Erfworld 119, page 107

[The Old Hack]

I'll see your napoleon and raise you a drum torte.

Now I'm all hungry. Great. *grumble*

[hiigaran]

Personally I can't wait for the next comic

[Zolem]

Personally I can't wait for the next comic

Yeah, we've already run this one into the ground.

[multilis]

Personally I can't wait for the next comic

Sorry, but the comics have been cancelled for a few months because Rob and Jamie's grandmas have been kidnapped by some neo-nazi's, and they need to fly to Germany to rescue them.

In the meantime, so you all don't suffer too bad from the wait, I'll give you some spoilers.

Jack is pure evil, he only pretended to have crush on Jillian to trick her into liking him, rather than suspect his evil schemes. He is a foolomancer after all.

Jack secretly seduced Wanda to the dark side, got her to kill Saline. Jack also tricked the Sizemore the Predictomancer to do his bidding, then had him brainwashed using Charlie to forget his former life and become a dirtomancer.

Later you will learn that Jack is really a renegade Titan on the run from the rest of Titans, and created the magic spell that brought Parson into Erfworld.

There is lots more, like the secret true identity of Sizemore but Rob and Jamie should be back by then to tell you themselves.

Of course now that I've told you it is all obvious, please don't feel bad that you didn't figure it out for yourselves.

[Justyn]

Personally I can't wait for the next comic

Yeah, we've already run this one into the ground.

Good news! Barring something coming up, a new page should be up in a few hours.

[OnDroid]

Good news! Barring something coming up, a new page should be up in a few hours.

So YOU are the PREDICTOMANCER!

[Justyn]

So YOU are the PREDICTOMANCER!

Oh noez! You're on to me!

[MattR]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0119.html

''The Prince of Jetstone... seemed to think Stanley has a Foolamancer, yeah.'' - Vinny

I've not been able to find where Jillian told Ansom about the foolamancer or Ansom mentioning a foolamancer at all. Did it just happen off camera or is Vinny lying to give the information more weight by tacking on the Prince as a source?

[OnDroid]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0119.html

''The Prince of Jetstone... seemed to think Stanley has a Foolamancer, yeah.'' - Vinny

I've not been able to find where Jillian told Ansom about the foolamancer or Ansom mentioning a foolamancer at all. Did it just happen off camera or is Vinny lying to give the information more weight by tacking on the Prince as a source?

He refers to this little incident. "He knows we have a Foolamancer ..."

[SteveMB]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0119.html

''The Prince of Jetstone... seemed to think Stanley has a Foolamancer, yeah.'' - Vinny

I've not been able to find where Jillian told Ansom about the foolamancer or Ansom mentioning a foolamancer at all. Did it just happen off camera or is Vinny lying to give the information more weight by tacking on the Prince as a source?

Not directly -- however, when Ansom charged into the middle of the Dwagon Donut and Parson was to figure out why he did that, Wanda told him "He knows we have a Foolamancer". We don't know exactly how Ansom knows or how Stanley's side knows that he knows -- my best guess is that they used the Foolamancer to veil something (pre-tactical-table) and the Coalition either saw through the veil or got pantsed in a way that made it obvious after the fact that a veiled stack was involved.

[fendrin]

Not directly -- however, when Ansom charged into the middle of the Dwagon Donut and Parson was to figure out why he did that, Wanda told him "He knows we have a Foolamancer". We don't know exactly how Ansom knows or how Stanley's side knows that he knows -- my best guess is that they used the Foolamancer to veil something (pre-tactical-table) and the Coalition either saw through the veil or got pantsed in a way that made it obvious after the fact that a veiled stack was involved.

I don't think so...

Look at how Vinny and Ansom react to the news that the hex is empty (here and the next two pages).

If they had run into trickery with a veiled stack before, I think it would have occured to them sooner. Especially Vinny. In fact, Vinny's phrasing later indicates that he has no particular reason to believe that Stanley has a foolamancer, just that Ansom believed.

Perhaps Wanda assumed Jillian had told Ansom?

[SteveMB]

I don't think so...

Look at how Vinny and Ansom react to the news that the hex is empty (here and the next two pages).

If they had run into trickery with a veiled stack before, I think it would have occured to them sooner. Especially Vinny. In fact, Vinny's phrasing later indicates that he has no particular reason to believe that Stanley has a foolamancer, just that Ansom believed.

Perhaps Wanda assumed Jillian had told Ansom?

Hmmmm... you have a point. If so, then apparently Jillian did tell Ansom (obviously without really explaining how she knew).

Another point: According to your scenario, there's no reason anybody on Stanley's side besides Wanda would know that Ansom knows. However, the question of "how does she know that he knows?" would just lead to the assumption that Jillian told her during an interrogation.

[minorseventh]

just a thought on that.
maybe ansom knows about the foolamancer because of one of his meals?
i mean, parson learned all kinds of boop just by looking at the messages that came with his food. theres NO evidence for my little idea, but its just a thought i figured i would throw out there.

