OOTS #899 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Saph]

Okay, that was the funniest fulfilled prophecy I've seen in a while. :smallbiggrin:

[Kingscourt]

HA! I actually did a spit-take reading that.

Hope V is okay though, wonder if his body will be moved from all the rubble when s/he's sent back

[Hogwarts9876]

That was one hell of an explosion!
EDIT: This also confirms that Girard, duplicitious though he was, didn't lie to Serini about the coordinates of the Gate.

[Nevitan]

Fantastically tricky title.

[DaggerPen]

Welp.

There goes that semantics debate.

I can't stop laughing. Short, sweet and to the point. Prophecy fulfilled, indeed.

EDIT:


HA! I actually did a spit-take reading that.

Hope V is okay though, wonder if his body will be moved from all the rubble when s/he's sent back


Okay, that was the funniest fulfilled prophecy I've seen in a while. :smallbiggrin:

Looking at the size of that explosion, I honestly think that V was probably blown entirely clear of it. There's not really a lot of rubble left to collapse - we're mostly looking at large scattered chunks o' pyramid here, so unless one lands right on V, zie'll probably be fine.

[KyrtFurey]

Nice one.

After all, he did have to be within 1000 foot of the gate BEFORE it was destroyed for the prophecy to be fulfilled.

The Oracle would be proud.

Now, we just have to see about the OotS and especially V.

[Tev]

That was perfect :smallbiggrin:

[jolus]

That was unexpected on more than one level.

[Conte_Vincero]

Best conclusion to a semantics debate EVER!

[Tyrmatt]

Haha, that's a good one.

Obviously Redcloak and Xykon will survive in a fashion but its interesting how this will affect Team Evil. Xykon will reform in Redcloaks pocket rather than in the Astral Plane, leaving Redcloak with the MitD who has orders to eat him alive at the first hint of treachery.

Also, anyone else feeling comic 900 for an end of book page?

[RMS Oceanic]

Well that answers that.

This makes me think it's more likely Belkar has actually suggested a safe 'splosion proof place to hit, but I can't explain why.

[M.A.D]

The explosion occurred while the main cast is hiding off-panel. Of course they're safe! XD

[Seharvepernfan]

Could someone please point me to a thread where this "semantics debate" was going on?

[Syklone]

Absolutely perfect.

[Yoyoyo]

Boom goes the dynamite...ah, gate. Awesome.

[RMS Oceanic]

The question now is how likely is it that Xykon gets involved with the other two groups in the area? He may decide to go straight to Kraagor's gate instead.

Also I don't think we have to worry about V being buried alive. Looks like most stuff is being flung clear.

I wonder what Tarquin's gonna say about this? If it turns out he never really intended to seize the gate at all that's gonna be heartbreaking. All that grief (literally in 877) for nothing.

[Morquard]

Well... that answers that question!

[Yendor]

Well, that was straightforward.

[DaggerPen]

Could someone please point me to a thread where this "semantics debate" was going on?

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291730&page=11

There was some debate over whether the Oracle's answer meant that Team Evil would have to arrive at Girard's Gate before the Gate exploded or if they could arrive afterwards because it was still the Gate's location.

This comic answered it rather, ah, succinctly.

[Cavelcade]

That was amazing. Favourite comic in a while.

[Steward]

Which prophecy is this?

[RMS Oceanic]

Could someone please point me to a thread where this "semantics debate" was going on?

898 discussion thread. The question was whether Xykon would get to the Gate before it exploded or not, or whether just the location of the gate counted.

[DigoDragon]

Exploding dungeons is usually the first sign the PCs have been there. :smallbiggrin:

[Iruka]

Hilarious. :smallbiggrin:

[oball]

This makes me think it's more likely Belkar has actually suggested a safe 'splosion proof place to hit, but I can't explain why.

Maybe they hid in a refrigerator

[DaggerPen]

Which prophecy is this?

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0331.html Between Girard's and Kraagor's Gate, Xykon will be within 1000 feet of Girard's first.

[Syklone]

Which prophecy is this?

I don't remember the exact words, but it was like "Xykon will be within 1000 feet of Girard's Gate first."

EDIT: AHH I was stabbed by a ninja.

[RMS Oceanic]

Maybe they hid in a refrigerator

They should be careful to make sure they're not stuffed in there. :smalltongue:

[M.A.D]

They should be careful to make sure they're not stuffed in there. :smalltongue:

Maybe they have a Giant's refrigerator? (See what I did there?) The Draketooth family is rather large, after all, and food goes bad quickly in their home climate.

[DaggerPen]

Haha, that's a good one.

Obviously Redcloak and Xykon will survive in a fashion but its interesting how this will affect Team Evil. Xykon will reform in Redcloaks pocket rather than in the Astral Plane, leaving Redcloak with the MitD who has orders to eat him alive at the first hint of treachery.

Also, anyone else feeling comic 900 for an end of book page?

If MitD does eat Redcloak alive, Xykon is in trouble - his instructions were for MitD to spit out Redcloak's amulet. The amulet Redcloak is currently wearing is not the phylactery, which means the phylactery itself - with Xykon in it - would go right through MitD's digestive system, which may or may not be epic enough to damage it.

I think that Xykon won't be destroyed by the explosion, though, probably just brought to low health. I could be wrong, but I don't think Redcloak has more ability to survive this explosion than Xykon does (without being put back in his phylactery). Probably, they'll both just be brought to really low health and have to heal, while MitD will be a-okay. (Too much to hope for for him to drop his umbrella in the explosion, though, one supposes. :P)

[VanaGalen]

It seems Malack and Nale believed they'd been on the wrong track and went on to look for another pyramid. Do you think they had enough time to move to a safe distance from the gate? What about the Order (especially Belkar who is very low on hp)? Where are Tarquin and Kilkil, did they leave the pyramid after separating from Nale and Malack? And finally, I'm really worried about V :smallfrown:

[gorocz]

If it wasn't so funny, this would make me sad that my theory, that X is gonna come after the gate is destroyed, was wrong...

Poor Xykon, he can't get a break :smallbiggrin:

[Belsirk]

Perfect timing!
Xykon is going to be a little pissed about this ... Just hope he doesn't see the order first than Tarquin (And about all, he don't see Varsavius):smalltongue:

By other hand, each time the evil team has lesser time for have the portal...

This time they even did not look the gate at all

[DaggerPen]

It seems Malack and Nale believed they'd been on the wrong track and went on to look for another pyramid. Do you think they had enough time to move to a safe distance from the gate? What about the Order (especially Belkar who is very low on hp)? Where are Tarquin and Kilkil, did they leave the pyramid after separating from Nale and Malack? And finally, I'm really worried about V :smallfrown:

After seeing that explosion, V is the one I'm least worried about. V's body is shielded from all harm, and that explosion was big enough to blow V clear of the rubble, I think. V's soul will probably be returned to its meaty shell in a clear spot in the desert. As for the Order... Roy, Elan and Haley I'm not worried about. Belkar and possibly Mr. Scruffy, though... they worry me.

[Syncro]

lulz Team Evil be gettin trolled

[Vorteld]

I'm sorry if this is showing a complete lack of respect for the gravity of the situation, but...

AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! :smallbiggrin:

That was priceless.

[FinnLassie]

Good riddance! I can't believe how excited I'm feeling over all this that's been going on in the past few updates. Today's page just made me go "oh! oh! whaaaaaat!". Blargh. I don't have any proper words to express myself. :smallbiggrin:

[VanaGalen]

After seeing that explosion, V is the one I'm least worried about. V's body is shielded from all harm, and that explosion was big enough to blow V clear of the rubble, I think. V's soul will probably be returned to its meaty shell in a clear spot in the desert. As for the Order... Roy, Elan and Haley I'm not worried about. Belkar and possibly Mr. Scruffy, though... they worry me.

I think cats in general are just too cute to get hurt under such circumstances, so I believe Mr. Scruffy should be OK. However, as it's Haley, not Belkar who is carrying him, that's another reason to worry about Belkar, as Mr. Scruffy's protective field of cuteness won't shield him. I also hope the IFCC didn't return V's soul right before the explosion.

[ChristianSt]

Truly Epic!

Think we need now some strips to show:

a) Where is the Order? (Nuking the fridge with Girard's tomb?)
b) Where is the Linear Guild? (Somewhere in the middle of the desert?)
c) What the heck is Tarquin's game? (Where is he and what is he doing?)
d) Will Xykon find someone to kill for nuking his gate just at his arrival?

Other than that: Roy's idea to blow up the gate was a bit hasted somehow (blowing up the place before having an escape route and not knowing where V is), but he couldn't have waited longer for sure.

[Edhelras]

How can anyone survive that explosion???

[Copperdragon]

Haha, funny.

Krackakkoom! What a short entry by Xykon, he must be pretty annoyed just now.

[Needle]

HAHAHAHAHA.

Poor Evil Team :smallbiggrin:

Tough somehow I fear what Xykon will do after this.

[Talderas]

Looking at the size of that explosion, I honestly think that V was probably blown entirely clear of it. There's not really a lot of rubble left to collapse - we're mostly looking at large scattered chunks o' pyramid here, so unless one lands right on V, zie'll probably be fine.

Not only is V blown clear. The OotS will be blown clear having hidden in Girard's sarcophagus in a style befitting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

[RMS Oceanic]

How can anyone survive that explosion???

A Deal with the Devil. Fortunately V has one! :smallbiggrin:

[Adeptus]

YES!

Man, those gates are about as safe a banging two subcritical chunks of plutonium together!

[Beelzebub1111]

Wait...Which Prophecy? I'm confused.

[RMS Oceanic]

Wait...Which Prophecy? I'm confused.

This one (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0331.html).

Also Rich, I'm sure you always had this in mind, that Xykon turns up just to be snubbed like this, but was the name of the comic a joke at all the rampant semantic debate going on here?

[DaggerPen]

Wait...Which Prophecy? I'm confused.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0331.html Between Girard's and Kraagor's Gates, Xykon will be within 1000 of Girard's first.

Edit: Darn it! My turn to be ninja'd.

[Edhelras]

Concerning this prophecy:

What if BELKAR is killed, too, as the result of this explosion? Then two prophecies would be fulfilled in one blow; that Belkar was going to die, soon, and the one with Xykon and Girard's gate.

I've a problem seeing how the PCs can survive that blast, which must have caused tremendous destruction down below ground, in order to create such a massive effect above ground. And drained Belkar, in particular, would be hard put to survive even minimal damage from falling rubble.

