Aug 13, 2017 9:12 am
There lives on the Volcano of the Five Colored Lakes, a series of five lakes whose color mysteriously shifts from green to purple with the weather, a group of monks lives in an ancient compound built after the last eruption but had been going on for far longer. They are peculiar in this place but unmistakable to all in the village and countryside below, though rarely will you see one outside of their monastery. All members of the monastery have a particular but shared trait: they all were once killers. Each and every one of them had physically killed men with their own hands, in the most brutal of fashions.
But they all had seen the Peace and made the Choice. Each, in the midst of a ruthless assassination, paused in reflection, and gave up their lives of violence. They are drawn to the village where they all live in a perfect peace. They will not even attack if attacked themselves and will even allow themselves to be killed by any that would wish it upon them.
They dedicate themselves upon the mountain side to the pursuit of two constant disciplines among others: the collective pruning and care to their protectors, the bonsai treant druids that keep them safe, and the cultivation of the blossom of the Great Ethereal Lily, an event that happens every five to seven years.
The bloom creates a spiritual vacuum that sucks the regenerative soul out of the oldest monk present or whomever time it is to move on. The flower feeds off the life force of elder which kills the elder. In blooming and feeding, the Great Ethereal Lily dies and is reborn. So too is the soul of the peaceful warrior within the former violent killer. It scours the countryside within 500 miles for the most suitable candidate. When it finds the most murderous individual it can find in the moment between life and death, that of their next victim, it rushes in and replaces the psyche and is the master reborn. Some masters experience second death in this moment as the victim may turn on them and they do not fight back but those that do survive begin to walk the journey back to the volcano, forever changed.
The PCs may watch one of these transformations while in battle with a strong murderous enemy or they may see a strong enemy killing in the peripherals to a main battle look suddenly serene. After their boss is defeated they seem in no mood to continue the fight.
But they all had seen the Peace and made the Choice. Each, in the midst of a ruthless assassination, paused in reflection, and gave up their lives of violence. They are drawn to the village where they all live in a perfect peace. They will not even attack if attacked themselves and will even allow themselves to be killed by any that would wish it upon them.
They dedicate themselves upon the mountain side to the pursuit of two constant disciplines among others: the collective pruning and care to their protectors, the bonsai treant druids that keep them safe, and the cultivation of the blossom of the Great Ethereal Lily, an event that happens every five to seven years.
The bloom creates a spiritual vacuum that sucks the regenerative soul out of the oldest monk present or whomever time it is to move on. The flower feeds off the life force of elder which kills the elder. In blooming and feeding, the Great Ethereal Lily dies and is reborn. So too is the soul of the peaceful warrior within the former violent killer. It scours the countryside within 500 miles for the most suitable candidate. When it finds the most murderous individual it can find in the moment between life and death, that of their next victim, it rushes in and replaces the psyche and is the master reborn. Some masters experience second death in this moment as the victim may turn on them and they do not fight back but those that do survive begin to walk the journey back to the volcano, forever changed.
The PCs may watch one of these transformations while in battle with a strong murderous enemy or they may see a strong enemy killing in the peripherals to a main battle look suddenly serene. After their boss is defeated they seem in no mood to continue the fight.