Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

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Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

OK, he’s not going to kill her, but how will the game end?
Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

She is looking much less sultry. Can’t wait to read what the rest of you think.
Fairportfan said, about 1 year ago

…annnd he flings away the scimitar!

BIG cliffhanger coming tomorrow, i’d guess.
Pokefan_Frank said, about 1 year ago

And so, Roger gets his big little-sister away from Dru’s deadly bolts before Dru wakes up and gets rid of what should really be able to kill her: “the only weapon this games provides”

I think that Roger thinks that if he kills lena, it will be permanent; or he thinks the shock of resetting her to evil-little-girl state (at the place and form she had when she entered the game) while retaining 17 years worth of memories could damage her brains.

Alternatively, he might enjoy the idea of a sister who “deflowers” and “zoinks” whoever crosses her path.

—

elfelvin yesterday said in response to Tombstone1881:
“When Roger was attacking Queen Lena and the sword disappeared he didn’t go back. If these are game rules they allow some players to stay where they are when the game resets. Are there games like that?”

Actually, there are: Games that have checkpoints that automatically save. If you get killed while standing on them, you don’t move at all, but lose any stats or items you’d gained so far on that level. Reaching the castle seems like a reasonable place to put a checkpoint; it’s where most gamers would save their game if they could anyway: they had to walk/fly a long distance to get there, and the “boss” (Lena) is close at hand.

—

And now that I’m among the first to comment, let me throw back out there a theory I set forth back on September 10:

Lena probably became the Queen because she managed to
kill the original Queen, at some point during those
supposed 17 years. And the game, rather than rewarding
her with a “The End”, made her Queen. If that’s the
case, killing the queen may not really be the way out
of the game.
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

I’m sure glad I don’t have a theory.
.
That way I can’t be proved wrong anymore!
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

I just thought of something – what happens if somebody downstairs catches that sword?
Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

I’m guessing that you’re right about the big cliffhanger.
Margueritem said, about 1 year ago

Oh, Unca Albey, you may be on to something.
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

Just standing here open-mouthed… I’ve ceased to have theories: “it’s too many for me,” as Baker’s bluejay said. But I’m sure enjoying the ride.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Did Roger throw the sword out the window, or did he trip when he lost his grip on Lena and drop it?

Either way, it’s gone.

Just wondering – the last time we saw Spitcock was when Lena was cowering under the knight’s upraised sword. We haven’t seen him since. Is the place empty, and the computer systems running on automatic?

Looking back at old Pibgorns in this story – Satori said that the Queen had overthrown the rightful ruler of the realm, and that she leads a resistance movement intended to restore this ruler to the throne.

Was this when Spitcock entered the world? In other words, this was a separate world, like the others that have made their appearance in Pibgorn, but Spitcock was able to invade it and set up a localized transcendent interactive reality, with a new queen of his creation? Lena entered the world at the same time that Spitcock was absorbing Dru into the portal and energizing the link. Coincidence, or did Spitcock’s actions somehow influence how Lena entered the world?
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

Nuts. Yesterday we saw Roger with a sinister look on his face, about to strike someone/something to Lena’s right, and now he just removes her and pitches the weapon out the window (yes, MacF, it looks like he is rearing back to throw it in the 2nd to last panel). What on earth could have motivated him to do that? Perhaps he was just showing determination in that last panel of yesterday’s installment, not intent to go after something the reader does not see.

Well, we know Satori and the sword are linked, because the last time she was killed by Dru, the sword de-materialized. So by disarming Satori and getting the Queen out of the room, I imagine Roger has another piece of the puzzle that we have to wait another agonizing day to see. At this point, I am stumped.

But of course, tomorrow, we’ll see another sliver of the Luciano’s attack on the incubus.

