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Lylandra's War of the Burning Sky continued
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7346740" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>Drama time</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Note: Tinuviel did write Shalosha a lengthy letter where he tries to reach out for her conscience to not ally with some leader of a country prone to aggression and war. He basically said that Shahalesti will need her as a future queen as the Shahalesti look up to her and will loathe to see their shining princess to share bed and bloodline with a human “enemy”. Plus Shaaladel will need to be controlled and he is sure that her father would try to annex Ragesia as soon as Magdus dies. And even if her children inherited the lands of Ragesia and Shahalesti, there could be blood wars like in Dassen with the Calanis nobles trying to pull their strings (he didn't really consider that Shalosha would surely outlive her half-elven kids though) and that the least thing the world needs is a unified Ragesia/Shahalesti. So in his opinion it would be better to break Ragesia down to their origin states and have her rule Shahalesti someday. </em></p><p></p><p>The party is then led to a small area in the encampment that is close to the Shahalesti. There they can get a glimpse at an old wizard who causes Cuin's blood to freeze in his veins for this is none else but Nahrem, the scourge of Ycengled. And while he feels the need to kill this man for a split second, Cuin tries to calm down as they are here to talk and not to fight. Even if he knows that this very same man once hunted his kin for his Lord Shaaladel. </p><p></p><p>After almost an hour, Tinuviel is called to one of the Shahalesti tents, so he estalishes a mental connection with Cuin to let him secretly participate. Inside he finds Shalosha, sitting inside a zone of truth. She says she demands to get some answers from him, so she prepared this magical zone where he cannot lull her with his lies. She wishes to know where he got all this knowledge about her and how he could possibly know the future of her marriage with Magdus. She says that she doesn't like being manipulated or mentally spied upon, especially not by people she thought she could trust. </p><p></p><p>Tinuviel seems pretty torn at her accusations. He then stands up and says that he needs to confess something to her. He then takes her hands and kisses them slowly. “I love you, Shalosha. Nothing more, nothing less. I seek your happiness, I fear for your safety. I never meant to embarrass you. I'm sorry I left you alone in Calanis.” He then proceeds to carefully kiss her lips and sits back down again.</p><p></p><p>Now Shalosha seems even more confused than before. She explains that she neither knew, nor expected him to have feelings for her after all these years. Still she cannot return his love as she doesn't feel the same for him and has neither the time nor the freedom to fall in love. She then explains Tinuviel her plan to maybe get peace someday: To unite Ragesia and Shahalesti so that neither party feels the need to wage war on the other. And to have her children usher in an era of peace. She says that while she doesn't love Magdus either, she knows that they share mutual interests and truly respect and complement each other. </p><p></p><p>Tinuviel urges Shalosha to give up her plan and instead become the leader of the Resistance. He says that both he and Cuin fear an unified monster-nation which could crush anyone who's against their interests. “Shahalesti needs you as its future queen.” he explains, “Our homeland needs change and you cannot convince our nobles to follow your lead while you're busy ruling in Ragos”. He then adds that the Resistance would most certainly not ally with both Shahalesti and the rogue Ragesians with the prospect of creating a super-nation after Leska's eventual defeat. </p><p></p><p>Shalosha says that she sees reason in his words and needs to think about it. Still she needs to know why and how he could gather so much information about her. Tinuviel explains that he cannot really tell her lest he'd endanger other people he loves. But he swears that he didn't enter her mind or mentally manipulated her. She returns that she kind of understands, but has to discuss this matter with Magdus. So Cuin, Torrent and Tinu should just stay a little longer as they both will wish to speak to them one last time. </p><p></p><p>Tinuviel returns to Cuin'halar who stares at him, eyebrow raised. “So you do love her still...” he sighs, sounding quite unamused. Then Cuin's tone turns pretty stern and he demands that Tinuviel speaks to Torrent about this... unforeseen development. He adds that he'd better make sure to not break their friend's heart, even if he'd totally understand if she needed to take a break from their company. </p><p>Tinu does as he's been told and he confesses to Torrent that he loves Shalosha, even if this doesn't diminish his feelings for Torrent. The cleric seems pretty hurt at first and asks Tinu whether he could just let his cousin go as it is quite