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Okay, I’ll go first. 
I have a new favorite character. 
Daruk the Bard!  If I ever play a
bard in D&D again, I will name him Daruk. 
I loved it when the caravan was attacked and Daruk didn’t participate in
the defense.  When later asked about it,
Daruk said something about the battle not being worthy of song, and that was
his reason for not fighting.  Classic!

Although the story is moving a little slower in this section
of the book, I’m enjoying the trip to Faerun. 
I think Jaleigh did a nice job describing Ashok’s first time leaving the
Shadowfell.  I’m excited to see what
happens next as Ashok and Ilvani’s relationship seems to develop in a
mysterious way.  

"I'll also be interested to see how the other faiths that the party may encounter in Rashemen affect the way Ashok and the others feel about the gods moving forward."

As regards this, dadocollin, one thing that I tried to do with Darker Road (and this carries over from the first book, but it also gets enhanced by the Rashemen connection) was play with the idea of an inner world and an outer world, the everyday, "real" realm and the spirit realm, and how these are reflected in the characters and the setting.

Thinking of that, I should tell the snow rabbit story.  It's more a writing process story (is everyone getting tired of those or do you still want to hear them?) than anything, and an example I can refer to when asked "where do your ideas come from?"

Ilvani's nickname for the woman in her dreams came as I was writing the first draft and thinking about spirits and spirit animals, and how perceptions might change in the inner world and the dream world.  I wanted an animal to represent the woman, an animal that was resourceful yet vulnerable.

So, I was writing Darker Road over the summer, and in June especially I was very busy and had to get a lot of writing done in a day.  At the same time, I was restless and wanting to be outside, so when I'd get home from work, I'd go out back to the deck and sit in the shade and write for an hour before my husband got home.  

Our house sits right at the edge of a farm field, but there's a strip of land in front of it that's grown wild, so we have a plethora of insects, birds, and different size critters that venture out of there into the yard.  This particular summer, it was rabbits.  Not just one or two, either, but usually a family of five, several of them young and small.  The rabbits I'd encountered in the past were pretty skittish, but this particular family was different.  I'd be sitting on the deck with my feet in the grass, while they hopped all around me in the yard, eating the clover that was growing in patches around me.  They had no fear, and didn't even seem to notice me, even when I'd move to stretch or make a noise.

Finally, one evening, the smallest rabbit, evidently spying a particularly tempting patch of clover near the deck, darted right toward me--probably without realizing I was so close.  I saw him in my peripheral vision, about two and a half feet away.  I looked up from the computer at about the same time he saw me, and we both froze.  It was pretty comical at first, until I realized how terrified the rabbit must have been.  He didn't run away but stretched out his body and pressed it flat against the ground, trying to make himself as small as possible.  He stayed like that for a long time.  I didn't move, not wanting to scare him more, and finally, he darted away--probably to get scolded by his mother.  

I kept that image in my head, and so when Ilvani first sees the snow rabbit in her dreams, it does the same thing that little brown rabbit did in my backyard.

Aug 28, 2011 -- 5:39PM, dadocollin wrote:

I like how Ashok and crew have left Ikemmu and ventured out into the surface world of Faerun. The new characters introduced as part of the caravan are adding some fresh life to the story and (I think) letting it move in a new direction to make this book start to feel like its own story.

Of those characters, Daruk seems like he's going to make the most impact.  I also thought his whole portrayal (not fighting, baiting Skagi, etc.) was great, and I think he's doing what bards usually do in a D&D party - annoy the hell out of everyone!  Although he has this traditional cocky bard attitude, he seems darker and different, so I'm intrigued to see how he affects the rest of the story.

I also like the way that Ashok and Ilvani's relationship is slowly developing.  I think they're both so scarred that's it's going to take a few books to get through all the walls they have up, but I think of all the women in Ashok's life, she's the one for him.

I'll also be interested to see how the other faiths that the party may encounter in Rashemen affect the way Ashok and the others feel about the gods moving forward.  I found it interesting that Daruk says quite bluntly that Ikemmu is headed for civil war within a generation over their religious differences.  I don't think he's probably that far off. 

So Dado, you're thinking a romantic relationship between Ashok and Ilvani?  I hadn't thought about that.  Hmmmm...