Plots and Plans - Naddali

[Sevti]

For the moment, most of Naddali's plots and plans center around getting through the interview with Battlemage Falgan to see if he'll accept her on as a student. It's not going to be an easy interview and he'll (eventually) make it quite clear that if he doesn't find her acceptable because of her experience and drive, that she can sleep her way in. (He'd, of course, NEVER put it that crudely.)

What is he looking for in a student? Determination. Some aptitude. (Not yet sure enough of battle OR magic to know how he'd test this, but that's why I married Tristam, after all. So I could ask him these tough questions. ) She's going to have to want and need to focus a majority of her time on this. This, of course, won't mean she won't have time for sideplots, but just like everything else in life, something will have to give eventually.

She's also currently in the Recouperating thread with Jarius. There are absolutely NO plans set there. I'm just throwing the two PCs together to see if they stick and what kind of fun may come out of it. I'll decide if there's anything worth pursuing on that angle once they play through a bit more.

[Sevti]

Now that Naddali's back from hiatus (just in time for my own to start), I'm planning on pushing her further forward with the Battlemage testing. He's going to be very impressed by her abilities to see the Aether and unsurprised that she cannot yet manipulate it. He'll see if she can manipulate energy, like moving a candleflame from one candle to another, before then testing her battle skills. For this, I'm thinking some sort of sudden surprise attack before she has a chance to ready herself. See what her immediate reactions are.

Depending on how she reacts to these things will depend on whether he feels the need to offer up an alternative way into training (read: hit on her). Originally, I was going to have her possibly hit on regardless of how well she did, however she is Comfort Zone A and I don't want to risk putting her into a potentially uncomfortable erotic situation.

Once she makes it past Falgan's interview (and to do so, she needs to show the ability to see the aether, the ability to manipulate energy, and the ability to defend herself in an unexpected attack), I have a little training planned for her, but nothing beyond that. If there's a way to do so, I'd like to work her into the race riots somehow - possibly throwing her against some of the other PCs. I don't have any set plans for her in relation to this yet, so any ideas are more than welcome. Help me brainstorm!

[Sevti]

Naddali's given me a run down of the color mapping for how she sees the threads of the aether. Here they are:

(shades will vary depending on how much the element is tied to the object or person)
Fire – red
Water – blue
Air – green
Earth – brown
Life – silver
Death – purple
Light – white
Darkness – black
Lightning – yellow

As she comes across more elements in her studies, we'll map those as appropriate.

[Sevti]

More information regarding the battle part of Naddali's interview:

Once she's finished with the magic part of her interview, it will be time to find out if she's as good when it comes to battle as she is when it comes to magic. He'll notice the fact that she's brought in her bow (I've checked with the player and Naddali didn't have time to drop her pack with her, so she's got her bow and arrows) and that will please him. He'll send up a light hawk, swooping back and forth and ask her to aim and hit it. Once she's hit it three times, he'll bring her to phase two with no more warning than "Phase two. To first blood." The light hawk will swoop and attack her. See if she can figure out what she's meant to do. If the hawk hits her first, he'll be disappointed but, considering the aptitude with everything else, he should still accept her as a student. If she hits the hawk first, he'll accept her with no hesitation.

Once this final test has finished, he'll inform her that her classes will begin with him the next morning, two hours after morning tide. She is to meet him there and to be prepared. If she asks him what for, she is simply told "To learn."

Her training can begin with either fighting or magic, whichever is deemed more comfortable for who's running her thread at the time. For fighting, she needs to be trained in unarmed combat and staff. (Falgan has passing experience with sword, but staff is where he truly excels.) For magic, she needs to start her training in elementalism. Once she has the beginnings of both of these down, Falgan will train her to combine both her fighting and her magic together to start learning how to throw flaming arrows. She'll be able to broaden her studies from there if she so wishes.

If she can be pulled into the race riots (and I'm still not sure of a good hook to pull her into that with), then her studies will need to take a back seat for awhile.

[Sevti]

Naddali has passed her interview from Battlemage Falgan. Without needing to sleep with him even! He's currently, if she accepts, teaching her a little healing magic to take care of the scratch on her arm from the light hawk that he sent against her.

Once Naddali officially accepts, I will be starting a thread for her and, eventually, Ashtallion as her training. Falgan will require Ashtallion to teach her something of battlemagic, leaving it up to Ashtallion to decide which. He will sit back and observe them both as the training begins.

There's a good possibility that the explanation that Falgan will require of Asht and the story of the big badaboom outside of the Lotus can be used to ensnare Naddali into a bigger plotline. I'm still really willing to go with whatever seems to present herself to get her involved in the race riots. Any specific ideas are more than welcome!

[Sevti]

One final note regarding Asht & Naddali... Since Syra has requested a TradeTide meeting for them rather than a MorningTide meeting, and Falgan has already told Naddali to be there three marks after MT, I'm planning on starting their post out tonight glossing over what she learned in those first three marks, having a short break for food (since she'll need to replenish that energy) and then bringing Asht into it. And from that point, it will probably be a combination of PC/PC interaction with a smattering of observations from Falgan.