SUMMARY:
[Rapina]001 (Foundation story - lots of important information)
Brianna/Rapina’s aunt Audrey, petty sorceress, herbal healer and seller of curses taught Rapina about herbs, including those that control female fertility. Audrey called Brianna, Rapina because of a dream she had.
Reverend Evangeline had Aunt Audrey hung for afflicting him with various curses over the years. Although few knew it, he deserved them for he was a first order lecher and rapist of the town’s young women. Audrey’s curses were the women's only recourse because the reverend was high born, powerful and most of the town’s people were enthralled by his sermons, having no idea of his true nature.
The ruins of Aunt Audrey’s hut became a meeting place for Rapina and her friends. Rapina found a polished agate buried in the dirt floor of the hut. Agates were reputed to bring restful sleep but Rapina found this one seemed to be a link with a spirit that brought lustful dreams. Rapina enjoyed the dreams and kept the stone. Rapina and her friends also found that one of the rocks for people to sit on around Aunt Audrey’s fire pit had a polished underside with letters stained into it. It was a spirit board.
Rapina became acquainted with the spirit in the dream stone as it was one of the spirits that talked through the spirit board. Soon she was able to mentally talk to the lust spirit without use of the board. The lust spirit tried to convince Rapina that it could make her the most beautiful woman in Clairmont and grant her magical powers if she would take it into her mind. Rapina bid it prove itself by making her the most beautiful woman in Clairmont and refused to let it into her mind if it could not do so.
Rapina, not a particularly pretty child underwent a transformation during her adolescent years. During her 15th year the lust spirit that was linked to the dream stone agate, now set as a pendant, became desperate, it said its world was in the chaos of war and it was in danger. Rapina told it that she would not let it into her mind until it finished making her the most beautiful woman in Clairmont as it promised, for even though she had grown quite beautiful, she was not yet fully a woman. In the mean time, she bid it make it's home in the dream stone if things are going so badly for it. The spirit screamed one day as if something in it's own world was killing it and then it grew quiet. It's personality began to fade and it only became active when Rapina made love with a man.
Rapina was caught for the 5th time making love with one of her boyfriends, even though she was careful and normally did not get caught. In desperation, her naïve mother refered her case to reverend Evangeline. The reverend arranged a "retreat" for Rapina in an old cell beneath the church that was the jail before the constable's office was built.
The lustful reverend raped and abused Rapina, who in desperation plunged her mind into the dream stone when the Reverend's sexual energy activated it. Rapina merged with the basic structure that remained of the lust spirit. After a time, Rapina learned she could draw sexual energy from a lover, especially during his climax. (Drawing more enhances his pleasure but tires him more.) She could store sexual energy thus drawn, and when she did, her breasts became flushed and somewhat swollen as if with excitement. She could use sexual energy stored or direct from the tap to heal wounds on her body. She could also plant a suggestion in the mind of her lover when she climaxed. In an attempt to utterly tire the reverend so that she could make an escape, Rapina killed him by mistake, draining all of the life energy out of him as he repeatedly raped her. Rapina took the reverend's signet, holy symbol, mage-light, money, a razor and some other items and made her escape. She knew the reverend's noble family would have her hunted as a murderer.
RIVER OF TEARS (RAPINA 2-4)
[Rapina]002 River of Tears
Rapina fled to the river via the creek. Although she was pursued by the constable toward the end of her journey, she eventually found a floating log trapped against some rocks, freed it and rode it down the river to freedom. She ate edible plants and fashioned a paddle to replace her pole once the river grew larger. After about a week of river riding, Rapina went over a tall waterfall and nearly drowned. She fought her way to the surface and passed out after pulling herself half-way onto a log.
[Rapina]003 Pillage & [Rapina]004 Winds of Fait. Rapina was fished out of the river by three young farm boys, Drake, Edgar, and Kent who had left their farming families in hopes of joining the crew of Red Jack, a river pirate who was known to terrorize the Augustana River. They were on a tributary of the Augustana sailing thither when they found Rapina.
PIRATES
[Rapina]005 Pirates. Rapina and the boys who picked her up sailed onto the river Augustana where they located and were captured by the river pirates under Captain Red Jack. Rapina becomes something on the order of Captain Red Jack's mistress while still being trained for the pirate crew.
