Hero Oh Hero

[Welf]

Not sure I'd call snake-woman from the little bit we could see in the comic you linked, although she doesn't look 100% human, for sure.

As to the more recent updates... I'm genuinely impressed with the art level. I wouldn't have thought you could get this kind of atmospherics with spritework, or even the sort of gribbly nightmare-monsters that have been infesting poor Noah's story.

... out of curiousity, would this be equivalent to 16-bit or 32-bit, or does it not translate to that easily?

I think you can see the snake body when you look very closely:



It's interesting that she doesn't stutter in this form. And her stutter doesn't seem to be fake.

I have been reading a bit more recently. A big topic for Noah and the kids was proving their usefulness to the Empire. They certainly did, but the whole incident also proved how dangerous magic users are. In one of the earliest chapters it was mentioned that there will be election in the Empire. I wonder how this incident will affect the mood. Some heads will roll after this. The good ending is that people will realize how useful magic users are the bad ending is that they want to go back to the old time of instantly killing everyone.

Also, what does Veda need Nail for here? Between the attack from Catz and the meeting with Malhart she needed him for something mysterious. I wonder what.

Edit: I think Veda at least had an idea what might happen (and did). She asked for an evacuation of the city. Her scaly behind is covered, so I jope the kids will be too.

[Forum Explorer]

I'm kinda expecting Noah to literally land on Chernyl here. By the power of literally doing nothing and everyone (sometimes literally) carrying him, Noah somehow manages to reach Chernyl first and activate his power by virtue of everyone forgetting he even exists.

[Neoriceisgood]

Not sure I'd call snake-woman from the little bit we could see in the comic you linked, although she doesn't look 100% human, for sure.

As to the more recent updates... I'm genuinely impressed with the art level. I wouldn't have thought you could get this kind of atmospherics with spritework, or even the sort of gribbly nightmare-monsters that have been infesting poor Noah's story.

... out of curiousity, would this be equivalent to 16-bit or 32-bit, or does it not translate to that easily?

In terms of style I mostly take inspiration from super nintendo era visuals, which would be 16-bit. But as I don't limit myself with color restrictions at all, some of my characters are definitely too color-rich for SNES-era graphics. My characters would translate to 16-bit relatively easily though, it'd just reduce their color depth slightly.

[lord_khaine]

I do wish i could see whats actually going on with Nail here, as i assume its crucial.
He.. draws something? a grenade?

[Forum Explorer]

I do wish i could see whats actually going on with Nail here, as i assume its crucial.
He.. draws something? a grenade?

I think it's a small knife like a switchblade. I'm assuming the thud was Noah hitting the ground off screen.

[lord_khaine]

If it walks like a sack of potatoes.. drops like a sack of potatoes..
Then yeah its likely Noah xD

[TeChameleon]

Cool, thanks for the answer, Neorice.

And something odd just occurred to me... is it possible that Veda and maybe Nail are ghouls? It might explain Nail's refusal to believe that Veda could be dead, and the ghouls are definitely up to something far-reaching.

[lord_khaine]

I dont think Nail is a disguised ghoul. In their natural state ghouls have a rather big horn that i dont think the hood would obscure.
While in human shape, high level ghouls are able to blend perfectly. That dont fit with how secretive Nail are.

All this talking does lead to people having forgotten about both Noel and Noah.
And so i do look forward to seeing if Noah, for possibly the first time, will do something heroic?

This have seemed like a massive leadup to Noah -finally- using his power.
And so im wondering if we will get a surprise twist xD
Like Noel taking a step forward, shutting Chernyl down as she is suddenly in range xD

[Welf]

I think it's a small knife like a switchblade. I'm assuming the thud was Noah hitting the ground off screen.

It looks more like a gun to me.

Cool, thanks for the answer, Neorice.

And something odd just occurred to me... is it possible that Veda and maybe Nail are ghouls? It might explain Nail's refusal to believe that Veda could be dead, and the ghouls are definitely up to something far-reaching.

