2014-12-01
Posted on 2014-12-01 by Aaron

138 thoughts on “2014-12-01”

  1. Nobody

    Oh so they were being extra dismissive of 84 earlier because they didn’t know she could tank whatever was in here. OK.

    1. Aaron K

      I think Firedrake is actually excited to have a Tank. He sounds like someone who may have been thrown around a time or two. He can appreciate someone with Invulnerability.

  2. Jer

    Is this attitude why the guys from Atlas’s home planet decided to off all of the folks with superpowers that weren’t in the flight/invulnerability/speed/strength powerset?

    1. Andorxor

      I doubt that,its probable the i can hit you really hard,while you can’t harm me that allowed them to establish their fissocraty.

      1. ZReporter

        And the reason why the US/earth’s government is worried. I mean if I have to place bets on these guys vs their F.I.S.S. that are the full package… I’ll just say “Hail the new alien overlords!”

        1. Christopher

          There is the whole thing about Argon also being a high tech wonderland, capable of casual interplanetary and interdimensional flight, with a fully unified global government.
          So they could overrun earth anyway.

      2. TxGator

        Actually, I think so. I think the history of Atlas’s world is starting to repeat itself on Earth. The FISS are organizing because they feel oppressed. The question is, will Earth follow the same path, or will the “precision equipment” become more enlightened?

    2. Moe Lane

      One wonders.

    3. mrtt

      Amusingly enough (and I do get the joke), no.
      The reason was to better oppress the peasants.
      Nobility are FISS, peasants are muggles. With the amount of noble blood in your veins determining the amount of FISShood you have. This was done artificially via murder of anyone with non FISS power, enhancement of all reigning nobles to FISS (that is inheritable by children), and adoption of all children born with FISS into noble houses.

      1. Jerden

        Yeah, but we’re speculating on the reasons for that. Most people don’t wake up one morning and just think “You know what? Genocide.”

        1. Golnor

          Now I’m going to have to make a character like that somewhere.

        2. Ghorroj

          Seconded.

  3. Andorxor

    It would be funny if the circle is the only safe place once a trap is triggered.

    1. Jon

      You’ve been reading “Grimtooth’s Traps”, haven’t you? 🙂

    2. kentda

      Wizards are nothing if not sneaky and they like to play mind games. What better mind game than to put out an obvious trap in front of the door? They wonder, they debate, they doubt, and finally someone has the courage to do something, and everyone else pays the price. Either physically or in terms of their ego.

      It’s like the old gag of “Don’t Push this Button.”

      The smart ones will avoid it, the dim ones will be kept away from it. But eventually someone, either curious or escaping the smart ones Will Push it.

      Then the question is, why was it important Not To Push The Button?

      1. DreamPen

        That reminds me:
        Ever heard of the classic “Tomb of Horrors” D&D adventure module? It was designed and written by Gary Gygax and designed for expert players with high level characters- specifically to *humble* them.
        Its most infamous trap: the Sphere of Annihilation. Anything that touches it disappears, completely destroyed. Total oblivion, in fact, not even an afterlife for its previously living victims. It was situated in the mouth of a statue of a demonic face, large enough for people to enter. Effectively, it looked like a path or corridor to somewhere. And since exploration is necessary in most dungeon crawls…

        1. Cherub Laws

          I remember that. I Killed lots of characters with it when it first came out. (god I’m dating myself)

        2. BattleBunny

          The sphere wasn’t even the insidious part of it there was an identical face right next to it that was actually a portal to later parts to the dungeon. The players had to choose with no way of knowing which was the correct choice.

        3. Wanderer

          Isn’t D&D the system that has a 10-foot-pole in the price list?
          Also: If you’re expecting a trap, just fling a torch in both and look what happens/ what you can see (or was there light? If the sphere is actually invisible and somehow cloaked from magical detection its just cheating)

          I think the insidious thing is that high-level characters think their stats allow them to mess up and still come on top all the time

        4. Pneumonica

          Unfortunately, in both cases the torch simply disappears. One mouth has a teleporter, the other an annihilator. The both have the same effect to the eyes of anybody watching it work.

