The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 10: Warm Welcome Wagon? Part 2
Dreemurr Castle
After the brief encounter with Kriv, the group headed up Dreemurr Castle to meet the royal family.
Halfway through the walk, Patrick's armor soon deactivated, the armor returning back into the amulet.
"Um, what just happened?" Patrick asked.
"The amulet responded to your unconscious command, Master Patrick." Blinky explained, "You are at ease, are you not?"
Patrick took a good look at the amulet, and let out a half smile as he replied, "I guess I am, a bit actually."
"It senses that!" Blinky smiled, "You are beginning to master it!"
Patrick looked to Blinky and thought of what he said, then back to the amulet, before letting out a small smile, before continuing his trek with the others.
Soon the group arrived at the castle, and once they entered, they were amazed by the sites of what the castle had to offer.
It was like any other castle, be it a normal one or a magical one, coloured-stained glass windows which most of them had different images on each one, magnificent statues of angels and other creatures, standing proudly in different poses and suits of armour that were lined in a row on both sides of any corridor that the group walked through.
As they walked, Blinky explained a little bit about the castle's design history.
"...inspired by architectural design in the late Baroque period, the pseudo facade was stripped away to reveal a minimalist rococo design." Blinky explained, as the kids took a good look around as they walked with their new fantasy friends, unaware of most of the suits of armour turning their heads as they noticed the humans that passed by, while Blinky continued "Note the unusual inverted vaulted ceilings. This is yet another example of the said-mentioned period."
"And as I always say, if it's not baroque, don't fix it! Ha ha ha." Blinky then said, making a little joke, "Now then, where was I?"
The six-eyed troll soon noticed the suits looking in the direction of where the humans went, before sternly saying, "Do you mind?"
The helmets instantly snapped back facing forward at this.
Soon, as the group continued, Taylor and Hilda turned to their big brother, as the former asked, "You doing ok?"
"Quite a bit, actually," Patrick replied, feeling a little nervous "though, I hoped for a better reception back in the town. Now, not only did Balasar have a son, but said son has me on his enemy list if he has one."
"I think you're not the only one," Hilda then said, "since we reached the castle when we got here, he's suddenly began acting a little nervous and uneasy."
The siblings looked to Ralsei, and like what Hilda said, Ralsei was indeed looking a little nervous, it felt odd that he was a bit brave back when they first met him when facing off Ghoular, but now he seemed like he was about to face the judgement.
The group soon arrived into the throne room, and it was quite a bit of an amazing site, the throne room was a large and open room with golden flowers that encapsulated the sides of the room and birds chirping in their nests perched on top of the columns. Light from the shined from the stained glass windows from the side and above, casting an irregular pattern of light and shadow on the floor. At the end of the room were several thrones, three of them, one was big, the second, medium, and the third one was small.
One the wall behind the thrones, showed an emblem that showed an orb between two wings and three triangles beneath it, with the middle triangle inverted.
Looking to the thrones, the kids were amazed to see, who could no doubt be, the royal rulers of Delta Rune.
Taking a good look, both of them seemed to look a lot like Ralsei, being anthropomorphic nubian goats, only with white fur instead of black.
The male, no doubt the king, had broad shoulders, a bulky body, a golden blond mane/beard and two large curved horns. He wore a suit of armor, a purple cape with golden pauldrons, and a crown on top of his head.
The king was seemingly busy, watering the flowers with a watering can, humming to himself.
The female, who had to be the queen, was structured with droopy ears and short horns. She had a pair of visible fangs and long eyelashes, and her irises have a dark red tint. She also wore a long purple robe that displayed the emblem on her chest.
The queen was sitting down on her throne, reading a nice book, before she looked up and noticed Blinky's group.
"Gorey." she said, getting her husband's attention, as he soon stopped humming.
"Yes, Tori?" the king asked, "Is someone there?"
"It's Blinky and his friends." the queen said with a smile.
"Ah, good!" the king smiled, "Hang on, just finishing watering these flowers."
Blinky looked back to Patrick's group and muttered to them, "Let us do the talking first, then you can see them."
Patrick and his sisters and friends nodded at that, as the king put away his watering can and the queen put down her book on her throne, and the two soon approached the six-eyed troll and his friends.
"King Asgore. Queen Toriel." Blinky greeted them with a bow, "Pleasure to see you again."
"Great seeing you again, too, Blinky," Toriel said with a smile, before looking to AAARRRGGHH!, "And AAARRRGGHH!, how are you doing?"
