OOC: Jaleh is here in Khorsun. I believe she's at your home, but being taken care of by Miroslav's staff.

"Quite so, my friend."

Masha bows her head to A'Kos..."Jaleh is here in the palace. I will take you to her."

Now that the hour has come, A'kos clears his throat and murmurs, "Perhaps one of the Nazarene's faithful would add power to the restoration of Jaleh's soul.  I would not jeopardize this ritual with my suspicious nature, and could not forgive myself if my unbelief caused the effort to fail."

"Hedonite, you likely know more of the Christ cup than any of us.  Have you any idea of what to do?"

Loukas bristles a bit that "the Nazarene's faithful" would be more potent than any others, but he catches himself. To his mind despite his regard and faith in the Woolly One, there are other gods. As a native of Byzantium he knows Christianity. In the last several years he gained the perspective that all gods probably have some connection and that the problem with the Christian god is that he seems to think that he is all of them whereas other gods have specialties that they have taken and taken long ago. That many who call themselves Christian seem to pick and choose between things to take what is best for them and leave everything else aside is, well, problematic.

However, Loukas is not a theologian. He is a fighter and a storyteller. This means that he does not really have an argument or alternative to give A'kos. He opts not to get into a theological discussion. Nor does he bring up the example of Sir Jean as what one is inviting when they invite Christianity into the conversation. Rather, he knows Balthazar is what he is and he appreciates his Christianity more so than he does any of the other versions he has encountered so far.

All he offers is, "Perhaps wrap her in the Golden Fleece and then pour down her throat a draft from the Grail? I suspect that whatever we put into the holy cup will be purified and empowered by it."

ooc: for clarity's sake, A'kos is a heathen...he's merely indicating that since the Grail is Christian, perhaps a believer in the Christ would have more empathy in this situation.

OOC: I understood your post, A'kos. I thought it was a good opportunity to describe Loukas's thinking re: religion since he's a monk. (If he was not a monk or a class associated with a religion I wouldn't have posted anything. (Maybe.)

No harm, no foul and whatnot.

ooc: no worries - your post was fine, I just wanted to make sure everyone understood the Falcon's thinking here.  If anything, my post probably should've been clearer.  Cheers.

The older high ranking monk of the order of Volos had been silently watching the precedings until now. When the Magyar asks about using the grail he steps forward and speaks..."This grail is an ancient artifact, much older than the White Christ who drank from it. I suspect that it is one of the three artifacts dropped from the sky by the gods in ancient Scythia...a cup, a yoke and an axe. The cup was said to have healing magic, let her drink from it and we shall see if it is true."

Loukas nods in agreement with Zmija, but is otherwise silent. It is good to see his old friend not only because it has been so long, but he knows that he is more knowledgeable in these matters.

"Let us be done with this then," nods A'kos.  Taking the Grail, he heads to Jaleh's room, filling the chalice with water along the way.  Once there, he coaxes her to drink some of the water.

Thorn follows along eagerly, most intrigued to see if the Grail would indeed work. Or the Fleece, for that matter.

The small group walks behind A'Kos as he makes his way to Jaleh's room. There is a single servant girl attending her and she, recognizing A'Kos steps aside.

Masha helps lean Jaleh forward so A'Kos can put the grail to her pale lips. The water sloshes forward into her semi-open mouth and also onto her neck and chest. Hard to get liquid into the mouth of an unconscious person without drowning them but the Magyar manages. For a few seconds nothing happens then her eyes snap open.

Once her eyes opened it all comes back to her in a rush of emotions and sensations. She sits upright and wraps both arms around the Falcons neck and nearly screams..."I can feel out baby kicking!"

Masha takes the grail from the hands of A'Kos then turns to the others in the room and says..."'Come...they have catching up to do." She leads the group back tot he throne room.

Loukas was in turns relieved and then shocked when Jaleh suddenly screams, "By the Woolly One!"

A smile crosses his face and he follows Masha out to the Throne room and clamps a hand onto the Magyar's shoulder, "Welcome home, Falcon. It seems the nest is going to be full after all!"

