"Alright everyone," Jeremy straightened his stack of paper for notes in one hand while twirling a pencil in the other, "We're not yet done with character creation, but the last few steps require us making the world of Atlas first. Everyone ready?"

The four children nodded, eyes wide with excitement as the former nightguard placed the notes down. He let out a silent sigh of relief that he had managed to handle the Overlord reveal. That seemed to rattle them for some reason. Then again, maybe his speech was just that convincing.

Smiling to himself at the thought, he cleared his throat while placing his pencil down, "Ok then. We're going to use the Guided Establishment rules for this since this is everyone's first time playing. We're going to lay out some broad ideas and facts about Atlas, and then flesh them out either as we right them or as we play. The first step is to introduce your characters but since we've already done that and I have what you all have said written down, I'm going to move on to the other questions."

Jeremy looked towards Mary, wanting to get her out of the way due to her hyper personality, "You're first Mary. Why are you you're people's champion?"

"Because I'm the best and smartest and prettiest and-"

Ib placed a hand on her step sister's shoulder, stopping her mid-speech, "Mary. I think you should be more...specific. Like...what does Tanis do better than every other elf in the world? What makes the other elves look up to her?"

Jeremy silently thanked Ib as Mary started racking her brain for an answer. Her eyes opened wide with discovery as she shouted, "Oh! I know! She's the best painter in the entire undersea kingdom! All her paintings look like they're about to leap right off the page!"

"Really?" Jeremy's hand was already writing down what the young girl had said, "Does that mean they put a high value on art?"

"Yeah, I guess," Mary shrugged, but her smile didn't leave, "And they can talk to fishes, and can turn their legs into fishtails so they can swim! Like mermaids!"

Jeremy nodded, "Very good, Mary! That takes care of both of my questions. The first was why you were the Champion, the second was for you to tell me three facts about your people. These are things that are 100% true and will come into the creation of Atlas."

"Yes!" Mary pumped her fist, shooting a smug smile towards Asriel. Her smile turned into a frown when she saw the goat boy burying his nose in his character sheet.

Jeremy finished writing and turned to Ib, "Why don't you go next, Ib? Why is Arwen the Champion of her Kingdom?"

"Because I'm the only remaining member of the royal family," Ib brought her sheet up, her eyes narrowing as she read it, "It says here my kingdom has fallen, my family and fortunes have been lost. Does that mean it won't matter when creating Atlas?"

Jeremy shaking his head made Ib smile, as the adult said, "No at all. It just means we'll have to tweak it a bit. We can consider them a part of Atlas' past rather than its present. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah! I like that!" Ib put her paper down while putting a hand to her chin, "As for my facts, um..they cared a lot about being able to survive. Everyone was expected to be able to care for themselves if they have to. They also had a two-headed eagle as their symbol, the same that I have on my Royal Crest! And..."

"Oh! Can they have known my elves, Ib?!" Mary asked putting both hands on her stepsisters' shoulder excitedly, "Please?"

"Well, what do you all think?" Ib asked the other two players in the room. Both nodded yes, so she turned to Jeremy who gave her a thumbs up and started writing it down. Ib grabbed Mary's hands, both of them giggling with happiness.

"Can I go next, Jeremy?" the former night guard nodded to Asriel, who started looking over his character sheet. After a bit, he frowned and looked to Jeremy, "I'm not completely sure why I would be my people's Champion. I do know what their three facts are, though. Can I do those first and this later?"

Jeremy answered with a shrug, silently surprised that the kid had no answer to the Champion question, "I don't see why not. So, what facts have you come up with?"

"First, we are angels in a literal sense. We have wings and come from our version of Heaven. We just hide this fact due to how people tend to react to our presence. Next, we have extremely powerful healing magic. It's potent enough that we can repair lost limbs, though we can't bring anyone back from death. Lastly, we oversaw the creation of Atlas. We watched as the world was first formed and have been here ever since."

The entire table was silent by the time Asriel was done. His cheeks heated up in embarrassment at the attention he was getting, a small smile on his face. Frisk lightly punched him in the arm, smiling with praise.

