Between Mark's unerring direction sense and Spiro's persuasive abilities, the pair make their way quickly to the examination room, where they find the Doctors and Jasper wrapping up and leaving. Words are exchanged, presumably free of violence, and the band manages to variously arrange their way through the turmoil and out of the hospital.
A short walk to the north, aided by Jasper and Mark, arrives comfortably our of the way of the rapidly growing ring of police and emergency vehicles surrounding the hospital, leaving the band standing by an empty parking lot. A short buzz and the sound of midi music alert Mark to the stolen phone in his pocket, which has begun ringing. The screen displays a phone number and the name "Kaz".
@Mark: Mark saw the Divine Doctors head to the elevators with the body, but they seem to be out of range of his scent at the moment.
Spiro's method of crowd control might be unconventional, but it's certainly no less effective for it. People calm down and line up without even realizing what they're doing, and the staff herd them in the appropriate directions. A couple of the paramedics pause to throw thumbs-up Spiro's direction, and while some of the other staff seem less amused they go about their much easier duties.
Ah, my apologies, I had initially read that as a proposed plan rather than an action.
Mark and Spiro find their conversation rudely interrupted as the speakers blare throughout the building. "All Staff be advised, Code Black on Floor Four. Repeat, Code Black on Floor Four." The Emergency Room grows even more chaotic as newly arrived police try to herd patients and staff, frequently in directly opposite directions of the efforts of Hospital employees. Mark and Spiro find themselves quickly ushered outside if they don't try to stop it, meanwhile Jasper and the Doctors find themselves apparently abandoned in the exam room.
Nice. Should be five successes, 10s count for two. She put her phone in her purse, but Mark can easily lift it with that roll if he wants, and without her noticing.
She leaps back a step as Mark bumps her, expression wide-eyed and wild for an instant before composing herself again. She nods, "Yes, I'm fine... Excuse me." Unless stopped, she steps past Mark and hurries out the door.
"Er, thank you... and no, I was just here running an errand, actually. And I should be getting back, I'll probably be late as it is. It was very nice meeting you, Spiro." She finishes the last few words quickly, while turning, and steps swiftly toward the doors.
Though the corpse is little more than charred bones, Tocal manages to salvage a number of details. The victim looks to have been a male in his early thirties, malnourished but not unhealthy. The right radius appears to have been scraped with a needle at some point. Francis, while collecting his samples, also discovers an intact titanium stud, likely part of a piece of jewelry at one point. The fractures are numerous but old, save for a fracture of the left zygomatic bone that appears to have occurred quite recently, the older fractures are also quite minor for the most part.
The woman shakes her head slightly but takes Spiro's hand, giving a surprisingly firm handshake. "I don't think so? I would remember, I think. I'm Dae..."
I took the liberty of making that roll for Jasper. Six successes on seven dice, apparently he sounds incredibly official. <g>
Jasper slices very efficiently through the red tape. Within half an hour he, Tocal, and Francis have been left alone in a brightly lit room with the remains, and the ER lobby has been cordoned off with lots of hazard tape and signs, causing a bit of a traffic jam in the lobby as staff work to get patients rerouted.
The girl blinks at Spiro, her eyes focusing away from the scene and onto him, a smile tugging nervously at her lips. "Er... yes. Very exciting morning. Um..." She straightens and squares her shoulders, slipping her phone back into her purse. "I'm sorry... you are..?" She appears to have made up her mind not to run at the moment, but Mark can easily make his way to the entrance behind her if he wishes. Security has just started to filter in and take charge of directing people, but with so many pressing them with stories and questions and explanations in half a dozen languages it seems unlikely the scene will be fully under control until the police arrive.
For stage performances, probably Charisma. I could be persuaded Dexterity if you're attempting to impress with technical precision rather than showmanship, but generally I'd say Charisma.
As Spiro's vision focuses again and he scans the room, a few things stand out brightly. Foremost are the visible thread of Fate wound around the other Scions, showing them instantly for what they are. Beyond that, though faint, the kanji on the charred scapula flickers with a dull flame. Scanning the room he spots another glow, even dimmer, a faint tracery of flame around the neckline of the Asian girl near the entrance.
Ah, cool. I had somehow missed that he was in this book. Thank you.
Mike winces slightly at the joke and chuckles, taking the cooler and looking at the tag on it before tearing off part of the invoice and signing it. "Man, what a day, huh?"
