Plot – Children
Both couples have a kid, Nigel and
Diamond have Glasses-Chan Rayne. Sammael and Lilith have the young
and angsty Deacon. Sammael finds that he is in a losing battle with
the demon to control his body, and heads for the hills so as to not
put anyone in danger. Lilith retires from the Sleeping Dragons to
raise the child by herself, and joins a group of traveling gypsies.
Needless to say, she basically fails at this, and Deacon ends up
being quite a delinquent, and on his way to a life of crime.
Rayne is lovingly raised by both her
parents, trains hard, learns well, and sees the world. Needless to
say, she's got a stick so far up her ass she has trouble swallowing.
</cynicism>
The two kids meet as Lilith's caravan
is nearby Diamond's dojo, mostly by sheer coincidence. Deacon is
lofting around as is his nature, smoking in an empty field, when
Rayne, as is her nature, feels the need to correct his delinquent
ways and relieve him of the cigarette. The two engage in a battle of
wills, and each experiences something they never have before – real
competition. Their spar ends, and the cigarette is forgotten by both
parties, each distracted by having made their first friend.
I want to make a note that Diamond is
pregnant. Just saying...
Deacon begins spending time at the
Dojo, and meets Nigel and Diamond and effectively abandons his
mother. He begins training with them, and is found to be unusually
astute with magic. After a while, the issue of Deacon's father comes
up, and the (GC's family name)s figure out that the deviant boy they
have come to like so much is none other than the son of the intrepid
couple they had allied themselves with so many years earlier. Nigel
grows concerned about Deacon, as he examines the boy and senses a
demonic presence in him. He attempts an exorcism on Deacon, but fails
to explain himself adequately to Deacon beforehand, and as such,
Nigel's exorcism fails, as Deacon is not possessed, but simply has
the blood of demons in him, and in doing so, it burns and injures
Deacon terribly, who escapes and maims Nigel in the process. (I'm
thinking a couple slashes across the face should be adequate,
parallel like, from a single blow; along eye and cheek)
Deacon gets out of there like a bat out
of hell, and runs into Rayne, who was roused by the ruckus. Deacon is
injured, and Nigel's failed exorcism has brought out some of the
demon in him. He explains to Rayne that her father had done something
to him, and that he was getting out of there ASAP to get some answers
out of his own mother. Rayne goes with him, oblivious to her father's
perils (luckily though, Diamond is there to tend to his wounds).
The two children make their way to the
gypsy camp, and prepare a one-on-one with Lilith. She is devastated
to see elements of the Demon in Deacon. The three of them share some
exposition, and they decide to track down Sammael. Lilith breaks out
her assassins tools for the first time in years, and they head out.
[Deacon is a bit taken aback about his
parents; he had never really thought much of his good old mum, and
here she is a deadly assassin; he had always assumed his father had
been someone worthwhile, a noble passing through perhaps, who
happened to impregnate his mother, but was never really interested in
her]
They head into the mountains to the
shrine where Sammael is supposed to reside. The shrine itself is
small and isolated, manned by a single aging monk by the name of
Odis. Within the back rooms of the shrine lies the portal to
Sammael's prison. It is a simple caged door made of wood with a thin
silver coating that is beginning to chip in some places. On either
side of the bars is a chess board, which the warden monk explains
they use to play against each other to pass the time.
When they meet Sammael, he is calm and
civil, Odis goes in first to meet him, followed by Deacon, while the
women wait outside. Sammael is at this point completely oblivious as
to the identity of the boy, and asks him who he is. Deacon approaches
his father and calmly explains their relationship, alongside a swift
sucker-punch to the stomach. Both of these serve to wind and stun
poor Sammael. Odis runs to help Sammael up, and begins telling off
Deacon for his rashness.
[as a side note, the cave is made up
mostly of hematite, a type of iron ore, which acts to nullify demonic
powers]
Deacon begins to tell his father off,
mostly for not being there his entire life. Sammael is beginning to
piece together things, and figures out Lilith is his mother. He is
concerned as to why she wouldn't have come along with him, and fears
that she has died in the intervening years, only to find out that she
is in the next room.
Sammael runs to the window and ....
<summary>
-lilith enters the room and gives
Sammael a fresh one (punch to the stomach); he comments on her fiery
spirit, and she on his thoughtlessness
...skipping ahead...
