Father Douglas' Chapel

A humble House of God in the Highlands...
Most churches in the modern era consist of large imposing buildings, exquisite architecture, expensive materials, and clergy more focused on peddling self-help merchandise than actually preaching the Word of God. Silver-tongued devils implore audiences for copious amounts of donations while indulging in lavish lifestyles or bombastic preachers will berate their flock for their follies to mask their own. In the olden times, however, chapels were somber, hallowed grounds intended for the faithful to seek solace in prayer or counsel from a man of the cloth. A church in Scotland is nothing out of the ordinary, but the circumstances regarding this particular structure and its steward are quite unusual.

Purpose / Function

Like most churches, the chapel offers refuge for the faithful in need of prayer, marriage, or confession. After the gorgon Stheno's apparent defeat centuries ago, Mardrena and Andrew gathered up the petrified bodies of those targeted by the beast's stone gaze and housed them within. After their restoration and the revival of Father Douglas, the chapel is once more dedicated to God.

Design

The chapel has stone walls with finished wood supports and the reinforced roof. It is fairly small, roughly 800+sqft.

Entries

Visitors enter from the main door in the front while there is a smaller side door leading out to the lawn near the rear wall.

Sensory & Appearance

Muted light filters in from the stained glass windows on the right hand side of the chapel while the large window on the left lets in the most light. A few candlestands line the aisle and glass lanterns adorn the corners of the chapel and close to the altar.

Denizens

Father Malcolm Douglas maintained the grounds four hundred years ago and after his restoration has readily resumed his duties and service to God. Because the village that once occupied the nearby lands long since crumbled into ruin, very few know of the church in the Modern Era and it is viewed mostly as a curious landmark.

Contents & Furnishings

The stained glass window is often mistaken for St. Joan of Arc for some reason, despite the unusual armor and flaming reddish hair and the fact that the church is located in Scotland. The pews are simple wood but the straw cushions rotted away over the years and had to be repaired and replaced with soft wool stuffing. There is a holy water font near the entrance and a small confessional booth towards the rear right-hand side.

Alterations

FatherDouglasChapelb.jpg

Humble House of God by Mardrena

Made with BlackInk

Andrew Lockehart added imported Spanish tile to reinforce the roof and preserve it through the long ages, giving the normally drab exterior a bit of color. He had skilled artisans construct a large stained-glass window of his wife-Lady Ronin Mardrena Lockehart clad in her Armor of Typhoon-in the left side of the building. There are a set of stone benches arranged in a loose arc outside on the lawn facing the window. A short stone wall surrounds the grounds and a stone path leads to the chapel proper.

Architecture

The chapel is a single-floor building with a simple steeple and bell and a small room towards the back for residential use.

Defenses

The ground is considered consecrated and warded from evil spirits, but spiritually-sensitive individuals such as magic users are still vulnerable to powerful exterior forces such as overwhelming evil auras. Being a creature of antiquity, the gorgon Stheno had no trouble setting foot on the grounds but did not enter the chapel proper.

History

Events of Foes From Another World

First seen in Ch. 2 "A Sorrowful Mistake pt. 1", Mardrena visits the site trying to discourage Father Malcolm Douglas from his foolhardy intention to face the gorgon Stheno. Unaware of Mardrena's power as a Lady Ronin, Father Douglas knocks her out in an effort to protect her and goes out alone to face the gorgon, believing his faith alone will shield him. Sadly he is petrified and Mardrena forced to flee until she can collect herself and track the gorgon to its den. While she uses her power to bury the gorgon in its cave, Father Douglas and other victims are left petrified and she and Andrew haul the statues inside to protect them. Andrew vows to keep the chapel and its precious inhabitants safe as long as his line holds strong and Mardrena returns to Japan, sensing the fight is not quite over.
In Ch. 3 "A Sorrowful Mistake pt. 3" Mardrena reaches out to her successor Tanya Sanada, imploring her to return to the highlands to finish what she started. Much to the surprise of the other Ronin, she takes off without warning by herself, stowing away on a plane to Scotland. The others, thinking she's out of her mind, track her down, but Tanya stubbornly refuses to divulge her reasons, thinking she has to take on this mission alone. She manages to escape their watch once again and flees into the highlands, guided by visions to the chapel where she finds the petrified victims within. An apparition of Mardrena notifies her of the gorgon's survival and targeting of tourists and passersby.
Tanya's attitude puts her in conflict with her older brother, Ryo, as the gorgon starts picking off the other Ronin one by one, petrifying everyone but Tanya. Heeding advice from her predecessor, Tanya uses her weapons to trick the gorgon and decapitate it, ending its life once and for all and freeing the life force it had accumulated during its long life. Petrified victims are restored and Father Douglas returns to his duties as a priest.

