Search the Community

Hello everyone, Once again I am starting a new project. To not disturb the continuation of the story, I put the remarks and so on into spoiler boxes. Thanks to @malefactusand @Silvervanefor supporting my idea and providing first feedback, Thanks to @Glitterwolfand @Cyradisfor further support And to @OneBoot, @buglips*the*goblin and @Chaoswolf for listening to my first attempt. Without further ado – let’s go! Chapter I The story of a village begins A girl heads out for adventure Once upon a time there was a village named Silvervane, founded on the edge of a rich silver deposit. Everyone thought that this small and obscure town would soon rise to glory and greatness. A place where to all of the Earth’s kindred would pilgrim. A center of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter of a million humans and creatures from all over the world. It was not long after this promising beginning, that the Imperial Academy of Land Surveillance measured the true size of the deposit and issued a report to the Imperial Throne, stating that the natural resource was of no significance for the great needs of the country. This country, as we will soon learn, was called Cyradis and its ruler, the Crimson Empress, decided the fate of Silvervane. The anticipated Great Silver Rush never happened and therefore Silvervane fell into the dark, bitter maw of oblivion. Soon, the village was of no importance anymore and its residents – all the people who didn’t want to leave or couldn’t go – had to adapt with their new situation. Being isolated by great forests to the west and the south, a deep and stormy sea to the east and high mountains to the north, they were trapped, an enclave of human life in the middle of nowhere. It was no easy existence for those left behind. Land had to be taken from the Malefactus, the Evil Forest that bore all kinds of creepy creatures; weird trees and plants, armies of strangely talking mushrooms and other unspeakably fantastic and eerie beings. To counter the dreads of nature, the villagers hired warriors. Fine and athletic men and women with adventurer bodies, not those puppets or models one would expect in such a situation. No bodybuilders or mannequins. They were real and they were spectacular. Some of them were dressed in weird clothes though. Chainmail bikinis for example. But that is a fact we can ignore here as the really important values of a human being are the inner ones. One of those fighters was Sana, a young barbarian woman from the high north, who was very fond of her inner values. She had a great heart, and as great hearts need a lot of space, her chest was quite ample, too. On top of that, her liver … well … let’s forget about her liver. Originally Sana was supposed to be the main character of this record but due to her constant drunkenness, unbelievably violent and rude behavior and the fact that all sorts of people complained about her rather simple clothing, the Imperial Academy of Written Tradition and Oral Lore had to reassess the situation. Therefore she will not be participating other than as a secondary character. But: Sana had a daughter. Only the great gods know how that happened, but it did – around twelve years before the beginning of this piece of history. From her early ages on, Barbaria seemed to be a very energetic child. There and back again, she roamed the lands, wandering through the forests and the grasslands, exploring mountains and battling aggressive waves at the sandy beaches of the Sea of Lethe. Yes. Barbaria was always on the road. Standing still and waiting was not her thing. She couldn’t just sit in the tavern and drink until she fell asleep roaring like a copulating dragon – something her mother had mastered long ago. And so the girl once again headed out, taking one of the axes of Al, the old woodcutter (a really big tool of destruction measuring almost her own height and weighting approximately seven pounds) and leaving Silvervane for the sake of catching a Glitterwolf. No one had ever seen such a creature or even heard of it, but Barbaria was certain: the white cat behind the workshop of Sáthach, the weapons manufacturer, had told her the truth when she described the wonderful and shimmering fur of this specific animal. Al asked her to stop. “She is an untrustworthy missy”, he warned the girl. But Barbaria felt she was on the right track. So she encouraged the faith of the old man: “I’ll get him”, and left with the big shiny axe on her shoulder. Her long, blond hair, the last of her to be seen before she disappeared into the woods. And what happened there will be told in the next chapter. ***

Hello everyone, I really didn't think I would do so much for the hobby these days, but suprisingly I am making good progress on all fronts. Writing a more or less funny story-like commentary for @Cyradis Max Decker WIP and Showoff and having been asked by @Erifnogard about the use of my Adeptus Sororitas and Inquisitor Grayfax, I was motived to continue some army background for my Fantasy/Magical/1940s Pulp/Steampunk/Dieselpunk/Idunnowhat/ manslaughtering killer machine doll robot knight (and so forth and so on) army I am currently working on (no WIP here as of yet - but a seek for advice on the colours - look ->here<-). So during today, while cutting plastic, metal and my fingers, I recorded some background ideas and wrote them down to make an overall background for the main character and how this fraction was formed. And then I decided to translate it and present it here to hear your thoughts on it. Please keep in mind - I was translating this from German. So my spelling and use of words my not be all too apropriate. I am sorry for that as well as for all mistakes. I guess I some day will enlarge it into a full grown background story, but for now ... just a little fairy tale of two sisters. // Once upon a time there were two sisters who awoke inside a dark tower. Without