Book 2 – Page 94

[balder]

New One is up.

[Whispri]

If a fight starts Wanda's under orders to stay alive at any price so the portal is an obvious choice...

Has Jo-Jo just recieved orders from Charlie?

I spy a Caster in a crown, not a soverign surely, to risk a fight?

Does anyone else get the vague impression that Marie just wants to shoot the place up as impressively as possible?

What the flying, molten boop on a spike is that green faced thing in panel 3?

[0beron]

Oh dear....this is bad, really really bad. "No casters will be allowed to enter." This means no more decrypted to replenish the ranks, no artifact bonus, and no chance for Wanda to form a splinter side...
And to boot, that has to be Charlie who JoJo was talking to...and even though Marie seems to believe whatever he's doing will fail, it still worries me.

[Whispri]

Oh dear....this is bad, really really bad. "No casters will be allowed to enter." This means no more decrypted to replenish the ranks, no artifact bonus, and no chance for Wanda to form a splinter side...
And to boot, that has to be Charlie who JoJo was talking to...and even though Marie seems to believe whatever he's doing will fail, it still worries me.

Well like I said, she has her orders and if things get as chaotic as they look to be getting, punching through is better than doubling back.

Actually if it's Charlie, that's good news for Parson as far as this particluar clusterfluffle goes, as Charlie seems to want him in Sapacerock

[arin]

What the flying, molten boop on a spike is that green faced thing in panel 3?

I don't know, but it looks awful familiar.

And yes, I squee'd when I saw Aang the Airmancer in the last panel.

[fjolnir]

Broom Hilda, a comic strip witch. Last panel contains Aang the avatar, the person with the bunny ears and the weird face in panel 3 needs identification...

[joosy]

So Jo Jo has presumably received orders from Charlie to change public opinion to let Parson through.

But.. no casters.. does that mean Wanda, Jack and Maggie will be stuck in the Magic Kingdom with only GK to retreat to? Is been established that Wanda and, by association, Sizemore, are not thought of fondly. Perhaps Sizemore will be force to lead them in a mad dash underground back to the relative safety of the GK portal.

Also, if no casters are allowed through, then Parson is at a disadvantage with no Croakamancer or Arkenplier bonus to leverage.

[0beron]

Well like I said, [Wanda] has her orders and if things get as chaotic as they look to be getting, punching through [the portal, against Thinkamancer orders] is better than doubling back.

Agreed, it just would make things worse on the diplomacy/MK-relations side of things. And Marie's confidence that Parson will be ok if he waits just a moment suggest to me that things won't get chaotic enough for Wanda to go through of her own accord.

[shamelessmerc]

Jojo: "What!? Now you want me to let him through??? What are you playing at?"

So Parson gets stranded on the ground, with no casters, rank and file infantry, facing off against Slately and then surrounded by Tram's army. Assuming Sylvia hasn't lit the whole place up by the time he gets there.

Why do I think you aren't done throwing curveballs yet?

PS. I don't care how long it takes... whenever we get a page it's pure gold

[mortissimus]

So casters are not allowed to pop in the magic kingdom and then back again while being in an enemy capital, but they are allowed to use the portal to retreat to their own capital.

[0beron]

So casters are not allowed to pop in the magic kingdom and then back again while being in an enemy capital, but they are allowed to use the portal to retreat to their own capital.

Not necessarily. That may simply be a unique stipulation to make the "let Parson through" exception more agreeable to the MK casters.

[YRM_DM]

Maybe it will all make better sense at a later date in printed comic form when you can read 20 pages in a few minutes... but what seemed like a painfully long stall months and months ago is really getting rediculous.

The casters are making up arbitrary rules like a bad Dungeon Master to stall the story until it works in their favor for Parson to run through. We get that Charlie is working against Parson here. But what Parson was trying to do should have worked in the first place. He should have been able to run through the tunnel.

And now they're trying to say that Wanda and Jack can't walk back through the portal they just came through?

This is the kind of thing that a DM would say to preserve their story, that would make a reasonable person just quit that gaming group and go find a DM who makes sense.

These are bright, well drawn, intelligent comics. I'm a fan. Rob and Xin have great talent.

