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Remora posted:Hey, quick Pact question - how long does it take to get good? I tried reading the first few chapters awhile ago and now I'm gonna give it another go, but I'd like to know how long of a slog I'm in for. It starts to kick in (For me anyway) at 1.06
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Sep 22, 2014 00:28
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Remora posted:Hey, quick Pact question - how long does it take to get good? I tried reading the first few chapters awhile ago and now I'm gonna give it another go, but I'd like to know how long of a slog I'm in for. The first time I tried to pick it up I got bored after a couple chapters. The second time I put more effort into it and now I read every update as it comes out. I'd say it took me 2-3 arcs to really get interested in the story. Worm was pretty slow in the beginning as well.
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Sep 22, 2014 01:34
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Love the new chapter, but it felt short.  We are seeing some classic Wildbow frying pan/fryer situations develop. 
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Sep 23, 2014 09:02
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hollylolly posted:Love the new chapter, but it felt short. The last few have felt short, I feel. As much as I asked for some meaningful downtime, I feel like actual character building interactions with the team aren't really happening despite the limited action.
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Sep 23, 2014 11:40
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Velius posted:The last few have felt short, I feel. As much as I asked for some meaningful downtime, I feel like actual character building interactions with the team aren't really happening despite the limited action. Maybe not the main team, but there was a decent amount done for the other Thornburns.
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Sep 23, 2014 14:22
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So I am totally expecting andy or more likely his sister to meet their end here, precipitating the others total breakdown, but I'm also sure there will be collateral damage done in the death of one of the witch hunters. I have a very real fear for Blake's friends lives.
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Sep 23, 2014 17:58
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That's the best thing about Wildbow: nobody is safe! There is definitely another point in that Blake picked up Sympathy (and other magic) so fast.
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Sep 23, 2014 21:16
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Namarrgon posted:That's the best thing about Wildbow: nobody is safe! Honestly sympathy seems stupidly easy so long as you have a power source. I'm sure all the practitioners in Jacob's Bell are pretty well versed in it or at least defending against it. Blake has just been using it against novices and non practitioners.
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Sep 24, 2014 04:00
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Lyon posted:Honestly sympathy seems stupidly easy so long as you have a power source. I'm sure all the practitioners in Jacob's Bell are pretty well versed in it or at least defending against it. Blake has just been using it against novices and non practitioners. Nah. It's just not usually anywhere near as useful for your typical practitioner as it is for Blake, the guy exists in a mirror world where an exact duplicate of anything in the real world is always at hand.
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Sep 24, 2014 05:54
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Yeah, I mean he's a mirror man, sympathy with the real world seems like a given.
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Sep 24, 2014 16:41
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there's a sympathy for the devil joke in here somewhere
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Sep 24, 2014 18:13
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That reminds me...my new wild-rear end guess is that if Rose is really Rose Sr somehow, then Blake is her familiar. We don't really know anything about Rose Sr's familiar, maybe it was literally a "little warrior" and that's the part of Blake that is so goddamn gung-ho. That would also explain Blake's intense devotion to Rose, as we saw with the Behaim familiars they are totally unable to go against their masters in all but the most roundabout ways. So my complete theory is Blake and Rose Jr both existed as grandchildren, and that Rose Sr and her familiar did some kind of hosed up bullshit to become them, and Blake doesn't remember because reasons. It's a very well-supported thought.
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Sep 24, 2014 19:38
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Hawkgirl posted:That reminds me...my new wild-rear end guess is that if Rose is really Rose Sr somehow, then Blake is her familiar. We don't really know anything about Rose Sr's familiar, maybe it was literally a "little warrior" and that's the part of Blake that is so goddamn gung-ho. That would also explain Blake's intense devotion to Rose, as we saw with the Behaim familiars they are totally unable to go against their masters in all but the most roundabout ways. Rose Sr's familiar was her cat. It died at the same time she did.
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Sep 24, 2014 21:05
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TOOT BOOT posted:Rose Sr's familiar was her cat. It died at the same time she did. A wizard did it.
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Sep 24, 2014 22:37
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TOOT BOOT posted:Rose Sr's familiar was her cat. It died at the same time she did. Yeah, but 1) all we know is it was a cat and 2) if Rose Sr can be Rose Jr, familiar shenanigans can happen too.
