Human Warrior Monk & Ambassador’s Assistant from the Lost Holdings of Pelagia
Played by John Reavis
“Balance brings harmony to the Force.”
“The peril of Chaos brings forth the Dragons.”
“One must choose ones own path, let none try to choose a path for someone else.”
Gustave’s Story
Gustave Greydrake is the descendant of two of the three force adepts that originally found the “last” drake on Basilisk. The three had sensed a presence in the northeastern area of Ring Mountains, and they went in search of the source. They were afraid that the Jedi had found the planet, and would renew their persecution if they gained a foothold on the planet. What they found instead was the last Drake on Basilisk. The Drake had survived to protect and teach the following generation. The Force Adepts found out that this cycle is based on the Orbital mechanics of the system, and on something The Drake calls “The Great Struggle”. The last generation of drakes undergoes a force transference, which makes The Drake “immortal” until the next generation reaches adulthood. The Inner Council of The Draconic order has theorized that the inhabitants of Camille are somehow the beneficiaries of a similar transference that somehow went wrong.
The childhood of Gustave was very normal for a child oftwo Force Adepts on Basilisk. For other worlds this childhood would have been considered very Spartan, life is hard on Basilisk. The children of Basilisk spend most of their waking time in creches. These creches are a combination of daycare and school. During this time each child is tested for force sensitivity. The parents of a force sensitive child is informed and allowed to decide if the child should begin training. When the child reaches adulthood he/she may decide if they want to continue or start the training. The force sensitive child is taught the force alter feat out of tradition which developed to spite the Jedi order. The next force feat learned is sense, after which the sensitive must undergo a right of passage. This right of passage is determined by the sensitive him/herself Gustave learned that the story surrounding the large island on the other side of the planet was a cover. This cover story was concocted to explain the deaths of the expedition to that island. Each member of that expedition each died due to some dark force event that happened or had happened on that island. The Drake tells of a great battle that occurred on that island long ago. Gustave withheld his choice ofhis right of passage until he was presented before The Inner Council. He did this because the choice cannot be withdrawn after The Inner Council has heard it, and he knew that his parents would try to talk him into another choice. He was not the first to make this choice, but he is (so far) the only person to survive, though the experience left him with his pure white hair. He has never told anyone what the experience was like.
Recently, he was named as an operative to the outside universe. This operation was sent to Procopia to find out if it was safe to reveal Basilisk existence, and to make sure that the secret of Camille is safe.
INITIAL PLOT HOOK: Greydrake came to the Tapani sector from the “Lost Holdings” as part of a delegation to meet with House Pelagia. Along with Ambassador Clearheart and his assistant, Shayla Ghostwing, they came to the Tapani sector with the intent in meeting with Lord Gren Slavak’s son, a young diplomat named Joseph who was to work out a treaty between Greydrake’s home world, Basilisk, and House Pelagia.
Hidden Lost Holdings is the secret of Camille, a planet with in the Lost Holdings. Camille holds a dark secret that few only know. Basilisk knows this secret and more, but Camille is unaware of this. On this world, those that stay for an extended period of time, gain a certain quality about them – they become virtually immortal. Greydrake himself knows of this secret and is assigned by secret powers with in the political structure of Basilisk to find out just how much of that secret has leaked into the Tapani sector. It’s very important to many that this secret does not get out.
The dragon cults have also been a concern to Basilisk. They are also affecting things on his home world.
Once Greydrake and the delegation arrived in the Tapani sector, the accompanied Baron Joseph Slavak to a meeting in former-Mecetti region of space. Slavak was invited to a reading of a will at Castle Hejaran, a former Mecetti lord. The Ambassador was apparently familiar with the name and requested to join the baron.
Hiring out a Starship captain/bounty hunter, Kelphis Starian, and his pilot, Maeth Drakka, who both were needed a job, most of the party was formed.
Gustav and the Ambassador grew further interested in Hejaran and his Will when they were able to determine that the Baron could be the one responsible for the increased cult activities. Apparently, he might have stirred up trouble while searching for something, maybe his son.
GREYDRAKE: WARRIOR-MONK of HARAK’NOR: As eluded to above, Greydrake is responsible for protecting the Secret of Camille, assigned by Draconic Assembly of Basilisk to do so at all costs. Harak’Nor is Baslisk theory of the Triad of Force – Light, Dark and Chaos (anti-Force), and that Light and Dark are just two opposing sides of Order. Much of their training is based around the belief in higher Force-based beings that are the embodiment of Harak’Nor – the Stellar Dragons.
AMBASSADOR BETRAYED & TAKEN: While at the Castle, the Imperial Inquisition paid a visit, and in the end, the Ambassasdor sacrificed himself so the others could escape. He was captured and taken away by 2 Inquisitors – Angaran Solm & Alequarus Dorn. It became apparent to Greydrake that his assistant, Ghostwing, was responsible for the Inquisitors’ sudden appearance.