As he scans the crowd, Mark takes note of a woman watching from near the entrance doors; paying close, nervous attention to the Doctors looking over the burned man, as if waiting for something. She's short, with the build of a dancer, and features that might be korean or hmong. She clutches a cell phone in both hands, almost as if she's forgotten it's existence.
As he opens his senses to the Overworld there's a rather dizzying sensation as the scents and mental cues align with their targets. The two Doctors standing over the charred remains, the official but unobtrusive appearing man behind the desk... quite a bit of divine blood in one place here!
@Tocal:
Spoiler:
You have it with you, then, being here on "official" business you weren't searched.
Neither Francis nor Tocal recognize the man the newly charred remains belong to.
Mark easily makes his way through the crowd, particularly once they calm down and sort themselves into lines. A large man in Harley-Davidson emblazoned scrubs whose nametag identifies him as a RN name "Mike" spots him and walks over, shaking his head a little and looking at the cooler in Mark's hands. "Delivery, huh? Surgery or lunch?"
Francis mostly manages to spread the soot around with the blanket, though the film of water covering anything at least prevents the particulate from becoming airborne. A quick evaluation of the bones reveals little odd about their structure besides a few old, healed fractures. Sorting through them, however, something does catch Francis's eye: a mark on the scapula, faded blue like old tattoo ink, in the shape of a Japanese kanji.
Mark, Francis, and Tocal may all make Perception+Awareness rolls if they wish.
Up to you. It's an odd thing to carry around, but you're probably aware that the need to use it can pop up anytime.
The crowd falls silent almost instantly at the first word from Francis, unconsciously falling into orderly lines and following the nurse out toward the main entrance. He easily makes his way through the rapidly clearing space to the fallen remains of the man, still burning fiercely despite the torrent of water from above, charring a neatly human-shaped patch into the carpet, leaving only blackened bones and a faint scent like iron and cherry blossoms.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. It's a bright, warm afternoon, and already the waiting area of the emergency room is crowded. Conversations in at least half a dozen different languages fill the air with a tense, confused tangle of words. Off toward the windows, a thin, shaky young man jumps to his feet suddenly, drawing little attention from the visitors near him... at least until a moment later, when with a whooshing, cracking sound he bursts into flame. The scents of ozone and burning flesh mix sickeningly with the antiseptic hospital smell, screams fill the air as visitors scatter away from the contained, human inferno, toppling over chairs and shoving at one another to get away. A couple of nurses rush out from the station on one side of the room, but appear paralyzed by the sight, a sturdy paramedic steps in front of some of the crowd trying to calm them and gets overrun almost immediately. The chaos is literally but not figuratively dampened a moment later as the fire alarm sounds and the sprinklers turn on.
And at your legend, you're not completely surprised to be dropped into ridiculous situations. <g>
Tocal and Francis:
Spoiler:
You've been in town a couple days, attending a medical conference you've been invited to. You just finished a long morning watching a new heart valve replacement procedure.
Jasper:
Spoiler:
You've come to LA, and subsequently to the hospital, trying to track down a former associate of yours, an FBI agent by the name of John Longfellow who left you a particularly cryptic voice mail last week. Your trail seems to have run cold here, and you were on your way out...
Spiro:
Spoiler:
You've just arrived at the hospital, looking for an errant roadie of yours whom you were told might be here. He's a fairly new hire, so it wouldn't be terrible if he dropped out and vanished, except he has the keys to all the equipment lockers...
Mark:
Spoiler:
Even in the mortal world, you seem to get the strangest deliveries. Working a few temp jobs after coming to LA to drop off a birthright for a daughter of Hephaestus, and this morning's job fell into your lap. A cooler full of hearts doesn't usually travel by bike messenger, but when the transport truck gets in a 32 car pileup on the freeway... and so you find yourself at Cedars-Sinai trying to navigate your way to someone who can help take this off your hands and sign for it.
We seem to have pretty solid characters, I'll try to get a starting post up tomorrow night if everyone is alright with that. Shouldn't be much mechanical stuff immediately, you're not being dropped straight into a combat and PBPs move at a fairly glacial pace, so should easily be time to polish characters before numbers matter much.
Oh, and starting equipment/resources is whatever fits for your character. Money can be useful to have in the World now and then, but the amount it can help against the kind of problems Scions have is limited. Even if a Scion is rich enough to field a private army, Fate is going to make sure the final battle comes down to him vs. the monster.
