Stone Man Pass

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Graybeard
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC:
Porcelain Fish wrote:[OOC: Nah. We're all adults here Drannin. The comic is probably R-Rated or close to it anyway. Sarine's exposition of human uses to elves comes to mind. /:OOC]
I think the comic itself fluctuates between R and PG-13 depending on what is and is not censored/concealed. (Impy, are you reading this? Please enlighten us if you can. I confess to wondering how that scene in Chapter 10 is handled in the printed world; strikes me that it would be hard to instill PG-ness into that one...) However, one of the original rules of Errant Road, which is not the comic, is that explicit sex should be avoided in a "fade to black" way. The interpretation of that is probably in the eye of the beholder, but I personally see absolutely zero problem with anything that's happened in any of the threads. There've been several fade-to-black moments, essentially all of them handled in exactly the same way that Drannin did, but that's all. It's all good, IMO. /OOC:]

Sister Rose's head spun, as she tried to sort out who was protecting whom from what (in whose opinion) and why and how. Argus had mentioned something way back in Nautkia about the place having "more intrigues than a Tsuirakuan business salon," and while Rose had never been to a Tsuirakuan business salon (for which she was increasingly grateful), it was clear that Maduin moved in circles like that ... so intrigues would be second nature to him. Still, there were limits. "I don't think the elf trailing Lillith has found us," she said. "Don't tell Lillith what I'm about to say ... I heard Drusia speaking elvish to someone way out there last night, but when I talked to her about it, she said not to worry, it wasn't a half-elf hunter. She didn't say exactly what this other elf was, but I think we can trust her on things like that." We have to.

It sounded like Argus and Drusia were coming back from their private conversation, so her opportunity to further understand Maduin's distress was coming to a close. Besides, there was something that had to be done. "I think we'd better bury that other body before Brad and the girls come back," she said. "Maybe Argus can conjure something to help, but we'd better get with it. Having it still there when Kim gets here might be ... unfortunate." Did a Tsuirakuan really need anything more blunt than that?
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Sareth
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Sareth »

Down by a convenient stream, Lillith was holding the leads to one of the team of horses. She was doing her best to prove false the adage "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Given that she was Lillith, she was doing a creditable job. She crooned to the animal, smoothing the hair on its neck. Encouragingly she smiled to Kim. "Did you sleep well?"
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Drusia
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Drusia »

"Suffice it to say, Harker did a series of extremely detailed wood carvings, involving myself and Cirella... in positions we were never capable of assuming. If you get my meaning. My point is, if you give Harker inspiration, he'll probably want to be your best friend... and you may wind up regretting giving him said inspiration."

I consider for a moment as we head back towards the others. Previously, when it was mentioned that Harker's carvings were naughty, I assumed he meant sex toys. Apparently not. But this... actually sounds more interesting. I wonder....

"So," I ask aloud as we walk, "Do you think Harker would be interested if I offered to pose nude for him? Or does he prefer a more conceptual prompt to his inspiration?" At Argus' blank look, I explain. "A description. Say, of myself and Luna on one of our more passionate evenings? I've always wished I had some sort of picture of her, a painting or carving, so..." I shrug. "The only difficulty I see is giving Harker an accurate image to work from. Although Maudin might be able to help me with that."

Hmm. It would need to be a spell to allow Harker to see my dreams. Something that could be prepared ahead of time, since I doubt I'll be able to concentrate on anything once I activate the Felicitious spell. Well, if anyone would know how to do that, it would be Maudin. Or, come to think of it, maybe Rose. I tend to forget that she was previously experienced with mind-to-mind communication. I wonder what else she's capable of.

-- Drusia

OOC: Too much information? There isn't such a thing. ^^ Then again, I've always enjoyed pushing the edge of the rules on that sort of thing. After all, the real issue isn't the sex itself, it's the issue of people describing every little unnecessary detail. Particularly with two player characters. But I digress... ^^
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Graybeard
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Graybeard »

"Did you sleep well?"

