Grrl Power #469 – SWAT-o-gram?
Maybe Sydney is misreading the situation and those guys are the SWAT themed strippers The Council ordered.
That attic mostly contains the cantrip equivalent of artifacts. Frames for paintings that never get dusty, a rain cloak that never gets wet (because water passes straight through it.) A necklace that glows when detect magic is cast on it. That’s it, that’s the only effect it has. Probably an Enchanting 101 project. A map that updates landmarks and mission waypoints as they’re discovered. Actually that’s super useful, but not especially rare, since the protagonist of every video game in the last 20 years has one*.
*Back in my day we had to map out everything manually on graph paper and weeee liked it. Ok, we didn’t especially, but we didn’t know any better. I had a college RA who mapped out – get this – Daggerfall. Elder Scrolls 2. The pre-pre-prequel of Skyrim. He must have just mapped out the towns and major points of interest, because Daggerfall’s world covered over 62,000 square miles. For comparison’s sake, WoW is only 80 square miles (though I suspect that’s just the base game and not any of the expansions.) The fact those pictures don’t actually show map details for Daggerfall makes me think you didn’t hop on a horse and physically travel overland, though I never played it myself. Kind of looks like you walk 50 feet from a dungeon or town and a fast travel world map shows up.
The point is most games didn’t include an auto map feature back in the day, so the parchment equivalent of a GPS isn’t exciting enough for Ingsol to lock away in a secure vault.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. (As soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
This is new…
Something tells me they don’t belong here.
This truly is a case of where no news would have been good news.
Well the good news is that there is no gnu.
That must be a relief for Sydney, because she would probably die of embarrassment if she were ever gnued in public.
I gnu you would understand the implications.
“But don’t you tread on my gnu suede shoes!”
Watch out, or someone might try to give you some gnu-gies (not to be confused with gnu-kie, which is something entirely different).
Has no one here heard of Gary Gnu?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAwVIZDAUF0
He is gnu to me.
Or maybe he isn’t and you just don’t remember him due to a gnuerological malfunction.
Just don’t show us a picture of him in the gnud.
As long as the gnu is not smoking.
Don’t worry, there are patches for that.
So, no gnus are good gnus?
Is everyone ready for a few years of fight scenes?
Or just more jokes as Sydney attempts to stop them or warn the Council only to be told they belong here. Perhaps some of those Policing agents we have heard so much about.
Another “Halo saves the day” moment? In any case, looks like sh*t is getting real!
… She is the main character. Why wouldn’t she be saving the day?
Because she was distracted
Because it is currently nighttime.
Clearly Sydney must therefore save the knight.
Or at least not go quietly into the knight.
That sounds… so very very wrong…
Obviously.
Nerd rage, nerd rage against the dying of the cool.
Here she comes to save the day,
Mighty Halo is on the way!
Mighty Mouse reference? Really? Well, I do approve of it.
Aha, the game is afoot!
Why is the game never ayard, or amile, also why is the game never ainch? This was my best Sydneyism how’d I do?
P.s. Love the deadspace ref, why would you even keep that on this plane. Dump it into the nearest black hole and make the universe a better place.
Agreed. Luckily it doesn’t light up when she uses the orb. If I was in her shoes, and I saw a Marker, I’d start freaking out something fierce.
A-musingly.
Well, I think “afoot” refers to travelling on foot, so perhaps it should be atrain or aplane?
So, would the Sydney be aflight or anorb?
Well, she’s certainly apain, anannoyance and anerd :P
And anurous :p.
? o_O
She has no tail.
Oh, thank you
Yorp has three tails. I know it looks to most people like it is one tail wagging really fast, but it isn’t.
I was actually born without any.
The first I played poker, with a crocodile for. No matter how much he cried, I made him give me my winnings.
The second was when I had a lift in H.G. Well’s time machine and stole the tail off a diplodocus.
The third I challenged Fox, the dream-time deity, to an eating competition for. I beat him by eating the moon, in one bite!
I am very proud of my three tales.
They all seem like tall tales to me.
Oh :-(
I thought they were very short tales.
*gives tails a wiggle*
+1
If she had a balloon-like bulge where her tail would have been, would that be an anorous-ysm?
There are some tail-less creatures out there? How do they balance properly?
With difficulty. Humans fall over all the time!
They can fly well, but really suck on the landing.
At least, that’s my findings when testing a new design for a catapult.
Using a catapult to fly? You never see birds doing that…
Except if they are angry or chicken.
afoot: prepared to move forward, starting out
Sherlock Holmes would say “The game in afoot” at the start of a case
And I bet he meant game in the sense of an animal being hunted, rather than something you play. Foxhunting, perhaps.
Sherlock Holmes was quoting one of two Shakespere lines. One being in Henry IV. But it is likely that he was referring to this one:
The closest I’ve seen to your “Sydneyisms” was at one point in the Hitchhiker’s guide series, when Zaphod Beebelbrox foujnd himself in a situation where he was “inching his way up the corridor when he would rather be yarding down it.”
:)
Otherwise, from what I see going on now, there’s soon coming a time when a couple of members of ArcSwat are going to have to start swatting, or they’ll probably wind up getting swatted.
Works pretty much only in the U.S. In most of the rest of the world, the game would be ameter.
Because the proper grammar would be aninch.
Grandma Aninch?
Is she the one with the big eyes, that are all the better to see you with?
We’re still waiting for England to fully switch over to the Metric system, that’s why.
Don’t hold your breath.
*constructs a sign one thousand seven hundred and sixty yards high*
Which one? And what do you think about Little Anthony?
Mint imperials, Imperial soap, and the Imperial System, as first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824.
I did not know that Piers had any kids. Strange name though.
We are half metric, half imperial.
We still do beer by the pint and speed in miles per hour.
Doing DIY, I measure in m, cm and mm. I cook using grams and litres.
However, cold weather temperatures are measured Centigrade. Warm weather is often measured in Fahrenheit.
The foot is sneaker-clad
has there ever actually been a game about feet?
Football? :P
Hacky sack?
Foosball? No son of mine is going to play any foosball!
It’s the DEVIL!!
Fairuza *swoon*
Good thing she didn’t balk at being an actress.
If she has to go “bawk bawk”, it sounds like a fowl role.
Twister?
Only about half the time, as it turns out on the average…
I would think Twister would be more of a full body experience.
Or an out of body experience.
Naked twister is the most fun.
That’s the way I roll:
Naked twister
Naked twister extreme
A Game of Feet should be the sequal to the game of thrones. except smellier.
