The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz

If they could cram everyone inside those wards in time, at least our adventures would stand a decent chance of surviving the flames if that burning can't be prevented.

Granted, given that they would also have to make the wards non-permeable to keep the heat and smoke out, that would also mean a high chance of using up all the oxygen inside before it was safe to emerge again, so there's that. I don't really recommend it as an option of first resort.

Quote from: Evie on March 01, 2025, 09:56:21 PMIf they could cram everyone inside those wards in time, at least our adventures would stand a decent chance of surviving the flames if that burning can't be prevented.

Granted, given that they would also have to make the wards non-permeable to keep the heat and smoke out, that would also mean a high chance of using up all the oxygen inside before it was safe to emerge again, so there's that. I don't really recommend it as an option of first resort.

I think I like the escape-via-portal option better.

I was hoping to get Amy in to see Airich but only Trevor so far. Wonder what will happen when Iain finally enters

Quote from: DerynifanK on February 28, 2025, 02:53:06 PMIt feels strange to describe an assassin's probe as gentle and caring but he apparently is concerned about Airich and his man, Darius did save Airich's life. He knows what he needs to do. Wonder how he and the others will be able to get Airich to a portal and to Wash for healing. Do any of them know Wash is at Caerrorie waiting for him?

Wish we knew what Collos needs to do.

It's good that they are able to see Airich and reassure themselves about the treatment he has received. I really like the interaction between Darius and Elspeth. Finally Amy will enter and I guess Elspeth will leave. Don't know if Iain will also enter but he definitely needs to hear Airich's ID of the other Willimite leader. Plans will now be needed.

Bynw, I think we really do need that "Oh No!" button as an option instead of "Like."

I know he's only 19 but it seems to me that Edwin is more than a bit of a brat. I hope Elspeth will give him a talking to.

Quote from: DerynifanK on March 06, 2025, 07:15:44 PMI know he's only 19 but it seems to me that Edwin is more than a bit of a brat. I hope Elspeth will give him a talking to.

Hopefully someone will figure out soon that he's so angry because of the false memories he's been given that have made him believe that he never succeeded with (or even spoke to) the Dean at all, and that his former companions had turned on him in various ways. I would be livid too, in Edwin's shoes and given those false memories.

This is one reason humans fear Deryni, they can misuse their power and make one think their friends have turned on them. Jester MacBee loves stirring up that kind of trouble. Especially when he is pissed that the man he thought he had kidnapped, was the knight with a king's ransom worth of memories, but instead he ended up with a young student who knew little. So MacBee, in his anger, messed with our poor student, ruthlessly.

Quote from: Laurna on March 06, 2025, 08:54:52 PMThis is one reason humans fear Deryni, they can misuse their power and make one think their friends have turned on them. Jester MacBee loves stirring up that kind of trouble. Especially when he is pissed that the man he thought he had kidnapped, was the knight with a king's ransom worth of memories, but instead he ended up with a young student who knew little. So MacBee, in his anger, messed with our poor student, ruthlessly.

Jerk... feels sorry for Edwin again.

Quote from: Nezz on March 06, 2025, 08:56:05 PM

Quote from: Laurna on March 06, 2025, 08:54:52 PMThis is one reason humans fear Deryni, they can misuse their power and make one think their friends have turned on them. Jester MacBee loves stirring up that kind of trouble. Especially when he is pissed that the man he thought he had kidnapped, was the knight with a king's ransom worth of memories, but instead he ended up with a young student who knew little. So MacBee, in his anger, messed with our poor student, ruthlessly.

Jerk... feels sorry for Edwin again.

When did he do this? I must have missed it.

Quote from: DerynifanK on March 07, 2025, 08:38:16 AM

Quote from: Nezz on March 06, 2025, 08:56:05 PM

Quote from: Laurna on March 06, 2025, 08:54:52 PMThis is one reason humans fear Deryni, they can misuse their power and make one think their friends have turned on them. Jester MacBee loves stirring up that kind of trouble. Especially when he is pissed that the man he thought he had kidnapped, was the knight with a king's ransom worth of memories, but instead he ended up with a young student who knew little. So MacBee, in his anger, messed with our poor student, ruthlessly.

Jerk... feels sorry for Edwin again.

When did he do this? I must have missed it.

It doesn't really make sense in isolation but it's the conclusion of a whole sequence beginning with him and Bede getting drunk in Muirea's tavern, Edwin leaving without Bede in the company of strangers, the strangers turning out to be kidnappers led by the Deryni Macbee, who then plants false memories not only to cover their tracks, but also to make problems for Edwin and his friends. Because he's a sadist who enjoys making sport of others.

