Im going to try and get some filler up - but we have decided that me and Rose are going on a X-mas pause the story will pick back up after new years ! :D Sorry :D
Doctor Silver isn't planning on leaving witnesses. She was going to pound the entire checkpoint into the blood-soaked ground and then escape with that much firepower. :-P
Not only was she about to activate four assault drones, they were HEAVY assault drones.
Remember VINNIE, the medium-heavy drone that Mira drooled over ?
Yeah, he was only labelled a medium-heavy ... so I wonder just how nasty the ones they brought with them are.
I doubt they are the small floating death bots that Dr Silver has had flying around with her so far.
You are absolutely right, Sheela. They wouldn't be the little balls. Not the HEAVY assault units for sure. I think I remember something about super beach balls of DEATH for some of the drones she had along. I'm thinking those might be what she was getting ready to activate.
I think you underestimate the good Doctor, there is a lot of compassion in her too, she could just as well create the kindest android around, as she could create the most devastating one.
I'm sure that any warbot she makes, will be capable of knowing the difference between friend, foe and innocent civilian.
So you'd be safe, even if you were relatively close, as long as you weren't in the middle of the melee.
No, no Hornet. Better make it 5 kilometers... that was the kill zone around Aeneas when he was attacked. The Doctor might have try to recreate that kind of devastation. In the mood she is in, better safe than sorry.
Well, she knows Marcus is in the rafters, if anyone is in an opportune spot, it's Marcus.
But I agree, if she was *really* serious, she wouldn't be jawing off, she would simply attack.
I think she's still hoping that there is a way to do it without endangering the mission.
She is after all a veteran S&R agent, she knows how fast things can go down the drain. It may not be a conscious thought, but rather some sort of feeling deep down, that makes her leary of just straight out assaulting, hoping someone else on her team has a better solution.
That said, she really, REALLY, wants to have her own pound of flesh to chomp down on.
She's probably holding herself back due to a combination of orders from Marcus and the understanding that taking action here would well and truly blow their cover worse than a $2 crack whore that's in the middle of dying from an overdose.
If you read it straight form the archive, like you would read a normal comic, ie. a page every 20-30 seconds or so, it wouldn't seem so long.
One of the troubles with webcomic formats, is that you follow the story as it's created.
Meanwhile, with all the calls for anger and violence, I'm going to add a bit of cute to counterbalance it ..
I mean we know she likes butterflies, so she probably loves kittens too. And that is TOO cute. I'm sending you the dentist bill from what the sweetness in that picture is doing to my teeth! :-D
I knew I liked Dr. Silver (at least somewhat).... :D
Well, I doubt she will act quite yet, but preparing to do so - and most importantly keeping TeeDee in check...
I wonder why they were speaking in quick speak and not - like Dr. Silver and Marcus - in their group radio - the soldiers might have a device to detect android speed talk...
I wonder how douchebag junior will react faced with the drones... :p
@alt text: yeah, let us, please. Anytime now. Now? Gah, still waiting... waiting for weeks now... *sighs frustrated and annoyed*
They started with normal voice, Teedee "started it" on quick speak when she had pretty much decided to blow cover, meaning she was about to make being detected irrelevant. After that, everyone else kinda had to so their two cents wouldn't arrive after the fight started. Marcus just wants everyone to simmer down for a sec. He's giving Mr Black a chance to salvage the situation or a chance to let it get far enough beyond help they can continue with the mission.
As for Mr Black, thus far he's been setting up situations to his advantage but hasn't had any "Saved you! Woo!" moments. I think this is his chance to change that. Pummeling Big Red is out, and anyone he calls would put him under a microscope. This is either ending up badly or they get invited for an apology dinner with the the price at the palace.
Ooh, does he have a Caspian on speed dial? THEY don't have a problem eliminating royal guards that step out of line and I'm sure someone needs to bring them tech discreetly.
Dr. Silver and Marcus have a distinctly different style of "speed speak" bubble to reflect that their mechanism of doing so is different. It's effectively short-range cyber-telepathy.
Oh, by the way, who is that talking to TeeDee and calling her short? Then thinking don't kill hurt me? Could be Dr. Silver - but that thought in the bubble does not fit her...
...the thought bubble could be Connie speaking though... (that would fit, except for the shape and color of it.)
Could be one of the regular guards too, I reckon.
And if it is, it seems he has successfully figured out that the situation is really bad.
