Piratecat's Updated Story Hour! (update 4/03 and 4/06)

[Piratecat]

Originally posted by DocMoriartty
Nice job by the way getting the clerics to admit they changed the writing on their own without any real authority to do so.

Actually, from a neutral perspective, this isn't the case at all. The conservative Church would never have made the changes if they didn't think that they had both the divine authority and just cause to do so. Malachite might not agree, mind you; but although controversial, the changes were made with full church sanction.

The issue surrounding whether or not the church can strip a paladin or a cleric of their powers is a tricky one. It has a lot to do with the God, the character's own beliefs, the player's ulterior motives (if any), and the character's degree of faith. The vast majority of people would end up losing their powers if cast out of the Church. Their belief in the ultimate authority of the church would probably cause them to doubt their justification of their own actions.

In rare cases, a person could be banned from the church and still believe so strongly, so fervently that they follow the holy cause - and if I as DM believe that the character truly believes this, AND is still in the good graces of the God - then they might retain their powers. It partially comes down to whether the person is rebelling against the political strictures of the church, or the tenets of the faith itself. Do they deny their God-given responsibilities?

Mara has many more traditional church ties than Malachite does, for the church has been her family for most of her life. She would be far more crippled by excommunication than Malachite would, I'd guess.

In addition, highly lawful churches have an easier time stripping clerics or paladins of their powers than chaotic churches would.

In the eyes of the church of Aeos, if a cleric or a paladin is cast out but still supposedly retains their powers, then they aren't receiving those powers from Aeos (unless proven otherwise.) They're receiving them from somewhere else - another God? A dark power? A sorcerous bargain? In any case, it usually is enough to brand the outcast as a heretic, which is never a good thing. Such a person's soul is no longer still in the possession of the Keys to Heaven, and thus is probably damned upon their death. Societal pressures work against such people, as you can well imagine.

[KidCthulhu]

Originally posted by Tuerny
How does this work?

Do you have families of gods, panetheons, individual, indie gods, or what.
Each post about these churches makes me more curious.

Spira (PC's world) has its own pantheon. PC made up some of the initial gods. A great many others have evolved from choices made by the players. Vindus is a great example of an deity who came along later. The church of Aeos was also shaped a great deal by player input. The three sects of Aeos were built by PC and Mara's player. The Emerald Chapel is BlackJack's work.

PC has always held the very wise opinion that it's easier to get a player to care about their deity (and far less work for the DM) if they have a hand in designing the faith.

If people are really interested, I can post the Spiran pantheon. Also, I have the world creation myth around here somewhere.

[Plane Sailing]

Originally posted by Fajitas



I don't know if the story about having to do penance for killing a bunch of skaven who detected as evil has made it to the boards. If not, someone who was there and recalls the details better than I should probably chime in on it.

While the full story hasn't been told, PC has told us quite a lot about the situation (it may have been on this storyhour in the old boards, it may have been in a discussion about the use of Detect Evil in D&D rules forum - but I think it was storyhour)

Basically the issue was the Skaven all praying in their temple about what to do about the awful White Kingdom, the defenders see the ratmen, detect evil - hey, the're evil! and smite them mightily - another nail in the coffin of the underdark races who might have held the white kingdom back. This also led to a Skaven monk coming after the defenders and embarrassing them mightily (and something about the "three deaths"? The Defenders negotiated with him before he got to the last one).

Of course, we now strongly suspect that this Skaven Monk is now one with the white kingdom... Alongside everything else.

Shudder.

Between responsibility for the Skaven and the downfall of the mind flayer city, it may be that the Defenders have done more for the White Kingdom than Ghouleax

[Piratecat]

Malachite hears the door closed behind him. He stares at the General, the supposed Saint. The skeleton stares back.

The sword stays silent. Malachite checks; Saint Aleax is undead, isn’t evil. His aura is one of warmth, like warm sunshine, but his manner is cold and formal.

“Sit.”

They lock eyes, or the closest thing to it. The staring lasts for 30, 45 seconds as each paladin tries to see the mettle of the other. Aleax’s bones creak as he plants his bony hands on the table and leans forward.

“I’m not what you’d want to see.” Aleax’s voice is factual.

“I have not said that, Commander.”

Saint Aleax looks at him , considering; respond to the deliberate insult of the title or discuss the emotions behind the impertinence? Whatever he decides, he doesn’t rise to the bait and correct Malachite’s use of the honorific. “Malachite. Honored Knight. Bane of undead. Elite soldier of our God. I welcome you here. Your Order is dissolved, but your cause lives on. You are given the same choice your brethren received: join the Church Militant proper, or walk free of church responsibilities and benefits. Whatever you decide, you will no longer wear the Emerald Tabard. Others will have briefed you; what do you decide?”