And maybe chest-shaped.
Plus Yorp? Have you done some body building or something?
Well I thought things had been a bit negative on the previous comic. So decided to be more positive on this one. :-)
Whoever these jokers are, they got two scoops of self-esteem in their Wheaties if they were planning to take on every type of B-movie horror monster in North America plus Max and Dabbler simultaneously.
+2
They might not know that Archon has representatives here.
They could be armed with a shed load of silver bullets and stakes. We don’t see what kind of guns they have. Could be a mult-ammo with something for everyone in there.
Throw in the element of surprise and they could probably take down most of the room before they get a chance to react.
Their chief weapon is surprise; silver bullets and surprise. Their two chief weapons are silver bullets and surprise and wooden stakes. Among their chief weapons are….
I hereby award you with your Tome of Monty Python References +1
I doubt those are the Vis.
I see two possibilities!
One – That there has been some kind of trouble in the Council chambers and someone has called out security to fix it.
Two – That these guys are baddies here to raid and do violence to the pro-Veil monsters inside the Council chambers.
I’m gonna guess Two, methinks.
If they didn’t call in Security for Sydney must mean it’s something serious :P
“Bwahahaha! With our magical lock down, no one in this room can hurt us! Wait… Why are you all looking or my shoulder in terror and diving for cover?” *ka-P.P.O.-wnage*
THREE: Some branch of the government (perhaps ARCHON, prehaps not) has decided to preemptively strike against the Council, probably with predictably disastrous, since Sydney and Max and Dabbler are all present. (BTW: Sydney is likely to act impulsively, either saving the day, or making things much, much, MUCH worse!)
Four – these guys are working for an anti-Veil faction of monsters in an attempt to undermine the reliability of (and therefore faith in) the Veil and/or cooperation with ARCHON.
Five — they’re not here to attack, but to steal something(s).
Five — they’re not here to attack, but to steal something(s).
or save the day BY making it much, much worse
There is no way it would be ARCHON, not when their Commander is in the buildi… wait, this is part of Maxi’s plan, isn’t it
No, Ariana’s!
Speaking of Ariana, I’m very sure she’s the one who originally came up with Make Maxima Say Bingo.
Well Sydney, radio it in. The first thing you should say, before screaming wildly into the mic about how you need to be listened to and thus getting hung up on immediately, is “suspicious geared up squad incoming, gear looks like SWAT, magic auras” and wait for instructions.
Surely the two chess players outside would have sent a message off, even if it is a dead man’s switch.
She is likely to have been told what to open a message with for a real emergency. The “don’t even dare joke around with” keywords.
Oh, there definitely are code words like that. “Charlie, Charlie, Charlie” comes to mind for (Canadian) military radio. From CB, there are the “Breaker” code. Aviation has a couple of emergency codes: “Pan-pan-pan” for less severe, but I need attention now and “Mayday, mayday, mayday” for we are in trouble now. “Pan” calls are saying we can keep flying, but we need help. “Mayday” says we are about to fall from the sky. Let’s see if communication protocols are part of her training yet.
Sydney: (Thought bubble) Let’s see. I don’t want to seen to be calling wolf, so let’s text her instead. Good thing the door is locked; that will slow them down long enough to get a text message off. “Magical SWAT team on the way to your location. Guard the door!” Send! Good, now I leave it up to Maxima. Oh, SHIT! They can walk right through the #%&^*# walls! Now what?
A “Case Zulu. I repeat, Zulu, Zulu, Zulu” certainly would be appropriate.
Would that be as in
“How many Zulus?”
“ALL of them!”
?
Nope. It’s Royal Manticoran Navy code which means “invasion imminent” and is never sent for any other reason, even as a part of an exercise.
I fully expect Sydney to use a code word to indicate the severity of the situation. I also expect she has not been briefed on any of archons code words. Cue “Charlie, Maydat, Chutulu!”
BSG had that “cryptor, cryptor, cryptor” thing as their distress call too.
We have officially reached code vermilion!
Code Brown! Code Brown!
Code Brown has hit the Fan!!!
We are up Code Brown River… activate the propeller!
Code Brown River is not a good place to be, with or without a paddle.
With a motor though it is better for you, than the boat or swimmers behind you!
+1
“You don’t have to run faster than the monster, just faster than the guy next to you.”
@ Viirin: That depends on the monster and why you’re running away from them. If it’s like Godzilla, you both are likely to get stomped.
We’re gonna need a bigger propeller!
And ride his bow wave, right out of the creek.
Although you would end up with the ‘mother of all s**t storms’!
What if they’re invisible?
Then how did those armed-and-armoured guys get past them without the chessentries alerting Inggie and the Council?
By walking invisibly past them.
No, not the evil SWAT, the chessentries
Oh I did not see that.
Invisible chess is hard. They would not be able to announce their moves, as that would give them away. Likewise visible chess pieces, moving on their own.
They must have to feel the board, to tell if any change has been made.
No wonder the SWATs could sneak past, with the intense concentration that would take, keeping the board in their mind’s eye.
I disagree. I can imagine them playing chess, but without intending to win or lose, just take forever playing. Also not really focusing on making legally valid moves, just going through the motions. Could be primarily focused on observation, unless they’re on the take. Or not real (possessed puppets- whose souls could travel elsewhere at a whim, illusions, or disguised, non-sentient robots).
But do consider the implications of currently being in a secret facility. And the team members in the meeting might be on ‘do not disturb’ mode.
Or, use her telepresence orb to get back in the meeting and give Max a heads up.
This was my idea too. Let’s see if she can think of it.
better yet, telepresence in front of the SWAT guys, if they’re bad guys they will attack her, announcing their intentions. If they’re supposed to be there they will just wave at her at they pass.
Smart idea!
Even smarter- Comm/Shield: Real body invincible, fake body also invincible but able to cause a scene and distract.
Only one problem. No ear pieces in, so how will the chokers work? The only hope is that it can still transmit and Dabbler will receive it.
Dangit, I didn’t refresh from this morning. I agree with ai_vin. Comm ball is a better idea.
They now use better hidden earpieces, so Dave does not have to keep drawing them.
IIRC when the restaurant battle, Dave said that they usually keep the earpieces stored (in their pockets was it?) and plug them in when necessary.
Ooh, and Sydney has a specialised form of X-Ray vision.
How long until Sydney thinks about the shower-room capabilities, once she no longer has distractions?
But she is just seeing the strength and kind of magic. She does not get to see the sexy, well, at least at this distance.
