Inception Discussion thread

[Angmor]

Ok, this is a discussion for Aki, Darek and I, concerning our thread. Since the plot I've had in mind from the start is fairly complicated, and is destined to only grow more so, I figure this thread will be very useful in the future.

Ok, to recap what I've said before: I really want to have something that can be summed up as a good, old-fashioned treasure hunt. Basically, there's some fabulously powerful treasure hidden somewhere out there, and the stolen book has the key to finding it. I'm not entirely sure why Artemis wants it, but I do know that we need some other antagonist who is also after it. Probably some powerful underworld figure with vast resources with his team of specialized killers, but we can work on that.

Obviously, Vaoris, Dantie and Rohiriel are completely unaware of this treasure, so they have no reason to chase it. I'm thinking that we can have either some mysterious old man, (cliche, I know) or a somewhat chaotic werecat to come in and let them know, thus setting up for the future of the plot.

As for the immediate scene, should I end it there? I was thinking that an NPC Rider could come in and sort of take everyone downtown for questioning, followed by a timeskip, but do you guys have any other ideas?

[dantieduurden]

Ang i completely understand what you are saying an as i told u when we started this thread i already had the bad guys down. To prove it to u i show u a small piece of this puzzle.

thewarofriders.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=teirm&action=display&thread=953

This is the post that describes half of the get away story, but what she did with the real half of the book is sold it to someone very powerful making it look like a hired job, thus getting her out of harms way.

On to next topic, i think the werecat idea would be great, but then you would have to have all three of us write down a prophcey and we choose the best.

As for closing it...well that up to you and Aki, but the whole rider thing sounds great, you may have to ask Don about using an NPC rider though.

[Akilinia]

I love complicated plots. They just keep going and the character development is always substantial. I've said it before and I'll say it again; I'm really excited for this!

Sorry if some of this stuff seems obvious. I like to have everything completely spelled out. xD

So is Artemis playing a mercenary role in this whole thing, or is she attempting to set up someone else by getting rid of the book? Does she plan to find the treasure for herself? If she does, then we have our two evil factions all set. We should have the person that was set up by Artemis/the person who hired her, and then Artemis herself. I like the idea of said underground mastermind having evil minions to send after them in order to prevent them from retrieving the treasure first. That sets us up for some fight scenes which are oh so much fun to rp.

Regarding the treasure; if we're having an npc rider player take the three of them in for questioning, might it make more sense for the rider's dragon to tell them about the treasure? In that sort of scene it'd be a bit wierd to have a werecat pop in randomly, especially since there are so few of them. Dragons would certainly know about old prophecies/treasures. If the NPC rider thing doesn't work, we could always have the head of the library question them. He would also know of such a treasure/prophecy. Any ideas what the treasure will be?

I wouldn't mind ending it here, but if we do, then how would we end up being sent on the quest? Should we skip to when they're about to leave Ilirea and then have them flashback on the meeting with the rider? I know Rohiriel will need to convince herself to take part in such a journey, but I could accomplish that by having her look back on the conversation with the rider. If we end it here, it'd probably be easiest to end with the rider coming into the library and telling them to follow him for questioning.

[dantieduurden]

Sorry I did not make this clear. Artemis is not hired to do this. She is stealing the book to get a shades attention, and once she gets his attention she will be going after the treasure for him, or maybe even with him. As for why she got rid of the book yes and no to the whole set up thing. She is getting rid of it to make it look like she was hired to do the job, but really she just wants someone else to take the heat other then her, depending on who she sells it to, I need emma here to make it a definite on whether or not my first pic can work, there could be a third party involved trying to get the treasure.

Now for the werecat, Dragon, old man idea. I think the dragon would work best now that Aki brought it up, dragons do like treasure after all, they practically horde it in almost every story u read about them.

As for the last part i think we should end it with a rider taking us in for questioning and we start the next thread inside the questioning, from where we get the quest and are told the dire problems that could unfold if evil got there hands on the treasures. As for treasure well dungen and dragons has been good to me so far, lets not sell it short. I have many books dealing with magic items and things like that, I could send a list to don and he could approve what is allowed in the book along with the other admins.

[Akilinia]

To simplify things after Darek and I had that enlightening discussion:

Artemis stole the book with the intent to impress a shade so that he would take her on as his apprentice. In order to ensure that he did, she sold him a copy of the book and sold the real one to our underground mastermind villian (the one with all the minions) so that the riders would chase him down. That would leave her free to threaten to tell the riders that the shade had the book if he didn't take her on as his apprentice, because the riders wouldn't actually be looking for Artemis or the shade while they chase the original book. As a result of her machinations, Artemis and the shade, as well as the underground mastermind are all looking for the treasure. Vaoris, Dantie, and Rohiriel believe that Artemis was working for the underground mastermind person becuase they know she sold him the original book. They don't know that Artemis and her shade friend are also after the treasure.We can assume that the underground mastermind knows that the riders will be after him, because of this, he will send troops of his minions to keep Vaoris, Dantie, and Rohiriel from reaching the treasure before he does.

