Grrl Power #470 – Knock knock bang smash
The problem with action pages is that I usually feel like there’s less for me to comment on down here, at least in comparison to a more typically neurotically exposition laden pages with a dozen panels.
So… yup. The door blew up. Someone obviously has an issue with The Council. That or the Girl Scouts are getting super aggressive.
Usually phones are kind of all or nothing with the notifications. Either on or off – though there’s probably apps that give you more control than that. I mostly use my phone to browse Reddit when I have a few minutes of down time and I’m not sitting in front of my computer. Of course the team isn’t exactly running stock Android on their team phones, so they can customize their notification with more fidelity than usual. A lot more focus on security, including the inability to install any app willy nilly. (I mean, they can install Peggle, sure, along with some white listed stuff that’ve been thoroughly vetted.) Also there is definitely a “Really silent for real cause I’m being stealthy around bad guys and I want to avoid the trope of my phone going off cause the producer decided there hasn’t been an action scene in 12 minutes” button.
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 :)
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Picked the wrong night to attack….
But they did choose to attack using a knight.
I AM THE KNIGHT!
I AM THE HYPE!!!!!
https://youtu.be/S2Wi0XWIdXA
I am the eggman, I am the walrus!
No, Arania is buying The Walrus.
Kootchy-kootchy-koo. Kootchy-kootchy-koo.
Sooo… are you Budah or Lord Ganesha? When you are not being an eggman, of course.
Everyone knows The Walrus was Paul…
WE are the knights…who go “Niiih”!
Iccy iccy pang zooboing.
Clever. Perhaps TOO clever….
But was it the right knight?
If not, I hope their contract had a knight rider. They do seem to be well kitted out though.
Ooh, the grandfather of self-driving cars. I guess an iCar’s Siri could have a conversation with you, but I doubt it will come with a bullet-proof shell and a turbo mode that allows you to perform a jump 6 – 10 feet in the air. Do you know how many TransAm’s were wrecked on that show?
Probably almost as many as the number of Dodge Chargers that were wrecked on Dukes of Hazzard…
If these are good guys and they’ve got it all wrong, would that be a right white knight slight?
And if they wanted to argue during the evening about how tall he was? A right white knight height slight fight night. +OP
A’ight.
Considering that the Council Chambers includes vampires, they at least had to go with a Dark Knight.
Too bad for them that Archon’s queen and bishop are in play, and a pawn is coming up in the rear for promotion pretty quickly. Too bad they don’t have a rook (Anvil).
Does that make Leon the King?
Singing, “If I were king of Archon!” (ref: Wizard of Oz)
“It’s good to be king.”
~Mel Brooks
I think Superhiro, as the most senior male super, would be the king, going by the above conventions. Although if taking the “Archon” literally, then it would have to be General Faulk.
King – General Faulk (lose him and you lose the game)
Queen – Maxima
Bishops – Dabbler, Peggy
Knights – Math, Harem
Rooks – Anvil, Super Hiro
Pawn – Reflex, Varia, Jigawatt, Halo (Queen’s Pawn), Achilles, Heatwave, Mr. Amorphous, Stalwart
Hmm, there could be some special rules for using this set:
Maxima (Queen) – Must be attacked by 2 of the opponents pieces to be removed from play. One of the two pieces used in the attack is also removed.
Peggy (Bishop) – Can choose to attack an opponent’s piece on a diagonal, like a normal bishop, but can choose not to move as part part of the attack.
Math (Knight) – Can not attack the opponent’s queen. He gets distracted.
Harem (Knight) – Instead of moving or attacking in a normal knight’s move, Harem instead can move to any unoccupied square on the board; she can not attack in the move she uses this special rule.
Achilles (King’s Pawn) – Can not be removed from play, but can not be promoted when reaching the opposite side of the board.
The Knight (Harem) can also generate up to 4 additional knights on the board, appearing in any unoccupied square but cannot also attack in that turn. Conversely, may also have as few as one knight on the board at any time. In order to remove the knight from play completely, the opposition must capture a total of 5 knight pieces.
All that sounds awful complicated. 😵
I think I’ll just stick to Tiddlywinks! 😉
using rank kills it. Could equivalent ability work? Something like this.
King – Achilles
Queen – Halo
Bishops – Dabbler, Maxima
Knights – Math, Anvil
Castles – Hiro, Jigga Watt
I would go by the chess piece relative value, compared to their superhero power rating.
King (priceless): Halo (6 star)*
Queen (9 points): Maxima (9 star)
Castles (5 points): Dabbler (7 star) & Math (7 star)
Bishops (3 points): Super Hiro (7 star) & Stalwart (6 star)
Horsies (3 points): Mr Amorphous (6 star) & Jiggwatt (6 star)
Prawns (1 point): Achilles (5 star)**, Harem (5 star), Heatwave (5 star), Peggy (3 star), General Faulk (1 star general), Varia (? star) ***, Ren (? star), Vance (? star).
* Long term Halo will likely exceed Maxima in power. It is only her current inexperience, and undeveloped powers, which gives her such a low rating. Plus being the main protagonist, and narrator, if you loose her, you loose the game!
Finally, as a tom-boy Sydney sorta qualifies on the gender front. Besides which, as a pro-feminist comic, no role should be gender barred!
** Until Achilles gets good martial skills, of some sort, his offensive capability is barely higher than a normal human (and no better, if he cannot bring his 50% increased strength to bear). He does though have one special property, which is that he cannot be taken. Mind you, whilst he remains a pawn, he can be easily blocked.
*** Potentially as powerful as Max, but without a gestalt partner (i.e. becoming a queen) she is just a pawn. Likewise until the other recruits complete their training and learn how to use their powers effectively, they are just pawns.
Wrong night, wrong week, wrong month, wrong YEAR. Are we about to get something on par with the Mansion attack in X-Men 2,without a silly movie PG-13 rating?
Nah, more like Kick Ass – his first attempt. Halo will likely be the car.
Yay a fight!
Fight night Knight, right?
Quite right. Bright light might incite Twilight fright. Ignite slight height polite sprite!
Newsnight soundbite tonight: “Gunfight! Outright gravesite despite benight smite!”
::droops his ears in shock and awe::
+1
Shock and “Aw, yeah!”
Damn, Yorp. O.o!
He probably did it out of spite.
I would not have the appetite for something which was so impolite, as it would not be alright. At worst it may be an oversight, for which I would be most contrite, about speaking a load of Ichthyocoprolite.
I notice that you’re not just talking about a steaming bowl of caviar there…
Good girl Sydney. Maxima should be able to handle that now that she has been warned.
Literally even a second of early warning can be critical in an event like this. Seriously, now Maxima’s not going to waste time being surprised, which I’m sure these intruders are depending on.
Especially considering that Max can activate her superspeed at will.
Indeed, though that’s not a reflexive action. As we’ve/Sydney’s been told, surprise and confusion are counters to her superspeed. The heads up was most useful, especially since Maxima didn’t waste any time doubting it.
After the vomit attack she knows to go with the flow with Sydney
There’s nothing more fun than an ambush that you know about in time because there’s somebody behind the ambushers with a bazooka and a radio.
Or in this case a mobile phone and a PPO
I entirely agree, this is going to get her bonus points :)
Why didn’t Sydney whisper through the collar?
At the start of the super brawl, she first had to plug it into her phone. So that’s probably why.
Earbud you mean?
Earbud is the sled.
wow Yorp, you’re in rare form today – well played
You win. I have no idea what you are referring to.
Ooh! Ooh! I know!
Probably a Citizen Kane joke of some kind. Rosebud was a sled.
