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SerSpook posted:So if this counts as the third time he's going against Laird/the Benhaim family, and this is the third skirmish in the third battle, I wonder if winning the third round of this will multiply the significance of it all yet again? I actually wonder if he's lost the first two rounds, here. The resets may not count as losses for HIM..
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Apr 15, 2014 11:09
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Blakes goals are to get away from the police. He's been kept from doing so. I loved this chapter though. Is Blake in some sort of half ghost state where people can't see him?
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Apr 15, 2014 11:43
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Affi posted:I loved this chapter though. Is Blake in some sort of half ghost state where people can't see him? They can see him, but his presence is so weak nobody can really form connections to him and go "oh hey, there's a crazy prisoner bleeding out, I should go get a doctor". It's kind of like what Fell did in his first appearance; Blake and Rose could see him, but couldn't focus on him until they realized there was some fuckery going on. I wonder what's going to be reset. The familiar ritual definitely wouldn't if it completes, but I wonder if Dunc's power loss from lying or Blake losing half the blood in his body will stick. Or Rose getting fixed and empowered.
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Apr 15, 2014 11:52
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Probably all the damage and expended power will stay on both sides. Wonder if he will get a decent boost from Evan/winning against the Belhaims because his play against conquest and binding the abstract demon will probably suffer in his current state. Hmm maybe if he wins he gets the wound back time back to recover/prepare?
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Apr 15, 2014 15:35
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Based on the chapter released last night, I'd really like to get inside Rose's head for a POV eventually. Because in this chapter she came off as quite selfish and unlikeable -- "I'm worried about using to much of  " But we've only been getting Blake's perspective on this, so I'm hoping there's more to her character that we just haven't been privy to.
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Apr 15, 2014 17:22
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Fetucine posted:I wonder what's going to be reset. The familiar ritual definitely wouldn't if it completes, but I wonder if Dunc's power loss from lying or Blake losing half the blood in his body will stick. Or Rose getting fixed and empowered. What was the lie? I didn't catch it on another read-through.
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Apr 15, 2014 17:49
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blastron posted:What was the lie? I didn't catch it on another read-through. Blake brought it up, if Duncan can't stop him from escaping then he inadvertently lied.
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Apr 15, 2014 17:53
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Elyv posted:Blake brought it up, if Duncan can't stop him from escaping then he inadvertently lied. In fact, he broke an oath, which is apparently the worst kind of lying.
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Apr 15, 2014 17:58
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I doubt that counts as an oath. Being forsworn sounds like it only happens if you deliberately and somewhat solemnly said "I swear ...". Breaking a promise, like in this case, is worse than a lie, but it's still not something where you explicitly put the emphasis on that you would always/certainly do or not do something.
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Apr 15, 2014 18:28
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My prediction for Pact is that Blake will score enough of a victory against Duncan that he'll get to utilize some kind of time shenanigans to buy him some extra time to deal with the third demon. He just seems too weak and unprepared to deal with a powerful abstract demon by the end of the day otherwise, so I feel like something has to give him some more time to prepare if he's going to have a chance.
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Apr 15, 2014 18:34
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Leave it to a Canadian to invent a magic system where part of your power is determined by how polite you are, even to your enemies.
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Apr 15, 2014 18:44
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Pavlov posted:My prediction for Pact is that Blake will score enough of a victory against Duncan that he'll get to utilize some kind of time shenanigans to buy him some extra time to deal with the third demon. He just seems too weak and unprepared to deal with a powerful abstract demon by the end of the day otherwise, so I feel like something has to give him some more time to prepare if he's going to have a chance. To deal with a powerful abstract demon maybe it's a good thing to be weak as hell and almost dead.
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Apr 15, 2014 21:00
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Affi posted:To deal with a powerful abstract demon maybe it's a good thing to be weak as hell and almost dead. I'm not sure how useful making yourself exist less around a demon that wants to make you not exist at all would be. That seems like it would just speed up the process. I mean, I guess it could be useful if... Oh. Ohhhh. I wonder if the demon's not really removing things from existence as much as it is pushing them through the cracks to wherever it is Blake is right now. Even if that's not the case, the Knights mentioned that they think the girlfriend did fall through the cracks somewhere. If Blake can figure out how to do this again, he might be able to find her and ask her how the demon works.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:36
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Right now I feel like Blake won the first two rounds. The first round he successfully talked his way out. This didn't work out ultimately, because Duncan used up literal years upon years worth of power (I'm pretty sure) to stop him. The second time he actually got outside the building, which weakened Duncan because he had then lied. If we just count escaping as a win, then he did escape the second time around, he just wanted to go back. I'd count the first because, once again, he had gotten the legal system to release him.
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Apr 16, 2014 00:04
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Yeah, Blake isn't losing here, it's just that his opponent has enough power to force another round.