obvious that this relationship has no future. She then tells him about the reason why she was so aloof when it came to love and didn't want to form any serious romantic bond, especially not with an elf: When she was a mere acolyte of Yara and on her pilgrimage through Shahalesti, she fell in love with another elven acolyte. But while she was happy while their relationship lasted, she had to learn that elven emotions are rather volatile the hard way. And so she decided to never let her heart be broken again. That was, until persistent, cute Tinuviel came along. </p><p></p><p>Tinuviel then confesses that while he does love Torrent, he also fears for their future as she's a human and he is an elf. He says that he's afraid of losing her to old age while he's still a young man. Torrent returns that she understands his reasons, even if such depressing thoughts are usually not his style. She insists that he'll make his choice soon though and explains that she'll prey to her goddess for guidance.</p><p></p><p><em>Note: And that's how Tinu's player cursed me with a love triangle <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> Usually, I loathe them. They make bad rom-coms worse and usually only add unnecessary drama. However, Tinuviel has a point with his fear of losing Torrent even if her becoming old and dying way before Tinu is beyond the scope of this campaign (same thing why “gratz you are now immortal!” highlevel perks are always more fluff than anything else). I liked the dynamic between Tinu and Cuin though and this time it really payed off that I actually fleshed out a full background story for Torrent...</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Regarding Torrent, I am a bit torn. I hate classical DM pets as I've suffered from too many of them as a player, but I also love Torrent as a character and my party sees her as a close friend and love interest. Which is why I'm often walking a thin line between playing her too much and too little. What I do try though is to make her and especially her assessment of the current situation realistic. I roll knowledge checks for her and I also use her point of view which is why Torrent's information can be flawed or even false. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p>The conference continues a short time after when Shalosha and Magdus finish their private talks. Both proclaim that they will not get engaged right now and they'll also enter the rebel alliance with the condition that Shalosha is announced as their military leader and the alliance supports Magdus' claim on the ragesian throne. As a sign of goodwill, Magdus has also brought along</p><p> the four lycean adventurers, Ferrandros, Mya, Ruthger and Leonhard who were sent to Sindaire by Simeonne. The quartet seems to be in a good condition and the general snarkily comments that the headmastress shouldn't have send kids like these to spy on an army.</p><p></p><p>The trio thanks him and they promise to bring the Ragesian-Shahalesti suggestions and terms to the alliance's leaders. They know however that the withdrawal of Shalosha's wedding plans maybe only temporal and they should probably find more reasons to convince her to abandon her idea of becoming empress. </p><p></p><p>They travel back to Seaquen and release the four lyceans to Simeonne's care. They also tell her about their parley with Magdus and Shaosha and it seems like the headmastress is quite open to welcome the Shahalesti and the rogue ragesians in the Resistance. As long as Shaaladel doesn't demand to be their High King or something ridiculous like that. </p><p></p><p>To gather more information about Ycengled, the trio travels then to Gate Pass to meet up with Tharaleth. As is it nighttime already, they manage to find him in their home where he's trying to find some sleep despite the dire situation in the city. As usual, Tharaleth is glad to see his sons and Torrent and they exchange news of the ongoing war. </p><p></p><p>Tharaleth seems a bit reluctant to talk about Ycengled as he had tried to close this chapter of his life, but he nonetheless tells them about Rhuarc, the man with the black scimitar. He says that this assassin is quite a mysterious figure and he doesn't really know his motivation. All he knows is that he fought on many sides in the past, then got the name “Knightsbane” by wiping out an order of human knights and re-appeared when Syana was slain. He had tried to help Trilla, but failed and fell off a cliff where he presumably died. </p><p></p><p><em>Note: Yeah, I searched the forum for all info on Rhuarc. Another NPC I really like.