As the figures in black robes approached, it became increasingly obvious that they were dragging along some sort of cart. Thick incense was billowing out from the side, and the scent of lavender was noticeable far ahead of the group, as if the scent was announcing their presence.
As they got within range, the leader of the group, a bald man with Morwen's symbol, a spiral at the centre of a four-direction compass, tattooed on his forehead, seemed to give them all a strangely docile look.
"Greetings, brothers and sisters. May your coin be blessed and your death final. Are you here to join the war?" He gestured behind himself, and Celeste could see a conflict in the distance. It wasn't much more than some flashing lights and smoke, but it seemed like someone was indeed fighting.
Celeste shrugged, but once more the little anarchist jumped in before her. "And so what if we are? What are you going to do about it?"
The procession of Morwen worshippers seemed almost taken aback by the question. Finally, their leading member answered with a perplexed look on his face.
"We were going to give you the blessing of our Mistress Morwen." He spoke, his tone still solemn and carrying an air of dignity that was hard to place.
The Architect of Reality gave a shrug at the comment. "I do not believe that my god would allow me to be blessed by Morwen," She said.
The leader of the Morwen group got a strange look on his face. "Are you sure? I will not dispute your words, but Morwen and Kelllwan are quite fond of one another. It was my understanding that while Morwen does view Kelllwan as someone whose ideology inspires the idea of saints and as such living forever, however, the fact that Kelllwan stands against Demons and Undeads, while at the same time backing a system that promotes a functioning economic system, effectively makes them quite close. To the point where priests of the different churches are able to bless one another." As he was talking, he was gesturing animatedly, clearly almost preaching.
It gave Celeste an idea of some new skills that she wanted to try creating, but she put that on the back burner until she had finished the conversation.
"Ahh, well... you are welcome to try and bless us if you wish. However, I am unsure why the goddess of death and taxes is in a place like this." Celeste added, feeling a trickle of divine Energy almost instantly move from the priest.
It was only Jasmine, Spif and Spaf that seemed impacted by the magic, though it clearly wasn't something the priest saw. However, before he could speak again, something seemed to pour into him, his eyes glowing with a bright black flame, and the same strange fire seemed to burn from his mouth.
"So you have finally returned. I knew it was but a matter of time before you found yourself in the mortal realm, once again." The voice boomed from the cleric, and Celeste was pretty sure she recognised it, though it wasn't as condescending as before, but that might just be because it was being filtered through a meat puppet.
"Greetings, Morwen." She said calmly, not wanting to challenge the goddess with other mortals around.
"I hail you, turner of fates. For you saw me when I was broken and gave me new purpose and joy. As such, I name you not a traitor of my people, as my Sister and brothers have done, but rather abbil and dalninil." Celeste was practically stunned by the announcement from Morwen.
While the four other Morwen priests had fallen to their knees in worship, Celeste found herself a little bit stunned by the announcement. She knew that she was being blamed for Daikia's death, and as such would probably be the enemy of any drow that she came across, but apparently Morwen didn't see it like that.
Celeste knew that abbil meant friend, but more importantly, at least for the matriarchal culture of the drows, dalninil meant sister.
"I thank you for your proclamation, goddess of the living," Celeste said, using a different moniker for the goddess. After all, Celeste had been the one who granted Morwen her dogma, so she knew that the goddess would not see herself as a goddess of death, but rather accepting death when life ended, and as such, she was a goddess of the living.
"I accept you, not only as my friend, but as my sister. And while I hope our previous interactions do not repeat themselves, I am glad to see you have... made strides to become a better diety than demon." She said, unsure if Morwen really was as benevolent as she appeared.
"The world itself no longer torments me with the purpose of destruction. And I feel the rails that you put in place guide me to something much more productive. I will leave you and your kin for now, but know that you do not have an enemy in me, but rather someone who shares your vision, dalninil." And with that, the billowing flames from the priest's mouth vanished, leaving him completely unscathed and unharmed.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
One of the goblins was the first one to pipe up. "Priest man eat very spicy food."
Riez gave the offending goblin a smack across the back of the head, making it stumble forward and plant its face in the sand.
"So... think you can make them forget what happened... I don't wanna blow our cover just because Morwen wanted to let us know that we didn't need to look over our shoulders on her account." Celeste asked, and Riez shrugged.
