Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, MK XVIII - At the Mountains of Madness

[Trazoi]

The Rhazgala archers are so amazingly skilled they can all hit their targets in the same spot in the forehead* despite having to adjust for arcing due to distance. With that level of accuracy I don't think it matters if a few of their own troops are in the fray.

* But why go for the forehead? A skull is quite hard to piece. If you're that good, why not go for the eyes? Or go for a major organ in the larger, unarmoured torso?

[Cracklord]

My brain.
It can't accept this.
Sorry, but I'm going to have to stop reading Dominic Deegan for a while.

[lord_khaine]

tsk tsk, how did you ever get though the vacation arc when you cant handle a little battle?

[Trazoi]

Originally Posted by lord_khaine

tsk tsk, how did you ever get though the vacation arc when you cant handle a little battle?

I admit I'm a bit surprised at how messy this battle sequence is going. In terms of the arc this isn't just a "little battle", it's the main event that the entire arc has been building to. It's a bit of letdown once we're here to have the battle script seemingly written up on the fly, running on whatever seems cool without much consideration to tactics, logic or the characters. It's taken months for all these groups to come together at the Bikta village; you'd think there would be more consideration to how all the elements would play together.

And it is actually surprising for Dominic Deegan, because I always got the feeling that the beginning and end of each arc had some advance planning; it was usually the middle where things started to go a bit awry. I don't remember some of the more important fight scenes earlier in the comic being quite so messy logically.

Edit: I'm also a bit surprised at how seriously I seem to be taking this comic during this arc. I checked back on the discussion last year when the last big fight was happening (TIM and Celesto's Beam O' War Contest) and the snarking looks so much fun.

[lord_khaine]

Well, it seemed like all they were facing were a bunch of acolytes with sticks, how much planning were nececary then?

Still, i must say the moral question is a little bit confused for a change, i cant deside who is moraly justified at this point.

On one side we got the Bikta who are just defending themself from raiders, though at the same time they had also spend the last couple of months or so killling innocent orcs.

On the other side we got the rest of Maltak, who unlike the Bikta seems to actualy have some sort of military training, and the advance of numbers as well as magical archers, so when they start to fight seriously its going to be a massacre.

In the end i guess the final conclusion must be that these Orcs does indeed have the same stat penalties as regular d&d orcs, and i wonder why they did not try and have a talk with them first, though i guess Dominic saw that it would be a waste of time.

[Silverblood]

Originally Posted by Trazoi

And it is actually surprising for Dominic Deegan, because I always got the feeling that the beginning and end of each arc had some advance planning; it was usually the middle where things started to go a bit awry. I don't remember some of the more important fight scenes earlier in the comic being quite so messy logically.

Edit: I'm also a bit surprised at how seriously I seem to be taking this comic during this arc. I checked back on the discussion last year when the last big fight was happening (TIM and Celesto's Beam O' War Contest) and the snarking looks so much fun.

...you think this is nearly over? Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha...*sob*

We still have the Jacob and the Snuggly and the *completely pulled out of the hat drama* to resolve...

Also, last year? We still thought there might be some hope. Now we're basically catalogouing its dying frenzies

[Ganurath]

Originally Posted by Whoracle

Granted, my scheme is based on the z-plane, but as we can safely assume by Mookies newspost and his depiction of the arrow trajectory that the arrows fly parallel to this plane.

Starting trajectory alone, perhaps. However, the angle of the arrows after they lobotomize the Bikta targets suggests the downward arc in Humbug's illustration.

[Trazoi]

Originally Posted by Silverblood

...you think this is nearly over? Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha...*sob*

Yup. No matter how many dangling plot point resolutions need to be stuffed into the next month or so, I think Mookie will end this arc by the end of the year. Expect the Deus Ex Machina count per strip to range between one and three.

We still have the Jacob and the Snuggly and the *completely pulled out of the hat drama* to resolve...

Jacob and Ardak's dilemma can be solved in a single strip. "Thanks Dominic, with your help we figured out the problem. Now we're no longer dead kthxbye."

Once he saw where it was heading, I think Snuggly managed to run and hide from the arc somewhere around March. He'll probably return in the next arc. Neilen might join him if he isn't shot down by a supercharged Luna or Dominic in the space of two strips.

