Pieces of Eights - D&D Pirates

[Forum Explorer]

I find it oddly funny that the Chaotic Neutral is moralizing. Though Morgan seems a little too optimistic about her 'plan' actually working for the long haul.

Short term, her plan wouldn't have done that well, particularly since she was going a bit crazy. Fact is she needed a kick in the butt to realize what is truly important and get over her vengeance kick.

Also Morgan not exactly a genius, nor someone who pays much attention to consequences. Her dream was just that, a dream. She didn't really have much of a clear plan on how to make it happen.

[Lurkmoar]

Welp, if Morgan was being sincere to Raina that pretty much dries up any remaining sympathy I had for her.

Or she's trying to make it easier on Raina. I dunno. We'll see. But when she mentioned talking about finding a new Low, I could easily believe it.

[Kantaki]

Welp, if Morgan was being sincere to Raina that pretty much dries up any remaining sympathy I had for her.

Or she's trying to make it easier on Raina. I dunno. We'll see. But when she mentioned talking about finding a new Low, I could easily believe it.

I read that as Morgan saying that she wouldn't settle down, that after dealing with Low she would look for some new tyrant to take down. She is to freedom-loving to accept that someone oppresses others. Mary-Ann is just honest with herself and with Raina.
That she doesn't want Raina to feel even worse might be part of it as well.

I still don't think that the tale of Mary-Ann Morgan will end there.

[Admiral Squish]

We do seem to be coming around to the point of the original framing device...
Now it's just a question of if the author does the typical 'last minute rescue' thing to continue the tale, or if he does the unexpected and finishes it here.

[Kantaki]

We do seem to be coming around to the point of the original framing device...
Now it's just a question of if the author does the typical 'last minute rescue' thing to continue the tale, or if he does the unexpected and finishes it here.

Well, its not as if Mary-Ann is the only maincharacter.

But I can only repeat: I don't believe Mary-Ann will die during her execution. Not until we see it in the comic.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

I agree with Slaiton. No sympathy for monsters. But I fear the monsters will be the ones who succeed with their goals.

The more I think about the prophecy the more I get the feeling that this might be the end.
Most of the pieces have served their purpose.

Spoiler: Prophecy-speculation

Show

The peasant dies: Nicole Read

The philosopher guides: If the guy in the Borealis was what he claimed to be he has played his part

The soldier obeys: Roberts

The mystic turns: Alyonubis kind of turned against her old path

The architect wins: So far Maynard seems to be successful

The vandal breaks: Grynn breaks many things. Alas, I think in the end she will be broken.

The criminal... makes a example?: Well, hanging Morgan will Show everyone what they have to expect if they have a chaotic alignment resist Maynard's new order.

The noble... I'm not sure, what was Raina's role again?

I still hope someone (Maybe Thatch, Grynn or even Raina) will do something to turn the whole mess around.

[The Mormegil]

New comic.

I agree with Slaiton. No sympathy for monsters. But I fear the monsters will be the ones who succeed with their goals.

The more I think about the prophecy the more I get the feeling that this might be the end.
Most of the pieces have served their purpose.

Spoiler: Prophecy-speculation

Show

The peasant dies: Nicole Read

The philosopher guides: If the guy in the Borealis was what he claimed to be he has played his part

The soldier obeys: Roberts

The mystic turns: Alyonubis kind of turned against her old path

The architect wins: So far Maynard seems to be successful

The vandal breaks: Grynn breaks many things. Alas, I think in the end she will be broken.

The criminal... makes a example?: Well, hanging Morgan will Show everyone what they have to expect if they have a chaotic alignment resist Maynard's new order.

The noble... I'm not sure, what was Raina's role again?

I still hope someone (Maybe Thatch, Grynn or even Raina) will do something to turn the whole mess around.

I called it before I'm calling it again now: I think it will come down to Thatch doing his thing and turning the prophecy on its head by switching the roles around. What appeared to be the architect will be the criminal, what appeared to be the vandal will instead be the soldier... or something along those lines.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

The good Tiberius seems to like the sound of his own voice. His speech reminds me of Palpatine's in Revenge of the Sith and similar Lawful Evil speeches.

I wonder if he includes Morgan's time under Low's command in is list of her misdeeds here. If yes, why is that guy still free?

I think one of the best hints that Team Lawful Evil won't win is that the comic is called a Lawful Chaotic Neutral Fantasy Adventure.

Regarding the Lunar Eclipse: The moon wasn't exactly red yesterday, it looked more like a black blot with a little bit of red on the edge.

[Forum Explorer]

New comic.

