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The Old Hack

Story Friday July 21, 2017

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Pandora has decided to wait until Saturday, Moperville time, before talking to her son again. As I've said before, this could set up the classic trope of an action postponed until it will be forever too late. If Pandora waits for tomorrow, Moperville time, whatever is going to happen tonight may mean Pandora will not exist tomorrow, or at least Pandora in the form we are getting to know so well by now.

There are other people Pandora might decide to visit before the big whatever coming up later. Most people in Moperville are asleep now or should be. Pandora might have been thinking of talking to Susan, but Susan was asleep. So it's something like 1 AM in Moperville in this scene. 1 AM in Moperville is 8 AM in France, assuming the MopEarth uses similar time zones to our world's.

I was considering ending this post with the last paragraph, but I'm going to be explicit: I'm talking about Pandora talking with Noriko. The way that Pandora looks away from Tedd in the last panel of this comic may indicate she knows more about Noriko than she really wants to tell Tedd now, but I don't think Pandora has met with Noriko at least since she left Tedd and Edward, and maybe never before. Why? For one thing, Noriko seems to be still alive unless that's another awful secret Edward is keeping. For another, Pandora must have talked with Adrian about the situation and he would have tried to get her to leave Noriko alone.

Going directly from this scene to a scene with Pandora and Noriko would be a natural transition given that we've gone from a previous scene with Pandora and Sarah to this one with Pandora and Tedd. The wand looks to me like a good scene ender, especially if Dan has special plans for the spell on that wand. Pandora doesn't seem to have any specific intelligence about Sirleck and Magus' plans for this evening and doesn't seem to have identified Voltaire as the culprit who tried to kill Tedd's friend. Again, the best evidence is that Voltaire hasn't been torn to shreds as yet. But Pandora knows Tedd is being targeted, so that wand may come in very handy before the end of the day. Why spoil the surprise for us readers now?

I kind of think this hypothetical meeting between Pandora and Noriko may not be portrayed before the big whatever. Why? Because if there was ever a better time for Noriko to return than just in time for the big battle if there's going to be a big battle, I don't see it. Dan kind of pulled a similar surprise at the climax of Painted Black when Nanase returned as a fairy.

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For one thing, Noriko seems to be still alive unless that's another awful secret Edward is keeping.

We know Noriko was alive recently enough to be the next-to-last to have defeated Tengu. (Ellen and Nanase are the last to date; and at that point he got captured and locked up.)

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3 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

We know Noriko was alive recently enough to be the next-to-last to have defeated Tengu. (Ellen and Nanase are the last to date; and at that point he got captured and locked up.)

Probably, although Not-Tengu (Dan used it himself, so it's his official name until Dan says otherwise) obviously escaped alive, so it's a fair guess that he got his own licks in. I don't think Edward would keep Noriko's death secret from Tedd unless he had reason not to. Not-Tengu's battle with Noriko seemed to be a recent event from Agent Cranium's outburst, and his defeat by Ellen and Nanase happened as little as seventeen days ago, Moperville time. Noriko could have died in hospital in the interval. If she did, Edward could also be waiting until, say, the end of the school week to tell Tedd.

That said, I don't want Noriko to die and I don't think Dan will kill her off, at least yet. But Dan could surprise us all, even me, the author of a Sailor Moon fanfiction where I killed off Chibi-Usa.

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7 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Probably, although Not-Tengu (Dan used it himself, so it's his official name until Dan says otherwise) obviously escaped alive, so it's a fair guess that he got his own licks in.

Either that or he ran away because he couldn't get a hit in edgewise. His plan for using Nanase as a means to revenge might have been in the hope of destabilizing Noriko so she wouldn't be able to focus the next time they fought.

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13 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

But Pandora knows Tedd is being targeted, so that wand may come in very handy before the end of the day.

Tedd is only able to create wand with spells he knows. What spell Tedd knows can be used for effective defense? I would say likely none. He didn't even seem to actually study Cheerleadra, we know for certain he didn't study guardian form ...

I think that what will Tedd put on the wand is not important, that Pandora only wants to show him some difference between proper wand and watches.

