- Introduction
- Chapters
- Part I
- Part II
- Part III
- Part IV - Groten
- Part V - From darkness unto death
- Part VI - The Broken Sleep
- Part VII - Dance with a Dreamseed
- Part VIII - Hoffman
- Part IX - A Promise to Kill
- Round-up on Parts I through IX
Introduction
Greetings. I've been Storytelling an Engel game in America for roughly a year and a half, and after much prodding for certain parties I've decided to post some details as to the story our game has created as well as some of the details unique to our game.
Before I get started on this full steam, I want to throw a few disclaimers at you.
1. Our game is based off the English version of Engel published by Sword & Sorcery. Only four books were released in America; there was the corebook, the Pandoramicum, Creatures of the Dreamseed, and the Michaelite Order book. With this limited information I've taken upon myself to fill in a lot of gaps.
2. It is always my way when I Storytell to make the setting my own. I use the game as published as a kind of incredible toolbox and shape the setting and details to meet my own needs. In other words, I often deliberately deviate from the "canonical" setting.
3. Our game is focused around a single character, but a fellowship does exist around that character.
4. Final note - Spoilers. Anything I post that could be considered a spoiler to those who still have a veil of secrecy as to the setting and its truths will be marked as such.
Well, with those out of the way, I'll begin posting shortly. As I said, this will be a kind of brief narrative, more to give the details of what happened than to be entertaining in a novelistic form.
Please feel free to comment or ask questions.
Thanks,
Jeff The "Last" (?) American Engel Storyteller
Chapters
Part I
Our story started out very innocently. We were going to do a fairly standard Engel game, just to get the feel of the setting. We were coming off a wild Fading Suns game, and weren't sure whether Engel would be the right fit or not. I saw something awesome in the setting, and probably twisted my player's arm just a little.
The principal character is a very young Ramielite named Luriel. She has been kept in the Himmel for several months after her acceptance into Engel society in Roma Aeterna. She is restless, and is already showing the signs of the typical arrogance some Ramielites have. She felt nothing should be off-limits to her hunger for knowledge, and grew frustrated when she was not allowed into certain portions of the Himmel's library.
She was both suprised and excited when she was informed that she was to be sent on a very important mission with a new Fellowship, a mission that had been ordered by the Pontifex himself.
She was told that her old nonnus, Adolphus, was to travel to Vienna (a rebel city ruled by a junklord). She and the fellowship were to protect him on his journey, and see to it that he reached the city safely.
Luriel didn't have many details as to what her new fellowship would be or why they were travelling to a city rulled by an enemy of the church, but any fear was overweighed by excitement.
Before meeting her new fellowship, though, something strange befell young Luriel. Many months before, on the night she spent mediating in Roma before being blessed with the other new Engel by the Pontifex, she had a disturbing vision of an Inferno approaching the Holy City. Tonight, as she stood outside the Prague Himmel on its flight platform watching for the approach of her new fellowship brethren, she saw a strangely garbed Engel approach.
This dark form nearly reached her before she realized it was not an Engel, and only appeared to be one. A single lone Dreamseed that could appear in many ways as an Engel attacked and tried to kill her (or so she thought). She was saved only by the sudden appearence of the Gabrielite who would be in her new Fellowship, Kyriel.
In the shock of the moment, some questions never got asked. Why would an single lone Dreamseed fly so far into the heart of its enemy and try to kill a single Engel? Was there some reason behind this, or merely the vagaries of a mad creature?
Part II
The other members of the Fellowship quickly gathered. They included:
Kyriel (already mentioned): A quiet and tough somewhat stereotypical Gabrielite. She is somewhat older than the other members.
Touriel: The Michaelite of the new fellowship. Not her first fellowship. She is the only one told more of the details regarding their true purpose of their mission.
Mathiel: A friendly Urielite. Very affable and open. Make friends quickly with our main character (Luriel).
