Book 2 – Text Updates 044

[Dr Pepper]

And in the most shocking development yet, Stanley attempts to produce original thoughts. Hopefully his head won't buzz too loudly.

[Redarmy]

Can caster's become rulers? I can't help but get the feeling Wanda will turn on Stanley somehow, especially now that she has decrypted dwagons. Maybe not in this book 2, but book 3 is more likely.

[atalex]

So the dog finally barked in the night. And yes, Stanley has a higher regard for Parson than we thought. More importantly, however, he's still under the suggestion spell that compels him to stay away and let Parson handle it. Which is interesting because Stanley's natural thinkamancy has made him aware of actions which have significantly upset him, but the suggestion spell that stops him from bothering with Parson still holds... for now. But we know Parson is poised to do things that will likely disturb Stanley even more, including leaving GK for the Magic Kingdom without so much as a by your leave. So my question is: Just how much can Parson get away with before it pisses Stanley off enough to break the suggestion spell. Because it has been foreshadowed that this battle would result in an awful price for Parson, and speculation has centered on the death of either Jack or Sizemore. But we also know that breaking a suggestion spell can have catastrophic effects on the caster, and Maggie has already mentioned how dangerous what she did might be. What if the price Parson must pay comes in the form of returning to GK after the battle is won to find Maggie has died or been irredeemably broken by Stanley breaking her spell?

A side note: I think this update means that Ace would be an even more interesting addition to GK than before. His approach to Dollamancy seems to be a good fit for the Arkenhammer. After all, dolls are price you get if you win that game where you swing the hammer to hit the bell.

[dirocyn]

Aw, he's kinda sweet. Who knew?

I'm loving the nuanced detail of these characters. Stanley acts like a jerk because that's what he thinks he should do, and he's insecure and lonely. Beautiful.

I have long speculated that Stanley would be pissed about the dwagons being harvested and even more uncomfortable about his troops being decrypted.

[fjolnir]

He's trying for "Royally Detatched" but can't seem to make it work and he's wondering why.

[dirocyn]

What if the price Parson must pay comes in the form of returning to GK after the battle is won to find Maggie has died or been irredeemably broken by Stanley breaking her spell?

Holy boop! No, it won't work that way at all.

Spoiler: show

Maggie sets her suggestions so that the rebound of a breaking spell hits the spell's recipient, not herself. What if her spell rebounds and croaks Stanley? Okay, I know this is pretty wild speculation, but if that happens--all the units in the field become barbarians. Wanda becomes her own side, which may or may not include Parson. Ouch!

[Raza]

I enjoyed this one! Stanley's a lot less unsympathetic on the inside, but remains consistent. That's good writing.

And juicy, too. Some more forum hot-topics addressed... apparently attuning doesn't mean instant understanding of function, unlike a lot of other things in Erfworld. Wanda's attunement left that one up in the air.


And I'm pretty sure Maggie couldn't direct the spell's potential backlash at Stanley. That's what she meant when she talked about 'significant personal risk'.

[badninja]

Oh not good, now I have a feeling that the Tool will royally screw up Parson's plans by doing something. I cannot believe that Parson went with the plan of using all of the Achrons on this attack. The Tool is at least acting on some ideas I think he may be able to turn other units also, maby those megalogwiffons? If he where to lead the attack against Jillian it could be good but she is a serious danger. Unusual update for what has happened but this will be setting up information for late in the story.

[Sygerrik]

One of the reasons that the slow pace of updates is frustrating is that often, when we DO get an update, often it's an utterly irrelevant one (like this) that breaks the flow of the story. The last few comics have been building to a climax, and this is kind of an abrupt derail. That's not to say that today's update was not interesting, but it's not good storytelling.

[JimSox5]

I knew we were overdue for a Stanley update. Nice to see what's going through his head, though I'm still on the edge of my seat waiting to see his reaction to Parson's absence. They say it makes the heart grow fonder, but I'm not sure that will be the case here.

I'd also like to add that the Parson-Stanley dynamic was one of my favorite things about this comic, and it has been sadly lacking in Book 2. In fact, Stanley as a whole has been rather lacking in Book 2.

[No one in particular]

Another typo, or possibly Stanley just not remembering the name right: "[...] which was...Date-o-mancy, he guessed?"

And I keep thinking of the Law of the Instrument... "When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to looks like a nail."

[zilfallon]

I'd also like to add that the Parson-Stanley dynamic was one of my favorite things about this comic, and it has been sadly lacking in Book 2. In fact, Stanley as a whole has been rather lacking in Book 2.

agreed. i hope to see more of stanley in updates. he's a very interesting character, and one of my favourite ones.

