Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 056

[balder]

New One is up.

[Jallorn]

Sad one this, Judy's life just sort of sucks.

[Shai_hulud]

Jillian couldn’t tell if it was a joke. But she shut up for a while, and simply followed Wanda up the stairs, though the gross, angled greenness. Her heart was with Faq, but her stomach was thinking about following Judy’s lead. It was already turning.

Spelling error. Is there a place to post these?

[Whispri]

How can 'Faq' be in the Battlespace without a Capital Site? Perhaps Barbarian Sides are named?

Unless... Wait, did Banhammer's 'find another Capital Site' plan actually work?

I don't see how Banhammer or Faq's forces can be in range of Haffaton's Capital save by chance alone, Gillian never actually told them the location.

Gillian is so... I mean seriously, not telling Wanda about the Prediction that she'll be moving on to somewhere else? And a talking dolly is a work of monstroussnessness? What is she on?

[Delbert]

Noting that Wanda made reference to "the prisoner", I'm speculating that she figured that she could use Jillian to help her (Wanda) Turn herself. It seems to me (without any factual evidence, but this is speculation, after all) that a means of Turning so strong as the 'buds lends itself to a loophole not normally available to a Turned unit (in order to balance it a bit). I posit that Wanda's Loyalty has been subverted by the addiction but not rewritten, nor has she stopped thinking herself as a prisoner of Haffaton (well, Olive in particular, and given how she's been talking to Jillian recently).

Given Olive's use of the buds to dominate the other casters, the thought that Tina was trying to teach Wanda how to liberate herself (which may not have worked for Tina due to her having been originally a Haffaton unit or some similar winnowing-in-support-of-plot reason) appeals.

[youngstormlord]

Ooh, I have a very nasty idea, worthy of Parson! What happens if your prisoner turns you to her side? The way it works, you remain a prisoner until you meet friendly units (in this case Faq) who 'liberate' you and tie you to Faq's treasury, along with popping a new equipment on you instead of prisoner garb. So, Jill turns Wanda. Wanda becomes Faq's unit, tied to Faq's treasury. Now there's a Faq's unit in battlespace, there's someone to reclaim Jill. Bam, there's high level warlord stacked with high level croakamancer standing in front of Olive.

Although, I think it is far more likely that Wanda will cast Findamancy spell to summon shoes to her. That's why all the questions: she can't do Lookamancy spell to search for them, only Findamancy to summon what is already clearly pictured in her mind.

[Kaed]

Poor scarecrow... I wonder if he had time to realize what had happened before he was lobotamized. Was it instantaneous or a slow process like Flowers For Algernon? I wonder what his last thoughts were... there's a lot of tragedy in Haffaton. :c

And you know what? I think Olive let Maxwell die just to prove her point about Life. I imagine she was quite smug when the living golems reverted to mindlessness. And I think her ultimate hypocrisy is that she thinks Life is the most important of all magic, yet she treats it so callously. Can she even feel love, for real? She comes across as somewhat a sociopath to me.

I could wile away the hours,
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had
brain.
RIP Scarecrow, We hardly knew ye.

[vintermann]

Nice theory, Stormlord. I'm not sure it's correct, but I agree and suspect that the explanation for "FAQ are in battlespace" will be something other than the obvious "Banhammer took the show to the road".

What I would like to know was what Jillian/Wanda's interaction with Judy Gale between this post and the previous was. There was some favor Jillian wasn't willing to do to Judy, because "she's still the enemy". Probably something both Wanda and Judy wanted her to do - but I don't think it was turning. And it wasn't croaking her (otherwise "I did my part by not croaking her" would make no sense.)

[derfy]

There was some favor Jillian wasn't willing to do to Judy, because "she's still the enemy".

Jillian watched Wanda clean her up and put her to bed.

“I’m not doing it.[cleaning her] She’s the enemy,” said Jillian sourly. “Got some pride left.”

Was my take on it.

[Kaed]

There was some favor Jillian wasn't willing to do to Judy, because "she's still the enemy". Probably something both Wanda and Judy wanted her to do - but I don't think it was turning. And it wasn't croaking her.

Uhm. I'm pretty sure she was referring to cleaning up Judy's vomit. And being her usual petulant self by justifying that not croaking her when she was down was enough of a service as it was.

[Castamir]

Actually, by turning herself, Wanda would show more loyalty to her ruler than by staying a Haffaton unit. She wouldn't be no longer bound to Olive's chain of command, and if Olive is croaked, Judy can be freed.

[vintermann]

Actually, by turning herself, Wanda would show more loyalty to her ruler than by staying a Haffaton unit. She wouldn't be no longer bound to Olive's chain of command, and if Olive is croaked, Judy can be freed.

But this still leaves the problem of the Prediction that Jillian would kill the ruler of Haffaton. Jillian most likely will kill Olive, but for that to fulfill the prophecy Judy has to be already dead.

