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Pharaoh RutinTutin

Story, Wednesday November 15, 2017

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Having Ashley along for the ride may be much more than Dan filling in a potential plot hole that I'm not all that sure most of his fans would care that much about (although I do.) But it also has potential to be more, perhaps much more.

First of all, Ashley can make this ride more fun. She's already annoyed Sirleck; I'm sure we all want to see her go on annoying Sirleck. She can also annoy Magus, but that's a different trope, screwball comedy. A dynamic that might work here is Ashley asking Sirleck all kinds of questions, Sirleck refusing to answer, and Magus answering instead. The longer it goes on, the more Sirleck's frustration builds, and the stronger the connection between Ashley and Magus becomes.

Ashley sees absolutely no need to worry about Sirleck's right to privacy.

23 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Sirleck could be using Ellen's knowledge of driving.

Which is largely Elliot's experience of driving.

Even if Sirleck can access Ellen's memories, sorting out which memories are which could be giving him unprecedented difficulties. Ellen has three sets of memories; her own since she came into existence, Elliot's before, and Second Life Ellen's.

 

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This is kind of off-the-wall, but if this ride lasts long enough, a cop may pull the car over looking for some violation, and all of the people (or at least their bodies) are teenagers. Ashley looks younger and maybe sounds and acts younger--and she might act even younger. The USA still has lots and lots of state and local curfew laws even if they aren't always vigorously enforced.

Maybe the cop will be related to the security guards we've seen at the Mall and Swedekea.

And before you say that Magus would simply put the cop to sleep, remember that cops have body cams now. There are cams in lots and lots of cop cars too, some of them with live feeds.

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42 minutes ago, Scotty said:
1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

But we don't know if he would be broken-hearted if Elliot does get killed as long as it wasn't his intent to kill him. You know, friendly fire, collateral damage, acts of God, all those euphemisms beloved of military spokespersons, insurance company lawyers, etc. Plan CM seems replete with hazards that we in no way targeted specifically at Elliot Dunkel.

For those of you that aren't familiar with Isaac Asimov's First Law of Robotics, it comes in two clauses

  1. A robot may not injure a human being
  2. or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Voltaire vowed to obey the first clause only for Elliot Dunkel--but not the second.

Also keep in mind that Plan CM was set in motion before Voltaire vowed, the loophole could be that that vow only applies to future attempts, where Plan CM would be a past attempt that's still in progress and Voltaire doesn't feel duty bound to stop it.

It still somewhat limits what he can do with Elliot. It's not complete protection, of course, but I still think that the reason why he appeared and voluntarily vowed was that killing Elliot was no longer part of his plan. Sure, can still happen, he certainly wouldn't be broken-hearted by it, but it's not part of plan CM.

52 minutes ago, Scotty said:
1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

I would expect Sirleck wasn't driving much in last three years either because he had driver. On the other hand, perhaps Magus is not aware of it ; Magus might just ASSUME Sirleck is better driver and Sirleck is confident enough to let him think that.

Sirleck could be using Ellen's knowledge of driving.

Magus' method of possession likely doesn't have that perk of having access to a host's memories, I would guess that if he did, he'd be able to tell if Elliot would remember this experience.

Good point.

25 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:
54 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Sirleck could be using Ellen's knowledge of driving.

Which is largely Elliot's experience of driving.

Even if Sirleck can access Ellen's memories, sorting out which memories are which could be giving him unprecedented difficulties. Ellen has three sets of memories; her own since she came into existence, Elliot's before, and Second Life Ellen's.

Only if he attempts to find something specific. The spell was recent memory, newer than the Elliot ones or the Second Life. The driving experience doesn't need to be divided - he can use both Elliot's and Second Life Ellen's experience together.
 

25 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Having Ashley along for the ride may be much more than Dan filling in a potential plot hole that I'm not all that sure most of his fans would care that much about (although I do.) But it also has potential to be more, perhaps much more.

First of all, Ashley can make this ride more fun. She's already annoyed Sirleck; I'm sure we all want to see her go on annoying Sirleck. She can also annoy Magus, but that's a different trope, screwball comedy. A dynamic that might work here is Ashley asking Sirleck all kinds of questions, Sirleck refusing to answer, and Magus answering instead. The longer it goes on, the more Sirleck's frustration builds, and the stronger the connection between Ashley and Magus becomes.

