>"No swords, warhammers, or other weapons meant to kill. You can take wooden weapons from the training armory if you'd like, though"

Stop by there to pick up some wooden weapons for your upcoming engagement.

I am curious though, this is a tactical test not a combat test, he said as much... but they are setting it up as a combat of you vs all of them... I wonder why. Maybe its gonna be two teams.

>>320495
Evie is a mage. Getting wooden weapons is pointless without the expertise to wield them. Magic arrows will do quite nicely.

in the future darts might be useful. or long daggers. it would be nice having something on hand to throw with force magic.

Update Evie 2011/07/03(Sun)01:47 No. 320977 ID: 9a34be
File 130968282075.png - (40.64KB , 180x200 , 180px-Gallagher_(NPC).png )

Evie converses with the voices as she heads to the docks.

>>Weapons
I don't have any training with weapons besides my staff, but you're right, having a dagger or two could come in handy. I'll pick some up after the test, and a pack of some kind as well.

>>What, nothing in-between? Like, perhaps, silver? Strange, but whatever.
Silver is far too valuable to use as currency. The Fomorians control all of the known silver mines, so it's not really renewable. Plus, it's a magic catalyst; using it as currency would be almost wasteful. The core of magic staves tend to be made of silver in order to strengthen casting. It also makes them good for enchanting, as the silver strengthens the effects.

>>strained gnoll relations
We used to have a border treaty with the gnolls, but recently they started building settlements outside their defined area. We were planning talks, but just before they began our diplommat was killed in his sleep- and no one's sure if it was the gnolls, the Fomorians, or even one of our won that did it. Last I heard they were still trying to train his successor.

And I'll talk to Tieve about Wenshardt again later as well.

As she reaches the docks, Evie spots a group of seven men in Crimson Blade uniform standing around one of the boats. One of them spots Evie, says something to the rest of the group, and walks up to her, bearing some combination of a grin and a sneer on his face.

"Heeey, so you're the blade doing the test? Ceara didn't tell me that you were a total babe."

"I... wha-"

"You know, they really stack the odds against you in this test. You could just skip it and save the trouble, you know? I know this really nice place out in the woods I could show you, great place for stargazing, eh heh."

Who... I don't even... how am I even supposed to respond to that?!

>sex for skipping the test
It is possible but very unlikely that this is part of the test (most likely the typical request is for a money bribe). For example, will you be telling your commander that he made such an offer? (Yes, yes you WOULD be telling him; as well as maybe admitting that you considered it to possibly be part of the test, but unlikely)

Say: "Skip the test? What is the fun in that?"... we want to refuse but not antagonize them into acting up during the test.

>>320982
Yes, I second the polite refusal. He seems the type to pull a dick move like hiding the trinket if we get him too angry. (But make a mental note to fling him into a wall when we fight him as part of the test.)

>>320977
>You could just skip it and save the trouble
I think this guy asks for trouble. Let's give him some.

As you can see, he's used to charging ahead and dominating his opponents, at least in conversations. (Let's not base any assumptions regarding his combat style on such flimsy evidence.)

If you were a bit more... prepared, we could pull a Senjougahara impression and stick a knife/dagger into his mouth. Because really, stargazing. Pfeh. As if we'd fall for that.

But since you aren't, and we can't, let's invent some witty banter on the spot. He doesn't look hostile, so no need to jump straight to excessive violence, as fun as that would be.
While replying, smirk - you're confident and have nothing to worry about. Think about flipping the finger at him.
Possible banter ideas, alter them to suit the conversation flow:
- "Why would I save you the trouble of being ground to dust by a total babe, pray tell me?"
- "I could even arrange you a bit of stargazing right at the test site, though you'd have to engage in it in the company of a brick wall."
And my favourite:
- (contemplatingly) "So you're that Gallagher fella that Ceara warned me about?" (switch to a somewhat serious, somewhat confiding tone) "Let me tell you something. You see, I have an itch, a... special itch. It is telling me to..." (wide smile) "... test." (singsong) "Test, test, test, all the time." (tilt your head a little, look him in the eyes) "So you see, we simply must do this test. It's for science. Please, brave knight, would you mind helping a young lady to relieve her... itch?"

I suggest you burst into laughter, I mean sedulously hes talking like the bad guy from a cheese story. laughing at him would be an easy way to restore your confidence, lower his and throw him off balance. Not to mention someone talking like that is actually fairly funny

>>321041
its also a way to guarantee he is going to do something fishy during the test.

