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How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 4:23 am
by Kaote Bruchedaine
For those of us that love being part of a world with many moving parts, what would be the ideal way for your character to meet Eilistraee face to face in a D&D game?

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:32 am
by Shir'le E. Illios
I think that the way that most followers of Eilistraee personally encounter her would be if she appears during a dance, joining in with the dancers. But perhaps that doesn't really count as 'meeting' her.

The first actual face-to-face meeting I would imagine being one where you're not actually aware (certainly not to start with) that you are meeting her. There's just this stranger who, if you're kind to them, might give some vague hints towards being perhaps more than they seem. But perhaps you're never quite certain.

A real face-to-face meeting with Eilistraee as the goddess would seem, to me, to be a much higher level thing where your character really has to work hard for it, having shown their devotion throughout their play and through difficult quests find a way to access her realm before they can have a chat with them. It might require some great work in her honour or such.

For the most part though the deities probably work best if they're more in the background and don't constantly pop up. No matter what, no matter which if those examples I listed above or any others one might think of, it should be exceedingly rare to encounter any deity.

Then, of course, there are the times when your character [i:1o8559zw]thinks[/i:1o8559zw] they encountered a deity, but are actually wrong. To this day Shir'le believes that the priestess who put her on Eilistraee's path was actually the goddess herself, but she's wrong (probably). And that's despite the fact that she's a Divine Agent now and can thus have a more regular chat with her goddess (which, yes, slightly contradicts part of what I said above). I guess there's always much more important topics to discuss than "hey, that was you, right?". Or perhaps she doesn't really [i:1o8559zw]want[/i:1o8559zw] to know the truth deep down.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:26 pm
by Irennan
Yes, I pretty much agree with Shir'le here. Especially given the way Eilistraee acts: she's always so very gentle and careful to never force any choice on mortals. She could probably show up in times of need to put a smile in your heart, or to lead a drow to safety, or away from Lolth's grasp when they start to realize the kind of abuse and lies that their life has been, to provide them a new hope and beginning. However, in most cases, Eilistraee would make it that they wouldn't even know that it was her to help them.

After meeting her for the first time and having made one's choice, tho, according to Ed, Eilistraee is actually close to her people, and she can indeed show up in person during special occasions.

EDIT: That said, I remembered that we have a canon example of how meeting Eilistraee is like in canon, in Elaine's Evermeet. It leads me to think that those who meet her will sort of instinctively know that they actually met Eilistraee.

When those two elves in the novel heard Eilistraee's voice and when they then saw her, they felt an emotion so deep to leave them essentially awed to tears, as if they had found the beauty that was the answer to that question that all mortals felt deep inside, but that simply could not be expressed in words. They just knew that she was a goddess, and at the same time, while enchanted by her, they weren't stunned: they felt comfortable and happy, as the goddess readily put them at ease.

Idk, it's a combination of emotions and feelings that is unique to a goddess like Eilistraee (IIRC, not even Corellon's and Angharradh's manifesting after the creation of Evermeet received the same kind of attention), so, in the end, you kinda 'feel' that it is her, or a goddess at least.

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Sat May 25, 2019 9:15 pm
by Aylstra Illianniis
I think it might be a bit like how my bard began to discover his gifts, through a sense of being "wrapped" in some profound and joyful feeling, her presence surrounding him with a faint glow and "vibe" of gentle and warm power. (He had already met her years earlier, but had not understood her message fully then.) When he first began to use his talents, he realized that she had given him a way of escaping his harsh life, and even bringing others with him.

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 5:47 pm
by Orin
Oh man! I wanted to put in something for this back when it was posted, but I got distracted and then forgot. I'm glad I saw it today, because I had something specific for it that I've envisioned for a long time now.

Orin is...he has a strong desire to be around drow and help them. It's just a part of who he is and for a long time, he did not know that was the case, because he'd never met any drow. Then later, because he'd only met a handful of drow who did not wish to outright kill him and even the ones who literally tried to kill him, he still kind of fantasized about not being such assholes so they could be friends. In this way, he is a bit of a fool, but he cannot help his own nature, so he approaches every encounter with any drow with the hope of friendship and later, love. This led him into some interesting adventures and did make him some friends...as well as enemies, but it also, more often then not, got him into some hairy and often comical situations.

His life changed immeasurably and for the better, when he met surface drow who were followers of Eilistraee, and even more when he accepted that he just needed to be near them and moved Waterdeep to do so. He was, for the first time in his entire angry, sorrowful and disappointed life...contented. Living near and fighting alongside these women to break the chains of slavers was the closest he'd ever come to peace and happiness.

