Sure, but just because something’s occurred to Parson, doesn’t mean it’s occurred to anyone else. He’s been shown to even be able to outthink Charlie. Plus, it’s pretty well-established that Jillian is not long on critical thinking skills when it comes to Ansom. To the extent that she’s thought about it at all, Jillian probably figures that at worst, she can keep Ansom captive indefinitely, so what knowledge he gains is irrelevant.
Now, I’m really wondering about recent events. Love is speculated to be Natural Thinkamancy, and Charlie’s a pro at that. Surely, he expected her to react this way. For some reason, he wants her pissed off at him. See also his snubs when he initiates contact: We know from his interactions with Parson that he’s capable of being polite even to someone he regards as an outright enemy.
Meanwhile, we’re also left wondering whom else he was talking to in the last graphical update, when he put both Jillian and Tramennis on hold. I’m sure he considers Parson more important than either of them, and possibly Wanda, but we know neither of them were talking to him at the time. If it were just Jillian, then it might just be part of the snub. But he’s buttering up Tramennis: He wouldn’t put him on hold unless he really were talking to someone more important. Who is it? The wielder of the fourth Tool, perhaps?
Charlie wasn’t talking to anyone while Jillian and Trammenis were on hold; he was eavesdropping on Parson’s thinkagram to Wanda. Hence his knowing that Spacerock is about to get plastered. Check the strip before this; the intercut implies he’s eavesdropping on Parson, and here Charlie seems to confirm it. (and, we’ve seen Parson speculating that Charlie could eavesdrop on thinkagrams, before)
I think he’s very aware of how Jillian might react to his sudden rudeness – he’s trying to goad her into acting to save Spacerock. And he talked to Jillian before Trammenis because if he did actually manage to convince Jillian to do something, his message to Trammenis would be different.
I’m thinking we might not actually see the substance of Charlie’s talk with Trammenis; just the effects. More dramatic if Charlie doesn’t spill the beans on Parson’s plan before the readers see it. Of course, that just might be wishful thinking on my part that something would finally happen. I understand why the updates have been slow, but sheesh.
Are those Lucky Charms?
Yes they are. Note when the rainbow comes up.
I won’t spoil the pun at the end, but only because I want you all to feel the same pain I did.
That is a truly appalling pun
VERY interesting development
Well, damn. Parson’s about to militarize the Magic Kingdom. With Portal Rooms as a shortcut into every Capitol… say, to later send Wanda through with some decrypted casters.
Charlie is right to be afraid of Parson.
I can’t help but think back to Janis’s observation that yes, Parson breaks things, and he just might be able to break them enough to bring peace.
I also like how simple the solution turned out to be to the “zero move” problem.
I wonder what kind of reception he’s going to get in the Magic Kingdom, though?
“This isn’t a place for Warlords.” remember?
Maybe Janis will run interference for him. Or maybe he’s got his own plan for dealing with their response to interlopers.
Text update
Ooops
Yeah, I’d say that’s a real sore spot, all right…
Charlie’s reputation isn’t doing him any favors when he’s trying to make friends. And Tramennis is inching ever closer to getting Parson’d.
get to the battle, get to the battle GET TO THE BATTLE!
Impatient? Moi?
Actually, I think that Tramennis is at least half-right, possibly entirely right. He’s definitely correct that Charlie fears Parson. And I think he might be right that Parson would prefer a nonviolent way of getting his people out alive: We know that Parson has a plan to win this one, but whatever it is, it’s likely to be at great cost.
Plus, as Tramennis himself says, Parson is fascinating. Any strategist that hopes to live long in Erfworld should be seeking to learn as much as possible about and from Parson. Even if he can’t learn enough to be as good as Parson himself, he could certainly learn enough to get a definite edge versus other sides.
Tramennis thinks both Jillian and Parson are fascinating. Which is pretty much spot-on… but both are probably best studied from a distance.
Unfortunately, Tramennis’ ideas are going to require he try to parlay with Gobwin Knob, and since the RCCII doesn’t have a thinkamancer for that, he’ll have to try talking to Ossomer or Wanda. And we all know, that’s when they’ll “get them.”
I’m just hoping Tramennis survives, somehow; Slately is toast, of course.
And I’m thinking that maybe Jillian shouldn’t follow Duncan’s suggestion to play it safe until the Faq Heir pops. She’s got an opportunity to flatten quite a few GK Level IIs while all their dwagons are tied up at Spacerock. She should instead go razing cities for schmuckers, up until GK has a chance to recover from whatever goes down at Spacerock.
I think that razing those level 2s counts as playing it safe. Or at least, compared to zipping back to Spacerock just because Charlie wants her to. A level 2 city with no dwagons or casters vs. a high-level royal warlord with all those megalogwiffs should be about as safe as anything ever is in this world. Duncan advised caution, not paralysis.
So Tramennis is about to do exactly what Jack said they would do - parlay and offer some fairly extreme terms that GK would never accept - albeit not quite for the reason of saving face before the slaughter. In the end the result will be the same.
I wonder how Parson will do in armed combat - surely his status as a field unit will grant him some skill at arms that his total lack of experience does not? I suppose in a one-on-one situation he could always just fall on his opponent. 