Long silence. “I serve the True Faith, Commander.”

“As do I, Malachite. But how do you serve it? You are an experienced Commander and you may make the difference in our holy quest, the one whose presence determines success or failure. You do not have the luxury of sitting upon the wall, waiting to see which side is most advantageous. You are too important for that. ”

In the silence, you can hear the Sound of Sir Malachite’s knuckles cracking, fists clenched. “As I said, I serve the True Faith, Commander. I follow the will of my God on the mission to which I have been set.”

“Ah. So you choose the path of the distraction. You choose to fight small battles against a foe unbeatable by normal tactics, instead of choosing to burn them from existence once and for all. We have an opportunity, Malachite; an opportunity to rid Spira of the taint of undeath. Not for all times, but all that currently exist. You choose to spurn that chance.”

Steely silence.

“Very well. You will not be hindered if you act under the mantle of the Church, but you will not receive aid that can be used elsewhere. You may have a quest, Malachite, but it is not The quest, and Aeotian troops will be deployed where they will be the most effective.”

“I expected nothing else, Commander.” Hard, cold, proud.

“I understand that you have a sword that may contain a piece of my soul. Let me see it.”

For the first time, Malachite hesitates. “We are alone here.”

The General looks annoyed. “So?”

Malachite answers, “I must caution you. The sword is powerfully opposed to undead. If you were inadvertently hurt, I would be blamed.”

“No one will blame you, and I doubt I will be hurt, especially if the sword contains a piece of me. I am formed by Aeos from the steel of the sun. Give me the sword.”

“Commander, I caution you….”

“Yes, you did. And I ordered you. Give me the sword.”

Malachite pauses, but only for a second. He pulls Aleax from its sheath and whirls it around his head. Pure, warm sunlight pours out of the triumphant sword. Then Malachite spins the pommel in his hand and lays the sword out in front of him, on display, but just out of the skeleton’s reach. “Here it is, Commander.” The skeletal Aleax reaches out for it, but Malachite pulls it out of reach. “I don’t think that would be wise, Commander.”

St. Aleax pulls back his hand, crosses his arms, and looks at Malachite. “Your opinion is irrelevant. Hand me the sword.”

“I don’t think so, Commander.”

“Do you realize that you are disobeying a direct order?”

“I do, Commander.”

“Do you understand the consequences for doing so?”

Malachite answers grimly. “I understood them when I chose to disobey them.”

Suddenly, the sword itself speaks. “I can not tell whether he is a part of me or not. He is not evil, but he does not resonate with me.”

Aleax looks at the sword. “What is the first thing you can remember?”

”I spent hundred of years in the lair of a dracolich. My memory is hazy beyond that. I know who I am, though; I am Aleax, and I was a paladin.”

Malachite smiles bitterly as he sheathes the sword. “Indeed you were.” He looks up. “Commander, if there is anything else…?”

“There is. Malachite, former Knight of the Emerald Chapel, you are cast from the Church for insubordination. Heresy as well, perhaps. You may leave your tabard with a cleric below. I will not take the holy sword from you, though, as much good as it will do you now. I recognize it; it used to be mine. When I was alive I wielded that blade, but then it called itself Velios, and it claimed to be the soul of a paladin from the Dawn Times.” Aleax leans on the desk. “Perhaps he died with it as well. I will pray for your soul, Malachite, that you are granted the wisdom to guide your soul to the true light.”

The echoes of his voice in the room fade away.

Malachite, headed for the door, looks back. “My faith is strong, Commander,” he says simply, and walks out.

* * *

”Perhaps I would have known if he had touched me,” muses the sword as they stride through the sunlit temple.

“I wish you had said that before,” says Malachite.

”But I think… I think that if that was me, and I found out that I had come back as a skeleton? If it were me, I think I would have destroyed myself immediately.”

* * *

Downstairs, a prelate is waiting. “You have something to leave here, Sir?” he asks.

“No,” growls Malachite, and turns to leave. He stops as Tao’s eyes begin to glow and a trembling aura bursts from her body without warning.

Tao's voice fills with preternatural beauty, the sound of the wind and living things, the sound of a Goddess Incarnate. “Tao Camber. Four hours from now, in the town of Hundle’s Crossing, they will reach the surface for the first time. They are coming.” The light fades, and Tao returns to normal.

Everyone trades glances, and someone asks, "WHO is coming?" But everyone knows who Galanna meant. Almost a thousand miles away, in a little town, the White Kingdom is about to gather food.



To be continued….

