Grrl Power #629 – Dammed blood
This is where Sydney is in her life – she’s concerned, and probably reasonably so, about the blood mage covered in her favorite medium, but not phased by the fact that someone survived getting punched through two meters of rock. It’s hard to tell there in the third panel because everything is red, but at least Sciona’s nose is massively broken from the punch. She heals quick though, even without an abundance of blood all over the place.
Sciona is a bit odd as blood mages go. She mostly uses it like mana potions, to power her spells and artifacts. Other blood mages act more like vampires, absorbing blood to heal and strengthen themselves. Sciona is stronger at the moment, but that is because she figured out how to temporarily copy super powers from super powered blood, not because she’s gotten a +1 to strength for every enemy she’s killed during a big battle. That sort of Blood Mage could split class with a Bezerker and be a real menace, at least against the rabble. Less useful against bosses, unless the boss kept spitting out minions for the Bloodzerker to keep powering up from.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Hey, I run a Templar/Vampire in ESO, and it works really well.
Now who’s quick enough on the uptake to realize what she did?
Me, me, me!
*holds up paw, eagerly*
There are prizes right?
*tail wagging hopefully*
Shes preventing the blood from activating those blood runes (or whatever).
She clearly plans on using it once the portal is “ready”.
Why and for what remains to be seen.
Personaly i always keep in mind what a grade A biths she is and assume she intends to steal the power and life of whatever comes trhough that portal so that she can become some sort of grade A bitch Godess.
But hey, that sjust a theory. A webcomic Theory!
…annnd… CUT!
Actually, and bear in mind I have not read ahead, but what I think she did was keep that blood from effectively erasing the blood runes in the same way spilling ink on something written in the same ink erases that writing.
no, the blood would have screwed up her magic circle, the artefact is doing it’s thing and needs time, the magic circle is some kind of add-on to the artefact that modifies its effect.
Sydney, why in the name of unholy Cthulhu don’t you have your shield up? You are squishy and people are flying through the damn walls!
Because Sydney isn’t that smart
Now you are even turning against Sydney?
*cries*
I remember when you used to be a champion of the comic.
Not turning against anyone (well, not in the comic anyway), just pointing out that for all Sydney’s genre-savviness, she’s not that smart in a lot of other ways, butt that doesn’t make her dumb or stupid
Especially given that you’re “concerned” about an enemy’s potential windfall.
Hey, she was in a rush, and baked beans are quick to prepare!
She’s not even holding her shield orb! All Sciona needs is an eye laser attack to take her out fast right now. Come on, miss rules lawyer, keep the shield and wave motion cannon in your hands as defaults!!!
Because, ultimately, Sydney is an untrained, poorly-disciplined, ADHD-riddled American civilian who still thinks that bad things can’t really happen to her.
Once she has truly seen, directly, what battle-fields can do for damage to real people, and the military has had time to train her up a bit, she will get that lovely edge of paranoia.
My real question is; what the heck is her handler doing?
Would a blood mage worry about contracting a disease like AIDS or something.
Yes, in a same way actors worry about stage fright or chemist about explosions. There is obviously some way how they can protect themselves and they need to learn it and apply it often … and they may still get it when they fail to be careful.
Probably, if they were human. But alien species don’t have much to worry about human diseases.
Good point!
Remember, save up five or six and you earn a star!
To further this thought, wouldn’t blood born diseases be another thing a Blood mage could weaponize? I’m pretty sure the last thing you want to be hit by is magically enhanced super malaria or killer attack Hepatitis gremlins.
Ooh nasty.
And with multiple options, so earning a whole paw-full of good points!
What? Aliens have a ton to worry about from human diseases! At least, so we hope…
But, if pamspermia is right, we are Martians. There is plenty of evidence of Martian rocks having been blasted off the planet and raining down on Earth. Whilst it is still highly controversial that even microbial life could have survived that, there are documentaries proving it indisputably!
So, of course, our cousins can catch our diseases!
