OOTS #441 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

Apologies again for lateness; I'm still sick, and I'm now on extra-drowsy medicine. I slept from noon yesterday until 5:00 this morning.

I'm going to redouble my efforts so this doesn't happen again on Friday.

[Khantalas]

An anti-climactic, yet awesome end for the Death Knight.

Or is it? DUN DUN DUN!

Also, Roy really needs to invest in Knowledge (religion). Really does.

[Darazel]

"No effect at all"... lol... great comic, giant!

[Sampi]

WHoo!!

DEATH FROM ABOVE! (Or is that undeath to death by dead undead from above?)

Thanks, Giant!

[cavalier973]

This is why we like Roy

[Rason]

I hope V cast something nasty on Xykon after that insult. He basically said V had no effect at all.

[Lord Herman]

Awesome!

And get well soon, Giant.

[Nimelennar]

Xykon: So your big heroic display of defiance right there actually managed to accomplish no practical effect whatsoever.

*Dragon head crushes Death Knight*

Xykon: Absolutely no effect at all.

AWESOME, Giant. The least likely resolution to the V-Death Knight fight I could have imagined. And the funniest. That was just sweet.

[doomdoging]

good job he he falling heads mmmmm what is v thinking after that happened

[sun_tzu]

I'm conflicted.
On one hand, it's too bad for Roy that Xykon's spoiled another badass moment for him.
Then again, he could also cut the dragon's wings.
On the other hand, I'm glad that Varsuvius is okay.
Then again, I'm disappointed he wasn't able to think up a way out of this then.
On the other hand...It was freakin' funny!:smallbiggrin:

[kyrin]

Falling Zombie Silver Dragon Head... For the Win!

Awesome, Rich. If there were anything to forgive for the delay, all is forgiven. Get well soon.

Love it!

JIM
aka kyrin

[Laurellien]

Amazing, simply, amazing. But you are the giant, and that's been your standard since day 1 really...

[daggaz]

Go Roy! Heh that was cool, sshccclooorrk!

[SteveMB]

I'm going to redouble my efforts so this doesn't happen again on Friday.

Please don't push yourself it it'll get in the way of throwing this bug off for good.

[AtomicKitKat]

"Absolutely Nothing at all!"

Heheheh.

[random11]

Well, dumb luck wins again :smallcool:

[Sinewmire]

Hm. I really hadn't seen that one coming!

Another great comic Giant. Get well soon an' stuff.

[cavalier973]

This is also why we like Xykon

"Does little fighty-wighty want to cry?"

Priceless

[Everto]

Man o man had to laugh out loud for that one.

Get well soon Giant!

[Kyace]

You know, I wonder if you could just keep cutting of dragon until you got the least amount needed to fly, then race it...

[BlueHelmet]

hell! SO MUCH pwnage. great!


edit: giant, never mind if it happens again. we can wait a few hours, and you just get well. sleep really helps.

[PePe QuiCoSE]

shflcckt!

love onomatopeyas :D

edit: btw, why does roy want to land the dragon?

oh, and definelty that didn't got predicted :P

[Prospero7]

Awww! I was starting to like the Death Knight. :smalltongue:

[Gygaxphobia]

Yes! Superb and unexpected. I wonder how long it was planned for?

Does anyone else think Xykon is sounding more and more like Dr. Evil? He just needs a Mini-Me...!

[basilisk 89]

I think this was the funniest comic since Redcloak and the elementals.

[Khantalas]

Now I've seen the death knight's head fall off, I wish the Giant had played Curse of the Monkey Island.

So many possibilities of Murray references.

[Glorfindel]

Hilarious!

And get well Rich!

[S.ilver]

Nice one Giant! Concentrate on getting better first though. No sense suffering for longer than you have to.

And was Roy considering that he'd fly too far from Belkar and trigger the MoJ there? If so, that's a pretty keen observation when you're busy fighting a lich.

[RMS Oceanic]

Deus ex Machina.

Because sometimes you just win, nomatter what logical/practical plan they try.

Great comic! V is safe for now...

[DraxtonSmitz]

I accidently hit page down and ruined the surprise for myself before I read everything. I still loved it it though. Fan-freaking-tastic.

[Khoran]

Wow, I did not see that coming.

Great comic though, Rich. Always a good way to start my morning. :D

[Mythx]

Hahaha! Unexpected I must say. Also hilarious, the anti-climax really does it!

[Tundar]

That strip was HILLARIOUS!

[SteveMB]

Then again, he could also cut the dragon's wings.

Would that actually prevent it from flying? I'm pretty sure that's a magical ability.

[JT]

Deus ex Draconia for the V vs DK battle.

No funky green glow from Roy's sword when he cleaved the zombie dragon. It's undead, and he was certainly angry. So... what is the ctivation requirement, I wonder.

And, it's probably been asked and answered in other threads, but how many hit points is the zombie dragon likely to have, and how much did Roy just do in slicing off the head?

[pendell]

New comic is up.

Apologies again for lateness; I'm still sick, and I'm now on extra-drowsy medicine. I slept from noon yesterday until 5:00 this morning.

I'm going to redouble my efforts so this doesn't happen again on Friday.

Sir,

WE CAN SURVIVE THE COMIC BEING LATE.

But if you over do it, we may not get ANY OOTS for a long time. When I was in junior high, I caught a minor disease and over-exerted myself -- that minor disease developed into pneumonia and I was out of school for a month.

Please, Rich (if I may call you that), take care of yourself. If you lose your health, you lose everything.

If it comes down to it, bring in a guest artist or something as filler.

But I, at any rate, am pleased with the quality of your work and your obvious commitment to bringing stuff in on time, every day.

As to the comic itself ... not bad! I have some questions for our reading audience I'll put in spoiler tags:



1) Why does Roy want to land the dragon?

2) Okay, so the DK just took however many dice of falling damage for having the silver dragon head fall on him. But he has DR, so that shouldn't be enough to destroy him, surely?



In any case, a fine effort, Rich. But please take care of yourself or the Space Cats will come swarming in.

Gotta ask ... this is the second time you've gotten sick in (IIRC) a fairly short time. Are you pushing too hard?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Cerel]

Great comic as usual!

V is saved! Rejoice!

[Fungesia]

Wow, I'm sure nooooobody expected that one. Dead undead head ftw!

[Daran]

Talk about lucky.
V got saved by lady luck errr I mean Roy :smallsmile:

[valis]

Things are going well for now but the other shoe still has to drop.

[SPoD]

Then again, he could also cut the dragon's wings.

Roy can't fly; if he chopped off the wings, the dragon would crash immediately and Roy would take a bunch of falling damage. Since the dragon is a zombie, though, he can chop off its head and it would keep flying (because it doesn't need its brain).

It just didn't occur to him that Xykon could still steer it without a head, I guess. Roy is smart, but not all-knowing, and I wouldn't expect him to have the Knowledge (Religion) ranks necessary to know about zombies.


1) Why does Roy want to land the dragon?

Not sure, but he probably figures that if Xykon flies back out of the city, the hobgoblin archers/clerics/etc. could fire at him a lot more easily. Up until now, they've been flying in allied airspace.


2) Okay, so the DK just took however many dice of falling damage for having the silver dragon head fall on him. But he has DR, so that shouldn't be enough to destroy him, surely?

