Just finished reading your role, especially liked "The cleansing of Udgaard". Easily, the best tortured hero I've seen.

I would really like to see your empowerment log, if you have it, and I'd like to know how Ahelun got so scarred and why he chose to worship Eshval. Mayby I didn't read the role right, sorry.

Also, this:


One day, the little boy heard of a place where those who may be his true
kindred went to find their spiritual path....and he lived happily ever after.


Until he died.


What happened here? Not complaining, again, I *really* like the role, just not understanding it totally, since we never interacted.

>Just finished reading your role, especially liked "The
>cleansing of Udgaard". Easily, the best tortured hero I've
>seen.

Thanks, I really appreciate the compliment.

>I would really like to see your empowerment log, if you have
>it, and I'd like to know how Ahelun got so scarred and why he
>chose to worship Eshval. Mayby I didn't read the role right,
>sorry.

Ahelun started out with minimal scarring. The desc I had at death was I believe my third one. Initially all of his scars were self-inflicted. As my con dropped the desc changed. From time to time I'd emote some bit or other dropping off too, which always seemed to disconcert people around me. I wish to god (or Goddess if you will) I had my empowerment log, because it was something I really cherished. The reactions I got from Eshval were great. I could almost HEAR her thinking "What the hell is this guy smoking?". Unfortunately, my computer took a dump in december and I lost the contents of my drive up to that point. I doubt Eshval has the log, but you never know. If she does, I wouldn't mind seeing it either.

>Also, this:
>
>
>One day, the little boy heard of a place where those who may
>be his true
>kindred went to find their spiritual path....and he lived
>happily ever after.
>
>
>Until he died.
>
>
>What happened here? Not complaining, again, I *really* like
>the role, just not understanding it totally, since we never
>interacted.

There wasn't much more to it. It was meant to be kind of disjointed and off kilter, like much of my role. It was kind of a representation about how in the fairy tales they always "live happily ever after" and thats the end, because it would be a downer to really tell the WHOLE story, because everyone dies eventually. Originally I was going to add more fairy tale or allegory type stuff to the role and I had a lot written, but most of what I had written out ahead of time went the way of my logs. I had taken a new angle on a lot of old fairy tales from mean old Red Riding Hood siccing the evil hunter on the poor wolf, to the poor bears starving because some blonde bitch broke into their home and ate all their porridge.

I'm glad you liked the role, I have something in mind for later on this year that should really give me an opportunity to stretch my creative wings and do another role intense character, but this next one will have even more ties to death. I just have to wait for one or two things to happen in the game with the cabal I have in mind. Stay tuned!

A tale overheard in a tavern...

So yeah, thats what I were sayin, Eshval. Wazzat? Naw, I aint never heard of
no paladin what followed her, but I'll tell ya what I DID hear, iffn you
wanna maybe buy a fella some ale.

Ahh, goddamn thats some good cold ale, just like momma usedta make it. Oh
right, your story. Well lemmie start by sayin I dunno the guy what started
this story, but my cousins sisters uncle knew someone what was there for it
and SWEARS it really happened. What? How the hell should I know when, you
wanna shut up and lemmie tell my story? Ok thanks...

See, once upon a time, there was this guy. he was the Captain of some
Fortress thing out in the mountains. Huh? Yeah, that may be the one, now shut
up and lemmie finish. So's this guys name were Noref or somesuch. Well this
Norbert fella did somethin to one of Eshvals kids...What? No I dunno who the
father was, now you want me to finish the story? Okay then. Anyways, if you
know anythin about the Muse, you know the only thing she loves more'n a good
slaughter is her children. So she decided to give this Nubob guy some
payback, and have a laugh at the same time.

So Eshval slipped somethin in the stream what feeds the fountain in that
Fortress. Nothin fatal mind ya, a'cause the Skyborn woulda noticed. This was
purifyin type water, but since what she put in it weren't REAL poison, Shokai
aint noticed. So the whole damn Fortress came down with stomach cramps, and
the one what had em the worst since he spent all his time hidin inside was
this Nareb guy. Wazzat? No, I dunno what she put in their water, prolly some
of that swill Olin sells and tries to pass off as wine. HA!

So's Eshval disguised herself as a travellin gypsy, and came calling on the
Fortress. She convinced the fella at the gate she was just lookin for a place
to shelter for the night, since it were snowin outside. That night over
dinner, Eshval were tellin her hosts what she does for a livin, and mentioned
she could help cure the ills of any who may need her, in payment for her
nights shelter. Well, bein the kinda guy this Norbert were, he made a big
show of not acceptin nothin for her shelter, then had a squire go and get her
from her room later that night. He said he wanted to try out her folk remedy
for his upset stomach but "didn't wanna risk anyone else, so he was willin to;note + try it first".

Wha? Yeah I know. Lyin ####e. Anyways, Eshval said she'd be glad to and gave
Nafer an "examination" and after she were done she told em he was carryin a
baby! Well Nurfe was what we'll call....trustin. Yeah, I guess gullible would
be another word for it, now lemmie finish. So she tells Naref everyone in the
Fort is feelin his pain and thats why theys all sick, but it were just him
whats havin a baby. So she convinced him the only way ta get the baby out,
were to use this special oil she had, to help ease the babies passage out.
Huh? Oh yeah, thats where the oil went alright. Yeech.

