And then we have this: So, statues could break. She’d always wondered.… Yes, stone is not, in fact, indestructible. What a brilliant deduction!
This girl is actually Too Stupid To Live. You don't normally see such bad cases outside of the romance genre. Which... Honestly I've read some really awful romances that are better than anything Greenwood's written.
Sure enough, she concludes she must be in the ruins of Myth Drannor, and also prays to someone named Tymora for relief.
MG: That’s the Realms’ goddess of good luck, who’s gotten a couple of cursory mentions in previous chapters, for the record.
Honestly Tymora is probably THE goddess to go for if you're a wandering adventurer out to be popular with the locals, and not dedicated to Lathander (God of the Sun) or Ilmater (God of Suffering In Aid Of Others is kind of the only way I can put it). She can be fickle but respecting her is much better than being plagued by her sister. Personally I usually played Clerics of the Red Knight (Goddess of Human Nobility and Tactics) or Ilmater when I went down that path but the time we had an all-cleric party was great fun. Ilmater, Tymora, Lathander and Waukeen (Goddess of Commerce). Honestly the pantheon was one of the few things that I ever unreservedly LIKED about the setting.
MG: I’ll also note here that Torm is also the name of the Realms’ god of duty, loyalty and righteousness, so while I can only assume the Torm we meet here is named for the god, it is a bit of an incongruous name for this sort of character.
Well that - oh dear. *sees the next bit*
Caelum: Well, Rathan tells Torm not to worry, that his goddess will protect them; Torm insists that he and Narm are more prudent, and Rathan shoots back that nobody who worships Mask (who I guess is Torm’s god?) or Mystra is in any position to lecture anybody else on that.
Well this Torm is gonna be SMOTE and smote HARD. Bearing that particular god's name and worshipping the diametric opposite of basically everything he believes in that ISN'T named Cyric? Ahahahahahha boy you fuckin' dead.
Would nothing go her way? Was this the gods’ way of telling her she should have stayed dutifully at the Rising Moon?
YES!
MG: Well, in most Realms fiction, that would be Kelemvor, but this early in the timeline, it’s still Myrkul. So, unless he’s in the good graces of some other god, the poor guy’s really out of luck.
Oh shit you're not wrong, the Wall of the Faithless is nightmare fuel of the highest order.
What is the Wall of the Faithless, I hear those not familiar with the cosmology of Faerun ask? Well, in Faerun, if you worship a god you go to their afterlife. Or get stolen by devils or demons if you're unlucky. If you worshipped a god but turned heretic, or were a staunch atheist, or Myrkul got his hands on you and thought it would be funny? You go into the Wall.
The wall is a terrifying mass of mossy thorny soul-stuff that wraps around you tight and merciless, and slowly and agonisingly tears apart and dissolves your entire soul to the tiniest scrap of what makes you you. You're aware the entire time, in unbearable agony, screaming until the Wall pulls you in far enough to cover your mouth, and escape is. Escape doesn't happen. The one time someone tried to rip the love of his life out, he got turned into a sapient struggling avatar of the Wall, which he could only stop from eating him whole by eating others, and when he finally succumbed to it the curse jumped from host to host across centuries.
It's the main plot of Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Link to a good LP: https://lparchive.org/Neverwinter-Nights-2-Mask-of-the-Betrayer/ ) and if you ever play NWN2, only play this bit. The curse can potentially be broken, but it's FAR more likely to end up either serving Kelemvor for the only chance at peace you'll ever get or turning into a ravening god-destroying force of the wall's hunger.
Oh, and when Kelemvor took over the role of God of the Dead and was still Lawful Good (before he forced himself to turn Lawful Neutral and cut off his emotions, the job was very hard on him), the only change he made? Was giving those who turned Heretic the option to serve him for eternity. Yeah, the Wall's still there and to my knowledge that hasn't changed in 4th or 5th Edition. Being an athiest in Faerun is a Very Bad Idea. And this is why I find the entire alignment chart ridiculous, because a LG god letting that much suffering and pointless cruelty happen right under their nose MAKES NO SENSE.
“I am Symgharyl Maruel, called the Shadowsil.” Wait, Shadowsil? What does that even mean? Is it Shadow-sylph, maybe? Or Shadow-silk? Or is it like a windowsill, but with shadows? *beat* You made that up because you thought it sounded cool and it doesn’t actually mean anything, didn’t you Symgharyl?
God Greenwood writes characters with the most fucked up names for themselves.
He was going to see devils. He was going to look his fill of them and somehow survive. By Mystra, he was going to do something on his own, now that Marimmar was gone!
Oh, he dead.
Or maybe not, since he’s just stumbled onto a wizard he’s absolutely not capable of defeating. Is there a goddess of bad luck Rathan might have invoked by mistake?
MG: Yes, in fact. Tymora’s twin sister, Beshaba.