[Rapina]006 Pirates In Training. Rapina and the boys become river pirate recruits and begin to learn pirate skills. The pirate longship Rapina and the boys are on sails to Red Jack's Isle in the midst of a cypress swamp.
[Rapina]007 Red Jack's Isle. On Red Jack's Isle, Rapina and the boys are gruelingly trained in the basics of combat, and Rapina is trained as an assistant to Leech Kennon, the pirates' healer. It is a time of intense learning for Rapina, as she has limited access to Captain Red Jack's library and Leech Kennon's collection of books. Convinced that dictionaries are like volumes of "cheat" notes that allow the wealthy to know what all words mean, Rapina contrives to read such books whenever she can.
[Rapina]008 Training and Battle. Rapina endured day after day of combat training. Arms Master Hock seemed to be trying to get her to wash out of combat training by pairing her with the boys with the greatest combat endurance. Rapina was forced to use her sex-magic becuase of constant minor wounds she was sustaining in training. She became adept at healing the deep parts of her nasty bruises and cuts while leaving the surface skin damaged so as not to reveal herself as a 'witch' to the pirates.
Rapina saw and fed Doanthalas, the caged and tatood wild elf Red Jack kept as a 'pet' to scare his men. Rapina discovered that, contrary to what the pirates believed, the savage elf seemed to be able to speak some form of elvish and had a more civilized side.
A band of mercenaries paid by the local nobles and merchants found the pirate camp and attacked it. Rapina distinguished herself by spotting a special squad sent by the enemy to sneak on and knock out the very effective band of archers under the half-elf pirate, Fletcher Arzeal. During the battle, the wild Elf Doanthalas escaped. For saving Arzeal and his archers by spotting the enemy team sneaking up behind them, Arzeal gifted Rapina with a rapier, a main gauche and the training to use them. Red Jack also gave her access to a book about magic, for he knew Rapina was fascinated by it.
[Rapina]009 Basic Pirates. Drake was injured in the battle, Rapina continued combat training with Arms Master Hock throwing greater and greater challenges at her in an effort to wash her out. Rapina worked hard trying to understand even a fraction of the book on magic Red Jack gave her access to.
The pirates tred to recapture the wild elf Doanthalas who was occasionally spotted at night wandering around the outskirts of camp. Eventually he droped out of a tree and talked to Rapina, but Arzeal was out hunting the elf and shot him with a drugged arrow. Doanthalas escaped and was later caught by Brackston and his dog who wounded the wild elf badly before Arzeal and Rapina showed up and put a stop to Brackston's "fun".
Rapina found and enlisted the aid of Skitch, a wily, diminuative pirate who knew how to deal with the large, strong men Armsmaster Hock was currently throwing at Rapina in an effort to wash her out of combat training.
Captain Red Jack left on a raid with his crew, leaving the recruits and some other pirates to man the camp. When he returned, Rapina's group of trainees was finishing basic training. The recruits had a tournament to distinguish the best of them. Rapina came in first in unarmed combat and third in archery thanks to Arms Master Hock having tried to wash Rapina out by constantly throwing the most skilled recruits at her during training. Rapina won a rapier and main gauch of outstanding quality that Red Jack had recently captured when he destroyed a river blockade meant to capture him.
Captain Red Jack announced that the nobles in the area knew too much about where the pirates were camping and would have captured him with their river blockade if he hadn't outwitted them. He said that the pirates would have to move and find a new camp to avoid capture.
Rapina convinced Doanthalas the wild elf, his wounds now largely healed, to join the pirate crew. The pirates loaded their ships and snuck off at night, sailing up the Augustana for weeks putting distance between them and their old camp.
NEW BEGINNINGS
[Rapina]010 New Beginnings. After a few weeks of sailing up the river Augustana, Captain Red Jack found an Isle in Grand Lake, a lake adjoining the river Augustana. Something horrible attacked one of the pirate watch posts the night after the pirates landed. Doanthalas was initially blamed, but the captain felt it unlikely that the elf was at fault. He thus sent out an expedition to find the natives of the isle he felt must be responsible. Pike, Doanthalas, Drake, Donal Skitch, Backster and Rapina went on the expedition.
