[2047] ... it grows under the court!

[madragoran]

... do as I say or else!

[madjack]

This doesn't quite add up.

Ys dropped 3 seeds alright. But here we see 2 in the same place, and the other to sprout is Robot's wooden arm, for a total of 4 (-1 claimed destroyed). That second link shows that he remembers the 3 seeds he dropped, and claims to Annie in today's page that there were 3. He could have been lying, however.

So.. Wildspec time?

Is one of the memories Coyote concealed what Ys or Coyote himself did to Robot? Did they do something else to him other than give him an arm that nobody has picked up on yet?

Did Coyote instigate the creation of the robot religion around Kat?

Edit: Occam's Razor answer: The two seeds simply sprouted in one place, making the super-tree compared to the Robot arm one, which only grows upwards.

Another Edit: Actually, founding the robot religion was what got him put in that box to begin with(?) so its probably the simpler answer this time round.

[Eversist]

So I either didn't notice or thought she was still emerging from the ether on the last page, but it looks like Annie's hair stayed longer even in "real life"... she'll need another trim to get her old volume back.

Also interesting to learn that those roots going over the river aren't just to make a new bridge.

[fjodorii]

I don't see how it doesn't add up? 3 seeds dropped in the hall, + 1 planted in Robot = 4 seeds in total. 1 seed destroyed, 2 big trees growing in the court and another 1 running underground = 4 seeds accounted for.

[madjack]

Oct 1, 2018 7:49:58 GMT fjodorii said:

I don't see how it doesn't add up? 3 seeds dropped in the hall, + 1 planted in Robot = 4 seeds in total. 1 seed destroyed, 2 big trees growing in the court and another 1 running underground = 4 seeds accounted for.

Yeah that potential answer hit me as well when I was typing some more thoughts up, looks like we both posted/edited at the same time.

[hajo]

Oct 1, 2018 7:19:42 GMT madragoran said:

... do as I say or else!

I'm wondering - the Court has been shown to be mostly peaceful, but who/where is the artilleryman ?
Also, if Loup is really going for war, how would he handle some counterfire ?
Napalm is pretty lowtech...

[theonethatgotaway]

Hmm, Could the Court potentially like... Take the field, and put it a little more "over the edge", Patrick-style? That way the energy field might also cut the roots, like it did with the branches up-top when it closed over.

Also, how are the other creatures using the roots? Are they going OVER them, like a bridge? Does that mean they can pass through just like Annie and Jones if they just... Ask nicely? Are they going THROUGH them, like some kind of Hyperloop? How would they emerge in that case? Do they go UNDE... no wait, that's just silly, nvm.

[fjodorii]

Oct 1, 2018 10:38:44 GMT theonethatgotaway said:

Hmm, Could the Court potentially like... Take the field, and put it a little more "over the edge", Patrick-style? That way the energy field might also cut the roots, like it did with the branches up-top when it closed over.

Also, how are the other creatures using the roots? Are they going OVER them, like a bridge? Does that mean they can pass through just like Annie and Jones if they just... Ask nicely? Are they going THROUGH them, like some kind of Hyperloop? How would they emerge in that case? Do they go UNDE... no wait, that's just silly, nvm.

I guess that if you can order a seed to sprout into some sort of megastructure at will, you can also order it to grow hollow roots?

[dortieroo]

If Loup already established he halted activity in the forest, what creatures are going to be crossing through to the Court? Unless he's only selectively frozen some creatures and not others, or is going to be unfreezing certain ones to wreak havoc to dissuade Annie from procrastinating, but I have doubts about that. I know they've reported creatures in the Court already, but this feels like a bluff.

[faiiry]

In the first panel Loup tells Antimony not to stall because he’s not fond of waiting to which she responds by chastising him for being cryptic - but I don’t think those words were very cryptic at all. Seems clear to me.

Anyway, stating the obvious, I think Annie and GKC in general are pretty screwed unless they find a god-killing MacGuffin hiding in a back closet somewhere. Such as the tooth, but who could get close enough to Loup and act quickly enough to use it? That aside, as I said, the court is screwed, their position is dire, and Loup has all the power here. They’re in no position to bargain whatsoever, and if he wants to attack, unless he was showboating about being able to destroy the shield (unlikely), they can’t stop him. They can’t hold the items for ransom - if they refused to return what he wants, he can just go in and get it for himself. This is the stickiest situation our heroes have encountered.