[Wulf Ratbane]

Oh, for the sweet love o' pie. I would have let him touch the sword. Pleasepleasepleaseplease touch it.

If he is NOT Aleax, it would have been... bad... for him, and answered a lot of questions.

If he IS Aleax, it's his sword AND his soul-- I don't see how Malachite could lay claim to it.

I wonder if Malachite was more afraid of hurting Aleax, hurting his own reputation, or if it was just as simple as not wanting to lose his nifty sword.

Hmm... Well. You keep that sword, Malachite. You deserve it. It's better off in your hands, where it can do some good. I'm sure you'll save the Faith with it.

It's so easy to topple a paladin with Pride-- always, always their achilles heel.


Wulf

[Piratecat]

I'll be the first to say that Blackjack caught me off guard with Malachite's decision - I never expected him to withhold the sword - and that's always a fun thing. Just like that, he changes my expectations, and a piece of the campaign reacts in response. Whether that's a good response, or a bad response, remains to be seen! But it'll be fun, no matter what.

Once again, kudos to Mara and Malachite for these scenes. At one point Blackjack and I were locked in an icy stare across the gaming table from one another. "He's got no eyes. You can't outstare him." I mutter. Blackjack, who loves Malachite's magical gauntlets of intimidation, mutters back, "That's okay. I have the gloves."

By the way, there have been a ton of really perspicacious, clever observations regarding the "Sir Ghouleax" problem... and I have to deelete a bunch of them if I'm going to keep this thread under 200 posts. Sorry about that, but believe me, they're appreciated!

Next update: An interlude in Ioun's Tower, and readying for invasion!

[Blackjack]

Originally posted by Wulf Ratbane
I wonder if Malachite was more afraid of hurting Aleax, hurting his own reputation, or if it was just as simple as not wanting to lose his nifty sword.

It wasn't concern for his reputation. Malachite does not value his own reputation -- if he did, he'd have stayed with the mainstream church, after all. And it didn't occur to me that Aleax might be hurt, although the Commander might have been hurt, sure.

Malachite didn't let the Commander touch the sword because he no longer trusts the mainstream church, nor does he trust the leader of its army -- and he's not about to hand over a vital tool of the Faith to someone who may very well be a foe. When an undead says, "Hey, will you hand me over your undead-smashing holy artifact with the soul of a saint in it?", you say no.

Malachite wasn't sure he would get it back, and wasn't about to lose one of the most viable pieces of evidence that Ghouleax may not be all he says he is. Pride? Not really. Tactics.

[Blackjack]

Originally posted by Henry@home
Well, like PCat said before, two opposing forces can still serve the same god, and not lose any status by it. Only by falling personally from your deity do you lose your powers. Malachite hasn't betrayed his god - just the official church.

Malachite has under no circumstances renounced his vows, his faith or his god. In fact, from his point of view, he's the one who's remained true to the faith -- while the mainstream church has rewritten its holy text, put an undead in command of its army, and veered away from the true path.

Of course, I could be totally wrong, and come next session will be a 15th level fighter. Time will tell!

[Atticus_of_Amber]

Originally posted by Blackjack


Malachite has under no circumstances renounced his vows, his faith or his god. In fact, from his point of view, he's the one who's remained true to the faith -- while the mainstream church has rewritten its holy text, put an undead in command of its army, and veered away from the true path.

Of course, I could be totally wrong, and come next session will be a 15th level fighter. Time will tell!

I think the point is that if you're wrong, come next session, you won't be a 15th level fighter, you'll be a "featless fighter" - that is, effectively, a 15th level Warrior (the NPC class). That's gotta suck.

In fact, come to think of it, does Piratecat have it in for your paladinhood? I remember a while ago the Defenders were blocked by a magical wall that could only be passed through by people who were infected by disease. But paladins are immune to disease. It looked as if the only way Malachite could get through was to renounce his palidinhood and get infected. PC confirmed in a later post that this was the dilema he'd intended to put you in.

(IIRC, the defenders came up with the innovative solution of polymorphing Malachite into a tape worm and having Tom Tom swallow him. That way, Tom Tom could get through because he was infected with a disease - Malachite the tape worm - and Malachite could get through because he was a disease.)

Maybe PC is a closet Paladin-hater?

[Blackjack]

Originally posted by Atticus_of_Amber
In fact, come to think of it, does Piratecat have it in for your paladinhood?

Maybe PC is a closet Paladin hater?

No, Piratecat is fine with paladins. It's just me he can't stand.

[Jairami]

Originally posted by Atticus_of_Amber
(IIRC, the defenders came up with teh innovative solution of polymorphing Malachite into a tape worm and having Tom Tom swallow him. That way, Tom Tom could get through becasue he was infected with a disease, Malachite the tape worm, and Malachite could get through because he was a disease.)

