I received a nice fanart drawing of Lilith by RedEye83.
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- Ryn: Lili, we found something that you–
- Lilith: That can wait. First you have to take a look at this spellbook I bought in Nico’s book store.
- Alissa: “Breaking Barriers” by Isaac of Mithra?
- Ryn: A true classic. Is it a first edition?
- Ryn: This can’t possibly–
- Lilith: It’s true. I read the first few pages.
- Sandril: I don’t understand.
- Lilith: This isn’t the textbook for apprentices written by Isaac before the Darkness. This is the spellbook he wrote under mysterious during the siege of Mithra.
- Lilith: “Breaking All Barriers”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u0wg3t6osM
**All**
So that must be Isaac’s mark or bookplate? Most likely (from the shape) this is a hint that Lili is to be the new Isaac.
Is there a word missing in “under mysterious during the siege of Mithra”? Myserious… what? I’m guessing circumstances.
And, of course, I made a typo in my post.
Chortos-2 wrote:
Thank you for the notice.
So, the goto book if you’re looking for a counterspell to a barrier?
And we have our Title Drop 🙂
Meanwhile, Vivi in TS-24 speculates that the Shadowkeep was created during the Seige of Mithra – she (and a few other pre-Shadowdancers) found the teleportation crystals (cubes) and potions while exploring the catacombs of Mithra’s former Wizard Guild. It was also in the Shadowkeep where Vivi had her vision of San and the Tower In The Sky.
It definitely seems as though Mithra’s one of the keys to the wider events taking place in the continent.
@ Javier Dehesa:
I’ll see your “Family Guy — He Said It,” and raise you a “Dramatic Prairie Dog.”
They are all in coma and San sent this book inside the ilusion so that Lili could break it….
This kind of atifact does not simply walk into a small town.
Okay, let’s not let the importance of the book cause us to overlook the fact that Sandril and Ryn had discovered something they consider important.
I wonder what it was?
ikobal wrote:
You got that right! I’m fairly certain it was planted there for her to find it.
@ PMark:
It might have been planted there indeed. But what were the odds of Lilith finding it? Firstly she had to come to Oakdale, then go to the library, check the “new old books” section and notice this one. It’s yellow, so it’s outstanding, still…
It came here last week from Midgard – the country suspected of the Red Hall Massacre. This brings up even more doubts in friendliness of the supposed book planter.
Vivi came back from the forest “yesterday”, so she got lost 2 days ago (1 Flowerfall 1476 according to BaB-22) – we know that by this time the maze was fully operational. Dyson disappeared on 11 Lifespring, so 20 days earlier. I still wonder if the caster of a maze had something to do with this.
We don’t know when exactly “This… thing” mentioned by Gale (the shoemaker) happened (last month, but it’s 3rd Flowerfall, so everything that happened a week ago also happened in the last month…), but the fire Amos mentioned happened about 4 weeks ago (so +/- when Dyson disappeared). Still, his memories are fuzzy – was the maze spell already up by then?
I also wonder how relevant to the case will what Ryn and Sandril found be. Since it’s Ryn talking, we have 2 options:
1) he talks a lot, so it’s normal and might be something irrelevant compared to the book
2) he’s a mage – he might have detected something strange, that only he can describe in details – something very important. Random thought: hidden magical message from Dyson maybe?
Yes, you were right, this book didn’t appear randomly here (“Oh look, the rarest book on Gaia just arrived in a small rural library at the exact moment when we needed its spells!”), so the creator of the maze decided to let it go through.
I am the only one to be amazed that the seller didn’t notice it? He is used to sell books to the University and a single gaze at the wizard’s logo on the bottom left of the book let Alissa, Ryn and Lilith immediately understand its significance. Only Sandril doesn’t get it, but he seemed to prefer the swords part to the wizardry part at the Academy.
@ Apsik:
Nobody has heard from Lilith’s parents for weeks. She is going to want to go there to find out what’s wrong. Even if the Shadowdancers hadn’t rescued her and Faye’s dragon friend had, she still would have traveled to Oakdale to check on her parents. They were the bait.
