Earthdawn Update

Just got out of one of the bigger stories for our two elves as they entered the Blood Wood.

In it Tal discovered that Alia was once married to his uncle (a blood elf himself), and had a child by him that she believed dead. This was two years ago and was the last time Alia was in the wood.

Tal disovered his heritage. His connection to the Carithasca Ranelle as well as his family was revealed. His father is one of the immortal elves and a former lover of Alachia's from before the Scourge. He married one of Alachia's handmaidens after his relationship to the queen ended and had two children with whom he shared his immortality. His wife was one of the first victims of the Ritual of Thorns and he left the wood, leaving his two children in the care of their grandmother, who put them into stasis for the duration to save them from the Ritual of Thorns. Tal's sister is the exolasher that had pursued us across Barsaive, and was loyal to the queen until she was confronted by issues that his arrival had brought up.

In the end, the queen charged us with finding the last rose grown in the Wyrm Wood and twelve acorns from the heart of the wood, all pattern items from the Wyrm Wood before it was reNamed. To ensure our loyalty she brought out her leverage...Alia's daughter, alive and well...and very happy visiting her "aunt" Alachia. The implied threat was that if we didn't come back in a year's time, Alia's daughter would be of age to undergo the Ritual of Thorns.

There was one other price to this. She wanted an emissary to go with, watch and protect Alia. She charged Tal with this, but needed him to become a citizen of the Blood Wood in order to bring him into her service. His choice was simple, he was to undergo the Ritual of Thorns or the mission would not go forward, Alia would disappear, and her daughter would undergo the Ritual. Tal had no choice but to agree. He couldn't bring himself to tell Alia, who he loved deeply, but who was taken by renewed feelings of mourning for her husband.

Alachia performed the Ritual herself. All was going according to plan when something seemed to happen. His immortal Pattern reacted with the wood spirit being put inside him and he rejected it. He was in agony, about to die from the pain as his Pattern destabilized when Alachia asked an ally of hers to merge with Tal instead...the great forest spirit Briarheart. Alachia merged the two and reNamed Tal. No longer was his name Carithasca, from then on he was Talanithir Blackthorne, and the ebony thorns ripping through his skin were all the proof anyone needed.

It took days to recover. Days Alachia played with Alia by not allowing her to see him. She did tell Alia he had undergone the Ritual, and Alia was sick with worry and disappointment, assuming that he either underwent it to become more like her husband, or did it out of a new love for the queen. She broke Tal's heart by the cold reception he received when he awoke. The confusion persisted until the next day, when a banquet was being held in Tal's honor. Nobles clustered around him, offering gifts and marriage proposals from their daughters as soon as he got back from his mission, and trying to make sure he remembered their names, but all he could think about was Alia, who kept glaring at him.

Finally she could take no more and dragged him onto a balcony and demanded an explanation. He gave it, very simply. He told her about Alachia's offer, that he knew Alia's life and her daughter's life depended on his completing the Ritual and showing Alachia his loyalty. He told her he did it out of the love and caring that had developed for her. He told her that even though he knew she did not love him in return, that as her protector and as someone who loved her that he had no choice.

She kissed him then. It was a brief show of her thanks, but for a moment all his pain went away. She kissed him on the lips and then on the forehead and thanked him for his sacrifice. It wasn't everything he wanted, but it was all she could give him at the moment. The two of them returned to the ballroom and he was taken by Alachia to her chambers. Alachia mentioned how proud she was of his quick adaptation to the Ritual, told him that he would be sacrificing his life force for the good of all people, in the wood and out, as his pain and his blood fed whatever corruption was at the center of the wood and prevented it from seeking furhter sustenance outside of it. And when we returned with the Pattern items we would vanquish it. She looked up at him with her large eyes and straightened his uniform as she mentioned other possibilities upon his return as well.

The next morning the two elves set off with Tal's sister running escort. She rode them to the edge of the wood and the river trip back down to Throal, and then gave him her going away present...a pledge of her loyalty. Tal had to seek out the one person who had vexed Alachia time and time again and still lived...he needed to seek out his father. Alia knew he was rumored to be in Thera at last report, as the Seekers of the Heart had kept tabs on his movements. Finding his father and getting his help was Tal's only hope of figuring out a way for Alia and her daughter to survive past this yearn. And when they did return, his sister would help him against the Blood Queen.

