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      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
The Old Hack

Story Monday April 16, 2018

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2 hours ago, Scotty said:

We have Arthur here worrying that their current system is incapable of handling a potential crisis of a global scale. He mentions how their information is compartmentalized, that he can only directly contact a few places and warn them, other places in the US sounds like a lot of bureaucracy involved

Might not be that much bureaucracy, more like they can't contact facility X because they don't know how or where it is (too secret), they need to contact Y who will contact facility X ... IF he's not on vacation right now of course.

2 hours ago, Scotty said:

trying to convince them that there's a problem might get laughed at or something, it's a bad situation to be in, knowing a potential threat exists, but no proof of it so no one believes you

Also, it's just potential threat. It's also possible nothing will happen (because the stuff they have is not artifact from old magic, or it's already discharged, or the conditions to activate it are obscure enough noone will do it by mistake) ...

It would actually help if something WOULD happen - preferably small enough to be easily hidden, but big enough so they can use it as example.

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Just now, hkmaly said:

Might not be that much bureaucracy, more like they can't contact facility X because they don't know how or where it is (too secret), they need to contact Y who will contact facility X ... IF he's not on vacation right now of course.

That Arthur said "The rest will have to be contacted following special procedure" suggests that it's not as simple as calling up Director Leifeld and say he needs to lock down every facility where supposedly inert artifacts are kept. He'd probably need proper evidence to back up his claim first but in order for that to happen, at least one of the "inert" artifacts needs to be viewed being active.

Just now, hkmaly said:

Also, it's just potential threat. It's also possible nothing will happen (because the stuff they have is not artifact from old magic, or it's already discharged, or the conditions to activate it are obscure enough noone will do it by mistake) ...

It would actually help if something WOULD happen - preferably small enough to be easily hidden, but big enough so they can use it as example.

There's always a chance that Arthur's overreacting, maybe whatever's coming off those shards is friendly and having been freed from an evil curse, is willing to grant the first person it sees whatever wish they desire, this could be the greatest moment in Ashley's life next to meeting Elliot.

I want to reiterate that no one knows what any of those previous inert artifacts is capable of, and the WoM sounded pretty ominous when it mentioned that artifacts from old systems would be active again, yes it said "some artifacts and wands" but that's still huge because you'd have to determine whats active and what isn't. We're dealing with a fear of the unknown and Arthur's playing the "better safe than sorry" card in wanting to secure everything before going in and poking stuff to see what happens.

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10 hours ago, Scotty said:
15 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Might not be that much bureaucracy, more like they can't contact facility X because they don't know how or where it is (too secret), they need to contact Y who will contact facility X ... IF he's not on vacation right now of course.

That Arthur said "The rest will have to be contacted following special procedure" suggests that it's not as simple as calling up Director Leifeld and say he needs to lock down every facility where supposedly inert artifacts are kept. He'd probably need proper evidence to back up his claim first but in order for that to happen, at least one of the "inert" artifacts needs to be viewed being active.

Because it's not Director Leifeld who needs to be contacted. And, possibly, the person Y is not available on phone for security reasons.

The difference I'm speaking about is that in bureaucracy, you may know all the steps but the final person won't talk with you when you didn't followed all steps. In secret operations, you don't know the steps because you are not in need to know and you will never see the final person, in fact you will ONLY do the first step and hope other people will do the rest of steps.

10 hours ago, Scotty said:

There's always a chance that Arthur's overreacting, maybe whatever's coming off those shards is friendly and having been freed from an evil curse, is willing to grant the first person it sees whatever wish they desire, this could be the greatest moment in Ashley's life next to meeting Elliot.

Actually, something granting whatever wish they desire to first person around is worst case scenario and major disaster which needs to be prevented - or disarmed by sending some safe person to be the one. Of course, that person being Ashley is special exception and something which possibly saved the world. Well, most of world. Not sure about the hypocrites.

However, imagine if someone like NotTengu - or SIRLECK - was around such artifact ...

10 hours ago, Scotty said:

I want to reiterate that no one knows what any of those previous inert artifacts is capable of, and the WoM sounded pretty ominous when it mentioned that artifacts from old systems would be active again, yes it said "some artifacts and wands" but that's still huge because you'd have to determine whats active and what isn't. We're dealing with a fear of the unknown and Arthur's playing the "better safe than sorry" card in wanting to secure everything before going in and poking stuff to see what happens.

There are legends. While legends are rarely reliable source of informations, there is high probability that several items described as magical but tested negative will prove to be rendered inert by magic change. How dangerous that could be may be guessed based on the original description of those items.

Excalibur. Ark of the Covenant. Holy Grail. Spear of Destiny. Mjölnir. Ring of the Nibelungs. Necronomicon. Book of Coming Forth by Day. Aegis. Caladbolg. Brahmastra. Talaria. Tarnkappe. Philosopher's stone. Gjallarhorn. And lot of others ...

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30 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Excalibur. Ark of the Covenant. Holy Grail. Spear of Destiny. Mjölnir. Ring of the Nibelungs. Necronomicon. Book of Coming Forth by Day. Aegis. Caladbolg. Brahmastra. Talaria. Tarnkappe. Philosopher's stone. Gjallarhorn. And lot of others ...

