Log Horizon, Season 2

[JadedDM]

http://youtu.be/S4DiuI0AdLM
Database, database. Just living in the database.

Log Horizon is back! And if the opening credits are any indication, it looks like a ton of new characters will be introduced this season.

We discover that first, the goblin war is still on-going. About half of the Round Table is out fighting them still, including Crusty and Isaac. We also learn that the Round Table is going broke. Apparently, buying the guild hall, trading house and cathedral wasn't just a one time fee, but they have to pay to keep them every month. And doing so is bleeding them dry (and the constant festivals the city keeps having isn't helping).

Shiroe, as always, has a plan. *adjusts air glasses* He reasons that all monsters drop money when they die. But where does that money come from? He believes he knows, but he apparently needs permission from the Kunie Clan to do so. The show lost me a bit here. But I think the Kunie Clan are NPCs that run the banks? Their leader, Kinjou, is a half-alv level 50 'successor' which is not a class that has ever been mentioned before.

In any case, Kinjou says that if Shiroe can get past the massive raid in Depths of Palm that is protecting the gold, they may give permission to have at it. Shiroe feels he can't call upon the Round Table for help, since there are spies everywhere from Plant Hwyaden. So he decides to go north to Susukino, where the party rescued Serara from what's-his-name...Delicious? That should be interesting.

Flash forward a month later, and Shiroe and Akatsuki meet up in the afterlife, having both been killed, apparently. Which is weird, I didn't know there was an afterlife. I thought players immediately respawned at the cathedral?

[Prime32]

Flash forward a month later, and Shiroe and Akatsuki meet up in the afterlife, having both been killed, apparently. Which is weird, I didn't know there was an afterlife. I thought players immediately respawned at the cathedral?Remember how you lose memories when you die? The players don't know there's an afterlife either.

[JadedDM]

Ohhhh...so then they literally forget that there's an afterlife each time they die? Interesting.

[BWR]

Season two promises to be like season 1: decent enough story, horribly slow pacing. I don't mind slow stories or build-up, but it should be interesting all the way. LH has been way too much just mucking around with nothing interesting happening the entire episode until you get a jerky plot progression at the end.We'll see if I bother to finish this.

[Metahuman1]

I vaguely remember a show that seemed to be about a weird fantasy/sci-fi mish mash world that was run heavily by a weird combo of noble family's and student councils. Was that long horizon by chance? (I only saw, like, part of one episode.)

[Anima]

That was probably Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon (Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere).

[Metahuman1]

I'll have to look into that when I get some time.

[jseah]

I understood everything that was going on. But only because I read the Light Novels.

You know how they flash through the first season summary in 15 seconds? The first episode is the same but only for both the light novels (Stray Child of Daybreak and Gold of the Kunie).

[JadedDM]

I vaguely remember a show that seemed to be about a weird fantasy/sci-fi mish mash world that was run heavily by a weird combo of noble family's and student councils. Was that long horizon by chance? (I only saw, like, part of one episode.)

Log Horizon is about an MMORPG called Elder Tale that suddenly becomes real. All of the players who log in for the new expansion pack suddenly find themselves in the game itself. The story follows a particular group of players and their adventures in learning how to live in this new world.

[JadedDM]

After a brief explanation of what a raid is (four parties of six working together), Shiroe, Naotsugu and Regan head to Susukino to seek the help of the Silver Sword combat guild, led by one William Massachusetts.

William (whose player must have just Googled random English names to name his character, I swear), was the one who walked out on the Round Table when they were being formed last season, for those who don't remember. Apparently afterward, they headed up to Susukino to seek out stronger raids. They also took over the city from Brigandia (the guild led by Demikas, the crazed monk who the party rescued Serara from last season).

William accepts Shiroe's proposal before even hearing it, but there's a slight problem. A full raid requires 24 players, but he can only offer 20 at best. For reasons he doesn't go into (it involves dying, but it has nothing to do with losing memories or fear, as William puts it; but as Shiroe has never died since the Apocalypse, William claims there is no way for Shiroe to understand), most of his guild has retired from tough raids. At this point, Demikas walks in and starts threatening Shiroe, who continues to tease the monk by getting his name wrong. I can't blame Shiroe for playing it cool, it's not like Demikas can actually do anything harmful within the city limits.

