Girl Genius XXIX: A giant corkboard of continuity madness

[Scarlet Knight]

They fight and kill the rats, but leave torn and bloody clothes so team evil thinks they were survivors that were eaten.

Give the villains what they want to see, since that's what the rats are supposed to do.

And we get a few episodes with the cast scantily clad.

[Radar]

And we get a few episodes with the cast scantily clad.

I fully expect Rakethorn to lose his shirt Kirk-style.

[Shining Wrath]

For a smart Spark Agatha is pretty dumb sometimes. "How did you tame them?". Do they look tame to you, m'lady?
Fortunately the answer to Gunner Crother's question is "Yes, they can fight". At levels ranging from "dangerous even without Sparky stuff" (Agatha) to "one man army" (Higgs).

Now, will Madwa show up? This is going to make some noise - in fact, the battle cry of a few dozen giant rats has already made some noise. And just how good is Prende's lantern at stopping time for a group of Sparks that know you have it?

It would NOT be Deux ex Machina for one or more of the Sparks to have a "Can't time-stop me!" gadget ready. In fact, if it's possible, this crew has already done it.

[theangelJean]

They fight and kill the rats, but leave torn and bloody clothes so team evil thinks they were survivors that were eaten.

Give the villains what they want to see, since that's what the rats are supposed to do.

And we get a few episodes with the cast scantily clad.

I dunno, Madwa has been shown to be pretty canny. An airship blast way off, she still believed there would be survivors - she was only reassured because she was prepared. Torn and bloody clothes examined first-hand? No chance.

[Manga Shoggoth]

OK. That's put the rat amongst the pigeons...

Commanding would be. On the other hand, scaring giant rats with giant cats (they do have two now) seems more plausible, whether using some sort of actual growth serum or some kind of optical illusion or perhaps a scent multiplier or some other trick.

They have Krosp. Where's the other one? If you are thinking of The Empress, she's with Tweedle on the way to Paris.

And I suspect that Krosp is a little small for intimidation purposes...

[PraetorDragoon]

Just some ROUS? I am slightly disappointed.

[Kantaki]

Just some ROUS? I am slightly disappointed.

You never use your best units in the first wave.
Not before you know what the other guys can do to them or whether you need them.
Why risk your top creation if the baseline models will do, or at least tell you more about your opponents capabilities?

[Shining Wrath]

You never use your best units in the first wave.
Not before you know what the other guys can do to them or whether you need them.
Why risk your top creation if the baseline models will do, or at least tell you more about your opponents capabilities?

I wonder if what they're about to learn is "Violetta is seriously scary when she decides to kill as fast as possible".

[geoduck]

You never use your best units in the first wave.
Not before you know what the other guys can do to them or whether you need them.
Why risk your top creation if the baseline models will do, or at least tell you more about your opponents capabilities?

That Crothers flashback at least hints there are indeed worse and bigger rats ahead.

[Ellen]

Yeah, I'd bet on several people in this group being able to take out the rats single-handed (Higgs and Zeetha definitely, with track records to prove it. The others pretty likely). All together? This is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-fight.

Which probably means I'm missing something.

[memnarch]

Yeah, I'd bet on several people in this group being able to take out the rats single-handed (Higgs and Zeetha definitely, with track records to prove it. The others pretty likely). All together? This is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-fight.

Which probably means I'm missing something.

What happens when this group doesn't show up for a regularish check in with Monahan?

[Agi Hammerthief]

Where is Krosp?

also: splash page = middle of the book?
or is this just a single sided page?


Edit: insert missing W

[Squire Doodad]

here is Krosp?

also: splash page = middle of the book?
or is this just a single sided page?

Precisely in front of the bears, clearly.

Also I hope so, we've been in England long enough as is. Hopefully it's going to be "rat encounter->meet Monahan->fight with Monahan, Lantern stuff, and wrap things up"

[Agi Hammerthief]

Precisely in front of the bears, clearly.

No, that’s all Leopard Rat-Skin Trousers.

[geoduck]

Crazy thought re: Krosp. He was created to lead/control Zapnoople's bears, it's essentially been stated that Monahan was Zapnoople's apprentice for a time, so... she learned her techniques from him, and it turns out that Krosp can also control the rats.

[locksmith of lo]

she's probably right, but somehow i do not think it will come down to a fight. but we will see on monday, hopefully...

[Radar]

Funny thing the first thing I thought about after seeing today's page was a certain song or at least its beginning.

[Scarlet Knight]

So Agatha learned understatement while in England? Good show.

[Shining Wrath]

You know, I think even feral bred-to-kill Sparky R.O.U.S. would take a look at Zeetha and think "Maybe ... I hear the lunch bell? Yeah. I think there's someplace else I need to be." Zeetha is not the most dangerous person there - Higgs, and then maybe the bears, and Foglios only know what the upper limits on a Smoke Knight are because they are capable of doing whatever the plot, or the joke, requires - but Zeetha's expression ought to give any semi-sentient creature pause. Not to mention paws. The paws, pause?

Krosp is probably behind someone, but where is Agatha's Crother-spotting clank?

[PraetorDragoon]

Those poor ROUS. What did they do to deserve this?