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Apr 16, 2014 00:21
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The way I see Duncan v Blake, it is 2:2 currently. Duncan getting Blake arrested is 1 for him, Blake getting out legally is one for him. Time loop is 1 for Duncan. Blake making it out of the building is 1 for him. Whoever wins the next one makes it count, but I think Blake is at an advantage if he finishes the binding with Evan since Duncan likely lost a lot of juice when Blake made him break his promise.
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Apr 16, 2014 03:38
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I think it's pretty important to note that this will be win number 3 versus the Behaims, and could cause drastic effects back in Jacobs Bell.
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Apr 16, 2014 04:26
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Victorkm posted:The way I see Duncan v Blake, it is 2:2 currently. Duncan getting Blake arrested is 1 for him, Blake getting out legally is one for him. Time loop is 1 for Duncan. Blake making it out of the building is 1 for him. Whoever wins the next one makes it count, but I think Blake is at an advantage if he finishes the binding with Evan since Duncan likely lost a lot of juice when Blake made him break his promise. The getting arrested part is just the opening of round 3 vs the Benhaims as a whole, is how I view it. Blake got free of that one time, then another time. The loop itself is just a reset button Duncan hits, not giving him a win so much as saying previous wins for the opponent didn't happen. At the cost of enormous power for him and his family. That's why Duncan and Blake are calling it round 3. And it's round 3 in the third skirmish of the battle against the Benhaim's as a whole. I think it's gonna have loads of importance. eta: Keep in mind that the terms of the battle is turning legal authorities on the target. Blake did it twice to Laird, this is his attempt to do it to him and gain the third and most important victory. I really feel like if Blake gets away something is going to happen that fucks Laird over legally, big time. SerSpook fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Apr 16, 2014 |
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Apr 16, 2014 05:03
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Fake edit: ^^^ that makes sense to me. still the duchamps and Dionysius to deal with though, to say nothing of conquest who must have plans for the three beings more than just "lol demons OP amirite?", right?NinjaDebugger posted:I actually wonder if he's lost the first two rounds, here. The resets may not count as losses for HIM.. One of the big takeaways I think is that symbolism matters and what folks think matters so if Blake and Duncan both think one of them lost/won then that's what happened. SerSpook posted:So if this counts as the third time he's going against Laird/the Benhaim family, and this is the third skirmish in the third battle, I wonder if winning the third round of this will multiply the significance of it all yet again? From arc 3 “I think it’s safe to say it’s two points. Another point in this department, and he’s earned three. A great deal more profound.” never says what it does though. Grundulum posted:Based on the chapter released last night, I'd really like to get inside Rose's head for a POV eventually. Because in this chapter she came off as quite selfish and unlikeable -- "I'm worried about using to much of Be fair to her though, she just got knocked the gently caress out for two days, she's not a real person and Blake just sort of does what he wants whether or not she thinks it's a good idea. Dietrich posted:Leave it to a Canadian to invent a magic system where part of your power is determined by how polite you are, even to your enemies.  my speculation is that Blake gets a ninja familiar, and the third demon is dealt with almost entirely by Rose who shows us why Thorburns are such badass diabolists that everyone goes crazy trying to stop/kill/control them. And then that sets up tension between Blake who wants to do good and rose who is like a vestige version of grandma, morality-wise.
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Apr 16, 2014 16:27
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So. This isn't only a loss for Duncan, but a loss for Laird since it--for a third time--casts a legal shadow upon his name. Considering the nature of everything, I'd guess the impact is a hit to Laird's personal power and him losing his position as police chief in Jacob's Bell due to a scandal? edit: Also Blake was mainly using wind runes when he did his whole "spill a gently caress ton of blood" thing, and Evan, so wind spirits and Evan are the two things I'd expect to see moving their way into him. Unless the radiation from Pauz does it instead, since that was what he used the power to counteract. SerSpook fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Apr 17, 2014 |
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Apr 17, 2014 05:29
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I was right! Kind of. He's got a magic time keychain now so he should at least be able to buy himself the time to rest and recuperate. I'm not exactly sure how he's going to control it though.
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Apr 17, 2014 05:44
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I like that this update ends with some good stuff happening for Blake and Co. and no steps back at all. It certainly does seem to be that Laird and Duncan are in for some poo poo.
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Apr 17, 2014 10:03
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Fellwenner posted:I like that this update ends with some good stuff happening for Blake and Co. and no steps back at all. It certainly does seem to be that Laird and Duncan are in for some poo poo. There are absolutely some drawbacks, they just happen to be ones he willingly accepted and knows going in. Assuming there are no hidden ones, anyway.
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Apr 17, 2014 12:02
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Yeah, I'm talking about the obvious gently caress-you's after everything seemingly goes well.
