The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 9: Warm Welcome Wagon? Part 1
Trollmarket, underneath Brady Oaks
"You getting all this, sis?" Patrick could hear Raph ask his sister.
"Oh yeah, definitely." Hazel replied, as she and Raph got out their phones and began taking pictures of what was basically the first part of the kids' trip to a new world.
The young humans were taking the moment to enjoy every bit of Trollmarket, amazed at the sight of so many gemstones that glittered the caves underneath their hometown, and trolls were wandering around the home to all trolls.
"This is extraordinary…" Taylor said, stunned.
"Pretty much." Patrick nodded, before looking to Blinky and asked, "This is your home?"
"Indeed, Master Patrick," Blinky nodded, as he, AAARRRGGHH!, the skeleton brothers and Ralsei walked down the steps, the kids following behind, "Trollmarket is a proud home and sanctuary to all good trolls. Now come, young masters, we've got much to see before we get to the prize site of Delta Rune."
"Dang! And here I thought the only thing underneath our town was dirty plumbing." Chuckie grinned, as he, too, got out his phone to take photos.
"Stay close now." said Blinky, "Few human feet have ever graced the ground of Trollmarket before."
"Anyone besides humans ever journeyed into the Trollmarket?" Frida asked.
"Most indeed," Blinky replied, "most that come down here are mainly Dwarfs and Gnomes, they are pretty good neighbours and are proud miners and tinkerers. Having helped make extraordinary machinery and equipment, as well as helped out on mining the finest gemstones that can be found underground."
As the group walked through Trollmarket, several of the trolls looked to see the unexpected travelers, while they knew about the other mythical creatures, they were surprised to see humans down here after a very long time.
"Humans?" one Troll asked when spotting Patrick and the others.
AAARRRGGHH! approached the curious troll, before replying, "Friends."
Continuing their journey, most of the kids began to observe all the different gemstones that were covering the walls and ceilings of the underground caves as they went, David and Chuckie moreso.
"Chuckie, take a look at these!" David said, a little amazed, as he looked, "Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, Rose Quartz…"
"There's some Topaz and Smoky Quartz as well." Chuckie smiled, spotting several more.
"Hey, look," David then said, admiring another type of rock, "I think that's Corneroupi…"
Unfortunately, before he could finish, the rock that he was admiring turned out to be another troll, who looked down at him with grumbling curiosity.
"Uh… hi…" David nervously said, before rushing off as he quickly added, "Nevermindsorry!"
"Hey, Chuckie, your knowledge of minerals is quite intriguing, almost Troll-like," Ralsei said with interest, "same to you, David."
"Aw, thanks… I guess," Chuckie replied, as he (sort of) appreciated the compliment, "David and I have a small knack of knowing our type of stones."
"Then I hope you and Master David will be interested in this!" Blinky said proudly, as he gestured onward towards something that got everyone's attention.
There, at the centre of the caves of Trollmarket, stood a large, tall, luminous crystal gem, showing off a beautiful colour of bright orange.
"Whoa…" Hilda said as she and the others looked in awe, "That looks amazing."
"Maximum velocity there!" Chuckie added.
"Heartstone." AAARRRGGHH! pointed out.
"That's right," Blinky said proudly, "It is one of the proud life forces of magic, which can even be used as a lifeforce for troll kind too, as well as the source of light and substance."
"Okay, that's totally the bomb!" a stunned Raph spoke.
"That's a lot of magical power juice for one big gem!" Patrick said, nodding in agreement with what Raph said as he looked up to the Heartstone gem.
"Anyways, if you think this place is great, follow us!" Papyrus said, as he, Blinky and the others lead the human children onwards to the right, as they soon then headed up some steps, leading to a cave door that had a neon light of a pint mug at the top of the entrance.
Looking at the neon sign, Taylor then asked, "Where exactly are we going?"
"We're taking a special route by heading to the Guzzling Griffon." Blinky explained, "It's a tavern that specially connects both the surface and the underground home of trolls, so that way, at nighttime, we trolls could travel through Delta Rune during the evening and mingle with those above."
"That seems quite fair." said Patrick.
"Indeed." Blinky nodded in agreement.
Blinky knocked on the door, which featured a small peephole door on it, and the small door opened to show an eye of someone (no doubt a bouncer) peeping through as the figure on the other side said, "What's your business, mate?"
"We seek to see the King and Queen." Blinky said, before whispering, "Paladin business."
"Oh! Alright." the bouncer replied, understanding what Blinky meant, before closing the peephole, and opened the door for the group.
What took the kids by surprise was that the bouncer was revealed to be a cyclopes, as he gestured to the inside of the tavern, "Come on in, you lot."
