Grrl Power #637 – Just one of the things in her Six Demon Bag
Yes, the portal is a big problem, but Dabbler could see what Sydney did when she used her orb, so she wanted to play along. Also, we all know that one of Sydney’s official unofficial superpowers is derailment. She’s like ADHD for other people. Maybe she’s ADHD’s avatar.
Dabbler is quite the competent solo adventurer, but it’s because she needs stuff like wind spells that her fireball spell is not exactly on Lina Inverse’s level. Like when she hangs out at the Adventurer’s Cafe, they all make fun of her until the swarm of bees comes in. Or she pulls out her railgun. She does have some big hits, but she’s definitely the kind of adventurer everyone wants in the party. (Besides the succubus stuff) Between her spells and her ‘cybernetic arm of holding’ she’s usually prepared for just about any situation. She’s like Data from The Goonies, only her inventions use molecular fabrication and have less reliance on slinkies and spring loaded dentures.
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Boy your artstyle has really changed recently. It is so much more complex now.
It certainly compliments Dabbler’s more complex features. She looks especially good in the first panel and the last two as well.
I don’t think the present lighting conditions suit the style so well, as far as Sydney is concerned. Although Dave captures her expressiveness well, this place has dampened her cuteness aura!
What I think when I saw the art, is “Is there a fan somewhere near Dave that isn’t making themselves obvious in the comments, but is doing cosplay for him? Seriously it’s getting way more realistic so there must be a frame of reference.”
2nd to last panel here.
Did you mean to link to “Dabbles’ Science Torture”?
Yes. It clearly shows that Dave has access to Dabbler, Harem, Maxima, Sydney, etc. So they can directly model for him, to provide the frame of reference that Viirin speculated upon.
*wags tail decisively*
…Okay
:-D
The last panel seems to have Dabbler & Sydney sharing the same “Anime Bangs”_hairstyle…?
I like how Dabbler looks, and Sydney too… but something seems very off with Maxima’s new design – both in this first panel and last comic’s last panel.
Maxi has more ‘realistic’ features on this page
Agreed.
Not really. Last comic, the lat panel, her arm seemed unusually short. Here her eyes are closed and one seems a bit higher than the other. It’s just a little unsettling. No offense to DaveB – I can’t draw worth a lick so maybe I’m not someone who should be giving any sort of artistic constructive criticism – but Maxima just seems ‘off’ in the last two comics compared to other ways he’s drawn her (like when they were over the Grand Canyon, which was amazingly good, or when she got the boot print on the ceiling).
Still love the comic and the art though. Just Maxima seems off.
Many of us found the final panel, on the previous page, to have been off (and not just Maxima, for that matter).
As for the above one, with Maxima partly turned towards Sydney, and responding to her, the closed eyes* speak to me about Max’s weariness with Halo. She has a tough job, and Sydney can make it harder, at times. But her calm face is not showing signs of irritation. So I take it as resignation (given that Halo probably has a good reason) rather than frustration.
Now that you point it out, I can see what you mean about her eye-levels. I think though that they are right for the angle that Maxima is holding her head at.
In fact, given the level of realism, I would guess Dave either had someone** model for him or he was using a reference photo.
Even saying all that mind, and having another look at the first panel, I can see how it is disconcerting, as we would want her eyelashes to form a nice straight line (because we expect eyes to be level with one another). They are though, but the curvature of her eyes, and thereby her eyelashes, makes it (falsely) seem that they are not.
* These can also be taken as downcast eyes. I joked, in another thread, with an implication that Maxima may be checking out Dabbler’s hypnoboobs. However if they are downcast, given the context, I would say they are actually directed towards Sydney (as in angling towards her, albeit probably staring into space somewhere the other side of Dabbler’s shoulder.
The difference though, between ‘shut’ and ‘downcast’, would not change my interpretations above. Somebody who is (emotionally) weary is as likely to look in either state.
** Maxima probably.
Her eyes are level, it’s her head that isn’t
And the thing that is possibly throwing people off, is that Maxi is looking for realistic compared to her past appearances. Look at her jaw, it’s not as ‘angular’, it’s more ‘softened’
Thanks, I’m still trying to find a balance between detail and stylized cartoony.
Personally feel you should have stuck with the ‘angular’ Maxi, butt you have a vision for how they all look and are striving to portray that
Fairly sure most fans have their ideal look (some prefer ‘Bobble-head’ Sydney, others prefer ‘anime’ Sydney, others adore her no matter what, as just an example for one character), butt it’s the creator’s opinion that matters in the end
Keep up the excellent work! An Artist who doesn’t stretch themselves goes stale very very fast. Much like plants, if your not growing, your dieing.
Ahh, yes, but such a noble way, for a plant to die. Providing artists with Lincoln green, henna and indigofera dyes!
It would take a super plant, to be strong enough for dieing metal mind.
Its definitely been fun watching Dave’s art evolve as the book has progressed over the years, Its a far cry from the hyper anime style he started with.
So, just a thought, would Achilles survive the heatdeath of the universe? Cause if so, he’s got an eternity of suck waiting for him.
Very likely. But intelligence is capable of overcoming entropy. We turn disorder into order and can find ways to overcome such problems. And he will have the resources of hundreds of civilisations and 10 ¹ºº years, to get a solution.
Then Achilles just needs to keep his Big Bang generator somewhere safe, for when it becomes too boring. Push the button and “POOF” new universe. It will take a while before intelligent life will form again, but he can give it a helping hand.
He may have pushed the button a few times already.
That… Is actually both terrifying and awesome.
Achillactus.
As far as I’m aware, no intelligence has ever overcome entropy in a closed system. (If you’re talking about an open system, then that’s almost trivial. You don’t need intelligence for that.)
Life alone can do it. It is one of the ways of detecting its presence, if things which should become more disordered become more ordered. Intelligent life can just do that better.
