Shadow086

And now Urvan is no more, a fitting end for one such as him. But I must disagree with Dorf: Porvus needs to be turned into a pile of ashes or into nothingness. So the ancients had space elevators. Interesting. The constant need for supplies suggests to me that this planet wasn't colonised, but rather a mining operation of some kind, with minimal staff to maintain the machines and send the extracted resources to the cargo docks above. Though I must say, Porvus getting access to a spaceship sounds like a bad time for everyone else. Perhaps, once this is all over, Jamie and his friends will end up visiting other stars on this vessel.

That's sensible, but wouldn't it also make sense to kill some of the bad ones now when they're not having to deal with Porvus and Urvan at the same time? What I think is most likely to happen, however, is that they'll rescue Rier and the few others that show up with him, then Rier will join them. And Dorf would probably do the killing of the ones who can't be rescued, as I feel Jamie would be hesitant to do so knowing they might be innocent.

Does it make a difference? If he doesn't try to release them now, they'll probably be part of the counterattack and then Jamie and crew will have to kill them, so they'd die anyway. At least Jamie would be giving them a chance by trying to release them. And I think the strategic goal here would be to reduce the enemy's numbers as much as possible by non-violent means.

Silly Urvan. These are no fools, they're children. And I know one thing meddling kids are good at. 😇

Jamie got greedy and paid for it, but he'll get another chance. He'll need to find a way to paralyse Urvan as well, so he doesn't get away like this again. The lens must be working overtime to sift through and learn all the new possibilities of the magicks learned in this fight. You know, I wonder. If Seeri taught them how to translocate objects from specific places, does that apply to people as well? Translocating Urvan back to the tower for another beatdown would be such a power move. 😄 And I feel like all the pieces have been put into play for that to happen, Jamie just needs to put them together. It might be worth the effort to try and remove Porvus's influence from all the other mages as well. Those that were taken against their will canleave, and those that still side with Porvus can be taken care of by Dorf. Either way, it would weaken Porvus and Urvan.

It could be, but This suggests he's been there. Even then, I wonder if he needs to have been there at all. Perhaps just knowing what it looks like and the certainty that such a place exists will be enough. I mean, Jamie is all about making the impossible very possible right now.

I keep thinking that the mages may have fought a defensive war. A lot of what's been revealed so far suggests that 'magick' has something to do with electromagnetism and/or radio frequency. As such, the Ancients would have had a much more advanced scientific understanding of it and may have tried to neutralize these psychic abilities. Now you have a group of mages discovering new abilities and using them to improve the lives of their communities, and government agents come along and try to forcibly take those powers away. More and more mages means it's harder to keep them under control, the mages start to band together and resits, and things escalate from there, leading to war. It's also possible that, instead of being destroyed during the great wars, a bunch of the Ancients just got on their starships and left. I'm a bit hesitant to trust Seeri for now, but we'll see how things unfold. At least it sounds like Rier is too important to be one of the grey mages they already killed. That would suck for her. It's also worth noting that Porvus doesn't know how to fully operate the surveillance mechanisms and machinery present throughout this place. Perhaps Jamie can beat him to it and bring his own army of battle robots to the fight.

Nah, I'm just somewhat good at over-analyzing what others have written. 😅

The ancients have Wifi! Now Jamie just needs to unplug the router and disable their machines. 😆 I feel like Kundun's suggestion and Jamie's new discovery about the electrum patterns are not unrelated. Though he doesn't know it, Jamie seems to be on the cusp of discovering a scientific explanation for magick. My best guess would be something to do with frequency and wavelength, but I'm no scientist, and those high school classes are but a distant memory now. 😅 I have no doubt that Jamie will figure out a way to stop magicks before they reach the final confrontation. (If magick is some kind of electromagnetic wave, does that mean his protection against mind magicks is a nether tinfoil hat? Something to think about...)

So as we've seen with Dakota, the feeling of attraction is mutual. I hope the two meet again soon. Brandy's reaction was a bit strange, but nothing alarming. It seems she's just not the horse for Connor. Maybe the ones from his dreams? Something stood out to me though. I found that an odd joke to make. Maureen almost makes it sound like she thinks Connor's a werewolf or something. With Brandy's reaction and Connor's strange dreams, I'm inclined to think the same thing.

I keep thinking about why Jamie hasn't tried to create a device that lets people see in the nether. At some point the knowledge of nether machines will need to be passed along, and Flitch won't always be there to share his idrinytz. Surely a substitute can be made. These new revelations make me wonder, is there something on this planet that facilitates the emergence of magical abilities, given enough time? This also means that the ancients may still be alive and thriving on other planets out there. It would be quite a shock if they came back to check on the state of their colony. 😇 While the vision was vague, I sense a pending betrayal in the ranks of the evil mages, possibly caused by their inability to stop Jamie.

Great introduction to Dakota, and hints of things to come. I'll admit that the horse and leatherworking stuff flew right over this city boy's head, but I still found it interesting. I'm more partial to Connor's side of things for now, but I'm looking forward to the two boys meeting again and getting to know each other better.

Interesting that they went back to the castle and not Thorvil's shop. But they were overdue for this strategic retreat. Perhaps Jamie should take another look and try to remove the curse? He also needs to warn Kundun of Porvus's plans. I wonder about the purpose of this visit. Is he planning to tell Kundun all of what he has discovered? Or maybe he'll want to put it in a book or some kind of magickally protected device? Regardless, I'm curious. Jamie needs to find a way to make sure his and the group's knacks are secured and can't be taken away like he did to Skoda. This should be one of his top priorities. I wonder what the reactions will be upon meeting the peoples of the lowlands...