The group soon entered the tavern, looking around to see that the whole place was no doubt made of strong stone and wood, and whether they looked, they saw that there were many various creatures, few of them to be of the mythical genre, along with a few humanoid lot, most were enjoying a nice drink and a chat, while others were playing card games, darts, pool or even a bit of arm wrestling.
"It's… um… quite an establishment you've got here." Frida spoke up as they walked around.
"Why, thank you, Miss Frida." Blinky replied.
"If you think this place is great, you should check out Grillby's." Sans stated.
The group soon took another lot of steps, going up several floors until they reached the top, as they walked and looked around some more, they caught the attention of the bartender.
The bartender was seemingly human-like with dark brown hair and beard tied into a twist knot. He also has a long scar under his left eye. He wore a cream-coloured dirty sack hat on his head, long-sleeved shirt with deep blue white-swirled imprinted tunic and deep red sari over it, light grey cloth bracers on his arms (each bit of cloth goes between the second and third finger), brown belt with a yellow pack and knife around his waist, multi-colored pinstripe trousers, and light brown boots. He also had on over his uniform was a light brown apron as any innkeeper or bartender would wear.
"Blinky, ol chum!" the bartender said cheerfully in a british accent, "So good to see you and AAARRRGGHH! again!"
"Hello, Taberna," Blinky waved hello to the bartender, Taberna, as he stopped to say hello to him, "nice seeing you too."
"Would you and the big fella like the usual?" Taberna asked.
"Not today, old friend, we're on an important business with our new friends here." Blinky said, as he gestured to Patrick and the other kids.
"Bless my soul,"" Taberna said in surprise, "hello, they're humans, aren't they?"
Much like in Trollmarket, some of the folks in the tavern gave glances at the human children that had ventured into the tavern.
"Sure are," Sans replied, "we're off to take them to see the royal family."
"I see," Taberna nodded, before saying "well, best we don't keep them waiting."
He then looked at Patrick's group and happily said, "Any friends of Blinky's are friends of mine. You are always welcome here, young masters and misses."
"Thanks, uh, Taberna." Patrick kindly returned the compliment, as he and the others departed the tavern.
As both humans and creatures exited the tavern, Patrick and his friends were amazed by the sight they saw.
What they were staring at was a dense, medieval-style town surrounded by hills, mountains and forests, with what looked like two large green arms looming over it. The houses were made of wood and stone, and seemed to be up to four-stories high; some houses were built on the side of a cliff nearby or on the green arms. Some houses also had monster-like architecture, donning a scary appearance with either bones, eyes, teeth, hands or a mixture. Many stone pathways intersected the narrow walls of the town. The more notable buildings of the town had a bit of a gothic appearance, being made of stone and the windows are made of stained glass.
At the centre of the town was what appeared to be a cathedral, while at the end of the town, stood a castle on top of an odd, spiral looking mountain/hill.
"Welcome, one and all, to Delta Rune!" Blinky proudly said, as the mystical friends lead the kids through the town, "Stay close now, like in Trollmarket, few humans have never laid foot in Delta Rune before."
As they wandered the streets of this new town, the humans couldn't help but be amazed by the sites of Delta Rune and the colourful, glittering window displays of the several shops, cafes and restaurants they passed by, looking upon the various buildings of many shapes and sizes, and the town was packed with various beings and creatures imaginable.
Alongside with these creatures were various gnomes, dwarfs and several elfs, but like Blinky said, there were several trolls out and about due to being nighttime at the moment.
There were shops selling potions, animals (like owls, bats, rabbits, mice, rats and other sorts), robes, wands, spells, books, quills, telescopes and strange silver instruments the kids had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of odd looking treats, tottering piles of spell books, rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon and many more.
They even saw a few shops selling most things that came from the human town, like old TV sets and other sorts of bric-a-brac and various items.
Luz, Chuckie and the twins were busy taking photos of everything that they could see that was worth taking, while the others continued enjoying the sites, all the while most of the citizens, much like in Trollmakert, began noticing the newcomers, most having not seen humans in their hometown for quite some time.
"This place is loco amazing!" Patrick said as he looked around.
"I just can't believe that you guys have been living here all this time, and we never even knew it!" Hilda said in amazement.
"Most definitely, Miss Hilda," Ralsei explained, "Delta Rune is the home, heart and sanctuary for all mystical beings. We mystical folk have been keeping our lives a bit of a secret, though we do at times get mentioned and leaked about into the human world via myths and legends."
As he said that, a griffon flew by and perched upon one of the houses.
"A griffon!" Hilda pointed out, as the others saw it.
"And there's a hippogriff!" Luz added, as she saw the mentioned creature fly by… before breathing a load of spiders from its mouth as Luz excitedly cried, "I knew it!"
"Yep. Griffins, hippogriff, vampires, mermaids, giraffes-" Raslei said, as he listed the different creatures.
"Wait, giraffes?" Frida asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nosey longnecks." AAARRRGGHH! stated.