So now you’ve got her trapped inside a maze spell that she doesn’t know how to break. There just so happens to be a bookshop in the village where she’s trapped that is known to have an excellent collection of Midgardian magic books. Sooner or later she’s going to check them out. That is practically guaranteed. And when she does, she’ll find the book.
The only uncertainty is if someone else wanders in and purchases the book instead. You lessen the chance of that happening by planting the book as late as possible.
Since she escaped from prison, she spent one night in Shadowkeep, one night at Milo and Salacea’s, and two nights in Oakdale. It has been exactly four days since she broke out of prison, and a Gaian week is five days long. So the book was planted the day before her execution date.
It all adds up very nicely. 🙂
drop title
Grynfwald wrote:
Surprised, yes. Amazed, no.
He’s a purveyor of books. He sells books. Being on the frontier between Cania and Midgard, he has access to the occasional rare Midgardian Magic Book which he sells at a nice profit to the Academy and other high-end collectors. He might even receive and sell them on consignment. So it’s not all that unreasonable to think that he didn’t know exactly what he had.
And then there is the fact that the entire village appears to be under a befuddlement spell. Maybe he originally recognized its value but was made to forget it.
Definitely agreeing with the thought that somebody/thing is providing Lil with some help. Which begs the questions. Like is this a trial for Lil? Or, if not, then is there some kind of shadow war going on in the world? And of course; What consequences will this have? Because this is yet another world shaking event.
perhaps the book is enchanted to appear when needed to whomever needs it most in the most dire of circumstances it would explain how it got there.
“Now let’s get siege Mithra.”
Am I the only one who thought that?
I mean, presumably Isaac intentionally left it incomplete because Mithra was at war and potentially being put under siege, but now Lilith has a book that specifically would help if they had Mithra under siege and they put up a barrier they were totally confident nobody could break…
TITLE DROP! 😀
I was expecting a quick view at what the others were doing, but this is a great way to subvert expectations; very well done!
Incidentally, the logo probably explains why Lilith tried to distract away with the other book – in the previous page, the books were back-side up – indicating one of the books and trying to draw attention away from Breaking Barriers would prevent the shop from checking the front themselves for the logo – sort of like not pointing out you have a Black Lotus in your M:TG pack, and instead point out that rare dual land instead.
Isaac… another Bible name.
“Roll Credits!”
@ PMark:
yes it does add up, and i agree… but that is what bothers me. The chance of this plot actually working is slim if there are no preconditions. To make sure it actually works, Lili has to have been “trained” all the time before.
“Training” received by Lili so far:
Lili always has had enourmous talent (why?) From what we have seen, her parents have been loving and kind. She seems to have had lots of fun when she was little in that little world of hers and everyone adored her. Then the wise mentors come and take her away so that she can learn more stuff at the academy.
Now she is growing up and she is pretty, and powerful, and smart, surpasses her teachers, and nice (training? If everyone is nice towards you you will learn to become nice to others… and the more they care about you the better you can learn to care about others…)…. of course she is used to getting her way and of course she acts nice (we have recently seen how she acts when people do not behave in a way she thinks proper… is this new?) and of course she is not scared of people at all because of course she is going to be “liked by everyone”.
Until one day, they accuse her of being a complice (right word?) in the Red Hall Massacre. She has no training do deal with this. She has no training to deal with being on the bottom of the food chain, even in the prison. She is shocked and has no way to respond to it. But she has training for reading books of old… and she has “training” in getting the right stuff at the right time… in the right place. Why should she question that she gets what she needs at the right time at the right place? She is used to it, after all.
Meanwhile we have Vivi, whose parents were murdered before her eyes and she gets hunted and gets saved by “thieves” and joins an underground organization and has to live in hiding for years. It is probable she does not like to be in the limelight. She is probably a lot more sceptical/afraid of people and authorities. She compensates by developing a free-spirited character and gets used to steal stuff.
Now she suddenly has to deal with being queen and being responsible and all kinds of stuff.
