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  1. - Top - End - #931
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Dot looks up from her search.

    "I don't think that this place connects with the ethereal plane. Cosmologically, it would be very strange if it did, but I suppose nothing is beyond the power of a god of magic."

    Seeing that even the mighty Atareth is unable to move the sarcophagus, Dot shifts her sphere to simply eradicate most of the floor underneath it, careful not to expose the sarcophagus itself to the ball of nothingness.

    She turns to address the prophet.

    "You say that you've left this room. Have you left this complex? That is, have you seen what is outside of these walls?"

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    Sorry, Telasi - I'm inserting myself into your mental conversation. Just hoping to save time.
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  2. - Top - End - #932
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    Telasi's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Taleira Ulharvyth

    Tali shrugs. Shows what I know. I'm not an expert on the planes. Guess we'll be doing this the hard way, then.

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    No problem. When I post conversation outside a spoiler, it's open broadcast in the party link or out loud unless specifically labeled otherwise.
    Snickett avatar by me.

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  3. - Top - End - #933
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    The party is just about ready to spring into action, however the sudden look of horror that crosses Cassiopia's face tells them that they have run out of time. Even if that wasnt enough, the overpowering dread that grips everyone's soul lets them know something has gone very wrong.
    They slowly turn to the door, and standing in the ruined frame is the one figure they had hoped to avoid. A man stands there, fully 10 feet tall; his body seems filled with flame, his hair is made of lightning, and his eyes seem to made of ice. He surveys the group, with a burning hatred, and total contempt. A glowing pentagram surrounds his whole body.

    I dont know where you think you are going with that soul, but I can assure you that shes not leaving here, I claimed her years ago and I have no intention of giving her up.
    For that, and for the wanton destruction of my property, give me one good reason why I shouldnt obliterate you all completely.
    The problem here is between the keyboard and the chair.

    Life is full of questions. Chocolate is the answer.

    Thanks to Telasi for the custom avatar.

  4. - Top - End - #934
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    A cacophony of "Because"s flooded Melinda's consciousness in a second that seemed to last two lifetimes. They diverged at first.

    Because we're clearly useful, thought one Melinda.
    Because you could ransom us instead, connived another.
    Because you need to make examples of us, dreaded yet another.
    Because now that the snake's a goner, you need more company than an insane seventeen-year-old waif can provide, taunted a fourth.
    Because I've already pissed on your floor and you need to make me clean it up, realized an embarrassed fifth.

    Then they converged rapidly.

    "Because that's not the worst you could do to us," they all agreed aloud. Indeed, oblivion would likely be a mercy. It was marvelous what could happen when someone had literally nothing left to lose. "So do it. Before you change your mind."
    Of the Core classes, Bard is the best. It optimizes the most important resource of them all: play time.

    Grieve not greatly if thou be touched a-light, for an after-stroke is better if thou dare him smite.
    The Play with the Two-Hand Sword in Verse, circa 1430. British Museum manuscript #3542, ff 82-85.

    Current avatar: Sascha Kincaid, a lost country girl in a big city. Aldhaven: Vicious Betrayals

  5. - Top - End - #935
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Lil looks at him and says quizzically, "Just one?"
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    Initiative, because we know it's happening ... (1d20+12)[27]
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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  6. - Top - End - #936
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Atareth is pretty sure there's a ward to stop her, but she attempts to plane shift with Cassie anyway.

    Failing that, she'll simply plane shift. Melinda is right, it's less about being the one that got to lay down the pain, and more about finding help and bringing the rain.
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    She targets the City of Gardens, and is (5d500)[1668] miles off course.
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  7. - Top - End - #937
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Dot tensed and turned. A god. A god of magic, none the less. A god of magic whose servants they had spent about ten minutes killing in numbers. This was bad. No, 'bad' was insufficient. 'Catastrophic'? 'Cataclysmic?' 'Appalling?' Why was she cycling through adjectives instead of acting. Say something, at least!

    "Because we're more useful to you alive than dead."
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  8. - Top - End - #938
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Taleira Ulharvyth

    "Because it's boring and predictable. We know you can do it. We also know you're capable of better, and so does everyone else that matters. Look at what we've accomplished; this ragtag band of ours just invited ourselves in, waltzed right through everything in our way up to and including your pet demon there, and have spent several minutes now chatting with what appears to be the most vapid ghost I've ever seen. Take a second and think about how that makes you look about now. Not very good, is it? Just destroy us, and you end up looking like a petty fool who can't even keep his own private study secure. On the other hand, there are plenty of ways you could spin this situation to make yourself look good. I'm sure you can come up with something."

