• Closed • [Global] Ilaren's Chosen

[Pegasus]

Posts

The light swirled around them and Team Ilaren realised that they were standing together, still in a clearing. Maybe even still in that one, but it had changed somewhat. Or, more precisely, it was the same but the surrounding area was different. They were in a large domed cathedral-like structure. The clearing was there, grass and so on, yet it faded away as the three of them looked around.

"Team Ilaren!" There was a woman there, not Ilaren herself, it seemed, but one of her Thunder Priestesses, certainly, judging by the dress. The woman in question lowered her hood and smiled at them. She seemed young, maybe in her early twenties and she looked at them all. "Congratulations to each of you. Vivian, Tristan and Elijah. Ilaren's grace and blessings on you." She motioned with her hand, gesturing forward up the main aisle of what was, fundamentally, a very large cathedral. By now, all traces of the jungle had faded.

"All in all," she said, ushering them forward, "you did well. There were some unnecessary delays, but we won, which is the main thing." She walked for a few moments, their footsteps echoing in the place, each one of them. Light poured in through the massive stained glass windows and there was a light, bright feeling.

"Ilaren is pleased, however, only one of you may progress. Before that one of you is chosen, you have an opportunity to ask any questions." They came to a halt before a large but plain stone altar. Light from the glass dome above it shone down and it seemed to almost glow from within, but that could be and probably was, a trick of the light. Their guide moved to stand in front of it.

"Ask and, as far as it is within my power, I will answer. You have three questions each." She smiled and looked at each of them in turn, then waited to see what they would ask.

Perhaps foolishly, she thought she was ready for anything.

OOC Stuff!

OOC Info

Congratulations to Team Ilaren you are the winners of this part of your Global plot. Well done, all three!
I will reply on Thursday 26th January please ask your three questions and do anything else in the meantime. This is a very large Cathedral and she will not arrive at the altar until you're all together. If anyone chooses to explore, you can feel free to do so, but there's not anything else to find. Pews, hymn books, that kind of thing. Tapestries of Ilaren, etc.

If you ask more than three questions IC, that's fine - but only three will be answered. Which three? Well, now, that'd be telling!

[Tristan Venora]

The light swirled around the three of them, and Tristan started to smile. He was pretty sure that it was some sort of portal and that he would soon be teleported home to his daughter – or to his beloved Ilaren who he would then take into his arms and kiss passionately, but none of that happened. They were still standing in a clearing. Maybe it was even the same clearing even though the surrounding area was different. Gone were the huts and the savages. Instead the clearing was somehow inside this gigantic cathedral now.

Tristan stared, looked around and stared some more and wondered how that was possible because clearings normally didn’t move like that. Eventually he decided that it was probably magic – or some sort of divine power because he wasn’t sure if Ilaren liked magic. A lot of Immortals didn’t. “Do you know what’s going on?” he asked Vivian and Elijah, just in case they had more information than he had. He had figured out that this was some sort of contest, and they had to do something for Ilaren (he liked doing things for Ilaren!), but not much more than that.

And then the woman suddenly showed up. He was pretty sure that she was a priestess, probably an Ilaren priestess or whatever the priestesses that worked for her were called. She seemed nice and friendly, and she smiled at them. Tristan immediately smiled back at her because he was glad to … wait, where had the jungle gone? This was really strange!

He wished he were able to just make places appear and disappear though!

The priestess informed them that they had done well and won, and she also mentioned that there had been some unnecessary delays. Tristan was pretty sure that she was talking about what he had done, but he didn’t care. In his opinion seducing savages was much better than killing them. He was not a murderer, and he didn’t want to become a murderer either. Killing people was wrong, and it probably didn’t feel very good either.

Tristan still mostly wanted to win despite what had happened in the village. He loved Ilaren, and he wanted her to be proud of him. He was pretty sure that she would never agree to spend another night with him if he lost, and he could not bear never seeing him again. He needed to know why she had not done anything when he had prayed to her and asked her to spare the savages though, and thus his first question was the following one:

“Why did the savages have to die? They didn’t do anything wrong. They just defended themselves against the intruders that you teleported into their village. You could have done something to prevent bloodshed – no, you should have done something!”

