| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Master of the Hunting Mist

Page history last edited by Master of the Hunting Mist 14 years, 2 months ago

=+

 

Recent History

 

    John's had a history.  Now its all changed.  The destruction of Longinus' College brought John to the edgeof his own humanity, made him face the power of the enemies of Creation.  He's peering over that edge, and taking the next step...

 

     After having his first Limit Break, he's wondering who he really is, and what the Exaltation did to him.

 

     The situation in Crimson Hollow has attracted John's attention, and he's decided to try his hand at nation-building.  He's going around to each nation to get them on-board with the reconstruction effort, while shoring up their defenses to limit and cripple Crimson Hollow's ability to profit from its activites.  Granite Falls is already on side, while Black Ravine still needs convincing.

 

Background

 

     John.  That's his actual name.  A rancher born-and-bred in the plains south of the great Yellow River, East of the Rolling River, he knew sun and sky as much as any home he had.  His family raised cattle, and that was all he expected of himself in this life.   He'd be the first to tell anyone he wasn't anything special, just someone who was expected to pull his weight helping his Pa, working under the leadership of his Ma, and if things went right, take over for them when they were ready to step down.

 

     This would have been his whole life, if there weren't a Wyld zone close enough to interfere with the business of the ranch.  First, his Pa took a bad fall one year, and had to slow down.  John started taking on more responsibilities with the other ranchers, shouldering a bit more weight.  He soon found himself the head honcho of his small world, handling the problems that his Pa would a few short years ago.  He felt tied to the world in real and substantive and satisfying ways; his world was solid, real, and challenging.  Then the disappearences started.

 

     The local chandelry passed word out about it; a few families having odd things happen, people disappearing and not being heard from again.  This can happen, ranch hands moving on from one place to the next, which was what everyone thought.  Until the Chandler's daughter went missing.  The search went on for a few days, until one of the search parties encountered the mist and lost four men to it.  They returned, raving about the sweet air that called to them, the mist that was there wherever they turned, and the insidious whispers that let them know they were prey.  John was left with few options now; his best men were terrified, his folks have little experience with a problem like this, no god to pray to, no army to call on.  He grabbed a pry-bar that he knew was made of cold iron, got on his best horse, and headed straight for the Wyld Zone.

 

     He had determination and ignorance in equal measure.  He had foolish dreams of glory and an easy victory, since he knew what he was likely up against.  The majority of his book learning were stories of the Fae, and he felt he knew as much as any man might; he thought himself well armed.  He rode in thinking, hoping, dreaming, and drew the mist to him inexorably.  He found himself in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by mist, confronted by a woman who seduced him with a single look.  She beckoned to him silently, and he dismounted his horse and sent if away.  She beckoned again, and he dropped his weapon.  She gestured a third time, and he laid with her, enchanted in every sense of the word, forgetting everything that he was and opening himself up to her for her pleasure alone.  Eventually, he was insensate, sliding towards oblivion as he was fed upon and consumed...

 

     As his identity slipped away, John's connections to his life started draining out like lifeblood.  He felt the loss, but did not care.  Friends.  Family.  They can go on without him.  They all were good people, and able to manage their own lives.  He might be missed, but everyone had to go sometime.  Maybe in the next cycle he'd be a rancher again; he enjoyed the life, the sense of responsibility, the connection to all around him...the ranch was home, was life, was like Creation itself in its own way...and something happened within John.  He resisted for the first time.  He felt that he was no longer pulling his own weight.  He felt despondent, shamed...and terrified.  He was what stood between this horror and all that he stood for, and he failed utterly.  In his last moment John gathered his last remaining will and shouted out with all the strength of his voice so that the sound would fly to Yu-Shan itself, declaring his allegiance and defiance as clearly as possible to Creation and its enemies all at once.  The last of himself, now the only part of himself, was pure.  The Sun shone on that moment.

 

And Time stopped.