The good Tiberius seems to like the sound of his own voice. His speech reminds me of Palpatine's in Revenge of the Sith and similar Lawful Evil speeches.

I wonder if he includes Morgan's time under Low's command in is list of her misdeeds here. If yes, why is that guy still free?

I think one of the best hints that Team Lawful Evil won't win is that the comic is called a Lawful Neutral Fantasy Adventure.

Regarding the Lunar Eclipse: The moon wasn't exactly red yesterday, it looked more like a black blot with a little bit of red on the edge.

Er, you mean Chaotic Neutral Fantasy Adventure right? And the party splitting up/dying is kinda typically how those end.

[Kantaki]

Er, you mean Chaotic Neutral Fantasy Adventure right?

I have no idea how I made this mistake.

And the party splitting up/dying is kinda typically how those end.

Maybe, but I think that something called a "Chaotic" adventure shouldn't end with the victory of Team Lawful.

[Lurkmoar]

The true enemy of Chaotic Neutral always ends up being Chaotic Neutral.

Oh, and on the new poll, only four people have voted that this is the end of Morgan. Even on the unlikely chance that Morgan does die, there's still way too many unanswered questions and loose plot threads for her hanging to feel like a satisfying conclusion to the comic. I'd at least like for confirmation that Maynard was indeed the one that killed Nikole.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

I still think Mary-Ann will survive her execution, but should she die there it would be a good end for her. She really gives a impression of being at peace with herself and her fate.

Thinking about people that might intervene, didn't Roberts swear to protect Morgan or something like that? Or maybe Low decides that her life is his to take. It is even possible that Maynard is playing some complicated gambit that requires her survival.

[Lurkmoar]

Thinking about people that might intervene, didn't Roberts swear to protect Morgan or something like that? Or maybe Low decides that her life is his to take. It is even possible that Maynard is playing some complicated gambit that requires her survival.

I dunno about Roberts, if he saved her, his own family could have their lives ruined. That's the reason he went against Morgan in the first place. Low 'rescuing' Morgan also doesn't feel like a good fit, he's always been portrayed as a goal oriented person and helping Morgan just seems like he'd be screwing himself over out of a fat easy payday and prestige.

I think if she's going to be rescued, it'll be Thatch, Grynn or Autumn doing it. And I hope it's not Thatch, because screw that guy. Trust is earned, not given, and Thatch never bothered to earn it beyond killing anything that might inconvience him and saying to 'trust him'.

Trust you to act in your own interests mutter mutter

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Well, that doesn't look very good for Mary-Ann Morgan. On the other hand undeath is always a option.

The poll looks good so far. 13 votes for chaos, 7 for neutral, 5 for good, 2 for evil and a overwhelming number of 0 votes for the lawful crowd.

[AvatarVecna]

I guess you could say this comic ended in a snap!

[Lurkmoar]

If this the last comic, it would make an interesting warning tale about becoming a psychic powered pirate.

But I kinda doubt it's the end. I didn't expect the execution to be so dragged out though.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

The next person Maynard deals with is Aly. I wouldn't be surprised if he gives her the classic "join me or die"-speech.

i wonder if Alyonubis will abandon her old faith or if she will try to regain her old powers.

Is it just me, or does Slaiton look less "human" since he woke up? I think it even got worse during the last updates.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

I think Alyonubis doesn't count herself to Maynard's "we" anymore. Telling someone you manipulated them before they fully turned to your side is not the smartest thing to do. Basically threatening them when they start doubting you after said confession isn't very helpful either. Not to mention the comment about Aly's goddess.

Well, it seems Maynard's "victory" will be a shortlived one. At least I hope so, I don't like those "absolute order"-guys.

[Lurkmoar]

Seems like Aly has a severe case of buyers remorse. Of course, out of all the people, she and Grynn have the least to blame for the outcome that befell Morgan. At least in my view.

[Forum Explorer]

Huh, here's a twist. I think this might come back to bite Maynard because Aly chose Maynard out of love, not out of law or 'right'.

And if there is one emotion I'd link with Chaos, it's Love.

[Haar]

I'm going to speculate. (Which is normally wrong.)

Morgan grows a new body out of the discarded head, and Aly puts Maynard down, hard.

[Lurkmoar]

Welp, Maynard has a weakness common to men.

Spoiler

Show

He sure doesn't seem to understand that his love interest will react poorly to manipulation. And... even less well to admitting to murder.

