Book 2 – Page 100

[0beron]

I wonder what he was calling Charlie to do? Wasn't switching the portal site the end of the plan?

THAT is why he was calling Charlie. The plan very clearly included that the capital would be switched ON CHARLIE'S MARK. I'm surprised ppl are so confused about this because it seemed very straight-forward.

[WhirdCheese]

That's acctually very effective. Even if Parson manages to survive odds are he won't have many units left and since the closest allied city with a portal is Gobwin Knob odds are Gobwin Knob's territory just stopped expanding for while.

[CroverusRaven]

That's acctually very effective. Even if Parson manages to survive odds are he won't have many units left and since the closest allied city with a portal is Gobwin Knob odds are Gobwin Knob's territory just stopped expanding for while.

Put Wanda on a dwagon and express her to the battle? Then Mass decrypting time!

[Dancing Cthulhu]

bah, now that rules Sizemore out.

And more importantly, WANDA. As I mentioned quite some time ago, without Wanda there in the aftermath, this battle could prove a crippling blow to GK because it'd be the first that they are unable to replenish the army with Decrypted.

Even if Wanda was there for decryption it doesn't seem like they'd be near recouping their loss since Jetstone never sacrificed much after the Atrium beyond the last charges of Artemis and Slately (in terms of numbers and/or comparable troops). The GK forces will have lost Ansom, Oss, Capt. Archer, the Archons, the column Trem dusted, and depending on how much damage the fire does possibly a heap of dwagons, K.C, Sylvia and various croacked/uncroacked knights/heavies that were riding the dwagons... in return they could possibly get Ace, Artemis, those of her knights that are decryptable, the archers who died when the tower fell and the small force of Slately led back into the garrison.

Ace and Artemis would definitely take the sting out of it, whether they alone would offset the losses remains to be seen (if it went that path, I'd personally like Ace not to end up decrypted and trying to impress Wanda with rayguns and night vision goggles). Probably in the long term (course GK still has masses of decrypted ground forces out there, even if their airforce has been wiped and their best front line commanders lost).

I wonder what he was calling Charlie to do? Wasn't switching the portal site the end of the plan?

THAT is why he was calling Charlie. The plan very clearly included that the capital would be switched ON CHARLIE'S MARK. I'm surprised ppl are so confused about this because it seemed very straight-forward.

Indeed. I imagine that while Charlie had Slately on hold he was confirming with our favorite carny that Parson was through the portal.

[Ryjak]

Ok, so here's our main protagonist's situation. (You forgot Parson is A Protagonist, didn't you?)

He's in an enemy city with a fairly large force of infantry and warlords, dragons of all types, a juiceless caster (bonusless leader), and whatever equipment he grabbed from Gobwin Knob, including the Carny scroll. The only thing preventing him from capturing the city are a few enemy units, including the cloned King. Oh, and the city is burning from several Uncontrolled fires.

While I expect Parson will quickly take over the city (so he can fight the fire) I expect there will be no way to prevent it from becomming an Inferno. Per his Klog, the only way for anyone to survive in the burning hex is to gain the Fire Resistance Special.

I expect, after several pages of despirately trying to fight the fire while croaking Jetstone units, and one or two futile attempts at unorthodox ideas, Parson will do one of three things:

1) Encase himself (and a few select units) in Pink Dwagon Gum, thus gaining Fire Resistance, but be very vulnerable at the end of turn, as they will be stuck in the middle of the ash hex with all remaining Red Dwagons. And with Charlescomm getting first turn...

2) Find some way to build a hot-air ballon and escape like the Wizard of Oz. The balloon doesn't have to last very long, just enough to be airborne while the city hex is converted to ash from the Inferno.

3) Really gamble, try to create a "safe area" by burning part of the city first with the Reds and Greens, and using the Pinks and Yellows to contain the fire. If part of the hex can be converted to ash before it all goes Inferno, this might create a fire break/safe spot. Crowd as many units as possible in the area, and wait for the rest of the city converts to ash.

Not knowing enough of the "physics" of Erfworld's game engine, it's hard to say which would work best. Maybe they'll find some scrolls Jack Snipe can cast. I hope Parson doesn't get so desperate he has Jack cast The Scroll.

[Dancing Cthulhu]

That's acctually very effective. Even if Parson manages to survive odds are he won't have many units left and since the closest allied city with a portal is Gobwin Knob odds are Gobwin Knob's territory just stopped expanding for while.

Put Wanda on a dwagon and express her to the battle? Then Mass decrypting time!

