The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 19: Magic School Mayhem Part 2
Hexside School
Hilda and the others followed Gus and Barley, as the students escorted them into the school.
"Welcome, friends, to the halls of Hexside School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Barley proudly gestured to the hallways they were walking through.
"Wow… this is amazing." Hilda said with wonder.
"I'll say," Frida added, looking at the students that all different types beings, creatures and species, even saw one student at their locker, seemingly giving it a scratch, then for the locker to reveal it being some sort of creature, as it opened its mouth, revealing some books and papers, and handed it to the student, as Frida then said, "this is definitely nothing like our own school."
"Yep, everything and anything you need to know and about magic, Hexside is the place for you to be!" Gus said with a smile.
But as they reached another hallway, they encountered two teen students picking on a young student, using their magic to mischievously play keep away with the young student's backpack.
"Hey! No fair!" the young student cried over the bullies' laughter, "Give it back!"
Just then, one of the bullies got grabbed by a shepherd's hook, revealing the owner of the hook to be some sort of grim reaper-like figure, draped in a hooded cloak with an upside down skull mask, and it was accompanied by another one with the same description.
The first one looked to the first bully and sniffed it, before loudly whispered in a terrifying tone, "Trouble…"
The second bully tried to run, only for him to get caught by the second figure with it's one hook, before dragging him away, the bully crying out in panic, "No! Not detention!"
The two students and their new friends had a mixture of fear and nervousness as they watched as the other bully was dragged too, as he cried out, "The only thing I'm guilty of is being too real!"
"Wh-what… are those?" David trembled in fear as he asked.
"Detention Reapers." Barley replied, while holding a stern face, deep down, he was a little scared too.
"They're the school's personal guardsmen, sometimes needed if necessary," Gus explained, "and be careful, They smell trouble. Literally."
One of the Detention Reapers stopped in its tracks for a second, as it turned its head and sniffed with the creepy voice, "Trouble…"
The group (though mainly Callum) looked a little nervous as it looked like the reaper was going to look at them, as Callum grabbed Hilda by the wrist and quickly did a fast walk, the others following after seeing him do that.
"Why didn't you tell us about these things before coming in?!" Callum asked through nervous gritting teeth.
"To be fair, I think they were called up straight away right now," Gus stated, "if they're here, then someone must have been causing major trouble."
"Yeah, that would be us being her-oof!" Callum cried, only to get cut off as he bumped into someone, knocking him down.
"You okay, Callum?" Barley asked, picking him up.
"Aw, are you with new friends or what, Barley?" a familiar voice got Barley and Gus's attention, as they looked and saw Mattholomule, standing there with that snarky grin, as he mockingly added, "You and Augustus should really watch where you are going. Don't want the co-presidents of the H.A.S. getting hurt on their last day in office."
"Is that the Mattholomule guy you guys talked about?" Ezran asked Gus, who replied with a nod.
"For your information, they're not just any new friends," Barley spoke up, "they're human friends."
Mattholomule looked at them, eyeing Hilda for an example (her head still covered by the cowl), before scoffing, "They look like another bunch of magelings to me. Especially the one with blue hair."
"Oh no?" Barley then smirked, before nudging Hilda as he whispered to her, "Dazzle."
"Okay." Hilda whispered in reply, before making a trumpet noise, and then taking off her cowl, revealing her round ears and proudly said, "Ta-da!"
These wiped the smirk off Mattholomule's face, as he gasped, "A human?!"
"And not just one human," Barley replied, gesturing to their human friends with a smirk, "they're all human experts."
"Yeah. We've been doing this for years." Hilda grinned.
"They're here to authenticate your treasures." Gus smirked, as he then added "See you at the meeting."
Soon, he and Barley lead the human kids away, as the former said, "The meeting won't start until a little later, so we can give you all a quick little tour if you like."
"That'll be great." Hilda smiled.
Mattholomule, meanwhile, was now in a bit of panic after encountering the humans.
If they reveal about the fake items that he brought in, he would be kicked out, and if he would be kicked out, he'll lose his chance to be in charge.
"Oh, no, no, no, no! They can't know I lied." Mattholomule panicked, "Then they'll never make me president."
"I can't believe it's happened again!"
A voice not far caught his attention, as looked from around the corner, and saw two teachers talking, one of them being covered in soot.
"Those troublemakers have struck again, and this time, they mixed up the labels of all my potions!" the soot-covered teacher (no doubt the potions teacher) complained.
"First the frogs got loose, then the brooms of the flying lessons got tied up and now this!" the other teacher stated, "And we have all the Detention Reapers on full-alert to look out for these troublemakers."
"Whoever they are, they're probably not from around these parts." the potions teacher said, "And they'll be in so much trouble when and if they're caught."
Mattholomule had been hearing that someone had been causing a bit of trouble today, taking a big level into going on a prank streak, hence the reapers have been called up to look for them.
Thinking about the humans that had arrived, as well as hearing that statement of the troublemaker, or troublemakers, being not from around here, that nasty grin came back on his face, as he got an idea. An awful idea.
Mattholomule got a wonderful, awful idea!
He let out a mean chuckle, as he muttered to himself, "Ooh, Gus, Barley, I have you now."
Back at the Owl House
Following a successful scavenging through the dead body of the trash slug, Eda and King returned back with some goods, as well as a few trash slug eggs. King, meanwhile, had brought along with him one little trash slug to take as his own for his 'conquest of darkness', treating it like a dog for the moment.
"Not a bad haul. That oviduct was loaded." Eda smiled, proud of the hard work.
"Aw. Who's a good Prince, Jr.? Who's a good guy?" King cooed, as he gave his trash slug a few treats, as he taught it to do tricks like anyone would do with their dogs.
"Hey, go easy on those treats, will ya?" Eda said, "If Luz wants to see a living trash slug instead of a dead one, at least don't over feed it to death, okay?"
"Hey, I know very well what I'm doing." King turned to Eda with a snark, "Though while I'm here doing some positive reinforcement for this fella, I haven't seen your student in forever. For all I know, she might not even be loyal to you anymore."
"Heh, You wish." Eda grinned, but then what King said about having not seen Luz for a while started to sink in, as she began ponder, "But yeah. Where is she?"
Setting down the goods she collected, she went over to Hooty as she asked, "Have you seen Luz recently?"
