City of IF

[Key]

The story so far: You are Lodevar, the leader of a rebellion of sheephead slaves against their masters, the Bullroar minotaurs. You formed an alliance with the merfolk against the Bullroars, but have discovered that the merfolk King plans to betray you and allow the Bullroar fleet to pass through safely to your island base and slaughter your people. Meanwhile, you and the mermaid Lalomea have found the merking’s secret son, Lewellyn, who has the same unique form as you, and you’ve asked him to persuade his father to help you. He has asked to speak with his teacher Horchow, a giant sea turtle.

Last Decision: Send Lalomea and Lewellyn to bring Horchow back.

"All right," you say to Lewellyn. "You can talk to your turtle if you want. But he has to come here. You and Lalomea will go get him."

Lewellyn nods quickly, seeming relieved; you’re not sure why. You touch Lalomea’s face, suddenly afraid to be separated from her again. "Be careful," you say. She kisses your hand and bows her head.

Then they’re gone, Lewellyn walking on shore and Lalomea swimming in the shallows alongside him. Your advisor Nelectitus emerges from the water next to you. "Hard to be with her, hard to be without her, isn't it?" he asks. You say nothing. What does he know about it?

Lalomea is gone for a long time, much longer than the five minutes that it was supposed to take to reach Horchow’s lagoon. You shift anxiously among the rocks, still keeping yourself chest-deep in water to avoid being seen by the merfolk guards. Another pearl drops off your magical necklace, and one from Nelectitus’s necklace as well. The pearls, a gift from the merking, allow you to breathe water. But they've been dropping off one per hour since you entered the ocean nearly three days ago. Now you have only four left.

Finally Lalomea swims up to you, alone and visibly upset. "He's gone onto the island," she says. "He said he wanted to hide and watch what happens when Father comes."

"What do you mean, when Father comes? He's supposed to call Father."

"Horchow said that Father is already on his way. He said Father would know that we were here, even if the guards didn’t."

"Horchow wasn’t supposed to say anything! You and Lewellyn were supposed to bring Horchow back here – that was what I said!"

"Well, they just started talking, and I, I didn’t know what to do-" Lalomea looks confused.

"You didn't know what to do?" you yell. "How could you let him get away? We need him to get your father’s help, and now we don’t even know where he is!" You raise your hands over your head in anger and frustration. Lalomea tenses and curls into a ball, as though she expects you to hit her.

You lower your hands. "What are you doing? I’m not going to hit you."

She relaxes slightly, but doesn’t look at you. "You are my King," she says. "It is your right."

You wonder what her life was like before she met you. She seemed so happy the first time you saw her on the reef. You say: "No, no, I'm not your King. I'm going to be your husband. We saved each other's lives, remember? Whatever happens, I’m not going to hurt you."

Lalomea doesn’t say anything, but she meets your eyes and relaxes a little more.

"I'm sorry I got angry," you say. "But my people's lives are hanging by a thread. For all we know, the Bullroar attack may have started already, and the merfolk aren't going to stop it. We don't know when or if your father is coming here and now we’ve lost the one person who might have been able to change his mind."

Lalomea looks down and says softly, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. But I don't know what to do. Are we just supposed to wait here until the merking comes? And maybe Lewellyn will watch and want to take our side? And maybe he'll come out of hiding and convince his father to help us? This is crazy."

You look to Nelectitus. "What do you think of all this?"

"Not good, not good," he mutters. "The fish got away." Back to being useless, you think. It’s up to me.

You wish Haman were here. He could sort out all the confusion and come up with options. Now you've got to be your own Haman. What is the situation? What are your goals?

The island is surrounded by merfolk guards, but as far as you know they don't know you're here yet. Horchow the turtle says that the merking does know you're here and is on his way. Lewellyn is hiding somewhere on the island. If he told the truth, he's somewhere not far, where he can see you when Father comes. If he was lying and just trying to get away, he could be anywhere. You've got four hours left of water breathing magic for yourself, and four for Nelectitus. You've got a sailfish chariot nearby underwater. You've got two allies, Lalomea and Nelectitus, who will do what you say, and there's a giant sea turtle who might or might not be helpful.

If you're lucky, your people are still alive, waiting in Freehome with no idea that the merfolk are going to betray them. You have to save their lives.

What do you do?

Read the posts below, and click "Post Reply" to post a suggestion for the Lodevar’s next action. Anyone is welcome to post. You can suggest what he would do based on his personality, what you think he should do based on what would be best, or just in general what seems like a good idea to you. Feel free to comment on other’s suggestions, but please be courteous.

You're also welcome to ask questions about Lodevar's background or about the world of the Wheel.

[ethereal_fauna]

At this point, if you wait too long to confront the king, or the meeting with the king doesn't go well (highly probable) then you'll be stranded on the island. But if you leave then nothing has been accomplished.

Although Nelectitus is a little flaky, send him onto the island to hunt for Lewellyn, to try and convince him to return as your ally. Or at least to ensure he's still lurking about to observe your encounter with the king.

Then wait for awhile. If the king knows you're there as Horchow stated, then he most likely will not be long in arriving. Confront him with your knowledge and aim for compromise. After all, you are king for your people as well.

[Araex]

i'd try and meet up with Horchow, while sending Helectitus or whatever he's called to find Lewellyn

[D-Lotus]

I'd make bow and arrows, make neclicectus or whatever wait with the bow and arrows hidden somewhere, then confront the merking. If things go wrong, neclicectus can shoot.

