OOTS #710 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Revanmal]

Elan's Gather Information skill needs work.

[Inhuman Bot]

Heh. That was awesome.

A little short, though.

[Volthawk]

Back to the Order.

Shame, it was getting interesting in Gobbotopia.

[RebelRogue]

Hehe. Some dirty, nerdy jokes in that one :smallbiggrin:

[Blue Ghost]

:smallconfused: is right.

[chiasaur11]

Ah, Hobbit references.

Always fun.

[Katana_Geldar]

Poor Elan, I've had that myself.

[Water-Smurf]

It's always fun to see a couple veiled dirty jokes around. :smallwink: Subtle enough to fly over a kid's head, but still understandable.

And it's also cute to see Elan's usual endearing inability to be subtle, especially after the bitter taste I always get whenever Right-Eye is referenced. It's something light-hearted to get my mind off darker things.

[Woodsman]

Oh, man, that was good.

Been on a roll, lately, Giant.

[Temotei]

Ah...I'm glad the Order is going to be the focus for a while more. I was happy for the change over to Team Evil, but now I'm happy for this. Fickle mind. :smallcool:

[Watcher]

Awesome. So, back at the OotS? I thought it was going to O-Chul and Lien, based on the previous comic. But whatever. The Order is awesome, too.

[Elfin]

While that was a good break with Team Evil, I'm glad we're back to the Order.
And nice to see some classic Elan, as well.

[Aurorax]

New comic is up.

Thought that his 18 charisma would have worked better than that....

[Exitus]

I'm loving the quick updates.

Did anyone else wonder whether Elan actually 'got' the joke he walked up laughing to, or was he just laughing to fit in/make them lower their guard?

I was expecting a joke about 'not getting it,' considering the more...adult...nature of the joke he walked in on.

[Porthos]

Buzzkill, indeed. :smallcool:

[Yendor]

Elan's Gather Information skill needs work.

Either that or Perform (comedy).

[FabuVinny]

Oh Elan... :smallbiggrin:

At least the entire bar doesn't want to kill him and his leader this time. That's a plus.


Nice to be back with the Order. The brief trip back to Azure City was interesting but I'm looking forward to seeing the desert storyline continue.

[tsaylor]

This might take a while.

[Drolyt]

Sweet update schedule, funny comic, what's not to like? Not sure why they are trusting Elan with the Gather Information though, I mean he is Charismatic and all but shouldn't Hailey have that as a class skill too? Well I guess even with his rather blatant lack of subtlety if he makes references to those events they'll give away something.

[Mastikator]

Eeeeeeasy there Elan, doing that to the wrong type of people could have unwanted consequences.

[Mando Knight]

I like the title gag. The joke-riddle with the Hobbit reference was amusing as well...

Probably one of the funniest pages posted in a while.

[Croverus]

He could have rolled low on his Gather Info check. Low rolls for that skill are often explained in not asking someone that knows what you want, or asking people that won't tell you. This is a creative alternative.

[Forealms]

Heh, well done, Giant.

Drolyt: Talking to people is essentially a Bard's job, getting people to like him, trust him, and deal with him even more so. Having read Rich's thoughts (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/jFppYwv7OUkegKhONNF.html) on Diplomacy (and related people-skills), I think bards should be the first people to go to.

[Inkling]

Wow! Comics are popping up at an astounding rate! Am I in heaven?

Elan's so suave.

[Lissou]

I spent most of the comic wondering "what the hell is going on? Who are these people? What does that have to do with anything?" but that was a great set-up for Elan's entrance. Suddenly it made sense.

Nice to be back with the order, even though I can never have enough of Redcloak.

[FabuVinny]

Not sure why they are trusting Elan with the Gather Information though, I mean he is Charismatic and all but shouldn't Hailey have that as a class skill too?This was explained in #698. They're all searching for information. Elan chose the most genre-savvy location while Haley is enquiring with local thieves.

[Kobold-Bard]

Nice to see we can still have a random joke comic once in a while.

I knew insomnia was good for something, catching new comic updates at 4am :smallbiggrin:

Keep em coming.

[Paperbag4]

Digging the recent string of updates. And comics about jokes, that was nice too.

[Gift Jeraff]

Elan, as adorable as ever. :smallbiggrin:

[Geno9999]

*Thiller Music starts playing*
FILLER!

[Porthos]

*Thiller Music starts playing*
FILLER!

How so? :smallconfused:

Yes yes, I know, I know. Every strip is a filler nowadays. :smalltongue:

[ScottishDragon]

Yay back to the order!!Maybe now we can get some linear guild coming along,they've been gone for too long,must have a big plan for revenge!

[herrhauptmann]

What has he got in his pocketses, eh precious?
What is this, 3 in a week, or 3 per 10 days now? Awesome.
Digging the faster rate.

