My script for tomorrow (*spoiler* obviously)

[HonoreDB]

Still trying to second-guess the plot, still completely failing so far.

Panel 1: Miko is still charging toward Belkar. Belkar: "You know, I have been having this vague feeling of foreboding for a few strips now."
Panels 2-3: Belkar lunges forward and grabs Miko's leg, trying to trip her. She gracefully balances on one leg and viciously kicks him against the wall.
Panel 4: Miko, raising her sword: "Smite Evil!...oh right."
Panel 5: Hinjo grabs her arm. "Miko, you don't want to be doing this. You need to talk to--" Miko: "No, YOU need to go restrain Roy. I have not lost my station, Hinjo, and paladin or no it is higher than yours."
Panel 6: Hinjo looks agonized, but draws his sword and walks over to Roy. Roy: "The hell?"
Panel 7: Hinjo to Roy: "She still holds her civil position, and my oath as a paladin requires that I obey her. It's just like Shojo." Simultaneously, Miko to Belkar: "In this time of chaos, I, Miko Miyazaki, find you officially guilty of treason and sentence you to death."
Panel 8: Roy to Hinjo: "You mean the guy she just murdered?" Simultaneously, Belkar to Miko: "Sounds like my trial just ended."
Panel 9: Split reaction shots: Hinjo looks miserable, Miko looks suddenly fearful.

[Kesnit]

Panel 7: Hinjo to Roy: "She still holds her civil position, and my oath as a paladin requires that I obey her. It's just like Shojo."

How much of her civil position is tied to the fact she is the highest ranking Paladin. Since she is no longer a Pally, does she still have that civil rank?

[Tyrmadris]

How much of her civil position is tied to the fact she is the highest ranking Paladin.
More importantly, now that Shojo is dead, Hinjo is now the official rule of Azure City. And since the organization of Paladins, as a whole, is sworn to obey the ruler, doesn't that mean he is now the Top Dog in the rank-vs-rank pissing contest? Not that Miko would care, after all, if anything actually opposed her preconceived notions, but to the rest of the world.

[Hel65]

Well, too slow action for what we saw recently. I'd say Belkar, in an ironic twist of fate, will become a piece of fashionable headgear, Miko escapes, Hinjo grieves, Roy doesn't know what to do and we cut to a big panel showing :xykon: at the gates of Azure City.

(probably not, but it would be so cool!)

[Swordguy]

treason and sentence you to death."
Belkar to Miko: "Sounds like my trial just ended."


Nice thought. The Mark is there until Belkar is brought to trial, is it not? Miko declares him guilty, thus completing his trial, and the Mark O' Justice is lifted.

Nice.

[MightyMuenster]

Oooh! Ok, check it out. Belkar becomes the cause of V's death. How, do you ask? Instead of stopping Miko, Belkar gets caught in her fury and behind him is V. V dies because Belkar couldn't stop Miko on his own.

And now I'm done making stuff up.

[Lord Zentei]

More importantly, now that Shojo is dead, Hinjo is now the official rule of Azure City. And since the organization of Paladins, as a whole, is sworn to obey the ruler, doesn't that mean he is now the Top Dog in the rank-vs-rank pissing contest?

Yarr. It has been explicitly stated by Shojo that after his own death, Hinjo becomes Lord of the City and Commander of the Sapphire Guard. Miko is only Hinjo's superior as long as he is heir apparent.


Not that Miko would care, after all, if anything actually opposed her preconceived notions, but to the rest of the world.

Not so sure about that, since all her self righteousness up until this point stemmed from the fact that she really beleived she was doing the will of the gods.

My bet is she tries to escape and attempts to find head or tail of the whole mess - whether successfully remains to be seen.

[ddrussianinja]

I'm pretty sure she'd still be able to use Smite Evil. Fallen Paladins retain all of the powers they've already gained, they just can't progress any further unless they Atone. The only way she couldn't use Smite Evil is if you need to be of Good Alignment in order to use it and her killing Shojo changed her alignment to Neutral or Evil.

Then again, since her fighting abilities seem to be suckage right now, it seems that her alignment has changed, disabling her ability to use most of her Paladin skills. Unless of course The Giant forgot/ignored that Fallen Paladins don't automatically lose their abilities.

In my own opinion, her act, while evil, was not done with evil intent and while it would make her lose her Paladin-ship (willfully committing an evil act and all), I doubt it would change her alignment. Well, maybe it would change her to Chaotic Good; Good, but in her own twisted, hypocritical fashion.

But that's neither here nor there.

Also, there's the possibility that Belkar's Barbarian training has improved his Grapple ability or something... I dunno.

And I'm sorry, but rank sorta flies out the window when somebody kills somebody on their side for no good reason.

What I meant to say is, your script sucks XP

[Dalenthas]

My version of the script goes more like this...
:miko: "You will die cretin! I will at least know this action is just!" (slashes at Belkar)
:belkar: "Well, if I'm going to die anyway, I might as well fight back!" (Jumps up and stabs Miko in the arm)
(Fight insues, Belkar wins)
:belkar: "Huh. I guess that Mark of Justice thing was a tri-" (Keels over in pain) "GODAMNIT!"


EDIT: ddrussianinja, the problem with your argument is Paladin's do lose their powers when they fall. Hence the color leaving Miko's clothing. If she multiclassed out of Paladin she'd still have her powers but be unable to go back, but falling definately strips you of your powers and prevents you from continuing.

