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I did. It was fun. Now I'm curious about what's coming next.

For some reason this update didn't register on my Favorites List, I only found out about it by your PM.

It's a good ending, showing how, even though Wyan can be grievously wrong at times, it's not his intent, nor is he after power or wealth or bloodshed. They're are monsters out there, some of them hiding behind beautiful faces, but not every Fey is evil. I think Alex brought that out well. As well as the fact that the people have to be protected, there is still evil, it is important that they distinguish the difference. I know I'm probably rambling, but I'm trying to say that Wyan is needed to protect his people, he just has to be careful not to rush to judgement, as Alex pointed out. Someone has to stand watch.

Seeing Alex so understanding and gentle is strange, but people are complex creatures. It's not his general nature to be the comforter and shoulder to cry on, but if needed, he can be just that. And he's pretty good at it, to be honest.

I also like James' letters, he always adds PS. PPS. PPPS. etc, he's just so full of excitement he can't help but add more and more.

How the heck did that guy survive a banshee wail...? Oh wait. Saving throw. Means it still does damage, but it doesn't kill you. Lucky for him. This moment of metagaming was brought to you by my increasingly unstable mind! Mostly because it is the end of the semester, I have finals coming up, and the stress is driving me crazy. Okay. Crazier. Couldn't come up with anything for last chapter which is why I didn't leave a review. Making up for it now. Forgive the sentence fragments. I wasn't kidding about the crazy.

I hope Loht is in a great deal of pain right now. Oh well, we know he'll really suffer later.

Mirri saw James as her deepest desire! She can't help it. Even trying to imagine evil things she kept coming back to James. And poor James saw a mirror so that he could show Mirri how beautiful she is. He was so sad when he found out it wasn't the mirror he was looking for. It's so sweet!

I was wondering what was going on when he snatched The Eye away and startled cackling like a B-movie villain... It was a playful joke. Poor guy, so innocent.

How did James survive Tristessa's wail? Did the wall shield him, or it was it simply directed in another direction?

It's Sith as in Cait Sith the faerie cat of Scottish lore! I find it interesting how the word 'faerie' referring originally to creatures of the Fae type became corrupted into the form fairy which has more benevolent overtones. Considering the Fae are pretty close in form to the Japanese kami and youkai... Yeah... Not exactly accurate. I am often fascinated by the evolution of language. The meanings of certain words can change entirely in such a short amount of time. Well, relatively speaking anyways. Specifically relative to the Age of Mammals. Any greater time-span makes the entirety of human existence utterly insignificant.

Yet again I manage to start a review on one topic and end it on another. Sheesh...

That did seem a bit ruthless. And for the record, I'm not to fond of 'Monster Hunters' unless they have good reason to track down and kill something other than the fact that it's a 'monster'. Humans can be evil in ways many monsters wouldn't imagine. That being said, Onyx was a sadist who was torturing Lorelei and needed to be stopped, so it was justified, though Flo's reaction seemed a bit dark, as if she enjoyed watching him die.

Yes, a soulless monster indeed... Of course, living in his Shadow Realm, the Shadow Elves didn't have sunlight to fear. He may not have anticipated that they would ever encounter a bright sun. As we've spoken about, The Sorcerer-Fiend is not particularly wise or observant. Or sane.

In one source it stated that he believed he was giving his 'people' a gift by making them Shadow Fey, and couldn't understand why they weren't more grateful for his 'generosity.'

I don't want to use his name and spoil it for everyone.

The laws of narrative causality strike again! 'The heroes may not arrive too early or too late, but must arrive exactly in the nick of time.' Not sure what number that one is, but it is definitely a law. ...And now I miss Terry Pratchett again... Dammit! Having a vampire on your side in the Demiplane of Dread is clearly very useful. Admittedly, so is having a dryad druid, a werecat, an alchemist, an elf, and whatever Alex is. The entire party is just well suited to surviving whatever the Demiplane throws at them...within reason. A zombie tarrasque would probably be more than they could handle...and that is a terrifying idea. I never want to face one of those. Ever. ...Sending it after a party of high-level PCs on the other hand... That could be fun... Hm... This bears consideration.

