Adventurers!

Infobox comic strip
title= Adventurers!


caption= "Adventurers! Level 1: World of Imbalance", the first volume's cover is based around "Chrono Trigger's" .
author= Mark Shallow
url= http://www.adventurers-comic.com/
rss=
atom=
status=
syndicate=
publisher=
first= 2000-12-01 [http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0001.html]
last= 2006-10-09
genre= Fantasy, Parody
rating=
preceded by=
followed by=

"Adventurers!" is a webcomic authored by Mark Shallow and hosted by Keenspot. The comic is set in the world of a stereotypical console role-playing game filled with every single cliché imaginable. Though somewhat crudely drawn, it vigorously lampoons a wide variety of RPGs. "Adventurers!" is the oldest and most likely the best known of the comics of its narrow subgenre of console RPG parodies.

The characters show varying degrees of awareness about existing inside a video game. The protagonist is the hero Karn, complete with gravity-defying hair and a big sword. He seems not to be blessed with much intelligence, but he does have an innate understanding of how his reality works. He's the source of endless frustration for his sarcastic mage sidekick Ardam, who is highly intelligent and rational in a world where buildings on fire won't burn down until the heroes' actions trigger it. These two are accompanied by an eclectic group of party members as they journey to defeat the "evil" villain Khrima.

As yet another nod to the console RPGs it parodies, the comic's strip numbers maxed out at 999 (the number being a common maximum for attributes, attack damage etc. along with 9999). Two years' worth of strips were numbered #999, with sub-numbers to indicate in which part of the Final Battle story arc they fall.

On 2006-10-09, the comic concluded, revealing that the player was in fact a character from Mark Shallow's other webcomic, "Antihero for Hire." Work on a series of printed books is currently underway.

Characters

Party Members

; Karn :The protagonist, a fighter driven to near obsession by RPG staples such as gaining levels and completing sidequests.

; Ardam :One of the first two party members, a long-suffering mage who flatly refuses to accept the logical fallacies of the game world.

; Drecker : The third to join the party, a thief with a growing distaste for mountains (due to the mind-boggling amount of mountains encountered throughout the game). Said to be an "optional" party member by Cody. Romantically involved with Karashi.

; Karashi :A ninja and Drecker's girlfriend. Also the butt of "Ninja's in RPG's are Useless" jokes, and is Half-Dwarf (on her mother's side).

; Tesla :
Gun-obsessed ranger and Ardam's adoring girlfriend.

; Gildward :Comically weak bard with at least one surprisingly powerful ability.

; Chookie :Almost completely useless (more so than Gildward), but "it doesn't matter because I'm cute!"

; Spybot :Short for "Evil Killer Death Spybot 5000", a robot that makes little secret of its motives. Generally speaks in variations of "-Beep- DESTROY -Beep- KILL."

; Lumi :Joining the party late into the game, a good-natured cleric, and Karn's girlfriend.

Khrima's Army

; Khrima :The game's primary villain (a title eventually challenged by Eternion) who seeks to conquer the world. Has an obsession with lasers.

; Argent :One of Khrima's top generals, quickly pegged by the party as evil: "You think a guy can't have silver hair and gold-trimmed black armor without being evil!? " [Pauses] " Well... you're right. Curses." Formally the Eternal Judge Finis.

; Mizuna :Another of Khrima's generals, as well as Karashi's sister.

; The Axe :The third of Khrima's generals, an extremely powerful bard (wielding an electric guitar) with a longtime grudge against Gildward.

; Blanc :The fourth of Khrima's generals; Master hand-to-hand fighter who swears revenge on the party for killing his DMONPIG ("Bitey").

; Cody :Khrima's right-hand man and Tesla's ex-boyfriend; gun fanatic; would have joined the party if not for the party gaining the optional character (Drecker).

; Kemmit & Meck :A pair of recurring enemies that the party defeats with ease time and again.

Other Villains

; Rio :Continually down-on-his-luck thief and rival to Drecker.

; Garshask :Khrima's high school supervillainy rival. Eventually hired by Eternion.

; Whizrom :A dark wizard with powerful magic abilities. He first falls victim to the low defense and health scores that come of being a wizard, then, after his defeat, to a frustratingly long, dramatic death animation. After his "death," is sealed in an orb, given the name Whizorb, and hired by Khrima. He and Ardam apparently went to school together.