any memory of their origin or who they were, they wandered about the gloomy floors, lost in the door- and windowless interior of their prison. But strangely, they felt nothing. They never felt anything. Following an eternity of them being all alone, a wizard appeared, dressed in white robes, who freed them from their misery and named them Devola and Popola. He took them with him to his castle high in the mountains, where they, for the first time, experienced the feeling of looking through a window and enjoying the sun, roamed the nature and saw more then they ever did before. They spent much time at the wizard’s castle, laughing and living through their days. Two flowers, plucked from the wizard’s garden and put in each other’s hair, became the symbol of their bond. But as the castle was lying high above the surroundings, the sisters were able to see their former prison day by day, as well as the people entering and leaving it. They were surprised. They had never seen or heard someone inside the tower. The wizard had forbidden them to approach the tower and the evil people living inside it, but finally curiosity overwhelmed them. One night, they slunk off the castle and went to the tower. It took them some time until they found its entry, but then they walked inside and into wonderland. Strange metal machines, smoking and steaming, sighted, hissed and whizzed. Iron humans, bound and chained to the walls, were just standing there, seemingly sleeping and soulless, while magicians and wizards walked between them. Gigantic pots hovered above the scenery, poured hellish hot lava into earth holes, unleashing new iron men into the human made cave. The sisters became panic-stricken, but as they turned to flee the horrible sight, they were spotted and taken into custody. They were brought before the leader of the strange facility, who – to their horror – turned out to be the wizard who had helped them escape their prison and who they trusted so much. He showed disappointment in them ignoring his warnings, but it was Popola who discovered the truth behind his words. He had lied to them, knowing all about them from the beginning on. The sister told the wizard that they would leave when he didn’t tell them what he knew. The evil wizard replied by speaking a magical word, sending Popola to the ground, lifeless. Devola fell on her knees, trying to wake her sister, but no matter what she did, her sister didn’t move. When she begged the wizard to revive Popola, he revealed to her that her sister would never live. And so won’t she. They were mere dolls, made of iron and steel, constructed solely for the purpose of being perfect servants and warriors. Brought to life by magically invoked echoes of long lost souls caught in energetic cages and buried deep inside their hearts, it was only a combination of engineering and spirituality that allowed them to be more than soulless statues. But that moment Popolas body was drained of all her energy, her soul escaped into eternity and everything she ever was disappeared, too. The wizard felt no loss. He had seen enough metal creatures rise and fall, so he didn’t mind ending the life of one of his creations. He could easily make another one. The remaining sister became very furious and slew the wizard – as well as all his henchmen. Then she set off, thirsting for revenge and to find out if she could awake her lifeless sister whatsoever. The now masterless machine life forms followed her.

Spark of Oblivion Hey guys KN here, I decided that I would like to start posting a fantasy story titles Spark of Oblivion. This has been a concept in my head for so long, it will be nice to get it out. It will be a mystery so no spoilers. -looking at you TS- enjoy Prolouge: His footsteps echoed quietly against the cobblestone walls of the sewers that surrounded him. It was dark, darker than the deepest most shadowy depths of the Golorian sea. he doubted anyone, except the workers and the rogues, had been down here for a long time. He was here for a reason, His god had demanded a trip into the sewers, he had not been given a reason, but one does not question Rogues will lightly. Realizing it would most likely end in riches Araris had been happy to answer his lord's call. While deep in his musing of the riches he would receive for his loyalty, his sensitive ears picked up a low growling coming from around the nearest corner “damn rats” he uttered as he stopped himself short. “I hate rats”. Going into a crouch he languidly stretched his thin dexterous hand down to his black leather boot, where he kept his small silver knife, the blade was finger length and wickedly sharp it had cost him an arm and a leg, but then again silver draconite is far from a common material on Teros. As he Flipped the knife into a backhanded position, he smiled at the weight of his small glittering weapon, sensing the perpetual cold chill that always hung around the little blade. Holding his breath, he listened for the slightest noise, a slight snuffling or perhaps a mere scuffling. He strained his eyes against the dark his extraordinary vision from his eleven mother doing him no good in this almost unnatural darkness. Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity, he heard a small yet audible squeak. He lashed out feeling the knife bite into something furry. Feeling a chill splash on his hand he recoiled. Careful not to trip lest he fall into the filthy water that ran merely four feet from him. A squeal of pain went up from the darkness, and using the noise as a reference point Araris struck out again, and yelped as he felt a sharp pain in his arm followed shortly by a warm sticky sensation. He moved the knife to his other hand, still feeling the fangs of the rat, now sunk deep in his arm twisting his good arm around he sank the chilling blade deep into the neck of the rat. WIth a slight growl from the animal, its jaws loosened and it fell with a lifeless thunk to the ground. Araris sighed, the bite on his arm throbbing with a dull pain. He knelt down and re sheathed his knife muttering to himself. He heard a weak laugh, and spun around. There was a flash as he reached for his boot, but before he could get a grip on the knife he felt a searing pain one that rent at his very soul, followed by oblivion. Chapter one:

