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Slaan posted:Didn't know Minagho could be straightened out, but I remember doing it for several others so I'm not surprised It requires one particular mythic path and getting her girlfriend involved.
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Mar 1, 2024 17:16
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Cythereal posted:
Not sure if this is an error - the text repeats what's already in the picture, but it seems to fit with the line spoken right before it.
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Mar 1, 2024 17:18
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"No!" (The halfling protests.) "Rimvi Curl may be a rogue, but he doesn't loot corpses. I just need to get these poor lads' bodies off the road. My friends and I are on a terribly important mission, and we need to get through."
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Nostalgamus posted:Not sure if this is an error - the text repeats what's already in the picture, but it seems to fit with the line spoken right before it. A goon requested I post pure dialogue things in isolated blocks so it's easier to read, but I also wanted to show the cart and newcomers actually arriving, so I repeated the dialogue underneath the screenshot for that goon's ease of reading, plus continuing.
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Mar 1, 2024 17:20
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Cythereal posted:It requires one particular mythic path and getting her girlfriend involved. She's not in true love and monogamous with my man Stanton??? How could she lie like this?! 
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Mar 1, 2024 18:35
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Slaan posted:She's not in true love and monogamous with my man Stanton??? How could she lie like this?! hosed up if true.
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Mar 1, 2024 20:38
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Slaan posted:She's not in true love and monogamous with my man Stanton??? How could she lie like this?! There's a reason I used the thread tag that I did. Welcome to Wrath of the Righteous, where the angels are genderfluid and the demons are gay.
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Mar 1, 2024 21:00
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Have I mentioned that mythic path themes are absolutely beautiful? Aeon theme is my second favourite, paired with Angel and right after Azata.
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Mar 1, 2024 23:23
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The mythic path themes are very good, yes. It's hard for me to pick favorites, but I'd have to put Aeon in my no. 1 spot, followed closely by Angel and a spoiler option that will probably be discussed in chapter 2. They're all very characterful themes that fit each path, you could say they're very thematic.
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Mar 2, 2024 01:25
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Almost every mythic theme is fantastic but Aeon is the best one just barely followed by Demon.
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Mar 2, 2024 03:29
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Let's be honest: the whole game's soundtrack is pretty great. Spoilers in the track titles, mind.
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Mar 2, 2024 03:38
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The Angel theme's my personal No. 1 and Azata coming in a very close second. That said, I have to say Demon kind of sounds substandard to me; I can't help but shake the feeling that the composer played the Doom reboot a few minutes before starting the composition and never really got rid of the influence 
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Mar 2, 2024 10:55
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Intercepted Cultist Communication: State of Kenabres My Lady, I would not dare gainsay my superiors of my own volition, but you requested a reassessment of the state of our operations in Kenabres and I do not disobey. Lord Deskari's assault on the city proceeded as planned, slaying the guardian dragon Terendelev and delivering the city of Kenabres into our hands. However, while we possess Kenabres, we do not control it. Crusader resistance, while scattered and disorganized, is proving persistent and growing in effectiveness as crusaders rally around local leaders. Prelate Hulrun of Iomedae's inquisitors and Commander Tirabade of Iomeade's knights are proving particularly effective, and one saving grace is that Tirabade's wife died during Lord Deskari's assault, depriving the crusaders of their spymaster. The efforts of the cults and the Abyss's soldiers have been focused more on wreaking general havoc on the city's civilian population and plundering riches than on subduing resistance, and have inspired further armed civilian resistance, including the local thieves' guild - the 'thieflings' - and merchants with private mercenaries. Lady Minagho promises a grand show of strength to crush one of the crusader strongpoints, but I do not believe time is in our favor and Lady Minagho's grandstanding is giving the crusaders time they need. Of Lady Minagho's primary objective, corrupting the Wardstone, there has been no discernable progress. While I am confident that Lady Minagho can deliver the objective as promised, the timeline of this operation concerns me as deeply now as it did when we were planning the assault. We know the regular Mendevian army is mobilizing, and as word of Lord Deskari's assault spreads I feel that we risk attracting adventurers, mercenaries, and other irregular forces to Kenabres whose proclivities and capabilities will be unpredictable in the extreme. Moreover, our focus on Kenabres has come at the expense of our regular patrols and garrisons within the Worldwound, and the potential for such forces - particularly the Order of the Godclaw - to take advantage of our redistribution of forces is significant. While the situation in Kenabres is in our favor at the moment, the situation is tenuous and I believe that many do not share the sense of urgency that would so behoove us. I do not believe time is on our side, my Lady, even with the total lack of angelic or divine intervention to date. Respectfully, I  Hey, Beth. We found this note on a cultist messenger we intercepted. Someone in the cults has a level head on their shoulders. I've instructed my scouts to keep an eye out for any further messages from 'I,' we need to part that level head from their shoulders as soon as possible.
