OOTS #1022 - The Discussion Thread

[Idiotic_Bird]

Goddamit, this all comes down to Malack. WHy did you have to vampirise Durkon???

[ChillerInstinct]

Seeing as HPoH already left, and the staff didn't go with him, it wouldn't be any direct use to him even if it were still intact.

Well, yes. :P I meant more the loss of the staff in general.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Limited access to Protection From Daylight might indeed be a problem... Were it not for the fact that Dwarves live primarily underground.

[Martok]

I love Roy in this strip. That's all I have to say. (That, and great writing, Giant!)

[10d10]

To: New High Priest of Hel
From: Roy
Re:kt

[Idiotic_Bird]

My guess of what would happen:
GPD(Guy Pretending to be Durkon) goes to the dwarven lands, but encounters Durkon's mum/friends and Durkon starts fighting back. He manages to hold distract GPD long enough for OOTS to come over and defeat GPD.
My guess anyways, idk how that would actually work out, but its my guess...

[GM_3826]

Plot twist: In history, this event would be said to be why they became known as the Order of the Stick.

*poofs back to their plane of residence*

[AndyLeighton]

Whoa! I just recognized the significance of Panel 1:

Veldrina: Do you need healing.
Roy: I'm fine.

However effective that healing potion Roy imbibed was he was still pretty bashed up until he went into green eyed "Hulk" mode. Now he's unharmed? Now he doesn't have so much as a scratch on him?

That's...that's...I mean, I know it's been discussed but for the subject to be directly addressed in this way is pretty enlightening. It looks like some serious foreshadowing, too.

Based on OotS #1009, it looks like when he went into Hulk mode, he was instantly healed of all damage (after he imbibed a potion that didn't heal him all the way). A close reading of the rest of the comic since then shows that he didn't take any damage during the fight against the vampires.

Related: If you know of any threads discussing Roy's sword's powers, I would greatly appreciate it if you could post it in a reply or PM it to me- I've been looking for one but haven't found it yet :)

[Ralanr]

Roy has some of the best "**** you" moments. O-chul still takes the cake in my book. "Smite. Evil."

[eilandesq]

Based on OotS #1009, it looks like when he went into Hulk mode, he was instantly healed of all damage (after he imbibed a potion that didn't heal him all the way). A close reading of the rest of the comic since then shows that he didn't take any damage during the fight against the vampires.

Related: If you know of any threads discussing Roy's sword's powers, I would greatly appreciate it if you could post it in a reply or PM it to me- I've been looking for one but haven't found it yet :)

Given that Xykon's signature move for beating down tough opponents is spamming Energy Drain--an attack for which it is ordinarily hard to come up with a decent defense against, explaining why an epic level wizard like Dorukan was so readily slaughtered by it--Roy having an item which can make it a momentary annoyance is bound to be rather significant going forward. Fire and gravity--which was mostly what killed him last time--are a tad easier to defend against.

[Emperordaniel]

Why does the vampire have a normal speech balloon and not an inverted one?

Why am I the first to point this out?

Vampires have an established ability to speak "normally" when desired - see Malack.

[Mister Non PC]

This feels badly written. Good job throwing a weapon in the face of someone right after you talk rules-lawyering and avoiding repercussions for attacking, now the next chapter can declare that you broke the rules and need to be killed. Oh wait, that's not going to happen because the giant didn't think things through and doesn't want his ****-up to derail everything. So I guess it arbitrarily doesn't count.

Why would you bother trolling here? If you don't like the strip go away and read something more your speed - like Luann or something.

[Wildroses]

Nice callback in the last panel. It's also nice having some pure humour again after all the drama. Not that I have minded the drama. I am all psyched for the Dwarven Homelands right now.

[Bobbybobby99]

Contrary to Mx. Derp, I loved this. So much laughter. So much.

[Ellen]

It's like the time I ordered a book (from England. First edition. Autographed). Wouldn't you know that would be the week they had flooding along the delivery route?

[Sir_Norbert]

So do I.
Although Undurkon is more concise, we're Phyrnglsnyxing all the way.

Can I just point out that your phonetic transcription is way off? [y] is the German ü; the vowel in "fear" is [i:]. The suggested pronunciation "fear-en-gil-sniks" is four syllables, with a hard [g] after the [ŋ]. You're missing a syllable, and you have a secondary stress marker but no primary stress. In short, you want:

[ˈfiːrəŋɡəlˌsnɪks]

[Max™]

So, the vampires out front are still protected by the last casting of that spell with the staff for how long?

I haven't done D&D in years and long since purged all the system and palladium from my head for M&M goodness.