The following story is the history I have written for Sophie based on the information that Reaper has made available woven together with my own story elements. If this story doesn't represent the Sophie you believe in, then just assume this is some Bizzaro World Sophie that has nothing to do with your Sophie. This document contains links to pictures of miniatures that appear in the story. WARNING: some links refer to miniatures that are partially or fully nude. Chapter 1: Prologue In the deep past, in the nebulous age of chaos known only as the before-time, Agramon stepped out of primordial blackness to wage a war of conquest and destruction on the molten, still unformed worlds. Across countless worlds, Agramon fought Cthulhu, Khanjira, Shub Niggurath (see Bones 3 figure 539), and Ma’al Drakar (see Bones 3 figure 573); he contended with Elder Things, Dark Spawn, Deep Ones, Gugs, and Mi-go (see Bones 3 Mythos Expanion). After a long time, another form stepped out from the blackness to conquer worlds with subtlety instead of strength. Noctua the Dark Passion (see Bones 3 figure 305), Agramon’s sister, was one of the most darkly beautiful creatures in the multiverse. Although she could take forms that were attractive to any creature, she settled on a humanoid form to most easily manipulate mortal humans. Noctua whispered to Agramon that if he would conquer Cardiola for her, she would share a portion of the mortal souls she acquired with him. With a desire to conquer but not rule, Agramon agreed and fought to defeat the current rulers of Cardiola. But Cardiola would not be so easily subdued, even by Agramon. Noctua seduced the demon lord Thrashuros into an alliance with her. Noctua bore a monstrous child from Thrashuros which became known as the Hydra of Lerna. The Hydra of Lerna was defeated in the war for Cardiola and banished to the mortal world while his mate, the Bile Wyvern, was slain and her remains turned into the Bile Crown, although their child, Rauthuros did survive. Rauthuros was a hot-blooded demon that could only be reliably controlled with the Bile Crown. The Bile Crown was broken in two, making the two Bile Crescents, one of which is held by Noctua, allowing her to half control Rauthuros. The other is held by the Witch Queen. After a long and bloody war, Cardiola did come under Noctua’s control, and Noctua upheld her end of the bargain, giving a portion of her ensnared souls to Agramon to fuel his constant wars, and providing diplomatic and economic support to Demogorgon. Noctua has come to learn that the strength of succubae is in their allies and manipulation. Noctua transformed Cardiola into a romantic paradise to lure mortal souls to lust, where she rules as the great queen and mother of succubae and incubi. Cardiola is a realm of pleasant gardens and pools, cool days and warm nights, and breath taking markets and palaces, where every romantic desire is fulfilled beyond expectation. Many have lost their souls in exchange for ultimate unearthly passion. Once people are thoroughly corrupted they are taken to the hidden dungeons below and slowly tortured to extract the power of their souls until they lose their self-identify and are reborn as demons. Most demon lords rule their subjects with fear and an iron first, but Noctua makes many incarnations of herself to spend time with all of her children so they will tend to follow her out of trust and adoration, although she has made bloody examples of many would-be usurpers. Noctua does tend to favor her daughters over sons, and Cardiola does have several times more females than males, although there are some incubi of great power in her realm. Cardiola snares mortals with beauty and physical pleasures. Only after it is too late for mortals to leave do they realize the perils of living among the most beautiful creatures in the multiverse, who are each very hormonal and feel that they are the most beautiful and graceful of all, and who contend with others in matters of love and beauty as most demons contend violently. Just underneath the romance, grace, and beauty, however, Cardiola is the drama center of the multiverse, inflicting mental anguish as surely as other regions of the Abyss inflict physical anguish. Noctua tends to place males in positions where drama needs to be minimized. She keeps her male population low and spread out so that her incubi can focus on completing orderly tasks without contending with each other. She understands how men compete with each other and how women compete with each other and this is the best solution she has come up with to minimize competition enough for anything productive to get done. (Trying to rule the drama center of the multiverse is a difficult job, and Noctua would like to see you try to do better.) One of Noctua’s favored sons, Nephal the Reaper, Shadow Prince of Demons, is the overseer of the Fountains of Youth in Cardiola, where young demons and half demons are raised, since most demons don’t have family structures like humans. Noctua felt that calling the hot springs and the surrounding areas the Fountains of Youth sounded more romantic than “the-place-to-dump-children-and-parental-responsibilities-so-that-you-will-never-have-to-deal-with-either-one-againâ€. Chapter 2: Origin of Angel (Sophie) and Celeste Nephal found a pair of mortals that wanted to have children but could not. Ilnerik and his wife Nalani had tried everything they could think of to have children, and had seen many doctors to try and cure Nalani’s infertility. After calling to both the doctors and the gods