I totally support this idea for more fun. Not sure if Dan has enough panel space for it, though.

18 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

This is kind of off-the-wall, but if this ride lasts long enough, a cop may pull the car over looking for some violation, and all of the people (or at least their bodies) are teenagers. Ashley looks younger and maybe sounds and acts younger--and she might act even younger. The USA still has lots and lots of state and local curfew laws even if they aren't always vigorously enforced.

Still safer like this than if Ashley would be bonded.

Although, if Ashley will be TOO calm in such situation, she may appear to be high. That might also not be safe appearance in front of cop ...

18 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

And before you say that Magus would simply put the cop to sleep, remember that cops have body cams now. There are cams in lots and lots of cop cars too, some of them with live feeds.

WE may remember that, but would Magus?

(Cop stops them. Magus puts him in sleep. Sirleck will explain the body cam idea to him. Could be fun.)

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6 minutes ago, hkmaly said:
38 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Having Ashley along for the ride may be much more than Dan filling in a potential plot hole that I'm not all that sure most of his fans would care that much about (although I do.) But it also has potential to be more, perhaps much more.

First of all, Ashley can make this ride more fun. She's already annoyed Sirleck; I'm sure we all want to see her go on annoying Sirleck. She can also annoy Magus, but that's a different trope, screwball comedy. A dynamic that might work here is Ashley asking Sirleck all kinds of questions, Sirleck refusing to answer, and Magus answering instead. The longer it goes on, the more Sirleck's frustration builds, and the stronger the connection between Ashley and Magus becomes.

I totally support this idea for more fun. Not sure if Dan has enough panel space for it, though.

I dunno, I would expect that the calm spell prevents her from formulating a plan of any kind.

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15 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

(Cop stops them. Magus puts him in sleep. Sirleck will explain the body cam idea to him. Could be fun.)

Body cams (and shoulder radios) can also have live feeds.

The beauty of body cams, radios, and live feeds is that however a cop stop goes, it can lead to more things. Things like footage showing up on the news later; for instance, or further interest by law enforcement. And what do Ashley's parents do, anyway? Or Elliot's dad? For all we know, any or all of them could be in law enforcement.

6 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I dunno, I would expect that the calm spell prevents her from formulating a plan of any kind.

I wouldn't. It doesn't stop Ashley from asking annoying questions. And the best plans are generally made by calm minds. Ashley already proved last Saturday that she can make good plans when she's way from calm. She'd make better plans now.

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3 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

I wouldn't. It doesn't stop Ashley from asking annoying questions. And the best plans are generally made by calm minds.

But this is basic mind control we're talking about, Ashley may be calm in a way that's like "you don't feel the need to run from us".

Sure she can ask questions about what's going on, but if she doesn't feel the need to stop them, then she's not going to try.

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6 minutes ago, Scotty said:

But this is basic mind control we're talking about, Ashley may be calm in a way that's like "you don't feel the need to run from us".

Sure she can ask questions about what's going on, but if she doesn't feel the need to stop them, then she's not going to try.

Good points, but not necessarily true of the magic spell Magus is using. Roofies, maybe. Anyway, maybe our differences here will settled by the way Dan goes on with Ashley.

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3 hours ago, Scotty said:

Magus' method of possession likely doesn't have that perk of having access to a host's memories, I would guess that if he did, he'd be able to tell if Elliot would remember this experience.

I would guess that if Magus has access to Elliot's memories, and takes the time to look through them to find out if Elliot will remember post-possession what Magus does with him, he'll discover that Elliot also has no experience with this scenario...

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2 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

I would guess that if Magus has access to Elliot's memories, and takes the time to look through them to find out if Elliot will remember post-possession what Magus does with him, he'll discover that Elliot also has no experience with this scenario...

Yes and maybe no. To me, the way that Magus has influenced people suggests that he's a telepath or an empath or both, able to read feelings and/or at least surface thoughts, which I think does give him at least similar experience in what Sirleck experiences during his possessions of hosts. And there's a bit of that in the way Pandora read potential candidates for marking in Marker. Plus, Pandora can enter people's dreams, and that is definitely getting inside their minds.