[CoffeeIncluded]

And we're back! Hooray! :smallbiggrin:

:smallamused: With the jokes.

[Inhuman Bot]

It's always fun to see a couple veiled dirty jokes around. :smallwink: Subtle enough to fly over a kid's head, but still understandable.

Veiled?

Subtle?


How so? :smallconfused:

Yes yes, I know, I know. Every strip is a filler nowadays. :smalltongue:

Well, what was done in this strip that a full length one couldn't do and advance the plot?, if you're serious.

Regardless, I was amused >.>

[Maximum Zersk]

Heh, I liked it.

What has he got in his pocketses?

Man, the comics are flying recently, aren't they? Awesome. :smallcool:

Also, I'm pretty sure that even younger kids would get this. The younger mind is a dirty mind.

[Porthos]

Well, what was done in this strip that a full length one couldn't do and advance the plot?, if you're serious.

Regardless, I was amused >.>

Its an (re-)Intro Strip. It gets us back up to speed without throwing us head first into everything (not that there's anything wrong with thowing the audience head first into everything). Call it a scene setter, if you will.

Plus it was a delightful little character moment for Elan. Which, as you said, made most of us laugh.

Still don't see how it was a "filler". Then again, I don't buy into the notion that any strip that doesn't "advance the plot" is somehow "filler". But I sometimes think that "advancing the plot" is overrated anyway. :smalltongue:

[Larsaan]

Well...

That was certainly awkward.

Edit: Also, a nice reference to the punchline of 292 in the title.

[Hurkyl]

Still don't see how it was a "filler".
Filler is just a word for everything between the initial introduction and final conclusion, right? :wink:

[Roland Itiative]

Did anyone cast Summon Pop Star (http://www.antiheroescomic.com/comic/22)? 'Cause the guy in the left look a lot like MJ :smallbiggrin:

Funny comic, and I'm loving the fast updates!

[CrimsonAngel]

It shows to go How much Rich has gotten better at his style; wouldn't you rather have had characters that look this nice?

Rich can also make epic adventure parties out of nowere.

[krossbow]

I'm loving the quick updates.

Did anyone else wonder whether Elan actually 'got' the joke he walked up laughing to, or was he just laughing to fit in/make them lower their guard?

I was expecting a joke about 'not getting it,' considering the more...adult...nature of the joke he walked in on.


Elan's no stranger to that sort of thing; he may be immature, but he knows how his way around getting into a woman's body.

[DSCrankshaw]

Thought that his 18 charisma would have worked better than that....

You know, it wasn't the smoothest inquiry, but I'm not sure it was as bad as you're thinking. They seemed to accept him at first, and it only slowly dawns on them "Who is this weird guy with the weird questions?" It might have actually worked, if he'd phrased his question in a less Elan-like manner: and they knew anything, which they didn't seem to.

[DeltaEmil]

Perhaps he should just roll a Gather-Information-Check, like Miko once mentioned in another situation. :smalltongue:

[Faramir]

A nice break after the heavier tone in the last few comics.

Always good to see Elan being Elan.

[slayerx]

Thought that his 18 charisma would have worked better than that....
Well you still got make those rolls

"HE GOT A 4!"

[gosh]

Haha, typical Elan! I agree with just about everyone else - I love the fast updates, and enjoyed the jokes! :smallwink:

[HUMVEE Driver]

Cue unnecessary nit-picking flub:

When the Micheal Jackson look-a-like on the left takes a glup of his beer, the amount of liquid in his glass doesn't change.

:smallbiggrin:

Yes, it's 1:30am and I have too much time on my hands.

[Zevox]

Holy cow Giant, you're really chugging along right now aren't you? We haven't this many updates in this short a time in quite a while.

And Elan really needs to put some ranks in gather information - that was pathetic :smallwink: . Also liked the Hobbit reference tossed in among the dirty jokes, but I'm just a Tolkien geek that way.


*Thiller Music starts playing*
FILLER!
Not that I agree, but I just had link this after reading this post. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT1hHgwcKjs)

Zevox

[Draconi Redfir]

Sweet update schedule, funny comic, what's not to like? Not sure why they are trusting Elan with the Gather Information though, I mean he is Charismatic and all but shouldn't Hailey have that as a class skill too? Well I guess even with his rather blatant lack of subtlety if he makes references to those events they'll give away something.

my guess is they are ALL doing the same thing, abit in diffrent ways, Elan's try just failed terribly here.

[Morgan Wick]

Did anyone cast Summon Pop Star (http://www.antiheroescomic.com/comic/22)? 'Cause the guy in the left look a lot like MJ :smallbiggrin:

Well, (s)he does have vaguely dark skin, which means she CLEARLY must be a shapeshifted Sabine! :smallbiggrin:


You know, it wasn't the smoothest inquiry, but I'm not sure it was as bad as you're thinking. They seemed to accept him at first, and it only slowly dawns on them "Who is this weird guy with the weird questions?" It might have actually worked, if he'd phrased his question in a less Elan-like manner: and they knew anything, which they didn't seem to.