“Besides that”, he continued because he intended to use all three questions even though the priestess was probably in a pretty bad mood after he had asked about the savages (which he didn’t care about either because it was a question that needed to be asked). “I’d like to know what exactly we are supposed to do here and why. And finally I’d like to know where Ilaren is. I don’t see her anywhere!” He looked around to make sure that she wasn’t simply hiding somewhere, but no, there was no Ilaren.

He had thought that this was an important mission!

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian looked around as the brightness of the altars consumed them, before turning the clearing into a cathedral of sorts. Perhaps the temple from Rharne itself? She wasn't sure, but before she could react, she felt Power surge through her arm, like it was fusing with her. She let out a cry of surprise and looked at her arm, focusing on it. After a moment, lightning started to arc and crackle in her hand. In surprise, she went to throw it away, and the lightning became an outright bolt of lightning that smashed into one of the cathedral walls.

Looking down at her hand in shock, Vivian realized she had seen this before, wielded by the senior Lightning Knights. "Palenon. Evidently, we did well." she said, cheerfully, before looking up at the Thunder Priestess that greeted them. "Greetings, Sister." she said, bowing formally. The two branches of Ilaren's servants didn't, so far as she knew, hold any sort of rank in each others heirarchy, but she respected the works of the Thunder Priestesses regardless.

She walked up the cathedral at the Priestesses gesture, grinning slightly at the comment about unnecessary delays. To be fair though, it was possible that Tristan hadn't been able to extricate himself from his situation without screwing the savage, and it was also possible the Priestess was referring to Vivian's tendency to play the hero. She didn't comment on the matter, merely falling silent as the sister explained what was going on, somewhat, and gave them an opportunity to ask questions. She rolled her eyes at Tristan's questions, though she managed not to comment. Civilians. The tribe were the enemy, any deaths they had were acceptable losses. And of course Ilaren wasn't there, the general didn't show up for every successful mission, and besides she had a city to run. Tristan should have at least been able to parse the latter bit, he was nobility after all. Of course, Rynmere nobility seemed to consist largely of cowards and fools these days, so perhaps he had caught a bit of their collective stupid.

Letting out a sigh, she shrugged and asked her questions. "The other group, I guess they worked for the other altar, are they going to be all right? They didn't seem to be direct enemies to us, but I couldn't be sure. If they are enemies, then please accept my apologies for having given aid, however indirect and brief, to enemy forces." she said, grimacing slightly. "Is the mission still ongoing, or is this a debriefing? And is there something to eat? The Lady's brew is quite potent, and I could probably use something to cut the alcohol." she said, grinning slightly.

[Pegasus]

The priestess looked at Tristan as he asked his first question. "Do you always take everything you see at absolute face value, Tristan?" Her face was smiling as she asked it, but it was a serious question. "Even when you have just appeared in a place which has faded into something else? Perhaps you should be less literal." Her face softened, though, when she spoke the last. "No one was harmed, Tristan. You were tested, but no one was harmed." Far from being in a bad mood, she seemed pleased that he'd asked. However, then he went on to ask what were, effectively, three more questions.

"I'm going to answer your three questions, so I'm afraid I'm ignoring the fourth. It's the rules," she was clear and friendly. "What you are supposed to do here is make a choice. Choose one thing from a range of them. That will determine which of you wins. Finally. As for why?" That was straightforward. "Why is because the winner will represent Ilaren in the final stage, where four mortals will compete." Motioning around she said, simply. "That will be one of you."

Having answered Tristan's questions, she turned her attention to Vivian's. "Yes, they have been returned, safely, to their beds from whence they came." In terms of the second question, that was more difficult, but she answered. "This is a continuation of the mission, but a rest stop within it. As I say, one of you will continue" As for something to eat, the Priestess smiled and Vivian (and Tristan, if he wished) would be brought a light meal.

