What Will V Do?

[lenon3579]

Before I enter the hypotesis proper I must explain that I'm assuming three things.

1) Blackwing will survive. [Priscilla's Emoticon]. Yes, I can't see The Giant killing him now. He is more than a plucky sidekick. He is a real Roundhouse Kick to V's character development. He can be killed later, sure, but in a much more key moment in V's personal story.

2) Blackwing will be able to tell V that a dwarf cleric vampire entered the room and stole the ultra-bauble under the orders of some "master".

3) The IFCC will not act. Because, you know, they sure want to unravel chaos and pointless destruction to the world, but they need a world to which unravel those things. Their reasoning in the matter is something on the way of Xykon's.

:::

Said that, what will V do?

I think that the most likely scenario is to V join the "dwarf cleric vampire with a master that knows that they have a teleporting orb and exactly where it was located" with the "high-level dwarf cleric vampire gone to the godsmoot that knew about the t.o.", the signs of battle ("heated discussions") inside the godsmoot, and the suspiciousness of Belkar against the former cleric of Thor and take the likely conclusion that Durkula betrayed them.

And then V would try to contact Roy to know if he is alive and well and to warn him of what happened. I don't remember if V have some way of send a message (like Durkon's Sending). If V can't do it that way, hir could scry on both Roy and Belkar (That way triggering the "what happened to Belkar" storyline). Or maybe fly hir way into the godsmoot.

:::

There is, anyway, the chance that V doesn't make hir int check and can't figure out the Durkula's role in the attack and then sits on hir hands. But I really can't see how this would move the plot forward. Or even where the punchline would be.

[Wildroses]

There is the possibility that V is going to have hir hands full being medic as it looks like Blackwing and Little Whiskers are seriously hurt.

I do think V is likely to connect the dots and realise Durkula has shown his true colours. V has always been on the fence and waiting to see what he will do before making a decision.

As for the fiends I am honestly not sure if they will snatch hir or not because I don't feel we know enough about what they want which makes it hard to predict what they will do. It's a low chance but I don't want to rule out the possibility they might.

[Rinazina]

how V can deal to the Rats mass with all the AoE spells ?
will hurt the animals too, am I wrong ?
hir can't just use magic missile aiming to single rat each time ? mmhh...

[zoofroot]

V does know sending. Its 10-minute casting time would suck right now. Scrying takes an hour. Scrying on a second person takes another hour.

Edit: Vaarsuvius' Greater Animal Messenger (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0563.html) would be much quicker.

I predict that V will not have V's hands full as medic, because there is very little V can do in that role, except cast Mass Bear's Endurance on the tiger to get his constitution back up. I mean, nothing more useful than what any first-level character could do, which is make an untrained heal check and administer potions. There's someone else on the ship, right?

For damaging the rats and not the pets: chain lightning.

[dps]

I predict that V will not have V's hands full as medic... ...There's someone else on the ship, right?



Yeah, remember that Elan can heal now.

Though Blackwing and the tiger might be taking more damage than Elan can really deal with.

[Wildroses]

I didn't say V was going to be a good medic :p

My thinking was V would have to be doing whatever is possible for hir. Even getting more competent medics will take time and resources V could be spending dealing with the vampire issue. Rich does have a habit of finding plot reasons to sideline the powerful wizard so the story doesn't become too easy for the protagonists.

Mind you, V has been watching the temple closely and suspects something may be happening but is holding back in case yellow lights and solid thumps are common events as s/he has no idea how heated discussion at Godsmoots normally are. Finding a blood drained tiger, rat savaged familiar and stolen orb could easily be the trigger for V to attempt to contact Roy to see if everything is alright in there. Come to think of it now the ushers are all dead is there anything to stop the Order walking right inside? I can't remember if the barrier stops people entering.

[brian 333]

I'm sorry, but the person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Call back after the Godsmoot is over and all the wards are removed.

There will be no contacting Roy, and V knows this. He won't even try. Warned about a vampire turned to smoke, V might well pursue him with deadly intent. (Or at least intent to get the orb back.)

The known factors: Fly spell, speed 90 ft/rnd, and Gaseous Form, speed 10 ft/rnd +/- wind speed

The unknown factors: distance to the temple from the Mechane, wind speed, and duration between his leaving and V's pursuit.

With a good head wind Gontor could be at the temple already, but with a cross wind he might be better off walking once he's on the ground.

[2.5 cats]

The known factors: Fly spell, speed 90 ft/rnd, and Gaseous Form, speed 10 ft/rnd +/- wind speed.

Gortor flew up to the Mechane as a bat, and only went gaseous to slip through the window. See comic 1012, the panel where the full Mechane is visible. One would think Gontor would return a similar way.

