Anyone else getting anxious about V?

[Phrozt]

So far, he's spent a rather uncomfortably long time being evil... Don't know about you guys, but every comic that I see him as evil puts me a little more on edge as to what the punishment could be...

I wonder how it's going to play out; whether he'll dismiss the link on his own accord (if he ever comes back to reality), or if he's just going to let it continue until his own inner power can no longer hold onto the spirits (ref: the talk about the time that a character can hold onto the link being directly related to their own mental strength). If it's the later, this could continue for quite some time.

I wonder if he get "time off" or a "discount" for only holding two (or one..) soul vs all three?

[[TS] Shadow]

Basically, now that he's holding on to two souls as opposed to three, his time with the splice now results in spending twice as long in Hell as opposed to three times as long. I'm not sure how long V can hold onto this (or why, for that matter, seeing as everything he can do is done at this point) but even know he's spending no more than a few hours damned as of now.

[Lunaya]

Well, so far, V has yet to show off hir ultimate arcane powers to hir teammates, so I'm sure s/he'll be holding on to the links for quite some time. After all, what's the point of all that power if there's nobody there to astound?

[ThisIsNotDan]

I just figured that the amount of time V spent linked to Haerta would be the amount of time he spent linked to the purple fiend, and so on with the others. Thus, purple will have the least amount of time with V's soul (a few minutes, tops), and whatever color leaves him next will have a little more time than purple, and whoever clings on the longest will give his corresponding fiend the longest time.

Also, it's worth it to note that all the events that have occurred since the soul splice up to this point could have taken less than an hour. The only real way a large amount of time could have been used is when V had to wait in Haley's room while she returned from fetching Roy's body with the others. Other than that, we've pretty much been watching V for every minute that he's been spliced.

[Volkov]

Shadow;6023517']Basically, now that he's holding on to two souls as opposed to three, his time with the splice now results in spending twice as long in Hell as opposed to three times as long. I'm not sure how long V can hold onto this (or why, for that matter, seeing as everything he can do is done at this point) but even know he's spending no more than a few hours damned as of now.

You mean the nine hells of baator and the infinite layers of the abyss. There is no such place that's just called hell in dungeons and dragons.

[Nenec]

I'm worried as well...I really hope someone really notices his change very soon, so that he can let go. In this happy meeting he feels like being the intruder, compared to the scene with his wife. It's kinda frustrating, isn't it?

[King of Nowhere]

I started getting anxious about V since when he started to broke with hir teammates during the orc's island story arc. It's about 80 comics I'm waiting for V to come to hir senses.

And, I believe the whole splice thing last no more than 10 minutes until now.

[Totally Guy]

And, I believe the whole splice thing last no more than 10 minutes until now.

It's lasted for 13 strips.

That's 6 strips with all 3 and 7 strips with 2...

18 + 14 = 32

V owes the fiends 32 strips.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

This is one of the odd things about webcomics as opposed to "regular" comics... While Vaarsuvius has been soul-spliced for several weeks "our" time, s/he has actually only been spliced for less than half an hour...

Spliced in the morning, instantly teleporting to take on the dragon. (Don't forget the time stop by the arch-fiends). The dragon was quickly bested, then entire family destroyed, guilty or innocent alike. Max time, 15 minutes.

Then a brief chat with hir mate, and another teleport. A 5-10 minute chat with the Katos, and off to Greysky city. Then another 10 minute (at best) chat with Haley, a few moments posturing before yet another deflation.

So V is only into the demons for 30 minutes at best, and possibly as few as ten minutes. But ten minutes of condensed frustration can set someone off, especially after months of regular frustration. V wants to be the "big shot" of the Order, and nobody is really cooperating with hir.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Anxious, I suppose so. I can easily see V succumbing to a tragic fate. Think about it...

V, for some reason, on the grasp of his Ultimate Arcane Power, loses hold of the rest of the Soul Splice. Now crumpled to his previous strength...he goes beserk, because he wants it back. Think Gollum to the extreme. And eventually, or soon, he turns on the Order. Fight ensues. They have to kill V???

[GSFB]

Honestly, I'd say V is actually only into this for 5 minutes, tops.

Go back to the first strip after the splice takes place. Start a stopwatch. Read the strips out loud. Stop the stopwatch at the end of the most recent strip.

That's about how long V is in.

