I thought the alarms were built into the claim thinkagram, for the purpose of making things seem more urgent. Seems like exactly the type of thing Charlie would do: “Act now! This offer won’t last! Operators are standing by!”
What I’m not clear on is how much is Charlie and how much is automagical compulsion as a result of the contract
Why has Parson changed clothes?
If the newly acquired archon has foolamancy could she go through looking like Parson to provoke a reaction?
I’m not convinced Charley intends to execute the parley in meatspace. He’s more of a thinkspace kind of guy.
Although, he might go with meatspace if he feels a thinkspace parley would be accessible to Maggie and/or TGMTTA.
Parson’s appearance looks like a sort of manipulation Charley would impose during a Thinkagram. Two notable details stand out for me, though. First, I can’t imagine Parson bringing that sack of weapons back into Charlescomm. Also, his injuries appear to be gone. It’s pretty clear that the healing scroll hasn’t yet been cast, which is why I’m leaning towards Charley having something to do with how Parson looks in that panel.
Maybe it’s an automagical effect of having selected the “Parley” option.
It seems like Charlie’s Archons can’t do much to Lilith. I wonder if she’ll just stand in the path of the guns so they can’t fire on Parson without harming her and awarding GK half of CC’s treasury. Charlie’s plan to attack Parson because eliminating him is worth the cost only works if he actually takes Parson out. Though we’ve seen that CC can use nets or other non-damaging techniques to restrain Lilith without violating the contract, right?
On the other hand, there’s been a lot of build up to Charlie providing Parson with a noble option. Parson may well be taking the guns back to Charlie as part of the parley. Or that’s at least what he wants Charlie to think. I’m really interested to see how this plays out.
When the hobgobwins Turned to Charlescomm, their livery all switched to Mafioso black suits. Parson’s new duds look to be a Warlord equivalent. It’s likely that the parley offered by Charlie was for him to Turn to Charlescomm.
Note that Big Game shoot-on-sight rules are still in play for Charlie, too.
Hm, interesting. Is that an oversight by Charlie? He forgot he gave the “shoot on sight” rules and that he can’t rescind them due to the communications disruption?
If Charlie fires on one of his own units, that won’t be a violation of the contract. But if Parson attacks Lilith, it would. Is that Parson’s plan, to attack Lilith after switching to Charlescomm, to at least give GK a big payout?
I don’t think his new Loyalty would allow him to do that.
The Charlescomm archons are expecting Parson to come through the gate, so they’re in communication with Charlie (who’s plugged in again now). And since Charlie seems aware that Parson is Fated to kill him, I suspect that Charlie not rescinding the Big Game order is entirely deliberate.
Ah, I should have reread the last few pages. I thought Charlie had a partial connection but was unable to communicate with 40. So Charlie’s plan may be to take Parson to his side, then kill him, so he won’t be violating the truce to do so.
Parson’s change of costume could also be natural signamancy, triggered by getting the guns and knowing what guns do. A trenchcoat and sack of guns makes me think of the Matrix.
Update, with a closer look at Parson in his new livery. He’s a Guido. With an eyebrow piercing, I think.
that’s just a plaster for his cut eye
Wait, they’re not going to actually show the parley?
And they’re talking about him coming back to the Gobwin Knob side. So the duds do show a change of allegiance. Marie is making quite a strong argument against the change.
Nicely telegraphed! “He hated to waste juice almost as much as he hated the clothes…” and then you see the baffle spell Jacking the clothes. Clever.
Wow. I’m glad that paid off so quickly. Seems very unlikely that Lilith isn’t going to get hit as well. And I suppose that we have confirmation that Charlie wasn’t planning to kill Parson after he turned, since he ordered the portal team to stand down.
I’m really enjoying this arc.
Right–> it looks like Lilith still sees Parson as her Warlord (visually, sure, but wouldn’t there be stats and other things she would’t register on an enemy unit?) and maybe take a bullet or seventeen for him.
That will nicely replenish GNs treasury, though it’s unlikely to such an extent that Charlie would have to give Parson back, since it sure seemed like CharlesComm had fairly massive treasure stats.
Yeah, I can’t see Charlie agreeing to return Parson and call it a mulligan. Not unless he faced a very significant asset loss. Then again, breach of contract means half the treasury, with a 500k minimum. Charlie may well give Parson back to avoid losing half of his considerable assets.
Ah. I was wondering how it would help if Charlescomm shot a Charlescomm unit.
For one, no one has ever been able to see Parson’s stats. For another, Charlie doesn’t have to give anything back. Once GK has some money, Parson can turn back to them, and they can pay the penalty. It seems really dumb that Charlie would agree to something like ‘Half the treasury goes’ instead of a fixed amount, given that he started off with such a massive treasury.