Planning & Brainstorming

Now that it's essentially been established Gwen isn't going to fight against the monsters right now... what should she do?

I kinda think she would do something while everybody else fights. She may be very reserved and gentle, but she isn't the type to just sit still and do nothing...

Maybe she goes off after Nox?

@ork oh,no!!! please come back to us soon~

@Xeranad she's your character. It all depends on a) how far along she is; b) whether using too much magic will affect the child; c) what she's most likely going to want to do, be it fighting or going after nox or just doing more research or whatever. In any case, considering those three factors first will most likely decide what she will do.

@chimerakiller2 it also depends on the size of the underground. Being that magic was meant to be used as a part of life in that kingdom, and the leaders were supposed to be guides and teachers who kept the people in check, there would be, in a population of a couple million people, thousands of mages. Plenty of people would either be sercretly involved or fugitives hiding somewhere in/nearby Vastrom. There are also travelling mages (but very few are merchants. Like, 4 in 100 merchants would be mages).
Therefore the underground would be fairly large. And if the GB have awakened recently, say in the past 3-5 months, it would be enough time for one of them to set up a territory in the underground, perhaps even two of them. Or would they all be working together??? What would they most likely do?

I thought the GB haven't awakened yet because they only awaken in succession as the Puppeteer's power grows. At least, that was my assumption.

well thats up to all of us, if the puppeteer is influential its possible he could lie and administrate them in, or let them demonstrate their talents in power to sway over potential supporters. and I thought ork had said something earlier about the puppeteer or verug organizing members to disrupt the capital. I will copy and paste the comment in a moment.

this was orks comment

Ok haven't watched Fairy Tale yet. But that will be on my watch list.
The whole structure of the underworld is interesting. Well I didn't have any idea about that.

I was thinking maybe someone else is trying to establish a new turf in the underground or already has and this is whom Nox reports too. A powerful mage who seems to know a little more about Nox and working of those in the capital.
His main aim is to bring chaos in the capital and weaken the mages more like clearing the field for his master. As it so happens this is actually Ug.

In trying to assasinate say Jon, Nox is captured by the other characters.
Thats how they learn about Ug and eventually the puppeteer but before that Nox would have made a mess in the capital.
Anyway something like that.

You earlier said something about breaking the brand, please elaborate on that.

Thanks

@xKatanaXIV lol...I will. For now its feels good to say hi everyone:)

I agree with chimera. If we have to we can change a few things about the GB that can work to our advantage. Perhaps they were awakened in human form by the Puppeteer (who Verug happens to be serving. Is he the keeper of earth or is someone else? Someone please help me, i don't remember what we decided for that), and they metamorphose (metamorphosize? damned spell check...) into their monster forms one by one. Some prophecies can be very vague on minor details such as this, so we could probably bend it any way we like as long as it makes sense.

@chimerakiller2 assuming you want me to elaborate on breaking Nox's brand...... give me one second here.

This is my elaboration from earlier.

Most likely Derrick will have the group (minus Gwen) plus the more powerful healers use some of their energy to help try and get Nox his memories back. When that doesn't work, they would regroup, get Soren and possibly some mages that Derrick trusts from the city, and try and remove magical alterations. This would help Nox regain some memories over a period of 3-i-don't-know-how-many weeks.
They may also speed up the recovery with magic if they need to, and have Nox write down his memories as they come. When they can't find the brand, the healers would try and find the brand (while Derrick scrutinizes, because that's just the kind of guy he is) and then they would search for a way to break it. This would also require Nox's consent.
@ork I would say that Nox lets them break the brand, if they can, and put one on him that makes sure his magic doesn't go completely crazy. When he's maxing out the brand's control over him, it glows and probably starts to heat up.
As for the level of the new brand (if you want it), it would be around levels 2-4.
2 is you override the brand if you have to, but don't push it. 3 is the limit for the brandee's total contro. 4 being that the main brander (probably Derrick, or even Soren) must give consent for the brandee (Nox) to override the magic.

oh, oops. text is too small. Sorry. Let me explain: I was suggesting the process of breaking a brand Nox probably has now, and replacing it with the one he wanted in the first place.
Most likely, he was tricked into being the guinea pig of a group experiment done by a group of mages, Arkham included. But only two of Nox's masters (one being Arkham, obviously) are still alive. one or both of them are currently controlling him.
If Adrian's brand (fallen thief, serve forever) is a ten on the brand scale, Nox's brand is a 5 or a 6. Those levels represent the levels where the brandee (Nox) would have control over themselves only part of the time, and that his masters could command him at their will, and Nox would not remember what he had done afterwards, thus making him helpless, and his memory full of holes. The above comment tells of the process of getting Nox his mind back.

So... anyone want to post soon? Or should I? Since I feel like with my last post I may have killed the story.

i think we said verug was keeper of earth.

and i would but unsure what to add at this point plus being very busy

I would add, but I posted recently and I don't know what to do next. I was thinking maybe Nox could disappear around now if we are doing that storyline.

Right, right, he was keeper of earth. But there are cases of substitution. If a person dies or cannot fulfil their duties in some way as a keeper, someone else will take their place either temporarily or permanently depending on what happens. We could always invent someone else. Or Derrick could do it if needs be. He was, after all, a part of the vision.

@iamkathybrown13 well, as far as i know, ork had some sort of internet blackout or whatever, and is temporarily out of comission. I don't know when he'll be able to..... hey, @ork when do you think you'll be back? It's pretty much set up that Nox has gone somewhere and we're all in one place cause Thomas and Paul suddenly reappeared.
Although, Derrick was about to leave. To deal with the underground or something. Perhaps I'll introduce the original leader(s) who I had in mind. That should be a decent distraction for now, and then in the evening when he's going home he'll hear that something happened to Jon and that the suspect has been captured. While I'm at it I can mention the division in the underground we were talking about, if @chimerakiller2 and @Serphim'sZephyr are ok with that. That'll leave a good setup. Is everyone ok with that?

@Xeranad You didn't "kill the story." You lightened things up a bit. I really liked that bit about Gwen. It showed a real development in her character. She's not so helpless, like in the first book. She's essentially dependent on herself, her husband and her friends rather then her magic. That piece, her anger about being excluded, showed the rest of us and the other readers how she has developed. And it was sort of a reminder that she's pregnant and liable to be all over the map hormonally (no offence, but that's kind of how that goes). It was good of you to put that in there. Please don't say you killed the story, when you were just showing how Gwen is developing.

I'm good with that.

good

I will post today if possible.

OK my chapter is up, but it's long enough already. I would have to double post to give more detail about the bosses and their conversation with Derrick. I will a little help unless you're all stuck :( sorry. I know it's a little untoward.....