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Mar 2, 2024 17:16
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CommissarMega posted:The Angel theme's my personal No. 1 and Azata coming in a very close second. That said, I have to say Demon kind of sounds substandard to me; I can't help but shake the feeling that the composer played the Doom reboot a few minutes before starting the composition and never really got rid of the influence
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Mar 2, 2024 18:49
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Hmmm. Yua will qualify for Dragon Disciple in a couple more levels. Could possibly show how prestige classes work for those unfamiliar, as though Yua isn't special enough already. 
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Mar 2, 2024 23:56
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I'm a little too fond of Dragon Discipling everyone.
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Mar 3, 2024 00:01
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Dragon Disciples are cool. But it's up to you.
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Mar 3, 2024 00:13
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I don't think it adds much to anyone that isn't going for some kind of melee or melee/spellcaster combo, personally. You lose a caster level and mostly gain benefits to hitting dudes in the face. And that's for four levels - going more then that is throwing away more caster levels for even less benefit. For an archery bard, it's potentially even more punishing, since it stops your songs from upgrading.
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Mar 3, 2024 01:49
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I wouldn't go for dragon disciple myself, but I'm sure it will be fine whatever Yua decides
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Mar 3, 2024 02:04
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Yeah, on Story difficulty it shouldn't matter, go hog wild. That said, I never went DD myself- does it give wings that would interfere with the Azata own butterfly wings? I'm pretty solidly in the Angel camp myself, and I don't recall those wings interfering with the ones I get from Infernal/Demonic bloodlines, but that might just be my memory screwing up.
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Mar 3, 2024 06:41
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I wouldn't say Dragon Disciple is good. 7/10ths casting and 3/4 BAB is poor for being a gish. Just go Eldritch Knight if you are a full caster who wants to Gish, or just go Sword Saint.
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Mar 3, 2024 06:45
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just let me be a dragon for gently caress's sake
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Mar 3, 2024 07:04
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Dragon disciple is my favorite prestige class by far. But I like to make melee builds where all the extra strength is quite useful. Dragons are just so cool. But it needs to fit with the character of course.Solitair posted:just let me be a dragon for gently caress's sake
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Mar 3, 2024 09:29
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Solitair posted:just let me be a dragon for gently caress's sake That's easy, just have a Brown Fur Transmuter in the party with certain feats. Congrats, you are now effectively permanently a dragon. Hell, now your entire party - to include animal companions - are dragons. Just ignore the minor inconvenience of having to deal with enclosed spaces with a whole group of Huge characters.
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Mar 3, 2024 10:52
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And this discussion has simultaneously reminded me of why I both Love and Hate this system. On one hand, I love the opportunities it gives me to be creative with my characters. On the other, I am reminded of my encounters with the dreaded Min Maxer players, who twist themselves in knots whenever they see someone playing a build that isn't Optimized and will give me endless grief because they have to 'handle everything themselves' after building characters who are explicitly designed to 'handle everything themselves' without any help from the party. Listen, I get that these people Want To Win, but sometimes I don't want to play a highly optimized build designed to turn enemy encampments into a fine paste. Sometimes I wanna playing a socially awkward Kobold who's just trying to figure out How To Paladin in the world while simultaneously not getting punted by Bigfolk who thinks she would make a good football.
