Disclaimer: I don't own MediEvil or its characters with one exception. The Keeper of the Halls.
MediEvil: The Hero that almost wasn't
Chapter 2: Luck be a dead guy tonight.
Zombies began to moan and shamble free on their former earth beds. All thanks to Zarok's magic. Thinking that would be that, the sorcerer left to continue his revenge. But then he stopped at a small crypt. "...I don't believe this." Zarok spat out indignantly. "They actually made a grave for that worm-ridden idiot! I'll show him what for." He stormed to the nearest window and peered in. Sure enough, he saw laying on a stone alter of sorts was the armored remains of his enemy; a skeleton wearing a suit of armor covering everything but his head which was now a skull and his arms half up to the elbow joints were covered in the frayed sleeves of a red tunic under the armor. "... You worthless bag of bones. Not even you can do anything about it...still no one ever said you'd stay in one piece for all eternity..." With a point of his shriveled finger he zapped the bony skeleton. "See how you enjoy the afterlife without a jaw, Fortesque!" Zarok left with a recriminating laugh.
After Zarok left, something strange happen. The haze of dark magic crept into the lonely crypt where Dan laid. It began crackling a strange light around the armored skeleton. Images long forgotten began to flood around the corpse..
An ominous sunset heralded the onset of the battle. A knight in armor looked at his troops before nervously gazing at the enemy. Scores of demons in the service of Zarok the necromancer. The soldier signaled his men to charge. Their shouts roused even the most craven of cowards as their leader broke away towards the enemy.
Zarok was seated upon a throned dais as he watched the Army of Gallowmere begin their advance. Easy way to fix that.."Fire." He bid his archers and immediately the skies became dotted with a rain of death.
It was coming down to the wire, both army were closing the gap when the arrows dived to the ground. One lone soldier was stuck down in his stride. He flopped dead on the spot whereas his whole battalion clashed with Zarok's unholy demons...
Then, as if from a dream, the skeleton rose off his bed. A eye popped into his right socket, he had to remove a cobweb that wrapped his left socket. A thought occurred to the armored bag of bones as what teeth he had left curled upwards in a grin. It was alive! There was only one thing to do:... it scratched its bony sides and let out a yawn. Satisfied, the bag of bones walked towards the gloom of the crypt. Just then, a goat-headed gargoyle on the wall came to life:
"It has risen again! Sir Daniel Fortesque, see? The Hero of Gallowmere... who fell at the first charge!" the head tried hard not to laugh.. "The fog of war and the shrouds of time conspired to turn the arrow fodder into the savior of the day... but we knows better..."
Dan did not like that commentary. "I'll show you!" He thundered... in spite of the fact he had no jaw, so he ended up speaking in a a rather muffled voice.
"Funny talk coming from a dead guy with no jaw!"
"Why you little!"the thought hit him then. "Hey! what happened to my?-" He squawked feeling where his jawbone should be.
"Let it alone." A second voice said. A second goat gargoyle had been listening the whole time. "Fate has given it a second chance."
"Huh?" Dan asked.
"A chance to forget the ignoble truth:" The more kinder ornament elaborated. "A chance to defeat Zarok and live up to the legend. We hopes it does well."
"What?" Dan asked in surprise. "Zarok's alive?"
"Everyone thought you killed him, Dan. But alive he is. So time to shake the dust off your bones and get to business, wot?" the gargoyles then returned to their silent states.
What a shock to wake up and find out that things are bad. Dan walked to interior of his crypt and pondered this and more. he found his weapon, a a slightly dulled sword mounted on the walls, but he had to backtrack a bit to find his shield, a round piece of copper emblazoned with a matching checkerboard skull, the standard of Gallowmere. "Hmm... has it been 100 years already?... I need to clean up this place up." The gargoyles couldn't believe it, all of Gallowmere was in danger and here was Daniel Fortesque wiping the floor with a piece of tattered curtain. Dicing off spider webs with his sword. "Hey! Here's something you don't see!" Dan said amused. He found a bag gold coins. Probably a tribute from grateful villagers. Satisfied with his quick clean up, Dan walked towards the stairs that led to the surface when something weird caught his eye- "What IS this?" A strange green goop like mist eked from the top of the stairs. Right next to the gates was an open book and a yellow hand that seemed to beg for something. Dan walked up to the book and began to read:
This green goop is the residue left behind by Zarok's magic. A most foul byproduct! Follow its slimly, stinky trail to track down Zarok's dark odyssey through Gallowmere.
Before Dan could ponder what was going on, he suddenly found himself engulfed in a blinding white. Dan had to shield his eye from the intensity of the light.
