Book 2 – Page 99

[ftl]

Story-wise, this seems to be leading to a battle where casters aren't key. Jack is out of juice. Wanda is in the MK. Ace incapacitated or croaked. Cubbins incapacitated, and fleeing along with the Healomancer and Dittomancer.

So it's just units vs units. It gives Parson a chance to be clever in some way other than just "make up a spell for the casters to do".

[Urf]

Parley.

[onlyme]

Look at how surprised all those soldiers are. I mean, it's like they had just spent so long waiting that they can't believe their eyes.

Well, I'd rather guess they never have seen their chief warlord before and would not have guessed that he is that big.

On another note, anyone any idea what the trick is? Some simple "you do not count as having entered something if part of your stack is still outside"? Or some magical pull-back to your stack leader? Or some way to get juice from non-casters in your stack?

[wrecan]

Look at how surprised all those soldiers are. I mean, it's like they had just spent so long waiting that they can't believe their eyes.

Well, I'd rather guess they never have seen their chief warlord before and would not have guessed that he is that big.

And looks like a potato. Both Stanley and Tramennis have noted Parson's potato-shape as an indication that they do not think he could be much of a warlord. My guess is that large people have the signamancy of dullards (or at least uncreative) and most smart people are of slighter stature. This distinction is seen in the difference between Ossomer (big and beefy) and Tramennis (slender and clever). The exception seems to be Don King who also seems to be smart and large. But he may have been lean in his younger days and has only been putting on the weight as he slows down with age.

[0beron]

[Signamancy theory]

I don't think there is a Signamancy analog for intelligence. Stature and Build only seem to reflect combat ability and general demeanor (brave vs cowardly, ect), and Apparent Age seems to reflect personality to some degree (energetic vs passive, ect). As you yourself pointed out, if Build and Stature related to Intelligence, then we'd have a contradiction in Don's case. So either it's something we've missed (the eyes perhaps?) or there is no way to judge intelligence.

[Lamech]

On another note, anyone any idea what the trick is? Some simple "you do not count as having entered something if part of your stack is still outside"? Or some magical pull-back to your stack leader? Or some way to get juice from non-casters in your stack?

Perhaps he never really entered. A displacement to inside the magic kingdom perhaps? Which I suppose means you can send spells through the portal not just casters. Also Jack seemed to be able to see what was on the other side of the portal, I'm guessing a displacement once again. Anyone else see the potential? Scanning through other people's capitals.

[Shai_hulud]

That quote is incorrect. It wasn't me who said that (too tired to check who did). I will say though that if he used foolamancy, that would explain why his skin changed color. That is to say, it never really did.

[twhitt]

Looking at panels 9, 10 and 11, but particularly 11, I'm thinking that it's pretty clear that Jack stepped out of the MK portal into the JS portal room after Parson. Also, no comic since at least 82 shows anyone with a great line of sight to the back side of the JS portal in the MK. I suspect Jack, for-reals in the MK during the discussion, simply walked behind the crowd and circled around to the back side of the JS portal, where he waited unseen until Parson stepped through. Then, he stepped through himself, from the back. Since no one was looking from that side, no one noticed him hide or step through. So, no juice required; he just took advantage of everyone's natural distraction.

Page 94 panel 3 may be the weak point here, but the Carnymancers are looking pretty well off to the left of the frame and the pack of them obstructs both our view of the portal and theirs.

[ftl]

That would be perfect.

Just like a foolamancer. See where everyone's looking, and just be somewhere where they're not looking. How to use the foolamancy senses without using any juice.

[the_tick_rules]

Yep, who says you need to cast spells to be tricky?

[Beeskee]

I can't believe it actually happened. He went through.

Also, obligatory "yay he's through....and shit didn't IMMEDIATELY hit the fan" declaration.

I suspect that the feces is already fanward-bound and moving quite rapidly.

[auraseer]

A Carnymancer just carved you an engraved invitation to go through that portal. What else could it BE other than a huge trap?

Well sure. But who's getting trapped?

Parson knew he was going into a battle where he might get killed. It was going to be dangerous no matter what happened along the way. I don't think Jeffy can have done very much to make things worse for him in Spacerock.

