Palance

Palance is the fourth recruitable Guildling available in the game, following the recruitment of his twin sister, Gwynn. Upon recruiting him, he appears as a "Sportsknight??"

## Appearance

Palance has curly hair in a quasi-sideswept pompadour and dark brown skin. Palance has a lankier build than Gwynn, and has a band-aid on his right cheek. Like Gwynn's outfit, Palance wears something that looks like a cross between a goalie's uniform and fantasy paladin's armor, but in green, red, and white. He wears a green umpire-style chest pad with white highlights over a red/white striped shirt (with a number underneath the pad, suggesting possibly a jersey), white pants, white vertically striped kneepads, and red sneakers with white highlights. On the title splash, he has one sock rolled down and one sock pulled up to the kneepad. On his right shoulder is an over-sized pauldron in green with the spikes and highlights in white, and wears soccer goalie gloves in green and white. He also has a crotch cape in red hanging from his pants, dangling between his legs.

## Personality

Palance is very chill, often being a mediator during conflict. He is also seen as very charming; at multiple points, various characters give into him because of his charm, and it is mentioned he receives lots of fanmail. He also can change register depending on who he wants to talk to; for example, with the Board Corps, he mirrors their typing style for a little bit. He's generally very passive about his life, not being as ambitious about Sportsknight or Sportsmanship as Gwynn is, and doesn't really want to take on the burden of the shield.

Either as a result of being a Sportsknight? or textually very charming, his mood is also 😎Confident😎 for Shield Bash.

He is very enthusiastic about puzzles; as such, responses that are chill, enthusiastic about puzzles, or align with Palance's view of the others give XP with him.

### Typing

Palance uses proper punctuation, capitalization, and spelling, but uses lots of emojis (perhaps even too many, as Jillifer says). He mentions that when he gets too excited or anxious they get "out of control."

## Relationships

### Gwynn

Palance and Gwynn are possibly the closest duo of the final guild, being twins and both Sportsknights (sort of). Palance is much more passive than Gwynn and less interested being a Sportsknight, and regularly ducks their shared practice. Nonetheless, they're very of supportive of each other: while Palance is occasionally overwhelmed by how intense Gwynn can be, he's ultimately proud of her and glad to have someone who's willing to push forth through life.

When you arrive to the top of Lawnhenge, depending on who you chose to wield the shield for the Temple, you have a conversation with them about taking the second Arcane Shield. If you chose Gwynn, Palance reiterates his hesitation about wielding a shield he already expressed when Gwynn first gave it to him, and Gwynn says that she needs a less traditional Sportsknight to balance her out.

If you chose Palance, Gwynn expresses not only anxiety at not having been chosen for the Temple, but also that Prisma might never trust her. Palance reminds her that she has trained hard to be a Sportsknight, and that while Prisma may not trust her now, she will come around, and for the time the rest of the Guild do actually need her.

### Guild

#### Coda

Palance and Coda are childhood friends, though their relationship isn't entirely clear, as you (re-)encounter Palance while running away from Boardcorps.

#### Chazazz

Chazazz and Palance are bffs, as they regularly repeat to each other. They're both very motivated to help the people they love, and both share an anxiety about not meeting expectations (though this isn't shared between them in-text). They also have their nicknames for each other.

#### Syb

Syb and Palance don't seem to have much of a relationship, though Syb is generally affectionate about receiving a letter from Palance (if you read the letters at the beginning of the game). They are both generally very chill and affectionate about their sibling.

### Others

#### Twins' Mother

Palance's mother seems to be very protective of him, possibly to the detriment of Gwynn. If you go back to Port Chumpus after landing in Lawnhenge to talk to their mom, he reacts with 😅 when she reminds Gwynn to take care of him, suggesting either he also notices the favoritism or that he's heard his mom doting on him one too many times.

#### Sam

Sam possibly has a crush on Palance, having taken a sort of surreptitious photo of him eating a sandwich. She also specifically asks why he wasn't there if you decide to fight BoardCorps later.

## Abilities

* Sportsknight: As a Sportsknight?, Palance can Shield Bash certain rocks (marked with the shield symbol, as well as having cracks in it) when 😎Confident😎. He can also only do this if he is the one wielding the shield.

### Combat Moves

* Assist: The Guildling with the lowest battery charges +3 battery and becomes 😎Confident😎 and 👍Happy👍. Note that this move does not account for differing levels; for example, a Guildling that is fully charged but a lower level than the Guildling who is more damaged will still get the benefits of Assist over the damaged Guildling.

**If Palance takes the shield:**

* Arcane Shield: Palance gains Shaky Shield, which reduces any battery drain by 50% that turn.
* Arcane Offense: Needs Palance to be 😎Confident😎. Adds three stun turns to the enemy, and turns 😴Tired😴. This move is a one-time use per combat.
	+ Arcane Offense is learned after completing the Trial of the Shield from the wisp The Broken Shield.

**If Gwynn takes the shield:**

* Steady: Needs Palance to be 😌Calm😌. Gives all Guildlings 👍Happy👍, meaning moods cannot turn negative until next turn. Drains 3 battery. This move is a one-time use per combat.

### Aska Friend

After meeting and talking to Aska, you can ask her about herself. Doing so starts the Aska Friend sidequest; she's looking for someone curious, and while Chaz mentions he is, she asks whether he would willingly contemplate something for hours on end.

If you bring Palance in your party to Aska, after a conversation it will give a level to Palance, completing the Aska Friend sidequest.

## Trivia

* If you take Palance into the Temple, there is a glitch where Palance's name is instead Gwynn for a couple dialogue boxes.
* If you take Palance with Chazazz to the Soda Ferry, the Cap'n will give you two Ferry Fizzes, "for being the most lovable lad on the seven seas."
	+ The Tome lets Palance analyze the Paintbeast (after the lighthouse is taken away and if you took Palance to the Temple) because of his "considerable charisma."
* If you take Palance to see Orace after the house is taken away, Orace calls Palance a "young Sportsquire", possibly as a burn.
* After you get the vending machine in the Guildhall, Palance complains that there's no snacks (not even Swunchie Cola or Rhubarb Sticks). He's really perturbed by this.
* From the Guildlings' Tumblr interview with the character designer Ellen Alsop, Palance was conceived as a "scruffy laid-back jock."

## References

1. ↑ Where the terminology for "crotch cape" comes from.
2. ↑ Mailman Willis notes that 3 letters is a small amount for Palance.
3. ↑ Guildlings' Official Tumblr