11 KiB
[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil Book 3: Interlude: Liesse II
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Author: u/Yes_This_Is_God *
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URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/interlude-liesse-ii/
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Score: 49
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Created: 2018-02-05T05:05:10
Post:
Comments:
u/haiku_fornification [+29] (3 hours later)
“Let us play a game, creatures,” he said mildly. “I call it ‘burning down the house with everyone in it’.”
Ah, the good old Foundling gambit. Masego, you've learned so well.
u/Nihilvin [+19] (13 minutes later)
By the end of this all the legions loyal to the Calamities would have been decimated. Very convenient.
u/haiku_fornification [+11] (3 hours later)
I'm not sure this is Black's doing. Killing most of the generals during the battle would neatly avoid any suspicion that could be thrown Cat's way but at the same time the legions are already losing. Without the generals to lead them I honestly can't see them winning this one.
If I was being cynical I would say this is Malicia's plan. Get rid of the Black & Cat power block and eliminate Akua at the same time. She would stand to gain the most if all three died in this engagement as it would mean she would be the only power in the Empire and she had a lot of plausible deniability if the plan doesn't pan out.
u/Nihilvin [+9] (5 hours later)
True. The kill could very well have come from Assassin. I've always suspected Assassin is her Spymaster and takes orders from Malicia and not Black. Remember that Assassin was in Procer when Black thought Assassin was supposed to be working on the Wandering Bard and nothing in the interludes thus far indicates that Black is actually close to Assassin.
Tinfoil theory: Cat will become the Black Queen and Malicia will marry Cat to seal the 2 kingdoms together, mirroring the Fae. It's already been setup by the fact that Cat notices Malicia is lesbian.
u/M3mentoMori [+3] (13 hours later)
Cat marrying Malicia
All of my yes. They can adopt a little hellion of a child and pretend to depose each other every other tuesday.
u/BlitzBasic [+3] (5 hours later)
But she also decreases the power of the empire as a whole. Sure, she won't have any inner enemies, but when Procer comes knocking she is fresh out of Named, her armies are decimated and her best generals are dead. Those aren't particulary good odds, especially considering the Empires military leaders consider that war to be a challenge even with intact legions and Named.
u/RynnisOne [+2] (8 hours later)
That's cool and all, but having generals and armies only matters if that's the only way you can win.
Malicia has other plans at this point, using what she gets from Akua and combined with whatever she's been hiding, she may not need armies anymore.
u/Subjunctive__Bot [-1] (3 hours later)
If I were
u/Yes_This_Is_God [+9] (32 minutes later)
Good point. Someone's playing 7-D dragonchess.
u/Nihilvin [+2] (47 minutes later)
Could also be the zombie soup everyone was talking about. No reason to believe it was infecting only the 15th
u/Oaden [+10] (5 hours later)
Suspects for the murder:
Assassin, Certainly able, but the motive is muddy. Even if black is cleaning house, his actual team hasn't been shown to be on board with any supposed suicide pact for the sake of cat. Also, from what we've seen he generally kills with a bit more style.
Robber: He's a sneaky little bastard, and we haven't seen in him months, but the motive is even weirder. It would supposedly be at Cat's command, and she isn't certain enough of a win to risk offing commanders during the battle.
Akua's pet: The 15th cleared house, but Istrid's legions didn't. The motive is obvious
Cordelia's spys: Technically possible, but she made no assassination attempts outside her borders this far.
Malicia's spys: Malicia has eyes everywhere, and she has plans for the weapon, so some interventions by her can be expected. Still feels awfully confident to just assume you will win even if you start killing your own commanders
u/paradoxinclination [+7] (39 minutes later)
Well this battle has turned into a complete shitshow. The only way I can imagine for the Legions to survive this would be for Catherine, Masego or Warlock to somehow seize control of either the wights or the gate. It shouldn't be impossible given the importance of usurpation in sorcery, but I sure as hell can't see how they're going to manage it right now.
u/idannadi [+5] (an hour later)
Warlock is working seizing the Gate. The only one which could seize the wights (in terms of theme) is Catherine and she is going to be busy for quite a while.
u/werafdsaew [+3] (an hour later)
I think the Legions (except the 15th) not surviving is going to be the result. And convenient too, from a narrative stand point, as it means that the Empress must rely on the 15th for the crusade.
u/ForgottenToupee [+6] (4 hours later)
Alright, time to test if this is truly rational fiction or not. If it is, we should be able to deduce who the murderer of Istrid Knightsbane was if we were paying close enough attention.
