Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 049

[Zeku]

Conjecture time


If "level" affects stack bonuses, combat ability, and juice, does that mean that "caster skill level" (Adept, Novice etc) affects what spells they have access to? Do they gain one spell per skill level? Does this skill level affect anything else?

In the case of a Croakamancer, we know that a caster can spread their attention to create more short-term constructs, even at level 1. What effects the quality and quantity of uncroaked? Is it level, or caster skill level?

[Sixty]

This exactly is my problem with today's update. I generally love the comic, but this just annoyed me. Also how did she get there part 2, Haffaton doesn't have flyers, but she not only kept up with a dragon, but out moved one to get in front of Jillian. Overall not happy with this dragon crap recapture.

They mentioned several times that Jillian had engaged or been spotted by Haffaton forces. Jillian even worried that she was leading them right to FAQ and giving away her position many times. She did it once this turn before Olive found her. Haffaton had to know the general area she was in, not to mention to captured Goodmitten which gives them yet another point to use in tracking her. So finding her is the easy part. How did she get there? Many have speculated she can use plants to teleport from one location to another (in fact some were treating it as near canon in this topic later on) though given that Jillian has been heading in the same direction for many days, and Haffaton knows this (and Jillian has to spend a significant amount of move hunting) and it is not unreasonable that Olive was able to intersect her escape path. Could have easily been simple luck that Olive was in that region of Haffaton and spent several days heading on an intercept course. If there were any mounts for her to use in Haffaton I'm sure she'd have access to them given her status.

Also someone mentioned that Gumps could be made by Hippiemancers, a logical conclusion, but is there any evidence for this outside of "it seems like something they could do"?

[Nakedkali]

I think the way that Olive made it to the hex is more simple than theories already proposed in this thread, and it was hinted at in the very first paragraphs of this update. A haffy predictomancer said that's where Jillian would be captured, so Olive just went there, made the Olive tree, and waited. Jillian didn't know this prediction, so she jinked all across the countryside, taking many more turns than necessary. This gives Olive plenty of time to just walk directly to the fated hex. All the while Jillian is thinking that Haffaton was triangulating her. It was not.

[Lamech]

If "level" affects stack bonuses, combat ability, and juice, does that mean that "caster skill level" (Adept, Novice etc) affects what spells they have access to? Do they gain one spell per skill level? Does this skill level affect anything else?

We aren't sure exactly what they gain. It probably varies by caster class. Croakamancers get dance fighting. (A stage-a-mancy ability strangely.) Maggie implies that a novice thinkamancer has trouble with backlash, while a adept (her) can give it to someone else. A master class thinkamancer can do even better reducing the total amount of backlash. (Note how the master classes safely unraveled the link?) In addition Maggie implies that a master class thinkamancer could better manage a large side.

All we really know is classes come with understanding, and they generally grant cool new abilities. Although a lot of them seem to be improvements of existing spells instead of outright new spells. A novice can use a suggestion spell, but an adept does it better. A novice can lead uncroaked, but a master gives them dance fighting. Although it seems the safe delink was a new spell.

We don't know anything that class does not affect. It could affect spell power, juice, combat stats, other specials etc.

[Azukar]

and we know that Olive is a Florist, but she's probably proficient in other casters field abilities like Wanda. i.e. thinkmancy to make people catch falling flowers.

I don't think Olive used Thinkamancy there. That seems like it'd be an engagement if she did. She's just used her own headology to confuse and unnerve Jillian until she acts without thinking.

[Smoker]

But how would he know? Would it be a light going out? Some mental number that decreases by however many digits (Doubtful, since Stanley asks how many units were lost when Parson initiated the attack against the RC and took out 40% of their seige while suffering 0 losses)? Or could it just be from the sudden drop in Side-wide CWL bonus? Some mental update like a thinkagram pop-up that read "Your chief warlord has just been captured."? Daily/turnly update of how many engagements your Side has participated in and a win/loss ratio ("Since last Turn, you have won 0/1 engagements. Click here to start new turn.")? Maybe a status update next to Heir: Jillian (red light), but not going blank? Treasury upkeep suddenly drops by the same amount as what Jillian plus her entire crew cost?

On the topic of Rulers knowing exactly what happens to their units when they croak/turn/capture, I can only recall these examples to work with:

Stanley seems unaware of Parson's attack on the RCC column.
Slately pauses to determine how many units remain in the garrison.
Wanda experiencing a Ruler's awareness of units on their side.
And also, the example already given by Knight13 on Jillian knowing what Banhammer would know.