Elan doesn't show up until the panel before he makes his inquiry, when everyone is laughing. I don't think they notice him until he asks a question, and then they definitely do not accept him.

[SaintRidley]

Hard to stay mad at the kid. He's got spunk.

[DSCrankshaw]

Elan doesn't show up until the panel before he makes his inquiry, when everyone is laughing. I don't think they notice him until he asks a question, and then they definitely do not accept him.

They were smiling in the panel where he did ask the question. Eh, it's not like I'm trying to defend Elan's information gathering technique. It just looked like he managed to catch them off guard, and that under the right circumstances, they would have let something slip.

[Elfey]

This was explained in #698. They're all searching for information. Elan chose the most genre-savvy location while Haley is enquiring with local thieves.

I'm both interested and scared with what Belkar is doing now...

[CapedLuigiYoshi]

Is it bad that when I saw the gnome, I instantly thought of Solt Lorkyurg?

[Edric O]

I'm both interested and scared with what Belkar is doing now...
This. I expect that we'll have one strip for each OOTS party member, showing us their particular style of gathering information... and I expect the Belkar strip will involve numerous dead bodies. :smallbiggrin:

Also: Hurrah for regular updates!

[Kumo]

Is it bad that when I saw the gnome, I instantly thought of Solt Lorkyurg?

Is it bad that i thought of that same gnome, KNEW he had a name, and could not actually remember the name?

[Samuraiko]

I can't believe it took me two tries to figure out the title. :S Still, great comic, and hooray for Elan being... Elan.

Obviously the Giant's on a roll... hope it lasts!

[Agi Hammerthief]

well...

does he?

nice update, glad I'm on broadband again for a while

[derfenrirwolv]

RIP the buzz.

It was a good buzz. Not a great buzz but a good one.

[martinkou]

Wow! Another update! Giant is totally awesome!

[shadowxknight]

Sigh, no worse feeling than when a joke goes flat and everyone stops laughing...:smallfrown:

[SteveDJ]

Cue unnecessary nit-picking flub:

When the Micheal Jackson look-a-like on the left takes a glup of his beer, the amount of liquid in his glass doesn't change.

:smallbiggrin:

Yes, it's 1:30am and I have too much time on my hands.

I had actually noticed the same thing, and was checking the boards to see if anyone had bothered to nit-pick already... so now I don't have to... :smallbiggrin:

Now, could someone explain the title more? :smallconfused:

What is more interesting is - how many tables has Elan already tried this at??? :smallsmile:

[binyamin20]

I almost died of laughter.

[Defiant]

Very nice. It took me a while to get that.

I was like "that's so random!".

[Agi Hammerthief]

Now, could someone explain the title more? :smallconfused:


a nice reference to the punchline of 292 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0292.html) in the title.
that nuff?

edit: that buzz and the killing of a dramatic moment in 292 took real effort.
so to speak

[Vemynal]

I had actually noticed the same thing, and was checking the boards to see if anyone had bothered to nit-pick already... so now I don't have to... :smallbiggrin:

Now, could someone explain the title more? :smallconfused:

What is more interesting is - how many tables has Elan already tried this at??? :smallsmile:

its a magical item, the refilling beer mug!

[Faltenin]

I like Roy's subtle way of finding more info... throw Elan into bars asking awkward questions and see who tries to come kill him later at night ^^

As for the "magically refilling glass", come on, team. I've done that trick before too, only pretending I'm drinking my beer so I can stay sober enough to shine with my witty remarks, instead of a slurring speech!

[Lord Seth]

Meh, not a strip I really liked. It looks like it could've been skipped without any problems. Which of course by itself isn't a reason to dislike a strip, but at the same time I really didn't find it funny.

[Aerysil]

Hee, funny one :)

I'm liking the number of updates lately!

[bcbbb]

im just amazed by how many comics are coming out in a short tim. its amazing (compared to before.)

[albis]

Gotta love Elan XD

[Rebarth]

ugh, those jokes were terrible:smallyuk: though it makes it even funnier :smallbiggrin:

[lothos]

So will the next compilation book have bonus strips after 709 featuring Lien and O-Chul's progress ? Or was the last panel of 709 just to fool us ? :-)

[Teddy]

Wow, you'd think that Elan could pull off a better joke that that. He spent a few weeks at Bard Camp after all... Poor Elan.

[Gandariel]

ahahah, great strip.



and btw, I'm liking the number of updates these days xD

[factotum]

Not surprised we're back with the Order--I always thought the cutaway to O-Chul and Lien at the end of the last strip was in too remote a place for anything exciting to happen there. Although it did confuse me a bit before Elan showed up!

