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seasong's Light Against the Dark III (Sep 29th)

seasong

First Post
F5 said:
Again, I'm impressed with how throughly thought-out Theralis is. I've always thought it made sense to plot out exaclty what kinds of creatures serve a particular god, and how they do it. Never got around to it in any campaign I was running, but it makes sense. It's the sort of thing I would expect to see fleshed out in detail in a sourcebook like Dieties & Demigods.
Yeah, I was pretty disappointed in D&Dg. I'm a world builder at heart, though, so my standards for certain aspects of source books is pretty high.

Any chance we can see a more comprehensive list of the specific roles monsters play in the gods' armies? I'd be curious to see it if you've got something written up already you can share; if not, don't worry about it.
Much will be revealed as the campaign progresses into the higher levels, when the PCs start having to deal with such things even more directly. When Greppa gets gate, we'll finally be seeing the other planes, and dealing with the politics there first hand.

-seasong
 

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Hey guys, I wanted to apolozize for the lack of updatage. I've let myself get too bogged under with stuff (4 games a week and a once weekly night class). I will be caught up hopefully before we hit another another Aria point.
 

NEW UPDATE

It was a time of change.


I think I lost track of how long I sat in my sanguine light gently rocking Merideth, hoping that her wounds would spontaneously close, she would sit up and hit me for being silly. But she didn't get up.

Eventually I began to pull myself together. I lost people before to the machinations of the Gods. It'll probably keep on happening. Retrieving Belial's feather, I ignited it and watched it burn fitfully, but he didn't appear.

"Belial!" I yelled, anger simmering, "Belial!"

"I'm here," a disembodied voice returned.

I looked around, "Where? We need to get us back to Theralis."

"I'm outside at the mouth of the Nekromanteia," he supplied.

"Why can't you just come down?"

"You are in Hethas' realm. I cannot travel there," He said.

Oh that's just bloody great, I thought.

"Merideth's...not alive. Can you do something to help her?" I asked.

There was silence for several moments, "There's nothing I can do. I'm sorry." Then he was gone.

I pulled the spears out of her body and started looking for a way out. Above me, from the darkness, Akeros emerged. "Hethas be praised!" he exclaimed. "I've searched far and wide, but I did not think that I would find you here."

Akeros was knelt next to me by Merideth's body, "I was supposed to do this to you, but since you had to go and survive. I'll give it to her." He touched her lightly and stood. "I have fulfilled my purpose!" He called to the ceiling. He glanced in my direction, smirked and vanished into the darkness.

Merideth sat up, fully healed. I rushed to the floor beside her. Her eyes were clear.

"Was I dead?" She asked.

I nodded, "Yeah."

Her eyes hardened, "Athan is so dead."

I just hugged her.

***

Since, being on another plane denies me the use of the balance of my spells, I armed my self with one of the spears Athan put through Merideth. She took the other and we began to trek upward. We traveled in silence.

I wanted to ask her about what it was like being dead. Allas apparently came to claim Athan. Did someone come for her? Was she...happy? Now that she was back, I wasn't sure if she should be...resurrections happen only when the Gods are involved and altruism isn't one of their strong points. However, I was glad she was back and if she wasn't up to talking I wasn't going to force her.

Near a gap in the roof of a cave several hours walk from where we entered, we came upon clumps of mostly whole skeletons. In this area, I found a bronze short sword. Sparing the effort, I took a glance at with with Detect Magic. While the spell was active I also looked at the skeletons and something caught my attention. In the left eye socket, was a tiger's eye opal that shown with esper magics. The sword also emanated magic. I scooped up the sword and reached for the opal.

"Hay," Merideth said. "Do you think you should be doing that?"

I stopped, "Doing what?"

She looked meaningfully at the skeleton, "That."

I jabbed my fingers into the space, fracturing the bone and pulled out the opal, "What good is it doing him?"

Merideth rolled her eyes and continued onward. She led because with her esper abilities functional, she was the functional protector of the group. We eventually came to a wall. Merideth's eyes glazed as she sent her mind to explore the rock.

