.......... But Vaarsuvius hasn't spoken to his spouse in a long time..........

[Xesirin]

Okay, so we KNOW that V's mate is a baker, but the knowledge of how powerful his mate is is directly dependant on whether that fact has stayed constant since she last saw her spouse.

My theory? V's mate won't be powerful enough to stop the dragon, but they'll have some levels of power that V doesn't know about that'll be enough to stall for time.

Although I'm probably just hoping now.. :smallfrown:

[An Enemy Spy]

(s)he has been at home with two kids this whole time. I highly doubt that (s)he has had time to gain any levels.

[lordofthe_wog]

I'm pretty sure that Emeril vs. ABD would be the same result. Dead cook in 1 action.

[Kurald Galain]

.... yes he has, it was less than a decade ago!

[Gamiress]

I refuse to believe that in the 5-ish years since Vaarsuvius left home (a negligible amount of time to an elf), there's been absolutely no contact. Not with spells like Sending bouncing around.

[Silverraptor]

I refuse to believe that in the 5-ish years since Vaarsuvius left home (a negligible amount of time to an elf), there's been absolutely no contact. Not with spells like Sending bouncing around.

This is V we're talking about. You know, focused on only one issue.

[David Argall]

99% of society is low level, and that includes way more than 99% of the bakers. That Parent is even close to able to make the dragon break a sweat is wishful thinking.

[Gamiress]

This is V we're talking about. You know, focused on only one issue.

This is also V's mate we're talking about. Anyone who could put up with V long enough to get married and have two kids without creating the kind of dysfunction Eugene and Sara Greenhilt had is probably no pushover.

[Nimrod's Son]

It's more or less a certainty that whether or not V's family will survive will have nothing to do with V's mate presenting a convincing threat to the dragon.

Otherwise, it would be a startling dip in Rich's storytelling abilities, which so far have never been less than outstanding.

[Wraithfighter]

Or there could be a bit of magic that lets people communicate even if they are far away from each other.

*shrug*

Besides, could be an elven thing. A human ain't exactly gonna switch professions every year or two, even if they are receiving schooling for something.

It could just be that, last V knew, his mate was an apprentice baker, and he's saying this to emphasize how little a chance his mate would have against a freaking ancient black dragon.

[Kaytara]

As already mentioned, Vaarsuvius has been away from home for several years at most. That's like a weekend camping trip for a human. Since V's mate has not been actively engaging in dangerous tasks, it's safe to say the gap in levels is probably pretty big now.

[awibs]

I'd make an offhand guess that V's been gone more like the better part of a year than a weekend. If their kids, at age 26, are in kindergarten, and we're assuming that the kindergarten reference was made so that we can picture them as equivalent to approximately 5-year-old humans, then that would mean 5 years to an elf feels about like one year to a human. I haven't been keeping a running tab of exactly how long it's been in-cannon since the Order got together, but I'm sure someone here can fill that in. If it's been (as I very, very vaguely guess) around 2-3 years, then it's only feels like 5-7 months for V and family. Long enough that the kids would reasonably be pestering and daydreaming about when their Other Parent would be home (as typical exhibited by real-life human kids with military parents or other occupations that cause them to be away for months at a time. A weekend is nothing - a kid hardly notices. Three years and they hardly know you. Several months to a year is usually fantasies and macaroni portraits stage.)

[whatchamacallit]

Never been big on the whole 'elves mature slower than humans' concept. It makes little sense from a survival standpoint. A race that ages so slowly would have been decimated by attrition brought on by more plentiful, faster maturing creatures such as goblins, orcs and aggressive humans years ago, with little hope of replenishing their numbers fast enough to save their society.

Either the elves mature at the same rate as humans and live ages longer to cultivate their power in order to offset their smaller numbers or they breed like rabbits and run the risk of overopulation down the road.

Favouring the former scenario the children should have attained a decent age to defend themselves by now and given the elves smaller populace had a good chance of specializing in order to help their cloistered society prosper- i.e. taken up adventuring classes to be able to preform harder more labour intensive tasks that they simply don't have the manpower for (through magic or higher skill levels to make the work possible).

Also elves; at least in 3rd ed. have a wanderlust that draws them away from home, very few 0 level commoners are going to survive such sojourns in a dangerous, monster rich environment filled with a great deal of opposing races that have it in for elves just because of their racial designation.

I would also assume the elves would have a better community defense force than most human settlements, faster response time, early warning systems, magical guardians on standby, etc, etc. Enough to assure a sudden dragon attack would be survivable and likely disasterous for the wyrm so inclined.

This is just my kneejerk reaction though and figure whatever the Giant has planned will be thoroughly entertaining either way.

[monsterinshadow]

I'm pretty sure that Emeril vs. ABD would be the same result. Dead cook in 1 action.

Emeril maybe, but Alton Brown could TOTALLY take on a Black Dragon. He would then proceed to create an entire genre of cooking centering around dragon flesh. Thats how Alton Motha****in Brown rolls...