But the #1 problem that this comic has had since the start is that enemies keep pulling manufactured rules lawyering out of their behinds to get away with murder and stall the hell out of the plot. Charlies and his Archons are the #1 violator of this rule. What obscure twist can they come up with next to destroy an otherwise good plan? I get the chess match aspect, but, it keeps stalling things badly. Even if I go away from this comic for months to try to come back and see the story moved forward significantly, there are very few things. King Slately had a nice arc there, which moved at a reasonable pace.

I know from reading the forewards of the OOTS books, that, sometimes an author needs to stall his hero so that other stuff can happen. But so many of these waiting at the door panels don't give us any new, good, useful information. And now it's just going to arbitrarily prevent Parson from going through the portal with the people who just came through from the other side.

We get that Charlie can bend the rules and situations like Parson can, but, do we need to see 5 months of him doing it? My daughter is nine and she may be in college by the time Charlie let's Parson through the portal so he can hurt him some more. We're basically just going to see him walk through the door to be further frustrated instead of his goals working out. Given that this is a web comic... to some extent, what might otherwise be good writing has to be tweaked a little right? What I'm saying here isn't unreasonable. Yes, Charlie can mess with the plans, but, can't he do it a little faster?

[0beron]

And now they're trying to say that Wanda and Jack can't walk back through the portal they just came through?
This is the kind of thing that a DM would say to preserve their story, that would make a reasonable person just quit that gaming group and go find a DM who makes sense.

I don't think this is a matter of changing rules, it's the result of a negotiation. In an attempt to salvage the idea of neutrality, the Great Minds are limiting who can go into Jetstone city. Under normal circumstances, casters may be free to enter the portal of an enemy city that they are attacking from the outside, and then return though it. But in this unique case, that was "given up" to make the Great Minds happy and avoid pissing off the crowd even more.

[The Bushranger]

The casters are making up arbitrary rules like a bad Dungeon Master...But the #1 problem that this comic has had since the start is that enemies keep pulling manufactured rules lawyering out of their behinds to get away with murder and stall the hell out of the plot.

...you do realise that this is exactly how Erfworld is supposed to work, right? It's a world that works on tabletop game rules. Of course there's going to be "the bad DM making up rules to railroad things" - that's how the universe works.

Even if I go away from this comic for months to try to come back and see the story moved forward significantly, there are very few things...My daughter is nine and she may be in college by the time Charlie let's Parson through the portal so he can hurt him some more.

...I guess that means you don't read Girl Genius.

[CF_HoneyBadger]

My only thought when I read this was something along the lines of, "Dayum, hes finally out of that tunnel..." But it looks like we're going to be stuck with another month of Parson & Co. arguing 2 feet away from the portal entrance.

[drachefly]

Magic: the Gathering. Heh.

Wasn't there a prophecy this morning, just before Sizemore came, about the grand abbie going through the portal?

[0beron]

Wasn't there a prophecy this morning, just before Sizemore came, about the grand abbie going through the portal?

I think it was just a prophecy that she would stack with them, and it was implied she would fight....but I'll go look it up.

[Pointyleaf]

This doesn't really make sense to me. Parson has said that he was going to Jetstone just to provide his bonus.. But the relic + croakamancer bonus that Wanda gives has got to be stronger than Parson's piddly chief warlord bonus. Plus, there're no more decrypted without Wanda.

This doesn't seem like a deal that Parson would take. It'd be better for Wanda to just go back through the portal without him.

[memnarch]

So, where do you suppose Jack went: a) back down the tunnel (to maggie or gobwin knob), b) through the portal while no one's looking somehow, or c) artist error?

Previously he'd been behind Parson on page 90, but now he's nowhere to be seen in the aerial shot.


Also, just a prediction that she'd stack with him.

[Chadim]

I am very confused: not allowing Wanda and Jack seems like a HUGE, arbitrary gamebreaker. They cannot go back because potatoe?
They are coming from there! If Wanda cannot return, were will she go? How will she avoid being assassinated by some caster that wants
her dead for the monstrocities she had done? How will the decrypted (in particular Syliva) react when mistress is not there?
Why would TGM even suggest this? "Parson, we are concerned you will get killed. So we keep your friends here, to ensure that." Without
the relic + croakamancer bonus, Parson must seem doomed....

Stating that "no other casters" are allowed to go through has merit (e.g. the carnymancers).

Why do Wanda and Jack not react to this announcement? The consequences must be clear to them!