Arc X: The King is Dead

## Arc IX Charcaters:

* Donovan Alaric [He/Him] (Played by Reagan - He/Him) - A Human Church of Blood Ministration Hunter. Since escaping from The Nightmare Plane he has been studying the ways of the Hunter and how to continue their legacy and change the public’s opinion to understanding them the way he does. He isn’t initially interested in becoming King but goes through once he is nominated because at the very least he wants to help show how good a King Lucas would be

* Lucas Alaric [He/Him] (Played by Evan - He/Him) - A Human Fiend Patron Warlock. 5 years after making his deal with Dispater he was called upon to do the first part of their grand plan, kill Henric Alaric. Lucas slipped a vial of poison into his drink that night and the next morning joined his family in mourning their father.

* Penny Lovejoy [She/Her] (Played by Nora - She/Her) - A High Elf Runechild Sorcerer. Since her injury and the death of her mother, Penny has only wanted one thing, control. She has lost almost everything, with many of her siblings going out into the world and doing their own thing, she is left alone to run her mothers Empire. Now she wants more power, and is willing to do anything to get it.

## Arc IX Synopsis:

### Session 1: And the Next King of Hyranor is…

#### Day 1:

Donovan and Lucas are each in their own rooms getting ready and get dressed up in their royal attrire that is expected of them for their fathers funeral and go to meet each of their guests. Each of the Ruling Counsel walk in first:

* Johnny Duff, Henric Alaric’s Right Hand
* Feylen Ianfiel, The Headmistress of the Arcane Academy
* KA-C3, The Captain of te Kingsguard
* Alodar Wakar, the Grand Cleric of Hyranor

They are then followed by the Lords and Ladies of the 7 cities of Hyranor as well as Glycaria:

* Aura Ashcreek, the Lady of Summermoon. Who is generally confused but knows she has to be here.
* The Ringmaster, the Lord of Solaris. He flashes his black eyes at Lucas to show he is also a Demon
* Johnathan Varyc, the Lord of Far Ridge. Formerly The Goblin Lord, he doesn’t make many public appearances outside of Far Ridge
* J3-BB “Jebb”, the Lord of Sunwell. He walks in with 2 guns at his side and another on his back.
* Marianna Moore, the Lady of Autumswind. She is “secretly” a simulacrum of Mother Lyrian
* Ragnar Lunarmane, the Lord of Dawnfall. He hosts many of the animal folk around the Kingdom so they feel more at home
* Narissca Barona, the Lady of Ravensrest. She is “secretly” a Vampire and hosts many of the monsters that easily blend in with Humans
* Penny Lovejoy, the Lady of Glycaria. She takes her seat next to Marianna.

While Ruling Queen Cassandra Haxel-Alaric begins the funeral, the door opens one last time to let in Mirabella Lyrian, not dressed in any sort of formal attire like she just came off of a ship. She apologizes for interrupting and takes her seat quietly. Cassandra then begins the nomination phase where any of the Lords and Ladies may nominate someone to become the next Monarch before naming the Chosen Heir. Penny beings by nominating herself, much to everyone’s surprise, shortly after Ragnar also stands and announces that he wants Lord Varyc to run as well, surprising everyone, especially Lord Varyc. After they are done, the Ruling Queen explains that the choice is more complicated than anyone could have predicted, and that they have chosen to elect both Donovan and Lucas as the Heir.

As they are released to go off to the funeral and the party afterwards, the three all go their separate ways, talking to different people trying to get an idea as to who the council will be voting for. They learn that at this point`, the votes are tied up between Donovan and Lucas, with Penny and Lord Varyc having no real votes. After the party wrapped up, Lucas went to visit Penny on orders from Dispater to see if he can use her or make some kind of deal with her. She is hesitant to agree to anything and Dispater offers to speak to her himself but Lucas declines, saying he will later if he can't find another way.

