Book 2 – Page 58

[suryasm]

Parson's decision to head over in person to Spacerock might not seem very rational -- because it isn't rational, and Parson knows it.

When Maggie objects to his plan his response is that he won't let other people fight his battles. Thus, Parson has knowingly taken a moral position which he is not going to abandon, even if it would be the right thing to do on a pure cost/benefit basis. One has to remember that one of the important parts of Erfworld is Parson's character development, where he comes to realize that this is not a game. That there is a moral consequence attached to his actions. In such a situation, anyone can get a little emotional, and this is Parson's way of fighting off the guilt, to take the same risks as the rest of his forces. After all, if he gets himself killed, he won't have to live with the consequences =P

[fjolnir]

He wants to lead from the front.

[hilrage]

I love the magicians in the backgrounds that seem familiar for some reason. . . . I keep waiting for a wizard in a leather coat carrying a hockey stick. . . That would make my day.

[joosy]

I love the magicians in the backgrounds that seem familiar for some reason. . . . I keep waiting for a wizard in a leather coat carrying a hockey stick. . . That would make my day.

That's the TV series Harry Dresden, not the book version but both would be okay by me. I'm still waiting for Tim the Enchanter

[Lamech]

I understand that it will become important to the plot that he does step through the portal, but I'm having a hard time understanding why Parson is going through. This seems like a lot of risk for very little apparent strategic gain. Even his explanation to Maggie falls short when you consider that he is apparently forcing extra risk upon his troops in order to put himself in danger.

He can gain levels which will be very valuable. Furthermore more he will be on site to prevent any more of Wanda's mental retardation, and have much better info and ability to give orders. Also the portal room should be secured anyway, that allows Wanda and Jack to fall back. Sort of... at least he can try to deal, although that seems difficult.

[ftl]

Thinking about this speculation that Maggie's trying to prevent Parson from going into Spacerock, I went back to the coded message she sent:

PGLH TO ENTER MK, PASS GK TO SR PORTAL, PROTECT

I read that at the time as "PROTECT" Parson. But if I were to construct that message, I would feel I have to add "HIM" to the end, or the assumption would be I meant the "PORTAL" to be what is protected.

I think the assumption would be that it's obvious to the recipient of the message what needs to be protected. Sentence-structure-wise, "PROTECT" could apply to anything - PLGH, MK, PORTAL, or even none of the above ("protect yourselves"). The message only makes sense if you know that it's obvious to the recipient which of those things will need to be protected. Which it would be to the Great Minds, but I guess it's not obvious to the reader.

(Well, it was obvious to me - at the time. I was sure it applied to Parson.

From Maggie's word choice and satisfied smile, I'm pretty sure she trying to prevent him from getting to Spacerock in a way that she can't be ordered to fix. Mighty clever, that old girl.

...but now that you mention it, this explanation could also make sense, so it's no longer obvious to me. Good call, if that turns out right.)

[President_Allosaurus]

Hey Oberon, I made you an avatar from today's update. =D

I made it better.


And a bonus one from the Messenger.

[DoctorJest]

The red-eyed-knight in panel three is obviously Charlie

No, he is not. And that conclusion of yours is not obvious at all.

What do you mean, not obvious? The only one with a mask, conspicuously sinister and different, yet nobody pays any attention. It's like a "Not my Problem" device is in operation. Who would run such a device? Except Ford Prefect? Charlie, that's who.

Nope, can't be. Because if it were, then we'd have to call him "Darth Charlie" from now on.
And that's just stupid.

[No one in particular]

I got an idea about Charlie.

He's rich. People think he's kinda nuts. He's got a fascination with fast, powerful flying units. He's reclusive.

Charlie is Erfworld's version of Howard Hughes!

[Aquillion]

Also the portal room should be secured anyway, that allows Wanda and Jack to fall back. Sort of... at least he can try to deal, although that seems difficult.

It seems to me that having Wanda fall back should really be their primary objective right now. As long as she lives, they can rebuild from almost anything, but if she dies, they're screwed.

(Also, this whole chapter has shown a major drawback of the pliers -- the Arkendish and the Arkenhammer can provide major bonuses from back in your capital, but the Arkenpliers has to be kept on the front lines to operate, making its wielder vulnerable. This is compounded by the fact that it's held by a physically-weak caster and not a warlord like Stanley, and doesn't seem to provide any direct personal-combat capabilities the way the Arkenhammer does.)

[Lightbender]

I get the feeling that Maggie wants to protect Parson no matter what, even from himself if it's required. In this case though, I think "PROTECT" refers more to shielding him from Charlie's detection. The great minds all hate Charlie, and it's likely that he has some connections in the magic kingdom to inform him of such things. He'd find out about it the moment parson did it, and I believe they are there to make sure Charlie doesn't find out until it's too late.

