Porthos
2007-05-31, 12:41 AM
I know I said I wasn't going to try and do this in the Discussion Thread, but what can I say? I just failed my Save vs Geeking Out. :smallbiggrin: :smalltongue:
I want to see just how long the battle between Xykon and Soon lasted and see if it is at all possible with the timeline that we know. At every single step of the way, I will try and take the lowest number possible, but leave comments on where it could be longer:
# of rounds the Xykon/Soon battle lasted between Comic #449 and #459:
Premise: As we can see in Comic #449 (Hinjo seeing that Xykon has entered the room) and Comic #450 (Tsukiko is firing upon the battlements) and Comic #451 (Redcloak gets word that Belkar [from 450] is going crazy on the battlefield] that all of these comics take place more or less at the same time. While a few rounds have surely passed (like the two rounds later comment in #450), these comics aren't being seen out of sequence.... at least not enough to matter.
At the very least, we are not jumping back in time by a couple of minutes. So, to make things as simple as possible, I am going to say with this timeline that Redcloak summoned his Fiendish Mammoth just as Soon was appearing. It requires Comic #450 to be two or three rounds in the past, but that's allowable because it still gives time for Tsukiko to turn traitor:
1) Rounds for the Fiendish Mammoth to cross the Battlefield: 4-5 (max of approx 18 rounds)
Looking at the scale, and factoring in the range of Heavy Catapults (200' range increments), I am going to put Redcloak about 600 feet away from the Castle Walls. This is hugely debateable, of course, and I admit that it is just My Wild Assed Guess. The Fiendish Mammoth can Quad Move at 160. However, the Hobgobins (as long as they aren't in Heavy Armor) can only move at 120 (x4 run speed). And the Mammoth was seen keeping pace with them, so it obviously wasn't using its full Quad Move every turn.
This is one of the biggest factors on the time. If they are more than 600 feet away, then it takes more than 5 rounds for them to travel the distance. At the most, they can be 2200 feet away (10 range increments for a Heavy Catapult).
If people think they are farther away than 600 feet, I won't quibble. :smallbiggrin:
2) Time to cross the courtyard and enter the inner gate: 2 rounds
This looks like a simple Double Move to me, which for a Fiendish Mammoth would be 80 feet per round. Depending on how wide the courtyard was, it might have only been 1 round. But that's what margin of error is for. :smallbiggrin:
3) Time to fight the High Cleric of Azure City: 5 rounds
Redcloak could have dismounted as a Free Action, if he made a DC 20 Ride Check. But he doesn't seem the type to have put any ranks into that skill. So a Move action to dismount and a Move action to approach the High Priest. The battle itself takes four rounds, so the total here is five rounds. I think I can say this fairly certainly.
4) Approaching the Tower: 3 rounds
Presuming that he cast the Chlorine Elemental spell right after the battle (1 round), he still got off one spell on a random Azure City Cleric, and cast Blade Barrier. This gives us three spells cast and therefore at least three rounds passing. This presumes no time was counted for talking to Tsukiko. :smallwink:
5) Time to find the Throne Room: 5-10 Rounds (max of Who The Heck Knows)
Now I fully admit this is a complete Wild Assed Guess (even more than the Mammoth Charging - there at least I had a perspective shot). Redcloak knows the way to the Throne Room, since he saw Miko go there via the Crystal Ball. But he has to go up at least a few flights of stairs, and travel through a couple of rooms. He appeared to be moving at Double Move, so no Quad Moving here. Actually the number might be a lot bigger than that and I'd like to hear some guesses on that.
So, we come to this figure: 19-25 rounds of combat between Xykon and Soon.
Pretty high. But when you consider that a 20th level Sorcerer can cast at least 24 spells above 5th level (not counting bonus spells), it sounds about right when you consider Xykons comment about running out of spells higher than 5th level.
You know, when I started this little exercise, I didn't think there would be any way that the battle timelines could possibly match up. But you know what? They more or less do.
Oh sure, I might be off as much as 10 rounds or so. But Xykon was obviously using some of his lower level slots in that case. :smallbiggrin:
Now I would really appreciate people trying to rip my timeline apart (hey, that's why I'm even bothering to post the blessed thing. :smalltongue: ) to see if my guesses are wrong. But it does appear that everything matches up. Which, as I said, frankly astounds me.
