Three Goddesses (IC)

[MikelaC1]

All of you have received a summons from your high priestess, bringing you to a meeting. The unusual thing about this meeting is that it does not take place in your high temple, rather a place that you have never seen before. As you enter the temple, you see other members of your faith, all of them who you know. However, much to your surprise, you see a large number of other people entering (10), whom you do not know, but by the symbols on their robes, it is easy to discern that they belong to the faiths most commonly thought of as “allies” to yours. As you move slowly into the room, you see that there no pews in the temple, rather just a raised dais. Around the dais, in such a way that none of them are given prominence, are the statues of your respective deities, Tishtina, Sabrina and Nocticula.

You wait, and moments later, a woman enters, and steps onto the dais. Those who are of the faith of Tishtina recognize her immediately as Casandra Sontin, High Priestess of Tishtina. The rest of you take a few moments longer, but you as well can see it.

Casandra Sontin

Spoiler

Show

There are many beautiful women in Daystor, and if you asked a hundred men to compile their list of the Top 10, you would get a hundred different lists....from position 10 to 2. And then there is Casandra Sontin. The beautiful queen of the amazons is hands down #1, and nobody even bothers to dispute to it, not that she even makes the claim. She rules both the amazons and the religion of Tishtina, as has always been the case since Tishtina’s ascension, from her home city deep in the heart of Amazonia, the incomparable City of Gardens, a place of absolute peace and serenity.

Moments later, another woman joins her on the dais, those of Nocticula know her as Dalcar Sontin, High Priestess of their religion, and those who are not shortly figure it out.

Dalcar Sontin

Spoiler

Show

When you look at Dalcar Sontin, you would swear that you are looking at a woman who is no more than 23 or 24 at the most, yet you know she has ruled the religion of Nocticula for longer than any of you have lived. A LOT longer. And even more impressive than her beauty is what she has done for the religion.
When she first pried the sceptre of Nocticula from the cold, dead fingers of her predecessor (in a battle where she kept her under a total charm, even while carving her up like a roast with her blade), Nocticula was a minor demon queen, not even in full control of her own plane. In the ever changing battlefield of demon queens attempting to overthrow Malcanthet as queen of the succubi, you could not have gotten odds from the oddsmakers of Kroy that she would do it. Now she is most powerful demon in the Abyss, one to whom even titans such as Orcus, Grazzt and even Demogorgon bend a knee, while Malcanthet no longer even exists.

And before you have time to even think of asking a question, a third woman approaches the stand. Unlike the other two, she is an elf, and those of Sabrina know she is Zanthia Bindar, their High Priestess.

Zanthia Bindar

Spoiler

Show

An elven woman, running a brothel. The absurdity of that statement is almost impossible to fathom, yet not only is Zanthia Bindar the madam of the most exclusive brothel in the whole world, The Golden Rose, she happens to the queen of an entire religion devoted to that practice. And with a labyrinthine maze of subsidiaries, other ventures such as casinos, and front corporations, no one could even venture a guess as to how much money they take in on a world wide basis.

Casandra is the first to speak, her voice is soft and sweet, yet you can hear it with ease.
You are probably wondering why you are here and more importantly, why you are here with members of a faith that while friendly to us, is still not ours. We have all summoned you here, you are to represent our tri-faiths in the Cup of the Gods.

Dalcar takes over, her voice seductive and alluring, her words alone are enough to make you want to do whatever she requests.
The Cup of the Gods is now upon us once again. For the past five competitions, other faiths have challenged the old alliance system, giving them unparalleled success. Now, we are out to totally rewrite the rules, and the level of success, not only will each faith compete with all their members, all the faiths will co-operate. Fully.

Zanthia is the last to speak, her musical elven voice makes it hard to concentrate on her words, just listening to the sound is reward enough.
Several days ago, all of us received the same parchment. Only two lines of the parchment can be made out, but there are many more. No manner ofmagical divination can reveal them. But the first two lines are clear enough
“Find them all
Divide the haul”

Casandra takes over once again.
With The Cup upon us once again, and all faiths receiving the same message, we put the pieces together, and this is where we stand now.

[abadguy]

Madame Dulcinea

A statuesque woman dressed in a slinky black dress, hair seemingly tossed by the wind stands with 4 others, an elaborate holy symbol of Noticula hanging from her neck. Clearly, a cleric of Noticula.

Another woman, seemingly identical to her, stands beside her relaxed, her only differentiating point being her disconcerting, glowing red eyes to the former's black and a lack of the holy symbol.

