The Red Hall 030
└ posted on Tuesday, 10 January 2012, by Novil
In the last panel of page 25, Ars now says “6 out of 10 points” to prevent confusion.
- Alissa: Lili, did you notice the backscatter–
- Alissa: What’s that supposed to be?
- Lilith: Our choice.
- Alissa: Lili, this is Energy Balls.
- Ars: And this will be Wave Shield, a rarely used, but simple protection spell
- Ars: Ars won’t find this joke very funny and will deduct two points for it.
- Lilith: It’s not a joke. These two spells will break the barrier.
- Alissa: Lili!
- Lilith: Let me explain.
- Ars: Ars will be curious.
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A shield inside a shield? If this is a version of Babylon 5′s “Bonehead Maneuver”, it will not only destroy the shield – but also everything else in the room. So maybe it’s ingenious, but also utterly impractical…
let’s see how this will end…
I’m going to bet she uses the shield to ricochet the energy ball into the barrier so many time it get’s overloaded or till the changes the barrier causes on it prevent it from being properly deflected by said barrier. Either way, it’ll be explosive.
Am i the only person who absolutly like Ars for some reason?
Is it just me, or does no one ever listen to the prodegy that’s been making tham look like an idiot all day. Speaking from experience.
@ Darc:
Its because they’re always looking for ways for said prodigy to fail. Its, for lack of a better word, human nature… and yes, I do realize one of the characters has wings, horns, claws, a beak and is covered in feathers/scales.
Think about it this way… in school there is almost always that bookworm who knows EVERYTHING about the subject. Every time they go to answer a question you secretly wish inside that they will answer incorrectly and no longer be the know-it-all.
My guess? The ol’ “playing tennis with Ganondorf” trick. Shield, bounce energy balls back and forth, until the OTHER shield gives.
AmbiValent wrote:
But that jumpgate was expendable
and whitestars had enough speed to do it.
Sounds a bit like Magicka.. Shields cancel out shields.
And if that doesn’t work, we just blast it.
@ DeamoniC:
OK, here is my theory on the single spell wands. This is a school, it is for teaching (among other things) magic. What is the best way to teach a spell? Have a wand that properly casts that spell so that the student can feel how the spell works when properly cast. In the “real” world of this setting nobody would carry single spell wands any more than an accountant would limit themselves strictly to addition. Single use works well in a teaching environment.
@ Bartimaeus:
Seems likely, though i hope it is not that simple.
Hmm… Using the energy balls to adjust the bluestream frequency of the wave shield until wave shield ican be meshed into the original barrier, and can be used as an override for the barrier’s controls?
I don’t know what she’s going for, but hopefully it’s an explosion.
As a side note, Ars’ expression in panel 1 practically has “bitch plz” written all over it.
I confess I really have no idea how this would work… now I can think of a way how to pierce the barrier… but not how to dispell it… If energy balls would be covered by the shield than perhaps the backscatter spell would exhaust itself and balls would pierce through…
But well it would never be my choice of attacking reflect/dispersion barrier… too much can go wrong.
I’m really looking forward to how this will end. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lilith has a surprisingly simple explanation though, she is a prodigy after all.
Lilith is a really talented, bright kid; an intuitive with a strong grasp of spell theory. This ought to be very interesting! Thank you very much for a very enjoyable and well done comic!!!
@ Mike:
I take it you never played much D&D…
I can’t be the only person here looking oddly at the people theorizing about the spell-wands and thinking; “This is a fantasy comic… why the sith is this an odd concept to you?” It’s been a staple of fantasy-RPGs for longer than I’ve been alive, ffs…
@ Darkside:
Nope, I love him too.
Something tells me this is going to be like Macgyver stopping a toxic leak with Chocolate bars and Duct tape
Doctor! It CAN be done!
Lilith suddenly has a VERY serious look on her face, which doesn’t seem like her. Ars also has a very serious look all of a sudden, but his is more of a “What’chu talkin’ about Willis?” look. But enough of that. Time to watch Lilith completely PWN the exam instructor AND her partner, and in essence, PWN the exam itself.
@ noerartnoe:
I really didn’t think too much about it one way or the other before reading the speculation.
You are correct, I didn’t play much D&D. I was enjoying the comic as well, but I when I read all the speculation on the wands I just HAD to put my two cents in.
I really enjoy the ability of the readers to post comments, it adds a LOT to the strip! It is too bad that other webcomics aren’t doing the same. S&W and Gaia are the only two that I read that have that feature.
Man, just look at his face.
You can imagine what is going through his mind right now.
“Are you kidding me? Is she (pg-13) serious? This is flipping wave shield and Energy balls. Does she really think my test is so easy? Really? not even an initiate would try this. I will not be taken for a fool. Hell no, explain this bull!
I have played D&D from when it started with Basic rules and expanded upon there all the way to Immortal Rules.
But I bet many of us who speculate on the wands have also read and played other interpretations of the magic systems than the one co-opted from Jack Vance by Gary Gygax for his role playing game.
And that leads us to speculate and theorycraft on how the wands and other things magical perhaps work.
Which makes me wonder if she is going to astonish Ars by proving her point, and not just telling him how she will do it. I still think it’ll involve enmeshing the shield into the wards to make them all collapse with suitable application of the energy balls.
@ Mike:
As for webcomics, I don’t offhand know many that do not allow discussions. S&W and Gaia are more prominent with the placement of reader comments, but I am quite certain almost all have a forum for the fans to discuss the comic.
TLein wrote:
Agreed, but for some reason other comic forums tend to be both less active and, even if they are as/more active, they tend to have less discussion and more “Awesome comic.” Not saying this isn’t an awesome comic (it is), but I prefer the atmosphere. It has absolutely nothing to do with the comic itself, but the reader-base of this comic tends to analyze and discuss more.
Is anyone else bouncing up and down wondering what she’s gonna say or do? or is it just me… XD so anxious to see~!
@ Morcac:
So what you are saying (and I tend to agree) is that S&W and Gaia are attracting a higher class of readership than most.
So is the strip more thought provoking, or are the readers provoking each other to deeper thought?
I think the answer to that is: Yes.
@ Mike:
I’m not sure about that only because of the ratio of magic needed for even a single spell wand might be too much for a wooden wand. I’m guessing thats why Gandalf has a staff made from wood from the Forest of Lothlorien, much more ability to handle the levels of magic thrown into it. Sort of like a fuse, over charge it and it shatters.
The two spells used in tandem fling angry chickens at the barriers who immediately attack and destroy them utterly.
@ Mike:
@ TLein:
Point very much taken. I guess I’ve just become… I don’t know… too used to the concept, for some reason? Or maybe I’m just boring like that. Given how little we know of the magic system in this world thus far, it just had (especially with the wands) a bit of a D&D-ish feel to it – at least to me. So I guess my mind just shelved the magic under “D&D-alike” (not inherently a bad thing, btw) and moved on.
Maybe it’s that I read too *much* fantasy? If there is such a thing…
In any case, I apologise if I came across as crass or anything in my previous post, that was not my intention. Nor was it my intention to “talk down on/to” the people discussing this – and I see now that it could be taken that way – so I apologise for that as well.
Also; I know that I might seem a bit negative, but I do genuinely like this comic so far – and I’m curious to see where it takes us.
@ noerartnoe:
No offense taken. I was just verifying your assessment that I didn’t play much D&D. One of the reasons that I like the readership here so much is that we as a group discuss things and keep it friendly. The comments and opinions of those who have played more of the D&D style games provide me with a better understanding of some of the finer points of the strip and help me enjoy it more.
@ noerartnoe:
No offense taken. And like I said, some of us (namely, me) like to theorycraft on how the magic here works with other reference points besides D&D system(s).
The strams (Bluestream and Redstream) give different angles for how the stuff could work, and what might be needed for it to work. But since we don’t have a repository of ‘rules’ yet, the readership can get into arguments on how we think it works.
And has been said, the readership here seems surprisingly mature, as the level of name-calling is so insignificant that it disappears. A true rarity in the online world.
@ Crestlinger:
XD
I just realized how wrong the name “Energy Balls” sounds. “I’ll show you MY energy balls!” XD What makes it funnier is how simple it is! I mean, you can’t really explain it better than just saying “Energy Balls”. I can see it now: “‘Ooooh, what is that?’ ‘Energy Balls’ ‘What does it do?’ ‘It shoots Energy Balls. Duh.’”
Darkside wrote:
HECK NO!! He’s my favorite character.