Level 13: #31
Chapter: Level 13 — That Old Elvish Spirit
Rusty & Co.
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Sadness takes over the console for a little while.
Man, imagine how down on yourself you have to mental gymnastics yourself into thinking that someone willingly parted with Cube to be rid of you.
Or that a mission that is absolutely crucial was created just to get you out of the way.
Can’t build airship with this artifact. Can’t close rifts without airship. If the rifts don’t get closed, reality is destroyed.
Sounds like a damned crucial mission to me.
As bad as I feel for Roxy here, the hard truth is she’s being incredibly selfish thinking this is all about her, as opposed to saving reality. This isn’t about proving her worth to a handful of individuals, this is about getting a job done and saving countless lives. She’s lost sight of what’s important here. She doesn’t need time to mope, she needs someone like the Princess to put fire under her arse and remind her of how much is riding on her team’s success here. But until then, Mimic’s gonna have to pick up the slack. He has enough Wisdom to know when talking isn’t gonna do any good.
Self-hatred/anxiety doesn’t need to make sense, sometimes an individual’s perception of reality can be severely warped by failures, be they real or fabricated. It’s not hard for a few failures to make a susceptible individual assume the following;
I failed -> I am a failure -> Everything I try turns to shit -> I am a hinderence -> I would’ve made things worse by trying to help with the actually important thing -> I’m here to make sure I don’t screw things up where it matters -> It probably wouldn’t change anything if I succeeded, they’d probably get the artefact in the end either way.
Assurance doesn’t help much since the individual is hysterical and will rationalise.
Powerful, competent individual in the party -> Loosing him to limit the mess I make is preferable to having me there to fuck everything up.
And when that perception of reality becomes warped, other people have to step in and get the job done. Like I said, hard truth. It’s not pleasant, I don’t like it, but it’s fact. What are they supposed to do, wait until Roxy gets over her “woe is me” malaise? That could take weeks, which they don’t have.
For the record, my mentality stems from grappling with my own bouts of depression, as well as reasoning with other people who’ve done the same. You either do something or you don’t. You’re either helpful or you’re not. There is no middle ground.
As an addendum, I will say that sometimes sitting down and hearing someone out can help loads. Sometimes people need a chance to get baggage off their chests. And knowing their perspective informs you on how best to consul them; advice carries a lot more weight when the recipient is confident you know what you’re talking about.
See, I’m not all hard facts and harsh truths. I understand emotions all too well, including the subtle things that can influence us without realizing it.
You really, really don’t understand the concept of depression, do you? Hopelessness is not selfishness. Self loathing is not narcissism.
Don’t understand it? I’ve lived with it for years. I know how it works all too well. Selfishness =/= narcissism. Self-loathing, especially the kind that causes you to not care about how others are struggling too, or what affect your actions have on them, is also selfishness – because you’re focusing solely on yourself.
Like I said, I feel bad for her. I’m also just pointing out that what she’s doing now isn’t helping matters any. Least she can do is go back to miss High-and-Mighty and ask for her oracles’ input on how best to catch the ghost, since it’s in all their best interests that she do so. After all, *their* oracles are *useful*, don’t you know.
First off, I’m quite sorry to see dislikes being thrown around here. This is a difficult topic, and everybody is entitled to both their own experiences and to voicing them. I’d much rather see people disagree in word, not in some shapeless ‘your post sucks, I hate you’ form — especially since this topic is both so sensitive and personal.
Second off, while I understand that people are quick to see their own world reflected in a comic, I’m not sure we should be overly quick to diagnose and assign labels. Roxy’s state may just be (and most probably is) one of temporary frustration, bringing out the big cannons such as ‘this is depression, so…’ may simply be reading too much into it.
Third off, while I get your point, Brandon, I think it’s worth remembering that what helps one person through difficult times may very well have a drastically different effect on somebody else. In this case, ‘helping matters’ is a rational concern that is often quite helpful for recalibration (see behavioural therapy), but sometimes simply holds no value for people convinced that they’re not able to help matters no matter what they do. Also, I think we’re wandering around in a semantic minefield here. ‘Selfishness’ is perhaps not the best word, as it implies a deliberate choice to further personal goals to the detriment of others. Self-centeredness is more on point because such thought patterns are not a choice, but a trap for many suffering from depression. Narcissism doesn’t fit either, because it quite literally revolves around ‘loving oneself’, which people in such situations generally couldn’t be further away from. That said, I agree with your basic sentiment that attempting to free people from this trap, this self-centeredness, is a worthwhile endeavour. It just needs to be done carefully. Sometimes the ‘mallet method’ (“stop moping”) works, but it can just as well break somebody even further.
Look, now I wrote about depression, too, despite my second off. Yay. Totally not personal >.>
Merry Christmas to whoever managed to read down to here, and happy new year.
Merry Sixth Day of Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
Fair counterpoint. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.
I think she needs a visit from her guardian angel. Better than three more ghosts.
The guardian angel was just used 2 chapters ago, and might have trouble fitting into that tunnel anyway. This chapter has a few unpleasant elves and a vampire. One of them might help. Of course, the ghost might act differently now that she’s stopped playing the game he was enjoying.
You know, it’d be so crazy if just asking the ghost “Hey, can we borrow that for a bit to stop reality from ending?” turned out to actually work.
“I think she needs a visit from her guardian angel. Better than three more ghosts.
You mean three more spirits’ right? Scrooge is visited by one ghost (
BobJacob Marley) and three spirits… so I’m betting our three monsters (Mimic, Cube, and Rusty) will need to raise her spirits in order to deal with this ghost…Man, Roxy has gone a long way since she was introduced in Level 3, where she was the Ace and could take out a whole gnoll tribe with a whistle.
But I guess even the most competent characters can have their off-day.
She succeeded on the first try that time. Now she must learn to cope with failure.
Counterpoint: She succeeded on the first try that time because if she failed there would not have been a second attempt.
TPK is a D&D thing.
OTOH, devising new plans wasn’t working. Changing what you do can help get you out of a rut. Like, going to lunch. Or sulking in a corner.
Derek is the diplomat and should have gone.
Instead they send a bard and face it, bards are useless. And not just any bard but a “porcupine” among elves.
One can say that Roxie was set up to fail.
I have a feeling that she’s needed here in a way that wouldn’t work with the standard diplomacy approach. I also suspect that this failure is going to get her to the right answer, on the other side of the self loathing. Perhaps this type of melancholy is what’s needed for the ghost situation. – unsure.
I do think there’s a reason she’s here, and I think having to confront her shortcomings and the elven society’s view of her is an important part of that.
They sent a bard. The bard has not tried music yet. Play to your strengths! Figure out the skater dude’s taste in music.
Or figure out how to provoke him into doing something dumb by playing music he hates.
Hmm…”Old Elvish Spirit”…you don’t suppose they need to fight fire with fire, do you? Maybe there’s another ghost who can help them out?
Maybe it’s a typo and they get a rock and roll spirit to help them.
That would be an incredible pun, and that’s definitely the kind of pun Mike would work into a chapter title. Maybe the way out is music after all.