Hero Oh Hero

[Grim Portent]

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This game is taking "pay to win" a bit to far.
At thus point I wouldn't be surprised if there's another fee once they've past the lifts.

Which makes sense I guess, it's not actually a game after all.
They don't want them to leave.

Oh well, money and keywords, should be easy, right?
Though I think Mr Green might be somewhat misleading regarding why he won't pay the exit fee.

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Perhaps, but giving someone a rule that says they can't spend money in a game where you need to spend money to survive seems on brand. It fosters resentment and distrust.

[Kornaki]

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Perhaps, but giving someone a rule that says they can't spend money in a game where you need to spend money to survive seems on brand. It fosters resentment and distrust.

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on the other hand claiming such a rule exists would be very on brand for the participants of the game.

Oh no, someone else has to buy my way out or my head will explode! Help me paladin!

[lord_khaine]

Yeah no. Mr Green is it seems quite aware of just how dangerous this just became.
It seems unlike he would not be ready to comtribute ½ his wealth for a bigger chance to get out.
certainly it seems a LOT more likely, there is indeed some dumb rule.

Also called this quite a while ago.
Or well. My theory was this was a sociological experiment of some kind.
Lacked the background knowledge that anti-magic research is forbidden.
So thats what its actually about.

Also. unexpected plot twist. The cop isnt actually a cop.
Still do wonder about what he is doing.

[Gez]

Also. unexpected plot twist. The cop isnt actually a cop.
Still do wonder about what he is doing.

We've known that since the Second Passengers chapter. Notably from this page and the recent one that he's tracking a suspected black crystal smuggler and he was lead to believe he would find the suspect in this "game".

[lord_khaine]

Oh.. yeah thats also true. Been so long i forgot that little twist.

Well also re-reading stuff.
Whats the deal with Alfen now i wonder?
He was feeding Icy information http://neorice.com/hoh_2320.
But also tries to get in the way of Burk. And seemed in on everything.
What do people think?

[-D-]

Hm. Interesting chapter. Also, magic users become a ghoul on the level of decade ? Wtf?! I would expect to see a lot more ghouls going around.

[TeChameleon]

Hm. Interesting chapter. Also, magic users become a ghoul on the level of decade ? Wtf?! I would expect to see a lot more ghouls going around.

Agreed that it's an interesting chapter, although I'm not too sorry to see this arc go by the wayside (hopefully)- curious to see how Tobi does somewhere other than Lorg.

And on the ghoul thing, who knows? Maybe cremation is more common for magic users?

[Kornaki]

Oh.. yeah thats also true. Been so long i forgot that little twist.

Well also re-reading stuff.
Whats the deal with Alfen now i wonder?
He was feeding Icy information http://neorice.com/hoh_2320.
But also tries to get in the way of Burk. And seemed in on everything.
What do people think?

Alfen is owned by mastermind. I think he is trying to be his own person within the confines of the contract, but that is limiting and results in betraying his friends frequently.

[Kantaki]

New chapter the second

Well, that went reasonably well.
Also, I like the hopelessly misplaced optimism here.
"Eh, we can take her".

[lord_khaine]

Well. I actually like their logic.
Yes it shuts down their magic power. But it still leaves them as 3 battle hardend veteran fighters.
And a guy with a pink hat.

[Kornaki]

Well. I actually like their logic.
Yes it shuts down their magic power. But it still leaves them as 3 battle hardend veteran fighters.
And a guy with a pink hat.

They are surprisingly willing to give up their magic forever to do this. I think they don't actually understand the full risk here.

[Forum Explorer]

They are surprisingly willing to give up their magic forever to do this. I think they don't actually understand the full risk here.

I think they feel that if the esper is dead and the contracts destroyed, their magic will return.

[Kornaki]

I think they feel that if the esper is dead and the contracts destroyed, their magic will return.

And when the esper declares that to be false (whether they're lying or not), this could get very hairy very fast.

[lord_khaine]

It seems kinda unlikely the heroes will fall for such an obvious bluff.
Quite likely its enough to break either the contract or the Esper.
The heroes certainly seems to think so. And they know more about magic.

Edit.
Early chapter drop.
Well dam this was unexpected.

[Kantaki]

That went about as well as expected.
I guess Evyle's contracts allow her to use the magic as well as shut it down?
Scary power that.

[TeChameleon]

Evyle seemed to be implying that there was something other than the contracts in play. Although if the contracts allow her to 'echo' the hero's powers, yeesh. With 500 to pick and choose from, she's probably got some pretty broken combos in there.

That aside, I have to wonder who she has photos of to be able to slip her quasi-magic contracts into the Heroland standard paperwork

[lord_khaine]

Im not certain if its possible to be both an Esper and a magic user.
I kinda assume its not, that the 2 things are opposed.

So yeah. Initial assumption becomes she somehow siphon magic from the contracts.
We did see that while Noel cant produce the raw material himself, then he was still quite adapt at manipulating it.

[Kornaki]

The way she uses the word humans, I wonder if she is one herself. Perhaps a very well put together ghoul? Or an elf?

[lord_khaine]

It could also just be that she does take every single chance she gets to kick a puppy.

[Forum Explorer]

My money is on the idea that Evyle has been experimenting with magic and ghouls in order to grant magical power to people. The magic pigs were just a prototype. She's the final product.

