Date night

[Ebiris]

Perhaps it's so. Look at who he's chosen for those nods - all mortals or former mortals. "And the Gods too are test subjects, only ones created more directly by the Incarnations. It all flows from there, doesn't it? Everything in Creation does... and so the only value is that which we make for ourselves." She shakes her head. "I'm a God, Eblis, and yet I was once mortal. Mystra is a God and she never was anything but. Antenora is a God, and even if she wasn't mortal she was still something lesser than she is now. Some things change, many things don't."

[Anastasia]

Interesting observation there, Alicia.

There is silence after your words, a long silence. Eblis says nothing for those moments, unspoken words heavy like raindrops ready to fall.

"More importantly," Antenora's voice is gentle now, "We could even stand beyond this test and this Creation, but what does it profit to us? What profit is it to trade Creation for the yearning Beyond? What profit is it to destroy all of them, to stand alone against all that emptiness? I dread the possibility, Eblis, even as I prepare should it come to pass."

A breath.

"We're all in this together. We can choose to stand apart and fall as Shar grows stronger and plunges all into darkness. We can give into our hate, our selfishness, our fear and our pain to let her win. We can stand with that pride and embrace the eternal Beyond with open arms. We can go racing to what madness awaits us there, embrace it like a lost lover and struggle for unknown eons in the small hope we recreate one fragment of what was lost with Creation."

Another moment.

"Asmodeus would like that."

A beat.

"Do you think he enjoys seeing you like this, Eblis? To see you wallowing in your own hate and misery, all because you can't accept your Father's judgment, that you cannot accept his choice? A useful tool to raise others as his plans dictate? Another cog he has suffer, suffer like so many others in Hell suffer?"

[Ebiris]

Really what more can be said from that? Alicia lets Antenora's words hang in the air, doing nothing to cut away from their portentousness.

[Anastasia]

"Unity." Eblis murmurs.

"Unity." Antenora says, "What cures being lonely other than unity? We are not meant to stand apart and alone, Eblis, even if we gain the ability to do so. We're meant to gather people to us and care about those people. Care about those you've gathered to yourself - you understand that. No, you never forgot that lesson from your Father, for it's both a holy lesson and an axiomatic lesson."

Here Antenora looks to Alicia, "Alicia, what would Asmodeus and Hell say to that? Would Asmodeus provide a unity worth the air it takes to utter the word?"

"I know that!" Eblis snaps that, a moment of the flames roaring up, roaring high as the sky.

[Ebiris]

"Of course he'd tell you be provides Unity," Alicia says, a note of scorn in her voice once she gets used to the flames roaring up. "One must decide for themselves if they are a fully realised part of something greater, or merely a disposable extension of another's will."

"There is another that became One, Eblis. They left this doomed Creation and sought to master the Beyond, to create for themselves. Nothing lasted, and so they came back - whether you are One or not, there is no future outside of Creation. It must be protected, all of it, even the least parts of it that seem as dust and clay to the greatest parts, because it's all part of the whole."

[Anastasia]

Another stretch of silence. A harder one. The flames roar, Eblis closing his eyes. He is still and silent as the flames roar louder and louder.

"...I can't forgive him. I won't forgive him." Eblis says, voice steady even amid the flames.

'Finally,' Antenora sends to you, a single word filled with satisfaction.

"Thus, Asmodeus wins." Antenora agrees, "Shar wins. Evil wins. Go on then, prove that you've turned against him. Your harem, your family, your sons? Put them to the sword or cast them into Hell. Revoke your protections. No paragon of evil could have such things, Eblis. Any self respecting devil would mock your love for them, accuse of weakness and if they had the power, send you for 9,999 years of torment as re-education."

Gesturing wide, "If you reject your father and refuse to forgive him, you embrace Asmodeus and all he represents. Accept his twisted version of unity, Eblis. Go on. Let go of what he's taught you and accept what you've become. Welcome the Beyond when it comes, because it's exactly the Answer you've chosen."

[Ebiris]

It's not quite the stark dichotomy Alicia would have pushed for, but Antenora seems to have a handle on this so she'll trust her. Besides if one considers the status quo as the compromise option clearly it doesn't work.

"Your mistake," Alicia speaks up after her friend finishes, "Was in thinking because he put his faith in mortals that he had no faith in you. He'd have been right not to, with how you've lived your life ever since, but faith is much like love. When spent freely it doesn't run out."

She takes a breath and glances at Antenora. "It is interesting how this all revolves around forgiveness. Because that concept was pivotal to Antenora becoming One. She needed to be forgiven, and I needed to forgive her. All the years we've spent together, trusting my life and my secrets to her... that was the first time I actually said it. And with it came a new beginning and new possibilities."

[Anastasia]

"In a real way that's the core of the great question: To forgive and love or to not forgive and hate." Antenora seconds after that. "You know what you have to do, Eblis. You know what you need to do. A few words spoken from the heart can do what all the raging here cannot and will not. Being forgiven set myself free to rise even higher. Come join us and don't be alone anymore."

Diplo check with a +7 bonus, Alicia. Antenora will aid you for +2 more.