My guess is that something will prevent Blackwing from talking to V right away--either Blackwing will be unconscious (and someone will have to go run and retrieve a healing potion or Elan) or just freaked out and rambling about irrelevant stuff. By the time V figures it out, Gortor will have too much of a head start.

[zoofroot]

I didn't say V was going to be a good medic :p

My thinking was V would have to be doing whatever is possible for hir. Even getting more competent medics will take time and resources

If Elan's on board, I don't see V wasting any time on this. All the critters need urgently (once the rats are taken care of) is a heal check, potion, or any cure spell to stabilize them. Even Elan can be relied on for that. V would know that it's up to V to stop the thief, and that that's how V is best used.

If V did stop to care for them, using Polymorph to restore all their hit points would be kind of funny.


The known factors: Fly spell, speed 90 ft/rnd, and Gaseous Form, speed 10 ft/rnd +/- wind speed


If V's fly speed is 90 (you're thinking Haste?), that's 180ft/round with a double move. A vampire (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/vampire.htm) in gaseous form has a speed of 20ft (40/round). It is different from the gaseous form spell.

Edit:

Gortor flew up to the Mechane as a bat, and only went gaseous to slip through the window. See comic 1012, the panel where there full Mechane is visible. One would think Gontor would return a similar way.
This is a good point; I was thinking the orb was too heavy for a bat to fly with, but since Gontor's gear turned into a bat with him, I guess the orb would, too. A bat has a fly speed of 40 and it can "run", so that's 160ft/round.

[Zorgoth]

I don't think he was a bat in 1012. It remains a plausible escape mechanism, though.

[zimmerwald1915]

I don't think he was a bat in 1012. It remains a plausible escape mechanism, though.
Neither do I. Gontor's too big to be a bat in the background, and his edges are too ill-defined to be a bat in the foreground.

[rodneyAnonymous]

1) Blackwing will survive.[...] He can be killed later, sure, but in a much more key moment in V's personal story.

Why not now?

[Mandor]

how V can deal to the Rats mass with all the AoE spells ?
will hurt the animals too, am I wrong ?
hir can't just use magic missile aiming to single rat each time ? mmhh...

V doesn't have to mass-incinerate them. Good old fashioned Sleep spell is great for swarms of critters. Maybe even a good long rambling speech (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0010.html) to induce sleep. Then you can have minions kill them at leisure while you tend to the wounded (who may or may not also be sleeping). Unless perhaps there are special suped-up rats too strong for sleep, and then who knows what some Maximized feats can do. Such feats did not exist when I played AD&D in the 80's + 90's, so I don't know quite how that works.

[Reddish Mage]

The IFCC could well want the destruction of the universe for all we know, we only know that what they were planning "involved a slaughter that would make [a genocide of the good dragons] trivial." Destroying the world certainly qualifies.

Of course, they may want control the Snarl themselves, and need the world to do it, but their non-compete with the evil gods prevent them from interfering with Hel's plans...

[ChillerInstinct]

Elan can handle the healing, and even that's assuming that Little Whiskers and Blackwing are so badly wounded that they need healing before Veldrina comes back from the Godsmoot. Either way I don't think V will be needed as a tertiary healer.

I don't think V will be able to do anything about the Orb, though. I'm still rather attached to the idea of the HPoH using it to get him, Gontor, and any other vamped Creed members out of there (once Roy finds a way to break the Shell and he's faced with no other option than to bail) and to the Gate/some remote village in the Dwarven Lands from which they can raise a Vampire army to besiege the gate. Regardless of the particulars I have a strong suspicion that Gontor isn't about to die (again) here, which is probably inevitable if V catches up to him.

Considering contacting Roy is probably off the table right now, I think V will probably try, and fail, to catch up to Gontor, and once it's apparent that Gontor's in the clear, V will return to the Mechane and help get everything ready for the Mechane to get moving the second Roy (and possibly Wrecan and Veldrina) get aboard. Time IS of the essence, after all.

[King of Nowhere]

i don't believe v is going to show up here. this is the animal's fight. just like it would have been inappropriate for someone to interrupt the roy vs durkon before

[Jasdoif]

i don't believe v is going to show up here. this is the animal's fight. just like it would have been inappropriate for someone to interrupt the roy vs durkon beforeIt may have been the animal's fight, but they just lost. It was a fight for possession of the teleport orb, and their opponent already left with the prize; leaving only squeaky minions behind to harass them. Vaarsuvius showing up now would speak more of Blackwing's melodramatics or Vaarsuvius' disdain thereof, than of the animals' ability to fight a battle of attrition with funky flunkies.

[littlebum2002]

What
(what, what what what what what what)
WIll
(ay, aye aye aye)
V
(na na na na na na)
V do?

(Starring Mark Summers!)