Level 9: #47
Chapter: Comic, Level 9 — Hotel Califormian
The readers were invited to vote on two characters to be Mimic’s allies in Level 10! The polls are closed, and the winners will be announced at the start of the next arc. Thank you very much to everyone who voted!
Obviously it should be Derek and Anti-Madeline, not only are they diametrically opposed to each other but both would be *very* interesting to bring into a black market for completely different reasons.
Plus I would very much like to see if the Derek crush carried over to Anti-Madeline.
Oooh, yes! That *would* be interesting to see. Though I think that pair would be much better suited for the third mission.
I went with Robespierre and Anti-Madeline. Robespierre provides the muscle while Anti-Mad provides the stealth and subterfuge.
I cast my vote for [Greg]’s choice.
As much as I’d like to see “Anti-M” teamed-up with “Rob”, I feel that Derek is a better ‘fit’, because I don’t see any way that she’d want to cooperate, & Derek’s skill-set seems better-suited to keeping her in line.
—
As a side-note, Derek’s never actually met her yet – he’s only heard her voice.
Working together might help him gain insight into the person from whom “Anti-M” was created.
So… convince me.
I’m pretty fixated on sending Stabs on this one (as are most of us, I think), but that leaves one slot open.
Originally, I wanted to Yuan-Tiffany for this mission, but that’s obviously off the table now. I also considered Prestige, just because she’s my favorite character that hasn’t been assigned yet, but on forther consideration Stabs+Prestige is one the few character combinations that both (A) we have seen before (during the circus arc), and (B) clearly didn’t get along well, with their bickering jeopardizing the mission. So teaming them up again seems neither as interesting as a new combination nor likely to be strategically sound.
Several people have suggested Roxy due to being a bard, but bards being masters at story tropes is a theme from OotS that we haven’t actually seen in this webcomic so far, and don’t we need her to stay in the castle to maintain her princess act?
That leaves me with not being especially fond of any of the remaining options I can see, though.
So, make me a sales pitch. Who should I vote for?
Stabs is a natural choice, but I think a black market is so *completely* her natural setting, that it wouldn’t stretch her character much.
I might vote for Prestige and anti-Madeline. Presti knows her way around the criminal underworld, but as a (non-corrupt) cop she is also at odds with it, which creates narratively useful tension. A-M’s tiny size provides lots of opportunities for skullduggery, and it will test Mimic’s ingenuity to find ways to keep her focused on the mission rather than wandering off to blow things up in a fit of boredom. Plus, Mallie’s tendency to hide in containers and Mimic’s tendency to *be* containers provides both synergy and potential friction.
I went with Stabs and Robespierre. All three of them have forged bonds in the baseball arc, plus then we have a talky guy (Mimic), a sneaky gal (Stabs), and a big beefy guy for when things inevitably go south (Robespierre).
Stabs being so well suited for this one I opted not to choose her.
I figure, who’s probably the most likely to totally ruin subterfuge and stealth? Slobber, that’s who.
Then I picked Doralys since those two are probably the most likely to annoy her.
I’d vote Slobber, if just so we can see more of the employer-employee dynamic going on.
Clearly, Plaidbeard! Mimic + Stabs + Plaidbeard = natural chaos!
Though, if I’m being honest, I voted for Slobber and Plaidbeard.
Madeline uses logic. It’s surprisingly effective!
Don’t forget that paladins usually have high Wisdom scores.
(At least in 3.5e, which this comic is based on. Pathfinder and 5e both changed them to only need Charisma, although that’s still pretty useful for convincing people of your point of view.)
Yeah, convincing Y-T to embrace her newfound capacity for empathy is right up a paladin’s wisdom-and-charisma-paved alley. The bit that impressed me, though, was Maddie deducing that Y-T had had no plan.
It’s not exactly pushing back the outermost frontiers of intellectual endeavor, but hey, baby steps. This whole deductive reasoning thing is new territory for Madeline!
Well, Madeline is pretty used to doing things with no plan herself, so she probably recognizes the signs.
“is right up a paladin’s wisdom-and-charisma-paved alley.”
Or, as Madeline is fond to say, this is what Paladins do.
and it is beautiful
I’d say that’s more a matter of Insight (aka Sense Motive) than deductive reasoning. Which makes it Wisdom-based.
Prestige can use her magics to emulate the princess, so Roxy is not ABSOLUTELY necessary to the continuance of the deception. Stabs would be a good add for the black market mission for multiple reasons, including familiarity, old “friends”, and actually gaining entrance. Roxy would be a good add due to the Doogans “not having a double digit charisma amongst them”.
