The Sorcerer's House Questions (Major Spoilers)

Thomas Bitterman · 31 Mar 2010, 03:21 · from 2010-March.txt.gz

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From: tom at bitterman.net (Thomas Bitterman)
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:21:20 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Sorcerer's House Questions (*Major Spoilers*)
In-Reply-To: <cbf55b101003301755j5bcb436fn3dea21525abf1e25 at mail.gmail.com>
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	<cbf55b101003301755j5bcb436fn3dea21525abf1e25 at mail.gmail.com>
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On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 8:55 PM, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> If I had to construct a 'real' story along those lines, I'd go with
> something like this:
> 1. Bax moves into the mansion
> 2. when he tries to regularize his squatting, he goes to Martha and
> using his smooth wiles on a lonely old woman, cons her into letting
> him stay under the perfectly normal custodial arrangement
>

These seem reasonable, and Bax says they happened (although he gets the
house before he squats long).

3. He thoroughly searches the house, and discovers the eccentric
> previous owners had had valuable collections. Bax didn't lie about the
> gold coins, but he found many more. Gold is very valuable, after all,
> especially collectibles. Bax has modest needs. Alternate scheme: he
> takes out a mortgage.
>

Exactly what Bax says happened (sans mortgage).

> 4. He embarks on his elaborate con/murder scheme of George.
> 5. Mischief managed.
>

Basically,
- Bax meets girls (girls dig Bax)
- Bax forges Skotos's will and gets property
- George shows up, Bax kills him and disposes of the body (probably by
throwing it in the river)
- Bax replaces George, dumps girls, and runs off with Millie

6. He forges Murrey's will - she also had the Skotos Strip. (Why not?
> She seems to have tons of real estate in general.) Alternate scheme:
> he gets her to sign that over as well / forges her signature.
>

The Skotos Strip was owned by Alexander Skotos, aka Zwart Black, not
Murrey.  Luckily for Bax, Skotos "died" out of town also without any normal
heirs.

Is it just me, or is it weird that Faerie-sorcerers own prime investment
property?  Is buying riverside plots in Reality something immortal
Faerie-people do a lot?  When he registered the deed, did he put "that
castle over there that Ambrosius used to own" as his home address?  Or
perhaps he provided a copy of his driver's license.  He owns a car with a
vampire locked in the trunk, so why not?

7. Murrey vanishes like George.
>

I don't remember her vanishing.  It is mentioned that Bax owned the house
that used to be hers, but it is not stated that she is dead.  Other
characters that are dead or missing are noted as such.  The Compiler is so
lax about checking details it is hard to say what really happened.

Note how much violence to the narrative we have to do.
>

I don't see a lot of violence to anything but Faerie.  It reads like "murder
in a small town" with a thick layer of fantasy thrown on top.
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