The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 4: Call to Adventure
"Patrick… Patrick!" a familiar voice called out to Patrick, as he instantly woke up with a startle.
As he looked around, he saw that he was lying down on the sofa in the basement, and standing by his side, was Taylor.
"Finally, you're up," she said, "I was wondering if you would wake up."
"Taylor…" Patrick said, as he rubbed his head, wondering what had happened…
And then it came back to him.
"Where are they?!" he asked, as he looked around.
"Who?" Taylor raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant.
"The creatures!" Patrick explained, as he slowly got up from the sofa, "The trolls and skeletons that were here!"
"Wait… trolls? Skeletons?" Taylor looked baffled.
"Yes," Patrick tried to explain, "they were here in the basement a little while ago."
Taylor looked at her older brother for a moment, blinked, and then said, "Okay… I think all that Dungeons and Dragons stuff has finally got to you, Patrick."
"I'm serious!" Patrick stated.
The two siblings looked to each for a moment, until Patrick felt like Taylor wasn't believing him, as he let out a small sigh, "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"
"Freaking out a little, maybe." Taylor then sighed also, as she said, "Look, I don't know what happened, but if you want, try and find someone to listen to you on what happened and see if they can help you."
Patrick had a bit of thought on that, as Taylor soon yawned and went up the stairs, "Anyways, I'm going to bed. You should too."
"Alright…" Patrick said, as he began thinking what Taylor said, he needed to find someone to talk to about the encounter…
And he then knew just who to talk to…
The Next Day, Mr. Sturges' Office…
Mr. Sturges was busy, listening to a bit of classical music while writing up some reports, when a knock came from his office door.
"Yes, come in." he said.
The door opened a little, and the teacher saw it was Patrick as he stepped in, "Ah, hello there, Patrick. Please, come in."
"Thanks, Mr. Sturges," Patrick said, feeling a little uneasy, "um… do you have a minute?"
Mr. Sturges had a good look at Patrick, and saw the look on his face, before switching off the music, "Are you alright? It looks like you committed a crime or something."
"Please, do take a seat." Mr. Sturges added, gesturing to the other side of his desk, as a way of telling the boy to sit down.
Patrick did what he was told, as he put down his bag and got out the nearest chair he could find, before rambling a little, "Alright, Mr. Sturges, I really don't know how to say this, but I just wanted to let you know that last night, something incredible happened! Actually, unbelievable. Completely unbelievable, that you may not believe me when I tell this, but it's completely true, I promise-"
"Okay, calm down, Patrick," Mr. Sturges said, feeling quite calm, "I'll believe you."
Patrick took a deep breath and decided to come clean on this, "Alright, you see, last night… I was unexpectedly visited by several… things in my house."
"Things?" Mr. Sturges asked, "What kind of things?"
"It would be weird if I told you this but…" Patrick took a deep breath, wondering if his teacher would believe in such things one would see in fantasy, "I was visited by some trolls and skeleton, and claimed I've been chosen to be their Paladin!"
Patrick looked to his teacher, seeing his stunned look on his face, surprised at what he just said… until he let out a small little chuckle, "Okay, I understand what you're saying."
"Uh… you do…?" Patrick asked, a little confused, while wondering if he truly believed him.
"Yes, you're not the only who enjoys Dungeons and Dragons, and these gamers want you to join their party, right?" Mr. Sturges said.
Patrick soon realized what he meant, as since he's been talking to his teacher a little bit about his time playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, that he believed that there were others out there who enjoy it like he does.
"Y-yeah! That's right!" Patrick grinned, going along with that, "There were these teens, dressing up and cosplay, you probably know what I mean, and they were inviting me to join their D&D club."
"And, forgive me for asking, why would that make you so perturbed? I thought you enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons?" Mr. Sturges said, as he picked up a pen and clinked it.
"Oh, yeah, I still do," Patrick said, as he got out of his seat and looked out the window, "it's just… they really weirded me out…"
As he looked out the window, he could see Biff doing football practice, only while he did kick the ball, it struck down one of the players doing practice with him.
The bully soon turned and saw Patrick looking from Mr. Sturges' window, before wagging his metronome finger and mutterly chanted, "Tick-tock. Tick-tock."
Patrick felt his blood turn cold and his insides churn, even as Mr. Sturges rose up and joined him.
"Now, I think I know what has you so distraught, Patrick." he said, getting Patrick's attention.
"You do?" the boy asked, in which the teacher nodded in reply.