As Jeremy started writing everything Asriel had said down, Mary frowned at the goat boy, "Wait...why do your people get to have created the world?"

"We didn't create it, Mary," Asriel explained, "We simply watched over it. We're mostly going to use that information for roleplaying and Lore."

Asriel shrugged, but that didn't get rid of Mary's frown. Sensing an argument coming, Frisk spoke up, "Um, Jeremy? Since I'm the Squire, I don't have a people to give facts about. I'm not even a Champion. What should I do?"

"Indeed, you're not a Champion, nor do you have a people Frisk," Jeremy said as she placed his pencil down, looking at the young boy with a smile, "But you do have two things that are just as important: A Purpose and Friends. You said you're here to keep them safe, why? Why are you risking so much to protect them?"

"That's easy," Frisk looks towards the other three kids, putting on his best smile, "They're my friends. And they're not the only ones. I know that their families, their people, everyone is waiting for them to come back safe and sound. I'm gonna make sure that happens. I'm gonna make sure that, when all is said and done, everyone is safe."

Ib and Mary both let out an "Aww", while Asriel returned Frisk's punch to the shoulder, "Thanks, Frisk. I'll do what I can to make sure Arthur's wish comes true."

"Hmm," Frisk nodded then looked at Jeremy, "you hear that, Jeremy? I've got an angel on my side. I think Boris should give up before he angers the Gods."

"Funny you should say that, Frisk," Jeremy straightened his sitting posture so he could look at all the kids, "Because, not that we're done with your characters, it's time to do mine. As a group, we're going to answer three questions concerning the Overlord. Whose people did the Overlord hit first and hardest? Whose people has he mostly ignored? What impossible thing has he already done?"

Jeremy tapped his fingers against the table while moving his gaze across all the children. He settled on Ib, who fidgeted under his eyes. Seeing that he was making the kids uncomfortable, Jeremy coughed into his hand and did what he could to soften his features. He addressed the entire table with a smile, "So, for the first question, what do you all think? Who did the Overlord attack first and why?"

"Maybe Asriel's people," everyone's eyes were on Frisk as he laid out his idea, "He's people are literal angels. And they have powerful healing magic. I feel like Boris would want to stop them from getting in his way first."

"Frisk does have a point," Ib says with a shrug, "No one else's race seems to be able to openly challenge the Overlord save yours."

"I can see that, but what about the elves?" Asriel replied, "They live in the sea, don't they? I'd think that would be more of a threat to Boris than angels. It encompasses most of the planet."

"Well, yeah, but..." Mary stopped mid-sentence, pouting sadly when she couldn't think of anything.

"I think it should be Asriel's Angels," Jeremy said, getting all the kids' attention, "And, I have an idea to answer the concern over the elves. I ignored the elves because of focused on art and painting they are. I didn't think they had any Champions or armies that could challenge me, so I ignored them. I attacked the Angels because you are the oldest creatures in Atlas. If anyone would be able to find something to defeat me, it would be you. And that answers the third question. The impossible thing I've already done..."

Jeremy let the answer hang in the air for a few moments for dramatic effect. Then he tapped his finger against the table while saying, "I managed to break into Heaven itself. Does that sound good?"

All the children answered yes, with Asriel smiling as he wrote down the information on his sheet. Jeremy did the same, tapping his pencil against the paper before continuing, "Alright then. Now there's something we need to do before we continue with Atlas. You all remember when I had you make your Bonds with each other, right?"

The kids all nod while Jeremy takes out his Overlord Playbook, "Well, now I'm going to do the same. We're going to establish what your Bonds are with me."

"But I thought we were only supposed to have Bonds with our friends?" Mary put a hand to her head in confusion, "And, the Overlord is the Bad Guy, right? Doesn't that mean we can't be friends with him?"

"Don't be so closed-minded, Mary," Asriel said without looking at the blonde-haired girl, "Everyone needs a friend, even Bad Guys."

Jeremy acted quickly to prevent the atmosphere from getting worse, "Well, you see, Mary, I do have Bonds with you all, but that doesn't make me your friend. I'm the Overlord. I don't have friends...at first. That might change as the game goes on. But for now, your Bonds with me are essentially how you know me and how I know you."