Going a bit off-topic, Sirleck is the only character in EGS who routinely possesses people, and no one in EGS has ever switched minds even once, certainly a huge contrast to C.D. Rudd's Sailormoon.org. Does anyone else feel this missing trope should be welcomed to join all the other wacky tropes in EGS?

 

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3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:
3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

(Cop stops them. Magus puts him in sleep. Sirleck will explain the body cam idea to him. Could be fun.)

Body cams (and shoulder radios) can also have live feeds.

The beauty of body cams, radios, and live feeds is that however a cop stop goes, it can lead to more things. Things like footage showing up on the news later; for instance, or further interest by law enforcement. And what do Ashley's parents do, anyway? Or Elliot's dad? For all we know, any or all of them could be in law enforcement.

I was implying that after the cop would be put to sleep Sirleck and Magus would be chased by police who want to ask them what they did to the first cop.

Magus can easily disable the cop BEFORE Ashley is clearly seen. And I would be more concerned with what TEDD's dad going to do - I'm sure that live feed showing cop being attacked by magic is going to be reported to DGB. Although Arthur Arthur may be handling that now, without anyone informing Edward (unless agent Cranium does it again).

3 hours ago, Scotty said:
3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I wouldn't. It doesn't stop Ashley from asking annoying questions. And the best plans are generally made by calm minds.

But this is basic mind control we're talking about, Ashley may be calm in a way that's like "you don't feel the need to run from us".

Sure she can ask questions about what's going on, but if she doesn't feel the need to stop them, then she's not going to try.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Good points, but not necessarily true of the magic spell Magus is using. Roofies, maybe. Anyway, maybe our differences here will settled by the way Dan goes on with Ashley.

So far it seems it's stopping her from panicking. Which may stop her from trying to run from car in 80mph - that's not the kind of stuff calm people would try (while it MAY be something panicked Ashley would do if the doors are not locked, which would DEFINITELY make this too dark). She may also quickly realize that any plan for stopping them should include a way to get Elliot back.

So, even without the spell having explicit "you don't need to run from us", just being calm can make her not considering running good idea. And just hearing the last panel in this page can suggest to her that Sirleck is the more dangerous one.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

Going a bit off-topic, Sirleck is the only character in EGS who routinely possesses people, and no one in EGS has ever switched minds even once, certainly a huge contrast to C.D. Rudd's Sailormoon.org. Does anyone else feel this missing trope should be welcomed to join all the other wacky tropes in EGS?

First, no.

Second, there is mind switch in Goonmanji. It just didn't happened in canon. Although Tedd and Grace changing their bodies to each other has similar effect.

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7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Which may stop her from trying to run from car in 80mph

I can tell you if that car is going 80mph, it's most certainly going to get the attention of police, that's at least 20 over the speed limit, probably 40-50 over if they're still in the city.

If you meant 80kph though that's more reasonable at least for highway speeds, still 20-30 over if in the city though.

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43 minutes ago, JustBecauseICantDraw said:

I wonder if the diamond would think being under a "calm" spell constituted being "cursed" ?

According to Nioi, it treated a colour changing spell and a temporary rejuvenation spell as a curse. I think that durn thing is way too trigger happy on the false positives.

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48 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

According to Nioi, it treated a colour changing spell and a temporary rejuvenation spell as a curse. I think that durn thing is way too trigger happy on the false positives.

Um, where does Nioi say that, Old-Hack-sensei?

However, I hope this might be true. More Ashleys!

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A more serious question occurred to me: Could the Dewitchery Diamond do to Vampires and other Aberrations what it did to that nobleman cursed to become a werewolf?

There's a key difference between the ways werewolves and vampires/aberrations work in EGS: Werewolves are contagious, and you don't have to volunteer to become one. Vampires/Aberrations are strictly an all-volunteer force: they have to sign up for it.

What if Sirleck touches the Dewitchery Diamond? Does he just separate into Ellen and Sirleck? Or does Sirleck split himself into the human he was once and the monster--now with the ability to create other monsters?

Is Dan going to introduce a Vampire Draft?

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59 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Nioi told Ellen what happened at the end of Ellen's second life dreams.

