I’ve beat you down, yet you still play games
Enjoy your trip, to hell’s flames!
No one can save Blair, the damage is done.
OOOOOHHHHH, HALF~WAY THE~ERE WOAH-OOH LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER!! oops, wrong song, but seeing as a bunch of nuns are fighting, and approximately 50% of them have been incapacitated, I think it fits. Then again, its Bon Jovi, so it is appropriate for any occasion.
Frigg wants Somebody to Love (physically). Rachel Wants to Break Free. E-Merl has A Kind of Magic and Scipio just made sure Another One Bit the Dust. Don’t Stop Them Now.
May I note that the comments to chapter 26 page 10 and chapter 24 page 6 already contain the lyrics to Another Nun bites the dust and Arkerran Rhapsody?
Oh, and you are thinking of the Moss Rose having prickles, apart from an african rose (that mum can only remember calling it the ’49er’) roses do have thorns (some of them a couple inches long)
‘While the sharp objects along a rose stem are commonly called “thorns”, they are technically prickles — outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem). (True thorns, as produced by e.g. Citrus or Pyracantha, are modified stems, which always originate at a node and which have nodes and internodes along the length of the thorn itself.) Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it.’
One again, Frigg has inspired the sisterhood… only this time to be nothing like her at all rather then to follow her example.
It’s for the best really. the group may have ejected itself with the best of intentions, but their bile really grew till they were rather retched in behavior. But no sense ruminating on the past, right?
Well, if anything, that was one nasty epiphany : “Yeah, so I was really big on religion, until I met our messiah…” “Oh ? Was she not up to her legend ?” “More like her legend forgot to mention that she might puke all over your face while calling you a rhinosaurus…”
scipio is obviously well versed in the overlord handbook:D
4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
7. When I’ve captured my adversary and he says, “Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?” I’ll say, “No.” and shoot him. No, on second thought I’ll shoot him then say “No.”
13. All slain enemies will be cremated, or at least have several rounds of ammunition emptied into them, not left for dead at the bottom of the cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.
40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
I think I will save judgment for after we get some more backstory. The guild has killed a lot of people (uh, non-human people for sure). That in itself isn’t new. But the second panel would look very bad for Scipio if it wasn’t for the first one.
‘I don’t like warriors. Too narrow-minded, no subtlety. And worse, they fight for hopeless causes. Honor? Huh! Honor’s killed millions of people, hasn’t saved a single one.’
– Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg
I don’t think there is anything amoral in killing someone who clearly didn’t give it up yet, but is just trying to buy time, and will probably stab you in the back…
There’s a reason for rules in combat (chivalry, etc.).
If you read Beowulf the Sagas or the stories that the Arthurian cycle were built from back before they were sanitized and de-paganized, they taught the reasons. If you followed the those many times ‘unspoken rules’ there was a chance you would survive a combat encounter even if you lost.
If you used the ‘rules’ deceptively, there was a good chance you wouldn’t since it would mark you as foresworn and an oathbreaker, and there is nothing so despised in a tribal or warrior based culture as a lair.
I think the leadership core had plenty of psychotic to go around. In light of the last panel, I hope that Hestia was not the group’s comeback quip specialist, though. :)
There’s enough crazy for both of them, but Blair was the one who thought that hours of debate with someone was enough of a reason to justify poisoning them to death. She didn’t just believe that privately, but tried to use it to convince someone that her actions were right.
There’s a reason for rules in combat (chivalry, etc.).
If you repeatedly break them, the opposition tend to not take prisoners. Iwo and the rest of the late Pacific Campaign being one historical case in point.
Well, not every Japanese soldier taken prisoner was killed on the spot upon capture. Plus, they were really not keen on letting themselves being captured. Whence the small numbers of captured.
Once again, a very artistically nice frame, but lousy weapon physics: the arm, shoulder and elbow are all hyper-rotated and probably hyper-extended as well, the elbow is definitely hyper-extended.
Chances are that he probably blew his elbow by the time the tip of the blade had cracked the breastbone, let alone by the time it either penetrated through the thoracic spine or had severed at least two ribs from the spine before planting itself in the turf. Thing is, with the arm and shoulder hyperextended like that, you just cannot put a lot of energy or oomph into the strike period even with the torso behind it as depicted.