And, yes, talking an open system. Just like the Big Bang.
Even though time and space began (or ended) with it, there was something around for it to have initiated in the first place. So, in the Dreamtime (before time began) there was a state which allowed a universe to begin. Which means that there is more, to the multiverse, than is just contained within our timespace.
Plus I see no reason to assume that our Big Bang was unique. Just like we have proven, within our lifetimes, that the Earth is not a unique planet (other than the fact that we happen to be living on it), so too we will probably find out that universes pop into existence a lot, in that place which exists outside of the Big Bang.
biological life requires energy input. all live on earth is indirectly fusion powered by the sun.
intelligence also requires energy. to perform the process of figuring things out. hence the landauer limit.
life and intelligence only exist due to entropy.
Ahh, I see why you are quibbling. Because you are taking ‘overcome’ to mean ‘negate’. Whereas I am merely indicating that lifeforms can resist the decay, and some other effects, of entropy. Where a dead body will crumble to dust, a living being will replenish damaged cells. Plus they can turn disordered matter (for instance scrambled eggs) into a more organised state (fat deposits).
Eventually though entropy will win, and they will turn to dust. Except Achilles.
He had better ask Dabbler to stop killing gods. Otherwise his chances for long-term company will be reduced.
Old model of universe… Now they believe that the universe is constantly growing…. Entropy can go collect dust bunnies in the closet with other outdated ideas, like black holes being one way
Heat death is an old hypothesis, yes. But not an obsolete one, it is still viable. It is also not a model of the universe, rather it is a proposal for the state the universe may end up in. One which inherently requires the universe to continue expanding.
Meanwhile entropy … oh, hang on, I get it, nobody could accidentally have quite that number of misconceptions.
Phew! I am glad I disengaged lecture mode, in time enough to realise you were being satirical. You were right?
As far as I know, no intelligence has ever overcome entropy in a closed system. (If you’re talking about an open system, then that’s almost trivial. You don’t need intelligence for that.)
P.S. Apologies if this posts twice. The first try never showed up, apparently.
Don’t worry about it. We are all suffering from the same problem.
Recent updates (most likely to protect wordpress from GDPR) have left the site with a lag on posting messages. The good news is the frequency this happens has dropped. Which may either be a sign it has been worked on, or it may just be an intermittent problem. Other good news though is that the comments usually do get recognised, even if they do not show for some while.
The best way to force them to show is to simply click on ‘previous page’ and then ‘next page’. Or, once there is more than one comments page, to do the same for ‘previous/next comments page’ and then the reverse (as may be applicable for whichever page you made the comment on).
I’m actually wondering about something with Achilles.
Does he need to breathe? In other words I know it won’t HURT him if he doesn’t breathe, but lets say he was in space or under the ocean…. would he be rendered unconscious from lack of air? Because he doesn’t have the power to breathe underwater – he just is utterly indestructible, which does not necessarily mean his body cannot sort of ‘shut down’ in the absences of a necessary element, like oxygen.
Like… he’s in space, where he shuts down but his body is still in perfect condition, and if he ever crashes on another planet with oxygen, he wakes up again and wonders what the heck happened.
As far as I know, Achilles has, in DaveB’s words, proper aggravating invulnerability. That’s not quite the same as immortality. Yes, nothing can injure him in terms of heat/force/radiant energy, etc. I don’t know if that mean he couldn’t die from starvation or asphyxiation.
Per Achilles’s cast list entry:
The worst that can happen is that he cannot metabolise energy (air is a necessary part of the process), so would gradually get fatigued and fall unconscious. He would be able to keep going a lot longer than any normal human though, as it is usually toxin buildup in the blood which makes people fall unconscious. Which Achilles would be immune to.
Even when he has used up every last bit of oxygen, he could still draw energy from fat and other body reserves (barring any which would cause him damage, so, unlike mundane humans, his body would not cannibalise his own muscles and organs). Eventually even those would be depleted, if he did not manage to get back to an environment with air.
However whenever he next got to somewhere with air, he would revive and be ravenously hungry, but OK.
All this presupposing that his power does not provide him with energy directly. He does eat, but it is possible that he does not have to. Both Heatwave and Maxima can draw large amounts of energy, to keep their powers functional. It is reasonable that Achilles may be able to do so too, for his much more modest needs (per minute, if not per eon).
Plus it would be the cleaner interpretation of “cannot be suffocated or starve”, if it does not inconvenience him, in any way.
True. However it is likely that Achilles is both invulnerable and immortal. Our best indicator being that he has not aged a day since at least the 80s (per comments Dave has made, rather than the cast list).
It also is reflected in his hair not growing. Barring the fact that he can still walk around, his body seems to be perpetually frozen in time.
Do you think he can be embarrassed to death?
His deadpan reaction to being used as a trap trigger makes be suspect that he have built up a resistance to humiliation over the years.
Don’t forget his reaction to Sydney’s accidental arse-grab during the demonstration.
I didnt say he’d die from being in space (ie, suffocate) – I asked if his body would, for lack of a better description – turn off.
Like… if he’s frozen, he won’t be harmed, but cryogenic storage is still a thing, right?
I’m pretty sure there was a scene previously where Achilles talked about himself, or else someone else talked about him. Anyway, the illustration showed him doing work as a diver, without scuba equipment. Maybe he was welding? I don’t remember when it was, and I couldn’t find after a quick perusal of the archives.
Yes, underwater welding. Also if I recall correctly, he has gone swimming in lava.
I think that it is safest to assume that he simply does not need anything to sustain him. He needs no food to provide caloric energy, no O2, nothing that a normal person would suffer from a long term lack of will cause Achilles that same suffering. Because he simply can not suffer in any conceivable way.
I agree.