The intern performed a minor Deception miracle, and within seconds, the robed figures had forgotten the entire interaction, while the quintet of champions moved around them towards the battle in the horizon.
While thinking about what Morwen had said, Celeste decided to show a bit of good faith for the goddess and created a skill that would help any player who wished to follow her. Not to mention, she had gotten the idea from the priest starting to preach, and she might as well follow through with it.
Text from image:
New Skill Created!
Bury Body
Effect: When a body is buried by a person with this skill, the soul of the corpse will be restored. As long as you did not kill the deceased or had any hand in their death, you will gain reputation with the deceased's faction, equal to your level. At level 25, the corpse will only have half as many hit points if it is raised as an undead. At level 50, you will gain experience equal to the kill of the deceased for burying them. At level 75, multiple people can be buried at once. At level 100, you cannot be damaged while burying a body.
The first skill was probably one of the best ways of gaining XP for any player. Slaying a monster and then getting twice as much XP just because they buried it would probably lead to some broken combo, but that was fine. It was supposed to be single player, or at least local multiplayer, meaning that balancing wasn't quite that big an issue. Someone might figure out some broken glitch when they became invisible while burying bodies, but that was fine.
Celeste focused on the next skill.
Text from image:
New Skill Created!
Perform Final Rites
Effect: The owner of this skill knows what rites need to be spoken, what rituals need to be performed, and what language is appropriate when someone sheds their mortal coil. A corpse that has had its final rites performed cannot be raised as an undead for a number of weeks equal to your skill level. At level 25, you gain a temporary boost for saying the final rites. The boost lasts for a number of hours equal to your skill level, and the nature of the boost is dependent on what creature you perform the rites for. At level 50, a body cannot be raised as an undead for a number of months equal to your skill level, instead of weeks. At level 75, any necromancer trying to raise a body that has had its final rites performed will be divinely smited for damage equal to your level. At level 100, bodies you perform rites for can no longer be raised as undead, and you are able to perform rites for up to 100 targets at the same time.
This was clearly meant to be used with burying a target. However, this was probably Celeste's favourite, as it stopped the rise of necromancy, and while it wasn't stated obviously in the text, it would also stop resurrection.
With that out of the way, she focused her will on making a new Skill Frame. It cost her two Worship, but she was happy to burn the points, as long as it meant that she got to make her profession.
Text from image:
New Skill Frame Created!
Undertaker
Requirements: Level 35 Perform Final Rites, Level 50 Bury Body, Level 70 Religious Lore
Effect: When handling a dead body, you are able to commune with its soul. You are able to obtain lost knowledge or learn one of its skills/spells.
With the Undertaker Skill Frame in place, it was probably going to be quite a neat little combo, and when it was combined with other skills and skill frames, it was going to be quite overpowered.
Jasmine cleared her throat. "So what is de plan now? Are we goeng to just rush into some battle dat we know not'eng about?" She looked from Riez to Celeste, the pair of goblins scattering around her legs.
Riez and Celeste gave her a look and then smiled. "Essentially... yeah," They both answered in unison.
"De reasahn why I got so much whork suddenly became so obvious. Hwanstly, de fact dat I am de wan who has to clean up yoehr meddleng never really crosses yoehr mend, does it?" Jasmine asked, clearly exasperated by the fact that the pair of gods weren't even hesitating about running into an armed conflict where they didn't even know who was fighting.
"Can't say that it does, no," Riez confirmed.
"Yeah, I mean, we are just here to keep things rolling. Cleaning up really isn't the work of the gods." Celeste said, trying to play innocent.
"Fine, let us try it yoehr way. I look fhorward to telleng you all: I told you so... Because I will.... A lot." The Scribe said, only pouting slightly.
"Perfect. In that case, I think that our goal is to teleport in, pretend to always have been part of one of the sides, and just appear as some ordinary adventuring company, and then we can infiltrate whatever group makes sense." Riez said, very pumped about the fact that she finally got to deceive someone properly again.
Jasmine looked at Celeste, as if she expected the goddess to protest the fact that they would be Teleporting. Celeste didn't say anything, her face growing determined. "Good. Let us start infiltrating."
Does this skill system make sense to people?