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Mar 3, 2024 12:48
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Rorahusky posted:Sometimes I wanna playing a socially awkward Kobold who's just trying to figure out How To Paladin in the world while simultaneously not getting punted by Bigfolk who thinks she would make a good football. You have my attention, good sir/ma'am/respectful descriptor of choice, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. I ran a Goblin Berserker for 3e for a while, whose initial concept was "At Level 1, I have 12+CON HP, which makes me as tough as four Goblins" and went from there. It was fun surviving things that would kill a normal Goblin.
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Mar 3, 2024 13:11
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Cythereal posted:Hmmm. Yua will qualify for Dragon Disciple in a couple more levels. Could possibly show how prestige classes work for those unfamiliar, as though Yua isn't special enough already. 
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Mar 3, 2024 14:19
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I like the process of minmaxing myself, but gat-dang do some rollplayers like to rag on roleplayers and vice versa. Let Cyth be a dragon, it won't invalidate the rest of us with our Blackened Hands Aasimar Oracle Angel PCs
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Mar 3, 2024 14:43
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It actually can be a somewhat complex issue in tabletop; you need to know enough about the system that you can contribute to the game and hold your own in the group, but going FULL min-max tends to make every table feel the same as you churn out a bunch of cookie-cutter characters (and causes endless headaches for DMs that have to come up with encounters that ride the increasingly narrow knife-edge between challenging you and outright murdering you). This is a computer game being played on story mode, though, so... yeah, loving be a dragon if you think it's cool. Why not? Have fun with it!
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Mar 3, 2024 15:09
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Starward Gaze There's one last thing to do in Market Square: in about the center of the map, cleverly hidden beneath this tree, is a familiar face.   "Don't you dare call me 'brother,' heretic!" (The signs of recent, hard fighting are obvious in this stern old man. His armor is dented and covered in blood, and his unnatural pallor suggests something more dangerous than wounds inflicted by claws and fangs. Nevertheless, his gaze is stony and his voice, accustomed to barking orders, is harsh and clipped.) "How dare you accuse me of doing nothing to protect this city! Especially now, when followers of your temple were caught committing treason! To my mind, you are no different than the demon worshipers — those miscreants, those beasts that are digging under the city walls!" "Everyone knows, my dearest prelate, that in your zealous pursuit of order in the city, you have long since forgotten how to tell friend from foe, and good from evil. That's what happened with my adepts, whose act of 'treason' was a genuine attempt to save the city! And yet again, I am forced to repeat myself: while we are wasting time on pointless quarrels, people are dying under the rubble in our city. People whom we could have saved if you had only set your soldiers to the task, and not kept them here, surrounding a useless and utterly harmless hole in the ground." "Harmless? Well, if it's on your say-so, then that must mean there is someone down there! Your associates, no doubt! And they're just waiting for us to abandon our posts before they slink out and try again to..." (The old man notices your approach.) "And you... I remember you! You appeared in my city the day the demons attacked and Terendelev died! What are you doing here? Answer at once, or I'll have you strung up by your ankles before you know it! Don't think that the demons have wounded me — I still have enough strength to take on a hundred of your sort! And what is this hideous creature?" (Hulrun peers at Lann with suspicion.) "Lann, at your service." (The mongrel ducks his head in a bow.) "My forebears fought in the First Crusade. I've lived in Kenabres my whole life — you haven't ever seen me before? Ah, it must be because you don't ever venture into our underground district... We have been meaning to complain to the city authorities that our paving stones have been in need of repair for a long time."Hulrun is another one of those characters who's obviously an rear end in a top hat you're meant to hate, but I can't quite bring myself to hate him. I tend to be sympathetic to people broken by the horrors and costs of war, and if you pry into Hulrun's backstory that is very much the case with him.   "I'm a crusader. I'm fighting to liberate Kenabres from the demons." "A crusader, you say? Hmph! I'll be looking into that. You obviously don't know to whom you are speaking. I'm the one who decides who's a crusader and who's a traitor in this city. Hulrun Shappok, prelate of Kenabres by the grace of Her Majesty Queen Galfrey, and the city's defender against threats from within and without!" "And, as we can see, you've done a sterling job protecting the city." (The golden-curled aasimar flashes a flinty smile.) "I am Ramien of Edme, Prior of the temple of Desna, which, alas, currently lies in ruins. Wise Hulrun here believes it is vital to guard this hole in the ground, from which he is certain demons will emerge at any moment. I have been trying to convince him that the city has far more urgent matters to deal with. For instance, rescuing those currently dying under the rubble!" "You know what? There may in fact be one matter that is more important than guarding this hole. I've put it off and put it off, and look where it's led us. I should have had you hung from the gates back when you dared to defend your gang of delinquent demon collaborators. If the Sarkorians had hanged Areelu Vorlesh while they had the chance, there never would have even been a war. I won't repeat their mistake, I won't hesitate any longer. Soldiers, seize this scum!" "Prelate, see reason. These are frightening times, but threatening to hang someone without trial — that is unworthy of a servant of Iomedae!"While you can pick a fight with Hulrun and kill him, here and in future encounters - and there's an explanation for why he's weak enough right now for you to do so - everyone but Cammy and Wenduag, including Ramien, will warn you that you shouldn't. Hulrun is a paranoid zealot who tries to rule Kenabres like a tyrant, but he's also a legitimate hero in the war against the demons and one of the Crusade's best field commanders. The ravages of war, and the work of the cults and demonic infiltrators like Minagho's seduction of Staunton Vhane, have left him paranoid and increasingly unable to tell friend from foe, but even many characters who oppose Hulrun pity him rather than hate him, and think the best thing for him would be getting Queen Galfrey to order him to stand down and retire, letting him live out the rest of his life somewhere far away from the Worldwound in peace. Fortunately, Yua has just the thing to get Hulrun to stand down.  [Reveal the Light of Heaven] "Behold, inquisitor — I bear the gift of an angel who died in the caves below Kenabres. I am no enemy of yours."  "But that can wait. Now I must deal with this filth once and for all!" "What precisely are you accusing Ramien of, inquisitor?" "Treason. Not long before the city was attacked, several followers from his temple tried to secretly access the Wardstone and perform an unknown ritual over it." (Hulrun is trembling with fury.) "The Wardstone of Kenabres — the gift from Iomedae the bringer of light, wrought by the hands of her herald, the first in the chain. And followers of that crazy runt of a goddess try to meddle with it using their magic, after hearing a 'voice in their dreams!' My soldiers almost had them caught, when Ramien got in the way, allowing the traitors to go to ground. I made a mistake: I didn't have him locked in a cell and interrogated to within an inch of his life. And now the city lies in ruins. It's time to rectify that mistake!" "I've told you before and I'll tell you again: my people foresaw the attack on the city, they knew the Wardstone already carried the seed of corruption within itself, and they were simply trying to heal it!" "I've heard similar claims before, now where was it? Ah yes, from Staunton Vhane, the traitor who brought down Drezen. The lessons of the past have taught us a great deal, and that is why I never believed you or your mob's lies even for a second — and I was right." "Don't lay a finger on him, or you'll have to answer to me!"Honestly, I see both points of view here. Hulrun is paranoid and extreme, but Ramien and co were also basically expecting everyone to just take their word for everything and let them do their thing. Now, because I'm familiar with the game already, I know that Ramien and his friends are in fact completely on the level. But it's not hard to imagine the scenario where they're not. And indeed you can play the PC yourself as favoring the Demon path, using the Light of Heaven to gull Hulrun into complacency and trusting someone he shouldn't.  (Ramien looks at the prelate.) "You're a fool, Hulrun. You're a zealot and a murderer, but you're a fool first and foremost. I told you that the Wardstone was weakened. You wouldn't listen. I warned you that the city was going to be attacked. You shooed me away. The truth is that my young adepts were trying to save the Wardstone — and you stopped them. Of course, those truly responsible for this tragedy are the demons — but you have done nothing to prevent it. And now you would still rather kill an innocent person and perish yourself than admit that you were wrong. As always." (With a wave of his wand, the aasimar vanishes.) "He fled, the heretic! He's no doubt expecting me to rush off in pursuit. But that won't work on me." (Hulrun turns his attention to you.) "What about you? If you truly have been marked out for a gift from Heaven, this is your chance to save the city — go and bring back that filthy traitor. I am almost certain that he and his cronies were helping the demons — either knowingly or unknowingly. Their attempt to bewitch the Wardstone is clear proof! Ramien must be captured!" "I see you suffered greatly in battle." "Nonsense. I had to deal with a brood of nabasus... It was nothing, I've taken on worse enemies with the goddess's help!" [Knowledge: Religion check succeeded!] (Nabasus, also known as death demons, have the ability to drain their victims' life force — judging by Hulrun's pallor, he has lost a significant amount of his energy. The inquisitor can bluster as much as he wants, but right now he's far from the peak of his abilities.) "Ramien really warned you about the attack?"This is why you can fight Hulrun now, if you want to. Ordinarily he'd wipe the floor with a low-level party like yours with ease, but right now he's suffering from a severe level drain problem (and his stat sheet will reflect as much if you fight him) that he hasn't gotten fixed yet.  "This time, mister curls-for-brains came to me and declared that demons were about to attack the city and that the Wardstone's power was diminished by some kind of contamination or taint — Iomedae forgive me for even repeating the words! After uttering such blasphemy, he should have been locked up along with his followers and interrogated. But instead, I simply increased the surveillance on them. And what next? My people caught them red-handed trying to attack the Wardstone with unknown magic! And not three days later, the demons attacked the city. There's an obvious connection between these events! Whether deliberately or under demonic influence, the Desnans played right into the hands of Deskari's hordes, and they almost left the city completely defenseless. Ramien covered for his people the whole time and helped them escape my guards. After that, what else can he be but a traitor and a heretic?" "Where can I find Ramien?" "How should I know? The weasel can't have gone far. He turned invisible — he's probably hunkered down in some hole, like the traitorous little rat he is, and he'll be sitting, trembling and waiting till he's dragged out of there!" "With the prelate after you, it seems the only sensible thing to do. It's what I'd do." "I'm sure lots of things sound sensible to you." "And it works, too! As you can see, I'm still alive!" "We have to go."This exchange is another reason I can't hate Hulrun. He's not entirely unreasonable, and some of his objections feel fundamentally sound to me. Yua will obviously be siding with Ramien, but it took me some pondering when I first played the game.   (Ember peers intently at Hulrun.) "I remember you! When father and I arrived in this city, you met us!" "What is this gibberish? As if I have nothing better to do than to arrange meetings with vagrants!" "But it's true! You and the other knights tied us to stakes and started lighting the bonfire. Father died, and then one of your knights changed his mind and pulled me from the flames, but then he died too... Don't you remember?" "If you were burned, then it was with good reason. You say some traitor helped you escape from the fire? That is a crime in itself, which means that you have been evading justice all these years. If it weren't for the invasion, I would review your case and see that your sentence was finally fulfilled. You're lucky that we have more important matters to deal with right now." "He didn't look the way he does now — all wrinkled and gray — he was young with a big mustache..." (Ember smiles broadly and draws a large bushy mustache in the air with her finger.) "He probably forgot all about me, it was a long time ago... But I do want to say one thing: I'm not cross with him. This knight is a true hero. He just really, really wanted to protect his city, only he got all mixed up about who was good and who was evil." "You forgive him? After what he did to you?" "He thought he was doing what was right. How do you know — maybe you've done something, thinking it was a good thing, but you were really doing a bad thing that hurt someone? But what if... what if I've done the same thing? You can't get angry at people for making mistakes when you might be no better than them." "Let's go, Ember." "Yes, let's go. Bye-bye, kind knight!" (She waves to Hulrun with a carefree smile. Hulrun grimaces and turns away.)How you deal with this scene - you can rage at Hulrun and even attack him with the [Good] alignment point shift! - says a lot about how you feel about Ember and her character.  