Erfworld 157 - tBfGK 144

[Nenec]

Am I the only one that thinks that what Wanda now has is an uber unit (and possibly his dwagon mount) capable of defeating Stanley and effectively running Gobwin Knob in her name?

I know the Tool doesn't have an heir, and if he does it isn't any of the three shown there. But maybe this resurrected, but controlled Prince is just the kind of thing she needs to bend the rules.

I may be off here, but surely the return of Stanley will lead to confrontation with Wanda and this new Ansom?

You're not the only one, I think that as well! And I really hope it.

[dr pepper]

I find Wanda's smile disturbing. Make it stop. Cool motif on the last panel, the turnips are now skulls. Hmmmm, no Hamstar markings...

As always-- awsome attention to detail.

Past my bedtime. DevilDan, i'll make you an avatar in the morning.

[The Old Hack]

So, things are drawing to a close. This has been well worth the read for me. Gorgeous climax, elegant coda. Also, I don't think I have seen anything quite as terrifying as Wanda's smile in the next to last panel for a while. Wanda... is not getting any less scary.

[Oslecamo]

You're not the only one, I think that as well! And I really hope it.

I seriously doubt Wanda will betray Stanley. Because:

1-Stanley is still needed to produce and control moar dwagons.
2-Wanda's really not in the position to sacrifice allies.
3-Wanda still doesn't know how strong his UncroAnsom is, but she knows Stnaley's a veteran warrior.
4-Stanley has a lot more experience using his artifact than Wanda.
5-Staley probably will be even easier to manipulate after all these events.
6-Hamster's loyalty is to Stanley, and he wouldn't sit idly while Wanda tried to backstab his Toolship.

So, Wanda may try to urn against Stanley later, but not now. Wanda's a carefull planner, and a carefull planner only betrays his master when he doesn't serve any more purpose and you've built yourself a strong power base. Wanda neither has a strong power base(very few units, a mostly demolished city), and Stanley is stil usefull to her.



Decius: I'm not understanding your reply. Didn't you mean "if there are no witnesses"? Anyway, we still don't know if TV will convince Jillian to reveal FAQ's location. She would probably breack her contract and go hunt Stanley herself than give up now.

[HandofShadows]

So the Archenpliers can make a new type of unit. Croak Knight sounds like a good term until we know more. There is a chance we may get to see Scarlet again. (I don't see Bagroll being brought back though)

What's interesting is that even Wanda does not know what Croak Knight Ansom is. So Wanda is being scary again (what's new about that?). I am fairly sure that Ansom does have his memories, in the last panel he look more than a little pissed off, but I don't think he can do anything about it. Wanda ownes him (let's see how you like being treated like you treated others buddy!) and cannot do anything without orders from her.

Stanley seems to be getting better. Is it me or did he seem happier being out in the field as oppopsed to being the man behind the big desk?

The comment about barbarians from Wanda may indicate that she is on the lookout for one certain barbarian, Jillian (note, she seemed a little sad when she said that).

I wonder if Pason is smiling about the irony of Ansom being uncroaked when it was very clead he detested them. Or just the fact he can rub Ansom's nose in the fact that he won and Ansom lost (big time).

All in all, ANOTHER great page.

[Joreal_Conners]

Ansom is a unit. <Hamstard>In the metaphorical sense.</Hamstard>

I was talking more about your text transmutation of taking out the r in decrypt and giving it a w. It's fairly obvious that Ansom is a unit, but the spell isn't. It's a spell. Therefore, it shouldn't have the same rule of r-w applied to it.

[SteveD]

Cool motif on the last panel, the turnips are now skulls. Hmmmm, no Hamstar markings...

They were radishes not turnips. :P

From this early strip we know that un-croaked warlords have their own crests, but if Wanda had any form of crest it would certainly be a little skull.

