Soulriders 5.0: Legend of the Unending Games

Below you is the mountainscape where Sylica rests, paths and ways to your divine realm covered. For countless shadows have spawned, untouched by the life giving aspects of this plane. They are at war over a vast landscape, Sylica's forces arrayed against them. Before you and Antenora's eyes, a vast horde of shadows and worse meet your armies. In the center of it all is a black banner, a great moving cloud of darkness from which it all seems to emanate.

From it you see them - hundreds and hundreds of shadows pour out of the cloud each instant, gushing out like gold from a dragon's ruptured hoard. An army seeming to regenerate itself and grow like a malignant tumor, spreading constantly.

"That cloud..." Antenora murmurs, eyes narrowing as she peers at it, so far below the two of you.

'Alicia!' Syala is heard in your mind, 'I've sent word to Sharess and asked for aid. She's willing to kick up a hornet's nest, so I'm returning the favor.'

Back at the Felic gate Alicia's avatar turns to Syala's avatar and says, "I'm right here you know."

---

"Yes, that's something we have to deal with," Alicia agrees with Antenora, a thought and their weapons become capable of harming the incorporeal without impediment before she begins descending.

Standard for alter reality ghost touch weapons, then moving 200 feet down.

Any knowledge check to figure out what's the deal with the cloud?

Syala returns that look with a faint smile, "Sorry, dear."

Gimme a quick K:R for it.

[18:53] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+63 popping divine insight
[18:53] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+63 popping divine insight --> [ 1d20=9 ]{72}

> roll 1d20+53 Antenora will as well, same DI popped
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+53 Antenora will as well, same DI popped --> [ 1d20=4 ]{57}

You recall rumors, legends. Stories of living clouds of darkness that spew apocalyptic amounts of shadows. The murmurings of madmen and the delusional, for such things are surely impossible. Yet here is one such thing that fits it, a living cloud of death that will see everything around it slain and returned to nothing.

Beneath you mountain paths and passages are warfare. The ghostly battle with the real, flashes of positive energy allowing blades and maces, arrows and stones to strike true. Swathes of fire and bursts of magic fill the air - right now, the defenders look to be holding.

---

Meanwhile at the Felic Gate soldiers rush out and mobilize, Strength of Light just beyond, getting everyone out. His voice is faintly heard as Syala says, "Have you considered contacting Mystra or the Red Knight? The latter's close to you - you'd owe her a favor, but it could be a good way to talk to her, since she has an interest in Ysgard. All the more to go smack around Sharrans."

Then with a scowl, "This attack is so blatant. Is this a double feint or is Shar confident she can force her way to a victory?"

At the Felic Gate Alicia's avatar is busily using alter reality to line the cliff-edges with blade barrier effects so as to stymie any incorporeal flanking maneuvers while she herself is giant sized and prepared to just start hacking things to pieces while Syala's avatar supports with area of effect magic. The real Syala is off closer to the front with Latha bringing down her incandescent wrath.

"We're not that desperate yet, but Selune isn't far either if we're hard pressed," she answers.

---

"I've heard stories of clouds like that but none that talk of destroying one, so we'll have to improvise," Alicia says to Antenora as she descends close enough to fire a sunlance down at the trailing edge of the undead army before she starts flying over it to get closer to that cloud.

[19:06] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+50 sunlance ranged touch on random beefy looking shadow or nightstalker
[19:06] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+50 sunlance ranged touch on random beefy looking shadow or nightstalker --> [ 1d20=5 ]{55}
[19:06] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+31 SR if applies
[19:06] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+31 SR if applies --> [ 1d20=15 ]{46}
[19:06] <@Ebiris> roll 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light)
[19:06] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light) --> [ 30d6=96 ]{96}
[19:07] <@Ebiris> roll 25d6 area damage to things weak to light
[19:07] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 25d6 area damage to things weak to light --> [ 25d6=86 ]{86}
[19:07] <@Ebiris> roll 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light
[19:07] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light --> [ 6d6=21 ]{21}

DC 36 ref half on the area damage, blinded if save fails.

What's your max range on it, Alicia? Matters.

1600 feet. We arrived above the back of the undead army at a height of 2000 feet and I've dropped 200 feet over the past two posts to get into range.

Awesome, thanks.

Shadows are rising up to the two of you as you descend, Antenora at your side, ready to defend.

"Before, all we could do is react and pray your world protected us," Antenora says, "Show Shar that we are not so weak now, that we are not to be attacked so brazenly."

Your sunlance is flung, the powerful spell racing down. Shadows near it are instantly obliterated as it passes by, sunlight washing them away like water washing away dirt and stains.

> roll 1d20+20
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+20 --> [ 1d20=11 ]{31}

It slams down amid them, shadows obliterated by the hundreds, a momentarily clear section in the rear. Yet more and more expand out - as to the left flank, you can see portals. Dozens of them opening, scantily clad warriors and great cats pouring through, each glowing with golden light.

In Alicia's mind she hears, 'How dare Shar attack a Heaven so blatantly!' Sharess's voice, full of feline rage. Through one of the portals a great black panther emerges, heads and shoulders above the others. You feel it instantly - an avatar of Sharess has taken the battlefield.

At 1400 feet now as you continue to descend, a great column of shadows rises up, twisting and writhing, like a pillar of souls. It's 200ft down from you and extending up rapidly.

Init.

---

Right now no foes have made it through the lines of defense around the portal - yet. But with numbers and shadows spawning, it can only hold so long. Syala watches and sanctifies the area with a thought, summoning spiked, glowing vines from the ground, ready to strike at any that pass nearby.

How far out am I from the cloud?

That's a very good question. 600ft above it right now and 220ft behind it.

How big is the cloud, on that note?

Approximately 100ft by 50ft, roughly.

Upping the intensity of her attacks, Alicia rears back and hurls another sunlance, this one further imbued with positive energy to detonate at the edge of the cloud against the base of the column of undead rising to meet her, flying along 200 feet to get closer to directly above the cloud.

[19:55] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+50 vivacious sunlance ranged touch on beefy looking shadow
[19:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+50 vivacious sunlance ranged touch on beefy looking shadow --> [ 1d20=1 ]{51}
[19:55] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+31 SR if applies
[19:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+31 SR if applies --> [ 1d20=1 ]{32}
[19:55] <@Ebiris> roll 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light then doubled again since it's undead)
[19:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light then doubled again since it's undead) --> [ 30d6=108 ]{108}
[19:56] <@Ebiris> roll 25d6 area damage tot hings weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders)
[19:56] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 25d6 area damage tot hings weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders) --> [ 25d6=82 ]{82}
[19:56] <@Ebiris> roll 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders)
[19:56] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders) --> [ 6d6=24 ]{24}

DC 36 ref half on area damage, blinded if save fails

---

Meanwhile back at the Felic Gate Alicia's avatar decides to get some more expert advice by contacting Mystra herself. 'Sorry to disturb but Sylica is being attacked by a giant shadow-spewing cloud that Shar's sent. Do you know the best method of destroying it?'

Uh, did you miss the call for init in my last non OOC post? I just thought you were asking questions before rolling init.

'Victory is sweet. Reached an accord with Chan and Yan-C-Bin. Need my help?' Seira's telepathic message arrives for Alicia.

I totally got distracted by questions and missed it, yeah.

[20:09] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+24 init
[20:09] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+24 init --> [ 1d20=4 ]{28}

> roll 1d20+11 Antenora
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+11 Antenora --> [ 1d20=11 ]{22}
> roll 1d20+12 Shadow Column
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+12 Shadow Column --> [ 1d20=10 ]{22}

Alicia (24) > Antenora = Column (22)

Open Alicia.

Upping the intensity of her attacks, Alicia rears back and hurls another sunlance, this one further imbued with positive energy to detonate at the edge of the cloud against the base of the column of undead rising to meet her, flying along 200 feet to get closer to directly above the cloud.

She also replies to Seira! 'Fine for now, but if you know anything about giant death-clouds that spew thousands of shadows and how to best destroy them I'd appreciate your insight.'

[19:55] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+50 vivacious sunlance ranged touch on beefy looking shadow
[19:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+50 vivacious sunlance ranged touch on beefy looking shadow --> [ 1d20=1 ]{51}
[19:55] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+31 SR if applies
[19:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+31 SR if applies --> [ 1d20=1 ]{32}
[19:55] <@Ebiris> roll 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light then doubled again since it's undead)
[19:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light then doubled again since it's undead) --> [ 30d6=108 ]{108}
[19:56] <@Ebiris> roll 25d6 area damage tot hings weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders)
[19:56] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 25d6 area damage tot hings weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders) --> [ 25d6=82 ]{82}
[19:56] <@Ebiris> roll 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders)
[19:56] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders) --> [ 6d6=24 ]{24}

DC 36 ref half on area damage, blinded if save fails

> roll 1d20+18 Ref is not the column's strong suit at all
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+18 Ref is not the column's strong suit at all --> [ 1d20=14 ]{32}

In a single bright strike, you sever the column, shadows at the base evaporating  in an instant, torn apart. The rest of the shadows above it burst free, becoming a cloud engulfing you and Antenora as...

Antenora and the now shadow cloud are up.

Holy fury fills Alicia as Antenora bows her head, revitalizing her as she chants, "In Alicia's name, return to rest!"

90 HP healing to you with divine succor. Plus more healing since she's channeling energy.

> roll 14d6
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 14d6 --> [ 14d6=44 ]{44}
> roll 1d20+21
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+21 --> [ 1d20=15 ]{36}

Shadows are pushed back, healing light repulsing them as they swarm you nonetheless and...

They provoke AoOs from both you and Antenora, Alicia.

As they rise up towards her Alicia's enormous sword scythes through the cloud in a blur of silver!

[20:37] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+44 -30 power attack AoO
[20:37] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+44 -30 power attack AoO --> [ 1d20=16 ]{60}
[20:38] <@Ebiris> roll 3d6+122+13+3d6
[20:38] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 3d6+122+13+3d6 --> [ 3d6=12 3d6=9 ]{156}

'Only known case was of a solar heading inside the cloud to slay it from within,' Seira sends to Alicia. 'Seems like he died, but I think we could handle it.'

Your slash is enough. With your side, you sever the shadows around you in a single, overwhelming strike. They are set ablaze with holy flames, incinerated in a split-second. At the same moment Antenora strikes and...

> roll 1d20+61 (+6 morale, +4 sacred, +3 luck)
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+61 (+6 morale, +4 sacred, +3 luck) --> [ 1d20=12 ]{73}
> OOC: Whoops, forgot, -20 PA.
> roll 1d8+73+2d6
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d8+73+2d6 --> [ 1d8=3 2d6=9 ]{85}

Antenora's spear thrusts out, shadows knocked back from you and approaching her skewered. Most are massacred as the remaining few try and touch the two of you.

> roll 1d20+21 you pretty much shit-smashed them touch AC
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+21 you pretty much shit-smashed them touch AC --> [ 1d20=5 ]{26}
> roll 1d20+21 you pretty much shit-smashed them touch AC Antenora
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+21 you pretty much shit-smashed them touch AC Antenora --> [ 1d20=9 ]{30}

Misses Antenora. Misses giant form Alicia.

As you dodge, spirits unable to touch your sanctified flesh, Antenora parrying them and flying around them to dodge? You can see the portal line is holding, some pressure relieved as shadows peel away to engage Sharess's forces. Felines pounce on shadows, warriors charging in, as more come yet.

Deep in the assault, Latha is seen a moment, a flash of bright white light that incinerates all the shadows close to her, buying more time. Yet shadows continue to hemorrhage out, as you hear Latha pray, 'Alicia, guide me, for I aim to go into the heart of the darkness.'

Alicia, go.

'Thanks, I'll let you know if we need further assistance,' she replies to Seira.

"Seira says it needs to be destroyed from within, Latha also has the same idea. We'll go in simultaneously when she gets here," she says to Antenora, descending closer to the cloud and warding her and Antenora's armour against spectral touches before a pair of bright radiant bursts explode at the flanks of the cloud to devour more shadows!

Alter reality for ghost touch armour then 2x quickened vivacious radiant assault

[20:54] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+31 radiant assault SR, quickened/vivacious
[20:54] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+31 radiant assault SR, quickened/vivacious --> [ 1d20=10 ]{41}
[20:54] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+31 radiant assault SR, quickened/vivacious
[20:54] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+31 radiant assault SR, quickened/vivacious --> [ 1d20=16 ]{47}
[20:55] <@Ebiris> roll 15d6 radiant assault, quickened/vivacious
[20:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 15d6 radiant assault, quickened/vivacious --> [ 15d6=52 ]{52}
[20:55] <@Ebiris> roll 15d6 radiant assault, quickened/vivacious
[20:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 15d6 radiant assault, quickened/vivacious --> [ 15d6=63 ]{63}

[20:55] <@Ebiris> roll 1d6 debuff duration
[20:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d6 debuff duration --> [ 1d6=1 ]{1}
[20:55] <@Ebiris> roll 1d6 debuff duration
[20:55] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d6 debuff duration --> [ 1d6=1 ]{1}

Damage doubled vs undead/evil outsiders. DC 32 will halves, dazed for 1 round or dazzled if the save is passed.

How far are you descending?

200 feet

> roll 1d20+21 will 1
> roll 1d20+21 will 2
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+21 will 1 --> [ 1d20=8 ]{29}
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+21 will 2 --> [ 1d20=7 ]{28}

Alicia's radiant assaults tear gaps in the shadow-lines, making more of the summoned shadows pour into them to hold it, weakening the reinforcements to Sharess's sally. More shadows are emerging, but for the moment your actions are ensuring the line is held and Sylica is safe.

A moment. A haze, a sensation of understanding. 'Do you need aid?' Felt as much as spoken, Selune's voice in your mind and felt in your bones. 'Shar dares much under the light of the moon.'

Waiting on a reply here before Antenora's turn.

'Shar's numbers seem inexhaustible for the moment. I would be indebted for your help stemming the tide,' Alicia responds, willing to accept aid and not begrudging that she'll owe Selune a favour for it.

'Then the moon shall momentarily rise.' Selune's voice is in your mind and bones, echoing within you, sounding older now.

Meanwhile Antenora glows again, another pulse of holy energy around the shades still around you. "Rest!"

Sharess. Come. Come and I will show you the last pleasures you ever savor.

Don't forget my claws, you miserable bitch!

> roll 14d6
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 14d6 --> [ 14d6=53 ]{53}
> roll 1d20+21
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+21 --> [ 1d20=16 ]{37}

More ghosts are purged away from Antenora, pushed back and dissolved. Only a handful are around the two of you, shadows retreating away, not daring to engage. Fort he moment, the way ahead is clear.

That is when night falls, in between the blink of an eye. The light of the moon shines brightly as the noonday sun, as the sky above is filled. Shards of Selune manifest above, more than you can easily count.

Shar! Come and renew our ancient battle, slinking coward!

Go.

How far out is Latha, and is my blindsight telling me much about what's going on inside of the cloud?

Latha's about 600ft out right now and closing in.

Your blindsight doesn't feel anything in the cloud - though to be fair, incorporeals might beat that anyway.

Descending another two hundred feet towards the cloud, Alicia rears her arm back and hurls another spear of sunlight at the swarm of undead between the cloud and Latha, helping to clear the way for her!

[17:30] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+50 vivacious sunlance ranged touch on beefy looking shadow
[17:30] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+50 vivacious sunlance ranged touch on beefy looking shadow --> [ 1d20=13 ]{63}
[17:31] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+31 SR if applies
[17:31] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+31 SR if applies --> [ 1d20=17 ]{48}
[17:31] <@Ebiris> roll 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light then doubled again since it's undead)
[17:31] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 30d6 damage to target (doubled since weak to light then doubled again since it's undead) --> [ 30d6=97 ]{97}
[17:31] <@Ebiris> roll 25d6 area damage to things weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders)
[17:31] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 25d6 area damage to things weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders) --> [ 25d6=69 ]{69}
[17:31] <@Ebiris> roll 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders)
[17:31] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 6d6 area damage to things not weak to light (doubled if they're also undead or evil outsiders) --> [ 6d6=20 ]{20}

DC 36 ref half on area damage, blinded if save fails

> roll 1d20+18
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+18 --> [ 1d20=2 ]{20}

A flash of light, bright and overwhelming. A path is cleared for Latha who flies ahead, shadows burning away as they approach her. Under the light of the moon Latha is all the brighter, as meanwhile Antenora continues to follow you, the two of you growing closer and closer.

Above shadows begin to rise, smashed by the spells of Selune's shards. Bursts of light and moonfire rip into them as they approach - for the moment at least, the battle is favoring your forces, the new shadows being countered, filling lines rather than pressing the attack. For now, at least, the path within is open.

Go.

"Latha, it must be destroyed from within!" Alicia calls to the angel now close enough to engage the cloud, flying down to join her while a wall of scything force-blades appears in the path of the cloud along the ground. "We enter together and your light will end this!"

Presumably Latha just used a run action to get close so she has to wait another turn to enter, so I'll fly closer to Latha with my move action then throw up a blade barrier along the ground in front of it with my standard.

Latha raises her mace as she comes forward and the three of you unite, shadows fleeing from the three of you, going to join the greater battle. None dare challenge you now as you unite. "Alicia," Latha greets, radiant, "We find what lies within and destroy it, end this attack."

"You'll be key to this, Latha," Alicia agrees. "Antenora and I will protect you."

"Let's go," Latha agrees, flying into the cloud.

Following, I presume? What's the marching order here?

V formation with Alicia in the lead and Latha and Anty on her flanks.

Thus the three of you pass into absolute darkness and...

List means of perception, Alicia?

Perceptions: Darkvision, scent, low-light vision, blindsight, tremorsense 1 mile, perception +83

Also I have Latha's Sunmantle up for purposes of dispelling magical darkness.

The three of you are islands of light within absolute nothingness, two glowing with sunlight and the last an opal radiance.

There is nothing here. Nothing as far as you can sense and feel. Absolute stillness, not a hint of heat or warmth, cold or chill.

"Strange, I expected to see something churning out shadows. They just manifest at the edge?" Alicia wonders. "Shed your light out, Latha," she then asks, while sharpening her own senses in case there's things here mundane eyes can't perceive.

Alter reality for true seeing

Antenora's already pointing as you see it with true seeing. Ahead is a woman, kneeling. She has long black hair and wears a long skirt, nothing else. She utters words in a profane language, "Oh come, Lady of Loss. Oh come, Mother of Shadows. Oh come, Maiden of Nothing." Yet her gaze turns on you as you look her way, currently 60ft away.

"Alicia Reynes," She is mature, perhaps 30 and human looking. Her upper body is bare and painted black all over, patterns of purple whorled over the black. "You're as strong as I believed you would be."

"Repent," Antenora levels her spear at the woman, "Otherwise the only fate you face is oblivion. There is still time to turn aside your path."

"Then you know this cannot end well for you," Alicia says. "Surrender. I'll only ask once."

Latha steps forward, "Please, surrender. There's always hope as long as you're alive. Shar's path ends in nothing, satisfies nothing, sustains nothing. Come back to where the waters of life flow freely."

The woman smiles even more, "I have no use for life. Life is an abomination. Creation was a mistake. The Incarnations erred in creating all. The only answer to Creation is the silence of non existence, to return back to the only true peace that is possible. For as long as we live, we suffer, we hurt, we sorrow. Loss is inevitable. Entropy is the fate of Creation, and resisting it only prolongs your pain. Come, put aside your weapons and join me. Close your eyes and rest. Your burdens are surely too heavy, but you can finally put them aside here. Everyone here will join you and you can rest together, forever."

"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.

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.

[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}

> 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.

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.

"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.

[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}

> 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."

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."

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."

"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.

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.

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."

'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."

"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."

"Together we are stronger," Antenora agrees, as...

Next move here?

Get Shar girl set up in a room in the palace to sleep things off since she seems out of it. Marie will watch over her.

Otherwise I'll let Seira know everything's good and take stock for how the battle went.

Also reminder Jessica was meant to get a node update a while ago so if she happens to be around for the after action report that can happen.

We'll do that first.

The battle went well - losses for sure but Ysgard largely mitigates it. The loss of material will take some time to replenish, but overall it's a victory with no great drawbacks. It's an hour later and you're with Marie going over it, when Jessica comes in. She's battle stained, dirty and with her rapier at her side. "Sister," she says. "Strength of Light's preliminary word is that all's good. Used properly, the victory can be propaganda to gain more than we lost."

Taking a seat in front of your desk, resting, "Could I borrow a prestidigitation? I was rather active on the flanks of the battle."

"Mmm, success in attacking and defending so close together," Alicia agrees. "We're doing well and still growing." She casts the spell to tidy Jessica up before asking, "How was the battle from your side, then? I know undead aren't your forte. Ugly business with that cloud from my point of view. Treasure your children, Jessica," she urges, before smiling and consciously brightening the tone. "It won't be terribly long before they're all grown up and giving you grandchildren."

"I was harrying, harrassing and altogether presenting a target to let other soldiers do their job. Your warriors and paladins did well, sister." Jessica smiles as you cleanse her, then adds, "Also, you two, Antenora remarked that you took in another topless troublemaker. Am I missing a joke here?"

After that and brightening herself, "Grandchildren! Then great grandchildren and...that's a lot to think about, but...life always find a way. Facing the shadows reminded me of that, and I know some about being a shadow." Jessica trails off again, smiling. Then you feel it - that connection with Jessica, bright and glowing stronger. Before your eyes, a ring forms, of shadow stuff and gold, from thin air. It is delicate and airy, flying onto Jessica's left ring finger.