So remember that house basement I pointed out in the last update and said I didn't have the tools to deal with? The thread informed me that I do, in fact!  If you try to click the door at the far end of the basement, you'll get hit with ice damage. Do it twice and you'll see an unseen voice giggle in the darkness. That would be this charmer, and he'll aggro if you find a way to deal with his invisibility or hit him with an area effect like the light of heaven.  The reward is very useful.  Ramien is in front of the Desnan temple.  "Did you really know about the attack before it happened?" "I did. We have a secret ally in the enemy's ranks. No one knows who this brave soul is, but she has been feeding us information about the demons' plans. These dispatches have come to us by the most reliable channel bestowed upon us by the Great Dreamer herself — they have come to us in dreams. Prelate Hulrun brushed them off as meaningless reveries... And, well, I admit that it isn't always easy to distinguish our ally's messages from ordinary dreams. But even ordinary dreams are gifts from Desna and are always worthy of attention. The prelate — and all the crusade leaders, for that matter — should have put less store in reason, and more in intuition, inspiration, and spontaneity! What's more, not long before the attack on the city, a blind elf who calls himself the Storyteller arrived in Kenabres. This wanderer wasn't merely a collector of legends, but a scholar of the unknown. According to him, the Wardstone in our city — the first and most important in the chain of Wardstones — weakened since long ago, was teetering on the brink of corruption. It seems that the Red Morning Massacre and other demon attacks, even the ones we fended off, did not leave us unscathed. Unfortunately, the prelate did not wish to listen to the Storyteller either — we're lucky he wasn't burnt at the stake as a heretic. We had such vital information on our hands, information that could have saved the city — but no one cared to listen all the way to the catastrophic end! "Not all dreams have benign origins. What if those dreams were sent by demons?" "In a different time and place, someone perhaps could have become the victim of false dreams sent by monsters. But here, in the war with the Abyss, the goddess is keeping a close eye on her most faithful followers. I have no doubt that if a demon tried to intrude upon the dreams of any one of us, Desna's punishment would have been swift." "Tell me about the strange rituals that were to be performed on the Wardstone."So, as I suspect many of my voters in character creation knew, Desna is heavily associated with the azata mythic path and Ramien is basically trying to sell you on this mythic path. Also, he is not kidding about Desna being personally involved in this story, albeit at a remove.  "In other words, you get to preach whatever you want, and you don't have to take any responsibility for your flock. You've really got it made!" "For pity's sake, how can I be held responsible for the actions of others? These are not children we are discussing here, they are grown adults endowed with their own free will, praise the goddess. Of course, we all help one another, but in the final reckoning, each of us decides how we will act, and each must answer for those choices. They had no ill intent — they only wished to access the Wardstone in secret and try to cleanse it. But to Hulrun this became 'perform a suspect ritual after hearing even more suspect voices in their dreams.' The children wanted to save their city, but the inquisitors detained them and almost killed them. I had to intervene. I used my authority and my power as a cleric to give them a chance to flee. If they hadn't got away, they were destined for a cell in the prelate's dungeons and, quite likely, death." "Why are you and Hulrun feuding?" "Oh, I'm not feuding with him. I sincerely wish only the best for the man. In an ideal world, he'd be far away from the front lines enjoying a peaceful retirement. But even if that isn't possible, I have always tried to help him fulfill the mission he has taken upon himself, and to which he has proved fatally ill-suited — protecting Kenabres against the demons. Unfortunately, he is convinced that the followers of Desna are heretics and saboteurs. He refused to listen to me, and it was only the knightly orders that deterred him from including us in his witch hunt. Now there is clearly no one left to stand in his way — he