[Zherog]

Since V's mate has not been actively engaging in dangerous tasks, it's safe to say the gap in levels is probably pretty big now.

You've obviously never changed the diaper of a sick toddler. :smallwink:

[enarch3t]

Maybe the mates a full baker!

[Zeitgeist]

Perhaps she's like chef Gordon Ramsey, and could demoralize the dragon down to the fetal position.

"What the **** are you doing in my ******* house? You're ruining the ******* lobster, and you ******* trashed the roof. Get the **** out of here you ******* piece of garbage!"

[awibs]

Perhaps she's like chef Gordon Ramsey, and could demoralize the dragon down to the fetal position.

"What the **** are you doing in my ******* house? You're ruining the ******* lobster, and you ******* trashed the roof. Get the **** out of here you ******* piece of garbage!"


That's a RIDICULOUSLY entertaining idea. But can she have a snooty British accent that she tries very hard to maintain even though she's been working exclusively with yanks for years? "Bloody hell!" and such?

[magic9mushroom]

Never been big on the whole 'elves mature slower than humans' concept. It makes little sense from a survival standpoint. A race that ages so slowly would have been decimated by attrition brought on by more plentiful, faster maturing creatures such as goblins, orcs and aggressive humans years ago, with little hope of replenishing their numbers fast enough to save their society.

Either the elves mature at the same rate as humans and live ages longer to cultivate their power in order to offset their smaller numbers or they breed like rabbits and run the risk of overopulation down the road.

Um, in case you've forgotten, most elven societies in fiction suffer from exactly that, being slowly pushed out by faster-breeding races like humans. That said, usually they rely on stealth, magic, and other equalising tactics rather than numbers in combat.


Favouring the former scenario the children should have attained a decent age to defend themselves by now and given the elves smaller populace had a good chance of specializing in order to help their cloistered society prosper- i.e. taken up adventuring classes to be able to preform harder more labour intensive tasks that they simply don't have the manpower for (through magic or higher skill levels to make the work possible).

Did you read 629? They're like 3 feet tall! And making pictures out of macaroni! Also, there's the comments from the dragon that imply they don't have stats.


Also elves; at least in 3rd ed. have a wanderlust that draws them away from home, very few 0 level commoners are going to survive such sojourns in a dangerous, monster rich environment filled with a great deal of opposing races that have it in for elves just because of their racial designation.

Away from home =/= wilderness, they could go to other settlements. Also, woods in elven areas tend not to be inhabited by many creatures that eat elves, in most fantasy, due to the actions of rangers.


I would also assume the elves would have a better community defense force than most human settlements, faster response time, early warning systems, magical guardians on standby, etc, etc. Enough to assure a sudden dragon attack would be survivable and likely disasterous for the wyrm so inclined.

Indeed, but you're forgetting that the dragon will teleport to 1 square outside their house, kill them in a few rounds or a couple of minutes, depending on whether it gloats, and then teleport away. There is very little a mundane force can do against that, especially considering that, as has been said, hardly anybody is above 10th level. She casts as at least a 14th level sorceror IIRC.

[Kaihaku]

Okay, so we KNOW that V's mate is a baker, but the knowledge of how powerful his mate is is directly dependant on whether that fact has stayed constant since she last saw her spouse.

My theory? V's mate won't be powerful enough to stop the dragon, but they'll have some levels of power that V doesn't know about that'll be enough to stall for time.

Although I'm probably just hoping now.. :smallfrown:

Two assumptions.

1) V is male.

2) V doesn't magically call home every few days.

[Lilivati]

It's been pretty well-established the OotS elves have a very different perception of time than less long-lived people, and also that plenty of things happen "off-camera" in the OotS comic.

Even aside from that, every person and every relationship has its own perceptions of what is sufficient or appropriate.

Edit: Also, I'm still not sure why it seems like everyone is now solidly in the "V is male" camp...the introduction of the mate just solidified my view of the opposite... *apologizes for gender intrusion, but couldn't help it*

[Akatosh]

Um, in case you've forgotten, most elven societies in fiction suffer from exactly that, being slowly pushed out by faster-breeding races like humans. That said, usually they rely on stealth, magic, and other equalising tactics rather than numbers in combat.


There's a Magic: The Gathering card (http://magiccards.info/scans/en/8e/164.jpg) that sums this whole problem up quite nicely.

Also, if there's something PC RPGs told us, it's that there's at least one mid-level spell, healing potion or bunch of arrows hid somewhere in that house. So pity that dragon! :smalltongue:

[Amon Star]

This is also V's mate we're talking about. Anyone who could put up with V long enough to get married and have two kids without creating the kind of dysfunction Eugene and Sara Greenhilt had is probably no pushover.

Being a saint does not make someone a dragonslayer.

