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More!
More info on the contest. More showing team work, and more flirting between Cassandra and Jeri. Interesting that the gods do want to eliminate each other, which goes along with the idea that they do encourage the champions to attack one another. Worried by this, about Cassandra and Jeri, This puts a whole new spin on don't date those you work with!
Yes and no
At least we know there will not be any underhanded dealings between Jeri and Cassandra for this race. It will just be a race.
I get the feeling this is not a ‘there can only be one scenario’. I believe the gods of a certain alliance want to emerge as being in control.
The opposing gods all represent some aspect or another so it makes me wonder what would happen if some god or another loses or ‘dies’, what would happen to the aspect they control.
Oh, and Jeri’s companions really need to call her Heather in these public outings.
Nice Catch...
They were confronting Nadine when Teri said it, and Robe/Mason wasn't around to try and help figure it out. Not sure Nadine could do so on her own in one try; Jeri may not be acting like Heather, but she's not in much of a position, given her profile, to act much like Jerry, either, and it was Matt and not Jeri who was using the paintball gun, which might otherwise be a key clue. Then again, Heather does know that Matt was Jerry's best friend; if she does figure it out, it'll all fit together for her.
That said, it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference to her; she's eager to kill whichever of the two survived. It's Mason and his patron who'd be reassured that the soul-killer really did work as advertised if/when they found out.
(So far, this scenario is looking a lot like the one I suggested in the comments last chapter: more of an excuse for champions to knock each other off than a real challenge. (Don isn't the only champion who's too slow to win a race; besides, can't some of them fly?) We'll see, once Jeri and companions get out of the city phase of this, whether there's anything else to it, like a goblin army on the path or some sort of riddle -- what's your favorite color? -- that gets you across a bridge or something.)
Eric
bye bye Robe
good one!
Great Battle
I found it assuming that Nadine and Robe were totally surprised about Heather/Jeri's new abilities.
I would think that they would assume that she could pick up new abilities since Robe's attack that killed Heather was probably one gained during play but maybe Intelligence is not one of their higher stats.
Bit of a non-sequitur question but...
We saw in a previous chapter that defeating a champion could be accomplished without actually killing the opponent. What is stopping Jeri and Cassandra from simply "defeating" each other over and over again for the stat bonus? Or are the stats gained by the victor lost by the defeated?
Ping pong winning
Their Patron may lose out and get penalized for trying to ‘game’ the system. I suspect the setup is biased to lose more in penalties than to gain in a particular champion vs champion battle.
Main problem is we do not know what the point system the arbiters use.
Something tells me that Don
Something tells me that Don isn't going to make it out of this. If I know Morpheus stories like I think I do, our team is going to lose their defender (in this case Don) before this is done.
Don
Robe has been taken out so nothing permanent can happen and Marsh armor is cracked which should help out Don.
hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna
Don would make a romantic match for Teri
so I hope he survives for that possible angle.
Jailbait
Flirting only for a while I would guess.
Well
Teri is involved in a life and death war under the supervision of the equivalent of a goddess. I would postulate that would qualify her for an exemption to relatively recent civil morality laws and conventions. Jeri almost got raped in the wargames and Teri shares that risk too. Therefore Teri should have some leeway if she wants to partake in consensual carnal pleasures before some champion might kill or rape her.
So who will give her a get out a jail free card?
I doubt her parents would be pleased about it.
This is an unacknowledged war so in regular life she would still cause trouble for Don if they try to hit a home run.
The muggles would not be impressed by her being a soldier. If anything she is technically a child soldier now and there are international conventions against that. Not that that has stopped armies from using them.
Re: "Don"
Michelle:
In Chapter 22, Ice Queen (Mary) was NOT killed when she was defeated by Cassandra.
As far as I am concerned, an enemy Champion isn't dead until "the Cleaner" pours SALT on the slug!
[if you put salt on a snail or slug, it turns into bubbles!]
Morpheus didn't include in the text:
"I let out a sigh of relief as Robe turned into bubbles - one less slug to deal with!"
Don may still be in trouble!
Being a trustworthy Alliey(sp?)
pays dividends it seems.
Jeri
I hope Teri calling her Jeri doesn’t lead to problems. Anyway she needs to accept she is Heather to the rest of the world and get used to it and get over she is alive and the original Heather is not.
hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna
Nadine 4
Nadine 1, Nadine 2, and Nadine 3 were posted to the prior two (2) Chapters...