The classic (because it works) shot in that situation is to reverse grip the weapon and stab straight down while dropping a bit at the knees, putting the entire momentum and kinetic energy of the falling torso into the blade as well. Remember with the placement shown, the point did not enter the soft tissue under the breastbone, but penetrated through the breastbone itself. Not an easy accomplishment with a sword.
Might believe what you said, if he wasn’t bending into the blow: if he was staying mostly upright, yes, sure, but you can see that he is slightly bending/twisting as he thrusts down
No, CW is right on all accounts there save perhaps for not considering that Scipio might’ve swinged an ~180° arc over his head, using that huge sword’s momentum to drive through Hestia’s comparatively diminutive frame. But either way there can’t be much reason, besides theatrics (likely a habit from his arena days), to use such an awkward maneuver. The artists did manage to make it look at least not uncomfortable, which I guess is why my intuition keeps saying he used momentum there instead of awkwardly muscling the blade down.
Bleh, not directly over his head, and not 180° (more like across/behind) but yeah, something to the effect of using hib/back/torso rotation along with shoulder/biceps and knee bending to whip the weapon around and down at that angle.
Not so certain about elbow hyper-extension there, nor rotation. His right arm is cocked out a bit at the shoulder, sort of like throwing a hook punch. As he was a step or two back from his target, he simply lurched forward, executed his chosen arc and allowed what looks to be his 250-300 lbs of bulk to supply a good bit of the force required to pierce the sternum (if he even DID break through on the first blow, mind).
Personally, I’d have gone for the abdomen, twisted things up a bit, and then MAYBE cut her throat if I was feeling merciful and not enjoying the sound of her gurgling on her own blood. But then again, I weigh quite a bit less.
Yeah. His hand is rotated down. The elbow is extended, but certainly not hyper-extended (and plate doesn’t give you enough space to hyper-extend most joints, anyway). The shoulder has been rolled over in exactly the same way as any martial artist doing a downwards strike. Sure, given the arc of the sword, it’s not the most efficient use of force, but there’s nothing biologically problematic about the motion.
that said, hip rotation to cantilever the strike, and reliance on the weight of the weopon vs the lack of armour would probably make it effective enough to put her down.
Bone is strong, especially for its weight, but vs the point of a heavy cutting tool with some body mass behind the blow, it will break through easily enough. Probably hit the xyphiod anyway which is mostly cartilage;) or went through the solarplexus. Hard to tell anyway based on the anatomy in the pic;D
As long as you keep at least some bend in your elbow (which it looks like he is), then the force is mostly acting on the shoulder. The elbow will be fine. Admittedly, this isn’t the strongest way to stab, but it won’t damage his elbow.
It’s basically the same action as a downwards palm-heel strike, a descending ridge-hand strike (which uses the inside of the wrist), or any number of other, very straightforward, movements.
One thing to keep in mind, is that this isn’t a coup de grâce to finish a badly wounded foe. She is playing possum, to try to lure him closer and get him to drop his guard. He’s not about to get any closer than he has to, and is striking as fast as he can, to deliver a fatal blow before she sees what’s happening, and has time to react.
If he did injure his arm, Rachel can heal it. If he risked getting injured by Blair, like E-merl did, then he’d be putting his whole party at risk.
Something learnt years ago from the the great Shaka (Zulu, not Khan): “Kill the jackal when it is cowering at your feet, lest it slink away and return at a later date as a lion and tear out your throat.” (quote may not be exact, but the idea is still there)
After reading all of the comments, I am still not sure how a stomach purge remove poison that was injected into the bloodstream. But okay, Frigg is just cool that way, I guess.
I can relate. I always feel better directly after taking a good puke. If the source of the problem isn’t inside my stomach then the symptoms gradually resurface after that, but the time window right after puking is like a short blissful moment of no gravity before everything starts going downwards again.
Food takes a lot of energy to digest. Ejecting the stomach contents allows the body to use more of its stored energy fighting the toxin, and less on breaking down the rhinosaur steak from lunch.