He was already damaged pretty heavily, and DR 15/something doesn't block very much of 20d6 falling damage.

[Xenon]

a good laugh, that :)

[PsyBlade]

I went slackjawed at the conclusion of this comic.

Also, this makes it look like AC has a chance.

[Korith]

lol...absolutely no effect at all.

Good one :p

[cavalier973]

I believe that there were some predictions that ROY would somehow fall on the DK, but no one suspected the decapitated head of the zombie dragon.

I'm glad I don't run a web comic. Looks like you don't get sick days. Probably no vacation either. And millions of screaming fans are more demanding than the most hideous boss, even if they don't mean to be.

[Vulion]

Woot! Go Roy! Unintentionally saving one of yoru teammates and chopping the head off of a freakin' zombie dragon, crazy awesome.

[Setra]

I was not expecting that...

[RMS Oceanic]

1) Why does Roy want to land the dragon?

2) Okay, so the DK just took however many dice of falling damage for having the silver dragon head fall on him. But he has DR, so that shouldn't be enough to destroy him, surely?



1. I dunno. Perhaps he wants to stay near the action.

2. DK's eyes were X's, so he's dead dead.

[Kilbia]

The funny part is that the knight-crushing probably happened *immediately* after it threatened Vaarsuvius.

Make mine Extra Squishy!

[Irenaeus]

That's no longer a dragon, it's a chopper, baby.

[exxor]

lil' fighty-wighty wanna cry?

Ahahaha! Classic Xykon!!!

[SteveMB]

1) Why does Roy want to land the dragon?
Two likely reasons occur to me:

1. If Roy manages to destroy Xykon while they're still on the flying zombie dragon, either it's going to crash or it's going to just keep flying indefinitely. Neither outcome is conducive to Roy's long-term well-being.

2. Roy just realized that he might be carried more than a mile away from Belkar (triggering the Mark of Justice).

[Silverlocke980]

Well... that definitely wasn't how I saw that particular battle working out in V's favor.

Too bad about the general, though. Long live General Whitebeard!

Kiyaa!

[nimby]

That's no longer a dragon, it's a chopper, baby.

Working on Elan's puns?

[Max_Sinister]

Seems that the three / four Xykons don't have a mental connection with each other. Good to know. (If only the OOTS also knew that.)

[SteveMB]

2. DK's eyes were X's, so he's dead dead.

Technically (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0292.html), he was already dead, just not, you know, DEAD-dead. He's undead, right, so he was up and moving around, even though he was still life-signs: negative.

[One Skunk Todd]

Does a silver dragon actually have the metal silver as a component of its body? Like maybe in the scales and bones? If so the head might be MUCH heavier than you'd otherwise suspect and hence do more damage.

[Hinton]

Good one, Giant. Nice way to tie things together.

[mattingly]

I'll have a large dragon's head to go, please. And a Diet Coke.

[Tobz]

Deus ex Draconia for the V vs DK battle.



'Draco ex Machina' to be more accurate :smallwink:

Hopefully for Xycon 'decapitation by adventurers' is covered by his insurance.

[SteveMB]

I'll have a large dragon's head to go, please. And a Diet Coke.
Sorry, we only have hydra heads (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0326.html)....

[Megalomaniac2]

Wow. Did NOT see that one coming. Inventive save!

Also, Xykon is the best mocker EVER. "Does little fighty-wighty wanna cry" made me LOL so hard.

[king korath]

Noooooooooo! The death knight was awesome. But at least V is alive. Xykon was good as usual. Get well Giant.

[Fighteer]

Does a silver dragon actually have the metal silver as a component of its body? Like maybe in the scales and bones? If so the head might be MUCH heavier than you'd otherwise suspect and hence do more damage.
There's no support for this in any of the source material. But a beastie the size of an ancient silver dragon weighs many tons, so its head is more than heavy enough to do quite a bit of damage whether it's made of metal or not.

[Jonzac]

Awesome ending.


"No effect at all"....BUAHAHAHAH :elan: "DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN"

[TheForestAuro]

Oh, Beautiful Giant. I didn't see that one coming.

[Loyal2NES]

Everything is getting pwned by decapitated heads... That DM sure is a generous one to allow something like this.

"The dragon's head falls down and... ::rolls dice:: ...lands perfectly on the Death Knight, dealing... ::rolls dice:: ...Okay, he just evaporates, alright?"

What's next?

[Franklin Cain]

:smallbiggrin: Genius. Pure comedy genius. :smallbiggrin:

[chibibar]

Totally Awesome, that was pretty funny.

At least we figure out something, since they are flying in circles Roy and Belkar are still within 1 mile of each other ;)

Do take care of yourself Giant :) Health first.

[Nightwing]

The best character was :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon: :xykon:

[pendell]

Okay, so the Death Knight (who really needed a name!) is out.

Truthfully, who did NOT see him getting rubbed out in this panel? Because if he'd killed V or even made him run away, he then becomes an unstoppable killing machine in that sector, the remaining hobgoblins pour in behind him, and this battle goes from "in the balance" to "definitive monster win".

Even if Roy killed Xykon -- so what? The monsters overrun the city. Roy dies under a flood of hobgoblins, as does the rest of the OOTS. Two weeks later, Xykon regenerates. A few weeks after that, the portal is opened.

Story logic dictated the DK HAD to go down here and now.

The way he did ... I find it vaguely unsatisfying. But it WAS funny, even so.



Respectfully,

Brian P.

[BisectedBrioche]

It looks liek the OotS's paths are starting to converge.

[Duffren]

Blackwing is going to get it now...

[Caelestion]

Woah! Two new pages in one day! You rock, Rich :)

[Imrahil]

Once again, the awesome power of gravity shows up to lend a hand.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Holy ex machina batman!

(I still loled)

[SteveMB]

At least we figure out something, since they are flying in circles Roy and Belkar are still within 1 mile of each other ;)
Hmmm... that would shoot down one of my speculations about why Roy was suddenly so insistent on getting the dragon to land. Now that I re-read the comic, he did a double-take and demanded that Xykon land the dragon because they were "flying around in circles".

Hmmm....
If Xykon is just flying around in circles, he is not headed for the gate -- implying that the real threat is elsewhere, and Xykon on his dragon is just another distraction.

[Kilkomir]

LOL. Awsome strip.
With this quality in the strips I can live with the delay. Just don't work so hard that it makes you even more sick, Rick.
Get well soon.

[Peregrine]

Oh, my goodness. Score. Score so hard. Roy rocks, Rich rocks, this whole comic is just awesome.

Laughing so much... did not see that coming at all... (I mean I knew there had to be a resolution, but there's no reason Rich couldn't leave V vs DK on a cliffhanger for a strip or two.)

[DomaDoma]

"Does little fighty-wighty want to cry?"


Yeah, my reaction to that one was more or less "Ninety-two days left, shoulderme. I look forward to it."

Anyway, yeah, kick ass.

(Remind me... where is Durkon?)

[Shadic]

Durkon is with Haley.

And how much HP does that dragon HAVE!?

[M._A._Foxfire]

Did anyone else notice that Roy decapitated a freakin' dragon in one stroke? Because that was awesome.

[Solmage]

New comic is up.

Apologies again for lateness; I'm still sick, and I'm now on extra-drowsy medicine. I slept from noon yesterday until 5:00 this morning.

I'm going to redouble my efforts so this doesn't happen again on Friday.