</em></p><p></p><p>Asked about the strange necromancer, Tharaleth grows even more quiet and grim. He explains that Cuin's assessment might be right and this man could indeed be Nahrem, the scourge of Ycengled. He explains to both Tinuviel and Torrent that Nahrem was one of Shaaladel's war mages, a sort of inquisitor before Ragesia had them. He says that it was this man (among others) who tried to find Trilla and used torture to press information out of the Taranesti. He muses that Shaaladel might have tried to forge a second torch for himself, as he feared the imminent attack of Coaltongue with his torch. So he most likely wanted to level the field for both nations. </p><p></p><p>Tharaleth then says he wished that neither of them had to see what has become of their home, but he understands that the situation demands it right now. He agrees to be mentally connected to Tinuviel and shows him places he remembers so Tinuviel can teleport there safely. </p><p></p><p>They arrive seconds after saying goodbye to Tharaleth in a dark, eerie forest. The air is icy and filled with remnants of horrors that happened here over 40 years ago. What's even more unsettling is the sound of rusty, swinging chains that seem to grow out of the forest's twisted trees. For a split second, Cuin'halar seems the image of an elven child who's running through the trees, deeper into the forest. They follow the child (and by now they are pretty sure that it has to be a ghost), only to be ambushed by murderous trees. </p><p></p><p>Torrent uses a light spell as she's not used to such darkness and together they fight against the vile treants. Cuin cannot really understand why they would attack them though, as usually treants are guardians of nature and friends of his people. As soon as the oaken treants fall, they can guess the source of their malevolence: One of the dead trees has a long-dead elven child bound to its bark, chained there by the very same chains that are all over the place. </p><p></p><p>This sight nearly breaks Cuin'halar's heart and he rushes towards the dead body to cut it free and give the child a proper burial. Looking around, he sees countless trees that look the same and he can only guess that there must have been a Taranesti man, woman or child chained to every single one of them. </p><p></p><p>“So this is why your father didn't want you to come here... it feels like even my goddess has forsaken this cursed place” Torrent whispers and it seems like there is more than just a bit of fear resonating in her voice. </p><p></p><p><em>Note: Reading about Ycengled was tough. On the one hand, this is a very classic horror setup. On the other hand, WotBS is not genre specific, but rather a consistent epos which is why the theme and history of this forest have a much harder impact, especially when one of your characters is related to the victims. But then again, this is a story about war and real people committed similar atrocities under the guise of “doing what's best for their people”. On top of that, the person responsible for this is very much alive and not an ancient evil or mustache-twirling villain, but rather the “Shining Lord” of hypocrisy who loves to surround himself with angels. And can I say that the D&D alignment system isn't that viable in WotBS? Because Shaaladel surely isn't LN. And calling him LE isn't doing him justice as well. </em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7346740, member: 6816692"] [b]Drama time[/b] [I]Note: Tinuviel did write Shalosha a lengthy letter where he tries to reach out for her conscience to not ally with some leader of a country prone to aggression and war. He basically said that Shahalesti will need her as a future queen as the Shahalesti look up to her and will loathe to see their shining princess to share bed and bloodline with a human “enemy”. Plus Shaaladel will need to be controlled and he is sure that her father would try to annex Ragesia as soon as Magdus dies. And even if her children inherited the lands of Ragesia and Shahalesti, there could be blood wars like in Dassen with the Calanis nobles trying to pull their strings (he didn't really consider that Shalosha would surely outlive her half-elven kids though) and that the least thing the world needs is a unified Ragesia/Shahalesti. So in his opinion it would be better to break Ragesia down to their origin states and have her rule Shahalesti someday. [/I] The party is then led to a small area in the encampment that is close to the Shahalesti. There they can get a glimpse at an old wizard who causes Cuin's blood to freeze in his veins for this is none else but Nahrem, the scourge of Ycengled. And while he feels the need to kill this man for a split second, Cuin tries to calm down as they are here to talk and not to fight. Even if he knows that this very same man once hunted his kin for his Lord Shaaladel. After almost an hour, Tinuviel is called to one of the Shahalesti tents, so he estalishes a mental connection with Cuin to let him secretly participate. Inside he finds Shalosha, sitting inside a zone of truth. She says she demands to get some answers from him, so she prepared this magical zone where he cannot lull her with his lies. She wishes to know where he got all this knowledge about her and how he could possibly know the future of her marriage with Magdus. She says that she doesn't like being manipulated or mentally spied upon, especially not by people she thought she could trust. Tinuviel seems pretty torn at her accusations. He then stands up and says that he needs to confess something to her. He then takes her hands and kisses them slowly. “I love you, Shalosha. Nothing