Some of you Umineko fans might recall that over the course of the past couple years I hosted a series of topics about my reading Umineko. Due to the unpredictable, transient nature of college life, with its varying work flow, sudden parties and social events, and what have you, the rate and consistency of my reading was notoriously slow and unpredictable. Well now that I am on co-op until December, and with most of my friends having gradutated and left to pursue bigger and better things, I've found myself with more, and more consistent, free time. So why not pick Umineko back up?
Just as I have in the past, I will be doing extensive write-ups detailing my impressions of what is going on. I am currently at the start of Episode 5. I looked back at the notes I had saved for the previous episodes, and while I have lost my impressions on episode 4, my notes on episode 1-3 take up 45 single-spaced pages (!) in Word. If anyone actually wants to read through all that, I can put it up on megaupload or something.
Many thanks to KamikazePotato, who help me re-install the novel.
And lastly, there will be SPOILERS up to, and only up to, whatever point I am in the story. Please do not give hints or anything of that nature. Happy reading!
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
if you've forgotten Ep 4 that badly, the start was Ange and most people hate it (But I enjoyed it) and the second half was pretty much constant awesome
So it’s been a long time since I last read Umineko, and my memory regarding the latter parts of episode 4 are not all that good. It’s kind of unfortunate, considering how keen my memory is of the absolute slog that was the first half of the episode. KP gave me a brief summary of what happened, and from the bit I’ve read of episode 5 I can sort of guess the general happenings.
KP also refreshed my memory of the important point that Battler is the last one left alive on the island, and he dies, neither by suicide nor by accident. The exact phrasing of this might be important, buuuuuut I dunno. Right now that could be explained the same way that Nanjo’s death in episode 3 could be explained: someone inflicted a grievous wound on him at some point and he didn’t die right away from it. Or maybe it can’t, generally we know exactly what happens with gameworld Battler. My memory is too hazy to dwell on this for now.
Moving onto episode 5, I’m only two chapters in at the moment. It’s mostly exposition at this point, there’s not really any mystery to sink my teeth into. Lambadelta and Bernkastel start the game without Battler, and then rewind it to the start when Battler decided to join in. The relationship between Battler and Beatrice is weirdly touching, but at the same time I’m skeptical of it. Lambadelta and Bernkastel speak of the possibility of Beatrice employing the same deceptive strategy she used on Battler in episode 3. It seems too obvious a ploy in this instance, though, and even Battler is remaining wary of it.
What I found really interesting was the discussion on Knox’s 10 Laws of Mystery Writing. While I was in that state between deciding to pick Umineko up again and actually starting the episode, I had dwelled a bit on Battler’s arguments up until this point. Everything he’s proven so far is that it’s been possible for a human to commit these crimes. But that’s not the same as proving that witches don’t exist. I was kind of puzzled on how he could ever hope for victory with such a victory condition.
Thankfully, in this episode the conditions of victory are further clarified. Beatrice admitting defeat was at one time a means of ending the game, but now because of Lambdadelta, forfeiture is not a possibility. Battler has to actually prove that, for the duration of the two days on the island, that witches had nothing to do with the murders, that they did not exist on that hunk of rock.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
The distinction between mystery and fantasy was one I found interesting. And thinking that Knox’s 10 Laws might provide some hints, I decided to look them up. So now I am going to list each law, and provide a bit of input on how it affects the state of our mystery.
1. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.
The first part of this doesn’t really rule out any of the humans, but the second part is incredibly intriguing, because we’ve been exposed to the thought processes of quite a few of the characters. I wish my memory wasn’t so fuzzy, but I recall getting insight into the minds of the following people: Battler, Maria, George ,Jessica, Shannon, Kanon, Eva, Rosa, Kyrie, Natsuhi , Kinzo (though he’s dead). There might have been others, but already the list (if we can trust the author to follow Knox’s laws to a T) is reduced to: Krauss, Genji, Nanjo, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Gohda, and Kumosawa. Progress!
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
Well duh.
3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.
If I recall, episode 3 and 4 both involved secret passages. One that led to the gold, the other that had some kind of prison in it. I can’t remember if those were confirmed to be real or if they were just fabrications on Beatrice’s part, though.
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
This one was discussed in the first chapters of the episode, and seriously limits Battler’s arguments. It should make for some more entertaining logic, though.
5. No Chinaman must figure in the story.
No character in the story is Chinese. Check.
6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.
Hasn’t happened yet, to my recollection.
7. The detective must not himself commit the crime.
Battler was already ruled out by the first law.
8. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.
Hasn’t happened yet, to my recollection. 9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.