13 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

but I don't think Pandora has met with Noriko at least since she left Tedd and Edward, and maybe never before. Why? For one thing, Noriko seems to be still alive unless that's another awful secret Edward is keeping. For another, Pandora must have talked with Adrian about the situation and he would have tried to get her to leave Noriko alone.

If Pandora vowed to not interact with Noriko, she may not be ABLE to talk with her even if it would be to apologize ... and I don't think she would want to apologize to her.

4 hours ago, Scotty said:
12 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Probably, although Not-Tengu (Dan used it himself, so it's his official name until Dan says otherwise) obviously escaped alive, so it's a fair guess that he got his own licks in.

Either that or he ran away because he couldn't get a hit in edgewise. His plan for using Nanase as a means to revenge might have been in the hope of destabilizing Noriko so she wouldn't be able to focus the next time they fought.

I don't really know why, but I assumed Noriko disabled him (took him down sounds pretty final) but he escaped later or possibly when he was transferred to cell. Although the way he described it it sounds more likely he escaped directly from battle with Noriko, and wounded.

 

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Just now, hkmaly said:

I don't really know why, but I assumed Noriko disabled him (took him down sounds pretty final) but he escaped later or possibly when he was transferred to cell. Although the way he described it it sounds more likely he escaped directly from battle with Noriko, and wounded.

Well Cranium did say "unknown alive status" so my guess is Noriko wounded him but there was other stuff going on that separated them and he was able to get away in the confusion. a couple scenarios come to mind:

1) They were fighting in a building and at some point a portion of it collapsed.

2) They were fighting on the edge of a cliff and he fell.

In both cases Noriko likely did a search, but found no body. It's also apparent that either she reported the encounter, or there were other witnesses that mentioned the fact that she wounded him.

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1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Well Cranium did say "unknown alive status" so my guess is Noriko wounded him but there was other stuff going on that separated them and he was able to get away in the confusion. a couple scenarios come to mind:

1) They were fighting in a building and at some point a portion of it collapsed.

2) They were fighting on the edge of a cliff and he fell.

In both cases Noriko likely did a search, but found no body. It's also apparent that either she reported the encounter, or there were other witnesses that mentioned the fact that she wounded him.

Those are scenarios for NORMAL battles. Not-tengu can fly. The battle might happened in air, with Not-tengu falling but later not found on ground. Or Noriko might've hit him with something which threw him INTO building or maybe into forest, breaking several trees with him.

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Cranium recognized Not-Tengu from his missing eye, so someone must have been close enough and conscious to see that wound, most likely the person who inflicted that wound. Either that or someone found Not-Tengu's eye lying around after the battle. And the only thing we know about Noriko's magic is that she can summon magical weapons; we don't know if Noriko can fly. So maybe Not-Tengu was smart enough to fly away from Noriko, although it's questionable whether he would be able to see well enough or even be conscious.

Losing that eye indicates that Not-Tengu's monster form has one weakness: His eyes. The Goo could just grow more eyes in its shell. And it now occurs to me that if Ellen had her flashlight spell at that time, she might have been able to blind his remaining eye with it, or for that matter, temporarily blind any opponent. Maybe Dan will realize that before he finishes his current NP arc about Ellen's powers.

Losing an eye also suggests danger to that thing that kind of looks like a big walnut sitting right behind your eyes could be in danger. Not-Tengu should have at least been in shock after taking that wound, and pretty likely passed out. Too bad he didn't have an invisible force field like Greg's, although to be fair we only know that Greg's field is Jeremy-proof.

I think a more likely scenario is that Noriko went to help or try to help some of Not-Tengu's victims and left him enough time to recover enough to make his escape. 

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2 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Cranium recognized Not-Tengu from his missing eye, so someone must have been close enough and conscious to see that wound, most likely the person who inflicted that wound. Either that or someone found Not-Tengu's eye lying around after the battle.

I don't think he physically lost the eye - more likely, it's just no longer working.

