The Duergar are indeed an empire, they are a militant theocracy under a god of slavery. The drow on the other hand... worship demons. It is a testament to the adaptability of the elven mind that they are even able to make functional city states. That said they are of the 'respect strength' denomination of evil. As long as you are not a surface elf or the like it is possible to gain enough respect with them to enter one of their cities
Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Fantasy
-
- Tags
- pathfinder
The Duergar are indeed an empire, they are a militant theocracy under a god of slavery. The drow on the other hand... worship demons. It is a testament to the adaptability of the elven mind that they are even able to make functional city states. That said they are of the 'respect strength' denomination of evil. As long as you are not a surface elf or the like it is possible to gain enough respect with them to enter one of their cities
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You are writing so quickly... I finally managed to catch up.
Too bad I did not it a bit earlier... I would vote for the cook problem differently.
[X] Take your chances dealing with the fey, after all you do not plan to trouble their trees
I like fey stories.
Too bad I did not it a bit earlier... I would vote for the cook problem differently.
[X] Take your chances dealing with the fey, after all you do not plan to trouble their trees
I like fey stories.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Dude, this is going to be completely unjustifiable for Mina. Gorok probably won't like it much, either.
We have no idea when the slaves would need to be handed over compared to where our destination is. The chances they could actually be of use, let alone willing, are not good at all.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
How? And possibly, why?
Even though the decision is made, the plotline is not completely done yet. Sirim is talking to Big Oka in the brig.
Mmm. If the choice is here, it's because we think it can be justified.
It puts us on a timetable to betray the Aspis before the exchange, which doesn't solve the problem of getting to our destination, seeing as we won't be able to bypass the fey giants if we don't have slaves to give them. But there is a chance we'll have to strike before the arrival regardless.
Ah, it's in the forest, anywhere on the way to our destination. Makes sense.
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- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
For talking with Oka.
Because Mel is only temporary ally, and we need more information to make a decision.
- Location
- Argentina
The fact that this offers slaves a way to earn freedom is the justifiable part, though.
On the other hand, we could always hand weapons to the ogres and then speak to them so that they kill the Aspis on the way back.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
So, uh. Maybe it's time to talk about the elephant in the room.
What are we intending to do about the expedition? Help it disappear, no survivors? Are we planning to do anything about Master Ulgor? Pretty much the only reason I wanted to get to know him -- instead of the captain -- was to gauge whether we want to leave him alive and whether he could be persuaded to turn on the Aspis if given their cut of profits.
What are we intending to do about the expedition? Help it disappear, no survivors? Are we planning to do anything about Master Ulgor? Pretty much the only reason I wanted to get to know him -- instead of the captain -- was to gauge whether we want to leave him alive and whether he could be persuaded to turn on the Aspis if given their cut of profits.
- Location
- Argentina
Anything that does not strightfowardly mark us as enemies of the Aspis directly.
So I am game for all
- Location
- USA NYC
A new dragon paradox quest? Wow, I haven't interacted with a work from him since Sword Without a Hilt, which is on my things to finish list.
Arc 7 Post 14: Apocryphal Answers
Apocryphal Answers
19th of Lamashan 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
After a long moment's thought, you answer: "The river seems wisest to me. This creature, if it even exists, has likely grow twice again as long for every hundred miles stories of it traveled. It's a long way from the eves of the forest to Augustana."
Gavhaul laughs and shakes his head, though not in mockery if you are any judge. "Good to know some things are the same under the earth as above it. A pleasure speaking with you, master Akorian. Please take the bottle on your way out. I would not want it to go to waste and it does me ill to drink alone."
***
20th of Lamashan 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
Thus, wine in hand, you have on the next day gathered to hear what Sirim learned in the night. It makes for strange hearing, though an excited telling on the part of the shade. 'A fascinating knot of failures,' Sirim calls it. By his own accounting Oka had not always been a cook, years ago he had been a student of the Occularium, the school in arcane magic founded in the city of Manaket to stave off the encroaching sands. Their studies have apparently long since expanded to aiding the Council of Elders, sensible name that, in enforcing the far less sensible Laws of Mortality. To your mind, being militantly opposed to gods is akin to swearing vengeance on all rain and walking around with a bucket on one's head in the hopes of preventing any drop of it from touching the ground.
Regardless, Oka had, by his own accounting, been a poor failed student of the arcane, choosing instead to join the Pure Legion as a cook, though not before gaining the eye of a distant patron, one favorable to the opposition of the divine.
"Not a god, he is very insistent that his patron is not a god, and not without reason. He would likely suffer a most unpleasant curse should he come to see it thus, even as he prays for its favor," Sirim continues his lecture.
Impatient as she is uncomfortable at the talk of heresy, Mina asks: "Well, what is it?"
"He would not name it. Wise perhaps, but I recognized its signs from accounts in the archives of the Pale Sun. It is the Asura Rana Rahu, the Sun Eater. Eclipses are holy to him, who would devour all life and light at the end of the universe."
Sirim Diplomacy/Knowledge (Religion) (DC 25/20): 29, 23 (Success, Success)
"That sounds like Venkelvore. She's a biiiig eater," Cob offers. "Half-cheese sign?"
"Goblins worship a god under the mark of... half of a piece of cheese?" Sirim does his best not to sound incredulous, though that is not to say he manages it.
"Or half-pickle," Cob allows.
That does not seem to make things any better.
Before they can delve any further into the minutia of goblin worship and how that differs from the worship of a... 'asura', Gorok draws the conversation back to the man in the brig. "Mad or a fool?"
