Arodric's page

Sigh. Good game, people. Sorry I went quiet there at the end - computer troubles at a very inconvenient time.
I really hope Iron Gods goes well for everyone, and those of you not fighting THRUNE I'll see in another game, in time.

Arodric gripped his sword meaningfully, but in the end lurched away and started stabbing into the demon-dark stain on the road. Each strike raised bright flashes of blue light, and stone chipped under the onslaught. "If she so much as moves..." he warned the others.

Gruffly Arodric added "Well done Hedda. I didn't think I was going to make it." He looked around "Kaede - any chance of some healing? You can use my wand..." it was obvious from his inflection that he was in bad shape.

good heavens... did Hedda just do 6d6+24 damage? Her minimum would pretty much one-shot Arodric....
I have to think about whether Arodric is accepting this surrender... @Fabian: Does the wounded state he's in include the non-lethal damage the Ablative sphere turns 5 points of lethal into?

Fabian: did you see this

@Sabola: yeah, I thought about it. I was like "if I do this and this, then I can do this, then it'll be like a different game." Thing is, I know there are people who love Barrier Peaks. If my issue is with the very theme Fabian is interested in exploring, I'm either going to dislike the game, or ruin it. Better to let someone who is excited about the themes have a slot.

RE Iron Gods

Fabian, you run a great game, but I just don't "get" Iron Gods.
I've been puzzling over this dilemma way more than any game I've been in, but I know it is important to give you a quick answer. If I didn't have Caleb I might be making a different decision, as I want to stay in contact.
I'm out :(

More than happy to write a testimonial when you open recruitment. You really do a great job running these games.

Thanks everyone, I've loved the story of this little rag-tag bunch of scruffy misfit paladins. Looking forward to seeing how it ends.

wow - was that a critical? Arodric has a power that screws up criticals. Otherwise.... we've picked the wrong target...
"You ****." swore Arodric as he stepped away, sliding off the blade with a sickening sound that told him his time as Arodric was about to end. Had it not been for his Ablative Force shield he'd undoubtedly be dead already.
Revenge was such a petty emotion. Arodric revelled in it as he struck back at the false Iomedean.

No - I got the description confused. Thought Sabola missed.

Doesn't Sabola have Darkvision?
knowledge:arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20 Arodric racks his mind for a way to see in the darkness.

Thanks Fabian :)
Is the day overcast, or are we in shadow - ie is there a chance of redirecting a stray beam of sunlight?

No darkvision here either
Arodric's mouth fell open as the demon manifested. This might be the only time I'll ever be GLAD to see a Demon he thought - then was immediately ashamed.
"Everyone get out of the darkness!" he yelled to the crowd, adding the information he knew "It's a sort of ghost! Normal weapons won't hurt it!". The crusader followed his own advice, backing out into the light. In a lower voice he added to his team "Damn thing has a bunch of spells - including teleport. We'll need some way to get in and stop it casting. Anyone got some light?"
What is the light level outside the deeper darkness? I know it lowers two levels, so I'm guessing normal rather than bright light? Is sun setting and this is in shadow? If so, what's blocking the sun?

"So, you want to fight, demon thing? You got a name?" Arodric yells into the shadow as he casts casting Ablative Shield

knowledge:planes: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24 Player is pretty knowledgeable about this one. How much of that knowledge does Arodric have?

perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Ah, probably a mistake on our part, but understandable.

Edit: response deleted. Ninja'd by Kazmuk, and doesn't make sense now. He moves fast, for a dwarf.

Grab a deputy or two as witnesses, show them the letter, hit the house.

Alright, looks like we had a miscommunication. When people said they were going with Arodric's plan, this is what we meant. We'd identified this was a frame-up, and intended to take precautions to stop exactly the current situation. At this point if we could produce a deputy, we'd prove frame-ups were happening. Without that, I think we're down to Hedda's "kill them all, let Iomedae sort them out".

