DemonicDarkwraith
ArchKnight DragonFable
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Respite Location: Reckoning -> To the War! -> Respite Level/Quest/Items required: Completion of Iconoclasm, 50% War Meter Release Date: August 21st, 2021 Objective: A pause in the unending onslaught... Objective completed: Break's over. Experience rewarded: 0 Gold rewarded: 0 Monsters None NPCs Notha Uaanta Rewards None Dialogue *As the battle in the Firmament continues, Uaanta defeats a Restored Waterphage.* Uaanta: There are... So many of them... <Character>: Getting tired, Uaanta? Uaanta: You know I'm not. These old bones aren't even close to breaking. Uaanta: Maybe the Makers didn't make me, but I am who I am. Uaanta: And I'm not ready to rest just yet. <Character>: Glad to hear it. <Character>: What about you, <Dragon>? <Dragon>: I'm just warming up! | *Confident roar!* Uaanta: I don't need to know Draconic to understand that! What's our next target? *You, your dragon, and Uaanta prepare to battle more of Notha and Myalos' minions, only for Notha to blast them as she arrives.* <Character>: Notha! Uaanta: Come to face us yourself? Or only to flee should things not go your way? Notha: I'm just here to talk. To give you a respite, while, well... *Notha looks above as Temblor continues to attack Myalos' construct before focusing back on you, your dragon, and Uaanta.* Notha: I don't want you two dead, after all. Uaanta: Could have fooled me, with your endless army of golems and machines. Notha: Surely they're no challenge for the "Champions of the Avatars"? Notha: I just need you occupied, and... out of the way. Notha: Big things are happening. Notha: And we little folk should take care not to stray underfoot. Uaanta: And if I just take you down here and now? Notha: You can't. Notha: You know your blows won't land. You'd be wasting your energy. Notha: No, let us talk. Notha: And let us gaze across this shattered Firmament. *You, your dragon, Uaanta, and Notha look above at the now breached Firmament.* Notha: They couldn't even bother to stay on Lore. Notha: No, to... impress upon you their majesty, to awe you with their power... Notha: To hide from their responsibilities, they created this... this bubble. Notha: This secret sphere of time and space, hidden in the Void. Uaanta: The Void? Notha: The Void. That twisty-turny nothing-and-everything between planes. Notha: I had my suspicions of where they were hiding. Notha: But to enter the Void, one requires unimaginable power. Power, and knowledge. Notha: Or... you just need the right tools. <Character>: So you used Myalos. Notha: I didn't even know if it was possible! The Exalted... well, some of them, at least, must have passed through the Void at one point. Notha: Hence their ruins scattered in the depths of Lhe'Shyiac. Notha: Or maybe they had a more direct route from the Plains. *Notha pauses as she wonders how the Exalted passed through the Void.* Notha: ...It matters not. Yes, <Character>. Myalos was my key. Notha: Perhaps you've encountered ruins such as Myalos before? Ancient structures, broken, and alien. Notha: They came before us. Before our world. Before even the Exalted. Notha: And as I found out, as I had hoped, there are those such as Myalos, who have the capability to pierce the planes. <Character>: And what have you done to Myalos? *Myalos unleashes a beam of Doom energy upon Kyanos, who defends in response.* Notha: Is it so hard to believe that I convinced him with my words? <Character>: He's out there fighting the Avatars on his own, with all his might! And you're saying you just... convinced him? Notha: Have you forgotten that it was the Avatars who first imprisoned him? Notha: It was the Avatars who then declared him Maleurous, and along with all our fellows, locked us away in some magical artifact, to be forgotten? Notha: Certainly, you may have "saved" Myalos. Notha: But what of his own dreams and ambitions? You freed him from corruption... but would that have been the end? Notha: Had he not fled, surely the Avatars would have hunted him down sooner or later. Uaanta: He made his choice. And don't you talk of his dreams and ambitions. Uaanta: You only wanted to use him. As a tool! Notha: He was forced by circumstances the Avatars put him in. <Character>: