Erfworld 156 - tBfGK 143

[Midnight Roamer]

I'm more interested in the fact that Ansom's body didn't disappear overnight, like Sizemore said corpses do if not healed.

This makes me think that perhaps there are more Coalition forces left to uncroak laying around.

[glissle]

I'm more interested in the fact that Ansom's body didn't disappear overnight, like Sizemore said corpses do if not healed.

Actually, the klog said "corpses which aren't uncroaked or moved just disappear at the start of the next turn". (Emphasis added.)

So, GK may get a turn before Jetstone's turn returns and thus be able to uncroak it that way, but I'm also wondering if the RCC unwittingly enabled this uncroaking by doing some ceremony with the body. They might even have buried it, protecting it from burning up.

[MuLepton]

Or is this all an incorrect way of thinking and Stanley was right about good and evil being propaganda in Erf.

I hope that's the case. It would keep the story far more interesting.

[Mars]

If Wanda (Giant) does uncroak Ansom and attacks Jillian, I hope he doesn't do a Duncan Idaho (Dune Messiah).

Because I will croak if he does.

[Yodimus]

Awwwww sheeeet! Wanda's about to do some genre deconstruction up in here!

[EDIT] Mars – will it be a little death? ;p

[Jeivar]

Oh, this is absolutely gorgeous. As ever, Wanda is chilling and and calculating. And I thought of another disturbing implication: a major part of Parson's presence is that the casters of the Magic Kingdom wanted him there. The 'summon perfect warlord' spell was in reality a plot or even trap to lure some King or Overlord into starting the War to end all Wars. It did not work out that way in our world, not precisely... but perhaps that is what the Grand Abbie and her allies have in mind.

Now THAT is an interesting theory. The more I consider the Grand Abby's words, the more it makes sense.

And add me to the list of people creeped out by this latest update. Wanda is always so calm, so thoughtful and insidious . . . and now she has what she wanted and has no reason to mask herself anymore, and we see her true face. Scary.
And it does indeed seem like Wanda was responsible for the fall of FAQ, which then makes for the almost ultimate reason why she and Jilllian will never patch things up. The ULTIMATE reason would be what she's about to do to Ansom. Whatever love Jillian might still feel for 'Mistress' will turn into seething hate, and I have a feeling we'll see a conflict between a restored FAQ and Wanda.

But . . . I've just come up with a theory of my own: Jillian somehow featured in the prophecy. That's why Wanda didn't want her to die in the dragon donut and why Jillian didn't die in the air-defense boom boom, even though by now I'm pretty convinced Wanda doesn't have any genuine feelings for the barbarian.

What do you guys think? Does Jillian somehow have a role in changing Erf forever?

[Arkaim]

Did Wanda have a hand in the fall of Faq? At this point, I'd be surprised if she didn't. Listen carefully to what she said.

"Oh, for these I have wrecked and ruined more than you have."

Now, how many people could she have "wrecked" and "ruined" under Stanley's service? From her tone, it sounds like she did more than kill a huge amount of people. It would not be a stretch to imagine that the people of Faq were a sizable portion of those whom she has "wrecked" and "ruined".

Edit: Ansom looks so peaceful.

[Lombard]

Haha so I wonder if this means Ansom still has a chance of coming back after all! There's got to be some sort of powerful something or other that will turn him from uncroaked to alive... right?

[Devoured_Dude]

From a printer's perspective, 144 pages is a good number for binding. And since we're on 143 in the strip, either this comic or the next would be an ideal place for the chapter to end.

[raphfrk]

my guess is that she is going to uncroak him into the most powerful uncroaked warlord she can. It follows that whole thing of "now you fight for the side you fought so hard against, all the while watching me wield the pliers you could never truly use".

I wonder if the pliers will allow her to raise people (i.e. restore life), rather than just uncroak them. Otherwise, he would just be a mindless shell.

Alternatively, maybe she can uncroak without the taget being a zombie. Effectively, Ansom would be reborn, but with no memory.

I found this page - especially Wanda's dialogue - weirdly disturbing. For me, this is suggesting Parson's arrival just might change Erfworld for the worse, not better.

"[This world] wished for you" sounds like his arrival is to improve things (or I guess, at least shake things up).