I've been wondering about Porvus's eyepatch, and if it might not be some equivalent of the group's enhanced sight. I also wonder if they would be able to tell that Skoda's knack was removed. I have to assume that if the evil mages were not capable of doing the same, or aware that it was even possible (and judging by Skoda's reaction, they were not), they will be quite shocked when they investigate the aftermath of this battle. Jamie is dangerous and a very serious threat to them now. If I was a grunt in this operation and was sent to face Jamie in battle, I'd be terrified. It was a wise decision to backtrack and travel on the surface, Porvus would most likely expect them to remain in the tunnels and can easily ambush them there. As for Urvan, I'm starting to suspect he may have left the forest to perform some other nefarious deed. Or serving as an impromptu snack for a hungry treef, but I suppose that's too much to ask for...

@Joie J. The thing about Matty and Rusty, in my opinion, is that they're both afraid of scaring the other off, so they try to downplay it or appear uninterested to cover their tracks, and it created a negative feedback loop. Matty freaked out about the kiss, and chickened out of admitting his feelings because he thinks Rusty is straight and he's worried that Rusty will get angry or upset at rumours of him being gay. Clearly his fears are unfounded. Rusty, I believe, has finally admitted, if not accepted, that he has deeper feelings for his baby dude, but thinks Matty's not interested in him that way (because of Matty's attitude when he tries to hide his own feelings). So Rusty tries to push their relationship along by using his familiar tactic of turning everything into a joke and pretending it's no big deal. Misunderstandings all around, but love will prevail. 😄

The way I saw that was more that Matty was worried about the PDA negatively affecting Rusty. He's overthinking this and clearly doesn't want to be the cause of any "Rusty Parker turned gay!" gossip or rumours. He's so protective of his boyfriend-in-all-but-name, maybe too much so. Don't worry, Rusty, there's no way I'll ever treat you as my dirty little secret! I'll give you all the PDA you could ever want, and more behind closed doors. 😇 Hmmm, looking back, I think Rusty tried to play it off and was just using Xpress as a convenient excuse to go out on a date with Matty and act all boyfriend like in public. Too bad his scheme backfired. I had some faint hopes for John, but it looks like he's too far gone in that stupid cult. However, if it's any consolation, I believe he moved in with Connor and is blackmailing him. But Connor can't help himself and will do something that gets his secrets exposed.

There's also the idea that a lot of our modern science and technology might have been considered magic or witchcraft by people of Jamie's time period. It's also really fun for me to try to guess all the things Jamie is describing, and having that 'aha!' moment when it becomes clear. I still can't figure out how he's able to sense electric currents though. 😅

What I really like is that Jamie doesn't try to have all the answers, but he manages to come up with the right questions. A good leader also knows who to ask those questions to.

These hidden maintenance tunnels appear safe for now, but I worry that Porvus will discover their existence and attempt to flood them and drown or trap our heroes. I believe their new ally may himself be a mage and being cautious. I also think there may something in these ruins or in the general area that facilitates the development of magickal abilities after prolonged exposure. My first thought is that magick uses the same principles as the keys, so possibly some electromagnetic force. I'm really enjoying the 'knowledge is power' approach our group takes in their adventure, and everything leads me to believe the magick is more grounded in science than it appears at first glance. That Jamie seems to intuitively rediscover physics in and on his own terms, and applies those concepts to improvise solutions is quite impressive. I like it. 😄

Maybe the real magick is the friends they make along the way. (Sorry, I couldn't resist) 😇 So now we have giant electric spiders with laser beams. Okay, no big deal. I like to think that the spider had some kind of camera in it, and the last thing Porvus saw was a clear blue sky and rapidly approaching mountains before the machine was destroyed and he lost the signal. 😄 It would be great if Jamie and crew could find a different mode of travel, I don't think the tunnels are a safe option at this point. I just don't see Porvus letting them wander around unimpeded from this point on. The man must be getting incredibly frustrated, and also a little scared that this group of mere children are not only not intimidated by his powerful magicks and weapons of the ancients, but have also defeated them twice. Not a good look, Mister Evil Mage.

Hmmm, another ally, and the group now makes itself known. Surely Porvus will want to investigate when his henchmen don't return. Jamie may be tracked much more closely from now on. Bastyin will need to be very careful about what he teaches future Lachess mages, the knowledge he is gaining can't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

Well, truth be told, I already read them, but this is a good excuse to read it again, and I love the interaction on here. It's going to be a fun ride. 😄

Our little group is becoming quite a formidable force at this point. I wonder if they might not soon be able to unravel the prince's curse on their own. I think their significant advantage right now is an element of surprise, but also Jamie's connection to the nether. If the evil mages were to find out about this and start to use the nether machines for their own ends, it would be disastrous indeed. I look forward to seeing what they find back on the ground level. (I've been thinking about the great wall and its peculiar construction, and I can't help but imagine it was the base for some kind of protective dome or force field. Let's see if I'm right.)

Great start to the story, I'm looking forward to more!

Hmmm, the plot thickens. The use of the term "com centre" makes me wonder. Could Porvus and the people of Methuwan actually a group of surviving ancients? They seem to know how to maintain and operate the technology. This lightning attack. Might it be the method used to activate the launching mechanism in the rocket silo?