El Goonish Shive

[Lizard Lord]

/raises hand

[Forrestfire]

*raises hand*

Turns out I'm not very observant either.

[Frecus]

*Handraise*

He... Could have made it more blatant in the comic... Though I'm not really sure how...

Frecus
The glade wanderer
Madwarrior

[Lord Raziere]

*raises hand*

the sign of a good writer is being able to slip details right before your eyes…without even attempting to hide them, and then being able to continue the story on until you point it out and reveal that its happening.

[Landis963]

Creepy punch! Creepy punch! AAAAHHHHHHH!!

[Lord Raziere]

is Diane magical? is one of them a cultist? what is happening….

if she isn't responsible, then why does someone want Diane to be obeyed? why?
she is a teenager who can now command a few other teenagers, what plot is our mastermind up to?

is this Chaos's doing? this is probably Chaos's doing….

[theNater]

is Diane magical? is one of them a cultist? what is happening….

if she isn't responsible, then why does someone want Diane to be obeyed? why?
she is a teenager who can now command a few other teenagers, what plot is our mastermind up to?

is this Chaos's doing? this is probably Chaos's doing….

My guess is that the punch makes its victims obey anyone not dosed by it, and that whoever put that effect on the punch assumed everybody at the party would be drinking, allowing them to swoop in and take over later in the evening. Meaning that Diane, Ellen, Nanase, and Charlotte are going to be viewed by the caster as a problem.

Note that's the caster. Mme. Raven may be manipulating events from further up, and she may want those undosed folks there, but there's no evidence of that at this point.

[Landis963]

My guess is that the punch makes its victims obey anyone not dosed by it, and that whoever put that effect on the punch assumed everybody at the party would be drinking, allowing them to swoop in and take over later in the evening.

Wait a minute. The guy who caught Diane trying to sneak some of the punch was a Male (!) teenage (!) caster. The punch turns everyone who drinks it into highly obedient females. Horrific implications ho!

[The Rose Dragon]

Wait a minute. The guy who caught Diane trying to sneak some of the punch was a Male (!) teenage (!) caster. The punch turns everyone who drinks it into highly obedient females. Horrific implications ho!

Correction: he was male. We don't know whether he was teenaged or a caster or not.

And maybe they only make her obedient to Diane. She is their lord, after all. We can't really know until we have further evidence.

[Sampi]

Male. Owes a favor to her sister. Knows (maybe) about magic. Would love to let her drink and see what it does to her. Could this be Jerry, who owes a debt to Susan? After all, this sister-speculation has been in-comic for a while. (I haven't been following this thread closely, so this may or may not have been suggested before.)

[The Rose Dragon]

Yes, it has already been suggested that the guy who caught Diane sneaking around is Jerry's reincarnation.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Tedd & Elliot's party is going, and when we will get to see it. I mean, Susan is going to be there. I'm far more interested in Susan than clucking chicks.

[theNater]

Wait a minute. The guy who caught Diane trying to sneak some of the punch was a Male (!) teenage (!) caster. The punch turns everyone who drinks it into highly obedient females. Horrific implications ho!

I'm right there with you on the horrific implications, but I suspect the caster is someone else. It seems awkward to target the party Diane is attending and warn Diane away; targeting a different party would likely be simpler.

And maybe they only make her obedient to Diane. She is their lord, after all. We can't really know until we have further evidence.

We can't be sure, but I'm inclined to think Diane is not the intended beneficiary here. I'd guess a straight male, given that the victims are turned female and use "my lord" rather than "my lady".

[Calemyr]

If that was Jerry (and there's a lot to support the theory), I would assume this was a prank in good fun. So far the spiked punch has had only three visible effects: turn everyone who drinks it female, makes everyone okay (or ignorant) of that, and renders them very suggestible.

If you look at it from the angle of a prank, it seems like an ultimate one. Everyone is having fun, nobody is panicking, if they remember any of it they will probably think it was a dream, and in they are controllable enough that you can keep them from doing something they'd regret. This is all in keeping with the guy who thought inventing a readily summonable non-lethal magic hammer was the best way to punish (and therefore propagate) sexist jokes - whimsical, mischievous, and yet generally harmless.

Or, looked at from a darker perspective, Jerry might not be behind it at all, but aware of the threat and is simply there to protect Diane without actually interfering with the threat (which, as an immortal, he can't do). Could it be another stunt to break the Masquerade by Pandora? Could it be a trick on Charlotte's part to test how resourceful and resilient her knights are (if Ellen and Nanase were chess pieces, they'd be knights: moving in odd ways. Or bishops...)? We will have to wait and see.

That said, I still vote for this being an elaborate prank by an immature immortal who wants to screw with people's heads without doing actual permanent damage.

