Darius Cain's page

"What is supposed to be holding the orb?" asks Darius "It only has four fingers!"

After waiting for an answer.

At the suggestion of cleaning the place up Darius goes to look for any cleaning supplies. (brooms, mops, etc)

Darius returns from waking Brother Thomas and Master Zelluyan. "The others are awake Riven. What is going on?" he asks as he peers at the newcomer. Darius notices that his guard uniform does not appear to be brand new, like the rest of theirs. "Have they sent us more Gaurdsmen to staff this place?"

Since Darius is not wearing his cloak inside, the others may notice a bronze captain's badge clipped onto his belt near the flintlock pistol.

"Is there any way we could make one of these globes ourselves?" asks Darius. "Or something that could be used in it's stead?"

The another thought strikes Darius, "Master Zelluyan, how would someone break down the walls of the Underworld, would they need one of these Globes to do that?"

"How can we trace the undead back to who or whatever caused them to rise from their graves?" asks Darius

Swallowing hard, Darius pushes down his anxiety. Then he draws his rapier and follows the others into the abandoned watch house.

"Riven, wait." Darius says as the warrior steps towards the door. He pulls two small leather pouches from his satchel. Each pouch is tied to a leather thong.

"Wear this, it is a ghost bag. It should.. it, will protect you from the influence of evil spirits." Darius hands one ghost bag to Riven and places the other around his own neck.

"Oh I expect he will turn up shortly." says Darius, unable to keep a completely straight face.

I will just say that Hellard's spot check is good enough that he knows Darius saw him. Darius was not really trying to hide that fact.

Darius makes his way to the watch house, keeping a keen eye out, the Street of the Gods is a dangerous section of the city. From the end of the block he sees some of the others standing outside the building. He hurries towards their position, keeping watch on the dark alleys and doorways.

Paladin, Hellard

As he approaches the others, he calls out a greeting "Riven! Brother Thomas!" He also nods to the witch-woman as he draws near. "I hope I have not kept you waiting."

Spot Check (1d20+4=24) on Hellard.

After completing the ghost bags, Darius realizes the others will be gathering at the street of the gods soon.

Making ready to head back into the night, Darius dons his new watch uniform. He was unsure about this Hellsquad business, but went along with it in the hopes that he would be able to gain access to materials to further his own occult investigation. On top of the uniform he added his leather armor and weapons, including his rapier this time along with the pistol and dagger. He loaded his occult books and the ghost bags into the dark leather satchel and slung it over his shoulder.

From the back of his wardrobe he drew a heavy wool cloak with a leather mantle and hood. Left by a previous boarder, Madam Tourney had given it to him along with a few other items. Then Darius his father's badge, the bronze shield of a captain of the watch, and clipped it to his weapon belt next to the pistol holster. Someone was bound to make the connection to his father sooner or later, so Darius decided he would stop trying to hide it. Maybe then he would learn why his father had been dismissed from the watch and be able to clear his name.

Then Darius left the boarding house, pulling the leather hood up to block the rain, he headed for the street of the gods.

End heroic "Gear up" sequence. :)

Darius heads back to the boarding house where he has been staying since the death of his father. Madam Tourney had taken pity on him and given him a good deal on an attic room that while smaller, gave him more privacy than a normal room. He quickly headed up to the attic, he had alot to do.

He began by thoroughly washing of the remaining gore of the battle and changing into fresh clothes. Almost feeling like a new person, He sat down and got to work.

First he cleaned the flintlock pistol, removing the wet powder. He couldn't believe he had be so careless with the weapon, it had nearly cost him his life. He silently vowed to never be so careless again. As he reloaded the weapon, he examined the enchanted bullet. A heavy lead ball coated in silver. There were two rows of interweaving runes inscribed into the deadly projectile. In the right light, the runes seemed to glow with a green iridescence. So far he had been unable to make any sense of the runes, except that they seemed to be of a different origin than the ones upon dagger.

