OOTS #1012 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[8BitNinja]

Thank you kind sir, I must go at once

Tally Ho my good friends!

And see you later for the neutral ones

[Capt Spanner]

I like the colour schemed naming.

Also: woah! I hope V is in a perceptive / fighty mood!

[Skull the Troll]

I like the colour schemed naming.

Also: woah! I hope V is in a perceptive / fighty mood!

Wow, could the banjo people have called it? Maybe Varsuvious as a rep of the IFCC?

[Lord Torath]

I love Blackwing's line!

[8BitNinja]

I think Hel might have landed on Park Place with 5 hotels

That's gonna cost her

The world will stay intact


As stated by someone at an earlier time, I thought that red means stop, green means go, and yellow means floor it

[Exodus111]

New comic is up.

Well, now I'm curious. Could the "Banjo the demigod solution" that this board has been passing around in jest actually happen?

[BowStreetRunner]

So which demigod is left to vote? I see the cleric third from left in the first pane, but don't recognize the character.

[Quild]

Omg, V will have a vampire familiar very soon!
No?
Please!


We finally know who those demigods are. But one.

[8BitNinja]

Well, now I'm curious. Could the "Banjo the demigod solution" that this board has been passing around in jest actually happen?

Banjo is actually secretly has a stronger, final form

Guitar

[jydog1]

Oh, Roy. Your kingdom for a crossbow with fancy bolts

[Puschkin]

Has Varsuvius' debt been paid to the IFFC? Or do they still have a favour to pull?

[Sian]

only six of the seven demigods actually voted?

[8BitNinja]

R.I.P In pastrami, Elan

He landed on park place

Like if you cry every time

1 Like = 1 electrum piece

[internisus]

There seems to be a missing period after "oblivion" in panel 5.

Great to finally switch back to the other characters, but... dratted sneaky vampires!

[Agi Hammerthief]

Has Varsuvius' debt been paid to the IFFC? Or do they still have a favour to pull?
they still have time on the clock with V

[littlebum2002]

WTH just happened?

[internisus]

Has Varsuvius' debt been paid to the IFFC? Or do they still have a favour to pull?

They still have more time remaining. This was a big part of her decision to come clean to Roy—so that he would be wary of the possibility that they would again take V out of the picture.

[KorvinStarmast]

Wow, could the banjo people have called it? Maybe Varsuvious as a rep of the IFCC?Uh, just which demigod is that dwarf vampire now on the ship representing?

I don't have the all 3.5 DnD pantheons memorized.

From actual Norse pantheons, since Valkyries were servants of the gods in the North Pantheon, sent to collect slain brave warriors. Not sure how this makes a demigod out of their Queen ... but whatever, I guess that's as valid as a Fire Giant lord being a demigod.

[8BitNinja]

Great to finally switch back to the other characters, but... dratted sneaky vampires!

And now back to Godsmootvania

(Vampire hunter from castlevania 1 plays in the background)

[Mith]

Blackwing always gets the best lines.

[Shining Wrath]

Oooh, Hel got played. She deceived the demigods, and one of them changed their mind when they learned the truth.

We now know that HPoH did use the staff to create a vampire out of poor Gontor - but what does he hope to accomplish on the Mechane?

It appears that despite my fervent protests to the contrary, Banjo is about to be entered into the pantheon and allowed a vote - and Hel thinks Banjo will vote for destruction. What other demigod could there be?

Also, Mr. Scruffy has one eye open. Vamptor had best watch his step.

[One Skunk Todd]

WTH just happened?

Gonferatu coalesced aboard the airship for some reason. Not sure about the last vote though.

[Toper]

Ha, I love Iounn. And Blackwing. And Loki. And Roy climbing on top of the shell. Really this is just great all around.

No idea what Hel's backup plan is. Is it the same thing as the "next phase" Durkula mentioned last comic? If so, it's probably something involved like commandeering the airship and fetching another demigod priest or two, since he thinks Roy might be able to stop it.

[hamishspence]

As I don't have the all 3.5 DnD pantheons memorized.

From actual Norse pantheons, since Valkyries were servants of the gods in the North Pantheon, sent to collect slain brave warriors. Not sure how this makes a demigod out of their Queen ... but whatever, I guess that's as valid as a Fire Giant lord being a demigod.

In the 3.0 (but has online 3.5 update) book Deities & Demigods, normal Valkyries are Rank 0 Quasi-deities - so it seems quite reasonable that the head Valkyrie would have an extra rank or so, putting her in demi-deity territory.

[jedipilot24]

Uh, just which demigod is that dwarf vampire now on the ship representing?

That's not a demigod priest, that's the former Exarch of the Creed of Stone, now vampirized. So now the question is, what is Hel's backup plan and how does it involve the aptly named Mechane?

[Wonton]

Well, I don't think many people expected this.

The vote is a No but they STILL have a backup plan? :smallconfused:

[Shining Wrath]

Also - why would the vampire want to be in V's room? Is he stealing the teleport orb?

Maybe that's how Durkon brings death and destruction to the dwarven lands - teleporting there with V's orb.

[mp122984]

only six of the seven demigods actually voted?

So far. Given that Hel is worried by Hermod's defection, the seventh vote is probably going to be "No" - hence the HPoH's backup plan.

[HUMVEE Driver]

First off, who was that dwarf? I don't think there was ever even a HINT of his existence before!

[Origamite]

My guess is that the vamp declares himself to be the priest of Banjo, takes his god down to the meeting, and votes that Banjo wants to destroy the world.

[Toper]

only six of the seven demigods actually voted?
Ha! I totally didn't notice that. I'm guessing Rich is just as bad at Mondays as I am. :smallwink:


Also - why would the vampire want to be in V's room? Is he stealing the teleport orb?
Ooh, that's a much more viable plan than commandeering the airship, yeah.

[One Skunk Todd]

So not yet voting is the Dwarf(I think) in the blue robes with the blue hat and crown emblem that looks like Xykon's crown?

[KorvinStarmast]

That's not a demigod priest, that's the former Exarch of the Creed of Stone, now vampirized. So now the question is, what is Hel's backup plan and how does it involve the aptly named Mechane? Hmm, I thought Malack identified the Vampire Formation phase as taking 3 days (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0878.html), which he was able to accelerate to less time via the arcane spells in his staff. I don't think that the Exarch has been down for three days ... :smallconfused:

@hamishspence

In the 3.0 (but has online 3.5 update) book Deities & Demigods, normal Valkyries are Rank 0 Quasi-deities - so it seems quite reasonable that the head Valkyrie would have an extra rank or so, putting her in demi-deity territory. close enough.

@One Skunk Todd

So not yet voting is the Dwarf(I think) in the blue robes with the blue hat and crown emblem that looks like Xykon's crown? That looks like a generic crown, but sure, I guess Zykon's looks like that.

[Gwynfrid]

Hmm, I thought Malack identified the Vampire Formation phase as taking 3 days (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0878.html), which he was able to accelerate to less time via the arcane spells in his staff. I don't think that the Exarch has been down for three days ... :smallconfused:


The same staff that "Durkon" still carried here. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0995.html)

[Zea mays]

Also - why would the vampire want to be in V's room? Is he stealing the teleport orb?

Maybe that's how Durkon brings death and destruction to the dwarven lands - teleporting there with V's orb.

Could he use the orb to go fetch the high priest of the Dark one to the moot? :smalleek:
Too far fetched?

[Quild]

Ha! I totally didn't notice that. I'm guessing Rich is just as bad at Mondays as I am. :smallwink:

Well, the HPoH specifically says to Roy that "there is still one vote outstanding, actually". But he may not be aware of the result to come.


Hmm, I thought Malack identified the Vampire Formation phase as taking 3 days (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0878.html), which he was able to accelerate to less time via the arcane spells in his staff. I don't think that the Exarch has been down for three days ... :smallconfused:

HPoH has the staff and can use it.
Edit: Ninja'd

[GreatWyrmGold]

You gotta love how casual the reason for some of the gods' votes are...


First off, who was that dwarf? I don't think there was ever even a HINT of his existence before!
I think he's the dwarf Durkon vampirized earlier.

[mp122984]

Could he use the orb to go fetch the high priest of the Dark one to the moot? :smalleek:
Too far fetched?

My guess is that he'll use the orb to try to teleport away one of the "No" votes, which isn't technically raising arms against them.

[Gift Jeraff]

Gonetor Hammerhel is going to use the one-shot teleport orb for something, I'm guessing.

[Ivrytwr]

I wonder if Elan's bardic-sense is tingling.
Blackwing - attack! Plus who is that mysterious 'new' vampire dwarf cleric - Gontor Hammerfell?
Another plan with a plan.
Thanks Giant.

[137beth]

Yea, I think the teleport orb will be the key in the next phase of the plan, I just can't figure out what it will be used for:smalleek:

[Quartz]

So not yet voting is the Dwarf(I think) in the blue robes with the blue hat and crown emblem that looks like Xykon's crown?

He's already voted No. Otherwise Hermod's vote would just mean a draw. Now Hel has sent the ex High Priest of Stone to the Mercane.

[Toper]

Assuming this next plan succeeds, I wonder what the second tie-breaker is? A general melee? That'd be fun, right?

[KorvinStarmast]

HPoH has the staff and can use it.



http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0995.html

Ah, yes, had forgotten that he got it thanks to Nale's tossing (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0906.html)it ...

[Heksefatter]

"Really? The premature villain gloat? I'm a failure as a parent."

Loki, thou art hilarious. And correct, as well. It's biting her even now. If Hel had kept her mouth shut, she might not have pushed fence-sitters into voting yet.

[Gift Jeraff]

Yea, I think the teleport orb will be the key in the next phase of the plan, I just can't figure out what it will be used for:smalleek:

Get a head start to the Tomb of Kraagor, destroy the Gate in order to force the gods to destroy the world, and all the while delay the Order significantly?

[Velazquez]

The situation has just started to become interesting. :smallsmile:

[Sky_Schemer]

Get a head start to the Tomb of Kraagor, destroy the Gate in order to force the gods to destroy the world, and all the while delay the Order significantly?

That's my guess, too.

Though, based on his expression, he wasn't expecting to land in a room full of creatures not affected by Dominate Person. Though I am not sure what any of them can do to him other than raise the alarm.

[Aerysil]

I find it funny how easily I accept everyone using the names 'Durkula' and 'Vamptor' despite those names never having been used in the comics.

[a1chemi]

He's already voted No. Otherwise Hermod's vote would just mean a draw. Now Hel has sent the ex High Priest of Stone to the Mercane.

Actually we didn't see him vote on panel. Based on what we've seen the vote is indeed still a tie.

I suppose he is the outstanding vote to which Durkula refers.

[Seiryu]

So, like some people here, I think the backup plan involves the Teleport Orb.

Given how he seems eager to finish the backup plan, I guess it involves Not-Durkon teleporting to Dwarven Lands and spreading Death and Destruction, just like the prophecy states. I guess not everyone there will be brave enough to face a powerful vampire cleric and die in battle, thus providing Hel with a good number of followers. Doesn't have the same punch as the original plan, but I guess it works as a consolation prize.

[Bluepaw]

That's my guess, too.

Though, based on his expression, he wasn't expecting to land in a room full of creatures not affected by Dominate Person. Though I am not sure what any of them can do to him other than raise the alarm.

Can the Mechane handle a de-polymorphed Bloodfeast the Exterminator?

[Peelee]

The vampire at the end is (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0994.html).

He's already voted No. Otherwise Hermod's vote would just mean a draw.
....it is a draw. The seventh vote has been explicitly called out as not happening yet. Can you link to his alleged vote?

[Shekinah]

"Really? The premature villain gloat? I'm a failure as a parent."

Loki, thou art hilarious. And correct, as well. It's biting her even now. If Hel had kept her mouth shut, she might not have pushed fence-sitters into voting yet.

At least Hel doesn't say "totes."

[zimmerwald1915]

That's my guess, too.