Ah, if I ever watched that it must have been when I was too small to remember or appreciate it. But I think I’ve heard chunks of references to it of an on. Like Rosebud. Wonder if I would have caught it even if I had.
And that film has the biggest plot hole that makes it impossible… Kane dies without anyone else in the room to hear his last word. So how does everybody know it?
Someone once argued that the entire movie is from the point of view of Mr. Kane’s personal assistant.
Not sure it works – it’s been more than 30 years since I’ve watched it – need to get it on Blu-Ray (What do you call Raymond Stantz after he joins Blue Man Group?). I do remember it being a fine movie except for that plot hole.
Tommy Westphall.
Well played.
I actually have no idea of the source. Warning: TVtropes. I do not know which film it is the spoiler for. But, if ‘rosebud’ gets mentioned I probably will be able to work it out.
Fun facts:
(1) Citizen Kane is a fictionalised (but basically faithful to the point of being almost libellous) version of the life of media magnate William Randolph Hearst (Hearst tried to get the film banned without ever actually bothering to see it).
Mr Hearst’s intimate name for his wife’s genitalia was “rosebud”.
Orson Wells took no prisoners. :-)
Also, you can tour Hearst Castle – his incredibly opulent mansion in California a few hours north of L.A. It’s pretty astounding, and there are 3 separate tours you take before you see the whole thing. Also, at one point they take you out on a balcony and tell you that he owned all the land you can see to the north and the south.
Fact: It is actually a “Dr. Who” episode, and he really said, “Rose Tyler”, just before he was exterminated.
Rose Tyler was his best assistant ever. Billie Piper has a standing invite, to come stay at my mansion.
*wags tail invitingly*
Adric was the best, and possibly the only one to die :(
Followed by Teagan (even if she is Australian)
Texting is, or at least can be, silent. I expect there is a lot of echoing in that stone hallway.
Does her phone work inside of her shield? (so many things need t-e-s-t-i-n-g before field ready) I guess she could have yelled incoming into the phone and bubbled afterwards. Then if they shot at her it would have served as further warning.
Yes, it does. During the speed test that saw shields-up Sydney break the sound barrier, both her and Maxima were talking fairly normally. That”s impossible to do with normal “carried by air vibrations” talking as they’d be outrunning the sound waves.
If anything it’s more surprising that Sydney can talk normally with the shield up. It’s airtight, and absorbs kinetic energy very well. It should be sound proof.
I believe her shield is threshold sound proof. Like how when Max blew up the tank, it blocked most of the light while still allowing some through so nobody would be blinded by the flash.
Agreed.
So if it also allows the cell phone’s/communicator waves through cause they are not strictly harmful than this is a loop hole that could be exploited to activate something remotely that is already in the shield. Get her to pick up something shiney and BOOM! Trojan Horse explosive or whatever they want.
Hypnotic sound and light based powers might also get through unless these things artificial intelligence is through the roof. (Analyze host. Calculate how such subtle affects MIGHT affect the host. Prevent such effects as necessary. Unless she or her species was actually CHOSEN as the rightful wielder(s) and the things were made with all possibilities of her weaknesses in mind. )
Ouch – reminds me of a fight between sorcerers in a book I once read. Both sides have shields and a lot of power – so its a stalemate initially. Bad guy gets hammered back – or pretends he did. Good guy follows him. And steps over a knife bad guy dropped before retreating… Bad guy 1 good guy 0 (bad guy could still telekinetically control his knife)..
No her Shield doesn’t stop radio waves, at least not yet. She had her shield up almost the entire restuarant fight and more than once she relayed information, like about Death Toll. Also she set up the Vehemence ambush to win the fight with her shield up. I think that could change on how she levels her shield though.
In some role-playing games, we have been using forcefield as energy cut-off filter. That is, it lets low-energy effects through, but begins to cut off high-energy effects until the incoming energy is so great that it punches through the field.
For example, if energy cut-off was at 10 W/m2, you could see and hear normally through the forcefield. However, loud sounds would be muffled before they become painful (max 130 dB), and the brightest day would look like overcast day (max 1265 lux). A flash-bang grenade would have as much effect on you as a weak firecracker.
Sensibly done. :-)
It’s a very smart shield with some sort of intelligence or complex checklist behind it to let through useful things while blocking dangerous things.
Just so.
Another option is that one of the mystery orbs is the Precog Orb. Able to use long range divination to determine whether any given thing will be helpful or baneful.
The one flaw is not letting fresh air in. Mitigated by how polluted air is around cities.
It does. She’s used it before as GPS.
Her wrist-comm does, she use it in several ways while shielded when Vehemence battle. In particular she radio-talked to Max and she texted Jiggawatt.
Called it. Sort off. And not like I’m alone.
But still!
Yup. I call the texting. I did not call blowing the door.
“I was driving in downtown Atlantis
My Barracuda was in the shop, so I was in a rented Stingray, and it was overheating
So I pulled into a Shell station – they said I’d blown a seal
I said, “Fix the damn thing and leave my private life out of it, okay pal?”
Kip Addotta, “Wet Dream”
I love Dabbler’s startled bunny look. Not to mention the phenomenal explosion effects and the use of light and shadow, in particular on Maxima’s face.
I agree! Dabbler’s expression is wonderful.
That’s not quite the kind of Big Bang she enjoys . . .
That’s the theory.
What a show(-off)!
Yes, there’s a lot to this page to love, and Dabbler’s expression is at the very top of the list for me.
RE: the priority ringtone
My phone has something like that. 3 silence settings. No silence, full silence, and only priority interuptions. And I can designate contacts as priorities.
Not something I use, because I’m a student and not a superhero (or am I?), but it is something that indeed exists.
but can it tell the differance between “fancy meeting up for a drink later” and “Bad guys (???) imminent @ wood door 4 in SWAT gear”?
It can not. But we can probably assume that Maxima has a work phone and a private phone, so than it can.
Probably one dual-sim phone, really, to cut down on things to remember to charge.
Since Android 5.0, you can actually turn certain notification, ringtones, and the like off. So as long as it is not in absolute silence, she would get the notification.
Yes, but the idea being that there are two numbers in the phone, one of which will *only* ring in emergencies, and is set up to always ring no matter what. Along with distributing the number to necessary persons with instructions not to use it except in an emergency.
Welp. Time to play baseball with explosives.
NO, playing baseball with explosives tends to make them go off immediately. Playing catch and release (spinning 180 while CAREFULLY holding it) causes it to go off OVER THERE where THEY are
Inertia wants to have a word with you.
Kenshiro has already had a word with inertia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH0h-C21ZKI
I think the word was “reverse”. Or if he attended Hogwarts “reversio”.
Gravity has been wanting a word with me for years. But as long as I only glance at the ground ocasionally I’m fine. Of course the trick is to fall and miss the ground in the first place…
Or have four legs and avoid falling in the first place.
*does a tap dance*
Sigh… That was supposed to be a Hitchhikers Guide reference. Well I’ll just fly away now.
So long and thanks for all the flying fish.
Is that an explosive, or is it something like teargas/smoke to blind and confuse the council/security while they go for a specific target?
Antimatter in a fragile containment field.
Quite appropriate having here Angels and Demons.
I managed to translate that code, on my second attempt.
25 or 30 feet depending on which arming trigger the grenade is using. and then they bounce off you like softballs if you are Max. They don’t leave the tube hot and you can’t change that with a normal grenade launcher. The newer variable grenade launchers you maybe able to tweak it but that distance is minimum safe distance from the blast.
So, instead of a baseball bat, a tennis racket? I also have theories about serving birthday cake using a tennis racket.
You gotta kinda feel sorry for these guys.