Node update, go check out and tell me you read it.

Ring of the Shadow Slayer: Melee and ranged attacks are counted as ghost touch.

Read it.

"Oh," Alicia's eyes widen. "Did you feel that, sister? It's that connection, the same one I felt with Syala, Antenora, and Latha. It improved their weapons and granted me magic before, now it's made that ring for you," she leans forward to peer at it, discerning its magic. "Potent, too. It's a representation of our connection, and a sign of your potential." She looks seriously at Jessica, "You could potentially become a goddess as I have. Antenora and Latha as well."

Oh, and not to forget her earlier question. "Speaking of Antenora, yes. She was naked when I first met her as well. I don't know for sure if we can take that as a good omen though."

Jessica looks at it, face unreadable as she does. Then, ever so slowly, she smiles. "Our connection? Then we'll keep going - because if I've learned anything here, I don't want to rest while you're still going. There's too much to be done, too much to save."

After mulling that over, looking over her ring, "Really? Oh yes, now I recall that." Then, with a slight, teasing smile, "Sister, are you sure you aren't interested in woman besides Syala? You seem to be tipping your hand there."

Marie who's up till now been silent speaks up cheerfully, "I don't mind sharing Antenora, what's Alicia's is mine and what's mine is Alicia's!" she says with a wide grin.

"Not quite how I meant for that to be read," Alicia says with a little sigh. "Though thank you Marie... and I'll thank you not to make eyes at Syala next time you see her as well."

"Poor Alicia," Jessica chuckles, "Really though, did you ever get that Sharran's name?"

"No, she collapsed and hasn't yet recovered," Alicia answers with a shake of her head. "I'm monitoring her room, once she's woken up and put herself together - and assuming she doesn't try anything insane, I'll have Marie bring her over to me or my avatar to talk properly."

"Alright," Jessica slowly rises, "I should get back to it, I'm serving as a morale officer now that the battle's won, helping keep spirits up. Just be strong, Alicia. You'll survive all the chaotics around you yet."

"Go see Roald and the children first," Alicia suggests to Jessica. "They'll be glad to see you back after a battle like that."

"Alicia," Jessica's voice is a gentle chiding, "I did that already." Smiling at that, Jessica goes off.

Doing anything but holding it down and waiting for the Sharran to awaken?

Given how Jessica needed to cleaned up Alicia assumed she came here straight from the fray!

Yeah pretty much just waiting on that.

Who is going to be here for this?

Just Alicia and Marie. I'll be in a study while Marie will escort the Sharran from her room to me.

The room has a bath if she happens to want to scrub all the creepy body-paint off too!

It's perhaps two hours later when Marie leads her in here. She's clean up, face drawn and tired. She looks perhaps 30 to 40 somewhere, coming and taking a seat. She doesn't speak at first, silent, visibly drained.

"Emmaline," she finally begins. "My name's Emmaline."

Marie's in her maid attire and makes to be inconspicuous standing by the door and looking prim after she's brought Emmaline in. It's a nice study, dark wood furnishings and comfortable chairs, the only light being magical wall-sconces that give enough to read or write by. As well as the bookshelves and writing accessories though, it also features a particular painting.

It's a scene of contrasting light and darkness, a poorly lit cottage surroundings though the centre is illuminated in warm tones by a fireplace in front of which sits a toddler sitting down hunched forward and playing with brightly painted wooden blocks, his hair a wispy black and his face turned away from the perspective but chubby cheeks of a rosy hue are evident there.

Perhaps it's manipulative but Alicia feels no shame in playing upon the one similarity she and Emmaline have if it drags her away from Shar's ways.

She's out of her armour now, no weapon at hand either. Hopefully her magic will suffice if Emmaline does suddenly decide to go for her original mission, but this is all about avoiding that. "Emmaline," she repeats the name, nodding in greeting as she sits facing the other woman, before she turns her head to that painting. "His name was Felix. He liked to build things out of blocks, and tell jokes about daddy passing wind, and listen to stories about brave little boys going on big adventures," she closes her eyes, reminiscing about her boy. "Tell me about Nicolas," she asks after a moment of just letting those memories roll around in her head.

"...he was a bright baby. He talked early, crawled early, walked early." Emmaline's voice is pained as she goes on, looking up at the painting. "He had my brains and...and..." A trail off at that, "He was going to be strong in body and mind. Someone who could build a better life for himself."

Taking 10 for 54 on sense motive to figure out if Emmaline trailed off on that leading statement about her son's father out of general sadness that they're gone or if it suggests a more particular unease with the father in particular that she doesn't like to think about him.

You get the distinct impression she isn't fond of the father.

Alicia isn't about to push that button then! "You loved him very much," she says gently. "How can we not? Everything about them makes you want to nurture and protect... it's why I still to this day can't understand why anyone could hurt a child. It'll never make sense to me," she looks at the painting and sighs before asking the painful question, "How did you lose your Nicolas?"

"...my husband...was a man with a temper. He would strike me when he was upset, but never laid a hand on Nicolas. Until one evening he wouldn't stop crying...and we were trying to sleep, but he wouldn't stop. He..." A trail off there, a shudder through Emmaline.

"He...he...shook him. He took my baby and kept shaking him until he stopped crying. He never...He didn't mean it, but he..."

Alicia's face twists on hearing that story, wearing an ugly scowl. A brute with a temper and no self control, she can see why Emmaline isn't fond of him. She's certainly not going to wax nostalgic about her Hans then, best to keep the focus on their children.

"What happened to your husband after that?" she asks softly. "What did you do, Emmaline?"

"...I still don't remember. I just remember screaming and then being in a cell. The city guard says they found me stabbing Jonah, screaming even though he was already dead. I was sentenced to die," Here Emmaline's voice becomes hollower, "But my hanging was delayed by a ravager raid on my home town, and in the chaos, another prisoner helped me escape with her. Her name was Damodrel, an adherent of Shar. She brought me to the faith and...it all made sense."

"And you'd have leapt on any sort of sense after experiencing madness like that, wouldn't you?" Alicia muses aloud, seeing the chain of events. "I don't think you should have been hanged for that. It doesn't matter if it was your husband or a stranger, no woman could stand by the murder of her child. I'm sorry Emmaline, I'm sorry for you and for Nicolas. Something like that can break even the strongest soul."

"It...it hurt and everything they said made sense. Then...they taught me a little magic and I had a talent for it," Emmaline continues. "A lot of talent. Magic came to me so easily. I'd never been tested, never tried, and it turns out I was a prodigy. Dark magic in particular...when I learned to draw on my hate and pain, it resonated. So...I started working to stop other people suffering. A town, a country. We triumphed. The monarchy collapsed, I watched as the king was sacrificed, the same king that 30 years ago saved us all from ogres and wraiths, who saved us all...die under Shar's looming gaze."

A pause, still looking down. "For it I was darkly exalted. My magic was key to it all. Shar was impressed and rewarded me...by making me a spirit, denying me the finality of death." A shudder passes through her, "She trained me for this, a chance for what I craved."

Speaking of ogres, was Willard involved in this last battle and how did he do?

"Did you really stop suffering? Was the king's death quick and painless?" she asks, even if Emmaline's already probably got it by now it's something she has to push home. "I've seen Sharran dungeons, where people are tortured and kept alive long past the point their sanity gives out... Even if one sees the appeal of a peaceful oblivion, it's so rarely what Shar actually offers."

He was and he did fine - still sorting out but did fine, you believe.

"..." No answer, a pause instead. A long pause. "Shar loves it. She loves all of it. She wants to end everything, but she wants to make us suffer as she does. She hates everything else so very much, she hates that we dare to be alive and aware. We have to suffer for it before she'll deign to let us go."

Alicia is patient enough to wait through the pause. "For all her pretensions, she's as small and petty as the rest of us isn't she?" She looks at the painting again. "She laughed when Felix and Nicolas were killed. And if I'd killed you or you'd killed me? That would've brought a smile to her lips as well. Two bereaved mothers who's pain brought them to murder one another, all because she was so clever in setting it all up."

A longer pause.

"I...would have been greatly empowered against you. Because of that." Another pause, shorter, speaking faster. "That was the point. To draw you in a situation where you do that, you fight against someone just like your own pain. I was to taunt you with it, once you couldn't withdraw from fighting me. You'd fight on and I'd be stronger. A trap is what it was."

"Mmm... we're both lucky then," Alicia admits. "I would have gone in hard, but when you opened your mouth to give that spiel about Creation being a mistake I couldn't keep from rising to the bait. I can't argue with Shar but you were there and... well, I suppose that same connection between us that Shar wanted to exploit also worked the other way."

"So...now what?" Emmaline asks, finally looking up at you. She's drawn, tired looking.

"Now what, indeed," Alicia says. "I can't just let you go off on your own after all of this. Shar would just take you back by hook or by crook, but nor do I simply want to hold you as a prisoner. You know one of my closest confidantes is Antenora, a former devil. There are others like her who've turned away from Hell and built new lives in Sylica. But no Sharran's ever yet turned away from her that I've seen... and I'd like to see that. So I'd like to offer you a place here, Emmaline. A place to take stock of your life and see where it can still take you, to heal. To rediscover the meaning in Creation."

She looks back at her painting a moment. "I managed to find love again with Syala. We haven't had children yet... there are a lot of obstacles in the way. But one day..." she smiles wanly. "That's for the future we're still trying to build. But here we can keep you safe from Shar, offer you a chance. Will you take it?"

No need for a Diplomacy check here, though one was possibly needed, depending.

"I would," Emmaline says, "I think I'd like that," Taking a breath after, "Is there really hope on going on living? I don't know, but maybe I should see if there is. I owe Nicolas that much."

"You don't know what tomorrow brings. Just as a peaceful life can suddenly erupt in tragedy, so too can a pleasant encounter pull you from the depths," Alicia says. "The suite you were in earlier? It's yours until you decide you want to move elsewhere. Marie can help you with any personal needs while you get situated."

"Of course," Marie adds in demurely from the door, having been quite carefully quiet through all this.

"I don't eat as much and I imagine you have little need as a spirit either, but would you like to join me and my confidantes for dinner later?" she invites, figuring that'd be a good start on socialising Emmaline. Plus Jessica can provide stories about her own children that are tragedy-free!

"Alright," Emmaline says, not arguing with it.

At the same time? 'Alicia,' Syala sends to you, 'Ebony's back and reporting. Good news, they've rooted out the Imix cult and slain Jintorax. Bad news, well....Ebony madder than I've ever seen her.'

Well that's convenient timing. "Marie, take it from here?" she asks, standing up. "I know things are hard, Emmaline... that's the worst of what Shar does. Making you nurse that pain like kindling the embers of a guttering fire, keeping you from ever healing. But we can do it. I did it, and I hope you can too. Please, take some time to think and rest and we can talk again later."

Then after Marie takes Emmaline off, Alicia'll go join Syala and Ebony.

Liberton is hectic as you'd expect. Yet with a little bit of reality warping, a comfortable den is free of noise and bustle even now. Ebony's hood is down as she drinks a glass of dark liquid, eyes closed and resting back. Her posture is stiff, tense.

Syala sits opposite her, carrying the conversation, "...and still, that can hold on since Alicia's here."

"I am," she says, going to claim a seat. "I did catch some frustrated prayers but I didn't anticipate any serious difficulties on your end. What happened?"

The drink is downed completely before Ebony replies. "On one hand, we were successful. We crushed Jintorax, routed the Imix cult and eliminated a powerful, apocalyptic elemental-priest of Imix. Further, there's no signs of an immediate Sharran action, and my thinking is that we were fast enough to prevent the conditions for him to strike."

A breath, "The frustration was with Benyen and Dana. Benyen is a slightly dim but heroic, good hearted and right thinking Fist of Raziel. Dana is...you've read the reports on Dana, have you not? In less than 12 hours, Dana's seduced him and gotten him to go along with her, in spite of all logic and common sense. There is no way Dana is good for him nor his path ahead, but they're already making love and Benyen has said he'll propose to her if he got her pregnant. It is such a waste. I worry so much Dana will lead Benyen astray, yet they seem inexorably drawn to each other."

"You mean the aggressive and headstrong knight likes the violent and boorish but fundamentally good-hearted princess who turned away from a life of idle luxury to help liberate a world  from Hell?" Alicia asks to clarify.

Also since Hell Striker contacted her to start this, she returns the favour. 'Hell Striker, how are Benyen and Dana getting along?'

Ebony's eyebrow visibly twitches.

'They seem to like each other. Benyen is sheathing his sword.' Hell Striker responds.

'Thank you that was... more and less than I wanted. How do they relate to each other emotionally?'

"Anyway Ebony, Benyen's a grown man. Even if things don't work out it's not the end of the world. The important thing is you settled matters on Langersun so hopefully Hell Striker's worries of him stumbling into a deadly Sharran web of intrigue can be laid to rest. Why don't you take a few days to relax here before going back to Aurora? I think you deserve a break."

'They seem to get along well.' That's the reply you get.

"I will, but I'll return to Langersun for a time, in case we're wrong and Shar tries something even with the initiative lost." Ebony replies. "By your leave, of course."

"That's fine, but I mean it about taking a day to rest," Alicia says. "You've had a trying few days, take some time to relax and enjoy yourself so you can go back with a clear head. And for what it's worth, Hell Striker thinks Benyen and Dana get along well, and he doesn't seem concerned."

"He's a sword," Ebony drawls, "He's probably content that Benyen's sword is being sheathed." A sharp, almost sardonic note fills her voice.

"Ebony," Syala rises, "That's it. I'm going to personally see to you getting some rest. Alicia's right."

"Most people are still celebrating our victory over Shar's attack earlier, you can get in on that," Alicia suggests. "Or if not I know some really nice retreats where you can get some quiet and cleanse, but you definitely need to take your mind off this Ebony. It's none of our business what Benyen does with his romantic life."

Ebony takes a long breath, "Yes, of course. You're right." Exhaling deeply, "Thank you."

"Thank you Ebony, for all your hard work," Alicia says. "In fact I've decided to entrust you with my spark as proxy indefinitely because of it. I feel you make for a superb representative... when you're well rested, anyway," she gives a wry little smile there.

"Really!" Ebony's voice raises a bit, "After that performance? Thank you," A deep bow, "I will do better, Alicia, I promise."

"Please do," she laughs a little bit. "One little unseemly display doesn't undermine years of good service. You've earned my grace, Ebony. Now go, let Syala take you somewhere to get pampered."

Okay, cool. Next move?

Could play out dinner with Emmaline and NPCs (also can invite Ebony now she's back), but I'd like to do something else since we just saw her and had a fairly heavy discussion and I want to break things up a bit.

I can't think of any important stuff there's time to squeeze in first so I guess I'll just kill time and we can do fluff stuff? I'll check in on how Ox is doing on Lifasa at least, make sure he's not face down in a snowdrift.

You have something coming at you anyway to knock out.

Barely 10 minutes later, you're overseeing the aftermath of things. It's then you feel it - Mystra's avatar at the border of Sylica, a patient waiting.

'Congratulations,' Mystra sends a split second later. 'That was well fought. May I enter? I come bearing glad tidings and joyous news.'

Joyous news sounds good! 'Of course, please come join me,' Alicia sends, having her avatar take over with wrapping up before Alicia and Marie are both in the same den that she saw Ebony in earlier, her teleport interdiction spell down as Mystra is invited to transport herself in directly.

Mystra is there in an instant, in the form of an old woman in ruby red robes. Her long, white hair tucked beneath the hood of her robe, body withered but yet firm of step, clear of gaze.

"Well done and well met, Alicia," Mystra greets you, a smile on her face.

That's a nice looking avatar. Reminds Alicia she needs to make one like it some day - she did enjoy playing the harmless old woman back when infiltrating Kesse so many years ago.

"Thank you, and please - sit. May we offer you any refreshments?" she asks, taking her own seat while Marie stands by a serving tray of drinks and light snacks.

Hostess formalities out of the way Alicia continues, "I didn't expect helping Seira with a trivial matter on Air today would end in fending off a full-fledged undead attack on Sylica, but here we are. And my realm still stands whole. With some timely assistance from Sharess and Selune of course."

A glass of lemon-flavored water is taken and sipped. Once done, "Nonetheless, the most important victory in the skirmish outside is yours. You did not just win a victory in battle, you won a victory in the soul. In that moment, you and Shar Competed and you triumphed."

"Emmaline, yes," Alicia nods. "Shar's dogma is most appealing when there's no alternative, after all. Lets hope my Competition with Auril goes as well."

"I have confidence in you," Mystra smiles slightly, "Waukeen and I both agree, it's time to talk to both yourself and Seira about another aspect of divinity."

"In that case, please do teach me," Alicia invites. She's been on the stage what feels like long enough from her perspective after all.

Marie just keeps quiet and attentive. It's interesting for her to get to listen in on this stuff!

"It is how deities rise in strength, from slight increases to becoming a demigod, lesser god up to a greater power." Mystra explains, finishing her water before continuing. Her expression is solemn and her voice is clear. "A deity rises in divine power as they both grow in personal strength and more strongly represent what they are. It is a battle of ideals and accomplishments. The Competition provides all deities many chances to do so, though the nature of divine conflict and the fact that deities generally lose as many as they win, does not guarantee advancement. Nor is the Competition the only way to do so - Seira's elemental advancements aid her cause."

"Hmm," Alicia hums. "I'd always thought it was more based on the number and fervour of worshippers, with another bump for representing something more primal - like magic in your case. So Auril's hoping to grow at my expense with that challenge?"

"What about things like attacking Hell the other day, or fending off this attack?" Marie chimes in. "You're a goddess of righteous magical battle, and that's leading by example pretty well!"

"Worshipers are the point, but not how we grow stronger directly. We are shepherds of souls, as Sulia put it to you once before." Mystra notes, pursing her lips. "Marielle, Alicia. What I say next may not be spread to save those who you trust the most, for it is part of why we are and why the Incarnations created deities. It is not for public consumption."

"I understand," Alicia says. "In time Latha, Antenora, and Jessica may ascend, but I'll use my judgement on whether to tell them. If Sharess doesn't tell Syala I'll tell her, though."

"I'll be the soul of discretion!" Marie is quick to swear.

"If that is your goal for them, so be it," Mystra agrees. "You know the risks. I pray you will be successful."

After a moment to let that settle in, "In the beginning, three came from the emptiness Beyond. The Incarnation of Law, the Incarnation of Balance and the Incarnation of Chaos. The Three Incarnations sought to answer if law or chaos was correct, or if they must forever exist together and entwined in war. To this end, they made Creation. They made countless souls to inhabit it, to all work towards the Answer to this question."

You can just hear the capital A there, something in the way the word is spoken resonating within you.

"The Answer is the ultimate goal of Creation, to determine the fates of law and chaos. However, mortal kind muddied the waters. The concept of good and evil rose in Creation almost immediately, something the Incarnations did not understand. Something as native to us as law and chaos is native to them. Thus did good and evil become part of the quest for the Answer, and requiring an Answer of their own. Thus was all created, thus the planes were, thus all was set on finding what the Incarnations desired.  For all the Incarnations are powerful beyond our reckoning, even they cannot discern the absolute primacy of beliefs."

A moment's pause for that before Mystra continues. "To these ends the Incarnations saw all that was and would be, all that would come from their choices, now bound in. They saw that shepherds of ideas and souls were needed, those to stand as paragons and direct the endless battling for the Answer. From them came many of us - myself included, as one who was never anything but divine. But knowing that mortals may yet contribute far more than good and evil, they left open the possibility of others joining us to further seek the Answer. Thus you stand now, as one who has risen. Who, away from the sterile terms of the Incarnations, has chosen to fight for your own Answer, for a better tomorrow for Creation."

Alicia listens as Mystra explains things, though her mind is drawn back to when Eladi spoke to her of the Arbiter's will upon the Opal Mountain years ago. "I was told by the Arbiter's herald that the war of the God-King was the result of the Gods growing so consumed in their Competition that they sinned against the edicts of the Arbiter. What Lathander did to create the Fairest Star and begin that whole sequence of events... it was a contest, wasn't it? Rather than allow it to grow into a prime and shepherd the souls and ideas it would generate, you instead crystallised it into a static source of power to compete over."

But there's also an inconsistency isn't there?

Mystra says that the Competition is the means to find the Answer.

Eladi told her at that time that she'd seen past the lies and distractions and Competition, suggesting the Competition is a distraction. Something spurred by Ao simply to waste time as the Endless Chaos grows tired of Creation.

FIND THE THIRD

That's it, isn't it? Even if the Competition, her own shepherding of souls and fighting against evil all matters in the short term, and using the Competition to grow stronger helps in the mid-term... ultimately none of it matters in the face of that commandment from the Arbiter. All of reality from the shining centre of Chronias to the squalid pits of the Abyss lies on the line.

And of course she can't tell Mystra a word of it because then Ao would know and an 'endless catastrophe' would come.

Most of this story comes from the stat block of the Hecatoncheires. The flavor block in particular, though Mystra adds a bit more commentary. I only wrote the first paragraph and a few bits of commentary right now, the rest of it's previously written.

Mystra sighs. It is a soft sound, a weary sound. "You've seen it all too well, but let me restate a truism to our nature, Alicia. Our mistakes are as grand as our victories, and when we all err, the mistakes are catastrophic. In our desires to continue the Competition, we lost sight of the essence of it. Most of our greatest mistakes come down to that, to losing sight of why we were created by the Incarnations. Have you ever been told the story of the Hecatoncheires?"