Though, based on his expression, he wasn't expecting to land in a room full of creatures not affected by Dominate Person. Though I am not sure what any of them can do to him other than raise the alarm.
"Bird to the face!" comes to mind. Though that didn't prove particularly distracting last time.

[Syncrogti]

Is the dwarf on the airship one that Durkula vamped?

[Broken Crown]

Presumably HPoH also used "Protection From Daylight" on Vampire Gontor.

Allow me to join the chorus of those wondering who the unnamed, not-yet-voting, seventh demigod is, what his vote will be, and whether Hel's backup plan will render it irrelevant.

Once again, it's fun to hear the reasoning behind the different (demi)gods' votes.

Vampire Gontor has no spells, and is in a room full of the familiars and animal companions of various high-level characters. He may be in trouble.

Another fine strip. Thanks, Giant!

[Iron Fist Corps]

Who's that seventh dwarf priest among the demigod priests? The blue robes and crown symbol seem very suspicious...
Also, the High priests of Banjo and the Dark One still haven't voted on this.

[Yrnes]

While I’m happy to see the world is saved, I’m a little disappointed with the break in the action.

This seemed like the right place for Roy to put a stop to Durkula. Letting him get away at this point would be pretty anticlimactic. I hope Blackwing’s line at the end is foreshadowing that Durkula’s plans won’t come together like he thinks they will; otherwise if he gets away here that would be the biggest let-down in the decade I’ve been reading this comic.

[The Giant]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

[hamishspence]

Who's that seventh dwarf priest among the demigod priests? The blue robes and crown symbol seem very suspicious...
Also, the High priests of Banjo and the Dark One still haven't voted on this.

They might not get votes - if they haven't joined pantheons the way the elven gods did.

[rman]

Demi-god #5 has not voted. In the first panel entrance was between Surtur and Iounn. Beard, denim-blue outfit with yellow star on hat.

Hermod's vote would have made it 4 to 2. So this 7th demi-god if backing Hel would have made it 5-2. Now they can make it 4-3 either way.

[Rinazina]

Also - why would the vampire want to be in V's room? Is he stealing the teleport orb?

Maybe that's how Durkon brings death and destruction to the dwarven lands - teleporting there with V's orb.

yes and not. I guess plan of the Stonecula is waste the orb and go to call redclock, currently uninvited.

from SoD we learn that:

is a win win situation for the Dark One.
The whole "Snarl plan" is intended to threat other gods (and ask an improvement of Goblin life)
If the world get destroyed, in the next one he would benefit of a better contractual position in rebuilding the world for the goblin society.

the death and destruction prophecy will just happen later.

[Mad Humanist]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

I worked all that out from the comic. So I don't see why anybody should get confused by it. Sure there were some flashbacks but none I noticed that went to the first fifty strips or anything.

[Reboot]

I take it Belkar got thrown off the opposite side of the mountain? (Otherwise, V can't be THAT unobservant, surely.)


Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

Personally, I was wondering how the hell future-Durkula got to the present day at first, before I read this thread!

[rman]

Also neat the way summon-proxy works different for the demi-gods. Gods get this massive virtual presence independent of the cleric. Demi-gods just speak from the priest. Both get the Zot! spell effect.

[Ralanr]

Is Durkon technically in the dwarven lands at the moment? Because if not, then the concept of "teleport to dwarf lands and bring destruction" won't work unless Vampire Durkon goes to the dwarf lands (or his home, I forget the specifics). Don't see him doing that from inside that temple.

[Seward]

I was thinking maybe he'd use the teleport orb to get another priest, and then word-of-recall theml back to the Godmoot, but the stone creed dudes are out of spells, especially after being level drained to zero.

So probably just fetching the teleport orb. It's time for the Legion of Super Pets to save the day!

[Syncrogti]

I'll be honest here, i would love to see the animals in the Mechane battle the vamped dwarf.

[Glich]

Has Varsuvius' debt been paid to the IFFC? Or do they still have a favour to pull?I think she still has some more time on his/her card.

[Lord Stoneheart]

He's already voted No. Otherwise Hermod's vote would just mean a draw. Now Hel has sent the ex High Priest of Stone to the Mercane.

He hasn't voted yet. There's only six votes shown on panel. Hermod's vote would have been the deciding vote in that it would have been the fourth out of seven yes, meaning that Hel wins. If this last guy votes yes then Hel still wins. Having a tie isn't possible because there's seven votes. But seeing just how angry she is with Hermod, I have a feeling that Hel isn't so sure how the vote is going to turn out. It will probably be a no, forcing Hel to use her backup plan. (If the main plan is known before it's executed, and the backup plan is unknown, then chances are that the backup plan is going to have to come into play)

I'm going to have to agree with the people who say it has to do with the teleport orb. It would allow Lurky to get to the gate faster than the Order. And I've been thinking that something would interfere with Roy's plan to just teleport to the gate's location ever since he brought it up. It's such a good plan on his part that it just seemed destined to have a wrench thrown in it.

Also Loki's lines in this arc have been the best. And I'm starting to wonder just how Haley cheats at Jenga.

[Rinazina]

[...]
Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

don't worry Rich, the job is perfect, just the first page commenter runs so fast from the comic to the forum, that clearly do not get 100% of the comic :smalltongue:

if you put a 20 minutes delay between the publication and the first post, I'm sure the misunderstanding will diminish!

ciao and keep going!

[Reboot]

I was thinking maybe he'd use the teleport orb to get another priest, and then word-of-recall theml back to the Godmoot, but the stone creed dudes are out of spells, especially after being level drained to zero.

They weren't level-drained. Durkula still had a few spells after being vamped (Summon Proxy, Command Word) before praying to Hel for the first time.


I think she still has some more time on his/her card.

One twenty-something minutes, one three-and-something minutes. Not sure how much that affects the current situation though.

[Laurana]

Seven priests of Demi-gods came, only six voted, there's still the blue-robed one with a crown and a sceptre to vote. That's why Durkula says that there is still one vote outstanding. If he votes yes, it's still Hel's plan A.

Then there is plan B, which involves vamped!Gonthor getting onto the Mechane, would have been easier to pull off if Durkula had managed to kill Roy, and was devised thanks to the same Roy. I wonder what that might be. I don't think it will involve the teleport orb.

Then there's still Belkar to show up.

PS yes, Vaarsuvius has still quite a lot of time to do in hell.

ETA: Ninja'd by The Giant :smallbiggrin:

[Quild]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

If it helps, all of this was immediately very clear to me. And English is my third language after French and German...
Most of this is explained in the strip.
It seems quite early to have forgotten about Gontor and the fact that HPoH attacked two clerics.
How can people keep missing that HPoH has Malack's staff?

[Psyren]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

It was straightforward to me.

But if you feel like dropping hints about Plan B we won't stop you... :smallbiggrin:


Also - why would the vampire want to be in V's room? Is he stealing the teleport orb?

Maybe that's how Durkon brings death and destruction to the dwarven lands - teleporting there with V's orb.

This is my guess. But going straight to the Gate would be a pretty bad idea given that Team Evil should be getting all up in its grill and likely won't have any problem snuffing an uppity vampire with no spells left; but going to the Dwarf lands to kickstart some other kind of catastrophe (presumably while their high priests are away?) could get Hel whatever she is after via other means.

[Lord Stoneheart]

Also neat the way summon-proxy works different for the demi-gods. Gods get this massive virtual presence independent of the cleric. Demi-gods just speak from the priest. Both get the Zot! spell effect.

I can't see how the voting was different from the regular gods. The only gods that got the summon proxy treatment were Heimdall because he was the main proponent of yes, Loki because he was the main proponent of no, and Hel because she wanted to take the time for some evil gloating. All the other gods simply spoke through their priest, and it seems the demigods are doing the same thing.

[Ghost Nappa]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

My two immediate questions were "who's the Dwarf Vampire who just gas formed onto the Mechane" which I figured out from re-reading some of the strips (one of the downsides of not reading everything at once) and "If the 7th demigod hasn't voted yet for the sake of drama, and we're doing a meanwhile cut-away, what does Vamptor have to do with Sir Demigod-not-voting-yet?"

[Peelee]

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire).

That was the only bit confusing to me, and I'm fairly confident that was only because of the length of real-world time between appearances. Though details such as the little jagged rock as his holy symbol should have helped tip me off.

As to your concerns about presentation, I don't think it was badly done at all.

[Kurald Galain]

Hm. Does the fact that one of Hel's voters defected render the entire battle between Roy and Durkula moot?

...knowing The Giant, probably not. But that leaves me wondering what its consequences will be...

[Aasimar]

I just want to interject that while people often misread the ð in Iðunn's name as a sort of deformed o, it's more of a soft d, making a th sound (dh sound maybe?). It's a consonant, not a vowel.

It is much more accurately replaced with a d than an o in an English adaptation.

Iðunn is the guardian of the god's golden apples, which kept them young. Wife of Bragi.

But of course, the Giant is free to do it as he wants in his own setting.

Source: Am Icelandic

edit: Also, my mom's name is Iðunn

[Shining Wrath]

Hmm, I thought Malack identified the Vampire Formation phase as taking 3 days (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0878.html), which he was able to accelerate to less time via the arcane spells in his staff. I don't think that the Exarch has been down for three days ... :smallconfused:

@hamishspence
close enough.

@One Skunk Todd
That looks like a generic crown, but sure, I guess Zykon's looks like that.

Tweet of Giant (just dropped) confirms that the new vampire is the guy who escorted HPoH, the late lamented Gontor, Exarch of Stone.

[One Skunk Todd]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

To be fair, Gontor was introduced in #994 and vamped in #995, both posted at the end of July, nearly four months ago. For me at least it was a matter of forgetfulness. I had to go back and double check that the clothes were identical to be sure it was Gontor. :)

ETA: Also, and somewhat more salient, is Roy assuming they've won by tying the vote just before the cutaway to the Mechane. I found that part confusing.

[Rodin]

I just plain didn't recognize Gontor. He only appeared in two strips and meets the "bald, bearded" description of every other dwarf. This is further complicated by the vampirization changing both his skin color and his armor color, making him unrecognizable unless you happened to remember his particular design of armor.

[mouser9169]

All hail Banjo!!!!

[Lord Stoneheart]

I find it funny how easily I accept everyone using the names 'Durkula' and 'Vamptor' despite those names never having been used in the comics.

I think it's because Durkula has been used ever since Malack vampirized Durkon, well before we had proof that Vampire Durkon =/= Normal Durkon. I haven't seen Vamptor used that often, but maybe that's because I didn't lurk enough before I joined the forum?

I always thought of him as Vampire Durkon until the end of book 5, and then HPOH until Belkar called him Lurky Corpsewhiskers. That last one is just a very catchy name.

[Kildaren]

Okay, what happens if one of Hel's proxys attacks the high priest of Banjo, which then survives and shows up to save the day? Would that not make Hel's cronys instant legitimate targets for the rest of the crowd?

[ReaderAt2046]

Ok, my guess is that the backup plan involves somehow using Vamptor to blackmail/extort/influence the unnamed demigod (who would otherwise vote "No") into voting "Yes". If Hermod had voted "yes" here, that last vote wouldn't have mattered, which is why said extortion was the backup plan.

[Odessa333]

I wonder.... could the teleport orb be used offensively? Could Durkula's new vamp dwarf (blanking on name) use it to teleport one of the priests out of the room, rendering their vote invalid?

[One Skunk Todd]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the confusing part is Roy assuming they've won. I don't know why he doesn't realize that not all the votes have been tallied. To busy trying to get Durkula I guess. :)

[CoffeeIncluded]

I was confused at first too but to be fair I'm in a rush. I wonder if the party will be split again for a good chunk of this book?

[Shining Wrath]

That's my guess, too.

Though, based on his expression, he wasn't expecting to land in a room full of creatures not affected by Dominate Person. Though I am not sure what any of them can do to him other than raise the alarm.