Very distant, possibly unrelated life, from further afield though, should have far too different biologies to be affected by most diseases. Although not all. There are bound to be some mechanisms which operate on simple chemistry, so will work regardless of whether there is compatible DNA (or whatever it is they use instead of that).
a bone to pick with that ;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis
given the amount of difficulty that animal diseases have
jumping into humans living/working with those same animals
(consider the millions of people/animals having millions of
daily physical interactions with millions of chances ; )
and zoonosis transmission can be viewed as extremely rare.
like, 1 in a millon chance of same, or less.
I’m having real trouble googling anything on that specific Q. , tho.
So from that I figure that magical blood, or alien blood, would be
chances 1,000 or such less likely. also consider that *using* blood
for magic – or technology – tends to destroy other things, such as
disease, that would be non-naitive to that same blood.
anyone else got other comments ?
Antsy
It’s probably more like a million to one, so of course it’s going to happen.
Viruses are awfully simple, really just instructions on how to make more of them. As long as a cell uses amino acids and manufactures some sort of genetic material, that cell is potentially vulnerable.
Really hoping it’s time for something nasty happen to home invaders, problem is, we know two people on this page make it into the future, one of them can’t be hurt by literally anything, so that just leaves…
arslania2000@yahoo.com
You really don’t like heroes or law enforcement, do you? You are advocating someone who back stabbed her Allies, back stabbed someone with their back turned, and openly was about to attack civilians. This is not home invasion. This is following a perp to ground.
“Openly was about to attack civilians”? Really? She didn’t even take a swipe at the bridge supports after Maxi tried to vaporize her, all she did was divert towards the bridge as a distraction, even some of great Archonists have suggested she may have simply intended to hide under the bridge and *WINK* away
Show me anywhere they acted like real law enforcement or heroes? Maxi straight up lied about who was responsible for the bridge collapse
Maxima didn’t LIE about the bridge. She thought that Sciona diverted her shot to the bridge on purpose, thus making it HER fault. Which let’s not pretend here. If Sciona had known she could do that, it would’ve been on purpose. She is blatantly and objectively evil, having shown herself willing to kill people with absolutely no qualms about it whatsoever.
No, she flat out said “Sciona blew up the bridge”, removing her involvement completely
Your statement does not contradict LordFaet‘s assertion. With the assumption that he stated, Maxima would have been telling the truth, in saying those words.
And mathematics would support the assertion too. It is statistically most unlikely that the deflection would have ended up going to such a disastrously bad spot, without it being directed there.
Thus very much reducing the need to utter any qualifiers to the comment, at that time. And the need is completely negated by the fact that they were in a time critical situation, and Maxima had no more to spare.
Whilst talking is a free action, there is a limit to the length of dialogue, before our credibility gets stretched too much. So Maxima said enough to convey her opinion, then got on with things.
Except, Sci could not have blown up anything if Maxi hadn’t fired her vaporizer blast
All Maxi had to say was “A bridge was blown up, get here NOW!”, thus, the pertinent information was relayed and no (misleading) blame attached
In her opinion it was not misleading. Likewise mine, for the purpose at paw. Maxima was not speaking to a board of inquiry, nor the press. She was telling her team what they needed to know to get their job done.
The priority is conveying combat critical information to her team, who were not in sight at the time. Failing to mention that their principal target was involved, and thereby still in the vicinity, would be to omit a tactically vital piece of information.
There could be precious seconds wasted as they wonder ‘well are we abandoning our pursuit mission, or going to help with this separate issue?’ or make enquiries such as ‘what about Sciona?’
Likewise, given her opinion that Sciona had done that purposefully, they needed to know that she was an active risk to any other civilian targets in the area!
Clarifying her statement is something that could be done when there was time to spare. The details really were not pertinent, for the tasks involved.
Fine, then she could have said (using this wondrous feature called “Speaking is a free action”) “The bridge has been blown, get here NOW, am in pursuit of the target”
There is No. Reason! for her to ‘clarify her statement’ because no one has a reason to question her claim
Because you ignored the fact that Maxima has to alert the team both to Sciona’s presence and her involvement in the action. She is someone believed to have been in possession of weapons of mass destruction. Capturing her is the team’s primary objective.
Therefore they would be obliged to make enquiries about her. Yet they would also realise that an urgent order like that must be responded to immediately. Creating a mental conflict. So even though they would obey Maxima’s orders, it would not be without hesitation.
