[2205] It's the goose bone!

[haspen]

One found, one to go!

I think?

[madjack]

That looks like a vial next to it. Empty?

[theonethatgotaway]

"I can't cut through it!" "Yes, you can't cut through it" Narrator: "She cut through it"

[arkadi]

It's... a trap?

[imaginaryfriend]

I think it's a test tube and some fragments of the work surface or cabinet.

[madjack]

Sept 25, 2019 7:05:40 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

I think it's a test tube and some fragments of the work surface or cabinet.

Compare with the vial Coyote gave them, that's probably what it is, damn.

I'd had visions of something drinking it and thinking they were Coyote...

[arf]

I had thought that glass tube next to the bone was the (empty) vial, but I'd say the vial was more squat.

As ever, we shall see.

[Eily]

I wonder what the point of showing that Annie can't cut through (well, can't make a big cut at least) is. I would be tempted to think the bone is just out of reach and they can't just grab it and go, but Annie should just be able to etherically pick it up (can she still do that?).

Maybe the point is to force Annie to look at the bone through the ether.

Edit: or maybe the hole is actually the tree's mouth, and its bite is worse than its bark...

[csj]

imagine if an army of men in fancy uniforms jumped in for Standard Decontamination Procedures (or if the bone had been intercepted in the first place) - then they'd be boned

[pyradonis]

Great, the damn water has been spilled.

Sept 25, 2019 8:19:29 GMT csj said:

imagine if an army of men in fancy uniforms jumped in for Standard Decontamination Procedures (or if the bone had been intercepted in the first place) - then they'd be boned

Your comment about men in uniforms reminded me of something - IS NOBODY CARING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ACTUAL SECURITY PEOPLE?!

[csj]

Sept 25, 2019 8:56:18 GMT pyradonis said:

Great, the damn water has been spilled.

Sept 25, 2019 8:19:29 GMT csj said:

imagine if an army of men in fancy uniforms jumped in for Standard Decontamination Procedures (or if the bone had been intercepted in the first place) - then they'd be boned

Your comment about men in uniforms reminded me of something - IS NOBODY CARING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ACTUAL SECURITY PEOPLE?!

maybe they tasted nicer than the others

the annies might be a bit too hot for their tastes

[philman]

Sept 25, 2019 8:56:18 GMT pyradonis said:

Great, the damn water has been spilled.

Sept 25, 2019 8:19:29 GMT csj said:

imagine if an army of men in fancy uniforms jumped in for Standard Decontamination Procedures (or if the bone had been intercepted in the first place) - then they'd be boned

Your comment about men in uniforms reminded me of something - IS NOBODY CARING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ACTUAL SECURITY PEOPLE?!

I don't think there ever actually were any. Just an illusion to make the guys not take notice of the wisp's presence.

[pyradonis]

Sept 25, 2019 9:28:36 GMT philman said:

Sept 25, 2019 8:56:18 GMT pyradonis said:

Great, the damn water has been spilled.

Your comment about men in uniforms reminded me of something - IS NOBODY CARING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ACTUAL SECURITY PEOPLE?!

I don't think there ever actually were any. Just an illusion to make the guys not take notice of the wisp's presence.

You mean the team would have gone in in a group of six and not wondered why they were suddenly a group of twelve? I sincerely doubt that. Furthermore

- the wisps can create illusions of all senses, but they cannot plant thoughts into one's head, e.g. make one think these fake people have always been here, ALSO

- the flashback panel shows twelve people entering the red zone, SO

- the wisps would have needed to create the illusion of security people outside of the red zone, when the group was gearing up, BUT

- they would have needed to know the expedition was planned in the first place, OR

- they would have had to wait at the entrance of the red zone and claim the Court leadership sent them as reinforcements, BUT

- no evidence of this has been shown so far.

[DonDueed]

I love the fact that, when Annie gets to working hard with the fire jet, she sweats drops of flame from her hair.

[todd]

Sept 25, 2019 10:51:35 GMT pyradonis said:

Sept 25, 2019 9:28:36 GMT philman said:

I don't think there ever actually were any. Just an illusion to make the guys not take notice of the wisp's presence.

You mean the team would have gone in in a group of six and not wondered why they were suddenly a group of twelve? I sincerely doubt that. Furthermore

- the wisps can create illusions of all senses, but they cannot plant thoughts into one's head, e.g. make one think these fake people have always been here, ALSO

- the flashback panel shows twelve people entering the red zone, SO

- the wisps would have needed to create the illusion of security people outside of the red zone, when the group was gearing up, BUT

- they would have needed to know the expedition was planned in the first place, OR

- they would have had to wait at the entrance of the red zone and claim the Court leadership sent them as reinforcements, BUT

- no evidence of this has been shown so far.

