[Child of the 7th Age]

Don't mean to give people a headache over the weekend! I'd been looking for a latch in the story to add spice/suspense, (whatever) and I couldn't resist the dragon and osanwe! I should have checked first but the muse of writing carried me away. Sorry!

I love this crazy story, but I think there's a challenge built into the structure. Since the hobbits must be hidden in view of later history, we can't go up against Sauron and his minions, eye to eye, since that implies they'll learn about our "secret." (And vice versa is true as well)

I think we have three "problems" to ovecome:

1. If Sauron knows about any of us in any way, it still can't be tied in to the hobbits---this is the one thing the dragon twist did accomplish.

2. Did the Elves sign on for a "battle" or just transport duty? I guess I feel that when you agree to sneak into the tombs of Numenor, you have to expect anything might happen. You hope it won't and you plan like crazy so it won't but conflict is still a possibility.

3. Were the ships well enough armed to take on 2-3 spy ships? I think I am beginning to agree with Pio on this. The Elves had light arms but not the kind of weapons that would take out an entire ship. So that is a problem the way I'd thought about it.

So let's consider some alternatives that build on the ideas of Mith and Helen--maybe combine them.

How about? The dragon sequence happens as I have described it. Then the dragon tells Mithadan and Pio when he gets back what actually happened in his mind, i.e. the awareness of Sauron. (Cami senses something wrong, but the dragon isn't telling her since what the blazes could she do?)

Mith and Pio decide we have to "spy" and find out what's really going wrong. So Levanto smuggles Daisy in to the prison. (Pio--you make a great Daisy!) The hobbits make sure Daisy is assigned to work duty on the mount somewhere near the big "muckymucks". (And I betch Kali is upset by having Daisy go, in view of their growing friendship!) If smuggling Daisy in is too risky, maybe we could use Helen's Gamba who's assigned to gravedigging duties?

Somehow, we need to be aware of what Sauron is doing. That puts the pressure on us, and by implication the reader. Perhaps, some of Sauron's commanders or officers can be near the tombs, in connection with the guards and their duties. Anyways Daisy or Gamba spies and overhears that Sauron is suspicious about something (i.e. the dragon) and he's recalling his fleet--like Mith said. Maybe some guards are saying they'd rather get transferred to the fleet than taking care of pipsqueaks in a tomb!

So what we have is a battle against the clock. If the fleet gets back, we know we'll be toast. He'd discover us and the Elves, and bye, bye everything. Our ships do not have the facility to enter into sea battles. It would certainly give us a reason to be upset!

I don't know if there's any way we could tell the Elven ships to come faster (send out Kali or Bird to swim and tell them??) But maybe that's not possible according to the strategy issues (which Cami and Sharon have a hard time grasping with their feeble brains!)

Then it works out like Helen says-- we're leaving with the hobbits. The first ships give us chase, and we race away.

Either we could completly get away, or there is some damage or loss of life. Perhaps one of the ships is strafed and we have to rescue people out of the water??? I don't know -- you guys are better on chase and battle things than I am.

That's another thing that struck me--no one has died and stayed dead. Is it possible Veritas (or dare I say, Khelek? Sorry Khelek--if you don't want to die, ignore this!) does something noble and gets killed in battle at the tombs? I'd volunteer Cami, but that doesn't seem to fit in with our major theme--the continuation of the hobbits. So Cami has to keep living, even though doing something noble and foolhardy might appeal to her as a "shortcut" to Maura. (But if you want her to croak, I'll let you do it!)

So the conflict built in is that of racing against time. We know what Sauron plans to do. The question is: can we do our own thing first? Another variation on this is, once we know the fleet is being recalled, Bird could do some snooping of those ships right before the rescue to see how close they are--and, man, they're too close for comfort!

Is any of this possible, or too far fetched? Which parts, if any do you like, and which won't work? sharon

[ September 21, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]