If Lili would have lived Vivi’s life, i am not so sure she would have been the same as she is today. And then this old hag comes and Lili questions who she is: Is it really HER who is nice, and pretty and popular, and stuff… or was is just “luck”? Vivi had to develop her character herself (despite circumstances)… did Lili have to? (Is this why Lili says “but i doubt that i have a stronger will than… you” to Vivi?)
I still say Oakdale as it exists here and maybe even in Lilis memories is/was an Illusion. The only way to make sure Lili gets all the training she ever needs is to trap her in an Illusion and give to her the right stuff so that she can grow at the right time – which is best accomplished by an Illusion. (Which mastermind would rely on luck?) Like San de Vertis, who was trapped inside the temple for all her life – probably for “training”. But she went away from that place.
Now Lili is back at Oakdale and the training continues.
Apsik wrote:
Don’t dis Ryn. He cracks a lot of jokes because of his self-esteem issues, but he’s rather badass at the actual tactical stuff, if you’ve noticed. If he was announcing the second he opened the door, whatever they found is uber important.
So far as the chances of the book showing up, you have to state it properly:
What are the chances that someone would’ve ordered a rare book about barriers to the home town of a famed mage known for her barriers right after said mage graduated? Pretty high, actually, if you think about it. It would be a perfect gift, particularly if there’s anyone rich or powerful impressed by her that expects her to go visit her parents after graduating. Considering all the people who liked her pre-RH, that seems incredibly reasonable. Considering the distance of the journey over land, it’s sensible to have it sent there, and tell her, rather than wait for it to come all the way to Arconia.
They merely didn’t get to inform her because of events that happened at graduation.
There’s obviously other possible explanations, but that one sits rather squarely on the ultra-high probability bracket. Nico wouldn’t remember that the book was a gift for her, though, because of the “event”, whatever it was.
Just so that people don’t get me wrong: My comment is not meant as Lili-bashing and i could also be far off here… i just wonder how much of how she is is actually her upbringing and lots of positive experiences.
So much dramatic buildup… The reveal better be worth it…
I think this is leading to a “Good job breaking it, hero. That was exactly what I wanted you to do.” moment.
Jan wrote:
And just how is that not who she is? How is anyone not shaped by their experiences?
I like the idea that somebody planted the book. Maybe somebody is trying to use her superior magical skills to break a barrier. So they guided her into learn how to do it, and then after she gets out of this trap, they’ll make her use it to release something.
This is the second time Lilith has been in a trap where she needed to focus on improving her magic to escape. The first time was the maximum security prison. Could it be that the massacre, the faked evidence, the death sentence, were all just part of a plan to get Lilith to push her magic to the limits? If studying this book allows her to improve her magic to the point where she can escape from this trap, will she then find herself in yet another, even more elaborate trap? How much training does our mastermind think she needs?
Lucid wrote:
-The book got through the maze and the people who broought it went away, which would have been impossible
– From what they say, this is an incredibly rare item. So “someone” orders this book to give it to a graduating student but decides to have it sent to the local bookshop of her hometown in the case she goes there, without mentioning to the seller “Oh don’t sell it to anyone sell, it’s for Lili”? And decides to let her buy it with her own money instead of giving it to her? How could this person be sure she would immediately go visit her parents?
– Also, someone hears that this rare and useful item is on the market. His first reaction is “let’s give it to this (very gifted, yes) graduating student? No one else has heard of it and is interested, like the university for example?
This is why we think it was planted there intentionnaly.
And I would go for the mazebuilder, because of the time frame: if someone else had been trying to help the people trapped inside: 1) they wanted to help Lili and the others: not likely because the book arrived there while Lili was still in prison and it would have been easier to try to contact them or reveal the existence of the maze to the public before they went in 2) they wanted to help the other people trapped there: not likely because the only person capable of using the book to break the barrier was Lili, who was still in prison. Then, why not send a wizard with the book than can undo the maze from the inside or the outside?