The only caveat being to add ‘physically’ to the final line. I expect his Achilles’ heel to be that he is just as vulnerable to emotional damage as the next bloke. Hopefully though time will heal Achilles.
Yup, I followed you. The answer is ‘maybe yes and maybe no’. My reply covered both eventualities. It all depends on whether his power sustains him indefinitely without food, air or water.
I think the better way of describing the torpid state, that he might enter, would simply be ‘hibernation’. It is a trait that various mammals do have, so it is reasonable that, with his invulnerability, his body would emulate that, when its resources got down to a very low level.
Otherwise, if it completely depleted every resource (as I described previously), then there would be no reserves left to restart his body when it next did come across air. The one caveat though being that a hibernating body is not totally inactive. Its metabolic processes are just very greatly slowed down.
This has the problem that it does still consume resources, if only relatively small amounts. So it is only good for winter, and even that requires having built up fat reserves (which Achilles does not have a lot of).
So if he were trapped deep underwater, or in space, his metabolism might stop completely. Appearing to be dead, to others, but still capable of being revived, relatively simply (say by CPR). If he could reactivate himself, after being in such a state (very much akin to cryogenic storage, especially if in a cold environment), then that would itself be a secondary power (albeit a minor one).
I think Scott is recollecting correctly. Which does heavily point towards it sustaining him, otherwise he would risk falling unconscious. But, for the reasons I detailed above, even without that secondary power he could replicate the scene we saw, simply because he could keep functioning without air for far far longer than any normal person.
My bet would be that Achilles power does sustain him, partly due to that underwater scene. Likewise because of the excerpt I quoted, in my previous reply, that he cannot be suffocated etc (strongly implying that he simply does not need air food or water).
But also because he is a five star (Mega) hero. I think he would be a four star one if his versatility was limited by not having the self-sustaining capability. Otherwise that underwater scene would show recklessness, because he would essentially be holding his breath. And therefore he would be running the risk that he could fall unconscious and be lost in the depths, for potentially a very long time.
Hence why I often quip about him being around for the Heat Death of the universe. Even when the Sun gets bigger and crispy-fries the Earth, burning off its atmosphere, Achilles should still be going strong. And will have unlimited marshmallow toasting options.
Although hopefully he would have hitched a lift off Earth before then, as I suspect his marshmallow storage options might be a bit problematic.
I had forgotten about the suffocated part. I still have doubts that he would make it to the heat death of the universe, in spite of his near unkillableness. Since energy can neither be created nor destroyed, he has to have a source of energy to fuel his power. Whether the source is internal, external, or both only affects the ultimate endurance of his power, not whether he can run out.
So as the universe moves towards an entropic equilibrium, he will run out of energy within himself and energy he can draw on from without. The source of the energy that fuels him will determine how close he comes to being the only living witness to the ultimate end of existence. While perhaps not actual immortality, being able to draw on the power of, say subatomic interactions, would make him functionally immortal since he would almost certainly have outlived earth-descended life. Whether he would want to, or still be sane, is a completely different discussion.
Don’t forget that we are talking about super heroes though. Maxima can create a nuke-like explosion, with a flick of her wrist. She did not get the energy from that by burning off a few calories. She is getting that energy from somewhere (unknown).
Likewise it can be shown that Anvil’s power ignores “equal and opposite reactions”. In that she can throw a huge super brawler back across a car park, simply by tapping his nose, and unleashing the stored kinetic energy. If normal physics was at play, she should have ended up going backwards too, through the wall of the Steak House!
Not to mention Sydney having her own local gravity field, in whatever direction she fancies. Likewise Harem’s teleports can generate (or destroy) energy. A simple example being to teleport a rock a mile up into the sky. When it hits the ground (or someone’s head) it will impart a significant amount of energy.
Ditto with the creation of portals. Opal could provide unlimited hydro-electric power by placing a portal underneath a turbine, leading to a portal above it. Then pour in a bucket of water, and seal the system, to ensure there is no evaporation. At which point Opal has created a perpetual energy device!
When the water falls on the turbine it starts to turn it, the water pours down through the lower portal, appears out of the upper one, and the cycle repeats. All the while electrical energy is being created to power whatever she wants.
I agree that generally, super have to be tapping into some sort of universal energy pool to sidestep the limitations of physics as it relates to the “human” form. What I was referring to specifically was the theory that Achilles’ power would sustain his bodily processes, not unlike Vehemence was able to burn power to bypass the need to breathe. Although, I think it likely that the supers still have to obey the laws of physics. However, their powers let them bend the rules or pay for the breakage in alternate ways.
As far as Harem’s teleports go, she is neither generating nor destroying matter or energy. She is converting matter to energy(dematerializing extra bodies to boost the strength & toughness of the remainder) or vice versa. Anvil is absorbing the kinetic energy & storing it like a battery(admittedly with 100% efficiency), the equal & opposite reaction is then redirected when she releases the energy later, thus conserving momentum.
Sydney’s powers, including her amazingly adjustable gravity field, are generated by the orbs. The orbs appear to be a set of magical or super-science devices. Honestly, I figure we could use the terms interchangeably at this point, since any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. Therefore, they could be operating exactly according to the laws of physics, just with some processes & appendices we haven’t discovered yet.
The portal trick with Opal ignores friction on the turbine. Also, even if you could create a perfectly sealed system(unlikely but not impossible) she still hasn’t created a perpetual energy device. The portal-water-turbine device only works as long as she maintains the portals, and only works with her portal to replace the pumps you would otherwise need. To my knowledge DaveB hasn’t said if she can create permanent portals. Additionally, the portals are a power generated by her and not an intrinsic part of the machine, it’s not a perpetual energy device. In fact, if she doesn’t intervene, it’s not even a device.