Then we have Stanley reflecting on the dwagon harvesting observed through natural thinkamancy.

Rulers have a natural Thinkamancy which allows them to relay orders to their field units, even without a Thinkamancer. He had an feel for what was going on with his forces, even sitting there in a chair in his capital's garrison's larder. But he didn't know what to make of it.

The morning's developments had included the recall of the Dirtamancer from the Magic Kingdom, then Hamster promoting himself to field unit. That raised Lord Hamster's upkeep by a hundred-forty a turn, but that was cheap compared to the eighteen grand he then spent to promote a bunch of Hobgobwins to heavy. Then right after that, he harvested a whole bunch of Stanley's dwagons!

That really ticked him off. It wasn't like he had been able to go out and tame any more in the last dozen turns. All those Archons that were scouting the area were part of Ansom's big plan to take Jetstone, so Stanley had been stuck in the city. He got out of his chair and was going to go yell at Hamster about that, but then they all got un-fooded all of a sudden and they were back to being dwagons.

Only...Decrypted dwagons.

And Stanley considers that Parson may have been captured when he noticed Zhopa's bonus drop .

Stanley had an idea that made him grin suddenly.
"I betcha not! I bet I could assign you something-- Wait. Hold on." Stanley put up his hand.
That.
...was weird. The twoll's bonus went down.
Why? Because...his Chief Warlord had moved out of the city.
Off-turn? Was he captured?
"Hamster?" said Stanley aloud. He gave a panicked glance out the doorway for enemy flyers.
But uh-uh, he could tell. Hamster was now in the Magic Kingdom.

Lastly, consider Maggie's text update on the mental effort required by her to maintain awareness of all the units on her side.

To pull all this together, one can safely assume that Ruler's are generally unaware of the Natural Thinkamancy link they have with their units unless they actively choose to focus on it - Jillian then expects Banhammer to have checked on her status in exactly the same way Stanley checked on Parson (the side-wide CWL bonus would have dropped). It still isn't 100% clear on how/if a Ruler can determine the difference between a croak and a capture though.

So I guess this is a largely useless post, except to pull a bunch of evidence together

[Morni]

**edit added the first paragraph here**
Talking about leveling up.. and what it does give. It gives you greater control.. and a level 2 can do what a level 1 can do much better .

just a quick quote from book 0 episode 006 about leveling up. http://www.erfworld.com/2011/11/inner-peace-through-superior-firepower-%E2%80%93-episode-006/

Wanda’s scout was the only of her uncroaked units to survive the battle, and she spent another night with him. His only night. He stood sentry at the foot of her bed in her temporary quarters in Goodfinger’s garrison. He leaned and limped and shed pieces here and there. She laughed, and loved him for how crude he was.

For she was already level 2, and could do better.

This city was littered with enemy fallen. Tomorrow morning, she would have the chance to do much better than she had with this funny little bit of Matter.

[joosy]

I think the way that Olive made it to the hex is more simple than theories already proposed in this thread, and it was hinted at in the very first paragraphs of this update. A haffy predictomancer said that's where Jillian would be captured, so Olive just went there, made the Olive tree, and waited. Jillian didn't know this prediction, so she jinked all across the countryside, taking many more turns than necessary. This gives Olive plenty of time to just walk directly to the fated hex. All the while Jillian is thinking that Haffaton was triangulating her. It was not.

I doubt that Haffaton has a Predictamancer unless she is one that keeps her mouth shut when it comes to Wanda's ultimate role regarding Haffaton. I would guess that Olive is there because Fate is trying to get Wanda and Jillian back together one way or another.

It was hinted that the Tannenbaum who made a grab for Jillian was led - I would guess by Olive herself. I would guess that Olive has enchanted a lot of trees around Goodminton. In fact, I would venture that Haffaton has a lot of varied Flower Power traps around non-key cities.

[Morni]

I think the way that Olive made it to the hex is more simple than theories already proposed in this thread, and it was hinted at in the very first paragraphs of this update. A haffy predictomancer said that's where Jillian would be captured, so Olive just went there, made the Olive tree, and waited. Jillian didn't know this prediction, so she jinked all across the countryside, taking many more turns than necessary. This gives Olive plenty of time to just walk directly to the fated hex. All the while Jillian is thinking that Haffaton was triangulating her. It was not.

