A Way to Demonreach

[RobReece]

We know that there are Ways to get to Demonreach, Rashid used one and Peabody (or his boss) used a different one. Ever since Harry received the gem from his mother, I've been waiting for him to find a quicker route than a 1 hour boat ride.  Failing that, since the similarity was described in BG between the magic in the stones on the island and those in the castle,  does anyone think he'll be able to establish a way or even a portal from the castle to the cottage? 

Or does Jim not want it to be that easy?

Thoughts?

[Snark Knight]

From a Doylist perspective, the boat ride is usually good for framing a chapter of dialog and exposition with the narrator's companions, with the possibility of an action chapter off of being attacked in transit by hostile faeries, sea monsters, or Outsiders.

I suppose walking the Ways could substitute, but that's more likely to lean toward being attacked than talking. And Turn Coat kind of emphasized it's not smart to talk about anything sensitive in there, as anything might be listening and it's a distraction from being ready to fight anything that goes bump in the night.

[Mira]

  I think it isn't a matter of Harry knowing a Way to and from the island.  With his mother's jewel he should be able to find one, I think it is more of a matter of does he want to if he has alternative means?  In Turn Coat Rashid strongly hints that for most those Ways should be avoided.  If I remember rightly when Peabody arrived though the Way on the island didn't a bunch of giant spiders arrive with him?  Harry understands this, because you'd think if he really wanted off the island those months after Cold Days when Mab kept him incommunicado for the most part, he would have taken one of them, he had his mother's jewel to show the Way... But then again, Mab wouldn't have been happy about that at all.

[Second Aristh]

Considering that it might be a while before the Water Beetle is back in action, the Way to Demonreach could very well be an option that Harry explores in the relative near future.

Either way, I think popularizing the Way to get to the island will be something that Harry will prefer to avoid even if you ignore the dangers of going that way.

[Griffyn612]

From the Doylist perspective, I think Butcher could have Harry start using a Way to the island, if only to eliminate the tedium of writing about the boat. Sure, it's been a handy plot device, but a permanent Way can be used the same way.

It also felt very contrived to me been PT and BG that he had to hand wave "everything in Chicago broke down except the old boats", "it took the Fomor a couple of hours to prepare their attack after starting the battle", and "the approach from the water was more or less undefended except for this random kraken".

[Second Aristh]

From the Doylist perspective, I think Butcher could have Harry start using a Way to the island, if only to eliminate the tedium of writing about the boat. Sure, it's been a handy plot device, but a permanent Way can be used the same way.

It also felt very contrived to me been PT and BG that he had to hand wave "everything in Chicago broke down except the old boats", "it took the Fomor a couple of hours to prepare their attack after starting the battle", and "the approach from the water was more or less undefended except for this random kraken".

Yeah, that's a good point about the old boats.  A hex that took out all the lights and cars in Chicago but boats are okay is kinda too convenient for the plot.

[Mira]

Yeah, that's a good point about the old boats.  A hex that took out all the lights and cars in Chicago but boats are okay is kinda too convenient for the plot.

Yeah, and unless they are sail boats or paddle boats, marine motors are still motors unless they were all supernaturally shielded like Murphy's motorcycle.. Another pretty convenient way to let our crippled heroine get around.

[Kindler]

Well, the Water Beetle is an old trawler, surrounded by water (partially submerged), so it does make a degree of sense that it wouldn't be affected the same way. Those types of engines are significantly more durable than most land vehicle engines (for example, boat engines are typically used way less often than a car's is, and I'm sure we've all seen what happens when you don't drive an old car for a month or two in the winter, and that's without talking about the battery). They have to resist salt water corrosion, etc. But the main thing is that the seacock on the Water Beetle was probably open (I really doubt Thomas closed it), and there was almost certainly a lot of water in the engine's cooling systems that helped keep it operational.
Also boat diesel is expensive, and boats are money pits. I got rid of my sailboat many years ago and haven't looked back. It was not nearly the chick magnet I was hoping it would be.

[LostInTime]

The Water Beetle was also sunk at the end of Battle Ground. The old diesel might not work again and require a more modern replacement. Modern diesels have electronic controls and that might make it not work for Harry. Still a good way to run supplies if one of the Alphas or Butters runs it out. But, Harry is running out of mundane allies in Chicago.

I think Margaret's ruby is about to get used.

[morriswalters]

Of course this is wishful thinking on my part, but I think the portal in the basement could open on to Demonreach when Harry checks it out.  Jim kinda prepared the way for something like that in Skin Game.  Demonreach might be safer then Lea's garden.

[Kindler]

I think Margaret's ruby is about to get used.

I really, really hope so. It feels like it's been tragically underutilized in the story.
For example... it might've been effing awesome for Harry to have used the directions from Margaret's travels to hop around Chicago during Battle Ground, or to use it to smuggle Thomas out, or to hightail it to Edinburgh to pick up the Merlin and anyone else who could come, or... something.
I know, I know, Harry was a little busy at the time and the guy can't do everything. But c'mon. He's got the power to go almost anywhere he wants to. He's had it for, what, two full years? Maybe longer.
It also functions like a diary. I'm sure Margaret left Harry more than magic MapQuest and a message for Harry (somehow) inside Thomas's noggin. There's got to be more than that for Harry to hear.

[groinkick]

Harry is a member of Winter.  A Way to the Island may take him through territory that he's not welcome.

[Mira]

Harry is a member of Winter.  A Way to the Island may take him through territory that he's not welcome.

That is very possible, yet isn't Rashid also more or less a member of Winter?  He is a general of Winter's troops at the Gates, and if I remember correctly aren't his robes and stole Winter's colors? Yet he managed to get to Demonreach, but without stepping on the island itself.

[BrainFireBob]

Depends on how the Ways work, right?

If opening a Way between the Nevernever and reality is a matter of similarity, then he can maybe open one from the castle now- a fortress of solitude controlled by the Warden to another.

Lea's bond with Harry let her make the two places similar, I think- she nurtures Harry, from her POV, and she nurtures her garden, so the places can be made to overlap. If I'm right on this model, than Thomas taking Michael out of the Nevernever via a strip club is because women taking their clothes off is similar to wherever Thomas is.

[Second Aristh]

Depends on how the Ways work, right?

If opening a Way between the Nevernever and reality is a matter of similarity, then he can maybe open one from the castle now- a fortress of solitude controlled by the Warden to another.

Lea's bond with Harry let her make the two places similar, I think- she nurtures Harry, from her POV, and she nurtures her garden, so the places can be made to overlap. If I'm right on this model, than Thomas taking Michael out of the Nevernever via a strip club is because women taking their clothes off is similar to wherever Thomas is.

Yeah, I think that's basically the case, although I don't think it's as individualized as that.  More of a general vibe of the place than one being's perspective.  Harry's home was a place where he stayed and lived and grew, kinda garden like already.  If Lea hopped over to the NN side of Harry's apartment then grew a garden like that, I don't think it would necessarily stay the NN side of Harry's apartment if the apartment didn't already have those vibes.

As an easier example, say the NN side of the Full Moon garage in FM is a suitably nasty place.  If you forced your will on that NN location to make it cozy and friendly, opening a portal to the NN at the garage wouldn't still go to your cozy place.  The correspondance between the NN and our world shift as the atmosphere of a place changes.