Vaarsuvius to the rescue!

[Sunken Valley]

Despite being heavily wounded and depressed, our favourite elven wizard has only cast 2 spells all day and has had 3 hours since last seen to do something. I personally think there will be a big 3 way to kick off book 6 with V appearing at the end. Then V will be taken over by the IFCC, whatever that entails (probably one of them materialising directly into the material plane).

What do you think?

[CRtwenty]

I agree. V is going to drastically change the situation for good or ill when s/he appears. The IFCC taking control of V would be a good way to do it as well.

[Chantelune]

Well, unless there's some sort of self-destruct thingy in that pyramid, My guess is that V will come in just in time to provide some gate-destroying magic, as I doubt Roy will be able to smash it with his sword. I know Miko did, but it was the smallest gate, held in a saphire. This one looks fairly big, though seemingly not too big.

[hamishspence]

The gate wasn't so much in the sapphire, as behind it.


The gem reinforces the Gate; the gem is NOT the Gate, and the Gate is not the seal, and the seal is not the rift. The gem is the deadbolt, not the lock, or the door, or the doorway. The "door" is a complex spell that is not actually visible but is what Dorukan and Lirian are casting in the first panel of the second page of #276. The "lock" is the Gate, a tiny magical object that later had a throne crafted around it; it's about the size of a raisin in the case of Azure City. The "doorway" is the rift itself, and it is not really inside the gemstone, it's just that the gem (and Gate) are translucent and we can see through it (because it's a visual medium and it made it easier to understand). The gemstone is an enchanted object that further seals and reinforces the Gate; thus, the "deadbolt."

When Soon hands over the Sapphire to Shojo's father, he is essentially giving the last piece of the Gate's security system over so that it might be put into place. Think of the Sapphire as an additional seal that Soon and his followers came up with. The Sapphire does not NEED to be in the same place as the Gate in order to seal it, because it's magic, but moving it around is risky. There's a chance that it will just fail and the Gate will swing open. Before the panel shown, Soon likely kept it somewhere else safe, but chose as he was dying to consolidate the protections (because that's where he was going to be hanging out as a ghost-martyr). I guess the magic might have been stronger being in the same spot as the Gate, too.

So, no, the Gate or the rift could not have been physically moved. The Sapphire could be moved, and Xykon would have been obligated to track it down and undo its magic before he could perform his ritual, but there would be a risk in doing so, and it wouldn't really have stopped Xykon from sieging the city at that point (because he still would have needed the immovable Gate).

[zimmerwald1915]

Well, unless there's some sort of self-destruct thingy in that pyramid, My guess is that V will come in just in time to provide some gate-destroying magic, as I doubt Roy will be able to smash it with his sword. I know Miko did, but it was the smallest gate, held in a saphire. This one looks fairly big, though seemingly not too big.
SoD Spoilers:
Lirian's Gate ruptured when the treants roped to it tried to run off.

It seems that for the seal to become undone, all that needs to happen is that the Gate - that is, the brown (or white in the case of Girard's Gate) craggy border around the edge of the seal - needs to be ruptured. I see no reason why Roy couldn't manage that. That being the case, there is no need to invoke Vaarsuvius.

[F.Harr]

Will Elan create an illusionary horse for V?

[zimmerwald1915]

Will Elan create an illusionary horse for V?
What? To what is this a response?

[F.Harr]

So V can ride to the rescue. It's just a silly joke.

[WindStruck]

Hmm.. bet V will appear at the last second, stopping Roy. And being under control of the IFCC.

[AstralFire]

I think it's too early for the the fiends to cash their chips on the elf just yet. Stakes aren't high enough yet.

[TRH]

I think it's too early for the the fiends to cash their chips on the elf just yet. Stakes aren't high enough yet.

Depends on their objectives. All we know for sure right now is that they want "destructive, unnecessary conflict" over the Gates. Logically, destroying Girard's Gate would up the stakes even more in the rush for Kraagor's Gate, which would be in keeping with their stated goals, but if that's all they want here, then calling in the soul debt now would be a bit of a waste. It's not like the last three Gates needed their help to get blown up, so there's no reason to assume this one will. And yeah, even if only one fiend used his time for this purpose, it'd still be a waste because it would tip the OOTS off as to something going on. All this assumes they just want to destroy the Gate, though. If they actually have a plan to win control of the Gate right here, then that would be worth it. I don't see that happening, though.

[WindStruck]

Why would they not interfere with Roy and attempt to carry out their plan as soon as it was convenient and possible? Just because "OooooOOhh! It would be so much better if it happened vs everyone else in an ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny!"?

Frankly, they have a huge pile of chips, and spending but a fraction of it for control of the Girard's gate now doesn't seem impractical or stupid to me.

[AstralFire]

They have an inside man on the only protagonist group that they can use at any time. True, they have a fair amount of time they can use for it, but the trick only works once. V goes unstable once and I'm pretty sure Roy will either kick him off the team or require him to be bound with something like Belkar's mark that can be command word triggered. If Roy succeeds, all he's accomplished is a delaying tactic. If Vaarsuvius gets killed or the party bites it, they lose their (more effective) gadfly for Xykon and have to rely on Nale solely. If they hold up the party enough that they run into Xykon and get TPKed, same deal.

Their goal is maximized death and destruction, right? V's an Evoker. Seems to me that when a small army's assembled in defense of a gate is when the control could do the most harm.

And from a storytelling point of view, there's a lot to do with Durkon that's imminent; this would lower the emphasis on that story moment because there's no way Possessed V's actions wouldn't be a spotlight hog for intra-party drama.