arkwright
Explorer
Sooo... Book 4, Always on Time. It's kind of heavily assumed by the book that in the Malice Lands bandit attack, there will be at least a few casualties among the passengers. But, thanks to lots of poking around and preparations, my party arranged it such that no one was killed or even particularly injured.
Any thoughts on how to rewrite Vlendam Heid and Damata Griento's interactions to still work?
“People ask me,” he starts, “how will the world end? How in the various hells should I know? I am not a prophet. I don’t believe you can know what will happen. Yes, mages and priests can see paths and visions, but it only takes one unlikely interaction or chance meeting to change the course of the future.
“I don’t say I know how the world will end. But I know that it will end. Every fire burns itself out. Tomorrow morning, look to the sun. Feel how warm it is. One day it must burn out, and without it this world will freeze. Maybe some—.”
He stops, then looks down to the front row and adjusts his glasses.
“I prepared a speech,” he says. “They hired me and told me the audience would be layfolk. I tried to prepare something simple. I see I have some admirers in the back rows, but up front, it is pretty empty. You survived the attack on the train today?”
Damata nods. Unexpectedly, Heid sits down at the edge of the stage and lets his feet dangle as he addresses Damata (and the PCs, if they’re present) directly.
“I have a contract, and I must speak on a level my audience understands. Let us be efficient. I wrote a rather long treatise on how best to prepare for death, and for other endings in life. Today there was a great deal of death on your train. I leave it to you: please ask whatever you want, and perhaps we can learn something from this tragedy.”
Damata thinks for a minute, then says, “The people who died today don’t have a chance to change anything anymore. I do. I hurt my family, and I can’t stand
myself now. I want to change things. I saw I could die out of nowhere, so I guess I should make amends while I have the chance.”
“I have dealt with this before,” Heid says. “Life has many chapters, and if you want the book to end properly, you must choose the path of each chapter well too.” “Oh.” Damata slumps. “It’s hard, because I think if I try to fix anything, I’ll get myself killed.”
Any thoughts on how to rewrite Vlendam Heid and Damata Griento's interactions to still work?
“People ask me,” he starts, “how will the world end? How in the various hells should I know? I am not a prophet. I don’t believe you can know what will happen. Yes, mages and priests can see paths and visions, but it only takes one unlikely interaction or chance meeting to change the course of the future.
“I don’t say I know how the world will end. But I know that it will end. Every fire burns itself out. Tomorrow morning, look to the sun. Feel how warm it is. One day it must burn out, and without it this world will freeze. Maybe some—.”
He stops, then looks down to the front row and adjusts his glasses.
“I prepared a speech,” he says. “They hired me and told me the audience would be layfolk. I tried to prepare something simple. I see I have some admirers in the back rows, but up front, it is pretty empty. You survived the attack on the train today?”
Damata nods. Unexpectedly, Heid sits down at the edge of the stage and lets his feet dangle as he addresses Damata (and the PCs, if they’re present) directly.
“I have a contract, and I must speak on a level my audience understands. Let us be efficient. I wrote a rather long treatise on how best to prepare for death, and for other endings in life. Today there was a great deal of death on your train. I leave it to you: please ask whatever you want, and perhaps we can learn something from this tragedy.”
Damata thinks for a minute, then says, “The people who died today don’t have a chance to change anything anymore. I do. I hurt my family, and I can’t stand
myself now. I want to change things. I saw I could die out of nowhere, so I guess I should make amends while I have the chance.”
“I have dealt with this before,” Heid says. “Life has many chapters, and if you want the book to end properly, you must choose the path of each chapter well too.” “Oh.” Damata slumps. “It’s hard, because I think if I try to fix anything, I’ll get myself killed.”