    "Of course, that's before you consider the more direct consequences. You've seen what we're willing to do for one soul. What do you think would happen if we all just disappear? People knew we were coming here before we left. If we don't come back, they will find out what happened. Keeping one soul hidden away here is one thing, but other gods would hear about something this big. It might not matter to us, but we're pretty much replaceable in the end. Gods, though? I can't imagine they'd just sit still and let you get away with it. Ours certainly wouldn't, and then you have to wonder just how many would side with them with souls at stake. How many friends do you have again? Last I heard, even your allies weren't too comfortable with the things you do. I'm pretty sure we couldn't stop you if you decided to do it anyway, but is it really worth the risk?"
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  9. - Top - End - #939
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    SamuraiGirl

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Readying himself to plane shift away with the others, Tallesin was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the god. Alive but not in prime condition, he scrutinizes Atareth in hopes that if she is able to get away with the spirit, he might be able to whisk away the others too.

    When the god offers his question, Tallesin dons his usual foppish, almost silly grin and replies while tapping his cane to emphasize key words, "Because, good sir god, that would simply be unsportsmanlike... and un-businesslike as well. We wouldn't want something like that."

  10. - Top - End - #940
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Kotep moves slowly into the room, his anger visibly building as he does so. The attempted Plane Shift of Atareth fails, whether it was due to an outstanding ward (perhaps the one Dot put in place) or something that Kotep has up is immaterial at the moment.
    Worth more to me alive than dead are you? he sneers I find that hard to believe. In fact, I think you worth much more dead, than alive, and I don’t need to spin it any way. I’m a god after all, I don’t answer to mortal rabble saying what I can and can’t do. My true allies don’t question my tactics, Rohdan built that special sword after all, didn’t he and Dantilus has chowed down on more than one soul in his past, even if he won’t admit it. As for the other gods rallying against me, don’t count on it. Look at the list, there’s a lot more deities opposed to the abomination you are trying to create than supporting it, once they realize that my stopping you serves the higher purpose of preventing the establishment of the Triune, they’ll fall in line quickly enough.
    And by stopping you, I’ll stop the Triune. Those words of support from your priestesses, they’re only words, not feelings. You think Casandra, Zanthia and Dalcar really want to see the new goddess formed? Hardly, it’s worth far more as an idea than as a fact, they’ll be stripped of their prestige as a high priestess once it comes to pass, for no established leader will be accepted as the new unified leader. They’ll wring their hands about your failure and maybe even build monuments to you, but come to rescue you? That’s not about to happen. And the rest of your flocks? They don’t want this any more than your high priestesses do, they’re already uneasy enough about this alliance in the first place. Even the members of your own group have their doubts

    He looks directly at Lil Don’t you remember her words as the Triune was first revealed? What is to become of us, will we be merely tolerated outsiders? She doesn’t want this unification any more than anyone else does, unless her goddess gets to set all the conditions and turn everyone in the faith into demons. How many of your group has fallen by the wayside, unable to commit to the thought of a faith that no longer fits what they originally believed in? Or that one pointing at Taleira Who sells out her beliefs to gain more power? Or that one pointing at Melinda Who seeks to follow more than one deity in hopes that she'll become the new high priestess, and sleeps with a follower of the third to get her support as well? Youre all conniving your way through your missions, hoping to get as far ahead in the new order of things, each with your own selfish agendas. I could tell you of the things that Lia has done, that would rock the foundations of the new faith before it even starts.
    No, if you fail, the whole idea fails. Everyone will say, it was probably a bad idea to begin with, written by some halfwit who wasn’t even a true follower of any of the deities. I’ll have won, and theres little you can do to stop me.


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    OOC: He resists the urge to cackle madly with his success
    Last edited by Debbie_D; 2012-06-19 at 09:59 AM.
    The problem here is between the keyboard and the chair.

    Life is full of questions. Chocolate is the answer.

    Thanks to Telasi for the custom avatar.

  11. - Top - End - #941
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    "So, Your guardianship of Cassiopeia here makes You the Protector of Daystor's Pantheon. Very clever," Melinda compliments the deity sardonically. "Why don't You argue that one to Daren the Elder? I thought that was His job."

