DeadMoonChronicles/TheStorySoFar
A large castle, built against the cliff face of a lone mountain in the southeast, has just been reoccupied. A large man, Marcus by name, has led his troops to it and taken up residence. His call for able-bodied soldiers has gone far and wide, yet attracted no new recruits.
Until now.
Three men - One with a golden bow, one with a shining chain, and another with an almost eerie appearance - climb the path to the castle. Their names are Dallen, Daikyu, and Albrecht, and they join the army. Dallen scales the castle walls when night begins to fall, and discovers a strange steel door leading to the General's room, and a path going up the mountain. The path leads to a high, windy alcove with a strange pedestal in the center of it and a silvery plate on it. He heads back down and notifies the General of his discovery, who already knew it. Meanwhile, Albrecht and Daikyu spar in the courtyard, Albrecht easily dodging Daikyu's attacks. Soon after, though, Daikyu disarms Albrecht and Albrecht simply states, "I tire of this," and walks away.
Dinner rolls around, and as they enter the mess hall, Dallen begins to glow brightly and states in a deep, echoing voice, "THE DEAD SHALL RISE WHEN THE MOON IS BLACK AND THE LANDS OF SHADOW ARE BORN." This gives him away as a Solar Exalted, and both Daikyu and Marcus's caste marks appear on their foreheads, revealing themselves as well. Dallen denies being one until this happens, but still refuses to acknowledge that he was glowing. Albrecht quietly slips away, and uses a small blue stone he has to relay this information to his mother. "Bring them back," she says, "and they will either attend dinner and assist me... or be dinner."
Soon after, the Circle heads to a small town nearby for various reasons. The group goes their seperate ways in town, to persue their own desires. Albrecht goes to feed, Marcus goes to the blacksmith to purchase weaponry, Dallen heads to an art gallery to look for old tapestries, and Daikyu locates some Dragon-Blooded propaganda. They leave the town around nightfall, Albrecht trailing behind. Albrecht is ambushed by three zombies, but he quickly dispatches them. The undead are unheard of in this area, but after a battle at the wagon with a dozen or so more walking dead, Dallen heads back, and arrives just in time to assist Albrecht in fighting another seven. Soon after, a horde of the zombies surround them, and a lone figure stands outside the ring of undead. He is covered in black armor, and has a strange mask on with ruby eyes. Dallen quickly fires a shot at the man, not thinking to negotiate. He deflects it, and responds with a spell: Death of Obsidian Butterflies. A cone of obsidian butterflies tear apart the zombie horde between the Circle and the man, and Marcus jumps in the way just in time to use Heavenly Guardian Defense and block the party. They charge into battle against this strange man, swords clashing. Dallen leaps into the air over the man, firing a shot down at his head, and one at his back. The man deflects the headshot with his sword in a fluid motion, but turns just in time to take the other arrow in the side. Marcus then runs up and finishes him off with his great axe. The man's black caste mark on his forehead marked him as an Abyssal Exalted. The body and equipment of the Abyssal disintigrate, but the mask remains. Scooping up the mask, Daikyu flies the group away, just as a strange, black clad man appears. He watches them go, and proceeds to cause an acid rain fall on the unsuspecting town. The town is destroyed, and everyone in it is killed.
They eventually reach the castle with their supplies and weapons, taking the long way around so the man doesn't find their base of operations. Albrecht notifies his mother of current events. The Circle takes a few days to attempt to destroy the mask, which radiates evil, but fails utterly. Dallen's essence-fueled attacks are absorbed by the mask, its eyes glowing and a sound like laughter being emitted from it. Albrecht speaks up, and says he may know a way to destroy it, but it will take a few days for him to set it up. The Circle suspects much (except Marcus; Albrecht used Indetectable Lie), but agrees to let him attempt it. Several days later, two horse-drawn carriages looking especially regal and guarded by six tall men with flowing white hair and huge swords, spears, and bows arrive, with one smaller man out front. The smaller man calls for each of the Circle members by name, and after Dallen finally overcomes his nature and goes out, they leave. They are each given a bracelet that seems to pulsate, and are told to keep it on to protect themselves. They soon arrive in the Wyld (unknown to the group where they are) at Albrecht's mother's home, beyond the edge of Creation. As they step out of the carriages the wagons disappear, and the Circle (minus Albrecht) are told to wait in their room to be called for. A stranger waits there. He introduces himself as Cosmo, and his monkey as Kramer.
END OF SESSION 1.
The Circle is called, and meets with Albrecht's mother Ainnom in an elaborate throne room. Her name is unknown to them, but she offers them all great rewards if they assist her, and for the mask. She shows a silver cube, which is actually an artifact map that Marcus has been searching for, and offers her assistance in destroying the Dragon-Blooded on the Blessed Isle. Eventually, she gets the mask from them. Albrecht watches from her side, and his older brother stands opposite of him.
