Erfworld Thread III: As the Erf Turns

[Aquillion]

Spoiler

Show

I think the blue text in the background is Maggie, since the red text (which only appears in one frame) seems to be Wanda, and it corresponds to their eye colors in the first frame.

I wonder if it's too late for Charlie to pull whatever he was planning with Vanna? Presumably he can do something or the scene with him contacting Jillian is pointless.

Also, I wonder if the threads are important? There are red and green threads, entwined, going to each of the character's heads in each panel; but just green threads (a bunch of them) going to the Arkenpliers. Important?

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler

Show

Though that could be the exact point of the Charlie scene. Book 3 is when Charlie starts becoming reactive, instead of proactive, losing the chessmaster control over events he's had up till now. This being a point when he reacted too late to intervene directly other than having warned Jillian.

Now, we all know that won't happen, and Charlie Ex Machina will save Jillian somehow. But it's how I like to imagine it happening.

[TechnoWarforged]

Spoiler

Show

Well Charlie is letting Jillian know that dwagons are incoming and is requesting to be linked up with Vanna White again back in Ch.3-11 so chances are you'll see another linkup OP booping spell that'll 'turn' the tides of battle.

Another Turn-reordering trick? That'll be too over-used since they already did it back in Spacerock. However I definately won't bet on Jillian going down easy.



P.S. What happens when you turn the ruler of a side to your own side?

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler

Show

I'm predicting a Mass Confusion/Mind Control effect. Thinkamacy to get into the Dwagon's heads, Turnamancy to instantly/temporarily convert them to either your side or wild units.

[slayerx]

Spoiler

Show

I think the blue text in the background is Maggie, since the red text (which only appears in one frame) seems to be Wanda, and it corresponds to their eye colors in the first frame.

I wonder if it's too late for Charlie to pull whatever he was planning with Vanna? Presumably he can do something or the scene with him contacting Jillian is pointless.

Also, I wonder if the threads are important? There are red and green threads, entwined, going to each of the character's heads in each panel; but just green threads (a bunch of them) going to the Arkenpliers. Important?

Spoiler

Show

Well he could still end stanely's turn so that Jillian can leave the hex and retreat. Though its possible that he may have some other tricks up his sleeve

[Killer Angel]

Book 3 - Page 11:

Booping Boop Boopers! Boop is about to get real!

This could be literally true, given the recent use of a certain dwagons' ability...

[stsasser]

Spoiler

Show

I'm predicting a Mass Confusion/Mind Control effect. Thinkamacy to get into the Dwagon's heads, Turnamancy to instantly/temporarily convert them to either your side or wild units.

While stacked with the Arkenhammer? Maybe not impossible, but it seems unlikely.
A partial fail for Charlene...Charlie is female, right?...would fit with your previous thoughts about her falling behind the curve.

[JavaScribe]

Spoiler

Show

P.S. What happens when you turn the ruler of a side to your own side?

It was discussed in Inner Peace Through Superior Firepower. King Banhammer said that the side goes barbarian.

A partial fail for Charlene...Charlie is female, right?...would fit with your previous thoughts about her falling behind the curve.

No real evidence for it. Everybody who knew Charlie before he became Charlie refers to him as male, including his daughter, so unless he's been forced to borrow an archon's body, it's unlikely.

[Psychonaut]

Spoiler

Show

I'm predicting a Mass Confusion/Mind Control effect. Thinkamacy to get into the Dwagon's heads, Turnamancy to instantly/temporarily convert them to either your side or wild units.

Spoiler

Show

Another possibility is that we'll get to see the culmination of all the foreshadowing about Charlie's ability to turn natural allies, since on page 8 it looked like all/many of Stanley's fellow dwagon riders were hobgobwins.

[HandofShadows]

No real evidence for it. Everybody who knew Charlie before he became Charlie refers to him as male, including his daughter, so unless he's been forced to borrow an archon's body, it's unlikely.

Kinda assuming Charlie has a real body left.

[Yuki Akuma]

Kinda assuming Charlie has a real body left.

And you're kinda assuming he doesn't?

