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[konamouse]

Dale's Email 6/25 - from Don

[konamouse]

Coded message

[Myssfitz]

Re: Coded message

[Wolf]

First letter of each new sentence.

[Elijah Snow]

Re: Coded message

[dmax]

And, nonsensical on the surface, since Dale is running around and hiding and had to be brought in to a meeting with the Don where he told him what he wanted him to do.

Hardly seems that Don "controls" him. Unless this is just bluster.

[sjct]

Here's my spec on the subject: I believe that the Don recognized that Dale had a special quality, some kind of aura that could attract the Wish -- the same ability that allowed Dale to remember his wish when everyone else forgets. And, from that first meeting forward, the Don set about gaining power over Dale, manipulating him into a situation that would put the Don in control of Dale and allow him to capture the Wish.

I looked up some of the dates involved and just to refresh everyone's memories Dale left anonymousfame, started synthasia in 2001 and, at some point, moved to Ong's Hat. Perhaps the Don even suggested that the little town was a good place for Dale to move his family. Aglaura didn't change it's name from Ong's Hat until 2002. The building of the library took place "last year" (2002) and we know Diana was involved in that project as a member of the library board.

Somehow, when Dale was manipulated into the position that summoned the Wish the first time, the Don's plans for capturing the Wish fell thru and he moved on to Plan B.

It looks pretty clear that Dale knew the Don even before Ong's Hat changed it's name and built the library. There are probably bank records that show Dale made cash deposits to his business account during the time the library contract was being negotiated which might look suspiciously like a pay-off since Dale hasn't made any payments on the loan and there probably wasn't the usual loan agreement in writing like you get from a bank. Even if Dale did keep some kind of records of his dealings with the Don, they were destroyed in the house fire.

I am assuming, of course, that the Don made the loan in cash instead of writing a personal check since he's not a dummy. But, any Aglaura officials getting sudden windfalls in their bank accounts during the last year are going to look complicite in the scheme. J.D. -- knowing what was coming -- would have done a better job of hiding his kickbacks and pay-offs than, say, Mayor Dobbs or any of the other Council Members. I predict that he will testify that Dale was the one who recommended SOD for the library contract and that might even be the truth.

None of this absolves the Mazano's who got the contract for the construction. But, the Don could sneak out of this by sending da'boys, Dale and da'rest up the river, claiming he's just a semi-retired restaurant owner and knew nothing. Even Frank could claim he didn't know his stupid sons had a deal going with Dale and the rest of the town's officials.

(I wouldn't buy the idea of turning in blood relatives except for the info Angie overheard regarding the Don and Frank pushing da'boys out of the business. I can even imagine Frank saying to his sons, "Do this for the old man and all will be forgiven. Do a little time, get smarter and we'll set you up when you get out.")

Meanwhile, we know Sal was going to meet with Dale. If that meeting is observed by the investigators that are crawling all over Aglaura it will NOT look good. For all we know, Sal is only pretending to go over to Dale's side just so they WILL be seen together.

This is a pretty tight trap. How can Dale get out of it? I'd say our guy needs a good lawyer and even that might not help. Even if Dr. Kendra presents evidence that he has been delusional since the accident that will only delay his appearance and does not absolve him for his prior involvement with the Don. All of this expert manipulation, forces Dale to summon the Wish again and to do so in a way that allows the Don to achieve his goal of capturing the Wish.

I'm a lot better at figuring out plot than puzzles. What do you think?

[Elijah Snow]

I think your synopsis is very sound!

A couple of questions though...

How is it that Don Marzano was able to "sense" an innate ability in Dale? Magic? Arcane artifacts? Perhaps Don Marzano is supernatural in nature?

The Marzano coat-of-arms would suggest that the Marzano family had dealings with The Wish in the past (I for one would be interested in that back story if it were true). If so, how is it that the Don remembers "The Wish" as well?

These questions are rhetorical in nature. Just something to think about.

[sjct]

Well, I have been thinking about this, too. It's very tempting to fall back on that old Dana Carvey/Church Lady routine and think that the Don is, OOOOO-I-don't-know -- Satan! He's obviously got a connection with the DEG's and can order them around. But, that doesn't mean he isn't human, just evil in an old-fashioned way, maybe in league with the "Dark Force."

Almost all fantasy stories have some kind of bloodline element in them, like, there are people who have a faery gene in their dna. Because Dale and Sarah have extremely vague family backgrounds, there's the possibility that they're brother and sister, born of some fey heritage. Maybe, the Don even knew their parents and just recognized a family resemblance when he saw Dale.

When we look at the Marzano family history it certainly appears they had some kind of Fall from Grace back there in the 1400's and have been steadily working their way back to power ever since. Maybe, they used to have some control over the Wish and lost it. It might be a family secret that's been motivating them for hundreds of years. Maybe when the Don became an adult, his father told him about the Wish and he's passed on the info to Frank. But, Frank didn't pass on the info to his boys because they weren't mature enough yet...

I just can't wait to see how the PM is going to resolve all these loose ends and back stories. I'm in awe, really. But, I'm also thinking that the plot is The Grand Puzzle in this game and that if we don't start to put it together then it's not going to be revealed until we do. We haven't gotten a new puzzle until we solve the current puzzle -- in most instances -- and maybe we're not getting new plot info because we're not posting about what we think has happened so far.

[konamouse]

Just FYI - Frank is the eldest brother (not the father) of Sal & Marco.
Don is the father of all three boys. But I really like the spec that Don has a family secret that Sal & Marco haven't been told (they are "idiots").

The DEGs are not necessarily "evil" (it is us, the investigators who have drawn a line of good and evil). Are the guides good or evil, the DEGs, how about greywethers (and how is he related to the guides or shadowtalk1 - who called it "the catalyst"?), maybe we need to start another "family tree"?

To tie this all in to the mythosphere - and a spec that was mentioned in chat yesterday - gods and faeries and other supernatural beings have existed for millenia...could they also exist in the "humans" here in NJ? Various entities have been adversaries and rivals within the ancients. "They have returned" may include our deities? I agree that the Don (or his family) have a personal tie to The Wish. He needs to find The Wish. And he doesn't want *us* to be a part of the search (hence his instructions to Bruce to get all of us off the trail). Be careful what you email to Don.