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DemonicDarkwraith -> Iconoclasm (8/14/2021 21:37:22)
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[image]https://media.artix.com/encyc/df/banners/Falconreach.png[/image]
[image]https://media.artix.com/encyc/df/tags/PermaWar.jpg[/image]
Iconoclasm
Location: Book of Lore -> To War! / The Reckoning,
Location: Falconreach (Book 3) -> Up -> Left -> Uaanta -> The Maleurous -> Notha Ly'Ehr -> The Reckoning,
Location: Reckoning -> To the War! -> Iconclasm
Level/Quest/Items required: None Completion of Reclamation
Release Date: August 14th, 2021
Objective: Everyone has a story.
Objective completed: Will you fight for your ideals?
Experience rewarded: 0
Gold rewarded: 0
Monsters
None
NPCs
Celeritas
Father
Fiamme
Girl
Haeos
Key
Khazri
Kyanos
Lock
Man
Mother
Myalos
Notha
Neso
Remthalas
Temblor
Uaanta
Voidstar
Rewards
None
Dialogue
*At a research station in Lhe'Shyiac, a young Notha tries to get her mother's attention by touching her, to no avail as she is busy.*
Mother: Not now, Notha. I am busy.
Notha: But, mother...
Mother: Perhaps your father can entertain you. I have much work to do.
Notha: Okay.
*Scene shifts to a library, where Notha tries to capture the attention of her father.*
Notha: Father.
Father: Notha.
Notha: There was something I wanted to...
Father: Your studies are going well? You are living up to the family name?
Notha: ...Yes, father.
Father: Good. Good.
Father: Here.
*Notha's father gives her a bag of gold.*
Father: That should be sufficient, for whatever it is you wanted, yes?
Notha: ...I—
Father: Don't forget to thank the Makers for your blessings.
Father: And Notha...
Father: Close the door on your way out, please. I'll have no more interruptions this evening.
*Notha pauses before obeying her father.*
Notha: ...Yes, father.
*Scene shifts to a dark shrine, where Notha prays to the Makers.*
Notha: Mother and father are busy again, doing your holy work, Makers.
Notha: I come, yet again, to ask for your blessings.
Notha: Please, I've done all I've been asked. I've studied hard, I've prayed, just like mother and father tell me to.
Notha: I just...
*As Notha prays to the Makers, she cries as if she is losing hope.*
Notha: I want a friend. A real one.
Notha: I've tried! But I just can't stand it. It's all fake. It's all just a mask I put on.
Notha: I don't care for them. Any of them.
Notha: But I try! I know their birthdays, their favorite foods, their favorite toys...
Notha: ...but their joy, their sadness... It doesn't make any sense.
Notha: I feel nothing. And what I offer them... is false.
Notha: Please... Makers. I don't understand.
Notha: I just want to be normal.
*Scene shifts to a forest, where Notha sits back to back with a girl with a green dress, separated by no more than a tree; the girl talks with Notha about their dreams after the academy.*
Girl: So, Notha, have you thought about what you'll do after the academy?
Notha: I'll be a researcher. Like my mother and father.
Girl: ...
Notha: ...
Girl: Well, I'm going to be a priestess, in service of the Makers!
Notha: ...
Girl: You know, I hear there's going to be a party after the next festival.
Notha: Isn't there always?
Girl: Well, yes...
Notha: What makes this one so special?
Girl: They're always special! There will be food, and dancing, and music, all in praise of the Makers, of course. It'll be a good time!
Notha: ...
Girl: You should come!
Notha: ...
Girl: ...
Notha: Why should I bother?
Girl: Notha! Celebrating is a form of service to the Makers, you know!
Notha: Everything we do is in their service. My studies will suffice.
Girl: Look, Notha, I'm sorry I'm a little boring for your... sensibilities, but you...
Notha: I know mother and father pay your parents to have you accompany me.
Girl: ...
Notha: It's not your fault. You should...
Notha: You should go. Have friends who actually care about you.
Girl: Notha... I...
Notha: I said go!
*The girl leaves.*
Notha: ...
Notha: Why... Why am I like this?
Notha: Why did the Makers make me like this?
