Difference between revisions of "New Blood"

Latest revision as of 07:27, 9 May 2015

Events So Far

Act I

Drake Wightseer

Act I of the plot opens entirely in the background, unknown to any PC. The Knight Errant of the Starshine Kingdom, Drake Wightseer, discovers the remnants of an ancient ritual of some kind, and begins to search for the original locations where the Shajem, the world's dark gods, have been sealed for centuries. Many are lost, so this process takes weeks... especially as the first location they find is the location of the Lord of Nightmares, where they encounter the remnants of Elliana Fairchild's ascension.

The Fall of Faranel

Unrelated to Drake's quest, Elliana had determined that a powerful force was trapped beneath the great tree of Faranel, a small forest nation in her homeworld. Aided by several allies, a large battle was fought, resulting in heavy losses all around before Elliana seized the great tree's heart, managing to corrupt it with her own power and uproot it. This freed the Amethyne Neuvinia, a spirit of rebirth, but earned Elliana the ire of the nation and lead to more polarizing opinions on her state of being, especially since the entity within her helped so readily to free the being.

Investigations

The freeing of Neuvinia sparked investigations into the other Shajem and Amethyne by both sides. The Confederacy begin making moves toward fighting the Empire of Elliana's world, which had destroyed her home and orphaned her to begin with, but also gathered what information they could... finding that another force of some kind was doing the same. They eventually heard of Drake and investigated the Starshine Kingdom, as well, finding the Starshine Kingdom curiously welcoming of Confederate forces despite being unwilling to ally.

The Union meanwhile met with some of those in power in Elliana's world, including her original mentor in the priesthood, and the man who had ordered the death of Elliana's servant, Charity Whiteheart. Drake's minions also met with the Union in investigating Fairchild herself, while at the same time murdering several knights of the Empire who might interfere. At first the murderer was unknown, so both Confederates and Union were searching for Drake to find out what he knew about the Shajem or the murders.

Revelation

Neuvinia was detected struggling against a binding of some sort at a harbor city. Union and Confederate forces both rushed to the scene to find the city in chaos, and Drake fleeing with his minions. Several of his minions were killed or captured while Neuvinia escaped, and Drake escaped after losing an arm, by taking a ship. The ship had a Union tracker planted upon it, however. Now, both sides had evidence that Drake was behind the murders and that his goals were less than noble, and both had differing reasons to stop him.

The Lord of Rage

Drake's tracker and activities took him to a small island, which the Union and Confederacy immediately followed him to. They found the island disturbing, with a population that was eerily friendly and peaceful despite being armed to the teeth. Tracking Drake into the volcano temple, they found him attempting to siphon away the power of a Shajem, the Lord of Rage. Both Union and Confederacy tried to stop him, resulting in a titanic fight in the volcano. Mistakes were made, including a berserk half-angel and dangerous backlash from an Abstractum, until eventually Elliana's Servant Mordred managed to capture the Lord of Rage by consuming it.

Drake was captured by the Confederacy and questioned.

Act II

The Nightmares(I)

Seeking understanding of Elliana, the Union gathers together several trusted people and, with her permission, enter her nightmares. There they find her fear of losing those she has grown close to... both enemies and friends. They also find one of the root causes of her psychosis, in her deep-seated fear of loss of control, stemming from the death of her parents.

The General's Daughter

In earlier investigations, the Union found the name 'Steppenworth' of import... and accidentally let it slip in Elliana's nightmares. Now both of them are seek the man known as General Steppenworth, but they find that the General is a burned, bitter cripple of a man who has lost his family and now struggles against a strange vigilante in his home city.

Elliana attempted to take her vengeance upon Steppenworth, but was informed that if she killed him, she would be orphaning a girl just like she was orphaned in the past. Reluctantly, Elliana conceded the point and agreed to work to find out who or what was behind all of these problems. Thus an uneasy alliance with the Union was formed.

The Nightmares(II)

Further exploration of Elliana's nightmares reveals memories and worries that hint that she worries she will lose control of herself... but moreso, show that her ultimate fear is that without her, her world will burn. Further insight is gained into Elliana, but that is not the most important part of the nightmare expeditions.

In delving into Elliana's nightmares, the combined exploratory force finds Wrathborn's memories, and discover that the Amethyne and Shajem are not light and dark gods, but instead natural parts of the world who existed in mated pairs, and the aggression of the Shajem is due to human cruelty.

Act III

Eveningstar

A Shajem is discovered beneath the capital of the Starshine Kingdom, and a combined Union-Confederate force secretly moves on it behind Elliana's back. This results in the loosing of a gigantic Behemoth and a battle within the depths of the mountain, but the most telling blow is to the Union, as Nathan Hall subverts the original plan in favor of a binding he came up with in secret, thus losing the trust of the Union and Confederacy both.

The Hundred

Meanwhile, Psyber's investigations into the Hundred, sacred weapons against the Shajem, have found one in the form of the blade Sovereign. Experimentation and hints from the dreams of Wrathborn reveal that the Hundred, which exist in fifty pairs, are actually made from the unhatched eggs of an Amethyne and Shajem mating.

Other Information

This is a long-term plot requiring player agency to advance the plot to some degree, and which can allow players to introduce new elements into the theme. While plot elements have been introduced, player investigation will determine which threats are dealt with, and there are a few(but not many) red herrings to chase if players aren't careful.

The plot does have an end goal, but how successful it is will be determined by what course the players take. As of this writing the true end goal has not been revealed, though one of the major antagonists has been dealt with.

Logs

Cutscenes