"It's a dead end," she said finally. We doubled back and stopped at the large crack in the ceiling. A quick check later she said, "This is the way, lets go."

We emerged in a spacious cavern. The ceiling was vast and vaulted and along one if the walls, the skeleton of a giant cat sat embedded in the walls. Merideth and I sat down to rest, but soon afterward, she sent her mind out to scout. I went about the room looking things over, pausing by the skeleton. It wasn't any sort of animal I recognized. I thought it looked rather pathetic all imprisoned in stone like that.

Merideth joined me at the wall, "This section is only 8 feet thick" we can get out through here. I nodded and turned to put some distance between myself and the wall. Blasting away at the wall was bound to get messy. "Um, Greppa," Merideth asked.

I turned, "Mmmm?"

She was backing away cautiously, "I think it moved."

I looked past her and indeed, the skeleton was moving slowly grinding out a shower of stones and dust as it worked its way loose. It looked like we weren't going to have to blow our way through 8 feet of stone. All we had to do was wait until it pulled enough of itself out for us to crawl through and we can destroy it while it was still encased in stone.

We watched its head tear free, empty sockets glowing a dim red. It was a sight. The bone flowed and moved like flesh. It pulled its head free and roared. The sound was deafening forcing Merideth and I to cover our ears. Through our fingers, a sibilant voice whispered the secrets of life beyond Akeros, and death's meaning of life. The roaring sibilance held us, smothering any impulse to run away, draining our strength, squashing our will. It tore itself away from the rest of the wall, turning slowly to advance in our direction. That snapped us out of our stupor.

"What do we do?" Merideth asked.

"Run for the bloody hole!" I yelled dashing for the hole we used to enter the cave.

We dropped about 10 feet before getting wedged in a crook in the shaft.

"What's it doing?" I asked Merideth.

"It's pawing around the hole. It'd be cute if he wasn't so scary. So what are we going to do?"

"You're the one with all of your skills intact. It's your turn to be the hero, go up and kill it Miss Warrior Healer."

"Nuh unh!"

Some "hero" she was. I was thinking of a suitable retort when I felt something grasp my ankle. "Merideth....?" I whispered

"What?" She snapped.

"We have more playmates,"

She looked down, following my finger. A line of skeletons snaked back along the passage, at the front and currently in possession of my ankle was the very corpse from whom I relieved the tiger's eye eyeball.

"Do something!"

She did something all right and engulfed me and the closet skeletons in a shower of telekinetic knives. They HURT, but the skeletons shattered under the assault.

"What?" She said responding to the withering glare I sent in her direction.

Rolling my eyes, I began to cast, I don't know if it was the pain or the irritation, but I remembered that Hethas was also the goddess of elemental Earth. I took a chance and cast Wall of Shale across the base of the tunnel sealing it off.

"Why didn't you do that before?"

"You be quiet." I started casting again, Small Favors this time. I needed an Earth Elemental and the only one I know was in the remnants of the Kithian highway. Unfortunately, I didn't understand its language. I used Allas' lantern Archons to communicate with it. I already had Luccas' light, I wonder what else I had access to. I summoned a lantern Archon, noticing the subtle changes in the spell that indicated that my memory of the spell had been altered.

A small translucent raven appeared in the small space.

"How may I help you?" It asked.

I was expecting a little red puff ball but I wasn't going to look a gift bird in the mouth, "I need you to talk with an earth elemental for me."

"What do you want from it?" It asked.

That was a switch, "Um, I need it's ability to meld with stone."

It nodded and then began to talk. It wasn't the kind of exchange by exchange translation I was used to. The little bird actually seemed to be negotiating for me. After several minutes, it turned to me, "It says that things are afoot in the world. You have not been sending Archons like you did before. It is willing to grant your request, but in return, you must find a way to free it or move it so that it can be more involved with the affairs of the 'children of Kithios."

The skeleton kitty roared.