"Good." AAARRRGGHH! replied with a smile.
"'Sup, your majesties?" Sans waved hello with Papyrus.
"Nice seeing you too, Sans, Papyrus." Toriel smiled.
"So, Blinky," Asgore then spoke, "what brings you and your friends here?"
"Your majesties," Blinky said, "my friends and I have returned to introduce to you… our new Paladin of Xadador!"
The king and queen looked stunned and shocked when they heard this, they looked to each other at first, but then looked back to Blinky as they remained calm at this.
"So, it's true that the amulet chose a new champion." Toriel said.
"Indeed," Blinky nodded, "he's with us if you like to meet him."
"Bring him forward." Asgore ordered, and AAARRRGGHH! and the others stepped aside, allowing the humans to be seen.
"Howdy! Welcome to-" Asgore was the first to greet, but stopped short when he and Toriel were surprised to see Patrick and his friends.
Patrick looked a little nervous with his friends, as he then gave a small wave hello.
Toriel looked at him, and was a little amazed, "A human…"
"Amulet chose." AAARRRGGHH! pointed out.
"It's been a long time since we met another human," Toriel said, "let alone a human Paladin."
"Allow us to introduce ourselves," Asgore then said, "I am King Asgore Dreemurr, and this is my wife, Queen Toriel Dreemurr."
"And you are?" Toriel asked.
"I'm Patrick. Patrick Lee Kirby." Patrick introduced himself before saying, "And these are my sisters, Taylor and Hilda."
Taylor and Hilda looked at the king and queen and gave a small wave, Taylor's being a little sheepish with a nervous look, while Hilda had an amazed look on her face and waved like normal.
"Hello, there… your majesties." Taylor smiled.
"Why hello there," Toriel smiled back, as she then looked to Hilda, "my aren't you a sweet thing."
"You look really nice." Hilda happily complimented.
"Thank you," said Toriel, "you're such a sweetheart."
Hilda giggled a little at that, while her older siblings smiled at her.
Patrick then continued the introductions, "Over here are my best friends, Chris Williams and Luz Noceda…"
"Hey." Chris waved.
"Hola." Luz happily greeted with a wave.
"...Callum Drake and his half-brother, Ezran Regal…"
Callum and Ezran waved hello (while the former kind of scratched his head nervously).
"...Frida Owens and David Fergus…"
The two young kids waved 'hello' to the king and queen.
"Does that boy know that there's a bug on his head?" Asgore whispered to Toriel, as the king had spotted a ladybug on David's head, the boy a little oblivious.
"...the twins, Raph and Hazel Bridgers…"
"'Sup." both Raph and Hazel said.
"...and this is Chuckie Wolowitz."
"Hey there, uh, goat king and queen…" Chuckie waved hello, a little nervous as well.
"It's an honour to meet you all here," Asgore politely spoke, "and welcome to Delta Rune."
"Thank you, your majesties." Patrick happily smiled, as he and the others followed Blinky's example from earlier and bowed before them.
"Your majesties," Blinky then spoke to Asgore and Toriel, "I wanted to let you know that while we succeeded in bringing the Paladin and his friends here… we had an unfortunate encounter and were lucky to escape the clutches of… of Ghoular."
Asgore and Toriel looked shocked upon hearing the evil troll's name.
"Ghoular found you?" Asgore asked.
"Sort of…" Patrick spoke up, "he tried to take the amulet from us."
"Not to mention that he nearly skin you alive!" Callum added.
"Well, we're glad that you made it out okay." Toriel let out a small sigh of relief.
"Well, while Blinky and the others helped us, you should thank Ralsei for helping us escape Ghoular with his magic and stuff!" Hilda happily stated.
Though, as she said that, hiding behind AAARRRGGHH!, Ralsei looked a little nervous and a little fearful that she mentioned him.
"Ralsei?" Toriel asked, raising an eye.
"He's over here." Hilda then said, as he then pulled (a nervous) Ralsei out from behind AAARRRGGHH!, and gestured to him, "Say hello."
Ralsei looked to the king and queen and gave a small wave and let out a small, shy "Hello…"
The others looked at him at that with odd looks.
But the most odd was when Toriel looked at him, her eyes began to look like she knew him, before giving a stern look and smile to match it with.
"Well… it's an honour to see you here, Ralsei," said Toriel, "I've heard from this young girl that you helped them escape from Ghoular."