"I heard her tiny mouse feet walking close by with her friends. Or that might've been some mice." Hooty replied, before saying, while seemingly tilting his head, "Anyway, someone started moving in that direction. Hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo."
Eda looked at Hooty as he still tilted his head in the same direction, "Are you trying to point, or-?"
"Look at the weather vane!"
Eda stepped back a bit, and then looked up to the weather, as it was pointing in the direction that Hooty was (seemingly) pointing to.
"But the only thing that way is the-" Eda stopped midsentacne with a gasp, as she seemingly realized what was in that direction, "No."
She then started running in that direction in complete panic, crying rapidly, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"
After a good bit of running, Eda finally arrived… at Hexside. The thing that was in the direction was none other than Hexside school.
Arriving at the school, Eda pressed her face at one of the windows, seeing a class of toddlers taking part in their lessons.
"Okay, everyone. Recite your runes." said a female teacher, which looked like a spider.
The kids then spoke in sync, as they recited together, "Krom, Zix, Elgrim, Zenomide…"
"No. Blind obedience." Eda said with dread.
She came up another window, with a male teacher, looking like a snake, as he called out to his class, "Heximal system time! Let's get memorizin'!"
Eda looked in disbelief, "No! Pointless busywork!"
It was there that she saw it. Something she wished she didn't see. Luz. in the classroom (why she was covered in goop, she didn't know). Doing schoolwork with another student.
"No!" Eda wailed, as she then cried to the heavens, "Why! School!"
Meanwhile…
"Oh, they're so cute." Hilda said with wonder, as she, Frida and David stroked several cute rabbits that seemed to have antlers on their heads.
The group were currently given a tour to the Beast Keeping room, as Barley was showing them several of the creatures that they were taking care of.
"Glad you like them, Hilda," Barley smiled, "these little guys are known as Jackalopes, and are quite a cute site to be seen. A perfect crowd favourite, as well as the perfect animal to have for a pet."
"You know, my family has some pet rabbits back at home, my brother usually takes care of them." Hilda explained, "Rabbits are also one of his favourite animals too."
"Then he's got a bit of good taste." Barley grinned, "In fact, I've got my own animal companion myself."
He then gestured to a nearby creature that caught their attention, the beast looked like a lion, only with dragon-like wings and a scorpion's tail. Callum and David looked a little nervous as it looked to them with a growl, but when it saw Barley come up to him, it took a kind look, and even gave him a lick on the face.
"Easy there, buddy." Barley chuckled, wiping off the slime from the lick, before introducing the creature to the group, "Guys, I like you to meet my special friend, Manny."
"It's a manticor!" Callum said in surprise.
"Yep, there's been a total of 17 left in existence in this realm," Barley explained, "and we managed to find and rescue this fella here."
"I bet it was kind of you to help look after him." Frida said.
"It sure was."
"It would be quite cool to have something like that as a pet." Ezran said, "Unfortunately, my dad is a bit allergic to cats."
Barley then had an idea, and looked to Ezran, "Perhaps I can help you with something."
He gestured to Ezran to follow him, and others not far behind, and they came up to a glass case, which had a bit of greenery and a nice small bit of water.
Inside was an odd looking creature, amphibian-like, yellow with cyan spots and black claws, a characteristic frown, deep furrowing eyebrows, and a pronounced underbite.
"What sort of creature is that?" David asked.
"That, David, is a Glow Toad." Barley explained.
"Glow Toad?" Callum raised an eyebrow.
"That's right," Barley nodded, "Glow Toads are perpetually grumpy, though appear to be intelligent and capable of showing emotions such as shock, shame, confusion, sadness, grief, and fear. They are even capable of feeling jealousy when they are ignored. Like real-life amphibians, Glow Toads lay eggs that hatch into tadpoles."
"How do they show these emotions, Barley?" Hilda asked.
"Watch," Barley said, before looking at the Glow Toad, "here there, Bait. Would you like to see some new friends of ours?"
The Glow Toad, or namely Bait, looked at the human group, and while he still had the grumpy look on his face, it's skin changed from yellow to purple.
"Did… did that just change colour?" Frida asked, astounded.
"Yep, the Glow Toad's hide can change color through emotion, including yellow for neutral, red for angry, purple for nervous, green for terrified, gray for depressed, blue for regretful, orange for happy, and pink for playful."
"Why did you call it 'Bait'?" Callum asked.
"Well, you see, Glow Toads have been used as, well, bait, fishermen to use to catch fish." Barley explained, "So we decided to call him Bait in favor of a distasteful joke."
"That's… kinda harsh…" David rubbed the back of his neck.
Ezran, meanwhile, had a good look at the Glow Toad, and then did his own grumpy face, and when Bait saw that, his skin changed back to normal, and seemingly acted like a dog, as he pant with his tongue stuck out.
Ezran smiled at that with a giggle, "I think he's pretty cute."
Barley smiled, "Well, if you like him, he's yours."
Erzran looked surprised at this, "Really?!"
Barley nodded, and then carefully lifted Bait out of his glass case, and gave him to Ezran, who made sure to be very careful when carrying him.
"Thanks, Barley." Ezran smiled.
"No problemo, kid." Barley smiled back.
Following this, as well as a few ground rules on taking full good care of the Glow Toad, the group soon arrived at the next classroom, where a lesson was currently taking place.
"Ooh. What's in here?" Ezran asked.
"That would be the Plant Homeroom." Barley explained, as various students in green Plant uniforms were tending to the greenery.
One carnivorous plant tried to eat one of them, who had been standing next to it with a clipboard. Until the teacher of the class ran over and tickled the plant's stem. It laughed and spit the student back up, then gave the teacher a thumbs-up.
Soon the group arrived at another class next door, where lessons were also taking place.
"And this is where I spend my time." Gus proudly said, "The Illusion Track Homeroom."
The group watched as several students were doing their illusion magic to take on illusional appearances for their teacher, while some of them did a good job, one's spell backfired, causing to lose her face, but luckily, it was sort of a pass, and the teacher helped restore her to normal.
"Wait," the group heard Frida say, as she looked to Gus and said, "if you're here," then pointed to another classroom… where another Gus was at, doing some writing, "who is that?!"
"That's one of my illusions." Gus explained, "It takes notes for me when I'm not around."
However, as they look back to the Gus illusion, who then brought up what he was writing, and showed it to the others, which, on the piece of paper, said 'I'm not paying attention', with a mischievous grin.
