Level 9: #36
Chapter: Comic, Level 9 — Hotel Califormian
Rusty & Co.
Monstrous Misadventures! Updated every Wednesday at noon, EST.
Follow Rusty & Co.!
BOOKMARK
Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
So… the artifact is “The Beast”?
Yeah, this is an obvious bluff. If the artifact could be destroyed that easily, she would’ve done it already.
Distraction, too.
I notice there aren’t any S’s in anything “Maddy” is saying, here. Hmmmmmmm.
That also looks to be the same knife that Y.T. grabbed…
Possible, but highly improbable. While lamia are somewhat experienced with glamours when possessing the right knack for it, I don’t think it’d be powerful enough to simulate bipedal legs instead of a tail. And a hypnotic spell would A) require eye contact or some other medium before going through and B) be hard as Hades to cast on a psychic like the queen ant, as evidenced by her telepathy.
-A-L-T-E-R-S-E-L-F- -????ALTER SELF
My money on it.
That, or one of the Polymorph ones (bonus, no ‘esse’ in them).
Tiff, I thought you were morally opposssed to using the artifact after finding out how it worked, even for something like Alter Self.
Also, is that really much of a threat? I thought artifacts were meamt to be nigh-impossible to destroy (and with Serious Consequences if you managed it). Even if you’re bluffing, it still has to be plausible?
It’s extremely plausible BECAUSE real Maddie could easily be stupid enough to try.
— Tiff, I thought you were morally opposssed —
No, no, you are confusssing her with the mammal paladin.
Tiff ssstated ssshe isss morally unoposssed to usse the artefact.
It’sss jussst sshe cannot usse it for posssitve-bassed magic.
No, Y.T. said: “… even if I were morally unopposed to using it.”
That means she is opposed to using it on moral grounds. However, that doesn’t mean she isn’t morally flexible enough to “ends justify the means” or “a little lie to the paladin won’t hurt ussss”. But she said what she said.
Chekhov’s Claymore
It doesn’t really look like the artifact, though, does it?
Surely a paladin like Maddie wouldn’t try anything deceptive…
Because that isn’t Maddie. Madeline does not use sharp objects such as knives as weapons to destroy..anything or anyone.
Also “maddie” says ‘I had to hurt her’, but Madeline would say ‘I had to stop her’. Also, “maddie” is wielding a knife, when has she ever wielded a real weapon? Yeah, this is an illusion.
Whatever it is is hidden under a piece of cloth, which means that it theoretically could be the artifact, even though it should be obvious to everyone that it probably isn’t. If it were really the artifact, the threat would work better without hiding it. And, of course, if it were that easy to break, she would have already done it before coming here, rather than loudly proclaiming her intent so the ants can try to stop her.
The idea is not to provoke ants into jumping her. She just tells them what goes on, in a believable way, and lack of objections will be taken as confirmation. Which gives them a legitimate reason to disobey, and they already want to.
So that’s not Maddie but Y.T. in disguise; and that’s not the artifact otherwise it wouldn’t be covered up with a piece of cloth. I bet it’s a slice of roast turkey.
More likely a slice of ham from the fountain
I’m wondering: if Maddie is really YT and the artifact is really a slice of ham… then where is the real artifact?
It’s not with the real Maddie. That was never part of the plan.
I don’t think YT would leave it hidden somewhere. That doesn’t seems prudent.
I’m guessing “Maddie” has has it down the front of her shirt. It’s a good place for an indestrucible artifact. It’s like that scene with the iron plate in Back to the Future 3 (and Fistful of Dollars).
No, I just realised that there’s no coloured circles around (as Synreith noted below).
So the artifact is not down her shirt…
So where is it?
Well, duh.
It’s in the lunchbox!
She’s holding the Artifact. http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-9-31/ notice the *MUCH* smaller sparkles after she checks the ‘battery’ compartment. The dropped from tennis ball size to marble sized. And then she used it again since. And probably drained any remaining power, or opened it again.
Wait, that might be it. I was wondering what the point of this bluff was.
If the artifact is drained of its power due to all of the souls having escaped, then the plan might be to let it fall back into the hands of ants so they think they’ve won, not realizing until later that it’s now non-functional. The pretending to want to destroy it part would just be to make it less obvious it’s intentional, as well as misleading them about the source of the damage even if they notice.
Though really, I’m still not sure what the point of that is. If the artifact is really harmless now, then all those roundabout tricks are redundant and she can just hand it over.
Unless the Myrmarch knows how to recharge it. Or has spare batteries laying around.
Presumably you recharge it by draining souls from more people. Also presumably, that takes time, and is harder to do if you don’t already have a reasonably-charged artifact to help you do it.
That’s a lot of presumptions, so it’s rather risky to rely on that…
Oooo. Serious Maddie face is serious!
It’s a give-away. Maddie never looks that serious, even while detecting evil.
I have two items of note here,
First: A distinct lack of colored circles around the “artifact”.
Second: “Maddie” is wasting time on a threat, using an actual weapon, and has her eyes open while about to engage in combat.
What’s all this about respecting the checkout time? I thought you could check out any time you like.
That’s what’s so annoying. They can check out any time they like and never consider the official times.
In that case, can I have 8:15? I’ll bring it back in a month or so when I’m bored with it.
so, does that mean the ant in the previous page with the lunchbox is actually maddy with the device in another alter self? (possibly with a goal of Rusty eating the artifact?
Probably not – that would imply that Maddie agreed to a device powered by the souls of innocents being used on her.
Assuming this is Y-T, I’m betting that Maddie doesn’t know about any alter self – she’s strictly opposed to using the artifact.
Yeh, the lack of SSSSSSSSs is throwing me off…