Next Darius began flipping through his newly acquired occult library. He had begun to investigate the occult, in an effort to learn what sort of beast had killed his father. In truth it was only three books so far, but Darius had read them all trough cover to cover at least once, even the one in gault. He was searching for the ritual on preparing a "ghost bag", a fetish that was supposed to protect the wearer from the influences of evil spirits, especially ghosts.

Looking over the meager supplies he had in his room, he found he had enough to make a ghost bag, two if he streached the powdered cat bone just a bit. Deciding to go for two, Darius began the ritual, which mainly consisted of burning some candles and saying an enchantment while packing a long list of ingredients into two small leather bags. As Darius finished saying the enchantment and tying off the bags with a complicated knot, the candles all snuffed out at once leaving the room in complete Darkness. Creeped out a little, Darius decides to take that as a sign that the ritual worked.

Darius plucks a chunk of rotting brain matter from his hair and disgustedly hurls it to the floor. "On that I think we can agree, at least. I suggest we meet at two hours after sundown, that should give everyone sufficient time."

Darius, waits for Riven somewhat impatiently. "Sorry to rush off, but I have a few things I need to do before going over to this abandoned watch house. If you want to join me though, I would be happy for the company." Darius explains.

I am staying at Madam Turney's Boarding house (just making that up). I need to go there first and get my things.

After the briefing is over, Darius slips out of the watch-commander's office without word. He then heads downstairs (asking directions along the way) to get his new uniforms from the suppy sergeant.

With his new uniforms stuffed into his bugling satchel, Darius leaves the guard house and heads back to his rented room at the boarding house.

Darius, still not conviced getting involved in this Hellsquad business is a good idea, places himself out of the way in a corner of DeVere's office. He looks at the watch-commander, trying to decide if he is old enough to possibly have known his father and whether that would be a good or a bad thing given the contents of the letter.

He waits to see what the watch-commander has to say.

Sense Motive (1d20-1=13)

"What do think the Mayor meant about uniforms and the Guardpost? We are not supposed to live there are we?"

"Breyr? What do you say?

Whomever is appointed leader, every man and woman will still be heard--I'll guarantee that personally."

Durendal - Breyr has not posted since July 10. That is over three weeks ago. I don't think that we really want to hold things up waiting for him to answer.

Paladin - do you want to answer for him?

Darius looks over the two candidates, "Hague, I'm sorry but I think Brother Thomas would be a better choice as leader."

Darius slips into the mayors office quietly while his elders make their introductions. He takes the seat that will provide him the best view of the scrolls that the old sage has brought with him. "Excuse me sir, do you need any help organizing those papers that you dropped?"

Darius is trying to get a look at the titles of the papers, and in particular if there might be one that describes the type of fiend that attacked and killed his father. Decipher Script Check (1d20+7=13) on the papers titles if necessary.

"Her magicks destroyed many zombies today Riven." says Darius. "Besides there are worse things in this city than zombies... or witches."

"Since you seem to be of some standing in Refuge, what do you know of the Hellsquad reforming?" Riven glances at the others to gauge their reaction to the Hellsquad...'hopefully the others have at least heard of this' he thinks to himself.

"What's a hell squad?" asks Darius. Noticing his questions have caught the other's attention, Darius smiles awkwardly, "Oh, ...umm, my name is Darius."

Thomas slices up a tablecloth with his sickle.

(Yes, I screwed up; what the hell is the deal with axes being martial? I thought they were peasant tools.) :)
He then pours boiling water into a bowl, and uses the hot cloth to clean the bites on Hague's neck.

No biggie man. I just thought it was funny because Darius passed up a fallen shortsword for the club because he wasn't proficient with it. Then you hand him the axe, which he is also not proficient in. So I made a big deal about how awkward it was for him.

Also, did I miss it or are you deliberately not sharing Bro Thomas's name?

Darius listened to the nobleman's pompous speech about how well we did, even if we all were just serfs. He felt an immediate dislike for the man, but knew it was better not to let it show on his face.

As he began fawning over the woman, Darius turns back to those standing near him and says "An honor to meet you both," he nods to the priest and the sewer dweller, "My name is Darius." He extends his hand to Hague.

