Delatrune is all about the story, and it’s managed to keep fans desperately engaged for almost a decade now. As the mysteries of the Dark Worlds’ origins deepen and the party’s bonds get tested again and again, it can be a bit hard to keep up with if you’ve taken a break.
If you’re looking to jump back in or just want a refresher so you can jump straight to the latest chapter, let me guide you through! We’ll be sticking to the main route plot beats, but the Weird Route is almost entirely unique if you want to take a peek.
Chapter 1
Deltarune’s first chapter opens with a mysterious voice echoing through darkness. He addresses the player directly, asking them to create a vessel before ripping it away. In a blinding flash of light, Kris the Human is woken up by their mother, Toriel, for school.
Kris is a human child adopted into a family of monsters. Despite the genuine care from their family, times are hard. Their parents, Toriel and Asgore, recently went through a messy divorce. Meanwhile, their older brother Asriel is away at college, leaving Kris all alone.
After a close encounter with the class bully, Susie, Kris and Susie fall into the Dark World hidden in the school’s supply closet. There the two meet the self-proclaimed Prince from the Dark, Ralsei, who explains that the three of them are destined by prophecy to go on a quest to save the world.
Darkness Growing Darker
The Dark World is a reflection of reality, giving life to inanimate objects as Darkners and threatening to flood the Light World with shadow via the Dark Fountains. A second Fountain has appeared on the horizon of Ralsei’s Castle Town, and he insists to Susie and Kris that the only way out of the Dark World is through closing it.
As they explore the Dark World, Susie initially splits off, hesitant to trust Kris and Ralsei. Ralsei, in turn, insists that their quest can be undertaken peacefully, and makes major efforts to convince Susie to avoid using violence.
While Susie refuses to join the party initially, her attitude is softened by Lancer, a young Darkner whose harmless attempts to slow the group endear her. After a hesitant betrayal and a quick battle between Susie and Lancer, Susie vows to close the Fountain and best Lancer’s father without hurting him before joining the party proper.
King of the Castle
The three then ascend the Card Castle, recruiting every enemy they meet. As they reach the roof, the King berates Lancer for defending the Lightners, forcing Lancer to strike his father in order to escape.
Kris, Susie, and Ralsei then clash with the King, slowly tiring him out as he decries the Lightners for “abandoning” Darkners and declares his new allegiance to a mysterious Knight. He eventually feigns surrender, baiting Ralsei into healing him. Refreshed, he strikes down the party and holds Kris by the throat.
Before he can strike the final blow, Lancer arrives with everyone the party has shown mercy to throughout their adventure. Together, the crowd tosses the King in jail, instating Lancer as their new leader.
From there, Kris and Susie move to close the Fountain, but not before Ralsei asks Susie and Kris to come back soon. The pair closes the Fountain, awakening in a classroom with cards and toys surrounding them.
They vow to head back into the supply closet the next day and become fast friends. Kris heads home, stumbling into their room for the night. Suddenly, the Player loses control as Kris tears their Soul from their chest and locks it in a nearby birdcage. With a sinister grin at the camera, Kris draws a small knife before the screen cuts to black.
Chapter 2
Kris is shaken awake the next morning by Toriel, who teases them for using their knife to devour an entire pie. Toriel then drives them to school, where Susie and Kris reenter the Closet’s Dark World.
After moving the items that made up the Darknes to the Closet, they’re relocated to Ralsei’s Castle Town. After a brief tour, Ralsei sends Kris and Susie back to the Light World to work on their group project. Noelle, another classmate of theirs, invites the pair to work with her in the Library.
Once Kris and Susie arrive, they find the Library’s computer lab plunged into shadow. Another Dark Fountain has been opened, and the pair dive in without hesitation.
Ever See Tron?
This Dark World, known as Cyber City, is run by Queen. She kidnaps Noelle, who had been caught inside the Dark World, and flees to her castle at the center of the City. Ralsei catches up to the duo not long after, and they proceed through the City.
Eventually, the trio runs into Berdly, another classmate, who has allied himself with Queen. After besting him, they split up. Kris runs into Noelle, who had managed to escape from Queen. While working together on a series of puzzles, Noelle discusses her older sister’s disappearance, and how the trauma from it had shattered her confidence.
Noelle and Kris soon run into Queen, who reveals that her plan requires Noelle. Queen takes clear pride in Noelle’s inner strength and believes she’s the best Lightner to help her. Kris and Noelle manage to escape her before splitting up again.
While alone, Kris is accosted by Spamton, a strange small Darkner who demands that they make a deal to help him. He runs away soon after, and the entire party reconvenes right outside of Queen’s Castle. Suddenly, Queen manages to capture Susie, Kris, and Noelle, locking them away.
The Great Escape
The trio manages to escape thanks to Lancer, who had hitched a ride in Kris’s pocket. Soon after, Lancer turns to stone, and Ralsei reveals that Darkners other than him outside their parent fountain will fade away. Castle Town’s Fountain is unique, and can sustain any Darkner.