Jeremy picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Mary on his right, "I've written down the example Bonds that we'll be using. Everyone, read over them and write your character's name in the blank space, then pass it to someone else. When it gets back to me, I'll read out what everyone's written."

The paper was passed around the table until it got to Asriel, who paused for a moment as he looked at the paper. He smiled as he wrote down his character's name, then handed the sheet to the adult, "Jeremy? I think I know why I was chosen to be my people's Champion."

"Really?" Jeremy's eyebrow raised in curiosity, "And why is that?"

"I used to be your friend," the admission made the assembled children gasp in shock. Asriel's smile didn't fade as he kept going, "You said the impossible thing you accomplished was getting into Heaven. What if I was apart of that? What if I am responsible, either wholly or partially, for you being able to do that? And I was chosen as Champion to atone for it, or to bring you back to the light."

"That...sounds interesting," Jeremy nodded while reading the Bond, understanding slowly coming to him, "It builds on the Bond, and adds a layer of mystery that we can both use to enhance the narrative. I like it Asriel."

"It does sound intriguing," Ib admitted, running her hands through her ponytail.

"I'll certainly be looking forward to finding out what you did. I think it will cool and fun," Frisk said replied with a full teeth smile.

Mary was the only one who wasn't fully on board with the idea. She huffed and said, "But do we want someone who used to know the Bad Guy in our group?"

"Um, Mary?" Jeremy looked over the top of his notes, "You're Bond with me is 'Secretly admires me and the things I do.' No offense, but I don't think you should be throwing stones from your glass house."

"But I'm not in a glass house," Mary replied in confusion.

Jeremy facepalmed, "It's a saying, Mary. It means...nevermind. Why did you pick that Bond?"

"Well, I don't like the Overlord. He's the Bad Guy. But I feel like it'd be fun to paint with him. If he's seen Heaven, then he must have such wonderful ideas for paintings."

"That's...a good point. And keeping with your character," the soon to be Overlord admitted. He questioned everyone else, who all answered with shrugs and nods. He looked back at his sheet and turned to Frisk, "Oh. So Arthur managed to catch the one time when I failed did he?"

Frisk replied with a sly grin, "I'm the Squire, remember? People tend to forget I exist. Which can turn out to be a bad thing for them. Like when they lost to Arwen's people in their first engagement."

"Really?" Ib questioned, "But, I put down that the Overlord has caused great harm to my people. I figured it's a reason why we're a Lost Kingdom."

"That can still be true," Jeremy said as he put the paper down, "However, I can still have "lost" the battle. Your Kingdom likely managed to beat me, but they couldn't recover from the damage that I inflicted."

As Ib nodded her head, Jeremy went through the last few bits of the Guided Establishment. This part was the least important, so it went by the quickest. Unfortunately, time always seemed to speed up whenever you are enjoying yourself. And here, in the former nightguard's apartment was no different.

A knock on the apartment door got Jeremy to his feet. He walked over to the brown rectangular door and put his eye to the peephole. Afterward, he walked back to the main room to the kids discussing their characters. He coughed into his hand to get the children's attention, "Well everyone looks like we'll have to end it here for today. Gary's here to pick you all up."

"Awww," the kids said, disappointment evident in their tones.

"It's ok," Jeremy said while walking to the table, "We'll play the actual game when you all come back next week. Grab your stuff, hand me your Playbooks, and I'll see you all then."

The kids complied, gathering up their bags and otherwise as they got ready to leave.

"Bye, Mr. Jeremy!" Mary said as she skipped to the door.

"Thank you for having us," Ib nodded to him as she left.

"Keep yourself looking pretty," Frisk winked as he passed by.

"I'm looking forward to next time!" Asriel almost shouted, "I've got so many ideas!"

Jeremy waved to the children as they went out the door and joined the tall, effeminate man on the other side. He shared a nod with the purple-haired Gary before the door closed.

Once things were quiet again, Jeremy immediately went to the table. He pulled out his tablet, sat down, took up his pencil, and started writing.

He had the Fellowship.

He had his Overlord.

Now he needed an army.