A few years ago, I read the unabridged “Count of Monte Cristo”, which was over 1000 pages. The background information said that the story originally was published in serial form over a period of two years in some French magazine, so I guess I can understand how they felt, because that book was really hard to put down, much like this story is hard to ignore!
Fairportfan said, about 1 year ago

If you like “Count of Monte Cristo”, may i recommend “The Phoenix Guards”, “Five Hundred Years After” and “The Viscount of Adrilankha” (three volumes) by Steven Brust? They’re fantasy novels, set in a universe he’s been writing in for years, but i think they should be accessible to newcomesr - and they’re very much in the spirit of Dumas. (In fact, “Guards” is rather similar in some ways to “The Three Musketeers”…)
The Old Wolf said, about 1 year ago

Finnegan’s Wake took Joyce 17 years to write… he often quipped it should take someone 17 years to read. He wasn’t far off the mark.

So a year and a half to finish off this episode should seem like a cakewalk. Mother of Mogg, has it been that long?

On the other hand, over at Mark Stanley’s “Freefall”, he’s been at it for 10 years and the plot is only into its 18th day or so…
Galford said, about 1 year ago

Okay, I hope Mr McEldowney is not going for the usual cheesy Hollywood movie plot here, but at this point, I could quite easily assume that Satori is the rightful queen… After all, she is one of the only original characters of any standing in the game, ( everyone else is ‘imported’) she seems just a little too enthusiastic about deposing the queen, she knows how to make very eloquent speeches… Naah. That’s just too predictable. I hope I’m proved wrong. I believe that Brooke is a much better writer than that. Besides, I hate guessing the plot in the same way as guessing the punchline to jokes…

Aside - It’s kinda ironic that there are a certain demographic that like Pibgorn for the ‘naked babes’, yet all they are getting at the moment is a naked geek. Must be like looking in a mirror for these people!
Nabuquduriuzhur said, about 1 year ago

Lady Chopsalot had originally said that it was a king that the queen had deposed. Maybe Roger has to be coronated.
AliKzam said, about 1 year ago

I don’t know, “Suzerain” still sounds like a girl’s name to me. Maybe it’s the “Suze” or maybe it’s the “Rain”; even if the word itself has actual conotations (which, as has been pointed out, it does). It still sounds feminine to me.
Love Roger’s poses. Also, I’m glad he’s attempting to save his sister.
SirMirom said, about 1 year ago

I really see that there’s only one question:

Where’s Spitcock?

Because everything else is, pardon me, ‘normal.’

Roger is trying to save his sister (but not by taking out the girl HE loves), Inky is trying to save the girl HE loves, Luc. is trying to save the girl HE loves… it’s one big love fest. The only spaniard in the works (wink) is Spitcock.

Where forth is he??

Cliffhanger prediction: we see him in the doorway of the lab. Just in time for the weekend!
ThatCat said, about 1 year ago

I wonder if Spitcock is doing it for love too and we just done know it? I’m with you, I want to see Spitcock!

”may i recommend “The Phoenix Guards”, “Five Hundred Years After” and “The Viscount of Adrilankha” (three volumes) by Steven Brust?” Fairportfan

I’ll add a second vote for those books - but then I am a huge fan of Brust.
Ray C said, about 1 year ago

I hate to say, “I told you so,” (actually I sort of like to), but I said yesterday that Roger wasn’t going to kill his sister.
He has this thing all figured out. He’ll be the hero (winner?). In the third panel, he is very determined, and he has tossed the sword, not lost it. He knows what he’s doing.
Hroth said, about 1 year ago

My tuppenceworth:

Roger saw something/one behind Lena, got the sword and set off up the stairs after it with Lena in tow.

At the top he encounters whatever he was chasing and, if I read his expression in frame three correctly, is more than a little taken aback. It doesn’t look like he’s tripped or been pulled down by Lena, nore lije something is advancing on him. He’s looking up, its something BIG…

Last frame the sword goes sailing out of a window. I don’t think Roger tripped, I think he was disarmed.

