hkmaly

"Everyone just goes along with the mental effects" ... well ... there is element of surprise ... and then there are pretty girls in skimpy clothes petting them. I know that in such scenario, I wouldn't be resisting either. Wait. Does this mean the three card, one-card-per-type limit is not in effect?

That was their own fault. Remember, they totally abducted the guy and hauled him there. If it had been me, I'd have done the exact same thing. Abducted? He surrendered without fight! It was trick, a trap. Also, he totally hold grudge from the liberation of Eregion earlier. (That was when Númenorians helped Gil-Galad liberate Eregion from Sauron's occupation.) Weak organisation. Typical of CEOs who try to do everything themselves. Exactly.

'Lose' it? That is an interesting interpretation of having some Numenórian punk MUG YOU AND CUT IT OFF YOUR HAND. During a home invasion, no less. Some people. Yeah. They should've remained on their island oh wait they couldn't Sauron was teasing Valar from it so long they sunk it. "Sees everything" ... well, yeah, but just one thing at once. Delegation and redundancy, that was missing. ... fantastic idea. And it means the golem will want to kill half of main cast for same reason, so perfect reason for conflict spawning hundreds of pages - oh wait this is supposed to finish quickly. WAIT. If we combine the "Uryuom inspiration" theory and "blasphemy" theory ... the golem is from the same religion which passed laws forbidding the CMD which was reworked into TF gun on Uryuom home planet. And we though it's just throwaway joke! Instead, we will now get the full explanation of issue, just like hammers were explained in hammerchlorians. That's so good idea I would almost excuse it for the inevitable "both Uryuoms and fairies were influencing ancient legends as if only one wouldn't be much more reasons for it than necessary". ... maybe there was even war. We don't know if Uryuoms are protected by immortal law, do we? And fairies DEFINITELY wants sex change shenanigans ... Edward: "You mean you KNEW about immortals"? Lavender: "You mean immortals are fairies? They are still around?" *picks communication device*: "Code 31, starts evacuation immediately, I repeat code 31!"

Spontaneously changing hair colour is a medical condition. ... and this might not even be spontaneous. It was what, eighteen years? MY hair color changed in last 18 years too.

Sounds most likely to me as well. DEFINITELY more likely than Kevin. And BTW, no, this won't save Ellen from headache. She will have headache because being woken up too soon after Sirleck possession, no matter HOW she was woken up. It's not about what we want. The golem seems sturdy enough. It wasn't destroyed by the beam itself, I doubt the fall would destroy it, especially looking at final page showing the asphalt being scattered, not the golem. ... Elliot would understand, but so far only Ashley (and Kevin) was hearing what the golem was saying, so ... yes. We currently can't be sure it isn't Uryumoco. We also can't be sure it isn't Japan or French, given Nanase is not here. Not the same diamond from the wizard? Abraham just enchanted the "diamond", he didn't created it. Possibly his master did, but more likely it was even older. To be fair, he did lose it in a rather public way and didn't start looking for it for a long, long time. That wasn't Saruman. Sauron lost it in public, but he was having health issues and really started looking for it as soon as he could. Isildur lost it totally not in public. And he also had health issues. Fatal ones. Saruman started looking for it quite soon after his arrival to middle-earth, but he never found it so couldn't lose it. That was accident! Frodo was totally going to bring it back, but then Gollum tried to steal it and they fought and ... well ... seriously, accident. Noone wanted to dump it there. Also, Sauron's fault, in fact - the volcano wasn't OSHA compliant. There should've been railings there. Yeah, that's it. Remember, the volcano was where the ring was forget in first place.

This is probably where it gets tricky, but leaving the pendant out for Dex to see might have been a kind of invitation, and the moment Dex put it on could be taken as giving consent. Voltaire could easily say "he didn't have to put it on, and I didn't force him to do so, so it's his fault." While that could be how it works, consent was never mentioned in immortal rules, which makes me think it's not related ... Note specifically how Susan needed to tell Hanma about "informed decision" and how the game would be evil without players giving consent. Given that immortals CANT break their rules without knowing, it seems obvious that making such evil game WOULD be allowed by immortal rules. And then we have the what makes the game okay with immortal rules. Again, nothing with consent, at least not the informed one. The game is automated, as it probably wouldn't be allowed for Hanma to cast some of those spells herself, but ... uhhh ... actually yes, this is somewhat similar to how Dex put the pendant on himself. It just seems it's less about consent and more about making the effect indirect.