Hey Giant, thanks for continuing to post strips in spite of being sick. I also have the flu and I'm not sure I would be able to in your stead.

Having said this, WOOT for "Summon Dragon Head!"

[Loki_d20]

(Remind me... where is Durkon?)
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0438.html

8th panel, you can see part of his head near Haley.

[cavalier973]

Blackwing is going to get it now...

Only if V remembers that Blackwing exists. . .

[Illiterate Scribe]

I hope the Giant doesn't realise that the only reason we want him better is so we can get more strips! :smallbiggrin:

Eat 20d6 falling damage, death knight!

[BurntOfferings]

And how much HP does that dragon HAVE!?

I'd guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 216, based on the fight in On the Origin of PCs and the zombie dragon template in Draconomicon. But I suspect it has exactly as many HP as required by the plot, no more and no less. :smallwink:

[theinsulabot]

death knight just...got....owned. did NOT see that coming

[octoberblu3]

So, does a decapitated undead dragon head still get it's breath weapon? (It's pointing at V)

[Dr. Jones]

2) Okay, so the DK just took however many dice of falling damage for having the silver dragon head fall on him. But he has DR, so that shouldn't be enough to destroy him, surely?

well i'm not keen on the specific DR for death knights, but i know most undead have a DR along the lines of x/bludgeoning -- meaning bludgeoning damage overcomes the DR. i'd say an ancient zombified dragon's head falling from a hundred feet or so does a helluva lotta bludgeoning damage :smallbiggrin:

even if the damage didn't bypass the DR as i've hypothesized, i still think there's enough dice being rolled for that damage that the DR is insignificant next to the amount of damage being dealt... kinda like holding up a piece of sheet metal to protect yourself from an incoming ICBM; it might protect you from bullets just fine, but it's still not near enough for this.

[Archibardo lv11]

If you kill a DK and you don’t kwon, still gains XP?

[Orbital]

Haha. Death Knight crushed by a giant chip bowl.

[Akaziel]

Nice work as always, Giant!

[jindra34]

Does a silver dragon actually have the metal silver as a component of its body? Like maybe in the scales and bones? If so the head might be MUCH heavier than you'd otherwise suspect and hence do more damage.

Umm... hm... maybe... though unlikely...

[Solmage]

Hmmm... that would shoot down one of my speculations about why Roy was suddenly so insistent on getting the dragon to land. Now that I re-read the comic, he did a double-take and demanded that Xykon land the dragon because they were "flying around in circles".

Hmmm....
If Xykon is just flying around in circles, he is not headed for the gate -- implying that the real threat is elsewhere, and Xykon on his dragon is just another distraction.

That's pretty much the way I see it.

[KeiranHalcyon]

You know, I wonder if you could just keep cutting of dragon until you got the least amount needed to fly, then race it...

As several people have alluded to, the dragon is still taking HP daamge, so if roy just keeps pounding it, it will go down.


Did anyone else notice that Roy decapitated a freakin' dragon in one stroke? Because that was awesome.

Zombie dragon. I expect it's AC isn't quite what it used to be.


well i'm not keen on the specific DR for death knights, but i know most undead have a DR along the lines of x/bludgeoning -- meaning bludgeoning damage overcomes the DR. i'd say an ancient zombified dragon's head falling from a hundred feet or so does a helluva lotta bludgeoning damage :smallbiggrin:

even if the damage didn't bypass the DR as i've hypothesized, i still think there's enough dice being rolled for that damage that the DR is insignificant next to the amount of damage being dealt... kinda like holding up a piece of sheet metal to protect yourself from an incoming ICBM; it might protect you from bullets just fine, but it's still not near enough for this.

A Death Knight's DR is 15/+1. Which still doesn't do much good against max falling damage (expected value of 20d6 is 70, so the DK probably took about 55 damage).

[NeonRonin]

VERY nice work, Rich. And hope you feel better soon...

Pardon the pun, but that was certainly a unique way of getting aHEAD in the battle. :smalltongue: Karma smiles upon V this day.

And it actually reminds me of a game I was in; one of my teammates fought an airborne dragon in a most unusual way. Somehow he got airborne himself, moved till he was above the dragon- and then dropped a Folding Boat on it. Boat expanded in midair, clobbered the dragon... then add the falling damage from being 300+ feet above ground...

This was before the GM ruled that Folding Boats could only be opened over water. He was pissed. :smallbiggrin:

[Crispy SpThief]

As for Xykon not being the main threat.. keep in mind this IS Xykon. He's the king of ADHD villians. I mean seriously, he purposely buzzed the heroes multiple times and tipped himself off, though inadvertantly.

And the Death Knight.. dang, thats some machina pownage.. though I can see it now.. V goes to investigate, then the Knight's mouth starts gnashing at him!

"I'll bite your knee caps off in the name of all that is evil!" XD

[cavalier973]

Deus ex Draconia for the V vs DK battle.

No funky green glow from Roy's sword when he cleaved the zombie dragon. It's undead, and he was certainly angry. So... what is the ctivation requirement, I wonder.

And, it's probably been asked and answered in other threads, but how many hit points is the zombie dragon likely to have, and how much did Roy just do in slicing off the head?

You didn't see the funky green glow? If you don't see the glow, it must mean you're not a true believer.

[Gallanoth]

Thank-you giant for quelling my wonders about the deathknight they are screwed now

[Dabble]

Brilliant!

That was great, perfect even. So did not see that coming.

On another topic, I hope you feel better soon Giant. Remember missing one comic so you can heal, rest up and be all set for next week is one thing, pushing yourself until you get sick enough that you have to miss a week or more is something totally different. No matter how some people might comment or complain that the comic is a little late, your health is more important.

[jindra34]

VERY nice work, Rich. And hope you feel better soon...

Pardon the pun, but that was certainly a unique way of getting aHEAD in the battle. :smalltongue: Karma smiles upon V this day.

And it actually reminds me of a game I was in; one of my teammates fought an airborne dragon in a most unusual way. Somehow he got airborne himself, moved till he was above the dragon- and then dropped a Folding Boat on it. Boat expanded in midair, clobbered the dragon... then add the falling damage from being 300+ feet above ground...

This was before the GM ruled that Folding Boats could only be opened over water. He was pissed. :smallbiggrin:

Did your charecters ever carry around buckets of water? You could then still open it over water... anywhere...

[Xi-1]

Get well soon, Rich. The rest has been said before, and I do dislike repetition. I also dislike when people long-line pages with pics or strings of Smileys. It's not in the rules though, so it's a personal pet peeve at the moment.

This is the second time in this battle that a falling head has crushed an opponent (the first being Grand Larsony, decapitated by Belkar, landing on a Hobgoblin). Xykon and Redcloak probably only thought heads would roll, but I'm willing to bet that the zombie dragon's head won't be the last thing to utterly crush a skeleton.

And is it just me, or did the dragon actually shrink since it showed up? I seem to remember Xykon sitting on the base of its neck on a scale that didn't really compare with its wingspan. Now it seems as if the dragon is simply being drawn smaller. If this is a consequence of Rich being sick, then the OOTS better hope it will happen more often, although we won't. And although this isn't the first time the OOTS have faced a dragon, it's certainly the first time Roy's managed to decapitate one - and in one stroke. That's what you call Great Cleavage.

So what do the other undead skellies do?