 

     A figure appeared at that moment, behind him the Sun shining around and through him.  He could clearly see two arms, and two sunbeams that John thought acted suspiciously like extensions of himself.  He then spoke with the force of the Heavens behind it,

 

"I have turned my back on Creation, and let my hands rest idle while Creation suffers.  No more.  As you have declared your allegience to me, so I choose you to follow me.  Stand, defeat the unrighteous, recitfy that which is righteous, and live as you should."

 

Then he sang with the thunder of all the Elemental Dragons,

 

"There's a man going around taking names and he decides

Who to free and who to blame every body won't be treated

Quite the same there will be a golden ladder reaching down

When the man comes around

 

"The hairs on your arm will stand up at the terror in each

Sip and each sup will you partake of that last offered cup

Or disappear into the potter's ground

When the man comes around

 

"Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still

Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still

Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still

Listen to the words long written down

When the man comes around"

 

     At first, stunned, John simply let all this wash through him.  He simply did not care.  So the Shard in him showed him what was right and wrong, and which side he stood on, and how to stand again and how to care about what goes on.  John found himself fearing his nearly certain death, the circumstance he is in, how easily he was led, how he thought he would defeat this abomination so easily, his decisions, his own courage...and the shard whispered its past wisdom into his soul again, showing him the value in taking risks, in accepting consequence for actions undertaken, and seeing something through.

 

Time started again.

 

     The surrounding forest was ablaze in a light both Holy and most unusual, for it was the dead of night, yet it seemed like the Sun itself had set itself down.  The mist retreated, burned, but hungry still, and whispered its threats against the one who stood against it and threatened to leave it hungry.

 

     John then heard a voice from within his soul.  "Run, fool!  You're on *her* territory!"

 

     So John ran.

 

     He ran, not with fear, or the instinct of hunted prey, but with knowledge that he had not earned.  There was a place, close enough, that was lost and is now remembered again.  A small treasury from a time long long ago.  It held the keys to living, and becoming the master of this hunt.

 

     John ran, and time passed as the Mist pursued him.  He found himself covering a patch of bare bedrock that he dimly recalled covering before on horseback in his survey of the land.  His inner self drew him onward to a hidden fissure, knowing its secret ways as if he had made it himself.  He knew, for instance, the little Earth gods that must have come to rest here, and how the passing of a Fair Folk would rouse them from their slumber and anger them.  There was time enough, perhaps, for what needed to be done.

 

     The fissure dropped down after John squeezed through the entry, a tight narrow confine.  Above, the sounds of some occult battle began as the Mist ran afoul of the guardians of this place.  Deeper John went, until he entered a small hollow beneath the fight.  There he hid, and let his essence mingle with that of the manse's.  He found the small storage space from long ago, and claimed the artifact he discovered there,  plucked the Hearthstone from the wall and plugged it into the weapon's hilt.  With the click, and the sudden charge of essence, John felt the tide of this Hunt had changed.  Time to meet the hunter, and show the Mist who's what.

 

     He left the crevice, with the mist all around him.  John was unconcerned, for the Order of Creation was pouring out of him.  There was nothing the Mist could do to him.  Out of the Mist came the woman, all sexual and inviting, but her Charms no longer touched John's mind or soul, so he was able to see clearly and strike the Glamour from the Fae creature.  Before him now was the might of the Wyld...and he smote it without mercy.  Morning broke, and John, now Master of the Hunting Mist, found his horse, and went home.

 

Current Goals

 

  • Master and channel his own concerns about the recent attacks on Longinus' College and Chronopolis
  • Keep raising his Familiar to be his best companion.  There are a lot of tricks to help with this that John is considering.
  • Power-Awarding Prana is giving Yoshi a significant boost in power, something that Mist intends to maintain.
  • Consolidate the ranch, make it secure, settle any supernatural disturbances that might appear.  Be the supernatural sheriff of them thar parts.
  • Any Wyld Zone he comes across he will certainly fool around with.
  • Work on securitizing a place the size of Montana, somehow.
  • Deal with Denandsor somehow, and Walker's Bane.
  • Find out all he can about the destruction of Chronopolis and the College, and prepare to strike back.

