Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chroma" data-source="post: 2061835" data-attributes="member: 250">Becoming a petitioner or what-have-you does suck when you think about it; your life and actions mean nothing in the afterlife, no wonder PCs are always getting raised!  *laugh*  In my campaign, it's more of a reward/relax/revel kind of place... if you're good.  *laugh*  Here's a story I wrote for one of my players when his character was struck down by a slay living glyph.  The other PCs were striving mightly to get him resurrected, but making the choice to return was tough and poignant for the character.  He did eventually choose to return, but his "taste of heaven" strengthed his faith and dedication and really transformed the character.  Added to the fact that half the party was killed in the final encounter of the adventure made it an even more powerful event.The tale:You feel a moment of cold, crushing pain……and then nothing…Unknown amounts of time pass, you see, hear, and feel flashes of the triumphs and tragedies of your past, bursts of hopes and fears of the future, but a strange, aching emptiness for the present.  You hurtle onward towards an unknown destination; bright light sears your eyes and chills your soul at the same time…You find yourself reclining upon a low, comfortable couch, within an open-air, pillared building.  Bright sunshine streams down outside and the sights and scents of a summer afternoon after a brief thunderstorm assail your senses with incredible strength.  There is a heaviness upon you that makes it difficult to move, though you are able to look about the room you are in.  A table set with delicious looking foods and a crystal decanter of deep red wine is nearby and you make a feeble attempt to reach for something, your throat parched.“Ah, you have awakened.”You turn and see the most beautiful woman you have ever laid eyes on.  Or, at least she looks like a woman… her skin appears to be brightly burnished silver, her hair falls in thick curls, black as night, and her eyes shine like molten gold.  The smile upon her lips dispels all thought of food or drink.“Where am I?  Where are my…” You struggle to remember how you got here and what you were doing before you awoke.The strange woman sits upon a cushioned stool near you, adjusting her white robes, “You are in the Blessed Lands, my child, in the Outer Halls of the Joybringer.”“I’m… dead?” A look of sadness, enough to nearly break your heart, touches the woman’s face.  “Yes, you were struck down by a cruel curse as you tried to lead your friends to safety.  Others of your companions fell as well, though the task you were on was completed.”  She pauses for a moment and then continues, “You have not yet been taken into the Blessed Lands for there is a choice you must make.  The curse that struck you down…” again that look of sadness “…damaged your soul, the essence of you.  If not for the quick actions of your Sister, your soul would’ve been corrupted by the darkness of that curse, and you would have become one of the Lost, but you have been saved from that fate, yet, the damage still remains.  You were struck down before your time and the gateway still stands open, no judgment has been passed, but I must warn you, and this is where you must make a choice.  Your life was not completed, so your reward here in the Blessed Lands is not either, yet you are here.  You may stay, and will soon forget the troubles of your past life, enjoying the fruits of the Joybringer and hearing stories and seeing things that make the Gods smile, but, you will never find true satisfaction; you will be restless even here, in the afterlife. Your friends hope to seek out the blessing of the Holy Mother and pray to return you to the lands of the living.  And that is a choice open to you, if the price is paid, but there is a danger for you there as well; there is a hole in your soul.  In the Blessed Lands you would be protected from harmful influences, nothing corrupt could grow to fill that place, but, if you return to the lands of the living, your choices and actions will decide how your soul heals.  You will be especially susceptible to the temptations of evil and darkness; for they nearly had you… they have tasted you, and wish to devour all of you and fill that emptiness with their deceits.  Yet, only through living will your soul heal and your afterlife be fulfilled.  It is a difficult choice to be given, but it is in your power to make it.”She looks at you as you try to comprehend what has happened to you.  She touches your brow and some of your fear and confusion dissipates, but you know you still have a choice to make.“Eat and drink from these things I have brought you,” she laughs, and you feel like laughing as well. “It is not like the old stories; you will not be trapped here by drinking the wine or eating the bread.  Enjoy these tastes of heaven while you can.”You do.</blockquote>

Verification