Lakeside Plots

The days had stretched long while Jack, Phillip, and Cleo, not only healed their wounds, but also refueled their spend Ki. Their second day hadn’t been so bad for the group had healed their wounds and the McBannons brothers had dropped by for a large poker game. Pizza and shots, mixed with craft ales and Jack got some much needed R and R. It did his soul good to be able to relax as a normal person, even if his guilt still ate at the back of his mind. It didn’t surprise him much when Cleo and Phillip won most of everyone’s money.

White’s Pond

On the third morning, the trio of Stalwarts gathered to meet before they headed back into the dark city. They had all agreed that a gear-up run should occur before they reached the city, but other issues proved more complex.

 

Phillip and Cleo sat around the remains of the poker game sipping coffee while Jack paced around the room downing can after can of Mountain Dew. 

Jack broke the building silence. “I would think the first thing we need to do is contact the other Stalwarts that hopefully are still with us.”

“I contacted Blaze, through Email,” Phillip said. “He’s still kicking. He has a secure site base that’s spread over the web so he can’t be tracked.” Phillip looked up from his steaming cup and met Jack’s eyes. “But he did a little net-running for us and told me that our cells, and such, are tapped. He said that if we need to contact anyone a face to face would be safer. At least that way they won’t know we’re coming as quickly, but he also said that he thinks Lanna and Felix are being watched.”

“Well at least that means they are still alive.”

Cleo spoke up. “They have probably been left alive so they can be used as bait to catch us. We killed a bucket load of Xemmoni. I’m sure we hit number one on their shit list, real quick.”

Dead Wood

“Let’s table them for now,” Jack said. “Whether we get more help or not, we need to think about our chief goals.”

“Which are?” Cleo asked.

“My gut reaction is to do what they’re trying to do to us, to them.”

Phillip made a face. “You want the three of us to try to make Boston Xemmoni free?”

Jack stared back at him. “Yes. I’m not as worried as much about some random Selector living in a sewer as much as the real members of Vile’s crew.”

Phillip massaged his forehead. “Now I know we kicked some serious ass out there, but those were low level thugs that couldn’t pierce our Damage Protection well. But if we go up against that same amount of powerful Xemmoni they can disperse our flesh to the winds before we get within thirty feet of them.”

“I am aware of this. That’s why I don’t intend to fight fair. What if we head in, ambush a few of the bastards, and then escape the city before sunrise.”

Cleo spoke up. “I see a few problems with that plan. Firstly, we won’t be able to come back here or everyone here will end up dead.”

“Agreed.”

“Secondly, the Darcarre are huge in Boston and then can sense Stalwarts better than any other race of Xemmoni and for that matter there’s some evidence that Glooms are the runners up for this skill. Surprising these guys is just this side of impossible.”

“And, if I might add,” Phillip said. “If we’re fleeing we have to get past their range or then can just follow us wherever we go.”

“They might think differently when they see where I take them.”

The Dionysus worshippers eyed each other.

Jack smiled. “When I said I wouldn’t fight fair, I meant it. We have all the cards stacked against us, so screw these pricks. I’m not saying we will wipe out the whole city before they get wise, but the first few times I want these Darcarre and they allies to follow us out of the city. It will be the last thing they ever do.”

What Waits in the Wood

“Whittling down their numbers wouldn’t be the worst idea,” Phillip said.

Cleo looked at Phillip and then Jack. “This idea only seems appropriate if this is what we’re really trying to do. Are we really going to try to take back Boston?”

Jack answered her. “I know no city can ever be completely Xemmoni free, but we can make this city too costly for Darken. Besides if he’s trying something big in Boston, we can at least make sure he won’t be able to do it on our world. We owe it to… well our other selves.”

Phillip downed his coffee. “Okay, I’m in. What the hell. It’s my city and no one kicks me out of my home.”

Cleo drew a deep breath. “You know you’re both nuts right?” She paused. “Okay, count me in too. Everyone has to die sometime.”

To be continued next Monday

Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started Here!

Nith the Darcarre Bitch

Axe Versus Sickle, fate of a City in the Middle

This Jack Serial began 9/30/13

As Phillip advanced with his cutlass, Jack drew twin hand axes out of his jacket. 

“You’ll never even reach us, putrid Stalwarts,” The lead Gloom yelled. “Give them the Flesh To Mists!”

 

Jack knew what that meant and clenched his muscles in preparation for the incoming pain. All three on his side hammered him with their Bestow. Phillip looked like he fought of the effects of one attack, but something both Dionysus and Yig followers had in common was their mystically enhanced protection from damage. They could still be killed by most attacks, but it took a lot of damage before they started to feel it.