Maybe nobody pointed all that out to Tom when he was writing and drawing this chapter. (He might also have thought, if it had occurred to him, that it would hold up the story too much to give a few moments of concern for some nameless extras. Callous, I know, but how often in stories do we get as much concern for bit characters as for major - or even fairly prominent minor - characters?)

[DonDueed]

Sept 25, 2019 10:51:35 GMT pyradonis said:

Sept 25, 2019 9:28:36 GMT philman said:

I don't think there ever actually were any. Just an illusion to make the guys not take notice of the wisp's presence.

You mean the team would have gone in in a group of six and not wondered why they were suddenly a group of twelve? I sincerely doubt that. Furthermore

- the wisps can create illusions of all senses, but they cannot plant thoughts into one's head, e.g. make one think these fake people have always been here

Wait... who made that rule?  I mean, it may be true but I haven't seen any Word of Tom that would rule out the possibility.  In fact, a straight reading of Annie's original wisp encounter ("Seed Bismuth") suggests that that wisp was indeed putting specific thoughts in her head.  (Maybe not, though -- see my recent Wildspec for another possibility.)

One possible explanation for the missing NPCs is that they were actually the wisps themselves, and they were giving our heroes the illusion that they had entered the red zone with a security team.  "All is well!"

[shazam]

Even very dense wood burns, it just may take more to get it going. You can even burn iron, though on big solid pieces, it isn't going to ignite. www.livescience.com/60764-watch-steel-wool-burn.html

[bicarbonat]

Sept 25, 2019 13:03:14 GMT DonDueed said:

Sept 25, 2019 10:51:35 GMT pyradonis said:

You mean the team would have gone in in a group of six and not wondered why they were suddenly a group of twelve? I sincerely doubt that. Furthermore

- the wisps can create illusions of all senses, but they cannot plant thoughts into one's head, e.g. make one think these fake people have always been here

Wait... who made that rule?  I mean, it may be true but I haven't seen any Word of Tom that would rule out the possibility.  In fact, a straight reading of Annie's original wisp encounter ("Seed Bismuth") suggests that that wisp was indeed putting specific thoughts in her head.  (Maybe not, though -- see my recent Wildspec for another possibility.)

One possible explanation for the missing NPCs is that they were actually the wisps themselves, and they were giving our heroes the illusion that they had entered the red zone with a security team.  "All is well!"

That's what I'd assumed. You can clearly see Idra pick up the "team members" who show increasingly jagged teeth and insectoid features before they're killed.

[Gemini Jim]

If the previous pages can be trusted to be showing us the whole story, the wisp "Red Shirts" didn't follow Eggy around - only the other teams.

Eggy is the only Court adult of the group. He should be the only one who should have had authority to assign Red Shirts to the group - and perhaps the only one who would suspect that the "Red Shirts" weren't real Red Shirts.


(* I had this wonderful thought that everyone would just assume that somebody else had brought the Red Shirts along, but that led to the above thought.)



It is possible that the wisps deliberately avoided calling attention to themselves, by avoiding Eggy.

He also might have been in the front when they arrived - as the leader of the group - and didn't notice the "extra people" behind him.

[pyradonis]

Sept 25, 2019 13:03:14 GMT DonDueed said:

Sept 25, 2019 10:51:35 GMT pyradonis said:

You mean the team would have gone in in a group of six and not wondered why they were suddenly a group of twelve? I sincerely doubt that. Furthermore

- the wisps can create illusions of all senses, but they cannot plant thoughts into one's head, e.g. make one think these fake people have always been here

Wait... who made that rule?  I mean, it may be true but I haven't seen any Word of Tom that would rule out the possibility.  In fact, a straight reading of Annie's original wisp encounter ("Seed Bismuth") suggests that that wisp was indeed putting specific thoughts in her head.  (Maybe not, though -- see my recent Wildspec for another possibility.)

One possible explanation for the missing NPCs is that they were actually the wisps themselves, and they were giving our heroes the illusion that they had entered the red zone with a security team.  "All is well!"

Okay, I admit it was not disproven that they can do this, but I am reading the encounter in Fun City as simply the wisp showing and telling Annie what she wanted to see and hear.

But actually influencing one's memories? Why bother with illusions then at all? Just let everyone believe the others have always been their mortal enemies and happily watch them kill each other.

