Torlon

Last night was a strange experience for the Head Priest. He might not have as close of a connection to the Shield as the High Priest in the Citadel, but he is the closest of anyone in Fourdock. So it came as a surprise to him that he could feel someone with a strong connection even before they entered the church.

It was even more of a surprise to see it was Freddie! He knew the lad had the potential to be a great paladin, but he didn’t expect the lad to vanish for the day and come back with his class!

Perhaps most surprising of all was the vision he received from the Shield as he slept. Dream visions are always difficult to interpret. Dreams can be so ephemeral, and visions in general are often so vague, so combining the two can be a metaphorical nightmare, no matter how pleasant they are.

He saw Freddie leading and inspiring a whole new generation of paladins, and felt the need to help the young orc in sharing what he’s learned. Upon awakening, he can’t recall much more detail than that, but he trusts the Shield has given him at least the gist of what it wants: to guide and help Freddie.

He can’t help but smirk to himself as he gets out of bed, imagining himself lamenting in all the most extreme ways over the most difficult task of something he’d do without even needing to be asked. He genuinely likes Freddie, and so is glad to take up such a ‘burden’, and more genuinely happy to the Shield for being given something he is confident in doing.

It doesn’t take him long to do his morning routine and head to the kitchen, hoping to catch Freddie there and maybe share a meal together. He quickly finds the young lad at a table having some simple porridge with some dried fruits and nuts, and even spots the spider, Fiona, not far away and munching on a rat. He waves at Freddie, and the young orc smiles and waves back, and Torlon gets himself a similar bowl for his own meal, and sits across from the new paladin.

“I see you’ve gotten your class,” he says with a smile, and Freddie nods with excitement.

“So did Rhonda!”

“Oh? What did you two get up to, then? Not a lot of people get their classes together,” Torlon says simply, before digging into his breakfast. Freddie takes the cue to tell the story, and is all too happy to do so.

“So, I went and visited Rhonda, and we decided to go to Thedeim and see if he could help us with our classes. We both knew we were missing something, and you and Old Staiven were being kinda deliberate in not telling us, so we thought he might be able to do something.”

“And it looks like he did, lad. A big part of a class is in figuring it out yourself, and challenging Thedeim’s denizens is a good way to do just that.”

Freddie nods. “Yeah, but we didn’t just go and fight stuff! We actually asked him to help, and he gave us three challenges to complete!”

Torlon looks a bit surprised at that. “Challenges? Like when Thedeim asked me to go loot Tiny’s chest?”

“Kinda? He actually got some of his dwellers to help, and even Miss Aranya! And some of the scions, too!”

“...That sounds like quite the challenge… challenges, rather. What did you do?”

“Well first, we had to capture the Huntsmistress of the spiderkin, Vernew, and she even had Queen’s help!”

“That’s… the bee?”

Freddie laughs and shakes his head. “Nah, that’s Honey. Queen is the ant and Alchemist. So we had to capture Vernew without harming Queen. Rhonda made us some potions while I tried to think of a good place to try to catch her, and I remembered hearing her talking with Larx about Tiny. I figured she might try to hide in and around his maze, so we got on top and convinced Tiny to distract her if she showed up.

“And then she did! She was talking to him and we attacked, trying to get her in one of Fiona’s webs with Rhonda’s help, but she dodged and threw a smokebomb or something. We decided to try to entangle her in the webbing Tiny has on top of the maze, and when she leaped at us, we struck!”

Freddie looks a little embarrassed. “It, uh… it worked, but we got tangled up, too. Me, Rhonda, Lucas, Fiona, and Vernew: all stuck in a huge ball of Tiny’s webbing, just kinda hanging there and slowly turning.”

Torlon does his best to not make a mess while laughing, easily able to imagine all of them stuck together like that. After a few seconds to calm himself, at least enough that he won’t interrupt himself with another laugh, he manages a reply. “I take it that counted, then, since you have your class?”

“Yeah, it counted. Heh, I even asked and Vernew said she counts it. And… I think that was one of the first things I learned about, and was kind of a theme for at least my part of the challenges.”

“Oh?” asks the gnome, wanting to hear what wisdom Freddie had gained yesterday.