-lilith tells him that she wishes he
never had himself possessed
-sammael tells her that he had to make
the sacrifice for the greater good
-she regrets him doing it, as it has
separated them for all these years, stating her disregard for the
greater good, that she would have preferred he not make the sacrifice
in his thoughtlessness for her
[one complex love/duty explanation
later]
-sammael takes lilith into an embrace,
looks deeply into her eyes, and steals both a kiss and a throwing
knife, and proceeds to stab her in the spine, then hurl the knife at
Odis, and bolts out of there before anyone can realize what is going
on
</summary>
Completely stunned by what has just
happened, Deacon tends to his mother, and Rayne, at Deacon's request
looks at Odis. Lilith is badly wounded, and Odis is dead. Lilith is
taking surprisingly well, she jokes that she wouldn't want to survive
this wound anyway, to live on as an invalid. Deacon is basically just
devastated, he doesn't know what to make of the situation, and is
running out of time, he sends Rayne to look for medical supplies or
something to help Lilith. He desperately asks his mother what he
should do; she tells him not to cry, that he has to be strong. She
pulls his ear close and whispers into his ear that he must kill his
father, who is no longer the man he once was, he is only now a plague
upon the world, a soulless two-faced monster that must be destroyed.
Deacon sobers up significantly upon hearing this, and asks what she
would have him do.
Seeing herself mortally wounded, Lilith
charges her son with vanquishing this demon, the ancient enemy of the
Sleeping Dragon clan, and bestows her Sleeping Dragon medallion to
him, telling him that he is the only one who can do this. It isn't
explained fully, but his inhuman nature makes him immune to demonic
possession, which is the key to making the demon stay dead. She tells
you the name of a man who can help you, Adam Dormien, a powerful
officer in the Sleeping Dragon Clan. She tells you to look for him at
[tavern name] a tavern in the city.
<brief> Shortly afterwards Lilith
dies, and they have an impromptu funeral for both Lilith and Odis,
burying the both of them out front of the shrine.</brief>
<summary> they make it to the
tavern, and after a brief stint of not being able to get in due to
being underage, they meet Adamas, who upon sensing Deacon's demonic
nature, and the revealing of Lilith's medallion, he mistakes Deacon
for the Demon, assuming that the Demon has escaped Sammael's custody
and possessed this boy instead.</summary>
Deacon manages to overpower Adamas, and
he begins apologizing to himself and his sister for failing to avenge
her. Deacon retorts that if his sister means so much to him,
attacking his nephew isn't a great way to make up for this. Adamas is
taken back, and Deacon explains that if Adamas is Lilith's brother,
then Adam is his uncle.
Their conflict abruptly ends, and they
make amends over drinks (Rayne has tea). Eventually, Deacon gets to
the point; they are here to solicit his, (and through him the
Sleeping Dragon Clan's) help in the hunt for his father. Adamas
levels with him, that he doesn't think he will get much help from the
Sleeping Dragons. Needless to say, the kids are outraged.
Adamas begins to explain; within the
Sleeping Dragon Clan, there exist several aggregate factions, though
the only ones of interest to them are the Purists, who believe in
keeping the bloodline of Draco Dormien alive, and the Bureaucrats, a
nickname for those who do things by the books. The Purists were well
supported in past mainly due to Lilith's skills; she had always been
the more powerful of the two Dormien children, and after her
defection, this group lost most of its supporters, seeing only the
pushover Adamas left of the ancestral blood.
<<In actuality, Adamas is more
capable than he believes. He would usually ally himself with Lilith,
and the two of them would accomplish great things, but without her
morale support, Adamas couldn't seem to do much on his own. He
gradually lost confidence in himself, and went from being a hopeful
Fang to a contact person in a location of only minor importance. >>
[Contact Person – used to pass on
critical information between clansmen and occasionally
locals/outsiders/mercenaries, usually in a static position]
[Fang – a sort of elite within the
Sleeping Dragon Clan (Lilith probably would have been promoted to a
fang if she hadn't left the Clan, she wasn't necessarily the best,
but she was a rising star and was of the bloodline)
I don't know if I really want to
include the term Fang or an equivalent in the game....]>>
Which leaves him fairly powerless
within the Clan, combined with the fact that Deacon's demonic nature
will probably get them attacked on sight, does not leave them in a
very favourable position to be asking for help.