    "This Fellowship has already opened the way for others to follow in a way that cannot be closed. What has been tried once will be tried again. Whatever manifestation it takes, Love is ultimately a chthonic force that emerges from the energy of the world itself. As long as people live, they will seek love, just as they seek to slake hunger, or thirst, or sleep. Every living, loving being, every last one of them is a seed. Every friendship is a chance for the Prophesied Triune to germinate.

    "We do not represent the Triune," disavows Melinda. "I'm surprised You think we do. For that, perhaps we deserve to fail." Her gaze remains steady. "What we represent is orthodoxy - three orthodoxies trying desperately to capture that which will become the Triune before it devours each of them in turn. If You destroy us now the only thing You will ensure is that thousands of young women and men everywhere - yes, women and men - will see that Orthodoxy has failed. They will ordain themselves champions of Love. And when the new church arises, it will be from completely outside the Three Faiths, and it will inherit the spiritual successorship and mandate of each of them. At that point it will be utterly mutant and completely unrecognizable.

    "Yet one thing is certain. For what You have already done to the Prophet, it will demand Your atheosis. None of the Three are asking for that.

    "I don't know how long it will take. You might buy Yourself generations, or centuries. But the longer it takes, the worse it will impact You. And none of us will have done it to You. You will have done it to Yourself. You'll eventually become a paranoid fool among the Gods, suspicious of every possible little change, every little ripple on the surface of the world. Like one of the Old Gods.

    "So do it," Melinda repeats her dare, taking a defiant step forward. "Obliterate us," she repeats syllabically, biting the bullet of the threat, "and accept our wager of lives and souls, which we offered as soon as we arrived here, betting on the arc of history."

    "Or, admit that Your great gambit is unsound, and start improvising."
    Last edited by Kalirren; 2012-06-19 at 02:18 PM.
    Of the Core classes, Bard is the best. It optimizes the most important resource of them all: play time.

    Grieve not greatly if thou be touched a-light, for an after-stroke is better if thou dare him smite.
    The Play with the Two-Hand Sword in Verse, circa 1430. British Museum manuscript #3542, ff 82-85.

    Current avatar: Sascha Kincaid, a lost country girl in a big city. Aldhaven: Vicious Betrayals

  12. - Top - End - #942
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    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Dot

    The part of the little mage's brain that wasn't going bats*** crazy with fear was having a great time in weighing the information and ideas presented. Kotep was trying to argue two points at once. If he had the force of history and the might of a god on his side, why would he care what the high priestesses felt about this little mission? If it truly wasn't the priesthoods bringing them together, then it must be the will of the goddesses themselves, in which case destroying these eight individuals would have no impact - the three would simply find and guide more minions onto the path. Kotep's protestations that everyone would simply abandon the idea had no weight in the face of the will of three goddesses.

    Still, it was becoming increasingly annoying that everyone knew more about their quest than they did themselves! The priests of other religions knew more about it than they did. The other gods knew more about it than they did. Even Sword seemed to know a great deal more than he was letting on. This was extremely frustrating.

    There were plenty of ways for a god to completely absorb and destroy a soul, so there was a reason to keep Cassieopeia captive. He hadn't asked her for prophesy, so that wasn't it. Certainly, the fact that she was neither living nor dead was useful to him, but seemed rather more than it was worth, when he could simply have snuffed her out completely, or absorbed her into something like the black sword. So it was significant that he - or his priests - seemed to have gone to extraordinary trouble to keep her in this limbo. As attested by the fact that he continued to speak with all of them, here, now, instead of simply obliterating all of them. Hmm. That suggested, in fact, that either he couldn't, for some reason, or still wanted something.

    "You are too smart to simply posture in front of an opponent, and you spend precious minutes with us here in this silly little bolt-hole. If you have not killed us, then it follows that there is indeed something that you still need from us. Or...go ahead. As Melinda said. Kill us all, and prove me wrong. Or speak your need."
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  13. - Top - End - #943
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Entirely out of her depth, Ireth watches the exchange and attempts to shrink into the wall as best she can, the rational parts of her brain already screaming and the irrational parts still trying to make her disappear rather than escape the god in front of her.
    Thanks, Telasi for the spectacular OotSatar!

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  14. - Top - End - #944
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    lostsole31's Avatar

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Lildorrinene betrays some amusement when Kotep addresses her, and she waits for the first burst of monologues before she adds a sentiment she hasn't shared since she first met Talbot (the man), "Who said anything about wanting to be any kind of outsider?"

