2014/03/13 - [DMFA #1468] The Fun Keeps Going

[Rafe]

Well, I Guess Mehlata has more going for her than we thought - a bit scary, perhaps, but I assume Kria will enjoy this challenge.
And where is her brain ayway?

[Madd the Sane]

I'm guessing not with the body.

[Kuzma Volkov]

So many bad jokes to be made by someone who's mostly skeleton and claims their brain isn't in their head...

[Rafe]

Also, nice smoking hole where her head was formerly located.  I don't think I've ever seen that effect before.  
You can always depend on Amber for that kind of bizarre, original imagery.

[joshofspam]

That's actual pretty awesome looking and it loos like she got one of Kria's wings to.

Though Kria doesn't do anymore then a slight noise like she might have had an extreme jolt of static electricity shock her. Kria can certainly be tough or maybe it's simply the suddenness of it all.

Score:
Mehlata: Get's one wing.
Kria: gets a head.
So who do think is leading this fight?

[Riddle78]

...She just bored a hole through Kria's wing. Straight through the primary bone. She's gonna need some serious magic to patch that up. And something tells me such an injury is mighty painful,too. Still,pretty good aim,without sight...That is,assuming,she doesn't have a magickal replacement for sight. However,I have to wonder: If her brain wasn't in her head,and everything from the navel down's gold-plated skeleton,then where is it? Right breast? Crazy prepared,but one has to wonder how she survived the brain relocation procedure. Unless she's one of the proto-undead,like Devin?

[Lorien077]

Ahaha awesome didn't expect that.  (Neither the alternative brain location or the rather nasty hit to Kria's wing)  I think she wins for most hardcore undead.

[Demont]

I don't Mehlata is going to land anymore hits on Kria.

[Kibin]

Considering undead don't need their brain in contact with their body in any way to control it(as shown by various instances of undead being decapitated and moving their body just fine to pick up their head)...

I'd guess that the brain in in a safe location, far away from her actual body. And thus not in any actual danger with the fighting.

Except of course for destruction of the body, and being an immortal brain in a jar somewhere. ...can they reconstruct their body or connect themselves to an artificial body?

[ZacAttac21]

Stand back guys, I got this!

Kick her tail, Kria!

Use your head, Sherri!

Just wing it!

[Techcubi]

Sherri's pretty shocked, and possibly very freaked out.

[MT Hazard]

Seems Kria should have used the full version of the 'undead to dust' spell. Also Mahlata seems to have a spare set of ears and vocal cords as well as not keeping her brain in her head, that's forward planing.

[Eboreg]

Seems Kria should have used the full version of the 'undead to dust' spell. Also Mahlata seems to have a spare set of ears and vocal cords as well as not keeping her brain in her head, that's forward planing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFQCYpIHLNQ

[ArchTeryx]

...She just bored a hole through Kria's wing. Straight through the primary bone. She's gonna need some serious magic to patch that up. And something tells me such an injury is mighty painful,too. Still,pretty good aim,without sight...That is,assuming,she doesn't have a magickal replacement for sight. However,I have to wonder: If her brain wasn't in her head,and everything from the navel down's gold-plated skeleton,then where is it? Right breast? Crazy prepared,but one has to wonder how she survived the brain relocation procedure. Unless she's one of the proto-undead,like Devin?

Brain in a Jar, powered by some sort of magic.  Long as she's got any functioning body at all, she's going to be fighting.

As for blasting a chunk out of one of Kria's wings, I'd say for our ever-confident demoness, S*%t Just Got Real.

She wanted a fight, boy, now she's got a real fight on her hands.

[ArchTeryx]

...She just bored a hole through Kria's wing. Straight through the primary bone. She's gonna need some serious magic to patch that up. And something tells me such an injury is mighty painful,too. Still,pretty good aim,without sight...That is,assuming,she doesn't have a magickal replacement for sight. However,I have to wonder: If her brain wasn't in her head,and everything from the navel down's gold-plated skeleton,then where is it? Right breast? Crazy prepared,but one has to wonder how she survived the brain relocation procedure. Unless she's one of the proto-undead,like Devin?