[Willahad]

I figured that the death knight would die by something like that

[VenezuelanWiz]

Get better Giant!!

Absolutely hilarious. I was laughing for a solid 5 minutes at work. People started to look at me funny.

[a1057soul]

Reminds me of a game I was in where the DM added one of those little creative bits saying "you notice something flying far overhead" and the mage (played by my mathgeek friend) decided to 'fly up and investigate'... it was a wyvren the DM decided... so the when the wyvren attacked after it spotted the mage, following it - a quarter mile in the air, he cast hold monster successfully... they actually figured the damage and it was like 200d6 or something equally ridiculous. splattered the creature over a 50' radius.

yeah we laughed for quite a long time... kinda like now.

Great work Giant! (and hopefully you'll get better soon!)

:-)
Dan

[Mummy king]

Rich Burlew draws like sex.

It's official.

[Xi-1]

It occurs to me that I should have found it ironic that one of the laws that V keeps telling to 'sit down and shut up' was what saved him. Isn't it about time V packed a quarterstaff or something so he doesn't keep getting caught off guard like this? First it was the ghasts, and now the Death Knight. V wasn't even really saved the first time until it was too late, too.

[snelson66]

Is it wrong of me to have thought after the fifth panel, "Oh that poor dragon"?

[jindra34]

Is it wrong of me to have thought after the fifth panel, "Oh that poor dragon"?

I believe: yes

[cavalier973]

If you kill a DK and you don’t kwon, still gains XP?

Yeah, does Roy get XP for killing the death knight?

[erewhon]

And THAT'S why Roy is the leader. :D

Several people have noted that Roy decapitated the dragon with one swing.

First, that's a special effect unless his sword is Vorpal, on top of everything else.

Second, it's probably Rich's way of showing how hard Roy is hitting. He's a specialized meleer with a two hander and a really good to-hit number for his level. Combine with power attack and a two-hander, and you have a guy who hits really, really hard when he wants to.

Third, while Roy leads a hard-luck life in many respects, he has an un-nervingly high "get-stuff-done" quotient. I suspect the dieties may be egging him on every now and then. I mean, we KNOW Thor has taken a direct hand before, why should he be the only one? The Snarl is EVERYBODYS problem, and Roy is about the only guy out there trying to keep it under wraps.

Go Roy! :D

[Aidan305]

Best...Deus Ex Machina...Ever!!!

[SPoD]

Rich Burlew draws like sex.

It's maybe not as frequent as we'd like, but it's sometimes double- or triple-length without warning. :wink:




(And once, it was double-width.)

[Kaerbek]

*Jar Jar Binks mode on*

Mesa thinks, why is sword boy taking so looong to kill talking skull?. Mesa don't understands it! If sword boy is to kill big-bad-badass-hocus pocus-skeleton why is he taking so long? Jar Jar so confuuuused right now. ¡Oh look! ¡A light sword! Jar Jar wonders why is always shiny and... and.. lighty...

*Jar Jar touches the Light Saber of some Jedi and die*

*Jar Jar Binks mode off*

So, can anyone explain jar ja... ahem.. I mean, me why Roy didn't kill Xykon already?

[Ink]

Wow, beheadings are really popular in the OotS universe these days.

[jindra34]

Wow, beheadings are really popular in the OotS universe these days.

Yes they are... of course they are rather simple to draw...

[Dragor]

New comic is up.

Apologies again for lateness; I'm still sick, and I'm now on extra-drowsy medicine. I slept from noon yesterday until 5:00 this morning.

I'm going to redouble my efforts so this doesn't happen again on Friday.

No problem Giant, keep up the good work :smallsmile:

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a head for a...head?

[the_tick_rules]

all that dramatic build up and the DK gets squished by a head, Rich your such a tease you know. But I haven't really laughed out loud at a comic in a while, this one broke that trend.

[cavalier973]

Is it wrong of me to have thought after the fifth panel, "Oh that poor dragon"?

Nah, the dragon was already dead

[Cade Shadow]

i feel cheated... V didnt get an honest fight. I was prepared for this big, grand fight between V and the Death Knight and then..... a zombie dragon head falls on him. Nice.

Not one of my favorite strips

[Fus.Weapon 1337]

"Son of a submariner!"

Oh, wait. Wrong quote. Still, great strip!

[jindra34]

i feel cheated... V didnt get an honest fight. I was prepared for this big, grand fight between V and the Death Knight and then..... a zombie dragon head falls on him. Nice.

Not one of my favorite strips

Agreed a slight drop in story quality.... but it was made up for by a large jump in comedic quality... so still going up...

[TheNovak]

YES!

I cheered. Beware of falling objects 'round this battlefield, I guess!

[magicwalker]

Go directly to Hell, do not roll a save, do not let the door hit ya on the way out.

[cavalier973]

There would have been no fight...V admitted that the familiar was V's last chance...and the familiar abandoned V...V was going to die

[rap4th]

Woohoo!! I was right!!....well kinda
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41248&page=6

[Shadow8472]

That was awsome!

[Casinodwarf]

:xykon: "No effect at all"

Ahhh, what a wonderful way to wake up in the morning on the west coast... It got me laughing pretty hard. Good stuff as always.

[Uzbad]

Didnt see that thing falling down.. I thought DK would be just dead from dry and incredibly long lecture made up by V, about elves, death and afterlife.. ;)

Nearly got squished that that zombie head. yikes.

[EYanyo]

So what DOES happen if Roy gets more than a mile away from Belkar? If Xykon happens to allow the dragon to fly indefinitely away from the battlefield, that's what will happen. I'm thinking that the Mark of Justice will act as a forcefield that keeps Belkar within the one-mile radius of Roy. Meaning... if the dragon's flying away somewhat quickly, belkar would be flying in the same direction at the same speed. Add to this daggers drawn and held in front of him... see where I'm going with this?

behold the terrible stick figure: === >--:belkar:>->

[snelson66]

Nah, the dragon was already dead
Well I was thinking all the way back to before it became undead too.

[archon_huskie]

According to my tallies, Azur City is doing quite well, considering they were outnumbered 3 to 1.

[Sturmjaeger]

Absolutely no effect at all.

[DarkEternal]

Personally disliked this one. It was too random, and that's saying much considering the fact that this is OotS and being random is one of it's charms.

[rosebud]

Oh, that was just lovely!

I was thinking, "Oh, foo, the action moved away from V." And it comes back out of nowhere.

As for the "this was obvious" folks, not really. There are clerics in the battle who could have turned the tide.

As for Xykon not being the main action, he needs a while to deal with the gate. What's a few minutes of fun matter, especially when you look so cool taunting the mouse, I mean hero?

As for sympathies for the dragon, I don't think it would have wanted to "live" as a zombie for evil, so Roy is helping.

[cyberchihuahua]

Hm. I really hadn't seen that one coming!


Neither did the death knight. :smallyuk:

I have to say, I'm feeling very sorry for that poor dragon.

[rap4th]

Sorry...that posted the whole post. Let's try the quote thing:


Hello all!! Have read the comic since the beginning and I just registered to take part of the discussion on what might happen next.

I think the focus will swing back to Roy fighting the flying dragon and the decoy undead. I think that eventually Roy will defeat them and the dragon will fall from the sky..............onto the DK just as he is about to defeat V (and of course Roy will be fine because the dragon will take all the impact).

