Book 2 – Page 54

[Beeskee]

I think Wanda is doing the best she can, some of her units can't go to the dungeons so she's leaving them where they can do some damage, and ordering them to do that damage. Any strategy beyond that would require knowledge she doesn't have. If she knew kingy was making a break for the back door, she could cut him off, but that's reader knowledge not Wanda's knowledge.


As far as Charlie riding in with anyone, we don't know exactly how alliances and move works when the alliance is done partway through a turn. Allies move together if they were allied at the start of the turn, but what about mid-turn if the units hadn't moved? Also, Charlie would have to have some units nearby that could do the actual riding in. I would imagine he does, but we haven't been shown many yet.

Though what I think Jillian meant by that was for him to join in on what everyone expected to be a multi-turn battle. Only Charlie and GK units knew what Parson was planning, and Charlie didn't tell Jillian anything other than "get back there now!" - he didn't even tell Tramennis what was about to happen, he just tried to give enough general info about Parson and hoped Tram would figure out he was in trouble.

[Lamech]

Very contradictory... If Charlescomm was formally allied with no side in this battlespace, why did Jillian conclude that he could "Rid[e] in right now with me", when he cannot if he is not allied? And why the qualifier "formally"?

The qualifier "formally" is because its not a formal alliance, Charlie has his own turn and such. And yes Charlie can ride in. Alliances can be made at any time and I don't see why archons couldn't be put on a gwiffion. Indeed when Jillian was rescuing Ansom she intended to mount Vinnie.
Charlie could ally with Jillian and she could pick up the archons, dump her infantry and have the archons ride in with her. Literally ride I might add since they have no move.

[Remetheus]

Oh, look: first panel, near Tremennis' left shoulder. It's that woman who kept looking at Duke Antium. What's she looking at there, I wonder?

I find myself curious about her.

[the_tick_rules]

She's watching the paint dry.

[Dante]

On Erf, that's probably a special ability.

Paint Watch: while active, prevents all observed liquids from evaporating or boiling. No cooldown.

[boegiboe]

Very contradictory... If Charlescomm was formally allied with no side in this battlespace, why did Jillian conclude that he could "Rid[e] in right now with me", when he cannot if he is not allied? And why the qualifier "formally"?

The qualifier "formally" is because its not a formal alliance, Charlie has his own turn and such. And yes Charlie can ride in. Alliances can be made at any time and I don't see why archons couldn't be put on a gwiffion. Indeed when Jillian was rescuing Ansom she intended to mount Vinnie.
Charlie could ally with Jillian and she could pick up the archons, dump her infantry and have the archons ride in with her. Literally ride I might add since they have no move.

Y'all are making this too complicated. Charlie can hire out to any side at any time without making an alliance. So can any other side. Charlie hires out a few nearby archons to Faq, and on Faq's turn, the archons, now official Faq forces, use their move to meet up with Faq's forces. Simple.

[the_tick_rules]

Very contradictory... If Charlescomm was formally allied with no side in this battlespace, why did Jillian conclude that he could "Rid[e] in right now with me", when he cannot if he is not allied? And why the qualifier "formally"?

The qualifier "formally" is because its not a formal alliance, Charlie has his own turn and such. And yes Charlie can ride in. Alliances can be made at any time and I don't see why archons couldn't be put on a gwiffion. Indeed when Jillian was rescuing Ansom she intended to mount Vinnie.
Charlie could ally with Jillian and she could pick up the archons, dump her infantry and have the archons ride in with her. Literally ride I might add since they have no move.

Y'all are making this too complicated. Charlie can hire out to any side at any time without making an alliance. So can any other side. Charlie hires out a few nearby archons to Faq, and on Faq's turn, the archons, now official Faq forces, use their move to meet up with Faq's forces. Simple.

Indeed, charlie's rented units can make alliances on their own without his entire side switching. Charlie's arrangement with Jillian wasn't a formal declared alliance in terms of taking turns at the same time and whatnot, just two sides decided to work some mojo together. Charlie broke this informal alliance cause he got pissed cause she didn't do what he wanted.

[wykstrad]

So... are the harvested dragons going to turn into food next turn?

[President_Allosaurus]

Oh, look: first panel, near Tremennis' left shoulder. It's that woman who kept looking at Duke Antium. What's she looking at there, I wonder?

I find myself curious about her.