Thanks. I'm ashamed to say I forgot about Kaoli (or Kaori), who's existence certainly proves that the Dewitchery Diamond doesn't seem distinguish curses from other sorts of enchantments.

And I guess this means if Cheerleadra touches the Dewitchery Diamond Elliot would create a permanent version of Cheerleadra who can give Cheerleadra powers to other people. The Kaoli that Nioi created should be able to spread her "curse" as well, which I guess is changing fur and hair color and getting a little younger.

Edited by Tom Sewell
"Curse" spreading clarification

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6 hours ago, Scotty said:

I can tell you if that car is going 80mph, it's most certainly going to get the attention of police, that's at least 20 over the speed limit, probably 40-50 over if they're still in the city.

Most interstates in Chicagoland are official speed limit 55 or 60 mph, but with the average actual speed at least ten mph above that.  80mph might risk getting noticed, but if it's a heavier traffic time of day, they've pretty much admitted they're a lot less likely to enforce mere speed limits.

5 hours ago, JustBecauseICantDraw said:

I wonder if the diamond would think being under a "calm" spell constituted being "cursed" ?

Ooh, a permanently calm Ashley who can make other people calm at will?  Would the other Ashley have spells that affect the moods of others, or be able to magically control her own moods, or what?

4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

According to Nioi, it treated a colour changing spell and a temporary rejuvenation spell as a curse. I think that durn thing is way too trigger happy on the false positives.

Hmm, that also answers our question about whether an FV5 Magus would split into Elliot, Magus, and Eileen -- with Nioi, it split off the age and color changes together into one new entity with both features.  So if Dan had gone that way, we would indeed have had an FV5 Magus.

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9 hours ago, Scotty said:
17 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Which may stop her from trying to run from car in 80mph

I can tell you if that car is going 80mph, it's most certainly going to get the attention of police, that's at least 20 over the speed limit, probably 40-50 over if they're still in the city.

Wait, I though 80mph is the correct speed for highway? Obviously, too much in city.

Sure, that information was based on playing transport tycoon, but when I check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States it seems to confirm that ... for Nevada and Idaho and few more. Right. Illinois has 70 mph.

So I meant 70 mph.

3 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:
9 hours ago, Scotty said:

I can tell you if that car is going 80mph, it's most certainly going to get the attention of police, that's at least 20 over the speed limit, probably 40-50 over if they're still in the city.

Most interstates in Chicagoland are official speed limit 55 or 60 mph, but with the average actual speed at least ten mph above that.  80mph might risk getting noticed, but if it's a heavier traffic time of day, they've pretty much admitted they're a lot less likely to enforce mere speed limits.

Good. 70mph will work.

7 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
8 hours ago, JustBecauseICantDraw said:

I wonder if the diamond would think being under a "calm" spell constituted being "cursed" ?

According to Nioi, it treated a colour changing spell and a temporary rejuvenation spell as a curse. I think that durn thing is way too trigger happy on the false positives.

What do you mean, false positives? It IS enchantment. Works as designed. By Abraham.

... totally support Ashley touching the diamond and split into Ashley which can make herself calm and calm Ashley who can make others calm.

The first one can date Elliot and the second Magus. After Magus convinces her he meant well, obviously.

6 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

What if Sirleck touches the Dewitchery Diamond? Does he just separate into Ellen and Sirleck? Or does Sirleck split himself into the human he was once and the monster--now with the ability to create other monsters?

Sirleck won't touch the Dewitchery Diamond unless he let's Ellen go, as he's not on material plane. Ellen, meanwhile, is not enchanted even when controlled by Sirleck.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

And I guess this means if Cheerleadra touches the Dewitchery Diamond Elliot would create a permanent version of Cheerleadra who can give Cheerleadra powers to other people.

Presumably, however considering Cheerleadra spell is not ranged, it won't make a ranged version for the permanent Cheerleadra either. Most likely, Cheerleadra would need to kiss someone to transform him. Or her.

... ok, thats another good idea ...

 

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4 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Ooh, a permanently calm Ashley who can make other people calm at will?  Would the other Ashley have spells that affect the moods of others, or be able to magically control her own moods, or what?

I don't think the world could survive two Ashley. She has to little of the ugly to split off for another of her. The cuteness and honesty would reach deadly levels whenever they came in contact.

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