Cain Malibourne's page

”You are hereby sentenced to death, the sentence to be carried out at Brandescar Prison three days hence.. May Mitra have mercy on your soul.” the magistrate said as he banged his gavel on his wooden desk. With that, the prisoner known as Cain Malibourne was escorted out of the courtroom. ”If only that patrol had been a few seconds later that old fool would be dead.” he thought to himself has the guards led him away to the donjon below.
Cain Malibourne, for that was the name he had taken, was born Gideon Hightower of House Hightower, small fiefdom in the north. The illegitimate son of the Baron’s youngest daughter and a mysterious stranger who had vanished as quietly as he had appeared. Gideon was born on one of the darkest of nights, as the moon was hidden by an eclipse as he was delivered. His birth had been a hard one and his mother did not survive the ordeal. The Mitran midwife who attended his birth crossed herself as she raised the child up and saw the unique pentagram pattern on the child’s shoulder.

Gideon was raised in his in his grandfather’s household until the age of 13 when, his obligation to him and his deceased daughter were fulfilled, his grandfather turned him out with nothing but the clothes on his back. Someone had once said that “Gossip flies on the swiftest of wings” and this exceptionally true as Gideon reached the local village. The villagers, having heard about his banishment and not wishing to upset their lord, turned their back on Gideon as well.

Alone and afraid Gideon left the village and the only home he’d ever known behind. As the evening sun was beginning to set Gideon arrived at a crossroads where sat an old, blind beggar shaking his bowl of coins crying out ” Alms for the needy.” Gideon thought to himself ” Why not? I’m in need” and he reached out to snatch a few of the coins. As he did so the beggars arm shot out and grabbed Gideon’s wrist in an iron grip ” Your Father has need of you.” he told the boy.

The old man led him to a burned and abandoned farmhouse not too far away. There in what had once been the kitchen the beggar opened a concealed trap door and led Gideon into the torchlight below. What he found underground was nothing short of amazing to him. Buried beneath the ruins were several rooms carved out of the rock itself, chief among them was a large room with several stone benches and what could only be a black basalt altar. An inverted pentagram, painted in red, dominates the rear wall. As Gideon stares at the symbol on the wall the birthmark on his shoulder begins to itch.

As Gideon stands there, unsure of what is happening, a man emerges from one of the side rooms. Dressed in robes of black and red he crosses the room with his hand extended ”Welcome, Gideon” he says with an enigmatic smile ”We’ve been expecting you”. For the next several hours the priest began explaining the circumstances of Gideon’s birth. Turns out that his father was a devil summoned from Hell to despoil his mother by one of his grandfather’s rivals so that he would gain an advantage in some nebulous business deals as well as embarrass the old man.

Although his “father” had returned to his place in Hell, the church of Asmodeus had not forgotten about his progeny. Sneaking agents into the family household they had managed to keep track of young Gideon as he was growing up, until the time that his grandfather turned him out. In fact, unbeknownst to Gideon, it was one of these agents who arranged for Gideon’s exile.

Years passed and Gideon, constantly moving between cells, grew up and became indoctrinated into the faith of Asmodeus. In each new “temple” he trained and studied until finally he returned to that abandoned farmhouse where his journey began. It was there that Gideon was given his mission for the church of Asmodeus, he was to assassinate the Cardinal of Ghastenhall. Second in power to the church of Mita, such a high profile death would rock the faithful to their core and spread doubt and fear among the clergy. But first, Gideon had his own mission. The townsfolk say that the Earl had died in his sleep and the heir to house Hightower never seemed to question his sudden accession.

His vendetta complete Gideon Hightower was no more and in his place stood Cain Malibourne. Cain spent the next several months worming his way into the Cardinal’s household watching and waiting for the time to strike. The moment came when the old man was wandering the halls of Ghastenhall cathedral alone and unguarded. Cain stepped from the shadows and struck the man from behind, knocking him to the ground. Cain had lifted his mace to finish the job when a patrol of church guards entered the hall. They rushed to the Cardinal’s defense and pummeled Cain unconscious before he could finish his mission.

He awoke, naked and chained to a wall. The birthmark upon his shoulder, his birthright from his father, was raw and bleeding from being burnt and branded beyond recognition. He was left in his dark, dank cell for what seemed like many days until he was hauled before the Magistrate to learn of his fate. Once the sentence was pronounced Cain returned, stoically, to his cell to await his transfer to Brandescar and his execution. He had failed and his death was the price of that failure.