Pact: A complete breakfast cereal brought to you by Wildbow [spoilers]

[Lamech]

He already has access to his books though. That's already the choice. Laird went to great lengths to choose out their gathering power for a great and furious vengeance.

[Fjolnir]

But does laird know about the mirror trick? He thinks he's cut off Blake from the building and its contents and doomed the family with his slow time trap, or at least delayed him for a period long enough where he will founder...

[Forum Explorer]

He already has access to his books though. That's already the choice. Laird went to great lengths to choose out their gathering power for a great and furious vengeance.

But does laird know about the mirror trick? He thinks he's cut off Blake from the building and its contents and doomed the family with his slow time trap, or at least delayed him for a period long enough where he will founder...

He doesn't know about the mirror trick. At all.

Also Blake was safe in the house. Now he's vulnerable to anyone who wants to take a shot at the Thornburn heir. Which has almost already killed him once and is forcing him to put himself at risk fighting demons. Basically Blake has to beat Conquest before he can even think about taking on Laird (and Laird doesn't know about Conquest's weakness).

Laird also offered peace in order to hedge his bets. He's willing to call it even because he figures that without the protection of the house Blake will just die, and the rest of the Thornburn's will follow. But it also means Blake is unlikely to go after Laird for round 3 simply because he doesn't want yet another enemy to deal with.

[Fjolnir]

Once conquest busts down the barrier for Blake though the ball game changes somewhat, they already know he has glamour skills from the house raid, what's stopping him from getting into town unnoticed then getting back to the house? Will it be better to apply external pressure and monitor him so they KNOW when he's home rather than allowing him to sneak back undetected?

[Fjolnir]

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A plan of sorts? Radioactive demons, Bacchanalia, Sphinx is unwilling to align herself with Blake or be helpful in any way, artist girl is strange, Rose noticed the person noticing her last time, and the best bet for finding a person to help him against conquest is likely also going to oppose him strongly as well.

[druid91]

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A plan of sorts? Radioactive demons, Bacchanalia, Sphinx is unwilling to align herself with Blake or be helpful in any way, artist girl is strange, Rose noticed the person noticing her last time, and the best bet for finding a person to help him against conquest is likely also going to oppose him strongly as well.

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Is it bad that I want to see Blake get over the fear of Diabolism that others have instilled in him and actually start making pacts and junk and then use the power for good? I mean sure, it's bloody, dangerous, and horrific, but so is a lot of other stuff in this world that people don't seem to think of as foul.

That, and taking Paux as a familiar would be cool.

[Forum Explorer]

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Is it bad that I want to see Blake get over the fear of Diabolism that others have instilled in him and actually start making pacts and junk and then use the power for good? I mean sure, it's bloody, dangerous, and horrific, but so is a lot of other stuff in this world that people don't seem to think of as foul.

That, and taking Paux as a familiar would be cool.

Really? I mean from just this new chapter we've seen that even a minor imp is trying to ruin the lives of an entire community and has killed multiple people and aiming for more.

Simply being around the imp for that long has caused Blake to get a peaceful dog to attack it's owner, rejection from a sphinx, and seems to be warping the personalities of those he's around. At this point I'm really hoping Blake can find a reliable power source that isn't demonic at all.

[Lamech]

Demons are seriously bad news. Pauz, the mini-demon, the fragment of a real demon is capable of wrecking a neighborhood. A lot of them in fact. More than that, he casually sets up a car accident. And he grows stronger after each failure! This guy isn't as bad as the disaster Maggie went through, but he doesn't bloody quit.

And this is just the refuse from a real demon.

[druid91]

Demons are seriously bad news. Pauz, the mini-demon, the fragment of a real demon is capable of wrecking a neighborhood. A lot of them in fact. More than that, he casually sets up a car accident. And he grows stronger after each failure! This guy isn't as bad as the disaster Maggie went through, but he doesn't bloody quit.

And this is just the refuse from a real demon.

That's just it, they have two things Blake really needs.

Power, and a willingness to work with him. For better or worse, his families debt has put him in the deep end of the alignment pool. He can't do /anything/ to pay that off without power of some kind.

As for Isadora, she wasn't really going to work with him at all, given her reaction in Conquests throne room.

[Forum Explorer]

That's just it, they have two things Blake really needs.

Power, and a willingness to work with him. For better or worse, his families debt has put him in the deep end of the alignment pool. He can't do /anything/ to pay that off without power of some kind.

As for Isadora, she wasn't really going to work with him at all, given her reaction in Conquests throne room.

From the looks of things you can't work with demons without getting negative karma and/or debt. It's a temporary solution that doesn't really solve the problems Blake faces. It does give him the skills needed for the demon lawyers to recruit him though.