No.
My reaction involves popcorn.
aka ‘Dis gun be gud’.
Hard to say, there are FOUR of them and they are attacking a full council meeting. Even without maxima being present they are either suicidal or heavily prepared or really powerful themselves. Like for example, I wouldnt be surprised if that grenade getting launched is a modified pipe bomb full of silver, cold iron, holy water, and possibly a few other atomized ingredients meant to form a cloud that will severely impair a large portion of the council in one shot.
…and garlic powder, because they believe all of the Hollywood hype.
So. Given their magical spine, I give a 50/50 chance of this battle either being over within the next page, or lasting another 20 pages.
considering Maxima got a warning this time, there won’t be a battle unless one of those swat folks are a super(natural)
Well do bear in mind that (as pointed out by somebody wise yesterday) that these folks (unless they are ill informed idiots or magically created minions) would not be attacking this gathering of end-of-level (and end of game) bosses unless they were confident that they could beat them.
Then consider that all of the weapons were visible to Sydney’s aura sight. Despite the fact that several non-supers (Zephan and Pixel for instance) were invisible to it.
I hope that Maxima does not get too close to that projectile. It may well not be a normal munition.
That was me, Yorp. Unless someone’s a total goon, they’re not going into a situation unless they’re prepared to be the only ones walking back out of it. Now it’s just a matter of seeing how informed they are (ARCSWAT being present), and if they’re capable of handling Dabbler and Maxipad.
One of the tricks a good evil overlord might pull is to send in some minions, telling them that they have a significant chance of winning, but all the while expending them in a futile attack…Simply to see if some newly-invented weapon is effective or not. The survival of the minions is not even on the priority list at all. This way, even if the weapons fail, the evil overlord is still left untouched by the carnage & can adjust plans accordingly.
Dr. Doom has used that technique. Frequently.
It may not be his priority, but it damned well would be for the minions. Yes they can be duped. But when such a trick is used frequently it becomes less credible. Even if you manage to kill off all the witnesses, your other minions are likely to notice the gaps in their ranks. And said evil masterminds are not often depicted ensuring that no bodies are found. So word is likely to get out.
Besides which there has got to be a limit to the number of people who are willing to work for an evil overlord, whilst being capable enough to actually do anything useful, but dumb enough to fall for such an obvious lie.
“Yes yes, I know she can fire nukes out of her finger, but… ah… mmm… I have made this pebble magical and it will protect you. Just put that in your pocket and you will be fine!”
The weapons weren’t visible to the magic-o-vision. Just the stick figure outline. And the Knight dude’s weird arms
Look again. Very closely as they are relatively faint (unlike the soldier’s interior structures). But unmistakable, once you spot them.
The goal might not be to win. Just to look enough like humans and attack.
False flag, after all, can be surprisingly effective for certain goals.
Absolutely true.
Mind you if they want them to look like humans, then that eliminates a lot of the magical minion options (such as golems and animated armour). If you also want them to behave like humans, then a whole bunch more get scratched off the list.
At the very least somebody will have had to convince those troops that conducting a terrorist attack in a New York city building is worth their while. And/or survivable.
But, yea, even if they have been duped, they can fulfil a false flag role.
Who knows, they might even be a government black ops team, who has been tricked into attacking a ‘terrorist cell’ or ‘den of monsters’ (the latter being more believable with the Veil not working properly and some carefully staged incidents).
They way there is magic in the body, it looks like they are puppets.
I’d put my money on mind controlled law enforcement agents.
You would find some of my Yorpie Snax™ supporting your call. Although I tend to spread my bets when a situation is as fluid as this. But this would get the bigger plateful.
*wags tail cautiously*
Politically speaking having S.W.A.T. dressed enemies attacking is not going to go down with those who view Arc-SWAT as a threat. This has the potential to look like a double-cross!
Except the leader is dressed like a knight, so it’s obviously the templars.
Or its the Illuminati pretending to be Templars lol
Or are they assassins pretending to be templars?
Or they are Girl Scouts pretending to be assassins
Or pixies impersonating Girl Scouts?
I would rather think that brownies would be used, rather that pixies. The Brownies are a group that’s organized under the Girl Scouts.
*licks lips*
I like the chocolate ones.
Girl Scouts! Now you gonna wish you bought them cookies!
Last Panel: Girl Scout Commando firing off a CDM (Cookie Delivery Munition). Used to deliver cookie payloads to hostile, dangerous or gross environs.
Plus, I think Fey might be vulnerable to Thin Mint shrapnel.
He he.
I’m Weatherheight, and I approve this message.
Either that or you’re an imposter pretending to be Weatherheight. Didn’t think one of us would think of that, did you?
*pulls off rubber Weatherheight mask*
If it weren’t for you pesky kids, I would have gotten away with my plan, to spread chaos with my Cookie Delivery Munition factory!
But I like Thin Mints!
True Story – Friend of mine has three daughters who were all in Girl scouts at the same time. He also has a lot of gamer friends and he himself has the metabolism of a hummingbird.
First delivery of Thin Mints to his house totaled 8 pallets of.. I want to say 12 cases each? something like that. He was bringing four boxes of fozen Thin Mints to the weekly RPG until three weeks before the following year’s delivery. Said, and I quote, “I guess four pallets wasn’t enough for me for a year.”
Does that mean I’m one of them if it’s my weakness too?
Or just some random @$$hat who likes dressing up like a knight?
Might also help explain motives and/or self-image. Maybe he(?) is some kind of ultra-xenophobic / “smite the non-human” type. Gotta figure that if vampires, weres, etc. all exist, there also could be ‘some really worrying ‘holy crusder’ types around of varying intents and methodologies.
If that’s accurate, dibs on calling him/her/it Mugglebane.
Yes, I know what both of those words are. I’m suggesting he doesn’t. Or is just stupid at naming himself, like Periwinkle Butt Sniffer *ahem* For Whom The Death Tolls.
Like he’s thinking with the name “I am a muggle, and bane to all that aren’t! I will call myself Mugglebane!”
at times like this expect ninjas
Always expect ninjas!
Halo does need an urgent uniform change. She is only wearing civilian gear, at the moment! Albeit that Iron Cloth might have fortified it somewhat.
Good thing we know arcswat doesn’t use swat armor and instead went with the space marine look. grrlpowercomic.com/archives/385
You know, considering that it’s Sydney, that’s actually a pretty clear and concise warning of what’s about to happen. Even without the meds. So proud.
An excellent job indeed.
Also love the picture, Max didn’t waste the opportunity when Dabbler was teasing Syd :)
Superspeed. No photo op wasted.
I mean superspeed is good and all, but the phone still takes 10 seconds to get ready to take pictures
That was a pretty long struggle, by speedster standards, and the pic is from near the end. She could have took several and kept the best.
Also I bet that’s a pretty suped up phone.
Yea, and with someone like Deus able to customise gear to suit a supers powers, it would be easy to customise it, to perform key functions at a push of a button, rather than having to wade through a lengthy menu. Photos are a key function, for reconnaissance and intelligence analysis purposes.
Plus, for where menus are necessary, the operation could be optimised to function with super speeders in mind. Very high refresh rate, minimised graphics, and other elements, which might delay feedback and input, and so on. Make the most out of a device which operates at the speed of light.
Yup, very good chance she might have to deal with some very fast folk over time. If one manages to rabbit and has to be tracked down it might be nice to have some kind of I.D. beyond a blur. So I’m thinking at the very least the speedster would have such advances worked on and maybe everybody would have a “speedster” mode for the camera functions.
