OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Neoriceisgood]

Absolutely brutal, loving this fight honestly.

[Lord Torath]

I love Sunny! So earnest.

Haley looks stressed. I'm guessing Minrah in full armor weighs a good bit more than either Elan or Bandana.

Thanks, Rich!

[Errorname]

Feels like this fight might be basically over

[Airinyourtires]

I wonder if Sunny learned how to do that from Haley. It’s certainly an inversion: the one whose mind control gets broken has become the mind control breaker, more or less

[The_Weirdo]

I wonder if Sunny learned how to do that from Haley. It’s certainly an inversion: the one whose mind control gets broken has become the mind control breaker, more or less

"...and what's a gllrtkyt? I need to do what you say in the order you say it, after all, and I can't close my gllrtkyt unless I know what it is."

[Provengreil]

Looks like Bloodfeast won the grapple, and the sword didn't stab him.

Feels like this fight might be basically over

If it wasn't RPG rules it would be, you don't come back from a neck bite like that. His only hope would be to somehow get a domination off despite the AMF onto a cleric and get healed.

Still, I suspect that Calder will live through this somehow. Simply killing him would feel....off, given how well characterized he already has become in just 5 pages.

[Toper]

Continuing to love this fight! I'm thinking Calder just wants to escape at this point, though, which would be very bad for Team Good.

[ellindsey]

Can't break the grapple. Can't cast spells while in an AMF. Apparently can't breath fire at the moment either.

What options does the dragon have at this point? The fight's pretty much over if it can't get free.

[Mad Humanist]

Still, I suspect that Calder will live through this somehow. Simply killing him would feel....off, given how well characterized he already has become in just 5 pages.

I'd agree though it is possible that Team Evil find the corpse and reanimate and serves a narrative function that way.

[Faldrath]

He managed to open Bloodfeast's mouth so he's not getting beheaded right now, at least.

I think the stage is set for Calder to submit again, but this time the Order will negotiate something that's less "eternal slavery" and more "look, the world is about to end, please help us". Red dragons are lawful evil, correct? So he should abide to the agreement.

[Pax1138]

Alternately, the fall seems to have cracked the ground around the containment circle, so if Calder can get free, he might be able to flee back out of the dungeon. Running into Team Evil to complicate things more?

[danielxcutter]

Oh yeah, suck on it Calder! The fight's probably not over yet but I don't expect that to be too far off now.

[Shining Wrath]

Once again, Belkar demonstrates that he cares about his little friends - although I'm not sure Bloodfeast the Extreminator counts as little at this moment.

Haley + Minrah disenchant Sunny, who is very upset at the mean dragon who yelled at Mom. Even when participating in a brutal beat-down, Sunny is a charming child.

Nice little vignette of V deciding they do not want to be anywhere near the Allosaurus chewing on the dragon's neck. I'd say that's a decision showing both wisdom and intelligence.

EDIT: Red Dragons are Chaotic Evil by canon, but this one did try to set up a cult, so might be Lawful. However, "interested in domination of others" and "abides by agreements with others" are not at all the same.

[Provengreil]

He managed to open Bloodfeast's mouth so he's not getting beheaded right now, at least.

I think the stage is set for Calder to submit again, but this time the Order will negotiate something that's less "eternal slavery" and more "look, the world is about to end, please help us". Red dragons are lawful evil, correct? So he should abide to the agreement.

A rational course, but I don't see it. The stasis misfire has likely made him unwilling in all cases to work with Serini or even support her goals under any circumstances.

I figure he negotiates an escape, runs into Team Evil, and ends up helping them a bit just to spite her. Probably indirectly, no one's going to heal him and he won't risk further confrontation at that point.

Completely unrelated to that reply, can I just call attention to how Bloodfeast's little look of satisfied determination in the last strip was well rewarded?

[Robster]

Red dragons are lawful evil, correct? So he should abide to the agreement.

RAW they are "always chaotic evil", I'm afraid. Although OOTS has of course always tended to bend/reinterpret/parodize or outright ignore the extremely stiff alignment restrictions of the source material.

[danielxcutter]

Honestly - I think it's more likely that the Order just kills him. Roy and Durkon are LG but they aren't paladins, and I doubt Calder'd be very eager to surrender considering what the last one did to him. At this point it might even be the more moral option, not just practical.

[Psyren]

Belkar + Animals = South of Neutral confirmed

[Faldrath]

RAW they are "always chaotic evil", I'm afraid. Although OOTS has of course always tended to bend/reinterpret/parodize or outright ignore the extremely stiff alignment restrictions of the source material.

Ah, thanks. And yes, I agree... one of the main thrusts of the comic is "you are what you do, not what a book says you are/what you think you are".