Actually, wouldn't it be a nice touch if Belkar spent his last round in the game truly being a team member (like Shojo taught him), leading his comrades into a safe spot, while perishing himself?

BTW I'm worried about Blackwing. Maybe Blackwing dies and V can take Mr. Scruffy as his new familiar?

[elros]

Yay! Quick update!

Now we know why the IFCC promised V his body would be protected.

I wonder if the Giant is setting us up for an anti-climatic, low action update for #900?

[King of Nowhere]

Wow, I wasn't expecting a new strip so soon.
Perfect timing, Xykon. Perfect timing.

[rgd20]

I love you Giant!

[Grey Watcher]

OK, now I'm torn. Do I wan to see how the Order survived first or do I want to see Team Evil's reaction to the entire pyramid exploding before they've had so much as a chance to laugh at the carnage upstairs?

[Savil]

Have you noticed the name of the image file? :smallbiggrin:

[OverdrivePrime]

Bwaaaahahaahahahahaahahahahahahaha!! :smallbiggrin:

Short, sweet & awesome.

Oh man. I just wish there was a way for Roy to see the look on Xykon's face. :smallamused:

[hamishspence]

No purple colour to the explosion.

Though I could see it as being- the pyramid is yellow, so the explosion is- the Azure City castle was blue- so the explosion was.

[RMS Oceanic]

Have you noticed the name of the image file? :smallbiggrin:

I did, that was excellent as well. :smallbiggrin:

And now back to eagerly awaiting the fallout, both literal and metaphorical, from this.

[King of Nowhere]

And by the way, the art in the explosion panel is damn good. And it looks like it must have been a pain to draw: all the pieces of debris are different. Rich, you could have done it in half a minute with copy-paste, and most people wouldn't even have noticed it. I want to express that someone did notice and did appreciate it. It wasn't a waste of time to draw all the pieces one by one.

[DaggerPen]

Have you noticed the name of the image file? :smallbiggrin:

Ha! Oh man, I never even thought to look for image file names. I might have to start checking them out now. That's fantastic.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Haha, I actually called It this time. I hope they survived though. Well, I know most of the order did, but...

[Carteeg_Struve]

Why should a joke have a punchline when it can have an explosionline? :smallbiggrin:



How can anyone survive that explosion???

Simply not be in the way of any quickly moving debris or the concussive force emanating from the explosion.

... And a crap ton of pillows might help too.

[Jiggs]

Looooooll !!!

[factotum]

Debate answered beautifully--and it looks like Xykon *did* get an exploding Gate to the face after all.

Thinking about Belkar now...a few people were speculating that his last act might be a heroic sacrifice to save the Order. Maybe this is it? Maybe whatever he suggested at the end of #898 will turn out to save everyone but himself?

[Killer Angel]

That was amazing! :smallbiggrin:

...I only feel bad for the cockroaches... :smalltongue:

[TheWombatOfDoom]

If you notice, the whole top section is still in the same form. Perhaps that room is all in one piece for the moment?

Girards gate monitoring room might have some sort of safe area, or the coffin idea or refridgerator is a neat one. Would make sense in this desert setting. :smallbiggrin:

[thatSeniorGuy]

First reaction: mouth agape.
Fantastic strip Giant!

Also, I can see a yellow sphere in the bottom of the crater; do you think it's the rift, or Vaarsuvius (and Blackwing maybe?) in an IFCC-provided protective shield?

ETA: can anyone see a sarcophagus flying into the air? :smalltongue:

[Trixie]

And by the way, the art in the explosion panel is damn good. And it looks like it must have been a pain to draw: all the pieces of debris are different. Rich, you could have done it in half a minute with copy-paste

Actually, with vector art all you need is drawn pyramid and liberal use of 'cutting tool' to produce all sorts of unique chunks in 20 seconds, then half a minute more to spread them around. And now you know :P

[DaggerPen]

First reaction: mouth agape.
Fantastic strip Giant!

Also, I can see a yellow sphere in the bottom of the crater; do you think it's the rift, or Vaarsuvius (and Blackwing maybe?) in an IFCC-provided protective shield?

ETA: can anyone see a sarcophagus flying into the air? :smalltongue:

I've been squinting at that last panel since it came out, and I can't see a sarcophagus + Girard statue chunks anywhere, alas.

[archaeo]

Oh, bravo! I considered clapping for a bit at this, it was such a well-executed punchline to this entire arc.

[JSSheridan]

Thanks Giant!

[HandofShadows]

Love the sound effect! :smallcool:

[drazen]

Ha! Xykon's gonna be pissed.

Also, semantically speaking (continuing from the debate in #898), I only argued that Xykon could arrive after the Gate blew up and it would still count. I never predicted he actually would. Either way works for me.

Now I'm more curious to know where the OOTS and Linear Guild are, and who survived. I have a feeling we're about to see a #900 splash panel ending with a big "To Be Continued..." and won't know anything for months!

[daungli]

Aaaaaand end of Book.

but seriously, amazing.

[MReav]

Secretly, I'm hoping Tarquin was killed in the explosion. His desire for an epic death scene seems like the kind of thing that gets a dramatic irony twist. The guy who wanted to die the most grandiose villain in the Western Continent's history, dies unceremoniously as part some of collateral damage while on a secret mission.

[SaintRidley]

The soundtrack to Xykon's mind just abruptly went womp womp wooooommmmppp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKdcjJoXeEY).

[Nohar]

Can't... Stop... Laughing :smallbiggrin:

Oh boy, Xykon is going to be pissed.

[Mordae]

Immediate auditory familiarity. That's an impressive explosion!

Expecting there was some small period of off-screen time for OotS to try and hide, but the Linear Guild is going to be completely caught off guard by the unexpected earthquake...

By bardic logic they are fine since they were off-panel at the time, though of course we must assume they're dead even though they're not :smallbiggrin:

[heronbpv]

God, this made my day! Particularly after a raining, and soon to be protest-intense, day as this one here where I live.

Where's my +1 button now Giant? You deserve a gazzillion for this! :D

[FinnLassie]

Not only is V blown clear. The OotS will be blown clear having hidden in Girard's sarcophagus in a style befitting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Now I can't stop thinking of them being stuffed in a fridge...

[luc258]

Have you noticed the name of the image file? :smallbiggrin:

I feel a compulsion to go through 899 strips and check which ones are named like that.

[blueblade]

LOVE.IT

Giant, +1 to people who you tricked with the comic title :smallbiggrin::smallyuk:

[derfenrirwolv]

Lets see if they pull a Harrison Ford in Girards coffin...

[Mighty_Chicken]

Hahaha, oh my. That's hilarious.

I hope a little piece of the dream rune wall fall over Redcloak's and MitD's heads :D

[Diadem]

I'm sorry if this is showing a complete lack of respect for the gravity of the situation, but...
That's ok. Most of the pyramid is currently showing a complete lack of respect for gravity as well.

[MReav]

Maybe we'll get to see the MitD. Being at ground zero might blow its umbrella away.

[lothos]

Did anyone else notice the filename of the .gif file for this comic :-)

EDIT: Huh... yes, OK, should have seen this, sorry, Ninja'd -

Have you noticed the name of the image file? :smallbiggrin:

As always - A great comic. I don't post often, but I feel compelled to periodically just to say thanks to Rich for his work.

[Lost]

That was satisfying.
Much obliged, Giant.

[littlebum2002]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought this, but no one else has mentioned it, so did anyone else think that Belkar's prophesy was going to be fulfilled instead?

Also, maybe Malack saw the Order hiding behind the wall, and somehow realized what they were going to do? He didn't want to confront them due to his promise, but maybe he guessed they would krackakoom and got them outta there?

[CoffeeIncluded]

Did anyone else notice the filename of the .gif file for this comic :-)

As always - A great comic. I don't post often, but I feel compelled to periodically just to say thanks to Rich for his work.

Wait, what are you--

...AHAHAHAHAHA! That's just great! Seriously guys, check this out! (Just look at the filename when you click "save image as.")

[Turgon9357]

Have you noticed the name of the image file? :smallbiggrin:

Aw man, now I feel like I need to check that for every other strip.


Also, Bwahahaha!

[sihnfahl]

That's ok. Most of the pyramid is currently showing a complete lack of respect for gravity as well.
Don't worry, gravity is a harsh mistress.

[Edhelras]

Wait, what are you--

...AHAHAHAHAHA! That's just great! Seriously guys, check this out! (Just look at the filename when you click "save image as.")

The previous comics, quite far back, have only incomprehensible codes (preceding the comic #) as filename. So, this one seems to be unique in that it has a file name that relates to the content.

[Newwby]

Gotta love that Oracle's sense of humour!

[DaggerPen]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought this, but no one else has mentioned it, so did anyone else think that Belkar's prophesy was going to be fulfilled instead?

I did! I literally started going "no no no oh no" out loud as I clicked on it, then realized that there was another prophecy before it loaded.

[jidasfire]

Hmm, I thought Xykon and company might have taken a little while longer to show up, but I suppose it's worth them being there to see the reaction to this. It seems certain that they'll come out of the explosion more or less fine, or at least not so unfine that Redcloak can't heal them. The question is, do they stick around and look for the whys and wherefores of how this happened, or do they keep their eye on the prize and head directly to Kraagor's gate? My bet, based on Xykon's increased impatience, is the latter.

Ironically enough, under the circumstances, that would imply Roy made the right decision to blow the gate. Maybe it still serves the IFCC's plans, which is no doubt to the detriment of all, but in the moment, their circuitous plans are less of a threat than Xykon and the newly powerful Redcloak marching in and taking out the exhausted and scattered Order. Sure, there's the chance they might meet and fight the Linear Guild first, but there's no way to be sure an alliance wouldn't be formed, considering Nale did work for Xykon once before. Even a temporary alliance would spell certain death for the Order.

Also, with one more down, the list of standing prophecies is as follows:

1. Elan's happy ending - This one seems a long way off.
2. Belkar's doom - Marching inevitably closer, but nothing to suggest it's coming in the immediate.
3. Durkon's posthumous return home - Not this book, but seems almost certain for soon.
4. Durkon's death and destruction to his homelands - Does this mean literally (terrorizing his fellow dwarves) or metaphorically (bringing Nergal or whatever death god he comes to serve)? Either way, seems likely simultaneous with his other prophecy.
5. Belkar causes the death of Vaarsuvius - Might be a stretch that this one's even true, given how little was said. No way to be sure then.
6. Belkar saves Hinjo again - This might already be resolved. Depends on if we consider the archer business an official act of life-saving.

