Don Edwards

A combat style involving things that aren't there until right before they hit can be very effective.

I'm thinking that Susan won't summon a weapon until she's actually in mid-swing. That would make it easier to get close to an aberration, and harder for the monster to dodge. Of course, it also increases the chance that she'll be *seen* to have summoned the weapon (by someone other than the aberrations), but, well, priorities... (I also suspect that after she got back from France she insisted on getting some sort of martial-arts training that includes weapons - fencing lessons would count - and now really knows how to use a few preferred weapons and styles.)

Not just the officers. The soldiers, for each other - "I know that guy will stand by me as we go through hell, because he did exactly that in Basic. He's a jerk and an arsehole, I don't want him around my family, but when we're up against the wall he'll be there for me and I'll be there for him."

Some TV news crews have meteorologists. Others have weather announcers, who know about as much about weather as sports announcers know about weather.

People who have been through really hard situations together, like Nanase and Susan were, often develop a deep confidence and trust in each other. Without necessarily liking each other.

If in the next couple pages Pandora says "your granddaughters", I would not take it as definitive other than in the sense of "descendants but not daughters". There's a bit of time pressure, and detailing just how many generations are involved can perhaps wait for a more leisurely moment. (Of course, they COULD literally be Adrian's granddaughters, i.e. precisely one intervening generation. Just that I wouldn't take that statement, alone, in that context, as definitely saying they are. Now if afterward there's ample opportunity for clarification and it doesn't happen, the one statement would gain greater weight.)

I read once that the original St. Bernard rescue dogs worked out of a monastery and did carry little kegs, or more likely skin bags, but the monks were aware that alcohol was a bad idea in the snow so the containers were filled with water. (Yes, water. Sure, the lost traveler would be surrounded by snow - but using the snow for water would suck out body heat. Better to have snow that was melted over a fire back at the monastery and kept warm by proximity to a fluffy dog.)

Not-shingles is good. Allergic reaction is not. The best treatment for an allergic reaction is to figure out what's triggering it and stay away from that stuff.

There is a speculation that if we ever do figure out exactly how the universe works, it will be replaced with something stranger. And a companion speculation that this has already happened. And a second speculation regarding how many times...

He's an interesting and fairly complex character in a comic that (IMHO) is deteriorating in quality.

Diane and Susan now are significantly older and (hopefully) more mature than Susan was during the Paris trip. In fact they are of military age in most countries. Also there is a profound difference between marking someone so they can go hunt a vampire, and marking someone so they can deal with the vampire that is right over there and about to attack.

What we know about the limits on the watches, as I recall, is that they can't store much energy because they are too small. Which doesn't mean that other constraints aren't possible - some materials DO have greater energy-storage potential than others.

Although it would be stretching the analogy a bit if a piece is supposed to move toward a piece in the adjacent square, and the player rolls double six.

IRL, parasites who can readily move from one host to another have minimal interest in the well-being of their host. The challenge there is the odds of finding a new host. Parasites who can't, either are parasitic larvae and often kill their hosts just before they pupate or metamorphose to their adult form, or are parasitic throughout their lives and increase the host's risk of death as a means of attracting whatever critter is the next stage in the parasite's lifestyle. Including but not limited to getting mosquitos to come suck the host's blood and carry some eggs to another host. (There are parasites with very complex lifestyles that involve multiple hosts.) Sirleck cares about the well-being of some hosts because he intelligently prefers to be rich rather than poor, and passing one's wealth on to a chosen person is complicated and time-consuming - even more so if he doesn't choose the next host before the current host dies. But he has no interest in reproduction. Perhaps even a negative interest, considering that lately he's been effective in leading other aberrations to their deaths. ----------------------------------------------- Which makes me wonder... Sirleck hired six aberrations. How many of those six were killed by Andrea and Tara? I could see the remaining ones (at least three) trying to cover up the absence of the dead ones in hopes of collecting double payment.

My theory: Time in one universe is unrelated to time in another universe if there is no contact between them. Time flows in the same direction in both (in all, in fact) but possibly at wildly different rates, and not necessarily even at the same ratio of rates. If a communication or matter-transference link is established between universes, time must flow at the same speed in both universes for the duration of the link. (Note: closing the link and then re-opening it always establishes a new link, not a continuation of the old one, no matter how brief the interval is in either universe.) Also, the link is between a specific short period of time in universe A and a specific short period of time in universe B. It is then impossible to establish a link between a later moment in universe A and an earlier moment in universe B.

mlooney: party increased by one cat. David and April: party decreased by one cat.

With most software, you can continue using it at least as long as there's an OS that supports it. Perhaps longer, if there's enough demand that emulators get written. Security-related software needs regular updates, because the thugs keep developing new techniques, but authoring software doesn't become outdated in the same way. (It can become outdated, but more slowly, and differently.) The one thing I'd strongly recommend is to find, or help establish, a community-support forum that is NOT hosted by the publisher. Make sure that said forum has at least two full-authority administrators and at least two people (who may or may not be administrators) keeping local archive copies. Edit: it would be nice if the community-support forum also supports attachments. The archivists need to copy the attachments too.

I love my life but oh, you kids! (I'm 58. My mate is 40 with a couple weeks shy of 21 years of experience.)

"next to none" is not the same as "none". If you have "next to no" spell resistance, you have some - very little but nonzero.

Okay, I'm going to piggy-back on an idea I came across elsewhere, and add to it. There are an infinite number of realities - they are constantly spinning off each other, with each little instances when a choice of any sort was made. However, exceedingly-similar universes merge back into each other fairly quickly (and this may be part of why memories of details of unimportant events get hazy - merging of realities where those details were slightly different). Now, what I add to that. It's about communication between realities. Basically, my idea is that you can't open a communication path which is too much different from the one you're in - as perceived by you. For starters, you can't communicate on your own with any reality that does not contain an alternate-you... although you may be able to join in on someone else's connection after it's established. Of course, as close as Elliot and Tedd are, Tedd may not be able to communicate with an Elliot-less reality. (Exactly how different the realities can be and still be in contact, is not clearly defined.)

That is entirely consistent with D&D (all versions I've seen) rules.

We can reasonably presume, considering that they were paired off against each other in training, that Terra is a mage at least roughly comparable in trained ability to Magus. IMHO this makes it unlikely that Terra is their world's equivalent of a seer. But not impossible.

IF his previous host had died of old age (despite Sirleck's best efforts) before Sirleck could get his will and other arrangements completed to his satisfaction, then it would perhaps make sense to choose for his new host the attorney handling the estate. Even if that attorney was also near death. However, he'd want to then move very swiftly to find a new long-term host and get everything lined up. But other than that - yes, there's no shortage of at least passably wealthy people who are young to middle-aged and NOT on the brink of death. Or if he has a decent amount of time he doesn't even need a passably wealthy person and can pick someone fresh out of college to "mentor"...

That "mouse" hasn't acted very mouse-like in the past. I'd rate her more as a mongoose. Small, furry, cute, amazingly agile, rarely quite still, and - under certain circumstances - downright vicious, with quite a bit of precision in her attack. Oh, and easy to underestimate.

IMHO there is nothing in that scene that gives any indiciation, not even a tentative or weak own, regarding how long Sirleck had possessed that particular host. The only way it particularly makes sense for him to have just done so, is if that host was the attorney handling the estate of his previous host.