Girl Genius V: Madre de Diodes!

[Meltemi]

It seems likely that it simply took Agatha at her word. She is obviously a powerful Spark, whether or not this particular section of the Castle believes her to be a Heterodyne, and if she says she's going to blast a hole the size of the Castle through and around Merlot, there are plenty of Sparks the Castle has known that would mean that literally.

[multilis]

It is possible that the "insane" part of castle is also loyal to Agatha (after hearing from everybody who she is) and thinks the other part of castle is the insane part.

Or of course as already mentioned the attempt to gain control may have been successful, perhaps due to dingbot.

On Othar Twitter, a previous twitter adventure had multiple Othars, more than one might still be around. The one in castle might die/disappear/become the "Other". (If so it may end up being another Othar verses clone Othar adventure)

As well Von Pinn may have started out as a clone who then died then became a construct.

[Zazu Yen]

Ah Merlot: grown, ripened, picked, crushed.... aged then bottled?

This part of the insane castle would want a Spark to fix it, not believing they're a certified Heterodyne but valuing the Spark non the less.

But my bet goes to the "sane" part of the Kestle gaining control of this section and watching events for a little while to see how things were going, stepping in only when a true throw down was eminent.

EDIT: OR looking back over the last two pages the Kestle did NOT want Agatha firing that death ray at a high enough power to put a "hole the size of the castle" in Merlot. In a sense, it squashed Merlot in self defense before Agatha could fire.

This implies that the castle we're dealing with is the "sane" one who knows what that death ray can do.

[Oracle_Hunter]

No no no no, wait hang on...... this doesn't fit, what Agatha says there conflicts with the "the Cryptographers already told the Baron" possibility, and Merlot's Medium-sized No confirms that she was spot on, afterall surely Merlot would know that whether or not the Baron had already known about it before he got hauled off to Castle Heterodyne?.

Note that Agatha doesn't really know when Merlot broke Beetle's code. She assumes that he did it while she was still on Castle Wulfenbach; Klaus indicates that he didn't see the notes until after she left.

Merlot's small no is the realization that his own stupidity has, once again, caused him to get the foul end of the stick. His enraged no is his standard response to finding this out.

[Zazu Yen]

Note that Agatha doesn't really know when Merlot broke Beetle's code. She assumes that he did it while she was still on Castle Wulfenbach; Klaus indicates that he didn't see the notes until after she left.

Merlot's small no is the realization that his own stupidity has, once again, caused him to get the foul end of the stick. His enraged no is his standard response to finding this out.

It's interesting on the last page you linked to, Merlots exposé, we see Beetle examining the skull of an Other creation, we know he had a Hive Engine to study and Merlot comments that he destroyed all of Beetles seceret labs that he could find. I think Beetleburge may still hold some secretes that can help defeat the Other.

[Mauve Shirt]

Question: What are the glowy blue things on the stone that was just dropped?

[EENick]

You know it could be some sort of vaccume rather then just an overly large blunt object. We don't see any gears or blood after all. Perhaps the castle didn't just kill him after all.

Does the castle remind anyone else of Blane The Mono from the Dark Tower?

[slayerx]

Note that Agatha doesn't really know when Merlot broke Beetle's code. She assumes that he did it while she was still on Castle Wulfenbach; Klaus indicates that he didn't see the notes until after she left.

Ya, Agatha's jumping to a lot of conclusions... hell, she is even calling merlot an idiot for the wrong reasons. I mean you can't call someone an idiot for something they could not have possibly known; there was no way Merlot could have known Agatha was taken to castle wulfenbach... so most of what she says on this page is wrong... only thing she got right is that merlot is an idiot, though for the wrong reasons

[Greep]

W: None of the above.

Heterodyne castle: "Be careful, you are about to leave the area under my direct control"

Somethin's gotta happen concerning that eventually ;)

Bwahahaha, greep wins again.

