HFQ Official Snippet #15 Merry Christmas!

n7axw wrote:

tootall wrote:I'm still wondering why Merlin -et al- allowed Sandaria Ghatfryd to come along.
It takes both Merlin AND Nimue out of play. ??? And depending on their reactions -someone will have to baby-sit one or both these folks for some time to come.
We lose one (in chess terms) or both our of our queens.
I am sure our esteemed author is aware of this "problem", but I can't see why he did it.

From the way it was portrayed, it was one of those decisions that happened rather quickly that is looking a bit iffy right now. But bear in mind that it could still turn out ok.

Nimue and Merlin don't necessarily have to be the baby sitters. Imagine Father Paityr taking a sabbatical for a couple of weeks. Or Olyvia Baytz going on vacation. How about Hektor and Irys going on a get away. The point is that the are all sorts of very good baby sitters available...

Don

tootall wrote:I'm still wondering why Merlin -et al- allowed Sandaria Ghatfryd to come along.
It takes both Merlin AND Nimue out of play. ??? And depending on their reactions -someone will have to baby-sit one or both these folks for some time to come.
We lose one (in chess terms) or both our of our queens.
I am sure our esteemed author is aware of this "problem", but I can't see why he did it.

n7axw wrote:From the way it was portrayed, it was one of those decisions that happened rather quickly that is looking a bit iffy right now. But bear in mind that it could still turn out ok.

Nimue and Merlin don't necessarily have to be the baby sitters. Imagine Father Paityr taking a sabbatical for a couple of weeks. Or Olyvia Baytz going on vacation. How about Hektor and Irys going on a get away. The point is that the are all sorts of very good baby sitters available...

Don

Joat42 wrote:They have Owl to babysit them. No need to have a physical presence to deal with Sandaria or Aivah (well, for there may be a need for a physical presence to alleviate psychological stress etc).

fallsfromtrees wrote:Owl probably controls the doors to the outside, and it is in the middle of a howling wilderness in the middle of a Northern Safehold winter - which means that attempting to escape when you don't know exactly where you are is tantamount to suicide. A point that I am sure hat Merlin will make to them if he has to leave them behind.

evilauthor wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote:Owl probably controls the doors to the outside, and it is in the middle of a howling wilderness in the middle of a Northern Safehold winter - which means that attempting to escape when you don't know exactly where you are is tantamount to suicide. A point that I am sure hat Merlin will make to them if he has to leave them behind.

You're assuming that they can even make it to the outside. Don't forget that they have to hike up a tunnel that STARTS 12 kilometers underground. Assuming no part of the tunnel needs spelunking gear and ascends at a leisurely incline, the actual tunnel length is likely LONGER than 12 kilometers. Uphill no less.

fallsfromtrees wrote:My point was that even if they did make it to the outside, it was tantamount to suicide. And that they probably couldn't get there because OWL controls the exits.
The cave is 12 km under the peak of the mountain, but the entrance is not at the top, but somewhere in the side of the mountain. We don't know how far below the peak. And we don't know how slanted the passage way is, and we don't know how long it it, just that it is in the side of the mountain.

Henry Brown wrote:After we got this snippet a little early for Christmas, I was hoping to get snippet 16 as a New Year's Present.

JeffEngel wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote:My point was that even if they did make it to the outside, it was tantamount to suicide. And that they probably couldn't get there because OWL controls the exits.
The cave is 12 km under the peak of the mountain, but the entrance is not at the top, but somewhere in the side of the mountain. We don't know how far below the peak. And we don't know how slanted the passage way is, and we don't know how long it it, just that it is in the side of the mountain.

I seem to recall that the access tunnel is normally kept full of nitrogen too. So you'd have to hold your breath, and that's quite a hike.

So yeah, who goes there, stays there.

fallsfromtrees wrote:I believe that is a reference to the fact that the cave was filled with nitrogen until Nimue awoke for the first time. I don't think we have any textev either way since that time.