@Valegrim: Gotcha. Scions need item Birthrights to use their Purviews. One point birthright=access to one Purview. It'd be another point for the one-dot Sun boon, so you'd need to free up another point somewhere. The follower dots are pretty flexible, if it is just one soldier he'd be an extraordinarily skilled and powerful one, but there's nothing wrong with that, would save him from getting eaten immediately if he encounters Titanspawn.
@Valegrim: Characters who didn't grow up in a wealthy country probably didn't go to school or drive. <g> However, you're children of the Gods, and unless you do so yourself for RP purposes you'll never have to worry about mundane things. You roll the dice when you want to do something Epic. Of course, the point of Scion is generally to be trying to do something Epic...
Jasper looks good, the only thing I see offhand is that you don't have a Birthright down for your Sun purview. Also, are the three dots of Follower just for Scott, or is it a unit?
We are. Hoping to start sometime this coming week. And glad you can make it, if it were just the two Doctors I'd have to rework the game as an Epic medical drama. <g>
@fraust: Sounds fun. You'll likely be starting off in the U.S., though it'll likely be a fairly globe-trotting game.
@beckett: Supernatural happenings and Scions are not so common yet as to be public knowledge, though with the Titans free strange things have certainly picked up. Most Scions will have had Fatebinding explained during their visitation, it's up to them how public they make their powers but most currently active Scions try to avoid too much attention.
The Legend of 3 does not come out of your bonus points, and Legend cannot be bought with bonus points or XP. Legend will be awarded through deeds ingame, in my experience it just works alot better that way.
Any of you who want can decide you know each other beforehand, if Fate has pulled you together before the game starts all the better. If not, it will shortly do so, so no worries. You can decide how much of the supernatural world you've seen/had explained to you, though the Occult ability will likely be the roll for random knowledge ingame.
And a fairly comedic character is fine, plenty of comic relief in mythology. Especially Thor!
@Tocal: Looks like we have a couple of Doctors, that should make for interesting roleplaying, considering their backgrounds. Fun!
@LackofFocus: Sounds fun, and looks like lots of stuff the group could use.
@Scranford: Either one would fit in. Haven't seen any character sheets yet besides feytharn's, but it looks like both might add some things the group is short on.
@feytharn: Sounds good. And you can just note what languages you know, it's pretty much FX.
Partial text of page 63 of Hero: "A God cannot adopt a mortal and make him a Scion in this way. Only a being whose body contains mortal flesh and divine ichor-regardless of whose divine ichor it is-can be adopted thus." Further text there: "The Gods can't simply poach each other's offspring, however, even when one divine parent is unaware of a child's existence. In order for the adoption to be formal and binding, the child's true parent must first formally disinherit them him in the Overworld, utterly renouncing his filial connection and responsibility. After that, any God or Goddess who has a mind to can claim the child-the culmination of which is a Visitation and the bestowal of birthrights."
@Valegrim: I'm unfamiliar with Burn Notice, but I like the concept. There's an Epic Intelligence knack called Language Mastery that'd let him be the ultimate translator. Especially fitting if he worked in that capacity before getting his divine powers.
@Feytharn: Looks good to me. Only problem I see offhand is that Heku doesn't require a birthright, so you've got an extra point to play with there.
Spoiler:
I'd guess that Osiris hasn't told him that he's actually the child of a God, so as to seem all the more generous for "adopting" him?
All Companion stuff is fine with the exception of the WWII pantheons. I might be persuaded to allow a Scion from one if you have a really cool idea, but generally I don't like them. Yazata is on the table as well if anyone wants to go that route. Also, the Gods and Purviews from Ragnarok are allowed.
@Valegrim: Cheerful sneaky types abound in Scion, you could easily pull one out of any Pantheon. It's worth noting that Scion is not WoD, either in setting or game mechanics, so not knowing the nWoD stuff isn't a bad thing.
You've already received your visitations and birthrights and such ( I love playing out visitations, but I don't think it's good for this format), and you've probably been asked by your Pantheon or allies to go take care of a problem or two before. Personality types... I'm mostly concerned about the group functioning together. Tension within the party is fine, violence within the party should be avoided. Criminally insane types alongside crusaders for Justice should likely be avoided, though either would be fine in the right group.
While their reasons for doing so might vary from altruism/heroism to a sense of duty to just a desire to not have their divine toys taken away, the characters should be willing to go solve problems and fight titanspawn and save the world.
Discussion thread up. Feel free to throw character ideas and such around in there, interested to see what people have.
@Beckett: I've never noticed a huge issue with Dex. Untouchable Opponent was very broken, and Dodge had issues. It'd be hard to do real damage with only a high Dex and no Strength unless you're fighting relatively fragile titanspawn. My issue with Stamina is that it doesn't do much at Hero level.