[SaintRidley]

Wait, what are you--

...AHAHAHAHAHA! That's just great! Seriously guys, check this out! (Just look at the filename when you click "save image as.")

Inspect Element works too.

[Roland Itiative]

Short, but effective. I wonder where Belkar led the OotS, though, and if they'll run into Xykon...

[Dracon1us]

The explosion occurred while the main cast is hiding off-panel. Of course they're safe! XD

Tarquin would be proud of you!

[Gwynfrid]

I did! I literally started going "no no no oh no" out loud as I clicked on it, then realized that there was another prophecy before it loaded.

Me too ! The :smalltongue: in the Giant's post gave it away though.

Seriously, this is one of the greatest comics with the greatest economy of words ever. Take that, Xykon ! Now he's going to be even more pissed at Redcloak for the time wasted in Azure City...

[DaggerPen]

Inspect Element works too.

You can also right click, view image, and look at the URL. Or copy the image URL and paste it somewhere.

[Torrasque]

Love the title ^^

[Sharoth]

I noticed the image file name. It is good to know that the Giant has NO sense of humor. Absolutely none. ~grins~

[Razanir]

I just have one question now that people have answered my real question of "What prophecy?"

:mitd: What gate?!

[Mammal]

Oh man, I just snortlaughed really unattractively.

[Kish]

Rich has been teasing a lot.

The Sword of Damocles is still almost in contact with Belkar's head, though. Fulfilled or subverted, the prophecy will have to be resolved soon.

[DaggerPen]

5. Belkar causes the death of Vaarsuvius - Might be a stretch that this one's even true, given how little was said. No way to be sure then.

Well, if we define "death" as being trapped in the afterlife... :P

But seriously - given the Oracle's explanations, the soul time currently being used was probably the prophecy's fulfillment. If Belkar hadn't killed and cooked the bird messengers V sent, V may not have gotten so desperate to contact them and gone off alone and been ambushed by the Mama Black Dragon, etc.

[Sky_Schemer]

This comic frequently makes me chuckle, but I haven't snorted uncontrollably from laughing in a while. :smallsmile:

[Kish]

Looking at the arrows next to the roasting birds and the way Haley's holding her bow, I'm pretty sure Haley killed them, actually.

You could argue she wouldn't have done so without Belkar there to cook them...but I wouldn't; Belkar may be the only member of the Order with ranks in Profession (gourmet chef), but I doubt Haley doesn't know how to cook at all.

[Kiraxa]

Rich has been teasing a lot.

The Sword of Damocles is still almost in contact with Belkar's head, though. Fulfilled or subverted, the prophecy will have to be resolved soon.

"soon" is relative. Theres upwards of 5 weeks left on the deadline of Belkar's prophecy. Its been a little over 2 weeks since Roy was resurrected. Lots and lots of room for more to happen.

[pendell]

Marvelous!

*Applauds*.

I can just see the thought passing through Xykon' head: "Darn PCs."

Oh wait. That was actually rubble from the 'splosion. Passing through his head, I mean.

The only sour note is that , despite the impressiveness of the blast, probably no one is going to permanently die except Belkar :(.

How will they survive ... let's see, Xykon has Greater Teleport, Redcloak has Word of Recall, and the MiTD -- something tells me it'll take a lot more than standing right next to an explosion of that magnitude. That looks like a kiloton-class explosion easily. The sort of explosion that in our world would be created by an atomic demolition munition, or 'suitcase nuke'. It utterly annihilated the building, but I don't think it would have destroyed a city if it was set off inside. So <10 kt, the size of the Hiroshima bomb.

Nale and his party should still be within the pyramid. Tarquin -- he's got heavy armor and regeneration items galore, and I don't think he was in the pyramid so he should have no problems surviving.

Count Durkula and Malack can go into gaseous form.

Zzdtri has access to plane shift. If he uses it quickly enough he should be able to zap over to happy salad land with Nale. We already know Nale has dimension door.

It'll be an interesting authorial challenge to explain all this without taking up multiple strips, but still give the audience a plausible explanation as to how they survived. Just having them show up unscathed would seem cheap, as if the explosion didn't have any real effect.

Hmmm .. why did the fiends intervene? If they hadn't , and Roy had allowed the gate to survive, Xykon and company would have plowed right through to it in short order and secured the gate themselves.


Will Vaarsuvius ever man u- um, woman u- um- nongender-specific-androgenous-elf up and tell the rest of the party what he/she/it has learned? Because otherwise the elf risks a repeat at Kraagor's gate as well.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Flame of Anor]

And here I thought Belkar was going to die. Tricky comic titles again! I suppose it's too much to ask that Xykon or Redcloak be significantly inconvenienced by blowing up.

[DaggerPen]

Looking at the arrows next to the roasting birds and the way Haley's holding her bow, I'm pretty sure Haley killed them, actually.

You could argue she wouldn't have done so without Belkar there to cook them...but I wouldn't; Belkar may be the only member of the Order with ranks in Profession (gourmet chef), but I doubt Haley doesn't know how to cook at all.

Well, maybe if Belkar hadn't gone with Haley, Haley may have made it back to the boat in time? Or if Belkar hadn't been with them, when they went to the Oracle they could have gotten the information to Send to Vaarsuvius before V left? The Oracle's explanations were already pretty paper thin by this point; a really flimsy contribution to V being temporarily trapped in the afterlife sounds about par for the course.

[Ghost Nappa]

Elegance in Simplicity.

[Spanish_Paladin]

Hahahahaha!!, simple and hilarous! :smallbiggrin:

[FlawedParadigm]

Rich has been teasing a lot.

The Sword of Damocles is still almost in contact with Belkar's head, though. Fulfilled or subverted, the prophecy will have to be resolved soon.

I know you've never been a particular fan of Belkar, but we've got several weeks left on that, and if Roy's post-resurrection ruminations are by any means accurate, it might even be that Belkar dies of a tree falling on him two days after the plot is over, mentioned briefly in the epilogue.

Not that I expect that, since obviously something far more dramatic would probably be better, especially since Belkar has started garnering sympathy points with the audience for awhile now, but still, Rich could just as easily do the anticlimax just to screw with us.

It's Rich, you just never know which he thinks will be funnier or make the better story.

[DeadMG]

Xykon's reaction is going to be something to fear.

[Lossoth]

Glorious. I love it.
You rule Giant.

[Paseo H]

Rich has been teasing a lot.

The Sword of Damocles is still almost in contact with Belkar's head, though. Fulfilled or subverted, the prophecy will have to be resolved soon.

Well, while my first thought was of Belkar's prophecy too, this wasn't a tease in that sense. It did fulfill the prophecy about Xykon, and in exactly the way I suspected it would too. After all, nobody said he had to be in the area for an extended amount of time.

[Faenhir]

HA! And we all thought it would be a week at least before we saw more!
I laughed out loud at this one :P Nice job, Giant :D

[Ezekiel]

Well that was straightforward. I'm waiting to see :xykon: 's reaction. :smallbiggrin:

[rman]

Hmm, as there is 1 gate left this might elevate OOTS to being actually noticed by Xykon and being listed as an active threat.
Xykon/RedCloak can't have their plans for the gates thwarted by gate destruction.

- edit adding
Well if Xykon really wants a gate, prehaps he could put his mind to constructing a gate around a tear. Given the record so far it might be easier than capturing a gate intact.

[pearl jam]

Lots of people suggesting that V's body would be blown into the desert, but, given that his body was lying in a position below the center of the blast, doesn't it seem unlikely that his body would be blown up into the air? :smallconfused:

Count me in the group whose first thought upon seeing the title was about Belkar, though I think I remembered the discussion of the gate prophecy while the page was loading.

[Sky_Schemer]

I think that Xykon won't be destroyed by the explosion, though, probably just brought to low health.

It would actually be kind of funny if he was, and it would solve the problem of "what keeps them from just moving on to the next gate". But, it would also reveal Redcloak's deception around the phylactery, so yeah...my guess is that he'll survive.

[Kish]

I know you've never been a particular fan of Belkar,

That only means it causes me no pain to say that the prophecy has to be resolved soon. If Belkar was the already-dead one and Durkon was the still-alive-but-prophecied-permanently-dead-before-the-end-of-the-nearly-over-year one, I would have said the same thing, with some minor differences of a fill-in-name nature and with generally being more upset about it.


but we've got several weeks left on that, and if Roy's post-resurrection ruminations are by any means accurate, it might even be that Belkar dies of a tree falling on him two days after the plot is over, mentioned briefly in the epilogue.

I do not expect the whole story to be over within an in-comic month.

I am aware that Roy stated unambiguously that he does expect something similar (not sure exactly what [Roy's stated seven weeks-one month-the amount of time that has passed since he said that] adds up to).

I do not understand why anyone ever quoted that statement of Roy's as though it meant anything.

Depending on travel methods, it might take them a month just to get to the general region of Kraagor's Gate, though they also might somehow gain the ability to teleport there.

If Belkar lives long enough to regain his lost Constitution, I will 1) be surprised, and 2) lean more toward "subverted rather than fulfilled" than previously. Of course, if Rich is thinking anything like I am, that gives him an incentive to have someone cast Restoration on Belkar, then kill Belkar off two strips after that.

[Deepbluediver]

That was startlingly straightforward.

Xykon's got his well-protected phylactory, but I wonder if RC didn't bite the dust in that blast. (Actually, I'm kind of wondering if the explosion might have been enough to shatter even Xykon's phylactery.)

[Niknokitueu]

Hmmm .. why did the fiends intervene? If they hadn't , and Roy had allowed the gate to survive, Xykon and company would have plowed right through to it in short order and secured the gate themselves.
My guess:
The fiends are interested in gaining souls. Which is kinds hard to continue to do if reality ends. I think that reality will end if Xykon controls a gate. The fiends therefore have a vested interest in making sure Xykon fails to get a gate.

To rich:
Way to go, man! Loved it.

Have Fun!
Niknokitueu

[FlawedParadigm]

That only means it causes me no pain to say that the prophecy has to be resolved soon. If Belkar was the already-dead one and Durkon was the still-alive-but-prophecied-permanently-dead-before-the-end-of-the-nearly-over-year one, I would have said the same thing, with some minor differences of a fill-in-name nature and with generally being more upset about it.


I do not expect the whole story to be over within an in-comic month.

I am aware that Roy stated unambiguously that he does expect something similar (not sure exactly what [Roy's stated seven weeks-one month-the amount of time that has passed since he said that] adds up to).

