seasong's Light Against The Dark II (May 13)

[seasong]

The arcanist is an immensely flexible role, with plenty of specialist archetypes available to them. Kyriotes, for example, is a summoner of unparalleled finesse, although he knows squat about binding earth spirits into people or drawing raw energies from other planes - if it requires some sort of creature, he's the man for the mission. Greppa's mentor Hurath, on the other hand, was a non-specialist, and for a time it seemed Greppa would be, too, until he made a sacrifice and became a kind of "light bringer" archetype for Allas...

Quite some time ago, I mentioned, somewhat in passing and largely off the cuff, that one of the "darker" paths of specialization an arcanist can tread is that of infernalist. This little bit talks about that.

Academia: The Diabolical

The popular history of the gods is that the young gods, suited better to humanity, overthrew the dark and primal gods and freed humanity. Gods are hard to truly kill, however, and for the most part they were simply banished to the infernal realms, where they could have minimal impact on the material plane or the celestial heights. Most bad things in the world, from hydra to monstrous spiders to soul-eating dreamstealers, are blamed on those gods who were sent to the infernal planes of existence, leaving the remaining gods clean of any real crimes against humanity.

That's even truth, mostly.

Where arcanists enter the picture, is in the very nature of their magic. Where espers and healers draw upon inner reserves and enhance the natural powers of humanity, and where illusionists focus their will upon the ethereal and shadow realms to create quasi-real effects and images... the arcanist rips open holes in reality between the planes and brings forth that which lies on the other side.

Not just this plane, or that plane. Any plane of existence can be plundered by the arcanist for its useful qualities. Most arcanists, by nature, become somewhat indifferent to the shady morality of the planes. Often, they do not see the various planes as any different - at least for the purposes of the arcanist, that which can be summoned can be commanded, and then sent home, so no harm, no foul. And an infernal spider summoned to achieve a good end... is a good spell.

Some arcanists differ on this, of course. There are those who refuse to truck with anything moral at all, drawing only from the elemental realms; and there are those who eschew only the evil realms, or focus their powers upon the celestial realms (as Greppa does).

There are those who, finding the infernal realms to lend greater advantage, work exclusively with them... often even establishing longterm relationships and contracts with the denizens therein. And where a necromancer might be reviled for any and all of the magic he practices, the infernalist, so long as he does not bring about ruin, is simply tolerated among arcanists, sometimes with stiff looks and stern disapproval, but not action.

Infernalists, you see, are a lot better about not getting caught.

And even in this, there are gray areas. The gods and spirits and creatures and elemental forces that have been consigned to the infernal realms are not all evil. Many were merely on the wrong side of a lost battle. Others were sympathizers to the wrong god, or merely got on someone powerful's hit list. Being in the infernal realms does not guarantee that someone is evil... it's just a likely indicator.

Belial

(this is OOC; the PCs are on their way to a library to find this stuff out, because of things that happened last session)

At the dawn of the current era, many of the old gods were cast from the celestial courts into the infernal pit. Among these were the gods of spiders, of hate, and of ichor... but also among them, was the former goddess of Light, as written below:

Luccas the Red, cast down by Allas to bring about a purer light, one suited to beasts and people, rather than the reddish glow of a sun suited only to reptiles and creatures of darkness.

Luccas, stabbed through the heart and stomach with shining spears of Allas' brilliance, swore vengeance upon the white lights above. A loose translation, roughly, is "For this in my gut, dogs shall lick the entrails of the pure, and beetles shall crawl through their liver; for each beat of my pierced heart, blood will burst from the heads of the righteous, and those who cast me down shall burn in flames as black as the heart hidden by your white light!"

Luccas, however, failed to act upon these threats, for She was bound in chains of celestial gold, called Belial, and cast down into the pit. And there She moaned and gnashed Her teeth, for Belial would not release Her, nor allow Her concentration to focus Her will, for He constantly constricted Her and twisted Her limbs into knots and burned Her flesh as She writhed. Such was the will of He who was Bound As Chain by the gods, to protect them from the ill will of Luccas, most powerful of Her ilk.

And here:

called the Golden Chain of Heaven, Belial was forged by Phastas, goddess of fire and anvil, to bind the only being that She and Her brothers and sisters feared: Luccas the Red, most powerful of the old gods.

