Full Story Synopsis

Official Story 10/17/15 2 am - JR
Proof Reading 10/17/15 11:34 am - AJ          

     Our story starts off in the mountains on a bridge leading to the Moonlight Temple, home to the Moon Clan's Bunny Mask. Our main heroine, Kimiko, runs across this bridge, being chased by a golem. She battles the golem with only tactics and a sword. The battle eventually takes place inside the Moonlight Temple. In here, the battle shifts to her favor and she manages to defeat the golem, but at the cost of a lot of her stamina. With her remaining strength, she crawls through some vines within a hidden path and finds the Moon Bunny Mask. Upon finding it, the spirit from the mask takes over the golem and shows her how to use the mask. As she puts it on she is given a vision of the future where the lands are torn asunder and they're ruled by this new oppressive threat. A voice tells her that she must rally a great army from the 7 great tribes and receive the mark from the bearer of the mask. Only by receiving the mark from the bearer can she gain the benefits of the tribes mask. To help protect her and the powerful warrior clan mask, the spirit of the mask constructs her a small companion golem from the remnants of the defeated golem. Kimiko begins to climb out of the ruined temple as the golem breaks apart and appears on the ledge above her.                The title sequence will cue in from here. Then a brief narrative of this world, its natives and the 7 masks of light and dark will come up with illustrations in sequence. Then back to Kimiko, who’s traveling to the Magic Bearers to receive the power of their mask. Along the way she hears that the great Aquilic city has been decimated by the Oppressor and he has killed the mask bearer and taken his prize.  Kimiko hastens her pace toward the land of Magic Bearers.
             The pair enter the Academe of Magic to look for the powerful wizard bearer. She explains the situation to the bearer and is met with laughing from the great wizard and his retinue, who cannot fathom how such a small girl could have such delusions of grandeur. The wizard goes on to explain that only HE can bear the full power of the mask and HE should be given the Moon Tribe's mask to fulfill this destiny. Insulted, Kimiko resolves to take the mask by force, thinking her mask’s power will be enough and tries to take it from the wizard. This angers the surrounding mages and they attempt to arrest Kimiko . Kimiko defends herself from a magical onslaught of elemental attacks and summons, and cuts the spell books and staffs of the common mages and healers to disarm them. But before the great wizard can use his powerful magic to stop Kimiko's tantrum the Oppressor breaks through the doors of the Academe, wearing the Eclipse Mask (Evil Mask), and casts aside the awed onlookers. Kimiko seeing the Oppressor lunges at him in a rage-filled attack. The Oppressor just bats her aside and approaches the wizard. Grabbing the man by his robe in one hand the Oppressor drives his sword into the man with the other. Kimiko charges at him again and the two begin to fight as some mages tend to the wizard and others try to avenge their wounded master. As the fighting continues another mage appears from the wreckage of the door way and starts to aide Kimiko. In the end the Oppressor bests Kimiko but the new mage blinks her and the wizard out of existence before he can grab the tribe's masks from the wounded bearers. The Oppressor furiously storms out of the Academe to the sounds of battle in the streets of the city. 
Later, the townsfolk care for the wounded and heal the injured mages and the Great Wizard. Realizing the threat, the Great Wizard apologizes for their blunder. Kimiko accepts the apology and the bearer performs a small incantation and a soft glow appears around the magic tribe's mask and an ornate marking appears on the Moon Mask. Kimiko can feel a change happening within her, she can sense the pools of magic in the world around her. The Apprentice Wizard is tasked with accompanying her to the Oresmith's lands to educate Kimiko on how to use her new abilities and to help protect her from the violent Oppressor.