Anyways one of the glowy blue things is the heterodyne symbol, dunno what the others are. Maybe the oriental version of lorum dipsum >.>

[Jahkaivah]

Note that Agatha doesn't really know when Merlot broke Beetle's code. She assumes that he did it while she was still on Castle Wulfenbach; Klaus indicates that he didn't see the notes until after she left.

Merlot's small no is the realization that his own stupidity has, once again, caused him to get the foul end of the stick. His enraged no is his standard response to finding this out.

It's... flimsy, Klaus would have wanted to question Merlot about Agatha if he was hauled off after Agatha escaped, so it seems unlikely that he could go from burning the university to Der Kestle without learning about these details...

One last thing I noticed, Klaus said "I finally cracked them", yeah I reckon the cryptographers were sending Klaus copies of any encrypted notes they find (which would be the logical thing to do).

Klaus didn't bother decrypting them himself at that point since he wasn't aware of any immediate urgency, the cryptographers manage to find out about Agatha while she was still on Castle Wulfenbach, Merlot not knowing where Agatha was burns the University down to keep his own hide safe (he problably knew that Klaus had a copy but he chanced that he would either be unable or not bother to decrypt them, atleast not untill he has time to escape), however he is caught and then sent to Der Kestle.

Then it hits the fan and Agatha's identity is discovered, she escapes, and Klaus, now motivated to found out as much as he can starts decrypting the copy of the notes he was sent, he can't question Merlot now that he's stuck in Der Kestle so Merlot is stuck with just the knowledge possessed in Beetle's notes and nothing else.

[Greep]

This really makes me wonder. If beetle knew who Agatha was, his holding a hive machine and his throwing a bomb at, supposedly, Agatha, are a lot more significant.

[LurkerInPlayground]

This really makes me wonder. If beetle knew who Agatha was, his holding a hive machine and his throwing a bomb at, supposedly, Agatha, are a lot more significant.

Well, we've known this for some time. Gil already suspected it earlier and Merlot's story merely confirms it. Agatha initially brushed this off, since Beetle was her beloved mentor. Klaus explained that Beetle knew who Agatha was to Dupree on his way to invade Sturmhalten.

Beetle simply wanted to hide his bid for power and it seems his plans were pretty much the same as what Tarvek and family wanted to do: back-engineer the Other's tech, with some help from Agatha, and take over Europe. He probably wanted to figure out the voice-lock that Lucrezia has on all her tech and maybe use Agatha as a pawn for other things as well.

[Aquillion]

This really makes me wonder. If beetle knew who Agatha was, his holding a hive machine and his throwing a bomb at, supposedly, Agatha, are a lot more significant.

It's also inherent in his notes (why else would he think she could control slavers?)

And, as I recall, it's in the secret blueprints (on Adam and Lilith's page; "Beetle was the only other person who knew who Agatha was...")

[lord_khaine]

Beetle simply wanted to hide his bid for power and it seems his plans were pretty much the same as what Tarvek and family wanted to do: back-engineer the Other's tech, with some help from Agatha, and take over Europe. He probably wanted to figure out the voice-lock that Lucrezia has on all her tech and maybe use Agatha as a pawn for other things as well.

no, Beetle wasnt plotting for power, it has been implied that both he and Adam&Lillith belived that Klaus was the Other, so he was seaching for a way to combat the Slaver Wasps, and the reason he throw a bomb at Agatha was because he though Klaus was going to turn them into Revenants.

[Aidan305]

I'm fairly certain that it's mentioned somewhere that Beetle wanted to use Agatha and the Wasps to gain enough power to be able to protect his city from Klaus.

[The Glyphstone]

New crazy theory:

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It's already been suggested that we would have a new player enter the game - what if that's what happened? Agatha's outburst indicates that she recognizes this Kestle voice, which could mean it's the local 'crazy Kestle' or the 'Sane Kestle' that's obeying her....what if it's the Main Kestle in the Crypt, restored to local control by Dingbot's tinkering? She doesn't seem happy to hear the voice, though whether it's because she doesn't like the voice's owner or because it crushed Merlot is unknown.

