Goblins XVI: Corrupted to the Kore

[Quild]

No update today because Kore takes forever to draw.

Too bad for my naïve and optimistic theory of Kin facing the golem.

[Starbuck_II]

Odd thought occurred to me. Does Kore kill everyone in his line of sight? Like, does he happen to stumble across a town and slaughter everyone there just because he thinks they must be evil? Every random human he stumbles over on the road, etc? If not, if something has tot rigger his murder response, he might actually talk to kin for a bit first. She is mostly hidden in fog, we cant see her tail, and he does not know of her connection to the GAP or minmax and forgath yet.

Only if he detects at minimum 1 evil person in a town. He has Detect evil. Then he assumes that the evil has corrupted/contagion of evil is on them so he must kill them all to save the town.

So he has a 30% chance of killing every town he meets every day.

If a town's guard sees him they send out an alarm, hiding all the evil members till he passes.

[Hackman]

Only if he detects at minimum 1 evil person in a town. He has Detect evil. Then he assumes that the evil has corrupted/contagion of evil is on them so he must kill them all to save the town.

So he has a 30% chance of killing every town he meets every day.

If a town's guard sees him they send out an alarm, hiding all the evil members till he passes.

No evil people found? Clearly they have something to hide and must be exterminated!

[-D-]

No evil people found? Clearly they have something to hide and must be exterminated!

Kore's flow chart.

1. Cast detect evil ->
2. Did you detect evil?
a) [Yes] -> Kill everyone in town, to prevent evil from spreading.
b) [No] -> Kill everyone in town, they are hiding something.
3. Goto 1.

[JohanOfKitten]

Kore's flow chart.

1. Cast detect evil ->
2. Did you detect evil?
a) [Yes] -> Kill everyone in town, to prevent evil from spreading.
b) [No] -> Kill everyone in town, they are hiding something.
3. Goto 1.

You forgot :
0. Monster in sight ?
a) [Yes] -> Kill everyone.
b) [No] -> Boring, but goto 1.

[Emperor Time]

Pretty sure there is only one person that he won't tried to killed. Who is himself of course.

[-D-]

Pretty sure there is only one person that he won't tried to killed. Who is himself of course.

I wouldn't be so sure. He might do it, once every single other living organism is dead.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I wouldn't be so sure. He might do it, once every single other living organism is dead.

Maybe even ones he's been convinced that he himself is evil. Where is a bard when you need one?

[Vinyadan]

I wouldn't be so sure. He might do it, once every single other living organism is dead.

Maybe he'll turn into a ball of light, happy and perfect.

[Quild]

The flea demon mentionned "The first Prissan".
My theory is that Kore is like the Axe of Prissan. If he does evil thing, he'll "break" and unleash hell on earth.
Except that, his "evil" cursor was placed very low. By the ones who cursed/trapped him. So he can't let go even the slightest evil. And therefore, everyone's evil. More or less.

It could explain why he's still a paladin despite what he does.

[-D-]

Maybe he'll turn into a ball of light, happy and perfect.

I forgot there are countless universes that are filled with Evil. Kore will have to destroy them as well

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The flea demon mentionned "The first Prissan".
My theory is that Kore is like the Axe of Prissan. If he does evil thing, he'll "break" and unleash hell on earth.
Except that, his "evil" cursor was placed very low. By the ones who cursed/trapped him. So he can't let go even the slightest evil. And therefore, everyone's evil. More or less.

It could explain why he's still a paladin despite what he does.

That could be it actually. He's not warped and perceiving this wrong, he actually needs to kill little kiddies to prevent a worse evil from being released. And a paladin can't fall for taking the least evil of the available options. (He can if the DM is a ****, but by the rules as I would like them to be intended he can't.)

What kind of person would design a prison/portal lock/something for a demon lord that requires killing kiddies to stay closed is a whole other bag of fleas, but at least it could explain Kore's behavior. (Since the Axe has been outed as more of a delivery mechanism anyway the person who designed that part might as well have been an evil demon anyway, so getting a bit of innocence and purity out of the way before the portal opens could be just a nice bonus.)

[BaronOfHell]

That could be it actually. He's not warped and perceiving this wrong, he actually needs to kill little kiddies to prevent a worse evil from being released. And a paladin can't fall for taking the least evil of the available options. (He can if the DM is a ****, but by the rules as I would like them to be intended he can't.)

I have to disagree, to me it is similar to e.g. an epic sorcerer dragon telling a low level Paladin to slay 99% of his friends, because otherwise the dragon would slay and soul bind 100% of his friends.

The Paladin shouldn't follow those rules, in my opinion.

[Friv]

What kind of person would design a prison/portal lock/something for a demon lord that requires killing kiddies to stay closed is a whole other bag of fleas, but at least it could explain Kore's behavior. (Since the Axe has been outed as more of a delivery mechanism anyway the person who designed that part might as well have been an evil demon anyway, so getting a bit of innocence and purity out of the way before the portal opens could be just a nice bonus.)

While I don't think that's what's going on, the requirement to kill innocents to keep a demon restrained could be related to the demon - if some evil doesn't filter down to it, it will wake up, and if it wakes up fully it will be able to break through the restraints, so you need some evil to keep it from waking and destroying everything.

[Draconi Redfir]

that could explain his ime. he inadvertently captures the souls of those he kills, who then suffer for an eternity, feeding the demon(s) trapped inside him. Kore himself might not even be aware of this.

[Nettlekid]

Just realized, Kin's dumb. Instead of running to try to beat her IME, she should head directly for one of the color-changing panels. Touch it with her blue glove and she's safe from falling even if all the others turn green. Send Parchment ahead to the next one to hold it and turn it white. Let go of the blue, move ahead, turn a new one blue, and repeat. This is a trap that is rendered useless if there is more than one person in the hall.