After all, anyone who would confidently go after Mister Redshirt Guard barehanded, despite the fact that he is fully armed and armored, would have to be pretty nasty themselves. Besides, they're supposed to be wastelanders, and they are not exactly considered to be soft to begin with.
Judging by the weapon charging sound effect in the same panel, Sheela's probably right and it's one of the other redshirts...err, red armored security personnel....lol
I'm thinking it might be Optio Silius, Sheela. He was there and they were talking out loud about turning Clod into a grease spot, so he might have had to object (bad for morale letting any of the lobsters be turned into fertilizer).
Not Optio Claudius (the Dickless Gorilla), but the one the Customs Agent (Vigiles) tried to get to reign him in. He seems to be WAY smarter than Clod is, but still loyal to the city. So he would probably realize that stopping TeeDee might not be HEALTHY, even if it was his job. :-D
It's the same guard who's keeping an eye on the ladies back on the page called "Ignoring rights". He's experienced enough to recognize that Teedee is a short stack of TNT with a fuse measurable only via micrometer, and intelligent enough to be worried that she could be able to back up the bark with bite.
Optio Silius is still standing over near Black, Trebatius, and the ongoing genetic disaster that is Optio Clauderius.
<a style="color:blue">This is a test to see if HTML attributes can be applied in comments.</a>
edit: darn. If that had worked, I could have said something interesting.
Actually... These guys might not know it, but they don't necessarily have to get in quietly for the mission to be a success. Dolly... Sorry, I mean Miss Blue and Ceci have already made it in quietly and are about to make contact with someone who can help them.
So, Marcus and his team can support Team Blue from the sidelines. Perhaps they will create a huge distraction, perhaps even a city-wide manhunt, so Dolly's team can succeed?
That would be completely upside down from the intended plan, xpacetrue. You are right though, if they are quick enough on their feet they could shift gears and provide the distraction instead of the extraction.
Well Marcus knows Dolly MIGHT be around. One of his jobs was to try and get Dolly home safely (see Of Mice and Men - 4 June 2012). So he might be able to puzzle it out, eventually. Unless he was let in on the fact that Dolly should NOT have reached Nova Roma, then he is for a rude surprise when he sees her (CentComm flashed up her new picture).
This is WAY too many "Maybe's" and "Mights" for my taste.
You are right, if they can get a clue that Ms. Blue and Ceci are inside, then they can successfully shift gears. However.....
Kinda feels like going into a dungeon with a bunch of CN's that think it might be funny to to throw a stinkpot into a beholder's nest.
Hop back to Cella and Marcus's briefing with Cent-comm starting with A New Day (currently page 617). In Bad Intel Cent-comm rules out direct action and in Of Mice and Men briefs them on Dolly and Ceci. What Storm didn't mention is the mission confirmation Marcus gets in the next page---Strike Team---is to recover Dolly to prevent Nova Roma gaining awareness of model 5 technology and recover or terminate Lynn.
Yeah, you read that right; the ostensibly good guys' high priority is tech recovery and they're authorized to kill the wetware to take Total Psycho Dickhead's pawn out of the game.
We'll see what actually happens but, as Storm points out, if team Ada (or pick whoever your favourite is) executes to original orders things are unlikely to look much like what xspace is suggesting. This is a bit hard to call since Cent-comm's resolve is clear terminating Lynn is a last resort. Probably that’s mostly because she doesn’t want Calliope to go postal and start a shooting war (see comments on the invitation).
The other consideration I’d put into this discussion is Reboot GO! where Dr. Silver installs a morality framework in Ceci to resolve conflicts in her CCM (combat control module). In those pages Marcus mentions black angels never spark and, despite Dr. Silver's skepticism, it seems unlikely CentComm would fail the programming that badly---per Strike Team and Enter CeCi Ceci’s watchdog would be set to have kill enabled on Lynn. It may be Ceci's download was hacked and one could take Cent-comm’s thoughts and remarks in Um.. glitch? and Diag .. whatsis? as supporting this notion. Might just be the randomness mentioned in Boot up.., might smell like rose petals.
@Storm: yeah, that's why I put in the page names. The links won't be hugely off, so one won't have to look too far in the dropdown to find the intended page after following one. Far from perfect, but since I have to look through the pages to fact check anyway...
