Durkon's Scroll

[Olinser]

So, I was wandering through the OOTS comic earlier, when I suddenly realized that there is actually a fairly simple way for Durkon to come out of this alive and well.

According to http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0634.html Durkon has a Resurrection scroll that he has been saving. As nobody since that point has been brought back, I assume that he still has it on his person.

With that scroll in their possession, all they need is a character with the requisite ability score to cast the spell - shouldn't be very hard to find, especially if they were to return to the Paladin fleet.

Thoughts?

[hamishspence]

They also need to kill Vampire Durkon- spell won't work otherwise.

[Kish]

There were two spells with ten-minute casting times in the IFCC's ridiculous alternate plan.

They mentioned one scroll, not specifying what spell it was of except that it was a spell with a ten-minute casting time that Vaarsuvius might otherwise view as a barrier to the plan.

So, they said Durkon had a scroll of Resurrection...or they said Durkon had a scroll of Sending.

Vaarsuvius explicitly did not know Resurrection would take ten minutes, justifying such lack of knowledge with a claim that divine magic isn't real magic.

Sending, on the other hand, is a spell Vaarsuvius knows himself/herself.

Ergo: The fiends meant a scroll of Sending. Which Durkon probably never actually had. They breezed past the casting time on Resurrection entirely, knowing Vaarsuvius would not know to call them on it.

That said, if Vampire Durkon wants to be alive again, it should be pretty easy for him to make a scroll of Resurrection for someone else to use once he's been staked--Haley even probably has enough Use Magic Device to use one now.

[ednarimal]

There were two spells with ten-minute casting times in the IFCC's ridiculous alternate plan.

They mentioned one scroll, not specifying what spell it was...

You beat me to it. Also, the sentence structure would more heavily imply a scroll of Sending as that's the spell mentioned closer to the reference to the unspecified scroll.

It's been a while since I've had an English class though so I could be wrong.

[Roland Itiative]

Adding to what Kish said, there is the panel itself. Durkon casting some magic from a scroll, while Vaarsuvius is clearly alive and talking, so it only makes sense that the scroll is a Sending spell.

And I don't think the IFCC was lying about the scroll. Qarr later deduces that they have been keeping their eyes on V for a while, using their knowledge of the scroll as one of the evidences, and they don't deny it.

[Cavenskull]

To add even more, there's no reason for Durkon to expect that resurrecting Vaarsuvius is such a time-critical matter that spending ten minutes on the resurrection is too much time.

[DaggerPen]

Durkon's scroll is a scroll of Sending. Aside from V not knowing the casting time of Resurrection, it's mentioned again here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0834.html) in panel 6

[EmperorSarda]

Whether they were talking about Resurrection or Sending, we as readers have no reason to believe them since they are most probably lying about it.

[Yendor]

Durkon does not have a scroll of Resurrection. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0649.html)

[orrion]

Durkon does not have a scroll of Resurrection. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0649.html)

Well, that doesn't prove much (though the rest of the thread's evidence does).

I mean, why would Durkon use a scroll in that situation? The only one concerned about time was V. Nobody else would mind sitting around for 10 mins.

[EmperorSarda]

Well, that doesn't prove much (though the rest of the thread's evidence does).

I mean, why would Durkon use a scroll in that situation? The only one concerned about time was V. Nobody else would mind sitting around for 10 mins.

If he had a scroll of resurrection, then Haley would not have needed to steal a diamond from herself (Or V to go to another plane to get such a diamond) in order to cast the spell.

[allenw]

Durkon's scroll is a scroll of Sending. Aside from V not knowing the casting time of Resurrection, it's mentioned again here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0834.html) in panel 6

...just two strips before Elan comes up with his Mystery Plan.
Dun-Dun-DUN! :smallwink:

And I've always interpreted http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#usingItems to mean that a scroll of a spell with a long casting time takes the same (long) time to use. I can see how it could be interpreted differently (as it apparently is in OotSverse); was this ever officially clarified by WotC?

[snikrept]

If Durkon has a Scroll of Sending, the punchline of http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0733.html is much reduced

[Byzantine2]

I don't see why the fiends would lie about the other plan they said, given that if V chose it because they made it look better than it was they would look like completely idiots, not to mention V was going to take the deal anyway, they just wanted him/her to feel particularly bad about it later, apparently.

[henrykazuka]

I don't see why the fiends would lie about the other plan they said, given that if V chose it because they made it look better than it was they would look like completely idiots, not to mention V was going to take the deal anyway, they just wanted him/her to feel particularly bad about it later, apparently.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0643.html

Durkon wasn't at the fleet at the moment, so the plan wouldn't have worked, at least not the way it was told.

[factotum]

I don't see why the fiends would lie about the other plan they said, given that if V chose it because they made it look better than it was they would look like completely idiots, not to mention V was going to take the deal anyway, they just wanted him/her to feel particularly bad about it later, apparently.

That's the way devils and demons traditionally work. You need the person to do the evil of their own free will or else it doesn't "count", so they needed V to accept the deal of his own free will. If V genuinely thought the deal was the only option then he wouldn't be taking it out of free will, he'd be taking it out of necessity, which would not be anything near as damning.

[Surprise!]

I remember debating the complete ridiculousness of the Fiends "alternative" plan till I was blue in the face.

Four words could have been uniquely different to avoid confusion bla bla bla old topics bla bla bla

[Chantelune]

If Durkon has a Scroll of Sending, the punchline of http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0733.html is much reduced

The scroll is for emergency, he might not have counted this as emergency given he could just go to the palace and directly inquire about the others.

But even if Durkon do have a resurection scroll, it doesn't really change anything. Haley have ranks in UMD, but she might not have enough for casting that spell safely. And they still need to get rid of Durkula first. When this is done, they just need to get the body and find a high enough priest to cast raise dead or resurection. Though not many, there should be a few high enough good or neutral clerics arounds willing to do so for the right price.

[JackRose]

...just two strips before Elan comes up with his Mystery Plan.
Dun-Dun-DUN! :smallwink:

And I've always interpreted http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#usingItems to mean that a scroll of a spell with a long casting time takes the same (long) time to use. I can see how it could be interpreted differently (as it apparently is in OotSverse); was this ever officially clarified by WotC?


Activating a spell completion item is a standard action and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does.

Emphasis mine.

[hamishspence]

But on the same SRD page:

Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item description indicates otherwise. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, regardless of the type of magic item, unless the item description specifically states otherwise.

[allenw]

What hamishspence said. :smallsmile:

[Roland Itiative]

I'd assume the "standard action" rule overwrites the "same casting time" one. The general rule is usually ignored in favour of the specific one.

[Lord Torath]

This page (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0337.html) seems to imply that the casting time is only a round or so for a scroll. Roy doesn't sheath his sword until after the 4th scroll,which would be 40 minutes if the casting time applies to the scroll (or 48 seconds with a 1-round casting time). He also doesn't mention a 10 minute wait between castings. He does mention the wait while talking to Durkon (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0733.html) later.

[Kish]

In the comic, regardless of what is or isn't the case in by-the-book D&D, it seems clear that using a scroll--any scroll--takes one standard action. Vaarsuvius, however trance-deprived, would not have let, "Don't worry about the ten-minute casting time, he has a scroll" pass if it was an utter non-sequitur.