OOTS #1300 - The Discussion Thread

[Bird]

I hope the Paladins are situationally aware enough to Lay on hands Sunny without knowing what's going on in the battle.

I feel confident they will. They have every reason to help Sunny (they're Lawful Good, they're paladins, they're reasonable people, they've got nothing else to do, they're stuck without her help, she's their ally, she's a child, O-Chul gets along with at least one other monster) and no compelling reason not to.

[remetagross]

I feel confident they will. They have every reason to help Sunny (they're Lawful Good, they're paladins, they're reasonable people, they've got nothing else to do, they're stuck without her help, she's their ally, she's a child, O-Chul gets along with at least one other monster) and no compelling reason not to.

Yeah, pretty much. And yeah, that fight was become too easy for the Order. Good think Calder is resourceful and can adapt on the fly to the challenges of the battle. As do all good fighters in OotS.

[Metastachydium]

Yeah, pretty much. And yeah, that fight was become too easy for the Order. Good think Calder is resourceful and can adapt on the fly to the challenges of the battle. As do all good fighters in OotS.

Fighters?! Calder can manipulate thermodynamic differentials with his fingers, like a normal person, thank you very much!

[Blue Dragon]

Hello what if what if Calder thinks he can remove the polymorph from Bloodfeast The Extreme-inator and dominate its mind and then what happens

[KorvinStarmast]

Sunny's Eye is closed because it probably hurts like hell after getting thwacked by a dragon tail. Like not getting your glove up in time, and taking a baseball or softball off your face.

Hmm, we did not see if Sunny was a good outfielder during the baseball scene with Elan.

Maybe she will actually DO something now

Being out of the AMF, her wands ought to work now.

I see a double-halfling rage getting activated soon, like next strip. Everyone's gotta protect their kids. Belkar will activate in defense of Bloodfeast. Serini will activate to defend Sunny. HALFLING ATTACK!!!!!

Like Merry and Pippin going after the Uruk Hai at the end of Fellowship of the Ring movie? That wasn't very effective.

Oh, that would be great as a character moment. The two Halflings, both acting in defense of their non-humanoid friends. One, an Evil SOB who is slowly turning over a less bitter leaf, the other the heart of her group fallen to cynicism and bitterness.

While that's a nice descriptive of the two, not seeing halfling offensive as being even close to the impact of the paladins arriving on Sunny-back.

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth their throat chomped on by an Allosaur."

A timely quote, given that Mike Tyson is IRL training for a fight even as we speak. Yes, he is.

I don’t know, Paladins might be into that sort of kinky stuff

And in Lien's case, have a cigarette afterwards.

Nearly bare-donkey nekkid O-Chul was about 0.25 seconds from killing Redcloak with a iron bar he ripped from a cage with his bare hands. Yeah, I think he can lay some hurt on Calder. I bet Lien's spear will work nicely as well. Man, people always doubting the Paladins. - M

I don't doubt them.

That color and bottle shape have been used uniquely for Heroism in previous strips. Possibly V is about to lay down some smack.

In strip 0008, healing potion stolen form Belkar and fed to Elan was green.

By the way, I love the idea that Sunny is bouncy, and I imagine it sounds like a basketball. I mean he's the right color, so it has to.

Baseball and basketball, Sunny is a two-sport letterman.

[brian 333]

Hello what if what if Calder thinks he can remove the polymorph from Bloodfeast The Extreme-inator and dominate its mind and then what happens

Then Bloodfeast's loyalty to Belkar will be tested.

If Calder orders BF to do something he would normally do, BF will probably do it. If ordered to do something he would normally not do, there are opportunities for BF to make Saving Throws to resist the order or to break the enchantment. Those saves will likely favor Calder for a lot of reasons, mostly having to do with a high level caster vs an attack-trained mount. If Belkar contests Calder for control, Belkar has some serious advantages, beginning with his friendship, Wild Empathy Ranger ability, and his ranks in Animal Handling. And if BF is Belkar's Animal Companion, it gets even better.

So, without actual data, it is hard to calculate. Calder might control the Exterminator, or that plan might just bite him in the... tail.

[Peelee]

A timely quote, given that Mike Tyson is IRL training for a fight.

I would say Tyson is "training" for a "fight", myself.

[KorvinStarmast]

I would say Tyson is "training" for a "fight", myself.

Yes...it will be a spectacle, but a fight in the sense of his fights with Holyfield ... not so much.
Then again, his fight with Carl "The Truth" Williams lasted less than two minutes, as I recall.

Spoiler: vivid memory

Show

I remember watching it as it began (a friend had the fight on, we had a fight party) and all I could say was "Carl, get your left hand up, don't drop your guard" a few times before Tyson's blow landed ... and ended it.