All characters start with a Legend of 3, Legend may not be bought with bonus points.
If a Scion has a single Follower, Creature, or Guide, it has a Legend score equal to the Scion's Legend minus two. If the Scion has two to five Followers, Creatures, or Guides, they each have Legend equal to her Legend score minus three. Scions with more than five Followers, Creatures, and Guides find that those companions have Legend equal to her own Legend score minus four.
Remove Legend from the Dodge DV formula. Die adders do not increase DV.
The Untouchable opponent knack now allows a Scion to spend one Legend whenever they are attacked to add their Epic Dexterity dots to their DV.
Firearms add Perception and Epic Perception to weapon damage.
Knockback and knockdown apply to anything that seems reasonable. The Cat's Grace knack prevents knockdown, but not knockback.
Seems to be enough interest to get off the ground. I'll put up an OOC thread tonight. All characters start with a Legend of 3, Legend may not be bought with bonus points. Should we ever get out of Hero level, Creatures and Followers will gain power with you, so as not to be a complete waste of points. Only a couple of house rules beyond that, I'll have the full list in the discussion thread.
Excellent, looks like we may have a few people. I'd probably want to shoot for a post a day, if that seems reasonable. My work gives me a bizarre and unpredictable schedule, so unfortunately my own posts are likely to be in the middle of the night for U.S. time zones.
Salutations! Something a little different, I'm interested in running a pbp of White Wolf's Scion. Any fans of the game wandering around here who'd be interested in playing?
I think what I'm taking away from this is your experience with APs is going to be quite different based on the people you're playing with. Which of course is true for roleplaying in general, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I'm midway through running Council of Thieves right now and it's been an absolute blast, the players have really gotten invested in Westcrown and the NPCs (as well as alot of other NPCs I've had to make up for them). I've been able to keep a very sandboxy feel to the game, and generally let people do what they want without killing the mods, which is really neat, and it's been very easy to write engaging sidequests for them. We had an abortive RotR game a long while back, people just weren't interested, though I've recently started another shot at it as a player, so we'll see.
Looking through other APs, I think my group would really dig Kingmaker, and that may be next on my plate. I expect they'd lose interest in Second Darkness midway through, but I've been in groups that would absolutely love it. The APs in general seem to succeed quite admirably in giving something for everybody. I'm looking forward to Carrion Crown as well, I think I can get my players interested in some gothic horror pretty quickly.
Just started Burnt Offerings. Short session, but lots of fun.
The party thus far:
Tosca: CN Female H-Orc Druid. Adopted daughter of a Sandpoint farming family. Greatly admires Ameiko, and had finally worked up the courage to pack up her things and her pet boar Abeka and go adventuring... just as soon as the Festival was over. Is so far rather delighted that adventure seems to have come to her instead.
Emaleth: CN Female Human (Varisian) Rogue. Sandpoint native, recently returned from a couple years in the big city. A rather brutal fighter, she racked up the most dead goblins during the raid. Further endeared herself to the already smitten Aldern by scoring the kill during the boar hunt as well.
Soren: CG Male H-Elf Barbarian. A haunted, piratical youth from Riddleport, in Sandpoint trying to track down his absentee Elven father. Possibly Tsuto's half-brother. Cynical, but the most altruistic of the band.
Tragh: N Female H-Orc Oracle. Raised in an orc tribe, has followed frustratingly vague visions to Sandpoint. Uncertain about human culture and uncomfortable around all but Tosca. Appears as an old crone despite her young age due to her Wasting curse. Proved surprisingly good with children during the Festival.
It's been a fun group so far. Looking forward to seeing what kind of havoc the mod wreaks on us next time.
