Mighty Ikõdo

[whyemmdee]

MIGHTY IKÕDO SPEAKS!

Damn, what a ride. My playtimes on this character were so terribly inconsistent and oftentimes sporadic that I wondered a fair few times if I should just quit him, but I'm glad I stuck it out. I apped to play a water genasi, son of Tehõto's chieftain Mero-Iti, who would be sent out into the city of rings on a dangerous quest of sort which would threaten his home of Tehõto. He would scour the city for riches, gold and magical treasures  and return when he had grown powerful and strong enough after which he would then defeat this evil then ritualistically duel his mother to become the next chief.

We originally started with seven in a prelude, but time zones, real life and  the usual claimed a bunch of them (not to mention FD). The prelude gave us the hook of a vision of a great evil sleeping beneath the island and that we would need to acquire great magical artifacts for sacrificial purposes so we could gain entry and enter the lair of whatever there slept. Ikõdo's vision in particular consisted of him seeing himself as the sole survivor of a calamity that claimed his home, which he interpreted as him being a chosen savior of his people. He challenged his mother immediately after for the first time and got easily trounced, then vowed to try again later one day when he'd return and claim her mantle for himself.. she ordered him to learn as much as he could from the wizards of the city and to collect great implements of war. And so he went with his warriors.

He started out as merely Ikõdo - right after the prelude, we were thrown into the Rifts as fresh level 4s and were immediately accosted by a bunch of arbiters and branded 'invaders'. The Tehotans' presence in the city was always merely tolerated by the existing factions and never really appreciated which lead to a lot of resentment and distrust, any attempt at brokering any sort of alliance with any one individual or group more or less always ending up in the grass-skirts being betrayed. Thereafter the Tehotans stuck to themselves, savage and strange in their traditions, and often paid the price for their lack of understanding the politics of the ring-city in blood.  He started off as CG and ended up CE as he became accustomed to living in the city and the sprawling planar plains, turning from an individual who tried diplomacy and beseeching the factions and houses for assistance with his quest into a veritable warlord who demanded tribute and went so far as to enslave others when the need and desire struck him.

I like to have all my characters have an underlying reason to always seek out other (new) characters, that way I'd always have a reason to approach anyone and everyone and always have a reason for interaction. For Ikõdo, that was seeking out spellcasters to serve him. It seemed a neat little arrangement: mechanically they'd buff him and he'd become a monster in melee, and in terms of story they'd serve him and in return he'd protect them always and dote on them sometimes, leading to some interesting and funny scenes of roleplay. At first he allowed male casters as his shamans, but in his savage consideration he found that 'male witches' always had a knack of being too rebellious and had a penchant for dying, while 'shamanesses' seemed to overall be more subservient. Overall, Ikõdo managed to get seven of these over the course of my time playing them, sadly never at the same time as I'd hoped to be able to, but all of these characters were a blast to play and explore and quest with, so thanks to anyone who decided 'serving' him was a good idea: Xander, Gilios, Cheline, Iliane, Madelaine, Samantha, Enfys.

About two months after creation, the last three Tehotans, Mahu'toa, Ultulu-Kai and Ikõdo, at one point returned back to the island to go on a dream journey where they fought against a thing of the deep, a fragment of whatever lay beneath Tehõto. They succeeded in defeating it and, as they slept, their tattoos were being worked on by strange hands with stranger ink: Ikõdo's ended up with the Sunrise Raptor, the symbolistic tattoos befitting the most ambitious of chieftains. After this point, Ikõdo transitioned into becoming mighty Ikõdo and became incredibly full of himself. He was no longer a traveler of worlds, he was to be a conqueror. He was no longer a warrior-diplomat of Tehõto, he was a fearsome destroyer whose will would no longer be denied by mere mortals. And he would no longer be chief-son.. he would be king. He scoured the seams and took on great challenges to prove himself as someone worthy of that title he would one day try to claim. He'd solo attack and kill demon princes in hell seams, fight groups of plague knights and bile demons on his lonesome and always be the first into the fray during quests and letting others 'follow in his ruinous wake'.  In strange and esoteric places he'd deface shrines, tombs and works of art with his spear, the marring of it a marking of his triumph there. He fought anyone that challenged him in the arena possessing a card and dispensaries he always fought alone, only ever accepting assistance from spellcasters in his service - I sort of balanced the fact that he was a powerful character capable of soloing a Dispensary against most of the server by not having  a bronze ear, only ever attending if informed of them by other characters. It seemed to work okay and he still got beat more often than not.

