! !

Cal Trueshot and the Dungeon Crawlers

! ! Words and art: Christopher Reynolds ! ! !

Premise !
! !

Cal Trueshot and the Dungeon Crawlers is an 11 minute, double episode, action comedy animation, aimed at 7 to 13yr olds, and inspired by animations such as Johnny Test, Danny Phantom and Phineas and Ferb The show is set in the present day and revolves around Good Loot High, a top secret school located in the hidden town of Gloryville, near Earth's last portal to the Netherworld. To graduate, trainee adventurers must prove their expertise in raiding dungeons, wielding magical weapons and keeping the Netherworld's monstrous inhabitants at bay. Our hero is 12 year old Cal Trueshot. He's a ranger and the son of one of Gloryville's most decorated heroes. But despite his genetic advantage, Cal is possibly the laziest student at Good Loot. So you can imagine his horror when Principal Strongblade puts him in charge of the worst adventuring team in the school's history. Stuck at the bottom of the Treasure

League, Cal has to lead a pint-sized Paladin who hates his guts, a rogue that couldn't pick a lock if she had the key, and an half-insane warlock who would rather side with the bad guys. Meet the Dungeon Crawlers.

! !

Setting
Gloryville
Dragons, goblins, ogres and orcs no longer plague humanity. But did you ever think why? It's because of Gloryville. A small town nestled in the dense woodlands of the mid-west. Gloryville is built over an underground portal to the Netherworld and is quarantined from the outside world by the government. Deep in the Netherworld's bowels sits Dungeon Master Delorian who, after over 5,000 years on the job, is ready for retirement and would rather just be left alone. But Goryville's inhabitants wont stop until the last dungeon is raided and the last goblin slain.

While Gloryville is full of fantasy trappings, Dungeon Crawlers is set in the modern day. Characters have access to modern technology like smartphones and the Internet. They shop at malls full of magical armour and weaponry and go home to typical suburbs. But guns, tanks soldiers? They don't stand a chance against the Netherworld's denizens. Only those with the skill to wield magic, and magic-infused arms, can stop its rise.

Let's meet our heroes

Name: Cal Trueshot Class: Ranger (Abilities: expert archer, magical arrows, survival skills, tracking sense)

Our slacker hero Cal Trueshot was perfectly happy coasting his way through Good Loot High as a perpetual underachiever. Chilled out and independent-minded, Cal didn't have a care in the world. Until, at the behest of his overbearing mom, he was put in charge of the worst adventuring team in Good Loot. It will be motivational, they said.

Cal tries to take his misfortune with a good sense of humor, but he's a 'glass half empty' kind of guy and sometimes gives in to complete despair (which is when he needs his teammates to motivate him). Nevertheless, when the pressure is on, Cal is capable of inspiring his team and surprising everyone, including himself.

! ! ! ! !

Ada has trouble controlling her magic and is often a liability to the Dungeon Crawlers (not to mention she sometimes sides with the bad guys). But she's also one of the most powerful Warlocks in Gloryville and loves treasure. When she can be convinced to help - usually by appealing to her vanity or greed - Ada is invaluable.

Ada Tydunra used to be a star pupil at Good Loot High - a real bookworm. But the young mage's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to dabble in Demon Magic. Like many before her, Ada ended-up attached to a mischievous demon that led her astray. Now, with her demon Darcy at her side, Ada does whatever she wants, whenever she wants - and what she wants is usually pretty evil.

Name: Ada Tydunra Class: Warlock (Abilities: Fire spells, Electricity spells, Necromancy, Illusion).

! !

Name: Griff Wheezy Class: Paladin (Abilities: High defence, Holy magic, Hand to hand combat) What can about said about Griff Wheezy that hasn't been said already? Actually, quite a lot. No one talks about Griff, because no one notices he's there. Griff is the scrawniest Paladin to ever set foot in Good Loot High. However, Griff has quite the ego, a trait passed down to him by Joffrey Wheezy, his Paladin father. Griff reckons he should be leader of Dungeon Crawlers and has a chip on his shoulder bigger than his whole body you try carrying that around! Griff has naturally developed a very special dislike to our hero Cal. Name: Doro Darkus Class: Rogue (Abilities: Lock picking, Stealth, Acrobatics, Dirty fighting).

! ! !

To be a good rogue you have to embrace the shadows and move with silent grace. Unfortunately Doro Darkus would rather be in the spot light, the center of attention and a superstar singer (although her singing talent is questionable). As such Doro has struggled to excel as a trainee rogue at Good Loot High. As well as being accident prone, she is more likely to lock herself in her own house, than pick the lock of any dungeon door. But her heart is always in the right place. Doro suffers at the hands of pushy parents (her mother is the rogue Alice Darkus) and therefore empathises with Cal. She's the only member of Dungeon Crawlers who actually believes he can turn things around for the group.

Other characters

! Dungeon Master Delorian !