A spell less vampire is still a formidable foe; 4 animals are not going to get very far, even if one is the redoubtable Mr. Scruffy.


Is the dwarf on the airship one that Durkula vamped?

Yes, per word of Giant.


Who's that seventh dwarf priest among the demigod priests? The blue robes and crown symbol seem very suspicious...
Also, the High priests of Banjo and the Dark One still haven't voted on this.

The Dark One is in his own pantheon and will never vote. Banjo explicitly refused to join this pantheon and will never vote unless something happened off-screen to change that.


Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

Yeah, can you issue a definitive statement on the question of whether or not Banjo is considered a demigod of this pantheon?

[The Giant]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the confusing part is Roy assuming they've won. I don't know why he doesn't realize that not all the votes have been tallied. To busy trying to get Durkula I guess. :)

Roy was not listening to the votes. He was trying to get into the Anti-Life Shell. He was reacting solely to the bad guy yelling, "DAMN YOU!" and thinking that it sounded like the vote went his way.

[Corneel]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the confusing part is Roy assuming they've won. I don't know why he doesn't realize that not all the votes have been tallied. To busy trying to get Durkula I guess. :)
It's not that confusing considering Hel's reaction to Hermod changing their vote.

[Aasimar]

I'm guessing the last cleric is the high priest of Forseti, demi-god of councils and gatherings?

edit: His name is literally the icelandic word for President.

[Peelee]

Okay, what happens if one of Hel's proxys attacks the high priest of Banjo, which then survives and shows up to save the day? Would that not make Hel's cronys instant legitimate targets for the rest of the crowd?
Probably. Good thing that Banjo has no high priest, then.

Also, the High priests of Banjo and the Dark One still haven't voted on this.
Ya know what? Fine. Let's ignore that, in all likelihood, they don't really get to vote. Let's say they do get to vote. The Dark One would probably vote no, and Banjo would probably vote yes. So absolutely nothing would change. Problem solved, and we can move on from that

[Gwynfrid]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

That was pretty clear, I think. Counting the votes isn't that hard. I just had to go back and check that it was the Creed of Stone priest appearing as a new vampire, and sure, here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0995.html)he is, same guy. And of course "Durkon" used Malak's staff, until he lost it in the fight with Roy later.

[Joe the Rat]

I'm curious to see how things play out with the 7th demigod, Crown Royal.

If Hel was planning on a 4-3, she's kind of stuck (which leads to contingency plans). But I get the impression that she's been playing the game long enough (and learned a thing or two from daddy) to go in with a 5-2 split, as insurance in case there were any problems getting everyone in, or if someone might defect.

It would be interesting to see if he's a lock vote, or, depending on which demigod he represents, if he's going to try and leverage his vote for favors.

[Coldwind]

I don't understand the relation between Gontor and "the backup plan". If he is not eligible to vote, then how can he takes a role in this? I don' t understand what might come next.

[AlignmentDebate]

I like that Haley is cheating at Monopoly even with Elan.

[Cizak]

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

I admit that I totally missed that there was one more cleric that hasn't voted. Hel and Hermod's talk seemed like such a "final" thing that I didn't notice only six new voted had been cast. When HPoH talked about one more vote, I thought Gontor was going to aquire it, or something like that.

[Kildaren]

Probably. Good thing that Banjo has no high priest, then.

Ya know what? Fine. Let's ignore that, in all likelihood, they don't really get to vote. Let's say they do get to vote. The Dark One would probably vote no, and Banjo would probably vote yes. So absolutely nothing would change. Problem solved, and we can move on from that

The idea was more that with a "bodyguard" from Hel attacking other high priests (ok, Elan is not really a cleric, but still), Durkula would be in violation of the godsmoot - and would become a legitimate target, which upon his demise would render Hel's vote void

[Quartz]

I worked all that out from the comic. So I don't see why anybody should get confused by it.

For my own part, it was Roy taunting Durkula that Hel had lost. If it's still a draw because the seventh priest hasn't voted then Hel hasn't lost, so Roy's taunt in panel 13 is out of place.

[Shining Wrath]

I like that Haley is cheating at Monopoly even with Elan.

Au contraire; Monopoly has more house rules even than 3.5 D&D. Money under Free Parking, don't go to jail on 3 doubles in a row, ...

[Gift Jeraff]

I don't understand the relation between Gontor and "the backup plan". If he is not eligible to vote, then how can he takes a role in this? I don' t understand what might come next.

Backup plan meaning if the voting plan failed

[eilandesq]

My guess is:

Durkula either expects to lose the vote, or genuinely doesn't know. Hel's reaction suggests that she knows the last vote isn't going her way;

The new vampire is there to steal the teleport orb by stealth, as even Haley and Elan could probably take a single vampire cleric with its higher level spells depleted (Haley holds a weapon rather well suited for at least temporarily neutralizing a vampire, for one thing). V would probably be neutralized by the fiends if V tried to interefere, as they seem to want the gates destroyed for their own reasons. The "backup plan" is probably to make sure the last gate is destroyed by any means necessary, letting the Snarl out and forcing the gods to destroy the world and let Hel thereby win.

[One Skunk Todd]

I guess the most important question is, are Elan and Haley playing strip Monopoly? :D

[ArkenBrony]

wow, this was a fantastic comic to wake up to. amazing job, as usual. I was wondering when the stone creed cleric would come back. I also love the traffic light metaphors, really digging this whole thing

[Anonymouswizard]

Well, I wasn't expecting this. Mentioning the plan B means our demigod of crowns (who I'll call Crowny) is more likely go vote no than yes. For one reason:

If Crowny voted yes, then there is no point to mentioning plan B and then not having it happen. Although I cannot read the Giant's mind, if plan B never comes up the words mentioning it are useless, and possibly Vamptor appearing as well.

I'm hooked, but not on what the outcome of the vote will be, because I'm convinced that the Giant will find some way to continue the story even if the world will be, but on what plan B will be (Durkula/Hel is more competent than Mr Greenhilt, Roy would be on at least plan H now, probably plan Q).

[Aasimar]

Well, I wasn't expecting this. Mentioning the plan B means our demigod of crowns (who I'll call Crowny) is more likely go vote no than yes. For one reason:


Forseti is one of only a very few names in norse mythology that hasn't been namedropped so far, and as the leader of councils and gatherings, I think a crown suits him pretty well.

edit: There are other options, Jörmungandur, Mímir and a bunch of others, but none of them fit as well.

edit 2: Most of the others are monsters or Jötuns, Forseti is the only one I can think of who's a regular member of the Æsir gatherings.

[Zwiebelchen]

The biggest question is:
Why does the demigod of youth not have a septal piercing and LOTS of makeup, aswell as a permanent duckface? I call it now; she is an imposter!

[AbyssStalker]

A spell less vampire is still a formidable foe; 4 animals are not going to get very far, even if one is the redoubtable Mr. Scruffy.

Yes, but 4 animals don't just enter combat without a lot of screeching and yelping. Unless he has mass hold person or dominates them all into not fighting, the other members of the ship are likely to hear.

...And Thor knew the last time a vampire boarded the ship... So there's that.

Edit: The only question I would have at this point is if the gods can in fact see inside the godsmoot, Hel leans in quite aggressively towards that last "no" High Priest and argues with Hermod through her, is it that she can see the representatives only?

[KorvinStarmast]

Seve Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused. The only problem is the time between strips, but that's just the way OOTS rolls. Once another reader pointed out to me the transfer of the staff to Durkon it all came together for me. I noticed that number of votes, and await the reveal on who that cleric is.

[greenfunkman]

Ok, my guess is that the backup plan involves somehow using Vamptor to blackmail/extort/influence the unnamed demigod (who would otherwise vote "No") into voting "Yes". If Hermod had voted "yes" here, that last vote wouldn't have mattered, which is why said extortion was the backup plan.

This has got to be it.

so who is the final demigod and why do they care about something/someone on the Mechane? He's a dwarf, got blue robes, a yellow crown symbol on his hat, and a wand topped with a red orb. A dwarven god of... magic?

And not to turn all gushing fanboi but wow Mr Giant sir I love everything you do! This strip is not confusing to me at all.

[KorvinStarmast]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the confusing part is Roy assuming they've won. I don't know why he doesn't realize that not all the votes have been tallied. To busy trying to get Durkula I guess. :)
Note the verb tense Roy uses: winning (as a work in progress, you are winning the game while it is ongoing, say scored 3-2 in the ninth inning) whereas if Roy thought the vote was "won" I think the verb tense would have been different.

I note that Giant has pointed out that Roy's taunt is as uninformed as Hel's was earlier, so at least he has the good guys and bad guys fall into that "talk too much smack before the battle is over" for different reasons.

As Roy is "Talky many who talks too much" it is perfect that he's talking crap before the result is in.

[NihhusHuotAliro]

Come on crownhat bluedwarf's demigod, save the world!

Think of all the hats that will be destroyed if the world is ended!

[Anansiil]

I pressed the next button so many times that 1011 was burned into my mind lol.
This is an interesting twist that I didn't expect. Hmm.
I guess Hel will try and force the hands of the gods?
The ice giant priest looked extra cool, and the fire giant priest looked cool too.

[Ezekiel]

I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

Not at all Rich, I for one thought it was fairly obvious.

[chainik]

...

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

I think that was all clear enough, even if it did take some careful reading and remembering back to a bit of recent history. I suspect that most of your readers are following along just fine. People who aren't confused about a strip won't post questions. And people who took a minute to re-read the strip or browse the archives for themselves are likely to miss posting in the first couple pages of the thread. What I'm saying is that it's a biased sample.

[Kantaki]

Durkula has a plan B? Well, Elan would say mentioning this means he will need it. No end of the world I guess.

Haley seems to be... a bit... creative with the Monopoly rules. But I doubt she will play for real gold since she plays against Elan.

My first thought when I saw the High Priest of Surtur was: Wait, is that Ganondorf?:smallbiggrin:

[Peelee]

Au contraire; Monopoly has more house rules even than 3.5 D&D. Money under Free Parking, don't go to jail on 3 doubles in a row, ...

And those are why people tend to hate Monopoly and think it is a terrible game. If people just played by the freaking rules, games would barely last an hour in most cases and would be much more fun.

That said, pretty sure Haley is cheating.

[Silferdrake]

So that's why Durkula went out of his way to kill the dwarf before the fight started, it wasn't just to satiate his bloodthirst - he was fixing the votes.

[NihhusHuotAliro]

Oh dang, what if the backup plan is for the stone-priest-vampire to undo the construction, killing everyone in the temple, leaving stone-priest-vampire as HPOH and killing off a whole lot of high priests. Seems mean enough for Hel.

[greenfunkman]

Oh dang, what if the backup plan is for the stone-priest-vampire to undo the construction, killing everyone in the temple, leaving stone-priest-vampire as HPOH and killing off a whole lot of high priests. Seems mean enough for Hel.

Don't all vampirized dwarves belong to Hel, though? I have no evidence for this except Durkon, however.

[tcrudisi]

Read up to the end of page 3 and no one had posted this yet, so I'll throw it out there:

I feel that this comic provides 100% proof that Belkar is still alive. Considering how long the fight took, Belkar had plenty of time to finish his fall. His animal companion is still just chilling there, doing things like "not eating the birdy" and relaxing on a flying ship, which leads me to believe that he's still an animal companion and not just a basic animal. Ditto for his other animal companions. They are all acting like he is still alive rather than dead.

[Bedinsis]

So now that the demi-gods' priests are here, does that mean that killing HPoH is pointless, or would the council say "Oh, never mind, the gods present vote no, thanks for stopping by demi-gods, but your votes no longer matter."?

Because now that Roy is standing on on HPoH's shield I suspect throwing a sword into his skull might be a viable tactic.

I only now noticed that the priestess of Hermod voted no while facing the way a yes-voter would stand.

