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My first memory of the Salt Trick was from sitting around playing ADD when I was in Jr High/High School.
Someone brought it up/thought it up while we were discussing dungeon tortures.
Not at all sure who; it might have been me, but I can’t be sure.And it has stuck with me ever since. I actually scaled it back a little bit in the final edit of book 1.
In the original drafts (from the 80’s) Lenamare was one of very few people to have successfully done it. It was a much stronger statement.
Having had many years to grow and develop Lenamare, I changed it and shifted it more to Exador’s province
The original Lenamare was more evil then the current one. Now he’s more of a run of the mill narcissistic sociopath rather than an actively malevolent one like Exador or Lillith. He doesn’t go out of his way to harm people; he just doesn’t give much thought to them unless they have some sort of recognizable value to him.
And I really need to nail down the spelling of that woman’s name. I spell it randomly every time I type it.
Are you referencing that “he speaketh with forked tongue” meme from old westerns?
But yes, I seem to recall he does. Assuming that it is extra nimble (like his tail) he could probably explore his teeth quite well. Might not even need a tooth pick.
Not liking the default MS thing, it’s useful right when you create the diff document, has lots of revision comparison stuff, but then opening it on another computer it’s really not that useful.
It’s just the tracked changes.
Going to see if there are some third party/preferably open source options.
[quote=Iume;5611]prior to releasing Book 2 for beta last year what did you plan to have it cover that got pushed to book 3 and book 4?[/quote]
What did I intend to cover in Book 2 that got pushed to Book 3? or 4?
Beta for HH brought the Storm Lords attacking the Nimbus.
Beta brought forth the Knights of Chaos and pushed the resolution of Lilith’s demon army to book 3
The Seas of Astlan story got migrated off the board, so to speak, this was leading to a lot more backstory on the brigands and the book. So we lost a lot of focus on the book. Not sure it will make it back in to the main story. How that would have interacted with everything else is now alternate timeline. These are the adventures of Captain Asmeth and his passengers (the guys that stole the book) and their journey south past Oorstemoth to Hearthean territory and Natoor and Noajar.
Originally, the Nimbus was going to Natoor and Najaar for a lot more Nyjyr Ennead interaction with Reggie.
The thing with my “writing style” (at least for this book); my story telling style is that it was very much honed over centuries of DM/GMing. I design a campaign, a world, a problem/quest, a situation and the “characters” are the “players” (I would say the beta readers are like the player’s conscience/push back mechanism, like when a player goes out of character and calls BS on the GM)
So I build the characters and let them loose to follow the thread and their own nature/interactions shape the story, even as a campaign is shaped.
I know where I want the story to go, where it is “supposed to go” but how we get there is anything but certain.
So I am trying to direct the story, but my characters have free will. Part of what the beta readers do is tell me when the characters aren’t being true to themselves.
This is why I tell potential beta readers that you see thread of alternate realities. The beta reading can seriously change the course of the story.
Orcs are shamanistic and it varies from tribe to tribe. Shamans/Druids are sort of similar philosophically. Shamans are much bigger on natural spirits, ghosts and things like that.
They do tend to go back to nature, or sometimes reincarnate. However, there are also some Orc gods, and as you see in Nysegard, they can sign up for another god with an afterlife plan if they want.
That’s not a completely bad idea for next time, if there were people that actually wanted to do editing on a Word document.
Maybe at some point I tweak it so that Tamarin is with Grob, and he’s got links to avatars via the priests.
Vaselle will be working with Volund for now, learning more about the workings of Doom or something.
Presumably, however, we don’t know how “small” a gateway the Inferno can produce.
Any gateway that let’s links in/out will also let demons in and out. Do they really want to risk demons going through the gate to Astlan?
Probably should, however, be a discussion point.
[quote=Mikey;5433][quote=The Author Guy;5430]Well, the argument that Mikey was making before this was something akin to he is his own father. Or something a bit more complex.[/quote]
As an architect and a consultant, one of my key attributes is appearing more clever than I really am, so that people interpret my stupid screw-ups as some sort of inscrutable genius.
In the end, what people believe is more real, than what is.[/quote]
You just described my modus operandi, for my day job. Which admittedly is the same line of work.
[quote=Mikey;3888]Counter parts are something a kitchen builder would express an interest in, while orcs might be searching for their counterparts.
[/quote]If Tom still lived in his cave, he might need counter parts if he wanted a kitchedn.
[quote=Mikey;3888]
“No he hates Exador more than Lenamare.” -> “No, he hates Exador more than Lenamare does.”reign in / rein in
seamed to / seemed to
caret / carat
palette / palate
[/quote]
FixedNope.
Meant yore.
[quote]yore
yôr/Submit
nounliterary
of long ago or former times (used in nostalgic or mock-nostalgic recollection).
