March 19th, 2019
19 Mar 2019 · page 883 of 1306
He's so lucky, not everyone gets their own person fanclub.
Cast: Eliza Swift, Vincent Knott, Will Sharpe
Comments (76)
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I dunno, they kinda look like the opposite of fans. Anti-fans? Their own personal hateclub... fightclub... something. Not-fans-club.
The first rule of fightclub is .... get Sharpe!! >:-V
The opposite of fans: natural ventilating. They're just doing it right now. You're welcome.
Maybe they're just upset he's paying more attention to Knotty than his fanclub! Yes, yes, I'm sure that's it!
Lynch mob?
Don't worry Eliza, it's nothing important. Just some young fools unexpectedly dropping in and visiting some students.
These guys are so whiny. Like, they're getting a surprise aerial performance for free and they get upset about it?
They just want to join in!
I don't get it. Why did the Prof. Flack sharpen the students and the staff against Sharpe? Why sharpen the whole lot against someone who was going to hang? Was she expecting that he would escape? How common was this at Widdershins?
That... is a very good question! Mysteries! I don't think we're supposed to know the answer yet.
It makes a certain sort of sense if looked at from Flack's POV:
I want to steal Sharpe's work
I need to get Sharpe out of the way,
A permanent way would be to frame Sharpe
I don't want anyone to defend him
- or speak in his favour.
So: Fix all his contacts
- now, lemme see, what's the best way to do that?
OK?
Logical, in a mad-wizard kind of way. :P
This is just spitballing here but what if it has to do with making a mob? Everyone goes into a huge rage when they see Sharpe but their rage isn't even really about him (see the porter and the cook both ranting about their hatred of students, not Sharpe specifically). We know there's going to be an anti-death penalty crowd the next morning at his execution the next day, so what if Flack is working for someone with an interest in making sure that all goes pear shaped? Of course that assumes that a significant number of people sharpened would be present.
Perhaps it's Sharpe sharpening them against himself. It'd also explain why he was unexpectedly sentenced to death.
I'm more interested in the 'how'. According to Sharpe's description, each person needs to act as a conduit and be imbued individually. Did someone do that for everyone in the University, right down to the security guard and the cook? And of course the answer to all these questions and more is, 'Keep reading Widdershins!'
I reckon the most likely explanation would be that she put a circle around the whole building to affect everyone inside. They all do seem to be imbued with the same emotion (except Sharpe).
That would be one heck of a circle, but still easier than somehow doing it one on one to everyone Sharpe might happen to come across on the off chance he escaped from prison.
Does the circle have to be on the ground? Could it be drawn on the bricks of the building, or on a fence? Does the marking material have to show up against the background, or can it be, say, red ochre on red brick?
Can anyone read the piece of paper Eliza is holding?
Saved it and tried to zoom in. I think the salutation is "Esther," and the first word of the body is "CHANGE" (in all-caps). The signature is just "-R"
I can't make out anything else.
I'm hoping that is saying what they changed the safe-word to, & she can un-enchant the students. Probably too early in the story line for that.
Hadn't thought of that. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find out as soon as they're out of immediate danger.
Looks like "(something) - change (or chance) experiment (something, blocked by thumb) threat to (something). -R"
The first word is Esther, I think. If I remember correctly, that's Flack's first name.
It's pity we don't know first names of Justice Adderstone or Mayor Hackett. Or first letters of them, at least.
The mayoral hopeful from the newspaper was holding when Knotty first saw her again was named Yasmine Ra[Eliza's finger].
Eliza referred to her as Councilwoman Rana later.
Well, so maybe they were going to hang Sharpe and to raise cries of protests about his innocence later, with that incident supporting Rana's anti-death penalty stand?
Here's my highly unreliable guess:
Esther -
. CHANGE (illegible)
(thumb) e Time! Tonight I'm
(thumb)- Law/ONE (illegible)
- R
Between falling apart into pixels, and uncertainty about handwriting, this image is just too ambiguous to get anything better.
Kate, is there any chance you can give us a higher-resolution image?
you'll be able to read it when it's necessary for you to read it :)
Great! Sorry, I was just getting too eager. I am happy to wait to be told the story.
haha don't worry about it! i won't give you an impossible-to-read bit of necessary story for long, have no fear!
needle scratch Benny Hill
Good thing Eliza is close enough to hear the noise and come help!
help, unarmed, against a group of strong blokes ?
Never underestimate a frustrated transwoman.
Or a frustrated woman of any sort.
She’ll think of something.
Note the documents she has in hand. She's armed with knowledge.
No, no, you're doing this backwards! Sharpe is the one supposed to hang, not Knotty!
But Knotty is the hangman. I'm so confused.
/facedesk
OH SHI-
Now that raise the question of whether they already hated him before they got brainwashed
We heard their gossip. They disliked him and were a bit contemptuous of his ability... but didn't care all that much. There wasn't enough emotion for it to be called hate. The Sharpening magic, as we've seen with the porter and the cook, and now these students, seems to leave the recipients to go on being their normal selves, until the trigger condition is encountered.
So, their normal selves didn't like Sharpe, but they didn't hate him.
Goodness gracious, is there anyone in this university she didn't Sharpen?
Herself?... no actually probably nobody. Though she would have probably at least tried to keep herself in control.
I'm honestly more just amazed that she was able to get to so many people! Unless she found way to batch-process this...
Given that somehow the manager of the Gula managed to conjure up a summoning circle for Gluttony around the entire hotel from within his office, there is probably some magic techniques which allow one to conjure a circle around a large area. Flack would probably use one of these, and then tell the Spirit to apply the effect to everyone in the university. Or the town as a whole, or something. There is probably a natural size limit to which the technique may be used.
