Book 2 – Page 9

[balder]

New One is up.

[asparagus]

This is going better for GK than I thought except that Jack could still be dead. Then we'll be able to test the can caster's be decrypted question.

[Chadim]

Great "No!" from Wanda there ... Poor Ossomer

Thanks for doing a great job to both of you!

Yes, Jack indeed looks indisposed ... however from a narrative point of view I doubt that Jack will be decrypted (My opinion only, of course). Wanda was quite hurt herself when being hit by Ansom at TBfGK, and could be healed.
On a side note, Wanda might prefer decrypting to healing ...

woot for Gobwin Knob!

[hanglekuk]

Too bad the stack units are recovering - shock is wearing off. Ansom might get captured too.

[Roketter]

Jacks' likely not dead, i don't think they'd carry the corpse if he was... unless they can decrypt units of their own side, wich i don't think they can.

Anyways, an arrow on his back might prevent casting, and if ther's one thing Gobwin Knob's not very good at, is healomancy. If Wanda doesn't have some extra scrolls, they'r screwed, Jack will have to wait for the next turn to recover.

On the other hand, Jack already did most of what was required, he kept the Veil up all the way there, and aided in the capture assault. Somehow i think they don't actually need more foolamancy or a veil to take the capital.

Na, i don't think Ansom will get captured, he's just a few steps from hex boundary, ther's just 2 soldiers next to the two Dwagons blocking the exit *And* one of them has Wanda who uses force fields, i seriously doubt Jetstone can do anything before they get out. Also, arrows get stuck on the hex boundary hehe.

[Leszek]

I love the arrows stuck in the hex boundary.

[MarbitChow]

Jacks' likely not dead, i don't think they'd carry the corpse if he was... unless they can decrypt units of their own side, wich i don't think they can.

Summer Update 45: "It was a weird problem. All the Gobwins and Hobgobwins were croaked in the eruption, of course. Wanda decrypted most of those, but they no longer counted as a separate tribe. They were just units of Gobwin Knob's side now." I hope Jack's not dead, but if he is, he's definitely not gone just yet.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Yep, the arrows thing is pretty cool.

Anyway, that was incredibly easy- considering the setback of the previous comic page. The next question is whether Wanda will prefer interrogation to decryption, old hobbies die hard and all that.

Finally, it's doubtful Ansom will be captured. For one, the Jetstones are clearly intending to "set him free" as the dust in the wind. For two, the carpet is nearby. And three, Wanda is there backed up by Scarlet (you should know this already), who succesfully continues her low-profile, nine-pixel-square campaign of battlefield survival.

[Carlan]

If Jack is in critical condition and not dead yet, and there's no healomancy scrolls at the front, I hope Stanley or Parson insists he be put on the Dwagon Express back to GK. Hopefully Wanda will be too occupied with her latest acquisition to think about Jack.

[tez]

I love the arrows stuck in the hex boundary.

Yeah that's a great little detail.

It's kinda hard to visualize what's going on, I'm kinda left wondering why they aren't taking out the rest of the stack if it was so easy to stun a bunch of them and reduce the leadership bonus by what I imagine is quite a nice chunk. Would kinda have been nice to have a speech bubble or a picture showing how many troops/casters/bonuses are left and why Wanda and Company don't take out the whole hex. Could the archers fire another volley? Who else is left aside from the archer stack?

[Welf von Ehrwald]

I think they need a healomancer for Jack, like now. And with "now" I mean until their turn ends.

I wonder what will happen to Ossomer. Could Ansom murder his brother in cold blood? He is an fanatic convert now, but how fanatic is he really?

[BLANDCorporatio]

I think they need a healomancer for Jack, like now. And with "now" I mean until their turn ends.

I wonder what will happen to Ossomer. Could Ansom murder his brother in cold blood? He is an fanatic convert now, but how fanatic is he really?

To build on my Devilish Advocacy from the written page reaction thread, Ansom wouldn't waste a heartbeat on this consideration because as far as he is concerned that would not be murder- but treatment.

And to a very large degree, he seems right. The moment you can effortlessly bring back the dead to life, killing someone in the first place loses much of its meaning. If they "murder" Ossomer, they'd do this precisely so that he could "see the light" as it were, and embrace Toolism. Ansom would see this as an improvement, akin to taking the red pill, having the illusions that bind shattered, and seeing how deep the rabbit hole goes.

[(name here)]

Did they grab both brothers? I can't tell.

