Attack on Sylica

[Ebiris]

"We only suffer because we know things can be better, there is only loss because we had something to begin with," Alicia retorts, advancing towards the topless woman. "The inevitability of loss only makes the pleasure of having more profound. This world is imperfect and flawed, but I love it. Joys and sorrows and all. Give me the pangs of existence over the blandness of nothing any day!" she declares passionately, partly because she doesn't want that worthless and nihilistic screed to go unanswered but also because there's some hope she might actually make a dent in that smug Sharran self-assurance of meaninglessness.

[Anastasia]

Latha advances at your flank, "We can't have anything if we have nothing. Whatever pain drove you to Shar surely came from something that meant everything to you. Something that you never should have lost - because it reminds you how wrong you are!"

Antenora advances on your right, "We love what we have, because it's all we have. All the struggles we have, rather than turn aside and let malice wipe us away, we stand against those struggles. That is why Shar will never win, why you are walking a poisoned path. Turn aside, please!"

Diplo check, Antenora and Latha will aid.

[Ebiris]

[19:26] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+57 diplo before aid is added (they might roll 1s!)
[19:26] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+57 diplo before aid is added (they might roll 1s!) --> [ 1d20=16 ]{73}

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d20 Antenora 1 check
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20 Antenora 1 check --> [ 1d20=9 ]{9}
> roll 1d20 Latha
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20 Latha --> [ 1d20=7 ]{7}

Total of 77.

There is a moment's pause after.

Just a moment, a moment where the woman's face goes still, calmness fading. A moment where she seems simply blank, as if suspended, like a puppet held in hand during a break in the performance.

[Ebiris]

Huh, seems like that hit the mark. "Stop this," Alicia asks softly. "You have the power to stop it, not Shar, not Selune, not me. I don't know your story, but once you must have had something that mattered to you, something you lost. And you've been filling that void with emptiness ever since. Maybe that dulls the pain, like a sedative, but that numbness only makes it easier to slip away into oblivion. Creation, life - it's about highs and lows, and the choices we make between them. Please, wake up and make your choice," she asks, feeling like she might actually be making a connection here.

[Anastasia]

"How many others? How many others are what that was to you that you lost? How many will leave others hurt like you were hurt here?" Latha says, glowing gently, radiance soothing, no longer burning.

Antenora comes forward to her, offering a hand out. "Let's talk about it. All that pain, that suffering, that self loathing you bury in yourself and that's grown rotten like an infection - I understand. Do you know me? You know what I once was. Let me show you a better way. Marie...she's my wife, and she makes me happier than anything else in the world. She's made it worth this, and surely there's someone waiting for you if you choose to live instead of die. Someone fated to find you and make you smile again."

You said the right thing again, make another diplo check. -5 circumstance bonus due to sheer difficulty here.

[Ebiris]

[19:42] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+52 diplo before aid applied
[19:42] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+52 diplo before aid applied --> [ 1d20=16 ]{68}

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d20 Antenora 1 check
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20 Antenora 1 check --> [ 1d20=18 ]{18}
> roll 1d20 Latha
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20 Latha --> [ 1d20=15 ]{15}

"But...I want to help you," The woman's voice is quieter, "Nicolas's cries, I never stop dreaming about them. You'd understand. He was just a baby, like yours. I can stop your hurting and everyone can stop hurting, she promised. I just have to stop everyone's suffering, stop your suffering in particular."

[Ebiris]

Alicia shrinks down to human size rather than looming over all colossal. She's acutely aware that others are fighting and dying outside... (actually are they? Her avatar can see if the cloud's still spewing shadows or not), though there's no guarantee a fight would end quickly if she tried to kill the woman. In any case, these are wars of ideas more than blades, so pulling this woman out of genocidal nihilism will count for a lot more than hacking into pieces!

"I do understand," she agrees. "I never heard Felix's cries, I only came back to a house that was too quiet, my boy, my husband... I didn't think it was possible to hurt that much. And for a long time all I cared about was hurting others. The ones who'd done it, anyone that was like them. But it was still worth it, to have known him even for so brief a time." She closes her eyes as she recalls his chubby little face. "The memories are still precious, even with the pain. Would you consign those memories to non-existence as well?" She opens her eyes again to look at the woman, her voice having the sting of accusation. "So cruel."

[Anastasia]

The battle still rages - it's holding for now, the flow of shadows slowing down somewhat.

The woman's shoulder's slump, something in her face giving way, expression slackening into one of pain. "I don't want to forget him!" she blurts out, "There's just no point, going on and hurting like this!"

"Then come with us. Let us heal your pain," Antenora offers, "Shar's wrong, she always has been. Please...for Nicholas. He'd want to see you happy." Offering her hand out again, "Come with us."

[Ebiris]

"There is a point," Alicia insists. "All those dreams you had for Nicholas's future? Even if he can't realise them, others can. Others can be spared the pain you and I felt, we can make our suffering matter by using it," she steps forward again. "Shar won't have told you - of course she wouldn't. My son was killed by bandits. Murderous thugs no better than animals. But it was her machinations that stirred them to action against my family. She wanted me to be consumed by loss... in another life it could easily have been me directing this cloud."

She's not spelling it out directly but the woman would have to be pretty dim not to make the logical conclusion.

[Anastasia]

You said all the right things in this set of posts, well done on getting the best result. No one died or was obliterated as Shar would wish them to be.

The woman slumps again...and before your eyes, the cloud fades. The shadows begin to fade away as the woman collapses to the ground, lying there bonelessly.

A cheer goes up amid the forces as the shadows are no more, your realm secured and the attack stopping.

[Ebiris]

Alicia raises an arm in response to the cheers before she sets her sword behind her back and approaches the fallen woman. "Come, let us take you to Sylica. Shar isn't kind to those she's lost use for. You'll be safe with us," she picks her up and also creates a simple blouse over her chest for modesty's sake.

At least she's wearing a skirt, but still... another troublesome naked waif from the lower planes brought into her life?

She also sends a message to Selune. 'Thank you for your help. I'll contact you if I learn anything useful from the instigator of this - a bereaved mother turned into a deadly weapon.'

---

Back at the Felic Gate Alicia's avatar has Marie go into Liberton to arrange a room for their new guest while she says to Syala's avatar, "Pass on my thanks to Sharess? We're through the crisis now."

[Anastasia]

'Well done,' Selune replies, 'Such is Shar's way, to use victims as weapons. Heal her soul if she can still be reached.'

Antenora sends you a look, a hint of amusement amid her seriousness. "Let's go home," she agrees.

---

"I will. I'll go visit, she'll want to invite us to a victory party soon." A side long glance at Alicia, "I'll see that it's not too wild for you."

[Ebiris]

"Marie will be crushed if you do that," the avatar says dryly.

---

Meanwhile Alicia starts to fly back to Sylica with Antenora and Latha. "Thank you for your support there, both of you. Together our words had more weight."