The Eye of Anubis: OOC Thread

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I've only seen two PC's ever make that sacrifice in my games.

I've seen it once, with an active PC, but the player had gotten bored of playing him and wanted to try something different, so he conspired with the DM, who planted a soul-sucking stone near the BBEG, which would devour the soul of anyone who died nearby, preventing any sort of res or raise. Then both player and DM were a little more reckless than normal with his PC during the boss fight. None of the other players knew that the NPC we'd met along the way was to be his new character, so we were all shocked. It was pretty cool, but this tops it.

[NeoTiamat]

Everyone from top to bottom has done some fine work during the course of the game, actually. Good work to all the players, DMs, map makers, play-testers, and anyone else that made this game so enjoyable for an uninvolved person to read every day.

It's been a great game, and I'm constantly amazed that we've actually managed to finish this campaign. It's been over eighteen months since we've started, so I am pretty impressed.

And since we're on the subject of slightly premature congratulations, let me just say that the only reason EoA has lasted as long as it has, and been as successful as it has, is because I've got a gaggle of truly fine players and some excellent support crew.

Lostboy, who draws all of our maps based on my rather crude concept sketches. They are beautiful, and I hope make the combats just a little nicer.

Cronax, who has been helping out with statistics for the last third of the campaign or so, and running playtests for even longer. If I haven't accidentally TPKed you guys, it's largely due to him.

And of course, Isabella, who has been serving as co-DM forever now, writing posts, writing those magnificent cutscenes, helping out with playtests, and generally making this game a joy to run.

Plus the PCs, whom I shamelessly bribe to help me do whatever needs to be done. Couldn't have done it without you.

It's been tons of fun, and I hope to see you guys in a few months for the next Isabella and NeoTiamat Production, coming to Port-a-Lucine in 770...

Mark your calendars!

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Now, all that said, doesn't mean we're quite done with the Eye of Anubis. First off, there's the epilogue going on in the main thread, with all the chances to eulogize Sascha, and the game, as well as bid fond farewells to your fellow PCs and NPCs. I still have one thing in mind before everyone breaks, so don't drift of quite yet.

At the same time, there's two things I'm requesting from everyone. I can't offer XP any more, (well, I could), but I'm hoping you'll do these anyway.

First, Character Epilogue Cutscenes. Basically, as the game ends, I'm hoping that each player will find it in them to write up a little cutscene, to answer the question "So what happens to _____ now?" We'll be doing something similar for the NPCs, but this is your chance to give your character a proper send-off.

Couple of notes on this:

• -Nathan, you'll be getting to write for Sarari as well. Kage, you're writing for Dieter too.
  
  -Just in case, I'd like everyone to email me their cutscene before we post it up in the Cutscene Thread. Basically the only reason is that I can look over and check that it won't conflict with anything Isabella and I are planning for future continuity (so long as you're not in Dementlieu, you should be perfectly safe).
  
  -In general, I recommend you cut off at nine years into the future, especially if you want your PC to have the option of appearing in the sequel, as a PC once more or even as a cameo. If you're dead certain that never again will your character appear in Dementlieu, then feel free to write past 770.
  
  -Beyond that, write whatsoever you like, however far into the future you like. You guys have earned your happy endings.

Secondly, the Final Feedback. The main plot is done, the main story is finished, the PCs and NPCs are scattered to the winds, so now is my question to you, what did you think of the campaign? Here's a couple of questions for guidance, to help you decide what to respond:

• -What did you think about the characters? It's the NPCs who we're proudest of, a considerable crew of rogues, heroes, and everyone in between. Ideally, what did you think about each individual character, or at failing that at least the ones you've interacted with extensively? And don't limit yourself to just the Expedition, though obviously they're the most prominent. Favor Ambassador Vedarrak or the Anubite with some thoughts as well. And of course, our Arch-Villain of the Campaign, the late and (un)lamented John Lancaster Cavendish.
  
  -What did you think about the overarching campaign storyline? The Eye of Anubis, Beherit, Menetnashte and Cavendish and the FoS, the Tomb and the Opera House?
  
  -What did you think of the various one-off episodes? The Faerie Court in Book Six, Dezbar Keep, Kamarn-Quse, etc.
  
  -What do you think of your character? What's happened to your PC over these months?
  
  -Lasty, just sum up the campaign as a whole. How was it?

[Baron Zamedi]

Hey everyone, just wanted to congratulate you all, DM's and players for this campaign, I've been following it since before I signed up on this site (since about book 3) and just felt like I should thank you for the experience you've given me even as just an spectator it has been inspiring.

