Headscratchers / Looking for Group

• This is an obvious idea that I don't think I've heard of. The Archmage is clearly manipulating Cale by any means necessary for him to be the future king of Kethenecia. So who's to say that when all is said and done, he won't still be manipulated by him for his own purposes, thus the title of "king" rendered meaningless all the way from the starting point. This goes back to the whole "no free will" argument in the comic. Basically if Cale never has any choices in the matter, then in truth he never has any power. He is nothing more then a puppet for everyone else to use as they see fit.
  • That would probably have been the case, had the Archmage's evil not been revealed before then.

• What does the title mean? At first I misread it as "Looking For a Group", and I thought that it referred to Cale, who at the beginning was looking for a group of heroes to belong to and lead, and later for a whole civilization of elves to govern. However, I since realized I made the "a" up, which leaves me confused. What does Looking For Group mean? You'd think it would refer to a group whose purpose is to look for things, but it's not the purpose of the heroes' group, so…
  • It's a WoW reference, which the comic originally parodied. 'Looking for group' is a message someone will send over global when they're looking for people to party up with for a quest.

• Okay, so what's up with "The Sons?" They're supposed to have been exiled for "generations." But, uh, how? I mean, they're all dudes. Do they meet up every so often with the daughters to... you know?
  • Two possibilities: One, they're elves and thus long-lived, and they could be referring to human generations. Two: Yes, they do meet up with Daughters. It would explain why that elf pirate girl was hanging out with them, for one thing.
  • They're not Daughters, they are Sisters. And the most recent NPC adventures explains where the name came from. All adult males and baby females of their kind were murdered in a cull. The only ones that survived are mothers and their sons.

• Why does everyone consider Pella causing the watch tower to fall the ultimate evil?
  • Because as long as the tower stood, they were safe. If you had a McGuffin of some sort that protected you from hordes of things that wanted to kill you, and someone deliberately destroyed it, you'd probably count them as evil too. They don't know and she hasn't explained WHY she did it. They haven't kicked her out of the group because she is competent otherwise, and besides, they'd have had to fire Richard (out of a cannon... into the sun) first.
  • No, they weren't "safe" as long as the tower stood. It was just said that the gnome leader wouldn't leave as long as the tower stood. The dwarves were still getting in, and succeeding in places. The reason that Cale disapproves is he doesn't like murdering people just out of convenience; he believes in letting people make their own decisions, and in his view, Pella decided for them.

• Not that Richard isn't hilarious... When I started out reading, he was a huge part of what kept me interested. But it seems to me that the reason the story has been (IMO) moving at a snail's pace lately is that every time something dramatic happens that includes him opening his mouth, the rest of the page inevitably derails into delivering the punchline to another Richard-based joke. To the point where it feels like the rest of the plot is just there to keep providing the stage for his jokes. I think I enjoyed more the earlier structure of the comic, with these moments far rarer and in-between and thus pleasantly surprising and hilarious.
  • This troper is glad he's not the only one! It gets especially bad around 437 through the entire meeting where it gets its own formula; Cale acts serious then wily ol' Richard pulls some kuh-ra-zee non-sequitur. Doing a roll call for all the fantasy races you've recruited over the series? Richard puts in a Gruffalo. Putting on a dramatic speech? Richard does a slow clap. Referencing Lord of The Rings with the "You have my [x weapon]" moment? Richard takes up more than half the panels listing what he is/isn't willing to give. Richard's usually hilarious, but it's like they're trying to shoehorn in "comedy" to cover up for how slow the plot's progressing.
    • This might belong more on the WMG page, but maybe Richard's doing it on purpose. Like he's intentionally trying to slow the plot down—or make people focus more on how crazy he is and less on how competent he can be.
  • I fully agree as well. It's interesting that Richard is powered by the destruction of innocents/innocence, but I honestly doubt that it's going to amount to much of anything at all, given all the other Richard centric reveals that have just proven set ups for brick jokes that aren't as funny as pace-fucking.

• If Richard is not really dead than what the hell is he?
  • Give it time, man. We're bound to find out eventually.
  • and exactly how did he survive all the crap he's been put through?
  • Isn't Cthulhu "neither alive nor dead", meaning it's immortal? That might apply to Richard, but you never know.
  • And for that matter, why hasn't Cale pressed the issue?
    • Cale might be intending to press the issue at some point, but it's probably not at the top of his priority list at the moment.

• Does anyone else think Sohmer could use a co-writer? While the first eight issues were rather well done, since issue nine the pacing has been all over the place, the filler much more common and the plots which could have eaten up time and still been entertaining (Richard's body being sentient on its own without the head, the unease of the alliances within Kethenecia) are being glossed over. Hell, the fourth volume can be summed up as "Mostly filler so the Legarion vs Kethenecia war can happen in book five."

• Is it just this troper or does Cale's and Benny's romance seem a little forced? Granted they've had a lot of time together and both characters have been developed enough but both have never really shared a proper intimate or personal conversation with each other. It just seemed so out of the blue despite all the time that has passed since their debut.
  • No, it was kind of an Ass Pull to me too... I tend to read in large chunks, letting the comic build up between, and it was very "Wait, what?" to me..