[Ebiris]

[18:14] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+65 diplo
[18:14] <Penuche> Ebiris invokes Penuche's magic: < 83 > [d20=18]

[Anastasia]

In that moment, you have a sensation of being at a crossroads.
My son.
A path of flame and fury, and one of blinding white light.
I've never stopped waiting for you, because I wish for nothing more than to save everyone, no matter how long it takes. Even you, my son.
Why you feel this you could not say, but you feel it with a sudden intensity and absolute knowledge that you're right.
Especially you, my son.
"...I'm so tired, Father," Eblis murmurs. "I hate Alicia and Antenora so much. How could she...how could they....surpass even me?"
Even faster than I ever dreamed it would happen, even in these monumental days.
Silence.
You never had any failings, my son. You never had a reason to learn how to forgive yourself and to be forgiven. Your brother looked towards the light of Chronias, while you chose to look inward. How could he not find the ways to forgive you while you found no such thing within yourself? How could One alone stand against the many within the light together?
"Father, I....." Eblis trails off. "I..."

[Ebiris]

Alicia quietly wills Eblis to say the words, because if she actually tells him to say them he might react badly to being told what to do.

And really he has to take this step for himself, not for her or Antenora. He hates them anyway so why would he do it for them, right?

[Anastasia]

"...help me, Father." Eblis says with a shudder, silent after. "I...I...I never wanted this. I wanted to make you happy, to please you and to provide for us all. I...I wanted to do it for us and I couldn't. I'm sorry."

A shift. A sudden feeling of everything shifting, as if reality has changed in some fundamental way. A thrill of power from it, sharp as a sword. Everything seems to quaver, shake.

The ground shakes as the flames quench. From horizon to horizon the flames of Fire are extinguished, leaving behind only barren rock. For one moment darkness falls - and then there is light. The light of Chronias shines so bright as to banish all shadows, to illuminate every rock. The gray and black volcanic stone is leeched of dark colors, becoming shining whites and veins of gold, spreading everywhere the light of Chronias touches.

Where that light touches, screaming souls appear and become still. A moment, a sense of tension as you feel power keeping them here and power against that, until Eblis shakes his head. That power fades and the souls suddenly fly free. A vast hoard of them, more than you can count or see even with your senses, fly forth everywhere. Flying free and into the mists that await to guide them, flying unburdened and forgiven.

"Look!" Antenora says as she looks up and points. From above a great, golden hand descends, large as a mountain.

You only had to ask, my son.

Eblis looks up, face pained and tired. He reaches up as if to grasp the golden hand from above.

[Ebiris]

Alicia watches those souls go to freedom, her heart unclenching. Seeing them on her previous visits, being unable to do anything for them, it had hurt so much. "Sorry it took so long," she whispers to Eblis's many victims who can at last know peace.

Of course she can't ignore that hand - bigger than even she can make herself with her control over her size. A change has come to the order of Creation that she's once more at the centre of, much like when she took part in freeing the children of Androlynne. And Eblis is reaching out for it, he doesn't need any further prompting.

Her own hand reaches over and takes hold of Antenora's as they watch.

[Anastasia]

Antenora holds your hand back and squeezes as you watch.

Eblis reaches up and takes the hand - and in that moment that they touch, he is gone. All is gone here - the tower, the land, all of it. For a moment there is absolute void until Fire comes back and reclaims it. Normal Fire, normal flames. The divine realm of Eblis is gone, taken away.

Thank you. I will tend to my son and those he cares about. You will not see them for some time, there is much my son must say and do to atone. This is only the beginning for him.

In that moment you feel the triumph surge from within you, blossoming out like a flower. Power flows as...

To be clear on a few points here first of all: Everyone involved in this series of events will move along their divine rank, with more participation getting more movement. You're pretty close to DvR3 now Seira, even if you only played a role a few times in it. Keep doing well in the war and scoring victories in Competition and you should get it in due time.

This quest is Antenora's purpose to a T, it obviously moves her along in a direct and overwhelming way.

I don't think Amaryl did much here but she'll get some as well. Syala likewise, though she mostly left this quest to Alicia and Antenora. I don't think anyone else touched on this quest, but I'll do some double checking later.

Alicia has risen to divine rank 3. Antenora has risen to divine rank 1.

FYI, this was supposed to be a later game quest: To put it in video game parlance, this is doing a level 70 dungeon at level 20. You managed that one sequence break that blew everything open and one thing lead to another. The one key to have any chance to get through to Eblis was someone becoming One without his aid or anyone's aid. The fact that it was Antenora was thematically fitting as well, which helped. So enjoy the reward that was meant for later and be happy you didn't quite trip about half a dozen incidents that would've initiated combat with him. His AC was higher than his sheet says, just FYI, and that was also the stinger intentionally not posted with his sheet.

Topping this for DvR4 is going to be a trick, Alicia.

This quest was designed for Alicia, Moore or Seira's nodes. Any and all had a lead and a possibility to work on it at some point.

[Ebiris]

"We know the journey well, don't we Antenora?" Alicia says as new strength blossoms in her chest, gauntleted hands squeezing each other but the warmth felt clearly between the two of them. "Come, lets go home. There's nothing left to find here."