Nine Swords

Christian Grael Gray walks into the the bar and looks about casing the area, nods to a few familiar faces and strolls to the bar. Once at the bar he he sits on the stool and gets the tenders attention. Making eye contact he says, "Cafe con Leche please.. Hot... Very hot..." and gives his usual grin. The bar tender smiles back and goes to prepare the order.

Grael, quickly spins on his stool back facing the bar and leans back onto it putting both elbows on it when....

(Continue this epic tale adding only a paragraph or two from your characters perspective of the scene and story letting others continue where you left off.)

Arcadius knocks over his tea, spilling it all over the table. Some of it wets the sheet music scattered in front of him.

"Shit!" He cries. A few muffled snorts can be heard around the bar. He works quickly, tossing napkins on to the small puddle on the table. Wet tea stains smudge the handwritten music. Arcadius grumbles.

Hoping to salvage what he can, he places the sheet music over to the side, when a shadow crosses the table. He turns, to find...

Grael looking over his shoulder with an amused look on his face at the mess Arcadius had created with his tea and music sheets. He surveyed the mess before him then met eyes with Arcadius. "Tsk, tsk Arcadius... Cant hold your drink?", he mused with a smile on his face.

Grael held his hand over the mess, "Trick I learned while lost in the dessert." Grael's hand tensed an had a ever so light glow emanating from the palm of his hand and the puddle of water on the table recoiled from the direction it was once spreading to amass and compress below Grael's hand. The sheets became dry as liquid crawled off the pages to join the compressing liquid bubble which was rising up of the table towards the outstretched hand. He moved his hand and compressed bubble of liquid over the tea cup with one hand and picked up the tea cup with the other. "Would have made drinking much easier had I had a cup," he said with a grin and shaking his head with an obvious memory swirling in his mind.

The liquid dropped onto the cup as Grael's hand relaxed and the glow vanished. The music sheets and table were drained of liquid leaving a film of dried tea remnants, "the hard part is not draining to much". Grael he surveyed his handiwork with light amusement.

Grael looked at Arcadius, "Been a while", he said, when...

(keep the present tense, people)

...there is a loud bang behind them. Their conversation drops dead as the door to the bar swings open and a cold wind enters, stirring the music sheets in front of the two Templars. The gust of winds blows out the candles and the human guests look anxiously around them. There is an evil presence that even they can feel.

Grael and Arcadius don't lose a beat as they focus their mental energies into weapons and prepare for danger. Still, nothing happens. No demon lunges through the open door. No enemy appears. But there is a voice. A deep voice of malice and eons of hatred fills the room:
"Christian Grael Gray! Hear my voice! Let it rip through the cracks of your armor of faith and tear at your wicked soul. Yes, Templar, I spit on your so called pure ideals and the values you seem to hold so dear. But, appearances may deceive. You are a fraud, a charlatan and the world needs to know it. I have not forgotten your past sins. And the world shall not either. When I'm done, you will be but a memory and the Templar order will be shattered and broken. Hear my voice and shiver with fear! Hear my voice and find me or face your fate."

The wind stops and the door slams shut. There is an uncomfortable silence before people start nursing their drinks again, with a new topic to discuss. Many eyes dart towards Grael.

The two Templars look at each other and...

...Arcadius swears, this time in German. The sheets of music blown about, he focuses in on the mess, lifting them up telekinetically. He quickly begins to sort them, creating three small stacks on the table.

"This is the third time I've had to sort them today."

For the moment, Arcadius acts completely dismissive of the loud, booming voice. He scratches at his beard, as the last pieces of music float gently into place. The two of them standing up, they appear the most out of place, weapons drawn. Finally recomposed, Arcaduis turns to Grael.

"So, out of curiosity, who did you manage to piss off?"

Grael looks down at his coffee, lifts the cup and is about to answer, when a new voice emerges from the shadows. This one isn't quite as evil and intimidating and it's also slurring a bit. Quite much, actually. It seems to belong to a well-dressed but unshaven man who makes his way unsteadily towards the two Templars.

"Heiya fellows, nice night, eh? Mind if I join you? Of course not!
I'm Johnny. Johnny Business. That doesn't come with a card by the way. You can call me Bizze. Most of the bees does. Heh! Joke. Don't mind if you didn't get that.

Anyhow...