The spell needed to summon an elemental of that power was beyond me, but maybe Kyriotes could come up with something so I told it to tell the elemental "yes."

There was a final exchange and then the portal winked out. My skin began to harden, taking on a rocky texture. Stone Skin and Earth's Strength only caused the most cosmetic changes, but this, this was something else.

"Do you need anything else?" The raven asked.

"No, thank you," I replied.

It smiled and then vanished.

I pulled Merideth to me and encased her in a cocoon of stone. I didn't know how I did it, it just came naturally, I flowed over Merideth and then we both sank into the walls of the cave and into the depths of Hethas' realm. I had a general direction in mind...up. However I had a definite path, so I flowed up to the floor of the cave and spared a peek. The big bone kitty sniffed and pawed at the spot in the rock we occupied. It couldn't get through the rock but it knew where we were. I didn't tarry, although a healer could hold her breath for a long time, I didn't want to push things. I pushed into the hallway beyond the ruined wall where the cat was entombed. The damn thing followed us for a ways, and then I felt it. We were through the dimensional barrier. I kept moving, keeping an eye on the cat. I don't think I'd even seen anything that big, outside of Uripedas, act so cute. Scary, but cute.

About 100 feet beyond the transition point, the cat stopped sniffing the air. If it had ears, they would have perked up. Then it bolted down the hall. A minute or so later, I heard screams. Merideth started squirming around, wanting to be let out. I surfaced and watched her stretch to her feet and then she bolted down the hall, brandishing her spear. I followed her into a charnel scene of body parts clothed in the remnants of black robes.

I felt stabbing pains of guilt as we pushed into a run. Merideth, her earlier recitence for battle gone, led. I raised shields and defenses and started to fret. I didn't know that many attack spells that weren't area effects. Not that I had much experience fighting giant skeletons (actually I'd never fought any of the living impaired) but it looked very tough. We arrived in a large cavern in time to see the tiger swipe its huge claws across the abdomen of some poor schmuck, clad in the robes of a priest of Hethas.

Merideth sprinted forward to engage it, I moved to flank firing a seldom used force spell called "Greater Thrust." I thought it up a long time ago for use in close in combat and after my loss at the last Olympiad in the ray competition, I worked on quickening it to fire it at a moment's thought. I had no intention of using it in combat because, compared to fireball, it wasn't as effective against orcs.

In this case it was surprisingly effective. I fired two bolts into the side of the creature. It screamed and wheeled towards me. Emboldened, I hit it again while Merideth sprayed its vulnerable side with kinetic knives. The bones crumbled to a heap. Merideth went to heal the priest while I went to see if any more skeletons were coming. A few had been making their way down the hall from the chamber, but they had crumbled to small piles of bones. Satisfied I went back to Merideth.

The Priest was very pale, but the gashes in his abdomen were gone. Merideth was already gone administering to those who were still alive.

"Sorry about that thing," I said kneeling by him, "It followed us out."

His eyes were still a bit shocky, "You came from below."

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Hethas said you would come," He stopped and looked at the carnage in the area. "Why is this happening to us. Things, omens have been happening so much death, so much. Why does Hethas test us?"

Oooo boy, this was a bit of a sticky situation so I considered my words carefully, "The gods are preparing for war," I began. "Xeras and Allas have already began making preparations. Xeras controls the Bukenahk orc tribe which has be gaining power and driving the weaker tribes in our direction. I do not know what Hethas' stake is, but I trust it will be for the best."

The priest nodded, "Thank you for this information. We must prepare ourselves."

I nodded, clasped his hand and headed for the opening of the cave. Merideth was already there admiring the architecture. The opening of the Nekromanteia was carved into a an ornate bas relief like a temple had been swallowed into the earth and only it's face remained visible.

When I joined her, Belial shimmered into view, "Ready to go?"

We almost said yes, but we realized that we were still wearing the cloaks we had found in the Temple of Allas so long ago. Instead of their usual snowy white, they were now black. Apparently Allas felt that she was making some sort of statement with the color change. Personally, attempting to murder us was statement enough.

