Battle at the Order of Dawn Headquarters

### Conflict

Finding a weapon to kill Gaius Augustine* Xenocrates (aka Erik Balthazhar IV) decides to annihilate all vampirekind

### Outcome

* Order of Dawn Headquarters is destroyed by Xenocrates to erase all evidence
* Unnamed Order of Dawn recruit is killed or spared (Determinant)
* Serafine Dupont and her patrons are rescued
* Adrian Raines, Lily Spencer, Kamilah Sayeed, Jax Matsuo, and Your Character successfully get the weapon from the Tree of Eternal life
* Elias Morales dies
* New York is under siege with 500 casualties

### Cause

* Past history of how vampire kind had evolved into the first evil

### Side 1

Adrian RainesYour Character
Kamilah Sayeed
Lily Spencer
Jax Matsuo
Serafine Dupont

### Side 2

Xenocrates (Erik Balthazhar IV)
Order of Dawn members
Unnamed Order of Dawn recruit

### Forces 1

Kamilah Sayeed
Your Character
Adrian Raines
Lily Spencer
Jax Matsuo
Serafine Dupont

### Casualties

Xenocrates
Unnamed Order of Dawn recruit (Determinant)
Order of Dawn members
Elias Morales

**The Battle at the Order of Dawn Headquarters** is an event that takes place in Bloodbound, Book 2, Chapters 13 to 14. It is where Adrian Raines, Kamilah Sayeed, Jax Matsuo, Lily Spencer, and Your Character go to Mydeia to find the Tree of Eternal Life to get a weapon from it.

## Prelude

Adrian Raines, Kamilah Sayeed, Jax Matsuo, Lily Spencer, and Your Character meet Elias Morales who was a former Order of Dawn member. He gives some information and explains the Order of Dawn in how they move and act. Eventually, Elias Morales wins the trust of the group and orders Jax Matsuo and Lily Spencer to find a boat that can fit everyone in and that doesn't sink. Your Character can converse with Adrian Raines, Kamilah Sayeed, and Elias Morales about their past or talk to them the last time.

## Infiltration of the Order of Dawn Headquarters

Once Lily Spencer and Jax Matsuo find a boat, Your Character keeps a lookout for members of the Order of Dawn until Adrian Raines, Kamilah Sayeed, Jax Matsuo, Lily Spencer, Elias Morales, and Your Character reach land. Elias Morales suggests that they ambush the Order of Dawn members and take their uniforms to blend in. The group succeeds and only when they reach topside, Elias Morales and your group find out that the Order of the Dawn outpost became Headquarters in the last 30 years.

Elias Morales tries to sneak into the compound but the UV ray detection system detects him and vaporizes him immediately to the horror of the Adrian Raines, Kamilah Sayeed, Jax Matsuo, Lily Spencer and Your Character. Your Character volunteers allow herself to get inside the compound to "empty out" the compound so that Lily Spencer can deactivate the UV ray detection system from the inside and Jax Matsuo will find weapons for Your Character to use (premium choice).

Your Character succeeds by pretending that she is a "vampire hunter expert". She answers the recruits' questions including the Unnamed Order of Dawn recruit whom you recall and have a choice later to either spare him or kill him. As Your Character is about to be lead away, she pulls the alarm to have the Order of Dawn members evacuate and Adrian Raines, Kamilah Sayeed, Lily Spencer, and Jax Matsuo sneak in during the commotion.

## Turn back the Pendulum

Once inside, Lily deactivates the Order of Dawn systems. Your Character has a choice to explore with Kamilah and Adrian and discover items shown as trophies of the Order of Dawn's victories. Jax appears and gives Your Character a crossbow to use which you have a choice to accept with diamonds or not. Lily guides Your Character, Kamilah, Adrian, and Jax to an underground cavern with a door that is locked with a passcode. The door shows a blood drop, a knife, a flame, and a tree. Your Character discovers the passcode is LIFE and it opens to reveal the Tree of Eternal Life which every vampire thought to be a myth but Xenocrates, who has assumed a new identity as Grand Cleric Erik Balthazar IV, finds the group out much to their shock.

Your Character learns that Xenocrates was created by Rheya but killed her when she became power hungry. Xenocrates laments that he should had killed Gaius when he had a chance and how only few people know he is a vampire. He reveals that unlike Gaius, he didn't create any "abominations" and that humanity deserves to be saved from the vampire community despite times had changed. Your Character tries to appeal to Xenocrates but he ignores her and goes on talking about how Kamilah and Adrian are Gaius' lackeys who were willing to follow him around and even scorns Jax even though he was not created by Gaius directly.

## Battle and The Greatest Power is not from unnatural means but from the Heart

Xenocrates orders his soldiers to kill everyone. Jax and Kamilah bring out their weapons and dispatch the soldiers with ease with the aid of Your Character using the crossbow (if chosen to take from Jax earlier) to finish two soldiers while they were occupied. Adrian, Kamilah, and Jax try to fight Xenocrates but he is too fast and strong. As he is about to finish Jax off, Serafine Dupont uses her psychic powers to hold Xenocrates while Jax gives a distance safe from him and Xenocrates and Lily joins the fight to help. The Unnamed Order of Dawn recruit tries to fight Serafine while she is holding down Xenocrates but Your Character has a choice to talk him down, thus sparing him, or let him be killed. If you convince him to stand down, Kamilah ties his arms with a dead Order of Dawn member's clothing and orders him to stay away from the battle.

Kamilah carves the weapon but is tempt by drinking the blood from the Eternal Tree of Life to have "an edge" against Gaius. Adrian warns Kamilah that should she do it, it would be similar to Adrian's serum in the Upstate New York Showdown where he overdosed on his serum. Since Kamilah had worked hard to clean herself from all the sins done in the past with Gaius, Adrian tries to convince her to let him drink it since Gaius wanted him to be a monster. Your Character stops both of them and tells Adrian and Kamilah that it is their compassion and will to fight for a better future despite the odds made them special even before they were Turned by Gaius. Since Gaius has neither of these characteristics, this caused Gaius to fail to redeem himself. Adrian and Kamilah thank Your Character and carve the weapon. Jax cuts off Xenocrates' head but Xenocrates' finger self-destructs the Order of Dawn Headquarters. However, Adrian, Kamilah, Lily, Jax, Serafine, and Your Character escape along with the Unnamed Order of Dawn recruit.

## Destruction of New York

The Unnamed Order of Dawn recruit thanks the group for showing him that he is wrong and he promises to do things right. He says that should the group need him, they would know how to find him. Your Character arrives at Elias Morales' villa with Adrian Raines, Kamilah Sayeed, Jax Matsuo, and Lily Spencer and grieve for Elias Morales. They then head back to New York but not until Serafine and Your Character speak privately where Serafine shares a cryptic warning about how there is "something" inside Your Character's body about to awaken for the worse. As the group is about to head back to New York City, they find out New York is under siege and 500 people are dead. The live feed cuts with a scream by the reporter, indicating he is either hurt or dead. The news hurt everyone but they stomach their fears and decide to find any survivors and prepare their final stand!