Phastas forged Him of celestial gold, and breathed fire into the links, giving unto Him part of Her own divine essence, that He might bind that which She feared the most. And when the time came, Luccas was struck down by Allas, and before Luccas the Red could recover or strike back, Belial was cast about Her, and he bound and twisted and burned, and She fell back and wept as She was thrown into the infernal pit, and Belial with Her.

 

[Indigo Veil]

Cool bit of academia. (See? I *do* read these things! ^_^) I have a (perhaps stupid) question about belial.

. . .the will of He who was Bound As Chain by the gods. . . . unto Him part of Her own divine essence, that He might bind that which She feared the most. [Luccas] was thrown into the infernal pit, and Belial with Her.

...so is Belial every bit as sentient as the other Divine beings?

;;

Makes me wonder if the next bit involves him going, "Awww, my life sucks." And then a moment of ephiphany. "Hey, waitaminnit...what t'hell am *I* doing in this Infernal Pit? *I* didn't do anything wrong...!" and then him thumbing his nose at those who decided his fate. "Screw you guys, I'm going home!" <waddlewaddlewaddle in that weird, construction paper 2d kinda way> "I hate you guys."

... ... ^^;;; I could be totally wrong, of course (especially if he's really just a scripted construct of some kind, despite divine origins), but I was just wondering. ^_^

 

[seasong]

Indigo_Veil: Perhaps He is . But such lofty questions are beyond the ability of mortals to answer.

Edit: I should have another update by tomorrow. Probably a long one .

 

[Greppa of Tartwater]

What happens to vengeance deferred?

"I can't believe those bastards didn't come back!" Greppa of Tartwarter ranted, punctuating each syllable with a kick to an inoffensive piece of furniture.

Merideth of Southbottom shook her head at the little Ellini's violent temper. He'd been in a foul mood ever since fall arrived. They, indeed all of Theralis had been waiting and preparing for the return of orc clan Breaking Cat, and the savages did not even show up for their own party.

She was philosophic about the development. War, while having plenty of opportunities for building heroic clout, is not a desirable state. Despite the drive to swell the ranks of the military, she felt that the additional time to train new soldiers, healers, espers and arcanists would be valuable.

Greppa took it more personally. He wanted to lay waste to swaths of orcs and had been developing unheard of ways to get his nastiest spells in as close as possible without bring him into the range of the spells and flying boulders the orcs had at their disposal. That the clan had not come at anytime during the summer left him seething with pent up aggression.

The tiny man began kicking another piece of furniture when the front door opened and Bellos trundled into the main room of Hurath's Tower.

"Well," he said jauntily, "Are we ready?"

Merideth smiled, "Anything to keep shorty away from the furniture."

Greppa looked at her and then kicked the table leg out of out of spite.

She rolled her eyes, "Ooo, you really showed that table what for."

"Let's go," said the Aglionian slinger.
Bellos wasn’t thinking abut the trip, he was thinking about beer. Theralis being the wine cask of the region, Bellos was homesick for some nice home brewed hops.

Greppa and Merideth were more concerned with the profit-centered nature of this trip. With the merchant Uridates and the help of Greppa's teleporting Lantern Archons, they were going to establish a beer and wine distribution chain between Aglionis and Theralis. The goal was to move enough product to be profitable and not arouse interest or curiosity. If they became excessive, other arcanists would start to horn in on their schtick and squeeze them out.

The trip itself was very uneventful, save for the red throated hydra they spotted on the road. They avoided conflict by the simple expedient of several flight spells.

The wine-laden wagons were of no interest to the lumbering behemoth. The monster moaned and roared at its prey, periodically spitting a gout of flame at them on the off chance they were more like moths than humans and would come close to the light.

"Make it go away Greppa!" Merideth said plaintively. "We're wasting time."

The little arcanist shrugged and let loose painful salvos of Sunstreaks and Greater Thrust. Sore, famished and frustrated, the creature ambled off.

The tiny caravan reassembled and continued into Aglionis.

Their arrival was timely. Although the orc tribes had not returned to Theralis, one of the smaller tribes had arrived in Aglionis. The decision-makers quickly engaged Greppa to help out again with the war effort, paying him and the merchant and setting up the caravan members for the duration of the fight.

Not that there was much of one. The little arcanist flew into the sky and casually rained fiery death to upon the orcs until they would retreat for the day.