Delore Delorian is the last Dungeon Master left in the entire Netherworld. He's also massive slob and couch potato. His job is to use what's left of the Netherworld's goblin and orc army, as well as any number of other monsters lurking around, to harass the citizens of Gloryville and guard the remaining dungeons in the area. The problem is Delorian has been doing this job for the last millennia and he's tired of it. He doesn't want to be a Dungeon Master anymore and wishes the heroic 'adventurers' would just leave him in peace. Delorian therefore spends most his time stuffing his obese face full of the most disgusting food he can find, watching daytime TV and playing videogames. He just wishes his goblin second in command, Weeblee, would stop reminding him of work.

! Weeblee !

Weeblee is the Dungeon Master's head advisor. He's diligent, ruthless and hardworking so no surprise that he does most of the work around the Netherworld, while Delorian sits on his butt.

! Sally and Al Trueshot ! ! Monsters !

Sally and Al Trueshot are Cal's parents and they couldn't be more different. Sally is one of Gloryville's most decorated adventurers and your typical pushy parent. She comes from a long line of Trueshot rangers, and there's no way she's going to let Cal blemish the family name. But Cal takes more after his dad Al, who's Gloryville's finest baker. Al is laid back and amicable, but he's also a pushover, and Cal wishes he'd stand up to mom more often.

Goblins are numerous throughout the Netherworld, but while they have more brains than orcs, they're also pretty cowardly. Goblins form the bulk of the Netherworld's army.! Orcs are like goblins, but bigger and much, much, more stupid. Orcs tend to fight amongst themselves more than against adventurers, but when they hit, they hit hard.! Elves are interested in one thing and one thing only - themselves. Scheming, duplicitous, and painfully fashionable, an Elf's cunning is only met by his vanity.! The Undead hordes roaming the forests around Gloryville just want to live in peace and build a utopia. But you try setting up a heaven on earth when constantly attacked by glory-hunting adventurers...!

! Episode style !

Dungeon Crawlers is heavy on larger than life characters and action.Within each episode, the Dungeon Crawlers usually get a quest assigned to them. This quest can be anything from investigating reports of haunted dungeons in the woods, to protecting the local bakery from a gang of particularly hungry-looking ogres. The main theme running through

the show is valuing who you are and staying true to your own goals, as the hero Cal is essentially living his parent's life against his will, and the main antagonist Delorian, is performing the role of a Dungeon Master only because the adventurers keep hassling him.

! Episodes ideas ! ! Company Man !

Dungeon Master Delorian is fed up of being the ruler of the Netherworld and needs a new career. Perhaps his skills running dungeons can transfer to retail management? Perfect! Delorian sneaks out of the Netherworld and gets floor manager position at an ultra trendy clothes store. But despite his best intentions, the Dungeon Master can't escape his despotic instincts and starts running the store like a dungeon, enslaving the employees and robbing the customers blind. Pretty soon word gets back to Gloryville that something weird is happening, and the Dungeon Crawlers are sent to investigate.

! A Frienemy In Need !

Despite his diminutive size, Griff Wheezy sure has a mouth on him. After insulting the leader of Goblin Bashers, Good Loot High's top adventuring team, our pint-sized Paladin finds himself challenged to a duel. The winner gets to take whatever treasure they want from the losing team's stash. Realising a loss would make it almost impossible to get off the bottom rung of the Treasure League, Cal has to help his biggest antagonist win the duel. But because Griff's ego is so big, he has to keep it secret.

! Teachers Rottweiler !

In yet another attempt to escape his duties as Dungeon Keeper, Delorian tries to find a successor. And who better than Ada Tundyra, the Dungeon Crawler's warlock, and Good Loot's most evil student. Along with her demon Darcy, Ada takes to the Dungeon Master role with a little too much enthusiasm. Ada's rule is even more deranged and cruel than Delorian's, and the goblin and orc armies end up rebelling. Ada has little choice but to call on the Dungeon Crawlers to come to her rescue.

! Appetite For Seduction !

The Dungeon Crawlers are given a quest to check out a gathering of undead in the forest around Gloryville. Doro finds a magical pendent and soon discovers the pedant lets her communicate with the undead. She talks to the zombies and finds out they're ultimately peaceful people, who sadly happen to have an insatiable lust for human flesh. The undead is gathering to build a restaurant that serves vegetarian artificial human meat, in the hope that Gloryville realises how delicious humans taste and won't get so mad at the zombie's culinary preferences. But can Doro convince Cal to leave the undead in peace, or is it too late?

! Djinn Genie !

It's Show and Tell at Good Loot High. Griff brings an old, mysterious, golden lamp his dad looted from a dungeon many years ago and boasts that it contains a genie, but his dad

made him promise not to rub it. Goaded by his classmates, and enjoying the attention (which he rarely gets) Griff rubs the lamp and unleashes THE MOST ANNOYING GENIE IN THE WORLD - and he won't leave the Dungeon Crawlers alone. On their latest quest to help evict a group of hungry ogres who're occupying the town's bakery, the genie makes weapons turn into vegetables, causes spells backfire and frustrates everyone. But sometimes the only way to defeat a bully is to ignore him...