The Circle are given permission to roam the grounds, and Dallen immediately looks for where they arrived. After several failed attempts, he finds it, and discovers the wagons are still there... but invisible and insubstantial. He also finds a soft wall through which they apparently entered. Dallen returns to the room and finds Marcus. Together, they push through the wall and arrive out in the Wyld. Their gear begins to warp, except for their artifacts, and they hastily return through the wall, gettings stuck a few times on the way. Marcus's armor was warped out of shape, but still wearable. He could not take it off and get it back on, however, upon further inspection. Daikyu searches a library for information but finds nothing useful, but discovers they are indeed in the Wyld.
Dinner rolls around (not literally, which is possible here), and the Circle attend. The table is covered by huge amounts of the finest foods. Ainnom sits at the head of the table, with Albrecht's older brother Erkus next to Ainnom, and Albrecht next to him. A stranger in a blue buff jacket sits silently at the table, ignoring everyone else. Dinner is rather eventful, with pieces of chicken valiantly fighting a turkey (and losing), Dallen nailing the turkey to the wall with a well-placed shot, and Daikyu drowning the chicken in ketchup while they shout, "Why hath our gods forsaken us? Why?!" Nothing important occurs.
On the way back from dinner, Albrecht hears his mother speaking to Erkus.
"...of no use to me. Dispose of them."
"What of Albrecht?"
"Kill him with the rest. He has outlived his usefulness."
He quickly heads to alert the Solars, and as he bursts into the room, he exclaims, "They're coming to kill me!! ...Oh, and all of you, too." They take up battle positions inside the door as Erkus and four Fae Cataphracts arrive outside. Albrecht swings the door open as Dallen lets loose a volley of arrows, skewering one Cataphract and spraying internal organs all over the back wall of the hall. Erkus leaps in and Dallen deftly dodges his attack. Albrecht, being behind him, takes this opportunity to stab him in the back with his Daiklave. Dallen uses Rain of Feathered Death to multiply his one arrow into three at this moment, and finishes off Erkus. As the circle kills two more of the Cataphracts, Albrecht takes the time to loot his brother's corpse, and the final Cataphract is killed by the man in blue who arrives behind him. He introduces himself as Karel, and runs down the hall, telling the Circle to follow him if they want to get out of there. They come across Karel taking down two more Cataphracts with a couple well-placed slashes of his Daiklave, and continues. Using a ring Albrecht found on his brother's corpse, they make a wagon manifest, and they fly away. Some erroneous piloting causes them to crash far away near the city of Nexus.
The Circle eventually reawakens after the crash, only to find Cosmo impaled upon a rock, blood pooled at the base of it. Dallen and Marcus pull him off to give him a proper burial, and as they do, the gaping hole in his torso closes. He reawakens, and Dallen pulls his bow, shouting, "Undead!!" Cosmo tries to calm him down, and feigns ignorance of the whole thing. Marcus, staring, shoves his axe through Cosmo's chest. The wound closes. Eventually, they calm down, and Dallen goes to scout. He finds Nexus, and the group goes there to rest up. Albrecht feeds while Daikyu goes to get a drink. Daikyu is ambushed by a man in an alley who stabs him in the back quite ineffectively, and beats him down as Dallen arrives on the scene, having been roaming the streets. They recognize the smell of the man as being that of a zombie, but his "corpse" disappears before they can examine it.
A week later, the Circle awakens to a Dragon-Blooded army marching up the field to meet an army of the dead that approaches the city. A single man in black armor carrying a giant sword rides at the front of the army, and meets the three Dragon-Blooded commanders on the field. He slaughters them, and the armies clash, the undead overcoming the Dragon-Blooded by sheer numbers. The Circle had begun manning the walls and trying to get the citizens to form a militia to stop the coming horde, but they fled. Dallen shot a single arrow at the man at the front of the army. The man deflected it with his sword, and looks up at him. He runs towards the wall and dashes up it, leaping into the air, and cleaving an archer in two as he drops onto the wall and looks directly at Dallen. A single sword slice knocks Dallen down as he feigns death and then grabs a bag hanging on the man's side. Daikyu flees across the city through the sky as Cosmo attacks the man. Albrecht begins climbing the ladder to get on the wall. Marcus lifts a nearby bench and hurls it, smashing it on the man in armor, getting his attention. A leaping chop from the man is parried by Marcus due to his use of Heavenly Guardian Defense. Marcus is not so lucky, however, as he doesn't block the next hit. The sword comes down...
...and severs Marcus's left arm. Falling to the ground from the pain, Dallen leaps up and shoots the man three times in the back, dropping him. The army sinks into the ground with a horrific wail, and leaves behind wasteland. The Dragon-Blooded army begins to rise as zombies, but Cosmo goes into the field and burns them with his holy fire. He cannot get them all, however, but defeats the remaining few himself. The Circle remains in the city for a time, Marcus recruiting a heroic mortal named Denet Barbarian-Slayer, and they fly home in a wagon pulled by Daikyu. Cosmo has a large box, with the armor of the man within, and the sword carried by Dallen...
END OF SESSION 2