And, besides which, Maxima was pissed off that Sciona had done that. It is entirely appropriate for someone to vent their frustration. But Maxima was sensible enough to do that in a constructive way, focused on the most urgent priorities.
Finally, the team does in-depth reports and post-action analysis, and there is no question that Maxima would attempt to cover up the exact details of what happened.
Dabbler and Lucus will be able to analyse all the information, to calculate the thousands-to-one odds of the bridge having been hit, in its most critical spot, from a football pitch’s distance away.
Hence, in all likelihood, the inquiry would conclude that whilst it may have been accidental, the chances are so remote that the only sensible conclusion would be that it was deliberately deflected there, by Sciona.
What part of “Am in pursuit of the target” is ignoring Sci’s presence? Or did they maybe pick up another ‘target’ no one knew about?
You just admitted that Maxi deliberately lied
Well you did not specify that in the comment I was responding to, so that was not a consideration. Also bear in mind that Maxima was having to act on the spur of the moment. She did not have the time to craft a sentence tailored to appease your sensibilities.
No I did not. Saying something truthful, whilst you are angry or frustrated, does not make what you have said a lie. Likewise having insufficient time, during combat, to make a detailed report is not a lie.
Whilst I won’t accuse you of lying, please stop making claims, about what I have said, which are untrue.
To make myself clear, before you quibble. You rephrased Maxima’s dialogue. Hence I did not refer back to see what she said previously. If you wanted to keep more you should have included that.
But, also, to be clear, I too would prefer that a super hero not give the impression of shifting the blame. However that is all it is is an impression.
So I admire your championing the spirit of heroics. It shows you to be a good person, at heart.
Maxima though has to behave as a military commander first and a poster girl second. Her dialogue does stand up to scrutiny, even if it, justifiably, irks you.
And this is why no longer going to be reading, or responding to, the comment section, will continue daily voting as the comic deserves it
Oh, I am sincerely sorry. I know I can be very overbearing at times. I hope that you reconsider. It would be a shame to loose you from the community.
I can’t promise not to defend the characters though, if I feel they have been unfairly demonised. But I shall try to be as tactful as possible.
Wasn’t demonizing anyone, just pointing out a flaw in speech (and how a simple change would have been just as clear without putting blame on anyone)
As for this thread: this was just about how even the Avengers have had setbacks, specially early in their career, what setback has Archon had? Wars Factory doesn’t count as no-one knows even what happened let alone how (and that still turned out to be a major victory)
And it got turned into yet another personal attack on me
Even if it was “following a perp to ground”, LEO still have to announce themselves, Sci could truly claim (whether she would win the claim is another matter) that she believed they were pissed off ex-allies or even rivals
Oh please don’t take it that I was claiming you were demonising Maxima here. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Where it provokes debate, it is enjoyable to explore the issues. And I shall try my best to not be too
I was just indicating that if it escalates beyond that, to unfairly characterising scenes in the worst possible light, or the like, then I would present a robust defence.
Here you make good points. It is just that Dave is clever, in frequently presenting scenes which have two levels. One is a situation which seems wrong. For instance not prosecuting people for rioting and attacking police officers.
The other though being apparent on closer examination. In this case realising that Maxima is not going to put innocent people through the ordeal of being arrested and their cases being heard in court. Not when it would take years out of their lives, defending themselves.
Maxima could see that such would be an injustice, as it was Vehemence, and his aggro aura which were the principle culprits, and they were just amongst its victims.
So even though society wants rioters and people who attack police to be punished, Maxima just cut to the chase and made sure the right thing was done from the outset.
Here it was Maxima who appeared to be in the wrong (her blast is the one which blew up the bridge). But, just like all the attacks made by the folks under Vehemence’s control, she is innocent.
So Maxima has behaved entirely consistently here. She determines who she believes is in the right and the wrong, and acts in such a way as to ensure that the innocent do not unduly suffer.
If she left it in the air, then she, Arc SWAT and Archon would all be painted in a very unfair light (your ‘she is lying’, to paraphrase, being a good example). At this critical time it could even cause a loss of funding, or even the abandonment of Archon, in favour of traditional institutions.
