Would Team Evil win this time?

[cloudland]

I was thinking, Team Evil have a huge advantage this time, much more than Dorukan's gate and Soon's gate. Dorukan's gate is basically locked with magic more powerful than Xykon himself, while for Soon's gate it was protected by someone who have exactly the power to fight undead, and is easily destroyed if needed to. There is no indication that Girard would put a self-destruct mechanism however, as in fact, Dorukan seems to be the only one thought of that idea before. Illusion is probably not as dangerous when RC is a very high level cleric, and Xykon is epic. Beside, Girard probably do not have Cloister, as it was researched after OOTS separated, so with the coordinate in Serini's dairy, Team Evil can just pop to the gate right away. On the other hand, OOTS is most likely going to get tangled up with LG, while fumbling through the maze. There is probably no protection on the gate once it's found, considering Girard rely on illusion, rather than powerful force.

[Kish]

I will be very surprised if the role of Girard's Gate in the story doesn't end with KRRAACKKAKOOOOOOM!!!

[fergo]

I think it's a bit premature to speculate on what defences Girard's gate may have.

As a non-D&D player I find it hard to imagine what actual physical damage illusion magic may cause, but I imagine that an epic-level practitioner will have enough tricks up his sleeve to keep Team Evil at bay for more than a short while.

And besides, Girard is the most paranoid of all of the gates' guardians, so it's clear that he'll have spent as long as possible defending (or hiding, or disguising, or whatever) his own gate.

In any case, as Kish says, it's pretty much certain (I'm hoping I don't jinx the order by saying this :smalltongue:) that the Gate will either be succesfully defended (unlikely, considering this would be hard to do without killing Team Evil) or destroyed.

[t209]

I am thinking this comic (or arc) will end in Bittersweet ending. (OOTS won but Azurites will never return to their homeland which is now in full control by Hobgoblins, Western Continent is still under Tarquin's rule.)

[Hazzardevil]

I find it hard to see how Team Evil can muck up this one. Redcloak and Xycon both have huge will saves at their levels, compared to the orders whose will be smaller, with Belkar who could quite easily piss off the illusionist and make the Illusionist try to kill the order. In fact the odds are stacked against OoTs far more than usual here.

[B. Dandelion]

If Girard is still alive, he's Epic level himself, so I'm not sure we can bank on Xykon having an overwhelming advantage in that regard. Girard's whole setup doesn't play to Xykon's strengths either -- it's all about illusion, trickery and deceit. Xykon's the "blast it till it stops being a problem" type. As for the Linear Guild, don't forget that they want the Gate themselves. That means they don't want Xykon to get it either. I doubt they'd impede the Order in such a way as to assure Xykon's victory, at least, not if Tarquin gets any say in the matter.

[cloudland]

Well Xykon have managed to defeat Dorukan in the past. He also have Serini dairy, and they are probably close enough that Serini wrote down certain part of the gate's defense. Beside, Girard might not even be alive at this point, and need to maintain his clan to keep up the defense.
Xykon as a lich is immune to all type of mind-affecting illusion, so that's 2 subschool out of the picture. If Girard have been using purely illusion for defense, the other 2 subschool can't cause damage, and with Xykon style of fly in and blast away it won't be good as deterrence. Shadow illusion is really the only one that can cause damage, but RC is a high level cleric I'm sure he can deal with that too.
I would say the chance for Team Evil to win is just too big this time. Hard to see how they can lose without involving in a dues ex.

[zimmerwald1915]

Xykon as a lich is immune to all type of mind-affecting illusion, so that's 2 subschool out of the picture. If Girard have been using purely illusion for defense, the other 2 subschool can't cause damage, and with Xykon style of fly in and blast away it won't be good as deterrence.
There are five subschools of illusion magic, and while Figments and Glamers can't damage, Shadows can. Not that damage is much of a deterrant.

[Valyrian]

I think Team Evil will clash with the LG before the Order shows up.

[Tergon]

I think we're overlooking the whole point of using Illusion magic to damage an invading force. Primarily we think of Illusions being used to make something hard to find, and that's fine. It's an excellent use of Girard's power, and he's clearly done so extensively.
But, and this is important, Illusion can also be used to disguse other things. Other, very important things. Like, that altar-looking thing in front of the Gate that you just walked up to? Surprise! It's actually a trigger stone for a trap! Oh, and that's not the gate at all, it's just a blank wall! And the trap is that 200-tonne stone block falling on your head!
Yes, if an illusion can't hurt you, you can just walk up and stick your hand through it and nothing bad will happen to you. But the critical assumption here is that the illusion is the thing you're supposed to be afraid of. If, instead, you're supposed to be afraid of the giant ballistae aimed at the idiot who just tripped the wire the wire they're attached to - and you're the idiot in question - then the illusion isn't the problem at all.