        5. Wanderer

          Cant reply to Pneumonica directly….

          Well, thats just mean then. Of course a trap should be as effective as possible, which includes not being obvious, but in a game it should be somehow avoidable.
          What about magic divination? Is it even cloaked for that?

        6. Pneumonica

          It’s a Gary Gygax adventure. Anybody who claims we should be gaming like Gygax never gamed with Gygax. He’s the guy that made up a whole list of monsters that look like the trappings of a dungeon (including the floor, walls, ceiling, and indeed the *air itself*). Tomb of Horrors was his tour de force on PC frustration. There were ways to solve the traps, but they were phenomenally frustrating.

          In fairness, it wasn’t intended for ordinary play. It was actually a tournament round – in other words, you weren’t playing to beat the dungeon, you were playing to beat the other players. A TPK was a virtual certainty.

        7. Prairie Son

          Yeah, the winners were the people who died furthest from the door. Really, the S modules are great fun, because they are that far out there. Although what anyone would expect from a place built by a demilich besides the ToH escapes me.

        8. Pneumonica

          There were two groups that made outstanding scores with complete party survival. One group didn’t delve too deeply. Because the gates, walls, etc., were always described as “mithril” or “adamant,” they worked to excavate and remove those treasures and haul off with them. They scored very high simply from treasure haul. Tomb of Horrors is actually extremely light on treasures, and has relatively few monsters, so XP and treasure awards are assumed to be low. The principle method of scoring points was progress… until these guys started lifting gates and stealing ceiling tiles.

          The second group to win big didn’t encounter the dungeon at all. They tunneled, using nonmagical equipment. Their characters spent weeks working on it, digging a whole second dungeon as a bypass around the first. They’d find rooms and peer in. If they found treasure, they’d take an alternate route to get to it. They defeated the final big bad by using some of the cursed/trapped treasure against him for a no-save kill – it was sufficiently major that Gygax had to get called in himself, and he thought it through for a while and decided he couldn’t come up with a reason why it shouldn’t work.

          In the 3.5 Tomb of Horrors, they made a point of “fixing” these things.

        9. Mechwarrior

          The way that they won was to grab the cursed Crown and Rod of Disintegration, then stick the Crown on the demi-lich’s head and touch the Rod to it, which automatically disintegrated the demi-lich with no saving throw. GG allowed the win, but changed the wording of the items so that they under no circumstance could be used outside of the room that they were found in anymore, since they were supposed to be yet another means of killing a party member, not a means of possibly beating the boss.

        10. jon

          gm is a cheating bastard

        11. jon

          *D

          dm

        12. Wanderer

          Either works; GM (Game Master) is just slightly more generic than DM (Dungeon Master).

          As for the other Wanderer’s question, above: ToH was designed for “world-beater” characters and arrogant players. That said, while Scrying is specifically blocked (“You see an empty room with a door on each of the four walls”), Augury isn’t… but given the sheer lethality, it can be hard to get an answer that isn’t “woe”. Divination is much more helpful, and is also not blocked.

      2. jon

        >ego

        http://media.oglaf.com/comic/trapmaster.jpg

        1. Lycanthromancer

          Warning: the vast majority of that comic is *extremely* NSFW.

        2. Opus the Poet

          Well it was originally intended to be funny porn, but later just devolved to sometimes naked jokes.

      3. hobbes

        Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: “Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH’, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”

        You can thank Sir Terry Prachett for that nugget of wisdom. Made all the worse by how accurate it is.

  4. Althalus

    Until, of course you find yourself with some nails that need pounding. Then you might wish you had that hammer, instead of having to hit it with your precision equipment.

    1. Torn

      *PERFECTLY* said! 🙂

    2. Mechwarrior

      I’m suddenly reminded of that line in Wreck-It Ralph: you wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would you?

    3. Rockphed

      Or you need to punch a hole in a wall. Or pull some nails out of a board. Or pull two boards apart. Or any of a thousand other jobs that need to be done on a construction site on a regular basis. Jobs that would require thousands of pieces of equipment to match a single hammer, though much of that equipment is better at one or two of those jobs than the hammer.

