Deacon just stood there seething with rage. Typhus was holding his stomach and the others were uncontrollably laughing. It didn’t make any sense to Deacon. Yes, the situation was chuckle worthy, but the amount of laughter was egregious. This man with his jester hat complete with bells hanging off the spikes was just standing there drinking it in. Deacon noticed a blinking notification from his slate. When he checked it, he understood what was happening.

New Resistance Gained: Psychic 5%.

“Hey, shut it down. We don’t have time for this bullshit.” Deacon said staring at Hani.

“Whoops, always working. Sorry about that.” Hani replied lifting his hands in a placating gesture. Everyone stopped cackling like they were at the Comedy Cellar on half priced drink night.

“You have a message or something?” Deacon asked hoping to move this along.

“Absolutely. His Majesty requests your presence at the palace this evening. There will be a Royal Ball before he kicks off this years games at the Coliseum. The sooner we leave the sooner all the festivities get started.” Hani pronounced and then whistled using two fingers. A carriage pulled its way out of a side street and stopped in front of the Guild Hall.

“Wait, I need to confer with me team first. Give me ten minutes to change.” Deacon said.

Twenty minutes later, Deacon showed up at the gates dressed in the new tuxedo Mentalba had made for him. He needed to leave his bag with Alfred in the room they were renting. The reason for the delay was twofold. One he needed to get changed after his fight with the kidnappers. Two he wanted to lay some ground rules with his friends. The good thing was Armand was also invited based on his family name. Deacon believed the nobles probably wanted to hear about what happened at Iron Mountain. Ralph, Amanda, and Tantus decided they would be heading to the games. Typhus needed to follow up with the Deep Dweller embassy now that they were splitting up. The Paladins would see Deacon safely to the palace.

The jester, for his part, was just standing outside the carriage. His arms were crossed, and he was tapping his foot on the ground. Hani’s body language did not match the joyful smile on his face though. Something about this man unnerved Deacon. He couldn’t put his finger on just what it was.

“Ok, ready to go?” Deacon asked.

“Before we leave, I need you to make sure you have no dimensional storage devices with you. You will be checked as we enters and if you mange to sneak something passed the guards, the wards will make it explode. We don’t want another Michael Leonid incident.” Hani said cheerfully.

“Left it upstairs. Lord Pentecost warned me in advance.” Deacon replied stepping into the wagon.

“Oh good. You know I found it strange that Lord Pentecost insisted I be the one that retrieved you. They also asked me to entertain you while we make our way to the Palace.” Hani said as he got into the carriage and closed the door.

This carriage resembled the one he rode in with Lord Pentecost on the trip to the capital. It had sleeping compartments and the same enchantments that reduced the bumps in the road. Considering all the streets in the capital so far were cobblestone, Deacon understood. The Paladins from the church of Radiant jogged alongside the carriage like a mini-secret service detail. Deacon wondered at their stamina levels. He could see the Palace walls coming up and hoped they could still keep pace. Would they leave once Deacon was on the Palace grounds. Not five minutes later he got his answer. As the Gates to the carriage house opened the Paladin’s were stopped by the Royal Guard. They then broke off and headed back toward Temple Lane. All the while Hani kept babbling about court functions and who’s supposed to show up tonight. Deacon didn’t care. This whole trip has been disastrous, and he just wanted to get on with finding Ruby. This evenings distraction would be one in a long line of them as he worried about Amanda’s Vendetta.

“And so that’s how he ended up with half a cake in his lap.” Hani finished as the carriage came to a stop.

“Great story. I especially liked when you stopped talking,” Deacon said while opening the door and hopping out. The grounds outside of the carriage house were littered with all manner of opulent carriages. Some even had gold embellishments running up and down the exterior of the vehicle. There were staff members guiding people toward a side entrance. Some even had trays of food. They were ignored as wealthy nobles took what they wanted from the offered platters and kept moving. The ball gowns were wide and flowing works of art. Some even had magical scenes playing out across the fabric.

“I’m to deliver you directly to the King’s waiting room.” Hani said poking his jingly hat in front of Deacon. Just to be certain he was noticed.

“Ah! Back up man. Good god,” Deacon said as he pushed the jesters hat from his face.

“Hey Hani! Do a backflip.” Called out one of the nobles. Hani took two steps forward and performed a perfect backflip landing right next to Deacon again. After a few curt bows, he directed Deacon into the Palace and down well carpeted hallway.