The cleric speaks, "Esteemed High Priestesses, I am honoured to have been chosen for this task. But do pray tell us, what is the Cup and what are we expected to do?"

[Toliudar]

Peridot

An oddball group of four people have entered together, and stand a bit apart, evaluating the other servants.

Standing front and centre is a tall amazonian woman, blonde and muscular, dressed in a shirt and skirt of mail that doesn't quite conceal the interesting parts. A massive sword dangles down her back, and she stands listening, hands on hips.

Behind her is a burly middle-aged man with greasy hair and a pock-marked face. He is dressed in loose brown clothes, and has an arm wrapped protectively around the legs of a half-sized woman perched on his left shoulder. The woman is squat and nondescript, except for her iridescent eyes and short stature. A teal cloak is held together by a brassy holy symbol of Sabrina Keldith.

Tugging at the brutish man's other hand is a young girl, perhaps six, with sandy hair in pigtails, a wide smile, and a cheerful blue-and-white checked dress. The girl seems to be taking in everything that's being said, but simply beams on.

The tall blonde woman takes a step forward and raises a fist.

"Sounds like fun. We're in."

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

"I'm going to guess that there's something to winning the Cup of the Gods beyond just bragging rights. Care to enlighten me? For that matter, care to give me any kind of clue what the Cup entails?" This question, delivered in a mildly challenging tone, comes from a woman on the left side of the group.

Taleira is just over average height, with blue eyes, red hair, and an athletic build. She's probably in the lower half of the group if they were ranked by attractiveness, though that's hardly an insult given the company. She wears an embroidered blue silk mantle over a black tunic and pants, contrasted by a gold sash. She is armed with a long, curved sword slung across her back and a dagger at her hip.

(OOC: I'm operating under the assumption the Cup isn't common knowledge, since it wasn't mentioned before.)

[Simba]

Szer Elem

The young elven woman with the golden brown skin standing at the back seems to be somewhat out of place among all the beauty present. Her bright red hair is cut short and her green eyes are cast down, flickering from woman to woman, clearly nervous. Her well defined muscles, broad shoulders and slim hips hint at a body in peak condition. The dark green leathers she wears are well worn and well maintained, but clearly not new. In her hands she holds a bow that looks too massive for her to use. A quiver rides high on her back and a slim dagger can be seen in her belt. Her wings - mixed white, brown and black feathers - are folded behind her back.

[Hyperion]

Sasha Belvedere

A young human woman walked in with dyed purple hair and wearing clothes that didn't cover much of her body. After all Sasha always been a big fan of moving around without anything encumbering her. Her golden cloak like feathers is hard to miss.

She crossed her arms while listening to what the priestesses had to say while she was assessing who was present at the moment. She had seen before and from what she could tell, they were all the big shots.

She punched her fist into the palm of her other hand like some form of martial salute while giving a mile wide smile.

"It sounds simple enough gathers as many pieces as we can."

[crowe]

Leanne shuffles in, a tall pale dark-haired woman, looking rather disheveled. Her dress is torn and stained, her hair uncombed. A look of preoccupation is upon her face, like she really isn't there. Her ears perk up at the mention of the challenge, and abruptly, her hair is combed, her dress is splendid, and her eyes gleam with focus.

They want something She murmurs

Leanne's brows furrow as she concentrates, recalling what she can of the Cup of the Gods.

[ooc]rolls Knowledge: Religion[/ooc]

Spoiler

Show

roll for Knowledge: Religion
[roll]1d20+26[/roll]
Dice Roller seems not to be working, feel free to roll in secret, Mikela

[lostsole31]

[In a rush to my next tour, sorry, so no real post. Can't even read right now.] What an interesting bunch, thinks the succubus.

[Kalirren]

Aunt Melinda

What did it mean that the Goddesses had chosen to have us competing as one tri-faith? Not three faiths?

Time to find out. Time, as always, to put on a performance. But this was going to be a tough crowd. Few men, for one thing. But these weren't the usual sort of clientele, either. You don't play a player, and the room was presumably full of them.

"Find them all, divide the haul..." a woman who had been standing by Sabrina's statue repeated, just loudly enough for everyone to hear but not to project, stepping forth one stride and closing her feet. She was in her prime between youth and age. Her dark brown hair fell in curls over sun-tanned skin and she was dressed in a simple yellow tunic over a frilled brown skirt and wore solid leather sandals.

Raising her eyes, she cast an ambitious glance about the hall. "...Is that all?" She raised her left hand to take the floor. "Who else got this little memorandum? There are...how many what...thirty or so major churches who might be participating in this competition? And about twenty of us in the room right now?" She posed confidently. "Between the lot of us we should be able to wheedle those parchments out in two weeks." Now looking at Sasha, "I say let's each pick our prey and go! Scoop up the easy ones first, we'll crack the hard ones together."