is finally free to get rid of us once and for all." "Is there a chance you can resolve your conflict?" "I don't know. Hulrun's faith is truly formidable — not only his faith in Iomedae, but in his own infallibility. In other words, he's as hard-headed as a rock troll. But even so... Desna teaches us never to lose hope. Talk to him. Try to explain that we are fighting on the same side. If he attacks you, disarm him, bind his hands, but I beg you: if at all possible, please do not kill him!" "Thank you, but I have to go."Just because I sympathize with Hulrun, though, doesn't mean that I think he's in the right. There's a couple different ways to resolve the conflict here peacefully, if you don't want to kill either side. You can use some persuasion skill checks, or do what I did and show Hulrun the Light of Heaven which immediately makes him back down and trust you, but I won't be resolving this quest quite yet.  "If there is anything you can do to save Kenabres, please do it!"You can, of course, just solve this quest by the simple expedient of murdering whoever you don't like.   (A pale youth materializes before you. His face looks haggard from lack of sleep, but he is clearly pleased to be speaking to someone.) "Where are your fellow worshipers and how many of you are there?" "Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't know where they are. We split up to confuse the inquisitors who were chasing us." "How can I help?" "Desna teaches us to trust in last-ditch chances... Listen — my friends are called Aranka and Thall, Thall the Wallflower. Aranka is an amazing singer and... a truly beautiful girl. She has plenty of friends and fans, she's probably blended into a crowd somewhere. Wallflower is a mage, but I don't think he'll risk using magic — it will only bring the inquisitors down on him. He'll be harder to find. You'd better find Aranka first — she might know where Wallflower is. Please, find them and protect them against the demons and the inquisitors! I will await news in the goddess's temple — I hope our mysterious helper will send us a new message that will reveal what is to come from the demons..." "So you're one of the Desnan adepts that tried to break into the Wardstone?" "Yes. I am Ilkes, cleric of Desna, and one of the people who answered the call of the Voice-in-Dreams. Some unknown person made contact with us through our dreams, telling us about the demons' plans. We learned that the demons were planning to attack Kenabres and do something terrible to our Wardstone, which already carries the taint of corruption. Prelate Hulrun refused to heed our warnings. We had to make a choice: we could either throw up our hands and pull back, or take action, even though it could cost us our lives. But what heartless person could stand by in the face of such a deadly threat?" "What were you planning to do to the Wardstone?" (The young man hesitates.) "Our plan was to get to it and then follow our instincts. There were three of us: a cleric, a mage, and a bard. Between us, we know a lot. We're capable of a great deal. If we'd had enough time, I'm sure we could have figured out what's wrong with the Wardstone and how to heal it. But they didn't give us time!" "Yes, the local commanders got roped into dealing with this. Some idiot kids trying to break into the Wardstone, apparently some of ours, but who even knows these days..." (Seelah sighs.) "I know there's no evil in you. I can sense things like that. But what you did was so stupid and impulsive — someone could have got hurt. I know from experience..." "So you lot decided that you needed to do something right away, so you did something right away. Great work." (Lann gives a sarcastic round of applause.) "Don't you dare start with running off half-cocked, Lann. Or do I need to remind you about how Sull found out about the Light of Heaven?" "All they knew was that some crazies had some weird dreams. But anyway... It's a little late to be trying to pin blame on people." "How did you even come up with such a plan?" "How could we not come up with that plan?" (You sense the young man's temper rising.) "Listen. Desna is the goddess of luck. But luck as many laypeople would understand it, and luck as we — the followers of the Music of the Spheres — see it, are far from the same thing. Other people believe that luck is something good that falls into your lap just because, like a generous but unearned reward. We see luck as a fundamental law of creation, according to which even in the darkest hour of the most hopeless situation, a chance of rescue and change for the better can arise. But you've got to seize this chance when it presents itself, or better yet — create your own. Followers of Desna are not people who like idleness and inaction. That's why when Kenabres was in trouble, we did as our goddess