Level 7: #17
Chapter: Comic, Level 7 — Circus Minimus
That Zar’s not as callous as he seems, eh? He’s also a Kickstarter cameo, sponsored by reader Jon!
Rusty & Co.
Monstrous Misadventures! Updated every Wednesday at noon, EST.
That Zar’s not as callous as he seems, eh? He’s also a Kickstarter cameo, sponsored by reader Jon!
OMG! She’s the chosen one! 😀
Dear old Maddie.
I look forward to seeing what she can do with a pitchfork.
Which, come to think of it, is a classic weapon, albeit usually paired with a torch.
No, pairing it with a torch is medieval.
The classic pairing is with a net.
Pitchforks and net? I think you’re confusing it with a tri-mmf!
pitchforks and torches are the classic mob tools
Yeah, it was trident and net in the gladiator games. to be sure, the Romans might have confused the two.
They’re going to have to defend against MOBS?!
Goodlaw is more likely to leed a mob. That may be the only way to finish that other vampire. Burn her coffin!
actually a pitchfork was a classic weapon though much of history, usually used by pesant conscripts who couldn’t afford swords. a lot of armies during the iron age and medieval relied on conscripts to fill out the ranks as training knights and men at arms cost a lot of money and resources, to they took any able bodied man and gave him anything he could use to hurt someone, such as a pikeaxe, a wood axe, a black smith’s hammer, scythes, pitchforks, a long stick. a lot of weapons were once developed from farming implements (the trident was originally used for fishing, nunchuks and other flails were used for rice and other grains, warhammers and mauls came from blacksmith’s sledges and so forth)
Actually, levy troops would probably use spears, not “whatever was spare on the toolshelf”, and definitely not swords, which have always been a secondary weapon.
Augh, no. Berpol made a joke…
Medieval is a time period, the Medieval Ages.
Classical is also a time period, the Classical Era.
Thus… pitchfork and torche pairings are //medieval//, while tridents and nets are //classical//…
Props to tenieldjo, they called it.
*Fist pump of victory* 😀
It’s interesting that Zar was probably going to attack Maddie in panel four, but he must have sensed something in panel five that made him change his mind. Did he sense Maddie might die without a weapon? Did he see the purity of her Paladin aura? Or was it the sincerity of Maddie’s desire to help Mimic and Cube?
He figured out that he could palm off a pitchfork on her and have her leave happy. Which is simpler.
That may be true (I highly doubt the pitchfork is magical), but his demeanor shifts from furious, to a much softer emotion. Not kindness per se, but maybe pity? Mercy? Then he slips right into “used car-salesman” mode in panel six. He seems rather mercurial in his emotions. Maybe he’d better keep away from Rusty! 😀
I think he just can’t fault her motivations. Just because you don’t like what someone is doing is no reason to ignore a valid point…… and he WAS about to send her in unarmed.
Also, of course, the fabric of reality is at stake. It may be necessary.
Possibly he was able to sense that Maddie is a minor Reality Warper, and could TURN the pitchfork into a powerful magic weapon. He was about to attack because he couldn’t understand her reality warper aura for a second.
I just thought of this, but, what if he saw she would die, with or without the weapon? If she does, I have no doubt it’s be through sacrificing herself for the greater good of everyone. Maybe he feels that having the weapon will make her feel a bit more secure until the moment.
Her eyes were closing.
He’s probably just astonished a PC actually *thanked* an NPC for once.
That’s just a spare prong, already mounted !
Ordinarily it would take an extra mod point to add a bayonet to your polearm, but this has it for free
Well, now you can stick a pitchfork in Grinner. He’s done.
I give that 5 groans. 🙂
Hanging is too good for a man who would make a pun like that. You should be drawn and quoted.
I think you just gave away the punchline
I suspect you’re right…
Well, that makes it a +1 trident, eh?
Maddie always closes her eyes, even when *threatening* violence. I love it.
Oddly enough, that actually makes her look badass when she’s fighting. Most of the time Maddie looks like a mashup between Piffany the Cleric from “Nodwick” and Dudley Do-Right, but when she closes her eyes you know that she’s getting ready to Smite someone. And since “Rusty and Co.” seem to use the 4E rules, she’s probably engaging in prayer while she’s attacking, since 4E Paladin powers are actually called Prayers!
