Erfworld 152 - tBfGK - 139

[The Giant]

New Erfworld is up.

[Justyn]

Yeah, Vinny is definitely my favorite character.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Ha, I knew I was staying up for some reason!

I'd not have thought Vinnie was a teary kind of guy, but there you go - he's a sensitive man.

Hmm... we must be getting near the end of Book 1. This would be a nice page to end on, but I feel like we're due a Charlie Scene... perhaps with some nice Ominous Foreshadowing (tm)

EDIT:
And Caeser with some nice badass dialogue in Panel 1... though I've always been more partial to "jaunty" rather than "peppy"

[tomaO2]

Man, the updates are coming hot and heavy. I can't recall the last time weve gotten this many in such a short time. Is this going to continue until the end of the chapter? Maybe the updates have sped up because we are on the home stretch?

Sad moment. It does look like it's night right now but I don't get how that works then. They clearly said no magic outside your turn unless you are under attack.

Also, confirmation that the vamps drink blood. I wonder what kind (if any) bonuses they get for doing so. Obviously, they don't NEED to drink because their food pops just like everyone elses does. Maybe it makes new vamp units out of the victims?

I wonder what the next move is. I see three choices.

1. Take over Jillian's cities.

2. Go straight to GK.

3. Look for Stanley.

They can't conquer both GK and FAQ at the same time because only an overlord or Chief Warlord can do so. If they leave FAQ though, Stanley can double back on them and take FAQ for himself. On the other hand, if they go directly to GK, they may be able to claim the city because it was destroyed.

I think option one is the prudent choice. Send a few bats to scout out GK but that's it. They have no way of knowing how damaged GK is or if there are any enemy units left. What they DO know is that there are FAQ cities that are still ripe for the picking. So they should get that.

Option two seems a non starter as they don't seem to think they can find Stanley while he's veiled.

Also, cool swords, reminds me of Parson's blade. Why the heck didn't they use them when fighting Stanley? Maybe Vampire Mario would still be alive today.

I miss Vamp Mario.

Not Ansom though.

[chefsotero]

Nicelly Done

But I wouldn't mind to see Ceasar drinking some vitae. And an Undead Jillian meating Lady Wanda would be fun. (well assuming TV embraces their units)

[Justyn]

Man, the updates are coming hot and heavy.

Sad moment. It does look like it's night right now but I don't get how that works then. They clearly said no magic outside your turn unless you are under attack.

Thinkagrams might be the exception to the rule. Or it just might be magic used for offensive purposes that can only be used on your turn.

[Ascension]

Vinny x Vampire!Jillian OTP?

I kid, I kid. Sweet scene, though.

[Lamech]

Perhaps the thinkamancer's have some sort of perma-spell between them? Anyway *sadface*.

[BarGamer]

GO VINNY! Great update here.

I mean, I wouldn't object to the two of them hooking up on the mutual rebound, except for the possibility that Vinny's teary red eyes might wake up with a fork in them, just because.

[MuthSera]

I cried when I saw vinny cry.
D:

[Oracle_Hunter]

Thinkamancy has to work on other people's turn, or the Eyemancer Table wouldn't function at all.

[Glome]

Ha, I knew I was staying up for some reason!

I'd not have thought Vinnie was a teary kind of guy, but there you go - he's a sensitive man.

Hmm... we must be getting near the end of Book 1. This would be a nice page to end on, but I feel like we're due a Charlie Scene... perhaps with some nice Ominous Foreshadowing (tm)

EDIT:
And Caeser with some nice badass dialogue in Panel 1... though I've always been more partial to "jaunty" rather than "peppy"

You mean like was used here?
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0132.html

And we already know what happened to Charlie, he got pwned. I'd much rather know what happens to Stanley, and the fate of Parson and the trimancers.

[Triforceelf]

Wow, the series is doing great! I really like the direction you have taken it, especially with fleshing out the charecters.

[Lunaya]

...Why, in the name of everything holy, did it take me so long to start reading Erfworld?

I want to give Vinny a hug.

[Dacia Brabant]

Yeah, Vinny is definitely my favorite character.

+1.

Even if a lot of the good stuff that came out of the Jillian/Transylvito vs. Stanley segments have kind of been undermined by the way things were resolved at Gobwin Knob, Vinny is still the man.