Do we have that deputy we were going to take?

I love making characters. I admit I've now actually started putting themes I like into a few PCs I submit, in different combinations, in the hope that ONE of them gets to develop them a bit.

"1. You just got another pair of murders. 2. The same circumstantial evidence now points to someone else in a different case - bit of a coincidence. 3. We've been to Otto's farm and the victim was killed then taken there. If they were there at the time of the murder it means they didn't do it. 4. Yeah, okay, 4 is pretty strange. I can see where you're coming from."
Grab a deputy or two as witnesses, show them the letter, hit the house.

Action 1
"Look. You seem like you're trying to do the right thing while your town's gone crazy. You do the wrong thing for the right reason, I'll understand. But your people are being turned bad. This keeps going, I'll have to judge them. In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you can keep someone looking out around us, see if you can spot anyone trying something."

Action 2
"Good idea, Sabola." Arodric thought "So, one one hand we could drag a deputy or two along with us, break into this place, find what's happening. On the other hand we could just take Hedda's tack, and approach this as a combat mission." he sighed "My only problem with that is a lot of good - stupid, sure, but good - people are going to fight us, and probably get killed. I'm still dreaming about Appleton, so I've got a preference to keep the bodycount under a hundred."

so, who wants to be good cop, and who wants to help out with intimidation? Remember our mission briefing was to appear neutral.

My fault, spent too long looking for something clever to say, and not enough time actually posting.
Actions 2

Torn on which way he'd go on this... lose temper?: 1d20 ⇒ 9 yes

"You stupid ****ing townies!" Arodric screamed at the crowd, standing forward. He raised his arm and the sword Arodric - glowing with ethereal light - emerged from his palm.
"I am ARODRIC. Bearer of the last sword forged by the divine swordsmith ARODEN. Charged with destroying EVIL. SHUT THE **** UP!"
Arodric shook with rage "What is it about you Medev townies, anyway? I just came from judging Appleton and here you all are falling for the stupidest demon-con in the book!"
"You want to know how that knife got there? I'll tell you. I came here to investigate some rumours. Sure enough, the moment I get here it was pretty obvious someone was jerking your strings..." he pointed his sword at a member of the crowd who had started to talk, and the blade's glow intensified "SHUT UP OR I'LL CUT YOUR JAW OFF" "... SO we started to investigate. Took about, what, an hour to realise you had someone stealing skins. So here's the thing, you know who steals skins? Things that wear skins. We call them - and I know I might be dealing with lore no-one here can understand - 'Skinstealers'. Some type of demon or something that... anyway, no point in trying to educate you lot. We found out - big surprise - that someone new showed up and started trying to take over from the sheriff and suddenly there was a bunch of weird martial law questions. No-one thought that was suspicious. Oh my god, you people, how do you even BREED?!"
"So we confronted her. Erika or something. Ekira? Some stupid name. Anyway she claimed Iomedae talked to her in the tongue of angels. So. Here's the deal - I was talking with an Angel last week, and you know what? He spoke my language. It's like a being of near infinite celestial power just speaks whatever the target understands. You know who speaks Celestial to people? Demons on the con."
"Straight after that, Kazmuk noticed his dagger was missing. We went 'well, she'll be using that to frame you', and headed for the sheriff. A bunch of your podunk little 'toughs' slowed us down and then someone was dead before we got here."
"Now, here's the thing. Kazmuk's a pretty powerful wizard - yeah, I know, he looks like that as a disguise. He can probably make the dagger talk, or something, but you won't believe it isn't a trick because you all have a collective IQ of a black ooze. Here's the thing, though. Because he's so damn powerful, Kazmuk can kill people with magic. I've seen him fight a Vrock - that's a powerful demon for anyone from Dawnton - and he never once drew his knife. If you'd found a guy who'd dissolved into acid, or had his heart turned to stone, or been dragged screaming into a wall by stone hands, only to have it go solid and trap him there to scream till he died... well, then I'd be having some words with Kazmuk. But 'he stabbed him'? You have to be kidding."
"So here's the deal. I'm Arodric. I answer directly to Aroden, and as he's not here, Iomedae herself. I just got done judging Appleton for Urgathoan worship - hope none of you had relatives there - and now I'm trying to work out which of you are stupid, and which of you are actively in league with demons."
He turned casually to Kazmuk "Can you stop any getting away?"
intimidate+luck: 1d20 + 9 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 9 + 8 = 31