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Sep 25, 2014 00:57
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I think Blake is too symbolically associated with birds to have previously been a cat.
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Sep 25, 2014 01:08
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look i'm pretty sure a cat full of birds works perfectly well symbolically
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Sep 25, 2014 03:32
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Well I guess he does keep them inside his stomach.
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Sep 25, 2014 04:10
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It was pointed out the comments thread (I'm bored) that eyes are reflective surfaces. We know Blake is limited to a minimum size of surface for habitation purposes (otherwise just go hog wild and break all the glass in a house), but I wonder if eyes are sufficiently large. He hasn't seemed that interested in trying just yet. If Andy and Eva have to close their eyes to keep Blake at bay, it does give Alexis/Ty/Tiff/Evan a pretty substantial advantage. Also, Peter apparently made it out of the house, and has been pacing in a circle around the building for the past little while. Maybe he just wanted to make a phone call, but given that Paige was awakened by Isadora it's not out of the question that another of the Thorburns could have been introduced to magic. He was also the person who noticed the diagrams in the house. I just re-read his chat with Alexis, and didn't notice anything that seemed an outright lie.
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Sep 25, 2014 05:56
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I'm ready for an exposition dump, I really really want to know what Blake is and his relationship to Rose.
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Sep 25, 2014 07:59
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No update today, huh? I thought last Thursday was the Thursday off...?
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Sep 25, 2014 13:49
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I think Wildbow just had poo poo to do this week.
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Sep 25, 2014 13:51
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From 11.6 Peter said, “Why is Rose different? That’s kind of the same question. Because the Rose I knew was a no-life sad sack loser with no friends.” Game, set, match. It's totally Rose Sr. doing ridiculous things as Rose. 
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Sep 25, 2014 15:39
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builds character posted:From 11.6 Or Conquest is having an effect plus she inherited Blake's friends. I don't buy that she is Rose Sr. as she was when she died. Perhaps she is a 'clone' (for lack of a better word) but one who grew up with her own memories/life, not the actual mind of the super powerful diabolist that was Rose Sr.
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Sep 25, 2014 16:17
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Caught up. Yeah, it really does take nine arcs to get good, which makes it a lot slower than Worm for me. Arc 4 is where it gets interesting enough. The end of arc 4 is also the single most Wildbow thing I have ever read - from beautiful to completely hosed in six lines.
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Sep 26, 2014 21:37
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I'm not 100% sure and I just don't feel up to looking it up right now, but wasn't there some implication that barbatorum or something barbatorum could do offered some sort of "proof against death" as well as some sort of method of disabling practitioners?
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Sep 27, 2014 04:46
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NecroMonster posted:I'm not 100% sure and I just don't feel up to looking it up right now, but wasn't there some implication that barbatorum or something barbatorum could do offered some sort of "proof against death" as well as some sort of method of disabling practitioners? I don't think that was in the description of his powers. I can't remember where his abilities were talked about so I can't really look it up. That doesn't sound right though.
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Sep 27, 2014 05:19
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His powers were gone into here http://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/bonds-1-7/ He can extend someone's life (But not indefinetly) or do incredible surgery for a price, but this opens them to possession. Like by bird spirits to pick an example completely at random.
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Sep 27, 2014 05:27
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Argh, everyone stop being evasive with Blake, just tell him what's going on!
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Sep 27, 2014 09:23
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TOOT BOOT posted:Argh, everyone stop being evasive with Blake, just tell him what's going on! Pact posted:“Blake, we need to plan. If something happens to us, it’s going to set off a chain reaction. Something could happen to Rose. You need to do what you can to help her, even-“ It's been pretty heavily implied at this point that whatever the secret is, it could make him turn on Rose. They're obviously looking out for Rose so it makes sense they wouldn't want to tell him.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:29
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packsmack posted:I don't think that was in the description of his powers. I can't remember where his abilities were talked about so I can't really look it up. That doesn't sound right though. I'm talking about the stuff that Grandma Rose talked about/refered to with Aimon Behaim in the later histories, not the stuff written down in that book which is very likely not every thing or just total bullshit all around.
