Book 2 – Page 97

[bladestorm]

I'm still pulling for issue 99 that Parson emerges from the portal, with 100 being a panoramic spread of the carnage he's viewing. Last few panels of 99 show him emerging and getting a shocked look on his face, probably spouting off some obscenity, leaving a cliffhanger for issue 100 and giving Xin some time to do one big image and having some time for the holidays.

Archer may be better suited to go after the King's stack. While his range may be better out in the open, his targets are becoming more and more limited, leaving just the cloth golems -- how much damage is an archer going to do against giant pin cushions? I recall that the throne room is rather open, meaning Archer would have a good chance of a cinematically dramatic shot at the king as he is about to sit upon the throne. Sylvia and the reds are a much better match against the golems, provided any of the reds survive. The greens will be limited in their capacity against the golems, whom I assume are all but immune to gas attacks.

[Sieggy]

What bad luck? The dwagon croaked, not her!

[drachefly]

What is meant by B.C. that our zatanna-alike is saying?

I'm thinking that Parson still won't be through that portal before 2013, issue 100 being a nice round Christmas number or not.

Now Fakely gets a y'majesty?

Alas, our pyromaniac warlord on scene has allowed herself to be distracted, twice. She'd be better in the walls, and Archer out in the field where he can shoot any target he can see.

You are welcome to place bets on round 3 of the portal pool in the betting thread.

[effataigus]

Justice served "in the usual way?" Did Jefti just imply that he and his would follow Parson through the portal to gun him down?

I've always read that quote about dismounts with the idea that dismounting only counts as a fall if the mount that you're riding is flying as implicit. If mounting/dismounting a grounded unit counts as crossing zones, then how did Sylvia get on her dwagon off turn in a city? Not the only possible interpretation, but...

[effataigus]

Alas, their love could never be.

That's why we have fanfiction. Anyone care to write an extremely explicit, dirty Parson/Portal fic?

Does this count?

It's a start, but it needs to be longer, harder and rougher.

That version has a single extra sentence, in which the portal is swapped at the moment of Parson's "exultation."

[Avic]

Justice served "in the usual way?" Did Jefti just imply that he and his would follow Parson through the portal to gun him down?

I think he means Parson will be croaked through normal combat(once he passes through the portal), like just about everyone in Erfworld does.

I've always read that quote about dismounts with the idea that dismounting only counts as a fall if the mount that you're riding is flying as implicit. If mounting/dismounting a grounded unit counts as crossing zones, then how did Sylvia get on her dwagon off turn in a city?

Purposefully dismounting, and getting dismounted because of a direct enemy action, don't seem to necessarily be the same thing. Getting directly dismounted(or having the mount shot out from under you as happened to Sylvia here) seems to carry the same risks for the rider as taking a "fall", regardless of whether it's a ground mount or a flying mount, though the height does apparently play some role in whether it's lethal damage. Dismounting a flying mount, by your own choice, while it's still in the air, and then landing on the ground, may convey the same risks, though I'm not sure we have a direct example of that, whereas dismounting a ground mount doesn't.

[fjolnir]

What if the king is croaked before he reaches the throne?

[Saladman]

It's dangerous because we're about to shoot him.

[bladestorm]

What if the king is croaked before he reaches the throne?

He has to. Otherwise Parson will come up with some other excuse as to why he cannot go through that portal. He's been stalling to give the king enough time to get to the throne, and then everytime will line up.

Charlie has a carnymancer-predictamancer trilink. Not only can it predict the future, it can rig events to modify that future. ow he just needs a mathemancer to calculate how beneficial rigging the predictions will be.

[cheeseaholic]

So it's just a schroedinger's portal that may or may not close before Parson can reach it?

No, it *can't* close before Parson reaches it. Slately won't close it until Parson steps through. If Slately doesn't reach the throne room, the portal can't close. If Parson never steps through, Slately doesn't close it. As soon as Parson steps through, Slately immediately closes it (if he's there), or the portal remains open until the city falls.

Because the only condition in which the Portal closes is that both Parson steps through AND Slately reaches the throne, the two hexes can sync up after both outcomes are determined. Because Parson can immediately turn around and leave if Slately still heading to the Throne Room, Slately's success or failure HAS to be determined before Parson steps through.

The amount of time that each of these actions take doesn't matter. Slately could spend HOURS fighting to the throne room. Parson could have immediately crossed the portal without being stopped. But in order to sync these two events, Slately has to reach the throne (if he's going to) before Parson crosses, so Erfworld forces the events to take place in the "right" order. Slately gets as much time as he needs, and Parson crosses over moments after Slately is either croaked or sits down on the Throne. Either (croak or sit down) is enough to make it so no contradictions can occur once Parson crosses over.

What if Parson checks for traps? If he decides to wait for something to happen will something (the portal closing) happen? Two actions determined by each other. Not the best example maybe but where I'm going with this is some actions can be dependant on each other, leading to a paradox.