So anyways, Eshval gave Narew the "cure" right up the wazoo. Then she grabbed
the biggest cork she could find and stoppered em up. Then she painted his
arse purple, and left him layin facedown on his bed. Huh? I dunno why purple,
maybe she just likes purple. Now shut the hell up already and lemmie finish!
So Narefs layin there, oil up his rump follered by a cork. Well his stomach
was a rumblin, and after a coupla days you can imagine he were buildin up
some REAL pressure in his gut. Yep, I guess he built up some pressure behind
that cork too, I'll tell the story settle down.

Well this Fortress place bein in the mountains, there were bound to be some
wildlife livin nearby, specially with them havin trees growin inside. So one
of em hops up into the window of Narefs room, and sees him layin there,
bloated, swollen, and oily. Then the squirrel saw the cork, and like all of
them ratty little bastards, he got curious. So the squirrel comes hoppin in,
climbs up on Nerfutis backside and.....Pulls....The.....Cork.....Out.....

NEVER a noise the likes of that were ever heard before or since. They say the
sound of three days worth of brewin stomach ick, and oil, and whatever else
bein let loose at once is the unholiest sound whats ever been made. Huh? Oh,
yeah I'm guessin that sound mighta been what Eshval was after. But wait,
lemmie finish.

So Negbert is feelin WORLDS better now, and starts lookin around. Behind him
he sees this tiny squirrel, befouled, stunned from the explosion from this
guys backside, and not even sure whats goin on. So's then the Naref guy picks
up the squirrel carefully in his hands and just looks at him. Then he hugs
him to his chest as tight as he can and says "You're ugly," he says, "you're
hairy, and you're covered in ####. But you're all mine, and I love you!".

Ya know, they say you could hear laughter that sounded awfully elven for a
long time after those words was spoken. Yep, true story.

First, my enemies.

Scion. As a whole, very few of you ever impressed me. Not that you ought to be trying to, but really come on. 7 man ganks? Thats just lame. Everyone else gangs sometimes, and it's stupid to say they don't. But when thats ALL you do, it's just ####ing lame.

Alcaledies: You were the worst. You would bring four (or more) others with you to fight me, and even so you always were the first one out of combat. You talked HUGE amounts of #### for someone who wouldn't fight alone, once going off for twenty minutes when I came at you alone because other people were in the same area. This from Grand-Poobah-Ganker himself earns you my special "You were the biggest douche I knew with this character" award. Congratz!

Kimberly: You stood around talking #### from the safety of level 42. Then ranked, and deleted once your #### talking caught up to you. You were borderline OOC every time I had any interaction with you, and I just couldn't fathom how you managed to stay in the cabal. I really think Valg said it best in your imm comments.

Thu Feb 10 23:35:46 2005 by 'Valguarnera' at level 47 (232 hrs):
Example from earlier today: Unthurok (uncaballed warrior) raids Scion solo. Kimberly stands around asking questions until Unthurok finishes killing the Archmage, resting twice for hp in between. Sad.

Giliian: We had a few interesting conversations, and despite the log bruhaha over you, I liked the character. I was looking forward to fighting you more, but it just never happened.

Akscereh: I had a lot of respect for you. You'd come at me alone or with help, it didn't matter to you either way. We talked some, and we shared a mutual disgust of each others ways. You were a pain in the ass to fight with that sand lizard in the desert.

The assorted former Imperial/Scion wanna be dingleberries: Guys, just getting anath doesn't mean you suddenly abandon all of your supposed beliefs up to that point and jump ship. Have some self respect for ####s sake. Every one of you gets an anath and suddenly forgets all of your characters motivations up to that point, and acts like it's not a big deal. It IS a big deal, and I wish more of you would stick it out with your roles the way they started.

Empire. Some of you had some balls, and I respected you for it. Mostly, I'm still very anti-the thought of empire even being around. Most of you just seem to be going through the motions, and none of you really seem to have that Imperial ferver of old. I never got the feeling of an actual Empire, like in days gone by.

I really think only Skolgrar deserves any special mention. You came at me SO many times, alone, with out of range healers, etc etc. You were someone I always had to watch out for, and I liked fighting you. The number of wins were in my favor, but you drew last blood.

Outlanders. In my low/mid ranks, a few of you asked me for help a few times with things, usually IMperial lowbies raiding, and I came to help out. Then a certain outlander kept trying annoying flyto/fly away when he got beat up tactics. I can't count the number of times I was attacked while trying to rank. After that I took a harder line with the Outlanders, and said if I kept getting bothered I had no cabal affiliation (at that point) and so I wouldn't hesitate to bring the war to the refuge as a whole. That was the last I had any trouble with the Outlanders.

Special mention to Drahke and that other fire giant outlander guy. You guys would fight alone, even if it was lopsided. Props.

Tribunals. Ugh. I'm just not even going to start on the current state of Tribunals. Just...ugh.