Most people have bodies. So it's safer to assume he has one than not.

[Rogar Demonblud]

There was a theory going around a while ago that Charlie is effectively a ghost, since his Thinkamancy links seem to have a problem with him maintaining a physical form. Personally, I think those strips were just a running visual gag.

[PhantomFox]

Well there is the terrible cost of cheating the poison mentioned in book zero.

[Wayson]

Well there is the terrible cost of cheating the poison mentioned in book zero.

I've been wondering and I think I might have a different interpretation of that. See, we've all been looking at 'cost' in a non-literal sense. What if there is an actual cost associated with cheating the poison? Like, Charlie's personal income became exponentially larger, or increases by a certain amount every turn? This would explain why the only thing that matters to him is money, because if he can't maintain his upkeep, poof! The latter explanation of upkeep increase would also account for why he is continually trying to increase the size of his Archon fleet. He's got to increase his revenue periodically, or else he'll go into the red.

[ryuplaneswalker]

Spoiler

Show

Though that could be the exact point of the Charlie scene. Book 3 is when Charlie starts becoming reactive, instead of proactive, losing the chessmaster control over events he's had up till now. This being a point when he reacted too late to intervene directly other than having warned Jillian.

Now, we all know that won't happen, and Charlie Ex Machina will save Jillian somehow. But it's how I like to imagine it happening.

Spoiler

Show

Unless Charlie is playing Jillian here as a pawn, I put a prediction in the erf forums that "Jillian and the Tool's fight won't be interfered with by charlie directly, however it will naturally go bad enough for the tool that Parson has to get pulled into it, and when Parson is looking that way Charlie will attack in a way nobody at all is looking"

[Aquillion]

The only other character we know who cheated death with Carnymancy eventually died in the exact way she'd been saved initially (in fact, she died that way twice.) It's possible that Charlie's trick works the same way -- he didn't escape his death from poison, merely delayed it, and he's doomed to die from poison at some point in the future.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Yeah, it's a bit of a theme that you can't cheat or escape your Fate.

[HandofShadows]

New page up

Spoiler

Show

Stanly is winning at the moment. But Jillian just orderd Vanna to accept a link. I would assume it's with Charlie again. Trying the same trick twice? Parson is figuring the odds. And Ansom is making a move to attack Jillian. It's hitting the fan.

[Killer Angel]

New page up

Spoiler

Show

Stanly is winning at the moment. But Jillian just orderd Vanna to accept a link. I would assume it's with Charlie again. Trying the same trick twice? Parson is figuring the odds. And Ansom is making a move to attack Jillian. It's hitting the fan.

"You can't stop the rock..."

[Rogar Demonblud]

That might be the single scariest thing about Parson; how fast he thinks on his feet.

I'm really hoping Jillian is about to get Croaked.

[EnragedFilia]

"You can't stop the rock..."

He also appears to be leaping (or possibly burning) through the skies, and defying the laws of gravity, although I'm not real sure about that tiger part, or the speed of light. Now let's just hope he doesn't take the whole Lady Godiva thing too literally.

[Legato Endless]

New page up

Spoiler

Show

Stanly is winning at the moment. But Jillian just orderd Vanna to accept a link. I would assume it's with Charlie again. Trying the same trick twice? Parson is figuring the odds. And Ansom is making a move to attack Jillian. It's hitting the fan.

Spoiler

Show

I don't think so. Ending the turn wouldn't change much beyond granting Jillian the ability to flee the fight. Stanley can still smite her airforce on or off turn. Whatever Charlie's casting needs a bit more teeth here.

Nice reversal here sans link up spells. Jillian aggressively attacks multiple cities on the same turn carrying off dozens of prisoners. Suddenly all those spoils she ran off with just became a massive liability.

[Shogo]

Stanley's already wrecking Jillian's forces, so whatever Charlie has planned needs to be big.

I'd prefer to see Jillian croaked, but I'll accept her survival if it means Stanley avoids being croaked. I'd actually be upset if he was.

Also, just to mention the previous update . . . God damn it, Wanda. Get the **** over Jillian already.

