Level 7: #63
Chapter: Comic, Level 7 — Circus Minimus
I’m sorry, but strip 7-64 is going to be late. Thanks for your patience, I know how annoying it is when a webcomic starts slipping up on its schedule. Between new jobs and old gigs, it’s been tough to get a moment to myself. I promise to catch up as soon as I can catch my breath.
11/5 Update: Still running late, but after tomorrow my schedule is finally clear and I can start playing catch up.
Gotta love Madie’s smell evil ability. ;D
Well, it might just be she smells of soap instead of uh… natural halfling odor…
Stabs reeks of stabbing – all those knives have a specific smell of metal, leather, oil and blood … having had a butcher as a friend, I can actually imagine it quite well. I think anyone could pick up on that.
I like the question mark on the *sniff?* sound effect.
Yikes. Someone needs to trim their toenails real soon.
I hope these aren’t de feet Maddie has to learn from?
See that? She didn’t stab at all! FAKE!
Okay, she just saw what she did to the Girclownion, and is still going to go on the offfensive? Oh dear, oh dear oh dear.
They are legendary lunatics, after all.
I would NOT like to be on the wrong side of an angry Maddie.
Hm. Reminds me of an old X-Men comic. Everyone’s captured by Mojo, Dazzler blitzes the hell out of him before getting overwhelmed and tossed out for the conveniently placed new heroey characters to find.
I’m personally hoping that things do not go that route and Maddie just lays the smackdown, but I can certainly see her going down here.
Sorry for the double post, but I LOVE how Maddie looks in the first panel. Just perfect.
Maddie looks adorable in panels 3 and 4. But panels 4 and 5 form a slight disconnect – she’s assuming that Stabs couldn’t have turned evil (perhaps through magic mind control), or picked up the scent from being surrounded by it? Seems like an unjustified logical leap for her. It’d be easy to assume that she was smelling the difference in personal scent, if she were some creature capable of such a feat, like a gnome. But as it stands, it seems odd.
Very curious what’s going on in the bottom panel. Does Wossername have slashing blades in her shoe somewhere, or is she attacking with a knife while an illusion makes it look like a kick?
Detect evil detects an evil aura, which is associated with an inherently evil creature, not a being that happens to be of evil alignment. The only exception to that is a cleric, as they leave an aura granted by divine power.
Detect Evil CAN detect evil creatures, regardless of their race. However, that being said, an evil non-cleric, non-outsider has to have at least 11 hit dice before it starts registering as anything more than a “faint aura” on the Evil-O-Meter. Likely why Maddie didn’t immediately notice as soon as she walked in the room. Considering the inhabitants, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a dim Evil Aura all over the place. Given that she smells evil, it might be something like walking around in a garbage dump, then suddenly coming across a fresh poo. You’ve gotta get close and give it a second to process. Thankfully, though, Maddie is at least aware enough that she didn’t metaphorically step in it. 😀
OTOH, Maddie sniffed with care. Perhaps it’s a faint smell.
Alignment change is usually a gradual process. There are a few magical ways to get it done faster, but most of them require either a ninth level spell or a willing subject. You could hypothetically trick or force someone into wearing a Helm of Opposite Alignment, but it’s much easier to just dress up as her. So, Madeline couldn’t have been sure, but it was a likely guess.
Is it just me, or does the bandage on Maddie’s face in the last panel look like some kind of weird side mouth? I was confused and somewhat disturbed for a second there.
It’s been torn by the SLICE from Bootsy’s boots.
Something tells me that Boot Strap is going to regret this in 5 seconds.
Man, I hope Maddie gets a nice loooong period of recuperation after this is all over XD
Isn’t it obvious? When have you ever known Stabs to take a bath? The imposter obviously baths.
When someone smells better than last time you saw them (half an hour ago), and aren’t wet… trouble is afoot.
I agree. That foot is definitely trouble.
Madeline…
…smelled something FISHY!
Eh? Eh?
Eh.
only marginally better than Presti’s Illithid costume.
A flayer for the dramatic?
*slow applause*
Well played.
That Stabs clone needs to trim her toenails.
Hmm… is it too much to think Madeline realized the fake because only the derro say “wossname”?
Judging by her poor INT scores, probably not. Just need some d?e?t?e?c?t? smell evil.
It’s cool, Mike. RL first. Gotta eat and have some time for yourself, even beyond the demands of a webcomic. 🙂
Seeing as the fake Stabs is the “Dame” or “Tough Cookie” in this particular clown gang, it would be surprising if she DIDN’T wear some sort of fragrance. Something our tough as nails Stabs probably doesn’t let within 10′ of her metal laden halfing self.
As much as I wish Rusty would be up and ready every Wednesday, I am extremely appreciative to have this wonderful, FREE, webcomic whenever and however you can provide. Jobs, family and health are so much more important than webfans :). You do what you need to do and we’ll be waiting.
This, exactly
Agreed. All I have to say is congrats on the new job, and looking forward to the next comic!
“after tomorrow my schedule is finally clear …”
Erm, you still have that job, right?
Haha, yeah, no worries. Taking a full-time job meant all the freelance gigs I had got pushed to evenings and weekends, making for a rather hectic month. But the books have been closed on that and now I can start catching up on missing Rusty pages!
Come on people, Maddy doesn’t sense evil, she scents evil!
agreed this is one of my fav web comics … you are a talented person … but family and jobs come first we’ll be here waiting eagerly for the next installment 😀
Correct me if i am wrong… but underneath the disguise self spell thing… shes wearing stiletto heels right? isnt that what cut her based on the motion lines of the kick?
Probably, I doubt even Stabs’ feet could leave a cut like that unaided
It seems like the kick landed on Maddie’s LEFT cheek, somehow disrupting the bandage and reopening the old wound on the RIGHT cheek from the force of the blow
Where we find out that the bandage was the seal keeping the real can of woopass in hold…
If you’re having trouble updating, take an announced week or even two off. Plan for a week beyond when you think things will get better. Then take that “free” week and use it to create a buffer of at least a couple comics. Next time something goes sour, you can use that buffer and not miss updates. Long term, try to build a buffer of at least a month.