I'm thinking putting the crown of thorns on Jillian was a big mistake. Jillian is a masochist in more than one way - she thrives on pain, and there's no reason to think the pain of withdrawal would be any different. If the crown of thorns clears her mind from the direct influence of the Hero flowers, as I think it does, then she's going to display her characteristic craftiness again, no matter how she feels.

I think Judy is dying. We know Judy is dying actually, Wanda said so. But I think they have quite specific predictamancy about when Judy will die - at least Wanda has. This was why Wanda now was so eager to pump Judy for information about the shoes. Olive might know about the death timing prediction too, which would partially explain the need to turn Jillian (provided Olive can order Jillian to kill Judy, which I think she can as part of a coup - and due to the flowers, the real loyalty of all the turned units is probably to Olive more than Haffaton).

[joosy]

Faq is still a side - a barbarian side. So they can be in the battlespace.

My theory was that Maxwell was trying to push himself ino units with no upkeep, but now we see that what really happened was just the opposite - pushing his own life into golem unit creates one that needs upkeep but has self awareness and autonomy. However, that disappears once the caster who made them is gone.

That does not bode well for the decrypted methinks.

We also see more of the darker side of the caster philosphy regarding the three axes. They guard them jealously and do NOT like other disciplines horning in on them. That was evident in Sizemore's ostracization in the Magic Kingdom and even more now with Olive and the life axis.

I would guess now that Faq followed Jillian's insructions or perhaps a Marie modified version of them. I do not believe that the Faq casters can be convinced to croak other units (unless Banhammer so orders it, of course). Perhaps they have a non lethal way to take Haffaton.

That also begs the question - is the city of Haffaton the actual capitol? Haffaton has several (at least three if not more) capitol sites. If an enemy conquers the capitol but does not croak or capture the ruler/heir, does the side capitol automatically revert to the closet capitol site? Or does the side go into a quasi-barbarian state until the current ruler/heir can get to the throne room of another capitol site and designate it from there.

[joosy]

But this still leaves the problem of the Prediction that Jillian would kill the ruler of Haffaton. Jillian most likely will kill Olive, but for that to fulfill the prophecy Judy has to be already dead.

Not necessarily. She could be fated to do it twice. I mean, Marie's prediction that Faq will fall came true twice, correct? The nagging part about Banhammer dying the first time may get overlooked.

Perhaps Jillian takes out Olive and THEN Judy.

[vintermann]

But this still leaves the problem of the Prediction that Jillian would kill the ruler of Haffaton. Jillian most likely will kill Olive, but for that to fulfill the prophecy Judy has to be already dead.

Not necessarily. She could be fated to do it twice. I mean, Marie's prediction that Faq will fall came true twice, correct? The nagging part about Banhammer dying the first time may get overlooked.

Perhaps Jillian takes out Olive and THEN Judy.

If she does it in that order, it comes true once. If she does it in the opposite order, it comes true twice. If she kills Olive first and then fails to kill Judy, though, it fails to come true at all.

[Chevalier]

Or Wanda kills Olive using the slippers (which I bet will be good for killing casters), and then Jillian kills Judy out of mercy, before an heir is named, thus decapitating Haffaton. Wanda survives because she turns.

[TheMutant]

Or Wanda kills Olive using the slippers (which I bet will be good for killing casters), and then Jillian kills Judy out of mercy, before an heir is named, thus decapitating Haffaton. Wanda survives because she turns.

I dunno, I'm not convinced that the slippers are a weapon. Remember their use in The Wizard of Oz? 'There's no place like home'. I'd bet on that they allow some sort of teleportation effect, sending who wears them straight to their 'home', or side. So if, say, Jillian wore them, maybe they'd send her to Goodminton, where the Faq court presumably moved. Or all the way back to Faq's conquered cities, which would be unfortunate, possibly. Going with that theory, I wonder what would happen if Wanda wore them? She's a Haffaton unit, so would it have no effect since she's already 'home', or would her true home be Goodminton?

[drachefly]

Or they'd send Judy home. She ceases to be overlady of Haffaton, Olive accedes, gets whacked.

[joosy]

Jillian razed Goodminton for the schmuckers so it is technically not a Faq city anymore. It is there ready to be claimed by any side.

[teratorn]

Or they'd send Judy home. She ceases to be overlady of Haffaton, Olive accedes, gets whacked.

That was my take, Wanda uses the tower to fetch the shoes and send Judy home. The question is if a croakamancer stacked with a high-level warlord can stop a level 12 caster from casting the non-aggression thing. I expect Wanda to have a way to go around that (in the same venue Olive used to kill Tommy).

The most impressive thing about this series is that Wanda is a caring individual, she deeply cared about Tommy, her father, Judy, and that had nothing to do with her gratification (like in the games with Jillian).