Book 2 – Page 85

[Salem]

I don't necessarily thinkg it will happen but I really really really want the next panel to be Parson helping Maggie up. The whole, don't get me wrong I'm pissed but you're still my friend thing would be really nice. Also probably shift her loyalties. Pushing her closer to him than to GK or to tGMtTA

[teratorn]

I don't necessarily thinkg it will happen but I really really really want the next panel to be Parson helping Maggie up. The whole, don't get me wrong I'm pissed but you're still my friend thing would be really nice. Also probably shift her loyalties. Pushing her closer to him than to GK or to tGMtTA

And then there would be smooching and much rejoicing.

[Salem]

I don't necessarily thinkg it will happen but I really really really want the next panel to be Parson helping Maggie up. The whole, don't get me wrong I'm pissed but you're still my friend thing would be really nice. Also probably shift her loyalties. Pushing her closer to him than to GK or to tGMtTA

And then there would be smooching and much rejoicing.

Woah woah, don't go giving away spoilers to the fiction I'm preparing.

[elecampane]

I don't necessarily thinkg it will happen but I really really really want the next panel to be Parson helping Maggie up. The whole, don't get me wrong I'm pissed but you're still my friend thing would be really nice. Also probably shift her loyalties. Pushing her closer to him than to GK or to tGMtTA

ditto that.
Also, i dont quite understand this thread blaming Maggie for not telling Parson all the truth. Of course, Parson may not be aware of that, but Maggie had a reason for not telling, and forumites know it. She apparently owns some loyalty to GMTTA, and can't just decide on her own what of their private conspiracy facts can be told. Wasn't she the one thinkamancer who insisted on telling Parson the truth long ago?
Edit: heck, even Parson has heard that she suggested briefing him on critical facts:
http://www.erfworld.com/wp-content/uplo ... -07-16.jpg

Coming to something that was mentioned a while ago (the fact that Maggie is running in heels)....why did she change her Raiment back anyway? We've been commenting that her Signamancy has been changing as she has become more refreshed and engaged, and she did say the Raiment she bought after TBfGK was because she "wanted a change". So why has she reverted to her old outfit?

I guess that's because her new raiment was an informal camping one, and she isn't camping now (and on duty). Wanda seems to change clothes often, choosing the one most fitting the situation. Perhaps Maggie wanted to do the same, just on a smaller scale.

[Oberon]

Either he's trolling or he's a conspiracy theorist. If the former, responding is encouraging him. If the latter, the only arguments that can work are those that begin with the assumption that is his conclusion.

I love the part where people who don't believe in his conspiracy theories are 'sheep'. As opposed to what, I have to wonder? Wolves? Alpaca? Condor? I think I'll go with bats. That's the only thing which makes being bat-shit crazy seem reasonable.

So why has [Maggie] reverted to her old outfit?

Perhaps despite the highly convenient free laundry service Erfworld provides, people still don't prefer wearing the same outfit every day?

Woah woah, don't go giving away spoilers to the fiction I'm preparing.

Maggie/Parson has already been done.

[Salem]

Woah woah, don't go giving away spoilers to the fiction I'm preparing.

Maggie/Parson has already been done.

But has Parson/Maggie/Quivering Portal?

[effataigus]

Just a lil' trollin!

Spoiler: show

Parson's tremulous and quivering excitement proved to great, and he could not bring himself to touch the portal. Finally, a lusty-eyed Maggie suggested he breach the portal sheathed in a portal of a different kind.

In Parson's moment of exaltation, Slately entered the portal room. Offended to the very core of his being, Slately disbanded himself in speechless disgust.

Jetstone ended, and Parson's worst adolescent fears were exceeded 20-fold in a horrific and quite public spectacle.

[Salem]

Just a lil' trollin!

Spoiler: show

Parson's tremulous and quivering excitement proved to great, and he could not bring himself to touch the portal. Finally, a lusty-eyed Maggie suggested he breach the portal sheathed in a portal of a different kind.

In Parson's moment of exaltation, Slately entered the portal room. Offended to the very core of his being, Slately disbanded himself in speechless disgust.

Jetstone ended, and Parson's worst adolescent fears were exceeded 20-fold in a horrific and quite public spectacle.

But has Parson/Maggie/Wanda/Jeftichew/Stanley/Slately/Tremmanis/Black Dwagon/Jack & Jillian/Issac/Ansom/ Janis/Banhammer/Arkendish/ Charlie's Angels / Quivering Portal all in a roman setting been done?

[bladestorm]

If Maggie being Charlie is completely out of the question, what about Maggie having some sort of previous relations with Charlie? Maybe like an ex-wife or an ex-lover. Spy novel are rife with tales of the main antagonists former love serving as an aid to the protagonist. They could have been an item like Dora and Webinar, but after Chuckie attuned to the Arkendish, he didn't need Maggie's paltry thinkamancy abilities. When the conflict between Parson and Charlie gets fully underway, she'll be trapped between loyalty to tGMtTA, her loyalty to her side, her loyalty to her Chief Warlord, her previous lover, and her burning loins aching for some hot Hamster action.

And with Maggie being in the Magick Kingdom, who is left behind at GK in case it gets attacked? I don't have the exact round count, but TV should be popping a noble heir soon, and a mission to GK may be just what was needed to remove Ceasar from the picture permanently. Or could be a good way for the new noble to cut his fangs. Vampires vs Zombies action.

I also wonder what would happen if Parson decided to turn to Jetstone. That would put him back to the lower side of asymmetric warfare, and he'd have to figure out a way for his losing side to triumph over a massive army of unspeakable abominations funded by one of the riches sides on Erf with a capital city that has insane defenses.. It'd also allow him to pass through that portal at long last, just not for the reason why he wants to go through it currently.