    She regains some composure, for whatever it gives her. "Most of the scheming within the ranks are for supposedly greater-than-oneself goals. Sure, there's a question with each of my sisters as to what power or place they may each have when the Cosmic Sieve settles, but as for myself I care not how I fit within any part of the religion. No, I am much, much more mercenary.

    "Perhaps it's because as a demon or the ridiculous moniker 'evil' that it is my job to be far more skeptical of this whole affair, but each of the goddesses - not just Nocticula - has the same internal attempt to wrench things this way and that. Nocticula perhaps moreso because of the hypocrisy of the other two attempting to marginalize her, but the folly of shortsightedness is not relegated merely to fools. The great follies were of the wise ... who wiser than the gods?

    "I would be willing to stake a deeper claim than any of my sisters here: you are right, and everyone knows it. The gods know the threat simply by the power level and the 'sense of the unknown' that the Triune would represent. Our high priestesses certainly know it ... especially the Tishtinian and the Nocticulan, who might have more to lose. And keenest of all would be the Three Goddesses themselves.

    "Tishtina could not abide the essence of Nocticula, nor the reverse. I care not a whit about how Sabrina would settle out in this mess, but no doubt She sees Herself more in a possible 'caught in the crossfire' situation than the normal mediary role. And all three of them worried about how they'll pan out. Which is the most preposterous because the Being that results would be a gestalt of the concepts and portfolio of the originals .... but it's own Being. Not Tishtina, not Sabrina, not Nocticula. Those three would be Gone. They'd be nowhere. They'd be a cosmic memory that were cannibalized for this One. What? You think a being of like that can withstand being schizophrenic? No.

    "I believe we were assigned to this mission to ultimately fail. If a sorority of this very powerful group of individuals can't bring such a thing to pass? It pretty much tanks the whole prophecy as an actual prophecy. It is a pet theory based on the mad ramblings of a half-wit girl of questionable blood whose words were taken too much to heart. By sending on this mission to ... ostensibly ... be destroyed at the hand of a god, it is a sort of cosmic tying up of loose ends. Our failure will not be some rallying cry for the masses. Our deaths will be as martyrs in the same spin doctored manner you mentioned, but it will not marshal the forces, rally the cry, or beat the drum. It will be taps played out in a distance plane by a dupe that is the witless executioner of his rival deities that would rather see this matter handled by someone they know would be little sullied in the matter.

    "Well, Halfs-tep, here we are. You are doing everything you've been asked to do ... but you don't remember being asked, do you? And you surely aren't being paid for your efforts, are you?

    "So, being the self-interested person that I am, I am actually about the self-interested person you seem to be. There are not two options, there are countless, but there are two options to consider:

    1) Be the lapdog you were made to be. End this. End us. Dip Cassiopeia's soul in the Lethe and be done with it. Quit the Byzantine contrivance and end it ... really END it.

    2) Foil the plans ... your own, our Goddesses, the other gods, the high priestess', everybody's plans. Let us go and do what we were sent to fail to do. If we pass this off, and ... despite what has passed from the centuries up to this minute ... remember that this 'abomination' is effectively relationships in all of its forms. You go with Option #1, above, nobody cares, you don't gain any status or power. You go with this? Congratulations, for your own Mysterious-God-of-Magic enigmatic reasons you were the only deity who helped bring this other around. Fella', you can't buy this kind of political currency in the cosmos. Even if you and She are at odds personally, and I honestly don't see why since her portfolio really doesn't trip on yours, grateful would be an understatement.

    "As for me, I can stop working for the Abyssal Pimp Princess and go be my own agent instead of a pawn."

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    Feel free to expend Lildorrinene's moment of prescience in this. Use whatever is more viable here ... Diplomacy or Bluff. Bluff might make sense to everyone else, but this is actually as on-the-table as this game has ever gotten for Lildorrinene's purpose here .... and it ain't for Nocticula or any individual of the Three. As was discussed with Talbot, this is the real deal, not fast-talking.
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2012-06-19 at 05:46 PM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  15. - Top - End - #945
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Atareth releases Cassie and stands in front of her and grips her holy hammer in fury. "Demon! Does your perfidy know no end? I shall see your smitten body wreaked and broken under my hammer, whatever comes, for your treachery!"
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    ....and passing it back ....
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  16. - Top - End - #946
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Lildorrinene is still staring at Kotep, not even looking at the celestial. "Is that with option 1, where we are destroyed anyway? or, Option 2, where my reasoning actually saves us ... forges an alliance ... and sends us on our merry way and closer to our goal?