[Rapina]011 Hall of the Dead. The isle turned out to be a graveyard for the area surrounding Grand lake. The expeditionary group found a mausoleum cavern and, much to their surprise, the dead rose and fought them. The party managed to win the battle and escape back to the pirate camp to report to captain Red Jack. They brought with them the still freshly animated arms and scull of one of the pirates who was killed the previous night.
[Rapina]012 Shadows of the Dead. The expeditioners reported back to camp. That night the Southeast guard post was compromised and the men were awakened. Rapina, Logan and Captain Red Jack were nearly killed by a group of shadows in Jack's tent. Meanwhile ghouls coming out of the water killed a number of pirates. Doanthalas killed a couple of ghouls and Arzeal got some others with flaming arrows. Doanthalas fought a ghoul which had been set aflame. The elf's demonic tatoos protected him but it costs him in blood and the pirates feared him all the more and still tried to blame him for the undeads now attacking.
[Rapina]013 Night Terrors. After the attack of the shadows on the captain and the ghouls on the men, a force of animated skeletons nearly routed the pirate camp but Pike and Hock managed to rally the men. The men barely held out until dawn with considerable losses. The captain's ships were sunk in the cove sometime during the night. After the battle Jack set the pirates straight on what was going on in a speech before the men. He told the men that Doanthalas was not the cause, but that the isle was a graveyard and the animations must have been done by a necromancer bent on ridding the isle of the pirates.
[Rapina]014 The Noble Jaws of Death. A group of pirates including Pike, Brackston, Drake, Rage, Skitch, Doanthalas, Rapina and many others went to try to find and kill the lord of the isle while the other pirates made a fort and prepared to hold out for the night. Kent, now a ghoul, turned Edgar into a ghoul. Rapina was captured by Kent and brought to the lord of the isle, Guardian Thane, a necromancer and priest of Mortaebius, god of the dead. Only Pike, Brackston, Drake, Rage, Skitch and Doanthalas made it out of the trap the necromancer and his minions sprung on the group of pirtates that came to try to slay him.
[Rapina]015 Death Battles the Living & [Rapina]016 Defeat in Darkness. The pirates battled the undead forces of the necromancer. Unknown to the pirates, the necromancer made a personal appearance not long before dawn. His magical darkness spell combined with an attack by ghouls who had tunneled into the pirate camp defeated the pirates. Arzeal escaped the darkened camp and swam for his life. Pike and the remaining pirates from the ill-fated expedition against the necromancer had by this time built a raft and were escaping the isle. Arzeal was rescued from shadows the necromancer sent after him by Pike and his remaining men.
[Rapina]017 A Captain in Chains. Red Jack was Captured and put in chains. Rapina made a deal with Guardian Thane, the necromancer. She agreed to help identify all of the pirates so that the bounty money could be tallied up, cooperate in trying to get herself assigned by a judge to be Thane's endentured servant as her punishment for the crime of grave robbing, and to work hard keeping Thane's house, then Thane would take her on as an apprentice. He made another deal with Captain Red Jack. Jack would not reveal to the constable that Thane used necromancy, he would tell Thane everything he knew about Rapina, he would receive some time with Rapina before he was taken away, he would find out the details of the deal Thane had made with Rapina, and he would get the names of the men who had escaped.
JUDGEMENT IN DISGUISE
[Rapina]018 Judgement In Disguise. Thane had a visit from the mysterious Mortancer Greel, his supperior in The Order of the Shroud, the secret militant order of Mortaebius, god of the dead, to which Thane belonged. Most of the priests of Mortaebius were merley morticians, but those of the Shroud protected the church and its graveyards and the senior members of the order were necromancers. For his defeat of Red Jack, the order welcomed Thane, a promising new necromancer, into the inner circle and provided him with a chest of books that would usher him into the realms of true wizardry. Greel allowed Thane to have Rapina as an apprentice on the condition that Thane also train a priest in the use of magic for free in order to be granted the privilege of having and outside apprentice. The man the church selected was Guardian Calvin Rames, a former military chaplain. Rames was to come to the isle via non-magical means at a later date. Rames had been involved in protecting churches of Mortaebius from forces of the church of the vindicator, the same church that reverend Evangeline was a priest in.
Thane used his superior intellect to find a chest of gems that Captain Red Jack had hidden on his isle. He planed to invest the bounty money from Red Jack and his crew while using the gems for major purchases such as upgrading his laboratory.