[Ossian]

Is the guy in the white cloak a cameo of Rich B.? Just wondering...

Loved the buzz anyway :).


EDIT: That´s a gather information check there

[HandofShadows]

Was killing that buzz murder, manslaughter or justifiable homicide? :smallconfused:

[squidbreath]

Lmao those jokes were horrible :smalltongue:

[HUMVEE Driver]

As for the "magically refilling glass", come on, team. I've done that trick before too, only pretending I'm drinking my beer so I can stay sober enough to shine with my witty remarks, instead of a slurring speech!

I had thought of that too, but you actually see the beer going into his mouth. So unless he spit that gulp back into his glass the nit-picking stands!

[Doug Lampert]

I had thought of that too, but you actually see the beer going into his mouth. So unless he spit that gulp back into his glass the nit-picking stands!

Do any of the people making this complaint actually drink?!

I mean really, if that mug is even vaguely close to being to scale it's a liter mug or so. You seriously think ONE DRINK is going to visibly change the level when looking from a distance? Really?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I expect to lift a liter mug MANY times prior to having to ask for more beer, and at the scale shown he'd need to have drunk maybe a eighth of the contents (say 4 ounces) for it to be reasonable for the level to change visibly.

He's taking a drink, not chugging half a normal glass at once.

[HUMVEE Driver]

First of all it's not not complaining; it's having fun with nit-picking.

Second, he takes a pretty good swing of beer. That's obvious.

Third, compare the glass before and after. Magnify them in a Paint program. They are IDENTICAL. Exactly seven pixels worth of beer in each one.

I saw the flub and I'm running with it! :smallbiggrin:

[Tal9922]

Am I the only one who doesn't get what Elan was talking about or trying to do?... like, at all?

[Kish]

Am I the only one who doesn't get what Elan was talking about or trying to do?... like, at all?
I would hope so (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0698.html), but probably not.

[Yendor]

Do any of the people making this complaint actually drink?!

I mean really, if that mug is even vaguely close to being to scale it's a liter mug or so. You seriously think ONE DRINK is going to visibly change the level when looking from a distance? Really?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I expect to lift a liter mug MANY times prior to having to ask for more beer, and at the scale shown he'd need to have drunk maybe a eighth of the contents (say 4 ounces) for it to be reasonable for the level to change visibly.

He's taking a drink, not chugging half a normal glass at once.

You're talking about scale when the characters' heads would be two feet wide?

[CWater]

As it is always nice to see new updates, the jokes in this strip seemed rather dreadful to me.
But then again,
as my mom tends to say,
I am "a person with absolutely no sense of humor":smallamused:

[TheNovak]

Congratulations, Giant. I think you just seeded the idea for Bilbo/Gollum slashfic.

"We must reach into its pocketses..."

[TheBlackShadow]

Ah, poor Elan. Good Charisma, not so good Wisdom or Intelligence.

[Starbuck_II]

I loved the nerdy humor. Kinda sad that Elan did a bad Gather info check.

[-Sentinel-]

Congratulations, Giant. I think you just seeded the idea for Bilbo/Gollum slashfic.
Oh, you think no one's done that before?


Seriously though, I'd like to discuss the moral implications of Elan intruding on a conversation with strangers. Do you think what he did was ethically justified in regard to what is at stake?


Shutting up now. :smalltongue:

[pinwiz]

Is it just me, or does the guy with the white cloak look like Obi-Wan Kenobi?

[tassaron]

Elan is the master of subtlety.

[LuisDantas]

You know, reading #698-#710 one right after the other is a very satisfying experience.

I don't know if the Giant decided to build a stack of a few strips before releasing them in rapid succession these last days, but that is my guess, and I approve if he did so on purpose. That way the individual strips can better manage to switch focus to secondary plots and characters without trying to hard to follow the main ones, and keep a better flow.

[PallElendro]

I don't get the joke. Sorry, Rich.

[ocdscale]

Am I the only one who doesn't get what Elan was talking about or trying to do?... like, at all?

Elan is trying to see if this group knows anything about Girard's organization.
They don't, and are thus visibly confused about Elan's question.

[brionl]

First of all it's not not complaining; it's having fun with nit-picking.

Second, he takes a pretty good swing of beer. That's obvious.

Third, compare the glass before and after. Magnify them in a Paint program. They are IDENTICAL. Exactly seven pixels worth of beer in each one.

I saw the flub and I'm running with it! :smallbiggrin:

"A wizard did it."

[fishguy]

One thing I noted. The beer mugs have been drawn with partial transparency, showing some minor colour and shape detail of what is behind them. Superior artistic effort Rich, once again proving that OotS is so much more than "just a bunch of stick figures"

[Optimystik]

One thing I noted. The beer mugs have been drawn with partial transparency, showing some minor colour and shape detail of what is behind them. Superior artistic effort Rich, once again proving that OotS is so much more than "just a bunch of stick figures"

It truly is the little things that make the comic stand out. :smallsmile:

[Kieran Cage]

Loving the rapid updates.

