OOTS #819 - The Discussion Thread

[Aedilred]

I'm starting to wonder whether Tarquin is actually the most dangerous character in the comic (that we've seen). Relative power level in comparison to Xykon is difficult to judge, but he seemed to be about as troubled by Elan's attack as Xykon was by Roy's. But, unlike Xykon, Tarquin is highly intelligent and has actual friends and allies as opposed to minions. He's also a far superior strategist.

Whatever the case, I'm totally loving him.

[Jay R]

Exactly. As genre-savvy as Tarquin is, he should know that it's a bad idea to brag when you could stab

But why should he rely on the contingency plan when he just could stab Nale? That's stupid, that's exactly the kind of behaviour that kills the villains in James Bond movies.

Yes, of course. Procedure is important, Elan.

[rbetieh]

At this point, the only thing that might save Nale is Tarquin choosing him over Malack, which seems like a very poor and unlikely choice.

Or Sabine swoops in and takes the hit (and dies). This looks like the final unraveling of the linear guild. But, if the Heroes need a foil, then it behooves Tarquin to save one (although I realize, he doesn't know he needs to).

[CelestialMagpie]

Or Sabine swoops in and takes the hit (and dies). This looks like the final unraveling of the linear guild. But, if the Heroes need a foil, then it behooves Tarquin to save one (although I realize, he doesn't know he needs to).

Or that woman who mistook Elan for Nale and joined Nale earlier backstabs Tarquin while the pair are leisurely hunting Nale down. Unless I'm forgetting something, I thought she was still running around looking for vengeance for her husband's murder.

That could potentially bad, though I can't imagine someone killing Tarquin in one hit.... except for the empress, and she's probably busy beefing up on bovines.

[Morph Bark]

Tarquin. Pronounced "Tark-win". And he holds true to that.

[JSSheridan]

Thanks Giant!

[sims796]

Jeez, he's dumb.

[Concept]

"This, of course, raises the question of why Tarquin sent the OOTS off"
He gave them a tiny scrap of (unverified) info, and they gave him their plans.

I don't think he intends to catch Nale at all, just taunt him for his foolishness and let him go. Although he did owe Malack a heads up that Nale was there, and Malack will cast true seeing and go for the kill, but that's Nale's problem.

I think Tarquin will be happy to let Nale run off to the canyon to implement the exact plan that Elan was worried Nale might think of. That's Elan's problem.

Or, if Nale stays to implement his plans to kill daddy, it has already been established that Tarquin has no objections to giving his sons enough time to come up with a scheme that actually can end his rule, as long as it makes for a good story. He's not going to make it easy, but he won't cut them down because they're a potential threat either.

"Mr. Burlew would have to work hard in order to make Xykon the main villain again, because Tarquin has set very high standards to our tastes."
It might not be that hard: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0736.html (last panel)

[Moff Chumley]

You know what these means, right?

I will bet any and all takers a shiny nickel that Nale will ultimately kill Tarquin. *sagenod*

[Onyavar]

Stopped reading on third page, don't care if anyone had the same idea before.

My guess is that

Spoiler

Show

Tarquin knows since ages that Nale's back in town: Not only did he capture Thog, he also must have seen through Polozius/Zz'dris illusion and Nale must be sneaking around in the palace for a long time. Tarquin also knows that Malack will kill Nale on sight.
Tarquin also wants to educate Nale, because he plans to have a successor or someone to ally with in case of an emergency. Tarquin just needs to establish his superiority so that Nale starts to accept his plans.
Tarquin loves and cares about both of his sons.

What I'm more curious about is, what Team Good will find at the windy valley: Girard and Orrin? Only Orrin? Only another plothook that will lead them to Orrin/Girard? A completely irrelevant plothook, just so that they're out of Tarquins hair? Maybe Ian and Geoff?

[St Fan]

Then Tarquin would have known all along there was a drow posing as the elven ambassador. Interesting.

Ah, at least. None too soon. I was perusing all the posts to see if someone will finally mention this or not. I couldn't believe no-one else but me noticed this.

That's a good point, but Rich probably just forgot about that particular interaction.