I do not understand why anyone ever quoted that statement of Roy's as though it meant anything.

Depending on travel methods, it might take them a month just to get to the general region of Kraagor's Gate, though they also might somehow gain the ability to teleport there.

If Belkar lives long enough to regain his lost Constitution, I will 1) be surprised, and 2) lean more toward "subverted rather than fulfilled" than previously. Of course, if Rich is thinking anything like I am, that gives him an incentive to have someone cast Restoration on Belkar, then kill Belkar off two strips after that.

Don't get me wrong, I think Roy was being overly optimistic - for once - I'm just pointing out that it's entirely possible that Belkar's prophecy is fulfilled either at the tail end or outside the scope of this story.

[Belkar<3]

That was a quick comic . . . didn't even get the chance to post.

[The Smallest]

It would actually be kind of funny if he was, and it would solve the problem of "what keeps them from just moving on to the next gate". But, it would also reveal Redcloak's deception around the phylactery, so yeah...my guess is that he'll survive.

I don't see why the explosion would reveal Redcloak's deception. After all, Xykon can't sense where his phylactery is or if it is damaged, so unless the explosion kills Redcloak and rips his clothes and flesh apart, Xykon will continue to believe that the phylactery is in his fortress.

[Shining Wrath]

There is NO reason in-strip to believe the Linear Guild / Team Tarquin survived that explosion. When last seen they were near the gate (LG) or near the top (Tarquin). They should have been, at a minimum, launched several hundred feet into the air, and even Tarquin and Malack are going to find that discomfiting.

Without some serious Deux Ex Machina, it is hard to imagine that Durkon doesn't wind up exposed to the sun.

Out-of-strip, I don't think Durkon's role in the comic is anywhere near finished, and the rest of the LG / TT are also useful.

And of course we know out-of-strip that Belkar managed to get everyone to safety, except possibly himself. That, too, would fulfill a prophecy.

[Joe the Rat]

Well, he made it within 1000 feet of the gate. For what, three seconds?


I don't see why the explosion would reveal Redcloak's deception. After all, Xykon can't sense where his phylactery is or if it is damaged, so unless the explosion kills Redcloak and rips his clothes and flesh apart, Xykon will continue to believe that the phylactery is in his fortress.I think that's more "Xykon's body is smashed to pieces, and he wonders why he's not respawning in his Astral fortress"

[DaggerPen]

There is NO reason in-strip to believe the Linear Guild / Team Tarquin survived that explosion. When last seen they were near the gate (LG) or near the top (Tarquin). They should have been, at a minimum, launched several hundred feet into the air, and even Tarquin and Malack are going to find that discomfiting.

Without some serious Deux Ex Machina, it is hard to imagine that Durkon doesn't wind up exposed to the sun.

Out-of-strip, I don't think Durkon's role in the comic is anywhere near finished, and the rest of the LG / TT are also useful.

And of course we know out-of-strip that Belkar managed to get everyone to safety, except possibly himself. That, too, would fulfill a prophecy.

While the explosion damage is a problem for all of Team Evil, the sun is a problem for precisely none of them. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0882.html

[Kish]

There is NO reason in-strip to believe the Linear Guild / Team Tarquin survived that explosion.

I take it by "in-strip" you mean, "Let's pretend there is a fourth wall and narrative is not a power in this universe"?


Without some serious Deux Ex Machina, it is hard to imagine that Durkon doesn't wind up exposed to the sun.
Immaterial; Durkon is protected from sunlight by the same spell Malack uses for himself, remember?

[Chessgeek]

It had to be done. Now everyone just hopes Xykon doesn't find them before TE leaves.

[Edhelras]

I'm getting something of a "Game of Thrones"-feeling here: That the Giant is about to show he's a badass author, and is willing to actually sacrifice beloved and well-fleshed-out characters whom the audience loves and who "will always be there". But then suddenly, the plot tuns, and your favorite character is dead and gone.

Nale and Malack, Xykon and Redcloak, Belkar and Blackwing - many characters here that would have a difficult time surviving that immense explosion.

If... if not that explosion was Girard's final trick? It was an illusion, the greatest illusion of them all? Maybe the Gate is actually still there, only that there is an illusion of an explosion?

[Finn Solomon]

Ok this made me laugh. Xykon's gonna be pissed.

[AstralFire]

We're going to be dealing with "maybe it was all an illusion" for the rest of the comic's run, aren't we?

[Breccia]

:xykon: "WHO STOLE MY GATE KILLS?"

[zingbat]

This is seriously one of my favourite strips ever. I laughed like a madman. :smallbiggrin:

[Sky_Schemer]

Welp.

There goes that semantics debate.

Yup. Now we can move on to arguing more important things, like whether or not Durkon can still cast Thor's Lightning and Thor's Might, and was Shojo really chaotic good? :smalltongue:

[Fitzclowningham]

What was the source of Nale's urgency to leave quickly after 'discovering' that the gate was not in the pyramid? The fact they got out of there rapidly gives plot cover for his group's surviving the blast.

[halfeye]

Might this actually be the end of The Order of the Stick?

Suppose nothing unreasonable saves anyone: then Vaarsuvious is under tons of rubble for a second, then squished, the order are blown up, the linear guild are blown up, Tarquin is blown up, Team Xykon is blown up, and the phylactary buried under tons of rubble with no room for a skeleton to be regenerated. Xykron would be back, eventually, but that might be millenia from the destruction of that gate.

[The Pilgrim]

I SAID IT

I SAID IT YEARS AGO

Xykon was gonna reach within 1000 feet of Giriard's just in time to see it blow up

I SAID IT

GIVE ME A COOKIE :smallbiggrin:

[Sky_Schemer]

I think that's more "Xykon's body is smashed to pieces, and he wonders why he's not respawning in his Astral fortress"

This.

After his destruction in the Dungeon of Dorukan, he had awareness of his surroundings even before his body started forming.

[Zea mays]

Anybody care to speculate on what the light-colored bubble in the front of the crater is?

[pendell]

I take it by "in-strip" you mean, "Let's pretend there is a fourth wall and narrative is not a power in this universe"?

Immaterial; Durkon is protected from sunlight by the same spell Malack uses for himself, remember?

Pretty much this. Meta-narrative as well: I don't believe any character in the strip is dead until I've seen the X's in his eyes. I don't even believe Thog is dead -- we saw him buried under a ton of rubble, but that's a trope (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoOneCouldSurviveThat). I can't count the number of characters I've seen in fiction go over cliffs or be shot in the chest only to show up in the next chapter all ready to fight and twirling their metaphorical mustaches.

Well, okay, it is very likely Thog is dead, but I won't be certain until his death is confirmed.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[One Skunk Todd]

Well at least it doesn't look V will be buried, since it looks like the pyramid was blown almost completely away. The question is whether he was blown clear or is at the bottom of the crater under the rift. If he IS in the crater and Team Evil take a little time to investigate they may find him, which would make things interesting.

ETA: Also, can anyone besides V cast Feather Fall? I know we've seen it before but I can't remember who cast it.

[FlawedParadigm]

Okay, let's give the quick run down of survivability - ignoring for the moment that the Order is probably safe via Belkar's plan, unless Belkar himself dies to save the rest of the group in implementing it.

The damage of the explosion to anyone else is an unknown quantity, but given circumstances, let's roll with 15d6 or so and let's say Fort save for half, because if it's Reflex, there's going to be even less lethality involved for people with Evasion.

Roy - Probably just fine. He's not visibly injured. Like the rest of the Order, he's probably somewhere underground and not being flung into the stratosphere.

Haley - Might be hurting some, but I don't think the damage would be lethal. If she has 12+ Con, she'd have to roll very badly on 15d6 to exceed her HP by more than nine.

Elan - Pretty much the same outlook as Haley.

Belkar - Assuming his plan didn't lead to complete safety for the Order, then sitting around at < 10 Con, and injured...well, he's probably dead if his plan didn't save himself.

Mr. Scruffy - Most likely to be thrown clear of the explosion (at least if *sounds of catgirl dying* normal physics are allowed to intervene in the situation at all), if not underground. Almost certainly safe if the save were Reflex based.

Linear Guild

Nale - About the same chances as Elan, although if it's Fort based, he'll be even better off. Just a smidge worse for Sorcerer being his main class and thus lower hit die. Probably dead if he has to suffer both explosion and falling damage.

Durkula & Malack - Not even mildly inconvenienced. Far too many hit points on a d12 hit die to worry about the explosion, and since they can turn to gaseous form or a bat, falling damage is a thing which will not be happening.

Kilkil - Flies. If the explosion doesn't kill him, he's fine.

Zz'drti - Assuming he had no relevant buffs running (aside from previously established flight spell), might actually be in danger due to low hit dice. Obviously, falling damage isn't an issue. Linear Guild has a pretty nice cushion on the falling damage, as a whole.

Tarquin - See Roy, although with more hit points, although a possibility of falling damage. Would have to be instantly killed for his Ring of Regeneration to not negate all possible side effects within a week or so though.

Team Evil

MitD & Xykon - probably not even injured in any noteworthy fashion

Redcloak - Cleric hit dice make the explosion largely irrelevant. If he has time to get a Heal off before hitting the ground in the event of being blown skyward, then the fall damage will be equally irrelevant. If not...well, the comic's over unless someone else gets the Crimson Mantle, in which case they would become Redcloak for story purposes. But basically, plot armour here.



So really the only characters in any sort of legitimate peril would be Belkar, Mr. Scruffy, Nale, Kilkil, and Zz'drti, basically all for variations of "low hit point total" - which is admittedly speculative in Kilkil's case. But there's also a chance neither he nor Tarquin was anywhere even near the explosion at this point. They might be watching from pterodactyl back by now or even back in Bleedingham.


Of course, this is Rich's story and he only still uses any D&D rules because he's framed this story within them, so ultimately it's down to "who lives or dies is based off of whom Rich decides is dramatically appropriate to have live or die."

[Quorothorn]

I am laughing so hard right now. That was beautiful.

[Ghosty]

Anybody care to speculate on what the light-colored bubble in the front of the crater is?

Pretty sure it's the epicenter of the Gate explosion. It looks a lot like the Azure City explosion art (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0463.html), and there's a hemisphere (shockwave?) with the light colored bubble at its center.