[theonethatgotaway]

Oct 1, 2018 10:55:35 GMT faiiry said:

In the first panel Loup tells Antimony not to stall because he’s not fond of waiting to which she responds by chastising him for being cryptic - but I don’t think those words were very cryptic at all. Seems clear to me.

Anyway, stating the obvious, I think Annie and GKC in general are pretty screwed unless they find a god-killing MacGuffin hiding in a back closet somewhere. Such as the tooth, but who could get close enough to Loup and act quickly enough to use it? That aside, as I said, the court is screwed, their position is dire, and Loup has all the power here. They’re in no position to bargain whatsoever, and if he wants to attack, unless he was showboating about being able to destroy the shield (unlikely), they can’t stop him. They can’t hold the items for ransom - if they refused to return what he wants, he can just go in and get it for himself. This is the stickiest situation our heroes have encountered.

Did someone say "God-killing MacGuffin"? Like, say, an ether-gathering-and-throwing/shooting-megastructure that we don't yet know the REAL meaning of?

[todd]

We don't know whether the Omega Device is a weapon that could be used against Loup. All we know is that it's a top-secret project the Court is working on. (The name sounds ominous, but that doesn't mean it's a doomsday device.) It could be just an analytical device, no more useful for warfare than, say, the Hubble Space Telescope. And even if it could be weaponized, we don't know how close to completion it is.

(I wouldn't be surprised, for that matter, whether even if the Court did have such a weapon, it turns out that if used against Loup, it would also kill every other etheric being in the area - including not only all the forest-folk, but everyone in the Court with etheric talents - Annie, Parley, Smith, Zimmy, Gamma, Paz, everyone who used to be forest-folk, etc., making such a victory over Loup a pyrrhic one.)

I think that Annie would be unwilling to use the knife to kill Loup; Ysengrin's still in there, buried deep inside, and she wouldn't want to kill him.

There's always the hope that Loup's acting the way he does because he lacks the bone and water and returning those to him would change him for the better, or something like that. That may be the Court's only hope at all. (And it might match the comic's preference to finding peaceful solutions to problems over violent ones.)

[ctso74]

Let all DMs remember, the Tiny Hut spell does not make a floor. Woe to any wizard, who thinks it does.

Oct 1, 2018 10:55:35 GMT faiiry said:

I think Annie and GKC in general are pretty screwed unless they find a god-killing MacGuffin hiding in a back closet somewhere. Such as the tooth, but who could get close enough to Loup and act quickly enough to use it? .

Renard might be able to wield the Tooth fast enough. Plus, he may be one of the few, who could get close enough to do it.

Or Zimmy could pay the Forest a visit. Honestly, if the Omega Device makes more of an impact than a weaponized Zimmy, then it's a significant tool.

[pyradonis]

How can you not trust that smile?

[pyradonis]

Oct 1, 2018 10:43:37 GMT fjodorii said:

Oct 1, 2018 10:38:44 GMT theonethatgotaway said:

Hmm, Could the Court potentially like... Take the field, and put it a little more "over the edge", Patrick-style? That way the energy field might also cut the roots, like it did with the branches up-top when it closed over.

Also, how are the other creatures using the roots? Are they going OVER them, like a bridge? Does that mean they can pass through just like Annie and Jones if they just... Ask nicely? Are they going THROUGH them, like some kind of Hyperloop? How would they emerge in that case? Do they go UNDE... no wait, that's just silly, nvm.

I guess that if you can order a seed to sprout into some sort of megastructure at will, you can also order it to grow hollow roots?

Plus, it has already been established, that in the Gunnerverse, dryads are able to travel through trees. They might be able to take someone with them.

By the way, I am pretty sure theonethatgotaway was referring to the power station, not the Omega Device.

[rinabean]

Oct 1, 2018 12:46:20 GMT todd said:

I think that Annie would be unwilling to use the knife to kill Loup; Ysengrin's still in there, buried deep inside, and she wouldn't want to kill him.

She doesn't need to kill him with the knife, it should be possible to cut them apart. It cut a shadow from the floor after all!

