"... ... ... ... Well, nice to meet you all! We are actually looking for... you, i believe? Did you find the goblins? You killed them all? Or maybe you found their commander, and ended their realm of terror? And about the swamp, you probably killed the only thing there, because that place is as empty as it gets. Right, Io?"

He turns towards Boris.
"When people talk about one true gods, there's always the scent of either madness or sin in the air... furthermore, seeing as we have two, if not more, servants of deities, I'd be careful to declare them servants to others, least you are accused of heresy..."
He then narrow his eyes.
"...from experience, this kind of talk... is vampire talk... I got my eyes on you"

He then turns towards Galen.
"I am not sure, all I know is that there was no life within swamp or forest... but you are right, we are heading to kill goblins for a bounty, so if you didn't do it yourself and are headed back to the port, just tell the chief there that we were still alive when you met us"

We have seen no goblins, or anything else, living or unliving, until meeting you. We were following tracks from the village to the cave and inside but found nothing.

He looks toward Io.

Be assured there is only one True God. It is from this being that all powers flow, the divine power used by Clerics and Paladins, and the powers used by Mages such as myself. The other Gods are simply a manifestation of his power that allows the channeling of that power to a level that our bodies can stand. Heresy is a man-made word that allows one man to treat another badly, because of his beliefs.

In reply to Frederick (msg # 22):

Listening to their conversation, Stoney is sipping on his wine.
Eyeing the strange fellow with no arms, wondering how he came to be an adventurer.  Maybe he has some spectral arms, of some sort, or he has mental powers to move things. Unsure, he continues to listen.
Stoney is familiar with many gods, and knows Pelor well, but these lands and gods Boris speaks of he needs to learn more about.  He has never heard of them.

"Oh? That is simply not true. There is many evidence about the many gods. I mean, look no further than myself or our palading friend here. Our powers were granted by Bibi, in my case, and Pelor in his. Heresy is a word used to describe those that believe in things that don't exist. Like "The One True God". Or... ehmm... friendly undead. But I don't wish to antagonize you. As opposed to some of my fellow cleric, I'm not a persecutor of heretics or ignorants. As long as you are good to your peers, you get a pass on my book!"

With a smile, Galen raises his thumb in approval to Frederick.

He scoffs.
"Heresy is what you proclaim, for I've seen man made gods in my years of traveling, when my arms were still attached and all of those were declared the true deities of those populations"
He spits on the ground then.
"Who are you to declare your deity as true? What has your deity accomplished that makes it different from others? Then, as true god, is your deity also an aspect of the unholy beings that vampires call their own patrons? Is your true god also patron of demons and fiends, of the wars they enact, of all things natural and unnatural?"
He shakes his head.
"Nay, you are the same as the rest, a prophet of empty words and arrogant entity, just another voice trying to convert others to their unholy sect"

In reply to Io the Lost (msg # 25):

Wiping his mouth clean of any wine, after a long sip.  the little halfling, with his hammer on his side, and raggedy clothes draped over his shoulders.
"Now, now aren't we all friends here?  We all want the same goal, to help eradicate these goblins.  Does it matter if it is Pelor who empowers you, or Bibi, or One true God?  I have studied many gods in my time in the abby, and there are many good gods."
Looking at his wineskin.
"It is man who corrupts these gods, and contorts their gods powers to further their own agenda.  Either corrupted by power, or drink, or drugs.  In the end they will be judged, but as I see it we all are on the same side, even if our beliefs are different not exactly the same."
Now drinking his wineskin.
"Let us work together, and postulate theories, and truths, as we march on and eliminate the evils and help the good people of th village."

"I couldn't agree more with our flammable friend here. The priority right now is to get rid of the goblin threat, so the people at... Strange Port, was it? Can sleep peacefully. Oh, did I introduce myself? I don't think I did. My apologies. I'm Galen, devoted healer of the Order of Bibi. This is my friend and companion Io. Don't let appearances decieve you, he is the living proof that you don't need your arms to be a good fighter!"

A nod to Stoney, another to Galen.  Solemn, but with a smile.

He turns to Io.

"Sire, I am not here to push religion, nor do I exist to proclaim what is and is not heresy.  I am also not here to debate the niceties of various pantheons.  You seem to be fed up with all gods, and that is well enough to be."

He puts one mailed hand over his metal plated chest.  "Sire, I am a foe of evil, simply put.  It does not matter what gods I have been gifted by, and what minions I may fight.  I represent what is good, and I will fight evil, and I do it not for gods to extend any influence, but I do it for the mortals who live in this land and others, that they might live the way they choose."

He drops his hand back to his side.  "I do what I do because it comes naturally to me, like breathing, and for this I was chosen as a champion."