The Bestows crashed into him. First his jacket, then his clothes, and then his flesh began to drift away before his eyes. Both leather and skin became a fine mist and left holes in his clothes and body. The effects proved painful enough that Jack cried out, but this didn’t stop him from leaping into the Glooms.

 

The hatchet in his left hand blocked a swung sickle from that direction, but his right weapon arced down and split the skull of the center Gloom. He tumbled back with a wet grunt, but also took Jack’s axe with him. The third Gloom charged him with a roar, but a kick to the man’s stomach send it smashing back into Phillip’s pickup. 

The one to his left swung his rusty, hard iron, sickle again, and once again the Stalwart was able to block it with his remaining axe. With a growl, Jack balled his right hand into a fist and smashed the Gloom in the center of the face. An exploding nose left the man’s cheek’s as red as its glowing eyes.

This stunned the Gloom enough that Jack was able to grab the Xemmoni and toss him into his ally right as he ran toward Jack’s back. They both went down in a tumble of ratty robes and pale, fish belly, skin. Jack fell on them like an uncaged savage. His axe flew in blood drenched arcs. He didn’t look at what he hit, but just focused on hacking as hard and fast as possible.

 

Soon the Glooms under him wailed in agony. One hit him with another Flesh to Mist spell and he drew back with a curse. The Gloom regained his feet, his red eyes glared hatred. It looked like his fellow Gloom wouldn’t be joining him in the attack or anything else… ever.

“Filth ridden, Stalwart. Too stupid to run while you could. Too stupid to know what’s happening here and what it will mean for all of you. Once we control Boston we’ll finally be able to-”

Decapitation ended his oratory and Phillip blood smeared smile was visible once the Gloom collapsed.

“You know he was telling me why they wanted Boston, just then.”

Phillip rubbed the back of his neck. “opps, sorry.”

Jack sighed. “Why would they give us until sunset to leave and then attack us at three in the afternoon?”

“I’m not sure. Xemmoni aren’t well known for keeping their word.”

“I think it’s something more than that. Too stupid to know what it will mean for all of you, he said. Who’s all of you?”

“Stalwarts I guess,” Phillip said.

“I’m not so sure. And once we control Boston we’ll be able to… sounds like they have a goal that goes far beyond just having the ownership of America’s oldest city.”

“Well,” Phillip started, “whatever is happening it doesn’t change the facts that all the Xemmoni will be hunting us and now they aren’t even waiting until sunset before they start. None of the other Stalwarts have agreed to help us. We’re in serious life ending trouble.”

Jack tore off the ruined arms of his leather jacket and tossed them into the back of the pick up. “No matter what, we need any help we can get, so who’s next on our list?”

“Blaze wanted to meet at a coffee shop not too far away from here. Coffee shop,” he tiffed. “Some people.”

 

To be continued next Monday

Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started Here!

Yig Nature’s Embrace

I am a Child of the Earth

Let Nature Embrace Me

I live as an Animal

Let the Beasts Embrace me

I am at one with the Forests

Let the Plants Embrace Me

I am a Child of the Sun

Let the Light Embrace Me

I Feel the Freedom of the Bird

Let the Winds Embrace Me

My heart burns with the Fire of the Making

Let the Flame Embrace Me

I Come From the Water

Let the Rivers Embrace Me

I am as one with the Desert

Let the Sands Embrace Me 

Find out how Heroes use archetypes to fight the Darkness here!

 

Hecate Charisma Spell

The ways of Chaos and Magick are Great

We seek to mold others so they will aid us in reaching our true Fate

For in the world of competition and Vice

Humans swarm over everything like maggoty Lice

As Wizards we seek to raise above the Others

Yet in a way that will trick them so they think that we are Brothers

Homo-superior is what we Are

And against the rest we do War

We seek to protect this world before the End

Aid stone, animal, and Friend

Yet we need not fight Fair

No we will Manipulate and Coerce with Flair

Like Micaville we plan and Plot

Also trying to better our Lot

So Hecate shine your Power down on us this Night

Let you servants bask in your Sight

Aid us to become stronger and Proceed

Let Magick and Joy triumph over Greed

Enable us, Making us Stronger

And we will be more powerful Servants Forever and Longer

Follow Heroes as they use the Mystic Archetypes

 

Pain, Preparing, and Plotting

When Jack could finally recover enough to use a table to help him regain his feet, he looked over at Phillip.

The man in brown said, “That sucked. A friend of yours?”

“Never seen him before. We probably just should have tried to kill him.”