While Malack and Durkferatu can cruise on Pro. Daylight, won't the spell eventually expire? And we've not seen a coffin anywhere nearby where either of them can regenerate. While they can't die if they've been driven into Gaseous Form from being at zero HP, they have to get to their coffin within two hours or they're dead-dead. Even if they were in GF before the explosion, the DR from GF is only 10/magic. IOW, the explosion "should" knock them down to zero, absent some magical shielding or other means of being away from the explosion, whether they were in GF or not. And I don't think they can cast additional Pro. Daylights on themselves if they're at zero HP, nor can they manipulate Malack's staff to do so.

My guess is that all parties concerned have been sucked into the rift, and are on their way to the world in the rift.

[FlawedParadigm]

We're going to be dealing with "maybe it was all an illusion" for the rest of the comic's run, aren't we?

I see no reason for it to continue once we're out of the domain of the Epic level illusionist. But we've been here for about what, a year IRL time, and it's been less than six weeks since we saw evidence of a very powerful illusion (after seeing hardly any at all?)

Actually I'd spent about half the comic's run looking forward to this gate because I wanted to see how Rich would do illusions; it's very difficult in this kind of format to do them in very satisfactory way; there's so many ways to do them so that they're either not convincing or too convincing to the audience, et cetera. I'm sorry we didn't get to see more illusions, but at least there was a given reason why.

[halfeye]

Okay, let's give the quick run down of survivability - ignoring for the moment that the Order is probably safe via Belkar's plan, unless Belkar himself dies to save the rest of the group in implementing it.

The damage of the explosion to anyone else is an unknown quantity, but given circumstances, let's roll with 15d6 or so and let's say Fort save for half, because if it's Reflex, there's going to be even less lethality involved for people with Evasion.
You're talking about it as if this was a hand grenade. It's nearer to a nuke. This is not a no-big-deal explosion. All of the pyramid is moving, even bits of it that are at the base and shielded by all the other bits. This is tons of TNT equivalent, if not kilotons, it is not a hand grenade.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Haha, this whole scenario reminds me of the plot happening in the game I'm in right now, where we need to find and blow up a whole stash of gunpowder. And my character, the trapsmith rogue, is going to be the one to actually set the trap to blow it up. Here's hoping she can escape in time, because I don't think her reflex save will help her much if she's at the epicenter, to say nothing of the others who don't have +11 to their reflex saves.

Anyway, I just found the parallel funny.

[Kish]

it is not a hand grenade.
Neither is Xykon's Meteor Swarm, and yet the lowest-hit-point low-Fortitude-save member of the Order weathered one without trouble.

[AstralFire]

I would like to point out that IIRC, terminal velocity falling damage is 20d6. 15d6 is probably considerably stronger than a hand grenade.

[Liliet]

I've been reading the previous thread when I noticed the new comic... so I thought exactly of Xykon arriving at this moment and started giggling before the page loaded... and alas, I was correct.
But... Rich never has the title of only one meaning, there are usually at least two. This time it's either that Belkar's prophecy came true as well, or... or a subversion and it was only one prophecy, although could be both. Judging by this thread, a lot of people thought of Belkar's prophecy before Xykon's, so the joke should work.
...I really hope it's a subversion.

[FlawedParadigm]

You're talking about it as if this was a hand grenade. It's nearer to a nuke. This is not a no-big-deal explosion. All of the pyramid is moving, even bits of it that are at the base and shielded by all the other bits. This is tons of TNT equivalent, if not kilotons, it is not a hand grenade.

If it were a hand grenade, I'd be talking about maybe 3d6 damage, if that, and no mention of falling damage. 15d6 is near-Epic levels as is. Not to mention that any outward explosion would be sending pieces of the pyramid out at the same velocity as any of the living beings, which makes most collisions prior to landing unlikely, but I'd consider it to be counted somewhere in either the explosion or falling damage.

Nuclear armaments work in an entirely different fashion, and the radiation is, in the long term, far more dangerous than the actual explosion. Of course, all these explanations are based on *sounds of another catgirl dying* how much real world physics figure into any of this.

[Gift Jeraff]

Now if only Tarquin just died off-panel without us ever learning whatever he was doing with Kilkil. Bonus points if Xykon's body gets crushed by debris and learns about what Redcloak did with his phylactery. :smallbiggrin:

[BroomGuys]

Might this actually be the end of The Order of the Stick?


*Dunh dunh dunnnh* Find out next strip, same stick time, same stick channel!

[Glich]

Assuming V's body is completely shielded when He/she gets back i home he/she has a few more passwall spells prepared to dig out.


The Order needs a recruitment drive. The lack of a port and now a healer/flying is really going to slow them down.


Its too much to ask that that red cloak gets killed by that and old skull face gets blown apart by that blast is't it.

[LadyEowyn]

Wow.

Nice.

Please, Redcloak don't be dead, don't be dead, don'tbedeaddon'tbedeaddon'tbedead...

:smalleek:

[HalfTangible]

Assuming V's body is completely shielded when He/she gets back i home he/she has a few more passwall spells prepared to dig out.

Vaarsuvius previously stated he/she only had one Passwall in the first place.

On Xy and RC: I can't wait to see how the two react to this

[Shining Wrath]

While the explosion damage is a problem for all of Team Evil, the sun is a problem for precisely none of them. http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0882.html

I remember that ... but I am uncertain how much time has expired. I recall Malack had to recast his defensive spell every morning. They spent some time with Nale in dream-land.

[Amphiox]

From the looks of it, the power of the explosion shockwave (and flying shrapnel) will dwarf the energy associated with falling, so the main killing threat for everyone here is the 'koom, and not the fall.

V may not get thrown very far. She's directly under the epicenter of the blast, so the shockwave will actually be pushing her *down*. Now some of the shockwave will be reflected back up by the ground beneath her, but whatever force there might be pushing her up, it will be much less than the forces pushing everything else up. It would be hilarious if she ended up not moving at all, and just have the whole pyramid blown off of her. Such a circumstance would require the reflected forces all canceling out at her location, which is highly unlikely in real life, but not impossible. A million-to-one chance for a visual gag in a comic? Not completely out of the question....

Xykon, Redcloak and the MitD are standing not that much closer to the epicenter than where Roy and the Order were when Durokan's gate blew, and all five of those level 10-11 scrubs survived, so I think Team Evil will likely get away with just a few bruises.

If Tarquin is killed, he likely has contingency plans already in place involving his allies resurrecting him. He may even have some crafted item that teleports his body to their location immediately on death or significant injury. (It's the kind of genre-savvy preparedness one would expect from Tarquin). Malack may have the same kind of thing. Kilkil too.

Nale and Z though are going have to tank the damage, most likely.

Things don't look very good for Belkar though, as he probably can't tank any amount of damage whatsoever right now, and I don't see any plan of his that could possibly save the Order from taking ANY damage at all....

[halfeye]

If it were a hand grenade, I'd be talking about maybe 3d6 damage, if that, and no mention of falling damage. 15d6 is near-Epic levels as is.
I don't know D&D. Though I suspect "Near epic" is probably a lot less than this explosion, is there a "grand epic"? it might well be that.


Not to mention that any outward explosion would be sending pieces of the pyramid out at the same velocity as any of the living beings, which makes most collisions prior to landing unlikely, but I'd consider it to be counted somewhere in either the explosion or falling damage.
Yeah, there's that, and there's bits of pyramid falling on you after you land. All in all, anyone as close to that pyramid as Xykon was, is gone. He's coming back of course, it just might take a while.


Nuclear armaments work in an entirely different fashion, and the radiation is, in the long term, far more dangerous than the actual explosion.
In the short term though, it's the heat and blast. There have been big non-nuclear bombs.

[Kish]

I don't know D&D. Though I suspect "Near epic" is probably a lot less than this explosion, is there a "grand epic"? it might well be that.
You do remember that O-Chul survived being right next to the epicenter of an explosion like this one, right?

[Amphiox]

If it were a hand grenade, I'd be talking about maybe 3d6 damage, if that, and no mention of falling damage. 15d6 is near-Epic levels as is. Not to mention that any outward explosion would be sending pieces of the pyramid out at the same velocity as any of the living beings, which makes most collisions prior to landing unlikely, but I'd consider it to be counted somewhere in either the explosion or falling damage.

Nuclear armaments work in an entirely different fashion, and the radiation is, in the long term, far more dangerous than the actual explosion. Of course, all these explanations are based on *sounds of another catgirl dying* how much real world physics figure into any of this.

It really depends on how you define "dangerous" here. The explosive force of a nuke cannot be underestimated. It obliterates everything within the blast radius near instantaneously. The radiation effects are far less severe, but they linger for a much longer period of time.

[Drakeburn]

Pure hilarious.

:xykon: Oh, great. Congratulations, you have moderately inconvenienced me. Daddy would be so proud.

[Deepbluediver]

I SAID IT

I SAID IT YEARS AGO

Xykon was gonna reach within 1000 feet of Giriard's just in time to see it blow up

I SAID IT

GIVE ME A COOKIE :smallbiggrin:

Fine, but with an attitude like that it's gonna be Peanut Butter & Wasabi flavored.

[DaggerPen]

I remember that ... but I am uncertain how much time has expired. I recall Malack had to recast his defensive spell every morning. They spent some time with Nale in dream-land.

No they didn't; undead are immune to this type of stuff. They may have dawdled for a little bit while Nale tried to throw it off, but doubtfully any longer than the Order's few hours. I highly doubt it's been 24 hours since they last cast it.


You do remember that O-Chul survived being right next to the epicenter of an explosion like this one, right?

In some fairness, O-Chul has more HP than probably anyone here.

[Liliet]

Wow.

Nice.

Please, Redcloak don't be dead, don't be dead, don'tbedeaddon'tbedeaddon'tbedead...

:smalleek:

He can't be. This universe functions on narrativium, and a villain of his importance level can't die as a collateral damage of an unrelated explosion (where by unrelated I mean that the heroes didn't even know he was there). The story would be over if he died, he's much more crucial to the main plot than Xykon (Xykon can't do anything with the Gate without him anyway, and Redcloak can always find another mage).
Besides, he's a nearly-epic level. I doubt he should die by D&D rules, and the Giant doesn't break them without a reason.

So R is safe. Now, if Xykon got smashed by a big stone, that is more interesting...

[Oko and Qailee]

Wow, just good game. I really want to see the look on Xykons face. He'll probably blame Redcloak for sitting on his ass all day in Gobbotopia.

[ref]

I was expecting the krackakoom to be on #900, but this is awesome. :)

[redzimmer]

Yay! Quick update!

Now we know why the IFCC promised V his body would be protected.

