Gerag is dead, poor dragon

[Delirium]

I came out of the library tonight to find Gerag in town being molested by the townsfolk. There was plenty of willing dragon food, but exiles were too intent on killing Gerag to even allow him a last meal. When he died flames errupted felling many exiles. I have a vision stone I will post when I am more awake.

[Konoko]

Aww...

So did anyone learn what Gerag was after besides halflings?

Did he have any info or knowledge to share with us?
What (if any) were the gifts Gerag gave to the halflings who volunteered to be taken by him? I heard that someone received a gift from him. Where did I hear that? Here or Tan forum? Anyways - any truth to that?


And when you say dragon food was there something that was actual dragon food or just more halflings?

Konoko

[Goric]

Gerag is Dead???

aa is somehow saddened

Its a shame that we could not take the time to try to learn something of this creature before ending its life. For all we know, Gerag could have held the key to unlock the mystery of KI, or TI or the Volcoons. Now that he has been killed, we may have destroyed our only chance to learn of a mystery. We will never know now!!

aa wonders how the Volcoons have escaped being slaughtered

I suppose that taking into account what has happened to all of us, the mistrust is somewhat understandable.

But, I still cant help but feel sorry for the poor drake.

Sir Goric

[Althus]

The voolcoons have avoided death for one simple reason:

You loose ranks for killing them.

[Aethelred]

Gerag's life expectancy probably would have been a bit longer if he hadn't made a habit of killing exiles...

(I liked the Gerag story, my only complaint is that we shouldn't actually have been able to kill him. The FI Drakes can fly over exiles and obstacles. Gerag should have been able to take wing and fly away from the group of exiles who had him surrounded. Why was Gerag unable to do this? Was it an IC thing, or an OOC GM oversight?)

[Himitsu]

Originally posted by Aethelred
Gerag's life expectancy probably would have been a bit longer if he hadn't made a habit of killing exiles...

(I liked the Gerag story, my only complaint is that we shouldn't actually have been able to kill him. The FI Drakes can fly over exiles and obstacles. Gerag should have been able to take wing and fly away from the group of exiles who had him surrounded. Why was Gerag unable to do this? Was it an IC thing, or an OOC GM oversight?)

:confused: I thought that the Gerag story would be much longer than it was. I enjoyed the attention that halflings got since most of the town's population seems to be either sylvan, human, or cloaked. Much as the dwarves have beer and mining and sylvans have nature and trees, I wanted the halflings to have something to call their own; even if it was just being #1 on Gerag's menu. I wanted to learn about Gerag and why he wanted to eat halflings but he never said and only toasted the poor halflings.

Was this a failure on our part or Delta Tao? I was at Gerag's cave once and the exiles there seemed certainly willing to talk to him but Gerag only breathed fire on us. It seemed that we tried our best to talk to him.

Now that Gerag is gone, I think it would be nice to be able to go into his lair to at least learn more about Gerag and what he wanted or what he did in his free time. Has anyone done this?

[Unregistered]

While this may not explain Gerag's motives,

The halfling that "sacrificed" himself was Karsun,

He got a Gold Medallion for his selflessness.

I wonder what would have happened if others had tried other methods?

[Konoko]

Does this gold medallion do anything?
I wouldn't think so since it's just a medallion but you never know...


Konoko

[Goric]

This is very OOC - Something I try to avoid!!

When I first heard of Gerag, by first thought was; I wonder if teh GM's have been reading our postings on Player controlled mosters. Is it possible that Gerag was a player, a minor GM or something of that sort that was given control of a Drake to harras the community simply as an experiment to see how and if it would work???

Yes, I agree. He died far too easily which might seem to lend some credibility to my theory. Perhaps!!

HTF Sir Goric

[Himitsu]

Originally posted by Goric
Yes, I agree. He died far too easily which might seem to lend some credibility to my theory. Perhaps!!

This is also OOC so please forgive me if I sound somewhat unlike Himitsu. SWC is older than Himitsu and a bit more calculating indeed!


