Unless Cube decides that he and Grinner are square now, that gnoll’s prospects are pitch black. Even if he tries to run, he’ll be dealing with a dogged pursuit, and tri as he might, he can’t put a dent in his foe. I hope he knows ooze he’s dealing with.
Don’t know whether to award 2 lvl’s of punning xp or visit the gear section of the player sheet with the eraser god of retribution for this one lol. But it did make me laugh.
Forgetting that Cube has class levels and weapon proficiencies (also martial arts training I would presume) is a fatal mistake on Grinner’s part. The trio of tagonists may be viewed by their races in most cases, but racial talents are only a small part of what Rusty, Mimic & Cube are. Each is an individual, a unique person Not just their race.
Rusty’s probably just been advancing by Hit Dice. And Mimic did take that one level in Beholder, which probably came with like a +8 Level Adjustment which he now has to “catch up” to.
Weapon Proficiency: Speaking while Blade Is Between Teeth is a superb skill to take. I’m sure Grinner is very happy he got to demonstrate it at least once before getting impaled and digested by a vengeful samurai acid block.
You can totally see Maddie still lying there through cube on the last panel, as if to say “Don’t forget about her now.” Also I just realized something. “We learn little from victory, but much from defeat.” Either there’s about to be some crude humor in a moment, “…but much…” which would be all the funnier because of precisely who it is, or more likely she’s dead. Tell me peoples, what wold you expect to happen to her after she dies hmm? She’s incredibly powerful and thus must have made quite the name for her self, yet nobody’s ever heard of her before. Even all Grinner found was that she’s a Paladin. So all her exploits that she HAD to have done to be this strong were not for the glory, not even slightly. There’s humility, honor, and devout works all tied into one there. She’s honest to a fault, always does the right thing, is able to see past a creatures evil acts to help it if she perceives it as a victim to something worse. Finally, she did the greatest act anyone can ever do, she sacrificed herself for the defense of the (at the time) defenseless, without even the slightest hesitation. So tell me peoples, what do you expect to happen to a Paladin of such, dare I say caliber? Just what do you think the Gods will do? My personal opinion can be summed up as such. “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful then you can possibly imagine.”
She had her bad side given physical form and manifested, not exercised. Depending on how you look at it she still has evil in her. In that case, if she ever gets more “bad” the manifested representation of the evil in her will get more powerful, and vice versa if she gets less “bad”.
Well. We’ve not seen her wearing that hat at all. Perhaps the wings she’s going to get ar-chon-sidering “good deed” as something as selfless as she just performed.
Excellent point good Sir/Madam (?) I shall have to think on this as she has done at least several good deeds since then I believe. (Unless of course this is an mmo and her player just selected the “Hide Headgear” option) Then again, that is arguably the greatest “good deed” that anyone can ever perform. It was not specified that it had to be a deed so costly thought, simply a, “…one more good deed,”. Technically helping an old lady cross the street safely to get to her grandson would classify. (Even if it were only stored in the Bomber’s Notebook)
Impressive, isn’t it? Mike really kicked things up a notch art-wise with chapter 6, and while normally I consider art quality to be one of the least important factors in how I’d rank a webcomic, I believe the art improvement propels things to another tier here.
I’m pretty sure her clue was a warning about Boot Cut. “We learn little from victory, but much from de feet.” It wasn’t even the only prophecy couched as a pun.
I don’t think so. If she hadn’t been struck down, I would agree with you, but she has suffered actual defeat now. The prophecy does seem to mean that she’s not dead and gone, though.
Place yer bets, place yer bets. 5 to 1 He gets pitched in the lava. 6 to 1 he ends up in the cube. 4 to 1 he almost dies but pulls off some escape manuever and continues to be a recurring villain.
Not a chance. Mimic is wisely scampering out of there while he is still hale.
Besides, even with the gloves and an unarmed Cube, Grinner was having trouble due to Cube’s immense strength, winning due to a preplaced trap. He has no such trap now…
Yes, that was my take as well. It’s not important that there’s a painful hole in Grinner’s hand. What’s important is that there’s a bunch of holes in his special protective gloves. His hands aren’t acid-proof anymore.
Seconding the belt pouch theory. Or a pocket. Really, there’s a lot of places to keep a pair of gloves, and if you were carrying around a backpack full of explosives, how much of your other gear would you keep in there, just in case?
