Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 12)

Our story so far...

Drakar has been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy because of his half-demon heritage.  However, angels of the goddess Nyx visited him in a dream, commanding him to seek out Fortress Abbadabas and the fabled Order of the Blackened Glaive.  Drakar traveled south to the city of Jakara, where he met a girl--a young wizard named Elaina Emboo.  

Having saved Elain from certain death, she and her ship, the Trident sailed with Drakar towards Fortress Abbadabas and his destiny.  Together, the two of them entered the ruins of what was once Fortress Abadabass.  What they found, though...

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 11)

Our story so far...

Drakar has been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy because of his half-demon heritage.  However, angels of the goddess Nyx visited him in a dream, commanding him to seek out Fortress Abbadabas and the fabled Order of the Blackened Glaive.  Drakar traveled south to the city of Jakara, where he met a girl--a young wizard named Elaina Emboo.  

Having saved Elain from certain death, she and her ship, the Trident sailed with Drakar towards Fortress Abbadabas and his destiny.  Now must leave the ship and Elaina behind...

5 Things on a Friday: Not Even a Dollar-a-Year Man

This week has been busy as Hell.  It's taken me a full week to start feeling like myself after a long weekend spent screwing off with my buddy and our families, but I'm finally back--in mind and body both--and now it's Friday.  Yeehaw!

Hope you guys have good weekends planned.

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 10)

Our story so far...

Drakar has been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy because of his half-demon heritage.  However, angels of the goddess Nyx visited him in a dream, commanding him to seek out Fortress Abbadabas and the fabled Order of the Blackened Glaive.  Drakar traveled south to the city of Jakara, where he met a girl--a young wizard named Elaina Emboo.  

Having saved Elain from certain death, she and her ship, the Trident sail with Drakar towards Fortress Abbadabas and his destiny.

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 8)

Our story so far...

Drakar has been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy because of his half-demon heritage.  However, angels of the goddess Nyx visited him in a dream, commanding him to seek out Fortress Abbadabas and the fabled Order of the Blackened Glaive.  Drakar traveled south to the city of Jakara, where he met a girl--a young wizard named Elaina Emboo.  Having saved Elain from certain death, Drakar is now headed to confront Safras, the man who tried to have Elaina killed.  

Drakar feels compelled to visit justice on the wicked for reasons he does not fully comprehend.

***

Safras’s lair turns out to be a hole in the desert floor, marked out by a lip of carved sandstone blocks.  Steps lead down into a darkness that is broken by weak torchlight shining some thirty feet below the city’s surface.  Drakar assumes this place was once some kind of crypt or tomb, that it has long since been defiled by grave robbers, and that this Safras is merely the latest in a long line of thieves and villains who’ve made the place their home or hideout.  Covering the entrance with a tent is a simple but ingenious idea, however Drakar doubts that it would accomplish its purpose without the willing ignorance of the local constabulary.  Given that Safras has also been shown to be in possession of the constabulary’s anti-magic handcuffs, this is in no way surprising.  The tomb’s entrance looks ancient; Drakar is sure that Jakara’s rulers have a record of its existence somewhere.  Besides, the tent is an at best minimal disguise.

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 7)

Our story so far...

Drakar has been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy because of his half-demon heritage.  However, angels of the goddess Nyx visited him in a dream, commanding him to seek out Fortress Abbadabas and the fabled Order of the Blackened Glaive.  Drakar traveled south to the city of Jakara, where he met a girl--a young wizard named Elaina Emboo.  Having saved Elain from certain death, Drakar is now headed to confront Safras, the man who tried to have Elaina killed.  

Drakar feels compelled to visit justice on the wicked for reasons he does not fully understand.

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 6)

Our story so far...

Drakar has been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy because of his half-demon heritage.  However, angels of the goddess Nyx visited him in a dream, commanding him to seek out Fortress Abbadabas and the fabled Order of the Blackened Glaive.  Drakar traveled south to the city of Jakara, where he met a girl--a young wizard named Elaina Emboo.  Having saved her from certain death, the two of them now travel together.

***

Drakar is not surprised when Elaina Emboo decides to accompany him.  He has already seen the fire that she possesses, and it takes no great insight to conclude that she will hardly allow him to enter danger alone on her behalf.  He is pleased, but ultimately, her help is irrelevant.  This is not about Elaina, nor is it about her money.  Drakar feels a need within himself to punish the man who wronged her--a man she called Safras--and that is enough.  What he did is inexcusable.  A girl is alone in a foreign land; she is robbed and then set upon by a mob with stones.  Perhaps Elaina is a special case because she is not just some helpless female, but the fact is that she would have been killed had not Drakar intervened.  