Ralsei looked to the queen and let out a small chuckle as he (seemingly) proudly said, "Oh, it was nothing, all in a day's work to help out the Paladin and-"
"Although," Toriel then said, seemingly sternly, "the situation that you were in was very dangerous, especially of being up against Ghoular."
"I was trying to protect the Paladin and prevent the amulet from falling into Ghoular's grasp." Ralsei explained.
As the two groups looked and listened to the conversation, it seemed like they were almost close to an argument.
"You were reckless and put yourself in danger." Toriel sternly said, looking a little disappointed.
"Fighting is supposed to be dangerous!" Ralsei pointed out, "How am I supposed to help fight the dark forces if I'm cooped up here? Pretty soon, we won't have anything left to fight for."
"I'm getting a little annoyed by your back-talk."
"Then why won't you let me help fight?!" Ralsei demanded.
"That's enough right now, or you're… grounded!" Toriel stated angrily.
That last part, though, took the others by surprise, more so as what Ralsei said next.
"Wha-MOM!" Ralsei angrily scoffed.
"You heard me, Asriel Dreemurr!" Toriel then said.
"Wait, mom?!" Patrick asked in surprise.
"Asriel Dreemurr?!" Hilda, Taylor and Luz added in shock.
Ralsei, or in this case as it turned out, Asriel, let out a small sigh, and took off his hat and glasses.
As he took off the hat and glasses, his fur soon changed from black to white, and as the group looked at him, he had a very good striking resemblance to Toriel and Asgore, having long ears, a snout, and visible fangs. He also had a small wisp of fur on his head and lacks horns, unlike his father Asgore.
"Waitaminute…" Patrick soon said, getting a good look at Asriel, then to Toriel and Asgore, as he said in surprise, "You're Toriel and Asgore's son?!"
"Then that would make him a prince!" Luz gasped, before squealing, "A cute one too!"
"Yeah…" Asriel sighed, knowing that the jig was up and came clean.
"I'm Asriel, Asriel Dreemurr." he introduced himself.
"I'm sorry for tricking you earlier about who I was, I just wanted to help out with what I can." he explained.
"Well, you really fooled us a little." Chuckie chuckled a little.
"Still, he was told to be careful not to set foot without aid." Toriel stated, "It's dangerous for my little child to go alone."
"I'm fine, mom!" Asriel pouted a little at this, blushing a little as well, as any kid would be embarrassed by their parent(s), "I'm not that little, you know!"
"Still, the queen is right," Blinky then spoke, "even as we speak, Ghoular and any other dangerous threats are still out there, and we need to get started on Master Patrick's training right away!"
"We understand, Blinky," Asgore said, "then allow us to help accompanying the humans to-"
"Blinkous Galadrigal!"
A booming voice caught everyone off guard, as a troll entered the throne room.
The troll, as the others looked at him, was light tan with large horns and long, white hair and a beard. He wore a brown leather skirt with three glowing gems on his right hip. He also carried with him what looked like an orange crystal staff.
"It's Vendel!" Toriel spoke as she saw the troll, Vendel, approach them.
"Blinkous Galadrigal!" Vendel spoke up again.
Patrick glanced at the two trolls, before looking at Blinky, who looked quite a bit nervous upon seeing Vendel, and seemed to connect the dots as he asked, "That's your name?"
"Yes… horrible, I know…" Blinky mumbled aloud to him in reply.
"I wish to meet the fleshbag supposedly chosen by the amulet." Vendal stated, before turning to Patrick and his friends, Taylor and Hilda standing behind him, while the others backed away a bit as the troll stepped towards the Kirbys and introduced himself, "I am Vendel, son of Rundel, son of Kilfred."
Patrick looked a little nervous upon seeing another troll, as his sisters looked to him as a way to say hello to him.
"Um… I'm Patrick Lee Kirby." he introduced himself, "Son of Johanna and Mikey Lee Kirby."
Vendal looked over him and scanned him very carefully. His frown, of course, deeped as he then asked, "So you are the Paladin?"
Patrick then got out the amulet and showed it to Vendel as he replied with a nervous smile, "Yep. That's me."
"Amulet chose." AAARRRGGHH! once more said.
"Hmmm, so Kirv tells me, ridiculous!" Vendel simply scoffed, before looking back to Patrick, "However the amulet has been known to make ill-fated choices." He then looked over to Blinky as he added, "As YOU know better than most."
"But…" he then said, "if the amulet chose true, the Soothscryer will reveal it."