3 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

And the only thing we know about Noriko's magic is that she can summon magical weapons

We actually don't know that, despite the image suggesting that. However, powerhouse implies she has lot of various spells, we also know she's wizard. Nanase can fly, it seems likely Noriko can as well. Also, that image shows her LEVITATING the swords.

(Would be funny if she was flying on broomstick, but I think in EGS (unlike Gramaraye) there are no reasons why would someone need broomstick to fly.)

6 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

And it now occurs to me that if Ellen had her flashlight spell at that time, she might have been able to blind his remaining eye with it, or for that matter, temporarily blind any opponent.

She HAD that spell, based on timeline. Might not be bright enough, or she didn't wanted to risk it. Or Dan didn't know she had it yet :)

In any case, I don't think it's retcon-worthy problem.

 

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2 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Losing that eye indicates that Not-Tengu's monster form has one weakness: His eyes. The Goo could just grow more eyes in its shell. And it now occurs to me that if Ellen had her flashlight spell at that time, she might have been able to blind his remaining eye with it, or for that matter, temporarily blind any opponent. Maybe Dan will realize that before he finishes his current NP arc about Ellen's powers.

Well Not-Tengu was stronger in that form, but he couldn't have been invincible. If Noriko was able to, she probably could have cut a hand, foot, or a whole limb off.

It's also quite possible that the form used in the New Years Eve encounter wasn't the same one used when Noriko fought him.

Also, while Ellen should have known about the flashlight ability, it could easily be explained that she didn't consider it after she failed to FV5 him, and she only used it in the heat of the moment while Not_Tengu was laughing about Nanase getting into her Guardian form. Ellen likely expected to catch him by surprised with it, but he must have somehow sensed her in time to brace for it.

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5 minutes ago, Scotty said:

she didn't consider it after she failed to FV5 him

Well, by her own admission Ellen isn't the sharpest pencil in the box. Although she was the one who figured out how to defeat Not-Tengu by running down the amgient energy he was using.

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

she didn't consider it after she failed to FV5 him

Well, by her own admission Ellen isn't the sharpest pencil in the box. Although she was the one who figured out how to defeat Not-Tengu by running down the amgient energy he was using.

If all their "medling teenagers" cases ended up not being actually magic or dangerous, she might not seriously think about offensive capabilities of her spells. Similarly how Elliot never considered he might need to train aerial combat. Sure, they have their martial arts training, but paradoxically Grace the pacifists takes the possibility she will need to actually fight more seriously than them. Of course, even she still failed in combat situation. They need more training ... unfortunately, they don't seem to have any time for it.

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6 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Tedd is only able to create wand with spells he knows. What spell Tedd knows can be used for effective defense? I would say likely none. He didn't even seem to actually study Cheerleadra, we know for certain he didn't study guardian form ...

It would be silly to assume we've seen every instance of Tedd studying his friends' spells.

But we DO know that he has seen and studied Nanase's fairydolls, and I'm pretty sure he's seen and studied Susan's too. The latter definitely have offensive capability. The former are, at a minimum, good for scouting. Considering that Ellen and Nanase beat Not-Tengu by superior knowledge of the local situation, it's obvious the gang is aware of the value of knowing what's going on. He's studied Sarah's spell as well, and it would be useful for the same purpose.

We also know that he's seen a number of Elliot's shapechanging spells. The combat advantages of those aren't obvious - but even living with all the restrictions, a physical weakling male could become an extremely muscular female far more capable of hand-to-hand combat. (Unfortunately, probably not including any relevant skills. But how about someone who had such skills and is now debilitated by age or injury?)

It's likely but unproven that he's seen some of Nanase's, Elliot's, Ellen's, and Susan's other spells. And some of his dad's.

 

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5 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

It would be silly to assume we've seen every instance of Tedd studying his friends' spells.

Every instance certainly not, but every spell quite possibly, especially spell which will be plot point later.

In any case, we know he didn't studied guardian form because Nanase can't cast it unless someone is really in danger.

7 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

But we DO know that he has seen and studied Nanase's fairydolls, and I'm pretty sure he's seen and studied Susan's too. The latter definitely have offensive capability. The former are, at a minimum, good for scouting. Considering that Ellen and Nanase beat Not-Tengu by superior knowledge of the local situation, it's obvious the gang is aware of the value of knowing what's going on. He's studied Sarah's spell as well, and it would be useful for the same purpose.