Hopefully, with the focus shifting back to the OOTS, we can get past the endless, repetitive, pointless debates about the Elven Commander, and get back to where we belong...endless, repetitive, pointless debates about Girard.

Also, this may be better suited to a dedicated thread, but is anyone else missing Roland's Sherrif avatar? Don't get me wrong, the new one is well made, but the badge-wearing one just seemed to suit him better.

Perhaps a petition is in order.

[mucat]

Shutting up now. :smalltongue:
Good, but work on doing that two sentences earlier. :smallwink:

[zimmerwald1915]

Is the guy in the white cloak a cameo of Rich B.? Just wondering...
I don't think so. Rich is shown in comic 146 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0146.html) and on the Guest Strips page (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/GuestStrips.html), with a smaller beard and parted hair instead of bangs.

[Enlong]

With special guest appearance by a main character!

I kid, I kid. Great comic.

[NerfTW]

I don't get the joke. Sorry, Rich.

Do you mean the title? Elan killed their buzz. So the title is wondering if he gets XP for it.

"Killing your buzz" is an american slang term for ruining the mood, or an awkward silence in conversation.


As for everyone asking how he failed his gather information check, you really can't succeed if the people don't have any information to begin with. They're random adventurers. Odds are they've simply never seen anyone fitting that description.

[Enlong]

Also he was bein' real obvious and not funny, even though he was "cleverly" disguising his question in the form of a humorous anecdote like the ones the adventurers were trading.

[Xorbon]

Thought that his 18 charisma would have worked better than that....

Elan's still alive, isn't he? :smallwink:

[Kareasint]

You can do all the Gather Information checks that you want. If the information is not there, it is not there.

Elan's style is a bit aggressive but it does a couple of things. One, if anyone at the table reacts, Elan knows that information is available here. He is not necessarily going to get it right away though. Identifying a source is the first step. Then, Elan puts his 18 CHA to work.

Two, people not at the same table can also react. Seeing someone suddenly get really quiet or attempt to slip out a door is just as important as someone speaking up at the table where you are. In this case, Elan is probably not going to notice this. As we all know, the OOTS members have lousy Spot checks.

[valce]

It took me a while, but now I get it! Elan is trying to gather information about Gerard. Hooray me for being so sharp!

[ThePhantasm]

Yay, back to the order! The eventless happenings at Azure city were getting stale.

[Roland Itiative]

Seriously though, I'd like to discuss the moral implications of Elan intruding on a conversation with strangers. Do you think what he did was ethically justified in regard to what is at stake?

It was a hideous, amoral act... I mean, he killed that buzz in cold blood, for Thor's sake! :smallbiggrin:

[Stomp]

Whoa, those jokes were subtle! You all got them, right, at least those of you who are familiar with the mature subject at hand :wink: :wink:.

[zimmerwald1915]

It was a hideous, amoral act... I mean, he killed that buzz in cold blood, for Thor's sake! :smallbiggrin:
:elan:The only good buzz is a dead buzz.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I loved the new strip, OOTS is on the road to recovery! :smallbiggrin:

[Doug Lampert]

First of all it's not not complaining; it's having fun with nit-picking.

Second, he takes a pretty good swing of beer. That's obvious.

Third, compare the glass before and after. Magnify them in a Paint program. They are IDENTICAL. Exactly seven pixels worth of beer in each one.

I saw the flub and I'm running with it! :smallbiggrin:

A reasonable drink from a half full liter mug won't even come CLOSE to dropping the level by 1/7th its level. Not even close.

Nit-picking is fun, but nit-picks should be VALID! The whole point is that you've spoted something minor and wrong. Spotting something minor and correct isn't nearly as impressive.

[HUMVEE Driver]

What part of 'identical' are you having trouble with?

Once you take a decent drink out of a given container, it's level should decrease, even minutely. Surely a 20-pixel deep glass would have enough detail to show a little less liquid. That didn't happen. The before and after glasses are identical.

Hence, the flub.

Common sense prevails.

[LuisDantas]

What part of 'identical' are you having trouble with?

Once you take a decent drink out of a given container, it's level should decrease, even minutely. Surely a 20-pixel deep glass would have enough detail to show a little less liquid. That didn't happen. The before and after glasses are identical.

Hence, the flub.

Common sense prevails.

In all honesty, I think you are taking this matter way too seriously.

I'm not so sure about how big the glasses are supposed to be myself. The characters are nowhere close to realistic in their body proportions, after all.

But surely, there is no proof that that character took a decent-sized portion of his beverage to begin with. He may have taken just a taste for whatever reason. Even more likely is that the Giant simply did not think of that as an important detail, which it indeed probably isn't.

