Erfworld 106; the battle for Gobwin Knob

[stsasser]

That's it? That's all they got?!

meh

[kunou126]

I believe people are making the spell out to be more powerful than it was. I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that large quantities of Jillian's stack were croaked or uncroaked.

In fact I believe that the spell only affected the three archons, albeit in a very gruesome way. Three archons. Three uncroaked thingies. And at least 2 of the archons were in close proximity to ground zero based on the previous strip.

I'd bet the rest of Jillian's stack is probably unaffected (except for perhaps some psychological impact of watching three archons turn into unholy units in front of their eyes). It makes sense that Wanda would specifically assault the Archons. She was watching when the Archons broke her suggestion spell and it would be plausible for Wanda to blame them for what happened with Jillian.

They were powerful archons though. Each was able to one shot some wounded dragons. Still a very powerful spell even if limited to those three targets.

[El_Chupacabra]

Anyway, on to the analyzing. I believe people here are mistaken as to how the spell was cast; the first panel appears to be a SIDE view of the tower, and a closer look reveals a gemstone buried in some sort of cone-shaped thing. The tower itself probably has defenses which can be activated by a caster. Now as to what that does or means? Who knows!

Hm... Could that have been a previously unnoticed point on the staff? I see that this way:

1. The last statement by Wanda was AGGRO. That could be her adding her power -- notice the energy arc -- to the base power of the staff, which was activated by the AYBABTU command and being stabbed into the ground, cracking the floor. The other commands were the setup of whatever spell she's currently casting.

2. The energy arc from her AGGRO contacted the staff at a point that's blocked by light. That would be where this cone is located.

3. The blast appears to be a beam with a slight amount of scatter, so most likely Jaclyn bore the brunt of the attack, which was not aimed at Jillian in the first place. Weaker units further out were still fried, but I suspect higher units on the periphery -- Jillian and probably Vinnie and other Archons -- were "missed".

So, to sum my theory up; Wanda decided to isolate Jillian and blasted Jaclyn with a mid-level spell that had a blast through effect; the unipegataurs may have been a bonus kill. This could very well mean that she's still got a lot left; she needed to use a decent amount of energy to whack Jaclyn with overkill, but is holding enough back for any others. The others will not intervene for fear they could meet the same fate. Depending on how affected Jillian is (psychologically), this could mean a one-on-one fight, or a stunned retreat to reevaluate one she considered herself close to.

[Dacia Brabant]

There's also no reason to assume this is forced uncroaking. I've never heard of any instance of a undead creature being created directly from a living thing. The body has to die first, which is probably what this is, a kind of burning wave of superheated air, or some life-force destroying "evil" attack. It may even be a new kind of magic for Wanda.

In D&D 3.5, there's an Epic spell called Animus Blast that deals damage and up to 10 of the creatures who die in the blast are immediately reanimated as skeletons under the caster's control.

It's as yet unclear of course whether the victims of Wanda's spell are going to become uncroaked, but presumably if they are that's the same principle at work as Animus Blas--the same spell kills them and reanimates them.

Level seems to play a role with magic use, and in many games determines magic resistance (and either available spells or spell power). Maggie said to Parsons "I'll do my levelbest" in regard to protecting him from Charly.

It's something of an archaism but "level best" just means doing something to the greatest possible degree of your ability, you see it used more in older literature, which seems to fit Maggie's stuffy personality. But no, like most other uses of the word it doesn't have anything to do with "levels" a la D&D and RPGs.

[The Old Hack]

Anyway, on to the analyzing. I believe people here are mistaken as to how the spell was cast; the first panel appears to be a SIDE view of the tower, and a closer look reveals a gemstone buried in some sort of cone-shaped thing. The tower itself probably has defenses which can be activated by a caster. Now as to what that does or means? Who knows!