    "Yeah, thought so. So let the big kids talk and we'll let you know when we need a hammer-tantrum. For now, think of yourself in a warm bath and spending some 'quality time' with your crush, Tallesin.

    "What? You thought your deva mind was somehow better than a mortal and couldn't be read by the likes of me?"
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  17. - Top - End - #947
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Ah, demons. Melinda effortlessly suppressed an ear-to-ear grin, letting her jaw drop in shock instead. Refreshingly straightforward they were, and Lil was certainly no exception. A previous client proud of his intellect had once explained to her his personal rules of thumb for managing his relationships with outsiders - to deal only with devils, consort only with demons, and avoid celestials at all costs. The advice accorded well with his sense of humour. She never knew what had happened to his soul, but trusted that it had gotten whatever was coming. Which might not have been entirely undesirable.

    Lil had played her part exactly on cue. It took two to pull a two-man con. And Melinda obviously had too much heart to be a real con artist, which made her one of the best shills on Daystor.

    "Extra props if you find a way to charge Him for Ka' Rishta's replacement, too," she tepes through the necklace.
    Of the Core classes, Bard is the best. It optimizes the most important resource of them all: play time.

    Grieve not greatly if thou be touched a-light, for an after-stroke is better if thou dare him smite.
    The Play with the Two-Hand Sword in Verse, circa 1430. British Museum manuscript #3542, ff 82-85.

    Current avatar: Sascha Kincaid, a lost country girl in a big city. Aldhaven: Vicious Betrayals

  18. - Top - End - #948
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    That mortals would dare to speak to him so, fans Kotep's anger to even greater heights. To call him, HIM, a lapdog, to try and run a con to save their lives, it was prepostorous. He takes a step forward as his fury boils over, the flames on his body burn even hotter, lighting bursts forth from his hands and his eyes blaze with the chill of a glacier; you dont know if you are going to be burned alive, shocked into oblivion, or frozen for eternity. You do know, for certain, that despite all your inner thoughts on the situation, you are closer to death right now than you have ever been.

    YOU DARE TO SPEAK TO ME SO? You should be on your knees begging for your miserable lives right now. In this place I OWN YOU, your fate is MINE to determine and will be done with as I choose,and not by your petty machinations.
    AND THIS SOUL IS MINE


    He takes another step forward, and your hearts are just about to stop, when...

    A light blossoms behind you. A light that you have only seen once in your lives, a light that is all colors at once yet being only one color. Your group parts just a bit and a woman of infinite grace and infinite beauty steps through your ranks, a woman you have seen only once, and thought you might never see again. The goddess, united.

    This soul is not yours, it never was and it never will be. I claim it as mine, and do not dare to dispute it With almost no motion at all, she gathers Cassiopia to her. And neither do these souls belong to you. They were on a rescue mission that you caused and should not have. Should you care to dispute it, we could always summon Daren here to adjudicate the matter. What do you think his view would be, considering what he owes us, and what violations you have done here. Another motion, and you all find yourself standing behind her, bathed in the radiance of her protection. For the first time ever, you gain even the smallest understanding of what the triparate Goddess will be, at once the Three and the One.

    I will see you destroyed, mark my words, I will end your faith before it ever starts.

    You are welcome to try Kotep, but only when the field is clear of innocents. Not here, and not now.

    The god looks like he is about to burst with his rage, and then without the Goddess doing a thing, you find youself standing in a paradise, with the Goddess and Cassiopia.
    The problem here is between the keyboard and the chair.

    Life is full of questions. Chocolate is the answer.

    Thanks to Telasi for the custom avatar.

  19. - Top - End - #949
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    "To You I'll never even say 'Please-!'" Melinda issues her final retort. It was the highest privilege in mortality to die in the way in which one had chosen to live. Clearly, the Great Lord of Black Magic had forgotten what it meant to be mortal, for He was still giving her that chance.

    **

    Upon arriving, Melinda simply collapses. Then she smirks, and begins to laugh and cackle uncontrollably. Her earlier mental stand has clearly consumed most of her senses.

    Also, the thought of a mighty god having to order or summon a minion to clean up the stinking mess she left on his floor was immensely satisfying for the moment.
    Of the Core classes, Bard is the best. It optimizes the most important resource of them all: play time.

    Grieve not greatly if thou be touched a-light, for an after-stroke is better if thou dare him smite.
    The Play with the Two-Hand Sword in Verse, circa 1430. British Museum manuscript #3542, ff 82-85.