Snakes do not have eyebrows to quirk, but Sirim manages it by sending a half-crescent of smoke from one of his tendrils. "Should the Sun Eater come near to his designs I would say both, but he is far off indeed. Service to one so self-loathing would seem to have advantages. Rahu, as the Andorans would say, leaves money on the table. A few dead snakes are a small price to pay, especially as is he inclined to work such miracles as summoning wind as both Oka and the captain confirmed."
"Or he could just not worship a fiend," Mina sounds exasperated. "You know there are gods that don't hate their worshipers or themselves out there."
"And yet, Rahadum was laid waste by the cult of the Dawnflower as much as Father Skinsaw and the All-Seeing-Eye," Sirim points out.
Looking him straight in the eye, she proclaims: "I know less of Her than I would like, but this much I believe. If no champions should rise against the darkness, than all should have the 'peace' of nightmares everlasting."
"So you do and I do not call you liar, but we do not know what the world that may have been, only the world that is. In this world the errors of gods are no less than those of men, thus was the first asura born. I ask only that you do not judge a mortal who sought to make the best of his place in a broken world."
Sirim is almost entirely still as he says so, the answer clearly weighing more in his mind that the fate of Oka.
"I don't judge..." Mina stops herself, her expression somber. "I try not to."
"It would be rather hypocritical of me to demand perfection, now wouldn't it?" Sirim moves again, an edge of self-deprecation to his words.
A more practical question comes to mind, partly to ease the tension in the air, partly the inkling of a plan: "Are asura cults proscribed in Andoran? Or in Almas? I think the captain is going to be booting Oka when we get to port."
"While the details of apocryphal worship are likely beyond most ordinary temple investigators, the fact that asuras broadly hail from Hell and, however resentfully, acknowledge Asmodeus as master of that plane, would likely be enough to forbid discipleship in the name of the ranas."
"So he is probably not going to be welcomed in Almas for long..." Would he be worth recruiting as a cook for the expedition? A helpful piece for the planned betrayal, if you could trust him. Sirim at least seems to have some affinity for him.
What do you do?
[] Propose recruiting Oka for the expedition
[] Leave the cook behind in Almas
[] Argue that you should report him to the religious authorities in Almas yourself for reward or reputation
[] Write in
OOC: Keep in mind Sirim was raised in the faith of Zon Kuthon, as all Nidalese are. That might have something to do with why he thinks service to asuras is sensible/sympathetic as long as they are nowhere near winning.
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It should be noted that Asuras are also ominicidal since that is the only way they can finally die. So no matter what one thinks of their position vis a vis the gods most living things would be generally opposed to them.
- Location
- Germany
Are they, generally speaking?
I buy that some are,but isn't that generally the Daemon' shtick?
They converged on the position from opposing directions. Daemons want to kill everything since they hate mortals. Asuras want to kill everything since they hate gods and themselves. Asuras do tend to be a lot more contemplative and inclined to take the long view for what that's worth.
- Location
- Singapore
Wait. I thought Asuras can only die when the deities responsible actually fix their own messes?
Asuras being unable to die is due to all the gods responsible ducking responsibility like a child who hides the sheets after wetting the bed?
From the Ecology of the Asura in Temple of the Peacock Spirit:
There is no reliable way to permanently destroy an asura, and its animating spark grants it an unending cycle of betrayal, destruction,
and rebirth. Those who would defy asuras are probably better served by binding them indefinitely with binding, imprisonment, or even a carefully worded wish. Ultimately, the only certain way to eliminate an asura is to bring about the absolute destruction of the cosmos, in the process annihilating the crimes that first begot these fiends. The fact that the asuras crave an outcome that would end their existence is an irony not lost on them.
Divine errors have grown too intrinsic to the form of the universe, the gods can no longer set right their errors, not that they can even agree as to what 'right' even is.
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Why not take advantage of a source of power so long as the price is low and you aren't actively working to make them win if their idea of winning is the destruction of everything else, including you?
I imagine they make good warlock patrons.
[X] Propose recruiting Oka for the expedition
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Goblins would be more amusing in general if they weren't predominantly a race of crazy spree killers and perpetual juvenile delinquents. Makes me appreciate Cob even more.
I'm not really enthusiastic about recruiting Oka, but it's probably not a bad choice in the short term. He shouldn't be defenseless, given his prior history, and he doesn't seem hostile, just deluded. Worst case, he can drive the wagon we're going to buy in Almas to free up the party to worry about other things.
[X] Propose recruiting Oka for the expedition
- Location
- Argentina
[X] Propose recruiting Oka for the expedition
Ahhh, Asuras, the resentful older brother of Devils who got sidelined enough to want to burn the whole universe, all the while doing mantras and mandalas.
I would honestly be more worried if he followed daemons or Zon Kuthon himself.
Ahhh, Asuras, the resentful older brother of Devils who got sidelined enough to want to burn the whole universe, all the while doing mantras and mandalas.
I would honestly be more worried if he followed daemons or Zon Kuthon himself.
- Location
- florida
[X] Propose recruiting Oka for the expedition
I am admittedly also wary of-
I'd rather not get wrapped up in a potentially Fatal ideological tangle.
Even if I suspect their story is a lot more tragic than malicious.
I am admittedly also wary of-
But let us keep pur association... brief. If we can.
I'd rather not get wrapped up in a potentially Fatal ideological tangle.
Even if I suspect their story is a lot more tragic than malicious.