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Grey High Cream
96c896
>>136206
Hmm yes the hints that said "don't do these things". What are you even talking about? All I noticed was people were repeatedly weirded out at Ahpin's attachment to the changelings, and that we were frequently told about how dangerous adventuring is.
The thing about the changelings I dismissed offhand, because everyone knew they weren't really Ahpin's children and had dubious attachment to him. Carrying them around anyway was FUNNY. We did it because it was funny. People reacting to that was expected.
Adventuring being dangerous was super obvious, and it doesn't warn us about anything specific. The story revolved around Ahpin going into the dungeon super unprepared anyway, so that nebulous danger is unavoidable unless we wanted to just give up on the story. With Ahpin being so weak, and the tone of the quest being so lighthearted, there was an implication that he would be protected somehow from the worst of it.
We were told there was a toll. We didn't know anything about how strong the elemental was, how expensive we should expect the toll to be, how close to the bottom of the dungeon we were to gauge the danger level in general, or how other adventurers handled the toll. The carbon elemental didn't even specify how much mana it wanted, so the only indication that we had to literally sacrifice a party member was the list of options we were given at the bottom of the post. Like, yeah, getting away scott-free after trying some funny business would've been "babying". However, that's EXPECTED when a quest's tone is lighthearted.
I still don't know what tippler expected us to do. Was that just supposed to be a gutpunch out of nowhere, no matter what we tried to do? Feels like a betrayal, and I'm still pissed about it.
Characters aren't even accurately describing what happened. Saying we attacked the elemental implies we did so directly, which indeed would have been insane. We tried to make it fall.
Several things would've fit the tone better, and made more sense besides:
1, burning the rope works, but the elemental just shows up at the bottom of the stairs to bitch-slap the party and demand the toll again.
2, Vivian has the sense not to attempt it at all, since she should know if it was a viable plan or not, or know how strong the carbon elemental is to understand the risk is too high. This would thus turn into a debate of whether or not sacrificing a changeling was worth getting to the bottom, or if turning back to get something from the elves was possible, or if the toll could be shared between all three mana-carrying characters.
3, the carbon elemental lets Ahpin pass because he's carrying changelings. Like, cmon, the guardian of the dungeon feels mana eggs are precious, why would any of the denizens of the dungeon want to hurt a changeling? He could block Vivian if she doesn't pay the toll, satisfying the apparent requirement of a loss of party member.
4, Ahpin tells the carbon elemental he's looking for Maggie, and it lets them pass because they are thus considered part of Maggie's group.
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