[Aquillion]

But we know Parson is poised to do things that will likely disturb Stanley even more, including leaving GK for the Magic Kingdom without so much as a by your leave.

I doubt that that will upset him. He knows Parson spent GK money to promote himself to Field Unit -- at that point, he would probably be angrier if Parson didn't intend to use that capability to move around.

[Spot]

One of the reasons that the slow pace of updates is frustrating is that often, when we DO get an update, often it's an utterly irrelevant one (like this) that breaks the flow of the story. The last few comics have been building to a climax, and this is kind of an abrupt derail. That's not to say that today's update was not interesting, but it's not good storytelling.

If this was a simple story about a single battle, then today's update would be out of place... but, since this story is about much more than a battle, and uses a background with interactions of dozens of named characters in a region-wide war to tell the tale, then Stanley's thoughts on this matter are completely relevant and totally a part of the flow of the story.

Go find and watch "The Longest Day" if you want to see the exact same technique being used here. It won two Oscars.

[zilfallon]

actually, i'm surprised stanley wasn't thinking "hey, he made himself field unit, but it isn't our turn?"

[skarl]

well, this update makes clear that stanley is smarter than he looks. and, he may have big jaws, how are you going to EAT that sandwich??

maybe he can re-tame the dwagons if they come back?

[joosy]

Stanely needs a bib. Or perhaps he is just modifying one of my favorite Dilbertisms:

"Sleeves (cloaks in this case) make excellent napkins.. and they always match your outfit."

[oslecamo2_temp]

Very glad I keep seeing my suspicions about Stanley being smarter than he lets out confirmed.

Units in Erfworld pop knowing everything about their own jobs, but Stanley? He was born a lowly infantry dude. He had to rise trough the ranks the hardest way.

Thus he still is learning how to be a proper overlord. Wanda was born knowing all about croackmancy and a lot about other magics, and Trems was born knowing a lot about diplomacy and tactics, but Stanley was born just knowing how to walk and stab stuff. His path has been the roughest we've seen out of anybody in Erfworld.

His previous ruler was killed by betrayal, so Stanley doesn't dare open himself to anyone. He had Wanda trying to set him an ambush and then whispering him delusions of grandeur for titans know how many turns. He summoned the perfect warlord that literally always looks up him down.

But Stanley is evolving. He's learning how to use the Hammer. He's learning how to properly communicate with his subordinates. He's adapting to the big chair, and that's why Wanda never dared to double cross him again, nor Jack abandoned him to rejoin Jillian. They know Stanley is on his way to become the most powerfull Overlord of all, because he's actually earning and learning his position the hard way.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Aw, he's kinda sweet. Who knew?

I did. Been saying so for a long time. I was a Stanley fan since before it was cool.

In fact, now that it's cool to like Stanley, I think I'll discover that he sold out and is a total poseur. Boo Stanley. Boo.

One of the reasons that the slow pace of updates is frustrating is that often, when we DO get an update, often it's an utterly irrelevant one (like this) that breaks the flow of the story. The last few comics have been building to a climax, and this is kind of an abrupt derail. That's not to say that today's update was not interesting, but it's not good storytelling.

{snip}

Go find and watch "The Longest Day" if you want to see the exact same technique being used here. It won two Oscars.

And Driving Miss Daisy won 4. Just so everyone knows. That the Academy Awards mean zilch.

Ok, back to seriousness, the value of a story technique is not measured in AAs, but that's not Spot's point. In any case, imo the idea of the updates was to provide some fleshing out for the world. A bit of extra, to keep us alert in between comic updates. If that is understood, then updates like this are no problem.

Also, arguably updates like this are awesome. Now, I'm biased. I really like Stanley, and it's great to have a sympathetic look at the lil' guy for once. In any case, he's an important character in the story, it's nice to know what makes him tick, and there may even be some foreshadowing here as to what he thinks he should be doing, what his place in the world is or should be.

Stand back people, Stanley is about to try Science.

[Swodaems]

I still say the hammer let's him do epic weirdomancy, which has been shown to grant specials to units. I suspect Stanley may be able to grant himself, and maybe others, any ability in the game that doesn't require an item or artifact. (Including Turnamancy, which he could use to return to the city after getting trapped out of it on a Dwagon run by Kingworld. I imagine him just going over to a hex wall and striking it to get thru. May become necessary very soon. With his archons as scouts and the ability to do some basic dwagon counting, Charlie can probably figure out what must be happening for GK to be gaining dwagons so rapidly.)

It makes a bit of ironic sense, a hammer that can be used against every nail in the world. It would also put the hammer back in the power bracket of the dish, and pliers.