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Black Dogs: Difference between revisions
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'''''Black Dogs''''' is a story written by [[Ursula Vernon]] and is broken up into two or three parts depending on whether you're reading the novels or have read the Elfwood version. The draft on Elfwood was removed a few years back due to some censorship issues, but the story lives on in novel form.
''Black Dogs'' starts out with 17-year-old girl name Lyra Volfrieds stumbling into the massacre of her entire house, which was orchestrated by her illegitimate brother. She barely manages to escape into the woods with her life and with her lack of survival skills and street smarts, would likely not escape the forest either. Fortunately for Lyra, an unlikely encounter with the [[Funny Animal|anthropormorphic dog soldier]], Sadrao Majid earns her a new friend and a better chance at survival. Unfortunately, however, the assassination of her house turns into small fries in the face of the newer, bigger threat she has to deal with.
Along the way the duo meet up with half-elf [[Love Interests|love interest]] named Trent, a pair of full-elf lesbian lovers, [[Lipstick Lesbian|Jacyl]] and [[Butch Lesbian|Sinai]] and they travel together for a while. Sadrao and Sinai teach Lyra fighting skills and the latter imparts a kind of magical combat knowledge, called the Kytha, upon her before they part ways. Sadrao and Lyra are left to deliver Trent to the House of Diamond to get him magically scanned while Sinai and Jacyl set out to the elf capital to deliver a message. They encounter a couple of Sadrao's old acquaintances, the [[Funny Animal]] Spite, an anthropomorphic ermine/ferret and Gunnar, an anthropomorphic giant ground sloth. Trent gets captured and the remainder of the novel follows the rescue attempt.
The sequel, which is not yet{{when}} published, will most likely (barring massive edits to the text in question) have the party captured by a fairly impotent mage, and breaking free without too much difficulty. Later on Lyra gets lost and finds herself in a den of barbaric anthropomorphic hyenas. She is rescued and accompanied by a small black dog. It turns out that this black dog was actually cursed into that form by a wandering magician, and Lyra, falling into his trap, is transformed as well. Trent performs an act of magic to restore both Lyra and the dog (who is a woman going by the name Kuroinu) to humanity, and earns Sadrao's trust. Trent gets recaptured by his father. There is a great war at the foot of Ironspine between the elves and Vade's forces, and Sinai marches into Vade's fortress carried by her Kytha. Lyra is captured by Vade, and in his fortress she finds out that there is more than one face to evil.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Abusive Parents]] (Oh boy... Well, while Trent wasn't subject to much physical abuse, he was put through some of the most horrible emotional and psychological abuse imaginable)
* [[A Boy and His X|A Girl And Her Dog Soldier]] (Or quite possibly [[A Boy and His X|A Dog Soldier And His Girl]])
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* [[Badass Bookworm]] (Lyra starts out as a bookworm and then [[Take a Level In Badass|becomes one of these]])
* [[Badass Normal]] (Sadrao, although a seven foot tall anthropomorphic dog, does not possess any magic, supernatural powers or demonic blood. He is however, extremely badass.)
* [[Bad Powers, Bad People]] (Justified in the sense that standard magical power is most easily gained by unscrupulous and distasteful means such as human sacrifice and ritual bloodletting. It's not hard to believe that the people who are willing to do this to get power are generally not nice people)
* [[Berserk Button]] ([[Beware the Nice Ones|Sadrao, calm and polite, loyal to a fault]]. Then you decide to harass his charge.)
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]] (Sadrao)
* [[The Big Guy]] (Sinai)
* [[Bi the Way]] (Koruinu, and {{spoiler|Lyra herself.}})
* [[Bond One
* [[Broken Bird]] (Sinai)
* [[Chekhov's Skill]] (Learning {{spoiler|Kuroinu's}} true name saves Lyra's life in her battle against {{spoiler|Trent}}, when Lyra summons her to defeat his demon.)
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* [[Face Heel Turn]] ( {{spoiler|Trent, towards the end.}}
* [[Fantastic Racism]] (Many people distrust non-humans, and at some locales, they're outright persecuted. The first real inn that Lyra and Sadrao stay at is a crappy one where the bartender gives them a room for a much higher price than what might have been asked of a human.)
* [[Five
* [[Funny Animal]] (Anthropomorphic animals are commonplace, and even humans are implied to be anthropomorphic monkeys)
* [[Gambit Pileup]] (The [[Big Bad]]'s [[Xanatos Gambit]] to manipulate {{spoiler|Trent's}} personality into becoming crueler and more evil (by repressing all his good and gentle qualities) backfires on him when the newer, eviller {{spoiler|Trent}} creates a [[Xanatos Gambit]] of his own to usurp the [[Big Bad]] and cause him to be killed by his own demon.)
* [[Good Girls Avoid Abortion]] (Averted thoroughly. After Trent {{spoiler|rapes Lyra, she uses her Kytha to not only abort the baby, but sterilize herself to keep it from happening again.}})
* [[The Hero]] (Lyra)
* [[Half
* [[Hoist
* [[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...]] (Sadrao to Trent, about Lyra. This is more serious than most versions, since Trent is the son of [[Complete Monster]] Vade, and Sadrao doesn't trust him and is justifiably worried that the whole thing might be some dark scheme.)
* [[Kick the Dog]] (While a lot of metaphorical dog-kicking goes on, kicking the dog without a reason is seen as something that only the weak and incompetent do. The really bad people will only kick the dog if it serves a purpose.)
* [[The Lancer]] (Sadrao)
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* [[Mook Chivalry]] (Averted; even a skilled soldier like Sadrao has trouble taking on three bandits, who even attack at once.)
* [[Magical Abortion]]
* [[
* [[Our Demons Are Different]] (They are Lovecraftian horrors, stretching into dimensions unknown, possessing bizarre body parts, with no two being exactly the same. And somehow they can breed with humans.)
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]] (For one, they're extinct. Their closest living relatives are a race of [[Half
* [[Papa Wolf|Papa Dog-Soldier]] (While Sadrao isn't Lyra's father, he certainly cares about her like he was.)
* [[The Phoenix]] (The heroes encounter the last one in a swamp)
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* [[Schedule Slip]] (The second part of Black Dogs, having been written for over a decade, was projected to be published in 2008. Three years later... Woohoo!)
* [[The Smart Guy]] (Trent)
* [[Tap
* [[Take a Level In Badass]] (After learning how to harness the Kytha, Lyra becomes much more dangerous.)
* [[Unfazed Everyman]] (Lyra)
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