Actually, even a suped-up phone can’t operate at teh speed of light…The electronic components & even the hard-wired connections between the components will provide some level of resistance. Electricity will flow along the path of least resistance, but everything that’s in that path still causes some resistance.
This is true even in the physical structure of your own neural network (brain)…Which means that the proverbial speed of thought is slower than the speed of light.
The speed of light is always measured relevant to the medium it is traversing. But, yea, I expected that bit of pedantry and the delay for electricity is not sufficient to interfere with super speed photography, of this sort. :-P
Rather it is the inefficiencies in the system, which is normally designed to only operate within acceptable human time frames. Instead of working as fast as the medium potentially allows.
Ooops, that is from after the struggle.
Instead of superspeed, if the event was recorded by security cameras, maybe Maxima simply asked to get the footage and got the pic from it :)
In a high security conference room, CCTV might be routinely disabled, as a basic secrecy precaution. However, for an interview, I could well see it being turned on. Perhaps even with high-speed recording, when they know that they will be asking for a demonstration of completely unknown powers. So I concur.
There would be one other source mind. But not for that particular shot. Dabbler’s cybernetic eye. As she can access the internet, she can also download images, if she cares to convert it to one of the human digital standards. Which would be child’s play for her.
i’ve rechecked – seems maxima took the picture – though it seems she got simply lucky :) she already had her phone out at the time,as she was texting Peggy – and sent her that photo of sidney :) (so Peggy would be aware what to look for ;))
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/655
Yes! And properly formatted and capitalized! Now that’s steely coolness under pressure.
Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekgs9vWtrg8
Dunno about Super Mario, but the last two panels made me think of this song. (The situation might not be the same, but it still came to mind.)
Click click BOOM BOOM
…and your comment made me think of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfjTZLxekig
Nice!
I suspect Maxima will be tearing through these baddies like Doomguy.
“Who’s a woman and a half? I’m a woman and a half! Maximizing Woman and a half! there’s nothing wrong with you that i can’t fix with my hands!” *splorch* “Dig it!”
You know, if I was a prepared SWAT team busting into this council, I’d make that a silver flashbang grenade which explodes with silver shrapnel, a flash of genuine daylight and let’s say garlic smoke for good measure. Oh, and cold iron for the elves. Cold iron/Silver shrapnel everywhere.
What are the odds that these guys thought of that?
I’m sure they were very prepared for the council. Just maybe not as prepared for Maxima.
True. Although if 4 guys come in and immediately dust 3 vampires and maybe get a werewolf or an elf, then they succeeded, regardless of what happens next, if they just want to disrupt the council.
How do you make something emmit “genuine daylight(tm)?
Depends on what the actual weakness is. In this world, it’ll have a scientific explanation, and UV light is the most obvious one.
Magic. Or sufficiently advanced technology. You know, whichever. They have magical auras about them, if I understand this correctly, so a magical daylight spell should be feasible.
I would opt for something more universally effective myself. Like a time stop spell. Although combining it with mundane munitions and special purpose extras does help in case the main payload does not have an effect.
Cleverly aranged prisms/mirrors, a high-quality crystal, an overpowered stasis spell and a sunny day
Heh, I should have read a bit lower.
You spend the extra points to buy it as an advantage to the power, in most systems.
I’d go with a “Davey Crockett” modified H-bomb, myself. It might take a little magic to make it work at that scale, though. Davey Crockett was pretty much as small as an A-bomb could be made, and most of that was conventional explosive…used as shielding.
And H-bombs, (which use fusion, as the Sun does) typically use A-bombs as initiators.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device)
Just in case you didn’t think the army wouldn’t actually consider a NUCLEAR RPG.
I also enjoyed that part of Hellboy.
Or that could also be a gas grenade especially prepared for Maxima.
Don’t forget that Batman defeated Superwoman from Earth 3 (https://youtu.be/kTXnn5PZ7yg) and the Hulk (https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/6/69951/2956677-2431543-batsbeatshulk.png).
except that cold iron would no longer be cold iron after being heated by the grenade
Cold Iron refers to either how it’s made not it’s current temperature or, often, it’s just poetic license like “hot lead”.
I read one story recently where “cold iron” was a mistranslation, and a more literal translation would be “north iron”. There being nothing special about iron from the north, it turned out that what matters is that the iron prefers to point north – i.e. it’s magnetized. Lodestone.
Hmm, though being heated to melting would destroy any magnetization. Scrambles the alignment of the molecules.
So if you are having trouble with mischievous fay, surround your house with magnets. Just make sure that there is no gap, in the magnetic field, big enough for one to slip through.
Rather harder versus flying ones, such as faeries, I imagine. You would need something like a magnetised Faraday cage.
Chainmail could provide your everyday wear option of choice. Although getting in and out of your car could be tricky.
Using computers would be a problem. Sufficient shielding would be bulky.
“Sire, I’ve got just one word for you – Megaliths.” The Graduate – written by Thomas Malory.
The standing stones aren’t there to keep people out; they’re there to keep the elves in.
The Discworld novel Lords and Ladies makes use of that convention as well.
Whoops, should have put an end italics tag after “Ladies”.
Unless you heated/melted it next to a magnetic field, then it would align with that field.
There’s a way of dating firepits that checks the magnetic field of the rocks around it and they point to where the magnetic pole was when they were last heated (ie when there was last a fire).
firepitdate.com
For all your hot date needs.
I’d always thought that cold iron was meteoric iron, traveling through space gaining weird radiations which could be lost by heating it too high.
I’m calling maxima catching the grenade and stuffing it down someone’s collar.
Pants more probably.
That would be Dabbler’s tactic.
Speaking of, I think that ‘foom’ grenade is actually based on Dabbler’s “a fun saturday night”, birdlime, non-Newtonian, and meant specifically for Maxima.
Dabbler did use ‘sticky air’ (a.k.a. ‘invisible web’) versus Math.
Well he’s using a m32-grenade launcher. Pretty sure that means an impact fuse. Odd looking grenade. She could grab the cylinder and tear the tip and firing pin assembly out to make quick work of disarming them.
What she does with it depends if the round is likely to be of damage to those firing it too. Stuffed in the average orifice is going to take the edge off its damage. But if it is likely to give of light in a frequency damaging to the fanged population, it may be best to disarm.
Though it might give one of the attackers the chance to say the sun shines out of their…
….. ASSUMING the grenade isn’t meant for Max in the first place. I’m kind of thinking it could be – these guys had to know the Council had company..
If the grenade is meant for Max, then it’s probably designed to blow up the entire building.
If it’s intended for Max, it’s a con-foam grenade. Standard explosives won’t even slow her down, and anyone who saw the press conference would know that. If they wanted to blow up the building, why charge the council room? Ergo, it’s something intended to disable and/or contain Max. Since she doesn’t have an allergy to Blue Argonite or whatever (that we, the readers, know of), containment foam seems the most likely option.
But would it be strong enough to contain somebody capable of kicking a tank to the horizon? If the media were following the repairs that the team were helping out (which seems likely) they will have figured that she is way stronger than Stalwart.
The Swat People are magical to some extent. It might be a D&D Wall of Force bubble type grenade or some such sparkly bullshit. It might not last long, but against Max, buying even a few seconds could be enough to do what you need to.
Good idea. Wall of force would be impervious to even strong attacks.
Or possibly some kind of biological and/or gas weapon. We haven’t seen how she fares against those just yet.
We have seen one example actually. The answer was not very well.
Did Sydney forget she has telepresence? That seems like it would have been more expedient, especially given that she already had the comm ball out.
Maxima’s rapidly closing angry reflection in the visor is pretty great.
There’s a reflection on the visor? All I see is black smudges.