>>321051
Well, I doubt he would listen to a polite "Sorry, but I am not interested".

Right now, I think saying that you simply will not give up would suffice as a diplomatic option. It makes no mention of him and provides a generally positive concept about you. If he makes a rude or dismissive comment afterwards, proceed to be cold to him until the end of time(his, preferably).

I don't expect him to take a polite no well, I expect him to get more vicious the harsher the refusal. Be wary during this one... Do you have a helmet? I really don't want to risk getting knocked out by these creeps.

Yes, reply with something like "Sorry, not interested." Try to ignore his advances, he isn't worth your time and you've got a test to complete. Eye on the prize, you're in it to win it and you're not backing down!

Right, I'll try to keep this professional.
"So you must be Gallagher, then."

"Well, looks like my reputation precedes me! So, how about that offer?"

"Sorry, not interested. Besides, what fun would there be in skipping the test?"

Gallagher frowns slightly, but his pervious expression quickly reasserts itself. "Heh, your loss, babe. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're a woman. You just come tell me when you change your mind."

Evie hears Ceara's voice behind her. "Hey, Gallagher! Stop messing around and get back to loading up the ship! The rest of you too!"

Gallagher groans and mumbles something under his breath, then returns to the ship. Ceara walks up to Evie.

"Hey, you're early, good. You can go ahead and board the ship. Don't worry about the stuff gallagher and his friends are loading- I just filled a few boxes with rocks. Don't tell him that though, he's had this coming." She laughs quietly.

Evie thanks her and boards the ship.

Goddess, that guy was a creep. Anyway, I've got some time, I might as well lie down for a bit before we get there.

I wonder how well the test's going to go... and what I'll get for completing it... maybe a pay raise or... promotion... or something...

... ... ... [Evie has fallen asleep]

...

A young Evie kneels before a statue of the godess in a white void, hands joined in prayer. She stands, leaves, returns, kneels, prays. Day in, day out. Days, weeks, months, years pass.

The statue speaks.

"I have heard you, and awakened. What is it that you wish for?"

>>324511
It sounds like you already have something in mind, so say that if you want.

If you aren't already wanting to ask for something in particular, Knowledge seems like a good choice.

>>324511
Indeed, if you were contacted, then you must have something you want to ask.

Who is this statue, anyway?

>>324514
... I wonder, is Evie in control? Because if not, our suggestions will automatically be transmitted, and just for this opportunity we might want to make the back-up request a bit more specific.

Or perhaps more general instead. Let's think big. Like, "I wish to master the universe."

how about i wish for peace? a way to end the war without genocide.

>>324654
But that would be boring..

>>324654
... what is that pussy talk?
You should be wishing for victory and the complete and total annihilation of all our enemies!

I'm ok with conquest in the right situation, i'm less ok with genocide.

>>324511
Guidance. If only you had someone who could give you advice on what to do. Someone with a lot of collected experience, who can objectively look at a situation and tell you the best course of action. Maybe a whole collection of people could give this advice.

>>324957
Yeah. Because the Orb of Infinite Psyche just gives Evie a headache with its incessant babbling and suggests inappropriate things regarding her and a certain oracle.

Update Evie 2011/07/18(Mon)10:55 No. 327551 ID: 9a34be
File 131101174585.jpg - (121.10KB , 1081x897 , goddess2.jpg )

"Knowledge, guidance, power, an end to the war both peaceful and bloody, you certainly want a lot, don't you?" The goddess laughs harshly, almost mocking.

"Tell me, what means most to you? Yourself, your allies in the Crimson Blades, or your precious Tieve?"

"For what do you most wish for? Knowledge, Strength, or Peace?"

"Do you serve the Goddess Morrighan? Am I even truly a Goddess in your eyes? Will you defy me?"

"Tell me Evie, who are you? Have you been kidding yourself this entire time? What do you really believe?"

Tieve is the most important person in my life. she is what I fight to protect.

peace is what I seek. for what purpose does knowledge and strength serve but to end conflict?

I don't know if you truly are a godess or not. but it doesn't matter. If you would endanger peace or those important to me I will fight you just like any other foe.

>>327551
I have to say, this so called "goddess" is not leaving a good first impression.

>>327551
Well, this is Evie's decision, but let me remind you that the Crimson Blades have given you much already. Training, friends, a place to live and work. Tieve is important, certainly, but so are all oracles. And their duty is to the Goddess first.