How very little faith you have in the author. So far, the Giant never left any plot hole of this caliber, why would you think it could happen now?

No, unless Zzd'tri used something else than an illusion (ulikely), Tarquin knew about "Polozius" all along. Which means he had been expecting Nale's attack for a while already. Nale is so much outclassed by his father than it's (almost) not funny.

As a side note, I've never been so happy of my habit of always scrolling down the new page strip by strip instead of getting an overall view of it. It makes the final surprise so much more hilarious.

[iTookUrNick]

Then Tarquin would have known all along there was a drow posing as the elven ambassador. Interesting.

Oh, very good thinking! Anyone else fells like commenting on the subject?

Edit: saw them...

[Occasional Sage]

S*** just got real.

On one hand, I feel like Nale will try to bargain his information about the gates for his life. On the other, I don't see him walking out of this alive.

On the gripping hand, Nale is no longer important to keeping the Linear Guild together. The IFC controls it now, and can keep that plot going without him.

You do realise that's precisely the kind of villain he wishes to be, right? Swashbuckling, wise-cracking, moustache-stroking, over-the-top villainous villainy villain?

Only, you know... competent.

I've got to say that I'm disappointed in Malack. He should have cut off talking and actually *cast* True Seeing (or Invisibility Purge, or any of the slew of options) to take advantage of the surprise. Sigh.

[Lynn]

An update always brightens my day, but this one made me feel funny inside, and then I had a stupid smile on my face for hours.

checking the OOTS on TV-Tropes. Yep. Someone already linked todays strip as an example of Magnificent Bastard.

Speaking of which, WriteAMagnificentBastard warns that being a complete monster is usually incompatible with being a MB, but Tarquin proves that a villain can burn innocents alive,use all means of coercion to satisfy his whims, and generally (heh) commit all kind of atrocities, and still keep the "magnificent" part. All it takes is enough awesome.
And maybe a minimum of common ground with the reader. Tarquin has exactly one value that we can relate with: family. I don't think we could like him as much as we do if were he not such a loving and supportive father to Elan (in his twisted and manipulative way, but still).

If, as I suspect, he intends to give a chance to Nale, it will take his eating babies before I can hate him.

[Adeptus]

That was utterly briliant!

[Nohar]

Well, first thing first : I love Tarquin !

Now, the facts and speculation :
- Tarquin himself admitted he didn't know the reason for the OOTS to lie to him, but doesn't seems to care at this point. He wants the OOTS to take care of Nale's team and Orrin (+Girard?) Draketooth. Though at this point, I can't grasp his exact motives, since he knew that Nale hasn't escaped. Other than his motive to help Elan, he did say that it was in their best interest that they succeed... I can't help but think he kept an important information from the OOTS.
- Nale : it's not a good day to be reduced at 1 HP in a palace full of guards, while a high level cleric wants your hide. Tarquin shared with Malack that Nale still was in the palace, and pretty much said in front of him that he saw that Nale was still here (though he didn't say that Nale was standing next to him). Malack seems quite cultivated, but also seems to be a little slow on the uptake. I guess he will have understand what Tarquin just said to him when the next comic comes. Though, I'm beginning to wonder if he prepared "Detect Invisibility" or something like that...
I don't think that Tarquin will let his son escape. He doesn't really feel threatened by Nale. He may not want his death like Malack does, but it's pretty clear that he doesn't care about Nale : he sees him as a huge disappointment, and after being reunited with Elan, he couldn't care less about this son that tried to backstab him.
So, my guess is that he's toying with him, and wanted to twist the knife in the wound. He may want to capture and interrogate him though. Still, there's the possibility that he hopes to educate Nale, and will let him go. Malack wants him dead - as for Tarquin, it's up to debate.

So, what can save Nale now ? Pretty much nothing, since all his allies are incapacipated or fled (Sabine). Once cornered/captured, he may try to talk with Tarquin, though I highly doubt he'll be able to convince his father to release him. There would be a conflict of interest if Tarquin emprisonned Nale, since Malack wants him dead (badly).
No, really, unless Nale manages to escape, he's screwed. In fact, I think he must have a way to teleport himself out of there (we can call Nale a complete moron, but he's a crazy prepared moron : no way he didn't plan everything without an escape plan), but like Tarquin said, he's an egomaniac who probably wanted to hear what Tarquin would have to say about his little plan. He would have done it earlier without that.

