|
The grand lodge...the decemvirate are the most evil power hungry SoB you will ever meet. Cheliax and the paracountess thinks they are so dark and edgy...and they are...from a STYLE point. You want power...REAL power...you follow the decemvirate.
edit: Also the Andorans are also quite evil SoB as well...they aren't call the Andoran hit squad for nothing.
|
You are just about to drift off to sleep when a voice from the darkest corner of your room whispers in a thick Varisian accent, "You forgot to check under your pillow, boyo. There is the slightest of stirrings in the air and you can sense you are once more alone. Reaching under your pillow you find the following written in a neat hand:
The Cheliax faction has long been on my mind for I am a skilled seducer, a skilled performer, and have done favors for servants of the Dark Prince from time to time but long have I pondered if they would resent my not wanting to hand over the material plane to his rule.
Fine and dandy if you want to be tied to the whims of an insane sadistic dominatrix and the Devils who work her puppet strings.
The Lantern Lodge and their culture fascinates me to no end but experience has shown that such things easily fall to a blade or fireball spell. My legacy must endure long after my bones are dust in the wind.
Is their dedication to honor and face any different from the fanatic need for doctrine of the Paladins and other do gooders of the Silver Crusade? Hardly.
If you want to set your own path, unshackled by doctrine or creed, there is only one path for you, lad. We of the Sczarni have a saying, "A man is what he makes of himself."
|
An ugly bald dwarf, clad in scale mail surveys the room. Looks at the human dressed up as a halfing:
"Fer shame, Cormac. When did the Andorans start deliverin' messages for Sczarni?"
Turns to the Renegade, whose head is lolling on the table in the dark corner of the bar.
"Wake up ya stuck-up sticky beak, they don't 'low no sleeping in here. Come closer and I'll give ya a new nose job."
"Ya say yer a skilled seducer, a skilled performer, and have done favors for servants of the Dark Prince from time to time... Well, Pathfinders don't take kindly to dealin' wit' the devil. Smacks o' Evil, and we're just plain 'ganst Evil, ya know."
He balls one huge hairy hand into a fist and smacks it into his palm.
"An' for someone who makes noises what sound like a bard, yer words jest ain't honeyed enough for yer claims to fame."
"Show us what ya got, and maybe we can tell whether YER WORTHY to join any Pathfinder faction. Otherwise, maybe you should go join Apsis."
He wrings his hands together, and his knuckles pop one by one, like firecrackers.
"Now, you say that you're good for whoring and boring the pants off of ants, so maybe Taldor's the place for your big romance. At least they got a thing fer tradition, so if you make a big splash there, yer less likely to be forgotten.
"I will say that I only joined the Sczarni 'cuz they didna object to me bad attitude."
He turns back to the bar, takes a long draught from his tankard, wipes the froth from his beard, and starts hummin' in a guttural basso profundo:
"Mush a ring a doom a doom a dar.."
|
|
"REPENT!" comes a particularly loud voice. The others turn to see a tall, whip-thin young woman approaching, clad in battered, spiked half-plate, a black patch where her left eye used to be. She holds a Holy Icon of Iomedae in her right hand.
"Repent!" she says again, glaring sternly. "Repent of *ever* doing favours for the Dark Prince. And repent of the thought of even *thinking* of joining Asmodeus' painted pets." She shakes the Icon a few more times, then continues. "And now, now that I've suggested what you do for your soul's sake, I shall advise you what to do for your worldly sake." She glares about her at the throng. "All of you, be silent and listen, so that when you leave this world you will be better for it!"
Her raptor's gaze returning to her initial victim, she continues. "There is only one faction to consider joining. Only one faction that can heal the ills of the world," she tells him. "Join us. Come to the People's Revolt, and march beneath the Eagle's Wing of Andoran. Empires and Kingdoms rise and fall, but the people endure. By basing rule of nations on the people's united will, we work to build a civilisation that will last until World's End. And we work to make all beings free." She pauses, then presses on. "But our struggle to bring freedom across the world has frequent need of more...subtle agents. Men and women who can infiltrate, and who can spread the word of freedom amongst the oppressed. And who can do it *quietly*.If you can curb your bizarre interest in the Dark Prince's motley jesters, you should do very well indeed...if your talents are as advertised. If they are, we'll have frequent need of you."
[OOC: Sorry for the Cheliax-bashing - I'm sure all you Cheliax players are lovely people IRL, but in-character, as a native of Andoran *and* a Paladin of Iomedae, servants of Asmodeus are a Berserk Button.]
|
|
Oooooh oooooooh oh. Be a Zarniest with me. We gets to do all sorts of fun things. I got to poison random people at a wedding, make meth with lizard people, smoke drugs with some nice guy in riddleport, and they appreciate that i like to take magic thingies from places.