I doubt that Haffaton has a Predictamancer unless she is one that keeps her mouth shut when it comes to Wanda's ultimate role regarding Haffaton. I would guess that Olive is there because Fate is trying to get Wanda and Jillian back together one way or another.

It was hinted that the Tannenbaum who made a grab for Jillian was led - I would guess by Olive herself. I would guess that Olive has enchanted a lot of trees around Goodminton. In fact, I would venture that Haffaton has a lot of varied Flower Power traps around non-key cities.

I agree with you, Jillian kinda left a trail of "red dots" so finding her wouldn't be that hard. and we can assume that all of Haffaton "trees" have natural thinkamancy with Olive. kinda the same how Wanda can control the uncroak/decrypt.

Olive knows that Wanda captured Goodminton, and one of her units saw them. easy mathmancer.. 8 moves between goodminton and the tannenbaum.. she can't have more then x left. and Olive probably also know in which direction they went.

Now how Olive got Jillian name?
We know that Delphie talked with Olive at least once in the MK book 0 - episode 009. Maybe Delphie told Olive back then that
- Wanda would join Haffaton,
- Then defect to FAQ with a princess name Jillian or Gillian or Jill.
Or Olive could have gotten then name from Wanda.

[bladestorm]

Conjecture time


If "level" affects stack bonuses, combat ability, and juice, does that mean that "caster skill level" (Adept, Novice etc) affects what spells they have access to? Do they gain one spell per skill level? Does this skill level affect anything else?

In the case of a Croakamancer, we know that a caster can spread their attention to create more short-term constructs, even at level 1. What effects the quality and quantity of uncroaked? Is it level, or caster skill level?

Caster level could be a multiplier of Level based abilities. Lowest caster level is 1x of Level abilities applied to that magickal discipline, next caster level is 2x, next caster level is 3x, etc. That could affect the quality and quantity of uncroaked units done at a time, max number of uncroaked units, degree of repair possible on damaged uncroaked units, etc. It fits in with a theory I had about the arkentools simply being an additive multiplier, adding +1 to the multipliers people already have. So if Novice class is a 1x bonus and can only manifest uncroaked units for 2 turns and can only affect Human type corpses, Master class Croakamancer is a 6x bonus, capable of manifesting uncroaked units that last for 20 turns and is capable of uncroaking any unit type with a humanoid anatomy (completely made up example for illustrative purposes), the pliers would bump that multiplier up to the next level. This would allow Wanda, already a Master class croakamancer, to uncroak any corpse type and they last indefinitely. Her other classes, of which she is only a novice, get bumped up to 2x bonus, making her the equivalent of whatever the rank is above Novice. So maybe by the time Wanda gets to level 15, she could have developed her Croakamancy so much that she can decrypt without the pliers acting as a bonus modifier.

[0beron]

If "level" affects stack bonuses, combat ability, and juice, does that mean that "caster skill level" (Adept, Novice etc) affects what spells they have access to? Do they gain one spell per skill level? Does this skill level affect anything else?

All indications are that it is much simpler yet more obscure than that. It's been clearly stated that new "skill levels" is a matter of innate, immeasurable understanding of the discipline. I would assume this has no actual "stat" association, but just means the caster can access or even invent more complex spells, or use spells more effectively.

[Beeskee]

But how would he know? Would it be a light going out? Some mental number that decreases by however many digits (Doubtful, since Stanley asks how many units were lost when Parson initiated the attack against the RC and took out 40% of their seige while suffering 0 losses)? Or could it just be from the sudden drop in Side-wide CWL bonus? Some mental update like a thinkagram pop-up that read "Your chief warlord has just been captured."? Daily/turnly update of how many engagements your Side has participated in and a win/loss ratio ("Since last Turn, you have won 0/1 engagements. Click here to start new turn.")? Maybe a status update next to Heir: Jillian (red light), but not going blank? Treasury upkeep suddenly drops by the same amount as what Jillian plus her entire crew cost?

It seems to be a little bit of all of those, from what we have had shown and described to us in comic and text updates.

It might be useful to look at it from the other way around. Imagine you're playing Erfworld. You get status updates about your units getting croaked or captured via the game interface. How do you imagine your in-game character receiving this information?

Interesting to see all the complains of Jillians stupidity. I just figured Olive guided Jillians decisions with neat little spells.

Jillian held her sword at the ready, but somehow did not brandish it for combat.

Something was holding her back.

For some reason, Jillian did catch it.

Three times hinted it was, mind control it is.

