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Donnie's dad calls him down from his room to tell him that they're having a guest for Brunch today, Donnie's grandfather on his mother's side.  It seems odd, since he's never come to visit before and to his knowledge Donnie's mom never talks about him.

Mom seems less then thrilled by the visit, she starts in on a martini around 9AM and calls a caterer to have something prepared and brought over.

The caterer is set up and out the door before grandpa arrives.  He's a tall man, fit looking and all smiles.  Mom and dad greet him warmly and Donnie can tell for mom it's a facade.  Dad introduces Donnie, "Son, this is Alister Carter (http://www.kfaq.net/marvels/2011/Faces/Alister_Carter.jpg).  He's your grandfather."

"Pleased to meet you lad."  He says with a firm handshake.

Mom ushers everyone to the table to eat, Donnie figures it's to keep from talking too much.  Her plan doesn't work out as well as she'd planned.  "So, Alister."  Dad begins, "What have you been doing with yourself.  We haven't seen you since the wedding."  Donnie heard his mom cough and nearly choke on a piece of chicken.  As nice as dad was, he had a wicked wit and a subtle mean streak.

"Been keeping busy, mostly travelling.  You didn't get my cards?"  He turns his gaze to Donnie's mother.  Her gaze is firmly fixed on her glass which contained actual straight orange juice, a fact I'm sure she regretted.

"Cards? Why no grandfather, i don't recall getting many cards from you. Except one Christmas of last year. It was kind of brief, but I was excited to see one from you, since Mom has been quiet about you for some reason."

Donnie shares the little streak of mean, but doesn't go for subtlety.

"What do you do for a living? Where did you travel?"

Donnie doesn't even dare peek at his mother, but keeps his eyes firmly planted on his grandfather.

"I'm sort of an antiques dealer.  I get around, mostly Europe and the former soviet states, but sometimes Africa and Asia too."  He looks at Donnie's mom and furrows his brow, "This is the address I have.  I'm sure I sent more then that one card."

When Donnie's mother's hand slams the table everyone is startled, he voice is louder then usual and Donnie can tell she's angry, "Of course you did.  You always send cards.  Heaven forbid you actually show your face, but I could always count on a card."  She sweeps her gaze to everyone at the table, "Yes, he sent plenty of cards.  The only reason you saw the one from last Christmas was because you found it before I could trhow it out."  She looks back at her father, "I always throw them away dad, ever since I was twelve.  That's when I stopped believing that you cared."  She pushes herself away from the table and stands, "Excuse me, I'm going to my room."  As she leaves Donnie sees her grab the bottle of vodka off the counter.

"So, Alister."  Dad says, "You ever work that relationship out with your daughter?"

Donnie is stunned. He colors, whether in embarrasment or anger, one is not sure. He doesn't say anything, but levels a glare at his father and looks questioningly at his grandfather.

His mother doesn't usually lose it completely like this.

Alister looks at Donnie's father, "I guess not.  What about you Donald, how are things with you and your wife?"

Donnie, stony faced at his grandfather's poignant remark, attempts to change the subject. "What kind of antiquities are you into?"

"huh?"  alister says, turning to lok back at Donnie.  "Oh, antiques, right.  All kinds.  Books, art objects, whatever there is a need for me to find.  I work for a group out of England, academics and the like that authenticate things, find missing pieces, that sort of thing."

A little bit suspicious about his grandfather's sudden appearance the exact day after reeiving his package, Donnie asks "What about antique or odd weaponry, you know daggers, spears, swords..?

Alister looks at Donald senior, then back at Donnie.  "Sure, sometimes.  some of those old things are quiet valuable."

Donnie's father gets up, "I'm going to check on Mary." 

As he leaves Alister looks back at him. "Take your time, Donnie and I will get better aquainted."  Once dad is upstairs alister looks back at Donnie, "So you got it then."  He smiles and looks Donnie over a bit.  "You're rounder then I thought you'd be.  You must get that from your father's side of the family."

Donnie pushes his plate back and leans back in his chair, staring thoughfully at his grandfather over the rim of his glasses.
"Too much Chinese, not enough baseball. So, gramps, what possessed you to send me a magic sword covered in unknown cuniform runes?"

There is a blank stare from Alister for a moment, then a blink.  Another blink.  "You mean you don't know?"  The sound of confusion is plain in Alister's voice.  "You're the chosen one, the guardian, the, the, well, don't you know?"

"Believe me. I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You're supposed to be the Guardian, the human watchman."  Alister begins to shake his head, "None of this sounds familiar to you, like a dream of maybe a bedtime story your mother told you?"

"Grandfather, my mother rarely told me bedtime stories. My father did, on the infrequent occasions when he was home, but mostly I read to myself. I have been reading and writing about dragons since I was a little kid. Does this have to do with dragons?"  An eager light flares in Donnie's face,and he shifts his shoulders slightly, as if something as settling there.

"I...I can't believe she never told you."  He takes a flask from his pocket and takes a swig of the contents.  "Yes it has to do with Dragons.  You're the human watchman for the Dragon Reach.  You're who keeps people from going there and disturbing their slumber."  He takes another drink from his flask.  "What kind of a parent doesn't tell their child bedtime stories."  Alister seems a bit flustered.

"Slumber? Dragon Reach? Grandfather, I'd like to show you something."  Shaking his head, he motions his grandfather to follow him up the stairs and past the ground floor master bedroom, where an argument could be heard in tighly controlled whispers. They head upstairs and Donnie leads him down the unadorned white hallway opening his bedroom door into the riot of colors in his walls; posters, drawings, prints and photographs.

"My dreams have been about dragons since I was a kid. Recently, one came to me."

