: "The King has sent word to Twelve Motion Jeweled
: Skull, a Journeyman who served under him during his
: campaigns east of the Cloudspine, in hopes that he has
: some knowledge of what became of The Deceiver after
: Balor's destruction."
: --Myth II journal entry, "Through the Ermine."
I'm guessing that all that this means is that, though Alric is aware that the Deceiver was defeated, and probably knew he had been bested somewhere in the Stair of Grief. However, this much knowledge wouldn't be enough to find the D. Not that Alric cared up until this point--there was no reason to find him.
: "Twelve Motion Jeweled Skull says he was last here
: [at the Stair of Grief] sixty years ago, fighting
: alongside the likes of Durak and Turgeis with Burning
: Steel. They caught The Deceiver and the remnants of
: his army in this very defile and here destroyed
: them."
: --Myth II journal entry, "The Stair of Grief."
: Is it just me or do these contradict each other (or
: present a completely ludicrous image?) It is evidently
: common belief that the Deceiver disappeared after
: Seven Gates and was never seen again. Alric himself
: didn't know what became of him. Yet a Journeyman, and
: one of Alric's friends at that, was there when a large
: army defeated him in the mopping-up phase of the Great
: War!
So I guess my answer to this is that Alric wasn't present when the D was vanquished, and didn't ask around about what ultimately happened to the body. Only those present at the D's defeat saw him plunge into the Dramus.
:Even assuming this army was not led by Alric
: (which is dubious), are they asking us to believe that
: nobody bothered to tell Alric about it?! Furthermore,
: Alric just *happened* to guess that Twelve Motion
: Jeweled Skull *might* know something about where the
: Deceiver is? I'm not even going to start about how
: utterly stupid it was not to make sure that one of the
: West's most powerful and resilient enemies was dead
: (or for that matter, to finish him off,) when (Myth II
: asks us to believe) all it would have taken was a
: couple of days of searching up in the Stair of Grief.
Why are you so incredulous that an army could exist without the leadership of Alric? Clearly, he was busy, or had been, about the time that the D was defeated.
As for why no one told Alric exactly what happened, that is unusual...but more likely a mixup by the story writers than anything else.
Also, Alric probably didn't just "happen" to know. I'm sure he was aware of who was leading this expedition against the Deceiver--Twelve Motion Jeweled Skull was probably one of the commanders of this army, so Alric thought to consult with him.
As for why he wasn't finished off, that's another good question...I guess Alric (rightfully) suspected the D couldn't be rescued unless someone of the Light took it upon himself to revive the Fallen Lord. Actually killing him, also, would be a treacherous quest--it would mean going up mountains so cold they killed (mentioned, I believe, in the Stair of Grief pre-game text). Alric may also have guessed that the warlocks would be guarding the Deceiver, and didn't want to have to fight them, or incur their wrath.
: There's more, however...
: "I asked Twelve Motion why King Alric believes The
: Deceiver will throw in with our lot. He explained how
: The Deceiver has been frozen in a half-death beneath
: the river, clinging to life through sorcery alone,
: with no power left to free himself. The King believes
: that if we were to revive him and return the scepter,
: the focus of his power, he would no doubt join our
: cause."
: --Myth II journal entry, "The Stair of Grief"
: This journal entry implies amazing cognitive powers from
: both Alric and Twelve Motion Jeweled Skull. Suddenly
: Twelve Motion knows exactly what happened to the
: Deceiver, that he has been frozen half-alive in the
: river. Alric seems suddenly to know that the Deceiver
: has been separated from his sceptre. Alric, who hadn't
: the foggiest clue of what became of the Deceiver after
: Seven Gates, now has an excellent idea of what
: happened to him--without hearing from Twelve Motion in
: any way!
Twelve Motion has clearly known for sixty years what happened--he didn't find out "all of a sudden." Also, how do you know that he and Alric didn't correspond in between "The Stair of Grief" and "Through the Ermine"? If not by runner, some sort of magical communication would be possible.