    4. Swagner

      If you’re headed for a fight, you’d take the hammer over the miniature screwdriver set any day of the week.

      1. Rens

        Unless you’re the Doctor.

    5. Wanderer

      Heck, a good claw hammer can be used to drive nails, pull nails, break glass, flatten sheet metal, and even break someone’s skull. That’s the thing about precision equipment: It’s specialized.

      Firedrake is “hot stuff” if it involves burning, melting or heating stuff (or flying, as seen), but that’s his range.
      NeuroNet is good for communication and basic lift/push/pull stuff at range.
      Phlogiston is good for ranged damage and flight, but not much else.
      Conjuror is potentially even more versatile than 84… given enough time to prepare. He’s the magical Batman of the group, needing time to prepare specialized offenses and defenses. Give him time and data, he’s a world-beater. Lose either one, he’s weak — and if he has neither, he’ll be flattened.

      Julie/84, by comparison, has a flexible powerset. Sure, her ranged effects are pretty limited — aside from throwing things/people — but she has plenty of close-in power and the defenses to take punishment.

    6. Yhelta

      This should totally be the first thing that 84 says in the first panel of the next comic

  5. richard

    they just wanted to see who can take the most abuse….
    a brick is what they need

  6. Albert

    These guys need to play some MMOs, then maybe they’ll appreciate the value of a good tank a little more.

  7. Nodrog

    Pop quiz:
    Question 1: You are on an airplane that has had a major engine failure. If not recued, you will DIE. You can pick one of these heroes to save you. Do you pick:

    A) The hero who could magically float your plane down… with twelve hours of advanced warning, a perfectly formed geode, and thirty gold pieces worth of Myra Root

    B) The hero who can explode all the remaining fuel in your tank so you die immediately in a fireball instead of dying painfully in the crash, and then proceed to melt the remains on your plane into a modern art sculpture

    C) The hero who can sense your mental panic and levitate a few of the passengers down… assuming he’s wearing his armor at the time and gets to you in time. (Levitators are usually slower then other types of fliers)

    D) The hero who can make the lights on the plane blink on and off and explode parts of the plane

    E) The hero with enhanced Flight, Invulnerability, Strength, and Speed

    Question two: There is a bank robbery. The robber is threatening to start shooting hostages. You need a hero who can get to the bank, immobilize the robber, and return within a minute. You have the above list of heroes. Which do you pick?

    Question three: A giant robot is threatening an orphanage. Even if the robot is shut down, it might fall and crush the orphanage. Of the above heroes, which do you pick?

    Additional questions can be provided.

    FISSes are NOT hammers. They are Swiss Army Knives; the tool you rely on when you can’t or don’t want to get the $5 million dollar ‘precision piece of equipment’ that could perfectly do the job and ONLY that one job.

    1. Jon

      For question 2, I’d actually go with Hero A, assuming he was smart enough to prep a few Hold Person spells ahead of time. A FISS is only useful there if you can make sure the robber’s going to shoot at the hero, not the hostages.

      On the other paw, I’d definitely want a FISS for Question 1.

    2. ghostwhitehorse

      To be fair that depends heavily on the FISS in question. . . some are likely to think of themselves as hammers and treat everything else as nails. Good thing Julie is not of that sort.

    3. Kaian

      Question one a good F.I.S.S. Question 2 any of the above can stop a bank robber with judicious application of powers. Question 3 depends again on power level of each. A strong telekinetic could keep said robot from falling, the two energy wielders could possibly melt it down faster than it falls if strong enough. So not fair comparisons.

      Also the precision implements are far from precise.
      Second Panel left to right:
      Over sold cheap knockoff swiss army knife.
      A blowtorch
      An electro magnet
      An arc welder cutter.

      Each fine for their given tasks, not so much for those much for those out of them.

      1. Mechwarrior

        Unless the energy projectors could actually disintegrate it, all melting it would accomplish would be to shower the people beneath it in molten metal rather than cold metal. Which would just make it *more* lethal

        1. Jerden

          That was the objective, right?

        2. Faust

          Yes, because the orphanage was attacking him.