[slurpz]

Panel 10 was surprisingly emotional. Well done.

[TamLin]

Well I guess that finally resolves the issue of whether Transylvitans are actually vampires. And thank God Vinny is back in the comic again. Funny, way back when I assumed that Vinny would be the one dying in battle to protect Ansom's back. Of course, not a one of my predictions ever panned out (except Bogroll dying, but freaking Odin could have seen that one coming with one eye closed).

[tomaO2]

Thinkagrams might be the exception to the rule. Or it just might be magic used for offensive purposes that can only be used on your turn.

Maybe, it's hard to know.Thinkmancy has been used all over the place but it seems to follow the rule or did, until this update. No thinkagrams were sent unless they were under attack or it was their turn (remember, having your city being attacked counts even if you are not personally attacked). The only exception was talking on the Eyebook system but that seems to have been some sort of persistant effect thing. Thus, the exception to the rule.

Thinkamancy has to work on other people's turn, or the Eyemancer Table wouldn't function at all.

Not so. The author clearly stated that persistent effects continue even when it's not your turn. Examples would be flying and the contract was allowed to be created for Ansom to sign. I see a gigantic, holographic board to be the same thing. It's just there and it stays until the mancers shut down.

[Marller]

Oh yeah Caesar is Chief Warlord, not Chief Counselor.
Good to see that Jillian is not the only one bad at dealing with situations.

[Timberboar]

Bah, there you go humanizing the walking sacks of XP again.

/kicks a rock

Edit: Good strip, but I think I'm more interested in the Tool's reaction when he hears about all this.

Then again, I _am_ a heartless monster.

[sabremeister]

Thinkamancy working/not working out of turn. Who says the turn has ended for the RCC? It's nightfall, not necessarily night, and not necessarily end of turn.

[ClamLeague9000]

Welp, looks like Vinny and Jillian are going to have sad grief sex.

[Occasional Sage]

Also, confirmation that the vamps drink blood. I wonder what kind (if any) bonuses they get for doing so. Obviously, they don't NEED to drink because their food pops just like everyone elses does. Maybe it makes new vamp units out of the victims?

Not even going think about it being used as an ominous turn of phrase? There's nothing other than logic (not always the best way to anticipate Rob and Jamie!) to mark that as a literal threat.

[Kholdstare]

Well I'm not gonna go the way of discussing game mechanics but more about the strip.

This is a rare moment that really makes you suspend belief on who is good or who is bad. Everyone is connected to someone and it is all about perspective. Ansom was a bit of a bastard but I sympathized for the guy and liked him in an odd sort of way. If he was introduced first then he would be the hero but a strange one. A white knight but not really one at the same time.

tl;dr this strip makes me appreciate the story-telling on this comic to new levels.

[Kreistor]

A few questions answered.

First, it is now clear that Caesar blocked the attack, not Vinnie.

Second, Caesar is an inconsiderate bastard. He expects a highly volatile, extremely emotional person to bottle it all up, just because he's got overwhelming firepower. It's not possible, and yet he pushes her buttons anyway, aggravating the situation.

Third, Jillian actually believed him.

The second nails a couple of my theories about Caesar's intentions. I'll back those that think he was going to kill Jillian later, now. Extremely possible. Won't say it's the most likely possibility, but distinctly possible and perhaps a very close second if not first. Now that Ansom is gone, and the Jetstone military no longer in the vicinity, there's no one else to challenge Transylvito for Faq. With or without Jillian, Transylvito is up three cities, assuming Jillian wasn't lying about them. She's expendable, and with no Ansom to please, she's dinner.

That Jillian actually believed him, and attacked overrwhhelming strength regardless, backs a suicide attempt. The defenseless back-blade grip, covert attack, and angered grief all put this attack in the, "Send me to Ansom" school of thought.