Not this turn at least. Possibly the dwagon transport system is off line as well, considering the number of dwagons they committed to this battle.

[sheepfly]

That's acctually very effective. Even if Parson manages to survive odds are he won't have many units left and since the closest allied city with a portal is Gobwin Knob odds are Gobwin Knob's territory just stopped expanding for while.

Put Wanda on a dwagon and express her to the battle? Then Mass decrypting time!

Not this turn at least. Possibly the dwagon transport system is off line as well, considering the number of dwagons they committed to this battle.

We STILL need to see for sure where Wanda is. Chekhov's Predictamancer disappeared a long while back, and (if Foolamancy was in play) quite possibly Wanda is NOT where she appears to be right now. It is looking less and less likely that she made it through the portal, but it would be nice to have confirmation of where she actually is at some point.

[elecampane]

Actually, I would say that the first half of the page tells us that Charlie didn't order portal closing and the second half shows that portal was closed. Perhaps, Slately did on with his own volition? After all, we know from summer updates that Charlie was eager to kill someone attuned and to be finished with toolism once and for all. Perhaps, he wanted to arrange Wanda following Parson back to the city.
And now, when portal is closed with Wanda still in MK, it is official: Wanda's decision to leave the city was even more supid than Stanley leaving city in book 1. And they didn't even try to convince casters to let her return - they just endlessly argued about Parson. Sigh.

[goldenboy]

Parson is almost not fat anymore. I wonder if he'll look like ace hardware before it's all over.

[Beeskee]

Well, nobody on this end got cut in half or anything. Of course, we don't yet know how much the other side will know regarding the portal's new endpoint, or if they even saw a visible change. I would guess yes, but I'm not certain.

[youngstormlord]

And thus, my wild bit of Predictamancy that I have never shared with anyone for fear of looking ridiculous, comes true. Let's go back to the glorious page 99:

Parson: How bout some Predictamancy, Marie. Is this a trap?
Marie: Coss it's a trap. You'll go in anyway.
Parson: Mm. Will I win?
Marie: Yes, eventually. Today, it's just anotha battle.

Now, lets see who's talking here. On one side, we have the most accurate Predictamancer we know of. So, she's telling the truth. On another, we have Parson. Now, if it was Ansom, who fought 100 battles and only one was TBfGK, it's jut anotha battle would mean nothing out of usual. But this is Parson!

So, it's just anotha battle means something different. Parson ever fought in one battle and one battle alone: TBfGK. And that battle had casters leading troops, Croakamancer leading uncroaked in dance fighting and, last but not least, VOLCANO UNCROAKING! So, saying to Parson that "it's just anotha battle." is the same as telling the guy who survived something by doing things that have never been done or even tried before that he will have to do it all over again.

My point is, Parson's "ordinary" is not the same as anyone else's. It's just another battle is "Holly cwap, this is scary!" when your only other point of reference is "Holly cwap, that was scary! And I'll have to fight a similar one now!".

[Berserkas]

Shit's on fire...

you gotta love Jack's expressions in this one. Especially last panel. "Well, would you look at that. Meh. Who could have thought?"

What interests me most now is what will happen when the Glorious Leader meets his #1 fan, Sylvia... Doubt Parson will be in a mood to give out autographs...

[malroth]

There's another option, Parson could Surrender even though he's winning in order to save both sides since the fire could then be fought by all parties. He then is captured and forced to work for Jetstone for a while while Wanda slowly builds up to to her final villian level of power agian.

[C9H20]

Anyone else got a bad vibe about Jack?

His faces in those panels, seem odd. Also we've yet to get a glimpse back to the MK to see how things look on that side. To me this is looking increasingly like we're dealing with Imposter!Jack. That said not much else going on in this update, nothing unexpected certainly.

As for how will Parson get out, I feel it might involve Ace in some way. Easiest way to do it would be to fly above the flames, but but Parson is too big, perhaps there is some way for him to lose his "heavy" status.

[Saladman]

When did he switch the capital?

Either right there in panel 6, when he's just been snubbed, he's watching smoke fill his throne room, he knows he needs to order the switch while he's still functional, so he jumps ahead of Charlie's signal. (In which case, what else was Charlie waiting for?) Or, off-screen after panel 6, while Parson is talking, if Charlie called him back with the go signal. But why spend 6 panels to show the snub and not even hint at the call back, which leads me to favor the first option, ahead of Charlie's order in panel 6. Though I see elecampane got there first:

Actually, I would say that the first half of the page tells us that Charlie didn't order portal closing and the second half shows that portal was closed. Perhaps, Slately did on with his own volition? After all, we know from summer updates that Charlie was eager to kill someone attuned and to be finished with toolism once and for all. Perhaps, he wanted to arrange Wanda following Parson back to the city.