Notha: Why do I still feel... nothing...
*Scene shifts to a research station; Notha, now a young adult, researches many Exalted artifacts before another researcher enters.*
Notha: And that's the last shipment from the excavation site?
Man: Yes, Lady Notha. For now, at least.
Notha: Thank you.
Man: Er... my lady, forgive me if this is out of place, but...
Notha: What?
Man: The winter festival is fast approaching, and I was wondering if you would...
Notha: Is it winter already?
Man: I know you're far above the station as one such as I, Lady Notha, but I think it would be good for you to get some fresh air, maybe... er...
*Notha pauses researching the artifact before she declines.*
Notha: I am sorry. I am not interested.
Man: Haha, of course. Of course. My apologies, my lady.
Notha: It is of no concern. You... You've done a good job. I'll make sure to add a bonus to your wages at the end of the month.
Man: *sigh*
Man: Generous as ever, Lady Notha.
Man: May the Makers bless your work.
*The researcher leaves.*
Notha: I've followed them this far. I shall have my answers.
*Scene shifts to the same research station at a later point in time; Notha has gathered more Exalted artifacts, allowing her to make a dark realization about the Makers.*
Notha: This isn't... We... The... the Makers...
Notha: It's... lies... it's all lies!
Notha: And there I was. Blaming them for all my problems, lost and confused.
Notha: I... I accepted it. It was all part of the Makers' plan.
Notha: But... no.
Notha: They are no Makers.
Notha: And WHY?
Notha: Why pretend? Why have us suffer in the dark?
Notha: Such... wonders...
Notha: Hidden from us. Buried.
Notha: ...
Notha: All these years... All these years I've worn the mask I was told to wear. Expected to wear.
Notha: Waiting, and waiting, and hoping for the revelation. For the Makers to come down from their Firmament and grant me normalcy.
Notha: And it was all for nothing! Those fervent prayers, those wishes of a young girl...
Notha: They mean nothing to the Makers!
Notha: They would have us stagnate and our genius extinguished so that they may bathe in our worship and praise.
Notha: Well, "Makers". I have seen the truth. And I will tear you down.
Notha: I can wear the mask a while longer.
Notha: I'm used to it.
*A Maleurous mask spins as the scene transitions to the present day; in Remthalas' realm of dreams, you and Uaanta confront Notha and Remthalas about Notha's story.*
Uaanta: What, that's it? This is all the tantrum of a spoiled brat who couldn't accept what the Makers provided?
<Character>: Uaanta...
Notha: The Makers didn't provide anything!
Notha: I spent my childhood alone, unable to connect, unable to make friends, to... be normal!
Notha: And what was I told? What did I believe? 'It's all part of the Makers' plans.'
Notha: From my mother. From my father. From anyone who cared to listen to the plight of a... a freak of a Lhe'Shyian child!
Notha: And I believed it. I believed my misery, my loneliness, was because of them! That it served a purpose!
Notha: I dedicated my life to finding out what that purpose was! To what purpose my Makers had in store for me!
Notha: But there was none. There was no reason.
Notha: The Avatars are liars and usurpers, terrified of our potential.
Notha: This "balance" they claim to uphold? Arrogant stagnation.
Notha: Fear of the unknown.
Uaanta: There has to be order in the world or it will devolve into chaos!
Notha: The order we make for ourselves, dear Uaanta.
Notha: Not the laws and decrees of pretenders who can barely function!
<Character>: ...
Notha: I've seen the remnants of what came before, you know.
Notha: The Exalted.
Notha: I've seen their technology, their cities, their magic, their stories!
Notha: I've seen what our false gods fear, and it is wondrous.
Notha: I've seen the freedom that the Avatars want us to forget.
Uaanta: And what about you, Remthalas? Is this the freedom you desired? Serving at the whim of this heretic?
Remthalas: You claim to choose whether or not to serve the Avatars, yet all I see is blind devotion.
Remthalas: Do not bring your righteous anger down on us who bring the truth.
Remthalas: It is better directed at those whose hands covered your eyes all along.
Uaanta: ...
Notha: I think we've taken enough of your time.
Notha: Rest well, you'll need it.
