Summer Updates - 019

[BarGamer]

Some mythologies claim that vampires and other nasties can't cross running water and die when exposed to sunlight. Of course, these TVs are out and about during the day, so obviously we can't consider them to be true vampires, as much as a parody of vampires.

...Speaking of that, when are we gonna see a lampooning of Twilight in this comic? TVs playing baseball, perhaps?

[Binty]

it may just be that don doesn't like bunny speaking to other people. seems like the type (abusive husband type)

Very doubtful imo. It seemed perfectly natural business/politic meeting behaviour. A question is addressed to a technical guy and the manager cuts in with the offical position. Basically it wasn't her place to decide what information to give Julian. If she was politically minded she would probably have just deferred to Don anyway. However, if not, she could have shot her foot off by revealing TV speculation, rumours and/or partial facts.

Don's position of 'we don't know anything' is probably a short of it.

[DevilDan]

At any event, I doubt that it will benefit Don King to hide his intel on Stanley from Jillian, considering that he intends to elicit her assistance in studying the current situation and learning more about what happened. If she's the expert and a potential ally, she won't be kept in the dark for long, if that is indeed what is happening.

[Infidel]

Don King sounds like the mentor Jillian never had, but should have.

[shneekeythelost]

Yanno, I'm surprised a few bats haven't overflown GK just to get an idea of what the terrain looks like. Sure, they'd loose 'em, but hey... a couple of bats, no biggie, right? Specially not when you consider the information you might glean before they get eaten by the Dwagons. At the very least, it would tell them that GK has been significantly upgraded, probably tell them what level a city GK is now. And.. oh yea.. might get a chance to see the Decrypted... which is worth it's weight in... anything you care to name.

If you're worried about random encounters, then stick a low-level warlord with them so they can choose to disengage as move allows. Warlord hangs out a couple of hexes back, bats go in and scout around, dying as necessary. Bunny keeps a link to the Warlord, looking through the bat's eyes, to relay to Don what the hell is going on down there. Even if the Warlord gets nailed, you still got extremely useful information, well worth one low-level warlord.

[multilis]

Scouting a dangerous enemy does carry some risk, it draws attention to you rather than *other* enemies.

I guess that TV needs royalty to get cooperation with other royal factions, and Jillian is to become the next "Ansom" first diplomatically charming the other sides for a defensive alliance against Stanley aggression.

[cservant]

BTW, anyone else almost thought Don is shirtless in the picture?

I had to go back to earlier comic to check he if he was wearing a hawaian shirt. Perhaps there is something wrong with me. Time to get me eyes checked.

[Cmdr I. Heartly Noah]

I thought he was shirtless for 5 seconds.

Also, Balder: TYPO: "Jetsone," opening paragraph.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

Scouting a dangerous enemy does carry some risk, it draws attention to you rather than *other* enemies.

I guess that TV needs royalty to get cooperation with other royal factions, and Jillian is to become the next "Ansom" first diplomatically charming the other sides for a defensive alliance against Stanley aggression.

Jillian? Charming? Don't think so. And for diplomatic missions TV has more than enough nobles. I don't think other kingdoms have a problem with a noble as diplomat or warlord. Because that's what nobles are for: working as middle management for royals.

[moose o death]

it may have been answered.

the big question of what the don wants jillian to do.

nothing. vinny is right, jillian would have preffered the dungeons.

you can't retaliate against stanley, we just don't know what happened and your very likely to die if you do. so we are asking you to do nothing until we have a plan. we don't make rash plans and you may be important to those. to lose you now would serve no-one well. so you must remain here. feel free to learn some etiquete during your stay.

[DevilDan]

Haha... "Try the pigs in a blanket. Can I refresh your drink?"

[sdub]

I just realized that the city is defended by guys and dolls.

[Fiendishrabbit]

I just realized that the city is defended by guys and dolls.

Unless you mean the vampire warlords that would be Guard Girls and Dolls.

[shneekeythelost]

Scouting a dangerous enemy does carry some risk, it draws attention to you rather than *other* enemies.

Meh, they were just wandering around without orders, a lost squad which missed their own funeral at GK...

I guess that TV needs royalty to get cooperation with other royal factions, and Jillian is to become the next "Ansom" first diplomatically charming the other sides for a defensive alliance against Stanley aggression.

Jillian would be the *LAST* one to diplomatically charm the other sides. IIRC, Webinar actively accused her of being a traitor and despised her. No one else other than Vinny really gave her the time of day. I seriously doubt she could lead them to agree the sky was blue, much less a diplomatic alliance.

[Tiger]

I just realized that the city is defended by guys and dolls.

Unless you mean the vampire warlords that would be Guard Girls and Dolls.

Guard Goyles.

[Fiendishrabbit]

...goyle/girl, dwagon/dragon.

Same thing, different accent. I was merely clarifying.

[The Sandman]

I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that Don King ultimately wants Jillian to restart Faq, as some sort of client state of TV. From the bits we know about how loyalty and stuff work, it seems reasonable to assume that there would be some advantage to restarting a side with surviving leadership from when it originally fell, as opposed to grabbing the site yourself. I expect that Don will now try to gently prod Jillian towards realizing that, as fun as the barbarian lifestyle may be, she'll have a much better chance of getting back at Stanley if she has the resources of an actual kingdom to back her up. And that Don is likely to semi-permanently attach Vinny to Faq-2 as a combination ambassador/watchdog, to make sure that Jillian stays loyal and to give him a way of staying in touch with her.

The loyalty spec is especially important if the reason Faq was popping so many casters relative to its size was some innate property of the territory, as opposed to a deliberate effort on the part of the kingdom. You really want your casters to have high loyalty, to lower the risk of them being suborned.

My final bit of spec here: that once we finish this segment on TV and Jillian, the next viewpoint is going to be either Charlie or a new faction that will be important in Book 2.

[Anton Gaist]

And that Don is likely to semi-permanently attach Vinny to Faq-2 as a combination ambassador/watchdog, to make sure that Jillian stays loyal and to give him a way of staying in touch with her.

That would most likely require an alliance between the 2 kingdoms. If TV offered to back Faq against GK in the event of a future campaign once they have gathered sufficient intel, Jillian might be convinced. Right now she's alone with her gwiffons, her chances of getting back at Stanley are negligible.

My final bit of spec here: that once we finish this segment on TV and Jillian, the next viewpoint is going to be either Charlie or a new faction that will be important in Book 2.

Actually, WOG is that the summer updates would be comprised of 2 epilogues. The first was the aftermath in GK, this is the second one. Once this is done, we'll just have to wait for the fall for Book 2 to begin.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

Actually, WOG is that the summer updates would be comprised of 2 epilogues. The first was the aftermath in GK, this is the second one. Once this is done, we'll just have to wait for the fall for Book 2 to begin.

WOG is, that after the two epilogues with Stanley and Jillian more stuff will follow, that covers about 90-100 turns.

[Infidel]

BTW, anyone else almost thought Don is shirtless in the picture?

I had to go back to earlier comic to check he if he was wearing a hawaian shirt. Perhaps there is something wrong with me. Time to get me eyes checked.

I don't see anything but hairy chest.