Meanwhile Naotsugu and Regan are wandering around town, looking for possible backups in case Shiroe's plan falls through. It turns out these two have a remarkable amount in common, including a love of panties. This revealed a whole new side to Regan, and I really liked the newfound friendship between these two. They find a young woman, a level 92 cleric, named Tetra from a guild called Light Indigo (we also learn that Shiroe and the others have advanced to level 92, perhaps during the time between seasons 1 and 2). Despite the fact she has a very high opinion of herself (she calls herself an idol and constantly talks up how beautiful she is) and she enjoys crawling all over Naotsugu (literally), he still decides she's made a good addition to their raid.

They bring Tetra back to the inn, just as Demikas is still threatening Shiroe. Tetra loudly and obnoxiously starts talking about how after Demikas' humiliating defeat at the hands of Shiroe and Nyanta, he then suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of William. His guild, Brigandia, lost most of its members and now works for the Silver Swords. Also, Demikas married an NPC, who apparently keeps him on a tight leash.

This all serves to piss off Demikas further, but William warns him to back off from Shiroe...or else. Knowing better than to miss off Mithril Eye, but not wanting to look weak in front of everyone in the inn, he instead attacks Tetra. Naotsugu intercepts, but the attack never connects, because despite how hot-headed he is, Demikas is apparently smart enough to remember what happens if you attack someone in city limits.

After introducing Tetra to Shiroe, William declares that this brings them up to 24 now, if you include Demikas. Neither Demikas or Shiroe are particularly happy about that.

The four parties then set out (I notice William put Demikas in the same party as Shiroe; can't be an accident, I'm sure) and fight their way to the lowest level of Depths of Palm on foot, so they have time to get to know each other and learn to fight together. Just as they arrive at the entrance to the dungeon, Demikas reveals, via inner monologue, that he intends to discover what Shiroe's agenda is and then ruin it and PK the enchanted while he is at it. DUN-DUN-DUN! (Perhaps this is how Shrioe dies on Christmas? I'd like to think he's smart enough to not let his guard around Demikas, though. Guess we'll find out.)

Meanwhile, Akatsuki, who was ordered to stay behind by Shiroe to serve as a bodyguard for Princess Lenessia, is not overly thrilled about once again being left out of the action. Particularly as she has never been on a raid before, which is how you get the best loot in the game, and she really wants a new sword, but can't afford the best store-bought ones.

We also find out that Naotsugu and Marielle are keeping in touch via telepathy, something Henrietta chides her over. It feels like they are setting up some kind of love triangle between Naotsugu, Marielle and Tetra, maybe.

[Sliver]

I feel like not much has actually happened in this episode, besides setting up a few things for the future...

[BWR]

I feel like not much has actually happened in this episode, besides setting up a few things for the future...

So....just like the first season, then?

[cobaltstarfire]

I have to wait till next week for ep 2, but I do feel that the first episode was somewhat disjointed, I guess cause it was somewhat of a story dump, and we're already in the thick of things from the start.


I rather enjoyed Log Horizon, I don't think there is anything wrong with the pacing personally, S1 kept me engaged all the way through for the most part. As long as I'm entertained I guess I don't care how long it takes to get to the point.

[Sliver]

So....just like the first season, then?

It's hard for me to judge the first season, because I watched it all in one go when the first episode of the second season aired... Pacing is a lesser issue in such a case.

[JadedDM]

I feel like not much has actually happened in this episode, besides setting up a few things for the future...

Really? Maybe it's because I've been getting fed up with how much SAO II has been dragging its feet, but I found things are moving along pretty quickly in LH II so far.

[Forrestfire]

I rather enjoyed Log Horizon, I don't think there is anything wrong with the pacing personally, S1 kept me engaged all the way through for the most part. As long as I'm entertained I guess I don't care how long it takes to get to the point.

Yeah, same here. I haven't really had any issues with the pacing. A big part of what makes the show great is the character interactions and setup being just as fun as the action, in my opinion.

Also, it's not like the episodes have been that slow, so...

[Hiro Protagonest]

I dunno... on the one hand, I am all for character interaction and romance (most of them are teenagers and young adults). On the other hand, a lot of it just seems... stereotypical, exaggerated, and unrealistic.

[JadedDM]

Shiroe and the raiding party descend into the lowest level of the Depths of Palm, known as the Abyssal Shaft. They fight a mess of slimes and we learn that the others are getting a little exasperated with Demikas' inability to use any sort of teamwork whatsoever.

Eventually they come across the first raid boss. There are apparently numerous bosses found in most raid dungeons. (Although I've participated in a few MMOGs in my day, I've never actually been on a raid before.) The raid boss, a big phoenix looking creature, is called Vendémiarie of the First Prison. The party comments he resembles a different boss they had faced before, suggesting that even Elder Tale engages in palette swaps.