Action 2
"Skinned! Wow... that's... that's pretty bad." Arodric doesn't have to act much to look horrified. His time as Arodric had worn away at his sensibilities, but hadn't had time to wear that far.

Action 3
"So. For me the question is this: what happened to the skin? Is there something out there wearing the bodies of townsfolk? Seems to me that the guy was dead before they started stripping. I wonder if he wasn't so much hanged as hung, so they could get cleaner cuts."
Arodric looks around "Right. We used to get issued passwords when we thought there were shapechangers." he sighs "Let's start then."
"Should we split up? We don't have much time."

I think that is one of the big strengths of the turn recap format, actually. I've seen these sort of things come up, and people get confused about what 'actually' happened.
"Wait - Otto?" Arodric looked startled and looked at the sheriff "Is that the guy people were talking about in the bar last night? Didn't he get killed by pathfinders?"
bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

"Look, maybe it's just my experience in Appleton, but I heard something I think we should listen too. Tess - the innkeeper's wife - mentioned there was a witch in town. She, I mean Tess, thought this witch was going to be bringing back the pathfinders as undead once they were hanged."
"With any luck Sabola'll be free tomorrow. Someone who looks respectable might need to bail him out. I say we rest up tonight, find out what he knows. No point in trying to find the crime if Sabola knows everything. This witch though... I think we should try to find out who it is. Probably the mayor."

@Sabola: Streak! They can't take anything!
Let's go to the general store and the inn. Arodric's Lifestyle should let him live it up.

He'll use the name Johan while in disguise. Recast the Hide Weapon spell as necessary.

"Look, there's an easy way to get into a jail. It's getting out again that's harder."
"We're going to need a cover story. Let's pick something close to the truth. I suggest that Hedda and I are part of a squad that just killed a Vrock, got a reward, and is now looking to settle down. We lost our leader to the Vrock. Small town like this'd love new settlers, especially new settlers that can take a Vrock. It'll give us a reason to look around."
"Kazmuk is a dwarven researcher. He'd got secret information that there's something valuable in the ground round here. Probably a mine. We know, and are working with him to buy the land cheap. Mine'll put the place on the map, make everyone rich - especially whoever owns the land. That's our fallback 'you got us'."
"Kaede is a cat - easy enough. It'll let her look around, give us some reserves."
"Sabola - I think you're going to need to get arrested. Something enough to get into the jail, not enough that paying off a good fine doesn't get you out. Come up with a reason why we'd pay your fine. Don't wear anything too valuable, so they can't just steal your fine off you. Should give you a day in the jail."
Arodric shrugged "What do you say?"

As regards the summary block;
only 20 cold iron bolts. Kaede was using my wand at the end of last adventure. Spells are:
0: inf/day: 4 prep. All known. Current: Detect Magic. Detect Poison. Prestidigitation. Message.
1: 5/day. Hide Weapon. Dazzling Blade. Mage Armour. Expeditious Retreat. Protection from Evil. Clarion Call. Shield. Unerring Weapon. Line in the Sand. Enlarge Person. Vanish. True Strike. Chill Touch. Current: Chill Touch, Protection from Evil, Shield, Expeditious Retreat, Hide Weapon
2: 3/day: 3 known. Bull’s Strength. Ablative Barrier, Bladed Dash, Gusting Sphere. Current: Ablative Barrier, Bladed Dash, BLANK

"Alright - the book had some notes on how to hide the sword, but it was a bit vague. I think it went..." Arodric draws the sword, makes some passes, and waits. "Apparently..." with a hideous sounds the sword slurps into Arodric's arm, sucked in through the palm.
Arodric stands motionless, horrified expression on his face and eyes locked on his right hand.
casting Hide Weapon. 5 Hours.

