The Rape of Morne [Final Update]

[Ruined]

My, I freaked out. I saw the listing in the Story Hour forum and it said Final Update. Nooooooooooo!!

Then I remembered that Sep likes to close the threads after X amt of time/posts. Whew. And what a great post to end it on. Bravo!

 

[Guardian Andy]

To Broccli_Head:

Well, we are here to watch and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

It is my personal desire that Ed *WILL* act that way. Surely, I must be corrupted to ask a paladin to fall for the temptation.

But I must admit I admire Nwm's view on this point.

When mortals left the decision to god, then mortals can only have faith, not doubt.

And Ed had showed his. This is understandable.

His vision is not as grand as Oronthon , this is the reason he trust, and this is also the reason he doubt.

Mortals worship for many reason, but deep down, it is because they admire the way the deity does. (I will try to avoid real world religion here.)

When a deity's goal contradict with your personal ethical, it is the common story where a blackguard/ex-paladin form.

Oronthon had intended to use Eadric as a instrutment on the mortal world, which according to Titivilus(we hadn't heard from Tramst, the god, yet.), to set an example for the new generation, in which he must give up himself selflessly.

Similar situation had happened, Nwm chose to heal the wounded at Morne, every single delay could kill another man and fail to stop Hullu, but for him, it is HERE and NOW that is important. But as Ortwin noticed, he had killed a thousand people only three months before, because he think it is the best course of action to protect the follower of Uredii, and killed because of the future. His action had already betrayed his principles. He has responibilities, and that sometimes overide his closely held principles.

And I think Nwm must wondered: Had I done the right thing?

I would say yes, it is entirely depend what he want to accomplish.

And what now Eadric want to accomplish?

To act in other way would surely make him fall, but to go on mean he must give up other thing he hold dear for.

To live up the will of god or fight for what himself hold dear?

This is a decision not lightly to take. And myself, would like to see mortals to step up, take up the burden, and bear the responibility and consequence themselves.

Don't fear to fail the temptation, either way, it require a lot of courage to choose. And is worthy of respect.

“You are the Ahma,” Zhuel replied. “Your word is law. However, I have one thing to ask: should you jeopardize your own life in this manner?”

Eadric’s mind reeled, as arguments cascaded through his brain. His duty to those who followed him. His duty to Wyre. His duty to posterity. His duty to Oronthon. His duty to his friends. His duty to protect the innocent.

Nehael slapped him, eliciting looks of horror from Tahl and Tatterbrand. “You’re thinking too much again,” she said.

“We go,” Eadric said.

And yes, I expect Nwm will go after Nehael. Remember what he done when Tahl went to arrest her?(but that is assuming he can get Hullu's situation under control. Anyway, I don't think Nwm will give up easily.)

”Send her over, Nwm,” he said. “This doesn’t have to get messy.”

But Nwm shook his head. “She has atoned, and the Earth has forgiven her. She is now under my protection, and you are in my temple. If you try to touch her, I will obliterate you. Do not force me.”

 

[DanMcS]

"Then let me enlighten you somewhat as to Jovol’s nature: he is immensely powerful. More than any of the other Wyrish Wizards suspect – with the exception of Hlioth, who knew him from before.”

“Before what?”

“Before he assumed his current incarnation,”

So, any guesses as to who Jovol was in a previous life? My guess:

The Binding of Graz’zt – an act accomplished by the Wizard Fillein and his cabal - over three hundred years previously, and a seminal example of cooperative magic. The Great Mage had drawn on the abilities of six other spellcasters of significant power.

So Kothchori gates Graz'zt in; Jovol wipes out the succubus controlling Kothchori (freeing him), reveals himself to be Fillein, which just absolutely drives the demon prince berzerk, and somehow lures Graz'zt off the plane again.

Or not. But I think Jovol is Fillein.

 

[Soledad]

If you're going to pick up the 3e books (which I'm not necessarily assuming from your post, but just in case...), then you should probably wait until the summer, since that's when WotC will be releasing the revised versions of the core books:

Thanks for the heads up. Trouble is, my head is brimming now, and I don't think I could bear to wait until July. The biggest problem's going to be finding the right people, anyway, I'm sure.

I'll just have to make sure that when July rolls around, I have a little extra cash in my pocket.

Thanks again.

 

[DanMcS]

Thanks for the heads up. Trouble is, my head is brimming now, and I don't think I could bear to wait until July. The biggest problem's going to be finding the right people, anyway, I'm sure.