Do not worry about Unky Gorrila getting people to beat you up. Once you beceome a Zarniest extraordinair he buys you things like a good unky should. He got me my own porter to carry ME!
|
"I ain't recruiting." The young chelish woman in the heavy armor that hides her athletic form states clearly, if not with the volume of the other devotee of Iomedae. "People have their callings, and it is not my place to push them to something they don't feel themselves. However, there Is Evil in Golarion, and some of us have to try to stop it." She clanks over to the bar, and signals for a drink, or some drinks, however the bartender might interpret it.
"I, myself, am in training. There's a Wound in the World, and I am going to do my part to see about healing it. I can't call for others to accompany me, for the danger may be to great for the faint of heart, or those without convictions. But, you know what? There's rumor that the Decemvirate knows what is happening, and others may be sent as well." She shrugs as she looks the newcomer over.
"Things that can be taken away? Perhaps so, but we shall see in the end." The fire that burns in her eyes might be reflected in the other paladin's, and it shows no sign of diminishing, whatsoever.
|
|
An ugly bald dwarf, clad in scale mail surveys the room. Looks at the human dressed up as a halfing:
"Fer shame, Cormac. When did the Andorans start deliverin' messages for Sczarni?"
"I am, at heart, a Varisian first and a rogue a close second. I came by freedom fighting through the back door as it were, on account of a debt of honor." Cormac reverently touches an intricate scarf about his neck, "My people would laugh themselves silly if they knew how many times being so honor bound has brought me to the brink of destruction."
|
and learn some humility while you're at it."
*The young girl with the bow in the corner can't stop laughing long enough to get a word in for at least a solid minute. Finally it subsides.*
"Oh..." she gasps, "Oh. I'm sorry. It's just...Colson...Maldris...teaching...humility"
*She takes a deep breath.*
"Honestly and truthfully, it's only Ms. Zarta who does all that risque stuff, Mr. Renegadeshepherd Guy. If you aren't for bringing law and order, I wouldn't recommend choosing Cheliax for the girls. You might do well with Shadow Lodge, at least while it lasts. Plenty of Calistrians there. Maybe find some Arsheans in the Silver Crusade. They sort of have to find companionship every day."
"As a fan of Irori, Abadar, and all the lawful gods, I'll tell you the truth about any faction, even my own, even if it loses a member for my faction. But whatever you do, don't listen to anyone who tells you Andoran has humility. I only count myself as having one or two friends in the Andoran faction, and we disagree on most things, but what we do agree on is that Andoran and Maldris are #2 in arrogance, after Taldor of course."
|
|
A man smoking a pipe looks up from his reading and speaks: "The Grand Lodge, seeks none, as it has the most members, as all Pathfinders are a part of the Grand Lodge. We have so many of the Pathfinders' finest, working directly for the Decemvirate, we are turning them away. Perhaps if you work hard and get on the waiting list, we'll consider accepting another one into our midst."
"I know the others have to recruit as their numbers are always precarious, so it only makes sense that someone who has yet to earn a name for himself would ally himself with those in trade. I'm sure you'll be a Captain among the Szczarni or a Lieutenant among the Chelish in no time, earning these titles among the Grand Lodge, well, that's an achievement that can take a lifetime. But then again, nothing worth doing, is ever easy."
"Best of Luck, young pathfinder. If you seek to serve the Ten, come knock on my door and I'll introduce you and set you on your own path."
|
|
Sichlgaita bows her head to the senior Paladin, though she can't help thinking that she seems somehow familiar... Shaking her head, she addresses her. "Well met, Milady. If you overheard my previous words about Cheliax, I apologise. I bear no malice whatsoever towards its people - my cause is one that ignores ethnic or geographical lines - only a certain antipathy towards its current generation of rulers." Raising her voice for the benefit of the laughing Chelish archer, she adds 'Who couldn't hold onto their empire without selling their souls to damnation, which speaks volumes about them and their fitness to rule. At least men built my nation by their own labour, we didn't need Hell-spawn and dark magic. And that, I think Renegadeshepard, is the greatest point in Andoran's favour. We're not based on...outside help, or the secrets of the past as Osirion are, and we don't wallow in the past like Taldor. If our principles do spread across the world, then it'll be because of our work and our work alone." She chuckles. "If you joined us and we succeeded, hundreds of years from now your name would be remembered as a father of the Revolt."
Turning back to her fellow Paladin, she continues. "I wish you luck on your quest. Have heard whispers of what you soeak of, and so I would ask, though: what is the nature of your training? And how did you come to it? When the time is right, I would take my stand against this threat too."
[OOC: being still slightly newish, is this what you're talking about? http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/The_Worldwound]
|
|
"Training? Isn't that what we do, with all these missions all over the world? I never learned so much about what I don't know as infiltrating an embassy to find out what happened to someone. I'd never learn my faults so well on an open battlefield against the Hordes of Belkzen or in the tomb of some Eldritch Horror, though the Pathfinders could have interests there, too. I aim to be well-rounded and experienced when I face off with the Demon Hordes. They will Know they have an Opponent, even if I am but one of many."
