I was going to post about my road trip, which was a lot of fun, but I’m feeling too annoyed to write about that right now.
Annoyed, irritated, frustrated, disgusted, and stupid.
Why? My main character at Dragon’s Mark has been out of play for more than a month. Stepping aside from that fact that I agreed to have Alysia incapacitated, not abducted (and yeah, I now think it was a terrible idea to be a good sport and go along with that abduction crap), the storyline was never supposed to drag on more than a week.
It’s not like I haven’t been completely clear about that.
On May 19, I told Veighn’s player this:
AlysiaSkye (7:00:21 PM):The only trepidation I have is that I really don’t want my main held incommunicado for weeks.
On June 3, we had this conversation:
AlysiaSkye (6:35:44 PM): Do you have any idea when you’re going to wrap up the whole You are my enemy… story?
Veighn Yhaull (6:36:29 PM): yep.. I was wondering if you were posting again .. but I’ve been missing you lately..
AlysiaSkye (6:36:48 PM): It’s in your hands right now.
Veighn Yhaull (6:37:03 PM): okay. You ready to let her back out?
AlysiaSkye (6:37:25 PM): Of course I am. I never wanted my main taken out of play for weeks.
On June 10 – almost a full month after my character was taken out of play:
Veighn Yhaull (8:19:37 PM): Have you decided something of what direction you want to take this into? I don’t want to gimp your character, per se, by keeping her cooped up.
Veighn Yhaull (8:19:49 PM): More interaction, per se?
Veighn Yhaull (8:20:17 PM): getting her out in public?
AlysiaSkye (8:20:20 PM): With my latest post, the ball is in your court, as it were.
We did some IM RP to advance the storyline on June 11. That was posted four days later. The last I heard from him was on June 12.
Ten days later, the ball is still in his court.
I’ve sent Veighn’s player a couple emails, one asking him to post something he’d written and move things along, the other telling him I wanted to start playing my character again and a list of yes/no questions about the conditions for getting Alysia released.
There has been no response. Haven’t seen him on AIM. I thought that perhaps real life issues were interfering, perhaps he couldn’t get to a computer, his internet was down, etc. And then I saw he was playing in The Marketplace at Dragon’s Mark for several hours Saturday night / Sunday morning.
Boy, do I feel stupid.
You know what? If you want to drop a storyline, just fucking say so. If you don’t want to waste your time, don’t waste my time either.
I should have known better.
These are not unique problems. Forum RP lends itself to protracted storylines which are out of sync with live roleplaying sessions. And one of the biggest problems with roleplaying a villain is the tendency to steamroll the victim’s personal storyline and to expect a PC to act like an NPC.
Anyway. Since he apparently is actively playing at Dragon’s Mark, I copied my last email into a Dragon’s Mark PM to Veighn’s player with my questions, hoping to get some guidance on the situation. Without this feedback from him, it’s going to be really difficult to determine Alysia’s outlook and future interactions with and reactions to several characters. Here’s what I asked:
- Do you intend for her departure from Wraithspire to be amicable or under tense/hostile conditions? As an ally or as a servant?
- Does she sneak/fight her way out (dungeon crawl), and if so, does she do so under the initial impression that she’s escaping of her own accord (“zomg, some nub left the door unlocked, lol! i ninja my way out kkthxbai”), or does she know that Veighn is testing her and/or allowing her to leave?
- Does she leave with her weapons? If so, and if Veighn altered her weapons, what was done to them?
- Does she end up with a mutual bond with Veighn? (As far using that to keep the rest of Alysia’s family off Veighn’s back – Alysia’s blood-bound to protect Veighn now, so it shouldn’t be necessary unless you’re specifically interested in that angle.)
- Does Veighn tell her that Lucien essentially sold his soul and agreed to become Veighn’s apprentice in exchange for Alys’ freedom? What about the other terms Veighn demanded in that conversation?
