11/22/06 - Fire!

[Fresnor]

Hmm, I'm noticeing that while Amber says the INN won't be burned down she fails to mention everything else...  >.>

[Manawolf]

You know, that reporter in the middle panel has a stare that just makes me think of a kid when a cop comes to talk, and it boils down to "Who wants to see me shoot something with my gun" and all the kids going "Yay!"

Not sure if that came out right.  Bah, blasted midnight.

[icarus]

Hmm, I'm noticeing that while Amber says the INN won't be burned down she fails to mention everything else...  >.>

i'm noticing amber quietly slamming her head into her desk at your comment.

[Tapewolf]

Let's hope he remembers the fire-wings that show up when Merlitz casts magic...

The reporter doesn't know that.  Or does she?

Well we don't know, but given that Merlitz is a Being and that it's somewhat rare for Beings to be able to cast magic at all, she might well have been told.
And if she hasn't, don't forget that Merl's team do know, and if they stay to watch him do it, it could all be over.

[Sid]

...Dan-as-Alexsi sure got the "look cute and innocent" part right.
And I love Merbel's determined look there.

[Wildy]

SPECULATION!!!

Did anyone else notice the look on Nightmyste's face when he was talking to Dan/Alexsi? Dan is just a beginner cubi. His disguise is the magic of others, not his own. Perhaps Nightmyste has picked up on this. My bet is they'll  be back later for Dan. He -is- a cubi afterall, though whether or not he's a threat is still to be determined by the adventurer's point of view. We all know he's not, but they don't.

[Aridas]

Well, so far so good, i've been right on all counts. And it appears the best way to be an Alexsi-substitute is to anime-smile your way through it so nobody notices who you aren't. That could just be coincidence, but it seems funny from here.

For a final prediction, I'd say that while Lost Lake itself evades disaster, a disguntled Abel is going to be pretty Merlitzy, at least in a way most could expect of him. Probably too Merlitzy for their own good.

[Sid]

Did anyone else notice the look on Nightmyste's face when he was talking to Dan/Alexsi? Dan is just a beginner cubi. His disguise is the magic of others, not his own. Perhaps Nightmyste has picked up on this. My bet is they'll  be back later for Dan. He -is- a cubi afterall, though whether or not he's a threat is still to be determined by the adventurer's point of view. We all know he's not, but they don't.

Well, Dan is a threat. Just ask Dark Pegasus
And any adventurer going after Dan hopefully doesn't stick to the "Cubi are strong with magic, but aren't experienced at regular fighting" (to loosely interpret the Demo101) rule of thumb. It would really suck to engage Dan with nothing but a small sword and tons of anti-magic barriers.

But if they came back, they'd also meet Abel. And that may be a problem.

[Tapewolf]

Did anyone else notice the look on Nightmyste's face when he was talking to Dan/Alexsi?

Oh, I assumed he just fancied her.  Which alone could cause problems.

But if they came back, they'd also meet Abel. And that may be a problem.

Abel will likely be expecting that, since he told them it was okay to return later.  He'll probably shift into his wingless form, but he would then have to explain Merlitz' and Alexsi's disappearance.

[e_voyager]

i assumed it was just a little flirting as well. now for the lake Burn it all!

[Allu]

It's true, Dan probably is a better fighter then the average cubi, and, as his abilities sets in he's only going to get better.

I think I'm turning into a dirty old man though, did Dan's breasts grow between the first and the last panel ?

[Sid]

But if they came back, they'd also meet Abel. And that may be a problem.

Abel will likely be expecting that, since he told them it was okay to return later.  He'll probably shift into his wingless form, but he would then have to explain Merlitz' and Alexsi's disappearance.

He could just go with the truth or something close to it. Merlitz left and Alexsi will either come back soon or sign her letters with "Alexsi San" in the future

[superluser]

Smoooooke on the waaaater, fire in the sky!

I'm gonna have that stuck in my head all day now.

at least you don't have the badger song in loop there.
I wonder if that was necessary to bring that up...

National Geographic Theme song trumps all.

I know how to set water on fire... Did it before once and it was GREAT.

It's a simple trick
all you need is propane, route a hose under water, ventilate the propane under the water and light.

Or...sodium.  I hear they set the Charles river on fire every year with that.

[Tapewolf]

Abel will likely be expecting that, since he told them it was okay to return later.  He'll probably shift into his wingless form, but he would then have to explain Merlitz' and Alexsi's disappearance.

He could just go with the truth or something close to it. Merlitz left and Alexsi will either come back soon or sign her letters with "Alexsi San" in the future

That's hard to work if Merl's group come back an hour later or so.  That Merlitz quit and Alexsi got kidnapped in the intervening time is hard to swallow, and Abel is unlikely to tell them outright that he and Dan are the very Creatures they're hunting.
Dan might, of course, but if it came to it, he'd be able to fight them on adventurer terms anyway.  Abel seems to be very much in a 'the Beings are out to get me!' frame of mind though, so he's going to try and conceal his heritage.
Whatever they say, Abel can't really admit that he was pretending to be Merlitz without also letting slip that he's a 'cubi...

[ShiningShadow]

Abel will likely be expecting that, since he told them it was okay to return later.  He'll probably shift into his wingless form, but he would then have to explain Merlitz' and Alexsi's disappearance.

He could just go with the truth or something close to it. Merlitz left and Alexsi will either come back soon or sign her letters with "Alexsi San" in the future

That's hard to work if Merl's group come back an hour later or so.  That Merlitz quit and Alexsi got kidnapped in the intervening time is hard to swallow, and Abel is unlikely to tell them outright that he and Dan are the very Creatures they're hunting.
Dan might, of course, but if it came to it, he'd be able to fight them on adventurer terms anyway.  Abel seems to be very much in a 'the Beings are out to get me!' frame of mind though, so he's going to try and conceal his heritage.
Whatever they say, Abel can't really admit that he was pretending to be Merlitz without also letting slip that he's a 'cubi...