without success, they called to the demons. Nephal answered and agreed to give them twins in exchange for one soul that must return with him to the Abyss once the twins were born. After a night of awkward romance with Nephal, Nalani did become pregnant. From the beginning Nephal knew that Nalani wasn’t infertile, it was that Ilnerik was impotent; however, Nephal never revealed this, nor did he reveal that the children would be demonic. Nalani and Ilnerik each planned on giving themselves as the sacrifice after the children were born so that their spouse could at least have the joy of raising a family. After nine months Nalani gave birth to two identical succubae girls. But giving birth can be dangerous, and giving birth to demons is especially dangerous. Nalani held her beloved girls for the first and last time. Seeing that Nalani was dying, Ilnerik chose to name the girls before Nalani passed away. They were named Celeste and Angel, in remembrance of where and what their mother would soon be. Ilnerik was consumed with grief but forced himself to focus and think of what do since Nephal would come soon. Nalani was dead and therefore could not go with Nephal. If Ilnerik went with Nephal, then there would be no one to raise Celeste and Angel. As demons, the girls would be killed even as infants. If one of the girls was given up then Ilnerik could at least raise and protect the other one. He felt ****ed no matter what decision he made. Ilnerik let Nephal take Angel, while he kept Celeste. Ilnerik was always tormented by his decision, just as Nephal intended. Angel was renamed Sulfura (well not quite, but you would need a forked tongue to pronounce her new name correctly) and was raised at the Fountains of Youth as Nephal’s daughter, along with hordes of other demonic children (from here on I will use the name Sulfura instead of Angel). Celeste was raised by Ilnerik (from here on I will use the name Sulfura instead of Angel). As the children grew, they learned about the differences between succubae and humans. Aside (Sulfura and Celeste’s demonic abilities) [unnaturally charming appearance and personality. Mild shape changing: ability to manipulate their own bodies to match any ethnicity or standard of beauty. Ability to fold wings up tightly to make them easy to hide under loose clothing. Finger nails can extend into claws and teeth can extend into fangs. Extra nourishment from blood. Longevity: age very slowly after maturity is reached. Beauty never deteriorates with age. Accelerated sexual maturity. Slightly enhanced physical strength. Moderately enhanced physical endurance and durability. High resistance to hot, cold, diseases, and toxins/drugs (strong coffee required to feel any affect). Photographic memory for faces and people. Do not require food water, or sleep: ability to draw vitality directly from the Abyss negating the need to eat, drink, or sleep, although those things are still desirable.] As infants, Sulfura and Celeste required human milk and human blood as nourishment. As they grew, they retained their ability to draw special nourishment from blood, although they don’t need it anymore. Celeste was raised by Ilnerik to be a proper and good lady. Celeste often got into trouble as a child, but Ilnerik was patient and loving with her. Controlling her demonic and lustful urges was very difficult and not always successful, but Ilnerik was always there to help. Ilnerik always told Celeste how much he loved her as his daughter, but he could never bring himself to tell her the truth about the deal that he and her mother had made with Nephal or that she had a twin sister. Celeste grew up believing that a demon had raped her mother and that she had died in child birth. When Celeste (imagine this figure but with succubus wings) became an adult, she realized that she was very beautiful, and that she couldn’t turn suiters away forever; sooner or later people would find out that she was a demon. To protect Ilnerik and herself, Celeste left home with the intent to never return. She ended up marrying a vampire named Cassius, who could accept her for what she was and love her even if all the world thought she was a monster. Cassius was a doctor who often recommended bleeding to provide the blood he needed. He also used his extraordinary ability of smell and taste blood to identify ailments based on changes in blood chemistry. Cassius taught Celeste about medicine, used her as an assistant, and often sent her to perform medical tasks during the day. They had two children and were generally happen together. Sulfura grew up with many brothers and sisters at the Fountains of Youth (all incubi and succubae that are descended from Noctua are considered brothers and sisters. More monstrous descendants of Noctua are called cousins.). Her father, Nephal, was a harsh parent, quick to yell at and punish the children. Nephal lied to Sulfura and told her that her real mother hadn’t wanted to keep her, and that if she was bad then he wouldn’t want to keep her either. Noctua often had incarnations of herself at the Fountains of Youth, so she could spend time with her children. Noctua became Sulfura’s mom and was much kinder than Nephal. Chapter 3: Sophie’s Childhood Sulfura’s first solid memory was of bathing in the hot springs with Noctua. Sulfura splashed about while Noctua washed and played with her. Noctua was always kind and patient with Sulfura. Sulfura didn’t get to spend as much time with Noctua as she wanted so when she had time, Sulfura would tell Noctua everything she had done since the last time they talked. Sulfura talked too quickly and was hard to understand sometimes, so Noctua gave her a blank book and a pen and told Sulfura to draw what happened so she could see it next time they talked. Thus began Sulfura’s love for drawing, painting, and sculpting, especially to remember people important to her. Sulfura and her siblings grew up surrounded by