1. We have been told that Nicodemus has a very specific target in mind, ostensibly kept in the Labyrinth of Daedalus.  What is Nic trying to get his hands on and why?

He's trying to get his hands on Pandora's box.  He intends to use it to cure Thorned Namy's coin of the Nemesis infection.

2. Nicodemus apparently called in a marker from Mab to get Harry on the team.  Does he have a specific plan for using Harry or did Mab twist his request?  Which of Harry's capabilities will he admit to needing, and (given that this is Nicodemus after all), which abilities is he scheming for Harry to use?

Neither.  Nick has a goal in mind, but no set specific plan.  Nick will hand the entire planing of the heist over to Dresden.

3. Jim has mentioned that the book will be "Ocean's Eleven".  Who else did Nicodemus recruit?  How will they interact with Harry?

While I expect that Nick will bring in his own suggestions to the team, but other than Deidre & his tongue tied teammates, I think the heist will be entirely Dresden's plan.

I do expect that Binder, the Last Churchmouse, Tera West to show.  Felicia Raith & Mr. Childs (the Troubleshooter) might also show.

4. Harry's general method of operation is to call on his friends for help.  In this book, Harry is (initially) allowed one extra backup member on the crew.  Who will it be?  Which of Harry's other allies will "interfere" before the plot is over?

I think Harry's initial Plus 1, will be Molly.  It generally won't be well known that Molly is the new Winter Lady, and as such Nick will not be expecting any of her actions.

5. This is a Denarian book, so (unlike the last "end of the world" showdown), the Swords will almost certainly be present.  In fact, there have been various hints...  Which Sword wielders will appear in the next book and how will their interference/help affect the plot?

I expect that Murphy will get over her hang up regarding the sword & finally take it up full time.  Nothing spectacular, but I don't see anyone else qualifying currently.

6. Mab is apparently against Nicodemus succeeding in this heist.  In the Cold Days, we found that Mab had complex reasons for wanting Harry to kill Maeve.  What are Mab's reasons in this book?  Is it simple thwarting or is there something deeper?

I question the premise of this question.  Obviously, Mab knows how Harry thinks.  Getting him to agree to this operation, pretty much hinges on the notion of betraying Nick.

I see Mab just manipulating Harry here.  She honestly doesn't care if Nick is betrayed or successful.  She just wants to give Harry as reason to see that the task is completed.

7. At the end of Cold Days, Harry needs to stay on the island to keep his growing headaches at bay.  The start of Skin Games implies that those headaches will need to be resolved by the end of the book.  Who or what is causing those headaches, and how will the whole thing get resolved by the end of the book?

There has been a few hints already, that the parasite is Lash.  I suspect she allowed herself to be infected by Nemesis during the Outsider attack by Vittrio, so that she could act against her nature.

She tried to burn herself out, before the infection could take root.  Right now, she's Proven Guilty Lea, level of sanity.

Endgame, she becomes a spirit of Intellect, like Bob.  Suspected vessel will be a nickel-like coin of some sort.  (Maybe something with an Athena-type head.)  Cured of Nemesis by Pandora's box, perhaps.

8.  One of the key components of the "Ocean's Eleven" movie is that there is a final twist/reveal.  Given that we've got Nicodemus, Harry, Mab, and potentially Hades (and who knows who else) all trying to get the better of each other, if there's one thing you can count on it's some sort of last minute quintuple-cross.  What will be the nature of the twist and how will it all fall out?

I suspect that the last Churchmouse will end up taking up a Denarian coin, either to outright kill Nick.  Or join up with him, for some unknown reason.  Potentially, the new bearer of Lashiel.

9.  (Extra Credit) There are many WAG ("Wild A$$ Guess") theories on the boards, some crazier than others.  Write up to three WAG theories (or make up your own) you believe are correct that will be confirmed (or at least have evidence in favor of) in Skin Games.

Can't think of anything WAGish, really.

10. (Extra Credit) This is that "free form" question where you can come up with anything else you think will be in this book.

Harry will be put in front of the White Council, with a vote to determine if he's allowed to retain membership.  I suspect that the vote will be close, with Ebenezer, the Gatekeeper & Listens to Wind voting for keeping Harry.  The Merlin, Christos & Martha Liberty voting against.  Ancient Mai providing the unexpected tie breaking vote, that keeps Harry in the Council.

First I'll admit that the below doesn't necessarily reflect on what Lacuna "thinks."  Heck Toot thinks washing himself will cause him to shrink like a wool sweater.  But I thought I'd quote it because it explains what is actually causing the Toot's growth.

In my mind, Ace didn't know what made Toot bigger, or had any real notions of how Harry manipulated his Za Lord guard & thus just did everything Harry did.  Only getting his minions better equipment & tactics, after he figured out how to make it work.

It's like Codex Alera.  3rd person with sections following different characters.

Oof, I hope it isn't as brutal as Codex.  He sometimes he left plots hanging a bit too long for my tastes.

But honestly, I'm not a fan of multiple 3rd persons, as gets really hard to keep track of what's going on.  Especially when you've got a complicated plot of a new unfamiliar world.

The exception to this, for me, has been the Heores of Olympus books, which doesn't backtrack or cover concurrent events.  The stories are a free flowing marathon, in which the narrator gets swapped, but the action is always moving forward.

Yeah, CA's most "frequent" perspective jump was chapter to chapter, and each chapter was still pretty long. And even then, it was usually two or three chapters in a row before the perspective changed.

Which was a problem for me, on a number of occasions.  Off the top of my head, there was this time Bernard & Amara infiltrated this camp of Collar bound prisoners.  The book followed them up to a certain point, then took a number a chapters before picking up where the story left off.

And flow of the stories felt off. 

There have been times when I know exactly what I'm looking for, words used & the order they were in.

The search engine just gives search results of various threads that contain the same words.  If there's a way we could look up an exact match, I'd appreciate it.

We sure that the Old One HWWB follows and Nemesis are the same entity?

As a side note, only 19 more likes to the Evil Hat page and we get another rpg teaser. Anyone who has a Facebook account and hasn't liked Evil Hat, I ask that you do so now.

Can't respond without getting into Cold Days territory, but...

he also said not a 'scion of the gods' .. so that eliminates 98.5% of the aesir. .. and  aheck of a lot of all the others , too.

A Scion as defined by the books is, the offspring of one of the Never Never various beings, but with the various ascension rites out there, some of the god pantheons don't always get specific who's related to who.

Still, was just listening to Changes, & something jumped out at me...

Maybe Mac is a dog person..

Honestly I just want more Norse gods, mostly folks like Freya, Vidarr, and Heimdal (this goes double if it is Mac and he gets in the game).

Thing is, we might have already gotten some of this.  From the way I interpret Cold Days, a lot of the older Gods are just masks for various Immortals.  Heck, it wouldn't shock me if Mab was also Hera.

So, its possible that we might have seen more than we think, we just don't recognise them, because they're not wearing that particular immortal mask.

Well in my thinking, the Warden mantle might have a bit more going for it, than a normal position.  Genius loci are spirit beings, and from the Darkhallow we know that Mantles are forged of similar stuff.  Might explain why Mantles seem to have animus of their own.

Winter & Summer Mantles might be formed from genius loci, hence why they seem to reflect the seasons & nature.  The Erlking King might be formed of dead hunter spirits.

All I'm saying that while Demonreach isn't exactly the same thing as the mantles of immortals, I don't think we can say that they are totally incompatible either.