Goblins XVII: The shocking end of the story arc

[remetagross]

New comic is up. It seems Kore is taking quite a beating here. I also wonder whether he'll get trapped under the golem in the time it takes for Thaco to don the helmet...

The GAR's strategy is not half bad thought out. Though it seems Kore will not get caught twice at the same trick.

[Quild]

It made no narrative sense for Chief to die when he did, since he had no less than three plots going on (overcoming his cowardice, coming to term with being the chief, the reason Saral Caine's belt had the same symbol as chief's crown). That's more than any of the other goblins had. Narratively, it should have been Thaco who died on the bridge; his story was over after Brassmoon, and he has been tagging along with no real purpose ever since.

As such I agree with John Cribati; narrative sense doesn't seem to be high on the list of priorities for this story.

I don't remember Chief as especially coward. He was not reckless like most characters are, but did face whatever keep coming at him.
Sacrificing himself against Kore was specifically brave.

Not sure why he had to come in terms with being chief. He was not meant to be the chief and didn't manage to keep the clan's glory. Admitting it and living with it, knowing it's the right thing to do, seems good to me.

About the belt thing, pretty sure the plot is still running and that other goblins are aware of this.


That being said, I was very surprised at Chief's death and expected a raise somehow at this point. I think it's not coming in the end.

[Traab]

Well it looks like

Spoiler

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the golem is in fact a very effective weapon against kore. His armor is getting utterly trashed. But as was said, he just spotted the hand off and he isnt stupid. Lets see where it goes from here. Im thinking he might try to beeline for the goblins, or he might just try avoiding the golem and seeing if his guess about limited use is correct. But you know what? Even if the golem fails to do anything of value for the rest of the fight, im going to say it did enough. Kores gear is even more damaged, making him even more vulnerable to the GAP. Their inability to pierce his armor is why they failed against him last time. Now they can stab him in his ten thousand screaming faces and he has far less offensive capability than he did before.

[Anteros]

I don't remember Chief as especially coward. He was not reckless like most characters are, but did face whatever keep coming at him.
Sacrificing himself against Kore was specifically brave.

Not sure why he had to come in terms with being chief. He was not meant to be the chief and didn't manage to keep the clan's glory. Admitting it and living with it, knowing it's the right thing to do, seems good to me.

About the belt thing, pretty sure the plot is still running and that other goblins are aware of this.


That being said, I was very surprised at Chief's death and expected a raise somehow at this point. I think it's not coming in the end.

Chief wasn't a coward, but he did see himself as one. Dying due to an act of reckless bravery to (try) to save the others was a good resolution for him.

[Fyraltari]

Kore did manage to make a dent in the golem so he might be able to take it out too.

[Typewriter]

I was just checking the Goblins twitter and apparently Goblins is expected to be done in 3-4 years. Sounds sort of crazy considering the pace at which the story moves and the utter lack of resolution it feels like we are near at the moment.

https://twitter.com/Thunt_Goblins/st...82520773971968

[Vinyadan]

I was just checking the Goblins twitter and apparently Goblins is expected to be done in 3-4 years. Sounds sort of crazy considering the pace at which the story moves and the utter lack of resolution it feels like we are near at the moment.

https://twitter.com/Thunt_Goblins/st...82520773971968

I really like these tweets. It's always interesting to see how an author goes about his work. The idea with Fumbles also wasn't half-bad, I think.

About the planned timetable, I have no idea. Assuming 2 pages a month, that would mean 72 to 96 pages. Assuming 3 pages a month, 108 to 144.

[Traab]

Considering what a grimdark world it is, its not like it requires much of a resolution. I mean, basically, lets say they kill kore, his demonic energies or whatever the heck he is, rips open a portal to hell for his demon soul to go through, they follow in, drop off the axe as far as they can, then die horribly. Forgath wanders the planet wondering where a malformed monster like him will fit in, dies horribly gets married and lives a very long life. Then a rock falls on him and he dies. Horribly. Can easily cover it in that many pages.

[Keltest]

Considering what a grimdark world it is, its not like it requires much of a resolution. I mean, basically, lets say they kill kore, his demonic energies or whatever the heck he is, rips open a portal to hell for his demon soul to go through, they follow in, drop off the axe as far as they can, then die horribly. Forgath wanders the planet wondering where a malformed monster like him will fit in, dies horribly gets married and lives a very long life. Then a rock falls on him and he dies. Horribly. Can easily cover it in that many pages.

I doubt Thunt would feel particularly compelled to sugar coat things at this point, but I suspect she wants a more satisfying resolution than "everybody gets the bad ending."