    4. M H

      Don’t be so quick to dismiss the powers of the other team members in the plane scenario. (The numbered solutions show a bit of a lack of creative thinking.)

      To rephrase:

      B) A hero who can re-smelt the engines – possibly repairing the fault, or forming a rocket engine, then exploding fuel in the rocket chamber to power the plane. (May be able to use other things as fuel, or may not need fuel at all and may be able to heat air/other material to form a ramjet engine).
      “Given sufficient power, anything can be made to fly”

      C) Telekinesis – spin those propellers/jet rotors. (No information given so far on his lifting capacity. Levitating may not be the most efficient way to move mater in order to soften the landing for the most passengers.)

      D) A hero who can make the engines work temporarily – manipulating energy and making things explode is what engines do normally. i.e. she may be able to make the plane go.

      As far as the current situation – they all have options for remotely trying to trigger whatever will happen with the stone circle. (Be it tossing a rock/small explosion in there, putting in a heat signature, giving the visual appearance of a person, or telepathically announcing I am standing in the circle, now what.)

      Could try one, or do a combination (give it appearance, weight, heat, electrical activity) – they should be able to manage a pretty good simulation.

  8. Lucario

    I feel like the team will start acting as if she was Nodwick.

    1. kentda

      Sadly, I do see that. But if its going to work, we need someone playing the roll of Piffany!

      As of right now, the one making the least scathing commentary is the green girl. While Firedrake … a bit immature in ways, has listed her ‘obvious’ abilities. Of course he’s going to be ignored because he comes across as an immature idiot.

      I said it a couple days ago, the “she’s a young girl who shouldnt be here, she’s vulnerable” would vanish the second they faced a situation. Then she’s “just” a FISS again.

      Conjurer also clearly stated his own weakness. Time is his enemy. And they are on a clock right now. Not just that but he’s refusing to accept the idea that sometimes the best tool IS a hammer.

      Firedrake doesn’t beat around the bush on what he can do, and if asked to do precision work … I dunno. I get the feeling that he’d probably admit he’s not good at it. I don’t know why. It’s usually the “obvious” idiots who have the most hidden depth.

      Neuronet has just realized her “reputation” so it seems he’s looking at her as if she’s trying to build the ‘value’ of her “group”.

      While Phlogiston(green girl) hasn’t made any comment about what Julie said.

      1. Pander

        Phlogiston is also the only one who so far hasnt acted like a jerk around 84. And when the mage guy made that babysitter comment, she was the only one who said that she didnt know what he meant by ‘doorman’ either. So hopefully there’s at least one non-FISS who isnt condescendingly full of themselves.

  9. Matt

    Love love love 84’s expression in the last panel!

    1. Prairie Son

      Yeah, you can tell she’s almost considering suplexing one or more of these schmoes into that circle.

    2. By the Farmstead

      I don’t care if she has powers or not, no kid with ANY maturity and competence likes being pat on the head like that. Let ’em hang themselves. Her input isn’t desired. Channel some more Zodon.

      1. Lycanthromancer

        For future reference, “pat” is not past tense. “Patted” goes there.

        Same with “pet” and “petted.”

        And “grit” and “gritted.”

        I have no idea why so many people don’t seem to get that.

        1. Evil Lord Zog

          nd while we’re on the topic, the past term of spit (as in to expectorate) is spat.

        2. By the Farmstead

          You really did not need to write such a long grammar correction for something that might have just been a typo. Until grammar correction is part of every spellcheck and posting tool, you will have to live with flubs.

        3. Lycanthromancer

          My apologies if it was just a typo. It’s just that I see it *all the time,* and nobody seems to know better. It annoys me when I do see it, so I try to comment constructively on it when possible.

  10. Golnor

    You know, having the first obstacle be a big, heavy, stuck-but-untrapped door would be rather interesting. It would sure slow down all those “Oh I’m so clever” types something fierce.

    1. Faust

      Or a fake door that’s a reinforced wall.

  11. fluffytheterrible

    “Flying Brick”
    For those of you who have not had your lives and vocabulary properly ruined, follow this link:
    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlyingBrick

    1. Golnor

      Beware the terrible, horrible, awfully effective timesink known as tvtropes.

