I feel certain that Sereth's sense of right and wrong makes a far more dangerous and difficult opponent for him than a middle-aged politician holding a sword.

I'm fairly certain we -had- the big finale sword duel scene. It's just that for once the diceroller decided to make it an anti-climax.

Think of it as an iaijutsu duel, as in classic samurai movies: two warriors measuring each other up; narrowing their eyes; shifting stances and grips, for about an hour. Smoke Alarm runs between them. Then it's over in the blink of an eye. One falls over, blood fountaining from a severed limb. Sereth goes on his way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaijutsu

If it had come to a battle, I was going to have Sereth kill him. Just because it makes him a more intriguing character to have chinks in his armor of honor. I almost thought about him sacrificing his honor to preserve the Emperor's name. Avoid the stain he referred to. It would also have been a much better way to keep him in the TARDIS.

Yes, in having Lestasel throw down his sword, that's very much the choice I wanted to put in front of Sereth.

From your IC post it feels like the way you're going here is to write Sereth out of the story.  Is there a different way that you can see this going?  Realistically -- the Emperor does need you more than ever right now.

Honestly? Yeah. The way this story has panned out I really think Sereth bows out, at least as a regular member of team TARDIS. Maybe on occasion, if Traveller desperately needs him, he could come back. Be part of her parliament of time. But from his point of view, Draconia needs to be what it once was. And he doesn't have any false sense of how he holds himself - and it needs all those who have put honor beyond glory at the forefront.

So much as I said I wanted to work this to keep him as a regular cast member, from a story POV, I think it's far more powerful if he stays behind. Trav will always have him as an ally; but he needs to be here to lessen the impact of any final verbal jabs from Lestasel.

And from a personal point of view, it might be interesting to see the rest of the team dealing with a new character. Whether they see them as trying to replace Sereth - which really can't be done; as I can't see anyone having nearly as strong a code of honor as he had - or whether it's someone they refuse to get attached to, or whatever.

Wasn't the aim here to make Sereth unable to go back? That he'd have to bear a dishonour and leave Draconia in order to protect Smoke Alarm or the Empire? I think the problem here is we won. :) Even my kite-message eliminate the possibility of a cover-up. I had no idea what to have Smoke do, this just seemed like something she would do, after learning from the conflict with the Fists on Arsuran.

If still pursuing Sereth's exile, then perhaps Lestasel has a last trick up his sleeve, he's just stalling for time or has a secret to reveal that changes things. We turn around and find his Vardan allies have taken over. :) Or maybe the Emperor or someone insists on being stubborn and tradition-bound, and charges Smoke Alarm with her various misdeeds. I think Gary suggested that Lestasel would bring charges of libel.

But I think Lestasel would be a good ongoing foe for Sereth.

Those are ideas, anyway.

I feel like the whole issue is about Sereth being true to character.  If he just wasn't going to do that, he'd just traipse off and keep traveling without this whole episode.  If he wanted to compromise himself to minimize the political scandal, he could have just taken Lestasel's head off right here: the Emperor, I feel, would accept his exile to remove Sereth from the political fallout in that case.

The other thing that I had sitting on the table was the thought that the Emperor had been the one wounded in the struggle and that would probably prompt some more rash action.  I left that open because it still felt a lot like dictating the choice.  Sereth's conclusion looks like it resolves who was cut by the blade.

The one way that I don't particularly want to swerve this situation is to reveal that the Emperor wasn't really worthy of all this effort: I feel like it should, in the end, be justified.

It was pretty clear where Smoke Alarm's mission was going, but I admit I was surprised that she named Zevid: as observed, that makes the fallout much worse than the whole thing being prompted by one treasonous minister who could safely be dealt with through the normal course of justice.

The hell of it, of course, is that what Sereth and Smoke Alarm and Taliro have done is squarely in line with the principles that Draconians say they want to live by, rather than the compromises that people end up making in practice.  I feel like resolving this on the note that what is right is not always what makes us happy is a hard but a strong conclusion.

I still want to do the convening of the Parliament of Time at some point, and I think Sereth would definitely be part of that.  Particularly since he seems to be an obvious candidate to  fill the vacancy at the top of the Ministry of State.

If that is where we're going, then Sereth's player can start thinking about a new character -- the next adventure would be their introduction, obviously.

Oh wow. That's gonna hit Trav hard. She's always seen Sereth as kind of a rock, how to do it right, especially in light of the Time War. I mean, she's always known this would come, and it makes sense, but it will still be hard.

I want to do the Parliament of Time after the next adventure - I've been really want to investigate what is out at the end of time and the mystery of the Corsair's inheritance. Perhaps that's where we can introduce the new Companion.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Sun 15 May 2016.

Actually Trav; that was part of my reasonings for having Sereth do as he did. I felt Trav was starting to lean on Sereth (and this is not a bad thing BTW), as 'he'll know what's right'. My next character won't be any kind of anti-hero; but he'll be more like Leela or Ace, someone who does 'what needs to be done'. This forces Traveller to start thinking for herself, what is the -right- thing to do.

