Come on Skele, don't give this one an offsite management.

[Luna_Mayflower]

Maybe it's just me, but it seems we've not seen Xykon for a while. I don't think there would have been so much thing about him getting ready to go to Girard's gate if it'll be destroyed before he can get there at all. So, here's my question:

When do you think Xykon will arrive, and what do you think he will do when he does?

My guess is he'll somehow stop Roy from blowing the gate, since all this build up with him destroying it is too much for him to actually do it.

[Vinsfeld]

The prophecy said that he would be within 1000 miles from Girard's gate. If the Gate is destroyed, he will never be 1000 miles from the gate. So, we can assume that he will show up before the gate goes krackakoooom

[Manga Shoggoth]

The prophecy said that he would be within 1000 miles from Girard's gate. If the Gate is destroyed, he will never be 1000 miles from the gate. So, we can assume that he will show up before the gate goes krackakoooom

Actually, it's 1000 feet. 1000 miles is quite a long distance...

[Vinsfeld]

Actually, it's 1000 feet. 1000 miles is quite a long distance...

Oooh, yeah. I just remembered it being 1000 something. Thanks :smallbiggrin:

[Purgatorius]

My guess might be wrong because I've misunderstood the D&D rules. But:

When Xykon and Redcloak leaves for the astral plane (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0833.html), Xykon says "I've got ... a list of cleric spells I'm going to need you to prepare and cast on the joint."
Doesn't it take a cleric eight hours to prepare new spells? That tells us they will be on the astral plane for at least eight hours.
Xykon and Redcloak probably leave for the astral plane about the same time as Niu sends to Hinjo (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0865.html).
After that, Hinjo went back to their camp – suppose that took an hour – and started trying to contact the Order. They tried for three hours (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0895.html) before they succeeded.

From this, I believe there will be about four hours before Xykon & co arrives at Girard's gate.

But it is also a good point that the gate needs to still exist, for Xykon to be able to arrive near it.

[Kish]

My guess might be wrong because I've misunderstood the D&D rules. But:

When Xykon and Redcloak leaves for the astral plane (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0833.html), Xykon says "I've got ... a list of cleric spells I'm going to need you to prepare and cast on the joint."
Doesn't it take a cleric eight hours to prepare new spells?

No, a cleric prepares new spells at the same time each day. Rest is irrelevant, and it takes one hour (the same hour out of every 24).

No way to know how long that part took without knowing how long it was before Redcloak's time to prepare spells came; anywhere from an hour (if Redcloak's reaction was "you'd better give me the list right now"), to 24 hours (if Redcloak's reaction was, "Agh, I just prepared spells!").

[veti]

No, a cleric prepares new spells at the same time each day. Rest is irrelevant, and it takes one hour (the same hour out of every 24).

No way to know how long that part took without knowing how long it was before Redcloak's time to prepare spells came; anywhere from an hour (if Redcloak's reaction was "you'd better give me the list right now"), to 24 hours (if Redcloak's reaction was, "Agh, I just prepared spells!").

We're assuming Redcloak has enough spell slots to cast everything Xykon wants in one go...

Also, I guess RC would want to re-prepare spells before moving on. (I know I would...)

So a minimum estimate would be 25 hours (if RC was just about to prepare spells). But 'several days' would not be unreasonable.

And once again: Xykon does not need to get there before the gate is destroyed - he just needs to get to Kraagor's gate before it gets destroyed, and to somewhere near Girard's location before that, to fulfil the prophecy.

[Purgatorius]

I see. Thank you for clarifying.
Which means Xykon and Redcloak arrives at some time between 0 and 22 hours from the time of the latest comic.
Now I get why everyone is so tense. :smallsmile:

[martianmister]

He's dead.

[Shred-Bot]

We're assuming Redcloak has enough spell slots to cast everything Xykon wants in one go...

Also, I guess RC would want to re-prepare spells before moving on. (I know I would...)

So a minimum estimate would be 25 hours (if RC was just about to prepare spells). But 'several days' would not be unreasonable.

And once again: Xykon does not need to get there before the gate is destroyed - he just needs to get to Kraagor's gate before it gets destroyed, and to somewhere near Girard's location before that, to fulfil the prophecy.

I'm sure Redcloak would love to re-prepare spells (and I would too!) but they're running on Xykon time now. After all that time spent sitting on their asses in Azure City Gobbotopia, I doubt Xykon would have the patience to sit around for a full day while Reddie refills his spell slots.

And besides, at level 17, a cleric gets 49 spell slots (including domains but not including bonus spells for wisdom). So depending on the length and composition of Xykon's list, it might not make a meaningful difference in Redcloak's combat readiness anyway.

[Goosefarble]

The prophecy said that he would be within 1000 miles from Girard's gate. If the Gate is destroyed, he will never be 1000 miles from the gate. So, we can assume that he will show up before the gate goes krackakoooom

Though he could well be >1000 feet from it right now, in which case he will have been even after it's destroyed. It'd also be a lesson in being even-more-specific when it comes to oracles.

Not saying I think it'll happen. Just saying he doesn't necessarily have to REACH the gate to fulfil the prophecy.

[Vinsfeld]

Though he could well be >1000 feet from it right now, in which case he will have been even after it's destroyed. It'd also be a lesson in being even-more-specific when it comes to oracles.