Sydney: I know Math and Stalwart are on the other side of this wall. Why do I only see one? Oh yeah. Math isn’t magical, so that red fuzziness will be Stalwart. Damn, not enough detail.
As far as we know, it only works on magical objects, which might or might not include some or all supers.
No super auras were revealed at the the Battle at the Steak House car park™. But it is entirely plausible that the aggro aura was so strong, at that point, that it just overwhelmed any lesser auras. Hence they would not be visible.
Many folks refer to his aura as being ‘magical’ but I do not buy that. Everything is consistent with Vehemence’s power being super in nature. He has none of the trappings we see from when Dabbler or Zephan cast spells, for example.
He’s an innate user, though, and likely gets some sort of use-without-incantations ability to go with it; at least some of what he does gets the glowys.
That was my point. If the truesight orb only detects magical items and beings- but not supers- then it wouldn’t help any in the shower room scenario (unless the super had a magical presence as well).
However it detected Vehemence’s super power, if my call about it not being magical is correct.
Plus that conference table looks pretty full. One of those figures is probably Maxima, in which case. Meaning that her super powers (or her super nature or alignment) are being detected too.
Here we are seeing things that are unlikely to be super-powered (and Dave’s comments corroborate their magical nature). Ergo the function is not so narrow as to only detect one or the other.
So now you’re not just Yorp, but +Yorp as well? Or is that to indicate that you leveled up on Yorpiness?
It is just a precaution in case the anti-Yorp makes an appearance.
1) Would the anti-Yorp look just like you, except with a soul patch?
2) If we combined anti-Yorp with +Yorp would that cause a big ‘plosion?
If it did Lucy would have some ‘splaning to do.
No Dabbler’s aura either.
I just noticed Dave’s blog in that page:
“Does this vision mode detect all magic or just auras? She’ll need to experiment with that at another time. “ …and two year later… :)
It seems to imply that V’s aura is magical.
I also realized that Dabbler’s aura was actually being shown, but it’s not like the ones here, more like a sigil at her feet/hooves. Heatwave have one too, that Dave avoided to explain :)
Could be more usefull comments in that page, I read only Dave’s ones.
This looked more like they have some kind of magic powered enhancements. Could be anything from a spell to magic sigils or even implanted magical artifacts. Whatever the case these looks like soldiers, and they are probably expendable. I doubt that any of those we’ve seen so far is actually magically active.
I meant the auras in the Council room. If Dabbler is one of those, it looks different that when V battle.
Sorry, I think I was supposed to have posted that as a response to some other thread…
Thirty five nanoseconds?
There was fast travel for Daggerfall, but it counted the time it took – if you only had a few hours left on a quest, and it was a few days of travel away, you failed it by the time you got there. You could in fact go there yourself, though; it would take a few years, but the entire gameworld was walkable. I still remember the clop clop sound of the horse. Ah, memories.
There were ships, horses and/or carts you could ride, you could buy property, build your own spells and magical items.. if it didn’t look so horribly dated it would smash the hell out of something like Skyrim for content. Just can’t do that anymore, not with the amount of effort current generation graphics take.
Well you can, you just use procedural generation. See that new game with so many stars that most will never even be discovered. Every one of which has things on the planets, ready to be discovered. So the game play area is more than any single person could explore in their lifetimes.
Yeah, would have enjoyed playing “No Man’s Sky”, but don’t have Steam (believe had it about ten years ago, but no idea what the account name would be or anything else), guess will just have to dust off the ole Amiga and play “Frontier: Elite II” again
They didn’t follow through with any of it. *opens Steam, goes to No Man’s Sky store page*
Overall: Overwhelmingly Negative (5,747 reviews)
Recent: Mostly Negative (73,693 reviews)
Ahh, but we were discussing large play areas and populating them with stuff. Which they did follow through with.
Where the company failed was in raising expectations higher than that. Plus they did not put sufficient gameplay into it. It has the play area and variety of things within it, to satisfy those who enjoy just exploring and pottering around doing their own thing. But most modern gamers expect a lot more immersive, directed and long-term experience than purely that.
However that does not stop them, or another company, setting an in-depth and absorbing game within such an environment.
Wait, there is no space combat with space pirates? That was one of the best parts, seeing how, unless you micro-warped closer to your destination, it could take about an hour real time to get there
The problem with procedural generation is that you just get a ton of variations of the same things. After a while everything just looks the same.
More variability can be built in. Easier than adding variability to things individually crafted. When talking about things on a massive scale.
Have you actually seen the wilderness in Daggerfall? It’s just chaotic triangular terrain stretching into nigh-infinity. It gets samey at first glance.
Procedural generation of why nearly all of the Daggerfall dungeons were so forgettable.
They need not be. For instance, from the review of it I saw, No Man’s Sky clusters together buildings in a logical ecosystem, to support the function of a complex.
Likewise City of Heroes intermixed random sections of missions with various set-piece rooms, themselves in random locations. So if your mission briefing did not give you a clue, you would have to explore the mission (in one of various different styles, such as cave, office building, ruins etc) until you found something of significance. That section then might have a predictable nature, but you would then have to find your way through a random area, beyond that, before getting to something else familiar.
And, of course, certain story arcs could borrow any elements they required. Making use of both procedural layouts, generic sections or custom made areas, as desired. Then throw in player created content, and you get massive variability.
Daggerfall was actually procedurally generated for the most part, which actually resulted in some quest-breaking bugs. Dungeons could end up dis-contiguous (for example, placing a random statue over a door) or occasionally truly failing to connect two regions in the one-entrance dungeon. The final official patch actually added noclip bound to one of the function keys, as you needed to clip through a statue to complete the main quest.
None-the-less, it was an amazing game, and still my favorite Elder Scrolls game to date.Riding a horse and cart around, and keeping all your loot in the cart, scaling the city walls when you arrived after dark and the gates were closed and locked for security, getting a 100,000 gold loan from the bank, skipping the country, and buying a mansion and galleon with the money… ahh, the memories.
And finally someone, other than me, uses the “Swiss army knife” line.
Well, it is the Swiss army knife of similes and metaphors.
I prefer the Swiss army sword.
I sword of thought you would. However, if you have a female companion, I don’t know what shield rather go for.
By preference, the Forcefield Orb.
*wags tail optimistically*
Who recons the green mystery orb has a bunch of images associated with it? Including a couple of angels!
Scratch that. Those are council members, in the chamber beyond.
But, why does the magical goodness stop at the waist? Or, are those galleries magic-proof?
Yea, I picked up that below, plus the conference table too.