had taught us — we took the matter into our own hands and tried in a moment of desperation to pluck our chance from the hands of fate itself." "You were trying to help. Can they punish you if you were trying to help? Is that allowed?" "Sometimes it's even necessary." "You made the right choice, brother dreamer. You may have failed but, Desna as my witness, it was a worthy attempt." "Thank you, sister. You understand better than anyone why we couldn't stand idly by. I pray that our failure doesn't prove to be fatal. Oh goddess, please give us another chance to fix everything!" "One last thing. Whose voice have you been hearing in your dreams?" "Nobody knows what it is, but everyone who has heard it — heard her, I should say — is convinced that she is a good and pure soul chosen by Desna. We had a choice: we could trust her, accept that we have an ally somewhere who isn't afraid of all the armies of the Abyss, or we could drown in suspicions, and get one step closer to becoming just like Hulrun. We decided to trust the voice. And seeing Kenabres devastated, which is what our unknown ally tried to prevent until the very end, I can see now who had the truth on their side." "Thank you, brother. Stay here with Brother Ramien and I'll find your friends." "Go! May Desna be with you, stranger!"Boy does this game have a lot of words. So much so that I'm ending the update here, we'll finish these quests next time I hope. The Crimson Path (this update) Shadow Demon 1 Cythereal fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Mar 4, 2024 |
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Mar 3, 2024 15:40
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I saved Hulrun in my first angel run and he was useful later in the game and somewhat redeemed. Now though? 
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Mar 3, 2024 16:30
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The first Desnan youth was hiding in the Desna Temple, close by Ramien, the main Desna guy? That's a terrible hiding spot.
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Mar 3, 2024 17:41
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I like how the option to attack Hurlun goes from [Evil] to [Chaotic] to [Good] the longer you talk with him.
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Mar 3, 2024 17:47
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I have exactly zero sympathy for someone who's first reaction for girl having her hands permanently scarred while trying to save her father from burning alive on a stake is "surely it was with good reason". He's no different than Warhammer 40k inquisitors in more "serious" 40k materials (in contrast to "my head hurts, EXTERMINATUS EVERYTHING IN ENTIRE SECTOR" obvious pastiche part of 40k) and the only slightly redeeming thing about him I can think of is that some of our party members are even worse.
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Mar 3, 2024 18:24
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Is it possible to fight and arrest (not kill) this fella? Demote him to beatstick status?
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Mar 3, 2024 19:45
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Gun Jam posted:Is it possible to fight and arrest (not kill) this fella? Demote him to beatstick status? It is not. Whoever and whatever Yua might become in the future, right now she's just an adventurer given some legal legitimacy by Irabeth's discretion. Hulrun, quite simply, outranks her and massively so. You can either talk him down (which requires completing Ramien's sidequest), kill Ramien, or kill him.
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Mar 3, 2024 19:51
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Kanthulhu posted:The first Desnan youth was hiding in the Desna Temple, close by Ramien, the main Desna guy? But that's the genius of it! Who would look there???
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Mar 3, 2024 20:08
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Capfalcon posted:But that's the genius of it! Who would look there??? Well, Yua, clearly.
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Mar 3, 2024 20:11
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M.c.P posted:Well, Yua, clearly. Beginner's luck.
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Mar 3, 2024 20:15
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I'm starting to think Desnans aren't the smartest people around.
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Mar 3, 2024 20:16
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Capfalcon posted:Beginner's luck. The fact that he ran up to her unprompted helped.
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Mar 3, 2024 20:20
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