There was one custom of the Eilistraeeans that kind of drove Orin up the damned wall, however and it wasn't what most might expect. The Run, to Orin, was one of the most dangerous, reckless, unsafe and downright insane things that those who followed the Dark Maiden did and he never hesitated in telling them so. When he first heard about it, he was incredulous and even attempted to talk the priestesses and followers who were keen on the endeavor out of it entirely, which made them adversarial with him...which he did not care for at all, so he relented. At first, he sought to join them, thinking that, perhaps, his presence might dissuade those who were just afraid of the reputation of the drow from being rash and those who were less afraid and more vile from doing worse. This was not to be though, as him not being of the faithful of Eilistraee at the time - coupled with his admonishment of The Run itself - made the priestesses less then interested in him joining them.

It was then that Orin began following groups of Eilistraeeans, in secret, during The Run. He got to the point where he would make sure that he was near certain parts of Faerun at certain times of year to make sure he would be around to do this. He lost a significant amount of his personal wealth, between the purchase of many invisibility items and simply not spending that time as a mercenary or adventuring, but he would spend weeks, or even months following and in some cases protecting Eilistraeeans on their Run. About half of the time, everything was fine, but then everything IS fine, about half the time, isn't it? More often then not, whenever he felt moved to actually intervene, it was to act as a sort of..."passerby".

An example: Once there was a family of farmers, well meaning but ignorant folk, who were about to spaz completely out and become violent from the shock of seeing drow. Orin placed himself as though coming from the opposite direction and removed his invisibility and then approached as though he had simply been in the area and happened upon the scene. The farmers, seeing him armed and armored, of course begged for his help. Orin then calmly and pleasantly explained to the farmers that they were in no danger at all and that these drow were on their Run, which he also explained.

There were, of course, negative or violent interactions, but these were mostly with criminals, or other such villains and while Orin would of course lend his sword in the Eilistraeean's defense, he soon realized that he hardly needed to. That did not stop him from continuing to follow them for many, many seasons. Not only did he reason that at some point, they might not have the upper hand on their assailants, but that he provided a far more helpful boon by being the passerby, by being the friend of drow and the advocate for them. For it would be terrible if harm should befall a group of Eilistraeeans on their run, but even more terrible should said Eilistraeeans, through no fault of their own, caused or were party to an incident that created more fear of surface drow.

This was sometimes met with smiles from those he followed and sometimes met with frustration, as some priestesses felt that this diminished the point of The Run: To go out alone with naught but kindness, food, song and a sword to show that drow could be friends to surfacers. He would often counter this point with the fact that they HAD proven it and that Orin himself was proof of this, being a friend to drow.

This whole dynamic is quite possibly the only time Orin ever truly found himself at odds with the Eilistraeean faith and even here he stayed a staunch friend and ally, if an overprotective one.

Ok, so all of THAT being said, Orin's first meeting with Eilistraee was almost the opposite of how Shir'le's first interaction went, which is part of why absolutely love that aspect of the character. Orin thought that The Dark Maiden...was just another drow on her run, albeit an impossibly gorgeous one.

Eilistraee was in this place and time, not to meet Orin as such, but like him was there to watch over others who were on their run and found an interesting opportunity in him being, as he often was the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Orin spotted her on a forest road while doing exactly what she was doing, wondering why she'd decided to do her Run naked, then wondering if that was perhaps a not often done part of the ritual. He thought she was simply a priestess out on her run and was so captivated by her that he quite forgot to activate his invisibility, not that it would have worked with her and so he just stood there, like an idiot, staring. She met his eyes and smiled at him, warmly, which made him giggle like a little boy. He shook it off, but still couldn't stop smiling at her, like a fool. Finally, he collected himself and approached her openly, explaining who he was and what he was doing and asking humbly if she might accept his company, companionship and protection, also mentioning that the road would be dangerous for a drow alone.

Not for the first time with this particular human, the Dark Maiden found herself both surprised, highly amused and charmed. She graciously accepted his beautifully heartfelt offer of friendship and they walked through the forest together. Orin told her of Luskan and of Icewind Dale to the far north. Eilistraee told him of Waterdeep and The Promenade beneath it. They talked, they joked and Orin told her stories of his adventures in The North which, unlike so many other times made him feel boastful or awkward, he felt charming and interesting. At one point, when their conversing became quieted, Orin began to sing, as he often did on the road. This time it was a rendition of The Starfall Pool, a ballad he was quite fond of and Eilistraee sang with him and he could not remember a more pleasant and emotional experience in his life.

