124 The Battle for Gobwin Knob, Page 112

[dr pepper]

RIP Webinar and Dora.

[Burrito]

Still, Webinar and Dora made a good fight of it. If is Sizemore hadn't been able to re-juice that Golem, he would have been goo. Awesome strip, and you [i]almost[/] feel sorry for the Marbit about to be Meat-Hammer-tenderized...almost.

[OnDroid]

RIP Webinar and Dora.

With Croakamancer on GK side, it seems unlikely.

[Bongos]

A little grim for certain..

Is Wanda going to uncroak a whole new army for Parson now?
With a couple of warlords even.....

[Xeticus]

I'm not sure if he has a serious plan to get the Arkenpliers, or if he was simply raising the possibility to buy time vis-a-vis Charlie.

As Charlie stated earlier he knows that Hamster is not lying. As Charlie has tremendous powers of Thinkamancy when he says that Hamster isn't lying about it I think he knows what he says.

[Tundar]

PK!

Great sound.


Parson is rolling, I just hope The Tool doesn't boop it all up with a few early end of turns.

[The Old Hack]

I'm not sure if he has a serious plan to get the Arkenpliers, or if he was simply raising the possibility to buy time vis-a-vis Charlie.

If I wanted to set another trap for Ansom, lacking Jillian as bait, as a lure I'd use a lot of Uncroaked for him to wield the Arkenpliers against. He loves playing hero, and lacking Vinnie to restrain him, I can't see anything stopping him this time.

[Fafnir13]

I really like panel 7. The helpless terror in it is just priceless.

[Subtext]

With Croakamancer on GK side, it seems unlikely.

That was dark...(but still funny ;))

But a very good page (again). Although I do feel a little pity for Dora and Webinar. And for Sizemore too of course.

Whoever said, that Parson is the Evil Overlord...I think, you're wrong. If he really wouldn't care about the people dying or about Sizemore, he wouldn't avoid to deal with these situations.
If I feel sad, I try to laugh double as hard as usual about any stupid jokes. Many people do.


@OldHack: Sounds very possible. I wonder too what the rest of the coalition will do when they learn of Webinar's failure.

[Emo Samurai]

And the great thing is, Sizemore hasn't incurred any losses that can't be recuperated at zero permanent cost.

[xopher.tm]

WHOOOOO!
He's in ur dirtz, CROAKIN UR LEADERSHIP!
Well technically, it's HIS dirtz. I hereby declare that all dirtz, by default, belong to sizemore.

All ur dirtz are belong to Sizemore. Make yr time.

Additionally: Dayum.

[Tarian]

Webinar got rocked.

(Sorry, had to say it. )

[Lamech]

So thats it, the tunnel forces get wiped out. Webinar and Dora get die pointless deaths. Parson wins, the coalition goes home in defeat. They've seen two attacks fail to magic, they have no reason to believe the walls, and garrison won't have the same defenses. They aren't attacking.
Now we must see who dies in translovitio, and what happens with Charlie... the tragedy is just begining.

[Laurentio II]

Grim. Very, very grim. I'm the kind of person that laughs at horror films, but this page chilled my spine. I'm very pity for Sizemore, I had hopped not to see him this way. And still, it's very cool to see. Is to much to hope that it's finished for him?

Webinar got his death prophecy, in the end. I'm not sad for him, he had a fair chance. He should had killed Sizemore during the golem rising, instead of stay frozen in disbelieve. Dora, we never had a chance to know you better. Hope not to see you again, because that would mean uncroaking.

I'm the only one that foresee some new avatar showing Webinar and/or Dora?

They've seen two attacks fail to magic, they have no reason to believe the walls, and garrison won't have the same defenses. They aren't attacking.

No reason? No reason? My dear, this is not a conventional war. This is Ansom's personal quest for dickness justice. Vengeance is on the route, and you don't want to stand in the way.

[Lamech]

No reason? No reason? My dear, this is not a conventional war. This is Ansom's personal quest for dickness justice. Vengeance is on the route, and you don't want to stand in the way.

Ansom lost his army in the tunnels. If Ansom charges the walls alone archers kill him he isn't siege; if he takes to the sky he can't get to the garrison because he doesn't control the airspace, and archers still kill him. Ansom will still probably want to fight; its the other coalition members who will chicken out. They are not on a personal quest for vengance, they want the Tool dead, but sending your forces off to die pointless deaths isn't what they had in mind.

[Justyn]

You know, there is a chance that Dora may have only been knocked out rather than being dead. I wouldn't hold my breath on it, though.

[Fafnir13]

"PK" would seem to suggest that Dora is definitely croaked.

[Malanthyus]

Oh hey, the dirt guy leveled. Wonder what new spells he gets?

[headhoncho]

As Charlie stated earlier he knows that Hamster is not lying. As Charlie has tremendous powers of Thinkamancy when he says that Hamster isn't lying about it I think he knows what he says.

I think Charlie only knew Parson wasn't lying about the odds percentage part, since that was part of the deal.

On the sortie, I guess they're not going through the tunnels. Which means that the four archon stacks only covering four of the six possible hexside exits theory is now my theory of choice. :)

[factotum]

I'm not sure if he has a serious plan to get the Arkenpliers, or if he was simply raising the possibility to buy time vis-a-vis Charlie.