As far as Max & her “Daisy Cutter”…I got nothing. We’re right back to the drawing on the power of subatomic interaction or whatever. I’m willing to accept “cosmic power” or something similar. Although I still think it’s not so much “free” or “limitless” as vast and mostly untapped. I suppose they could be drawing on narrative causality.
As a sidenote, without further backstory on Achilles from DaveB, I think it would probably be more accurate to say that no force currently on earth is able to harm Achilles. He might be able to survive the Roche tides generated by a blackhole, but is he really interested in testing that out?
if true, he is the/an end of the universe.
if he is always going to be there as a measuring stick, then the universe cant become a singularity again the way it would if he wasnt there. because his presence would prevent the contrition of the universe becoming an infinite single point.
Interesting, is it not? That the weakest super on the team (Peggy does not count, as she is not a super) could also be one of the most profound beings in the universe!
so basically you’re saying that he’s “The Winslow” of the Grrl Power universe… and he’ll be around for the end of THIS universe and into the new one, and so on, and so on, etc… in perpetuity?
Here is the relevant form you may be looking for:
i wonder how 682 would react to being asked if its the winslow constantly.
Entering into a rage-state and attempting to escape confinement?
Sounds about right.
im saying that, if he can survive the heat death of the universe, there cant be a new universe.
he has definite shape and form. thanks to this, there will always be a “thing” to measure the size of the universe with. it will just continue to expand as a multiple of Achilles forever.
if he wasnt there, the moment the last thing that could count as having definite shape decayed, there would be nothing to measure the universe by, making its size irrelevant, thus, a singularity.
Well the ‘heat death of the universe’ would be if it entered into such a uniform state* that work could not be conducted. If Achilles does need to eat, drink and breathe, in order to produce energy, then if the heat death did occur, he would not prevent it, because he too would be unable to produce energy or work.
Further he would enter a torpid state and gradually assume the same temperature as his surroundings.
If however there would be heat death, but he did have the necessary resources to sustain himself (by whatever means may be possible, maybe including exotic ones like zero point energy sources), then the heat death would be incomplete, until and if he depleted those resources.
Whilst I can see what you are saying in your final paragraph I am not convinced that a totally uniform universe would be considered a mathematical singularity. Whilst it would take a hypothetical external party to do the following (there being no energy left to perform work, no native being could do this), a measurement could be made of the extent that the universe has expanded.
Everything within this measurable region would be of a uniform temperature. Whilst everything beyond would be outside time-space. Which means there is a differentiability, between ‘the universe’ and ‘not the universe’. This distance, although vast, would be finite. So a singularity could not be claimed from that angle either.
Obviously all this under the presupposition that a heat death is achieved, as opposed to the universe ripping itself apart, for example.
If Achilles super power does generate his own internal energy source though, then the heat death will indeed never occur. He could generate work, and restore energy differentials in the areas around him. Making some areas hotter and others cooler.
* Which could actually have heat, but just the same everywhere.
What heat death? So far the evidence points to a cold separation via dark matter that binds things together will rip it to shreds as it moves continually expanding so there will be no evident crunch. worse yet the expansion seems to be accelerating. The red and brown dwarfs will be the only things lasting the longest.
Whilst the Big Rip is a much more recent hypothesis (2003) than the Heat Death (1777), I do not think it is appropriate to say that it has been proven. They are conflicting proposals offering different conclusions as to how the universe might end. However we do not know enough about a number of the factors involved, to be able to do more than indicate which is the more likely.
Rather complicated by various controversies surrounding the Heat Death, such as it not being accurately defined.
However, even in your assertion, you stipulate that dark matter plays an essential role in showing which is the correct hypothesis. As of today dark matter is still theoretical. Until we have both proven its existence, and can fully understand its role, we cannot conclusively settle the matter.
So whilst both are still viable hypothesis, even if one may be deemed more likely to be correct, than the other, it is still fair to speculate based on the assumption that the Heat Death is the route the universe will take.
Although it would be interesting to hear folks take on how Achilles may fare, should the Big Rip come to pass instead.
The Big Rip sounds, to me, like Les’ final fart, which is what will really be the end of the Universe :P
The Big Bang is when he lights it :D
Perhaps he has done so already, from a previous iteration. We don’t know what Achilles’ surname is, but it may well begin with C.
How many people think that Maxima will snark internal or externally at some point that she’s got a wind spell to jiggle her boobs.
She won’t, unless Dabbler does it in front of her to tease her, and it’s not like she needs it, her boobs are hypnotic enough as it is.
It looks like they are working fine, in panel 1.
I suspect the wind spell is so Dabbler can execute the Marilyn Monroe Maneuver at a time and place of her choosing.
:-D
*paw print of approval*
Honestly explaining the wind spell is hardly needed- with something so common, of course she’d have it!
… hm, I wonder if she ever runs into problems with her allies assuming she has something she doesn’t…
Dabbler is every RPG character I make: grab every item you can, wield them all, and don’t worry about being underpowered overall because you can exploit every weakness
Even easier to do when you have a portable hole to store all your toys in. Or, in Dabbler’s case, a whole laboratory full of them.
I have a ranger/wizrd who had to upgrade to a living vault or 3 to keep all the things he had collected or made. by the time I retired him (as it got less fun for everyone else); encounters were basicaly keep the enemy off me until I pulled the solution out of one of the vaults.
“Epic level golem. I have a solution for that. Here let me unlease my dire rust monster of legend”
A Six-Deamon bag! Sensational, Egg! What’s in it?
Five deamons? Because Dabbler got out.
Yorpie, you should be ashamed for not picking up on a Big Trouble in Little China reference by the man, the legend, the hero of all ages…. Jack Burton!
*hangs head in shame*
And it is in my permanent collection. Not that I will have access to it for much longer mind. When I return to the UK I will have my computer in one bag, my clothes in another and three kitties in their respective carriers/cage. But I can remember that well enough, without being able to rewatch it.