Tolchek: You were the only Tribunal I could stand to even be in the same city with. You were the only one who wasn't like, Imperial Junior. You were also the only one I didn't have to worry about ignoring attacks in town. I knew if I attacked I'd get a flag, but I also knew you wouldn't step into the spire at a convenient moment(convenient for others, not for me), or just outright ignore attacks on me in town like certain others.

Heralds. Who? I saw maybe three of you my whole life. Never really spent much time with any of you except for Nialona, and most of that consisted of one insane powerranking session in a certain place.

And the Fortress. Man you guys used the hell out of me. You knew I was going to stick to my vow and I got put through the wringer for it. It got to the point once where it all came clear to me. I was standing at the Maran, waiting to do a defense. Scions were coming, like 4 of them, all in range. There were about a half a dozen Fortress types on, I wasn't back in the cabal at this point, and not one of them was there with me to defend. After that I was never entirely comfortable with too many in the Fort. Also, for the love of christ stop all logging in at once. Part of what made it so hard for me to get solo fights was the 15 other Fortress and zero enemy types on, or the zero other Fortress types and 15 enemies in range. Stop all logging in and out together. How about half of you log out and go play your alts?

Shokai: You reinducted me, and I wasn't ever entirely sure why. I was very glad that you did, but I still puzzle over it. I really think my character was too "dark" for the Fortress. I agree with Naref having tossed me, just not the reason he picked for it when I gave him so much more to work with. Either way, I kept my vow as a squire to protect the Fortress. It's nice to see you around a bit more these days, you always work as a catalyst for some great things.

Naref: I despised you ICly. About five minutes after I met you, you made some disparaging remark about Eshval, and from that time on I wanted you to die. I still think you maybe didn't take your role as a priest very seriously. To me, if you are someones priest (barring some reason for concealment) I think everyone should know who your god is if they spend more than 5 minutes around you. I mean, EVERYTHING in a priests role should be about their god, and that should be reflected in their RP.

Ginharq: Hey man! You were a ball of fricking energy, I swear to god. You were where the action was, and anytime I followed you I was sure to need to rest for moves eventually. You were here, you were there, you were always in motion. You always respected me, and didn't come off as using Ahelun, which I appreciated.

Iramath: You were an excellent Captain, totally badass. You were commanding yet kind, and always let people know who was The Man in Charge. Much respect.

Sydrian. If Iramath had a smaller, mouthier brother, you would have been it. If you were both on, I knew you were together and that I wanted to be where you guys were. You were another one who made things happen, and kept me entertained all the while.

Zak: If Ahelun ever had one real friend, it was you. No matter how many people I had to face down, you were always willing to jump in there with me. I'm gonna miss you.

Kristin: You were entertaining in ways that reminded me of Ekirhal in her prime. I know you're not, but it was still always a lot of fun to hang with you.

Llyria: Why did you delete? You were really, it seemed, just getting the hang of being a healer. You were always good to have around, especially at the end.

Jezereal: Wow, you're Just Amberandjesselicious! I just don't even know what to say to you other than, you really outed yourself bigtime. It was like a flashback to earlier times.


Imm goodbies for non cabal imms.

Qaledus: Was there something actually in the works for what I asked you about? I always wanted to come and give you a nudge and be all like "Hey come on, I'm not getting any younger here" but once I got reinducted I just never seemed to find the time to come looking for you. I loved our interaction that night, even if it was expensive. Heh.

Finally Eshval: I know I already said it, but it bears repeating. you rock! You made everything so much more real for me, as a priest. You were encouraging, doting as a mother hen (well an evil mother hen), unstable and totally made the character for me. I wish I hadn't eaten so many mob deaths and had had more time to play your priest, because I don't think I'm doing another empowered character for a long LONG time. I wish I had been able to bring you that dragon you asked for. I really worked my ass off to try and make it happen, I just ran out of time.

Don't look for any more serious characters from me for a long time. I wasn't going to do any for a while after Celebrimbor, but the role idea I had for this just called to me and demanded to be played.

Thanks to everyone for whatever part they played in my characters life. If I missed anyone, you know what to do.

I always respected your wishes never to rank, without complaining. I never aided the Empire except to have a wanted flag removed from an imperial that should never have been placed in the first place, which is the least I can do when I actually witnessed the flag being placed.

We had our ic differences over the purpose of the laws, but at the end of the day, my char doesn't support the Empire and never has. He is probably as morally uptight as any of your chars have been so alignment does come into his behavior a lot, and has caused problems with his relations with allies or cabalmates before. On my part, I liked Ahelun although I did feel your getting involved in yet another forum frenzy spoilt the char, as well as revealing the player because of the similarity with the whole Celebrimbor debacle. You weren't dealt with equitably but at the same time you would have spoilt the character either way.

I thought you considered my character ok considering you tried to save his life. I was almost certainly dead anyway to rot, since I had just had the few items of gear that remained to me after the anti-hoarding code kicked in taken by the same four people ten minutes earlier. But my character would have struggled to live, so I asked for help. Anyway, I was impressed that despite us arguing earlier and me having just attacked the Maran captain, you didn't stint on trying to help a lightwalker.