Cassiel: A quiet and uncertain Raphaelite. It is his first real mission away from his Himmel, and he is slighly underdeveloped physically. He was consecrated at the same time Luriel was.[He will have problems later in keeping up with the other's flight]
Gathered together, there are almost instant sparks of tension between Luriel and Touriel. Touriel is the leader of the Fellowship, as befits her order, but the arrogance of Luriel has trouble accepting this. Luriel wants to be able to speak her mind and not wait to be asked for her opinion, which does not lead to a warm relationship between the two.
The Fellowship is told a little more of their mission by Touriel, who has obviously been told more than she will say. The city of Vienna and its surronding lands (Austria) are ruled by a powerful Diadoche named Viktor Constance. The rebel Engel Thagiel joined the Urbanis league shortly after the Raguelite Himmel fell, and he lives in Vienna in a supporting role to the city and to its allies through the Urbanis League.
Luriel is suprised to find out her old nonnus, Adolphus, was once a nonnus in the Raguelite Himmel before its destruction, and he had dealings with Thagiel before he went rogue. The purpose of the mission is, as they are told, to get Adolphus there safely so he can either convince this last living Raguelite to either return with him or help him with something (the something is not defined by Touriel).
The twist? Not only is this a rebel Engel, but an OLD one. He has lived well past the age he should have ascended to heaven. He is very strong it is said, and a creature of the Lord of the Flies. He has evil powers, and is called the "betrayer" and the "thrice tempted".
Obviously the Fellowship is concerned of the safety of this mission, and whether it is even plausible that they could reach the city safely. They are told that Adolphus has written to both Constance and Thagiel, and they have been promised safe passage and will be welcomed into the city at Thagiel's request to the Junklord!
Thagiel, it appears, wants to see his old nonnus.
With great misgivings as to what is not being said and frustration with the way she is being treated, Luriel and her fellowship set forth with Adolphus on the long journey over land from Prague to Vienna.
Three Templars and an Armatura named Rythe join them from the Ramielite Himmel.
Part III
Everything seemed well enough on the beginning of the journey. Adolphus was an old man, and his health was somewhat poor, but the journey was slow and even. He rode in a wagon, and the templars and Engel rode on horseback, with some flying ahead at times to watch for signs of trouble.
On more than one occasion arguments arose between Touriel and Luriel concerning details of their mission. Luriel was able to get along with the other members, except Kyriel. She also talked with her nonnus and asked him questions about Thagiel and the fall of the Ragielite Himmel. He would only say a few words on the subjects, and warned her of the dangers they might still face ahead.
Since the there were four armed Templars with Adolphus and they were still in Rammielite lands, the Fellowship flew ahead to scout to the halfway point on the trip, St. Terrels, a Gabrielite Monastery on the border of contested lands with Austria.
This was the first time the Fellowship took to the air together. Luriel was concered for Cassiel, as he had trouble flying as fast as the others.
They reached St Terrels and Touriel left to meet with the Ab of the Monastery, and make arrangements for the passing of Adolphus. Luriel was very curious to see what the Monastery of a different order would appear like, and explored. She startled a young Monach carrying boxes and he dropped his goods in the mud. Luriel took the time to help the Monach, feeling sorry for causing his accident. The Monach introduced himself as Davrus, and thanked her for her kindness. He seemed shy and introverted, but still friendly.
Touriel regarthered the Fellowship and they set forth back north to meet again with the Templars and Adolphus. They had only traveled a short distance before they came across a caravan being attacked by Dreamseed. Strange lethal beetle like creatures swarmed over the merchants and attacked them.
The Fellowship landed and swung into action, their first battle as a team. Touriel issued her battle-commands, trying to direct the group. Luriel had only her dagger and cross-bow, and fought as best she could. Despite the youth of some of the Engel, they all fought bravely and managed to save the remaining merchants.
Luriel overheard from the survivors that the Dreamseed had come out of the clear sky, attacking with a great vengence. The leader of their caravan had been killed. A village was very close to the north named Groten, one that Adolphus would be passing through on his journey.
Luriel also overheard that the now dead leader of the Merchants had spoken to the Monach of Groten as they had met before. There was some dark business in Groten with dead children and evil, which had made the Merchants not stay there to setup camp.