Darius is deliberately omitting his last name until he meets someone who he thinks might know about his father.

Riven looks about the finely room they all have been gathered in. He moves over to Darius and places a hand on his shoulder, "You fought well lad. How do your wounds feel?"

Darius smiles up at the tall warrior, "I will be okay, Riven. Still a bit dizzy though."

Spot Check DC 18

After quickly downing one cup of tea, Darius still feels chilled. He pours himself another and this time also pours an extra and brings it to Riven.

"My AXE!...err I mean, "Never fear! Aid is at hand!"

Hey Snorter, you know hand axes are martial weapons right?

Darius wakes up coughing blood and rainwater as the Priest's incantation mystically heals his wounds. The gash on his forehead is closed but still swollen and tender and his ribs still ache as he sits up. "Thank you, father." he chokes out through a throat still sore from the undead's grasp.

Darius quickly gathers up his dagger and pistol but the fight is all but over by the time he regains his feet. Darius closes his eyes for a moment to try and quell a fit of dizzyness and before he knows whats happening they are being led into the Parliament building to an elegant waiting room with a large table.

Darius quickly sits in the nearest chair and waits for the latest bout of dizzyness to pass. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Darius helps himself to a cup of the tea and a pastry.

Darius meets the undead mob a few steps behind Riven and cleaves into the first zombie's chest with a wild swing of the axe. Lodged in the thing's spine and ribcage, the axe is wrenched out of his grip as it falls back down the slippery stairway.

Another undead quickly closes in on Darius. Striking a glancing blow with its fist, it opens a nasty gash on Darius' forehead. Although he is reluctant to use up one of only seven arcane bullets, Darius draws his father's pistol. "No use saving them if I'm dead!" he thinks. Aiming square at the advancing corpse's chest, he pulls the trigger.

*click*

The pistol misfires, the powder soaked in the pouring rainstorm.

The undead grabs Darius around the throat with both hands and begins to choke the life out of him. The dagger somehow in his other hand, Darius again feels the strange connection between himself, the dagger and the undead. The dagger plunges into the zombie's neck, almost as if it had a will of its own. As green fire erupts from the eyes and mouth of the corpse, Darius feels the energy being sucked out of his body through the dagger.

The eyeless corpse collapses to the steps. Darius sways and then follows it to the ground a second later, dagger and pistol both sliding out of his numb fingers. Darius feels cool stone of the step on his cheek for a moment and smiles "That was not fun..." he defiantly thinks at Riven's back and smiles again before blood runs into his eyes and his vision goes dark...

Darius closes shortly behind him, hesitantly ducking in under his swing to heft the heavy axe, but shopping down another of the zombies.

That's right I will shop down, not only zombies, but any kind of undead!

*Slaps VISA down on the counter*

Charge it baby!

:)

I picked a new picture for Darius. Thought it made him look more like a 17 year old kid.

Riven turns to Darius his face grim, "Well Darius seems everything has been a tease upto this point! Could be time for the greatest adventure after all!" His face changes to amusement, "HAHAHAHAHAHHA!" Looking to the dead approaching the steps, "Well come on then."

Darius steps up next to Riven. The warrior's brash confidence rubbing off on him. The axe was heavy and awkward in his grasp and the pouring rain made the footing on the stone steps of the Parliament building treacherous, but Darius felt like the next few minutes would be a turning point. If they could survive the next few minutes, then everything would turn out alright.

As he awaits the approach of the undead, a sudden thought occurs to him, "Somebody wants the Parliament gates to be opened!" Darius turns and scans the small crowd of people outside the gates for anything that seems out of place.

Spot check on the crowd: Spot Check (1d20+4=10)

Darius fends off the attacks of another undead, hacking off its arm at the elbow, as the warrior dispatches two at once.

Riven pulls his blade free, "What say you lad?"

"I'm Darius and I say lead the way, I will be right behind you." He manages to land another desperate blow with the axe, cleaving the things skull crossways just above the ears. The thing takes two more steps before it dies. "Does not being killed yet count as having fun?"