Which, given the entirely reasonable opinion that Sciona caused that to deflect to the bridge on purpose, would ultimately be found to have been unjust. Yet if society was not being protected by Archon they would suffer unduly.
So there is the third layer here, that Maxima is not just protecting herself, but she is also doing so for society. Not to mention the much more obvious thing that her main priority is to prevent a magical apocalypse. This would be the absolutely worst time for a witch hunt against the cops.
I am satisfied that Maxima did right to try and avert that. But wholly respect your right to have a contrary opinion.
Yet will absolutely refute that Maxima lied. She stated the truth as she saw it. Maxima is one of the good guys. She is not corrupt.
‘And I shall try my best to not be too ‘ —->
‘And I shall try my best to not be too overbearing.’
That certainly was not my intent. Sorry bud.
*hangs head, in contrition*
I’m sorry.
Didn’t mean that you attacked me in a personal way, you always make your arguments about the subject at hand (usually very well typed out, even if wrong… argument is sound, just starting from a wrong footing)
Again, if you look at what was said by me, and you will see that all the information needed to mobilize her troops was there with no blame being placed on either side
Although, it matters not how the bridge was damaged, Maxi was still the one who fired the blast that did the damage, butt, like everyone keeps pointing out: she had no way of knowing Sci would be able to deflect it into the bridge (not even Sci knew that), that doesn’t change the fact Sci could not have done that if Maxi hadn’t fired such a devastating blast in the first place
Is a gun responsible for a ricochet that bounces off a wall and hits a civilian? Is the wall responsible? Or is it the one who fired the gun in the first place?
To make your analogy fit though the wall would have to have teleported into the path of the bullet, to deflect it. Because the cop had not been shooting at a surface which could deflect the attack. And not only that but she ensured that the only thing beyond the target was water.
Plus the wall would have had to be pitched at a very precise angle to ensure that the deflection reached a remote spot, where it could do maximum damage.
So, yea, I think that wall is very suspicious and likely guilty.
Who cares?
Max is going to hear about it from her superiors whether she IS responsible or not. That’s how military superiors work.
Now let it f’ing go. At this point, continuing to argue about it is TROLLING not discussing. Have something new to add to the discussion, go back to the actual discussion on the page where it happened and make your post. Otherwise, get back under your rock.
Trolls live under bridges, not rocks… so it’s not surprising one would nitpick about who did what to his roof… :p
He he he.
Lovely wordplay.
Let’s not get carried away here. We all need to slow down and read about what it means to be a cyber-bully and treat others fairly online.
Here is the pamphlet put out by the prior administration back in 2014.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0001-netcetera.pdf
Here is the pamphlet just put out this week by the White House describing the First Lady’s all new program to teach our kids about being courteous online. She had some issues in the campaign about taking credit for other people’s words. I’m sure she wouldn’t do something like that again.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Talking-with-kids-about-being-online-_2018.pdf
Ummm… just because they use an old pamphlet, does this mean that they can’t institute a new program using that old pamphlet?… not seeing the big deal here people.
Much more important stuff to be discussing. Like, WHERE THE HELL IS ALL THAT CEILING BLOOD COMING FROM! Are there FREAKIN’ PEOPLE BEING DRAINED ON THE UPPER FLOOR?!!! (As you may recall, we did see Sciona employing this tactic previously elsewhere.)
Excellent question.
I must admit when I first saw the page the top of the tank looked like it had a sword sticking out of it. One with the blade covered in blood, and more blood leaking down the side of the tank.
Then getting confused with who it was in the tank (bearing in mind I thought that Sciona had come to a stop buried in the wall, at the end of the last page).
“Is that some kind of biological android creation tank, that has broken open and spilled one out, part made? Or is that a cloning facility, or maybe a bloody cryo chamber for Sciona’s sister?”
Figured it out when I saw Sciona worrying that the portal was not ready yet.
Sciona is a terrorist with magical WMDs.
They are completely within their legal right to run her down like any other exceedingly dangerous perp. What are you talking about?
+1
I’m honestly more concerned that she’s got like, blood plumbing there. That is hella gross.
Incredibly unsanitary.