With this knowledge the Engel sent the remaining merchants on to St Terrels, and a decision was made that Luriel and Maethiel were to investigate while the others of the Fellowship would return to make safe Adolphus. If there was a risk of other Dreamseed attacks, they wanted to be with the Templars to defend him.
Luriel and Maethiel were ordered by Touriel to check Groten out, make sure it was safe to take Adolphus through, and then return to the rest of the group.
As Luriel and Maethiel flew to Groten, they had no idea of what they would find in the sleepy village.
Part IV - Groten
Groten was a beautiful little village surronded by forests and a fair distance from other sites of interest. To the south was only St Terrels before the lands of the Junklord Viktor Constance began. To the north were thick woods before other villages began.
The village was a farming community, and had only a simple collection of wooden houses and an old stone church. The town's monach, Bassius, was a Gabrielite who had lived there for nearly two years and was much loved. The town was quiet, peaceful, and perfect.
Until the murders had begun.
Children had been taken, one a month for the past several months, from their locked homes under the parents noses without so much as a sound. When found, they were brutally murdered and in many cases mutiliated. Blood was used in heretical ways to write what appeared to be Engelic script and other things in languages no one in the village could read. There were no literate people in the village of Groten.
A prelate had been sent for to investigate these dark crimes, and he at last had arrived just the day that Maethiel and Luriel reach the village.
The Monach of the village, Bassius, is extremely relieved to have Engels present. He welcomes them with open arms and calls out to the villagers to let them know the winged protectors have come, and the murders at last can be stopped! The prelate is not as pleased.
The prelate is an old man, plagued by terrible headaches, and growing tired of hunting after the ever-present heretics in the world. The raw brutality of these crimes shocks him in a way he hadn't thought he could feel again.
As Luriel is the only literate being present, she offers to help. Maethiel tells her he will investigate the townspeople, and speak with them to try and find some answer as to what has been happening.
The previous killings have been removed and cleaned with no notes taken on their details, but the most recent killing is still fresh. In the basement of an old shed she finds the murdered boy, and the markings on the wall. There is an inscription in perfect Latin which reads:
SPOILER WARNING!
"How can the children still fly- When there is no ink left to burn?"
SPOILER WARNING!
There are also Engelic glyphs on the walls, symbols that normally adorn the bodies of Engelic warriors. A disturbing realization comes to Luriel then. Someone educated is commiting these crimes, someone most likely from her own order. Only someone educated would know Latin.
It is then the hatch leading into this basement cavity shuts, and Luriel is plunged into almost complete darkness. The candle she carries goes out, and she is left in the dark.
She feels that she is not alone. Something is here with her, breathing, softly growling. It feels evil. It feels unclean. She starts to panic and-
Part V - From darkness unto death
Light floods the chamber she is in as Bassius checks on her to make sure she is ok. He won't enter the chamber itself, as the scene is too horrific. Luriel decides that she just imagined the sounds that previously had terrified her.
Bassius helps her out of the chamber, and the Prelate stands by grumbling. Luriel tells them what the Latin said, but neither have any idea of what it could mean. The prelate is angered by the notion that some member of the Church could commit such henious crimes.
Mathiel returns to talk with Luriel and comfort her. He tells her the villagers say there have been seven children killed so far, and that its been happening for the past seven months. One is taken each month. No one knows what is happening, but all suspect it is some foul craft of the Tempter. No locks are broken. No sounds are heard. No windows shattered. How can this despoiler of innocence be perpatrating such terrible crimes?
Mathiel and Luriel decide that the Fellowship should be warned of the potential dangers in the village. Despite Mathiel's arguments to the contrary, Luriel chooses to stay behind in Groten and explore further. She wants to know what is happening. She looks around at the frightened faces of the children and their parents, and can not resist the call to help.
Mathiel leaves Luriel behind, flying to rejoin the Fellowship as the day grows later.
Luriel befriends one of the village children by approaching her and playing with the girl's cat. Luriel is told the name of the cat, and learns from the child that the children describe the "bad man" as a cloaked figure of death. The children recall being frozen still in their beds, paralyzed for some period of time on the night of each murder. Luriel tries to tell the Prelate about these matters, but his health is poor and he eventually retires with Bassius into the Monach's home.