[faiiry]

Oct 1, 2018 18:51:27 GMT pyradonis said:

How can you not trust that smile?

I like that you brought up this page because it shows how Annie has never been terrified of Coyote. Ysengrin yes, but Coyote she mostly just gets annoyed with, despite his great display of powers, and from the very beginning, she's not afraid to call him out for being a lunatic. That carries over very nicely into her dealings with Loup, who I personally think is much more like Coyote than Ysengrin. She tolerates his antics but she shows little fear and isn't afraid to tell him What's What. I like her.

[Runningflame]

Oct 1, 2018 18:51:44 GMT pyradonis said:

Oct 1, 2018 10:43:37 GMT fjodorii said:

I guess that if you can order a seed to sprout into some sort of megastructure at will, you can also order it to grow hollow roots?

Plus, it has already been established, that in the Gunnerverse, dryads are able to travel through trees. They might be able to take someone with them.

Great catch! They are definitely able to take someone with them.

[mturtle7]

Oct 1, 2018 7:49:58 GMT fjodorii said:

I don't see how it doesn't add up? 3 seeds dropped in the hall, + 1 planted in Robot = 4 seeds in total. 1 seed destroyed, 2 big trees growing in the court and another 1 running underground = 4 seeds accounted for.

Loup is specifically talking about "the seeds Ysengrin dropped when [Ysengrin and Annie] first met". Robot's arm was first planted by Ysengrin long before Annie met him. He probably didn't consider it worth mentioning right now because it seems to be serving the exact same function as the 2nd seed. The math works out OK to me!

[todd]

Oct 1, 2018 17:50:12 GMT ctso74 said:

Let all DMs remember, the Tiny Hut spell does not make a floor. Woe to any wizard, who thinks it does.

Loup's plan reminds me again of that scene in the 1990's animated series "Gargoyles" I mentioned a while back, where Oberon (yes, that Oberon) was attacking a New York skyscraper that had surrounded itself with a force field, pounding on it with his fists. He finally got inside by diving below ground, since "the force field stops at ground level", and re-emerging in the basement. Loup seems to be taking a similar approach of getting in underneath (or in this case, allowing his followers to get in underneath).

[todd]

Oct 1, 2018 19:13:15 GMT rinabean said:

She doesn't need to kill him with the knife, it should be possible to cut them apart. It cut a shadow from the floor after all!

Except it would probably require a good deal of training and information to work out how to use the knife to separate Ysengrin from Coyote - and Annie doesn't have the time for that.

[philman]

Would the knife even work on Coyote? Since the knife is a part of him originally, wouldn't it make more sense to work on everything EXCEPT for coyote?

[madjack]

Oct 2, 2018 8:18:17 GMT philman said:

Would the knife even work on Coyote? Since the knife is a part of him originally, wouldn't it make more sense to work on everything EXCEPT for coyote?

Except Loup is explictly not Coyote... So it should work right up until the two are separated?

[philman]

Oct 2, 2018 8:19:35 GMT madjack said:

Oct 2, 2018 8:18:17 GMT philman said:

Would the knife even work on Coyote? Since the knife is a part of him originally, wouldn't it make more sense to work on everything EXCEPT for coyote?

Except Loup is explictly not Coyote... So it should work right up until the two are separated?

Or it would work to destroy every part of Loup that is not coyotes, i.e. Ysengrin, leaving Coyote untouched? Or maybe the merger between the two has "currupted" the coyote part enough that he can now be harmed by the tooth

[ctso74]

Oct 2, 2018 0:12:15 GMT todd said:

Oct 1, 2018 17:50:12 GMT ctso74 said:

Let all DMs remember, the Tiny Hut spell does not make a floor. Woe to any wizard, who thinks it does.

Loup's plan reminds me again of that scene in the 1990's animated series "Gargoyles" I mentioned a while back, where Oberon (yes, that Oberon) was attacking a New York skyscraper that had surrounded itself with a force field, pounding on it with his fists. He finally got inside by diving below ground, since "the force field stops at ground level", and re-emerging in the basement. Loup seems to be taking a similar approach of getting in underneath (or in this case, allowing his followers to get in underneath).

Gargoyles was the best!