OOTS #999 - The Discussion Thread

[Windscion]

If Vel were the high priest she wouldn't be there.

We are talking about an Elven Goddess. Since Elves prefer to worship themselves, her Goddess will naturally have plenty of priests. Ergo, Veldrina is a superfluous divine caster of high enough level to be useful.

re: Which way does Hel vote. Come on people, elementary logic says Hel votes yes. If Hel votes no, it changes absolutely nothing other than exposing Hippo for what he is. If Hel votes yes, there is a tie. While the exact payoff to Hel is obscure, it certainly raises possibilities.

And I echo whoever said it -- the tiny rat priest of rat is awesome. (Awakened rat?)

[Sunken Valley]

The Southern Gods vote no despite them having a big rift in one of their cities and the Western Gods, despite having immortal elves on one end and feuding city states on the other vote yes. Odd, you'd think it would be the other way round.

9 v 9 means a tie. Wonder what the rules for ties are?

[Lostboy]

Spoiler

Show

I envision strip #1000 showing Hel's machinations tipping events at the Godsmoot in favor of the world's destruction. Then, the final panel is a split-screen, showing the gods saying, "Destroy it." and in a parallel scene, Team Evil at the gate, with Xykon saying, "Destroy it."

[Cerlis]

i dont think he's voting for a yes.

its really strange that even the god of monsters, an evil god could havea high priest...if Hel being evil is what kept her from having a high priest.

Ergo I think it was a matter of "the rules". She is not considered among the pantheon and is rejected.

However she is a Goddess none the less and if she is in a pantheon it would be in this one. Ergo they will have to allow her vote, thus officially stating that she is a full god with her own domain.

Its basically waiting till your rivals have no other choice but to accept your ploy.

[chrestomancy]

...if your interpretation requires the comic to have an inconsistency and there's another one that reconciles all the info we have, I find the latter is to be preferred in principle.

Oh, I agree completely. So his telephone got distracted, and he's currently on hold. I actually like that quite a lot! Good explanation.

[Roland Itiative]

Would a tie mean they'll destroy half of the world?

[Gift Jeraff]

Maybe a tie is settled by a battle between the high priests? And that's when the vampirized earth clerics come into play.

[Jetty]

Observation: The ones who vote 'Yes' are facing to the right. The ones who vote 'No' face left. Without fail.

HPOH is facing left. >:)

[Shining Wrath]

But wait, if it's a tie ... what does that mean? Wouldn't tie go to the no, anyway? And HPoH is not yet possessed by his Dark Mistress. Why?

Next episode, Roy learns about Hel. It will be one hell of a surprise.

The expression on Veldrina's face when she gets hit with the Zot! is pretty scary. The lack of expression when she votes "yes" is scarier, if you stop and think about it.

Who knew Lt. Ripley was a priestess of Sunna?

[zinycor]

i dont think he's voting for a yes.

its really strange that even the god of monsters, an evil god could havea high priest...if Hel being evil is what kept her from having a high priest.

Ergo I think it was a matter of "the rules". She is not considered among the pantheon and is rejected.

However she is a Goddess none the less and if she is in a pantheon it would be in this one. Ergo they will have to allow her vote, thus officially stating that she is a full god with her own domain.

Its basically waiting till your rivals have no other choice but to accept your ploy.

Being evil was not the problem, the problem was that Hel didn't have any priests of high level. Now that she has, she should be allowed to vote.

[Mad Humanist]

Observation: The ones who vote 'Yes' are facing to the right. The ones who vote 'No' face left. Without fail.

HPOH is facing left. >:)

But HPOH is not yet in trance so it does not count.

[chrestomancy]

How many Clerics has Durkula "converted" in the meantime?

I'm expecting that HPoH insta-raised the two we saw, and they are now busy taking down all the other non-theistic stone worshippers, using their vampire-templated superpowers to great effect. I expect the moot to be non-aligned cleric-free by nightfall.

I don't know if HPoH will then return to his new priesthood and insta-raise them all for spell-replenishment at dusk, or if he'll leave them in the care of the two he's likely already raised to wake up in three night's time. It depends, I guess, on how long a game Hel and HPoH think they are playing here. I'm guessing from the end-of-the-world type vibe that it's going to be a quick-play, bottom of the 4th type deal.

[zinycor]

Maybe a tie is settled by a battle between the high priests? And that's when the vampirized earth clerics come into play.

Ties are settled with a pie-eating contest

[Keltest]

Im rather curious if Rich is purposely pacing the strips so that we get a massive plot reveal on 1000, or if its just turning out that way. And if he'll do something spontaneous and random like another intermission panel just to maintain the tradition of nothing exciting happening on milestone comics.

Also, I love Loki's gloating in the background.