Not saying I think it'll happen. Just saying he doesn't necessarily have to REACH the gate to fulfil the prophecy.

I'm not saying he has to reach the gate. But, I think that, at least, he will be around the pyramid/ziggurat somewhere, you know? :smallsmile:

As you said, the oracle is kinda an ***hole. So it might be that Xykon arrives a few seconds before the gate explodes. And then, he just moves on. Prophecy is fulfilled and he doesn't engage in battle with anyone. But I guess we will just have to wait and see.

EDIT: I just realized that it looks more like a ziggurat (http://www.islamic-architecture.info/WA-IQ/MFD05-02.jpg) than a pyramid.

[137beth]

He's dead.

Huh? Who's dead?

[Vinsfeld]

Huh? Who's dead?

Xykon, I guess.

[Shred-Bot]

Xykon, I guess.

He hasn't been alive in 30 years but he's not dead yet.

[martianmister]

He hasn't been alive in 30 years but he's not dead yet.

He's deader than dead. :smallamused:

[Shred-Bot]

He's deader than dead. :smallamused:

... you manifested in the comic and took down Xykon and his phylactery for good, didn't you? :smalleek:

[Demolator]

I always thought he was undead...

[Luna_Mayflower]

He's deader than dead. :smallamused:

But not DESTROYED! And he's not dead for good until someone findswhat's in Redcloak's pocket.


:redcloak: <-- Lich Troll

:xykon: "Lol, I am the best at trolling the living. N00bs! C4mp3rz!" (Sounds just like him! I think I should write Xykon's speech from now on.)

[Vinsfeld]

Technically, he's still dead, just not, you know, DEAD-dead (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0292.html)

[Forbiddenwar]

My guess might be wrong because I've misunderstood the D&D rules. But:

When Xykon and Redcloak leaves for the astral plane (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0833.html), Xykon says "I've got ... a list of cleric spells I'm going to need you to prepare and cast on the joint."
Doesn't it take a cleric eight hours to prepare new spells? That tells us they will be on the astral plane for at least eight hours.
Xykon and Redcloak probably leave for the astral plane about the same time as Niu sends to Hinjo (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0865.html).
After that, Hinjo went back to their camp – suppose that took an hour – and started trying to contact the Order. They tried for three hours (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0895.html) before they succeeded.

From this, I believe there will be about four hours before Xykon & co arrives at Girard's gate.


While this is a clever analysis, it seems based on a few suppositions.

I'm not sure we know that:

1) the time it took Niu to walk through the mountains until she was out of range of the cloister
and
2) the time it took Redcloak to teleport home and kill Tsookie then cast a bunch of cleric spells on the fake phylactery while walking upstairs

Were the same.

Nor do we know if Hinjo was 1 hour walk away from camp or several.

What we do know that it took at least 10 minutes for Niu to cast the sending spell, and Hinjo to do the same.

It is quite reasonable to think it took Niu hours after Xykon left to get to a place where she could cast Sending.

And since the Astral Plane is Timeless, it may be possible to spend days there without losing a second in the material plane, allowing Redcloak to Gate there spend 24 hours in the astral plane, prepare spells and cast them, spend another 24 hours there and then gate back to the moment they left and then re-prepare spells again (unless someone with more experience with the rules as written clarifies comparative relative time as a result from travel to and from a Timeless Plane, since I'm only working off of the SRD here.)

[Purgatorius]

And since the Astral Plane is Timeless, it may be possible to spend days there without losing a second in the material plane, allowing Redcloak to Gate there spend 24 hours in the astral plane, prepare spells and cast them, spend another 24 hours there and then gate back to the moment they left and then re-prepare spells again (unless someone with more experience with the rules as written clarifies comparative relative time as a result from travel to and from a Timeless Plane, since I'm only working off of the SRD here.)

Oh, it is?

But it doesn't seem to be entirely timeless in the comic. Xykon says he has been on the astral plane for a few weeks (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0833.html). Or, he could mean that a few weeks has passed on the material plane.
While Xykon is gone, there seems to pass some time on the material plane, since Redcloak and Jirix knows that Xykon is gone (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0704.html).
I think we can assume that Xykon was on the astral plane during the same time as the goblins searched for the phylactery (with a short rest to celebrate the founding of Gobbotopia). This would be the same time that passed from Varsuvius' attack on Xykon's tower to the same day as the current strip. Without counting exactly, I believe it could well be "a few weeks".
Has someone else counted the days?

If this is correct, it would seem that in this comic, time passes at the same speed on the astral plane as on the material plane.

[martianmister]

Xykon better hurry up, or else he'll be late for the gate's destruction. :smallcool:

[Grey Watcher]

Is it established that Niu had a scroll of sending on her when she fled? I always assumed it was a matter of DAYS before she sent to Hinjo, because she had to get to somewhere that she could discover, steal, purchase, or borrow a scroll.

Given that the Gate is apparently not going to exist anymore in the very near future, I suspect that Team Evil is somewhere in Windy Canyon already. (Unless you buy the extremely narrow reading being bandied about in the main discussion thread that suggests Xykon doesn't actually have to get into the 1000 ft radius before the explosion.)

EDIT: I forgot that Thanh handed her a Sending scroll when he told her to flee. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0827.html)