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I love Dorian this episode referring to Ishta as "clearly a threat." In the previous episode, his argument was that the sword was just a sword, a tool, an inert object that only has meaning if you give it one. Additionally, he advocated for Orym to keep the sword, which is certainly interesting in light of his opinion that it was a threat. But I also wonder exactly in what manner Dorian regarded the sword as a threat. Because it was explicitly noted as not being cursed, just having a dark history, and Dorian's own argument hinged on it being nothing more than object.

But, re: some of his character details revealed back in the EXU wrap-up, I wonder if it wasn't a reference to the sword as threat to the group dynamic. Dorian's sense of morality is notoriously insular to his group and this seems to still hold true. We saw it in 95--Dorian floated the idea of killing the Pumats in order to obtain all the magical items the party wanted in case they didn't have enough money to cover it legitimately. And in regards to circlet, he was intent that the party in EXU keep the item, not because he wanted to use it, but because he didn't trust anyone else to have it. But the specific detail from the EXU wrap-up I find most significant here is Dorian's plan regarding the crown, should it have proved to create undeniable, irreparable damage to the group dynamic: "I had ideas of what to do about [the crown] if it ever came between us, though. That's something that I'd been planning the whole time after I realized that was that, 'If this gets in the way of the group, how do I get rid of the crown?'" That singular "I" really stands out to me. Not, "how do we get rid of this as a group?" but how do I specifically, singularly, get rid of it to spare the group dynamic?

It all really falls in line with his character and the way he's previously reacted to powerful magical items. It's a powerful item that could be a threat, either magically or to the group. Who should have it? Orym, who clearly wants it a great deal and from whom taking it could cause damage to the group, and who also happens to be the person Dorian trusts the most. It's not actually cursed, so it's just an item and the meaning it has is only what we allow it to have. But it's still a threat because it could tear the party apart. I wonder if that old thought ever occurred to him ("if this gets in the way of the group, how do I get rid of it?") or if letting Orym keep the blade was, in fact, the thing he decided would cause the least group friction of all the options they had.

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Hello

How have you been?

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"Now I'm here with you"

Dorymspace has kept uncharacteristically calm about this. What's the matter?

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how we doin gang