[Raza]

Hey Oberon, I made you an avatar from today's update. =D

... You made my morning.

Ya know, the joke will be on you when Oberon will, in fact, use that avatar, and as a sig "I'm with stupid --->".

I was hoping he'd use it. I've no problem with Oberon - it's just a lighthearted poke-of-opportunity at his posting style.

That sig would add another layer to the joke, though.

[Channel Lock]

Oh, WOW!

So many plot threads colliding right now... It's dizzying.

My personal wish is to see Parson level a few times, maybe even have him slay Stately personally.

[MattX]

Have we seen any other instances where specific lengths or distances - in units as opposed to hexes - have been called out?

Comparing the measurement on the schematic on Page 58 with pixel counts on the last frame of Page 57...

The 12' Section illustrated is approximately 95 pixels (with some allowance for perspective).
Sizemore is approximately 38 pixels tall when he is slouching and walking.
The Gobwin Knob portal is about 70 pixels at the center.

In terms of "Erfworld Feet", that would make Sizemore approximately 5' tall and the portal roughly 9' tall on the portal side.
The Gobwin Knob side of the portal has a white thing at the bottom that is about as high as the clearance between Parson and the top of the portal, making Parson also about 9' tall in "Erfworld Feet".

[No one in particular]

My personal wish is to see Parson level a few times, maybe even have him slay Stately personally.

Ooh, the stately King Slately, I like that.

[Fizzo]

Not sure if this was mentioned in earlier discussions of the portals, but the diagram in panel 4 (wonderful falling pose) suggests to me that the strange object below the portal is an emitter rather than just a power source. This would imply that the positions of portals are defined by their emitters. If that is the case, could Sizemore theoretically dig portals out of their current positions and move them, or bury one to prevent access to it?

Oh, and hello Erfworld forumites : )

[Lamech]

(Also, this whole chapter has shown a major drawback of the pliers -- the Arkendish and the Arkenhammer can provide major bonuses from back in your capital, but the Arkenpliers has to be kept on the front lines to operate, making its wielder vulnerable. This is compounded by the fact that it's held by a physically-weak caster and not a warlord like Stanley, and doesn't seem to provide any direct personal-combat capabilities the way the Arkenhammer does.)

Ah, but it can be used from the rear in the same way Stanley stays at the capital. With a relay. I mean sure its not feasible with out the hammer, but Wanda doesn't need to be on the front lines. And at the very least Wanda doesn't need to be in the fight were the battle is happening she could be simply the mop up force. Sure you won't have the devastatingly powerful "our units have two lives, and we get your dead", but with the arkenhammer in the capital you don't get the innanely strong van de graff, hammer time or what I assume to be a huge pile of bonuses.

Also I don't think we have much of anything to indicate Wanda is frail. She has gone twice up against royal warlords, and overcome. Plus she escaped the archon volley with out a scratch (or a mount).

[CelebrenIthil]

Not sure if this was mentioned in earlier discussions of the portals, but the diagram in panel 4 (wonderful falling pose) suggests to me that the strange object below the portal is an emitter rather than just a power source. This would imply that the positions of portals are defined by their emitters. If that is the case, could Sizemore theoretically dig portals out of their current positions and move them, or bury one to prevent access to it?

Oh, and hello Erfworld forumites : )

Interesting!
I'm fairly certain we'll never get to know about portal mechanics that deep in-comic tough, but we still can speculate.
While we're at Sizemore creating portal-related shenanigans, he could also trap the entrances in hilarious ways.

Oh well, welcome to the forums!

[boegiboe]

I got an idea about Charlie.

He's rich. People think he's kinda nuts. He's got a fascination with fast, powerful flying units. He's reclusive.

Charlie is Erfworld's version of Howard Hughes!

That's the archetype that Charlie from Charlie's Angels was trying to channel. So, good call, but it's not an Erfworld original.

(I guess that proves how old I am: I remember watching Charlie's Angels pretty regularly.)

[boegiboe]

I made the mistake of posting two unrelated ideas in the same post, and the first idea grabbed people's interest. But please consider the second:

Tramennis' knights...are all Jasons. In the first three, from left to right, we have Jason Voorhees, Jason Grace from Heroes of Olympus (or maybe Jason Stackhouse from True Blood, but the hair's wrong for him), and Jason of the Argonauts (hence the helmet). The guy with the Viking hat I'm not sure of, but it could be a representation of the Norwegian cartoonist Jason, aka John Arne Saeteroy. I'm stumped on the girl, but I'm willing to bet there's a Jason reference there somewhere.

I'm really hoping somebody can make the link between the girl and the Jason theme. Or, that someone can find the real theme and dispose me of my folly.