But what's going to go down in the MK, where the caster faceoff is still going on, and Wanda, Sizemore, and Maggie have all just lost their chief warlord bonus?

[C9H20]

Nice progress in this update! Still very puzzled by Isaac's choice to not let the casters that came out of the portal go back into it.

My interpretation is that the MK rule allows casters to retreat from a battle to MK at any time they can, but only allow exiting MK throgh the portal to their own capital. Making it a very foolish move indeed to go into MK for Wanda and/or Jack in the first place.

Even if such regulations exist they did not leave because they wanted to, they left because they feared that Red will collapse the tower, kill the king, and cut them off. There probably wasn't even time to contact Maggie to have her stop Sylvia.

[tleilaxu]

no one else is curious about the painting in panel 11? who is it? why is it so prominently featured? a deceased prince? a caster? the first king of jetstone? anyone have any ideas? or is it obvious to everyone else?

[kiyote]

Looking at panels 9, 10 and 11, but particularly 11, I'm thinking that it's pretty clear that Jack stepped out of the MK portal into the JS portal room after Parson. Also, no comic since at least 82 shows anyone with a great line of sight to the back side of the JS portal in the MK. I suspect Jack, for-reals in the MK during the discussion, simply walked behind the crowd and circled around to the back side of the JS portal, where he waited unseen until Parson stepped through. Then, he stepped through himself, from the back. Since no one was looking from that side, no one noticed him hide or step through. So, no juice required; he just took advantage of everyone's natural distraction.

Have you thought that Jack just walked through the portal while the thinkamancers were inside Parson's head, the carneymancers were busy making a scene? Seems like everybody was focused on Parson, which is a natural distraction for Jack, especially since he has that foolamancer sense of what people's perceptions are.

[twhitt]

Have you thought that Jack just walked through the portal while the thinkamancers were inside Parson's head, the carneymancers were busy making a scene? Seems like everybody was focused on Parson, which is a natural distraction for Jack, especially since he has that foolamancer sense of what people's perceptions are.

The reason I don't think that this is what happened is that Jack's not in the room in panel 8. As Parson steps forward, Jack appears behind him, and Parson has to turn around in order to see him next to the portal in panel 9. Why would Jack be hiding in a room that his forces control?

[splintermute]

The easiest "trick of some sort" for Jack to have used would simply have been lying earlier about being out of juice - note that he says "I am" rather than "I was".

[BLANDCorporatio]

Wait, wait, wait, what? Parson's through the Portal?

This cannot be! *wells up* All my life ... I have waited ... I can now
...

...

Also, time for a new av, yay!

Incidentally, if Wanda's in the MK, is she trying to make friends with the casters there? Last time we checked, she was not seen with fond eyes by the locals. Being stranded there after Parson's tricky maneuver and all, she may have some splainin to do.

[twhitt]

The easiest "trick of some sort" for Jack to have used would simply have been lying earlier about being out of juice - note that he says "I am" rather than "I was".

That's one explanation, sure. But it assumes that Jack lied directly to Parson in a conversation with Marie, Wanda, Parson, Sizemore and Janis. I don't think it's the simplest one, and I don't like assuming that protagonists lie to each other so easily. If I'm supposed to figure that's a lie, what's to stop me from thinking every sentence of the entire comic is an outright lie? Do we really even have a good example of anyone other than a predictamancer lying to the reader? I'm sorry, I don't really buy that argument. He says he's out of juice to the reader and to his CW, then he's out of juice. To think otherwise is to be paranoid.

[tgriff02]

I find the approving look that Marie gives parson when she tells him that today is just another battle a little amusing. It's like she's going, "Finally, we have someone who hears a prediction, accepts it as reality, and marches forward to meet it, ready to adapt." Even if it does or does not carryt he weight of a standard prediction. LoL. How many or Erf's current problems probably go back to some prediction or the other that was made and all heck broke loose averyone either ran screaming from it (Jillian), started barricading furniture against the doors to keep it out (Wanda as Goodminton Croakamancer), or overthinking the implications and going a bit insane from trying to over accomodate fate (Wanda, more recently).