Book 2 – Page 35

[Angband]

The only side making beaucoup schmuckers is Charlescomm.

Except that according to Charlie himself, "Look, Your Highness...no Royal side west or south of me will even take my calls, let alone hire me."

So I think it's safe to say Charlie has been making 'beaup' instead of 'beaucoup'.

[splintermute]

Also, someone please slap me. I only just recognized the pun in King Saline the Fourth x.x

SLAP!!!!

Parson makes the pun quite explicit in Book 1.

[Ansan Gotti]

Ansan Gotti,
I thought this update established that Slately is a bit disappointed and puzzled at Trem's disinclination to ruling, not actual dislike. If Slately's a git, he's not one because of something established in this update.
But then again, my reading comprehension has been known to misfire wildly.
As for who Trem's big announcement is, of course, it's Charlie. That's the only thing that makes sense.

My read of it is that Slately cuts the call with Don because he's embarrassed of Tramennis, this is enhanced by the artwork over the three panels emphasizing Tramennis' utter fabulousness. (OK. I like him now. Quite a feat compared to when I couldn't stand him in his first appearance or two.) And that Slately's hesitation during the conversation with Don is because he doesn't feel Tramennis acts "nobly" enough (whatever that entails in Slately's mind).

But I agree it is not clear-cut, this is just my read of it.

[Dr Pepper]

Besides, I think Trem is joking around a bit here at Slately's expense

Tramennis's view of Charlie "running" the war sounds a lot more sinister than his simply being an invisible partner of Faq. I doubt Slately will take the news well.

I think it is more him playing with Slately. They have their differences and Trem is irreverent, a joker. When he found out Charlie was involved with Jillian he looked more intrigued then angry

Bring on the Tremmenis/Jack stories!

[Dr Pepper]

It seems that Atrium is also a convention center as well as five-star lodging; which makes me wonder if one of the extant sides has a capital named Hydraulic Portal.

Heh. And their tower is called The Millhouse.

[Dr Pepper]

Also, someone please slap me. I only just recognized the pun in King Saline the Fourth x.x

*SLAP!*

Go back and reread Book 1. Parson noticed it right off and commented that it added support to the theory that he was in a coma.

[build6]

And it's interesting, Jetstone sounds like it has had to resort to a more, shall we say, barbarian way of life - disbanding units, foraging, the works.

it does seem like Jetstone is very "marginal" now (not a surprise since, if not for the turnamancer, Wanda would've wiped them out anyway, so why keep anything in reserve?) - no heir for sixteen turns? Jetstone could still be wiped out!

And I suspect Trem is going to say that Charlie is running it. Nothing has happened that would bring Parson to his attention (and Parson has only just returned, this turn, to anything like a "running it" position).

i was thinking "he's gonna say Charlie", too. I mean, that'd be the only thing that would be newsworthy - it's not like the existence of Parson was unknown to Jetstone.

[effataigus]

AAAAAAAAHHHHHKKKK

Ahem... Wanda and Slately have been face to face for something like 30 updates. Meanwhile we've been watching Charlie chat with Jillian, Jillian chat with Trammenis, Jillian chat with Duncan, Caesar yell at Don, Don give a bizarre recap, Don chat with Slately... if history is any lesson we still have at least Trammenis chatting with Slately, Trammenis chatting with Ossomer (which really couldn't be too different from Trammenis chatting with Ansom earlier), someone from JS chatting with Wanda, Parson chatting with Jack/Wanda, and God knows who talking to Charlie.

Turn based warfare isn't just ridonkulous, it's also agonizing. I love this comic, but there's been a whole lot of eavesdropping on conversations that are sharing stuff the readers already know lately. At this rate I'm going to be too preoccupied with paying for my kids' college tuition to read the update where Wanda's column gets attacked... and I don't even have kids yet.

Great artwork again... unfortunately the only action was Tram's fabulous walk and some guy bowing as he opened a door.

Oh, and build6, we really don't know how much intel filtered from Ansom back to JS given that they were using expensive hat messages. Since most of Ansom's column is now on GK's side, there definitely isn't a guarantee that JS knows anything at all about Parson.

[splintermute]

Oh, and build6, we really don't know how much intel filtered from Ansom back to JS given that they were using expensive hat messages. Since most of Ansom's column is now on GK's side, there definitely isn't a guarantee that JS knows anything at all about Parson.

I'm sure JS learned all about Parson, but probably assumed he died in the volcano - there'd be no reason for them to believe anyone but Stanley and the casters survived.