Pushing back the pain a bit more, he must use it to aid him now he knows, and Riven rushs past the group he's in desperate to get to aid his companion.

Looking up from the hacked corpse, Darius sees the large warrior moving towards him trough the melee. Although his arms burned from unaccustomed weight of the axe, he swung at the closest foe and tried to make his way to the tall warrior.

Darius shuddered as he was showered in gore from the ruptured zombie. He was pushed back a few steps from the thing's final convulsions. Tossing aside the useless club, Darius felt a sharp pain in his left side where the thing's unwholesome embrace had cracked his ribs.

There was no time to rest, two more of the undead stepped up to replace the one the Priest's incantation had destroyed. Darius met them swinging the unfamiliar axe as best he could. As much a danger to anyone close to him as to the walking corpses, Darius replaced skill with as much strength as he could summon.

Swinging the axe wildly, he grunted with each blow "..never...leave...rapier...home...again..." When he was finished he was covered in more of the rotting black ichor and the zombie lay on the cobblestones in several pieces.

Darius notices that the undead have stopped moving towards the gates for the moment. "C'mon" he shouts to the blond warrior, and quickly dodges around the lurching zombies, heading closer to the Parliment building.

Darius makes his way through the undead throng to where the priest is tending the wounds of one of the men defending the crowd from the attacking zombies.

"Father, you said you were with the Watch!" Darius gasps, pointing towards the gates. "You have to do something, order them to let those people inside!"

Tumble Skill Check (1d20+4=20) for moving through the zombies

Darius looked from the leather clad witch-woman to the others. Were they siding with her or just reluctant to get in the middle of the confrontation?

The way she commanded her docile servants made his skin crawl. Better the company of lunatics, then the damned. Without a word, he turned and followed the northman into the fight.

To protect the store from thieves, his father had showed him how to fight with another, watching each other's backs. He did that now, though the warrior needed little help. In truth Darius' blows with the watchman's cudgel did little damage, but they did create openings for the warrior's flashing greatsword which took a heavy toll on the walking dead.

In game terms Darius would be flanking and/or using the aid another action since he can't really overcome the zombies DR.

Riven gives Darius a good pat on the back, "Hahahahaha! Bet you never thought today was going to be this much fun?"

Darius smiles uneasily and nods in agreement. It can be dangerous to upset the insane, especially when they have greatswords.

Darius looks back to see if any of the other's from the market have come to join in the "fun" as well. He see's the strange leather clad woman following behind them with her escort of undead. "Watch out!" he cries, "there are more of them behind us!"

Darius breathes a sigh of relief as the two walking corpses shamble past him and head down the street to the north. "Where are they going?" he wonders.

Realizing he is woefully unprepared, Darius pulls the weapon belt from his satchel and dons it, making sure both the flintlock pistol and dagger can be drawn easily. Then he slings the satchel around to hang behind him, out of the way.

Pushing the rain soaked hair out of his face, Darius looks around for a better.. no, safer weapon. He moves over to one of the slain watchmen and picks up his fallen club. The guard's dead eyes seem to stare at him accusingly. "Sorry sir," whispers Darius, "but I need this more than you right now." He reaches out and quickly closes the man's eyes.

"Nothing like fighting the Dead to brighten the day, eh? HAHAHAHAHA!" Darius looks up to see a large blond northlander wielding a greatsword and taking in the carnage in the market square. "Insane! He's insane. I think he's having fun!"

Immediately to the north, a call can be heard: "'Ware! More come this way!"

The Northlander looks towards Parlimant, then back to the survivors in the square, "All right lads! If you've got strength left there's more to be returned to their final rest!" Then he heads north, after the undead.

Darius began to feel a grudging respect for the insane warrior. "I must be insane too!" he thinks, as he gets to his feet and runs to catch up. "Wait, what are you going to do when you catch up to them?" he asks the blond warrior.

Oops! Fatespinner sneaked in his post while I was writing. I guess I am a slow writer.

Once he had rid himself of this morning's eggs and ham, Darius's stomach stopped the worst of it's convulsions.