Eternals

; Eternion :Very, "very" powerful Eternal whose bids for power lead him to cross paths with both the party and Khrima.

; Infinel :An Eternal referred to as The Messenger; fought against Eternion.

; Maxima Termis :Grand Eternal and leader of the Council.

; Imposis :An Eternal who provides exposition and helps the party to save the world from Eternion.

; Invisin :An Eternal working for Eternion; powers sealed by Argent.

; Endless :A Lesser Eternal who works with Imposis.

Plot Summary

The exact details of the early story of the game are unknown, although a battle with a Cloaked Skeleton, recurring confrontations with Khrima, visits to Seven Temples, time travel, introductions to most of the party characters and recurring villains and collections of crystals are all parts of the plot. This joke-oriented structure changed around the introduction of Eternion, with the plot becoming more prominent.

Important notes are Eternion, an insane Eternal who attacked the Adventurers. Only Khrima, protecting his "turf," and Gildward could turn, a flashback of Khrima's revealing why he was evil, a confrontation between Gildward and Dirlend, and Eternion's revenge match against Karn and Khrima, which was only stopped by the Council of Eternals. Dirlend also came back as "The Axe," but was stopped by the arrival of Tesla, who joined the Adventurers.

The turning point of the story, Comic #400, had Khrima accidentally destroy the Kildracks Crystal and receive unknown benefits from its destruction. Soon after, Maxima Termis, leader of the Eternals, came to the Adventurers to destroy Gildward, who knew a melody to make the Eternals mortals. Ardam's spell "Undimension," which trapped the target in a spaceless, timeless void, was used to incapacitate Termis. Also in this time period, Karn began collecting the Elemental Relics, of which there were at least one hundred and twelve, as they were the modern elements.

As the quest began, a ninja (and Kemmit and Meck, temporarily) attacked the group and revealed herself to be Karashi's sister, now working for Khrima, much to Karashi's horror. Karashi managed to stop her on a technicality, and Mizuna left, although she revealed horrifying powers that had been given to her through the remnants of the Kildracks crystal.

Khrima and Eternion continued to spar, now with Eternion in control of the Eternals in Maxima's absence, and Infinel's, another Eternal, death. Invisin, another Eternal attacked Khrima's base, but Argent, Mizuna, and the Axe, Khrima's three "Khaos Generals" turned her back, and Argent used a powerful amulet to turn Invisin into a mortal. At around the same time, Karn managed to obtain the Lithium Relic.

Karashi and Tesla later received a message that Karn, Ardam, and Drecker had been kidnapped, and went to rescue them. It was revealed to be a scam of Eternion's, who had hoped that they would have brought Gildward with them. His assistant, Cody, who coordinated things, let the party go (Karn and his entourage showed up in mid-confrontation).

Karn, Karashi, and Ardam went to the Haunted Castle of Manganese Doom to obtain the next relic, but were attacked Argent. He was distracted by Garshask, another of Eternion's assistants, and Khrima's rival, who showed up. He had gained powers similar to those of the Khaos Generals, and Karn and group barely managed to escape the destruction caused by the fight that followed. Both Garshask and Argent had disappeared, leading Karn to the conclusion that both had survived the end of the castle, although the group was unsure of the details.

In their adventurers, Karn and the group ran into Imposis, an Eternal who resisted Eternion. Imposis explained to them how the original war between Eternion and the Eternals had occurred, and gave them a book, asking them to find someone to translate it for them so that they could find a weapon against Eternion. At the same time, Argent escaped Garshask and Cody.

As their searches for the Relics continued, Karn met Khrima's little sister, who told them more of Khrima's history. She also led them to a way to defeat Eternion. However, Karn was more interested in sidequests and the Relics, and went on a quest for the Selenium Relic. However, they were ambushed by a fist fighter who they had encountered before, now working for Khrima and using the code name Blanc, as he had become a Khaos General. Imposis intervened in the battle and gave Karn an attack that required Ardam and Drecker, and the three of them defeated Blanc, and obtained the Selenium Relic.

Imposis had found another Eternal, Endless, and the two made plans against Eternion, but Imposis' actions had not gone unnoticed, and Eternion killed him. Endless escaped death, but only just.