Maybe out of reach? She is at the other end of a long corridor. Also although the hologram itself can pass through solids, we don’t know about the mini-sphere.
The previous comment intended to be for larei :(
This one is for RobK:
Pareidolia
I don’t think the ceiling is high enough for Maxima to attack in a parabola.
Oh, I think she has room enough, even for a metaphor.
What about a wafer thin mint?
How about monomolecular string-cheese?
I completely missed the reflection, but looking at it, yeah, that kinda does look like Maxima. Which means that she was right in front of the guy when he fired. Which means that her response to Sydney’s message was to kick some dots over to speed. Which means that grenade is going to be stuffed right back down the barrel of the launcher, and likely the guy holding it is going to be punted back through the door in case the grenade contents are designed to be especially dangerous to the folks in the room.
Naa. Have a look at the last panel of the previous page. All you are seeing is either general environmental reflections or (more likely) the shadowy hints of the wearers’ faces.
On this page it is even clearer. As you can make out the dark shadow of an eye socket, plus the nose and mouth (the light and shadow only allowing half the face to show through).
I thought that was ‘silhouette of the contents of the helmet’-face, myself.
Based on the previous page and the closeup in this one I am starting to agree that the ‘soldiers’ are some king of magically animated (or remotely controlled) creations.
I guess she actually considered that they might be local agents and showed restraint for once? I’m impressed. Figures the ONE time she actually does everything cautiously and by the book is the one time crazy, wacky, superviolent Sydney would have been more useful.
Maybe she want to keep a eye on the bad guys and not project her senses away
Nope. But she did remember that the orb is classified. There is no point loosing a major tactical advantage (nobody knowing about that ability) when she has a mundane means of performing the same action.
If she had less time, or if she could be certain they were hostile, then maybe it would have been the better call. As it was though I think she made a very well judged decision.
She didn’t remember to worry about it in the brawl with reporters and long range photography in play?
She is getting wiser?
Her advantage there was that she was just standing around. So most photographers and cameramen would be following one of the many more newsworthy battle scenes going on.
Plus, in isolation, even a photograph might not show that a super power was being used. Not unless it managed to capture both Halo and her image, in a single shot. Given how far apart they were, that seems unlikely.
Finally, would the image even show up on film? If not, then the only way it could have been reported is from eye-witness testimony. See the first paragraph for things that make even that unlikely. Plus the studio would be reluctant to report something which sounds like battlefield confusion, more than rational observation.
But, yea, if it was captured by the press (and there were at least some present) then the secret is already out there. :-/
Just meant that this would be the lesser breach as its not being filmed by the media. Neither would be good. Maybe, as someone said, she is getting “wiser”. She’s had, barely, enough time for a regret or two since the last battle. (its just one fight after another this week!)
Oh, also forgot to say that I think its the true sight function of the telepresence orb that the higher ups REALLY want kept as an ace in the hole. Lots of folks can make some kind of illusion or distraction but how many can not only detect/pierce said illusions but also pick apart all the energies flying around out there. (and they didn’t even know it could do that part at the time they put the hush on it)
The most significant of which is the Veil. Given their upcoming joint operations, you can see why Maxima rated that so highly. They will be opposing some individuals who are hidden by the Veil. One way or another.
Though the most recent bunch of malcontents has damaged their own means of hiding.
Which means most of the more overt agents will be vamps and creatures with glamours OR they will be the exact opposite and will try to take the fight to the public whenever possible in keeping with their agenda of outing themselves. Depends on how illogical/fanatical they are about their own cause as any publicity they get will be very negative. (unless they are just awesomely clever masterminds and can get most of the fight to be in private but get some of their prettier stooges to die pitifully in front of a crowd who only sees them getting whacked, o at least severely beaten, without the benefit of seeing them do anything to deserve it. “What the HELL are our super ‘heroes’ doing whooping up on that tiny hot chick with the delicate looking butterfly wings? She forget to give their kid a dollar under their pillow or somethin’! O_O’ ” )
So she wasted time unlocking her phone and opening the app? Who’s phone doesn’t show txt’s on the unlock page? That would have saved precious seconds…
Just sayin’….
Thanks for the page!
There’s a privacy setting for that, which I imagine government employees turn on on their work phones.
And anyone who has to leave their phone out of their work area for security reasons.
*star-tipped rainbow* THE MORE YOU KNOW!!!!!!
Not necessarily. Sydney’s pip-boy has all of the functions of a smart phone and more. And will be optimised for ease of communication in a crisis. Plus we have seen Sydney using that function, to co-ordinate battle tactics, in the Battle at the Steak House car park™.
Doubtless, if a recipient is wearing their HUD goggles/visor then it will be displayed there. However it will have a call-forwarding type alternative, to send to the mobile phone, if that is not being worn. And, by sending it on battle-channels, it would automatically be flagged as a priority message. So no time lost for doing that.
Yorp, I think Tick was referring to Max’s phone.
I think anything sent via battle-channel would display without having to unlock; all Max had to do was pull the phone out. Total time: ~ 5 seconds.
+1
Well, considering that Maxima is fast enough to catch a speeding bullet, a low speed canister is not going to go very far before it “reverses course”. Given that even a light weight canister is much heavier than a bullet and the the recoil did not even phase let alone knock down the shooter, conservation of momentum says that that canister must be moving in relative slow motion. Somebody is going to have a bad day!
Or the shooter has super strength.
There’s no way they sent some normies to attack a council of ancient vampires and magic users and what else
Mundanes
Squishies
Some RPG game systems use PSH (Pure Strain Human) as the term…
Well they are definitely magic infused. That will count for something I’m sure.
Magic infused:
Thinking that too, as in “forcibly infused by persons (currently) unknown and forced to mount this attack by the spell”
My bet is on someone ( or maybe a pair of shadowy someones) in the chamber, and this is them making use of the Supers ‘coming out’, making this an intentionally doomed attack, and their presence “I could have been killed too” is meant to provide deniability.
Solid Machiavellian thinking.
Assuming, as I said elsewhere, that the cannister isn’t meant for Max in the first place.
Guess we’ll find out soon enough ….
Coolest thing in the world is watching 25 millimeter grenades drop on target. Makes it easy to figure out where to adjust your fire.
… Unless YOU’RE the aforementioned target.
In which case, Duck & Cover might be a smarter reaction.
writing a text message like that seems like it would take MORE time than just writing normally.
She used a templete from her LARPs.
Talking is a free action. I guess writing is also.
This, probably.
When playing CoH I could type properly formatted sentences, with full punctuation and correct spelling, whilst leading a team, coordinating the tactics, and recruiting new members, for the next mission and engaged in non-stop heavy fighting. Without slowing down.
We know that Sydney likes such games, as she made reference to ‘maybe having time for a raid, before bed’, along with other hints here and there. So she will doubtless have top-level typing speed.
Yes, but that is on a proper keyboard, not some miniaturized, glorified cell phone keypad.
Sydney speed at texting is canon:
Dave: “Good thing Sydney can type fast with just one finger”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1580
There’s a compromise to be made between designing a keyboard for the device, and going with a keyboard the user is familiar with. I don’t know how big the Pip Boy screen is, but on my phone and tablet I use the MessagEase keyboard – which takes some getting used, as it has only 14 keys, but (once I was used to it) is far easier and faster to type on than a touchscreen qwerty keyboard would be.
(I can still type faster on a full-size electromechanical qwerty keyboard though. I think that’s an effect of using 9 fingers instead of 1.)
The pip-boy is big enough that it could use a keyboard optimised for one-handed use. Four fingers and a thumb would provided a good compromise between the two.
