Delaying your death blow by talking only makes you look like a villain Penk and you know what happens to villains in such situations in the very last second just before they strike.
Hey, it can take a minute to get a swing up and going, nothing wrong with getting a few words in edge-wise while you do it.
Of course the very first panel of the very next page will be someone blocking his swing or knocking him over, but we can play along for a bit. And even if she died, Syr’nj died once and she just respawned, as is being referenced here. But hey, let’s see how swinging a club works out for this guy.
I’m expecting Byron to jump in and then we get another Berserker vs. Bard fight. Hopefully Byron doesn’t get out staged this time. For Syr’s sake if not his own.
But you only get 6 seconds for it. Any longer is at least a move action. And with all the actions he is taking, either he is breaking out heroic surge and then some, or he has a nice window for a AoO coming. How’s that for references ;)
Well, Penk, unlike just about every other Adventurer or Champion on both sides, has minimal battle experience. Gobs of potential, but pure greenhorn levels of experience. It shows, doesn’t it?
“If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you’re going to die. So they’ll talk. They’ll gloat.
They’ll watch you squirm. They’ll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.”
― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
You guys beat me to saying that he talks too much, but I am pretty sure what he is saying in the last panel is implying he will hit his shield and shatter her ear drums with a sonic attack.
Maybe I am just reading too much into his words and he is just going to crush her skull with his mace like a regular attack.
Penk’s reply:
“WHAT?! Simply crush her skull?? When I can injure her hearing with my drum of terror? Why resort to mere slashing/killing when I could … RUPTURE her EARDRUMS!! It leaves one alive, but suffering the horror of near total deafness, unless one pays for the moderately expensive surgery to repair them! No, my red suit and bongo of balls-iness are so much more terrifying than Harky ever thought of being!”
You know, all this time whenever we saw Penks off-hand weapon I assumed it was a shield, and that in earlier strips he was banging his shield hard enough to create thunderous shockwaves.
But I can see now it’s been a big ass drum this entire time, hasn’t it? Paying attention fail.
A more clear setup for Byron I can’t even imagine. While he (supposedly) can’t go berserk anymore, Penk doesn’t know that – he’ll probably be terrified of him.
It just occurred to me: Did Bandit (or Rachel or Scipio) just hear what Penk said? Because I think Syr’Nj and the others were keeping it a secret that they had died and come back.
Delaying your death blow by talking only makes you look like a villain Penk and you know what happens to villains in such situations in the very last second just before they strike.
To be fair; the urge to monologue when standing over a lone wood elf must be strong.
Shit, *I* would.
wood*
Ha, ha, ha! Monologue over a mono log!
Heck, I couldn’t do it. I’d be stumped!
Hey, it can take a minute to get a swing up and going, nothing wrong with getting a few words in edge-wise while you do it.
Of course the very first panel of the very next page will be someone blocking his swing or knocking him over, but we can play along for a bit. And even if she died, Syr’nj died once and she just respawned, as is being referenced here. But hey, let’s see how swinging a club works out for this guy.
Enter, Speedy GonByron “Arriba Arriba!”
He’s not gonna hit *her*. He’s gonna hit his drum, and make her go deaf.
That’s… possible.
Correct. Drumrolll please…
She’s gonna block his hammer with something, preferably not her hand like in that TVTropes article. Or Byron will.
I’m expecting Byron to jump in and then we get another Berserker vs. Bard fight. Hopefully Byron doesn’t get out staged this time. For Syr’s sake if not his own.
Byron certainly could use a victory against a foe that isn’t a mook.
If we were about to kill Syr’Nj, I could see someone interrupting this.
But if he’s “just” making her deaf? I can see it happening.
If it’s permanent, that’ll be really interesting.
But I expect it’ll just be temporary.
Syr’Nj has Penk’s foot right where she wants it.
Penk’s unarmored foot, right in jab-with-a-needle range.
yea, wheres that potion of somnolescence we saw a few (several?) chapters back?
But… talking is a free action! (I can’t believe I’m apparently the first to say this…)
But you only get 6 seconds for it. Any longer is at least a move action. And with all the actions he is taking, either he is breaking out heroic surge and then some, or he has a nice window for a AoO coming. How’s that for references ;)
Someone needs to tell Penk he’s in an MMORPG, not a tabletop game.
Well, Penk, unlike just about every other Adventurer or Champion on both sides, has minimal battle experience. Gobs of potential, but pure greenhorn levels of experience. It shows, doesn’t it?
“If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you’re going to die. So they’ll talk. They’ll gloat.
They’ll watch you squirm. They’ll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.”
― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
You guys beat me to saying that he talks too much, but I am pretty sure what he is saying in the last panel is implying he will hit his shield and shatter her ear drums with a sonic attack.
Maybe I am just reading too much into his words and he is just going to crush her skull with his mace like a regular attack.
Penk’s reply:
“WHAT?! Simply crush her skull?? When I can injure her hearing with my drum of terror? Why resort to mere slashing/killing when I could … RUPTURE her EARDRUMS!! It leaves one alive, but suffering the horror of near total deafness, unless one pays for the moderately expensive surgery to repair them! No, my red suit and bongo of balls-iness are so much more terrifying than Harky ever thought of being!”
He left one thing out of the equation: Healing magic
I mean, I’m pretty sure restoring someone’s sense of hearing is probably child’s play to magicians.
Unless he understands healing magic well and knows that someone’s hearing is one of the few things magic CAN’T restore…
MOP
this goddamn tinnitus
MMOP
MOP? MMOP?
Ze guugle iz flummoxed by zis!
RAGGMOPP?
Well, this is gong as well as could be expected…
Is he about to kill her with the extended drum solo from Moby Dick?
<33333
From off in the distance:
mineminemineminemineMINEMINEMINEMINE—
oh wait, wrong series. Sorry.
Team Four Star needs no apology.
You know, all this time whenever we saw Penks off-hand weapon I assumed it was a shield, and that in earlier strips he was banging his shield hard enough to create thunderous shockwaves.
But I can see now it’s been a big ass drum this entire time, hasn’t it? Paying attention fail.
“Your ears must shatter like any other’s ears as well… actually, maybe more so. You know, cause your ears are so big and all.”
Angry Berserker Byron in 3…2…1…
You don’t throw hypo-needles, they don’t fly too good
Of course, they’re weighted toward the back so even if you do hit your target, 9 times out of 10 they will bounce off harmlessly…
Was Penk even at the torture-death of the PeeKays? Wait, was Syringe there? Damn, can’t even remember if she was an Original Member or not :(
Syr’Nj is a founding member, yeah. And Penk wasn’t a known character yet, but we can assume he was there in the background somewhere.
Does “you’re flammable” really count as a stereotype?
I mean, isn’t everybody?
Just a few are flammable.
Some people burst into song, some rare individuals burst into flame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion
Everyone can potentially die in a fall, but not everyone is acrophobic. Penk is saying that all of Syr’Nj’s race are pyrophobic.
A more clear setup for Byron I can’t even imagine. While he (supposedly) can’t go berserk anymore, Penk doesn’t know that – he’ll probably be terrified of him.
It just occurred to me: Did Bandit (or Rachel or Scipio) just hear what Penk said? Because I think Syr’Nj and the others were keeping it a secret that they had died and come back.
It was revealed a while back when Syr begged Gravy to rez her father.
Typo: naturaly