Full Name
#7
Classes/Levels
| Speed 30 ft | Rage 3/10
Gender
HP: 34/34 | AC 18 T 12 FF 17 | F +6 R +3 W +2 (+2 v spells cast by self/ally) | CMB +7 CMD 18 | Init +3 Perc +6
#7
Male human (Kellid) Bloodrager (Primalist) 3
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +6
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +1 Dex)
hp 34 (3d10+12)
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +2; (+2 bonus v. spells cast by self/ally)
Defensive Abilities blood sanctuary, uncanny dodge
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 40 ft. (30 ft. in armor)
Melee dagger +7 (1d4+4/19-20) or
. . dagger +7 (1d4+4/19-20) or
. . lucerne hammer +7 (1d12+6) or
. . mwk greatsword +8 (2d6+6/19-20) or
. . spiked gauntlet +7 (1d4+4) or
. . spiked gauntlet +7 (1d4+4)
Special Attacks bloodrage (10 rounds/day), staggering strike
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +7; CMD 18
Feats Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Toughness
Traits against the technic league (weapons), reactionary
Skills
Acrobatics +4 (3 ranks, +3 class skill, +1 Dex, -3 ACP)
*Appraise +0 (1 rank, -1 Int)
Bluff +2 (0 ranks, +2 Cha)
Climb +8 (1 ranks, +3 class skill, +4 Str)
Diplomacy +2 (0 ranks, +2 Cha)
Disguise +2 (0 ranks, +2 Cha)
Escape Artist -2 (0 ranks, +1 Dex, -3 ACP)
Fly -2 (0 ranks, +1 Dex, -3 ACP)
*Handle Animal +6 (1 ranks, +3 class skill, +2 Cha)
Heal +0 (0 ranks)
Intimidate +6 (+1 rank, +3 class skill, +2 Cha)
Perception +6 (3 ranks, +3 class skill)
Ride -2 (0 ranks, +1 Dex, -3 ACP)
Sense Motive +0 (0 ranks)
*Sleight of Hand +0 (2 ranks, +1 Dex, -3 ACP)
Stealth -2 (0 rank, +1 Dex, -3 ACP)
Survival +5 (2 ranks, +3 class skill)
Swim +6 (2 ranks, +3 class skill, +4 Str, -3 ACP)
* = Background Skill
Languages Common
SQ Bloodline (Aberrant); fast movement
Combat Gear potion of enlarge person
Other Gear
mwk agile breastplate (550gp)
cloak of resistance +1 (1,000gp)
dagger
dagger
mwk greatsword (350gp)
lucerne hammer
ring of protection +1 (2,000gp)
spiked gauntlet
spiked gauntlet
backpack
belt pouch
blanket
flint and steel
pot
soap
torch (10)
trail rations (3)
waterproof bag (2)
waterskin
_____________________
Total Gear Value: 3,988gp
Wealth: 1pp, 1gp
_____________________
Total Worth: 3,999gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Blood Sanctuary +2 (Su) +2 bonus to save vs. spells cast by self or an ally.
Bloodrage (Unchained) (Su) While in a rage, a barbarian gains a +2 bonus on melee attack rolls, melee damage rolls, thrown weapon damage rolls, and Will saving throws. In addition, she takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. She also gains 2 temporary hit points per Hit Die. These temporary hit points are lost first when a character takes damage, disappear when the rage ends, and are not replenished if the barbarian enters a rage again within 1 minute of her previous rage. While in a rage, a barbarian cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skill (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
Combat Reflexes (2 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/round, and even when flat-footed.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Power Attack -1/[+2][+3] You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Staggering Strike (DC 13) (Su) On critical hit when raging, target is staggered 1 rd (Fort neg).
Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Retain Dex bonus to AC when flat-footed.
Physical Appearance:
What unnatural matrimony produced the strapping man before you is difficult to say. Whether or not this is a man is also a difficult question. For while his silhouette, shape, and sizeable stature suggest humanity, other oddities of his countenance certainly do not. The left side of his face is a sickly green color, the flesh taut and slick. His ears are strangely shaped, not unlike the elves, but also unlike them. And his eyes-they are deep crimson in color. The left is also larger than the right, and its pupil is an amorphous and unnatural shape with a pale light emanating from its center.
As he notices you staring, he grins, yet this does little to ease your mind.
Background:
|-----Genesis-----|
The Kellids are forged from stardust, or so the people of the Starspeaker tribe believe. Before time began, “dust,” the remnants of a now-forgotten supernova, permeated this plane of existence. From it emerged First Son and First Daughter, the first beings, the first Kellids. They carried with them memories of their home, and it was in this image that they sought to create the material plane, including all of Golarion. They planted a tree at the bottom of the sea, and that tree grew up from the ocean, its fruit bearing seeds made of tears formed from the sea foam. To sustain her, First Daughter ate of the tree’s fruit, and they were transformed within her. She grew heavy with child and gave birth to the mountains. But in the throes of labor she perished. Being of the sea, First Son returned her to the ocean, and her remains formed the ocean life. First Son, in anguish, threw himself upon the highest peak, as a sword. His blood filled all the world’s rivers, and from his remains rose all the life of land, including the Kellids. To this day, the Starspeaker tribe maintains that the stars watch over their people as family.