[Lord Zentei]

I'm pretty sure she'd still be able to use Smite Evil. Fallen Paladins retain all of the powers they've already gained, they just can't progress any further unless they Atone. The only way she couldn't use Smite Evil is if you need to be of Good Alignment in order to use it and her killing Shojo changed her alignment to Neutral or Evil.

Fallen paladins do lose their special abilities; they retain their hit points, BAB and saves.

EDIT: Just for the reference: Linksky (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/paladin.htm).


Ex-Paladins

A paladin who ceases to be lawful good, who willfully commits an evil act, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all paladin spells and abilities (including the service of the paladin’s mount, but not weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She may not progress any farther in levels as a paladin. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations (see the atonement (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/atonement.htm) spell description), as appropriate.

[Swordguy]

I'm pretty sure she'd still be able to use Smite Evil. Fallen Paladins retain all of the powers they've already gained, they just can't progress any further unless they Atone.


Page reference please? Because I'm pretty sure that's absolutely wrong.

from the d20 SRD


Ex-Paladins

A paladin who ceases to be lawful good, who willfully commits an evil act, or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all paladin spells and abilities (including the service of the paladin’s mount, but not weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She may not progress any farther in levels as a paladin. She regains her abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her violations (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.

Like a member of any other class, a paladin may be a multiclass character, but multiclass paladins face a special restriction. A paladin who gains a level in any class other than paladin may never again raise her paladin level, though she retains all her paladin abilities. [emphasis mine]

[Holy_Knight]

I don't think Miko is going to attack Belkar at all--I think she's going to charge right past him, to wherever it is she thinks she needs to go in order to think things through and figure out which way is up again.

[Lial Swiftlight]

Here's my prediction for what happens next: Belkar decides to fight Miko. The mark of justice kicks in, but Belkar is determined to fight through the pain and take Miko down. He succeeds. Roy and Hinjo are so impressed by Belkar's actions they decide to pardon him and have the mark removed. Within five minutes he makes them seriously regret that decision.

[MightyMuenster]

I don't think Miko is going to attack Belkar at all--I think she's going to charge right past him, to wherever it is she thinks she needs to go in order to think things through and figure out which way is up again.

Thos were actually my thoughts as well. Look at most of her motions; defensive, not offensive. She wouldn't stunned Roy for the panel to attack Belkar knowing that Roy would be functioning again soon enough afterward. She was just disengaging from the combat in a way that would prevent an AoO.

[Swordguy]

Thos were actually my thoughts as well. Look at most of her motions; defensive, not offensive. She wouldn't stunned Roy for the panel to attack Belkar knowing that Roy would be functioning again soon enough afterward. She was just disengaging from the combat in a way that would prevent an AoO.

Look at her expression and eye-line. She's staring straight at Belkar with a "I'm going to kill the next thing within 5' of me" look. And she's charging to within 5' of the halfling.

[krossbow]

Isn't she trying to take down both of them so they can be "apprehended"? As roy is stunned, that means belkar is next.
________
Strawberry Cough (http://trichomes.org/marijuana-strains/deep-chunk-x-strawberry-cough/deep-chunk-x-strawberry-cough)

[Green Bean]

I'm pretty sure she'd still be able to use Smite Evil. Fallen Paladins retain all of the powers they've already gained, they just can't progress any further unless they Atone. The only way she couldn't use Smite Evil is if you need to be of Good Alignment in order to use it and her killing Shojo changed her alignment to Neutral or Evil.


Perhaps you are thinking of multi-classed paladins?

[Lord Zentei]

Here's my prediction for what happens next: Belkar decides to fight Miko. The mark of justice kicks in, but Belkar is determined to fight through the pain and take Miko down. He succeeds. Roy and Hinjo are so impressed by Belkar's actions they decide to pardon him and have the mark removed. Within five minutes he makes them seriously regret that decision.

He'll have a hard time doing that unarmed. When he managed to beat her once, he did so by a surprise stun attack; in a stand up fight he stands little chance. AND he has to worry about the mark of justice to boot. Seriously, his best chance is to try and evade. Or get lucky with O-chul, V, Durkon, Elan and Haley just happening to come into the room at that point. Which is unlikely, given how short a time it is since they left.


Isn't she trying to take down both of them so they can be "apprehended"? As roy is stunned, that means belkar is next.

Wouldn't she try and take Roy out while he is stunned if that were the case?

[MightyMuenster]

Look at her expression and eye-line. She's staring straight at Belkar with a "I'm going to kill the next thing within 5' of me" look. And she's charging to within 5' of the halfling.

Still, it doesn't really look as though she's looking at Belkar as much as toward Belkar. While it would be awesome to think that there's going to be some big fight between the two of them, don't rule out that she's charging out to face Xycon.

[Ampersand]

I don't think Miko is going to attack Belkar at all--I think she's going to charge right past him, to wherever it is she thinks she needs to go in order to think things through and figure out which way is up again.

I'm inclined to agree. Looking back at the panel, Roy was not only stunned, he dropped his sword. If Miko had wanted to ginsu him, she could've gotten several good hits in before he had been able to retailiate effectively.

I'm thinking that the first panel will be a re-do of 408's last panel, the second will be Miko within striking distance of Belkar, and the third will be Belkar standing by himself with a confused look on his face, and probably a "What the hell?" to go along with it.

[Jaysyn]

Nevermind, someone beat me to it..