donovan_deegan | A testing ground for Demmy and the Deegans.

Yes, the man who just came out of the welcome bay was most certainly wearing a shockingly pink jacket. Under it, he had been wearing a black shirt, but now hit was over one arm to show off the odd looking tattoo over his whole chest. A Kelsheen mark. Never knew when it would be useful. He had his axe in one hand. He was ready to shred, if he could find someone to jam with.

Yeah, the man had just been kidnapped. He looked remarkably calm about it, in fact, he seemed almost cheerful. He found a seat after a bit, pulled his axe into his lap, and then started playing, watching people to see who might come near, and figuring out who he could ask for more information than the projection had given him.

Question number one being.... where was Miranda?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

donovan_deegan

"Jacob's experiments on his brother grew worse and worse. The middle brother was able to use his visions to stop the worst of them, like when Jacob almost turned their youngest into a zombie. Or when he was going to cut him in half to study the difference between an affected lung and a healthy one. Worse and worse it got until even the parents who wished only to see the best in their children, even at their worst, could see it. Eventually the eldest brother left under the cloak of nightfall, taking a chunk of his little brother's leg with him for further study."

"Jacob traveled. He grew dark and distant. He learned from other necromancers, sometimes as their student, sometimes as their killer. HE was trying to become the ultimate Necromancer, he was trying to merge the strengths of death magic into his own living body. And he would pay any cost, it seemed, to achieve his goal."

"When he needed to add dead flesh to himself, he removed his own healthy flesh to make way for it. And when he found out about a group of powerful mages who had exactly what he needed for a project, he concocted a plan to kill them all...."

From:

melodiouspacifist

It was this passage that got a reaction out of Demyx. He scrunched up his nose. "That's disgusting."

Apparently, that was his breaking point on being quiet, the idea of zombie flesh.

From:

donovan_deegan

A small dark smile. "If you think that is disgusting, it only gets worse. I won't start by telling you how he slaughtered them, then. Or how he used his middle brother in a hangman's noose as bait to draw them out. And I most certainly won't tell you how he hid from his brother's scrying and passed himself off as one of the mages by skinning him alive and wearing his skin - including his glyph that prevents scrying that was burned into his forehead...." He shook his head.

"The problem was his middle brother, the seer, he was used as bait, as a distraction for the mages, but also for their younger brother. Jacob use their brother to draw out the cursed one. Fir he needed two last things for his current project. The first was the curse. He ripped it out of his youngest brother, through his healthy side, leaving him bleeding on the ground."

"The last thing that he needed was for no one to care about him any longer. Human attachments like love and friendship, trust and caring... those were all detrimental to what he was trying to build. His youngest brother had been, as far as he knew, the last hold out. The last of his family to love him, to believe in him, to know he could be better if he wanted to be. And h left him bleeding out on the grass."

From:

melodiouspacifist

"Eugh." He groaned at the disgusting descriptors. Demyx was not a fan of blood, or sweat, or icky things. It was kind of an odd hold out considering he was a Nobody.

He nodded a bit, destroying love to fall into darkness sounded about right.

From:

donovan_deegan

Hey, he didn't puke. That put him ahead of the game. The youngest brother stood, using his white magic to heal him, and gave Jacob what he wanted. His enmity. That settled, Jacob took his corpses with him and vanished into the ground, leaving his brothers to deal with the townsfolk and confusion. With the parts he gathered, he worked on building his latest and perhaps greatest creation. He was trying to build a necromantic golem - an artificial creature made from the dead, fueled by magic. He gave the golem the power of a seer and the seal that blocked them. He gave the golem all that he thought it would need. Power, intelligence, training... and he left out hat he thought was unimportant.... a heart, a name, a family."

From:

melodiouspacifist

That was probably a saving grace, it would not be impressive if he did.

Demyx quieted again, listening with a nod. So the bad guy created a monster.

"Well of course not, it's a monster."

From:

donovan_deegan

Donovan managed not to smile. Good. That was exactly what he wanted the boy to conclude. He nodded. "A monster was what Jacob hoped to create." Must avoid all the make new friends jokes that he always wanted to share when this came up. That wasn't the point, this story had a purpose.

"Jacob wanted a powerful creature that would do his bidding and eliminate his foes. He also wanted to use the powers he had built into the golem for himself, and dedicated his time to teaching it to use those powers on his behalf. Especially the scrying." It was like Donovan always said, what was done was done, there was no point in scrying about it...

From:

melodiouspacifist

He nodded a bit as the food arrived and he took a french fry and bit into it. It was pretty good and made him smile.

"Yeah, I guess." He hummed somewhat, non-committal.

From:

donovan_deegan

"So he put the time in, he worked on his creation, drove the golem hard. He wanted his monster to be ready. And at long last the time came for the monster's first test. Jacob teamed up with the Necromancer that attacked his family, among others, to stop a group from reaching his middle brother. He was of the mind that what his brother was doing should not be interrupted. So he sought to prevent help from reaching him. So when a party of heroes came forth to save the young man, Jacob sent his golem to finish them off."