We've already seen from Strip 840 that the Draketooths are willing and able to set traps. So let's say that Team Evil has the coordinates to the gate that are accurate to... I don't know, a cubic mile. That's a cubic mile with the Draketooths having generations of time to lay literally thousands of traps of every kind they can, all of which could be triggered by one step in the wrong direction, with no way of knowing which direction is the right one. Even if Xykon's damage reduction drops each trap down to one damage apiece, he'd still die ten times over before he found the gate.
No, honestly? If I was on Team Evil, and I had any reason whatsoever to think that the Linear Guild or the Order of the Stick were within a thousand miles, the smart move to me would be to let those stupid idiots blunder into the maze first, if only so the trail of blood will tell me where not to step.

[JSSheridan]

It could end up with X and RC unable to locate the gate because they don't have strong enough divinations to overcome Draketooth's illusions. After searching for weeks with no success, they've become so frustrated that they just pop over to Kraagor's gate since it's more to X's style, brute force. The reveal shows they were standing next to the gate when they port out.

Of course, it will never happen, because Roy will pounce on X the first chance he gets.

[Fish]

We've already seen from Strip 840 that the Draketooths are willing and able to set traps.
I wouldn't bet that it's the Draketooths who set those traps. Someone paranoid did, possibly including them.

The thing about illusion as a means of defense — as a way of thinking about defense, really — is that there are layers and layers of deception possible when you know who you're trying to fool. There's

A. People who blunder into the canyon by accident (looking for water, seeking shelter from a sandstorm, looking for a safe place to live).
B. People who realize there is something there, but not what it is (eg, a group of adventurers, someone who happens to notice the epic canyon wall illusion or the lack of divination).
C. People who know a Gate is there but not necessarily how it's guarded.
D. People who know a Gate is there, and who know its guarded by illusion (eg, a determined enemy like Xykon).
E. People on your own team who might betray you (eg, Soon, Girard's own men)

You can use illusions 1) to show something uninteresting, 2) to hide something uninteresting, 3) to appear as something dangerous, 4) to hide something dangerous, 5) to hide another illusion, 6) to show something frightening, 7) to show something familiar. Others might occur to you.

But the object is manipulation. Sometimes that can best be achieved by not using an illusion when your invader expects one. Or using two illusions (one easy to dispel, one super-hard) to lure the invader into thinking he's solved it. Or using an illusion to make someone think there's an illusion (eg, the shadow of a building, but no building. The viewer would be convinced there was a building there and would waste days trying to get in).

Manipulation and deception can come without using any illusions. Build a large temple, put some feeble traps outside it, and put some meager gold treasure inside. An adventuring party would go away happy, thinking they'd cracked the riddle of the canyon, never realizing the temple was never the point of it at all...

In short, a canyon filled with illusion is the Giant's strong suit: unpredictable plot twists. Things which look to go one way, then don't.

[ti'esar]

I've been thinking that Team Evil is about due a "loss" this time. Every gate so far has been destroyed, and I expect Girard's will join them, but overall Lirian's and Soon's were "wins" for the bad guys, whereas Dorukan's was a "loss".

Although that's partially my interpretation and doesn't mean a thing.

[King of Nowhere]

Yes, this time team evil will win, xykon will found out about the ritual and kill redcloak and twist the ritual so that he control the gate, and he will enslave humanity and be happy forever. elan will have a change of heart at the last moment, become evil and be the new xykon's rigth hand, so he'll get na happy ending. ok?

But, seriously, I think you ALL are making a HUGE mistake: you are reasoning as if girard, being an illusionist, could use NOTHING but illusions. some even said girard has no way of damaging xykon because X is immune to all damaging illusions, totally overlooking that girard can easily use a sunburst or other damaging spells.

The truth is, illusions will be the main defence, but they will be there to cover other forms of defences, including all other schools of magic. plus, girard certainly had the money to hire other kind of help. so there are traps, and there may be constructs or other creatures, and who knows what. Don't expect the gate defences to be JUST illusions.