"It's like I told you yesterday," Mr. Sturges said, as he placed a hand on Patrick's shoulder, "you have a lot on your shoulders. Too much, in my opinion, for someone your age. And I think this opportunity is causing you anxiety. I know you want to be there for your family, but it's as a great poet once wrote, "Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody"."
Patrick, upon hearing that advice, smiled as the bell rang for another lesson.
"Thanks for the advice, Mr. Sturges," Patrick smiled, "I really enjoy talking with you."
"Always." Mr. Sturges smiled.
The teacher watched as Patrick picked up his bag and headed toward the door… and the amulet peeked out from one of the unzipped pouches, as it's multi-coloured gem shone like a rainbow star.
As he saw the amulet, his eyes grew wide in shock and for some reason… disbelieve.
"Um, Patrick?" he said, before Patrick was about to exit.
"Yeah, sir?" Patrick asked.
Mr. Sturges looked a little curious… and weirdly uneasy as he asked, "What's that you have in your bag?"
Patrick a little bit realized what he meant, and wondering about keeping what the amulet was about yesterday a secret, he took out the mentioned object and showed it a little to his teacher and said, "Oh, it's just an amulet me and my friends found yesterday on the way to school. I wasn't sure what it was, but you wouldn't know, do you?"
Mr. Sturges looked carefully at the amulet with a stern look…
Then shrugged as he replied with a smile, "I'm sorry to say I have the foggiest."
"Alright," Patrick shrugged back, "thanks anyways."
As Patrick left his office, Mr. Sturges' smile faded… and had a serious look on his face.
He then headed to the bookshelf behind his desk, then got out one of his pens and unscrew a cap, revealing an unusually shaped key. Sturges removed a dictionary from the shelf, revealing a hidden lock, inserting the key, and accessed what looked like a secret room behind the wall.
In this room, it was glittered with various antiques, most of them seemingly not of Earthly origin, alongside several oddly shaped skulls. Ancient books and scrolls were on a nearby table, with several others occupying the corners.
On the table, there was a bookstand, which had a large book that said on the front cover 'The Lore of Xadador' with an image of two dragons standing proudly on the cover.
Opening the book, Mr. Sturges turned the pages to find the one he was searching for, until he finally spotted it.
The page he was looking for had on it an amulet with the framework featuring metal parts inside, with the name written proudly on top of the image.
"The Amulet of Xadador…" Mr. Sturges looked to the picture, and seemingly smiled proudly as if he had put 2 and 2 together.
"I hope you enjoy the D&D club you've been invited to, my boy," Mr. Sturges smiled… as his eyes gave out a golden glow for a second, "for I believe the amulet has found it's new champion!"
Later, that evening…
Patrick was once again at home after school, Taylor and Hilda were out again, and he wasn;t sure when they would be back. His mum was out working, and that meant he had to keep watch over Kira until then.
For once, Patrick felt a little better.
Maybe Taylor was right, maybe the whole encounter with the two trolls and skeletons was just his imagination.
He felt alright after his talk with Mr. Sturges, as what he said seemed to have put his mind to ease. He didn't seem to sweat it when one of Biff's goons chanted "Tick-tock" thing at him. Or felt nervous when he saw Victoria and her friends stealing a giggling look at him. Or even when Luz nearly got in trouble again with her lessons involving life reptiles, this time with lizards doing the role of 'dragons'.
It seemed like his life was becoming normal. And he was starting to feel happy about it.
It was at this moment that the amulet started to glow again in his bag.
Patrick had a good look at the object he found yesterday, with a bit of thoughts on what to do with it.
'Maybe Mr. Sturges is right,' he thought, 'maybe I do have a lot on my plate than I already have. I'll probably just take it to the antique collector's downtown, maybe it'll be worth something… hope it's still open too…'
Patrick grabbed hold of his bag and headed out the backdoor, knowing that if the antique shop was still open, he'd have to get there before it closed, meaning that he would have to take a shortcut instead of going the long way via bike.
As he got outside, the wind seemingly started to slowly kick up, almost like a whisper in the trees, so Patrick zipped up his jacket incase of a cold breeze.
And it happened.
Tick.
Patrick could have sworn he heard a shift of gears in his bag, so he took out the amulet, put down his bag and looked at the amulet once more.
Patrick then held it at an angle so he could read the back of it in the waning dusk light. All of a sudden the amulet's outer ring began to spin crazy like a dial and symbols etched into it started to… change.
They transformed into some unfamiliar language that Patrick had never seen before, before changing multiple times into several other languages, from Japanese/Chinese to Russian, then changed into Norwegian, then to French, to Spanish and then finally stopped at English.