more, nothing less. I seek your happiness, I fear for your safety. I never meant to embarrass you. I'm sorry I left you alone in Calanis.” He then proceeds to carefully kiss her lips and sits back down again. Now Shalosha seems even more confused than before. She explains that she neither knew, nor expected him to have feelings for her after all these years. Still she cannot return his love as she doesn't feel the same for him and has neither the time nor the freedom to fall in love. She then explains Tinuviel her plan to maybe get peace someday: To unite Ragesia and Shahalesti so that neither party feels the need to wage war on the other. And to have her children usher in an era of peace. She says that while she doesn't love Magdus either, she knows that they share mutual interests and truly respect and complement each other. Tinuviel urges Shalosha to give up her plan and instead become the leader of the Resistance. He says that both he and Cuin fear an unified monster-nation which could crush anyone who's against their interests. “Shahalesti needs you as its future queen.” he explains, “Our homeland needs change and you cannot convince our nobles to follow your lead while you're busy ruling in Ragos”. He then adds that the Resistance would most certainly not ally with both Shahalesti and the rogue Ragesians with the prospect of creating a super-nation after Leska's eventual defeat. Shalosha says that she sees reason in his words and needs to think about it. Still she needs to know why and how he could gather so much information about her. Tinuviel explains that he cannot really tell her lest he'd endanger other people he loves. But he swears that he didn't enter her mind or mentally manipulated her. She returns that she kind of understands, but has to discuss this matter with Magdus. So Cuin, Torrent and Tinu should just stay a little longer as they both will wish to speak to them one last time. Tinuviel returns to Cuin'halar who stares at him, eyebrow raised. “So you do love her still...” he sighs, sounding quite unamused. Then Cuin's tone turns pretty stern and he demands that Tinuviel speaks to Torrent about this... unforeseen development. He adds that he'd better make sure to not break their friend's heart, even if he'd totally understand if she needed to take a break from their company. Tinu does as he's been told and he confesses to Torrent that he loves Shalosha, even if this doesn't diminish his feelings for Torrent. The cleric seems pretty hurt at first and asks Tinu whether he could just let his cousin go as it is quite obvious that this relationship has no future. She then tells him about the reason why she was so aloof when it came to love and didn't want to form any serious romantic bond, especially not with an elf: When she was a mere acolyte of Yara and on her pilgrimage through Shahalesti, she fell in love with another elven acolyte. But while she was happy while their relationship lasted, she had to learn that elven emotions are rather volatile the hard way. And so she decided to never let her heart be broken again. That was, until persistent, cute Tinuviel came along. Tinuviel then confesses that while he does love Torrent, he also fears for their future as she's a human and he is an elf. He says that he's afraid of losing her to old age while he's still a young man. Torrent returns that she understands his reasons, even if such depressing thoughts are usually not his style. She insists that he'll make his choice soon though and explains that she'll prey to her goddess for guidance. [I]Note: And that's how Tinu's player cursed me with a love triangle :D Usually, I loathe them. They make bad rom-coms worse and usually only add unnecessary drama. However, Tinuviel has a point with his fear of losing Torrent even if her becoming old and dying way before Tinu is beyond the scope of this campaign (same thing why “gratz you are now immortal!” highlevel perks are always more fluff than anything else). I liked the dynamic between Tinu and Cuin though and this time it really payed off that I actually fleshed out a full background story for Torrent... Regarding Torrent, I am a bit torn. I hate classical DM pets as I've suffered from too many of them as a player, but I also love Torrent as a character and my party sees her as a close friend and love interest. Which is why I'm often walking a thin line between playing her too much and too little. What I do try though is to make her and especially her assessment of the current situation realistic. I roll knowledge checks for her and I also use her point of view which is why Torrent's information can be flawed or even false. [/I] The conference continues a short time after when Shalosha and Magdus finish their private talks. Both proclaim that they will not get engaged right now and they'll also enter the rebel alliance with the condition that Shalosha is announced as their military leader and the alliance supports Magdus' claim on the ragesian throne. As a sign of goodwill, Magdus has also brought along the four lycean adventurers, Ferrandros, Mya, Ruthger and Leonhard who were sent to Sindaire