Go back to sleep

[The JAM]

Interesting quandry, but perhaps they could compromise. They could leave now and Quentyn could leave a note behind apologising that they had to leave so soon?

[BrockthePaine]

Hmm. Methinks I agree with the halfling...

[Canis_lupus]

Running off wouldnt be very heroic now would it?

[TMLutas]

Hmm. Methinks I agree with the halfling...

My prediction is that she boogies, keeps watch and rescues Q when he's in the cage.

[Tom Mazanec]

This might still go either way. If the Smiths are intent on betraying Quentyn, they would probably pretend to be friendly in order to do it. So maybe they are just good actors.

[Canis_lupus]

I still think that they think that he can curse them if he gets angry so they may not try to betray him. only time (and RH) will tell.

[Earl McClaw]

IMO, Farmer Smith will bow to pressure to turn his guest over to the Duke, who will hear of him sooner or later. (Most likely when they reach town, as this strip says they'll do "tomorrow".

Now what the Duke will believe, or how well Quentyn will bluff and/or deceive, is open for debate.

[Shyal_malkes]

my thoughts while reading this stip.

"how much am I willing to bet that she ends up saving his fuzzy hide?"

knowing Ralph though, whatever happens will be something I never saw coming but should have seen a mile away.

[Jwrebholz]

Maybe I'm generally mistrustful of people who seem way too kind, but if I were him I'd be making tracks.

[Wayfarer]

The optimistic part of me isn't going to suspect the family until... well, until it's too late to suspect them, because they've actually done something to betray Quentyn. (I don't think I can count the number of times I've seen my parents help strangers, so the way they've helped him thus far doesn't seem all that unbelievable to me.)

The story-reading part of me is just trying to decide whether it seems more likely that Quentyn will get his dismissive attitude shoved back in his face or that Sam will get her super-suspicious attitude shoved back in hers...

[MikeVanPelt]

Well, that explains one thing I was confused about---

Back in the Tumbledowns, Quentyn luxically juggled about a dozen 'splodin' tomatoes, and fired them into the Redcaps' lair. I was wondering why he fumbled a basket of rolls.

[Shyal_malkes]

personally I'm actually a little surprised at Quentyn. whether or not the family does betray him, if I were low on power and stuff, I'd be suspicious of almost ANY situation and would be watching my back for any shadow I could find until I had them back.

[Axelgear]

Sods Law and the Law of Obvious Writing states that one of two things will happen:

People in town will be scared of Quentyn

or

The family will betray them for their cattle back.

[Deckard Canine]

Aha. The trouble with having the power of luxcraft is that you can grow too dependent on it. Now that Quentyn has to ration his lux, he thinks that fleeing isn't a viable option. If only he were more accustomed to alternative ways to facilitate their escape.

I was wondering why he fumbled a basket of rolls.

I had figured he just dropped them the moment the woman shrieked and he realized his error. But I underestimated his cool (probably not the best word for it).

People in town will be scared of Quentyn

or

The family will betray them for their cattle back.

Or heck, why not both? Just thinking of O'Toole's Corollary to Murphy's Law: "Murphy was an optimist."

But RH must be doing pretty well here, given my uncertainty of what will happen next.

[Canis_lupus]

Well, that explains one thing I was confused about---

Back in the Tumbledowns, Quentyn luxically juggled about a dozen 'splodin' tomatoes, and fired them into the Redcaps' lair. I was wondering why he fumbled a basket of rolls.

Well I think its because in the human realm lux is much harder to come by since it is not produced to the extent that it is behind the mist wall. I remember him talking to the shopkeeper(forgot his name) and they discussed that he should bring low lux weapons and items for this reason.

[MikeVanPelt]

Well I think its because in the human realm lux is much harder to come by since it is not produced to the extent that it is behind the mist wall. I remember him talking to the shopkeeper(forgot his name) and they discussed that he should bring low lux weapons and items for this reason.

Yeah... The Rac built the luxfont, which generates massive amounts of lux mechanically, and they transmit it through "ley lines" to the various villages.

Which gets me thinking...

One of Wildcard's most notable characteristics is its powerful ability to suck in lux and recharge quickly.