[druid91]

From the looks of things you can't work with demons without getting negative karma and/or debt. It's a temporary solution that doesn't really solve the problems Blake faces. It does give him the skills needed for the demon lawyers to recruit him though.

Yes, but from there that simply requires strategic use. Ensuring that the harm doesn't undo the good. Hence why using Pauz is better than say, Ornias. Pauz is a spark, controllable.

Though I do wonder why something as... contained as the barber is lumped in with these other sorts. Yes, he's pretty horrific. But he doesn't seem like the sort to destroy everything just by existing.

[Fjolnir]

The barber is slaughter given form, without proper containment he will kill as many people as he can, disappear then do it somewhere else. I doubt any of the other bell residents have the means to actually stop the thing, despite their bluster.

[Lamech]

Right, the Barber just kills and kills and kills. In a horrible manner then casts you into hell. Sure it might not have the same level of radiation (or the radiation is contained), but its still nasty. However its also possible he has a bunch of terrible tricks we don't know about. We know a lot more about Pauz and he went from being a generally corrupting mote that messed up a place, to one that did it 30 times, to one that was clearly growing into a blaze, to one that was also spewing demonic fallout everywhere. Maybe its the same with the Barber.

Also does dealing with demon's mess up Karma by default? Everything has a cost. If you get bathed in radiation that probably covers some of the cost. And if they DO mess up Karma by default that would seem to imply the Universe itself is at war with demons.

[Forum Explorer]

Also does dealing with demon's mess up Karma by default? Everything has a cost. If you get bathed in radiation that probably covers some of the cost. And if they DO mess up Karma by default that would seem to imply the Universe itself is at war with demons.

Makes sense really. Generally demons tend to be against the creators of the universe in most mythologies.

[druid91]

Makes sense really. Generally demons tend to be against the creators of the universe in most mythologies.

Wasn't it implied that the Demons were former creators who turned to destroyers to keep some sort of cosmic balance?

[Lamech]

Makes sense really. Generally demons tend to be against the creators of the universe in most mythologies.

But the Universe is a jerk-face. So maybe demons, are the best weapon to use to make things better. Of course, that probably wouldn't make things much better in terms of Blake's Karma...

Edit: Also on the Knights of the Basement, isn't a whole factory rather large for a demesnes? Laird and co. all have a room as theirs.

[Socratov]

I odn't agree with the whole diabolism==bad karma. All we know is the Thorburn family has massive karmic debt. We also know that making deal with devils and demons are agreements or promises. We also know that forsaking a debt is instant bad karma (losing powers and begetting wrath and such). so has anybody considered that the only reason the Barber is still around is becuase along the line the Thorburns have made deals they couldn't keep? Thus accruing a massive karmic debt and setting the bad karma ball to roll as it were...

To me it seems that every Thorburn has needed power to defend herself, thus dealing with devils and demons (resources) to get that power, and by promising things they couldn't deliver on accrue debt. The problem is, when they realise they can't fullfill their obligations they have accrued more debt they paid off and pass it on to the next generation. Blake's advantage in here is the short term game: he manages to make connections and deals that last only a short while so if everythiong goes bonkers he can still repair it or amend it in a short while. Others ahve accrued enough carmic balance to afford to play the long game and not to lose anything really valuable in return. Even though Blake is rattling their fences. I think that if Blake can manage to strike Laird for a third time and 'conquer' conquest that he has really made an impacton his karmic debt to at least gain some momentum. And when he does, he might even make it to pensioning age.

[Lamech]

And when he does, he might even make it to pensioning age.

If you need to retire in a world with magic and life extensions you've done it wrong. I mean, unless you retire to heaven or something. As Xykon says, "a paint-by-numbers kit to avoid the great fire down below".

I had a thought, it was implied if the Barber got in you he would stick around in there and never leave. And now Conquest is asking Blake to do exactly that? This is not ending well for Conquest...

[Forum Explorer]

I odn't agree with the whole diabolism==bad karma. All we know is the Thorburn family has massive karmic debt. We also know that making deal with devils and demons are agreements or promises. We also know that forsaking a debt is instant bad karma (losing powers and begetting wrath and such). so has anybody considered that the only reason the Barber is still around is becuase along the line the Thorburns have made deals they couldn't keep? Thus accruing a massive karmic debt and setting the bad karma ball to roll as it were...

