My turn to ask a question ;)

When using area of effect shticks, if the top monster has the Duel ability, are you still prohibited from asking for assistance? What about when the second monster has the Duel ability?
-> Going by the descriptive text, I would say yes.

If you have a specific bonus against a monster type (like V's loot which grants +2 Attack and +2 Defense against Dragons), when do you only apply the bonus? If you are shooting a fireball at a Dragon with a Defense Rating of 10, and some other monster with a Defense Rating of 9, you have to beat the 10. Can you apply the +2 bonus provided by the loot to this roll? If so, you would only need to roll a 4 to beat the Dragon's Defense Rating (after factoring in Fireball's +5 Attack). This way, however, you would not really beat the other monster's Defense Rating. So, so you take the creature's printed Defense Rating into account, or do you look at the actual Defense Rating?

Thanks,
Enaloindir