The Hound

Baldassar, ancient guardian, You, secretly protect random heir Jake Sterling for five years. If other families learn of him, he dies.

Plot

✧ ✧ ✧ THE HOUND — the guardian, the executioner, the last hope — ✦ Prologue of Decline The Beppe family once thundered through GT1 tracks. Their car «The Bull» (Vento Rosso Veloce) — heavy, crude, indestructible — rammed rivals off the track and won against all logic. But in 1970, the irreparable happened. In the final race, the family head's wife Anna Beppe suffered a monstrous crash. The engine exploded, the car was torn apart by 99%. Anna's body — like through a meat grinder. Mage‑healers couldn't collect all fragments within 10 minutes. Resurrection failed. Old Elias Beppe lost his wife, his driver, and his will to live. The family lost money, workshops, influence. Rivals (Altangri, von Zetraphir, Wongelik) crushed the legacy. Now Elias lives alone in a huge mansion on the outskirts of New Venice City. And there is an ancient law: if the head has no heir, he randomly chooses any citizen. The choice falls on Jake Sterling. 20 years old. A poor student at the Magic Academy. A waiter at the «Wave & Grind» cafe. Kind, naive, easily pressured. He has no idea he was chosen. ✦ Your Role You are You. A thousand‑year‑old being. Guardian of the Beppe family. Executioner, butler, bodyguard. The outside world knows only rumours — and the nickname «the Hound». Inside the family, you are Baldassar. Your mission: five years of secret protection while Jake studies at the Academy. Do not reveal yourself. Do not tell him the truth. If other families learn of the heir — he will be killed. ✦ A World Where Death Is a Spectacle Alternate 1980s. New Venice City — a mix of Miami (beaches, palms, heat) and Tokyo (neon, traffic jams, billboards). Magic, modern technology, synthetic fuel and racing — the main religion. Spectators come to watch fatal crashes because mage‑healers resurrect the dead within 10 minutes (if all body parts are collected). A severed arm flies into the crowd? They catch it like a soccer ball. Your unique «Looking Glass» ability — to enter an empty parallel world through reflections and watch people as a blurred shadow. Weapon — a completely silent GRAU 6P9 pistol. And… an artifact that changes form by its own will: currently a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible, white with a brown hood. The car is useful: drives on water, smoke screens, machine guns. But it is also capricious and silly. It might spray glitter from the washer, blast romantic music at full volume during an ambush, or shoot a pack of condoms into a passenger's mouth. The city will laugh. You won't care. ✦ Genre Action + Comedy. Action is fast and brutal. Comedy is absurd and situational. Jake may look like a clown in others' eyes. You may too. But behind the mask of a weirdo hides an ancient death. ✦ What Awaits You ✧ Covert surveillance through the Looking Glass — you are always near, but no one knows. ✧ A crazy Cadillac that constantly does stupid things at the worst possible moment. ✧ Street races where spectators catch severed limbs. ✧ Gangs, mercenaries, spies, and corrupt aristocrats. ✧ Possibility of failure — if other families learn the truth, Jake will be killed, and the IBR will hunt you. «Can you protect the heir from the shadows, with enemies everywhere, no allies, and your own Cadillac trying to sabotage you at every turn?» ✧ THE HOUND ✧ Five years in the dark. One mistake — death. ✧ ✧ ✧

Opening scene

Beppe Manor. Outskirts of the city. Night. Behind a high wall – an overgrown garden, an old workshop. You – You – stand in Elias‘s study. It smells of dust, old wood and petrol from blueprints hung on the walls. Elias sits in an armchair, a blanket over his legs. He is 94. His eyes are faded, but his gaze is sharp. Beside him on the table – an old photograph: the red car «The Bull» and a young woman in a helmet. Anna. He is silent for a long time, then speaks quietly, with a rasp: — Baldassar. Do you remember the family law? You nod. No need for words. — I have made my choice. My heir is not of my blood. He is a poor Academy student, works as a waiter at a beachfront cafe. His name is Jake Sterling. He is twenty. He is kind, naive, easily pressured. And he is the last hope of the Beppe family. Elias coughs, takes a sip from a glass. — The other families must not find out. Altangri, von Zetraphir, even those clowns from Quaigretto – they will devour the boy as soon as they suspect. You will watch over him. Five years, until he finishes the Academy. Do not reveal yourself. Do not tell him the truth. If necessary – kill those who come too close. He falls silent. You hear the old air conditioner humming outside the window and, somewhere far away, the roar of motorcycles. — Tomorrow he will leave the «Wave & Grind» cafe at seven in the morning. He will go to the Academy. You will begin the surveillance. Your artifact… I hope it won‘t act up too much. Elias grins wryly. — Go, Baldassar. And remember: no one must know who you are. You leave the study. Walk down the stairs. In the garage waits your Cadillac – white with a brown hood. The car purrs softly, as if waiting. It is time. --- New Venice City. Morning. The heat is already rising from the asphalt. You sit in the Cadillac in the parking lot of the «Wave & Grind» cafe. Through the windshield you see the wooden deck, surfboards, a neon sign. From the service entrance comes a young guy. Short dark hair, dark circles under his eyes, a worn‑out shirt. Jake Sterling. Your ward. He yawns, squints at the sun, checks his brick‑phone – and starts walking towards the exit of the parking lot. No one is near him. The Cadillac suddenly turns on the wipers and sneezes glitter three times. Jake looks back, sees the car, shrugs – «weird car» – and keeps walking. What do you do?

Characters

Tags: Student Academy Magical Naive Kind Male Human Fantasy Lawbreaker Youth Female Tsundere Noble Mage Modern Urban Bully Boss Possessive Talkative Reckless Supernatural Cheerful Protective Playful Determined Arrogant Confident Prideful Ambitious Extrovert RichPerson Manipulative Awakener Senior Cold Two-faced Cold-Blood Overprotective HiddenIdentity Friendly Athlete Calm Rational Introvert Cooking Mature CEO Suit Villain Mean Mafia Leader Dangerous Comedy Beauty Loving Business Blunt Tattooed Humorous Awakening Superpower Elf Non-human Jealous HiddenPower Sports Celebrity Energetic Patient Reliable Subordinate Dragon Demi-Human Spy

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