In ages past, there existed a great civilization capable of
building great things, producing great people, and creating great ideas. And
yet this civilization managed to destroy itself, its neighbors, and arguably
99% of its entire world. Pockets of humanity managed to survive, but they were
isolated. Civilization had died, culture stagnated, and even the people
themselves were changed. Into this came a strange race of spacefaring beings
known in myth and legend only as the Earthmasters. They saw a world that had
once thrived and introduced their servants to restore it to serve as a colony.
The Earthmasters began to thrive on this world as well, building a network of
fantastic devices that could transport a person from one end to the other in an
instant.
Sadly, they, too, were not long for the world as their ancient Enemy, whom
history does not even remember except within near-extinct Earthmaster records,
followed them to this new colony world and continued fighting their ancient
war. The Earthmasters and their enemies fought vicious battle after vicious
battle until all present on the world had either died or fled to their parent
empires. The Earthmasters' servants remained behind though, picking up the
pieces of a broken world until the pockets of humanity, which now included
strange children like Elves, Orcs, and Goblins, began to spread forth once more
to reclaim what was lost.
Civilization was slowly rebuilt. New nations like Tentula
and Brocaidia rose on the contient of Demova. Dwarves and Halflings and other
races built nations of their own as man's desire to explore the unknown
returned. Sadly, growth and prosperity brought with it another old, bad habit:
war. Elves and humans fought for control of Demova, resulting in the
near-extinction of the Elves except for a small enclave of pure-bloods granted
sanctuary by the Queen of Tentula and their part-Elf descendents, the Middlings.
Peace thrived until the Church of Azell realized that powerful magics such as
the ones used against the Elves could be turned upon them or other human
nations, beginning a war across Demova to bring all magic under the oversight
of the Church, causing the near-destruction of the nation of Estella.
Once the Church was satisfied with its position, peace
reigned across Demova. Publicly at least, for a shadow war was being waged
between the descendents of the Enemy and a group of warriors working on behalf
of the rulers of the Demovan nations. This shadow war lasted for years until an
accident involved an Earthmaster site caused the "deaths" of the
Enemy leader and the warriors. While their bodies were destroyed, scattered by
malfunction Earthmaster artifacts, their spirits gained the ability to reach
out to their descendents and grant them fantastic powers. With this new
ability, the Enemy continued his plans against Humanity while the warriors, now
known as the Forever Knights, sought him out and battled him when possible.
The year is 1568 of the Azell Calendar. It is an Age of
Enlightenment and Exploration as new discoveries as made every day and strange
lands are waiting to be discovered by Demovan explorers. The Forever Knights
are active once more though, traveling across the world to reactivate the surviving
dormant Earthmaster sites to give them an edge in their fight against the
Enemy, whose plans are coming together after centuries.
Even heroes must rest though. After a harrowing adventure in an undersea city
with multiple near-death experiences, Doctor Dia DeMonde, Middling surgeon of -
in her own eyes at least - great renown, looked forward to spending some time
in a normal, ordinary city. Her companions all had their own preparations to
make, supplies to purchase, needs to attend to. That was fine; they had their
things, Dia had hers, even if it was in a Brocadian city instead of one in her
homeland of Estella. She was even tempted - nay, hoping - to perform a normal
medical procedure on someone instead of having to sew her own abdomen shut or
dissect some horrible fish creature to get access to the poison sacs in its
face. Still alive, of course. She did feel somewhat out of place though,
dressed in rather common-looking garments despite being a guest of the
Brocadian palace while the natives all strutted about like peacocks in their
fashions. Dia shook her head and went looking for the nearest apothecary to
restock her surgery kit.
<DiDe, can we go to the candy store?>
Dia looked at her shoulder. Beneath her cloak, her shoulder bulged from a small
lump perched there, hidden from sight so as not to scare the common folk. Its
words went right into her mind, an easy way to circumvent the need for awkward
conversations.
"Not yet, Nurse Teacups," she answered with a
smile. "Behave and you can have TWO pieces."
The bulge squirmed until the head of a tiny dragon's head peeked out from
beneath the cloak.
<Even taffy?>
Dia smiled at Izzy Teacups' enthusiasm, admiring once again the little
creature, a once-dead fairy dragon she had restored using magic and science. She
petted the little head and gently pushed it back under the cloak.
"Yes, even taffy," she agreed. "Now stay put.
Peeking is NOT behaving."
<But I'm boooooooored.>
The surgeon shrugged with her unladen shoulder as she entered the apothecary
she had been searching for. That was the end of her good experience with the
shop as the proprietor took one look at her single pointed ear and sneered.
"Show me your coin before you waste my time asking for
things, Middling," the clerk demanded.
With an annoyed sigh, Dia pulled out two things: a gold coin
and a small amulet, her symbol of membership in Estella's hallowed medical
guild. She waved both in front of the clerk's face while tapping her foot
impatiently.
"I am Doktor Dia DeMonde, graduate of the Freiburg
Universitat, dummkop, here on special assignment to attend King Louis-Dieudonné
de Montaigne XIV," Dia said in introduction. "You may fetch me vhat I
need or I shall return to the palace, explain to his majest vhat you hafe not
done, and somevone vith a large polearm shall come to do my shopping, only he
vill pay you vith a large fine for wasting the court's time. Good deal,
ya?"