"He doesn't always do what he's told." Gus added, with a bit of annoyance.
"Wow, Gus. You're good." Ezran complemented.
"Yeah. I moved up a couple grades." Gus shrugged.
Soon, a screeching noise caught the group's attention, as Gus folded up his sleeve, revealing some sort of wrist watch creature, sounding like it's alarm went off, as Gus pressed on it to be quiet as he said, "Oh! Time for the H.A.S. meeting."
"Are you ready to dazzle some students?" Barley asked the group.
"I… suppose so." Callum replied with a shrug, but as the others started moving, Hilda spoke up.
"Excuse me, but, I just want to know if it's alright for me to go to the bathroom?" Hilda asked a little, her legs half crossed.
Frida looked at her, "Are you sure it's a good idea to do that?"
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Barley replied, before giving Hilda directions, "the bathrooms are just down the hall, turn right, the girl's will be on the left."
"Thanks." Hilda replied, as he headed off in one direction, the others went the other… before Gus returned back to where his illusion was, giving him a stern look, sliding a finger across his throat, as a warning to behave, before leaving, leaving a nervous Gus illusion behind.
"Human, human! Human, human!" chanted the kids of H.A.S. (minus Mattholomule) as they grew excited to meet the human, or humans, that they've heard about, until Barley and Gus entered the room.
"Human Appreciation Society…" Gus spoke first, as he twang the paperclip in his hand.
"...it is our distinct pleasure to introduce to you…" Barley then said, as he and Gus gestured to the door, as the human group entered the club room.
"The humans!" They both proudly introduced to the students.
Frida, David and Callum gave nervous waves and grins as they looked to the students, as the former said, "Eh… hi, there."
Eye Head Girl just squealed with excitement, while the others (except, again, Mattholomule) were amazed and surprised to see them.
"I know, Eileen, such showmanship."
"They look terrifying."
"Can I touch them?"
As Barley calmed them down, Gus looked at the humans.
"Ezran, will you and the others inspect these items?" he asked.
"Of course, Mr. President." Ezran smiled, as he laid down Bait for a moment, and gestured Frida and David to follow him as he spoke up, "Allow us to determine if they're truly of our realm's origin."
Mattholomule looked nervous as he watched Ezran coming near one of the 'artifacts' he brought in… until suddenly he cried, "Stop!"
The H.A.S. students gasped at this, as he spoke up, "Don't make another move, human!"
Mattholomule then took a deep breath, and sighed as he admitted, "I have something to say. I'm new here at Hexside. M-Making friends has been hard so I lied. They're all fakes."
One of the girls gasped at this, while the others were surprised that he was coming clean.
"I thought if I was important enough people would like me. But I've caused enough drama." Mattholomule apologized as he started to leave, "So, I'll go. I'm sorry."
Surprisingly, the humans, Barley and Gus felt a bit sorry for them, as Callum spoke up, stopping him in his tracks.
"Hey, man. It's okay." Callum comforted him, "You're only human. Well, you know what I mean."
"Mattholomule, you aren't alone." Gus added with a smile, "You have a place here in the H.A.S."
Barley nodded as the others spoke up their support.
"You're not alone."
"We admire your honesty."
"You're one of us."
"Thanks, guys." Mattholomule smiled, "I knew you'd understand."
Cafeteria
"So Amity has been keeping a close eye on you throughout most of today?" Ian asked Willow, as they and Dana were having lunch together, Luz still in the cauldron nearby Willow.
"She has, and I'm starting to get the feeling that this plan might backfire on us." Willow admitted.
"I don't want to say that I told you so, but I don't want you to be in trouble either," Dana said, "I just hope that this plan doesn't go out of hand."
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Luz spoke carefully to them, to avoid getting caught, "and besides, it'll be worth talking about once the day is done."
Just then, Luz's stomach grumbled a little, "Ooh, I wish I ate before coming here…"
Ian heard this, and looked around to see if no one was watching, got something out of his lunch bag, revealing it to be a sandwich.
Luz noticed this and smiled, "Is that…?"
"Yeah, Barley and I have been having a good variety of food, especially personal favourites that humans enjoy too." Ian admitted with a smile, "My favourite to have for lunch is PB&J. That is, if you like some."
"Oh, my gosh. I have a friend who loves what I eat. Please give me some." Luz smiled, before Ian gave her a bit of his sandwich, as she happily munched on inside the cauldron.
"Are you sure that was good to do that?" Dana asked.
"I'm with Dana," Willow added, with a worried grumble, "I mean, if Amity saw that…"
"I saw that!" the student in question said in an instant as she jumped out of nowhere and landed on their table, before looking to Willow with venom as she snarled, "Abominations don't eat!"
"I know you're in there! You can't hide from me." she cried into the cauldron, which caused a bit of a scene for the other students, before Amity found Luz and grabbed hold of her, shaking her like a doll as she yelled and ranted, "What are you? Who are you? I want answers!"
"Amity Blight!"
Professor Hermonculus's voice caught the small group, and Amity's attention, as they saw the teacher and his abomination approach them.
"I suspected a twinge of jealousy," the abomination teacher spoke with disappointment, "but this, this is just sad."
"But I-No! Look at it." Amity tried to explain, as Luz continued to act like an abomination, or a raggedy doll, or both… I suppose.
Professor Hermonculus, luckily, was too upset with Amity to notice, "Report to Principal Bump's office."
"But… Professor-"
"Now!"
Amity just grumbled a groan of annoyance, as she dropped Luz back in the cauldron and headed for the principal's office, Professor Hermonculus following behind her.
The others looked nervous (and a little sorry in Luz's case) as she went.
Principal's Office
Patrick looked a little nervous and surprised upon arriving to Hexside with Toriel.
He was amazed at the site of the magic school she introduced him to when they got there, and loved all the various types of students they had as well.
It was then that Toriel decided to start by introducing Patrick to the Principal of the School: Principal Hieronymus Bump. Now, when Patrick looked at him, Principal Bump was an older man, presumably due to the wrinkles surrounding his upper lip. His skin was light beige, and he had teal eyes with bright yellow sclera. He wore a red demon on his head, covering half of his face, which gave him the appearance of being consumed by said demon. He wore a traditional academic dress consisting of a long black gown with a gold yoke, a black cape, gold trim at the sleeves and cape hem, plus a blue stole draped over his shoulders.