Now they're in Tristessa's domain. Poor mad creature.

Poor Wyan can't catch a break. Aside from losing two previous wives and at least one child to supernatural/monstrous forces. First he almost burns an innocent at the stake, then his daughter is openly revealed to be working with the Fey, then she's kidnapped by The Prince of Shadow himself.

It's interesting, even though Wyan's teachings would put put the whole party to the stake, Alex seems to respect him. He's not an evil man, simply misguided and desperate to protect his people. Sadly, his zeal is extremely dangerous. The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

I wonder if any of the Monster Party know who the name 'Vhaeraun' refers to? Tristessa might have known once, but she's too consumed with grief and madness to remember a relatively minor enemy of her goddess. (I know The Spider Queen is now NOT identified as Lolth, but the three Drow who started the religion were trying to worship Lolth, and Tristessa knew them personally) Even if he is Lolth's son, The Masked Lord was suppressed by Lolth, even speaking his name was forbidden. The Eye of Vhaeraun certainly fits his personality, the god of lies, deception and thieves (and Drow males, though that has nothing to do with it's power) and a device that can appear to anyone as their greatest desire or most cherished loved one. Such as their child.

Curse Loht to The Nine Hells.

Lolth and Loht, maybe she'll meet him one day and teach him that there are worse things in the Multiverse than Gwydion. Far, far worse.

If Loht kidnapped Lorelei, did he also free his Boowray, or did he leave her to die? Assuming she was still alive when he arrived. I wouldn't put it past him, after what he did to Tristessa. I doubt the book mentioned it, they have a bad tendency of skipping details like that.

So Tepest's religion draws on the old Celtic religion. Interesting. I am personally fascinated by the Celtic religion if only because so little is known about it. Most of the old Celtic myths were only written down after most of the population had converted to Catholicism and the Catholic Church at the time wasn't the most understanding when it came to preserving old folkways. It makes me sad to think of how much we don't know about the past simply because we can only observe it through the interpretations of those who left behind written records. People are biased in their opinions. What they record isn't always accurate. Accuracy of information matters to me. So I'm less than happy about the fact that truth is so elusive...of course with generations of philosophers debating about what 'truth' even is... Probably best not to think about it too much lest I end up depressing myself. I wonder who this mysterious Prince is. Look forward to finding out.

And justice triumphs, sort of.

I remember reading that the man who wrote the original adventure didn't want Wyan to be the stereotypical sadistic fanatic that most inquisitors are/are portrayed as. You do a great job with that here. Explaining his rationale, losing both of his wives and one of his children to monsters and seeing two entire countries vanish from the face of The Realms, not to mention repeated attacks on his people by monsters. Naturally he wanted to protect them. And the fact that he didn't use torture (except burning people alive, which is a horrible fate) makes him slightly more sympathetic. Of course, people, especially people who've had loved ones burned for 'consorting with Fey', will see him as a hypocrite for not exacting such punishment on his own flesh-and-blood. Especially after she was seen by the whole village confessing to a boowray that she'd made a pact with her to kill Bryonna.

Alex speech to Wyan shows his gentle side very well. He can be understanding and empathetic when needed. His respect for Diancecht as a being who made mistakes and was trying to fix them was also a nice touch.

What was the real source of his inflammable clothing?

Does, he at least respect some of the other deities? Maahes, he is a minor deity, but he needed James' body to manifest and he didn't fight the Darklord. Still, he was pretty powerful and traveled and fought beside them against Tiyet, and he was able to enter The Domains of Dread, something few deities, if any, have ever done. Then again, he may be trapped there too...

Could Gwydion be considered a deity? Or a demon? Of course, he's also a CE Darklord, so unless he punches himself in the face, or the equivalent... Vecna WAS a deity, but he was also a Darklord and evil to the core. Of course, he's escaped by now, hasn't he?

The computer's working now, thankfully.

I wonder how Mirri and James would have reacted if the answer had been a dead lion with a honeycomb built inside as Sampson told it? Of course, The Hags would much prefer sentient death to mere animals, so they probably wouldn't have accepted it. And I doubt they read many holy books of any religion. They might like Lolth, though.