So with his new rose petal laced armor, thornblade and his father's sword Truefang, he accompanied his lady south towards Throal to meet up with the rest of the group. Tal is confused by Alia's duality. She doesn't love him, yet she seems to have some feelings for him. She seems to need him by her side so badly...

Still, nothing can come from thinking of things that may or may not be for now. She is mourning her husband and his job is to keep her safe, even if that means she is not happy with him.

So the elves travel south quietly, both lost in their own thoughts about the recent confrontations of their past.

Earthdawn Characters

As we've been playing Earthdawn for the last few weekends I figured I'd post the cast of our game. I'm not completely sure on all the names, but I'll put the major cast on there and then will post updates to the game. Keep in mind these are VERY general 1-2 sentence descriptions and don't really explain a whole lot about the story so far.



Talanithir Carithasca (now Talanithir Blackthorne) – Swordmaster Adept. Member of the Carithasca Ranelle of Blood Wood. 18 year old immortal elf who was renamed and joined with a level 5 wood spirit. (PC)

Lady Alia – Elementalist. Elven lady, beautiful brunette with classic features. Once married to Tal’s uncle. Revealed to be an heir to the throne of the elven people, if Alachia the Blood Queen could be deposed. She or her daughter could well be next in line.

Cat (Catori)- Thief Adept, who has a living crystal arm. Daughter of a Theran Lord and a distant ancestor of the founder of Thera. Little blonde smartarse who gets into too much trouble for her own good. She and Neryl have a very confrontational relationship, as she is generally disgusted by what he does, and he enjoys tormenting her.

Orun – Obsidiman protector of Cat. Warrior Adept. Obviously he has to be patient or he would have already squished her. Has sworn a lifedebt to her. Strong silent type.

Neryl – Human Nethermancer. Apprentice to one of the greater Nethermancers of the land. HAAAATES the Horrors. Very married to his work and not very social, which is a problem that a few of the group are attempting to solve. (PC)

Nya – Human Beastmaster Adept. Tall stunning redhead with a lean, muscular frame. Doesn’t quite get society as a whole yet. Think Tarzan. Her blunt way of dealing with people is currently making Neryl as uncomfortable as he enjoys making Cat. He may be a nethermancer, but he's not blind...

Quillian – Windling Troubador. Just thrown in with the group. Wants to follow their legend and be the one who makes a mint off of the story. Another little smartarse, this one survives on the fact that nobody can catch him before he flies away. (PC)

Gronk - Troll Archer. Recent addition to the team. Loudmouth who drinks too much and has a little too much fun in life, but is good to have at your back when you're in trouble.

Buffy Update (part III)

This is how the story has been going lately, for better or worse....

Cameron is getting attention from a beautiful, older, rock star chick. One slight problem. She’s kind of a ghost…

He’s also getting attention from a beautiful, older European brunette…but she kind of wants to kill him. :-)

And the one girl that WOULD be good for him (Opal) is getting hit on by the bad guy who WAS hitting on the Slayer (and may still be) and creating jealousy there while the guy the SLAYER wants to be with (Bastion) is still being Mr. Tall Dark and Mopey but appears to have some girl in a corvette (or so Sascha the Slayer thinks).

Sascha is about to disband the Scoobies for their own protection, see how the bad guy feels about her, look into starting a singing career of her own, and Cameron is trying to help this ghost get free from the bad guy somehow and restore her to life if he can.

And add to that…ZOMBIES! ;-)

Scoobies

Continuing the Buffy theme, here are Sascha's band of Scoobies (the short version):


Arthur: Watcher. Basic old british guy. Owns a coffee shop called the Daily Grind which he and Sascha live above.

Oscar: Fat black kid. Computer geek and hacker.

Lazarus (Laz): Goth kid with lots of piercings. Warlock from a warlock family.

Kim (Opal): Chinese girl. Nerd/hippy. Budding Psychic. Opal, Laz and Oscar have been friends for awhile and headed an unofficial and largely ineffective vampire hunting team before Sascha came into the picture. Sascha now generally hangs out with the three of them.

Bastion: Mysterious demon hunter loner. Used to be part of a religious order called the Order of St. James. He is imbued (half demon package) with supernatural physical attributes. He and Sascha are currently doing the “I hate you/I like you” sexual tension twostep.

Cameron: Rich socialite kid imbued with some white energy while checking on a dying priest. Posesses something called the Light of Alexandria which imbues him with supernatural intelligence and healing abilities. Thrown in with who he calls the Freak Squad, he doesn’t hate Opal as much as the rest, but he and Bastion have a rather confrontational relationship so far. Too bad the Order is sworn to find and protect the keeper of the Light.