Yeah. But here's the thing:

First, she only altered course by a few hexes after being detected. I don't know about you, but I would do a Crazy Ivan in that situation. Maybe even two. Unless she was mind-controlled from before that point, which is possible.

Then she just sat there while a lone unit came in singing. Didn't engage. Didn't take flight. Didn't put her fingers in her ears. Jillian had to have at least heard about rhyme-o-mancy, from living in FAQ. She did nothing.

After that, yeah, Manipulation City. Olive is kind of rough like that. She can stop any unit from attacking her. Except for exploits, she is essentially immortal.

[effataigus]

After that, yeah, Manipulation City. Olive is kind of rough like that. She can stop any unit from attacking her. Except for exploits, she is essentially immortal.

/agree with your post in general, but especially this. Makes it a crazy-good combination if she is, as some suspect, the overlord of Haffaton.

[kiyote]

But how would he know? Would it be a light going out? Some mental number that decreases by however many digits (Doubtful, since Stanley asks how many units were lost when Parson initiated the attack against the RC and took out 40% of their seige while suffering 0 losses)? Or could it just be from the sudden drop in Side-wide CWL bonus? Some mental update like a thinkagram pop-up that read "Your chief warlord has just been captured."? Daily/turnly update of how many engagements your Side has participated in and a win/loss ratio ("Since last Turn, you have won 0/1 engagements. Click here to start new turn.")? Maybe a status update next to Heir: Jillian (red light), but not going blank? Treasury upkeep suddenly drops by the same amount as what Jillian plus her entire crew cost?

It seems to be a little bit of all of those, from what we have had shown and described to us in comic and text updates.

It might be useful to look at it from the other way around. Imagine you're playing Erfworld. You get status updates about your units getting croaked or captured via the game interface. How do you imagine your in-game character receiving this information?

Coming from lurker status to make this comment: I was always under the impression that an Overlord or Ruler's side sense was like a Stupid Worlder's body sense. You don't have to sit there thinking about where your nose is to touch it with your eyes closed, it's just something you know.

Something happening to your chief warlord is probably like something happening to your eye, having your chief warlord being captured is like getting a speck of dirt in it (Boop it, Jillian! Not again!), you don't need someone to tell you something is going on, while having an infantry unit, or even a stack of infantry units, croaked is like a pimple on your back; you probably need somebody to point it out to you before you notice it. It was just easier for Stanley to ask what was going on than try to figure out what was happening on his own.

Having all of the hobgobwins promoted to heavies was probably like getting a large scratch on one of your nipples, Stanley knew about it even if it was in an area he normally didn't think about that area nine days out of ten.

[No one in particular]

But how would he know? Would it be a light going out? Some mental number that decreases by however many digits (Doubtful, since Stanley asks how many units were lost when Parson initiated the attack against the RC and took out 40% of their seige while suffering 0 losses)? Or could it just be from the sudden drop in Side-wide CWL bonus? Some mental update like a thinkagram pop-up that read "Your chief warlord has just been captured."? Daily/turnly update of how many engagements your Side has participated in and a win/loss ratio ("Since last Turn, you have won 0/1 engagements. Click here to start new turn.")? Maybe a status update next to Heir: Jillian (red light), but not going blank? Treasury upkeep suddenly drops by the same amount as what Jillian plus her entire crew cost?

It seems to be a little bit of all of those, from what we have had shown and described to us in comic and text updates.

It might be useful to look at it from the other way around. Imagine you're playing Erfworld. You get status updates about your units getting croaked or captured via the game interface. How do you imagine your in-game character receiving this information?

Coming from lurker status to make this comment: I was always under the impression that an Overlord or Ruler's side sense was like a Stupid Worlder's body sense. You don't have to sit there thinking about where your nose is to touch it with your eyes closed, it's just something you know.

Something happening to your chief warlord is probably like something happening to your eye, having your chief warlord being captured is like getting a speck of dirt in it (Boop it, Jillian! Not again!), you don't need someone to tell you something is going on, while having an infantry unit, or even a stack of infantry units, croaked is like a pimple on your back; you probably need somebody to point it out to you before you notice it. It was just easier for Stanley to ask what was going on than try to figure out what was happening on his own.

Having all of the hobgobwins promoted to heavies was probably like getting a large scratch on one of your nipples, Stanley knew about it even if it was in an area he normally didn't think about that area nine days out of ten.

The best description of a Ruler's sense is LIAB Text 49.