"It's quite nice to see you again, Principal Bump." Patrick heard Toriel say to the principal with a smile.
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, your majesty." Principal Bump replied with a smile of his own.
Toriel giggled, "Please, no need for the formalities. You can still call me Toriel."
"But of course," Principal Bump replied, "and how is that son of yours?"
"Doing well, thank you for asking."
"Though I am curious to know what brings you here," Bump said, as he eyed Patrick, who gave a nervous wave, "with that?"
Toriel looked at Bump and explained, "I was having a bit of thought if you would like to take in a human to study magic here in Hexside."
"A human? Studying magic?" Bump raised an eyebrow, his mouth still south.
"Yeah, I think he doesn't like it." Patrick whispered to her.
"That's not a bad idea." Bump replied.
"Wait, really?" Patrick asked.
"But of course," Bump stated, "after all, if the amulet has indeed chosen a human to be the new Paladin, I'm sure it won't hurt to have a human study magic here in Hexside. Quite an unique exchange student too."
"That's… great!" Patrick smiled, as did Toriel.
"For now, if it's alright with you, Principal Bump," Toriel then spoke, "I would like to show Mister Patrick around the cansas, show him some of the magic that can be learned here."
"But of course, Toriel." Bump smiled.
Patrick and Toriel soon exited the office, as Patrick looked at Toriel and smield, "Well… that went well. And to be honest I thought we'd end up in trouble."
Soon, just after they left, the door opened again, as Amity was escorted in with Professor Hermonculus.
"Professor Hermonculus," Bump said, "is there a problem?"
"I'm afraid there is," Professor Hermonculus replied, "it concerns Miss Blight and Miss Park."
Amity then looked to the Principal… and thought of a way to finally expose Willow's ruse.
Meanwhile…
"Thanks for coming."
"Come back soon."
The humans, Barley and Gus happily waved goodbye to the members of the H.A.S. as they left, happy that things had turned out well, until they were left in the room with Mattholomule.
"Hey, guys," he said, "thank you for being so forgiving."
"We've all been the new kid before." Callum admitted, as he looked to the others, "Right, guys?"
The kids nodded in agreement, as did Barley and Gus, knowing that they too went through the same thing.
Mattholomule just smiled happily at that, "Well, I just have one thing to say…"
Suddenly, the door slammed open, revealing several Detention Reapers, much to the shock of the humans, Gus and Barley.
Things went worse, as Mattholomule grinned menacingly as he pointed to the humans and cried, "There they are! They're the intruders who've been causing trouble around the school!"
"WHAT?!" the human kids, Barley and Gus cried in shock.
"Trouble…" one of the Detention Reapers sniffed.
They then grabbed hold of the humans by their hooks and dragged them out of them, the kids panicking as they left.
Hilda had just finished being to the girl's bathroom and was just starting to return to where the H.A.S. was taking place.
"This has been the easiest we have for not getting caught exploring magical places." Hilda lightly chuckled to herself, "I mean, what trouble could we have gotten into if we were caught?"
"Help!"
As if on cue, Hilda heard David's cry, as she looked down the corridor, and saw him, Frida, Callum and Ezran (still holding Bait), as they were being dragged by the hooks of some Detention Reapers, crying to be let go.
"Please, none of us don't even learn here!" Callum cried out.
"Uh-oh!" Hilda gulped, before hurrying in the other direction, "I've got to warn Luz!"
"Where are you taking us?" Frida asked.
"Detention." one Reaper replied.
"Oh. That won't be so bad, right?" David nervously asked.
"Are you kidding?!" Frida cried out, "None of us had ever been in detention! I've always had good grades!"
"I'm sure that we'll be alright." Ezran said with a nervous grin, until they arrived at a large door… which then came to life! And opened it's jaws!
The kids panicked as they were then tossed into a dark room (possibly the detention room), before the door slammed shut. Callum tried to run out, only to slam into the door when it closed.
"No, wait! There's been a complete misunderstanding!" Callum cried, as he banged on the door.
"This can't be happening," Frida began to feel scared, "I've never had detention in my life! My parents would flip if they knew I did! I've never even been in a detention like this before!"
"We've been in detention, and we've never ended up in one like this before."
That voice caught the group's attention as they turned around… and saw the twins inside with them!
Callum was stunned and shocked at this as he cried in disbelief, "Raph?! Hazel?!"
"I can't believe you lot fell for that." Mattholomule smirked, while Gus and Barley looked angrily at him, "Like I'd actually apologize."
"What. did. you. Do?!" Gus snarled through gritted teeth.
"Ah, boo-hoo. I'm sorry. 'I am the new kid'. 'I want friends'." Mattholomule said with innocent mockery, before speaking with greed and antagonism, "Ha! No. I want power. And I want drama. And I got one of those right now."
"And what did those humans do with this?!" Barley demandingly asked.
"You may not know, but while you were busy getting ready to boot me out, I learned that someone was making a mess around the school who wasn't from around these parts." Mattholomule revealed, "It wasn't hard to put two and two together that these humans had something to do with it. So, dear Co-Presidents, what are you gonna do about it?"
Gus and Barley looked to each other, and then had serious looks on their faces as they nodded in agreement, and Gus brought up his fist as he said, "Executive action."
He then reached out for the nearby alarm (a bizarre looking one with a mouth), and grabbed it by the tongue, before snapping back to it painfully, as it let a scream, and gushed out water (no doubt the fire alarm mode) all over the three.
"But I didn't pull the alarm! It was Augustus and Barley!" Mattholomule cried out, as he, Gus and Barley, all soaking wet a little, were soon taken by a Detention Reaper following what happened, "Are you even listening to me? I demand justice!"
They were soon tossed into the Detention room, as the weaselling Mattholomule tried to get out as the door shut on him, "Wait!" He cried, banging on the door, "Hey! Get me outta here! Open up!"
Gus and Barley, meanwhile, saw their human friends, who seemingly looked like they were in the middle of an argument.
"We told you specifically to stay outside!" They heard Callum yell at the twins.
"Hey, it's not our fault that this place is amazing," Ralph said, "besides, we only wanted to have a little fun, that's all."
"Um, guys?" Barley spoke up, getting their attention.
"Sorry Barley, Gus," Callum said, before looking at the twins in a serious tone, "just sorting things out with these two were responsible for what happened and trapping us in here!"
"Hey, at least this place ain't bad." Hazel pointed out.
