Thalyssra Moonstrike:
Am gonna post this here so as not to clog in game:
One of the reasons I'm not posting as much as I would perhaps like is I get really frustrated with a lot Gerad's posts that seem to steal Thal's thunder or tread on her area of being a priestess of Selune.
All that stuff about Moonfire/Moon drops/etc should have been stuff she knew, and told the PCs about, but Gerad jumped in and ruined that moment. The player could have just ooc gave all that info to me, and then Thal could have said it all in game.
Now, he ruined her diving into the pool to investigate the object. Sure, she can still do it, but he's drained part of the pool's power, possibly to the point of uselessness.
I'm almost wondering what her role is in the group, since Gerad keeps stealing her spotlight, and doing/knowing stuff she should she do/know.
And before you give me that "I'm just doing what my character would do", know that in the gaming world at large, that is generally seen as an incredibly toxic phrase.
Now lets see here. To go line by line...
1) You have refused to participate in designing and creating an enhancing ritual and talisman for yourself (and so do not have one) and have repeatedly refused to function as a priestess. You have refused to tell me about what aspect of Selune you worship, what iconography and features you would want in a shrine to her, and have not told anyone stories about your goddess or attempted to popularize her worship or perform any priestly rituals - one of the most basic responsibilities of priests on Aebir-Toril since their power depends on worship - and blatantly haven't bothered to familiarize yourself with your supposed faith.
2) Yes, it should have been. Which is why I left it to you to talk about them AND provided an OOC link to the Faerun Wiki so that you could get the information you apparently weren't familiar with to relay. In fact, in deference to you, I provided a wrong guess for Gerad - the notion that John might be able to distill such a thing - rather than simply relying on the fact that Gerad has a base of +8 in Knowledge/Religion, a +15 bonus to knowledge of Faiths of Faerun, and can readily apply specific skill boosters. The fact that you didn't have your character provide that information to the party is why they still don't have much of it beyond the names. If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that Gerad has not, in fact, provided details.
3) We arrived at the pool on Nov 2'nd. Gerad started doing some divinations on Nov 4'th. On Nov 11'th you posted something - that you were standing and watching. On Nov 11 Khorolf saw that there was something in the pool (but has not yet mentioned this to anyone else, so no one else has that information yet). On Nov 12'th Gerad did more divinations and got a response. On the 13'th he shared that information with the rest of the group and took a drink. At that point you had had eleven days to post (and should have posted at least every three days, remember?) that you were taking an action, and had not. It is no one elses fault that you decided not to do anything.
4) Since you're a newcomer to the group, it is up to you to find a place in it - not for other people to abandon their roles to make room for you. In fact, I have made deliberate efforts to accommodate your failure to inquire as to the specialties of the characters who are already present, but you have failed to take advantage of those opportunities. Secondarily, you did in fact claim a role - Moon Priestess - (See #1), but have been refusing to actually take it.
5) And here you attempt to claim moral superiority by first telling me that you know what I am going to say, and then claiming that it is "toxic". In this I would tend to agree with you; deceptive complaints, not paying attention, attempts to be per-emptively morally superior, claims that people who have been trying to assist and accommodate you are in fact attacking you, putting words in peoples mouths, and trying to imply that they are "toxic" is unethical, manipulative, and indeed "toxic" in the widely accepted definition of that term.
Since I consider it obligatory to at least summarize the data I base my conclusions on, I have summarized it below. Unfortunately, it seems to me that further interaction with you offers a poor return of amusement on my limited recreational time. Personally, I have found that what you get out of a game depends on what you put into it.
Data Summary:
July 10: Private message, trying to find out what kind of talisman and ritual you would want. You never replied and so have not gotten a Talisman.
July 26: I noted possibly getting a shrine set up for you. I have inquired repeatedly about what sort of symbology it should incorporate, what aspects it should be dedicated to, and other details. So far, we have gone through August, September, and October, and are well into November without you bothering to supply any answers.
September 26: When Gerad asked the lunar priestess about the Moon Drops she said "I am unsure what that refers to. I suppose I could pray to my goddess tonight, and see if she can enlighten me." She pauses to think, before continuing. "Vessel of purity likely means a virgin, but I have no idea what 'drops of the moon within' one means. The only thing I can think of would be moonstones, but that doesn't make any sense." So I gave you a reference link so that you could easily obtain the information that you should have already had, specifically noting that that would be not Gerad's thing so that you'd know it was up to you to provide it.
On the 28'th you continued on about being a virgin. On the 29'th, I pointed out that people make poor vessels, and we wold probably want the same type of purified vessel as is used for holy water. The GM then stated that "Vessel of purity can be anything that’s never been used before or consecrated to a higher power or ideal. All ya pervs thinking virgins, though I’ll accept those. That’d be most of the party anyways..." Ergo, flasks prepared as for holy water would do.
October 1'st: Gerad reviewed the prophecy he got earlier to answer other characters questions. You announced that it might be better if you blessed the chalice (No one had mentioned a chalice; we were talking about flasks). On the OOC thread Khorolf asked why I was waiting, and I informed him that "It is rude to step on another character's specialty - and while I suspect that Gerad probably has a higher base in his knowledge skills, pretty much every clerical type more or less automatically has that 1 SP in Specific Knowledge/(Their) Cult Doctrine for their particular faith. Even if they didn't think to buy it, it sort of comes with the job".
October 1'st: Gerad made another effort to get your lunar priestess to provide some information about "Drops of the Moon".
October 3'rd. You denied knowing anything more about Moonfire and Drops Fallen From The Moon. You do note that you got a 20 on your Religion check. (Unfortunately, on the topic of Religions of Faerun, that is less than Gerad's pre-roll bonus. Were you waiting for the Game Master to provide a statement instead of just looking it up?)
October 3'rd: I offered a general list of places near Beckfyrd where magical drops falling from the sky might collect based on local geography and magical conditions and asked for your commentary or additions. You provided none. I also noted preparing some flasks of generic purity. You noted that you blessing them might be best, but did not actually act to do so.
October 11: You wanted to know why the "replying to" label changed. Then you wanted to talk about dinner.
October 20: You stated that you thought that consecrating a shrine to Selune would be a good idea. Yes, it would have been, which is why I have been trying to get you to provide some input on that for several months.
October 21'st. I once again tried to get your priestess to talk about her goddess and faith. This was ignored.
November 1'st. You demonstrated that you had entirely missed the point of having some people fly; it was to look for spots of light on the ground from overhead since we were looking for something that was likely to be luminescent.
November 2'nd: We arrived at the luminescent pool.
November 4'th: Gerad started running divinations.
November 11'th. You posted noting that you were standing and observing, as well as using True Seeing to look for invisible/incorporeal creatures. (although simply being Incorporeal does not render a creature invisible to normal sight anyway).
November 12'th. Gerad did some more divinations and got some results from the GM.
November 14'th. Gerad acted on the information he got from his divinations.
November 15'th. You complained that - after you had done nothing for thirteen days - someone else acting was "stealing your thunder" and put a complaint in the OOC thread.