- Does Alysia know Tara is also one of Veighn’s apprentices?
- Does Veighn tell her that Brutin offered to buy Alys to humble her and pass her over to the Bloods at Belial’s suggestion?
I gave him until next Thursday to tell me what he wants to do with the storyline. If Veighn’s player doesn’t respond or we can’t work out an appropriate solution, I guess I’ll have to god-mode my way out and make up my own answers to the above.
With A state of unrest, I set it up for the Bloodguard to come in, magic a hole through Wraithspire’s wards, and summon Alysia out. If god-moding proves to be unnecessary, I’ll have the Bloodguard find Alazais at Dark Lake; they will mistake her for Alysia and take her back to Rhilshen with them.
I welcome (beg for) advice from anyone who’s read the posts in You are now my enemy. Let me know if you can think of a more elegant way to wrap up the storyline. PLEASE.
Tara points out that “It was not Belial’s suggestion Alysia be sold to Brutin as a slave. It was Brutin’s. I was in the room when it was typed. Belial was not involved in that in any way.”
I’ll clarify to note that from what I saw, it was Brutin’s idea during a conversation with Belial. I’m not even going to guess at the motivations there – and at this point, I don’t really give a damn at all.
Aside from “Alysia breaks out somehow.” or “Alysia’s peeps break Alysia out.” I’m not sure at all how you could end things on your lonesome. I wish I could be of more help. Maybe she could find something helpful in all those tomes he keeps? *shrug* I hope things work out.
I’d probably not handle it as graciously as you have thus far. I’ve had my main in limbo for like.. a day or two, because of being incommunicado with someone (or complete unwillingness to work with me or telling me I can wait), and it’s made me very *cranky*. So I can only imagine how frustrated you are right now. :\
Ok, ok ok ok … there we were, there we were, there we were…
Antonio, not having seen Alysia for some time, and worrying about his friend, takes her up on her offer to visit Rhilshen – finds there the basics of the scenario, and makes his way to the place of imprisonment.
Now, Antonio is an untrained but powerful psi, having his abilities wakened some time ago by a forced intrusion into his mind that nearly drove him crazy (yes, this did happen, but he’s suppressed the power – I wanted him to just be human, but things happen).
So he arrives, and, finding no reasonable way to rescue her, he flings his sword at the prison walls, sending all his energies in a Camberian-like final push – this effectively shatters Veighn’s defenses, leaving Alysia free to depart. However, since he is untrained, he puts too much of himself into it, cannot stop the power drain and dies, giving his life for her freedom. Very sad.
Someone finds Antonio soon after, and resurrects him. He is now very happy, as someone explains to him that since his marriage vows were the ’till death do we part’ kind, he is now no longer married.
…..
Naah…. too deus ex machina. ::sighs::
Honestly, I’m not sure what your best course of action is at this point. Personally, I would not include her captor retaining any hold on her – that would seem to be setting you up for more problems in the future, maybe even leading into a very similar situation. You don’t need that.
Thus, the reason why I had to let a few partners go recently. (Recently as in, few months. I haven’t been at all very active.)
I’d ask and ask and ask and ask if they wanted to play and I’d always get a positive but I’d never get them to…y’know, play. Or they’d go play with someone else o.0.
It’s your ball now, your character and your court. Magic is a wonderful thing–in the hands of gods or mortals it is often known to backfire completely. I say something backfires and Alysia gets her chance at some ass kicking freedom.
I appreciate the insight, LL, Tef, elf_fu.
I also truly appreciate the fact that someone contacted Veighn’s player after reading this and told him to check his email. I would rather not have puked up a public rant to get any answers – but that’s probably another post in itself.
Anyway. It looks like he’s now suggesting what amounts to a partial retcon – which at this point, is the best thing possible for a number of reasons.
I’m very glad that it’s working out (now.) And very sorry that it took so long.
P.S, sort of off topic, but–your avatar is totalllllly appropriate for this.