[Xanth]

Okay, so a couple of characters that were involved in the plot seem to have gone missing and I think we need to figure out who's still involved before we move on to the next leg, especially as it'll be more difficult to explain where characters have gone once the group is in the forest. But it'll also be difficult for characters to (re)join then, too, so:

If you want your character to still be involved, please post. If your character is missing when we move on, we'll have to assume they stayed behind.

[Isabel]

Me, me, me! They probably just got distracted by.... oooh! What's that?

Kidding.. lol

I'm still in!

n.n

[Zephyr]

Naava'd still like to join, though at the moment I think it's better for Zeph not to. It's OK for him to sit out one quest, right?

[Eivyonydd]

I'm still here. I think Evie would like Cal to go but she is fiercely busy right now trying to sew, and her arm is completely screwed right now as well. Obviously Cal needs to reply to Piper at the portal before Isabel and Vyon show up (we were going to continue our conversation on the way over to the portal from the shop in the shop thread) to give Cal some time.

[Xanth]

Er, well, I'd hoped for more replies, but I think we've really only lost two members. I think by now it's obvious Dracos won't be returning to the plot, and Kioni is retired today so I think it's probably best to assume they won't be following the gang through the portal. I can have Piper be carrying the supplies Kioni gathered. ^^

[Piper]

I'm withdrawing Piper because I don't think I'll be able to manage her and the NPCs that will be needed later in the thread. It's easier (and better IC) if I take her out now before they leave town. ^^

[Eivyonydd]

Nuuuuu!

I don't think you should. I think for the most part if shouldn't be NPCs anyway for the fights and stuff, otherwise we'll just get majorly bogged down in a fight. It might be better to tell the story through the characters perspectives. So for example I might introduce the threat of a couple of wolves bearing down on us in one post and then Piper might fight one in her post and Cal might fly someone over the other wolf in his post.

If we think about what we encounter as challenges it should work better. I'm happy to introduce challenges even if others aren't (but then I guess I probably have the best idea of what is there than anyone else).

And if we really need to have NPCs I can share the burden (even though I have totally failed with the Kracken sorry and have kind of been failing at EF lately). I already will play Chloris if we actually revive her.

Please don't go.

Also one of my possibly plans hinges on the two vampires.

[Xanth]

Well, I haven't been feeling well anyway lately, and I think it's best for me to withdraw now than find out I need to later on and that Piper's stuck in the forest alone.

Besides, what you're suggesting doesn't tend to work, in my experience. It relies heavily on godmodding, which I'd really rather we avoid (even when it involves NPCs, and especially in fight scenes) and doesn't seem to allow for much interactivity between characters during attacks since the players would need to approach their posts (attack and counter-attack) individually, rather than as a group, if that makes sense.

Plus I already made my withdrawal post. Even if we don't need many NPCs, this really is the best option for me right now. Sorry.

[Eivyonydd]

*hugs*

We'll press on without you and do our best. Thanks for involved as far as this and sorry this has taken so long.

What is the best way to proceed?

I was thinking once we are done with the Rendezvous that I should start a new thread that gets us right to the action. I can tell the backstory of getting the extra ingredient (and others could also do the same if they wished). This would get the four (is that right) of us to the conflict point.

We could walk through the forest and chat but there has been a lot of character building already and walking through the forest could take forever.

I'm fine to do it if that is what others want. As it stands Vyon doesn't know Naava at all, so maybe he would want to meet her proper, but that can be done at the rendezvous.

What do people think? Emma did you want to throw challenges at us first or just move to the climax point.

[Zephyr]

personally, I feel that we need to skip as much as possible. This plot's already taken quite a while and extending it more doesn't seem wise to me.

[Xanth]

Well, from a storyteller perspective, I hate skipping parts. But it's a useful tool sometimes and we have done it before, so if that's what you guys want to do, then it's fine with me. ^^

If you do skip, I'd strongly advise you all discuss what happened in the time you've skipped, though. We haven't in the past and there's been mass confusion later on when characters wanted to reference it but we weren't sure what happened. You could also discuss the relationship development between the characters during the time skipped so none of you lose out on that score.

I'll let you decide between you how you want to proceed, though. ^^

P.S. Piper is still in Rendezvous. She's waiting to see if Naava wants her to take Flit with her.

[Eivyonydd]

Argh! I've gone missing again.

I'm only in one thread, which I want to finish and it isn't moving.

I was pretty sure it was Naava's turn too so it's not my fault. *cries*

But seriously, Evie just isn't sure she can stay (she mostly likes simple roleplay with Piper or just 1 person and this has lost all momentum), which leaves this at Isabel, Vyon and Naava.

Cal would likely go because he has come this far, so my two suggestions are, that he goes with Piper to help her given she is still there, or once we finish this scene at the portal we just jump right ahead to action and suggest that Cal got hurt on the way or something. I pretty much think that to actually finish this we need to go forward.

[Xanth]

Well, hun, the literature all says that if threads stall, members are welcome to nudge them and that includes plots. That's what blanket GM is for, and I've done it before in that thread to re-post Piper in an effort to poke the participants when no one's posted in a couple of weeks. You also have the option of nudging participants via PM or on the plotting board when a thread's lagging, so it's not like you don't have options in that sort of situation.

I'm sorry to hear Evie's struggling. With those two choices, I'd say the second is probably best. Piper would feel awful if she 'stole' another helper for what she fears might be a false alarm, so she'd fight to make Cal stay with the group and probably try to sneak off or lose him in the crowd if he decided to go with her. Not that that wouldn't be fun.

[Eivyonydd]

I liked your leaving post. It had emotion. Though you left Naava behind and from his post I kind of felt like Russ wanted out.

So before moving forward it would be great to know who is in and who is out.

[NPC]

Being Emma in disguise...

Mhm, if Naava wants to leave, then she can easily follow Piper, I tried to leave that open. It's just that she wouldn't have accepted Naava's help and would have stood there all day arguing, so it seemed more natural for her to dash off like that.

I do think another roll call is in order.

[Calanthiel]

I feel like I owe everyone a huge apology - things have been a total mess lately for me, but I shouldn't have just disappeared. I don't want to get into details here, but real life has been really, really, hard for me over the last month and a bit. I was slow anyway, but this has been... Yeah. Not good.

I would like to come back and try to at least finish this plot off with you guys. Maybe if we all agree to try and really focus on it, and get it moving quickly and finish it off? I've got a week off work next week, so I should be able to be here a lot then...?

So sorry, everyone!

[Naava]

If someone directly asks Naava for help she'll prolly stay, if not I think she's gonna try to follow Piper to her shop. I'll wait a few days before posting her leaving if no one responds.

[Eivyonydd]

Okay cool, I will post and essentially ask her if she is in. Not sure when, hopefully in the next couple of days. Hopefully Isabel is still in as well.

[Isabel]

I'm still in! *glomps whoever is here* I won't leave you guys hanging... >.<

[Eivyonydd]

Okay I've started a new thread on the other side of the portal. We can do some walking or something before jumping into the other stuff.