OOTS #856 - The Discussion Thread

[snikrept]

Malack's position on creating undead gets muddier. Clearly he's not against it because of his god's wishes, only his own. He calls the raw material for the spell a blessing from his god.

[Dig]

Mummies? Nothing to worry about.

Sure, they have damage resistance, but all you gotta do is make a will save, and then throw a fireball. Dead mummies!

[pasta]

Mummies? Nothing to worry about.

Sure, they have damage resistance, but all you gotta do is make a will save, and then throw a fireball. Dead mummies!

And who is going to cast the fireball?

[Dig]

And who is going to cast the fireball?

It's even worse than that!

Getting hurt by a mummy is worse than normal getting hurt.
Dying to a mummy is worse than normal dying.
Those mummies are a disaster!

[M84]

Lowly imp or not, Qarr is still an embodiment of evil. It takes a special kind of bastard to find the unintentional mass slaughter of innocents funny.

[Burner28]

Indeed he is.

I liked this strip as well as the title of it.

[Snippy]

Lowly imp or not, Qarr is still an embodiment of evil. It takes a special kind of bastard to find the unintentional mass slaughter of innocents funny.

Agreed.

And a good comic as usual, Giant.

[ThePhantasm]

Mummies? Nothing to worry about.

It's even worse than that!

Those mummies are a disaster!

I sense a little incongruity here...

[Mike Havran]

Heh. It's nice to see a completely evil character savoring his moment of pure, concentrated joy.

And yeah, Z will have a nice one-liner ready for his next duel with Vaarsuvius.

[Killer Angel]

Lowly imp or not, Qarr is still an embodiment of evil. It takes a special kind of bastard to find the unintentional mass slaughter of innocents funny.

Yes, he really must be a devilish creature! Oh, wait...

[t209]

I hope Tarquin will slit V's throat (or something equivalent) since Qarr's laughing about the familicide cast by V (which also killed Tarq's last wife). I kinda hate the Draketooths now (not related to current strip) since they are all xenophobic jerkass (even in death).

[elros]

I really like how the Giant is able to set up this part of the story. Today's strip may not have been earth shaking, but the Giant showed the LG making appropriate preparations while expanding the controversy with V even more. And he put a pretty good joke at the end too! All in all a solid strip.

Now we just need something to move the plot along again!

Also, Malack is awesome.

+1

[Burner28]

I hope Tarquin will slit V's throat (or something equivalent) since Qarr's laughing about the familicide cast by V (which also killed Tarq's last wife). I kinda hate the Draketooths now (not related to current strip) since they are all xenophobic jerkass (even in death).

Woah, woah , woah, woah! Why?

[Trixie]

So, these are mummies. I wonder, why Mummy Roy here had no XX in eyes, and magically gained bandages? I understand bandages might just be different look (although why goblin cleric would take time to wrap Roy in bandages before animating him I have no idea) but eyes can't be handwaved so easily?

[Math_Mage]

Okay, with this much time devoted to setting up the plot, I'm expecting major fireworks within the next 3 strips.

Woah, woah , woah, woah! Why?

t209 is somewhat prone to *cough* odd tangents. Just let it happen.

[TheWolfe]

So, these are mummies. I wonder, why Mummy Roy here had no XX in eyes, and magically gained bandages? I understand bandages might just be different look (although why goblin cleric would take time to wrap Roy in bandages before animating him I have no idea) but eyes can't be handwaved so easily?

The image of Roy is in Haley's and Belkar's imagination. It's possible that they don't know what a mummy looks like. In this comic Durkon says that he wouldn't expect that Belkar knew what a mummy smelt like, so maybe they just had a faulty image of a mummy in their heads.

Or it's a sneaky art upgrade!

[FAD!]

So yeah, this would be an especially rare resource that Malack almost surely felt was a sign from Nergal.

Yeah, because seeing signs always works out as expected.

Is Nergal a god of neutrality?

Also, did we just see Nale form a sensible plan?

[t209]

Okay, with this much time devoted to setting up the plot, I'm expecting major fireworks within the next 3 strips.



t209 is somewhat prone to *cough* odd tangents. Just let it happen.

V killed Tarq's last wife accidently and if Qarr say about the Draketooth's Black Dragon ancestry and V's familicide role in his last wife's death.
Oh well, I forgot that Tarq did not care about his last wife and probably use V as a hostage if he discovers him/her.
When I see the Draketooths zombie army, the situation is going FUBAR (oh crud!).

[Dire Llama]

Very nice. Thanks Giant!

I thought they were just 'animated,' but the word 'Mummy' is actually spoken so I guess that's what they are.

Malack is interesting. Nice to have something other than Leader and Henchcharacter.
(I know it's par for the course around here, but I'm not sure it's common in fantasy webcomics.)

[gambler628]

got home from work and I find this right before I go off to bed... And I must agree with the imp, it is really funny

[Kish]

That said, I do think that his statements there strongly imply that he's one of those two alignments, yes.

In the same way that his partner, Tarquin, strongly implied that he was going to help the Free City of Doom.

When that strip went up, I immediately went, "You know, while making statements about death gods in general--statements which I agree with--he carefully avoided saying what alignment he personally or the death god he personally worships are."

[abcd]

Spoiler

Show

From this comic we can guess that V is probably the closest person to the Gate..