********************
[Chapter 16]}}}
"...Your performance will be judged on numerous factors, including the threats you overcome and how you contribute to your team. In addition, there are three mid-level opponents and one high-level one, WHICH WILL BE WORTH GREATER REWARDS AND CONSIDERATIONS [emphasis added]..."
Champions are supposed to serve their patrons. Based upon what has already been revealed, the purpose of the contests are to adjudicate conflicts between the Patrons. Therefore, the highest priority of each individual Champion is to defeat: (1) the Dragon, (2)-(4) the troll, & the snake, the ???. The next priority is to: overcome threats [other creatures planted in the dungeon] and CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR TEAM.
All other factors [INCLUDING ATTACKING OTHER CHANPIONS] are secondary! The "evaluators of the competition" should consider placing a lesser factor above the highest priority factors to be a strong negative "consideration" in determining the evaluation of a specific Champion. [More on this later - from the perspective of six (6) Champions and two (2) Companions who actually participated in this contest]
As I discussed in Nadine 3, attacking other Champions (not in alliance or on your team) BEFORE or AFTER the Dragon Fight may be in the best interest of the Patrons. However, attacking another Champion in the middle of the Dragon Fight for personal reasons is NOT in the best interest of the Patrons and is a crime called Barratry (which carried a death sentence in the United States prior to 1885).
So, the question to be answered is did Nadine & Robe deliberately attack Heather and/or her Companions during the Dragon Fight for personal reasons?
*****************************
[Chapter 19]}}}
"...'Fucking pieces of shit,' Cassandra snarled. For a moment, it looked like she was about to help the dragon by attacking Nadine.
'I don't think they can claim dibs on the final boss,' Don pointed out with a wry smile. 'And remember, the Coordinator said that our performance would be rated partly by how much we contributed to the group effort...'
In spite of the fact that I [NewHeather] REALLY wanted to attack Nadine, even more than I wanted to avoid her, I owed it to Maelyne and my team to stay focused. So, I gave a grudging nod, then looked to Teri and Matt. Neither of them looked happy, but they nodded back.
'If I can't kill that bitch right now, at least I can steal her kill,' Cassandra said.
Since we all agreed, we charged into the fight, ..."
Before, during, and after the Dragon Fight, Magical Girl, Bored Girl ["Team Nadine"], and Greatsword ["Team Nadine"] made NO attempt to attack Heather's Team or support Nadine & Robe's attempt to attack Heather's Team!
Therefore, six (6) Champions and two (2) Companions who participated in the Dungeon Crawl all agreed that attacking Heather's Team or Nadine's Team during the Dragon Fight would be WRONG!
********************
Heather and Her Team heard the sounds of the Dragon Fight MORE THAN FIVE (5) MINUTES before arriving at the scene of the Dragon Fight!
[This is a very important fact in determining the purpose of Nadine's "alpha strike" on the Dragon during the Dragon Fight]
Once Heather's Team joined the Dragon Fight, Morpheus described all of the Champions and Companions present attacking the Dragon with the EXCEPTION OF HEATHER and NADINE [???] prior to Nadine's "alpha strike"!!!
Heather obviously didn't attack the Dragon because she had no "offensive weapon" and was concentrating on healing and shielding her team (whenever possible).
On the other hand, Nadine with a powerful attack weapon ("fireballs") did NOT attack, EVEN WHEN the Dragon hit Nadine with a Dragon Blast [which had NO "apparent effect in Nadine]!
Does this seem strange? Can you provide an explanation WHY?
No?
Well, I don't think it was strange and I can provide a very good reason why Nadine was not using her fireballs against the Dragon.
The Dragon Fight was going on for over five (5) minutes before Heather's Team showed up. During that time Nadine had ample time to launch enough fireballs at the Dragon to determine IF her fireballs could damage the Dragon[!].
In a comment to Chapter 21 (Nadine 1), I included a long discussion on a Dragon's ("Red Dragon's") resistance or immunity to damage from "fire ["fireball"] damage.
Since Nadine (who casts "fireball" attacks) is immune to a "Dragon Blast", then the "traditional belief that Dragons are resistant or immune to fire damage" should also be true.
Nadine had a very good reason for not throwing fireballs at the Dragon - her fireballs were ineffective against the Dragon.
[Chapter 19]}}}
"Robe was attacking the dragon's side with his scythe and a blast of purple energy, I guessed that the soul killer thing [purple blast?] he'd used to kill Heather, didn't do much against dragons..."
In my Nadine 1 comment I also discussed that Dragon's are believed to be immune or resistant to magic attacks. Based upon Chapter 19, it appears that Cassandra's "magic arrows" are more effective against a Dragon's immunity/resistance than Robe's "soul killing magic".