Events of Fight Alone

Shannon O'Connor uses the Ronin Cross to teleport herself and Kaosu the Ancient One to the grounds to check in on the restored priest. Shannon states she is Irish Catholic by faith and Kaosu-himself a man out of time-engages in friendly conversation with Father Douglas regarding evils prevalent in the Modern Era. While the Ronin are engaged in battle with demons invading through a portal, Kaosu and Shannon can sense the powerful oppressive aura but Father Douglas is steadfast, placing his faith in God that the demons be thwarted.

Events of Spacequake

Father Douglas spent centuries imprisoned by the stone spell of a gorgon but he probably never imagined he'd take confession from a elderly space pirate. While on her quest to seek a cure for her early-onset Alzheimer's, Caroline heads to the highlands to bare her soul to God with Dais reluctantly in tow. After the session concludes, the three engage in friendly conversation regarding faith and Biblical history. Dais is puzzled when Father Douglas-who declined to attend the Blood Dawn-refers to the Four Queens as "angels" instead of gods.

Tourism

The chapel had fallen into disrepair when Andrew Lockehart's descendants died out fifty years prior to the Modern Era. With the restoration of Father Douglas, the chapel has been repaired and cleaned but sees relatively little visitors due to its remote location. Father Douglas still keeps it neat and tidy and maintains the facilities for use by the faithful. Shannon and Kaosu visit the newly-renovated grounds in Fight Alone Ch. 14 "Ring of Fury" while Captain Caroline Wendell and Dais swing by in Spacequake Ch. 6 "The Secret of Immortality".

She dismounted when she arrived at the small stone chapel and wove the reins through Sakura’s bridle, letting her run off to forage. She walked up the stone path and approached the door and reached out to push it open. Light filtered in through simple stained glass windows and shone from glass lanterns in the corners.

— Foes From Another World Ch. 2

Dozens of life-sized statues stood amid the ancient warped pews, as if attending Mass. Tanya walked among the statues, studying each one. She paused when she saw one that stood out from the rest. It looked to be of a middle aged man with neat clothing and trimmed hair. One hand was held close to his waist, the other raised with a rusted chain hanging from his fist. Tanya narrowed her eyes and stepped closer. She extended her hand and gently cupped the tarnished cross.

— Foes From Another World Ch. 3

Type

Chapel

Environmental Effects

Leaves sometimes waft in through the door from the surrounding forest. The air is somewhat damp and cool and fog shrouds the grounds in the early morning.

Shannon glanced to the side and spotted a small bowl of water resting in a pedestal. She tapped the surface gently and genuflected, while Kaosu observed quietly.
“You practice?” he queried.
“Irish Catholic. Even though a druid crafted the Ronin Cross, he consulted with a Catholic priest on its design. My ancestors that immigrated to America had a lot to be thankful for starting their lives over."

— Fight Alone Ch. 14

Blue Isis looked very much out of place parked in the thick forests of the Scottish Highlands next to a small remote chapel. Caroline had headed inside while Dais remained outside pacing alongside the wall. He paused and turned to study the large ornate stained-glass window dominating the side of the chapel. This was the first time he’d been to the chapel himself, but he’d heard descriptions of it from Tanya, Kaosu, and Shannon. The window depicted the first Lady Ronin, Mardrena Lockehart, clad in her Armor of Typhoon suspended by gusts of wind. Dais cocked his head to one side.
“You’re probably laughing at me right now...Look at me, running errands with my mother,” he commented, reminiscing about all their bouts centuries ago. He glanced to the side when he heard the chapel door creak open and saw Caroline and Father Malcolm Douglas round the corner and walk over to sit down on the stone benches outside. “So, spill any juicy details?” Dais teased.
“I am sorry, my son, but Canon Law forbids me to divulge what was said behind closed doors. What was spoken remains between the two of us and the Lord,” Father Douglas raised a hand solemnly.

— Spacequake Ch. 6