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Apr 17, 2014 12:20
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Fellwenner posted:Yeah, I'm talking about the obvious gently caress-you's after everything seemingly goes well. Well, third time's the charm and all. Don't worry, there is still plenty of time for this chapter to go Wildbow.
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Apr 17, 2014 14:16
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Jesus. I've never read Worm, but I just binged through Pact and.. woah. The poor guy is going through a giant grueling roller-coaster of blood and pain and death for what has to have been weeks and he gets practically zero time to even just stop and take a breather. And every time he overcomes something, there's just something bigger waiting RIGHT THERE with no time to even get his bearings straight half the time. And despite all the positive speculation I have a feeling that winning that game/getting a familiar did not really exactly 'recharge his batteries' so much, and now he has to go deal with the abstract demon, and THEN deal with Conquest with the Hyena and AND a loose pauz on top of whatever consequences that he will no doubt have for dealing with the erasure demon, and then he's practically where he started off before he went to Toronto in the first place, albeit with a familiar and a trinket at least. However, it isn't his implement so who knows if he can use that and the familiar is not exactly.. high powered. I predict lots more unending misery. This is a ridiculously good book though. I guess the unrelenting pace is a consequence of the serial format wherein there isn't multiple books in a series released over a couple years, with a beginning, middle, and end in each book that leads to at least some sort of small resolution between books. I would really like to see Laird and his family to get their poo poo kicked in though, good god they're becoming insufferable. Wolpertinger fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 00:33
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Worm actually split into "books" quite naturally as it went along, so that may happen again with Pact, I think the first Worm "book" ended around arc 9, but the chapters were shorter there.
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Apr 18, 2014 00:54
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Nettle Soup posted:Worm actually split into "books" quite naturally as it went along, so that may happen again with Pact, I think the first Worm "book" ended around arc 9, but the chapters were shorter there. This begs the question of how many books Worm was, if this is a small fraction of a single book. 
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Apr 18, 2014 01:17
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Nettle Soup posted:Worm actually split into "books" quite naturally as it went along, so that may happen again with Pact, I think the first Worm "book" ended around arc 9, but the chapters were shorter there. My opinion is that the first Worm book ended with Leviathan and arc 8. For the person who hasn't read Worm, it is just ridiculously good.
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Apr 18, 2014 01:18
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I am super worried about Blake because he promised the police chief he would be back first thing tomorrow. Well what if that's not the first thing he does tomorrow? What if his other problems prevent him from getting to the station at all? I feel like I'm missing something since he promised it so easily.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:04
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How do you define 'first thing'?
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Apr 18, 2014 02:25
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Wolpertinger posted:This begs the question of how many books Worm was, if this is a small fraction of a single book. I've heard mention Worm was something around 2.6 million words by the end, which is around five 1000 page novels. Think the entire Game of Thrones novels (so far), or half the Malazan series... And to echo, Worm is good enough that I'm on my 3rd re-read of it. I keep picking up on tiny things that I missed out on before, which are funny when you know what's up.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:43
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Think it's only like 1.75 million.
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Apr 18, 2014 05:51
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Grundulum posted:I happen to have an exact count because I compiled all the chapters into a single multiple-MB epub file for offline browsing. It's just north of 1.6 million words. Longer than the first five Wheel of Time books together. Quote from earlier in the thread.  I think this chapter of Pact was the first real feel good chapter so far. It's the first time I've actually thought, "Well, that probably could have gone worse!" I'm glad he picked up Evan! Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 14:28
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7c Nickel posted:Think it's only like 1.75 million. What's a million words between friends. Either way, it's an insane amount of writing to turn out in a few years. I really hope Wildbow gets a good editor and starts to sell his writing as actual books.
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Apr 18, 2014 15:11
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Kalas posted:What's a million words between friends. He should probably talk with Hugh Howey, who self published the Wool series.
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Apr 18, 2014 20:46
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gently caress's sake, I think I might start reading Pact tonight. Goodbye, weekend.
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Apr 18, 2014 20:54
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I just got into Pact after reading through about 3/4 of Worm and letting it go(I liked it a lot, it's just that the idea of picking it back up an re-familiarizing myself with it is exhausting). I'm excited to see Wildbow repeating the narrative choice of using the "traditional villain" as the protagonist and POV character as he did in Worm. He's so good at portraying friendly sheriffs and super heroes as gigantic dicks.
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Apr 18, 2014 21:27
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Life continues to be hell in The Solstice War. I really want to find out why the KVW is so... I don't know if there's a single word that describes them. They're basically a military commander's wet dream in terms of personnel though. I wonder how much the inversion of the traditional western moral/ethical depictions of communism and capitalism tends to turn folks off?
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Apr 18, 2014 21:41
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Tollymain posted:I wonder how much the inversion of the traditional western moral/ethical depictions of communism and capitalism tends to turn folks off? Judging by that sentence I'm guessing a lot. What are you talking about anyway?
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