A falling star is thus held sacred as a gift from its brethren, and remnants of meteorites are greatly prized by the tribe. So, when Kavog spotted such a star that hot summer night less than twenty years ago, it was natural that he should desire it. It fell across the plains, and for a full day and night he treked after it, as a hunter seeking prey.
He found the meteorite easily, for the ragged pit its impact created glowed eerily with an indescribable color. At the center of this pit lay the stone. It was small, about the size of his head. Its surface was glossy and smooth, and very cold. It glowed that strange hue, pulsing and audibly throbbing like an alien heartbeat. He climbed down the pit and reached for the stone. As he did so it seized him, engulfing his hand as though made of water, and sucking his entire body inside.
He awoke seven and one half hours later, at day's break, lying not far from his village. He had no memory of the night.
Although life continued normally for a time, strange occurrences plagued the tribe. Their livestock began turning up dead, slaughtered in the night. While many suspected a wild animal, no tracks were left behind. Indeed, the only fresh prints looked to be human hands, and surely that could not explain the killing. Further, every woman with child soon miscarried, leading the tribe's elders to conclude that the sky gods were displeased. Thankfully, Kavog’s wife was soon herself pregnant. This news was bittersweet, for it was not long after that Kazog was found dead by a nearby river, dark green fluid oozing from his orifices.
Upon the his son’s birth, things seemed relatively normal. He grew as other children, although he began to walk at a mere seven months of age. He was taller and ran faster than the other small ones, yes, but his father had also been robust. It wasn’t until his third year that truly odd things began to occur. His eye color changed from a dark brown to mahogany, then a deep crimson. His left eye expanded larger than the other, its pupil taking on an amorphous and unnatural shape, a pale light emanating from its center. His ears began to change as well, and for a short time there were whispers he might be part elf. But then his skin changed, also. The left side of his face turned a sickly green, the flesh becoming taut and slick. The contracting skin distorted his features further, giving him an altogether bizarre countenance.
Some men of the tribe declared him an abomination and were prepared to stone him to death. But one of the elders stood between the boy and the mob. He proclaimed that the sky gods, previously dissatisfied with the tribe, had sent him a vision of the boy, for he was not of the earth, but of the stars. He was a gift to the Starspeaker tribe and would lead them to great victories and beyond. As proof, the elder noted that the livestock slaughters and miscarriages had ceased after the boy’s birth. None could argue.
While some remained skeptical, the words of the elder were very persuasive to the superstitious people. Most of them rejoiced, and the boy was elevated to the status of an aove’da, an incarnation of the divine. He and his mother were granted special status. Gifts of animal skins, polished stones, and metal jewelry were made unto them. All seemed well.
Yet in the darkness there lurked a watcher, skirting the periphery of the tribe. This was the “specimen requisition” department of the Technic League, whose assignment was to locate abnormal phenomena, natural or unnatural, for purposes of the League’s ethically-questionable research. They came in the night, their weapons blazing, and quickly overpowered the more primitive defenses of the tribe. They killed the mother and stole the boy, fleeing back into the darkness. He was four years old.
The journey home proved difficult, for the child screamed and raged, exhibiting unnatural strength. The drug dosage necessary to sedate him would have toppled a bear. Eventually the team made it to Silver Mount, where a hidden research laboratory lay buried among the hills. They went deep into the earth, down into the dark, until the sun was forgotten, and the stars were mere memory.
|-----The Grand Experiment-----|
The boy awoke to blinding bright light. He lay on a cot, facing a ceiling inlaid with the strangest torches he had ever seen. The light was intense, yet there was no fire. He tried to raise his hand to feel for warmth, but discovered that his limbs were tightly bound to the bed. He panicked, screaming and thrashing, and his bonds broke free with ease. The narrow chamber was made of metal. An unusual chair sat near his crumpled bed, and on the far side was a closed door. Discovering it locked, he pounded against it. Although he managed to make some dents in the metal, he accomplished little more than bloodying his knuckles. Suddenly, vents along the ceiling opened, releasing a gas. He quickly succumbed to its fumes.
Pain. There was not much else to think on those first few years. Pain surrounded him, clouded his mind, suffused his being. There were surgeries, of course. He knew that word, now. But he was usually in the deep sleep for those, and he healed quickly, with little to remind him of what had occurred.