Depending on how many games Sydney plays, which require both the mouse (or other controller) to be used in one hand, and needs text typed as well, she may well have developed proficiency with such, even prior to being given her pip-boy.
Please actually be girl scouts with aggressive marketing tactics.
I’m still not quite convinced they aren’t strippers!
Nooo. We do not want Girl Scout strippers!
Not little girl ones, no indeed, but perhaps some others would be okay . . .
I’m not into that, nope, not at all, not even a little bite.
Yeah, I’d be more interested in her.
Really not my cup of tea, but knock yourself out.
That is advice by the way. Spider mating hurts less if you are unconscious.
Is this more like it?
More like this.
That just bowled me over.
Ugh! Tea with milk? Barbaric! Nothing but 100% pure honey goes in my tea!
Bee barf?!? I’ll stick to a splash of lemon juice in mine.
The grenade is filled with Thin Mints.
Snot On My Keyboard award!
Well played Dean. Well played.
Despite the similarities in our names, Dean and I aren’t the same person, but we had VERY similar ideas about the grenades.
It’s okay that you don’t have a joke in *every* page. I just hope that this fight won’t last another full year.
Bad guys (????) imminent at wood door 4 in swat gear. It took me 20 seconds to type. The spell checker helped with ‘imminent’. Hopefully Sydney didn’t get a popup ad while typing.
You have adds in your text message systems?
While I was typing my comment I got a popup… Maybe just fat fingers.
Arc-SPARQ probably wrote/customised a distro for the Arc-SWAT phones (and tabets, etc.) including ad-free versions of anything they could think of (that they could swing as work related).
The bad guys will have had to change formation at the door, to get into optimum positions for their assault. Check that each are in the right place and nobody is too exposed to the blast. Then do their count down to the ‘fire in the hold’.
More than enough time.
They think they have the element of surprise. No need to rush things.
After all, Ingsol has already exclaimed at least twice that he isn’t rushing. =OP
On a good day (I don’t get many of those anymore), I can type about 33 wpm (Words Per Minute) to 35 wpm. If I go any faster, then I start measuring in mpm (Mistakes Per minute).
*offers a hug*
Don’t worry, we will try to improve each day, as much as may be possible.
My guess? Throw my vote in the “Max takes out the minions in a flash, but the Knight helmet guy is a little tougher,” box.
This is what I’d expect too, though they DID walk in expecting a room full of Magical, Supernatural, and Advanced Tech. They might put up a decent fight before getting Maxed.
If they thought that they had maxed out their tactical/equipment advantages before going into that room, imagine their surprise to find themselves getting Maxed out of the room…
Presently it feels like a min-Max situation.
MY bet is on “empty animated armour that reasembles”, meaning she needs to thoroughly crush the armour before it stops fighting.
The knight is probably the boss controlling it, but bonus points if he’s in one of the armours and it’s a decoy.
except we can see the outline of the face of the person in the bottom panel
Looks like Sydney warned Maxima in time…I hope!
blasted Girl Scouts, getting worse than Jehovah’s witnesses.
But Girl Scouts have cookies! Or grenade launchers.
Jehovah’s witnesses just have awkward conversation.
They also have one other sneaky tactic that they have deployed against me a couple of times, in the past. Bringing a pretty girl along!
How did that work out?
It got them through the door. :-D
I could not convince them to join me in a game of Dungeons and Dragons though. I think getting one of them almost tempted was what made the rest decide to evacuate quickly.
door-to-door Baconians
“have you ever wondered whether it was really Shakespeare who wrote those plays?”
(Are there any more Jasper Fforde fans here?)
I do not know what you are referring to. But think I might know one, if his name is Kevin?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde
What an awesome bunch of titles!
Anyone calling themselves a Baconian better be knocking on my door to ask if I would accept their free gift of bacon.
TANSTAFB
Nope, that was not obvious, at all. Were you suffering from writer’s block?
Perhaps I might be able to help?
Supernatural SWAT team or not, these guys SERIOUSLY underestimated the attendees at the party they just crashed and that was BEFORE the added bonus of Sydney being BEHIND THEM…………
Or, much more worryingly, maybe they DIDN’T underestimate the oppositon. This doesn’t look like a bunch of rentacops who’ve just busted down the wrong door.
Either way, it’s gonna be a long wait till Monday……………
Anyone wanna try to convince DaveB to maybe double up on the number of comic panels every iteration?
Plus, like i said, there’s the Crown Princess of Chaos BEHIND them, these guys are so screwed…….
We could try. But first we would have to find a mad scientist who could clone him, or do a Groundhog-day type time compression or hire him an army of minions to help.
Dave works until the wee small hours of the morning on the comic. Whilst he experiments a lot, with techniques to allow the comic to be produced faster, at the end of the day he produces a hugely detailed, realistic comic, with every panel being a work of art. So there is only so much he can reduce the workload. And cannot afford a full-time colourist.
I know that Dave already pushes himself far more than is healthy. Even taking his tablet on holiday with him! Sadly there are only so many hours a day.
Maybe they are just members of the council who like to make a big entrance?
*Ingsol catches the grenade* “You’re late!”
Actually, I’m betting on ‘knows the tactics and weaknesses of the Council, but did not take into consideration a Max and a Sydney are there’.
That grenade probably has silver shrapnel, since the Werewolves are clearly the most physically intimidating, maybe with some holy water packed in to try and piss off the vamps. Cold Iron is worn so as to disrupt the effects of Fey magic.
Unfortunately, they are about to find out Murphy’s First Law of Combat, and they’re not going to be able to report back what went wrong.
That could well be the case.
Mind you that payload only covers three of the races (or groups of races if more than one share a given weakness). There are many more beyond that in the room. Golems and armoured individual, as examples, would not be phased by those materials. Although any type of shrapnel would be dangerous to pixies and medusa. So the attack would still be a serious danger, but there would be plenty of pissed-off survivors.
Strange. @ goodmorning is the only one speculating on the contents of the canister. I think we would all agree that it is not any standard explosive or such but what are the possibilities? I would bet on something exotic but for what purpose? To exterminate? To kill? To Maim? To immobilize?
For that matter, what could be the purpose of the attack? To scare? To overthrow? To destroy the counsel? A unique invitation to a Halloween party?
Sure, but unless Maxima has some kind of surprise weakness, which I doubt she does (DaveB is above making magical green rocks that completely disable someone), I can’t see how it’s meant for Maxima.
No surprise weakness needed. We know that Maxima is vulnerable to magic/mental attacks (as much as any fit and strong willed normal person). We saw her being influenced by Vehemence’s aggro aura (e.g. ripping his arm off and driving him into the ground with a massive column). Likewise Dabbler can beat Maxima if she uses her magical advantages. Yet she otherwise rates as being weaker than Maxima.
I doubt that the blowing off his arm was the influence of the aura. That was a calculated move designed to force him into submission. She didn’t follow up on the attack, instead talked.
Though the column may very well have been yes.
*nods*
Right?
I think a group of 4 can only be to send a message. “We can find you in your secret council chamber. We know when you’re meeting. And we can kill you there. We. Are. Bad Guy Group X!”
I think they’re just aiming for maximum damage before they’re being destroyed, and probably to also splinter group relations given that everyone will wonder HOW they know what they know.
MAybe it’s nerve gass?
Indeed. That I think Maxima would be safe from mind (given her force fields surround her at a cellular level). However they may not have known she was going to attend. Plus the weapons were picked up by Sydney’s aura detection, despite being beyond a solid wall. So they may well have extra enhancements, such as ‘force field penetration’ capability.
