Labalyn's memorial

[Anastasia]

The only answer is pressure around you, sharp and overwhelming.

Fortitude save.

[Nephrite]

Moore shields himself with a little bit of extra magic in that moment!

[12:30] <Nephrite> roll 1d20+64+15 mettle (+GI)
[12:30] <Penuche> Nephrite invokes Penuche's magic: < 87 > [d20=8]

[Anastasia]

Passed, 2000 damage becomes 0 damage.

The pressure. A pressure that can crush a world. A pressure that can obliterate a billion lives.
He did not break.
You endure.
Interesting.
Ahead of you a single path unfurls, as if to invite you deeper in.

[Nephrite]

Boy, that's terrifying.

Moore proceeds onwards, singing a soft song to himself in case there are further trials of endurance.

Just refreshing Inspire Heroics here mechanically.

"I've never met one of you Guardians before." Moore says as he proceeds along the path.

[Anastasia]

To exist is a burden.

The endless order and procession of life disgusts me.

I yearn for the silence of nothing again.

How can you live when you can return to rest?

Why did you resist being broken?

[Nephrite]

Moore smiles.

"No wonder I'm the one who is here before you today." He says.

"Let me tell you a story."

He clears his throat.

"A long time ago, well, not to you, but bear with me - there was a pixie." He says. "I know what you're thinking already -- and the answer is yes. Anyway, that pixie lived in a paradise with friends and more. He couldn't ask for anything more in the world... until he started to lose hope in what he enjoyed. He became disinterested in the life he had, and was convinced that there was another way."

A pause.

"It's what let evil into his heart, to, at the very last moment, betray his friends, his home, all for promises because he lost hope. That pixie died, believing in the lies of hopelessness."

A breath in and out -- one he doesn't need, but one he's so used to.

"That pixie woke up in a strange land, bereft of all of his memories. He had no idea who he was, where he was, or why he was where he was. But he knew one thing - he had to keep going, and keep going he did. He never stopped going. He met so many people in that Lost Realm, saw so many fantastic things. He was given an opportunity there to become more than the hopeless person who died. He managed to fight, fight, and keep fighting, believing in the hope for a better tomorrow. It's what led him and his friends out -- they had to believe in something, believe that anything was better than the despair of endless silence."

A clear of his throat again.

"That pixie woke up again, in the cold and frigid hills of Venya, without any of his memories of what he'd been through before dying, or before going to the Lost Realm. That pixie knew in his heart he'd forgotten something important, and he knew he'd have to keep believing in order to find it again... and that is why he kept fighting. He fought against Hell and their shackles that only tie people to despair, he fought against the Father, who's hunger would only lead to despair, he fought against Creation itself trying to hide his memories from him so he could remember. He fought, and he fought, and he kept fighting, because hope is the one thing no one can ever take from you."

His expression steels as he continues forward.

"I resist being broken because Creation deserves to have people in it that fill it with hope for tomorrow. I don't want to rest until Creation is safe from evil and hopelessness, until all beings can themselves rest in their own happiness."

[Anastasia]

You speak of great things.

Can you speak sweeter than her song?

I hear it, even from here, and it pleases me.

[Nephrite]

"You've been here so long, you were never allowed to hear anything else, were you?" Moore says.

"Let me tell you the story about the battle for Benfal." Moore says as he proceeds.

"Do you know of it? It's was a prime world, but it's in Elysium now." He says. "My friends -- from Aurora, which... well, maybe I should start from the beginning... Okay, so this isn't firsthand information, but it's rather well-documented." He says with a grin. "It all started with an old curmudgeon of a wizard named Medi. He'd probably be mad I called him a wizard instead of whatever ridiculous title he came up for himself..."

I am not actually sure how well documented the adventures to find Medicant were, but I assume there's at least something. Anyway, Moore is going to recount the story of Afina and Jaela And Pals finding it and eventually forming Aurora.

"Anyway, that's how Aurora got involved in a lot of fights against Hell. I don't think there's a very big gap between hopelessness and eternal damnation as it compares between the likes of those types... if you're in Baator, you've basically lost any hope that you can find a way out and have lied to yourself so much that it's effectively become true. So, let me tell you about the fight for Benfal -- have you heard of it? It was a prime in... you know, I don't actually remember, but it's not there anymore, it got lifted up to Elysium. Boy, was that a sight... anyway, we got asked to help with the fight..."

Moore will recount the Battle for Benfal, including, but not limited to -- the fight against the awful twins, the paragon assassin, his own push with Adrian against the forces, I know I'm spelling this wrong but I can't find it right now, the last ditch effort of Shemaza (Semaza? Sehmaza?) Semyaza and its uplift into Elysium from Cantasa Alexandria.

"Cantasa Alexadria's song and the Empyreal Gate opening are actually what led me to eventually push to overcome the idea of anathemic knowledge." Moore says. "I knew something had happened that I couldn't remember, and I just kept not giving up on it... I kept believing in myself overcoming it, and just kept trying and trying and trying."

[Anastasia]

You speak of great things.

Yet what of that is better than her song?

Shall I invite her and ask her?

[Nephrite]

"I think you should listen to things besides her. You have the power, don't you?" Moore says. "You were created by the Incarnation of Balance, right? So balance her song with your own, or of others, of hopefulness and a future for tomorrow."

He proceeds onwards.

"If you asked her, she'd make you the same promises she makes to every other being -- thoughts of loss and nothingness that amount to giving up. But there's so much more out there... even in the Beyond, you can find things. Incomprehensible things, for certain... but maybe we just can't fully understand them. I think there's hope yet for some way to communicate to things from Beyond, and I hope to see it one day. I think you should have hope, too -- maybe you shouldn't just listen to my stories, maybe you should go see it for yourself, the vibrant world of Creation outside."

[Anastasia]

I cannot.

My duties bind me to this place.

This place where I can hear her song.

[Nephrite]

"Once someone receives the treasure left by the Incarnation, are you free to do as you please?" Moore asks as he proceeds. Well, he's probably not really going anywhere since this entire place is malleable infinity, but he continues to think he's going forward.

[Anastasia]

I am to leave Creation and never return.

[Nephrite]

"Do you have a choice?" Moore asks. "Are you allowed to do anything else?"

[Anastasia]

I am not, except my duties here.