[Jahkaivah]

New crazy theory:

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It's already been suggested that we would have a new player enter the game - what if that's what happened? Agatha's outburst indicates that she recognizes this Kestle voice, which could mean it's the local 'crazy Kestle' or the 'Sane Kestle' that's obeying her....what if it's the Main Kestle in the Crypt, restored to local control by Dingbot's tinkering?

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Or the it's the Kestle kitchen, which has taken a good look at her blood.

[HandofShadows]

no, Beetle wasnt plotting for power, it has been implied that both he and Adam&Lillith belived that Klaus was the Other, so he was seaching for a way to combat the Slaver Wasps, and the reason he throw a bomb at Agatha was because he though Klaus was going to turn them into Revenants.

This leads to a "Who REALLY was the Other?" again though. Agatha was clearly sent to Beetle after being taken from the Spider Women. I find it a bit hard to belive that Agatha's mom was able to fool the Boys into beliving that she was not the Other and it was really Klaus. Unless she really was not the Other and she honestly didn't know who it was, beliving it really was Klaus. Of course this leads back to the Other being a construct of some sort that has Lucrecias memoriers/mind.

[Calemyr]

Let's think about this for a second. Klaus disappears mysteriously just before Lucrezia has a change of heart and agrees to marry Bill. Lucrezia then disappears about the same time the Other shows up. The Other disappears and suddenly here's Klaus again, in full badass mode and ready to pound the world into submission if it gets out of hand... What would you think if you were Punch or Judy?

No matter how you look at it, the timing is more than a bit suspicious. Perhaps Klaus was an intimate companion of the Other? Perhaps Klaus was the Other and was using Lucrezia as his pawn? Perhaps the Other had kept Klaus in a closet as a spare body in case Lucrezia was killed or unable to succeed in her objectives? Perhaps that was the plan all along, to use the Other to destabilize the world and Klaus to reshape it as he saw fit? You have to admit, none of these are all that outlandish compared to the truth as we know it.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Let's think about this for a second. Klaus disappears mysteriously just before Lucrezia has a change of heart and agrees to marry Bill. Lucrezia then disappears about the same time the Other shows up. The Other disappears and suddenly here's Klaus again, in full badass mode and ready to pound the world into submission if it gets out of hand... What would you think if you were Punch or Judy?

Actually, they're hiding from Klaus because Barry told them to. Apparently, Barry had some good reason to suspect Klaus - and recall that Barry would have been on the trail of The Other pretty much all of the time.

[slayerx]

Let's think about this for a second. Klaus disappears mysteriously just before Lucrezia has a change of heart and agrees to marry Bill. Lucrezia then disappears about the same time the Other shows up. The Other disappears and suddenly here's Klaus again, in full badass mode and ready to pound the world into submission if it gets out of hand... What would you think if you were Punch or Judy?

Klaus also came back with a son...
But really, saying Klaus is or some way related to the other JUST because he went missing during those years is a SERIOUS leap in logic. I mean, Klaus was one of the good guys, he was close friends to both Bill and Barry, and he fought the good fight right by their sides... to go from THAT to the Other is a huge leap... frankly it's so much easier to just conclude his disappearance was just a coincidence and the other was some other spark


The theory i'm going with is that the one who attacked the castle was Klaus from the future, via time travel. Most likely under the command of clank Lucrezia

[Aquillion]

This leads to a "Who REALLY was the Other?" again though. Agatha was clearly sent to Beetle after being taken from the Spider Women. I find it a bit hard to belive that Agatha's mom was able to fool the Boys into beliving that she was not the Other and it was really Klaus. Unless she really was not the Other and she honestly didn't know who it was, beliving it really was Klaus. Of course this leads back to the Other being a construct of some sort that has Lucrecias memoriers/mind.