When they were done, the Priestess showed them through to a room. It was another high-vaulted ceiling and lots of stained glass, but other than the table in the middle of the room, it was empty. Their footsteps echoed and reverberated around the place, light streaming in as she led them to the table. It was large, huge in fact and would have been a dining table for a banquet.

On it were wands.

Wooden, carved, intricate, beautiful wands. Each one of them a study in beautiful and exquisite craftsmanship. All in all there were hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. The priestess smiled at them.

"There is one which is the correct one," she said. "Choose."

OOC Stuff!

OOC Info

First and most important - sincere apologies for the delay. I had a mod-break which was very needed, but means you've been a bit delayed.

Ok. So. Please pick a number between 1 and 10. That is the number of the wand you choose. There is 1 correct answer, and we'll keep going until someone picks it.

Please post as soon as you can and I'll reply straight away. The final global plot will not begin until one of you is through, so I'm going to ask that you post as quickly as you can, but not put a date on it. Thanks!

As always, please PM me with any questions.

[Tristan Venora]

“Yes, of course“, Tristan replied in a very serious tone as the priestess asked him if he always took everything at absolute face value. “The alternative would be to question everything that happens around me, and that would ultimately drive me mad. I don’t want to go mad. Being teleported around is different from things not being real. Even my former slave owns a teleportation device.” He was talking about Faith, the first woman that he had ever loved, Faith that was sharing her life with the terrible tutor Padraig now, Faith that had told him that she didn’t love him, but wanted to be friends with him. She had owned a pair of magical shoes. He missed her right now, more than ever, even though Ilaren was probably somewhere nearby because this mission was not what he had thought it would be.

“Are you implying that none of it was real?” he asked and frowned. He did not mind sleeping with a savage somewhere in a hut in a jungle, but an illusionary savage was an entirely different matter. It reminded him too much of Aelig tormenting him and messing with his mind. He did not take well to somebody messing with his mind after everything that had happened. He still loved Ilaren, but he had really expected better of her, and besides … “She’s a nice person. She deserves to be real.” He was aware that he pitied a woman that had probably never existed, but she had been real for him, at least for a few moments, and he’d even wanted to invite her to Oakleigh and apologize.

The priestess probably thought that her statement would make everything better, but it was just making things worse, and he also didn’t like how she dealt with his questions and talked about rules and such – completely arbitrary and unnecessary rules. “I posed three questions”, he insisted. “What you claim were two questions, was a double-barreled question or a compound question – a question that touches upon more than one issue. I’m a writer, probably one of the best that you will find in all of Idalos. I know what I’m talking about, trust me.” He wasn’t exaggerating. He was merely stating a fact. Tristan Venora was probably one of the most talented writers one could find, and sometimes he wished he had simply stayed a writer.

“So would you please tell me where Ilaren is?” he asked the priestess again. He didn’t know what he would do if he saw her again, if he would argue with her and ask her what she was thinking or take her into his arms and kiss her passionately. Maybe he would do both.

The priestess had seemed so nice before, but now she was just getting on his nerves. At least the other contestants had been returned home safely. He’d been worried that they would be trapped in the illusionary jungle forever. The priestess seemed to care more about rules than about the wellbeing of the poor people that hadn’t even been given a choice as to whether they wanted to participate or not.

Still, he followed Vivian who didn’t seem to have any issues with what was going on around her, ate something (he didn’t think Ilaren would poison them) and then joined them in the next room. It was a nice room, although the table full of wands didn’t make a lot of sense to him, even after the priestess explained their purpose. The game that he had been so excited about when he had first found out about it, suddenly seemed stupid and boring to him.

“Picking a wand is not a good way to determine Ilaren’s champion”, he informed the priestess. He didn’t care whether she would get mad at him or teleport him home or curse him. He was simply fed up with the way things were being handled here. “I thought that you would test our strength or our wit or simply pick the most beautiful one.” Here he smiled for a moment before he looked completely serious again, more serious than he had looked in a long time. “This is not a good way to find out who of us is better suited to compete against the other champions – unless the wands are magical?”