[Rapina]019 Sudden Death. The pirates, Pike, Brackston, Arzeal, Skitch, Rage, Drake and Doanthalas made their escape and found out Captain Red Jack had been taken alive. They proceded to the City of Turnmour to attempt to rescue Jack from the gallows. Doanthalas befriended an assassin named Elizabetta and Drake, disguised as the sone of a rich merchant got to know the daughter of a nobleman who has a special hatred for Red Jack.
[Rapina]020 Granville. Thane took Rapina to Granville, the largest town on the South shore of Grand lake. Here he collected the fortune in bounty money from the defeat of Red Jack and most of his men. Thane had the bounty money transferred to a Church of Mortaebius vessle as he had decided to put the money in the church investment program save for his usual tithe to be given to the church. Rapina was sentenced to seven years of indentured servitude under Thane by the judge in Granville. Guardian Calvin Rames was brought to Granville on the same ship that took Thane's money. Rames returned to Graveston Isle with Rapina and Thane. On the trip there, Thane bid Rapina tell her full story and explain the dream stone pendant he had examined magically. Rapina made a snap decision and told the whole truth. To the priests of Mortaebius, her killing of reverend Evangeline, once a powerful priest in a rival religion makes her something of a hero. Her powers turn out to be an asset in Thane's mind as well, and he decides he will continue to honor their deal and keep Rapina as an apprentice alongside Guardian Rames.
[Rapina]021 Death Takes a Holiday. Pike and the remaining pirates sucessfully rescued Captain Red Jack.
[Rapina]022 Wizardry. Thane put his apprentices to work and began studying the new books provided by The Order of the Shroud. Soon he perfected a spell called Graveyard Mists, which was able to transport him and his servitors from any graveyard at night to any other graveyard. This spell learned, he was able to attend meetings and join the inner circle of the Order of the Shroud, becoming a Mortancer of Mortaebius. He took the pseudonym: Mortancer Ashe.
Rames decided to continue Rapina's training in the Rapier where the pirates left off, and to add unarmed combat to her list of skills. While Thane was gone training to do an advanced animation under one of the Mortancers, Rames had a tryst with Rapina and experienced her powers first hand.
THE JOLLY ROGER
[Rapina]023 A Queen Revealed. (Chess Queen) Thane returned and found out from Rames that Rapina's powers were indeed real, but that she did not kill Rames even though she had been making love with him since shortly after Thane left.
[Rapina]024 Winter had set in. Thane, Rames and Rapina added to, modernized and organized Thane's laboratory. After an ititial period of enduring the cold, Thane created his first flaming skeletons, thus triumphing over the winter cold that until then had permeated his abode. Rapina by this time had become adept at ordering skeletons around and thus has more time to devour books from Thane's magical library. Thane had been teaching Rapina deportment because she is seemed to favor charm magic and one must have manners to socialize with the classes most worthy of being charmed.
A new more powerful group of "bandits" raised by the church of the vindicator began ravaging churches of Mortaebius in Southern Avengene. The priests were fleeing and the Order of the Shroud began trying to contain the vindicator's forces to The Marquis of Avengene's territory. A clandestine but full-scale holy war was beginning and there was a need for new members of the Order Of The Shroud and for undead troops.
Thane revealed to Rapina that Captain Red Jack's men rescued him from execution and that the Order Of the Shroud had asked Thane to hunt the pirate down magically since the bounty on Jack's head had increased tremendously and the Church needed funds for the holy war against the church of the vindicator. Thane suggested another idea. The church of Mortaebius was fairly wealthy, but the Order of the Shroud had used up much of the undead troops available to them in recent battles. It would be difficult to get more since the non-military arms of the church had no idea that the Order used undead troops and the order would have to steal bodies from its own graveyards and risk trouble within the church if it were discovered.
Rapina was brought before the council of the Mortancers (necromancer-high priests) of Mortaebius to speak on the feasability of making a deal with Captain Red Jack to supply the Order with dead bodies from his raids with which to make undead troops. Rapina spoke and the council voted. She was then sent to negotiate with Red Jack along with Roger, Jack's deceased first mate who had been turned into a scythe-wielding death (skeleton) of Mortaebius.
[Rapina]025 The Jolly Roger
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