I rather like the idea of this being part of a built-in tower defense. It might be something as simple as the tower amplifying any spells cast within its structure, or simply allowing casters to tap additional power from it in combat. Alternately, the power may come from the staff Wanda is packing -- it might be a one-shot item like a bazooka, crafted for a time where some extreme effort might be necessary. (I can't remember ever seeing Wanda using that staff before, I think I'll be spending much of the night happily rereading in an attempt to spot it. )

[Prince_Rohan]

Cool, but that was a long wait.

[Lamech]

I rather doubt it was a highly focused blast that only hit a handful of units, the entire tower has lighting running up it and everything being washed out in pink. I think it was probably more of a large area blast that can exclude units to a degree, probably designed to be used in battle. (On a side note it sucks for tightly packed air units to be struck by a large AoE even more than tightly packed ground units.)

I thinks it is possible that the blast was one of those above ground spell defenses Sizemore talked about. If it is Parson will probably be quite annoyed: if it is one shot (or any limited smallish number) it was wasted on units that would wander off anyway; if it isn't he will be annoyed he couldn't fire it sooner the last time they were scouted.

Well the fallout from this will be fun. I can already see several ways cracks could form quite quickly in Ansom's coalition from everything that has been happening.

[EagleWiz]

AGGRO = Now jillions angry.
As for where the power for the spell came from? God mode.

[Mr. Goodwraith]

In fact I believe that the spell only affected the three archons, albeit in a very gruesome way.

Um, we see one affected Archon and three affected unipegataurs so far, with Jillian (and her gwiffon?) unaffected. Hopefully the next strip will give us a better idea of the full scope of the spell's effects.

[Lycan 01]

I thought the Gwiffon got hit, too? They don't have skeletons, so it wouldn't be as obvious, but he seems to be getting fried just like the rest of them. Or maybe that is just the glow of death reflecting off his candy flesh?

[FoE]

I just can't get over how much I love that image in the last panel. It's so awesome ....

[Lycan 01]

Its like something you'd see on a cliche death metal album cover... Or that Led Zep album cover, Hell-ized...

[Moechi_Vill]

I think Jillian will need some more flying allies; that spell appears to have fried everyone she was with (with the possible exception of Vinnie).

As for the power level of Wanda's spell, I'm of the opinion that it's a "one shot" deal and may have erased all of her ability for the turn, or more.

Vinnie is not a main character, and thus less exempt to the possibility of death.
Die coalition, die.

[Edea]

If magic of that scale can be used by a single unit without serious repercussions...yeah.

I'm not sure if any of the units actually croaked, though; we're kinda just stuck seeing them in agony, or extreme shock. I'll-assume- that the spell did indeed croak the archon and unipegataurs (as well as many off-page coalitionists).

[Zienth]

Most impressive.

Looked to me like Wanda's rage opened up a mighty big channel for magic to come through. Of course, the cheat codes may have really been cheat codes. Knowing a few cheat codes might explain why Wanda is so good at so many types of magic, but doesn't like using them. She may not feel good about using cheat codes in normal circumstances. But this was hardly "normal".

I'm not sure that blast was completely under Wanda's conscious control. That might explain why it seemed to miss Jillian and her mount. I'm very curious to see how it effected Vinnie. Also curious to see how it effected Wanda. I suspect it cost her more than just a few mana points.

Zienth

[Arkenputtyknife]

Let's not forget that Wanda knows Jillian very well, and may well have the ability to tailor her spell to a power level just below Jillian's ‘toasted’ level. Thus she gets rid of Jillian's companions and they can carry on their little conversation on a more equal level.

Not saying it's the right explanation, but it should be considered.

Level seems to play a role with magic use, and in many games determines magic resistance (and either available spells or spell power).

Don't forget Jillian's “You'll level. It'll be fun” comment way back when. Erfworld most certainly has levels and leveling.

Um, isn't Parson in that tower? Like, directly under the massive magical explosion?

Yes, but he's on the same side. It'll be interesting to see if this makes a difference.