But the testing, that was the bad thing. They learned quickly to send him to sleep before it began. The first time they tried to take him, someone attempted to speak to him. He took that one’s eyes, squeezing the man’s skull so tight it practically exploded. They learned to release the gas first. Then he would wake. Sometimes he would be tied down to a table or a chair and they would surround him with their machines and sharp knives and poke and prod and twist and tear until he thought he could take no more. And then they would continue. Those were the worst days. Other times, he would be in a large room. Sometimes there would be a kind of maze to work through or some puzzle to solve. He liked the puzzles.
They were hiding behind the wall, he knew. The Doctors, as they instructed him to call them. He could hear them whispering. Words like aberration, abnormality, and alien became part of his vocabulary. Eventually other words came. Bio-weapon, soldier, collateral. They called him “Number 7.”
He never saw the sky. He had forgotten it existed. Such was his life, and it was all he knew. But then, Malka came into his world.
|-----The Chance Savior-----|
After a particularly nasty incident involving a sedative miscalculation, his premature waking, and another death, he had been confined to a cage with the other Subjects. These were animals, mostly. There were certainly no more like him. As he lay at the bottom of his cage, dreaming of sharp instruments and acrid chemicals, a door opened. He hissed in fear and aggression, but the figure that emerged into his chamber was not a Doctor--at least, not like one he had ever seen. Still, highly suspicious, he backed into the corner of his tiny prison, ready to pounce.
Malka slowly approached. He remained as still as death. ”Are you…” she had barely opened her mouth to speak when he launched himself at the wall of the cage. The impact startled her greatly and she hopped back but, defying his expectations, remained in the room. This puzzled him. She wasn’t dressed as the Doctors and she actually spoke to him. This perplexed him further. It made him nervous, too, and he shied back into his cage, refusing to speak despite her efforts to communicate with him. As she left the room he almost called out to her, but instead held his tongue.
She returned the next night, this time with food. Although water was provided for him, his captors had neglected to feed him--a punishment for maiming one of their number. He was ravenous. He remained at the far side of the cage, still apprehensive of her. She placed the thing on the floor and pushed it close to his cage with a her toe. Slowly, slowly, he crept toward her, vigilant for any sign of movement from her, and snatched it from the ground. He crawled back to his refuge, greedily tearing into the thing with his teeth. It tasted like nothing he had ever had before. It was the best sensation that he could remember. Later, he would learn that this was a pastry.
She came again the following night with more of the good food. This time, she asked him his name. He stared at her in the darkness, his weird eye scanning her up and down. ”Subject Number Seven. They call me that. Subject Number Seven.” It was the first time he could remember speaking to another person.
She continued to come, night after night, into his chamber, always bringing good things to eat, and more. She brought him a blanket, and a salve for his recent hurts, and a strange soft thing that she called a bear. He accidentally handled it too roughly and tore it in two, but she only laughed, promising to fix it. They both knew if the Doctors discovered these treasures their visits would end, and so they took great pains to keep them hidden, Malka taking them with her as she left each night. He began to talk to her, too. He didn’t know too many words, and he wasn’t sure what to say, but she seemed happy enough to speak for them both, telling him of big plans she had to “escape.” She explained this meant they could leave this place, together. He didn’t know where they would leave to. She tried to explain to him that a whole world existed outside the lab, and promised him that soon he would see it. He looked forward to this, as any life away from the Doctors seemed a good life, indeed.
|-----THE ESCAPE-----|
The next night, she was ready. She had him remain on the other side of the cage as she talked it into opening! Suddenly, he was free. He burst through the opening, almost knocking her prone. He stood, stretching his limbs, practically touching the ceiling. The feeling of being able to stand had begun to feel like a distant memory.
”Come, we must hurry! And be quiet!” she whispered urgently, leading him out into the hall. He saw that she had two backpacks, stuffed to the brim. She handed him one, fastening it to his back. He didn’t like the feeling of anything binding him, but he allowed it. It suddenly struck him as very odd that she wasn’t afraid to touch him.
They raced down the darkened halls, Malka leading the way. The girl seemed to know exactly which route to take, and never faltered. Several times she would halt, silently pushing him back into a darkened closet or study, as a guard would pass. Then they were running again, round and round the seemingly endless maze of chambers.
Suddenly, as they rounded a corner, Malka froze and gasped. Seven practically stumbled over her. Before them stood two guards who had just entered the hallway through large double doors. When they saw the two runaways their eyes grew wide. They pulled some sort of weaponry from their bodies ordered the pair to stand still. Seven would realize later that the only reason they gave a warning was Malka’s presence. Surely they would not have hesitated to end his life.
