Erfworld 145 The Battle for Gobwin Knob, Page 132

[BillyJimBoBob]

"Smart Ansom" would be just as dead after Sizemore came up from under the ground and 4chaned him after Bogroll's surprise attack. And in either case, collapsing the city would have finished Ansom off even if Bogroll failed.

Nope. Flying units can not be attacked by ground units without magic or archery. Ansom was safe from Sizemore (we haven't seen Sizemore throwing bolts of power around, yet) and his golems. And Smart Ansom would not be harmed by the collapse of the tunnels for the same reason.

I agree when TB4GK ends, we're probably going to see erfworld: book 2 quest for the arkentools or something equally as inspiring for the title (unless parson goes home with a job well done)

I wouldn't mind seeing a little hopping back and forth, Thomas Covenant style.

Bogroll is a garrison unit, effectively a defensive structure from a mechanical standpoint. It's not so odd for those to be unusually strong even when their level is low or whatever. (Which they pay for, of course, by not being able to move.) Bogroll's sole purpose, basically, is to be able to beat up on dangerous things and take their hits at the same time.

Meanwhile, while Ansom was tough, we haven't seen any indication that he was amazingly strong in personal combat -- he was a leader and a warlord, not a heavy unit himself, so at least some of his bonuses from leveling up are going to go more into making his stack stronger rather than, say, being able to beat up Twolls singlehandedly. It was a match-up that favored Bogroll in some ways, even with his lower level.

Ansom's unit strength is unknown, it's true. But if there was any foreshadowing done by the authors, then he is at least a 9 without the Arcenpliers. Vinny asked Ansom if he was going to go croak Jillian with his bare hands, and Jillian is a 9. Bare hands would mean without the Arcenpliers. I'm not saying that this chat between friends has to have been a means to try to define Ansom's unit strength, but it could have been.

Thing is, you're forgetting when Charlie joined the RCC. When Charlie hadn't joined the RCC, Parson had better than even odds of winning. Once Charlie joined, that was that.

Close. Without Charlie joining the RCC then GK had a 3:2 chance of surviving the turn, not winning. Huge difference.

Do you really need to see [Ansom] splatter? Meanwhile Bogroll is being burned. Do you really need to see his suffering?

Agreed. In the same way that we didn't need to see the kids legs broken or the mate being pinned to the tree in the latest OotS.

All they would have needed to do was get Ansom of his flying carpet, and he would have croaked with everyone else.

The mice were being harassed by the cat. They held a meeting to see what to do about it. One mouse suggested that if they put a bell around the cat's neck, it would warn the mice when the cat was approaching. All the mice thought that this was a wonderful idea. But....who will bell the cat?

Vinny is still alive and so is Jillian. And Jillian is going to br very pissed off and may take command of the RCC through force of will.

I don't think so. Jillian commands her small troop, but has expressed a dislike for being an heir, a dislike for royalty, and a dislike for the heavy responsibilities of leadership in general. She is happy being a mercenary warlord, and I don't see her rallying the remnants of the RCC under her.

Your second point, that Parson was reluctant to sacrifice Bogroll, is a good one. At the same time, there's no reason why this plan needed Bogroll specifically to work: Parson could have picked any burly unit to be veiled. Bogroll was not portrayed as particularly strong or smart (definitely not smart). Nor have I seen evidence that any of the other Twolls or KISS would have refused a suicidal order (given that it had an obviously beneficial goal), so I don't think loyalty was the issue. Would Parson really hesitate to sacrifice someone less close to him to eliminate Ansom? I'm not sure. But it is at least a valid argument.

Some magic systems use or at least pay homage to the rules of sympathetic magic. Like with like makes for a stronger magic. Bogroll was essentially Parson's twin brother in twoll form, if Erf magic pays any homage to the principals of sympathy then Bogroll was the candidate who could be given the strongest veil of looking like Parson.