[BrotherRool]

Anyone else got a bad vibe about Jack?

His faces in those panels, seem odd. Also we've yet to get a glimpse back to the MK to see how things look on that side. To me this is looking increasingly like we're dealing with Imposter!Jack. That said not much else going on in this update, nothing unexpected certainly.

As for how will Parson get out, I feel it might involve Ace in some way. Easiest way to do it would be to fly above the flames, but but Parson is too big, perhaps there is some way for him to lose his "heavy" status.

I think Jack knows too much for that to be true, he mentioned the war games, knew Sylvia was in the courtyard with the dragons and recommended the warlord by name to Parson

[oslecamo2_temp]

What really intrigues me on this page is the "smoke out" part. The throne room is choke full of smoke, and that can't be healthy. Is it possible for the dudes inside to simply croack as they run out of breathable air?

Anyway the big question indeed is how to get Hamster back into GK once this is mess is all cleaned up. The mancers can go around in dwagons (at least the red ones will survive), but Hamster can't ride them and would have to walk all the way back home, not really viable in particular with Jillian and Charlie's highly mobile forces ready to spring a trap.

So I predict Hamster will finally embrace being a frontline warlord, forming a new army from the ashes of Jetstone's capital (both recruiting stuff and they can hold into the bodies untill Wanda can pay a visit), and then going out there and start conquering stuff again.

[effataigus]

Actually, I would say that the first half of the page tells us that Charlie didn't order portal closing and the second half shows that portal was closed. Perhaps, Slately did on with his own volition?

I think you're miss-reading this. The first half shows that Charlie made Slately wait to close the portal. The plan was to close the portal, but not until after Parson went through it. The second half shows that Slately closed the portal after Parson came through... which suggests to me that Charlie got off the other line where he was watching Parson go through the portal, called Slately, and gave him the OK to close the portal... all off camera (thank the Titans).

There're no deviations from the plan at all in this update that I see... just Rob making some issues of timing clear and Parson catching up with what the readers already know... and catching up very quickly and in entertaining fashion.

My compliments to Rob on his choice to have Parson be brought up to date so quickly. It both speaks to an aversion for exposition that the reader already knows and demonstrates yet again that Parson is a quick thinker.

Art in this one is also stupendous. I can almost hear the echoing of their footsteps in panel 1, and the expressions are perfect throughout.

[effataigus]

Art in this one is also stupendous. I can almost hear the echoing of their footsteps in panel 1, and the expressions are perfect throughout.

Also... is that confirmation that they butchered that poor Holly Shortcake doll at the top of panel 1?

[bladestorm]

Anyone else got a bad vibe about Jack?

His faces in those panels, seem odd. Also we've yet to get a glimpse back to the MK to see how things look on that side. To me this is looking increasingly like we're dealing with Imposter!Jack. That said not much else going on in this update, nothing unexpected certainly.

As for how will Parson get out, I feel it might involve Ace in some way. Easiest way to do it would be to fly above the flames, but but Parson is too big, perhaps there is some way for him to lose his "heavy" status.

Next update will probably be back in the MK for some resolution there. The question is: Who would that be if not Jack? Charlie could have supplied enough of that information from hacking the eyebooks. A simple foolamancy veil would work if there was another caster the same general shape and size as Jack. If it was another caster disguised as Jack, that would maintain the decree that Parson would take no GK casters with him.

Jojo: This could be the gaff that he was planning, changed on the fly by Charlie's 'request'.

Isaac: He could keep a very close eye on Parson to ensure that he does indeed return for his debriefing with tGMtTA.

Wanda: Possibly the best long-term strategic option, but it would violate the decree of no GK casters.

Sizemore: The best immediate strategic option to deal with the Inferno.

New caster: Some unnamed new caster that wants to side with GK?

Predictamancer: They all know this will be a changing point, so one of them could want to witness it first-hand. Or they have predicted that they would be there.

Charlie: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And what better place to launch an attack against your greatest foe than to disguise yourself as one of his most trusted allies and in a place where he doesn't have a lot of time to analyze the subtle nuances that would give away your disguise. Pull a dagger out of the cane, and back-stabbitty stabbing time.

Jack: It really is just Jack, and he is full of cunning, sneakiness, and awesome sauce, as well as a master of distraction.