Anyway, on to the analyzing. I believe people here are mistaken as to how the spell was cast; the first panel appears to be a SIDE view of the tower, and a closer look reveals a gemstone buried in some sort of cone-shaped thing. The tower itself probably has defenses which can be activated by a caster. Now as to what that does or means? Who knows!

Oh boy… Get out the pruning shears, the epileptic trees are on the march again. That cone-shaped thing is Efdup Tower.

Note the little spots on the ring (the viewing platform where Wanda is standing) on the lower left side. Those are Jillian's forces, getting fried, or at least suffering a bad sunburn.

meh

One more for the ignore list.

[Ptorquemada]

Anyway, on to the analyzing. I believe people here are mistaken as to how the spell was cast; the first panel appears to be a SIDE view of the tower, and a closer look reveals a gemstone buried in some sort of cone-shaped thing. The tower itself probably has defenses which can be activated by a caster. Now as to what that does or means? Who knows!

I'm of the opinion that the black speckles near the point of the cone are the flying units and that this is a very long distance aerial view of the tower itself.

Your interpretation does explain some things (What's that curved thing? Lip of the tower. Why aren't there any other buildings visible? Because it's the side of the tower. Why is Jillian pink on one side only? The beam is going to one side of her.)

Of course, the answers could also be "City wall, they're washed out by the glow, Jaclyn burning is brighter than the glow of the spell itself."

I thought the Gwiffon got hit, too? They don't have skeletons, so it wouldn't be as obvious, but he seems to be getting fried just like the rest of them. Or maybe that is just the glow of death reflecting off his candy flesh?

I think reflection, since it's the same color as Jillian. The soft bits of the ones that we know are hit went black, not pink.

[Cespinarve]

I don't think it was worth the wait.

No, no it was not. Very impressive, but if it's not followed up by a post, say, tommorow, I'm going to be very... put... out.

[Cespinarve]

I don't think it was worth the wait.

No, no it was not. Very impressive, but if it's not followed up by a post, say, tommorow, I'm going to be very... put... out.

[Avilan the Grey]

I second the guess that what Wanda is doing is opening up a one-time use defense or power; probably the built-in last defenses of Gobwin Knob, or less likely destroying an artifact (the staff) to use it's powers in a one-time use explosion. This means that Wanda should still be kicking in the next round, no power drawn from herself...

Also, I second the opinion that what we see is a long distance view of the Knob itself.

[Fighteer]

One word... Meganuke.

I can't wait for the next strip to reveal which units survived that blast. Magical tower defenses, ultimate last stand spell by Wanda, or something else, you can't cast something like that without a lot of casualties. I honestly expected the Archons to last longer, but something had to whittle down the attackers or Parson would have had no hope at all.

I'm thinking that the next comic will show reactions from the observers: Parson, Ansom, and/or Jillian.

[the_tick_rules]

BEST ARTWORK EVER!!! Boy charlie is not going to take this well. So many questions. Maybe Jillian made her "save" or whatever. Or maybe the spell only affects the archons creature type specifically. so is that the archons we see vavporizing, why to they look like winged centaurs or are those other flying units?

[Braggi]

It's something of an archaism but "level best" just means doing something to the greatest possible degree of your ability, you see it used more in older literature, which seems to fit Maggie's stuffy personality. But no, like most other uses of the word it doesn't have anything to do with "levels" a la D&D and RPGs.

Nice, thank you. I looked it up, never heard this before. Sounded like an intended ambiguity to me, in the spirit of Sizemore's "many a boring turn" in #86.

Don't forget Jillian's “You'll level. It'll be fun” comment way back when. Erfworld most certainly has levels and leveling.

Yes, thank you. In strip #84 the listing of remaining troops in GK mentions levels as well, though it displays them erraticly.

I wonder wether, for a warlord, level and leadership are the same? It would make sense for a "simple" system. Parsons mentioned in his blog that his bonus is 2, which equals his level shown in #84.
Conversation between Jillian and Webinar was in #56, it is unclear if she refers to leadership or level.
Stanley was angry at first about Parsons retreating his stacks in #61 ("your warlords won't level up").