The Palace was spotless. Even with every Royal Guard in full plate mail armor marching up and down the corridors periodically. As they passed windows on the outside of the building, they could see the massive crystals the Palace was nestled between. Hani eventually stopped at doorway just down the hall from two massive double doors that led into a grand ballroom. Deacon craned his head to look into the opulent ball room but was ushered into he waiting room without getting a good look.

“I just wanted to see the ball room.” Deacon said. He was more than a little frustrated by this Jester now.

“I got him here in one piece. Just as you asked my lord.” Hani said before backing out of the room. The door closing behind him.

On a couch in the waiting room sat Lord Pentecost and his ever present assistant Wotan. Doors on the other side of the room opened and a well-dressed blonde man wearing a crown and long red cape stomped into the room. He wore a belted tunic of the finest make with leather boots that have never seen road dirt in their existence.

“This is him?” King Edric asked.

“Yes, your majesty.” Lord Pentecost said standing up and bowing.

“Duke Deacon of Mulvaria, Champion of Chimera, step forward.” Commanded the King. Deacon did so voluntarily. King Edric looked him up and down. He touched Deacon’s tuxedo jacket and inspected his cummerbund before looking at Wotan.

“He works with a sea-elf tailor named Mentalba. He’s the tailor that has been selling those odd fashions you’ve been seeing. My king.” Wotan said.

“I like this. Not so much what the merchants are wearing. Set up a meeting with Mentalba. Back to the matter at hand. We are going to make a proclamation tonight. Do you know what that is? Never mind I’ll just tell you. We will be formally declaring war on the Vasilly Empire for that stunt down south. I hope you and Chimeral will be kind enough to bless us a Champion’s Advantage.” The king said before flopping into a nearby chair looking exhausted.

“I was just present when it happened during the invasion. Not sure how much more you’ll need from me.” Deacon said shrugging.

“That’s it? Here I was about to open negotiations for your favor. I even prepared a little something to sweeten the pot.” King Edric said shock evident in his voice.

“My King, I’m sure this champion would be more than happy to lend any and all aid he can.” Interjected Lord Pentecost.

“Hold on one minute there, bud. What kind of something?” Deacon asked getting a glare from Pentecost.

“Well we have a Proficiency Wall I’d like to show you. It doesn’t agree with any divination specialists we’ve brought to look at it. Most of it has nothing to do with this Kingdom but what’s on it is baffling. Not being a state secret I figured it would be interesting for a champion to see,” said King Edric as he got to his feet. As he did so did Pentecost and Wotan. They followed the King down a heavily guarded corridor. With the Royal Guard members turning sideways to let the king pass like living automatic doors.

After the fifth turn Deacon was already lost. There were large paintings on the walls of the King battling various beasts. Deacon wasn’t sure how much this middle aged man actually got to fight himself. He was always surrounded by well-armed and armored knights. Eventually they came to a T intersection. The king shared some words with a man in robes that had a ring of keys you’d find on a maintenance worker. He shuffled over to a wall and spoke an incantation. The wall seemed to ripple, and door appeared. This door had the faces of many people frozen in a rictus of agony. The King placed his right hand on the door and light speared from his fingers in five directions. There then came a release of air. Like a someone opened an airtight seal.

“Quickly now, I’d like to keep the contents of this room exposed to moving air for only a short period of time.” Commanded King Edric.

Deacon entered the room as sconces light up with heatless light. He thought they might be mage lights but soon he didn’t care. This room was at least three stories tall. The king wasn’t kidding when he said he had a Prophecy Wall. Deacon was staring at a chunk of wall that was removed from some other building and placed here. It was jagged and broken on the left side, but the right side was a smooth curving pattern. It was only about twenty feet wide. It consisted of five hand drawn pictures. The first one showed a cage dangling over a pit with a battle taking place below it. The second was a white haired man with his head in his hands sitting in a chair. Behind that chair was a dark shadow with its hand on his shoulder. The image was surrounded by ten circles all containing horrible images. The third image contained a hedge maze surrounding a city on top of a cliff. The fourth was a horde of goblins laying siege to a tiered city somewhere underground. The cavern it was in was deep enough it had cloud cover at the highest points of the city. The fifth and final image was of a man from behind with white dreadlocks standing in front of an enormous black and red colored hand that was holding something down. Grey light was pouring from between the fingers.

“Is that you?” Asked King Edric.

“I don’t know. The first three probably are but I don’t know anything about the last two. I can guess at the fourth one. Where did you get this?” Deacon said as a strange chill ran up his spine.

“It was found on an expedition into the Under Dark. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention it to your Deep Dweller friends. I thought you might find the images interesting. Come we have an event to kick off and even I can only delay things for so long.” King Edric said.