Or Abel could do this and points his finger at Dan and says *It was all his fault!* * I was kidnapped by him and forced to work here* as Abel continues and while the Adventure's being so busy with Dan Abel dissapears in an instant. But the Lake going on fire *WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* *I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. (quoting from Apocalypse now)*.

[Aridas]

There are a few ways to set a lake on fire... There are a couple elements or so that react violently to contact with water... I won't say which, since I don't want to be held responsible for causing explosions.

[bill]

Yeah, there's a reason that they don't combine Francium with water.

[Aridas]

I wasn't speaking of that... but... close enough.

[Tapewolf]

There are a few ways to set a lake on fire... There are a couple elements or so that react violently to contact with water... I won't say which, since I don't want to be held responsible for causing explosions.

That may be a little over-cautious - the only people who can actually get their hands on that kind of stuff will already know what it can do.

Theodore Gray's Sodium parties:  http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Stories/011.2/

[Aridas]

Not really. Kids stole a roll of magnesium.. or whatever it was.. from school so they could set some of THAT on fire, so I don't really doubt people getting their hands on other elements is easy x_x

[bill]

Francium would be literally impossible to get, and I doubt people would leave cesium lying around unguarded.

[Aridas]

There's others.... >.>

[Tapewolf]

Not really. Kids stole a roll of magnesium.. or whatever it was.. from school so they could set some of THAT on fire, so I don't really doubt people getting their hands on other elements is easy x_x

Heh, we did that too.  Sodium and potassium however have to be stored in oil or some other such substance to prevent them reacting with atmospheric moisture.  To comply with various UK regulations for the storage of hazardous substances it was kept very firmly under lock and key.  It was difficult enough for the teachers to get at and pretty much impossible for a pupil to get their hands on.
Since the USA is far more litigious than the UK, I'd be amazed if it wasn't even more tightly controlled over there...

[Alondro]

Actually, the reason some alkali and alkali earth metals create flame in the water is because the reaction they have with water produces hydrogen and a great amount of heat energy, which ignites the hydrogen.  The metal itself isn't actually burning, which is what happens when you ignite a strip of magnesium.  The metals CAN ignite if you set fire to them, but when they're thrown in water, they strip a hydroxide ion from a water molecule.  The process involves the donation of their single s-level outer shell electron to the oxygen atom of the water, which dissociates a hydrogen atom, which quickly stabilizes itself by binding with another hydrogen atom to form the stable diatomic hydrogen molecule.  The excess heat generated by the reaction ignites the hydrogen in the air, and ends up producing water once more in vapor form.  When you dry out water in which the reaction took place, you'll end up with either sodium or potassium hydroxide.

Both sodium and potassium metal can do this in water, so there's no need for the rarer metals.  And both metals can be produced by the electrolysis if molten metal halide salts, which generally takes place at about 1350oC.  Adding a small amount of a carbonate often eases the melting of the salts.   You have to keep the newly formed metal and its halide away from eah other, as they will react violently to reform teh salt, such as what happens if a chunk of potassium in tossed in a vat of iodine.  The heat has no molecules to act upon, as the products use up all the metal and halide, thus pure ignition of one or both of the reagents takes place with air and can explode if the amount of reagents are enough.

So, Abelitz has plenty of interesting options!  

[Aridas]

The basics we were taught in class, other than what you said, was that the "farther apart" the compatible elements were, the more of a reaction that could be created... so the ones on the far left were the ones that had a quick, high-energy exchange with water... though I might have worded that wrong just now... Classes don't stick in my mind. Ever.

[bill]

Group 1 and water don't mix very well. In the barest terms, the closer an element is to having a full or empty outer shell, the more reactive it is. Group 17 is extremely reactive as well.

[Supercheese]

Francium would be literally impossible to get, and I doubt people would leave cesium lying around unguarded.

Yeah, doesn't Francium have a really short half-life?

I would still really like to see the kind of explosion a piece of that stuff would put out... I've seen what cesium can do, and I'm impressed.

[xhahakristinax]

I would so much rather see the lake be set on fire, than soem stupid fire mage magic.
Why can Abel see that!?

[superluser]

Yeah, doesn't Francium have a really short half-life?

Wikipedia says less than 30 minutes for all isotopes.  Which is kinda weird, because it's not a manmade element.  Must only occur as a product of the decay of other elements.

Rubidium, on the other hand, isn't that hard to find, at least ionized.  It's used in fireworks to give things a reddish (Wikipedia says purplish) hue.

(Rubidus, -a, -um is Latin for red.)

[terrycloth]

Actually, the reason some alkali and alkali earth metals create flame in the water is because the reaction they have with water produces hydrogen and a great amount of heat energy, which ignites the hydrogen.  The metal itself isn't actually burning, which is what happens when you ignite a strip of magnesium.  The metals CAN ignite if you set fire to them, but when they're thrown in water, they strip a hydroxide ion from a water molecule.  The process involves the donation of their single s-level outer shell electron to the oxygen atom of the water, which dissociates a hydrogen atom, which quickly stabilizes itself by binding with another hydrogen atom to form the stable diatomic hydrogen molecule.  The excess heat generated by the reaction ignites the hydrogen in the air, and ends up producing water once more in vapor form.  When you dry out water in which the reaction took place, you'll end up with either sodium or potassium hydroxide.

So, instead of burning, they undergo exothermic oxidation? Isn't that also known as 'burning'?