Comments are welcome. :smallsmile:
-----------------
ETA::: I know that in Comic #422, the army was beyond maximum range of the catapults. But if you compare the distance shot of #422 and #451, you can see that the main army has moved considerably closer to the Azure City Walls. How closer? Don't know. At least half the distance (which would put them at 5 range increments), but I think it was a bit more. Hence my 600' away guesstimate. :smallsmile:
I want to see just how long the battle between Xykon and Soon lasted and see if it is at all possible with the timeline that we know. At every single step of the way, I will try and take the lowest number possible, but leave comments on where it could be longer:
# of rounds the Xykon/Soon battle lasted between Comic #449 and #459:
Premise: As we can see in Comic #449 (Hinjo seeing that Xykon has entered the room) and Comic #450 (Tsukiko is firing upon the battlements) and Comic #451 (Redcloak gets word that Belkar [from 450] is going crazy on the battlefield] that all of these comics take place more or less at the same time. While a few rounds have surely passed (like the two rounds later comment in #450), these comics aren't being seen out of sequence.... at least not enough to matter.
At the very least, we are not jumping back in time by a couple of minutes. So, to make things as simple as possible, I am going to say with this timeline that Redcloak summoned his Fiendish Mammoth just as Soon was appearing. It requires Comic #450 to be two or three rounds in the past, but that's allowable because it still gives time for Tsukiko to turn traitor:
1) Rounds for the Fiendish Mammoth to cross the Battlefield: 4-5 (max of approx 18 rounds)
Looking at the scale, and factoring in the range of Heavy Catapults (200' range increments), I am going to put Redcloak about 600 feet away from the Castle Walls. This is hugely debateable, of course, and I admit that it is just My Wild Assed Guess. The Fiendish Mammoth can Quad Move at 160. However, the Hobgobins (as long as they aren't in Heavy Armor) can only move at 120 (x4 run speed). And the Mammoth was seen keeping pace with them, so it obviously wasn't using its full Quad Move every turn.
This is one of the biggest factors on the time. If they are more than 600 feet away, then it takes more than 5 rounds for them to travel the distance. At the most, they can be 2200 feet away (10 range increments for a Heavy Catapult).
If people think they are farther away than 600 feet, I won't quibble. :smallbiggrin:
2) Time to cross the courtyard and enter the inner gate: 2 rounds
This looks like a simple Double Move to me, which for a Fiendish Mammoth would be 80 feet per round. Depending on how wide the courtyard was, it might have only been 1 round. But that's what margin of error is for. :smallbiggrin:
3) Time to fight the High Cleric of Azure City: 5 rounds
Redcloak could have dismounted as a Free Action, if he made a DC 20 Ride Check. But he doesn't seem the type to have put any ranks into that skill. So a Move action to dismount and a Move action to approach the High Priest. The battle itself takes four rounds, so the total here is five rounds. I think I can say this fairly certainly.
4) Approaching the Tower: 3 rounds
Presuming that he cast the Chlorine Elemental spell right after the battle (1 round), he still got off one spell on a random Azure City Cleric, and cast Blade Barrier. This gives us three spells cast and therefore at least three rounds passing. This presumes no time was counted for talking to Tsukiko. :smallwink:
5) Time to find the Throne Room: 5-10 Rounds (max of Who The Heck Knows)
Now I fully admit this is a complete Wild Assed Guess (even more than the Mammoth Charging - there at least I had a perspective shot). Redcloak knows the way to the Throne Room, since he saw Miko go there via the Crystal Ball. But he has to go up at least a few flights of stairs, and travel through a couple of rooms. He appeared to be moving at Double Move, so no Quad Moving here. Actually the number might be a lot bigger than that and I'd like to hear some guesses on that.
So, we come to this figure: 19-25 rounds of combat between Xykon and Soon.
Pretty high. But when you consider that a 20th level Sorcerer can cast at least 24 spells above 5th level (not counting bonus spells), it sounds about right when you consider Xykons comment about running out of spells higher than 5th level.
You know, when I started this little exercise, I didn't think there would be any way that the battle timelines could possibly match up. But you know what? They more or less do.
Oh sure, I might be off as much as 10 rounds or so. But Xykon was obviously using some of his lower level slots in that case. :smallbiggrin:
Now I would really appreciate people trying to rip my timeline apart (hey, that's why I'm even bothering to post the blessed thing. :smalltongue: ) to see if my guesses are wrong. But it does appear that everything matches up. Which, as I said, frankly astounds me.
Comments are welcome. :smallsmile:
-----------------
ETA::: I know that in Comic #422, the army was beyond maximum range of the catapults. But if you compare the distance shot of #422 and #451, you can see that the main army has moved considerably closer to the Azure City Walls. How closer? Don't know. At least half the distance (which would put them at 5 range increments), but I think it was a bit more. Hence my 600' away guesstimate. :smallsmile: