Grrl Power #1241 – The Mighty Scoville
I think about 90% of you predicted this. I like to keep you guys guessing, but sometimes it would truly make no sense if the characters don’t at least try the obvious path.
The name of the dish is “The Mighty Scoville” in case you were wondering.
I played another Pathfinder session, and in the interest of science and convincing myself that I don’t have evil dice karma, here are my (D20) rolls for the game:
3, 2, 1, 4, 1, 5, 14, 5, 8, 3, 1, 6, 5, 11, 20, 14, 1, 3, 16, 16, 15, 8, 9, 20, 9, 8, 1, 14, 19.
The bold numbers are attack rolls, the other ones are mostly perception rolls, initiative, and misc stuff like will or fort saves.
That means my average attack roll was 10.5, which is not exceptional at all. The non-combat average was 6.9. The total average over all 29 rolls was 8.1. It’s not statistically that far out there, but really, those first 6 rolls had the rest of the table trying to get me to switch dice and/or switch dice rolling tray.
I was using this one cause I like that the outer wall holds about 5 sets of dice. If I don’t limit how many dice I bring I, well, I bring too many dice. I mean I still bring a few “giant” (55mm) D20s, but I just like setting them up around my area so I can fidget roll them around in my hand. I would love to have a 55mm solid tungsten or osmium D20 (osmium is apparently toxic until it oxidizes, but you can put sealant on it) because they would both weigh a surprising amount. Unfortunately I think the tungsten one would probably cost around $4,000, the osmium one would cost… let’s see, total volume of a 55mm icosahedron… weight of that much osmium… convert grams to troy ounces… Roughly $30,000? Yeah, probably not worth it just so someone can pick it up and go “Whoa, that’s surprisingly heavy!”
The new vote incentive is up! This is a bit of a weird one as it’s a character that hasn’t appeared in the comic.
It’s my Ifrit Pathfinder 1e monk, Fray! Ifrits don’t really make great monks in Pathfinder, as player characters they get a +2 to Dex and Cha, but -2 to Wis. For monks, Dex is good, Cha is largely irrelevant, but Wis is important as it can add to your AC and also has something to do with Ki points I think. But I didn’t care. I wanted a character with dark blue/gray skin and glowing orange hair, so that’s what I picked. (I don’t think Ifrit even really have dark skin, so maybe she’s 1/4 Drow? Don’t care. I think she looks cool.) Will she show up in the comic? I mean… maybe? Probably in a Dabbler flashback, but who knows?
As usual, Patreon has her in delicto flagrante.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Will this work if Laph doesn’t share the same senses as Sydney?
And even if she does; If Sydney is having a positive, physiological reaction to the food then so will Laph.
Um, maybe.
Still… Secondhand this is gonna be PAINFUL
Just because they are sharing the same sensations does not mean they both will enjoy those sensations equally. It is not like spicy food tastes different to Sydney compared to other people she just enjoys it hot.
Spicy food absolutely does taste different to different people. Some people will complain that a food is too spicy and I won’t even notice the spiciness. That’s clearly not just a difference in preference.
For some people chocolate tastes like dirt, as in the two things taste the same. To me, they are very distinct flavors. This isn’t an issue of preference, but of drastically different taste for different tongues.
she can’t read her thoughts but she can probably still feel everything sydney feels. like they would both feel the pain of stubbing a toe for example. this is just my guess and if wrong I welcome being corrected. but so far it seems that the only thing that is restricted is complete control of the host if another conscience is there already and access to direct thoughts.
your vote incentive could be a dark elf
…It took me this long to figure out that its heat will be measured in … Scoville units.
Yeah, Dave knew what he was doing when he named Sydney. References to her legendary spice tolerance go back as far as the first issue too, lol.