[Araex]

he seems too senile to be a good shot...

[D-Lotus]

What are you talking about? He probably can shoot as well as any others. Didn't he take archery lessons along with the other soldiers?

[Key]

Nelectitus has only one good eye, so he probably wouldn't make much of an archer. He hasn't trained much with the sheepheads - he's been more of an advisor than a soldier since you started the rebellion.

He's not frail though. He came from the mines and was carrying rocks with the rest of you. A bit crazy but tough is how you think of him.

[Araex]

i forgot about the one eye... that would make judging distances hard, so the shots would probably drop short

[Reiso]

Not to mention we haven't exactly taken a learning annex course in making bows and arrows. Even if Lodevar did know how to make them (which he might, I forget), there isn't enough time to do something that involved before his nifty water-breathing pearls run out, let alone by the time the Merking would arrive.

I'd say to walk right up to fish boy and demand to know what he's playing at, but that would just scare hjim off and make him less likely to help us. Nothing even Lodevar can do would match the might of the Merking and the numerous guards he is bound to bring with him, so I think at this point his best option is to ride the tide of events and make the best of whatever happens.

[Smee]

One of those out of control situations - too much to do, too little you can influence.

As Reiso said (I think) - he's best off sitting it out until the King arrives and then doing the best he can with his only ace - he knows about the Kings' true son.

Another good chapter - with some nice interaction between Lodevar and Lalomea.

Happy Writing. :)

[D-Lotus]

What if neclicectus (whatever) hides and then kamikaze attacks the Merking?

Or put lalomea to good use, and tell her to call Horchow and to make the merking listen to his wise words....

[Araex]

we don't want to lose nelectitus. however mad he is, he is a friend and can be useful. also, if you tried to order him to kill himself effectively, he might abandon you

[Key]

OK, so far we've got:

- Wait for the merking
- Wait for the merking and meanwhile send Nelectitus to find Lewellyn
- Wait for the merking and meanwhile send Lalomea to find Horchow
- Wait for the merking and have Nelectitus attack him when he comes
- Look for Horchow yourself and send Nelectitus to find Lewellyn

Let me know if anyone wants to add or change the options. Voting begins tomorrow.

[D-Lotus]

Wait for the Merking and attack him yourself if thigns go wrong, WHILE neclicectus looks for Lellewyn and lalomea kills herself or gets horchow?

[Key]

OK, poll's up. I think I covered all the permutations and combinations suggested :D

[D-Lotus]

I voted for the fourth option...but what I said is that the sagitarius WAITS until things go wrong to kill merking.....and last time, when lellewyn had to decide, I said to wait and SHOOT if things were going wrong, but you interpreted my options wrong, key, and now i'm pissed off, but just so that nobody goes at me to calm down, I'm just joking about everything except everything. :D :evil:

[Key]

The first part of your suggestion is there, D. But I want to vote on only one thing at a time. If things go wrong with the merking in the next chapter, you can vote for attacking him then.

Same with the last Lewellyn vote. You said that Lewellyn should observe and then attack his dad if he wasn't nice. Well, he's gone to observe, and if his dad isn't nice, you can vote to have him attack.

I don't want to vote on decisions too far in advance, because then the polls get too crazy (e.g. a = Wait for the merking and meanwhile send Nelectitus to find Lewellyn and Lalomea to find Horchow, then attack the merking if things go wrong, b = Wait for the merking and meanwhile send Nelectitus to find Lewellyn and Lalomea to find Horchow, then don't attack the merking, etc., etc. ). Plus it's a lot easier to suggest options and vote if you know what actually happens leading up to that (How not-nice is the merking? What does he say exactly? etc.)

[Reiso]

Any way you look at this, there is likely to be a large group of men here soon with weapons and at the Merking's command. This a very bad time to be seperated, no matter how well you think you have planned. Any attempts to assassinate the Merking from a distance just plain aren't going to work - he's the friggen Merking! He has better security than that. He has to be dealt with, there is no avoiding that, and their best shot is to be together and united when that time comes. That is why I chose the first option, and why I hope others do as well.

[D-Lotus]

Key wrote: The first part of your suggestion is there, D. But I want to vote on only one thing at a time. If things go wrong with the merking in the next chapter, you can vote for attacking him then.

Same with the last Lewellyn vote. You said that Lewellyn should observe and then attack his dad if he wasn't nice. Well, he's gone to observe, and if his dad isn't nice, you can vote to have him attack.

I don't want to vote on decisions too far in advance, because then the polls get too crazy (e.g. a = Wait for the merking and meanwhile send Nelectitus to find Lewellyn and Lalomea to find Horchow, then attack the merking if things go wrong, b = Wait for the merking and meanwhile send Nelectitus to find Lewellyn and Lalomea to find Horchow, then don't attack the merking, etc., etc. ). Plus it's a lot easier to suggest options and vote if you know what actually happens leading up to that (How not-nice is the merking? What does he say exactly? etc.)

ok, thanks

[Key]

New chapter to be posted this weekend. Vote now or forever hold your peace...

[D-Lotus]

Finally! :D

[Key]

Thanks to everyone who voted. The winning choice was:

Wait for the merking alone, and send Lalomea to find Horchow and Nelectitus to find Lewellyn