Wind, fire, all that kinda thing!
Jack: You mean oil?
Shen: I mean black blood of the Earth!
Egg Shen: Can see things no one else can see. Do things no one else can do.
Jack: Real things?
The reason for the interruption?
We find out that this is all a surprise birthday party for Dabbler and the cloud around them is simply the smoke from 190 birthday candles.
:-D
Everyone wants her in the party? Au contraire, everyone in the party wants in her. I’ll take the Captain Obvious award, and be on my way.
Yo, Captain Obvious, DaveB already put that in his thoughts: “(Besides the succubus stuff)”.
With that reasoning, I expect Sydney to start calling Dabbler “Granny”.
With the twist being that this is not Dabbler’s first visit to Earth. And she is.
I would assume any grandchild of succubus will be succubus.
Well the extra arms would certainly come in handy for Syd, wouldn’t they?
Yup, that is the normal rule. Dabbler tends to break most rules though. She is naughty!
Just compare Dabbler to Decolette. Decolette only has two arms. Likewise for the succubi in this (canon) school scene. So although Dabbler has a bunch of succubus attributes, she is clearly more than just that. So she has not bred true. Meaning that any children are likely to diverge too. And grandchildren could diverge even more.
I think Decolette is a “Pure” Succubus. We know Dabbler is part Doppleganger, (Another creature that in many versions mates with other races for procreation). Sooo yeah, she’s a 57
What I was alluding to is that Dave has explained to us all succubi are female. There are no incubi in the Grrlverse (or, if there is something by that name, it is not a male succubus). The only way that succubi can mate is with males of other species!
As such Decollete has a non-succubus parent.
However Dave has indicated that all succubi offspring are succubi, not whatever the other race is. Plus has also pointed out that their reproduction involves factories and is very complicated.
Barring, of course, the fact that Dabbler is clearly very different to the other example succubi we have seen.
Mind you, contrary to my previous statement, this may just be due to alien heritage being expressed, despite being principally succubus. With Decollette and the other succubi having had less weird parents than Dabbler.
Maybe her ‘unidentified alien ancestor’ was a race that made it so instead of succubi breeding like asari, they breed like the Tuvok Orchid.
Another possibility is that Decollete is a test tube baby and as such 100% pure succubus, while Dabbler is more of a ‘traditional’ baby, and as such 50-50.
50 – 33.5 – 16.5
Love your work DaveB! Long time reader, just getting into the discussion. I like the wind spell explanation. I am one of those people who has been playing RPGs for a while and didn’t even realize that strategy. It’s a facepalm moment. I have been the type to rely on “burn it until it stops moving” instead, but you (via Sydney) bring up some excellent points.
Aside – What happened to Dabbler’s braid(s) in the first panel?
They had been behind her head until she bent down, then they fell forward
Welcome to the community.
I would normally set up some kind of snax and welcome banner …
but I am rather discombobulated, by these folks dunking me in a bath!
Unable to post in context for the last 2 days, but I had Dabbler tidy Yorp up.
NooooOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Yup, wind type spells can be pretty awesome under the right conditions; fog in dnd is an amazing utility spell as well. My personal favorite anti-mook/spell-caster trick is still engage multiples in close combat, and center something big and nasty centered on me though…
It’s a totally valid strategy when your rolls & the dm’s house rules lead you to become a dwarven druid with godly constitution.
I find anti-magic to be a great equaliser. Assuming that your foe is dependent upon magic, but you and/or your party are well balanced to cope without it. Or, if that is not an option, grappling is often surprisingly effective and available to anybody.
So is using an unusual weapon. People never expect an elven mage to use a spiked chain to disarm them just as a fighter starts a bull rush.
And that weapon can also be used to trip. Which is opposed by strength, something that mages usually do not have a surplus of. So, even if they have no weapon in hand, it is also a great choice to deploy against a mage. It should disrupt them that round, and leave them in a highly vulnerable position, after that.
Although it is wise to never forget that mage’s ability to counter attacks does get progressively harder to overcome, the more powerful they become. Even just being able to create mirror images of themselves gives them a great way to (probably) foil a number of attempted grapples, trips or just mundane attacks.
Am I the only one here who read “Death Parrot” and immediately squinted at the panel to see if there were any Angry Birds?
Love how hiro just sits there. Didnt even sign off or gets to contribute. Kinda lame i mean he could have subdued the regineratting bloodmage who is hopped on super blood.
I like Dabbler’s adventurer look in panel 4, very reminiscent of Laura Croft in action.
My friend on seeing panel one with Dabbler and Max(with Sydney butting in): I’d ship that. Yes, even with the third wheel. Seriously doubt Dabbler would care there’s an audience.
Me: *headdesk*
Reading up on the relativity of space-time/time dilation recently as got me thinking.
By “over 160 years younger than me” does Dabbler mean that in the “I’ve lived for over [160+Halo’s-age] years” or the “I was born 160 years before you were” sense?
And I dunno if any of that even means anything if something wonkier like true time travel exists in this universe.
And I guess either Dabbler’s gotten pretty well adapted to Earth culture to making these type of age remarks or she’s been blessed with not having had any type of wonky time-wimey issues occur during dimension/space traveling…
I’d expect it to be Dabbler’s (body’s) subjective time, simply because that’s the most likely definition to have a single value open to objective measurement. The first of your two options, but specifying an explicit treatment of whose frame of reference is used.