How does that sound?.....eh....probably not that good....especially since it is my first post :smallsmile:

[EYanyo]

According to my tallies, Azur City is doing quite well, considering they were outnumbered 3 to 1.

Then again, remember that Redcloak sent out clerics to zombify all the dead hobgoblins. The tide may yet turn back (but here's hoping it doesn't!).

[factotum]

So, can anyone explain jar ja... ahem.. I mean, me why Roy didn't kill Xykon already?

Because he's a level 13 fighter and Xykon is at least a level 18 Sorcerer with massive damage reduction. The question we should REALLY be asking is, "Why hasn't Xykon killed Roy yet?".

[Haruki-kun]

LOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it when stuff like that happens.........

[consul]

Sir,
As to the comic itself ... not bad! I have some questions for our reading audience I'll put in spoiler tags:

1) Why does Roy want to land the dragon?
2) Okay, so the DK just took however many dice of falling damage for having the silver dragon head fall on him. But he has DR, so that shouldn't be enough to destroy him, surely?




1. Doesn't want to be in the midst of enemies
or 1. does it mean he cares about the Belkar distance MoJ thingy?
2. Maybe it;s the same reason why the dragon was flying.

[Ave]

Absolutely unexpected, highly hilarious, the Giant is a genius.
Hah, massive XP for Roy.
A pity, this would never happen in a real P&P session (or a crpg).

[Pantler]

Well, I must say that was one hell of a hilarious deus ex machina :smallbiggrin:
Still, I kinda liked the Death Knight. And one question keeps bothering me:

What the hell am I supposed to do with this now? :smallfrown:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/dolorite/dk4.gif

[Adeptus]

Brilliant, once again!

V lives! And I risk strange looks for laughing out loud at the computer :D

[Zephra]

nice. the one time you actually behead something, it doesn't die. grrr!

[Swashbuckler]

ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! :biggrin:

... add to that the effect it had on a lot of forum peoples, not liking it for its utter simplicity, and I call it a win all around for Roy, V, and the Giant!

Well done!

[EntilZha]

LOL!!

Serendipity FTW!

(s)he lives to cast another day!

[Manga Shoggoth]

Well, I didn't see that coming. Neither did the Death Knight, apparantly.

I really have to be careful reading these strips at work - my Boss is is beginning to suspect that what I am doing is not strictly chargable...

[Silmarwen]

A head from a machine :smallbiggrin:

To Giant:
What's the rush my friend? Why won't you just stay in bed to get well. A missed strip isn't the end of the world. Everyone here will understand :smallsmile:

[happyturtle]

And this proves that Miko is more hard-headed (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0374.html) than a Death Knight.

[Eva]

Actually, I have to say, this is the first time I've seriously disliked a strip.

Completely disliked it.

Why?

Because it was too predictable.

Last night I was talking with a bunch of people (independently, on an IM system) what they thought would happen next. I had already made my mind up that Roy would drop his sword and it would crash down on the thing.

They, too (without being told my guess), thought that it would involve something falling from Roy, possibly Roy himself.

Somehow, that joke got old, before having even been made. I guess there must have been too many similar things in the past. It would have been nice to see something more creative.

Apologies to anyone who didn't even partially see it coming.

And as I say, I'm in general a die-hard fan, and this is the first strip I haven't been enthusiastic about.

We tried to think up other things that could happen, and had a lot of fun doing so. (E.g. the rock into mud thing I posted elsewhere.) But we still disappointedly thought it likely that it would be something falling from Roy that did it, and we came to this conclusion independently.

[Fingolfin]

One comment; *Thunk* LOL :D Excellent.

[Grasilich]

Bah, that was a really lame end for the Death Knight. What are the odds of having the dragon right above V and the DK right before Roy chopped off the head? I think something a bit less arbitrary would have been better.

[Blood]

For a moment, I thought Roy had killed the dragon, and that they were going to fall straight down. Then I remembered that it was undead. :smallbiggrin:

[CheezItMan]

Now my question, does Roy get XP for that?

[jindra34]

Cheez: if he does not get XP for that then he should shatter the fourth wall and go after the DM... or is the DM Gaint?

[Effovex]

This is terrible Deus Ex Machina... yet it works perfectly. It goes to show how good the Giant's instinct for comedy is, that this turns out awesome when it could easily be extremely lame.

[fractal]

Interesting how Roy and Xykon are each treating each other like spoiled children.

[baerdith]

BWHAHAHAH!!! LOLOLOLOL!!! Deus ex machina For The WIN!!!

[Simons Mith]

To Giant:
What's the rush my friend? Why won't you just stay in bed to get well. A missed strip isn't the end of the world. Everyone here will understand :smallsmile:

Yeah! I was actually looking forward to a funny filler strip!

[Gamgee]

Eh it was alright.... considering your not feeling so good I am just glad I got the comic. Hope you feel better soon Giant

[DrivinAllNight]

Hmmm....
If Xykon is just flying around in circles, he is not headed for the gate -- implying that the real threat is elsewhere, and Xykon on his dragon is just another distraction.

That's the kind of thinking that makes Roy a good leader. :roy:

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Working on Elan's puns?

Nah, how's this one:

:elan: "Wow, I guess victory doesn't come to those who get a-head"

[Ivius]

Deus Ex Caput!

[Hushdawg]

Hmmm....
If Xykon is just flying around in circles, he is not headed for the gate -- implying that the real threat is elsewhere, and Xykon on his dragon is just another distraction.


Precisely my thoughts.

As for the comic itself: BOOYAH! Brilliant comedic use of severed heads!

Giant: Dude, get some rest, drink some OJ and cream of chicken soup (though not together, that sucks) and get better. We can survive on archives for the time being.

[PlasticSoldier]

It would be more terribly annoying if the death knight dies infact i shall edit my obnoxious signature to pray for his survival.

EDIT: EDITED
REEDIT: FIXED

[Hushdawg]

So, can anyone explain jar ja... ahem.. I mean, me why Roy didn't kill Xykon already?

Two words: Dramatic Timing

If Jar Jar comes back to life I'll cut his tongue out myself

worst.character.evar.

[titan_monarch]

Nah, he had little X's through his eyes. He's dead, or at least deader than he was. Being undead and all.

I actually quite liked this comic, mostly because I don't tend to predict what's going to happen a few comics in advance so the death knight dying was actually quite a nice surprise. Funny, too.

[Innis Cabal]

well it was creative i must say.

[Shara_Littlebottom]

You know, I wonder if you could just keep cutting of dragon until you got the least amount needed to fly, then race it...

OMG there's so much awesome in that idea! :-D

Great comic too. lol

[Lumenadducere]

Great stuff, as always. A little disappointed that V didn't get him/herself outta that one, but it's still good.

And don't push yourself too hard, Rick. You getting better is more important than getting a strip up on time.

[Prince_Rohan]

Bah, that was a really lame end for the Death Knight. What are the odds of having the dragon right above V and the DK right before Roy chopped off the head?

The way I see it (and everyone else not taking hallucinogens), the comic is two dimensional and in a world of stick figures the odds get increasingly enormous.


Rich! Take shots of whiskey and sleep until Saturday. Health first.

[Zienth]

Wow, I'm sure nooooobody expected that one. Dead undead head ftw!

NOBODY expects the falling zombie silver dragon head!

Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and momentum...momentum and surprise.... Our two weapons are momentum and surprise...and ruthless comedy.... Our *three* weapons are momentum, surprise, and ruthless comedy...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Giant....

Zienth

[Black_Light83]

Why why o why can't V kill anyting himself he always has some silly ridiculous thing save him... well excluding the dragon

[Chimaera2000]

BWA-HA-HA!

Wow. I loved the death knight and part of me is still sad that he's gone. But wow, what a way for him to go.

[jindra34]

Why why o why can't V kill anyting himself he always has some silly ridiculous thing save him... well excluding the dragon

And the chimera... and quite a few little minions...

[fractal]

And the chimera... and quite a few little minions...
In the chimera's case, the "silly little thing" would be Belkar. :smallwink:

[Nerd-o-rama]

Why why o why can't V kill anyting himself he always has some silly ridiculous thing save him... well excluding the dragon
Partly because he's an Evoker, and therefore is better at softening things up than causing instant death like a Necromancer or Enchanter.

Also, his kill list includes several dozen total goblin mooks killed or incapacitated in the dungeon, he got Trigak to flee (even if Belkar finished him off, V did most of the work), I'm not counting Z'zdtri, two green Ogre-like things, a Black Dragon, a good deal of a cluster of Ogres...that's through 300. I'm not going to bother with the rest, since a page of this thread will have passed by the time I post this anyway.

Ahem. What I was originally going to say was "damn D&D zombies. Don't they know they're supposed to fall when you destroy the brainstem?" But of course, as they're immune to critical hits, this doesn't apply.

[Friv]

VERY nice work, Rich. And hope you feel better soon...

Pardon the pun, but that was certainly a unique way of getting aHEAD in the battle. :smalltongue: Karma smiles upon V this day.

And it actually reminds me of a game I was in; one of my teammates fought an airborne dragon in a most unusual way. Somehow he got airborne himself, moved till he was above the dragon- and then dropped a Folding Boat on it. Boat expanded in midair, clobbered the dragon... then add the falling damage from being 300+ feet above ground...

This was before the GM ruled that Folding Boats could only be opened over water. He was pissed. :smallbiggrin:

I would have been okay with that, as GM. Of course, the boat would ALSO take the falling damage... so if you're willing to lose a folding boat to some creative tactics, that's all good. ;)

[Runolfr]

"No effect" my left butt cheek.

If nothing else, Roy deprived the zombie dragon of a bite attack.

[puddingpie]

btw, why does roy want to land the dragon?


Probably because of the enormous difficulty of concentrating on resisting Xykon's spells, swinging his two-handed sword, and keeping his footing on a flying dragon a hundred feet above the ground. Xykon is seated, so the chance of him slipping is much less, but Roy would be absolutely screwed if he lost his footing. If he gets Xykon to land, falling to his death is one less thing to worry about, and he can attack Xykon more effectively than in his current stalemate.

Plus, if Roy kills Xykon in midair instead of landing, he'll be stuck on a flying zombie dragon with no way of controlling it.

Once he's safely landed, Roy can dispatch the zombie dragon completely, and Xykon will have no form of transportation. Xykon will pretty much have to abandon his plan of attacking from within the castle.

[SteveMB]

And this proves that Miko is more hard-headed (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0374.html) than a Death Knight.
We already knew that she was more bone-headed.

[Threeshades]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not Deathy!! Why? Why couldn't you take V instead?!

Now i want some extra Belkarnage to make up for Deathy's re-death!


*sigh* Only the badass re-die young...

[Meshakhad]

I laughed so loud that I upset the dog.

[warmachine]

If this was a game and I was a player, I'd be saying "Umm.. It was scripted that the Death Knight kill some people then disappear?" In his comic, the author makes extensive use of artistic license 'cos it's funny. In a high power game, deus ex machina spoils it.

[EYanyo]

I'm reposting this since nobody answered me the first time:

So what happens if Roy gets more than a mile away from Belkar? Does the Mark of Justice act like a force-field, i.e. will it drag the Belkster in the same direction as Roy as long as he continues to move away from him? Because that could get interesting.

[jindra34]

I'm reposting this since nobody answered me the first time:

So what happens if Roy gets more than a mile away from Belkar? Does the Mark of Justice act like a force-field, i.e. will it drag the Belkster in the same direction as Roy as long as he continues to move away from him? Because that could get interesting.

No the mark activates crippling belkar... probably would be a lethal result...

[EYanyo]

No the mark activates crippling belkar... probably would be a lethal result...

Oh, I see. So Roy is actually taking a pretty big gamble if he thinks that Xykon couldn't turn the dragon around... If it continued to move away from the battle, Belkar would be quite incapacitated. Which is not a good state to be in when you'rs in the middle of a horde of hobbos. I hope I didn't stumble onto something that may happen in the future! :belkar: can't die! Take :vaarsuvius: instead!

[jindra34]

Oh, I see. So Roy is actually taking a pretty big gamble if he thinks that Xykon couldn't turn the dragon around... If it continued to move away from the battle, Belkar would be quite incapacitated. Which is not a good state to be in when you'rs in the middle of a horde of hobbos. I hope I didn't stumble onto something that may happen in the future! :belkar: can't die! Take :vaarsuvius: instead!

NO! Do not take :vaarsuvius: . Take :miko: instead... and save the world trouble later...

[Baalzebub]

:vaarsuvius: You got lucky, that DK had you owned!

[Bad Luck]

I'd guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 216, based on the fight in On the Origin of PCs and the zombie dragon template in Draconomicon. But I suspect it has exactly as many HP as required by the plot, no more and no less. :smallwink:

No one besides has ever made one from the 3.5 MM? (shakes head sadly) The are teh awesome, especially considering their CR is only 6! (note that they have to be young or they go over the 10HD limit. They are still fairly big)

(cut/paste)
Red Dragon (Zombie)

Drop hit dice, double base, and make them d12. Doesn’t work on more creatures that are more than 10HD.
Natural Armor increases by 3
Retains all natural weapons, gains slam attack. Slam is by size, but use the base’s if their slam is better.
Loses all special attacks. (like breath)
Lose all special qualities, except ones that improve melee or ranged attacks.
Single attack only (but charge ok)
Saves are +1/3 HD, and will +1/2 HD +2
Str +2, Dex –2, con 0 int 0 wis 10, cha 1
No skills
Loses all feats, gains toughness.

Very Young Red Dragon Zombie CR 6 Large Undead Dragon
Str 23 Dex 8 Con N/A Int N/A Wis 10 Cha 1
HD 20d12+3 (150 HP?) Init –1 Speed 40 AC 21 Touch 9 Flat-footed 21
Base Attack +10/+20 Grapple
+16 10’ Range [Bite 2d6 +6], or +16 [Claw 1d8 2d6 +3], [+16 Wing Slam 1d8 +3],
+16 [Tail Slap 1d8 +9]
AL NE Saves Fort +6 Ref +6 Will +12
Feats: Toughness

Dragon) 150

[Professor Tanhauser]

New comic is up.

Apologies again for lateness; I'm still sick, and I'm now on extra-drowsy medicine. I slept from noon yesterday until 5:00 this morning.

I'm going to redouble my efforts so this doesn't happen again on Friday.

Sheesh, Rich, don't kill yourself. it's just a comic, fer'crisake. I mean, we like it but we don't need it and any one who can't wait a day once in a while has serious problems.