I suspect we're done with Jillian now. There's no real story for her now, until she rejoins with Wanda, Jack, or Stanley. And like Vinnie said, she can look for Jack in the Magic Kingdom (well, she can get a caster to do it for her) ina few turns when Stanley runs out of upkeep for him. She won't assume Wanda is alive. And she won't find Stanley because of Jack. There's just nothing more to do tonight. She knows all she needs to, and she's grieving and going to live. Caesar might change his mind and let her go, in which case we might see her heading to GK to check the damage, but I don't know about that. She blew her purse recently. She doesn't have much to upkeep, but she doesn't have a war to work for. She's going to have to find cash, and so she'll have to continue working for Transylvito for the moment. She's still in alliance with them, and Caesar didn't break that himself. She just might not be able to afford to fly to GK unemployed. I'm thinking that showing us the volcano is someone else's epilogue...

Stanley and Jack. I'll bet they're up next, and we'll get to see the smoldering volcano. I can't imagine Stanley not wanting to see something as damaging and destructive as that. He'll know GK was destroyed, if he's a barbarian due to his capital falling, and he's further east than the TV's, so has a better chance of seeing the smoke in the AM. He had enough cash to start a new city on an old one, and he lost a bunch of units, so he may have a lot more for getting a city started than others may think. We do need a follow-up on Stanley, he's been out of it for longer than any other major character, so he should be next.

The trio are in the Magic Kingdom. What can they tell us, except to establish which of them lives, dies, or goes mad? Do they go barbarian and unemployed, since upkeep for them came from the defunct GK, or will Stanley know they are alive because he has to pay their upkeep since they were still on his side? That would force disbanding, or some method of getting them to him... requiring a portal.

Some people are expecting a Charlie shot. Charlie is, like Charlie from Charlie's Angels, ephemeral. (There's a reason that first image of the archons is straight out of that old show. We haven't seen Charlie's face yet.) I doubt we'll ever see Charlie. We might see his text of what Archons hear of him sending orders, just to establish some things, like that he's searching for Parson, shifting Archons to other conflicts, or whatever, but I doubt we'll see the Charlie. He'll be like V's gender: something to keep us guessing. One establishment comic. That's all I bet we'll see.

And that leaves Parson. So many options. Here's the opportunity for him to "become" Charlie by moving backward through time. Or he jumps to Stanley's future when he's prepared to move on the world again (letting us skip the boring rebuilding stage). Or he lands in the Magic Kingdom. Or he goes home to be summoned later... or some other Earthling gets summoned later. He may jump into a completely different game. So many options. He will be last. Or first in the new book.

[jmsl]

So it was Caesar's hand that caught her arm. Although his grip appears different.

And +++++Vinny for his all too human reaction! I want to hug him now too.
It's good to see someone grieving from one of the thousands of deaths that have taken place.

[Fez]

I'm just shocked how quick these are coming now. I'm getting spoiled. Spoil me some more. :)

And yeah, Vinnie was basically there helping his friend Ansom. When you consider the token force TV sent, Vinnie and a few bats, it must have just been a personal favor.

Nice characterization page overall. It does also confirm that the TV forces are pretty confident at this point. They didn't send much to the RCC. They didn't lose much to Stanley. They have some undefended cities they are ready to capture. Ala gaming, they are in the next position to be called 'scourge'.

[Natio]

Does anyone else find Caesar's behaviour to be rather rude and arrogant?

He certainly reminds me of Spike from Buffy, cept less amusing.

Edit: Funny how many posts are made in the 5-10 seconds it took to post this.

[ClamLeague9000]

Does anyone else find Caesar's behaviour to be rather rude and arrogant?

Not really. All he did was relay some news on a conflict essentially foreign to himself, and she suddenly attacks him for seemingly no reason. It's not like he's familiar with her personal history. She should be appreciative that he and the other TV warlords didn't strike her down right away and that Ceaser was forgiving enough to let it go so easilly. Hell, a dismissive responce had to be way more than Vinny was really hoping for. Attempting to assassinate someone isn't exactly good etiquette.

[Kreistor]

Does anyone else find Caesar's behaviour to be rather rude and arrogant?

Clearly. Guess Ansom and Stanley aren't the only Rulers or Chief Warlords with that trait.

He certainly reminds me of Spike from Buffy, cept less amusing.

And competent. He actually stops the blonde vampire slayer, and we know Jillian is no slouch.

Edit: Funny how many posts are made in the 5-10 seconds it took to post this.

Server's are wonky. People get queued up wwaiting for the server to accept their post transmission, and wham, a bunch hit simultaneously.