Good warning Sid, for someone like Max that bit of heads up will mean the difference between a surprise slaughter and her being able to put a quick stop to them.
No doubt these guys are somehow prepared for the supernaturals that make up the council, but likely not for the likes of Maxima. Not to mention we have Halo to hit them from behind and prevent their retreat.
Well, crap.
Roll for initiative!
I waste ’em with my crossbow!
I shoot the one closest to me.
Magic missile!
I’ll twat them with a frying pan!
Plays “Boost Morale”.
Good thing it’s only four chords.
Eldritch Blast!
Me hit first guy with Big Axe.
I command my dire wolf familiar to guard me as I begin casting Pillar of Fire.
Ooh, ooh. Nobody told me pets were allowed!
UNLEASH THE PENGUIN ARMY!
Give the command signal for my ninja squad to emerge from the shadows.
Oh, c’mon…Like nobody here was expecting ninjas?
Actually I was expecting clones too. But no sign of DR REVENGE , for ages!
*worriedly inspects penguin parade, tail swishing anxiously*
Do you even have the right… um, equipment, to twat someone?
You doubt my culinary skills monsieur?
*prepares slapping gloves, in the event that a formal duel is required*
I assure you I have ways and means to do such things! En garde!
Just what definition of that word are you using, because the only ones I know have nothing to do with cooking?
3). It is colloquial English.
Actually, for posterity, as the definitions can win or loose popularity there, the one cited was:3) A blow to the face or genitalia.
I start showing slides from my vacation!
Due too the low cookie sales, the Girl Scouts have switched to more aggressive approaches.
“Be Prepared”
Wrong Scouts, Obs
No, Girl Scouts, that’s their official motto.
Well, both actually. Its kind of the overall Scout thing.
Which makes a lot of sense really.
Well I will be dipped. I honestly thought BSA and GSA had different mottoes.
From the reading it looks like their is an overall organization of scouts they are kind of all related to and everything under that has the same motto?
Pretty basic motto. Could work for almost anything. Its like their motto is, “Don’t forget to breath.” or something.
Those who live to an ideal standard have no need for a motto themselves. Thus it is only needed by others.
Many people are unprepared for many aspects of their lives. Quite a few of whom will indeed die as a result of their failing. However many survive. For the survivors the motto is pertinent. As implementing it would both increase quality of life and the chances of it continuing.
For those who stop breathing there are no survivors. Thus leaving nobody to be taught the motto.
Well, if they “forgot” to breath (instead of stopped forever) then they might pass out and automatic systems would force the issue. Afterwards they can wake up and decide to turn over a new leaf. (and a new life motto was born! LOL )
So your motto is “I don’t need any motto”?
I have many failings. My most important motto would probably be “Win the heart of a greater woman”.
That’d be the Valley Girl Scouts of California.
He he.
Ironically enough, they are a real thing! Albeit that the California Girl Scouts are a separate bunch to the ones in the Minnesota and Wisconsin river valleys.
If Sydney wants to change her hero status from ‘impressive’ to ‘awesome’ the next page shows her light hook zipping in through the door and yanking the grenade out of mid air.
No way that is that is faster than Maxima swatting it away.
Maybe not, but this is how the scenarios plays out in my mind:
Panel 1, Council chamber: we see Syd’s light hook come in through the door and grab the grenade.
Panel 2, (same view): We see the light hook pull back through the door.
Panel 3, (same view): We see a BOOM! sound effect and flames come through the door.
Panel 4, View through the door into the hallway: We See Sydney standing in her bubble with four smouldering figures on the floor around her. *
* The figures turn out to be animated golems, so Sydney (and the readers) don’t have to deal with her actually having killed someone.
I’m with the “animated armour” golems, i bet they are puppets.
If they are acting as remote drones then Sydney putting up her shield around them will break the link to the operator. If they are not drones, then we would very shortly need to find a new protagonist for this comic.
+1
I suggest a modification to panel 4: We see Sydney standing next to her bubble, with four figures and the grenade inside the bubble.
Ever since the restaurant fight people have been suggesting a remote deployment of her shield. Unfortunately, since it did not come with an owner’s manual she has not worked out the correct floating glowy buttons to push on the orb to get that to happen. For now, it still has to be centered on her. I am sure that function is on the list of things for Dabbler and Arc-Sparq to look into.
+1
Most everyone here is talking about how Maxima is going to probably wipe the floor with these guys. My observation is that a) they lost the element of surprise, true, but b) more importantly, SYDNEY is BEHIND THEM. I expect Sydney understands the full utility of a flanking bonus, added to sneak attack.
I’m voting that they are good me based on the shape of the things Sydney saw inside of them with the aura vision. That or some kind of parasite that inhabits dead bodies.
Necromancy!
Ok, on further thought – we have seen Gwen casting magic, but we haven’t heard much about higher-level magic users to my memory, and we haven’t seen them here.
It could be the classic Necromancers aren’t allowed on the council because they’re a danger to society, but then supers are totally allowed and then they blow their cover and threaten the council anyway! How unfair! Necromancers will make you pay! Look, we’re modern and clever, putting our undead creations in SWAT armor and…teaching them how to fire a grenade launcher.
Ok, it’s probably not vengeful, jealous necromancers. Probably.
Zephan was one of the delegates sitting in the mage’s box. So there are at least four in the room (excluding Gwen, because she is a weak beginner, but including Dabbler). However there may well not be any necromancers, as you say. Simply because there are multiple undead factions (we have seen that the vampires are represented separately from the other undead, at a minimum).
So, yea, it could be necromancers.
*thinks something odd*
Okay, so, if I was to orchestrate this, I’d have magical puppets, but they would be undead, as was suggested. But which bodies to use?
We’re going for maximum impact.
Use the preserved (or restored, but still dead) corpses of various council members’ best friends, only to be revealed when/if the masks come off during combat. Would be a nice stun for half a second at least which could make Maxima dump her armor or speed boosts and she could actually get attacked at that tiny opening.
Especially if one of them was Maxima’s brother.
:’-(
Meant Golem, was typing on my phone and didn’t notice the auto correct.
Android 5.1.1 lollipop (at the very least) and later has the ability you described, just turn the volume all the way down and keep trying to lower it, you will get a dropdown that asks how long it should be on silent and if any exceptions are allowed. There you can allow texts and calls only from your starred contacts.
Quite convenient for a workphone to prevent calls when your sleeping but still be reachable from your boss or similar.
If I am sleeping my boss cannot phone me. I am vehemently opposed to work interruptions, of my private time.
And I don’t have a phone.
You use signal fires and morse code, too?
Only the latter, and then only when communicating with strippers.
Just make sure they don’t use bouncers to return your communications.
dit-dit-dit, dah-dah-dah, dit-dit-dit INDEED!
I’m sure shorthand, signals and such are on the docket of things to teach the new recruits. In a couple weeks.
Sydney kind of did an about face and got all serious and cautious here with her reactions. She neither attempted to illusory bust into the meeting or attack. Going with a text message kind of suggests she wasn’t entirely convinced they were enemies yet. (least wise I’d be several times faster just calling a contact and yelling INCOMING followed by pertinent info than making an elaborate text. )
She’s already up so I’m hoping that means she managed to get a few points over into Speed.
And, if you’re right, whatever that SWAT guy just fired is unlikely to go where they intended, which I expect will make a very bad day for them.
Take a delicate touch to turn it around without damaging or setting it off. Also she doesn’t know what the effects are. It could be dangerous to certain Council members ANYWHERE in the room. But it could be that DaveB is just setting us up for simple fun.
Yes! Simple fun. They are all hired birthday party magicians that are throwing a surprise party and the grenade contains streamers and glitter, and the armored guy is the one bringing the cake.
