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Affi
Dec 18, 2005

Break bread wit the enemy

X GON GIVE IT TO YA
Maybe Blake's apartment counts as property that can be given away?

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Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

He's renting so I doubt it. That was a pretty interesting chapter. First real deal with a devil and everything!

Affi
Dec 18, 2005

Break bread wit the enemy

X GON GIVE IT TO YA
Then it is likely just a test, he wouldn't do anything to risk his deal.

Putting money on Pauz being Blake's eventual familiar.

pumpinglemma
Apr 28, 2009

DD: Fondly regard abomination.

Affi posted:

Then it is likely just a test, he wouldn't do anything to risk his deal.

Putting money on Pauz being Blake's eventual familiar.

Nope, Blake's not that crazy.

Tollymain
Jul 9, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Not yet :getin:

Pavlov
Oct 21, 2012

I've long been fascinated with how the alt-right develops elaborate and obscure dog whistles to try to communicate their meaning without having to say it out loud
Stepan Andreyevich Bandera being the most prominent example of that

Affi posted:

Putting money on Pauz being Blake's eventual familiar.

If Blake's going to get a demonic familiar, he might as well try for a good one instead. Pauz's only power seems to be making things lovely. Why would Blake want constant shittyness following him around all the time?

Fellwenner
Oct 21, 2005
Don't make me kill you.

Any thoughts on what Pauz was referring to concerning Rose?

Captain Greed
Mar 12, 2010
I did a terrible thing today, and introduced Brandon Sanderson to Worm/Wildbow at a book signing.

Fellwenner
Oct 21, 2005
Don't make me kill you.

NM

Fellwenner fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Mar 21, 2014

RC Cola
Aug 1, 2011

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Captain Greed posted:

I did a terrible thing today, and introduced Brandon Sanderson to Worm/Wildbow at a book signing.

You fool

Affi
Dec 18, 2005

Break bread wit the enemy

X GON GIVE IT TO YA

Pavlov posted:

If Blake's going to get a demonic familiar, he might as well try for a good one instead. Pauz's only power seems to be making things lovely. Why would Blake want constant shittyness following him around all the time?


I would think Pauz is actually a pretty powerful Imp given what he's doing. And imps are traditional familiars in many ways.

Blasphemeral
Jul 26, 2012

Three mongrel men in exchange for a party member? I found that one in the Faustian Bargain Bin.

Fetucine posted:

Well I think a big part of it is that this thread started when Worm was hitting the climax. The last few arcs were completely loving crazy and had a lot of room for speculation and talking about things. When Pact's in arc 25 or whatever there'll probably be a lot more chatter. (Has Wildbow mentioned how long Pact is supposed to be?)
I think it's a combination of that and the fact that there's no rabbit holes deep enough yet for people to fall down. The more deep plot points there are to think on, the more theories and heated discussion there is likely to be. People will be more invested the further along it gets, too.


Fetucine posted:

What is Pauz getting out of his trick at the end of the latest chapter? If he kills Blake, he loses his easiest shot at Conquest. Though, if Blake dies there, Conquest might have to send somebody else to deal with the situation, and they could retrieve the book, which could get Pauz close to Conquest without the Thorburns interfering. Or maybe it's just his nature to gently caress people over. I think a definite answer on that would be pretty enlightening on the mindset of demons in general and Pauz specifically.

I don't think he expects Blake to die here. I think he expects him to be seriously injured, perhaps incapacitated, to the point of it being difficult for him to follow through on the deal. Maybe infecting him with rabies or something worse (spiritual, even?)

Victorkm
Nov 25, 2001

IMO Blake should make Rose his familiar. She would grant him power and he would grant her permanence/mortality.

Blasphemeral
Jul 26, 2012

Three mongrel men in exchange for a party member? I found that one in the Faustian Bargain Bin.

Victorkm posted:

IMO Blake should make Rose his familiar. She would grant him power and he would grant her permanence/mortality.

This has been brought up before--
She doesn't have power to grant him. She's living off of his own personal power, draining him when she needs to recouperate. She would be an incredibly poor choice, unless this is cleared up somehow in the story.

Piell
Sep 3, 2006

Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer


Young Orc
Rose should make Blake her familiar

thespaceinvader
Mar 30, 2011

The slightest touch from a Gol-Shogeg will result in Instant Death!
That one's also been brought up before, and is a much better idea.