    Current avatar: Sascha Kincaid, a lost country girl in a big city. Aldhaven: Vicious Betrayals

  20. - Top - End - #950
    Titan in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    As the horrors of the previous location fade, Dot also feels her legs give way, and she wobbles down to a cross-legged position on the ground. She finds herself inhaling deeply, seemingly not ready quite yet to believe that she was still alive, and also drinking in the most amazing aroma she had ever experienced. It was if peppermint, lilacs and roast chicken were having a three-way in her nose.

    Her hand trailed along the ground, and she brought the palm up to her cheek. After a moment, brought back to a consciousness of their situation by Melinda's laughter, the mage rises lightly to her feet again. Not quite daring to look at the Goddess, she simply smiles at Cassiopia.

    "Welcome home."
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  21. - Top - End - #951
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

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    What the hell?!? I thought I had put forth a pretty big reply .... ???

    Lildorrinene gives a little finger wave to Kotep as they disappear.

    Lildorrinene kneels upon the ground in front of the Goddess. "I spoke as I felt to that power-mad halfwit, based on what I perceive to be true in my ability to process. I still feel that way, but I am not without a sense of gratitude and relief.

    "I will serve you in my means and in my way, but because I choose too, not because I am forced to. If, where any part of You may be concerned, you merely seek - whereas Lust is concerned - to simply supplant Nocticula as Malcanthet was despatched, and I and my sisters are enforced pawns, then I shall not worship you and you are best to end me here. I did not do my part for the greater glory of the universe, for the health of Daystor, for the sense of what you might be come theologically, and definitely not for Nocticula.

    "I did what I did to be free.

    "Lust means nothing if men crumble beneath me. I yearn for more, and almost tasted as such when Talbot yielded himself to my kiss. If you have the power to take the tempting power of demonic immortality and the allure of the succubus away from me, then I will accept all the benefits and weaknesses that come with being mortal, and I shall pledge myself to your service at once as destroyer, champion, and healer ... and with this, my ability to inspire others to you. I know, for his part, Lok-too-loo-baz seeks better for himself, though perhaps in form if not in mortality."
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2012-06-20 at 01:46 AM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  22. - Top - End - #952
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    SamuraiGirl

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    As the god of magic continues to threaten the party, Tallesin wracks his brain for a solution, knowing that any of his magical devices would probably be wasted gestures against a being of such power and over such a portfolio. When the Goddess United arrives, Tallesin is dazzled, first at her beauty, then the realization of who she is, then at the fact that he might yet live and then finally that he is meeting the one for whom all this work as been directed.

    When the group is transported to paradise, the wizard drops to one knee. Previously, he had offered sweeping bows of varying degrees, but this is the fullest expression of loyal, humble respect that a gentleman like him can offer. He almost chokes on his words, unsure of where to begin, starting in his usual form and slowly moving into deeper questions. As he drops to one knee, he simply whispers, "My Lady... thank you. I... am always at your service. Where that phrase is normally a formality, here I mean it. How may your servant best please you? There are many questions I would beg of you, but as a gentleman in humbly in your service, it is my place to ask for explanations only by your leave."

    For DMs Only
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    As he stands in the United Goddess's midst and begins processing everything, Tallesin's mind turns to his past. He wonders whether she actually had a plan for him, or if his wife's affair was mere chance. His reflections on the past turn sad as he thinks of his lost love, and though Tallesin has enjoyed his time as Sabrina's follower, he yearns for his runaway love. He ponders whether the Goddess of Love will let her men continue to be used by their sisters, or whether he may finally have a place in her service where he doesn't feel threatened, isolated or dominated. Tallesin's once warm and open love evolved in his years of service to Sabrina into a cold, foppish detachment that allows him to sleep around but never make an intimate connection, and the Goddess United reminds him of his more innocent, more vulnerable loves, and makes him want something pure like that again.

    All these are things he would vocalize to the Goddess United, if not for the presence of demons and others who would probably seek to twist such information against him. If the Goddess can read his thoughts, she would know these things, but if she cannot, then he leaves his concerns unexpressed unless he can communicate them to her alone.

  23. - Top - End - #953
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Home?...home was never like this whispers Cassiopia. And this is hardly Amazonia, unless I miss my guess completely

    The goddess. No, its not Amazonia. Unfortunately, you will never make it there, your body has been destroyed for too long. You will, however, be the first soul to live in this new paradise. And you will be joined by many amazon sister souls. They will teach you what it means to be an amazon. And you, in turn, will teach them of me, the new goddess Triune.