[Mando Knight]

At any rate, there's something strange in the neighborhood. Who's Diane gonna call?

[Calemyr]

At any rate, there's something strange in the neighborhood. Who's Diane gonna call?

Is it wrong that my first instinct was to yell "Busty Casters!"?

[Mando Knight]

I was going for "Ghostbusters!" but "Busty Casters" mostly fits the beat, and definitely fits the story...

[theNater]

If that was Jerry (and there's a lot to support the theory), I would assume this was a prank in good fun. So far the spiked punch has had only three visible effects: turn everyone who drinks it female, makes everyone okay (or ignorant) of that, and renders them very suggestible.

It has also rendered Rhea sober. Sobering up the targets should be sufficient to keep things from getting out of hand; making them obedient is unnecessarily creepy.

Between that and the fact that Jerry would presumably need an accomplice, due to the same restrictions that prevent him from directly intervening if it's a threat, I'm really skeptical about the idea of it being a prank by Jerry.

[Vinyadan]

Stuff is happening, and is happening into an unforeseen and fast way! These are the best days for me as a reader since who-knows-when.

[The Rose Dragon]

Hopefully this doesn't go on for as long as the last party we saw. I still want to see the delicious Susan / Elliot / Justin / Sarah / Tedd / Grace love hexagon.

[Forrestfire]

The plot continues to thicken. I think he might have added some cornstarch to the comic or something.


Also, I'm highly amused by Dan's comments on railing height, as I've been to many, many houses with such a thing, and they rarely get much above three feet.

[The Rose Dragon]

I was wondering when that strip would be referenced! Clearly, Moperville is totally fine with magic existing, so I'm not even sure why they try to hide it from the populace.

[theNater]

Hopefully this doesn't go on for as long as the last party we saw. I still want to see the delicious Susan / Elliot / Justin / Sarah / Tedd / Grace love hexagon.

Why don't Nanase and Ellen get to be in that polygon?

I was wondering when that strip would be referenced! Clearly, Moperville is totally fine with magic existing, so I'm not even sure why they try to hide it from the populace.

Moperville is fine with magic existing, but it's not clear how fine they'd be with magic being ubiquitous. Magic seems to be incredibly easy to acquire in EGS, and keeping it secret is likely the best way to keep it uncommon enough to be manageable.

[The Rose Dragon]

Why don't Nanase and Ellen get to be in that polygon?

Because they are not in that party, duh.

Moperville is fine with magic existing, but it's not clear how fine they'd be with magic being ubiquitous. Magic seems to be incredibly easy to acquire in EGS, and keeping it secret is likely the best way to keep it uncommon enough to be manageable.

Well, they are doing a terrible job of both, then.

[theNater]

Because they are not in that party, duh.

I didn't realize you were specifically referring to the party. Thank you for clearing that up.

Well, they are doing a terrible job of both, then.

They seemed to be doing okay until Mme. Raven started actively working against them. With the secrecy, at least.

[Mewtarthio]

They seemed to be doing okay until Mme. Raven started actively working against them. With the secrecy, at least.

Bear in mind, this is a world where bug-eyed, antennae-sporting extraterrestrials are treated just like any minority so long as they wear their "I <3 Being Human!" T-shirts. Really, it looks like people will accept anything so long as you provide a token explanation. Pandora's a game-changer because she's too terrifying to sweep under the rug; before that, magic was more of an elephant in the room.

[Lamech]

They pointed out before, the secret isn't magic, its how easy magic is to get. A girl floating through the hallways is perfectly acceptable, as long as it is seen as strange, unexplainable, and something unique to that weirdo. She floats. It what she does. Maybe she was born that way. Even if she says how she got the powers "an immortal gifted me with magic" people aren't able to really replicate it. Physics teachers just get annoyed.

What is not okay is learning that you can get well on your way to getting magic by anime style martial arts.

P.S. On a side note, if you saw a bug eyed alien walking down the street I doubt very few of you would go proclaim the existence of aliens. That would get you locked up in the funny farm.

[Acanous]

people don't get locked up for proclaiming aliens exist.

They mostly get ignored.

[Lamech]

Saying the clouds are actually an alien spaceship or area 51 has aliens in it doesn't get you locked up. Your a conspiracy wingnut. Everyone has at least one conspiracy they believe in. (I swear America is a mason plot.) Claiming you saw an alien walking down the street... that gets you in trouble.

[Acanous]

Depends on who you say it to, how loud you say it, and how often you repeat yourself.

[The Rose Dragon]

So, how much did Susan tell Nanase about Jerry? Specifically, about what he looks like? Because when I'm telling someone about someone else I know or met, the last thing I'm thinking of is their looks.