Humanity has desired peace for a long time, that is why we all want to go to Erinn. If this could be done without fighting, it would be done. Still, peace is ultimately more important than knowledge or strength. Those are merely a means to an end.

Of course we serve you, Goddess. For long has humanity lived under your banner and your protection. We strive to remove the seal on you, to free you and exalt your name. We would never defy you. Our whole purpose has been for you, why would we ignore your advice or orders?

>>327846
and what has she done for humanity? she claims we need her but do we really? if her protection was vital we would have perished once she was sealed. If she was strong enough to be as important as she claims anything that can seal her would have destroyed humanity in an instant. at the very least she has exaggerated her power for the sake of gaining followers. she is at best an ally to humanity.

I do not trust gods. anything that claims to not need to justify its actions, or that unwavering loyalty is its due, should be treated with at best suspicion. everything we know about the goddess comes form the goddess herself,I don't know if she started the war between the Fomorians and humanity, or if she is simply keeping it going. but I do not trust her and I will not put her well being above anyone else's.

>>327850
>>327855
Would you be able to tell Tieve that you have turned your back on the Goddess?

Anyway, Morrighan was tricked to become sealed, not overpowered. Do not claim to understand deities without being one yourself. How can you say what she has or has not done for us?

As for the war, humanity had already been under assault from the Formorians for a long time, when Morrighan sent the message to defeat the Formors to break the seal. The Formors are known to be very aggressive and outright evil. Whether Morrighan had a hand in starting the war or not, the Formors would try to kill us all off anyway.

A Goddess offers aid to us, when we are outnumbered, cornered, and being slaughtered by the Formors, and your first reaction is suspicion, accusations, and denial that she is a goddess? Despicable.

>>327926
Well, to be fair, she did not offer her worshipers any real aid. All she did was tell humanity that if they win, there will be paradise.

Also, you sound like a sycophant, no offence.

>>327933
I sound like a sycophant for embellishing upon my words and putting forth a well structured argument?

Perhaps aid wasn't the best word, but still. The Goddess offered a faint glimmer of hope when humanity was on the verge of extinction. Does that sound better?

I have countered your points with my own and await your answer.

By the way, you sound like a Doubting Thomas, no offence.

we don't know for certain. almost everything we know about the goddess comes from the goddess herself. I admit it is likely she is an ally of humanity, but with so many unknowns to pledge loyalty to her would be folly. many beings have claimed the title of god, few of them worthy of blind faith.

>>327947
Ah well, of course I will doubt that this "goddess" helped humanity out of the goodness of her heart. I feel it is more likely that she would need followers or something like that just to survive. If humanity would die, she might become weak or die herself, though this is all speculation, based on how gods have functioned in different universes.

I do have a theory that if she was an actually good goddess, then perhaps imprisonment has made her bitter enough for that to not be the case once/if she is released, but that is for another time.

On a side note, even if she is a goddess, I do not think humanity should serve anything, period and that is what she seems to want.

Putting my vote with Knowledge. Because Peace could be achieved with Power, and Knowledge is Power.

>>327990
I repeat, how can you possibly understand deities without being one yourself?

Why would she be bitter towards humanity? The Formors sealed her, and we're the ones who will free her. Not everyone has to be backstabbing, conniving, and selfish as many mortals.

>>327957
And you. Why do you need to see evidence to believe anything? It's ridiculous. Do you have faith in anything? It's faith if you can believe in something without evidence.

I feel sad for you all, that you've been hurt so much that you would not see a benevolent goddess if she graced your presence.

You see dark intentions behind every act of kindness, don't you? I find that you would mistrust the icon that humanity has followed for as long as history.

You would discard the goddess as false, or malevolent, and tell humanity that all their fighting, all those dead, have been in vain?

>>328064
you claim that we cannot understand her, that her motives are beyond our comprehension. I disagree. she is powerful but we should not assume that means her minds works differently than ours. as for why I question the goddess rather than take it on faith, why not? the power of man is reason and logic. we figure out how the world works and use that knowledge to set ourselves apart form the beasts. Faith is trusting something without reason, it undermines the very source of humanity's strength. it takes nothing but power to claim to be a benevolent god, and if a god relays on faith rather then earning trust and love it should not be trusted.

>>328071
Reason is not humanities strength. I would have to say it is more our unity. The Formors would have destroyed us long ago if they were as united as us. Many of the Formor races believe in might makes right, and this causes splits.

As I have no evidence divine minds work differently, you have no evidence they work the same.