Once Karn finally went to the church, he met Lucinda, the church head, and Lumi, an apprentice there. Lucinda translated the book, and suggested that Karn find the sword used to stop Eternion the first time, and find one of the two amulets that could turn an Eternal into a mortal. Luckily, Lumi had one of the amulets, but she'd lost it in the Church Cave of Trials earlier. Lumi joined the party so she could help them find the amulet.

Meanwhile, an out-of-luck, incompetent thief named Rio went on a stealing spree, and was hired by an unknown person for an unknown purpose. Also, Gildward and Chookie, the two incompetent members of Karn's group, accidentally found themselves in a cave, and were nearly killed. However, Khrima saved them (unbeknownst to them), as Gildward had a minor power over Eternion, but neither was a particular risk to him.

Karn discovered that the last Relic was being sold at an auction. They went there, but someone outbid them. They confronted the person, but, to everyone's shock, the Relic was stolen by Rio. Drecker went after him and managed to obtain it, and Rio went back empty-handed to Eternion, who had been the buyer at the auction. Rio was fired, naturally.

The party returned to Vine Forest with the Relics, and Karn entered the forest, where he discovered a teleportation terminal. The terminal took him to a void, where he confronted the Ultra Vine. After his victory, a hologram programmed by Infinel appeared, and gave Karn the Infinity Mail, an armor with various powers that would help him in his battles with Eternion and Khrima.

Afterwards, the group went to Karn's hometown, where, to their surprise, his father possessed the legendary sword used to defeat Eternion in the first war. Although it was not powerful enough, even in Karn's hands, to defeat Eternion, it would be enough to weaken him enough to use the amulet on him. Also, to the horror of the world, Khrima managed to get one last evil act in and destroyed Aquiria.

The Adventurers assaulted Khrima's Fortress, but it was protected by three shield generators. At the top of the first was the Axe, who accidentally destroyed the Shield Generator on his own with his heavy metal. At the top of the second was Mizuna, who nearly managed to defeat Karashi before Karn and Ardam caught up to the two ninjas. At the top of the third was Argent, who challenged Karn to a one-on-one duel. Karn was nearly defeated, and Argent became convinced that Karn would not be able to defeat either Khrima or Eternion, but one of the abilities of the Infinity Mail activated, badly wounding Argent and destroying the Shield Generator. Much to everyone's horror, Eternion arrived and blew up Khrima's fortress, presumably killing Khrima.

Both Argent and Endless tried to stop Eternion, but Endless was slain quickly (although he managed to destroy Eternion's hand), and Argent was mortally wounded. Karn unleashed his final weapon, the Truth Buster, which powered up Karashi and Ardam and allowed the three of them to face him. Eternion was soon defeated, and Argent used the second amulet to make Eternion a mortal. For his final acts, Argent destroyed Eternion and Invisin, and led Cody, Rio, and Garshask away from the battle and convinced them to stop interfering with the battles. Argent soon died.

Khrima's fortress, however, had proven stronger than it had seemed, and the Khrimalith, a giant airship, was launched. Cody, who had worked for Khrima earlier, returned and helped the Adventurers make their way in. The Adventurers separated, and had to confront Whizrorb (Whizrom in a crystallium orb), Kemmit and Meck (two minor villains) and the Doomsceror. Blanc was largely upset that he wasn't a boss.

The Adventurers reunited, and took on Khrima. All nine participated in this final battle, and in the clean-up situation afterwards, as with Khrima's death, the Khrimalith began plummeting towards a town. Working together, the Adventurers managed to stop the Khrimalith, and were recognized as heroes.

The survivors of the incident went their ways, although several had additional adventures on their own.

Crossovers

Once had a run-over with Ian J.'s "RPG World" which eventually resulted a joint venture between the artists, "Starsomething".

At the end of the comic, it was revealed that Wrench from "Antihero for Hire", one of Mark Shallow's other comics, was the person playing the game.

Collected editions

* "Adventurers! Level 1: World of Imbalance"

External links

* [http://adventurers-comic.com Official Site]
* [http://kirin.nalimara.net/advstat/ "Adventurers!" Statistics] - Statistics and Character profiles