Arodric blushed at Kaz's comments, and did his best to keep his remaining tatters of dignity intact.

washing gravy out of your crevices. All in all, it was a good holiday.

Arodric shuddered "I used to love pork pies with applesauce. I don't think I'll ever be able to eat one again." He shook his head and sighed "I know we had to kill the priest. I still feel bad they had to abandon the town afterwards. I'll give them this - the man might've been a cannibalistic murdering necromancer, but he knew how to defend a town. There's a good chance the Demons wouldn't've been able to take it."

Action 2Arodric just rolled his eyes at the father's stern look. He'd grown up on the Mendev border. If they'd been hostile - and out here there was a good chance they would have been - stern looks would've done nothing. Hedda had obviously had the same thoughts, and he shared a knowing look with her once she put the man back in his place.

Action 3
"Man I hate townies."
"Look, as Appleton showed, there's a good chance they're going to recognise me - or at least the sword. Do you want to split up? Do you want me to try to do a disguise?" Arodric looked over to Sabola - the closest thing this squad had to a diplomat.

Arodric eyed the equine Kaeda askance. "Sure, I can do it. Never though I'd be helping you get dressed" he joked, as he he attempted to overcome his unease at his companion's shapeshift - then immediately started mentally cursing himself Great work man, make it awkward "I mean, this is more like armour straps than corset straps though" ... Really, mind? Really? "Not that you need a corset" Sigh "Because you're a mare, and horses..." Just stop, man.
He finishes the rest of the job silently, and remembered to slip a finger inside the strap to ensure it wasn't too tight, rather than his normal habit of giving the straps a yank when the horse exhaled.
"Is that alright? It's pretty impressive magic - is this new? Can you eat grass like that?"

Action 1
"Hedda and I went to Appleton. "See the Festival" they said. "Best Apple Pies in Mendev" they said. They didn't mention the Urgathoan cult that run the damn thing. Good thing Hedda was there, or I'd've been baked into a pie myself."
Tag Hedda

"So - did you find what you were looking for, out there?" Arodric's question to Kaeda is delivered tentatively.

"I'll take last watch." Arodric offered "I'm feeling dead. Going to bed early." He unrolled his bedroll and curled up in it - still in clothes and armour like an experienced campaigner.

Whups, I forgot to do that as well. +1 Craft:Siege Engine.

Action 1
Arodric sits, mouth agape, for a moment.
"That's." he trails off "That's fu...messed up. Wow, I've whining about my family curse, and you've been nursing that?" He shakes his head "You must've wanted to slap me."
Arodric was smart. Smart enough to immediately figure out the repercussions of Hedda's confession, but sadly not wise enough to shut up. "So, they knew you might kill them, and they didn't lock you up or anything? Wow, they must've really loved you. And you'd have the same prob - Oh! That's why the" he waves at Hedda "act - you can't risk having kids, because... " Arodric's common sense - labouring under the weight of his now eight drinks - finally manages to catch up with his mouth and stopped him talking.
He turns to the barkeep, a platinum in his hand.
"Something special." he looks over at Hedda "And strong."

Happy to keep going, but if this ends the scene...
Arodric, sensing Hedda's mood, is content to sit quietly for the rest of the night and drink with his squad mate. At the end of the night he adds "Look, I need a holiday. There's this village - Appleton - out in Mendev. Supposed to be great. Mineral springs, apple festivals. You should come, have some time off. What else are you going to do, sit here and brood?"

Holy weapon
If Hedda does get a Holy weapon, I reckon it should sting a little when she draws it ;) Not enough to give any sort of penalty, but enough to remind her of what she is!

and we must all remember that we are guests in Mendev and subject to all its laws.

