Turn 85 - And We're BackPhiali gently eases into explaining to the fellow that times have been a mite rough lately.
"Indeed, there are many other things the God's power can do, from healing to smiting enemies to accelerating travel! I would show you, but I have nothing in mind, and um..." he stammers, shifting his posture.
"... I haven't exactly been doing much to earn the God's favor. Not successfully, at least.""But hey! We can start turning that around, can't we? You and I, we can put God on the map together! Get believers and so forth, spread the word, get tithes and lovely cultists to instruct in our policy of polygamy, that sort of thing. It's not very often that you can say that you're working with a bona fide prophet? A magical bona fide prophet?""Can you do any more of that magic?""Not yet, no. I need to do things that please God to get more miraculous magical abilities.""And that would be...""Theft, burning heretics, ruining marriages, among other things. Like converting people, for instance.""Doesn't sound too difficult. So, first priority is to get more divine favor, which we do right here, as surreptitiously as possible. Any preferences on what sort of activity you'd like to do? I'm thinking you should try theft first - adultery's punishable by death, after all."* * * * *
Shashari tries to reason with the darkness some more.
"Are you suuuuuuuuure you don't want to come talk about this and be reasonable? It'd probably be a lot better for everyone involved in the long run!" she yells, the blood still rushing to her head and getting highly uncomfortable at this point. She clearly hears something laughing a distance away.
She isn't sure what exactly it finds so funny. Maybe uneducated troglodytes have a terribly overactive sense of humor.
* * * * *
Gronok taps the lady on the shoulder. She looks at him in a manner that makes Gronok step back, not out of any sense of intimidation, but rather because he suddenly feels he has violated some sort of rule. She looks at him questioningly, though Gronok gets the feeling that she is doing this purely out of politeness and not out of any interest in what he is really saying.
* * * * *
Lars congratulates the faithful on their marvelous engineering work, and instructs them further.
"Well done, faithful of the True God! Now we shall tear down this heretical structure! Start with the support pillars!"And the people do begin their work - it goes quite slowly, most unfortunately. This temple seems ancient and sturdy, and the battering ram is having trouble with its mighty, fortress-like walls and giant columns. Perhaps some more powerful device is required, Lars thinks.
* * * * *
Elizas goes ahead and gives the temple residents a free sample of what he's offering - the freshest musical stylings in Berikalam, no more, no less!
[Elizas performance roll: 3+1+1]
Though hardly the same fervor he experienced back in the brothel, he manages to pull off a very nice showcasing of his musical talents, performing complex, yet also quite catchy riffs, the alien nature of his music catching the temple residents by surprise at first, though they ease into the music quickly enough. After about ten minutes of showing off, his sponsor motions for him to quiet down for a moment.
"He is quite good, is he not?""Certainly very foreign, yes.""Add a few vocal harmonies and he might become even better! I say we take him on."The oldest woman in the temple, about sixty from the looks of it, suddenly speaks up.
"What of our current musician?" she asks, pointing at the zither man, who looks quite crushed.
"Are we to throw him out as repayment for the years he has spent with us?""Oh, certainly not. We will allow him to stay here for the rest of his days, of course. It's just that our new temple musician will-""And what about this true god that the new candidate mentioned? Is he even a faithful of Kezilam?"She turns to Elizas, looking at him with a measure of hostility. The hall is rather quiet now.
I feel somewhat guilty that, despite having a great interest in continuing this RTD, it nonetheless completely slips my mind to consistently update it.
That being said, I feel I should explain what I mean by not rolling for conversations. Essentially, it means several rolls can be circumvented - the persuasion roll, where you attempt to sway someone with words and get them to peacefully agree to what you present as a sensible course of action, and the storytelling roll, where you tell a story. You'd still roll for lying (unless you come up with something really fun or a very convincing half-truth), intimidation, that kind of thing. You'd naturally be required to slightly alter certain things, particularly the +1's to charisma, the effects of which are too far-reaching to just get in one advantage. Specify what exactly you'd like a bonus to - lying, intimidation, first impressions (as a side note, this is what the 'foreigner' and the 'low social status' disadvantages affect - people's initial attitudes in many, but not all cases), something else entirely.
Oh, and another thing that I wish to address - Phiali's advantages. I have come to realize over a long time that "+1 to rolls to avoid death" and "+1 to rolls involving faith" are incredibly vague, and haven't done anything about it mostly because Phiali doesn't get to put either of these bonuses to much use. If you don't mind, GWG, I'd like you to change those to something more precise. For avoiding death, specify dodging, toughness or something else, and for faith... not so sure. You could theoretically argue that pretty much everything you do as a prophet involves faith, so that description does not tell me much at all. In addition, Gronok's storytelling advantage and disadvantage (neither of which I have really been able to make apparent in any way that Xantalos doesn't adequately play out on his own) need to be altered, because they similarly mean nothing, considering that Xantalos pretty much does most of the storytelling himself (and I encourage this, because it is more fun for me and makes for better characterization than the way I roll for what strangely anachronistic approach Phiali will try each time GWG has me roll for what he says).
Now, if any of you are still around, respond and hopefully make the necessary alterations to your sheets. Meanwhile, I will try to be less of a delinquent. Hopefully it'll work.
Phiali: 0 MP
Lars: 6 MP
Gronok: 3 MP
Shashari: 5 MP
Elizas: 3 MP
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Topic: Prophets of the New God: most unfortunately dropped. (Read 72963 times)