And even if there really never was a real security team I would expect SOMEONE to ask themselves the question whether this is indeed the case - or whether there had been actual security people who have been replaced by wisps and are still captive somewhere. Just assuming "oh, they must have been wisps all along" and risking to leave six people to die somewhere in this zone does not strike me as particularly heroic.

[DonDueed]

Wait a second... what are those finger-like things protruding in from the left in Panel 7?  How did they end up embedded in solid ironwood?

Are they about to grab whoever tries to reach in for the bone?

[wooftydoo]

Sept 25, 2019 12:34:53 GMT DonDueed said:

I love the fact that, when Annie gets to working hard with the fire jet, she sweats drops of flame from her hair.

I think it's more like embers coming off her hair which looks like it's burning, but yeah it is cool.

[calpal]

Sept 25, 2019 7:15:33 GMT madjack said:

Sept 25, 2019 7:05:40 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

I think it's a test tube and some fragments of the work surface or cabinet.

Compare with the vial Coyote gave them, that's probably what it is, damn.

I'd had visions of something drinking it and thinking they were Coyote...

I was thinking that as well, but the problem is that the vial in this chapter is very elongated.  The other one was short and stubby, and had a flat bottom to it.

I don't think this is quite the vial they were looking for just yet...

[TBeholder]

Looks like bait?

[arkadi]

Sept 25, 2019 8:56:18 GMT pyradonis said:

Great, the damn water has been spilled.

Sept 25, 2019 8:19:29 GMT csj said:

imagine if an army of men in fancy uniforms jumped in for Standard Decontamination Procedures (or if the bone had been intercepted in the first place) - then they'd be boned

Your comment about men in uniforms reminded me of something - IS NOBODY CARING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ACTUAL SECURITY PEOPLE?!

No >:v

[todd]

Sept 25, 2019 18:53:47 GMT pyradonis said:

And even if there really never was a real security team I would expect SOMEONE to ask themselves the question whether this is indeed the case - or whether there had been actual security people who have been replaced by wisps and are still captive somewhere. Just assuming "oh, they must have been wisps all along" and risking to leave six people to die somewhere in this zone does not strike me as particularly heroic.

It does make me wonder if Tom would have done better to have left the "security team" out of the story, since its inclusion in the illusion means either:

1. Holding up the story to talk about a group of nameless extras whom most of the audience is unlikely to care about or

2. Have the cast abandon them out of seeming callousness.

And I'm not sure that whatever contribution the "security team" made to the illusion scenes was worth this trouble.

Most likely it's a case of "He's writing the story on his own without editors or beta-readers to point these things out to him".

[King Mir]

So it's the goose bone, and spilled vial of Coyote Blood. I wonder if the spilled water made the tree stronger.

[pyradonis]

Sept 26, 2019 1:48:56 GMT todd said:

Sept 25, 2019 18:53:47 GMT pyradonis said:

And even if there really never was a real security team I would expect SOMEONE to ask themselves the question whether this is indeed the case - or whether there had been actual security people who have been replaced by wisps and are still captive somewhere. Just assuming "oh, they must have been wisps all along" and risking to leave six people to die somewhere in this zone does not strike me as particularly heroic.

It does make me wonder if Tom would have done better to have left the "security team" out of the story, since its inclusion in the illusion means either:

1. Holding up the story to talk about a group of nameless extras whom most of the audience is unlikely to care about or

2. Have the cast abandon them out of seeming callousness.

And I'm not sure that whatever contribution the "security team" made to the illusion scenes was worth this trouble.

Most likely it's a case of "He's writing the story on his own without editors or beta-readers to point these things out to him".

Yes, I mean, it would probably not be hard to include two panels of James calling HQ telling them the security team that was assigned to them got lost and HQ asking "what team are you talking about?"

Of course, the chapter is not over yet. Maybe someone will remember the extras after the initial excitement dies down.

[merry76]

Sept 25, 2019 15:05:25 GMT shazam said:

Even very dense wood burns, it just may take more to get it going. You can even burn iron, though on big solid pieces, it isn't going to ignite. www.livescience.com/60764-watch-steel-wool-burn.html

Well, its magic wood that is attacked by magic fire. So it probably doesnt give a flying F about science.

The annies also defeated a water creature by heating it indirectly, which was somehow more efficient than heating it up directly. As you can see, its been art mayor physics for a while. Just enjoy the ride

[ohthatone]

well it's *A* goose bone.
i agree there should be some mention of the redshirts, but i have the feeling they were all part of the illusion/dream. like when you wake up and the dream that felt so real to you a minute ago now feels like complete fiction. Usually. but a quick word from James or Parley in that would be comforting for those of us that care about redshirts.