The Story so far

The Story so far

The Millennium Lock Heist

Rex Z. Wodime is the result of a marriage between prominent members of the Wodime and Zemlupus families with the hopes he would inherit the best qualities of both, unfortunately he inherited no great talent for Astromancy or Beast Slaying.

Ordinarily he would have been discarded but his parents pleaded with their families to train him properly and so at 15 he was sent to train with the Seats of Claimh Solais, a group of magus mercenaries dedicated to the protection of Ireland's Mystery. Over the years he trained and became more proficient until an important assignment arose: a treasure hunter named Malia Aleqsei Dameresq had come to Ireland for unknown reasons. After a brief struggle the Seats retreated, sensing something wasn’t quite right and Rex was left behind in the struggle to face her alone when a woman in japanese armor came to his rescue. When he awoke, Malia was gone and the woman was tending to his wounds. When he asked why, she responded that it was the right thing to do and then left him there. With his family's disappointment on his shoulders, an opportunity came 5 years later in the form of a request from the current head of Zoology in the clocktower which led him to Schwarzwald, Germany.

Minase Shizuka was abandoned by her family at 10 for her half blood nature, being half Yokai by the Sakagami Family. She survived on the streets until she was picked up by the Yakou family who, seemingly aware of her powers, took her in and raised her until she was old enough to join the family and become an enforcer. As she grew older she also grew in notoriety, even making friends with the younger daughter of the family head, Akira.

As they grew closer it became more and more apparent to Minase something was wrong, Akira didn’t smell like a Mage and often cringed over her right arm. Eventually Akira confessed to Minase what was happening: Her family's magecraft created artificial divine organs to transplant into them and she was holding the excess power her father could not, serving as his Black Chest.

The family higher ups caught wind that the secret had been leaked to Minase and then sent her to a warehouse to be killed. In the process of her escape, Minase grabbed a weapon to defend herself and found a sword with a spirit attached to it which demolished the warehouse around her.

Seeking an escape, she went to a local informant who notified her of an opportunity in Schwarzwald, Germany’s Black Forest and she boarded the first ship bound out.

Honda Suzuki is a Kitsune Assassin in the service of the Yakou family. In this day and age phantasmal species are becoming rarer and rarer, but due to the magecraft of the Yakou family they are able to supply beings such as Kitsune with Mana and have taken to raising them. At one point the Yakou had hundreds of Kitsune under their care, but that number has dwindled to a mere four packs in recent years. Honda was taught to follow orders from his parents and his handler, Genma Yakou and was even promoted to personal bodyguard to the current Black Chest, Akira Yakou. One month after he began his new position he heard news of an explosion at a Yakou warehouse. Shortly after he received a letter from the head himself, Yukinobu Yakou telling him to abandon his bodyguard duties and locate a traitor who had stolen something of great importance: an old english longsword. With these orders in hand he left for Germany immediately.

Kiyohime Miyoji is the weaker half of a pair of twins, greater magical circuits had seemingly come at the cost of her body so while her twin trained to become a better magus, she was bedridden. One day her twin Mako was targeted by an attack that quickly ate through his magical circuits and killed him. Before his death he asked Kiyo to be a better head to the family than he would have been. This led Kyohime to train her body to overcome her weak constitution and reclaim the years she lost. In the process of becoming healthier she was able to observe more mage politics and quickly became disillusioned with the idea of becoming head of the family. Instead of following her brother’s wishes she took to training and meditating in magically concentrated areas in an attempt to slow her aging. On her 33rd birthday she received a letter informing her that the current head had passed away and she needed to assume her duties as the new head. Believing herself not to be fit for the task, Kiyohime chose instead to leave for Germany at the behest of the head of Zoology.

Layla Eberl

A prominent doctor who joined the Atlas Institute in search of new medical techniques who traveled here after an Atlas Contract was invoked to serve as party medic and heal anybody as they traveled through the Lock. She has been disillusioned by some of the more extreme experiment’s of Atlas and doubts have begun to settle in.

Campaign 1-The Millennium Lock Heist

The story begins at an unnamed castle in the German countryside, just outside of the boundary of Schwarzwald: The Black Forest. The party has arrived at the open invitation of Gadriel Chavemeur, the current head of Zoology in Clocktower promising rewards in exchange for help in a trivial matter. Upon arriving however, they find her outside with her husband Auron and son Alistair after an incident led to the various chimera being stored there to escape. Layla reports to Gadriel per the contract, but Auron reveals he had used it to get her there earlier than intended to Gadriel’s annoyance.

After some shenanigans involving some pretty powerful two and three headed goats, the party was able to finally sit and rest as Gadriel introduced them one by one by her findings. While the rest of the party enjoyed a nice meal, Alistair only drank a blue “smoothie”. Unfortunately Gadriel accidentally revealed Minase as a former Yakou to Honda who then also revealed himself which almost brought the two to conflict before they came to a truce.

Afterwards Gadriel explained the situation: a friend of hers named Malia had recently disappeared inside of Schwarzwald and she had become worried something had happened. She offered them her aid in future endeavors and favors in exchange for finding Malia and the item she was searching for, a large pot with a stick inside it. Their guide would be a man named Abelard Fyodor Wolschroder who knew the forest well.

After the party accepted the request Gadriel invited Layla upstairs to complete the first part of the Atlas contract, revealing a gruesome sight: Alistair on a table with his arm severed and Auron raging at his wife for her recklessness. Layla was able to stabilize him but Gadriel seemed enamored with his arm which bore crimson sigils on the back of his hand. Minase caught her coming back downstairs and saw the bloodstains on her clothes, but chose not to pursue it.

