Aranwen is too far gone to use in a hypothetical HC2. Classless and broken... she could operate as an npc, but little more, I feel.

I mean, if you really want to see how bad off she is... I can show you.

It is really not pretty.

I don't want to step on any toes.  But as soon as Bree brought up the idea of brainwashing, the idea of turning this into a campaign has been screaming in my head. 

You have your big plot already - save the world, durr. 

But what a COMPELLING story it would be to see how Aranwen and Ch'dau go forward from here with their family broken by this. 

The betrayal is real to everyone, obviously.  It just seems so obvious that the surviving party members would stick together and try to find Kith.  Though... how does that go?  "Hi Kith, we brought you a coat hanger!"  Eeesh.

Maybe recruit another player or two.  Obviously, Bree needs a new character to warp me with...

...but I, for one, wouldn't hate to read it.

As I said, with an "epilogue" scene for Ch'dau, in mind, it may even prove useful for that, soooooo....

I really, really hurt for Aranwen.  I really do. 

Bree and I have had all sorts of conversations about healing in a fantasy world.  If wounds can be healed without a thought, if the dead can be brought back to life, if magic can be used to break minds in a way not possible in the real world... is there no magic to help heal minds?  Not a snap of the fingers, but no way to help show a litle truth, help find the path to redemption?

I find Aranwen to be one of the most compelling characters I have ever read.  I hate to lose her.

Re: Coat Hanger: Yikes

Re: New Character: You've received my general idea, Olan. It's not bad, jeez.

Re: Ara: Oh, yeah, Ch'dau probably shouldn't leave her. Kith will be fiiiiiine. IIIII'd of course hope she could do it, but like you said Rer, not only did she break, she also doesn't have a class anymore. It would be pretty difficult.

Re: Brainwashing: I've burned my browser history. You bring up brainwashing and all of a sudden you're down a rabbit hole of torture, breaking people, reporgramming, it got so dark up in here *pats brain*

Re: Magic Healing: While really cool, I was never really into the "oh hey, you're cured! You breaking was just a little hiccup li'l guy!" aspect of it, leaning more toward the struggle of clawing out of the ish. But I also like sad stuff, so take that with however many grains of salt you want.

Somebody needs to enlighten me.

How is Aranwen classless?  I don't see that she has done anything to lose her class abilities.  Her blade was dishonored by surrendering it... she did not retrieve it.  She's done nothing but fight gallantly, putting everyone else ahead of herself.  Yes, she broke her vow to always protect Kith, but no one in Audalis would hold her to that (except, obviously, herself)... there was literally nothing she could have done. 

It seems to me that rescuing/redeeming Kith - or killing her to save the world - would be the appropriate pennance. 

then again, I'm a selfish DM. 

I feel nothing for the cultists.

Our characters survived? What!? I wasn't expecting that. I had already come up with a character concept if there were to be a continuation of the adventure. I am, however, just fine continuing with Gib.

GIVE ME GIB OR GIVE ME  D E A T H.

JK, already have a murder baby, BUT STILL!

Yeah... things...

Re: Coathanger - daaaaaaaaayyuuuuummm!!!

Re: Bree's new character - now I'm curious!

Re: Ara - Ch'dau wouldn't want to leave her, of course, but he couldn't simply retire to the life of rural village smith knowing Kith was still out there, somewhere... and Ara probably wouldn't let him, tbh.

Re: Brainwashing - I haven't washed mine in forever! It's starting to get a bit of a funk on it.

Re: Magic healing - Kind of agree with Bree on this one. If HC2 wasn't a possibility, a good part of the first bit of our "proposed follow up" was likely going to deal with Kith trying to kill "Samuel" and "Sara" for having the audicty to "rescue" her, etc... It wasn't going to be a magical "flip the switch" thing by any means.

Aaaaaanyhooo... I won't be forgetting this game for a looooooooong time (read: EVER). Not only was the tale itself a blast but I had sooooo much fun bringing a Kazari to life. I'm kind of addicted, now.

So sorry to disappoint you with SURVIVAL, Brom! 

I had an epic death scene written out in my head. 

As Olan granted Gib with the Battlefate spell due to Therassor's domains, wouldn't it make sense that Lysora's faithful would have some ability to heal broken minds? 

"Hello, Aranwen," the cleric leans forward, elbows on his writing desk. "I'm Doctor Mi'ndheeler. You've one hour today. What's brought you here?"

"My... my adoptive daughter betrayed us after I led our party into Hell and back. She nearly killed my pet cat. Oh, and she's going to give birth to the incarnation of the god of death. Can you fix me?"

Sitting back, Doctor Mi'ndheeler raises his eyebrows. "Well..."

I fully agree, there are no switches to fix a brain.  Physical wounds are one thing; mental and emotional are quite another.  You get the scarring, you get the coping, the blockign away, and so on.

But take Kithran, who has been brainwashed a couple of months now.  What if there were some way to give her true clarity, absolute truth that she had been tortured and broken and filled with lies that she had grabbed onto in order to survive?  If she could reject the new reality (D'hurgen is my pal, this is the right thing to do, etc), could she get on the road to recovery? 

...was exactly my thought, as well. 

Forget Lysora then. Let's go with Rydor.  

"I will give you clarity. You will see with clear eyes. D'hurgen on this mortal plane is NOT a good thing, Kith. I mean, c'mon, chica!"

*looking around eagerly* Right guys?!?! Show Davena the error of her ways?!?! Right?!?!?!

Yeah, you're all on board

Brom: You got me good at Ara's "pet cat"