Thankfully TomTom didn't have to swallow Malachite, someone just held the little worm in their hand, stuck their hand temporarily in the bag of holding, and walked through while he was in there.

Else TomTom would have gotten a taste of Nolin's wonderful ring to get Malachite back out.

[Atticus_of_Amber]

Originally posted by LightPhoenix


So I suppose it's good you're not an arcane caster then, aye? You'd probably be dead seven times over. Oh, and live on the east coast... of China.

LightPhoenix

So, Blackjack, what's the plan?

For what it's worth, if I were in your shoes and had come to the same conclusion about Sir Ghouleax being a distraction from the White Kingdom, I'd have simply ignored him and gone about my business. But, then again, there is the possibility he's leading the Church Militant into a huge trap. But what can you do about that?

Are you going to gather all the former Knights of the Emerald Chappel? Sort of like one of the Three Musketeer movies where Cardinal Richelieu bans the musketeers and they all keep their old tabbards and turn up at the critical moment.

I imagine, a whole bunch of Hunters of the Dead would be useful right now.

Question: To become a Hunter of the Dead, a character must have been previously energy drained by an undead. So:

(1) What was Sir Malachite's "critical experience"? and

(2) Are all the Emeral Chappelars Hunters of the Dead? If so, that's one nasty initiation requirement!

And BTW, if they arent all Hunters of the Dead, are they all paladins?

[coyote6]

Originally posted by Wulf Ratbane
If he is NOT Aleax, it would have been... bad... for him, and answered a lot of questions.

If he IS Aleax, it's his sword AND his soul-- I don't see how Malachite could lay claim to it.

I wonder if Malachite was more afraid of hurting Aleax, hurting his own reputation, or if it was just as simple as not wanting to lose his nifty sword.

Nah. You left off the most obvious possibility -- there's no reason to think that the White Kingdom wouldn't know about St. Aleax the sword. So, if Ghouleax is really part of a White Kingdom plot (whether or not he's actually Aleax at all, and whether or not he knows the truth), then it would be quite reasonable to assume that they had a plan to deal with the sword. In that case, handing the sword over might be a good way to lose a valuable weapon against the White Kingdom.

Hand it over to him, and zap! A contingency triggers Mordenkainen's disjunction, a curse, or even a mere teleport -- goodbye sword.

Hell, who knows -- maybe the sword is one of the Kingdom's big targets -- maybe it's the undead-destroying artifact, or the key to some such thing.

Hmm -- combine some kind of teleportational swap with an illusionary light show (as the sword & the saint "reunite" or whatever), have Ghouleax announce that "You, Malachite, are worthy of this blade" and hand it back -- now Malachite's carrying a ringer sword, some sort of intelligent evil blade that'll fool one and all into thinking it's the holy blade. Then, when the chips are down, the sword turns on the Defenders, and things really go to hell.

Or, hey, Ghouleax really is Aleax, or at least some part of him -- but he's still the White Kingdom's creature. So skeletal saint touches sword, sword recognizes saint, and sword announces that Mr. Bones is the guy that ought to be wielding him. But as soon as Ghouleax touched the sword, the sword became theirs, too. Now, when the time was right, the Kingdom would just flip the off switch, and Aleax (sword and saint both) would go away. Oops, hope nobody needed 'em.

Plenty of ways for sneaky evil undead guys to rig the game. So -- nah. Not letting him touch the sword was the smart play. Though I would've been direly tempted, just to see what happened.

[Magnus]

i've only discovered this story a few weeks ago, in this incarnation. the huge number of pages in most of the story hours seemed too daunting for me to catch up, having only joined the boards since around December. i haven't posted here before, because i mostly felt like an outsider reading over someone's shoulder, plus wittier members usually beat me to anything i wanted to say.

but i just have to say:
OH! MY! FREAKING! GOODNESS!
in addition to the obviously brilliant DMing, PCat's writing in this Story Hour is superb! when i got to the point where the sword was demanded, i had to pause and take a breath before continuing. i have very vivid images of every scene that i read in this story.

i want to offer some kind of congratulations to you, PirateCat, and of course to the stellar players you have, for an amazing story, breathtakingly told (literally). but nothing that i can think of, can accurately convey just how much i'm impressed with your game/story/writing. the best i can manage, is:

thank you.

[Piratecat]

Originally posted by DocMoriartty
How many CN types though say they are speaking for their God and basically threaten to strip away your Diety granted powers for not kissing their arse?

In my game? None. CN's are lucky to have anything resembling an organized church; they tend to have many small chapels and hundreds of variant religions, all following different religious dogma.

