Comments on "Bad Kelsey: The End of Eral"

[Bons]

Da-da-da-dum! Enter Anomen! <stiiiing!>

I'm starting to wonder if a side effect of engaging in so much contemplation of Kelsey as a philanderer/knave is going to be lingering resentment next time we play. Each time Kelsey says something, there'll be an echo of, "Lies! He's Bad Kelsey! He falls for the grail-shaped beacon every time! Bad, bad, Kelsey!"

[cliffette]

I liked Kylia's description of the horse wearing a dress and the thought of a potentially happy ending (with Anomen, no less!).

Actually, that entire last segment was really very sweet.

[SeanFan]

In my completely biased and unabashedly pro-Anomen opinion, your end was the best.   

The conversation with Merena and Kelsey was very well done and his 'excuse' at least plausible. (As plausible as possible considering the premise is a 180-degree turnaround for the character.) What's more, I didn't see the end coming at all.

A couple of minor nits...maybe it's because I'm old, or maybe it's because I'm American, but I have absolutely no clue what 'stooged' means, other than it sounds Not Good. Also, if this section was supposed to be Merena's thoughts: "I was stooged. So badly. I loved him so much." it would be very helpful to italicize or otherwise indicate that, because I found the transition from 3rd person to first person to be rather confusing.

Lastly, I could *so* write a follow-up story to this... 

[K. Lou of Combs]

FINALLY!!  A mention of Anomen.  Frankly, I was *wondering* when someone would come up with an ending where Merena at least pondered re-meeting Anomen, or thinking that if she'd been with the honorable knight, then he wouldn't have cheated on her...

Admittedly, this end wasn't my favorite, but it was VERY close. Go you!

[Eral]

Seanfan, I always forget italics don't translate to HTML. Fixed it now, just for you. Team Anomen, and all that.
"Stooged" means tricked, dudded, taken for a fool. The Three Stooges were American so I thought it would be a cross-cultural reference.(that's so funny, when you think about it)  Sorry.

[jcompton]

There is a (rather lengthy and apparently ongoing) continuation of the Bad Kelsey-plus-Eral-ending scenario going on at the Attic. Because of their curious organization I'll just link you all to the first chapter and let you work it out from there. http://www.gamejag.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=79021

For some reason the author has chosen not to credit Bons and Eral for teeing up the storyline, but since you're reading this, you already know where it's coming from, I suppose.

[Bons]

There is a (rather lengthy and apparently ongoing) continuation of the Bad Kelsey-plus-Eral-ending scenario going on at the Attic. Because of their curious organization I'll just link you all to the first chapter and let you work it out from there. http://www.gamejag.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=79021

For some reason the author has chosen not to credit Bons and Eral for teeing up the storyline, but since you're reading this, you already know where it's coming from, I suppose.

To her credit, she offered a link to the Bad Kelsey forum as the source. That should be sufficient. Most places, people actually follow links to become educated, rather than, you know, wallow in ignorance. I don't think the author should be blamed if there are readers who refuse to read the backstory just because of where it's hosted. But yes, lots and lots of continuation of Eral's ending, Anomance for fans of that, and a bit of Kelsey being a jerk, too, whcih is what Bad Kelsey is all about! (Well, that and the nymphs.)

[jcompton]

I suppose. I just thought it was strange to cite me by name, when I arguably had the least to do with the story, and omit the two writers who directly set the table for the story being written.

[SimDing0™]

For some reason the author has chosen not to credit Bons and Eral for teeing up the storyline,

Do not make such suggestions. THE ATTIC HAVE BETTER LAWYERS THAN YOU.

[SeanFan]

I suppose. I just thought it was strange to cite me by name, when I arguably had the least to do with the story, and omit the two writers who directly set the table for the story being written.

I guess it's time to 'out' myself as the author of the story in the Attic.

BTW, I actually asked Eral if it was okay to use her 'End of' story before I began writing, and I also asked if she wanted to be credited. She gave me permission to use her story as a starting point, and said she didn't need to be credited. But since I was sure that some people would want to read the lead-in stories, I compromised by providing a link for those interested.