Motivated by Noelle’s capture and Lancer’s petrification, Susie, Kris, and Ralsei surge towards the Castle’s upper levels. Eventually, Susie finds where Noelle is being held, and she and Susie share a romantic moment before they regroup with Ralsei and Kris.
Along with a newly converted Berdly, the group of 5 makes it to the top of the Castle. Berdly and Noelle are captured again, and Berdly is mind-controlled by Queen into fighting the main trio. After besting her and Berdly, Queen retreats, summoning a massive Giga-Queen robot for a final battle.
With a final attack, Queen manages to incapacitate the party’s own robot. She uses the moment to explain her plan, asking Noelle to create a second Dark Fountain inside the current Dark World to spread the safety of the Darkness all across town.
Steps Away From Oblivion
Berdly offers to open the second Fountain, and Ralsei flips out. He explains that opening a second Dark Fountain within a Dark World would cause The Roaring, an apocalyptic event he alluded to in his earlier recitation of the Prophecy.
Queen didn’t actually know this, as all her information on the Fountains was given to her by the Knight. She lets the party close her Dark Fountain, and Kris and Susie tell Berdly and Noelle that the whole experience was a wild dream.
Susie spends the night at Kris’s house, falling asleep beside them on the couch. Before they drift off to sleep, Kris draws their knife and plunges it into the ground, opening a Dark Fountain in the dead center of their living room. Darkness fills the screen as the TV flashes a smile, and the chapter ends.
Chapter 3
Kris and Susie awaken in a new Dark World, with Ralsei joining them soon after. Ralsei explains that, while the Darkners are individuals with thoughts and desires, the Dark World can’t replace the Light World. The Light World is fundamentally more real, and spending too long in the Dark World can be unhealthy.
After this explanation, the trio is spotted by Mr. Ant Tenna, the Darkner form of Kris’s childhood television. Tenna has prepared a series of game shows for the three heroes, all the while hiding where Toriel is, as she was also dragged into the Dark World.
Eventually, the trio manages to find Toriel, throwing Tenna’s entire plan into disarray. He challenges the heroes to a battle, forcing them to repeat the minigames they cleared earlier rapidly.
Tenna, bested, admits he only wanted to give Kris a taste of the childhood they’re now missing. Tenna admits the error of his ways and offers to release the still-sleeping Toriel himself. Right as he does, both of his arms are severed from behind, and he falls to the snow.
A Frigid Knightmare
Hovering behind Tenna’s wounded body is the Roaring Knight, the orchestrator of the previous two Fountains. It attempts to kidnap Toriel, which Susie interrupts. With a terrible roar, it draws a strange black blade from nothing and engages the party.
No matter how long they hold out, eventually the party is defeated. Before the Knight can kidnap Toriel, Undyne, Hometown’s police chief, attacks. The Knight kidnaps her instead, flying straight out of the Dark World and into the Shelter at the southernmost part of town.
Susie and Kris follow, and Susie finds a set of three spots to input codes to open the Shelter. She leaves for the night, but Kris lingers. After a few moments, the door opens, and Kris is steps inside before the screen cuts to black.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 starts off the morning after, with Kris and Susie being woken up by Toriel for church. Sitting through the mass reveals that Hometown’s religion largely follows the Prophecy Ralsei described, with the addition of an all-knowing, guiding Angel.
After asking around, Kris and Susie learn that one of the codes to the Shelter may be within Noelle’s home, the Holiday Estate. To gain access, Kris and Susie ask to hang out with Noelle at her house, which they all head to after church.
A Holiday Special
Once at Noelle’s house, Susie distracts her while Kris searches for the code. Inside Noelle’s missing sister’s room, within her guitar, Kris finds one of the codes. Before they can read it, Kris tears out the Soul, stuffing it into a box downstairs.
The Soul maneuvers through vents, cutting the estate’s power before taking a peek at the guitar. Kris, lying in wait, ambushes the soul and throws it into the closet. After a scuffle, Susie finds Kris in the closet and takes the guitar. Before she can look at the code, Noelle’s mother, Carol, comes home and throws Susie out.
Before Kris leaves, Carol reminds Kris that they are welcome at the Holiday’s anytime. Outside, Kris and Susie see Asgore, who had been working as a cleaner at the Holiday’s. He sends them off, and the two wander town until they realize Kris’s home is locked.
Sunday School
Heading to the church to find Toriel, Kris and Susie instead find a Dark Fountain billowing out. They leap in, finding themselves in an ornate, endless chapel. Soon after, the two run into the Roaring Knight, standing at the end of a long hall. Kris is battered away by it, and the two Lightners fall through a series of stained glass.
The fall wounds Kris, and after an attempt at healing from Susie, Ralsei arrives. Reunited, the party works their way through the chapel, constantly running into stained glass depictions of the Prophecy. These depictions range from vague assertions to extremely specific moments.
While attempting to read more, a strange old man shatters the depiction. This man, named Gerson, guides the party through goofy antics, taking a specific interest in helping Susie with her magic.