“We should do something else”, he proposed, but walked over to the table nevertheless and grabbed two wands, one with each hand, just because he could and because he wanted to find out if they did anything. Vivian, he thought, would probably be shocked or think him an idiot and insist that one ought to be completely subservient when dealing with the Immortals and their lackeys and play along with whatever they came up with, but he had simply seen too much to play the part of an obedient little slave.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian snorted as Tristan said he took everything at face value. "I could have told you he doesn't question how things appear. He's a Cassander loyalist, if any of them actually bothered to look deeper or think about things they'd have followed the same route I did." she said, her tone making it clear she didn't have any respect at all for Tristan's political affilation or his King. Granted, she had tried to have Cassander deposed, and if she'd had her way, exectued, so she'd be surprised if Tristan didn't expect her attitude.

She just rolled his eyes at Tristan's comments about the savage he slept with deserving to be real, but didn't comment, instead choosing to eat in quiet before they followed the Priestess into the next room. When Tristan started complaining again, however, she growled. "Would you quite whining, Tristan. You accepted this mission when Ilaren gave it to us, and now you want to complain about being asked to follow it through?" she snapped, her tone harsh. "And she called this a tournament, trying to get an artifact from someone else. If you bothered to think for a second, it'd be pretty clear that she isn't the one making the rules." she said, scowling at the other man.

When he picked up two wands, however, Vivian paused for a moment in surprise. Then she looked down, set her shield next to her leg, loosened the straps on her gauntlet and pulled it off. Then she smacked Tristan upside the head. Hard. "Are you just utterly incapable of doing what you've been told? Yeah, I suppose I should compliment for not blindly following for once, but you just managed to completely break of the tournament you agreed to participate in. Does your word mean so little to you that you'd put this whole thing at risk just because you don't like it!? she shouted at him, her anger at the Rynmere noble now quite open and clear.

Putting her gauntlet back on, she walked over to the table and picked up only one wand. "And to think you and Zvezdana share blood." she growled. That this idiot was part of the same family as her Queen amazed Vivian. Clearly, the only thing they had shared was blood.

Off Topic

I wubs you, Tristan. Vivian, however, does not. D=

[Pegasus]

When Tristan suggested that there were two options, accept everything or question everything, the priestess smiled. "Maybe there's a middle ground between accepting everything and questioning everything?" She frowned slightly, just a little, at the mention of his slave, former or not, but she said nothing about it. In terms of things being real, the priestess shrugged. "Are dreams real?" It was a much deeper philosophy than she was used to. Surely, she asked, looking at him with a slightly unbelieving look - just appearing in a place with people he didn't know in a jungle in the middle of nowhere half way across the world? Surely, she asked, that had made him think that perhaps things were a little unusual?

Still. He asked his questions, and she moved on and answered them and then Vivians.

But then, he insisted that he'd asked three questions, not four and the priestess looked at him with a calm gaze. "You asked four questions. Whatever method you used to ask them, you asked four. I'm sure you're a very good writer, but it seems that your counting isn't really up to much."

Finally, the straw was when he complained that picking the wand was "doing it wrong" and told her what he thought they should do. "Your opinion is noted," she said but yes, by this point, she sounded irritated. "And I have to be explicit, choosing determines who wins, not who becomes Ilaren's Champion." Perhaps if he talked less, he'd listen more. But there it was. He had irritated her, there was no doubt, but the rules were what they were.

And then he picked up two wands.

A dark frown creased the brow of the priestess and she seemed about to speak. Yet, Vivian did a lot of the talking - and hitting - for her. As Tristan picked up one wand, it was solid and he held it in his hand. The second one, though? That was simply not there.

