Dothan TL;DR (abridged)

[Mike]

I've tried multiple times to write a new TL;DR for Dothan, but it's not happening. Is too much... let me sum up... (and even the short version is pretty long).

Starting with the trip back to Sandpoint from Turtleback Ferry and points beyond: Dothan has discovered magic item creation, and it is her new obsession. Every free moment on the road, she is taking notes and making sketches. She has all the materials for her new bard journal and she's enchanting them and shaping them and stitching pieces together, only to take them apart and reconfigure them several times in succession.

She is anxious, as usual, about the return to Sandpoint. Mostly anxious about seeing Oshar again. She has still not fully categorized her feelings for the young woman but recognizes that it could become love--or maybe IS love? Who knows... after all, most of what Dothan thinks she knows of love comes from songs and stories. And how will she ever figure it out when they never spend more than a day or two together before the team has to go rushing off again for weeks at a time?

She is also still fuming about the encounter with Grobaras and him "gifting" them with that stupid fort. She is determined that she is not going to be roped into being some sort of low-rent landlord beholden to that fat egomaniac back in Magnimar. The man is a self-serving pig of a ruler, and Magnimar deserves better. She fervently wishes Sandpoint didn't have to be a Magnimaran holding. Dwyn keeps prattling on about what an awesome opportunity this is--such an amazing chance to make a difference--but Dothan's not buying it. Not if it means having to bow down to the Lord-Mayor.

Once they are back in Sandpoint, there is much planning and much celebrating to be done. Ameiko is wonderful as usual, and the Rusty Dragon is filled with an odd mix of seriousness and jubilance. Dothan tries to be serious as well, but it feels so good just to be near Oshar again, and all this talk of tunnels and towers and trenches is soooooo tedious. Dothan tries to contribute, but she can't follow any of it. Eventually, her and Oshar sneak away to be alone.

For the first time in weeks, Dothan feels like she's home. She has worries and she has irritations, but it all seems better as she and Oshar lay together and share everything they've missed out on in their time apart. Dothan tells of tragic nymphs and ghost ships in the swamps, battling ogres and giants and hags, of ancient devices powered by living demons and of the horror that is Black Magga. In kind, Oshar talks of her parents and the farm, of her lessons and how Madame Mvashti thinks she might have talent as an oracle. She explains how the oldest of her siblings Ommisa has a strong hand for lines and letters and how she has begun an apprenticeship in drafting at Aesrick's shop. She describes how Killif is always begging to follow her sisters into town because of her crush on Aesrick's other apprentice Heffton, who is far too old for 11-year-old Killif. She even regales Dothan with the story of how Idru declared himself "Lord-Mayor of Chickens" and has taken over the care of all the birds on the farm (with a little help from his master-at-arms Beji).

Eventually, talk turns to Dothan's new role as a landowner, or whatever their official status with Fort Rannick is, and Dothan grouses about Grobaras and how the man is simply foisting his problems off on others. Dothan is surprised when Oshar takes Dwyn's side on this and starts talking about all the good that the Heroes of Sandpoint could do for that region. They might be Magnimaran holdings, but they certainly aren't getting the support they need from the city. She reminds Dothan of her Harrow reading and how Madame Mvashti told her that the card "The Keep" was the most positive thing in Dothan's future. Certainly that can't be a coincidence. Eventually, she convinces Dothan that it is only her pride that is keeping her from doing the right thing here. Dothan is reluctant to admit she's wrong, but she does come around to it, and as time passes, she will come to remember this conversation and will eventually fully embrace the idea.

The very next morning is the attack on Sandpoint by giants. After all the dangers she and her companions have faced, it turns out that the scariest thing she has ever faced was putting Oshar and the other townspeople into the cathedral while giants were literally working to break down the gates of the city. She's never had to fear for someone she loves in this way--feeling personally responsible for the life or death of someone so close. It is sobering. But when the rest of the team leaves in pursuit of the fleeing giants, Dothan is feeling really good about things again. She makes fast friends with Gunrus, spends some time with Hal, who is still very alien to her with his strict code and all, but who is warm and fun when you get him one-on-one. And more than anything, she spends as much time with Oshar as possible. Oshar even manages to find time to accompany her to the Misgivings, and by the time the others return, Dothan is feeling quite accomplished.

