Let spirit fight spirit. Vahid has seen what their power in your flesh looks like in Odo. He doesn’t need a better example of why not to bind it into his flesh. Let him turn it loose. He’ll still have the Azure Hand and his spirit eye!
Too late to vote but from an interesting future narrative point of view I'd go for binding the storm to his flesh. It'll create more interesting dilemmas and conflicts, plus give him a dangerous arc to navigate.
Besides, I'm really looking forward to Odo going down!
Also, you have a typo: Dawa's voice cracks before the fight, not Mutra's.
I voted for Vahid to ~~use The Ring~~ bind the storm spirit. This is the only option that allows him to defeat Odo while avoiding massive losses among his friends and allies, and I think that combination would be impossible for Vahid to resist.
I am not sure that this is the right thing to do. In fact, I suspect it is not. Possibly, Vahid should simply be more willing to accept losses on his team. (Many of us cherish the belief that we'd be willing to die for our ideals, while being unwilling to allow others to do the same.) And, possibly Vahid shouldn't. These are (fictional) people's lives we're talking about.
If the vote goes this way, I'll look forward to seeing where Vahid's character goes. It's hard to pull off the "dipping into darkness trope" that schnickers mentions, but when it's done well, it makes for an interesting character. So, vote of confidence for the author.
On a related note, one of my favorite fictional wizards is Prospero from the Tempest simply because he breaks his staff when he's done what he set out to do. I think Tolkein thinks that's impossible (hence neither Gandalf nor Galadriel can have the One Ring). We'll see where you land.
It is a tough one! Part of my calculus in offering such a punishing set of opportunities was the riskiness of what the party is attempting here -- there were a bunch of opportunities to take paths that put them less at risk (diverting the mission to rescue Pad, storming the tenements with the bosses' armies, leaving Gordin's Delve to fend for itself against the hdour).
I do love me some Prospero -- I saw Stephen Dillane (aka Stannis Baratheon) play him at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and he was sublime. I don't necessarily see this as a straight path towards darkness for Vahid -- he's more flirting with power and ambition, which, of course, can lead to very dark places. The question is: How is Vahid different than Cirl, at his core? And how can he prove it, to himself and others?
"This seems like a good dilemma for you fine folks," I feel no dilemma as I am a sucker for the dipping into darkness trope. So I go binding the spirit.
I think this direction will put Vahid in the Spot on the long/last run. He is like the (still) white mirror to Cirl, mimicking his path but for a greater/better good. I crave for his character change to unfold in the aftermath.
There's definitely a lot of story possibilities with Vahid becoming more ambitious and grandiose, even while his heart remains largely in the right place. We'll see where the votes fall -- it's very tight!
Glad you like the Anwen image -- the details are all wrong, but the energy feels right. :-)
At this point Vahid cannot leave things to chance. He, not the spirit or even the thunder god itself, knows what is needed in this moment, and he cannot let his friends come to ruin. Nor, in the back of his head, can he bear the thought of paying such prices he has already paid, only to have their rewards fail to serve his noble - noble! - purpose.
Let spirit fight spirit. Vahid has seen what their power in your flesh looks like in Odo. He doesn’t need a better example of why not to bind it into his flesh. Let him turn it loose. He’ll still have the Azure Hand and his spirit eye!
Lots of good reasons not to go the whole way. So far, this is a very tight poll -- not sure where the chips will fall!
Too late to vote but from an interesting future narrative point of view I'd go for binding the storm to his flesh. It'll create more interesting dilemmas and conflicts, plus give him a dangerous arc to navigate.
Besides, I'm really looking forward to Odo going down!
Also, you have a typo: Dawa's voice cracks before the fight, not Mutra's.
Dawa and Mutra got mixed up so much in this arc. 🤦I will fix!
What horrible choices you've given us!
I voted for Vahid to ~~use The Ring~~ bind the storm spirit. This is the only option that allows him to defeat Odo while avoiding massive losses among his friends and allies, and I think that combination would be impossible for Vahid to resist.
I am not sure that this is the right thing to do. In fact, I suspect it is not. Possibly, Vahid should simply be more willing to accept losses on his team. (Many of us cherish the belief that we'd be willing to die for our ideals, while being unwilling to allow others to do the same.) And, possibly Vahid shouldn't. These are (fictional) people's lives we're talking about.
If the vote goes this way, I'll look forward to seeing where Vahid's character goes. It's hard to pull off the "dipping into darkness trope" that schnickers mentions, but when it's done well, it makes for an interesting character. So, vote of confidence for the author.
On a related note, one of my favorite fictional wizards is Prospero from the Tempest simply because he breaks his staff when he's done what he set out to do. I think Tolkein thinks that's impossible (hence neither Gandalf nor Galadriel can have the One Ring). We'll see where you land.
It is a tough one! Part of my calculus in offering such a punishing set of opportunities was the riskiness of what the party is attempting here -- there were a bunch of opportunities to take paths that put them less at risk (diverting the mission to rescue Pad, storming the tenements with the bosses' armies, leaving Gordin's Delve to fend for itself against the hdour).
I do love me some Prospero -- I saw Stephen Dillane (aka Stannis Baratheon) play him at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and he was sublime. I don't necessarily see this as a straight path towards darkness for Vahid -- he's more flirting with power and ambition, which, of course, can lead to very dark places. The question is: How is Vahid different than Cirl, at his core? And how can he prove it, to himself and others?
"This seems like a good dilemma for you fine folks," I feel no dilemma as I am a sucker for the dipping into darkness trope. So I go binding the spirit.
I think this direction will put Vahid in the Spot on the long/last run. He is like the (still) white mirror to Cirl, mimicking his path but for a greater/better good. I crave for his character change to unfold in the aftermath.
(also, very nice Anwen image!!)
There's definitely a lot of story possibilities with Vahid becoming more ambitious and grandiose, even while his heart remains largely in the right place. We'll see where the votes fall -- it's very tight!
Glad you like the Anwen image -- the details are all wrong, but the energy feels right. :-)
At this point Vahid cannot leave things to chance. He, not the spirit or even the thunder god itself, knows what is needed in this moment, and he cannot let his friends come to ruin. Nor, in the back of his head, can he bear the thought of paying such prices he has already paid, only to have their rewards fail to serve his noble - noble! - purpose.
Nobody could fault Vahid. Pad told him to hold nothing back!