Vendémiarie, however, is much tougher and has lots of new attacks, and quickly kicks the party's collective asses in no time. It has an AoE attack that can one-shot, stun or petrify random party members, even if they have no aggro. Just like in a real MMOG, they fight him again and again, learning more about his attacks and cooldowns, so that each fight they learn something valuable and are finally able to defeat him in the end.

They later encounter the second boss and fight her a dozen times before finally winning. By this point, it's been three weeks and they are starting to run low on supplies. During a scene where the party rests and eats, we learn that William is feeling angsty about his past actions, Shiroe is busy working on strategy as always, Naotsugu is worried about Shiroe, and Demikas is pissed off because Shiroe helped him in a previous fight by stunning a monster he was fighting and giving him a damage buff.

Meanwhile, back in Akihabara, the rest of Log Horizon discusses the differences between Christmas and Snowfall (the holiday event in Elder Tale). Akatsuki is still pouty about not being able to go on the raid. The kids start discussing a rumored new rank for skills called 'teachings.' Skills are ranked as 'basic', 'adept' (which requires a scroll made from a higher level adventurer of the same class), 'hidden' (which are made from rare materials), and 'secret' (which require raids and a special quest). Supposedly 'teachings' is higher than 'secret.'

Unbeknownst to the people of Akihabara, a mysterious and creepy looking figure is looking out at the city menacingly. Hmm, looks like Akatsuki might be seeing some action soon after all.

[Sliver]

Skills are ranked as 'basic', 'adept' (which requires a scroll made from a higher level adventurer of the same class), 'hidden' (which can only be acquired on raids), and 'secret' (which require a special quest). Supposedly 'teachings' is higher than 'secret.'[/SPOILER]

That part isn't accurate. Hidden rank scrolls are made from rare materials. Secret rank scrolls are gained from special quests which require you to participate in raids. You can buy adept and hidden rank scrolls at a high price instead, but there is no such alternative for Secret rank scrolls. That means that no matter how much money you have, you will never reach the top of your abilities without going on raids. At least for equipment, as we don't know what you have to do for the Teachings.

Perhaps Akatsuki will be die fighting that mysterious figure or trying to obtain a Teachings rank skill?

[JadedDM]

Oops, my mistake. I've fixed my post.

As for your spoiler,

Yeah, I was thinking that Akatsuki probably dies fighting the mysterious figure, myself. Guess we'll see!

[Prime32]

Possible translation error here? In the LN the Abyssal Shaft bosses are titled "of the Garden", with "of the Prison" being the title of the lower-level bosses that they're based on.

Also, translating Kuden as "Teachings"? "Overskills" was a way cooler name. :smallfrown: Supposedly the literal translation is "Oral Tradition", so I would have gone with Legend-class or something.

[JadedDM]

I was wondering about that. 'Teachings' just sounded like an odd name, especially when compared to 'basic,' 'adept' 'hidden' and 'secret.'

[JadedDM]

We open with Soujiro and his harem walking through the decorated city while talking about Christmas, which is now only 5 days away. The girls discuss how chicken and cake is the appropriate food for the holiday, but Soujiro says he prefers salmon instead, which is seen as rather odd. (From an American's perspective, chicken and cake for Christmas is just as weird as salmon. :smallwink:)

Cut to the manor where Princess Lenessia is staying, and she's wearing a rather sexy Santa outfit. She's rather uncomfortable, but it seems Marielle, Henrietta, Serara and a new character Rieze (evidently a member of DDD with hair so big that even someone from the 80s would wonder how she gets through most doorways) has tricked her into it, claiming it was a traditional Santa Claus outfit. However, Atatsuki reveals the truth--Santa is actually an old man, and in retaliation they make Atatsuki dress up in a reindeer outfit. Rieze pretends to call Krusty to tell him all about it, but is just faking to mess with Lenessia.

Then a second new character shows up--Mikakage (Human Druid 76 of Roderic Merchant Guild), a young girl with literal stars in her eyes and some kind of little doll/minion that follows her around. She is also a chef and has brought lots of sweets for the girls. They discuss the goblin war and DDD and learn that there is no way they'll finish and return home before Christmas. (Serara also mentions Shiroe and how she hasn't seen him in awhile, and speculates he is locked up in his room.)

