A post with spoilers…don’t read if you haven’t listened episodes 51 and 52.

If you are reading this you know that Dres Shadowhand of the Kinohi Clan is dead. Losing this character will be hard for me but I have been preparing for it for months now. I was convinced nearly 20 episodes ago that my card had been pulled and ever since I have been more and more reckless with Dres. Or I should say, he was more and more reckless with himself. I always viewed the world through those golden dragon eyes and knowing Dres the way I do I was positive that death meant very little to him after the death of his family. But I want to clear up the dead dragon in the room. Killing Ichihatsu was not an easy decision to make. I could tell that this was something Mike was hoping Dres would do but I needed it to make sense for him if I was going to do it. Here are the things that made Dres kill a person he considered a father figure.

1. Dres did not want Tiamat to have a hold over the group any longer. If he was free from the bond with her the group was also free. Darius, in particular, was on Dres’ mind. He never admitted the truth to Darius about Tiamat and it always hurt Dres to keep that secret. He wanted his life of secrets to be left in his past and now that he had friends who valued him as a person he did not want to do wrong by them.
2. Dres totally thought the Overlord was going to call off his army. HOWEVER, David knew that mike said, “I will not attack.” As RP goes I made the decision that Dres would not have learned his lesson from the “wish” fiasco. While very perceptive Dres was not very wise.
3. The warrior in Dres was always a little bothered by Ichihatsu. While it was nice to have him save their asses Dres did not believe there was much honoring having someone come in and save the day. Dres killed on his own for years. He never used his gang as a means of attack, he did the attacking on his own. So in a way his pride made him push the knife.

All of this was on my Dres’ mind when he plunged the knife into the heart of Ichihatsu. If you listen to the podcast you can hear my voice tremble a bit as the act is being carried out. At the time the tears in my eye were not real. I was playing it up a bit and getting very in character. But now, when I listen back on it, I get genuinely choked up. Having a connection to a character is super important to me. I love joking around but more than anything I love role playing to create a more exciting world for myself and the people around me. Dres was a great character but far from my favorite. I think I related to him in a lot of ways but I never really admired him the way I have some of my other characters. I hope that you all get to see another side of me with my new character and I hope he lives up to your expectations. Long Live Dres. Friend, warrior, murderer.