[kabbes]

That's a RIDICULOUSLY entertaining idea. But can she have a snooty British accent that she tries very hard to maintain even though she's been working exclusively with yanks for years? "Bloody hell!" and such?
Gordon Ramsey actually has a typical lower-middle class semi-Northern English accent and spends most of his time in England, most particularly at his various restaurants. So I'm not sure where you draw your analogy from.

[Tensu]

Never been big on the whole 'elves mature slower than humans' concept. It makes little sense from a survival standpoint. A race that ages so slowly would have been decimated by attrition brought on by more plentiful, faster maturing creatures such as goblins, orcs and aggressive humans years ago, with little hope of replenishing their numbers fast enough to save their society.

they don't need to reproduce rapidly. their slow aging rate means their high level characters are around a lot longer. they only need one epic level druid or wizard and they're safe from just about everything but another epic level druid or wizard. two epic level druids and/or wizards and it starts to get ridiculous.

[werik]

I always thought that, generally speaking from a D&D myth standpoint, that elves and dwarves were the elder species of humanoids and that humans, halflings, goblins, etc. didn't come around until much later. Therefore, these societies had a chance to get a substantial foothold before the other races could decimate them. Whether that is true for most settings, least of all in OOTS, is another matter. Any ideas?

Also, I think that it's unlikely that V's mate has gained significant levels in anything else, otherwise the dragon, who has spied on them, might be more concerned. Perhaps the dragon has no evidence of V's mate combat prowess, but it seems unlikely to me.

[[TS] Shadow]

I'm finding it odd that V didn't magically protect his house somehow. He was 6-8th level when he left; he should have been able to prevent teleportation, at least.

*I know nothing about D&D. Help here would be nice.

[David Argall]

This is also V's mate we're talking about. Anyone who could put up with V long enough to get married and have two kids without creating the kind of dysfunction Eugene and Sara Greenhilt had is probably no pushover.
As adopted kids, the period of association with V is presumably shorter, tho it could still be quite substantial.

And Eugene and Sara are and were by no means dysfunctional. Recall here that Sara rebukes Roy for speaking poorly of him. On the available evidence, if Eugene showed up at her door she would welcome him into her home, and likely into her bed.
Now Eugene shows no great eagerness to get back together with her, but apparently he was just assuming they would be together, and he did not consider this at all objectionable.

[hamishspence]

she also made comments about Eugene tending to drop things- while he was interested- he was a good husband, then he lost interest.

Chiding Roy for bad-mouthing him is not the same as her and him being on good terms.

[Amon Star]

Shadow;5787407']I'm finding it odd that V didn't magically protect his house somehow. He was 6-8th level when he left; he should have been able to prevent teleportation, at least.

*I know nothing about D&D. Help here would be nice.

8th level isn't enough to protect against teleportation. What wardings V could have done at that point would have little effect against an Ancient Dragon, even one that isn't also a wizard.

[David Argall]

she also made comments about Eugene tending to drop things- while he was interested- he was a good husband, then he lost interest.

Chiding Roy for bad-mouthing him is not the same as her and him being on good terms.
At the margins, perhaps not. But it is rather clearly the way to bet. Most of us don't even defend our friends, much less our enemies, from unkind remarks.

[Spiky]

At the margins, perhaps not. But it is rather clearly the way to bet. Most of us don't even defend our friends, much less our enemies, from unkind remarks.

That's not been my experience. Sounds like you have some crappy friends.

[Zavia/GenX]

You've obviously never changed the diaper of a sick toddler. :smallwink:

Parenting.... is an epic level challenge.





Someone make a motivational poster?

[Document]

It's more or less a certainty that whether or not V's family will survive will have nothing to do with V's mate presenting a convincing threat to the dragon.
Otherwise, it would be a startling dip in Rich's storytelling abilities, which so far have never been less than outstanding.
Because it's a cliche, because it makes V stupid or because nearly the same thing happened just recently in 587?


That's not been my experience. Sounds like you have some crappy friends.
I see what you did there.

[Alteran]

Most of us don't even defend our friends, much less our enemies, from unkind remarks.

I don't think this shows that Sara was on good terms with Eugene. He's still Roy's father, and Sara (as his mother) probably thinks that he deserves a measure of respect for that alone. Whether or not she actually gets along with him any more is a different matter.

[Spiky]

I see what you did there.

Just waiting to see. :smallwink:

[David Argall]

I don't think this shows that Sara was on good terms with Eugene. He's still Roy's father, and Sara (as his mother) probably thinks that he deserves a measure of respect for that alone. Whether or not she actually gets along with him any more is a different matter.

Spouses that are seriously at odds with each other frequently battle over the kids. Sara taking Eugene's side is pretty good evidence the two were reasonably compatible to the end.

Origin Eugene's tombstone, presumably put up by Sara, says "Master Wizard, Devoted Husband, passable father". Again we see no evidence of a Eugene-Sara rift. They likely did not qualify as a love that would ring down thru the ages, but we should assume a fairly average to average plus marriage.