Guardian of the Treasure
Name: Guardian of the Treasure (秘宝の番人)
Gender: ?
Age: ?
Height: Slightly above average human
Weight: ?
Race: Killing Doll (artificial creation)
Blood Type: None
Constellation: ?
Hometown: Alenhatam
Also Known As: ?
Specialties: Killing Sorcerers
First Featured: Stray Journey: "Doll, Obey My Command"
The Guardian of the Treasure is a specific Killing Doll that surfaced in Alenhatam. This individual exhibited a wide array of abilities, many of them deadly, and was packed full of weaponry. It is through this doll that much of Alenhatam's complex history is revealed.
Personality
The Guardian of the Treasure is a dark, sadistic individual, who expresses a great deal of personality for being a purely artificial being. He not only takes great enjoyment in both the hunting and terrorization of sorcerers, but has even observed the history of his creators, the Nornir, and made personal observations of their actions throughout the centuries. He swings between great enthusiasm and fury, and has little concern for potential threats to his well being, regarding the strength of all others as beneath him. The only time that he shows genuine surprise was when he was nearly struck down by Majic's unusually powerful Sword of Light.
History
Reemergence:
The Guardian of the Treasure was awakened when Stephanie, along with a couple of other sorcerers from the Alenhatam branch of the Damsel's Orisons, decided to excavate a ruin beneath the city. While they first believed that they had stumbled upon an archeological treasure, they quickly realized that they had no control over that which they had dug up. At first, Stephanie tought that it was just a doll, and took it back to their research lab at the Damsel's Orisons. Upon examining it a few days later, she discovered it was something far more complex. She discovered that this doll, having waited over 200 years since the disappearance of the Celestials, was essentially a living, thinking creature, with very dark intentions. It introduced itself as a Killing Doll.
Though it was theorized that she had awoken the doll, it was later revealed that it had actually waited 200 years in the dark of Fort Basilicok under the orders of its master. The idea was to wait until the city had forgotten all about the legends, and strike after sorcerers had been lulled into a false sense of security.
Alenhatam Activity:
After the doll's resurfacing, it took over the Damsel's Orisons (Alenhatam Branch) and put every sorcerer there under a form of mind control. It soon met Dortin and Vulcan, who had come to the organization looking to sell off the Sword of Baldanders. However, after looking into Dortin's mind, the doll was able to learn of Orphen.
Soon after meeting the dwarven brothers, the Guardian destroyed the entirety of the Alenhatam Damsel's Orisons, killing every sorcerer inside, aside from Stephanie, who miraculously escaped. Not knowing where she went, he began to target Orphen, terrorizing, but not killing the sorcerer. He wanted Orphen to lead him to Stephanie. To force his compliance, he took the dwarf brothers hostage, while leading Vulcan to believe that he was actually his new master, and that he would help rid him of his 'loan-sharking sorcerer problem.' However, his offer to let Vulcan use the assets of the Basilicok Ruins was ignorant, at best, and deceitful, at worst, as the ruin was in the process of being surveyed, and thus everything in it potentially belonged to the survey team.
Death:
Orphen, forced to either let the dwarven brothers die or go to Fort Basilicok, agreed to meet the Killing Doll there. In spite of his far superior strength, the Guardian's arrogance slowly wore down his capabilities. A sword strike from Cleao had disabled his ability to disrupt voice magic, and ultimately, two sword strikes from Orphen, while he was stuck dazed and confused by the surprise attack severed his head from his body. This ended in him losing control of that body, even if he remained conscious, beneath the statue of the Nornir.
Now unable to control his body, the Guardian was left at the mercy of the nearby sorcerers. This didn't phase him, as he knew he had hundreds of others just like him, who would wake up should he stop functioning. When Orphen realized that Dortin must've seen the powerful spell used to destroy the Damsel's Orisons, he asked him to use the doll's hand to retrace the spell in the same spot, thereby activating it again. The Guardian of the Treasure was destroyed by the force of its own spell, along with every Killing Doll in Fort Basilicok.
Capabilities
Hidden Weapons
This Killing Doll possesses a wide variety of weapons that are hidden inside of its lanky body. These weapons include:
• A thin switch blade in the middle finger of the right hand.
• A steel wire hidden in the gap between the wrist and the left hand, to be used as a garrote
• Detachable wrist connected to steel wire, used to grab and fling people around or strike them by balling into a fist.
