Annotated 28-6
Naturally, Karmakat has a band of five. We dealt with various adventuring squads and groups of different sizes (the one in this chapter, with very good reason, will be six), but five tended to be our default. Maybe we were unconsciously echoing The Five, or maybe that’s just a good, solid number that allows us to render a lot of variety without overburdening the art.
Favorite comment, by Brigand Brigade (not that I agree with the sentiment, but I gotta respect the use of language):
I don’t mean to take the wind out of Karmakat’s sails, but as a curse that kind of blows. It would be a breeze to break. I know everybody thought he was the cat’s meow, but honestly, this whole episode has made him look like a bit of a milktoast. The mane problem is that the gnolls probably don’t care if they’re constantly fighting; as a conquering people, bloodshed is kind of the daily forecast. And on top of that, they’re in a good position to weather any violence directed at them, now that they’re the raining power in Karmakat’s own castle. With the the other monster races to serve as their catspaws, I think they’ve come out of this better than ever.
All in all, Karmakat should know better than to curse anybody. What goes around comes around, after all.
Karmakat’s Kompanions komprise an archer, a bruiser with a mace, a scientist, a swordsman and a thief. That seems an deliberate echo of BFGS + Bandit, although the swordsman is not an obvious match for Byron.
In that quoted comment, the only thing that struck me is the rendering of “milktoast”. I suppose it’s supposed to represent the traditional feline love of dairy rather than a simple misspelling of “milquetoast”, but I’ve run across too many people that write “segway” when they mean “segue” to not be instantly suspect.
It’s a deliberate pun. There are several in the comment, though I’m not sure I caught them all.
I mean, the word “milquetoast” originates in a comics character whose name was adapted from “milk toast” the dish, so it’s a pretty short reach.
Five Man Band is a popular group dynamic for a reason (+1 or -1 for some groups) so the parallels work on multiple levels
Possibly unrelated facts:
* 4 is the limit at which we can subitize, instantly recognize how many items there are; beyond that involves some counting.
* Many special forces teams are 4-6 people, though the Marines like 8. 5 is the low end of “squad” and high end of “fireteam”.
* Relationship-wise 5 allows for two dyads and an extra. So you can contrast two couples and have an oddball.
And yet we see nothing of this plot thread ever again. Womp womp womp.
It weighs pretty heavily on Chapter 42, to my mind.