Quote from: Marc_du_Temple on March 07, 2025, 09:08:09 AM

Quote from: DerynifanK on March 07, 2025, 08:38:16 AM

Quote from: Nezz on March 06, 2025, 08:56:05 PM

Quote from: Laurna on March 06, 2025, 08:54:52 PMThis is one reason humans fear Deryni, they can misuse their power and make one think their friends have turned on them. Jester MacBee loves stirring up that kind of trouble. Especially when he is pissed that the man he thought he had kidnapped, was the knight with a king's ransom worth of memories, but instead he ended up with a young student who knew little. So MacBee, in his anger, messed with our poor student, ruthlessly.

Jerk... feels sorry for Edwin again.

When did he do this? I must have missed it.

It doesn't really make sense in isolation but it's the conclusion of a whole sequence beginning with him and Bede getting drunk in Muirea's tavern, Edwin leaving without Bede in the company of strangers, the strangers turning out to be kidnappers led by the Deryni Macbee, who then plants false memories not only to cover their tracks, but also to make problems for Edwin and his friends. Because he's a sadist who enjoys making sport of others.

Where does it start? I would like to reread it.

Quote from: DerynifanK on March 07, 2025, 08:38:16 AM

Quote from: Nezz on March 06, 2025, 08:56:05 PM

Quote from: Laurna on March 06, 2025, 08:54:52 PMThis is one reason humans fear Deryni, they can misuse their power and make one think their friends have turned on them. Jester MacBee loves stirring up that kind of trouble. Especially when he is pissed that the man he thought he had kidnapped, was the knight with a king's ransom worth of memories, but instead he ended up with a young student who knew little. So MacBee, in his anger, messed with our poor student, ruthlessly.

Jerk... feels sorry for Edwin again.

When did he do this? I must have missed it.

Go back three or four pages to where Edwin has a very successful meeting with the Dean. Then pay close attention to all of his scenes after that one, and you'll see that his memories of everything that happened after he got abducted by the hypnotist are very different from what actually happened in those scenes. He is operating under a completely wrong set of assumptions now. IIRC, he thinks he never met with the Dean at all due to his own cowardice, and that his friends treated him badly to shame him as a result, so he is feeling very hurt and betrayed because his memories are making him feel mistreated, when what he's remembering never actually happened at all.

Post 210--Edwin meets with the Dean and succeeds in convincing him about the upcoming fire and the need to rescue the books.

215--Edwin meets Bede at the tavern in a celebratory mood, only to find Bede drinking away his sorrows. (IIRC, Bede had just learned that the woman he loved had married someone else?) Edwin is befriended by Jester Macbee, who ends up abducting him and knocking him unconscious.

235-Edwin recovers consciousness briefly, feeling badly hung over, but at this point he still remembers succeeding in his mission to visit the Dean. He overhears an argument about him and gathers that his captors took him thinking he was a knight (they mistook him for Airich), and they steal Airich's magic shirt which Edwin is wearing.

241--Airich's psychic scream causes Edwin to recover consciousness again. This time we see his memories have been totally changed. He thinks he never met with the Dean at all, and that as a result, Airich took his shirt back and also his knife to humiliate him, and also ordered Bede to punch him.

So that is what Edwin is remembering when he reunites with Bede again. Other clues are the repeated mentions that Macbee is a hypnotist and a troublemaker, and Bede's worries for Edwin's wellbeing when he realizes his friend has gone off with Macbee, all of which are meant to make readers alert to the possibility of trouble even before Edwin wakes up remembering things that are completely different from what we read actually happened.

Thank you Evie, that was a wonderful summary.

This is a whole subplot, if you are not yet aware of it. Pay attention to the Novice Aidan Mclain.

69 We first meet the novice as an assistant to Canon Damian

77 A brief mention the novice is looking for information on the Willimites, which is innocuous, because he is likely looking up this info for Canon Damian.  Or is he?
In several following posts, the novice is attentive to our team.

126 We learn more about the novice, he introduces himself as  "Ah am Aidan McLain, from St Machan's Abbey as was; that's in Cassan."  (By the by, Aidan is named by Evie)

In more scenes, Novice Aidan is in the background seeing what our team is doing.

203 Aidan sneaks away to meet up with three University students where he reports what he has learned about everything going on in Canon Damian's office, infirmary, and library. He repeats what he overheard Airich and Amy talk about in the infirmary.
"The young novice resumed his narrative, repeating the description of Sir Airich's affliction. He was oblivious to the sharp intake of breath from the third student as he repeated what the knight had said about needing a healer he trusted implicitly due to his knowledge of over forty years worth of sensitive information from the King's privy councils. Information the King would not want his enemies to discover."
Aidan then leaves without remembering he did this.

215 Is where we learn about the Deryni named Jester MacBee, who is a student at the university (he has another name he uses as a student, but I don't think that has been said yet) and that MacBee was with Bede's traveling troupe this last season working as a Hypnotist. (he likes causing trouble and gathering information. Like information that a certain knight caries in his head, perhaps even some royal secrets)

Just a side note. The three students, of which MacBee is part of, are not the same Trio that Collos is part of. That is a confusion we did not mean to cause.