There isn’t really any character like this in Umineko.
10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.
No Kinzo body double, then.
Alright, well this post has definitely gone on long enough. If I have any readers left by this point, I’ll be shocked. Til next time.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
Umineko's versions of the Knox rules are slightly different, but you've got the idea.
A Chinaman refers to a character whose motivations are incomprehensible; mystery novels those days would use culprits from the 'mysterious Orient', and who knows how those weirdos think, right? Nowadays you might think of criminals who are criminals because they are criminals; it's like that.
--
"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick
Sceptilesolarbeam posted... Umineko's versions of the Knox rules are slightly different, but you've got the idea.
A Chinaman refers to a character whose motivations are incomprehensible; mystery novels those days would use culprits from the 'mysterious Orient', and who knows how those weirdos think, right? Nowadays you might think of criminals who are criminals because they are criminals; it's like that.
Yeah I figured it was something sorta like this, I was just being cute. But because of this I suppose I could infer that whoever ended up actually committing these murders will have had an explainable motive.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
So this is who you asked for help with, eh KP? I believe I tried to help Calvin before with it but I just don't know anything about Macs other than we use them for some technical stuff at my school :(
Glad you got it working though, yours were always my favorite on the board!
Oh baby, two chapters further in and things are getting reeeeaaaalllllyyyyy interesting. Story-wise, Battler and the new chick (Fumiko or something?) are almost done solving the riddle when the chapter ends with them opening an atlas. I didn’t proceed past that because dammit, I wanna solve this riddle myself.
I’ve been given a ton of information, it’s almost as if the riddle has been solved for me if I can just figure out the location of Kinzo’s home town, or that of the village who’s six characters form the key.
They stress the importance yet not-importance of the sweetfish, and I figure the metaphorical river could be some kind of human transportation system, a railway or a highway or something. So I wikipedia’d sweetfish, and learned that they can only be found in the Hokkaido province of Japan. This is the northernmost province, an island separated from Japan’s mainland.
Now Rosa’s talk about capitals steered us towards Kyoto, but no human transportation leads from Hokkaido in the North directly to Kyoto in the south of Japan’s main island. So I think it might have to do with Hokkaido province’s capital, Sapporo. The only thing that makes me uncertain of this is that Sapporo’s kanji lacks the character that Rosa spoke of. That’s a bit troubling.
But Sapporo does rest on a railway that spans much of Hokkaido, and Wikipedia happens to have a list Hokkaido Railway Company’s lines and key stations. This is where it gets difficult, though. The village from which the six characters must come shouldn’t lie at either end of a railway line, because one conceivably takes the line from Kinzo’s home town, through this village, into the capital. Looking at the lines that go through Sapporo, I can’t find any satisfying candidates.
Unless I seriously misunderstood something, the string that the characters are supposed to be taken out of is “at the first twilight.” It’s eleven characters long if you ignore repeats. There aren’t any stations on wikipedia’s list that are six characters long, ignoring repeats, and whose characters all appear in the string. So I kind of run into a wall.
I will continue to postulate sometime later tonight. I’m expecting company pretty soon. The cogs in my brain are moving though, this is fun!
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
Looking back at the riddle, I see that the key may not be a village name,, but the name of a shore that the village is on. Well, I'll have to look at that later, then.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
Blargh, this riddle-solving isn't going too well. I've been looking at the Hakodate Main Line since it runs along a couple different coast lines of Hokkaido, but there's about a thousand stops along it and I don't want to comb through those. And Wikipedia doesn't say anything like "and the town of blah borders the coast of riddle-answer," and frankly I'd be disappointed if the riddle requires such ridiculous understanding of geography and the Japanese railway as that.
I feel like I'm going about this wrong. I'm trying to find the village when there should be some clue in the material that's available to me as to what the home town is. There was that cryptic little hint Lambdadelta gave, "if the riddle isn't hard....then there is just no point to it." Or something like that. That might be the hint I need, but I can't make heads nor tails of it right now. Maybe sleeping on it will do the trick.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
You need to be able to read the kanji to solve the mystery, unless you want to just guess at which one is the 'village'.
Also, you won't get the solution to the epitaph for ages. You get a big hint this episode, though; I'd go back and think about it after you get past that part. I'm pretty sure you haven't seen that part yet.
--
"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick
Bummer, i was afraid it would delve into Japanese language stuff. i got encouraged because of them talking about Kinzo likely doing things in English because he was so enamored by western culture. And I figured the solution was imminent considering that's how they played it at the end of the chapter.