Frustrated, Luriel uses her Order's gifts to speak with an older Rammielite friend she has back in Prague. She requests of Jaciel, an Engel nearly old enough to ascend, assistance in finding any known Ramielite rogues who have gone missing or might be capable of such atrocity. She hopes still that no member of her order could do such a thing, but whoever this is must be literate and have great knowledge of Engelic scriptum.
Luriel is told by the family of the little girl that she may stay with them if she wishes. They would consider it a great blessing to give refuge to an Engel, and that it would make them feel so much safer for their daughter.
Luriel sleeps in an empty chamber in the front of the house, and is awoken first by the child's cat creeping into her room. As it crawls onto her, she awakens and is startled. She strokes the cat, and is
SPOILERS!
suddendly awash in a strange feeling of vertigo. As she pets the cat, she knows its name is Toby (which it is not) and that it is a tabby (again, which it is not). The feeling passes, but leaves her confused and unsure. It as if she is remembering a cat she herself has never had. Engel do not have pets!
SPOILERS!
Luriel returns to sleep, drifting into a deep slumber. She feels more and more rested, until all thought leaves her mind.
She feels almost as if she is floating, numb on top of the sheets of this strange human bed.
On some level, she knows something is not right... has she been drugged? But then even such thought leaves her and she descends deeper into slumber.
The hooded cloaked figure outside the house has come to take the last child away, and Luriel sleeps... unaware.
Part VI - The Broken Sleep
From the dark place in which Luriel slept came a dim light. A voice, not more than a whisper, brought tremble to the enclosing walls of sleep. At once, Luriel sat up in the bed, and heard Jaciel's voice in her mind. The words were clear, but her mind was not. She felt drugged, thick, slow...
As she tried to focus on Jaciel's words, her Ramielite brethren, her eye caught motion out of the window. Something was happening outside in the dim night. As Luriel moved toward the window, Jaciel's words flowed from his distant locale in Prague. He spoke of a young Ramielite monach who had tried to kill his own Ab not two years past, and who had fled from his Monastery many days to the west. He had not been seen in the two years, but he was certainly a possibility. No answer was ever said for what had happened to him, but it was whispered he had read something in his Ab's chambers which unhinged him.
Only half listening, Luriel's heart thudded faster as she saw what transpired outside. In the filtered light of the clouded moon, she could see a dark cloaked and hooded figure standing with arms outreached inside the yard of the house. The young girl who lived in the house was floating out to him, her arms and legs seemingly restrained by invisible bonds. The girl, Miriam, seemed powerless to stop herself as the front door of the house shut and relocked behind her, again as if invisible hands manipulated it.
Luriel in that moment understood what was happening. This was the child-killer, and somehow he had the power to make all in the house sleep deeply, and could move the child with the power of his mind (somehow) and open and close locks without touching them. What awful foe she faced, she did not know.
As Luriel opened the window and lept forth, her question was answered by Jaciel's final words. He told her in his speech from mind to mind that the renegade Monach was named "Hoffman". Luriel's instincts took hold, and she raced through the dark around the cloaked figure through the yard and struck at him with her blade.
The dark figure screamed and Miriam fell to the ground. There was a sense of weight lifted, a heaviness to the air which evaporated. His dark spell had been broken, and the house awoke. The figure, his face still veiled behind the folds of his cowl, turned shaking with anger at Luriel. With only a snarl Luriel found herself flung backwards, as if she had been pushed by hands of great strength.
Miriam's father, Marcus, raced out of the door with a torch, and found his daughter crying curled in his yard and an Engel laying prone. Luriel immediately raced after the figure vanishing into the darkening night, trying to follow him, as it seemed he almost glided away.
Loosing sight of him for a moment, she instead found a trail of blood from the wound she had given him. Following it, wishing for the moon's unobstructed return, she proceeded into a barn. Luriel could tell he was above her in the hayloft, as she could perceive the outline of his form. Something else were here as well.