[Coppercloud]

Hello what if what if Calder thinks he can remove the polymorph from Bloodfeast The Extreme-inator and dominate its mind and then what happens

Tactically it wouldn't make much sense. He would need to dispell the Polymorph first, thus withstand attacks from Bloodfeast for one round, then dominate him. Otherwise Calder would risk dispelling his own spell. The dinosaur is currently inoffensive, so it would be smarter to focus on existing threats, which means Serini and the PCs. Calder might try removing their protections or, if he has overheard Elan discussing Halley's bluff, dominating them directly instead.

Come to think of it, we haven't seen Mimi in the last few seconds. Could she be trying to glue Calder to the floor? The resistance of her glue has been discussed before after all...

[Kardwill]

I guess it could be an art error, but it's a strange one to make consistently through two strips after having it so consistent in the previous strips.

In the last 2 strips, the dragon has been on the ground, on his back, tilting his head to look toward the right of the panels. In the previous ones, he was upward and mostly pointed toward the left.
Maybe that change of overall position of the dragon created some confusion between 1298 and 1299, and it has been repeated since he's been mostly static in the last 2 strips?

[Lord Torath]

I got a horrifying image of Calder biting down on Bloodfeast... but as he has his full hit points, it will be more like chewing gum.

Doing so is a bad idea, since it will end with Calder's teeth broken (panel 3).

[Unoriginal]

Fighters?! Calder can manipulate thermodynamic differentials with his fingers, like a normal person, thank you very much!

Calder can also manipulate thermodynamic differentials with his eyes. Which sprung much debates.

[Peelee]

Doing so is a bad idea, since it will end with Calder's teeth broken (panel 3).

I don't think that panel means what you think it means.

[bunsen_h]

Never surrender!

By Grabthar's Hammer, what a saving throw.

Heh.

Oops, sorry for the typo. That was a fully intentional reference to the German term for rule of thumb, "Faustregel" meaning rule of fist.

"Thump" works perfectly well as a joke in context: the effect works, or not, depending on whether the target could be thumped by an arrow.

I don't know why, he swallowed that fly - perhaps he'll die

I know an old dragon who swallowed a V...

When is Bloodfest and how does one observe it? Is there an associated phlebotamist's convention?

Bloodfeast will be simultaneously alive and dead until being observed by opening the dragon.

And even some sort of reason involving flipping the asset in Illustrator (or whatever Rich uses) doesn't really fly, because whichever direction Calder is facing in #1298, the broken horn is still on his right.

I guess it could be an art error, but it's a strange one to make consistently through two strips after having it so consistent in the previous strips.

If it's supposed to indicate something about Calder, I don't know what.

"Didn't you... didn't you used to have that on the other side?"

[Mordar]

"Didn't you... didn't you used to have that on the other side?"

What hump?

Probably top 10 movies of all time. Sure hope you linked the right one...yup, yup you did.

- M

[Lord Torath]

I don't think that panel means what you think it means.

You mean you don't think it means Belkar will see to it that anyone hurting Bloodfeast (including Calder) will never eat solid food again? Because that's what I think that panel means.

[Peelee]

You mean you don't think it means Belkar will see to it that anyone hurting Bloodfeast (including Calder) will never eat solid food again? Because that's what I think that panel means.

Ah, gotcha.

In that case, I don't think your assessment of Belkar's abilities against a red dragon squares up.

Also, ignoring that Calder has already hurt Bloodfeast.

[Tzardok]

"Thump" works perfectly well as a joke in context: the effect works, or not, depending on whether the target could be thumped by an arrow.

You got kinda swordsaged (sword dragon-saged? battle dragoned?) on that hardcore:

Sorry, I meant to say i appreciated it, i just didn't get a round to it earlier.

Exactly. Rule of thump: if an arrow can't go thump against it, the spell doesn't affect it.

[Peelee]

You got kinda swordsaged (sword dragon-saged? battle dragoned?) on that hardcore:

Hey, I like validation!

[gbaji]

In the last 2 strips, the dragon has been on the ground, on his back, tilting his head to look toward the right of the panels. In the previous ones, he was upward and mostly pointed toward the left.

Yeah. I suspect that the iimages of Calder on his back are flipped horizontally, which is what's causing the flipping of the horns.

Probably top 10 movies of all time. Sure hope you linked the right one...yup, yup you did.

I've learned to double check links as well. I've run into a couple occasions where someone has quoted something from a classic source, and I've responded talking about it, only to discover they were referencing something newer, which itself was referencing/homaging the original. Sometimes, the quotee isn't aware of this. Which is... awkward.

And.... Now I realize that I haven't clicked the link. We are talking about Young Frankenstein, right?

[Mordar]

I've learned to double check links as well. I've run into a couple occasions where someone has quoted something from a classic source, and I've responded talking about it, only to discover they were referencing something newer, which itself was referencing/homaging the original. Sometimes, the quotee isn't aware of this. Which is... awkward.

