What If MitD Hadn't Diverted Team Evil

[Psyren]

However, the fact the Order survived that day at all how it went was remarkable to me.

I can only assume you're not familiar with fantasy stories and prophecies then. Elan and his party getting TPKed in a hole in the ground wouldn't be much of a happy ending.

If MitD hadn't diverted them, Xykon would have just insisted they leave anyway for some other reason.

[zimmerwald1915]

I can only assume you're not familiar with fantasy stories and prophecies then. Elan and his party getting TPKed in a hole in the ground wouldn't be much of a happy ending.

Why not? Elan gets to bum around the CG afterlife for eternity, and nobody else is guaranteed a happy ending. If it's because he'll feel bad for his friends, well, he'll forget them after a few centuries. That's just the way of things.

[Emanick]

Why not? Elan gets to bum around the CG afterlife for eternity, and nobody else is guaranteed a happy ending. If it's because he'll feel bad for his friends, well, he'll forget them after a few centuries. That's just the way of things.

Yeah, but the story doesn’t end when he forgets his friends a few centuries after he dies. The story ends when the party is killed, or shortly thereafter.

[RatElemental]

And tell me, how did Roy (or in my story, Elan and V) know that it was a recently called event, and not, for example, an yearly one?

Clearly Durkula felt the need to let Roy found out about it "on his own" for a reason, to maintain the illusion that he didn't know about it himself. At the very least, at some point after arrival, they would learn that only the High priests of their respective deities were invited or even knew about the meeting. Cue Roy/V putting two and two together, or Elan seeing the plot twist coming, and attacking Durkula before he summons proxy.

Or at least, that's how I'd see it going.

[Jay R]

The Order struggled against an elemental summoned by Redcloak. Xykon would have mopped them up in like three rounds, tops.

The Order has already defeated Xykon once. There have been many times in this story that the lesser power has defeated the greater power.

It would have gone the way the author thought it should go, to further the story.

[zimmerwald1915]

The Order has already defeated Xykon once. There have been many times in this story that the lesser power has defeated the greater power.

It would have gone the way the author thought it should go, to further the story.

If that's the argument, then any counterfactual is completely pointless. We've already seen how the author would arrange things in order to further yhe story. It cannot be otherwise.

[Jay R]

If that's the argument, then any counterfactual is completely pointless. We've already seen how the author would arrange things in order to further yhe story. It cannot be otherwise.

Yes, exactly.

[Synesthesy]

Clearly Durkula felt the need to let Roy found out about it "on his own" for a reason, to maintain the illusion that he didn't know about it himself. At the very least, at some point after arrival, they would learn that only the High priests of their respective deities were invited or even knew about the meeting. Cue Roy/V putting two and two together, or Elan seeing the plot twist coming, and attacking Durkula before he summons proxy.

Or at least, that's how I'd see it going.

I think that both Elan and V are easy to trick, as neither of them had ever shown lots of wisdom... While Roy is a lot smarter: he would have never bought that if he wasn't believing with all his heart that Durkon hadn't changed at all, that he was still his friend...
However, as I said, if you don't like it, my story works if they have stopped to gnome city and searched for a priest to resurrect Durkon and the rest of the party: they would have found Veldrina etc...

[Snails]

The key is Roy wanted to believe that Durkon was still alive-ish and his friend, and thus he fooled himself.

Sufficient clues were there, even if was significant ambiguity. But more importantly, the HPoH's story would have collapsed in the face of determined investigation. There was some opportunity to do a bit of research at the gnome city, but Roy just let himself be lead by the nose, and failed to lift a finger to get any independent information.