Really it was just an IC dislike of all things relating to the Spire. It wasn't something I had all along as Ahelun, it was all about IC events. I actually ranked with Melacarfina and Lora a bit early on, and a good bit of my dislike of Tribunals came from Mela being buddy buddy with the Empire. It wasn't anything personal with you though. As for the forums, yeah I tend to speak my mind a little more often than is good for me. Always have.

>I always respected your wishes never to rank, without
>complaining. I never aided the Empire except to have a wanted
>flag removed from an imperial that should never have been
>placed in the first place, which is the least I can do when I
>actually witnessed the flag being placed.
>
>We had our ic differences over the purpose of the laws, but at
>the end of the day, my char doesn't support the Empire and
>never has. He is probably as morally uptight as any of your
>chars have been so alignment does come into his behavior a
>lot, and has caused problems with his relations with allies or
>cabalmates before. On my part, I liked Ahelun although I did
>feel your getting involved in yet another forum frenzy spoilt
>the char, as well as revealing the player because of the
>similarity with the whole Celebrimbor debacle. You weren't
>dealt with equitably but at the same time you would have
>spoilt the character either way.
>
>I thought you considered my character ok considering you tried
>to save his life. I was almost certainly dead anyway to rot,
>since I had just had the few items of gear that remained to me
>after the anti-hoarding code kicked in taken by the same four
>people ten minutes earlier. But my character would have
>struggled to live, so I asked for help. Anyway, I was
>impressed that despite us arguing earlier and me having just
>attacked the Maran captain, you didn't stint on trying to help
>a lightwalker.

I think this is really interesting:

>Really it was just an IC dislike of all things relating to
>the Spire. It wasn't something I had all along as Ahelun, it
>was all about IC events. I actually ranked with Melacarfina
>and Lora a bit early on, and a good bit of my dislike of
>Tribunals came from Mela being buddy buddy with the Empire.

because I've seen other characters swear up and down that Melacarfina is incredibly in bed with Fortress and, in fact, good-aligned.

Obviously, your roleplay should (and, I believe, did) only reflect what you saw in-character, but I think it's one of the really cool things about CF that two characters will interact with the same third character and take two totally contradictory things away from the experience.

It was in part seeing mela never going after Restraal and Granaak, and partially because she was with the Provost and the Emperor in a defense of the inside of the palace once. Ahelun was a zealot, and if you went against what he saw as his holy mission, you were his foe. In truth she's not really "buddy buddy" with anybody, but again I was just going by Aheluns perceptions.

At first, I was a bit offended when I began hearing such remarks as a player. I say this only because I've tried to stick to my rp well. I thought maybe I hadn't been, but now I can't help but have a good laugh at it. I remember after I had traveled with the emporer for the very FIRST time ever, your char was calling me the dog of the empire or something of that sort. It seemed everyone in the fortress was sending me a tell to ask me if the Emporer was my new Vindy... and such and such. It was all for a good laugh. It make me chuckle even more now to find out you, Vlad was the player.

Well I believe that's all that should be said for now, concidering Mela is still an active char.

Oh, and from what I did see... I must say well played. Even if Mela wanted to give you the cold shoulder after some comments... I still enjoyed your char as a player.

Thanks, I appreciate it. Any "bad slave to the Empire" remarks I made were entirely IC. To Ahelun, neutrals were just evil waiting to happen, and all it took was one thing to get someone moved from "potential foe" firmly into the "Remember to kill if can find alone" column. I never was able to find you outside of town, and part of me regrets that. Bards are, for a two hander, one of the WORST matchups. One little song and what few attacks we get are pretty much nullified. Thats frustrating in the extreme. However I had just the right combination of supps to have a go at a skilled bard, and not be terribly concerned.

I'll reserve more comments for your eventual death. Good luck with the rest of your life, Imperial lackey.

I'll back ya up some, Mela...seems being a real neutral takes a bit of work. It's part of the problem people saw with Nexus. Your friends can be constantly changing, and it's a *LOT* easier to make enemies than it is to make friends, so sooner or later, just about everyone hates you unless you make a concerted effort to keep someone as a friend. Keep it up!

I also agreed with Naref tossing Ahleun when he did. (I wasn't on at the time, but once I was filled in on what happened...I nodded. On the other hand I really dug Ahleun and despite being, as you put it, "dark"*...he was an amazingly well done "violent paladin". So, I figured I'd sit back and watch a bit and see how everyone played the cards dealt them. This included keeping you in the loop in the Aarn quest...and I was amused at how perfectly IC you dealt with the dream...complete with coming to Eshval to pray about the divine vision you had recieved....serious cool points on that one. After all you had do for the Fortress, despite being removed as an active squire...or rather perhaps *IN SPITE OF* being removed as an active squire, when redemption offered itself, it was far too perfect of a chance to turn aside, so Aarn and I decided to slap on the full Maranage. After all, redemption is a pretty big part of the ole religion in Shokland...redemption isn't just offered to evils, it's offered to anyone.