Jerry used a spell on Susan as well earlier, but I imagine he was able to justifying it in some way that it wasn't breaking immortal law. Maybe it would have only broken Immortal law if he hurt or killed Susan, but using the serenity spell to calm her was still considered guiding or something. Yes, this kind of spell must've count as guiding. Magus's "Calm" likely as well, not sure if his "Sleep" would be safe for immortal to use. Also, he might have some additional leeway in her already being under emotional-changing magic. Voltaire, meanwhile, needed Dex to get suggestible really easy, some hypnosis-type spell likely wouldn't be allowed.

I second David Fenger's note about this likely starting as discussion about dieting.

It's probably not the ordinary catgirl transformation but the pet version from Goonmanji. Or she's on catnip. Or maybe this is how she was when she was actually 18, before the "betrayal" of Noriko.

Use is a strong word... for me, at least. Attack is definitely stronger. Well, sure. She can train falls. If such skill is any use to her, given she's floating. Or she can do some tricks like breaking bricks. I'm pretty sure she can't use martial arts against some human even if she doesn't mean to hurt them. Both Voltaire and Zeus were really careful to not even touch anyone. (Pandora obviously DID touch Blaike and was hugging several people, and Jerry hugged Susan, but that really wasn't martial arts.)

Not really. One of the first obvious examples is dogs -- we've created and altered hundreds of dog breeds, a number of the current breeds only existing for a single human lifetime. Going from wolves to wolf-like dogs may have happened long ago, but turning those into Papillons was much more recent. Dog breeding was a Victorian craze and many modern breeds were developed then. Ehm. I meant for humans. Sorry, I see I wasn't clear on this. Generally, the shorter the "generation" of species is, the quicker it evolves. Bacteria can evolve a lot in just few years (and that's not counting horizontal gene transfer). Dogs reach sexual maturity around six months and are only pregnant for two months. (Also, deliberate breeding is quicker than evolution.) Humans reach sexual maturity around 13 years (and often postpone having kids further, but that's really recent). Of course, even if dragons live longer than humans, they may start reproducing sooner, giving them quicker evolution. However, even the Komodo dragons take 8 to 9 years to mature - that's shorter but not by much. Tyrannosaurus reached sexual maturity at 20 years according to one study. One generation per year. Tawny owls pair off from the age of one year.

As long as Vladia is okay with a boyfriend who cosplays Chun-Li. We don't know how often he does it, do we? Besides, Vladia might be more ok with that than average given her own sex history.

Remember that immortals are limited to "empower and guide". Adrian is the only Elf we've seen in canon, but he isn't unique, which means that Immortal-human sex is allowed as long as it is consensual. ... yes, empower and guide is either not exact description or there is way how can having child be considered empowering. But my point was than Hanma can't really use any martial arts (against humans at least) and couldn't directly attack Vladia, which I though was implied in that second post. She could try, but Greg is creeped out by attractive eighteen-year-olds. Actually pretending to be older would have a better chance of working, although it doesn't seem likely Hanma could pull that off for very long if the Hanma in canon is much like the Hanma in this longest NP arc ever. I can imagine Greg being ok with combination of "manage to keep older looks most of the time" and the logic she gave to Catalina. Although I still consider Vladia more likely.

Perhaps, but it's not strictly speaking necessary. All that's really required is a human-like intelligence (in order to properly pose as human) and a good shape-shifting spell. I suppose unless it's a hereditary ability it is unlikely they'd have only the one spell, and such an advanced one at that, so they might need to be a powerful and skilled magic user to do such shapefhifting - but just because they have a lot of magical power does not necessarily mean they're also an unstoppable juggernaut physically. Bringing things back to EGS (while remembering that in fiction most Dragons are tough but not so much so that they can't be killed by a protagonist with medieval weaponry), if Adrien Raven was in danger from a gun, I don't see why a Dragon Mage couldn't be too. While true, human level inteligence and being skilled magic user is more than lot of dragons have. And the true danger of dragons is magic - both their flying and fire are usually magic. Stories confirm this: while being physically stronger isn't related to intelligence, there seem to be big correlation between intelligence and dangerousness of dragon in fiction. Those stupid but physically unstoppable juggernauts might be the ones who died on food poisoning. Adrian Raven didn't have any scales. We can debate the effectiveness (how much), but I would consider obvious that scales raises resistance to bullets. He was also close, not in air and not aware of the attack, which lowered his ability to evade. Obviously, dragon mage WOULD be in big danger from a gun while in human form. Sounds obvious, doesn't it? Sure, there are alternative explanations, but even if the reason they became concern was different, they likely got stronger due to both evolutionary adaptation and normal (training) adaptation. (Hmmmm ... wait. Training would have bigger effect. Evolution is too slow to be measurable on scale of human history and dragons usually live longer ... on the other hand, evolution is more effective the more of affected population is dying from evolutionary pressures ...)

