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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9562373" data-attributes="member: 7737">Commentary:Ohhhhhkay.One. The College of Arcane Sciences isn't anyone's "house". One might say that Landor in the past and Beldon in the present were "housed in" the tower, but nobody would describe a multi-story basalt tower that also contains a dining hall, basement training room, and various other people's living areas as their "house".Two. How was Landor, the ARCHMAGE whose power filled the GODS THEMSELVES with fear, not able to protect himself against his wife's younger brother and some unspecified assassins? And were those character-class assassins, as in the thief subclass? Or did Landor mean the "fighters" or "paladins" sent by Archcleric Oram? (Who hasn't been mentioned at all since Thayne's info dump.)Three. If Landor was under threat from within the college, why didn't he magic himself into the crypts that no-one knew how to enter other than his familiar, Rufyl?Four. Why did Landor give his familiar such a goofy name?Five. What evidence do we have up to now of Beldon’s evil? In the course of this book, Beldon has:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">taken in his penniless nephew, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">asked everyone in the college to respect Carr, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">allowed and encouraged Carr to skip the cantrips and go straight to the more advanced spell classes, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">prevented a fight between Arno and Carr, </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">and warned Carr away from the door of death. </li> </ul>We, the readers, know that Beldon is evil because Thayne and Landor say so, but Beldon doesn't seem to have done anything wrong other than bad-mouthing his dead sister and perhaps not strongly warning other non-Carr wizards away from the door.If the book wants to set up Beldon as this evil mastermind who must be stopped at all costs, it needs to do far more to show us some of that evil. What is Beldon's goal? What plots does he have in motion that are only one Sceptre of Power away from fruition?An obvious step to demonstrate Beldon's evil would be for Landor to call out Beldon specifically as his murderer: "Dear son. If you're reading this, your mother is dead, and so am I. Beldon killed me. Don't ask how I'm writing this after already being dead. P.S. My spellbooks are with Perth the Archdruid."Alternatively, one can imagine a plot wherein Beldon and Landor fought a Gandalf-vs.-Saruman style wizards' duel that left Landor mortally wounded. Landor barely managed to escape, then barricaded himself in his room and had just enough time to write the letter before he succumbed to his wounds.Or perhaps one of Beldon's assassins poisoned Landor (poison being one of the AD&D assassin's signature abilities), and Landor had just enough time, etc.Six. Did I notice any of this nonsense as a child? I can't remember.</blockquote>

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