Prediction Page, (bring your quatloos, gps, and internets, you'll need them.)

[Errorname]

I will bet three quatloos against MitD eating Red cloak. I will also bet an additional three quatloos that the exact circumstances required for the Geas spell to trigger occur within sight of both Xykon and Redcloak.

My instinct has been that O-Chul will die breaking MitD out of the spell

The whites of the phylactery and the bones aren't too discolored as compared to Blackwing's eyes, but I'd argue that's purely an artistic choice snd it wss just to show Blackwing's eyes reflecting the rift.

Blackwing's eyes snap back to white once the Runes explode, which isn't what you'd expect if they were simply reflecting the light of the rift. You could interpret that as him looking away, I guess.

Then what is the point of Rich showing Miron pulling her to safety as the rift erupts with threads/dangerous thingies?

I don't think anyone's disputing that Miron seemed to pull Laurin out of the danger zone, but the thinking is that if she touched the Snarl with her mind she might be gone anyways.

[Coppercloud]

I've been holding out hope that Right-Eye's daughter would show up at one point and have an important effect on the plot.
I'm not sure how that would still be possible, given how far the story's already come, but the Giant has surprised me plenty of times before now. ^_^

Honestly, I think the reason she was smuggled out of Xykon's army was just to show Right-Eye's cunning and preparation. And maybe because the Giant didn't like the idea of having, you know, one (more) innocent child being killed by Xykon. I certainly couldn't find any reason why she would be involved in the main plot now. It would require explaining her origin for people who didn't read Start of Darkness, and it would be either a coincidence or she would need to have the means and the motivation to find Team Evil (or a member of Team Evil would have the means and the motivation to find her). And I don't know what the payoff would be; neither Redcloak nor the comic itself has given much importance to blood relations.

Prediction: Xykon's tomb/fortress on the Astral plane will be completely annihilated. When he realizes this has not harmed him at all, the lich will realize Redcloak pulled a fast one on him with the phylactery. It is then that their alliance will end and they finally come to blows - and the Monster in the Dark will be compelled to devour Redcloak.

I also happen to disagree with this one. Even if Xykon can feel when his phylactery is destroyed, why would he immediately assume that it wasn't in his fortress when it could be captured during the fortress' destruction or just floating in empty space? With all its abjurations, that thing might be sturdy enough to survive even a big explosion. The only thing likely to destroy the whole fortress in one strike would be the Snarl, and I don't think "the whole astral plane is destroyed" is a good bet.

[KorvinStarmast]

Miron pulled Blackwing to safety?

Laurin

See the big panel at the end.

I don't think anyone's disputing that Miron seemed to pull Laurin out of the danger zone, but the thinking is that if she touched the Snarl with her mind she might be gone anyways.

If you are changing your certainty for a maybe, sure, I can go with a might be since we only see the back of her head in 0945.

[Peelee]

Laurin

See the big panel at the end.

Yes, I'm aware of that. I never said "Laurin" once in my post. I said "Blackwing". Because I was talking about Blackwing, and I was not talking about Laurin.

[Kish]

It seems, in the post Korvin is responding to, you said "nothingburger." (Whether you remember making that post or not.)

[Somniloquist]

When we finally get to really meet the Dark One, we will know it's him when he addresses Redcloak by name. His real name.

[Peelee]

When we finally get to really meet the Dark One, we will know it's him when he addresses Redcloak by name. His real name.

Five gold says we'll know it's homy because it'll look like him.

[Errorname]

Five gold says we'll know it's homy because it'll look like him.

Would still be cool for the Dark One to call him by his name rather than his title.

[Grendelkin]

When we finally get to really meet the Dark One, we will know it's him when he addresses Redcloak by name. His real name.

That would be pretty cool.
On the other hand, it'd be poignant if the Dark One said: "You know why we don't talk? I saw what you did. You drowned in the Plan to the point you almost abandoned your baby brother, and then you killed him. None of the other bearers betrayed their own like that ... Redcloak."

[KorvinStarmast]

That would be pretty cool.
On the other hand, it'd be poignant if the Dark One said: "You know why we don't talk? I saw what you did. You drowned in the Plan to the point you almost abandoned your baby brother, and then you killed him. None of the other bearers betrayed their own like that ... Redcloak."