And I don't know, Serini has been conspicuously absent during the battle, and Roy did want to make a deal before the fight. Calder is probably very intelligent and might be able to tell they're not Serini's longtime allies. A deal might still be on the table after the submission. It does seem more in character than just killing him (especially now that he can barely defend himself).

[Darkohaku]

The action sequence is very cool, really digging the art right now, perfect mix for detailed enemies and characters, and is still a stick comic parody. WIN WIN.

So, what can do the mean dragon to win?

[Zarhan]

Honestly - I think it's more likely that the Order just kills him. Roy and Durkon are LG but they aren't paladins, and I doubt Calder'd be very eager to surrender considering what the last one did to him. At this point it might even be the more moral option, not just practical.

They'll kill Calder, this guy is (for once) a clear case of Evil without any gray areas.

What *might* come into play is when the topic turns to "should we disintegrate the body, so Xykon can't zombify this thing or leave it", and Vaarsuvius might have some reservations about disintegrating the dragon due to history with the black dragons. But then again, Sunny can just use Number Eight.

[The MunchKING]

I love Sunny! So earnest.

Haley looks stressed. I'm guessing Minrah in full armor weighs a good bit more than either Elan or Bandana.

Thanks, Rich!

Well, while the armor wouldn't be THAT much more than the Leather armor Bandana wears, from what I remember, Dwarves despite being shorter than humans are stocky and dense so they still weigh about as much as Humans.

[KorvinStarmast]

He managed to open Bloodfeast's mouth so he's not getting beheaded right now, at least.

I think the stage is set for Calder to submit again, but this time the Order will negotiate something that's less "eternal slavery" and more "look, the world is about to end, please help us". Red dragons are lawful evil, correct? So he should abide to the agreement.

1. Great actions sequence.
2. Minrah: what spell is she casting?
3. Sunny: I think Minrah's spell worked.
4. Haley: yes, Minrah is heavy.
5. Bloodfeast: yes!
6. Not sure what strip number 1300 will have in store, but those of you who are thinking "subdual a second time" got me thinking.
Is dragon subdual even a thing in 3.x?
7. The cracks in the floor: does that have an impact on the stasis circles?

Great strip.

[drazen]

Feels like this fight might be basically over

Famous last words?

I did have a question whether or not Bloodfeast chomping on Calder's neck would prevent the dragon's fire-breathing ability from functioning.

The only RPG's I've ever played were Wizardry I (PC), Legends (TI-99/4a), Tunnels of Doom (TI-99/4a), and Kingdom of Loathing (online), so I'm not very good with D&D mechanics.

[KorvinStarmast]

He managed to open Bloodfeast's mouth so he's not getting beheaded right now, at least.

I think the stage is set for Calder to submit again, but this time the Order will negotiate something that's less "eternal slavery" and more "look, the world is about to end, please help us". Red dragons are lawful evil, correct? So he should abide to the agreement.

1. Great actions sequence.
2. Minrah: what spell is she casting? Protection from Evil?
3. Sunny: I think Minrah's spell worked.
4. Haley: yes, Minrah is heavy.
5. Bloodfeast: yes!
6. Not sure what strip number 1300 will have in store, but those of you who are thinking "subdual a second time" got me thinking.
Is dragon subdual even a thing in 3.x?
7. The cracks in the floor: does that have an impact on the stasis circles?
8. Besides not seeing much of Serini, where are the Paladins?

Great strip.

[Space Sorceress]

Hey Giant, looks like Calder has the wrong horn broken in this one.

- From, a lurker who made an account to post this

[Emperor Time]

It's surprising that Calder is now losing because of what he told Sunny to do earlier and guess his plan isn't as great as he originally thought.

[danielxcutter]

It's surprising that Calder is now losing because of what he told Sunny to do earlier and guess his plan isn't as great as he originally thought.

To be fair, “polymorphed Allosaurus” isn’t exactly that high up on the priority list most of the time.

[Doug Lampert]

Can't break the grapple. Can't cast spells while in an AMF. Apparently can't breath fire at the moment either.

What options does the dragon have at this point? The fight's pretty much over if it can't get free.

Bite, claw, claw, tail slam, wing smash, wing smash till there's no dino holding him down. Dragons should avoid melee at all costs, because they've got no good reason to give their foes a chance, but they're still blenders in melee, converting foes to puree with half a dozen high damage attacks a round.

Remember that the party's damage is down substantially due to anti-magic. Serini as a an epic rogue vs. a grappled foe is probably the only one who can do really high damage now.

[BurlewContact]

...what does that mean?

It means the Order would rather have Haley fly past a dragon and pick up a junior apprentice than ask the member of the team who can cast Greater Dispel Magic to do so.