Intelligence? Nope, wrong stat.
Wisdom would be appropriate here.
I don’t think Scipio read the body language and speech pattern to know the attempt of misdirection. He just knows 2 facts. One that this person uses rogue tricks, and two that rogues tell lies.
Given the fighting history of Scipio he definitely has a warriors intuition. Unless he cheats at the game has managed to power scale all his stats so he has both high Endurance, Wisdom, Intelligence, Agility, and Charisma. On that note he doesn’t seem very lucky…
It would seem that Hestia got Scipio’s point, to wit, when they’re down, make sure they stay down … pinned like a butterfly on a board. I left my chivalry in my other doublet.
FINALLY
I was getting tired of all that smug.
Looks like it’s the end of the road for that Blair Witch. I was getting tired of that shaky cam.
I was kind of hoping Frigg would be the one to do her in, by making her fall down a mountain.
Better dead than Red.
‘Better dead than Smeg’, would be preferable.
Better anything than that toupée!
I know, right?
With THAT avatar, the phrase would be better worded as, “Better dead than Smeghead.”
Like I said last comic. Do not fuck with the gladiator king.
This isn’t making Frigg happy lately.
When she said he was a hero of Gastonia, she should have put more mental attention into the “Gastonia” part than the “hero” part.
I hear Rhinosaur breeding is a growing market.
Rage Vomit cure
“Again, it is as the prophecy!”
Wait, so, how did that work?
You tell me.
Good to know the power of the Avatars have not diminished a ounce!
I believe that Phil has a sweatshop somewhere where people are paid to read our comments as they are posted and select appropriate avatars.
Stabbed thorough the heart, and you’re to blame because you lie. Darling, you give The Church Of Love Place a bad name.
No, you do!
I’ve beat you down, yet you still play games
Enjoy your trip, to hell’s flames!
No one can save Blair, the damage is done.
OOOOOHHHHH, HALF~WAY THE~ERE WOAH-OOH LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER!! oops, wrong song, but seeing as a bunch of nuns are fighting, and approximately 50% of them have been incapacitated, I think it fits. Then again, its Bon Jovi, so it is appropriate for any occasion.
Is Freddie Mercury too?
No. But that’s only because Bon Jovi has a larger body of work at this point.
Frigg wants Somebody to Love (physically). Rachel Wants to Break Free. E-Merl has A Kind of Magic and Scipio just made sure Another One Bit the Dust. Don’t Stop Them Now.
It’s ALWAYS time for Freddie Mercury.
I like you
+1
May I note that the comments to chapter 26 page 10 and chapter 24 page 6 already contain the lyrics to Another Nun bites the dust and Arkerran Rhapsody?
Shame he was wrong about ‘Every Rose has its Thorn’, seeing as roses don’t have thorns, they have prickles…
Wasn’t that Poison? o_O
Or maybe Gun-toting Roses? O_o
Hmm, wonder why the song was being attributed to Bon Jovi on QI last month then…
Oh, and you are thinking of the Moss Rose having prickles, apart from an african rose (that mum can only remember calling it the ’49er’) roses do have thorns (some of them a couple inches long)
‘While the sharp objects along a rose stem are commonly called “thorns”, they are technically prickles — outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem). (True thorns, as produced by e.g. Citrus or Pyracantha, are modified stems, which always originate at a node and which have nodes and internodes along the length of the thorn itself.) Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it.’
One again, Frigg has inspired the sisterhood… only this time to be nothing like her at all rather then to follow her example.
It’s for the best really. the group may have ejected itself with the best of intentions, but their bile really grew till they were rather retched in behavior. But no sense ruminating on the past, right?
Frigg…
Victorious
Over
Maliciously
Injected
Toxins
Well, if anything, that was one nasty epiphany : “Yeah, so I was really big on religion, until I met our messiah…” “Oh ? Was she not up to her legend ?” “More like her legend forgot to mention that she might puke all over your face while calling you a rhinosaurus…”
I guess this is how the church of Nurgle came to be.
They are a fun bunch aren’t they
A fellow 40k player? I would not have guessed.
