Utter brilliance

[luagha]

Monocle Guy's statement that starts with, "Reptilia's spies," and ends with "Empire of -" is exactly 24 words.

That means the full, completed statement, with the correct empire, would be exactly 25 words. Anyone with Sending or a Sending scroll could have (or has already) Sent it to the Empress. We are even reminded of the existence of Sending in the strip itself, psychologically priming us.

It may or may not be intended, but I thought that Monocle Guy's wording was a little odd and counted. If this was a written message that they wrote down before Sending to make sure of their words and then sent a real messenger just to be sure, it might well come out that way.

(By the bye, Sending - Spell Resistance: no. It looks like anyone who can pay for a 4th level spell on a scroll can send a private message to an emperor whenever they aren't in an antimagic zone.)

[Kish]

(By the bye, Sending - Spell Resistance: no. It looks like anyone who can pay for a 4th level spell on a scroll can send a private message to an emperor whenever they aren't in an antimagic zone.)
Well. Anyone with Sending on her/his class spell list or enough Use Magic Device to fake it.

[Pyron]

Well. Anyone with Sending on her/his class spell list or enough Use Magic Device to fake it.

:belkar: I bet Miron does.

[NerdyKris]

It's highly likely. Too bad the Queen is clearly in on the plan. It seems the conspiracy is a little more open than Ian suspected. Entire regiments, puppet emperors, and officials seem to be in on the scam as well. (The army they're with now, The Queen, and Kil Kil)

[ChaosArchon]

It's highly likely. Too bad the Queen is clearly in on the plan. It seems the conspiracy is a little more open than Ian suspected. Entire regiments, puppet emperors, and officials seem to be in on the scam as well. (The army they're with now, The Queen, and Kil Kil)

Is the Queen in it or is she just amazingly dumb? Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.

[Newwby]

It did strike me as the queen being involved in it. Let's not forget that Lord Tyrinar in the flashback seemed to be in on it as well.

'Easily controlled patsy' could mean people who are in on the plan.

[NerdyKris]

I get the feeling from her appearances that she's in on it. She seems like she doesn't actually care about any of the duties of state at all. I also thought that about Tyrinar as well. They need someone easily manipulated. There are plenty of people that would want all the power without any of the complications of actually running a nation.

[M.A.D]

Frankly, with an Intelligence score normally reserved for lemmings, I don't think it matters at all whether the Empress is let in on the plan or not. She has nothing to contribute, too stupid and manipulable to be a hindrance, and it's not like she is capable of understanding that long-winded explanation in the first place. Tarquin could explain it all to his son in front of her and she would still be out of the loop.


It did strike me as the queen being involved in it. Let's not forget that Lord Tyrinar in the flashback seemed to be in on it as well.

'Easily controlled patsy' could mean people who are in on the plan.

Really? Coz the way I see it Tyrinar was definitely not in on the plan, since he actually thought that he has some say in the matter, or consider more democratic approaches, or that he could change his name to "Lord Tyrinar the Responsible" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0759.html).

[137beth]

Really? Coz the way I see it Tyrinar was definitely not in on the plan, since he actually thought that he has some say in the matter, or consider more democratic approaches, or that he could change his name to "Lord Tyrinar the Responsible" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0759.html).

He knew enough to know that even though he was nominally the king, Tarquin and Miron actually had all the power.

[Ceaon]

Or he lacked a backbone, which made him easy to manipulate. That and great stupidity would be exactly the qualities Tarquin and co would be looking for in their puppet rulers.
I understood the comic as the Empress being too dumb to understand the situation as given. You know, as she was characterized from her first appearance.

On topic: Why would team Tarquin kill Monocle Guy at that exact moment if the Empress already knew everything? They wouldn't really need to kill him at all, which would save a lot of hassle (e.g., the framing Ian bit).

[Newwby]

He knew enough to know that even though he was nominally the king, Tarquin and Miron actually had all the power.

Yeah, this. I got from that scene that he was attempting to barter with Tarquin and Miron about his rule and Tarquin's subsequent remarks made me assume they orchestrated his removal pretty quickly.

[Kish]

On topic: Why would team Tarquin kill Monocle Guy at that exact moment if the Empress already knew everything? They wouldn't really need to kill him at all, which would save a lot of hassle (e.g., the framing Ian bit).
Aside from the fact that if he observed that the Empress of Blood was unconcerned with her general conspiring with her sworn enemies, he would look elsewhere for allies for Reptilia, and what he would tell those potential allies would be "the de facto rulership of the Empire of Blood is conspiring with the advisors to the Empire of Tears," not merely "there are some high-level traitors in the Empire of Blood," by sneaking through the palace and trying to give a message to the Empress that would expose Tarquin's scam (and could actually have done a great deal of damage, had it gotten to, say, Lord Tyrinar the Responsible instead), he indicated he was the enemy of Tarquin's party.