The trio make their way north to the snow topped mountains of the Oresmith's mountain kingdom. They manage to arrive and search for the leaders of the tribe and where to find the mask of the oresmiths. She is escorted to the hall of the great families. The Oresmith's tribe is ruled by a council of thanes that decide the laws and policies of their mountainous territory. There are five Thanes of the Ore, and each with their own reason for wanting the power of the mask. They inform Kimiko that the bearer of the mask is Redsmith, the Master of the Anvil. She is granted permission to enter the city and ask Redsmith for the blessing of the hammer, what they call the power of the mask. As she is escorted to the great forges the trio hear metal banging sounds and enter a very large blacksmith room. Inside they meet the bearer, Redsmith and tell him of the incoming danger. He listens while working and decides to tell them where the mask is hidden. He points them deeper into the cavern, till the heat becomes nearly unbearable for Kimiko. There is a long narrow walkway surrounded by a lake of lava and at the end of the walkway, on a pedestal surrounded sits the mask. Kimiko begins to carefully move along the path as the others wait at the entrance. She is expecting some sort of trap or collapsing section but finds nothing. Eventually she reaches the mask and grabs it. As she removes the mask the cavern begins to shake and rocks begin to fall from the ceiling. Lava starts to rise closer to the lip of the walkway. Kimiko runs as fast as she can with the mask in hand, trying to avoid the ever encroaching puddles of lava. She arrives at the entrance with her companions and they make their way back to Redsmith. Redsmith recites his incantation into the oresmith's mask and a burnt symbol emblazons itself onto the Moon Mask. Kimiko returns to the council of thanes and asks for their assistance in the fight against the Oppressor and is denied. They are comfortable in thinking that the Oppressor is not a threat to them but to the low-landers. They will, however, have weapons and armor made for Kimiko's rebel army to defeat the Oppressor because she has been branded by the mask and by their laws a bearer of the hammer.

Kimiko and her companions are granted use of the steam train that the advanced Steam City has placed between their two main cities as a means of transporting the valuable metal ores that the city requires for it's uses. As the train moves along the apprentice and the golem sleep while Kimiko stares out the window, thinking back to the last time she visited the city with her father on his yearly treks through the seven lands. She thinks back to her first meeting with [boy] and how every year she would come back to see him. He was only a couple years older than her so they had essentially grown up together. She hadn't gone with her father for the last two years, she had been busy with her sword studies, and she wondered what he might look like now. She began to feel nervous and flush with excitement and given the circumstances of her visit it was a strange emotion to have. As the city comes into view she awakens her companions to see the spectacle that is Steam City.
As they get off the train her old friend is standing on the platform surrounded by several older gentlemen in well-made outfits. He greets her and explains that these are the cities leaders and they wanted to welcome her to the city personally. As they escort her into town the apprentice asks a barrage of questions to one of the engineering leaders about how it all works without the use of magic. Kimiko talks to her friend and asks about him. He tells her that he is the current head of the steam research team and an accomplished inventor. He asks what brings Kimiko to town exactly; the message they received from the council of thanes had said something about the masks and her destiny. She tells him about her journey and the danger that’s approaching. She asks him if he knows where the mask of Steam City is and who the current bearer is. He confesses that he is the current bearer of the mask, but a great vault had been constructed for the artifact. No one had seen the mask in several generations. Steam City was a place of technology and advancement. The mask had given them the idea of how to make the city run, but now they no longer needed it so they put it in an archive of sorts. She insists that they need to get to the vault because she knows that time is running out before the Oppressor arrives. They approach a building where all the old relics of the past civilization are locked up and protected from thieves. The city's leading engineer explains that the vault is past a series of security traps and hidden walls. He lays out a map for them to see and draws a route for them to take. He also gives them the instructions for disabling the security measures but warns her that not even he has the combination for the vault. Kimiko, the apprentice, the golem and the friend follow the map to the bowels of the building. They narrowly miss several traps that were not shown on the map. The finally reach the room containing the vault. The vault is a complex puzzle of gears, wires and dials all connected around a large black cube. The apprentice and the boy start to decipher the inner workings of the device and eventually the door to the vault slides open. Inside in the cube is the [mask of technology]. The friend picks up the mask, taking the moment to savor the moment of history that is occurring. He turns to Kimiko and asks what happens now. She explains what the previous bearers did and he recalls the words that were told to him by his master when he passed on the bearers responsibilities to him years ago. As he completes the his enchantment another intricate symbol appears on the Moon Mask. Kimiko stares at the vault and immediately understands how it was all assembled. How Steam City works and what the city could aspire to if guided by the knowledge inside the mask.
Kimiko asks her friend to come with them, to help raise the army they need to fight the Oppressor. He agrees to travel with them and instructs the city leaders to rally an army of citizens of the Steam lands and have them march towards the capital of the seven lands. The four adventurers set out for the great harvest plains and the [Tree of Life] to gather the mark of the Harvester.
As they travel through the plains they make it to a hill  and see the whole land and city of the trees completely destroyed. Kimiko and the companions race into town and find a young tribal farmer begging them to hurry and protect the Tree of Life. They run through a dense forest filled with dead trees, leaves, and spoiled fruit. They run past many fallen farmers with weapons as they get deeper, the land getting darker as they advance. At the end of the path, Kimiko sees the complete destruction of the city in the trees and falls to her knees, cursing herself for being too late. She is too stunned and angry from the wanton destruction she sees before her. She collapses in a sobbing heap, the weight of the affair finally breaking her. Her friends try to console her but she pushes them away and she runs off into the charred woods to be alone.