This is why it is likely that the book was part of the plan of the maze builder. I strongly believe in (I think it was PMark’s) theory that the maze was planted there so Lili will use the book to break all barriers… and not only the maze barrier!
Glenn wrote:
I seem to remember a certain wizard going around killing young mages to get one of their female friends to hunt for him. He also said he wanted to ‘train’ her.
Lucid wrote:
I didn’t intend to dis Ryn. In 2) I think it’s clear that in my opinion he might be awesome enough to sense something very important. In 1) they keywords are ” irrelevant compared to the book“. The “he talks a lot” part was only to justify the fact that he wanted to announce it before Lilith told them why she called everyone back – that’s not something that happens on regular basis, as far as we know.
I’m not sure if we’re right to think that the book was ordered by someone. I think it’s something closer to “some guy in Midgard I know sent me all these books (after a proper payment of course), because he thought I might be able to sell them here”. His store is full of books – if every single one of them was there because someone ordered it and forgot he did, Nico wouldn’t take any other orders, unless they paid in advance. And it’s highly improbable that someone knew of existence of this book and simply ordered it for Lilith as graduation gift. It’s not just some rare book – it might even be the only copy in the whole world.
Orz wrote:
I hope so, or at least that this is a plant. It’s otherwise a bit “omg how lucky!” for my tastes if it’s meant to be a coincidence. Even as a plant, the planter should have good reason to suspect Lili would go to the bookstore.
yes! I love bed and breakfasts!
(so the chapter cover was lili’s hair stuck on Isaac’s logo? cool.)
Waiting for a new page… It begins now…
Hold on a second. Oakdale is situated somewhere near ancient elf kingdom that is on the lock down, right? Is this all a set up so that she will not only free her hometown, but also “accidentaly” allow someone else to break in there?
Isaac’s Disjunction?
@ TheSkulker:
Let’s say someone/luck/destiny had a hand in it and “gave” Lili all those good experiences so that she can grow. So she would be the way she is because someone made her this way. A Nature vs Nurture Question.
It is a very similar idea to genetical engineering, actually. Build up the perfect warrior by giving them the right experiences instead of the right genes. And there is this “touched ones” thing. Touched by whom? “Touched” as in “augmented”,”altered”?
Now we also have this concept that especially nice people are very connected to Gaia (and the evil ones are connected to Bhaal). Are they more powerful mages? Can you actually augment magic power by making people happy and nice? Does Lili have to be the way she is, otherwise she could not be that powerful as a mage? Or is that just what the common folk believes?
Hm.
Wand type required: Red Ryder BB Gun.
Funny thing, Their ad was yellow as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Outdoor_Products
Grynfwald wrote:
Please pay attention.
Getting in to Oakdale isn’t the problem. Everyone does that.
Getting lost leaving Oakdale is the problem. Everyone does that. Those who get lost never return, save for Vivi(Ms. “Peculiar Soul”).
The book seller could have very exact instructions on what to do with the book, but, again, EVERYONE in the town is suffering from amnesia related to the time in and around Lili’s graduation. The book seller would, thus, not remember getting the instructions.
For the “in case she goes there”, who in their right mind doesn’t go home after graduation? Particularly in Lili’s case, where her dorm room would no longer be hers, and she hasn’t seen her parents in ages. Standard procedure would be for her to go back home for a visit while all the details are worked out for her future.
If you know for a fact she’s headed back to Oakdale(100% logical), and it costs X to ship something to Oakdale, and 6X to ship it the additional distance to Arconia(which would entail it being rushed to get there on time, and then making sure she takes it on the trip back), only a complete fool would *not* have it at Oakdale. The sensible thing would be to buy it, have it shipped to Oakdale, and tell her before she leaves, “When you get there, I have a special gift for you at the book store!”
As for someone hearing about it and thinking of Lili first, right off the bat, we can list off all kinds of people that would do so.
Hel(headmaster of the school, obviously a well-paying position),
Sandril’s family(richest in all of Cania),
Faye(huge Lili fan, super-well connected)
Alissa’s family(they are exceptionally rich aristocrats, and have already given her a legendary staff).