Hat messages are not expensive - especially not compared to thinkagrams, considering what the archons were charging - and especially not to JS, since they have their own hat mage and presumably get FREE HAT!

[effataigus]

Free hat messages!? No long distance or roaming charges? I'm going to switch my carrier immediately!

_________________________________________________________________
Message paid for by Hatcomm, your Erfworld communications provider.

[DoctorJest]

My read of it is that Slately cuts the call with Don because he's embarrassed of Tramennis, this is enhanced by the artwork over the three panels emphasizing Tramennis' utter fabulousness. (OK. I like him now. Quite a feat compared to when I couldn't stand him in his first appearance or two.) And that Slately's hesitation during the conversation with Don is because he doesn't feel Tramennis acts "nobly" enough (whatever that entails in Slately's mind).

But I agree it is not clear-cut, this is just my read of it.

I figured Slately doesn't want Tremm realizing what dire straights the kingdom is in, not that he's embarassed of Tremm. I mean, Don already knows Tremm is the guy leading the army in Jetstone, its not like there's any explaining to do. I think Slately wants to keep his financial problems secret.

[DoctorJest]

Hat messages are not expensive - especially not compared to thinkagrams, considering what the archons were charging - and especially not to JS, since they have their own hat mage and presumably get FREE HAT!

I thought hats were valuable resources. Do you have a source for this?

[splintermute]

Hat messages are not expensive - especially not compared to thinkagrams, considering what the archons were charging - and especially not to JS, since they have their own hat mage and presumably get FREE HAT!

I thought hats were valuable resources. Do you have a source for this?

We haven't had any mention of the price of a hat. Little is known about them beyond the fact that they're magic items, there are at least 2 kinds (dual use and abjuration-only), and some of them are Jetstone property - presumably because they were made by Cubbins. Yes, hats probably are very valuable on the magic item open market - however, if your side has a hat mage, and your CWL is so profligate with his hats that he can freely lend one to a temporarily allied barbarian mercenary captain (albeit one he's in love with), you can probably assume that Jetstone can afford enough hats to keep a line of communication open between its CWL and its ruler. Also, presumably, once the hats are in place, conveying messages between them doesn't cost any schmuckers - we didn't see Jillian inserting any gems into a slot before sending her scouting report.

[randomstar]

AAAAAAAAHHHHHKKKK

Ahem... Wanda and Slately have been face to face for something like 30 updates. Meanwhile we've been watching Charlie chat with Jillian, Jillian chat with Trammenis, Jillian chat with Duncan, Caesar yell at Don, Don give a bizarre recap, Don chat with Slately... if history is any lesson we still have at least Trammenis chatting with Slately, Trammenis chatting with Ossomer (which really couldn't be too different from Trammenis chatting with Ansom earlier), someone from JS chatting with Wanda, Parson chatting with Jack/Wanda, and God knows who talking to Charlie.

Turn based warfare isn't just ridonkulous, it's also agonizing. I love this comic, but there's been a whole lot of eavesdropping on conversations that are sharing stuff the readers already know lately. At this rate I'm going to be too preoccupied with paying for my kids' college tuition to read the update where Wanda's column gets attacked... and I don't even have kids yet. ...

effataigus, I love you!!!
So now I expect 5-6 chat-updates at least, and after ..... a page with Parson ranting about everyting went wrong, and then some more pages trying to understand what happened to Wanda. (like the "intelligent reader" thing in book one)
But, if not for the slow pace, it's a wonderful story.

Trem waltzing into the room and flopping in the chair is so lol.
I'm with the "it's Charlie" faction. And anyway Charlie has to put the war back in balance, because only with balanced enemies he could offer his services to every side. Problem is, everyone now is broken, apart maybe GK. Charlie has a dim few turns ahead, working -ahem- without payment

[waynemcdougall]

That's not Tremennis. That's Jack about to dob in Charlie

[Carne]

Free hat messages!? No long distance or roaming charges? I'm going to switch my carrier immediately!

_________________________________________________________________
Message paid for by Hatcomm, your Erfworld communications provider.

I prefer HAT&T myself...

[Athiesh]

Ok so first post and supposition...

I think that razing units for upkeep is a clue. Ossomer will make it to the throne room and have a confrontation with his father. Despite, subtly, fighting Wanda's control he ends up croaking Slately. Slately being the sly old codger that he is sacks the city / units for upkeep (remember this is natural thinkamancy) and promotes Tramennis to Overlord with his last breath.

Tramennis escapes the massacre and goes into hiding, quietly investigating the turmoil surrounding this world of Erf. He later reappears having observed Parson and now applying his cunning and innovative nature to warfare becoming a major thorn in the side of combatants. Other options include being the first Warlord of Charlescomm or barbarian'd into Jillian's burgeoning skyfaring army.