Something that buzzed, and had reflective spots on its form.
Luriel flew up cautiously, landing atop a rafter, trying to better see her adversary. She was greeted with words.
Part VII - Dance with a Dreamseed
SPOILERS!
"You are nothing. You can not defeat me. You are a technological abomination.
You are a thing built of man's lying science."
SPOILERS!
Luriel was shocked at his outrageous claims, and called back to him that she was a servant of Heaven and a Engel of the Lord! Who was this foul creature to make such heretical claims?
Before Luriel could fly across to the hay-loft's platform to end the deceitful words of her enemy, something buzzed out and past her, almost knocking her off the rafter. She was sure it was some sort of Dreamseed, but what kind?
Before she could react it attacked her, knocking her off the rafter and into a spin to the ground. As she impacted the hard earth below, the dog sized winged insect stung her in the stomach, and starting biting her on the shoulder, drawing blood and causing her great pain.
Luriel struggled against it, her blade banging ineffectively against the hard chitinous plates on the monstrosity. With a second strike she managed to pierce the armor, but she began to feel weak. This was not the odd magics of her hooded adversary, but the unwelcome pull of the sting in her stomach. With a grave resolve she continued to struggle with the biting insect fighting her to the ground, but she knew in her rapidly weakening state it was not to be.
Desperately, she thought of her distant Fellowship, and cursed herself for being in this situation without their help.
Death was more certainly ahead, if not for the fated apperance of Marcus, the father of the almost abducted child, appearing with a torch at the entrance to the barn. He shouted in alarm at the site before him, and the Dragonfly like Dreamseed lept from its winged prey and descended with great force upon its new target, biting through the poor man's throat.
Luriel, fighting back the paralysis and nausea of the venom working its way through her veins struggled to her feet and lunged at the Dreamseed as it bit deeper into Marcus. She managed to kill it, one fell swoop deep into its back. Marcus, sadly, was dead before she could reach him.
Luriel stumbled, and then fell to her knees. She whirled around, looking for any sign of her original pursuit, but she found only an open window on the back of the hay-loft.
Before Luriel could collapse, villagers, many carrying pitchforks and torches, appeared at the entrance and collectively gasped at the visage before them. A dead towns-friend, a monstrous Dreamseed, and an Engelic protector bleeding and weak.
Luriel remembered the words of her nonnus, Adolphus, regarding how rarely most humans ever saw Engel. How important it was that Engel always appear confidant and proud, to be a bastion against despair and fear. Steeling herself with those words, she rose to her feet and told the townsfolk what had happened. The Prelate was found and brought forth, and a mob was formed to hunt for the killer.
Luriel, against her protests, was convinced to return to Miriam's house to rest, at least until the toxin in her blood had worn off.
This was a dark moment for Luriel. She watched the newly widowed mother of Miriam pray over her child, and felt a sense of shame and failure. She had saved the child, but she had let one man die and the fiend escape. Luriel bent down and hugged the widow, unable to say anything. The woman only thanked her, crying into her soft wings.
Luriel bandaged her bite wounds, and the effects of the toxin quickly wore off. The tears of the widow still drying on her skin, she set forth into the night galvanized to find the cause of such sorrow, or die in the trying.
Part VIII - Hoffman
Luriel scanned the trees, searching for torchlights in the night beyond. She quickly caught up with three villagers standing around the robe of the fiend.
It was slashed in the back where she had cut him with her blade, and blood soaked the material around the cut. Why had he thrown off his cloak? Had he changed into something? With such strange powers, what was impossible for the Tempter to do?
Then she heard shouts to the east. Something (or someone) had been found. She flew through the trees to the source, and was shocked to find the Prelate and several of the townsfolk gathered around a body-
The body of Groten's monach, Bassius.
He was naked save for a simple loincloth, lying on his back. His body was covered in fine cuts that bled profusely. It was as if someone had meticulosly cut him with a razor sharp blade, in horizontal lines. He moaned in pain, still breathing, if barely.
The Prelate was aghast at this treatment, cursing the fiendish creature of the Tempter that would do such, an outrage. The villagers were also horrified, worried for the fate of their beloved spirtual shephard.