Merideth had taken off her cloak and tossed it to the ground. I did the same, but I also kicked dirt on it for verisimilitude.

I turned to Belial, "Let's go."
 

seasong

First Post
Aw, Akeros said a few more words than that - you asked him what he was doing here, for one... ;)

(For those not following this from earlier, Akeros had said that someone was going to try to kill Greppa; and that if Akeros was there, Greppa's life line would not end - when Athan killed Merideth, Akeros gave that lifeline from Hethas to her instead of Greppa. It was a very angsty moment :))

-seasong
 

seasong

First Post
Just a note that I've got an overview of the gods cooking. It's taking me a while, since most of my notes are on napkins - little things I thought of while I was out camping with no power supply for a computer :).

The intent is a Who's Who of the divine powers involved in this little tiff, plus a few others.

-seasong
 

New Post!

Belial wrapped us in his arms and vaulted high into the air. The Nekromantiea became a tiny anthill as Belial's inhuman speed carried us home.

I noticed that Belial was being very quiet. It seemed to me that since we'd effectively thrown in with their side, there was a whole lot more to be said. His face was somewhat pensive, very unsure.

"What's happening at home?" I asked him flatly.

He was silent for a while. The wind whipped his hair, making him look like a beautiful statue cast from the reddest bronze one could find. I still admired that face, as well as the body attached to it, but Athan was back, which meant Allas was also making her move.

"What's happening at home?" I asked him again.

He pointed with his chin, "Look for yourself."

Unbelievably, the spires of Theralis framed themselves along the horizon. I never felt so glad to see home, however, something was wrong with the picture.

Half of the city was illuminated with a bright golden light and the other part glowed with the blood red illumination of Luccas. Clouds of darkness surged through the skies, crossing from one side to the city to the other. Periodically multicolored lights streaked through the sky, striking indiscernible targets with a flashy release of energy.

"What's happening?" I asked with growing horror, "Why aren't the full forces of Luccas, Hsethmah, and Corvidae here?"

"The mortals are fighting," He replied. "There are those among you who still follow Allas. They fight for Allas and she heard their prayers and sent her troops. Without you present to seal the bargain, the others have given gifts to those among your people who have individually given their worship, but they had to wait for you, to protect the city."

Great, I thought, turning towards the rapidly approaching city. Then I had a sudden thought and I summoned Uripedas.

A large shape split from the surging clouds of blackness over the city. The spot quickly resolved itself into a giant black hawk.

"Uripedas..." I whispered. Something in Allas' makeup must make her prone to these blunt demi-poetic flourishes. Uripedas was once a blazing, eagle with feathers of gold. He now resembled a fierce black hunting animal, magnificent in its aerial grace. His greeting spoiled the grand image.

"HelloGreppa!I'mgladtoseethatyou'reallright!Seelookatme!Don'tIlookgood?WhenthishappenedtomemybuddiesturnedonmeandIhadtokillthem,butwhentheyweregonenewbuddiescameandnowI'mhappy!"

Despite his fearsome new appearance, he was the same old hyperactive bird "I'm sorry your friends were stupid," I said grinning. "I think it's time to take back our city."

Uripedas perked up, "Fight?"

"I grinned so hard, I felt the wind on my canines, "Uh huh. Fight!"

I felt Belial's arm release me and I fell the rest of the way onto Uripedas' back. I grabbed handfuls of feathers and yelled, "Show me the city."

The great hawk wheeled, leaving Merideth with Belial and headed for the edge of the city, "You're gonna wanna see this." I looked down and saw orcs battling at the edge of the city. However, they weren't' fighting Theralis troops. They were fighting celestial servants of Allas.

Cursing under my breath, I commanded Uripedas to take me into the city, where I was greeted by more chaos. Clouds of Sunhawks and Ravens surged across the skies while Devas and other creatures rode on the backs of sun eagles.

