May 26th, 2020
26 May 2020 · page 990 of 1306
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Eliza Swift, Gren, Pemberton Pryce
Comments (64)
Events
ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central
Oh dear, Ben really isn't the best at coming up with stories on the spot is he?
I recall how in a dangerous situation O'Malley came up with "Vermin control". :) Didn't work, though.
Might offend those touchy colonials...
Oh no! Now they have to huddle together for warmth!
Can't see Gren being keen on that.
Too bad - she'd be warm and fuzzy to snuggle up to!
Also an excellent chaperone
They can use "huddling together for warmth" as an offering to summon the spirit of shipping!
After that, all they have to do is explain that Gren/Bacon is endgame, but this door is tragically keeping them apart.
that was my first thought toooooo
Poor Ben. This is the second time he's been shut up in a storeroom by a villain. At least they're not inside a barrel...
On the other hand, this is Ben after a whole buttload of character growth. I'd be more worried for the Americans.
(Well, everyone is theoretically redeemable in Widdershins, so maybe they'll get an invite to Ben and Eliza's wedding eventually)
Eh, I think the fish have a better shot at the guess list
Well, like guests, they also go off after three days
Do the bad guys know he's a wizard? I cannot imagine that Ben could fail to call for help...
I don't think they do, so that might be an advantage.
You know, I had forgotten.
Harry Barber is not, in fact, a wizard.
Excellent point ;D
They still think he's Harry, who is definitely not a wizard
He was also locked in a room in Voss’ mansion by Envy. Not a storeroom but it was being used to store large quantities of gunpowder.
Ohhhhhhh okay I retract my previous comment
All I want is for Ben to summon something cool (warm might be better, perhaps)
Summoning Ben's old friend Wrath should solve the 'freezing to death' problem. It might create a few other problems though.
Yeah, this isn't Godzilla time. A minor spirit of friendly chit-chat should do fine.
Summoning Wrath! The cause of, and solution to, all life's problems.
I'm stealing that line for my book.
In the interests of proper citation: it's a quote from the Simpsons.
Still stealing it.
The technical term is ‘inspired by’.
Violence: If it doesn't solve your problems, you simply aren't using enough of it.
Old Jäger proverb.
Also, you must have proper forms for that. ;)
I wonder if it'd appear in blue chains... and why did Sloth summoned by Ben in ch 2 wear no chains, unlike Wrath in ch 5.
I keep forgetting he's a wizard.
Yes, I forgot too! My thought process was "oh no! That door looks very sturdy, realistically they might actually freeze to death in there" and then I realized that one of them can do literal magic (maybe he's not amazing at it, but summoning spirits is summoning spirits, whether you're great at it or not.)
Poor Ben and his duff degree, I didn't even think of it until I saw the comment. C'mon mister impressive wiza--Oh man I hope Eliza Fifi can get them out of this.
He gets that a lot.
There. The freezer door is no longer open. Happy now?
Yes. Finally. What, was everyone raised in a barn or something!
You know what's a good way to stay warm? A long, long evening of hot, sweaty...
...organizing. Organize those fish by name and relevance.
Ah in the time before regulation required the addition of interior latches to prevent this from happening. That makes things like this a bit more...ah...sharply responded to.
My most sincere apologies, Sir, but if I were to tell you everything we havn't told you, we'd be here all week.
Ben could probably make some magic fire/summon ?
At some point, somebody is going to point to Pemberton Pryce and say to Harry Barber, That's him. That's the guy who locked your dog in a freezer.
Wow.
"Berserk Button" indeed.
Perhaps Nicole could be there, too?
"... and Pemberton Pryce was never seen again, but they say on a clear night, you can still hear his spirit wailing in terror across the moors."
So, what kind of spirit will frozen fish act as an offering for? 🙂
(Or indeed, Protectiveness for one's friend.)
Clearly a spirit of Approval!
...because it'd be a seal, you see.
Take your damn upvote and get out.
Oh. Bravo! You brave pund-it, you!
Do people actually make freezers that don't open from the inside? This comes up a lot in things and it makes me wonder. Though, I guess in this time period they might care less about safety regulations.
I'm reminded that magicians would lock the stage doors to the theatres so people couldn't sneak in and check out their secrets. This backfired when a fire IN the theatre killed a lot of the backstage people... AND the magician!
Oh, the Great Lafayette? One of my friends wrote a book about him, as it happened in my city.
Yes! Couldn't remember the name! (Slaps wrist) Bad magician, no cookie!
The answer is: Not anymore, but in the past, yes. For quite a downer read: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_death "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_death")
Judging by the pictures at the top of the Wiki page, it wasn't the closing mechanism that prevented children from being unable to get out of a fridge – how could children possibly get inside? Who decided that that was the magnetically fastened fridge to use to illustrate this particular problem?
If Pryce wants to lock them in, he can do that regardless of whether this freezer is built with or without safety in mind.
Silly Pryce - the "somethin' fishy" was in this room all along! Must've slipped his mind.
I'm getting vibes of Short Circuit 2 here...
I was thinking about a certain Pork Futures Warehouse in Ankh Morpork.
I know I've said this before, but I deeply love how Pemberton Pryce is the spitting image of The One Over-the-Top American Character that turns up in so many Victorian novels. It's such a fun archetype to see in the Widdershins world.
I imagine the following exchange now:
Ben: We have to warn O'Malley!
Eliza: Unless he's got really good hearing, we've got to get out of here first.
Hmmm. In our world, the first patent for an even semi-practical refrigeration system was granted to an American living in Britain in 1834.
The first practical refrigeration system was developed by a Scot living in Australia; he built an ice-making system in 1851, and by 1854 several of his systems were in use. He got an 1856 patent.
As has been said, Widdershins does not take place in our universe - but they seem to be WAY ahead of us in some mechanical areas.
its literally just big blocks of ice with magic circles around 'em
That's cheating.