Um, probably not in the short term Hydrargyrum; however, at replacing 4 pages with 1 page... for almost 500 pages (CentComm's plan, I believe, is to replace all the single panel and early art pages with updated pages). That might throw off the numbers a wee bit.
I can't keep track of where I put all my links in. So I stopped putting them in until the pages are updated. :-)
Sure. Shoot straight, conserve ammo, always watch your back, and never cut a deal with a dragon.
When I played, character background was important. Not only does it help you understand how your character would react in various situations, but it can provide hooks for the GM to get plot ideas from, and also makes the character more interesting and memorable.
Also, Shadowrun is rooted in 80s cyberpunk. Blade Runner, Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and so on. This can give you some ideas regarding playstyles (and maybe a sense of how the game has changed and developed over the various editions).
Johnny Nmemonic is another good reference.
If you can, get your hands on some of the older books to get a better feel for the history of the setting and how it's developed over time. The game's timeline has progressed as RL time passed, keeping the setting 60 years in the future. 4th edition pushed that to 65 years. So if a book comes out in 2015, the content is (in the setting) the situation (regarding that aspect of the setting) as it stands in 2080.
Well, as I've said before I've been playing tabletop for years. Last time I went into a campaign where I trusted the group enough for it to be worth my time to make a good back story, I wrote 3 pages of back story and filled a pocket notebook with roleplaying notes.
I've also beaten Shadowrun Returns (both campaigns, the DLC, a bunch of steam workshop content, etc.) so I have an idea for that.
I'm the sort who tends to read the entirety of a dozen lore books for a setting as well.
I mostly read sci-fi and fantasy out of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.
My big thing is that, well, being of the D20 and D100 cumulative (D&D), d20 or d100 threshold (Palladium), or degree of success background (Alternity), elements of the system confuse me and my impression thus far is that I don't have enough D6s.
Also, how do I keep a turn from taking bloody forever?
Haven't touched Shadowrun for years, CptK; however, that was one of the reasons that it didn't catch on with the people I was gaming with. Despite the fact I DID have enough d6... people didn't want to take the time to keep adding all the dice up. Seemed to take FOREVER... Went on to different games instead.
I wish you luck with it though. I was thinking the revised editions had improved that some over the 1st edition.
On a curious sidenote, despite TeeDee's general dislike of the meatba... erhh .. those of a mammal disposition, she sure does seem to have her protective instinct triggered by Connie. Instincts that seem almost human.
I know, I know. ... Connie is an android, but I have this nagging feeling TeeDee would be protective of the humans too - Even if it was Dr Silver !
Not sure Dr. Silver is in the typical 'human' pile for TeeDee, Sheela. She 'saved' Ada, and TeeDee got to watch her do it! That buys a LOT of goodwill from someone like TeeDee, I think.
LOL Tim. It would be funny, but not really in keeping with the comic. Unless it is Aeneas saying it, then it would be ALL too possible. Of course, who would he be saving? The customs agent, Connie, the guards or some random kitten walking by? :-D
Come to think of it I have a pertinent quote from an alternity game intimidate check "Alright dumbass, let's do some calculations here. Assuming that cannon Dmitri has leveled at your nose is packing a solid slug, how many liters of industrial strength solvent is it going to take to clean you off the walls?"
YAY! You two have been pushing these comics so steadily, you never took a real break. Sick days don't count. Get some egg nog, some rum, sit back, and enjoy the holidays.
Well hopefully you don't need to pass near St. Louie to get home, because it may be snowing by morning. And that will just make ALL sorts of messes, I fear.
Datachasers withdrawal symptoms... already? :)
Well, if I was an expert, I'd probably prescribe either an archive binge or a reread from the beginning.
I've been meaning to reread from the beginning anyway; too much going on here to pick up on all of it on the first pass. Or probably the second. Just been super busy this year what with research and starting a business.
Easy there Sheela. Don't chew up the furniture. They will be back... Not SOON enough, but soon... ::twich::
Maybe they will grace us with some filler art... ::twich:: Before we go crazy (okay, okay... make it CRAZIER :-D)
Edit - Yes, xpacetrue withdrawal because of the on-going ACTION... I want to see that Dickless Gorilla get TeeDee's foot planted into him where what passes for THOUGHT forms!!!