Okay, that answers a few questions. I had wondered how a zip like Stanley could have acquired Wanda's loyalty. Now I see he didn't - she had prophetic knowledge that she would be the Arkenplier's wielder, and she used Stanley as a (ahem) tool. Will she stay with Stanley, or does she have another agenda?

Also, if Wanda is effectively a barbarian, then maybe Parson is loyal to her rather than Stanley (since she cast the spell). When she summoned him, she told him that he had to obey Stanley's orders, maybe that was an order.

[Avilan the Grey]

So... mmmmmmmmmmmm... Oh sorry starting to pay attention to speech bubbles now...

This is basically as expected. I think people disturbed by this page has managed to block out exactly what a GrimDark world Erfworld really is (and this includes Parson, but then remembering a show on Discovery where two modern day generals used RoTW to simulate a number of historical battles were visibly shaken at the number of necessary losses to win a battle, even though it was just 3D renderings on a screen.)

Wanda is a Croakamancher Necromancer, really, and a Battlemage at that. She is not a nice person, but she is not a pit of bottomless evil. I think all sides are very well written, I still have far more sympathies for Wanda than for Ansom or Jill.

[ericgrau]

Well, it's confirmed, Ansom's dead. He has the X's in his eyes.

I forget, is Maggie or Sizemore a FAQ caster? If so, that'd prolly nix the Wanda betraying FAQ theory. Unless Maggie is the FAQ caster and she's in on it. Sizemore seems to have more of a conscience. Or if they aren't, it may bolster the theory.

[Mars]

Awwwww sheeeet! Wanda's about to do some genre deconstruction up in here!

[EDIT] Mars – will it be a little death? ;p

Heh, I don't know if you have read the books before, but lets just say it involved un-undead.

[Crod]

It's dawn so Gobwin Knob's turn must have started for Wanda to uncroak Ansom. I bet Stanley will be there shortly as well.

I guess the few surviving golems and uncroaked was all it took for Gobwin Knob to not completely fall. Thus, their side are yet not barbarians.

[Altima]

I loooooove this strip!

As for the pliars, I'm going to assume their super unit isn't a unit at all, but that it simply renders all uncroaked unable to decompose. And we do know that uncroaked have little to know cost, so a truly massive army could be raised (also allowing Parson to have expendable fodder).

It was said Faq had three casters. I still don't buy it that Wanda is a predictamancer. She may have an affinity for other magicks, but it's clearly shown that she's nowhere the level of a 'normal' caster in their own field, much less a masterclass level. The ability to sense practically any attack on an entire nation with warning enough to use Jack strikes me as the sort of ability a master class predictamancer would have.

Now I'm starting to think that Faq's predictamancer was the chess master. Jack and Wanda clearly heart Jillian, and Faq's king wasn't that pleased with her. I imagine it would only take a few little tales from the fortune teller to stretch that loyalty to its breaking point...

As for why Faq would have a necromancer, well, it was said that--apart from Jillian--their forces were a joke. Maybe they kept Wanda around so that she could uncroak a massive army in case their Foolamancer/Predictamancer duo failed them. It would also explain how Faq got wiped out so quickly if Wanda turned on them...

[Sotharsyl]

A excelent comic with lots to think about but I couldn't stop to notice that Ansom's corpse is geting real life proportions like the people who were in Parsons presence for a long time the forum was speculating about it a while back.
Plus I can't way to see what dark knight will Ansom's armor pay homage to.

[SteveD]

From a printer's perspective, 144 pages is a good number for binding. And since we're on 143 in the strip, either this comic or the next would be an ideal place for the chapter to end.

I think the writers said they'd be adding extra scenes or strips to the comic to fill out certain bits like the battles, so I guess it will go over 144 pages anyway.

But the story does feel as if its coming to a close now. The Battle for Gobwin Knob is over. The last big question left to answer is what will happen with Stanley's return.

Also, does it stand to reason that Jack was also being manipulated by the predictimancer? Perhaps the reason for his loyalty to Stanley is for exactly that reason; he was told that to achieve some certain end he'd have to keep the Tool alive.

[hajo]

Minors prediction: Stanley's mission he went on when the gobwin's croack Saline was the fall of FAQ.

Unlikely - if that mission had involved conquering a city, Sizemore would have told about it.

