then I just decided to save the world from aliens just because I felt like it. Mostly at the moment, it's to make money just to get by, but I've been picky with the assassination requests like no women for instance, or like anyone innocent who didn't deserve it, definitely killed too many like that in the past and one time it bit me back in the ass something fierce." Travis said.

He still regrets taking those Pizza CEO assassination jobs, otherwise, Jaspar Batt Jr. wouldn't have made him go through that hellish revenge plot of his. Then of course there were some other fellow assassins he regretted killing in the ranked battles. Also, he left out the fact that his wife promised him something "very special" for him after he killed Prince Fu and his gang. Though she probably would've given it to him anyway in hindsight and that wasn't the sole reason he decided to take care of the so-called "Galactic Superhero Corps". Not to mention Fu also hurt one of his friends and killed another which made things personal besides the fact one of his buddies bombed the city he lived in.

"Frankly I just want to go home, but until I can somehow find a way back I might as well keep on doing what I do best, and unfortunately for me, that is killing people," Travis said.

 

[Ezrihel]

[Aurora Meng:] Unfortunately? Hardly. Not every life is strictly deserving of such 'merit' and mercy, so to say. What better than to be the precision tool meant to cut out their toxicity?

[She chuckles rather blithely over the statement, and notes something down at her console.]

[Aurora Meng:] Sorry. You'll have to pardon the casual approach, we work with hitmen and assassin types pretty regularly. But I very much doubt that you'll find yourself put in a situation where you'll have to murder any innocent people when it comes to jobs from our organization. Ultimately, we work to save innocent people and protect them. If your concern is a lack of coin or credit then I can assure you there is no shortage of opportunity in that regard either. Those who do good are always looked after.

[Meng clears her throat softly.]

[Aurora Meng:] Anyways, on to our next question. You mentioned that you once worked simply for the sake of revenge. Would you elaborate on that situation, Mister Touchdown? What happened to cause this, and what lengths were you willing to go to in order to achieve your revenge?​

 

[Travis Touchdown]

It still was unfortunate for him. For most of his life, Travis has been stuck in a perpetual cycle of violence. He's numb to it at this point, but even then he hopes to rest someday. Then he was asked about his quest for revenge. And for the lengths he went to to do so.

"Well, first off it all started when I took some extra assassination jobs and killed these CEOs, and it turns out they were the brothers and father of this one rich bastard named Jaspar Batt Jr. He teamed up with another guy for revenge against me cause I killed that dude's brother too, and while I was distracted Jaspar sent some goons to kill a best friend of mine named Bishop. He didn't deserve to die nor he needed to be roped into shit I've done so Jaspar made things personal. Hang on, I will need a drink for this I hope you don't I'll be right back," Travis said.

He then walks away from his computer and the camera to the fridge to grab a cold frosty beer before coming back and start drinking from the can.

"You see Jaspar bought this company called the United Assassins Association, where assassins are ranked and forced to fight each other to go up in the ranks. I was familiar with this before but this time he televised the whole thing, no different than that cocky masked red dude's own Death Games. Jaspar made himself number 1 which means to kill him I had to kill everyone ranked below him. I don't know if he thought I would be killed by one of the lower ranks. Or if he knew I would reach the top again so he could do the job himself," Travis said.

After drinking the rest of his beer he crushes the drink in his hands.

"Now a lot of these assassins were no saints, Hell I am not a saint either, but there were a couple that didn't deserve to be roped into his games. This one guy, Ranked 3rd Captain Vladimir, was a psychic Russian cosmonaut who didn't even realize he was back on Earth and mistook me for an American enemy so we ended up fighting, while he was dying he finally realized he was back and died content, but I felt sorry for him so I prevented his body from being disposed of and incinerated like how most other assassins bodies were and wanted his body to back with the Earth where it belongs." Travis said.

He then looked at his beer can remembering another. One he swore never to forget.

"And then there was Alice, Ranked 2nd and was sick of the UAA and the spectator sport it was. She wanted me to free her from this endless cycle of violence. She told me to never forget her and I kept true to that promise. And you want to know the worst part of it all? At the end of the day, my revenge against Jaspar felt hollow and gave me no joy. All of that killing, and all of that death, and for what?!" Travis explained.

He then threw the crumpled beer can to the side offscreen as it bounced off of the fridge and into a trash can placed next to it.

"Well, you wanted to know the lengths I was willing to go for revenge. Hope that satisfies you." Travis solemnly said.

He was willing to accept at this point that those answers were probably what cost him a chance to join this group.

 

[Ezrihel]

[Aurora Meng:] You could find solace in knowing that he never again had the opportunity to hurt anyone again. One less evil in the world is still a net positive...

[Meng pecks a short note into her console and dips her head in a sharp, bird-like nod. If she has been made uncomfortable by his answers or drinking she hides it flawlessly behind a mask of militant professionalism.]

[Aurora Meng:] Speaking of ends, great philosophers across many periods and cultures have arrived at the conclusion that it is immoral to use a fellow sophont as merely a means to the end, and yet sometimes we find ourselves facing tough choices. You have already shown that you are willing to put yourself in the line of danger to achieve your goals, but to what extent do you allow your ends to justify your means?

[Aurora Meng:] Say the population of a local city-state has been struggling in recent years due to poor management and interference from corrupt officials. Poverty and crime rates skyrocket and infrastructure falls into disrepair at the hands of an apathetic government. You have taken on a job to assassinate the crooked politicians responsible for this misery, and you just happen to get a tip to where the person, or people, running the state will be hosting an event: a very well guarded upscale mansion complete with perimeter security in the inner districts. You need to find a way in, handle the targets, and get out before the event ends.

[Meng sits back in her chair, hands folded neatly in her lap.] How do you approach your task? Tell me the plan.​

 

[Travis Touchdown]

Well, that reaction was better than he expected. She didn't get sick of him yet which is a relief. Of course, the interview is still going and he was met with a difficult scenario. One that required a lot of thinking. As this would be handled differently than he normally does things.

Usually, he just brute forces his way through a bunch of guards and thugs trying to kill him. Then he finds the person he's looking for/sent to fight and then boom dead. However, this would require a more delicate touch. Something he is not used to.

"This perimeter security, you mean like one of those big fancy walls gated communities tend to have right? I bet I could cut a hole through it with my Beam Katana, slip in, sneak past the guards, and kill any who spotted me before they reported me to the others. Then when the crooked politicians are backstage or taking a bathroom break or whatever that's when I surprise them and one slice and they're done like that. I wouldn't want to traumatize the audience of the event by doing the job in front of them, they might have some sympathizers in the audience who would try to pick a fight with me for killing their beloved candidates, and I take it this group wouldn't want to kill any civilians am I right? Then I'd just find my way back to the hole I made earlier, drive away on the parked motorcycle that I would have set next to the said hole, and that's that" Travis explained.

This plan was probably filled with a lot of holes. Especially considering his bright outfits and attire he sticks out like a sore thumb. Though it's the best he could come up with on the spot. And it's true he wouldn't kill people who aren't in the way of his target. Especially when after he's already done the job so it would be pointless picking a fight with those people even if they're the reason said politicians got into power.

Some people can be incredibly misguided and stupid. Especially where he came from. He can't entirely fault them or kill them because of that. Even if then he could just wrestle them to take them down nonlethally if it came down to that scenario. Speaking of which he still needs to look up Wunya the Green Mountain in action.