#### Day 2:

On the second day all of the candidates enter the throne room with the ruling Queen and the counsel. Each candidate answers the questions of "Why should you be King/Queen?" and "How would you serve the people of Hyranor if you are chosen to be King/Queen" as well as each of the getting asked one specific question by each member of the counsel. Each of them answer to the best of their ability but Lucas is the most put together and impresses the crowd as a whole. They break off and are given time to relax beforehand. Donovan overhears Lucas and Penny talk about them getting up and he resigns himself to listen in, following his brother having noticed him walking through the halls invisibly. He manages to not be seen as Lucas once again enters Penny’s room. This time he lets Dispater speak through him and tells Penny that he needs Lucas to win, and that he has a good chance, but he wants to make sure he has Penny on their side as well. Dispater offers her a seat on Lucas' Ruling Council as well as the improvement of her magic ability, given that he wins the election. Donovan, overhearing all of this accidentally wakes up the guard outside and is confronts the two when they exit the room. Lucas comes up with a quick solution by lying to Donovan and saying that Penny did something to him and that he is scared. Donovan is hesitant as something seems suspicious but he can't figure out what it is. So he goes to speak to his mother, requesting that they do the Scanning of Influence on the candidates before they do the elections and for the Chosen Heroes to be there. She is confused as to why, after not being given a clear answer, though trusts her son and promises it will be done.

#### Day 3:

As the candidates enter the throne room for the Vote they are all scanned for any sort of influence, and all come up clean due to the fact that Dispater has exited Lucas' body with the promise to return once he has done and to not get them caught. Once they all come out clean Donovan is relieved but still confused as to what Penny did or what Lucas has done. He doesn't have any time to investigate before the vote begins. Each council member steps forward and planes their vote:

* Johnny Duff casts his vote for Donovan
* Feylen Ianfiel casts her vote for Lucas
* KA-C3 casts their vote for Lucas
* Alodar Wakar casts his vote for Lucas

The result of the vote makes Lucas Alaric the new King of Hyranor. The others are asked to leave while Lucas makes his preparations. The other three leave and Donovan begins tp follow Penny who tries to lose him, but is not successful. Donovan tricks his cane into its whip form, threatening her into explaining what is going on. Penny does so, but with a slight twist, using her fan to charm him and explaining the full story, but he isn't sure who told him. He then makes her come with him as they go to the new Kings room to confront him. Dispater is with Lucas, explains that while he has won, there are a lot of people who are suspicious and he doesn't want to get caught right at the finish line. Donovan and Penny barge in during this and Dispater frames himself as a servant while the two brothers have an argument as Donovan confronts Lucas about the Demonic Possession and Deals he has made. When he sees that Donovan knows everything, Dispater decides that he either needs to die or he needs to give up on this plan for now. He outs both himself and Lucas before exiting the servants body and leaving Lucas to fight his brother.

A quick battle gets underway, with Lucas and Penny teaming up after Donovan deals a large amount of damage and bring Lucas almost to his death. Thanks to Pennys intervention Lucas is able to send Donovan to Hell for just a moment, and is able to throw a Fireball into a crowd of people forming outside waiting for the announcement of a new King. As Donovan returns to The Material Plane after chatting quickly with Dispater, fully sealing in that Lucas did all of this on his own, and the Demonic influence was not changing who he was, but amplifying the evil inside him, he sees his younger brother absorbing the life from all of the people who he had killed with his spell. Donovan realizes that he isn't going to win this now and uses his Old Blood to summon Darkness within the room and escapes down the hallways of the Ember Keep, meeting up with his family and the council on the way. They all go to escape, other than Alodar, who says he can stall them and help them escape.

As Alodar enters the room, he pulls draws his Angel Blade and carves a Celestial symbol into his chest before stabbing himself, using his own Grace as a fuel source for a Divine Explosion. Dispater returns in the aftermath, explaining that Lucas probably won't survive the aftermath of the explosion. Lucas agrees to become a Demon in order to survive. He then turns and heals Penny and makes good on his deal without an issue, revealing that he just wanted Lucas as a Demon. He goes on to say that he will be finding another vessel to suit his needs since two Demons cannot inhabit the same vessel. Lucas is now King, with Dispater as his Right Hand, and Penny as the Headmater of the Arcane Academy. They know they have slots to fill but also know that they can find people thanks to Dispaters connections. Before leaving he tells Lucas that despite everything, he did a good job and has exactly what he wanted.

### Epilouge:

Donovan and the group he escaped with are headed towards the continent of Atrea, knowing that the natural Divinity of the land will protect them from Dispaters gaze. Everyone is looking to Donovan as to what to do, and he releases that he needs to step up and slay the Demon King. He was so close before, and he won't let anything stop him this time.

## Arc IX Trivia:

* The theme of this Arc is Legacy, and how you live up to the people who came before you while trying to make your own choices
* This is the first arc where every PC was previously an NPC featured elsewhere
* This is also the first Arc where all of the PC's didn't have the same level from the start (Nalath gained an extra level after session 2 of Arc V)
* This Arc serves as a finale to the first “season” of stories within the WDU