Until she hears their tale and realizes how close to dying Illian came. This is too much confrontation with mortality in such a short span. Dothan divides her time between Oshar and creating her journal, staying busy to avoid meditating too long on the issue.

When the journal is finished, it is better than Dothan even dreamed. Even while creating it, she added bits and snippets of all sorts of interesting facts and stories and songs and such that came into her head, and now she finds herself adding names and sketches and new information every day. All of her notes in 14 magic, manic pages, absorbing all of the knowledge she can think to fill it with, and yet always there is the blank page, ready to take more.

More planning, selling and shopping. At some point the Heroes of Sandpoint change their name and gain an emblem, which feels very right to Dothan. Finding herself flush with cash again, and with her first magical crafting project a rousing success, she decides to be more ambitious and invests almost all of her considerable money in acquiring the materials to make herself a set of wings--beautiful, faerie-like, dragonfly wings.

Saying goodbye to Oshar is almost too painful. This is quickly shaping up to be the lengthiest and most deadly journey Dothan has been on, and the thought of not seeing Oshar for another month, or even two... or... Well, it's not a pleasant thought. The night before they are to set off, they spend the evening again again at the farm, and Dothan luxuriates in how welcome the Tallaks have made her feel. Nimmis and Kolf have become like an extra set of parents for her and they treat her accordingly. It makes Dothan wish her and Oshar could just take two weeks together without all the danger and responsibility and visit Nybor. Just spend a week back home and let her parents get to know her and love her as well.

They spend the night together back at the Rusty Dragon, and in the morning, after many brave smiles and not a few tears, they're on their way.

On the trip so far, Dothan has been a bit quiet and sulky, focusing on her plans for her wings whenever time allows.

There. That gets me caught up and helps put me into Dothan's frame of mind.

[Elle]

Yay Oshar!!! Talking Dothan into things I can't talk her into!!! Muahahahaha!!!

[Zen]

[Mike]

Well, to tell the truth, Dothan was a pretty big baby about the whole thing. Dwyn could have gotten her there eventually, but she listens better when it's coming from Oshar.

[Elle]

Do you think Oshar will come with Dothan to the Fort? I feel like an idiot for trying to assume the narrative will go in that direction, when at very turn something else new comes up and we go here and there and wherever. There isn't much way to plan things like this. But still, would Oshar go to the Fort? I could see traveling by horse to Nybor, and then teleporting from there?

[Mike]

Dothan would love that, but not every teenage girl can just run off and find adventure like that. Oshar is getting an education and has responsibilities (conscientiousness, wisdom, and stability being just some of the qualities that make her a good balance for Dothan). From her point of view, what sort of life would that be out on the remote and dangerous frontier, waiting around with Vale and Gunrus for gods know how long every time Dothan needs to run off and save the world? Dothan wants to be with her all the time, but she'd feel guilty putting Oshar in a position to have to make that sort of choice.

From a meta storytelling point of view, every time we return to Sandpoint, I wonder, "Well, is this finally it? Is this where Oshar says she can't do this anymore? Is this where she tells Dothan she's fallen for someone else?" From the moment I created her, I've always had this vision of her being Dothan's first and only true love... and then breaking her heart. Hell, or maybe if the right circumstances come along, maybe some intriguing woman in some faraway land sweeps Dothan off her feet while she's off adventuring. They're teenagers. Every Oshar/Dothan story is me just torturing myself. I push them deeper into this connection, not just with each other, but with family and community, all the while thinking, "Man, that was stupid. Now it'll just hurt even more when they finally break up."

But I know me, and I don't know if I'm ever going to have the heart to do any of that. I love these characters too much, and ultimately, it's MY story that I can take in whatever direction I want. So if I want to make it a happy, fairy-tale, love-at-first-sight, forever sort of thing... I can do that. Although part of it is that whatever course this is all going to take, I've only got three more books to do it in. We're in the fourth book (I think) and at 10th level, so that means we're halfway, and I have no idea how many times the two of them will be together before the end of this. I would prefer to reach some sort of resolution in their tale before the end of the adventure path, so that I don't have to do too much story-telling and whatnot to resolve it all in an epilogue.

*sigh* We'll see. I have an ideal story arc for them, but I don't know if we'll have enough time with the two of them together to make it work.