Even modern-Human level of tech is able to create measurable differences in time-rate between identical objects – GPS would not work if it didn’t account for both Special and General Relativity. This setting contains many more and much older Peoples than our own, who will have a commensurately better understanding of the Universe’s nature and the technologies that can affect it; I assume they can create much bigger Twin Paradoxes than us, and have done so at least enough times to satisfy their physicists. And that’s just with stretching and compressing timelines within a common direction of flow, rather than outright looping them
I would think all succubi have a wind spell, even the ones that aren’t specifically spell casters. After all, in order to make that perfect entrance that leaves everyone slack jawed and doe-in-the-headlights-ish, you must have the soft light spell, the wind-blown hair spell, the slow-motion spell, and the saxophone spell. Succubi have a race-specific bonus that allows them to cast all four at once. High level succubus also have a pull camera-focus spell.
Couldn’t Sydney just have grabbed her air ball?
That regenerates the air, not provide wind
True, but an inspired idea none-the-less. It did displace the water it was created in, for example. No reason why it could not do the same for moving dust.
Sydney really needs to practice more with her weather control orb!
Maybe trying to show off her insight to the resident hypergenius pan-dimensional adventurer (who diddles the natives).
Dabbler has said words that don’t translate before which Sydney agreed with, even without understanding even the context because “What? She’s smart.”
She asks the demon a lot of questions, but it would make sense she wants to be on equal footing, or at least try to gain more of her respect than from just being ‘fun’. Knowing something about Xuriel that was never even hinted at could help counteract some of the ‘please teach me’ moments.
My suspicion is that her ‘reveal’ requires clearing a radius that was larger than the area that her Orb could do…?
Good point. We could only reasonably expect it to clear an area the size her shield normally covers (which is what the air bubble approximated). And that much is already clear anyhow.
Perhaps Sydney did not fancy running around, blowing dust in front of her? :-D
Sensibly enough mind, as it might not work as intended. And time is precious, at the moment.
*Thinks*
How long since an adderall dosage? Maybe she was actually just trying to level up by making the Air Ball see a magical quad-nado and hope she can use the point to do it too.
That might actually be more useful. Unless the wind generates air as well, it’s actually just moving the limited amount of clear air around even more, dragging the dust around.
I was riding the city bus, reading some of my favorite webcomics to pass the time, when I got to the ‘Dyna-golem later fell in love…’ line. Everyone on the bus (even the driver) is staring at me after the GROAN I let out. Shame on you, Dave! lol
I understand that Talking is Free Action, but exposition is not. When you have fights that happen at normal speed, you don’t have much time to stand around and gab. When you have fights that happen at Maxima-speed, by the time you’ve said three words, she could probably have been more effective than whatever plan you would finish explaining 20 seconds later. Time counts for a lot, especially in such an “urgent” situation. I know Sydney’s got her attention issues, but I would expect Max to interject before Dabbler even finished her question.
Except… we can clearly see that Dabbles is still doing her wind-wave while Sydney is providing extra wind from her flapping lips
Note the following from the author’s blog, above:
What is true for Dabbler probably is for Maxima too. Max specifically hired Sydney on the strength of that True Sight orb, despite any and all other disadvantages of having her on the team. She knows that it can be a profound game-changer. Plus Maxima has learnt to trust Halo’s judgement. She would literally be dead, if it were not for Sydney’s past insights and cunning plans.
So, whilst she could interrupt, Maxima has intuited that Sydney does not want to say out loud what she is up to. Given the urgency of fixing the runaway wormhole, that shows great trust in Sydney.
Yeah, that kinda took me out of it as well.
The whole middle of the comic could be reduced to two words: “Lucky guess.”
Incorrectly though. “Educated guess” is what she has shown. Dabbler is a world-hopping adventurer, who has survived doing that up to the age of 187. And Halo has seen that Dabbler flings herself into combat, without hesitation, clearly relishing it. So, to have survived that length of time, especially solo, as Sydney points out, Dabbler must have well-rounded capabilities.
Plus Sydney has, even in the short time Sydney has known her, Dabbler has used a number of different spells. Including utility spells such as cleaning and warming. And has shown redundancy between her technological solutions and her magical ones. For example, when Dabbler needs an item she usually summons it from her lab, by use of her cybernetic implant (a.k.a. using ‘hammerspace’).
However we have also seen Dabbler casting a summoning spell and literally pulling her swords out from elsewhere. And, for very good reason. Dabbler’s item teleportation may well only have planetary range, rather than interstellar (let alone interdimensional). Meaning that, Dabbler would know that if she travels too far from her laboratory, in her world-hopping, she will not be able to summon items using her cybernetics.
So, even if Dabbler could (normally) teleport a leaf-blower, to deal with this situation, it is likely that she also has managed to research (or otherwise acquire) a spell which could do the same task. Ensuring that she can do the tasks Sydney lists, even under challenging conditions.
Finally Sydney knows that magic does actually parallel technology, in that magical spells are akin to computer programs. So it is actually likely that there would be a magical equivalent to a leaf blower or fan, namely a wind spell. Just like we might expect a fire spell (which would correspond to flint and steel or zippo lighter). Or a purify water spell (paralleling water purification tablets or water filters).
These are basic needs, which any people, with similar needs, would tend to find convergent solutions for. Within the tool-set(s) available for them.
Not as redundant as you think- you’d just want a mechanical and magical thing that does X action/effect because of antimagic zones, silence (magic or gags), confusion psionics that keep you unable to concentrate long enough to cast a spell, etc.
Plus it probably also has to do with using magic when needed or it can be recovered easily enough, due to mana pool and regen speeds. Or just using it when she doesn’t have tech to do whatever, or like our own (or my own) computer works- multiple programs all on defense/scan mode so different things are detected, or the same thing is detected if it tries to move to an already searched locale only to run right into something else’s attention.
Explosions are free actions, because that’s the language of fire. Or something. Don’t be racist!
This page makes me wonder if Dabbler modelled for Leonardo Da Vinci?
<..>
<.<
…
Yes.
I frequently play such characters. The Swiss Army Knife. May not be as powerful as the dedicated tool, but damn if there isn’t any situation in which they’re not at least useful.