[Bookkeeper@Arms]

I just looked back in the archives. In the beginning (single-digit pages), Erfworlders had HUGE heads, with shoulder-span and head-width matching. They looked like anime chibis or computer sprites. Now (150-or-so pages later), the Erfworlders' head/body proportions are almost human-normal. Now they could almost pass for short-yet-properly-proportioned Earth-people.

This is just probably due to the artist's style evolving. There's likely no deeper meaning.

OR IS IT?! (cue creepy music sting)

This could be because Parson's viewpoint is evolving. He was ready to dismiss the entire Erfworld as a fantasy right off. The first character I noticed that didn't have the chibi/sprite head-thing was Misty, the first Erfworlder that Parson saw die. Now it's almost all of them. Could it be that as Parson accepts Erfworld as real, the inhabitants look more real to him?

This drivel has been brought to you by ConspiracyTheory Inc. We now return you to your forum.

[BLANDCorporatio]

So, even in death, Ansom's plot armor is invincible!

Incidentally, about corpses- note how there are many charred and buried arms on the stairs that Wanda climbs. Look for them. It may take a while to spot them, but they are there.

So, yeah, there's a possibility that Wanda will uncroak a little more troops, with Ansom as their leader. Talk about irony*. And to add more irony, those troops will fight Stanley ... again.

I for one am rooting for Stanley. He's an ineffective villain.

EDIT:

*: I am aware that the word irony used to mean something rather different. But ever since Alanis Morissette it is used to mean rain on your wedding day etc. So there.

[VariaVespasa]

Well Ansoms corpse is still around and he's about to be uncroaked in whatever special fashion the pliers can do. So maybe the fans WILL see Scarlett again too... :P After all, 2 warlords are better than 1...

The only question is whether the pliers make the undead permanent, or theyre still temporary but more powerful in some fashion, for example the way that 3.5 D+D makes an undead version of a person more powerful that the original (except for that whole pesky turning thing) by just addiing a template to the originals character sheet.

I guess the few surviving golems and uncroaked was all it took for Gobwin Knob to not completely fall. Thus, their side are yet not barbarians.

Why do people keep saying that? Its an absolutely normal mechanic in EVERY wargame I know of that all is needed for a city to not fall to the enemy is for the original owner to have been the last one to have units (capable of holding a city) in it. The city can be completely empty of troops the entire game and still be your city, until and unless the enemy physically occupies it. GK did not fall NOT because they had units left in it, per se; it didnt fall because the enemy never had control of it (sometimes defined as a lack of defending units, sometimes defined as a certain ratio of attackers to defenders, depending on the game system). If the last enemy unit and the last defending unit had killed each other simultaneously leaving the city vacant of both attacker and defender then the defender would retain full ownership and control.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Well Ansoms corpse is still around and he's about to be uncroaked in whatever special fashion the pliers can do. So maybe the fans WILL see Scarlett again too... :P After all, 2 warlords are better than 1...

Yep, I am slightly hoping for that, sadly.

I say sadly because truth be told, until I see what the Pliers can do, zombie-Scarlett doesn't look so good as Phoenix-Scarlett reborn from the ashes. The former would have even less character development than before.

For crying out loud, she wasn't even wearing a name badge on that red shirt!

[Dhavaer]

Perhaps Wanda, instead of planning of taunting Jillian with Uncroaked Ansom, is planning on using him as a drawcard? She knows Jillian loves her, and loved Ansom, so surely she couldn't resist having both of them instead of having to choose, right? Jillian won't see it that way, of course, but Wanda might be the type to think that way.

[Avilan the Grey]

OR IS IT?! (cue creepy music sting)

This could be because Parson's viewpoint is evolving. He was ready to dismiss the entire Erfworld as a fantasy right off. The first character I noticed that didn't have the chibi/sprite head-thing was Misty, the first Erfworlder that Parson saw die. Now it's almost all of them. Could it be that as Parson accepts Erfworld as real, the inhabitants look more real to him?

This drivel has been brought to you by ConspiracyTheory Inc. We now return you to your forum.

Actually I thought the exact same thing. The change in style seems so deliberate that it mush have some meaning; I too guessed that it is because he gets more and more involved in the world, and maybe also because the world is more and more affected by him.