I wonder if the Giant is setting us up for an anti-climatic, low action update for #900?

Nonsense. Let's all begin speculating what an exciting comic #900 will be!

I predict we'll finally see Miko's much-demanded return.

[AstralFire]

I don't know D&D. Though I suspect "Near epic" is probably a lot less than this explosion, is there a "grand epic"? it might well be that.

High epic is blowing up entire planets and then some. A mere explosion of one building doesn't even rate on the epic-meter.

[Kish]

In some fairness, O-Chul has more HP than probably anyone here.
You think so? Either that despite the level difference he has more hit points than Roy does now, or that there actually isn't a level difference between O-Chul circa the destruction of Soon's Gate, and Roy now? I'm dubious about the former and inclined to flat-out reject the latter.

In any case he also had a bad Reflex save, and while I may be misreading halfeye, the impression I'm getting is that s/he is arguing that the explosion should be enough to kill anything, and protesting FlawedParadigm's treating it, instead, as something dangerous to mid-level adventurers, unlikely to kill near-epic adventurers, and automatically lethal to low-level ones--like a larger-radius Horrid Wilting.

[MReav]

If Redcloak died, then Xykon pops back to Gobbotopia, tells Jirix to raise him, then leaves. Or makes Jirix don the cloak and then takes him.

[bguy]

You do remember that O-Chul survived being right next to the epicenter of an explosion like this one, right?

And Roy, Elan, Haley, and V all survived being at ground zero of a nuke like explosion back in #695. I can't imagine this explosion is more powerful than that one (which created a massive mushroom cloud and threw Roy hundreds if not thousands of feet from the blast.)

[DaggerPen]

You think so? Either that despite the level difference he has more hit points than Roy does now, or that there actually isn't a level difference between O-Chul circa the destruction of Soon's Gate, and Roy now? I'm dubious about the former and inclined to flat-out reject the latter.

In any case he also had a bad Reflex save, and while I may be misreading halfeye, the impression I'm getting is that s/he is arguing that the explosion should be enough to kill anything, and protesting FlawedParadigm's treating it, instead, as something dangerous to mid-level adventurers, unlikely to kill near-epic adventurers, and automatically lethal to low-level ones--like a larger-radius Horrid Wilting.

I don't know the exact statistics, but my understanding was that O-Chul had an unbelievably high CON score, and as a result was basically a mass of HP? I will defer to anyone with greater D&D knowledge if they tell me otherwise, though.

And that's true - I don't think we're talking instakill explosion for adventurers of the Order's level. I'd ask for good general guides to explosion damage in D&D, but I feel like this outcome will be more likely dictated by Rule of Drama, meaning that the OOTS (possibly sans Belkar) will be fine, the Linear Guild will probably be fine but may suffer damages if it's dramatic enough (I'm banking on Nale getting hurt and possibly killed, personally), and Redcloak and MitD will be fine, though Xykon may be destroyed to bring up the point of Redcloak's betrayal (I doubt it, though).

[Bundin]

The only thing I was really interested in immediately after reading this was
Now did the MitD hold on to that there umbrella after that explosion tore at it unexpectedly? :smallconfused:

[Tragak]

The only thing I was really interested in immediately after reading this was
Now did the MitD hold on to that there umbrella after that explosion tore at it unexpectedly? :smallconfused: Maybe because :mitd: has a +Yes to STR checks?

[fwiffo]

And now stay tuned on the fight of the week. In Red corner, we have the champion "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies" team. So far, the team has been undefeated, surviving many challenges. In Blue corner, we have "Belkar got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel" team. Let's get ready to rumble!

[Kish]

I am shaking my head in disbelief that anyone seriously suggested hey, maybe the Order just all died.
I don't know the exact statistics, but my understanding was that O-Chul had an unbelievably high CON score, and as a result was basically a mass of HP?
Yes, O-Chul likely has the highest Constitution in the comic. If he was level 12-15 when Soon's Gate blew up, his unbuffed Constitution was likely 21; if he was level 8-11, it was likely 20; I doubt very much if he was outside the level 8-15 range. If his natural Constitution was 20-21, that's +5 hit points per level from unbuffed Constitution. However, his Constitution in all his gear was likely quite a bit higher. How much higher is unknowable; did he have special "O-Chul" gear which buffed his Constitution at the expense of anything else, or standard-issue "Sapphire Guard" gear which buffed his Strength primarily and his Constitution secondarily--pretty much like Roy's gear presumably does?

Roy does not appear to value his own Constitution score as much as he values his Strength score. Being Roy, he may also have a higher Intelligence than Constitution. But it's still very unlikely he doesn't have a high Constitution. For each level Roy has now above O-Chul's level at the time of Soon's Gate blowing up, he has an extra 1d10 hit points, plus his (hypothetical) Constitution bonus. Again, Roy's gear presumably buffs his Strength first and his Constitution second; his gear at this point is also probably quite a bit better than O-Chul's was when Soon's Gate blew up. (Incidentally, O-Chul went through being tortured by Redcloak and Xykon for months nearly naked, and thus with only his base 20-21 Constitution.)

[redzimmer]

Don't forget the explosive power of PLOT. It will have the magnitude to kill whomever is required to die, it will throw survivors as far along as they are supposed to go, and it will bury together anyone who suddenly needs to co-exists to survive.

Or he might just do a black panel for #900 with white type:


And They All Died

(look for Rich's new comic: People with Noses! Coming soon!)

[DaggerPen]

I am shaking my head in disbelief that anyone seriously suggested hey, maybe the Order just all died.Yes, O-Chul likely has the highest Constitution in the comic. If he was level 12-15 when Soon's Gate blew up, his unbuffed Constitution was likely 21; if he was level 8-11, it was likely 20; I doubt very much if he was outside the level 8-15 range. If his natural Constitution was 20-21, that's +5 hit points from unbuffed Constitution. However, his Constitution in all his gear was likely quite a bit higher. How much higher is unknowable; did he have special "O-Chul" gear which buffed his Constitution at the expense of anything else, or standard-issue "Sapphire Guard" gear which buffed his Strength primarily and his Constitution secondarily--pretty much like Roy's gear presumably does?

Roy does not appear to value his own Constitution score as much as he values his Strength score. Being Roy, he may also have a higher Intelligence than Constitution. But it's still very unlikely he doesn't have a high Constitution. For each level Roy has now above O-Chul's level at the time of Soon's Gate blowing up, he has an extra 1d10 hit points, plus his (hypothetical) Constitution bonus. Again, Roy's gear presumably buffs his Strength first and his Constitution second; his gear at this point is also probably quite a bit better than O-Chul's was when Soon's Gate blew up. (Incidentally, O-Chul went through being tortured by Redcloak and Xykon for months nearly naked, and thus with only his base 20-21 Constitution.)

Class and level geekery has him at 12+ with 25 con. We know he gained a few levels during his captivity, so that con estimation is probably right.

With total honesty, I have no idea how hit points are calculated in D&D 3.5. I've tried to look it up, but I can't find a straight answer. I thought that you rolled based off of con, but I'm getting the feeling that that may be totally off base?

[RMS Oceanic]

Class and level geekery has him at 12+ with 25 con. We know he gained a few levels during his captivity, so that con estimation is probably right.

With total honesty, I have no idea how hit points are calculated in D&D 3.5. I've tried to look it up, but I can't find a straight answer. I thought that you rolled based off of con, but I'm getting the feeling that that may be totally off base?

Every class has a certain hitdice: Wizards and Sorcerors are d4, Rogues and Bards d6, Rangers Monks Druids and Clerics d8, Paladins and Fighters d10 and Barbarians d12. Every level, you roll your hit dice and add your constitution score, assuming a maximum roll at level 1.

[Gnomish Wanderer]

Pfffft, hahahahahahah!!!

That was amazing

[Demolator]

That was the funniest thing ever since Wizard Guy.

[DaggerPen]

Every class has a certain hitdice: Wizards and Sorcerors are d4, Rogues and Bards d6, Rangers Monks Druids and Clerics d8, Paladins and Fighters d10 and Barbarians d12. Every level, you roll your hit dice and add your constitution score, assuming a maximum roll at level 1.

Oh! Yeah, so Roy at least probably has more HP than O-Chul. Makes sense. So then Con drain seems to be disproportionately nasty, if it can bring Belkar down to the single digits. Gotcha. Thanks!

In that case, yeah. If O-Chul can survive that explosion, I'm sure that Team Evil will be fine from that far away, and that the Linear Guild will probably pull through. The Order's got Belkar's plan anyway, and V's body is shielded from harm, so I'd be really surprised if anyone but possibly Belkar got more than a bit banged up.

[Mutant Sheep]

Why were people saying earlier in the thread "Xykons gonna find out about the soul-hides-place" due to explosive induced skeletal dismemberment? Red cloak is standing right next to him and has a whole lot less HD. Mreav already mentioned this, but if anyone on Team Evil would die (and I don't think anyone will, only "1/3"s die from Krackooms), its Reddy. Word of Recall is awesome, but thinking it'd save him and let Xykon die is confuddlin.

[Niwrad]

Oh my gosh!!!! That was hilarious!!! Lololololololol!!!!!'
Can't wait to see Xykon's expression!

[ThatNickGuy]

Anyone else get the feeling that Rich will take a break for awhile at #900? Likely to catch up on Kickstarter stuff?

[Davian]

It occurs to me... V's likely to be out cold for a good 20 minutes. If the debris from the pyramid is blown clear, and assuming that Team Evil hangs around for a few minutes, V's body could easily be found. Given Xykon's reactions to Roy, I doubt he'd recognize him/her, but MitD might see "Mr Stiffly"'s friend and try to help...

Also, the coffin wouldn't help the Order much if it's not sealed tight, and that'd be tough to do from the inside... Somebody would have to seal it from the outside, I'd think...

[Deepbluediver]

Anyone else get the feeling that Rich will take a break for awhile at #900? Likely to catch up on Kickstarter stuff?

Maybe, but I was kind of hoping that one of these days we'd return to some sort of regular schedule. It doesn't need to be fast; even just updating once a week would be preferable, if it was always on the same day.

But I realize he's likely working on everything all at once, and posting/sending it as soon as it's complete, and if that works for him then I'll just grin and bear it. :smallbiggrin:

[Gil-Galad II]

I registered to say this.

I loaded up the homepage, saw the title for the new strip, and braced myself, for the tragic end of one of my favourite characters.

Then, I saw Team Evil in the second panel, and realised that bad stuff was going to happen very soon. I braced myself for tragedy even more.

