GM Breakdown, episode 31 - The Price To Pay

Stone Ghost is history and we are finishing up book 1 this episode!

...or so we thought. At the last minute, Dylan pulls a sneaky on us and hits us with three griffons flying in! I am not feeling great about that encounter next week, but we'll see how it goes.

We get some more info on SG, or as he was previously known, Uduak Basni. He was a cruel, arrogant student that after a whole string of events, he was finally imprisoned as he waited for the other Lorespeakers to decide if he should be dispelled or not. He lashed out, and his body was destroyed in the process.

Now, he has been amassing an army of gremlins and insects, all drawn toward the campus by some psychic signal. This signal is very intriguing, and probably setting up the rest of the adventure in metagame terms, so I'm very excited to see where it leads. This goal of his to rebrand the school to promote power over community and greatness through working together is nothing short of lunacy. To bring together a new group like the ten magic warriors, but to have them be powerhungry as their foremost personality trait will end in nothing other than them killing each other.

Wully has absolutely no tolerance for unwanton cruelty or bloodshed the likes of which Uduak has been a part of, so he is very happy with how things ended. He knows Rik has the best of intentions and even though their swing is sometimes mightier than they intended, it is far superior to holding back if it means giving evil room to breathe. He tries to make Rik feel a little better by bringing up a story from his past, one of the reasons he is here at the Magaambya.

I was sure everyone suspect I was doing the trope of "she's missing, but really she is dead"-thing, but it seems not (unless the others were lying to me). How many of you listeners knew she was dead already?

Then we get back to the surface, Teh'Rull gets to inspect insects to his heart's content. Is this the end of insect lore? At least until Blood Salt, but that's not confirmed yet. We get some toys, and I think Wully at least tries to mask his horror at seeing the red dragon, but he appreciates the gift all the same.

I suspect the griffons will be harder than SG, but we will see next week! I hope no one dies :(

Cheers,

Ejnar