Look at Lenas expression too - she’s not that angry at being “rescued” by her big brother, though that could just be the “mammiferous” side of her character having a peek at naked geek…..
r80 said, about 1 year ago

All that considered, why doesn’t Dru say “Forsooth” anymore?
Anyol'tomcat said, about 1 year ago

Perhaps Roger has figured out what the rhetorically-significant pun on the dumpster outside Spitcock’s lab means in terms of ending the “game”. “Refuse” may be read as an imperative verb instead of a noun, an admonition parallel to that supposedly posted on the doorpost of Hades’ domain. Now all R has to do is to convince all of his companions with magical powers to enact an embargo–not an easy task with hotheads like–well like everyone still inside who has magical powers. Pib would see reason, but she is outside now. Making peace is much harder than making war.
Orgelspieler said, about 1 year ago

Pokefan_Frank - so what you’re saying, basically, is that Roger doesn’t want to be a queen. Okay, I approve.
eddieal said, about 1 year ago

OK, now that we’ve seen most of Rodger nude, I wonder if we’ll ever see Pibby or Dru’s cute little bare bottoms???
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

eddieal says:

I wonder if we’ll ever see Pibby or Dru’s cute little bare bottoms???
.
We already have – if you’ll remember that their green and red, respectively, colorations are the natural colors of their naked bodies!
.
E.g., when you see Pib in her full green splendor, wings and everythings, you aren’t seeing Pib wearing a Green Fairy Suit – you’re seeing Pib.
UncaAlby said, about 1 year ago

I am not buying the idea that Roger “saw something behind Lena” and then “tripped” to let go of the sword!
.
He very deliberately tossed that sucker out the window, and woe be to the poor minion who might be on the ground to “catch” the wrong end of it!
.
OUCH!!
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

txmystic – yeah, I see it now, thanks for the clarification. Roger *is* rearing back to pitch the sword, after dragging Lena out of the fray of battle. Still in his hide-the-naughty-bits pose, but definitely getting rid of the sword.

Roger is looking more and more heroic. He had his sister pegged before all this, from that drawing of her in his room with the words “evil” on it. She really is evil, truly evil. Roger knows this, yet looks after her, cares for her, mourns for her when he thinks she’s dead. He meets her again, and she’s even worse. Dru invades men’s dreams, drains them but leaves them smiling. Lena drains men in their waking life and then kills them. She routinely murders people without a thought, was seriously going to impale Roger with no more concern than the other people she’s killed.

All this, and Roger continues to care for her, rescue her, and even gives up his true love for her.

Spitcock – who or what is he? The figure in the shadows says that this will take some preparation, then Spitcock appears for the first time, seeks Roger out and draws him into the lab. He only pitches Roger out the door when Pib moans – he doesn’t want Roger to see her!

I’m starting to guess that the game world isn’t a world that was created. I think it’s a world that was invaded and shaped somehow to suit Spitcock’s purposes. So, it may very well be that Satori and others in the game world are real, and not digitalized creations as Roger had guessed. It’s sort of like a spell on the realm, and the only way to break the spell and end the cycle of death and restoration, including the day/night cycles, is to kill the queen.

And Roger just ended that.

Roger seems to be a clear thinker – did he make a reckless choice to save his sister at all costs, or has he worked out a plan to end the game cycle without removing the queen?

Is killing the queen only a red herring, and Roger figured it out?

Another bonus – if Roger was wrong about Satori being a digitalized creation, are we going to see yet another McEldowney celebration of romantic love as Roger finds that he and she can be he and she after all?
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Yeah, I think that’s it. Killing the queen is not necessarily the end of the game. The game is under the control of the equipment set up in the lab, and the characters can be maintained. For instance, Satori says that Lena was killed under orders of the queen, but now we find that Lena is the queen. We’re not sure how that happened, but it may be that somehow the queen was removed and Lena took her place.

In other words, killing the queen doesn’t remove the control Spitcock has over the realm.
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

If Spitcock has indeed created or invaded the Suzerain world for his own purposes, then what could these be? Given the only information available to us, we know Spitcock has extreme contempt for magical creatures and sees them as nothing more than a useful source of power, hence the trapping of Pib and Dru. All that has happened in the game is utter violence against a backdrop of a supposed revolution to depose the evil Queen (although there do not seem to be very many involved in the quest). This violence only seems to exist as a means to provide opportunity for an Incubus to feed on Dru. So why would Spitcock have created this situation unless he himself is the Incubus? The Incubus knew where the exit was, knew where Pib and Dru were trapped, and knew how to free Pib, even though he wanted to dispose of her.

Of course, I have been soooooo wrong on many things before in this story.

Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll have to checkout those books. I have a special affinity for authors who have the expanse of imagination to create an entire universe and have interesting things happen inside.
pibfan868 said, about 1 year ago

What if Spitcock is just sucking the energy out of everyone inside the game just as he has in the lab with Dru/Pib? The kinetic energy alone is astounding! I know this probably doesn’t make any sense when compared against the actions of the game, but it feels right to me. He’s a very nasty guy!
namenamename said, about 1 year ago

It’s pretty obvious to me that only Satori can kill the Lena/Queen. Satori being the deposed queen will regain her throne that way. Use of the scimitar by anyone else is futile. Game over.
TiggerLeBounce said, about 1 year ago

Huh? Okay, what happened to Satori this time?
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

oh…kay….
hey, there’s a turn i wasn’t expecting!
okay, i have been trying to search the archives, but i can’t find it…at some point the scimitar is separated from Satori and it suddenly reappears floating between she and Roger (Satori: “hey, i wondered where that went!”). how did that happen? did someone die (Roger, Satori, both?) and the game reset? or does the sword automatically reset itself to Satori when separated?
michaelw777 said, about 1 year ago

txmystic, I agree with much of what you’ve said, especially Spitcock’s contempt for fairy life. But I believe the whole purpose of the game is to generate energy, which is the main reason Dru missed the Queen. The energy of the blast was siphoned off. This also explains why Spitcock/Knight attacked Dru and pinned her to the tree: he knew that would anger her and get another satisfying blast of energy from her. Which is also why I think Dru suddenly stopped using her powers that way and now supports Satori in her quest, even flying her to the castle.

But I don’t think Roger (no Sis-Kabob after all!) is tossing the sword out the window: panel 3 shows he’s met something/somebody BIG. Big enough to knock or blast the one important game-piece out the window. And we’re out of options as to who it could be:
Dru is out on the floor below; Inky is engaged with Luciano (unless the time sequence is not happening simultaneously—always possible); Pib is also out on the floor—just a different floor—Satori was left standing on the castle floor too. The only main character not accounted for is Spitcock. I have never believed Spitcock and Inky were the same. I’ll now hazard (and with Brooke, it’s always a hazard!) a guess that it’s time for Spitcock’s reappearance: it’s not in his energy interests for the game to conclude, so he’s directly intervening. Finally, I think Inky is the hand that was at the keyboard controls early on in the story: the second person always strongly hinted at, then dropped—like any good mystery story. Inky is clearly a demon, and just like Dru can take human form. And he too clearly has contempt for fairy life, being more than willing to stake Pib.

And—sigh! I agree we’re going to be on pins and needles once again on Friday. This story has had more twists and turns than Pan’s Labyrinth!
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

That’s right – I remember that one. Satori seemed to take it as an everyday event while Roger was using it to point out that the world is unreal.

I still wonder if the world is real. With Lena on the scene, she lived there for 17 years and aged. That suggests that this is a real world, and Spitcock only invaded it, warped it to suit his own purposes.

Might also give a clue to Inky – what if he is also real, and an incubus who belongs in Satori’s world?
Effervescent said, about 1 year ago

I’ve had a growing impression that Inky is real - and not on the side of Spitcock. Was he captured in the same fashion as Dru? Was he the prime source of power before Dru and Pib’s arrival? During his captivity has he learned of the location of the portal and is now trying to free Dru and himself? Perhaps he has been given the chance because Spitcock’s attention is focused on the Satori/Roger/Lena confrontation?
michaelw777 said, about 1 year ago

I didn’t mention Geoff as a main character because although he is in the Pib/Dru universe, he hasn’t been in this story, nor should he suddenly grasp what’s been going on well enough to do anything but maybe help Luciano. It would be amusing (for us long-time fans) to see Thorax make an appearance. One could say that Thorax and Spitcock are contemporaries—and both being crazy geniuses might know each other.
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

michaelw777–yes,both are possibilities, he is seeing something big and gets disarmed (entirely plausible), or he is chucking the sword out the window. Both ideas have holes…he could be reacting to something, but Lena either has not seen it or is uninterested because she is looking at Roger (another reason to think he’s tossing the sword). Also, there was a possibility that Roger was looking angrily at something to Lena’s right in the last panel of yesterday’s comic, but that did not turn out to be anything apparently, so perhaps we should not assume anything by the characters’ expressions when we cannot see what they do. But in either case, being disarmed or tossing the sword (sounds indecent…tossing the sword…) there is still little to explain why Roger took Lena and the sword out of the dungeon to begin with. Tune in tomorrow! Friday always leaves us hanging!!

