It's the piece of paper on which Siphy II's soul is still bound to.

Gnarlene is not trustworthy -- even if they could find her -- although I guess it would buy them some time.

I thought we had established the "something" was the soul of Siphy II, whose page Ozzid was holding when he went into the book (edit: looks like I was a tiny bit too slow with that one).

Methinks only the Stormbreaker can save us now (unless Dunuloa is so pleased by Gwynn's gift that she comes up with another way to help).

Well, Gnarlene is currently possessed by Numbskull, so she already has a demon inside her.
I suppose if Gwynn could find her, she could be Numbskull into the Book of Ughlee, and then have the Bug possess Gnarlene. That seems like too much to try to attempt. Plus, she doesn't have another copy of that spell.

I wonder how spells are created in the first place. Could Gwynn learn any spells from the pages she is holding and then use them? One of them is the Dominate spell. Not sure if it's just for mortals or if it can be used on demons as well.

One of the spells is the one to summon Captain Botanical. And he has an anti-magic aura. Wonder if he could be used against the Bug in any way.

I've been wondering about that. What if they could launch Poopy into space (like to the moon)? He doesn't seem to have any power beyond Earth.

I also wonder if we'll ever get to the bottom of the Mokhadun myths about how there was nothing and then there was something. Is PP really as pivotal as the stories claim he is?

Everything hinges really on if there's any way to trap the Bug without sacrificing a person to be his flesh-and-blood jail. It would be a very tragic and sad ending to sacrifice someone well meaning because they could be trusted to keep Poopy Pants in check, but also wouldn't be sustainable to punish a bad person, since those are more easily manipulated.

It seems to have been established that as a pillar of reality, the Bug can't really be contained that easily. The whole structure of reality would have to change in order to escape the cycle of the Bug ending sparks.

Could the gods change his "nature" again in the same way that (if I recall correctly) Kronus changed his nature from pillar of reality to demon so that he can be imprisoned? Or did that change already made his imprisonment in some other way possible, we just don't know about it yet?

I'm still not convinced PP is truly a "pillar of reality". Based on everything we've seen, he's more like "boss monster on earth".

Captain Botanical died in space. There is nothing left to summon.

Thinking about Riff, what he is at heart, I think, is a problem solver. He sometimes stumbles along the way.

He's not a long-term strategist, like Torg (or the bug, but he's shown that in the moment, he can solve the problem at hand (granted, the solution sometimes creates a new problem).

But this arc is about Gwynn. Riff's solutions work best when paired with others's actions.

So I think Riff will do something that allows Gwynn to find a way to get him out. I hope it's soon!

The bug is probably safest inside of Riff, since he will resist the bug.
Putting the bug in Gnarlene would be too dangerous since she'd cooperate with him and help him escape.

I think vanRT was heading in the right direction. I think Siphy II comes to the rescue somehow... I have also been thinking about Ozzid saying that he likes his cages. Perhaps he'd even volunteer...? I'm not sure whether a demon could work, or how trustworthy he would be... I think I'm pointing in the right direction, I just don't have Pete's creativity to put it together....

Ooh, fascinating. What if Ozzid-SiphyII made just enough of a "human" vessel for the bug to be inserted? Somehow I doubt it, but it's been proven that I can't predict *half* of what Pete is going to do.

He was bound to the fate web after the last big crashy boom. This is an unprecedented form and situation.

For all we know, if he crashes things again, he’ll also crash himself, and thus, the web, the pillars, and everything.

Which he may or may not enjoy.

This is more of a tongue-in-cheek speculation, but who knows...

So my original thought as Riff was sucked into the page with PP (aside from the initial expletive) was, "Damn. And Riff without his explosives."

But with all the magical power now at his fingertips, can't he just conjure up explosives? And just what would explosives do in his new reality? Do we want to find out?

Oooo-oooo!!! Real spec: Yffi shows up. With much antics in between (which will include determining whether Chaz will betray Torg??) Gwynn eventually discovers Siphy II, and the two of them undo the storage of PP in Riff and immediately stuff him into Yffi (Symanchus) instead.

Yffi Siphy, the evil!

Even if Yffi is Symachus, I'm not sure I'd trust him to be the keeper.

Riff's summoned explosives might be fun (and unpleasant for the bug), but it's been shown that the bug and the keeper can do mean stuff to each other with no lasting effect.

It would depend on his motivation and whether he's looking for justice-as-vengeance or justice-as-redemption. I'm hoping for the latter, personally.

Of course, "that which redeems consumes." In an odd way, Symachus could redeem himself by figuratively consuming the Bug to be K'Z'K's eternal warden.