Right after killing an orc at lowbie levels:

pray The blood on this sword I dedicate to you, my Lady Eshval.
You pray to the heavens for help!

**grab a couple things from the corpse**

<52%hp 100%m 100%mv 6414tnl 12 PM>
A vortex of ravening bats surrounds you, tearing at your flesh, then fades into the shadows!

<26%hp 50%m 50%mv 6414tnl 12 PM>
ORC BLOOD! NEVER AGAIN!!! ONLY WORTHY BLOOD!!!

**I kneel and apologize, etc... while waiting for the orc to come back**

Oh...and thank you for the gift, no matter that it was horrible. I do not like orcs, nor their blood.

**Later on, when I'm resting**

Several elves volunteer their blood so Eshval can wash the foul taste of Orc from her mouth.

Annoyed at the untimely deaths of her elven toys, Eshval sighs and looks for new amusements and something to help her breath.

================

In the Jade Mountains, stepped into a deathtrap, then soon after this happens. If it was a mortal, the damage would've made them step out, right?

An avalanche <<< ERADICATES >>> someone!

<395hp(100%) 345m(86%) 199mv(44%) 15920tnl 12 AM> l
Caught in an Avalanche
High up in the Jade Mountains you step on a pack of snow and ice, moving
along laterally across the mountainside. Suddenly it gives way and before
you have time to even think, piles of snow come crashing down from the side
of the mountain and cover you completely! Guess this is your final resting
place.



<395hp(100%) 345m(86%) 199mv(44%) 15920tnl 12 AM>
Someone gathers some herbs.
Someone looks better.

<395hp(100%) 345m(86%) 199mv(44%) 15920tnl 12 AM> eyebrow
You raise an eyebrow at the notion.

<395hp(100%) 345m(86%) 199mv(44%) 15920tnl 12 AM> l
Caught in an Avalanche
High up in the Jade Mountains you step on a pack of snow and ice, moving
along laterally across the mountainside. Suddenly it gives way and before
you have time to even think, piles of snow come crashing down from the side
of the mountain and cover you completely! Guess this is your final resting
place.



<395hp(100%) 345m(86%) 199mv(44%) 15920tnl 12 AM>
Someone grumbles and growls. You wonder what's wrong...

========================

This is what happens when I fight a hero rager axe spec (from the Poison Pen Arena contest):

<556hp(100%) 479m(100%) 589mv(100%) 19070tnl 8 PM>
Inger has arrived.
You yell 'Help! I am being attacked by Inger!'
Inger's slice *** DEVASTATES *** you!
That really did HURT!
Inger is in perfect health.

<414hp(74%) 479m(100%) 589mv(100%) 19070tnl 8 PM> scan a
You scan north.
You scan south.
You scan east.
You scan west.
You scan up.
You scan down.
Inger is in perfect health.

<414hp(74%) 479m(100%) 589mv(100%) 19070tnl 8 PM>
Inger dodges your slash.
Inger dodges your slash.
You parry Inger's slice.
At the last moment you avoid Inger's pierce.
You parry Inger's slice.
You dodge Inger's slice.
Inger is in perfect health.

<414hp(74%) 479m(100%) 589mv(100%) 19070tnl 8 PM> mou

Inger drives her axes into both sides of your body, stunning you.
Inger's brutal attack *** DEVASTATES *** you!
That really did HURT!
Inger's brutal attack *** DEVASTATES *** you!
You sure are BLEEDING!
Inger is in perfect health.

<102(18%) 479m(100%) 589mv(100%) 19070tnl 8 PM>
Inger dodges your slash.
Inger parries your slash.
Inger parries your slash.
Inger's slice *** DEMOLISHES *** you!
You have been DEFEATED!

Just wanted to evoke more RP from you. Maybe even expand on your RP with Eshval. I would've loved to talk to you once again if you came back...ah well.

Good luck with your next.

Unfortunately, the answer to the question you were asking is basically "Nothing." It's not like people knew who I was because I was always landing kills or anything, so I couldn't give you that as incentive. Plus, Ialer was just a selfish character. He couldn't give a damn about your cause or whatever. He just wanted to be able to convince you that it was a good idea to grant him more power. I just don't think there's a satisfactory answer I could have come up with for the question.