“a great empire in days of yore”[/quote][quote=Giwdul;5274]Avatars do not connect directly to their various illuminaries. Rather,a part of canonization is the process of linking the new Saint to a Holy-Saintly Medallion[/quote]
You know this makes me think of Damien Dharke and his little statue. I very much like this, Not sure if it’s a medallion, although that’s very Catholic, so nice, or perhaps a crown, their “halo”
Or perhaps it is different for each Saint, part of their “Totem”/nature
It is their “Wand of Orcus”
[quote=fallen_one_84;5162]
“Indeed.” Darg-Krallnom said. “However, we need the bodies to
fully man Doom and bring mana levels up to where we can open the
Doomalogues.”
“So are we the first?” Targh asked.
Darg-Krallnom nodded. “As planned.”since targh said are we the first i woulsd assume tthat there are other mount doom’s with d’orcs.
reason they didn’t return? standing orders to guard the Doomalogues.
[/quote]
That’s basically what I am thinking happened.[quote=fallen_one_84;5162]
definition 2 of standing order.
2.
a military order or ruling that is retained irrespective of changing conditions.like orcus dying. it would explain why the nysegard d’orcs did not return to mount doom.
Were some of the D’orc souls shoved in one of those Vergian Time Stasis traps or anima jars.
[/quote][SPOILER]That is what I’ve been thinking for the ones on Etterdam, killing all of them would take an incredible amount of time and resources. [/SPOILER]
[quote=fallen_one_84;5162]
do the elven gods have less mana over all since elves tend to have a lower birth rate.it would explain why they tend to use undead. they capture the souls of humans and convert them to mana.
with the undeads help. it would be a reason to capture the d’orc’s souls so the elves would use them as a mana source.
this way would allow you to bring some of Orcus’ former followers back.
its said in the body politic that Elves do not believe in souls in the human sense.
[/quote]It’s not so much that they don’t believe in souls, but after living for 5 to 10 thousand years, depending on sub-race, most have no desire to spend any time in an afterlife, so they release their animus to nature after death. This is also how many shamanistic groups do (e.g. orcs)
It’s not the elves using the undead, so much as an alliance of people who had/have similar goals, stopping Orcus.
[quote=fallen_one_84;5162]
they wouldn’t care for capturing the souls of their enemies and using them as fuel.
have them be at the etterdam doom which would make tiernon see what the elves doing as an abomination.
and this time not interfere in the forces of doom vs. El’adasir war.also why did some of the D’orcs not just not fly away.
[/quote]
D’Orcs don’t leave comrades on the battle field.However we still don’t know the complete story of what happened.
[quote=fallen_one_84;5162]
was the bubble just one way?
[/quote]
Nope, two way.
[quote=fallen_one_84;5162]
did the elven gods supply the mana to keep up the bubble?
[/quote]
Not clear yet, they very much knew about it, used it, as did Sentir Fallon.What the logistics were have yet to be revealed
[quote=fallen_one_84;5162]
and finally was Melissance a follower of sentir fallon.
it would explain why she got cut off from tierhallon so fast.
sentir being paranoid.
also at this time he would have given talarius the dagger.and she would hate sentir fallon.
also tentacle play =d>
[/quote]She would not have been a particular follower of hers.
The cut off was done by the people around her, mortal priests, her Diocate or Arch-Diocate could have excommunicated her. Very likely Iskerus.
All of whom where under the influence of EM.
one more thing what happened to orcus’s former demon followers. he must have had some.
sorry for the long ass post. fellow beta demons/readers.
its because of the speak up post.
[/quote]Exactly! Amazing you remembered that so quickly. But that is exactly what I was thinking about even though I couldn’t narrow it down to that one incident.
yeah, the overhead cost can be high.
But….that is also is one reason I have this website, as I’ve said elsewhere with the library, I am very open to having other people doing short stories or novels as sort of fan fiction. Like MZB, Mercedes Lackey etc have done. Posted to this site or other free net fiction sites (with proper references to the original work)
As per the Amazon discussions via copyright, I just don’t want them making money off it without cutting me in. :d/
Here is a new section that goes on the end of Chapter 126 (after Reggie dream stalks his mistress)
[quote]
The InfernoSir Samwell was passing by the officer’s mess on the way to his cabin and noted that Wing Arms Master Heron was going over numerous documents spread before him on the table. This might be a good information gathering opportunity, Sammael thought to himself.
“You are working late.” Sir Samwell noted.
“Late? I have no idea how one determines time in this place.” Heron replied looking up as Samwell entered the small room.
“A good point. However, even after all this time—and given the fact that we do not need to sleep here—I still find myself thinking in terms of night and day.” Sir Samwell grinned before frowning. “Actually, now that I think of it many demons do the same. The Courts of Chaos even have magically simulated night and day.” Samwell said shaking his head.