This was insane. I can't believe Allas would pull this crap when orcs were going to attack. Is she that confident? I did not say what I was thinking, but Allas was just plain stupid. Who gives a damn if she is a God.

We veered towards Kyriotes' tower and arrived to find it surrounded by Devas on the backs of golden eagles. The tower itself was sheathed in a shimmering dome of force. The celestials were pelting at its surface with golden blasts of energy. I raised my hands and once again I realized that my words weren't my own. A five foot wide column of inky black energy rippled from my hand and blindsided the deva nearest me.
The attack group stopped momentarily as their focus switched to me. "Keep them busy," I whispered to Uripedas adding, "Don't get killed." Before casting Dimension Door and teleporting into the other side of the force dome.

Kyriotes was a conjuring specialist and I expecting him to have a spell that could hedge out celestials, but a side effect of the spell was unexpected. I appeared on the other side writhing in pain. And, standing above me was Kyriotes. His apprentices were gathered about him has he continually summoned creatures with a calm smooth efficiency. They, in turn were, surrounded by a bevy of various types of monsters.

"Hello, Greppa," he said with genuine surprise. "I'm glad to see that the reports of your demise were exaggerated."

I managed to lever myself to my feet, "Where's Phitios?" I asked.

"He's under siege in his tower," the arcanist responded.

"And Athan?"

"I don't know," he replied

I turned to him, "I take it you're getting ready for an assault?"

"Yes, Once I secure my tower, I plan to extend into the streets one block at a time. The creatures I'm currently summoning are specially resistant to magic and hopefully they will be able to stop the devas."

I nodded and prepared myself to teleport out, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Greppa," Kyriotes said with an uncharacteristic sincerity, "I understand, you can create walls of rock. Do you think you can put a dome over my tower? It would make taking back this area of the city easier and I can move into the rest of the city faster."

I looked at him for and suddenly we had a moment of understanding. He didn't see me as a little kid hanging at his hem trying to talk magic. I was a colleague, not yet an equal, but definitely someone who could be turned to for a certain level of competency. It was a strange moment and until now I didn't realize how good receiving his approval made me feel. I nodded, turned to the outside of the force dome and gestured. Four walls of shale erupted from the ground clawing at the air like grasping earthen fingers. The fingers met and the stone dome sealed.

Kyriotes nodded and went back to summoning. I flew to the roof and, still possessing the power of the Kithian earth elemental, passed through the stone wall and into the air. The sky was chaotic. Devas and their mounts tried to draw a bead on Uripedas while swarms sunhawks nipped at its feathers. Uripedas wheeled and spun, making them work for every bit of distance. They started to converge on him, coming from all sides and the sunhawks were able to find purchase.

"No," I whispered, starting to head in their direction. Then Merideth descended from above spraying the attackers with fans of kinetic daggers. She touched Uripedas as she settled onto his back and his wounds sealed shut. He let out a fierce war cry and he and Merideth, broke from the mass.

I whispered a small prayer and said under my breath, "Take care of each other."

****

The scene at Phitios' tower was only slightly less hellish than the scene of the orcs massacring Eastpass so long ago. Theralis troops, battled celestial and the Outsiders attempted to breach the stone tower. Supporting the ground troops, were two Devas on golden eagles. They were attacking the tower, however, my presence caused them to change their tactics.

They bore down on me, hurling spears of violet colored energy. I managed to evade most of them, but two caught me. When each hit, I was seized by a terrible pressure. My body felt squeezed, not as if being crushed, but being pushed, through the fabric of reality, out of existence. My Will flared pushing back the effect, however, in evading the attacks, I smashed into the stone roof of the tower.

The Devas pressed their attack, diving for my position. However, the roof was stone, and with a thought, I passed through it and landed hard on the floor at someone's feet. I rolled over and came face to face with the brave healer who flew out onto the battlefield with me during the last war. Her eyes widened momentarily and I felt her hands on me and I was completely healed.