What makes you say that R&C uses 4E rules? I haven’t noticed any indications of any specific edition.
Au contraire, I’d say there are indications that it isn’t 4e. A while back, we had the unsound effect “Vance”; didn’t 4e drop the Vancian casting system?
Looks like a +1 trident of warning, to me.
(+1 tine, that is.)
So I applaud Madeline here. Way too often in fantasy lore and games does the ‘helpful’ messenger from beyond drop some cryptic commentary and wander away in spite of the fact they have access to an arsenal of gear, spells, and arms enough to make the job basically a straight up fair fight. I mean, seriously, if some floating goofus in an extra-dimensional space can’t cough up a healing potion or two, or maybe throw you a bone and give you a decent suit of armor, you gotta question his motives and background. If the forces of good are SO stingy, it’s no wonder you keep reading about entire worlds and plains being toppled with little effort by the bad guys….. they have no fear of blowing the budget! Do they just like sending in heroes powerful enough to force a confrontation with the big bad so they can put in an overawing appearance or what?
Great job shaking him down, Maddie! That’s a loyal friend.
Panel 4: Nobody. Tugs. THE CAPE!
No capes! 😛
I suspect that NONE of Maddie’s ‘weapons’ have been magical – that she is the one that is making them magic.
don’t really have anything to reply, just a shout out to Auld Grump (Shadowraven from the Reaper forums here) nice to see you have excelent taste in fantasy webcomics
Hey-o!
Just checked and, apparently, a Trident of Warning gives its wielder the power to detect hostile AQUATIC creatures. Guess it might be useful if Burnum’s hiding a tank full of sharks somewhere.
Curious … what’s the source material on that Trident of Warning?
I checked in an old AD&D Dungeon Master Guide. Guess it probably doesn’t work the same in all editions.
Mind you, I doubt it’s a *real* Trident of Warning, so the powers it would have if it were aren’t very important.
3.5 Magic Item Compendium has the “Warning” weapon property that gives a bonus to initiative as long as you’re holding the weapon. So, if you’re expecting a fight, or you’ve got a quarterstaff or such weapon you can’t sheathe.
For copyright reasons and such I’m not going to specify the type or value of the bonus.
Given what she can do with an unsharpened shovel, it might as well be magical. Madeline is awesome like that.
Odd, I always thought the same. Might just be she’s high enough level that it doesn’t matter …
It’s magical. It wasn’t til she said it was. But her Paladin powers make it magic. After all, she can not lie. So if she say’s it is magic, it better damn well be magic for its own good.
Exactly this.
I doubt it’s relevant here, but “can not lie” does not mean “unable to state an untruth”, as a lie is defined by the teller’s understanding. If Timothy Mouse gives Dumbo Elephant an unenchanted feather and says “This feather allows you to fly,” then that is a lie. If Dumbo Elephant then says “This feather allows me to fly” without having tested it, he is relating the truth as he understands it.
Indeed. If faith can move mountains, Maddy should have little difficulty with something as simple as enchanting a weapon…
Plus we’re outside of Reality. Madam Goodlaw’s belief is yet more potent out here.
But worthy of what?…
Worthy of kicking butt.
really maddie?
Amusingly enough, I’m reminded of a 3ed paladin spell; holy sword. Naturally, she doesn’t use swords, but I do wonder if any ‘weapon’ she uses converts stat wise into a +5 holy avenger. That, or she has so many combat skill points that she can fight with anything, and not care about any -4 penalty. Heck, she gets that much of a penalty for fighting blind, although odds are she mastered blind fighting when she was just a squire.
(Sorry about my earlier comment. It was meant lightly, but I don’t think that came across in plain text.)
bident… trident… quaddent?
I’d go with “quadrent” myself.
Oh, hey, bard, isn’t the chorus: Let it be, let it be. Let it be. Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be.
She has a +5 with farming equipment.
She has proficiency with farming tools and gets a +5 bonus when using them.