[Draconi Redfir]

i expect we will at the very least get to see the Goblin's main village, where there will be a bit of a conflict with what happened to the GAP / Complains, some arguing about making Complains rightful cheif, and then Complains gets a nifty tattoo over his right eye in the shape of Cheif's handprint.

[Traab]

i expect we will at the very least get to see the Goblin's main village, where there will be a bit of a conflict with what happened to the GAP / Complains, some arguing about making Complains rightful cheif, and then Complains gets a nifty tattoo over his right eye in the shape of Cheif's handprint.

And then a level 5 adventure party raids the main village and everyone dies. Horribly. In all seriousness, i wonder if we might even get a reroll at some point. Go back to playing with the meta a bit with minmax forgath and those three dudes who suck at playing so bad you guys. I just think it would be hilarious if one of the characters dies, then we get an awkward introduction to a new person shortly afterwards. "Uh hey, im x dude who is oddly skilled at countering the thing that killed your former group mate. (Not that I know about the dead member) can I tag along and help save the world?"

[Anteros]

I really like these tweets. It's always interesting to see how an author goes about his work. The idea with Fumbles also wasn't half-bad, I think.

About the planned timetable, I have no idea. Assuming 2 pages a month, that would mean 72 to 96 pages. Assuming 3 pages a month, 108 to 144.

Well...I'm sure Thunt intends to wrap things up in that time, but I think we all know how they are with keeping a schedule and meeting deadlines.

I paraphrase, it's nice to know that Thunt has guaranteed us at least 5 more years of Goblins.

[Fyraltari]

i expect we will at the very least get to see the Goblin's main village, where there will be a bit of a conflict with what happened to the GAP / Complains, some arguing about making Complains rightful cheif, and then Complains gets a nifty tattoo over his right eye in the shape of Cheif's handprint.

Wasn't Kore headed there after he met the Teller? There's a pretty good chance the GAP and Dies Horribly are all that's left of their village.

[Grim Portent]

Wasn't Kore headed there after he met the Teller? There's a pretty good chance the GAP and Dies Horribly are all that's left of their village.

Given the location he's probably still on his way there. We got a map at some point but the important detail is that the village was pretty out of the way, this dungeon is the fastest way to the village and we know Kore's pretty slow, so he's unlikely to have managed to make it there and work back around to this area in the time it took the GAP to go to Brassmoon and start heading home.

[John Cribati]

Has it even been a week in-comic?

[Draconi Redfir]

Kore is still on the way, he hasn't been to the village yet, same as the Goblins.

... good question about the week thing... someone re-read the whole comic and count the nighttimes

[Morgaln]

According to the previous teller, the goblin's village is eight days away from the warcamp. I'd assume that this is the long route, not the shortcut through the dungeon crawl. So the whole comic likely covers less than a week at the moment.
On the other hand, Complains claims that they have been under way for several weeks. I find that one doubtful, since Kore is unlikely to deviate from the straight line toward the village. Had it been several weeks, he should be far ahead of the goblins and already have eliminated the village.

[deuterio12]

According to the previous teller, the goblin's village is eight days away from the warcamp. I'd assume that this is the long route, not the shortcut through the dungeon crawl. So the whole comic likely covers less than a week at the moment.
On the other hand, Complains claims that they have been under way for several weeks. I find that one doubtful, since Kore is unlikely to deviate from the straight line toward the village. Had it been several weeks, he should be far ahead of the goblins and already have eliminated the village.

-It's eight days by goblin movement speed of 30 feet, but dwarves only have 20 feet movement speed.
-Unless there's a proper road with proper signs in place, Kore will have to further slow down to find the exact path while the goblins would already know the lay of the land, the safest trails and shortcusts, and thus be able to get there even faster. Moving in a straight line is easier said than done when you don't have a GPS and there's no actual open straight line path.

So I could easily see "8 days for the local goblins" becoming "several weeks for the foreign dwarf with no guide nor map besides a general direction".

Plus it's still a fantasy story/game, and in fantasy stories/games it's common for the villain to take their sweet time to actually raze down the village, granting a pretty big window for the protagonists to stop them.

[sihnfahl]

Plus it's still a fantasy story/game, and in fantasy stories/games it's common for the villain to take their sweet time to actually raze down the village, granting a pretty big window for the protagonists to stop them.

"Ah, my nemesis is busy with a side-quest, doing heroic deeds for a small village. It would be horribly rude of me to interrupt their do-gooding. Besides, it makes their ultimate failure all the better lesson for those who would follow in their path... so much effort, and I undid it so easily after killing them handily."

