Of Blighted Dwarves and Unfriendly Wizards

[Saruna]

Oh, you either need to send a pm to Frug and Niabi to change the name of your Ayin account to match your character, or make a new account and I'll change the poster of your character sheet to match.

Also ... I'm going to go ahead and post to move them to the night of the attack, and we'll figure out posting order from there.

[Vicentius]

Ooh, this should be interesting... Just for my own information, how many carts are there?

Edit: nvm, nine, you said. Oh dear.

[Vicentius]

Brief bios on the Caravan owners:

Big Eddie (Eduard) - Father, elf shifter, big and gregarious and sharp as a tack. Former provincial soldier and quartermaster, dishonourably discharged and lashed for smuggling and tampering the records. Used his contacts to start the caravan with his wife.

Pippa (Penelope) - Mother, elf, plump, motherly figure with sharp eyes and a sharper mind. A merchant's daughter who dreamed of travel, she was struggling to establish her own caravan before she met Big Eddie and took advantage of his contacts from his military days.

Eddie Jr - Son, big eyes, bigger imagination, fond of stories, apple of his mother's eye.

Armalia - Daughter, family disappointment. Shut up, Mal.

Quentin - Pippa's brother. He just works here.

[Deer]

Put down a Deer post awhile ago. Forgot to say so here.

[Nedan Sandair]

Of course, you now realize that we have to kill you, and it will not be very hard.

[Deer]

Kill me? For looking at a man who died of his own injuries? For talking to him in a voice only said man could hear? For examining my own prison? I'm curious to hear the motivation for killing me.

[Iolan Kephla]

The simple fact that Deer is dangerous, inconvenient and does not heed instructions, plus the fact that Eddie was the only one who knew what he was worth. We have absolutely no reason whatsoever to put up with him.

[Saruna]

I think we've reached a point where we need to discuss character motivations and plot.

Here's the scene: It's dark. Enemies are all over the place. Iolan is ramped up (adrenaline, trigger decisions/reflexes, he's killed people), you have fear and anger and all of that going on.

There's a strange person wandering around. Neither Iolan nor Ysoria know this person. You have one caravan leader down, the other is who knows where, and the second in command is also somewhere else.

Ysoria has felt fear of this figure. Iolan has little reason to believe it's a friendly.

The caravan leader has appeared to die and that is a Big Fucking Problem. The stranger did not try to help keep Eddie from dying.

Motivation wise, neither Ysoria or Iolan have a reason to keep Deer alive; they are in an act first, think later mindset -- especially Iolan. Deer is a likely threat, because he is not part of the caravan, and therefore is probably some sort of eccentric mage/whatever the bandits brought along.

So, here are some options as I see them:

1) Iolan incompacitates Deer, maybe nearly destoys him. In the fallout of the fight, they figure out who/what he is and cart him along to fix him later.

2) Before going unconscious, Eddie somehow identifies Deer ("merchandise", "you're supposed to be in the cart", "it's you they're after" etc)

3) One of the remaining knots of bandits sees Deer and tries to take him, perhaps knocking him down or something; this would give Ysoria or wife/brother (depending on their ignorance) pause in the 'kill deer' idea.


possibilities to keep Deer with them:
a) Eddie is not dead-dead, and a healer (his wife or her brother) brings him back, and he explains Deer's importance.

b) Wife or brother is aware of what deer is and stops Iolan before deer gets dead.

c) Eddie is not dead-dead, just at a very low level of life and comes back on his own with some nursing. Perhaps his body automatically shifts forms, which heals him enough to keep him alive...or his natural healing abilities clots the blood flow just before death.


Thoughts?

[Deer]

I'm thinking of a combination of 3c.
Possibly a bandit was given a dispelling ward by the clan mage, slaps it on Deer and he goes down. This reveals a weakness of his and lessens the fact that he will be mistaken as an enemy.
Meanwhile like you said Eddie's shifting is doing his work, so his heart-rate slows but he lives.
If you both are are cool with this, then I can edit my last message.

[Saruna]

Thanks, that works for me!

I think sometimes we all have different ideas about what's happening or whatnot, so it can be a good idea to doublecheck big changes to plot-necessary npcs to make sure we're all on the same page and so the characters are able to act the way they are inclined to without ruining everything (like being inclined to off Deer ><).

Hope you're settling into the dorm nicely, and may your internet connection be as strong as possible!

[Deer]

Posted a reply.
Oh and the internet is manageable.

[Saruna]

glad to hear it, man.

I'm moving a bit slow (if you haven't noticed, heh) but I am going to try to get my ass in gear and manage my time better.

Y'all know how I suck at managing time. But I am trying, I promise.

[Brokk]

*waves to show that some life yet lingers*

[Deer]

Still waiting on a reply -3-

[Saruna]

Sorry, I've been chronically behind on schoolwork since semester start, which has lead to much angst and exhaustion. I am trying something new this week in order to try to get ahead (which means reducing sleep to 3-5 hours a night; can't do this too often as it leads to bad job performance) in order to try to get ahead. I know I am holding back the thread, and I am very sorry for that!