 

“Which is so much harder to do when your body in rolled up in a ball writhing in pain,” Phillip said while patting the dust off his battered hat.

Both Jack and Phillip used parts of their Ki to heal themselves, but since Jack had already used much of his soul’s strength in his earlier battle with the armored Hyades this left him both physically and mentally exhausted. “So what are we going to do anyway? He said he left us alive so we could warn the other Boston Stalwarts that we need to leave the city by sunset. Are we going to do that?”

“There really aren’t many of us here. Dionysus followers are usually low on the Xemmoni hit list because we run bars and make good connections to help fed the more hedonistic aspect of the dark ones lives. And like I told you, a group of Darcarre made it their mission to clean Boston out of all its Stalwarts a good nine months back.”

“Was this guy, The Baron, one of them?”

“No, I think I would have remembered that guy. Perhaps he might have been behind the attack though. I heard rumors about a powerful Darcarre working with a Gloom and a Caradon up north. Perhaps they were preparing to make Boston their own. This could make sense, for I think Boston has some association to Vile Darken and his plans.” 

 

But then seeing the look on Jack’s face, he held up his hands. “Don’t ask me how I know. I just know that out of all the cities in America, some high rolling Xemmoni decided that Boston should be the first town that hunted down and eliminated all the Stalwarts. The only reason we’re still around is that like most things which happen in the Xemmoni world, they have a short attention span. They figured they killed us all and in this case I believe they moved on to killing those of their kind that weren’t involved with the Dark Alliance.”

“Okay, Mr. longwinded, you’re mostly saying we’re in way over our heads, there aren’t many Stalwarts we can warn, or for that matter get help from.”

“Yeah, like I said, sometimes for various reasons, they let some Stalwarts remain mostly unmolested.”

“So tally off the list for me,” Jack said and then groaned when he forced his body over to the cooler. Removing a cold Samuel Adams Ale, he said, “I think I’ll join you in that beer-thirty now.”

“Well…” Phillip started slowly. “There’s that Tez guy, Bruin that’s so damn evil the Xemmoni probably figured he was one of their own. There’s Lanna, who they probably spared just because she’s so smoking hot. Felix has been allowed to live, because he’ll heal anyone for the right price, but since the Darcarre can also heal themselves, he might be in the danger zone now. I heard that Mitch was recently axed as was the town’s last witch. After old Galla died, they rest of the Hecate witches fled to Salem.” Phillip paused again, “Which just leaves Blaze, who might be hard to get a hold of, outside of the internet, and ah…Cleo.”

“Who’s Cleo?” 

“She’s my, er, she’s another Dionysus, and um…. I guess we dated for a while and-”

“Okay, I get it. But out of the whole city of Boston that’s it for Stalwarts?”

“Like I said, the Darcarre hunted most of us down. Killed everyone in the team I was part of except me and Cleo and after going through all that Hell, we, you know.”

Jack eyed his friend. “Why don’t you start making calls and try to email that Blaze guy. I’m going to start getting weapons ready.”

*         *         *

Rabid pinched a boil that had formed on the back of his hand until it burst, sending blue tinged puss several feet in all directions. Ghost stood near the table and flinched when the jet of thick liquid splashed his tattered grey clock. 

The Gloom’s burning red eyes glared his way for a moment. “Watch yourself.”

“Screw you, Ghost,” Rabid said. “Your clothes would be ignored by a naked homeless man in the throes of freezing to death.”

Ghost drew a rusty sickle from within is bellowing robes. “I don’t have to take such from the likes of you.”

Rapid leapt to his feet so quickly that his chair flew out from under him and shattered against the grimy basement wall. Stretching to his full seven feet, he glared down as the rag covered man. “Care to test that theory?”

 

Things might have gone south, if the lights in the room hadn’t dimmed.

Ghost looked up at the bare bulb, them Rabid. “The Baron nears.”

“No shit.”

They both watched, as with a sweep of his Victorian cape, the Darcarre entered the underground chamber. “They have been warned.” He said simply. “The Stalwarts will either flee or be killed by tonight.”

“I don’t see why a warning is needed,” Ghost said, his flaccid lips flopping. “Stalwart Ki is sweet. I say we have a little dinner before we finish the matter at hand.”

 

The Darcarre looked down as his manicured nails for a moment, perhaps taking pride that he was as handsome as the other two were hideous.  “Our plan is too important to have any slip up. If any of the Stalwarts are too foolish to flee, you will have your chance. For now we need to focus on having Leadhead eliminate the real competition posed by the other Xemmoni races. Once we have the city in our hands the true conquest for our Overlord can begin.”