Love the strip; POP!-RAWWWRRR! ^^

I guess Stanley doesn't need to find and tame Dwagons after all. And now Wanda can move through the ruins and revive all the best Gobwin/Coalition units, maybe even Archons...hey can you revive recroaked-uncroaked units? :P

[Vreejack]

The blue dwagon popped because Stanley likely ordered it several days ago to replace the one the barbarian killed. It's taken that long to finish.

Ansom is not "resurrected." If he were, then he would not be asking what he was. He would be saying "I'm alive? How?" He almost certainly has all his old memories and now recognizes that he is something he has never himself encountered before. His powers and abilities might be identical to what he had before, but he is somehow flagged as different, if only because his allegiance has been changed naturally through the decrypting. Not that Wanda couldn't prolly handle the odd healing spell, but necromancers do not resurrect.

It would prolly be appropriate if Prince Un-some had some special power/weakness as a result of the decrypting, but we shall see.

[Pronounceable]

WOO, SCORE! First Haley, now Wanda. Is it girl power week or something?

And no more of this croaknight business. He's clearly a Warlord Formerly Known As Prince.

Stanley seems to be getting better. Is it me or did he seem happier being out in the field as oppopsed to being the man behind the big desk?

Yes, he's seems much less a caricature of a man now. Maybe being popped as a normal unit, he gets cranky without having some action.

[Oslecamo]

Yes, he's seems much less a caricature of a man now. Maybe being popped as a normal unit, he gets cranky without having some action.

Or perhaps it's because he battle's finally over and he won against all odds.

Some people would say that having a whole coalition banging at your door wanting your head in a spike while your warlords fail one after the other would leave you in a bad mood.

[Trixie]

Ansom is a unit. <Hamstard>In the metaphorical sense.</Hamstard>

What does that mean?

[FalconPunch]

I'm happy.

[hajo]

Panel 5, between Parson and the boulder on his left. Is that a takeaway bag with the Stupid Meal?

To me, it looks more like a hand from some fallen warrior sticking out of the ground.

[Lolindir]

Did Wanda wait on purpose to decrypt Ansom?
It might make him stronger, since she's on full-juice, instead of the low-juice-amount she got from uncroaking the vulcano!

EDIT: I meant to say, did she wait for dawn on pupose

[hanglekuk]

Reread the comic carefully. Pliers are gone from Wanda's hand. While decrypting she's holding them with two hands, then with one and then there's nothing in her hands. Might mean something, might be coincidence.

[joosy]

Does "Decrypt" as a word mean anything important in regards to the function of the pliers? Were the uncraoked before somehow confused or obfuscated in their function or creation? Or is it just a joke along the same lines as saying "disinter" as the spell word.
.

Its a pun -De-Crypt. Crypt as in tomb.

Reminds me of my Asian friend in college. When he would drink his eyes would actually open wider and appear round. I remember telling him 'Dave! You're getting disoriented!" I don't think he ever got it.

[Welf]

Crypt: A place for dead people
De-Crypt: take someone back from that place = came back to live?

The most famous case of resurrection was IMHO Lazarus, who was buried in a tomb/cave, which is basically a crypt.

Edit: Ninja'd = time to read all posts + time to write and look for terms Lazarus and crypt.

[Nenec]

So, Wanda may try to urn against Stanley later, but not now. Wanda's a carefull planner, and a carefull planner only betrays his master when he doesn't serve any more purpose and you've built yourself a strong power base. Wanda neither has a strong power base(very few units, a mostly demolished city), and Stanley is stil usefull to her.

Mmmh you might be right, you probably are. But I can't wait to see stanley betrayed, he really deserves that, so....

did she wait for dawn on pupose

Well, at dawn came their turn , so I don't think she could do it before, anyway.

[Ultimatum479]

As for the suggestions that Wanda could try to rebel against Stanley now, just to offer a bit more evidence in that direction: Stanley's obvious coup against Saline IV would have to have been a breach of Loyalty as well, so it seems likely that the Arkentools offer some sort of resistance to the innate Thinkamancy-like effects of Duty.