Kim looked at Lillith, eyes wide open. "I -- had a bad dream." She'd been giving the horses the same look. Obviously she wasn't entirely comfortable around the large animals. Well, there was always Brad.

Who was doing his best (which wasn't completely inept) until he became slightly diverted, not by Lillith -- she wasn't a diversion, of course -- but by something else. "Hey, sw-- Lillith, there's another of those statues here," he said.

[OOC: Things may be terse with me today, until taxes are done -- lost the weekend for doing them owing to the GI crud. Well, not the worst reason to take a day off work, although not the best either ...]
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Drannin
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Drannin »

Argus groaned as they came back to the camp site. "Either way, Harker would be extremely interested. I wash my hands of it; this is all on your head, Drusia."

Harker in a creative mood was nothing short of scary.
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Drusia
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Drusia »

Argus groaned as they came back to the camp site. "Either way, Harker would be extremely interested. I wash my hands of it; this is all on your head, Drusia."

"But you will still mediate for us, yes?" I ask. "I don't think he'd be willing to speak to me alone. He will barely get near me as it is." And my attempts so far to perk his interests have not gone so well.

"I'd like to take care of that part soon. It's... well, I'd prefer to clear the air as soon as possible."

-- Drusia
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Sareth
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Sareth »

Graybeard wrote:"Did you sleep well?"

Kim looked at Lillith, eyes wide open. "I -- had a bad dream." She'd been giving the horses the same look. Obviously she wasn't entirely comfortable around the large animals. Well, there was always Brad.

Who was doing his best (which wasn't completely inept) until he became slightly diverted, not by Lillith -- she wasn't a diversion, of course -- but by something else. "Hey, sw-- Lillith, there's another of those statues here," he said.
Lillith was about to respond to Kim, when Brad mentioned the statue. She gave a soft smile at his slip, then handed him the reigns. Turning, she contemplated the statue. "Kim... What do you believe?"
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Graybeard
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Graybeard »

OOC, this whole thing:
Lillith wrote:Turning, she contemplated the statue. "Kim... What do you believe?"
Thanks for asking this very penetrating question. We have just entered into one of those "Here There Be Dragons" parts of Errant Road, and I'd like to pause for a moment to discuss it.

The answer that a player, rather than a character, would recognize, is something like "A bastardized, warped, and highly sophomoric version of whatever the Ensigerum believes, with one additional twist." Bastardized and warped, because Correl, or whoever committed the same offense against the Ensigerum in the Errant-Road-verse that he did in the original Poe-verse, would surely have come from about the same starting point as the Ensigerum, with whatever differences the breakaway group's status required; sophomoric, because she'd only been about eight when she stopped being indoctrinated into it, since that, after all, was when the real Ensigerum showed up and destroyed Leonish. And the twist because of things not yet fully ready to be revealed ... but remember that Kim does bear an uncanny resemblance to Annie and Wife Number Three.

The thing is, though: what does the Ensigerum believe? We know they believe in something, because there's a temple in the Ensigerum village. It was on the temple grounds that Sara first encountered Anita; in fact, Sara lived in the temple. At the same time, their (or at least Anita's) opinion of the Veracian church is not high, and it's hard to see them describing the earliest followers of a ghod that they have any use for as "cultists living in a swamp." But that's really about all we know. Everything else is just guesswork.

One of the game reasons I had for constructing both the Reformed Veracian Church, where Sister Rose and Brother Miguel among others are clergy, and the Millenarians, with all that they imply, was so that we'd have something that was almost the Veracian Church, and could build on what we know about it in the Poe-verse (which is considerably more than we know about whatever the Ensigerum worships), and yet say, "Ah, but the Reformed people are different in thus-and-such a way" when things move into aspects of the Veracian Church where we're still guessing. Lack of knowledge of how the "Orthodox" Veracian Church views a thing is then not a show stopper, if the corresponding Reformed view can be developed and articulated. We just let the Orthodox NPCs, if any, behave mechanically, and let the probing of Rose's and Miguel's brains go on without worrying too much about getting crosswise with canon, since they're not Orthodox. I think that has actually worked pretty well to date. The model doesn't work nearly as well when the source concept is only sketchily known, and the Ensigerum's beliefs aren't the only thing in the Poe-verse that falls into that category.