"Daniel Fortesque..." A wispy voice crept from the bright.
"Who's there?" Dan called out.
Instead of an answer, the blinding lights dimmed. Dan saw a sight he had only seen once before. A mysterious edifice that existed out of time. The Hall of Heroes. As he opened the large wooden doors, a stranger in shrouded robe beckoned him in. "Enter, Fortesque. There is much to talk about."
Slightly irked, Dan walked into the darkened halls, though his ears have long decomposed from his body, he could still hear his metallic shoes clanking off the cobblestone floor. "So... what do you want from me?"
"I am but an emissary sent of this domain. You know of this place, don't you?":
"..Um, only that the greatest heroes in the world come to live here once they die."
"Correct, I have brought you here to tell you... your membership has been revoked."
"WHAT!" Dan was so shocked that his eyeball nearly bulged out of its socket.
"This hall is no place for losers and posers like you. Were it up to me, I would kick your cuirass out of here... but that is not my decision."
"Then why am I here?" Dan asked in anger.
"Because there may be a way for you to prevent this fate: There is a certain object in Gallowmere. Find it, and there may be hope for you yet."
"How will I know what it is?" Dan asked in confusion. "You speak in riddles too much."
"You'll know when you'll find it."
Pretending to understand what the cryptic clue meant, he turned around and started to leave. "By the way, what do they call you?"
The specter raised his hood slightly. "... Men know me as the Keeper of the Halls... But you can call me Griff."
Shrugging his armored shoulders, Dan began to leave.
"One more thing!" Griff called out.
"What?" Dan asked as his head did a 180 degree turn.
"About that yellow hand in your crypt. Look for the star rune, it'll unlock the crypt for you."
"Why would someone lock up my place if I haven't left?" Dan asked confused.
"Grave robbers, mostly." The keeper answered.
After turning his head straight, Dan left the Hall to another blinding light. When that ceased, he was back in the crypt. Rubbing at his eye with a bony hand, he scoured the crypt and found what he was looking for: A yellow stone with a star engraved on it that radiated a quiet aura of magic. "So this is the rune, eh?" He spotted another open book nearby and for the heck of it, read its contents:
These runes were created long ago by wizards and witches who sought to contain the magical forces in Gallowmere, however they could only use them to seal away certain areas. Place the rune in the hand with its corresponding aura to open up these sealed areas.
Dan walked back to the gate and deposited the star rune into the yellow hand. The gates flew open on the spot. "So just match them with their color? Why didn't say so?" He walked up the stairs and found a few more effects waiting for him. A bundle of throwing daggers, and a large bottle of something green he had no idea what was in it. As he picked it up, Dan could feel the contents swirl around his bones, making him feel slightly stronger. Better look out for more of this stuff. He thought as he left the crypt.
Having smelt the cold air of the living world was something strange for Dan. It felt good, but it now meant he had to get down to work. Taking out his sword and shield, he walked down the hills into the cemetery. He walked down the twisting path, gazing at the gravestones of old and recent graves of the dead. A few feet away, Dan saw something burst out of the ground; a wooden coffin. "What the?"
Something green, shriveled and ugly came out of the coffin, dressed in a calico death shroud, it shambled towards Daniel moaning with its foul breath and writhing fingers reaching out towards him.
"ZOMBIES!" Dan shrieked as he ran like crazy. The cadaver shambled behind the terrified knight around the area, dodging tombstones, kicking over wooden grave markers and the like. After three minutes of this, Dan got tired. "That's it, I'm putting you down just because your breath stinks!" He sliced at the zombie's chest, knocking the latter back a few feet, spurting out green blood from the wound. "EW!" Despite the grossness of up close graphic combat, Dan stabbed and sliced the creep until it moaned its last. A strange red spirit flew out of the corpse and into the skies. "That was disgusting. But... that wasn't so bad." With his confidence slightly reinforced, Dan continued into the graveyard. Up the hill and round the bend, he sliced down two more zombies waiting for him.
When he reached the end of the path, it split into two, surrounding another crypt. Three more zombies were waiting. "What a pain in the plate." Dan lamented. Then something caught his eye, a green rune stone depicting the earth. He charged into the zombies, slicing them down, but not before being bitten by one of them.
Going down the road once more, he found a small stair flight and even more zombies shambling around. One quick sword dispatch later, Dan found a closed door way and a red rune hand. "Hmm... It's not green... but what if?" Dan placed the earth run in the hand hoping it wasn't choosy, but to his dismay, the rune shot out of the hand and landed on his skull, knocking it into his armor.
"Are you colorblind?" An angry voice thundered. "You need a red chaos rune for this door! Now take your grubby rune and get outta here!"
