Endgame

I apologize if the NPCs have become intrusive - they were implemented to hold over those who were waiting for the rather long sign ups. There will be no more, and The Regret will be exitting shortly. I can see how especially The Regret can be obstructive, but ultimately he was just there to check his own posting. He would've walked in and out silently if no had intervened, but I had to consider what the Sand Queen would've done. I hadn't seen any negative feedback prior to The Regret, so I had him appear as the final NPC. I'm always open to criticism - everything I do is left flexible - so I hope that in the future I can remedy things like this before it hits a boiling point. They were getting responses, so I made the faulty assumption that all was well. Also: The Regret is a pretty blatant villain. He's tactless, he likes displays of power, he's cruel. I've written him to be pretty much entirely hate-able. But it's also known he considers hate to be one of the strongest, if not volatile, sources of strength, and that he does what it takes to move closer to his goal. He's also a big fan of deception and control. Put all of the factoes together and it may be apparent that The Regret's true nature isn't entirely his displayed one. I've dropped tiny scraps in all of The Regret's conversations, and to be honest I probably have made it too subtle and stretched The Regret too thin. But things will start becoming clear soon enough. Also, I think it's clear to me now that I don't see the hall itself as anything much different than a mercenary base with a bar. I've always seen the place as a bit run down, to be honest.

Trying not to cause a scene, I imagine. Sand Queen tried it, and The Regret quickly put that to rest. A fight with him in the Hall would've been disastrous - he'd set the entire place ablaze and more or less just leave. Seerus would've threatened similar. I do/did have planned eventualities if anyone got hostile, but no one tried.

The Regret looks up at the balcony at the whit efaced woman staring down at him. "You bear the mark of my creations. To run into the belly of the beast, where thousands upon thousands Oculoids prowl... Someone as frail as yourself should've never volunteered for this." "Indeed, please do prepare. It'd be rather unsatisfying for you to not even make it through the front door..." "Have you, now? I share the same sentiments, as does Seerus."

The entire hall seems to darken as the door swings open once again, ushering in one of the darkest beings to ever walk Olegaia walks in, a barbed scepter in hand. His piercing eyes silently survey the hall, the Sand Queen recoiling in surprise and fear as The regret enters the hall. The heroes eye him nervously, the being rarely displaying such audacity as to simply enter Heroica Hall. "You... menace! Begone from this hall!" The Regret speaks, his voice cold and depraved. His every syllable is laced with a gleeful malice. "Hush, your "majesty". I would hardly think that a Veteran like yourself would dare make such a scene." "A scene? No, Regret, I simply seek to erase evil when I see it." "Ah, I see. You're masking something, Queen. I can only assume that my nullifying of your ever-so-sacred powers has instilled a fear of me in you, hasn't it? And now, you're masking it with bravado in order to "confront" me. You're lying to yourself, just to get the courage to stand up and speak to me. Pitiable." The Sand Queen shrinks back. "Now then, Veteran, let us do a bit of a threat analysis. One, you are painstakingly aware that my magic can nullify the magic of you veterans. And for all you know, I may be interfering with those precious artifacts of yours. Two, I am an immortal being, therefore making your chances of actually killing me zero. And finally..." The Regret's hand becomes engulfed with a roaring flame, just barely contained to The Regret's palm. If he let the inferno loose... "I hear wood burns pretty easily. So, unless you'd like there to be a pile of ash and a mound of charred corpses where this hall once stood... You'd back down. Now, my dear, are you going to listen to reason and realize you currently can't do anything, or are you going to condemn this hall and its heroes?" The Sand Queen steps back, head hung low. ". . ." "I like you much better when you submit, your Majesty. You Veterans will make fine Devils when all is said and done, but... I digress." The Regret goes to the questboard and writes something down. QM Note: The quest begins August 2nd - in a week. With that, The Regret turns to leave, striding past the sand Queen without second thought. "You've just chosen those who will undo you, Regret." "Time will tell. And you're hardly an authority on how this will all end, Queen, considering your disturbing lack of visions." "Hrrrmmmm..." The Regret was nearly about to depart... If any heroes wished to speak to him, now was their only chance before the finale was upon them.

"You need not to refer to me in the third person, Mr. Brutenhal, unless you are once again misinformed - I am the Sand Queen. And your associate, Em, is quite right... The Regret is a formidable being. As you said, he is the first being I have ever heard of with the ability to block my visions so thoroughly. Demons have plagued my visions in the past, but The Regret... He manages to stop them completely and utterly. I have done some research on him. The Regret is only his chosen moniker, you know. In his many milleniums on Olegaia, he has had so many... As my understanding goes, his other titles include The White Devil, The Defiler, The Desecrator, The Silver Death, The Night Hunter, and in some cultures he is simply called Adversary. He frightens me, Mr. Brutenhal. I see no reason to hide that fact." ------------------------ "Hmm, fair enough. The choice is between you and Masson. Has he had any opinion on the matter? That makes sense. He's law enforcement, right?"

"Of course I do, Karie. Any reason you want to keep the Alderflask name? And even if you don't want kids, I'm sure you'd make a good parent. A week! You're planning the wedding that fast?" ----------------------------------------- "We Veterans come out occasionally for holidays, Mr. Brutenhal, but I must confess this isn't a joyous occasion. Have you ever heard of an entity who goes by the name of The Regret, Mr. Brutenhal? His name has been whispered in these halls many times, as of late."

