Afterword - Book 5 - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Chapter 4: Soft Resolve

(Original Chapter Title: Journey’s End, Journeys Begin)

I loved the OG draft's chapter title, but it really only worked as a final chapter. Less so for Chapter 4.

And yes, this is the last chapter from the OG draft. At long, long last.

This chapter was... as close as the OG draft ever came to my modern writing standards. Which is probably why I ended up deleting the original ice gorilla battle and rewriting it entirely from scratch. I even changed the gorilla's powerset.

In the OG draft, the gorilla was less resilient, but every time it landed a Decay attack on Ranthia it would recover based on the amount of damage it inflicted on her. A neat idea that might be System-possible, but it felt... weird at their level. Also, stepping back, what kind of a predatory animal would want a Skillset that's predicated on it fighting prey that can wound it? The entire point of the mountain lords is they're rarely challenged.

About the only thing in common between the two versions is a) Clover clocked the monster before Ranthia did and b) Ranthia ends up fighting in the buff after losing her favorite blindfold.

Thankfully, I do like the new version of the fight! Ranthia learning the new "shotgun blast" attack wasn't planned, but it'll be fun to play with moving forward. The avalanche scene was a great white-knuckle moment (for her, at least). And Clover's intercession made a lot more sense here (and didn't require Ranthia to be an idiot first).

The aftermath runs... largely identical to the OG draft though. I mostly just clarified some things (especially her logic for why she accepted it) and added the note that Ranthia was worried about the side-effect of the bond, but chose not to regret her decision.

Clover was a long planned companion for Ranthia. I think she actually existed in concept before Avyna did. I had to roughly outline some things with Ranthia (a technique I mastered because of something else upcoming that I can't wait to complai—er, talk about) to figure out how to make sure she'd accept Clover. It's kind of funny that she's only coming up in book 5, but that's how things work out sometimes. And I don't hate the personal journey Ranthia went through to get to the point that she's ready to share her path.

She just might be a bit terrified about what that will truly mean.