Brain in a Jar, powered by some sort of magic.  Long as she's got any functioning body at all, she's going to be fighting, and even if she is blasted to dust, chances are she could "take over" a new body and keep right on going.  And that Soul Jar is going to be far, far away from the main combat.

As for blasting a chunk out of one of Kria's wings, I'd say for our ever-confident demoness, S*%t Just Got Real.

She wanted a fight, boy, now she's got a real fight on her hands.

[Wanderer]

Disintegrating this entire body seems like the logical next step, whether the brain is in it or not.

[Tapewolf]

Brain in a Jar, powered by some sort of magic.  Long as she's got any functioning body at all, she's going to be fighting, and even if she is blasted to dust, chances are she could "take over" a new body and keep right on going.  And that Soul Jar is going to be far, far away from the main combat.

There's probably a fairly limited range.  I'd be a bit surprised if it had more range than, say, a wifi access point.

[Jasae Bushae]

I dunno, some wi fi signals can work for miles. I wouldn't be surprised if she can somehow make thatt  body work across most of the island.
That said though, I seriously doubt she would keep it in a jar or something given how easy it would be for an accident to happen if it wasn't where you could keep an eye on it.

[ArchTeryx]

I dunno, some wi fi signals can work for miles. I wouldn't be surprised if she can somehow make thatt  body work across most of the island.
That said though, I seriously doubt she would keep it in a jar or something given how easy it would be for an accident to happen if it wasn't where you could keep an eye on it.

Bury it in a hidden tomb.  We're STILL digging buried treasure up that was buried in the *18th Century*.  Besides, this isn't wi-fi: this is magic.  Magic can do just about whatever you want it to do if you know how to do it.

However, it's magic that Kria is intimately familiar with, so if anyone can detect a undead's Soul Jar it's her.  Getting TO it when you're already wounded and lost initiative?  Well, that's what makes the fight fun.

[Tuyu]

Seems Kria should have used the full version of the 'undead to dust' spell. Also Mahlata seems to have a spare set of ears and vocal cords as well as not keeping her brain in her head, that's forward planing.

And eyes, unless she's aiming at the sound of Kria's voice.

I shall refrain from speculating where those spare eyes are located...

[Arcblade]

I'm vaguely suspecting the axe, actually.  I have no idea how, but as Kria pointed out, it's a really nice axe. 

[ArchTeryx]

I'm vaguely suspecting the axe, actually.  I have no idea how, but as Kria pointed out, it's a really nice axe. 

That would be a wicked little twist, because Mehlata figured that Kria would want to keep the axe, and so take it intact.

[Naldru]

Somehow, I am expecting a re-enactment of the fight with the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

[ChaosMageX]

Also, nice smoking hole where her head was formerly located.  I don't think I've ever seen that effect before.  
You can always depend on Amber for that kind of bizarre, original imagery.

You know, when I first saw that, the very first thing that came to my mind was Durarara!!, which makes me wonder if that smoke could actually be part of magic that's providing her with sensory information, just like Celty the Dullahan from that anime.

Brain in a Jar, powered by some sort of magic.  Long as she's got any functioning body at all, she's going to be fighting, and even if she is blasted to dust, chances are she could "take over" a new body and keep right on going.  And that Soul Jar is going to be far, far away from the main combat.

There's probably a fairly limited range.  I'd be a bit surprised if it had more range than, say, a wifi access point.

I dunno, some wi fi signals can work for miles. I wouldn't be surprised if she can somehow make thatt  body work across most of the island.
That said though, I seriously doubt she would keep it in a jar or something given how easy it would be for an accident to happen if it wasn't where you could keep an eye on it.

Actually, I believe that somewhere at some point, Amber did mention that there was a limit to the range at which an undead's brain can control severed body parts, but I can't remember exactly where she mentioned it, and whether it was in the forums, a Katbox rant, or a Xepher rant.  I'll see if I can find it.

I know that she definitely mentioned a range limit because before she mentioned it, I had actually envisioned a fan-fiction about an undead practicing the coordination to control their body from miles away, but then her statement ruined that.

