Colds, Monde and 24
Sep. 14th, 2003 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathanyThis morning Ryan is still snuffly, but looking better (for example he ate his breakfast having eaten nothing yesterday) whilst Bea is starting to sound slightly blocked up. I'm feeling a little better, but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bateleur has now caught the cold.
At least he managed to get through yesterday's Monde session. We started the session aware that our characters were missing much of their memories since we had left the Pool of Godah. We had a note, written by Sigurne (ealuscerwen) and signed by the Squire (smiorgan) which provided some information and hinted at where we were. Sable (frax) seemed to remember more than the rest of us; probably following her experiences in the Red Dome.
All we had was the road itself, standing on top of a wall, some stretches of land and an area of darkness. We eventually found a sand-robed sage who was prepared to tell us a little more. We were not to sleep or travel in a large group or we would be caught by a corrupted human and have our memories taken. It seemed that the Maleian Path is and was the battle ground between the Unity and the Walled Stone. Writing down certain words would result in them be covered in writing from the Walled Stone (which made me wonder whether that was the reason my grandfather, Oromendez, had books containing the writings of the Walled Stone). He also told us that learning the magic of the sands (where you could dissolve or reappear in sand) might be useful. And he said that it did not matter which direction we travelled in. The path and the wall had not all been built by the sages, it had grown of its own accord and all paths led to the same place eventually.
Katako (triskellian) remembered that there had been writing in the wall. So some of the party climbed down to examine it. Then, another sand sage appeared, remarking that we were in a closed area. At this point, the skull decided to speak to us. It represented the sages of the Unity. Unfortunately for us, they were still obsessed with the ranks within the School of Secrets. Ranks which, Imogen believed, were becoming useless as the School was being turned from its original purpose. We showed the skull to the sand sage. He, in turn, called one of the Lords of Tointier - Lord Marnspectre - to see it. However the skull refused to speak to him saying that their dealings in the past with the Lords had proved unhelpful.
We were also summoned by several of the creatures of the darkness - each appearing as dark-robed sages. They tried to draw us to them using magic, charming the mages of the party. Fortunately, they ran from the writing of the walled stone, a reaction we found interesting.
Our party walked back to the portal entrance and found soldiers of the Unity preparing for a battle. A battle they had fought many times with many different outcomes. However when Lord Marnspectre arrived our fortunes changed. Andreas (onebyone) agreed to serve the Lords for ten years in exchange for finding the way out. The Lord inspected him and decided that he would survive the return to Monde. It seemed that the marks Jeden gave us (the coins) would help us (although, what about the Squire ?).
The Lord of Tointier took us to a sand sage and asked him to show us the gateway. He did so - taking us to a building set outside the darkness, but away from the road. The guard required a password - which we had from the scroll in the cache. "Gentle the touch - but still we feel it." On the other side of the door was the School of Cadej.
We told the sages of the School about our travels (omitting mention of the skull). They were very interested and told us a little more of history and the School of Secrets. It seems that the Pool of Godah tried to defeat the Walled Stone long ago by sending four beings called the Cross to fight it. One of them turned - the Mantar now known as the Fourth - and the other three (Etcheimozan, Annatekhan and Moianmori) were defeated. As far as the school of secrets is concerned, it seemed that the hierarchy is used to pass information around without the Fourth knowing about it. It seemed that the Fourth knows much of what happens in Monde and so this was a defense mechanism set up by the sages. The greater the rank of its members, the more they would be told.
Beyond the School of Cadej, there is the School of Peaks and the School of Pearl. They were set up to study more dangerous fields, such as the Walled Stone and magic, and so were separated from Cadej. At the end of the session the party seemed keen to move on and visit them.
Then, after Monde, we moved on to the last two episodes of 24. I found the season rather better than the last, with a more plausible ending (albeit a cliffhanger).
The good points :
* The plot seemed much more consistent and thought through.
* The series refrained from doing things which other writers would have thrown in - such as not developing the relationship between Jack and Kate too far.
* The big scenes - Sherry's escape from the Colliseum, Mason's plane crash and the CTU bombing were well-handled.
* Many of the actors really fitted their roles well; in particular Dennis Haysbert (President David Palmer), Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler) and Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer).
The bad points :
* Did anyone find the idea of Marie Warner (coming from her affluent background) as a terrorist remotely plausible ? That story about her mother's death was not enough explanation.
* Kim Bauer's role was pretty pointless as it was always separate from the main threads. She would have been better as a very minor character (compare with Palmer's son who only appears in the first episode).
* A couple of the gunfights were unbelievable. Asbateleur keeps mentioning - the fight where Jack, Yusuf, Wallace and Kate use their pistols to defeat the automatic weaponed bad guys.
* Mike Novick's changes of heart. These only just get a mention as they were more plausible than Marie or the gunfights, but he seemed to change his mind about the Cyprus recordings with exceptional ease.
But overall well worth watching. And an improvement on Season One.