For a serious answer: The door behind which an army of undead awaits. Pretty important.

[Ditto]

To whomever worried about the tower being brought down on top of Parson in the portal room: Sizemore wrecked the tower (and the entire city) above him in tBfGK when they were all in the dungeon subzone, running for the portal room. They were fine down there.

[abb3w]

also you can clearly see that the acid (which can eat through glass, like few acids can(and at a VERY high rate, which i don't think any boring world acids can...)) has eaten through the supports like acid of it's strength should have

Boring world chemistry includes some compounds that are very boring indeed - in the sense they will bore a hole through pretty much anything you're likely to think of putting them in. Paradoxically, you thus have things so boring as to be exciting. Fun things like FOOF - although that probably can't be gotten into aqueous solution. (FOOF looks to be reactive enough to burn water; at the least, it reacts explosively with ice.) Antimony pentafluoride in fluorosulfonic acid looks interesting....

But I'm not a chemist.

I don't see the destroyed roof as a problem. It was blown to hell by the battlecrap, which is acidic. We saw Antium getting slowly eaten away until he got thwart'd, why wouldn't the garrison roof also be dissolving?

Well, glass is a bit harder to dissolve than most things. But yeah, it makes more sense for the bulk of the damage being from the sheer weight of the crap.

[wonmean]

I dunno if anyone's noticed this, but there's a missing period in panel 8.

[abb3w]

Wanna hear a crazy theory?

At some point, based on the dire situation at hand and his gamer's desire to win, Parson will ask or direct Wanda to kill and decrypt him for the extra bonuses.

Marginally less crazy scenario: Tramennis and Parson end up in a one-on-one duel.

Tramennis: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.
Parson: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.

Not much less, however.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Tramennis: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.
Parson: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.

Not much less, however.

Funneh!

Boring world chemistry includes some compounds that are very boring indeed - in the sense they will bore a hole through pretty much anything you're likely to think of putting them in. Paradoxically, you thus have things so boring as to be exciting. Fun things like FOOF {snip}

But I'm not a chemist.

Neither am I sadly, but FOOF looks too awesome to be practical, or even stable at room temperature. Chlorine Trifluoride however is, and if the rumours about it are to be believed, it will burn rocks and sand.

[GaryThunder]

Chlorine Trifluoride? It'll burn concrete. It'll burn glass. It'll burn asbestos. This stuff is booping terrifying. When it burns, it releases highly toxic and acidic vapor, that if it doesn't dissolve your lungs will absorb through your skin and sink into your bone marrow. It will react explosively upon being exposed to air or water, and oxidizes even in the absence of atmospheric oxygen (don't even ask me how that works), so Halon or CO2 fire suppressants don't work. It can only be contained inside specially treated vats of certain kinds of metal, and if the coating on the inside wears off, you have a metal-fluorine fire on your hands. "For this, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes." - John Clark

The Nazis tried to use it for flamethrower fuel, but it was just too damned unstable. They were more of a danger to themselves than the enemy soldiers.

[nth]

Someone (who deserves credit for their theory) postulated in another thread that Jetstone would cede control of the city right as Sizemore (or was it just Parson?) walked into the portal, landing him (them) in Jetstone's original capitol site, instead of in Spacerock the City... Maybe when the dwagons destroy the tower Tramennis/Slately will realize that all hope is lost and designate their former capitol before Parson makes it through? Imagine the 'lulz'...

Wanda: Lord Parson, where are you?
Parson: What do you mean 'where am I'? I'm waiting right here in the portal room.
Wanda: ...
Parson: Wait. Where are YOU?
ORLY: O SNAP

I think that was me, and because a GK victory here seems to necessitate another dramatic turnabout, I'll go a step further:

1) Slately leaves Spacerock the City
2) Slately cedes Spacerock the City to GK
3) JS's portal automatically shifts the original JS capital
4) Parson steps through the MK portal into the (weakly defended) JS capital
5) via the ArkenDish, Charlie sees Parson pop through the JS portal
6) Charlie realizes Parson is as exposed and vulnerable as he'll ever be
7) Charlie uses archons still hiding in the conflict region to croak Slately
8) JS's side freezes
9) JS's portal goes inactive
10) Parson is trapped in a frozen city, out of reach of his troops, with Sizemore and maybe a couple of thinkamancers to help him defend himself against the advancing legions of Charlie-Doom, trying to hold out until Wanda and the main GK force can reinforce his position.