Well said Hawkmoon. Evil and good do not need deities to work their ways. And do not take me wrong Sir. I worship no god. I simply state that there is one all-powerful entity that gives power to those who learn to master it. What those such as myself and those who receive their powers from a great being do not simply use what is natural. We twist the natural order to cause effects that we wish. And we are granted access to that power by something. Because I can tell you that if the power of the universe were not contained by something, those who learn to manipulate that power could cause the destruction of the world with a snap of their fingers. But as it stands, we must coax and tease and drag bits of the power out to do our bidding.

He turns to Galen

What know you of the goblins?

"You say you worship no god, yet you spew about an all powerful entity that gives power to all others"
He scoffs, then.
"Go to the elves and tell them that their pantheon is defined by humans... then go to the orcs and do the same... travel, towards the distant mountains where gnomes and dwarves live and preach to them of all this all powerful entity that only humans are aware of and declare it to be the most powerful... then watch, as their clerics and champions smite you with the same powers you claim are derivative to your benevolent deity"

Finally, he looks at Albion, head to toe.
"Then you shall find that eventually the gods will want their due for what they have given you, for if you do not work for them then your powers are not truly yours... but rather, a loan as long as you wear their banner for publicity"
He sighs then.
"Not that I look down upon another man that wishes to vanquish evil from this land... but when something is taken then something must be given back: be vigilant least others uses your own goodwill against you and yours"

He continue, looking everyone within the group.
"Of goblins we know none, they left no tracks so far that I could find but still we have intention to either clear their dens or at least inspect their forces before reporting back, should you care to join we won't mind, though try to keep delusions of grandeur to thyselves"

Hawkmoon laughs and shakes his head.

"You are mistaken, sire.  I said nothing of humans, just mortals.. and long lived while elves may be, they yet are mortal."

A brow raised to the armless man, then a smile.
"They will have my life, certainly, my soul... possibly more.  My mistress will have her due, and will watch over me to ensure my deeds are worthy of her name.  My hand is guided in it's task."

In reply to Albion Hawkmoon (msg # 31):

Religions talks should be in Stoney's wheelhouse, but he is feeling a bit uncomfortable.  Could it be the talk of all these different gods, and Stoney feeling beneath, and not worthy of any, or the armless man, and his gruff attitude?

"Perhaps you could have better luck than we have had.  We haven't been able to find these goblins, a fresh set of eyes might be a good idea."
Unable to keep his eyes off the armless man.  His head turning to face the others, slightly, but eyes focused on the armless man.  Like a child seeing something different, and cant stop staring.

"I will see about what I can do with good old tracking.  Goblins are not very smart creatures, but they are wiley... and nasty, mean and normally murderous."

"Do you have a place they were last seen to work with?"

"We were told they raided caravans and merchants... alas, I suspect it may be worse"
He gives a mean look towards Stoney... well, "mean", from what he could see Io only had that sort of look for the entirety of the conversation the group was having.
"Mhn..." He continues, looking back to the others "...it is clear these goblins are more than they seem: such despicable creatures cares little of tactics, preparations and cleverness, if they are capable of hiding with such skill they must have someone controlling them, I am hoping this someone be a mortal one"

"Even if there is some sort of deity supporting them, I would think that a representative would be mortal.  If we can track down and cut off the head, the thrashing body is much easier to deal with than an coordinated one.  If it is convoys they raid, that is where we need to start our investigation.  Maybe we can find evidence of their preparations, camps."

Frederick can stand it no longer and when Hawkmoon gives him a slight opening he takes it. He turns to Io and speaks.

At the risk of being rude Sir, how is it that you have become armless and not seen to have clerics return your limbs to you? Or to have a Mage construct you replacements? You have the build and movements of a fighter but not of one who is used to unarmed combat. Pardon, that was not meant as a joke or pun. I would venture from your build that you swing a sword and carried a shield at one time. That's a hard transition to make. And I must admit to a curiosity to the story behind it all.

He looks towards Frederick.
"Indeed, there was a risk of you being rude and such risk has been fulfilled"
He says nothing else then, turning back towards Albion.
"I've been keeping an eye out, though we are aware their settlement should be somewhere in the north, if I am not mistaken that is"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:19, Sun 18 Nov 2018.

In reply to Galen (msg # 20):

"These Saracens, goblins, you call them, they attacked Port Strange in the south. We followed their back trail north to the swamp. One path led deeper into the swamp, the other seemed to follow more solid ground and that is the path we took. After a day's journey we found this temple and beyond it the strange timeless village. We did not find any more Saracens, so perhaps the ones we vanquished at Port Strange were the only members of the warband. There was a dead fellow somewhere in there but he had expired quite some time ago, I fear. We found tracks of a single person in the temple and followed as best we could but we are not trackers. Still, one Saracen isn't much of a threat.