by Simeonne. The quartet seems to be in a good condition and the general snarkily comments that the headmastress shouldn't have send kids like these to spy on an army. The trio thanks him and they promise to bring the Ragesian-Shahalesti suggestions and terms to the alliance's leaders. They know however that the withdrawal of Shalosha's wedding plans maybe only temporal and they should probably find more reasons to convince her to abandon her idea of becoming empress. They travel back to Seaquen and release the four lyceans to Simeonne's care. They also tell her about their parley with Magdus and Shaosha and it seems like the headmastress is quite open to welcome the Shahalesti and the rogue ragesians in the Resistance. As long as Shaaladel doesn't demand to be their High King or something ridiculous like that. To gather more information about Ycengled, the trio travels then to Gate Pass to meet up with Tharaleth. As is it nighttime already, they manage to find him in their home where he's trying to find some sleep despite the dire situation in the city. As usual, Tharaleth is glad to see his sons and Torrent and they exchange news of the ongoing war. Tharaleth seems a bit reluctant to talk about Ycengled as he had tried to close this chapter of his life, but he nonetheless tells them about Rhuarc, the man with the black scimitar. He says that this assassin is quite a mysterious figure and he doesn't really know his motivation. All he knows is that he fought on many sides in the past, then got the name “Knightsbane” by wiping out an order of human knights and re-appeared when Syana was slain. He had tried to help Trilla, but failed and fell off a cliff where he presumably died. [I]Note: Yeah, I searched the forum for all info on Rhuarc. Another NPC I really like.[/I] Asked about the strange necromancer, Tharaleth grows even more quiet and grim. He explains that Cuin's assessment might be right and this man could indeed be Nahrem, the scourge of Ycengled. He explains to both Tinuviel and Torrent that Nahrem was one of Shaaladel's war mages, a sort of inquisitor before Ragesia had them. He says that it was this man (among others) who tried to find Trilla and used torture to press information out of the Taranesti. He muses that Shaaladel might have tried to forge a second torch for himself, as he feared the imminent attack of Coaltongue with his torch. So he most likely wanted to level the field for both nations. Tharaleth then says he wished that neither of them had to see what has become of their home, but he understands that the situation demands it right now. He agrees to be mentally connected to Tinuviel and shows him places he remembers so Tinuviel can teleport there safely. They arrive seconds after saying goodbye to Tharaleth in a dark, eerie forest. The air is icy and filled with remnants of horrors that happened here over 40 years ago. What's even more unsettling is the sound of rusty, swinging chains that seem to grow out of the forest's twisted trees. For a split second, Cuin'halar seems the image of an elven child who's running through the trees, deeper into the forest. They follow the child (and by now they are pretty sure that it has to be a ghost), only to be ambushed by murderous trees. Torrent uses a light spell as she's not used to such darkness and together they fight against the vile treants. Cuin cannot really understand why they would attack them though, as usually treants are guardians of nature and friends of his people. As soon as the oaken treants fall, they can guess the source of their malevolence: One of the dead trees has a long-dead elven child bound to its bark, chained there by the very same chains that are all over the place. This sight nearly breaks Cuin'halar's heart and he rushes towards the dead body to cut it free and give the child a proper burial. Looking around, he sees countless trees that look the same and he can only guess that there must have been a Taranesti man, woman or child chained to every single one of them. “So this is why your father didn't want you to come here... it feels like even my goddess has forsaken this cursed place” Torrent whispers and it seems like there is more than just a bit of fear resonating in her voice. [I]Note: Reading about Ycengled was tough. On the one hand, this is a very classic horror setup. On the other hand, WotBS is not genre specific, but rather a consistent epos which is why the theme and history of this forest have a much harder impact, especially when one of your characters is related to the victims. But then again, this is a story about war and real people committed similar atrocities under the guise of “doing what's best for their people”. On top of that, the person responsible for this is very much alive and not an ancient evil or mustache-twirling villain, but rather the “Shining Lord” of hypocrisy who loves to surround himself with angels. And can I say that the D&D alignment system isn't that viable in WotBS? Because Shaaladel surely isn't LN. And calling him LE isn't doing him justice as well. [/I] [/QUOTE]
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