No, actually. It’s from the Dwarf Fortress forums, and originally referred to giant cave sponges (a monster semi-frequently encountered in wet areas in Dwarf Fortress, notable for being almost indestructible due to lacking any woundable organs, and for being able to crush characters to death despite lacking any limbs or means of locomotion).
Acid Test is an accounting test.
Current Assets (stuff owned, excluding inventory) divided by Current Liabilities (stuff owed). In other words, if a company (or person) converts all it’s assets it owns into cash (through liquidation), how well could it pay off all debts that will need to be due very soon (dissolution). The bigger that fraction, the more easily you can pay off debt quickly.
Your assets (cash, CDs, investments) = $5000. Your liabilities (credit card bill, utility bills outstanding) = $4000. Y our Acid Test Ratio would be 1.25 (5000 / 4000). This means you could pay off all your short term debt immediately and still have some left over. If your assets were $3000, your ATR would be 0.75, so you would need to borrow money to pay off all your short term debts immediately. Investors (such as banks) consider this when they lend money. If your ratio is too small, they don’t believe you will be able to pay them back, even if you were forced to sell everything.
Hope this helps. (sources: I’m an accountant)
That’s not the original use, though. Ken Kesey had parties called “Acid tests” in the 60s (as in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”), where the acid was lysergic. This apparently goes back to a test for whether a substance was gold, dating back to the eighteenth century and popularized by the Gold Rush, but used in a figurative sense as early as 1845–see the “acid test” entry on phrases.org.uk.
As a chem major, we use acid testing today as one means of identifying unknown compounds. Various acids are applied to samples of the compound and from the results we can determine what it is comprised of.
We still would it would just reduce the amount of stress the author of this little slice of heaven would experience and if he got it done sooner he could start to build a buffer over time as well.
I’m with you. Seriously. And Real Life™ trumphs over geekiness.
But… Dude, I want to see more… and I’m pretty sure you too! So, that’s the ambivalence: Respect and best wishes for the author, and thrist for updates!
It just occurred to me: WHY NOT GET A FREAKING SUIT MADE OF THE SYNTHETIC STUFF INSTEAD OF JUST A SINGLE GLOVE???? Now Grinner’s hand is going to be the only part of him left when Cube gets done wit him.
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Oh dear. I don’t think there’ll be enough left of Grinner to stitch back together after this…
So it’ll take at least five chapters for him to regenerate this time?
You’re done, Grinner. He stuck a fork in you.
Cube makes an excellent point.
Unless Cube decides that he and Grinner are square now, that gnoll’s prospects are pitch black. Even if he tries to run, he’ll be dealing with a dogged pursuit, and tri as he might, he can’t put a dent in his foe. I hope he knows ooze he’s dealing with.
Don’t know whether to award 2 lvl’s of punning xp or visit the gear section of the player sheet with the eraser god of retribution for this one lol. But it did make me laugh.
Grinner thought he had things squared away, but his troubles entered a new dimension.
If only Cube weren’t so fast. Against acidentary foe, MAYBE Grinner could survive. But I think he’s blocked now.
The hay is clearly stacked against him now.
That’s an impressive reach for the Cube. He just dropped from the ceiling, has retrieved the hoe from quite a ways away, and stuck it in Grinner.
Unless SOMEONE threw the hoe, straight through Cube at Grinner.
Duh. Just read the caption. Fast Cube that.
Oh, and Grinner’s so forked…
Holey protective gear! Grinner’s about to be gobbled in gook!
Our favorite ronin is about to teach Grinner some basic math. He’s going to learn all about division.
<3
Or Grinner Cubed… and not in a way that's beneficial to him.
I love Mimic fleeing in the background. He knows when not to be in the way.
Fork you!
I continue to be impressed at how expressive Cube is without actually having any expression with which to express. That is *not* a happy Cube.
i agree love the expression on cubes “face”… almost as good as maddies expression earlier 😉
Agreed. It is most impressive.
Wow, you can actually see the anger on Cube’s face(s).
All six of them!
In Rustyverse, Jello shoots you!
And Grinner gets to further enjoy the pleasure of wresting in lime jello. Girls, tip generously.
Someone is about to experience a world of hurt³
XD You win so much.
Forgetting that Cube has class levels and weapon proficiencies (also martial arts training I would presume) is a fatal mistake on Grinner’s part. The trio of tagonists may be viewed by their races in most cases, but racial talents are only a small part of what Rusty, Mimic & Cube are. Each is an individual, a unique person Not just their race.
Only Cube seems to have any class levels though.
