In the kingdom of Fredricus, there is a man. A mighty dragonslayer renowned throughout the lands for his deeds. A hero unlike any other. This story is about his brother.
Reemus is an exterminator living in the kingdom of Fredricus. He yearns to be recognized as a hero, but he lives in his brother's shadow. Trying to help him with his goal is Liam, a small purple bear, who isn't much good in a fight but has a good head on his shoulders and is a talented musician; he's Reemus' chronicler, balladeer, and closest friend. Together they take on all manner of bugs and beasts that cause as much trouble (if not more so) than a dragon but are much lower-profile.
There are currently five installments - the prologue
, and chapters one, two, three and four. Chapter four was previously only available to those who preordered the premium installment, the Ballads of Reemus: When the Bed Bites, but was released at the same time as Ballads was released to the general public.
There was a Kickstarter for a second premium installment, "Ballads of Reemus 2", that will reboot the plot of the original four installments with new puzzles, go beyond where they left off, and bring the plot to a conclusion.
The Several Journeys of Reemus has examples of:
- Adventure Guild: The Department of Heroic Quests. This is where Reemus must stake a claim on the quest to exterminate the Death Slugs and where he can help deal with smaller problems around Danricus.
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: In response to hearing about an acrobat who was abducted by potatomen.Liam: Reemus, you know what we have to do!Reemus: Yes, I'll start work on the giant deep fryer and you find a peeler. We'll French Fry these creatures right out of existence!Liam: Or we could just break into the lair and get the acrobat.
- Beary Friendly: Reemus' companion Liam is a small chubby bear who besides being very amicable, is also incredibly clever and strives to become a bard.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Reemus' specialty. He prefers to deal with them, too, as he feels that being hired for infestations of mundane bugs hurts his reputation.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Reemus is a fairly smart guy and a pretty heavy hitter when the chips are down, but given the choice, he'd rather use the low-brainpower violent option over more thoughtful methods, and the let-it-solve-itself method over the low-brainpower violent option. Liam is an interesting application of the trope; although he's considerably more proactive than Reemus, as bears go he has more in common with a teddy than a grizzly, so much of his "proactivity" involves motivating Reemus to do the heavy lifting while he does the brainwork Reemus isn't interested in.
- Controllable Helplessness: When Reemus and Liam are tied up by a Gygax, you have to use his knee-jerk inclination to wallop Reemus to escape.
- Crossover: The Death Slugs from The Visitor are a major antagonist.
- Decoy Protagonist: Initially, it appears that you're going to be playing as the legendary hero Raymus. Instead, it turns out you're playing as his brother Reemus.
- Doomed Hometown: Considering the abandoned castle, the swarm of Death Slugs, the return of the evil Gygax race, and the pillar of smoke rising from the direction of the town, it's safe to say that things don't bode well for Fredricus.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The prologue is the only game in the series where you can die or otherwise lose, and Liam is just an Exposition Fairy instead of actively taking part in puzzle solving.
- Exposition Fairy: In the prologue, Liam would stand at the entrance to the room and give advice about the puzzle when clicked. In later games, he takes a more active role in puzzle solving. In-universe is the All-Knowing Parasite; a prescient leech with a giant eyeball, it knows all and will tell you what you need to know. But it lives and feeds on the tail of the Devouring Worm, which is also Exactly What It Says on the Tin, so you're probably better off saving it for something damn important.
- Fantastic Flora: Fire-extinguishing cacti, carnivorous tentacle trees, and explosive beach mushrooms, oh my! Every game in the series introduces bizarre new lifeforms that inhabit the lands around Fredricus.
- The Ghost: Reemus' brother Raymus is mentioned once or twice, and is more or less the source of Reemus' histrionic tendencies, but doesn't really appear in the games.
- Instant Sedation: Reemus is struck by a dart loaded with so much sedative that it knocks him out instantly.
- It Tastes Like Feet: Reemus thought strawberry daiquiri flowers taste like old boots. He was wrong; they taste more like decomposing feet wearing old boots.
- Last Ditch Move: The bat in the prologue doesn't get killed by the fall, and grabs Reemus before he proceeds to the next scene.
- Mesodiplosis: From the beginning, as part of an example of Well, This Is Not That Trope, a list of a person's reputations are listed: "[Emotion] by [Group]":Many moons ago in the Kingdom of Fredericus, there lived a champion dragon slayer. Beloved by the people, feared by outlaws, hated by dragons.
- Multiple Endings: Every game has at least two different endings. Normally the choice is down to the last scene, but in Chapter 3 there's a full-blown split path branching from the second scene. In this chapter, both endings technically lead into the next chapter. In chapter 1 and 4, the three endings all lead into the next chapter, because the only difference between them is the method by which Reemus reaches the goal of the final puzzle.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Inside Castle Fredricus is a death slug corpse the size of an adult human. Considering how dangerous death slugs are even when small, you can't help but wonder how anyone managed to kill it.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Reemus is overshadowed by his dragon-slaying brother. However, he gets his opportunity to become a hero himself when he is requested to kill an ant queen.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Reemus dons the head of a decapitated ant. Without the optional disguise, the ant queen will smash Reemus with her fist.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Reemus being the red, and Liam being the blue.