I will continue tomorrow, then.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
From: Sceptilesolarbeam | #020 Also, you won't get the solution to the epitaph for ages. You get a big hint this episode, though; I'd go back and think about it after you get past that part. I'm pretty sure you haven't seen that part yet.
I was thinking you got a pretty big hint back in Episode 4, too.
--
Support Seifer Almasy (Final Fantasy VIII) for Character Battle IX! http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9342/banner3seifer.jpg
Worse, you can't really solve it without knowing Japanese culture and history, too, because one of the things you're supposed to use to solve it is never mentioned in the story but apparently is supposed to be 'common knowledge' in Japan <.<
So I read another two chapters. This write up is coming a couple days after my last reading session, so it probably won’t be as detailed as they normally are. I do have a few interesting things to talk about though.
Battler and new chick find the gold, and it is once and for all confirmed to exist, be real, yadda yadda. Piece Battler “sees” Kinzo, who provides a final hint how to reach the golden land. Meta Battler quickly explains this way as Battler delusionally seeing Kinzo, that really nobody was there. He asserts this in blue, and Lambdadelta says that she will not deny the blue assertion for now.
I’m going to make a sort of bold claim: sometime later in this episode, Lambdadelta is going to lay a bomb on Battler that he will seriously struggle to overcome. She will pronounce, with the red truth, that Battler did see his grandfather standing there, that his grandfather did indeed point him to the promised land. The key word here is “grandfather,” though, and Battler has two of those.
I don’t remember this at all, but KP told me that in the last episode it is revealed that Battler’s supposed biological mother isn’t actually his biological mother. I don’t know who his real mother is, but I doubt that kind of stuff wouldn’t be revealed if it didn’t have some application to this mystery, and this seems like a perfect situation for it to come into play.
Who is his grandfather, then? Genji? Nanjo? Gohda? No one else on the island really seems old and male enough to fit. And only Genji and Nanjo both seem to be in-on-it enough for it to be one of them. It seems pretty obvious to me at this juncture that the scenario, the motivation behind these murders, is to prompt them to solve the riddle.
This gets into Beatrice’s dejection. The actual killer has nothing to gain or lose from anyone finding or failing to find the gold. He or she was put to the task by Kinzo. If no one solved the riddle in a certain amount of time after his death, the no one was worthy. The letter Beatrice continually sent was supposed to be a final, nonviolent-but-still-eerie notification that would motivate them to solve the riddle. But no one ever took it seriously.
But there was more than that that happened in these chapters. Some sort of relationship between Battler and Beatrice, whoever she is in real life, was heavily implied. In every game, he is the last one left alive. But she wasn’t trying to scare him, she was trying to give him the best chance to solve the riddle. That he never does is a source of supreme sadness for Beatrice. I never expected that, but it really adds further to her character. The fact that the culprit, both Beatrice and whoever Beatrice really is, never took any pleasure in the horrific means of killing and presenting her victims, affirms the idea that whoever is behind this isn’t a psychopath or in any serious way crazy.
So about me not putting a lot of detail into this post? I just can’t help myself. Gonna read some more right now. I think you all might find it humorous to know that I’ve been going to the trendiest, hipsterish places in Cleveland to read this. I’m in a beautiful coffee shop, sitting in a vintage chair tucked into a cozy corner, drinking some obscure tea, posting on GameFAQs and am about to read a dorky Japanese visual novel. It’s a pretty good time.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
From: CalvinbalI | #027 The fact that the culprit, both Beatrice and whoever Beatrice really is, never took any pleasure in the horrific means of killing and presenting her victims, affirms the idea that whoever is behind this isn’t a psychopath or in any serious way crazy.
I don't think that counts as behavior of a sane person in my book, regardless of if you're happy about it or not. >_>;;
--
No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.
--
"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick
And a special double update because the places I was reading at today didn't have internet!
Another handful of chapters down, and with Erika’s failure to explain either the letter or the knocking sound, I now have some red truths that I can take down myself! But first, let’s go over some things leading up to it.
So here I got to witness the very enjoyable battle concerning Kinzo’s existence within his study. This went back and forth a lot, and I have to admit a lot of the reasoning behind it was stuff that I didn’t anticipate. Piece Battler’s reasoning at the end was ingenious, I definitely hadn’t come close to thinking it. When he first piped up with his argument and prepared to start talking, the best thing I could think of was that Kinzo had somehow left with Natsuhi, avoiding both her’s and Eva’s detection. But that’s absurd.
