Girl Genius XVII: And Then He Had Pie

[Grif]

I like Zeetha's priorities. God knows free drink tickets are hard to get!

[eee]

Never send a Brother to do the job of a Lost Princess from a Lost Kingdom.

Sandals do not strike me as appropriate footwear for the running of a train.

I'm rather impressed Zeetha's knives are as strong as her swords, and can chop through steel with such ease. I suspect Brother Dinsy is the one who was dead on the floor of Lady Margolotta's compartment, and is now dead on the wall. And that's why he didn't disconnect the coupling. (sigh) It would have been poetic justice if Margolotta had shot herself in the foot and insured her capture by shooting the Brother in the chest, but others have saved her from her own actions.

OK, so now the Sanctuary Cars are free: Any ideas on how they're going to move to the fortress?

[Kislath]

I can only assume that the sanctuary cars can move without the need of the locomotive.

[Traab]

Agreed, I would be greatly disappointed if there werent multiple redundant engines all over the train, but especially on the sanctuary cars.

[factotum]

Brother Ulm's instruction a couple of strips ago to "Take us home!" would be a bit pointless if the sanctuary cars didn't have their own means of propulsion--they already knew the engine was being swarmed by the bears at that point. Plus, why have the sanctuary cars at the very *back* of the train if they needed the engine to be able to go anywhere? Would be a bit of a crippling design flaw, that!

[eee]

RE moving the Sanctuary Cars: Yes, there may be an engine where the caboose should be. But if so, you'd think the Brothers would be talking about firing it up, and focusing their efforts there. Instead they seem to worried about just the cars and making sure everyone's on board, I suspect we're going to see an emergency means of propulsion here, odd even by Girl Genius standards.

Of course I'm almost always wrong in my predictions...

[Southern Cross]

I'd say you were right for once....

[gooddragon1]

It would seem the plot has gone off the rails.

[AgentPaper]

I can imagine the conversation:

Agatha: "Wait, if you can just fly these things around in the air, why even bother with the rails?"
Brother Ulm: "But, but then we wouldn't be a train!"
Krosp: *facepalm*

[Adaon Nightwind]

And once again i am reminded why this comic is awesome. Everything makes sense, and still i did not see this coming. ^^

@AgentPaper:
The question might come up, but going by train has quite a lot of upsides:
- Needs way less energy then going by air (or on roads)
- Relatively weather-independent (sturdy railroads, massive engines) when compared to lighter-than-air vehicles or, again, roads
- Europe as a hot warzone for most of it's history will have rather large areas that are thinly populated, if at all. Civilized life will be found in the strongholds, the big cities. Since personal transport will be a couple of people from point A to point B, rather than individual stops and starts, a train (that you do not have to upkeep personally) will be more efficient than keeping your own method of transportation.

Sure, there's the question of weak spots like damage to the tracks, a dependency on schedule that can be used for an ambush etc., but so far it seems to have worked for the brothers. And even now, with an all-out attack on them, they are prepared.

Damn, i wish such an order would exist in our world.

[eee]

I'd say you were right for once....

I HAVE SPOILED MY RECORD OF WRONGNESS!! The world will never be the same. :(

That said... How are they driving that thing? Zeppelins, dirigibles, they have propellers and motors. These cars would seem to have none of those. So how...?

[Traab]

Sacks of hot air are TERRIBLE for safe transport. They are so.... puncturable. Thats why its an emergency method and not the main one.

[slayerx]

I can imagine the conversation:

Agatha: "Wait, if you can just fly these things around in the air, why even bother with the rails?"

Brother Ulm: "HERESY! Never forsake the road of the lord!"

[Ellen]

Is it just me, or is Zeetha beginning to look like a Jager? Look at those teeth. What did Mama have to do to patch her up?

How long after taking the draught before Jagers start to look like Jagers, anyway? We know it would have taken a long time for Vole to look like he does know without time dilation and stuff.

I kind of think Zeetha would have agreed to take the Jagerdraught, under the circumstances . . . which might answer a lot of questions about why Jagers agreed to take something with a 90% mortality rate. If you're already mortally wounded, what's the harm?*

Agatha: "Wait, if you can just fly these things around in the air, why even bother with the rails?"

Seriously, Agatha? I think these guys have gone off the rails quite far enough already.