    She turns to you all now. And what do the rest of you think?
    The problem here is between the keyboard and the chair.

    Life is full of questions. Chocolate is the answer.

    Thanks to Telasi for the custom avatar.

  24. - Top - End - #954
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    After a good few moments filled with deep breaths, Melinda has finally taken in enough of the calm of Paradise to regain some semblance of her wit. She unceremoniously rolls over on the palms of her hands, and tries her best to think in words and speak in phrases that aren't simply verbal caresses as she rises. She gazes at the perfectly graceful Being before the group, and her own countenance bears the marks neither of success nor of failure, but of shame.

    The Sabrinite evangelist had spent most of her adult life on the fringes of her Fellowship, doing the work of evangelism, fighting foremost for the better upbringing of girls wherever she went. There, on the fringes of society, where ideas had to be lived to survive, faith was what mattered, not dogma, nor creed, nor orthodoxy. No dogma could transform a person. No creed could inspire them. No orthodoxy would reside for long in a place after she left it. Only the praxis of spirituality could endure. Invariably from those quietest of actions, the silent, heartfelt commitments at the beginnings and ends of days, came the purest of faith. Melinda made and lost money alternatively throughout her travels, but those diamonds in the rough were the Goddesses' work well done.

    Melinda had also meant every word she had hurled at the Lord of Black Magic. She believed in every single one. And so to have admitted with her not-quite-dying breath that she was merely a champion of orthodoxy was devastating in its own way. What, precisely, had she duped herself into becoming? When had she started doing it? And how had it come to pass that the life she lived had diverged so far from the life she fought for others to live? Was she truly doing the best she could to bring out and protect the nascent faith? To protect that which was new in the Fellowship, and keep it alive and living through its transition?

    "When?" she asks simply, feeling caught between doubts. "When did this place come into being?" She was deeply, deeply surprised to experience its existence. "Who has achieved the Trinity in their hearts?" Melinda knew it had not been her. She knew she had never succeeded in making room for Nocticula in her own personal faith. Yet here the unified Goddess stood as Lady resplendent in her own realm. So someone had succeeded. Maybe even many had succeeded. And they would each have already surpassed her.

    They had just become targets, and Melinda had no idea who or what or where they were.
    Of the Core classes, Bard is the best. It optimizes the most important resource of them all: play time.

    Grieve not greatly if thou be touched a-light, for an after-stroke is better if thou dare him smite.
    The Play with the Two-Hand Sword in Verse, circa 1430. British Museum manuscript #3542, ff 82-85.

    Current avatar: Sascha Kincaid, a lost country girl in a big city. Aldhaven: Vicious Betrayals

  25. - Top - End - #955
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    The Triune Goddess (for she has no name yet) smiles Melinda's questions.

    To date, no one has achieved the Trinty yet. Some, like yourself, have accepted two...for instance Lia has accepted Sabrina along with Nocticula. But no one has all three. Not yet anyway.
    We are only able to "pull ourselves together" for a short period of time, when the need is great, like staring down Kotep in his den; or when we accepted the Cups. But, not for long...

    And in fact as "she" says this, the form seems to blur for a moment, and then splits apart, the one form dissolving into Tishtina, Sabrina, and Nocticula.
    But we are able to do it more and more, and for longer times now. What you are doing is working. Dont ask us why, its a cosmic question, even beyond our ken. But it is happening (Tishtina)
    As for this place, its not a whole plane on its own. Its a little something we started to work on when we began to feel the time of the prophecy nearing. It may look vast, but if you were to explore, you would find it quite finite in size, and actually rather limited. Its a work in progress, much like your quest (Sabrina)
    So worry not for someone else becoming a target. They are no more targets than you are. And you've just made another powerful enemy. But that was to be expected (Nocticula)
    The problem here is between the keyboard and the chair.

    Life is full of questions. Chocolate is the answer.

    Thanks to Telasi for the custom avatar.

  26. - Top - End - #956
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    How many more enemies can we afford to make? wonders Melinda. First the Dwarven pantheon, now Kotep. Sure, Kotep had always against us. But never actively so, in recent memory.

    Lia was right, Melinda reflected. She needs allies.

