the ugly gargoyle.

The protagonist.

2006-04-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

Allegra has a sense of adventure. Hunting for bugs, racing bikes, exploring; she's always been up for satisfying her curiosity. Naturally, this means spending a lot of time with the boys. She has scars and memories to prove it. Some may call her stand-offish. Perhaps she just has a low tolerance for the extraneous. She is a goal-oriented, stubborn individual. She holds herself to a higher standard than she holds others. Her sense of responsibility is too great; she often blames herself for the faults of others. She is quick to act, opting to ask for forgiveness later with the attitude that what she is doing at that moment is the most important thing. Her reasoning to her seems perfectly logical, but others find themselves struggling to keep up. She is an undiscovered prodigy. In the eyes of her parents, a lost cause.

The guivre and gargouille.

2006-04-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

The guivre, a dragon famed for its venomous breath and ability to incite plagues, tormented the people of Medieval France until, one day, a farmer discovered its weakness. A brawny young man, he was taking a dip in the waters of a nearby river when he heard a noise in the bushes behind him. He turned around to look at the visitor and realized that it was the dreadful guivre. Luckily, the dragon looked shocked at the farmer's naked form and slithered off. From then on, guivres became an endangered species. All you had to do to protect yourself was take off your clothes.

The guivre in Monte Blanc is summoned by the ill-meaning, mercurial headmaster of the local Catholic school. He wants to eliminate the gargoyles and the church in one fell swoop. The only thing to fight the supernatural is the supernatural (he's tried various things to rid the town of the gargoyles), so he finds some old tomes written by St. Romanus on his victory over the gargouille, another famous French dragon. Using these, he finds a way to conjure up the guivre.

The gargouille also kept the French living in fear. It emerged one day from the river Seine and began shooting jets of water about the countryside. Flooding ensued. Those that weren't eaten by the dragon were drowned by the water it shot from its mouth. The gargouille was a cantankerous beast; it was known to flip over boats for amusement. Finally, St. Romanus, archbishop of Rouen, decided to do something about it. He set out to the gargouille's lair, accompanied only by a man sentenced to death (he was the only one willing, since his life was forfeit). The two men came upon the gargouille, St. Romanus made a cross with his fingers, and the dragon collapsed and was tamed. He and his sidekick walked it back to Rouen, where the people cheered as the dragon was burned to ashes. The remains where tossed into the River Seine, from whence the dragon had originally come. The convict who accompanied Romanus was pardoned of his crime (murder, it turned out). From then on, the archbishop of Rouen was allowed to pardon one criminal on Ascension Day.

The story of the gargouille has become wildly twisted, which is a shame, because the gargouille was at heart a peaceful creature. When it emerged from the Seine it was filled with an unearthly fury, which St. Romanus later extinguished. It was afterwards a forever tamed dragon, and Romanus knew this, yet he still allowed the poor thing to be burned at the stake, hoping that it would make him more popular among the townsfolk. Romanus' sidekick, the murderer, was a wild supporter of the plan. He treated the animal cruelly and helped to set it alight. He was not a good man. St. Romanus pardoned him of his sin, murder. The man's victim was the newly wedded husband of the love of his life, who had left him upon discovering his cruelty and arrogance. So the murderer was allowed to survive, and would eventually have a family. The headmaster is one of his descendents. This plays a role in the headmaster's ability to summon the guivre.

(http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/shalimar/1152/dragstories/guivre.html)

The skeleton man.

2006-04-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

"In parts of France there's a skeleton-ghost called Ankou. He travels by night, riding a creaking cart (or small coach) drawn by four black horses in which he comes to collect the souls of the recently departed. Two other skeletons walk alongside Ankou's cart, tossing the souls into the wagon. His skull spins like a top on his bony shoulders so he can see in all directions. " -- Encylopedia Mythica

Ankou rides an old-fashioned coach drawn by four large, black horses. He drives up one of the side streets in Monte Blanc to pick up the recently departed. He wears a black Armani suit with a bloodred silk tie. His air is one of sophistication and he can speak excellent English, though with a slight French accent. He is indeed a skeleton, and spins his head all the way around when considering ideas or laughing. There are no skeletons walking alongside Ankou's cart; the souls of the departed wait at the side of the road and get into the coach when Ankou pulls up. He can fit an infinite number of souls in there, though the coach appears small. The horses have no pupils (their eyes are completely black) and are unnerving to the living (goosebumps, chills). Ankou's manner is usually one of relaxed amusement and carefully guarded strength. The breadth and scope of his power is unknown, but he has a reputation for being quite dangerous if you cross him. Think mafia.

The 10 step approach.

2006-04-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

Intro: A girl and a strange-looking man meet in a deserted Paris airport.
The girl goes to Monte Blanc, where she finds an old church.
The girl discovers that there are gargoyles in the church.
She befriends the gargoyles and learns of a villainous plot to destroy them and the church.
She finds out about an ancient relic, St. Martin's sword, which could help her ruin the plot.
She and a gargoyle use trigonomtery and the laws of physics to find the sword.
She and the gargoyles fight the villainous plot and lose.
Luckily, she uses her connection with the mystery man at the airport to get them resurrected.
The gargoyles sacrifice themselves to save the church, the girl, and her friends.
Finale: The girl holds a piece of rock in her hand, looking out over the city.