And you're forgetting that Wanda and Jack went through the portal to look for Parson because he took too long.

[Lamech]

What bad luck? The dwagon croaked, not her!

But she can't croak because of Jeffs fate spell. Hmm... maybe she acts as a bad luck charm. She is okay, but fate takes out her allies out of spite/making someone pay.

[wrecan]

I just realized that what Jeftichew is expecting, is that just after Parson goes through, the portal disappears (or converts to Jetstone City) and he declares that this change is the "Titans' Judgment" and that Parson is either croaked, or stranded in the middle of no man's land. Heck, at that point, Stanley may give him up for lost and release him to barbarian status in order to save on his cost of upkeep. Parson, of course, manages to survive, croaking everyone left in Spacerock, and then razes it for the purse.

Book 3 is Parson the Barbarian!

[boegiboe]

I think Slately has no other option than changing the capital to Jetstone City before Sylvia knocks down the garrison.
If he is fast enough to reach the throne room, he can wait for Parson but his time is limited because of the attacks in this hex.
So everything is possible, even narrative unlikely events like:
- The garrison falls before Parson went through the portal. The site of Jetsone falls, the portal vanishes.
- Slately reaches the throne and changes the capital before Parson went through the portal. That could lead to Parson beeing allone in Jetstone City.

Much as I like the quantum mechanical flavor of MarbitChow's interpretation, I think rag rug has it right here. Any sequence of events that does not create a contradiction is possible. After all, we must keep in mind that Slately 2.0 has no knowledge of the status of the portal room, so there's no way he can know who has gone through. We know from Stanley's experience of Parson going through the GK portal that Rulers don't have knowledge of portal use, only the location of certain units.

[Itoh]

I think Slately has no other option than changing the capital to Jetstone City before Sylvia knocks down the garrison.
If he is fast enough to reach the throne room, he can wait for Parson but his time is limited because of the attacks in this hex.
So everything is possible, even narrative unlikely events like:
- The garrison falls before Parson went through the portal. The site of Jetsone falls, the portal vanishes.
- Slately reaches the throne and changes the capital before Parson went through the portal. That could lead to Parson beeing allone in Jetstone City.

Much as I like the quantum mechanical flavor of MarbitChow's interpretation, I think rag rug has it right here. Any sequence of events that does not create a contradiction is possible. After all, we must keep in mind that Slately 2.0 has no knowledge of the status of the portal room, so there's no way he can know who has gone through. We know from Stanley's experience of Parson going through the GK portal that Rulers don't have knowledge of portal use, only the location of certain units.

Of course Slately will know when Parson's through the portal. Charlie will tell him.

[atalex]

What is meant by B.C. that our zatanna-alike is saying?

Be cool?

What's the point of an acronym that has the same number of syllables as the phrase being abbreviated? It's like when DC Comics writers had other characters refer to Wonder Woman as "WW" which no one would ever do when speaking aloud as opposed to writing.

[mortissimus]

I think Slately has no other option than changing the capital to Jetstone City before Sylvia knocks down the garrison.
If he is fast enough to reach the throne room, he can wait for Parson but his time is limited because of the attacks in this hex.
So everything is possible, even narrative unlikely events like:
- The garrison falls before Parson went through the portal. The site of Jetsone falls, the portal vanishes.
- Slately reaches the throne and changes the capital before Parson went through the portal. That could lead to Parson beeing allone in Jetstone City.

Slately has options if he is sitting on the throne as the Garrison can not be captured while he or any other Jetstone unit is in it, alive and uncaptured. When Cubbins was the only one in there, he - and thus the burning of the Garrison - was important. Now Jetstone has sent in the reinforcements and all (including Ace, Cubbins and Slately) needs to be croaked, captured or driven away for GK to capture the city.

[atalex]

Justice served "in the usual way?" Did Jefti just imply that he and his would follow Parson through the portal to gun him down?

I took that to be Carnymancer code for "Just work with me. I've got something sneaky planned for him."

[atalex]

At this point, wouldn't it be hilarious if Parson does check for traps, gets a "100%" response, and then, after 100 pages of build-up, elects NOT to go through the portal at all and instead does something brilliant that none of us anticipated?

[bladestorm]

What is meant by B.C. that our zatanna-alike is saying?

Be cool?

What's the point of an acronym that has the same number of syllables as the phrase being abbreviated? It's like when DC Comics writers had other characters refer to Wonder Woman as "WW" which no one would ever do when speaking aloud as opposed to writing.

It likely has at least three different interpretations. Be cool, be careful, booping carnymancers, basic carnymancy (i.e. Jojo's got a plan here and started his barker's speech, don't muck with it), barker's call ("he is so about to swindle these pigeons"), basic courtesy (Jojo's got the floor right now, let him do his act), booping Charlie (tugging on the ringleader like that)....

[splexis]

So it's just a schroedinger's portal that may or may not close before Parson can reach it?

More like Xeno's portal that you can only ever move half-way closer to.