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[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil: Book 4: Interlude: Kaleidoscope IV
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Author: u/Mystrl *
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URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/05/30/interlude-kaleidoscope-iv/
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Score: 86
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Created: 2018-05-30T04:32:11
Post:
Comments:
u/Yes_This_Is_God [+26] (14 minutes later)
KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE in the 30th inning with the SURPRISE COMEBACK.
But seriously, parading your mortal enemy around as a cloak? Cat learned better from Black than to do something so foolish.
I am disappointed, if for nothing else than the fact that I can't look forward to the next session of expected medieval battle spreadsheet wankery and have to wait for this side-plot to resolve.
u/ATRDCI [+19] (20 minutes later)
To be fair to Cat, her fae body means oaths such as those made as to what Akuas fate would be hold more pwer over her then other people. It's not totally her decision to wear an Akua cape
u/Yes_This_Is_God [+14] (37 minutes later)
I took a look at the end of Book 3. I didn't see any oaths on Akua's fate, but I did see this.
“Do you know why my arm keeps getting twisted?” I said. “Leverage, Thief. That is what I lack the most. They all have things I want or need, and I have precious little of the same. That little piece is a kind leverage. It may be that I never use it, and that within the month I’ll shatter it. But there’s a knot of choices right ahead of me, and I will not go into it having robbed myself of a card to play.”
“She doesn’t get to come back, Foundling,” Vivienne said. “Not after this. That’s a line.”
Oops!
u/swaskowi [+15] (12 hours later)
“I give you oath, Diabolist,” I said and I hardly recognized my voice for it was a thing of ice and iron. “If you do this, there is no place in Creation or beyond that will safeguard you from me. Not Heavens or Hells, not even if every lord in Arcadia swears to you. The doom I promise you will have men trembling in a thousand years when they speak of Akua’s Folly and the woe that came from it.”
Though you know, I'm not even entirely certain if being cloak girl is sufficiently cruel or full of woe to fulfill that oath.
u/Cariyaga [+13] Kyubey did nothing wrong (20 hours later)
Lowkey to Akua that was definitely a Praesian love confession.
u/Thrown42694269 [+5] (6 hours later)
Car's butthurt at black has been by far her worst mistake.
u/cyberdsaiyan [+21] (an hour later)
I'm curious as to what exactly Akua hopes to accomplish with this. Does she still want to play the villain? Or does she want to set up her clone body for herself?
Also, Catherine has quite a lot of trust in Vivienne to give her the passcode for full body lock
Or maybe she's just into that and Aqua doesn't know the safe word ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
u/WalterTFD [+15] (an hour later)
Presumably the oath is something like "I swear to freeze completely if Vivienne says 'Moonlight' unless and until I think of red shoes" or similar. There should definitely be an out that Cat knows, just in case Thief is the one who gets possessed.
u/Tallergeese [+18] (2 hours later)
If Cat knows the safeword, then that means this is only a check against possession by Akua or some other external force. It wouldn't work against a Cat that's gone too deep into Winter, which you would normally think is the more pressing reason to have this precaution at all. Well, Winter Cat is pretty dumb and couldn't remember the details of the plan during the raid, so it might work.
Maybe all of the Woe know the safeword, so if Thief betrays Cat, any of them could undo the binding.
u/paradoxinclination [+14] (39 minutes later)
Holy shit, this is pretty bad. Big question at this point is whether or not this represents a one-off opportunity for Akua, or if this first breach into Cat's body will allow her to make later attempts.
On the plus side, Thief and Archer might get that chance to stab Akua they missed in Liesse.
u/DarkArchon_ [+11] (8 hours later)
I always wondered how that cloak has not been cut to ribbons in all the fighting that Cat does, and now I think I know.
I think narratively, the cloak is part of the Black Queen so it is also part of the "creationally fixed body" which would create the necessary link between Cat and Akua that would allow her to take over.
Otherwise it makes no sense (to me) that a soul imbued to an object would be able to jump out like that.
u/Iconochasm [+17] (8 hours later)
Intelligent magic items overpowering the will of the bearer is a long established trope. Bet you there's at least one Named that's actually a sword.
u/Nerenere [+10] (11 hours later)
beside the Saint?
u/GlimmervoidG [+16] (13 hours later)
Remember, the cloak isn't just a cloak. It is an artefact.
There a single silhouette rode a winged steed stolen from Arcadia, cloak of many colours streaming behind her. An artefact in the making, gathering weight with every fallen army stitched onto the rest. Already Akua suspected sorcery would slide over like like water off a duck’s back, and it was still nascent to its true form
and
“The murder cloak, yeah,” Archer mused. “Called thus because you murdered someone for every piece you add to it.”
