Things You Never Noticed V: Your Familiar

[Gift Jeraff]

I dont understand whats happening here.

This is a fun thread where we speak in code to bypass the forum's censorship. Read only the fifth word of every sentence people post and it should make more sense.

But that's only the beginning! There are lots more hidden messages in all of our posts. Welcome, and enjoy!

[Peelee]

I dont understand whats happening here.

This is a fun thread where we speak in code to bypass the forum's censorship. Read only the fifth word of every sentence people post and it should make more sense.

But that's only the beginning! There are lots more hidden messages in all of our posts. Welcome, and enjoy!

For those wondering why every fifth word of Gift Jeraff's post comes out barely coherent, try assiging each letter a numerical value (with A being both 0 and 26), start with the value of the first letter in a post, and as you continue, subtract the previous letter's numerical value. If the result is less than zero, you add 26. Then that number is converted into back into the corresponding letter for that value.

Do this only for every fifth word, and it will make much more sense. And bonus points to whoever recognizes the cipher.

[The Linker]

In panel 11, Haley expresses annoyance that Celia knows somewhat esoteric information about animals, but doesn't know about humans' abilities. This makes sense, since sylphs have +10 to Knowledge (Nature), but their Knowledge (Local) is untrained.

If I were a slyph, I'd be pretty cheesed that Knowledge (Local) refers to some plane I don't even live on. Who named this skill!?

[Debatra]

Doesn't really make sense for us Humans either. If you're all the way over in the Empire of Blood, stuff about Cliffport is still considered "Local" knowledge.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

For those wondering why every fifth word of Gift Jeraff's post comes out barely coherent, try assiging each letter a numerical value (with A being both 0 and 26), start with the value of the first letter in a post, and as you continue, subtract the previous letter's numerical value. If the result is less than zero, you add 26. Then that number is converted into back into the corresponding letter for that value.

Do this only for every fifth word, and it will make much more sense. And bonus points to whoever recognizes the cipher.

Did you know that actually made a message?

Also, if you're wondering what the thread if for still, there's a fancy first post that tells you what's going on.

[Peelee]

Did you know that actually made a message?

Of course. But to be fair, I use that method on every post I read, just in case.

[Monday]

Of course. But to be fair, I use that method on every post I read, just in case.

And here I was, having fun scribbling away at Haley's substitution ciphers...

[Darth Paul]

Now I don't understand what's happening here.

[Rogar Demonblud]

We're being weird, and courting redtext for thread drift.

[ViscountGrey]

Well I for one didn't notice that Strip 946 was the last appearance of the stick arms. Actually noticed Roy's arms today and thought "Hang on...." and kept jumping backwards to find where they changed...

[littlebum2002]

Well I for one didn't notice that Strip 946 was the last appearance of the stick arms. Actually noticed Roy's arms today and thought "Hang on...." and kept jumping backwards to find where they changed...

That's actually pretty cool. There have been vicious flame wars in this forum over the art update.

[ti'esar]

On the far right of Comic 964, panel 2, there is a female resident of Tinkertown with no hat.

Dwarf immigrant, or wildly unconventional gnome?

[Jaxzan Proditor]

On the far right of Comic 964, panel 2, there is a female resident of Tinkertown with no hat.

Dwarf immigrant, or wildly unconventional gnome?

Or, an invisible hat?

[Peelee]

On the far right of Comic 964, panel 2, there is a female resident of Tinkertown with no hat.

Dwarf immigrant, or wildly unconventional gnome?

Huh. I never noticed that the right propeller has a broken blade.

[Rogar Demonblud]

On the far right of Comic 964, panel 2, there is a female resident of Tinkertown with no hat.

Dwarf immigrant, or wildly unconventional gnome?

Or she lost her awesome hat to a passing Jager.

Or she just lost it, period, and is on her way to the store to buy another.

[The Linker]

Guys, that's obviously a halfling immigrant. Geez.

If she were a gnome, she'd be getting tackled by the police on-panel.

[Cazero]

A halfling with shoes? She must be hiding from some despicable crime against all of existence to go to such length to conceal her identity.
Did we find Mama Bitterleaf?

[Lord Raziere]

I just realized:

In Comic 677 a snobby wizard calls V a Warlock, and V in response blasts him away

At first I just assumed that it was just a "Wizards dislike being compared to Warlocks more than Sorcerers" thing.

But then I found there is another layer to this:
this takes place AFTER Vaarsuvius made a deal with the three fiends for temporary power. Power that V only had for a short amount of time that mostly didn't accomplish anything aside from Familicide. A Warlock on the other hand is an entire class whose entire concept is making a deal with an eldritch being for power- and not just temporary power, but consistent power that never truly goes away.

So calling V a Warlock is especially hurtful to them. Because it reminds them of the deal they made- and not only that, but that V did it WORSE than a Warlock, because at least a Warlock knows how to make a deal so that they get permanent power out of it.

[Peelee]

Oh, I like that. I like that quite a bit.

[Laurana]

That was brilliant, my Lord.