* Dark characters, or should we say 'macabre' characters have never bothered me when they're well done. Being a dark hero doesn't make one evil, it just means they're walking a thinner line. Not every paladin/goodie character should sparkle and shine with the radiant light of all that is holy (most of them should, it kinda goes with the territory) occasionally there should be a dark horse that rises through the ranks. The trick, as you played out, is to be dark without being evil. Macabre without being morally grotesque. It's a tricky line, but when well done...it works very nicely.

> I also agreed with Naref tossing Ahleun when he did. (I
>wasn't on at the time, but once I was filled in on what
>happened...I nodded.

See, even now I don't think it was that big a deal. The guy did something he had promised not to do again, not five minutes after promising. Also, that was, at that point, the best "work" I had done yet, because of its symbolism. But I am admittedly biased. It just caught me offguard. I fully expected to get tossed eventually, just not right then and for that.

>On the other hand I really dug Ahleun and
>despite being, as you put it, "dark"*...he was an amazingly
>well done "violent paladin". So, I figured I'd sit back and
>watch a bit and see how everyone played the cards dealt them.

Aww shucks. That actually means a lot to me. Log in more damn you!

>This included keeping you in the loop in the Aarn quest...and
>I was amused at how perfectly IC you dealt with the
>dream...complete with coming to Eshval to pray about the
>divine vision you had recieved....serious cool points on that
>one.

Were you snooping that? I was laughing myself sick, here I am asking Eshval about the dream, and she's talking about pigeons. I was a little tired at the time too, so I was sitting here going "Wait...what? Am I missing something about that whole thing?" I scrolled back and reread it, and I said to myself "there were no pigeons, WTF?"

>After all you had do for the Fortress, despite being
>removed as an active squire...or rather perhaps *IN SPITE OF*
>being removed as an active squire, when redemption offered
>itself, it was far too perfect of a chance to turn aside, so
>Aarn and I decided to slap on the full Maranage. After all,
>redemption is a pretty big part of the ole religion in
>Shokland...redemption isn't just offered to evils, it's
>offered to anyone.

And thank you for offering it. It was a really unexpected twist in the characters life. Up till that point, I really wasn't sure what your reaction to me would be, since we'd never "seen" each other. Eshval telling me you were going to eat me didn't help things.

>
>
>* Dark characters, or should we say 'macabre' characters have
>never bothered me when they're well done. Being a dark hero
>doesn't make one evil, it just means they're walking a thinner
>line. Not every paladin/goodie character should sparkle and
>shine with the radiant light of all that is holy (most of them
>should, it kinda goes with the territory) occasionally there
>should be a dark horse that rises through the ranks. The
>trick, as you played out, is to be dark without being evil.
>Macabre without being morally grotesque. It's a tricky line,
>but when well done...it works very nicely.

Thanks.

I didn't get to watch you too much, but I have to chime in: Your prayer during my intro quest, when Shokai first vised, was freakin' hilarious. The one when you prayed for him not to eat you like Eshval said he would, or something, topped off with an "amen". I laughed my ass off.

That being said, I'm generally against the idea of an Eshval follower in the Fort. At best I think it can only be pulled off for a limited period of time - you said yourself that you expected to get kicked out eventually. Also, being a goodie crusader is all about doing thankless work! It builds character, or some crap like that.

Good luck with your next! (An ordasen invoker maybe?)

Aarn

>I didn't get to watch you too much, but I have to chime in:
>Your prayer during my intro quest, when Shokai first vised,
>was freakin' hilarious. The one when you prayed for him not
>to eat you like Eshval said he would, or something, topped off
>with an "amen". I laughed my ass off.

Heh, I have to see if I can find the log of my conversation with her and all. She told me about a week before that I should talk to Shokai, and that he might eat me. Then she was taunting me during the quest, then Shok started screwing with me, then I got the Maranation. Talk about an emotional rollercoaster for Ahelun. You with the whitesteel fork didn't help matters in the slightest.

>That being said, I'm generally against the idea of an Eshval
>follower in the Fort. At best I think it can only be pulled
>off for a limited period of time - you said yourself that you
>expected to get kicked out eventually. Also, being a goodie
>crusader is all about doing thankless work! It builds
>character, or some crap like that.

Yeah, mom always used to say that. Or something like that. It may not have been mom it could have been Jerry Falwell and I may have seen it on TV. Either way someone said it and it made sense at the time.

>Good luck with your next! (An ordasen invoker maybe?)

Heh thanks. I actually have a REALLY off the wall idea next. If you think this one was a head shaker, just wait. The other plan will take some time though, so I plan to do nothing too RP intense for a little bit. Maybe a nice stupid cloud warrior or a bard or something.

>Aarn

I was glad to be there to see you "born". Thankfully we skipped the briss. Thanks for the kind words.

Ironic..because I thought you were the most energetic one out of all of us! Liked how you were super aggresive, taking the codex/scepter with more zeal than anyone even when you were not part of Fortress anymore then. You were also always killing evil things everywhere (Your aggresiveness gave me a clue pointing to Celebrimbor ). I thought Ahelun was a really well role-played and interesting character. Do look forward to the aggresively evil character coming up!