I'm afraid I just  didn't think of crediting Bons by name since I was providing the link to all the Bad Kelsey stories. If that was a faux pas, I sincerely apologize.

[Bons]

Like I said, I don't think it was a faux-pas since you gave the link. What gave me pause was using "Momma" instead of "Mommy" in the story. I like continuity, and Kylia's transition from "Boss" to "Mommy" was an important plot point to me personally that signaled the girl felt betrayed as well, and had taken her father off the hero-worship pedestal. Then again, what does my opinion matter? People were supposed to have liberty with their endings.

What's amazing is that you mentioned anything PPG, Compton or Kelsey-related and didn't get the cricket-treatment. I guess since it's sugar-coated with the lure of the Attic getting to talk about how much they hate all three and how mean-bad-perverted said are, all while luxuriously remaining on topic, they gobbled it up like starving baby birds. Carry on, I say, and enjoy yourself!

[jcompton]

I'm afraid I just  didn't think of crediting Bons by name since I was providing the link to all the Bad Kelsey stories. If that was a faux pas, I sincerely apologize.

Well, obviously Eral opting out is a different matter entirely. And anyway, it wasn't anything worthy of French terminology, I just thought it was weird. Not least of which, as Bons points out, "Jason Compton" and to a lesser extent "Kelsey" is usually a thing you only want to mention in passing at the Attic.

I imagine the ideal way to introduce it is something like the stereotypical "nervous young man in a drugstore" condom purchase.

"Yes, thank you, I'll be treating you to a work inspired by Bons, Eral, David Gaider, JRR Tolkien, Douglas X. Cringely, Malcolm X, Xavier Cougat, Xandozan the Exhalted, jasoncompton, Glen A. Larson, and Harper Lee."

But the story and the brickbats seem to have found their stride anyway. Chapter 9's comments, in particular, gave me a good laugh.

[Bons]

P.S. Ding0, I have now removed all of your mod forums as punishment for mocking the Attic's lawyers.

[icelus]

P.S. Ding0, I have now removed all of your mod forums as punishment for mocking the Attic's lawyers.

You mean restricted access. 

[SeanFan]

Like I said, I don't think it was a faux-pas since you gave the link. What gave me pause was using "Momma" instead of "Mommy" in the story. I like continuity, and Kylia's transition from "Boss" to "Mommy" was an important plot point to me personally that signaled the girl felt betrayed as well, and had taken her father off the hero-worship pedestal. Then again, what does my opinion matter? People were supposed to have liberty with their endings.

Interesting that you would notice that. I actually waffled between "Momma" and 'Mommy" and finally decided to go with "Momma" since it sounded slightly less modern to my ears. But it's certainly not a big deal, I can edit it back to Mommy if you like.

What's amazing is that you mentioned anything PPG, Compton or Kelsey-related and didn't get the cricket-treatment. I guess since it's sugar-coated with the lure of the Attic getting to talk about how much they hate all three and how mean-bad-perverted said are, all while luxuriously remaining on topic, they gobbled it up like starving baby birds. Carry on, I say, and enjoy yourself!

Hmm, think we're getting into the area of cross-board 'history' of which I am blissfully ignorant. There were certainly no noticeable gasps of horror at the mention of PPG or JC, though the level of anti-Kelsey sentiment is definitely much higher there than it is here. So far though, people have been remarkably patient with my reluctance to a) make Kelsey an evil mastermind or b) provide a satisfying grisly end for the two-timing cad.

[SeanFan]

I'm afraid I just  didn't think of crediting Bons by name since I was providing the link to all the Bad Kelsey stories. If that was a faux pas, I sincerely apologize.

Well, obviously Eral opting out is a different matter entirely. And anyway, it wasn't anything worthy of French terminology, I just thought it was weird. Not least of which, as Bons points out, "Jason Compton" and to a lesser extent "Kelsey" is usually a thing you only want to mention in passing at the Attic.