Hey, if 'What would Sereth do?' becomes a phrase she lives by; that'd be awesome.

Feel free to start the next adventure without me. I have to give some real thought about what I want to do.

No matter the circumstance, I think a companion leaving the Tardis is always a bit sad.

Yeah, it is. But there are ways that make sense, or ways like say... Leela.

I agree with all that, Guardian. We didn't achieve what we intended in getting Sereth exiled, but this turned out to be a rather good story because of it. Everyone was true to their ideals, and we had a good, honest outcome, and a more hopeful one. (And we avoided the contrived drama that plagues modern TV, Doctor Who included, which the exile idea could have been.) Except it ends in Sereth's departure, though it was a very well done companion departure. But it's so sad! :(

What I had figured was that Smoke would be alone in the palace, increasingly desperate and confused, and would do something rash like attack the Emperor. Maybe I should have put her more in harm's way to push Sereth harder; I was picturing a fall off the tower or Lestasel threatening her life. I was even expecting serious injury or death, as I was so low on Story Points. But given the choice of saving the Emperor or saving the girl, she had to save the girl. :)




Well, Lestasel was happy to be blamed for it, provided Zevid's role stayed secret. Exposing Zevid should completely eliminate anything Lestasel could have hoped to achieve. Smoke reasoned he'd have to give up then, obviously not expecting he'd wasn't going to be reasonably.


Ishkavaarr appeared briefly in the NA novel Love and War. I thought immediately of Sereth, that he would be a good past example of the kind of Draconian Sereth is. So I was going to have Smoke steal an artwork and give it to Sereth to console him in his exile. I altered that idea for his departure here. I think it works better this way. :)


Final ideas for this story:
* Stanley sees to all Smoke's injuries.
* Smoke Alarm does the how-you-do to the Emperor, and he does it back.
* Smoke and Sereth have that chase they talked about earlier.




You probably won't want to be too much like Leela or Ace, as that would get very close to Smoke Alarm. Not that that's a bad thing or that you should feel restricted. The more Kangs, the merrier, really. :D
This message was last edited by the player at 03:41, Mon 16 May 2016.

That's part of the problem I'm having. Trying to avoid just making a Sereth-clone; but not stepping on the toes of the others already there.

You could adopt Taliro. :)

As far as party make-up goes, Sereth was a good fit as the straight-guy, a fighting type, a defender. For something along those lines and what you've said, you might be looking at a UNIT soldier or the like. Alternatively, we have Time Lord, future (Smoke), and modern (Stan), so you could round out the group with another alien or someone from the past.

Even if you don't pick a new PC yet, you could maybe play a helpful NPC in the next adventure. That has a lot of flexibility (they can die, have secrets, turn against us) or if you like them you could carry on with them.

I'm actually contemplating playing a human from the past. Could fit in as fighting type, but also fits in the "What's going on Doctor Traveller?" role as well. Sort of like a Jamie, but not quite so hot-headed.

Or another alien which has been largely ignored by modern series, but have to think on what one there.

If Trav wants to do the Parliament of Time soon, it might be an idea to hold off on the full PC replacement until after that, as I'll probably need to pick up Sereth for that one.

If you know that a Companion leaving is sad but necessary, that means they're a good companion.

Trav will be fine if Sereth leaves (hey, I've played her for years), but his absence will be keenly felt - a lot like a regeneration.

Breaking news!

Samuel L Jackson has confirmed he is leaving the role of Sereth on the popular science fiction show, Always Time to Travel.

"But watch my last serial. It's awesome!"

He would not be drawn on the idea of a guest starring role further down the line.

In a later episode: "Guest starring Samuel L Jackson as himself." :)


I love that we now have a Kang as a Hero of Draconia. :D These cross-overs between different parts of the series are fun.

Blake Lively was confirmed as being in tears on the set during the triumphant scene in the Draconian throne room.

When asked about Jackson taking on the role of the Doctor, Lively replied, "hell yeah. But then Sam would have to look a playing his own Companion. He'd of course kill it."

Rumours say that Peter Capaldi begged to be present to watch filming.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:08, Tue 17 May 2016.

Jackson has denied any interest in being the Doctor.

"Playing Sereth along the wonderful Blake Lively was all I could ask for. After all, it wasn't the Doctor who killed the last Dalek."

That's a huge compliment to both the imaginary actress and the player. Thanks Sereth!

Heh. We may disagree quite wildly about what makes for good Who on TV; but you're a good player.

I'm sure we'd have a lot of fun watching Who together, despite differences in what we love.

Trav's current hat. BUILD HIGH FOR HAPPINESS. Actual Blake Lively image from the 2016 season:




(irl, 2011 image of Blake ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:53, Tue 17 May 2016.

Looking back at the thread -

Taliro getting invited aboard the TARDIS for a visit, getting lost, and then getting whisked away to the end of time would be typical.

Also, Sweet Boy without a resident Draconian just doesn't feel right.