[Badgercloak]

Good comic and yes, yes he does.

[Hobs]

Any guesses of the classes of this new adventure party? Seems like he's alluding to some of the non-standard classes here, but not sure.

[HUMVEE Driver]

In all honesty, I think you are taking this matter way too seriously.

Apparently, you missed my post about unnecessary nit-picking.


But surely, there is no proof that that character took a decent-sized portion of his beverage to begin with.

Um, yes there is. Read the comic. I'll do some of the work for you: When the guy is drinking from his glass, there are 73 pixels worth of beer in the glass, and another 49 pixels worth being poured into his mouth. That's a pretty big portion.

Yes I counted.

(FYI, there are 52 pixels worth of beer in the glass both before and after he drinks.)


Even more likely is that the Giant simply did not think of that as an important detail, which it indeed probably isn't.

Of course he didn't, and of course it's not. For the third or fourth time, "Unnecessary nit-picking".

[Cisturn]

dude i love the current rate of updating, i havent seen one of those whiny "Where's the next update" tread in at least two weeks

[DabblerWizard]

I'm not exactly sure how this frame has to do with the story, other than Elan gathering info, as someone else (probably many people) suggested.

[Conuly]

I'm not exactly sure how this frame has to do with the story, other than Elan gathering info, as someone else (probably many people) suggested.

I think that's pretty much it, that and saying "Okay, we're done with Gobbotopia for now, now we're back to the Order".

[Zea mays]

... When the guy is drinking from his glass, there are 73 pixels worth of beer in the glass, and another 49 pixels worth being poured into his mouth. That's a pretty big portion.

Yes I counted.

(FYI, there are 52 pixels worth of beer in the glass both before and after he drinks.)

Impressive pixel-count check.
And yet, you didn't spot the ninja barmaid.

[deuxhero]

Haven't we seen the gnome before?


And I don't get any jokes but the strip title.

[Blaznak]

Elan! WOoooowooowoowooooO!!!

[Agi Hammerthief]

I'm not exactly sure how this frame has to do with the story, other than Elan gathering info, as someone else (probably many people) suggested.
they are obviously not in the desert anymore.
four days worth of travel acc. to #0898 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0698.html)

[Watcher]

Haven't we seen the gnome before?

He looks just like every other gnome (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0539.html) (especially Solt, but he's dead. And probably won't come back.).


Also: Does anyone ever think that the comic bar on top would be more photogenic if the "Archive" button were in the middle and the "Extras" button to the right of it?

[Shale]

I just wish it didn't move slightly to the left or right sometimes when you go from strip to strip.

[NerfTW]

I'm not exactly sure how this frame has to do with the story, other than Elan gathering info, as someone else (probably many people) suggested.

Go back to before the Azure City strips. They realized that Girard has a team (he said "us") aside from the Order of the Scribble, and that they won a wager for 100.000 gold pieces. (As it took longer than twelve weeks to break the oath) They realized that this money would probably be spent in a town getting supplies, fun, and now they're searching for a lead on it.


Really not that difficult.

[Selif]

I am glad that we got back to OotS. I predict that the next couple of strips will show some of the others trying to find information on Girard. I am glad we got to see Elan again. As the Dashing Swordsman, he is my favorite character.

-Selif

[Herald Alberich]

Any guesses of the classes of this new adventure party? Seems like he's alluding to some of the non-standard classes here, but not sure.

Maybe, but it's hard to pick out details. The hooded one just looks like the desert version of a wizard (although make the outfit under the cloak blue and it matches an Azurite kimono), and the two to his left - well, armor could mean several things. The gnome looks like every other gnome; it seems they all have to be similar to avoid being mistaken for halflings.

[Jagos]

Eeeeeeasy there Elan, doing that to the wrong type of people could have unforeseen consequences. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xsabLlY3ME)

FTFY. Always good to see Elan being "smart" for a while. I can never stop laughing.

[DeltaEmil]

Maybe, but it's hard to pick out details. The hooded one just looks like the desert version of a wizard (although make the outfit under the cloak blue and it matches an Azurite kimono), and the two to his left - well, armor could mean several things. The gnome looks like every other gnome; it seems they all have to be similar to avoid being mistaken for halflings.I'd say rather dwarves instead of halflings, as they all seem to have hairy feet, whereas dwarves are just bearded small(-ish) people. :p

[Tobimaro]

Thought that his 18 charisma would have worked better than that....

18 Charisma + few (if any) ranks in Gather Information + botched dice roll (and maybe plus circumstance modifiers built into interaction)= buzzkill on epic scale.

It just is not Elan's day. :smallsigh:

[martinkou]

Impressive pixel-count check.
And yet, you didn't spot the ninja barmaid.

