Erfworld 70, page 64

[Ramos]

Discuss!!!


Personally, I think Jillian will try to ditch the hunt-and end up being labelled as a traitor.

[GTRanger]

Ninja'd by like 20 seconds, I knew I shouldn't have read it twice. :P

[Winged One]

I wonder if Wanda's petty enough to make Sizemore's life more difficult for questioning her ability.

[Warfare]

Lot's of interesting information in this one. Must reread it all.

[Smushel's Dart]

Predictions:

She follows the "suggestion" but the Archons do not; I doubt she is powerful enough or has enough Warlord bonuses to command them to do otherwise. They will carry out the mission, in spite of the (seemingly pointless) infighting and hesitations.

Whether she will turn on the Archons, leading to Archons vs. Dragons Vs. Barbarians or break the "suggestion" remains to be seen.

[Gez]

Interesting. Lots of confirmations of hypotheses... But still a damn cliffhanger! I hope the next strip will finally have the resolution of that turn.

[Stormbright]

Do we actually know what the suggestion was, or does Sizemore actually know how they were phrased? I don't imagine Wanda revealing what she's put into the spell. What did Wanda put in the spell that makes her SO confident?

[SteveMB]

I wonder if Wanda's petty enough to make Sizemore's life more difficult for questioning her ability.

Perhaps -- if Sizemore turns out to be wrong.

If Sizemore turns out to be right....

[ag30476]

New comic? So soon? It's like we all got a early Xmas present.

Interesting. Lots of confirmations of hypotheses... But still a damn cliffhanger! I hope the next strip will finally have the resolution of that turn.

No see this is a good cliffhanger. Tension building. Everything is coming to a point...to Jillian...interesting.

[Xenon]

ah, the uncertainty of storytelling... it sounds like we are gonna get to see that one point they discuss up close and personal very soon.

[Solharath]

I find this comic more and more interesting. I feel like Parson right now. Turn based warfare sucks. And betting on someone from the other side to help you win the war... also sucks.

[fangthane]

At least we now know the kind of things Parson and company have been discussing while watching Jillian deploy her forces. Additionally, we've had the mechanics of veiling outlined in a general sense (though its actual in-game effects and effectiveness are still in some question). We've also seen Parson characterise the notion of sitting back and waiting in turn-based warfare in similar fashion to some of the naysayers on the forum, which is somewhat amusing in itself. What we may also be seeing here is a bit of a power play within GK itself; if Jillian misses the hex completely, no real effect beyond ruffled feathers - if she attacks, that's a big hit to Wanda's cred and a boost to Parson and Sizemore, whereas if she sees the stack and doesn't engage, Parson's going to have to make an apology and I suspect Sizemore's going to get deeply involved in his milieu. This comic didn't show us a lot we didn't already know or suspect, but there was some nice confirmation on the veiling thing (most of us figured it'd be local-range, own turn only, or both) and clarification of the fact that Wanda's 'control' is not predicated entirely on mundane persuasion but on magic, which appears to be bolstered by the more mundane methods. In a lot of ways, it appears to resemble D&D usages for the Charm line of enchantments.

I have to admit though, I tend to go with Wanda's assessment on this one. She was iffy as to the extent of her control before, but this time she's asserting clearly that this spell isn't going to get broken. That kind of assurance, that assertiveness, is something she rarely seems to display.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Find the Dwagons not fight them and justify it? For her? Try this.

"It doesn't count unless they are fresh. Half-dead Dwagons are not a challenge."

Seriously she could have a "real warrior" moment on us.

[magicwalker]

Hrmm, drama. I wonder how this is going to work out.

Spoiler

Show

I bet it's a love spell

[Arameus]

'Underpinnings?' If you ask me, and you didn't, what the 'underpinnings' are of Wanda's hold on Jillian, it's their relationship. If Jillian does something that she knows, even if only subconsciously, that Wanda will resent (and possibly end their physical relationship for), that would really, really affect her behavior under the suggestion spell, even if she couldn't find a good rationalization for her behavior.

Which, of course, would also explain why Wanda won't come out and say just why she's so certain of her spell.

Edit: Curse you Magicwalker and curse the lumbering pace of my articulation!