demons and witchcraft and were taught to carry out missions for Noctua across the multiverse. Sulfura’s favorite teacher was Elise, a human witch who taught the children all about humans and magic. Since Elise couldn’t correctly pronounce many demon names, she gave some students new names. To Sulfura, Elise gave the name Sophia, and Sulfura quickly adopted Sophie as her nickname (from here on I will use the name Sophie instead of Sulfura). Sophie’s most powerful weapon was her natural charm. If charm failed, Sophie was also talented with magic (figure 259) and martial weapons. Sophie prefers personal charm or mind control magic against armed humanoid foes, and a combination of body-toughening magic and magic that injures anyone that touches her against monstrous foes, so that the more monsters touch her, the more they are injured (Sophie ready to charm humans and reflect physical damage against monsters). Sophie used Elise as inspiration for Halloween costumes (child Sophie, young adult Sophie). Sophie loved visiting the mortal world for Halloween. It was for Halloween that Sophie learned her first spell, which, under the proper conditions, would compel human adults to give her candy. As an adult, Sophie gave out candy for Halloween to promote good public relations between humans and demons, which lead her to later pursue a career as a spokesdemon. Aside (Trick-or-treating): [child Sophie, “Tick-or-treat!†Human adults (a.k.a. Chumps, Suckers, Victims), “And what are you?†Child Sophie, “I’m a witch.†Human adults, “And why do you have wings?†Child Sophie, “Because my daddy says I’m a little monster.â€] Sophie also enjoyed Christmas, and had to sneak away to participate in it since Nephal and Noctua didn’t like the idea of young demons being exposed to religions like Christianity that condemned sin and promoted universal peace and love. But Nephal and Noctua knew that they couldn’t shelter Sophie forever, and eventually relented to allow her to visit the mortal world for Christmas. Sophie was strictly warned about the dangers of Christmas, but found the holiday to be pretty safe and ended up really liking the idea of gift exchanges. Aside (preparing for Christmas): [Noctua, “If you must go, I want you to remember your standards – wear something revealing that will let people know what you stand for.†Sophie, “Ok, I’ll wear something skimpy and bring some magic mistletoe.†Noctua, “If they start reading scriptures or caroling, I want you to get out of there right away.†Sophie, “Don’t worry, mom, this is just going to be about commercialism and meeting men.†Nephal, “Now look, if they start passing around the symbols of communion or baptizing people, I want you to invoke us three times. I have a summoning circle prepared to bring you home if there is any trouble.†Sophie, “Me . . . get into trouble?†Noctua and Nephal, <worried looks>.] Sophie saw Uncle Agramon sometimes and loved listening to his stories of war and the before-time. Rauthuros was also assigned to protect and patrol Cardiola with the orders to never harm anyone that is loyal to Noctua. Sophie and the other demon children took full advantage of Rauthuros’ limitations and often climbed on him like a jungle-gym. Rauthuros always grumbled and complained about the children, but he never stopped them. Sophie understood that in the depth of Rauthuros’ black, blood-thirsty heart that he cared about the children and liked spending time with them. As a young adult, Sophie did regular teenager things – attending school, spending time with her two dozen or so closest sisters, learning the art of seduction, mastering magic and swordplay, flirting with anything with a Y chromosome, getting into and out of trouble, playing sports, etc. The mischievous and hormonally-driven nature of succubae resulted in Sophie’s young adult years being a one giant string of drama. Aside (A typical day for young adult Sophie) [Bella borrows Batna’s body chain and accidentally breaks it. Mara borrows some of Batna’s nail polish and uses too much painting her six hands and the rattle on her tail. Batna freaks out since she is getting ready for a special date with Dantalion and she doesn’t have time to buy new jewelry or nail polish. Batna panics and uses Sophie’s model paints as body paint and nail polish. However, Batna doesn’t wash Sophie’s brush between colors or wash the brush out at the end, ruining some of Sophie’s paints and one of her paintbrushes. Sophie mixes paint water into Batna’s makeup to remind her of the importance of washing brushes. Since Batna was very late for their date, Dantalion thinks that she stood him up. Dantalion doesn’t want to lose the restaurant reservations he made, so he takes Virina out to eat since she asked him out recently, but he had turned her down for a date with Batna. DRAMA STORM ensues.] As a young adult was the first time Sophie saw Noctua deal with people who had been disloyal to her. Noctua was much less kind and merciful than Sophie had seen from her in the past, psychologically and emotionally tearing down the offenders before personally inflicting some terrible and permanent physical punishment, or taking them away so they were never heard of again. Noctua was scariest when she dealt with succubae sent from some imposter succubus queen. People say that Hell has no fury like a woman scorned, so it is difficult for humans to understand just how terrifying a scorned demonic woman can be. Chapter 4: Sorrowful Mission As an adult, Sophie was sent to various mortal worlds to spy, seduce important individuals into joining Noctua, gather valuable resources, or perform other dangerous tasks. Sophie was sent to high tech, modern, and low tech worlds, and was generally quite successful in completing her missions. Sophie’s life changed when she was sent on a mission to seduce an extraordinary smithy named Marcel into allying with Noctua. Despite Sophie best efforts, Marcel adamantly