The Questport Chronicles
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The Questport Chronicles is a Web Original fantasy that recounts the recent history of the village of Questport, a legendary haven for adventurers. The old tales tell that whenever the world has been threatened by the powers of darkness, heroes of Questport have arisen to save the day. But now, as Questport stands alone against encroaching evil, no heroes have appeared, and the sacred relic known as the Yostwell's Light is nowhere to be found. So when a ragtag group of vaguely suspicious strangers show up at the Questport Temple one day, the village's leaders have no choice but to send them on a desperate quest...
Tropes used in The Questport Chronicles include:
- Action Girl: The Queen of Rogues and Robbers, as well as the female heroes.
- Addictive Magic: The mage from the third year suffers from this.
- Aerith and Bob: Djadan, Jaheira, Sabriel, Gawain... and Emmy, Acre, and Tulip.
- Affably Evil: The Lord of Angels and Demons.
- All Myths Are True
- All Trolls Are Different
- Amnesiac Hero: Mei.
- Amplifier Artifact: Gaudior's Horn, which magnifies the power of spells.
- Ax Crazy: The Dark Swine.
- Badass: Really, it would be easier to list the characters who don't fall under this trope.
- Badass Adorable: Tulip.
- Badass Bookworm: The Head Scholar.
- Badass Crew: The Fellowship.
- Badass Normal: The Lord of the Supreme Council.
- Little Miss Badass: Emmy.
- Badass Family: Djadan and Mei, and eventually Queen Mavia.
- Bearer of Bad News: The Lord of the Supreme Council, usually.
- Berserk Button: Don't compare the Queen of Rogues and Robbers to her older sister.
- Don't steal the Sea Witch's treasure, either. Although the Queen didn't have much trouble dealing with her.
- Black Knight: The Knight of Black Humor.
- Blond Guys Are Evil: Possessed!Ato
- Bloodless Carnage: The battles rarely receive more detail than "After a ferocious struggle, the Fellowship prevailed". Injuries never seem to be mentioned unless they're important to the plot.
- Big Bad: Three so far: The Master of Darkness, The Prince of Shadows and Illusions, and the Mage.
- Big Good: The Yostwell's Light.
- And the Yostwell, in the backstory.
- Bittersweet Ending: Year Three. The heroes successfully restore the Tree of Light (although with limited powers), but Questport is gone forever and only a few survivors remain.
- Cardboard Prison: The Lord of Angels and Demons tends to escape from prison extremely quickly.
- Casting a Shadow: The Master of Darkness. Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The mage.
- The Chooser of the One: Or rather, the Chooser of the Eight. The Lord of the Supreme Council gives the quest to the eight people who show up at the Temple one day, on the basis that if a real hero hasn't shown up by now it's unlikely that one ever will.
- City of Adventure: Questport is a village, rather than a city, but it still has more than its fair share of adventure.
- Classy Cat Burglar: The Queen of Rogues and Robbers.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The Alchemist has shades of this.
- Tulip.
- Color-Coded Elements: The elemental essences.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: After the heroes rescue the Lord of the Supreme Council from the Castle by the Lake, she chews them out for barging into a situation that was completely under control.
- Cursed with Awesome: Spiro is magically transformed into a dragon.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Shadowa uses dark magic.
- Dark World: What the Master of Darkness is trying to accomplish.
- Darker and Edgier: Year Three is this, compared to the first two years--it begins with the destruction of Questport.
- Dead Person Conversation: With the ghosts of the Knight Protector and Lord Bertram.
- Demonic Possession: A voluntary example: Ato allows himself to be possessed by the Dark Swine in order to lead the Fellowship to the Lost Lady. It doesn't end well.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?
- Damsel in Distress: The Lord of the Supreme Council, after being captured by the Queen of Rogues and Robbers.
- Dude in Distress: Djadan, in the same situation.
- Doomed Hometown: Happens to no less than three of the heroes (Gawain, Shadowa, and Emmy).
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: Mei has several dreams of events long past, including the Dream Box and her mother's death.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Several recurring characters (and scores of unknown villagers) die off-screen between Year Two and Year Three.
- Druids: Jaheira and Acre
- Easily-Conquered World
- Eldritch Abomination: The Prince of Shadows and Illusions, who has been trapped in a mirror for thousands of years.
- Eldritch Location: The netherworld that the Fellowship visits during Year Four.
- Elemental Powers:
- Blow You Away: Mei and Djadan.
- Light'Em Up: The Mage.
- Making a Splash: Tulip.
- End of an Age: The third year begins with the destruction of Questport.
- Evil Gloating: The Lord of Angels and Demons isn't above doing this now and then.
- The Mage, as well.
- Exact Words: The demon said he'd take the heroes to the Lost Lady, but he didn't say he'd take them back...
- Extremely Short Timespan: Particularly in Year Two and Year Four, when the quests take place in less than a week.
- Face Heel Turn: The Knight of Black Humor.
- Ato, when possessed by the Dark Swine.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink
- Fighting a Shadow: It's unclear whether the Master of Darkness' reappearance was this or simply Faking the Dead.
- Fetch Quest
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: With the Lord of the Supreme Council as the responsible sibling and the Queen of Rogues and Robbers as the foolish sibling.
- Friendly Enemy: The Lord of Angels and Demons is becoming this to the Fellowship.
- The Queen of Rogues and Robbers.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Between The Lord of the Supreme Council and The Queen of Rogues and Robbers.
- God Save Us From the Queen: Averted with the Lord of the Supreme Council, who is shown to be an excellent ruler.
- Played straight with her sister, the Queen of Rogues and Robbers.