Her eyes still shine as she takes the mugs to find a seat for a quieter round of drinking.
|
|
*Fasch shudders.*
"I've been to the Worldwound. Into old Sarkoris. That place is pure chaos. Everything there is evil and wants to kill you. It's worse than Andoran, though with fewer cannibals. But the demons there are worse and more widespread, even warping the land itself with their chaos. That mission was so not fun. But killing demons is at least a job worth doing. That demon's power word was the only magic that's ever been able to affect my mind--I think it's impossible to resist, but I think we should all beef up on how to counter it if we want to brave the Worldwound further."
|
|
Bree-Bran's attention is suddenly rapt, and her interested and fierce gaze is on the monk with the bow.
"I would consider it an honor and a privilege if you would describe what happened in detail, and whatever thoughts you have on the subject. I -want- to learn exactly this. Whatever you need to help me learn, just let me know."
|
|
"The land itself quivered and shook. Even the skilled and observant rogue and I were unable to predict when the ground would suddenly liquefy and the sky fill with flensing winds in sudden tornados. Geysers of abyssal energy shot forth in torrents. I just grew more and more on edge in that land of chaos. It truly was more horrible than Andoran by far. As if to give rise to a true phantasmagoric avatar of all that represents the most evil and chaotic things in this world, the Worldwound saw fit to expel forth something even more vile than before, like a pustule upon Golarion itself--an Andoren Eagle Knight. If you know anything of my travels and the Pathfinder agents I have met, you won't be surprised that I was on my guard for any attempts of the Andoren woman to devour my comrades. I recommended knocking the Andoren unconscious for safety's sake, but Andoran sympathizers demanded that I leave her alone, despite her obvious malice and the many lies she claimed--as if anyone in the Andoran faction could actually be dependable lawful folk like my many paladin friends in the Silver Crusade and the Lantern Lodge. When we were at our weakest, she struck to devour us all, much to everyone's surprise but my own. I wouldn't take my eyes off her, and I eventually managed to put her down like the nightmarish horror she was. Even so, we needed a breath of life and a lesser restoration plus some luck to save the rogue from her poisonous Andoren evil."
"But our journey through old Sarkoris was just beginning. Another Andoren man appeared, pretending to be a Pathfinder contact. Last time, I let my comrades convince me to stand down against my better judgment, but you don't fool me twice in a row. As they shouted at me to stop, I began to fire nonlethally at the fellow, to prove I was right again. Only this time, it wasn't the rogue who nearly died. The Andoren grinned a wide grin, snarled, and spoke a word of the most utmost evil and chaos so vile it would make even Colson Maldris blanche and second guess his latest assassination order against the people who found out about his most recent politically-damaging extramarital affair. There was literally nothing I could do to resist, despite my Iroran training, as I stood, stunned and helpless. If it weren't for some quick thinking on the parts of my comrades and some frankly head-scratching physics involving the fighters catapulting themselves out of a reverse gravity, I might have been truly bloodied for the first time in my career as a Pathfinder, or even killed."
"The rest would be of little interest to you, I'm sure, but I learned that even those foolish and insane enough to serve Deskari, the master and creator of the Worldwound and the Demon Lord of Crawling Things, are at least sane enough to realize that their souls will experience agony when they die a failure."
"We were able to complete our mission and leave that accursed place. I don't envy anyone the horror of that experience, but I did learn a few things about what the place was like. One thing important--only beings of pure chaos and evil can use dimensional magic reliably there, a fellow Andoren Pathfinder agent tested and being Andoren is not enough. Anyone else will experience chaotic and random results, so don't rely on teleport magic to get you where you need to go."
|
|
The paladin nods for a bit, and her eyes unfocus somewhat. She seems to be digesting the description, bit by bit, as if dissecting the plot of a murder mystery.
Suddenly she looks up as RenegadeShepherd speaks, and pauses so as not to interrupt his appreciation of Fasch's former statements.
"My thanks to you as well," And her lips curl in a mirthful smile, "For your description of the horror there, rather than the factional advice. Should you be sent back, I would hope to accompany you, and use my talents to ensure your survival, and have your experience to aid me."
|
|
[OOC: Wow! Reading that was fun. You've got a gift for this. In-character, of course, I shall have to respond. After that, I'll shut up - don't want to turn a question thread into an in-character flame war. Plus, I doubt I could be as creative :-)]
The Paladin of Iomedae rolls her eye. "Hiss and spit all you want, pretty viper," she says cheerfully. "Just remember what happens when the Snake gets skewered on the Eagle's claws...and remember how Andoran became a nation in the first place. If you couldn't beat a popular revolt, I doubt you could manage against a professional army."