This is just MORE proof of the evilness of the creative duo! Teasing us with what is coming and then leaving us hang until next year! ::Goes off to claw up CentComm's furniture:: }:-D~>
Rash's mistake Sheela was using sexy and TeeDee in the same sentence! With her attitude, that is about a guarantee to inflict grievous bodily harm upon the speaker. :-D
*in a medically induced coma with 400 broken bones *yes I know the human body does nto have 400 bones but tedee did so much damage I gre extra just to break*
"Evil wizards leave no trace."
Remember VINNIE, the medium-heavy drone that Mira drooled over ?
Yeah, he was only labelled a medium-heavy ... so I wonder just how nasty the ones they brought with them are.
I doubt they are the small floating death bots that Dr Silver has had flying around with her so far.
Ok, that was hilarious.
I'm sure that any warbot she makes, will be capable of knowing the difference between friend, foe and innocent civilian.
So you'd be safe, even if you were relatively close, as long as you weren't in the middle of the melee.
But I agree, if she was *really* serious, she wouldn't be jawing off, she would simply attack.
I think she's still hoping that there is a way to do it without endangering the mission.
She is after all a veteran S&R agent, she knows how fast things can go down the drain. It may not be a conscious thought, but rather some sort of feeling deep down, that makes her leary of just straight out assaulting, hoping someone else on her team has a better solution.
That said, she really, REALLY, wants to have her own pound of flesh to chomp down on.
That, or at least some sort of resolution. (And then waiting patiently until we can see him get his just deserts.)
One of the troubles with webcomic formats, is that you follow the story as it's created.
Meanwhile, with all the calls for anger and violence, I'm going to add a bit of cute to counterbalance it ..
Here - Have a bit of cute :
Y U waek me up?
I mean we know she likes butterflies, so she probably loves kittens too. And that is TOO cute. I'm sending you the dentist bill from what the sweetness in that picture is doing to my teeth! :-D
Pet it I say !
I knew I liked Dr. Silver (at least somewhat).... :D
Well, I doubt she will act quite yet, but preparing to do so - and most importantly keeping TeeDee in check...
I wonder why they were speaking in quick speak and not - like Dr. Silver and Marcus - in their group radio - the soldiers might have a device to detect android speed talk...
I wonder how douchebag junior will react faced with the drones... :p
@alt text: yeah, let us, please. Anytime now. Now? Gah, still waiting... waiting for weeks now... *sighs frustrated and annoyed*
PS: Ada is looking good :D
As for Mr Black, thus far he's been setting up situations to his advantage but hasn't had any "Saved you! Woo!" moments. I think this is his chance to change that. Pummeling Big Red is out, and anyone he calls would put him under a microscope. This is either ending up badly or they get invited for an apology dinner with the the price at the palace.
Ooh, does he have a Caspian on speed dial? THEY don't have a problem eliminating royal guards that step out of line and I'm sure someone needs to bring them tech discreetly.
killhurt me? Could be Dr. Silver - but that thought in the bubble does not fit her......the thought bubble could be Connie speaking though... (that would fit, except for the shape and color of it.)
And if it is, it seems he has successfully figured out that the situation is really bad.
After all, anyone who would confidently go after Mister Redshirt Guard barehanded, despite the fact that he is fully armed and armored, would have to be pretty nasty themselves. Besides, they're supposed to be wastelanders, and they are not exactly considered to be soft to begin with.
Edit: could be the customs agent
I think it's more likely to be one of the regular guards under him, or even one of the regular customs agents.
Optio Silius is still standing over near Black, Trebatius, and the ongoing genetic disaster that is Optio Clauderius.
No, when she is in that kind of mood, it's more a Fallen Tiger move time.
"Oh they're gonna have to glue you back togather... IN HELL!"
edit: darn. If that had worked, I could have said something interesting.
Though not EVERYTHING is supported on ComicFury, just to warn you. The basic stuff all seems to work though.
So, Marcus and his team can support Team Blue from the sidelines. Perhaps they will create a huge distraction, perhaps even a city-wide manhunt, so Dolly's team can succeed?
Ofcourse, Marcus might just have had time enough to hack the local info point and found a message left behind for them, by Rose.
You are right, if they can get a clue that Ms. Blue and Ceci are inside, then they can successfully shift gears. However.....
Kinda feels like going into a dungeon with a bunch of CN's that think it might be funny to to throw a stinkpot into a beholder's nest.
Yeah, you read that right; the ostensibly good guys' high priority is tech recovery and they're authorized to kill the wetware to take Total Psycho Dickhead's pawn out of the game.