Everyone is a fellow 40k player. They just don’t know it yet.
Not really a player, I just know about it as any self-respecting geek should.
The dude was a gladiator. He’s called the Scorpion. He’s an experienced adventurer.
Why wouldn’t he end a threat that’s already shown itself to be untrustworthy once?
His backstory isn’t well known. Heck, we barely know it. Blair assumed all the Peacemakers would be dumb like E-merl.
“When you see an enemy in water up to his knees, assist him to the shore. When you see an enemy in water up to his neck, push him under.”
Machiavelli knew his shit.
scipio is obviously well versed in the overlord handbook:D
4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
7. When I’ve captured my adversary and he says, “Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?” I’ll say, “No.” and shoot him. No, on second thought I’ll shoot him then say “No.”
13. All slain enemies will be cremated, or at least have several rounds of ammunition emptied into them, not left for dead at the bottom of the cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.
40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
I think I will save judgment for after we get some more backstory. The guild has killed a lot of people (uh, non-human people for sure). That in itself isn’t new. But the second panel would look very bad for Scipio if it wasn’t for the first one.
Wonder what sort of afterlife Gigundus offers his devotees?
Gigundus was a priestlord, not a god.
Good or evil, when you die you live on within Gigundus’ armor.
This of course makes them all Byron’s shoulder-angels and shoulder-devils.
Scipio. Showing comic book heroes how it’s done. Morals are for morons.
Morals aren’t for morons. “Honor” just isn’t morals.
‘I don’t like warriors. Too narrow-minded, no subtlety. And worse, they fight for hopeless causes. Honor? Huh! Honor’s killed millions of people, hasn’t saved a single one.’
– Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg
“I’ll tell you what I do like though: a killer, a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold blooded, clean, methodical, and thorough.”
‘Now a real killer upon holding the ZF-1, would have immediately asked about the little red button on the bottom of the gun…’
[presses button]
Nope. Morals are definitely for morons. Smart folks can make more informed choices.
I don’t think there is anything amoral in killing someone who clearly didn’t give it up yet, but is just trying to buy time, and will probably stab you in the back…
There’s a reason for rules in combat (chivalry, etc.).
If you read Beowulf the Sagas or the stories that the Arthurian cycle were built from back before they were sanitized and de-paganized, they taught the reasons. If you followed the those many times ‘unspoken rules’ there was a chance you would survive a combat encounter even if you lost.
If you used the ‘rules’ deceptively, there was a good chance you wouldn’t since it would mark you as foresworn and an oathbreaker, and there is nothing so despised in a tribal or warrior based culture as a lair.
She ‘bought’ her execution fair and square.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me six times shame on me.
So, if you PK you get a flag and whoever PK you don’t get a mark. Got it. So Scipio is on the clear here.
Yup. She had already attacked under a flag of surrender. No ethical gray area here.
Good to see the most psychotic of the bunch get killed off.
How was she psychotic? Hestia is the psychotic one
I think the leadership core had plenty of psychotic to go around. In light of the last panel, I hope that Hestia was not the group’s comeback quip specialist, though. :)
this chiyo chan avatar is probably my favorite so far amongst the non GA avatars
seconded closely by the assorted jean-lucs
jean-luc’s? jean-luces? jeans-luc?
Hestia is fanatical, sure but I think that is more of a rabid belief system. Blair honestly enjoys being cruel and hurting people.
Yeah, that’s what I was driving at.
It just depends on which breed of psychosis you’re referring to at the time…
Ditto what Samuel said. I don’t think Blair had deluded herself that she was a good guy. She was just in it for the bullying.
There’s enough crazy for both of them, but Blair was the one who thought that hours of debate with someone was enough of a reason to justify poisoning them to death. She didn’t just believe that privately, but tried to use it to convince someone that her actions were right.
Well keep in mind that the original group took in lots of ‘troubled’ girls. So penalty of crazy to go around still.
To quote the Blue Beetle, “You shouldn’t stereotype!”
But it’s faster!
There’s a reason for rules in combat (chivalry, etc.).