Possibly it is just a matter that the scan can only penetrate so much intervening matter, and the gallery and table just add enough extra matter to take it beyond her limit? (Ignoring the possibility that it is just for artistic convenience, of course).
That would be my guess considering those on this side (as well as those to our right) of the table have their entire bodies appear.
You might notice that Syndey seems to have some sigils floating above her head that don’t seem to be connected obviously to anything else. You can see them in the fourth and fifth panels.
In other threads it looks like we have narrowed down those to being associated with the headband. Which Dave’s comment, on the second page, seems to confirm.
I forgot about that. That makes sense, and they’re in the right location for the headband.
Don’t tell me there are only 5 of us up at this hour.
It’s lunch time here :)
12:04 am Tuesday here, the future looks good so far, you may all proceed :D
You travelled to the future? Wow! Did you make a note of any lottery results?
Yes, and if you want to double your money, you would be best off folding it in half and putting it back in your wallet
Hey, you can’t lose if you don’t play. =OP
Agrecian: while the extra cash would be very handy, simply can’t afford the potential lose
The problem is that any extra cash (and a lot of it) is more likely to wind up in the lottery holder’s pocket than the player’s. That’s why I’ve never understood the appeal of scratchers: if a ticket costs $1, then every $100 winner requires at least 100 losing tickets and that’s just to break even on the jackpot exclusive of the cost to design, print, redeem, and verify the tickets.
Buy one ticket every six months. And do not check it until the last month it can be claimed. That way you get the maximum hope, with the minimum investment.
What you are buying is the veil of possibility, to hide you from the despair of having no hope.
Or, I could just buy a book, hoping that I will enjoy it.
Besides, knowing my luck, I’d win the grand prize, yet die seconds before claiming it.
Buy it. Scratch it. Win the grand prize. Be happy and call friends an relatives. Party like it’s 1999. Wake up with a hangover and no ticket! Last memory “I better hide this some where safe!”…
I hate being that guy, but this is annoying me a little too much: if Sydney can see character auras through a wall, should the auras be blocked by tables or half walls in the gallery?
She has looked horizontally (parallel to the chamber) and down. Then directly looking at the squad. At no point has Sydney looked directly at the chamber.
The small auras along the back wall in panel five are the council and gallery. I can specifically make out somebody with a lizard-like tail and bunny girl (whatever her name is).
Doh, yea, I was just coming back, from examining them, to say I had my orientation wrong. I oriented it correctly this time by the painting.
Yea, additionally there are the angels and the fungi people. Plus the folks around the central table.
Mycanoids.
Bless you.
*paws over a hankie*
Was wondering what that tailed image was, thought maybe it was something in the storage room
Lethane was my first thought. Her upper torso is far too bulky mind. But that could just be the magical cloak she is wearing making her look bigger, from behind.
The only other candidate big enough upper torso wise would be the alien with the smart wordifications. But he has two legs.
Oh right, forgot her, was thinking it was Dabbles, but her tail is cybernetic (and removable)
Ahh, but so does the image. So he may have a tail, which was out of sight, behind the table.
Ah, I understand now – I had thought those figures were iconography describing the magic items in the room
You were not alone, I did exactly the same. Which totally threw my interpretations.
Were-bunny is Clover
Wait, either she dropped her human guise once Sydney
leftwas ejected (which doesn’t make sense since Sydney knows she is a were) or Sydney’s Aura-vision also shows the true nature of what she is looking atWere- bunny is Kat, actually. Clover is Barkley’s daughter.
Doe! You are correct
It is the truesight orb, so it would not be inconstant to see the alternate form of a shapchanger. However the last we saw of her (unless I missed her in the background somewhere later) she was still a bunny girl.
Anyway, thoughts on the blocked auras? I get that it provides some signs of depth for us, but Sydney still has normal depth perception (presumably even when using her vision modes) and would not need such indicators.
Dave has mentioned that the conference chamber has seen combat in the past. It is possible that the gallery and conference tables have been imbued with either anti-magic or protective properties, which block the scan? As a side effect of the primary purpose, which is to provide something safe from magical attack, to duck behind, if a fight erupts.
Or the mimics, which provide all the furniture, have no aura of note. But because they are in between Sydney and the other people, their non-aura is the one being picked up, instead of those beyond?
I like it! +1.
Also, I wonder if Dave will let Sydney have a conversation with a very hungry treasure chest.
No, an overly friendly imitation one is best (she has already had a conversation with Dabbles’ “treasured chest” :P)
Mostly I was thinking of a hungry treasure chest mimic talking with her about.. I don’t know. But it would be while she’s eating. Turns out the chest senses life, but can’t smell- which is why it obliviously asked if it could have what she’s eating, which is that mega spicy stuff she got in her eye.
The chest horks everything out from inside it, which is how Sydney gets covered in gold coins and jewels.
And yes- she definitely did talk to Xuriel’s… weapons?
Ah, so in other words… the layer with the premade character designs was taken and recolored.
Legs weren’t on that layer, so EH! Too bad!
I know how that is.
We know that Sydney was in a rush here and had to move on. So Dave would have only had a few moments to note colour details and general information. Don’t forget that cameras can’t pick up images created by the orbs. So he could not use photo references.
He will then just have had to go into the Council Chamber, to do pick up sketches or take reference photos. Then later merge the two together.
He is far too professional to guess what their legs would look like, with the balcony in the way. And we could not expect him to remember all the small details, from the orb image, where they would have been visible!
So you were sort of right.
I doubt the Council has much to fear from magical SWAT guys. With Max, and ancient vampires, and magic users, and who knows what other super powerful monsters.
Consider this, friend RobK. If you are going to send someone to kill such creatures as you mentioned, wouldn’t you only send them once you were sure they were more than capable of pulling it off?
This is just one entrance tunnel too. We have seen that the galleries probably have other exit points, as various boxes have had delegates coming and going, with no sign of them on the main floor.
If this is an attack then forces could be approaching from multiple directions. And the other squads might be of different makeup, as appropriate to the threats anticipated near to each entrance.
Possibly (no please no) both one squad per entrance, and one squad per individual target/type.
Could it be the reason for damaging the sigil? Do something that gets everyone in one room and take them all down with one swipe.
A council like that will have the odd enemy.
Even their allies can be strange.
Especially the one who’s a Doctor.
Sounds like they need a canine.
Who? o_O
Doctor Strange? The Marvel comic book character who’s now a movie star.
Heh, now that one I did miss, for some reason.
Well, doctor’s are strange when you’re a stranger (or something like that).