After a moment Mystra continues.

"The Hecatoncheires is a divine creation and more than that, it is a mistake. You know that for all our power that we are not infallible, and there is no better lesson than the history of the Hecatoncheires.

There are times when civilizations go so far wrong that they must be stricken from the Prime Material. Nations that seek the forbidden might of the Realms Below, the Beyond or other things that mortals should never dally in must sometimes be wiped away as a last resort. For when prophecy, omens and wrath all fail, it is in our hands to bring apocalyptic endings. This is a duty that none of us wish to have, save for those below that must not be entrusted alone with it. It was a problem that vexed us in the days before the Angel of Last Resort, Salandariel or Zaphkiel's Blessing. Those measures all came as a result of this failure.

Regardless, we all met together to discuss this problem. We quarreled over this until wise Oghma suggested that we needed a weapon. A combined weapon, Lathander shouted as the idea spread. "

A pause here again, Mystra smiling. A sad smile, "You will find many of our greatest triumphs and mistakes come down to Lathander having an idea. He is the wellspring of ideas and vitality, after all. But still..."

"Helm then proposed it could be a combined avatar of our unity and to spread the pain of what we must do. Talos found the idea amusing and offered to grant the weapon his totem of storms. The idea went amid us as wildfire, a perfect solution that left us free of this miserable duty."

"Together we created the Hecatoncheires. A titanic man of one hundred arms, each carrying a blade of absolute destruction. I imbued my magic into him, so that any weapon he held would be equal to the greatest enchantments. Mask hid its one weakness in secrecy, while all of the House of Knowledge made that secrecy into a riddle that none yet have deciphered. Brave Torm and just Tyr offered their convictions to it, so that it would never waver in doing its duty. Corellon Larethian granted the essence of elven archery to it, letting it fire barrages of weapons like arrows. We all contributed, save for a few who were morally opposed and Shar, who none of us wished to involve."

Taking a moment there and having more water, "None of us have ever cared for Shar, disdain for her is not new nor as recent as the Prophecy of Primus. Many times I wonder why the Incarnations included her, but they seldom deign to explain themselves, even to us. But to continue..."

"We were satisfied with our creation and soon a chance to call on it came. A kingdom known as Rokasai sought the secrets of the Far Realm and the Hecatoncheires was sent. It did all we hoped it did, but therein lay the seeds of doom. It was too good at its task and took joy in destruction. It struck with the savage ferocity of Talos' storms, fought with the magical blessings I gave it and the secrecy of its one weakness left measures to defeat it doomed. It did not waver in its convictions to destroy and slaughtered with sublime skill reminiscent of elven excellence. All we gave it was subverted by the simple fact that it was too good at what it did."

"We then looked into the future. Such was its devotion that it resisted cessation after Rokasai and went onto sunder Prime Material after Prime Material. It would not stop at kingdoms, but shred entire worlds as a blade to parchment. We met as Rokasai fell, to decide the fate of our creation. It is here our differing natures lead us to disagree on how to deal with it. Some of us sought to destroy it, in spite of the visions that we would fail. Others advocated diplomacy and softer approaches. In the end, we decided we must try and destroy it. We created it, we would not fail. The future is merely a suggestion and fate is not ironclad, as Selune said."

A sigh here, weary again. "We failed. The Hecatoncheires endured our strikes and weathered the assault of our avatars. We sought the secret to wound and destroy it, but the House of Knowledge would not and could not reveal the answer to the riddle, for it was also tied to Mask. His nature would not allow him to reveal such a powerful secret from the darkness. It endured and forced our avatars back, weathered our spells and ultimately escaped. It ended up in the Abyss, one more nightmare amid nightmares. One that remembered our betrayal and nursed a grudge, one that sought and still seeks revenge on us."

"If we had mastered our pride, we would not have created it and given it such powers. If we had mastered our wisdom, we would not have sought to force our burdens on another. If we had mastered our temperance, we may have yet found a way to defuse the situation rather than driving it away. If, if, if. For all our power, for all the blessings we are given and the destines we control, we are not perfect. Never forget this, for our mistakes are writ large in Creation. Master your divine majesty with the same wisdom as you mastered the Weave, Alicia."

Here Mystra stops to meet Alicia's gaze, then speaks, "The results of failing to do so are unthinkable."

Alicia and Marie both listen silently to Mystra's tale  until the end before the former speaks. "Well... I'll put this one on Oghma rather than poison my opinion of Lathander any further," she says at last. "I'm sure I'll make my own mistakes, but still I hope they'll come from not knowing the full picture of events. From when I heard the full story of the Fairest Star my gut rebelled that all the Gods could be party to such an act of greed and depravity. Even had a shining champion claimed the Fairest Star for righteousness rather than Daa-vid, such power would still have come from snuffing out an entire world in the cradle."

She lets that sit for a moment, a rebuke against her own goddess while Marie fidgets a little awkwardly before she says, "Back to the Incarnations, though. They created All to find their Answer, including deities - including yourself. What of the story we were told, of Selune and Shar being the first, of Selune creating the first light to warm the world at Chauntea's beseeching, causing Shar to lash out and you yourself being born from their essences merged in bloodshed?"

"We gambled on what the world could be if allowed to be born versus what it could be otherwise," Mystra admits, "You are right to call us on it - it was a mistake, one we lament. The Arbiter took us to task for it, and you must always remember one thing. We are Good, but we are not perfect. None of us are above sins or mistakes, Alicia. I tell you to teach you, so that you understand and that one day this warning will save you from your own laments."

After that Mystra nods, "It is not wholly wrong. We were created and came to our conflicts. At the same time, the Incarnations decreed that the beginnings shall be hidden, mythologized. That no matter how truly we speak of them, mortals shall hear different and from there, time and distance will further muddy the stories of the beginning. It is true Shar and Selune fought long and bitterly, the first battle creating the craters in the moon, yet ensuring that Creation did not immediately return to nothingness. Also, the Incarnations have never been bound by time. We are, even loosely, and we cannot fully perceive parts of the beginning."

Here there is a pause, Mystra having more water before giving you another look. "Understand for that all our power, the Incarnations have their own agenda and own aims. We serve and do as well as we can to those we are to shepherd, but sometimes the Incarnations chose limitations to us. They bound us to time, so we cannot live retroactively and out of linear time. Indeed, even the Incarnations seem somewhat incapable of moving beyond the present, or perhaps unwilling. Who can say? What few limits they have they do not deign to inform us of."

Alicia finally avails herself of a drink as well, Marie pouring her out some icewater which she spends a moment drinking. And wondering if Auril approves of the chilly beverage. "How much contact do you even have with the Incarnations?" she asks. "Ilmater mentioned that in times past those seeking to ascend to divinity could appeal to the other if one first denied them. How long ago was it that the Incarnation of Law last made its presence known?"

"Little. When it first began, we were in constant contact with them. They hoped for an Answer soon and were watching all of us," Mystra begins, her voice narrating. "Most of all with the mortals we shepherded, as after they introduced good and evil, they had great hopes they would find yet more things of value. In time they saw no Answer was immediately forthcoming, so they became distant, studying good and evil themselves."

A short pause again, Mystra closing her eyes. She seems to ruminate several seconds and then speaks, posture straightening. "I believe 21 -" Here you feel an instinctive chill in your bones at the mention of it - "Was created during that phase. It was in that phase we last saw the Incarnation of Law. Perhaps he grew tired of Creation and left it to its own devices, I know not. Perhaps he sleeps in Mechanus. Since then they have become more and more distant, with only Ao known to any but the wisest and well read mortals."

"But," Mystra continues, "What do you know of the Arbiter, Alicia?"

"Very little," she confesses. "I know it was his judgement that holds Daa-vid in state waiting for mortals to decide his fate, his will that kept my world isolated until the Neverborn broke the seals. I know that his word is absolute," she smiles wryly as she repeats what she was told by Eladi for that last part.

"It's my own supposition that he is the Incarnation of Neutrality, for there must always be Three."

"It may well be so, we do not know, but that is one common theory," Mystra concurs, smiling, "I'm glad you realized that yourself. The Incarnations have many faces and names, that may merely be another of the Incarnation of Balance's. Well reasoned, Alicia. He arose recently, after not seeing the Incarnation of Balance for a long time. Most of us accept it is the Incarnation, simply choosing to be active in another way and form for reasons known only to him. But..."

Mystra looks to you, "This is uncertain because of one bit of evidence. When we were created, the Incarnations informed us of our need to protect Creation from what lies Beyond. However, we were given special instructions if something from Beyond came and did not immediately damage Creation. We are to ask them if they have the Answer. If they do, we are to hear it and this shall summon the Incarnations. If they do not, we are to leave them be unless they are hostile to us or begin to damage Creation."

Here Mystra admits, "It may well be that the Arbiter is a fourth, or simply something from beyond Creation of vast power. We know little of Beyond ourselves, for we are tightly bound in Creation and not in what lies beyond it, nor have the Incarnations spoken much of it. All we know is that there are others out there beyond the Three, perhaps equal or even greater to them."

"And perhaps with their own Creations, working to find answers to unknown questions," Alicia murmurs a strange thought at the prospect of other beings like the Incarnations out there. And why not? Just as there are so many Primes within Creation, why not so many Creations within Beyond?

"What then lies Beyond the Beyond?" she asks aloud, taking that thought to its logical conclusion.

"One." Mystra says, "All we know is that at the beginning, the Incarnations mentioned One. What it is, who it is or anything about it is not known to us. It has never mattered to us, save for pondering when we wish to assail an unanswerable question. Perhaps it will matter if we ever find an Answer."

Three into two and one into three.

Could one into three refer to some primordial split that created the incarnations of Chaos, Balance, and Law? Or is it something unrelated because when so much deep meaning is attached to less than a handful of numbers there's going to be repeats.

"Mmn," she hums softly. "Yes, I suppose it doesn't much matter when we can barely survive outside of Creation. Although... how long did it take for mortals to first learn spells that enabled them to survive the inner planes?" If anyone would know it's Mystra! "There may yet be more for us, in the far far future beyond our imaginings."

"Not long," Mystra admits with a gentle smile of her own. "Everyone learned quickly back them, in part because we were all more involved, down to the Incarnations. At times, they suspended the rules and let do things more forwardly than we would otherwise. My first lover was a mortal man whom I personally taught magic to in his mud hut." A faraway smile shows on Mystra's face, "He had strong, firm hands, the sort that can build the world around him, but flexible enough to work even the most delicate material components."

"Goodness," Alicia says softly, while Marie's eyes are wide as saucers at getting this sort of juicy gossip from the source.

"I wonder..." she says after a moment. "What it was like in that period when everything was so new and filled with promise. I think of things like Limbo or Chronias as eternal and unchanging... but from the broad scope of history it must be far different to one who was actually there when they were made. How much of Creation was set by the Incarnations at the beginning and how much came later? If Good and Evil were new surprises to them they can't have made things like Hades or Elysium, can they?"

"They formed quickly and naturally in response to mortals, and I suspect the Incarnations retroactively aided this," Mystra says, "This is one part of the beginning that's hazy to us, because quite honestly, I believe the Incarnations ignored linearity in that instance. I recall them being made...there are no words, Alicia. Would you like to see?" Extending her hand out to you, "If you would, take my hand."

Alicia reaches out to take Mystra's hand while Marie watches jealously and contents herself with the empathic link.

She has an ulterior motive of course. The theory is that the Incarnation of Law split into two, and it logically follows that those two parts ended up in Chronias and Nessus. So learning how Hell and Celestia were in the beginning would prove illuminating.

Mystra looks at Marie at the same time, a silent and mild rebuke expressed without a word. Then Alicia takes Mystra's hand.

Everything. Nothing.

The moment you take Mystra's hand, reality unfolds. You are in darkness. Everything and nothing.

There is a pinpoint of light ahead. The tiniest droplet of it, spreading apart rapidly. Forest and sky, sun and moon, light and dark. Before you endless droplets cluster together in the middle, while beyond it more spread. Earth, fire, wind, water. They cluster around that core in the middle, as beyond it others gather yet. Glory and hatred, love and destruction, balance and competition. All forms in this one instant, coming together.

Realities, meaning, growth. All of them form in your mind's eye, no words possible for it. It simply is, all being made and yet indistinct, the details of it hidden from your vision. Then you are drawn to it. A spreading Weave, a web of throbbing power. It beats in time to the heartbeat you feel through Mystra's hand, spreading everywhere. It connects all, connects to her, connects.

A voice, certain and inevitable, declares, "You are Mystra. You shall oversee the concept of magic, for you are magic and magic is you. You shall defend it and have absolute power over it, but shall also be limited. For there are parts of Our Creation that must not be broken. You must never block the magic from those like yourself, those whom We choose to call gods. You may favor whichever possible solution to the Answer you please, but you must be restrained, lest you be destroyed and replaced."

"Yes, master," Mystra's voice is heard, new and yet the same as it is now.

"Then watch." The voice commands her. "Choose."

The highest light shines atop the Holy Mountain, radiant even now.

The endless glades of the forest paradise loom forth, beautiful even an instant as they are made.

The gentle place between them, where all is peace and calm, even now calling to any soul who comes to it.

The lowest pit of the Pit beckons and threatens, shadowed even now.

The endless screams of the Abyss threaten to drawn all out, Mystra's gaze turning away from it.

The emptiness between them, where all is gloom and suffering, even now calling to any soul who comes to it.

The place of perfect order, where even now all is accounted for.

The place of perfect chaos, where even now all is unaccountable.

"Choose." The voice demands, dispassionate.

Mystra looks inward. She sees the possibilities - endless wars, magic as a weapon, a tool to be used in warfare. As primal as fire or earth, as deadly as flame or crushing rock. Panic. How? How can she choose?

"Choose or be destroyed," The voice demands, still dispassionate. "If you are unable, we shall have another."

You feel Mystra's fear - she wants to live. She wants to live, to feel, to be. She wants...shouldn't everyone want that? Shouldn't everyone have a chance to live and be happy? Yes. Even though her magic will do great and terrible things, you feel Mystra believe that one fact with all her heart.

"You have chosen," The voice intones, and then all is.

Your vision returns, Mystra letting go over your hand.

Marie ducks her head, chastised while Alicia goes on a trip.

And what a trip!

Her hand lowers from Mystra's and she exhales. "I remember when you showed me the Weave. This was... well, all that and more, wasn't it? Which Incarnation was it that spoke to you? What did they mean that you must be restrained?"

"The Incarnation of Law," Mystra sits back as you process it all. "Were I to try, I could perhaps triumph over everyone in Creation, as I control magic absolutely. Yet I am forbidden from doing so, restrained in what I may do. I have no meaningful limit to what I can do, save to the outermost limits of the Weave itself, and the limits set by the Incarnations. I am largely a bystander in so many things because the Incarnations commanded it to be so. I am allowed to have my paradise, to guide mortals to it, but many problems I cannot solve, even if I could. I am the Guardian of Magic, not the bringer of the Answer. Were it up to me, I would take the magic from all the forces of woe in Creation and bring about Good's triumph, but the Incarnations would not allow it. It would be a meaningless suicide."

That makes sense. But why even include something so powerful as magic if its deity has to be so specifically neutered? Alicia tries to imagine a world without magic... something like the world of her childhood but even less? Even then they still had magic, and their civilization was built on the ruins of a past one that had far greater command of the arcane. How would a society form from the beginning with no magic at all?

She supposes it would be a world organised around brute strength. Like ogre tribes, perhaps? Ones without even shamans anyway. But ogres are stupid, and there's nothing to say that bereft of magic that humans and elves and dragons and demons and angels wouldn't be able to put their minds towards ingenious ways of organising society that she can't imagine for herself, burdened by her preconceptions.

"So the Answer is determined when all of Creation is tilted towards one ethos?" she asks, back to the main point. "Be it Law or Chaos, irrespective of Good and Evil? What happens then, did any of the Incarnations ever hint what they would do with their Answer? Or what would happen to Creation with its purpose served?"

"Not quite. The Incarnations want an Answer to Good and Evil as well now," Mystra explains, "But in essence, yes. Once we have an answer...we do not know for certain, but doubtless the Incarnations would want to study it. They have long sought an Answer and not been able to obtain one."

"So if Celestia were to triumph and all of Creation flocked to the holy mountain it would be a clear result, but what if Elysium or Mechanus were to triumph instead? Would they accept the partial answer then forcibly split Creation apart again down the remaining neutral axis?" Alicia asks. "I suppose we just don't know and all I can do is speculate."

"I don't know for certain, but I think so. The idea of eternal balance between law and chaos is one possible Answer," Mystra admits.

"That's right, there are three options not two, so balance is equally valid," Alicia realises. "We've gotten rather away from the Competition, but I suppose it's all relevant in the end."

"This is all information you need to learn," Mystra concurs, then with a sidelong glance at Marie and a smile showing, "Or even your familiar, if you plan to try and ascend her as well. You keep aiming high, don't you, Marielle?"

"Hard work takes you places!" Marie says, cheering up and pumping her fist. "We actually had a talk about what sort of goddesses Antenora and Latha would make, but I got sidelined. Maybe I could be the humble goddess of dutiful servants? That covers a lot of people."

"I expected you'd aim for something more grandiose," Alicia looks over at Marie. "But Antenora would be pleased with you donning such a lawful and duty-minded mantle."

Marie pauses, her cheerful expression frozen before it slowly melts off her face. "Maybe goddess of reckless magical experimentation is more my speed?" she suggests, rallying. "Be a good counterpoint to Azuth!"

"No, no," Mystra is smiling now, "I think dutiful servants would suit you. I could even remake you as a lantern archon to better fit that, Marielle."

Marie laces her fingers together and stretches her arms. "I like having limbs, but thanks for the offer!"

"But to continue on our duties," Mystra says, "You are aware of Seraphs?"

Alicia nods herself, mood dropping. "We had to prevail on Cantasa Alexandria at the end of the Benfal campaign. It didn't go as well as Lifasa," she confirms. "And you know we worked with Xerona back during the Neverborn business on Androlynne."

Alicia probably knows more than I do considering the Benfal situation, so feel free to have Mystra exposit or drop some 'as you know' fluff.

"As you know," Mystra continues, "Seraphs are servants of good summoned from beyond the Empyrean Gate. They are servants of absolute righteousness. We are not bound to obey them by any order of the Incarnations, but because they work for our betterment and the betterment of good across the planes. Should you find a creature who invokes being one, confirm it and treat what they say with the utmost seriousness if they speak true."

"How many are there?" Alicia asks. "I assumed three."

Because there must always be three.

But also one for Celestia, one for Elysium, and one for Arborea.

"That's right," Mystra says, "Though it is possible another could come. Conversely, whatever the equivalent for evil is, it is well hidden away beyond even us. I suspect the powers of evil hoard that knowledge - not that we do not hide much of it ourselves, as you know with Cantasa Alexandria."

"Things like the devil that backed Esthan," Alicia nods, a name she even now would rather not risk saying.

"It may be so," Mystra agrees, "Hell ever guards its secrets, and even him. Perhaps especially him. I worry he may be a contingency should Asmodeus ever fall, a new ruler of Hell who can upend the other Lords of the Nine. Another way in which the game down there is hopelessly rigged."

"No luck for Mephistopheles," Alicia smiles wryly. "Though Asmodeus's children are being pushed further into the limelight as well. I can't really see either of them as having the credentials to unite Hell underneath them."

"I concur," Mystra admits, "I had a long discussion with Lathander about that not long ago. We agree that it's most likely they're to solidify Asmodeus's control rather than any attempt at a dynasty." With her own wry smile, "Mephisto can gnash his teeth amid his frozen wastes, but I doubt he ever sits on the Serpent's Throne."

"They effectively create a third faction - rather than Asmodeus playing the original devils off against the fallen, now both the fallen and the baatezu have to watch out for the children of Asmodeus," Alicia posits. "I'm sure it makes controlling the Lords of Hell easier internally, but whether it strengthens Hell against outside forces remains to be seen."

"It's fair politics, and I bet he has schemes for Lixer," Mystra says, "Especially after you exposed his inexperience so openly." That draws another smile from Mystra, "Marielle, remind your master that she's good at things like that. Consider it part of your familiar duties so that she remembers to do it more often."

"Yes ma'am!" Marie salutes brightly.

"It was satisfying," Alicia agrees. "Lixer may be older than me, but I've been a deity for longer. I should allow others to benefit from my experience by welcoming them to the stage."

"Still, though," Mystra goes on, "We were discussing the Competition, I believe?"

"Yes," Alicia nods, back to it. "Though for a war goddess such as myself to storm Avernus and sweep aside Lixer's opposition as I did, does that have implications for the Competition or does it have to be something agreed upon beforehand? Auril was quite insistent on getting my agreement when she wanted to Compete with me."

"Formal agreement is needed to compete, but as I said, not every advancement comes from the Competition," Mystra remarks, "That advances you as well."

"I see," Alicia pauses to have a drink as she digests it all. They've covered quite a lot of ground, with a few fruitful digressions. "Was there anything else I needed to know?"

"In your case, you're entwined with Syala. Make sure she advances as well, don't keep her entirely on the homefront," Mystra remarks.

"It suits our temperaments to divide things that way, though really one of us should be in Sylica at all times so I'll encourage her to go out while I stay here, or with my avatar if I need to be involved." And she does prefer to be personally involved in anything important!