And was completely unprepared for what actually happened - I just hope I haven't woken my family with my mad laughter!

Thank you, Giant! :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

[Ellye]

Now he's going to be even more pissed at Redcloak for the time wasted in Azure City...Oh my, I hadn't thought about that...

[Kish]

Oh! Yeah, so Roy at least probably has more HP than O-Chul. Makes sense. So then Con drain seems to be disproportionately nasty, if it can bring Belkar down to the single digits. Gotcha. Thanks!
You actually add your Constitution modifier, not your whole Constitution score. So if O-Chul actually has a fully-buffed Constitution of 25 (I'm guessing Class and Level Geekery says 25+, but if it actually claims to know the exact number, I'm probably happier not knowing), then in addition to his d10 roll for each level, he gains 7 hit points each level for Constitution; if Belkar currently has a Constitution of 1, he has three hit points for his first level, and then (d8-5, minimum of 1) for each ranger level, and (d12-5, minimum of 1) for each barbarian level.

[Tykopulus]

Do you think that this Explosion should be able to destroy the Umbrella of the MitD :smallbiggrin: ?

[Deepbluediver]

Oh my, I hadn't thought about that...

I was thinking about that myself, and I figured he could go two ways; that he was pissed they lost another gate, or that he was grateful they wheren't inside when it blew up and/or didn't waste a lot of time on another gate that didn't work out for them.

But even if Xykon seemed less P-O'd at RC for handling the resistance back in Azure city, gratitude isn't really his thing.
Still, if the explosion destroys his body and kills/injures RC, at least that gives the rest of the group time to get ahead of teleporting-Team Evil in the race for the final gate.

[DaggerPen]

You actually add your Constitution modifier, not your whole Constitution score. So if O-Chul actually has a fully-buffed Constitution of 25 (I'm guessing Class and Level Geekery says 25+, but if it actually claims to know the exact number, I'm probably happier not knowing), then in addition to his d10 roll for each level, he gains 7 hit points each level for Constitution; if Belkar currently has a Constitution of 1, he has three hit points for his first level, and then (d8-5, minimum of 1) for each ranger level, and (d12-5, minimum of 1) for each barbarian level.

(They have it as ~25, actually - it seems that at some point Word of Giant said that his Con was in the mid-20s, so they took the average?)

That makes way more sense, then. Thank you!

[One Skunk Todd]

Strip 900: Field of Flumphs :)

[Fitzclowningham]

Class and level geekery (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282328) has Roy at level 14+, and O-Chul at 12+. Even assuming that Roy has an 18 Con, O-Chul is still getting 3 points/level more than Roy, or at least 36 additional hp. Even if Roy rolled 10s on his two additional levels, that would only be 28 points. The Giant has gone some lengths to emphasize O-Chul's resilience, so assuming he took the Toughness feat at least once isn't out of line. Unless you assume great hp rolls for Roy, and bad ones for O-Chul (kinda defeats the whole 'O-chul is tough' idea, so it's unlikely), all evidence points to the latter having more hp.

BTW, DaggerPen, you add your Con bonus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/theBasics.htm#abilityModifiers) to your hp roll, not your Con score.

[Quiddle]

hahahahaha that's great

[Gwynfrid]

D&D rules don't attempt to realistically reflect real-world physics.

The Giant doesn't attempt to realistically reflect every D&D rule in the comic.

... So any attempt to guess how many d6 the explosion is worth, and any attempt to estimate the probability of a character death on that basis, feels like a waste of time to me. But that's just me.

I'll just say this: If any character at all died as a result of the explosion, then it would feel quite a bit anticlimactic. Unless the Giant surprises me, which is a possibility to be accounted for, whatever the circumstance :smallbiggrin:

[Anatares]

Noticed you guys were talking about O-Chul's CON stat. I think in the commentary of one of the books it's mentioned that he has a Constitution score in the mid-20's. He could outdrink a dwarf twice over :smalltongue:

[Demolator]

Do you think that this Explosion should be able to destroy the Umbrella of the MitD :smallbiggrin: ?

I bet he'll actually protect everyone with the umbrella and quote that Rihanna song.

"When the sun shines we'll shine together, told you I'll be here forever, said I'd always be your friend, I'll protect you from pyramids 'til the end."

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Strip 900: Field of Flumphs :)

Hahaha. We haven't seen them in awhile. (and I think the last time was a sand sculpture of one...) Perhaps they've managed to gather an army to attack the characters that keep crushing them under their posteriors?

[sam79]

Oh...Xykon's not going to like that. A Gate-holding pyramid being destroyed, like, right in front of you is probably even more annoying than having kills stolen.

Definately feels like we're getting near the end of the arc/book. A couple more pages to see how the major players survive, and then book 6 here we come!

[Xelbiuj]

You guys are flipping nuts, look up any test footage of tomahawks, cruise missiles, bunker busters, or whatever on youtube. No way this is in the kiloton range. >.<
Totally survivable in D&D.

"It's nonmagical fire, it inflicts a mere 1d6 points of damage. We'll make three trips." ~V

[FlawedParadigm]

Yeah, Kish has my point about right; I consider this explosion to be more dramatic than dangerous.

Also, I would not at all be surprised or offended if, when Rich wraps up book five, he takes two months off to get the book moving and catch up on Kickstarter stuff. I mean I got my stuff from it, but there's still many who haven't - including patience package people who've been waiting over a year now. They totally deserve to get what they paid for and I have no right nor desire to complain about steps taken in that direction.

[David Argall]

Haha, that's a good one.

Obviously Redcloak and Xykon will survive in a fashion but its interesting how this will affect Team Evil. Xykon will reform in Redcloaks pocket rather than in the Astral Plane, leaving Redcloak with the MitD who has orders to eat him alive at the first hint of treachery.

Also, anyone else feeling comic 900 for an end of book page?
They shouldn't, but probably. However, our writer has a habit of laughing at the 00s. Possibly his very dullest comic was 700, and deliberately so. As a group, the 00s have been nothing special, and 900 is not going to be different. [Probably 1000 will also be a middlin strip, but...].
The destruction of the gate says we are about at the end of a book, but it is going to take a few strips to find out who survived [pretty much everybody] and what comes next. [Azure City took 21 strips, but there were more complications to deal with.] So the book will end about 905. We need a strip for Belkar's plan, one for LG escaping [They do. They had several hundred yards head start on the Order and were rushing to leave the pyramid.], then a page of what is going to happen next book,... each of which can be expanded.
Next book/strips: Belkar's idea will work, but the party will wake to find it is in the rift. V will be nearby and rejoin the others. X & party will also be in the rift, thus not being able to get to the next gate for a book. Nale will persuade the other to try for the last gate, causing serious problems for the dwarves. Belkar is now out of this world, but the other predictions are still a worry.

[SaintRidley]

If it were a hand grenade, I'd be talking about maybe 3d6 damage, if that, and no mention of falling damage. 15d6 is near-Epic levels as is. Not to mention that any outward explosion would be sending pieces of the pyramid out at the same velocity as any of the living beings, which makes most collisions prior to landing unlikely, but I'd consider it to be counted somewhere in either the explosion or falling damage.


15d6 is an average of roughly 52.5 damage.

And there's no reason an explosion would offer a fortitude save over a reflex save.

[Torvaun]

There is NO reason in-strip to believe the Linear Guild / Team Tarquin survived that explosion. Zz'dtri knows Teleport. Is that sufficiently in-strip?

[Snails]

I do not doubt that O-Chul is level 12+ now. But at the time of the throne battle, he was probably level 12 or less, based on Durkon's comment that the gaggle of mere "mid-level" paladins were doomed against Xykon. That pegs his likely hit point total in the 100-140 range. Since victims paralyzed victims of an explosion automatically fail their Reflex save, he survived the full brunt.

O-Chul also survived what was presumably 20d6 falling damage afterwards.

Impressive an explosion as it was, Soon's Gate exploding probably did not weigh in higher than 20d6. I would guess that Miko did not get a save because she was too close to the explosion, and she was not at full HP.

The Order could survive this with good Reflex rolls.

[Vaarsuvius-Mage]

Welp, there's the krakakoom we've been waiting for! :P But I have this sort of nagging part of me that is really worried about Vaarsuvius.

[The Pink Ninja]

I hope the next strip is just a full page of Xykon swearing

You know now I think about it, why don't RC and X make their own Gate?

I guess maybe RC doesn't want to because X will control it, not the Dark One.

Also this gate could do more damage than the one in Azure City since it is so much bigger.

[RedneckTex95]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaa....haha...heh. Okay, I'm done... Hahaha.

That's great!

[A Tad Insane]

So, team evil is there, in the open, along with LG, or at least various parts of it. OotS is somewhere near by, V's body will probably land somewhere close, and there are only a few teleports around.

*grabs popcorn* Hopefully this is better than redcloak vs that blue priest

[halfeye]

You guys are flipping nuts, look up any test footage of tomahawks, cruise missiles, bunker busters, or whatever on youtube. No way this is in the kiloton range. >.<
I didn't bring up kilotons, but I don't think that is totally out of the question, though maybe it is too much, I can't tell. I would certainly say tons, maybe tens of tons of TNT. This is a big explosion. Think Grandslam. This is not like the demolition of an unwanted block of flats, where a church next door is untouched, this a whole heavy pyramid going up, as in off the ground, and coming down hundreds of yards away.

I don't understand D&D. If this is survivable, that makes D&D bizzare to me.

[Deepbluediver]

I don't understand D&D. If this is survivable, that makes D&D bizzare to me.

D&D does not, in almost any way, mimic actual physics or biology in any manner even approaching realism. They aren't even on the same continent.

Accept it and move on.

[Kish]

If this is survivable
Again, there is no if. O-Chul survived it. It is survivable. Q.E.D.

[pwning doodes]

But... Rich never has the title of only one meaning, there are usually at least two. This time it's either that Belkar's prophecy came true as well, or... or a subversion and it was only one prophecy, although could be both. Judging by this thread, a lot of people thought of Belkar's prophecy before Xykon's, so the joke should work.
...I really hope it's a subversion.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Like at least a few other people, I thought Belkar was going to die when I saw the title. I may still be right; we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Personally, I think it would be cool if two prophecies were fulfilled and we saw Belkar dead or dying in the next strip. Gotta admit, I never really liked Belkar as a character. His jokes were funny, but I mostly found him pretty shallow until his chat with Illusionary Shojo.