Okay, how did that apostrophe sneak in there?
It was probably Dr Greengrocer’s. He is known for over prescribing.
They have his hands wrong in both images (and the 70’s movie was way betterer)
I wonder if they accounted for the presence of Maxima though.
Forget the GEoD, the real question is: did they account for Sydney? o_O
Meeting is not the target. The meeting is about the sites powering the veil. Want to bet this is one of those sites? Want to guess who is here to bust one up?
They aren’t being very stealthy in that case. I like the idea though. And makes sense to have your meeting chambers on top of the sigils.
They’re being very stealthy. Only Sydney knows they’re there, and that’s only because she’s been made to stand outside, and is hiding in Ingsols hidden closet. Might be unprecedented.
I doubt the attack is to harm, rather to frighten and strengthen certain members point of view….
“See the view fails us… these men came to attacks us AT OUR COUNCILS MEETING, end this folly and let us reveal ourselves to the world so we are not picked off one by one”
Yeah, this doesn’t look like a smart decision. Things that might make is smarter:
1) The hit is on the coverup spell. (suggested by someone else)
2) There are a lot more of them and they are well-prepared. (also suggested by someone else)
3) False flag – the attackers are controlled (hence the bizarre appearance in Sydney-vision, also covered by someone else) and it will end up looking like one enemy when it is really another. (Problem with this possibility: isn’t there anyone else with magical vision that can see the problem?)
4) Expected to fail – causing unrest (may overlap with #3).
5) Other???
The big unknown here is: did they know Maxima and Halo would be there? Maxima is nigh invulnerable and unstoppable; Halo is nigh-invulnerable as long as she shields. The press conference alone would show that. So if they knew, direct assault isn’t the point; if they didn’t, well, plans fall apart sometimes.
My best guess is a combo of 3 and 4: The intent is to set Archon and the council against each other. Make a big mess, cause as much confusion and damage as possible, leave no attackers alive (auto-suicide), get the story of “Archon attacking the council” out first, maybe have an agitator on the inside, and, at a minimum, the parts of the council that are OK with Archon will be fighting the ones who aren’t, and maybe the whole lot will fight Archon.
Well thought through.
4) The truesight orb has been established as being of top-tier power. They might be well shielded against magical detection. But Halo uses a super power, completely bypassing any magical protection.
5) It could be containment (in this case the less exits, the easier it is to pull off). If they have some means of sealing the door (which given its importance it may be a lot stronger than it appears), they could keep the entire council, along with Maxima and the team, contained and unable to interfere with the master plan unfolding in the rest of the building and the world beyond.
The squad’s only job would then be to deal with anybody who could bypass the door or walls (such as teleporters). Assuming that any garrison and/or outer guards have already been dealt with by this stage.
If the goal was to blame Archon, than they must not be aware of the presence of Maxima at this meeting. Who will presumably protect the council members, thus negating suspicions of Archon involvement (and enabling instant communication with the council, thus disabling any attempt to get the media to blame Archon)
“5) Other???”
As I said elsewhere maybe they are a (rogue?) faction not represented, or not allowed to be present, at the Council. Their goal could not be to fight but just to gain access and lay down some demands, threatens, whatever.
“Maxima is nigh invulnerable and unstoppable”
No absolutely. We alredy have seen several persons at her level. Could be more. Also that’s physically. We don’t know against other things like magic or mind control: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/533
Maybe they aren’t rogue at all, but part of the ‘intelligent items’ group but alien-built robots who just want to show they’re powerful enough even with small numbers to warrant their own representative.
Actually we know that Maxima has no more mental/anti-magic defences than any normal (strong willed) human. Mind you, if a magical attack is physical in nature then her force fields will protect her. Likewise if having a robust healthy body will improve resistance, then she has that. Barring those though, she can be overcome with magic or psionics.
That is how Dabbler can beat Maxima, in sparring. Only if they go ‘no magic’ does it tip the other way. And we saw Maxima being influenced by Vehemence’s aggro aura, the same as everyone else.
I’m not really sure. I seem to remember that what Dabbler did was the same as V. Oh, wait…
:) yes, that was the page:
Dave: “Dabbler forced Max into an armor dump and left neither one of them capable of hurting the other. “
I don’t remember if the nature of Dabbler attack was stated, though. I mean, it could be magical in origin of course, but Dabbler can generate electricity with her sword, if she played the same trick than V, for instance, she used magic but the damage wasn’t itself magical. Maybe it was stated elsewhere.
Personally I prefer to think that Max was impervious to the aggro aura in particular. It gives me the chills to think otherwise :)
Given how sickened Sydney felt, when Maxima ripped Vehemence’s limb off, I suspect that she would rather rationalise that as being aura-influenced.
But Maxima was in closer proximity to Vehemence than others, for longer, when the power was at its peak. Whilst still retaining a fair amount of control. So I do not think she is especially vulnerable. But I would class it as the usual heroic strong will, that action heroes get. Providing Maxima with above-average resistance, but not any form of super-immunity.
Plus it is not listed amongst Maxima’s powers.
Nobody talking about the one in back in a medieval helmet? I smell a crusade.
Nor the trail of mystic (?) symbols her own orange orb is giving off in panel 5? Ioun stones FTW!
I’m pretty sure that’s her fancy new magical headband.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2229
Ahh, well deduced. :-)
The helmet is weird, and the aura-vision version of him doesn’t look like a human skeleton.
Furthermore, it looks like he(?) is not wielding any sort of gun like the other three are.
i think the “aura” is coming from their equipment, protection magic possibly. as for the one in the back he looks more medieval so possibly using a magic sword and shield?
A rain cloak that doesn’t get wet sounds useful. But not when that’s because water passes through it.
Very useful for creating a rain water trap though, to keep leaves and bugs out, but let pure water in.
Panning for materials in a stream, mass produce them as filters, maybe mermaids and such would like them cause they hang differently than other attempts to wear human like clothes underwater? Certainly reduced drag for a swimming creature that wants to look cool.
OH! You could use them to conceal carry a Holy Water squirt gun and still shoot criminal vamps with it!
right through the material if that wasn’t implied strongly enough.
And you could write your name in snow, without getting frostbite.
Hmmm, depends if it filters out “impurities” in the water to some extent.
Useful? Perhaps. But impractical, as a few layers of cheesecloth will serve the exact same purpose and not require probably expensive enchantment.
True. But if it is just hanging in your closet, and you have no other practical use for it, then it saves it going to waste. It was just an example of the use of having such a filter. As demonstrated by Observer‘s clever addition.