Can I just point out that your phonetic transcription is way off? [y] is the German ü; the vowel in "fear" is [i:]. The suggested pronunciation "fear-en-gil-sniks" is four syllables, with a hard [g] after the [ŋ]. You're missing a syllable, and you have a secondary stress marker but no primary stress. In short, you want:

[ˈfiːrəŋɡəlˌsnɪks]

Thank you

[Metahuman1]

Ya know, just a ruthlessly pragmatic though. The gods could decide to "Declare War." on the Dwarves as step 1 of the break and remake the world. Thus killing ALL of them in "Battle." and Denying Hel her power up. Note: This assumes they commit and go through with that plan.


That said: This last couple of Strips has become my default argument for why Lawful Alignments tend to screw over players when they attempt to combine them with "Good." but are the absolute best thing ever if you combine them with "Neutral." Or "Evil.". Ergo why I don't play them anymore.

[Yendor]

I love HP-Odin's expression of "Yeah, I'd totally let you kill her if I could."

And Roy doesn't have to worry about losing protection himself. There are several priests who'd be willing to claim him if necessary. Veldrina has a spot open, and she's not likely to hold his previous job performance against him.

[hroþila]

Can I just point out that your phonetic transcription is way off? [y] is the German ü; the vowel in "fear" is [i:]. The suggested pronunciation "fear-en-gil-sniks" is four syllables, with a hard [g] after the [ŋ]. You're missing a syllable, and you have a secondary stress marker but no primary stress. In short, you want:

[ˈfiːrəŋɡəlˌsnɪks]

Alternatively, the phonetic transcription is right by default and "fear-en-gil-sniks" is a fair English-based approximation.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Thanks, Giant. I really needed this after the MONDAY I've had.

Well played, sir -- that is the sort of thing I was trying to make happen, but the brain failed its funny check. (And I can't buy another skill rank for love nor money).

Did you remember to schedule your training montage?

[Sam113097]

After all the talk about not attacking the representatives, I'm afraid Belkar is about to burst in, kill the New HPoH, and make a bad situation even worse.

[Lord Stoneheart]

I love HP-Odin's expression of "Yeah, I'd totally let you kill her if I could."

And Roy doesn't have to worry about losing protection himself. There are several priests who'd be willing to claim him if necessary. Veldrina has a spot open, and she's not likely to hold his previous job performance against him.

Veldrina doesn't have a spot open, Wrecan is still around. And it's not just being a bodyguard that allowed him to attack Lurky. If any bodyguard attacked a priest of another god they would be put to death immediately. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1000.html

Being Lurky's bodyguard specifically allowed Roy to attack him. Unless the new high priestess decides to hire him, Roy's not allowed to attack.

[Keltest]

Veldrina doesn't have a spot open, Wrecan is still around. And it's not just being a bodyguard that allowed him to attack Lurky. If any bodyguard attacked a priest of another god they would be put to death immediately. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1000.html

Being Lurky's bodyguard specifically allowed Roy to attack him. Unless the new high priestess decides to hire him, Roy's not allowed to attack.

You get two bodyguards.

[Yendor]

Being Lurky's bodyguard specifically allowed Roy to attack him. Unless the new high priestess decides to hire him, Roy's not allowed to attack.

Who said anything about Roy attacking? The bodyguard protection is to keep him from being attacked by priests who aren't happy with his actions. And as mentioned, priests are allowed two bodyguards.

[davidbofinger]

Kraagar's Tomb must be a doozy

The Monster in the Darkness' Father is there, so yeah, kind of.

[Kislath]

Why was that staff considered the property of the Church of Hel?

It was Malack's. He was a priest of Jergal. Durkon only got it because Malack died. I don't recall any sort of transfer of registered ownership.

[Mandor]

Fifty imaginary bucks says that next time we see Belkar he's going to be casually strolling past a pile of dead vampires that he just killed.
The drama at the church is over now after all. The real problem now is catching up to Not-Durkon and stopping him. Plus its Belkar.

I like the name Not-Durkon, but I don't think I can find a way to successfully paraphrase the entire "Not Nale, Not-Nale. Thog help Nale nail Not-Nale, not Nale. and Thog knot Not-Nale while Nale nail Not-Nale. Nale, not Not-Nale, now nail Not-Nale by leaving Not-Nale, not Nale, in jail.". Of course, it would be complicated with "Durkon" not really being a homonym for any other word in English... Maybe "dirk on" as in setting a dagger on something else, but eh.... no. Not going to work.

[davidbofinger]

throwing a weapon in the face of someone right after you talk rules-lawyering and avoiding repercussions for attacking

As I see it, Roy deliberately did the most unpleasant thing he could without technically making an attack. He was hoping to provoke the Frontarch into attacking him so he could destroy her and claim self-defence. A little risky, given he doesn't know the legal definition of attack, and it didn't work, but apparently he thought it worth a try.

[Jasdoif]

Why was that staff considered the property of the Church of Hel?

Almost certainly, the claim was made solely because she wanted to get the staff back, as befits the protocols of Spontaneous Frontarchians.