He targeted their warriors and whatever camps that were closest to the city. He'd trained himself to the degree where he could cast a fireball at a target from 1,400 feet away.

The conflict also presented a chance for Greppa to use his newest spell. On what would be the last day of the war, he swooped down to the main group of orcs and released a wailing wave of cold into the rear ranks of the orc phalanx.

Those who could not get out of the way watched their skin blacken and stiffen as cold seared into their flesh. The frozen flesh then shattered under the shrieking force accompanying the chill. The results were dramatic and horrific. Frostbitten orc troops stared at the blackened, broken bodies of the comrades who did not survive the strike.

Greppa was impressed with himself. It was the first time he used the spell he dubbed, "Coldscream" in combat. He took inspiration from the Breaking Cat Shamans, who summoned freezing forces into the ranks of Theralis' fighters. What impressed him more was the area, larger than a fireball, he could blanket. Unfortunately, he also had to be relatively close to the target. Against Braking Cat that could be a deadly weakness. Against this nameless tribe, the range was an ego driven risk he could probably survive.

The nameless orcs gathered themselves up, and Greppa, slightly winded from the last casting, hit them with another wave of keening cold.

The orcs, watching the child-sized monster tracing the air, pivoted and ran leaving behind many more of their number frozen in place with arms and legs shattered.

Bellos watched the battle and Greppa's handy work. Fireballs were nasty, but this was...just...wrong. Not that he'd tell anyone. Aglionis was his town, getting the orcs away from it was the first order of business. He did know that Greppa had saved that spell of his for this summer. Despite the stories he heard, he did not understand what Clan Breaking Cat meant to Merideth and Greppa and how that contact could inspire Greppa to create such a nasty spell.

 

[Caliber]

and then him thumbing his nose at those who decided his fate.

What I want to know is how does a chain (even a golden, divine, sentient chain) have a nose? Or even a thumb, for that matter?

Cool new spell Greppa. Cone of Cold? Or some new Cold/Sonic admixture?

 

[seasong]

Just as a side note: I will be writing up about 80% of what is in the above post in my next post. There will also be some contradiction between the posts. There's no worries there, just giving fair warning that some differences (some significant) will be present.

For purposes of the story hour, the above is to be seen as Greppa's point of view, which may or may not agree with the facts . I think this quote sums it up best:

Originally posted by Greppa of Tartwater
Greppa was impressed with himself.

 

[seasong]

Cool new spell Greppa. Cone of Cold? Or some new Cold/Sonic admixture?

Mixed cold/sonic damage cone.

It was never actually used in game; Greppa swooping over the orcs and blasting them was all that was described, since they really had no chance - against low level orcs, Flying Greppa is about as monstrous as you can get.

In practice, it summons forth a howling, freezing wind from the plane of air, which blasts outwards from the arcanist's circle and freezes and abrades opponents. Whether that's as nasty as a choking ball of flame turning you into char is really just a matter of interpretation.

Although it should give you some idea why the plane of air is not the nice and happy place so many people visualize it as.

 

[Greppa of Tartwater]

Humph!

It was never actually used in game; Greppa swooping over the orcs and blasting them was all that was described, since they really had no chance - against low level orcs, Flying Greppa is about as monstrous as you can get.

We glossed over the ork massacre so I felt I had plenty of wiggle room iand I was purposefully vague about some things. There shouldn't be that much to contradict.

 

[seasong]

Re: Humph!

We glossed over the ork massacre so I felt I had plenty of wiggle room iand I was purposefully vague about some things. There shouldn't be that much to contradict.

In the spell use, no . And I'd expect you to get that right.

Mainly, your portrayal of the other characters was off, and the 'tone' of the writing had Greppa as the best ever. To wit:

"Make it go away Greppa!" Merideth said plaintively

and

The orcs, watching the child-sized monster tracing the air...

I'm not saying you were wrong per se, but there are some definite discrepencies in the game through your eyes and the game through mine .

 

[Greppa of Tartwater]

LOL

some definite discrepencies

That's only because you're afflicted with Gmyopia and I have the clever clear sighted view of the player.

Mainly, your portrayal of the other characters was off,

There are other characters? Well, they had lines too.

and the 'tone' of the writing had Greppa as the best ever. To wit:
quote:
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"Make it go away Greppa!" Merideth said plaintively
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Well I am the best ever...

*ducks*