Something I thought when hearing about Fat Alice and her dislike of her new hut. Maybe Delta Tao is looking into stories that have multiple parts so that it doesn't start and end in one neat little package. I am sure the players present at the hut expected Fat Alice to walk in, grumble a bit over the hut, but be persuaded to stay. She would have given the potion to someone, it would have been learned and that would have been it. People would then not go to her hut except to hear Fat Alice yell at them. Now she's back at her old hut on Kizmia's Island and we have to give a new builder wood and rocks and ore and stone all over again. I've hard that place is a lot more dangerous than the South Farms so it will be interesting to see how the exiles ban together to transport building materials.

Okay, back to Gerag. Maybe he's just the start of a whole troop of Gerags. Maybe Gerag's family will come to avenge Gerag's death. Maybe every halfling in town will be in danger when Gerag's father, mother, and sister swoop to town dragging every fallen halfling to their lair. I have no inside scoop on this thought but it's more likely now I think. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. Still, I think it would be neat.


Whew! Himitsu is back now! :cool: Doesn't SWC talk a lot? I don't want Gerag's family to come to town. Being roasted is no fun!

[Konoko]

Just some questions about Alice (I also posted this in the "new builder" thread from before):
- so she was not happy with her new accomodations in SW farms/beach?
- Where is this new builder? Is it on KI somewhere? Or somewhere else on our island?


Konoko

[Himitsu]

Originally posted by Konoko
Just some questions about Alice (I also posted this in the "new builder" thread from before):
- so she was not happy with her new accomodations in SW farms/beach?
- Where is this new builder? Is it on KI somewhere? Or somewhere else on our island?

She liked the hut but not the location. In fact, she wanted the hut to be moved to the spot where her old hut was.

I don't know where the new builder except that it's on KI. I also assume that Meyson originally hailed from KI as well but I don't know where. All I know is that it will be difficult for me to make it there to give any building materials.

[kodo]

OOC:

A number of exiles had complained that almost all GM-run characters were not killable. Now we have folks complaining that Gerag should have been unkillable. Heh, no wonder I don't want to be a GM.

Why didn't Gerag fly away? Maybe the exiles in town injured his wings in their attack. He had showed pretty good agility in the past, although not the ability to pass over exiles.

While I would be glad to see Gerag brood, I would also be happy to see a few miniplots like this that were standalone. Not EVERYTHING has to be a part of some year-long plotline. Sometimes a bit of closure is nice. Even nicer would be a little more information about WHY things were the way they were, so we could truly appreciate the story.

I hope they leave the drake-den there. It provides historical background to the land... even if you can't enter it, you can point to it and tell the story...

[Himitsu]

Originally posted by kodo
While I would be glad to see Gerag brood, I would also be happy to see a few miniplots like this that were standalone. Not EVERYTHING has to be a part of some year-long plotline. Sometimes a bit of closure is nice. Even nicer would be a little more information about WHY things were the way they were, so we could truly appreciate the story.

I'm not calling for a year-long plot but I do want some closure. Why did Gerag like halflings? Why did Gerag threaten to burn down the the town in three days but not do it? My idea of a Gerag family would be to provide some closure. At the very least, have us be able to enter his cave to find the answers to these questions. [:o]

[Goric]

OOC------I hate writing in OOC style--This will be the last

I agree. The trouble is that Gerag died before we knew anything about him, why he was here, why he liked halflings etc...

There is so much we ddint know about him. Seems to me that it was a waste of a story or mystery. If Gerag was meant to die so quickly, then why come up with a story for him at all?? Why not just have another deaf and dump monster like all the rest??

The thought of a family of Gerags is an intriguing thought. Perhaps Gerages death was a part of the story line...

oooooh...I like that!!!!

HTF Sir Goric

[Nuvali]

ooc:

I agree with Kodo. It was nice to see that some of these plots actually have an "end". Maybe there will be answers as to why Gerag wanted halflings. Or maybe there was no mystery--maybe he was just a drake whose sophisticated pallete included halflings. Either way, it was a breath of fresh air to see DT provide a contrast to the quests-with-no-end-in-sight that we have become so accustomed to.

[Aethelred]

My comment wasn't meant to be a critique of the Gerag plotline, it was rather more of an

[Lex]

Originally posted by Althus
The voolcoons have avoided death for one simple reason:

You loose ranks for killing them.