Arodric snorted and rubbed his new bald patch "I was a guest in one of those Mendev towns - Appleton - last week. There was no justice there. Just corruption." He sighed "But I'll try to be diplomatic, and bear the evidence in mind. The Sword wants me to use the Arodric name - is that going to be a problem? About a third of all the Arodrics are independents anyway." He paused, as if waiting for someone else to finish talking "Alright, fine. 'All the Arodrics are primarily affiliated with the church of Aroden'. A third of them don't have any other affiliations. Pedantic paperweight." Another pause - then "You were meant to hear it!"

Sorry - keyboard broke and the replacement has a dodgy / key

Not sure who this is too...
[b]"Look. Do you know how often we're going to get leave? Because my thought is Not Bloody Often! This place"[b] Arodric taps the poster on the wall [b]"Is just over the Medev border. It has mineral springs... famous cider... and there's a huge festival on in three days. I've known other Engineers who went, and from what they've said we'll need two days just to finish digesting the food! They all came back raving about the food, and they all got laid."[b]

Smiling broadly, Ardodric tapped the poster one last time [b]"I'm going. It's going to be magical!"[b]

Six days later Arodric turned up looking the worse for wear. He was missing a patch of hair that looked like it had been burned to the scalp, had a large and ragged scar, was wearing a new cloak apparently made from leaves, and had a completely different set of chain.
Stamping up the stairs he walked over to the poster, drew out a piece of charcoal and wrote "DEAD" over it in large capital letters.

[ooc]Hoping this is right[ooc]
Fifth Level
+5 hp (1D8 from leveling)
+1 hp (+1 from con for levelling)
Arcane Pool +¼ (favoured class bonus)
+Feat Riving Strike which is an upgraded Arcane Strike (class feature)
+Arcane Strike now does 2 damage (CL 5)
+1 1st level spell per day (class feature)
+1 2nd level spell per day (class feature)
+2 known spells, Chill Touch, Gusting Sphere (class feature)
+10 skill points (+2 from levelling, +3 from int +1 from human +4 unspent previously)
+4 Ride (+4 ranks in ride)
+1 perception (+1 rank in perception)
+1 knowledge:planes (+1 rank in knowledge:planes)
+9 intimidate (+2 cha, +3 class skill, +4 ranks)
+Power Attack (Bonus Feat from 5th level)

Black Blade gains
+1 Enhancement (to +2), Int 12, wis 8 cha 8, +1 black blade point, energy attunement.

Equipment
1021.9 remaining
+4500
-10 wrist sheath, spring loaded, x2
-50 doctor’s mask
-50 horse doctor’s mask
-100 lifestyle (wealthy) for 1 month
-100 chain shirt
-150 upgrade chain shirt to masterwork
+4000 upgrade chain shirt to +1 deathless
+1000 cloak of resistance +1
61.9 left

Arodric answered the easy part of Hedda's question in a bid to buy time. "I thought you were a caster. Growing bigger is pretty easy, and claws shouldn't be that hard." More time was bought by chugging down the rest of his drink. Carefully he picked around the subject "What do you mean, part of you? Graft? Tiefling?"

Merry Christmas all!

Arodric wrote:

"So! You're tough Hedda. You... Look, you said 'Yes'. Ilivan nearly went mad from it. Do you want to talk about it?"

Hedda stared into her drink not really knowing where to begin. "The short answer is 'no' because I never like to talk about it but it's something I need to quit running from." The bloodrager took a long swig from her glass and then was quiet for a moment before saying in a soft voice, "I rended my family to pieces. They were barely recognizable in the end. There's no redemption from that."

tag Arodric

Ardoric blinked - he'd prepared himself for something bad, of course, but not this bad.