Favorite magic item? The bag of holding. Which will be filled with tools and supplies.
I happen to be currently playing in an Exalted campaign as the Swiss Army Knife character (a Raksha specializing in creating things, especially servants), Good times!
I guess mine would be more like a Swiss Army Kukri. I liked versatility but made sure I could pack a punch. My rough mantra, for arcane spells, was: “Offence, defence, mobility and miscellaneous”. If any spell could fit into more than one category its desirability was elevated. I tried to keep an even ratio between them.
So alter self was hugely desirable, as an early spell which could check three boxes. Being able to fly (or swim) away from danger was defence. Likewise for bypassing obstacles it got the mobility. Whilst its disguise capability gave it a strong miscellaneous. It could even provide an aerial missile platform, but the offensive capability, compared to other spells, would not be significant enough to justify the fourth box. Not without a build, or situation, which enhanced that.
Wall of stone would get both defence and miscellaneous, with the latter being particularly strong. Being able to build bridges could even provide mobility, in suitable terrain (e.g. mountains). Likewise, in earlier editions, it could even be used offensively.
Create a magical bridge when approaching a dangerous area. If a retreat was called for, and the enemy pursued, the bridge could be dispelled, causing the foes to plummet down the cliff. Even better for monsters with high magic resistance, as they would fall through without any extra assistance.
Whilst polymorph any object was so versatile as to check every single box. Multiple times.
…Did you actually need to spend the whole page explaining why Dabbler has a wind spell? I kind of feel like she could have just… you know… used it and cleared away the dust, and gotten us to the reveal a bit sooner.
Hey, weather magic takes time. Just be thankful that Dabbler did not have to get out her drums and dance around for ages!
Sydney’s ADHD sidebars are a central part of her character. Sho just wouldn’t be the Sydney we all know and love without them.
Well said.
*covertly passes over a compact escape kit, with hacksaw, lockpicks and instructions, pawcuff keys, file, thermite and detonators, mace, taser, map, compass and infra-red signalling torch, spare batteries and a Navy Seals escape and evasion kit*
Just get to the spot marked, on the coast and signal, at night, with the infra-red torch. My penguin navy will have a submarine ready to rescue you!
Almost made it. Got trapped by that damned weather balloon again.
Darn it!
Well the escape committee shall stand ready for whenever you make your next attempt. Just pass the word.
I haven’t read through all the comments, cause laziness, so this may be a reiteration, but I’ve a theory that has only gotten stronger in my mind since they first landed in…alari land for lack of a better name. My theory being, in the however long it has been since sciona has been back to “alari land” they have either all died out or moved on and that is what sydney saw/confirmed with her com ball.
It is a popular take.
A popular and annoying take!
That people would really believe DaveB would go to all this trouble, just to have it end like that?
Given that only Maxima (and maybe Dabbler) would be able to put up a fight against any other Alari in the area, with the other characters sideline because they have to be behind Sydney’s forcefield so they can simply survive the encounter… yes. Especially if there’s more than one of them and they’re out for blood.
Then again, they might just go for Sciona, seeing she might have been exiled by the Alari for using Blood Magic, given we don’t know the Alari’s view on that school of wizardry.
Dave’s stories tend to be character-driven. We have explored the depths of Sciona’s character, through the eyes of our protagonists. However we do know that the arc is coming to an end soon, Dave told us as much. So it has to end somehow.
Either it will end with Sciona having been overcome somehow, or with the next arc being the Alari war (or life under the Alari overlords, if Sciona turns out to be a typical example of her species). For the former option, whilst anti-climactic, there is a cosmic irony with Sciona’s species having died out, that various readers have appreciated.
So, whilst there are various ways that this can go (and Dave does tend to surprise us, quite often), it is entirely reasonable to finish the arc the way proposed.
From a personal point of view (and strictly that, as I have seen no one else mentioning this recently), I would be happier for it not to go deep into an arc featuring the Alari. I would much rather we get to see more of basic training and the exploration of Halo (and the other newbies) powers.
If it were to go the Alari extinction route, think of it as being like Apocalypse Now, in that the story was in the journey, not the destination. If it does not though, then you get to put another feather in your cap. You have called it right before!
Inter-dimensional travel, I wonder if Jenny Everywhere will show up in this comic.
Lol.
Yea, that would be cool. And not the first time that Jenny (x) has been proposed here.
…
I can caste STINKING CLOUD…
Several times a day.
Sounds like a change of diet is in order.
Have I been blacklisted or something?
None of my other comments showed up. There were about a dozen or so.
No. Dave does not do that. Not without provocation of extreme anti-social behaviour and not without prior warning.
We have all been suffering from posts not showing (periodically, I have yet to identify a pattern so it is probably due to something like server loads). Normally all it takes is hitting ‘previous page’ and ‘next page’ to trick them into showing (to save having to wait a long time).
However, looking back I cannot see any posts by you, since the end of the last month. So there seems to be some other problem.
Usually this would be due to the (very few) anti-spam features on the site. So if you try to post more than three links, in a comment, that will automatically fail. However normally you would be told that the post has been sent into moderation. Making it unlikely that is the case here, unless you failed to mention such errors.
The other prime suspect is still to do with links though. Some websites have anti-hotlinking features, which will cause any link to content there to fail to post. Whilst other individual links may simply be formatted compatibly, or use a type of extension which is not supported by WordPress. These problems usually fail without warning.
Finally local lag (or a problem that is causing a user’s computer to run really slowly) can have similar failures without notification.
So check to see if you are experiencing any delays on other websites, in which case you need to sort out your PC or internet provider. If it is not that, or links, then please let us know of any ongoing problems.
Likewise anybody else who may be experiencing similar issues. If you can’t post, please use the Twitter or Facebook buttons above, to let Dave know. If (like me) you dislike both, please try periodically posting here, in the hope that a message gets through, at some point.