I dont think Nail is a disguised ghoul. In their natural state ghouls have a rather big horn that i dont think the hood would obscure.
While in human shape, high level ghouls are able to blend perfectly. That dont fit with how secretive Nail are.

They might not be from this world. Tobi (apparently) changed worlds, and her grandfather and his crew are from another world too. And he has the ability to break rules, in a way that looks suspiciously like hacking. Maybe Veda has similar abilities and background?
I believe I also saw a few key words; when Nail see Veda tortured he says "This power can't possibly rewrite", and the Hallowman talks about that "someone isn't sticking to the script".

All this talking does lead to people having forgotten about both Noel and Noah.
And so i do look forward to seeing if Noah, for possibly the first time, will do something heroic?

This have seemed like a massive leadup to Noah -finally- using his power.
And so im wondering if we will get a surprise twist xD
Like Noel taking a step forward, shutting Chernyl down as she is suddenly in range xD

I wonder how much good it will do now. Afair he will carry everything he wears with him into the mindscape, and that would include whatever he has in his mouth. So he can't really talk with anyone. And he already had to sell the wish he gets from entering a mindscape.

[lord_khaine]

They might not be from this world. Tobi (apparently) changed worlds, and her grandfather and his crew are from another world too. And he has the ability to break rules, in a way that looks suspiciously like hacking. Maybe Veda has similar abilities and background?
I believe I also saw a few key words; when Nail see Veda tortured he says "This power can't possibly rewrite", and the Hallowman talks about that "someone isn't sticking to the script".

By all accounts, its less that Tobi is from another world, and more that for unknown reasons her Grandfather+crew settled in some ancient virtual world.
Key hint there being that people bleed as the only thing in Tobi's world.

I think your reading slightly to much into those 2 comments though. It seems more likely Nail just refers to the nightmare reality being unable to overwrite whatever twisting defence Veda has.
While the hallowman is just cranky people isnt behaving like expected, in this case a sudden instruction for Nail to kill the girl.

I wonder how much good it will do now. Afair he will carry everything he wears with him into the mindscape, and that would include whatever he has in his mouth. So he can't really talk with anyone. And he already had to sell the wish he gets from entering a mindscape.

I also think your taking the wish thing a little to figurative here. It seemed more like an instruction on what to do with his power.
And while he has a weird thing in his mouth, possibly Chernyl could get it out of given a bit of peace.
Certainly the Grey Child did have some specific instructions for Noah on what to do, when encountering Chernyl.

edit.
Alright on further evidence, its possible someone has made a wish for immortality.

[Frozenstep]

Today's page has me in stitches. This nightmare's been watching from the start...of course he'd never let anyone with a dangerous power get anywhere close enough to stop his plans. Very intelligent.

But who could predict a character that literally never uses their powers even when its a life or death situation? I'm with Noel here, this is hilarious.

[Neoriceisgood]

http://neorice.com/hoh_3074

Chapter drop for today starts here, another one tomorrow. Enjoy!

[Forum Explorer]

What justice system are they even worried about? Though I am curious at what Evyle's play is here.

[Welf]

By all accounts, its less that Tobi is from another world, and more that for unknown reasons her Grandfather+crew settled in some ancient virtual world.
Key hint there being that people bleed as the only thing in Tobi's world.

We don#t know where Tobi's peolöe are from, but they are not human. She has pointy ears and claw paws. But maybe she is related to elves or similar crweatures.

I think your reading slightly to much into those 2 comments though. It seems more likely Nail just refers to the nightmare reality being unable to overwrite whatever twisting defence Veda has.
While the hallowman is just cranky people isnt behaving like expected, in this case a sudden instruction for Nail to kill the girl.

Maybe. I wasn't sleeping well in recent days.

I also think your taking the wish thing a little to figurative here. It seemed more like an instruction on what to do with his power.
And while he has a weird thing in his mouth, possibly Chernyl could get it out of given a bit of peace.
Certainly the Grey Child did have some specific instructions for Noah on what to do, when encountering Chernyl.

edit.
Alright on further evidence, its possible someone has made a wish for immortality.

