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Swords, Sorcery, And Then Some!
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Going by the 4th panel, Tiff clearly won’t take no for an awnser.
I sense she’s about to beat the hair coloring out of him. I so hope I’m not wrong.
Note the look that the unicorn is giving Tiff. I think that the “entertainment” is just about to start.
The dwarves don’t make it look as if refusing the challenge is considered an option.
Hey, look his back is turned. The best place for stabbing people! Okay, its better if they are asleep at the time too, but small mercies right?
Please don’t let Denver have an attack of chivalry though and want to defend Tiff’s honour, he’d be dead within seconds (unless he dragon-powered up, which would just raise even more problems). He’s going to have an attack of chivalry, isn’t he; facepalm in 5, 4, 3, 2…
I bet he’d fight if the unicorn goosed him…
The title is Jerk. But I’m thinking Punk.
And “Melan-knee” proves his cowardice once again. Pushes her off the unicorn but “won’t fight a woman” when challenged properly. Karma is going to bite him in the a!s. Don’t know if Karma will take the form of a unicorn or a scroll from the assassin’s guild with Melan-knee’s name on it.
Guess he has to learn the hard way about5 turning your back to an angry woman …
even she is an atifical/temporary woman.
Okay, I have been wondering this for a few pages now. What is he, Snow White with the seven dwarves? Why is the big bad leader of a barbarian tribe hanging out with so many dwarves? Where are the other barbarians? Why are the dwarves working for him? Is his wife a dwarf?
So I had a sudden thought. Niels and Bohr wouldn’t happen to have regular discussions on the structure of the Atom, would they? And would those discussions happen to be in Danish?
As predicted, challenge refused.
Which is understandable, accepting it is a lose-lose situation for Mel. Even if he wins, he will be branded as “the guy who fights women” for life by the other barbarians. His only way out of it would be to disarm Tiff without using a weapon himself, put her over his knee and teach her a lesson in respecting her betters (thinking like a barbarian here). However, Mel probably understands that he will not be able to pull this off.
On the other hand, as @David had mentioned, his hand may be forced by the dwarves, who probably have a different outlook on those things. I don’t believe that they will physically force him to fight Tiff, but they may “hint” that it would be politically expedient to do so by, say, refuse to deny Tiff’s party passage. Also, as @Jakobs said, Tiff is both able and willing to escalate the situation. She is smart and most likely will read the board correctly. Thus, attacking Mel from behind is out, but deriding him for “running away from a woman” will either enrage him enough to immediately attack or force him to otherwise deal with the situation to avoid losing face/honor with the dwarves. It is a dangerous gamble but I assume that Tiff knows her brother very well while Mel is either still thinking of her as his old brother Typhan (just stuck in a woman’s body) or considers her “just a woman”.
Mel is screwed either way. He is probably cursing himself for letting things get to this point instead of ordering the dwarves to dispatch the party immediately. I would like to think that this was all a part of Tiff’s plan from the beginning, it would make her a much more interesting character.
So, assuming that a confrontation is inevitable, how should it go?
I, for one, disagree with @Vipre that Tiff can beat Mel. I presented my reasoning on a prior panel’s discussion but briefly: Tiff is smaller, lighter and weaker as a woman than when he was a man, and even then he was most likely not the absolute best barbarian fighter (he’s be the chieftain otherwise). But most importantly: stories with invincible super-hero protagonists invariably suck.
One interesting option for Tiff would be to taunt Mel (see above) then turn her back on him, assuming that he would lose it and COWARDLY attack her from behind. This gambit could work if Mel is stopped at the last moment by either the dwarves or by Niels (with the dwarves’ tacit approval). And, yes, I don’t have a problem with Niels being a superhuman fighter because (a) he’s not the protagonist of the story, and (b) Urtica, being who he is, would insist on having the best bodyguards bar none, and has the means to recruit and retain them.
I’d like seeing Tiff change the rules of the game and beat Mel at poker while he still thinks they’re playing football…
While this would be my preferred scenario, there are alternatives.
For example, Tiff has already demonstrated that she’s very good with throwing knives. She could goad Mel into rushing her and embedd a dagger in his throat before he reaches a striking distance. The laws of physics being what they are, I doubt he’ll manage to change his course to avoid it, and he won’t be able to block it if he’s busy drawing both his swords at the time.
Come to think of it, killing Mel would not be the best outcome, even if Tiff could manage it. Disabling him would be better, so targeting his knee, both wrists (two daggers, assuming Tiff is ambidextrous enough), etc.
Hell, Tiff could even bet on the fact that Mel has never fought a quick, nimble and flexible opponent half his size; dive under his attack, roll and hamstring him. That would most likely satisfy the readers that want her to “kick his a!s” without making her fighting prowess too unbelievable.
Personally though, I’d prefer if she outwitted him instead. I like a good battle of wits (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xecrw_battle-of-wits-princess-bride_shortfilms)
Ant there is always @CPUGuy1’s suggestion (from the previous strip) of a family/clan ritual to test their courage without directly pitting their strength one against the other.
Ho, and by the way, @CPUGuy1, Tiff’s situation is permanent.
The Dwarfs look P@ssed!! But thank the gods there not 7.
The dwarves look at him in a kind of funny way. Whoop de doo.
Why do I have the feeling that he’s gonna be Melanie sometime in the near future?
@OhMarioWV
I don’t think you alone there.
Is this a village of Barbarians or just male dwarves ruled by a jerk?
At the current point of time, handing the scroll with the assassination contract to the head dwarf would likely give it reasonably safe passage to the village. It is not likely Mel could kill everyone and get away. His best bet would be grabbing and destroying it in a fit of feigned rage, but that would have to be pulled off immediately to be remotely believable, and it would not help his position.
@crypticmirror with the swords crossing his back plus the huge staple it isn’t the easiest of targets.
The good thing about his rig is that if he draws the swords he will prove that he isn’t human and will loose the support of the dwarves and his clan.
The dwarves look sad to me. Like “aww, I don’t get to beat someone up?” sad.
I Still think Tiff has a chance at beating her brother, we really don’t know why she left the village. also we don’t know what her standing was before she left. Tiff’s biggest advantage is she is adaptive when it comes to battle. when her head is clear she tends to win. her major loses comes when when is clouded by anger. Tiff also has proven not to be the “DUMB BLONDE” male or female and is clever. whether this is a family trait or not is yet to be seen.