However it does have one advantage over cheesecloth and other modern filtration systems. The cape filter will not get clogged, or worn out, with extensive use. Assuming that the magic is robust enough for the purpose. Just brush off the impurities periodically, or set it up at an angle, where they will fall off of their own accord.
I thought this was problematic too
1. if water passes directly through the cloak, then the wearer gets drenched
2. if water passes directly through the wearer, catastrophic dehydration is a very real possibility
3. if the cloak creates an envelope through which external water passes directly through both cloak and wearer, then the inside of the envelope becomes an uncomfortable steam-bath (much like a normal rain-suit)
The normal assumption is that it deflects the water, before it touches. Thus working much like any rain coat, barring that you would not get any dribbles of water running down your neck.
Fall in water and it may just get overwhelmed, again like any regular coat. Or you might levitate above the water, if the repulsion is mutual. Or else drop right down to the bottom of the riverbed or ocean floor, as if falling through air (which you would be).
Yeah, that ‘drop right down to the bottom of the riverbed or ocean floor, as if falling through air (which you would be).’ is why Zubisato is scared of going to the island of New Halas in EQ2 (he has an innate frog ability of ignoring water as though it is air, and there is no ‘bottom’ under New Halas, what with it being a floating island in the middle of the ocean)
I don’t think frogs ignore water as though it is air.
They do if they have the Hydro-motion ability activated: his swimming skill hasn’t improved in ages because he doesn’t swim
Unless the rainjacket that lets rain pass through it is actually a weapon. An item created to assassinate something that dissolves in water, but accepts gifts graciously. Like a sugar elememental.
Or it was just an item created to make useless stuff to find for newbie mages to search for, like a scavenger hunt item.
Possibly an item created as a weapon (again) because an enemy/traitor took on magical properties of whatever they touched last (like Absorbing Man was beaten because glass was thrown at him and he was shattered easily. He was stupid which is why he lost, which could be the same for this potential individual).
Wait! As a healing item, used to de-poison one’s drink.
Or it could have been an attempt to create a more useful item, which failed. Alternatively the creator had a vision of it working better than it turned out to, in practice. There are all sorts of examples of real world inventions which had a clever-seeming idea in theory, which turned out to be totally impractical, when developed.
Again, I screw up my tags! This time I have an excuse, though!
I just washed my hands and now I can’t do a darned thing with them. ☺
1st panel, is that a Marker from Dead Space?
Was speculated (multiple times) on the last page
Just want to say I’m glad I’m not the only one to play the Arkham games entirely in detective mode.
When I played Oblivion, I used Fin Gleam (a magic helmet with permanent night vision and detect life) so much that the world looked weird when I wasn’t wearing it.
In EQ2 you can get different visions, racial and class, have a troll who gets two vision: Heat Vision that makes everything black except for heat sources (makes hunting undead in dungeons real difficult, if you not only can’t see the walking boners but can’t see the walls either) and something that makes everything purple (possibly night vision), combined makes things fun, he also has special glasses that shows magic aura (mages glow blue and healers green… or is it the other way around?)
Kerra have a ‘sonic vision’ that turns everything yellow, not exactly sure what else it does, frogs get ‘aqua vision’ that makes water clear as, well, not being under water
In Fallout 4 there’s at least two altered lighting modes – Pip-Boy flashlight, and a Legendary effect that makes you harder to see when crouched and not moving – and the side effect from both is that they make reading your Pip-Boy a PITA to read when activated. I haven’t decided yet whether that’s a problem with my graphics card, or whether Bethesda did that deliberately to keep me from just leaving my flashlight on all the time.
It’s a bug of sorts, similar to using the stealth-boy where it makes everything on your character look all screwy.
At the last panel.
Sydney probably just realized she has the opportunity to do an Inverted Takedown for the big guy, a Double Takedown for the next two and a Silent Takedown for the last guy.
Interesting. The lower torsos of members in the boxes, along with those on the far sides of the conference tables, are not visible. Sydney should take note of the materials involved, and test to see if it is something specific blocking her aura vision.
Thank you. That was the answer I couldn’t reach.
Sydney has to remember not to cast “Detect Magic” in a room full of magical items. The results can be overwhelming.
At least she remembered she had “Detect Magic”
Anyone else note that guy in the knightly helm has a weird skeletal structure? o_O
They all do. It looks more associated with the nervous system to me. Perhaps a magical parasite that has grown down their spines, and has interfaced with their brains? That part is glowing the most.
No, they look like the 3D mapping stick figures used in things to test movement and such (like athletes), but that one looks like he is doing something ‘odd’ with their arms
The others look like a link straight from the brain to the arms though… Maybe they’re animated suits and we’re seeing the magical puppet strings.
I was assuming it was some kind of magical control over their bodies – probably linked to their actuator (vice sensory) nerves
Yup, that would follow. Likewise the possibility Morti mentioned. And Guesticus‘s logic is fair enough too, when you factor in that magic uses computer-like code. So possibly there could be magically created beings, who are wearing SWAT gear/armour. They would likely have a similar internal structure to a computer-created humanoid form.
I think that you misinterpret the shoulders from the two in front of him?
Not in the last panel, the panel before that where she spots them
And hs arms seem very weirdly spread out.
That’s what was meaning, it looks like he is doing that breakdance move, the one where you move your arms like a wave (or whatever you call it, no, not the Stadium Wave)
It may be that they are Dragons Teeth?
Is Sydney using her CommBall in the last panel? Is that why there is a glow over her face whereas the rest of her balls are in orbit
The glow is from the watercandle inside. Look at the light on the wall opposite. You can see Sydney’s inverted shadow. The light that is being blocked by her accounts for the glow. Plus it has a bluish tinge.
Last panel, where she is sticking her head outside the storage room: note there is a single glow over where her right eye would be with some of her balls visible
Looks like both eyes. I deduce that is just her glasses.
Just noticed that the door is open and up and the light is spilling out
Well well, xray vision of a kind. Of a kind, since she see’s auras not solid objects in this mode. Seeing the arteries in those swat guys is interesting. If Sydney thinks of it, since I think this would be her first long ranged test, she could telepresence into the meeting, warn Max, quietly, since she does have to talk wherever her body physically is… Wait with her shield up, who cares who sees her? But still… Only two orbs at once, so… Decisions, decisions player. Choose wisely >_>
I’m not sure what happened in panel 3, then she let go of the Comm Orb and was still able to see that magic? I thought she had to be holding it.
Maybe she is still holding on to it in the other hand, but why did she react as she did?