My interpretation of it is that a Ruler has a constant feel for Bonuses and Upkeep, and if he concentrates he can focus in on the details of a particular unit. So when Parson promoted himself to Field Unit; Stanley felt the cost of upkeep jump; when Parson left the hex, Stanley felt the Bonus drop; when Stanley focused, he could tell Parson was in the MK, not captured; &ct. If a bunch of units get croaked, Stanley feels that the cost of Upkeep for the Side is way down, but going through the ranks, unit-by-unit, to see who's still alive? Quicker just to ask "How many did we lose?"

After that, yeah, Manipulation City. Olive is kind of rough like that. She can stop any unit from attacking her. Except for exploits, she is essentially immortal.

I'm really hoping she gets hoist on her own petard at the end of this. A poison kiss from Wanda makes her panic, Jillian captures her in a trap and moves her out of the hex she's Quieted, and then no waiting! Hack, slash, croak.

[bladestorm]

At the time Stanley was asking how many units were lost, he was previously 'occupied' by Wanda's attempt to keep Parson from getting disbanded. He may not have been keeping a running tally on the number of units to notice if that number had dropped by what amount. Watching a battle on the eyetable, sure you'd notice when that number moved.... but not readily seeing the number move (because it hadn't) might necessitate asking some questions. For all he knew, he could have popped just as many units that morning as he had lost in the engagement, or there could have been some natural ally stuff going on, or some other stupid plan from stupidworld.

[Whispri]

A thought: Why is having Olive as Chief Caster stupid if Wanda's part of Haffaton? I mean, Olive's Level 12 and actually popped in Haffaton.

However not suspecting that olive could do something to her in the tree, when there was no engagements allowed, was not unbelievable. When it comes down to it, Jillian is a warlord, not a caster and she's not familiar with the capabilities of hippimancies and florists; that's not stupidity, that's ignorance. Even her father's council were not totally sure about the capabilities of hippimancy. So why should Jillian suspect that a florist could transform a tree into a unit? Hell did any of US guess that during the previous update? Jillian had no idea how the Tree units managed to sneak up on to goodminton, but i did not see anyone here guessing that Olive could transform the surrounding trees into units; and we have META-knowledge on our side.

While I'm not inclined to blame someone for being caught in an unknown spell, thing is, Foolamancy could have achieved much the same effect. For all we know, it did (the animation thing is just a guess on Gilly's part). So that's a known danger Gillian could have avoided just by taking to the skies.

She held the pink flower to her temple, just beneath the rim of her top hat. It adhered to her head.

I think... I'm worried about the flower on Wandas head...
http://www.erfworld.com/wiki/index.php/LIAB_Text_10

Given that Wanda's livery is almost identical to Haffaton's, taken with that flower, I find it very hard to believe that Wanda will turn on Haffaton out of personal desire. Although if a Predictamancer told her she had to do it...

Or, and here's a novel thinking, Haffaton could just hire a few of Charlie's Archons with foolamancy, shockamancy and whole shtick (say 4 for example), who attack Goodmington. While the casters expend tower defenses hitting very few things (because fighting four foolamancy archons is much different than fighting one), a single florist/hippiemancer starts hugging trees unnoticed in the gate hex. Once she has enough to stack with, say 12 for example, she leads an attack on the gate and kills everything inside with very powerful siege units she just made. And the thing is, the expense of hiring archons is all worth it in the end because of savings you get when having uncroaked units.

And another thing is, we know there are archons in Haffaton's airspace even now. So, how does Olive know where Jillian is exactly? Two possibilities: 1) she is talking with plants and 2) she is talking with archons.

A complete waste of money, Goodminton was as good as destroyed. Also, Charlie was never spoken of in the Goodminton era, his Side may not have existed at that point.

Archons don't have Lookamancy, so in practice they'd be no more use then, well the battles Gill has had this very day. And this isn't anything new, she fought Haffaton Units on her approach to the Minty Mountains (Cold), so even Olive being in range doesn't strike me as particularly unlikely. Gillian's luck was bound to run out eventually.

Olive is level 12 because she has directly been involved in the capture many of the cities that compose Haffaton.

But if that's the case, why is it Wanda who has a widespread reputation for doing just that?

Level isn't everything. Wanda is two levels below Ansom, but she is on par in physical combat. Even more so for casters for casters with their classes. Issac has two master classes, an adept. We don't know what classes all do, (well grant new abilities at least), but if they add juice or spell power Issac might very well trump Branch in juice, versatility, and spell power.