- The kids then proceed to inspire Adamas with Lilith's faith in him in to get help from the Clan
- He proceeds to steal the compass that will lead them to the Legacy sword
- He neglects to mention that it is stolen
- They proceed to the location, and meet some clansmen who are guarding the sword, who are waiting for them
- Adamas steps forward to negotiate its procurement
- He tries various arguments, centrally that the sword is the rightful inheritance of his bloodline
- The guards reject his appeals, telling him that the ancestral bloodline is broken, and that the sword is a historical artifact to the Sleeping Dragon Clan
- Note that the Ancestral Sword is bloodbound, meaning it can only be wielded by the one with its binder's blood in their veins
- Technically, it doesn't have to be, but it is beneficial, and assumed to be
- Deacon interrupts them, asking if all their Clansmen are like them
- They answer affirmatively, the Clan is filled with great warriors
- Deacon responds: good, then I don't have to hesitate before opposing them; and attacks them, killing them both
- Rayne and Adamas are a little stunned at the double homicide
- Deacon justifies that they are on a righteous mission, whereas his opponents were cowardly dogs of men who would rather protect a relic that is useless to them than put it to use in their rightful hands; that they knew that they were seeking out their oldest foe, and still they opposed him, simply out of prejudice of his demonic nature
- Adamas sheepishly interjects that they might not have known about their mission, as he never really told the Clan about it
- Rayne asks how he managed to get the compass without revealing that
- Adamas admits that he stole the compass
- Finding themselves a band of thieves, outcasts, traitors, and murderers, they proceed to retrieve the Ancestral Sword on a sour note
Next comes the great question of how to
find the demon Sammael. Their original plan to use the Clan's
information network essentially died along with the guards, and so
they are forced to come up with alternate means. They begin debating
how to find the demon, when Adamas mentions that it was Rayne's
father who helped track down the demon when Sammael fought it.
Rayne is surprised to learn this, and
asks how Adamas would know such a thing. He attributes it to his
membership within the Clan, well, former membership I suppose.
With that, they head back to where they
started; Diamond's dojo. Wanting to avoid any trouble with the
Sleeping Dragons, they avoid the main roads on the way back.
They arrive, and are greeted by one of
Diamond's students. Because of their scruffy appearances, she doesn't
recognize them, and attempts to dismiss them, telling them that the
dojo is not accepting challengers right now.
Rayne makes her presence known, and
tells the girl that she is the daughter of the dojo's masters, and a
world of trouble awaits the second year student that gets in her way.
The girl quickly submits to Rayne's authority, and they quickly find
themselves in audience with Diamond, while the girl runs off to
summon Nigel.
Diamond almost immediately breaks into
tears, hugging Rayne and detailing how happy she is that her daughter
made it back safely; Rayne meanwhile is trying to console her mother
with her well-being, and that she only left out of concern for
Deacon. Upon hearing his name, Diamond tearfully goes over and hugs
him as well, this time detailing how worries she was about him, after
what she had heard happened from Nigel.
Diamond slowly regains her composure as
the kids hug and reassure her. Deacon introduces her to Adamas, who
has been standing awkwardly by the door all this time. Adamas
identifies himself as Deacon's uncle, and Diamond responds that she
is Rayne's mother. They start chatting and Rayne and Deacon give a
sigh of relief.
It is at about this point that Nigel
enters the room, and things go silent for a second. Nigel is bearing
large scars over his left eye from the incident with Deacon, and it
is the first time that everyone except for Diamond has seen them.
Diamond tries to ease the air by greeting him in as jovial a tone as
she can manage. The silence returns, only to be broken by Rayne's
exclamation of concern and inquiry of the origin of her father's
scars.
Nigel cocks his head slightly, and in a
somewhat mocking tone asks her if Deacon never told her. Deacon
retaliates; "you remember when we ran away for a few months
because your (Rayne's) father tried to rip his (Deacon's) soul in
half? Let's just say that they were a going-away present"
Tempers flare, and Diamond, sweet and
civil as pie, interrupts them both by suggesting they sit down for
some tea.
Rage turns to strict obedience in an
instant, and Deacon runs off to put the kettle on, while Nigel sets
out to prepare them a table. Adamas is dumbstruck, and asks Diamond
how she just did that. Diamond tells him that it requires the right
combination of a mother's love and a swordmaster's wrath.
Shortly thereafter, the group of them
sit down at a private table in the dojo for some tea. First and
foremost, Nigel and Deacon settle their score; neither meant to hurt
the other, but in haste and shortsightedness or panic and fear they,
however unintentionally, hurt each other. Needless to say, Diamond
played he role of strict moderator for course of that discussion.
With that out of the way, the
discussion turns to what happened with the children while they were
away. A brief recap follows, which includes the death of Lilith, the
betrayal of Sammael, meeting Adamas, and then retrieving the Legacy
Sword, including the foulness surrounding Adamas' theft and the fight
with the two guards.
Nigel and Diamond recount their
experiences; she found him after he had been injured by Deacon and
patched him up. Being injured and not wanting to be away when the
children returned, he had to turn down an expedition to go out East.
Deacon interjects that he has healed
and we are back safely, so why not come on an expedition with them
instead. Nigel asks them where they intend to go. Admas tells him
that they were hoping he could tell is that, Their objective is
Sammael, and the Demon within him. Seeing as how Nigel was the one
who tracked him down last time, that he might be up to do it again.