Actually, piping it is probably a lot more sanitary than open cauldrons or a trench in the floor. I think she’s doing some really innovative stuff with bringing blood magic into the modern age.
Heh.
Does she have separate plumbing to use with hot and cold blooded animals?
A) Sciona committed numerous terrorist attacks against Archon’s allies, resulting in fatalities in the ones that Archon want present at, and risking a global panic, then captured and bled one member of the team and committed possibly fatal damage to another when they tracked her to her hideout,
B) then she used the chaos she caused to invade a vault filled with dangerous artifacts that she tried to kill two of her own allies for, allowing the rest to take whatever they wanted, and set the defensive guardian to kill anyone that came to investigate,
C) she then attacked what is ostensibly a civilian business allied with Archon, where another member of Archon, Harem, was present, with potentially lethal force, and finally,
D) Maxima didn’t deliberately lie since she had no reason to think that Sciona didn’t deliberately bounce the attack Maxima had fired at her to hit the bridge, especially since she didn’t hesitate to use that happy accident to try and make her escape while she presumed that Maxima would be busy with the rescue efforts.
Show me, anywhere, ever, that Sci has projectile capabilities
You are blaming Sci from using an incident that Maxi caused, as a cover to make her escape? Cereally? Maxi showed she was in no mood for taking Sci in alive (let alone in one piece), and you expected Sci to just wait patiently for the “World’s Most Powerful Licensed Thug” to work her over more?
And before more bullshit claims get thrown toward me: not once have ever claimed Sci isn’t a nasty piece of work
I don’t believe anyones saying they expect the criminal not to run away, or do criminal things. I understand your view, however…
Sciona has been shown willing to attack non-military targets. She just happens to have gotten the notice of someone who finally COULD kill her.
Maxima is trained to end fights. It’s literally her job to kill Sci if she’s a clear and present danger to a number of people. Obviously if possible, capturing is better. But when she’s a danger to many people, faster than your reinforcements can catch up, and you’re out there alone chasing her… you shoot to kill.
Yes. Maxima fired the shot. But given the 300 odd degrees where deflecting the shot would have not hit anyone (300 because it’s a 2d world. It’d be over 120000 degrees in a 3d one :P), it’s her assumption that the location of the strike was planned by Sciona, if only half a second before it hit. She might have immediately regretted it. It could have been an accident. But Maxima reported what she saw. And the rules are, after all, who touched it last.
However, if they never come back to the bridge incident in terms of property destruction be careful Maxima… that’d be a bit bad imho.
After all, she’s gotten a reputation as “Blows up Mosques” (just one Mosque!) so she really should be trying harder…. But I’m not sure what other attack she could have reasonably tried to use to bring her down, while both flying…
P.S. I’ve just refreshed my memory of events. So, Sciona clearly sees the Bridge, and notices the advantage it gives her in terms of body shields. She even acknowledges how the good guys are dumb for caring about lives.
So when Maxima says “Sciona hit a bridge as a distraction.” maybe she’s trying to deflect her own blame like Sciona deflected her shots (maybe she never thought her shots could be deflected, and this is entirely new. Max can’t be blamed for something she’s had no experience of, although any super fighter should expect the unexpected). OR maybe she’s telling the truth. Sciona “hit” (as in slangish for went to or passed) the bridge, as a distraction (seeing her approach those civies made Maxima distracted, and caused her to lash out in an attempt to end things before innocent lives were lost.)
Maxima isn’t trying to kill Sciona. She’s been ramping up her power level to avoid just that, only just reaching nose-breaking levels now.. on a villain shown to survive having her head cut in half…
Nicely argued.
And this despite previously having stated regret at not having opted to vaporise Sciona. Maxima is well within her right, under the rules of engagement for US military dealing with someone suspected of having a WMD, to have done just that.
Yet she is still offsetting the risk to herself, the team, and the wider populace, against the desire to avoid killing Sciona, unless absolutely unavoidable.
So Maxima should be commended for her restraint, towards this viscous criminal. Whilst others are indeed entitled to complain that she is going too soft on her, by offering her surrender (per Achilles attempting to read Sciona her Miranda rights, and also specifically asking her to surrender), rather than playing it safe and just killing her on the spot!