It doesn't seem to do that by sucking it out of people nearby -- they'd probably notice, and complain. Likewise, it does not drain nearby lux-based devices. It only draws the lux from the environment.

And it contains a lot.

Question: Can Quentyn draw lux directly from Wildcard? Use it as an accumulator/battery to help make up for the lux-poor nature of the outside world?

Another question: How hard is it to set up a ley line, and redirect it? It occurs to me that a Racconan expedition into human lands would like to have a beamed power source keeping them in lux. (Maybe on Quentyn's second expedition, after he's proved himself by bringing the first load of artifacts back.)

[DracoDei]

.
Question: Can Quentyn draw lux directly from Wildcard? Use it as an accumulator/battery to help make up for the lux-poor nature of the outside world?

It might not be recharging much better than he himself is, and they might be competing for the same pool, but I suspect it is still charging better than he is, and that they don't compete too badly. I am pretty certain he can pull from it, although it MIGHT give him a Lux hangover if he does it too often, but maybe not if he doesn't draw more than he amount he would be getting in the seven villages...

Another question: How hard is it to set up a ley line, and redirect it? It occurs to me that a Rac Conan expedition into human lands would like to have a beamed power source keeping them in lux. (Maybe on Quentyn's second expedition, after he's proved himself by bringing the first load of artifacts back.)

Might be able to work... I haven't the foggiest idea, but even if it does then the ley line would probably me a huge line of visible energy to any human lux-user who got within sight of it... pointing from an area of known danger (the mistwall), to...somewhere... in a mild case the magician might tap it for his own use, at worst the human knows his history very well and comes prepared for a Rac Conan and wants to torture the secrets of the Seven Villages, including but not limited to their advanced Lux theories, and the nature and distribution of their defenses. And Wildcard would be immediately of interest if Quentin got the chance to use it and very soon discovered if he didn't get the chance to use it initially.... So unless their is a good way to run leylines underground while maintaining the flexibility you describe I would say that such an endeavor might be a noticeable risk, and might be disallowed as 'endangering the common defense'...

One weird thought that occurs to me is to wonder how uniform the power-take-offs are on human water wheels/windmills(or do they even exist?)... if Quentin can get a portable Lux-generator with a kit of adapters(maybe just a gearbox for different torque/speed ratios and a drive belt with a buckle or other fastener on it...) he can perhaps trade a night's or two's sleep in a mill with his device hooked up for a Lux-crafted trinket or two...

Another think would be if there is even a very inefficient way of turning a heat difference into lux he could do so with a good fire in a pinch, and if the device could handle it, even rent a blacksmith's forge from time to time. Come to that if he splurges he might be able to hire someone to pump the bellows instead of him and the half-elf doing it...

But I think, in any case, he needs to practice economizing. None of the above are reliable solutions in a situation where he is trying to scram away from trouble...

[Aurrin]

They need not be horrible people to turn him in. Just as they are unknowns to him, he is an unknown to them. And financial hardship is not known for bringing out the better side of people. Even 'decent folks' under desperate financial pressure have been known to do shameful things. Maybe they won't do that, but children crying out in hunger is very, very hard for a parent to ignore...

[Rokas]

They'll turn on him.

As RH has said, "chase a character up a tree, and then throw rocks at him."

Quentyn hasn't gotten the short end of a shorter stick yet in this story segment. Methinks now seems like a good time for him to get double-crossed so he can learn the less on that people can be scum-sucking [bleep]s whose only saving grace is that they make good cannon fodder.

Normally, I would be optimistic, but I've had Real Life examples lately of how truly despicable some people can be. Quentyn is gonna be in a heap of trouble.

[Wanderwolf]

Minor things:

1. Lux can't be "beamed"; it's radiant power, emanating from its source. That's why the Luxworks in Sanctuary City is so important; given enough time and space to expand, all the Lux generated would settle down to "background radiation" levels.

2. Quentyn known how to make a basic Lux generator, as he showed in his battle against the Royals. But it needs a number of hours to charge, and discharges like a Leyden jar: ZAP! All at once.

Yours truly,

The wolfish,

Wanderer