Kevin's Watch

The spiny wolves and the firecat. (Just passed that bit myself.) (And was headed here with the answer to the previous question. )

--A

Excellent, Avatar!

It's now your question!

Ok, when Joyse presented Terisa with Havelock's hop-board problem and asked her to try and solve it, she did it the way she thought Havelock would, by tipping the board.

Why specifically did that upset Joyse so much?

(Terisa guesses at the answer later, but we get confirmation from Joyse himself even later than that.)

--A

Because he can't forget that the "pieces" in the game he is playing are real people, and he doesn't want to sacrifice any more of them than he absolutely has to. He said that he lacked Havelock's {particular? peculiar?} sanity in that regard.

Yes in principle, but I'm looking for something more specific...why did tipping the board anger him?

--A

Because that was basically Eremis' strategy. He promoted chaos and destruction so he'll be the only major player left standing in the end.

Also congrats on finishing the books, Avatar

You got it. Because that's what Eremis was doing.

Your turn...

--A

Hmmm... Eremis used (wasted) Vogel's army of four-armed humanoids against our heroes. Who were they and what was their story?

They were Calat, and Vagel had wanted to form a private army of them? They'd negotiated some deal...

--A

Avatar wrote:They were Calat, and Vagel had wanted to form a private army of them? They'd negotiated some deal...

--A

And?!

Festen obstructed things somehow because he felt threatened?

--A

And?! (they had a little backstory)

Sheesh, all I remember is that Eremis struggled to reach an accord with them. Can't remember what they were doing in their own world...killing everything? Internal war?

--A

Avatar wrote:Sheesh, all I remember is that Eremis struggled to reach an accord with them. Can't remember what they were doing in their own world...killing everything? Internal war?

--A

Maybe and not quite

Actually, I thought they were being hunted to extinction by some race or other (it was explicitly described, but it has just been too long since I read it). Eremis was actually the primary negotiator that brought them over, and they served as his personal guard. If I recall it required no small amount of convincing before he would commit them to the Cadwal cause.(supposedly required. This IS Eremis we are talking about here. His long game could very well have been to use them as battle fodder.)

You could have it there...

--A

Very good. While this other race was much less humanoid in appearance, it was a sociable reasonable race compared to the totally militant hate-filled Calat. The Calat were on the verge of extinction when they were translated.

Ah, that's right, they wouldn't make peace or give up their warlike ways or something. Well done.

Your turn.

--A

And it's IrrationalSanity's turn

That was who I meant.

--A