And.... Now I realize that I haven't clicked the link. We are talking about Young Frankenstein, right?

Wait...there was a *young* Frankenstein?

Yes, absolutely. Kind of a strange version of the clip though...seems to have a lot of ambient noise.

- M

[Provengreil]

Ah, gotcha.

In that case, I don't think your assessment of Belkar's abilities against a red dragon squares up.

Also, ignoring that Calder has already hurt Bloodfeast.

Calder's hurt BF, sure, but only to the point of normal battle damage so far. If it ended there I'd give Belkar a 30% chance of writing the scar off as a badass marker and asking if the clerics can heal the HP while preserving it.

Eating or seriously injuring him is a different matter entirely.

I do agree with your assessment of Belkar's retributive capacity in this case though.

[Ghosty]

Yes...it will be a spectacle, but a fight in the sense of his fights with Holyfield ... not so much.
Then again, his fight with Carl "The Truth" Williams lasted less than two minutes, as I recall.

Spoiler: vivid memory

Show

I remember watching it as it began (a friend had the fight on, we had a fight party) and all I could say was "Carl, get your left hand up, don't drop your guard" a few times before Tyson's blow landed ... and ended it.

Professional, albeit old, boxer vs whatever Jake Paul is. Tyson 'should' be devastating. One/two combinations against someone not similarly trained, and this fight would be over. As it would if, e.g., Floyd Meriwether or Oscar De La Hoya were Paul's opponent. But that wouldn't be entertaining.

Even older professional athletes in person often seem otherworldly with just how fast they can move and how strong and precise they are.

All I was doing with the quote was agreeing that Calder probably vowed to never submit again, but pain (like the pain of having a dinosaur grab your windpipe) has a way of changing minds.

He needs to live for a bit, anyway, as I'm sure he has a few bon mots to reveal about Serini, the Scribble, the Gates, and the Snarl. Who knows what he learned from those he mind-controlled? Maybe we can learn a bit more about V, V's omnicide, and how that is or isn't working out?

Can't wait.

[Ghosty]

Clearly, the image of him with the right horn broken was an illusion, and Sunny's anti-magic ray suppressed it so now we see that it's really his left horn that is broken.

No, no, no. He has a twin sister with the horn broken on the other side (represented in the drawings) who will then show up after the Order defeats Calder. (And spends all their consumables and spells in the process.)

There's a modded fight with multiple dragons on the Baldur's Gate series that plays out that way, much later on. *Very* surprising at the time. Great fun. (Lol)

But seriously, I think it's an art issue.

[Resileaf]

A yet-unsaid possibility is that the next strip could involve Calder give Belkar a deal.

Turn against your allies or I eat the lizard. This offer stands for the next six seconds.

[Mordar]

Professional, albeit old, boxer vs whatever Jake Paul is. Tyson 'should' be devastating. One/two combinations against someone not similarly trained, and this fight would be over. As it would if, e.g., Floyd Meriwether or Oscar De La Hoya were Paul's opponent. But that wouldn't be entertaining.

Eh, he's legitimately trained. Doesn't mean he has talent or ability, but he seems to continuously improve. Doesn't mean I don't wanna see Iron Mike make him his...

A yet-unsaid possibility is that the next strip could involve Calder give Belkar a deal.

Turn against your allies or I eat the lizard. This offer stands for the next six seconds.

Nah, Belkar would just carve it back out of him...or do the Agent K thing. "I really like this [lizard]".

- M

[bunsen_h]

I just ran across an old Heinlein quotation that seems apropos:

This sad little lizard told me that he was a brontosaurus on his mother's side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds happiness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply.

---

Wait...there was a *young* Frankenstein?

Yes, absolutely. Kind of a strange version of the clip though...seems to have a lot of ambient noise.

I couldn't find a better clip, unfortunately. From the shakiness and the giggle near the end, I get the impression that it came from someone videorecording a viewing of the movie.

He needs to live for a bit, anyway, as I'm sure he has a few bon mots to reveal about Serini, the Scribble, the Gates, and the Snarl. Who knows what he learned from those he mind-controlled? Maybe we can learn a bit more about V, V's omnicide, and how that is or isn't working out?

The domination doesn't give him telepathic access to the memories and thoughts of his subjects, does it? Though no doubt he'd be able to learn from his subjects by telling them to give him their information, to the extent that he bothered. (They're just minions; do they have anything to contribute to his plans beyond obeying his orders? Etc.)

[silversaraph]

Prediction ---Blood feast will die.
A little character development flashback will follow.
Belkar will sacrifice himself to kill Mr. Dragon.
Gets kicked over to the slightly less than chaotic evil afterlife.

[Peelee]

Ten gold on "Belkar doesn't die in this fight".

[Coppercloud]

I'm almost willing to bet on the longshot - Belkar dying in this fight and being revived.