Erfworld

If Parson shoots through the portal he loses a lot of monetary value. He needs a way to get Lilith back that doesn't involve killing any archons. Will Lillith sac herself to save Parson?

I mean he'll theorize about getting shot at.

Boy that was some infodump. What Parson wouldnt give to get ahold of that transcript!

Oh poor, poor Charlie if he tries the tripod.

I predict that Marie will be very, very helpful shortly. If only in that she gets Parson and co. to hit the deck, while a score of Decrypted and random casters downrange fail to do so and get mowed down. Cue treasury transfer and MK uproar.

Charlie's gem plan may backfire though; I don't think he's calculating what a clusterboop to his finances will ensue if he dusted most of the Decrypted present. Imagine losing live Archons! Lilith wouldn't need a hail Mary from Parson, she could fly out under allied stack.

The other, though remote outcome of this. Imagine if Parson managed to convince the MK that, since Charley is now their enemy, they could actually invade him en masse. Just imagine, dozens of every type of golem, veiled, spammed through the portal at such rates Charlie's defenses are overwhelmed. Followed by an army of led casters.

Parson might even be magnanimous and give them Charlescomm the city as their Erfworld "outpost".

edited 13th Nov '15 4:51:23 PM by Earnest

Yeah, it's kind of interesting to wonder how much this is going to backfire for Charlie. I suspect Wanda was probably right in that situation to try to stop Lilith, but Charlie doesn't have someone to tell him no, you can't kill your opponent right now. Literally can't.

edited 13th Nov '15 5:12:09 PM by Arha

I don't know about that. Charlie is perfectly aware that the squad of Decrypted units will be present outside the portal (his "spotters" can see them, as mentioned in this update), and that's presumably included in his calculation of how much "mowing [Parson's] whole group down" will cost him (140m Schmuckers, enough to allow 28 attacks given that he'll be paying the 5m maximum penalty each time due to how absurdly massive his treasury is). This is less than what he has in his treasury right now (166.5m), and the truce doesn't start forfeiting units/cities until you don't have enough left to pay the 500,000 minimum penalty per violation (see truce terms here).

Parson and Gobwin Knob would, however, become absurdly rich. Sizemore thought that "millions' worth" of gems would be enough to make them the richest side on Erf. Clearly he was wrong.

Hmm. Looking through the archives, it looks like Parson has more than 28 troops in the Magic Kingdom. I guess it depends on how many of them he stuffs in front of Charlie's portal ... and whether Charlie's "spotters" can get the word to him in time to call the operation off. 32 attacks would put him at 6.5m Schmuckers (below the 10m point where he starts losing half his treasury a shot instead), another 3 would put him at roughly 800,000 (below the point where he starts losing 500,000 a shot), and then he only has one more attack before he starts losing units and cities. 36 shots with only monetary penalties.

Ooh, good find.

edited 13th Nov '15 5:57:08 PM by Shinziril

He can pop off 32 shots with the maximum 5m penalty; 160m and leaving 6m; then it'll be halving - 3m, 1.5m, 0.75m and only then will he start loosing units. So a total of 35 possible attacks on GK.

Oh right on the next page, "over ninety units"

edited 13th Nov '15 5:48:17 PM by Adannor

I note that it's possible Parson might in fact be captured here...after all, Jillian eventually fulfilled her prophecy to croak the ruler of Haffaton after a complicated series of events that started with her getting captured and brought to the capital. It would certainly be an interesting twist if the story suddenly shifts to Parson as a prisoner of Charlescomm (or even forced to work for him somehow, since Charlie has expressed interest in that in the past). Though I suppose it's unlikely.

Though if Charlie's aware of the prophecy, emphasizing capturing Parson over killing him doesn't seem smart, given historical precedent with Jillian. Unless...perhaps Charlie is hoping to game the prophecy by putting Parson in stasis or something until some time long in the future when Charlie might eventually get tired of living.

Yeah, he's probably planning on something like that. Note that killing him is on second priority only if they can get the body. Chance shots are not allowed because Charlie knows that he'll get Decrypted after that.

He's a Carny, he cheats Fate for living (literally, given he's acting while incapacitated). He knows that Parson killing him is going to happen, but it may be delayed (with a bonus of nobody else ever managing to do so).

That's what we were all saying too, Wanda.

If Charlie's entire existence is owed to cheating Fate on a massive scale, then he has to know that sooner or later that bill will come due. If Wanda's right about the "very hard way" bringing incredible pain and suffering upon the one choosing it, then Charlie must have chosen the "Ultimate X-Treme Double Plus Impossible Way".

edited 16th Nov '15 6:46:15 AM by Fighteer

Well being a living corpse is rarely a very pleasant experience, so Fate got that covered. Of course, still beats being dead.

If Marie persuades Parson not to enter the portal, then that at least messes with Charlie's plan to reclaim Lilith as compensation.

I wonder what the tripod weapons are. Are they tripods in the machine-gun-mount sense, or in the War Of The Worlds sense? (The latter seems impractical for keeping in a portal room though.)

Sounds to me like tripod-mounted automatic weapons.

Same to me, yeah.

Or possibly something that fires canister rounds (think giant shotguns).

If Parson is right, could Charlie be suitably disadvantaged by fake Parsons going through the portal? Jack is right there...

Casting through the portal either doesn't work or inflicts penalty. They need to get something shot before that happens.

That's a pretty good idea, but a) I'd expect Charlie to have some Foolamancy detection set up, and b) I don't think Parson's willing to send his troops to their death like that.

God DAMN IT, Wanda!!!

It was about time this subject was adressed in the comic proper. Marie is realizing she may have done a mistake when teaching Wanda about Fate.

Also: can someone - anyone - heal Maggie already before she croaks? Now, don't get me wrong, she looks adorable in Parson's arms, but she still needs that healing spell.

If war be rough with fate, be rough with war.

Any guesses as to what the weapon will be now it's been brought up? I'm going to suggest Parson will kill Charlie with a rocket launcher, because there's an arms race to start now.

Maggie has until the end of her side's turn to be healed, so unless Charlie pulls another crazy Turnamancer linkup, there shouldn't be an issue.

I think Lilith probably would have failed, actually. How would she have gotten Charlie back to the portal to be decrypted? The archons would have torn her to shreds. Literally.

A Facebook commenter pointed out that Janis is standing between Parson and the portal. If Charlie's Archons shoot through it, they'll hit her first...

I'm assuming you mean Marie?

That Healomancy scroll is looking like a big Chekhov's Gun waiting to be fired. Perhaps as suggested earlier, it's going to come down to some kind of choice of who to use it on...