[Toper]

I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.
Ah. The confusing part for me is that it really seemed like the voting was done -- Hermod's vote had the dramatic flavor of someone casting the decisive vote, not just re-tying it (not to mention Roy's reaction). Plus the blue-robed dwarf isn't making any apparent move to vote, and given that the first panel established that the number of demigods is unclear, I assumed that Hel was about to dig another one up from somewhere. So I initially didn't do the math, and when I did I completely thought you'd just forgotten to draw the seventh vote!

Now that I understand where you're coming from, it all makes sense.

[LuPuWei]

I'm not familiar with DnD's take on these things (and sorry if this has been asked before) but where's Jormungandr? (ie his priestly representative....)

[tcrudisi]

I guess the most important question is, are Elan and Haley playing strip Monopoly? :D

If so, the vampire will never see them coming because they'll be invisible.

[Bulldog Psion]

Banjo...

Banjo.

BANJO??!?!???!??????

It's got to be the answer. But ... but ...

I'm speechless. :smalleek:

[sumneros]

ok so obviously plan b is that the vampire on the ship is going to attack ellan and make ellan into a vampire, so ellen will be under the control of hel and banjo will therefore be under the control of hel and so then banjo will vote yes.

[Shining Wrath]

Yes, but 4 animals don't just enter combat without a lot of screeching and yelping. Unless he has mass hold person or dominates them all into not fighting, the other members of the ship are likely to hear.

...And Thor knew the last time a vampire boarded the ship... So there's that.

Edit: The only question I would have at this point is if the gods can in fact see inside the godsmoot, Hel leans in quite aggressively towards that last "no" High Priest and argues with Hermod through her, is it that she can see the representatives only?

I think so long as the HPoHermod is surrounded by the yellow aura, due to Summon Proxy, it means that Hermod is somehow present within his high priest and Hel and Hermod are aware of each other across that interface.


Oh dang, what if the backup plan is for the stone-priest-vampire to undo the construction, killing everyone in the temple, leaving stone-priest-vampire as HPOH and killing off a whole lot of high priests. Seems mean enough for Hel.

We know Gontor is out of spells; that's why HPoH was able to vamperize him so easily. I don't think he can undo the temple without spells.

[Shining Wrath]

Banjo...

Banjo.

BANJO??!?!???!??????

It's got to be the answer. But ... but ...

I'm speechless. :smalleek:

No. No. NO.

Vamptor is in V's room; Banjo's not there, but the teleport orb is.

[Anonymouswizard]

And those are why people tend to hate Monopoly and think it is a terrible game. If people just played by the freaking rules, games would barely last an hour in most cases and would be much more fun.

That said, pretty sure Haley is cheating.

I've almost always played monopoly by the rules, and games still last hours. People dragging their downfall out hoping to pay off the mortgages, players buying mortgaged properties for more than their worth because they think it'll be a long term benefit (ranging from the money to demortage it being added on top of the agreed price to just trading the mortgaged property), and it just being too reliant on luck (seriously, most of the actual game portion is luck, the skill comes from knowing when to pass up on properties, when to mortgage them, when to trade them, and when to use certain chance/community chest cards), as well as having only seen a hotel built once (players being bled dry in portions of 20s and 30s). Oh, and all games end the same way, with one person just owning about 3/4 of the property on the board and slowly buying the rest.

Say what you like about chess, but at least I won three different ways on Saturday (including the first checkmate with two knights the person running the club has ever seen).

[greenfunkman]

ok so obviously plan b is that the vampire on the ship is going to attack ellan and make ellan into a vampire, so ellen will be under the control of hel and banjo will therefore be under the control of hel and so then banjo will vote yes.

Oooh... that's good. But what about the "couldn't have devised without your help, Roy" comment?

While twirling mustache, presumably.

[grandpheonix]

That's my guess, too.

Though, based on his expression, he wasn't expecting to land in a room full of creatures not affected by Dominate Person. Though I am not sure what any of them can do to him other than raise the alarm.

Blackwing - Telepathinc Bond.
Bloodfeast and Mr. Scruffy arent freaking out, so Belkar ISNT DEAD!
White Lion guy? I dunno, but I know he has reach , 2 claws and a bite + a helluvalot of strength. Maybe even a Pounce and a grapple.

Gontor (and it IS Gontor) Is there to collect Elan (Who im sure has an abysmal will save) and Haley(Same probably.) IFCC pulls V from his/her body, Gontor gets the Orb and teleports far, far away. Kills haley and Dom's Elan.

And like that, party is taken care of. At least that is what I'd do if i was DMing.

****, maybe Gontor kills Blackwing and V takes the Con damage as well.

Holy crap this is just... wow.

Only thing that can save them is BANJO'S DIVINE SMITE!

(Theres a whole colony of Orcs out there that believe in Banjo at this point, then those that Elan has healed on the Mechane, which also has a high enough Cha to maybe convert one or two of the crew to Banjoist)

Okay im done speculating.

HOLY CRAP GIANT THIS IS AMAZING!

[schmunzel]

only six of the seven demigods actually voted?

Im sure the 7th vote will be a nay - otherwise there would be no need for the contingency plan.
The contingency plan will probably involve Varsuvius' teleportation crystal with which the HPoH wants to teleport to the remaining gate in order to destroy it.
His minion was send there to obtain it.
The Plan can only happen because of Roy, because Roy is the one who obtained (as Party leader) the location of the last remaining Gate.

How many Vampires will there be?
Just the additional one or have all Ushers become Vampires?? (Or just the two ... ???)

sch

[shadowpriest]

Hahahahahaha Blackwing's pure gold :smallbiggrin:

[AbyssStalker]

Oh dang, what if the backup plan is for the stone-priest-vampire to undo the construction, killing everyone in the temple, leaving stone-priest-vampire as HPOH and killing off a whole lot of high priests. Seems mean enough for Hel.

Well, considering Hel just mentioned a "backup plan" directly in front of everybody, it would be ill advised for her to attempt to murder the high priests in the building, it's not like the gods wouldn't know who would be the most likely suspect.

The only part of this situation that worries me is what (the) Hel will do to the OotS for intervening in her plans. (even though they inadvertently were the reason her plan got this far). For her to not intervene in the Order's gate problem for revenge after this, a divine solution may be required here, someone to take the heat off the Order, which is why I'm thinking Thor might have a more personal role in this before it's over. I'm not one of those people who believe this is between Roy, Durkon and Durkula. This involves the very destruction of the world, Roy and Durkula's conflict may be a large part what the arc is about, but you can't discount the opportunity for a god to intervene inside or outside the Godsmoot.

[EmperorSarda]

The backup plan is obvious. Have the newly minted Dwarven Vampire take out the Mechane/the Order of the Stick.

That way there is no one to take on Xykon and the world gets destroyed when the next gate is destroyed.

[skim172]

Seems the simplest explanation is that Vampire Gontor is on the Mechane to obtain something that will flip the vote of the last Demigod priest to a certain No.

Teleporting away a priest, or otherwise invalidating a vote wouldn't guarantee Hel's victory - and Durkula is talking like this is their ace-in-the-hole certainty to seal the win.

The Banjo explanation seems to meet sense. It would explain why Gontor is on the Mechane - to steal a GOD. Although this implies that Banjoism has spread quite virally since its inception among a tribe of island orcs, if they've got a dwarven priest representing him. Banjo's Witnesses apparently are very good with pamphlets. :smallbiggrin:

The Teleport Orb also makes sense - though a bit roundabout, if his plan is to teleport away to another location.

But what else is there on the Mechane worth stealing re: demi-divine intervention? The Secret Wardrobe of Julio Scoundrel, Demigod of Swashbuckling Style?

[Bulldog Psion]

What does a teleport orb have to do with one vote still outstanding? :smallconfused:

Mind you, the best they can hope for is a tie, so I'm not sure what the point of an additional vote is anyway.

I would agree that Gontor is just there to kill everyone and take the ship and the teleport orb for purposes of going and destroying the last gate manually, thus forcing the gods to destroy the world anyway, except for Lurky's statement:

"There is still one vote outstanding, actually."

Hel needs 2 votes to win. I don't get it, at all.

[grandpheonix]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

I got it after reading it a few times. Counting on my fingers and everything. Theres alot going on, but its crazy worth it! Totes even!

[schmunzel]

My guess is that he'll use the orb to try to teleport away one of the "No" votes, which isn't technically raising arms against them.

dammit thats devillish

sch

[Ron Miel]

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

Just one detail that's too small and pixelated to make out clearly. Page 2, panel 6, what is that thing near the Mechane? A bird? The vampire in mist form? The vampire in bat form? Or just a dark patch in the background?

[Lheticus]

I have just one thing to say:

*clears throat*

WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU--

[One Skunk Todd]

Did we ever find out what Blackwing's shiny bauble does? Also, do newly sired vampires get their spell slots back? I read back to when Durkula was sired but it doesn't say.

[Macros]

... Okay, what just happened? I am seriously confused right now. How is that other vampire cleric (I guess we now know for sure he used the staff) going to impact the remaining vote of the dwarf with the fancy hat still down there?

[Frosthead]

Oh dang, what if the backup plan is for the stone-priest-vampire to undo the construction, killing everyone in the temple, leaving stone-priest-vampire as HPOH and killing off a whole lot of high priests. Seems mean enough for Hel.

Magically undoing the construction is out of question, considering that he has no such spells left. He used most of his spells on constructing the temple with the other clerics, and the vampirization-process does not replenish spell slots, as proven by Durkula's example.

Still, who knows? Maybe he will crash Mechane on the temple.:smallbiggrin: Worst case scenario would involve a nice big explosion. I prefer the teleportation-plan, though. Makes somewhat more sense.

[Kurald Galain]

I just want to interject that while people often misread the ð in Iðunn's name as a sort of deformed o, it's more of a soft d, making a th sound (dh sound maybe?). It's a consonant, not a vowel.

Ah! I was wondering if this was an inside joke to the god Ioun or something, I hadn't realized it's actually Idunn / Ithunn. And here I was thinking I knew my Nordic myths :smalltongue:

[Ron Miel]

(Theres a whole colony of Orcs out there that believe in Banjo at this point ...

Actually, they follow Giggles (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0561.html)

[Quibblicious]

And I'm starting to wonder just how Haley cheats at Jenga.

As a man married to an attractive, high charisma redhead with nice curves... eye candy. That'll get you every time.

[Gift Jeraff]

What does a teleport orb have to do with one vote still outstanding? :smallconfused:

Mind you, the best they can hope for is a tie, so I'm not sure what the point of an additional vote is anyway.

I would agree that Gontor is just there to kill everyone and take the ship and the teleport orb for purposes of going and destroying the last gate manually, thus forcing the gods to destroy the world anyway, except for Lurky's statement:

"There is still one vote outstanding, actually."

Hel needs 2 votes to win. I don't get it, at all.

Why does Hel need 2 votes to win? The vote is now tied for both gods and demigods, with a 7th demigod priest yet to vote.

[zimmerwald1915]

Just one detail that's too small and pixelated to make out clearly. Page 2, panel 6, what is that thing near the Mechane? A bird? The vampire in mist form? The vampire in bat form? Or just a dark patch in the background?
It's the vampire in gas form, and it'll probably look better in the printed book.

[Bulldog Psion]

Just one detail that's too small and pixelated to make out clearly. Page 2, panel 6, what is that thing near the Mechane? A bird? The vampire in mist form? The vampire in bat form? Or just a dark patch in the background?

I thought it was a ravine, but I've changed my mind - I think it's Gontor in mist form.


I got it after reading it a few times. Counting on my fingers and everything. Theres alot going on, but its crazy worth it! Totes even!

Okay, so only six votes have been cast. In that case, Gontor going for Banjo makes even less sense; there's still a dwarf who can break the tie, and Hel might still win. If Hel wins the vote, or if the other side wins the vote, either way Banjo is superfluous.

Ergo, Gontor must be going for something other than Banjo. Maybe. Or something. Ugh, I don't know any more.


I have just one thing to say:

*clears throat*

WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU--

Agreed.