[Nnelg]

But has Parson/Maggie/Wanda/Jeftichew/Stanley/Slately/Tremmanis/Black Dwagon/Jack & Jillian/Issac/Ansom/ Janis/Banhammer/Arkendish/ Charlie's Angels / Quivering Portal all in a roman setting been done?

I don't know; I haven't watched enough 'Frat House'-type movies.

[Oberon]

But has Parson/Maggie/Wanda/Jeftichew/Stanley/Slately/Tremmanis/Black Dwagon/Jack & Jillian/Issac/Ansom/ Janis/Banhammer/Arkendish/ Charlie's Angels / Quivering Portal all in a roman setting been done?

Yes! I believe it was called Caligula.

[teratorn]

If Maggie being Charlie is completely out of the question, what about Maggie having some sort of previous relations with Charlie? Maybe like an ex-wife or an ex-lover.

Way unlikely, Charlie would've found a way to croak her. We're talking about someone secretive and paranoid.

The text updates featuring Maggie don't leave much room for conjecture, she's not involved with Charlie.

[noname_hero]

Well, I don't hope Parson will offer Maggie a hand. What I would like to see is him saying something like:

Screw you all, I don't have time for all these conspiracies now.

Isaac, I'm going through that portal and you have three choices.
One, help me.
Two, move aside.
Three, try stopping me. I'm not saying you'll lose - but you'll either have made me your mortal enemy or you'll have to brainwash me so thoroughly you'll never be sure I'll remain capable of defeating Charlie.
YOU made this situation far worse than it might have been, YOU deal with the fallout here. And if you want to talk, you'll know where to find me.

Maggie, we'll talk about this later. Now, are you stacking with me, or taking his side? Choose *fast*.


But that's probably daydreaming on my part...

[teratorn]

But that's probably daydreaming on my part...

Well, things need to get moving. I'm particularly interested to see how Sylvia will react to having Parson on the battlefield. The kind of devotion that girl shows is scary.

[coyotenose]

It would explain quite a lot about why Erfworld seems to be an amalgamation of things that are familiar to Parson. If someone from his world got there first, someone with Charlie's power, then all the vague references would make sense.

It's the other way around. Consider it like this: if there is a multiverse of who-knows-how many different universes, then some of them are going to have a lot of familiar elements to an outsider simply due to probability. Stanley specifically demanded of Wanda during the casting of the Summon Perfect Warlord scroll that said warlord be acclimated to the environment, speak the language, and that everything should seem familiar to him so that he wouldn't be confused. That last one seems straightforward, but is actually a VERY vague requirement (and is probably my favorite part about the whole premise. It's frigging brilliant.)

So the spell reached out, trying its best with Stanley's absurd list of demands and Wanda's limited Findamancy skills, and found someone in another universe to whom all or virtually all of the requirements applied. Because too much was being asked of it, it simplified some elements, choosing someone to whom Erfworld was "familiar" only in the loosest sense, choosing a warlord who was "Perfect" only for the needs of the moment, choosing someone huge and intimidating as demanded... but also fat and weak, even using wordplay about Marbits and Gwiffons to technically fulfill the conditions. This is why you don't ask for much when you get a Wish spell in Dungeons & Dragons: The DM will mess with you. Doing so is his job and his pleasure.

It's basically the same effect as if the scroll created Parson and just gave him a detailed backstory to reduce confusion and paradox.

[effataigus]

But has Parson/Maggie/Wanda/Jeftichew/Stanley/Slately/Tremmanis/Black Dwagon/Jack & Jillian/Issac/Ansom/ Janis/Banhammer/Arkendish/ Charlie's Angels / Quivering Portal all in a roman setting been done?

I'm sorry, but I was raised to believe that Roman settings are amoral and against God's plan for humanity.

[Nnelg]

It's basically the same effect as if the scroll created Parson and just gave him a detailed backstory to reduce confusion and paradox.

Yep. Try reading Timeline by Michael Crichton if you want some interesting lines of thought based around similar effects of a continuously infinite multiverse. Especially the part about how they get the people they send through the wormhole to materialize on the other side...

[bladestorm]

Just because Charlie was communicating with Parson while Maggie was otherwise occupied doesn't mean they cannot be one and the same. Different hex, different time frame. Time passes differently for scouts in a different hex while they are scouting, why would puppets in a different hex be any different? Misty was able to move around during non-turn, and Parson was reprimanded for asking her name since it weakened the trimancer link. Maggie could have been wandering around, tending to duties as Charlie under Charlescomm's turn.

You can't argue real-world physics in a world where arrows in flight stop at the edge of the hex.

[Nnelg]

You can't argue real-world physics in a world where arrows in flight stop at the edge of the hex.

I think the argument was mainly a meta one. The apparent inconsistencies would have to be explained; the argument was that they couldn't be explained easily or well, and that since Rob is a good author he'd therefore know better than to try.

Yes, I know that you wouldn't need an explanation. And I would probably make up my own if one wasn't supplied; but not everyone thinks like that.


Personally though, I think it's unlikely because of the way the story so far has been built. Everything's been open, and we've seen the action from multiple points of view (including Maggie's). Besides, there are much better spots to put a tomato surprise... Namely the nature of the fourth Arkentool and the conspiracy surrounding Saline IV's death.

[Oberon]

Yep. Try reading Timeline by Michael Crichton [...]

Crichton is/was a hack, and Timeline sucks as much ass as Sphere.