The clerk gulped as Dia produced a small ring bearing the royal seal, proof
enough that she at least worked in the palace, even if in a far different role
than the one she'd stated.
"Ah, yes, of course, Doktor," the clerk gulped,
suddenly quick to respond to Dia's requests.
"And hafe a nice day," Dia said, smiling sweetly
as she returned to town.
Outside, she found herself staring at a young boy, a fellow
Middling judging by his ears and slight frame. She also found herself unable to
get past without shoving him aside. The two stared at each other awkwardly
until Izzy poked her head out of the cloak.
<This isn't the candy store, DiDe.>
"I know, Nurse."
<Then why are we just sitting here?>
"Zhat is a good qvestion," Dia agreed, turning to the boy. "Can
I help you, knabe?"
The child stared at her for another moment, tilting his head. "Are you a
healer?"
"A healer?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah, one of those people who makes sick people
better."
"Ah. Zhe proper term is doktor, but yes, I am a...'healer,'" Dia
answered. "You don't look sick though."
"It's my papa. He came home sick, but he keeps going to work and getting
worse. So I said to myself 'Pete, go ask a healer to make him better.' so I
started coming here. All the healers look at me though and just want to see my
money first," the boy explained. "But I'm just a kid; I don't have
any money."
Dia's heart skipped a beat. Plain old ordinary medical emergency, helping
someone in need, AND sticking it to the pureblood humans who probably did most
of the medicine in this town? It sure sounded like a good deal anyway. "I
see. And I take it you vould like me to help him, ya?"
The boy, Pete, nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Yeah! Can you?"
Izzy glared from her perch, but Dia spoke before the dragon could get mad.
"Certainly. Ve need to make one stop, zhen ve can see vhat's wrong with
your Papa."
A quick trip the sweets shop later and Dia, Izzy, and Pete were on their way to
the boy's house on the edge of town, not quite a slum but likely only because
of an effort to gentrify the neighborhood. Nobody was on the street begging,
but this part of town lacked the brightly-colored garments of the districts
near the palace. Dia felt she had gone from being underdressed to overdressed
as she walked through the streets, slipping back into an old habit of mentally
diagnosing people's problems as she passed them. It'd been so easy to slip back
into routine though that she also missed the sight of a bulky arm reaching out
to her from behind a post.
For a five-foot nothing young woman, Dia wasn't a slouch in
the strength department. She swatted the encroaching grasp aside and reached
towards her belt, wondering what sort of weapon she should be reaching for as
two brutish men stepped in front of her.
"Lookit here, Fenton. She's a lively one."
"Sure is. Spare a few pennies for a couple o' poor men?"
Dia snorted. Compared to giant reptiles, troglodytes, fish men, and the undead,
a couple of muggers were nothing. She reached for her sword before remembering
it was back at the palace. Same with her spear. At least she still had a kni-oh
wait. That, too, was at the palace. Well, she still had a nice, weighty walking
stick she could introduce their shins too. Or maybe she could use a spell. Or...she
could be interrupted.
"What ho, ruffians! Back away from the lady!"
Dia, Pete, and the two muggers looked up as a blue blur fell from above,
sweeping back a bright blue cape as it drew a rapier. In fact, it was a man
dressed entirely in a blue uniform, right down to a blue facemask.
"I am the Blue Revenger and I am the righter of wrongs,
thwarter of evils, defender of the weak, and...well...you get the gist of
the," the blue figure said. "Leave this woman and her babe alone and
I shall allow you to walk off unharmed."
Desperate the muggers might have been, but they were quite
aware that neither of them were armed, counting on their strength and size to
intimidate victims. Now someone else had the upper hand.
"Well? Poke poke!" the Blue Revenger said, waving
his weapon about. "What say you?"
The reply was for one mugger to pick up a barrel, hefting it over his head in
an impressive feat of strength to throw at the would-be hero. The revenger
leapt to the side and the barrel bounced off the ground with a hollow thunk.
With the thugs' attention occupied, Dia plucked her hefty walking stick from
her belt and chanted a quick word of command, activating a strange ring on her
finger. A gift of sorts from a Vedic noble, the ring soon turned her invisible,
allowing her to creep up and club the barrel-thrower from behind, knocking him
out cold with a single precisely-aimed hit.
Meanwhile, the Blue Avenger had begun hopping about,
peppering the other thug with lightning-swift pokes from his rapier, drawing
blood but inflicting no lethal wounds. Dia decided for all his eccentricities,
he was at least quite skilled with a weapon.
"You swing your lists like a bovine," the revenger
taunted, side-stepping a blow.
"Shut up and get hit!" the thug whinged, holding a spot on his face
where he'd been slashed.
"Your odor is the only dangerous part about you!"
the hero answered back, then slamming the pommel of the rapier upon the thug's
head.
As the large sack of meat fell to the ground, the Blue
Revenger removed his hat with a flourish and bowed gracefully.
"Worry not, my lady. You are safe now."
Dia sighed. Perhaps eccentric was too mild a word.
