Exchange Magic

This is here for historical interest only (and maybe to pad my word count a bit). This is the beat sheet I started from at the beginning of #NaNoWriMo, it's interesting to see where the plot diverged. There are parts of this original plot I might think about bringing back.

Act I

• Kaelyn and Daisy are working for Colm, working on developing healing cures for the small village in which they live. Kaelyn is a cheerful, happy person, who is quite lonely in this tight knit community, and needs help fitting in more.
• Daisy is patient, and less worried about rules and orders than Kaelyn. She is an excellent healer and an excellent friend. Daisy seems to fit into town naturally, effortlessly, even though she also just arrived here a year ago.
• Brant needs healing from an accident in his shop; Kaelyn arrives to find Daisy already there. Brant's eyes on Daisy make Kaelyn nervous.
• Ellis discusses joining the Priesthood with Kaelyn, suggesting that Nature Magic has its place, but it's a pale shadow of the actual power of Divine Magic. Ellis explains that true power comes only from the Divine.
• Daisy is kidnapped, and the town is at a loss to discover where she is or whodunnit.
• Kaelyn suspects Brant, but the town leaders are unconvinced.
• Kaelyn tries to convince herself that doing her job as a healer is the best work she can do for the town; they don't need her to try and be a hero, she can just follow instructions and others will do the big work.
• Mason talks to Kaelyn about Daisy, and it's clear that Mason is in love with Daisy.
• Kaelyn, who met Mason first, is a bit ruffled that he doesn't feel that way about her, and starts to see herself and Daisy through Mason's eyes. She realizes some of the things about Daisy that make her a better healer, and some of the things that Kaelyn is missing.
• Kaelyn has no tools, no weapons, just an ability to heal others and make protective charms. She thinks she knows where Daisy is, and the town seems to have given up on Daisy; suggesting that Kaelyn was HALF-Right; they all think that Daisy and Brant have eloped, and think it's a somewhat annoying but romantic story instead of a kidnapping.
• Kaelyn goes to Brant's boarding room and snoops around a bit. She finds an old book that suggests the power of demons can be truly unlocked by sacrificing a maiden. It's clear what Brant intends, and she suspects she knows where he intends to do it. Kaelyn is a healer, it is her job to protect and improve life. She can't sit around any longer. It's clear to her that nobody in town is going to take Daisy's kidnapping seriously.
• Kaelyn sees Daisy in a dream (an induced vision) in a cell, deep in a cave. She hears Brant talking in this dream, and sees that the day is coming, the time of the “awakening.” Daisy seems calm and unruffled, smiling slightly even in chains.
• Daisy looks up in the dream state and tells Kaelyn “my life is in your hands, and I know you'll do the right thing.” or similar. Kaelyn wakes up and decides she is going to do what is needed. Even if she doesn't understand the dream or how it came. Dream Magic isn't known.

Central Question

Will Kaelyn break out of her standard role and do what is needed, what is right, even if it isn't the “orderly” thing to do? Can she do what she needs regardless?

Act II

• Kaelyn goes to Colm and asks for help; and expresses her worries. Colm is a quiet and wise man and asks her to study what she thinks her vision means. Does Kaelyn just feel guilty for not being Daisy, or does she actually think Daisy is in trouble?
• Kaelyn finds more power in Divine and orderly magic, finds growing strength in herself. She has yet to accept that there is an inherent freedom in human behavior, and wants to follow the patterns and orders.
• Kaelyn finds a way into the cave where she suspects Daisy is being held
• The entrance is sealed by magic.
• Kaelyn finds a way to encourage nature to let her through; her spells are growing in power and she is growing in wisdom and capability
• Mason is inside the cave. He came here to save Daisy and isn't sure why Kaelyn isn't just staying in town like a good girl. He's been doing his own investigation.
• Kaelyn and Mason agree to work together to find Daisy
• Mason is attacked by a demonically possessed animal.
• Kaelyn is able to heal Mason and also banish the demon from the animal.
• Mason is injured and will have to go back, Kaelyn is on her own, no wizard with her, and Brant knows she's coming.
• Kaelyn goes back to town and asks Ellis for help, something she doesn't want to do, but is willing to do to save Daisy
• Ellis is quite disdainful of her “vision” and her “delusions of grandeur” in thinking she needs to be the one to save Daisy.
• Kaelyn goes home and is surprised when Ellis is outside her door when she's setting out again. His prayers were answered, he was asked to help her.
• Ellis is slow, meticulous, and not entirely willing to believe what is happening, even with his direct revelation. His faith is strong but he's untested in the real world and unable to conceive of changing.
• Kaelyn explains her understanding, and confesses her ignorance of how things work
• Ellis explains his view, the power of Divine Magic, the changes it has made in him.
• Brant threatens Daisy, insinuating the harm he can do to her without ruining her for the sacrifice. Kaelyn feels this event, without fully understanding it.
• Kaelyn understands something deeper; Daisy can't be permanently harmed by Brant, but Brant can be. She expresses this to Ellis who agrees, with reservations.
• Daisy is being brave but breaking. Kaelyn starts to wonder how she will actually accomplish her goal of saving her friend.
• Ellis admits that all good things must be good, there must be a reason for all powers beyond the Divine, and that they must be part of the overall plan. Kaelyn wonders if a plan is requisite for goodness.
• The Demon tightens its grip on Brant. Brant is slowly losing his mind, unable to handle ultimate chaos inside his soul. Kaelyn starts to feel the demon's influence around her.
• Kaelyn invents a spell to directly communicate with and possibly banish the demon. She succeeds in making contact
• The Demon floods the channel back to her mind, nearly incapacitating her, mocking her attempt, letting her know that he's here because he's been invited. Kaelyn is nearly destroyed, is weakened and is about to succumb.
• Ellis protects Kaelyn, removing the demon's influence from her.
• Ellis recommends they give up and go back; Daisy will be safe in heaven, But Brant is a lost cause in Ellis' book.
• Kaelyn stays in the cave, refusing to return when she knows they're close.
• The Demon starts broadcasting the feelings he's giving Brant, letting them know that Brant is all but broken, and that Daisy is not only in mortal danger but in moral danger, that Brant is exerting his influence on her as well, that she could easily be on their side, caprice bends both ways.
• Kaelyn finds that human will isn't all-wandering, but is free from Chaos and Order both, and must be so that humans can find their strength.
• Brant ties Kaelyn to the altar to sacrifice her.

Act III

• Kaelyn realizes she can do whatever needs done. Using Capricious magic she moves herself, Daisy, and Ellis outside of bonds, to the edge of the cave, where Ellis and Daisy can also be enabled to act.
• Brant grabs Kaelyn as she is helping Daisy and Ellis, the demon tells Brant to sacrifice Kaelyn, as any sacrifice will do.
• Kaelyn willingly offers to be a sacrifice, explaining that she chooses to be a sacrifice to SAVE Brant's soul, not lose it. She says that her death will be consecrated, not desecrated, and that if she has to lose her life to save Brant's she will. The demon seems confused, as does Ellis. Nobody is sure the rules work that way.
• Daisy smiles and laughs. “I wish I had thought of that...”
• Brant drops the knife, tears in his eyes. Kaelyn holds him and leads him to Ellis, and Ellis explains that Brant can turn from the dark and be fully healed. Daisy and Kaelyn use healing magic to reduce Brant's pain at the loss. The Demon attempts a final conflict, but is repelled by a light that surrounds the humans, pure and divine, and also somewhat human.