Ikarus Stone

**Ikarus “Iks” Stone** is one of the main player characters in the Band of Fools series. Iks is a vampire hunter and former member of the Blades of the Parliament, where he was known as the 'Black Blade', before he defected for unknown reasons. Nowadays, he travels the world with his cursed longsword, the Sword of Dracula, in tow, searching for the perpetrators of his parents' deaths, which the sword itself played a role in.

He was first introduced in The Vanishing at 300 Block, where he investigated the disappearance of his girlfriend, Rika Burgers.

## Appearance

Iks has black hair and black irises. He wears a black jacket with a white shirt underneath, as well as dark gray trousers. The blackened Sword of Dracula rests on a scabbard worn on his back.

## Personality

Iks' VIRTUE is loyalty, while his VICE is violence. Due to the murder of his parents which he saw and traumatized him as a child, as well as being taken in under a vampire hunter guild, he grew up obsessed with vengeance. Iks is aloof and straightforward, possessing a mostly black-and-white worldview and favoring simple but practical methods. He became notorious due to his penchant for his violent, aggressive fighting style, though he does abide by a moral code that he adopted from his time in the Blades of Parliament that states that he will not harm or kill mortal or supernatural entities who present no harm to others.

The Blades of the Parliament, and his adoptive father Gregory Hampir in particular, raised him with the guild's moral code in mind, not minding too much about the other moral values parents usually teach their children. As such, Iks is loyal to the Parliament due to his parents being members before their deaths and sharing a common goal, and is not above allying himself with others who do the same, though he may not be so quick to trust. Iks will almost always immediately threaten or draw his blade at anyone who opposes him, be it mortal or not.

## Story

### Early Life

Ikarus Stone was born to unnamed parents, but were adopted by Grek and Sophia Stone. They named him 'Ikarus' and groomed him to become the latest in a long line of prestigious vampire hunters. Over the years, the other hunters belonging to their lineage would die out, leaving only Iks' nuclear family behind. Unfortunately, Grek and Sophia would be murdered by a group of vampire contract killers led by an Assamite named Moldark.

The Blades of the Parliament came to rescue them, but they were too late. Greg Hampir, one of the highest-ranking Blades, took Iks under his wing and as his own son.

### Becoming the Black Blade

Upon reaching the age of 18, Hampir started grooming Iks to become a member of the Blades of the Parliament. Iks trained under him, favoring and honing his skill with swords in the hopes that one day he'll wield the same weapon that killed his parents. After several months of training and missions, he was paired up with fledgling Blade Ayumi Tanaka to execute one final mission before their Unsheathing ceremony.

Their mission was to assassinate Giacomo Salvatore, a significant political figure within Kindred society and has murdered around 30 mortals in Grotthaven, Italy. However, they botch the assassination and encounter two Bloodwilder vampires, Vorrigan and Kozani. While Iks quickly eliminates Vorrigan, Ayumi barely escapes her encounter with Kozani. Frustrated, Hampir commands them to take shelter in the nearby town of Delsangue and gives them a second chance - if they can somehow dismantle the Bloodwilders, they may just pass their Unsheathing. There, he meets Hackridge, a blacksmith who tells him that the Sword of Dracula cannot be modified due to it being made of extremely rare Antediluvian steel.

Kozani arrives at Delsangue the next day and provokes the village by killing a few of its residents to force Iks and Ayumi to come out. The two fledglings lure Kozani into a secluded backalley, and though Ayumi wanted to preserve her for interrogation and study, Iks cuts Kozani's limbs off, killing her. Furious, Iks heads to the cathedral and has his sword blessed by the local High Priestess. Hampir then tells the pair that the Bloodwilders' outpost is in Colombera, several miles away from Delsangue. After parting ways with Hackridge and being granted an unused hilt, the two depart for their final destination. There, the pair encounter Moldark, the very vampire directly responsible for the Stones' deaths, who says that he was merely contractually obligated to perform the act and even resulted in his and his comrades' exile. An enraged and impassioned Iks takes the fight to the outpost and defeats both Moldark and a mysterious, powerful hybrid vampire named Asphodel through his sword's special power, with the latter act further disappointing Ayumi.

With their mission accomplished, Iks and Ayumi are brought back to the Parliament headquarters. A week later, they undergo their Unsheathing ceremony. Hampir was not happy with how the mission initially went and what Iks had to resort to to see it through, but he sticks to his word and officiates the ceremony. Iks is inducted as an official Blade of the Parliament, and christened the 'Black Blade'. Iks and Ayumi part ways with mutual dislike.

Iks would then go on missions involving the assassination of vampires and dismantling of Kindred bases as one of the Blades of the Parliament, searching for clues as to who employed the Bloodwilders to murder his parents.

### 300 Block

Two years after his Unsheathing, Iks would go rogue for unknown reasons, defecting from the Blades of the Parliament. Iks' journey led him to temporarily reside in Badapple City and the 300 block, where he eventually met Rika Burgers, and the two fell in love. Months later, Rika would go missing, and in Iks' efforts to search for her, finds out that she was kidnapped due to a certain conspiracy present in the city block. After interrogating Rika's landlord, Iks got the idea to search through public records at the city hall and finds out about a unlabeled vacant space underneath the park and the late architect of 300 block, Hans Hoffman, who used his influence to keep 300 block unusually peaceful, at the cost of occasional mysterious disappearances.

With the help of his friend Anjel, Iks was able to track the disappearance of Rika and all other previous disappearances on the site to the boiler room below the park, which happens to be home to a sinister contraption called the 'God-Machine' and a giant angel. The angel notices their presence, and sends the mortal landlords and government officials it has influenced to attack them. After the henchmen were disposed of, the angel, revealed to be Hoffman, offers Iks the choice to use the God-Machine. Iks, however, being impassioned as he is, immediately decides to kill the angel with Anjel's help, and destroys the machine by caving in the room, causing the ground to collapse from above. Iks and Anjel safely escape, but decide to part ways with mutual respect, with Iks leaving town altogether. A month later, Iks returns to pay respects to Rika's grave, and notices Hoffman's grave nearby. He digs it up and finds no body, but a piece of the God-Machine left behind. He takes it and leaves.

## Powers & Abilities

### Basic Information

* Profession: Vampire Hunter
* Conspiracy: N/A
* Defense: 7
* Speed: 11
* Initiative Modifier: 6
* Experience: 59
* Size: 5
* Morality: 7
* Flaws: Blood Knight (Very prone to battle anyone), Forgetful, Notoriety (Known to be violent)
* Weapon of Choice: Sword of Dracula
* Endowments: N/A
* Conditions: N/A
* ***Played by a Player: IksKun.***

## Equipment

* **Sword of Dracula:** The sword that Moldark and the Bloodwilders used to kill Grek and Sophia Stone, and left it at the scene. Upon reaching a certain age, Hampir offered the sword to Iks to use in his quest for vengeance and induction into the Blades of the Parliament. The sword has become darkened due to constantly being coated in blood, giving Iks the callsign, 'Black Blade'.