Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
This is the fourth volume of Legends of Windemere and one where I felt like I had to do a lot of clean up. Not in terms of handling sloppy writing, but I had to make a few plot points come together. Timoran Wrath and Delvin Cunningham were officially introduced to the story. Luke Callindor and Sari began their relationship, which kicked off the love triangle that I will forever have a love/hate feeling towards. Mistakes made by characters came back to haunt them too. So, I found myself in another juggling act.
Family of the Tri-Rune had another challenge. This adventure was the one where the player behind Sari left the game. Unfortunately, it was after Luke Callindor and Sari became a couple. Now, the DM had the idea of just killing her off, which I didn’t like because I couldn’t see Luke going on with his heart crushed. He’d become vengeful and angry, which didn’t make me want to use the character. We agreed on an alternative, but that meant I had to alter things in the book to head towards that event. Keep in mind that this was all before Kira Grasdon existed. Anyway, this book marked the point where I really deviated from the game.
I mentioned that Timoran and Delvin joined up too. Both had shown up briefly in previous volumes, but with no sign that they would be more than supporting cast if they returned. Now, a bulk of Family of the Tri-Rune is spent with Timoran. Delvin kind of shows up in the final act, which may have hurt the character for a bit. The other champions all had a book that highlighted their debut. Delvin just showed up, hung out with everyone, and then discovered accidentally that he was a champion. I think it was Fizzle who noticed it, but I don’t remember exactly. Either way, he really did get the short end of the stick, which I would try to fix later.
Another piece of Windemere world-building that came out of this book was the mercenary system. I hinted at it, but now I had the Mercenary Queen. Originally, it was just a title for one person. While writing this story, I ended up expanding on it a bit and laid the groundwork for more. This really took what is typically a third-party group that can be hired by anyone and turned it into a political/military force. Even though the mercenaries of Windemere operate independently, they still have a central core that can be used to unite them in times of crisis. Not that I now if I’ll ever do that since it feels like an extreme situation.
I can’t think of anything I would do differently though. This book felt like the opening of the next stage of the adventure. Almost like I was beginning fresh even though I was also tying up some loose ends. Nyx’s mistake from Volume 2 was a big thing that I needed to tackle, but that may have really been it. This does feel very much like a DnD game since it comes off with a little old and a lot of new. Just like when an adventuring party begins a new quest. Might be why I always find myself being fairly fond of this book and going back to it when I want teasers. Really encapsulates how adventurers would operate instead of doing one quest and calling it a day. At least, in my mind.
Let’s have some questions:
- How can one deal with the fallout from past mistakes coming back to haunt them?
- How important is forgiveness?
- If you could be shrunk down to the size of a mouse, what would be the first thing you try to eat?
Legends of Windemere 
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Forgiving authors for what they have characters do is always strange. Especially when it’s a villain.
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I wonder how many mice dream of that.
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Not many I’m sure.
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1) How can one deal with the fallout from past mistakes coming back to haunt them?
In terms of fiction, it should be explored in a way that reveals character. Are they honest and take responsibility, or do they try to shift the blame? They show us if they are hero or villain by how they confront the past.
2) How important is forgiveness?
This is a case where it’s really important to be honest about the situation. Sure, a minor misunderstanding can easily be put aside, but if a character suffered great abuse or other harm, it sends a really negative message if they are *required* to forgive the person who hurt them.
3) If you could be shrunk down to the size of a mouse, what would be the first thing you try to eat?
I would probably chew my way out of whatever I was trapped in.
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I’m curious about how dealing with fallout differs between reality and fiction. Is it more fluid in reality?
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Well, as authors, we control all reactions. In real life, you can’t know what connections other people will have, how they will react. So fallout is riskier in reality than fiction.
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True. As authors, I think we should try to portray that in some fashion. Making it too neat could make it unbelievable. That’s always a challenge.
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Moving to a new town is a great way of dealing with personal history. I learned that in college. Forgiveness is a two way street. We have to forgive ourselves, but also be tolerant to others. As a mouse, I’d probably eat only the croutons in my salad.
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When in doubt, run away.
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