[snowblizz]

I just realized:

In Comic 677 a snobby wizard calls V a Warlock, and V in response blasts him away

At first I just assumed that it was just a "Wizards dislike being compared to Warlocks more than Sorcerers" thing.

But then I found there is another layer to this:
this takes place AFTER Vaarsuvius made a deal with the three fiends for temporary power. Power that V only had for a short amount of time that mostly didn't accomplish anything aside from Familicide. A Warlock on the other hand is an entire class whose entire concept is making a deal with an eldritch being for power- and not just temporary power, but consistent power that never truly goes away.

So calling V a Warlock is especially hurtful to them. Because it reminds them of the deal they made- and not only that, but that V did it WORSE than a Warlock, because at least a Warlock knows how to make a deal so that they get permanent power out of it.

Yea. I've seen this pointed out before somewhere. It makes quite the spin on things doesn't it.

[GreyTraveller]

And bonus points to whoever recognizes the cipher.

Okay, I give up. Where is this from?

[Rogar Demonblud]

It's a basic ROT cipher, where you encrypt things by moving X letters to the right, a staple of cereal box decoder rings longer than any of us have been alive. The most famous example is ROT 13 (A=N, B=O, etc), which gets used often enough some geeks can read it as clear text.

The cipher 'used' in the post is ROT 26 (A=A, B=B, etc), in other words, clear text.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

It's a basic ROT cipher, where you encrypt things by moving X letters to the right, a staple of cereal box decoder rings longer than any of us have been alive. The most famous example is ROT 13 (A=N, B=O, etc), which gets used often enough some geeks can read it as clear text.

The cipher 'used' in the post is ROT 26 (A=A, B=B, etc), in other words, clear text.

Err... no, not as described, unless I am missing something. As described, the text is encoded as ROTX, where X is the numerical value of the previous character. So a letter after an A is indeed ROT26, but the character after a B is ROT1, after a C is ROT2, etc. It sort of reminds me of the ENIGMA process, but not really, only in the sense that each letter uses a different encoding (without the weakness of never encoding a letter to itself, but otherwise still much simpler encoding)

GW

[Peelee]

Okay, I give up. Where is this from?

It's a basic ROT cipher, where you encrypt things by moving X letters to the right, a staple of cereal box decoder rings longer than any of us have been alive. The most famous example is ROT 13 (A=N, B=O, etc), which gets used often enough some geeks can read it as clear text.

The cipher 'used' in the post is ROT 26 (A=A, B=B, etc), in other words, clear text.

No, it's not. If you re-read the instructions, each value is based on the previous value, so there is no set letter that corresponds to any other letter (other than a double letter, where the second consecutive letter is always A).

It's the cipher used for the Nibblonean language in Futurama (with Roman letters being used originally instead of Alienese characters).

Oh, and the "every five words" bit was a riff on Gift Jeraff's cipher. Because it's very often worthwhile going the extra mile.

[Darth Paul]

I just noticed where V got the healing potions that V then pours down O-Chul's throat in this episode. I had never noticed hir looting them off the dead hobgoblin (Jirix?) before.

[Ruck]

I just noticed where V got the healing potions that V then pours down O-Chul's throat in this episode. I had never noticed hir looting them off the dead hobgoblin (Jirix?) before.

Yeah, pretty sure that's Jirix.

[War-Wren]

Just reread comic 806, and I realized the Connection between Durkon's surprised exclamation in panel 2 and the very last line on the page. Nicely done there.

Nice one! I, too, never noticed that!

Ah yes, nice link.

I guess that's what you do...

I just noticed Belkar's Wizard of Oz homage during the escape from Grubby's castle in 578 ("I'll miss you most of all, scarecrows").

And also this!

I just realized:

In Comic 677 a snobby wizard calls V a Warlock, and V in response blasts him away

At first I just assumed that it was just a "Wizards dislike being compared to Warlocks more than Sorcerers" thing.

But then I found there is another layer to this:
this takes place AFTER Vaarsuvius made a deal with the three fiends for temporary power. Power that V only had for a short amount of time that mostly didn't accomplish anything aside from Familicide. A Warlock on the other hand is an entire class whose entire concept is making a deal with an eldritch being for power- and not just temporary power, but consistent power that never truly goes away.

So calling V a Warlock is especially hurtful to them. Because it reminds them of the deal they made- and not only that, but that V did it WORSE than a Warlock, because at least a Warlock knows how to make a deal so that they get permanent power out of it.

Mind: Blown!

[Debatra]

Dead bluecloak Hobgoblin? It's usually Jirix.

Also, rather explicitly this time. 662

[Rodin]

Dead bluecloak Hobgoblin? It's usually Jirix.

Also, rather explicitly this time. 662

I believe that's the first time he's explicitly named. The previous time he died (when Miko chopped him up outside the throne room), he was supposed to be just Hobgoblin #7825, but when people went back and speculated about whether it was the same guy I believe Rich said "Sure, why not?" and it's presumed that Redcloak Resurrected him for his valor in fighting the ghost paladins.