[Child of the 7th Age]

Day Vampyre,

I think your basic idea is right on. Eliminate the part where the good guys go to Rhun and physically rescue the Entwives off the plantations as a separate part of the plot. It would have been an intriguing tale, but we just don't have the manpower. Instead focus on the military conflict. Let posters chose to join the army of Gondor or that of the Easterlings. They could keep their own character or invent a new one.

This would assume that the Entwives are still slaving away in Rhun. That way, we wouldn't have to post for them throughout the game, simply know they are waiting in captivity.

I do feel the best route would be for the good guys to go to Gondor immediately and tell the king. Then have him send out an army. Posters could choose whether they wanted to be in the army of Gondor or with the attacking baddies.

Would the battle take place in Rhun or Gondor itself or somewhere in between? If in Rhun or in-between, the army could continue on to the plantations and physically liberate the Entwives. If closer to Gondor, the freeing of the Entwives could just be part of the peace accord. They would show up in Fangorn at the very end after they'd been turned loose from Rhun.

Presumably, I would keep my two baddie characters: Saelonia the Priestess and Azunel, an Easterling military commander as part of the attacking group.

I have edited my last post. It now says that Saelonia sent back a messenger bird with a note. In it, she urges the "khan" of Rhun to send a mighty army to attack Minas Tirith. I also edited my post to say that Peachblossom will be taken back to Rhun in chains to rejoin her enslaved sisters.

That would eliminate her from the storyline as a separate entity until the very end. But I'd very much like to use Peachblossom to do a little vignette near the conclusion of the game in which she describes the joyful reunion of the Ents and Entwives? Would this be alright? That crazy post has been percolating in my mind for months!

I did have two questions about some loose threads for my characters. In my last post, I said the Easterlings would lead the huorn forward towards Isengard and Edoras to wreck havoc and divert the attention of the King of Gondor away from his eastern border where the larger attack would come. Do you want to leave that part in? Or should I change it to eliminate the part about Isengard and Edoras, and instead say that the huorn will march out from the forest towards Minas Tirith and join the attacking force sent by the Khan to bring down Gondor. Please advise what you'd like me to do with this.

Also, the original game plan was for Peachblossom to escape the Easterling caravan late at night and find the good guys who've come to Fangorn, telling them about her enslaved sisters, and the planned attack by Rhun on Gondor. I can still do this if you want. I'll merely have her decide to return to the Easterling camp because she is afraid what her captors will do to her sisters if she escapes. She'd return to the Easterling caravan in the middle of the night without Saelonia even realizing that she's been gone. Then she'd be dragged off towards Rhun again.

Will this work as a way to tell the good guys about the attack? Or do you prefer to develop another way to handle this and leave Peachblossom out of the mix? Either way is fine. Just let me know...

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Lyra

I'm glad you're back so soon. I hope you'll go ahead with your earlier plan to join up with the "bad guys."

Cami/Child

[ August 30, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]