Two Pigeons, One Subject
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Captain Jershon,
I apologize this missive will likely appear out of nowhere, since I rarely delay a spell’s release, but I am testing making my pigeons invisible. Mainly to avoid the enemy learning of our position. Everyone thinks I have fallen asleep and that I am mopey.
What I am is angry!
How dare some interloper, self proclaimed, Elf God, calling himself THE LICTALON try an seize people against their will, much less one of my worshipers or future bride! That is slavery and my Tribe abandoned it along with the Lords of Chaos! I will not allow this affront to go unchecked!
Gird your loins, Captain, the mission I have for you is dire indeed. Grab Attel, Annie, Kom’var, and the two newest members of the Shield of Light: Heebo & Walrus. Use Kom’var as the meatshield and you are all his support. Have him “Cloud of Slumber” the entire ship until you have every elf – I MEAN EVERY ELF! Once, asleep and then bind them in rope and chains! I will not sacrifice one member of our family to this interloper god!
Make sure extra sailors are with Honey and her child – quietly.
TAKE BACK OUR SHIP AND OUR FAMILY!
Keep them in the center of our ship and secure Wilson & Bilson, as they clearly bear further study when I return. Let me be clear – THE LIVES AND FREEDOM OF OUR CREW IS PARAMOUNT TO ANY OBJECT(S)! DO NOT LET THIS MAGIC MAKE WILLING SLAVES OF THE ELVES OF OUR FAMILY! If you have to, let Kom’var feed them using “Carpet of Adhesion” until I give the all clear that we have dealt with the self-proclaimed Elf Enslaver-God.
You and those I mentioned have your orders,
High-Priest of Algor, your holiness – Father Wavestrider,
I have read that you know a method of informing the great and powerful Kym-nark-mar of events he may care to be made aware of.
If it pleases you I would beg a boon. Two parts:
- Informing the celestial dragon-god that either THE LICTALON or a usurper, impostor god of some fashion has made a play for Palladium.
- Ask him to verify if this is indeed the ONE AND TRUE LICTALON! If it is then his demeanor suggests a radical shift in behavior that may threaten what he is willing to break to achieve his ends. If he is willing to begin enslaving as the Lords of Chaos once did then he is a threat worthy of your attention since both of you and others threw off such shackles together. If not please – most graciously – please let me know and I will snuff this bug out that would threaten the freedom of any race of peoples’ free will!
I have reason to believe that, Jar’eth the Goblin King, is masquerading as the Elf God – Lictalon. During a recent teleport he snatched us briefly for a minor gloating. Now, whether it was to whimsically warn, or a baleful threat I have yet to ascertain. However, the coincidence was far to uncanny to be left out.
With gratitude and humble praise know we have not forgotten the decree made by you, Bast, and Algor. Minischmee will be King of Bizantium once again.
This adventure hook should be a fun diversion for the subscribers to @TheDrunkerHippo’s channel on Twitch.
The contradiction at the heart of first letter amuses me. “I VALUE FREEDOM SO STRONGLY THAT I COMMAND YOU TO HUNT DOWN AND IMPRISON THOSE WHO LEFT THE SHIP. REMEMBER THAT NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FREEDOM. NOW FOLLOW YOUR ORDERS!”
In all seriousness though… I was thinking though about the boat and the crew today and I’m a little disappointed I didn’t come to have these thoughts before this letter went out. We’ve “put out there” that they’re going to sail south – with this new “distraction” that Lictalon has caused I thought it’d be the perfect time for the crew find that talented illusionist on the Isle of Y-Oda (the one who created the illusion of a fleet of Eastern ships) and bring them on board the Shield of Light. Then with his/her help, sail North and right through the Eastern Territories blockade!
Regarding the other letter though… “I will snuff this bug out that would threaten the freedom of any race of peoples’ free will!” That’s a bold statement coming from the Demigod of Oaths. It seems that Xerx’ses ego is increasing exponentially while his power only continues to rise in a slow linear fashion. With an ego so big I shudder to think what sort of being or event it will take to deflate it.
@Tokobauzsos, You beat me to the Punch. Xerx’ses is infuriated that the freedom of the elves is being stripped, yet the orders are to keep them prisoner aboard ship. A bit contradictory me thinks.