oooo! and thanks for mentioning Pan’s Labyrinth. LOVE that movie!
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

Even better–Thorax brings Monty in for some extreme deus ex machina!
michaelw777 said, about 1 year ago

Hi txmystic. Yeah I agree that there is an inconsistency with Lena looking at Roger rather than what she logically might be looking at, for my theory to be correct. And yes, Roger could be doing a windup to toss the sword. (Note to self: need more sword-tossing in my life). But I guess I don’t see the point of tossing the sword out the window. Eventually the game resets &/or the sword goes back to Satori. So I’m convinced (as convinced as one can be with Brooke writing the story!) that something else is happening. No, we’re approaching the climax now, permanent resolutions. It’s been a great ride everybody, and I know we have probably a month more to go. I haven’t weighed in very often, but I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments. And Brooke, thanks for answering my question a month or so ago, I appreciated it.

And txmystic—we’ve all been wrong on guessing what Brooke will do next—I made a guess before and was wrong the very next day! Eeesh!
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Spitcock’s indifference to magical creatures – that was a theme dealt with in the “Men in Black” story, where there was an invasion of Tir na nOg from this world, a capturing of fairy people and their subsequent dissection for research. The fellow who had captured Pib was struggling with the recognition that she could feel pain and communicate. He had never thought of magical creatures, what he had been calling aliens, like that before.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

The sword – I think Roger knows what he’s doing. It’s only a temporary measure, one way or another it always comes back to Satori (sounds like something from a Celtic story).

Maybe what will happen is that Dru and Satori are running after Roger and Lena, only to find he has pitched the sword. Roger will make an impassioned speech explaining why he did it, and why killing the queen isn’t the answer.

And he’s going to do this in the nude, leaving his love Satori with an indelible memory of Roger at his finest. :-)
txmystic said, about 1 year ago

michaelw777 says: But I guess I don’t see the point of tossing the sword out the window.

Indeed. That is the hole in the “tossing the sword” theory. It makes more sense that he was disarmed. But Roger acted with such fury and determination when Dru went down that he must really believe he’s on to something, and more likely that the sword’s disposal was deliberate.

Anyone else appreciate the beauty of the Suzerain night sky?
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

has anyone read Mr. M’s blog today?
there were coloring 9CWL without his okay! I hope you gave them hell, Brooke!! that is just so not cool.
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

Dru and her dream of Inky – it’s possible for a demon to dream – Dru did it to the demon in the Mozart story. Maybe Inky is a powerful enough incubus that he can take advantage of Dru, when she’s been taken out of the game world and Pib is standing in her place?
Fairportfan said, about 1 year ago

maeverin says:

okay, i have been trying to search the archives, but i can’t find it…at some point the scimitar is separated from Satori and it suddenly reappears floating between she and Roger (Satori: “hey, i wondered where that went!”).
.
In the old text-only computer game version of The Hitch-hiler’s Guide to the Galaxy, there’s a “thing that your aunt gave you but you don’t know what it is”, which is small enough to put in your pocket but can hold all sorts of things, and which, even if you throw it away, will be back in your pocket a couple turns later. (This comes in handy at times.)
.
Objects that cannot be permanently lost are fairly common in computer games. (Sometimes they’re things you need to get rid of and can’t unless you do it Just Right.)
macFicheallaigh said, about 1 year ago

maeverin says:
okay, i have been trying to search the archives, but i can’t find it…at some point the scimitar is separated from Satori and it suddenly reappears floating between she and Roger (Satori: “hey, i wondered where that went!”).
.

Here it is – pib080307.
yankeeharp6 said, about 1 year ago

‘Spose he saw something big and then chucked the sword out the window to prevent SB from getting it? Also, the window looks too bright from the outside for the dark and gloomy dungeon on the inside. Maybe it’s the portal.