After fighting a massive Darkner named Jackenstein, Susie manages to heal him, gaining both an ally and confidence in her own ability. With his blessing, the three continue higher, eventually coming to a massive piano.
Despite having the music to continue, Kris refuses to play properly. That is, until Susie encourages them. With her push, Kris plays the piece to open the way forward, leaving the party moments away from the Fountain with no sign of the Knight.
Second Verse Same as the First
After closing it, Susie and Kris realize that there is a second Dark Fountain located deeper in the church behind a locked door. While looking around for the key, Susie finds a small hammer covered in dust in the priest’s office. This is all that remains of the true Gerson, seemingly revived while within the effects of a Dark Fountain.
With no sign of a key, Susie opts to open a Dark Fountain of her own and ask Gerson, casting her and Kris into the Second Sanctuary. Instead of Gerson, the two are attacked by a statue replica of him. Ralsei saves the pair before explaining that since Susie didn’t know the real Gerson, her Dark Fountain couldn’t bring him back.
Confused, she presses Ralsei for his strange behavior earlier in the day. Ralsei confesses that he knows the entire Prophecy, step by step, including the ending. He has been terrified of what he should and shouldn’t say to Kris and Susie, and tearfully vows to be more honest with them both.
A Knightly Rematch
After getting the door code from a different Darkner, the trio closes Susie’s Dark Fountain and enters the final one deeper in the church. After a short ascent, the party corners the Knight. Before a battle can break out, the Knight gleefully opens a second Dark Fountain within the Dark World.
With this, Ralsei’s fear is realized, and a giant pillar of solid darkness rises from the floor. From that pillar comes a Titan, the end of days as foretold by the Prophecy. After a long, draining battle, the party seems helpless as the Titan regenerates from all harm.
At the last, crucial moment, Gerson arrives hammer in hand to assist. With the combined power of all four heroes, Kris manages to banish the Titan. Afterwards, Susie rushes forward to see the end of the Prophecy.
Ralsei surges after her, desperate to stop her. Before he can, or Kris can even see it, Susie shatters the depiction. With a smile and a bloody fist, she ensures Ralsei that whatever the image depicted won’t happen. The Dark Fountain is closed and Kris and Susie head back to Kris’s house.
There, the duo sees Toriel, drunk, dancing with Sans without a care in the world. Kris heads to bed, and Susie stumbles home, both tired and dejected.
Chapter 5
Our most recent chapter opens on the day of the Festival, a Hometown-wide celebration. Kris heads to the School’s Dark World to help Susie get ready for her date with Noelle. After the preparation, Kris and Susie meet Noelle, enjoying the Festival before heading to the Lake.
There, Susie and Noelle share a touching moment, while Kris watches on. After Noelle gets a troubling call from her mother, Susie and Kris head to Asgore’s flower shop to grab some for Noelle. As Susie exits the shop, Kris slinks in through the back door, opening a Dark Fountain right out of her sight.
The Garden of Jealousy
Susie dives in, and Kris follows soon after, arriving in the Flower World. Ralsei meets them soon after, clearly frazzled. A bit further on, the group meets Flowery, one of the 7 flowers Asgore has on display in his shop.
Flowery leads Asgore deeper into the Dark World, acting as a charismatic face with seemingly innocent intentions. He ushers Susie and Kris out of the Dark World at the first oppurtunity, promising that he only has Asgore’s best intentions at heart.
Despite this, Kris, Susie, and Ralsei continue their way through the World, meeting more of the 7 flowers as they approach the Flower Castle. At its entrance, Asgore physically tosses Kris and Susie out of the Dark World, forcing them to use the back door to reenter.
The trio climbs through the Flower Castle, besting each of the 7 flowers until they approach the summit. There, Asgore monologues about how he knew about the Dark Worlds for years, yet no one believed him. He lost his job, his marriage, and has become vengeful.
Each of the 7 flowers has attempted to give him some kind of reprieve, but he has staunchly stuck to his pursuit of the creator of the Dark Fountains. At the top of the castle, Flowery stands to stop the trio from closing the Dark Fountain. He and the other flowers put up a hell of a fight, but are eventually bested.
One More for the Fans
Here, Asgore spots Kris’s beaten form and snaps out of his delusions. He promises to be better and walks Kris, Susie, and Ralsei to the Dark Fountain himself. After it has been closed, the group realizes they’re still in the Dark World.
From the shadows, the Knight ambushes Asgore, attempting to kidnap him. Flowery tries to save his friend, but is cut down as the Knight escapes. Ralsei stays behind, mourning Flowery as Susie and Kris close the Fountain.
In the wreckage of the flower shop, Kris attempts to rip up a Shelter code hidden in Flowery’s soil. Susie spots the code and stops them, unaware of the attempted sabotage. With one code secured, Kris walks Susie to the school’s Dark World, where she’s been sleeping.
She laments that Kris and Susie need to bring in new blood before mentioning Noelle and heading off, preparing a room for her in the Dark World. Kris stares at the door, alone, before walking off as the credits come to an end.