Well, if Nale is captured, he's done for... Unless the IFFC acts in his favor by sending Qarr, though that would be a stretch. But we have to remind ourselves that the IFFC doesn't want any player to win : meddling in order to turn every player against another would be a plausible course of action (though they would have to share some informations with Tarquin... A man who knows much more than he let on).
Nay, this can't happen.

[R. Shackleford]

Tarquin is awesome.

I really hope no bungle on the scale of Sapphire City ends up undoing him.

I'm not sure which way I want to see the next few pages go? Do we follow Nale and Tarquin or does the main plot FINALLY get back on track?

[Burner28]

Nice!

[deuxhero]

Actually, Tarquin may not be letting Nale get a head start, leaving his threatened area will provoke an AoO, deadly to the Harmed Nale.

[Kish]

If Nale has been wandering around Invisible and with one hit point instead of drinking healing potions or something before setting out to spy, Nale deserves the worst fate Malack could devise for him.

I mean, Nale does anyway, because he's vile, but...if he's that stupid, he deserves it all over again just for stupidity.

[Sierim]

Glad I had set my drink aside just before reading this comic, because I literally lol'd when I got to the end.

Well played, Giant.

[Silverraptor]

Run Nale. RUN!

[morikahn]

I think this comic's title should be changed from 'Parental Insight' to 'Parental Supervision'.

[ORione]

Now, the facts and speculation :
- Tarquin himself admitted he didn't know the reason for the OOTS to lie to him, but doesn't seems to care at this point. He wants the OOTS to take care of Nale's team and Orrin (+Girard?) Draketooth. Though at this point, I can't grasp his exact motives, since he knew that Nale hasn't escaped. Other than his motive to help Elan, he did say that it was in their best interest that they succeed... I can't help but think he kept an important information from the OOTS.

Strip 762, Panel 9. Although there may be more to it.

[Gift Jeraff]

it's not a good day to be reduced at 1 HP

If Nale has been wandering around Invisible and with one hit point instead of drinking healing potions or something before setting out to spy, Nale deserves the worst fate Malack could devise for him.

He has less scratches than he did in #811, so he definitely drank a potion off-panel. He also tidied his hair.

I think this comic's title should be changed from 'Parental Insight' to 'Parental Supervision'.

This is brilliant.

[Joe22c]

Run Nale, Run!

[rbetieh]

If, as I suspect, he intends to give a chance to Nale, it will take his eating babies before I can hate him.

I suspect he has done this already in the past, based on what Malack says. The question is how many second chances does Tarquin give?

[Dr. Gamera]

And Nale can still cast Dimension Door.

... unless he's out of all 4th-level-or-higher spell slots for the day, which is perhaps the answer to the question "why wasn't Dimension Door Nale's first action in the last panel?"

[rewinn]

It might be interesting to see what Tarquin's Anti-Invisible Intruder Protocol might be.

1. Close all doors
2. Turn all Nightingale Floors to Extra Squeaky
3. Systematically go through all rooms and corridors with nets held by guards hugging the walls
4. Call out the hounds (...assuming invisibility doesn't deaden smell...)

Dimension door and similar spells would complicate the situation, but part of the point of the Protocol would be to make the intruder burn though his spells. Sooner or later he'll run out or slip up!

Or ... you can just send an Angry High Priest after him. Someone who'll use True Seeing to kill him, then raise him and then kill him again over and over until he's out of spells (except for Speak With Dead ... that skull over Maleck's fireplace is going to serve a purpose - "Alas Poor Nale, I Knew Him Well!").

[AutomatedTeller]

Awesome comic.

Why do I feel sorry for Nale, all of a sudden?

I'm not convinced Tarquin wants Nale dead - it would have been easy for him to kill Nale right then, but he made a classic evil overlord mistake, and I don't know that he does that by accident. I agree - he wants something from Nale and it isn't his death.