The Calamitous Bob 68: Swing of the Pendulum

Viv was also a combat medic, she was trained to fight and has experience but her role was pulling people out of the line of fire and holding them together long enough to for a doctor to fix them. This is her first large scale battle against actual humans where she is the main force multiplier AND has no one telling her what to do.

Avery Aderyn

yeah, I can see that. There were enough hints from his prior actions that that is kind of his go-to playbook, I just hadn't latched onto the pattern fully. TY!

fbt

lol I was refreshing when i saw this...

Morog T Tiny

In twelve hours or so, stop refreshing lol.

Mecanimus

I know that I will get an email when the new chapter is released, but I can't help keep refreshing the page to check if it's up or not

Edy

The upside is he gets to continue to browbeat the dehumanization of his enemies into the minds of his followers, it saves him having to put the work into properly disposing of the bodies by giving them a warrior's burial, and it strokes his ego and likely leaves him with a throbbing hate boner to gratify himself with. Win, win, and win. The prince is a demagogue grabbing for a cheap, quick, and easy means to manipulate those who are following him. Dehumanizing and demonizing the enemy is demagoguery 101.

Melting Sky

oh I didn't mean "folks aren't dicks" or "folks don't do stuff like that" I meant what was his upside in this specific instance? I'd expect all of his moves to be calculated, and this seems to have no obvious benefit. The only thing I can see is attempting to further polarize those that bought into his scheme vs the local victims. Yeah, I guess that's prolly it, sort of a "keeping it sold" move to keep his supporters entrenched and at odds w/ the locals.

fbt

Desecrating the remains of a fallen enemy is pretty standard fare for human garbage. We literally have videos of modern US marines doing this and they are supposed to be "the best of the best." I don't see how it could be considered remotely unrealistic for some opportunistic prince who is trying to paint his enemy as subhuman to do something like this.

Melting Sky

Not only Chinese culture, the dark and middle ages were the same in the west as well

Edy

There is a justification but honestly I'm surprised at how people seem to think that being a dick is so unrealistic. In Chinese culture, what he has done is nothing.

Mecanimus

welp, the prince really seems to be going out of his way to paint himself into a corner. rly, what good did that move do him? doesn't seem to make sense to me, except for story reasons (making the reader hate him more...presumably that wasn't his goal unless he's way more meta than we've seen and has some crazy scheme around that).

fbt

Nah I don't think that pans out. Her leadership role wasn't intensive at all here. There were no complex tactics or anything. Her role once the fight started was to mostly be a live artillery piece which she has had some experience already. Her Earth combat experiences would help her to think in life or death stress situations so it'd be veeerrryyy relevant here.

tibbish

It was her first fight against an organized and professional army. The fight before was against marauders who were neither organized nor professional. Other fights were against monster. Also her first battle as a leader. Her previous combat experience from Earth is not much worth since it doesnt translate to medieval combat (and magic).

Thorlol

Varska 🥺

Adam Mesa

Will group edit mistakes soon. Thanks!

Mecanimus

It's not like hesitating to go on the offensive for like the first 30 seconds of battle can even really be called "noobishly inexperienced." This battle honestly went incredibly well. It also highlighted just how incredibly devastating magic users are in this world and why they are so revered. She was basically the equivalent of a precision one-man rapid fire artillery battery. In a world where wars are fought primarily hand to hand and soldiers are packed together side by side in their battle formations, an offensive caster like Vivian would be devastating to face.

Melting Sky

Some of the Hadals were present in this battle so they may very well be the reason that she only ever ran into a single sniper. That and the fact that snipers are likely archers which are very far into their paths makes them very valuable resources. The prince may have simply taken the rest with him. Remember taking this town was just a smash and grab for him. He was likely loath to leave a significant portion of his forces behind when he has a war to fight. I do wonder what happened to the guy who jumped out of the mill. It would actually be pretty funny if he is just sitting there with two broken legs.

Melting Sky

A combination of laziness and malice, everyone that dies in this region will eventually become undead unless their bodies are properly disposed of which takes time and effort. Why not just toss them out into the dead lands where they will be somebody else's problem tomorrow. Remember the Prince isn't sticking around. Tossing them is easier and more offensive to the enemy than cremating or giving the bodies a proper burial which is what they would need to do since the entire church fled with the town and I doubt holy men would have been a part of the prince's contingent given their nature.

Melting Sky

She wasn't in a leadership position during any of her past experiences. She had a clear role and knew what she was supposed to do. Now she is the leader and has to make her own judgments. Seems plausible to me that she would hesitate.

Seems weird to portray her as noobishly inexperienced when she has already been through 1 big fight in that world and some combat on Earth. Otherwise the chapter is fine

tibbish

Thanks for the chapter. Poor Viv she will have to kill undead Varska *Sad Squee*

Archaea2567

Kill'em all, Viv.

Jon

I doubt the Temple will be happy with what the Prince just did. However, Viv needs to watch out for the Snipers - looks like they are going to take a shot at her after the battle is done and when she is not surrounded by soldiers and Marruk. (Though admittedly that will leave them open to interference from the Hadals). She needs to find an Enchanter some-where and order an [Arrow-Ward] amulet - something that can deflect just one big arrow before recharging. Once the surprise factor from Ambush is gone, she will have no problem dealing with these Archers.

lenkite

Considering the number of undead it probably doesnt matter much.

Lino

Wouldn't be the first time evil just for evil's sake is self-defeating.

Kota

Thanks for the chapter Small typo on page 10 Viv let the Tempe Guard handle them ->Viv let the Temple Guard handle them

The Stars Align

Yeah, that's a nasty thing to do with the dead. There certainly is going to be hell to pay. Thanks for the chapter.

mogust (Issy)

Why would you drop remains in the deadlands... thats just creating work for yourself

Amelgar

Arg, always more of those

Mecanimus

Also there is a typo towards the bottom of page 10 I think? Size instead of side.

Gwendolyn Simmons-LaRose

I... Really liked this chapter. It was very good. And I'm excited for Viv to do more stuff in the deadlands, and for her to absolutely destroy this prince and everything he wants.

Gwendolyn Simmons-LaRose

Thank you!

Andrew