Notes, comments, and thoughts about the issue. Additional comments are welcome.

Issue #20 (Chapter 4 in the Blue Book)

• Page 1 - The dream garden journey neutralized the poison in Rubel's bloodstream.
• Page 1 - Thieves apparently have some special code of honor they are bound by with regard to promises, although it appears it only applies (at least for male Thieves such as Rubel) to women.
• Page 3 - Rubel regains his memory of where he got the lantern from. Why? Is it an effect of the dream garden, or simply recollection.
• Page 8 - Why does Jennifer Porter agree to Heath's lie? Compassion, or is she somehow linked back to Heath's real Aunt Jay?
• Page 9 - Sort of a thuggish mentality among the law enforcement officials of the fair town of Oceansend, eh?
• Page 11 - Quinton seems to have had a fairly good idea what was going to happen, what with all the clues and assists sprinkled along the way (see also page 18, this issue).
• Page 13 - Who mentioned anything about war?
• Page 13 - It seems that Heath is taking the place of Islen, both as Rubel's sorceress and in Jenny's household.
• Page 14 - Quinton's flying contraption. Possibly foreshadowing of wild flights of adventure to come?
• Page 15 - Okay, why is the lantern so damn valuable to the troll? Does it have magical properties that Rubel doesn't know about?
• Page 16 - Is it just me, or does Soracia seem a little exposed on one side here? Nice imagery with the wing frame behind her.
• Page 17 - "I've already cast three spells on him, poisoned him twice, and shot him. And that's just since yesterday." One spell is what woozes Rubel out in the palace when Soracia has him change shirts, a poisoning presumably happens at the same time, as well as the shot, where are the other two spells and poisoning? (I feel like I must be overlooking something fairly obvious, but it's not coming to me.) Brian Birgen states that the unaccounted spells are from Rubel's trip to the ship to rescue his knife and his trip to the angel tree.
  
  Nathan Svedlenak writes:
  
  Spell #1 This was cast when Rubel was onboard the ship, trying to retrieve his belongings. McGovern fires at Rubel at point-blank range, only to discover that his second barrel is inexplicably empty. This is because Soracia plucked the event of Rubel getting shot out of it's normal place in the time stream and reinserted it later on, when it suited her plans better. This qualifies as "casting a spell on Rubel."
  
  Spell #2 This was the spell that allowed Rubel to enter the palace undetected. Whether it was cast on Rubel directly, or she enchanted the entire palace is a matter open to debate, but fact remains that he was directly affected by one of her spells.
  
  Spell #3 The easy one. Soracia hypontizes Rubel long enough for her to re-introduce the "Rubel getting shot" event into the time stream, with a few custom changes, of course.
  
  Poisoning #1 The hard one. Look at the cover for issue #2. See Soracia mixing her potions? Look at the background in the text boxes. Notice a potion bottle amongst all the dream-imagery? Why does Rubel suddenly get this irrational and powerful desire to go back to the ship? How did Soracia know to put her sword in the ship's cabin? Simple. She gave him that dream and the accompanying compulsion by "poisoning" him with her potions during that night he spent under the stones. Varkias starts to remember this at the end of issue #2, but is interrupted by the sudden attentions of the townsfolk. Soracia probably muddled the poor imp's memory (that is, muddled it more than it usually is) with a spell to keep him from interfering.
  
  Poisoning #2 A no-brainer. The bolt was coated with the dream-poison that pulls Rubel into Cespinarve's dream.
  
  The Shooting I don't think Soracia actually shot Rubel per se, but instead, did some tricky rearranging of the time stream. That sounds more like her style. Besides, where would she keep a big ol' spring bolt in that outfit of hers, anyway? (Don't think too hard about this one :) )
• Page 18 - Soracia has masters?! Bloody hell. Brian Birgen mentions that this implies she is being controlled or manipulated, and may not truly be evil, but is under someone's influence and could use rescuing.
• Page 20 - What might Soracia's next wish be?
• Letters Pages - Heath is 11, Rubel is 14, Katara is 15, Islen is 16, Kangar is 17, Soracia is 9,519, Locumire is 1,062, Jenny Porter is 32, Loe is 199, Sara Blue is 1,056, Varkias is about 9,000 (but doesn't remember much of it), and Quinton is older than all of them (but isn't top gun in the memory department, either). One question. Who (or what) is Loe?

Contributors
Brian Birgen (bbirgen@math.purdue.edu) - Heath replacing Islen, the flying contraption, spell accounting, Soracia's masters, and ruminations on Soracia's next wish. The bad joke about 'flights of adventure' was mine. Don't blame him for that. ;-)
Nathan Svadlenak (ndsvad@hotmail.com) - The shooting/spell/poisoning theory.

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