Eventually, Eilistraee led Orin to the sounds of shouting and battle and, as he often did, he moved swiftly to those sounds. Around a bend in the road and over a hill, he found three drow, surrounding an elven merchant protectively, blades drawn against a cadre of highwaymen intent on death it seemed. Orin, once again as he often did, charged to their aid without thinking. The battle was won swiftly and not worth mentioning, really. Those that's he'd rescued were overjoyed to see him and asked how he'd known they were in danger. Orin explained that his beautiful companion had led him to them gesturing behind him, but when he looked for her, following the other drow's confused gazes, she was gone.

The drow, at first, were at a loss, but one suggested that it might have been Eilistraee, while another insisted that it was likely a priestess that had teleported away on some important errand for The Dark Lady, knowing Orin had the situation in hand. Orin, knew the latter was not the case, as be would have detected the use of such a spell and seen its effects. That's when the elven merchant chimed in, suggesting that perhaps it were the ghost of a fallen priestess, having died during her own Run and not wanting the same to befall any others. She went on to explain that that road was known for stories of ghosts from the woods and strange happenings like that.

This was the explanation that Orin decided made the most sense, for why would the Dark Dancer, in all her glory and splendor, of visited one such as he?

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 5:47 pm
by Orin
Wow, I really got carried away with that. Sorry, folks. Didn't mean to leave a tomb.

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:42 am
by Shir'le E. Illios
Not at all. Thank you for the story. It was lovely. :)


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 10:45 am
by Irennan
I agree, I enjoyed all of it; thanks for sharing!

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 7:49 pm
by Orin
Thanks guys. It's really nice to come back here and have a place and people to talk about all of this with. Sometimes it gets to the point where all I can think about is escaping to Faerun, because this world is so lacking or cruel. Thanks for always being here.

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:08 pm
by Draal Shakhaar
Greetings Shir'le, I've heard of this site mentioned by an acquaintance many times, who said it no longer existed. I am pleased to find it, and will let them know of it as well. I see the roleplaying board has been rather empty for quite awhile. I shall certainly try to help breathe some new life into it, but I'll obviously need others to help me.

As to the topic of this thread, what better way to have the occasional eventuality of such things, than through the Roleplaying that appears to have once been one of, if not THE most popular board on the site? I'll be testing the waters a little with a not super bright minotaur. If some good RPs can get going, I may put some more serious effort into coming up with more fleshed out characters, and maybe even the character that my user name belongs to, a homebrew variant dragon breed,

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 8:44 am
by Shir'le E. Illios
Hi Draal and welcome to the Chosen of Eilistraee.

We're not that active anymore, and as you can see I haven't bothered to re-skin the board since the last few times my web host forced me to upgrade, but we're still kicking around.

Maybe you find a home of sorts here. :)


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 8:05 am
by Draal Shakhaar
That's a real shame. I used to hear stories about the RPs had here. Sounded like a real blast. Would you mind if I did a little advertising of this site? I'm in Alaska, and winters up here... are not for everyone, plenty of people staying indoors, and out of the frigid cold as much as possible. Being cooped up like that, us Alaskans need our entertainment.

Also is there perhaps a Facebook page for this site? It would help for purposes of me sharing it with the different local roleplaying groups I keep in touch with. Of course, it may be a good idea if I can bring in the people to do that reskin and perhaps get your translator back up. For interested partied, I've tracked down good translators for Draconic and Goblin as well.

In fact Draal Shakhaar is Goblin for Dream Catcher.

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 8:41 am
by Shir'le E. Illios
I do not mind you doing some advertising, no (just be decent about it; don't go spamming in places that do not want it or anything). But no, no Facebook page (I stay as far away from Facebook as I can :p ). Though I have been considering setting up a Discord server (in fact I've technically got one, it's just bare-bones).

As for the translator, it is working as far as I am aware. Are you having issues with it?


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 3:59 am
by Zekafae
Been forever since I been here last. How would I like to meet Eilistraee in a game setting? I'd say depending on the story arc for Zek it'd be either a redemption point or when he's at the last breath to hear her voice and just get that one glimpse and blessing. Otherwise, I'd say just a means if anything to if possible, sit and talk to her, ask her many questions, voice concerns. Basically spill and reveal the heart to her and ask for guidance. She cares so much for the fate of Drow, who better than to ask for such things. Though to be blessed by the goddess herself would be a good meeting all around.

Re: How would you like to meet Eilistraee ingame?

Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 1:22 am
by Draal Shakhaar
There was some broken links last time I looked, but I found the translator this time.
Oh, and of course I won't spam. I was just thinking of sharing with some friends and a Facebook group for all tabletop RPGs in my local area. I believe the guys at Nerdarchy might like it too.