[rgoodfellow]

Why the hell is Xykon flying in circles/ellipses?

[jindra34]

Why the hell is Xykon flying in circles/ellipses?

He's waiting for a place to safely land...

[Professor Tanhauser]

According to my tallies, Azur City is doing quite well, considering they were outnumbered 3 to 1.\

You forgot to list GLG as a loss for AC, he was a decent level character, you know, decent enough to be given 5 off for halping fight for AC. So he must be counted as a loss even if he was a scumbag.

[Professor Tanhauser]

If roy chopped off a wing wouldn't belkar's ring help him land safely, especially if he chopped then jumpedd off the dragon's back?

BTW, where did Xykon, living in a medival tech, magic world, ever hear of radio???

[Professor Tanhauser]

BTW, evenrthing I ever heard about zombies just got tanked. I mean, I thought if you destroyed the brain or decapitated them, they wen't down.

I guess D&D has some really funky rules for zombies. or maybe rich played doom 3, it has a few headless zombies running around in it.

[Bilgore]

I hope V cast something nasty on Xykon after that insult. He basically said V had no effect at all.

That makes me think of the oracle's prophecy.

:vaarsuvius: "I have no effect?!"

[Professor Tanhauser]

Why why o why can't V kill anyting himself he always has some silly ridiculous thing save him... well excluding the dragon

I seem to recall V taking out a lot of ogres with fireballs while they were traveling with frau miko.

[Dubiela]

I wonder... how Xykon is 'mind controlling' the zombie dragon if it was beheaded by Roy sword? Its mind is out of its brain?:confused:

[Hypothetical]

That makes me think of the oracle's prophecy.

:vaarsuvius: "I have no effect?!"

Huh? Xykon was not reffering in any way to V. He has no clue where the head of the Dragon went, and doesn't care. He is reffering to the fact that Roy's action had no effect whatsoever on his control of the ZD.

[Maerok]

Nothing like a bit of terminal velocity damage, eh?

[Forealms]

If :roy: chopped off a wing wouldn't :belkar:'s ring help him land safely, especially if he chopped then jumped off the dragon's back?

Not necessarily. I'm no expert on rings of jumping, but I don't think they'd let you safely fall the 200-or-so feet to the ground. However, he CAN jump up higher and hope he gets picked up by :elan:'s master's blimp.

...Or have you never read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Anyway, excellent turn of events for Oots, right when I thought it was getting all serious...

[Aegeus]

No the mark activates crippling belkar... probably would be a lethal result...

MoJ is a standard Bestow Curse spell. Not lethal, but out on the battlefield it may well be. On the other hand, Belkar might be able to build himself a fortress of hobbo corpses and survive.

Possible curses include:

1. -6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
2. -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.
3. Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.

Applying a -6 to wisdom might be particularly deadly, with his "wisdom score reserved for lemmings."

[jindra34]

Not necessarily. I'm no expert on rings of jumping, but I don't think they'd let you safely fall the 200-or-so feet to the ground. However, he CAN jump up higher and hope he gets picked up by :elan:'s master's blimp.

...Or have you never read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Anyway, excellent turn of events for Oots, right when I thought it was getting all serious...
You actually thought OOTS would get serious, Seriously are you a little crazy, this is a comic comic, its never gonna be serious...

[Zienth]

MoJ is a standard Bestow Curse spell. Not lethal, but out on the battlefield it may well be. On the other hand, Belkar might be able to build himself a fortress of hobbo corpses and survive.

Possible curses include:

1. -6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
2. -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.
3. Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.

Applying a -6 to wisdom might be particularly deadly, with his "wisdom score reserved for lemmings."

According to Roy in strip 295:
(http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0295.html)
if the curse is activated, he'll get sicker and sicker until he'll be incapable of hurting anyone.

A possibility:

If Roy will gets too far away and the mark is activated, I could see Belkar continuing to fight for a while, but eventually ending up collapsing from the curse and falling down his mountain of corpses, burying himself in a coprse-alanche. He could remain there, left for dead for the remainder of the battle to be found during the cleanup. The only problem I see with that is that some people would scream that it's too much like Merry in the battle of Minas Tirith. But other than being halflings buried under corpses during a battle, the circumstances are quite different.



Zienth

[Aimbot]

I saw that coming.

Really.

I am not lying.

[skinkatlarge]

Xykon was lucky. Roy too, probably more so. What if the spell was centered in the head, so when Roy severed it the head kept flying along while the rest of the dragon zombie plummeted with its passengers...

But the look on Xykon's face wouldn't be worth losing V and Roy, so I'm glad.

[jindra34]

Xykon was lucky. Roy too, probably more so. What if the spell was centered in the head, so when Roy severed it the head kept flying along while the rest of the dragon zombie plummeted with its passengers...

But the look on Xykon's face wouldn't be worth losing V and Roy, so I'm glad.

Judging from V's luck the dragon body would have still landed on the DK... and the DK would have absorbed all the damage from all three entities falling... Dang! that would have rocked more...

[Hototo]

Lol, I definitely didn't see that coming. Fantastic though!

[Nightfall]

ROFL....timing is everything! :biggrin:

[The_Hunting_Enemy]

Well that was...

...un-expected.

[laggerific]

Nice one Giant! Concentrate on getting better first though. No sense suffering for longer than you have to.

And was Roy considering that he'd fly too far from Belkar and trigger the MoJ there? If so, that's a pretty keen observation when you're busy fighting a lich.

Hasn't he already been flying in circles over and over again?

[Tharr]

Great job 20d6 from the head and please chop the wings very much.

[jindra34]

Great job 20d6 from the head and please chop the wings very much.

yeah and make it fly in more complex shapes while your at it... like maybe figure 8's or corkscrews or....

[Fineous Orlon]

So, does a decapitated undead dragon head still get it's breath weapon? (It's pointing at V)

No, I would think not.



"No effect" my left butt cheek.

If nothing else, Roy deprived the zombie dragon of a bite attack.

True.

I seem to recall from the Dragon book, Zombie Dragons maintain their breath weapon, perhaps at half strength, and do ordinarily have a bite attack.

Both good points. Xykon was inaccurate about 'no effect' in 3 ways.

[Lizard Lord]

good job he he falling heads mmmmm what is v thinking after that happened

Most likly somewhere along the lines of "Holy Crap!".

Just in case some one decides to make this comment (plus I just want to make my post bigger), I know V would never actually say "holy crap" which is why I said somewhere along the.

[Nathander]

Anti-climatic? Yes; but that's the utter genius of it. While it may not have been destruction in battle with it's actual opponent, I actually think this was a fairly hardcore way for the DK to go. There was no way V was going to be able to kill it with what s/he had, at least most likely. So what'd it take to take him down? The falling head of a zombie dragon. Maybe it's anti-climatic, but I think it's a fairly cool death as well.

And, unfortunately, while they did kill a major opponent, they still have BIG trouble coming along soon, as the Eye of Fear and Flame should be there in just a few more strips with his troops, as well as the fact that Redcloak sent the Heucuva along after him to support the Eye with a few thousand more troops. They killed what is probably the strongest of the Xykon imposters, but things still aren't looking too good.

[Fascisticide]

So, all of you who said Roy would come and save V were... right?

[Aerysil]

Yay V! ER.. yeah.