“I only had a vague idea of what it was, until the second challenge. I had to talk with Larx.”

Torlon quirks an eyebrow at that, confused. “That doesn’t sound like a challenge. You often go and talk with him when you can spare some time between your training and delving.”

Freddie inhales deeply. “It definitely was a challenge. He wanted me to explain why the consecration at the cemetery went like it did.”

Torlon nods in understanding at that. “Ah, that makes more sense. It was a bit of a delicate situation.”

“Yeah, but he also asked me about the former head acolyte, too, and how actions have more meaning than words. Vernew worships Thedeim, but she failed to keep from getting captured by us, even though he specifically asked her to do that. And the acolyte failed to consecrate the cemetery, even though the Shield wanted it. But they’re not just cast out for failing. They get more chances, even if punishments have to happen, they can do better if they keep trying. It’s kinda like the shield you keep on your wall. It has chips and dings, but it’s still going to protect. It didn’t break at the first problem.”

Torlon nods along as Freddie talks. The lad is jumping around a bit in his explanation, but it’s all core to the entire point of the Crystal Shield and what it wants of its followers.

“And then, for the last challenge, we had to face Rocky and Aranya in the arena!”

Talons brow furrows at that. “Rocky is the zombie scion with far more magic than usual, right?” Freddie nods and Torlon continues. “So you faced off against the zombie while Rhonda went after Aranya?”

Freddie sheepishly shakes his head. “No, actually. She faced Rocky and I went after Aranya. Rhonda said she needed to face him herself, though I was at least able to have Fiona help her. I was still pretty nervous about her fighting him, but she was pretty sure it had to be done. And I had the same feeling with having to face Aranya.”

“Really? Why?”

Freddie shrugs. “I dunno? Something about her connection with Thedeim… I felt like I could learn something from it. And I kinda did, too.” Freddie continues before Torlon can even prompt him, the gnome forgetting his porridge as he listens.

“So, a lot of her magic has her calling on aspects of Thedim and his scions. She called on Poe’s wings to let her jump into the arena without hurting herself… and maybe to give her some extra speed. But with the Shield’s help, I was able to outpace her, just barely. But whenever I’d get too close, she’d call on one of those aspects to slow or stop me, and she’d get away!

“It was pretty frustrating, because it felt like I wasn’t just facing her or Thedeim, but all of Thedeim’s scions, too! It hardly seemed fair she could call on so much help, but then I remembered why I wanted to become a paladin in the first place: so I wouldn’t have to face stuff alone. I mean, I’m not exactly lonely, but having the help of you and everyone has been amazing for the hard times, you know?”

Torlon smiles at that and nods, and Freddie soon continues.

“So I thought, if she can call on help, so can I. And I was able to call a bunch of Shields to help corner her, and grab her to win. I called it Phalanx Charge, and I just somehow knew it was a formation of a lot of shields.”

Torlon's eyes shoot open at that, but Freddie continues before he can ask any questions. “And I got my class, too. I’m a Legionnaire Paladin of the Shield, a paladin of many. It’s one of Thedeim’s words, I guess? I’m still getting used to it, but… well, let me show you.” With that, Freddie closes his eyes for a moment to focus, and several ephemeral manifestations of The Shield appear around him. Even more interesting, Torlon even sees Fiona move into a place in the small formation with her own shield, before they fade away and Freddie breathes heavily from the effort.

As Freddie catches his breath, Torlon’s mind races at what he just saw. Every paladin he’s had the chance to meet could only imbue their personal shield. While it would often grow in size to be an impenetrable barrier, it was still only one shield. With something like this… he doesn’t even know what the potential power for good it could even hold! So many possibilities, especially if Freddie can teach his way of thinking to other prospective paladins.

As Freddie returns his focus to his breakfast, the effort seeming to make him hungry, Torlon can only offer a quick prayer for forgiveness, for thinking guiding Freddie properly would be a simple task. He is no less resolved to do it, though, both for the Shield and for Freddie himself. That kind of power requires a firm will and resolve to not misuse. Thankfully, Freddie isn’t the type to let something like that go to his head.