What you describe, someone with ulterior motives threatening to strip a cleric's stature simply because the cleric is not flattering the superior, is lawful evil in my game. I'd rather not discuss it here, though; if anyone wants to start a thread in General Discussion, feel free to post a link here in the story hour.

Thanks!

[Blackjack]

Originally posted by Atticus_of_Amber
Are you going to gather all the former Knights of the Emerald Chapel?

Tune in next week, same PCat-time, same PCat-channel.

What was Sir Malachite's "critical experience"?

This story has yet to come up in-game, so I probably shouldn't go into it here.

Are all the Emeral Chappelars Hunters of the Dead? If so, that's one nasty initiation requirement!

And BTW, if they arent all Hunters of the Dead, are they all paladins?

My working assumption has been that the Chaplars, as with most religious groups in PCat's world, are not defined by one character class (which is, after all, often an out-of-game concept more than an in-game one.) Take, for instance, Velendo, who has always been a priest, but didn't realize he was a Cleric until his first adventure with the Defenders.

One can assume that most Chaplars are Hunters of the Dead, but presumably they have a few clerics, vanilla paladins, and the like among their ranks as well.

[Number47]

It's no use to say that Aleax is this or Aleax is that. I know how minds like Piratecat's work. As long as the possibility is open, he isn't going to be one thing or another. It will only be found out when something happens to force the issue. Essentially, Ghouleax is Schrödinger's cat.

Heh. Although that situation might have been forced already if Malachite had let him touch the sword.

[Wulf Ratbane]

Originally posted by Number47
Essentially, Ghouleax is Schrödinger's cat.

Yep, it's a great analogy. I run my campaign this way-- do as much on the fly as possible. Only paint the broadest of strokes.

It makes the difference between having your players "ruin your story" (I see a lot of DMs complain about this) and having the players help create the story.

As for your other point, I called Aleax by his name (not Ghouleax). I think Malachite knew that and was just poking back at me in his response.

Wulf

[Piratecat]

Okay, I have to say I love the "Schrödinger's cat" concept. It's a brilliant description of a common DM phenomena: never decide until you're forced to.

It isn't case here, though! I know all about Aleax, who/where/why and how he is. Changing the story on the fly for metagame reasons just wouldn't be fair.

We game tonight. My next writeup, on Monday, will detail the meeting between Velendo, Nolin, and TomTom with the civic minister of Emperor Congenio Ioun, Master Artifacer. You'll see rapid travel, hasty explaining, full scale evacuation and sneaky tactics. And then later in the week, you'll see what happens when the Defenders of Daybreak face off against several hundred ghouls! Stay tuned.

As to whether or not I hate paladins/Malachite, I'm looking forward to tonight's game. If there's anywhere where hunters of the dead get to shine, it's against hordes of undead. I'm expecting some excitement!

Incidentally, I'm amused at the view count, too; we get a hit roughly every minute and a half, 24 hours a day. At this rate, we're due to hit 100K in three months! But really, that's not important; the only thing that matters here is the story and the game. Hopefully you're having as much fun reading it as we do playing it. This is like a 1920's movie serial in the pacing: climax and lull, climax and lull.

[RangerWickett]

Schrodinger was a physicist who came up with the idea that if there are multiple possibilities that can happen, the one that actually happens is in flux until we actually check.

The example is this:

You have a sealed box, and inside this box there is a cat, and a vial of poison gas. Due to a mechanism of some sort, there is a 50% chance that the vial will break, and the gas will kill the cat. There is also a 50% chance that the vial will not break, and thus the cat will be alright. Thus, there are two possibilities, and we can't know which one is the truth until we open the box to check.

What Schrodinger said, that makes this all important, is that until we do check, the cat is both dead and alive. Only when we open the box does the universe have to choose one, but until that point, no choice has been made.

So they're basically saying that St. Aleax could be a badguy, or could be a goodguy, and that Pcat is just waiting for the right moment to decide, based on what would be coolest for the plot. From the players' perspective, Aleax is like the cat: he could be either possibility.

. . . . . .

As a further note, this ties in with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which is actually applied in an interesting way. Assume that we're trying to measure the location and temperature of a given molecule of gold in a huge mixture of other atoms. Heisenberg's theory helps us understand that if we shoot a light beam at the gold atom to figure out where it is, we'll change it's temperature ever so slightly, and if we measure it's temperature by touching it with the physics equivalent of a thermometer, we'll change it's location, ever so slightly. Thus, you can never know more than one attribute of an item with total precision at any given moment. This doesn't bother us from day to day, but it makes life fun for physicists.