[Windscion]

The High Priest(ess) of Thor has a lightning-bolt scar. But no eyeglasses

[Grey Pilgrim]

its really strange that even the god of monsters, an evil god could havea high priest...if Hel being evil is what kept her from having a high priest.

Ergo I think it was a matter of "the rules". She is not considered among the pantheon and is rejected.

However she is a Goddess none the less and if she is in a pantheon it would be in this one. Ergo they will have to allow her vote, thus officially stating that she is a full god with her own domain.

Its basically waiting till your rivals have no other choice but to accept your ploy.

Well, the reason we were given was something like "As soon as she got some higher level priest they were slain by some good adventuring party as a boss of a low level dungeon."
I find it pretty likely that the priests of the God of Monsters were much better equipped against such parties considering Fenrir could be quite popular among northern orcs, barbarians and such people.

[Shining Wrath]

Also... Odin says "I see worlds within worlds and yarn winding yarn".
As you can read English is not my mother language, so does this phrase have a particular meaning? I mean Worlds and yarn...you know...

It's not a common saying in English, no.

I'm taking it to mean Odin, wisest of the Northern Pantheon and god of magic, can see the new world within the rift and "yarn winding yarn" has to refer to the Snarl (which was made of the "strings" of creation). It's cryptic, which is what divine oracles normally are.

[factotum]

It's guaranteed that Hel will vote Yes--there's no point in spoiling the secret of her High Priest other than to force the vote into a tie. I guess the real question is, what does she gain from doing that? We have no idea how a tie vote is dealt with under the rules of the Godsmoot.

I'm actually more interested to know how Roy is going to take the unpleasant news that's speeding his way, though...pretty sure he'll know that the living Durkon would never stop worshipping Thor, so revealing Durkula to be a priest of Hel will pretty much confirm that the vampire is *not* Durkon.

[Qaanol]

How come (Watsonian reason) the northern pantheon got the advantage of hearing what the other two pantheons decided before casting their own votes?

[Keltest]

Well, the reason we were given was something like "As soon as she got some higher level priest they were slain by some good adventuring party as a boss of a low level dungeon."
I find it pretty likely that the priests of the God of Monsters were much better equipped against such parties considering Fenrir could be quite popular among northern orcs, barbarians and such people.

Also, Fenrir's priests are not necessarily monsters themselves. An undead cleric is still an undead, and therefore a valid target for XP earnings. A half-orc cleric is a PC race and therefore not a target unless theyre antagonizing someone.

[Elenna]

Just want to say that I love how Rich gave all the gods different reasons for voting yes or no.

Also, congrats to everyone who thought Hel would be the deciding vote!

[Vikenlugaid]

What the Hel!

I just loved the arguments of Sunna, Fenrir and Loki XD


Man, this gonna be veeeeery interesting.

EDIT:
Still i want to know the thoughts of the Dark One and Redcloak about all of this.

[Reddish Mage]

Is that a Jewish goblin I spy in the southern pantheon?

[Keltest]

Is that a Jewish goblin I spy in the southern pantheon?

Probably not.

[Tiri]

I guess Nergal lost a vote with Malack's destruction. None of those match his priests' uniform.

That was just what Malack made his acolytes wear. It doesn't mean all Nergal-worshippers have to wear it.

[Shining Wrath]

I beg to disagree. Odin is mid-sentence - "Therefore, the Northern Pantheon votes-"

Then he stops. If he's no longer inhabiting his high priest that may be why, but from the dramatic flow, it looks to me like it's in response to a thing he is theoretically unable to hear.

It's a minor inconsistency, probably brought on by the desire to create dramatic tension for the HPoH reveal, so it's no biggie. I don't think the secrets of the universe are to be found by probing the why.

No, the High Priest does not have the yellow aura that indicates possession (proxy status? avatarization?). The High Priest is speaking as the High Priest.

[Keltest]

No, the High Priest does not have the yellow aura that indicates possession (proxy status? avatarization?). The High Priest is speaking as the High Priest.

My interpretation is that while the high priests are repeating what their gods say word for word, they are not literally possessed or turned into avatars or anything of that nature during the vote. I base this mostly on Loki's proxy acting independently of what his high priest is saying.

[Sc00by]

Is it only me who foresees a cut to Xykon or similar as strip 1000?

The Giant has never bothered with huge epics on the 00th strips and I just don't believe that he's going to start now...

I predict a cut scene :)

[rewinn]

"Yarn winding yarn" ... yarn typically means twisted threads that get snarly if you don't wind them properly, but can also mean stories ... that also get twisted...somewhat like this one!

[Gift Jeraff]

The Giant has never bothered with huge epics on the 00th strips and I just don't believe that he's going to start now...

200, 300, and 400 would like to have a word with you.