AMBASSADOR RETURNED: On a dark planet called Barghest deep with the ever-changing nebulas of the Freeworld region, the group found the Ambassador. The Dragon Cults captured him along with Kena Beyard. They were brought to the shattered planet of Barghest as part of the dark Sith ceremony.
MENTOR TO SLAVAK: As Greydrake as spent time with the young and impressionable Jedi-in-training Joseph Slavak, he has watched him get deeply involved with the Cult of Tara’Nak with deep concern. A master who has confided in Greydrake and understand much, asked him to watch Slavak and help him along the proper path. However, core to his beliefs is the ability for one to choose his own. But the dark path that Slavak is taking is leading to something even darker than anyone ever imagined. And only Greydrake knows this.
BASILISK AT WAR: The Cults have arisen on Basilisk to start a civil war against ruling body of Basilisk. The Civil war collapses the government and the Cults take power. The Cults then follow this up with an invasion of their neighboring system, Camille. Now Basilisk and Camille are at war and the ruling body of Basilisk is in exile.
RED BACTA & CAMILLE IMMORTALS IN TAPANI: The Red Bacta is somehow connected to the Immortals of Camille, and is being used in some sinister process to create Drakaresh, dragon-warriors for the Dark.
SIGNIFICANT NPCs:
- Ambassador Clearheart & Shayla Ghostwing
- The Drake
- The Broken Sword – An anti-Mecrosa organization working in the interest of Pelagia, they are an order of honorable Pelagia Knights
- Haskin Dronar
- Draconic Assembly
John,
This is your update for Greydrake.
————————
Last we left Gustav and the group, they were fighting the dark spirit of Molan Skarrdrake. Everyone blacked out after that fight. He remembers holding the holocron piece and finding it’s mate after the destruction of Skarrdrake. He remembers the burst of energy that exploded from the mating of the pieces and then nothing.
Gustav woke up and thought he was dead. When Gustav realized where he were, he wished he was dead. Gustav was in Chaos. Chained to a tall stone pedistal, beneath which was unknown horror. Around Gustav was swirls of black flame and harsh winds, the smell of burnt flesh, blood and other unknown essences filled his nostrils.
His armor was gone, his weapons were gone. Above Gustav appeared forms of undescribable horrors – forms of torture and pain. They then proceeded to put Gustav through extreme pain and anguish while a voice in his head echoed –
“Betrayer! Betrayer! Betrayer! Urdile the Betrayer! Where is the Heart of the Dragon!? Give us the Heart!”
But something lessened the pain. It’s as if he was wearing the Dragonkeeper armor but they didn’t see it. He felt the presence of it but the demon-beings didn’t. He even felt the presence of Urdile.
Gustav also felt the presence of the holocron, hidden with in him. Urdile’s presence was manipulating it, trying to protect Gustav, linking it with the armor. But as the demon-beings increased their torture, the harder it was to protect him.
The little torture that did get through hurt excrutiatingly. Several times, he thought he would pass out or die, but something kept him awake and alive.
At one point, when Gustav distictly felt the holocron weaken and knew that the demons were winding up to deliver a blow he could not possibly endure, another form appeared – it was Slavak. It wasn’t clear how he got there, but it was clear there was little he could do. The little he could do, he did. He took Gustav’s place for a brief few moments while the demons delivered those severe blows. Somehow, in his efforts to meditate on Gustav and the holocron, Slavak found him briefly and saved him from some of the pain that was meant for Gustav. That was meant for Urdile.
But then he was gone. But Gustav got the mental message that he would be back.
And the torturing continued. The brief rest his soul recieved allowed him to endure a little more.
And now the Holocron is really weakening, and is reaching out…building up it’s last energies to protect Gustav and find a way to free him.
———————–
I am thinking of doing something fairly interesting, so bare with me. You might spend a lot of the next session in an etheral form. You will get most everything back – at least the stuff you hold near and dear. But I want to see if I can make an interesting situation out of this. I did this with Bill when he “merged” with the ship, now it’s your turn. I think you’ll have fun with it.
Let me know your thoughts or questions…
Ron
From: John Reavis
To: Ron McClung
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 1:52 PM
Subject: Greydrake’s wishlist
Ron,
I have been thinking that my character needs to do several things the next time the group makes planetfall, but I don’t think the these things are important enough to take up game time with. So, I thought I let you know what I wanted to do by email (I hope I’m not being to much trouble). I’ll Prioritize the list:
1) Greydrake needs to let Basilisk know about the “Ambassador” (in case they can help him and they also might want to send another real ambassador to take his place. Grey drake will also inform the Draconic Counsel of his discision to take on the Drakken Sentenial (this will be at the end of the “call” so that the discussion can be terminated, if need be).