Beshaba is what you get when the Overgod (don't even get me STARTED on Ao and how he fucks up every time he actually does anything) decides that if you must have a goddess of GOOD luck, there must be a goddess of BAD luck to balance her out. Beshaba is understandably pretty bitter about being created for the express purpose of being the loathed counterpart to one of the most popular goddess and very much enjoys fucking people over if she feels like they've been a bit too lucky. She's one of the goddess you turn to (along with Shar, Goddess of Shadow and Umberlee, Bitch Queen of the Oceans - yes really) when the world is determined to fuck you over just because you're there and you want to make everyone else suffer. She is ironically extremely protective of those very few who turn to her in true service, and messing with one of her own will earn you a short and messy life of unbearable misfortune.
(I actually quite like her, you may have noticed!)
Well, no sooner are they gone than the Shadowsil’s spell goes off, and our chapter ends on a cliffhanger as with a shattering roar, the fireball exploded all around him.
no subject
This girl is actually Too Stupid To Live. You don't normally see such bad cases outside of the romance genre. Which... Honestly I've read some really awful romances that are better than anything Greenwood's written.
Honestly Tymora is probably THE goddess to go for if you're a wandering adventurer out to be popular with the locals, and not dedicated to Lathander (God of the Sun) or Ilmater (God of Suffering In Aid Of Others is kind of the only way I can put it). She can be fickle but respecting her is much better than being plagued by her sister. Personally I usually played Clerics of the Red Knight (Goddess of Human Nobility and Tactics) or Ilmater when I went down that path but the time we had an all-cleric party was great fun. Ilmater, Tymora, Lathander and Waukeen (Goddess of Commerce). Honestly the pantheon was one of the few things that I ever unreservedly LIKED about the setting.
Well that - oh dear. *sees the next bit*
Well this Torm is gonna be SMOTE and smote HARD. Bearing that particular god's name and worshipping the diametric opposite of basically everything he believes in that ISN'T named Cyric? Ahahahahahha boy you fuckin' dead.
YES!
Oh shit you're not wrong, the Wall of the Faithless is nightmare fuel of the highest order.
What is the Wall of the Faithless, I hear those not familiar with the cosmology of Faerun ask? Well, in Faerun, if you worship a god you go to their afterlife. Or get stolen by devils or demons if you're unlucky. If you worshipped a god but turned heretic, or were a staunch atheist, or Myrkul got his hands on you and thought it would be funny? You go into the Wall.
The wall is a terrifying mass of mossy thorny soul-stuff that wraps around you tight and merciless, and slowly and agonisingly tears apart and dissolves your entire soul to the tiniest scrap of what makes you you. You're aware the entire time, in unbearable agony, screaming until the Wall pulls you in far enough to cover your mouth, and escape is. Escape doesn't happen. The one time someone tried to rip the love of his life out, he got turned into a sapient struggling avatar of the Wall, which he could only stop from eating him whole by eating others, and when he finally succumbed to it the curse jumped from host to host across centuries.
It's the main plot of Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Link to a good LP: https://lparchive.org/Neverwinter-Nights-2-Mask-of-the-Betrayer/ ) and if you ever play NWN2, only play this bit. The curse can potentially be broken, but it's FAR more likely to end up either serving Kelemvor for the only chance at peace you'll ever get or turning into a ravening god-destroying force of the wall's hunger.
Oh, and when Kelemvor took over the role of God of the Dead and was still Lawful Good (before he forced himself to turn Lawful Neutral and cut off his emotions, the job was very hard on him), the only change he made? Was giving those who turned Heretic the option to serve him for eternity. Yeah, the Wall's still there and to my knowledge that hasn't changed in 4th or 5th Edition. Being an athiest in Faerun is a Very Bad Idea. And this is why I find the entire alignment chart ridiculous, because a LG god letting that much suffering and pointless cruelty happen right under their nose MAKES NO SENSE.
God Greenwood writes characters with the most fucked up names for themselves.
Oh, he dead.
Beshaba is what you get when the Overgod (don't even get me STARTED on Ao and how he fucks up every time he actually does anything) decides that if you must have a goddess of GOOD luck, there must be a goddess of BAD luck to balance her out. Beshaba is understandably pretty bitter about being created for the express purpose of being the loathed counterpart to one of the most popular goddess and very much enjoys fucking people over if she feels like they've been a bit too lucky. She's one of the goddess you turn to (along with Shar, Goddess of Shadow and Umberlee, Bitch Queen of the Oceans - yes really) when the world is determined to fuck you over just because you're there and you want to make everyone else suffer. She is ironically extremely protective of those very few who turn to her in true service, and messing with one of her own will earn you a short and messy life of unbearable misfortune.
(I actually quite like her, you may have noticed!)
Oooo, Delayed Blast Fireball, a true classic!