Afterward, Atatsuki roams the city, moping. She somehow has gotten it into her head that the reason Shiroe left her behind to guard Lenessia was because he has feelings for her, and now she's jealous. She returns to the weapon shop she visited last episode and finds the katana she had her eye on (but cannot possibly afford) was sold.

She then goes to watch some combat guilds sparring with each other. We learn she's been doing this for awhile now, hoping to catch a glimpse of an assassin using a teaching overskill. Later, she mopes about Minori and how she's jealous of her, too, and how Shiroe must have left her behind because she's weak/has never been on a raid/can't afford top rate weaponry. (Geez, I hope Atatsuki is getting lots of XP for all the beating up on herself she's doing.)

Meanwhile, Lenessia and her maid discuss the day and the maid mentions how much fun the princess seems to be having with her new friends. But Lenessia quickly corrects her--they are NOT her friends. She is just faking it for diplomacy's sake, but in truth, she doesn't relate to or understand adventurers at all, despite all of the time she has spent with them recently.

Nyanta visits Roderic and they get some ramen together. From their conversation, we learn that Roderic is working on some kind of favor for Shiroe, but neither comes out and says what it is. But it apparently involves a lot of high quality ingredients, so I assume he's crafting something. Afterwords, Nyanta reports to Shiroe via telepathy. This is the only scene with Shiroe in it, but we can assume they are still working on that raid.

The next day, Atatsuki spies on the West Wind Brigade while they are sparring with each other. We are introduced to Kyouko, a level 90 guardian who easily takes on three other women without breaking a sweat.

That evening, Princess Lenessia (Sia, as Marielle calls her now) shows up in a rather cute outfit and she and her entourage go out to eat some stew. Atatsuki bows out, though, claiming she has stuff to do. (However, all she does is mope some more about how she misses Shiroe.)

Finally, we find Kyouko walking through an alley carrying some fish she caught or purchased (presumably salmon, based on the beginning of the episode). She runs into the mysterious stranger seen at the end of last episode, who we learn is Enheart Nelreth, a Samurai of unknown level. He draws his blade, to Kyouko's surprise. However, no royal guards appear and Enheart assures Kyouko that they will not. Confident in her ability, Kyouko faces him but he cuts her down easily. Despite the PK, he was right--the royal guard never show up.

That can't be good.

[JadedDM]

It's Christmas Eve and the PKer, Enheart Nelreth (who we learn is level 94), is still on the loose. He continues to kill, nobody can seem to track him down, and the royal guard mysteriously won't appear when he attacks. Even entire parties are wiped out by him.

The Round Table (or what is left of them) meets and try and figure out what to do. There is talk of evacuating the city, but some feel that's rather extreme. They decide to compromise and just evacuate the lower level players, particularly the children. They dress it up, telling the kids they are being called to Zantleaf to help fight the goblins.

Tohya sees right through that, though, when Nyanta tells the twins about it. He objects, wanting to stay and fight the PK'er. After all, if he dies, he'll just resurrect anyway, so what's the big deal? Nyanta points out that isn't the best mindset for a tank to have. After all, if the tank doesn't care if he lives or dies, he puts the rest of the party in danger, too.

That night, while Akatsuki patrols the city, Soujirou mobilizes his guild to hunt the PK'er down and murder his ass. It turns out that nice-guy Soujirou isn't so nice when someone hurts one of his guildies. The kid gloves are off.

Soujirou reports to Shiroe what is going on about the murder via telepathy, but it's at that time that some of his guildies have found Enheart.

Meanwhile, Kinjou of the Kunie Clan meets with the Princess. He explains that the PK'er terrorizing the city is actually one of his own. He stole one of the Royal Guard's armors. This explains quite a bit, like how he is so powerful, how nobody can track him down (he can teleport at will) and why the Royal Guard don't appear when he attacks (presumably, the Royal Guard recognize him as one of their own). His HP bar doesn't even go down when he's hit, so he's pretty much invulnerable. On the other hand, he is an NPC--so if he is killed, he would stay dead for good. Kinjou apologizes for the whole mess, but there is nothing they can do. The armor is useless outside of the city, as it's powered by a magic circle underneath the city itself. They could shut down the power grid, which would make the armor useless. But this would also take the city's defenses off-line for decades, leaving it helpless against roaming monsters.

Lenessia is rather upset about the whole thing, largely because she is unaccustomed to carrying such burdensome responsibilities--she'd rather just lie around the manor in her flannel pajamas, I'd wager. Akatsuki (who eavesdropped on Lenessia and Kinjou) gives her a pep talk, telling her she should share this news with the Round Table. She also decides to interpret Shiroe's orders ('protect Lenessia') to include hunting down the PK'er that has her so upset. Because ninjas never use doors, she goes out the window.

