Book 2 – Page 102

[Diodri]

sanjmerchant: I don't see a Red Dwagon breathing fire in that panel.

[bladestorm]

Sylvia dusting sank so many ships. Ace and Sylvia, Parson and Sylvia, Wanda and Sylvia, Jojo and Sylvia, Sylvia and the Pedobear, Sylvia and Banana, Sylvia croaking Jillian and making use of ThreeEdge's alternate abilities....

I think the two panels are the fourth panel and the last panel. The significance of them, and why the absolutely had to be redone, I haven't figured out yet.

[High Elf]

All I know is that this Archon must've been doing some precision cutting to avoid setting off this Green Dwagon: http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F069.jpg

There's no ignition source in that panel.

[shamelessmerc]

You also apparently don't care that she DID dust, as evidenced by the classic "PARCH" sound effect that her legs dissolved into.

I do care, which is why I took a REEEEEEAL long look at that frame before posting, and the only thing that is clear is the fact that nothing is clear.

And if nothing is clear, it is because it is intentionally unclear.

Rumors of her death are, at this time, unconfirmed. She was in the middle of an enormous army of uncroaked, and she has had a mount parch from underneath her before. I don't see any of what is in that frame as definative, not the fire, not the sound effect, not the laughter being cut off midway, not the distortion of the form. Rob and Xin have gone to some trouble to make it not clear - unlike a multitude of clear kills in the past.

[name lips]

You also apparently don't care that she DID dust, as evidenced by the classic "PARCH" sound effect that her legs dissolved into.

I do care, which is why I took a REEEEEEAL long look at that frame before posting, and the only thing that is clear is the fact that nothing is clear.

And if nothing is clear, it is because it is intentionally unclear.

Rumors of her death are, at this time, unconfirmed. She was in the middle of an enormous army of uncroaked, and she has had a mount parch from underneath her before. I don't see any of what is in that frame as definative, not the fire, not the sound effect, not the laughter being cut off midway, not the distortion of the form. Rob and Xin have gone to some trouble to make it not clear - unlike a multitude of clear kills in the past.

I think their intention was the exact opposite. They worried it wasn't clear, so re-did it to leave no room for interpretation otherwise.

[shamelessmerc]

Although... because I've been staring too hard at frame 6... it kind of looks a little like her feet are quite some distance from her body (the red blobs poking out from the white wisp of smoke?)

They aren't her feet of course; it's one of the other dead bodies littered around, but it was kindof a funny thought, a "Dude! Where's my legs?" moment during her triumph

[shamelessmerc]

I think their intention was the exact opposite. They worried it wasn't clear, so re-did it to leave no room for interpretation otherwise.

Interesting thought, but the re-draw didn't have anything to do with Sylvia:

...caught the error in pencils, but it was hard to spot. It's a point of architecture in Spacerock that turns out to be very important to the battle, and I never suspected it wasn't clear to her. Like I said, a miscommunication.

Now that I have seen the page, I presume what he is talking about there is the ramps and different levels inside the garrison space, but that is a wild guess on my part.

[name lips]

I was wondering where the King was. I thought he must have left the throne room before Parson arrived.

But you can see him and his escort in the last panel, waaaay in the back.

[bladestorm]

Hmm, the two panels that could have been redone are the last two. The Staff of Suckage isn't prevalent in any of the other panels. Parson could have dropped it when the explosion hit and then quickly picked it back up before.

Or the last panel and the third panel, since they have a reference point in common, namely the positioning of Clonely, Parson, the throne room, the portal room, and the direction of the explosion.

[sanjmerchant]

sanjmerchant: I don't see a Red Dwagon breathing fire in that panel.

True. But we still should probably at least be seeing some gas. Still possible she could be deliberately (or heck, just by Luckamancy) cutting around the gas storage/production organ. Assuming Erfwordly creatures even HAVE internal organs....

[badninja]

So Silvia finally dies, but did her final death have any purpose? Parson now must deal with the final regiment of Jetstone and why do I feel that he will be delayed in evacuating the city. This battle will end with neither side with a clear victory but I feel that Charlie has yet to play his final cards as he has been silent for far to long.

[derfy]

Or the last panel and the third panel, since they have a reference point in common, namely the positioning of Clonely, Parson, the throne room, the portal room, and the direction of the explosion.

This is correct, and for the reasons stated. They're in the Toolbox now.

[fjolnir]

it was not artistically relevant to show a gas explosion there however...

[Chadim]

Great art as always, and many thanks for another comic!