 

Backgrounds

 

  • His familiar, Yoshi, is fast becoming a contender in his own right.  [Spirit-Tied Pet is committed to keeping him favoured.]
  • His ranch is currently his largest single concentraion of background points.  He has his Followers (which he more or less just has to manage the ranch) and his Resources.  They don't amount to a lot, so they're fairly anonymous overall.  People who know, know the place as the High Noon Ranch in Ironscar.  [Resources 3 favoured with First Survival Excellency, Friendship With Animals Approach and Bestial Traits Technique, his Followers 2 favoured with 1st Performance Excellency and Phantom Conjuring Performance.]
  • He has a Manse close to where he's from that he knows about, where he gets his Cold Iron Bauble heartstone. [Background at chargen]
  • He managed to convert the local Wyld Zone into a level 1 Wood Manse, producing an Stone of the Emerald Rooster.[WST-favoured]
  • In the month of Resplendent Fire, 771, he converted a bordermarch into a level 1 Earth Manse, producing a Stone of Breath.[WCT-favoured]
  • During the same shaping event, a tribe of Wyld barbarians took note of his feat, and worshipped John.  Slightly abashed, he took on this odd responsibility rather awkwardly, and is exploring options for doing something about these people. [Cult-2 favoured, First Presence Excellency, Element-Resisting Prana]
  • He has an artifact, a slightly modified Chain Daiklave, less accurate as a short Daiklave and better for clinching.  He has a Hearthstone Amulet, and Hearthstone Bracers.[Chainklave, chargen bg/HA, gift from Orduin/HB non-favoured]
  • The destruction of Longinus' College has left a significant amount of former students out of sorts.  John seems to keep tripping over them, and collecting them as he goes, forming a network that he alone seems able to maintain.
  • In his travels, two new freinds have come into his life, though Mist may not know it yet.  S'skeuck, a Raptok, and Heseiah, a Mosok, have taken an interest in Mist's life, and are preparing to contact him [Allies 2]
  • Deciding, after improving his ability to play and entertain folk, that he needs a better instrument, John went into the reformed Wyld Zone near his hometown, and tried his hand at shaping a perfect instrument to go with his near-perfect musical performances. [Artifact 2, Unsurpassed Six-Stringed Instrument, self-crafted here]

 

Stuff

 

    The ranch and area that John comes form is a matriarchial society, with women being the property owners, passed down matrilineally, with menfolk having to be useful and polite, and proving that often.  His mother is the owner and matriarch of the Ranch, an offshoot of another clan more remote.  She rules the place with a firm hand, and has rather conservative views on how folk should conduct themselves.

 

   John has any number of items on his person and available to him in his saddlebags when he's in a scene.  Most notable are his duster (Perfect quality, +2 on survival checks when weather is involved), his six-stringed instrument (Perfect quality, +2 on performance checks), his lasso (exceptional, +10 yard range), some cash (a single expenditure of resources 2), a blanket, roll, some tarp, a knife, hatchet, string, twine, rope, flint, whetstone, wax, chalk, chalk dust, some graphite, paper, ink, quill, oil, a lantern, thread, needle, cloth and other items that he's found useful on the road.  The saddle for Yoshi is a custom job to fit his unusual size and frame and can seat three comfortably.

Comments (7)

Richard Hughes said

at 11:34 pm on Jun 3, 2009

June 09 Wiki Update xp awarded

wastevens@... said

at 6:48 pm on Jun 30, 2009

July 09 Wiki update awarded. Early.

wastevens@... said

at 2:44 pm on Aug 1, 2009

August 09 wiki update awarded

wastevens@... said

at 9:34 pm on Sep 3, 2009

September 09 wiki update awarded

wastevens@... said

at 12:02 pm on Oct 4, 2009

October 09 wiki update awarded

wastevens@... said

at 10:21 am on Nov 1, 2009

November 09 wiki update awarded

Master of the Hunting Mist said

at 4:05 am on Jan 2, 2010

December 09 and January '10 wiki update awarded

You don't have permission to comment on this page.