Does that help a bit, Angmor?

[Angmor]

Ok, my understanding is slowly blossoming. I apologize for my persisting density on this subject.

-sits back- Well. I find that I am no longer in total control of this plotline. This is a position that I have not been in for almost four years. Is this how people who RP with me feel all the time? Wow... this is rather nice.

Ok, up to the next order of business. I had an idea for the treasure.
Basically, there was a powerful elven mage way back in history that eventually grew great enough in magic that he discovered how to fuel his spells by drawing power from the light of the sun and stars. I can only assume that this has never been done before, otherwise the world of Alagaesia would have a lot of infinitely powerful spells. XD
Anywho, this guy was also a very pronounced world traveler, and was wandering around in the Hadarac sometime later when he was captured by a group of bandits led by an exiled warlord. Eventually, they were able to force the mage to cast wards on their armor and weapons that would renew themselves into eternity, essentially making them invincible. After killing the mage, these bandits then began a campaign of destruction across Alagaesia, taking whatever they pleased, burning and destroying as they went, protected from any and all attempts to stop them, even by the Riders. Finally, in desperation, the Riders hatched a plan to lure the bandits into a system of caves, and collapsing it on top of them, effectively destroying them in the only possible way. Eventually, they were mostly forgotten by history, but the armor, it can be assumed, survived.

So, armor that makes the wearer more or less indestructible. That can be my contribution. What say you?

[dantieduurden]

Ang The TREASURE I would have to say is strictly up to the Admins after all they can not have people running around with armor that is well perfect in every way. So I would suggest we go to our lovely admins and put our ideas up here and they tell us what is allowed and what isn't.

So do any of the admins know what D&D is?

[Akilinia]

Okay, just getting this straight since i seem to have missed the whole discussion...

I'm the one who's rping the NPC rider, and we have Don's permission to use a rider, right?

And, in regards to the posts, I think it might be easier to continue from the thread we're in now. The rider can just come in, ask them to follow him to answer some questions, and then we can skip ahead a bit in someone's post and start the discussion about the treasure with the rider and his dragon. We can start the new thread when the characters leave Ilirea to chase down Artemis. Any ideas where they're going to end up? Where will the treasure be buried?

[Angmor]

Ok, Dantie, to reiterate, you're making a huge deal out of something that does not have to be. The relative power of the armor is not a problem for anyone because no one will get it. It is a plot point, not an inventory item. This is not a tabletop session. We're not raiding a dungeon after epic loot, we are telling a story. Interchange the armor for something entirely different, but of equal power, and the story doesn't change. There is no need to make a huge deal and involve the entire site in something that should just be a fun jaunt through a fantasy version of Indiana Jones.

I think a huge reason for all the confusion that has suddenly arisen is that we're planning way too far in advance. While planning is good, spontaneity is often better. This was fun until we started clashing over what will happen most likely months from now. My vote is we just stop talking about it and see where it runs from here.

[Akilinia]

I read the discussion about the treasure and I agree with you, Angmor. The treasure is insignificant, really. The whole concept could have been planted in the book by a scholar with too much time on his hands that wanted to send hopeful treasure hunters on a wild goose chase. Ultimately, it's the journey and the events leading up to finding the treasure that make the plot, not the treasure itself. We did not make this post in order to come away with some all-powerful piece of ancient magic or whatever, the book and the search for the treasure are simply devices that allow our characters in interact and develope.

I also agree that we are planning way too far ahead. When I asked about ideas for the treasure it was simply out of curiosity. We're not in a position to plan that far ahead, and it is a pointless endeavor at this point, because by the time we get to that part of the plot we might have come up with some plot twist that negates the whole event, or we may have gotten bored with the whole concept. We need to plan as we go and let our muse guide us (cheesy, yes, but so true). Threads/plots are infinitely more interesting to RP if you don't know the outcome. I find when I know too much about what is supposed to happen that I end up forcing my character to fit the role I've decided she'll play in the plot. For now, I suggest we just focus on the next part of the plot; the discussion with the NPC rider and the beginning of the treasure hunt. As far as I'm concerned, this discussion about the treasure is water under the bridge. We don't need to worry about what will happen that far ahead.

Now, to reiterate my questions:

Who is RPing the NPC rider?
I was under the impression that it would be you, Angmor, but Dare told me that you wanted me to play him. Is this right? I would not mind in the least. I already have some ideas and am ready to role as soon as we get all of this ironed out.

