OOTS #886 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Mystic Muse]

Darn. I thought the OOTS had them there.

[Scowling Dragon]

Giant you brilliant, BRILLIANT, man.

[Bulldog Psion]

Well, I wonder if things can get much worse for the Order here? Now they're drooling in the grip of a spell while the real Xykon is on his way.

[razovor]

How did Belkar come back from the dead?

[Craft (Cheese)]

Well, I wonder if things can get much worse for the Order here? Now they're drooling in the grip of a spell while the real Xykon is on his way.

But is Scruffy okay!?

[RCgothic]

Varsuvius wasn't affected by those Runes...

[Ravens_cry]

NOOooooooo . . .

[Mage Paradox]

That was a bit of a cheat. I saw Redcloak with the eye patch, and thought it might actually be real after all. Then it's an illusion, just like I speculated in advance. How can the illusion show Redcloak in a state that the order has never seen him in? I guess the Giant figured it'd take all the drama out of the fight if we knew it was an illusion all along.

Plus no way Xykon remembers Roy (I'm sure he'll remember V though).

EDIT- I also notice that the Giant puts Redcloak in a forcecage, and Xykon tries to Superb Dispel it, which shouldn't work (but if he hadn't been disrupted, we would have evidence for whether Superb Dispelling has a homebrew function in the comic that lets it dispel forcecage).

[rodneyAnonymous]

How did Belkar come back from the dead?

Only the last frame is really happening.

[Seth1221]

It was going way to easy to be real. And when Belkar died it was obvious it is some sort of illusion.

Great (half?)decapitation art!

[Habakkuk]

That was awesome!

[Paladin Steve]

mother of god, this is getting intense. to fill in why v isn't effected, V was never really there.

[The Giant]

How can the illusion show Redcloak in a state that the order has never seen him in?

Check the eyepatch carefully.

[cabbagesquirrel]

Damn those high level illusions. I do love the drool from Elan at the end. Can't even be hypnotised cooly.

[WindStruck]

Dang, that was a good fight, even though it wasn't real, I guess... two things I wonder though...

Since redcloak did have an eyepatch, do the runes actually take information from reality? Would it really be possible for Roy to beat Xykon like that?

Also it did seem to go "perfectly" in Roy's mind. I mean, I think he wanted Belkar dead, for one thing... but makes me think each other person has their own different fantasy they're going through right now.

Check the eyepatch carefully.

Yes, the eyepatch is on the wrong eye. But how would Roy know Red Cloak even uses one at all now?

[Mc. Lovin']

Oh my god the moment I saw "Belkar's dead Roy"! I thought you'd killed another one giant! The fact that Durkon's death was so unexpected made me believe you might have done it again with him. Awesome comics

[Seth1221]

So the eye-patch is on the wrong eye (no pun) but why is there an eye-patch in the first place?

[The Giant]

Yes, the eyepatch is on the wrong eye. But how would Roy know Red Cloak even uses one at all now?

Because O-Chul and Vaarsuvius both told him that Redcloak got stabbed in the eye. Just not which one. And the Order has almost no understanding of Redcloak's power level, such as whether or not he can cast 7th level clerical spells like Regeneration.

[Spleen_]

The Giant's playing fast and loose with those Belkar fake-outs.

It is nice that we get some insight into Roy's strategy, and how much he has internalized the inevitability of Belkar's death.

[Anteros]

O'chul or V must have told them about Redcloak losing the eye. No big deal, and it explains why it's on the wrong side.

[wzeller]

Because O-Chul and Vaarsuvius both told him that Redcloak got stabbed in the eye. Just not which one.

Wow. That is some impressive plot detail. You never fail to amaze me, Giant, with the depth of story you can give to stick figures.

Incredible.

[shamgar001]

Check the eyepatch carefully.

I can see it's green, when it should be black. I guess the illusion is determined by the spell itself and not the memories of the victims.

I guess we now know what move Roy learned from Horace in the afterlife.

~EDIT~
Never mind, it's always been that color/.

[Mage Paradox]

I was looking for an eye patch last comic, and assumed Redcloak's head being out of view was the "tell" that this was an illusion. I can see why he got it, to throw readers like me, but at the same time there is no logical reason the Order would think he had an eye patch (wrong eye or not), since none of them have seen Redcloak with an eye patch, and the illusion is assumedly getting the images from the minds of the 4 members of the OOTS.

EDIT- missed the reply. Eh, if you say so.

[Hogwarts9876]

Theory: Maybe Belkar is actually dead now. Assuming they're all experiencing the same fantasy, he now 'believes' himself to be dead, and as such might stop breathing.
Or maybe I just like coming up with theories.

[R00kie]

Okay they are all dreaming a set of events which never happened.

So what is Belkar dreaming now? In his dream state is he exploring some afterlife?

Interestingly which afterlife tells us a lot about how Belkar views himself. Few evil characters actually view themselves as evil. (Belkar is probably an exception to that rule - he's pretty self-aware).

[treyh37]

very nice comic and its not just the eye patch on the wrong side redcloak also has his old holy symbol/phylactery on instead of the diamond shaped one

[Swiftbow]

Redcloak has the old phylactery/holy symbol, too.

[Lost]

Thank you Giant.

[Rockphed]

I could have sworn that Thanh removed his eye in his epic, though ultimately unsuccessful struggle to take down Xykon. The Order have seen him since. Presumably, he related "I took Xykon's Goblin's eye." Even though regeneration is a fairly straight forward spell, the Order are all fools, and did not connect that to him getting his eye back.