I like it when the punchline is the first cell on a new line. That way I can scroll into it and get a surprise. Otherwise my peripheral vision peeks ahead on me.

[Shadic]

I actually thought that Roy was going to fall on the Death Knight or something. I wasn't too far off. Gotta love Roy saving his teammates when in need, whether he realizes it or not.

[carais]

You know, I wonder if you could just keep cutting of dragon until you got the least amount needed to fly, then race it...

I see just one problem with that - you'd only know the moment you've cut off one slice too much (too many?) *eg*

Rest, Giant, we'll live without a comic strip or two.

And - ignoring all other side effects (loss of breath/bite), cutting through the neck must have dealt a decent chunk of damage.

Did I mention that resting is better than prolonging sickness by doing work at all cost? Get well!

[Thoughtbot360]

:xykon: Absolutely no effect at all. :biggrin:

Actually, it'd be cool if sometime in the future Roy just Bull-Rushes Xykon off the dragon, and both of them go plumpeting to their deaths!-

...........and then Roy lands on the pile of hobgoblin corpses Belkar made.

:belkar: WTF?
:roy: I'm alive! Oh, Belkar and your lovable bloodlust, I could just kiss you!
:belkar: : :eek:
:roach: I actually don't have a quip this time. But daaaaamn.

[Thortok2000]

I don't know why, but something about today's strip made me think for the first time ever that this would be really good, animated. Not that it needs animation, that's not what I'm saying, I just think it would do really well if it was. Even with 'stick figure' art. Which as we all know really isn't that bad.

I dunno. Something about the way the movement is depicted in this strip just gave me the feeling that the characters were really moving around in between the frames, I could see them in my mind's eye, instead of just the normal 'posed' feel. Especially Xykon and Roy.

Or maybe I don't have enough sleep.

[SteveMB]

Most likly somewhere along the lines of "Holy Crap!".

Just in case some one decides to make this comment (plus I just want to make my post bigger), I know V would never actually say "holy crap" which is why I said somewhere along the.

(S)he's say two dozen polysyllabic words that mean "Holy Crap!"

[Delgarde]

As for Xykon not being the main threat.. keep in mind this IS Xykon. He's the king of ADHD villians. I mean seriously, he purposely buzzed the heroes multiple times and tipped himself off, though inadvertantly.

Yep, that's it. He *should* be going for the throne room, but first got distracted by the people on the walls, then by Roy jumping onboard. I'm pretty sure he'd entirely forgotten that there was a battle going on until Roy mentioned it. I'm sure that when Start of Darkness comes out, we'll find that Xykon is utterly useless without Redcloak's organisational skills.

[Delgarde]

Bah, that was a really lame end for the Death Knight. What are the odds of having the dragon right above V and the DK right before Roy chopped off the head? I think something a bit less arbitrary would have been better.


One in a million, I should say. And as everyone should know, one-in-a-million chances come up nine times out of ten. Narrative demands it - *something* had to happen to the villain, since he certainly couldn't be expected to get away with his villainous villainy.

[Prince_Rohan]

Question:


Why the hell is Xykon flying in circles/ellipses?


Answer:

:xykon: : Hah! I can see my tower from here!

.

[gnownek]

"I see just one problem with that - you'd only know the moment you've cut off one slice too much (too many?) *eg*..."


Then u cause light wounds to grow ir back

[Strengfellow]

Just to echo the previous comments.
Fan-smeging-tastic, V's face was priceless.

Keep getting better or there will be a visit from our legal department (big club with nails in it)

[nocker]

Once he's safely landed, Roy can dispatch the zombie dragon completely, and Xykon will have no form of transportation. Xykon will pretty much have to abandon his plan of attacking from within the castle.

Please refer to the cover of Start of Darkness.

[Thoth]

Ok, if a zombie dragon can survive without his head why can't a DK survive without his body?
They can rebuild him, they have the technology!

*queue sound effect and montage of DK riding and slaughtering people*

[WingedCheetah]

*dies laughing* This is great! :-D

[mggreenberg]

I'm still trying to figure out how a lich without a brain controls
a zombie dragon without a head mentally . . .

[WebMonk]

Right on! Should this possibly start a new thread? Who is smarter - Xykon or the zombie dragon. Maybe the zombie dragon is actually controlling Xykon!

(yes, I know it's nonsense. i've been up 28 hrs straight so far.)

[jindra34]

Right on! Should this possibly start a new thread? Who is smarter - Xykon or the zombie dragon. Maybe the zombie dragon is actually controlling Xykon!

(yes, I know it's nonsense. i've been up 28 hrs straight so far.)

IT's obvious the dragon is smarter... it has yet to try and upset Roy... (Remeber the last time Roy got REALLY MAD...)...

[Bakta]

I hate to say it, but the last two comics rates : meh.


At the very best

[factotum]

I'm sure that when Start of Darkness comes out, we'll find that Xykon is utterly useless without Redcloak's organisational skills.

I'm not so sure. We know that Xykon was perfectly capable of taking down a powerful wizard (Roy's father's mentor) more than 30 years before OotS started, and I doubt Redcloak was more than a glint in his father's tusks at that time. Furthermore, Xykon hit on the plan of using the TeeVo to track Miko's progress so he didn't have to sit and watch the crystal ball all day--something Redcloak didn't think of!

[SteveMB]

Xykon hit on the plan of using the TeeVo to track Miko's progress so he didn't have to sit and watch the crystal ball all day

Well, he did (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0416.html) watch the crystal ball all day, just not for that purpose. :smallsmile:

[Soulguard]

I'm still trying to figure out how a lich without a brain controls
a zombie dragon without a head mentally . . .

Well the whole lich is in essence no more than a powerfull will clambering to the mortal remains of his former self so the "mind" of Xykon should be no problem... and as he surely has proven there is somewhere something able to form thoughts inside that hollow skull...

the dragon on the other side... if the whole thing of Dragon Flight isn't one of levitating the damned beast by your own mind, Xykon should be up for a surprise...

BUT: it could again be some loop in the DnD Rules that doesn't specify effects of hits on certain body zones of zombie dragons and there simply is not rule that states "no head no mind" for them ;)
or maybe he already upgraded his flying commandpost from going by "Fly-by-wire" to "Fly by Bluetooth" :) and the corpseless head can still function as interface between the master and his beast.






to the question of Roy's stability on the neck of the dragon, well why didn't he just take a seat ;)
maybe they could even fight BOTH with the rules for MOUNTED combat then *grin*

[laggerific]

Well the whole lich is in essence no more than a powerfull will clambering to the mortal remains of his former self so the "mind" of Xykon should be no problem... and as he surely has proven there is somewhere something able to form thoughts inside that hollow skull...

the dragon on the other side... if the whole thing of Dragon Flight isn't one of levitating the damned beast by your own mind, Xykon should be up for a surprise...

BUT: it could again be some loop in the DnD Rules that doesn't specify effects of hits on certain body zones of zombie dragons and there simply is not rule that states "no head no mind" for them ;)
or maybe he already upgraded his flying commandpost from going by "Fly-by-wire" to "Fly by Bluetooth" :) and the corpseless head can still function as interface between the master and his beast.






to the question of Roy's stability on the neck of the dragon, well why didn't he just take a seat ;)
maybe they could even fight BOTH with the rules for MOUNTED combat then *grin*

It would be like that final battle in Kill Bill 2.