Are you sure about this? Did you kill enough to go back a rank or even a message? I killed one by accident and I didn't notice anything bad.

Lex

[Althus]

I've heard reports of people loosing experience for killing them. This is backed by the fact that you also loose experience from killing butterflies (more dramatically so with the b'flies. I remember July 4, 2000 when there were a gazillion butterflies in town such that you couldn't help but kill a few just to move around. The GMs appeared in the fairgrounds almost instantly realizing their mistake and gave back the experience everybody lost). Both make a bad-karma noise upon dying.

[Coriakin]

Ahoy there!

I've been thinking a lot about what possible reason Gerag might have for constantly attacking town, and halflings in particular. I've come to a pretty plausable explanation:

He was hungry, and halflings taste good. :)

I tried talking with him on a few occasions, and he didn't appear to have a hidden agenda or anything along those lines. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's worth remembering that some things are pretty straightforward.

OOC: Gerag didn't appear to have any particular purpose, other than to steal halfings occasionally. I think it might have been an attempt to bring back direct IC GM-player interation a bit. Not everything has to be complex, and not every enemy/GM-character has to have a hidden agenda. I'd like it if more of this type of thing happened. A commander leading a darshak invasion, Bartok (or whatever... that big orga guy) leading a force of orga into town, things like that.

Or maybe I'm just wierd. :)

Coriakin

[Delirium]

I agree with Coriakin. And it's not like we don't have halfings to spare. I mean, 3 of them were even willing to let Gerag use themselves for his dining pleasure.

[kodo]

IC:

There are no spare halflings. I like a good joke as much as anyone, but the talk of glibly feeding members of one of the seven races to a drake is appalling.

Yes, I realize some mentally deranged souls were offering themselves to the drake. They should be pitied, not encouraged. Impeded, not aided.

The cavalier attitude towards the death of sentients is something even the Emperor disdains. Shall we sink even lower than he? And yes, I lament the death of Gerag, despite his focus on those of my race. If he had been
willing to see reason before he was so severely wounded,
it would have been interesting indeed.

[Himitsu]

Originally posted by kodo
Yes, I realize some mentally deranged souls were offering themselves to the drake. They should be pitied, not encouraged. Impeded, not aided.

I think the reason that they did so was to find out what Gerag wanted with halflings because what was there to lose? The only thing Gerag could have done was to cause an exile to become Pretty Near Dead and even than an exile can be raised if not too far gone. Those halflings weren't risking anything but the time spent talking to Gerag and a quick depart back to town if it got that bad. I don't think they should be pitied or impeded because I can see how this can be used as a tactic to get information about a person or a place if necessary.

I have my own opinions on the nature of Purgatory but will simply state here that life and death become less of an issue when death doesn't really exist.

[Aerick]

It still hurts!

Masochists.

[kodo]

Originally posted by Himitsu


I think the reason that they did so was to find out what Gerag wanted with halflings because what was there to lose? The only thing Gerag could have done was to cause an exile to become Pretty Near Dead and even than an exile can be raised if not too far gone. Those halflings weren't risking anything but the time spent talking to Gerag and a quick depart back to town if it got that bad. I don't think they should be pitied or impeded because I can see how this can be used as a tactic to get information about a person or a place if necessary.


That strikes me as a very OOC viewpoint. Of course death exists IC and who knows, being consumed by a drake might actually shortcircuit the miraculous benefit we have on the Lok'groton islands of being able to release our spirit and transport ourselves to Purgatory when fallen, shortly reappearing in body near the last altar we committed to.


I have my own opinions on the nature of Purgatory but will simply state here that life and death become less of an issue when death doesn't really exist.

Of course I understand the curiousity of wanting to know "what would happen", if Gerag gets what he wants, but that's an OOC motive. Some played explanations of it IC, more power to 'em!

I wish DT had released more backstory on what /departing really is IC. Similarly for how moonstones heal.

