Introduction

Last week, the Streets of Eversink teamed with people named Stefano. Everywhere you went, you bumped into a guy named Stefano. The baker down the street. The local cobbler. The friendly neighborhood pickpocket.

Then, they began to disappear. One by one, the Stefanos of Eversink… vanished. Most were renamed less Stefano-like names and carried on as if nothing happened. Others blipped out of existence, and existence knit itself back together over the hole they left behind.

Other than being obviously weird, this really messed with the people of Eversink, especially the Stephanos. Some went into hiding. Some wept. Some begged the City Watch to “do something” (they did not). Highly placed Stephanos fled the City, terrified they were next, and no amount of cash could protect them from this terrible scourge.

Soon, no one named Stephano would be left in Eversink. And when that happened, what next?

Background Story

Silvio Langella wasn’t thinking about becoming a Sorcerer when he picked the ornate box open. He was thinking about becoming fabulously wealthy and blowing gold on hot girls and rivers of alcohol. Getting to this box was no simple feat, and whoever hid it didn’t want it stolen. Whatever was inside was worth bank.

But Silvio Langella became a Sorcerer when the wrought gold lid of the box popped open under his cajoling and his expertise with lockpicks. Granted, it took Silvio all night to scale the outside of the Old Perla Family Spire in Alderhall, slip past 5 death traps, avoid the house guards, slay the house pet giant spider, find the secret locked door, and pop the complex set of locks. He also willfully ignored the letters that spelled out “DO NOT OPEN THE BOX VERY BAD” in old Eversink on the lid.

As Silvio peered into the box and saw a strange hyper-condensed ball of black light, a tiny alarm went off in his head. But then, he was consumed by blackness. A moment later, the world was back to normal. Silvio blinked and peered back into the box. Then, he heard someone yawn, stretch, and then say: “Hiya.”

After the initial hilarious misunderstandings between newly-created-Sorcerer and Demon, the Demon Maguuk offered Silvio power over his enemies and endless terrible advice that Silvio instantly followed to the letter. All Silvio had to do is draw on the Demon’s power, and great power would be his. Well, hell, mystical power was almost a great as mad riches! Not quite, but almost.

Silvio knew something something from Church when he was a kid, something bad about Demons, but he couldn’t quite remember. And Maguuk seemed like his kind of Demon. Silvio uttered his first, last, and main desire: to “get rid of that bastard Stephano who cheated me at cards last week.”

One bastard Stephano gone, so many more to go. It was all downhill from there.

Silvio Langella

Hungry, Foolhardy, Sarcastic, Loathes Stephanos Everywhere

Defense – Health: Hit Threshold 3, Health 8
Defense – Morale: Hit Threshold 4, Grit 1 (sarcastic wit), Morale 10
Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +1 (razor-sharp dagger)
Offense – Sorcery: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (Memory, Shadow Teleportation)
Abilities: Malus 18
Special Abilities: Dodge (cost varies), Spellcasting (cost 3 – Memory, cost – 3, Shadow Teleportation), Warded (cost 6)
Misc: Stealth Modifier +2; Use Malus on Burglary, Skullduggery and Athletics. Shadow teleportation allows transit through Maguuk’s realm and imprisonment there.

Refresh Tokens: 3

Description: Silvio Langella was your run-of-the-mill thin, tweedy, slightly sleazy second-story man, the kind that are 3 to a copper eel in Sag Harbor. Now, he has the Demon Maguuk living in his head, merrily pointing out people named Stephano and helping Silvio wipe them from existence. Silvio, being Silvio, is not very good at controlling Corruption. He’s internalized a fair amount of Corruption every time he has used Memory or Shadow Teleportation magic. It twisted his body horribly – redding skin, horn stubs protruding from his forehead, gnarled fingers and toes – slowing turning him into the likeness of the Demon. Now he bundles himself in clothes and hides in the shadows, hoping no one sees him for what he’s turned into.

Villainous Plot Seeds

  1. Plot Seed #1 – Running Out of Stephanos: Silvio wants to remove everyone named Stephano from Eversink, never to return. He’s declared war on Stephanos, wherever they may hide. While most of Eversink might shrug its collective shoulders and change its name to Marcos, the Corruption crawling around the City is a real problem. And it’s only a matter of time before Eversink runs out of Stephanos! Silvio might go after some other name. And another, and another, until Eversink is a city of the nameless! Orders coming down from the Church of Denari itself: something must be done to stop the Sorcerer before it’s too late!
  2. Plot Seed #2 – The Demon Children of Sag Harbor: Silvio is internalizing much of the Corruption he’s generating every time he casts a spell, but not all of it. Some of the Corruption is splashing around his kip in Sag Harbor, causing buildings to fall, pregnant women to miscarry, and the local children to start growing small stubbing horns, stubby wings, and forked tails. Something in the neighborhood is turning the children into actual demons, and that must be stopped.
  3. Plot Seed #3 – The Demon Maguuk’s Extradimensional Lair: Not all those afflicted by Silvio’s magic suffer a sudden change of name. Some blip out of existence entirely… and end up the Demon Maguuk’s lair out of space and time. The Demon Maguuk feasts on the souls sent to him by Silvio’s magic, and consumes them for power. As Silvio wreaks his revenge, Maguuk feeds and grows stronger. It’s not just Silvio who must be stopped. It’s Maguuk, who may one day once again soon grow so powerful it rips out of its dimensional prison and menaces Eversink directly.

Disclaimer: These posts are unaffiliated with official canonical posts or printed materials about Sword of the Serpentine. “Swords of the Serpentine” is (TM) Pelgrane Press. For more information on Eversink, visit the Pelgrane website.