Bad Credit?

[thereaper]

Strip 330 suggests that our heroes are going to run into major financial difficulties in the future. Discuss.

[SaintRidley]

Well, Roy was about to die and stay dead for a pretty lengthy amount of time. Dying probably tanks your credit.

As for Elan, well...

[thereaper]

Roy got better.

And they're adventurers. They can always make more money. Indeed, that's pretty much what they do.

[Boogastreehouse]

I would be extremely surprised if that was anything other than a throwaway joke. I don't see what there is to discuss.

[Raineh Daze]

Well, V did take out the most expensive loan ever, and still has to pay it back...

[Jay R]

Note that this was the Oracle's reason for the general policy. He didn't set up the sign just for one party. Having said that...

Haley lost a lot in the settlement with the Thieves' Guild.
Elan was the victim of identity theft in Cliffport.
Durkon's assets have been drained, and Belkar's nearly so.
Roy had a lot of collateral damage fighting Thog.
And V has squandered a lot of his/her principle, and his soul asset is mortgaged.

[thereaper]

Note that this was the Oracle's reason for the general policy. He didn't set up the sign just for one party. Having said that...

Haley lost a lot in the settlement with the Thieves' Guild.
Elan was the victim of identity theft in Cliffport.
Durkon's assets have been drained, and Belkar's nearly so.
Roy had a lot of collateral damage fighting Thog.
And V has squandered a lot of his/her principle, and his soul asset is mortgaged.

First of all, those puns are bad and you should feel bad.

But more importantly, check the exchange in the second to last panel.

"But you can see the future. Wouldn't you know in advance whether or not our checks were any good?"

"Yes, which is exactly why I'm not accepting them. I've seen your futures, I'll take guaranteed payment up front, thanks."

This is directly personal. Regardless of whether or not it's a general policy, the Oracle implied just there that the order (or at the very least Roy and Elan, since they were in-panel) will have bad credit in the future.

[Sir_Leorik]

Let's see:

Roy was killed fighting Xykon.
Durkon rose from the dead as a Vampire.
V took out a sub-prime mortgage with his/her soul as collateral.
Haley is a wanted criminal, is hunted by the Greysky Thieves' Guild, and had to spend quite a bit of cash arming an insurgency that was recently crushed by Redcloak.
Belkar is going to die soon.

On the other hand, Elan has a very rich relative who would be willing to lend him money, provided Elan doesn't complain about how exactly the money was collected by the Imperial Revenue Service. The Oracle should have let Elan take 10 on his credit check.

[Sir_Leorik]

But more importantly, check the exchange in the second to last panel.

"But you can see the future. Wouldn't you know in advance whether or not our checks were any good?"

"Yes, which is exactly why I'm not accepting them. I've seen your futures, I'll take guaranteed payment up front, thanks."

This is directly personal. Regardless of whether or not it's a general policy, the Oracle implied just there that the order (or at the very least Roy and Elan, since they were in-panel) will have bad credit in the future.

Roy was about to be killed by Xykon, with his only remaining heir being a minor.

Elan was about to be thrown in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Elan was going to subsequently escape into the Cliffport underground with Thog, where they were going to meet up with reknowned pirate Julio Scoundrel. Alas the meeting would not lead to a long term situation where they fought crime as mercenaries... (If you can find them, maybe you can hire the "Bard Team"!) Without the steady influx of cash from being heroes of fortune, (or a steady influx of Mr. T jokes) there was no way the Oracle was accepting a check from Elan with Tarquin co-signing.

[Silverionmox]

And V has squandered a lot of his/her principle, and his soul asset is mortgaged.

Not that V hasn't squandered his principles, but you must have intended to write his principal?

[pearl jam]

And V has squandered a lot of his/her principle, and his soul asset is mortgaged.

Not that V hasn't squandered his principles, but you must have intended to write his principal?

Although people frequently confuse those spellings, in this case they intentionally chose the "wrong" spelling because it is a pun.

[Tragak]

Not that V hasn't squandered his principles, but you must have intended to write his principal?

Don't Explain The Joke

[Raineh Daze]

I'm not getting the principle/principal thing. Anyone mind explaining?

[Olinser]

I'm not getting the principle/principal thing. Anyone mind explaining?

Principle as in somebody has moral principles.

Principal refers to a loan. The 'principal' of a loan is the original amount borrowed.

It's a pun.

[SavageWombat]

Let us not forgot about Belkar's unfortunate credit history. They had to repossess his hit points - with interest.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Don't forget the poison having to be reinstated.

[Sir_Leorik]

Let us not forgot about Belkar's unfortunate credit history. They had to repossess his hit points - with interest.

Don't forget the poison having to be reinstated.

That happened in one of the Dragon Magazine strips. It doesn't count in this continuity, even if the Oracle might want to use it to determine Belkar's credit score.

[Kish]

That happened in one of the Dragon Magazine strips. It doesn't count in this continuity, even if the Oracle might want to use it to determine Belkar's credit score.

Belkar said he didn't know if it was the same continuity. And immediately undermined his own argument by acknowledging that, yes, he actually does have ranks in Profession (gourmet chef).

[Sir_Leorik]

Belkar said he didn't know if it was the same continuity. And immediately undermined his own argument by acknowledging that, yes, he actually does have ranks in Profession (gourmet chef).

Yeah, but Snips, Snails and Dragon Tales makes it pretty clear that the Dragon Magazine strips and the online strips have nothing to do with one and other. Haley was breaking the Fourth Wall in order to solve a problem. Belkar did confirm that he has ranks in Profession (gourmet chef), like his Dragon Magazine counterpart, he may not have as many ranks, since Dragon Magazine Belkar was able to get a synergy bonus to an Intimidate Check, which indicates at least 5 ranks.

[King of Nowhere]

while it's rue that, as adventurers they tend to be full of money, it is also true that giving loans to them is extremely dangerous, since a) they may just suffer a tpk at any time, and b) if they decided they won't give backk anything, the bank will have a hard time forcing them to. It would probably involve hiring someone who will be higher level than the oots, and would probably cost more than the bank would recover from them.
So, for the workings of the oots world, if I were a bank I would never, EVER loan money to any adventurers as per point a, and especially not to high level adventurers as per points a and b

EDIT: and of course it was a throwaway joke, but it still can be fun to look into it in detail.

[SavageWombat]

Yeah, but Snips, Snails and Dragon Tales makes it pretty clear that the Dragon Magazine strips and the online strips have nothing to do with one and other. Haley was breaking the Fourth Wall in order to solve a problem. Belkar did confirm that he has ranks in Profession (gourmet chef), like his Dragon Magazine counterpart, he may not have as many ranks, since Dragon Magazine Belkar was able to get a synergy bonus to an Intimidate Check, which indicates at least 5 ranks.

Ah, but though the credit collector may be in an alternate continuity, the original infraction would have taken place before the two universes diverged from one another.

[Jay R]

Ah, but though the credit collector may be in an alternate continuity, the original infraction would have taken place before the two universes diverged from one another.

There is no evidence that they were originally one, and at some point diverged, and even if that were shown to be true, there is no evidence that they would have diverged after the resurrections, and even if that were the case as well, there is no evidence of that kind of repossession of hit points in the main thread.

[Cavenskull]

Strip 330 suggests that our heroes are going to run into major financial difficulties in the future. Discuss.

Maybe it only suggests that they never deposit money in a bank. It doesn't matter that you have a million dollars in your pocket if your bank account is empty.