It's been one of the most wonderful campaigns I've ever seen with really (I mean really) appealing characters, an awesome plot and plainly some of the best quality writing I've ever had the pleasure to read in a game, this story was just great I don't think there are any other words to describe it... Plus the ending! That was definitely brilliant!

I guess what I want to say is thank you for the hours of fun I had reading through this PBP I think it's a master piece and it should be made into a book or movie (that'd be awesome ) congrats everyone for what I really think I can call, without fear of being mistaken, the best campaign I've seen in my whole life.

PS: I really cannot wait for the sequel!

[lostboy]

Its quote annoying I cant post IC anymore.. ah well.

Thinkign about the campaign I still have a load of questions about things, not least the PC's backgrounds. But I guess anyone how is gogin to appear in "EoA strikes back" needs to keep those cards close to their chests...

As he has been written out of the sequel, here for those of you who didnt have clue what Sascha was all about, is his backstory I wrote as a character concept.

Sascha Dziemianovitch – The Ashen Knight

Many are the tales of Vlad Drakov’s military forays against Darkon and his other neighbours, yet far less chronicled are those assaults he has perpetrated against more remote lands. Sascha was born in one such land, the bleak, frozen realm of Voristokov. His was a simple herding family, scratching what living they could from the land, fearing the howls in the night, surviving as best they could in the northern reaches.

One bleak midwinter the Falkovnians came, burning and pillaging as they made their way across the land. Fortunately for the natives the invaders were unprepared for what ran under the frozen moon, and in a single night the forces were routed. Unfortunately for Sascha their rout brought them to his very door. None were left alive as the soldiers vented their anger on the peasant family, the young man forced to watch as his sisters, mother and father were abused and killed, and left to burn.

Although harshly beaten Sascha was left alive, his strong, young body deemed a useful commodity for the Kingfuhrers armies, and he was bound and forced to march away across the frozen steppes. The journey was hellish; the Falkovnians treated him as barely more than an animal, and the black wolves of the forest dogged them, right until the misty border.

Once back in Falkovnia Sascha was imprisoned with many other captive young men, all young and strong and taken from they’re homes in distant lands. Conditions were appalling and when their will was broken the men were led once more into the sunlight and sent for re-education to be indoctrinated into the armies of the Hawk, ready to be sent as the first wave of fodder in Drakov’s latest ill-conceived war. Sascha, took to the soldiers life well, for there was a streak of cruelty within the young man that responded to the mindless slaughter and depravity he was asked to commit.

For twenty long years he served, indulging his baser instincts and committing heinous crimes in the name of state sanctioned warfare. Leading the most daring and ruthless missions he became known as the “Black Scourge”, his name whispered in fear amongst the men now under his command. Away from the field of battle his mood was dark and brooding, only cheered by the cruelty he could visit upon his servants or those commoners unfortunate to cross his path.

Yet the relentless wrath could not come without a price, and one ashen dawn as he looked down onto the burning hamlet on the Darkonian border he saw in a young captives eyes the spark of defiance that he should have had. The boy was barely in his teens yet fought back the soldiers with tooth, nail and broken pieces of his home, as he defended the brutalised bodies of his family. Sascha was mesmerised, seeing in the youth al that he should have been, rather than the black armour-wearing tyrant he had become. Unable to bear the sight any more he ran the boy through and dumped the body on the pyre.

Still the effects of that morning lingered, Sascha found his dreams plagued with youths face whispering of retribution, he began questioning himself, often aloud, and feel into a deep melancholy. Everywhere he turned he saw the evil and malice that had guided his life for so long, closing in on him, and the boys face and those of others whispering in his ears. Soon his men began to avoid him, muttering about the madness inflicting him, finally one of the more ambitious ones, planned a coup to remove him from power. Kidnapped at dawn he was taken to a bleak forest clearing by a group of five men, yet fate once again intervened and spared his life.

This time his saviour was a mysterious figure swathed in ashen robes, who flitted between the trees, killing the soldiers in silence. As those that held him perished Sascha fell to his knees, begging for his life and confessing the sins that lay on his heart. Yet death did not come, the figure raised the mans face upwards and Sascha found himself staring at a featureless, grey mask. “You are heavy with the burden of evil” it hissed, “but I see strength in you, strength that can be redeemed. Take my covenant, become a scion of the Ashen Cross, and the weight shall be lifted from your soul.” In fear and wonder Sascha nodded his acceptance. “A wise choice” the other hissed again, “from this day forth your life must take a different path, you must honour the four truths; obedience, poverty, honesty, and protection of those in need. Go from this place and wander the lands of the mist, you are now beholden under the Ashen Cross.” As the other finished speaking it reached down and pressed its finger into Sascha’s arm, tracing a burning cross of pain there “In time redemption and revelation shall be yours, but let this remind you of your choice.”