[Ablogqwer]

Oh boy… Get out the pruning shears, the epileptic trees are on the march again. That cone-shaped thing is Efdup Tower.

Note the little spots on the ring (the viewing platform where Wanda is standing) on the lower left side. Those are Jillian's forces, getting fried, or at least suffering a bad sunburn.

Rather poor taste to insult someone like this just because of a disagreement in opinion. Please do not respond with a lofty, nose-in-the-air "that is because you are wrong." It isn't a valid argument. Or particularly polite.

The only argument as to why it isn't is simply-

Your interpretation does explain some things (What's that curved thing? Lip of the tower. Why aren't there any other buildings visible? Because it's the side of the tower. Why is Jillian pink on one side only? The beam is going to one side of her.)

... And that the base is far too wide. It clearly isn't a tower which are objects, by definition, that are tall and skinny. Unless it can change shape. [Insert Transformers Themesong Here]

No doubt there is also the counter explana-

Of course, the answers could also be "City wall, they're washed out by the glow, Jaclyn burning is brighter than the glow of the spell itself."

...

Damn it, Ptorque. Anyway. The shape could also be explained by

A. The spell distorts space, time, natural light, and/or B.

B. Artistic license slash perspective.

[Moral Wiz]

@Leadership/level, the two are probably related in the long run, but are different. I'm thinking of it as like D&D style charisma modifier, but independant of your other stats, and probably much less (I'm thinking Jill's quite a bit higher than Level 9.)

Mind you, if so, and Parson's bonus is equal to his level... that'd mean that he'd start weak, but get monumentally powerful, given time. That works. (Special. That word torments me so.)

[kunou126]

Oh...

Now I see.

I was wrong about the spell only affecting the archons. I thought the 3 unipegtaurs were what remained after the spell.

Having a nuke like that in a back pocket is way too convenient, in my personal opinion. Almost takes the strategy out of turned based strategy having something like that at your disposal. Still hard to say how many will be croaked, but if it's pretty much the whole new coalition stack then I feel extremely cheated. Other wise that spell needs to have some catastrophic side effects, such as croaking the caster in the process and invoking some kind of natural disaster on the tiles nearby (like an earthquake).

[El_Chupacabra]

Oh boy… Get out the pruning shears, the epileptic trees are on the march again. That cone-shaped thing is Efdup Tower.

Note the little spots on the ring (the viewing platform where Wanda is standing) on the lower left side. Those are Jillian's forces, getting fried, or at least suffering a bad sunburn.

Ah, now I see it....

So this is a spherical or ring (ie, anyone within a certain radius and within a certain range on the Z Axis -- think UFO/XCom) attack and VERY Powerful, not mid-range.

I think we can safely say it: That's Efdup.

I'm thinking to avoid being unbalanced, either Wanda just shot her wad for the turn -- probably several -- or there's some consequences of that spell, such as all units in range not under shelter are subject to fryination. We might have some Blackened Gobwins to go with our Fried Unipegataurs.

[Alacar Leoricar]

Um.. yeah. Holy crap indeed. And that's just her in a weakened state

[SteveMB]

Having a nuke like that in a back pocket is way too convenient, in my personal opinion. Almost takes the strategy out of turned based strategy having something like that at your disposal.

I expect that there are some serious limitations and/or costs to that Apocalypse In Pink spell -- if it was something that could be trotted out whenever convenient, they situation wouldn't have been particularly desperate to begin with.

With Parson's luck, it'll probably be something that boops up his next plan.

[Laurentio]

I expect that there are some serious limitations and/or costs to that Apocalypse In Pink spell -- if it was something that could be trotted out whenever convenient, they situation wouldn't have been particularly desperate to begin with.

With Parson's luck, it'll probably be something that boops up his next plan.

Apparently, Wanda is proficient in using scrolls, magical items and activating pre-made magics.
This show of power could me nothing on her alone. Her new staff could be part of it.

Laurentio