And today is Dragon-blooded.
bateleur has now caught the cold.At least he managed to get through yesterday's Monde session. We started the session aware that our characters were missing much of their memories since we had left the Pool of Godah. We had a note, written by Sigurne (
ealuscerwen) and signed by the Squire (smiorgan) which provided some information and hinted at where we were. Sable (frax) seemed to remember more than the rest of us; probably following her experiences in the Red Dome.All we had was the road itself, standing on top of a wall, some stretches of land and an area of darkness. We eventually found a sand-robed sage who was prepared to tell us a little more. We were not to sleep or travel in a large group or we would be caught by a corrupted human and have our memories taken. It seemed that the Maleian Path is and was the battle ground between the Unity and the Walled Stone. Writing down certain words would result in them be covered in writing from the Walled Stone (which made me wonder whether that was the reason my grandfather, Oromendez, had books containing the writings of the Walled Stone). He also told us that learning the magic of the sands (where you could dissolve or reappear in sand) might be useful. And he said that it did not matter which direction we travelled in. The path and the wall had not all been built by the sages, it had grown of its own accord and all paths led to the same place eventually.
Katako (
triskellian) remembered that there had been writing in the wall. So some of the party climbed down to examine it. Then, another sand sage appeared, remarking that we were in a closed area. At this point, the skull decided to speak to us. It represented the sages of the Unity. Unfortunately for us, they were still obsessed with the ranks within the School of Secrets. Ranks which, Imogen believed, were becoming useless as the School was being turned from its original purpose. We showed the skull to the sand sage. He, in turn, called one of the Lords of Tointier - Lord Marnspectre - to see it. However the skull refused to speak to him saying that their dealings in the past with the Lords had proved unhelpful.We were also summoned by several of the creatures of the darkness - each appearing as dark-robed sages. They tried to draw us to them using magic, charming the mages of the party. Fortunately, they ran from the writing of the walled stone, a reaction we found interesting.
Our party walked back to the portal entrance and found soldiers of the Unity preparing for a battle. A battle they had fought many times with many different outcomes. However when Lord Marnspectre arrived our fortunes changed. Andreas (
onebyone) agreed to serve the Lords for ten years in exchange for finding the way out. The Lord inspected him and decided that he would survive the return to Monde. It seemed that the marks Jeden gave us (the coins) would help us (although, what about the Squire ?).The Lord of Tointier took us to a sand sage and asked him to show us the gateway. He did so - taking us to a building set outside the darkness, but away from the road. The guard required a password - which we had from the scroll in the cache. "Gentle the touch - but still we feel it." On the other side of the door was the School of Cadej.
We told the sages of the School about our travels (omitting mention of the skull). They were very interested and told us a little more of history and the School of Secrets. It seems that the Pool of Godah tried to defeat the Walled Stone long ago by sending four beings called the Cross to fight it. One of them turned - the Mantar now known as the Fourth - and the other three (Etcheimozan, Annatekhan and Moianmori) were defeated. As far as the school of secrets is concerned, it seemed that the hierarchy is used to pass information around without the Fourth knowing about it. It seemed that the Fourth knows much of what happens in Monde and so this was a defense mechanism set up by the sages. The greater the rank of its members, the more they would be told.
Beyond the School of Cadej, there is the School of Peaks and the School of Pearl. They were set up to study more dangerous fields, such as the Walled Stone and magic, and so were separated from Cadej. At the end of the session the party seemed keen to move on and visit them.
Then, after Monde, we moved on to the last two episodes of 24. I found the season rather better than the last, with a more plausible ending (albeit a cliffhanger).
The good points :
* The plot seemed much more consistent and thought through.
* The series refrained from doing things which other writers would have thrown in - such as not developing the relationship between Jack and Kate too far.
* The big scenes - Sherry's escape from the Colliseum, Mason's plane crash and the CTU bombing were well-handled.
* Many of the actors really fitted their roles well; in particular Dennis Haysbert (President David Palmer), Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler) and Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer).
The bad points :
* Did anyone find the idea of Marie Warner (coming from her affluent background) as a terrorist remotely plausible ? That story about her mother's death was not enough explanation.
* Kim Bauer's role was pretty pointless as it was always separate from the main threads. She would have been better as a very minor character (compare with Palmer's son who only appears in the first episode).
* A couple of the gunfights were unbelievable. As
bateleur keeps mentioning - the fight where Jack, Yusuf, Wallace and Kate use their pistols to defeat the automatic weaponed bad guys.* Mike Novick's changes of heart. These only just get a mention as they were more plausible than Marie or the gunfights, but he seemed to change his mind about the Cyprus recordings with exceptional ease.
But overall well worth watching. And an improvement on Season One.
And today is Dragon-blooded.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Not only that, but the battle starts without Yusuf present with the bad guys ambushing our heroes. How can you ambush someone using an SMG from a perfect vantage point and miss ?
no subject
Date: 2003-09-14 05:42 am (UTC)I agree with all the points about 24, but rather uncritically, I didn't pick up on the bad points as having been bad at the time. The flaws, stupidities and missteps of the show are part of its charm.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 02:08 pm (UTC)but still we feel it.
"But always we feel it".
I told everyone that Andreas would have got it right without help if only his memory of the previous day hadn't been wiped. Did you believe me? Eh? Eh?
no subject
Date: 2003-09-15 02:17 pm (UTC)I didn't even hear you. ;-)