Fiat Lux
Archive Random
Fiat Lux
19th Apr 2016, 11:01 PM in Season One - Part 4: Havenport Hardcore
Average Rating: 5 (15 votes)
Author Notes:
Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
Part one of Mercy's tactics: disorient and disable your enemy. Bright lights, especially when they start as a little glowy thing that appears out of nowhere, would tend to draw a lot of attention.

Once again, this page has some experimentation to it...

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User comments:
Lord Myk
Lord Myk
Bonus points if she had made it look like a fairy. Still, 9/10 for style and effectiveness.
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
And she still has much more for them... :)
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argylefox
argylefox
Did she just flash them?!
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
Yes. Yes she did. :D
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Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit
Woah! D:
Scary! H-hopefully that's not permanent!
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
Are you permanently blinded by a bright flash? :P
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lirvilas
lirvilas
The equivalent of throwing sand in an opponent's eyes. I'll bet she goes for "small joint manipulation" and other below-the-belt tactics as well...

@Seabiz: I think retina damage is about to be the least of these assholes' worries...
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
When faced with superior numbers (or any numbers, really), CHEAT!

There is no "honor" in a real fight like this!
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lirvilas
lirvilas
Brah, she can drop a dumpster on their kneecaps for all I care. However, it's tough to get actionable intel out of dudes with broken necks.
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
If it came to it, one word: necromancy. :P
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argylefox
argylefox
No honour, and no mercy.
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azureXtwilight
azureXtwilight
Oooh, I like the lighting effects!
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
Thanks! That was the main experiment!
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azureXtwilight
azureXtwilight
You should do it more often! :'D
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jamie59
jamie59
Are those shades she's wearing or welders goggles?
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
They're shades with a little extra (read "magical") help.
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Shirokuro
Shirokuro
Miagic is pretty handy ondeed :3
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
It really is. Too bad using it all the time in the open is a REALLY bad idea...
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anonymous coward (Guest)
My favourite take on the idea involved making fun of a bad misspelling. The word 'disoriented' sometimes gets misspelled as 'disorientated.' To make fun of this I had a nature mage that specialized in plants invent the, 'disorientato.' This was a magical potato, that when thrown acts as a flash-bang along with smoke, nausea and balance-disrupting effects in an area when it hits something. Fully edible too, eating them granted resistance to the effects. The egrenade versions were pineapples of course.

Disappointed this wasn't a pineapple, but I suppose it's bad form to start a brawl by hucking lethal area effects around.
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sigpig
sigpig
Re: area effect ammo. Try telling that to the US military... lol
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anonymous coward (Guest)
The USDoD has wisely recognized that the whims of politicians should be served by the absolute minimum of violence and destruction possible because politicians don't tend to give much of a shit about blowback after their term is up (and often don't appreciate the problems that can manifest while they still are in office either). This means their arsenal is broadening and deepening towards the high-discretion and minimally-lethal ranges in use of force.
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
The key here is that she needs information, and it's harder to get that from bits and pieces...

Awesome story, though!
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anonymous coward (Guest)
I dunno about that. These are obviously thugs low in clue, so chances are Mercy only needs their personal effects, names and addresses to go find someone much better to interrogate than these two.
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Miaubol
Miaubol
Wow.. o.O

Thank goodness for shades indeed!

I love it how he's still smiling while saying "fuck! I'm blind!" xD
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
...I am so busted. In that panel, I was re-using a previous panel, and I thought I had gotten it obscured enough... :(
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Miaubol
Miaubol
I see everything... ;P

Ha ha just keep it, I think it makes a particular cool effect xD
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Travis
Travis
When I saw the light coming at them, I immediately thought of Spawn #1. These guys are fairing much better so far..
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
I am not going to pretend that I didn't own a copy (or two, let's be honest) of Spawn #1...

As far as how they are faring, just wait... :P
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ZeroGee
ZeroGee
Shiny!
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
Big light tends to get that way. :)
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Microraptor
Microraptor
Some people have an actual reason to wear their sunglasses at night!
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
I so have a song in my head right now... but yes, some do (and it's more than just "because it looks cool").
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anonymous coward (Guest)
In this situation it seems to help her see the light that's right before her eyes, but they're no doubt useful for tracking visions and watching the weaving of magic among other things. :P
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
TBH, the tracking of visions and the weave of magic, as you put it, is inborn to Mercy as a sorcerer. The shades are more defensive in nature. And they look cool! :)
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anonymous coward (Guest)
*facepalm* Good show, I try to make a joke about the lyrics and....
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Delta-v
Good start, good start. ^^
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
Thank you, thank you! And we're just getting started!
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NeilKapit
NeilKapit
Somehow this is more interesting and impressive than if she burned them alive, probably because that level of magic would bring a street magician too much unwanted attention
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
Most of what she pulls here can be explained away...

And burning alive? Yeeowch!
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AmeliaP
AmeliaP
Now makes sense why she's using shades at night. :)
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Professor Etheric
Professor Etheric
They aren't just for looks. ;)
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