Rusty’s probably just been advancing by Hit Dice. And Mimic did take that one level in Beholder, which probably came with like a +8 Level Adjustment which he now has to “catch up” to.
That depends on whether or not one counts Mimics dual-class to Beholder…
Weapon Proficiency: Speaking while Blade Is Between Teeth is a superb skill to take. I’m sure Grinner is very happy he got to demonstrate it at least once before getting impaled and digested by a vengeful samurai acid block.
You can totally see Maddie still lying there through cube on the last panel, as if to say “Don’t forget about her now.” Also I just realized something. “We learn little from victory, but much from defeat.” Either there’s about to be some crude humor in a moment, “…but much…” which would be all the funnier because of precisely who it is, or more likely she’s dead. Tell me peoples, what wold you expect to happen to her after she dies hmm? She’s incredibly powerful and thus must have made quite the name for her self, yet nobody’s ever heard of her before. Even all Grinner found was that she’s a Paladin. So all her exploits that she HAD to have done to be this strong were not for the glory, not even slightly. There’s humility, honor, and devout works all tied into one there. She’s honest to a fault, always does the right thing, is able to see past a creatures evil acts to help it if she perceives it as a victim to something worse. Finally, she did the greatest act anyone can ever do, she sacrificed herself for the defense of the (at the time) defenseless, without even the slightest hesitation. So tell me peoples, what do you expect to happen to a Paladin of such, dare I say caliber? Just what do you think the Gods will do? My personal opinion can be summed up as such. “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful then you can possibly imagine.”
And remember, she had her bad side exorcized from her. She IS pure good.
She had her bad side given physical form and manifested, not exercised. Depending on how you look at it she still has evil in her. In that case, if she ever gets more “bad” the manifested representation of the evil in her will get more powerful, and vice versa if she gets less “bad”.
http://rustyandco.com/comic/level2/level-2-5/
“But if I do one more good deed, I get my wings!”
Well. We’ve not seen her wearing that hat at all. Perhaps the wings she’s going to get ar-chon-sidering “good deed” as something as selfless as she just performed.
Excellent point good Sir/Madam (?) I shall have to think on this as she has done at least several good deeds since then I believe. (Unless of course this is an mmo and her player just selected the “Hide Headgear” option) Then again, that is arguably the greatest “good deed” that anyone can ever perform. It was not specified that it had to be a deed so costly thought, simply a, “…one more good deed,”. Technically helping an old lady cross the street safely to get to her grandson would classify. (Even if it were only stored in the Bomber’s Notebook)
Wow… I hadn’t realized how much the art style had changed until I looked at that strip.
Impressive, isn’t it? Mike really kicked things up a notch art-wise with chapter 6, and while normally I consider art quality to be one of the least important factors in how I’d rank a webcomic, I believe the art improvement propels things to another tier here.
I’m pretty sure her clue was a warning about Boot Cut. “We learn little from victory, but much from de feet.” It wasn’t even the only prophecy couched as a pun.
I don’t think so. If she hadn’t been struck down, I would agree with you, but she has suffered actual defeat now. The prophecy does seem to mean that she’s not dead and gone, though.
Oh! Maybe we will get to see Derek!
Place yer bets, place yer bets. 5 to 1 He gets pitched in the lava. 6 to 1 he ends up in the cube. 4 to 1 he almost dies but pulls off some escape manuever and continues to be a recurring villain.
I’ll put down 300 Platinum pieces on the scrappy, tenacious Gnoll to pull off the escape option.
10gp that Grinner turns to flee, only to be clobbered in the face by a Mimic pseudopod…
Not a chance. Mimic is wisely scampering out of there while he is still hale.
Besides, even with the gloves and an unarmed Cube, Grinner was having trouble due to Cube’s immense strength, winning due to a preplaced trap. He has no such trap now…
Seein the Trident of Warning in the “Hands” of Cube, with the downed Maddie…
It send me into tears!
Go, Cube! For Maddie!!! Kill the Knoll, and the bard too
CUBE DIGEST!!!! Yeah, I’m getting Angry Hulk vibes from Cube in that last panel…. amazing what you can pick up when the guy is see through.
Really… That was the most transparent of puns…
He’s done. Even if he can handle cube solo, Roxy and Rusty have probably gotten Stabbs out by now, and Presti still has a compliment of spells.
Also, poor Maddie. What, 6 weeks now, and I’m still very sad about that.