[fendrin]

Hmmmm... you have a point. If so, then apparently Jillian did tell Ansom (obviously without really explaining how she knew).

Another point: According to your scenario, there's no reason anybody on Stanley's side besides Wanda would know that Ansom knows. However, the question of "how does she know that he knows?" would just lead to the assumption that Jillian told her during an interrogation.

The danger of course is that Wanda would have to answer how Jillian knew. So far, I don't think anyone at GK knows of Jillian's origin (except of course Wanda and Jack).

[SteveMB]

The danger of course is that Wanda would have to answer how Jillian knew. So far, I don't think anyone at GK knows of Jillian's origin (except of course Wanda and Jack).

Potentially true, but avoided in this case (Stanley isn't the type to think through the layers of "how does she know that he knows and how did he know in the first place?", Sizemore doesn't really get military matters, and Parson would just assume that she's referencing some pre-summoning event). If all else failed, she could probably just claim that she figured it out just now because it's the only sensible explanation for why Ansom charged into the middle hex.

[Talgar]

all this talk of casters made me wonder, does Ansom have any casters on his side at all? i dont remember seeing them. i mean i can understand maybe if one faction had no casters, but he has the whole alliance and i dont remember seeing any casters at all

[SteveMB]

all this talk of casters made me wonder, does Ansom have any casters on his side at all? i dont remember seeing them. i mean i can understand maybe if one faction had no casters, but he has the whole alliance and i dont remember seeing any casters at all

There's mention of Lofty Elves and Altruist Elves "throwing heals where needed" -- it's ambiguous as to whether they're "casters" per se or whether this is a natural ability of those types of elves (the fact that Ansom refers to Lofty Elves and Altruist Elves generically suggests the latter, IMO).

[Lamech]

all this talk of casters made me wonder, does Ansom have any casters on his side at all? i dont remember seeing them. i mean i can understand maybe if one faction had no casters, but he has the whole alliance and i dont remember seeing any casters at all

The coalition probably has access to a dollamancer (or something) that made the cloth golems. Jetstone either has a hatomancer, or has paid for the services of one to make those hats. And Translovito has a thinkamancer. The coalition lacks casters up front, all the casters can apperantly do just fine hiding in the capital. It does however seem like the coalition is magically out-gunned.


Also they have magic from the elves to cast healing, but as Steve said they are not caster. (Probably)

[fendrin]

Given the (apparent) rarity and high value of casters, I can understand why they would not typically be sent to the front. They might get croaked or they might get captured (and turned against you).

It seems to me that the advantages of having a caster on the front lines don't seem to outweigh the risks.

Of course, a high-mobility high-power stack carrying a croakamancer around could be quite useful...

Keep in mind that most of Erfworld seems to utilize typical medieval tactics. Something like what Wanda does would be a rather foreign concept.

[AgentPaper]

Whatever happened to the Dwagon corpses? I guess it's probably too late now, but a bunch of uncroaked dwagons with Wanda leading them, and the other uncroaked flyers, would probably be strong enough to hit the siege and take the rest of it out.

Hell, maybe just Wanda and the few uncroaked flyers made so far would suffice with the "huge bonus" that wanda would give them. We know they have at least 1 rideable uncroaked flyer. (The pegtaur)

[fendrin]

Whatever happened to the Dwagon corpses? I guess it's probably too late now, but a bunch of uncroaked dwagons with Wanda leading them, and the other uncroaked flyers, would probably be strong enough to hit the siege and take the rest of it out.

Hell, maybe just Wanda and the few uncroaked flyers made so far would suffice with the "huge bonus" that wanda would give them. We know they have at least 1 rideable uncroaked flyer. (The pegtaur)

The dwagon corpses are gone by now. Corpses disappear on the next turn unless they are moved or uncroaked. Unfortunately, Wanda was not on speaking terms with the world outside her head at that point. Even if she was, she probably couldn't have gotten there fast enough without a dwagon to ride.

[Subtext]

I do not think, the "Wanda is the predictamancer" thing is nonsense...we know that she is able to cast spells outside of her primary class and we also know that casters are extremely rare. Of course, IF she had something to do with the fall of Faq (what I'm totally not sure of), she could just have "influenced" the Predictamancer to cause him too fail, but I'd like to think of as few existing casters as possible (since other realms don't seem to have many too).
I don't exactly believe, that it would be that simple...but it makes sense.

Yet, one thing does strike me as odd...after Jillian was tortured by Wanda, the two were speaking.
The thing Wanda was saying on panel six...
...first of fall, it sounds a bit predictamancerish. If only a little bet. And then in retroperspective, it is again quite interesting why Jillian is feeling guilty.
We DO know of her...hot...temper. And that she hated her father. While I don't believe that she would knowingly cause her father's kingdom to be destroyed, I'm sure she would make serious mistakes because of her temper.

[stupidface]

Maybe Jack asked the predictamancer what his chances of hooking up with Jillian were, and got really really ticked off when the reply was "Absolutely nill. She's gonna hook up with some royal dude named Ansom. Plus she's bi and is totally banging Wanda."

