November 6, 2015: You'd Be Cursing Too

[nikohl]

Suffocation? That would be relativly quick and painless way to die.

I disagree quite strongly re: both quick and painless, and also I'd be sixteen times more creeped out by that being drawn, dude :/

I don't really want to discuss the various ways to effectively kill people at all, because it's super weird, but I imagine beheading was chosen as an official method of execution in the real world (guillotine etc) because it's quick and efficient...so that's probably why it was chosen here. Bowst isn't going to shank his friend in the kidneys or brain her with a rock, because that's not going to get it over with quickly or painlessly. Nor is he going to strangle her to death (seriously?! why would your brain go there?)

He has a sword. It's not an unreasonable way to get the job done. I'm just still not convinced that it needed to be included as a plot point in the first place. I'm happy to be proven wrong by future pages, when her daily curse features in some important way.

[Xavier78]

I don't really want to discuss the various ways to effectively kill people at all, because it's super weird, but I imagine beheading was chosen as an official method of execution in the real world (guillotine etc) because it's quick and efficient...

Not to be creepy but a severed head can live several minutes after the act. So that wouldn't be my chosen method *shudder*

[nikohl]

Eww!

I don't think there are any 'good' methods outside of what's used for proper euthanasia, to be honest, which is outside the realms of what is available to Idle and Bowst. But I think I'd take beheading (especially in Idle's circumstance, since she appears to rez almost immediately, so doesn't have to live on as a head with a sore neck for several minutes...eww again!) over anything prolonged.

This thread got a bit morbid. I submit the following gifv for consideration as a pick-me-up should anyone need it:

► Show Spoiler

It's a link not an auto-embed because it's large and I don't want to waste anyone's data if they're on mobile!

[Xavier78]

LOL That Bird was hyped!

[BlueAmaranth]

On an entirely other note... did "You pile of dung!" seem jarringly awkward to anyone else? I could just about forgive "Owie!" as being a characterisation point for Idle as a chirpy and slightly kid-like person, even though it's sure as hell not what I'd say if I was feeling the residual effects of having my damn head chopped off... but "You pile of dung" just seems like "you piece of shit!" ran through a bad D&D Language Translator. It reads suuuper clunky to me, and not on the right scale of emotional outburst for 'seeing someone suddenly execute someone else.' Maybe that's just me though.

That was my reaction too, glad I'm not the only one! I'm not sure what I would have replaced it with, but it didn't feel natural at all when I tried to reconstruct it as a "movie" in my head. I guess for an immediate reaction to seeing the beheading-in-progress, I might have gone with "No!" or "Damn it!", or something like, that to show Forgath's frustration at being too late to prevent it? The clunky wording aside, getting angry and confrontational with the "murderer" is something I would think would happen after the beheading was over, maybe with a beat or two for it to sink in. Which would mean it wouldn't happen at all, since Bowst explained immediately,

[Arch Lich Burns]

Honestly i don't think should have shown it. And i was not thinkin of stranglin her, more putting pillow to her mouth while sleeping. Idle is lucky that the swoard went through all the way on the first swing.

[RocketScientist]

Yeah. I'm going to fall asleep (before midnight, no less) while someone is standing there with a pillow waiting to suffocate me. Do they even *have* pillows in D&D? "I'd like 2 weeks worth of iron rations, and a fluffy pillow!"

Not sure about the wording. I would have said POS instead of pile of dung, but some people are offended by the existence of swears, so... Definitely wouldn't have said "owie." Who says that? I guess Idle does, though.

[nikohl]

I would've gone with "What the HELL?!", if I couldn't write POS. Something like that seems a little less clunky to me.

[RocketScientist]

Yeah, that definitely flows better. Even "What the...?" Or "You ass!" would work better.

[Xavier78]

Yeah. I'm going to fall asleep (before midnight, no less) while someone is standing there with a pillow waiting to suffocate me. Do they even *have* pillows in D&D? "I'd like 2 weeks worth of iron rations, and a fluffy pillow!"

Not sure about the wording. I would have said POS instead of pile of dung, but some people are offended by the existence of swears, so... Definitely wouldn't have said "owie." Who says that? I guess Idle does, though.