I address this actual lack of contradictory points in a reply to Toko and KillerVP.
Xerx’ses wants to run back and defend the ship, his family. This is him trying once more to trust someone else to handle a life and death matter. His experience has been everyone fails. There is no contradiction for him. They did not leave the ship because they wanted to but were commanded to against their will.
It is making him so UBER Angry that the world is tearing itself apart and he might have to have no choice but decide which part to let burn longer and be hated for it. It is anger and depression mixed together which is a explosive cocktail waiting to happen.
None of this is coming from ego, although it is easy to see how it might.
How can he be a good God and protect his flock when some interloper can steal inside at night and wander off with those that had faith in him?
– How could those taken ever trust him again to protect them.
How can he save the world when he is putting together a god that is suppose to bring balance to all?
Why won’t CrIsis become Demigods? If they did then they could help him achieve the mission better. He knows his life is no longer his own and that showing them (Minotaurs) a better way will mean more work than he has ever had before.
He feels angrier and dumber now than ever before.
– Was the War of Chaos this bad? Was it worst?
– Is this just a test to see if he can handle becoming a God?
Failure is not an option because all his friends would be doomed!
– If No Name dies there’s no hope for Zeelik
– If Ursus dies is hope for his people gone with him?
– If Indaris dies he doesn’t want to face Nara. He’s terrified she’ll turn out like Luur’na (same for Ansa).
– If Grignak dies does joy go with him
– If Dream dies he feels hope may leave with him, as that is what he has inspired in Xerx’ses
A lot of justifiable thoughts and frustration. The world is tearing itself apart, sadly. Maddeningly, even. Sometimes it feels like all the Gods are against CrIsis and the Gods of Light. Are there no other heroes in the world? This is one of the biggest tests of faith and mission which CrIsis must endure. We have the power to make a difference – we just need to abandon our quest and go make that difference in the world. Which is exactly what the Dark Gods are hoping for. The best we can do is finish our quest so we can go our separate ways in order to finally make that difference.
This is why Xerx’ses can’t loose Dream.
A Luur’na like Ansa & Nara will be very terrible for the world indeed.
You all make far more impact together than apart.
Direction and location are always disguised in the books, so no one knows that the Shield of Light went south until they stop at a port.
Will the rest of the crew be ok with imprisoning their own crew mates? Will some die in the attempt? Should be some interesting rolls….
Imagine they might be if they knew that they were being controlled by some Evil Dick elf god. And given the fact that to leave a ship when you were assigned as a naval officer or noncommissioned is still abandonment of Duty. I daresay many of the military mind it would be okay with that. I hope your Rolls take this into account because, I often feel that they don’t actually deal with the ramifications of a situation. Rather than simply saying X number died, X number did this. This isn’t even a situation where someone could be confused that they were choosing to do this when you are assigned to a ship by your king in an official capacity and then steal artifacts from the ship and try to leave that’s a crime. It really Galls me that he took the time to send me a message rather than just locking them up. He could have had his wizard simply put all the troublemakers to sleep and lock them up. No one dies and no one gets hurt.
In my opinon:
A. Jershon knew nothing of the compel by Lictalon. Just that the Elves (except 3) wanted off the boat and were willing to fight for it. I suspect it was a not-inconsequential number of the , as he agreed to put them off the ship rather than risk them stirring a amutiny.
B. CrIsis is not a military, though when underway a captan’s rules and orders can have striking similarities.
C. I don’t remember what my third point was.
Anyway, I think the way he acted made sense. He’s a fair man and the simplest thing to do would’ve been to get them off the ship. There’s too many unknowns now with the 80 or so other crew members.
CrIsis may not be military but the crew is under orders of their king.
While the letters are short, they are deep. This is evident by the comments left by the author and the players. IF we stick together, we will prevail.
Everything said by all should be read by all.
Imagine if the elf god is not a dick, but a force of light
It’s possible to be both. Example: CrIsis.
That was my crap, not Victor’s. I made a leap in logic and ran with it, perhaps too far. Hopefully Lictalon will release a decree to the world declaring his intentions soon. That would tell us more.