Since you mention it, how do we know Wanda's Level is 8? The bonus she applies to Decrytped in her stack was 8, but, well that could be an artifact bonus from the 'pliers. Even if that's the same bonus she'd add to Uncroaked, why are we assuming the bonus she grants to the walking dead increases every time she Levels?

The time Wanda fighted Ansom she also happened to be ganking him six on one, plus Ansom was wielding the arkentool destined for her.
When Wanda fought Ossomer she herself was wielding her attuned arkentool while receiving Ansom's chief warlord bonus at full power. You know, the kind of thing that makes puny doombats fight like heavies.

If you're taking that line, there's almost no one on Erf who's ever done anything impressive in battle, there are always bonuses, items, mounts, followers, surprise, you name it.

Also the point on the Ossomer thing is that she accomplished what Ansom could not, that is to say, she overpowered Ossomer in a contest of strength. And bear in mind that Ossomer's own bonus is only slightly weaker than Ansom's.

Dame Branch is one of the most sadistic, twisted characters in the series, hands down. She's a good example of how Hippiemancers can kick ass but doesn't conform to their archetype in any way beyond the superficial, like any true 'Sploiter. I think part of her role is to kind of hint that Janis, as a Grand Abbie of Hippiemancy, is not just some husky stoner but actually an extremely powerful ally for Parson, capable of unleashing a whole world of hurt even if it's only as a last resort.

All she's done on screen is croak an enemy Warlord and capture a wannabe super-villain who was plotting to destroy her Side. Plus it's Gillian, it's not evil when they're doing it to Gillian, as half the time it's self defence and the other half she's into it.

They only way for Olive to be alive in Main Comic Time is for Wanda to have her stashed in a secret cave with her innards beeing torn out daily by rats. There is no chance a Lady Firebaugh with any independence of action will be relaxed about Tommy's killer and principal agent of her side and fathers demise. Not to mention the suffering Wanda's Signamancy shows she is perpetually undergoing as a turned servant of Haffaton.

Or maybe it's all the killing that's bothering her, hmm? Thing is, Gobwin Knob era Wanda is fighting under Haffaton's banner. So, she can't be that upset with Olive. Furthermore, during the graveyard sequence, she spake of her brother claiming to have croaked him. Which means either Haffaton had been keeping an older brother on ice for just such an occurance, or Wanda blames herself for Tommy's death.

Another thing to consider, is that Book Zero's first update included a little thing on how Mathamancers claimed you could bring someone back if you paid the exact price. Just a thought...

I believe that its not just the city hexes that are 'trapped'.

In the song Olive makes reference to "Sitting in an Olive tree," Olive is capitalized and the tree is actually a 'fir tree'. Unless Olive is making a general reference that all of the trees in Haffaton territory are hers, then I would guess that this tree was already prepared for such a purpose.

I wonder if Hippiemancy is able to take natural allies like Gumps or Tannenbaums and turn them into dormant trees ready to be activated. I would guess they also act as 'spies' for Haffaton as well - reporting movement of enemy troops through the hex without being counted as actual units until activated.

Or, of course, Tannenbaums could just be Hippiemancy golems that may be able to enter a dormant state when not in use.

In either case I would assume that the 'dormant' state reduces upkeep (if any).

It would also explain the sneak attack on Goodminton. Olive could have used Flower Power to create Tannenbaums in the surrounding Forest so they wouldn't have been detected until it was too late. If they also provided some remote scouting reports to Olive that would also explain how she was able to get there so fast.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if all those trees she was hugging are dormant Haffaton Units. It would be very Entlike.

I doubt that Haffaton has a Predictamancer unless she is one that keeps her mouth shut when it comes to Wanda's ultimate role regarding Haffaton. I would guess that Olive is there because Fate is trying to get Wanda and Jillian back together one way or another.

Wanda may not have anything to do with Haffaton's non-presence in the Future Era though. Also... maybe Haffaton's Cities are empty 'cause they have a plan to re-establish themselves at a later date, putting their affairs in order as it were.

[malroth]

Plus it's Gillian, it's not evil when they're doing it to Gillian, as half the time it's self defence and the other half she's into it.

I'm definately Sigging this.

[Shai_hulud]

Why do people think it's odd that Olive could move so far so fast? They have Turnamancy items after all.

[No one in particular]

I don't know about anyone else, but I am getting so tired of Gillian.

When is the story going to go back to where the action is REALLY at?

I demand more Jillian in the next update! No more Gillian!

Just because the dead predictamancer got it wrong, once, is no reason for us to. :p