So who killed Mr. Body?
I think it was the Black Knight, with the Assassin, on the battlefield.
u/NotACauldronAgent [+7] Probably (10 minutes later)
When reading Masego’s segment, I couldn’t help but recall:
We hold all Earth to plunder—
All Time and Space as well—
Too wonder-stale to wonder
At each new miracle;
Till, in the mid-illusion
Of Godhead 'neath our hand,
Falls multiple confusion
On all we did or planned—
The mighty works we planned.
-Kipling
It seemed... Appropriate.
u/Ibbot [+2] (a day later)
So if I want to buy a Name, are you not part of the right organization to contact?
u/NotACauldronAgent [+3] Probably (a day later)
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u/BBBence1111 [+2] (5 days later)
Only my life savings? That's cheap as hell! Gimme!
u/NotACauldronAgent [+1] Probably (5 days later)
It is convenient, isn't it? You will be leaving to a new plane, so all of your material possessions and 2/5 of your organs can easily be sacrificed to increase your life's savings. Luckily we have some of the best salespeople and surgeons in the multiverse.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Congratulations on your imminent ascension! As our 16th applicant to PGtE'verse, you have received a special intra-uplinker, so you can let us know how everything goes over there! Best of luck.
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (23 minutes later)
A traitor, but who?
u/cyberdsaiyan [+8] (2 hours later)
Either Procer or Black himself setting the stage for the calamities' exit.
u/MoralRelativity [+6] (3 hours later)
Both of those are definitely possibilities as are Akua and Malica.
u/cyberdsaiyan [+7] (3 hours later)
Akua is too obvious a target. And know that most of her plants were cleared. Malicia... definitely a possibility, assuming she thinks Black will rebel, but I think she's the type that would wait until the war was over to do something like this. Or maybe she's in on Black's plan. Or maybe its her plan and Black is helping to execute it. Damn, so many possibilities.
u/MoralRelativity [+3] (3 hours later)
Yes, most but not all. But I agree that Akua is too obvious.
u/idannadi [+1] (51 minutes later)
We were missing someone to replace Scribe of the old Calamities - to be affiliated, shady, deadly and not technically a Calamity. It seems to me like Robber is taking that role and here he is, cleaning up the Legions loyal to the Calamities.
We know Scribe and Assassin have an odd relationship, Robber and Theif fit to have their own.
It also seems to me like Black is knowingly helping to achieve this by overextending his Sixth back in the start. Well played Black, as brutal as ever.
Also, Talbot, you misunderstand what the Empress is doing to your country. Annexation in truth because it comes with merger.
u/Sarkavonsy [+7] (2 hours later)
I don't think that was Robber. As the comments on the chapter discuss, Goblin steel weapons are standard for high-ranking members of the Legions. Cat herself wields goblin steel, iirc. So there's no reason to believe those last two paragraphs mean a goblin was responsible. It could easily be an assassin planted by Akua, or even by Cordelia to weaken the Legions in preparation of her crusade.
u/idannadi [+3] (2 hours later)
These generals are loyal to Black and are a wild canon once he dies. If someone would be assasinating them it would be the Empress not Cordelia.
Maybe Assassin is cleaning house.
u/CeruleanTresses [+3] (2 hours later)
Was it Robber? Does the blade being goblin steel necessarily mean that a goblin wielded it?
u/Oaden [+6] (5 hours later)
No, Goblin steel means its wielded by someone from the legion. Not specifically a goblin.
Technically there's also resurrected wights that wield goblin steel, but their blade wouldn't have been poisoned (Why poison your blade if you are gonna fight undead?)
So its someone from her side, and it happened during the fighting, or i imagine she would have felt it.
u/vshvsh [+3] (7 hours later)
Even that's not a given: we've had an interlude where some highborns tried to smuggle goblin steel.