• A poison needle in the palm, injecting fast-acting relaxants that paralyze the target without damaging their organs.
Spell Names
It's worth mentioning that Silence Sorcery uses written characters, and thus has no official names for spells. These names are all placeholders.
Telepathy
This individual is able to read minds, answering immediate thoughts. In addition to that, the Killing Doll in Alenhatam discussed not knowing the common language 'yet', but was able to roughly interpret it through its 'minds eye', which allowed him to properly confirm when Dortin called him a doll. This implies an adaptability to this telepathy; able to bridge communication gaps. It is noted that the mind reading ability is easiest with simple thoughts.
Mind Control
The Alenhatam Killing Doll displayed the ability to dumb a sorcerer's mind to the point that they could be controlled as puppets. This involved making Dortin walk towards a room he was apprehensive about entering, and reducing everyone else in the building to a braindead state, only able to give the most vague acknowledgments when spoken to. However, people in this state could also be ordered by anyone who happened upon them, because they could not comprehend the orders enough to reject them, even if that meant harming themselves. This magic is also weakened (in a very short radius) if someone has another powerful Wyrd Graph artifact on them, such as the Sword of Baldanders.
Isolated Explosion
A spell that creates numerous whirlwinds in a select area, strong enough to uproot equipment, bend metal, and peel up layers of ground. Though these strong winds can easily collapse a building, they're said to not be normal winds, but actual energy as well. This is a precursor to the explosion to come.
The spell then creates a massive explosion that, for whatever reason, makes absolutely no sound. In spite of this, its force is so great that it can reduce a building to rubble and scorch the earth upon which it rests. This spell's effect stays within set parameters, so precisely that the effects of the explosion can be measured to the inch. The Guardian claims this to be his most powerful spell. This symbol is over the doll's heart.
Flash Flare
A flash of blinding light, so bright that it causes intense pain in the victim's brain. This was used with the intent of making the target scream, because if a sorcerer screamed they would lose their breath, and not be able to cast an instant counter spell.
Sound Distortion
This ability creates a loud buzzing, like the wings of a flying beetle. The deafening sound is attuned specifically to the frequency of human voices, meaning it will disrupt the sound of a sorcerer's voice. This prevents their magic from having effect, as their voice can no longer reach far enough to do anything. These symbols were damaged when Cleao slashed the Guardian with her sword, this sealing his ability to use them.
Magical Energy Detection
The Killing Doll is able to detect magic energy signatures, which allows it to track sorcerers no matter where they go in the city. This is implied to scale in effectiveness with the sorcerer's power, as the doll was easily able to track Orphen, but could not find Stephanie.
White Fire
A symbol on the elbow emits a white glow when activated, summoning a pillar of white fire.
Wind and Heat
A not-particularly-descript spell that was mentioned to create an oppressive wind pressure accompanied by heat waves, strong enough to knock people back.
Hail of Arrows
A symbol on the right shoulder summons countless arrows that rain down around the target. These arrows were strong enough to break through Orphen's Halo Armor.
Assorted Facts
• Although he was aware that the Nornir were dying of poison, he said nothing, because he had been ordered to execute the sorcerers without question.
Features
Prominent Features:
- Stray Journey 2: Doll, Obey My Command (Prominent Character)
- Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Episode 9 ~ 10 (Prominent Character)
Anime Appearance
The Guardian appears in the Sorcerous Stabber Orphen anime as well, for two episodes (9 and 10) where it follows a story similar to the books. In this version it is awakened in a similar manner, however, they stick pretty strictly to the killing sorcerers aspect of the story, and don't delve much into the 'heavenly ones' (Nornir). The conclusion of the story (and battle) are also considerably different, with the Guardian facing (and being defeated by) Orphen in an above-ground arena.
In terms of abilities, he still retains the ability to see into people's mind, and used this to find out about Orphen from Stephanie. He also possessed the ability to make imorphous weapons that could be reconstructed into new shapes. In addition, it seemed that the Killing Doll was connected to an assortment of gargoyle statues around the city, and if given the command, these statues would be used to destroy the city should Stephanie not comply.
In terms of appearance, the doll is very similar, with green characters written all across its body in lines. The featureless face, knobby joints, and tuft of hair are also similar to how the character is described in the books.