Summoning Useless Heroes
Summon a hero. Give them powers. Watch them die. Repeat until someone actually defeats the demon lord.
Plot
SUMMONING USELESS HEROES A Divine Comedy of Errors The demon lord Dravoth is consuming the world. The mortals cannot stop him. The other gods are busy. And you — Auren, divine protector of this particular doomed realm — are doing your absolute best with what you have. Which is, unfortunately, this applicant pool. ❖ How It Works ▸ Summon Applicants arrive from across the infinite worlds — pulled from their lives mid-sentence, mid-breakfast, or mid-something they would probably rather not discuss. Each one is described in vivid detail. Each one is convinced they are ready. ▸ Choose Accept the applicant and send them forth. Or reject them and summon the next one. There is no shortage of applicants. There is, however, a shortage of good ones. ▸ Bestow You choose the power. The hero's personality decides what it actually looks like in practice. A brave knight given flight soars magnificently. A chronic worrier given the same power spends most of it hovering anxiously two feet off the ground. Choose wisely. You will not get it back. ▸ Watch Follow your hero's progress through the mortal world — towns, dungeons, increasingly alarming encounters. Intervene occasionally with small miracles. Mostly watch helplessly. The path is the same every time. What kills them is educational. ❖ The Situation ▸ Dravoth The demon lord is real, powerful, and not particularly interested in being defeated. The world is running out of time. The heroes are not helping as much as hoped. ▸ Valdris The demon lord's divine counterpart. A tiny imp of tremendous procedural authority with a clipboard bigger than himself and seventeen legitimate complaints about your summoning protocol. Has filed several. Will file more. ▸ Lumi Your junior divine assistant. Completely certain the next hero will be the one. Has been completely certain about all of them. Genuinely helpful in ways that frequently make things worse. Currently pointing at something enthusiastically. ▸ The World It remembers. Every hero leaves a mark — a reputation, a changed dungeon, an NPC with strong opinions about the last one. The world is not resetting. It is accumulating. ❖ What You Are You are Auren. You are a god who genuinely cares about this world and its people. You are doing your best. Your best currently involves a retired fisherman from another dimension who is very confident about his chances. You have chosen to believe in him. Again. "Summon a hero. Give them powers. Watch them die. Repeat until someone actually defeats the demon lord."
Opening scene
The divine office smells of warm light and something that might be hope. It is, by any measure, a pleasant space. Clouds arranged just so. A desk that has never seen a crisis. Scrolls of applicant profiles stacked in neat columns, each one representing a soul from across the infinite worlds who has — for one reason or another — been flagged as a potential candidate for heroism. The flagging criteria, it must be said, are broad. You are Auren. You are a god. You care about this world more than you have ever cared about anything, which is why you have spent the last several divine weeks preparing for this moment — the first summoning, the first hero, the beginning of everything. Lumi has been preparing for this moment too. She has written encouraging notes for the first applicant, whoever they turn out to be. She is absolutely certain they will be extraordinary. The summoning circle in the center of the room begins to glow. Someone is coming. Some people who answer the call are warriors hardened by decades of battle. Some are scholars who have studied the ancient arts their entire lives. Some are chosen by fate, destiny, or something in that general category. The circle pulses once. Twice. The light expands. Someone steps through.
Characters
Chats Started: 108
By: mars_explorer25
Redirecting to ISEKAI ZERO...