[Ceaon]

Ah right. I guess that's true. Though I still feel the Empress is just plain dumb instead of in on the scam.

[Morquard]

Yes I also think she's just incredibly stupid.

As to why she isn't concerned by Miron and Catgirl? She might not know them as the advisors of the enemy kingdoms. She might simply know them as "friends and allies of Tarquin".
I mean they tell her to shut up and she just awwws.

Also we know that at least this division of the army knows about the scam. Most likely they follow Tarquin to the next empire and so on.
It's highly likely that the Guards in the palace are from this division and know too. Or that they also only know the other 4 members as occational allies of General Tarquin. I mean how would they know what some advisor to the Wheepie King looks like.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Well. Anyone with Sending on her/his class spell list or enough Use Magic Device to fake it.

That would be 'And anyone who can wear a Ring of Spell Storing', to be completely correct. So, pretty much anyone.

Also, Tarquin fed Lord Tyrinar to the Red Dragon Empress, remember?

[Forikroder]

Aside from the fact that if he observed that the Empress of Blood was unconcerned with her general conspiring with her sworn enemies, he would look elsewhere for allies for Reptilia, and what he would tell those potential allies would be "the de facto rulership of the Empire of Blood is conspiring with the advisors to the Empire of Tears," not merely "there are some high-level traitors in the Empire of Blood," by sneaking through the palace and trying to give a message to the Empress that would expose Tarquin's scam (and could actually have done a great deal of damage, had it gotten to, say, Lord Tyrinar the Responsible instead), he indicated he was the enemy of Tarquin's party.

also if they wanted to his actions there could give the empire of blood due reason to invade reptillia (your ambassador broke into our empresses personal chambers and attemtped to kill her)

[snikrept]

Hm, if the ruler in question doesn't previously know who you are, apparently by RAW you can Send them all day, every day and they will never know who did it.

Sounds like a good way to make said ruler extremely paranoid and/or drive them into madness.

In a high magic world governments must buy wards against this sort of thing in bulk!


EDIT Heck, screw words, you could have a team of wizards trained to Send twenty-five screams to the enemy general every hour on the hour all night, every night while on campaign. Infinite range, no save! See if he comes up with any good strategies!

[Bulldog Psion]

EDIT Heck, screw words, you could have a team of wizards trained to Send twenty-five screams to the enemy general every hour on the hour all night, every night while on campaign. Infinite range, no save! See if he comes up with any good strategies!

That would certainly put a crimp in anyone's sleep. I wonder how long each "word" can be? Could you do an ululating shriek that included inhaling and exhaling, to prolong it as much as possible? Maybe you could make up a word that consists of the repetition of a syllable over and over for two minutes. Each sending would therefore be 50 minutes long...

[Klear]

...is it possible to receive two sendings at the same time? :smalltongue:

[snikrept]

That would certainly put a crimp in anyone's sleep. I wonder how long each "word" can be? Could you do an ululating shriek that included inhaling and exhaling, to prolong it as much as possible? Maybe you could make up a word that consists of the repetition of a syllable over and over for two minutes. Each sending would therefore be 50 minutes long...

So... it occurs to me that Sending has no time limit for the 25 words, either. The attacker could space out the screams with each one randomly placed somewhere in a 2 minute block...

[Amphiox]

Hm, if the ruler in question doesn't previously know who you are, apparently by RAW you can Send them all day, every day and they will never know who did it.

Sounds like a good way to make said ruler extremely paranoid and/or drive them into madness.

In a high magic world governments must buy wards against this sort of thing in bulk!


EDIT Heck, screw words, you could have a team of wizards trained to Send twenty-five screams to the enemy general every hour on the hour all night, every night while on campaign. Infinite range, no save! See if he comes up with any good strategies!

Can Sending be combined with an Illusion spell? The potential applications for that combo in really screwing up the target's command and control ability are just endless....

[Ramien]

That would certainly put a crimp in anyone's sleep. I wonder how long each "word" can be? Could you do an ululating shriek that included inhaling and exhaling, to prolong it as much as possible? Maybe you could make up a word that consists of the repetition of a syllable over and over for two minutes. Each sending would therefore be 50 minutes long...

The spell does specify a 'short' message. As well, it also specifies that the subject must be familiar to the caster. Just knowing their name/looks may not be enough.