Seven stared at the guards and their, their weapons. He had seen them before, knew the hurt they could cause, knew the Doctors had used these things on him, when they thought the others weren’t looking, just to hear him scream in pain.
The pain, oh gods the pain.
His anger flared. Something deep and primal and dark within the recesses of his mind whispered to him, told him what to do. In a flash he charged the men. Their feeble weapons fired. He ignored the pain--it was nothing to him now. Tooth and nail he fought them, grabbing their hands and the weapons they held and twisting and pulling in fury, ignoring the screams, ignoring the blood and the sound of soft tissue ripping and the crack of bone and Malka screaming for him to stop and the pain running up and down his body, giving him vitality, giving him breath, giving him life. He could not stop. Could not could not could not.
He stood amidst the ruin of his rage, bathed in blood. He panted wildly as his senses returned to him. Remembering Malka, he looked up. Would she be afraid? Had she fled from him?
She was gone.
”Ma...Malka?” he called out, his voice suddenly small. He had no idea where he was or where to go. What would he do without her? Suddenly she appeared from behind a doorway, her face ashen. He smiled then, as happy as he would ever be in his life. She said nothing, merely diverted her eyes from the carnage as best she could and retrieved a small item from one of the torsos. After a deep breath, she stared at the floor and spoke: ”Quickly now. We don’t have far to go and someone may have heard that. Follow me.”
They traveled through the heavy double doors from which the guards had come and made their way up, up, up countless stairs until at last they reached a doorway. Malka waved the small item she had taken from the guard’s body before it. A hiss and a whir sounded in the dark, and suddenly they were outside.
Seven was seized with fear. He was not accustomed to so much space above him. The full moon hung in her raiment of stars as the entire universe seemed to open up above them, welcoming them home. He was terrified. He mouth agape, he stared in horrified wonder until Malka seized his arm and tugged him gently toward the hills. They traveled all night, fearful of pursuit, but luck was on their side, and they made good progress without interference.
Once they were clear of Silver Mount, Malka turned to him and asked, ”Are going to go home now?”
”You mean, back to the Doctors?? No!” he hissed, fearful she meant to turn back. ”They are bad, Malka. Full of hate and they want to hurt us and put us in iron beds. They’ll turn off the lights and whisper bad things to us and won’t feed us for a long time!” It didn’t occur to him that “home” might mean anything else.
Malka placed a comforting hand on Seven’s arm. ”No, not back to the doctors,” she said. ”We are never going back there because you are right. They are bad.” Seeing him relax she continued. ”Do you have someplace different to go? Maybe a family, a mom or dad?” He stared at her blankly, “a family, a mom or dad” meaning nothing to him. ”I have Malka. I will go with you.”
After traveling a little longer, they stopped to rest. Malka hesitated, then spoke up. ”What happened to you back there with the guards? Did the Technic league do that to you? Can you control it?” Again, Seven only stared. This happened frequently between them. Malka had learned by now that she often had to rephrase her questions in the simplest of terms. She did so now. ”They were bad. They tried to hurt us. I didn’t want them to.” He left it at that.
|-----In Torch-----|
Eventually the pair found the blazing violet fire of Torch, but they did not approach immediately. Instead, they camped along its outskirts for several days, during which time Malka tried to coach Seven on appropriate behavior in a human settlement. Although it was an uphill battle, a few memories from his early years lingered with him, and this inch of humanity enabled him to progress. When she felt she could trust him not to tear anyone’s arms off, the odd pair nervously entered the town.
While at first they tried to maintain anonymity within the city, Malka realized that her stolen wealth and supplies would soon run out. As it happened, her special talents in metallurgy provided her with a valuable skillset among the town’s skymetal smiths. With her persuasion, or upon her demand (depending on whom one asks), Seven was also hired by a local smith to aid him in assembling, disassembling, and moving his portable workshop up and down Black Hill. It was hard labor, for long hours with little pay, and under grueling conditions. And Seven loved it. He had never felt so alive or so free. And best of all, he got to see the stars.
Personality:
Seven's upbringing has left him raw, damaged, and unpredictable. Yet he has found a true companion in Malka, and he would protect her with his last breath. She is his surrogate, his mentor, and his friend, and his loyalty to her is undying. And while he sees himself as her protector, the irony is that she has truly saved him. Were it not for her, he would have died deep underground without a thought, much less a prayer, in his name.
He can be vicious, dangerous even. But Malka believes there is hope for his salvation, for his rebirth in humanity. And perhaps she is right, for if there is a lesson in his story it is this: that there is more to humanity than DNA.