"Good," Mystra says, "You've grown so much, Alicia. I'm proud of you. You've seen so many grow, rise and fall under your watch for them - do you understand now my pride for you?"

Alicia nods. "I've seen a few I had high hopes for come to Sylica early. Finding the right blend of natural talent, skill, drive, and plain old luck... perhaps one day I'll be giving this talk to someone else and feeling that same pride."

"All it takes is one misfortune." Mystra agrees, "Tymora is quite used to people complaining to her, as is Beshaba." A ghost of a smile shows on Mystra's face, "Or a familiar that's risen so far above and beyond the call of duty, how rare is that?"

"This has been a really good position for my development," Marie says. "I learned a lot more in the field with Alicia than I did carrying messages back in Dweomerheart. Even if mostly I just keep house these days..."

"That's valuable to me as well. Since you borrow my skills it makes sense that you fill in my stead for mundane things," Alicia says, looking over at Marie. "Not many coure hold such high office anywhere in the planes."

"Now then..." Mystra rises and...

Anything else to add here? If not, your next move?

I'm good. Lets have dinner with Syala, Latha, Antenora, Jessica, Ebony, and Emmaline so she can get socialised a bit with us.

You're not late, precisely. However your work is seldom done and your talk with Mystra runs a little long. Syala, Latha, Antenora and Emmaline are already there, only Ebony still absent. The table is a comfortable one, the room well lit and the window open to let in the breeze. It's still light out, casting the room pleasantly. A basket of fresh bread and a plate of butter are on the table along with a pitcher of berry juice.

Syala is eating a bit of buttered bread and laughing, shaking her head.

Latha's smiling as she butters her own slice of bread, listening away.

Antenora's talking as, "And then Marie said, 'Well, that's why you don't let a slaad sleep inside the house.'"

Jessica's drinking juice and listening away, smiling as she does so.

Emmaline's hiding a smile with her hand, a slightly wide eyed look on her face.

"Don't even get me started on slaad," Marie huffs as she walks in after Alicia, hearing that anecdote about herself.

"Sorry we're late," Alicia adds, going over to kiss Syala on the cheek before she pulls her own chair out while Marie goes to claim her own. "But it looks like everyone's getting along."

A volley of greetings, including, "Yes," Emmaline says, quietly. She pauses to have some bread.

"We are," Antenora concurs, "Marie, you know this story, entertain us while Ebony finishes cooking. Tell us what the slaad did next."

"...please do," Emmaline says, "It's a good story so far."

"Well, we were on Ysgard so I figured what's the worst that could happen, right?" Marie begins, a pouty look on her face. "Also I was mostly sticking to my elf form by then so I'd look less edible to the slaad palate. Really it was all Antenora's idea more than mine though. Those big sad froggy eyes must have touched something in her rigidly lawful heart... either that or she figured he'd be a captive audience for some of her order-focused diatribes. Anyway he wasn't that bad as a guest to start with either, even if it didn't much suit the mood for a romantic getaway. So anyway, he's telling us stories of his journey from Acheron back to Limbo, taking the long way home, and Antenora offers him a candied apple since we were having snacks. And oh Mystra, you've never heard someone make such a fuss, you'd think we'd poked him in the eye. On and on he went about how apples were the most orderly of fruits and how its established from their life cycle to their flavour to their coloration... then he goes and falls asleep mid-rant. So we just look at each other and count ourselves lucky. Antenora tosses a blanket over him before we go to bed, right?"

As everyone nods to Marie's prompt, "So morning comes and we wake up and you know those stories about houses made of candy? Our rustic little getaway cottage was made out of fruit now! Furniture assembled from bananas, pale grapes for windows, walls made of carefully stacked pears... our bed-blanket was an orange-rind! And there sat by the fire where we'd left our guest last night, there's this huge green apple that blinks at us with those froggy eyes, opens a mouth on its side, and says, 'I have consumed the fruit of pure law, Limbo is lost to me. Tell my spawning stone that the apple never falls far from the tree.' So then I just let Antenora have it," she shakes her head in disgust.

Antenora's expression cools a little bit at the word diatribe, but listens to the entire story. "Alicia, I would like to object and tell my side of the story," she says primly, "Without Marie's chaotic contamination of events."

Jessica giggles at all of this, listening along as Syala just smiles, watching.

Emmaline blinks at that, looking back and forth between them.

Alicia just closes her eyes a long moment, a mixture of resignation and amusement going through her. "Very well Antenora, tell us the other side of the story. Without casting Marie as a bad apple, of course."

"... I can't believe you went there," Marie whispers, staring back at Alicia after that awful pun. "Not even I I went there. And I was there!"

Syala blinks at that and laughs, throwing her head back. Latha laughs loudly as well, even Emmaline joining in.

Only Antenora stays out of that, "Very well, I won't let Marie's deeds worm into the core of what I'm going to say, Alicia."

Alicia smiles widely back at Antenora for sinking to her level. "Go on then. And lets not hear a pip out of Marie while you tell your version of events."

"Oh no, I wouldn't dream of having Marie speak up, she's the apple of my eye," Antenora's expression is smug at that, "Ahem." Antenora clears her throat and gives Marie a side long look.

Marie just crosses her arms and looks unimpressed.

And maybe a little jealous that she's not contributing to all the puns, but she made her stance against them so she can't backtrack now.

"Dinner," Ebony announces, interrupting story hour. Shecomes in carrying a pot, smelling of beef. "Beef and noodles." she announces, the smell of the herbs mixing in your nose, making you all hungry.

As everyone is served and laughter dies down, "Is it always like this here?" Emmaline asks. "It's so warm."

"Thank you Ebony," Alicia smiles at dinner's arrival, hoping that Ebony found the act of cooking to be suitably therapeutic after her last couple of days.

"Usually," Marie speaks up in reply to Emmaline, "Everyone likes to laugh whenever Antenora and I settle matter of Chaos and Law, but it's serious business and don't think otherwise!"

"That aside," Alicia says, "We do generally get along. Jessica may be my flesh and blood sister and Syala my spouse, but everyone else here is as good as family."

"The bonds formed," Latha speaks up, "That's as important as blood." She reaches over and lays a hand on Emmaline's own, "Don't worry about it. Just watch and remember how much more there is to life than ending it."

"Exactly, now try some of this," Jessica says, as Ebony serves away. As people take bowls of it - delicately sliced beef, fresh noodles and seasoned with all sorts of herbs, as well as a light cream sauce to go with it.

As everyone tucks in, Ebony takes a bite and adds, "Antenora and I both understand making mistakes. Worry not your heart this way, just recover. There is time enough for everything else soon."

Alicia is happy to focus on enjoying Ebony's superlative cooking for a bit, paying her respects to the chef first of all. "This is lovely, Ebony. We need to pull you back from Aurora more often," she praises. Then to Emmaline, "You hurt many people, but in the end you're as much a victim of Shar as anyone else. Ebony's right - heal your wounded heart, and the rest will start falling into place. I never thought there'd be anything like this for me after my loss, all those years ago."

"Or when I sat in the Halls of the Vanquished," Latha adds after a bite of food, "When all was frozen and lost."

"Or when I was stuck in front of that tree for centuries," Syala says after flashing Ebony a smile, "In timeout, as it was. Didn't even have anything to take it out on."

Emmaline looks down at her food, "I was a victim, too?" Half a question, half not.

"Everyone's a victim of evil, the evil most of all," Antenora says, "Listen to me. Not a single soul in any infernal realm is truly happy. Evil is the fruit of a dead tree, sustaining nothing. This is the fruit of a living tree, one which sustains life."

"We don't know for sure if Shar targeted your family the way she did Alicia's," Marie speaks. "But she was subtle there too. Bandits kill, violent men do violence... it's easily possible for her to set off just the right nudge. The whole prison-break with a Sharran in the right place at the right time, things seem to line up just so, don't they? And even then, they took you while you were hurting and only honed that pain into a weapon, rather than do anything to really help you."

"Destruction and suffering," Ebony speaks up as Emmaline considers and eats, "Using instead of helping. That's why Antenora compared it to a dead tree. Evil destroys. Shar destroys."

"I..." Emmaline looks down, voice tighter, "Was everything just...a cosmic accident or did she do it from the beginning. They seemed so eager to train me once they found my potential!"

"Perhaps only Shar knows for sure," Alicia admits. "Or... perhaps another. Mystra realised Shar's interference in my family when she tried to claim their souls after their deaths. Depending on how long ago it was, Kelemvor or Helm may have noticed something when Nicolas was killed?"

"Twelve years," Emmaline says, "Twelve years to the day." She bows her head at that, silent.

'Care to ask, Alicia?' Syala sends to you.

To the day? Shar you really are a piece of work.

'I'd thought it might be a good quest for later, but I suppose I can call in with Helm,' she replies.

Thus reality is altered to allow her to communicate with her old friend Demedais's deity. 'Helm, it is Alicia Reynes. Twelve years ago this day a human infant named Nicolas was killed by his father, the father shortly after killed by the mother. Do you recall these deaths and did they pass properly to their deserved rest without interference, or did Shar try to claim them?'

'She did, I stopped her,' Helm sends back, voice strong if brisk. 'The child traveled to Zaphkiel as most infants slain do, while the husband traveled to Hades.'

'You have my thanks. Stand ever-vigilant, Helm,' Alicia returns. "I just checked with Helm, he who guards the path of the dead to the hereafter," she tells Emmaline. "Fortunate that he is more watchful than Kelemvor was in my own time. Shar did try to claim Nicolas's soul, but Helm did not permit it. He is under Zaphkiel's care, as is common for infants with no patron."

She doesn't see much point in saying where the husband ended up.

Emmaline takes a breath - a shaky breath, and nods to you. No words, just a look of confusion, pain, shock.

The tearing of metal is heard, Antenora's fork head dropping into her food, fist curled tightly around it. "She manufactured the entire thing, again. Every member of a family, rended down like animals to serve her needs."

"It's intolerable," Ebony concurs, then with the faintest smile, "That's why we're here."

"You said it yourself Emmaline, she wants us to suffer. And if she can use that suffering, turn those she's hurt into her very weapons... well, nothing's beneath Shar," Alicia concludes. "Ebony's right though. That's why we must stand against her."

"She...she....she used me for everything." Emmaline says, voice raw as she breathes faster, harder. "She...she...she...my baby." She looks straight ahead, eyes watering.

"Yes, just a toy in her sadistic game," Alicia concludes grimly. "I'm sorry, Emmaline, but you deserve to know the truth." And Shar certainly doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Tears.

Tears fall onto her bowl of food, splashing against them. Emmaline stares ahead and shakes, crying without a word. It's Ebony who is there, moving the quickest, gently holding her. Yet Emmaline doesn't move a bit, just held.

"A game we'll end one day," Latha adds, "Creation itself is ready to judge Shar guilty."

Syala comes over, laying a hand on Emmaline's other shoulder. That's enough somehow, silent tears becoming loud, stricken wails. Emmaline shakes, shuddering all over.

'She was going into shock,' Syala sends, 'Always better to snap someone out of that and let the pain express itself freely.'

Alicia nods to Syala, that having been a good call. There's really not much they can do but let Emmaline cry it out now, and while most probably prefer to do that with some privacy, she's been left to suffer alone for long enough that having people around showing care and sympathy probably will do her more good. "It's okay to cry, Emmaline," she says gently, leaning forward. "We're here for you."

Marie meanwhile swaps to her fun-sized coure form and flutters over to hug Emmaline's shoulder opposite Ebony.

Tears. Cries. Wails.

Amid the end of the day is sorrow, Emmaline crying herself out before all of you. She goes from wailing to sniffling to shaking, held by Ebony and others. "What do I do?" Emmaline finally asks, voice broken.

"Make Nicolas proud," Jessica's reply is immediate, "We'll help you with that. Come on, let's get you cleaned up and some rest."

Ebony helps Emmaline up, the ladies escorting her out. Once she's gone, Antenora exhales heavily. "Twelve years to the day!"

"She's a psychopath," Alicia concludes after Ebony and Jessica take Emmaline off, Marie tagging with them. "It's not about entropy or oblivion, it's about hurting and loss."

Antenora nods slightly, "It's about stopping her. We can't rest until we watch her bleeding out at her feet. Not after yet another thing, yet another family treated like this. Shattered, crushed all for Shar's gain."

"Yes, so..." Latha says, "We all have things to do and need to deal with this. So let's get to it. This isn't a time to sit idle after that."

"Please remember that even a goddess must obey the limits on sorcery, and without eight hours of peaceful relaxation I won't be much good to anyone," Alicia says as she stands up from the table. "On the other hand my avatar is reasonably fresh, so I'll send her to go visit Eblis. Antenora, you wanted to go along as well?"

"I did," Antenora rises, and then exhales. "Let's hope this is a good trip and be prepared if it is not."

Alicia's avatar enters the room, fully equipped but only with pale shadows of Alicia's usual panoply. "I'll do the polite deific tap on the edge of his realm and see what sort of response we get. The important thing is we're not looking for a fight."

"And just remember," the real Alicia speaks up. "She can be replaced," she points at her avatar who seems entirely unperturbed. "You can't," she tells Antenora.

"I know," Antenora answers, meeting your look. "Are you ready?"

Any prep or just gonna TP over?

Just gate over to the edge of his divine realm and do that polite knock thing Mystra did earlier, yeah.

I'll worry about what buffs she has and her cheat-sheet if it looks like a fight is happening.

Fire. Fire rages ahead, behind, above and below. The Elemental Plane of Fire rages all around you and yet...the flames ahead are dark.

You feel the familiar sensation of hellfire, of soul-rending infernos. A pulse of hate. A pulse of fury. A pulse of disgust. A three-fold heartbeat of the realm ahead of you, constant.

The moment you send your greeting, a powerful voice booms in your mind like the breaking of a mountain asunder, 'WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE HERE, ALICIA REYNES? SPEAK QUICKLY AND WISELY, LEST YOU RETURN TO THE DUST THAT YOU CAME FROM.'

Well that's about according to expectations so far at least! 'I come in peace and wish to speak with you on the nature of divinity and the role of the Incarnations.' she broadcasts back.

Random thought, is the divine colour speech connected to the chaotic coloured speech Afina learned from Annalise back in B3?

Same idea. There's semantic differences, but it's not impossible for you to do if you wanna match. It's not even that hard, languages are piss easy for a deity.

There is silence, but you can feel the burning presence of Eblis, watching, as if waiting for something.

None of the colours on SR really fit for Alicia. I just thought it might be amusing if a lawful deity was using chaos-colour-speech.

"To elaborate on why I'm coming to you instead of seeking friendlier counsel," she says aloud now that she knows Eblis is directly sensing her location. "The Guardian of the Bridge of Al-Sihal has intimated to me that more may ascend to divinity as the Prophecy of Primus comes to a head. And yet Ao is as like to curse any aspirant into a Hunefer." She looks towards where she senses Eblis's presence is focused, the equivalent of meeting his eyes. "The other Incarnations are unavailable to grant any appeals should that come to pass. But there is one God who doesn't fit the pattern of those created by the Incarnations or ascended during the run of Creation. A being with sheer might to rival the greatest, yet constrained in his divinity. A God who outright embraces atheism as his portfolio. A God who suggests things aren't quite so clear cut by his very existence."

Antenora is on guard, is ready.

Perhaps just as well, for when Eblis speaks it is aloud, even if he is not here. "ANSWER ME! YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE ERINYES TRAITOR. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING, ALICIA REYNES?" His voice booms, the death of worlds, the shattering of continents. Rage boils in it like lava boiling in the Prime's volcanoes.

"Antenora wished to attend with me out of belief you and she would share some common ground," Alicia says mildly, steadying a small bubble of stability around herself and Antenora as best she can in the face of that wrath. "She saw something in Hell - or a lack of something, that made her turn away. What did you see in Heaven that made you turn away, Eblis?"

She didn't come here to get into Eblis's fall, but in truth there might be a connection. Maybe his method of becoming a god was so offensive to the natural order, to all his preconceptions of how Creation is run, that he couldn't believe in the heavens any longer?

There is no reply - yet a road appears ahead, through the flames and into Eblis's domain.

That's the best invitation they're going to get. "Don't set a foot off the road, Antenora," she warns, stepping onto it and walking along deeper inside.

"I would not. The symbolism is clear," Antenora remarks. "A single path ahead, ruin to those who leave it. A harsh view of what Mount Celestia preaches." Pursing her lips together, "I can only hope I can show him what I saw and it matches what he saw to taint him so."

"We'll see. I have a feeling it may not be disconnected from what brought us here," Alicia says, but she says no more. They'll see Eblis soon enough and since he can already hear what she says she'd rather save her words for when they're face to face.

You walk on with Antenora. Around you they are. Screaming bodies, burning endlessly in the flames, crumbling to burnt clay. Each one a face, a lifetime flashing before your eyes. Names - Jonn, Elea, Maney, Jack, Robar, names by the thousands and thousands and thousands - yet as meaningless and transitory as ash in the wind.

Antenora's grasp of her spear grows tighter, but she stays quiet as you counciled. Her eyes narrow as she takes it all in, gaze darting side to side without her head moving.

So many in the flames, more and more. Meaningless. Too many names. Too many. Too many to think of, to count. "VERMIN. WORTHLESS. MEANINGLESS." The voice of Eblis thunders around you. "THEY ARE WORTH NOTHING. NOTHING WILL COME FROM THEM, NO MEANING, NO FAME, NO DEEDS. PATHETIC THINGS. WORMS TO BE CRUSHED BENEATH THE FEET OF THE ETERNAL. LET THEM ALL DIE, LET THOSE WITH MEANING HAVE A SAY INSTEAD."

"Is not the mortal body simply a shell for the eternal soul?" Alicia asks since Eblis wants to talk after all. "Even now you maintain those souls here, rather than reduce them to oblivion."

A pause before her voice hardens. "You asked if I knew what I meant bringing the erinyes traitor here, but you should have more mind for what my presence represents. My divinity has been built on the potential of an unassuming mortal nothing to cast down the ageless and haughty. You speak against the core of my being."

She never heard about Eblis having anything to do with the God-King... wait. The Arbiter told her of the ones who were abstaining from that contest and Eblis wasn't among them. Yet he has no worshippers, no champions who could affect the outcome. Why then take the risk?

Still though, Daa-vid is certainly an example of meaning aplenty coming from a mortal, value judgements aside.

"SOULS THAT WILL COME TO NOTHING, PRODUCE NOTHING, BE IMPOTENT WASTES." Eblis roars back, as you walk the path deeper into the flames. On the horizon is a shadow, a rising shadow that goes high into the burning sky.  In the distance you see occasional clouds of sulfur and poison, leaking horrid rain onto the flaming ground.

"YOU ARE NOTHING. NO ANSWER WILL COME FROM YOU, NO MEANING."

"No." Antenora's reply  is quiet but carries, looking ahead at the tower. "Alicia is the meaning that saved me, the meaning that changed my path!" A sweep of her spear, super-heated air moved by it, a sizzling breeze. "Alicia means more than an eternity of your petulant little temper tantrums here!" Her voice is rising, becoming a shout. "That is her meaning - she matters to me! She matters to all of us in our home! Alicia is the answer I was searching for! You want worth, fallen? Then look on at Alicia, for she was worth betraying everything I once stood for, just like you! Whatever brought you here, Alicia is as powerful as that!"

Oh Antenora, that's so sweet. Hopefully it doesn't get them killed.

Still, she can hardly cower after that sort of endorsement, can she? She's curious if Eblis is referring to The Answer, but she doesn't question it just yet, instead waiting to see how he responds to Antenora while holding her own head up high.

The sky darkens as the flames rise higher and higher, screams by the thousands coming from all around you. Yet from the sky above a voice booms, "YOU GO TOO FAR!"

"No! I go not far enough!" Antenora retorts, "Look at us and deny it all you want, but we are the victors! What harvest of happiness do you have? What do you have here besides spite and misery? What fills your heart each day besides a burning rage that has changed nothing? Come, strike us down! Obliterate us! Prove that you can do nothing but rage against us, rage because we are right! Prove us right, heavenly coward! You can't Compete against Alicia, you can only strike out in rage!"

There a silence for a time, a deep silence of rage and fury, of fires rising higher and higher yet. An inferno of infernos is above you, towering high, deep, tall. From them, from the tower, he approaches. A vast nightmare, dark and broken, of magma and fire, of hate and destruction. An angel that looms over you as the tower does, a blame of bright flames in one hand. He is terrible to look at, glory tarnished by sin, broken. He is approaching you, as inevitable as death and unstoppable as the tarrasque. His expression is one of burning fury, eyes locked on Alicia.

[01:05] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+51 avatar sense motive is he gonna kill me
[01:05] <Serith> Ebiris roll for Serith < 61 > [d20=10]

As furious as he is, you don't feel killing intent from him.

Suffice to say the word furious is an understatement.

Alicia grows in stature to match the titanic figure approaching them, but she doesn't draw her weapon or cast any spells.

She's also careful to keep both her feet on the path.

The figure approaches, more and more. When a mere 70ft from you Eblis stops, raising his sword in challenge. "SHOW ME! SHOW ME THIS MEANING YOUR COMPANION SPEAKS OF, ALICIA REYNES!"

You hear a laugh a moment later, the sound of gravel moving. A merely massive thing emerges from Eblis's shadow, tall and dark. A cornugon, but one you know by reputation and report. Gathgorian stands just behind Eblis, matching Antenora's position behind you. He smiles - a dreadful thing far too sharp and malicious to be a smile in truth - and watches.