There's no ninja barmaid, it's the Decanter fo Endless Beer. If he spoke the right command word, he'd get a beer geyser.

[whitelaughter]

As for everyone asking how he failed his gather information check, you really can't succeed if the people don't have any information to begin with. They're random adventurers. Odds are they've simply never seen anyone fitting that description.

This.

Elan will sweep the entire tavern is what, 3 minutes tops? And at the end of it have all the available information: even if that is just "no one like that has been here'.

That's a successful roll, on a good skill.

[Shale]

A good gather information check when there's no actual information to be gathered gets you an "I don't know." A bad check gets you a "WTF?"

This was the latter.

[Liwen]

I don't know about the classes of the 3 other guys, but the one with the cloak is obviously a cheddar monk. And considering he's standing in a bar right now, Harrison Ford will show up any minute now :smalltongue:

[Herald Alberich]

I don't know about the classes of the 3 other guys, but the one with the cloak is obviously a cheddar monk. And considering he's standing in a bar right now, Harrison Ford will show up any minute now :smalltongue:

Quick, cast Summon Bigger Fish! It will .... I'm not sure what it will do, but I'm sure it's useful in this situation somehow!

[Big Hungry Joe]

Sweet! Can we switch from the OoTS and follow that other group around for a while? They are hilarious.

[Nilan8888]

they are obviously not in the desert anymore.
four days worth of travel acc. to #0898

Good catch.

Presumedly then, nothing of note happened over three of those 4 days for Team Evil.

Because of the setup of 700-709, all that occurred presumedly in one day. #699 could technically have taken place on a previous day. So either #898 happened and we jumped ahead 3-4 days, or we've just jumped ahead 3-4 days from what was going on with Team evil.

We were given 7 weeks until Belkar's death. To do the math just becuase it's fun for me:

At absolute minumum, we have 2 days for #666-#691. Then we have 5 days taken up by strip #691 (a rather unique strip there, actually) and we're into the following day, so that's soemthing like 7 + 1/2 days. The end of that day occurs on #698, so by then we're at evening on the 8th day.

Presumedly #699 occurs on the follow day but it doesn't really matter since #710 shows us the order has arrived at thier destination and it was said it would take four days of travel to get there, so that would take us to day 13.

So, again, at absolute minimum it has been 13 days since Roy's comments indicated Belkar would be knocking on death's door.


That's of course being absurdly generous with the time due to the first passage. but we' don't have much of a time frame of reference. Without it I've assumed the order ended its first day with the azurites and then in one whopping day sailed to the southern continent, hooked up with the caravan, rescued the caravan then seperated ways, encountered the worm and rode it to the dubious location of Girard's Gate.

Most likely that took at least one extra day so we're actually probably 14-15 days in, around two weeks or a little over.

[NerfTW]

Haven't we seen the gnome before?


And I don't get any jokes but the strip title.


Really? The first panel is referencing being turned down for sex.
The gnome compares the Gynosphinx's breasts to two giant pink boulders from his vantage point, and he was leering at them.
The next joke is a reference to his penis.


Elan's comment is an attempt at gathering information on Girard's men that they know are most likely out spending the 100,000 gold they just won by thinking Soon broke his oath.

[Needle]

First impression was "damn, they switched back :smallfrown:"

After reading it I went all rofl, that was a great piece of humor sir :smallwink: love things like this :smallsmile:

[Werbaer]

At absolute minumum, we have 2 days for #666-#691.
[...]
That's of course being absurdly generous with the time due to the first passage. but we' don't have much of a time frame of reference. Without it I've assumed the order ended its first day with the azurites and then in one whopping day sailed to the southern continent, hooked up with the caravan, rescued the caravan then seperated ways, encountered the worm and rode it to the dubious location of Girard's Gate.
We know from #678 that it was two days from V's fight with the dragon to sandsedge. Remember that V teleported the fleet and the party to an island near the western continent that once was settled by elves, so the sea journey didn't take long.

In #682, Roy says that they will travel with the caravan "for the first few days, over the rocky parts". I'd call that 2-3 days.

The time from the oasis to the location took only a few hours, as roy notes in #690.

That's about 5 days from 666-691.

[Petrocorus]

The next joke is a reference to his penis.


BTW, i don't get what was the point with the Hobbit's reference?

[Shale]

It's another famous riddle.

[Timberboar]

When the guy is drinking from his glass, there are 73 pixels worth of beer in the glass, and another 49 pixels worth being poured into his mouth.

(FYI, there are 52 pixels worth of beer in the glass both before and after he drinks.)

What you don't see is that the z-axis of that mug is seventeen feet long.

Alas, foiled by the third dimension!

[HUMVEE Driver]

Thrice-cursed z-axis!

[Zazu Yen]

This.