[Kantaki]

Somehow Noah floating surrounded by a aura of power is just funny.

[Grim Portent]

Gaston has a point here. While I am loathe to condone killing a child who is blameless for these horrors, there are few viable alternatives to stop this happening again in future.

If they had some black crystal they could use to negate her powers in the long term and were able to guarantee that it could be readministered as necessary then there would perhaps be some merit to sparing her, but with what we know it's not going to be possible for Noel to keep her powers under forever, certainly not without a substantial hit to both their qualities of life.

Malhart's magical paint was Chernyl's best hope for a relatively normal life, but even that was hardly going to last forever. Malhart is not a young man, and none of his gang of mages really seem fit for stopping Chernyl except Noel, who needs direct line of sight to do it which is hardly a suitable replacement.

[TeChameleon]

The counter to that is the equally grim possibility that killing Chernyl won't stop all of this. It's been stated that at least a couple of her most powerful nightmares stayed active even with her powers suppressed. That... can't be a good thing.

EDIT- I'm still wondering if the nightmares are just manifestations of Chernyl's psyche; they've been so varied... and frankly so universally violent... that it seems to me that, unless Chernyl is incredibly disturbed- like, Joker-level disturbed- they're simply hostile spirits taking advantage of her abilities to cross over into the material world.

Obviously, I could very easily be wrong, but that's my take on it thus far.

[Gez]

The counter to that is the equally grim possibility that killing Chernyl won't stop all of this. It's been stated that at least a couple of her most powerful nightmares stayed active even with her powers suppressed. That... can't be a good thing.

There's another potential problem with killing Chernyl to solve the problem, that we as reader should know about: the high probability that a dead Chernyl would give rise to Chernoghoul.

Granted, Infoghoul hasn't exhibited the same powers that Infinite had. But until we know more about how ghouls are formed and how much of their host body's powers they have, that would remain a subject of worry.

[Forum Explorer]

The counter to that is the equally grim possibility that killing Chernyl won't stop all of this. It's been stated that at least a couple of her most powerful nightmares stayed active even with her powers suppressed. That... can't be a good thing.

EDIT- I'm still wondering if the nightmares are just manifestations of Chernyl's psyche; they've been so varied... and frankly so universally violent... that it seems to me that, unless Chernyl is incredibly disturbed- like, Joker-level disturbed- they're simply hostile spirits taking advantage of her abilities to cross over into the material world.

Obviously, I could very easily be wrong, but that's my take on it thus far.

It would shut down the vast majority of the nightmares though, and would dramatically reduce the number of people dying. After all, Haven was a pretty prosperous city, even with Chernyl living in it.

There's another potential problem with killing Chernyl to solve the problem, that we as reader should know about: the high probability that a dead Chernyl would give rise to Chernoghoul.

Granted, Infoghoul hasn't exhibited the same powers that Infinite had. But until we know more about how ghouls are formed and how much of their host body's powers they have, that would remain a subject of worry.

We really don't know enough about that for it to be a concern at all to be frank. There are way too many potential factors for it to influence this decision.

[Kornaki]

There are already a bunch of magic users who could destroy a city, and no ghouls running around destroying cities, so I think they can worry about the ghoul later.

[lord_khaine]

The ghoul event does seem less of an issue.
Since at least we didnt observe InfinityGhoul display any magic powers.
All the same when Chernyl dies its likely a good idea to cremate the corpse.
But i assume all magic users are when possible.

Also no. This is of course basically the classic trolley dilemma.
Kill 1 to save a hundred or more.

Except the problem is Noel is her friend.
And influenced by a great humanitarian like Malhard.

While the military want to use her as a weapon.
so no wonder Gaston is one of the first people to point out the logical solution.
He is a classic hero type. Of the kind that makes hard choices.

In the end its likely a topic that will need more into first.
Quite possible Chernyl would want to die herself. If she blame herself for the mess.
And dont have a chance of learning control.

[Forum Explorer]

The ghoul event does seem less of an issue.
Since at least we didnt observe InfinityGhoul display any magic powers.
All the same when Chernyl dies its likely a good idea to cremate the corpse.
But i assume all magic users are when possible.

Also no. This is of course basically the classic trolley dilemma.
Kill 1 to save a hundred or more.

Except the problem is Noel is her friend.
And influenced by a great humanitarian like Malhard.

While the military want to use her as a weapon.
so no wonder Gaston is one of the first people to point out the logical solution.
He is a classic hero type. Of the kind that makes hard choices.

In the end its likely a topic that will need more into first.
Quite possible Chernyl would want to die herself. If she blame herself for the mess.
And dont have a chance of learning control.

It is a slight difference from a normal trolley dilemma in that there is no set amount of people who will die if you spare the one. So long as Chernyl lives she will spawn nightmares which will in turn kill people. It's not a one and done event. It's 'people will continue to die in horrific ways until this person dies'

Of course it is more complex in that maybe they can potentially disable her. Maybe. So do you risk the lives of who knows how many people in order to maybe save one life? I'd say one innocent, but lets be honest, we don't actually know anything about Chernyl as a person. She could be an absolutely wretched individual.

[Kantaki]

Heal all ailments through dental surgery?
Well, I guess if all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a water melon.

[lord_khaine]

That thing is freaking horrible.
Best argument for nuking haven so far.