"Neither of you chose the correct wand." The priestess said and then she turned to look at them both. "But Ilaren has chosen." She smiled to Vivian, "congratulations." With a less than amused gaze, the priestess then turned to Tristan. "Ilaren thanks you, as the others, for taking part thus far."

OOC Stuff!

OOC Info

Well, congratulations Vivian - you just won by default. I'm afraid as soon as Tristan picked up the second wand, he stopped himself from going forward - the only thing that would have changed it is if your choice had been the right random number, in which case, you'd have picked the correct wand first time.

One more post from each of you please, ending the thread and then I'll review. Again, if you could do it as quickly as possible, because the final, final can't happen until I've reviewed this one. Thank you both so much - I love you guys!

[Tristan Venora]

“Maybe there is a middle ground“, Tristan conceded somewhat grudgingly. He was stubborn, yes, but not hopelessly so, and he was aware that he didn’t know everything (just more than this supposed priestess of Ilaren). “As for dreams, they are real, but not in the same way that our normal lives are real, and losing yourself in them is just unhealthy, so I’d much rather have reality and make it the best reality I can.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and stepped forward. As he did so, his gaze darkened because she was getting even more on his nerves now – if such a thing was at all possible. “And no, I absolutely did not ask four questions, and the fact that you are a priestess and have some sort of religious authority doesn’t automatically make everything you say right. Besides, I only said three sentences!”

He wanted to say more – he was absolutely infuriated now - but then Vivian made a comment about him being a Cassander loyalist, and he spun around and glowered at her before he retorted, “And done what? Supported the rebel king and his wife? I’m aware that Cassander made a lot of bad decisions, thank you very much, but he’s still the rightful king of Rynmere, and I’d rather try to make him see reason than plunge the kingdom into another brutal civil war – because that’s what would happen. I don’t want any more people to die!”

“And I’m not whining”, he insisted. “I’m complaining – and rightfully so. You are right, I accepted the mission – regretfully before I had all the information - but I’m allowed to question it if something doesn’t make any sense to me. Unlike you I don’t follow other people blindly, not even if I love them. As for this supposed artifact, if the Immortals worked together for once this here wouldn’t even be necessary. Life’s too precious to spend it constantly fighting over this and that!”

“As for the tournament being broken”, he remarked. He only laughed as she smacked him with her gauntlet, and wondered if he should do the same, but then he realized that he wasn’t wearing any gauntlets, besides, he had better self-control than her. “They could just make up new rules or declare you the winner by default. I honestly don’t care.”

The priestess had informed him that his opinion had been noted which he guessed really meant “Shut up!” and still droned on about that pointless rule that she should just revoke in his opinion. He ignored her and examined his wands instead – only to realize that the second one simply seemed to have disappeared. He looked at the remaining wand and decided to keep it. They still had a lot of wands left and didn’t need them anymore anyway.

“See?” he said to Vivian as the priestess congratulated her. “She made up a new rule so that you could win. Congratulations! Have fun and don’t die!” He meant that. Even though he didn’t agree with her at all, he didn’t want her to get killed. “At least nobody will mess with my mind anymore. Making me believe something and then taking it away again reminds me too much of what Aelig and Syroa did to Faith and me.”

“Yes”, he continued in case she was wondering and because he was tired of all the hypocrisy and all the old-fashioned rules that ultimately only caused people pain. “I slept with my slave, and I would have married her as well if she hadn’t chosen somebody else because I loved her more than anything else in the world. Anyway, I’m out!” With that he stomped out of the temple, if they let him. He wanted to talk to Ilaren, and he also wanted his savage back.

They had made him believe that she had been real and made him care about her and then taken her away again, but they had done worse to her. For a few moments she had had the semblance of a life, she had had thoughts and feelings, and now she was simply gone. She deserved better than that. They all deserved better than that. The world was already bad enough as it was.