It could be a special wand, of great power and/or with one or more special spells in it. Of course that wouldn't be obvious on sight (at least not to the readers; the Golem appears to have magic detecting vision), but I can't think of anything that would fit with EGS that it could be that readers would suddenly know exactly what it was and what it meant when they saw it. I can't think of anything either (the grail was just joke) but I hope Dan can surprise me. We don't know what the golem is made of, it might still be possible for the the axe Abraham was going to use on Ellen to be heavy and sharp enough to cut the golem's head off, or just break the head with the impact. Given the damage the golem already took, I don't think single hit of axe can cause serious wound, no matter the place. Also this. (I mean, it wasn't the point I was making but it's a good point regardless.) Wild but interesting speculation. With a bonus of "any forbidding of it is no longer necessary due to ending the magic reset cycle and magic going public". However, even wand capable of working over reset wouldn't necessary be chaos magic.

Considering that Kevin didn't show up until the Diamond was destroyed, and he was created during the latest magic system, I think it more likely it was the Diamond's destruction that activated him than the reset. I suppose we'll need to wait for Word of Dan or confirmation in the story to know for sure, though. The magic reset caused him to work. He still needed to be powered to activate. That depends on the dragon and who/what you're comparing it to. I was commenting that dragons who have shapeshifting abilities are usually considerably stronger than ones which doesn't (because it's not only ability they have). I was specifically thinking the Dragons might have bred with humans, leading to descendants with only a little dragon blood and no knowledge of it (except perhaps a family legend no one believes). Therefore the sentence in parenthesis. Yes, I can imagine say Nanase having some dragon blood. It would be superfluous, as her having some fairy blood would be enough to explain her abilities, but if there would be some good reason for it ... And yes. "What, did you though her charisma 32 goes away when she takes human form?" However, that's sideefect. If it's supposed to be hiding, it means there are some dragons (or people with enough dragon blood to be able to shapeshift to dragon form) still alive.

That's obviously part of same event and Elliot is tough enough to change even if it would hurt him, if he has good reason. That's true but doesn't combine well with going into public.

Remember that immortals are limited to "empower and guide". Agree. And probably do something embarrassing (to them) in failed attempt to get them closer.

The "require lot of power" is definitely option. The "diamond somehow fixed Kevin" is something I would consider less likely than that it was the magic reset. Or Dragons might have the ability to shapeshift into a human-like form, and the dragon population is currently mostly in hiding among the human population. There might even be people with dragon blood in the main or secondary cast... So, are you with me on the topic of "Dragons are not weaklings"? Yes, they may be able to shapeshift and use it to hide between population. However, I don't think they would be hiding from themselves, and main character hiding something like that from us would be weird. (Of course, little dragon blood is possible.) Secondary cast is more likely but I still don't see anyone specific who would be likely to be dragon. After all, CATALINA ended up just marked with cat spell despite being foreshadowed heavily. Also the dragon we see in the background behind Pandora might be only a handful of yards away from her and be no bigger than a pony. That would make it easier for it to hide. Based on his tail on previous picture I would expect he's bigger, unless Dan is bad at perspective "It's all rubbish." Lady Sybil sniffed. "Oh, it sounds nice, I'll grant you. Then they realize it means soot-burns, frizzled hair and crap all down their back. Those talons dig in, too. And then they think the thing's getting too big and smelly and next thing you know it's either down to the Morpork Sunshine Sanctuary for Lost Dragons or the old heave-ho into the river with a rope round their neck, poor little buggers." -- Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards! Yes, using living dragons as shoulder pads is bad idea. You are supposed to use dragon summon.

Well Elliot can only punch and kick, Magus might have some ranged spells, but maybe they won't be effective. The best they might be able to do is keep the golem's attention away from Ellen and Ashley until suddenly a sword or axe attack from behind lops the golems head off. It's GOLEM. Normal sword or axe wouldn't help, and Abraham's weapons looked like having normal parameters. And Susan is busy. You really want to see a smoking crater, don't you? I wouldn't be against smoking crater either if not for the high risk of several main characters being painted on it. I expect it to be a wand, of the more traditional wooden type. It would fit well within the Diamond, and it would be obvious to readers that it's a magical object (so long as they don't mistake it for a random stick) without requiring familiarity with anything besides EGS (or Harry Potter). But wand wouldn't be anything special. It would be magic, but not reason to be considered evil or something. The main reason I think the power is something different is because the golem didn't seem concerned about it until he found what the source of it was, so I don't think it would have felt the need to exterminate anything if it was just normal magic that it was detecting. Sure ; however, there can be third option besides normal magic and chaos magic. In fact, if it would be chaos magic the golem would likely be able to identify it without looking at source. Another option is that it IS normal magic but due to what the source is the golem doesn't believe it.