If by *pulled out of the hat drama* you mean all the shenanigans that has been going on in the battle, that might take a week of endless talking heads, because you obviously can't cut that. But there's time for that.

Also, last year? We still thought there might be some hope. Now we're basically catalogouing its dying frenzies

Wasn't there talk that the comic was going to end soon(ish)? Like there were only a handful of arcs still to go? I'm mainly only hanging on because I'd like to see if the next arc is the final showdown.

Then again, if it's a wedding arc, I don't think I could look away...
(I suspect the comic will finish on the wedding. I'm not sure exactly why, but it feels like the sort of moment that the comic would end on.)

[lord_khaine]

But if the comic endet, what the heck would Mookie do then?

[Cracklord]

Originally Posted by lord_khaine

tsk tsk, how did you ever get though the vacation arc when you cant handle a little battle?

That lowered my resistance.
But in truth, this is so bad it has become an artform. Even the Vacation arc had nothing to this, because nothing happened. Here, something may be happening, but it's not something a rational human being can conceive of.

It has transcended all worldly definitions. I am an expert on failure. I have read 'The Girl who lived.' I have read 'My Immortal.' I have dared to plumb the depths of this (shudder)

And none of them have set of my fail meter like this.

[Morty]

So Mookie can notice and explain(even if it's more of an excuse) a small continuity error many people wouldn't notice but he can't spot the glaring plot holes you could fit an elephant in?

[lord_khaine]

Really? i dont think this is nearly as bad as the vacation arc, at least there is something happening here.

[Slayn82]

Originally Posted by Humbug

Mookie is pulling his non-Euclidean geometry here. Are the archers supposed to be on a hill? Because they're aiming completely forwards. Is this a new kind of arcing shot now? Also, perfect head shots, every single on of them. Is Mookie even going to explain how?

I guess they use V.A.T.S. Before they were not aiming very much, now they are going for sure kills.

Well, the fact is that the battle is raging as crazilly as most scenes of action of an average D&D campaign, with many DM's uh.. backpulls, like ripping someone's lower jaw with a club after a ( +2 to hit/+10 damage) buff. Mookie didn't study anathomy, or warfare, he just played Rpgs and Videogames, saw a bunch of movies, and is writing his story. It's all good, because the comic must be just a sidejob to the real money that comes from selling his scarfs, i guess.

Reading his comic is like hearing what happened in the last game session from your drunk friend... it amuses me, i must confess.

[sihnfahl]

Originally Posted by Slayn82

Reading his comic is like hearing what happened in the last game session from your drunk friend... it amuses me, i must confess.

How about when you have a drunk GM? I know a guy who gets really, really silly when he's drunk. Sweet as can be, so everyone has a good time. It just ends up being a storytelling mess from derailed trains of thought.

What would Mookie do without DD? If I remember an old post of his, he used to write stories. So he could try that again. But only if he did it with someone other than his girlfriend or family ... heck, anyone with any emotional investment in him ... editing.

[Valencia]

Blarg. Just... blarg. Suyan wanted in on the sue-ing, perhaps he'll run into Luna...

I'm for "Yes, we're still on Namek" but I think "Jumping the Snark" is good if not a mite depressing (not that this arc isn't on that side of things.) and I am definitely against using Mookie's name in the title, makes it too personal.

[Haven]

Originally Posted by sihnfahl

What would Mookie do without DD? If I remember an old post of his, he used to write stories. So he could try that again. But only if he did it with someone other than his girlfriend or family ... heck, anyone with any emotional investment in him ... editing.

I seem to recall he said he was going to do another webcomic.

[Johnny Blade]

Alright, so who wants to do the honors?

[Morty]

I'll do it. I've been snarking for a long time and I've never made a thread. What is the agreed title, again?

[Johnny Blade]

Jumping the Snark, although the Namek variations are close.

[Fawkes]

Originally Posted by Humbug

Mookie is pulling his non-Euclidean geometry here. Are the archers supposed to be on a hill? Because they're aiming completely forwards. Is this a new kind of arcing shot now? Also, perfect head shots, every single on of them. Is Mookie even going to explain how?

They're the finest archers in Maltak!

[HamHam]

I am speechless.

[MReav]

Alright people, time for the migration to the next thread.



18 Threads. That's incredible.