resisted seduction. He enjoyed talking, spending time with, and getting to know Sophie, but he didn’t like Sophie’s immodest or demonic suggestions. Even without physical intimacy, Sophie grew increasingly attracted to Marcel and in a way wanted him to keep resisting her to make the mission last as long as possible. Sophie tried everything she could think of but time ran out and on the last day of the mission, Sophie panicked and went to give Marcel a piece of her mind. When Marcel saw her he said that he had a special present for her (Sophie’s one weakness), and gave her a pendant made specifically to her tastes in fashion. Sophie graciously accepted the pendant and then remembered that she was still mad and exploded in his face, unloading all of her griefs on him, telling him that he was taking hard-to-get way too far, and accusing him of terrible and false things before storming off. Nephal soon arrived to find that Sophie had completely failed. He visited Marcel with Sophie to inform Marcel that Sophie was a demon that had just been using him. He then murdered Marcel in front of Sophie. Sophie was also severely punished for her failure and informed that if this happened again that he wouldn’t retrieve her from the mortal world. The events of that mission haunted Sophie. She had gotten into trouble before and felt bad about getting caught, but this time she felt bad about how she treated Marcel. She felt like she had somehow been disloyal to him. She remembered how he had looked at her when she got mad at him, and how he looked at her when Nephal exposed Sophie’s mission and killed him. Sophie found herself thinking of Marcel every day and remembering him with great pain, and determined that he must have somehow cursed her with some kind of mind control magic to make her hurt so much. Sophie sought help from wizards, witches, and dark priests, but no one could break the curse and let Sophie forget Marcel. Chapter 5: Hidden Past Despite her “curseâ€, Sophie continued her missions, expanding her abilities and skill set to include public performing, biker gang diplomacy, and extreme archeology. The power of her foes also increased. Sophie was once opposed by a True Name Wizard who could use any creature’s name to manipulate them in mind and body. The wizard called her by the name Sophia Perrea (Sophie’s usual alias), found that he couldn’t affect her and proceeded to get beaten up by Sophie. Sometime later, the wizard returned to try to stop Sophie again. He called to her as Sulfura Reaper (pronouncing it correctly as a demon would), again found that he couldn’t affect her and again got beaten up and sent away, never to deal with Sophie again (Reaper was her given last name, since her father was Nephal the Reaper). Sophie was glad that she hadn’t come under the wizard’s magic, but she also wanted to know why Sulfura Reaper wasn’t her real name, and what her real name was. Sophie confronted Nephal and demanded that he tell her what he knew about her past and her real mother. Nephal turned the conversation around and found out everything that Sophie knew about her past and the sources of her information without revealing any additional information to her. Sophie was deployed to a mortal world with gradually thinning connections to the outer planes (including the Abyss). Sophie’s mission was to get close to Baron Rohkar Cindren and act as a sleeper agent until he finished joining into an alliance with the devils (demons and devils tend to fight each other). Sophie was supposed to make sure that the deal went through and then pass infernal information from Baron Cindren back to the demons. Sophie arranged for an “accident†and bandits to make her look like a damsel in distress for the nearby Baron to save. She claimed to be a noble from a far-off land and stayed with the Baron as his guest, which quickly turned into staying as his girlfriend. The deal with the devils was moving forward and the plan couldn’t have been going better until a man in a ridiculous black costume that screamed “look at me, I’m an assassin†showed up skulking around the castle. The guards were gathered, the warning signals sounded, the castle sealed, and the Baron moved to safety. Amidst the confusion, the Baron was pricked with a poisoned needle from the real assassin who had been disguised as a guard. Sophie had completely failed the mission, and it seemed that she had been left to find a way home on her own, which would be hard with the thinning planar connections. Sophie used a magic pendant as a dowsing pendulum, to lead her to things similar to herself – portals to Cardiola or one of her siblings would be best, but leading her to any Abyssal portal or demon-worshiping cult would be good enough. Traveling through the world, Sophie met Siobhana the noble vampire as a kindred spirit. Siobhana had been a good woman before she had been turned into a vampire against her will and she still retained a desire to help people, especially people like herself who were shunned by society for reasons outside of their own control. Siobhana was a good source of girl-talk with Sophie and informed her that connections to the outer planes were thinning was because Kaladrax, the dracolich, had been devouring the souls of the dead, preventing them from passing to the afterlife. She also helped Sophie find a way to reach the source of a very strong resonance that the pendulum was leading her towards. Aside (girl-talk with Siobhana) [ Sophie, “I think of Marcel everyday – the way he would look into my eyes, the way he would hold my hand when we walked, the way he would smile a little when he heard me walk into his shop . . . and how he looked when Nephal revealed the mission and then killed him. He makes me think of him every day and I just don’t know how to break this curse.†Siobhana, “Maybe you are in love.