I have heard spicy food is good for a cold
It’s certainly something I give a go when I’ve got one, a habanero chili in a stir fry or pasta sauce does seem to clear the sinuses most of the time
My go to when I’ve got a stuffy nose or my sinuses are acting up is chicken ramen with tabasco sauce and plenty of pepper.
spicy food is good for everything, because your body thinks it’s under attack and supplies endorphins to heal/protect
It is for three reasons. The heat makes you sweat, you can sweat out most colds etc. The food type improves metabolism better than most food at the same time. Curry does have that reputation with the digestive system, however digestion is also about taking in the nutrients etc. If something is in your gut it will be flushed. The herbs and spices are good for you and may give vitamins etc that potentially you might be lacking so improving your immune system. More varied and will result in a broader intake compared to just your usual veg.
From what I hear capsicum is actually used by the medical professional for pain control. It’s kind of a overload switch. It causes the pain receptors to fire so hard and so fast they shut down
it’s good for knocking out all the gunk in your sinuses, at least.
fun fact: it’s also good for hot weather. the heat and pain tricks your body into sweating more which cools you down.
The chinese restaurant woman did say Sydney definitely lives up to her namesake. :)
… Well, one woman’s heaven is another woman’s Hell I guess. Wait until realization sets in that she’d ether going to have to live through what comes out the other end or jump out of Sydney. When you have fire noodles, who needs a gun? XD
Under the weather dabbler is sooo cute.
I did not, in fact, see this coming. And I’ve read this page like three times and am still cackling.
“Why is there wind!?” XD
100% same here. I kinda want to try this food myself though, cause I love spicy foods as well.
Reminds me of all the way back at the bank when Sydney met Maxima.
“The light! It burns!”
I spent like 10 minutes just laughing my ass off, and every time I tried to keep reading I started laughing again.
I want a full spread of that last panel minus Dabbler with Scoville front and center. It will be my wallpaper.
I guess this confirms that Lapha didn’t already know Sydney was the human who was filmed eating three bowls of grakz on Fracture Station. We don’t know how far it spread, but we do know it was posted to interstellar social media.
If you REALLY remember that, you would know that grakz isn’t so bad going in.
It’s how it feels coming OUT that is the problem. >GRIN<
You’d think she’d remember the past event she’s talking about though. Apparently 3 different references to the same instance isn’t enough search data for her to find it?
Xu-Xu forgot her Protection From Odor spell.
Unfortunately no spell use due to mana sickness. Unless there is a real emergency.
Ariana: “Im sorry but i must stop you here. Torturing prisoners with chemical weapons is illegal”
US has withdraw from Rome statute in 2002 …
The International Criminal Court cannot prosecute US citizens for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
Technically torture is illegal in U.S but free from any international prosecution … unlike in EU and UK.
The only prisoner here is Sydney, and nobody is torturing her with that meal. Lapha is free to go, I think.
That is an interresting question. Lapha is the criminal here, the reason for all this, so the prisoner. Sydney is collateral.
AFAIK it is illegal to hold innocents for too long. So could they even go through with a “wait until bored” plot if needed to?
Any Masters Of The Dark Arts – erm, I mean lawyers around?
I’m not a lawyer even if I’ve been in a faculty of Law… and it’s in a civil law country.
In penal law in France custody is limited:
4 hours for ID check
For crimes it’s 24 hours renewable by the procureur de la République for another 24 hours ( 48 hours total)
in case of organized crime it’s 48 hours renewable ( 96 hours total max)
In cas of terrorism and only with the approval of Juge des libertés et de la détention it could extended by periods of 24 hours up to a maximum of 144 hours (6 days)…
But in this comic we are before 2020 and patriot act is still valid … in law…
Sydney signed up for the military, which changes things
There’s a lot of options in military discipline that wouldn’t pass muster for a civilian who hasn’t been found guilty of a crime (although there’s a lot of things in the US justice system where there’s massive abuses of the system before somebody’s found guilty, such as Kalief Browder spending 3 years in custody – 2 in solitary confinement – after he was accused of stealing a backpack at 16
security videos showing him being knocked to the ground by an officer and attacked by inmates
Charges were dropped before taking him to trial…)
There’s also the point that you can be held if you’re a danger to yourself or others, that probably includes the case of literal possession by an alien slaver
Does she count as a prisoner right now?