If the Immortals could create entire worlds within the blink of an eye, then they could probably turn a single, illusionary savage into a real woman as well and give her the life she deserved.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian rolled her eyes at Tristan's comment about the reality of dreams. Dreams were dreams, nothing more. The Venoran dandy pretty clearly had spent far too little time in reality. But then, Vivian supposed she hadn't been much different before her eyes had been opened. At this point, however, it was pretty clear that Tristan was going to argue with the priestess no matter what. His comment about her own actions in the war just drew a laugh, however. "Oh, I already know how Rynmere views me. But I stood and fought for what I believe in, how many of the pampered noble brats can say the same?" she said, with a laugh. "As for reasoning with Cassander, the Qe'Dreki tried it once, and he turned the White Fire on them for their troubles. People who torture innocents aren't reasonable people." she said, shrugging. She didn't have any interest in trying to convince Tristan his loyalty was misguided. Experience had taught her that was a losing proposition. The notion of more deaths didn't concern her either. "Soldiers get paid to fight and die. We know the risks we took. As long as the civilians are kept out of the battle, then there's no moral problem." she said, with a shrug.

His distinction that he was complaining, not whining, just raised an eyebrow. "As any parent would tell you, they're the same thing. And agreed, if the Immortals all got along fine, there'd be no competition. But since Faldrun and his bunch want to wipe humanity out, and Ilaren and her allies would rather that not happen, I just don't see that happening, do you?' she said, her tone dry. As for the new rules, she shook her head. "You've never been in a tournament before, have you? Participants don't make the rules, they just follow them." she said, shaking her head.

When Tristan managed to disqualify himself, she simply shook her head. She could, admittedly, understand his reason for being angry at the whole thing, but he hadn't expressed it well. When he explained he had slept with his slave, and would have married her, she just shook her head again. "Be careful, Tristan. We don't agree, but Zvezdana was fond of you. For her sake, if nothing else, I'd rather not hear of your death. And keep wary of your cousin. Pythera is getting worse and worse from what I've been hearing." she said as he left.

Turning back to the Priestess, she held out the wand. "So do I give this to you, or what? I'm a little confused as to what to do here." she said, laughing slightly. She was a soldier, the protocol for Immortal, magical tournaments was a bit beyond her.

[Pegasus]

Tristan

Overview

I love how honestly you play Tristan. He is undeniably himself no matter who he is in front of, who he is talking to. I also love that he argued, not just went with it. Great writing of a really fun pc and someone who is inexorably himself, no matter what.

Points

XP: 15

Fame: None

Loot

1 x wand. This is with you when you wake up. It glows, ever so slightly but other than that has no discernible use other than as a decoration / talking piece.

Knowledge

Detection: Noticing changes in your surroundings.
Detection: Spotting small details in your environment
Interrogation: Asking direct questions
Negotiation: The nature of reality is important
Persuasion: It was one question!
Persuasion: Laying out your beliefs for what should be
Persuasion: Responding to criticism with your own viewpoint
Politics: Considering the consequences of political choices
Rhetoric: Two questions in one is still two questions.
Rhetoric: Making a strong argument
Rhetoric: Compound questions

Vivian

Overview

Vivian is such a clear, well considered and well written pc - she's not at all morally ambiguous, very morality-based and got such a strength of personality. I guffawed when she smacked Tristan (sorry Tristan!) - she's so very much the soldier. Love it.

Points

XP: 15

Fame: None

Loot

1 x wand. This is with you when you wake up. It glows, ever so slightly but other than that has no discernible use other than as a decoration / talking piece.
However, Vivian knows, when she awakes, that she has "won" and that she will have one more round etc. So, when the thread starts, it'll be no surprise.

Knowledge

Detection: Noticing changes in your surroundings.
Detection: Spotting small details in your environment
Etiquette: Maintain rank and respect in all situations
Etiquette: How to ask for food.
Interrogation: Asking direct questions
Leadership: Giving orders
Leadership: Calling someone out when they're talking silly.
Leadership: Seeking clarity
Persuasion: Past choices impact current opinion
Persuasion: State choices already made to ensure
Rhetoric: Stating clear boundaries