What does her ability to generate projectiles have to do with it? Archon doesn’t have sufficient data on sciona to rule it out, and law enforcement doesn’t go into a situation saying “well, we don’t know that person has a gun, so clearly, we are going to rule out them having a gun.” Second, it has been demonstrated that sciona’s blood magic can copy super powers – consequently, her power range will be seen as massively variable. Third, you forget that Archon is a military unit. Standard procedure for military here? Likely would have stopped being non lethal quite some time here – so get off it already.
I know this page has little-to-nothing to do with Sydney’s orbs, but I still want to post some speculation about that last one. Note that I haven’t read through all 500 or so pages worth of comments since the orbs were revealed, so my theory may overlap with others.
I noticed in the DeviantArt picture of Sydney’s skill tree that the last orb looks like it contains smoke of sorts. Perhaps this implies stealth or camouflage? Each node could be different types for one branch, and increasing strength for the other, with the lone node providing a semi-passive illusion, where she only needs to hold the orb. The only time Sydney held that orb in public, she was thinking “New power”, not “Disguise of indeterminate quality”, so perhaps it only works when thinking about the disguise for now.
I imagine the branch with one pip controls type/quality, so this would be “clothing only” for now, but could eventually “change” skin tone, physical appearance, or even flat-out make her (and the remaining orbs) invisible. The two-pip branch would dictate strength of the camouflage, currently at “better that normal human perception” but not yet at “succubus glamour”. Like I said before, the lone node could be a semi-passive, “default” disguise, which I’m assuming will be Batman.
Hmm… I did look back at the comments on page 538, where Sydney held the orb in the pool, and I did notice that Yorp said essentially the same thing.
I would love to see Sydney get some eye-for-an-eye revenge on Dabbler by glamouring up to eleven, make her drool in desire and then whoosh the glamour away to show her what it’s like to be on the receiving end of unexpected succubus seduction ;)
Isn’t Sydney already super-attractive?
Yes, yes she is!
You have earnt yourself a beautiful gold star!
Based on the recurring theory that the set of orbs make the functions of a spaceship, a cammo orb could be useful. It might let the user blend in with the locals and do some exploring without leading to repeated shouts of “AAHH! Aliens!”
Hadn’t noticed the smoke before, trying to think of other logical options for smoke…. I’m hoping for phasing at this point so she can fly through walls etc. All the other useful possibilities I can come up have already be covered.
Here’s hoping that we find out what’s up with Hiro’s absorption in this fight.
Well we know he has sonic absorption. But you are right that it may actually turn out to be wider than that.
It would have been a bit of a coincidence to have stumbled across the one energy type that he could absorb, in his first (on-screen) fight.
It would be nice if he could absorb things like fire and lightning too (but not cold, as that is the absence of energy).
Technically though sound is a sub-category of kinetic energy. So if he had a wider absorption than just that (or very closely related types, such as ultrasonic/hypersonic/vibrational energy), then he would be getting into Anvil’s speciality.
Whilst that might degrade her uniqueness, there is a bigger problem. Namely that he has done a lot of sparring (notably he found out that Maxima must have been pulling her punches against him*) yet has not found out that he can soak up kinetic energy, when punched. Thus making that less likely.
* Although ‘not putting her full power into her punches’ may be the more accurate, if kinder, way to phrase it.
I’m arguing that SUPER cold is not actually the absence of energy, though natural is. I was told once when I worked as a dishwasher at an all-you-can-eat place that I needed to use cold water to mop the floor of the walk-in freezer, and I thought that was stupid so I used hot.
Which froze instantly.
Cold had to be used. Hot water is ice, cold water is water.
But for superhero-generated ice, something has to be happening with it to not let the ice melt or weaken in room- or higher- temperatures. Like someone would have to generate water, and suck the energy out of it to freeze it, or make some kind of energy that becomes ice directly. Either way you can’t have a null and positive at the same time in that way without it being a superpower. So just basically the second thing I said- superpowered ice (or regular powered ice but created by a super) is an energy that can probably be absorbed by Hiro if the other ‘elements’ can.