“I suspect it is ingrained in everyone.” Heron shrugged.
“But why in demons?” Sir Samwell asked. “There is no fierd in the Abyss, why would beings from a world without a fierd have any sort of inherent desire to organize time as mortals would?”
Heron blinked in surprise having not thought of that before. “That is unusual, are you certain of this?”“Well, if one is in the Courts of Chaos, it’s pretty hard to miss the fact that it gets very dark and lamps are turned on for half the day.” Samwell shrugged.
“That is odd.” Heron noted. “It is almost as if demons were not actually native to the Abyss.”
Sir Samwell chuckled, “I would not mention that to your religious comrades; I suspect that is heresy.”Heron grinned at the knight.
Samwell sat down across the table from the Wing Arms Master. “So I am a bit curious.”
Heron tilted his head questioningly.
“I get the impression that locating and rescuing me, may not have been your primary goal on this venture. Am I correct?” Sir Samwell asked.
Heron suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. “I will admit, finding you, and doing so quickly was a bit of a surprise, after all the Abyss is a big place.”“Indeed.” Sir Samwell agreed, nodding. “So, since it was not your knight that was kidnapped by this greater demon, what exactly is your, or rather, our, Oorstemoth’s, goal in this venture. What does Oorstemoth get out of it?”
Heron sighed, sitting back. “Well, it’s a bit complicated.”
Sir Samwell nodded for him to continue.
“The Church and Rod of Tiernon became involved with the greater demon when one of their priests accidentally summoned the greater demon and a party of mortals in Gizzor Del.” Heron said.
“Gizzor Del?” Sir Samwell asked in surprise. “Is that tiny hell hole of a city still around?”
“It is.” Heron nodded while Sir Samwell shook his head in disbelief.
“In any event, this party booked passage with a known felon, a smuggler wanted on multiple warrants.” Heron told him. “We had word that he was in Gizzor Del and were waiting for him to leave so that we might execute the warrants against him.”
“A demon booked passage on a smuggler’s ship?” Sir Samwell asked, puzzled.
“Well, no.” Heron said. “The demon came through with a second demon and three mortals. At some point in Gizzor Del, the greater demon disappeared and a fourth mortal, one Lord Edwyrd appeared. It was Lord Edwyrd that booked passage.”
“Ah-hah.” Sir Samwell said.
“To make a long story short, this Lord Edwyrd not only prevented the execution of the warrants, he sunk our vessel, killing most of the crew.” Heron said shaking his head.
“Thus getting warrants against himself.” Sir Samwell said. Heron nodded.
“Thus, we were pursuing this Lord Edwyrd and his crew, which is how we ended up in Freehold where Talarius, Knight Rampant of Tiernon was eventually captured in a giant battle after a thousand demons were expelled from Freehold.” Heron explained.
Sir Samwell blinked and shook his head. “I think you need to back up and go into more detail, there were a thousand demons in someplace called Freehold?”“It’s a city of wizards, and the demons belonged, we believe, to this Lord Edwyrd. Although, to be fair, it’s a bit murky as to where they came from.” Heron said.
“What sort of wizard controls thousands of demons?” Sir Samwell asked sitting back as if stunned.
“Lord Edwyrd is, supposedly, an animage.” Heron correct.
“Even more insane! An animage cannot bind a thousand demons!” Sir Samwell declared.
“Precisely.” Heron nodded, “When Talarius was kidnapped, the greater demon was in the form of a human.”
“A human? Then how did you know he was the greater demon?” Sir Samwell asked.
“The greater demon fought as himself, but shape changed before our eyes after defeating Talarius.” Heron told the knight.
“Shape changed?” Sir Samwell asked. “I was not aware that greater demons could do that.”
“Nor were we.” Heron nodded.
“In any event, we believe that Lord Edwyrd is, in fact, the greater demon. It is the only explanation we can come up with that fits all the pieces of the puzzle.” Heron said.
“Hmm. It does. Except for one thing.” Sir Samwell said.
“What one thing?” Heron asked, suddenly alarmed.
“If he was controlling a thousand demons, he would almost have to be an archdemon if not a demon prince.” Sir Samwell said.
Heron frowned. “You think so? Everyone we’ve spoken with has insisted he is a greater demon.”
Sir Samwell shrugged. “Based on my experience, it is quite unlikely that a greater demon would command the allegiance of a thousand demons, let alone force them into hiding in a wizard city.”
Heron sighed. “That will certainly make executing the warrants against him more difficult.”
“Indeed.” Sir Samwell nodded. “Now, let’s go back a bit more and tell me about this Freehold and wizards in it.”
Heron shrugged. “Very well.”
[/quote]
This is a first pass. It seems a bit rough/too quick.
Do I need to freshen up the language to be more Oorstemothian?
Heron isn’t a big courtly speak advocate, but even so…
Thoughts?