Heh, yeah when I play a priest I usually REALLY throw myself into it. When I was Esmi, I would heal people trying to kill me if the fight wasn't going too well for them. With Celebrimbor it was Vynnie Mac all the way, and he'd have wanted some stompin. With Eshval, she wanted fire and madness and death, so I gave it to her.

I'm not so sure about an aggressively evil char. I'm pretty aggressioned out, Ahelun really took a lot out of me. He was a lot like Cele, but a lot different too. Celebrimbor had friends and was nice to people. Ahelun had comrades, and didn't really talk to people much except about Eshval and death. God damn me but I got SICK to death of talking about the beauty of the soul leaving the body and blah blah blah blah. I seriously considered doingup a series of triggers, but thought about all of the ways that could go exceedingly bad. The biggest difference though, for me, was with the gods. With Vyn, Cele was humble. With Eshval, Ahelun was pure ego. He strutted and preened and made himself "pretty" so she would take notice. This involved a LOT of ego talk. If someone died to me, she got a nice little prayer, and I would bring her their weapons when I could. If someone ganged me down like a bitch, she got a nice little prayer about how much it pleased me that my enemies were so scared of me it took four of them to fight me, etc etc etc. Ahelun just wasn't really someone people could be comfortable around, and thats what I was aiming for.

Maybe I'll roll a nice bard character, rank to ten, and just sit in the inn for the next 600 hours. Drinking, laughing, slamming my head repeatedly into the floor......Ok, not really my thing. but don't look for a lot of intensity from this one.

>Special mention to Drahke and that other fire giant outlander
>guy. You guys would fight alone, even if it was lopsided. Props.

I prefer one-on-one. It is much easier to see what is going on and react to it. I have recently been more involved in some group fights, and it just plain sucks. Too much spam and seemingly randomness. I hate it.

But yeah, you usually kicked my ass with ease. Heh, after a few of those fights I was just flabbergasted. How the hell am I supposed to cope with that? But of course, it just comes down to getting a fight when you are not ready. I found the character interesting, but I can understand you feeling burned out. It must have been rather exhausting to play such a demanding role.

I will post that log where I talked to you in the underdark...
I liked what I saw of Ahelunn though you where a damned paladin so Iborenn wasn't much for standing around letting you beat me up =P
Good show, and hopefully you'll join the anti-magic side Muwhahahah...

I enjoyed what little RP we had at MS, I was hoping to get more from you when well, I got the vindy position like now, but it seems fate didn't will it that way. Either way, I'm interested in seeing your next project up and running. Good luck on your next.

-Tolchec-

I got over the whole PK PK PK PK mentality years ago. Nothing gives me a rush now more than coming up with a really oddball role and making it work. I have two things in mind, one I have to wait for a change to happen, the other I'll just have to wait until I can stand to play a good char again.

I rolled Ahelun after a night of drinking, and talking to a couple of friends about CF and each of us throwing the most absurd role ideas we could think of out there, trying to see who could come up with the most technically possible but logically improbable role. I threw "An elven paladin follower of Eshval, under the sphere of beauty and who makes art from corpses" out there. Thats when it all started. Of course I was the only one who believed Eshval would even empower a paladin. So I sat down, wrote up an outline for a role and started my roller. The rest was history.

I all of my early ranking alone. (A lot of the later ranking too) Eventually I caught up with Eshval and we talked. Right off I could tell she had some misgivings about empowering a paladin, but I said the right things and got empowered. After that everytime I spoke I hammered my religion on the people around me. I took zealotism to a whole new level. If someone needed food, they got a lecture about how they shouldn't thank me, they should thank Eshval. If someone needed healing, they got a little sermon about the Muse and her love for everyone. I was even irritating myself with it but hey, I stuck to my role.

Joined the Fort thanks to Shisi. The interview was a tough one and I wish I still had my logs (Midway through Aheluns life my comp took a crap and had to be replaced) from early on. I made Shisi SO uncomfortable during that interview and I know he was looking for any excuse to tell me no, but I never gave him one. That interview was a great allegory for my whole life as Ahelun. I was dancing on a VERY fine line the whole time. <--- It rhymes, I'm an artist!

About this time my net connection started to flake out a LOT. I died some of the stupidest, most pointless mob deaths imaginable. I won't even begin to describe some of the humiliating deaths I had. But, since it was role appropriate to die a whole lot, I shrugged it off.

Aheluns zealotism and single-mindedness extended beyond just his religion. He obsessed over whatever happened to catch his attention. At first it was killing people and making art for Eshval. Then it shifted to the war with Scion and Empire, and constantly making sure the Orb was safe and the Codex and Scepter were taken. Thats when I got tossed from the Fortress by Naref, for yelling at another Squire who had done something he had promised not to do anymore. as soon as Naref tossed me, he became my obsession. I did all kinds of art about Naref, but they were conceptional art. Naref as a dwarf, Naref as an elf, Naref as a pile of feces nd intestines...you get the idea.