Nanase's persistent avatar spell is royal level magic. And Susan's is sorta complicated, spell within a spell and has lot of moving parts - and he didn't exactly had lot of time to get another look at it.

Sarah may be another case - he didn't had much time either but at least it was more than quick look. Still, it's complicated and requires lot of energy - wait. Tedd should have lot of energy AND Pandora knows that spell well AND knows HE knows it ... ok, that WOULD be possible spell for the wand.

13 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

The combat advantages of those aren't obvious - but even living with all the restrictions, a physical weakling male could become an extremely muscular female far more capable of hand-to-hand combat. (Unfortunately, probably not including any relevant skills. But how about someone who had such skills and is now debilitated by age or injury?)

I don't think Tedd plans to arm someone else. And he's not debilitated by age or injury, just physically unfit and with zero combat skills.

14 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

It's likely but unproven that he's seen some of Nanase's, Elliot's, Ellen's, and Susan's other spells. And some of his dad's.

Actually, his dad might not have lot of reasons to cast spells in house. And Susan doesn't have any other spells.

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19 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

...and studied Susan's too. The latter definitely have offensive capability.

Indeed they do, and, curiously, the same offensive capability as the crows in Adrian's murder shroud. There's no evidence that Adrian knows anything about Susan's magic. However, Edward knows plenty, and probably knows a lot about Adrian's magic.

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4 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

There's no evidence that Adrian knows anything about Susan's magic.

Well no, he wouldn't know, he hasn't even met Susan, yet.

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2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Actually, his dad might not have lot of reasons to cast spells in house.

We saw him cast a detection/identification spell on Mild Mannered Elliot.  And as far as I'm concerned, the Rorschach note and inexhaustible charts are magical abilities.

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2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Indeed they do, and, curiously, the same offensive capability as the crows in Adrian's murder shroud.

I think the fairy actually explodes stronger. On the other hand, Adrian has whole murder of those crows.

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

However, Edward knows plenty, and probably knows a lot about Adrian's magic.

That's assuming murder shroud is Adrian's favourite offensive spell or something (which is possible, but not confirmed). Adrian likely knows lot of spells and there was no need to show Edward all of them.

Note also that while Edward definitely knows about Susan's fairy, he may not be aware it explodes when unsummoned.

5 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:
2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Actually, his dad might not have lot of reasons to cast spells in house.

We saw him cast a detection/identification spell on Mild Mannered Elliot.

Which was pretty rare occasion.

6 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

And as far as I'm concerned, the Rorschach note and inexhaustible charts are magical abilities.

Obviously when he was writing the Rorschach note Tedd wasn't around. The charts, however, are likely something Tedd would be able to replicate.

I didn't say Tedd never saw Edward cast a spell. It's just that these two might be only ones Edward casted in house.

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2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

And as far as I'm concerned, the Rorschach note and inexhaustible charts are magical abilities.

You are just envious because your priests could never pull that off with their stone tablets written in Hieratic.

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48 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

You are just envious because your priests could never pull that off with their stone tablets written in Hieratic

No, that is an unavoidable side effect of stone carved documents.

Because of the permanent nature of stone carved documents, we only allowed the carvers with the best penmanship (Chisslemanship?) to make the official records.

Messages like Edward's depend upon the author's ability to write illegibly.

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3 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

No, that is an unavoidable side effect of stone carved documents.

Because of the permanent nature of stone carved documents, we only allowed the carvers with the best penmanship (Chisslemanship?) to make the official records.

Messages like Edward's depend upon the author's ability to write illegibly.

I guess that makes sense. I actually thought part of the problem was that you could get a magical hernia trying to conjure something as heavy as magical charts carved in stone to put on display.

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6 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Messages like Edward's depend upon the author's ability to write illegibly.

You know, every now and then I do wonder if archeologist are just reading what they subconsciously want to believe those hieroglyphs say.

Would there be a Rosetta stone for Edward's writing?

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