Grinner: “Gee, that slight shot hurt just a little bit! But thanks for providing me with a nice Reach Weapon, which I can duel-wield!”
As Cube thinks, “lovely little holes for bits of me to ooze through and start the pain”
Yes, that was my take as well. It’s not important that there’s a painful hole in Grinner’s hand. What’s important is that there’s a bunch of holes in his special protective gloves. His hands aren’t acid-proof anymore.
I call FOUL
That hateful being, Grinner, threw his backpack to our beloved heroine.
WHERE DID HE GOT THE GLOVES?
Boooooh, that Gnoll is a cheater! To the pire!
Belt pouch?
Seconding the belt pouch theory. Or a pocket. Really, there’s a lot of places to keep a pair of gloves, and if you were carrying around a backpack full of explosives, how much of your other gear would you keep in there, just in case?
Could be a simple case of this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AssPull
or could be simi-intentional, like so: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BodyPocket
Anybody else kinda want a wallpaper of that last panel?
I know I do!
On second thought, maybe the last two strips as a wallpaper.
Everyone here is trying to figure out whether Grinner is going to get the fork out of there, or if his tine is finally up.
It doesn’t matter. The points are this: Grinner is going to get baled out, one way or another.
*ahem*
“What the- how in the blood-soaked, protestant hell did you do that?!”
“Fuck you, that’s how.”
Without a nervous system
The only thing Cube can feel
IS RAGE
Heh heh heh…did you make that yourself?
No, actually. It’s from the Dwarf Fortress forums, and originally referred to giant cave sponges (a monster semi-frequently encountered in wet areas in Dwarf Fortress, notable for being almost indestructible due to lacking any woundable organs, and for being able to crush characters to death despite lacking any limbs or means of locomotion).
Guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back-
Danana, boom da boom da boom danana…
I get the feeling I’m the only one who really understood the acid test pun.
Possibly, I now feel most silly. Explain please?
Acid Test is an accounting test.
Current Assets (stuff owned, excluding inventory) divided by Current Liabilities (stuff owed). In other words, if a company (or person) converts all it’s assets it owns into cash (through liquidation), how well could it pay off all debts that will need to be due very soon (dissolution). The bigger that fraction, the more easily you can pay off debt quickly.
Your assets (cash, CDs, investments) = $5000. Your liabilities (credit card bill, utility bills outstanding) = $4000. Y our Acid Test Ratio would be 1.25 (5000 / 4000). This means you could pay off all your short term debt immediately and still have some left over. If your assets were $3000, your ATR would be 0.75, so you would need to borrow money to pay off all your short term debts immediately. Investors (such as banks) consider this when they lend money. If your ratio is too small, they don’t believe you will be able to pay them back, even if you were forced to sell everything.
Hope this helps. (sources: I’m an accountant)
That’s not the original use, though. Ken Kesey had parties called “Acid tests” in the 60s (as in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”), where the acid was lysergic. This apparently goes back to a test for whether a substance was gold, dating back to the eighteenth century and popularized by the Gold Rush, but used in a figurative sense as early as 1845–see the “acid test” entry on phrases.org.uk.
As my neighbor’s in Woodstock would say: “Oh, wow, man…the jello’s …angry!”
As a chem major, we use acid testing today as one means of identifying unknown compounds. Various acids are applied to samples of the compound and from the results we can determine what it is comprised of.
Maybe the comic should just go to every other week… Make it easier on the author.
Yeah… but we want to see cute Maddie avenged!
We still would it would just reduce the amount of stress the author of this little slice of heaven would experience and if he got it done sooner he could start to build a buffer over time as well.
I’m with you. Seriously. And Real Life™ trumphs over geekiness.
But… Dude, I want to see more… and I’m pretty sure you too! So, that’s the ambivalence: Respect and best wishes for the author, and thrist for updates!
PS: Sorry for my awful english. Yo hablo español
No worries, Mike. When you are ready, we will enjoy it. Keep up the good work.
agreed !!!
Quality over quantity as I always say! 🙂
The Real Life Monster strikes again.
It just occurred to me: WHY NOT GET A FREAKING SUIT MADE OF THE SYNTHETIC STUFF INSTEAD OF JUST A SINGLE GLOVE???? Now Grinner’s hand is going to be the only part of him left when Cube gets done wit him.
That last panel…. The look on Cube’s ‘face’….. yeah, I had a strong emotional response to that one.
Well done, I say. Bravo.
I never thought that a blob of acidic gelatin with no facial features could look so angry.