@sharknap I agree, it was somewhat unclear to me on my first trip through the room what I was supposed to be aiming for, and having it be the very same lyre was a surprise. I’m glad you can look at everything before choosing one now. That just makes sense. I mean, you’re still in the room. The object is not beyond your reach! Should you look at everything and decide you’d like it after all.
I really hope every companion has their own side quest and I think they’ve said they will, so I’m very excited about that. A year ago (!) they said that the outline had 13 chapters and 6 interludes with the possibility of more based on the choices made. So potentially quite a bit left to happen. Based on the length/format of previous chapters I don’t think the actual recovery of the Eye will take up more than two or three chapters at the most, but I could very easily be wrong. I’m not sure what will happen after that. I’ve been thinking I’d like to see the characters actually go to Armorica, which seems possible if they do end up giving Castulia some super powerful magical artifact. Tarracina is… well, not a backwater, really, but I’d like to get a closer look at Castulian politics and culture as practiced in the heart of the empire, and presenting this big-deal magical doodad to some Senator or Sage or whatever would make a decent excuse to do so.
Random unrelated thoughts I have had recently:
Out of curiosity I did a run bringing Sangarinus along with Izzy’s mission, encouraged violence, then said he also kills people without trial so he has no high ground. I feel like a monster. So guilty. Definitely not taking that route again.
There have been several times when the PC spars/fights with someone while clan members look on. I wonder if those are being kept track of. Like you get to a certain point and the clan gets together and says “Okay, you’ve lost every single fight you’ve been in since we arrived and now we’re voting no-confidence for you as heir because this is just embarrassing.” It is said near the beginning that being the chief’s heir is only a very good indication that you’ll be chief yourself, not a guarantee.
I just put together that Lanceae training lasts until they’re 19 and Sangarinus had his first kiss at 19. I feel some kind of way about that. Between being deployed at 19, “certain events” after which Sangarinus is grateful the general still trusted him enough to make him her aide, and being her aide for about four/five years, he really hasn’t had a single moment to himself since he was seven, has he? No wonder he’s tired of fighting. Also, he refers to Astraia (life, healing, peace, craftsmanship) as “his” Lady, suggesting she is his deity of preference. Let the poor guy whittle things somewhere quiet by the shore, please?
When trying to decrypt the journal we get to choose one of three clans for Orlan to have come from, with different specialties. The possibility of him coming from a southern clan that adopts a lot of foreigners is fueling all kinds of conspiracy theories on my part about surprise blood relations among the Castulians and/or Iskendi. The way the options are presented makes me think they’re going to become relevant at some point. Maybe by running into his old clan, maybe by having the PC have a skill related to the clan’s specialty. Don’t know. But it seems like that detail might come back at some point.
Speaking of harebrained conspiracy theories, Roise and Orlan had water and flame themed pendants not because it’s the most basic duality imaginable, but because they have something to do with Astraia and Cymbeline.
About bringing Pan along on Izzy’s mission; Um. So I noticed that if you have Pan “take care of” the guard going up the stairs it’s written identically regardless of whether it’s supposed to be a bloodless job or not. I mean. Identically.
Summary
Can we talk about this? Did Pan slit a dude’s throat when it was explicitly supposed to be a non-throat-slitting occasion?