Demon's Bane, Chapter 7 (Spoilers!)

[Fel]

Anyway Speculation is good guys, but why spoil yourself of future surprises by asking Fel directly?

What Fel says now, and what Fel writes 2 or 6 chapters from now are two different things

I've got IRC logs somewhere on my PC from last year, when Fel said that certain things would happen, only now that's apparently not going to happen.

Methinks he just likes to play with us, lead us in one direction, then suprise us when it doesn't happen.

Hahaha, sometimes things change with the story.

I try to plan, but the story kinda writes itself, and I end up changing those plans.

Sometimes I DO intentionally misdirect, however, so as not to spoil a surprise.

I also sometimes provide half-truths as answers to protect plotlines. I do answer questions, but sometimes I do like to keep something secret. In those instances, I answer with just enough truth to hint at what's going on while protecting the full truth. Tarrin's wings were a perfect example, hehehe. I noted that he would lose them when he became mortal...which is true. However, I omitted the fact that Niami would take issue with his loss and correct the matter.

[Fel]

Ok Fel, now you've really really confused/made it more complicated..

up until Tarrin made the deal with Ayise, she was totally against him period..

Now why would the GOG give a crap about Tarrin getting rid of the firestaff for Ayise, to the extent that he helped him, allowed him to attack his Deva, etc..

What is the objective of the GOG to provide Tarrin with the support he has?

You at one point said the Firestaff is as much a test of the elder gods as it is an artifact, so how does helping Tarrin destory it test the elder gods?

There's more going on than you can see, that's the only answer I can give.

Tarrin is acting on information I haven't supplied the readers. What he is doing is bringing him some assistance from "outside forces," most of which he has no idea is happening. Mother Wynn and Sashi are involved, as you know, rendering aid when and where they can, most often outside of Tarrin's direct knowledge. Eron has also played his hand in the game...again, direct aid from an outside force to help Tarrin along in his plan.

The GoG does have a vested interest in what's going on, as does Ayise...but there's an important issue of point of view here I think you're missing.

Ayise detests the Demons and hates the fact that the Demon Lord is on Pyrosia, and she'd love to help, but Pyrosia is NOT her concern. Sennadar is. Her interaction with Tarrin has always been about what he is and the danger he poses to her world. That's it. It was never personal. She doesn't hate Tarrin...in a way, she admires him for his tenacity and his ability to carry through. But he posed a threat to her Balance, and she couldn't just stand by and let that happen. So, she found herself opposing him.

When Tarrin surrendered to Ayise and put his neck on the block, gambling that she would see his true intentions and relent, she finally understood what was going on. Ayise is NOT omniscient. She can't look into Tarrin's mind and know what's going on...that is a privilege only afforded to Niami, since Tarrin is hers. And she couldn't risk everything just on the word of Niami that Tarrin's intentions were noble. If anything, any time Niami defended Tarrin, that raised immediate suspicions in Ayise that Niami's interest in Tarrin wasn't entirely proper.

Now Ayise understands, but still she can only operate in relation to her own world. She knows what Tarrin is doing and would love to help, but for her, the only issue is the Firestaff and its current address within Sennadar. She relented and allowed him to reclaim his mortality, and then burned away the taint of the Firestaff in the divine half of his soul, to further him along on his task...helping him as much as she could. Now Tarrin has to repay that kindness by taking the Firestaff out of Sennadar.

Period. That's all that matters between Ayise and Tarrin. She relents to give Tarrin a chance to get the Firestaff off of Sennadar.

As to the GoG...well, be assured that what's going on has the GoG's attention. And I an assure you, he DOES give a crap about the Firestaff.

I won't go into the specifics of it, as that would ruin the surprise.

The Firestaff was indeed a test of the Elder Gods as well as the mortals. It was a test of mortal constraint with the temptation of ultimate power at their fingertips. The test for the Elder Gods was how they could cope with the Firestaff and the threat it posed. That's not what it was really created to do, however...that's just how it fit into the grand design. The true purpose of the Firestaff is to destroy. Destroy people, destroy lives, destroy worlds, destroy everything. It is an object of Entropy, created to destroy that which is by means of exploiting the base nature of the mortal beings it tempts

Greed.

That is how it tests mortals. The test it metes out to gods is slightly different.

Fear.

For 10,000+ years, the Elder Gods of Sennadar have had to deal with the Firestaff...don't you think they've been tested by it long enough?

[Fiferguy]

I could be wrong, but I think of it this way: The GoG is trying to do the same thing that the Elder Gods of Sennadar are doing, but on a much larger/grander scale. I would say that the GoG hates the Firestaff just as much as the Sennadar Gods, because it's trying to destroy that which he has labored to create.

Maybe Tarrin will become the great equalizer--going from plane to plane and destorying objects like the Firestaff. That would be an intense sequel series...

[Texfire]

Anyway Speculation is good guys, but why spoil yourself of future surprises by asking Fel directly?

Well for my part I wasn't actually asking Fel. I really didn't expect anything more than an enigmatic smile from the author, and an ambigious, "we shall see."

My comments were designed to start a dialog, a session where we tried to divine the intent of the mysterious author, while ultimately failing miserably.

How was I supposed to know he'd just answer the question?

