21 Feb 2019

The Elf's Prisoner - Commentary 17

Nyssa in the circle, in The Elf's Prisoner Chapter 17.

A bit of action to wake up the readers in Chapter 17.  Something needed to happen; road trips aren't interesting unless something odd occurs.  Since I introduced the circle in Chapter 15, it needed to come back at some point.  Chekov's phaser and all that.  It could come up again when the cast is on their way back, but I haven't planned that far out yet.

Why Nyssa?  She and Kazimier wouldn't let Leo and Wren get into trouble there.  Kazi is defering to Nyssa around humans, in part because she is one and in part because she is a woman with authority.  Then there's the idea of the person warning the younger set getting into the trouble she wants Wren and Leo to avoid.  Chekov's phaser is set to irony.  This also let me show off Nyssa's combat skills while not being outnumbered.  Nyssa is an older woman; she fights smart.

The rest of the chapter goes back to the cast investigating the plot.  They have a suspicion, but they're not sure of who or why.  Theo and his friend are there to emphasize the mystery.  The innkeeper sees people come and go all the time.  Unless someone does something to really stand out, he's not going to remember half the people who pass through until their third or fourth time through.  Nyssa handing him a pouch of gold will get him to remember her, but if he wants to keep seeing those pouches, he may conveniently forget about her.

The minstrel is working the crowd.  The idea here is that, for a small fee, the minstrel gets exclusive rights to work the room that night and the patrons of the tavern can provide small tips.  Minstrels are also the closest thing the world has to regular news broadcasts, especially between major settlements.  Within Wildwood and Varinford, there are cryers for local events, but beyond, the only real way to hear news in general is the minstrels.

Friday, end of day catch up, in The Elf's Prisoner Chapter 18.
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, Airplane!.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, music covers.

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