Hero Badly wounded in battle unsure of what to do next

[jeracoo]

Hi my Hero was just involved in a battle where he was wounded and thrown into a ditch unconscious while his entire party was slaughtered by a monster(monster is a main plot point, the monster can detect where the hero is normally at all times, it's curse related).

Now while unconscious in a ditch the character is found by a magic user that hides their life signs with a spell until the monster is gone. Everyone in town at this stage is dead.

Now I can't think of what to have happened next

I was thinking of maybe having a party of soldiers from one of the towns come and pick them up and take them for questioning maybe. Or maybe have the magic user heal his wounds and they go to one of the other towns.

Just kinda of stuck, I've got the conclusion done and the end part of the story just stuck here which is about a third of the way through. Part of the conclusion is that the hero escorts a prince from one warring nation to the next for a marriage.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[PaulineMRoss]

Hi my Hero was just involved in a battle where he was wounded and thrown into a ditch unconscious while his entire party was slaughtered by a monster[...]Everyone in town at this stage is dead.

Wow. Helluva monster. Pretty dramatic stuff.

Now I can't think of what to have happened next

How about looking at it another way: what would your *hero* do next? He presumably had a purpose in mind before getting involved in the battle - can he continue that purpose? Does he have a boss to report back to (although good luck with the 'everyone died except me' line)? Does he have a home base to head back to? Will he try to get together another party to replace the dead comrades? Or is he in 'to hell with all this' mode? Must be pretty upsetting to have everyone killed around you.

In other words, rather than trying to think up things to happen to him, have him make things happen. After all, you're well into the story, so he must have goals, motivations, desires. What does he want to do at this point?

 

[adampjr]

Wow. Helluva monster. Pretty dramatic stuff.



How about looking at it another way: what would your *hero* do next? He presumably had a purpose in mind before getting involved in the battle - can he continue that purpose? Does he have a boss to report back to (although good luck with the 'everyone died except me' line)? Does he have a home base to head back to? Will he try to get together another party to replace the dead comrades? Or is he in 'to hell with all this' mode? Must be pretty upsetting to have everyone killed around you.

In other words, rather than trying to think up things to happen to him, have him make things happen. After all, you're well into the story, so he must have goals, motivations, desires. What does he want to do at this point?

All of that, and, additionally, where do you need to have this hero go (or, how does the hero need to develop) between this point and the conclusion?
I would think that you should use this opportunity to make the conclusion be as strong as possible.

 

[jeracoo]

Thanks for that pauline, I just kept thinking ok what should happen to him now instead of what would he do or what does he plan on doing.

 

[ecdavis]

It seems to me that if the monster wiped everyone out but this one guy, and the MU found him nearly dead, the first order of business would be to get somewhere safe, perhaps the MUs place? Maybe the MU has something unusual that could turn the tide for the hero or remove (or neutralize temporarily) the curse? Your problem sounds like the sort of things that happen to me when I'm writing.

 

[wordwalker]

After an encounter like that, it seems like whatever the story does comes down to one of two types: a rematch, or understanding that he has to move on to deal with a larger problem or the source of the monster. Then, like Pauline said, how do the hero's needs push him toward that-- and other characters too, maybe someone blames him for the beast or tries to exploit the moment for his own nefarious plans...

If it's a rematch, is the hero so discouraged he needs an inspiration or someone else in danger to send him into the fray again? And/or, does he need a new weapon, ally, the monster's weakness, or something else that changes the odds? (Though it can be more fun if he doesn't get one, and has to win the fight his whole team lost before just because this time he has to.)

Or if the best way is to keep going, just convince the reader that stopping the war (or getting out to the thing behind the monster) is more important and/or more practical than fighting it again.

(Or there's the twist: next they learn the monster's been killed-- by someone who's an even greater threat, or by a friend who says he's no match for the real enemy.)

 

[jeracoo]

ooo i like that twist wordwalker