Also, what was your role? I'm curious...you did get blood servant after all so Eshy-poo must've liked you.

(btw, I can't really buy a PBF right now, and it'd be silly to buy mine instead of somebody else's, so I'll just post my role here)

My understanding from interacting with Eshval was that she basically liked me because I was kinda selfish and power-hungry, and otherwise, I'd be boring. I thought her beauty needed to be spread, and I was more than happy to do so while I went about my way.

I was trying to be straight-forward with you about it in her shrine, and basically say "Listen, I want power, you can give me power, that's what I'm here for", since that's what worked with Eshval.

The dance of the swordsman, the dirge of the lamenting bard, the silent blade of the assassin, slipping in for his kill. There is a beauty in many things, but it is the savage and macabre beauty of death wherewith Ialer finds himself most infatuated. He was born in the unknown depths of the Underdark to a revered drow mother, sired by one of her human playtoys. Growing into adulthood here, Ialer learned and honored what he called the Trinity of Beauties, Corpore, Fear, and Rule.

Corpore is that Beauty which is most obvious in the world. The physical. The corporeal. Not only is this manifestation the most revealing, it is the most important. One who lacking in the Beauty of Corpore will never become truly great. Their subjects will never adore and worship them, merely tolerate them.

Fear is the most primal of emotions. Fear of death drives all sentient beings to fight, to eat, to survive. Fear of solitude drives them to form packs and mate. Its nature is base and savage, but it also makes it pure, elevates it to the level of the Beauties. Fear by itself, though, is chatoic and unpredictable. Unbridled, it is a force not to be embraced, but avoided. Thus is the need for the final Beauty.

Rule. Not merely rulership in, say, the strict and formal Imperial fashion, but power over people. This is the least of the Beauties, but it is also the culmination of them. With the Beauties of Corpore and Fear in hand, one can bend others to their will, all while the slave thinks they do it freely of their own volition. This is the strenghtening Beauty, and with it, the influence of Corpore and Fear can be taken to new heights; however, it is also the weakening Beauty, as to attain it, one must often bow to those weaker until time has been fulfilled.

Upon leaving the Underdark to further his initial training in the art of assassination, Ialer happened upon a dark priest of the Lady Eshval, a maddened minstrel of malevolence. After much discussion, Ialer had found a new purpose: to seek this goddess of Beauty and destruction.

OOC: The Trinity of Beauties are Ialer's driving force, and the reason why he seeks Eshval's religion. Physical beauty is the main determining factor in his opinions, but his quest for power is his main goal in life. He will try to avoid killing that which he considers beautiful, unless it impedes his progress towards his goal of power. For instance, it would be unlikely for him to attack a neutral elf or half-elf unprovoked, because he would consider them to have a physical beauty. A good elf, though, he would assume is out to impede his progress (this is also partially just racial prejudice). He will also avoid travelling with ugly or disguisting races like duergar or fire giants, but as it states above, sometimes the quest for power requires sacrifices. I'm undecided on whether he'll seek Scion, but it does seem a reasonable fit because of the whole seeking of power par

I especially liked the entire attachment with beauty and Eshval's religion.

BTW, I would've accepted something like 'preserving the ascetic value once the prophecy is complete' or something of that sort.

Luck with your next!

I like to think I'm pretty good at writing roles (I was one of the winners in the... November, I think, role contest: Beneb), they just don't always work out the way I hope they would.

I've had chars in Fort, Empire, and Outlander. No interest in Trib or the Village, so the Chasm and the Heralds are the only two left that I want to have at least one char in. So you might see me back. Who knows.

I played myself into every corner I could with this character, and I just couldn't do anything else with him.

Ialer was sphere Beauty, and one of his primary goals was to purge filth from the land. If he could avoid it, he would never have killed a half race or a drow, because they're already beautiful. What he really wanted to do was to go around killing, basically everybody else, because only in death could they be made more beautiful. I thought Eshval would be a good god to follow with this, because she'd be happy to have me going around purging those disgusting dwarves and orcs for her, but unfortunately, her taste isn't exactly for their blood (btw, Eshval, those echoes you sent me when I sacrificed the orc were one of my favorite things in CF ever). So that right there was the first big blow to the character in my mind.