Gasping Sascha collapsed, the pain throbbing in his arm too much for his conscious to bear. When he awoke the pain had subsided to a dull ache and when dared look up he was alone with the dead, the only signs of his visitor was a murky white robe marked with a dark cross that lay over his body, and a small blacked piece of wood. Silently thanking whatever fate had offered him this second chance, Sascha pulled the robe around his shoulders, reverently picked up the fragment of wood and stepped forward onto a new road, he understood little of what had occurred but the message was burnt into his mind.

In his late forties now, he appears far older than his years, a palpable weight of the world hangs on his shoulders, yet his eyes shine with the fire of the faithful. He does not preach his mysterious faith or share his vision, merely letting his actions speak as the message to others. But when riled into combat with what he perceives as evil, he is a fearsome sigh indeed, an efficient killer that calls on a frenzied bloodlust to deliver the evil from these lands. But despite the kindly exterior, in the black of night he still remembers his old life, the faces haunt him, forcing him to throw himself into the fervour of his work.

He has wandered many lands, remaining true to his oath, helping those in need, slaying the creatures that pray upon them, working with a fervent need to atone for his former life, yet never seeing any sign of the one that came to him. He has come to believe that the visitor was some kind of angel of the mists, a divine being that gifted him another chance, yet he yearns and fears another visitation, the pain in his arm a constant reminder of the oath that binds him, and he wishes no repeat of his masters lesson. Often he stares at the wooden fragment, which he keeps in a small leather pouch, wondering on its nature and the strange heat that rises from it, why was he chosen and what is the ultimate truth behind the ashen veil?...

Most recently he had taken passage on a ship from Nova Vaasa headed for Paridon, that ship never made it having run afoul of the Jackals ruse and left him adrift in the Amber Wastes. Yet here as anywhere else, there are those in need, those he must bring under the protection of the Ashen Cross.

No, I have no idea who the visitation was at all, but I think RL needs a few more mystery cults...

[NeoTiamat]

And the first Epilogue Cutscene is up. Say hello to Fassahd and Khalil.

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Also, anyone who has questions regarding EoA can feel free to ask me in here or via AIM. Now, I don't promise I'll answer everything, but you never know till you ask.

[The Whistler]

OK, had this knocking around in the back of my head for a while...what were you going to do with Mary Collins? I feel like she was a potential plot thread of some kind that we just failed to activate somehow.

[NeoTiamat]

OK, had this knocking around in the back of my head for a while...what were you going to do with Mary Collins? I feel like she was a potential plot thread of some kind that we just failed to activate somehow.

OOC, you have hit the nail on the head. Mary Collins was basically an adventure hook that didn't get many bites, and so after a while I reeled her in.

I still think she has some storyline potential, but whether or not she gets used in the sequel will probably depend on a certain factor outside of my control.

IC... play the sequel and you might find out.

[NeoTiamat]

Second Epilogue Cutscene up, this time with Prof. Sebastian Marchand-Renier and Remy Lessard.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

That second epilogue cutscene is pure excellence. I have no other words for it. ^^

[NeoTiamat]

I liked it.

And the third Epilogue Cutscene is up, this time with Charles Martel and Sarari, written by our very own Nathan of the FoS!

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In general, we're going to aim for one PC and one NPC cutscene a day. Once I get your cutscene, I'll tell you when to post it up, either by AIM or by email.

[NeoTiamat]

Now is the time of the fourth Epilogue Cutscene, revolving around everyone's favorite criminal masterminds, Samael Maleagant, Lily D'Envers, and Jervis!

[NeoTiamat]

Now, the fifth epilogue cutscene, with Khalil al-Atim, Part Two!

[NeoTiamat]

Number six, with James Blake... and a few cameos.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Well, well, well. So not all the surviving villains of the piece get a happily ever after ... Shame about the money and trinkets falling to Falkovnia/the FoS, but oh well. ^^;

[NeoTiamat]

*quirks brow*

You show a distressing lack of faith in our friend the jackalwere.