I am on mobile right now, so no character portraits for a bit!

The Sand Queen smiles, though probably not because of Heckz's advances. "Yes, Mr. Brutenhal, being a Veteran of this hall, I am aware of your numerous titles. Judging by your bravado, you did not know that?"

I raise my eyebrows. "Engaged? After no more than a day back? Wow... Well, congrats! Do you and Masson plan on going the full mile? Name change, shared residence, kids? I'm guessing you'll be Karie Cour afterwards. How soon is soon? Six months, nine months?"

I give a slight glance to the hardly hushed Boomingham before returning to Karie. "Sorry about that... Zoned out for a second. So, Karie, what's new?"

"I doubt that, Heckz... We were just talking about old times, new times, good and evil... Typical hero stuff. We had a good banter going before Em unveiled that venom of his." I smirk, making sure Em knew I was simply joking. "What's the good word for you, Karie? Anything new?"

I rise up and walk to Em's table as well, but with no intent of baetering. I was beginning to recall Karie's sentiments on Boomingham, and I simply stand idle to perhaps ease the tension. Perhaps I'd only cause it to mount, though... "Hello, Karie and Heckz."

The fun of the conversation has been two old geezers both horribly missing the point about something, but I figured there was only one way this one was gonna end.

"A general, and a good one too? Impressive - You accomplished a lot so early. Back then I was just a wanderer. The most I did was kick a few direwolves out of a ranch. Back then, though, I had skin, so I had that going for me, I suppose. Now... just bones and rot. Not too pleasant, but hey, it's enough to get this whole hero business done. It... works, I suppose, but not much more than that." But, yes, Karie is the best granddaughter I could ask for. Don't tell her that, though, I already embarrassed her enough on our last quest. Have you met?"

Well, even according to him and Naamah, he never really did anything malevolent in between his summoning and his defeat in 85. He got summoned, chilled out on a Ziggurat, and kinda just partied. Meanwhile, Naamah drowned Azzurat in sand and made the land wither and die.

Reading through 85 again, Ahriman is perhaps the most benign demon in Heroica yet.

"...You're right, Em. *wheeze* Thanks for the advice. I gotta get these five back to their father soon, though... *cough*" "Punii, the most diminutive of us, was enlisted by the Sand Queen to participate in a quest - one put up by a blatant villain. I'm not sure what The regret hopes to gain by inviting Heroicans, but-" "Pius! *wheeze* We've already been here later then we should've. Let's get out of here, and back to the colony." "Understood." And with that, the Progg larvae vacate the hall, in a single file line. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shortly thereafter, a veteran strides into the hall of Heroica, and checks the sign-up board. "Hmm. The two I sent request to have arrived, but... Dark times await. Dark times..." The Sand Queen takes a seat as she ponders, distant but seemingly approachable.

"We're gonna hafta *wheeze* figure this one out as we go along, aren't we? Figure out how to get into the Citadel, how to take down Iris, *wheeze*, Seerus, The Regret, whatever else he has *wheeze* made... It's gonna be a pretty big struggle, isn't it?" --------------------------------------------------------- The orange larva looks up at Monk Pretzel. "You say a lot of words really quickly, mister. Did you notice that too, Karie?" -------------------------------------------------------------- "Heh, thank you - Karie tries to hide it sometimes, I think, but she's about as smart as they come. I think none are evil - not all necessarily good, though. Some are amoral, some are maybe even cruel. But no hero in this hall is a villain. We've all done things wrong, Boomingham. If you met me when I was 20, you would've hated me. I was vain, foolish, greedy. I was almost a villain. But I picked myself up and moved on. I'm sure the Veterans watch over us, though I must admit I can't recall being screened, either. We've been lucky so far."

"...What you're seeing isn't *wheeze* beauty, Em! I'm... Kinda surprised to hear something from you *cough* like that... Impressed with the power he wields, maybe, but I wouldn't think that waterfall is beautiful... Especially since we're the ones *wheeze* plunging towards the spikes at the bottom! We have to stop him, Em, no matter *cough* what... We have to kill an immortal..."

"I do not fear God, and if he is an entity of justice and righteousness, I respect him. However, Monk, I see your intolerance has not yet waned. I reiterate - I am not a demon. And I can't say I appreciate you questioning Karie and I's family ties. Thank you for your time, and good day." I return to Boomingham, sighing. "Agh. I don't suppose you've met the monk? My granddaughter is a smart enough woman to not get indoctrinated into some false cause, though... That Monk is worshiping the right principles in the wrong way." ------------------------------------- "Actually, Em, I think it's the other *wheeze* way around. They don't know The Regret and the Oculoids live in that citadel. All they know is that there is *wheeze* treasure in there, supposedly, and they want it... enough to warrant countries all over Olegaia to head to The Regret's citadel. If *cough* The Regret doesn't kill them, they'll kill each other going for the treasure... I didn't think people were so *wheeze* greedy. i'm glad I know some of the most heroicic humans around, at *cough* least."

That works really well too. On that note, 105 will have optional permadeath on. Inform me beforehand, and in the case that your character dies, I may have something planned.