Elan will sweep the entire tavern is what, 3 minutes tops? And at the end of it have all the available information: even if that is just "no one like that has been here'.

That's a successful roll, on a good skill.

Elan can buzkill a room full of drinkers in under 3 minutes? Man if he is getting XP for that he's golden, but should move on quickly.

Things have been pretty plot thick since the wonderful "Dancing Knights" joke, it felt good to play something mostly for laughs again, and get back to OotS.

[Teleporker]

Sweet update schedule, funny comic, what's not to like? Not sure why they are trusting Elan with the Gather Information though, I mean he is Charismatic and all but shouldn't Hailey have that as a class skill too? Well I guess even with his rather blatant lack of subtlety if he makes references to those events they'll give away something.

Haley would have spent the first panels sneaking behind everyone, and the last panel would have shown these guys looking for their wallets.

I say they'd be blaming the gnome for it.

[Nilan8888]

That's about 5 days from 666-691.

Probably a fair estimation.

So then I guess that would be 13-16 days range. That's something like 25% of the time having passed. Which is of course taking the maximum: Belkar could still die anytime within what time is allotted.

[Orodruin]

I suspect the lizard guy! He has a murderous frown on his face *nods*

[Petrocorus]

Has someone estimated the time between #672 and #673?

[Agi Hammerthief]

Has someone estimated the time between #672 and #673?
well...
672 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120875) went up 08/08
673 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123362) went up 01/09

that makes about 23 days :smallbiggrin:

[Nilan8888]

As odd as it might seem, it appears the events of those two comics took place on the same day.

You'd think they wouldn't though, it's true. At least a day transpiring would push us up to a 13-18 or so day range.

I'm sure at some point there'll be an approximation on this. That, or Belkar will just promptly die, rendering all this time-measuring moot.

[factotum]

As odd as it might seem, it appears the events of those two comics took place on the same day.


I didn't get that impression...I thought the sun was setting in the last panel of #672. Given that V said the island was a few dozen miles from the Western Continent, and even the fastest sailing ship would take a few hours to traverse that distance, it's likely #673 is the day after.

[Optimystik]

Sweet update schedule, funny comic, what's not to like? Not sure why they are trusting Elan with the Gather Information though, I mean he is Charismatic and all but shouldn't Hailey have that as a class skill too?

My guess is that they are all out looking, just each in their areas of expertise. Elan is in the taverns, Haley is looking for the thieves' guilds, V is looking for magic shops/wizard schools etc.

[DoctorIllithid]

...I'm ninety percent sure I've seen the Gnome elsewhere in the comic. I don't know, I can't remember the other Gnomes that appeared...

[Deth Muncher]

...I'm ninety percent sure I've seen the Gnome elsewhere in the comic. I don't know, I can't remember the other Gnomes that appeared...
It looks like the user Glimbur's avatar.

[Werbaer]

Has someone estimated the time between #672 and #673?
Exactly 1 day.

#666 to #667 is the day when V attacked Xykon (she's still paralyzed).
#669 till first half of #671 is the night at the end of that day.
Second half of #671 is in the daylight the day after, as is #672.

#673 to 682 in Sandsedge are on one day, which we learn in #678 is 2 days after the attack.
Thus there's one night between #672 und #673.

[Dr.Epic]

I'm totally using that Sphinx's riddle if not in a campaign as a vulgar joke amongst my friends or as a horrible, horrible, horrible pick up line.

[Nilan8888]

#673 to 682 in Sandsedge are on one day, which we learn in #678 is 2 days after the attack.
Thus there's one night between #672 und #673.

Ok then -- I guess that would then be a range of approximately 14-18 days, then.

This largely depends on how long we would consider the OOTS to have been with the caravan.

[Methuzeld]

...I'm ninety percent sure I've seen the Gnome elsewhere in the comic. I don't know, I can't remember the other Gnomes that appeared...

I was reminded of the gnome from comic #539 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0539.html). The two gnomes seem graphically identical except for outfit and hair color.

[Vectner]

So is that what a failed Gather Information check looks like? :elan:

[derfenrirwolv]

Haley would have spent the first panels sneaking behind everyone, and the last panel would have shown these guys looking for their wallets.


Haley IS behind them. They haven't noticed their wallets are missing because she replaced them with equally weighty bags of rocks. They wont notice until its time to pay the tab.

[Optimystik]

...I'm ninety percent sure I've seen the Gnome elsewhere in the comic. I don't know, I can't remember the other Gnomes that appeared...

The Giant has said he doesn't like drawing gnomes because he can't distinguish them very much from halflings and dwarves via stick figures. (I would assume that's the reason for the pointy hats.)

As for previous appearances of gnomes, one is Solt Lorykurg and another one is in the Greysky Thieves' Guild going after Cole.


It looks like the user Glimbur's avatar.

Glimbur is using a standard OotS gnome with an Awesome! face.