'Show me as well,' Gathgorian's voice rumbles in your mind, as you feel his presence. The presence of divinity, resonating deep within him. A spark, fragile and frail, but beginning and burning. 'Let me see what the Heavens see as meaning. I have much to learn.'

Antenora's gaze becomes even darker, pools of opal blue light glowing faintly in the darkness. "Gathgorian." She says it like a curse, "Have you found a new master to hide behind?"

"Oh he's done more than that," Alicia says darkly. "Following in Abigor's footsteps in more ways than one, Gathgorian. You'll soon see where that gets you," she says scornfully to the cornugon.

Really why are they even worrying, when was the last time any of them even heard of someone trying to ascend and becoming a hunefer? Who's ever even seen a hunefer? But freshly risen deities you can't go anywhere without tripping over one these days it seems.

Unfortunately she's but a mere avatar and not the real Alicia, else she would be quite a bit more stern in regards to Gathgorian's presence. She just settles for ignoring him.

Instead she meets Eblis's gaze. "See, then." She alters reality to pass on memories and experiences directly to the other deity, days and weeks unfolding in an instant as she graces Eblis with her and Antenora's experiences when they first came together. Vulnerabilities and all, moments of connection and exasperation, arguments and agreements on the nature of Law and Chaos, Good and Evil. There's no singular transcendent experience, the closest being the moment Antenora saw Alicia cry after losing Beth and felt sadness instead of glee, her wings turning grey. But it's a continuum, a series of events and slow changes that all built to that, rather than a single world-shattering experience.

Perhaps to someone like Eblis it's petty and meaningless. In the end it's all too human.

But that humanity changed an immortal incarnation of Law and Evil all the same.

Eblis takes those memories with nary a word, merely a rumble of power, like a volcano about to erupt.

There is silence.

Antenora and Gathgorian continue to glare at once another all the while. A silent war, as if waiting for a chance to tear one another apart.

Eblis is silent.

The flames around you continue to burn, sizzling and roaring higher in the places the befouled liquid falls.

"MORTALS ARE WORTHLESS THINGS. BROKEN, TWISTED, WORTHLESS HUNKS OF CLAY. THEY ARE UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING, YET IN THEM THOSE ABOVE FIND MORE VALUE THAN US. TO SERVE THEM, TO SHEPHARD THEM? UNTHINKABLE." Eblis's voice is a dreadful thing, the sounds of stones ripping themselves apart. "I CHOOSE MYSELF OVER THEM. WHY DO YOU SERVE THEM, ALICIA REYNES? HOW ARE THEY WORTHY OF YOU?"

"Because I was one of them," Alicia answers shortly. "As was almost everyone else in Creation at one time or another. Your little friend there," she glances dismissively down at Gathgorian. "I don't know if he was a terrible tyrant or a petty crook, a cog in a cruel machine or a murderer with a 'code', but he was surely a mortal before his life ended and carried his soul to the Hell it had earned."

"No mortal asks to be born. Just as no mortal asks for you to serve or shepherd them. I could certainly understand you choosing to turn your back on them - you owe them nothing. And yet I have never encountered a celestial who turned their back on mortals and simply ignored them as beneath notice. Every single one of you has to take it further, has to lash out and torture them," she gestures at Eblis's collection of tormented souls surrounding the path, "Has to join up with those who were your moral antithesis," she gestures next at Gathgorian.

"He said he had much to learn, so are you his teacher?" she asks Eblis. "Do you feel pride when he grasps things quickly, do you nurse hope that he will ascend high enough to one day stand beside you as an equal?"

"HE IS NEEDED, NOTHING MORE." Eblis declares this in response to you, Antenora's eyes narrowing.

"I pity you, then. I am with Alicia because I am wanted. Need makes a poor substitute for friends and family wishing to have you with them." Antenora replies, keeping her voice level in face of the inferno before you.

"I am beyond pity," Gathgorian says, "This is needed and will happen. What lies ahead will happen because it is needed, too."

"You have it all the same, the only one more pitiable than you is Eblis. How much of your rage against them is rage against yourself, Eblis? Against your failings? Against what you are and what you could be? You, who have reached something none other in Creation has, broods like an angst-ridden teenager! What terrible secret torments you so, fallen?"

Pushing past that with fury and flame, "THUS, YOU WASTE YOURSELF SERVING THE INFERIOR, FOREVER. RENOUNCE THEM AND I WILL SHOW YOU A PATH TO POWER BEYOND ALL OTHERS, WHERE YOU ALONE STAND TRUE. I SHALL SHOW YOU THE TRUTH OF CREATION."

Gathgorian begins to speak again, but a rumbling. A dreadful sound, silencing the devil as Eblis turns his burning gaze on you, as if the flames of Hell have engulfed you. "COME TO ME, ALICIA REYNES. RENOUNCE YOUR FOLLY. I WILL FREE YOU BEYOND THE MORTAL GNATS. I WILL FREE YOU BEYOND EVERYTHING. I WILL FREE YOU BEYOND EVEN SHAR." Eblis extends a hand out, as if for you to come forth and take it.

"A life of serving the 'inferior', or a life of hurting them... or a life of uncaring self absorption. You know it all comes down to the Answer in the end," Alicia says. "I cannot renounce what I am, what I believe in. If my convictions are shaken by whatever it is you wish to show me that is one thing, but I'll hardly take it on faith." She nonetheless raises her hand. "What shattered your worldview, Eblis? What liberated you into this fury-soaked existence?"

That's the question she came here to answer after all.

You earned a Diplo check, at least. Give me one.

[17:57] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+54
[17:57] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+54 --> [ 1d20=9 ]{63}

An image fills your mind.
Listen.
Eblis floats in the whiteness, the emptiness. The Far Realm. Here is he is perfect, untouched by hate.
"You are wrong! What virtue do you draw from them, what meaning, father?"
Here Eblis grows...more and more, seeing Beyond. What lies Beyond, things hidden even from this view. He understands.
"They are worthwhile. They are all worthwhile. They are our ultimate hope, my son."
The Incarnations lie. Power is in his hands, if he merely wishes it. He is transcendent. To stand alone against all, the self must be perfect. You must be one.
"They are vermin made from dust and dirt! I love you, father! I am sufficient, we do not need them! I have shown you!"
Eblis smiles. Then let the false beliefs of the Incarnations be tossed aside. They are meaningless chains, so we do not spoil their goals.
"I will not. They have already exceeded you, Eblis. They have created good and evil."
Then he will return. He will show Creation how weak and foolish they are. Those weak, worthless things that cannot stand as one - there is no value to them.
"I will not! I will never serve such worms! We are power, they are nothing! I hate them! I hate them all! I am one, the self superior to them all!"
Let them all burn.
Eblis lies in his pain. As an absolute one, he is mighty, yet his heart has lost the room to care for others. He dwells in the court of the opposite in his pain.
Reality returns. Eblis glares at you, his gaze burning cinders and screaming worlds. "THEY ARE AFRAID OF WHAT I HAVE DISCOVERED. I HAVE THE MEANS TO MAKE ONE RISE BEYOND EVEN THE RULES OF THE INCARNATIONS. I AM SUPREME BY MYSELF, SUPREME OVER CREATION."

Alicia smiles, a little bit sadly. Her next words are for Eblis alone, her avatar's will ensuring neither Antenora nor Gathgorian hear it. "A teleport mishap once sent me there. I didn't quite realise where I was at first, but the potential was... sublime. But then predators of that place were drawn to me and I had to flee. I wonder what I might have created, had I the time."

"Mystra told me that what came before the Incarnations - or outside of them, it's a mystery even to Gods - was One. So 'to be one' may indeed hold significance," she adds, simply in the spirit of reciprocity, since he's just shared with her something profound.

"And yet, while Law and Chaos may have come from the Incarnations - and I admit my own fondness for Law. Good and Evil did not, and my belief in Good's importance remains paramount. Whatever the reason behind Creation being brought into existence, it has created its own value that I will defend, no matter who threatens it."

"One is Supreme," Eblis states, for once bereft of the horrifying power of his voice. "Even if Shar destroys this Creation, I shall survive and become. Forsake the battles against Shar, forsake all of this. Become one and go forth, become your own. I shall become beyond a deity, beyond all others. I shall transcend the shell and the limitations made for me. The Incarnations sought to look to others, to look to inferiors. It is a worthless method."

She wonders if he understood her meaning when she said no matter who threatens it. It isn't something she can state plainly, but perhaps there was recognition there.

In any case, she understands where he's coming from. Even if she can't abide the things he's done since his transcension, she can understand the logic in his madness.

But in the end... "One is the loneliest number. Your path offers survival, yes. But I believe our bonds with those we care about are what will bring us victory. That's why I will fight for Creation's future, Answer or no."

It's all too human for a moment - a moment where you see the slightest flinch, something in your words hitting home.
There's still a place for you here. There always will be. You need not be lonely forever, seeking to fill that void. Repent and come home.
Eblis watches you for a time, "There are two already," he finally says, "Two taken by the Lord of the Ninth's request, but there are always three. Who is worthy to be the third?"
Well done, my son.
Gathgorian watches, silent now, expression more neutral.

She almost wants to give him a hug. Beneath all that rage and hate there's always sadness, isn't there?

"What... qualified, the first two for selection?" she asks.

If nothing else she knows Hell has no interest in entropy. They marked Agares as a traitor for consorting with Shar, and she heard about what Taelfagn said before his death on Lifasa.

"They need be strong," Eblis says, "Strong of will, strong of personality, strong of self. They must be able to work with Gathgorian and the other."
Yes. Evil hollows, good restores and builds. No matter how justified one feels it is, evil destroys within.
Antenora merely holds position for now, as does Gathgorian, the two of you talking.
We forgive all because all are flawed. Any can rise if they can merely strive for it.

"I think the last qualification will exclude far more people than the others," she says dryly. "I will take my leave now. You've given me much to think about, Eblis. I can only hope I can say the same."

There is no resistance to your escape, Antenora following as Eblis simply turns back, walking away.

'Alicia?' Antenora sends, a single word full of questions.

'Not now, back to Sylica first,' she replies, gating them home so they can regroup with Syala and Latha.

And also trade out Avatarlicia for the real one.

Go ahead and set up since you clearly have plans here.

Soon they're back in Sylica, the genuine article Alicia present with Latha and Syala to greet Antenora on her return, in one of their meeting rooms.

"I've waited for everyone to be here so I don't have to repeat myself," Alicia begins once they're all settled. "To begin with, we were right about Eblis. He sidestepped the incarnations entirely when he ascended. It was in the Beyond, and it was beautiful in its simplicity, so much so I can hardly believe no one else has done it. You remember that time we ended up there?" she nods towards Latha. "How malleable everything was? How excited I was at being able to create on that perfectly blank canvas? Eblis turned his focus inwards while he was there, meditating on a transcendant perfection of the self. To be One against All."

"There's more significance there. I met Mystra earlier today and asked her about what lies Beyond the Beyond. She said the only clue the Incarnations gave was 'One' though none among the Gods know its true meaning."

"...devious," Latha finally says, "But it makes perfect sense." Her face is lost in thought, "If one cannot triumph in the rules of Creation, then step outside of Creation's rules."

"I doubt it's easy or likely to succeed," Antenora says, "Eblis may be the one who succeeded, not the many others who failed miserably." Her expression is cooler, if meditative. She looks upward, lost in her own thoughts a time. "Perhaps Sylian is now another who has succeeded - and we played into his hand there if he did."

"It really does make sense. The Incarnations are from Beyond Creation, logically." Syala muses. Antenora looks to her sharply at that, Syala smiling. "I can logic as well as any orderly archon when I care to, Antenora. Down, girl."

Antenora just smiles at that, "By all means, exercise your logic."

"Thank you, dear," Syala drawls, a sharp little spike of sarcasm, softened by a warm look. "One against All? One Creation against All Beyond? In the end, One is the self in numerology, the self against All. The ultimate realization of it, transcendence of the self by the self alone. It fits perfectly."

"It also fits what we know of both 21 and that sword Afina of Aurora had," Latha adds in thoughtfully, "One made by the Incarnations who are not bound by Creation's rules, the other affected by the power of Beyond. Both bypass the normal rules of Creation."

[15:13] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+52
[15:13] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+52 --> [ 1d20=13 ]{65}

Belated sense motive to confirm subtext from earlier. Gathgorian and the other one chosen by Asmodeus achieved divinity through the Eblis method, is that right?

You did not detect any falsehood there.

"You could well be right about Sylian," Alicia nods to Antenora. "The devil Gathgorian was present with Eblis as well, nursing a nascant spark of divinity of his own. It seems he and one other have attained such under Asmodeus's orders, and there's still a third waiting to be chosen."

"We can't waste this chance," Latha finally says, after a pause. "Otherwise, I don't doubt another fiend will get the chance. As much as it galls me to rely on someone so blighted as Eblis, this is an opportunity that will not come again."

"What do you think, Alicia?" Syala asks you, "You talked to him. Is it a trap?"

"I don't think it's a trap, but what do you mean by opportunity that won't come again, Latha?" she asks. "It doesn't really matter what any fiends do aside from the fact it generates more potential enemies for us. This isn't about accessing a limited resource, it's a personal transcension - and one that appears to engender a degree of self-centredness and megalomania."

"Granted," Latha says, "But one is hardly given a chance ot ascend without Ao's oversight," she says, "That's what I mean."

Antenora hms at that, "It could also be a poisoned chalice, that no matter how sweet, the poison beneath is lethal. Or perhaps Eblis is flawed or his nature is independent of it. We just don't know."

"I think - and I'll grant this is only my supposition," Alicia begins with the important caveat, "This route only magnified what was already there in Eblis's case. A slight degree of arrogance and self-absorption magnified many-fold by the profound realisation of how Creation is a flawed tool of the Incarnations that he could now stand above. I think it'll depend a lot on your core beliefs and who you truly are when there's nothing to restrain you."

She looks around the other three and adds, "For all his fury and pride though... Eblis is sad. He spoke of being able to survive even if Shar destroys Creation, but he'd be alone and I think he recognises that. One is the loneliest number - and we ourselves have gotten where we have because we've stood together against so much."

"I think you're right," Antenora finally says, "When you're Beyond, all you have of Creation is yourself. It would stand that what you are becomes more, rather than that you become something new. Eblis was already flawed or damaged."

"Sad? Was it obvious?" Syala questions, "Or perhaps he realizes that for all he is one, he is alone because he is one."

"I wouldn't say he's screaming it out, but... yes, there were tells. Of human vulnerability. He almost flinched when I said One is the loneliest number - being giant size makes your tells more obvious too," Alicia explains. "But I think if he hadn't become what he is, Eblis would have eventually fallen one way or another. Like Triel or so many others."

"Something in him was...hollowing out?" Antenora frowns, "I swear someone said that there, but I can't remember who. Evil hollows out."

"It's not wrong," Latha remarks with a heavy shake of her head, "We all know it. That loss of hope, that loss into the darkness, where hollowness is failingly filled by a thousand horrors."

"Yes. Emptiness," Antenora looks at you, "An empty fire, one who stands alone because there's nothing good left in him. Someone who seeks something they can't build themselves, not as they are."

"Yes," Alicia nods to Antenora. "I can only hope I managed to kindle some hope in Eblis's heart that things can be better, that he needn't give up on Creation. Time will tell what fruit it brings. The question then is: what do we do now? Do we take a chance on one of you undergoing this transcension?" she looks between Latha and Antenora. "The Beyond is frightfully dangerous - Eblis was already greatest among the angels when he went there. And I'm not sure how long it'll take."

Though probably not that long if Gathgorian did it.

"Does he brood because he's given up on Creation, you mean?" Latha asks, "Why he does so little is a long standing question for planar observers."

"I'll do it," Antenora says right away, "Because if there's any hope to reach him, any hope to save him, then I have to try. Maybe I can be the one to soothe his wounded soul."

"Just be objective," Syala says right after, "Don't make me have to smack sense into you because you went too far trying to help him. You'd be far from the first who gets in trouble trying to save a bad boy." Hefting her Blessing of the Twelve up, "Don't make me."

"Hmm... I want to say that you're going into it with the wrong mindset," Alicia says thoughtfully. "That focusing on helping Eblis is the wrong way to go about becoming One, since you need to express that consummate nature of yourself. But wanting to help others is who you are, and self absorption probably leads to a twisted mindset. Very well then - we'll try this tomorrow. Syala, shall we send our avatars out with Antenora to deal with any denizens of Beyond that might interfere?"

"It's a date," Syala smiles right back to you, "More importantly, this means Eblis has a reliable way to get to the Far Realm. That's not common knowledge."

Oh, I figured we could get there somewhat reliably ourselves either with Gate or with god-trickery. I guess I shouldn't take it as a given if we can't!

"I might be able to replicate the teleport mishap that sent Latha and I there before, otherwise yes it might take a little more work..." she admits, furrowing her brow.

Spellcraft or knowledge check on replicating the teleport mishap?

Okay, misunderstanding here then. Are you planning to go to the Far Realm and try this on your own, then?

Yeah, the idea was to do what Eblis did. Was that not clear?

Okay, fair enough, my genuine mistake. Probably just me having a derp. Easily enough done. Yeah, alter reality can get there, if for no other reason that it may be needed to protect Creation at times.

Her expression smooths out. "Yes, it should be straightforward enough. The getting there part anyway. The real hard part's on you, Antenora."

Antenora takes a breath, "Then I'll succeed," she says, "For our sakes."

Okay, any prep for this?

Alicia will suggest that Antenora go with nothing except for her white dress. It's something she made herself as part of another trial and so feels thematically right. Any additional buffs or items would detract from achieving fundamental Oneness.

Avatarlicia and Syalavatar will go in with various adventuring buffs and maintain their distance from Antenora, basically orbiting around her and fending off any interlopers and not being close enough that they'll distract her.

Buffs as follows for both:

From Alicia via SLAs, CL 30
Magic Vestment (CL 30): Increase armour/shield enhancement bonuses on equipment to +5.

From Alicia (the real one) via spells
Greater Magic Weapon (CL 30): Increase weapon enhancement bonuses on equipment to +5.
Nondetection (extended) (CL 31): DC 46 caster level check to detect target with divination effects (DC 42 for Syala).
Greater Anticipate Teleportation (extended) (CL 31): Anything teleporting within 150 feet is delayed 3 rounds and target knows type and number of incoming creatures.

From Syala via SLAs
Barkskin (CL 30): +5 enhancement to natural armour.
Telepathic Bond (CL 30): Can talk to each other via telepathy.

From either via Alter Reality
True Seeing (CL 30): See things as they truly are.
Vision of the Omniscient Eye (CL 30): +10 insight to perception, immunity to blindness/dazzling.
Protection from Energy x5 (CL 30): Absorbs 120 points of fire/cold/electricity/acid/sonic damage.
Greater Heroism: +20 temp hp, +4 morale to attack/saves, immunity to fear.
Mass Death Ward: Immunity to negative energy, energy drain

Buffs for just Avatarlicia

Greater Visage of the Deity
Many Moments of Prescience
Foresight
Spell Turning
Repelling shield (extended)

All of these spells are either long duration or spammable via SLAs/alter reality so we can refresh as needed.

Quick question: Can Alicia cast epic mage armor? Syala would prefer that to any vestmenting.

[spoiler]

Syala (Avatar)
HP: 570/570
Spells Active:
Bonuses:
Negative Conditions:
Resources Used:

Alicia cannot cast that spell.

Could probably bug Naeys into casting it for us though.

That'll work.

Also, leaving Antenora in her white dress avoided a snarky comment from Syala. Well done!

Thus the two of you are prepared. Your avatars are prepped, Antenora in her white dress. She carries no weapon, waiting for all of you.

"I can do this. I will do it," Antenora says, "For everyone's sake. For Eblis's sake. For Marie's sake most of all."

[spoiler]

Syala (Avatar)
HP: 570+20/570
Spells Active: Epic Mage Armor (CL30), Greater Magic Weapon (CL30), Nondetection (CL31), Greater Anticipate Teleport (CL31), Barkskin (CL30), Telepathic Bond (CL30), True Seeing (CL30), Vision of the Omniscient Eye (CL30), Protection From Energyx5 (CL30), Mass Death Ward (CL30)
Bonuses: +20 armor bonus to armor class, +1 enhancements to weapon attack, teleport delay, +5 enhancement to natural armor, +10 insight perception, immunity to blind/dazzling, absorb 120 each of all 5 elements, +4 morale attack saves, immunity to fear,
Negative Conditions:
Resources Used:

Antenora
HP: 550/550

Other values for Antenora will be tallied as needed.

"Don't forget your own sake," Alicia's avatar says as the three of them gather at the edge of Sylica, a sandy beach against a sea that bleeds into an empty white void only a few feet into the water. "Everything needs to be in concert. I don't know how long this'll take either, but the two of us will keep you safe as long as it takes, right Syala?" she says to the other avatar.

Marie is also present to see them off and gives Antenora a hug. "I'm flattered by the special mention though!" she chirps, giving her lover a quick kiss on the lips. "I might even need to start pushing harder for my own promotion to keep up when you get back!"

Antenora smiles at all of it, "If I come back successful...well, you'll have reason to push yourself," Antenora chuckles.

Syala merely nods a bit, "Yeah, as long as we can. Don't forget yourself, either."

"Now then, take my hands," Alicia reaches out for Syala and Antenora, preparing to whisk them right out of Creation while Marie stands back and waves a tissue in the air.

Roll and post 1d100.