"Should you accompany us to that spot down south, we may find the spot where the paths diverge. If you have a tracker among you we might then follow it to the Saracen's main encampment. Because neither the temple nor the village seemed to have many signs of habitation. We did not find any more

"As for being a heretic... er, I don't think I am one? I am not a theologian or priest. I am pretty sure I am not a vampire! Yes, I know I am a sinner because we are all born in sin, redeemed through the sacrifice of our Saviour, Jesus Christ." He makes the sign of the cross at this.

"The Church teaches us there are many lesser gods in this world, or at least beings worshiped as gods. Some are good and thus serve the One True God, who created the world and the universe and all within it. The same for their followers. While others, mainly demons posing as deities in order to deceive the unwary, are evil and serve Satan, His adversary. Those who serve evil, like the Saracens, are the heretics. Those who serve neither good nor evil fall somewhere in the middle but are not heretics. I think. Again, you'd want to ask a priest for all the ins and outs."

"Your church sounds unusual, but not unjust.  It is not unlikely that great deities such as Pelor are known by another name in another place.  Your beliefs sound interesting, but what of the powers that true believers of any religion can wield?"

He hmmms

"Since we are close, and I am a tracker, shall we chance again to find this one fellow, though with all of us it may have become more difficult to do so, if we allow him to slip free he may bring warning to his compatriots."

In reply to Albion Hawkmoon (msg # 39):

"Good point, we don't want the lone goblin warning its friends."
Sipping on his wineskin, before corking int, and hanging it back up.
"If you are a tracker, it seems like we are all on the same path.  Lead on, then.  I will cover the rear, to make sure nothing sneaks up on us."

Walking over to the beautiful Ondrea, and grabbing her arm.

"I will protect you, don't worry."
Leaning in a little closer, for a hug or peck on the cheek.

Alas, I have shown very poor manners.  Please pardon me Sir Io. It has been a stressful day and I have completely forgotten my teachings. If I may ask, are you all of this world? Boris, you mention a strange diety and call the goblins by a strange name. I cannot recall mention of a town called Strange Port, although I am not conversant in the geography of the whole of my world.

He gets lost in thought for  amoment then looks back to the group

For my own part I have no objections to joining up with your group, assuming your group has no issues with us joining you.

"I vouch whole-heartedly for Frederick, if that helps.  He is a hale and well intentioned companion and quite clever as well."

In reply to Albion Hawkmoon (msg # 39):

"To my understanding, Pelor is indeed a great god, powerful, deeply respected and just. Just not "created the entire universe" level of powerful, if you catch my meanings. I'm not quite sure but there's two schools of thought in the Church about the other deities, according to a priest I once knew.

"The main belief in the Church is that the One True God rules over creation, but due to the terms of eternal battle with his adversary he cannot intervene directly on the mortal plane. Thus he requires others beneath him to do his bidding. Simply put, the "good" gods are really Angels, Archangels or other servants of God that carry out His will on the mortal plane, and thus their followers can carry out miracles as long as these serve Him in some sense. The "evil" gods are demons or demonic spirits that present themselves as gods to lure and trap the unwary or un-Godly, using their demonic powers to do so. Neutral gods are a bit of a toss-up, their power comes from nature or some other mystic source. The Church neither condemns nor condones these "Pagan" gods and religions. The differing belief is that maybe these other gods are actually gods... just not The God. Their worth is judged on their actions, not on their adherence to Church doctrine. For that matter, anyone who is good may ascend to Heaven, whether or not the belong to the Mother Church or have accepted Jesus as their Saviour, for they ultimately still serve and honour God in their own way. Ours is a just and loving God and forgiving of such lapses in faith and good judgement.

"As for where to go, I was hoping to travel back to Port Strange. I feel you are perhaps like us, for we all started on journeys... elsewhere. Then we ended up there.

"We can go back in the cave temple to track the lone person. If we have a tracker that might work better this time! Or we can backtrack south through the swamp and take the other fork in the path."

I do not know this "Jesus Christ" of which you speak, but the concept of a Deity above and beyond the ones the majority worship makes sense. And the fact that It cannot interfere in the daily lives of mortals is also a valid concept. For otherwise there would be no strife, no excitement in the world. We would spend our lives worshipping the One True God and have no worries for anything else. I believe the mana Mages use for their spells is simply spillage from the creation that we have learned to tap into. This is a sound theory you put forth my small friend.

Frederick points to the sky.

And if we feel it is pertinent I can allow myself and one other to get a birds-eye view of the area to decide what direction we might want to travel.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:38, Mon 19 Nov 2018.