EDIT: To the above poster, Wanda can Uncroak on turns other than her own if it's within the city boundaries, so that's unlikely. On the other hand, it's possible that using the Arkenpliers does require that it be GK's turn, but I doubt it.

[snafu]

The most famous case of resurrection was IMHO Lazarus, who was buried in a tomb/cave, which is basically a crypt.

Er... really? The most famous?

Spoiler

Show

Because the high-level cleric who raised Lazarus... well, you might not have heard this, but he came back from the dead too. Probably the best known example of the genre.

[darkgolem]

So Ansom is a Croak Knight? (Death Knight)

[shamelessmerc]

Er... really? The most famous?

Because the high-level cleric who raised Lazarus... well, you might not have heard this, but he came back from the dead too. Probably the best known example of the genre.

Uh... Lazarus was a person, not a trifold incarnate monotheistic omnipresent deity.

Lazarus is the most famous, because coming out of cave saying "Only kidding!" doesn't count.

[teratorn]

I'm confused, did the pliers go into Ansom?

[Saint Nil]

So Ansom is a Croak Knight? (Death Knight)

I hope so. More importantly, will he be loyal?

[Natio]

Oh man, imagine sending out Ansom and dwagons to attack someone and also having Wanda along to decrypt anything that gets killed.

You could level up warlords incredibly well that way, take on tough stacks and if your warlord dies then bring him back for the second round with full hp...

[paddyfool]

Decrypted Ansom's feet don't appear to touch the ground in the third-from-last panel. Can he now fly, or is this just a temporary spell effect, like the red glow appears to be? On the one hand, his head is a little above Wanda's in the last panel; but on the other, he might just be that much taller. Any thoughts?

Other than this, all that we can clearly say about his attributes is that he has intelligence - unlike all uncroaked seen so far (unless vamps count), he can speak. Hopefully we'll know more when Parson puts on his specs; in the meantime, Wanda certainly seems to like what she sees.

[msb]

Seems pretty obvious that the three panels that needed to be fixed (cf. Erfworld Facebook page) were a more-uncroaked-looking Ansom. I hope so anyway. Please?

[hajo]

if there were any opposition in the area, they'd be in trouble.

Poor opposition

[Morgaln]

The concept of "battlespace" hasn't been defined. In a turn based game, each
side has a phase sequentially (the player turn) within the course of the whole game turn. The non-phasing players cannot move or do certain actions in another player's phase (or turn.) One part of Erfworld strategy is to split and reform alliances to get an advantage from the order of the sides' phases within the game tuirn. Transylvito was split from the RCC in order to get its turn before Stanley.

The rules that determine the order of player phases are not clear.

One thing is certain, in a normal game a side is either in the game and moving, or out of the game altogether. Since Erfworld is the game, a side can't be out of it.

Parson's comment implies that Erfworld has some strategic level of game above the tactical level of troop movement and combat. Possibly, a side with no troops within any feasible move distance of an enemy, performs all its actions instantaneously and there is no appreciable time-lag for the other sides.

I think his comment just referred to the fact that any troops left on GK would have conquered it and therefore ended Stanley's side; Wanda and Parson would have gone Barbarian and their turn wouldn't have been at dawn.

[raphfrk]

The battle space comment is important. That implies that everyone's turn starts at dawn as long as they are not at war or, at least, not in the range of anyone that can attack them if they are at war.

The world might be split up into battlespace zones, rather than them being dynamic.

There might even be rules for crossing battlespace boundaries. A unit which enters a battlespace might end up being locked into the hex that it enters, and not allowed to spend any more of its move until its side's turn in that battlespace.

Maybe, when you enter a battlezone, you get assigned the earliest slot available.

Sides with cities in the battlespace would thus tend to be earlier in the day. Thus GK and Transilvito would be earlier than Jetstone, since they always have units in the space.

OTOH, it is implied that barbarians are placed at the start of the turn order automatically.