†Sophie, “No; I love miniatures and paints, fine chocolates, and flirting with men. It isn’t like any of those things. In a way I feel like I have been disloyal to Marcel, which doesn’t make any sense since I never had any reason to be loyal to him.†Siobhana, “Loyalty is important to you?†Sophie, “My mom always taught me that I was free to do anything I wanted as long as I was loyal to her – she is the best.†Siobhana, “So you feel loyal to you mom?†Sophie, “Of course.†Siobhana, “And your siblings?†Sophie, “Yeah, I’m loyal to the demons I grew up with and I guess I am kind of loyal to the rest of my mom’s children.†Siobhana, “And your dad?†Sophie, “No . . . I despise him.†Siobhana, “Perhaps you are using the word ‘loyal’ the way most mortals use ‘true love’, like how mortals love the people they grew up with who were kind to them.â€] Sophie continued her journey to find whatever strongly resonated with her. The pendulum led her to a large house. Sophie knocked on the door and was, for the first time in her life, speechless when the person who answered the door was also Sophie. The two Sophies were wearing different clothes but were otherwise identical. The other Sophie was, of course, Celeste. Each one immediately believed that the other was some kind of doppelganger. Celeste’s husband, Cassius, acted as a liaison between the two, who were very distrustful of the other one. They both knew every supernatural ability and physical characteristic of the other, but nothing of the other’s history except that Nephal was named as both of their fathers – a name that they each disliked. Since their stories didn’t add up, they determined that only two people could possible know the truth; Nephal and Ilnerik, their demon and human fathers. Sophie and Celeste agreed to travel together to talk with Ilnerik, who was a very old man by this time. Sophie had traveled halfway around the world to find Celeste and now she found herself traveling halfway back to a nation she had never visited. Chapter 6: Past Revealed After a long journey, Sophie met the old nobleman, who broke down in tears when he saw the two of them together. He called her Angel and expressed joy many times that Sophie was safe and had been alright. Ilnerik told them the truth – he told them that he and Nalani had bargained with Nephal for twins in exchange for one soul to be taken away. He told them how their mother had loved them both before she died and how he had let Nephal take Sophie so that Celeste could live. He expressed a lifetime of regret for letting Nephal take Sophie, but didn’t know of anything better that he could have done. Sophie offered to take Ilnerik with her to the Abyss so he could live out the rest of his life in supreme pleasures and be transformed into an incubus, but Ilnerik declined and said that Nalani was waiting for him in Heaven. Sophie felt loyalty to this man she had just met and said that she would visit him as often as she could. Celeste also agreed to stay and care for him in his old age and return to Cassius after Ilnerik passed away. Sophie determined that she would have to kill Kaladrax so that her father’s soul could reach Heaven to join his wife. Sophie had fought trolls, biker gangs, pirates, and space aliens, but never anything as dangerous as an undead dragon. Sophie used her greatest strength as a succubus, which was her unnaturally charming personality, to gather together champions of all kinds to unite against Kaladrax – paladins and warlords, good and evil priests, wizards and witches, vampires and vampire hunters, and heroes great and small. Sophie could do little in the final battle other than offer moral support and provide a few protective wards to allies. After a long battle, Kaladrax and his armies, as well as many of the champions, were dead. Aside (unofficial motto of the united champions) [When faced with extinction, any alternative is preferable.] As Kaladrax died, the souls he had consumed blasted out from him like an arural kaleidoscope, ripping open portals to their appropriate afterlives. Sophie saw a portal to the Abyss and was about to go through when she looked back and saw a portal to Heaven. She saw a face she knew and ran to the Heavenly portal to beg Marcel to lift the curse he had put on her. Marcel explained that he had not cursed her; Sophie had broken her own heart and that even though she had wronged him, he bore no malice towards her. Marcel told Sophie that he still loved her and that if she wanted to be with him and would change her wicked ways, he would wait for her. Sophie felt very conflicted but with the portals shrinking she was forced to return to the Abyss rather than stay and talk more with Marcel. Aside (conversation with Marcel) [sophie, “Marcel, please, lift the curse you placed on me. If you had joined me, you wouldn’t have been killed. I did everything I could to save you. If I had refused, they would have killed me and just sent someone else to try to seduce you, so I really didn’t have any choice.†Marcel, “Sophie, you always had a choice. I was good to you and you did me wrong, but I forgive you; I bear no malice against you and I never cursed you. If your heart pains you, it is because you have broken it yourself.†Sophie, “I am forced to think of you every day. How can I be free of these memories?†Marcel, “You think of me often because you love me, and you are pained because you betrayed your heart. I still love you too, but I can’t support the evil decisions you are making.†Sophie, “I need to be loyal to my mom, but I also want to be loyal to you. What should I do?†Marcel, “If you turn from your wicked ways and do good things, I will wait for you. No matter how long it takes, if you keeping working on becoming a good person, I will keep waiting for you in Heaven.†Sophie, “. . .