Whether it happens like that or not, that's a great take.

[hroþila]

Nah that'd be weird and kinda redundant IMO. We already got pretty much that same scene (without so many words) in SoD, and besides, last we heard the Dark One was telling Redcloak to prioritize the Plan

[KorvinStarmast]

Nah that'd be weird and kinda redundant IMO. We already got pretty much that same scene (without so many words) in SoD, and besides, last we heard the Dark One was telling Redcloak to prioritize the Plan

Hmm, I think that his "don't screw this up" admonition (delivered via Jirix) implied the observation that Redcloak wasn't filling TDO with confidence, and was being observed to have already screwed up (in some fashion) by that point.
But maybe not.

[Lord Torath]

Yeah, The Dark One could have been a bit clearer as to what he meant by "this" when he delivered his message. Hooray for unclear deitific (deific?)communication.

[KorvinStarmast]

Yeah, The Dark One could have been a bit clearer as to what he meant by "this" when he delivered his message. Hooray for unclear deitific (deific?)communication.

I get the impression that Redcloak is in the dog house with TDO, somewhat, because TDO has not communicated with him directly. Yes, he still grants him spells.
The 'send him a message' choice leaves me with that impression.

[Grendelkin]

In life, the Dark One was a warlord, a strategic leader who understood the value of diplomacy as well as warfare.
It'd be interesting if seeing the hobgoblin horde seize Azure City awoke some long-dormant aspects of his being, and he can actually see the value of Gobbotopia as equal - or greater - to his people's cause than the Plan, which was born from frustration at the goblinoids' getting a raw deal and his sorrow over the same (not to mention how he lost his own mortal life).

As for Redcloak being in the doghouse with his patron, just look at his track record:
* He's supposed to shepherd all goblins, but he allied with a psychopathic mass-murdering human, then turned him into a lich, which has directly and indirectly caused a lot of goblin deaths. (Admittedly Right-Eye shares some of the blame, but Redcloak stuck with the psycho because of the sunk cost fallacy.)
* He also murdered his own brother in support of said lich - and even if Right-Eye had stopped worshipping the Dark One, he had created a viable community for goblins that lived in peace with nearby humans. Xykon dismantled it so he could use the goblins living there as disposable lackeys. I could see the Dark One having some appreciation for Right-Eye at this point, and being incensed about ex-human Xykon wrecking the goblins' stable lives for his own convenience.
* He used hundreds upon thousands of hobgoblins as disposable lackeys and endangered the stability of their own cities, until he had an epiphany, which was caused by a hobgoblin showing the decency to save his life, rather than him taking a step back to think about what he was doing. 'Sending them off to die like lemmings', indeed.
* And now, when Oona is laying down wisdom and clear warnings, Redcloak is too far up his sunk cost fallacy to take a step back and think about his own actions - again.

Seizing Azure City and making it Gobbotopia was a net win for the goblinoids, but the cost was monstrous. I doubt it's enough to square Redcloak's accounts in the Dark One's books, if the big gob has any true love left for his people.

[KorvinStarmast]

Seizing Azure City and making it Gobbotopia was a net win for the goblinoids, but the cost was monstrous. I doubt it's enough to square Redcloak's accounts in the Dark One's books, if the big gob has any true love left for his people.

TDO was a war leader before his ascension, so the fact that goblins died fighting for a goblin cause is not necessarily bad in his eyes.
All of your other points strike me as spot on.

[b_jonas]

I predicted correctly this time! Bloodfeast turned back to their huge dinosaur form.

[brian 333]

I predicted correctly this time! Bloodfeast turned back to their huge dinosaur form.

Quatloos all around for everyone who predicted this exact, specific scenario!

[Quild]

#627 6th the Ancient black dragon casts Anti-magic field to cancel out Vaarsuvius's magic. She explains concisely that this is a good tactic for fighting Vaarsuvius, since an ancient black dragon is still very powerful even without using magic. #1296 8th Haley tells Calder that Calder can't win because the party is prepared with all sorts of magical buffs. Calder shows that even though she normally uses magic to turn people under her will, she can also just fight non-magically well enough with her tail whip.

