Book 2 – Text Updates 044

[mortissimus]

Okay, the hammer lets him fly after all – it wasn't just something Jack made up on the spot.

This seems amusingly oriented to answer a lot of spec on the forums.

There has been speculation about that? Stanley flew with the hammer in the early scenes after summoning Parson.

[Althernai]

I don't think Stanley's thinking is the result of a mind control. Here is the entirety of the suggestion: "Appoint Parson. Then leave the room, so he can think." Stanley has already carried out these actions -- there is no spell to break and nothing influencing his thoughts.

[raphfrk]

I can't figure out what this means, either. But I'm also expecting it to be important, even if it just ends up as a clue to Parson about whatever. But it might turn out that the Hammer can transmorgify objects more generally. Kind of like the Thinkmancers can make objects out of solidified strings.

The info we have on that ability is that it converts in both directions

bird -> nut
nut -> bird

Also, Bogroll made Parson a pigeon pie and some of the pigeons converted back to nuts.

This suggests that the changes are temporary.

One possible way to exploit this would be to find some powerful units and hit them with the hammer. Some of them should convert to items.

With luck, they would find a few powerful units that are matched to simple to obtain items. They then just need to find lots of those items and they get 1 powerful unit for every 4-5 of those items they collect (temporarily).

[peteratjet]

Interesting that the rulers we have seen close up, Slately, the Don, Stanley, even Jillian, are all thinking at least as much about "what will it cost" as "how will it work". It's not really surprising, because allocating the Schmuckers is the primary task of an Erfworld ruler, while their subordinates get on with the fun stuff.

We've seen Stanley do this right from the start of course, when he shaved Wanda's budget for the Perfect Warlord spell by having her cast it herself. In contrast, if Parson considered the budgetary implications of his promotion orders for a second, it didn't show. In the ~long~ term he seems to have ideas about economic strategy, but the rulers seem to be getting the economic data as part of their natural thinkomancy. How they integrate that real-time input into their long-term thinking must be the hard part.

[Musrum]

One possible way to exploit this would be to find some powerful units and hit them with the hammer. Some of them should convert to items.

Add in a highly mobile warlord with a Hat, and you could place lots of heavies anywhere on the map relatively quickly.

[Remetheus]

Yay Stanley!

I find this line interesting: "Would they love him or Wanda?"

It hints that he has an attachment to his dwagons. Much character building here, and I do want to see what else the Arkhenhammer can do, but I'd love to see Stanley out on the field and taking charge of an army for once. Be a Warlord and all that. That'd be rad.

[Smoker]

I love this update. It's such a good summary of Stanley's position right now. He has been thrown into the shadows - even his enemies have stopped talking about Stanley the Worm, and started talking about Parson instead.

With Parson the brains, Wanda the brawn, and every other GK unit supporting one or the other, what is he left to govern? He doesn't even have allies to mess with

An epic new ability of the Hammer is just what he needs right now.

Here's hoping he doesn't do something untimely and stupid that will ruin Parson's plans just as they are about to secure victory, thus allowing the enemy to narrowly escape and return stronger than ever before...

Naaaah..

[boegiboe]

If you think about it, Stanley seems to know more about his hammer than Wanda seems to know about her pliers. Have we seen Wanda do anything besides decrypt units with them?

I have suspected Wanda is not reveiling the entire array of powers the pliers possess. She'd make a good poker player.

Don't the 'pliers have a parry/disarm ability? Wanda has YOINKed Ossomer's sword, that I remember.

On a different topic: The Thinkamancy power of the 'dish is incredibly far-reaching. It's Thinkagrams don't appear as images to the recipient; rather the recipient's perception is entirely subsumed by the power of the 'dish. Also, the 'dish allows Charlie to observe every Ruler in Erfworld in a way similar to how a Thinkamancer can observe every unit of her Side.

I like the idea posted earlier that the Arkenstone might be best wielded by a hippiemancer. It might make its Attuned immune to all attacks. It might have an overwhelming pacification power. That would make it a match for any of the other three.

[raphfrk]

Add in a highly mobile warlord with a Hat, and you could place lots of heavies anywhere on the map relatively quickly.

Interesting. If Stanley figured out the feature in full, he might be able to control the delay until they revert to their original state. Also, he may be able to increase its reliability, so all items convert.

It might work like croakamancy, where the more time he spends on it, the more stable the resulting unit.

I wonder how he figured out that the hammer can tame. I wonder if those who attune to the tools can sense the primary ability of their tool directly.

[drachefly]

Stanley flew with the hammer in the early scenes after summoning Parson.

Oh wow, thanks for reminding me.

Don't the 'pliers have a parry/disarm ability? Wanda has YOINKed Ossomer's sword, that I remember.

She did something similar to Ansom when he was wielding the pliers.

As for walnuts and ORLYs, well, note that the orly turned into a walnut, but the walnuts were turned not into ORLYs, but into pigeons. It's not a perfect conversion.