â€] Chapter 7: A New Life Sophie received great praise from Noctua for playing a key role in releasing many ****ed souls that Kaladrax has consumed, slaying many evil champions that became fine additions to Noctua’s realm, and promoting favorable relations between humans and demons. When Noctua asked what Sophie wanted as a reward, she only asked that she be given more freedom over what missions to take. Sophie also noted that Kaladrax was a powerful undead, and powerful undead can often revive themselves; therefore, Kaladrax could be a threat again unless steps were taken to re-slay Kaladrax as soon as he revives, when he would be very weak. An immortal who was more skilled in magic and martial prowess than Sophie may be needed to guard Kaladrax’s grave. Noctua consented to Sophie’s request and assigned Nephal to the lonely job of guarding Kaladrax’s grave and slaying him every time he began to revive himself, and assigned a new overseer to the Fountains of Youth who would be better at promoting loyalty than Nephal. Sophie wasn’t sure if a long-distance relationship with an angel would work, but she was willing to try. From then on Sophie opted away from missions that directly hurt people and instead chose public relations missions to promote demonology. After searching across worlds, she found an interesting opportunity. She found a mortal world with a company that had her own last name that was looking for someone with modeling and public relations experience. Sophie applied for and quickly got a job with Reaper. She became a company favorite, especially as she shared sketches of people she knew, leading to many miniatures of friends and family. Sophie has come to feel loyal to Reaper and the friends she has made there. Sometimes Sophie feels lonely on a world where demons are rare, but she invokes her old friends when possible and occasionally summons a group of her sisters for long weekends to visit malls, buy fine things, and flirt with anything with a Y chromosome. But when time are hard and the veil between this world and the next grows thickest so that she loses touch with Marcel and her family for extended periods of time, she takes comfort in her new friends that love and respect her. But when times are hard and the connection between her worlds thins, Sophie realizes she has come to feel more comfortable with her new friends in this world.

Spit Fire - a gold hating dragonling. The only surviving child of the Infamous Lava-wing. Lava-Wing was driven insane by a dwarf stealing his gold. The dwarf only a few ounces a every day or two, but it went on for years. The insanity was not so much from the theft but from the fact that the dwarf was leaving excrement behind in its place. After rampaging for years and destroying several dwarven and human communities Lava-Wing eventually caught up with the dwarf, but in his insanity was easily lured into a trap and slain. Spitfire has vowed never to collect gold. Oddly the dwarf responsible didn't much like gold either, as its procurement was rather painful for him. Neither dwarf nor dragon likes faeries either. Dragon: Bastic the Dwarf. L8 ranger, retired.

The title says all. Just wondering if anyone had anything interesting. I would post one of my own story ideas, but then I'll find out years later that it was plagarized and is being turned into a movie. It's happened to me before, I'm not being paranoid.

Most players will usually amass entertaining stories and anecdotes about their characters, events that happen in game, etc... and I'm always interested in hearing new ones! If you have anything to share or add, please add a post below. --- One of my most memorable characters was a gnome illusionist. He was an odd gnome, though; being a touch shorter than average, and with a nose actually in proportion to his face, many people often confused him for a halfling. He had 12 names and insisted on using them every time he introduced himself, and I gave him a high-pitched, obnoxious voice. Most of the party and the DM wanted to kill him, but no one ever succeeded. In 2nd edition, gnomes had a 20% chance for a magic item to not work for them. Well, I wanted my gnome to have been touched by his deity, a deity of magic, and so he had a surplus of magical energy stored within him. I talked to the DM, and actually convinced him to alter the 20% chance a bit - instead of not working, there was a 20% chance that his natural magic would seep into the item, causing it to explode! I gave him a very high constitution to make sure he could live through that, which was good because that 20% chance seemed to come up 50% of the time. It only happened the first time he touched an item, though; after the first time, he could use it normally. My first adventure with him was a blast. I remember walking into a room, and after the party had cleared it of its inhabitants, we started searching. I noticed an interesting shield on the wall, and was curious about what was behind it. I started to reach out for it, started worrying about traps, but figured, eh, what the heck. I screwed my eyes shut, turned my head to the side, and grabbed an edge of the shield. When nothing happened, I let out a breath I had been holding, reached up with my other hand, grabbed the shield and set it on the ground. That's when I realized that my hands were stuck! I tried pulling them away, but they were stuck tight. So, seeking additional leverage, I put my foot on the shield and gave it a good push, trying to get my hands free. No such luck, and now my foot was stuck as well. The groups fighter sighed, picked me up by my shirt, and started carrying me around. I was basically the handle for his new shield. There was a random encounter in the dungeon, and when I said "Hi!" the local encounter was a bit freaked out by the talking shield. Various minor events followed, and we ended up camping for the night. After the party had gone to sleep, I decided that I was bored with being a shield. I slipped off my gloves and my boot, dragged the shield out using the edge of my boot, then went back to my tent and fell asleep. The party was quite irritated in the morning