- Refused the Call: Reemus is so rattled by the incident at Castle Fredricus that Liam has to talk him out of going home and drinking away his troubles. Fortunately, he gets over his apprehension, or else the series would be a lot shorter.
- Rescue Sex: Implied in the prologue. Liam's ballad about Reemus's latest adventure mentions Reemus "disappearing into the night with the very grateful wife of the local magistrate". Reemus asks Liam to leave that part out.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Liam and Reemus.
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: If you get the "Legendary" ending in the Prologue game, the last two lines of the ballad Liam sings fall under this trope:Now the townsfolk gossip about this ingenious trick -Instead of the length of Reemus' ... hair
- Talking Animal: Not just Liam. Some bugs and other strange creatures communicate with the main characters as well.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Liam: "Sugar Bee Honey? This stuff is so sweet it induces a temporary diabetic coma! I better watch out-" *is hit*
- Tempting Fate: Reemus: "Ha! I thought that would be a lot harder. See Liam, even the scariest slugs are no match for Reemus the exterminator... Uhhh... It just turned itself inside out. That might be our cue to leave..."
- Tongue on the Flagpole: The concept is referenced in the prologue, where the giant tongues are tricked into licking the berry juice during the winter.
- Tranquillizer Dart: In chapter two, Reemus is shot from offscreen by a dart so loaded with sedative that it actually sprays a considerable amount on Liam when it hits. Liam has just enough time to identify the sedative before he, too, is shot and goes under. Later on, they have to collect a sample of it (it's a type of honey made by a particular bee, which is so potent that even a small amount contains enough sugar to induce a temporary diabetic coma) to exploit its faux-sedative properties.
- Violation of Common Sense: In the prologue, the easiest way to defeat the Ant Queen is to jump into her mouth.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: The only piece of attire Reemus is wearing from the waist up is a ridiculously short open vest. It serves to establish his lazy and reckless nature.
- Weird Trade Union: The plot of Chapter Four: The Beastly Black Hole of Bureaucracy. Reemus and Liam must lay claim to the death slug quest through Danricus' hero regulations board before anyone else gets their hands on it.
The Ballads of Reemus: When The Bed Bites has examples of:
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Oswald is a competent baker, but chooses to bake literal gravel into his mud pies for some reason. Ludzo the butcher claims that the rotten fly-infested meat is the tastiest meat in the shop, though he is probably the only person who can stomach the stuff.
- Destructive Saviour: Reemus is so infamous for causing property damage during his jobs, that killing a giant horsefly without breaking anything is considered a major achievement. Nobody would hire him if he weren't the only exterminator in the kingdom.
- Gaiden Game: Although it stars Liam and Reemus, Ballads is a separate story from The Several Journeys, canonically happening before the latter in the series timeline.
- Level Ate: The condiment forest, which was mentioned in passing in the second chapter of Journeys, makes an appearance in this game.
- Neat Freak: Hob the miller. He is so busy keeping the mill clean that he rarely gets any milling done.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The game starts off with Reemus catching a giant horsefly using the rope from Grappa's bed, making Grappa too tired to serve drinks and upsetting the townsfolk. The entire plot of the game ends up being a long string of increasingly big mistakes on Reemus and Liam's part, culminating in them setting all of Fredricus on fire.
- Oblivious to His Own Description: Reemus has a teddy bear named Finnigan, which he always carried with him before he met Liam. Liam is glad Reemus stopped bringing a small bear with him everywhere.
- Punny Name: Ty is a man who makes rope. Now, what do you do with rope?
- Rousing Speech: Liam convinces Reemus to fight back instead of fleeing the kingdom after Reemus accidentally invites an army of fire ants to pillage his hometown.
- Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass: In the fifth scene, Liam must obtain a magnifying lens from a kid who is using it to burn an anthill. In the final scene, Liam uses the lens from Dr. Nova's telescope to burn the fire ants to death.
- Suddenly Voiced: All the characters in The Ballads of Reemus. Justified since this game is much longer, and is actually being sold.
- Summon Bigger Fish: When the whole town has an infestation of bed bugs, Reemus decides to get rid of them by calling in some fire ants.
- Testosterone Poisoning: Ludzo the butcher. His feats include hunting and butchering animals with noodle implements, eating rocks, drinking snake venom, and punching out a bard for insulting his clothing.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Bed bugs will never get out of your bed after getting comfortable, and will complain and bite you if you try to move them, which is why they're often called the teenagers of the insect world.