I like the wound rules more for this - it is meant to be a gritty rather than heroic game. My comments about the penalties still apply. -3 might not be much to a 20th level, but it is a killer for a 1st. Especially CL.

strongly considering Endurance if we're using Wound Thresholds. Are we still using it?

the gift
Arodric read the note, then read it again. Speaking aloud, he sighed as much as said "Don't waste words, do you Kaede. I hope you know what you're doing. Shouldn't be out by your self, though." he picked up the dove, then hesitated "On the other hand... If I call you back now what am I telling you." he stood undecided, then convulsively returned the dove to the table. "Better not get yourself killed out there, my friend."

As soon as they are dismissed Arodric clapped a friendly hand on Hedda's shoulder. "Well, we're relieved. Shall we head back to that pub? I think the next round was yours!" Despite the fact he did his best to sound casual and friendly, there was an undertone to Arodric's words that showed he was serious about something.

at the pub - if there is a pub
Seven drinks later - seven watery beers for Arodric, though that was more due to the bar's quality than any deliberate moderation - he coughed, and came round to it.
"So! You're tough Hedda. You... Look, you said 'Yes'. Ilivan nearly went mad from it. Do you want to talk about it?"
Tag Hedda

It should actually be easier for me to post once christmas shopping, house stuff and being sick is done.

Oh, I picked the are because it was so close. About a day riding away from the WW, then three days 'holiday', then a day riding back.
Basically the local cultists assume Arodric is there in his official capacity to investigate, try to play it cool, then when they think he's catching on they ramp it up.
The scene would be mostly reminiscing. It'd explain where he got the extra loot from, and annoy him by stopping him getting to have a nice holiday while "on call".
If it's too much, all good.

I think the scene with Hedda would be better for the game. We can go get drunk again too!

Hmm - how about this? There's a village in Mendev near the Estrovian forest. During the first crusade they were set up "over" an Iobarian village that lived in symbiosis with Fey. They've grown into a famous apple-growing and vineyard area, with famous natural springs. Further, they've become a bit of a holiday resort for well-to-do injured (or just wealthy) crusaders.
Arodric (and friends?) goes there for a holiday.
Turns out the village has panicked at the gradual encroachment of the Worldwound. A secretive festival/gluttony focused Urgathoan cult that had been in the area switched to full-on-undead worshipping, and is trying to use undead to hold back the Worldwound.
Heroes work out what has happened, confront the cult, fight their way through an bunch of zombies, destroy an even larger bunch of Iobarian skeletons, kill some corrupted dryads and finally fight and kill the church leader.
Village is saved. Later we receive word it was wiped out by a demon attack.

Okay - so scenes I'd like to look at.
(A) Scene with Hedda about her possession confession
(B) Something with Sabola and/or Kazmuk helping to tie the PCs together.
(C) I'm interested in maybe having Arodric go off and loot purify a dungeon, get his stuff from there. Ideally something far enough away that it makes sense it isn't part of a Demon Hunters campaign log. Maybe kill Undead in Ustalav? I'd like to write this as the 'between the action' scenes, as if it was in a tv with no budget for a complete new bad guy cast. Sounds weird, I know, but I think it will work. Anyone else interested?

No, is all good. I thought sin mages couldn't even scrollcast opposition schools without serious UMD.
You're right about demons being a pain to affect with arcane spells, though.

Hmm - Kazmuk, does that mean we'll have practically no trickery magic and three buff specialists?

"Sure Kaede. Sure...." despite his words Arodric's voice was far from sure when he spoke. Watching the strange woman walk away to be alone, he felt the weight of all she'd said crashing down to join the burdens already on his soul. Had she turned back, she'd have seen him standing there looking at her walk away from him. Had she turned back - but she didn't.

Did you want to use up some of Ardoric's CLW charges on healing? Happy for it to happen - we don't know we'll be okay on the trip back.

Action 1
Unwilling to let the men see the truth in his own eyes 'I'm a dead man anyway', Arodric turned away as the heroes he accompanied answered for him.