The comm ball remains in Halo’s hand from panels 2-5 (by deduction). But we can still actually see it in her hand in panel 3.
In panel 2 Sydney is looking at the com ball, in order to find the appropriate glyph. So it is only having done that, and looking up at the room all glowing from magical auras, that she feels almost blinded in panel 3.
The Comm ball is in her left hand. She is showing an empty right hand in panel 3. Notice the glow in her right hand, just below the panel edge.
Back in my day, we used graph paper to map everything, and if it was overlaying levels we used overhead projector sheets with graph lines copied onto it! An we were THANKFUL
For complicated engagements with the party going up against multiple foes at the same time we used a 2 foot by 2 foot clear plastic sheet on the table with a hexagonal 1 inch grid underneath. we wrote on it with erasable markers to show the room/location layout. We showed the current positions of each person and all the baddies as the situation developed with small figurines (or other handy objects like color coded Skittles)
Do people’s aura colour indicate the nature of their power, race or alignment? Or an average of all of them?
Zephan is yellow. As are the angels. And one person at the conference table. And a few others around the room.
The big armored guy in the undead box, and Death (with his sickle) next to him, are both a beige colour. Which is what Ingsol, Scarlett and Crimson appear to be.
Very interestingly the Konami-code girl is not being picked up at all. Either having no auras or is blocking the scan? Or is no longer in the room.
Only seems to be able to go through so much material. Maybe she’s in a bad spot with multiple vision blocks?
Seems to me that the big guy next to ‘death’ is more a green than a beige
Heh, Angels look white to me. Undeads look two shades of purple. Mages looks two yellowish (or maybe one yellowish, one whitish) and one redish.
Not sure if that is Zephan, according your link should be taller than the second figure, also originally there was three silhouettes at the Mage’s booth, plus Zephan should be four, also they are different shape. I don’t know there are multiple differences and missings in several booths, in particular respect to the first time we saw the galery.
I agree about Zephan. His seat is midway between the fungi and undead boxes, on the respective levels. Perhaps he is on his way out, to either start investigating the sigil damage (as he is a mage) or maybe to keep an eye on Sydney? Or, as a normal human, with no spells currently active on him, perhaps he simply cannot be detected with the power.
I was half expecting my colour estimates to be challenged, as I was just doing a rough eyeballing, without carefully comparing each with every other one.
It’s very difficult to know who is seeing what Dave intended. Colour can change drastically among screens, even among identical ones if their settings are different. Also many presentation softwares have their own settings as well. Even pure solid colours could look different, let alone the ones used here.
Well, now we’ll see if her instincts are to report, investigate, or attack first. (and how good her intuition on allies vs. enemies is)
“That attic mostly contains the cantrip equivalent of artifacts.” >>>mostly<<<
So there is something of higher than cantrip level in there then… but can she find it, grab it (or them), and still be in time to warn the Council of impending danger by having a battle with the intruders that just so happens to have the loft get destroyed as collateral damage?
Sure she can!
Depending on your DM, using random magical items until they’re fully identified is a really bad idea. Take the “Wand of Killing Yourself” from Oglaf, for example.
Time to try to activate the two unknown orbs some more. After all she didn’t have a bunch of random magical objects and effects to experiment with back at her apartment when she did her initial research.
Maybe one or both has to do with magic and that’s why she couldn’t get anything going with them on her own.
Copyspell orb! I like your thinking. +2
In which case maybe the other orb has copypsionics?
Back when was playing Forgotten Realms computer games, would map some of the games, like “Eye of the Beholder” (on graph paper) and the “Savage Frontier” games in a math book (because of the squares)
Could these be Deus’s troops following a GPS ping from Halo’s rebreather?
They have been back to base since then. Either it will be in with Arc-Sparq, still being investigated, or it will have passed muster and be certified safe for Halo to use.
I see no motive for Deus to attack the council. Certainly not whilst Archon are present.
If nothing else Archon are major customers of his. He just wants to encourage them to buy more of his special equipment. Not arrest or kill him.
Now if the Veil were to come down, then there may well be a spike in demand for his goods, both from Archon and others. As people scramble to get anti-supernatural weapons or defenses. But that squad is heading towards the Council chamber itself.
So that line would only work if there is a sigil accessible only from that chamber. Which has been postulated, so maybe.
Deus and Vale discussed once that there were barely any illusionists. That sounds like he does not know about the veil and the council. Of course this happened in front of Harem and they suspect her to be a double agent.
A good point. And we know that Maxima gets very ticked off at Harem teleporting into meetings above her pay grade. Implying that her clearance is lower than Halo’s. So you could well be right.
Mind you the existence of the Veil does not necessarily mean that there are illusionist spell casters. The creation of magical items could use distinctly different skill sets to spells used for personal casting.
That said though it would be logical for illusionists to be involved with the Veil creation and maintenance. In which case your solution, to the apparent contradiction, is sound.
Well they do know better than that. Harem is at least a quintuple agent, and that’s before you even starts talking about questionable allegiances she might have.
I realised, after submitting it, that I failed to complete tying in my comment about Harem properly. The implication of Harem having a low security clearance would be that she is not privy to the existence of the Veil. Ergo she would not have been able to tell Deus about it.
Mind you the same scene also has Vale talking about ‘this world’. Which would imply that they are aware of the existence of non-terrestrials and the respective magical powers. And they certainly knew about succubi. So they might have learnt that from Harem. Or possibly another source.
Either way the possibility remains that the information could be flawed. For a variety of reasons.
omg i hope Sydney remembers that she has a communicator on her wrist.
I hope its charged up.
ARC didn’t betray the council, did they?
Or are those SWAT guys the equivalent to Secret World’s Templars, where they hunt pretty much every supernatural being they can find?
Arc does not have any troops like that. We have seen the whole SWAT team, and the only non-super troops are the space marines. Who look very different.
Of course it could be Arc-Dark. But it seems unlikely that they would stage an attack on an allied organisation. Especially with friendlies on the inside, who have not been brought into the loop.
Although organisations have been known to fail to communicate between branches. So it is not impossible.
Archon has, more than once, been willing to blindly “risk” member lives/safety strictly because it was Maxima (invulnerable) and even with Halo around, she has the shield. So I don’t think that would hold them back. Plus too many historical documents and fantasy media already go with “we didn’t tell you because your response wouldn’t have been authentic”.
We’re not really sure what might lurk in the shadows of Arc-Dark… They are after all somewhat like a combination of IA and TFI or perhaps OICI. I wouldn’t compare them to the FBI though as they don’t have anywhere near as high a profile.