      See you in there.

  12. Mal

    I see more Zodon channeling coming up.

  13. Someguy

    So the One Trick Ponies are dissing the Complete Package.

    Please, please, please, please, please let the trials in the Egg be broadcasted all over the world as 84 passes every one because she IS who she is & the One Trick Ponies fail at everything because they are over-reliant on their powers.

    1. kentda

      Nothing wrong with One Trick Ponies. If they know how to make that one trick work in two hundred and seventy five ways, correction, he just made it two seventy seven today.

      They are specialists, and outside their field, are far more limited. Sure, a TK witnessing a bank robbery could create telekinetic walls, rip weapons out of enemies hands and all that. That said, sometimes there is something unnerving about seeing a 98 pound weakling do a german suplex on the big boss, grab his gun and then turn it into a crane, ala steel origami, all in the matter of a few seconds.

    2. Lycanthromancer

      I imagine that Julie will be the one to organize the use of their powers in such a way as to solve most of the trials that she can’t directly overcome. The others are the ones whose powers are utilized, but Julie is the one who solves all the problems using them. The adults, if they don’t learn to respect her and her ability to organize and solve problems, will strut and crow about how THEY were the ones to solve all the problems, and Julie’s just a useless “flying brick.” In which case, Veles (and everyone else witnessing this) will give them a logical smack-down by telling them that JULIE solved all the problems; they were just her tools in doing so.

      1. Pneumonica

        If your assessment is correct, I predict the “finely-worked precision equipment” line will turn back on him at the end of it.

        “You weren’t the hero. You were a finely-worked item of precision equipment in the toolbox of a superior intelligence.”

        1. Pander

          It’s also weird how none of them think about the fact that Veles’s last champion who he deemed worthy as an opponent was Atlas, who himself was an FISS and rather well respected among all heroes.

        2. Aaron K

          84 is also the first hero to actually get close to Veles with the “can he swim” thing.

          Changing the environment, changed the rules. It made it a different ‘game’ which re-engaged Veles and instead of fighting, he was playing again.

  14. TomT

    Yeah that is going to work out so well for the rest of you. Perhaps you all should let the invulnerable little girl step into the circle that screams trap.

    1. Mechwarrior

      Hopefully it’s the type of trap that turns everyone who isn’t in the circle into a chicken.

      1. Van

        How about we go with the option to: Have 84 pick up the mage and throw him at the circle and tell him to act like an adult and not a snot nosed schoolyard bully. And see what happens.

  15. Pneumonica

    One does not exalt a piece of finely-worked precision equipment that couldn’t make it in a real job so spends its time smashing stuff, like bad guys. One exalts the hammer, because it is the precisely correct tool for the task. Go talk to the Rainmakers, jackass.

  16. Knug

    If Firedrake’s hand actaully lands on her head, as if to pat a well-trained pet, I’ll be surprised if he isn’t quickly advanced over said wall – possibly backwards

    1. kentda

      Both from the “don’t pat me on the head” as well as “you messed up my hair!”

      That or, comically enough she’d react and chuck him INTO Conjurer.

    2. Lycanthromancer

      I’d like to see his hand burst into flames from the heat of her ire.

      “Hey! Those aren’t my flames!”

      Thought bubble: “It’s a good thing you’re fire retardant, fire retard.”

  17. By the Farmstead

    I also wonder why they assume a finely tuned piece of equipment is needed. The challenge would not be fair OR interesting if the challengers didn’t have a roughly equal chance of succeeding. the challenge is to find a single champion.

    1. kentda

      Simple answer to that one.

      A lot of people view Specialists as extremely vital and important. There is truth in that, but the job a Specialist does requires people who are less specialized. After all, a Specialist quite often is lacking in tangent skills that are vital to a task at hand. That’s where the folks who are generalists with a Focus on a specific field are extremely vital.

      I’ve seen a number of folks who are specialists who will think at the mental equivalent of three hundred feet off the ground, when a simple six foot will do the job.