- Grand Theft Me: The Dark Swine, who possesses Ato during Year Four.
- Griping About Gremlins
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: The Master of Darkness
- Heel Face Revolving Door: The Lord of Angels and Demons, thanks to his Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
- Heel Face Turn: Spiro, after being banished from Hybris.
- The King of Thieves and Assassins, after hearing the Harp of Remorse.
- Hobbits: Seen briefly during the first year.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Mage is dissolved into Aether after relying too much on the essence of Aether to cast his spells.
- Impossible Task: The quest in Year Four (to free the Lost Lady from the netherworld) is repeatedly stated to be impossible.
- It isn't.
- It May Help You on Your Quest: The heroes are used to receiving strange items from passersby by now.
- Killer Rabbit: The Demon Bunny.
- Knife Nut: Ato, the assassin.
- Ladykiller in Love: The Lord of Angels and Demons.
- Land of One City: The realm of Questport.
- Late Arrival Spoiler: It's obvious that the heroes have succeeded every year.
- Light Is Good: The Big Good is described as a force of pure light.
- Subverted with the mage from Year Three, however.
- Loads and Loads of Characters
- Love Makes You Evil: The Wizard.
- Mood Whiplash: The third year starts with celebrations of the defeat of last year's villain. Then Questport gets destroyed and several recurring characters die.
- Morality Pet: The Demon Bunny, to Spiro.
- Muggle Foster Parents: Gawain, an elf, is raised by a human blacksmith after being abandoned by his parents.
- Mysterious Parent: Djadan, to Mei.
- Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Master of Darkness and the Prince of Shadows and Illusions. Subtle.
- Rodrigo Noire, a.k.a the Dark Swine.
- The Necromancer
- Obviously Evil: The Big Bads tend to fall victim to this trope. See Names to Run Away From Really Fast, above.
- Offstage Villainy: All of the major villains are guilty of this, but the Master of Darkness is a particular example.
- Oh Crap: The Fellowship, realizing that the Lord of Angels and Demons has backstabbed them and stolen the keys.
- The Lord of the Supreme Council, realizing that two of the mirror shards are missing. The heroes really need to be more careful with the Plot Coupons...
- Year Four: The Fellowship again, when the Dark Swine abandons them in the netherworld with no way to escape.
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Supreme Council, who never seem to do anything.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Mei's necklace, which was given to her by her father, Djadan.
- Our Elves Are Better
- Our Demons Are Different: They're demon transformers.
- Although several non-transforming demons are seen as well, most notably the Dark Swine.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Scorpio is a human trapped in a dragon's body by a spell.
- Our Fairies Are Different
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier: They like human rolls!
- Overly Long Name: To the point of a Running Gag. The Lord of the Supreme Council, The Lord of Angels and Demons, The King of Thieves and Assassins, The Prince of Shadows and Illusions, The Queen of Rogues and Robbers...
- Parental Abandonment: Implied to have happened to at least three of the heroes.
- Plot Coupon: Most of the quests involve finding these.
- Professional Killer: Ato, as well as the King of Thieves and Assassins.
- Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: The Lord of Angels and Demons erases the Secret Keeper's memory after she dumps him.
- Put on a Bus: Gawain is oddly absent during Year Four.
- The Quest: Obviously.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Fellowship starts out as this.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The Lord of the Supreme Council, to the Fellowship
- Redheaded Hero: Gawain.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The DuLac sisters: Sabriel is Blue, Lirael is Red.
- The Remnant: The inhabitants of Questport at the beginning of Year Three.
- Regular Caller: The Lord of the Supreme Council is always around to give the heroes another quest.
- Rotating Protagonist: The Fellowship.
- Running Gag: Every time the Lord of Angels and Demons escapes from jail, he's missing another article of clothing.
- Rule of Cool: The world practically runs on this.
- Saving the World: The goal of the first two years.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Prince of Shadows and Illusions was apparently imprisoned in a mirror for several thousand years.
- Sea Monster: Year Two.
- Serial Romeo: Although in-universe he's treated as The Casanova, the Lord of Angels and Demons falls more closely into this category, especially in regards to the Secret Keeper and the Queen of Rogues and Robbers.
- Shrouded in Myth: The Yostwell's Light.
- Spell Book: The heroes use one occasionally.
- Summoning Ritual: Facilitates the conversations with ghosts, as well as the occasional Demonic Possession.
- Sword Fight: Between Mei and The Prince of Shadows and Illusions. And Mei holds her own.
- Taken for Granite: The Lost Lady
- Take Over the World: The goal of at least two of the villains.
- Took a Level In Badass: The entire Fellowship, who go from a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits to a full-fledged Badass Crew over the course of the chronicles.
- Troll Bridge
- Vegetarian Vampire: Shadowa and her family.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Spiro and the Lord of Angels and Demons are demon transformers; Scorpio was cursed by a wizard.
- Unicorn: One shows up very briefly in Year Three.
- We Do the Impossible: In Year Four, the Fellowship completes as quest that is explicitly stated to be impossible.
- Weirdness Magnet: The Fellowship again, although Questport in general is a bit of a Weirdness Magnet.
- Wham! Episode: The beginning of the third year, when Questport was destroyed.
- Winged Humanoid: Mei and Djadan's wings are apparently natural; Queen Mavia's were given to her magically.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The Master of Darkness was heading in this direction.
- World of Ham
- The X of Y: A staple. Characters (The Lord of Angels and Demons; the Master of Darkness), items (The Talisman of Hope; the Harp of Remorse), places (The Courts of Tenus; the Stone of Honor)...
- You All Meet In a Temple