The Death of V

[LuckyTheOrc]

It's also possible that calling V "she" makes him a bit less uncomfortable about the whole New Years "event".

Pretty sure that wasn't part of Belkar's objection. He was happy to visit prostitutes of varying genders when they were searching the cities around the Great Barren Desert for Draketooth. He just has issues with Vaarsuvius specifically.

[hungrycrow]

Pretty sure that wasn't part of Belkar's objection. He was happy to visit prostitutes of varying genders when they were searching the cities around the Great Barren Desert for Draketooth. He just has issues with Vaarsuvius specifically.

He begrudgingly agreed to talk to prostitutes of both genders after Roy basically ordered him to. I wouldn't say he was happy to do it.

[Kardwill]

Pretty sure that wasn't part of Belkar's objection. He was happy to visit prostitutes of varying genders when they were searching the cities around the Great Barren Desert for Draketooth. He just has issues with Vaarsuvius specifically.

They did? If you're referencing the stip I'm thinking about, I was under the impression that all 3 of the sex workers we saw were ladies (including the "go scaly, come daily" boobless lizardpeople)

Not that I think it would have deterred Belkar much. His opinion on other peoples' sexuality at the time appeared to be an inclusive "whatever will be most aggravating to the person I'm talking to"

[drazen]

So, obviously with the trip to the Oracle, Belkar asked if he would cause the death of Roy, Miko, Miko's Horse, V or the Oracle, with the helpful "Yes" as the answer. Later on, the oracle explains how Belkar was responsible for 'causing the death' of each of them (well, I suppose 'demonstrating' for the latter) but was interrupted when it came to "the elf".

I'm just wondering if there was any consensus on what could have been excused as V's 'death', assuming it's not something still to come.

"And as for the elf..."

My long-standing prediction has been that V will destroy the Crimson Mantle, permanently losing all of their spellcasting powers. The fiends probably won't see it coming, because it would be wildly out of character for someone obsessed with arcane power, but V might consider saving the world at great personal cost to be their first "amends" for their stunt killing all those dragons and draconic descendants. The ancient black dragon told V "Without your magic, you are nothing." It's just all too perfectly tragic to NOT be their ending. Elan gets a happy ending, which is probably most of the heroes living (except Belkar), but the heroes might not be happy. I suspect an epilogue would be V going to Inkyrius to relay the story of the Order's quest, maybe bringing the pirates to help back them up, and that it would maybe be left open-ended if they reconcile or not.

[Peelee]

"And as for the elf..."

My long-standing prediction has been that V will destroy the Crimson Mantle, permanently losing all of their spellcasting powers. The fiends probably won't see it coming, because it would be wildly out of character for someone obsessed with arcane power, but V might consider saving the world at great personal cost to be their first "amends" for their stunt killing all those dragons and draconic descendants. The ancient black dragon told V "Without your magic, you are nothing." It's just all too perfectly tragic to NOT be their ending. Elan gets a happy ending, which is probably most of the heroes living (except Belkar), but the heroes might not be happy. I suspect an epilogue would be V going to Inkyrius to relay the story of the Order's quest, maybe bringing the pirates to help back them up, and that it would maybe be left open-ended if they reconcile or not.

None of that addresses "and as for the elf..." though?

[drazen]

None of that addresses "and as for the elf..." though?

Sorry, accidentally deleted the point. A metaphorical (character) death. The Oracle's explanations were getting more and more ridiculous, with the previous one being "if we define death as..." so it would be the "death" of V, the elven wizard obsessed with arcane power, because there would be no more to be had. This is probably even less plausible a "death" than Miko's mount being stuck on another plane.

[gbaji]

Sorry, accidentally deleted the point. A metaphorical (character) death. The Oracle's explanations were getting more and more ridiculous, with the previous one being "if we define death as..." so it would be the "death" of V, the elven wizard obsessed with arcane power, because there would be no more to be had. This is probably even less plausible a "death" than Miko's mount being stuck on another plane.

I actually buy that as something the Oracle might have said, but honestly I'm not sure how the Crimson Mantle really fits in. There's nothing specific that Belkar has done that would lead to V taking this action (and that's setting aside the fact that V can't yet cast 9th level spells in the first place).

If we're going for that angle, I might go with "And since we've already established that Beklar caused the death of Roy, that further caused the need for Haley and Belkar to try to retrieve Roy's body, which resulted in the party being split up, which caused V to become more obsessed with magic means to find the missing party members, which caused V to be alone on the island, which lead to the ABD attack, and the need to make the deal with the Fiends, and lead to.... <massive character changes>". I'm not sure we even need to go to the extreme of V losing their magical abilities here. There's been enough change aleady. If there was a tarot reading in there, the death card could have firmly come up for V, and it could (via the previously contorted logic) be placed on Belkar's actions.

[Peelee]

Sorry, accidentally deleted the point. A metaphorical (character) death. The Oracle's explanations were getting more and more ridiculous, with the previous one being "if we define death as..." so it would be the "death" of V, the elven wizard obsessed with arcane power, because there would be no more to be had. This is probably even less plausible a "death" than Miko's mount being stuck on another plane.

That makes sense! I'm sure I've done the same thing before at some point.

[Gay Poro]

"And as for the elf..."

My long-standing prediction has been that V will destroy the Crimson Mantle, permanently losing all of their spellcasting powers. The fiends probably won't see it coming, because it would be wildly out of character for someone obsessed with arcane power, but V might consider saving the world at great personal cost to be their first "amends" for their stunt killing all those dragons and draconic descendants. The ancient black dragon told V "Without your magic, you are nothing." It's just all too perfectly tragic to NOT be their ending. Elan gets a happy ending, which is probably most of the heroes living (except Belkar), but the heroes might not be happy. I suspect an epilogue would be V going to Inkyrius to relay the story of the Order's quest, maybe bringing the pirates to help back them up, and that it would maybe be left open-ended if they reconcile or not.

Fun theory. I hadn't really considered that V might die, or go on to "redeem" themselves by sacrificing their magic. I almost think V being unable to redeem themselves would be better. How can they balance out the harm caused by killing all those beings? By destroying a gate's defences? Even sacrificing their magic will never counterbalance the scales.

To address "And as for the elf-" ... let's say I'd put a fiver on V dying. I'm not gonna break the bank on this, but I could see it happening