Rabid spoke again. “So are we sure none of the remaining Stalwarts are those on Vile’s list.”

The Baron waved his hand as if swatting at a fly. “Yes, yes, my minions all but cleaned out the city several months back. We killed the Devons family and several others on his list.”

“But not all of them.” Rabid said, while shaking some lingering puss off the tips of his fingers. He made sure it flew in Ghost’s direction. “Who were the Stalwarts you gave the warning to? What were their names?”

 

“As you know, rare are the people that can hide their thoughts from the Darcarre. The two men I all but killed today were named Jack Primus and Phillip Brownhurst.”

The Baron had barely gotten the last word out of his mouth before Rapid rushed forward, unsetting the table as he moved, and grabbed the Darcarre by the throat with one of his meaty hands. The Darcarre clawed at his hands and wrist, tearing open blisters and removing flesh as Rabid lifted him off the ground.

“You fool!” the Caradon roared into his face. “Are you so concerned with your minions and experiments that you remember nothing? Primus and Brownhurst are at the top of Vile’s shitlist! If he finds out we let them escape, we’ll be killed in their place.”

He threw the Darcarre into the corner. “Time to gear up, whelplings. We’re going hunting!”

To be continued next Monday

 Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started Here!

Dionysus Ale

There is a way for men to Play

Some of us do it every Day

Beer, Mead, Porter, Stout, and Ale

Next to these all other drinks Pale

Beer is proof that you love Us

Help us journey into your Beloved Forest

For Dionysus it is you that we Seek

With your help we can reach our own personal Super-Freak

Ale separates us from the hassles of normal Work

Let us change our mood so we do not feel like a Jerk

I become one with you, when the Alex becomes one with Me

I open my mind and feel Free

So Dionysus we walk with you this Night

You essence helps drown us with Delight

You help us Release

But also keep us more than just another Beast

So tonight we raise our drinks on High

Knowing that ale is one thing that will never Lie

Learn more about the Path of the Hero Here?

Dionysus Rela

There are so many things in this world that can Tax

That is why it is important to be able to Relax

But when our face is being ground into the Grate

It is hard to reach that higher State

This is why Dionysus, we come to You

For we love you through and Through

Help as release ourselves from our worldly Woes

Remove us from trauma’s Throws

We seek a higher Place

Even if we are still part of this Human’s Race

So help me toss it all Away

And have at least some joy every Day

For without Joy is there a reason to Exist

Without slowing down think of all we might Miss

Relaxation is the opposite of Stress

And our best way to reverse this Mess

So Dionysus hear is this Night

For we seek to Bask in your Delight

Learn more about how Heroes use the Mystic Archetypes Here!

 

Hermes Mystic Ki Empowerment

I Feel the Mists flow over Me

Encompassing all that I See

This Day, this Night, this Magickal Hour

We Contact you, Seeking to increase our Personal Power

For servants of yours we are Sworn

We wish to enter your bosom and be Reborn

Focus our KI

Bring it in on High

Use with Purpose

We wish for this Magick to always be one with Us

Feel it pulsing Growing Inside

As bodies fill with Power like the coming of the Tide

Blessings on you Hermes and Blessings on Me

We embrace the cosmic flow and ride the Entropy

Find out how heroes embrace the Mystic Archetypes Here!

Webs of Mangled Darkness

Figuring that he probably wouldn’t be getting into another fight before noon, Jack used his most recently acquired spell and healed himself. Looking down, he took off his new leather in disgust. He had bought it for himself with the money he had taken from the Ripperkah in Pennsylvania. He still had plenty, but when one is unemployed you needed to make you cash flow last.

“Guess I won’t be picking up any chicks wearing this.” He said while tossing the slashed jacket onto the chestnut colored bar. A minute later, he was using the land line to call Phillip. He saw the silhouettes of police officer poking around in the alley behind the bar. He watched them move as he filled his friend in on the Xemmoni attack.

 

Nine minutes later Phillip walked through the front door of the pub he owned. “You look like hell,” the man said while motioning toward the huge blood stain surrounding the rent in Jack’s shirt.

“Look who’s talking,” Jack said, while pointing at Phillip’s wrinkled ensemble of loose fitting brownness. “It looks like you didn’t even take off your trench coat before you went to bed.”

Phillip

Phillip laughed. “Well, how do you think I was able to get over here so quickly?”

Then they grew serious as Jack filled him in on the attack he received from the armored Xemmoni. Once he was done, Phillip said, “Yeah, sounds like a Hyades alright. But I never heard of the silent stalkers using armor. They are hard enough to kill normally.”