When Robe launched a ball of purple energy that "missed the Dragon by a good distance" and would have hit Jeri if Matt had not "pulled me [NewHeather] aside."[!], three (3) witnesses thought Robe intended to hit Heather and miss the Dragon!
[Chapter 19]}}}
"'What the hell does he think he's doing' Matt demanded furiously.
'Friendly fire', I answered grimly. He was taking advantage of the opportunity to attack me, while making it look like an accident. I didn't think that anyone would actually buy that though..."
[Chapter 19]}}}
"Nadine looked pissed that Robe had failed,..."
The evidence is overwhelming. Robe launched a purple ball of energy (he knew was ineffective against the Dragon) that was intended to DELIBERATELY MISS THE DRAGON AND KILL HEATHER!
[Chapter 19]}}}
"'Time to take that bitch down,' Cassandra said, glaring at Nadine.
For a couple of seconds, I thought that she was going to kill Nadine right then and there, in a 'friendly fire' accident. However, she shifted position and fired at the dragon instead. A glowing arrow hit the dragon right in the eye,..."
That arrow was the critical hit that killed the Dragon!
Facing the jury, the prosecutor with great indignation, raised his voice and said:
BARRATRY! BARRATRY! I say!
********************
To be continued in Nadine 5...
You ought to...
Be able to upvote some comments. Josette spends a lot of time analyzing these stories. Here's my kudo to her!
Oh enjoying Morpheus' story a lot too! Every chapter is a pleasure to read!
Two Points
You'd never get a conviction.
-- That form of barratry applies only in admiralty law. Domestic barratry is a different crime, generally involving frivolous lawsuits or ambulance-chasing attorneys.
-- Wikipedia comments that it's because barratry (at sea) was a capital offense that juries refused to convict even those who clearly committed the crime.
Eric
Well Robe is done
He's out of the game Nadine lost her Ace & he can't be revived ether as he was only a companion. So this is a good plus on the grand scheme of things. Good thing Don stepped in when he didoes he saved TerI, Matt & Heather. Too bad Consandra took off they could have used her help.
Love Samantha Renée Heart.
That's not how I read it
That is that Robe is a companion. I read that he and Nadine are allies but not that he is her companion. I read that he is the champion of another god. Of course I could be wrong. But as Josette said above, Morpheus (the god of the book) didn't say that she saw salt poured on his corpse (or holy water or whatever) so as to make sure it was completely destroyed. Yeah Don is looking at a stronger alliance in the future if he survives this bout.
Re: "Well Robe is Done" & "That's not how I read it"
Missy Mousey is right! Robe is a Champion. His Patron is Arakthiel (who gifted Robe "Soul Killer").
The reactions of Nadine, Matt, Teri, and Jeri imply that Robe was killed. His wound sounds pretty serious, but the text did not specifically state that he turned into bubbles. If I remember correctly, when Jeri & Teri killed Nadine, she turned into "bubbles"! When Ice Queen was defeated by Cassandra, she was not killed - NO BUBBLES were reported!
I've seen too many horror movies - after I kill the monster, I'm going to behead him, put a stake in his heart, pour holy water over the body, burn the body, put the ashes in a cold iron box with a silver cross, cover the box with chains, and throw the box into into a volcano (i.e. Symbolically throwing it directly into HELL!).
FYI: if you pour salt on a slug or a snail, the slug or snail turns into bubbles. My first home had a deck in the back. I had a slug problem, so I keep a salt shaker by the patio door to pour on the slugs crawling on the redwood deck. An effective non-poisonous solution.
Rules lawyer for the (next) win!
I don't believe that Matt was told the details of Heather's new weapon. After this, he will ask, and realize that Heather can charge it up before a challenge, so that Heather's first attack of a challenge will almost always be a one-shot kill. Heather has not figured out this tactic, but Matt has the mind-set to do so.
Maybe
It all depends on whether damage has to occur during battle with an opposing champion.
The arbiters are the one who has created the upgrade so they can rule lawyer it to death.
Mason
I have a feeling when he gets back, Mason is going to be severely pissed at Jeri killing him. He and Nadine will want to start watching how they attack Jeri & Co. Jeri has allies now, and isn't nearly as easy of a target anymore. Being a Gamer may have saved her life several times over, because she understand the mechanics of being a utility style character.
Never Leave
It's not smart to leave a wounded opponent at your back. Jeri should have finished off Nadine and left Don to deal with March.
Cheers
Zapper