Sylican morning

[Ebiris]

"A cute little fairy with big dreams," Marie insists before the flirting embargo is placed.

Alicia meanwhile looks towards Latha and nods. "The sun is the sun, isn't it?" she agrees. "Even if you sought to embody a different aspect of it - noon or dusk rather than Lathander's focus on dawn... you'd still be placing yourself in direct competition with him."

[Anastasia]

"I don't want to compete with him," Latha says, looking up, the rays of the setting sun staining her face red. "Yet...Antenora said this is her duty? It is my duty as well, if so offered from on high. Yet I do not know what to do, how to make myself stand out. Please, give me your advice and wisdom, for I sorely need it."

Syala rubs her chin, "Let's see. A mace, sunshine, glory, good. Well, you use a shield, that's different, I don't think Lathander usually does. But he's also associated with protection, which makes it tougher. No, Latha, if you want this, you need to grow into it more. Become something more than just Lathander's fragment."

"Light and dark," Antenora speaks up, "What is darkness but the sun momentarily withholding its rays? Darkness is stained by its deep association with evil. Perhaps it does not always need to be so."

[Ebiris]

"What about duty, or perseverance?" Alicia suggests. "You held the bridge at Al-Sihal. You endured the Halls of the Vanquished. Even now you're talking about this in terms of doing your duty... that's a domain that I think resonates far and wide."

"Stepping on Helm's toes a bit though," Marie pipes up.

[Anastasia]

"Latha's worth stepping on a few of Helm's toes," Antenora says, rather firmly.

"Duty...perseverance..." Latha says them slowly, as if tasting the words. "Yes, I do believe you have something. The Steadfast Sun or something similar to that. That may work."

[Ebiris]

"Yeah but you're preaching to the choir here," Marie mutters.

"That's not a bad title," Alicia agrees with Latha, speaking over her familiar. "Of course we still haven't gotten into how you'll end up elevated, but it's still good to have a plan for if it happens."

[Anastasia]

"That leads into another question: How?" Syala sits back and soaks, looking up at the sunset in thought. A mug appears in her hand, which she drinks from and ponders. "Is this an end run around Ao or is there some way to do this that no one's ever figured out?""

[Ebiris]

"Ilmater said in the past different incarnations would give different answers. If one tried to ascend and was blocked by Ao, the Incarnation of Law may later allow it, rather than the aspirant be condemned to eternity as a hunefer," Alicia says. "Perhaps even if the Incarnation itself is gone, things have been left behind carrying its approval?"

Meanwhile Marie pours out another glass of ambrosia and hands it to Alicia so she can have a drink, before the eladrin makes her own.

[Anastasia]

"Hm. Like a wand waiting to be used, rather than a spell manually cast?" Latha muses on it, "I suppose it could be possible."

Antenora ponders as well, scooting over to Marie and resting against her. "Alicia," she murmurs, "Have we ever met anyone who shows signs of that? Being non-standard, I mean, or something awry with their divinity? If we could find an example, we could get information from them."

[Ebiris]

Marie smiles and pats Antenora's knee as they sit together, sipping her own ambrosia.

"Well, there's the God-King obviously. I don't think we're going to see any more Fairest Stars laying around though," Alicia gives the immediate example to come to her head. She sits silently a moment after that, magic and power twisting around her as she reaches for divine insights that'll give more relevant examples.

Knowledge (religion) check, alter realitying divine insight, greater heroism, improvisation, and guidance of the avatar for +15/+4/+15/+20 insight/morale/luck/competence bonus.

[15:14] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+97 knowledge religion
[15:14] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+97 knowledge religion --> [ 1d20=12 ]{109}

[Anastasia]

The ambrosia is good, happiness filling you as you drink. Antenora smiles and rests a few moments, simply relying on Marie.

On reflection, one memory surfaces. Seira's story about Eblis, the fallen angel who broods deep in the Elemental Plane of Fire. An archdevil with power higher than he should, removed from all of Hell's machinations and politics. He is not an archomental nor a Lord of the Nine, yet commands divine power as surely as you do. He commands no faithful, no clergy serving him, and yet he is.

[Ebiris]

"One springs to mind," Alicia says, the energy around her dissipating away. "Eblis. Another Fallen, once among the greatest of angels. He fell to Hell but was then immediately banished by Asmodeus, though he still holds the title of Archdevil. He now dwells in Fire, with divine power matching an archomental or Lord of the Nine yet no title to match, and not a single soul pays him homage as a deity."

"Not exactly someone you can visit for a friendly chat though, is he?" Marie points out.

[Anastasia]

"Seira did," Latha points out, "Though it went rather poorly."

"Perhaps not," Antenora concedes, "But if we could find some way to talk to him, maybe...?"

[Ebiris]

Seira's still alive so she's got that going for her! She doesn't even talk about going back to fight him again like she does that dragon in Salt.

"He hates mortals, celestials, and gods," she mentions. "So finding an intermediary that wouldn't set him off among our ranks is a trick. Although this is sensitive enough that I'm not sure I'd want to trust it to another."

"If your avatar had a mind of her own she'd be flinching right now," Marie says knowingly.

"Well..." Alicia has the grace to look a bit embarrassed. "I'd still be greatly inconvenienced by its loss, it's not as if I'd send it on a suicide mission."

[Anastasia]

Syala laughs, shaking her head, "That would be a setback. Also, he's hardly the only one there. Remember the Sundered Suns? Ebony's report on Afina mentioned one of them was behind that mess in Magmasoul, even indirectly. Magic crumbles around them and Eblis as well, when they will it to."

"I could go with your avatar," Antenora speaks up, "Perhaps as those who have both seen something that changed us profoundly, we can find common ground?"

[Ebiris]

"I'm not thrilled with the risk, but we can't really afford to be timid, can we?" Alicia asks, taking a drink of her ambrosia and tilting her head back to look at the sky.

"Well don't just gate up in front of his hidden fortress, he'll think you're there to do what you did to Lixer," Marie chimes in. "Send an intermediary to ask about having a meeting under truce. Like a fire elemental or inevitable, something that won't trigger his hatred."