I think his plan is relatively simple there: if he wins this battle Ansom will be dead and he'll thus get the Arkenpliers.

On an unrelated note, I wonder how much this story has grown in the telling, since Rob & Jamie said it was going to go to 70-80 pages when they started; what was originally supposed to happen to wrap it up so quickly?

[dr pepper]

Let it take as long as it takes. It's always disappointing when a story gets wrapped up prematurely because of page limits.

[Fafnir13]

On an unrelated note, I wonder how much this story has grown in the telling, since Rob & Jamie said it was going to go to 70-80 pages when they started; what was originally supposed to happen to wrap it up so quickly?

As you begin to put a story into more concrete form, little things you didnt think of start to pop-up all over the place. Suddenly, you realize that this bit or that bit needs more explanation. You could go back through the archive and snip out large areas, I'm sure. Some of Parson's intro, the Gobwin party the night before, any number of battle scenes. I doubt much, if any, of the story has been changed that dramatically.

[bdares]

How do we know that Sizemore leveled? I don't see any such indication.

[J.Gellert]

They got pwned. Now I wonder why Ansom wanted only Jetstone units in the tunnels. If his angry allies go "You lost your war, we're out" on him, he's hosed.

Sizemore's badass.

[oball]

When I first read through this one I thought that Sizemore was chopping off Webinar's head with his spade in Panel 6.

[VariaVespasa]

And the great thing is, Sizemore hasn't incurred any losses that can't be recuperated at zero permanent cost.

Oh the golems had a cost, if only in time, otherwise GK would have billions of the things. And you cant get back time.

More interesting is Parson sealing access to the tunnels from the city collapses too. Of course its just generally a good idea in principle when you have time, but Sizemore has limited energy per turn, and this is what Parson wants him to do with it, rather than making/repairing golems which have an obvious immediate use? So I'm wondering if its merely a generic detail provided for realism, or if its relevant for Parsons coming tactics? It makes sense to seal the tunnels from outside to prevent attack from outside, but its rather less important to do that inside the city if your fight is going to be at the walls, since the alliance doesnt have any fliers left really to bypass the walls and access the tunnels from above through the collapses. So either Parson isnt planning the main fight to be at the walls, but at the garrison, or its an element in a plan to resist Charlie when the time comes, who has nothing BUT flying units. Parson cant lie to Charlie, AT LEAST ABOUT STUFF RELATED TO THEIR AGREEMENT, but he almost certainly can about anything else, and even if he cant, even the truth can mislead if used properly. I dont think Charlie has asked how many archons it would take to take GK on his NEXT turn, he only asked how many for the turn he just ended. Parson strikes me as the type to wanna win it all, not just the battle against the alliance, so I think he'd want to resist Charlie too. Certainly I would, if I could see a way. This may be part of Parson playing the opponent, not the game, to get Charlie to unwittingly give Parson enough time to outmanoeuver him. Parson did have warning, through Charlies questions, that Charlie was plotting against him, and he was up all night planning, even though his plans against Ansom were essentially complete before dusk (Sizemore disabling traps etc), so I'm wondering if all that effort wasnt in part about how to defend against Charlie?...

At any rate, I'm looking forward to seeing what phase 2 is and how it gets him the arkenpliers, and to watching Stanley blast his way through the trap, assuming, of course, that he was telling Wanda the truth about the alliance not having enough to croak him. He cant lie to Charlie about calculations, but he CAN lie to Wanda, after all. That would create an enraged Wanda, true, but that would be a problem for another turn, at least...

I havent given up on the foolamancer either, come to that. It was clarified by Jami that the artwork did, in fact, show the dwagons etc were flying into the valley and being surrounded by Transylvito forces, but he has NOT, as far as I know, said that the whole thing isnt just a foolamancy illusion. But we'll see. :)

[kreszantas]

Well all I can add is phase 2 of the plan better be good. There is still a lot of action that the Tool has to deal with and Ansom's reaction... oh and that guy named Charlie

[dyslexicfaser]

Simultaneously vicious, cutthroat and adorable.

Much love.

[Yenkaz]

Ooh, geology reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozzolana

I suppose it all really depends just how the Tool handles the air battle, if he loses it'd all be for nothing..

[ChowGuy]

As Charlie stated earlier he knows that Hamster is not lying. As Charlie has tremendous powers of Thinkamancy when he says that Hamster isn't lying about it I think he knows what he says.

Charlie knows Hamster isn't lying about the odds of "not losing" because asked for them as one of his magically compelled calculations. Parson cannot lie about that. As for the statement he made earlier about having the Arkenpliers as well as the mathamancy sleeve, (ArkenBracer?) thinkamancy or not Charlie calls that implausible. It's only afterwards that he asks for evidence that it and Parson himself (a prize he very much wants as well) will still be around later later to collect.

As for phase two, note that it's Maggie the thinkamancer Parson is calling for now, noe the Croakamancer. We previously saw him ask her about causing enemy stacks to confuse or misinterpret thier orders. I'm wondering if illusions are within the sub-realm of Thinkamancy as well as Foolamancy. If so, is it possible to convince enemy stacks to attack each other? Or, if the previous speculation of luring Ansom out with Uncroaked is correct, the possibility of giving an enemy Warlord the mother of all Ice-Cream Headaches at a crucial stage. We know Wanda has a "headache spell" - imagine what a specialist could do.