[Delirium]

IC:

I really don't see what the big deal is about being eaten by a dragon. I mean, I get nibbled on by cat and rats and the like all the time. We have some really good healers in the lands, and we healers are nearly always able to raise fallens. I've seen and helped some exiles in pretty bad shape get raised myself. I don't really like departing myself - I think I've only done it twice in the two years or so I have been exiled - but it is always there as an option. So, if someone wants to be eaten by a dragon, who am I to say no? We could probably raise them after they had been eaten too. No, raising them while they were in the dragon's tummy would probably not be a good idea - we would not want to give a poor dragon indigestion - but after they came out the other end of the dragon, we could probably raise them. Of course, I'm not sure I'd want to use my moonstone for that. I might want to wait until I'm 3rd circle and have a cad. But I'm sure Puddleby's fine healers could do the job of raising the dragon digested.

[Goric]

Greetings Kodo,

I am usually one of the first to wish to keep things from becomming too foolish. I am usually one of the first to say; lets get serious guys. There was a lot of playing around about offering up halflings to Gerag. I agree that it was foolish talk. But it was just talk and we all knew that it was not serious. We all love our halfling brothers and sisters and would protect them with our very lives!!

I think in this case Kodo, I think I need to say something to you:

Lighten up!!

Sir Goric

[Aerick]

Delirium,

First off, you're a nut case.

Second off, I want to try that!

[Althus]

Originally posted by kodo
That strikes me as a very OOC viewpoint. Of course death exists IC and who knows, being consumed by a drake might actually shortcircuit the miraculous benefit we have on the Lok'groton islands of being able to release our spirit and transport ourselves to Purgatory when fallen, shortly reappearing in body near the last altar we committed to.


It is not at all possible to die. Not at all. Not one teensy bit. No matter how mangled you are, you can always depart. That is a proven IC fact. Not an OOC fact. An IC fact. I for one think people who die are very silly, and could probably use a cream pie to the face. When's the last time somebody died? No, seriously. Can you remember?


Of course I understand the curiousity of wanting to know "what would happen", if Gerag gets what he wants, but that's an OOC motive. Some played explanations of it IC, more power to 'em!

I wish DT had released more backstory on what /departing really is IC. Similarly for how moonstones heal.


The problem with OOC motives such as this, is they are caused by game mechanical behaviour caused by the design philosophy that cannot be explained in character. Since nobody ever dies, it is a perfectly reasonable IC idea to try something to see what happens. Nothing permanently bad will happen to you, afterall. I don't take this quite as far as Gurgi who claims that snells are all separate and connected by a grey teleportation mist, but I do believe that the no-death-experiment-with-stuff stance is valid.

As for what departing really is: Your spirit leaves your body, which disappears (much the same phenomenon as when a sleeping person stays asleep for 40 minutes and is nowhere to be found), and wanders around purgatory. When you finally work off your fatal debt, you reappear at the altar of the last god you worshipped, in a fresh new body. For about the time it takes to gain one rank, you are still getting used to your new body and thus can't train in it.

Or at least that's how I've always seen it.

[Sargon]

Althus wrote:


No matter how mangled you are, you can always depart. That is a proven IC fact. Not an OOC fact. An IC fact.


No it's not.

/ponder Wow, for once I know/remember something Althus doesn't [:D]
/ponder Is Althus expecting me to elaborate more on this?

Ok... Cradlesong couldn't depart while he was fallen in that strange room in the castle of Tenebrion. (I think it was there - he surely still remembers the place...)

Sargon the flutterby

/action flies back to the library, lands on Sinans shoulder and slowly closes his eyes.

[Nunul]

Yup, Cradlesong was stuck up in that there tower for nigh on an IC week, while he listened to Tenebrions' rants.

He tried many times to depart from there. He was under a constant barage of flames and such from that Drow bastard.
(In fact, a little known rumor is that even the Gods had never seen such a badly beaten up body. It has been said that he achieved the lowest HPs ever that week).

Only once a brave group of rescuers chained his remains to Puddleby proper that he could depart.

Ask Cradle and he'll tell ya...it sure builds character.

-Windy Dorf

[Lex]

Originally posted by Althus
When's the last time somebody died? No, seriously. Can you remember?

People have died, their spirits never returning. Whether they missed purgatory all together or they never found the way out we may never know. It is said that only those who really want to live are shuttled into purgatory. Sometimes people want to die, and are gone forever.

Even now, there is talk that Tenebrion's experiments may destroy purgatory. Then we'd all be in big trouble.

Lex