From what Noel said it seems Noah's wishes mostly affect his own spirit. But he will be in Cheryl's mind who has almost infinite power of creation, albeit it seems only for creating nightmares.


I did a reread. Turned out, the Empire isn't really that powerful. It's neither one of the 5 military most powerful countries, nor is it even the runner up.

Also, there was a comic before the current comic. The old version starts here. First comic from 2009. Somehow I missed that comic, although I was really into webcomics in that time.

http://neorice.com/hoh_3074

Chapter drop for today starts here, another one tomorrow. Enjoy!

So that is who the masked person was that I kept seeing. I wonder what Melphred has to keep De Vilette in check.

[Whispri]

I do enjoy this comic, Noah's story especially.

With regards to the current page and the on going fight with Evyle's assistant... while it's all going well... will he have any tricks to pull if he realises magic simply isn't going to work?

[Kantaki]

You know, Morty is kind of pathetic.
I mean, every individual thing we've seen from him would be fine, but everything together?
I really wouldn't mind Burk punching him some more.

But I guess he has a point about the cat not being competition for the position of Vonesperda's pet.
Cats have to much pride for that.

And really Morty?
I'm really not one to judge what people do in private.
But there should be some distance between business and pleasure.

Vonesperda seems like a fun villain though.
That smile is infectious.
Let's hope Burk doesn't wipe it off when he inevitably punches them in the face.

[Grim Portent]

Huh, well Morty is a whole level of weird. If this were Warhammer he'd be a Slaanesh cultist for sure.

He's also got the willpower of a potato though, so he wouldn't be a very good one, but I think he might enjoy being a failure.

[lord_khaine]

Well holy smokes. Talk about a small bomb.
We knew something was up with Burk's shoulder devils.
But its still a revelation that an esper can see them.

[Kantaki]

New comic

So Burk's buddies aren't actively helping him..
Not in the granting him power sense at least.
But they could. I'm not sure what'd be more terrifying, Burk withva power up or the enemy forcing him to accept it.

Defeat means friendship is a pretty good explanation for those two though. Very classic. Beat some sense in them, get a cheer squad.

The reason for Burk's power seems to remain „He's Burk“ then.

[Whispri]

So does shifting colours mean that some people's colours were changed, or that some people's starting locations were swapped?

If the colours changed, it means that the paladin Shahlia, the minion Bernice, the secret agent Housten, Jay-Jay and this yellow fellow weren't vetted. If the starting locations were moved, then it's the person in the smile costume, Jay-Jay, Levin, Foxy and the yellow chap.

[lord_khaine]

The reason for Burk's power seems to remain „He's Burk“ then.

We already got a plausible explanation in him being an Esper Savant.
His physical feats are vaguely in line with the non-magical royal guards.

So does shifting colours mean that some people's colours were changed, or that some people's starting locations were swapped?

Good job compiling the list.
Honestly both options are equally suspect. So impossible to tell how they were shifted before further information is acquired.

[Whispri]

Is it just me or is the 'daily page' banner actively counting down to something? It says 'less than fifty days' now and I'm pretty sure it said 'less than sixty days' earlier.

Regardless, that machine, is that the point of the experiment? To bribe people into creating valuable things in the mine, that the smilers then seize? It does seem odd that such things weren't dismantled.

[Grim Portent]

I don't know if dismantling a machine filled with the blood of mages connected to chaos spirits would safe.

IIRC the whole reason these mines were shut down was that it was decided they were too unethical to keep going because of the toll they had on their workers. If dismantling the machines endangers more people then it's not unreasonable to just seal the mines off and leave them to rust and collapse under the weight of time and the odd geological movement. Ideally you'd find a way to safely destroy the black water, black crystal and the machines with their contents in their entirety so they can't endanger anyone at any point, but that probably isn't possible because the whole thing is basically magically radioactive poison.