I couldn't help but overhear the voice of doom just now, and since the cat is out of the bag, I might as well just tell you a story... That's fine with you lads, right? Ok, here I go:

It was a long time ago. I was young and reckless and drunk with my new-found power. The bees set me loose upon the world, but I had no clear mission. Too young and inexperienced, I guess I found myself put into the military reserve. And that's just not where you put young and reckless people, you know what I'm saying? Let's just say that I wanted danger, and I got it.
One expedition, one long lost tomb to be found. A party of twenty, including armed guards and workers. Innocent, local workers with the hopes of earning twice their monthly salary each day. Their spirit was high, and so was mine. We were in Egypt, on the desert's border, and we were in luck. At least that's what we thought. That's what I thought. See, this ancient map just 'happened' to come by my possession, too cheaply to be true, of course. I picked it up in a local market and thought the seller was a clueless drunkard. Might have been my own reflection... I didn't drink back then, truly. Not compared to now at least, but that seller... Well... He was a bit too conveniently in the right place at the right time to be true. Nevertheless, the map was mine and I din't care if it was real or not. I just wanted an adventure. Yet I spent months deciphering its ancient text and feeling the hope grow.

It felt almost too easy, until late one night when the first workers went missing...

Before going into more details about my sad but exciting past - What the HELL do you have to do with this, Grael? When the wind appeared and the voice started booming, I wasn't expecting to get cleanly off the hook. I wasn't expecting the voice to bear down on a MUSICIAN! It almost makes me question my whole existence!

Now, tell me Grael, is this old, wicked demigod just senile or did you get to the hidden tomb too?

Because right now I'm hell of confused and my head is pounding.

Bartender, can I get one more of the same, please!"

"Mister, I am not the bartender." Said Don "the Sealawyer" Myers. "I believe he is the guy behind the bar."

Man what a noisy place to clean my old flintlock pistols. Why did that stupid cook put so much spice in the food at Ayiti's. Stunk the whole place up, on top of making my eyes water for hours, and now I end up here. Ah, well better than sitting at home I guess. At least this place has decent coffee, makes up for the poor atmosphere.

Sealawyer turns to the trio and says "Now if you all are done with all the blowing wind and flying papers, I have but one question, What's this with all the wailing voices?"

Grail Chuckles and looks at Arcadius, "I'm gone for so long and when I come back, heh... the more things change the more they stay the same".

Brushing his hand through his graying hair he shakes his head turning his gaze from Arcadius to Sealawayer to Bizze. Giving each a nod, "Sealawyer, Bizze, is it?" Then Addressing the three in unison, "I've lost track of what daemon, demi-god wannabe, buzz-be fly monster, oozier woozie tentacle covered thingumabob, mummyloving watcha-huzit, old god, new god, ex god or ex girl friend I've pissed off over the years."

"This past year... It is a Haze to be honest. Tree hopping from one place to another hunting ...", he says as his eyes haze over lightly as if trying t remember, "something... someone... yeah cant remember." He shakes the cobwebs that were forming in his mind... then focuses on the three with him. "sorry bout that... been a bit hard to focus on the past year." He focuses and continues, " last I recall I was with Naem, Xee, Kotts. hunting something or being hunted by something," his eyes haze again as he tries to recall which it was. Recovering he continues, "Yeah, I recall being in Egypt, some tomb probably, cant tell you what or why. I also cant tell you when I was there or in Tranz's, or the Himalayas for that matter."

"As for what, who why that was," pointing in the general direction the voice and wind came from. "I don't know... heh... and don't much care, I..," looks around at the others, " WE, if you all want to join", he says with a grin, "can handle it I"m sure."

He gets his coffee and takes a sip. "dam its cold now," he says when...

Bizze grabs his arm in a powerful, almost fanatic grip and looks into his eyes.
"That, my friend, is what I was waiting to hear!
You see, I have had this blast from the past haunting my dreams for quite some time now and when that motherf...er... strange voice appeared tonight I figured I was no longer alone. Somebody else must have stirred the darkness as well... By the look of things, you may not remember it as clearly as I do, but it feels great to be in a party once again. God knows the last members didn't cut it. Didn't cut it at all. I'm talking about that expedition, ya know...? They tried to fight monsters with spades! Spades...

Anyhow...

I'd trust you like my black sheep cousin, Grael, since that infernal voice seems to recognize you somehow. But... I'm not that sure about that other dude.. Sealawyer? What kind of name is that? I hope he's not into arctic animals. I've seen those people and they do NOT look good in sealskin parkas... Not even after a severe round of drinking...

Anyway...

I think we all deserve a drink to celebrate the forming of this very holy union! Bartender, give them a round of the fancy stuff. ol' Bizze will pay for his friends."

This was a perfect opportunity for...