Author's Note (Malaney Belrue)

AUTHOR’S NOTE

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE WHOLE STORY THROUGH OF MALANEY BELRUE, BE WARNED THAT THIS IS A MEANS TO EXPLAIN WHY THE STORY ENDED AS IT DID.

To those who’ve read the whole story through, THANK YOU! This was a fun campaign to recap, and sadly it had to come to an end in a rather unexpected way. This note is to help illustrate what can’t be gathered from Malaney’s perspective. But before I relay that, I will speak of the abrupt end.

As with anything long term, life happens and plans change. The group I had been playing with ran into a rather large hiccup as a friend’s health insisted upon them taking time away from game. With that, we didn’t want to exclude them by finding someone new to fill their role, nor did we want to try and fudge explaining how the new character was suddenly the Primordial we all have been adventuring with all along.

When this happened, we had just reached the monastery, which provided an opportunity to create filler. We had anticipated that it would only be 2-3 sessions worth of filler, but it quickly began to get muddled. For me, it was an opportunity to fill in a lot of story fluff that would explain the changes Malaney goes through; to get her to be someone who would fight.

See, when I first created the Bard, it was because she and Kimaris were meant to fall in love. I and my friend wanted to roleplay a genuine romance and so Malaney was the likely candidate. I knew her well and had her backstory concrete. What I failed to anticipate was how she would act in a fight. So when it came, it was glaringly obvious that the qualities and characteristics I knew her to be would not, could not, be willed to harm another. The act of violence was her bane.

The monastery was exactly what Malaney needed. It provided a place for her to train. Not only train, but to be rescued, in essence, by a past manifestation as the pressure of performing weighed upon her shoulders. This break from the actual storyline gave me the chance to figure out how Malaney would find her courage.

So that was the gameplan while our friend got better; whip our characters into shape. However the overall atmosphere in game had shifted. The interest level and engagement that once was, vanished and punctuality became less of a priority. It was frustrating, to say the least, with all the work I had invested into the story of my character, to watch the campaign slowly crumble apart. And I mean SLOWLY!! Starting back in April.

We had played earlier this week (the date I typed this being 5/24/2016) and when the session ended, I made the decision to conclude Malaney’s journal. There were various factors that had lead to this. I exercised patience and communication with players and the DM to little avail. And so it seemed silly for me to keep putting in such an effort when there seemed to be no reward for the attempts made to keep things afloat.

THE FINAL CHAPTER: This was an inspired ending when the player, who played Bordel, and I discussed the budding romance between our two characters. I commented on how his character’s name and personality was practically identical to the character I had created for Malaney’s future daughter. I then joked about what the Bard was experiencing was almost foreshadowing of what her daughter would experience. Then, without missing a beat, he replied that since Bordel was the Primordial of Time, it wouldn’t be too farfetched if he sent her back in time. He would also go find Achmath and tell him to go get Malaney, that she needs him.

The Cleric had already used his Primordial abilities when we had to switch Oda and Fernwood out with new players. It was established that he was able to go back far enough to make sure the Primordial spirit entered into that of a different person and therefore making it so that the new characters had been Primordials all along (yeah, a bit of a stretch and hence our added hesitance about finding a new player to fill the vacant role). With that power established, it seemed legit he’d do something similar to Malaney, for Bordel would rather keep her safe than to be hunted down and killed. But by so doing, she wouldn’t remember him.

I hadn’t intended to use that idea for this campaign. I had visions that the end would include Kimaris’s return, their relationship developing further, collecting the cups, saving the world, and living happily ever after. Instead, the story died and I took the day they fled the monastery as the point of inspiration to working in the drastic end. The abruptness also was an attempt to show that life changes rather quickly and unexpectedly. One moment things are fine and dandy, the next moment, the world’s turned upside down. 

So rather than making it to the city beyond the portal, Bordel sends her back to the start of the caravan that took her to Asura. Now the question lies, will Achmath be able to catch up in time?