"Indeed, they once lived in Xadador until we decided to banish them to your realm." Blinky explained, earning some baffled reactions from the humans.
"Well, I'm a bit surprised you've got so much human stuff around here." Taylor pointed upon seeing a stand selling old TVs.
"And you lot all live here and Trollmarket?" Patrick asked.
"Yes on both accounts, you two." said Blinky, "Most travel from afar to Delta Rune and our Trollmarket, to find comfort and residence. You'll find almost anything you need, and sometimes you'll find what you didn't think of needing!"
As the group continued walking, little did they know that somewhere in a dark alleyway, in the shadows, a dragonborn secretly watched them pass by, before letting out a small, vicious growl.
"Remember to be careful, though," Blinky added, "sometimes things aren't' always what they seem around here, so you can't take things for granted."
"Why do you mean that?" Luz was just starting to ask, before she came upon a violet blue fairy that fluttered up to her, "Oh, hey there, little fairy, you look lovely today."
The fairy had the cutest smile… until it showed it's vicious teeth as it cried, "Give me your skin!"
Luz jumped at that before swatting the fairy down.
Patrick, meanwhile, suddenly spotted something cute as he walked around.
Looking down by his feet, he saw a surprising looking creature that almost looked like a green mouse, and from the way it was dressed, it seemingly reminding him of the mice from Cinderella that he, Taylor and Hilda used to watch when they were young, only in a different colour and had seemingly pointy ears.
Patrick couldn't help but be admired by this cute little critter.
"Oh, hey little guy!" he said, "Those are cute pointy ears you have-"
Unfortunately, like Luz, the adorable look from the mouse-like critter was soon replaced by a vicious little grin with a hiss from it as it showed…
"Pointy teeth!" Patrick cried.
"Look out, Master Patrick!" Blinky cried, as it tried to stomp the little critter, as it scuttled around along a few others like it, as the troll yelled, "Go away! Get out of here! Vile vermin! Begone!"
The mouse-like critter snarled back at Blinky, before letting out a raspberry and then scuttling away, letting out a mischievous giggle as it ran.
"What was that?" Hilda asked, as she and Taylor came up to Patrick and Blinky.
"Minxies, Miss Hilda." Blinky replied.
"Don't they remind you of the Cinderella mice?" Patrick asked as he looked to his sisters.
"They seem like it," Taylor nodded in reply, "and they look so cute."
"These green vermin may look cute," Blinky then explained, "but they're mischievous troublemakers, pick-pocket, scum of the Earth!"
"Though, we do tolerate them for their grooming services." Ralsei added.
"Grooming?" Patrick asked.
"They eat the parasites on the larger Trolls, and even the tiny bugs in your hair, like with David right now." Ralsei stated, as he then pointed to one minxie on David's head, and caught a little bug on it before munching on it, much to the baffling surprise of David upon hearing the last bit of what Ralsei said.
While David ruffled his hair a bit to shoo away the minxie that was in his hair, the group soon arrived at the castle, and it was quite a sight to behold.
"Here we are, humans," Papyrus said proudly, "Dreemur Castle, home to the royal family themselves."
"Nice digs." Chuckie said, taking a photo of the castle.
"Sure is," said Sans, "we're pretty much good friends with the royal family, so I'm sure they'll be cool with you lot too."
"That's pretty great to hear," Hilda smiled, before turning to Ralsei, "right, Ralsei?"
But as she looked at him, she saw that Ralsei, while looking up at the castle, seemed to be looking a little… uneasy for some odd reason.
"Ralsei?" Hilda asked, "Are you okay?"
Ralsei looked to her a little nervously and said, "Uh… yeah… I'm fine…"
He then let out a little sigh as he said, "Listen, Hilda, you see-"
"What are humans doing here?" someone spoke up, getting the group's attention as they saw several citizens, all different types of species, slowly gathering a bit around them.
"No human has ever been to Delta Rune before." another citizen, a little dwarf, added.
Another creature, a bird-like being, asked, "Who are these humans?"
The human group grew a little uneasy at this.
"I think we've attracted the paparazzi." Chris muttered to Patrick.
"Friends, there is no need to be afraid," Blinky spoke as he tried to calm the crowd down, before gesturing to Patrick, "he is the Pala-"
"What in the name of Bahamut is this!?"
A new voice got everyone's attention, as the dragonborn from the dark alley showed up and approached the group.
The Dragonborn was a large, almost 6½ feet tall and strongly built creature with golden scales (though there were a few little splotches of green scales on the gold Dragonborn) with eyes in a light shade of red, and had feet which ended with three strong talon-like claws with a fourth claw in the back, while his hands were similar with three claws with a thumb replacing the rear claw, as any Dragonborn's hands and feet would look like.