This is a beautiful page in more ways than one. :’)
Yeah, Y-T’s smile as she frees the spirits makes me happy every time I look at it. Madeline is *good* at what she does.
Only, like … HOW did she freed the spirits?
Remove Curse I would assume.
Earlier in the comic (9-31), it showed some of the souls escaping when she opened up the back. I assumed she just opened it up again.
Good *IS* what she does!
It is! Way to end the arc with a smile. With *all* the smiles, in fact.
I think doryls would be a fun choice cause she’s not really great friends with mimic. Prestige may be fun as well since it’s a cop trying to infiltrate a black market.
I’d like to see a webcomic just featuring Y.T., myself. Get ready, get set, spin-off!
I went way left field: Dorylis and Ezra, the one because she and Mimic get along so well; the other because the Belt of Genre Changing will let her see something new.
Also, good for Y.T. being good!
Voted Derek and Dorylis, because:
– one hi-level Cleric in the party is OP, two are overkill
– other characters are already established, with known motivations and backstory, and I want to see what’s behind Dorylis
– it has the freakin’ D&D in the name initials
Knowledge and luck might be useful, at that.
I had to go with Roxy, not because of what she can do, but because this is Mimic’s mission and their interactions are really interesting. Now, with two party members who can fight but aren’t really fighters per se, the party needs a Big Guy. Slobber could have been nice with his hyperactivity blundering onto the plot but I had to go with Rebespierre since he’ll mess everything up by going berserk during his sister’s inevitable kidnapping and I want to see how they get out of that.
I kinda wanna keep roxy in the palace so we can have her and robbespiere in the same place during cube’s level.
Oh, sorry, I somehow read over the part where your other choice was robbespierre and thought you went with slobber.
I went with Plaidbeard and Dinkum. The former knows how dangerous the belt can be and the other would have just as much knowledge of the black market as Stabs.
I went with Presti and Plaidbeard, myself. Odds are, Plaidbeard would know the black market anyway – pirates tend to travel in those circles, after all – and I want to see what Presti’s ability to rig up new contraptions with existing magic items could do with the belt.
Another Presti/Plaidbeard? Nice!
My reasoning (for anyone who’s still undecided):
1. Plaidbeard has already found *this* item on the black market once. He knows who to talk to.
2. Plaidbeard was willing to respect the results of a rap battle because he knows that this item is dangerous. If he’s willing to give the belt up to keep from breaking the universe, then of course he’s going to do whatever it takes to stop it from falling into the hands of someone who might actually be trying to use it for that purpose.
3. Plaidbeard was a fun early villain, and we haven’t seen him in ages.
4. Presti, who is already an agent of the crown working in the palace, has made no headway in finding the spy. It’s time to pass that job onto someone else. (Stabs will be getting my vote)
5. Presti’s other job is to find the princess. She’s not going to do that from inside the palace. The black market is probably one of the most likely places to find information on the princess or whoever made her disappear.
6. Presti is a law enforcement officer who understands the black market. She was able to track the Mafia as they collected minor magical items.
7. Presti was involved in the magic missile incident. I look forward to the conversation that begins when Plaidbeard finds out.
I didn’t think Plaidbeard/Presti would be a very popular pairing when I voted for them. Now that I’ve read the comments I’m actually hopeful.
I really like the idea of Dinkum going on this quest. I voted for him and Presti. I think they make a very entertaining duo.
If you’re going shopping, you need a bard, they know stuff 😉
and Dorilys just because….when you need trouble to pad the storyline out, who else do you think of ?
Anyone else vote for Myrmarch Antropas?
While Antropas technically isn’t on the list of ineligible people, I think it’s against the spirit of the thing to vote in anyone who showed up in this chapter.
Let’s be real here – if you don’t vote Plaidbeard in, he’s probably going to be the bad guy. And I would much rather see a goofy villain come in as an ally than a foe.
I voted for Anti-Madeline and wrote in the baseball T. rex from level 8.
They’re going to have to be sneaky in the black market, so I’d say Stabs as its her natural territory, and Prestige with some enchantment- and illusion spells memorized.
You’re right, they _are_ going to have to be sneaky. Which is why I went with Robespierre and Anti-Maddy. 🙂
I voted Stabs and Presti. The thief and the mage-cop. I’m sure we’ll get a crazier team, though. Hmm, maybe should have suggested Petey and Slobber. Then Mimic’s bodyguards can protect him!