[smuchmuch]

As Stanley hasn't designed an heir (as far as I know ?) I very he'll get croaked since that would be game over for Gobwin Knob in general and Parson in particular.

As much as people dislike her, i vry much doubt jillian is going to get craoked now, she's ben been build up too much narratively speaking for her death to happen now, that would be rather anticlimatc;

Pure speculaton:
Jillina escapes (barely), is forced to re croak Ansom for good this time, iCharlie tries to manipulate that to is advantage in some way (but will likely get blown off) and Stanley will be safe.

. Trying the same trick twice?

Remember who were talking about ? he's prbaly got morr than on trick with a linked caster.
Also even if he does pull the same trick there isn't much Parson can do about it if he does. (but i doubt it anyway, she doesn't have the game show board this time)

[Aquillion]

As Stanley hasn't designed an heir (as far as I know ?) I very he'll get croaked since that would be game over for Gobwin Knob in general and Parson in particular.

No it wouldn't. Parson (and every important GK unit aside from Stanley and Ansom) are in the Magic Kingdom, and in fact have been fairly suspiciously shuffled to there. If Stanley dies, they all become independent casters like Digdoug did, they don't die or freeze in time.

Given how the plot has carefully contrived to move not just every GK caster but a significant number of GK units to the Magic Kingdom, and given how the plot has, until now, generally avoided wasting too much time developing non-caster units outside Stanley in detail, I think it's a given that Stanley is going to die soon -- it just seems like everything in the plot has been carefully set up to ensure that things can continue if he dies in this fight.

[JavaScribe]

Kinda assuming Charlie has a real body left.

And if he doesn't have a body, then he doesn't technically have a gender, so he wouldn't be female. He doesn't even identify as female.

Yeah, it's a bit of a theme that you can't cheat or escape your Fate.

And it's also a theme that you shouldn't just accept everything at face value. Charlie may not be able to erase his Fate, but he might be able to postpone it, even indefinitely. And if Parson breaks things enough, Fate may lose it's ability to enforce itself that way.

Also, just to mention the previous update . . . God damn it, Wanda. Get the **** over Jillian already.

Yeah... Wanda's "love" for Jillian is pretty self-destructive.

[ChowGuy]

Charlie may not be able to erase his Fate, but he might be able to postpone it, even indefinitely.

And it might not, you know, be his "fate." We already know there are "prophecies" concerning him, that have nothing to do with his [secret] addiction.

[JavaScribe]

And it might not, you know, be his "fate." We already know there are "prophecies" concerning him, that have nothing to do with his [secret] addiction.

We haven't had explicit word from a Predictamancer, but Parson and the Great Minds certainly believe Parson is fated to take him down.

[ChowGuy]

We haven't had explicit word from a Predictamancer, but Parson and the Great Minds certainly believe Parson is fated to take him down.

Which in what way says he's "Fated to die of poison"? The original hypothesis here was:

The only other character we know who cheated death with Carnymancy eventually died in the exact way she'd been saved initially ... [Charlie] didn't escape his death from poison, merely delayed it, and he's doomed [Fated] to die from poison at some point in the future.

We have seen no compelling evidence of that as Fate (capital F). Saying that he "didn't escape death (by a specific cause)" because he's "going down eventually" is kind of a tautology. As the expression goes, "Nobody gets out of Life alive."

[JavaScribe]

Which in what way says he's "Fated to die of poison"? The original hypothesis here was:



We have seen no compelling evidence of that as Fate (capital F). Saying that he "didn't escape death (by a specific cause)" because he's "going down eventually" is kind of a tautology. As the expression goes, "Nobody gets out of Life alive."

I seem to have lost track of what the conversation is even about. Are you saying "I was specifically saying he might not be fated to die from poison and you've gone off subject", or are you saying "Charlie will die someday is not a valid prediction"?

If the former, then I apologize for my misunderstanding.

If the latter, one of the two dominant theories regarding Fate is that it isn't a literally preordained future, but a godlike force that manipulates Luckamancy and other subtle things to achieve certain outcomes. Which presumably specifically wants Charlie dead. Does that count as a tautology?