Then in his ticked off state, he "forgot" to veil the city he was supposed to.

yeeeehaw

edit: Man, that would be hilarious. Erfworld would be about how everyone's trying to get into Jillian's pants.

[Aquillion]

The dwagon corpses are gone by now. Corpses disappear on the next turn unless they are moved or uncroaked. Unfortunately, Wanda was not on speaking terms with the world outside her head at that point. Even if she was, she probably couldn't have gotten there fast enough without a dwagon to ride.

This assumes that it's even possible to uncroak dwagons. The fact that we've never seen an uncroaked dwagon before suggests that it may not be, for whatever reason (Stanley must have lost some at some point, and certainly Wanda would have made rezzing them a priority, like she did with the Archon.)

[Justyn]

I've been thinking this over for a while, but how do we know that all of the cites of Faq were destroyed? From Wanda? Parson said that she is cryptic. And Jillian never went back to check out the cites to see what exactly happened, so we are relying on second hand information from someone who doesn't give straight answers. And Wanda's Duty and Loyalty to Stanley could mean that she would lie to Jillian so that so she would never go back to Faq to claim her inheritance.

For all we know Stanley came in, ignored all the air defenses, croaked Banhammer, and took Wanda and Jack, while leaving all the units in all three cities to go neutral so that he could have an entire kingdom to start over with, rather than just some ruins. Ansom himself said that Stanley can be shrewd when he needs to be, and even an idiot can have a brilliant idea every now and again.

[Maerok]

Stanley don't know Jack?

[Winged One]

This assumes that it's even possible to uncroak dwagons. The fact that we've never seen an uncroaked dwagon before suggests that it may not be, for whatever reason (Stanley must have lost some at some point, and certainly Wanda would have made rezzing them a priority, like she did with the Archon.)

Stanley might not have allowed it, if uncroaking is seen in Erfworld the way zombification is typically seen in fantasy settings.

Stanley don't know Jack?

You seem surprised.

[fendrin]

I've been thinking this over for a while, but how do we know that all of the cites of Faq were destroyed? From Wanda? Parson said that she is cryptic. And Jillian never went back to check out the cites to see what exactly happened, so we are relying on second hand information from someone who doesn't give straight answers. And Wanda's Duty and Loyalty to Stanley could mean that she would lie to Jillian so that so she would never go back to Faq to claim her inheritance.

For all we know Stanley came in, ignored all the air defenses, croaked Banhammer, and took Wanda and Jack, while leaving all the units in all three cities to go neutral so that he could have an entire kingdom to start over with, rather than just some ruins. Ansom himself said that Stanley can be shrewd when he needs to be, and even an idiot can have a brilliant idea every now and again.

Yes, it's possible, but only if someone else has since attacked Faq and destroyed it, because Wanda states that "...now we only have the capital". Given that no one knows about it, how could they have attacked it? Unless Stanley is fighting a war on two fronts, the RCC and some unknown foe that we jave not heard about. That strikes me as... unlikely.

It does bring up a conundrum, though...

1) Sizemore says that they didn't disband because Stanley was the heir
2) Jillian and her troops did not disband
Therefore, 3) Jillian must have been an heir.

Now, 3 is no surprise to use, but Ansom and Vinny weren't sure she was a royal.

So either there is another way to become a barbarian (without also being a royal), or promotion to Heir is not as uncommon as Sizemore indicates.

[SteveMB]

It does bring up a conundrum, though...

1) Sizemore says that they didn't disband because Stanley was the heir
2) Jillian and her troops did not disband
Therefore, 3) Jillian must have been an heir.

Well, yes; we already know from Jillian's account that she was popped as an heir. (I suppose it's possible that she's lying, but I don't see any particular reason to think so.)

Now, 3 is no surprise to use, but Ansom and Vinny weren't sure she was a royal.

So either there is another way to become a barbarian (without also being a royal),

We already know that you don't need to be a royal to become a barbarian: "...if it looks like we're about to get crushed? I'm planning to send you and the other casters into the Magic Kingdom. When the city falls, you'll be barbarians."

or promotion to Heir is not as uncommon as Sizemore indicates.

I'm not sure how that follows.

[CaptC]

In Erfworld, it seems there are two requirements to completely knock out a side.

1) You have to kill the side's leader. If there is an heir, you also need to kill the heir before they pop another one.
2) You have to capture the capitol.

If you kill the leader, and there is an heir, the heir just becomes the new leader for the side, and war continues.

If you kill the leader and there is no heir, the side goes neutral. We don't know if a neutral side can pop another leader.

If you take the capitol while the side has an active leader, we know the side doesn't end. In some cardboard era wargames I played, you have to recapture your capitol within a certain time limit or your side ends.

But note that ending a side doesn't necessarily mean disbanding the side's units. Banhammer's side is apparently gone, but Jillian is still around. I'd hypothesize that any leader of a side that doesn't have a capitol after an arbitrary time limit goes barbarian. (It might even be instantly - it's possible Stanley was actually a barbarian when he retook GK.)