3308 The Conversion
on February 12, 2020
Chapter: Gathering Storm
Characters: Lady Vivay of the Duchy of Pentine, Runtherd "Runt"
Location: Castle Elegrost
Pick up your copies of YAFGC Volumes 1 - 5 at our online store. Multi-book bundles and sketch editions available.
Hmmmmm, the plot thickens!
He becomes a Rannite in order to weaken but alas his efforts in fact make the Rannites stronger.
His gift is incompetence so he’s hoping that will hurt the Rannites, but maybe his hope is also incompetent…
Still, if his heart isn’t with them he will get a chance to mess them up.
If you try to fail, and you succeed, what have you done?
Finally starting to THINK! There may be hope for this guy yet!
. o O "Holy crap! Incompetence is a thing I can WEAPONIZE!"
This still has so many possibilities of meaning, not going to speculate (and get it wrong), just going to sit back and watch how it enfolds
Have learnt not to second-guess authors
And yet you think I’m so dumb I couldn’t figure out that you’ve switched names and returned to the discussions after I banned you, eh Guesticus?
What?
ALMOST as convincing as Runt’s conversion.
t!
I’m jelous, I’ve never been banned, I was once muted by an automated chat control, since it seemingly didn’t know that rapeseed oil is not a sex crime (was even using the new and improved name rapeseed, not the old name rape), but otherwise I still have to get more than a deleted comment.
You could have said canola.
Except, canola is a variety of rapeseed grown in Canada, not a re-branding, can still get rapeseed oil in other countries
It’s kinda like how people say ‘Google it’, as though google is the only search engine (it’s not even the best)
Not gonna lie, never even heard of canola, I fear other non-Americans may be unfamilar to that as well. Also if I was to talk about honey instead, I’d have similar problems (presently I prefer Acacia honey, but Rapeseed Honey is also great).
In fact since Rapeseed oil is actually made from the seeds it sounds fine, for the honey it sounds wrong, as if produced in an incorrect way by confused bees.
Made a mistake: it’s _grapeseed_ oil we have
Well, that comment of yours does look like something written by him…
*gasp!*
It’s very clear to me, and normally I’m a fuzzy brain 🙂
Queen Vivay seems to be thinking "Well, that was easy!"
The DM seems to be thinking "Yeah, right, you must think I’m an amateur: _no-one_ converts that quick!"
Well, the pacing of the comic suggests also that we have missed out on a few days of torture, sleep deprivation, and so on.
Indeed. Presumably while Lady Vivay was mending from her Turgification, the DMs were hard at work putting Runt in the proper frame of mind for a nice conversation with the boss.
Actually, I thought the DM’s look was pure satisfaction (possibly at a job well done, as far as she thinks), while Vivay’s expression was one of a sudden realization: "Oh, no, we’ve got one of the most incompetent kings in the world on our side! We’re doomed!" Maybe Vivay heard Runt’s inspiration in panel 4?
She was unconscious at the time of panel 4
No, I mean just then, when the memory occurred to Runt.
Yeah, yeah, I know, she can’t actually read his thoughts. A vibe, maybe?
I hope Runt proves Turk wrong. Runt *has* shown himself to be a pretty capable ruler, but he’s also young and has had the worst luck with love (much like King Arthur that I feel he’s modeled after, poor guy). Young people in love are proven to be quite impulsive. I hope this becomes a chance for Runt to prove, that he’s more than just a head wearing a crown.
I get the idea that when he replayed the discussion this time around, he finally realised that what Turk meant was that he was in a great position to be a saboteur. Whether Turk really meant that or not remains to be seen.
Ehhh I doubt it. Turk was too busy being mad about Runt bringing one of his kids into danger.
I don’t think Turk meant it that way either, but a sleep-deprived, in-pain, torture-drunk Runtherd needs any straws he can grasp.
Um… you hope Runt is useful to the Rannites?..
More that we hope Runt proves he can bring more to the table than JUST weaponized uselessness.
No, I hope Runt can prove, that he’s not just an impulsive child with a fancy hat. If things go well, he can show Turk that yeah, he *IS* useful to his people.
Very…convincing
Great job, Turg.
I’ve always liked Runt.
Let’s see how his cunning plan goes…
5 silver says it falls flat on its proverbial face.
Is it so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel?
If this is like one of Baldrick’s cunning plans from "The Blackadder," the Rannites are doomed!
Maybe, maybe it’s so cunning that it’s fox who went to Oxford for its PHD in Cunning, came top of its class and it now the head of the Department of Cunning…
… or it’s going to implode and take the Rannites with it out of sheer luck.
Oh spirits, the horribleness of that post… typos and missed words everywhere… I am ashamed.
I was afraid this would happen.
And the Rannites have demonstrated themselves arrogant enough that they *just might* believe him.
t!
Likewise, I’m hoping this is Runtherd’s attempt to fool Lady Vivay and the Rannites. His real goal is to help defeat the Rannites. I would just feel a lot more sure of that if there were quote marks around the word conversion.
Keep us in suspense why dontcha, Rich? 😀
Ask and you shall receive!! i should’ve expected a setting change, but somehow, i didn’t… ty rich?? lololol
I need to defend poor Runtherd here: he is not incompetent he has tried to save the woman he loved, for heaven’s sake; Turg left him there because he endamgered his son, but that was unfair on hispart as Runtherd went there to save his own heir. Turg would have behaved the same Runt did in that circumstances
No, Runt doesn’t have an heir, he’s not even married
He went there with no thought of the risks involved, believing he could just sneak in and get her out without any one noticing, and then she would fall madly in love with him and marry him
Well. he was partially correct: she did fall in love with the one who rescued her, it just wasn’t him
She was already engaged to him, of course he would think that she would marry him after he rescues her.
Hmm. I don’t seem to be able to post.
Or rather, I can post but not use the words I want to use, lol
Not swear words – I promise 😛
Anyway I ran some software that analysed the stylometrics of the two people who are claimed to be the same above (can’t write their names or this won’t post) and it concluded that they are nigh on identical.
Wish I could show the results.
I had other very convincing evidence as well, but I appreciate the backup.
I don’t think those plastic novelty Groucho Marx glasses were really fooling anyone, were they?
To me this still reads both ways. Either Runt realized that yeah, he can try double crossing the Rannites to weaken them, or recalling how Turg just so casually shamed him, he realized that he might take revenge on him.
Yep. Will Runt remain a beloved king, or will be go down in history as an idiot tyrant? Of course, since those seem to be the two clear paths, I’m expecting something completely different.
He’s never shown signs of being a tyrant though…
To me, panel 5 is not even remotely the look of a man surrendering to despair, abandoning duty, honor, and soul in favor of vengeance. It’s a look of realization: "THAT’S how I can still turn this whole stupid mess around!"
Viyay looks kinda disappointed
" Ah can’t we torture you a bit more first "
She does! and surprised too- i suppose since she courted him and was "mercifully" banished by him, she supposed he was too much of a goody-goody to convert. plus i’m sure she’d love to torture him more in retaliation for her plan failing
Oh, I love her expression in panel six; I can just hear her in the invisible panel seven: “What? No! That was too easy; you simply gave up! We can’t have that. It’s no FUN! You’re _supposed_ to cry and struggle and whimper, and go on about honor and loyalty…”
Well, that was unexpected. Wasn't expecting him to flash back to that particular moment. I do also wonder if he's feeling particularly insulted by what Turg said and that's pushing him over the edge to convert for real, if he is thinking about sabotage, or if he *is* thinking that joining them will ruin them without him even needing to try.