[Kaytara]

Actually, I've come to the conclusion that, in the long run, this is actually the best thing that could happen to Vaarsuvius.

The other characters have mostly overcome their weaknesses, or are steadily doing so. Haley has grown more responsible and self-confident. Belkar has learned to control his impulses. Elan is maturing and learning to make use of his abilities.

V's prime weakness is his obsession with power and his love of defeating things by bombarding them until they fall down, as opposed to more subtle tactics. (We know V is capable of devising subtle plans, but he clearly takes much more pleasure in a close-and-personal approach.) So a series of events that steadily causes him to become disillusioned with arcane power is in fact the best thing that could happen to him, since it would leave him with a better understanding of his own abilities, a cooler head, and a more dangerous mind.
(It makes sense, really. When a person gets POWER, they go mad on it because of how easy things are with that power. Since UAP has so far been nothing but bitter disappointment for V, I don't think he's in danger of going mad any time soon. Not from power overdose, anyway.)

Besides, there's the theory that the fiends are planning to control V near one of the Gates, and there's not much chance of that happening unless he's in the party. Not to mention that he's still the person they group turns to when they need a Invisibility spell or a Feather Fall, so the group won't survive long if they set out for Girard's Gate without him, and there's no one in sight to replace him, either.

So I'm not too worried about V. Hopefully, he'll emerge from this as a new person (which will make the fiends collecting their debt in the end all the more bitter and ironic, of course). I AM worried, however, about the damage he may still cause in the process of getting that epiphany.

[Volkov]

V's a primed 25 gigaton nuclear missile. just waiting for a target.

[Robert Paulson]

V going to do her time in the nine hells is not that relevant to me. It's like the Senate postponing Jack Bauer's testimony for a day in episode one of this season's 24. You get nervous and say to yourself, "man that's a really short reprieve," but then you remember that "same time tomorrow" has to occur in a subsequent season. In other words, it's not going to affect me. If the author sends V off to hell, I'm sure it will be an interesting and necessary part of the story. But there's not really any reason to expect we have to spend time there. The only thing that would be really disappointing is if V's departure to hell prevented the story from progressing to its conclusion. But, there's no reason for that to be the case.

What's to be anxious about?

[Silverraptor]

I for one think that the soul splice will cause political rivalry among fiends. This is what I posted before.


Ya this certainly does raise many different questions. Like, how will the hells politcal system hold together? If each fiend can claim V's soul based on how long the soul that they gave V remains under control, then they are in a dilema. Should they try to give the strongests of their souls to potential buyers to make everyone feel that they provided the most and increased the chances of sucess for that soul? Or should they give them a weaker soul with the hope that that soul leaves last and they claim ownership of the buyers soul the longest? But in doing so, increase chance of failure and kills the buyer because he couldn't do the impossible task he was after because he wasn't strong enough, and ultimaltly reduces the amount of time that all of them can claim control over the soul.

There are no easy answers. But this will cause tension between the three races for sure!:smallbiggrin:

[Harr]

V going to do her time in the nine hells is not that relevant to me. It's like the Senate postponing Jack Bauer's testimony for a day in episode one of this season's 24. You get nervous and say to yourself, "man that's a really short reprieve," but then you remember that "same time tomorrow" has to occur in a subsequent season. In other words, it's not going to affect me. If the author sends V off to hell, I'm sure it will be an interesting and necessary part of the story. But there's not really any reason to expect we have to spend time there. The only thing that would be really disappointing is if V's departure to hell prevented the story from progressing to its conclusion. But, there's no reason for that to be the case.

What's to be anxious about?

You seriously have to be joking if you're saying that you think the Giant isn't going to have the repercussions of V's deal bring massive consequences to the storyline down the road.

[C-Man]

I think that V will hold on to the soul splice for a long time. V will not give up hir awesome new powers unless forced to do so.

[Elan man]

I think s-he'll die soon

[Kish]

Three of the characters in the comic gained insight while they were separated.

Belkar realized that he needed to make some effort to be a team player, or the team would get rid of him.

Elan realized that it's not all fun and games, leading to him choosing spells with an actual eye to their effectiveness.

And...Vaarsuvius realized that they cared more about power than love or anything else. Unfortunately for Vaarsuvius and everyone else involved, that realization was incompatible with their previous Neutral alignment. Anxious? No. I am, however, not expecting a happy ending for Vaarsuvius. Best-case scenario, they'll have enough of an epiphany, before dying, that their soul doesn't immediately and permanently sink to Hades or whatever Rich's universe calls the Neutral Evil afterlife.