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 5)

Our story so far...

Drakar has been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy because of his half-demon heritage.  However, angels of the goddess Nyx visited him in a dream, commanding him to seek out Fortress Abbadabas and the fabled Order of the Blackened Glaive.  Drakar traveled south to the city of Jakara, where he met a girl--a young wizard.  Having saved her from certain death, the two of them now travel together.

***

“My name is Elaina,” the girl says, “scion of House Emboo of Wanderhaven.  I appreciate the rescue back there.”

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 4)

Our story so far...

Having been forced from the Sentralian Military Academy, Drakar heads south on the ship Koraph's Delight, searching for the mysterious Fortress Abbadabass, home of the Order of the Blackened Glaive.

***

The Order of the Blackened Glaive

Part 4

Koraph’s Delight makes landfall the next morning.  Captain Koraph is no longer with the ship, but in his absence, the rest of the men have proven easy to manage.  Drakar reclaims his purse from Koraph’s cabin, leaving what he feels is a fair wage for his passage but claiming a share of Koraph’s strongbox as payment for his troubles during the journey.  He divies the rest of the coin out to the sailors, who are pathetically grateful to receive it.  The cabin boy weeps and asks to accompany Drakar, but of course, there can be no room for a child on the road to Fortress Abbadabas.  Drakar takes his leave of the ship without looking back, though he can feel the eyes of the sailors upon him as he descends the gangplank.  He thinks that perhaps he has done these men a service, though they will struggle for awhile without Koraph’s hand to guide them.

Their struggles are irrelevant.  Drakar has his own goals and his own concerns, and he cares little for the fates of men too weak to free themselves from the persecution of a man like Koraph.  Somewhere ahead lies the Order of the Blackened Glaive.  These are men made of sterner stuff, and it is with them that Drakar will find his fate.

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 3)

Following an attack by Magister Zachaes, Drakar must leave the Academy.  His dreams tell him that his road is south, towards Fortress Abbadabas and the Order of the Blackened Glaive.

***

The Order of the Blackened Glaive

Part 3

Sentralia City is a big place.  Founded on a ring of seven hills surrounding the outlet of the Sentra River, it has long been the capital of an empire of men.  The ancient empire fell at the end of the Age of Legends, but this new empire, the Holy Sentralian Empire, grew from the ashes of the old at the end of the Kings’ War.  The Duchy of Sentra was overrun many times during that war, leading Grand Duke Baden Sentra to stand in desperate spiritual contemplation at the holy temple of the Twelve in what was then called the city of Sentra.  He was at last overcome, and legend has it that in this state he had a vision.  A blazing spear appeared in the sky, and the voice of Mars, bringer of conquest, spoke:

“By this you will conquer, in my name.”

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 2)

Last week, we left Drakar in the middle of a dream-like state, talking with the dark angels of Nyx, the mother of night.  He has heard the Call to Adventure.  This week he enters the Unknown World.

***

The Order of the Blackened Glaive

Part 2

Drakar wakes with a start.  He is in his bed, and his room is dark, but this is no hinderance to one whose blood courses with the fell power of the Pit.  Fire flares around his eyes, and the darkness falls away.  He looks around, sees that his roommate’s bunk is empty, and then he is out of bed and scrambling for his sword and shield.  His fingers grasp the hilt, but he has not yet set his shield when his door flies open, and there stands Magister Zachaes, fully armored, a long red glaive held in his hands.

Sketch in My Notebook: The Order of the Blackened Glaive (Part 1)

I probably shouldn't show this yet, but I like how it's coming out.  For what it's worth, I've been reading a lot of Jane Austen lately, and I feel like her prose style has infected mine a bit.

The piece below is a kind of companion piece with the story Hannah put up last week, "The Person Next Door."  If you're familiar with the Monomyth structure, you may recognize it here.  I have to commend Hannah, though, for accomplishing her story with such economy.  I was hoping to make this one between three and five pages, but there is no way I'm gonna bring it in that quickly.

***

The Order of the Blackened Glaive

Part 1

Drakar can feel their stares, and he is tired of them.  He knows what they say when he is out of earshot.  Their whispers.  Their fears.  Their outright prayers for deliverance.

Devil-child.  Demonseed.  Creature of the night.

He has heard them all.