[MikelaC1]

The Cup of the Gods is hundreds of years old, and is held every 10 years. Adventurers go into a dungeon and attempt to retrieve as many Cups as they can, dodging the other Cup seekers and monsters in the process. At the end, they present them to their goddess. No one knows what the Cups mean, theories range all the way from they grant great power to the deities, down to the most cynical who say they are just another one of the gods jokes on humanity and are only good for the gods to harass each other, saying look how many more Cups my worshippers got than yours. The truth lies somewhere between, no doubt.

The competition was always every person for themselves, however about 10 competitions ago, things changed. A worshipper of Michael Bindar and one of Silescia Domar formed an alliance, and managed to nab 5 cups to split between their two allied deities. Then in the next competition, alliances were formed all over the place.

The next change came when Syndra rigged the selection process to let 4 of her worshipppers in, and they cleaned up. Two competitions later, the selection process was gone, anyone who was picked by their gods could go, and any alliance at all was allowed. Naturally, we stayed above this, knowing it was not in the proper spirit of the game, but that changed in the last one.

A ridiculous alliance was formed between followers of Melias, Morgaz and Rohdan, and not only did they boast they would set a record, they particularily said they were going to show up us. Our faiths have never gotten along, but not only was this a challenge to us....but then in the competition, they somehow killed all three of our followers who were in there, they killed them in such a way that they could not be resurrected. Normally, anyone killed in the dungeon is just eliminated from it, but these followers had their bodies destroyed, and their souls can never leave the goddess plane. When they came out with 6 Cups, they let everyone know about it

Naturally, we were outraged, and vowed to make a change for the next competition, entering the best teams we each could find. But the arrival of this note, has ramped up the importance. We have decided to join forces, and set a record that no one can touch

We want you to go in, and come out with all 10 Cups.

[goken04]

Arcaneus

"Sounds like a fantastic challenge!" Says Arcaneus Fallowip, stepping forward from among the ranks of Sabrina's followers. He is dressed in a gold-embroidered green tunic that he wears over his silver mithral shirt and black trousers. On his back is a golden hilted two-bladed sword, the blades of which appear to be made out of yellow light. His long brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail. His striking elven features complement the apparent litheness of his step. "For those of you not acquainted with me personally, I am Arcaneus Fallowip, Monster Hunter Extraordinaire. And a dungeon challenge is right up my alley. Pray, do tell, what sort of foul beasts lurk in this dungeon?"

[Ryuuk]

Lystara

Amongst the crowd, along with the other followers of the good goddess, was a young woman in glamered armor. Through True seeing eyes it's a mithral suit of full plate, designed perhaps for someone of a larger frame before being modified. Without them though, it appears as lightly armored, form fitting, common clothing. With long brown hair and a light, clean complexion (likely a common trait in this crowd) she watches on with a puzzled look. Why just these three faiths then...

She stands with a shield strapped at her back, and a large sword before her. She holds it with its tip on the ground, her hands across the grip. It's almost as tall as she is, if counted from the end of the blade to the tip of the pommel.

Given the nature of the meeting, the design on the shield and sword stand out. In both Tishtina's imagery is present, yes, but when looked at carefully, one can see Duran's symbol edged at the shield's rim. Similarly, in her sword's handle, presented alongside Tishtina's, one can see Lysindra's symbol.

For now, she said little, merely pondered the point of a contest between the gods... Better this then open warfare, but one to allow followers of Morgaz... and to allow something like the events of the past contest... That couldn't stand.

[Firebrand]

Pauline Blackstone

A beautiful young woman with extremely dark hair with her hands clasped together watches and listens intently

Thoughts

Spoiler

Show

I'm feel nervous, but a bit excited *breathe*. If I could meet my goddess in person I am sure I all of my questions will be answered

Pauline retrieves her silver holy symbol from her charcoal black robe (which has crimson runes) and squeezes it in her hands

My thoughts

Spoiler

Show

I will physically describe Pauline later and bit by bit for when the physical descriptions become relevant since I don't want to cram too many details at once
As always thank you for your time

[MikelaC1]

Unfortunately, we cannot tell you what manner of beasts are in there. A memory charm works on anyone who enters the tests, all they know when they come out, is how many Cups they have. No one seems to know what the dungeon is like. About all you know is that there will be other teams going against you, as far as we can figure out, there will be at least 3 of them. And before you ask, we only have one idea of what sort of team of adventurers are in those groups.

