Erfworld 71, page 65

[SteveMB]

It will take Ansom and Vinnie and Jillian and the Archons and anyone else they can spare (the bats?) to confront the force on the lake. They have no choice but to do this or they lose their siege capacity. If they target the warlords specifically, which I think they will do, Vinnie's bats can distract some of the dwagons, and the heavies can protect Ansom's flanks while he dusts Stanley's warlords. They will need to take minimal damage in order to make a retaliatory strike from Stanley as unlikely as possible--ideally, the surviving dwagons retreat to GK and Stanley thinks twice before trying so bold a plan again. Unfortunately, whether the Archons may seek clarification of their orders from Ansom, or whether Jillian tries to pressure him to go back to defend the column, one way or another Ansom will have to answer some difficult questions before he can move decisively. Any accusations of treason against Jillian will be doubly uncomfortable because their odds get a lot bleaker without her sword arm (never mind with her sword arm turned against them, although I don't consider that likely).

One possibility: Jillian decides the bypass the dwagons on the grounds that there are too many of them. When she reaches Ansom (and the Archons report finding the dwagons), he insists on going after them to (at least) take out the uncroaked warlords.

As a side note it's interesting to compare Jillian's stammering under Jaclyn's questioning to her anger and condescension toward Webinar and Dora's. She respects the Archons. That will become significant shortly.

That could be a result of the exact questioning in each case. Webinar and Dora merely rasied suspicions (Dora's skepticism of Jillian's tunnel-escape story) and unfounded allegations (Webinar's accusation that she is taking her orders from Stanley -- whatever the truth about her relationship with Wanda might be, I think it's safe to say that she has nothing but enmity for Stanley). Jaclyn nailed the issue (Jillian is under a spell) head-on (and Jillian apparently knows it, which would rule out some of the "false memories" theories).

Naturally, the latter commands more respect, or at least gives less latitude for evasion by bluster.

Not to be outdone, GK has seen Wanda's and Parson's plans collide head-on, with neither surviving. (Two chefs can spoil a stew, if neither tells the other exactly what they're doing.) Parson is forced to watch his precious strike force fight a defensive battle all together in the open; Wanda is forced to watch Jillian get confronted decisively and potentially ordered in plain view of Ansom to follow Ansom's command to engage the dwagons over the lake. It's impossible to know for sure, but this could be a bloodbath. If GK loses too many dwagons, or if GK's warlord/dwagon ratio drops below 1/8, I could very easily see Stanley asserting direct control, sending Wanda out to drop Parson off to lead a dwagon stack (arguing all the way) and Stanley ordering a direct assault on Ansom to get the Pliers, and to boop with the siege. I don't see that going well for anyone, but barring a miracle GK will get the worst of it.

The question is whether there are any dwagons left back at GK for Stanley to send Parson (or the two remaining uncroaked warlords) out to take over the surviving dwagons when their turn starts tomorrow morning. If not, they don't have any good options but to pull back the surviving dragons (though Stanley might still insist on trying to pile on Ansom's stack).