I bet Belkar's last words will be, "I am...a sexy... shoeless... god of war... " :smallamused:

[Cynric]

Ha! Classic. I missed Xykon's brand of villainous slapstick. :smallbiggrin:

[FlawedParadigm]

15d6 is an average of roughly 52.5 damage.

And there's no reason an explosion would offer a fortitude save over a reflex save.

I only suggested Fortitude because 1) an explosion of that magnitude might be considered unavoidable, and to be something endured, rather than dodged and 2) if we allow for Evasion, then the potential for any permanent injury to people becomes laughably low.

[pendell]

I bet he'll actually protect everyone with the umbrella and quote that Rihanna song.

"When the sun shines we'll shine together, told you I'll be here forever, said I'd always be your friend, I'll protect you from pyramids 'til the end."

And if he does that, Xykon will Meteor Swarm himself to escape the agony.

Respectfully ,

Brian P.

[pendell]

I didn't bring up kilotons, but I don't think that is totally out of the question, though maybe it is too much, I can't tell.

*I* did, and I stand by my estimate of 1 kiloton.

But it's not surprising that this would be survivable in D&D, since modern D&D is all about building Big Damn Heroes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigDamnHeroes). The days when a mage started with 1 level 1 spell and 4 hit points max are loooong gone. Not in a world where someone can use the phrase "low level epic" in serious conversation.

The villains, of course, have damage reduction out the wazoo. Redcloak is the only one on Team evil who might be threatened by this and he has word of recall. I wonder if it can be used as a contingency to yank the caster out of a threatening situation, even without conscious action on the part of the caster?


Respectfully,

Brian P.

[One Skunk Todd]

According to Google the average weight of a block on the Pyramid of Cheops is 2.5 tons and a total weight of 6 million tons. Girard's pyramid is smaller (I think) and likely has many more voids but I would think 500,000 tons would not be unreasonable for a guess. So now we just need to figure out how much explosive force is needed to move the whole thing say, 100 feet up, and 300 feet out.

ETA: Plus we need to figure out if the crater is big enough to hold all the catgirl corpses, or would Xykon re-anime them into an undead catgirl army.

[ManuelSacha]

That title made me hold my breath.


modern D&D is all about building Big Damn Heroes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigDamnHeroes).

Will people ever stop misusing that expression?
I mean, since you put a link to its page, you might as well read it.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

And if he does that, Xykon will Meteor Swarm himself to escape the agony.

Respectfully ,

Brian P.

Actually, I believe Xykon has invested in an item that protects him from just that - http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0653.html :smallbiggrin:

[TRH]

Actually, I believe Xykon has invested in an item that protects him from just that - http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0653.html :smallbiggrin:

He'd take it off and then blast himself. He'd also use Maximized Meteor Swarm just to be safe. :smallwink:

[littlebum2002]

People are predicting that Belkar will sacrifice himself to save the rest of the OOTS.

I'm going to combine that with my earlier fear over the meaning of this strip and make a prediction: The title WAS talking about Belkar's prophecy (well, about both prophecies, technically). Belkar sacrifices himself, saves the OOTS.

Prophecy fulfilled.




Also, what does "Krackkakoom" sound like? I tried saying it and the closest I have come up with is thunder. I watched some c4 and dynamite explosions on mythbusters reruns just to be sure, and none sound anything like 'krackakoom"

[pendell]

That title made me hold my breath.



Will people ever stop misusing that expression?
I mean, since you put a link to its page, you might as well read it.

My particular usage of the expression comes from the Serenity RPG guidebook, where they describe three basic levels of adventuring party, starting at "complete rookie" going all the way up to "Big Damn Heroes", where your heroes can basically take on the entire Alliance Fleet and have a chance of pulling it off.

That is the sense in which I am using it.

I don't want to make a big fight over this, but because of this I do not believe it is a mis-use of the phrase, simply an alternative from the meaning you describe. It's a rare word in a dictionary that has exactly one meaning in all contexts.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Sunken Valley]

Rich,

If you read this far in comments page, please end book 5 on 900 exactly. don't care how many pages it is. I have a bet in another thread that it would.

[Purgatorius]

"Here we are, kids – Girard's pyramid"
I think it sounds like Xykon knew beforehand that they were going to find a pyramid.
Did Serini write that in her diary?
And if so – had she broken the promise to never visit any of the other gates?
Or had Girard told her that he was going to build a pyramid before they split up?

I think Xykon's words suggest at least one of the following:

Serini broke the promise to never see any of the old group again. (If this is the case, she wasn't the only one to do so. Lirian and Dorukan seems to have met from time to time (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html).)
Girard trusted Serini enough to tell her details of how he was going to protect his gate.

There are also other signs that Serini and Girard got along well (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0196.html).

[BroomGuys]

Rich,

If you read this far in comments page, please end book 5 on 900 exactly. don't care how many pages it is. I have a bet in another thread that it would.

Sorry, but, um, if this post manages to influence Rich's decision at all, this has a very high chance of backfiring on you. :smalltongue:

In all seriousness, if he manages to wrap up the book in just one more comic, that would be really impressive. There's just so much going on right now that I imagine it'd be really hard to bring it home that quickly.

[Shale]

Oh, man. Even if he doesn't find out about the phylactery, Xykon's rage is going to be staggering when he wraps his skull around this.

"We wasted weeks back in that stupid city because you couldn't keep your holy symbol safe from one starving man armed with a piece of cage, and now we just happen to be ten minutes late to take over the world. Give me one good reason not to set you on fire and use Speak With Dead to brush up on your half of the ritual."

[Kish]

My particular usage of the expression comes from the Serenity RPG guidebook, where they describe three basic levels of adventuring party, starting at "complete rookie" going all the way up to "Big Damn Heroes", where your heroes can basically take on the entire Alliance Fleet and have a chance of pulling it off.

That is the sense in which I am using it.

I don't want to make a big fight over this, but because of this I do not believe it is a mis-use of the phrase, simply an alternative from the meaning you describe. It's a rare word in a dictionary that has exactly one meaning in all contexts.

Respectfully,

Brian P.
The person you're speaking to didn't describe a meaning. He just said to read the link you'd posted. :smalltongue:

In other words, if you mean something different than what TVTropes says, maybe you should link the Serenity RPG guidebook (perhaps on amazon.com) next time.

[LadyEowyn]

Regarding the x00s pages: sometimes they're dramatic, sometimes they're not:

Undramatic (or relatively so): 100, 500, 600, 700

Dramatic: 200 (the Order encounters Miko and loses a fight against her, ending in a Smite Evil directed at Roy); 300 (The goblin-and-zombie army for the attack on Azure City is marshalled, ending in a splash panel and concluding Book 2); 400 (Elan and Haley get together).

So we can't say which the the next strip will be, but given everything that's been happening, it would be pretty hard for it not to be fairly dramatic.

[Amphiox]

According to Google the average weight of a block on the Pyramid of Cheops is 2.5 tons and a total weight of 6 million tons. Girard's pyramid is smaller (I think) and likely has many more voids but I would think 500,000 tons would not be unreasonable for a guess. So now we just need to figure out how much explosive force is needed to move the whole thing say, 100 feet up, and 300 feet out.

ETA: Plus we need to figure out if the crater is big enough to hold all the catgirl corpses, or would Xykon re-anime them into an undead catgirl army.

Multiply whatever number you come up with by a factor of 10. You have to account for energy "wasted" in heat, light, and sound. (And there's a LOT of all three!)

Probably some more energy lost to melting/vaporizing stone too.

[denthor]

Holey brother hood are now pleased. The hole is not sealed comic 276 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html)

I wonder if there is a reward?

[Ted The Bug]

Actually of somewhat mixed feelings about this. I was really looking forward to watching the Order's frantic dash through an exploding pyramid.

On the other hand, Xykon is pissed, and that's always fun!

[quasit]

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u93/Reed_Copperstrand/Girard_brow_new.png : TOASTY!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Holey brother hood are now pleased. The hole is not sealed comic 276 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html)

I wonder if there is a reward?

That one appears to be the one in the crooked mountains. If you look in the background, there's no arizona like rock outcroppings. :smallwink:

[Porthos]

"Here we are, kids – Girard's pyramid"
I think it sounds like Xykon knew beforehand that they were going to find a pyramid.
Did Serini write that in her diary?
And if so – had she broken the promise to never visit any of the other gates?
Or had Girard told her that he was going to build a pyramid before they split up?

I think Xykon's words suggest at least one of the following:

Serini broke the promise to never see any of the old group again. (If this is the case, she wasn't the only one to do so. Lirian and Dorukan seems to have met from time to time (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html).)
Girard trusted Serini enough to tell her details of how he was going to protect his gate.

There are also other signs that Serini and Girard got along well (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0196.html).

Or Xykon scryed the location ahead of time. :smallwink:

[F.Harr]

I hope everyone except Xykon's O.K.

I just like that phrase. Great explosion, really fantastic.

[Sky_Schemer]

In all seriousness, if he manages to wrap up the book in just one more comic, that would be really impressive. There's just so much going on right now that I imagine it'd be really hard to bring it home that quickly.

I bet he could do it with something akin to 484 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0484.html). Show the LG and/or TT looking back at the explosion and realizing Nale outsmarted himself. Show Xykon and Redcloak injured and Xykon ready to throw a temper tantrum. GO to V on the couch next to Sabin in Hell uttering some funny or sarcastic line. Then finally to the Order, maybe showing Belkar dead.

Not that I think this will happen, but it would be a pretty good cliffhanger.

[JackRackham]

Well, the title had me holding my breath for Belkar. Good strip.

[Lostbutseeking]

Funny, I was expecting Belkars death. I am now happy (though probably briefly).

[MReav]

"Here we are, kids – Girard's pyramid"
I think it sounds like Xykon knew beforehand that they were going to find a pyramid.
Did Serini write that in her diary?
And if so – had she broken the promise to never visit any of the other gates?
Or had Girard told her that he was going to build a pyramid before they split up?

I think Xykon's words suggest at least one of the following:

Serini broke the promise to never see any of the old group again. (If this is the case, she wasn't the only one to do so. Lirian and Dorukan seems to have met from time to time (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html).)
Girard trusted Serini enough to tell her details of how he was going to protect his gate.

There are also other signs that Serini and Girard got along well (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0196.html).

Part of me assumes that the Scribblers had all discussed their ideas with each other, but don't really know anything beyond the most superficial information. Girard has a pyramid that leads into a maze with illusions is about the extent the other Scribblers would know. They might think Girard brought in his family since he's that kind of guy, but they don't know that he did.