I live somewhere that can happen, during the coldest parts of winter. But if the cold water worked, when hot did not, then there was something else in it. Categorically. If both were unadulterated plain water then the cold water should have frozen even faster than the hot.
So I suspect that the cold water had a specific additive, designed to keep it from freezing, under those circumstances. There are chemicals specifically designed to do that, for use in the food service industry. Similar to anti-freeze, but without the toxic properties.
Possibly there may be such a chemical which does not like being heated up, so looses its special properties, if you do that? I leave that speculation for chemists, or food scientists, in our community to debunk.
If it was not that, then they were just screwing with you and slipping the chemical in the cold water, whilst you were not looking.
Is It just me or is the ultimate weapon to used against a bloodmage a bucket of hydrogen peroxide?
I mean it might be a bit difficult to carry around with you but one spray from a supper soaker would destroy any diagram she wrote anywhere…
And a plus point. She could not sue you for bleaching her hair white. ;-)
Oh noes! R2D2’s car has been destroyed by lava!
Man, this has been a rough year to live in Hawaii.
It’s quite possible that this volcano is not entirely stable.
P.S. I don’t know who they interviewed for the quote but some ‘expert’ said the eruption was a good thing, because volcanoes let off internal pressure and keep the Earth from exploding.
It’s interesting to watch “experts” comment on TV, given that usually actual experts morenally have better things to do that stand around on the street talking to news crews. This is a perfect example to me – what exactly would the earth exploding look like, given that dirt and most rock doesn’t have much tensile strength? The crust can’t contain enough force to fling continents into space when it breaks, just enough that cracks open and can move relative to each other and sometimes vent magma.
So they’re saying that volcanoes are preventing…. the formation of other volcanoes? It’s volcanoes all the way down!
Well, in the grand scheme of things, a bit of lava oozing out, whilst destructive to local property, and a tragedy for the individuals involved, is minor compared to what could happen. If the lava does not have an easy outlet, then you can end up with a catastrophic explosion, gushing vast amounts of volcanic debris into the air.
Locally it can destroy a whole island completely. So a serious problem for Hawaii. Although I am sure we would know all about it if any of their volcanoes were of such a rare and dangerous flavour, so that is only a hypothetical.
Globally though the ash dumped into the upper atmosphere, can cause global cooling and trigger a mini-ice age! The first thought may be ‘great way to counter global warming’. But do bear in mind that the ash cloud would be thick enough to inhibit the growth of crops. So there would be a huge price to pay, as crops failed in various countries around the globe.
And such would only be a temporary drop in temperature. But it could cause a catastrophic side effect, given how we have stretched various plant resources around the world. If we get whole forests, swaths of ocean plankton and the like dying off during that period, then we would loose much of what we are depending on to counter global warming.
During previous mini ice ages (in the 1600s-1800s) some of which may have been caused by such volcanoes, the planet had a lot of redundancy, so could survive such losses. Now we have pushed many parts of the eco system to the point of collapse. So if one goes another might, in a cascade effect.
Just pointing out the outlier possibilities mind. But something to bear in mind when folks are floating ideas about trying to correct global warming with schemes that artificially replicate this kind of cooling.
One volcano in particular is quite dangerous. These are known not as ‘volcanoes’ but ‘super volcanoes’. Volcanoes are pointy and go upwards, supers are domes and shaped downwards.
That’s highly dependent on the type of magma involved. Major explosions are pretty unlikely with Hawaiian volcanoes; they don’t have all that much gas dissolved in the rock and because the composition is relatively fluid, what gas there is can get out fairly easily instead of building up dangerously. But that doesn’t mean that things are safe or that the worst is just a little local destruction! The worst outcome of a Hawaiian eruption is if part of the island breaks away and landslides all the way down to the bottom of the Pacific; the tsunamis from that would be pretty awesome, provided you weren’t close to the coast anywhere in that ocean basin. And we know that such landslides have happened in the past; we’ve seen (with sonar) the damage done to the ocean bed around the whole Hawaiian chain…
Wow, YouTube knew we were having this conversation, and recommended this to me.
First time I saw her, and I approve. She talked about physics for minutes and I did not end up with my usual PBS space time headache!
Isn’t that an oxymoron…?