Yes, we use our knowledge to figure out our world. But the Goddess is above that. You cannot test a deity. You cannot take measurements, you cannot make calculations, and therefore it is unexperimental. This is precisely the sort of thing you MUST take upon faith or lose it entirely.

>>328126
you are wrong. we have seen gods before. many of them with very understandable motivations, some of them with very petty motivations. we have seen gods rise and fall. there may be some sort of super god that is above us and that we cannot understand, but if there is it is not the goddess that stands before us.

>>328154
You cannot make comparisons between these other gods you claim to know. Can you name them?

They are not here, and you cannot say that our Goddess is the same. Without evidence, my truth is as valid as yours.

>>328199
I can name them well. Zeus the rapist and philander, his jealous wife Hera. the new born Laughing Teacher, the god of dragons slain by the demon hatred. Whats more they are not the most powerful entities we have seen. Lenryt the planet eater is stronger still, and yet it makes no claim to the title of god. the multiverse is full of strange and powerful creatures. many of them claim the title of god, none of them are truly deserving of blind faith. why should the goddess be different?

>>328218
I wasn't going to go there. Yes I know about those, but I believe it is metagaming. I would argue that those are written by mortals and thus have mortal desires. Whereas our Goddess in setting, does not apply, because she is not 'written' as those are.

>>328199
If both his and your truth are of equal value, then the discussion holds no value at all. From an argumentative point of view, that is a pretty bad thing to say if you want to actually be proven to be in the right. If you are correct, then so is he. If he is wrong, then so are you and all it comes down to is that you want to trust the goddess and he does not, though I have to admit, I still do not agree with the notion of blindly having faith in something that, as you have said, is so different from humans that they can not understand it.

Oh, and if you want a list of gods, I am sure it is within your abilities to find all of the gods that we have met, talked to or advised in the multiple universes we have been and currently are in. Though I must say, that would be a tedious activity so let me name a few from some I remember: Luna, Laughing Teacher, Muse, the Planet Gods.

>>328241
I said it was equal because I'm getting sick and tired of this arguement, we accomplishing nothing and I do not like where it was going.

Let's please stop with the metagame.

Please take the discussion to the discussion thread.

Ah, yeah, not really going anywhere. Sorry about the other post, but I had started writing it before the two posts before it and got stuck on trying to remember other gods.

Though, I have to say, I always thought there was this all-encompassing concept that all the stories are real and the orb or the voices just existed, exists and will exist in all that show up on this board. Hence quite a few of the quests have suggestions where the orb/voices are explained as guiding a shit ton of heroes, villains, monsters, gods and just random people. I might be wrong though.

>>328223
Even if she is an unknowable being, who can never be understood, why does that make her worthy of trust? If we can not know her, if her mind works in such a different and Alien way that it is impossible to understand why does that make her good?

>>328126
You can definitely measure deitys! You can record, for instance, when a god appears in many separate circumstances, and acts consistently between those. If the god preforms acts of magic, those are definitely measurable.
A deity may be more powerful or wise than a mortal, but if they have consistency in their actions, that pattern can be known.

So, answers to questions:
It is up to Evie to determine what is important for her, but I think I would value people as a whole over individuals or groups of individuals.
I would definitely vote for Knowledge over the other two, as knowledge can be used to achieve either or both of the others.
I would not follow you unquestioningly, but as I support humanity, I think we are working towards the same goals.

>>328276
Do gods claim credit for everything they do? Can you say that you can tell everything that they have done?

>>328338
you still have yet to address the point of why we should trust an entity that is so alien as to be incomprehensible. if we cant understand it, and can't know anything about it why the hell should we trust it? if you ask me something with a mindset that alien should be treated with suspension rather than worship. this is of course assuming the goddess is above use mind you. we have seen very little evidence of this. after all mere mortal are able to hold her against her will.

>>327551
Right, forgot to answer the questions.

First one should be up to Evie, but I think she would value a certain person or group higher than herself.

Knowledge allows for so much that it should definitely be the choice in number two.

Finally, though, I have to advise Evie not to blindly trust you. When it comes to "defying you" then I think Evie should weigh the pros and cons of such actions in any situation which can end in a manner where you consider yourself "defied". Who knows, you might be willing to sacrifice thousands for minuscule to no gains or completely unwilling to intentionally cause harm to those you were/are a guardian to.

i still say peace should be placed over anything else . humanity is locked in the kind of war that can very easily end in genocide. that's something I don't want to be on either side of. sides peace is a goal, anything else is just a means to achieve a goal.