He looked up just in time to see two more of the undead abominations shambling in his direction. Darius scrambled backwards on his hands and feet until he reached a wall, where he managed to push himself upright. Placing his back to the wall, he made ready to strike at the first foe to come within range.

"What am I going to do? Another flash like that and I will probably pass out!"

Darius' Readied Attack: 11(d20) +1(BAB) +1(Bro Thomas's Dark Knowledge) = 13

Darius took in the confusion of the swirling melee as best he could. "Why are the creatures fighting each other? Who is that woman? Could she be responsible for this? She did have a rather sinister look about her!"

"Either leave this place or take up arms! This is no time for idle spectating!" the woman called out.

No it seems she is fighting these undead monsters, but I don't think anyone has seen me yet, except for that vagrant up on rooftop. "What should I do?"

Darius looked around again and saw that one of the living-dead was feasting on a corpse just on the other side of the cart, not more than ten feet away.

As he focused on the creature, Darius felt the dagger in his hand quiver like something alive. To Darius it seemed like he could feel energy begin to flow between three points; himself, the dagger and the feasting undead. Worse still the creature seemed to feel it too -- it turned and looked directly at him.

As the undead rushed him, Darius was able to bring the dagger up in both hands and the creature impaled itself in it's rush to get to him. Darius felt a flash of heat move from his chest, down his arm, through the dagger and into the creature. A second later it's eyes were consumed in a flash of green fire and the corpse slumped to the ground, lifeless once more.

Darius stumbled back dizzy and light-headed. Then he fell to his knees and began vomiting violently onto the cobblestones.

Darius has taken a few steps towards the door before he even knows it. Then, the sight of the guards' rattling mail and bared steel makes him pause. He thinks of his newly purchased rapier and leather jerkin -- sitting safely back in his rented room at the boarding house. It did not seem the wisest course to wear them to the Guard house this morning. Although now, he desperately wished he would have.

Fumbling in his satchel, he looks at his father's weapons, the dagger and pistol holstered with the belt wrapped around them, then at the backs of the last guards heading out to the street. Darius slides his hand around the hilt of the pistol, then changing his mind, moves his grip over to the dagger. Holding the weapon still inside the satchel, he heads outside.

Standing on the steps of the guard house, Darius looks towards the market to determine the source of the disturbance. Unfortunately, all he can see is a wild mob of people running down the street towards him and away from the market square. A squad of guardsman has formed a wedge and is pushing through the panicked crowd.

Darius, makes his way towards the market square as quickly as he can. He keeps close to the walls of the buildings avoiding as much of the crowd as possible. When he nears the square, the continued screams send a chill down his back. Taking a deep breath, Darius blocks the screams out of his mind and ducks behind an overturned vegetable cart to try and get a good look at what is going on.

Darius Cain
Male Human Expert 2, Human Paragon 1

Str: 10 (+0)
Dex: 15 (+2)
Con: 12 (+1)
Int: 14 (+2)
Wis: 8 (-1)
Cha: 13 (+1)

HP: 6 (lvl 1) + 3(1d6) + 5(1d8) + 3 (con) = 17
AC: 10 + 3 (leather armor) + 2 (dex) = 15
Base Attack: +1

Fort: 0 + 1 (con) = +1
Ref: 0 + 3 (dex) = +3
Will: 5 - 1 (wis) = +4
Will vs. mind affecting: 5 + 1 (cha) = 6

Weapon & Armor proficiency: Simple weapons, rapier (human paragon), Flintlock Pistol (feat), light armor but not shields.

Feats:
Human: Jack of All Trades: Darius can attempt any skill check as if he had ½ rank in the skill.
Level 1: Force of Personality. Darius can use his charisma modifier instead of his wisdom modifer for will saves vs mind affecting spells and abilities.
Level 3: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Flintlock Pistol)

Class Features:
Adaptive Learning: Decipher Script is always a class skill for Darius.