He furrows his brow for a moment, and Pip shimmered into existance on his shoulders. The little jade and white dragon peered curiously at Alistair, and tasted the air with a flick of his long tongue. "Pip, this is my grandfather. Grandfather, this is Pip. Grandfather, I think you had better from the beginning.."

"Heh."  alister smiled and patted Pip on the head.  "Yes, well."  He looked for a place to sit down.  "Let's see.  The begining is too far back, let's just start from 1936 when they opened the Gates of Myth and let magic flow full bore back onto the world.  There were a few people who tried to summon the dragons back to Earth, to use them as weapons in the war.  The outfit I work for, the Legacy Group, they mounted an expedition to make sure that didn't happen.  See, the dragons had left Earth to sleep and contemplate the universe and their place in it.  We didn't think they'd be any too happy getting enslaved by the human race, after they so graciously didn't eat us all those millenium ago.  So, anyway, our expedition managed to forge a peace and thwart the German Arcanists from pulling the dragons here.  To make sure it never happened again, and to sort of help each other out, they set up the Watch.  One human and one Dragon Lord.  The human could access the Dragon Reach and from thee call down help in the form of dragons."  Alister shakes his head and squints at Pip a moment.  "I always imagined they'd be bigger."  In response Pip arches his back like a cat and bares his teeth with a mighty hiss.  "Yes, well, so now you're the human Watchman.  The last one just passed away in Iceland of all places."

"How did I become this? Who chose me? I can call dragons besides Pip? Can I go to the Dragon Reach? Was the sword his? Oh geez, I need to sit down.."

Donnie collapses into a sitting position on the floor, face showing shock.

"Did my mother know this?"

"Well, depending on who you ask some people will tell you it was destiny and some will say you made yourself the right person.  As for summoning other dragons, I assume so, there isn't actually a rule book for this.  That sword has been handed along from one Watchman to the next since they started in the 30s.  The dragons gave it to us, apparently it used to belong to their king back before they left Earth or something like that.  I doubt your mother knew, she obviously didn't take anything I said to her when she was little seriously, althought I guess I can't blame her.  I spent a lot of time battling evil forces instead of being at home."

"How many people are there in this group? Are they all old like you since it got started in WWII? Are you a wizard? What evil have you been fighting? Will it come looking for me?

Should I carry the sword? It would be kind of awkward to do so in highschool. What does the sword do? What language are these runes in? Does the sword have aname?

I have sooo many questions.

Am I allowed to go to Dragon Reach? If so, how do I get there?"

"No, er, wait.  No, maybe?  I think I lost track of the questions."


Alister holds up his hands, "I thought you'd know all this.  The part about the Dragon Reach and all that.  I'm just sort of an academic adventurer.  I research pieces that have been found to be in the wrong hands or gone missing and then try to track them down and take them someplace safe.  And no, we're not all old.  How absurd.  There are all kinds of people in the group, and maybe someday when you're older there will be a place there for you too.  Assuming you don't get killed or anything."

Donnie pales a bit. "Wait, killed? Will people be after me over this now?"

This time Donie gives his grandfather a chance to respond, then asks "Who can mentor me in whatever it is I need to do?"

"Well no.  I don't think so.  I just meant, if you, you know.  You get killed in the general sense.  I'm sure it's safe, the last guy died of old age for goodness sake."


"Ah."  Alister touched a finger to his lips.  "That's a very good question.  And I'm sure one you can find the answer to if you look."  He looks at his watch, "Well, I'm off.  Someone has made off with a fragment of the tree Juda hung himself from, can't have that in the wrong hands now can we."  He got up and headed towards the door, "You don't hesitate to call if you need any books or help with your research."  He sets a business card down on the dressor table as he goes.

Donnie slips the card in his pocket and escorts his grandfather out. He jiggles the handle to his parents' master suite as he passes by and is not surprised to find it locked.

"I'll tell mom and dad goodbye for you." Donnie shakes his hand, a serious look on his face. "Grandfather, do not be a stranger to me anymore, ok? You are the first member of my family to tell me all my dreams and creations aren't stupid flights of fancy. I am going to need you. Oh, and send me any books you can. I am a voracious reader. Hmm, better get a second address for that, since mom throws everything away from you. Perhaps you can come up with a fake name or something for the return address."

"I'll use the Legacy Group address in San Fransisco."  Alister whispers to Donnie, "And, now to worry.  I'll ask around and see if anyone can give you some clues about what all this Watchman stuff means and what you're supposed to do."

Donnie sees his grandfather out and waves to him from the porch. Walking past his parents' closed bedroom, he shouted out "Grampa's gone! You can stop hiding!"  and bolted to his room, locking the door after him. He snatches up his cell phone, and begins to dial Sylvia's house. Remembering suddenly she was out shopping with the girls, he presses 'END' and instead calls Colin up.

"Colin? It's Donnie. You ain't gonna believe this.."

He tells him of the day's happenings and makes him promise to come over early so they could discuss it fully.

He then goes down and cleans up the remains of the brunch, a sort of peace offering to his mom. He notes that his father's Lexus was gone. No surprise there..

After the dishwasher is running, he leaves anote for his mom reminding her that his friends were coming over tonight and that they would be ordering a pizza or two.

He spends the rest of the afternoon in his bedroom, swinging the sword around, researching everything he could find about the Dragon Reach and the Legacy Group, and talking to Pip, who kept insisting that he was 'not the one to ask' about the Reach.

Computer Research on the Daragon Reach and the Legacy Group. (1d20+6=8) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=770304)

ooc: I guess Donnie was a bit distracted.. :D

"Donnie, this is so cool, that if you ever complain about your talents again, If gonna use the first death ray I see lying around on you... It looks like there's always a death ray lying around. It also makes me think... But I'll tell you later when I see you. I'm in a hurry now. If I find the time, I'll trying researching too and let you now. See you later!"