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Sep 28, 2014 04:53
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As usual, the cliffhanger is a complete surprise to me. Would someone remind me where we previously heard about the Seal of Solomon, and what it does to/for Others? Edit for spoiler: I mean, it can't be good, if he's releasing Thorburns rather than subject himself to it.
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Sep 30, 2014 06:04
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It was actually Bonds 1.7, linked above when we were discussing the barber. It seems like Blake's dislike of it is basically what he said, that he doesn't want to go with things the way they've always been. I can't remember anything else that would be unappetizing about it.
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Sep 30, 2014 06:47
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Are we entirely sure that Rose Sr. intended Blake to simply be ablative karma armour/bodyguard for Rose Jr.? She sought to work against the status quo, if slowly and subtly. And now the Other that she presumably created from her line is fighting the status quo as well, if much more bluntly and aggressively. Did she decide, as she was running out of time, that slow and careful wasn't going to be enough to save humanity from the inevitable fall? I doubt Ur-*snap* is an outlier. It's just another entry on a long list of powerful things that pose a long-term existential threat to humanity, a list of unaddressed long-term threats. If things keep going as they have been (and the system is incredibly biased toward preventing proactive action), we're all hosed. Blake has been doing a fantastic job of destabilizing the system, not to mention surviving the consequences. I'm not going to be surprised if it turns out Blake was at least in part intended to be Rose Senior's last Hail Mary attempt at enacting change.
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Sep 30, 2014 07:39
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Tollymain posted:Are we entirely sure that Rose Sr. intended Blake to simply be ablative karma armour/bodyguard for Rose Jr.? She sought to work against the status quo, if slowly and subtly. And now the Other that she presumably created from her line is fighting the status quo as well, if much more bluntly and aggressively. Yeah. I see no reason why someone would blow the kind of power Blake required on a god damned buffer for Rose. Plus he is just competent as all get out and, if you can make a person (effectively) as brilliantly skilled as Blake why make a loving bodyguard? And Blake being the actual real trick up Granny's sleeve would explain why the Lawyers likely set him up to fail.
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Sep 30, 2014 11:50
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What's up with Evan moving when they're talking to the jr council changing the amount blake can see? Is their familiar bond coming back? Also, tremendous plan: wake the thorburns. Nothing can possibly go wrong (Rose will be so angry).
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Sep 30, 2014 12:40
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I find it a little frustrating that this is a chapter in which nothing really happens until the end. The meeting was basically pointless, he said his piece and they shut him down. It was obvious that was how it was going to go. No one got anything out of it, we didn't really learn anything new, so what was the point of this chapter? It felt like spinning wheels when really the action was at the house.
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Sep 30, 2014 13:15
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Tollymain posted:Are we entirely sure that Rose Sr. intended Blake to simply be ablative karma armour/bodyguard for Rose Jr.? She sought to work against the status quo, if slowly and subtly. And now the Other that she presumably created from her line is fighting the status quo as well, if much more bluntly and aggressively. I've been saying this for a bit now. I don't think Blake's a Hail Mary though; I think he's the centerpiece of Rose Sr.'s efforts. I mean, Rose Sr. seemed to be all about changing the system, but she didn't manage to do much while alive, and the only thing she left behind seems to be Blake.
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Sep 30, 2014 14:55
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Grundulum posted:Would someone remind me where we previously heard about the Seal of Solomon, and what it does to/for Others? Before the Seal, humanity was basically a primite prey species to Others. Solomon was the biggest, baddest wizard that challenged the most powerful Others, and eventually settled on a compromise; 'innocent' humans are kept safe, while Awakened humans can be targeted by Others. While the Seal works for humanity in perpetuity, it only works for Others that were either present when the Seal was made or as this chapter teaches us those that agree to be bound to it afterwards. Also apparently it is a power source, which makes some sense, as no Other would agree to it otherwise. Presumable the can't-tell-lies was put in there as a form of antiquity chivalry.
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Sep 30, 2014 15:49
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Awakening the Thornburns and taking on the responsibility for everything they do in perpetuity seems like such a terrible idea that I can't wait to see what Blake does with them.
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Sep 30, 2014 17:15
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