      1. Psiberkiwi

        My father always considered ‘experts’ to be “unknown drips under pressure”. He broke the word down thusly: ‘X’ is a representation of the unknown factor, and a ‘spurt’ is… Well, you get the picture.

  18. luagha

    And of course, this is essentially a reality show. While they may be working together in the beginning, there is only one winner and they are all going for it.

  19. With Respect

    Remember the question I asked last episode about flaws?

    I sincerely hope the magic of the egg isn’t flaw-powered.

    The mushroom cloud would be visible from the next galaxy.

  20. Dee

    She looks like she wants to bite somebody in that last panel. Several somebodies, in fact. (Is it wrong that I want her to?)

    1. Van

      No, but enjoy imagining what would happen right now if she had that bat that Guardian Angel uses that can make anything explode.

  21. CotFI2

    Aw, it’s not so bad. I’d pat her on the head (she’s so adorable!). Firedrake recognizes her awesomeness (the flying hammer is a classic magic weapon, and referring to her as a Tank might be misconstrued). Phlogiston seems to be pretty pragmatic. Fishbowl-head at least has the good grace to concede a point, even to a kid, and Conjuror might be a little dismissive (and magic does usually require a healthy ego), but at least he seems to know the basics about running a team (take stock of resources, keep everyone engaged, etc). I’m getting the sense that maybe these aren’t the smartest heroes around, though…

    1. Van

      If Conjurer was a mage from Pathfinder, his obvious level of intelligence and abilities indicate he cannot use any spell higher than 3rd level.

      1. Mechwarrior

        And he obviously couldn’t be a sorcerer, since Charisma is clearly a dump stat for him…

        1. Van

          That is for sure. Low Charisma, low wisdom, slightly higher than average Intelligence, about a 13 or 14 I think. Definitely no higher. Average strength, and slightly higher than average dexterity. I would say his Charisma is lower than 9 or 10, which is why he wears the helmet, to cover his appearance. No self-respecting wizard would wear a helmet, it interferes with spellcasting.

        2. Hans Rancke

          Tell the to Dr. Fate. If he’s a Dr. Fate expy, he wields a significant amount of power.

  22. Dahigi

    Ohhhhhh…DON’T. DISS. THE F.I.S.S.!

    1. KillerFish

      And thus the rallying cry of The Infinite Vanguard was born ….

  23. Docknock

    I think they all shall learn, it is not the powers that make the hero but what the hero makes of the power. They also forget that it was Capt Argo that was Veles original nemesis so for a FISS he apparently didn’t do too shabby.

  24. Vanida

    As a carpenter by trade, give me a hammer and a saw, and I can build a house. The hammer is an extremely versatile tool in the hands of an experienced tradesman. Oftentimes, the versatility of a tool depends on the wielder of the tool. A pencil is a great example. Observe what a talented artist or writer does with pencil sometime, and see how imagination changes the product of a tool. No tool should ver be underestimated.

    1. Adahn

      The main issue FISS face in general is that there are so many of them.

      Using the hammer analogy, if there are more hammers (FISS) available than toolboxes (superteams) in the world, they tend to get undervalued despite their inherent utility. Does a single carpenter really need more than one hammer if it doesn’t break?

      1. Vanida

        That’s so funny you would ask that. When I was a carpenter, I owned 10 different types of hammers, though only 7 I used as a carpenter. If you ask a question you don’t know the answer to, you might get an unexpected answer. A carpenter who only has one type of hammer likely only specializes in a single thing, ie; only does roofing. Ask an experienced carpenter who works in all areas of the trade how many hammers he or she has, and you won’t likely find one who says one. I don’t see a problem with multiple hammers in a toolbox.

        1. Faust

          Five is my limit. Seven hammers? I have to think on that one. Any chance of you listing them?

        2. Vanida

          Sure. Claw hammer, framing hammer, sledge hammer, club hammer, shingler’s hammer, rubber mallet, ball peen hammer (didn’t really use this one, bought it anyways), brass hammer, wooden mallet (one of our year one carpentry projects), upholstery hammer (thought it would be useful, didn’t actually use it much).