I have to admit, I think Cal and I were thinking of the same thing in the 'hard in the morning, soft in the day, hard at night' riddle. Dirty minds think alike? I found myself agreeing with Cal several times, and not just in riddles. Like Alex offering all of them up for multiple meals if he lost, or killing The Hags while they were trapped and preoccupied. (He doesn't know, I assume, that they are the Darklords and wouldn't die so easily.) It's frightening, really.

I'd forgotten what the ring actually did besides being cursed to transform the wearer into a Goblin Vampire. When Devi said what it was for my skin crawled. I believe there is a way listed to kill The Hags somewhere, something bizarre and complicated like most 'How to kill a Darklord' instructions. It didn't involve burning them or drinking whatever passes for blood in their bodies.

With a little practice, Alex would make a good lawyer, he's got enough BS to fertilize all of G'Henna. And the final blow, playing on their hatred of each other to keep them busy was brilliant.

Always keep your eye on cats and thieves, and when you have thieves who happen to be cats, well, you're screwed. Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer and James Firecat, notorious cat-burglars all. And they all like to sing. Go figure.

The theme is sex isn't it. Technically, I have no life experience with that particular facet of human existence. Also never will because it involves way more physical contact than I am comfortable with. Hugging freaks me out. Sex isn't happening for me. Ever. Furthermore, I am asexual. I am psychologically incapable of being sexually attracted to either gender. Probably for the best. As I mentioned in my earlier review: I am a sadist. I mean this in the truest sense of the word. Only reason I know it is because, when I read fanfiction, I get this thrill of pleasure when the characters I like most are being brutally tortured or are badly injured to the point of death. It doesn't just make me happy. I don't know what sexual arousal feels like, but...my heart-rate spikes, I get really warm, and I can't stop grinning like a maniac. You tell me. I'm pretty sure my conclusion is accurate though. Not proud of admitting this by the way. I don't like this about myself. It makes me feel sad...oddly enough at the same time. HOW CAN I FEEL TWO CONFLICTING EMOTIONS AT ONCE?! I DON'T GET IT! I went on another tangent, didn't I? Goddammit...

Well, /clearly/ I use the Vonnegut method of writing because I make /all/ of my characters suffer horribly from time to time for the sake of my plot. Also I already am a sadist and use writing is an outlet so I don't get the weird dreams. I am not kidding. When I suppress my sadistic tendencies and deny them an outlet I get freaky dreams. I can't really call them nightmares, although terrible things do tend to happen to people (because sadist), but they are still dark and twisted as all get out. The weird thing is...I feel guilty about torturing my characters. I do it anyways, but I feel bad about it. Is that strange? Eh, whatever. This review went into an odd tangent.

I remember that, of course. Who can forget. Not pleasant, Hags slowly eating a live Goblin. They even included a picture! I don't blame James for throwing up, I'm surprised no one tried to secretly kill him. the unfortunate Goblin, I mean. Of course The Hags can probably sense any kind of magic, especially in their own lair, and they wouldn't take kindly to being thwarted. Or, they might just resurrect him to continue the feast, as the appetizer with a new main course of heroes. It's a truly horrible scene, and you really can't do a thing to stop it. That's horror, being basically helpless in the face of pure evil.

I enjoyed the discussion on the nature of Hags, on what they were. The party have no way of knowing the sisters' murderous backstory but this is one case in which the wicked have truly brought the curse upon their own heads.

You certainly don't shy away from the sheer ugliness that is life in The Domains of Dread. But you are accurate in your work, as far as canon.

Be a sadist indeed. I wonder if you use Madness Checks for sights of true horror like in Thoughts of Darkness? I assume not, as all are still, arguably, sane. Though I wonder about Alex sometimes... Of course, being native to these places makes one a bit better prepared than outlander, but some things are horrible regardless.

If this follows the story closely, the next chapter will have a Goblin that might be able to give The Hags a real fight. If he wasn't so busy hating his own kind.