The rarest thing about this Dragonborn was he had wings and a tail, as sometimes most Dragonborn that Partrick and the others knew would rarely have.
He had on a breastplate that protected his chest and a pauldron on his left shoulder. He also wore a brown leather kilt with a wide black belt, which has a triangular gold buckle, and green and brown leather wrapped on his right wrist. The way he was dressed, he would almost look like a scaly gladiator.
Around his neck, he wore a pendant that was shaped of a blue shield with silver trimming, and at the centre was the profile of a brilliant silver dragon's head.
From everything Dragon related they learned about from Dungeons and Dragons, the kids knew that this was the symbol of the Dragon god, Bahamut.
Patrick and his friends were just stunned to seeing a Dragonborn like this one, although seeing him with a glare that frightening, it may have been a little scary, as Hilda slowly went behind Taylor, who in turn got behind Patrick, same happening with Ezran as he got behind Callum.
"Patrick..." Luz whispered to Patrick, amazed to seeing a Dragonborn.
"I know, Luz." Patrick whispered with a nod.
"I was just getting to that, Kriv." Blinky said to the dragonborn, Kriv, as he came up to the group.
"Human feet have never sullied the ground of Delta Rune before or in a lifetime." Kriv pointed out, before taking a good look at Patrick, who looked a little nervous, as did most of his friends (while Hilda, Luz and the twins looked a little amazed, despite the former being a little nervous), "Who are these fleshbags?"
"Believe it or not, he is... um…" Blinky looked a little nervous himself, and a bit uneasy when he looked to Kriv while gesturing to Patrick, "How do I put this? Our new Paladin!"
The crowd gasped in a mixture of shock, surprise and a little bit of horror upon hearing this, but for Kriv when he heard this, his shocked face turned to sour as he snarled at Patrick.
"He can't be the Paladin! No human has wielded the amulet for centuries!" Kriv angrily stated, as he stomped his foot to the ground, causing Patrick to step back a bit towards AAARRRGGHH!, nervously.
"Amulet chose." the big troll said, standing up for Patrick.
"Please try to stay calm." Blinky said to the fumed dragonborn, "Destiny is just-"
Before he could continue, Chris spoke up to Patrick as he said, "Show them, Patrick."
"Uh… okay." said Patrick, as he took out the amulet and spoke the incantation.
"For the power of Meli-"
"Glory!" Blinky corrected him.
"Right, sorry." Patrick said to Blinky, before doing the incantation again, "For the glory of Merlin, may Vorpal light our darkest day!"
Soon, in a flash, Patrick was now wearing the Paladin armor once more, then looked to the stunned crowd as he asked, "Pretty cool, right?"
"A human protecting us?!" one of the citizens asked, raising a surprised eyebrow, while another instantly fainted upon seeing Patrick in the armor.
"Blasphemy!" Kriv angrily snorted, as he then said, "I am Kriv the Courageous, son of Balasar the Braveheart, and the amulet's rightful heir!"
At that, the kids instantly looked shocked, but Patrick was moreso, as his eyes widened and his jaw nearly dropped upon hearing this, as one thought came in their minds, 'Uh oh.'
"W-w-wait, you're his son?!" Patrick asked, before quickly turning to Blinky and the others while pointing back to Kriv with his thumb, "HE'S BALASAR'S SON?!"
The other kids looked at the nervous, awkward looks on their mystical friends, and realized that they were in very big trouble.
"Awkward." Raph and Hazel said together.
"Yeah, I can see how this could be a problem." Luz added, as she scratched the back of her head with unease.
"When my Father fell, the honour should've passed to me!" Kriv said, as he then attempted to remove the Amulet from Patrick, only for it to blast him backwards, and Patrick fell backwards too, but luckily, AAARRRGGHH! was there to catch him.
"Amulet chose!" AAARRRGGHH repeated, as he helped Patrick back up.
Kriv angrily got back up, as he looked to the group and said, "We'll see what Vendel and the King and Queen have to say about this."
"Funny you should mention it, we were just on our way to meet their highnesses." Blinky said, with a nervous grin, as he and the others led the kids to the castle, "Still, feel free to vigil to Vendel. In the meanwhile, lots of Paladin business to soon be done! Kriv, wonderful to see you as always."
As they followed Blinky to the castle, Patrick and his sisters looked back to Kriv, as Patrick gave a small nervous smile while scratching the back of his head.
Kriv, meanwhile, snarled as they headed off to the castle, before heading off himself to Trollmarket, knowing that Vendel would have a thing to say about this unfair bit of justice.
'You better enjoy this if you can, fleshbag,' he thought to himself, 'because sooner or later, I will have the amulet, as it's supposed to be…'
Author's Notes:
The name of the bartender, Taberna, is latin for inn
The Minxies are a bit inspired off the green mice from the story, The Great Green Mouse Disaster