OOTS #860 - The Discussion Thread

[M.A.D]

Originally Posted by Gift Jeraff

His body almost makes a complete 180 as if he's falling over and his expression never changes throughout all 3. I think he's paralyzed.

I see. But if he's 5 levels below Durkon, there's no chance in him killing Belkar, probably

[Urf]

Re: Sabine

I THIIIINK the Linear Guild are meant to be opposites of themselves in addition to be opposites of the Order. I'm pretty sensitive to the times the author places his characters in strong emotional relationships. Sabine is going to have a sympathetic arc.

[Sarcasticles]

This strip was awesome. Seeing the Order actually winning is nice, and I'm eagerly awaiting what happens next.

[CapnCoconuts]

Originally Posted by UtimaII

At first I thought that Belkar couldn't hear Nale because Nale was affected by Holy Word.

Eh?

Since when does Holy Word cause a silence effect? I thought it Deafened, Blinded, Paralyzed, and/or killed (and has a good chance of banishing evil outsiders).

[Holammer]

Haven't laughed this hard for a long time, how in the world will they turn this around?

[eilandesq]

Since Belkar's voice is carrying to Roy, Tarquin's should as well--and he isn't putting up his "Thog" act any more. Roy should know full well who the mysterious high level fighter working for the LG is now, as should Durkon and Haley.

[Roland Itiative]

Originally Posted by eilandesq

Since Belkar's voice is carrying to Roy, Tarquin's should as well--and he isn't putting up his "Thog" act any more. Roy should know full well who the mysterious high level fighter working for the LG is now, as should Durkon and Haley.

The difference is Belkar, as well as Nale, are yelling (as evidenced by the capital letters), while Tarquin was talking with his normal voice.

[ManuelSacha]

Wow, somebody is stubbornly refusing to believe that Sabine is in love with Nale, despite this having been anviliciously underlined in two different (quite moving) strips. And that stubborn refusal comes from the idea that "evil has to be evil", with no room for shades of gray.
Basically, they're ASKING FOR BAD WRITING.
They're going to be disappointed.

However, fallen angels exist in D&D (and in several mythologies). This means external creatures that are "always alignment X" can, occasionally, shift to "alignment Y".
That being said, I don't think that's what happened to Sabine.
It's actually much simpler than that.
She's chaotic, she's evil, and she's in love: deal with it.

On the subject of Malack and Qarr... no, I don't think they've been affected by the holy word. The metal door that blocked them seemed much more sturdy than the trapdoor Belkar fell from. I'm guessing the way the first door is drawn is a way to indicate that they're definitely shut off from the battle. Who knows? It might have been made in a way to work against spellcasters, too.

Originally Posted by Gift Jeraff

And Tarquin doesn't "even know about the rest." So he might not even be sure of Malack and Kilkil's levels (since Holy Word only has a save for the banishment part). Interesting.

Or.. or... Tarquin doesn't want to reveal any information to Nale about his (true) allies without a reason, and sharing that information with his son at the moment wouldn't really help their situation in the slightest, since Malack and a paralyzed Kilkil are out of the battle (and Kilkil was probably too low level to be much useful, anyway).

[Mister Non PC]

Great comic as usual.

Couldn't help wondering, however, (and this may be picking at nits) but given how effective Durkon's Holy word was against Sabine, Nale, and Z; why hasn't he used it against the Linear Guild before?

It didn't do much damage to Belkar, and knocking Sabine out would have outweighed that many times.



- He tried it in #556 against the Banjo worshipping Orcs, but failed to complete the spell.

[cellingwood]

"It's not a bug, it's a feature."

Best. Punchline. Ever.

[Anarion]

Well, just read this comic. Methinks Roy has been hanging out with too many computer programmers (or more likely, the Giant has been spending too much time with Rawhide).

Belkar being deafened was a masterstroke, and, aside from the funny, really speaks to how well the Order can predict Nale at this point (or how lucky they are). I'm curious if Tarquin is actually going to care about this all that much though. If Nale goes down, Z can't cast, and Malack stays separated, Tarquin might just shrug, take off his helmet and go "nice, great job guys, knew you could do it."

[FujinAkari]

Originally Posted by Mister Non PC

Great comic as usual.

Couldn't help wondering, however, (and this may be picking at nits) but given how effective Durkon's Holy word was against Sabine, Nale, and Z; why hasn't he used it against the Linear Guild before?

Because he couldn't cast seventh level spells in the Dungeon of Durokan, or destroying any nongood civilians in the vicinity wasn't a viable option (Cliffport)

[DoctorIllithid]

Its always nice to see a good plan come together, isn't it?

[Mordae]

Originally Posted by Mister Non PC

Great comic as usual.

Couldn't help wondering, however, (and this may be picking at nits) but given how effective Durkon's Holy word was against Sabine, Nale, and Z; why hasn't he used it against the Linear Guild before?

It didn't do much damage to Belkar, and knocking Sabine out would have outweighed that many times.



- He tried it in #556 against the Banjo worshipping Orcs, but failed to complete the spell.

He wanted to use it against Nale and Sabine on the balcony, but was enervated.

[eilandesq]

Originally Posted by Roland Itiative

The difference is Belkar, as well as Nale, are yelling (as evidenced by the capital letters), while Tarquin was talking with his normal voice.

