avwolf wrote:
And here I was really liking Alaric. It seems that there's no question in his mind about Keith's next action, though it's certainly believable that he has no idea how much strain this is actually putting on Keith. I also have to suspect that this is happening a little faster than Alaric would like it; I'm sure he'd rather have another couple days to get Keith back into the swing of things and away from the influence of those Keidran before he sprung something like this unlikable mission on our valiant Basitin. What really fascinates me, though, is that he makes it seem like the trial is simply a formality; Keith's willingness to undertake this secret mission and his assumed inevitable success appears to be the hinge on which his future swings, not the trial. Are we looking at a special pardon from the Master General "in light of service to the Empire", or was the trial well established to be nothing more than a formality and Keith's fate has long been decided prior?
And the presence of the Templar and their secret tower means that Trace and Flora aren't out of the woods either. They could be attacked at any time, at any point shadowy figures could spring from an alleyway to capture them. And now Eric's going to get caught in the fall out.
Excuse Alaric, the poor guy is just being dumb. I'm sure if he knew what was really going on... wait... weird thought just now.
Remember back when Keith had just arrived, the intelligent general said he was never supposed to return back from Exile? Trace is a man that is necessary for the construction of the tower, thus giving Kieth this task would be pointless if he wasn't supposed to return with the Templar. If I'm right, only Alaric would know about this then who willingly accepted him back for bringing back an important "tool" (Tool as in people are now just using the poor insane, amnesiac, racist, child out of wedlock that is trying to be a good man after being incapacitated by a powerful mask.).
Alaric is thusly the inside man, using Kieth's exile for the reason to bring Trace to the Basitin Ilse's without the need of explanation.
Now I keep thinking Old Trace wanted the amnesia for some reason... it just seems too perfect for the ex-Grand Templar's plans for all of this to happen unpredictably.
Wait... what was my Eric thought... Oh yes, Eric will bail them out of this situation because he is secretly a powerful mage/fighter/infiltrations expert with Kathrin not falling far from the same tree. Or maybe they're just incredibly lucky.