To me it seems like she’s a kidnapper who is actively threatening to execute her hostage.
If you had a gun that could kill only Lapha and not Sydney, you could probably legally swing pulling the trigger under Defense of Others even if you weren’t law enforcement – and it seems even easier for law enforcement to get away with the same reasoning. The only legal risk seems like it would be the risk that the hostage sues for endangering them, no?
You have to look at quite a large run of dice rolls to see them even out. Law of large numbers!
A perception or initiative check is a snapshot of how successful a character is at one moment in time. String together a bunch of mediocre rolls and the story which results is that they’re having a bad day, a really bad day. They woke up and fell out of bed, broke their toothbrush while brushing their teeth, started a kitchen fire when they made breakfast, the coffee tasted so bad that they spit it out, and so on. It’s comedy gold if you spin it the right way.
They probably had to mention it was for Halo just to get the dish released to them, and then still had to sign a waiver that the courier would not open it early just for a peak. Hazardous goods shipment label with that dish.
True. Why go Krona when slightly diluted capsaicin will do the trick. I stand corrected.
After playing Talisman Digital nearly daily for many years I can claim with confidence that their RNG for dice rolls must be rigged. I roll 1s in combat at a rate far exceeding any other number. Die rolls of 1 also come up with above average results when rolling for events that can turn you into a toad.
There’s also a preponderance of certain numbers that are rolled for movement when you’re on specific spaces. The game seems to be insistent on moving you to other particular spaces when you roll for your move.
It would not surprise me. Many games ‘rig’ their rolls, usually quite subtly, to create more ‘interesting’ results, or to make the results ‘feel’ more fair.
Ha-HA! Oh man, this is terrific! I’m not sire what’s making me laugh more–the comic, or some of the comments!
The things we miss when they happen off-panel. Was there a ceremony for Fusion (I assume) naming the dish? Did this happen while she was lost in space? :D
Bypassing torture laws by Sydney with her eating her favorite food willingly , who else saw this coming? I was waiting for this chapter since she got possessed
I can relate to the bad die rolling. I also have noted that I roll worse as a player than as a GM. I tend to roll closer to average as a GM.
I know how I roll is noticeable as I had a DM that literally would consider how I roll and sometimes bank on it.
While the average of 8.1 mentioned might not seem terrible, what strikes me is that there were FIVE 1s rolled in 29 rolls. The difference between a 2 and critical miss is far greater than one! On a d20 each number should have a 5% chance of being rolled. 5 in 29 means more than 17%, which is TRIPLE the norm. Burn that die!!
That’s why I always play a halfling in D&D, to get to reroll the 1’s, which come with alarming frequency for me.
In my Monday game I only had to roll four times: 3, 3, 5, 17 which gave me an average roll of 7. One of the 3’s was on a saving throw, which luckily didn’t do quite enough damage to one-shot kill me.
I’ve had worse sessions recently.
It ain’t torture if it’s voluntary, folks. This is all entirely above-board and legal.
As for the ethical concerns… It’s more ethical than the other alternative presented, at least?
Soul food! Torment for the soul! These neurotoxins haven’t been more delicious! HAHAHAHAHA! Shouldn’t have jumped to the- …now I’m being reminded of the scene of Vanir jumping into Darkness in Konosuba. Except in that case they got rid of him by her sheer thirst and zero filter when it comes to her- uh- “desires”. Fantasies.
‘Allo. I am Sydney Scoville. I am eating breakfast. Prepare to die.’
RUN AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(At least it isn’t gratz this time, Lapha!)
As for a nice set of heavy dice, I can recommend Hematite dice.
I can’t remember where I got mine (Origins game fair many years ago), but a search should bring up some good sets.
When dice are manufactured via injection molding, there are inherent flaws in the distribution of the plastic making one part heavier than another (usually the gravity/downward side). Many game dice are have an affinity for rolling a certain values because of this. This is why precision casino grade 6 siders are made with inlay pip markings vs carved out pips or numbers. It counter balances the weight so all sides roll equally. the faces of d20 offer so little resistance that this tiny weight difference can come through repeatably.