I imagine the ideal way to introduce it is something like the stereotypical "nervous young man in a drugstore" condom purchase.

"Yes, thank you, I'll be treating you to a work inspired by Bons, Eral, David Gaider, JRR Tolkien, Douglas X. Cringely, Malcolm X, Xavier Cougat, Xandozan the Exhalted, jasoncompton, Glen A. Larson, and Harper Lee."

I must say that they have been woefully lax in informing new forum members of your status as 'he who must not be named'.

Though to be honest, the reason your name came up so (relatively) prominently is that the intro to '"Second Choices" at the Attic was copied _verbatim_ from the  one I used for fanfiction.net. From my experience with posting my Jaheira/CN Anomen fic in which Kelsey was a minor character, I found that not all of the readers at ff.net knew who Kelsey was.

But as I mentioned to Bons, using your name didn't elicit a particularly hostile response from the denizens of The Attic. Unless, of course, I'm off all their Christmas Card lists and no one told me.

But the story and the brickbats seem to have found their stride anyway. Chapter 9's comments, in particular, gave me a good laugh.

Yes, I imagine they did. FWIW, Kelsey will probably make another appearance before all is said and done; but in truth I haven't felt the need to put him in the story as much as some of my readers seem to expect. Although he was an important catalyst for the story, it's not really *about* him, after all.

[Eral]

Well, obviously Eral opting out is a different matter entirely.

Excuse me, I didn't opt out. 
I chickened out. Completely different. 


 

[Kulyok]

I must say, Eral's ending was one of my favourites.

I wonder, though: I've read SeanFan's story, and one thing didn't make sense to me. In the original, Merena is surrounded by Imoen, Nalia and Keto, and they go very well together - it's their fabulous interaction, mostly, that keeps Bons' story going. (Well, that, and the plot. ) But after "The End of Eral" is done, and SeanFan's story begins, Keto, Imoen and Nalia mostly disappear, to be replaced by Keldorn and Jaheira, sometimes Valygar. Could Merena be that fickle?

[jcompton]

The real question is: Why hasn't anybody written a 40-chapter Attic continuation of the alasafan ending?

[Kulyok]

I don't speak English that well.

[Bons]

My part implies that Keldorn traveled with the party in the past, so I'd say that's in character. I read maybe a quarter of SeanFan's story a while back, so I don't remember much beyond the rebounding with Anomen. Conceptually, there's no particular reason Merena wouldn't associate with Valygar and Jaheira. These are people with similar interests in terms of the land, and Valygar has his cabin nearby. Merena could feel empathy with Valygar and his perception of his family being a curse, but I don't see Valygar as someone Merena would trust to be unequivocably on her side. She could work with him though, if there was a common goal. Jaheira would be more of a role model, and I can see Merena looking to her for guidance while she was a Bhaalspawn. It depends on the purpose of the story and how they are relating to her whether I'd agree they would fit. Here, Merena absolutely needed "the girls" to be the foil for her road trip. The setup is such that Merena's obviously isolated herself since Kelsey left and hasn't seen Keto, Nalia, Imoen or anyone else for months. I think that gives whom she associates with when she's not in that scenario some wriggle room, but if Jaheira and Valygar are always dropping by to borrow a cup of sugar and be chummy, that's a bit weird.


P.S. Why aren't there more nymphs in fanfic?

[Regullus]

P.S. Why aren't there more nymphs in fanfic?

Possibly they're are too sexually intimidating to the average boy gamer fanfic writer.

[jcompton]

Possibly they're are too sexually intimidating to the average boy gamer fanfic writer.

Except that fanfic tends to be a pursuit of average girls.

(I mean, uh, no, exceptional girls. Stupendous. Outta sight. You know what I mean.)

[Regullus]

Ah, well, the average girl gamer fanfic writer views nymphs as victims and victims aren't terribly interesting. If you recall, in both Bg 1 and BG 2 the nymphs need to be rescued. Hence a shortage of nymph protagonists in BG fanfiction written by not so average girl gamer fanfic writers.