Do we want to create a new thread now?
I would prefer to continue in the thread we have now. It makes more sense to me to finish the background of the quest in one post. That means we'd start the new thread after the discussion with the rider and when they are ready to set out on their quest. We can have the rider come across them on the library and ask them to follow him for questioning about what had occurred there. A little time skip would follow that and we'd pick up during the interrogation. That means we'd start the new thread after that, and when they are ready to set out on their quest.

[/blockquote]

[Angmor]

NPC Rider: That would be a good idea. You pretty much described exactly how I would do it, and I still don't understand how a Rider could tell them about the treasure and the threat it poses to the world without just having the Riders go track it down by themselves. It would probably just be better for you to do it rather than try and explain it to me.

Thread: I agree. We might as well wrap up everything we have to do in Ilirea, then move onto another one somewhere else. Where did Artemis flee to, Dantie? Teirm, the Tears, Cuenon? I'm good with anywhere, although the Tears would be my personal pick.

[dantieduurden]

I put a link up in our discusion so you would go and read it, that way u know every thing so im not even answering. XD

[Angmor]

Dantie, I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about. Considering the stuff flying across the cbox last night, you can hardly blame me.

[dantieduurden]

go back to my first post in here. People say they read everything, then they would know where artemis went.

[Akilinia]

Yep, well I'm officially really pissed off. I can't even explain how angry I am. I almost broke my laptop. I was almost done with my post (two hours of effort, ten paragraphs, and loving how it was coming along) when internet explorer decided there was some malware thing trying to invade my computer and shut down the web page. I had just copied the post, but it still deleted everything. I need to go cool off for a bit before I can write again. I'll try again later tonight or tomorrow. Sorry guys.

[Angmor]

Oof, I hate that. Yeah, take your time, Aki. Let me know if you need me to take it after all.

And you are absolutely right, Dantie. I deeply apologize. Will however come right out and say that your writing confuses me. I'm not sure why, but you write in such a way, IC and OOC, that I have to study it very hard in order to derive the meaning. I will try as hard as I can, but you are going to have to be more patient with me if we are to survive an entire storyarc together. XD

[dantieduurden]

Well when we ask a question i answered in my first post lol we can see where the annoyance comes in. but i will try

[Akilinia]

Okay, I'm going to a volleyball tournament tomorrow, so I won't be here until late tomorrow night or Monday some time. Just to clear things up:

What are we thinking prophecy wise? Is there going to be one, or does the Aldanion just know about the treasure, tell them about it and then send them to retrieve it and rebury it in order to prevent such power from falling into the wrong hands?

Additionally, regarding the reason they send Rohiriel, Dantie and Vaoris. The one I came up with is that the riders cannot recover it themselves because the elves and humans are still angered with them for their passiveness during the Blue Divide and the sudden activity by the riders could reignite hostilities if taken the wrong way. Therefore, they decided it would be better to send someone that would not attract attention. Sound good enough? I don't feel like it's really all that important, but if you two have any better ideas, shoot.

[Angmor]

Erg... I really don't want to shoot down this idea, but it will nag me through the whole rest of the thread if I don't. Ilirea and the Riders are indisputably Alagaesia's central power. If they needed to, they could steamroll over anything Broddring could throw at it. Because of this, I think if there was a danger of some maniac getting his hands on something powerful enough to alter the balance of power, I don't think they'd risk entrusting the op to three strangers just to avoid stepping on diplomatic toes. And even if they did, they would see three or four of their best warriors or spies, not a scholar, a student, and an unknown entity. I'm sorry, but that just keeps on coming up in my mind.

I offer this as an alternative: Aldalion and Hendalacon are the last living Riders who actually remember the bandit's rampage, and the ones responsible for sealing them in the cave. Over the years, his peers have pretty much dismissed the incident as a fanciful story, and no longer believe it's existence. Hendalacon cannot abandon his duties, even for this, but he doesn't have the authority to send anyone else, either. And so, he humbly asks our intrepid heroes to take on the task.

Obviously, my understanding of these plot points has not worked out so hot, so if this is total gibberish to you guys, just pretend it's not here. XD

[Akilinia]

Don't worry. Steamrolling is okay. That's why I put it up here. It's true that the riders would have no problems fighting off anything the humans or elves could throw at them, but they are a peaceful group that avoids conflict. I feel like they would consider other options before involving themselves in something that can be taken care of by others.

I also like your idea, however. I need some clarification, though. What do you mean when you say he locked up the original bandits? I was under the impression that this was the first time that the book/armor was in jeopardy. Are we setting up a past even with the armor in order to add gravity to the situation? A kind of "look what happened before when it fell into the wrong hands" situation?