Seems the simplest explanation is that Vampire Gontor is on the Mechane to obtain something that will flip the vote of the last Demigod priest to a certain No.

That is possible -- but what on earth could that be?

[schmunzel]

He's already voted No. Otherwise Hermod's vote would just mean a draw. Now Hel has sent the ex High Priest of Stone to the Mercane.

Nope!
Surtur Lord of Fire Giants votes yes
Sigrun Queen of the Valkyries votes yes
Bragi demigod of Poetry votes no
Iounn demigodess of youth votes no
Thrym Lord of Frost Giants votes yes
Hermod Demigod of messengers votes no

thats 3/3 - Now the 7th seems to not be very important (Probably a nay sayer). And yes I have seen this guy before If I just could remember where ...


sch

[skim172]

What does a teleport orb have to do with one vote still outstanding? :smallconfused:

Mind you, the best they can hope for is a tie, so I'm not sure what the point of an additional vote is anyway.

I would agree that Gontor is just there to kill everyone and take the ship and the teleport orb for purposes of going and destroying the last gate manually, thus forcing the gods to destroy the world anyway, except for Lurky's statement:

"There is still one vote outstanding, actually."

Hel needs 2 votes to win. I don't get it, at all.

Hel needs 1 vote. Three demigods voted yes (Fire Giants, Valkyries, Frost Giants) and three voted no (Poetry, Youth, Mail-carriers). The vote is currently tied - the seventh vote breaks the demigod vote, which in turn breaks the larger vote overall.


One must hope that the last Demigod is not Sybil, Demigod of Split Personalities, or else we'll have to go to our next tiebreaker, which will presumably be a vote of Folk Heroes and Urban Legends.

Let's just hope it doesn't come down to the Coaches' Poll and the computer rankings.

/obscure sports reference

[Ron Miel]

Did we ever find out what Blackwing's shiny bauble does?

It subtly increases the spell power of whomever's head it orbits. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0967.html)

[Peelee]

I've almost always played monopoly by the rules, and games still last hours. People dragging their downfall out hoping to pay off the mortgages, players buying mortgaged properties for more than their worth because they think it'll be a long term benefit (ranging from the money to demortage it being added on top of the agreed price to just trading the mortgaged property), and it just being too reliant on luck (seriously, most of the actual game portion is luck, the skill comes from knowing when to pass up on properties, when to mortgage them, when to trade them, and when to use certain chance/community chest cards), as well as having only seen a hotel built once (players being bled dry in portions of 20s and 30s). Oh, and all games end the same way, with one person just owning about 3/4 of the property on the board and slowly buying the rest.

Say what you like about chess, but at least I won three different ways on Saturday (including the first checkmate with two knights the person running the club has ever seen).

Really? I've never played a stock game that lasted more than 2 hours. Strategically not buying properties at face value so they can be auctioned at purchased at lower prices, strategic trading for monopolies (if your players aren't making at least one or two trades per game, or only ever offering very biased trades, then maybe Monopoly isn't for them), and getting double rent on monopolies all work to help build up a small power base early game, which can help towards one player managing to get on top and try to hammer down the others.

If nobody has monopolies, of course, it would drag on forever, but then it's not being played right at all, even if all rules are being kept to.

Also, who the crap says anything about chess other than "it is one of the finest games in all the land?

[Basement Cat]

Of course! Who's going to save the day? The one character best known for being forgotten: BLACKWING!!!

Go, Blackwing, go! Go, Blackwing, go! Go, Blackwing, go!

[alexandraerin]

It's been very clear that the "next phase"/"back-up plan" is for if the Godsmoot doesn't go Hel's way. Therefore, it will not involve swaying the last demigod's vote, nullifying votes by killing priests, or otherwise changing the outcome of the moot.

The most likely scenario for Plan B is that it's teleporting Durkula and his minion(s) directly to the last gate to destroy it. This meshes with all available information, in particular Gontor's point of entry into the Mechane being the room with the teleport orb, that it would be easier to accomplish with Roy off the table (because he would be one of the people trying to stop it), and the fact that Roy helped him devise it (by making the decision to teleport to the gate).

No, it's not a sure thing, as both Team Evil and any surviving members of the Order of the Stick would be dedicated to stopping it from happening at both ends, and Gontor and any other stone-vamps are out of spells, but... that's why it's Plan B.

And we don't actually know that the gentlemen from the ventral planes want all the gates destroyed or not. We only know that they were happy that Roy destroyed Girard's Gate before Tarquin & Son could claim it. Whether their goal was to see it destroyed or to keep it out of anyone else's hands or simply to reduce the number of gates to 1 to force a crisis (like the one we're seeing here) is something we can only speculate about, as they refused to explain their motives to V.

Heck, maybe forcing the gods to meet was their plan? They could be getting up to some kind of mischief right now while the gods are all preoccupied with their respective moots. (I'm assuming the eastern and southern pantheons are watching the northern moot very closely even after their voting finished.)

It's not the most likely scenario, as this is a very crowded situation without another party in the mix... but it could be.

[schmunzel]

... (...) ...
Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.
Actually I thought it was obvious.
And I do absolutely love all the animal companions cuddling together on the tiger :)

sch

[Shining Wrath]

I'm sure it's not going to happen, but does anyone else want to see a cut back to the Moot Hall, and suddenly Belkar bursts into the room atop full-sized Bloodfeast the Extreminator?

[zimmerwald1915]

thats 3/3 - Now the 7th seems to not be very important (Probably a nay sayer). And yes I have seen this guy before If I just could remember where ...
His getup bears a passing resemblance to High Priest Hurak's, from On the Origin of PCs (and also here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1007.html)). Maybe his demigod reports directly to Thor?

[Zorgoth]

So, we can presume that the vampire is there to steal the teleport orb. Unless we can't, because you never know what Rich might be thinking of.

V will almost definitely know that something happened very shortly.

The fiends can still take V out of the picture for three minutes (twice). The vampire is probably going to use the orb before V can react in any case, unless V installed some kind of magical safeguard that Durkula didn't know about (which is possible, since V is suspicious).

Would the rules of Godsmoot permit Durkula to use his thrall to attack Dwarven Lands while it is still going on? Seems doubtful. But he might be able to teleport there and wait until it is over, which may not be long.

It seems likely to me that the orb will be stolen, thanks to the prophecy from OoPCs. Also, the orb seems like something that could drive the comic to the final confrontation too quickly, though of course there are a lot of ways Rich could get out of that.

[Lhynard]

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

It was all clear to me.

[Dr.Zero]

Im sure the 7th vote will be a nay - otherwise there would be no need for the contingency plan.
The contingency plan will probably involve Varsuvius' teleportation crystal with which the HPoH wants to teleport to the remaining gate in order to destroy it.
His minion was send there to obtain it.
The Plan can only happen because of Roy, because Roy is the one who obtained (as Party leader) the location of the last remaining Gate.

How many Vampires will there be?
Just the additional one or have all Ushers become Vampires?? (Or just the two ... ???)

sch

I agree about the Nay and about searching the teleport orb.
But destroying the last gate? Durkula and a couple of thralls against whatever monster/trap Serini put in that dungeon and/or against Xykon and Redcloak and the MitD?
If they try so without wearing an adamantium plot armour, they will be so smoked before even ending to say the "port" part of teleport.

[Quibblicious]

This has got to be it.

Hmmmm... I think that plan B is to steal the Orb of Teleportation and use it to bampf to the last gate and destroy it if the Demigod vote falls apart.

That would force the gods to either let the snarl devour all of the souls, or to rapidly unmake to world to send the souls to their correct ends.

Either way, Hel wins.

Plan A: She gets the souls, power implicit therein, and a new world to play Queen of the Pantheon.

Plan B: She gets a new world where her deal with Odin is now moot, so she can get better terms than in this world.

Both are wins for her, regardless of the outcome on the millions of souls at stake.

Plan A is far better, but absent that, she still ends the deal with Odin using Plan B.

Q

[Quibblicious]

This has got to be it.

so who is the final demigod and why do they care about something/someone on the Mechane? He's a dwarf, got blue robes, a yellow crown symbol on his hat, and a wand topped with a red orb. A dwarven god of... magic?

And not to turn all gushing fanboi but wow Mr Giant sir I love everything you do! This strip is not confusing to me at all.


My guess is:

Durkula either expects to lose the vote, or genuinely doesn't know. Hel's reaction suggests that she knows the last vote isn't going her way;

The new vampire is there to steal the teleport orb by stealth, as even Haley and Elan could probably take a single vampire cleric with its higher level spells depleted (Haley holds a weapon rather well suited for at least temporarily neutralizing a vampire, for one thing). V would probably be neutralized by the fiends if V tried to interefere, as they seem to want the gates destroyed for their own reasons. The "backup plan" is probably to make sure the last gate is destroyed by any means necessary, letting the Snarl out and forcing the gods to destroy the world and let Hel thereby win.

Dang it, I forgot to spoiler-wrap mine. :smallsigh:

[War-Wren]

The misunderstanding, Rich, is that a few people have gone 'Gah! New comic! OMG I read it in 10 seconds! I'm so confused cos I barely took in the details!! What's going on!??!?!?!?!! Post to the forum!!!' :smalltongue:

I did the first bit, certainly, but a slower read through made everything crystal... well, nearly crystal. I know what happened, without necessarily knowing what's *going* to happen :smallsmile:

Brilliant comic, well worth the wait. I loved Roy's 'Is that us winning?' line. Hel's secret fixed vote changes her mind which causes no end of angst. This confirms, as per her comment to Loki a few strips ago, that she knew exactly what all 7 votes were going to be; whether it was because she influenced the demi-gods to change some of them, is of no matter. The fact is that she was probably relying on that 4-3 split, but now one has gone back on her word, and the vote is likely to go the other way. Hence her anger. And Roy, hearing the siren song of a thwarted villain, gets a morale boost.

Banjo is NOT going to vote. He is not a God, he is not a demi-god. He has no power here! (Or anywhere, really!)
There are 7 demi-god priests voting, and all 7 of them are in the temple!!

Pretty sure Rich is showing us Elan, on the Mechane and not in the temple, to try and stop the mad speculation about Banjo! End the madness now!! :smallannoyed:

[Ayrynthyn]

I think Gontor is on the Mechane to steal the teleport orb, and teleport... into the Moot. Once there, he either outranks the Current HPo-Stone (the guy with the crown hat, and 7th vote) due to +LA, or Kills him, or... some how becomes the HPo-Stone allowing him the deciding vote.

Roy's Idea: Teleport orb
Roy's Idea: Cleric's body guard (own faction) can attack/kill the cleric unopposed?

[Inevitability]

I think Gontor is on the Mechane to steal the teleport orb, and teleport... into the Moot. Once there, he either outranks the Current HPo-Stone due to +LA, or Kills him, or... some how becomes the HPo-Stone allowing him the deciding vote.

Roy's Idea: Teleport orb
Roy's Idea: Cleric's body guard (own faction) can attack/kill the cleric unopposed?

Problem is; the HPo-Stone doesn't get a vote. It was mentioned while Gontor walked the HPoH to the Moot. So Vampire!Gontor and the HPoH both know that isn't going to work.

[ellindsey]

I think Gontor is on the Mechane to steal the teleport orb, and teleport... into the Moot. Once there, he either outranks the Current HPo-Stone due to +LA, or Kills him, or... some how becomes the HPo-Stone allowing him the deciding vote.


But the High Priest of Stone doesn't get a vote, so this plan wouldn't work.

[Fitzclowningham]

Hmmmm... I think that plan B is to steal the Orb of Teleportation and use it to bampf to the last gate and destroy it if the Demigod vote falls apart.

That would force the gods to either let the snarl devour all of the souls, or to rapidly unmake to world to send the souls to their correct ends.

Either way, Hel wins.

Plan A: She gets the souls, power implicit therein, and a new world to play Queen of the Pantheon.

Plan B: She gets a new world where her deal with Odin is now moot, so she can get better terms than in this world.