All the time I was focused on Naref, I was still defending the Fortress with the same single-mindedness, only worse. I kept defending the Fortress and raiding Empire and Scion for a twofold reason. I was pre-hero. Everytime I saw five or six heroes for the Fort on, and I had to go and raid for the scepter and Codex while Naref sat on his ass in the Fortress talking, I rubbed it in his face that I was better than he was. I was pissing everyone off at this point. Naref hated me, Empire Hated me, Scions hated me. At some point a couple of Outlanders took it into their heads that I'd be an easy mark, but I quickly disabused them of that notion, so Outlanders hated me. Tribunals hated me because I talked #### to them about being Imperial lackeys anytime I had five seconds of their time. All in all, it was a REALLY busy time for me.

In all that time, I never spoke another word to Naref. I didn't ask the Fortress if they wanted my help or not. I didn't ask them for their help. I was just this everpresent reminder of what had happened and how much ill will was floating around the Fortress at the time.

I loved it.

Eventually Naref died, I heroed and I was ALWAYS parked at the Maran in a champions stance. I was like, Maran Tarabal junior. Let me tell you, if you value your sanity and your ability not to lose your temper, never do this. It was hours of boredom, interspersed with moments of BASH BASH BASH BASH THE ELF DOWN, as whenever a group would show up to raid they took full advantage of knowing I had no cabal channel to use, and always started on me before the Maran. This, coupled with the Fortress habit of leaving me there alone to defend when I wasn't even one of them, led to me becoming a little bitter. I decided I was going to start playing less. Then Wungar took leadership, other Maran and Acolytes continually badgered me to come back to the Fort. I never asked. Wungar tried to reinduct me at one point right after taking leadership, and was unable to. So I figured I wasn't getting back in. I kept on as I was though.

Then after a while some stuff happened, and Shokai reinducted me. Whats more, he made me a Maran on the spot. As soon as he did that, I felt vindicated. I never once changed my roleplay or what I was doing. Shokai making me a Maran was basically making a long distance call to Naref in whatever hell he occupies, and saying "ha ha, suck it bitch". I was tickled pink.

Some other stuff happened, and I took a hiatus. It was a week or two of not logging in, and it was a refreshing change. I decided I wanted to wait for some of the Fort to die off some before I started playing more again. It was rediculously boring for me to log in to assume my role as defender of the Fortress, smiter of evil....when no evil would log in because of the five billion slavering Marans running around looking to gank anything with a red aura. I love the Fortress and always will, but come on guys. Some of the stuff I saw was just gutless. I didn't bust my ass, fighting groups of 2, 3 5 or more to defend an ideal, just to have people who supposedly shared that ideal use the same chicken#### tactics.

A couple of weeks ago I started playing heavily again, and thats when it dawned on me just how much of a hit my con had taken from all the stupid pointless mob deaths I had. I considered a con quest, but much like everything else with balancing my role, religion and cabal something always had to give. I didn't see a way to get a con quest, and still keep sticking to my role. So instead I held a sermon to try and spread my faith like some sort of disease.

I never did anything overtly evil, but I was sneaky about some things. Not decietful, but if you didn't think to ask, I wasn't going to do the mental work for you. My proudest moment was in getting a room full of goodies to pray with me, and take the blessings of Eshval. This had me entertained on many levels.

I'm sure I've got plenty of detractors, with a role like this you have to piss off quite a few people. In an effort to keep at least one of my death threads from erupting into a "no no YOU are the worthless sack of ####, not me!" war, if you want to criticise, at least be constructive or intelligent about it. I never claimed to be perfect (OOC anyway) and we don't all have the same ideas about how to play a paladin. If all you want to do is flame, then just accept a hearty "#### you" now, and just let it lie with that.

I'll post my specific individual farewells in a little bit, right now I need to do a few things.

Vlad

A ton of them. I appreciated the way you stuck to your role, even during the unhappy times. Did the Fort use you...you bet, were you bitter...again, yes. I am pleased you did not come off as a real 'goodly' character...you had just enough mix of good-wicked with a nice sense of the ironic to make the character work well and stay within paladin guidelines. I often watched your actions and snooped to see what you had in your pockets - I was pleased I never saw you with the 5-10 'extra' weapons and shinies in your inventory that seems to be common among many paladins (I had heard a rumor that paladins were to dedicate extra...trust me, in many cases it is a rumor.). It should be noted, I am a stickler for the Paladin Code, though I apply the Code in relation to my religion, but the basics remain intact.

Of interest, you would have had my tat, but a very big EVIL tat on your arm would have made even me toss you from the Fortress. You were enjoyable to watch, even if you weren't deathful, you were there when you were needed and when it was appropriate.

You may have opened the door for another paladin. Good luck to you, it was a good experience...though at times, irritating.