He took a bite of his burger, letting the pause for chewing build dramatic tension.

From:

melodiouspacifist

It was a bit of a long story by that point, but it was interesting enough with golems and bad guys. He listened as he ate, sipping the shake while he was at it. The food was really good, he should eat it more often.

"Okay..."

From:

donovan_deegan

This was going to be a fun bit.

"I was one of those heroes," he said, simply, then took another bite to allow for reaction time.

Burger wasn't half bad. He was glad they had agreed to meat here for the story.

From:

melodiouspacifist

"So obviously he didn't win, you're still here." Demyx commented.

From:

donovan_deegan

"Ah, few battles worth speaking of are concluded so simply. I escaped. Jacob escaped. The Golem also survived. But do not rush the story young man, a good tale is told in its own time, at its own pacing. And this burger is delicious."

From:

melodiouspacifist

"Sorry, sorry." He waved his hand and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's pretty good." He grinned.

"Go on then."

From:

donovan_deegan

"The foes seperated the heroes, to divide and conquer, never once realizing that this meant they too were seperated from each other. An infernomancer used illusions to pose as a friend, and squared off against a werewolf on our side, a priestess named Jayden and I went up against Jacob, his golem, and his zombies while two others went on to fight the necromancer that had attacked Jacob's family when he was young."

"I have gathered the stories of the other battles since, of course. How the mage we sent on ahead used powerful illusions in her battle, and ultimately was saved by a being from another plane, who helped her to save the werewolf and end his battle. But for the priestess Jayden and I, the end to our battle came not from swords or soccerry, our deus et machina was not from another plane, but from another sort of battle entirely."

"A battle of wits."

"The problem with building a monster, as Jacob did, is that you never get to know the whole of your creation. In some ways, it is not terribly unlike having a child. Through pain and suffering and effort - not always are all of those your own - you bring a new life into the world. You have plans for it, you train it, you shape it into what you want it to be. And at some point you learn that others have had a hand in its development. In this case, two hands, the golem's left and his right. Jacob knew what powers he wanted his golem to have and develop, and he gave him those, caring little for things like personality. Jacob never intentionally gave his golem a sense of humour."

"He had one anyway."

"Our battle changed flavour quickly once we discovered that. You could say I had the golem... in stitches." He grinned and sipped his shake. "Jacob declared his creation a failure. Told us that he had been trying to create a life free of want, of excess. Jayden told him that had had succeeded instead, that he had created a life capable of laughter, that there could be no greater sign of life, than a life that can feel joy."

He took a bite of his burger, and wiped his mouth. "Of course, Jacob's reply to that was to inform Jayden he was going to kill her."

From:

melodiouspacifist

So he had created something that just didn't match up with what he wanted. Jacob was an odd guy, really, but Demyx knew how hard it was to clamp down on people's personalities.

"I guess, if he's there on a killing spree." He commented, sipping his milkshake as well.

From:

donovan_deegan

"Well, he was there to kill us in any event. But he didn't get a chance, because another golem, one made of life and souls, sent him fleeing. He abandoned his creation as a failure. I agreed with Jayden, however. His sense of humour, his ability to laugh, it showed us that he truly was alive. And what Jacob didn't bother to give him... feelings, a name, love, we gave him. We brought him home with us, and he became a part of the family," he said softly. "He was created to be a monster, from people who had acted as monsters. He lived. And he died, a hero..." he said softly, closing his eyes.

From:

melodiouspacifist

He was quiet a moment as he finished off his burger and smiled.

"That was a really good story." He complimented. "It's too bad he died though, if he was...good in the end."

Some people were worthy of redemption, he believed that, he just didn't think that applied to him.

From:

donovan_deegan

That... hadn't actually been the end he had intended. The story had been about.... about a lesson. About helping this young man. And if it was Quilt who did that, then that was fine. Donovan nodded. "It is a shame when anyone dies. We all have the potential to be good.Or to not be. To serve, or to find our own path. Sometimes the choices are easy, sometimes we aren't aware we're making them. And sometimes they are as difficult as watching your family put themselves in danger knowing your place is not at their side. With every moment, we make hundreds of choices. Those choices are what matters most."

From:

melodiouspacifist

Demyx didn't know that, it sounded like the end what with someone dying and that sounded so final.

"I think people do, yeah. Somebodies are good at that." He said in agreement, nodding his head. The only choices he really made were what to do with his time and it was almost always playing sitar. He didn't have family to worry.jjjjjj

From:

donovan_deegan

"Somebodies?" he asked with small chuckle. An od way to put it, what did he mean by that?

From:

melodiouspacifist

"You know, normal people with hearts." Well, actually he didn't know. Demyx had to explain it every time it came out of his mouth. In other words, it didn't apply to him.

From:

donovan_deegan

He chuckled, and set down his burger, wiping his face. "I've been a bard for a very long time. Fought in too many battles, fell in love, got married, raised kids, watched my wife and children succeed and fail, and try again. And in all of that experience I have never once met anyone normal."