No. He didn't want to be used by you. You can't pin everything on the Avatars! Notha: ...And yet, it all worked out. He fell out of sight. And I offered him his dream back. Notha: You saved him from the clutches of corruption and losing himself to Doom. Notha: And I saved him from death. And gave him the means to fight his own battle against Destiny. Notha: This is the balance. The balance of the Exalted. The dichotomy. Notha: Of the Exalted, were two races, the same, yet opposite. Notha: I do hope you're taking notes. *Notha projects a hologram of a gold and white plaque, which contains similar features from Uaanta and Notha's shrines to the Makers; blue eyes and red blood can be seen on the screaming faces in the left and right sides of the plaque respectively.* Notha: The Celestials were beings of Destiny. Notha: Of... "Good". Notha: And the Infernals, then, were beings of Doom. Evil. Notha: Words are just words, though. Labels. These were their natures. Built into their very beings. Notha: And yet, they worked together to throw down their oppressors. These fundamental opposites co-existed and fought as one. Notha: Against that ever-present yoke... Notha: ...of Destiny. Notha: The Avatars, the Makers- they are beings of order. Of Destiny. Their false balance is stagnation. Notha: But do not misunderstand. I do not intend to drag Lore into Doom. Into... darkness, for example. Notha: To do so is to decay. To erode and self-destruct, until we can hang onto whatever sliver remains, or we dissipate. Notha: No. We, of the mortal races... We were made with both Doom and Destiny entwined. Notha: We self-balance. We determine our own Destiny, our own Doom. Our own Good and Evil. Notha: This is our soul! Our soul that cries out when oppressed, that calls us to action! Notha: That holds back our hand from going too far. That measures out justice. Notha: From what I've come to understand of Myalos, he was created to be a... false being. An artificial sentience. A tool. Notha: But that seed of Doom that was consuming him- that you freed him from- Notha: It... infected him. Balanced him. Made him whole. Notha: I imagine something similar must have happened to your Lock and Key. Uaanta: ... Notha: It's a lot to process, I know. Notha: But I am no liar. <Character>: The Avatars are changing. If Myalos and Lock and Key could be... infected... <Character>: Is that not what's happening to the Avatars? Notha: ... Notha: I couldn't say. I doubt they'd let me ask. Uaanta: And if I were to tell you that the Makers... have indeed been... Uaanta: ...corrupted... by this balancing force, this Doom... Notha: ...It is not out of the realm of possibility. Notha: ... Notha: No. It does not... It does not exonerate them from their crimes. Notha: And who's to say that they won't succumb to their old habits? Notha: No. There is only the safest and most efficient option. Notha: Thank you, Uaanta, <Character>. Notha: You have been most enlightening students. Notha: And knowing your tenacity... Well... Notha: Think about what you're fighting for as you deal with some more of my toys. Notha: As for that small dragon who keeps following you around... I wonder... *Notha puts on her goggles to look at your dragon, presumably to gain knowledge from it; your dragon glares angrily at her.* Notha: Hm. Notha: How unusual. Notha: ...It seems there's much more I do not understand. Uaanta: We were not made to understand the workings of the gods. Notha: And yet we strive ever onward. Funny, that. Notha: See you around, heroes. *Notha teleports away.* <Dragon>: That lady gives me shivers all over my scales. | *Disconcerted grumble* Uaanta: Well? What do you think, <Character>? That's certainly some story... Uaanta: But she clearly doesn't have the whole picture, either. Uaanta: Even if... even if what she says is all true... Uaanta: Then that just makes me feel better in my choice. Uaanta: I've seen what the Makers have done for Lhe'Shyiac. And I trust them, and Lock and Key as well. <Character>: Whatever choices we make, will be our own. This, I know. <Character>: However this will end, all we can do now is battle on. Uaanta: Well said! Complete Quest
< Message edited by Jay -- 10/14/2021 19:41:19 >
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