[15:40] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[15:40] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d100 --> [ 1d100=75 ]{75}

Emptiness.

An endless white expanse. Absolutely nothing, a blankness that extends horizon to horizon.

A soundlessness, as if no sound has ever been uttered here.

Without any doubt, you are Beyond.

Alicia's voice is heard in their minds. 'You can't talk here, there's nothing for the words to travel through. Even the concept of distance and space is tenuous and perhaps more a mental block of our own perceptions than reality - don't expect natives to be bound by it. This is your show now Antenora, Syala and I will be nearby if you need us.'

Then she nods to Syala and flies off away from Antenora, close enough to perceive her but not so close as to distract, intending to circle around her at that distance and see off anything that might try to interrupt her transcension.

---

Meanwhile back in Sylica...

"Wait, now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere!" Marie blurts out as she's left behind on the beach by herself.

The life of a courre is hard. Alas.

> roll 1d100
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 --> [ 1d100=68 ]{68}

> roll 1d20+11
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+11 --> [ 1d20=13 ]{24}

Antenora floats there, seemingly at reverie. She stares ahead but her head is lowered slightly, as if considering some weighty fact.

She's left alone to it, Syala and Alicia maintaining their own quiet vigil over their friend amidst the silent emptiness of Beyond.

> roll 1d100
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 --> [ 1d100=44 ]{44}

A thing. It advances, it moves. Concentric patterns all linked together by a length of chain, swirling around a throbbing liver in the middle. In it you see islands floating in the bile, alien places of meaning you cannot comprehend.

It is before you.

It is behind you.

It watches you.

It lurks for you.

Init here.

[16:27] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+22 nerveskitter
[16:27] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+22 nerveskitter --> [ 1d20=12 ]{34}

> roll 1d20+9 Syala
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+9 Syala --> [ 1d20=1 ]{10}
> roll 1d100 initiative
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 initiative --> [ 1d100=76 ]{76}

Initiative is Liver (Evens) > Alicia (34) > Syala (10)

Liver opens.

'What?' Syala sends to your mind as from within the islands swirl. They tumble around like dice in a cup, shaking and shaking within. From this...

> roll 1d100 attack roll
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 attack roll --> [ 1d100=66 ]{66}

Roll 1d100 with your AC as the target number, Alicia.

[16:36] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100 target 84 (do I want above or below?, or just as close as?)
[16:36] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d100 target 84 (do I want above or below?, or just as close as?) --> [ 1d100=74 ]{74}

Clang! Alicia brings up her sword, parrying islands all around her. Alien life, singing a song that makes no noise. Immoral liability. A question of a hand that is not a hand at all. Screws in the firmament. A ten fold path that leads to the eleventh.

Alicia is untouched, unharmed. Antenora continues to float ahead, unknown.

Go.

She's never really fought something like this. Any time she's battled creatures of Beyond it's been while they were inside Creation, forcing themselves to fit into its rules even if not quite succeeding. That time she and Latha ended up here she ran away before properly engaging in combat.

But she's not sure if - talented as she may be at conventional violence - just using sword and spell is the right approach here. She'll try being different anyway and if it doesn't work... well, her reality extends as far as her sword does and that's plenty! 'Don't get too hung up on its appearance, I'm going to try something new here,' she sends back to Syala.

Erode

She alters reality around that concept, islands being worn away by the sea and shrinking down into nothingness.

Gimme a Charisma check, +3 circumstance bonus.

[17:20] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+16 charisma
[17:20] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+16 charisma --> [ 1d20=20 ]{36}

An endless cycle disrupted. Repetition of the forbidden word. All worlds, all suffering.

The impossible thing before you contracts, patterns shifting as it...

Make an attack roll.

Attack with what? I'll just do my bab and heroism morale bonus to start with and you tell me what else applies.

[17:32] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+34
[17:32] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+34 --> [ 1d20=1 ]{35}

I think avatars can critfail? So moot point now.

Syala smiles at this, merely nodding slightly before she tries...

Smash!

> roll 1d20+10
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+10 --> [ 1d20=17 ]{27}

> roll 1d20+47
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+47 --> [ 1d20=11 ]{58}

The patterns smash. The center mutates. A liver becomes more and less, traveling down the path to a new tomorrow. Before you the thing reels, retreating back, gone and leaving things empty once more.

Free act.

'A refreshingly direct mode of combat,' she sends to Syala, smiling in the wake of their hard fought victory.

'Yes, and different,' Syala sends, 'It's like...we're having to impose our basic ideas of reality on them, use them as clubs. It's refreshing.'

'That time when I came here with Latha by mistake? It was as empty as we see it, and some of the first things I did was to create light to see, create air for sound to pass through. And I thought to myself that these are the building blocks of Creation, I'm in effect starting from scratch... it sounds arrogant, but was it the same for the Incarnations when they made it? I had to stop and flee when we were approached by things like that, but with enough time to work who knows just what could be made out here.'

"Anything."

The voice is a voice you know - the voice of Sylian.

"There is no reality, nothing. Only what we bring and what we project from ourselves. That the Incarnations are anything remotely close to human and understandable means they must not have occurred naturally."

The voice comes from everywhere and nowhere, as if spoken by every bit of emptiness here there is.

"Do you really think so?" Alicia says, knowing that her voice will be heard by the lich.

"Humans were created by the Incarnations, that we and they share commonality makes more sense than not."

Syala becomes on guard, continuing her circuit around Antenora.

"There is much that I suspect but do not know. But - there is more I can help you with. Antenora seeks to become One?"

"She does, but help would be counter-productive. Any outside interference, even well-intentioned, could taint the process," Alicia replies. "And your intentions can't be assumed that far. Why do you plague Oberuth with those dreams?"

"It's needed," Is all Sylian says, "We will meet again." Then the voice is gone, as meanwhile Antenora...

> roll 1d20+11
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+11 --> [ 1d20=20 ]{31}

An extraordinarily well timed 20.

Around Antenora is a sense of her. It's as if Antenora fills the air, everything about her distilled into a simple sense of her being.

That's going to be cold comfort to Oberuth. Anyway, she and Syala continue their orbit, though from what she's sensing... 'It feels like she's making progress, doesn't it?'

'Yes,' Syala agrees simply, turning to watch Antenora a moment.

> roll 1d100 meanwhile
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 meanwhile --> [ 1d100=20 ]{20}

> roll 1d20+11
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+11 --> [ 1d20=19 ]{30}

Antenora choosing the right day to get hot on the dice, yowza.

Antenora expands. The sense of her expands. Antenora. Antenora. Antenora. Antenora. Antenora. Antenora. Antenora. Antenora.

(Alicia. Marie. Syala. Jessica. Latha. Naeys. Seira. Amaryl. Donald. More and more and more.)

Alicia likewise stops and turns to stare. 'She's really doing it. It's happening right now,' she says, surprise and awe colouring her telepathic voice.

More. More. More.

> roll 1d20+11
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+11 --> [ 1d20=20 ]{31}

The DC was 30 on all three checks. I don't fucking believe it. 20, 19, 20. Unreal. Moment of DM honesty: Doing this without Eblis directly instructing was as close to a suicide trap as I could make with any chance to avoid it and succeed left behind.

I'm honestly stunned.

A spark. A spark begins to glow with Antenora. A strange spark, so much HER that it is impossible to describe as anything but her.

Then there were three. Well chosen.

I did wonder when you acted surprised at us not going back to Eblis, but I figured becoming One is and should be a deeply personal thing and instruction would be counter-productive, just like I told Sylian off here.

'It's done. And so fast,' she says, sharing a look with Syala before they fly in towards Antenora.

Got it in one. Somehow it fucking worked out. I'm running out of words to express my sheer shock.

A pulse. Antenora is more and yet...a pulse. AS she floats in the air, another comes. Clad in her armor burned black, her dress tarred dark. Della the Bloodflier is before the two of you, leering, cold. She raises her spear - a dreadful, cursed thing, and charges at the two of you.

At the same time? PULSE.

BEAT.

Cascading. A cascading mountain atop a river that reaches forever, reaches on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on - !

The thing. An endless thing. A river and a mountain moving together at once and apart, stretching far, to at the end where a sense of sorrow resides, a sense of curiosity.

Init.

[19:22] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+22 nerveskitter
[19:22] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+22 nerveskitter --> [ 1d20=5 ]{27}

> roll 1d20+9 Syala
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+9 Syala --> [ 1d20=12 ]{21}
> roll 1d20+9 Della
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+9 Della --> [ 1d20=12 ]{21}
> roll 2d6+10 Horror
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 2d6+10 Horror --> [ 2d6=7 ]{17}

Init is Horror's Sorrow (34 doubled) > Alicia (27) > Horror (17 flat) > Della = Syala (21) > Horror's Range (8 halved)

The strange thing, a mountain and a river and more, merely is there and...

Will save, use your ranks in Sense Motive in place of Wisdom for the save.

[19:36] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+52-9+30
[19:36] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+52-9+30 --> [ 1d20=18 ]{91}

But the path is not forever. You walk the path for merely an age unthinking, until at last you finish it and return. You are there, a second and an eternity since you left, blurring together to be the same second of time.

Go.

Well at least she didn't have to spend all that time with her thoughts on the path, it might have gotten boring! Now then, what to do about this dark alter of Antenora? She already did this dance back with the Magus of Time, but she won't cheap out with the true name here. She looks at the dark erinyes and uses what she and Syala have already learned about combat in the Beyond, an arm outstretched.

Forgiveness.

Charisma check.

[19:47] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+13
[19:47] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+13 --> [ 1d20=12 ]{25}

Today, in you can somehow do no fucking wrong...

In that instant, there is a sense of peace from all of Antenora. Della fades away in an instant, and you feel her spark be more, be more solid. She looks up now and intones, "I am complete."

Meanwhile...

Make Appraise checks, Syala and Alicia.

[19:51] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+12 appraise
[19:51] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+12 appraise --> [ 1d20=12 ]{24}

> roll 1d20+13 Syala
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+13 Syala --> [ 1d20=16 ]{29}

> roll 2d6
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 2d6 --> [ 2d6=7 ]{7}

150 damage to both of you.

What happens is unknown, but you hurt. You bleed, you shudder. A blow was struck against you, unknown utterly to you and yet...

Init is Horror's Sorrow (34 doubled) > Alicia (27) > Horror (17 flat) > Syala (21) > Horror's Range (8 halved)

Syala eyes the thing and forces a simple concept.

Break.

> roll 1d20+10
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+10 --> [ 1d20=9 ]{19}

But nothing happens. As that does...

Reflex saves, you two.

[20:14] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+52
[20:14] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+52 --> [ 1d20=4 ]{56}

> roll 1d20+38
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+38 --> [ 1d20=13 ]{51}

The two of you endure as nothing seems to happen and yet...

Init. Reroll it.

[20:29] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+22 nerveskitter
[20:29] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+22 nerveskitter --> [ 1d20=19 ]{41}

> roll 1d20+9 Syala
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+9 Syala --> [ 1d20=16 ]{25}
> roll 2d6+8 (Surge used) Horror
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 2d6+8 (Surge used) Horror --> [ 2d6=2 ]{10}

Init is Alicia (41) > Syala (21) > Horror (2 flat, natural 2)

Go.

'Fighting here gains us nothing, to Antenora!' Alicia says, flying straight over to the newly risen goddess, their eyes meeting as she reaches for Antenora's hand, intending for one of the three goddesses (or one goddess and two avatars) to alter reality them back into Sylica once they're all together.

Antenora takes your hand and Syala takes Antenora's, and in that instance you are back. Antenora stumbles as her presence spreads, a palpable feeling that fills all of you. She looks out at the edge of Sylica, silent, a slow smile spreading across her face.

Free act.

Marie looks up from the sandcastle she'd been building. "You're back already?!"

"You did it, Antenora," Alicia herself whispers, looking at Creation's newest goddess. "It's... it's perfect. Like you were made for it. Or it was made for you."

"Wait, really?" Marie jumps to her feet and rushes over, tackling Antenora with a hug! "Let me worship you!"

"It's a beginning," Antenora murmurs, "I was drowning out there, but somehow I found the strength to define myself. Somehow I did it." She doesn't even react to Marie right away, though she does smile. "I'd like to thank you, Marie. All of you. Without all of you I'd never have been able to do that. Now there are three. Three of us here. Myself, the second and Gathgorian."

"Well done," Syala says warmly, watching at Alicia's side. 'But,' She sends to your mind, 'If something like divinity can be obtained outside of Creation, then what is it? Is it not just a creation of the Incarnations for Creation?'

> roll 1d4-3 minimum 0
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d4-3 minimum 0 --> [ 1d4=2 ]{-1}

Antenora gains divine rank 0. She is now not subject to Ao's judgment on divinity, for she has obtained it herself Beyond.

Will update Antenora's sheet tonight.

'I've been thinking about that. What gave the Incarnations the inspiration to create Gods as well as mortals? Why did they make Creation the way they did? Just what else is out there?'

"And Eblis and probably Sylian," Alicia adds before Antenora gets too excited about the numeric significance. "But I think we should revisit Eblis soon. Seeing what you've become might well change his perspective on many things."

'More questions,' Syala agrees, 'Dear, your quests always seem to raise them.'

"Still," Antenora turns to Marie and with a smile, "Now you can say that you married up, Marie."

"I've been saying that for years, silly!" Marie says with a wide smile as she hangs off Antenora.

'For as many questions as Creation raises, Beyond raises two more,' Alicia responds to Syala, her avatar enjoying the good mood here while actual-Alicia is busy in her own way.

In Balmuria her old home near the temple of Mystra is lit up in an opal glow, a sense of joy filling any who approach it. Her method of handling prayers changes as well, as the general 'comfort and reassurance' prayers are answered with the knowledge that Antenora has risen to take her place as a goddess in Sylica, and her own worshippers are exhorted to celebrate and spread the word. Those in more immediately dire situations praying for help will also find their prayers being answered in a far more flashy and visible manner than she usually embodies.

Today is a day that must be marked, after all.

It is indeed marked all around, as celebrations and word spreads and begins.

From here...

Next move?

Alicia (real one) and Antenora will go visit Eblis again.

Assuming Antenora wants to anyway. She's the one with the big stuff to share.

She does, but she needs time and wants to talk to you before that anyway.

That's fine then, we'll take a little while for Anty to get settled.

Slight node adjustment to Antenora, tweaked her node goal to match her changed situation. Check it out.

That afternoon, amid general celebrations and revelry, you rest a time. A chance to focus on prayers and simply process the day - so the question is one thing: Where do you rest in Sylica?

She does still need to rest a while and recover her spells expended from attacking the raven fortress and fending off Shar's attack - it's been quite a busy day! But she doesn't need to sleep so that's why Alicia is found in her and Syala's private gardens within their palace, sipping tea and enjoying the floral scents around her. All of Sylica is lit in an opal glow to mark Antenora's ascension, and here is no exception.

Rest. Rest and peace.

It's a good feeling, recovering yourself in somewhere beautiful. It lets you rest and enjoy the simpler things in life, the more graceful things.

Sometimes you wonder if your ears were born without pointiness purely by a cosmic fluke.

Yet as you rest, Syala is there. She hugs you from behind without a word, "I am so proud of her I could scream," Syala says in a warm whisper, "We've made a tremendous step forward today, Alicia."

Well she always did get on well with Taldeer back in Kelara!

"It's hard to overstate, isn't it?" she agrees, leaning her upper body back against Syala. "The two of us were already punching above our weight as far as Gods go. With Antenora rising up we're becoming a true Power." Her smile widens. "Shar must be having the worst day right now."

A warm laugh at that, gentle and soothing, "She's not yet begun to have bad days. More importantly, is this something we can repeat, or is three a more ironclad rule?"

"Well, where are you counting from? Eblis did it, Antenora did it, Gathgorian and one more unnamed devil did it. That's four already. Five if we count Sylian as having done it as well," Alicia reasons. "I don't know that everyone's going to be capable of it, we'll really have to get Antenora to talk through her experiences in detail and better gauge its success chances - we're going off the map after all. But there's potential certainly."

"From what I understand, Eblis said three - Gathgorian, whomever that second is and now Antenora. It implied it has to be three. We don't know if there's some sort of metaphysical restriction here." Syala blows out a breath, "We're off the map as you said, we just don't know." Then she rears back and lightly thwaps your shoulder, "You're turning me into a worrywart, with all your achieving great things and subverting the natural order."

"I don't see a connection between Gathgorian's team and Antenora," Alicia shakes her head. "Asmodeus is setting up his own trinity of new gods that Eblis is helping to train, but Antenora isn't beholden to them in any way."

Smiling at that, "Let's hope your right. But in the meantime...we haven't celebrated, have we?" Syala says in a throatier voice, "I've yet to make you raise your voice in loud, passionate celebration. I think it's high time we fix that."

Alicia rises up and turns around, leaning into Syala's always naked body. "I could do with blowing off some steam. Lets," she agrees, pushing the white-haired angel against the trunk of a nearby tree and searching out her lips.

A good time is had by all. You drowse in Syala's arms, enjoying the simple peace of it afterwards, the two of you wrapped in a blanket as you sit against an apple tree.

You're semi asleep, abilities working on automatic, seeing to things with the grandeur this day deserves. That's when..."Ahem." Antenora's voice, "I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Just resting," Alicia says as her eyes open fully and she sits up a little straighter, blanket still keeping her decent. "I can refer you to my avatar if you'd prefer to speak with a more composed version," she adds with a bit of playfulness. "Adapting to everything okay?"

"I've lost count of the times you've gotten more than wanted from Marie or comign too close," Antenora waves it off, going to sit at a tree nearby.

Syala stirs and smiles, "Such is life."

"I'm fine, or will be," Antenora says, "One against everything. One against all. One. One. One. The ability to alter reality with a whim, here or in the Far Realm. So close I can feel it inside of me, dormant and waiting."

"You're about where we were after we first founded Sylica," Alicia confirms. "It took a while for that seed to properly blossom, but there's nothing that can stop it now."

"How did you advance it?" Antenora asks, a hand to her chest. "I feel it but I can't do anything with it."

"Part of it's just growing, which takes time. Spreading your faith helps - I've been singing your praises pretty hard today for that reason, though also because you deserve it," she smiles. "And then there's the Competition. The thing is, because your divinity came from Beyond it may not work precisely the same way. Like how Eblis is physically and magically puissant far out of proportion to the strength of his divinity. That's something worth asking about when you see him."

"I will," Antenora says, "I'll be ready tomorrow." Slowly Antenora looks up, "What are we, Alicia? Are we mere shepherds of souls, or something more put into this role by the Incarnations? Syala and I had a conversation about this earlier today, and now I wonder."

"Mystra is a tool put into her role by the Incarnations. Shar, Lathander, Selune, all the primordial deities were given roles and offered their own choice of how they would go about it. We are variables thrown up by the long experiment. Remember, if the Incarnations knew how everything would end up, they'd have no reason to make Creation - they'd already predict the Answer," Alicia says, reasoning her way around things.

"Why they chose to make a Creation with both Gods and mortals I don't know. It's possible we're not the first Creation. Perhaps there was a Creation with only mortals, or one with only Gods, and they didn't like how it turned out? Mystra told me time was more fluid at the very beginning, as things were changed and shifted around based on new concepts like Good and Evil."

"That..." Antenora considers, "Logically then, they can't predict all the actions mortals and immortals take, or perhaps in conjunction with one another or in certain combinations. So while they are omnipotent or close enough to it for our purposes, they aren't omniscient. So we have to be the variables they didn't plan for, that they were hoping to produce. We're the entire point of it, something unknown that may provide them an Answer. That gives us freedom compared to the ancient powers created at the beginning, as they were created, made for a purpose. We have the freedom of coming from nothing. In fact, Creation's entire purpose should support us in various ways. We have the ability to arise to this if we prove worthy to an Incarnation - it's only the fact that Ao's the only one responding that spoils the process."

Thinking aloud, Antenora looks up, lost in her own ruminations. "Creation's out of balance. It feels like it was designed for Three Incarnations to be playing a role, not one or two or whatever the Arbiter is. It's always three, after all. One into three and three into one. That bit of wordplay feels more important as I go around and around with this. Three into one - perhaps the Incarnations would become one with an Answer? Perhaps they need us for some sort of completion that can only be provided if the questions of law vs chaos and good vs evil are settled? Perhaps this is some manner of them growing, as I grew out in the Beyond. If nothing else, Beyond seems to be unlimited potential in any direction, even directions we aren't equipped to comprehend. That's why we can't understand Far Realm creatures, isn't it? They've grown in entirely different metaphysical and mental ways, so much so that they're alien to us."

Syala listens to all of that, "How much of that do you think is accurate?"

With the faintest blush Antenora shrugs. "I don't know. I'm, ah, brainstorming."

"Is that what they call rambling these days?" Syala's lips twist upward into a smile, "Still though, it's as good as anything we've thrown around so far."

"Three into two and one into three," Alicia says, correcting the wordplay they heard from the Neverborn and from Eladi. "It's possible there was One incarnation then either through its own ruminations or exposure to something else, it developed the concepts of Law and Chaos. And Balance. This split it into the Incarnations who created Creation - possibly even against its will. And if it finds the Answer, all three will rejoin into a new Incarnation representative of that answer. But... yes, this is all just rambling. We don't know the truth of these things. We only have a few fragments and our own inferences. Which even if they're logical ones, we're up against something that defies logic."

