GOD
DAMN ITRouxls after the party completes his first puzzle
Rouxls Kaard is a Darkner NPC and minor antagonist in Chapter 1 of Deltarune. He introduces himself as the Duke of Puzzles, and attempts to thwart the party by forcing them to solve his puzzles. After being defeated multiple times, he refers to his prior actions as "Tests of [their] Heroick Resolve."
Rouxls has a shop on the fifth floor of Card Castle, containing mostly equipment along with one healing item. It's the second shop in the game, the first being owned by Seam. His wares include:
- RouxlsRoux for 50 D$
- Brave Ax for 150 D$
- Dainty Scarf for 200 D$
- Amber Card for 100 D$
After King is overthrown, Rouxls is among the characters that can be said goodbye to, implying that he works for Lancer.
Profile
Appearance
Rouxls Kaard is an adult-sized humanoid. His head is diamond-shaped, with long white hair and a (seemingly) melted face composed of twos diamond-shaped eyes and a large mouse. As a clothing wears a royal suit with epaulets. In terms of color-scheme, Rouxls is entirely in a flashy deep blue expect when in his shop, where he appears to be black.
Personality
Rouxls acts very egotistically during the events of Deltarune chapter 1. He claims to be the Duke Of Puzzles, and attempts to stop the party by forcing them to solve his puzzles. However, he is an incompetent puzzle-maker; each of his puzzles consist of the bare minimum of elements -- a box and a button -- and he makes no attempt to obfuscate the solution in any way. He also vandalizes clues on puzzles he did not create, in order to make them "harder".
He uses Early Modern English speech patterns, presumably to appear educated, but this amounts to little more than replacing all instances of "you" with "thou", randomly adding "-est" and "-eth" suffixes, and haphazard capitalization of phrases for emphasis. When his pride is hurt, he doubles down by intensifying his misuse of Early Modern English to the point of incomprehensibility; but when surprised or stressed, he tends to drop it altogether.
Rouxls is also the shopkeeper on the fifth floor; initially, he says that he's merely selling the heroes items in order to raise money to defeat them. After all his puzzles are solved and his K. Round is defeated, however, he proclaims he's now their ally as he's "always on the winning side," indicating a lack of loyalty in his character.
Lancer considers Rouxls to be his "lesser dad". Rouxls is alternately irritated with and endeared by Lancer and his antics.
Main Story
History
Some time after King and the Knight got into power by locking away the other 3 kings, King fired all puzzle makers. King then appoints Rouxls Kaard as the new and only Duke of Puzzles to replace the old puzzle makers. Some time before Kris and Susie enter the Dark World, Rouxls vandalises already existing puzzles in Field and Forest to make them more difficult. In doing so, he purposefully breaks "the rules" of the puzzles, only to comment that "[he] makes [his] own Rules."
Chapter 1
After the party reaches Card Castle's second floor, Rouxls traps them in a room with a puzzle, preventing them from leaving before the puzzle is solved. The party manages to solve his puzzle with a one-step solution, and he disappears, allowing the party to continue. However, he appears again on the fourth floor, under similar circumstances. He forces the party to solve his "ultimate puzzle", and they do so successfully. Rouxls claims that "wasn'tst REALLY [his] ultimate puzzle," and when asked to show it, he quickly disappears instead.
Eventually, the party reaches the fifth floor, where Rouxls's shop can be found. He claims to have set the shop up to garner funds for his schemes to defeat the party. After the party continues on towards King, Rouxls interrupts them, and enhances a C. Round with a Control Crown; turning it into a K. Round, which he then has the party fight. After the K. Round is defeated, Rouxls's alliance immediately shifts, as he tries to explain to the party that he was simply testing their abilities all along. After claiming that he no longer poses as an obstruction to the party, he goes away.
After King is overthrown, Rouxls can be found on Card Castle's roof, congratulating the party. He is positive that "History shall not forget - The tale of Rouxls Kaard, and the Three Heroes!"
Trivia
- Rouxls's name and motif are plays on "rules card," the (card shaped) instruction manual that often comes with playing card decks.
- This is supported by the fact that a sign he made early in the game says "PS - I make my own Rules."
- Rouxls's line "Lost...? Frightened...? Confused...? GOOD!! HA HA HA!!!" is likely a reference to a line from the educational game I. M. Meen.