  25. Monochrome

    There seems to be a disconnect within superhero culture. Thy recognize that one of the best heroes their planet ever had was a fiss, yet they simultaneously undervalue fiss for having a common power set.

    1. kentda

      Its no more of a disconnect than happens in the real world a lot.

      Once one has a “name” and has gained respect, anything that would be deemed as “not of worth” is conveniently and quickly forgotten. Until such time as their competition needs to bring it up anyway.

      A politician did some stupid things and dropped out of high school for a couple of years but eventually returned and got his diploma. Who cares? He has a diploma, he finished college, etc, etc, and he’s doing a good job. Water under the bridge.

      The second it comes time for election, his opposition brings up the stupid things he did when younger as if they are his sole defining traits and there is nothing more to him.

      Same mentality here. Julie is a FISS. Atlas is … Atlas. He’s not a FISS, He’s Atlas! And that’s where the brain disengages.

      As to Captain Argo … not sure where that came from. Veles wanted Atlas, his nemesis. That’s part of why Atlas 2.0 had to come, to deal with the situation. The name Captain Argo doesn’t ring a bell off hand (but with this many chapters its easy to forget names at times).

      1. Wanderer

        Likely some confusion. Ron’s new code name is “Argonaut”, Atlas’ dog was “Argo”, and the stand-in for krypton is Aragonite, so it probably seemed reasonable.

        1. Lycanthromancer

          Aragonite = The One Ring?

        2. Balance

          Aragonite = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragonite

          Which, granted, would be easier to lug around as an anti-FISS weapon than anything made from argon, but is not the “argonite” that we saw used in the comic. 😀

        3. Wanderer

          Whoops! That should have been Argonite.

  26. EB0

    Why do I get the feeling that this is where Julie says “No”? No to their order to stand there and take a beating, no to the guys taking her for granted, and her example, spreading, would have the others demonstrate what they can do without FISS. A strike, in a way, would be good for these arrogant, stuck-up, overbearing hyperspecialized idiots… and it’s entirely within 84’s powers, without needing to beat up anyone.

  27. Frith Ra

    That settles it, she’s going to win the game & make those others look like idiots as they go down.

    1. Van

      At the rate they are going they will be the ones making themselves look like idiots.

  28. Moe Lane

    I never understood the value of a good tank until I played MMOs and participated in a few dungeon runs where a tank was learning the ropes. Then I started being extra-special nice to every single tank that I saw…

  29. Marianom

    I know who is in the center of that thing! a bunch of guys whit swords from other plane!!

  30. Eric

    So first they treat her bad because she’s a kid (despite being polte, smart, well spoken…). Then they treat her worse because she’s a FISS. If I was Julie I’d ask the guy in the boat if he had a spare deck of cards, then play solitaire and watch until this lot’s arrogance gets them all flattened.

    1. Nightmask

      Except she’s too responsible to do that. Everyone knows that they’re on a time limit and what Veles will do to Manhattan if they fail, so much as she’d probably like to just kick back and let them go their merry way she has to go along and try her best to see that they succeed for the sake of all those people outside the egg. Which unfortunately means she has to tolerate the putdowns as much as she can, at least until they succeed or fail.

      1. Van

        Or until she decides that what Veles wants to do to Manhattan would be an improvement, and tells him so.

      2. Eric

        Yeah, she’s far too responsible and decent a kid to let that happen – even if these jerks deserve it. So she’ll help, despite them (and possibly, to spite them).

  31. Colin

    The Nodwick plan is a lot more humane when the porter can shrug off damage. I remember one of my players wheeling around the deactivated husk of a Warforged (another, absent player) so they could push it into the room ahead of them to set off traps.

    1. Van

      True, but it would still be fun to stuff the Conjurer into the circle and see what happens, and then see if Julie can break through the gate herself.

  32. =Tamar

    Are we sure that Neuronet is male? That chest shape looks feminine to me.

    1. Van

      Sure looks that way to me as well. Should be interesting.

    2. MattStriker

      Looks like it’s similar to the Half-Life HEV suit, and that was worn by a guy.

      1. Nightmask

        Plus not a bad idea to have extra armor on your torso to protect your vital organs, he just has a bad design that looks like he’s got a uniboob just like Weavel Boy and Batman had nipples on their costumes.