[No one in particular]

I wonder if those who attune to the tools can sense the primary ability of their tool directly.

This seems reasonable. Recall, once Wanda got the 'pliers, she immediately found a corpse, zapped it, and proclaimed that she had no idea what she'd just created, aside from it beng "wonderful".

Also, have the similarities been pointed out yet how Stanley and Jillian are both Rulers who were happiest in the field, and came to rule their side when there was a massive disaster at home while they were out?

... hey, wait a minute, what's the timing on that? Did Gobwin Knob and Faq fall at the same time? GK fell when Stanley was out on a "special mission" with the casters... was that attacking Faq?

[GKBeetle]

Dear Rob,

More updates with Stanley, please. They are way too few these days. This was a good start, though.

Thanks,
GKBeetle.

[Beeskee]

If you think about it, Stanley seems to know more about his hammer than Wanda seems to know about her pliers. Have we seen Wanda do anything besides decrypt units with them?

I have suspected Wanda is not reveiling the entire array of powers the pliers possess. She'd make a good poker player.

Story-wise, we should at least see her experiment a little. If she pulls some uber ability out of thin air with no forewarning, it'll cause the same controversy as Kingworld. "What? OMG the pliers can do THAT too? Nuuuuu!"



Edit: Yoink ability: May or may not be a special function of the pliers. I'd accept it if it was, but I can also see how it might just be a natural function of them. They are pliers. I mean, I have a pair sitting right in front of me. They grab things pretty well.

[drachefly]

... hey, wait a minute, what's the timing on that? Did Gobwin Knob and Faq fall at the same time? GK fell when Stanley was out on a "special mission" with the casters... was that attacking Faq?

Sizemore was out on a special mission for the fall of GK, and there would have been no excuse for bringing him along [s]to FAQ[/s] on a dwagon-hunting expedition.

[Lamech]

What other application does "Stop! Hammer time" have?

I'm thinking it might have range too and Stanley just fired it point blank.

Van de Graaff may be insane, but it didn't kill Caesar, and the tactical situation forced Stanley to retreat. The 'hammer is potent in melee, but not unstoppable or uncounterable.

I'm hard pressed to think of a counter if probably the strongest unit we've seen was stunned by the attack. Stanley just could have fired it a few more times and even a stack of Ceasers would have biten it. (Well, I suppose it might have some limit we don't know about actually, but baring that.)

We have seen this. There is no indication that this was an illusion, and no indication that Jack was aware of the reveal of this new 'power' that Stanley made to Wanda.

Jack was linked to the all seeing table. Alsohttp://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F114.jpg
See the bats? Those bats with out a warlord around? The ones that are really Stanley, dwagon and Jack? Note how they are in the panel when the orly gets transformed?

[Sam Nanti]

Also, Bogroll made Parson a pigeon pie and some of the pigeons converted back to nuts.

Was that pigeons converting to nuts? I thought Pigeons just pooped in the pie and Bogroll thought they were nuts.

[Althernai]

Was that pigeons converting to nuts? I thought Pigeons just pooped in the pie and Bogroll thought they were nuts.

No. Bogroll explicitly says that they're walnuts and the nuts Stanley is cracking when Wanda comes in are also walnuts. It's a pretty clear reference to Stanley's 'hammer-made pigeons reverting to their natural form.

[Catalyst]

Sam Nanti wrote: Was that pigeons converting to nuts? I thought Pigeons just pooped in the pie and Bogroll thought they were nuts.

No. Bogroll explicitly says that they're walnuts and the nuts Stanley is cracking when Wanda comes in are also walnuts. It's a pretty clear reference to Stanley's 'hammer-made pigeons reverting to their natural form.

Unless pigeons poop really big where your from..

[wrecan]

Was that pigeons converting to nuts? I thought Pigeons just pooped in the pie and Bogroll thought they were nuts.

No. Bogroll explicitly says that they're walnuts and the nuts Stanley is cracking when Wanda comes in are also walnuts. It's a pretty clear reference to Stanley's 'hammer-made pigeons reverting to their natural form.

Unless Bogroll also found some of the walnuts Stanley had been trying to convert into pigeons, and used them as ingredients in the pie.

edit: Never mind. Bogroll didn't remember adding any walnuts.

[Jinren]

I wonder if those who attune to the tools can sense the primary ability of their tool directly.

This seems reasonable. Recall, once Wanda got the 'pliers, she immediately found a corpse, zapped it, and proclaimed that she had no idea what she'd just created, aside from it beng "wonderful".

Wanda is a caster with an apparently wide range of talents. Stanley is an infantry unit. It may be that it's possible to immediately sense the primary ability of the tool, and Stanley doesn't know how? (Wanda probably didn't have explicit knowledge of how to command a Tool either - unless she researched it in private in preparation for her Fate - but it stands to reason in my view that she would be faster at wrapping her head around a new kind of magic than a non-caster.)