They both leaned back in the bar chairs and Jack winced when Phillip opened an ale. “Starting a little early I see…”

But Phillip held up his hand in a silencing motion. Someone stood outside of the bar’s front door. A second later a hard rapping sounded, like the door had been struck with a solid object. 

Jack slipping back into his bloody leather while reaching behind the bar for the big wood cutters axe he hid there.

Phillip was strapping his Sword of Mecca back to his waist when both Stalwarts froze.

A darkness seemed to be eating the sun itself. It poured under the front door like a spreading puddle of filthy ink. Black webbing covered the windows thrusting the insides of the bar into darkness. Thorns of grasping ebony grew over the interior walls. Like grasping hands, they covered the ceiling.

 

Phillip drew his cutlass and motioned for Jack to open the front door, but as the neared the street side of the bar the front door flew open with a loud bang. 

A man defined by pure darkness stood in the doorway and despite themselves, each of the Stalwarts retreated a pace when he stepped into the room. Stark black eyes burned at them and waves of malign evil poured off the man like steam. A stygian overcoat matched a large angled hat and both appeared to arc away from the figure in odd jagged angles. A mahogany cane stayed clutched in one pale hand.

 

“Darcarre,” Jack whispered.

“Certainly,” the figured whispered. “And I am aware of what you attempted to do not long ago. One of you fools tried to hurt my pet.” He waved a gloved finger at them while his red lined lips cracked into a grin under his pallid face. “Not that you could, but we don’t need to attain publicity just this yet. We have more important things to attend to. This is why I, The Baron, am offering you a single chance to leave Boston before nightfall. If you flee this city at once, you will be allowed to continue your misguided existence,” his smile grew wider, “for at least a bit longer.”

Jack had never faced such a creature, let alone had a conversation with one. Cold fingers of dread scratched at his scalp. He could feel the power flowing from this Xemmoni and it caused him to have to focus to keep from shaking from the onslaught.

Phillip found his voice first. “Why spare us at all?”

Waving a dismissive hand, The Baron continued. “Stalwarts are like rats, or perhaps roaches. You kill one and their father’s sister’s boyfriend’s dog will be chewing on you leg the next time you are entertaining. I have serious issues to attend you and for the price of your lives, I expect you to call every ‘would be’ hero you know and tell them to flee from this city as well. I have no time to deal with such minor issues.”

“Some of the Xemmoni we met in the past didn’t consider us minor issues,” Jack Spit out.

“Oh please,” The Baron said, and then with a motion from both hands he sent two of the hugest Black Veins Bestows he had ever seen straight into the chest of each man. With a gasp they were both thrown backwards over chairs as growing black curse that spread over them like veins of evil. Agony owned them as their flesh turned black and burst. Jack tried not to scream, but realized he already had.

The Baron turned and his overcoat whipped around him like a vampire’s cape. “Remember this will be your only warning. You and any other Stalwart seen in Boston will be exterminated after sundown.” He gaze the one final icy look of hatred, “in the most unpleasant of ways.” As he exited the bar, the door slammed shut on its own accord and the returning sunlight did nothing to lesson the torment as the Stalwarts were left curled in moaning balls of pain.

To be continued next Monday

Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started Here!

Dionysus Wine

When we wish to enter into the Devine

The best way to start is with Wine

 

As old as recorded History

Let the pleasures of wine flow into Me

Unfocus our Sight

As we head into Delight

Our senses Abound

As our feet feel like they have left the Ground

We can all relax while we Talk

And head into the Eternal Baccanaught

These things were put here for a Reason

Each pleasure in its own Season

Tonight we drink to you Dionysus

For we know your presence is always with Us

We seek a life full of Pleasure

And with you we find it beyond all Measure

So mighty Lord watch over your People

As this wine becomes our Temple

Learn more about how Hero use the Mystic Archetypes to fight through the Conflicts that confront them!

Become one with Baccus Here!

Dionysus Sensual

Who is to say No

When our Libido tells us to Go

Chaos is our Path

We do not need to do the Math

In this life there are many Paths that can lead us to Joy

No matter how much the muggles seek to Annoy

One of the best is certainly Sex

Always wondering who might be Next

Caress, cuddle, and Touch

As humans we want all this so Much

So tonight Dionysus shine you love down on Us

Whether we are with our true love or the person we just met on the Bus

With intercourse we become one with You

It is one thing we do not need to be trained how to Do

We do not always need something to Gain

To want to reach a higher Plane

So bless us as both lovers and horn dogs this Night

And together we will bask in your Delight

 
Discover how Heroes use the Mystic Archetypes to fight Evil Here!