If you repeatedly break them, the opposition tend to not take prisoners. Iwo and the rest of the late Pacific Campaign being one historical case in point.
Well, not every Japanese soldier taken prisoner was killed on the spot upon capture. Plus, they were really not keen on letting themselves being captured. Whence the small numbers of captured.
Scipio has clearly encountered the common house cat. He knows that pose actually means “I will fuck you up the second you let me.”
My cat’s eyes dilate fully when he goes from cuddling to “I WILL EAT THIS HAND AND YOU CANNOT STOP ME!” I call it the twin black holes of pain.
Anyone else think the arc of that swing – stabbing down at the fallen enemy – might actually be where he got the name “The Scorpion?”
Once again, a very artistically nice frame, but lousy weapon physics: the arm, shoulder and elbow are all hyper-rotated and probably hyper-extended as well, the elbow is definitely hyper-extended.
Chances are that he probably blew his elbow by the time the tip of the blade had cracked the breastbone, let alone by the time it either penetrated through the thoracic spine or had severed at least two ribs from the spine before planting itself in the turf. Thing is, with the arm and shoulder hyperextended like that, you just cannot put a lot of energy or oomph into the strike period even with the torso behind it as depicted.
The classic (because it works) shot in that situation is to reverse grip the weapon and stab straight down while dropping a bit at the knees, putting the entire momentum and kinetic energy of the falling torso into the blade as well. Remember with the placement shown, the point did not enter the soft tissue under the breastbone, but penetrated through the breastbone itself. Not an easy accomplishment with a sword.
Strange, seeing as I saw that same killing mechanic in The Last Samurai during the final battle…
Actually, there is a valid bio-mechanical explanation:
The Scorpion is a Hoss!
Muso Shinden Ryu
Takiotoshi
There are many, many terrible videos on YouTube but the movement nonetheless taught in the school.
I’ve also seen similar in Liegniczer’s sword and bucker treatise.
Might believe what you said, if he wasn’t bending into the blow: if he was staying mostly upright, yes, sure, but you can see that he is slightly bending/twisting as he thrusts down
No, CW is right on all accounts there save perhaps for not considering that Scipio might’ve swinged an ~180° arc over his head, using that huge sword’s momentum to drive through Hestia’s comparatively diminutive frame. But either way there can’t be much reason, besides theatrics (likely a habit from his arena days), to use such an awkward maneuver. The artists did manage to make it look at least not uncomfortable, which I guess is why my intuition keeps saying he used momentum there instead of awkwardly muscling the blade down.
Bleh, not directly over his head, and not 180° (more like across/behind) but yeah, something to the effect of using hib/back/torso rotation along with shoulder/biceps and knee bending to whip the weapon around and down at that angle.
H.R. needs to talk to his staff about upgrading the character animations. Have it ready for the next patch, people!
Not so certain about elbow hyper-extension there, nor rotation. His right arm is cocked out a bit at the shoulder, sort of like throwing a hook punch. As he was a step or two back from his target, he simply lurched forward, executed his chosen arc and allowed what looks to be his 250-300 lbs of bulk to supply a good bit of the force required to pierce the sternum (if he even DID break through on the first blow, mind).
Personally, I’d have gone for the abdomen, twisted things up a bit, and then MAYBE cut her throat if I was feeling merciful and not enjoying the sound of her gurgling on her own blood. But then again, I weigh quite a bit less.
Yeah. His hand is rotated down. The elbow is extended, but certainly not hyper-extended (and plate doesn’t give you enough space to hyper-extend most joints, anyway). The shoulder has been rolled over in exactly the same way as any martial artist doing a downwards strike. Sure, given the arc of the sword, it’s not the most efficient use of force, but there’s nothing biologically problematic about the motion.
And, more importantly, the flourish looks good.
that said, hip rotation to cantilever the strike, and reliance on the weight of the weopon vs the lack of armour would probably make it effective enough to put her down.