Knox-lady’s meeting with meta Battler and Beatrice in the rose garden was very interesting. The fact that Lambdadelta somehow has control over her shocked me. Lambdadelta wants a draw, so it was definitely beneficial for her to have the illusion of Kinzo still intact, but the fact that Bernkastel, who supposedly wants to win, went along with it is quite the twist. It’s something I will have to stay wary of.
Now, onto the puzzle of the knock and letter. Throughout this scene I was basically a step ahead of Erika on all her reasoning, and while my explanation to beat that red truth that defeated her isn’t particularly plausible, and could very well itself be defeated, it’s worth mentioning.
The letter and the knock were both placed and produced by a hand. The letter part of that statement hasn’t been confirmed, but I’m guessing it will be eventually. So perhaps some sort of severed hand did both. Whether it was Krauss/Natushi/Genji holding the hand in their own, or some device operating the hand that has remained undetected, either satisfies the red truth that has been established. So take that Erika, I’m smarter than you.
Hey, somehow this update was actually somewhat short!
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
Another two or three chapters down, and again I’m typing up my impressions a couple days after the fact. This time I really think it won’t be that long, because while the first murders have already occurred, Battler and Ericka seem to have things pretty well under control for now.
So this time around Jessica, George, Maria, Rosa and Genji are the supposed victims. I say supposed because their death have not yet been confirmed in red text. Ericka provided three solutions to the disappearance of the four bodies in the guest house that have yet to be refuted. As the narration hints, though, I imagine that Lambdadelta will at some time later provide a few choice facts that will muck things up.
I believe the scenarios that Ericka provided are as follows: At least one of them wasn’t actually dead, just posing as such. Krauss took them. They were decoy bodies, and one of the four removed them.
I won’t dwell on it too long, but I imagine Lambadelta will lay down some red truths later, and I feel like I can predict and dispel them right now. Supposing she says that they were not decoy bodies, that Krauss did not take them, and that all four were dead when Battler first woke up, I could still argue that the four bodies, genuine as they were, were dead before the start of the story. That allows for a mystery person X to have taken them off. Also, it’s possible that Genji wasn’t actually dead, and after/while everyone was looking at his body/decoy body he could have gone to the guest house and moved the four.
At this point I’m guessing Krauss is dead, but Battler and Ericka will rely on his being alive to form some theories on how things could happen.
Lastly, this mysterious character talking to Natsuhi is really intriguing. Because of the red truth established earlier, there are five possibilities that I can think of. The first is that one of the people we thought was alive was dead the whole time, so there was room for another person on the island.
The second is that it is actually one of the tried and true characters we’re well acquainted with. This one is intriguing because there seems to be very few people eligible here. If the mystery person never calls again I suppose it could be George/Jessica/Maria, because I don’t recall the person calling since their bodies were discovered, and they don’t have an alibi. This is supposing that those three are actually dead, of course.
The third is that it’s someone who is obviously still alive. There are very few people who don’t have an alibi while Natsuhi was receiving these calls. I think it’s limited to Kumosawa, Gohda and Nanjo.
The last two are so disappointing that they hardly deserve mention. Natushi isn’t actually receiving calls, or there is some mysterious second outside line she doesn’t know of, and this outside line is connecting to some inside line, which is connecting to her. That last one is beyond dumb so I doubt that’s it.
And finally, Battler is totally that baby that Natushi nearly adopted.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
From: CalvinbalI | #035 So perhaps some sort of severed hand did both. Whether it was Krauss/Natushi/Genji holding the hand in their own, or some device operating the hand that has remained undetected, either satisfies the red truth that has been established. So take that Erika, I’m smarter than you.
Assuming you're through that scene, me thinks you missed something:
No one in the mansion placed the letter in the hallway. This includes doing so by all concepts, such as directly, indirectly, intentionally, coincidentally, and unintentionally.
It was impossible for anyone outside the mansion to influence anything inside the mansion around the time of the family conference.
tcaz2 posted... From: CalvinbalI | #035 So perhaps some sort of severed hand did both. Whether it was Krauss/Natushi/Genji holding the hand in their own, or some device operating the hand that has remained undetected, either satisfies the red truth that has been established. So take that Erika, I’m smarter than you.
Assuming you're through that scene, me thinks you missed something:
No one in the mansion placed the letter in the hallway. This includes doing so by all concepts, such as directly, indirectly, intentionally, coincidentally, and unintentionally.
It was impossible for anyone outside the mansion to influence anything inside the mansion around the time of the family conference.
Ah, well the severed hand still works for the knock, then. And the second statement is so...fuzzy. Like if someone sets up a device prior to the family conference that is on a timer, does that count as them influencing something inside the mansion around the time of the family conference? They influence the environment inside the mansion prior to the family conference, but then it's only the device influencing the mansion during the family conference.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
And none of them misinterpreted a knocking sound. Krauss, Natsuhi, and Genji were not involved with the knock. No one else existed inside the mansion. And that knock refers to the action of standing directly in front of a door and hitting it with a hand.