I stood, but before I could ask about Phitios, Athan appeared in the room. He caught me by surprise before, this time I had a special surprise for him. He drew a glowing spear from his back and released it. It sunk deep into my chest as the final syllables escaped my mouth. I started to fall, but I was grinning at the surprise that crossed Athan's features as the Dismissal took effect and he was ripped from our plane.

"Gotcha," I murmured. Then I blacked out.
 

F5

Explorer
Yikes. One hit from Athan and Greppa went down? What ARE those glowing spears he's using on you, anyway? Or is it just that post-celestial Athan is a total combat monster?

At any rate, there are worse places to fall down unconcious than at the feet of a friendly healer...

Great update. Thanks, Greppa.
 

Caliber

Explorer
Greppa might have super-strength from the Orc Ancestors, but he probably doesn't have the HP. And Athan ALWAYS was a combat monster.

Sorry for being so quiet recently! Real life is killing me! But great story!
 

What he hit me with...

Some fairly nasty stuff was going down in that fight. The Devas who were over Phitios' tower were using a variant of Prismatic Spray Seasong dreamed up. Basicly, they could select a color and imbue it in a spear.

They were using the violet ray which would have sent me to another plane...probably one that was very uncomfortable.

The particular bit of nastiness Athan hit me with was a variant of Smite. Before dying, Athan was a combat monster, "Celestial" Athan is an absolute monstrosity. Seasong won't give me his full stats, but he did say that his strength was around 40. I was packing a DR of 20 as well as full hit points and he dropped me to -3 in one shot. That one encounter completely altered my spell list.
 

New New Post

Transitions

In my time, I've taken many things for granted. One of them, was living with one of the most powerful Healers in Theralis. Since leaving orc captivity, I've never awakened injured or ill. It gives me a sense of immortality when I think about it.

I was feeling all too mortal when I woke up. Before light hit my eyes, I felt myself tense at the unfamiliar sensation, "what?"

The question pulled me completely awake. Uripedas hove over me, his black feathered bulk eclipsing the ceiling.

Uripedas smiled down at me and spoke to someone, "He's awake."

The bed shifted and Merideth was looking at me. She closed her eyes for a moment and smiled, "Glad to see you're awake."

"What's been happening?" I said weakly trying to sit up. Pain wormed its way through my chest and ribs. "I'm still injured," grabbing at my chest, and inflicting more pain. "Why haven't I been healed?"

"I couldn't heal your wound," Merideth replied firmly pressing me back to the bed. "The healer who was there with you tried as soon as you'd gotten rid of Athan. She said he hit you with some sort of glowing power. I tried when I arrived, but I couldn't do anything either. We bound your wounds and brought you here."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Three days."

"THREE Days?" I exclaimed, "What's happening? Is Allas still attacking the city? What about the orcs?"

Merideth's face darkened, "Allas' forces vanished right after you defeated Athan."

"Even the one's fighting the Orcs?" I asked

"Especially the one's fighting the orcs," She replied bitterly. "She also took away the light. The sun hasn't been seen for three days."

"What about Luccas and the others?" I asked.

"They said they were dealing with you. They told Phitios that they would only complete the deal with you," Merideth replied.

"Where are the orcs?"

"Occupying the outer areas of the city."

"WhaAAAAAT?" No one has EVER occupied part of the city before. I gritted my teeth and pushed back the covers.

"You aren't fully recovered," Merideth said moving to push me back.

I caught her hand and said evenly, "My recovery can wait. Bring me my things."

They brought me my tunic, sandals, bracers and belt and choker, all of my defensive items. My short sword and spear was noticeably absent. I fidgeted around until I found Belial's feather, "Let's go."

I strode out of the room...well, more hobbled out of it. I never realized how important chest and abdominal muscles were in walking. I had to stop often. I should have flown, but that felt like cheating.

They'd put me in the center most chamber of an unfamiliar compound. There weren't any windows for as far as I could see. The only light being provided by oil lamps and candles. My leaders seem to a lot more paranoid than I gave them credit for.

