Wow! I didn't know a minor pitchiness could make the difference between getting taken down and not.
I do know :( I'm sorry but I'm glad it sounds like you two have an 'exit plan' instead of the character just ceasing to be. It's okay, Xerc. Sometimes really good stuff comes out of sad times. Al-Cid wouldn't be himself right now even without the spiders -- to much family crap going on and the accusations spawning from it -- so where he's usually the one playfully goading Xerc, he might need Xerc to do that for him in coming weeks. Role reversal!