However I don’t think these guys has anything to do with Archon. In my opinion it would be a bit early to take dive into that darkness this soon. Once Archon has officially been up and running for a few years though…
TFI Friday is a spy organisation? I never did like Chris Evans. Although I warmed to him once, until his smarminess got too irritating again. It did not surprise me that he failed to hold down the Top Gear position. He was clearly the wrong man for the job.
They should have gone for one of the James Bonds. Far better credentials. Or perhaps, if staying out of the spy world, Jodie Kidd, as she came over as hugely enthusiastic and really hyped-up, on her appearance.
If so, perhaps they are being led by the guy in panel two of this page.
Makes sense.
What did I miss? When did she learn about her “Aura Vision”? The last thing I remember is that even truesight was a surprise, but that was waaaay back. “Aura Vision” seems to be new, but she acts like she’s known about it for some time?
She discovered it during the restaurant fight when she was able to see Vehemence’s Aggro Aura.
It was during the Battle at the Steak House car park™. Sydney has to push (or otherwise activate) a glyph, on her Truesight Orb, in order to reveal auras of subjects.
I confess my 1st RPG was Dungeon Hack, which was 1 of the 1st computer RPGs with an automap. And because I never had any patience to play tabletop RPGs, I’ve never liked RPGs without automap, with the exception of games with a overview, like JRPGs.
Oh yes, that was a fun game: would tend to ‘throw’ the gear couldn’t carry ahead of me, at least if playing a non-mage who couldn’t tell which is magical until picking up the wand that reveals what sort of magical item it is
You actually could travel overland in Daggerfall, there just wasn’t as much point in doing so as in later games. Hiking around the wilderness was one way to find new dungeons, but you’d get access to the ones you needed via plot and maps to non-main dungeon locations dropped as loot or were given by quest vendors anyway. Manually scouring the wilderness for ominous doors just wasn’t a very fun intensive thing by comparison, especially given the basic blandness of the open terrain.
Fun trivia: because of how the dungeon maps were generated and how things like vampirism worked, there were a few ways to put the game into a soft-locked state if you got unlucky. In Daggerfall, when you turned into a vampire it actually ‘killed’ you and the locals would pick a random dungeon to stow your corpse and belongings in before you woke up.
This could result in spawning as a vampire at the bottom of a sprawling procedurally generated hatepit on the wrong side of one or more sealed passages whose control mechanisms were out of reach of you from wherever you spawned in.
It was also technically possible to wind up running out the clock on an early, timed main quest if you somehow managed to contract porphyric hemophilia at the wrong time, which would lead to main quest breakage. This is because when you ‘die’ of P.H. it actually blows through like an in-game week’s worth of time before you wake up all bloodthirsty and lost. Worse, there were just about /zero/ brakes on where they could choose to bury you…you could die in Wayrest and wake up in Daggerfall proper, in dungeons ranging from ‘quaint little brick cube’ to ‘labyrinthine terror pit suitable for interring small lovecraftian horrors’, so even if you made it out you’d have to deal with being in entirely the wrong part of the world relative to what you were doing before.
It was also /nearly/ the last Elder Scrolls game to play with different vampire clans at all (different strains in different regions conferred different buffs/debuffs and sometimes a bit of different flavor text. They fleshed it out a bit in Morrowind I think? But by Oblivion it was pretty much just ‘you get vampirism’), and I think the last game to play with alternative forms of therianthropy (wereboars, specifically, were a thing you could be, though were-anything could be a lot worse for screwing up a run than even getting trapped in a dungeon by vampirism).
They probably just didn’t try to show the Daggerfall map to scale because it was a low-res image and blowing it up against the rest like that would just look really fuzzy and bleh.
Is it weird I expected this to happen? Plus, since she can see their outlines through walls, does that mean they are golems?
Possibly, but not necessarily golems. Given that Halo can see the outlines of most of the beings in the council chamber too.
Whilst the ones in the corridor have translucent outlines, and the ones in the chamber are solid, we should not read too much into that. Given these are near, so the images would naturally be more detailed. When Sydney examines Zephan, up close, she might see a lot more details, for example. Given that he is known to use artefacts, she will probably pick up those separately too, much like the items in the reliquary.
i’ve already noted one of my theories above but another possible answer is they simply have less magic, as everyone else looks like a neon sign. (Even Maxima curiously enough, the golden orange aura next to the pink aura on the right, which is probably Dabbler given the pose.) another possibility is the orb translates magic and superpowers to potential for easier threat assessment, meaning the swat geared men(and their knight) aren’t up to par with the room.
*nods*
Solidly thought through. Alternatively it may be picking up whole package auras, including alignment, health, magical curses, in addition to the magical and/or super powers. Which still means these guys are scrubs, as you indicate.
They look like grunts. The swat geared guys are just simple cannon fodder while the one with the knight helmet is a heavy grunt. Still a scrub but a harder scrub to kill. Standard bad guy tactics, send in the expendables (Bonus points if the expendables are not real people), then send in the heavy or the real grunts then the mini boss then big boss.
Re: that Magic 101 project: Nystul’s Magic Aura or False Aura. I seem to recall a GURPS spell that could do this as well (possibly Disguise Aura?), but those aren’t as easy to look up online. ^_^
And a +Many to all those suggestions that Sydney should try calling for backup/warning on her comlink.
Oh, and in Panel Five, something seems to have smudged Sydney’s lowest speech-bubble, making “OR IF” look like “OF IF”
Looks like you spotted a typo to me.
Whoops, should be “or if”
Ruh roh.
Where is Shaggy when we need him‽
Raiding your Snack Closet
Noooo!
Don’t worry, he doesn’t know about the Yorpies… yet
I refuse to live another day without a confirmed image of what a Yorpie Snack looks like! The suspense is killing me!
Something tells me that they’re not here for the atmosphere…
OMG, Dabbler did say that aliens would not come for the water. But what about the atmosphere?
Spaceballs
I see a sexy woman, a dragon thing and a money bag…
*scrolls down*
Wah! Guards!
Thought #1: They are baddies
Thought #2: They’re just here on usual business.
I’m gunna throw a rock at them, hide and then see what happens.
Clearly those icons indicate that the item in question was retrieved from a dragon’s lair. One who had done yea olde kidnappage of yon fair maiden.
Either that, or using the item turns you into a rapacious dragon with an irresistible hunger for knights cooked within their own armor and the knowledge that kidnapping a fair maiden is the best way to call said knights to deliver themselves as meals to you in your lair.