"Accidentally". Sure I'm with Justin on this. However, Dan claims Ashley is not transformed and neither looks Elliot (despite him having that spell) ...

Hmmmm .... Hanma is staying on astral plane here, but maybe? It's not like Greg must KNOW his new girlfriend is an immortal who is stalking him for years ... SURELY a completely anime-obsessed and incredibly bored young Immortal with nothing better on her hands to do could have nothing to do with being inspired to GUIDE and EMPOWER a handsome looking human who was watching and rewatching one of the best and most unjustly cancelled anime shows for 168 hours straight. I also think the 3/4 is too low estimate.

Possibly, but not insoluble. It is entirely possible to have married couples that hate one another. They usually didn't hated one another when the marriage STARTED. Usually. True. It wouldn't fit in the page. More likely, however, the golem will charging up to Ellen in next page and Ashley will do the 9EK. It's hard to build up suspense when we already know Ashley will make 9EK but how exactly it will happen needs to be shown. There is, of course, still question of what will Kevin do and what will Ashley do besides the 9EK ... will she try to protect Ellen with her body? Sounds very dangerously. Note that Ashley can't UNDERSTAND the golem ; the golem needs to do something to make attacking Ellen obvious. Note that if he would attack the thing in crate, it would likely be impossible for us to see it in few pages as Dan promised. And the "whatevers" bleeding out is probably "just" magic which powers random artifacts around. Probably. It's true that the golem is concerned about it.

Well, as far as I know, Daleks do not routinely undertake a vow of celibacy. The fact they were genetically modified to not have any emotion except hate might be problem. It would certainly be fortunate if Abraham were to show up soon though if Elliot and Magus prove unable to stop the golem. ... I would prefer someone more powerful than Abraham to help them. Although it would be good story-wise ... I dunno, Abraham's enchantment of the diamond not working as intending (creating duplicates that can spread the curse) could be related to whatever the diamond's original purpose, or whatever the core's purpose, was. This is purely wild speculation here, but what are the chances of there being a power that humans once used that was completely unaffected by the WoM's system changes? The WoM mentioned storms of chaos magic happening if spell rules were too ideal. So what if there was a spell that was somehow created outside the given system of magic that harnessed chaos magic? That might be considered threatening enough for the need to have it sealed away. The diamond DEFINITELY seemed to be affected (read: his original purpose not active) by magic reset, unless the creature inside was restricted physically by being inside the crystal. I think Abraham's inexperience explains the diamond not working as indented enough ; it is however also possible there was additional power leaking which modified the behavior ... I think that harnessing chaos magic is very hard, by definition. The wooden core just being there, as opposed to already casting random spells on the parking lot and on everything closer, also implies it's not THAT dangerous. And most importantly, we wouldn't be able to recognize what it is in few pages, making Dan's comment weird. PS: What recognizable shape could wooden core have? Say, cup, fit for carpenter?

I dunno, Ashley doesn't seem as calm as Melissa was, Melissa was actually kind of a badass when she attempted the Flight of Dragons bit after. you could see it in her eyes, that scream was only meant to get Noah's attention, not actual panic. Ashley's gonna be panicking. Which is why I said similar. I agree she will likely be in panic and would be just lucky that screaming to attract superhero is the correct course of action. However, I also think she wouldn't be screaming due to danger to HERSELF, but due to danger to Ellen. Who is again declared something in need to exterminating, again, similar experience as she already had, specifically with Abraham. ... yes. All those are possible, although just ONE MIGHT making the golem's actions correct/justified. Wait. Open question: is it possible Ellen will be affected by the diamond original purpose due to her current exposure to his magic? As opposed to "just" being created by it's other purpose ... Could she get new powers? Could it be bad for her and making necessary to find a cure for her? Both? Will she retain the powers after the cure? If it wouldn't be intact, it would likely be hard to identify. Also, maybe the core is not simple geometric shape? Maybe it's something more recognizable? (Also, the golem didn't shown anything which would make me give it "them" treatment yet. Especially not on this page. But if Dan is doing it ...) He married into the family. Daleks are allowed to marry?