"But Vendel, please," Blinky begged, "Master Patrick is needed for training if he were to face Ghoular!"
"Soothscryer first, training later." Vendal sternly said, eyeing on Blinky, who sighed in defeat.
"It's alright," Asgore said, "we were on our way to the Hero's Forge, anyways."
"Wait, the Hero's Forge?" Ezran asked.
"You'll see, young one." Toriel said, as she escorted the children to follow Vendal.
"Can I come too?" Asriel nervously asked.
Though, seeing a stern eye from his mom, and not wanting to get grounded, Asriel replied, "Uh… nevermind, see you later, guys!"
"Can he come, Miss Toriel?" Hilda asked, "He did help us out back with Ghoular."
Toriel looked to Hilda, then back to her son, before sighing and let out a small smile as she said, "Alright, but get changed first, then stay close, okay?"
Asriel looked happy to hear that, then nodded in agreement as he headed off to change so he can join the others soon.
Later…
Led by the Dreemurrs and Vendel, the group left the castle and returned to Delta Rune.
Asriel was with them as well, as he changed from his uniform he wore as Ralsei, to wearing a green, long-sleeved shirt with yellow stripes and black pants.
Once in town, the royal family and Vendal led the group to what almost looked like an underground entrance, almost similar to those that led to an underground train station, only it seemed to be made of wood and stone, and had a neon light image of two swords clashing.
The group were led downstairs, down underground, and the kids were thinking that where they were going, it wouldn't be far from Trollmarket.
"Where exactly are we going?" Frida asked, "Are we heading back to Trollmarket?"
"Not exactly," Papyrus replied, "but where we're going, it's not far from Trollmarket, and it's one of my favourite places to be!"
As the went through a corridor, the kids looked to both sides as they were intrigued by the statues that were positioned, each of them being a statue of someone of a different type of species, such as elves, dwarfs, dragonborns and such, some of them looked like knights, most of them magic-users, and even some were barbarians.
The group soon reached a large gate, which was shaped like wooden teeth, and as they got closer, the gate opened up, allowing them to step through.
And the kids were amazed by what they saw.
Where they were was what looked like some sort of colosseum, a stadium, or perhaps an arena, as the kids looked around, it almost reminded them of the colosseum in Rome.
The arena also had balcony-like areas, no doubt for those who want to watch and witness special events and sports.
Decorated around the arena, placed on top giant pillars around them, were several more statues, much like in the corridor they came in, the statues all in different positions, most of them heroic.
"Whoa!" Chuckie whistled in interest.
"Is this some sort of palace?" Taylor asked, "Or a stadium?"
"Close enough, Miss Taylor," Asgore said with a smile, as he then proudly said, "This is the Hero's Forge!"
Asgore's words echoed the Hero's Forge, as most of the kids began taking more pictures of this amazing site.
"Magnifico." Luz said, taking in the sites.
Ezran took a good look at the statues and then turned to Blinky and Toriel, "Who are these guys?"
"Statues of fallen heroes and Paladins who gave their lives protecting this realm." Toriel explained.
"So the realms are protected by others besides Paladins?" Hilda asked.
"That's right," Asriel replied, "while most Paladins prefer to work alone, most of them are aided by those who've stood by their side, even before the amulet chose them."
Patrick looked at most of the statues that were Paladins, each of them wielding their own set of armour, some of them were like his, while others a little different.
"So most of them are Paladins?" he asked.
"Indeed, Master Patrick," Blinky answered, as he gestured to the Paladin statues, "Your predecessors. A line of heroism that reaches back to the ages of Merlin!"
He then pointed to one pillar that had an empty spot, "This is the place of the final reposed, Balasar the Braveheart."
"One day there will be a statue of you here, Master Patrick." Blinky then said, as he looked proudly at the boy, only to see that Patrick had a nervous look on his face, as the six-eyed troll quickly stated, "One day very far off into the future of course!"
"Hoping he doesn't end up like your last student, Blinkous." Vendal grumbled aloud, causing Blinky sulk a little.
"What does he mean by that?" David asked.
"Blinky trained Paladin before: Ulfgar the Unfortunate." AAARRRGGHH explained, as he pointed to a statue of what looked like a dwarf Paladin, however, unlike the other statues as the kids looked at it, this Paladin had an upset and scared look on his face, and his arms were held up like he was trying to shield himself from something dangerous.
"Why's he "Unfortunate"?" Patrick asked, a little worried of what the answer would be.