They actually do have pillows in D&D yes

Also, not to be difficult, but who could be offended by swear words when a severed head is graphically shown in the very same panel? (On a side note, how is her arm not cleaved off? That sword is long and where the blood is... not possible...)

[nikohl]

You have a good point re: Idle holding her hair and bunny ears out of the way and/or exposing her neck and thereby having her arm in the way of the sword. If Bowst had used the very end of it to avoid getting her arm then the sword would not have bloodstains in the middle where they're shown, and if the blood's where it is then her arm would have come off too. Probably a small oversight, but honestly one that I don't really mind in the context of "not thinking too hard on the logistics of a beheading"...it being over and done with and not drawn the heck out of with precision detailing suits me fine :s

[Morgaln]

What I don't get is, what's the point of all these curses? We know they got them from a dungeon crawl that is famous for handing out lots of curses, but why is it giving out all those senseless ones? Usually, trap (and those curses probably fall under thos in a broad sense of the term) are meant to keep people out that are trying to loot the place. But these effects won't do any of that, most of them have no real effect or are minor annoyances are best. And for this last one, someone had to tell Idle what it does because it's not an effect you'll find out through trial and error. Who told her and why?

[nikohl]

I expect these are things we'll find out as the story progresses. It seems like we haven't known for aaaages... But that's the downside of reading as each page comes out rather than all at once at the end. I wanna know too. But yes, I imagine the reason we don't get it yet is that we haven't been told/shown yet.

[Xavier78]

You have a good point re: Idle holding her hair and bunny ears out of the way and/or exposing her neck and thereby having her arm in the way of the sword. If Bowst had used the very end of it to avoid getting her arm then the sword would not have bloodstains in the middle where they're shown, and if the blood's where it is then her arm would have come off too. Probably a small oversight, but honestly one that I don't really mind in the context of "not thinking too hard on the logistics of a beheading"...it being over and done with and not drawn the heck out of with precision detailing suits me fine :s

LOL OK good point.

[Zathyr]

What I don't get is, what's the point of all these curses? We know they got them from a dungeon crawl that is famous for handing out lots of curses, but why is it giving out all those senseless ones? Usually, trap (and those curses probably fall under thos in a broad sense of the term) are meant to keep people out that are trying to loot the place. But these effects won't do any of that, most of them have no real effect or are minor annoyances are best. And for this last one, someone had to tell Idle what it does because it's not an effect you'll find out through trial and error. Who told her and why?

Curses in D&D can do nearly anything, and not necessarily for any reason. Maybe Fumbles becomes a really powerful blend of classes, travels back in time, and decides to make a dungeon with a bunch of weird self-identifying curses, because he thinks it would be cool and interesting. I've gone through D&D dungeons that make far less sense.

[Guus]

What the...???
Oki. Curses in D&D are fun, they give a sense of forced character development in campaigns, and guide the lesser gifted roleplayers in the grand narratieve, but.... What?

I don't get this. I've played characters who have been tortured in game, and although it was a bit awkward to play out, it fitted in the story. There was a background. I'm missing Idle's. I get the "curses valley" thing, but there are curses and curses. This is really extreme. What did her player do to warrant such a curse? I'm so confused!

For the record, I love gore. I like the saw movies, I like the harsher horror slashers. But they either have no pretense at all (you're a dick, I'm going to torture you to death for it like in Saw), or a good reason for why things happen that happen. Kore is a cruel bastard, willing to murder in gruesome ways. Goblinslayer was a complete monster. They made sense in their own weird way. This curse just seems too... Random. Why, just why? Goblins has a story! Why show one of the new characters off in such a cruel way? I don't like it, and I really do like Idle.

[Sessine]

I'm not too bothered by "Owie!" Sure, if this was the first time she was going through it, I'd expect her to say something more... emphatic. But she's been beheaded every single night since she acquired the curse. For her, this is the New Normal. And she's being considerate of Bowst. If she made a big deal of how much it hurt, every single time, she'd make him feel guilty about having to kill her. She knows he's only doing it to keep her alive. She can't help exclaiming something, because dammit, it does hurt! but she can at least choose a word that sort of minimizes it.