His sort of secondary objective was to gain power. He thirsted for personal power, through beauty and fear. I was smart enough to use this to leave a loophole in my role saying that, even though he found them disgusting, Ialer would be willing to be around lesser beings if he felt it served him well towards this purpose. I also thought it'd be cool to try to get into Scion with this because based on my (apparently flawed) understanding of the cabal, it'd go well with it. Well, I ended up getting allied with a bunch of Villagers, and then when I finally got to talk to the Chancellor, realized there was no way in hell I was going to get into the Chasm.

So, screwed by my role, and doing quite a nice job at cutting my ties with any allies I had, I decided to call it quits.

Immortals:
Ehsval - Thanks for the interaction. I wish I could get a better grasp on your religion, because you're definitely my favorite imm to interact with. Unfortunately, I suck at PK, so I can't give you a lot of kills and things, but I hope you liked the painting at least. You might be seeing more of me as a minstrel of yours in the future.

Lyristeon - Don't know if you had a part in running the Arena stuff or if you just happened to be around. Either way, it's heartening to ee imms around and vis. Thanks for the interaction at the Inn.

Beroxxus - Same as Lyristeon. I enjoyed hearing your insults OOC, even if they pissed me off IC.

Mortals:
Mharr - You're a beast. OOC, I think you're awesome. ICly, I was putting up with you and playing you for what I wanted (ranking, basically) until I had a chance to break away from you.

Taasarin - Mostly, see Mharr's. You seemed cool, but after like the early 30's, I never interacted with you again basically.

Thalujar - You seem like a ####. It's irritating as hell for people to fight while the Poison Pen/Corrlaan is trying to do things for the players.

Mysfin - I really hoped to see you around more. Ialer needed somebody he wasn't disgusted by.

Temphaneal - Damn your pugils. I don't think there's any way I could've ever beaten you. My kotegaeshi and kansetsuwaza would always slide off, and you could easily outdamage me.

Dhaath - You're a minotaur, that's why I was trying to kill you. Nothing quite as uniquely disgusting as a mino.

Kharnial - Thanks for taking the time to talk to me in the shrine. I think it was pretty clear while talking to you that there was no way I was getting in. I had no idea how to answer your questions, and don't really know anything about Scions beyond the helpfile. I actually wanted to just tell you nevermind so I could stop wasting your time and go delete.

Rayne - Thanks for leveling with me. The staff was nice for the hour or so I had it.

Anybody I missed, post, I'll reply. See you in the fields.

Oh yeah, if you want to see my other failures at heroing a character, see: Mrralth, Shallea, Biqanox, Athanla.

Corrlaan! Holy ####, man, you're awesome. Thanks for doing the Poison Pen stuff. It's really fun to see that many characters in one place for an event. The Arena in general is awesome, but I think you're really making good use of it. Enjoy the profits off those foods, man.

Kasty: Thanks for holding the rangers vs. assassins thing. That was fun, and the con points were appreciated, even if I burned back through them like the next day.

Seriously, all you immortals, thanks for this game. When I'm not too busy sucking at it, it's by far my favorite addiction err... timesink err... hobby. Yeah, hobby.

Your attitude was compelling. I enjoyed it!

Personally, I don't care if folks pk, to me the game revolves around the person having the best time they can. You had an original take on the sphere Beauty, and that was very refreshing, which is why I adopted you in the first place.

Next time you feel yourself painted into a corner or locked into something...hunt me up IG, message or email, and I will do my best to work with you (or any other folks).

Thanks for stopping by and interacting with me.


eshval@carrionfields.com

Cocaine is God's way of saying that you're making too much money. - Robin Williams

Thanks! That really makes me feel a lot better about the character as a whole, then. I think it's maybe a little harder to feel out how you're doing with an evil imm, because they aren't really going to give you the "rah rah rah you're doing a great job" pat on the back speech.

I need to go find those echoes from the orc and post them. Those made my day.