Suddenly, the ground shook, and the floor cracked opened, revealing another chamber, only for both humans and students to look in horror at what they saw: in this chamber, that almost looked like the insides of a beast, were several blue chrysalis cocoons, and inside of them were several students, including the bullies that they saw earlier when they first came in.
This site caused the human kids to scream in panic, while Callum looked to Hazel with an annoyed look, "You had to jinx it, didn't you?"
Abomination Class
"Whoo! I'm a sweaty little abomination." Luz said, having got out of the cauldron to have a stretch inside the Abomination classroom with Willow, Ian and Dana, "But now we don't have to worry about Amity."
"I suppose so." Ian replied.
"Well, with that settled, I suppose what we should do now is find your friends and get you-" Willow started to explain, until the door to the classroom opened, revealing Amity with both Professor Hermonculus and Principal Bump.
"Good afternoon, students." the principal spoke, as both Ian and Dana lightly bowed, while Luz returned to acting like an abomination.
"P-principal Bump. Professor Hermonculus." Willow spoke, a little nervous, "W-what brings you here?"
Principal Bump approached Luz and suspected her.
"Abomination, rise." he commanded, Luz obeyed.
He then made another command, "Abomination, lie."
"Uh, viral fame is a worthy pursuit." Luz nervously fibbed (sort of), "Your cat would never eat you if it got the chance. Chemtrails are real-"
It was then she and the others herd the principal chuckle
"Oh, no, abomination. How strange for it to get the command wrong." he said, before pointing to a nearby counter, "I mean lie down."
Luz nervously chuckled to herself quietly, before lying down on the counter.
"So very lifelike." Principal Bump said, before explaining to Willow, "When Miss Blight told me about your abomination, I had to come by, see what she's made of."
"Well, all of my students always carry a list of ingredients with them to help craft new abominations." Professor Hermonculus explained.
"Oh, yes," Willow nodded, "I have mine if you like to-"
"No. We were hoping…" the principal then got out a dagger, as he looked down to the terrified Luz, and smiled as he said, "for a closer look."
Ian and Dana looked shocked and nervous at this, until Ian spotted several cauldrons nearby, then, while no one was looking, whispered an idea to Dana, who nervously nodded at that, before the both of them sneaked over to the cauldrons.
"Willow, I'll allow you the first cut." Principal Bump said, handing the dagger to Willow, who nervously smiled, while Amity just showed a smug smile at her. Willow soon approached Luz.
"Uh, you can't just cut open a human, can you?" she whispered to Luz through a nervous smile, which was replied by a scared shake of Luz's head.
"Miss Park, go ahead and make the first incision." Professor Hermonculus encouraged her, as Willow's hand began to shake nervously. If she cut open Luz, she might end up killing her!
Suddenly, the classroom door slammed open, as Hilda stepped through, "Luz! Callum and the others are in trouble, we gotta-"
She suddenly stopped, frozen in her tracks, as she suddenly realized that she entered in the middle as something, as she saw Willow holding a dagger near Luz, Ian and Dana nearby, Amity and two teachers, all of them shocked to see her.
"Whoops…" she could muster.
"Hilda, what are you doing here?!" Luz cried as she sat up… only to realize that she spoke, right in front of Willow. In front of Amity. And the two teachers.
And it was at this moment she knew… she mucked up.
"Uh oh…" she gulped.
"I knew it!" Amity cried out.
"What in blazes is going on?!" Professor Hermonculus frowned.
Realizing the jig was up, Ian and Dana pushed the cauldrons over, causing them to spill abomination gunk everywhere, and causing the abominations to rise up and even mix with each other.
"Run!" cried Dana, as she, Ian and Willow grabbed Luz and Hilda and ran out of the classroom.
"They're getting away!" Amity called out.
"No, the intruders won't get far." Principal Bump stated, before approaching a wall and casting a spell circle, once it was made, he pressed hard onto the wall, sparks of red electricity and red light patterns began to emerge around and across the walls of the classroom.
Meanwhile, Luz, Hilda and the magic students stopped to take a breather after running for a while, hoping that they weren't followed.
"I'm sorry, guys. This is all my fault." Luz apologized, "I just wanted to see what a real magic school was like."
"You're not alone," Hilda said, "we all wanted to see for ourselves."
Willow and the others looked at each other, then looked to the two girls… and smiled as the former asked, "Well, how do you like it?"
"It's lovely, actually." Luz admitted with a smile, earning several chuckles between the girls and the students.
"Okay then," Ian then said, "I think the first thing we should do is find the others and get out of here before-"
Suddenly, red glowing lines and runes appeared around the inside of the school, and barriers appeared, blocking several doorways around them.
This made the others nervous as Ian frowned with worry as he finished, "...Bump seals us in."
The Detention Chamber
"How is this detention?!" Callum cried out, as he and the others looked at the terrifying fate that awaited, "This is a death sentence!"
"I don't know!" Gus cried back, "I've never been in detention before!"
"Me neither!" Barley added.
"Welcome to my world." Mattholomule smirked, "Believe it or not, in my old school I was in detention plenty of times."
"That isn't hard to believe." Frida scowled, "You're kind of a jerk."
"Well, down in detention, this jerk is king." Mattholomule stated, as he kept his mean grin as he looked to the others and added, "So, if you wanna get out, you better do exactly what I say."
The others looked at eachother, until Gus groaned, "Fine. What do we do first?"
"Okay," Mattholomule smiled, "first, before anything else, we gotta-"
Before he could finish, a strange creature, that looked like a large, green snake with a skull face, appeared and spit out some sort of blue venom that caught on Mattholomule's leg.
"Already?!" he groaned, before screaming as he was dragged down into the pit, and seconds later, he was encased inside one of the cocoons.
"Mattholomule!" Gus cried out.
The twins meanwhile, were shocked at this.
"Okay, if we ever get out of here, we will never try and do something that could get us into detention!" Raph pleaded.
"I second it!" Hazel added.
"I can't believe the mess we've got into!" Callum complained, "All because Luz wanted to get into this cruddy magic school!"
"To be honest, I think it was great." Ezran admitted.
"Me too," David nodded, until looking nervous, "until we ended up here."
"Guys, we're sorry about getting you into this mess," Gus apoligized, "it was a bit of a stupid idea!"
"Yes, it was!" Callum growled.