It’s my impression that there’s no such thing as a “stable volcano”…
…because as soon as they become stable, they’re no longer called volcanos…
…they’re called mountains.
(…ICouldBeWrongThough…)
Immortal or not, super powered or not even with regeneration, that broken nose has to hurt… Ouch. I’m sure its not Sciona’s first time having her nose punched in, but still…
Maybe change that to a thought bubble, because there are at least two people in the room with above human hearing, pretty much entirely focused on her. Also, I know I’d probably try messing up the elaborate ritualised symbols drawn in blood. That would definitely be up there on my list of priorities in that situation. Right up there with trying not to bleed. So maybe have her think about whatever illusion is hiding the ritual so they don’t just ruin it.
Definitely important to draw your arcane symbols correctly. I wonder how magic users debug their spells while they’re learning?
“Sorry Trent, can you go back through the rift and let me try that again? I didn’t connect these 2 lines on the eleventeenth rune properly, so you’re only an inch tall in this reality.”
So you are saying that grimoires should come with ‘spell’ checkers?
Lol.
As regards the thought bubble thing, that is only necessary if Dave wants the fight to drag on. If he does actually want to wind it up, before a climactic evil-god battle, then this is a good precursor to that.
Or there simply may not be the time to act on that intel. Sciona was only trying to buy seconds.
Yes. Grimoires should come with ‘spell’ checkers. But NOT autocorrect. (shudder)
Yeah, especially bad when you want to sell your Kia Soul to Stan.
> Set ownership Soul => Stan
Just so long as a paper clip does not start walking around and saying:
“It looks like you are trying to cast a summoning spell. Would you like to use a template? Template activated. Satan summoned. Satan looks pissed that he did not get to finish playing with his rubber duckie. And is nude.
Would you like to book a flaming pit with a view?”
I think that the ARC magic/intel section has been whispering “restraint” into Max’s earbud. With Dabbler on site, they may feel confident that they can deal with Sciona’s magic.
Plus, Halo’s got an orb that seems to be able to isolate magical radiations…
Heh. I thought you were referring to the other mystery orb. But then realised you were talking about Sydney using the True Sight Orb to see the various auras (magical and otherwise*).
* The orb lit up just about everyone in the council chamber, in the next room. So if it was just picking up magic, there should have been some who were not visible, and others who were only visible due to magical items they were carrying or wearing.
Possibly the fact that they are all being hidden by the Veil, might account for them all showing as ‘magical’. Except then Zephan and the other human(s) should not have shown up. Or they should have looked distinctively different, if they had cast other magics on themselves.
As it was there were many colour variations, amongst the delegates. But they seemed to go along faction lines (loosely speaking). Which would make sense, as we would expect undead to have different auras to humans. Likewise faeries versus magical constructs. And/or it may be picking up subtleties, like their moral compass. Showing the evil delegates differently to the good ones.
YORP!
Last 2 things I’ll say about my trading card game are: I even made cards for the franchises themselves, with IMDB/Wikipedia links typed on them. Unless I was given official acceptance, and those URLs actually go to the official website. So it isn’t like the people that say ‘yes’ don’t get anything out of it. Not all the cards have real information (like the Hover Hoover from Scrubs is a real card, but it was a ‘JD Daydream’ item so if you know the show and someone is using the card against you, you can bring up that it was never real anyway and the item ceases to exist) so knowing the franchise gives you more power with the card. Encourages people to know more pop culture than they already do.
Also HEY DAVE could you give me permission to take screenshots and make Artifact (item) cards out of the Braneripper, Amazeballs, and other stuff?
This is gonna end up being..
she’s just trying to get home or something i bet.
A popular theory.
Sciona, don’t let the portal slam your arse, on the way out!
Great comic as usual. Sometimes, the comments (or commentor) leave something to be desired. I’ll just say this. Be nice to each other, kids.
Wise words. I shall be mindful of them and hope that we can all keep the mood light. Well unless discussing the potential opening up of a hellgate, of course.
(Pats Yorp on the head)
Good Yorpie… here’s a cookie.
Yummmyyyy!
How did it take me until now to notice the title “Dammed blood”? Damn!