• Anyone else notice the major plothole regarding "free will"? It's obvious the Archmage has been planning for Kethenecia's revival as the centre of all the world's races coming together as one and for Cale to become King of the city, even Richard seems to possess a great hidden agenda that has something to do with preparing Cale to take the mantle. Then Krunch tells Benny not to ask how Richard knows of Cale's past if she wants to continue believing in free will. I'm sorry, but considering how many things in the past have occurred without the cast's interference, how are we supposed to believe free will isn't possible in this world? The Archmage himself stated the fall of the Bloodrage's city was never meant to happen but it did, Kethenecia remained lost in another dimension until our heroes travelled back in time to recover it AND at the same time, Richard killed the population of a village who's descendants were supposed to become a powerful legion under the rule of the Vulii. These things are just too glaring to be ignored.
  • There is a "free will" and free will, the difference is subtle. With free will you can make any choice you want to make and for the most park people only miserly intervene or try and convince you how to make your decisions. You might be poked or prodded to go one way or the other but you are not forced. "free will" is something different, you can make choices but some one is intervening, affecting your life so that the choices you make are the ones they want you to make. Cale could have (and its implied would have) gone back to the monastery to see his wife. So Richard (maybe?) had the wife killed, sure Cale could still chose to go back, but he has no reason to. The Archmage, Richard and some others are intervening in Cale's life, altering it in such ways that he will behave the way they want him to. Cale still has free will, he can make choices, his choices are just being heavily influenced behind his back by others actions meaning he really has "free will",
  • Or you could say there's no free will at all either way and Cale is nothing more then a puppet to be used as the Archmage and Richard see fit.

• Why does anyone care Krunch is dead? As has been made quite clear from the very beginning, this being a fantasy setting, it's very possible to ressurrect anyone. Hell, Benny's done it twice already, once to Cale of all people, from the very beginning. From ashes. So, with that in mind, why is Krunch getting his neck sliced open by Tavor treated as such a big deal? Or for that matter, any premature death, assuming even the slightest trace remains? If Benny can rebuild her ex-husband's FACE, bone, flesh, skin and hair included, there is no excuse why she can't heal Krunch's neck.
  • Well, Cale didn't actually seem to be dead, seeing as how he was, y'know, conscious and aware of what was going on. As for her ex-husband... well, maybe she will be able to resurrect Krunch, but the ex-husband was brought back very quickly after his death. Besides, this was someone they've been travelling with for a while, seeing him dead isn't going to leave them thinking clearly.
  • We seem to have an explanation now: Resurrection spells have a short viable window. When they bring Krunch's body back, Benny tries to resurrect him. Cale goes to stop her, but Ray'd insists "She needs to try." So it's pretty clear.
  • Well, let's wait to see if it works before we say anything's "pretty clear."
  • Nope. Didn't work. Remember that resurrection spells tend to require the victim's spirit to be present. Otherwise you've just got a zombie minion on your hands. Cale's spirit was still clinging to those ashes way back in the beginning, but Krunch's spirit has most likely already moved on. To put it in gamer's terms, he "Declined" the rez spell.
  • And where does all that come from, exactly? Resurrection and its mechanics have never really been explained in-universe, after all. To me, it seemed like Cale's talking ashes were more Rule of Funny than anything else, and bear in mind that it featured at a time when Looking For Group was still a light-hearted comedy. Plus Krunch was fully aware of Benny's abilities as a healer/rezz-monkey, so why couldn't his spirit have lingered long enough for her to revive him? Personally, this troper isn't entirely sure what Krunch's death was supposed to achieve plot-wise.
  • With the 'viable window' part taken into account along with the lingering spirit, it seems likely that the soul can only hold on for so long before slipping away. By the time she got to his body, his soul was gone. As for the ashes, Cale's soul was still around. Disintegrating someone's body and leaving their consciousness forever bound to a pile of ash seems like something Richard would do in his more serious moments.

• On this page the giant hand thingy does well, something calling it "an ancient prayer to the departed" with the added claim that "it was quite popular for a short time". Given the number of shout outs in the comic, I can't help but feel that this is also a shout out to something, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what. Does it look like a Shout-Out to anyone else? If so, to what? Or is it not a Shout-Out, and I'm just seeing things?
  • It's a reference to M.C. Hammer's 2 Legit 2 Quit, which was indeed "quite popular for a short time."

• Tavor being king of the Empire. Ok, I'm fine with it but: was it really that necessary? I mean, in the end, they could have just pop out a random "Dark Lord Nekron the Bowel-Drinking Tyrant" (random name), having him doing the same things (killing Krunch and fighting a little against Cale) and then making him die at Cale's hands and that's it, things would have still been the same. I still don't see him as so vital to the plot by that point.
  • So you'd prefer the guy pulling all the strings the whole time be someone whose completely new and not a character whose personality and motivations we're familiar with? So that when Cale beats him it means something instead of just being another random nobody?