NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2822618" data-attributes="member: 1210">A mountain in the southern portion of the Snowy Peaks, ValoniaAlcar alights atop a craggy mountain- a small mountain, but a mountain nonetheless.  He frowns to himself, contemplating.  His halo darkens slightly as he ruthlessly pushes all thought of remorse over killing the paladins from his mind.  They were orcs, he reminds himself.After meditating for a time, he sighs gently and pulls out a huge diamond.  Its value is extraordinary; he would not expend it lightly, not without great cause.  He glances at the body of the Warlord of Orokeuse, lord of the Valonian orcs.  He was evil, Alcar reminds himself.  Then, grudgingly, he also tells himself: He was a Galadorian.Alcar beats the air with his wings, taking flight and virtually hovering above the corpse of Ragash Zelgar.  The sun haloes him in the sky.  With the light of the afternoon behind him, outlining him, he casts true resurrection on the orcish warlord.  As the self-styled master of Valonia gasps, life returning to his cold limbs, Alcar gently descends.  “Behold!” the angel intones.  “You have been returned from the Beyond by the mercy of Galador!”Warlord Ragash Zelgar springs to his feet, nothing if not resilient.  “What have you done!” he cries.  “How dare you!!”  His fingers clench around empty air, but the party took his weapons, armor and gear while he was dead.  He is unarmed and defenseless.But clearly, he is not cowed.“Calm down,” Alcar commands.  “You must relax.  You must let the Light guide you.  Trust in the Light.  You do not need to attack the halflings.  What harm have they done you?  Perhaps you should consider joining my summer league team.”“What harm-?  Your what?”  Ragash Zelgar shakes his head to clear it.  “How dare you claim to work for the Light!  You just slew twenty paladins of the Church!”“That will be remedied,” Alcar assures him.  The orc gapes.  “For now, you should agree to non-aggression with the halflings.”“Are you mad?  They defy my interests.  They deny my authority.  If I let them get away with it- them, a group of stupid fat halflings!- how long do you think I will maintain the respect of my orcs?”“We killed you once already,” Alcar points out.“I do not fear you, dark angel!” Ragash Zelgar says, his voice dripping scorn.  “Fallen angel!  Get away from me!”“I am no fallen angel,” Alcar says hotly.“You slew my bodyguard of paladins.  You destroyed priests of the Light.  Dwarf priests.”  Ragash Zelgar’s face twists in a furious scowl.  “Tell me again that you serve Galador.”Alcar takes a deep breath, trying to still his anger.  The orc’s right, he thinks.  I need to return the dwarves, and those orcish paladins, from death.  He feels a moment of remorse, but quickly banishes it.  Aloud, he tells the warlord, “We will go raise the dwarves now.” Alcar picks the orc up and carries him into the sky.  Ragash Zelgar scowls the entire way.  He strongly considers attack the angel in the air, but reminds himself that he is unarmed.  He decides to wait for a better time.  He is dangerous, the orc acknowledges cannily.  He and his friends tore through my best men like a bullet through flesh.  I must be careful.  Glaring at the angel, the orc’s thoughts simmer with anger.When they reach the site of the battle, they are dismayed to find that the paladins’ bodies are gone (buried nearby by the rest of our heroes, though Alcar and the warlord don’t know that).  Alcar resurrects the two dwarves (whose bodies are still evident), then turns his attention to the missing corpses.  “Hmm,” Alcar muses, “we can find the paladins, but we’ll need the help of my friends.”  “I think I have had enough of your friends’ ‘help’,” the warlord jeers.“I don’t think you have!” Alcar admonishes.  He shakes his finger at the warlord.  “You are evil and unrepentant!  You make a sham of following the Light, and I will not have it!  I have tried to reason with you, but you won’t do it.  Very well!”  And with that, Alcar pronounces a destruction upon the orc.  Ragash Zelgar bursts into flame and, in the space of less than a second, is nothing more than blash ash.The two dwarves cry out in dismay.  “What have you done!” one of them cries.“What have you done in helping the orcs?  They are attacking the halflings for no reason other than to control them.  They are evil!”“He was our best choice,” the dwarf says heavily.“Do not speak to us of shame, Angel of Food!” cries the other dwarf.  “Yes, we know who you are!  You are in disgrace in Heaven!  How dare you castigate us?”Alcar retorts hotly, “Galador is a prisoner in Heaven!  How long has it been since any angel heard His voice or saw him directly?  The forces of Law are keeping Him-““Preposterous!” the dwarves say as one.“Bah!” Alcar cries.  He pumps his mighty wings and ascends into the sky, unable to stand any more of the argument.  His mighty wings take him southeast for a dozen miles, his sharp eyes peering everywhere for signs of his friends, until finally he contacts them over their permanent telepathic bond.  We’re with the halflings in Shire Role, Lillamere tells him.  What happened?Ignoring his question, Alcar casts a wind walk and heads towards the party.   Next Time: Our heroes hang out with the halflings and ponder the consequences of instituting a regime change on an orcish nation!  Sybele states her conditions for storming the Bastion of Law!  And the party makes a new friend!</blockquote>

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