Luriel, however, doubted. She wanted to see his back. Something about this struck her as wrong. Why would Bassius be out in the woods, taken by the fiend and left here in such a state? The discarded cloak so close...
Before she could turn him over, the Prelate ordered Bassius to be taken to his home and tended to at once. Luriel tried without success to gain a look at Bassius's back, but again was unable to as he was carried away with great care. There was so much blood. Would the wound even been visible, if it was there? She began to doubt herself. The Prelate would never believe her if she didn't have some kind of proof.
Luriel began to walk back to the village, half following the group carrying Bassius. She stopped to ask one of the upset villagers about Bassius, feigning concern more than focused interest. She discovered that he had only been in the village for shy of two years. He had suffered some form of loss over a year ago, which was a hushed rumor that a village woman he felt inappropriate passion for had drowned while swimming with him. He had never been the same since, but he was still the heart of their village.
The dates matched... the oddity about the drowning was peculiar... somehow there must be a test to be sure...
Luriel decided she would try saying the name in front of Bassius and see if there was a reaction. If he was faking his injuries perhaps he would react to his true name. She walked to Bassius's house, and entered the room where the Prelate and the villagers tended to the monach's injuries. Waiting until a quiet moment, she simply said the name firmly:
"Hoffman."
There was a reaction... but not just on Bassius's face. Both the Prelate and Bassius reacted to the word. Bassius moaned and his eyes fluttered, the Prelate turned and looked greatly upset. He pushed Luriel out into the hall and demanded to know just what she was on about.
Luriel explained her suspicions to the Prelate, but he did not agree. In his eyes, Bassius was another victim of this dark creature of the Fear-Lord (Lord of the Flies), and that was that. He had heard of this heretic, Hoffman. He told her his head still hurt, and he was going to bed. The matter would be sorted out in the morning.
Luriel closed her eyes in frustration as the door to Bassius's chamber shut and the Prelate returned to the room in which the possible fiend slept. She had to find some kind of solid proof, something to make certain what she only suspected. What else would work?
Then it occured to her. If Bassius was really a runaway Ramielite monach named Hoffman, then he had to have hidden somewhere the most prized possession of any Ramielite.
His books.
She immediately went to Bassius's study chamber, and searched. She found a sketched portrait of a beautiful woman, odds and ends expected of a village Monach, but no written words.
She walked into the main chamber of the church in a sense of defeat and supplication. She needed guidance, and none was present to aid. She leaned on the altar, and pondered it as a possible place to hide something. It was a sacred place that no worshiper would profane. When her finger found the hidden button, she was both happy and terrified.
A hidden chamber opened. What would lay within? Did this confirm her fears? She stepped inside and walked down a short curving set of stone stairs in a small chamber. It was lined with books. On the wall, though, was the most suprising item of all.
A map. A map of Europe. A map of Europe showing the paths of the Infernos, and their current locations.
But this map was not current. It was not old either.
This map on the wall showed the course of the Infernos twenty years into the future. One was plotted as heading straight for Roma, and it was achingly close in its depiction.
Luriel's vision from her night of meditation filled her senses. The Inferno bearing down on the Holy City, and the voice... a voice from behind her... from a Wanderer, a friendly strange man...
"You can not avert this. It will be."
Luriel blinked, taking in the image of this map, making certain her recall would be perfect. The books were forgotten in this reverie of oddity; her danger here was forgotten as well.
She turned at the sound of Bassius's voice. There before her stood Hoffman.
"My my... you have been busy. What have you found, sweet winged one?"
Part IX - A Promise to Kill
Luriel knew the danger she was in. She was trapped in a small chamber with no room to maneuver. Before her stood the nearly naked form of the Monach the villager's knew as Bassius, but she knew his true identity. The wounds over his flesh closed before her eyes, sealing their razor thin slashes as he smiled at her. His eyes were both laughing and rank with disturbing intent.
She reached for her blade, but he merely gestured with his hands and the weapon flew from her grasp to the back of the chamber. Luriel met the eyes of her foe, and steeled herself for the attack she knew was to come.