All of these would be logical people to buy this book for her, all of them would have ample reason to let her know it would be there when she got to her home town, all would have ample reason to expect her to head home after graduation, and none of them had a chance or reason to inform her of the book with the events of RH. And that’s just characters we know the names of–according to the narratives, she’s somewhat famous and was very popular pre-RH, so any number of socialites we haven’t heard of that she was good friends with could possibly have done so.
If the maze builder had planned to get the book to Lili, this is the most-convoluted and least-likely way to get it into her hands, and they’re a total idiot for wagering this would happen. The probability of the scenario is far too small, and would require them to have near omniscience of all sorts of things, including the locations of the shadow dancers, that the students would select the SD to break Lili out, that Lili could get out, that Lili would then make the journey to the place she’s most-likely to be hunted(thus stupidly endangering her family for no reason)… this would be betting on million-to-one odds–effectively buying a singular lotto ticket and going and then buying a yacht before the drawing, with a “But I’m gonna be rich tomorrow!” attitude.
With all the speculation and theories about how the book ended up in Nico’s shop I am surprised no one has mentioned the elephant in the room: This is a world where magic reigns, it is a book on magic, powerful mages exist who may or may not have Lili’s best interest at heart. It should not be surprising to have magic involved.
Nico bought/received a bunch of books and placed them in the new arrivals section. (Perhaps a week ago but perceived time is very suspect there), There may have been a large number of books so maybe Nico didn’t notice the BB one. That would seem unlikely for a rare book dealer but reasonable for a normal used book dealer.
In either case, how much magic would it take to place the book on the shelf just before Lili walks in? Or to magically obfuscate the cover/title until Lili sees it?
If the path of the book to Lili is not just coincidence – highly unlikely – then it would be much simpler to use a little magic to ensure she gets it then to set up a long improbable chain of events. Occam’s razor says choose the simpler apth.
I don’t get it,
were we supposed to understand the significance of the symbol or not?
to be honest, I really like this comic, but I feel like it’s too complex for it to be a webcomic (because of the delay between pages).
okay THAT “LIBRARIAN” is HIDING SOMETHING FISHY sorry…
Stef wrote:
No. We are to understand that *Ryn* and *Alissa* do, and Sandril does not.
Which gives Lilith a reason to explain to him (and us) the background of the book.
PMark wrote:
And the fact that even a recent graduate of the university didn’t recognize the significance of the symbol goes a long way towards explaining why a bookseller might not notice the difference between an (otherwise identical) textbook for apprentices and a possibly-unique book on breaking all barriers. Looking at the spine only on the shelf doesn’t give it away.
Stef wrote:
It’s not, really. It’s a serialised graphic novel.
@ Alexander The 1st:
Yeah that would be a good bait and hide technique. I play Magic too.
@ Lucid:
Lucid, must agree with you until the last paragraph. However, if the book was ordered for her you can expect Nico, her friend, to have told her, since he would ordinarily have been informed of the recipient. Sandril or Alyssa would have told her by now if their families had it sent here. While easily possible, this sequence of events isn’t what you expect a gift order to look like.
More likely, the book was planted by the wizard who made the trap (Eldor?), or perhaps by someone (Eldor?) who is watching the culprit and wants to help Lili outsmart him. We don’t really have many candidates for behind-the-scenes masterminds, yet. In this case, it is completely reasonable to expect Lili to visit her favorite bookstore when she realizes she can’t leave town. I don’t buy the bookseller not examining every single book he buys story, but a spell of forgetfulness or a book disguise sounds believable. This isn’t a risky plan. There just needs to be a part of the plan that keeps someone else from buying the book.
Weird alternate explanation: Silas felt important because he was expecting his powerful Wizard friend, one who is actually the intended victim of the trap and finder of the book.
We don’t have enough details to be certain of explanations yet, but it sounds pretty likely that somebody is trying to help Lili escape the maze, most likely its creator, whom we guess is Eldor.