Both are wins for her, regardless of the outcome on the millions of souls at stake.

Plan A is far better, but absent that, she still ends the deal with Odin using Plan B.

Q

She gets all the souls under Plan B as well: as soon as the last gate is destroyed, the gods destroy the world, exactly as they would under Plan A. There really is no difference between the two scenarios as far as Hel is concerned. The outcomes where she doesn't win all involve either the continued existence of this world or the unmaking of everything by the Snarl.

[runeghost]

When it comes to confusion as to what was going on, I was certainly among the confused. The Giant's post cleared that up. I'm still not entirely sure what's going on, but only regarding things where I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to know what's going on.

I recognized Gontor when he appear on the Mechane, and what Roy was doing, saying, and thinking. What confused me was the whole "six votes and the Hell gets angry that her plan is foiled", followed by the HPoH's follow-up of "there's still one more vote" and then gloating about the back-up plan.

What I think is happening is this: Hel knows that the remaining vote is not hers, and so she and her HP are doing something to swing things back in her direction. While that might be doing something to influence the remaining demigod, I think it's more likely to be something that affects the overall voting, or something else entirely.

Taking out the vote while its still tied by having the Mechane bombard the conclave could be one option. Something else entirely might be her HP and his vampire horde going off to wreck some sort of critical damage elsewhere. Whatever Hel's Plan B is, I don't think its going to work well (see below for why).

I guess the cognitive dissonance comes in somehow with the transition from "Voting isn't done but Hel is upset and cursing" to "Hel's minons start backup plan that seems to not directly impact the various votes". I'm not even sure why that was confusing, but it was. :smallconfused:

After a little reflection, I actually see a kind of neat detail in all this: the strip opens with Loki's "bad parent" comment, because Hel is bad at being a villain. And then, later on in the strip, we (apparently) see another example of her incompetence as a villain: her Big Plan for destroying the world in the face of the rest of the pantheon was, "Exactly enough demigods promised me they'd vote my way"? I'm sure Xykon would have some witty remark about how feeble that is. Likewise, I think her Plan B will be something equally weak, because she really has no experience as a Grand Villain on the scale of Xykon. (Now the Dark One if he ever directly appears may very well be more of a Xanatos Gambit grandmaster. We've seen some indications of that already.)

[Fish]

The backup plan is obvious. Have the newly minted Dwarven Vampire take out the Mechane/the Order of the Stick.
It's not so obvious to me. I don't think the High Priest's quote ("a plan that I could never have devised without your help") fits with that plan — destroying the Mechane and all aboard wouldn't even be necessary without Roy's presence, but that doesn't imply that Roy helped create a plan.

The teleport orb now, that makes a certain amount of sense: the other vampire dwarf could teleport to the next gate for some purpose, and it's something that Roy mentioned personally to V in 966 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0966.html) with HPoH standing not so far away.

I just want to interject that while people often misread the ð in Iðunn's name as a sort of deformed o, it's more of a soft d, making a th sound (dh sound maybe?). It's a consonant, not a vowel.
To add to that: I don't know what the letter is ordinarily called, but for the benefit of primarily English-speakers who don't see this letter often: in the International Phonetic Alphabet it is called eth, which is pronounced as you would pronounce the English word whether, and is categorized as a voiced interdental fricative. Think "this" not "with."

[Zorgoth]

The backup plan is obvious. Have the newly minted Dwarven Vampire take out the Mechane/the Order of the Stick.

That way there is no one to take on Xykon and the world gets destroyed when the next gate is destroyed.

(a) Xykon has no intention of destroying a gate.

(b) The new vampire has very few spells until dusk, similarly to Durkula when he first was raised. He probably only has only a few rounds before he would have to face a high-level wizard with a full allotment of spells who is probably prepared to fight a vampire, unless the IFCC gets involved, which Durkula probably doesn't know about. Teleport orb escape seems much more plausible.

[Parlik]

So which demigod is left to vote? I see the cleric third from left in the first pane, but don't recognize the character.

I am guessing there is a missing panel where he voted no?

[Keltest]

I am guessing there is a missing panel where he voted no?

Then why would the HPoH specifically call out one demigod as not having voted yet?

[EmperorSarda]

So that's why Durkula went out of his way to kill the dwarf before the fight started, it wasn't just to satiate his bloodthirst - he was fixing the votes.

No. The vampire Dwarf gets no vote. He's the guy who escorted the HPoH.

[schmunzel]

Read up to the end of page 3 and no one had posted this yet, so I'll throw it out there:

I feel that this comic provides 100% proof that Belkar is still alive. Considering how long the fight took, Belkar had plenty of time to finish his fall. His animal companion is still just chilling there, doing things like "not eating the birdy" and relaxing on a flying ship, which leads me to believe that he's still an animal companion and not just a basic animal. Ditto for his other animal companions. They are all acting like he is still alive rather than dead.

It is one of many reasons I believe he is (still) alive.
The cat and the dinosaur should know when something happens to him.

Actually the main reason is that Im positive that itd be a major letdown would he die like this.

sch

[ellindsey]

It is one of many reasons I believe he is (still) alive.
The cat and the dinosaur should know when something happens to him.

Actually the main reason is that Im positive that itd be a major letdown would he die like this.

sch

Unlike familiars, animal companions don't get a telepathic link to their master.

Presumably, a companion animal to a ranger should revert back to being a normal animal when its master dies, but how long this takes is not spelled out in the rules.

[Parlik]

Then why would the HPoH specifically call out one demigod as not having voted yet?

Ah yes, I missed that one.

[grandpheonix]

(a) Xykon has no intention of destroying a gate.

(b) The new vampire has very few spells until dusk, similarly to Durkula when he first was raised. He probably only has only a few rounds before he would have to face a high-level wizard with a full allotment of spells who is probably prepared to fight a vampire, unless the IFCC gets involved, which Durkula probably doesn't know about. Teleport orb escape seems much more plausible.

What if he's grabbing the teleport orb, and leaves for the day? Goes somewhere, hides for a bit, meditates then travels with the other vampire that was made? To go Secure the gate, then cast' sending to Lurky? Sure, Lurky cant teleport himself, but he CAN cast wind walk and make it there much sooner than the rest of the party. A trio of Clerics is nothing to shake a stick at (lol), escpecially one that can cast Destruction. Thats a pretty hardcore spell, and if Lurky can cast that 3 times in a day... then holy crap, they could handle anything.

edited: Destruction is a 7th level spell. Still puts him at level 16 minimum, with access to at least 1 level 8 spell.

[Dalek Kommander]

I think Gontor is on the Mechane to steal the teleport orb, and teleport... into the Moot. Once there, he either outranks the Current HPo-Stone (the guy with the crown hat, and 7th vote) due to +LA, or Kills him, or... some how becomes the HPo-Stone allowing him the deciding vote.

Roy's Idea: Teleport orb
Roy's Idea: Cleric's body guard (own faction) can attack/kill the cleric unopposed?

The vote belongs to Hel, and she's already cast it. She only needed a high priest at the moot to cast "summon proxy", having a backup high priest around at best MIGHT keep her vote from being negated if the death of the current HPoH would disrupt the proxy spell, but won't give her a second vote and would only prolong the stalemate indefinitely. By the way the HPoH is gloating, I suspect they plan to do something more proactive than that.

[KorvinStarmast]

Did we ever find out what Blackwing's shiny bauble does? Also, do newly sired vampires get their spell slots back? I read back to when Durkula was sired but it doesn't say.Probably an Ioun stone (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0935.html), I counted 3 before and 2 after on the psion regarding the raven in the face.
(EDIT: I just checked again).

[schmunzel]

ok so obviously plan b is that the vampire on the ship is going to attack ellan and make ellan into a vampire, so ellen will be under the control of hel and banjo will therefore be under the control of hel and so then banjo will vote yes.

But Elan is a bard and not a cleric!!!
(And yes I am a convert)

sch

[Ayrynthyn]

But the High Priest of Stone doesn't get a vote, so this plan wouldn't work.

I had to go back and re-read 997- ... i had mis-read that i think, and had placed those stone guys in the "bucket with the rest of the demi-gods" (tm). I had also assumed the crown guy in blue was a stone priest for some reason. :smallredface:

I still think the play is teleport into the moot, to take that 7th vote. I just don't know how Gontor trumps 7th vote guy. 7th vote guy and Gontor are both Dwarves. They're both clerics... Gontor is a thrall of Durkon... *shrug* I got nuthin ;)

[Peelee]

I think Gontor is on the Mechane to steal the teleport orb, and teleport... into the Moot.

....why would he need to teleport into the Moot, when he could just walk in? Or gasform in? Or enter by any other conventional means?

[schmunzel]

Well, considering Hel just mentioned a "backup plan" directly in front of everybody, it would be ill advised for her to attempt to murder the high priests in the building, it's not like the gods wouldn't know who would be the most likely suspect.

The only part of this situation that worries me is what (the) Hel will do to the OotS for intervening in her plans. (even though they inadvertently were the reason her plan got this far). For her to not intervene in the Order's gate problem for revenge after this, a divine solution may be required here, someone to take the heat off the Order, which is why I'm thinking Thor might have a more personal role in this before it's over. I'm not one of those people who believe this is between Roy, Durkon and Durkula. This involves the very destruction of the world, Roy and Durkula's conflict may be a large part what the arc is about, but you can't discount the opportunity for a god to intervene inside or outside the Godsmoot.

Actually taking into account their track rekord with the other gates I'd just let them go ...

sch

[HandofShadows]

Ok, now I REALLY want to see the next page ASAP. That Vamp on the ship is up to something but I think the plan has run into a HUGE kink. If Blackwing knows V will find out shortly. And I bet V has a few anti vamps spells ready.

[EmperorSarda]

I do have a question about the strip. Why is Roy wasting time swinging his sword?

He is a smart guy. He knows that his sword probably gives him a 5 foot reach. He can estimate that the radius is 10 feet long. Drukon is not 5 feet tall. Why waste time trying to hit Roy with the sword? Go grab the spear and chuck it!

At the same time I would see any D&D player doing what Roy is doing. But... with Roy's intelligence it would seem best to try other weapons. Like the spear thrown earlier.

[Knight.Anon]

So how dangerous is a high level vampire cleric with no spells? If it attacks Blackwing, V will know. If its like Durkula was as a thrall he'll be dumber than a box of rocks as well. Unless there are more where he came from, of course.

BTW I was hoping Roy would start using his architecture know how to bring down the balcony on Durkula instead of using multiple rounds screwing around with the anti-life shield.

[dmc91356]

I am going to optimistically hope that the new vampire (whatever we're calling him) is there to steal the teleport orb and go on ahead. Plan B's usually involve a way to achieve your goal that is different than Plan A, so swaying the moot, being Plan A, should not be involved in Plan B.

Then, once (again, being REALLY OPTIMISTIC here) Roy off's the HPOH and one of those handy other high priests resurrects Durkon (hey, what are you all looking at? I said I was being REALLY OPTIMISTIC, remember?), the OOTS is back together with a functioning cleric, Hel still is in the game with the new vamp being her new high priest, but, given that we haven't seen him with the Malack-staff, he can't make a new army of vamps all that quickly.

So, theory goes on to posit that new vamp goes to the dwarven lands to, err, "recruit" an army of vamps to move on to the gate for a dramatic battle to grab it. The Order stays on the Mechane, having no other way to swiftly get to the last gate, and we get the cast of characters from the Mechane for a while longer, which is fun. Chaos ensues with yet another side to the conflict showing up to the conflict.

As for the new vamp taking on the remaining order members on the Mechane, well, meh, I don't see that. An out-of-spells vampire cleric of lower level than HPOH should still be able to dominate Haley (likely) and Elan (almost certainly), sure, but what if he runs into V first? Those aren't odds I'd be willing to bet on if I were Hel, especially if this were basically my last real chance if my current HP gets offed. Plus, he showed up in V's room, not Haley and Elan's room, and presumably that was no accident.