"It's hard when you have your own quirks. You're overlooked. Sometimes ignored." Gus admitted, "But at the H.A.S. I mattered. Barley mattered. We could make sure no one would ever get left behind. We didn't wanna lose that."
"It's okay, guys," Ezran comforted them, "you're not the only ones with quirks."
This caught the co-presidents' attention, as they both asked, "Really?"
"Yeah, most of us have a little something that, while it might be weird, it also makes you special," Ezran explained, "like with you two and your knack on human related stuff."
"Or me being organized at times." Frida added.
"Us too!" the twins called out.
Gus and Barley were happy to hear such support from their new friends, and seeing the predicament they were in, the snake-like creatures crawling up towards them, they looked to each other and nodded with determined looks.
"Well, if you like, let us make it up to you." Gus smiled, "We've got a plan."
One of the creatures rose up with a hiss, until Callum was able to hit it with a rock over its head, "Okay, we're in. Where do we start?"
"With this." Barley said with a smirk, before crying out, "Manny!"
He then brought his pinky fingers to his lips, and whistled.
Seconds later, Manny the manticore crashed through the roof of the chamber, catching everyone by surprise.
Barley soon helped get Ezran, Frida and Gus up on the manticore, before taking off, fighting against the creatures.
"What next?" Hazel asked.
"We leave no one behind." Gus said with a grin, as he escorted the others to follow him and Barley down into the pit, dodging more of the creatures. Once they arrived at the bottom, they found the cocoon pod that Mattholomule was in and took it down.
"You will be a good student." a voice spoke from within the pod.
The group believed it was some kind of brainwashing pod, as Mattholomule then repeated what voice commanded, "I will be a good student."
"How do we get him out of there?" Callum asked, "Do you have to use magic or something?"
"Oh, I'll use magic." Gus smiled, as he got out his paperclip, "Human magic."
Bending the clip a bit, Gus used the tip to help cut the cocoon open, revealing Mattholomule, still in a trance and covered in blue slime, "Am I a good student?"
As Barley picked up Mattholomule, the creatures soon surrounded them.
"This is part of the plan, right?" Callum asked with worry.
"Or the illusion of a plan." Barley smiled, before looking at his little buddy, "Gus?"
"On it!" Gus smiled back, before conjuring a spell, creating several duplicate illusions of the group everywhere. This allowed the group sometime to hop on Manny and fly off with the others, while the creatures were distracted by the illusions.
"Wow, a genius and a wordsmith." Callum said, impressed.
"Hang on, we're gonna have to bust down the door!" Barley said, as they flew towards the door of the detention chamber.
Back with Luz's group, they were still on the run, trying to escape, yet failed as most of the doorways stopped them from going further.
Suddenly they bumped into someone… as Patrick looked shocked as he and Toriel saw Luz and Hilda!
"What the-?!" Patrick said, shocked, "Luz?! Hilda?!"
"Uh, hiya, Patrick." Luz nervously grinned, as Hilda nervously waved hello.
"Oh no…" groaned Patrick, placing his palm into his hand, "What did you do this time?!"
"Well… you see-" Hilda started to explain, only for a banging sound interrupted them, as down a corridor to the detention chamber, its doors shattered upon something ramming through it, revealing to be the others… a manticore.
"Patrick?!" Callum said, a bit shocked when he and others spotted him.
"What are you guys doing here?!" Patrick asked, only before any could reply, the creatures from the detention chamber emerged and slithered towards them.
"We'll talk when we get out of here!" Callum stated, as he then pointed to the creatures, "Big problem here!"
"Same here!" Luz said, as she pointed to Bump nearby, directing abominations toward them.
Seeing this unexpected mess (again) Patrick sighed as he said, "We're gonna discuss this when we get back."
He then got out the amulet, "For the glory of Merlin, may Vorpal light our darkest day."
The moment he said that, the armor appeared on him.
This, of course, caused the students that Luz, Hilda and the others befriended to look in shock, especially Gus and Barley.
"It's the Paladin?!" Ian exclaimed.
"YOU'RE FRIEND IS THE PALADIN?!" They both cried with excitement to the human kids.
"We were gonna tell you that." Hilda replied.
"Get to shelter!" Patrick ordered, as the group began to hide behind one of the pillars in the central atrium, while Patrick struck several abominations with his sword, while knocking away the slithering creatures too.
"Oh, this is awful." Willow said with worry and small bit of sadness, "I don't how we're gonna get through this. Amity's right. I'm just 'Half-a-Witch Willow'."
"No, you're not." Luz said, with confidence, and like the others for Gus and Barley, she looked to Willow with determination, while getting out a few things from her pocket, "You're Full-Witch Willow. And you're great. And someone once told me great witches are resourceful."
As Willow looked at the items that Luz got out, she gasped at the slime ball that Eda gave to Luz and smiled, "That's it!"
"You mean that greasy slime ball?" Luz asked, as Willow took it from her hands.
"Luz, it's a seed!" Willow explained, "Thank goodness you had it on you."
"Yeah." Luz said, quite a bit amazed, and thought about Eda, as she added, "Thank goodness someone told me to hold on to it."
Willow placed the seed in her lap and traced a spell circle over it, "Please grow!"
At that command, thorny vines grew from the seed, reaching to the ceiling. They stabbed through abominations and eventually targeted Principal Bump, sending him to the ceiling and pinning him there.
Principal Bump was in shock at what he saw. Vines now covered the entire atrium, curled around pillars and reaching from the bottom most floor to the absolute ceiling. Pink petals fell from above, and several of the vines had flowers on them.
"Remarkable." he could muster up.
The lights sealing off the hallways faded away, allowing the others the chance to escape, as Luz cried "There's the exit!"
Patrick, meanwhile, having witnessed the whole thing, was amazed by the plants too, until the others came up to him.
"What the heck was that?" He asked, as he followed the group to the exit.
"We'll explain on the way," Luz said, "we have to get out of here before-"
"Not so fast!" They heard Amity shout out, as she stood in their way, removing several vines from her uniform, and boy, she was angry.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm not letting you get away so easily." She growled, "I want my badge!"
She then gave out the command to a few nearby abominations, "Abominations, seize!"
One abomination came from behind them. Luz punched it through the chest, while Patrick used his sword to strike down another coming from the side, before they and others started to run again, as Amity reformed one of the abominations and sent it after them.
The group now seemed to have gained a clear path to freedom, but another abomination formed in front of them and staggered forward.