2) Greydrake needs to find new clothing for the “Ambassador” (in the hopes of making it harder for the inquisitors to find him again.
3) I’d like to, if possible, combine one of the “Ambassador’s” buckles and part of the “armor” segment from the worm from last session into a belt buckle (to be used for Greydrake’s Force Talisman). This talisman will remind Grey drake that life goes on even in the face of chaos, but chaos can bring down even, what Greydrake considers, the best. I figure I’ll need to find a good jeweler to fashion the buckle, and then perform the rituals later.
4) The jeweler brings up the another thing, I want to find the rest of the stuff for my laserstaff as quickly as possible (I figure we are going to need to transform the party into a more martial orientation soon). If Greydrake is going to be a part of that transformation then he needs to make the staff soon (hopefully before he levels again).
5) Greydrake needs (or needed) to put a tail on the “gofer” (the one who knows where the shipment is) that Matt’s character let go the session before last. I think that this way we can explain why Grey drake let him go, Greydrake is looking for the big fish that he might have to eliminated. I guess he can talk to the “broken sword” about this.
Anyway, that what I’d like to do if possible, and maybe we want take up to much gametime.
Thanks,
John
From: Ron W McClung
To: John Reavis
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 12:02 AM
Subject:Re: Greydrake’s wishlist
I’m not sure what we talked about with respect to your horneworld – did I already hint that there was civil disorder since the drake left. I think I
did mention that there were cults rising up with in it. I think that’s right. Let’s go with that. If I am wrong, we can fix it in game session tomorrow.
Any response from home is very delayed.
> 1) Greydrake needs to let Basilisk know about the “Ambassador” (in case they
> can help him and they also might want to send another real ambassador to take
> his place.
When you do get a response, the say that your mission has been placed on low priority, and that you will be contacted with further orders soon.
> Grey drake will also inform the Draconic Counsel of his discision to
> take on the Drakken Sentenial (this will be at the end of the “call” so that the
> discussion can be terminated, if need be).
The Draconic Council is even slower with their response. They approve your decision, in a short and quick message. It appears matters at home are not going well. Your standing orders at this point is wait until the ambassador decides to return home. You can not leave until he has decided to leave.
> 2) Grey drake needs to find new clothing for the “Ambassador” (in the hopes of
>making it harder for the inquisitors to find him again. This should be no problem.
> 3) I’d like to, if possible, combine one of the “Ambassador’s” buckles and part
>of the “armor” segment from the worm from last session into a belt buckle (to be
> used for Greydrake’s Force Talisman). This talisman will remind Greydrake that
> life goes on even in the face of chaos, but chaos can bring down even, what
> Grey drake considers, the best. I figure I’ll need to find a good jeweler to fashion
>the buckle, and then perform the rituals later.
OK, no problem.
> 4) The jeweler brings up the another thing, I want to find the rest of the
stuff for
>my laserstaff as quickly as possible (I figure we are going to need to transform
>the party into a more martial orientation soon). If greydrake is going to be a part
>of that transformation then he needs to make the staff soon (hopefully before he
>levels again).
Most you can get in Tallaan, except some specialty items that are only available in Noble Space. You are about 85% there.
> 5) Greydrake needs (or needed) to put a tail on the “gofer” (the one who knows
>where the shipment is) that Matt’s character let go the session before last. I think
>that this way we can explain why Grey drake let him go, Greydrake is looking for
> the big fish that he might have to eliminated. I guess he can talk to the “broken
> sword” about this.
I am having a hard time remembering where Matt decided to stash the cargo, but I believe he asked his Lady-From-Barnaba to do so. Let’s go with that, and if it’s different, we’ll change it to fit.
The “courier” was a slippery fella. If you had a chance to contact the Broken Sword (and I suppose we can say you did), the followed him to the
Barnaba compound on Tallaan. He was allowed in after talking to some security. Inside, Broken Sword had some contacts, where they were able to find out that the courier was taken to a secret bunker in the southern mountains, where Bamaba has a highly secret hangar and space port facility.
This is where the Lady took Kena Beyard’s ship (Matt’s “sister in law”) to repair it. Inside the cargo hold was the too pods. What happened inside the mountain bunker is not well known, but a large cargo skiff did arrive and take the cargo away. This was followed to not-well-known smuggler landing area on an isolated island. There is was loaded on board a ship, called the Undaunted- a private freighter YT 2200 (don’t try to look for it in any books, a pic is here http://drexfurlow.users2.50megs.com/yt22l.htm. I don’t have the stats, but I can customize them when I need to.)
It’s unknown where it went from there. The Undaunted comes up as a bogus name and there is no record of a YT 2200 called that name. Your contacts come to the conclusion it’s a smuggler ship, so you would have to ask smugglers.