[Sokrotes]

Ok, i know a few people have briefly mentioned it and given some speculation but i have to say this. JACK BETTER NOT BE F**KING DEAD!! If he dies and is decrypted to me thats as bad as his character just dieing anyway. This comic would loose one of its best characters, or the best in my own opinion. He's either knocked out or close to death and they will heal him, this isnt a maybe situation. Like it may sound harsh but if he dies and is decrypted or just simply is left to croak i will go so far to say i will cancel my toolship and never read this comic again. It might be extreme but to me letting such a unique and in my mind important character end so quickly as we are just starting to get to know him would be such a huge mistake on the writers part that i would lose all faith in his ability to make any interesting story afterwords and would therefor have no interest in reading any more.

[Lawd]

Poor Jack is carried of on his dwagon, led by an archon. At least not left behind.

I particularly enjoyed the "pummel"sound effect/pun (hitting/knob on a sword's hilt), but does "SMAKCS" mean anything?

[BLANDCorporatio]

Ok, i know a few people have briefly mentioned it and given some speculation but i have to say this. JACK BETTER NOT BE F**KING DEAD!! {snip}

This comic would loose one of its best characters, or the best in my own opinion. {snip}

if he dies and is decrypted or just simply is left to croak i will go so far to say i will cancel my toolship and never read this comic again.{snip}

As it happens, Jack is one of my favourite characters as well (as opposed to nine-pixel-square photo-blobs, see avatar). Second fave, after Maggie in fact. Stanley's third, if anyone's asking.

Also, there's a huge and growing list of Erfworld characters that annoy me (ooh, let's see ... in no particular order, Janis, Jillian, Caesar, the Don, Wanda, Tremennis, m*-boopin' Charlie ...).

BUT, step back a little. The story never was about Jack. He is pretty minor as things go, in a really big and colourful world where interesting stuff happens. If you can't find anything in it to relate to if Jack is removed, that's your right. But step back, take a breath, count to 10 ... it's not the end of the world.

[Sokrotes]

Ok, i know a few people have briefly mentioned it and given some speculation but i have to say this. JACK BETTER NOT BE F**KING DEAD!! {snip}

This comic would loose one of its best characters, or the best in my own opinion. {snip}

if he dies and is decrypted or just simply is left to croak i will go so far to say i will cancel my toolship and never read this comic again.{snip}

As it happens, Jack is one of my favourite characters as well (as opposed to nine-pixel-square photo-blobs, see avatar). Second fave, after Maggie in fact. Stanley's third, if anyone's asking.

Also, there's a huge and growing list of Erfworld characters that annoy me (ooh, let's see ... in no particular order, Janis, Jillian, Caesar, the Don, Wanda, Tremennis, m*-boopin' Charlie ...).

BUT, step back a little. The story never was about Jack. He is pretty minor as things go, in a really big and colourful world where interesting stuff happens. If you can't find anything in it to relate to if Jack is removed, that's your right. But step back, take a breath, count to 10 ... it's not the end of the world.

I beg to differ, he may not be the main character, but hes deeper in the plot then u think. Hes in love with Jillian, hes from Faq, we don't know exactly how he came to work for Stanley or even where he came from, after Wanda, or maybe on par with Wanda hes the most powerful caster we know of. And the ability to use illusions is very important in Parson type strategies. but thats not even the main thing, its not that he has to be a pivotal character, just having a quirky half crazy character like his die and everyone else is so boringly normal, (Wanda, Ansom, Ceasar, Jillian, Jetstone, translyvito, heck even Parson is kinda plain besides his creativity.) To allow such a unique story character be killed so fast and then turned into the same boring thing Ansom is, a pod person, is just bad story writing.

[the_tick_rules]

That went much smoother than the previous comic indicated.

[Vordrax]

I have to wonder what effect nearly being beaten by Ossomer will have on Ansom. Ossomer's conviction that he'd beat Ansom because Ansom was no longer a man, followed by actually beating him in combat (which he'd surely have done if not for Wanda) could have an unnerving effect on the warlord. I suspect Rob wouldn't have written the encounter that way if he hadn't intended to spur some soul-searching on Ansom's part.

[Xorbon]

Nice. I particularly like the 'gank' sound effect.

I guess I was wrong about Ansom getting captured by the other side, but I'm glad he wasn't.

On a side note, Jack's dwagon looks sad. I hope that's not a sign.