Then again I have another theory that Rob has a long, long checklist of things that could happen and crosses out something whenever he sees it mentioned on the Forums.

[gazes_also]

I agree with most of your point except, who started the war in the first place.

That was Slately.

When Stanley took the throne of GK and began normal business of attacking neighbouring sides and expanding, Slately was so outraged at the non-royal Toolist upstart he set out to completely squash him. Everything else has been a consequence of that.

True. But I suspect we don't know the full story of Stanley's rise to power at Gobwin Knob.

I would not be surprised to discover that Stanley had help - and I don't mean the gobwins and hobgobwins that were his side's natural allies.

I suspect he would have needed significant leverage to get them to attack Saline IV, leverage which Stanley alone might not have been able to provide. And if that's the case . . . who provided the leverage necessary for Stanley to carry out his plans?

Also, someone please slap me. I only just recognized the pun in King Saline the Fourth x.x

Agree that Charlie's fingerprints are all over Stanley's ascension, but he lost control of the enterprise when Wanda came on the scene. Attacking Faq - Wanda's idea, expecting Stan to lose and she gets the Hammer. Attacking JS - same thing, provoke JS to bring out the Pliers against her uncroaked units, and she gets the Pliers. Spell to bring Parson - Wanda. On reflection, if anyone was responsible for the first war, it was Wanda.

[gazes_also]

Ok so first post and supposition...

I think that razing units for upkeep is a clue. Ossomer will make it to the throne room and have a confrontation with his father. Despite, subtly, fighting Wanda's control he ends up croaking Slately. Slately being the sly old codger that he is sacks the city / units for upkeep (remember this is natural thinkamancy) and promotes Tramennis to Overlord with his last breath.

Tramennis escapes the massacre and goes into hiding, quietly investigating the turmoil surrounding this world of Erf. He later reappears having observed Parson and now applying his cunning and innovative nature to warfare becoming a major thorn in the side of combatants. Other options include being the first Warlord of Charlescomm or barbarian'd into Jillian's burgeoning skyfaring army.

Then again I have another theory that Rob has a long, long checklist of things that could happen and crosses out something whenever he sees it mentioned on the Forums.

It's the quantum physics of Erfworld - once forumites are sure something will happen it is becomes impossible in the comic.
It's the Heisenberg Absolute Freakin' Certainty Principle.

[Sygerrik]

So, what do we know?

1) Jetstone's broke, at least for this turn.

2) Tramennis seems to think he knows who's running the war. Not merely who's running the war for Gobwin Knob's side, or for the RCCII's side . . . but who started the whole GK-vs.-RCC/RCCII conflict in the first place. (Smart money says it's Charlie, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it's someone completely other.)

What can we surmise from this?

1) Any casualties Wanda inflicts here will be even more damaging to Jetstone than they otherwise might be.

2) Jetstone's in a fairly desperate position, so they may make some critical mistakes in hopes that they can end this battle quickly.

3) GK's "steamroller" has done a metric boopton more damage to Jetstone than we thought, if they're in such dire straits now.

4) Tramennis might not be the best leader in the world, but he's got one hell of a brain. (I'd wager that if he and Parson were to wage war against each other, Parson would win almost every military engagement but still lose the war - remember, Tramennis is a counter-intelligence and diplomacy specialist, so I could see him using agents to foment unrest in the cities under Parson's control and provoke them into rebellion.)

Gotta disagree. There's a lot of Tramennis fanboyism on these forums, which is ok because he's a cool character, but he's a piss-poor general. He may be a smart guys, but Sizemore and Wanda are both pretty smart and neither is a particularly adept field commander.

Tramennis doesn't scout. He seems to care more about appearance than about efficiency. He noted that the Dwagons parked above Spacerock could zing him but, despite the potentially devastating loss that would be to Jetstone, refused to take even rudimentary safety precautions. He does not have backup plans, does not seem willing to utilize effective combined arms tactics (note: blobbing up all of your units and charging an enemy position is not what combined arms means). He's a bit more of a cynic than his brothers but he's still not particularly flexible, and for all his vaunted skill at diplomacy he still hasn't convinced anyone else to do anything they weren't already going to do (couldn't get Haggar to play nice until Charlie did his job for him, couldn't get Jillian to stick around, couldn't get Sammy to plan strategy with him before going in).

I see why his father doesn't like him much. He's cute and snide and quotable and not nearly as competent as either of his brothers.