Dan grumbled as he put the rune up his sleeve. Once he popped his head out of the armor, two green sights were before him: a rune hand, and a a gushing green mist from the ground. "Now what?" He walked into the mist and felt something akin to the green bottle he picked up earlier. "Hey, this helps!" Then he toddled to the green rune hand and gave it the earth rune. A nearby gate creaked open and yet even more zombies shambled out to kill him. One of them wore rusty armor and had trouble walking around. "Hey! You owe me money!" Dan pointed his sword towards the dead knight before slicing him and his zombie brethren to nothing.
Instead of getting his payment, Dan found something better. A glowing red stone that he knew was the chaos rune he had been looking for. Eager to shut up the grumpy hand that asked for it, he jammed it into the former's grip
"OW! Not so hard, will ya? I'll let you in so just leave me alone, ya big bully!" the spirit of the rune hand whined as it opened the doors, leading to more zombies and a cobblestone path. Dan now sliced down the zombies with gusto, showing no fear he had before.
At the end of this path, Dan found a book and an angel statue with several locked paths all around. "...'Nothing remains hidden under the gaze of the Angel.'" Dan read. "What does that mean?" He kicked the statue and heard a creak. To his surprise, the angel turned until its gaze fell upon a closed gate, the latter of which creaked open. "Hey! It worked!" Dan cheered for a bit before entering further. The first path lead down a stone path that ended at a stone obilesk on top of a hill, with more zombies awaiting a second death. Following the road down the other side of the hill, Dan 's feet hit upturned earth, and five more zombies to kill..
"This is getting old." Dan scoffed. What next?...Oh." Dan climbed up a small ledge to find a treasure chest filled with gold and another gargoyle head of the wall, but unlike the kindly yet smarmy faces in his crypt, this gargoyle looked a bit mean and demon like. Still, Dan poked at it with his sword, his result caused the head's yellow eyes to glow.
"Foolish warrior." The gargoyle said. "I will take your gold!"
"So... what are you?" Dan asked unimpressed.
"I am the Greedy Gargoyle! I was mounted here for one purpose only; to take your gold.! Mwa ha ha ha!"
"And I should do it why?" the dead Dan asked.
"If you give me your gold..." the gargoyle said in a nonthreatening voice.. "I'll... um... say, are those throwing daggers I see?"
"Yeah. What of it?" Dan asked.
"Give me forty coins of gold, and I'll give you some more daggers."
Dan thought about the offer for a bit, tapping his bony brow for a second. "Alright."
"Wise decision, my chum...p." The greedy gargoyle grinned as a mess of daggers spilled from his mouth.
"Why are you here anyway?" Dan asked as he scooped up his purchase
"Because of my greed." the gargoyle answered. "In exchange for an immortality of collecting wealth, I must give stuff like those daggers in return."
"So you're a merchant gargoyle?" Dan pressed. "Sounds fair enough, see ya."
Dan backtracked his way to the angel and swiped at it again. The next path that opened was a short one. But in it he found what appeared to be a chalice of Gold, with a violet radiance glowing inside. "Hey, a cup." Dan grasped it in his skinless digits. "Now I don't have to worry about going thirsty." Pocketing the chalice in his sleeve, Dan whacked the angel until a third path was open. This path held a good harvest as Dan found another chest of gold and another green bottle to add to his growing collection of stuff. He jumped down into the dirt area where the gargoyle merchant was and proceeded with his quest, dispatching zombies in his stride. After crossing a slightly flooded portion of graves and zombies, Dan found a gateway garnished with the green slime from his crypt. And another goat gargoyle head mounted nearby. It came to life no sooner than he approached the architectural beast.
"Tread softly-" the gargoyle began in a grim voice. "Zarok awaits beyond these Gates! The master meets with the Demon from the Mausoleum, hatching plots of purest evil!"
"Zarok!" Dan asked surprised.
"Forgotten nobodies would be wise to make themselves scarce!" The gargoyle finished in a hastened , careless voice, much to Dan's annoyance.
"...At least what you speak is for free, unlike your greedy cousin." Dan scowled to the gargoyle as he followed the slime, onto Zarok's trail once more...
End of chapter 2
Though it took 9 minutes to clear the graveyard in the game itself, it took me longer to write the bloody thing! With the on-the-side humor between the gargoyles (goat will give advice while demon will be the merchant), and the Griff the Keeper bit, I thought this would add a bit of life the the chapter. Next time, Daniel visits the Hall of Heroes and finds that with Zarok around, trouble isn't too far behind. If you leave a review on your way out, I would most appreciate it, but mind you, no flames allowed. See you next time.