When the Grail indeed does it work, Thorn marvels - the previously mindless Jaleh has been restored! As he is ushered out the door the bard can barely, for once, get out his words.

"It works! It is true! The Grail..!"

He clears his throat.

"Well, yes...let us leave them be. Lord knows they need it."

As Jaleh wraps her arms around his neck, A'kos has no words, but returns her hug with a fierce of his own.  In the distance he hears his friends departing - gently disentangling himself, he looks to them and says simply, "Thank you."

Then he turns back and gently touches Jaleh's belly and says, "I've missed you."


ooc: I have to admit to being a closet romantic.  That was sappy...and completely fulfilling.  What's next?

I can't help but feel that this is a good place to end. Bringing down the Emperor is an option, what do you guys think?

Works for me. I've been fortunate to play in this game twice, and it's been brilliant, a great historical (after a fashion!) romp. But it does feel like the end now, so many thanks, Nestor.

Of course, if folks want to carry on I'll still play. :)

I dunno - almost feels anti-climactic, like there's one last thing the party's meant to do together...That's a tough call though - especially since I know how much time and effort you've put into this, Nestor.

Your call...I'm good either way.

Oh, and a couple of spoilers -

I've played A'kos since the start of the game, and was ardent in my feud with the original Sir Jean.  I disliked him as a player, and my character reflected as much.  The second Sir Jean (from whom I won the azure gambeson throwing axes) was better, and the truce that ensued actually allowed for a bit of cooperation.

The original Jaleh disappeared from the game without word, so I played the character for, oh, a year or two?  So my 'handwriting' (if you will) was imprinted there.  But given the juggling going on, I passed the responsibility back to Nestor, and she settled in as a solid NPC.

Finally, the character of Dyanna was some of the most fun I had for a short amount of time - her fear spell turned the tide against the first attack by the Pechenegs...and her initial banter with Pyotr (before he turned into a prick) was a lot of fun.  Good character background, and my writing for her was a bit more, um, intelligent than the monosyllabic tone of A'kos (whom, quite honestly, I don't think I did justice, especially late in the game).

Anyway, a few things that might surprise some of you...and if things are to end here, let me say I've enjoyed this one tremendously.

Cheers,
The Falcon...


...and Jaleh and A'kos lived happily ever after to the end of their days...

Sorry, I'm in the middle of BookExpo America and will be until Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to reengage with the rest of my life by Saturday.

I didn't realize that Dyanna was played by A'kos - wow!

I'd enjoy continuing on to get Excalibur and defeat the Emperor, but I also recognize that this is a good ending here.

It was certainly fun playing Balthazar; it was nice to take him from the 'supposed magic-user who never actually cast a spell' to the 'always-a-trick-up-his-sleeve' character he is now.  Assuming he reads the Silver Libram now, he ends up at 11th level, which ties him for the highest I've taken a magic-user character playing from 1st (or in this case 3rd).

I didn't know that A'kos was both Jaleh and Dyanna either. Nicely done!

I thought the first Sir Jean was an utter twit. I enjoyed my fights and looking for fights to pick with him. It's too bad, though, because with somebody a bit less of a goon it could have been fun to play out the differences between Frankish (Western European) and Byzantine (Eastern European) culture.

I'd hate to see this game stop. I've really enjoyed this character and the world. Those of you who've stuck around have been great too. I'll miss it if it's going to end!

I didn't know anyone was doubled up on characters!  But then again, by the time I joined, it was mainly down to A'kos, Loukas, Balthazar, and Thorn (who I think started about the same time I did).

I knew Nestor from another game, and he was a regular and fun player (characteristics that I am beginning to feel are just all too rare on rpol), and the game sounded fun.  Also had the nice aspect of a ship with a big enough crew that I could play essentially as a spectator while I figured out what was going on.

I've had fun with this game, and would keep playing.  It seems like it would be especially fun for those with a long history with it.  Much of the cast of characters I never really got to know at all.