    3. DreamPen

      I checked the previous page. His chest shape may seem bosom-y, but the shape and width of his hips compared to Phlogiston’s indicate he’s a guy. Besides, his rude and arrogant behavior is more of the macho male kind than the kind displayed by women.

  33. Ian Bates

    I sincerely hope 84 turns his stones into sand.

  34. Mouser

    The thing is, along with being a F.I.S.S. she’s probably got more common sense than any of them.

  35. Wanderer

    A scanning electron microscope is a finely crafted precision instrument… For its intended use it’s indispensable, for everything else it’s useless, expensive and delicate…
    And concerning hammers… What’s a “common” hammer? There are more kinds of hammer than any other tool I can think of…

  36. Fiver

    Firedrake’s the only one with an idea so far, and its a decent idea – who can take it if they just set the apparent trap off. 84 seems like the most likely choice but she probably isn’t. Phlogiston has a “plasma form” which likely protects her from physical attacks. And if the trap turns you into a newt or something, Conjurer is the only one with magical protections.

  37. The Aussie Bloke

    Julie needs to punch the magic guy in the junk and remind him what a common hammer can *do* to a precision instrument.

  38. beleester

    They aren’t thinking like adventurers. The first thing to try is to just drop a rock on the circle to see if you can set if off without *anyone* going in harm’s way.

    Another good option is to try and force the door, because they have a crew that’s well-equipped for smashing and blowing things up. After all, if you think it’s a trap, why set it off?

    1. Van

      Because using Conjurer, who has insulted most of them, to set off the trap would be fun.

  39. Faust

    It’s not a trap. It’s to activate the intro and warning hologram from the owner incase the doorman was ignored. From that point on is the danger zone.

  40. Van

    Still need to have Julie pick up Conjurer and stuff him head first into the circle.

  41. CotFi2

    *Tsk* Y’all are so quick to come down on the adult heroes. They’re people, too… well, fictional people. Aw knows what he’s doing: the characters have foibles and flaws like any real person. Conjuror had to work his @$$ off at great personal risk to attain his powers; he wasn’t born with them or granted them in a freak accident, so it’s only natural that he’s defensive. Neuronet has probably been aware of every snarky, sarcastic thing thought about him, so it’s likely that he’s built up a fairly rough exterior. Firedrake seems like a simple soul… not terribly bright, somewhat impulsive, but his heart’s in the right place. Phlogiston is a bit of a mystery, but she seems content to play a support role for now, and probably has experience dealing with pig-headed, rowdy, macho egotists. Julie is inexperienced in the field, but has literally been raised around super-types, and has the HUGE advantage of being free of the habits that supers usually develop: when you’re a hammer, everything eventually looks like a nail.

    1. Van

      They may be the adult heroes but they are acting like typical adults, who also happen to wonder why kids consider them to be idiots. They are acting like idiots with absolutely no sense whatsoever and treating her like she is an idiot. They deserve everything they get. And they are also acting like jerks to the one person who has been polite to them and to the god who sent them in here.

  42. Ghostbear0

    ummm guys it’s a very low wall?

    1. Nobody

      What? RIGHT after the gnome guy said “Noone has survived going over the walls yet”??

      1. Pneumonica

        Did you stop to ask if anyone has tried going over the walls yet? I think the obvious solution might end up being the best one.

        1. Van

          Throw Conjurer through a wall or two and see what happens? Repeat until objective is reached?

  43. Tie-dyed Trickster

    And yet, most people who own a tool kit own at least one hammer, whereas far fewer people own, say, a jigsaw or a lathe. I wonder if this is any indication over the general usefulness of hammers over more… let’s call them ‘precision’ tools.

  44. Camolot the Creator

    Suddenly, the reason why so many of the children are quite genre-savvy comes to light: their universe possesses a version of TV Tropes.

  45. Adam

    You can actually get some very tight joints with just a hammer, chisel, and saw. Add in a handplane and you can pretty much do about anything, assuming that you have the skill for it.

    Methinks the Conjurer might want to ponder that. 😉

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