Vermon

> "*You think Vermon and his family are here to end the world? What, you think because a gargoyle has shown up, something bad simply has to happen?*"
> ― Attle Bowman
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Vermon is a side character in *Origin Stories* introduced in Killerjoy. He is the only living gargoyle left in The Dominion after the rest of his family is attacked by Prowlers.

## Appearance

Vermon is described as having pale, gray skin covered in bulging scales. He has a round face and empty eyes devoid of pupils. He had two large wings that sprouted off his back.

## History

### Early Life

Vermon, along with the rest of his family, aimlessly appeared one day on a ride near Eckle Lake. It was the first time in 1,000 years that anyone had seen a gargoyle. The family of gargoyles was found by the masques of Carver. Under Illum Nairo's instruction, Ember Spin was to watch over the gargoyles and keep an eye on the newly found beasts until they could figure out what to do with them.

Silver One happened upon the family one day, drawn to their nest by the sound of the mother's cry. Prowlers were attacking the family, apparently hoping to get some nice pelts out of it. When they killed the mother and almost all of the children, Silver One lashed out killing all the prowlers.

Vermon made his presence known shortly thereafter, having crawled away from the rest of his family. Silver One then brought Vermon to Three Hands. Three Hands told him what Vermon was (a gargoyle), and Silver One affectionately named him Vermon. He then brought him to Mayor's Manor in Carver to raise him until he got too big.

### Killerjoy

Vermon was stashed in the room beneath Mayor's Manor at the start of *Killerjoy*. Bomie Ono, the manor's caretaker, enlists the aid of a lord to help with what she believes to be a curse. Instead, she gets Proctor Allen and his imp, Cody. The three of them accidentally awaken Vermon and he breaks out of his hiding place, destroying the manor. Silver One comes and fights him. He knocks the beast unconscious before fleeing. Cody places a sign on Vermon to keep him asleep.

Demaro Jun is brought in by Lord Prime Rove Austra to deal with the beast. He decides he's going to kill Vermon while he sleeps. But at this point, no one in Carver knows that Vermon is a gargoyle other than the masques and Attle Bowman. Attle is brought on as a Collateral Investigator and is brought to investigate Vermon. He breaks the sign keeping him asleep and lets him escape, announcing that Vermon is a gargoyle.

Later, disguised as Silver One, Attle flees Carver to find Vermon near Eckle Lake, where he was born. Jun followed and a fight breaks out. Jun summoned a cyclops to fight Vermon while Attle fought the young lord. The fight came to an end when tumbling rocks crushed the cyclops and Silver One fled on Vermon's back.

They went to Three Hands's hiding village after the fight. It was decided Vermon would stay there and Attle would give up the persona of Silver One. After finishing his promise to help Three Hands.

Later, Three Hands makes a deal with Nairo to give him the gargoyle in exchange for Carver. Vermon and Three Hands relocate to the masque hideout near Eckle Lake until Nairo begins to put his plan in motion. Vermon was placed in what is effectively a stasis chamber, unconscious and unaware of the world around him.

Silver One, Jun, and all the other lords of Carver (minus Austra and Commandris) attack the hideout to effectively defeat the masques of Carver once and for all. Nairo uses Vermon and his connection to the Whirle to gain insight into the past. Doing so kills Vermon, and when the device backfires it kills many others in the vicinity.

In the epilogue, when Rouen comes through the Whirle and meets Baneman and Shining, he reveals that he had gargoyles. Whether Vermon is one such gargoyle is uncertain since Rouen didn't recognize the gargoyle when being brought through the Whirle.

## Quotes

> "*Before everything was taken away, the old world saw the gargoyles birthed from nowhere, without origin. No one had ever seen them before that time, and no one has seen a gargoyle since, aside from the pictures we have in books, and of course the fatherless family of gargoyles you've come across yourself.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*Vermon has a powerful connection to the Whirle. All gargoyle's do.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*... it only costs a single, albeit glorious creature's life.*"
> ― Illum Nairo
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> "*The problem was that gargoyles were rare creatures. So rare, the stranger remembered, that their sudden appearances were considered atrocious omens by Dirthe's natives.*"
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> "*The gargoyle was a baby when I brought him here. I had no idea how fast they grow.*"
> ― Silver One
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> "*Gargoyles are flesh and scale and little else.*"
> ― Demaro Jun
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> "*Someone brought me here. I saw a man. He called for me. And a young gargoyle, hardly a child inside a pillar.*"
> ― Rouen
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