[SteveMB]

I have to admit though, I tend to go with Wanda's assessment on this one. She was iffy as to the extent of her control before, but this time she's asserting clearly that this spell isn't going to get broken. That kind of assurance, that assertiveness, is something she rarely seems to display.

"You know nothing of the underpinnings of this spell!"

Simply a claim to superior mancer-fu, or a let-slip-in-anger reference to aspects of the "subtle control" that Wanda has not seen fit to disclose to anyone else?

[Krellen]

Some regular forumers may know I've been complaining about the pacing of the strip the past several updates. Well, here's a shocker:

This? This is a good strip. It's the strip I wanted to see last update. I'm back to anticipating the next strip, rather than potentially being bored.

Kudos, gentlemen.

[DrivinAllNight]

This comic gets better and better

[BRC]

My Theory, she finds the dwagons, but wanda pumps the suggjestion for everything it has to get her to go get reinforcements rather then attempt to engage. This is very un-jillian-like behavior, but wanda may be able to pull it off as it could be justified more easily than ignoring the dwagons

[spite48]

Even if she does attack, as long as she can be persuaded not to croak the warlords, Parson's plan can continue with the B dwagons.

[Strengfellow]

OH BOOP

So.

A, J turns on a zig-zag thereby missing the Dwags. but with next hex sighting thats less likely.

B, Steams on in and engages which means carnage.

C, Enters the hex and forbears, which means that she is either to go rogue OR be frozen (poss brain cleaning upon return to the HQ) or turns on the Archons. Either way an inside operative is lost.

My tuppence worth.

[Lamech]

Now would be a good time for Wanda to suggest the dwagons are not in the lake hex, and Jillian should go scout some other hexes.

[SmartAlec]

If Jillian is one hex away from the wounded over the lake, does that mean she's also one hex away from the gap in the Dwagon fort? Could she still be aiming to rescue Ansom?

Edit: Never mind - after looking at the map again, it looks like the wounded dwagons are in fact between Jillian and Ansom if Jillian is 'over the lake'.

[Renx]

Kickass comic. Keeps us speculating on the 'original wording' of the suggestion, all the while explaining the whole concept to outsiders.

Also, OP == fail.

[Aquillion]

It's not clear whether the Archons are under Jillian's command or not... but Parson et all would know that they're there, and aren't worrying about it, so presumably since she's a warlord unit and they're not they can't act independently while she's there.

(I still think now would be an excellent time to see if it's not to late to meet Charley's price, though, just in case.)

[eilandesq]

It looks like it might be Wanda's turn as engineer of the Arrogance Express. I'd also venture a guess that Parson et al., have evaluated the odds of the wounded dwagons and uncroaked warlords against Jillian, the Archons, and the gwiffons and see "major disaster" as the likely outcome.

[normalphil]

Wow, poor Ansom. Looks like he made the right call (Parson seems to think so, at least)... but everybody and their Necromancer knew that Jillian was his blind side.

Up to this point I figured Wanda's control on Jillian was pure psychology. Turns out it was a double-whammy, which probably explains her confidence in the face of Sizemore's uncertainty.

I pity Jillian right now, but I don't think I'm sympathetic. This is going to work on her because she by choice isn't a critical thinker- if she had her own personal Vinnie Doombats, she'd have decapitated him already (or had him conduct a one-hex radius search pattern over and over for a few turns).

[Leewei]

Jillian's initial move with the archons is shown, however ongoing communication with the archons and Ansom are not known. If she is arguing with the archons or Ansom, she may do some very irrational things in a fit of pique.

[Aidjn]

How exactly can Sizemore's life get any worse?

He's already face deep in crap.

[SteveMB]

If Jillian is one hex away from the wounded over the lake, does that mean she's also one hex away from the gap in the Dwagon fort? Could she still be aiming to rescue Ansom?

Edit: Never mind - after looking at the map again, it looks like the wounded dwagons are in fact between Jillian and Ansom if Jillian is 'over the lake'.

Hmmm... looking at the display in 60/4, there are two hexes Jillian could be in that are "over the lake" and "one hex away" from the wounded dwagons.

By my count, either of these hexes is four hexes away from Ansom's current location in the middle of the Dwagon Donut... by either a path that bypasses the wounded dwagons or by a path that leads her right into them.

Hmmmmm....