YMMV.

[Breccia]

I made a wild guess, ages ago, that Durkula could potentially use vamped Earth clerics to collapse the building and crush everyone. It could still happen. And Roy has provided inspiration about dropping buildings on people before...

But now my real question: what would be the value to Hel of having the thrall destroying V's spellbook? I mean, that's it right there on the desk, right? Seems like a pretty easy target to me.

[Raphite1]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

Don't worry, all of those details were obvious.

I kinda suspect that the game-comic medium has a large audience of folks who have trouble making inferences and linking ideas, due to one condition or another. It's cool of you to help them along in the forums so that everyone can enjoy the story.

This story arc has been insanely great, this particular strip was awesome, and OOTS is one of the top two fantasy stories I've ever read.

[Breccia]

an out-of-spells vampire cleric of lower level than hpoh should still be able to dominate haley (likely) and elan (almost certainly)

freedom!!!!!

[Slithery D]

Seven new priests walk into the room; six of them have voted so far. Three Yes's, Three No's. The vote is therefore currently tied.

But the seventh priest—the dwarf in blue robes in panel #1—has not voted yet. Durkon specifically says that there is one more vote left to cast. Why did the seventh priest not vote yet? Because Hel and Hermod had a little conversation instead, and then the comic cut away to another scene.

Hel is upset because if Hermod had voted her way, that would have made the count 4-2, and it would not have mattered how the last priest voted at all—she would have already won.

The dwarf vampire is former Exarch of the Creed of the Stone, Gontor Hammerfell, last seen being bitten on the neck by a vampire (as is often the case before becoming a vampire). He is not the same dwarf as the dwarf in panel #1; Gontor does not have a vote.

Durkon sped up the vampirization process off-camera using the spell Malack used to speed up Durkon's own vampirization, because Durkon owns Malack's staff.

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.

I understood that all of this happened, but it didn't and doesn't make any sense for why this happened. The timing is off and not yet explained.

The Mechane shot with Durkon's voice-over establishes that the Mechane scenes are happening in real time, after the sixth vote. Yet no reason is presented for why the seventh vote hasn't happened yet.

Either Hel's plan B is to influence the seventh vote, in which case we need an explanation for why he's standing around waiting. Or Hel's plan lets her win even if she loses the vote, in which case it would have been better dramatically for the seventh vote to be cast, Hel "loses", and then after Roy's false triumph we cut away to the Plan B that makes it all moot.

Needs a script doctor to link up the events in a more coherent narrative. It might make sense in the next strip, but this one doesn't do it standing alone.

[a1chemi]

And those are why people tend to hate Monopoly and think it is a terrible game. If people just played by the freaking rules, games would barely last an hour in most cases and would be much more fun.

That said, pretty sure Haley is cheating.

I think it's terrible because there is no strategy and the game is completely random. After all of the property is bought up you are basically executing a probability machine.

House rules are poor attempts to remedy that. It's better remedied by simply never playing Monopoly. Ever.

[schmunzel]

Did we ever find out what Blackwing's shiny bauble does? Also, do newly sired vampires get their spell slots back? I read back to when Durkula was sired but it doesn't say.

as seen here its a orange Ioun stone that subtly (5%?) increases spell power


... Okay, what just happened? I am seriously confused right now. How is that other vampire cleric (I guess we now know for sure he used the staff) going to impact the remaining vote of the dwarf with the fancy hat still down there?

I think the issue is that the 7th vote likely will be a nay so Hel has to look for a different plan.

Ideas what this could be so far included

- removing a nay voter out of the moot in order to invalidate his vote
- acquire additional voters (Banjo) who due to some more or less convincing reason were supposed to vote in favor of the destruction of the world
- influence the last voter to cast his vote in Hel's favour (He's a dwarf ... isnt he ???)
- do something completely unrelated by
a) porting to dwarven lands to bring death and destruction
b) port to the last gate (my favorite) to see to its destruction

If I would be Hel, I'd just let the Order go to the last gate. Their track record is unimpeachable (meritorious) !!

sch

[Zorgoth]

It occurs to me that the Teleport Orb can't be sued on board the airship because of Dimensional Lock, which V mentioned casting. The vampire has to get off the ship with the orb if that is the plan.

[iyaerP]

I think the teleport orb is to go get redcloak as high priest of the Goblins.

[Breccia]

It occurs to me that the Teleport Orb can't be sued on board the airship because of Dimensional Lock, which V mentioned casting. The vampire has to get off the ship with the orb if that is the plan.

A) Grab orb.
B) Resume gaseous form.
C) There is no Step C.

[kaoskonfety]

Actually taking into account their track rekord with the other gates I'd just let them go ...

sch

lol, ya. Maybe he's giving them a second teleport orb in case they lose this one?

[ref]

OCD issue with Hermod voting No when looking to the right.

[EccentricFellow]

Well, I definitely called this one in the sense that I knew that of all of the options that I had figured out, Rich was going to choose "none-of-the-above". I am clueless as to what exactly is going on, but I know it will be interesting. Gotta love it!

[Zorgoth]

What if he's grabbing the teleport orb, and leaves for the day? Goes somewhere, hides for a bit, meditates then travels with the other vampire that was made? To go Secure the gate, then cast' sending to Lurky? Sure, Lurky cant teleport himself, but he CAN cast wind walk and make it there much sooner than the rest of the party. A trio of Clerics is nothing to shake a stick at (lol), escpecially one that can cast Destruction. Thats a pretty hardcore spell, and if Lurky can cast that 3 times in a day... then holy crap, they could handle anything.

edited: Destruction is a 7th level spell. Still puts him at level 16 minimum, with access to at least 1 level 8 spell.

What eighth-level spell has Durkon or Durkula ever cast? If he were level 15, I'm sure he would have used one at some point to indicate that. And it's unlikely that he levelled as a vampire, considering the Level Adjustment. Furthermore, multiple seventh-level spells per day can be explained by domain slot and a Wisdom bonus even at 13th level.

Since Durkula knows about the dimensional lock, he knows that a teleport orb won't be that much use in getting *back* on the airship. He probably has a better plan for it than getting back to where he already is. And especially now that surprise is blown, it makes little sense.

[rodneyAnonymous]

Art error, 6th panel of the 2nd page: The "voiceover box" has room on the left (probably for the vampire's face?) but it's blank.

[Quebbster]

Cool comic.
A little puzzled that Bragi and Idun are only demigods while Fenrir and Vafthrudnir are full gods. I may be biased since I have read a lot of the awesome Valhall series, where Idun and Bragi are constantly present and Vafthrudnir doesn't appear at all.

[schmunzel]

It's the vampire in gas form, and it'll probably look better in the printed book.

What I really wonder though, is at what point in the timeline this is happening?
As it is the Exarch in Vampire Mistform, it is after the Belkster was thrown out of the window.
But is it directly afterwards or did some time pass ?
If the former is true (my guess) we might get V trying to inform Roy / look what happened after the Vampire was disposed of.
Perhaps V (the familiar) detects Belkar down in the snow and Belkar still gets to save the day ?

I cannot imagine an other outcome as the ex-exarch being defeated, as he was just surprised by the presence of the animal companions.
I do not see him slaying them.

Plus I restate what I said last thread - I cannot see Roy chasing Durkula through dwarfen lands.

sch

[Killer Angel]

I'm puzzled.
Only six out of seven have voted, there should be still one vote.
Let's say Hel know the missing vote will be a no. I wonder what kind of backup plan could change the vote of gods / demigods. AFAIK They are unaware of what's happening in the moot, they just vote and see / hear themselves.

[Zorgoth]

A) Grab orb.
B) Resume gaseous form.
C) There is no Step C.

It's enough of a delay to plot-justify a confrontation before he is able to pop out.

[8BitNinja]

I do have a question about the strip. Why is Roy wasting time swinging his sword?

He is a smart guy. He knows that his sword probably gives him a 5 foot reach. He can estimate that the radius is 10 feet long. Drukon is not 5 feet tall. Why waste time trying to hit Roy with the sword? Go grab the spear and chuck it!

At the same time I would see any D&D player doing what Roy is doing. But... with Roy's intelligence it would seem best to try other weapons. Like the spear thrown earlier.

He could chuck his sword

If he misses, there are plenty of other objects to chuck

[Breccia]

I'm puzzled.
Only six out of seven have voted, there should be still one vote.
Let's say Hel know the missing vote will be a no. I wonder what kind of backup plan could change the vote of gods / demigods. AFAIK They are unaware of what's happening in the moot, they just vote and see / hear themselves.

No backsies.

[Zorgoth]

It's enough of a delay to plot-justify a confrontation before he is able to pop out.

(I'd still expect the vampire to escape. A new vampire isn't going to show up just to get toasted by V.)

[8BitNinja]

(I'd still expect the vampire to escape. A new vampire isn't going to show up just to get toasted by V.)

He isn't entirely new, he was around ten or twenty strips ago, but we haven't been able to focus on him

[Porthos]

It wasn't just first page-itis. I have to admit I was confused about what was going on as well.

In my defense, I read it while I was still a little sleepy, but that is only a minor excuse.

See, the thing is, I didn't count the number of votes as they happened. Frankly, I'm not sure how many readers will. So when there was (what looked to be) the Dramatic Vote, Roy's and Hel's reaction to it, followed by "Durkon"'s ominous 'one vote left' comment, with an immediate cutaway to the Mechane.....

Well, I can absolutely see how there could be confusion due to how things were structured and paced.

(For the record, I totes recognized Gontor :smallwink:)

So perhaps everyone who got it right away could cut the rest of us a little slack, eh? :smalltongue:

[Quibblicious]

I think it's terrible because there is no strategy and the game is completely random. After all of the property is bought up you are basically executing a probability machine.

House rules are poor attempts to remedy that. It's better remedied by simply never playing Monopoly. Ever.

Monopoly was invented as a game to show how terrible capitalism is.

So to Hel with Monopoly.

I have now closed the circle :smallcool:

[schmunzel]

She gets all the souls under Plan B as well: as soon as the last gate is destroyed, the gods destroy the world, exactly as they would under Plan A. There really is no difference between the two scenarios as far as Hel is concerned. The outcomes where she doesn't win all involve either the continued existence of this world or the unmaking of everything by the Snarl.

I absolutely do not see where Hel wins when the souls are devoured by the snarl????
She wins as soon as the gods tear down the world as the souls of the dwarfs who do not die honoraly in this scenario (a case I would argue) are hers.
In the other scenario she might get a better stand, but not as queen of the Pantheon - in case the gods can control the snarl before they get annihilated.


sch

[schmunzel]

...

After a little reflection, I actually see a kind of neat detail in all this: the strip opens with Loki's "bad parent" comment, because Hel is bad at being a villain. And then, later on in the strip, we (apparently) see another example of her incompetence as a villain: her Big Plan for destroying the world in the face of the rest of the pantheon was, "Exactly enough demigods promised me they'd vote my way"? I'm sure Xykon would have some witty remark about how feeble that is. Likewise, I think her Plan B will be something equally weak, because she really has no experience as a Grand Villain on the scale of Xykon. (Now the Dark One if he ever directly appears may very well be more of a Xanatos Gambit grandmaster. We've seen some indications of that already.)

Ohhh what a lovely twist - I absolutely havnt thought in that direction :)

[Quibblicious]

Seven new priests walk into the room;

...

Are there any other questions about what is going on in this strip? I'm thinking I must have done a really bad job on this one if everyone is so confused.


I was expecting a joke with this opening line... (I read it along the lines of "A Rabbi an a Priest walk into a bar..." :smallsmile:)

I understood the strip right off. It took a few minutes to connect the new vampire with the deceased Stone Creed priest, but only because I hadn't re-read the last couple dozen strips in a while.

Nicely twisted and turned, btw.

Oh, and if Durkula and Gonstrodamus teleport away, Durkula may be without his staff, forcing him to resume his nocturnal ways *or* to burn spell slots maintining the resistance to daylight.