Seeing this Willow traces out a large spell circle, causing vines to trap the abomination.
"Great work, Willow!" Barley grinned.
"Thanks… though trying to concentrate…" Willow said, before looking to the humans, "Hurry! Get outta here!"
"No! We're not leaving you." Hilda stated.
"We may get detention, but you'll get dissected." Willow stated.
"Yeah, she's got a point there!" Callum said with worry.
"So get going! Now!" Dana cried, helping the young kids of Manny, as the humans did what they were told and ran out of the school.
Luz was the last to get out, before looking back to see their new magical friends, surrounded by abominations and detention creatures, just before the school doors slammed shut.
"Quick, guys!" she heard Patrick say, though he started to sound a little serious, "Back to the Owl House! Now!"
As they headed back, Luz looked back at the door, and thought 'Thanks, Willow, guys… hope you'll be okay…'
Back with the school kids, the abominations had surrounded them, as Amity approached them.
"This has gone far enough!" she cried.
As Willow and the others braced themselves, another spoke up.
"Enough!"
Just then, blue flames struck down on the abominations, as they looked up and saw Toriel, floating gently down from the balcony, Principal Bump arriving afterwards on the ground.
"Y-your majesty!" The kids all spoke in surprise.
"Y-your grace, w-we can explain," Willow spoke, "you see-"
They were cut off as one of the detention creatures let out a roaring hiss, taking them by surprise, until Toriel stared it in the eyes, causing the creature to freeze in alarm and worry at who was looking at it, before retreating as it said, "Uh, sorry your majesty. Ma'am."
"Thank you, your majesty," the principal smiled, before frowning as he looked at all the students and said in a serious tone, "Now… what. Did. you. All. Do?!"
Later, back at the Owl House
Outside the Owl House, Eda was sulking outside, having seen Luz in the school, while King was doing well training the Trash Slug, giving it a treat every time it followed his command like a dog.
"Yes! Brilliant!" King said with a cackle, completing his training the Trash Slug, "Well done, Prince, Jr. you've done brilliantly as I taught ya. Training complete. Go forth! Make the world tremble at your feet- or worm stubs."
The trash slug did what it was told and slithered away to who knows where, while King went over to Eda.
"So, the student has gone and left you, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah," Eda grumbled, "I can't believe she would do this! How could she choose to do 'proper' boring magic at that school than to do amazing, wild magic with me?!"
"Aw, don't feel bad, Eda, sure you've lost your student," King said… before pulling out a shame cone and cackling, "At least you have this!"
Eda just growled and grabbed the shame cone and placed it one her head, and looked at her roommate with a sneer, "Yeah, yeah… laugh it up."
Just then, Patrick and the others returned, getting Eda and King's attention, and by the looks of Patrick's annoyed face, something must have happened. Big time.
Luz saw Eda and ran up to her, "Eda! Your lesson worked! Keeping junk in my pocket saved my life!"
Eda and King looked at her for a second, until the former asked, "Uh… what did we just miss?"
"You wrecked up the entire school?!" Eda said in surprise, after hearing everything on what had happened.
"Yeah, they did," Patrick grumbled, looking at his friends, "and to make things worse, they've probably ruined any chance for Luz to go to this school to learn magic."
"Well, I'm happy for you, kid." Eda grined at Luz.
"Well, I'm not," Patrick said to the Owl Lady, "Toriel's there at the moment, hope that she'll be able to sort things out."
Patrick then took a deep breath in and out, before looking at his friends with a small smile as he added, "Still, I'm glad that you're all okay."
"Yeah… and we're sorry we went through all that trouble too," Hilda apoligized, "but it was still a great place."
"Was it really?" Patrick asked.
"Yeah," Luz nodded, "and we even made some new friends. I just hope that they're okay…"
"Why don't you ask them yourself?" Toriel's voice caught their attention, as the queen entered, with the school mates following in, amazed by the Owl House.
"Luz! Guys!" Willow smiled, as she and others went out and hugged out most of the group.
Luz looked to Willow and quickly asked, "Oh my gosh, are you okay? What happened?"
"You won't believe it, Luz." Willow smiled, "Everything is perfect now!"
"It's true. I don't believe it." Luz said, still smiling.
"Principal Bump was so impressed by Willow's plant work he's switching her to the plant magic track!" Ian explained.
"Wait, really?" Hilda asked.
"You bet, Look!" Willow said, as she backed away and snapped her fingers. With a glow of green magic and a twirl, her sleeves and leggings changed from magenta to green.
"Yes! Way to go, Willow!" Luz cheered with a hug, while Willow simply giggled.
"Oh, wait. What about Amity?" Luz then realized.
"And Mattholomule?" Callum added.
"That sly weasel?" Barley replied, "He'll be fine…" he then paused a little as he added, "probably."
"And don't worry, Miss Blight," Toriel replied with a smile, "we decided to come to an agreement with Bump and decided to count today as extra credit for her and all of you with your fine work. Those lessons really paid off for you all."
"I suppose that's good to hear." Hilda smiled.
"Well, I can't wait to see you all in action next time we sneak in." Luz grinned, though it was replied with awkward and nervous looks from the magic students.
"Is… something wrong?" David asked.
"Uh, about that." Gus replied, as he, Ian and Dana got out some rolls of paper, and unfurled some posters reading "BANNED" with a pictures of each of the humans underneath them, with Luz the only one covered in abomination goo, and Patrick in his Paladin armor. "You're kinda, sorta... banned."
"That's my girl!" Eda cheered.
"Not helping here…" Patrick groaned to Eda, as he placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose as he grumbled, "That's just great…"
"But, if you like," Dana said, "we could come here and teach you what we learned."
"Aw. That would be nice." Luz said, apprianting the other, but then looked to Eda with a smile and added, "But… I have a pretty great teacher already."
Eda was quite surprised to hear that, as well as the others (though Toriel just smiled anyways), until Eda grinned at that.
"Yeah, that's right. Luz is my student!" she grinned, snatching the poster of Luz, "Back off, academy twerps."
Everyone just gave a chuckle as, Eda looked to the poster, Luz's smile on it, and happily sighed, "Ah, baby's first wanted poster."
She then looked to Luz, and patted her on the head, "Good job, kid. Looks like I taught you something after all."