If I recall correctly, this limit was somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 to 500 feet.  This means that her brain is likely somewhere inside her chest cavity, most likely above her heart if not in its place, since Undead don't exactly need any other functioning organs to stay "alive".

[Tapewolf]

Looks like there is a limit of about 100ft:
http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,9430.msg370686.html#msg37068
"Generally speaking as long as the bodypart is within 100 feet of the head, it can still function about"

[ChaosMageX]

Looks like there is a limit of about 100ft:
http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,9430.msg370686.html#msg37068
"Generally speaking as long as the bodypart is within 100 feet of the head, it can still function about"

Yep, Word of Amber says that the limit for Undead Modularity is about 100 feet or 30.5 meters:

It will get mentioned in the comic soon, so I figure I'll mention it now.

Because this particular variation of Undead are magically animated, they get to kind of cheat on some of the laws of physics.  For the Undead to be able to move about, all they really need are their bones and their brains.  Hence why Devin's arms are about to move around despite the upper halves being completely devoid of muscle and how Sherri here is pretty much a taxidermy project.  Or how Hannah back a bunch of storyarcs ago was able to still move her body parts despite her head being completely removed. (Generally speaking as long as the bodypart is within 100 feet of the head, it can still function about)

Though now I suppose that this can be revised to being within 100 feet of their BRAIN, which means that she can't just have her brain in a jar hidden somewhere off site, and it's likely centered in her chest cavity.
Her brain probably inside a Ghost In The Shell style brain case rather than a spacious jar it could rattle around inside and get damaged due to her body's movements.

[Tuyu]

Another possibility--brain in a jar mounted on top of 3-4 segments of her tail.  She could store her brain inside her body most of the time (either her chest or her hips look large enough), then remove it and part of her tail for mobile safekeeping when her body's liable to be damaged.

[ChaosMageX]

Another possibility--brain in a jar mounted on top of 3-4 segments of her tail.  She could store her brain inside her body most of the time (either her chest or her hips look large enough), then remove it and part of her tail for mobile safekeeping when her body's liable to be damaged.

Yeah, that is a possibility, although the 100 feet range would basically limit her body's mobility to within an area of a small office building at the largest.  However, if she prepared this building in advance with the ability to seal Kria inside, and stored her brain case inside a safe somewhere in the building prior to the battle, this could work to her advantage.  However, this safe would have to be quite strong and secure in case any stray magic blasts that miss her body in combat end up striking it instead.

Still, whether her brain case is inside her chest cavity or hidden somewhere off-site but still within the modularity range, there's something else that ArchTeryx said that I wonder about...

Brain in a Jar, powered by some sort of magic.  Long as she's got any functioning body at all, she's going to be fighting, and even if she is blasted to dust, chances are she could "take over" a new body and keep right on going.  And that Soul Jar is going to be far, far away from the main combat.

Could an Undead brain be capable of controlling anything other than their original bones and flesh?
Is there a spell that could allow an Undead to have spare body parts, or even "take over" a whole new different body altogether, even if it's an entirely prosthetic body, like Ghost In The Shell?

Since Mehlata is obviously somehow still receiving some form of sensory input and speaking despite the lack of her original head, the answer is probably yes, but whether it can be done to the degree of creating an entirely new body remains to be seen.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Not to feed the tea-drinking, but Amber said "generally"; I read that to mean "maybe. unless something else happens to extend the range."


*cough* Sorry, Ambaargh.

[Tuyu]

Another possibility--brain in a jar mounted on top of 3-4 segments of her tail.  She could store her brain inside her body most of the time (either her chest or her hips look large enough), then remove it and part of her tail for mobile safekeeping when her body's liable to be damaged.

Yeah, that is a possibility, although the 100 feet range would basically limit her body's mobility to within an area of a small office building at the largest.  However, if she prepared this building in advance with the ability to seal Kria inside, and stored her brain case inside a safe somewhere in the building prior to the battle, this could work to her advantage.  However, this safe would have to be quite strong and secure in case any stray magic blasts that miss her body in combat end up striking it instead.

You missed the "mobile" part.  It could be behind a couch in the room right now, and follow after her body if there was a chase...

Tea? I thought it was kook-aid.