“If I don’t limit how many dice I bring I, well, I bring too many dice.”
You made a beginner’s mistake here, buddy… ” “.
Always bring all your dice. I went through all mine one session and was switching dice trays at the end. The last option was the one that improved results. Rolling into a tray lid. More recently a digital dice roller has been a mediocre solution.
That last panel is one of the funniest things you’ve ever drawn. I keep cracking up.
Anyone else see this coming as soon as she became possessed?
Only 90% of the readers, by the author’s estimate. Probably more efficient to ask who didn’t see it coming.
I was hoping for a different solution, but only because so many people saw this one coming.
I think it’s a reasonable progression, given the history of the comic, but I will admit it annoys me when people predict certain plot elements solely based on a desire for conservation of detail.
I may have seen it coming, but that doesn’t make this any less enjoyable or hilarious. I’m still cackling, and I’m dying to see how this pans out. To be honest, I’m actually hoping that Sydney gets at least one bite in before Lapha jumps ship, because I want to see her reaction to the experience of that much heat beyond just acknowledging that it’s creating its own wind patterns.
Honestly, I think this show’s just how much Sydney really shouldn’t trust them anymore or forgive them.
Everyone is all “But she knows they need to keep her locked up.”
However, since they know they’re treating her like garbage and tied up, they could just as easily given her, her favorite foods and they’re like “No. Not how this works. You’re stuck with prison food.”
Honestly, this is not what friends would do and they are not her friends. Of course, I doubt she’ll come to that realization. And again, this is generally not something people would forgive. :p
Incredibly hot and spicy is Sydney’s favorite food.
This seems likely to be something they’ve gotten from Fusion, compare with the dish in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-118-got-it-in-one/
and if I was possessed by something when I had access to weapons that can take out a city in a matter of minutes I’d be pretty damned forgiving about what people do
But they did get her her favourite food? That she asked for? are you reading a different comic?
I did read the comic. You didn’t. They had no plan to give her “good” food UNTIL Sydney suggested it as a way to get her free of the tag-a-long.
So, lock her up and not give her food she’d want.
Gee, just maybe their priority is to get rid of Lapha rather than focusing on special catering…
and what they were planning to give her probably still qualifies as good food.
Worst take speedrun, any %
Archon isn’t a bunch of amateur vigilantes, they’re an agency with rules and order. Additionally, while Lapha’s speech bubbles are distinct from Sydney’s, that could just be for our convenience – she may well sound like Sydney (she’s using Sydney’s voice box and mouth, after all) outside of tone. And even if she does sound different, there’s always the possibility she could disguise her voice. There was no guarantee the request for a specific meal wasn’t part of some sort of ruse on Lapha’s part, although I think once Maxima realized what Sydney was requesting she realized it was indeed coming from Sydney – note she acquiesced at that point. Max may also be overcorrecting here – she’s fond of Sydney, and often lets her get away with bending the rules, so her “That isn’t how this works” could be more “I give Sydney too much leeway, and that might have contributed to this situation; I need to stick more strongly to the rules with her.”
People seem to forget Sydney did join the military…
Yes. And people locked up for things they didn’t do, going to be denied the food they like, except if they can use it as a weapon…no. People don’t forgive that…except in fiction of course :p
Even those in the military aren’t going to go “Oh. I get it. All’s forgiven.”
Take notice too, they didn’t just imprison her, they straight up put her in a sitting position and tied up.
I outlined some good reasons why they didn’t immediately opt to give her the food she was requesting, above, although it’s certainly possible that wasn’t visible when you made this post (my comments seem to be markedly delayed, probably because I post as a guest). As for the prison setup, keep in mind this appears to be something they made for in case she went “Dark Halo,” so that they had a way to contain her without having to just straight-up execute her, and that they’ve repurposed for this case. You can’t just put her in a cell – she needs to be restrained (they arguably went a bit excessive with the restraints, but probably better for her to be a bit uncomfortable than let her destroy multiple metropolitan areas). Also keep in mind the artist isn’t a medical expert, so if there are parts of the setup that are deleterious to her health, that may just be ignorance on his part rather than malevolence or incompetence on the part of Archon.