Bone is strong, especially for its weight, but vs the point of a heavy cutting tool with some body mass behind the blow, it will break through easily enough. Probably hit the xyphiod anyway which is mostly cartilage;) or went through the solarplexus. Hard to tell anyway based on the anatomy in the pic;D
but yeah, his elbow will be busted in no time if he doesnt improve his ergonomics;D
rawrr
As long as you keep at least some bend in your elbow (which it looks like he is), then the force is mostly acting on the shoulder. The elbow will be fine. Admittedly, this isn’t the strongest way to stab, but it won’t damage his elbow.
It’s basically the same action as a downwards palm-heel strike, a descending ridge-hand strike (which uses the inside of the wrist), or any number of other, very straightforward, movements.
One thing to keep in mind, is that this isn’t a coup de grâce to finish a badly wounded foe. She is playing possum, to try to lure him closer and get him to drop his guard. He’s not about to get any closer than he has to, and is striking as fast as he can, to deliver a fatal blow before she sees what’s happening, and has time to react.
If he did injure his arm, Rachel can heal it. If he risked getting injured by Blair, like E-merl did, then he’d be putting his whole party at risk.
Stabbity-stab,
Cut your gab!
Barf in your eye,
Your life is a lie.
Shame and flame,
The blonde’s to blame.
Ladies, ladies, there’s plenty of shame to go around.
Scipio to the dead Blair: “She don’t know me very well, does she?” (in a Bugs Bunny voice of course)
As much as it saddens me that the only truly formidable foe got dispatched so soon, the bitch had it coming!!!
Something learnt years ago from the the great Shaka (Zulu, not Khan): “Kill the jackal when it is cowering at your feet, lest it slink away and return at a later date as a lion and tear out your throat.” (quote may not be exact, but the idea is still there)
As Scipio teaches us all, there’s a limit to how sneaky and dirty you can fight if you hope your life to be spared in case of defeat.
I think Scipio might have gone with ‘wisdom’ instead, but good enough.
After reading all of the comments, I am still not sure how a stomach purge remove poison that was injected into the bloodstream. But okay, Frigg is just cool that way, I guess.
who said it’s cured?
hmm. Good point, I suppose.
adrenaline dump?;D
I can relate. I always feel better directly after taking a good puke. If the source of the problem isn’t inside my stomach then the symptoms gradually resurface after that, but the time window right after puking is like a short blissful moment of no gravity before everything starts going downwards again.
Food takes a lot of energy to digest. Ejecting the stomach contents allows the body to use more of its stored energy fighting the toxin, and less on breaking down the rhinosaur steak from lunch.
Intelligence? Nope, wrong stat.
Wisdom would be appropriate here.
I don’t think Scipio read the body language and speech pattern to know the attempt of misdirection. He just knows 2 facts. One that this person uses rogue tricks, and two that rogues tell lies.
Given the fighting history of Scipio he definitely has a warriors intuition. Unless he cheats at the game has managed to power scale all his stats so he has both high Endurance, Wisdom, Intelligence, Agility, and Charisma. On that note he doesn’t seem very lucky…
Strictly speaking, that would be a false syllogism. But, yeah, basic point is fine.
I’m extremely glad that you agree.
‘On that note he doesn’t seem very lucky’
I dunno, he managed to hook up with an attractive wood elf in a short skirt in a relatively short space of time…
I was merely implying everything he does seems purposeful.
His Charisma obviously won him that attractive piece of lettuce.
Good comeback.
…And he delivered his point quickly & decisively…
Where did the goat go?
Paladin vomit: nature’s goat repellent.
Apparently, Scipio has more than hair color and strength in common with Carrot Ironfoundersson.
Also, if the folks saying his posture is bad are correct, a really good sword.
See that palm heel parry in the last panel? And the glowing hands? Been betrayed by her own religous community? Rachel is turning into Iron Fist.
It would seem that Hestia got Scipio’s point, to wit, when they’re down, make sure they stay down … pinned like a butterfly on a board. I left my chivalry in my other doublet.
Frigg’s look in panel 4, combined with what the nameless Noviate said, Frigg is thinking “Wait, were we just making out?”
Is this what she was actually warning about when she threatened Best with a “Hate-fuck,” then?
………Well. That is the sort of hero Gastonia would hire. :|a And he isn’t dumb – considering her tricks… Not *everyone* can just reject poison.