[Breccia]

Read up to the end of page 3 and no one had posted this yet, so I'll throw it out there:

I feel that this comic provides 100% proof that Belkar is still alive. Considering how long the fight took, Belkar had plenty of time to finish his fall. His animal companion is still just chilling there, doing things like "not eating the birdy" and relaxing on a flying ship, which leads me to believe that he's still an animal companion and not just a basic animal. Ditto for his other animal companions. They are all acting like he is still alive rather than dead.

This could be me just being heavily biased into the "Belkar is dead" camp, but, I don't think animal companions work that way. The character has to issue commands the animal must observe; a telepathic bond of any kind is neither overtly stated nor strongly implied. I know of no game rule that says animal companions get a telepathic message when their master dies, especially one that wakes them from slumber. The topic has been discussed on this very website (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?291100-What-Does-an-Animal-Companion-do-When-it-s-Master-dies-PF)!

[Lheticus]

Admission time--I thought the vampire on the airship was somehow DURKON FROM THE FUTURE.

Also, I'm sure this has been answered already, which is why no one else is asking it, but...would destroying the current universe actually stop the Snarl at all? If the Snarl is a high enough order of entity to kill an entire pantheon of D&D gods, surely it would survive even an ultimate apocalyptic event?

[Giggling Ghast]

I knew immediately the vampire was the Creed of the Stone priest. Durkula mmust have used his staff to rapidly transform him.

[Breccia]

I absolutely do not see where Hel wins when the souls are devoured by the snarl????

She doesn't. But the gods have about ten, fifteen minutes to react, and they can easily blow up the planet in that time -- or so Loki's already said. Source (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0998.html). That act would give Hel all the souls she needs.

[Porthos]

Admission time--I thought the vampire on the airship was somehow DURKON FROM THE FUTURE.

Also, I'm sure this has been answered already, which is why no one else is asking it, but...would destroying the current universe actually stop the Snarl at all? If the Snarl is a high enough order of entity to kill an entire pantheon of D&D gods, surely it would survive even an ultimate apocalyptic event?

The plan regarding World 3.0 is that PRESUMABLY they'll do a better job of sealing it this time. I.e. without any Rifts for the Snarl to escape. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html)

[wyrmhole]

I understood that all of this happened, but it didn't and doesn't make any sense for why this happened. The timing is off and not yet explained.

The Mechane shot with Durkon's voice-over establishes that the Mechane scenes are happening in real time, after the sixth vote. Yet no reason is presented for why the seventh vote hasn't happened yet.

Either Hel's plan B is to influence the seventh vote, in which case we need an explanation for why he's standing around waiting. Or Hel's plan lets her win even if she loses the vote, in which case it would have been better dramatically for the seventh vote to be cast, Hel "loses", and then after Roy's false triumph we cut away to the Plan B that makes it all moot.

Needs a script doctor to link up the events in a more coherent narrative. It might make sense in the next strip, but this one doesn't do it standing alone.

No, it's fine. The seventh vote was delayed by unrelated talking, and we are simultaneously seeing the first hint of the backup plan simultaneous with everyone at the Moot about to receive the seventh vote. There doesn't need to be an explanation for why, once we've changed scenes to the Mechane, that we haven't switched back to hear that seventh vote. It would not be "better" if this comic clearly established whether or not that seventh vote was going to decide in favor of Hel or against., It would not be "better" if it clearly indicated whether Hel's backup plan was an alternate way to get the vote or was a alternate way to achieve her goals if she lost the vote. It's all perfectly coherent and full of tension and mystery. It's a cliff-hanger which makes the reader want to find out what the explanation is, which is how (ideally) every comic page should end.

[Bulldog Psion]

It wasn't just first page-itis. I have to admit I was confused about what was going on as well.

In my defense, I read it while I was still a little sleepy, but that is only a minor excuse.

See, the thing is, I didn't count the number of votes as they happened. Frankly, I'm not sure how many readers will. So when there was (what looked to be) the Dramatic Vote, Roy's and Hel's reaction to it, followed by "Durkon"'s ominous 'one vote left' comment, with an immediate cutaway to the Mechane.....

Well, I can absolutely see how there could be confusion due to how things were structured and paced.

(For the record, I totes recognized Gontor :smallwink:)

So perhaps everyone who got it right away could cut the rest of us a little slack, eh? :smalltongue:

Same here; I didn't count. I was trying to get the comic read and make a post in the time it took for a file to upload to my current client's site. I just looked at it, mentally short-cut to "three for, three against, Hel's supporter changed their vote, that's that" and went on from there.

I'm also in the "cut us a little slack, sheesh" camp. :smallwink:

Especially the guy about a page ago who out and out called us mental defectives. :smallbiggrin:

(And, yes, I did recognize Gontor. I wonder if the lady dwarf has also been turned and is off on another mission?)

[schmunzel]

I made a wild guess, ages ago, that Durkula could potentially use vamped Earth clerics to collapse the building and crush everyone. It could still happen. And Roy has provided inspiration about dropping buildings on people before...

But now my real question: what would be the value to Hel of having the thrall destroying V's spellbook? I mean, that's it right there on the desk, right? Seems like a pretty easy target to me.

blast it I havnt thought of that one!
But in good conscience I cannot imagine that that was the (primary) goal.

sch

[sumneros]

i have a feeling that there may be some strip monopoly going on

[schmunzel]

lol, ya. Maybe he's giving them a second teleport orb in case they lose this one?

That indeed would be nefarious!

[wyrmhole]

Same here; I didn't count. I was trying to get the comic read and make a post in the time it took for a file to upload to my current client's site. I just looked at it, mentally short-cut to "three for, three against, Hel's supporter changed their vote, that's that" and went on from there.

I'm also in the "cut us a little slack, sheesh" camp. :smallwink:

Especially the guy about a page ago who out and out called us mental defectives. :smallbiggrin:

(And, yes, I did recognize Gontor. I wonder if the lady dwarf has also been turned and is off on another mission?)

My only problem was identifying Gontor, but then I payed closer attention to his clothes and what kinda looks like a rock on his chest made it click, combined with figuring that this wasn't a completely random new vampire dwarven cleric out of the blue, who else could it be?

It's okay to take a little time working out the details of a comic (or book, or movie, etc), and it's okay if it's designed that way.

[Breccia]

i have a feeling that there may be some strip monopoly going on

:elan:"And I thought it was hard playing Jenga with you!"

Heh heh. Entendre!

[Raimen]

Registered to point out an (apparently) unnoticed art error.

In Panel 1, the Priest of Bragi's sash hangs over his right shoulder to his left waist. When casting Bragi's vote in panel 6, it goes from his left shoulder to his right waist.

[wulffhunter]

Now I see.
There is only one who can save the world.
Only one "god."
The Dark One :smallyuk:

Hey wait, what did Durkula mean by Roy giving him the idea? When did Roy do this? What idea?

[wyrmhole]

Registered to point out an (apparently) unnoticed art error.

In Panel 1, the Priest of Bragi's sash hangs over his right shoulder to his left waist. When casting Bragi's vote in panel 6, it goes from his left shoulder to his right waist.

It's like Haley's magical loose strand of hair, swapping sides depending on view angle. ;)

[Red Planet]

I think we're all missing the real question: Is it Elan or Haley that's the top hat?

[Porthos]

It's okay to take a little time working out the details of a comic (or book, or movie, etc), and it's okay if it's designed that way.

Who says we don't? :smallconfused:

Hope you're not implying something here, actually. :smallwink:

Remember, I didn't criticize anything here. And when this is read in preferred format (either as a book or serially on the web), it's going to be fairly apparent what is going on.

All I was doing was showing that, yes, it would be fairly easy to misconsture what is going on in this solitary strip due to the way it was structured (go back and read my breakdown to see what I mean). When it is taken in total with the following strips, it won't matter.

But in this one case? Yes, it was indeed a little unclear. There wouldn't be so much visceral and immedaiate reaction if it wasn't a little confusing for some.

Doesn't mean it was bad storytelling. Doesn't mean it was good, either. :smallwink: But I do think the confusion wasn't intended, given Rich's comment earlier in the thread. :smallsmile:

[Nightcanon]

Oh, Roy. Your kingdom for a crossbow with fancy bolts
Yeah, disappointing that Roy doesn't seem to have a better plan for the moment than climbing on the anti-life shell and confirming that his sword isn't long enough to hit Durkula from any direction...

[Cizak]

Adding to what I said earlier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20081823&postcount=102) in the thread, it also never occurred to me that Roy wouldn't be keeping track of the votes. He's seen trying to get into the Anti-Life Shell, yes, but he's a smart guy and can multitask. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1001.html) So when he goes "Is that us winning?", I thought he meant it in a rhetorical "So that's all votes done and 'no' won, right?" kind of way. That made me assume all the voting was done, which made me forget that there was one cleric left.

[Anarion]

Interesting development. I'm fairly in the dark about where this is going, but should be interesting.

[EmperorSarda]

He could chuck his sword

If he misses, there are plenty of other objects to chuck

Which is still better than trying to reach into the anti-life shell.

[schmunzel]

Yeah, disappointing that Roy doesn't seem to have a better plan for the moment than climbing on the anti-life shell and confirming that his sword isn't long enough to hit Durkula from any direction...

I would argue its for dramatic reasons (and maybe some slight comedy)
The HPoH is still needed.
(for whatever purpose )


sch

[KorvinStarmast]

Banjo is NOT going to vote. He is not a God, he is not a demi-god. He has no power here! (Or anywhere, really!) There are 7 demi-god priests voting, and all 7 of them are in the temple!! Thank you. (FWIW the Banjo silliness is an annoying feature of this discussion forum).

[Peelee]

I think it's terrible because there is no strategy and the game is completely random. After all of the property is bought up you are basically executing a probability machine.

House rules are poor attempts to remedy that. It's better remedied by simply never playing Monopoly. Ever.

There is strategy. That you do not use or see it has no bearing on its existence. It is still highly luck-based, agreed, but so is Settlers of Catan.

And the vast majority of house rules do nothing but increase randomness and reduce strategy (a money pot that is winnable by landing on Free Parking, for instance).

[ChillerInstinct]

Well, there goes the theory that V saw Belkar fall... better hope the sudden stop at the end didn't kill him, because there's no one coming to bail him out of this one.

This isn't good, at any rate. A hostile vampire on a ship undetected, a bunch of people susceptible to Charming, and no way for Roy to sound the alert...

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

[KorvinStarmast]

i have a feeling that there may be some strip monopoly going onRich has a monopoly on what goes in the strip, yes. :smallbiggrin:

[ti'esar]

Sigh. Every time lately, these discussion threads move too fast relative to my schedule for me to really be able to say anything that hasn't already been said.

So I'll just say that (again) Loki was kind of hilarious here.

[Bulldog Psion]

Adding to what I said earlier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20081823&postcount=102) in the thread, it also never occurred to me that Roy wouldn't be keeping track of the votes. He's seen trying to get into the Anti-Life Shell, yes, but he's a smart guy and can multitask. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1001.html) So when he goes "Is that us winning?", I thought he meant it in a rhetorical "So that's all votes done and 'no' won, right?" kind of way. That made me assume all the voting was done, which made me forget that there was one cleric left.

This, too.

Not to mention that Hel's "seal this wretched planet's fate" and "Damn you!" make the vote sound very final, when, in fact, it isn't.

Anyway ...

I very much enjoyed seeing the designs of seven more demigod high priests. It's a colorful and interesting part of the comic, and I rather like Thrym's "my reasons are my own." :smallwink:

Does anyone more versed in Norse mythology have any idea which demigod the seventh priest might represent? (I know the major outlines of the mythology -- world made out of bits of Ymir, major gods and goddesses, Valhalla, Hel, the Midgard Serpent, Jotuns, Niflheim, death of Baldur, Ragnarok -- but the finer points are beyond my ken.)