Buffy Update

Wrote this in a brief email to Ryan about one of my characters in our current Buffy the Vampire Slayer game. Sascha is one of the new crop of Slayers who came up after the Buffy series ended and has been assigned to Pleasant Hills, WA, a sleepy little rich-man's town in the woods outside of Seattle. It also happens to have its very own Hellmouth.



Description:
Sascha Romanov stands at just over 5 feet tall. An athletically-framed girl with nice curves and a classically beautiful face, she seems to have gone to some pains to portray a more urban image. The front and ends of her shoulder length black hair have been dyed purple in the front to match her violet eyes and she usually wears lipstick to match. She has some of the dusky features of a southern Russian heritage, but is somewhat paler than it would normally be, an aftereffect of a Slayer's nocturnal lifestyle.

Clothing tends towards leather and lace, catholic schoolgirl outfits, and other things that show off without being totally goth. She likes showing off her midriff and legs, and has both a pierced bellybutton as well as a tatoo with symbols on her lower back.



History:
Sascha grew up in Seattle, the child of a Russian couple that came into some money here in the states. She had a good relationship with her family, but was especially close with her older brother, who she saw as a protector and a best friend rolled up into one. She was constantly at his side when she could be. She was given privilege in everything, and early on showed quite a talented singing voice. She began singing lessons when she was seven, and was gaining some local notoriety in those circles for being young and talented.

This all changed when she was thirteen years old. Her brother disappeared without a trace on the way home from his job one night. No trace of him was ever found, and no suspects were ever named. It was as if he disappeared into thin air. This affected Sascha profoundly.her fear of rejection and feelings of loss and abandonment put up walls in her that she wasn't able to take down again, and she lost any interest she had in singing. She fell into the wrong crowd, committing crimes and distancing herself from her family, and everyone who knew her knew of her horrible temper. This didn't change much when she was Chosen.

It happened one summer day in Seattle. Unbeknownst to her, far to the south, it was the same day a small town in California was blown off the map. It was also the day when many girls across the planet found themselves inexplicably faster, stronger and tougher than any human had a right to be.

She started using this strength a little too blatantly, and was pretty easy to spot for those who were watching for signs of this new crop of Slayers.
She was contacted. She refused. Twice. The Watcher's council gave her one more chance before a wetworks team was dispatched, and the watcher used the one chink in her armor.her brother. If she embraced her "destiny" she might be able to prevent disappearances like that from happening to others. She might even eventually be able to find out what happened to him, whether it was a mugging or a kidnapping, or something else.

She traveled to England for what the new Council affectionately termed "Boot Camp". She trained with other Slayers in duty, in history, in the various known vampires and demons. Through it all she was ever the rebel.she had a quick temper and was too prone to violence too quicklly. In the year she was there she was almost dismissed on four separate occasions for insubordination. Finally they had two choices: kick her out, or put her on active duty. She was rather tersely informed one day that she was to begin her assignment the next week. It was in a small town outside of her home city of Seattle in a community called Pleasant Hills. Apparently a Hellmouth was known to be in this town (though the location was still a mystery). They needed her to patrol this area and keep things under control, as well as find the Hellmouth's location.

It remains to be seen whether they were trying to get rid of her, or they actually expect her to live long enough to do this..



Personality:
Sascha is secretly scared out of her wits. Her brother’s disappearance proved to her how unfair the world was and she was angry as hell. She stopped believing in people that day. Then she is recruited by the council and realized things were even worse than she could have ever imagined. Vampires, demons, werewolves, monsters…they are all trying to take out humanity, and quite often the Slayer is the only one expected to do anything about it.

She also read between the lines. She knows a Slayer doesn’t typically live more than a handful of years after becoming one, and knows a target has been painted on her back. To her, the only thing a Slayer is really good at is dying, and she really doesn’t want to die.

So she feels like the world has shafted her in a big way, and isn’t shy about showing that in her attitude. She doesn’t trust her watcher yet, she doesn’t trust her friends, and would be too afraid to let them in anyways for fear they’d hate her or disappear on her.

Deep down she really just wants to feel safe. She wants to sing and laugh and have fun. For the most part, she is capable of doing this on the surface, but a lot of it is bravado and not enough is actual confidence.