Patrick, meanwhile, smiled too, even though he was mad that they snuck out and got into trouble again, he was happy about all the new friends that Luz and the others were making over the time they've been in Delta Rune.
Later, after the students headed back to school (or better yet, home, as it was no doubt time for school to finish) and Chris, Taylor and Chuckie returned and heard about what had happened, it was almost time for the kids to head for home.
"Hey, Luz," Patrick said, getting her attention as the others listened in, "sorry about being mad at you and the others. And I'm sorry we didn't get you into that school. We were only trying to help out."
"Hey, that's alright," Luz replied, "though I gotta agree that what happened was not what we expected…"
"Hmm. Maybe not." Eda then spoke, as she, Toriel, Asgore and Asriel (the latter two coming by to say hello) got their attention, "But, if you like, come with us. We've got something to show you."
The kids looked at each other, then back to Eda and the Royals, wondering what she meant.
"How long until we can look?" Patrick asked, as the humans and Asriel were currently blindfolded, while Eda, Toriel, Asgore and King were helping them out a little, as they were using some magical platforms and Eda's staff to help them fly up in the sky, all of them sitting down.
"Okay," Eda then said, "you can all look."
Taking off the blindfolds, the kids were shocked and amazed by a beautiful site that they've never seen before.
They were revealed to be high in the sky in some whole new realm of sorts, looking down to a beautiful island of all it's greenery, mountain tops and various landscapes, surrounded by the sea and illuminated by the setting sun.
"Where are we?" Chuckie asked.
"The Island of Ebott in the realm of the seas." Asgore explained.
"It's… amazing." Asriel smiled.
"It is," Toriel smiled to her son, as she added, "this is also one of the places where your father and I dated, thanks to your aunt, of course."
"Guilty as charged." Eda smiled at that, before looking to the scenery with the others as she explained, "Up close, most of the realms like this one can be mysterious, and a little creepy and new-"
"And very stinky." King added, to her annoyance.
"And gross." Eda continued, before smiling again, as she looked up, "But if one were to look at it from a different perspective…"
The group looked to the sky above, where stars are beginning to appear. As they watch, a shooting star crosses the sky, there for only a moment.
"It's beautiful." Luz replied.
"It sure is." Taylor agreed.
"Yeah." Callum nodded.
The others all made their agreeing opinions, before relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery.
A few minutes later, Patrick looked at Luz and asked, "You sure you still want to learn magic from Eda, Luz?"
"I'm certain," Luz replied, before admitting, "I just want to be honest here, but I'm a little jealous."
"Really?" he asked, a little surprised.
"You've been able to find a magical amulet, and become a chosen hero to save all mankind and magic," Luz explained, "I just want to get the chance to see if I can be chosen too."
Patrick smiled at this, before replying, "It's alright Luz. And don't forget about what Blinky said about Destiny being a gift and all."
"He's not wrong there, kid," Eda added, as she joined in the conversation, "look, there are times when everyone wants to believe they're "chosen"." she quoted her fingers as she said that, before continuing, "But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we'd die waiting." she chuckled a little on that, before adding "And that's why you need to choose yourself."
Luz looked to Eda and thought about what she said, before asking, "Does that mean you'll give me a magic staff of my own?"
"Not yet." Eda replied, but smiled as she added, "But... someday."
Patrick and Luz smiled at that, before continuing watching the sunset with their friends…
Meanwhile, later on, somewhere else...
It was a dark and stormy night across a forest, as the wind blew on the trees and the rain fell from the sky, most of them making puddles. All was quiet.
But not for long.
A running man splashed in one of the puddles, as if he was in a marathon, but as he stopped, he had a bit of fear in his eyes, and panting heavily, like he was running from something… or someone.
Thunder rumbled across the woods, as lightning lit up the scene, and as he looked, he saw the flash of lighting revealing figures in between the trees. The man got out a crossbow and shot an arrow that hit a tree, then ran away. A figure dashed out of the forest and followed him. The man suddenly tripped while the attacker made their way through the treetops. He turned around and aimed his crossbow, but lost the target. The attacker drew out their blades and kicked him into a puddle of water, then held the blades against his throat.
"No, please!" he cried to the attacker, terrified, "Mercy!"
The attacker is taken aback as they look at his scared face and lowered their weapons. The man pushed himself backwards until he could stand, then managed to flee into the forest. The attacker lowered their weapons further and sighs.
Then something whizzed passed above, then something hitting something else, and the yelp of the man cried, the figure then walked over to where the sound came from… and saw the man laying on the wet, muddy ground. Dead. an arrow pierced through his back.
The figure put away their weapons… then removed her hood, herself as a 15 year-old elf girl, with pointy ears that peeked out from underneath her shoulder-length white hair, and stubby horns. She was thin and willowy, and had purple eyes with blue, tear-like elven markings underneath them.
She wore a dark teal and navy suit secured by a vest, dark brown straps, and a dark brown belt embellished with a silver brooch. The outfit was topped off with knee-high boots and bracers.
The girl sighed at the sight of this, before speaking in a scottish accent, "I'm sorry, Runaan."
Just then, another figure appeared behind her, as she turned to face him, revealing himself as a tall, lean and muscular elf, who appeared fairly young, as his age is specified only as "uncle-ish". His hair, white and braided, reached down to his lower back. He had turquoise-colored eyes. He had horns, pointy ears, and light purple-tinted skin. The blue markings on his face and arms were also typical of his species.
His clothes are mainly dark green and navy in color. He wore a dark green undershirt, a navy vest, and a sleeveless navy coat. He also wore a dark brown belt embellished with a silver brooch, dark green pants, and knee-high navy boots with dark brown accents. He had on a shoulder guard on his left shoulder, as well as black and brown gloves. And, as a highly skilled archer, Runaan has a quiver of arrows strapped to his back.
The elf girl looked at Runaan, and let out a sad sigh as she said, "I couldn't do it."
Runaan looked at the girl, then sighed as he shook his head, "I know, Rayla. I know."
Runaan then got a rift knife and opened up a doorway to a new realm, where it was currently nice and sunny, as he started to enter through it, he then looked to Rayla and gestured her to follow.
"Come." he said, "It's time to meet with the others."
Rayla simply nodded, then followed Runaan through the rift.
'Some assassin I'm turning out to be…' she thought to herself.
Author's Notes:
Next time, some assassins, orc thugs, nasty goblins and (possible) new allies!
Until then, True Believers!
Excelsior!