Based on the earlier description/illustration of phasmia-psychology, I would've thought the method was a more personal/one-on-one type of process. What I'm wondering is, whether or not she did this to everyone at once or individually/a few at a time, how did no one notice her doing it? If she'd done it around the entire university, or if she was inviting dozens of people to her office (or approaching them wherever they were), wouldn't someone have questioned her? Unless she had help, though we don't really have any other suspicious people in this whole thing...
Well, Will described the process as basically imbuing the person themselves with the Spirit. A regular imbument can be done to inanimate objects, and we've seen spirits influencing people unrelated to the summon without their knowledge (most notably, Sloth in No Rest for the Wicked), so presumably the same principle applies to the Sharpening. There is some logistical limit apparent though, given that Knott or the prison guards haven't tried to murder Will yet.
One major limit is that you have to draw the circle. Trying to do this for something as large as a university campus without attracting attention....
(See here: [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-2nd-2012 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/july-2nd-2012") )
Hmmm, did forget about that, but unless everyone just politely ignored the conspicuous summoning circle around the Gula when they were coming in for the feast ([https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-14th-2013 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/october-14th-2013") and the previous page), there either must be a more expedient way and Ben simply couldn't or wouldn't use it for the desummoning (for example, if desummoning requires the circle be drawn without exception, but imbument allows you push the area of influence. Or if the circle-less technique makes controlling the spirit harder or more dangerous), or it was simply a consequence of Gluttony getting out of control.
In magic traditions like Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley's magick, and supposedly the Elizabethan-era Doctor John Dee, you can summon a spirit anywhere, any time, if you know the right spell to cast.
It's normally a very stupid move, though, to do it without a proper circle to confine the summoned spirit.
I think Widdershins magic may work this way, too. Mal didn't need a circle to desummon Sloth - it put up no resistance, and did not have to be confined.
It may be that the wizard (whoever they were) drew all the stuff behind and beside, and just did the last, say quarter in the front once party had started? Best I can make of it.
Its one thing to draw a circle around a destroyed building and another to draw one around a university filled with bright students (not Sharpe ofcourse) and wizards. Isn't this supposed to be an elite school? how come no one noticed it?
That's how Sharpe intended to use it. That doesn't mean the magical principle itself only works one-on-one with a willing subject.
The other applications were kind of the whole problem.
She has her own lecture hall. Draw the 'circle' around the walls of the room, including the door. When the door closes it may count for the circle closing too. Depends on how precise you have to be about it in general. Can be any room thinking about it, and thinking about it all of the coloured text bubbles have been the same colour. So maybe she is using the same spirit to surgically influence specific reactions. A place like the canteen would be an ok-ish place to do it; lots of noise and other distractions, but it's not the only option. Just gotta be creative.
True, but unless she did it multiple times over, I'm having trouble imagining a place where you could get students and staff alike. I doubt people like the porter get to eat alongside the students, what with classism and all.
Still, I suppose a handful of strategically placed circles would be able to accomplish the goal.
Nothing like a sudden moment of danger to make you forgive your new friend for lying to you...
I mean, given that lying is something he expects everyone to do anyway, it's probably outweighed by all the other things, like telling the truth in the end, and sticking with him even after the gun thing, and also not hating him in the first place <.<
Eliza is amazing lmao
While I see him dangling there it occurs to me to wonder...
If Eliza finds / has just found the goods on Flack and get's Sharpe off - meaning that Flack replaces sharpe in trhe queue for the gallows...
does Knotty start over trying to get her off so he doesn't have to tie a noose after all?
Have I just rumbled the next six chapters?
I doubt it. More likely Knotty gets caught trying to help and finally precipitates some much-needed honesty with his dear old dad. I don't know how Knott Senior will take it, but I don't see Junior being in the same profession by the end of this chapter.
I was going to say "just let go" but I suppose that's not an option, is it?
Also to the school: Build better vents! Cmon you know you've got students crawling around in those right? Shoddy vents is a safety hazard!
That's a facile argument. They are explicitly not permitted in the vents, so they are entirely at their own risk.
Although I like the idea of crawling around in ductwork, I'm not sure central heating existed then.Google dates it to the 1950s. Perhaps those are escape tunnels for errant spirits?
it's not for heating, it's for air, since we're very underground at this point!
Central heating and air conditioning as concepts date to ancient times. If you mean modern CH tech, then 1950s sounds about right.
For the ancient Roman method, look up "hypocaust." :)
Ouch. That looks painful.
It reminds me of the bit at the end of Find the Lady where Lux dropped Henry into the Anchor and his handcuffs caught on a drape: [https://widdershinscomic.co...](https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-2nd-2016 "https://widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-2nd-2016") On the following page Izzy seems to have used her scarf to make a sling for Henry's arm, which makes me wonder if the similar situation here is going to result in a similarly sore shoulder/arm for Knotty.
With enough force, a yank could dislocate both their respective shoulders. :-/
the entire weight of hanging from your wrist solely by a pair of manacles ouch!!!! and trying to hold onto a torn metal? double ouch!!!! for the love of god hold hands at least! this is the WORST stealth mission i've ever did see. thank you for bringing it to life
I think they've grabbed each other's hands in the last panel.
oh, good catch! to you and sharpe and knotty!
Either way they're in trouble. They've only grabbed each other by the fingers which is going to put a lot of strain on Sharpe's Wrist (Mostly because he's holding the weight and his arm's not in a good angle to support) if they don't get help Either one's going to loose their grip or Sharpe's wrist is going to break/dislocate.
His fans all want a piece of him.
[fricknowilliamsharpe.tumblr...](http://fricknowilliamsharpe.tumblr.co.uk "fricknowilliamsharpe.tumblr.co.uk")