Meanwhile, Soujirou shows up in the nick of time to rescue his guildies and he manages to hold his own against Enheart, but isn't able to deal any damage. Akatsuki hears the fighting and joins Soujirou, helping him buy time for the West Wind Brigade to escape.

As a Christmas present, Soujirou demonstrates an overskill for Akatsuki--the Votive Sword Kogarusumaru--in hopes she can learn it mid-battle (is...is that how skills work in this game?). It doesn't work and Soujirou is cut down. A moment later, so is Akatsuki. Enheart wishes her a 'merry christmas' as she dies and walks off.

At the same time, during a rather intense raid boss fight, Shiroe and Naotsugu are incinerated by a massive blast of flame. Thus, we find out how both Shiroe and Ataksuki died on Christmas Eve.

Honestly, I'm kind of interested to see how they defeat Enheart. I'm racking my brain, but short of shutting off the magic grid or some kind of world class magic, I don't know how they can possibly beat this guy.

Oh, and it seems Sliver totally called Ataksuki's death.

[Sliver]

Honestly, I'm kind of interested to see how they defeat Enheart. I'm racking my brain, but short of shutting off the magic grid or some kind of world class magic, I don't know how they can possibly beat this guy.

Oh, and it seems Sliver totally called Ataksuki's death.

She died fighting him while trying to figure out the Teachings! My guess was super correct! :smallbiggrin:

Besides using world magic to change how the armor or the magic grid works, which I feel would be kinda cheating and a dull way to end this, there are two things that they could do. One is indeed shut off the grid, which I doubt they will do since while the adventurers can handle the monsters so nothing high level gets into the city, it will still risk the People of the Land. The other I think they set up for now.

I think they'll find a way to lure Enheart out of the city. He might not be damaged by their attacks, but we had seen him block them, not simply ignore them. Control effects and debuffs might still work on him, as I doubt they can be blocked, so maybe he can be pulled out of the city.

[Prime32]

As a Christmas present, Soujirou demonstrates an overskill for Akatsuki--the Votive Sword Kogarusumaru--in hopes she can learn it mid-battle (is...is that how skills work in this game?).Nah, nah, that's not what happened.
His Overskill was Tengantsu (Heaven Eye), the ability to predict enemy attacks in order to negate the vulnerable period after using one of the Samurai class's "ace moves". The name might sound familiar to anyone who's watched Kill la Kill.

Kogarasumaru is just an extremely high-level sword with a summoning power.

[JadedDM]

I think they'll find a way to lure Enheart out of the city. He might not be damaged by their attacks, but we had seen him block them, not simply ignore them. Control effects and debuffs might still work on him, as I doubt they can be blocked, so maybe he can be pulled out of the city.

An interesting theory, but I'm at a loss on how they could pull it off without Enheart realizing it.


His Overskill was Tengantsu (Heaven Eye), the ability to predict enemy attacks in order to negate the vulnerable period after using one of the Samurai class's "ace moves". The name might sound familiar to anyone who's watched Kill la Kill.

Kogarasumaru is just an extremely high-level sword with a summoning power.

Ah, my mistake then. Sometimes the translations aren't terribly clear. Or maybe it has more to do with me not having much sleep when I watch these episodes.

In other news, I realized something about Enheart when I was rewatching the episodes of this season.

He's actually appeared before. He's the man that Akatsuki passes by dramatically on her way to that dwarf's weapon shop back in episode 2. I think that sword she had her eye on, that was purchased later, was most likely bought by Enheart himself. (Akatsuki seemed to recognize the blade during the fight.)

[bue52]

Nah, nah, that's not what happened.
His Overskill was Tengantsu (Heaven Eye), the ability to predict enemy attacks in order to negate the vulnerable period after using one of the Samurai class's "ace moves". The name might sound familiar to anyone who's watched Kill la Kill.

Kogarasumaru is just an extremely high-level sword with a summoning power.

Just curious, where exactly can the mechanics for Soujiro's special ability to be found. We get an explanation for another character's special ability in the novel, but I don't remember reading about soujirou's one.

[JadedDM]

The episode begins on Christmas morning, with Henriette and Marielle outside the cathedral, waiting for Akatsuki to revive. (This raises the question--how long does it typically take to revive after death? I assumed it was more or less instantaneous, like in most video games, but Akatsuki died during the night and by morning she still hasn't revived?) In any case, Lenessia and Reize likewise wait, but back at the Watermaple manor. Henriette is supposed to call when Akatsuki wakes up.