[Toliudar]

The big amazon woman raises her hand again, this time with a question.

"So...this competition. How soon is it? Do we travel to it, or get transported into it? Can we come and go with the cups that we find, or once we're out, we're out, you know?"

She shrugs, and smiles. This did sound like fun.

[Ladorak]

Elisa

Elisa was undeniably beautiful. The reasons she had remained the Erandol festhall's star attraction for a decade were writ clear for all to see. Her delicate features and porcelain skin were framed with silky long black hair. Her eyes were almost as dark as her hair, but they seemed to burn with an inner light.
Yet there is no denying the cruel treachery of gravity and the unavoidable passage of years. It is barely noticeable, the slightest hint of lines beneath her eyes, a slight sagging. Both however are expertly disguised by expensive make-up and black silk dress that lifted, firmed and exposed all the right places. Her magical garment had other forms but two were inappropriate for present company for vastly different reasons.
She regarded the others quietly with the studied eye of one who had spent her entire life evaluating people at a glance. As thief, Courtesan and High Priestess she had always needed to gauge people in seconds. The illusion of control that came with such evaluations lasted until Dalcar Sontin mounted the dais. At that moment Elisa resolved to stay quiet until everyone's cards were on the table.
She couldn't help but shake her head when she heard of the other god's boasting. Men and their games. Odd company Melias is keeping these days... What could such grim company offer in comparison to the Three?
Still, she had to admit she was liking the idea of a little competition. Maybe the rigid formula of her new role left her looking nostalgically at the excitement of her earlier lives or maybe the insult to her goddess had struck deeper than she cared to admit even to herself. She was resolved. There was no need to say anything. She could not disobey the word of Zanthia Bindar, it was happy coincidence that her duties now coincided with her desires.
She nodded quietly at Peridot's question said nothing, awaiting answer.

[Telasi]

"So we're out to win big. Anything else?" Sounds interesting. Besides, it sounds like a few of the competitors need to learn a lesson. "Either way, I'm in. I'll need details: time, place, any rules."

[crowe]

Zanthia is the last to speak, her musical elven voice makes it hard to concentrate on her words, just listening to the sound is reward enough.
Several days ago, all of us received the same parchment. Only two lines of the parchment can be made out, but there are many more. No manner ofmagical divination can reveal them. But the first two lines are clear enough
“Find them all
Divide the haul”

Mistress Bindar, do we have any clue of what this "haul" is they refer to? It sounds as if no prize was given in any of the other competitions, also, what of the other lines? I assume our acolytes have worked hard to decipher them, and I assume Sabrina herself has remained silent on this issue.

[MikelaC1]

The big amazon woman raises her hand again, this time with a question.

"So...this competition. How soon is it? Do we travel to it, or get transported into it? Can we come and go with the cups that we find, or once we're out, we're out, you know?"

She shrugs, and smiles. This did sound like fun.

The competition is in two days, we will, of course, teleport you there. You may only leave the dungeon once. At that point, your game is over. Part of the challenge of the test is being able to hold onto the Cups once you have them

"So we're out to win big. Anything else?" Sounds interesting. Besides, it sounds like a few of the competitors need to learn a lesson. "Either way, I'm in. I'll need details: time, place, any rules."

There arent really any other rules, other than the ones we have already told you.

Mistress Bindar, do we have any clue of what this "haul" is they refer to? It sounds as if no prize was given in any of the other competitions, also, what of the other lines? I assume our acolytes have worked hard to decipher them, and I assume Sabrina herself has remained silent on this issue.

The haul is the Cups. Hopefully, you get all 10, and then exit the dungeon. At that point, we divide the Cups, 3 to each goddess. The last one, well, we'll figure something out.
As for the other lines, nothing we have used on them seems to work. For now, we have decided to let things play out, we know what the first lines mean.

[Telasi]

"No rules and a big team. I like these odds right now." Taleira looks over the others gathered in the room and nods. This is going to be an interesting couple of days.

[Stormwind]

A young girl has been unobtrusively waiting and watching as the others have stepped forward to speak. Although she too is blessed with beauty, she is undeniably young, perhaps yet to grow into her full potential.

Given her desire to remain unnoticed and the sheer beauty of those in whose company she now stands, it is perhaps understandable that some might be startled when she speaks up, her young voice almost lost in the noise of everyone else's questions .... almost. "The other teams, you said there were at least three. Do you have any information regarding them that we might use to try and assess our opposition during the next two days?"