As for why the smile foundation wants it turned on, that's another big question. In theory they could have just hired people who didn't know any better to do it for them, and why let a Paladin who will almost certainly not want to let it happen into the game if that's the plan? There's definitely some sort of corporate conspiracy stuff going on, that the whole thing isn't a normal death game has been stated a few times now, but I don't feel like we've gotten enough information to speculate on the purpose yet.

[Kantaki]

Yeah, very much with Miss Paladin on this. No turning on that machine. Can't possibly be good.

And I'm kinda reminded of a quest in Drakensang River of Time.
Basically, at one point you have to fight a demon that some ancient wizards bound as a watchdog sabertooth cat and experimented on.

Cause why not try and make a embodiment of primordial chaos more dangerous, right?

Anyway, those guys were a tad smarter than the usual sort of precursors and mad scientists. So, they sealed the thing off and- in a incredible display of foresight created some glyphs that can shut down the buffs they gave the thing. Which again, puts them way ahead in the brains department as far as such things go.

So, the predicable happens. Your party needs something from the bad news side of the ruins. So like any not completely brain-dead adventurers you gather the demon debuffing macguffins.

Enter Archon Megalon (Which seems to translate to collosal jerk the way he acts) big shot magic guy researching the oh so pleasant topic of fear. So he makes you an offer: You go fight the demon and afterwards he will exchange any unused glyphs for rewards. The more the better obviously.
Something about fear vs. greed and with is the greater motivator.

So this set up might be similar, assuming this isn't just about creating ghouls or reactivating the mines.
Does greed override fear?
Is the massive reward- actually needed to escape to complicate matters -more appealing than self-preservation and the desire not to make this deathtrap even worse?

[Grim Portent]

I'm kind of expecting that the twist is going to be that the Smile Foundation isn't actually in charge anyway, but rather they've been working on incomplete information themselves, and have been manipulated by an outside force, belong to a parent organisation or are a front for a clandestine backer of some kind. I would assume something to do with ghouls.

Assuming this wasn't some sort of trick, we can infer that the game or experiment has gotten out of control, at least from the perspective of the hosts.

To expand on this train of thought, ghouls brought Tobi to this game, the game is taking place in an abandoned black crystal mine, said mine turns out to contain the alchemically altered blood of Pandemonium mages, the one such mage* who has died during the game turned into a ghoul unusually fast. Lot of ghoul related weirdness.


*I'm pretty sure Infinite was classified as a Pandemonium mage but can't be bothered to go look for the pages that detailed the differences right now. I think their gimmick is being the ones with spirits like his.

[lord_khaine]

Infinity was a pandemonium mage yes. So is Jay-Jay.

Anyway. I also think its pretty clear the Smile foundation had some overtly complex test/experiment running.
Likely on a lot of things. But plausibly including sociology and behavior.

I just also think its pretty clear that the original plan is sabotaged by whatever force thats behind the ghouls.
Obviously something weird is going on. But i think we lack to many pieces of information to make it clear what that is.

[Gez]

Did Levin screw himself up? If he wasn't lying here about destroying his note, then according to Tobi's note, he cannot leave the maze.

[Forum Explorer]

Did Levin screw himself up? If he wasn't lying here about destroying his note, then according to Tobi's note, he cannot leave the maze.

Tobi's note says 'card' not note. Now maybe the note is the card, and Tobi's assumption that it refers to their 'lucky animal' card is incorrect, but that seems like a leap of logic.

[lord_khaine]

It seems likely that the cards they need yeah. They already found one.
https://www.neorice.com/hoh_tobi_3204

Else. At last! Noah is free of that dumb thing.
He must have worn it for what ½ a year?

[Kantaki]

Ciel and Noah are always great together.
Good thing he picked the physical manifestation upgrade though.
As entertaining a extended miming session would be...


Ciel shows real potential as a hoarder adventurer too, lugging that jaw trap thingy around. Never throw anything out. It could be useful later.
If Noah turns motor mouth for example.

And the inside of Chernyl's head being empty when her power runs wild makes sense, now that it's pointed out. Kinda expected a "out of the frying pan into the fireplace*" situation.

*Or a bigger pan at least.