    "Thank You," she bows. "Thank You all, for coming for us in our time of need." Carefully avoiding turning her head away from any of Them, she makes a small request of Sabrina, her first. "I would like to explore this place, actually. This is a rare opportunity. Will you let me experience these early stages of Your collective vision for myself? I hope not to be returning here before it's mostly finished, after all."

    She remains at attention, waiting to be given leave.
    Of the Core classes, Bard is the best. It optimizes the most important resource of them all: play time.

    Grieve not greatly if thou be touched a-light, for an after-stroke is better if thou dare him smite.
    The Play with the Two-Hand Sword in Verse, circa 1430. British Museum manuscript #3542, ff 82-85.

    Current avatar: Sascha Kincaid, a lost country girl in a big city. Aldhaven: Vicious Betrayals

  27. - Top - End - #957
    Ogre in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    You are all welcome to move around as you wish.

    We expect you'll find that you can go no more than about an hour in any direction.

    At that point, you will encounter a whiteish haze. For your own good, dont venture into it.

    Its a non-existance that surrounds this plane, and going into it will end up killing you. Theres nothing there to see

    (and if anyone is trying to use Sense Motive, they are all telling the truth)
    The problem here is between the keyboard and the chair.

    Life is full of questions. Chocolate is the answer.

    Thanks to Telasi for the custom avatar.

  28. - Top - End - #958
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Atareth clasps hammer to shoulder and bows her head in deference to the deity. "Thank you for your service in saving us from Darkness, Goddess. May I repay Your Mercy and Glory through continued service in your name, names, name."

    Which makes Atareth wonder .... what, actually, is the name of the Triune Goddess?
    Current Games
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  29. - Top - End - #959
    Titan in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Through the speeches, Dot had remained silent, on the ground. With all of her arcane senses, she reached out to this brand new plane, getting a feel for where it was, what it would be like. Presumably it was already becoming a reflection of the Triune - which meant that it was the first objective measure of what they might become as a single entity.

    Dot nodded a silent obeisance to the three goddesses. She had no idea how to make small talk with such beings - gods were not quite individuals, and not quite abstractions, but a confusing mix of the two. Treat them as one, and they were likely to respond as another.

    Instead, she smiled and ambled over to Cassiopia. After spending days reading every recorded bit of her writing, and it was delightful to have the opportunity to meet her in the flesh. So to speak. Which brought up interesting questions. In this paradise, would Cassiopia be able to reclaim a physical reality.

    Dot smiled and pulled out a copy of Cassie's prophesies.

    "My apologies - we didn't get properly introduced before. I'm Peridot - you can call me Dot."

    She works her way through the group, introducing them.

    "I'm one of the people whose research helped find your home, and to decipher a few bits of the prophesy. I have to say, I'm a fan of your writing. There are some moments of great, simple beauty in the images you present. I know that, back at Kotep's realm, you found direct references to the Three painful. If I'm hurting you with any of this, just let me know.

    "We've been tracking the gradual appearance of new text in your prophesies. I'd be fascinated to go through this with you, to learn more about what you were thinking, what you were picturing when you wrote this. Whether you were interpreting images, or whether whole sentences were simply dropping into your head."


    She unrolls the scrolls of prophesy, curious to see if they interact differently in the presence of their composer.

    "Would you mind if we walked through a few things?"

    Spoiler
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    I can't access TTW right now, but with Moment of Prescience etc, a knowledge (the planes) check in the low fifties, bolstered by the ability to detect and analyze magic auras, should give Dot some sense of the properties of the plane. Does time move normally? Is it stable? Is it affiliated with a specific alignment? Etc.
    "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut

  30. - Top - End - #960
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

    Satisfied that Dot in her throughness will glean everything possible from Cassiopeia, Melinda contents herself with wandering off. As she leaves the scene, she unobtrusively glances around at the others, marking where they go as well, and charts her own course towards solitude with the architecture. Her slow, silent departure gives plenty of opportunity for who wish to follow her to do so, but as spent as she is, she has no intention of leading an expedition anywhere.
    Last edited by Kalirren; 2012-06-23 at 02:44 PM.
    Of the Core classes, Bard is the best. It optimizes the most important resource of them all: play time.

    Grieve not greatly if thou be touched a-light, for an after-stroke is better if thou dare him smite.
    The Play with the Two-Hand Sword in Verse, circa 1430. British Museum manuscript #3542, ff 82-85.

    Current avatar: Sascha Kincaid, a lost country girl in a big city. Aldhaven: Vicious Betrayals

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