[thunderclan]

I think V will drop the link soon. I think hes done everything that led up to him being desperate enough to make the deal in the first place:

1. Having every attempt to contact Haley and Belkar fail
2. The Dragon going after V's family

V still has to endure whatever the Fiends have planned for his soul though.

[JJ48]

Maybe now that Haley has cut ties with the Guild...AGAIN, V's soul splice will fizzle out JUST before they can teleport away, leaving them stuck with the VERY angry remnants of the Guild. (In order to add to the drama, I would venture that either the Guild has another weapon they haven't used yet, or possibly that V losing the soul splice will trigger something else that negatively impacts the Order, causing them to have a tough time with the Guild remnants.)

[Volkov]

Just wait and soon enough Vaarsuvius will go the path of Vecna, Acererak, and Xykon, lichdom. In his quest for ever more power V commits one last final act that damns him, he becomes a lich so that he can regain the power he had as the splice, all though during the splice he will commit at least some more acts of evil.

[Raenir Salazar]

Shadow;6023517']Basically, now that he's holding on to two souls as opposed to three, his time with the splice now results in spending twice as long in Hell as opposed to three times as long. I'm not sure how long V can hold onto this (or why, for that matter, seeing as everything he can do is done at this point) but even know he's spending no more than a few hours damned as of now.

Incorrect, this is an ambigious part of the contract, in our legal system ambigiouity is ruled infavor of the contractee, however with miscivious fiends itll undoubtably be in reverse.

[Raenir Salazar]

Just wait and soon enough Vaarsuvius will go the path of Vecna, Acererak, and Xykon, lichdom. In his quest for ever more power V commits one last final act that damns him, he becomes a lich so that he can regain the power he had as the splice, all though during the splice he will commit at least some more acts of evil.

Also not nessasarily true, Elves can pretty often become Baelnorns and not necessarily be damned although the history of such in Faerun hasn't gone well it is a non-damning possibility, although I think the requirement is he has to be "Good" to begin with. I would find it a clever way to avoid spending any time in Hell as all yould need to do is chuck your souljar into some sort of vortex for eternity or to the bottom of an ocean and you would never die.

Putting it into something say... that holds the world together also works.

[magic9mushroom]

Just wait and soon enough Vaarsuvius will go the path of Vecna, Acererak, and Xykon, lichdom. In his quest for ever more power V commits one last final act that damns him, he becomes a lich so that he can regain the power he had as the splice, all though during the splice he will commit at least some more acts of evil.

Except that, being a lich, she won't go to the afterlife at all - or at least not for a bloody long time :smalltongue:

[Prak]

Well, for one thing, if V loses all the souls, they are then released into the world, and V could, conceivably, bargain that he'll track those souls down and recapture them for the fiends instead of living in their realms, conceivably this is a more valuable payment than just V's soul.

Another option, binding his soul to the material realm in one of a couple ways. The first would be to become a Lich, the phylactery would keep his soul on the material plane until destroyed.

the other way, he could, conceivably (IIWDMIWAT*) polymorph his body into living gemstone, then use soul bind on himself to bind his soul to his body in perpetuity.

[factotum]

Well, for one thing, if V loses all the souls, they are then released into the world, and V could, conceivably, bargain that he'll track those souls down and recapture them for the fiends instead of living in their realms, conceivably this is a more valuable payment than just V's soul.


V would be useless at that task--he's not a Necromancer and he can't even teleport, so tracking down the lost souls would be beyond him. I'm sure the fiends have dozens of better-qualified entities for that role.

[Prak]

He can scry, and either physically track 'em down, or go out and get a magic item to teleport, specialist wizards can still use magic items from their banned schools.

However, it wasn't an idea with any expectation of seeing it, that would make the comic far too centered on V, and Burlew seems to only focus on V to cast Bigby's Insulting Hand at him.

[Cracklord]

Anxious? I'm rooting for Xykon!

(Why choose the lesser evil?)

[shadzar]

I don't think I am secure enough to be anxious about V not knowing V's gender. :smalleek:

Oh you meant something else. Well I am curious about what will happen next. To me this has been an exciting bit of character development. About the 7th time V has shown evil tendencies. Maybe form spending so much time around Belkar and trading licks with him V's inner evil is able to burst through freely.