[otakuryoga]

welp, Violettas effectiveness just dropped off a cliff

[Traab]

Im not surprised, her entire thing as a smoke knight is poison and sneak attacks, not open warfare in a general melee. I mean, i suppose they could show a number of rats keeling over with no sign of what happened, but this makes more sense. Poison takes time to take effect and they have to clear a small army right now in mid attack so cant wait on poison.

[Radar]

Im not surprised, her entire thing as a smoke knight is poison and sneak attacks, not open warfare in a general melee. I mean, i suppose they could show a number of rats keeling over with no sign of what happened, but this makes more sense. Poison takes time to take effect and they have to clear a small army right now in mid attack so cant wait on poison.

Also, even regular rats are pretty resistant to poisons, which creates significant problems. There was a study a few years ago in UK, where it turned out that around 75% or rats are immune to regularly used rat poisons.

[Shining Wrath]

Pretty sure Violetta can still stab rats in the face. Also, she's only tried one poison. What Smoke Knight worthy of the name doesn't have 10 or 20 on hand?

Waiting to see what Higgs is going to do. My guess is wield a rat as a throwing weapon against other rats. Grab, hurl, repeat. Possibly use it as a flail first, clear out the nearby rats.

But since it's Agatha's story, she's probably going to get rid of the rats via Spark ex machina. Death ray? Rat repellent? Rat killing clank? Come to think of it, have we seen mini-Kastle and mini-Train recently?

EDIT:

Also - Violetta's speech bubble looks like she's in the madness place. Is Violetta breaking through? That would be unexpected, and add a lot of interest. Maybe *she* becomes Storm Queen. And marries Agatha.

[Gez]

Also, even regular rats are pretty resistant to poisons, which creates significant problems. There was a study a few years ago in UK, where it turned out that around 75% or rats are immune to regularly used rat poisons.

To phrase it another way: around 75% of rats in the UK are descended from rats that resist regularly used rat poisons.

Classic case of resistance build-up. This is especially a problem when you're not talking about rat poison, but antibiotics. That's why you gotta mix several different active ingredients (at least three, preferably four or even more) that work in different ways, to make the likelihood of a mutation providing resistance to all active ingredients at once exceedingly unlikely.

[InvisibleBison]

Also - Violetta's speech bubble looks like she's in the madness place. Is Violetta breaking through? That would be unexpected, and add a lot of interest. Maybe *she* becomes Storm Queen. And marries Agatha.

That's not the madness place speech bubble. The madness place speech bubble is an irregular polygon, not a spiky speech bubble. I think this just signifies shouting - compare with the bear's speech bubbles earlier on the page.

[Kantaki]

Pretty sure Violetta can still stab rats in the face. Also, she's only tried one poison. What Smoke Knight worthy of the name doesn't have 10 or 20 on hand?

What makes you think she used only one poison?
That throwing knife probably had enough different poisons on it that it would need a book to write them all down.

Not all of them of course- the good stuff is hard to come by and you always keep an ace up your sleeve -but enough to determine that it probably won't work.

Also, Violetta is a Smoke Knight, that one on-screen attack was just a distraction from the dozen or so off-screen ones.

Also - Violetta's speech bubble looks like she's in the madness place. Is Violetta breaking through? That would be unexpected, and add a lot of interest. Maybe *she* becomes Storm Queen. And marries Agatha.

I ship it.

[Shining Wrath]

What makes you think she used only one poison?
That throwing knife probably had enough different poisons on it that it would need a book to write them all down.

Not all of them of course- the good stuff is hard to come by and you always keep an ace up your sleeve -but enough to determine that it probably won't work.

Also, Violetta is a Smoke Knight, that one on-screen attack was just a distraction from the dozen or so off-screen ones.



I ship it.

I must concede that Violetta is probably just shouting, not Sparking, although it would absolutely serve her cousins right if she beat them to the crown after the amount of disrespect she's endured.

I am still wondering what Agatha's new clank is up to.

Yeah, trying a knife with a dozen or so poisons on it would be a good idea. So now she's going to have to stab them in the face. Given that there's a horde surrounding them, I wonder if her tricks require her to move through normal spacetime - because no matter how quick you are, you shouldn't be able to move through solid objects.

EDIT:

Zeetha is Zeethaing all over these rats. "Nobody chews on him but me!" has SO many implications.

"At least no one will know this bear lost to a rat." "That is not a good thing." Have we ever had a bear deliver a punchline before?
And even Higgs took a bite. I wonder if the bites are infectious? I wonder if Higgs is immune because Jager? What about da Bearz?
It appears that the fight is hard enough that Agatha is going to have to lend a hand. Sparky death-ray or equivalent, coming up. And in the Madness Place she'll forget that Madwa is out there.

[Scarlet Knight]

"Wounding does nothing, you have to kill them!"

Of course; they are D&D rats. They fight normally until they have zero hit points.

[Willie the Duck]

You know, I think even feral bred-to-kill Sparky R.O.U.S. would take a look at Zeetha and think "Maybe ... I hear the lunch bell? Yeah. I think there's someplace else I need to be." Zeetha is not the most dangerous person there - Higgs, and then maybe the bears?

Think these past few strips highlight that the relative power of all the badasses is very much plot-dependent.
I do love that Zeetha is getting a moment to shine (she's definitely has had more than her share of Worf moments where she gets rag-dolled to show that the big bad is serious business), although Higgs' demotion kinda balances this out.