*With the sound of someone clicking its fingers, Remthalas releases you and Uaanta from his realm.*
Remthalas: That was your plan? I could have shown them anything, and you chose some lonely scenes from your childhood?
Notha: I think we're getting through.
Notha: At the very least, if they wish to oppose us still, it should be of their own choice.
Remthalas: A shame. But at least they will be free.
Notha: Indeed.
*In the Firmament, you, your dragon, and Uaanta have once again been summoned by the Avatars in the wake of earlier events.*
Kyanos: So that is her motivation.
Temblor: It matters not.
Temblor: The threat she poses threatens to disrupt the careful balance–
Uaanta: ...Is it true?
*Uaanta contemplates Notha's story.*
Uaanta: Is all of Lhe'Shyiac... The culture... our faith... Is it all a lie?
Haeos: It is the means by which we brought balance, order, to the land.
Fiamme: The faith is real. The works of your people, guided by our hands, are real.
Uaanta: But what of you? Are you truly our Makers?
Voidstar: What we do, we do for the sake of Lore. Of keeping it in balance.
Neso: For keeping it from descending into endless chaos and destruction.
Celeritas: You and your people have done well to maintain it so. The religion was an effective way of–
Lock: Uaanta and her people are not a tool to be used.
Key: Remember our lessons.
Celeritas: Yes.... yes.
Celeritas: Our apologies, Uaanta.
Khazri: We felt, at the time, that the deception was necessary.
Uaanta: And yet, I still trust you, Makers. To guide our path.
<Character>: Wow, look at you, Avatars. Apologizing to a mortal!
Neso: And we must apologize to you as well, <Character>.
Temblor: We have wreaked havoc in your lands in our haphazard attempts to maintain balance.
<Character>: I think there's a lot of people who need apologizing to, really.
Haeos: We...
Kyanos: Is this what we do now? Let it seep in? Let it color our every word and action?
Fiamme: Kyanos! Control yourself!
Lock: You are your own.
Key: You control yourself.
Kyanos: Yes. You are right.
Kyanos: I am... sorry.
Voidstar: We are still coming to terms with our re-discovered nature.
Khazri: Lock and Key have taught us much. We cannot fight who we have become.
Neso: Thus was the source of our inconsistency and fury. Our rage and confusion.
Celeritas: We have come to a decision. Aided by Lock and Key, we will–
*Everyone in the Firmament looks above as the barrier surrounding it breaks, revealing Myalos, the Dragonoid, who breached it under Notha's orders.*
Myalos: We meet again, heroes.
Notha: Well done, Myalos! I knew you could do it!
<Character>: Myalos? But... is that... Notha's voice?
Uaanta: What sorcery is this?
Notha: Hi, <Character>! That's right, it's me!
Kyanos: What... What have you done? What is this?
Temblor: How is this possible?
Notha: Oh, I just had to keep digging. And digging. And digging!
Notha: I've seen secrets even you Avatars couldn't imagine.
Notha: Together, Myalos and I, we've sorted this whole thing out! Well, a lot of it. I think.
Notha: Enough, at least!
Neso: You delve into that which you do not understand!
Notha: Not all of it, but I know you don't either!
Fiamme: You dare trespass by force?
Notha: I dare!
Uaanta: Begone, Notha!
<Character>: I don't know if that's going to convince her.
Notha: Oh, hello, Uaanta. Did you sleep well last night?
Notha: You know what Myalos and I are here for. And it's not you. It's them.
Notha: I'd rather you not get in our way but...
Voidstar: Champions! To our aid!
Lock: Notha...
Key: Myalos...
Lock: You do not understand what you do.
Key: There is still a chance for a peaceable solution.
Myalos: Lock and Key. My saviors.
Myalos: A peaceable solution, though viable, is inefficient.
*Temblor attacks Myalos' construct.*
Notha: You see? Do you see? The Avatars will not suffer our presence.
Notha: Myalos, let our "hero" friends play with some of our new toys.
Notha: And let us deal with these oppressors!
Complete Quest
Other information
After first completion, Book of Lore and Falconreach (Book 3) access points no longer direct you to this quest, but Reckoning instead.
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