[Dragaera] Stuff I never got in Tiassa (Spoilers)

[Jon Lincicum]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Rapaport" <steve.rapaport at gmail.com>
>
> 
> So:
> A
> B
> C
> D
> E
> F
> G
> H
> I
> J
> K
> L
> M
> N
> O
> P
> Q
> 
> So what happened before the fight that would let LT get from Vlad's
> person
> to Sara's? I assume she didn't steal it from him, that he didn't
> somehow
> lose LT in the battle (farfetched), that he hadn't lent LT to her that
> day
> when she needed a letter opener.

Re-read the section where Khaavren rides to the scene and examines the ground of the fighting. 

Khaavren notes that a sword (presumably LT) fell to the ground, and then footprints (presumably Sara's) where she came and retrieved the sword later. 

This indicates that he did indeed become disarmed at some point during the battle. 

Consider the scene. In a matter of seconds, 3 or 4 of the 9 attackers had been put out of action (we know at least one died, and this was presumably /only/ the one, based on what the relatives say about it later), and another two attackers were occupied with Loiosh/Rocza. 

This leaves Vlad one-on-three or one-on-four against enemies that he really doesn't want to kill if he can help it (this is Sara's family, after all, and he knows it), and whose souls I'm sure he doesn't really want to have destroyed. 

So, after two or three passes against these odds, he is wounded, he throws LT into the bushes, leaps into the river and swims away. 

Back on shore, you now have at least 6-7 gravely wounded attackers, and two very angry jhereg blocking the attackers' way into the water to follow their prey, even if they wanted to. The Easterner is himself gravely wounded, and (for all the attackers know) likely going to die of the wounds he has already received soon enough, anyway. 

There's not a lot of reason to stick around at the scene of the crime getting poisoned by angry jhereg. You gather your fallen comrades and get the heck out of there. There is no time to search the bushes for lost artifacts. 

Vlad is rescued by a Teckla, and ends up at the Phoenix Guard HQ. He then sends Loiosh to find Sara, gather LT from where she is lying, and return her to him. 
 

> These all seem a little weird to me. In fact, the entire concept of 9
> people ambushing a competent Great Weapon wielder and winning seems
> weird to
> me.

He didn't want to kill anyone if he could help it. (In which he was mostly, if not entirely, successful).

> The other question is -- was Sara watching the fight? If so, why
> didn't she
> pull him from the river herself? Why didn't she intervene? Why did it
> take
> her so long to find Vlad later? And why didn't she know that her
> brother was
> dead?

We know Sara was not present at the fight, as this was all news to her, later. 

> 
> If not, why did Vlad let Teldra so far out of his sight?

Necessity. The alternative was letting himself be killed, and thereby letting LT destroy the souls of people he didn't really want her to destroy, out of revenge.


Majikjon