When I got out of bed I imagined a fairly short walk, but this was more like an olympic foot trace. I pulled back on the pace and just walked. It wouldn't improve anyone's faith if I reached my destination and passed out. So I just walked.

Sometime during this painful stroll, Phitios appeared at our side.

"Do whatever you have to do," He said. "We need sunlight. Just don't give too much away." And he proceeded to tell me what "too much" was. I listened for a few moments as he detailed some fairly distasteful situations. Eventually, I tuned him out. I'd already negotiated with them and I think we had a very good deal. I surreptitiously rummaged around my pockets and found the parchments right where I left them. Phitios was nervous, then again dealing with the celestials should make anyone nervous. Phitios just didn't like having control over a situation.

We emerged in the council chambers. The gallery area was packed with people and each of the councilors sat listlessly conferring with a stream of people. The din was distinctly distasteful in my current state. I was escorted to a large chair in the center of the room. Now I was distinctly uncomfortable.

I took a deep centering breath...and almost passed out from the pain. Giving up on being comfortable, I pulled Belial's feather from its home in my robe and lit it.

Belial appeared, in all his delicious majesty. His face was stern and formal and his appearance silenced the room. Everyone faced me. I held their futures in my hands.

"Let's get started Belial," I said a little more grumpily than I intended.

He looked over at me and smiled. I must've looked pretty pathetic, all pale and wan. If I ever saw Athan again, I was going to do something worse than dismiss him...maybe banish him to the plane of shadow.

Belial nodded and the room darkened momentarily as a horde of ravens appeared and coalesced into the form of the Goddess Corvidae. She smiled at me and we began to talk. It was all very casual, but was I "negotiated for" was exactly what we agreed upon when we'd met before. If anything, it was theater. The banter began to fade, when I gave Merideth a very meaningful look.

"What?" Her expression said, then the meaning dawned upon her. "Um, no she stammered. Not here...not now."

I gave her what I hoped was a stern look, "This is what you wanted," I hissed, "Just do it."

Corvidae tilted her head and said with a slight smile, "What is this?"

Put on the spot, Merideth stepped forward, "As I asked when we first met, how does one become a priest of you?"

"Is this something that you want?" Corvidae asked.

Merideth nodded firmly.

"Are you sure?"

"Since the first day I met you," Merideth replied.

Corvidae beckoned and Merideth descended her place behind my chair and knelt before her. "For your faith," the goddess intoned, "and your openness and honesty. I gather you into my service." She removed her ever present cloak of black feathers and laid it across Merideth's shoulders. She touched my friend's head in silent benediction and vanished. When Merideth stood and faced the crowd, she did so through eyes that were dark as night.

Hsethmah's presentation wasn't nearly as flashy. A hellhunter appeared. We exchanged brief pleasantries including an exchange of responsibilities.

"We will see to things immediately," It responded. It turned to go and paused, "Do you want them dead or alive?"

I thought about it, remembering our "labor management" program and replied, "Alive."

"They will be waiting for you in the morning," it said then it vanished.

Then the star of our program made her appearance. Luccas' servant appeared resplendent her crimson edged beauty. I felt myself smiling as she resolved and the crowd gasped. She approached my chair. I would have stood and bowed if I didn't know that I would fall over.

"Mother of Light," I intoned.

"Greppa," she said with distant warmth. And with that we began to chat. She affirmed her responsibilities and I publicly accepted mine. Any thought of ascending in the city's hierarchy were now gone. Priests weren't allowed to rise above the rank of Captain. In order to help my people, I have become a priest of Luccas. It was a bitter moment, but I've become used to sacrifice. Once we finished our banter. I looked to the windows and the darkness that filled them.

She got the hint, and we finished the deal. A warm red glow seeped into the room, intensifying into a bright pink light every bit as intense as the yellow light that Allas once provided.

"Let there be light," her rich voice intoned triumphantly, and then she was gone.
 

Voidrunner's Codex

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