They should be able to hear a normal speaking voice from that distance--but even if they can't Durkon is standing right in front of him with probably the best Listen check of the whole group due to his high Wisdom bonus. The jig should be up.

[Deepbluediver]

Originally Posted by Anarion

If Nale goes down, Z can't cast, and Malack stays separated, Tarquin might just shrug, take off his helmet and go "nice, great job guys, knew you could do it."

I doubt that; it has far too great a chance of failure.

Now that the OotS is nearly all back together, they probably have a good shot at knocking Tarquin down, and keeping him down, at least for a while. The only person I could theoretically see being opposed to killing Tarquin would be Elan, except that they already had one duel to the death (sort of).

Now, if Tarquin had some other significant card up his sleeve to play (blackmail, maybe) then I might see him try to negotiate rather than fight, but just bluffing into "I was on your side all along, really" seems far to simple and risky for a character of Tarquin's stature.

Originally Posted by eilandesq

They should be able to hear a normal speaking voice from that distance--but even if they can't Durkon is standing right in front of him with probably the best Listen check of the whole group due to his high Wisdom bonus. The jig should be up.

I made the point about Durkon being able to hear several pages back, but Roy already figured out it's not Thog. They now know that the masked man is intelligent and knowledgable, and probably not exactly following Nale's orders, but actually guessing his identity is a bit more of a stretch.

Also, hearing noise and discerning what is being said over the sounds of battle are two very different things.

[Gnome Alone]

Originally Posted by ManuelSacha

She's chaotic, she's evil, and she's in love: deal with it.

This can be the tagline for the D&D sitcom you're writing!

[Xavon]

Best. Punchline. Ever!

(Yes, I'm a programmer, why do you ask?)

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Deepbluediver

Now, if Tarquin had some other significant card up his sleeve to play (blackmail, maybe) then I might see him try to negotiate rather than fight, but just bluffing into "I was on your side all along, really" seems far to simple and risky for a character of Tarquin's stature.

It wouldn't be "Oh, actually I was on your side." I agree that would probably fail. It would be, "Hey guys, it's Tarquin. As appropriate for drama, I joined up with the villain team so I could get to the gate while you did all the work. Elan understands, right son? But, since you beat us, I surrender. You can take me prisoner and waste time escorting me to jail, or I could just go wait outside and leave you be to go find this gate you're looking for. I mean, I suppose you could kill me, but then I'll get resurrected and have to come hunt you down...for dramatic reasons only, of course."

[Riverdance]

Funniest strip in a long time! Thanks loads Giant!!!

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

This last turn of events made me laugh harder than anything in recent memory.

I'm surprised Nale can't figure out that the volume problem is on his end, though. Maybe he perceives the condition as a loud heavenly chime drowning everything else out?

Also, I still suspect that Kilkil is secretly a 24th-level expert or something.

[Red XIV]

Originally Posted by Beanjamish

Geez that's a lot of damage you took there, Nale.

Have Belkar's Favored Enemies ever been stated? I'd think Human would be a pretty good choice for a psychopath in a world mostly dominated by humans.

If he could get away with it, Belkar would cheat and go with "Favored Enemy: Everything That Moves".

[dps]

Originally Posted by FujinAkari

Because he couldn't cast seventh level spells in the Dungeon of Durokan, or destroying any nongood civilians in the vicinity wasn't a viable option (Cliffport)

Also, whenever V was around, he could really cast it then, either (unless V is at least 2 levels higher than Durkon, which may be true at certain times, but not all the way through the story).

[stsasser]

Originally Posted by ManuelSacha

And that stubborn refusal comes from the idea that "evil has to be evil", with no room for shades of gray.

...and the equally stubborn notion that "love has to be good".

I would watch the sitcom Gnome Alone is pimping.

[Phoenix Xul]

I busted up laughing so much. Oh my god that is so perfect. SOOOO wonderful.

[Deepbluediver]

Originally Posted by Anarion

It wouldn't be "Oh, actually I was on your side." I agree that would probably fail. *snip*

While we may never actually know what might happen in a given theoretical situation, here's how I kind of picture this playing out:

Spoiler

Tarquin: *gives his little speech*
Roy: Hmm, you make an excellent point, let me think about this for a second. Let's see, since you fall just below Xykon and just above my father on the list of people I most want to see burn in hell and you've already proven a willingness to aid our enemies, I think we'll just kill you and stuff your body in a bag of holding. Worst case scenario, we buy ourselves some time while your lizard buddy burns the resources to True Resurection you back to the world of the living...provided he can, of course. Then YOU can decided if it's worth your while to hunt us down, or wait for us to come back and get you, again. So in conclusion, my reply is this: Order of the Stick, kick his @$$.

[Chris Opperman]

That was a fun comic and it made me actually laugh at loud at the end.

[t209]

Even though Linear Guild are evil, isn't it sad to see Sabine banished in front of Nale's eye? It also showed that Sabine did love Nale."Sniff". But Rich did a nice job by Belkar's inability to hear. Do you think Sabine is gone, forever or will come back since she was banished?
P.S- So D&D tabletop game use the word "bug", like the one from computer game.

[shamgar001]

Brilliant. Ever since the last comic, I've been speculating on how the Holy Word would affect each member of the LG, but I never even considered Belkar.

[Silverraptor]

That was a hilarious twist that benefited them. I love Belkar.