I had another thought - though it's observed that Bladesingers will leave their dishonoured blades where they lie on the field of battle, I can't help but wonder if there may be exceptions to that. Especially in the case where the blade is recovered not for use, but as a memoir of either the battle, that bladesinger, or something else of emotional importance.

Not all would, of course. Some, maybe most, would rather leave their dishonoured blade to never know of it again, to never recall to mind the failure associated with it. But I could see how some might - especially if it were a company of bladesingers that picked up the blades of their fallen who died in battle. Perhaps there's even something of a blade graveyard at Megilindor Nost.

Anyhow, let me just get to the point: if Aranwen were to have kept her first blade and Sae's as a memoir of their time together, would that metal serve to be reforged into tools?

Just a thought. Have to start somewhere with acquiring tools of the trade, after all

No, I mean more than that. A new identity. Depending on how far she had to go with it...

Cut her hair, or dye it
Perhaps even cut off the tips of her ears

She's still her, of course, but she cannot be 'Aranwen'

Aranwen would likely need to assume a different name as well; better for the Sylvari known as Aranwen to be reported as deceased in battle, than to be hunted as an oathbreaker and deserter...

In some ways, it actually might make it easier - Kithran only then needs to recognize Ch'dau, and Aranwen introducing herself as someone new might help reconnect them.

The 'sung by Kithran' lyrics I was thinking of in Ash Like Snow:

My heart is played just like a harp
By sinful hands of darkness
With nails oh so sharp
Your voice is like a drug
That makes me numb
And leaves me with no senses - deaf and dumb

If you look at the map of Antaron, there are two lakes south of the Chakaran Mountains. Somewhere nearby, following the natural path between them, looks to be a natural place for a town - beyond the border of Sylvari lands, but close enough to still have forest nearby.

It could host a few farms, and a small trade route acting as a halfway point between the Chakaran Mines and Sylvari, a natural location for a foundry to work unprocessed ore.

Probably a very mixed demographic here, some Khord, some Sylvari, humans I'm sure...

Close enough to home for Aranwen to avoid homesickness, far enough away to not be included in its borders proper.

Cause I do dig it 

I would joke about retirement to Cal'ele'miur as the obscure place in question, but that is a very questionable fae-te at best

I had a very similar idea for a journey of recovery, so to speak, with our characters. This, of course, assumes certain ways in how HC ends, but to be honest I don't mind making a split timeline so we do get to see that journey of recovery, altering whatever key happenings in the actual HC ending so that it's plausible.

If she can manage to pull herself together in spite of everything... I found another song for Aranwen

It also has a few lines fitting for Kithran... you'll know them when you hear them.

This song feels like it might be appropriate to the current situation

Now open your eyes, while our plight is repeated
Still deaf to our cries, lost in hope we lie defeated
Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken
Bearing sins of the past, for our future is taken

I've just been listening to "weight of the world" and "light and shadow" while posting for Aranwen in HC.

Perhaps I might have to add 'the world' to that list...

"If I could be where you are" was a close second to "light and shadow" for Aranwen at least with respect to Saeriel

Speaking of... if anyone were to help heal a broken or missing heart, Saeriel actually would have been a good candidate for that...

's for you both

PS. Better idea - drop that dishonoured blade; let the ground, rust, and time claim it as it should!

Aranwen is in a very precarious position right now, mentally speaking. If she should be able to move... I can't claim to know what actions she will take beyond doing whatever she can to finish what she started, and claim Davena's life.

She's insane with grief, guilt, rage, all manner of emotions.

I truly cannot predict what she will do.

I'm just watching Aranwen's psyche shatter like glass in HC, and can't help but think... that is exactly the outcome Morgana would want if she used magic akin to that of phantasmal killer on Aranwen.

As she said before

The desperate are the easiest for her to influence, to make them dance to her threads

Is just backup copper wire in case her pouch gets swiped, just as Kithran had done

• Needle, thread, and patches for fixing her clothing if she should stumble or whatever


• A cute looking twig as from a shrub, in something of a Y shape though the split ends are curved in a very clear, unsuccessful attempt to make it into a heart shape. Still has a leaf attached, though it looks like it could really use water/planting if it were to be made into a proper plant


• A small piece of copper wire


• A small packet of red powder, hardly larger than a teaspooon amount


• A small cut piece of fleece, perhaps leftover from another sewing project

She also has some copper wire twisted around her right ring finger, which seems to be nothing more than a child's makeshift attempt at jewelry.

The spells these go to are cantrips

• Message - copper wire


• Dancing Lights - phosphorous


• Minor Illusion - fleece

Why is Saina fearless about being on her own? Call her mom if she finds herself in trouble by using Message

And thus the mystery of the pouch is laid to rest, never to be brought up again

What's a little girl doing with a spell component pouch? 

Funny enough, not that Kithran would know, but having already been ambushed from above by Morgana earlier that day, yes Aranwen's eyes would be especially on watch of the roof line too while Mosic rested. 

Running would be in line with Aranwen's request of everyone else - to survive 

Re: freeform horror with a D&D [puppet]... 

Morgana pauses and wonders who is talking about her... 

In the unwritten path, a path where Aranwen and the party were successful in reaching and subduing Davena, Aranwen would have asked Ch'dau and the others to stay their blades, so she may have spoken with Davena.

She would have asked her if this was truly what she wanted. To die the pawn of a parasite with no will of her own. Aranwen would have tried to appeal to her - she knew the flame Davena held inside of her, hidden deep beneath detached actions and words. She would have offered Davena to go with her. That even she might yet be saved, somehow, and live the remainder of her years with some level of peace. 

Naive, almost undoubtedly, but it is what Aranwen would have offered to her, having seen the extent of the scars she bore. 

If Davena had refused, Aranwen would have, regretfully, taken her life then. She would've chosen it to be her own hand and blade to do the deed of killing a subdued opponent, knowing that to do such might not have sat well with the others' personal feelings/codes. Aranwen would have been shaken in doing so, but because it was in line with one of her oaths, she would have been okay. 

Yet, as we know, such did not come to pass.

This is what Aranwen was talking about when she told Davena "it didn't have to be this way" 

I know that I'm very happy to have known Aranwen, and that wouldn't have happened if not for this game. It's been a pleasure writing for her, to partake of her journey. However, I can safely say that several years ago I wouldn't have been able to handle it.  

It has been quite a ride. I am glad to have shared this experience with everyone. Though I would also advise against this style of story in the future - it takes very sturdy and devoted players to be willing to write a bad ending without feeling as though the investment was a waste. 

On a related note...

Aranwen has been fighting with survivor's guilt for thirty years before the last - for her to survive now, with all that has happened... That is the last thing she wants.

Yeah... 

... She cannot act on the impulses she feels right now

I did know why Kithran did what she did.

Just as I know what Aranwen would do if she could move... And it is not pretty

I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen. I knew, for one reason or another, it would be Aranwen's last song. Either she failed, in which case she likely wouldn't live to sing again, or she'd be successful, and throw away her sword for the pain and suffering she caused to people following it.

The oath that broke with her heart's blade was the oath that she'd care for Kithran as her own child, however she could even if she was never to admit it for Kithran's comfort. To fill the place of the woman who abandoned her. Even through the haze of stun, she could feel when Kithran stabbed Ch'dau. In that instant, in her heart, she knew there was no way to salvage that oath. She failed to uphold the same oath that Saeriel had made, an oath to protect.

If she should be able to move once more, she will do the only thing she thinks she might yet have a chance to - to strike Davena down, regardless of her own safety. No more song; she lost it, all she has left is the cold steel in her hands.