[OOC] Almost, But Not Quite, Entirely Unlike Tea [Trials of the Young King OOC Thread]

[Blue]

Suddenly I'm wondering how things would have turned out if Nevh hadn't refused to escape before she was entrusted with the sheath.
Maybe the Children in the Dark would have recovered it in their massive raid.

Looking at whatever campaign plans you've made and then at what actually ends up happening must be a fascinating thing.

[SpatulaOdoom]

I'm going to guess it would have been kept with the body since they were studying the field and it was obviously from the sword.
Either way, I guess we now know what the Oracle was talking about when she told Nevh about Xu'deln being her best chance for a cure for the Rudaa's illness.
It's really cool to see a plotline that was laid two years ago now continue to develop.

[Blue]

Well, her revelations on the matter of the illness involved a bunch of stuff. What directly involved the blade and Xu'deln was that part:

Originally Posted by Nevh

"Is Xander's blade, the one containing the will of L'arabiel, connected to the salvation of the Rudaa?"

Originally Posted by Oracle

"The Unnamed Blade does not contain L'arabiel's will, it contains a fraction of her power and personality, a fraction that is not limitless, hence its sealed state much of the time. To answer your question though...the sword is not the answer you seek, it is but an echo, a hollow imitation, a...vestige of L'arabiel."
"The salvation of the Rudaa does hinge upon her however. I can not reveal everything, because much of it changes and you must walk the path yourself to have any hope of finishing it, however I can tell you that in the process of helping the king, you will meet people who can help you in your own quest, such as Xu'deln - the man you met briefly before. He holds a part of the puzzle, but it will take more than asking or threatening him to get him to reveal it, which is why I have not told you until now."

Vestige of L'arabiel + Xu'deln = totally not a giveaway once the character really knows what binders and vestiges are.

[SpatulaOdoom]

Funny thing. When Morgan explained what he was trying to do and asked for Xu's help, Xu asked if he should bind L'arabiel's vestige. I had a funny feeling something was up, since it's an active rather than a passive thing on the DM's part. But like you said the character knows practically nothing about binding, so I decided to go along with the hint. I wonder if not binding L'arabiel would have resulted in Xander's return.

[Blue]

I'll agree that he took the initiative but it feels like a very natural response to the situation. When you bind vestiges and you are about to interact with an artifact connected to one of your vestiges, it is the kind of detail that interests you.
It could even have been strange for him to be 'passive' on the matter. I think you'll agree that when Mak makes his npcs active it isn't always to nudge us where we should go. Quite the opposite. But it adds to his quality as a DM. I like it when npcs aren't dumb preprogrammed props that do nothing when they should until you interact with them in a particular way.

Good thought on the possible 'alternate ending' with a Xander resurrection.
Ah, the heavy consequences of a simple yes or no question.

[Makenshi]

If Xu'deln hadn't bound L'arabiel then there would have been no reaction/resurrection, as having the two 'vestiges' (one of them in Xu'deln) was instrumental in what happened.

The other souls were consumed by the blade each time it unlocked its full potential, with the wielder's soul being taken as the 'fuel' for its next use.

As for the fate of Xander, L'arabiel did say that as he was inside the sword at the time of its breaking he would have been freed and sent back to the 'afterlife', so all isn't lost.

As far as plans go, I learnt in my first two campaigns that planning a game in detail is an exercise in futility if you don't want to rail-road the PCs, so I tend to only plan things outside of the PCs' control and try to think of several possible paths from whatever point we're at at the moment. Even then PCs have a tendency to surprise you, but at least I've got things prepared in case they end up doing something I had prepared for later on in the campaign.

And as for my NPCs, I'm glad you like how I use them and I have to admit that I always find it a little amusing at the start of games before people realise that just because an NPC has a detailed background/personality or even links to PCs/important NPCs, it doesn't mean they have ANYTHING to do with the story beyond a mention or a scene .

~MTWC

[SpatulaOdoom]

Originally Posted by Blue

I'll agree that he took the initiative but it feels like a very natural response to the situation. When you bind vestiges and you are about to interact with an artifact connected to one of your vestiges, it is the kind of detail that interests you.
It could even have been strange for him to be 'passive' on the matter. I think you'll agree that when Mak makes his npcs active it isn't always to nudge us where we should go. Quite the opposite. But it adds to his quality as a DM. I like it when npcs aren't dumb preprogrammed props that do nothing when they should until you interact with them in a particular way.

Good thought on the possible 'alternate ending' with a Xander resurrection.
Ah, the heavy consequences of a simple yes or no question.

I do agree that the NPC's having their own volition, agendas, and motivations is a great thing. It's how I try to write them as well, including Mortimer and Eloise. In Xu's case I noticed it because he hasn't taken a very active interest in anything and I suspected a sort of "authors involvement." In that case though the appropriate response to the suggestion was more or less "seems logical."

EDIT: That's odd, I thought the blade ate their life energy, not their actual soul. Nasty.

[Blue]

Aye, I recall it being said somewhere that souls were being used to fuel it.
But I also remember Shade saying they pretty much stayed in the blade (on the matter of L'arabiel being good company for whoever gets to unlock its full potential). Gave a strange impression that they were either becoming 'vestiges' as well or otherwise having their essence somewhat merging with hers.

[SpatulaOdoom]

Ok. I've got my preliminary spell list/effects up in the current post. I've got to go through the thread a bit to see what else Morgan has cast, but I think it's just that one Sending and the Telepathic bond. I'm assuming that all his defensive spells that are 10min per level or better were cast either during the intermission or before the meeting started. The only question I have at this point is how many spells Morgan had a chance to cast after they were dropped into the Plane of Shadows? I'm assuming one, which will be Stone Body.
Oh, actually another Q. I'm assuming Zilira and Coiya are on the Material plane as well.

[Makenshi]

Y'see, this is why planning in detail is generally pointless. I didn't account for Spat having Morgan try to lure in an attacker with that ruse (though in hindsight I probably should have).

~MTWC

[Blue]

And I certainly didn't expect that Nevh and Mrith could both possibly be together in the same battle. o_O

[Makenshi]

I'm fine with you controlling both by the way. Considering that even if recent events *cough* blue woman on a rampage and a traitor among the Elernan delegates *cough* don't result in a more prompt decision on the second dagger this will likey only make Nevh more sure that she needs to sequester herself away, it means Nevh will likely be out of the picture soon-ish rather than later, so we might as well get Mrith involved.

~MTWC

[Blue]

Is Morgan still affected by her Guardian spell effect? Because that would be pretty neat.

[Blue]

[Makenshi]

That depends when she cast it.

~MTWC