Action 2
Ardoric's discomfort had only increased on the trip back. His repeated mental mantra 'It can't be this simple' had proven incorrect, and he finally relaxed as they crossed the threshold.

He still felt as if he had, somehow, cheated his way to a fame that belonged to someone else. He told the crusader riding her to take his mare to the stable. "I'm headed straight for a bath."

Action 3
Blocked by the commander, Arodric found no polite way to refuse. His teeth ground as his anger rose.

What words? he thought That we're all doomed. That they keep coming back, and every time they take a little more. That we just have to stay here because at least then we can slow them down? He stayed sullenly silent through the meal. When Kaeda berated them and left, he took the opportunity to join her

"Kaeda!" he looked around "I'll go after her."

He rushed out of the room, catching hold of the shaman's sleeve when they were in the courtyard. "Wait!" he grinned at her - but there was no humour in his grimace "I'm glad you left, I was ready to scream at someone in there."

Arodric fumbled for the Sword as something woke him from his sleep. He rolled off the bed into what he hoped was a fighting stance - his left hand desperately rubbed sleep from his eyes, and his right foot landed in the chamberpot.
The room glowed with golden light and power, all emanating from the magnificent figure of the Angel Ecassius - six feet from Arodric.
"Greetings Arodric!"
"Oh my god!" said Arodric "You nearly scared me to death!"
The Angel's head swivelled, birdlike, to look from the sword to the man "Your God is dead, Wielder. Iomedae is your patron now. Do not presume that exemplary success yesterday excuses Blasphemy now!"
Arodric decided not to move his right foot and risk soiling the floor further. "Exemplary success? Because we killed a Vrock? Half the people we tried to save died! Illvian was killed! Why didn't Iomedae just send someone like you to save them! Why not send you to destroy them all!"

Ecassius drew his flaming sword. The golden light tinged red and the temperature in the room seemed to rise noticeably "Thou art a fool, wielder! It is not your place to question the Goddess, wielder. The death of the Vrock was inconsequential."

The Angel paused, as if listening to someone else, looked at the sword, then lowered his sword. "Very well, Arodric. Thou art bound to this monkey-faced fool. If it will ease your burden I will explain."

Arodric blinked as the Angel turned back "So. What would you have the Lady do? Perhaps put some mythically powerful godslaying item in some deep dungeon. Have it wait for a hero to claim it, then use it to kill Des'k'ri and seal the Wound? Save the world?"

Arodric looked around a little "Uh. Sure. Yes. That'd work. Yeah."

It was hard to tell with his eyes of white flame, but Arodric was pretty sure Ecassius rolled his eyes. "Aroden set such an item upon the land. He had it wait in case the Demons struck again. It awaits only a hero sufficiently strong in morals and skill. When the power and the hero are joined, the Wound can be sealed and the world saved. Art thou happy now, mortal?"

Arodric sensed a trap, but continued "Alright. So, where is this item then? Why hasn't someone used it? Aren't there any heroes?"

Ecassius looked grim "Indeed, not. No hero has yet arisen. With the Power of Prophecy destroyed, the forces of Light are reduced to waiting for one such to arise. The wait is long, Wielder. Rest assured that one day someone of sufficient strength, conviction and understanding will arise and save the world. Till then the world can do nothing but wait, and strive by mortal means to survive."

Arodric looked flatly at Ecassius "It's me. Isn't it? You're talking about the damned sword."

"Damned? Hardly that. The Blessed Blade Arodric was the last sword forged by Aroden, the Ascended Swordsmith, to be wielded by a True Hero and destroy Des'k'ri. You pray for deliverance? You are that deliverence." The Angel paused, then continued "Well. Perhaps not you."

Delivering the rest of his missive in the choral tones of a celestial language, the Angel vanished. The room plunged back into darkness, and Arodric remembered where his foot had fallen.

Sorry - wasn't this a longer than normal turn?