Tool the people who figured this out in advance, Congrats!
why on earth would autocorrect change ‘To’ to ‘Tool?’
I suspect you typed “Toall” and the autocorrect beast did its magic.
That sounds about right. :)
Sydney is not wearing glasses again while eating THAT noodle plate. Where this could go could be scary if she forgets and starts slurping noodles up again. That does not mean it will not be funny.
Then we learn that some sort of auto- doc or healing effect was prepared. If only for long term hygiene.
Scoville: You mean I don’t have to worry about seeing the scary doc? Then bring me THE PURE CAP!
Maxima: She’s already in the other body.
Scoville: Nooo! Bring it to me anyway!
Forget about healing and just have the cleaning cantrip ready immediately. It’s probably pre-installed into the chair for toilet use.
Why is Dabbler recoiling from the food? Capsaicin is not a universal irritant, it’s very specific to the neural receptors of terrestrial mammals — it doesn’t affect birds or reptiles at all. It’s highly unlikely to have any effect on an alien/demon.
Because it’s funny.
Don’t overthink the gag-comic panels. :)
Capsaicin isn’t the only substance that causes a sensation of spiciness, and Dabbler’s heritage has some unknowns in it.
Dave did actually address this when Sydney was eating hot stuff at the pulsar (I forgot the name of the station). I was going to mention the same thing at the time but in the comments he basically said “in grrlverse, capsaicin affects most sentient species the same way.” So I just accepted it as a little suspension of disbelief for the sake of entertainment.
Capsaicin doesn’t go airborne on its own, either. Hence the comic physics wind, I suppose.
If you spill finely ground chili POWDER and try to use a VACUUM (without extra-fine filters) to remove it, on the other hand … heard of someone who said he’d turned his kitchen into a no-go zone that way.
I once tried to mortar and pestle some medium-spicy hot chili I grew and dried – some Cayenne derivative – back when I still went to school. My mom entered the kitchen and immediately became teary-eyed and redfaced from the dust in the air.
Was banned from doing that again after.
It’s enjoyable, it’s hilarious, but also doesn’t really make sense either. The moment she said, The place with the dish named after me, that should have been more than enough for her passenger to find the relating memory. Regardless, is still funny as hell and who knows, maybe Sydney’s ADD brain search engine isn’t very reliable with less than specific details.
You’d almost think one of her ancestors was a dragon or maybe a salamander given her tolerance for extremely hot foods.
For all of those the Geneva Convention, just rember this phrase:
It’s not a war crime the first time.
Thanks for that phrase goes to The Fat Electrician on YouTube.
“It’s not a war crime, until they find out about it.”
Weapons of ass destruction are not covered under the Geneva convention, only wmds
mmmmm Deliceous hellfire forging the damned souls of eternal war between heaven and hell!
I cant decide which is funnier, the final panel of today’s strip or the number of readers just now figuring out “Ohh Scoville, like the pepper heat scale!” ;D
oh, the second one by far, just goes to show how few people will go back and read a webcomic from the beginning, or, heaven forbid, Google ANYthing
If it makes you feel better one of my players in my last session failed to roll above a 10. Over 40 rolls and their average was a 5.2.
Oh good lord…it’s spicy enough to affect air pressure. Run!
DaveB the answer to your dice rolling woes is obvious, use loaded dice (Just kidding)
well with dice the right size and a shotgun we can load the dice. the rolls might be a bit catastrophic.
Even Dabbler’s cybernetic eye is shut from the fumes put off by this
How is she meant to eat it?
Face first into the dish, just like a pie eating contest.
Dabbles will be spoon-feeding her
Dabbler should have been wearing goggles then. :)
Or a hazmat suit.