Hoffman smiled at her then, and explained to her that he was not going to kill her. A dead Prelate could be forgotten, but a dead Engel? That was hard to explain. (She realized he had already slain the sleeping prelate).
He went on to tell her how she had impressed him, even if she had upset his plans and purpose. And, most importantly, he did not want to kill her for this reason above all:
"I will spare you for no reason if not this; I could have been you, you could have been me."
He told her his master was calling, and thus their conversation would have to end. Luriel made an effort to rush him, a desperate effort to perhaps grapple with him weaponless. He merely frowned and she was struck still. She stood motionless, as if her body would not obey her commands.
Hoffman told her she must now be punished in a way he felt most fitting. As he turned to walk out of the chamber, books began to fly from the shelves at Luriel. She was released from her immobility, but the books from all sides began to pummel her, and she was quickly overwhelmed as large volumes knocked her to the floor.
The irony of a Rammielite crushed by the written word was almost her last thought. As she lost consciousness, she became dimly aware of heat and flames, and being dragged from the source of the fire.
When Luriel regained consciousness, she found herself staring up into the face of several villagers and Maethiel. The smell of smoke and burned paper was strong in the church, and all around her were concerned faces. She had many bruises, but as she discovered, she was free of any burns.
Luriel began to tell Mathiel of all that had happened, and as he listened, he grew grave. He began to apologize to her for leaving her behind to fight such evil on her own, and trying to comfort Luriel in her disoriented and wounded state. Luriel wanted him to know that Adolphus could now safely come to the village, as Hoffman/Bassius had left, though she did not feel she had been very successful in achieving such.
Mathiel set forth once more to rejoin the party traveling south, and Luriel made her way to the hidden stairway, hoping that some shred of material might still remain. The image of the map still haunted her. Would it still be hanging on the wall? The memory of fire could not be false, as she could still smell the smoke. And yet where had the fire come from?
Luriel reached the bottom of the stairs and found nothing but ash and scorched walls. She imagined Hoffman had burned anything he did not wish to take with him, destroying all traces of his presence here. She returned to the chamber in his domicle where she had found the sketch of a woman.
The sketch, alone among the items in the room, was no longer present.
Luriel pondered, her bruises aching, her pride diminished, as to what sort of creature this Hoffman was. A servant of the Tempter, but something that kept sketches of a dead love?
What did he mean by saying he could have been her? He was only a human Monach, she an Engel.
And, as to his strange powers, it appeared he could control a Dreamseed. The night before he had set one on her in the barn.
As she hugged herself, exiting the church into the cold morning air, she made a promise. Someday she would meet this Hoffman again, and when that day came, she would finish what she failed to do in Groten.
Hoffman would die.
Round-up on Parts I through IX
Well, that finished the equivalent of our first three sessions. This was our first experience with Engel. Both the player and I were exploring, trying to find out just what qualities of Engel we wanted to embrace in our game.
In some ways, this serves as a kind of minature for the entire story to follow. Luriel passes through a kind of three phase process, innocence, awareness and finally sacrifice. The great evil (with a human soul) she found in Hoffman will return some day, but his presence is felt for many sessions to come. He is not a physical boogeyman to her adventures, but a kind of lurker in the fear and dread when further questions are asked.
In these sessions Malinda, who played Luriel, tried on the feathers and skin of an Engel for the first time, and by the end of the "Hoffman" espiode, she had decided she was fascinated and hooked. Something about playing the inquisitive and prideful seeker of understanding appealed to her.
For my own story, I'd decided by the end of these sessions just where I wanted my own Engel story to go. Even now, a year and a half later, Luriel does not know the truth of her existence or answers to many of the questions she asked as she left Groten's church, but the questions she asked there have shaped our entire game.
So, we will continue the journey of Adolphus and his Engelic protectors as they move further south into unknown territory. What will the lands of the Satrap be like? Will they encounter more Dreamseed? And most intriguing of all questions to come, just what will the renegade Engel "Thagiuel the Tripled Crowned" be like?
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it.
Continue to next part...