*I know, that's up there with "I am your master! I created you! You must obey me!" for things you can say that never turn out well.

[smuchmuch]

Sacks of hot air are TERRIBLE for safe transport. They are so.... puncturable. Thats why its an emergency method and not the main one.

Which, speaking of, aemas me wonder why ba'on von magnetic armor just doesn't grab one of his bear spears or ny shap enouh letalic object and just throw it in the airbags.

Is it just me, or is Zeetha beginning to look like a Jager? Look at those teeth. What did Mama have to do to patch her up?

Nah if you look before she almay had some teeth looking pointer in some cicumstaces. It's just part of the Folgio artstyle, I think.

[HandofShadows]

Nah if you look before she almay had some teeth looking pointer in some cicumstaces. It's just part of the Folgio artstyle, I think.

Part of it's the art style, but Zeetha always has had some sharp pointy teeth. Gil does as well but it's not as pronounced.

[Ailurus]

While I agree that Zeetha's teeth have always been a little pointy, they have gotten much more noticeable recently. Compare right at the end of the Battle of Mechanicsburg to today's strip it does look like she's growing fangs. Guess we'll have to wait and see if it is just art evolution, or some actual plot point.

Though, given today's strip, she might want to duck or she may well lose some teeth.

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I'd give it at least a 50% chance Violetta's going to snap and clock Zeetha in the face.

[eee]

Oh dear. Vi's heart is breaking. Agatha, you may be a great Spark, but as a matchmaker / manipulator you need to be less clueless.

Is something going on in the background, or are these just random people reacting to the train going airborne?

[stsasser]

Oh dear. Vi's heart is breaking. Agatha, you may be a great Spark, but as a matchmaker / manipulator you need to be less clueless.

Is something going on in the background, or are these just random people reacting to the train going airborne?

All the ladies dig him and even De Kestle likes him. Von Zinzer's got game.

[TheStranger]

Wait - they serve drinks on the emergency escape cars? The ones where there's not enough room for luggage? And they still charge for them if you don't have free drink tickets? So, in all this rush to fight off the bears, herd everybody to the sanctuary cars, disconnect them, and go airborne, there was one brother who was just in charge of mixing drinks?

I like to imagine that the spark who designed this setup was at least as concerned with saving the booze as the passengers. "It's an emergency! Quick, everybody into the bar!"

[Emperordaniel]

All the ladies dig him and even De Kestle likes him. Von Zinzer's got game.

Der Kestle/Von Zinzer OTP just kidding

[Eric Tolle]

Wait - they serve drinks on the emergency escape cars? The ones where there's not enough room for luggage?

Well...yeah! f yu made room for the luggage, you wouldn't have room for the drinks! PRIORITIES man!

[datalaughing]

How long after taking the draught before Jagers start to look like Jagers, anyway?

Judging from the look on the guy in panel 5, the process probably starts almost instantly.

[factotum]

Well...yeah! f yu made room for the luggage, you wouldn't have room for the drinks! PRIORITIES man!

Seriously, the drinks might be there because they were in the sanctuary cars to start with (they looked like normal train cars before the balloons came out), and the monks would have already taken their weight into account in their calculations. The restriction on luggage would be because they don't want everyone bringing their luggage aboard the sanctuary cars and making them too heavy to take off.

[stsasser]

Der Kestle/Von Zinzer OTP just kidding

Should that actually be 'Die Kestle'?

[Landis963]

Should that actually be 'Die Kestle'?

Een short, no. Een long, not vhen you're using Jager-talk, sveethot!

[Hurkyl]

I'm rather impressed Zeetha's knives are as strong as her swords, and can chop through steel with such ease.

Well, she has the momentum from the dynamic entry to make up for the shorter lever arm.

[NEO|Phyte]

Well, she has the momentum from the dynamic entry to make up for the shorter lever arm.

I suspect eee means more in the strong enough for the coupling mechanism to break first sense.

[Porthos]

The plot thickens....

[Aquillion]

Spoiler

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So the question is, who are they smelling?

Agatha is the obvious choice, but Dimo would have known if they were supposed to be loyal to her.

Lady Margolotta is another option, of course.

Possibly Jenka, given that her bear-mount, Füst may be one of them?