Once the party was ready they headed out, being led by Abelard through the forest and running into some of the wildlife such as the Forest of Einnashe, a living forest of monstrous trees intent on eating anyone who comes close. After a fierce battle they run through an area filled with Black fog, they arrive at their true destination: The Millennium Lock, home of Caubac Alcatraz. Abelard apologizes for the deception on his part but he needed their help getting his wife out of the Lock safely and working with Gadriel was the only way he had to get through the forest. The apology is brushed off and they begin their journey to Offenburg, his hometown. On the way they’re accosted by a group of priests from the church before they get a break in the form of a sandstorm being kicked up by their leader Father Lammond as he fights an unnamed woman in japanese armor.

At this point the Church had been invading for roughly a week. Abelard had left with Malia to test if he could survive outside the Lock and while he would need a breathing apparatus or a mana dense environment it was possible. Malia was then supposed to bring his wife Annalise with her on her exit from the Lock.

Once they arrived in Offenburg the group realized they had a tagalong in the form of Roarke Moro Bay, an exorcist for the Church looking to defect after becoming disillusioned with the actions they were taking against half humans and phantasmal species.

While there, they realized that some better equipment would be in order to fight off an entire Church Crusade at which point Abelard introduced them to his associate Gustalfo who would go treasure hunting with him. The Lock had no shortage of mages who came looking to pillage materials and died in the process, usually getting dragged down to the nest of some local vampire spawn.

Gustalfo took an interest in Minase’s pistol and started working on schematics before suggesting she visit Kata, an old mage living nearby who gave her an impromptu lesson in beast magecraft before heading out to hunt for his dinner. Afterwards they began their trek into the cavern north of Offenburg, short one Honda who stayed behind to guard their new priest friend. As they went through the caves they came to a larger cavern where they were ambushed by Kitsune Assassins sent by the Yakou clan who had somehow tracked the Party to Schwarzwald and entered the Millennium Lock as a scouting party. They accused Minase of conspiring with Honda in order to kidnap Akira Yakou who disappeared the day Honda left. After some combat they left one alive named Ishida who went to report to his superiors though it was unclear if he truly believed them.

Once the Kitsune were gone they were free to loot as they pleased, pulling some unique mystic codes from the pile of Vampire spawn food before realizing the Locks properties had interfered with the item's decomposition, altering their abilities slightly or even giving them pseudo personalities. On the way out from their fight with the Kitsune the party investigated natural crystals in the cave with unique properties, bearing the mana of Caubac Alcatraz. It was then pointed out these crystals bore the same scent as Alistair's “Smoothie”, as well as Abelard himself though he couldn’t seem to smell it. Once the party was back in town they attempted to bring their new Mystic Codes to someone to fix or buy them where they were referred to Valouise Coingembarnt, a mage who specialized in the restoration and alteration of Mystic Codes and Gustalfo’s ex partner. After some haggling she agreed to fix their mystic codes for a reduced price. Afterwards the party visited Gustalfo to ask about the crystals and whether they were safe to ingest. After Abelard revealed that Gadriel had replaced his organs under the guise of helping him survive in the modern day, the connection was made: she had been blending up crystals with Abelards former organs and feeding them to her son. While the effects are still unknown, the possibility remains that this concoction of Dead Apostle mana could turn Alistair into a vampire spawn or worse.

Upon receiving their modified mystic codes, the next day the party, now eager to return and confront Gadriel, set out for a mine just north of Offenburg near Gengenbach. According to Roarke, this mine stretched from one side of the valley to the other and would take them straight to Haslach, where the Church had been stationed. As they descended into the mine more secrets of the Lock began to reveal themselves. The crystals they had formerly assumed were natural were actually crystalized mana from the victims of the vampire spawn in the Lock.  After an extended period of guilt she could no longer bear, Layla confessed what had happened to Alistair. She explained the horrific scene she had walked in on and how she had barely managed to save him. The party also learned of the mysterious red symbols on his hand and how Gadriel was obsessing over them.

With this information in hand, they made for Haslach posthaste and stumbled upon an underground city in a style foreign to the Lock. The buildings were made of yellow sandstone and the area was completely devoid of water. The only thing that could have made the scene stranger was the train that had crashed into the largest building and now rested in a permanent incline. After a brief confrontation with a set of ghosts who took the form of people from the party’s past. They made their way through the temple and into the train which was revealed to be a prototype rail zeppelin, taking refuge in its safe area which protected them from the ghosts. While there Layla picked the safe and found a mystic Eye of Fear Inducing which was given to Rex, and Roarke had a heart to heart with Minase regarding her demonic heritage and his faith

After a while they managed to sneak out, and began making their way up the tunnel that would lead them to Haslach. During this time more speculation was thrown around regarding Gadriels motives and the role of Malia, who apparently had come to the Lock some time ago. Just before reaching Haslach the party experienced a small earthquake as Father Lammond had finally managed to rid himself of his attacker by destroying the ground beneath her and sending her into the mines below. While Priests were combing the area the party raced to find her first and reached a group of priests lead by Brother Sistine confronting her under a Sakura tree which seemed out of place in the mines.

[Cont]

Oneshot 1: Return to Roots

Oneshot 2: The Yakou Job

Campaign 2: ???