[atalex]

Someone (who deserves credit for their theory) postulated in another thread that Jetstone would cede control of the city right as Sizemore (or was it just Parson?) walked into the portal, landing him (them) in Jetstone's original capitol site, instead of in Spacerock the City... Maybe when the dwagons destroy the tower Tramennis/Slately will realize that all hope is lost and designate their former capitol before Parson makes it through? Imagine the 'lulz'...

Wanda: Lord Parson, where are you?
Parson: What do you mean 'where am I'? I'm waiting right here in the portal room.
Wanda: ...
Parson: Wait. Where are YOU?
ORLY: O SNAP

I think that was me, and because a GK victory here seems to necessitate another dramatic turnabout, I'll go a step further:

1) Slately leaves Spacerock the City
2) Slately cedes Spacerock the City to GK
3) JS's portal automatically shifts the original JS capital
4) Parson steps through the MK portal into the (weakly defended) JS capital
5) via the ArkenDish, Charlie sees Parson pop through the JS portal
6) Charlie realizes Parson is as exposed and vulnerable as he'll ever be
7) Charlie uses archons still hiding in the conflict region to croak Slately
8) JS's side freezes
9) JS's portal goes inactive
10) Parson is trapped in a frozen city, out of reach of his troops, with Sizemore and maybe a couple of thinkamancers to help him defend himself against the advancing legions of Charlie-Doom, trying to hold out until Wanda and the main GK force can reinforce his position.

My main objection to this is that I think it would be nearly incomprehensible to casual readers (by which I mean readers who don't spend hours every week reading the forums for theories about what's going to happen. I think there will be a dramatic reversal at some point, but it will arise from Parson getting stuck way in Spacerock way behind enemy lines (he's a heavy so he can only return to GK on foot) along with all but one of GK's casters (I'm assuming Maggie will stay behind in GK) and after executing an insanely risky scheme that sacrifices dozens of Stanley's beloved dwagons and then allowing them to be raised as Wanda's servants.

I don't think he'll disband Parson over this (since, hey, no comic), but it is conceivable that he will be angrier over this outcome than he would have been at an outright loss. THAT is the direction the End of Book twist will come from.

[fjolnir]

umm this happens and parson simply roflstomps every static unit and conquers a city singlehandedly leveling up to prince ansom levels in no time at all...

[Smoker]

Very contradictory... If Charlescomm was formally allied with no side in this battlespace, why did Jillian conclude that he could "Rid[e] in right now with me", when he cannot if he is not allied? And why the qualifier "formally"?

The qualifier "formally" is because its not a formal alliance, Charlie has his own turn and such. And yes Charlie can ride in. Alliances can be made at any time and I don't see why archons couldn't be put on a gwiffion. Indeed when Jillian was rescuing Ansom she intended to mount Vinnie.
Charlie could ally with Jillian and she could pick up the archons, dump her infantry and have the archons ride in with her. Literally ride I might add since they have no move.

Y'all are making this too complicated. Charlie can hire out to any side at any time without making an alliance. So can any other side. Charlie hires out a few nearby archons to Faq, and on Faq's turn, the archons, now official Faq forces, use their move to meet up with Faq's forces. Simple.

I have to go with (most of) this. In the past Charlie's arrangements appear to have been formal alliances, but I think its safe to assume he hires out to more than one side per day, so there must be a mechanism for "giving" units to another side with some magically bound obligation to give them back when your time (or money) is up.

Maybe its a function of the dish? (or a wizard did it, whatever works for you)

[nth]

My main objection to this is that I think it would be nearly incomprehensible to casual readers (by which I mean readers who don't spend hours every week reading the forums for theories about what's going to happen.

I tend to agree with you, given that we're reading this online.

I also note that reading Erf as it's gradually published online is about a thousand times slower than reading.* But all the necessary facts and rules have been laid out in the last... hundred pages or so.** That might make things seem a lot simpler in the print version.

*Assuming one strip per week, and ten minutes per page. If you spend only one minute on each page, it's about ten-thousand times slower. Also, you owe Xin an apology for not looking at her artwork. I hear she likes flowers. Maybe some good chocolates or professional massage or mass-produced printings of dead presidents...
** Comic pages, too, not awkwardly translated German philosophy.