The Guardian:
Warlock doesn't sit. With the arrival of the TARDIS he seems to be on edge. Oddly, he barely gives a glance to Sereth and seems even less disturbed by Smoke Alarm's arrowgun, but his gaze keeps flickering between the Traveller, Stanley, and Amanda.
"I'm no sort of leader, Traveller," he says. "And I am not trying to be. I found a man who was a leader. Haran Lucin. I've been working to give him the tools to make something out of all these people before it's too late. Before I happen to these people."
He focuses in on Trav, and his eyes are full of pain. "You get that, Trav, don't you? You never told me all that much about being the Marshall, but I could see how much you hated that. What wouldn't you do to keep from being like that again? That's what I'm up against. When the Gehennans came and took me from Arden...."
He takes a deep breath, his shoulders sagging. "They showed me what I was supposed to become. Like Fortuna did... will... whatever. They had the TAROT, and they brought it to me, and...." He holds out an empty palm and looks at it as if summoning up the device, but nothing happens. "It showed me records of the Beast. Showed me what the Beast had done, using it. Sezan Crayne had seen those same records, and he decided that the Beast was just what he needed. So he... he set out to make one."
Warlock folds his arms and looks down, his eyes shut tightly for a moment. "Well, in the end, they got me, instead. Kept trying to make me over into what they wanted, so I played along. And I learned. A little. Enough to escape, because you never did come, Traveller."
He draws himself up, a little more assured. "And you're mistaken, too, about what it is I'm doing here. Yes -- when the Fists seize a world, they do their very best to bring people to their way of thinking, keep them as a captive audience, even, but in the end, everyone's will remains their own. This?" He gestures at the blue device. "This isn't used to change peoples' minds for them. It's used to show them exactly what I have been through. What the Gehennans are. What the Beast wants to do with the universe. I can't just blunder blindly toward that, and I can't let the universe do that either." His voice firms, and he meets Trav's eye. "So I'm doing the best I can, and Lucin is too. And honestly, Trav, I don't want your help. I've done without it up until now, and I'd get along best if you'd just go play at do-gooding, and stay out of my way."
OOC:
Reaction roll, spending a story point. The Guardian, for the NPC Warlock, rolled 22 using 4d6+9 with rolls of 1,3,6,3. Reacting to Trav's statement: Convince(3) + Resolve(4) + Brave(2) + Story Point.
Counter-argument. The Guardian, for the NPC Warlock, rolled 12 using 2d6+9 with rolls of 4,1. Laying the guilt trip: Convince(3) + Presence(4) + Empathic(2) -2 (second action).
I forgot to add the -2 for the second action in the round, but you should include that when you make your Convince + Resolve.
She's sitting on the floor, looking up at him, seeing the hurt in him. He reminds her of her two sons, and her grandson. She can see him making the same mistakes and the same presumptions when she escaped from the Daleks in an orgy of fire and blood.
"This isn't about
me, my apprentice, or really
you. You'll have my thoughts, but after my travelling family explains how they see this, through their unclouded eyes. To their judgement, I submit, always. But, Smoke, Sereth, Amanda, Stan - you've seen what the Fists, under
Warlock's instruction and leadership, have been doing. Please, tell me what you see. Also, I want to see these Gehennans, what you're showing the Fists. If they have *hurt* you, by god, I will send them to a very special kind of hell."
"For context - Warlock here was once a young man named Phillipe, who was my companion, very briefly. It seems, from what I understand, that he was snatched from me, and I failed to protect him, and he was abused by *someone*, who I don't know. No one,
no one hurts the people who have traveled with me. But, but, we have to be careful - These Gehennans, if they had you and the TAROT, most likely now know about me. They may not be manipulating *you* into becoming the Beast, Warlock - but instead, *me*. It seems that we're both being played - it would help them if we didn't trust each other."
Trav feels welling up within her the same dark, terrifying rage that gave birth to the Marshall - with the torture-deaths done to Shandy, Calabra, Sir Engar, Martin and Jose - the rage which drove her to attempt to conquer the universe, and which allowed her to unleash the horrors of the Vault of Omega upon the Daleks at the orders of first the Master, and then Rassilon.
She smiles and sighs wearily. "But that's pretty vain, I think. Fuck, being the Marshall too a hell of a lot of energy, and I was way less dangerous as the Marshall - I was horribly predictable. I think whoever these clowns are, they misjudged you, and me. You haven't killed anyone - yet."
"Also, Warlock, if I were serious about stopping you, all of this bullshit would have ended when I arrived here on Arsuran Prime. You're causing people to be injured, hurt, displacing families, causing violence and mayhem. You're also misleading the Fists. Fist Erysk, is it? I can show you another view of what's going on. But using coercive violence won't solve any problems. Violence and coercion *never* does, and neither does deception. You're on the cusp of a possible war with the Draconian empire, and they will be *far* less forgiving than I am. People *will* die if the Draconians see you as a threat to their government."
She holds up her hands. "Look - no pistols, no sonic. This was all a *conversation* about the nature of free will and grass roots action that you and we are having. They're being held in trust by my family, over here."
"So, maybe you're right, baby! Show us the AV presentation, and then I'll let my companions judge you. Me? I have too much baggage. But they can see with clear eyes and hearts. Show us why you're doing this. Show us Gehenna. Show us The Beast. If this war is as vital as you make it out to be, you can not afford to not make use of *any* resource. Also, I've ended a Time War - you have not."
OOC: Revised - no roll for Trav, but she wants to see what that blue ball shows.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:11, Tue 20 May 2014.