While we've never had a full description of what an artefact is and what makes it different from 'normal' enchant, we know they can do things normal spells can't (the scrying stone captured from Akua), are very hard to damage (sorcery off a ducks back) and seem to gain power through involvement in epic deeds. From this I would guess that artefacts are the object form of Named. That's why the cloak is so tough
u/CarsonCity314 [+6] (8 hours later)
It's also not just any soul, but Akua's. She's specifically prepared for her soul to operate independent of her body.
u/ForgottenToupee [+21] (59 minutes later)
How many narratives do we have stacked up on top of one another in this battle? Good vs. Evil, repelling the foreign invaders, big army vs. small army, last minute wake up, and now overcoming possession? And is this turning out to be a Batman Gambit, a Xanatos Gambit, or is actually just total random happenstance?
u/Iconochasm [+32] (8 hours later)
Well, that's one way to stop the Heavens from tipping the scales. There's 30 scales! Spinning on plates! While being juggled, and randomly teleporting from plate to plate! Tip that cluster fuck, ya schmucks!
u/GeeJo [+13] Custom Flair (16 hours later)
This sounds like something that Dread Emperor Irritant would agree with.
u/Frommerman [+12] (22 hours later)
Ha Ha! You cannot possibly defeat my Ultimate Plot! There are too many of them, and not enough of you!
u/Mountebank [+11] (an hour later)
Welp. At least Cat was smart enough to have fail safe put in place in case of this exact thing happening. It's also interesting to see that Cat trusts Thief enough for the latter to have a keyword that can immobilize her.
u/CFCrispyBacon [+9] (9 hours later)
I'm betting Cat was prepared for Akua's shenanigans, because OF COURSE SHE'S MAKING A COMEBACK, but I also bet the failsafe is more to set up a Schelling fence to make sure Cat doesn't go full crazy Winter fae. Thief, with the closest to Cat's original goals, is the ideal person to hold the kill switch.
u/CouteauBleu [+4] We are the Empire. (5 hours later)
Oh wow, they really are super prepared. I did not see that development coming. Great chapter!
u/Zayits [+3] (10 hours later)
You know, I realize that the Heavenly fences don't see much use in melee, that the army of Callow now has a counter for them and that it didn't move enough for them to be feasibly deployed for denying retreat, but it's kind of strange not to see any mention of them at all. It's partly Malanza's own fault, for letting the siege engines meet the only force that couldn't be easily covered by the panes and seemingly leaving the other flank with no priests at all, but still, not trying to box the enemy ranged units in is questionable at the very least.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+3] Father of Learning (12 hours later)
NAUK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
u/xland44 [+1] (16 hours later)
Why no? he's not dead
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+4] Father of Learning (17 hours later)
He's no longer the fun-loving kill-crazy monster he was. Now his memories and personality have dulled to the point where he's basically a different person.
u/OmniscientQ [+2] (23 hours later)
So the Crusader advance was halted, their camp burned, Nauk is now a hollow Nauk-shaped shell, Archer is going to try to go toe-to-toe with Saint of Swords, and Ubua managed to body-jack a god.
Cool.
Now can we please talk about the real highlight of this chapter: Tribune Abigail x Captain Pierre Dulac! Shipping ahoy!
u/the_terran [+1] (10 hours later)
Nobody's worried about Archer? Saint seems to have a beef with Ranger, or at the very least, her methods. Perhaps she may use Archer to draw Ranger out?
u/ForgottenToupee [+8] (10 hours later)
Nah, if Ranger makes an appearance it’s 100% because she wants to fight Saint, not to rescue a (former? graduated?) pupil
u/sparr [+2] (13 hours later)
is Ranger tricksy enough to have somehow engineered Archer vs Saint as a way to draw out Saint?
u/ForgottenToupee [+5] (13 hours later)
I doubt that would be necessary. Ranger has invaded the Kingdom of the Dead on at least 3 occasions by herself, so its not like she can't go where she wants. And I don't think the Saint has been keeping a low profile either. Engineering anything like that is kinda contrary to both of their natures I feel like.
u/sparr [+5] (13 hours later)
so its not like she can't go where she wants
While I admit that creation is a lot easier to navigate than elsewhere, I'll point out that Ranger did take advantage of Cat baiting out a fae at one point.
u/ForgottenToupee [+4] (13 hours later)
That’s true, but it was only because the Queen of Summer was being damnably evasive. There was something about Ranger being put through some sort of maze iirc. And as you say, Ranger took advantage of the situation, she didn’t engineer it
u/sparr [+1] (14 hours later)
Is anyone else concerned at these chapters being labeled as an Interlude? This seems like main story arc to me. What's up with that? Are we going to find out that this was all a dream or something?
u/Tallergeese [+7] (14 hours later)
All of the numbered chapters feature Cat's POV, although sometimes only in part.
u/sparr [+1] (14 hours later)
Interesting. I hadn't made that specific connection. Thanks.
This sorta kills my understanding of "you can skip the interludes and not miss any of the main story".
u/Tallergeese [+9] (14 hours later)
We, confusingly enough, have "Extra Chapters" for that, which are mostly origin stories and side stories. Those are the chapters that have neither "chapter" nor "interlude" in the title, like Archer's origin story "Fletched."