[Draconi Redfir]

Just realized, Kin's dumb. Instead of running to try to beat her IME, she should head directly for one of the color-changing panels. Touch it with her blue glove and she's safe from falling even if all the others turn green. Send Parchment ahead to the next one to hold it and turn it white. Let go of the blue, move ahead, turn a new one blue, and repeat. This is a trap that is rendered useless if there is more than one person in the hall.

yup, thunt pointed that out in a twitter post not long ago. quite a few of his traps are actually simple to get through, the characters just don't realize it :P

[Vinyadan]

"Stupid and careless!"

[Kaptin Keen]

I find it amusing how much effort you guys put into trying to justify Kore being good - just to then, by extension, explaining how he's still a paladin.

It's so much simpler to just go with the obvious: He's evil. He's not a paladin. Sure he may (or may not, that part is unimportant) think so. But he's clearly not, and some power is having fun tormenting him.

[mythmonster2]

I find it amusing how much effort you guys put into trying to justify Kore being good - just to then, by extension, explaining how he's still a paladin.

It's so much simpler to just go with the obvious: He's evil. He's not a paladin. Sure he may (or may not, that part is unimportant) think so. But he's clearly not, and some power is having fun tormenting him.

I'm pretty sure Thunt has confirmed that Kore IS a paladin, not to mention all the paladin abilities he's been seen using. Trying to figure out how the hell he's still a paladin is one of the big mysteries of the comic.

[Traab]

Just realized, Kin's dumb. Instead of running to try to beat her IME, she should head directly for one of the color-changing panels. Touch it with her blue glove and she's safe from falling even if all the others turn green. Send Parchment ahead to the next one to hold it and turn it white. Let go of the blue, move ahead, turn a new one blue, and repeat. This is a trap that is rendered useless if there is more than one person in the hall.

Keep in mind, you JUST realized this. Kin has about 5 seconds of time to think this through. Its easy to theorycraft your way out of a death trap when talking is a free action and the dm doesnt put out a sand glass to count down how long you have till you die.

[John Cribati]

I mean. I saw it immediately. I just didn't say anything.

[tomandtish]

I'm pretty sure Thunt has confirmed that Kore IS a paladin, not to mention all the paladin abilities he's been seen using. Trying to figure out how the hell he's still a paladin is one of the big mysteries of the comic.

Actually, can someone find the quote and link to it? (I've had no luck).

I've found some people saying that Thunt said Kore is a paladin (as noted above).

However, I've found others that say that what Thunt said was that Kore was not a fallen paladin (which is not the same as saying he is a paladin).

Did he say both? One? Neither?

[mythmonster2]

Actually, can someone find the quote and link to it? (I've had no luck).

I've found some people saying that Thunt said Kore is a paladin (as noted above).

However, I've found others that say that what Thunt said was that Kore was not a fallen paladin (which is not the same as saying he is a paladin).

Did he say both? One? Neither?

It's from 2010, but I found it.

Yes, Kore is a paladin. No, He's not a blackguard. Yes, I know that he should have been "fired" by now. Yes, there's a reason.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I have to disagree, to me it is similar to e.g. an epic sorcerer dragon telling a low level Paladin to slay 99% of his friends, because otherwise the dragon would slay and soul bind 100% of his friends.

The Paladin shouldn't follow those rules, in my opinion.

I wouldn't punish him for defying the sorcerer. But I also wouldn't punish him for literally preventing the end of the world in the only way possible, no matter what the cost (short of something worse than the world coming to an end maybe). Good luck trying to sell that to your party. "No, Dirk has to give the bad guys what they really want and end the world in an orgy of hellfire and demonic destruction, or he'll fall." Always being honorable is not the same thing as always being railroaded. Sometimes there are multiple good options, sometimes there are none. That does not make those situations an auto-fail.



And yes, Thunt confirmed that Kore is a core rules paladin. That's why we're puzzling on it, not because we desperately don't want the guy acting for all intents and purposes as one of the main villains of the story so far to not be evil.

[BaronOfHell]

My thought is that if it has come to the point where the balance of something really important is only held together by a thin thread, and the only source of knowledge about this is from the entity who is interested in the thread to break, I would question if the thread is real or a trick.

Good luck trying to sell that to your party. "No, Dirk has to give the bad guys what they really want and end the world in an orgy of hellfire and demonic destruction, or he'll fall."

To a degree it reminds me of this comic: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/will-he

In my opinion the question is, does it really make sense the Paladin can affect the outcome in any meaningful way given the source of information is from someone much more powerful who has everything to lose and nothing to win by allowing the Paladin such an option?

So what I am getting at is that what the bad guys tells you, the rules they present, they don't matter. It only matters what you do, and if doing good brings the downfall of the world, it was already something you couldn't prevent.

[tomandtish]

Actually, can someone find the quote and link to it? (I've had no luck).

I've found some people saying that Thunt said Kore is a paladin (as noted above).

However, I've found others that say that what Thunt said was that Kore was not a fallen paladin (which is not the same as saying he is a paladin).

Did he say both? One? Neither?

It's from 2010, but I found it.

Yep, I'll certainly take that as confirmation of the former and not just the latter. Most appreciated!

[Douglas]

New comic.

Kore must not have much Sense Motive.

[Anteros]

New comic.

Kore must not have much Sense Motive.

He's clearly suspicious. I'm honestly surprised he's held off from smiting her for this long.

[Killer Angel]

anyway, Kin is playing a Dangerous game.