He ended up absolutely despising wizards as they'd often broken their promises to him and because a wizard pc was the only one that actively tried to earn his bounty. He'd also seen the horrors they were capable of inflicting, far surpassing what he could ever hope to achieve with his spear, and the relatively easy access to wizards in bottles and how easy it was to acquire and possess them made him come to see them as individually weak creatures deserving a stronger hand to guide them. Perhaps somewhere he was envious of their power,  the origins of it something very far beyond the venture of his comprehension. He was furthermore a poor merchant whose prices were always double or triple the usual rate as he had no points in appraise but merely guessed at their value (and how hard it was for him to acquire them, often measured in potions). Logic during mercantile transactions only served to annoy him and with his skill at trading rudimentary at best, he was easily tricked or conned by those who knew how to trick a savage's thinking: not with logic or esoteric coin, but with beads and blankets. He valued gems, worthless to most, but for him a single diamond was worth a precious 'trivial treasure' at the very least.

He ended his journey the way he began it: by having people who really should know better follow him into the deep unknown and uncovering things best left buried before getting his ass handed to him by his mother. I've taken the time to upload screenshots showing off his journey in no chronological order, I took a lot less on Ikõdo early on than I did on my last real character (Dalidande Mench) due to the fact that I though I'd die a lot sooner!

Chronological order screenshots
[hide]The first wizard, trapped in glass..
Clamor the title: Mighty
Herd these wizards to me, warrior
Using even a goddess for his purposes
Never to die, forever to dream
To parley with purported peers
Charisma proves again the best stat
How you doin'?
United in ambition, soul to strange soul
Newly minted sorceress
The best treasure imaginable
Coming home, first solo dispensary attended and won
Here his sorceresses sacrificed themselves so he could retain level 8
Undulating quietly by the fire
Newly minted servant in Samantha
To dare tread past the edge of all his known world
Cowing even the mighty Ikõdo..
Harrowing the death, swallowed whole, unearned
Until Tehõto is saved, death dare not sting
Not even he a match for mighty Ikõdo
Threatening a wizard
Crafting opportunities in Ticker Square
How true the divination to be
Under the watchful eye of the preceding seventh face
Now wizards will know fear
Tremble before him
'Cause it's cool
How to break him in 3, 2, 1
Umbral promises
Now, at long last

Death and peace[/hide]

Character
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Loot
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Placeholder for absolutely amazing spear, Scion of Avarice, missing some stats

Spear
Enhancement +1
Confusion DC 22 10%/4 rounds
Vampiric Regeneration +3
Only usable by Evil[/hide]

[Aethereal]

I remember when our PCs met the first time when Ikodo was that clearly entitled yet noble-seeming savage who was on a great quest to save his homeland. A reasonable individual who had reached an accord with the wizards of the time.

But then after some absence, the next interaction we had was the threat of glass - which was brilliant indeed, and really set the tone for the character having departed from his noble origins. This was followed up with the marriage proposal which was soundly rejected, and the clearly deranged and villainous response: of tortured wizards and violent intentions. Then the kidnapping of the apprentice which, just as the tale was being retold, resulted in Ikodo suddenly appearing in Warrenwatch.

At that point Ikodo had become a truly hated figure. It was like seeing your worst enemy suddenly and inexplicably be given free reign of your sanctuary. Admittedly, I overreacted/panicked OOCly at this venture but it wasn't a type of event/experience that I was in any way expecting or prepared for especially in the very vulnerable situation it occurred. And even then Ikodo comes out on top, the wretched conqueror of wizards to the very end. That's a mighty accomplishment indeed, and resulted in my personal hatred of the PC. Which is again, kudos to you as a storyteller to evoke such a thing.

A fine villain, well characterized from beginning to end.

[Maxwell Artfall]

Holy cow look at all that damage immunity! Looks like I lucked out having that Ikodo favor token that time you crit failed that appraise check

Cool character with what seems like a wild and interesting journey that I wish I had gotten to be a larger part of. I only really interacted with him toward the end of his long life but from everything I saw you played him without compromise IC and with restraint OOC and its a combination that makes you one of the server's best players and Ikodo a unique and memorable character. Well done!

[Grix]

Duuude Ikodo was so awesome! I never got to dig into his philosophies but I was always thoroughly entertained by his antics. Never ceased to impress or at least give a great laugh with his subjugation of wizards. We had some pretty great adventures together! None will surpass the finale though. I wish you'd have won that fight in the end, I was so ready to hail the new king of Tehoto, but alas. That adventure was brilliant though and had a great time fighting with you on it. When I get home from work, I've got loads of great screenshots for you of the final voyage!

[putrid_plum]

Rest well my blue brother.

[wundyboy]

he was a cool pc that i never once interacted with but could always tell 'yeah, he's got it'

now let's see you do something even greater he he

[KaedweniKnight]

Wonderful interactions between Ikodo and Sloan inside the square, good pc man

[Last Cold Tome]

You are a genius, your PCs stand out so much and are so memorable, I love your style and the way you write and play, and I can't wait to see what you do next!

[Drink With Me]

Though our paths did not cross much. It was an honor to be apart of the final chapter in the story. Great work with the character.

[granny]

Great tale. Amazing PC, and wonderful characterization. It was a delight to share with you his story.

[LiAlH4]

Great work! :)