Draketooth was a master of cunning and illusions. HE could have made it so that the path to the gate is through a low level trap. A trap which is so low level that people getting caught in it will not have the required skills to open the gate and the people of higher level will not fall into the trap.

V is there by odd coincidence and will probably be the first to get closer to the gate while the rest are fighting and/or searching for it.

[dancrilis]

I don't think we need to really alter Malack's position at all on the undead.

Summon Undead VII would be useful for this task, (not to memory an existing spell but an easy house rule), and it is useful enough to justify taking twice if you feel you might have to encounter a defended gate even if against personal preferences, especially if Nale (the acting leader) wanted a monster summoning spell available.

Alternatively 'Mummies are preserved corpses animated through the auspices of dark desert gods best forgotten', fits well with Malack's line about blessings, Nergal decided to do this in the same way that Thor sometimes bends the rules.

And that is assuming that this needs justification at all.

[FAD!]

Spoiler

Show

From this comic we can guess that V is probably the closest person to the Gate..

Draketooth was a master of cunning and illusions. HE could have made it so that the path to the gate is through a low level trap. A trap which is so low level that people getting caught in it will not have the required skills to open the gate and the people of higher level will not fall into the trap.

V is there by odd coincidence and will probably be the first to get closer to the gate while the rest are fighting and/or searching for it.

As far as theories go, I love this one.

[Math_Mage]

Spoiler

Show

From this comic we can guess that V is probably the closest person to the Gate..

Draketooth was a master of cunning and illusions. HE could have made it so that the path to the gate is through a low level trap. A trap which is so low level that people getting caught in it will not have the required skills to open the gate and the people of higher level will not fall into the trap.

V is there by odd coincidence and will probably be the first to get closer to the gate while the rest are fighting and/or searching for it.

This is brilliant. Very much a Columbus' egg.

V killed Tarq's last wife accidently and if Qarr say about the Draketooth's Black Dragon ancestry and V's familicide role in his last wife's death.
Oh well, I forgot that Tarq did not care about his last wife and probably use V as a hostage if he discovers him/her.
When I see the Draketooths zombie army, the situation is going FUBAR (oh crud!).

This, on the other hand...

No, look, the point where you lost us is when you said you HOPED T would slit V's throat. It actually made me wonder if you were maybe reading some bizarro-universe version of this comic.

[t209]

This is brilliant. Very much a Columbus' egg.



This, on the other hand...

No, look, the point where you lost us is when you said you HOPED T would slit V's throat. It actually made me wonder if you were maybe reading some bizarro-universe version of this comic.

I forgot that T did not love nor care about his last wife.

[jidasfire]

As regards Malack's neutrality/evil, I feel inclined to point out that it may be possible to support evil goals and still be neutral. Tarquin, while clearly evil himself, purports at least to have the goal of creating stability and order, something a neutral character could reasonably support without automatically becoming evil themselves. He would simply have to either be out to curb the excesses of his evil brethren, or simply not participate, viewing their actions as necessary to promote the greater sense of order, and I don't think these are fully out of character for Malack. He could still be one of the "bad guys" despite his alignment being towards the middle. After all, Vaarsuvius is still on the side of good while being canonically neutral, because despite being somewhat more ruthless than the majority of her/his teammates, he/she still supports their goals of stopping evil and saving the world (and to the people who would invariably bring up Familicide, yes, V is still on the side of good despite that awful act). Also, and I will admit this isn't evidence, but I hope Malack is Lawful Neutral because there has yet to be a decently represented LN character in the series (Miko doesn't count because she was more simply bad at being LG), and Malack may well be a good representative of the "my country, right or wrong" mentality many LN characters have.

[Kish]

No, look, the point where you lost us is when you said you HOPED T would slit V's throat. It actually made me wonder if you were maybe reading some bizarro-universe version of this comic.

While I am dubious that my reasons are the same as t209's, I feel obligated to mention here that the Make Vaarsuvius Pay For Familicide advocates are still on this board, yes.

[Turgon9357]

Also, can't help but wonder if the previous clarification about the Northern Pantheon's attitude to dwarves killed by mummy rot is going to end up being significant?
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0737.html

Ooooo, crap.

That would be perfect, in a horrible way. Malack insists on being the only one to fight Durkon, possibly to ensure his survival if at all possible, but ends up being quite responsible for not only Durkon's death, but the condemnation of his soul. Ouch.

Hopefully Durkon would fall into one of those gray areas, since he was trying to protect the universe.

This could also add in some tension between the survivors of the fight (aside from the obvious post-battle tension). There is also a certain prophecy from a certain prequel to consider. What are Malack's domains again?

[Gusion]

Regarding Malack's alignment


Add to that the fact that he really loved his family, and that he respects Durkon for real plus the new information that he is usually against creating undead, and you can safely asume he is True Neutral or Lawful Neutral.

Well, I've been saying this since 0737 (or around then)... except that I don't think he's TN. Everything he's said implies a belief in a strong central government that only a lawful character would believe in.

In the same way that his partner, Tarquin, strongly implied that he was going to help the Free City of Doom.

When that strip went up, I immediately went, "You know, while making statements about death gods in general--statements which I agree with--he carefully avoided saying what alignment he personally or the death god he personally worships are."

I think that raising/creating undead is generally considered to be an evil act, so expressing his distaste for it while still being willing to do it when necessary is another example of neutral.

But yes, yes, we all know Kish - you'll never believe he is anything but evil. I think Giant could come out and tell us and you'd still disagree.