"You pile of dung," on the other hand, doesn't work at all for me. My brain went, "Oh, um. Dwarves have really weird ways of swearing." Forgath is a cleric. Does that have anything to do with it? Oh, and he's played by a girl. Maybe that's the reason. Maybe she's a girl who doesn't normally swear, so when she has to come up with something in this situation, it's awkward? Maybe he's always this bad at swearing. Does anyone offhand remember other situations where Forgath got really angry to the point of using bad language?

As for the beheading itself, I'll wait to worry about the mechanics of that until the shading is done. There are obviously many details still missing -- way more than usual, I think.

[Zathyr]

I'm a little surprised anyone had a problem with "You pile of dung!" This is the same comic that featured such swears as "Sonova crap!" and "What the crap is this hell?" Should it have been "You pile of crap!" instead to fit the theme? Actually, now that I say that, I do think it sounds better, but honestly I didn't think twice about "You pile of dung!" when I first read it. Then again, I'm the type of weirdo who'd shout "You sun-ripened bunch of rabbit raisins!" without blinking an eye.

[LooksClosely]

> "You sun-ripened bunch of rabbit raisins!"
... they yelled as they charged into battle. Heh. Really made me laugh Zathyr.

I didn't find the page disturbing, myself. Just voicing my opinion since it's contrary to the majority it seems. In hindsight the points about the sequencing of events are a bit unfortunate, though.

[BlueAmaranth]

I'm a little surprised anyone had a problem with "You pile of dung!" This is the same comic that featured such swears as "Sonova crap!" and "What the crap is this hell?"

Well, for me it was less that it was a weird thing to say--though it was--and more that it didn't fit into the beats of the panels, I guess? I just couldn't visualize it playing out that way, with Forgath delivering a full-sentence insult in the moment that Idle's head was coming off. In the "movie" of it in my head, the action comes to a grinding halt at that moment while Forgath finishes his thought. And I definitely can't picture anyone going directly to "screw you, murderer!" without stopping at "oh god she's dead" for at least a second.

[RocketScientist]

Also, not to be difficult, but who could be offended by swear words when a severed head is graphically shown in the very same panel?

You're asking the wrong person, here. I grew up in Massachusetts. We swear a lot.

[Adriondacks]

Specifics, man! What's too much? "Be more constructive with your feedback!" </flight of the conchords>

(The random graphic ladybeheading was a bit "???" for me, but... Curses aren't fun, I guess? That could easily have been Bowst's curse and then I'd have felt less weird about it though, in fairness.)

Now I gotta go watch some Flight of the Conchords. I blame you for getting it stuck in my head, Xavier.

May I ask why you would be more comfortable with Bowst giving beheaded?

[Xavier78]

Also, not to be difficult, but who could be offended by swear words when a severed head is graphically shown in the very same panel?

You're asking the wrong person, here. I grew up in Massachusetts. We swear a lot.

My Dad is a former Marine, so cussing is ingrained in me.

[nikohl]

Specifics, man! What's too much? "Be more constructive with your feedback!" </flight of the conchords>

(The random graphic ladybeheading was a bit "???" for me, but... Curses aren't fun, I guess? That could easily have been Bowst's curse and then I'd have felt less weird about it though, in fairness.)

Now I gotta go watch some Flight of the Conchords. I blame you for getting it stuck in my head, Xavier.

May I ask why you would be more comfortable with Bowst giving beheaded?

Sure. I explained it in the rest of the thread, but summary if you don't want to read the other posts: the coincidental timing of this page coming out directly after recent misogyny/sexism/sexualisation discussions made my brain immediately link that and this (regardless of whether any link should be there), and that wouldn't have happened if the beheaded character wasn't the scantily clad female.

[spiderwrangler]

Not to be creepy but a severed head can live several minutes after the act. So that wouldn't be my chosen method *shudder*

Meh, that's no different from any other death. The reports of heads being able to 'do stuff' are just anecdotal reports describing random nerve firings, consciousness is lost in seconds. While cellular death takes a few minutes, that's no different from any other method, the cells keep on going until they run out of oxygen from lack of blood flow. Eventually they shut down if things aren't restarted.

So it's a distinction between death of the individual and death of their cells.