We'll see what actually happens but, as Storm points out, if team Ada (or pick whoever your favourite is) executes to original orders things are unlikely to look much like what xspace is suggesting. This is a bit hard to call since Cent-comm's resolve is clear terminating Lynn is a last resort. Probably that’s mostly because she doesn’t want Calliope to go postal and start a shooting war (see comments on the invitation).
The other consideration I’d put into this discussion is Reboot GO! where Dr. Silver installs a morality framework in Ceci to resolve conflicts in her CCM (combat control module). In those pages Marcus mentions black angels never spark and, despite Dr. Silver's skepticism, it seems unlikely CentComm would fail the programming that badly---per Strike Team and Enter CeCi Ceci’s watchdog would be set to have kill enabled on Lynn. It may be Ceci's download was hacked and one could take Cent-comm’s thoughts and remarks in Um.. glitch? and Diag .. whatsis? as supporting this notion. Might just be the randomness mentioned in Boot up.., might smell like rose petals.
Makes the Cassians look rather nice, eh?
Count fast DLK. }:-D~>
Oh and I haven't been putting internal links in, because they will get messed up when CentComm and Rose put up the redone pages. :-7
And are they SD-70 beholders ?
that page with the SD-70 reminds me. Remember the comments of this page?:
http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/827
Did I somehow miss that vote incentive?
I can't keep track of where I put all my links in. So I stopped putting them in until the pages are updated. :-)
Any advice for a soon to be wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn?
When I played, character background was important. Not only does it help you understand how your character would react in various situations, but it can provide hooks for the GM to get plot ideas from, and also makes the character more interesting and memorable.
Also, Shadowrun is rooted in 80s cyberpunk. Blade Runner, Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and so on. This can give you some ideas regarding playstyles (and maybe a sense of how the game has changed and developed over the various editions).
Johnny Nmemonic is another good reference.
If you can, get your hands on some of the older books to get a better feel for the history of the setting and how it's developed over time. The game's timeline has progressed as RL time passed, keeping the setting 60 years in the future. 4th edition pushed that to 65 years. So if a book comes out in 2015, the content is (in the setting) the situation (regarding that aspect of the setting) as it stands in 2080.
I've also beaten Shadowrun Returns (both campaigns, the DLC, a bunch of steam workshop content, etc.) so I have an idea for that.
I'm the sort who tends to read the entirety of a dozen lore books for a setting as well.
I mostly read sci-fi and fantasy out of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.
My big thing is that, well, being of the D20 and D100 cumulative (D&D), d20 or d100 threshold (Palladium), or degree of success background (Alternity), elements of the system confuse me and my impression thus far is that I don't have enough D6s.
Also, how do I keep a turn from taking bloody forever?
I wish you luck with it though. I was thinking the revised editions had improved that some over the 1st edition.
I know, I know. ... Connie is an android, but I have this nagging feeling TeeDee would be protective of the humans too - Even if it was Dr Silver !
(Well, it's a long shot, but...)
Right after the one of Centcomm's dolls playing with My Little Pony toys inbetween her Q5 racks. XD
Have a good one, rest and recharge your batteries (CentComm probably does have batteries). See you after the new year!!!
or, if you prefer..... "BAH! HUMBUG!"
:) Thanks for all the wonderful art and dialog all year long, you two!
But it's humbug with pressies and good food. :)
*is relieved*
I was getting worried...
*hugs*
Enjoy the break...
*twitch*
Nope .. not at all!
Well, if I was an expert, I'd probably prescribe either an archive binge or a reread from the beginning.
Maybe they will grace us with some filler art... ::twich:: Before we go crazy (okay, okay... make it CRAZIER :-D)
Edit - Yes, xpacetrue withdrawal because of the on-going ACTION... I want to see that Dickless Gorilla get TeeDee's foot planted into him where what passes for THOUGHT forms!!!
This is just MORE proof of the evilness of the creative duo! Teasing us with what is coming and then leaving us hang until next year! ::Goes off to claw up CentComm's furniture:: }:-D~>
Sheela, what are you doing with Cent-Comms Slippers????
That's it, OUTSIDE, BOTH OF YOU!
.. her datacables, on the other hand ..
Drunk tedee and ada as sexy reindeers pulling a sleigh *is beaten to death by Tedee as finishes typing that*
I guess that qualifies as "sexy" for an android.
For the rest of us, it qualifies as High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
Merry Christmas to all. :-)