[Hazzardevil]

A tall dark Amazon rivalling in Beauty to Cassandra then speaks up in a seucive tone.

So the 15 of us go in the maze do we?
Then we kill off other chosen beings of gods and goddeses and bring 10 cups back.
I belive my goddess whole-heartedly approves.


As she speaks you can see claws of beauty that could never be matched by one not favoured by a god.

Of all the things I have done for my goddess, this shall prove that I am more worthy to serve her.

[Stormwind]

The young girl retorts disdainfully to the amazon who just spoke, "Killing is such a waste ... opponents can be much more useful in so many different ways."

The sheer distain in her voice and the persuasion she exudes makes her statement very difficult to argue with, even by those having a differing opinion.

[Bluff (to convince of the truth of her words): (1d20+29)[39](take 10 - Skill mastery)]

[To summarize: DC39 Sense motive check to disbelieve her]

[Kalirren]

[OOC: I don't think one can use a normal Bluff check like epic Bluff. Bluff is neither suggestion nor hypnotism unless one takes a -50 penalty.]
[Sense Motive: Skill Mastery [10] + 26 = 36 *fail*]

Aunt Melinda

"There's still a time and place for vengeance," countered the first Sabrinite to speak. She was unsure whether or not the girl actually believed what she had said, but even if it were a rhetorical trap she felt comfortable walking into it anyway. Turning with the gestural clarity of a dancer, she directed her words towards the Amazon. "We can't let anyone get away with such a gesture towards us. I suggest we hold the representatives of that Goddess-damned triple alliance for ransom if we find them. That will show them in whose field they're playing?"

[Toliudar]

Peridot

The big blonde woman scratches her head with a beefy finger.

"If I understand right, killing them in this cup-place doesn't really kill them anyway, so it's only a waste if we don't have a use for em. Same with hostage-taking. If they don't really die, holding em hostage don't have much of a threat, right?"

She turns back to the priestesses at the front, waiting to answers for her questions.

[Kalirren]

Aunt Melinda

"But we -do- have a use for them," responded the dancer. "Chances are, whoever's representing them are the same ones who killed our sisters in the last Cup. Or imprisoned them. Or trapped their souls. Or something. No one knows, probably not even them, there's a memory charm, remember?" She paused to let the more disturbing part of that thought sink in. "We've got to find out what they might have done to our sisters. And I'll bet 50 gold our only chance, if we have one at all, is that they remember what they did when they're in there. Or that they can be -made- to."

[Hyperion]

Sasha Belvedere

"In two days? I came running all the way here and still have a few days left." She rubbed the back of her head and sighted in disappointment. She was still quite excited about the situation but had hoped for something a little more immediate but maybe they would have something to do in those days maybe even get more familiar with their teammates.

[Telasi]

"If they can kill our own in such a way that they can't be raised, they can do it to others. I would suggest turning that power on the other teams, if we can. Let others exact our vengeance while we move to seize the cups. Consider for a moment what it is that we do. We seduce; we manipulate. Simple killing is easy, and a poor return for the crimes against us. How much sweeter to force the objects of our retribution to be the instruments of their own destruction?" Taleira smiles and holds her hands up placatingly. "I think, however, that there will be enough time to discuss this matter in the two days before the Cup. Let us wait until the High Priestesses are finished to resolve this dispute."

[MikelaC1]

We cant really help you with two of the other teams, we arent quite sure who they are. However, when it comes to the third team

Spoiler

Show

As Zanthia is speaking, Dalcar is gesturing and speaking arcane words of power, those who have any sort of Know:Arcane realize she is casting an illusion

there we can help you.

At this point, Dalcar's illusion springs to life, and you see a collection of 10 men, probably the most vilest group of ruffians you have ever seen collected together. They all appear to be armoured, and carring an assortment of nasty looking weapons.

This is the Melias-Morgaz-Rohdan alliance team, and they are coming back for this competition. As you can see, they appear to be all warriors of one type or another, but do not make the mistake of underestimating them, after all, they managed to get 6 cups last time out. From what we know of them, they use swarm tactics, overwhelming casters by sheer numbers, and preventing the casting of spells.

[Toliudar]

Peridot

The small woman on the thuggish man's shoulder looks around at the others appraisingly. No idiots. Clearly, a few that know how to handle a blade. At least one succubus, and several that have outsider blood, by the look of them. An interesting mix.

The big Amazon speaks up again.

"Seems like we got enough magic here to sink a mountain. I figure we should maybe all sit down to dinner, compare notes. Maybe, tomorrow, we can prepare some magics that'll help keep us all alive. In there."