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Wednesday, September 25 2024 - 8:49 PM
By: Neoriceisgood

Back to Basics.

Death to Heroland.

43798: someone - Wednesday, September 25 2024 - 11:11 PM

I don't think having it saying "we're not going to kill them" and then moments later having it say "we're going to kill them, just not one of them" was a good way to put this together

43799: Welf - Wednesday, September 25 2024 - 11:36 PM

I appreciate Raphaeak's dedication to shadey tactics and crime. Truely an OG.

43800: Tom - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 12:15 AM

Oh boi, Piper must be protected now.

43801: Gobo - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 1:40 AM

It is a little cold of the Judge to not make the same protections available to his other accomplices. Like, practically speaking, they acted as his agents here, so for him to only protect a family member and let the others take the fall is definitely a little bit more, nepotismic than I expected from the guy. I assumed his reasons were that he didn't really have that much sway, but it seems like he can make a credible threat that has these guys pretty spooked, so...

43802: Some guy - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 3:12 AM

@someone
That's not what he said. He said "Them dying would be good for us, but we mustn't in any way be involved and be able to prove that".

And even then, it'd probably be preferable for them if Piper isn't killed.

Anyway, remember the guy who thought his orders covered him if anything happened to Piper?

43803: Silver - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 4:37 AM

One good way to make sure she doesn't die is to not send her on a dangerous mission with a lunatic (sorry Burk).

43804: Deliverance - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 4:38 AM

@someone

Strictly speaking he has neither said nor implied that they are going to use resources on killing *any* of them.

He is laying out the options:

a) Ruled out assassination - they are covering the incident up diplomatically with Mage Kingdom and Liverall

b) Explained it probably would benefit Heroland if Pablo &Co. died, so long as it didn't directly or indirectly implicate Heroland, with one exception

c) Stated that (due to agreement in a) Piper Pol can't die, no matter the cause. If she dies, the Iron Judge will assume Heroland's complicity and act to remove them from the Heroland collective, and this would be very bad if he succeeded.

Extrapolating from c), Piper Pol needs to be protected from any danger, since even accidental death or death by the hands of somebody else that Heroland is in no way responsible for could cause them to lose the Mage Kingdom as a client.

So my working assumption (at least until next page, which might completely overturn it :p) is that he's leading up to sending a hero along to insinuate himself in their company, protect Piper Pol, and spy on the rest of them including most definitely the mysterious business-suit Guy with the most obvious candidate being the Nightstud hero, whom they know and has been helpful to them before - but let's see where this leads.

43805: Tear-a-bite - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 7:32 AM

@someone I don't think he's saying they plan on killing Pablo's group, just that if they do happen to die, potentially at someone else's hands, it would be a benefit for Heroland. It's just currently not worth the effort for them to try to do it secretly themselves.
But if Piper dies, they're screwed, so they need to actively protect her.

43806: Melany - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 8:35 AM

Plot twist: Five minutes after the meeting ends, a random monster falls on Piper and crushes her into a pancake. The entirety of Heroland panics as the Iron Judge declares war on it for something completely outside anyone's control.

(Probably not, but it would be funny.)

43809: Saiko - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 11:02 AM

It seems that Iron Judge doesn't share too much information with Heroland, because he surely has more info about Guy than these guys.

43810: Ghost - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 11:53 AM

Hmmm Herolander doesn't seem to be getting worked up at the idea that offing them would be good.

So does this mean they'll be sending a bodyguard for piper to keep her alive. If so it'll be our old charming aristocratic friend assuming he made it in.

43811: Datren - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 4:39 PM

@Gobo
Honestly, just by laying out that condition he's done a fantastic job of protecting them all. As people have noted, Heroland actively can't let her die at all, and Piper absolutely isn't shy about getting into fights. And considering there is that condition that means he isn't going to take any steps to try and remove Piper from the group at least for now.

43812: Mars - Thursday, September 26 2024 - 8:38 PM

@Gobo

I think it's the "only has so much sway" thing. Retaliation for killing a relative would be more justifiable than for people entirely unrelated to him, I imagine.

43840: Potatopeelerkind - Friday, September 27 2024 - 11:59 PM

Piper could definitely spill the beans if they kill the others and not her, so Piper being protected affords some level of protection to everyone.


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