Fetucine
Oct 29, 2011
Blake joins Taylor in the great tradition of protagonists getting beaten the gently caress up :patriot:

I wonder if Rose and Paige having very similar voices is important beyond stressing how tired Blake is. Maybe gramma Thorburn borrowed some of Paige to make Rose?

Fell, latest chapter posted:

My brother died at the hands of goblins, trying to save a small town.

Maybe he was the practitioner from Maggie's interlude?

Fell's family's deal in general is pretty :gonk:

Pavlov
Oct 21, 2012

I've long been fascinated with how the alt-right develops elaborate and obscure dog whistles to try to communicate their meaning without having to say it out loud
Stepan Andreyevich Bandera being the most prominent example of that

Fetucine posted:

Maybe he was the practitioner from Maggie's interlude?

Fell's family's deal in general is pretty :gonk:


That's what I immediately thought. It's little connections like that which are some of my favorite things to see in stories.

TheRagamuffin
Aug 31, 2008

In Paradox Space, when you cross the line, your nuts are mine.
I have a feeling that we're headed for an interlude this weekend.

Hugoon Chavez
Nov 4, 2011

THUNDERDOME LOSER

Fetucine posted:


I wonder if Rose and Paige having very similar voices is important beyond stressing how tired Blake is. Maybe gramma Thorburn borrowed some of Paige to make Rose?


Maybe he was the practitioner from Maggie's interlude?

Fell's family's deal in general is pretty :gonk:


I hadn't even considered this but it seems pretty probable!

Captain Greed posted:

I did a terrible thing today, and introduced Brandon Sanderson to Worm/Wildbow at a book signing.

Hopefully Sanderson likes it and somehow gives Wildbow a little publicity. I discovered Brent Weeks thanks to him and I'm sure I'm not the only one!

edit: I think Wildbow is a pretty cool writer but the dude needs some PR lessons bad. He doesn't even have a twitter and I only found out about Worm due to SA. I think a bit of promotion would go a long way, since Worm is super easy to get into and get sucked in. Just need to bring people to it.

Hugoon Chavez fucked around with this message at 13:38 on Mar 27, 2014

Dietrich
Sep 11, 2001

Hugoon Chavez posted:

I hadn't even considered this but it seems pretty probable!


Hopefully Sanderson likes it and somehow gives Wildbow a little publicity. I discovered Brent Weeks thanks to him and I'm sure I'm not the only one!

edit: I think Wildbow is a pretty cool writer but the dude needs some PR lessons bad. He doesn't even have a twitter and I only found out about Worm due to SA. I think a bit of promotion would go a long way, since Worm is super easy to get into and get sucked in. Just need to bring people to it.

I think wildbow has imposter syndrome in a bad way.

Tollymain
Jul 9, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Collateral 4.10 posted:

“I look back at the places we were investigating,” Shotgun said, “And they were big. A factory? An old farmstead? Far too big for our sad little group. Too big for a group twice our size.”
---
The guy sitting under the window spoke, “It eats away at you. Wondering what we had, before it was taken away as thoroughly as something can be taken."
---
“That thing in the factory hosed us up so bad we can never even fathom what it did to us,” he said, his voice low. I could see him glancing over at his son, at the other end of the room, as if verifying the guy was out of earshot. “I think we had actual lives before.”

This is legitimately terrifying. Wildbow is unreasonably good at this.

NinjaDebugger
Apr 22, 2008


Tollymain posted:

This is legitimately terrifying. Wildbow is unreasonably good at this.

He really is.

Also, the meeting with the knights, and some of the earlier events, makes me wonder if maybe the meeting with the knights, and this binding, are actually going better than they would if Rose was there. Like maybe in spite of what everybody else thinks, the Thorburn karma is -actually- on Rose's head, not Blake's, and things mainly go badly for him because Rose is usually present.

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Now that is an interesting thought.

Tollymain
Jul 9, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

NinjaDebugger posted:

He really is.

Also, the meeting with the knights, and some of the earlier events, makes me wonder if maybe the meeting with the knights, and this binding, are actually going better than they would if Rose was there. Like maybe in spite of what everybody else thinks, the Thorburn karma is -actually- on Rose's head, not Blake's, and things mainly go badly for him because Rose is usually present.