Lenessia and Reize have a conversation that I have a little trouble following, possibly due to bad translation. But the gist of it, that I could pick up, is that Lenessia realizes she hasn't really made much of an effort to get to know these adventurers and wants to make friends with them.

In what I assume is the afterlife, Akatsuki has a vision of being back in the real world. She realizes she hasn't had much of a goal, and has just been following Shiroe, to the point where she is useless without him. She winds up in some kind of ethereal beach and runs into Shiroe. They talk about how they both died and they give up some of their memories so they can revive. (So does this mean losing memories of the real world isn't a side-effect of dying, but rather a price to pay for reviving? Does that mean if you refuse to give up memories, you stay dead indefinitely?)

Akatsuki revives, waking up in the cathedral with clothing damage. Henriette, Marielle, Nazuna, Reize and Lenessia are there to greet her. Akatsuki asks them to share all of their overskills with her, so she can try and defeat the PK'er.

Elsewhere, the Roderic Merchant Guild is having a meeting. It's revealed that somehow even people without the chef sub-class can now make simple meals (stuff like salads) that taste good, but nobody knows why or how. Roderic himself arrives and tells them of three additional new discoveries.

First, if you are playing an avatar of a different gender than your own, you will start to develop attributes of that new gender yourself. For instance, a male character who plays a female character will start to develop a more feminine voice. (I guess that means if Akatsuki hadn't consumed that shapechange potion back in the first episode, she'd start sounding more masculine.)

Second, the world seems to be getting bigger. Distances between points are increasing.

And third, flavor text on certain items is starting to become actual truth, instead of just background information for atmosphere.

We get a living example of the third one. Crusty and Sansa are out hunting goblins when the latter's scythe, named "Disaster" starts glowing strangely. Sansa assumes it is broken but as the weapon isn't performing any worse, she hasn't bothered having it fixed. She mentions that the flavor text of her weapon is 'pretty dark' but doesn't give any details. Later, that night, the weapon begins glowing again. This time it suddenly flies into the air and begins spinning, creating a column of red light that engulfs her (and seems to be causing her great pain). Crusty pushes her out of the column, but becomes trapped himself. Sansa reaches into the light to grab him, when he suddenly vanishes (as does her arm) when the light goes out. It's unclear whether Crusty was teleported elsewhere or vaporized.

Cut back to the manor. The other girls are chewing out Akatsuki for trying to do everything herself instead of asking for help. The assassin remedies this by asking the others for help, not only in teaching her their overskills, but in defeating the PK'er, as well. Meanwhile, Marielle is worried because Naotsugu hasn't called yet, as he does every night. Finally, the scene ends with Reize getting a call, presumably about what happened to Crusty and Sansa.

[HMS Invincible]

EP 7. They aren't going in the direction I thought they were. I thought they were going to use the flavor text of the sword that rusts armor to win on that alone. Then they wouldn't have to disable the magic circle. But the preview shows the magic circle shutting down.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Having seen Ep. 8, I really am sad that they plopped out that Red Herring. Way to waste potential plot.

[JadedDM]

Having just watched the episode, I'm not sure what you mean.

Is the red herring the fact they wanted to destroy the sword instead of killing the PK'er?

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Naw. The part where they didn't just exploit the rust effect on the sword to pac-pan the guy's armor. Now the city has no power so pk'ing is back on the table in addition to nonsense from mobs in the zone. It strikes me as a massive fluster cluck just waiting to happen and it didn't need to.

[JadedDM]

I might be wrong, but I believe the flavor text from her weapon specifically stated the rust effect only applies to other weapons, not to armor.

[bue52]

Another problem with that strategy is that until the condition of the armor reaches 0, the powers it bestows will still be activatable, so they can't wear it down and break the armor, there is always the chance that he will notice. So that's out of the question. They needed to wait till his armor deactivated, and the moment where he doesn't notice that it has been deactivated to freeze him. Otherwise, he can just teleport out of the ice.

[cobaltstarfire]

I kind of feel like they avoided defeating the PKer because he's one of the people of the land and it'd probably cause some troublesome issues between adventurers and the people. If they take away the power of his armor, and get that crazy sword out of his hands, the people of the land can deal with him their way, which they always were pretty keen on if I remember right.

Having to protect the city themselves, rather than relying on the royal guard may very well have been a better choice than causing relations with the people of the land to take a huge slide or break down entirely.