Chapter 68
Buffy: My destiny is to be alone. Yet other lives depend on me. I cannot have attachments, especially friends or family.
Xander: We can help you, protect you from evil.
Buffy: No you can't. Noone can help me, you'll only get killed if you try.
Tara: Forget about them. Join me, with our combined strength the world could be ours. Why waste time with "Good" when evil can give wealth and power.
Jessie: Typical thief, only out for yourself.
Tara: Too far Jessie.
Jessie: Sorry Tara, but you're good at this.
Tara: Thanks. So Buffy, want to be allies?
Buffy: Maybe.
Willow: The nomad and the thief allied. That's unusual.
Jessie: That would mean, as the villain, you'd be completely isolated Willow.
Xander: That could be a boring game.
Buffy and Tara were new to this rolplaying game "The Gorgostone." Xander, Willow, and Jessie liked playing, but it was best to have five players. According to the backstory "6000 years ago two armies fought for control of an area with plentiful resources. When one side was on the verge of defeat they got desperate and summonned an ancient spirit known as Gorgos. But Gorgos ravaged the land and killed both sides. The two armies had to join forces to defeat Gorgos. They used their strongest warriors, their most powerful shamans. But in the end they stood victorious, barely. Gorgos was trapped within a stone. There were only five survivors left. They split the stone into five pieces, they would have to be reassembled for Gorgos to be freed. The five survivors went off in different directions, never to see each other again but each vowing to protect the stone with their life." Each of the five players in this game had one of the stones and had to decide what to do with them. The five players were the cleric, the villain, the hermit, the nomad, and the thief. The cleric belonged to a sacred order whose sole duty was to keep their stone from being used. The villain belonged to a similar order, but stole the stone, foolishly believing they can control Gorgos. The hermit similarly belonged to another order, but five hundred years ago the hermir joined a faction. This faction tried to use their stone to stop a plague. It wasn't long before this faction was at war with the loyalists. The stone's power corrupted the faction, they bagan using the power for peronal gain. By yhe end of this war only the hermir had survived. Some say this was the stone's plan all along, to destroy the order and help free Gorgos. Horrified by what happenned the hermit sealed themself in a cave. The stone's power kept the hermit alive, but did not fight off the ravages of time on the hermit'smind and body. The nomad traveled the world, only two at a time, master and apprentice. It has been this way for 6000 years, to avoid corruption and in-fighting. The last of the original survivors trusted no successor, and dedicated the rest of their life to building a temple for the stone, with many passageways and traps. Over the centuries many thieves tried to steal this stone, all died in the quest. Until recently a clever thief figured out the traps, and stole it. Buffy liked playing this game. After hearing Rupert Giles describe her potential destiny it felt good to just have fun with her friends. This game, however stupid it might seem to outsiders, made the vampire world seem less scary, almost playful. The mood was broken when Jessie confided in Xander that he was taking Cordelia to the homecoming dance. Xander seemed conflicted. On the one hand he didn't neccesarily like his best friend dating his ex-girlfriend. On the other hand he genuinly wanted both Cordelia and Jessie to be happy. Buffy could see it was awkward, for Willow and Tara even. She decided to break the silence.
Buffy: I'm descended from vampire hunters.
Xander: You're what?
Buffy: My mom hired a detective to research our family tree, and it includes vampire hunters.
Willow: Cool.
Buffy: Yeah. Assuming there are no vampires looking for revenge. These detectives usually find knights and kings in your family tree. I guess when you pay them they skip over the chicken thieves.
Jessie: Maybe our next game we should include vampires. I could write something up for that.
Xander: You do write good backstories Jess.
Buffy: I better get going.
Xander: We didn't mean to make things awkward.
Jessie; Yeah, sorry.
Buffy: No, it's not that. I still have some homework and studying to do.
As Buffy walked home she had a sense of danger. She hoped that being a potential slayer would give her a spider-sense for danger. But she didn't see her attacker until it was too late. This man put the hankerchef over Buffy's face. She was uable to fight this and soon lost conscioussness.