3489 Door Stops
on February 16, 2022
Characters: Captain Ajira, Captain Lilianne Carruthers, Lexa Dumas, Lucas Greyfort, Sulaaf al'Shamshir
Location: Abbey of St. Aldwin the Skilled
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Captain Carruthers, who is tall but not exceptionally so, manages to loom over Lexa, who is like eleven feet tall.
She wears special hydraulic looming boots, doesn’t she?
You can loom over anyone if you have the right aura.
Ah, the fatal character flaw shows itself again. Never, ever rely upon intimidation. It backfires just often enough to make it unreliable.
I am surprised that the simplest method, using a weak paste or even a wax seal was not mentioned. For a quick and dirty way of showing that a door was locked, a bit of oatmeal will do the trick. Easy to miss, though it does work more like a glue.
Carruthers, next time carry a sealing wax candle and use your ring of office. Or was the issue with trying to seal the shipment of glassware last year a sore point? I have heard people complain about the glass sealing, after all.
> I am surprised that the simplest method, using a weak paste or even a wax seal was not mentioned.
You mean sideways, between the door and the frame? I just didn’t think of it.
Which is very frustrating, because Carruthers would have.
> glass sealing
Nice one.
t!
One other thing that I remember from when I was into spy novels was a good spy would have something like a scrap of paper wedged in the door, to see if someone was in while they were gone. Good spies would have that, and an even more subtle tell like a human hair since most spooks knew the trick. I would make more puns about leaving doors open just a tiny bit, but I cannot crack jokes about it.
I would say Carruthers is our Inspector Japp: very good and competent with what she knows, but lacks the imagination to come up with new ideas. Thus the idea of a seal is not considered when she already knows methods her mentor taught her.
My beloved Quiller used the paper often.
I’ve seen a film where the spy sticks hairs across the door and a drawer – Dr. No, maybe. I wouldn’t trust that method, personally: I don’t trust saliva to be sticky enough long-term and I wouldn’t want a false positive.
In Carruthers’ case, neither of those suits her purposes. A spy wants to know if someone is investigating them, without the opposition knowing it, but the Captain needs to be less subtle – she wants her methods to be a deterrent.
t!
That doesn't mean that *everything* should be obvious though. If someone *isn't* deterred, then if they can clearly see all of the seals they can try to leave them intact after they are done. Having the obvious ones *and* a subtle one or two would be more likely to catch out anyone who *did* dare to try.
Normally I would agree with you, however my barbarian lady, Skarlett, disagrees as she now has a Goblin minion after a Nat 20 in my first ever D&D game last night.
Strictly by yelling
Aw, scared into falling in love! So Goblin. And congrats on your initiation into the world of D&D! Welcome to the club!!
Thank you sir. Only taken me the time I found your comic to getting my own character sheet. So… 5 years?
It can be tough to get (a) the expensive books and (b) a group to play with. Heck, it took me longer than that after moving away from my hometown to find a regular group again!
My personal title for this one will be, Extremism.
Rich & I should go back, change the name of the last strip, call it Revisionism.
t!
I feel like the bit about delicate fabrics getting telltale fraying was supposed to be told by Carruther.
Nah. Lexa is the one looking directly at the door handle, so the bubble on that has to be hers. She’s commenting on Carruthers’ technique, which means the first bubble would also be hers.
Right, and the "Naturally" response belongs to Carruthers.
So clearly, Lexa (and maybe all the Kingswords) is trained in the same investigative techniques Carruthers uses. If cooperation breaks down (whether through mistrust or actual nefarious motives) and they end up working at cross purposes, then it will be an interesting showdown.
Set a cop to catch a cop…
Huh, come to think of it, Taurenil’s book- what if she’s secretly a bookie to those betting on who wins the tournament? If a portion of he proceeds also go towards the monastery upkeep, but she gets the odds wrong due to the long period of time between this and the previous tournament… Well whoever bet on the odds she gave would have more motive than anyone who actually played in the tournament? Would it not? It would also be motive for the perpetrator to steal the book as it might have incriminating information once the ledger portion was decrypted…
That isn't really how bookmaking works though. Odds are simply based on who people are betting on, calculated so that no matter who wins the bookie makes a profit. This doesn't require any knowledge about the competitors that could have become stale.
That woman must be fun at parties.
More twists, more character development, all great–but today I’m here for the Quiller shout-out.
You have honestly made my day.
I was on the Quiller YahooGroup in the late ’90s. Great times.
t!
Glad to help!
If I’d known there was a Quiller YahooGroup (never thought to search for it), I’d have been all over it back then.
Great balance of action and introspection in that series. I like to think of it as the mid-point between Fleming/Bond action fantasy (not as crazy as the films, though), and the more cerebral approach of John LeCarre.
And Hall’s writing style is second to none.
t!