English was the last language it stopped spinning at, as it revealed words illuminating around the amulet's outer edge. The words saying 'FOR THE GLORY OF MERLIN, MAY VORPAL LIGHT OUR DARKEST DAY' written in proud, capital letters.
Patrick stared at the words for a moment. Then something inside of him told him to read it, this feeling being similar as when he felt the need to pull the amulet out of the rubble on the day he found it.
"For the glory of Merlin," Patrick said, as he read the words carefully, "may Vorpal light our darkest day."
And that was the exact moment he said that, Patrick Lee Kirby's life changed forever.
It all happened so suddenly then. The world winded down to a quiet stop before it burst into sudden action. The wind howled and the trees waved as leaves danced in the air. Most of the animals that were in a four-block radius began to react via barks and howls from dogs and terrified meows from cats upon sensing something up in the howling winds and cackles of electricity in the air. The fence around the backyard trembled and shook, clattering against each other as the cloudy sky suddenly became clear.
Patrick noticed it all happening a little, as he continued to stare at the amulet, watching its ethereal rainbow glow shine and then blaze like a fire.
There were no words to describe the awe and wonder he felt in that moment; and there were none for the next moment when the blazing, ethereal multi-coloured fire burst out from the amulet.
Patrick watched it float in front of him, like some kind of fairy. It flew around him before it, without warning, shot into his chest.
He gasped a little as it sank into his heart, and he tried making sense of the sensations that suddenly flooded his body. It was like having euphoria wash over him and serenity flood through him. It was… It was amazing and magical and he didn't know what other words could possibly describe it all.
He barely noticed the flurry of other balls of light that suddenly spawned and shot into his chest; sinking into his heart like the first. The sensations within him magnified and it was like he was floating in the heavens.
Patrick blinked and registered the fact that he was actually floating.
He would have panicked, but somehow the feeling that he had at that moment was warm, and felt… so right.
Soon the wisps of multi-coloured flames circled and spinned around him, and in a flash of light, several pieces and parts of armor suddenly appeared around him and materialized on parts of the top body.
Soon, Patrick landed on his feet as the lights and wisps faded, and looked at what he now had on over what he wore.
While he still had his usual uniform on him from the jeans and shoes from the bottom, as well as his jacket, shirt and cap on top, the top part now was given a new look, as Patrick now wore what looked like a knight's silver suit of armor with green trimmings, as he had over his casual top clothes a breastplate (armor for the chest area), pauldrons for both his shoulders, he also had a right vambrace for his left forearm (the right arm still showing a part of his green jacket), while both hand areas wielded on gauntlets, and there was a black inner layer underneath the armor (basically shown from his left arm). Since he had on a hooded jacket, the hoodie of his jacket stuck out from the back of the armor.
Patrick blinked and breathed in stunned amazement as he admired what he was now wearing.
"This… is… flipping… AWESOME!" Patrick cried in excitement.
Patrick stood there for a moment, before striking a mighty pose like a superhero.
Then, several multicoloured wisps flew out of the amulet once more, and flew towards his right hand and into his palm, just as the others did when they sunk into his chest. Then a sword manifested from the wisps like magic.
Holding onto the sword from the hilt, Patrick took a good look at the mighty sword, as it included a diamond encased pommel, and a bejeweled guard that took the shape of dragon wings and its blade shimmering like it was a bright sun or moon in the sky.
He raised the sword, ethereal mist cascading off it's razor-sharp edges. Now this is something Patrick was not expecting to get, but he was thinking it would worth giving it a go!
Drawing upon all the amazing swordsman skills and moves that Patrick and his friends seen from various films that featured sword fights, as well as several Lightsaber moves from the Star Wars films and shows he enjoyed binging with friends and family, Patrick swung the sword across the darkening night air, as he heard it's keen edges shear through the atmosphere, tasted the residual energy still glimmering around it's guard, felt the balance of the blade in his hand.
'Now this,' Patrick thought proudly, 'this is that "something more" I've always wanted!'
Patrick soon struck another pose, bringing the sword up to the sky, a proud smile upon his face as he now knew that everything that happened really happened… and boy, he was going to enjoy every bit of it.
Patrick enjoyed this moment as he looked on to his mighty weapon at hand, ready for anything that would come his way…
...totally oblivious of his sisters, who were currently standing at the back door, completely stunned at what they were seeing, Hilda with an excited look, while Taylor was just wide eyed.
Until Taylor instantly cut off the moment as Patrick heard her cry "What the-?!"
Author's Notes:
And now Patrick has donned his armor.
The call to adventure has come, but will he answer?
Only time will tell, as next time, friends (and siblings) learn of Patrick's new call!
Until next time, True Believers!
Excelsior!