And if Dan's interest in games is any indication, that diamond could have originally been a Soul Stone.

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4 hours ago, Scotty said:

And if Dan's interest in games is any indication, that diamond could have originally been a Soul Stone.

I know Dan played Chrono Trigger, Fallout and Mass Effect. I don't remember him saying anything indicating he played Diablo. Citation needed.

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1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

I know Dan played Chrono Trigger, Fallout and Mass Effect. I don't remember him saying anything indicating he played Diablo. Citation needed.

It wasn't mentioned in comic, but I'm pretty sure he's mentioned Diablo 2 somewhere before.

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6 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:
5 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Ark of the Covenant.

No no, that one got stored in an entirely different warehouse. Anyway, maybe this would be a good time to dig it out, seeing as it is apparently really good at frying Nazis.

I think it's really good at frying people in general. The Nazis were just only one stupid enough to try.

And it could easily be this warehouse.

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4 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

I think it's really good at frying people in general. The Nazis were just only one stupid enough to try.

Works for me. I'll send it gift wrapped to their next assembly.

5 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

And it could easily be this warehouse.

This one is kind of small and cramped. The one in Raiders was HUGE.

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2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

And it could easily be this warehouse.

This one is kind of small and cramped. The one in Raiders was HUGE.

We didn't saw the basement.

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9 hours ago, Scotty said:

It wasn't mentioned in comic, but I'm pretty sure he's mentioned Diablo 2 somewhere before.

I think one of the Sketchbook entries had an homage to Deckard Cain; at the very least I remember Dan quoting "Stay a while and listen." from the first game. Of course if it was a Sketchbook I suspect it was a Patreon request, but I still got the impression Dan was familiar with the character.

9 hours ago, hkmaly said:

I think it's really good at frying people in general. The Nazis were just only one stupid enough to try.

And it could easily be this warehouse.

This warehouse is for stuff that is considered "of little use to anyone". Even aside from the fact that the Ark is useful for frying people, it's extremely valuable as a religious symbol - so I don't think they'd put it in a warehouse meant for stuff the government considered junk.

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2 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

I think one of the Sketchbook entries had an homage to Deckard Cain; at the very least I remember Dan quoting "Stay a while and listen." from the first game. Of course if it was a Sketchbook I suspect it was a Patreon request, but I still got the impression Dan was familiar with the character.

It was Sarah as Deckard Cain.  I suspect the request was somewhat bewildering for Dan too...

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6 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

think one of the Sketchbook entries had an homage to Deckard Cain; at the very least I remember Dan quoting "Stay a while and listen." from the first game. Of course if it was a Sketchbook I suspect it was a Patreon request, but I still got the impression Dan was familiar with the character.

Yeah, here.

" Anyway, I've played Diablo 1, and I've played Diablo 2. I was never particularly good at either of them, but I did enjoy them at the time. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy going back to them, or playing the current, heavily updated Diablo 3, but it's competing with an overabundance of options these days. Back in the Diablo 1 and 2 days, at least, it was the fantasy dungeon explorer to have. "

All three Diablo games had Soul Stones so Dan should at least know of them

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19 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Yeah, here.

" Anyway, I've played Diablo 1, and I've played Diablo 2. I was never particularly good at either of them, but I did enjoy them at the time. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy going back to them, or playing the current, heavily updated Diablo 3, but it's competing with an overabundance of options these days. Back in the Diablo 1 and 2 days, at least, it was the fantasy dungeon explorer to have. "

Ok. Will add it to wiki to be sure :)

19 minutes ago, Scotty said:

All three Diablo games had Soul Stones so Dan should at least know of them

I also played Diablo and don't remember those ... sure, probably because I didn't get deep enough.

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23 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Ok. Will add it to wiki to be sure :)

I also played Diablo and don't remember those ... sure, probably because I didn't get deep enough.

The first game mainly mentions it in the lore and the Hero, after defeating Diablo, is shown in the end cinematic shoving Diablo's Soul Stone into his head thinking he could be able to contain the evil.

Then of course in Diablo 2:

And to show how Blizzard's cutscene quality has advanced like Dan's artstyle ;) Diablo 3:

 

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2 hours ago, Scotty said:

The first game mainly mentions it in the lore and the Hero, after defeating Diablo, is shown in the end cinematic shoving Diablo's Soul Stone into his head thinking he could be able to contain the evil.

 

I was never happy with Blizzard taking over my character and making them do something this stupid.  With Diablo 2 underlining how stupid my D1 character had been.

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41 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

I was never happy with Blizzard taking over my character and making them do something this stupid.  With Diablo 2 underlining how stupid my D1 character had been.

To be fair, I don't think Blizzard expected Diablo to get as popular as it did, that cinematic was extended later to include the part about going east so that it tied into the sequel, yeah it was lazy but this was 20+ years ago working with what they had available and the skill level they had. I compare it to everything Dan did prior to Painted Black.

