While I've been working on the summary for Llyn's Tribulations, there's a issue I thought I'd need to bring up.
In part 1, in the scene where Murikeer and Llyn talk, Llyn thinks about "the motivations of the raccoon she had nearly slaughtered four days past". So, 4 days after Dangerous Games, which takes place 1 day after Actions and Reactions, which takes place 2 days after the Stepping Rock raid that Killing Time mentioned was in late August.
So far so good. It wouldn't be "Late September" as the heading says, but it could pass as "Mid September".
In part 3, the scene where Rickkter and Muri meet with Thomas takes place three days after Rickkter first learns about the victims in part 1. It's also said in part 1 that attacks have happened over the past five days. Finally, in part 6, when the spell is broken, the first victim is told he's been out for two weeks.
So far, it's a consistent timeline. If Stepping Rock is Day 0, then Llyn and Muri arrive at the Keep on Day 1, victim #1 is stabbed on Day 2, Kan is stabbed and Rick finds out on Day 7, and Rick meets with Thomas on Day 10. The guards are put on an increased alert, and the spell is broken "two weeks" after Day 2, anywhere from the night of Day 10 to Day 22. (I've come to be very generous, when it comes to characters talking in weeks or months instead of an exact number of days :)
Now the clincher. When the spell is broken, he is also told the day is October 8th. An impossibility — there's no way this date could happen even 22 days after August.
However, there is one "out" I found while reading — the scene with Murikeer and Llyn is not explicitly the same day as when Rick finds Kan's body. No mention is made in the second half of part 1 of the investigation or the victims. They could take place in two separate times. This means the latter half of part 1 would happen no later than September 7th (7 days after the last day of August), and the first half could happen no earlier than September 24th (15 days before October 8th).
There's other supports for a timeline gap: Fakoffal appears at the start of part 1. He refers back to a scene in the Jolly Collie in Daylight Fading where he appeared, which takes place at least a few days after Apologies (Day 4) — therefore, Daylight Fading is on or after Day 6. It's said that Fakoffal has been at the Thirsty Scholar for 3 days, with no other tavern offering them a stay. There is also a mention in part 2 that it's been almost a fortnight since Rickkter and Kayla spent more than dinner together, and "Daylight Fading" is definitely more than dinner. ;)
But I'd rather not say a whole section happens in flashback if that was not the intent.
IMO, there's an even better solution, if Ryx agrees to it, which is to change Llyn's reference from "four days past" to "three weeks past", resolving the timeline gap by completely separating "Dangerous Games" from "Llyn's Tribulations". Then (setting Day 0 to August 30th) "Dangerous Games" happens on September 3rd, victim #1 is stabbed on September 19th, Kan is stabbed on September 24th, Duke Thomas is informed on September 27th, and the spell is broken on October 8th. (And also change Llyn's rescue from "two months past" to "three months past").
Now, I could also suggest the date October 8th be moved back a bit to October 3rd, so that:
- per the 706 calendar, it's 15 days after September 19th and on a Saturday, more believable to call "two weeks" than the 20 days hard maximum;
- it gives more space between Llyn's courtroom appearance 3 days later (the chapel is said to still be in ruins for the purposes of investigation), and Liturgy of Blood (the Patriarch arrives on October 11th, per the Dream's Aria stories, and tours the chapel on that day);
- and so that Llyn is still in prison on October 27th for Getting Away from the Party (if you remember "Liturgy of Blood", you'll see another issue here — but that's another subthread).
But that is up to Ryx.
Any opinions or other solutions?