[Morgaln]

-It's eight days by goblin movement speed of 30 feet, but dwarves only have 20 feet movement speed.
-Unless there's a proper road with proper signs in place, Kore will have to further slow down to find the exact path while the goblins would already know the lay of the land, the safest trails and shortcusts, and thus be able to get there even faster. Moving in a straight line is easier said than done when you don't have a GPS and there's no actual open straight line path.

So I could easily see "8 days for the local goblins" becoming "several weeks for the foreign dwarf with no guide nor map besides a general direction".

Plus it's still a fantasy story/game, and in fantasy stories/games it's common for the villain to take their sweet time to actually raze down the village, granting a pretty big window for the protagonists to stop them.

In that case the question becomes: if the foreign dwarf needs several weeks to reach the village, why are the local goblins not far ahead of him? How can they be at the same point in the journey? THey had a headstart, after all. What did the goblins even do that took several weeks? Turn it any way you want, several weeks just doesn't fit with what we've seen in the comic.

[deuterio12]

In that case the question becomes: if the foreign dwarf needs several weeks to reach the village, why are the local goblins not far ahead of him? How can they be at the same point in the journey? THey had a headstart, after all. What did the goblins even do that took several weeks? Turn it any way you want, several weeks just doesn't fit with what we've seen in the comic.

The goblins may've had a headstart, but the whole Brassmoon arc did result in a massive delay. In particular since certainly Brassmoon isn't directly between the warcamp and hidden goblin village, so that was a massive detour through human lands where the goblins would need to be extra careful. If anything both the goblin camp and the hidden goblin village need to be significantly away from Brassmoon or Goblinslayer himself would've sniffed either or both of them long ago.

So the goblins end up spending probably a couple weeks going to Brassmoon, messing up the place and then getting back to the right trail while Kore is slowly trying to find the right way.

Then because it's a fantasy story, both delays miracolously combine so that Kore shows up just when the goblins are stuck in front of the dungeon puzzle door so they can't just run for it from the slower dwarf!

[Morgaln]

The official map can be found here.

Brassmoon City is much closer to the warcamp than the goblin village. We also know the travel time there must have been very short, since the goblins did not go through human lands but took the direct route through the Swamp of Silence. We know that because we see them travel through said swamp, and the situation that was claimed to be several weeks ago happened in those swamps.
They specifically mention taking a straight line through that swamp because it will give them a chance of catching up to Fumbles, even though he has a full night of a headstart (found here. If the travel time was several weeks, a single night wouldn't make that much of a difference, and cutting through it would make it more likely to miss Fumbles than following him.

I really see no way this could have taken several weeks when the straight distance to Brassmoon City is half that to the village.

Edit: Fixed the link

[BaronOfHell]

The link doesn't work for me.

I reread some parts of the comic, and while there were a lot of things that I don't think make a lot of sense anymore, the time scale is not something I am too certain about. From what I understood, the goblins are on purpose not heading directly to their village because they are trying to gain levels from adventuring first. Perhaps did this change at some later stage in the comic though, I don't know.

Now speaking from memory because I could not find the specific comic strip, at some point I believe it is mentioned the shortest route to the goblin village is through the current dungeon, so it makes sense that Kore is heading this direction if I remember correctly. Why did he take so long to get here though? I don't know, but my impression about Kore is that he doesn't simply pick up a quest and ignore everything else, in stead he goes after whatever gets his current attention. An example of this is that if we assume he was headed towards the goblin village when he encountered our heroes, then at that point in time he did take his time to battle the goblins, so I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't met something else "evil" that required his attention on his path towards the goblin village.

But that is just guess work on my part.

[Morgaln]

I fixed the link, it should work now.

[Draconi Redfir]

i mean, there WAS a recent escape of a few dozen monsters from Brassmoon City. depending on where they went, it's entirely possible a few of them crossed paths with Kore, causing him to detour to chase after them.

[Vinyadan]

New comic!

[remetagross]

Looks like someone succeeded at their Grapple check. Poor golem looks all surprised and disappointed.

Also, gosh, that split in Kore's head...

[deuterio12]

And it's glowing to boot.

With no actual brain in sight.

Had we heard of those greyhill paladins before? Will we finally get Kore's tragic backstory? Did he kill them all himself?

[Vinyadan]

Well, so much for MM grappling Kore and throwing him off a bridge...

Had we heard of those greyhill paladins before? Will we finally get Kore's tragic backstory? Did he kill them all himself?

Yes, the flea demon and Ears talked about them. They were paladins who fought a great battle in Greyhill, in Hell.

[Anteros]

So a few things. I'm feeling like the glow on Kore's head has something to do with hell. Maybe he has a part of it inside of him? Could explain his behavior and also help resolve the axe subplot. I also predict that he'll die by someone/something grabbing that gash and ripping him apart in a very nasty way that I wish Thunt wouldn't draw.