Eshval's email
BlackMarquessa@gmail.com

Eshval's slightly off-center (unofficial) blog.
http://blackmarquessa.blogspot.com/
Carnivàle
http://cirquecarnivale.wordpress.com/

I had plans of trying for your tat, but then I noticed it on someone and took note of the big red aura. I was CRUSHED, I had this whole long drawn out thing planned out. I was going to bring you more flattering gifts, and then ask you to collaborate on a work with me. I already had all of my own designs carved into my flesh, but I was going to hint to you that I would make a good canvas for a shared work. Ahh well, once I figured that wasn't going to happen I still wanted to leave a lasting impression, so I kept on with the zealotistic intensity. I wanted to at least snag you a few converts.

I have, in all my years of CFing, never felt so much like my God was a real God, all seeing, all knowing, and really creepy in the ways of Gods. I'd be off somewhere doing absolutely nothing, and you'd make yourself known one way or another. I heard about what you were doing that time in the underdark from one of the people I was grouped with. Not very nice to do when someone is asleep. This has been, by far (Sorry to say Vyn) my best experience with an empowerment to date. You really made the character work and come to life for me. Thank you.

I hope more good people decide to try and follow you. You really take the time to be a part of your followers lives, and make it seem as if Eshval is always watching. Creepy as hell and totally cool. I think that about sums you up in a nutshell.

Thanks for letting me be your first.

The good - well, I don't really have any. And this isn't because there isn't any good, just that we never interacted.

The bad - The total sum of my knowledge of Ahelun is your forum posts, and those bespake volumes. In essence, ruining Ahelun for me in game. Having the last word on the forums may grant you a fleeting instance of "victory", but it doesn't really do you any good as a player or character. I don't know why people can't resist rising to the bait of being called a worthless piece of crap, or an incessant ganker, whiner, or cheater here. And I also can't understand how they don't see the damage to their active character they are causing by doing so. You the player know the truth, the imms know the truth, and who cares about someone who is bitter and decided to delete? You as well as the entire playerbase would do yourselves and CF a great boon to ignore forum detractors.

Zak always had an idea what Ahelun was about. He's a knowledgeable sort of guy but he keeps most of that downplayed. He likes to be a surprise and I think he's surprised a few people in his time. Most notably some scions and imperials while defending, that croc form is hard to take down. As for Ahelun he respected him alot. He knew, for the most part, what he was about. Though Ahelun managed to surprise him more than most. Eshval is something of a paradox for Zak. He's spoken to her more than a few times and he does see how Eshval's religion applies to even those of the light. All in all I remember Zak and Ahelun meetings way back in the early teen levels. Though they never really got close until after Zak became part of the fortress and heroed. They spent alot of time running around after that. I really only fought in groups against those that had done so against me in the past. Those without honor are not to be given any quarter and some such. All in all Ahelun was probably Zak's closest friend in the game and I always looked forward to when you were around. Their sense of humor seemed to mesh together really well and they made quite the team when working together. No matter what everyone else says I'll miss the character, ego and all. It was alot of fun and a great time playin with you. I hope we'll meet as allies in the fields again sometime.

who would said that you were that paladin, It was an interesting
character, I must agree that Naref had some actions that my acolyte transmuter did not liked, but at his eyes, many make misstakes until and dont see them until someone tells you about them, and some how I made that my job, as I was the oldest one, in the other hand I respected his work... For some reason I pictured you, Vlad, the kind of person that will only play evil, good to see I was wrong, but as I said when I delete, it is boring to be so good...

Good luck with your next char, see you in the fields

I've actually played good entirely too much as of late. My last 3 or 4 characters have been good, and I usually try to vary it a bit more. I'll be taking a break from the goodies for a bit, so look for more evil bastards coming soon to a MUD near you!

You were definitely able to be counted on. It was just the insubordination about the one incident he couldn't handle. I think you did a fine job, and if you would have asked.... I would have re-inducted you after a short talk. Hope our char's don't clash so violently in the future.

Peace,

Bobby P.

I never thought of it as insubordination. You asked a question, and you got an honest answer in return. You thought I was being stubborn, but I was just answering you with all due honesty. No way in hell though would I ask to be reinducted. After you deleted and Wungar took over, ne came to me and said "Dismissing you was an error, I will correct this mistake now" or some such, and tried to reinduct me. It had to go through an imm, and if I wasn't going to ask a mortal to be reinducted, no way in hell was I going to ask an imm. Thankfully Shokai neatly sidestepped that by inviting me to come back, which was about the only way I would have rejoined. I'm really not nearly as bent OOC as I was IC. You gave me fodder for a ####load of art, so thanks.

I gotta tell ya, that little sermon you gave at the Inn that night was just beautiful!

I can honestly say I will be holding on the that log for quite a while.

Keep it up.

Thanks. I was pretty pleased with it myself. Whoever finds my notebook (yes I kept an IC notebook) is going to wonder what the hell all the notes I made were about. It was all stuff I wanted to remember to cover that night. I was glad you were there, and thanks for helping me set it up.

Heh, elf paladin. Glad you managed to hero and stick to your role. Tough no nonsense character. I was surprised you were empowered by Eshval. Good job.

I was Lorendrar btw and in character was a peeved with your proud attitude. All in good RP.

Cheers.

A lot of people were surprised when I told them who I followed, and almost none of them ever managed to actually learn much about my beliefs. You took some time to try at least and for that, thank you.