TG309

Joy on the Path Ahead

Episode Number: (TG309)
Original Airdate: 9/2001

The party determines that Arlemis isn't actually undead, and that it's just a trap in this nasty place. Leny gets dewormed. The party pushes on into the next room, a nasty trap-room that involves a fast moving river cutting across the room, with minotaurs on the other side operating a series of levers that controls a wall of force sliding back and forth. While Aldamar is able to shapeshift and save people from drowning, the disorganized attack gives the minotaurs the chance they need to inflict some horrendous injuries on the party. Not everyone survives.

Note:

• The title refers to a prayer said by priests of the OlderSister when giving the last rites: "Older Sister, keeper of the door, guide this spirit upon its way, ease its sorrows at the road behind it, lead it to joy on the path ahead."

Treasure Watch:

• Aldamar is using the AshwoodBow
• Timus is wielding the CraftsmansDagger
• Others: Write 'em in here and on the Items page.

Plot Points:

• Leny and Tierney are both dead, though they've been raised by the fountain.
• The minotaur room is clear, though it hasn't been fully searched.
• There's something to be said for the "Fight for one hour, rest for twenty-three" methodology after all.
• Stirges, in retrospect, are nasty sons of bitches.

Unanswered Questions:

• What now? Keep going, try to escape, what?
• What did Timus mean when he said that Simon would pay?

Analysis:

While this episode boasts another octopus sighting, the main issue, of course, is the idea of the character deaths. These ones were nasty. Leny's body looked barely raisable. And if the fountain has limited uses, it stands to reason that the party is concerned. No one likes being raised a whole bunch of times, and even fewer people like NOT being raised.

DMP Speaks:

Kind of a tough one to shoot, there. The real nasty part of it is that those minotaurs, all by themselves, not much of a big deal. But the minotaurs, on top of the hellhounds and stirges and the chain-guy who used up a lot of spell potential... well, it wears people down, to the point where someone makes a mistake. The minotaurs were only barely responsible for the deaths. It was the whole damn dungeon that did them in. The minotaurs were just the straw that broke Leny and Tierney's backs.

You guys could at least spend a bit more on CG and use a different octopus.

Aldamar was impressed by Tim's turning Arly into an Octopus earlier. It stands to reason he'd use the same thinking in his choices.

Questions? Comments? Jump on in!

DavidBushong sez: Tim seems...extremely uncomfortable around Leny and Tierney and the moment. You can't be entirely sure whether he's uncomfortable with death in general or the two of them in particular... He seems moderately more put out than he was in, say, "Razed and Raised". Oh, and Simon will pay.

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