[teratorn]

I forget, is Maggie or Sizemore a FAQ caster?

Sizemore is from the Plaid tribe, so he was popped in Stanley's side. We don't know Jillian's tribe, we do know Wanda's a Croatan. She may be from Faq, or she could have been hired by Banhammer in the magic kingdom after her side was destroyed.

Who knows, she might have conviced the Croatans to go into war against Jetstone to get the pliers and everyone except for her got killed. There seems to be a backstory between her and Ansom. He took something from her and I'm not sure she was talking about Jillian.

Oh, and it doesn't surprise me she knew where to dig for Ansom so easily, she probably can feel all the dead units in that particular hex (samething for the pliers). Why isn't he charred? Well, he fell near the tower, and when that collapsed it covered him.

I still hope to see Bogroll regenerating when GK's turn starts.

[factotum]

"Oh, for these I have wrecked and ruined more than you have."

Now, how many people could she have "wrecked" and "ruined" under Stanley's service?

Considering Stanley used to have, what, eleven cities, and had been reduced to only one by the time they called Parson in, a heck of a lot! For all we know Wanda has been secretly working against Stanley in order to manoeuvre everyone into a situation where Ansom (with the Arkenpliers) would be assaulting Gobwin Knob directly...

[Oslecamo]

Perhaps Wanda, instead of planning of taunting Jillian with Uncroaked Ansom, is planning on using him as a drawcard? She knows Jillian loves her, and loved Ansom, so surely she couldn't resist having both of them instead of having to choose, right? Jillian won't see it that way, of course, but Wanda might be the type to think that way.

Perhaps it's all of those reasons at the same time and more. Considering that a uncroacked's power is directly proportional to the power of the unit from wich it was created, Ansom is definetely the guy to uncroack this turn as he was the most powerfull member of the coalition. Not the smartest, but hey, zombies don't need brains anyway, right? Wanda's killing 3 birds with one stone!

1-Ansom was a very strong warlord with a fat leadership bonus. And Hamster's out of warlords. Zomby Ansom will provide them with a powerfull frontline leader whitout needing to train a new warlord from scratch.

2-Mind screw the other factions. The moral blow of seeing one of their mightiest heros now ride to battle against them will certainly breack many wills. Wanda will be sending a clear message of "Try to stand on our path, and this is what happens to you!"

3-Mind screw Jillian. Will she be able to attack her former lover? Perhaps Wanda convinces her that she can bring Ansom back to life, but only if Jillian becomes her doll again and performs a series of deeds.

factotum:Hmm that's an interesting theory. But I think Wanda didn't pull all the strings. She very probably gave Stanley his power delusions so he would go to war with all those factions and make Ansom come to get him, but I doubt she was planning to lose ten cities and be in a 25 to 1 numerical disadvantage. She almost bited more that she could chew.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I still hope to see Bogroll regenerating when GK's turn starts.

Which is actually quite likely. Many people have commented that "Regeneration" looks like a "Chekhov's gun".

Then again, supposedly this comic was dark and edgy, so there'll probably be a limit to the resurrections- say, just one, Ansom, for maximum fan annoyance (What was that wrong with the guy anyway to get all the hate?)

[Avilan the Grey]

(weird double post, sorry)

[Crod]

The only question is whether the pliers make the undead permanent, or theyre still temporary but more powerful in some fashion, for example the way that 3.5 D+D makes an undead version of a person more powerful that the original (except for that whole pesky turning thing) by just addiing a template to the originals character sheet.

Ohh.. I wonder what would pop. Do I smell a Death Knight? Or Croak Knight might be more correct. Probably stretching it, but we can always cross our fingers.

Why do people keep saying that? Its an absolutely normal mechanic in EVERY wargame I know of that all is needed for a city to not fall to the enemy is for the original owner to have been the last one to have units (capable of holding a city) in it. The city can be completely empty of troops the entire game and still be your city, until and unless the enemy physically occupies it. GK did not fall NOT because they had units left in it, per se; it didnt fall because the enemy never had control of it (sometimes defined as a lack of defending units, sometimes defined as a certain ratio of attackers to defenders, depending on the game system). If the last enemy unit and the last defending unit had killed each other simultaneously leaving the city vacant of both attacker and defender then the defender would retain full ownership and control.

I stand corrected.