[Kantaki]

Maynard, that’s not how you convince someone of your new world of absolute order. Especially not when they have a more chaotic worldview.
That he argues with „it was fated” only makes it worse. I mean he choose to murder, betray and manipulate his way to this chaos-free world, he choose to follow the prophecy. The least thing Maynard could do is not to hide behind „fate” as if he lacks the free will to choose his own path.

I hope Alyonubis’ bookstabbing works. The crack looks promising. The question is will destroying the book help. Maynard said he only wanted to use it as a last resort for those that don't play along with his new rules. But I doubt that using Mary-Ann to scare everyone into playing along will work very long after her execution. And that assumes that neither Morgan nor another partymember, like a certain lich, returns to mess everything up. Aly’s reaction shows how good this plan works. And if I recall Morgan’s time with the book correctly there are limits to its power. It couldn't affect Raina’s heart and the same is true for Low’s.

[AvatarVecna]

"Herpetty derp derp, you joined me because you thought I loved you, and you loved the person you thought I was. Now I'm going to let you now that, not only was my love for you not real at the beginning, the person you loved never existed, and I manipulated you into betraying the woman who freed you from being enslaved by a man who now works for me. What's that? You want to tear down my new reign of law and order for hiding my selfish intentions behind the fate excuse, and shove all my self-righteous holier-than-thou tendencies up my ass?

Well that just came out of nowhere. Are you by chance being visited by your Aunt Flo?"

I mean really, that's about the only way he could've gone about this worse.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Yay, Aly as her powers back. And I never expected fairy-wings to look this badass.

Maynard learns the same lection Morgan did earlier: The book can't change the hearts of people, it can't completely override free will.

I guess that means this is only the beginning. With Aly back in Team Chaos there is even a chance we see Mary-Ann again in some way.

Oh well, the best possible outcome might be a balance between order and chaos. Followed of course by a more chaotic world.

Slaiton was really stupid there. I want him to loose and my reaction was Why? Why did you have to say this to Aly? You spend enough time with her to know how she would react.

[Grim Portent]

Slaiton was really stupid there. I want him to loose and my reaction was Why? Why did you have to say this to Aly? You spend enough time with her to know how she would react.

Presumably he sees Lawful as the natural state that people are meant to aspire to and thought she'd be fine with him showing her the path to virtue. Religous fanatic and all that.

[Pht3v3n]

Yay, Aly as her powers back. And I never expected fairy-wings to look this badass.

I'm not 100% convinced her "powers" are back. The wings, invisibility and spinal plates (in a shot four pages ago) are part of the essences she absorbed. Those are basically edits to their DNA code, which is why Maynard was saying that she was going to get them removed. Her "god powers" that she lost were the spells and possibly the chrysalis ritual itself. Maybe she got them back too, but I can very easily see this going down the DnD 3.5 Druid/Cleric route and taking a lot more work to atone for and regain.

[Kantaki]

I'm not 100% convinced her "powers" are back. The wings, invisibility and spinal plates (in a shot four pages ago) are part of the essences she absorbed. Those are basically edits to their DNA code, which is why Maynard was saying that she was going to get them removed. Her "god powers" that she lost were the spells and possibly the chrysalis ritual itself. Maybe she got them back too, but I can very easily see this going down the DnD 3.5 Druid/Cleric route and taking a lot more work to atone for and regain.

It looks like Aly teleported in panel 4. I don't think that is part of her augmentations. "Poof" is a odd soundeffect if Aly made herself invisible. Looking at the page(12-13) that explains what the fairy-augmentation gives Aly the effect matches the invisibility Icon. "Poof" is still a weird soundeffect.

[Forum Explorer]

Slaiton was really stupid there. I want him to loose and my reaction was Why? Why did you have to say this to Aly? You spend enough time with her to know how she would react.

Does he? Or has he simply be reading the book of Fate to know what she would do and say? Now that he doesn't have that crutch to fall back on he's finding people don't fit into neat little boxes so well. Or he's so blinded by love he didn't think that he'd get a negative reaction.

[Kantaki]

Does he? Or has he simply be reading the book of Fate to know what she would do and say? Now that he doesn't have that crutch to fall back on he's finding people don't fit into neat little boxes so well. Or he's so blinded by love he didn't think that he'd get a negative reaction.

I doubt that it is love that blinds Maynard. That his eyes turned into gold on the other hand I mean that he is extremely lawful and absolutely convinced of his cause might have something to do with it. And looking back at Morgan's time with the unsealed Book of Fate it seems that it amplifies the users desire to further order/chaos.

I tried to find the books proper name in the archive and noticed a early hint that Maynard did manipulate the whole thing. He had the key to their cell after the barbrawl and it doesn't look like he had a opportunity to steal it from the guards.