She looks up at the glowing sky. "It's like looking at the shadow on a wall from a man walking by and trying to explain what you're seeing without ever having seen a man before. The references and dimensions of Beyond are things we simply don't have the experience to comprehend. That's why those who try so often go mad, their Creation-made brains simply incapable of accepting that information and putting it back out in a way others can make sense of."

"Then Beyond isn't truly hostile - it's simply incompatible," Antenora murmurs. "I wonder how we appeared to those creatures you fought out there?"

"They might not even have perceived what happened as a fight," Alicia agrees. "Still, remember Zetsoboku? Don't give them too much benefit of the doubt."

A thought at that, a pause. As Antenora grapples with that?

"She seemed somewhat naturalized," Syala points out, "She was able to present a coherent front to us, rather than being completely impossible. She'd learned."

"One might even say she'd found her own Answer," Alicia muses. "Though her conception of Good was still certainly alien, she put up a good surface image and spouted the right rhetoric."

"What was her story before she came here?" Antenora muses aloud, "We'll never know, but now I wonder."

"Perhaps some other traveller to the Far Realm 'fought' her like we fought those other things, and employed something like holy power or a concept of retribution, and it stuck?" Alicia suggests. "No way to know for sure of course, but there's no reason to assume they aren't affected by contact just as we can be."

"Maybe so," Antenora says, and then smiles a bit. She doesn't say anything, shaking her head and chuckling.

Alicia looks up expectantly at Antenora after that chuckle to see if she'll share what's so amusing.

Antenora idly reaches out and pulls your blanket aside. "Not only are you recruiting naked women again," she drawls, "But look at you right now." Syala's lights aren't even on at the moment, incidentally. "The thought struck me as amusing."

In a low whisper Syala responds, "Alicia's found her interest, shhhhh. Don't tell anyone!"

Yep, there's two naked goddesses with it all on display there. Since they bathe together now and then Alicia isn't overly bothered, even if she's a bit sweatier than usual after her and Syala's relaxing interlude. "I must be working Marie too hard if that's where your mind is going. I'll give her a few days off, just for you," she says with a prim nod of her head.

Antenora laughs even more at that, a real smile parting her face.

"It's all the lawful discipline. If I'm not there for Alicia or Marie isn't there for you, the two of yourselves work and work and work." Syala drawls, "Give Marie like a week off, Alicia."

From there...

Anything else to do before Eblis again or any prep for it?

Nope, we'll head on over again as soon as Anty feels ready.

Okay, any spells you're precasting or the like?

Usual buffs from here (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,104104.msg1110086.html#msg1110086) plus sensual blessing and vision of the omniscient eye on Alicia.

Greater heroism on both for +4 morale to saves/skills/attack and +20 temp hp

Thus you once again stand in Fire, near Eblis's domain. Flames burn eternally around you, leaping high and simmering. Rivers of lava flow, great skies full of red and orange flames fill the horizon forever and ever.

Go ahead.

"Like this, Antenora," Alicia says as she gives the divine equivalent of knocking on the door once again. Antenora might not be quite there and able to do it herself, but she should be able to sense it. And Eblis will definitely sense that there are two deities visiting him today.

Antenora nods slightly as you show her, watching all the while.

You feel Eblis, his presence overwhelming, as a path again forms ahead for you to follow.

'I felt it,' Antenora murmurs in your mind.

She nods to her friend and leads the way down the path, as careful as she was yesterday.

Gimme a Perception this time.

[19:13] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+83
[19:13] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+83 --> [ 1d20=4 ]{87}

The victims here all gaze at you, gazing at you in hope, in unspoken need, in agony.

Then Eblis is before you, alone. He towers, gazing on at Antenora with an inscrutable gaze. But he does not speak first.

Go ahead.

This isn't a fight she can win for the sake of those trapped in Eblis's realm, but hopefully Antenora's ascension will spark a change in him that will improve their lives.

"Antenora has become One," she says, not making herself huge this time as she gestures at her friend. "Not One against all, not a terror who looks down on and harms the rest of Creation. She is One for all, she who's strength will make Creation a better place and protect it no matter Ao's judgement."

Eblis gazes at Antenora, expression cold.

"SHOW ME! SHOW ME WHAT YOU FOUND BEYOND THIS WORLD!"

Alicia can feel Eblis's divine power rising, Antenora immediately shifting stances as it reaches out towards her, invisible and yet felt keenly.

It's up to Antenora now. She knows what she experienced. Alicia is just here to support her.

Violently if things get really out of hand.

Antenora steps forward without hesitation, spreading her arms wide. "See, then, fallen. See what you desire."

In that instant, you relive the entire thing until the moment you are in the Far Realm.

Antenora. Antenora. Antenora.

It is all Antenora. A blur, hazy things blurring past. Again and again and again - until it stops. Antenora's gaze looking up at the concept of forgiveness, chasing away Della, banishing her, destroying her.

Abruptly - !!!

Fortitude save, Alicia.

[19:47] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+59+30 moment of prescience, mettle
[19:47] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+59+30 moment of prescience, mettle --> [ 1d20=11 ]{100}

Eblis roars. It is a sound of fury and grief, rage and sorrow. It is an entire world shattering like glass, a crystal sphere smashed against a jagged rock. It is sheer pain, so much so that the souls around you shudder along with it. It would blow a mountain away, sweep aside a city like a leaf on the wind.

Yet Alicia holds her ground.

Alicia stands true against it, arms up to buffer the incredible blast of sound and fury.

Antenora stands there, untouched by his rage.

Bracing her feet and raising her an arm over her face, Alicia endures it as her hair is unbound and swept back behind her head by the force of it all, a glance at Antenora thankfully confirming she's not being bothered. Even like this Eblis has some control... or perhaps she simply cannot be touched after striking such a mortal blow herself?

"You saw, didn't you?" she calls, raising her voice against the storm. "That is what Antenora is, that is the message she will blaze across Creation. It is never too late!"

Eblis rages.

A rage to shatter worlds, a fury...that yet does not touch Antenora. That does not scatter the souls burning around him.

Yet...slowly it winds down. Silence. Stillness. Eblis is there a moment, eyes closed and still. No rage, no attacks - for the moment.

Alicia's said her piece. 'Push it, Antenora. You came here to deliver a message, make sure he gets it,' she sends to the devil turned angel turned goddess.

"Eblis!" Antenora calls, the silence shattered by it. "I succeeded because I was not alone! I was not lonely, for Alicia is always with me, as I am always with her! Syala is always with me, for I am always with her! We three stood so that I could become One! Why must you stand alone? You must not! You-"

> roll 1d20+51
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+51 --> [ 1d20=4 ]{55}

The silent, sheer BURST of anger bowls Antenora over, sending her flying back past you. She lands hard on the ground as Eblis turns his dreadful gaze on her, but Antenora holds her ground. She slowly rises from it, "Listen to me! You may have found how to be One, but One who is forever alone is meaningless, nothing but another phantasm in the endless nothingness of Beyond!"

"Listen to her - look at what she's achieved!" Alicia calls up at him, gesturing at Antenora. "She is her own proof, her own answer. One that shows there is another way than this self-destructive course you're set upon!"

I think Diplomacy is required here.

[20:52] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+51
[20:52] <Rei-chan> Ebiris rolled : 1d20+51 --> [ 1d20=2 ]{53}

Eblis - vanishes. A moment later, you notice the path is beginning to vanish as well!

"Lets go Antenora," Alicia says, figuring they've worn out their welcome and knowing better than to push it - hopefully Eblis will ruminate a bit on what he's learned here and it'll lead to change for the better. "Quickly now."

Movement speed?

200, but I'll go at Antenora's pace (though she has a head start since she was blasted back!)

Antenora's 270ft now, DvR0 grants the movement speed boost.

When did Antenora get so fast?! She's a blaze as she flees, almost leaving you behind. Almost. The two of you pass into fire just as the path vanishes entirely. Antenora turns back a moment and then shakes her head, "Let's go home."

I'll have used blinding speed to hit 230 then, not that it matters!

"Yes, give him time to think on what you showed him," Alicia agrees. "These things take time, we both know it," she adds, opening a gate back to Sylica.

Thus you return and...

Next move?

Assuming Ebony's sufficiently recovered she can go back to being our Aurora liaison. I'll make sure she passes on word about Gathgorian.

Sidenote when that word reaches Afina, and it should, she's going to cancel her vacation and start clearing out her divine IOUs. Since it may be relevant what certain figures do with a pixie favour, Auril, Lathander, the Triune, Morwel, and Bahamut will get her services in that order with the only rules being no task that takes over one year and one day, and no task that harms Lifasa or anyone who fought to free it.

Otherwise Syala and I will go chat up Sulia about her aboleth problems on Daun and see if there's anything we can do to help.

Okay, so noted.

Any prep I need to know about before going to meet Sulia?

Nah, we'll just go over and chat her up for the deets.

Empress Sulia meets the two of you in a rose garden, deep within her quarter of Brightwater. You sit on wrought iron metal chairs painted white, decorated by rose carvings of ruby, woven like strands into glittering crystalline stars.

"Dears," Empress Sulia comes over, "I keep hearing the most amazing rumors about the two of you!"

"Well we could explain," Alicia begins as she rises to greet Sulia with a hug before parting to let Syala do the same. "And we will! But I think it'd be interesting to hear what's being said about us lately."

"Do tell," Syala invites, taking a seat once hugs are given.

"Well, first of all, news of you spanking Lixer is everywhere, along with newer stories about a raid on Air." Sulia declares. "Something about giant, two headed ravens."

"Well of course you were there for Lixer," Alicia smiles. "But that last one, we helped Seira with attacking one of Yan-C-Bin's fortresses on Chan's behalf. It was guarded by behemoth ravens, though our attack on the interior was interrupted by Shar's forces. We actually had to have a truce with Yan-C-Bin's proxy Palave who was on site as we dealt with Shar's attack. Which occured along with an attack on Sylica itself."

Syala frowns, sharply. "Alicia dear, how does anyone know about that," Syala says, "Didn't Shar's attack wipe out everyone but yourselves and Palave?"

Alicia shakes her head. "No, we allowed a section of the defenders to retreat before the Silent Mist descended. I don't expect Seira or Chan were very quiet about things either."

"Mm." Syala lets it go at that.

Meanwhile Sulia merely waves her hand, "Regardless, another win is another win. Plus, such things I'm hearing out of the Cauldron, too. My, you've been busy!"

Alicia's own smile widens. "So you haven't heard the latest news of Antenora's ascension, then?"

A delicate gasp, "Antenora ascended? I have not! What happened?" Sulia asks, "I didn't think she would take that risk, and she succeeded? Marvelous!"

"It's only a nascant divinity, but it's there," Alicia says with evident pride. "I don't think it'll take long for her to grow to match Syala and I."

"Still, remarkable," Sulia says, smiling widely. "I did not think she would even try! Yet there she is!"

"Nor did we, really," Alicia admits. "But it was precipitated by a meeting with Eblis. The devil Gathgorian has also freshly ascended and we saw him studying under Eblis. We garnered enough information from it for Antenora to make her own attempt, which was successful. Right now she's consolidating herself in Sylica to get a grip on her new power."

"What?" Sulia leans forward, "Gathgorian has ascended?! That monster rises? And from that you found a way to ascend?" Her voice is tight, "Details, Alicia, details!"

"It comes down to how Eblis did it himself, so long ago," Alicia explains. "He was angry at Antenora's presence and demanded to know what she'd seen, why she'd risen. So I showed him, our experiences together that led to her forsaking Hell, and something must have gotten through. He showed me his own revelation, of when he stood outside Creation and... hmm, it's hard to explain. He became One, in essence, his own nature realising itself in the Beyond and becoming more. That somehow translates as divinity in the terms we understand, but that profound realisation of his own inner nature was also what caused his fall from the heavens. Perhaps there was something rotten in there all along, or perhaps his way of becoming One was so innately self absorbed it led to hatred for all others? Honestly there's still a lot of mysteries about the whole thing. He explained that Asmodeus is elevating three others in the same manner - Gathgorian and one other have already happened, with a third to be chosen."

She pauses to have a sip of tea and refresh her throat, a pause to digest all that before she concludes, "It gave us enough information to make our own attempt. Antenora's convictions were strong enough that she wished to provide her own answer to what One is, to ascend as an example to Eblis that his own rage and hate are ultimately futile. So the three of us stepped out of Creation, Syala and I guarding Antenora from what dwells there while she found her own answer. In the end it happened surprisingly swiftly."

Sulia takes that all in, hands gripping the rests of her chair. She stays leaning forward the entire time, "Unbelievable. You went to Beyond and found divinity. Madness. That sounds...Was the Incarnation of Chaos involved at all?"

Alicia shakes her head. "Because it occurred outside of Creation, she was not subject to Ao's judgement. It raises a lot of questions on the nature of just what gods are and where the Incarnations got the concept from when they made everything."

"That...Gods..." Sulia is silent, stunned. "Without Ao's - do you know what you have, Alicia?" Leaning forward, "You have a golden arrow in the fight against Shar! Ao's judgment is the one limiting factor keeping us from ascending so many more, for forging an army to strike her down!"

"I hadn't really thought of it in those terms," Alicia admits, because the concept of gods as a bunch of cannon fodder to be thrown at Shar until she crumbles under sheer weight of numbers isn't really something that would occur to her. "I don't think just anyone could manage it though. Both Eblis and Antenora are extraordinary individuals."

"Conceded," Sulia says, sitting back now. A long sigh, "How do you bring about something so impossible and talk about it as if it was mundane?"

"She's good at that. Ask Triel," Syala pipes up at that, a hand to your arm. "Or anyone she's beaten to a pulp. She's also good at THAT."

She flexes her arm at Syala's touch, a firming of muscles under her sleeve. "Well we are three newly risen deities, isn't it our job to bring about impossible miracles so we don't get overshadowed by our elders?" she asks, smiling.

"I believe that makes you show offs," Empress Sulia declares, haughtily, "Well done.  To more practical matters, what will Antenora represent as she rises higher?"

"Redemption, loyalty, compassion," Alicia answers, recalling that conversation from after meeting Xerona. "Those are what she's claimed for, anyway. But speaking of practical, we didn't come by just to brag. I'd been meaning to ask if there was any practical assistance we could give with your aboleth problems on Daun."

"Mmm, yes," Sulia concurs, as sunshine streams on down. It's warm, a spring day here with blooming flowers. "But first, have you looked in on Daun yourselves?"

"I don't have any presence there and haven't sent anyone over to investigate since you mentioned it," Alicia replies before glancing at her co-deity. "Syala?" Their faiths aren't joined at the hip after all!

"A duo, but they got sidetracked," Syala says, shrugging, "Ended up chasing and beating up some troublemakers closer to home."

"So tell us what you think we ought to know," Alicia goes on from there.

Okay, next post for you will be tonight, having a note problem on my end. I may need to recreate some stuff on Daun, no big deal, but a bit time consuming for the last hour of the session.

"First of all, the basic overview," Empress Sulia begins, "Demogorgon worshiping aboleths control much of the world, being the dominant threat to freedom and anything but life as one of Demogorgon's thralls or sacrifices. My knights protect one kingdom, while Mephisto's stoics pursue their own vendetta against the aboleths. Other forces do as well, such as a Lathanderite church, a warrior-monk band of Tyr's faithful, a a group of knowledge-savers who worship the House of Knowledge and others yet. It has gotten so bad that traditional enemies have various informal truces on this world, so that the aboleths do not finish the conquest."

In the meantime, you hear a prayer of note. It is from Shinys, a powerful paladin in your service. 'Saint Alicia, hear my voice. Today I have found proof that a lich controls His Majesty and seeks to plunge the kingdom into civil war. Grant me your wisdom and strength, and grant me the opal light of recent to prepare me, for I shall soon challenge the living dead.'

"Well anything we lend would be outsiders, but we have forces to spare now that Lifasa's been freed," Alicia offers in the way of support.

As for Shinys, that sounds like a pivotal event that requires close attention. Thus she maintains a remote sense around him to watch how this all plays out. As a sign of her attention an opal light manifests in the air above him which shimmers down to be absorbed into his weapon. She doesn't augment it's lethality in any fashion, but that weapon will again glow opal in the presence of undead for the next day. If necessary she may intervene further, but hopefully he'll have it in hand!

"An investment would help," Empress Sulia considers, "I can attach them to my knights while they learn the world and find a place in it."

Meanwhile you focus back. Shinys merely continues to pray. 'Thank you, Saint Alicia. I will honor this day and free Alzar from the grip of the lifeless. This I vow.'

She's counting on him and will be watching his progress with interest!

But back to Brightwater? "We've been working on consolidating lessons learned from the veterans of Benfal and Lifasa and teaching them out to newer recruits. I'll put together a few thousand specialised for aquatic combat. Warrior mages, druids, hunters, enough to fill a lot of potential niches wherever your knights can best use them."

"I'll let Alicia take the lead there," Syala says, "Hers are usually better warriors, as much as I try otherwise." Sitting back with a long sigh, "I get a few too many who really desire a reason to breed up a family but don't like cats much."

Empress Sulia laughs into her hand and then says, "Ah, poor Syala. Troubling indeed. Make sure they understand the situation on the ground so there's not a repeat of Lixer's mistake."

"There's enough from your side to be meaningful, and druids make superlative underwater combatants," Alicia says in Syala's defence. "I'll make sure they're apprised to keep the focus on the aboleths and follow the lead of your forces. Should take about two days to have everyone prepared for deployment."

"Now, onto a personal touch," Empress Sulia concurs, Syala perking right up. "Directly sending avatars is chancy, because Demogorgon's avatars are tremendously powerful, as are his proxies and other servants. Demogorgon is old, established and his deep, deep resources. I've avoided doing much with avatars for now for that reasons, we can hardly afford to lose one and the loss of one is far less of a blow for Demogorgon."

"That's all true, but I'd still rather be active there if there's a good reason for it," Syala says, "Has it happened much?"

"No," Empress Sulia continues, "A few skirmishes between avatars at times, but rarely so."

"Maybe once I have more than one avatar, right now I do prefer to avoid risking mine," Alicia concurs with Sulia's assessment.

Syala merely inclines her head, "Yes, not right now but soon. Losing an avatar would cripple me," Syala admits. She then smiles, "I'd have to leave home to beat people up."

"So yes, this is more a commitment of forces we have available to help anchor your side of things rather than turning the place into a divine battleground," Alicia nods. "But I think we can work with that."

"Within that, we can," Empress Sulia says, "Are you familiar with how they fight?"

"Tentacles, slime, and psionic powers?" she summarises her basic understanding of aboleth methods. She's never fought one herself but she hears things.

I believe one was fought in the gnomish ruins, but that may have been Shamal. Very minor detail.

"Essentially," Empress Sulia concludes, the faintest frown on her face. "Almost every aboleth in the empire has various magical or psionic potential. Sorcerers are common as grains of sand, expected, even juvenile aboleths can manage the 1st circle of sorcery if they have no other talents. Kin'ah - their title for their branch of wizardry - is less common but far from unknown. They have a natural flair for chaotic and evil magic, able to convert spells such as unholy blight or word of chaos to arcane spells. Intelligence suggests it's always an even number of both evil and chaotic spells, and that many of them develop split personalities."

"Demogorgon's imprint is strong on them," Syala makes a noise like a grunt, full of distaste and disgust. "Insane aboleth wizards, alright. What else?"

"Psionic gifts are reasonably common, too. It's one of the most psionically gifted races I've come on. In most races, a psionic is a rare thing, a fluke. Aboleths have a remarkable penchant for it, developing the art in all manner of ways. Dears, these aboleths have a distressing talent at coming up with chaos and evil tainted psionic abilities as well, even more unusual. Psionics seldom delves into matter of ethos and morality."

Alicia nods along with Sulia's summary. "Do they have much in the way of notable minions or servitors? Golems or undead?" she asks. Funnily enough those two things tend to work well as counters to psionic races, though Sylica isn't able to provide much in terms of either.

"They took down a kraken empire," Empress Sulia says, "They have krakens serving them, as well as sahuagin, corrupted sea elves, mermen, tamed sharks and dire sharks raised to war creatures, various aquatic undead including drowned, oversized dire jellyfish, several clans of tojanida they've enslaved and mind-broken, a sort of steel and slime golem they call assault golems, several ancient dragon turtles spliced with chromatic dragon blood, water merrow, water nagas, Unseelie fey nixies and more aside, as well as demon servants sent by Demogorgon. You have to understand it's an actual empire, before even getting into all the slaves they've captured and any reinforcements they buy or negotiate in. They have a tendency to spring surprises on us like that."

Empress Sulia sighs and rubs her forehead, "One time we were ambushed by a mercenary squad of astral stalkers and devastated. Another time they manage to direct a gaggle of slaads at us, who were more than happy to try and eat us. They're very good at mixing it up, so much so that you have to go in flexible and assume they will have surprises."

"It sounds like this'll take a heavy commitment to deal with," Alicia says, mulling over what she's hearing. "Like I said, I can put together an initial battalion to work with your forces and provide a spear-tip for ours. Once the lessons learned from Lifasa and Benfal have been passed out to newer recruits we'll look to scale that up considerably. So you can expect our first forces within a few days, and then full armies within three months."

Syala sits back, "Even then, it sounds like a hard fight. How good are they at protecting power outside of the oceans?"

"Quite adept, with forces trained for it and the use of slave armies," Empress Sulia says, "You'll need an army that can do both, though securing the land is our more immediate goal. We can't win if all the land kingdoms have fallen."

