Where V's assumptions even valid?

[SmaugTheYounger]

The Order of the Scribble set up the gates about sixty years ago, and Girard and companions had a pool going over when Soon would break his word. But the winner should be really old by now, perhaps even dead, unless he's a long living creature or under a spell.

Perhaps the OotS should have looked for an old geezer willing to burn 10.000 gp for anti-aging spells....

Their premise seems not to to be working (and they are already in for a nasty suprise).

[Shale]

If Girard and his associates are all dead then they're completely screwed anyway.

[Snake-Aes]

Were V's assumptions Valid?
Maybe.
Common lore about casters is that they can extend their lifespans. If he is already dead or on his ways to, the implications that he has a group are still useful as he would make a group with the specific purpose of guarding the gate.

[dps]

Where? When? How? Why?

[SmaugTheYounger]

Where? When? How? Why?
Sorry. In 698, V assumed that Girard must have formed a group, and all their deductions went from that premise - with the unmentioned, basic assumption, that the betting pool members where still around, and that the bet had been running until just then, when they triggered the illusion spell.

And you could argue that the bet was over: If someone in Girards group thought that Soon would stick to his oath, it would not make sense to bet on never breaking his oath - nobody in the betting pool would be able to cash the prize. And Soons Death would also be no indication of keeping his oath, because they had themselve barred from knowing such an event.

So it would make sense to set a maximum time limit, say 50 years und declare the one whose bet was next to it (or his heir) the winner. In such a case the winner would have gone to the shopping spree 10 years ago.

[Shale]

Where V's assumptions even valid?

That's what he was responding to.

[Snake-Aes]

Sorry. In 698, V assumed that Girard must have formed a group, and all their deductions went from that premise - with the unmentioned, basic assumption, that the betting pool members where still around, and that the bet had been running until just then, when they triggered the illusion.

And you could argue that the bet was over: If someone in Girards group thought that Soon would stick to his oath, it would not make sense to bet on never breaking his oath - nobody in the betting pool would be able to cash the prize. And Soons Death would also be no indication of keeping his oath, because they had themselve barred from knowing such an event.

So it would make sense to set a maximum time limit, say 50 years und declare the one whose bet was next to it (or his heir) the winner. In such a case the winner would have gone to the shopping spree 10 years ago.
You will see that your question about the validity of Girard's statements is raised there. They are going with it because the alternatives are so many and so bizarre that it frankly doesn't matter if they do anything else.

[denthor]

A wizard or a cleric is alive from the group or this would not have happened (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0698.html).

in case the link does not work comic 698 so yes V assumptions are correct somebody is alive and kicking for them to find and destroy Gidrard's gate.

perhaps the holey brotherhood (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html) comic 276 has joined the fight to protect the gates since they wanted the rift to survive.

Since we are talking about V what comic number is the death knight that everybody keeps talking about on.

[Arzoo]

They already know that looking for someone spending the prize money is a bit of a long-shot, even if they turn out to be 100% correct about it; they're doing it because otherwise they are completely incapable of finding the gate anyway, they'd have to just hope to stumble over a clue, which is just as likely to happen during their search as it is just wandering aimlessly through cities.

If the recent attackers are related to Girard, then this is in fact a positive outcome; being attacked/captured/etc. is probably worth getting a valid trail back to the gate.

tl;dr, it doesn't matter if his assumptions were valid, they have nothing better to do if V was wrong anyway.

[ThePhantasm]

The "where"wolf attacks again.

V may or may not be right, but the fact is that its the Order's best shot.

[Torick]

Where V's assumptions even valid?

Almost certainly, yes.

Allow me to play the part of Elan here, and extrapolate by plot rather than by logic :smallwink:

V is the group's intellectual genius. (S)he might not be terribly streetwise, physically competent, socially competent, and all the other characteristics that usually go with the genius of the protagonist group, but if (s)he sits down and 'figures something out' by reason, giving a little expositional dissertation on why (s)he knows something, you can be sure that (s)he's right.

When it comes to matters of dispassionate intellectual deduction, Elan or Belkar can be hilariously wrong, and even Haley, Durkon or Roy can screw up for a good plot point, but V is of the genius trope, and as such serves as the mouthpiece for the author's convoluted revelations to the group. Even if it doesn't make logical sense, V is not wrong.

[Mystic Muse]

Yes. As the size of an explosion increases the number of social situations it is incapable of solving does approach zero.:smallbiggrin::smallwink::smalltongue:

[Morgan Wick]

The bet could conceivably be passed down to people's heirs.

[Turkish Delight]

Assuming that Girard has a group, that all of the members of that group are still alive and kicking and still connected with Girard many decades after the illusion was made, and that with all of the above being true the people in that group are still even thinking about a many decades old bet...all of these things are a stretch. But hey, they really don't have a lot of leads at the moment.

[NerfTW]

Well, they were notified, according to the illusion, so it's not a stretch to think that they now remember the bet when the alarms went off.

[Haven]

Don't forget that the elves have a territory nearby.

[Captain Six]

Almost certainly, yes.

Allow me to play the part of Elan here, and extrapolate by plot rather than by logic :smallwink:

V is the group's intellectual genius. (S)he might not be terribly streetwise, physically competent, socially competent, and all the other characteristics that usually go with the genius of the protagonist group, but if (s)he sits down and 'figures something out' by reason, giving a little expositional dissertation on why (s)he knows something, you can be sure that (s)he's right.

When it comes to matters of dispassionate intellectual deduction, Elan or Belkar can be hilariously wrong, and even Haley, Durkon or Roy can screw up for a good plot point, but V is of the genius trope, and as such serves as the mouthpiece for the author's convoluted revelations to the group. Even if it doesn't make logical sense, V is not wrong.

If it weren't Order of the Stick I would be inclined to agree. This may very well be the case but the Giant uses tropes like curtains, hiding plot twists out in the open where we readers are blinded by our own expectations. Especially recently, where real life has started to hit the characters hard.