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11 minutes ago, Scotty said:

To be fair, I don't think Blizzard expected Diablo to get as popular as it did, that cinematic was extended later to include the part about going east so that it tied into the sequel, yeah it was lazy but this was 20+ years ago working with what they had available and the skill level they had. I compare it to everything Dan did prior to Painted Black.

I see what you mean but I'm not any happier.  D3 however addressed this and made the Wanderer Leoric's son, not the D1 hero, if I remember continuity correctly.  I guess technically that makes Leah, should she ever return, the heir to the throne of Conduras...  Or worse Diablo himself now is.

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1 hour ago, Vorlonagent said:

I was never happy with Blizzard taking over my character and making them do something this stupid.  With Diablo 2 underlining how stupid my D1 character had been.

Yeah, that ending did not appeal to me, either. Nor did the ending of Diablo 2. After sitting on his arse for the entire game, the Archangel of Dumbasses (or whatever he was archangel of) finally takes action by DESTROYING THE WORLDSTONE. I was sure that wouldn't come back to bite us on the ass in D3.

He annoyed me enough in Hell when he made his big speech about it being humanity's hour now and I being the last great hope, and then CHARGED GOLD to revive my henchman whenever the poor sod died. "Yes, I know. The fate of the entire world is at stake. But God has a bottom line set, and I have to meet it."

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1 hour ago, Vorlonagent said:

I see what you mean but I'm not any happier.  D3 however addressed this and made the Wanderer Leoric's son, not the D1 hero, if I remember continuity correctly.  I guess technically that makes Leah, should she ever return, the heir to the throne of Conduras...  Or worse Diablo himself now is.

I think the retcon there was that the Warrior you played in the first game was Aiden, so if you played the Warrior it was still your character that ended up becoming Diablo in the second game, If you played the other two classes though your characters were treated as friends or support for Aiden. and I think they technically made appearances in the second game as NPCs you could interact with.

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

Yeah, that ending did not appeal to me, either. Nor did the ending of Diablo 2. After sitting on his arse for the entire game, the Archangel of Dumbasses (or whatever he was archangel of) finally takes action by DESTROYING THE WORLDSTONE. I was sure that wouldn't come back to bite us on the ass in D3.

It was either that or Baal's corruption taking hold and making things much worse, of course it didn't make things much better but it was probably too late to fix it.

And well. Tyriel ended up getting punished anyway, but only because the other angels didn't like the fact he disobeyed them by taking action. He was essentially Pandora, he had been guiding and empowering humanity in the fight against demons, and when things got to the point where he had to step in and do something, the only real difference is his "reset" was self inflicted rather than the others forcing him.

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14 hours ago, Scotty said:

I think the retcon there was that the Warrior you played in the first game was Aiden, so if you played the Warrior it was still your character that ended up becoming Diablo in the second game, If you played the other two classes though your characters were treated as friends or support for Aiden. and I think they technically made appearances in the second game as NPCs you could interact with.

Great.  My magic user isn't even the hero now...  Just a part of an idiot's posse.  Thanks Blizzard.  That feels so much better...

I do have to say one of my favorite things from D1 was spamming the "Charge Bolt" spell down long hallways in the upper dungeon levels.  The bolts moved slowly but I don't think they gave the bolts a range limit beyond destroying a bolt it when it hit a wall.  I could go back up to town and be topping off my potion supply and suddenly hear the sound of a minor creature getting killed.  That never got old for me.

 

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23 hours ago, Vorlonagent said:

I was never happy with Blizzard taking over my character and making them do something this stupid.  With Diablo 2 underlining how stupid my D1 character had been.

Same here.

While we're talking Diablo memories, my favorite part of the first game was walking through floors I'd already cleared seeing the bodies of all the monsters I'd slain still lying where they fell. Even if the enemies had simply vanished, the empty halls would have been a nice change of pace from all the games where the enemies respawn endlessly (pretty much every other game I've played), but actually seeing the bodies was surprisingly satisfying. Sometimes I would trek back down to the floor I left off on the long way just to admire my trail of destruction...

I was very disappointed when I discovered that the enemies respawn in Diablo II. (It might have even contributed to my not getting into it as much as the first one.)

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16 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

I was very disappointed when I discovered that the enemies respawn in Diablo II. (It might have even contributed to my not getting into it as much as the first one.)

Totally agree. How can I completely clean the dungeon when the enemies keep reappearing? It's so untidy ...

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7 hours ago, Vorlonagent said:

I do have to say one of my favorite things from D1 was spamming the "Charge Bolt" spell down long hallways in the upper dungeon levels.  The bolts moved slowly but I don't think they gave the bolts a range limit beyond destroying a bolt it when it hit a wall.  I could go back up to town and be topping off my potion supply and suddenly hear the sound of a minor creature getting killed.  That never got old for me.

I loved this spell as well. I'd spam it endlessly. There was this one time where I was really badly hurt after a massive fight and then a monster I'd missed started to come for me and I thought, "Well, I'm toast." Then somewhere in the distance there was a squeak as some creature died from residual charged bolt spam and I leveled up, instantly returning to full health and mana. And then that monster was toast instead.

I still resent Blizzard passing my character the idiot ball at the end of the game, though. They could just as well have had some surviving NPC do it, but nooooooo.

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