Skill point details

Skills:
Appraise: 4 ranks + 2 int = 6
Decipher Script: 5 ranks + 2 int = 7
Diplomacy: 5 ranks + 1 cha = 6
Gather Information: 5 ranks + 1 cha = 6
Hide: 1 rank + 2 dex = 3
Knowledge (Architecture & Engineering): 3 ranks + 2 int = 5
Knowledge (History): 5 ranks + 2 int = 7
Knowledge (Local): 3 Ranks + 2 int = 5
Knowledge (Religion): 5 ranks + 2 int = 7
Knowledge (The Planes): 3 ranks + 2 int = 5
Move Silently: 1 rank + 2 dex = 3
Search: 5 ranks + 2 int = 7
Spot: 5 ranks -1 wis = 4
Tumble: 2 ranks + 2 dex = 4

Gear:
Leather Armor, Rapier, Green Steel Dagger, Flintlock Pistol & 7 Silver Rune Bullets, Father’s Satchel, Father’s City Watch Badge, Father’s Letter, Silver Locket, Journal of his Occult Investigation (just started).

Money: Darius is down to last few silver, plus some pocket change.

Darius Cain
Human Male, Age 17

Left with a legacy of occult items after the violent death of his father, Darius learns that his father was much more then the aging grocer that he knew. Driven to uncover the mysteries of his father's past, his mother’s identity and inhuman fiend that killed his father; he begins his own investigation into the occult. Unfortunately for Darius, there are those in the city who frown upon that kind of activity.

Stats:
Elite Array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8

Strength: 10 Darius is no weakling, growing up there was plenty of physical labor to do in the store, but it was light and intermittent.

Dexterity: 15 Naturally quick with his hands and light on his feet, Darius has always had good reflexes.

Constitution: 12 Darius is fit and healthy, the store may have struggled financially, but when you own a grocery there is always food to put on the table.

Intelligence: 14 Darius is quick witted and better educated than most young men from the low income neighborhood where he grew up.

Wisdom: 8 So far Darius is young and has led a relatively sheltered existence. His father protected him from more of the nefarious elements in the city than he ever knew. He is very inexperienced and too quick to trust people.

Charisma: 13 Likeable but shy. Darius is friendly and helpful when spoken to directly, but is usually quiet and defers to others until that point, especially if they are older or more experienced than him.

Darius Cain has lived his whole life in the city. He was born to an aged father and a mother he never knew and has led a mostly solitary existence. His father Malachi Cain was already past two score years when Darius was born and never talked about his mother; only saying “She left when things got bad.”

Since the time he could walk, Darius helped his father run the family business – a green grocery and dry goods store in the heart of one of the city’s lower income neighborhoods. Since the store struggled to make ends meet most of the time, Darius was required to learn every job in the place from keeping the books and stocking the shelves to running off would-be thieves with his father’s cudgel.

The night of the fire everything changed. When that thing burst through the front window of the store Darius was too shocked to do more that stare. He was amazed at how quickly his father, now nearly three score years old, moved to confront the fiend. His father carried a dagger and intricate flintlock pistol that Darius had never seen before. One shot from the pistol was enough to dispatch the creature, but the damage was already done. His father was ravaged by the things claws and the store was ablaze from its dying frenzy. With his dying breath, his father bade Darius to take the dagger and pistol and a satchel of dark leather that contained “his legacy”. Then Darius was forced to flee the burning building. The store was burned to the ground along with most of the surrounding block. Without the money to rebuild, Darius was forced to look for a new direction in his life.

The items his father left him are all that he had to start with. The dagger is made of a light weight steel that has a strange greenish tint and is inscribed with unfamiliar runes. So far research into the runes has let Darius roughly translate their meaning as “Angel’s Bane”. The pistol is a masterwork of the artisan’s craft, truly a work of art. Along with the pistol is a pouch of seven rune carved silver bullets that send a shiver down your spine if you hold one for too long. Also in the satchel Darius found a badge of a captain of the city guard and a letter informing Malachi Cain of his expulsion from the city guard for “suspicion of consorting with dark forces”. The letter is dated a little less than a year before Darius was born.

---

I hope that is okay. Especially the pistol, not sure if that is too unusual or not.

Game rules stuff