Hm, I am thinking about a few current events:

-> It seems confirmed now that Wanda is not here. How on Erf does that make any sense? The thinkamancers fear for a trap and Parsons life, and then decide not to allow the single most powerful asset to come with Parson because potatoe. The whole plot to bring her away from battle seems contrived:
Smart Jack takes her with him to the magic kingdom for no good reason, then she is prohibited to return for no good reason, and when the thinkamancers anounce that she may not return, no one complains for no good reason.
So fate needed to separate Wanda and Parson without killing either of them?

-> I agree that the dwagon-explosion seems kinda off: Hej, I got this super-powerful dwagons, that unfortunately have a built-in friendly-fire explosion bomb, because one other unit managed to attack one of them. At some point in time it would be nice to see dwagons to be actually useful.

-> Cutting short the laughter and showing Sylvia burning beforehand pretty much seems to confirm her dead - why? Just after establishing her special status? This death seems very very senseless. If we reason that fate kept sylvia alive just to get the city to inferno, fine, but why then the reveal with her special luck?

-> So Parson is now stranded with an (empty?) foolamancer in a burning city, without any reinforcements in sight, and Charlies hidden cards yet to be revealed. It seems fate has played many cards to get him isolated. It seems difficult to conceive of any continuation of the story that does not end with him dead or another deus-ex-machina twist. Perhaps he needs to turn to shake of the limitations of the spell. Can he turn, or would that mean his dismissal?

[multilis]

Silvia... Is not sure end imo *yet*, one way to interpret it is Silvia "won" by being incapacitated but still alive... Parch can mean "To burn the surface of, to scorch", and there are many ways to be incapacitated. If so miss crazy could still come back with a healing scroll or a unit with healing special.

Parson being very short of units may need to bring her back. Especially if Parson finds a way to get portal to magic kingdom back, then he may end up having means to bring her back.

On a side note, if a decrypted unit can turn, and Parson figures out how to sell decrypted units to other sides as diplomacy trade, and he figures out how crazy Silvia is, he might be wise to trade her to another side... he may gain something in the trade *and* help destroy that side by trading them the crazy warlord.

[teratorn]

sanjmerchant: I don't see a Red Dwagon breathing fire in that panel.

But with a remaining warlord Parson could have wiped the entire hex just by ordering her to gut all greens and ignite them. Even the siege thing wasn't needed, just send all the warlords and green dwagons into the hex where Ansom and all the coalition leaders are, gut them and ignite them. Problem solved.

I have nothing against the exploit, but the scale of the explosion is a bit excessive.

[nargbop]

Spacerock is getting to be a lonely place : Sylvia and all units in the courtyard down from the explosion and ensuing fire; most Gobwin Knob flyers down (one Archon who pretended to be a stovepipe last year); and all of the other Jetstone units gone with Trammenis.

That leaves Clonely's group, one battlebear and maybe Ace, and Parson's group, all inside the garrison.
A ) Clonely has ranged attacks which is strong enough to one-shot Archons. The battlebear is strong and possibly carries Ace's bonus. Finally, there's a small number of soldiers with Clonely, but they get no bonuses.
B ) Parson has melee attacks, and at least one shielding item. Jack is empty but he does have combat stats, despite misgivings and lack of armament (see Book 1 where Parson places a Thinkagram to him). Parson also has a small number of soldiers and Duke Antium, and both grant leadership to all stacked units. If the Archon is still alive, she can't attack ground units.

As far as I can remember, that's the entire cast left in Spacerock. Oh, and one doombat.

Things are not looking good for Parson. Potential twists : Wanda returns, Duke Antium turns, the rest of Charlie's Archons show up, Jojo has a Carnymancy (or Weirdomancy) backlash.

[multilis]

"wanda returns"
- no portal right now.

a) Stanley moves capital
b) Start new side

- any other options?


...

Have we seen the final Jeftichew trick? "When everyone is heading for the exit" If not may also be a surprise.

[Dystopianman]

Looks like JoJo's investment paid off. At the cost of I don't know how many luckamancy payments, Sylvia has put Parson in a situation just as dangerous as the BoGK -- Post-Ansom phase. Looks like buying insurance may not be a bad idea after all....

...Is what I would say if this were an Erfworld popped and bred unit.

But this is mothaboopin Parson Gotti.

Lateral Thinking ftw!!

Lateral Thinking > Rigging the Game because it allows you to out rig the rigger.

[the_tick_rules]

Farewell red, you and destiny had a wild ride.