Charlotte
Paigely said, about 1 year ago
Every time I’ve written this, its been HUGE, but it looks like I’m in good company! lol I do keep trying to shorten it, though.
After rereading the arc, here is what I have concluded. Its not in chronological order, because that is part of what made it so big.

First & foremost, the whole purpose of the game is to HARVEST ENERGY. All actions by the antagonist have been to that end.
1. Inky, Spitcock (or DS), and the evil knight are one. DS & the knight (maybe even Inky) are avatars, though the knight can act autonomously as programmed if the antagonist isn’t occupying it. Lena was “killed” by a blank-eyed knight, but later its eyes glow as it contemplates its plans for Dru/Pib & crew.
2. At start, Pib is fairy-napped by a smoky cloud. It is disappointed in her magical output performance, though, and rather derisive of her. We then see a silhouette (w/ glasses and a hair profile that match DS, not Roger) as it notices Dru for first time and lusts for her power. A smoky cloud rises from DS’s remains after Dru fried him, and rematerialized as DS in time to capture Dru when she tested Pib’s bonds. So I believe whatever is in that smoke is the real entity.
3. The entity thought it needed a “little preparation” to capture and use Dru. That’s where Roger and Lena come in. They may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time for them. Regardless, they became effective pawns.
4. In the game, it was massive amounts of Dru’s power, not Satori’s death that resets the game. Roger pointed it out himself. Little zaps didn’t do it, but big ones did. The times it didn’t reset were when she went into the dream sequence. I’m guessing her power was used to create the dream rather than being harvested, but that is just a guess.
5. The controlling entity orchestrates events to cause conflict, resulting in Dru using power. After Lena’s “death”, a castle appears w/ the label “Queens Lair”, and Satori recants a story that is “often told” about a little girl killed by the queen. (Given her evilness, why would that story be considered important? It would be a drop in the bucket.) I believe the story was a game device to set Dru and Roger against the queen. Meanwhile, Lena is resurrected with the memory of 17 yrs gone by, and now she is the queen instead of a girl. By nature, she is evil so she matches perfectly. Also, during this period the knight was watching Dru/Pib, Roger and Satori with glowing eyes (meaning the evil being was present. It spoke, saying “A love struck idiot, a homicidal digital maiden, and a omnipotent clueless succubus…all banding together to vanquish an evil queen. This couldn’t work out better. Perhaps, however, the succubus could do with a little further encouragement.” That is when he impaled her w/ the joust in the name of the queen, ensuring hatred towards her.
6. The dreams. Dru shouldn’t be able to dream, so the dream must be imposed upon her. An incubus could do that… Her power is drained, maybe for Inky’s pure pleasure rather than use of her energy, and she’s left almost dead. Second time she is sucked dry, she ENJOYS the process. Inky says “Is it possible to die from the convictions of a dream?” (I’m still pondering that one) and pulls her out of the soup. She then turns tables on him and, uh, sucks her power back (literally…). She walks out fully powered while he’s left very, very…happy.
7. Everything else in the game is a construct designed to instigate a battle between the queen and Dru’s party. Once he realizes Lena has become the queen, I think Roger starts to figure that out. I think he revised his opinion of the sword’s purpose. (Maybe he wanted to make sure his sister wasn’t re-skewered, but if so, it was probably for more reasons than just that given that “dying is not an option” in this game.) If he is figuring those things out, what is the best way to fight? To adopt your own rules rather than playing by the enemy’s. The true enemy isn’t Lena the Queen. She’s just a player caught in the game, too. The enemy is the original antagonist, the one whom Roger knows as Spitcock.
8. Meanwhile, Inky has developed a thing for Dru, & never had any respect for Pib. So he extracts her, and in true demonic form he goes to kill her instead of just tossing her out.
9. Now I’m going to post and see just how incredibly long this is!
maeverin said, about 1 year ago

ah, thanks, MacFich. naturally i hadn’t gone back far enough :p

and thanks for the Hitchikers Guide reference Fairport fan! i love the books, but i didn’t know there was a computer game!