#1239 Vaarsuvius explains that Sunny has an anti-magic eye-beam. In #1239 8th and #1240 last, Belkar wants to use that to return Bloodfeast to huge dinosaur form. #1252 Sunny reminds us of the eye-beam again by cancelling the magically conjured wall of the cottage. #1253 2nd Sunny explains that his special red contact lens blocks her eye-beam; 6th to 7th Belkar and Minrah remind us again that the eye-beam would turn Bloodfeast back to a huge dinosaur. #1295 11th Elan notices that Sunny's lens is removed, and Sunny's eye beam is clearly visible in the 10th panel. #1293 Bloodfeast is out of Belkar's bag, and he's still visible in #1294 and #1295 5th panel.

There's only so much foreshadowing that I can take. I don't know if it'll be from Sunny's eye-beam or Calder trying to dispel the party's buffs, but it will happen. I predict that Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator will revert from lizard to some other form soon, while the party is still with Calder. He'll probably turn back to a huge dinosaur, but I also wouldn't be too surprised if he turned back to some other form and he was just magically transformed to a huge dinosaur from #778 to #926.

Good guess!

[Tubercular Ox]

Good guess!

Guess? That man was following the clues.

[SlashDash]

My instinct has been that O-Chul will die breaking MitD out of the spell

Nope. Opposite.
My guess is that Serini will see O-Chul being friends with the monster in the dark and think that maybe there is hope for human-monster relations. Heck, maybe even Redcloak would see that.

Either way, neither O-Chul nor the monster are going to die.

I don't think anyone's disputing that Miron seemed to pull Laurin out of the danger zone, but the thinking is that if she touched the Snarl with her mind she might be gone anyways.

I don't think Laurin is gone.
A big motif in the story is that we constantly just look at monsters as the bad guys and never hear their side of the story. Literally a few strips ago, Durkon noted that they never bothered asking the goblins why they attacked Azure City.

Clearly this applies double for the Snarl. Nobody at any point tried to think of it as anything but a world devouring abomination. Maybe it can be reasoned with? Maybe it's not so evil? Clearly the gods don't know everything about it since they didn't know about the planet blackwing saw.

At some point, it's possible that the Snarl would need a mouthpiece to speak through and Laurin being connected to it will be able to speak for it.

[Grendelkin]

That... could be highly interesting, getting the Snarl's POV.

[Somniloquist]

I hate to bring an awesome scene down*, but...

Bloodfeast will not survive this fight. There's no obvious way for him to be re-polymorphed, and I don't see Rich drawing a huge Allosaurus in every scene of this dungeon unless it was for a specific purpose. Belkar will be much more shaken up by this than his companions.


(*This is obviously untrue. Raining on parades is my hobby.)

[dmc91356]

I hate to bring an awesome scene down*, but...

Bloodfeast will not survive this fight. There's no obvious way for him to be re-polymorphed, and I don't see Rich drawing a huge Allosaurus in every scene of this dungeon unless it was for a specific purpose. Belkar will be much more shaken up by this than his companions.


(*This is obviously untrue. Raining on parades is my hobby.)

My understanding of the way anti-magic zones work is that as soon as Sunny stops looking at Bloodfeast, Bloodfeast reverts to lizard size. No problem at all.

[Peelee]

I hate to bring an awesome scene down*, but...

Bloodfeast will not survive this fight. There's no obvious way for him to be re-polymorphed

Sure there is: removing him from the Anti-magic Field. AMFs don't dispel, they just suppress. When V drops down they'll have Overland Flight and Mind Blank back up. When Bloodfeast leaves the field he'll be a small lizard again.

My understanding of the way anti-magic zones work is that as soon as Sunny stops looking at Bloodfeast, Bloodfeast reverts to lizard size. No problem at all.

Dangit! Three hours after the post and you ninja me by a minute!

[Somniloquist]

I'm delighted to stand corrected.

[Peelee]

I'm delighted to stand corrected.

I like to rain on parades.

[brian 333]

As of 1300, I submit we will see an enraged Sunny make use of Eye #8. Name your stakes.

Also: side bet 1:3 your favor that #8 turns out to be 'Disentigrate.'

[Coppercloud]

Also: side bet 1:3 your favor that #8 turns out to be 'Disintigrate.'

Is it really a bet when you're sure to win?

[brian 333]

Is it really a bet when you're sure to win?

I was hoping nobody would bring that up. Hedging bets is a fine tradition in many cultures. I feel judged!