Agreed on the point that she didn’t know if they were bad guys. The “(???)” next to “bad guys” in her text shows that. Sydney can’t be sure that attending the meeting isn’t, say, cover for an attack on the Council by ARC. Max has made it clear to that she’s not going to tell Sydney everything, after all. While she might not like being involved in such an attack, she’s not going to risk giving the game away.
So, she doesn’t burst in via telepresence to warn Max, nor does she vocalize her warning over a phone in a room full of creatures who probably have extraordinary hearing. She uses the best option she has for getting a warning to the one person in the room most likely to (1) know what’s going on and (2) be able to respond appropriately. Once she sees how Max handles it, she’ll know who to go Halo on.
Oh, and it having been hung on the mantel way back, I’m guessing that at some point, she’s going to use her shield to protect a vamp from sunlight or a light-based attack.
An entire government agency pretending to be another sovereign entities buddies just so they can get close and slaughter them all starting with their leaders? That does sound like us…
Max might not tell Sydney everything but I suspect that if she helps slaughter all Halo’s new Council chums (including the were-bun bun) I think she might have to do some fancy talking, possibly in the middle of the battle) or we will get to see a test of Sydney’s powers vs. Maxima’s for reals this time. (even arresting them all would probably require a little explaining )
That would require the shield to be able to figure out, and care, about the weaknesses of a creature in the shield who ISN’T an orb wielder. Might be possible but seems iffy.
“…she’ll know who to go Halo on.”
That’s “Mighty Mai-Tay Halo.”
I’ll confess that I’m a little nervous. After the battle in the restaurant, I’d normally be inclined to think that there *are* no 4 people who are going to give even Maxima a lot of trouble, much less Maxima, Xuriel, several competent ArcLight mages, and who the Hell even *knows* what abilities are available to the other sapients in the room. But any group with the ability to arrange this kind of ambush *at all* has to know what they’re up against, and have some reason to think they can win.
My suspicion is heretofore-unsuspected Maxima kryptonite or else a number of infiltrators already in the room. (I’m pretty sure I’m wrong, though, and am quite anxious for Monday’s comic. Well-played, Khal Barrack, you big stinker.)
Suicide bombers don’t think they’ll clear the room. Just kill a bunch of people and sow discord.
These guys, who glow as stick figures through their armor, may not be expected to clear the room. Just kill a bunch of supernaturals and sow discord.
Worst case? One or more of the suits contains a small nuclear weapon — or the magical equivalent — (although maybe the wearer doesn’t about it) that can be detonated remotely once it’s been taken manually through the Council’s defences.
Worst case it contains:
• a thousand angels on an antimatter warhead
• Cthulhu incarnate, squeezed up in tiny living quarters, and really mad about it
• and another Big Bang.
Do we know what ordinary humans in ordinary non-magical SWAT armor look like to Syd’s aura sight? I’m pretty sure we don’t.
The only part of the SWAT group that definitely looks like it has a particular glow is at their collars – which could mean mind-control magic. Also one weapon might, or might not, be glowing red. Based on what I can see I don’t think these guys could stand up to a random quarter of the non-ARC paranormals in that room once the surprise of their attack wore off and they got organized…
… Max and Syd are already not surprised, and neither one of them needs that much organization.
Something you may wish to consider, in your analysis, is that the known non-super individuals (e.g. Pixel, Gwen and Zephan) are not being picked up by Sydney’s aura vision.* Unless all of them slipped out, unobtrusively, at some point, then that means only supers, and those with either innate or active magical powers, are visible to the aura-sight.
* Especially interesting when you consider that both Gwen and Zephan are mages. Presumably not having any spells cast on them at the moment, accounts for that.
She might be weak vs. Mind Control and subtle Magical effects.
Actually, we DO know that Maxima is susceptible to mind control. Don’t you remember this? I’m just glad they got Sydney back to normal!
Aaahh, who doesn’t like squirrel girrels?
Seems to be fairly resistant to Dabbler’s glamour though or maybe she has just found a way to channel all that lust directly into anger. (she’s a living converter box between D’n’V? )
Just so long as they are good squirrel girrels. Which I am sure Sydney would be. Even if her fur is not indisputably good aligned. But we can give her the benefit of the doubt.
Its hard to tell good from bad squirrel girrels as they are all nuts!
My dogs just go with the safe policy that the only good squirrel is a dead squirrel.
Well, at least normal for her.
The other half of the geode!
That is not true at all. There are many groups who would be more than willing to sacrifice four people in an attempt to drive a decision or precipitate a reaction. You are assuming that the four operatives know anything at all about either the origin of their orders or the targets they were sent against.
Agreed. Barring the ‘not true at all’. Whilst there are the exceptions which you quoted, there would still be some groups which fell into the category which the disputed phrase defined.
As Honor Harrington (and probably several others) is quick to point out, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy” and one of the main corollaries of this is always go into a fight assuming that your intel on the enemy might be completely wrong.
“FOONK” the perfect sound effect for the grenade launcher. Very similar to the sound of a potato gun… or those t-shirt launchers used at baseball and football games!
or, you know, the Grenade Launchers in XCOM 2 ;)
I prefer the one your research team develops around the end of the game, using alien tech. It shoots around corners. :-D
But it’s a bittersweet kind of joy at blowing up aliens around corners, because even on the highest level of play once you get these weapons the game is pretty much a casual stroll to victory with no real challenge left.
that was the Blaster Launcher in XCOM 1. there’s a mod for the grenade launcher in 2 to do that, but the BL is actually a wrist-rocket unit in 2.
Maybe it’s the SCP foundation trying to contain them?
The Foundation wouldn’t send a four-man team for this, and it’s highly unlikely they’d come in shooting.
Now the GOC might be foolish enough to try a 4-man team to…eliminate…a large group of KTEs, LTEs and UTEs, but the standard STRIKE team is 8 and Orange Suits get deployed one-at-a-time.
UIU wouldn’t come in shooting either.
My guess would be Chaos Insurgency.
Okay, I give. What are SCP, GOC, KTEs, LTEs, and UTEs?
TLAs.
Aw, crap, they brought the noise and the Foonk.
…don’t hit!
It seems nobody has pointed out (yet) that the Comm Ball is actually Classified*.
If Halo had used a phone call, she might have been interrupted. Using her Classified Comm Ball could have gotten her into trouble. A text message makes the most sense to me.
*https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/793
+1
It is worth mentioning that the council do know that Sydney can penetrate the Veil. But the do not know how. And in particular they do not know about the image projection ability.
‘Cept maybe Ingsol who was given some kind of heads up. Maybe even a report.
Sorry I should have phrased it better. The Council know that Halo can penetrate the Veil (having had that mentioned by Ingsol in front of them). The rest are things that he has not indicated having any knowledge of. As three of the orbs are classified, it is fair to assume that information about them only gets divulged on a need-to-know basis.
The council are allies, who need-to-know that the Veil can be penetrated.* Whereas they do not need to know Halo’s other capabilities.
So possibly Ingsol might know, but there is no reason for him to do so.
* Which shows that Archon acted with utmost good faith, in divulging something which they could have attempted to keep secret. Either showing that they have superb morals (given the benefits to be had from not divulging that) or that they feared the Council finding out independently. The latter being highly plausible given the divination spells, oracles and super-science resources, and the like, which they probably have at their disposal.
See, faces like what’s on Dabbler’s face right now are why I love this comic. They’re also part of why I find Dabbler the hottest character in the comic. She has the best ones. Her being a succubus with the otherworldly intelligence helps a lot too though. <__>