"First patrol. Torn."
"Like conflicted?" Frida asked.
"No. Limb from limb." AAARRRGGHH responded, as he did a pulling apart action with his stony hands, earning worried looks from Patrick and the others.
As they looked back up at Ulfgar's statue, his right arm suddenly fell off, and almost crushed a startled Callum as it landed.
Wanting to change the subject a little, Ezran then asked, "So what do these Paladins have to protect this realm from, exactly?"
"Well, Blinky explained when we first met them that a Paladin must fight against evil forces," Luz stated, "like evil wizards, monsters and, um…"
"Dumm-Dumms." AAARRRGGHH! added.
"Not exactly the most terrifying name." Callum stated.
"In Ancient Troll-speak, Dumm-Dumm means "Bringer of horrible, slow, painful, and thoroughly calculated death"." Blinky explained.
"Oh…" the kids finally got what it meant.
"Exactly," Toriel then spoke, "the Dumm-Dumms were basically an army tribe formed evil trolls, ogres and orcs, even several few goblins and other ghouls sided with them."
"But do not be too concerned, young masters." Blinky stated, "The Dumm-Dumms were exiled to the realm of the Shadowfell centuries ago, along with other dangerous threats. Only a small few roam free!"
"And one of them want to kill you." AAARRRGGHH then said, pointing to Patrick, who had a nervous look as he and the others then remembered what Blinky said when they escaped a certain evil troll.
"Wait, Ghoular is one of the unspeakably evil monsters!?" David asked, eyes like plates.
"Indeed. And the rest of them now remain exiled to the Shadowfell but they have been trying to escape for centuries!" Blinky then stated, before looking at Vendal as he continued to explain, "I sense ill times are upon us, Vendel, hence the need for us to begin Master Patrick's training!"
"Soothscryer. First." Vendal sternly said, before making a gesture for Patrick to come over to him.
Patrick gulped a little and then walked over, and placed his feet into two feet-shaped indents in the ground.
Soon, a large platform in front of him rose from the ground, revealing a large relic that looked like a troll head carved out of stone. It has six glowing red eyes, and razor-sharp teeth.
"Behold the Soothscryer! It will judge your true spirit!" Vendel said, before looking to Patrick, "Insert your right hand, Paladin."
Patrick looked to the Soothscryer, then back to Vendal as he nervously asked, "Um, I'm gonna get it back right?"
"That is part of the test." Vendel said with a sarcastic grin.
"Oh great." Patrick groaned a little, before turning to Chris, Chuckie and Callum and whispered, "Guys, guys! Come here and help me!"
"Okay Patrick." Chuckie said, as he and the others came up to help him, "But none of us are not sticking our hands in there!"
The boys soon helped Patrick to reach the Soothscryer, and as Patrick reached where to place his hand, the insides of the machine started to turn, earning another small gulp from the new Paladin.
Patrick, slowly, cautiously, fearfully and carefully brought his right hand into the machine… until it promptly it's mouth around his arm!
"AAAH! OH CRUD!" Patrick cried in panic, as he banged on the Soothscryer with his free left hand.
"PATRICK!" Taylor and Hilda screamed.
"Oh my god!" Callum shouted.
Patrick continued to panic and struggle to get his arm loose, until the machine opened it's jaw and released him, causing him to land on the boys.
"Oh thank god!" Patrick breathed a sigh of relief, as he saw his hand was okay and intact.
"You okay, Patrick?" Hilda asked, as Patrick got off the boys as they got back up.
"I'm fine," Patrick replied, "a little shaken, but fine."
The kids looked to see Vendel observing the Soothscryer with curious eyes, until Chuckie asked, "Well? What is it?"
After a small bit of observing, Vendel looked to the kids and replied, "Inconclusive."
"Inconclusive?" Taylor asked, looking at her brother.
"What exactly does that mean?" Patrick then asked.
Vendel soon made his leave as he then said, "It means, Paladin, that it has been centuries since a human has beared the mantle of Paladin before." he then stopped to look at Patrick with a disapproving look, "The Soothscryer needs more time to render it's judgement."
Patrick felt petrified by his stare, and looked nervous as he said while making his leave, "Let us all hope you live long enough to see…"
Author's Notes:
Don't worry, Patrick's gonna live
I've been having the idea of Ralsei and Asriel being the same character as that Ralsei is an acronym for Asreil, as well as since Delta Rune got released
Next time, a little bit of family…
Until then, True Believers!
Excelsior!