"Standing directly in front of a door and hitting it with a hand."
So no device set up beforehand is allowed. Also,
Let it be known that in addition to Krauss, Natsuhi, and Genji, none of those in the dining hall made the knock. In this sense, 'knock' includes all direct, indirect, intentional, unintentional, and coincidental events that could create a knocking sound.
From: CalvinbalI | #038 And the second statement is so...fuzzy. Like if someone sets up a device prior to the family conference that is on a timer, does that count as them influencing something inside the mansion around the time of the family conference? They influence the environment inside the mansion prior to the family conference, but then it's only the device influencing the mansion during the family conference.
It's not fuzzy. It means that nothing they have done, ever, can cause any influence inside the mansion at that time. Influence means 'the action of producing an effect', so even if it was set up beforehand, they'd still be 'producing an effect in the mansion at that time'.
Well that bugs me because that's not true. For instance, Gohda pre-prepared breakfast for the following day. If he hadn't done that, that food wouldn't have been prepared during the family conference, the mansion would have been in a different state. That contradicts the red truth as it is written.
Though the other red truth you've listed wipes away my theories anyway. I'll have to think of something else.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
Do I recall correctly that it's been confirmed that the knocking happened at 12:00 and that at 12:00 only Genji, Natushi, Krauss, Kanon, Shannon, Rosa, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie and Battler were in the mansion? And does it ever specifically mention that Kanon, Shannon, Rosa, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie and Battler were inside the room? And does it ever specifically mention that the knock came from the other side of the door?
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
From: CalvinbalI | #040 Well that bugs me because that's not true. For instance, Gohda pre-prepared breakfast for the following day. If he hadn't done that, that food wouldn't have been prepared during the family conference, the mansion would have been in a different state. That contradicts the red truth as it is written.
Genji was the one that made the biscuits and stuff they were eating, right before. I just checked.
From: CalvinbalI | #042 Do I recall correctly that it's been confirmed that the knocking happened at 12:00 and that at 12:00 only Genji, Natushi, Krauss, Kanon, Shannon, Rosa, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie and Battler were in the mansion? And does it ever specifically mention that Kanon, Shannon, Rosa, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie and Battler were inside the room? And does it ever specifically mention that the knock came from the other side of the door?
Before the family conference, Erika, George, Jessica, Maria, Nanjo, Gohda, and Kumasawa left the mansion and moved to the guesthouse. Of those who remain, only Krauss, Natsuhi, and Genji were in the second floor corridor, while all others were in the dining hall.
This is the extent of what was said.
And as well as what was said about you should perhaps focus on what it's not saying, maybe you should change the way you're thinking about it. "Flip the chessboard over", and all that.
Well I'm not saying Gohda made the biscuits, I'm saying there is prepared food within the mansion that wouldn't have been prepared otherwise. It may not have affected anyone in the mansion in any way during the conference, but it did affect some things inside the mansion during that time. And the red text says anything.
Though at this point I'm just nitpicking.
As for flipping the chessboard over, I guess I could speculate the motive of why someone would leave that letter in the first place, maybe that would provide some hint on who did it or how it was done.
There are a number people who would actually be capable of having the ring. Kanon, Shannon, Kumasawa, Genji, Nanjo, Natsuhi and Krauss knew of Kinzo's death, so reasonably there the only ones who would be able to get the ring.
The way I see it, there are two reasons why the letter would be left. The first is that whoever left it felt Battler was deserving of the ring signifying headship, and took matters into his or her own hands. Natsuhi is certainly out of the picture for that, probably Krauss as well. I could see anyone else, though, working behind the backs of their current master/employer if they felt their actions betrayed the final order of the previous one.
The second motive is that the culprit wanted to distract the people in the room for some time, and knew they would enter another argument if something like that was delivered. This very well may have been what allowed the murders in the guest house to take place. If this was the sole motive, it opens up the playing field.
Anyways, I'm gonna read some more.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
From: CalvinbalI | #044 Well I'm not saying Gohda made the biscuits, I'm saying there is prepared food within the mansion that wouldn't have been prepared otherwise. It may not have affected anyone in the mansion in any way during the conference, but it did affect some things inside the mansion during that time. And the red text says anything.
There's no effect from the food just sitting there, though. It by definition is just sitting there and not doing an action, which means there was no influence as influence means causing an action.