To me it seems that every Thorburn has needed power to defend herself, thus dealing with devils and demons (resources) to get that power, and by promising things they couldn't deliver on accrue debt. The problem is, when they realise they can't fullfill their obligations they have accrued more debt they paid off and pass it on to the next generation. Blake's advantage in here is the short term game: he manages to make connections and deals that last only a short while so if everythiong goes bonkers he can still repair it or amend it in a short while. Others ahve accrued enough carmic balance to afford to play the long game and not to lose anything really valuable in return. Even though Blake is rattling their fences. I think that if Blake can manage to strike Laird for a third time and 'conquer' conquest that he has really made an impacton his karmic debt to at least gain some momentum. And when he does, he might even make it to pensioning age.

If it was just the Thorburns sure. But we also have all of the demon lawyers, each who got an unsustainable amount of debt so they struck the bargain. And we've seen no signs that they have counterparts among the fairies and goblins.

[Lamech]

There is more than just Karma that can go bad. It is a clearing of all debts. It could have bailed Blake out of Conquest. It could bail him out of the crap in Jacob's Bell. It could bail him out of something going terribly wrong with a demon. Its nine words and then you are nice and safe.

And seeing as how like, everyone hates diabolists, and diabolists have a tendency to deal with really dangerous powers AND die to them, it seems likely some people do it for other reasons than Karma.

[Fjolnir]

You generate True Karmic Debt as a practitioner of any stripe, it doesn't matter who you contract with, no matter what you end up with bad debt on the books, diabolists have trouble with generating positive karma, that is finding creatures willing to deal with them in such a way that the debt is on the creature rather than the diabolist...

[Forum Explorer]

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whoa. Any theories on what happened to Rose? My guess is that the imp was following them around the whole time and that Rose is currently reforming.

[Fjolnir]

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If not that, someone is messing with the chain...

[Lamech]

Perchance the enchantresses from Jacob's Bell. It is connected to Conquest and he IS wandering around Jacob's bell. Although somehow that might not end well for the Enchantresses.

"Oh hey look at this connection? I wonder how Rose made such a strong one. And why? Maybe its a demon or something she doesn't want to lose control of? Alright then, lets turn this connection around and yoink them here. Hey, Conquest, exactly who I was looking for!"
"Oh hey, more slaves! Exactly what I was looking for!"

[druid91]

I like the pet theory on the comments.

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Pauz is of the Fifth Choir, Rose said his name how many times?

[Lamech]

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So Pauz's endgames here
1) Blake dies, but leaves bindings intact. Conquest will notice, and pick up the book with the bound demon. Pauz gets Conquest. No pesky demonologists.
2) Blake lives on his own power. Pauz get's Conquest, and he knows Blake is actually competent. This is the worst outcome, but he still get's Conquest
3) Blake frees Pauz. Pauz is obligated to protect him, but Blake fails his end of the bargain. Pauz makes the same contract but outside of his crazy territory. He still gets Conquest.

End results: Pauz get's Conquest. He also might gain land or get rid of demonologists.

But what about Blake?
1) Blake's just dead.
2) Pauz can't hurt Blake directly or indirectly. Since most everything in Toronto will be made worse by Pauz Blake has a new demon protector in Pauz tainted areas!
3) Pauz needs Blake alive! Blake has a demon powered incarnation protector for everywhere! He can go back to Jacob's Bell and brag about how Conquest has his back.

So unless Blake dies, this is a pretty good deal. And since Blake has two escape buttons (lawyers, Pauz) there is no excuse for that.

[123456789blaaa]

Spoiler: Thursday update

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Basics first.

“The terms of this contract exist between me, Blake Thorburn, and…”

“Pauz, given of the Marquis Andras, both of the fifth choir, foul and fair.”

And, after the birds collected for a moment, then parted, the Imp made its appearance.

Two feet tall, proportioned like a baby, it was lipless, its mangled double row of fangs exposed. The eyes were pale, like a blind man’s, the skin somewhere between ashy gray and black.

“Pauz, of the fifth choir, feral and foul,” he said, in a deeper voice that didn’t fit his frame.

[Lamech]

Alright, you guys know about the Thursday update.

Rose is fair. I mean, youthful girl, presumably comparatively fit, with old-timey clothes? That's got to be cute. Clearly this means that Pauz is Rose's familiar and took her cuteness. (He just needs to go change first.) Rose probably got a high dose of radiation and is letting that wear off. Everything is gonna be great!

Right guys? Wildbow would be that nice?

Edit: Someone goes into a coma because they have brain damage. Derp. On the plus side if Blake makes it out alive Pauz won't be able to defend himself against Blake. That will come in handy.

[123456789blaaa]

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False alarm. Turns out it was just a typo that has been corrected. And here I was so happy to point out a hint in the text before everyone else . Does make more sense though.

[Lamech]

I wonder if its bad Karma to attack someone who has agreed not to harm you.