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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jfdlsjfd" data-source="post: 9579947" data-attributes="member: 42856">Side note: honestly, everything makes more sense if you consider that Saven and Freeton are the same place, on Seagate Island.OK, we missed a Checkov scrollkeeper opportunity, but why not. We don't explicitely get acquainted with the various red-robed guys, so it's totally possible he was the obvious successor to Beldon should something untoward happen to him.But still...1. The logical aftermath of Our Carr (a) crossing the Forbidden Door nobody could (b) taking control of the famed and immensely powerful Sceptre of Power which makes their magic useless (c) demonstrating its effect by returning Beldon's Death Spell on him is "Hi there, bald guys, I am the inheritor of the former owner who was usurped by late Beldon whose cinders you can see lying in my father, and now, MY office. I am the new master of this place. As there are still things I need to learn, like, for example, how to cast a spell since I failed all my lessons so far, I'll appoint a temporary manager. Also, we'll implement change since teaching is very bad here -- did I mention that you failed to teach us any spell ? -- mostly because you guys don't teach and delegate that to sociopathic 2nd year students. Ah, and I have a list of people to expel. It's a short list, actually..."2. Admittedly, since we didn't take our canonical path in this book, Carr never enrolled, and for an external observer, he just broke and entered the academy, killed their benevolent headmaster without being able to explain any kind of evil plan he might even, let alone proove them, and fled after stealing a precious treasure of the Academy. So they were left to their own device...But in this case, what are we told? "Everyone wanted to Haslum to take over".... "but unfortunately Haslum disappeared last year".  We offed Uncle Beldon 5 (or is it 6 ?) years ago. It took them more than FOUR years to elect a new headmaster? How many round of vote do they have?3. After the disappearance of their most power, 9th-level-spell-casting scrollkeeper, the other red robes decided that hand over the academy to a sociopathic apprentice instead of one of their own. Huh...4. Thayne is the WORST character to have source in the academy. He was forbidden to appear and the security system was set up to warn if he even got near the gate. His backstory is totally not coherent with him having friends within the faculty, as Beldon would have removed them before as potential traitors.5. Haslum summoned a demon. WIS 3 scrollkeeper probably needed his power for some kind of important thing like "I want to bind you to my service in order to discover where the stolen sceptre of Bukhod is, and where is Landor's son, the only person that could actually steal it from our tower". And he got, hum, outbargained. That I can see.Despite not knowing him at all since we fled the academy after our heist in this reality.Or despite not knowing him at all since we never encounter him or hear of him even if we do go to the Academy for lessons.The author knew that he was writing a trilogy, didn't he? He could have just put ONE lesson for one of the spells taught by a benevolent teacher called Haslum, where failure doesn't make you die, and where he exhibits care for his students and is deeply sad at seeing our Carr fail to learn the spell, offering a remedial class in the next few days for those who failed. Actually, in this reality, we have no reason to care about the Academy. Our job there was done once we learnt that the scrolls were in the glade and we recovered the sceptre of power. That we safely keep in our unguarded log shed while we go out hunting manticores. Some more exposition as to whether we should care for the Academy, Freeton or even Seagate Island would be in order.I remember that one. He was killed during a Feather Fall lesson by a fellow student called Carla.Our interaction with this bum tend to confirm our first impression (where he offered alcohol to an underage children in a dark alley): he has a severe intoxication problem. Seriously, I can understand that being expelled from the Academy hit him hard, but he should get therapy or something...Very organized monsters then, who can control a city, create barricade, and set up a network of influence over several ports to cooridnate regional piracy.Why didn't the paladin just attack them during all those decades?Tsssk, they are persons now.So basically, he knows nothing and is just making stuff up. Typical of a bum who want to stay a little longer enjoying our food and mead.Maybe they lost their mojo, girl? They are now the Knights of the Unholy Arno.Reinforcing my theory that Landor's power made the god quake in fear more a sign of local Gods being extremely weak, more like minor faeries in our myth, than God as all-powerful creators of the universe.To butt his head with? The only canonical power of the sceptre is to bounce back spells to their caster. So if Arno is half as smart, he'll look at scrawny Carr and say "hum, so you oppose me? Well, duly noted, goodbye" (possibly just casting Shield should we threaten him with magic missile, after failing to "use" the sceptre against him?)I agree with the commentary that a better sense of urgency would be created had the author been more affirmative... as in "shortly after your heist in Landor's tower, you vacated the place but didn't close the door behind you. One of the first students to show up was Arno, who got his hands on an artifact that was kept in the office, powerful even if not as powerful as the scepter, an Orb of Mind Control. Using it, he forced the benevolent scrollkeeper to summon a demon for him (and promptly fed the scrollkeeper to the demon) and won the election for headmaster position despite his very low academic standing. Everyone was shocked when it happened. Then, he turned his orb power on the knights paladin, and it worked so well that they abandonned their sacred vows... Now, he is en route to Saren to meet the Archcleric and possibly subvert the religion that is the basis of the social order of the whole of Kandia, outside of our few, forest-dwelling tribes. We must act quickly against him!"</blockquote>

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