Hi folks Haven't been on in a while - partner had a baby so I've been busy. I wanted to get people's opinion on a very specific plot point that I'm not sure about. This is for my fantasy novel and its about a character introduction. So I have one of my main characters fight off a bandit attack and subsequently discover their hideout and kill the guard. Inside he meets another of my main character bound and manacled. This character is a magic user and the intent for the character is that he is part of a guild of magic users at the entry level as it were. I want to include a little of his back story but I'm not sure how he came to be in that situation. These are the options I have been toying with: a) he is captured while travelling alone to join the guild with a writ from a previous master b) he is already a member and was captured on an assignment Which one of these makes the most sense? or is there an alternative? I realise this is very specific and I've tried to include as much information while being brief. I've just been flip flopping between the two and neither really sits all that well so I am hoping someone out there can help
Honestly I don't think there's too much of a difference between those options - it's just a matter of whether you want this guy to be somewhat experienced already or not. My thought is why would he have been captured at all, rather than killed? Why is he worth more to the bandits alive? Maybe there's an interesting solution in there.
He's from an aristocratic family so he was going to be ransomed. I do want him to be somewhat experienced but if he's already a member and he absconds to follow his rescuer around the guild would be looking for him. Actually that has given me an idea for a plot point later on. That was really helpful. Thanks @izzybot
It was known he would travel to the guild to start his education there and the bandits used the opportunity to intercept the small group (aristocrat would probably travel with an entourage), killed the rest and captured the guy for ransom. The other guy finds hints of the massacre and goes to investigate?
Actually I've settled on him being captured on assignment from the guild and them ransoming him back. He then makes a life pledge to his rescuers (his motivation for joining the group) and fails to report to the guild. I will use this as a trigger for a separate story arc for this character later on - returns to the guild to be disciplined only to be let off because of his aristocratic background thus gaining the animosity of his colleagues and so adventures ensue.