She sits down on the ground crying out for guidance. She pulls her sword out and looks at herself in the reflection of the blade. She thinks back to when her father gave her this sword. He had the forgemaster of the oresmiths make it for her. She wished he was still here, he would have the strength to fight the Oppressor.  Thinking of the Oppressor she sees that she cut her finger. As her blood runs down the blade, she remembers seeing the Oppressor raze the [city of warriors] and slaying her father. She vows that his and everyone's deaths will not go unavenged. She stands and goes back to her comrades who are tending to the injured. She stands atop a fallen tree and delivers a rousing and inspirational speech to the cheers of the recently somber crowd. At the end she and her companions lead an ocean of people towards the capital city.
They enter the city expecting the Oppressor but realize they got there first and waste no time with their search, but they quickly realize that everyone in the Capital are wearing masks as a fashion statement. Apparently the commanding senator of the capital wears the mask constantly. The sky suddenly darkens and thunder fills the air. Giant thorns surround and close off all the exits of the Capital. The people begin to panic at the crack of a very loud thunder bolt. A black thunder bolt hits the center of town. After the flash, the Oppressor appears. Kimiko instructs the companions to fan out and find the bearer and bring him to her so that she can get the abilities of the mask before the Oppressor has a chance to rain terror upon the city. She reaches a wide plaza and frantically asks people for their masks. The Oppressor strikes down many masked people, searching for the one that won’t break from his power. The Royal Guard and a bard steps in and battles the Oppressor, but barely hold him off for long before being completely overpowered.
The Kings Guards step out and fight the Oppressor and his army wearing replicas of the mask. As he is in the swirls of combat The Oppressor and Kimiko see each other from a distance. Kimiko holds herself back and resumes looking for the real mask. The Oppressor chases after Kimiko. The two collide outside the senate building. Kimiko is thrown through a window as the Oppressor bull-rushes into her but as he approached the window to see his beaten prey he is met with a blast of magical plasma and the Oppressor is thrown back. The battle continues to rage on and the pair seem evenly matched at first, but once the Oppressor uses his dark power with his other masks she becomes overwhelmed. She barely dodges his dark lighting slash attacks and manages to blind the Oppressor with a harsh moonlight.
She manages to escape the fray temporarily and finds her friends with the bearer of the true mask. He is badly injured, having suffered an attack from one of the members of the Oppressor's army. She leans in close to the gasping man's face and a faint glow engraves another symbol on the Moon Mask. She instantly learns about the secrets of the masks and the masks' true potential. She takes the mask from the now deceased bearer and hands it to her friend, instructing him to run as far as he can from the city. He reluctantly follows her instructions.
The battle in the city continues to rage on. Kimiko, the apprentice, and the golem are trying to fight back as many of the evil horde as they can, but the Oppressor's army seems endless. Kimiko sees the Oppressor again and takes off after him. The two begin an epic battle of sword and magic, neither giving the other a chance to gain advantage. When the two meet in a clashing stalemate, the apprentice and the golem appear to aide Kimiko. The three demolish the surrounding buildings with magical fire and force. The golem continues to defend his sacred charge as blow after blow is absorbed from the Oppressor. Finally Kimiko takes advantage and deals a blow to the mask on the warlords face. It goes skittering away from him and Kimiko sees the face of the man that would be their tyrant. She asks him why and he demands she kill him because without true power he is nothing. He exclaims that he should have been the bearer of the [Aquilic mask] and that they refused, so he wanted everyone to pay for the Aquilics' lack of vision in recognizing him as a true leader of their people. Hearing enough Kimiko knocks the defeated warlord out.
The sounds of battle begin to fade as news of the defeat cause the Oppressor's minions to surrender or flee back to where they came. The apprentice brings the Oppressor's hauntingly evil mask to Kimiko and asks what is next, how will they control such power. She explains that she must take the mask away as far away as she can so that the Oppressor's mask or the enhanced power of the Moon Mask never fall into the wrong hands again. The apprentice tries to reason with Kimiko, saying that with the power of the masks they could use them to rebuild and become better. She explains that with that comes the risk of someone being corrupted as He was. Her mind made up she starts to walk for the city gates. Before she can leave her friend stops her and begs her to reconsider. She cannot because her path is clear. This is her destiny and she must do it alone. She tells him that he must take the other masks back to their rightful homes and help rebuild the capital. With tears in her eyes she kisses him and walks away into the horizon, with the golem by her side.