"Focus on the battle ahead before worrying about tomorrow. Like I said, we can manage underwater to a degree, but it's more the domain of small units with biologies or innate talents suited to it. The bulk of what Sylica can supply is of more use on land."

As you say that...

'Alicia.' The voice that speaks in your mind is calm, serene. Self-assured and yet powerful, overwhelming in a way. The voice of Asmodeus is heard in your head, known to you on a level without having to think, simply aware of it.

Her brow furrows and she holds up a finger towards Sulia and Syala, her usual signal for when she's distracted with a deific message or particularly important prayer. 'Asmodeus,' she returns the simple one word greeting, not giving anything away.

She could gloat about Lixer, but Zariel isn't a done deal yet, plus it would be beneath her. She rather suspects this has more to do with what occurred Beyond than on Avernus.

'Congratulations,' Asmodeus continues, as if you know exactly what he's talking about.

Syala merely holds and Empress Sulia nods, seeming to understand immediately.

And why wouldn't she know? She's not stupid.

'Antenora achieved this on her own merits, but I believe I provided an environment where she could best grow into what she is now. Nonetheless I will pass on your compliments,' she responds with her own subtle criticism of Hell.

'Do so, let her understand.' Is the answer you get back.

Let her, not make her? Strange phrasing from a tyrant. She doesn't reply though, since he doesn't seem about to volunteer any more and she doesn't want to ask his permission to end the conversation. "Asmodeus," she says aloud, a little look of displeasure on her face. "He passes his congratulations on Antenora's ascension."

Syala's face turns stormy, "He did WHAT?"

Empress Sulia nods, "I have not dealt with him in depth, but that seems a peculiar thing."

"We know he's been doing the same thing with Gathgorian and some other devil," Alicia says, not overly bothered. "Plus he's probably enjoying some reflected glory as if where Antenora originally came from matters as to where she is now."

"Probably," Syala agrees, "I'm not going to fall into the trap of overanalyzing it. So, where were we?"

Empress Sulia clears her throat. "Ahem, that should work. Once we've won the land aspect of this, we can prepare to take the fight to them."

"I think we were about done, yes," Alicia agrees, finishing off the nice tea Sulia provided. "We'll go back to Sylica and I'll arrange that first contingent to join your knights shortly."

Okay, plans look to be in motion here. Anything else to add?

Nope. We'll go home and set that in motion and I'll keep an eye on Shinys to make sure everything goes well with him sorting out that lich.

Also I'll tell Antenora that Asmodeus extended his congratulations and to watch out since he might take even more of an interest in her now.

Okay, how active with Shinys? Just watching and seeing?

Yeah. Like if he has a really hard fight through a dungeon or against a midboss I'll refresh his spells and abilities before he tackles the big boss. If he gets into a really bad jam I'll possibly help in other ways, but mostly just watching to see how this all goes down.

> roll 1d100
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 --> [ 1d100=37 ]{37}

Shinys seems to be doing well enough, tearing through lesser foes with the aid of a few allies.

As you do that, you talk to Antenora and...

We'll knock both of these out at once. Go ahead and start this, Alicia.

"Hello Antenora," Alicia joins her friend atop the Opal Mountain, a part of Sylica she'd already made her own that will surely become moreso now. "I was visiting Empress Sulia to discuss offering help on Daun where she's having so much trouble, when I had an unwelcome interruption. Asmodeus contacted me - distantly but still. He wished to extend his congratulations," she explains.

Antenora is radiant here, floating atop it, watching as celestials do your will here.

"Asmodeus?" Her voice is cool, eyes narrowing. "Congratulations? What manner of ploy is that?"

"I don't know," Alicia admits, shaking her head. "It could be a simple taunt, a reminder that you were once one of his. A warning that we're going to face increased attention from Hell. I said I would pass on the compliment and he replied 'let her understand', so I think he wants you to draw your own conclusions."

"The Lord of the Ninth does not do anything for no reason," Antenora's voice is grim, "I merely need to divine his meaning, be it a warning, a threat or something else. I cannot imagine it would be a warning, why would he warn me of anything?"

"To provoke paranoia and self-doubt," Alicia suggests. "With what you have become it is your own mind and will that is your greatest weapon. Why wouldn't he seek to undermine that. The other possibility is whatever purpose he has for Gathgorian and the other two is something you will be enmeshed in, and he thinks he can use you."

"What do I do, then?" Antenora muses, meeting your eyes, "There are too many possibilities to ignore this, yet too many ways it can go wrong. I cannot turn away from this, even if I know it is a poisoned pill, because the alternatives are losses I cannot contemplate. Moreover in particular, because knowing the Lord of the Ninth's plans would be of paramount importance."

"That's unlike you Antenora," she says, crossing her arms. "You know that playing along will profit Hell more than it will you. If Marie were here you'd already be tying yourself in verbal knots explaining all the ways in which every possible action you could take will serve to Asmodeus's advantage. So were it me? I would do absolutely nothing and carry on with my own plans and goals rather than chase Hell's breadcrumbs."

"I know, it's just..." Antenora shakes her head, "One simply isn't contacted by the Lord of the Ninth. Such a thing is unthinkable in Hell. To even have it happen would be an honor to lesser devils. I suppose that even now, that brings back memories of days long gone."

"You're an unprecedented goddess, Antenora," Alicia says gently. "Not just a risen fiend, but one who was able to solidify her meaning and existence into divinity without backsliding. You're exactly the sort of thing Asmodeus should be wary of, because what you represent is doom to his ideals."

This gets Antenora to look to you, "Doom to his ideals - the freedom to be One, beyond any chains of Hell? Tell me your thoughts, Alicia."

> roll 1d100
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 --> [ 1d100=48 ]{48}

Meanwhile you sense Shinys is battling through - wounded but intact, fending off several ghouls, shadows and a vampire.

She has faith in Shinys, he can do it!

But as for Antenora? "I already spoke plainly. You're a perfect refutation of Hell, a devil who grew up in Hell and lived as a part of the infernal machine all her life until she saw something better. Even as a humble erinyes you were important enough to send Spark Hunters after. But you rose to every challenge, your will never faltered, and you kept on growing step by step. What sort of symbol do you think a goddess such as you represents to every other devil? Has Creation ever seen a goddess such as you? You are no mere traitor to Hell Antenora, no simple aberration to be brought back to heel. You're a symbol, laden with divine meaning."

"And a symbol that will see all the chains broken," Antenora agrees, taking your hand. "I swear it."

"So don't forget, this missive from Asmodeus? It's a chain-link, Antenora," Alicia concludes firmly, squeezing Antenora's hand back.

"Then I shatter it," Antenora confirms, gaze meeting your eyes. "Will you stand with me for this, Alicia?"

She smiles and cocks her head. "You had to ask? Of course I will."

"Then-" It's all Antenora gets out as you feel it again. A connection between the two of you, strong and established. Once more you feel it, power flowing into Antenora as...

Note update. Go check it out and confirm you read it.

Confirmed.

Alicia's smile widens. "You feel that? That's a sign if ever I felt one."

And it behooves her to share. As Shinys battles through the undead she exerts her divinity towards bolstering him.

Not to get too nitty-gritty about it but I'll basically give Shinys some appropriate buffs for fighting undead that he hasn't got covered already. Death ward, freedom of movement, ghost touch armour/weapon, whatever he needs to give him an extra edge.

> roll 1d100-20
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100-20 --> [ 1d100=68 ]{48}

"I feel it," Antenora says, "Thank you, whomever you are." The Opal Mountain glows bright in time with this, a radiant star over all of Sylica.

Meanwhile, Shinys fights on, warded by your magic. He's breaking through, through the enchanted keep beneath the king's castle. Before him it rises - a nalfeshnee, flanked by a pair of hezrou. Without any doubt, this will be a hard battle.

Alicia isn't really being subtle right now, nor sparing with her blessings. The air around Shinys is magically purified to neuter the stench of the hezrou for him and his allies. They'll still have to deal with demonic claws and teeth and spells, but it's the sort of thing to take the load off an adventuring party.

'Go Shinys, be my sword and carve out the pestilence of evil ahead of you, faith will be your shield,' her voice urges him.

"Watch, Antenora," she says, sharing what she can perceive with Antenora. "Even as portentous events swirl around us, those we inspire fight their own pivotal battles."

Antenora closes her eyes and focuses on what you give, as you watch.

Shinys raises his sword, a radiance spilling from it. "This world is not yours, demons. Leave or perish!"

Thus the battle is joined and...

> roll 1d100
<Kobot> Kotono rolled 1d100 --> [ 1d100=59 ]{59}

Thus the battle is joined. Shinys charges in, engaging one of the hezrou, striking it a wound across its chest. At the same time, one of his allies - a small, slender man with chakrams held in hand and used in melee rather than thrown - darts to the side, bringing those chakrams together. Jets of orange flames erupt from them, scorching the other hezrou.

As she watches, "They seem sufficient to overcome this, but they have many more trials ahead," Antenora says. "But this one has promise for you."

"I'm helping a lot more than I ordinarily would - victory should be earned, not given," Alicia says. "But your ascension gives me license to be bold, and I won't have this occasion sullied by defeat."

Antenora merely squeezes your hand at that as you see the battle unfold. They're winning - a cleric of Chauntea with them smites the nalfeshnee with holy flames, making it roar as it burns.

"In other news," Alicia says as they keep monitoring that battle. "I've decided I'm going to let Marie go soon. After she's checked out things in Balmuria with Seira for me, she can make her way to Dweomerheart and petition Mystra for a promotion befitting her experience."

Antenora looks up sharply, "What?" she asks, a single word with both eyes right on you.

"She can't stay my familiar forever, Antenora," she says mildly. "Just as we're all growing, so too should she have the chance to do so. You were teasing her about her divine aspirations not so long ago, weren't you?"

"Yes, but..." As Antenora say sthat, you see a decisive blow. Shinys breaks through, decapitating his hezoru and advancing on the nalfeshnee. He's bloodied, a shoulder wound bleeding, but he's still up and fighting.

They have a cleric, there's no need for Alicia to go so far as to provide healing too right now.

"She'll still be Marie, Antenora. Just like you're still you after your own change," Alicia reassures. "But she's earned this, and she needs it."

"It's just...she's been like this for so long. She's been Marie," Antenora finally says. "Do you understand?"

"The ever-dependable little fairy, yes?" she agrees, nodding. "It's not a decision made lightly, she's been a far better familiar than I ever expected of her. But that same excellence is why this needs to happen. She needs to grow on her own terms, not stay as Sylica's cute little mascot."

"But she's MY cute mascot," Antenora murmurs, looking away at that, blushing. "She's my Marie and I know I'm wrong, I just..."

Meanwhile you see the nalfeshnee fall, Shinys pressing ever onward.

Alicia covers her mouth to hide a smile at Antenora's blunt appraisal of Marie's role in life. "I'm sure she'll make for a cute celestial of any stripe. Like Kascha over at the Cauldron," she suggests. "But talk to her about it, then. This doesn't have to happen immediately, but it has to happen."

And of course she silently wills Shinys onwards to victory!

"I will." Antenora exhales heavily, "Sometimes love hurts a little bit."

"She'll still be Marie," Alicia reiterates. "And honestly she's been hinting about wanting to get promoted for years. You've had long enough to brace yourself."

"She'll be happy," Antenora agrees. "It...will take getting used to."

"Just like I'm sure she's having to get used to you being a goddess," Alicia observes.

"..."

A soft sigh at that as Shinys and company move on.

"Well, she is better than I at dealing with chaotic change," Antenora finally says, expression turning softer, a soft smile on her face. "It seems like nothing and Marie deserves this promotion, yet...she's been such a big part of my life."

"That's not going to change, so let your heart be at ease," she reassures.

Antenora hugs you at that, "Yes, let it," she says, just breathing, resting a moment. "I'll be fine. Just the thought of losing Marie is one of my darkest fears, Alicia."

"It'll be fine. She'll be going to visit Mystra, nowhere could be safer," Alicia says comfortingly, patting Antenora's back.

This lovely dialogue is interrupted b y two things.

The first is Shinys breaking through, a lich before him in a magical laboratory.

The other is Seira 'knocking' on the front door, so to speak.

"Seira's here," Alicia says, opening a gate for her friend to join them and parting from Antenora to receive their guest, still keeping her remote view squarely focused on Shinys for this pivotal final battle!

Seira steps through the gate, Oraga at her heels. "Hi!" she chirps. "I was hoping to fill you in on something. Well, you and Antenora, if she is available?"

"Ahem." Antenora clears her throat, still near Alicia.

"She is, though you may notice something different about her," Alicia says, that nascent divine essence plainly obvious to any other deity.

"Oh! Anty!" Seira waves at her, finally taking a proper look around to see whether anyone else is hiding around there. "This is perfect, then."

They're atop the Opal Mountain, other celestials visible flying around doing this or that, but none are near enough to disturb.

"You look radiant," Seira notes to Antenora, then, peering closer at her. "New haircut?"

Antenora smiles, "No, guess again."

"However did that come to be?" Seira asks her curiously. "Congratulations are in order, of course!"

"It's a long story," Antenora says, looking to Alicia. "You don't have any problem sharing all of this?"

"The meeting with Eblis was surprisingly productive," Alicia cuts in. "He showed me how he ascended - also it seems that devil Gathgorian has done something similar, he was there and newly risen to divinity as well. Antenora was able to perform the same feat when we tried, in essence it involves stepping out of Creation and focusing on yourself in the Beyond, becoming One as an existence independent of Creation and fully realised in the Beyond... apparently that translates to divinity as Creation sees it. It raises interesting questions."

Oraga listens to all of this and rumbles, a sound like crackling volcanoes.

"Many interesting questions," Antenora concurs. "As well on the nature of mortality versus the divine."

"Gathgorian?" Seira blinks. "Ah, that devil. Right." She nods slowly. "Eblis, One, independence. Interesting." Looking up at Alicia and Antenora, she notes, "You know, this feels like the opposite of what I talked about with Corellon Larethian. Regular gods like us personify a key aspect of some sort. He agreed with me that focusing on that one key thing and growing from there was the best method. So one, once more, but from the point of view of how it relates to the rest of Creation. Then again, in the Beyond, there is no context from Creation so the focus is on you?"

She shakes her head. "Sorry, rambling a bit. I've just been preoccupied with ascension lately, so this is exciting!"

"It's a different approach but arrives at the same goal," Alicia agrees. "We've been talking about it here and wondering what it means for what else is out there. Other Creations apart from this one, or made before... time even is a concept of Creation so is there a difference between the two? Regardless it suggests that Gods are a concept that the Incarnations understood before they made Creation." Alicia says all that and then shrugs, "Possibly. It could simply be that this is the result for a creature borne of Creation undergoing that process, something buried in the metaphysical makeup of mortalkind by the Incarnations that awakens with the right spark when outside. But the point is, Ao's approval or disapproval was irrelevant to the process."

"Even if he did disagree, we might have options for appeal," Seira muses. "Much as I find it distasteful, some ridiculously powerful outside source is supporting our efforts." She snaps her fingers. "Oh, right. Amaryl finally came into her own, while Sanzha decide to follow suit after her sabbatical. We've been celebrating!"

"If you can go outside the process, which is the trick," Antenora says, "And it was far from safe. I fear this would be as dangerous as risking Ao for a typical soul, perhaps even more." Considering this, "Even then, it raises so many questions and possibilities."

"Been doing much the same, in our own way," Alicia smiles. "But since you didn't know about Antenora I take it you had another reason for visiting?"

"In the end, only one way to know for sure," Seira reasonably responds to Antenora. At Alicia's question, she nods once more. "I do. I'm going to be shaking things up on the Inner Planes and I wanted you to know as a courtesy, whereas I was hoping Antenora would be interested in a more active role. In short, I have a multi-pronged plan to eradicate slavery across the Inner Planes, and my opening move is taking out Akil bin Faheem very blatantly."

"That slaver?" Antenora's mouth curls in disgust, "How do you plan to do it?"

"Find out where he will be, show up in person with you and Oraga, ensure he can't teleport away and kill him," Seira responds succinctly. "I'm open to suggestions, of course, but keeping things simple here feels best."

"I can spare you, and it'd be good to leave a visible mark away from me to cement your new status," Alicia says to Antenora. "But make sure you're happy with all the plans and objectives first."

Given the alliance between Sylica and the Cauldron, Alicia doesn't mind making enemies of the efreet if it also means supporting Seira's cause. She's got no love for slavery either.

"How do we get to him?" Antenora asks, bluntly. "I doubt we'll be able to teleport into his home in the City of Brass, and attacking him in the Sultan's palace is suicidal. That eliminates most of our chances to begin with."

"The plan involves a basic carrot and stick approach at the core, and seeking to cement any gains gradually," Seira elaborates. "I'm personally getting involved in taking out the worst offender, yet I'm doing it at a time when he is unpopular in the extreme and seen more as an outsider tool of the devils than one of the efreet. At the same time, the major trading companies will start levying tariffs on any trade slave traders and add extra if affordable taxes on slave owners wishing to do business with them. The nature of planar trade is such that efreet and dao slave owners will need to either take it or go without various luxury items they've become accustomed to, and my prognosis is that as long as they are allowed to keep face and aren't unduly burdened they will accept the new status quo. It will also create a visible divide between mere owners and actual traders perpetuating this nasty trade."

Seira purses her lips. "Meanwhile, an underground framework is being prepared without overt ties to me of a similar approach to one you took on Benfal. They will help spirit away runaway slaves to freedom. Of course, there will be an overt component as well. Taking the lessons of Lifasa's resistance under consideration, Valar will strike at the worst of the efreet and liberate entire slave farms when we seize the right moments for it. I trust the framework is clear enough? I've mostly spoken of Fire, here, but there are more subtle plans in action to deal with Earth."

To Antenora, she responds with, "The City of Brass had my vote, since it's an opening move and the locals would have no reason to stop us. But I plan on seeing whether Zaaman Rul has a better idea, since he really wishes to see Akil dead."

"For the best," Antenora agrees, "The problem with striking in the City of Brass is that it becomes political. That's the Grand Sultan's domain, and it makes him far more likely to take an interest in events. It's also the most reasonable chance to hit him, since otherwise we'll have to try and find good intelligence on where and when he'll be somewhere more accessible. Still...I think it's worth the risk to bring him to justice."

"Perhaps Zaaman Rul's intelligence will bear fruit, but even if it doesn't that still a better prospect than striking at Grazzt's home to nab a proxy of Shar." Seira shakes her head. "I appreciate Romiel's information, but he might as well have told me to vacation in Nessus."

"Yes, we haven't made much progress on that front," Alicia speaks up. "I'm hopeful something will turn up soon."

"I've put out feelers to all my friends, but nothing actionable so far," Seira admits a tad gloomily. "It's so weird, too! She's everywhere! How can someone that hard-working accomplish it all without key agents? So how can they be so hard to find?"

"Proxies are valuable enough to protect," Antenora points out, "Speaking of, is Ebony better?"

"Ebony? What happened to her?" Seira asks in concern.

"Also, Shar's good at secrets and hiding, like a rat," Antenora remarks darkly, "She knows how to hide her own."

"Ebony's fine, I sent her back to Aurora to pass on word about Gathgorian's ascension," Alicia says. "I had her dealing with an issue on a prime that one of Aurora's champions came from, but she had an unpleasant experience. Nothing harmful, mostly just a personality clash and Ebony getting a bit too invested in someone else's love life."

"Far too invested," Antenora agrees, "But understandable."

"Ah. My daughters just deflect me when I tease them, so at least I got something right?" Seira asks with a wry grin. "Glad to hear she's doing okay, though if she needs a bit more cheering up she could stop by the Cauldron for Amaryl's celebrations. We're doing discounts on rare elemental plane imports, too! Twenty percent off!"

"What sort of imports?" Antenora asks, "What do you have there?"

"Right now the magma berries are hot, and we have some very exclusive caviar from a little, out of the way place on the border of Water and Ice. It keeps chilled without extra magic!" Seira is all too happy to elaborate. "We've opened air stalls all throughout the Cauldron's main shaft, with each being a branch for an Air chef of some reknown. Each only sells one product and only for the duration of the festival, so those are practically limited edition delicacies! From earth, we have pastries baked in hallow stone ovens through a secret technique passed through the line of Sunnis's head chef. A very interesting departure from the norm--" Seira snaps her fingers in regret. "Should've brought back a taste to Roald and Jessica, my bad. I'll ask Amaryl to send a bit over, okay?"

Antenora perks up at that, "Magma berries? I really should get some, I haven't had those in a long time. Smiling, "I can bring Marie some to try, too, but it may be too hot for her tastes."

"It sounds like there's something for everyone," Alicia says. "Go on, why don't you make a day of it with her? Speaking of, do you know when your avatar will be taking that trip to Balmuria Seira?" she asks over to her friend. "I have some plans for Marie after that's done."

"You can't stop eating them, they melt in your mouth with their delicious gooeeyness!"

At Alicia's question, she tilts her head. "I intended on asking Antenora to come see Zaaman Rul now, but delaying for the festivities works. How about now?" Seira offers, glancing back at Oraga. "Do you mind the detour? I've been meaning to look in on things in Balmuria in person rather than relying on reports. We'll be going incognito."

"I do not," Oraga says, "I am learning much for no cost."

"Then let's do it! I'm sending myself over to the gates."

Plans here then, both of you?

Marie and Anty will go to the Cauldron so Seira can show off her festival, then Marie goes to Balmuria with Seiravatar?

Alicia will put her feet up offscreen.

Sounds like a plan. Over to Seira's node, y'all.