I don't know, I wouldn't say Pauz's binding worked out particularly better than any of his other endeavors so far.

thespaceinvader
Mar 30, 2011

The slightest touch from a Gol-Shogeg will result in Instant Death!
It *could have gone worse*.

Tollymain
Jul 9, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

thespaceinvader posted:

It *could have gone worse*.

See also: poking around in the Barber's room, sneaking into the Behaim/Duchamp gathering, etc etc.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


They have brought up that to the Others it's Rose that's the heir, not Blake.

Tax Inductions
Jul 9, 2007

I carry refreshments to the good guys
I made the good guys some home fries
New update is up! I definitely hope blake binds some of these ghosts to add to his arsenal.

Lyon
Apr 17, 2003
Pact is getting pretty good now that we're into some interesting action. Often times I feel like Wildbow's characters sort of "win" too easily for the situations s/he puts them in but it is still really entertaining.

Blake appears to be a "natural" (if he doesn't wind up being a genius) practitioner. He has made some seemingly pretty complex glamour manipulations, negotiates/binds others, etc without really much in the way of knowledge. I hope once these three quests finish be completes one of the next rituals, I think he has to complete one soon based on the timeline that was left by his grandmother?

Do you think it will be familiar or implement? Demesne I imagine will be last as he will want to perform that back in Jacob's Bell.

Neurosis
Jun 10, 2003
Fallen Rib

Captain Greed posted:

I did a terrible thing today, and introduced Brandon Sanderson to Worm/Wildbow at a book signing.

Sanderson would have a constant erection reading the system building in either.

Hugoon Chavez
Nov 4, 2011

THUNDERDOME LOSER
I hope he keeps Evan.

Yes, like a puppy.

Neurosis
Jun 10, 2003
Fallen Rib

Lyon posted:

Pact is getting pretty good now that we're into some interesting action. Often times I feel like Wildbow's characters sort of "win" too easily for the situations s/he puts them in but it is still really entertaining.

Many times I thought Taylor should've become a fine red paste in Worm but it's always like that with superhero stories not involving the superhumanly durable. Not far enough into Pact to comment.

Hugoon Chavez
Nov 4, 2011

THUNDERDOME LOSER
The problem is that Wildbow is great writting horrible situations were everything is loving lost, but then he's a bit weaker creating a believable way for characters to deal with said horrible situations.

In Worm it was a lot less noticeable because the genre lends itself to some Deux ex machina, but it's a bit more obvious in Pact. Nothing yet has been truly unbelievable, but this arc has really pushed it so far.

Lyon posted:

Blake appears to be a "natural" (if he doesn't wind up being a genius) practitioner. He has made some seemingly pretty complex glamour manipulations, negotiates/binds others, etc without really much in the way of knowledge.

Yeah, either that or Rose is providing much more than anyone suspects, but since the last arc has been Blake flying solo, I guess it's all him.

7c Nickel
Apr 27, 2008
Bonus Thursday update.

:edit:

After reading, let me reference my earlier post.

7c Nickel posted:

gently caress Wildbow and his loving cliffhangers.

7c Nickel fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Apr 3, 2014

Tollymain
Jul 9, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Karma finds a way I guess :negative:

Hugoon Chavez
Nov 4, 2011

THUNDERDOME LOSER
Something else must be going on, Karma is a bitch and all that but, come on, after a year and then some, they find Evan now, RIGHT as Blake finds him!? . If it's really Karma then, loving hell, the effect on him is a lot stronger than I first imagined.

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Evan also seems kind of weak for a familiar. I mean compare him to the Troll or the Fae the various Duchamps have and whatever time spirit Laird keeps. I guess beggars cant be choosers and i'm sure Wildbow will be creative with uses of power as always.

Lyon
Apr 17, 2003

Saros posted:

Evan also seems kind of weak for a familiar. I mean compare him to the Troll or the Fae the various Duchamps have and whatever time spirit Laird keeps. I guess beggars cant be choosers and i'm sure Wildbow will be creative with uses of power as always.

In that one interlude one of the characters literally had an ancient god as her familiar. Wildbow is very good at making use of seemingly weak powers as evidenced by Worm but... I was hoping for something a little more oomph.

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SerSpook
Feb 13, 2012




Keep in mind Evan isn't a normal ghost. He was never "collected" so to speak, so he's pretty much all there.

I feel like he's a familiar that could be developed into something truly special, but wouldn't necessarily start strong.

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