Well, seriously though, don't blow your money, since Hasbro is just trying to stick it to us anyway. If you must buy, get a PHB, but eschew the DMG and Monster Manual in favor of the SRD http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd.html

That alone will save you a good 60 bucks.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I am now REALLY impressed. The skill and concentration required in roleplaying out that Temptation is blowing my mind.

 

[Terwox]

Questions, Questions, Praise

*The kius is an Urgic riddle, framed as a question qualified by a double negation...

I'm very interested to see just what Oronthon is up to...
A few questions, though...
Is Oronthon unchanging? More accurately perhaps, do the orthodox say Oronthon changes? Do any heretics?

And, is the kius an indication that Oronthon is possibly moving towards being known through intuition? And if an absolute is known through intuition -- that is how I had understood Uedii, Uedii being basically caught up in the moment as I read it, is Oronthonism moving towards merging with the Uediians? Subsuming them?

Does Titivilus have a scorecard of paladins he's convinced to fall?

Also, how does an orthodox contemplative, that is non-dualistic, view the Adversary? If seeing the adversary as a projection of Oronthon is heresy... Hmm, I'm guessing orthodox Oronthonists contemplatives are dualistic. Or are they?

But, Titivilus says those who overcome dualistic thinking may commune at will. However, he does not say whether or not these thinkers are correct, simply that they may commune at will. Hmmm. Not sure if there's anything there. But, if he believes his words, the eye would not detect lies? Or perhaps, he is just simply correct in Eadric's sense as well.

Bar only one manipulator, Titivilus says. Who is that? The Adversary?

Also, I don't think I'm alone in not knowing the basis of the Adversary. Is it im/personal Satan, non-reality if Oronthon is reality, etc... this is probably just a weblink, really, but I also wonder if your basis has changed from Blake's. (Whom I, and I figure others, haven't read.)

And, regardless of those questions being answered or not, this thread is fabulous, that post was incredible, and I highly look forward to what happens next, along with many others.

 

[el-remmen]

Holy Friggin' Crap!

Note, I have never ever even LOOKED at your story hour before today - I know nothing of the story before this last update - but I can infer a lot and ignore the references to places and objects that I do not recognize and still be utterly blown away.

I guess I am going to have to start from the beginning now. . .

And I have learned one thing, any of my regular readers that are also your regular readers who tell me mine is their favorite story hour are only trying to spare my feelings.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Holy Friggin' Crap!

I guess I am going to have to start from the beginning now. . .

Excellent! Now I can enlist Nemmerle's aid in getting Sepulchrave into the Rat Bastard DM's Club. Officially that is, since Sep has proven his skill here.

OK, I just wanna be able to pick his brain like I do shamelessly with all the other Rat Bastard DM's...

 

[Inez Hull]

Aaah Titivilus, so bad but so good at it.

I’m trying to puzzle out all these paradoxes in paradoxes to see if there’s any way that Eadric can win. If Ed agrees to have DT as his personal tempter, he will be eventually be driven into a corner where he must either disagree with Oronthon or utterly submit his will to Oronthon. The latter is the option Ed would seem most likely to head for but given that he is still human he will probably fail at it. However, even if he were to succeed at it he would seem to be operating out of the old orthodoxy and will have therefore failed anyway. Perhaps identifying and owning the differences between his own opinions and the will of Oronthan and trying to hold true to his own beliefs whilst also remaining faithful to the big O is the way. If the middle way is the new orthodoxy this would fit better. But what does this mean? Is the O-Dog turning Neutral Good?

I love the way Titivilus presents the temptation so innocently.

“You may simply walk away from this, and become Eadric of Deorham once again. Let it go. Return to your castle, and your vineyards, and your dogs, and an untroubled life. Or to be free to pursue Nehael as you will, renounce your servitude to the Temple, and make war on Graz’zt. Take the fight to him. But that is not what Tramst requires from you. That is the temptation.”

I think if Ed did take this path the result would be very different. Wracked with guilt and the knowledge of his failure it would lead to a downward spiral. How can a Paladin go on being a Paladin when they can no longer aspire to the highest of ideals, knowing that they have already failed at the chance to live them out?

And what if the offer of Titivilus as personal tempter is in fact the temptation. An appeal to Ed’s pride that he would be singled out for such by Oronthan and that he would be able to resist the temptations thrown at him.

Can’t wait to see what light Tramst/Oronthan sheds on this.

Sep, I'm going to send you the bill for the headache tablets. In fact I suggest a new title for Sep, RBSHW (Rat Bastard Story Hour Writer). I mean leaving all us addicts just hanging the way he does...