Nigel refuses, stating that it would be
impossible. On his previous encounter with the demon, he was the one
who discovered it, and he had the foresight to cast a tracking ward
on the demon. Since it has since switched bodies his ward is useless,
plus it has long since run out of mana to sustain itself.
Nigel tells them that Deacon should be
able to sense the Demon at some range due ti his demonic natural
demons have a natural affinity for magic and can sense each other
innately.
Deacon interjects that he has never had
any unusual ability to sense magic, and even when he met his father,
he did not sense anything unnatural about him. Nigel responds that he
does fact have an unusual ability to sense magic, he is on par with
if not better than Rayne at seeing through illusions despite her
lifetime of training versus his never-even-had-a-lesson at breaking
them; back when he was a petty thief, he always had an eye for
enchanted goods that exceeded random change; and as for not sensing
anything from the Demon, it is likely that his demon blood was
suppressed during his captivity – this is essentially a guess, but
it makes sense that they wouldn't leave such a potential loose cannon
metaphorically loaded with gunpowder and ammunition.
If he still has his doubts, they can
put him to the test. Deacon and Rayne are instructed to sit down, and
out of an assortment of identical looking objects, identify which of
them have been enchanted. Deacon's ability quickly shines through, as
Rayne's slower method of scrying each of them is no match for the
ability to identify them en masse.
His point proven, Nigel begins
preparation for their departure. Curious as to why he is so eager to
see them off, Deacon asks him. Nigel responds that he knows his
daughter very well, and once she has her mind set on something,
neither Hell nor high water is going to stop her, and she is
determined to help you to whatever end you so choose.
Deacon solemnly thanks Nigel for his
(n) support in this matter, the whole thing has changed his (d)
world, and having his (n) trust means a lot to him (d). Nigel levels
with him (d), the two of them haven't really had much face time
together, and he (n) has seen the mayhem caused by the Demon
firsthand, and learning that Deacon was the son of such a creature
was a shock, and to be perfectly honest, he (n) doesn't really trust
him (d). However, he (n) knows that Rayne trusts him (d) and believes
in him (d), and he (n) trusts his (n) daughter's insight and love
more than his (n) own prejudice; that being said though, betray or
hurt her and you (d) will live to regret it. Deacon laughs this off,
replying "no I won't, as she would have the first shot at him
(d), and she can be meaner than you (n)!" Nigel just tells him
(d) to keep an eye on her and watch out for her.
They depart to the next room, where
Diamond and Rayne are saying their goodbyes amidst hugging and mild
crying.
Eventually Deacon and Rayne leave; the adults see them off, filled with the combination of pride and sandess that birds feel as their young fly out of their nest. Amidst their sentiments lies that their fears are allayed by the fact that they have each other; referring to both generations interdependence on their respective partner.
As Nigel and Diamond go inside to
console each other, Deacon and Rayne come to the realization that
they really don't know where they are going. Despite Nigel's
assurance to the contrary, Deacon does not sense any trace of his
father. Adamas suggests getting to a better vantage point, such as a
mountain or tower in order to get a better scope of view. He suggest
going back to his old tavern, as it resides on a mountain pass, and a
wealth of information passes through there.
Despite the risk of running into
Sleeping Dragons, they really don't have any better ideas; besides
which Adamas has a cache of gold and supplies hidden there that could
prove helpful. As for why he didn't use it before, he hadn't counted
on the foul business with the Clan, and he's only getting it now so
that the Clan doesn't get it first.
When they arrive, they take it slowly
and cautiously; Adamas goes in first, and signals the kids to come in
once he has determined the coast to be clear. Once inside, you are
promptly ambushed and disarmed. The Clansmen that captured you have
some exchanges with you, and you learn that Sammael has returned to
the Clan, and will lead them forward to a new and prosperous age for
them.
Deacon's ability to use magic without
any items allows them to escape their captivity, and now knowing
where to find the Demon, they resume their campaign. They know that
the entire Clan will be against them, as based on the Demon's past
exploits, his first objective was to neutralize any threats to him,
and that makes them the prime candidates. Having established himself
as the leader of the Sleeping Dragons, he will use their mighty
resources to oppose them.
The Demon will most likely be in the
Sleeping Dragon's headquarters, so they make their final preparations
to stealthily attack it. The journey is long and arduous, but they
arrive at last.
They make their way to the council
room, which seats the highest ranking Fangs in the Clan against a
mighty hallway.
[This is as far as I have written the plot so far. It is quickly approaching climax, and I know that I want it to end with:]
...and the Demon dies laughing.
Until next time,
-Colin Souva
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