The problem with this, as I've said over and over, is that when the Other possessed Agatha, she showed detailed knowledge of things only Lucrezia should know (her reminiscing over Klaus, for instance). She also referred to Agatha as her daughter -- in a monologue to herself.

The Other is Lucrezia. Maybe there are other versions of Lucrezia out there (heck, we know about two already), but the entity that possessed Agatha was clearly the Other (she was instantly recognized by all the Other's minions, had the Other's tech, and so forth), and was also clearly the mind of Agatha's mother, who has been canonically stated by the Foglios to be Lucrezia.

I mean, yes, I know epileptic tree theories are fun, and nothing prevents a shocking swerve where things like that line where the Other unambiguously refers to Agatha as her daughter in an internal monologue are all a dream or something -- but I'm getting tired of the sheer persistence of those theories. We have seen huge amounts of extremely difficult to explain away evidence that the Other is Lucrezia, and the only real reason anyone doubts this is "well, but she's acting really weird."

She's a Spark. She's insane even by the standards of a Spark, and it looks like she has a habit of making duplicates of herself with a distressing desire to kill the original (Clank-Lucrezia tried to have Agatha-Lucrezia offed at the first chance, say), likely while sending them backwards or forwards through time. Some of her actions probably wouldn't make sense to her, not even if you gave her a detailed map.

[Felius]

Seems this will lead to some catfight...

Popcorn?

[Oracle_Hunter]

All hands to the Sneaky Gate - there be a strip up there!

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I did not foresee this. Zola has joined Team Heterodyne?

[dogmac]

Nah, I think it is more "Zola flirts with Gil"

You schmooze you lose, Agatha!

[Oracle_Hunter]

Nah, I think it is more "Zola flirts with Gil"

You schmooze you lose, Agatha!

Considering Agatha has already threatened Zola with DOOM, the fact that she stuck around to take care of Gil means that she's planning on sticking around for the duration.

Now that's twue wuv

Also: why is Sleipnir plugging Krosp into Der Kestle?

[Cyan]

Iiiiiiinteresting. So she didn't escape after all. Well, that takes care of several potential wandering groups. Now we're down to just Othar and Von Pinn, I believe.

So much for the love triangle. Shall we call it... a love parallelogram?

[Rockphed]

So much for the love triangle. Shall we call it... a love parallelogram?

Surely it is already a more than 2d relationship graph when you include the Zeegatha, Zeethiggs, Moletta, Tarvamesh, and Tarletta angles. Somebody needs to make a graph.

[memnarch]

All hands to the Sneaky Gate - there be a strip up there!

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I did not foresee this. Zola has joined Team Heterodyne?

Comics go up @12am eastern us time, if they're right on the dot.

...

Also: why is Sleipnir plugging Krosp into Der Kestle?

Because it's amusing; got to love the little details like Krosp's whiskers arcing.

[ripple]

So much for the love triangle. Shall we call it... a love parallelogram?

At this point it's not a parallelogram because not all the points connect in reasonable ways (Tarvek is unlikely to simply fall in love with Zola, for example).

Given that both the men are in need of hospital beds (one already turning into a blueberry) I'm guessing that Professora Kaja had some influence on the scripting of this portion...time for some strong female characters with a minimally male supporting cast.

If I had to describe this, it wouldn't be as a love triangle or parallelogram...more like a love tossed salad with blueberries and smashed merlot dressing.

why is Sleipnir plugging Krosp into Der Kestle?

Sleipnir is looking in the same direction as Theo, but she's smiling and distracted while Theo is scared and Krosp looks disgusted, while Zeetha looks in a different direction entirely. I'm guessing that Der Kestle is showing JagerPorn up there on a large screen, and that we've just learned something about exactly what floats Sleipnir's boat...

So, who wants to start the betting pool on who will encounter Von Pinn first? The Zeethiggs/Theo/Sleipnir party, or the Gilgatha+Zoe party, or Tarvek and cousin? I'm betting we won't see Othar again until July given the update frequency...

--ripple