I'd be very interested in a discussion of how to handle this issue (the overall one of incomplete knowledge of canon, not just what the Ensigerum believe) when it arises again, as it surely will (indeed, already has to some extent -- notice how Grope's expletives changed from the obscure "Growf" when the trolls in Errant Story started referring to the "Five Great Mothers"?). Suggest we do that in the "OOC Discussion" forum rather than this one; a new thread there will be open momentarily. (EDIT: It's now there.)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled adventure, but I'd really enjoy discussing this.
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Graybeard
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: So excuse the digression, back to the characters...]

"B-believe?" Kim said, turning a blank look on Lillith. "I don't understand. What is ... is."

Something about that not-terribly-profound declaration didn't sit well with Brad. However, if he even knew what had crossed disgust to flicker quickly across his face (and it was quite within the realm of possibility that he didn't), he didn't talk about it. Instead, he turned back to the statue. "I wonder," he said, "if this is a primitive, early image of Our Lord Luminosita ..."

---------

Remarkably, in the clear light of day, Sister Rose was having a similar thought. The camp site was largely struck, and there was time to look at the puzzling stone statue that Lillith had found, as they awaited the return of the horses.

"Unlike our brothers and sisters in the Orthodox Veracian Church, we Reformed people don't worry too much about what Luminosita looked like," she said to Maduin, unaware of any possible significance of using the past tense in that declaration. "They go to considerable lengths to make sure that all their imagery looks just like Luminosita does when He's -- summoned. Us, we're more concerned with His thoughts, and teachings, than His appearance. Could the people that made this statue have had something similar in mind? I'd like to think so, although I really think it pre-dates the appearance of our church in the southern part of the country."

The statue did have some Luminosita-like features, to be sure. The flowing beard and mustache were there, and the scowling countenance matched what sometimes appeared in the skies above Emerylon, although the mouth was more open and the teeth exposed. The Emerylon image's characteristic bald pate (which had caused Rose some puzzlement as a girl -- wouldn't an all-powerful god be able to do something about male-pattern baldness like her Uncle Freddy had?) was concealed by a headdress of some kind that she didn't recognize. It almost looked more like one of those tribal feather bonnets the trolls sometimes wore, or something from the Southern Continent -- yes, as she thought about it, Brother Miguel had pointed out one of those in a museum once, and had mentioned that the headman of his people in the south had worn something similar.

No, on closer inspection, her original guess must be right: this statue was from an earlier, pre-Veracian-Church time. The resemblances weren't that strong, and the differences were important, and above all, it just had a tribal feel to it. Wishful thinking, she scolded herself. I'm hardly one to get wrapped around in all the Orthodox trappings ... but I do wish I could get back to a proper place of worship for a while. That temple in Nautkia certainly didn't qualify... Let's change the subject. "I wonder what ever became of that odd poet we ran into yesterday?" she said, hoping the horses would get back soon so that they could move on.
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Drannin
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Re: Stone Man Pass

Post by Drannin »

Coming back to the campsite, Argus nodded at Drusia. "I'll go find him. I'm pretty sure I can get him to sit still. For a moment." With a quick glance at Maduin and Rose, who seemed to be having some kind of private discussion, Argus walked over to where Harker was very carefully working on something wooden, with infinite concentration. He's been working on that for a while... Argus reflected, before clearing his throat.

Harker glanced up. "Hey Boss. What's happening?" He sent Drusia a wary look.

"Drusia has a proposition for you. I'd like you to listen to her."

Harker just stared for a long moment. "Hell n-"

"I think it relates to your... hobbies."

A pause. Harker was clearly at war with himself. Finally, he got to his feet. "This better be good..."

Argus smiled. "Good boy." They walked back over to Drusia.
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