Oh I didn't have anything against you. I knew you were around with the Nixlekk thing and I sat in a room, hoping you were with me, and told you not to do it. You did, so I just had to even the dice a bit. Otherwise I don't really tend to go fight people I have no business fighting, even under provocation, unless it is a certain paladin who kept on wrathing me even when I was link dead and reconnected.

I did charge your group in the battlefield and then lost link after killing the mage and fighting you. Lucky RNG I survived Thanks for not being the asshole there.

I knew Ialer was headed to the chasm but Battle being what it is we have to give non-imperial melee classes the first strike before we can retaliate. Some of them try to misuse it.

You made it to Blood Servant, all Eshval ever gave me was exp, so hey! you did better there than I did!

Pking is a sadomachoistic thing. You roll a warrior. Go out there and bash everything in sight. Get killed and fulled. Rinse repeat the process with different classes and eventually your nerves calm down enough that you have time to calmly sip your soda before you hit PINCER.

You learn from your mistakes and become better at peekay!

Do roll the dice. People like you contribute enormously to CF. See you in the fields.

Hah. Don't thank me too much. I was half naked from attacking Outlander, so as soon as I saw you were attacking, I was fleeing to try to quaff.

Also: man, did everyone think I was joining the Chasm? I had problems with that for the whole character, but I didn't even start actively seeking Scion out until the past couple days.

nt

Empowered characters are followers of their patrons before empowerment too. As far as I was concerned, you were a scion in the make.

I was sorta pissed that a certain Battlerager player was so willing to over look the fact to travel with you and tag team me with you. And that he was given the wink and nod and allowed into the village anyway.

I mean it was obvious what you were.

Nothing against you though, didn't really interact or hear anything over the top.

I did help them retrieve the head from the Chasm once.

I must admit I really liked interacting with you, because I was always trying to dodge your questions slightly. Like you would ask if I was a Scion, and I'd reply that I was "in no way sworn to the Chasm", i.e., no I hadn't been inducted into Scion. I was actually hoping you'd stay around, because I kinda wanted to give you the satisfaction of seeing me with a Nightwalker.

that would be that last time you ever saw him. heh. nightwalker are too much for me.

Taelina, Elhe's Eshval bard, is on the pillar of Legends.

Perhaps because of the Potions I would see in his inventory. Anyway. No biggie.

That stinks that you left. Just stick with it next time and make it part of your role. I always hit doldrums with my chars before I surge to hero...You just have to break through it. Good luck on your next man.

Yeah, once I hit the doldrums, I just tend to delete. I think if I can get past them just once, I'll be able to do it more easily in the future. It's just been like three years now and still no hero, so it's disheartening.

Not hard to beat me, just gotta know how to fight a giant. Especially a ranger, I wasn't lying when I said my mind was gone for most of that last fight, up until the end I was occupied by something on the TV. I just happened to look back at the screen and was like whoa then started pugiling to my heart's content. I had smeared mud on me so hard for assassins to perform their techniques that way. But yea it was good fights, I could tell you weren't much of a PK person but I knew you tried your best. Sometimes, that's all that matters, hope to see you again soon, if you want to get in touch maybe compare notes on the game my e-mail is *snip*

(Active char.)

Yeah, once you said you weren't fully there the whole time or whatever, I immediately knew I never wanted to fight you again.

Aw c'mon it'd be fun! I could teach you what I know through mortal combat!

.

You just needed a few tips on how to fight with assassins. When fighting other fighter classes, don't just go for the lag skills, don't forget to break them first. Watching you die that one time was a horrible experience.

Even with kot/kans perfected, it still seemed like I never landed them in PK. Add a ranger with smear mud onto that, and I honestly don't have a clue how I could've handled it. My hope against Temphaneal was just that if I kept lagging him, I could minimize the damage he was doing.

But yeah, I enjoyed ranking with you for however long that was. See you in the fields.

As an assassin I rarely bother with dam roll if it is in a comfortable 30+ bracket. I rely mostly on gear like spike toed boots, and/or progged items to deliver the edge. I have found having a high hit roll really helps land those skills. A hit roll of 40+ is good. Below 20-25 is just asking for trouble.

And I have no idea where to get gear to give me 40+ hit roll. The highest I _ever_ had with Ialer was maybe 26.

I don't think I've ever had 40+ hit roll with any character.