“… links may simply be formatted compatibly …” —–> “… links may simply be formatted incompatibly …”
I’d almost say Dabbler’s a Factotum in D&D terms, but the grasp on magic is too high for that… unless having 4 arms lets you gestalt, lol
I’d almost say Dabbler’s a Factotum in D&D terms, but the grasp on magic is too high for that… unless having 4 arms lets you gestalt, lol
I just wonder if she has any Meld in her lab (XCOM: Enemy Unknown).
D’aaaaw!
Feel good story of the day.
Yorp I have had a few posts disappear into the great beyond. This monkey has decided to wait a while to see if it gets fixed
Sorry to hear that, but I fully understand. It is no fun to spend time crafting a reply, only to have it vanish.
Thanks for persisting enough to get your message to post.
You are the third person pointing out that this problem is occurring. So it is likely that there are even more than that who have been unable to get a message posted.
I haz feels for y’all!
Hopefully DaveB will be passing this information on to WordPress, and whichever other parties might be involved. This cannot be the only site suffering such problems, so I hope that they are working on it regardless.
My big worry being that Dave has avoided any site upgrades, which could risk loosing the comments history. A concern which is much appreciated, by most of us, I am sure. However it does presumably mean that we are running on quite an old version. So may not be as high a priority as for bug/ performance fixing on fully upgraded sites.
Just in case it does drag on, and for folks who still want to comment, despite the difficulties, I can offer one tip, back from when I had a really old PC and very poor internet connection (resulting in many of my comments failing to post, due to timing out). Namely to copy any post, prior to submitting it.
If it does not appear to have posted, please try to go onto a previous page, and back again, to get it to display. This works for me 100% of the time. However clearly you (and others) are having a bigger problem than this. So if it is still not there, you can try pasting it in a fresh comment, and trying again.
If you get a message saying ‘you have already posted this’, then it is worth checking again, to see where.
You may have been doing a reply (and thereby expecting it to be in that thread). However, if you forgot to fill in your user details, then when you returned from that message, the comment would actually be treated as a new comment, rather than a reply. So you will find it at the end of the comments, rather than in the thread you expected to see it in.
When this was persistently happening to me, on my old system, I knew that that peak time lag, for my ISP, meant I probably would have to wait to post successfully. So I would just paste the text into Windows Notepad, or Open Office document, to save it for later.
Even nowadays, if I find I have lost my connection to the internet, I will copy and paste the text into a Windows 10 on-screen Post-It note. An even handier way of minimising the hassle.
I hope we do not loose too many folks from the community, over this, temporarily or otherwise!
*ears droop, gloomily*
“Dabbler is quite the competent solo adventurer, but it’s because she needs stuff like wind spells that her fireball spell is not exactly on Lina Inverse’s level.”
Of course, being a sorcery genius, Lina Inverse is actually pretty good at wind magic, too. And plenty of other types of magic, for that matter. On the other hand, Dabbler’s branched out into unrelated fields, like science. And I think you mentioned psionics, too.
How many cops were chasing him?
Uhh … all of them?
And yet again we see an armoured vehicle being foiled by a central reservation! ;-)
All of them anywhere near Richmond. Made quite a parade towards the end of his run.
But how did she know “death parrots” are a credible problem for solo adventurers in the Grrl-verse?
A little bird told her. ;-)
Six Demon Bag?
I’m sure that the ‘i’ should be an ‘e’ :D
Lol.
I would be an “eeeee”. :)
Lina Inverse reference?!
100 gold stars for you!
Ooh, ooh! I have just figured out where they are!
Vegas!
Hey, they want to maintain their slice of the space tourism action. Just like they have the Eiffel Tower and a pyramid there, so too they would need to replicate something from the Alari homeworld. Sydney is trying to stop Maxima from punching Sciona through a casino window!
Maybe not literally Vegas but in general that’s not a bad Theory
ADHDs avatar is a squirrel drinking redbull
That would certainly distract me, seeing a squirrel drinking red-bull :D
It’s coffee and not redbull, but here’s your distraction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLBehW71kAQ
No, silly, coffee made with red bull instead of water
LOL.
Hmmm, there are many squirrels in my little woods, and they do drink from the birdbath when it’s dry weather. Evil thoughts are crossing my mind.
point a Camera at that if you do, and evil thoughts fit your name at least in my mind they do :P
Well, I guess if Redbull has something in it, which is lethal to birds, you would end up with a lot of bird corpses?
Thus proving that ‘Redbull gives you wings’.
*cough* “Hoodwinked” *cough*
by now it’s probably been said, but I’m surprised you didn’t refer to it as a “sex demon bag”….almost.
Just the once.
Lawyer:* I suppose that, uh, you expect me to believe in sorcery as well?
Egg Shen: Of course!
Lawyer: Why?
Egg Shen: Because it’s real.
Lawyer: How can I know that, Mr. Shen?
Egg Shen: How?
Lawyer: Yes, how? Help me out here. Please, how?
[Shen raises his hands, and lightning arcs, between his palms. The lawyer’s jaw drops.]
Egg Shen: See? That was nothing. But that’s how it always begins. Very small.
* Not a panda.
Waitin’ for my free popcorn.
We only have the unpopped kernels, at the moment. As soon as Dabbler is in a suitable position, to use her fire aura, we can get the snax flowing.
Technical issues today???
We have had three people, recently, indicate that they have been unable to post. This is over and above the regular delays that everyone has been experiencing, as theirs failed to appear, even with the trick of going to a previous page and back again.
If you (or anyone else) has been experiencing the former, please let us know (persisting apparently can yield results, to the patient). Or there are the twitter or facebook buttons above.
There have been problems posting. Just happened to me. So trying again.