Tex

[Fiferguy]

How was I supposed to know he'd just answer the question?
Tex

I guess you haven't quite mastered that Mind Reading thing yet, huh? We have several Psionics around that could've told you what Fel was thinking about in relations to responding to the question. Unfortunately for us, however, most are too far away to know what he's going to write about. More's the pity.

[Spec8472]

We have several Psionics around that could've told you what Fel was thinking about in relations to responding to the question.

Any of them looking for a job? Could be quite handy occasionally at work.

Client: "We want something that does _x_"
(1 month later)
Me: "Here's your thingy that does _x_"
Client: "Why doesn't it do _y_?""
Me:

[Fiferguy]

Depends on how much you're willing to pay...that kind of, labor, doesn't come cheap...

[Spec8472]

Depends on how much you're willing to pay...that kind of, labor, doesn't come cheap...

$50?

Hahaha, sometimes things change with the story.

I try to plan, but the story kinda writes itself, and I end up changing those plans.

Sometimes I DO intentionally misdirect, however, so as not to spoil a surprise.

I also sometimes provide half-truths as answers to protect plotlines.

... so I was right then

[Fiferguy]

Depends on how much you're willing to pay...that kind of, labor, doesn't come cheap...

$50?

Money means nothing to us...why should it? What we require is something less...easily acquired...

[schloaty]

However, I omitted the fact that Niami would take issue with his loss and correct the matter.

That one little detail was one of the few that wasn't all that hard to see coming. I'll take what little victories I can. :p

But with the way horses were changed into peguses (pegusi?), and all the magic that just permeates the place, I was certain he'd either regain or retain his wings somehow.

Go me![/code]

[Wolfee]

Great chapter Fel! Looking forward to the next one!

[Calimbor]

It may be that I should reread the firestaff, but this chapter confussed the hell out of me.

One: Why didn't the elder gods not just kill Eron ? as was explained in some of the earlier books, the elder gods had the power to destroy anything "they" had created, the only thing on sennadar not included in that was the persons the firestaff "created"....so why not just kill Eron and let Spyder deal with Tarrin?

Two: I was greatly distuirped by how ineffective spyder was, I seem to recall Tarrins "sister" (the seleni) beeing able to stun or even killing Tarrin (if she wanted to) with her bare hands? or was it a knife, in any event seperate the spine around the neck area (the part where Tarrins go balistic after he finds out who "took away his choic, about beeing either human or were-cat" that beeing his devious daughter Jasana(?)).
But Spyder did virtualy nothing...I can't help but be a bit disapointed from all the praise Tarrin has been heaping on her, she was a great disapointment, at least to me.

[Edengrave]

One: Why didn't the elder gods not just kill Eron ? as was explained in some of the earlier books, the elder gods had the power to destroy anything "they" had created, the only thing on sennadar not included in that was the persons the firestaff "created"....so why not just kill Eron and let Spyder deal with Tarrin?

I doubt its that simple. I seem to remember a rule about interfering with another god's chosen. Think back to Eron's birth. He's defnitely one of Niami's despite not being a sorcerer. and another rule about directly interfering with mortals unless they are among your chosen and have faith in you. More, Eron has definitely some odd powers. He seem to be the balance for suikun, so he's probably needed in the grand scheme of things.

Two: I was greatly distuirped by how ineffective spyder was...
But Spyder did virtualy nothing...I can't help but be a bit disapointed from all the praise Tarrin has been heaping on her, she was a great disapointment, at least to me.

lol I am surprised we see things so diferently. Me, I was surprised she did that much! Just think about it: You have accumulated thousand of years of unpaid sleep to morpheus, and the magic that enable you not to feel it stop. more your natural magic, that might enable you to fight it for a while disapear. Thousand of years of mental fatigue. with only your strength of will keeping you standing, That strength of will that is so great that minutes pass before your body even aknowledge the effects. and you manage to almost kill one of the strongest creatures on the planet before sucumbing. To me, that was extraordinary.

[Spec8472]

Me, I was surprised she did that much! Just think about it: You have accumulated thousand of years of unpaid sleep to morpheus, and the magic that enable you not to feel it stop.

No, she only had unpaid sleep between Axe of the Dwarven King and now...

I don't know how long, exactly -- but 6-12 months perhaps?

[Edengrave]

No, she only had unpaid sleep between Axe of the Dwarven King and now...

I don't know how long, exactly -- but 6-12 months perhaps?

Details Spec, details...you get my drift. Even so, I disagree. If you remember Tarrin took the job for a couple of years. But She had been the guardian for millenia before. do the math. She would be refreshed, but she couldn't possibly recuperate all that lost sleep. odd that she has such a weakness. Its fiting in a way. She was just too well rounded.Anyway my point was just that given what she had to work with, that she managed to almost kill Eron is very impressive. I doubt she even experienced the total lack of magic before. Chosing not to use magic, is very different than your magic not being there in the first place. Yet she immediately adapted to the sudden disapearance of more than half her arsenal. Not to forget that Eron was stonewaling and playing for time. In a physical fight like in sport, when somebody decide to stonewall and play for time, you have to spend much more energy to find the holes in their defense. Energy that spyder was rapidly losing. And lets not forget Eron is a @#$ werecat! Now what mortal could have all that handicap and still do what she did?