Ah. Like the capsaicin bugs. Yeah, I get what you mean, but I don't think we've seen any of that in Pact. Blake seems to be the opposite of Taylor in many aspects. He's better at on the fly, while she loved her plans and preparation. More likely is he comes up with some on the fly way to beat Conquest's pawns (like the trap for the Hyena) over and over until Conquest is weakened enough for Blake to beat.

 

Really? I only ever recall her making the spider thread off screen. All the setup with it was generally done on screen unless I'm forgetting some (which I probably am). After the first time she used the thread I just thought it was assumed that she always had some made and on her unless explicitly stated that she didn't.

 

No, there were plenty of instances where we got a throwaway line of "I had a group of spiders start spinning thread" or something similar. Other times we'd watch Taylor get backed into a corner only to realize that she'd wound a loop around her enemy's throat/legs/arms.

 

Yeah, what Menace said.

Taylor was somewhat infamous for it IIRC. Fair enough about Blake though. We haven't seen the same kind of off-camera action yet.

 

I was actually thinking that Blake had agreed right then an there earlier on in the chapter to kill himself. lol

I'm not sure how Fate works in the Pact-verse, so it's kind of difficult to guess how Blake will navigate this.

Trust no hoe, Blake. Trust no hoe.

 

So that chapter didn't happen. I'm liking the meta-play Wildbow is having with chapters involving the Behaims and other memory/time-fucking beings. I also like everything to do with the goblins. Their fights are always amusing.

 

I really like that Wildbow is willing to use the medium to communicate the story in ways that wouldn't necessarily work in a normal book. Much like the infamous Eidolon interlude pt 2, the missing Thursday update was a nice touch.

 

I'm not really sure I understood exactly what happened in this chapter.

Rose(the grandmother) taught Laird diabolism, in exchange for more time alive.

She used the barber to make Mirror-rose? by doing some kind of ritual on Charles(Blake's dad?)

The Behaims have been using their stored power a lot recently. So its either Laird being free to use it as he sees fit or they're finally executing their plan?

Someone willing to offer more clarity on the chapter?

 

Rose taught Laird diabolism so that he could protect himself against Rose's heirs and gained some extra life so that she may pass on her knowledge to her grandchildren. She summoned the Barber and bartered with it using Charles, which I expect is how she bound it in the first place. The bargain they come to has something to do with Aimon not being able to remember certain things and may be linked to his father's death.

Years later Malcolm Behaim dies and Rose announces her plan to use the Barber to construct a mirror-reflection of her heirs (presumably they'd each be different for each heir, given that they're reflections of the person in question). This is how we got Rose. Aimon tells her that he is not making Laird swear any oaths to protect the power of the Behaims, which is how he's been doing so much crazy time travel shit.

 

I think the key sentence was Rose saying "If conflict is due, then conflict will happen.” Rose and Aimon wanted to catalyze a change in the power structure, so they empowered their children to do so, with the understanding that they would end up in conflict to do so. Thence the need for protections for the Behaims and Aimon's question, “You’d leave your heirs defenseless?”.

 

I read the reflection thing differently. One reflection of Grandma!Rose fitted to a single heir.

 

That doesn't work though because Rose is a reflection of Blake's life rather than Grandmother Rose's.

 

One of the things I like about this chapter (and Pact in general) is the restraint that Blake shows. He can't exactly go and kill/maim somebody via demon and then try an rationalize in his mind that he is "one of The Good Diabloists". It seems pretty clear that Rose will be the first one to dip their toe into that proverbial pool. There's also the thing with the Behaim's being true believers in the merit of getting rid of Blake and people like him. I can empathize with the things they're doing, most of the time.

You know, Pauz really creeps me out. All in all, I'd say that Blake has played it pretty fair with Laird. Not too little, and not too much.

 

It's just unfortunate that most of that antagonists in Pact see Rose and Blake as one unified entity (or two sides of the same coin). If Rose summons anything nasty, Blake shoulders both the Karma and the backlash from the practitioner community.

I'm really liking where the story is going now. Jacob's Bell was a hard starting point for me, but Toronto has been refreshing. Mostly because it's not just the Blake and Rose Show anymore. Wildbow seems to operate best with a wide pool of characters for the protagonist to interact with.

 

Shit just hit the fan in classic Wildbow fashion. If Blake gets through this then he's practically won seeing as everyone is now gathered around him.

I'm thinking Rose will be forced to summon something bigger but I don't know if she'd be willing to sacrifice all the good karma they've been racking up.

 

How much further can Blake be pushed? Up until now, it's him who's been shouldering the burdens of his karma, but I don't know if his integrity is going to hold up with Fell and Alexis bleeding out on the street, while the Sphinx prepares to munch on his ribcage (no chianti necessary). Maybe it shouldn't, honestly. If this is what temperance and restraint wind up earning a diabolist, there's something to be said for Blake singing the song that ends the earth.

 

Rose seems very willing to fight fire with fire and damn the consequences.
To bad Blakes going to die, eh?

 

I think it would be a mistake on wildbow's part if he killed the protagonist halfway through the series and replaced him with someone much less sympathetic (Rose). I'm guessing that the Sphinx doesn't actually kill him, but leaves him to die with no clothes in the cold, deferring responsibility. That's why the concept was introduced. Or maybe she does rip his guts out, but doesn't kill him immediately. Then Rose uses demons to keep him alive and maybe heal Fell and Alexis.

 

Soo Fells dead just like that. I know that he wasn't a friend to Blake or anything but damn it seems like just an afterthought and it sucks. I liked him I thought he'd have a large role especially since he had an interlude and everything. I guess this means his niece comes into play then. I still want Fell to come back, he can be Blake's familiar.

Blake not trusting Rose is good. I don't trust Rose and its good to see how Blake sees that. I hope whatever happens in their relationship happens soon and isn't left to fester for another ten arcs or something.

 

Fell was probably my favorite character and now he's dead. He's not gone, though, so maybe he'll be coming back.