Good reasoning for all choices but first I went with Dorylis, obviously an agent of balance since the most chaotic events she causes result in such orderly outcomes although she probably thinks she’s an agent of order. Second choice was Plaidbeard for many of the reasons listed above and the fact he was about reordering the world and caused such a huge amount of chaos. They seem as polar opposite as Madeline and Anti-Madeline.
The poll is unfair, the hipster Vampire makes no sense to me, but I still wanna click it since in combination with robespierre it seems the choice to make the mimik the most uncompfortable.
Dorilys and Presti, obviously.
Hooray for a return to shorter arcs.
One thing I’m confused about, though — Maddie accuses YT of lying, and YT admits to lying, but … what, exactly, was the lie? I reread the entire arc and it seems like it happened off-screen?
Ok I guess the lie was on page 34 when YT said she would take “the artifact” to the Myrmarch. Maddie didn’t know about the decoys because that’s too much dishonesty for her sweet, pure, cinnamon bun soul.
Oh, yeah. Remember that Maddie told Mimic it wasn’t nice to lie in front of the kraken he was lying to.
Roxy and Prestige. They work well together, why not.
And Derek needs to be around for Cube’s adventure.
I voted for Stabs and for Derek. Derek would be so uncomfortable…
I went with Prestige and Byron
Prestige and Stabs. They both have decent chemistry with mimic, they go “well” together, and they have skills that would be helpful in this scenario.
I had to vote Schmetts. I know she won’t get enough votes, but she’s the only character to literally make me laugh out within three panels of showing up every time.
I had to look up who that was.
When I read the part that said “*All* characters from the comic are eligible, my first thought was “Even the Viscount?” But the more I considered the idea, the more convinced I became that he would be ideally-suited for a mission like this. The real question is what would motivate him to go along with it. There’s also the small problem that AFAIK, Mimic doesn’t even know the Viscount exists.
My other two top choices for unconventional candidates are D. D. Burnum and Drago Stromscale. Both are cunning enough to be good choices for the mission. Before I throw away my vote on a pair of long-shots, though, I’d like to know:
– Is it possible to change your vote?
– Once you vote, can you see how others voted?
– Are write-in candidates added to the list of options for future voters? (The fact that Ezra and Patina are on the list makes me think it may be so, since they hardly seem like they would top candidates.)
– Is it possible to change your vote?
Yes, you can visit the link later and change your answers. (This wasn’t turned on until recently.)
– Once you vote, can you see how others voted?
The results will be revealed at the start of the next arc. I’d rather people voted with their heart, and not based on the current standings.
– Are write-in candidates added to the list of options for future voters? (The fact that Ezra and Patina are on the list makes me think it may be so, since they hardly seem like they would top candidates.)
It’s not a guarantee, but a popular write-in candidate may show up on the next list. I’m guiding the outcome a little bit, since listed characters usually get more votes than write-ins.
As a side note: Voting for a candidate on the list AND entering their name as a write-in only counts as one vote for them, not two.
Ended up going with Presti and Slobber in the end. They made a surprisingly good team in the baseball arc and I’m interested to see how a skilled illusionist takes advantage of a big dumb good boi.
Madeline is easily my favourite character. More Maddy. <3
It’s interesting how everyone is discussing which characters would be best/worst suited for navigating a black market.
I made my vote based on who could cause most nonsense with the belt…
(Roxy and Ezra, btw)
Went with Roxy, because not sending the Bard to find the Belt of Genre Changing seems unthinkable, and Rue Lily because I can’t think of any person in the comic who is more likely to not get along with Roxy.
I voted for Stabitha and Slobber. Stabs is easily the best-suited to both navigating the black market and dealing with villains, while Slobber 1) provides good muscle, 2) has a good pre-existing dynamic with Stabs, 3) is funny and adorable, and 4) is most likely to do something goofy with the Belt.
I am relieved to see that Presti, my highest priority, is getting plenty of votes, but if anyone is still looking at these comments, I hope that I can attract more people to vote for her, and for my other choice, Dinkum (I am glad to see that I am no longer alone in my hope for him, either). There are some good arguments for each above, but I will add, as I did when I laid out my whole voting plan during the initial vote, that besides being himself a member of the black market, Dinkum is able to stay invisible for long stretches of time, and his gnomish chaos will tend to throw off the predictions of the enemy, who is so good at guessing how Rusty and Co will act in a given situation.
Rusty is best insect. no argument needed