[SPOILER] What Haley and Belkar Encounter

[Wrecan]

Here's my prediction on what Haley and Belkar will encounter en route to Roy's body...

Tsukiko.

I predict that somehow, Tsukiko and the Eye of Fear and Flame end up running off together.

She's a necrophiliac. He's an undead with feelings. Together, they fight crime! (Or fight for crime...)

[Sonofaspectre]

Actually, that is a pretty good bet! It makes sense, keeps the character count down, which needs to happen to keep the narrative workable and steady. Good one!

[Megalomaniac2]

I'd like them to run into the MiTD too, even if it's only in passing. Poor thing never gets to do nothing...

[the mysterian]

they could meet.........zombie roy !

[PaladinFreak]

Yeah, as theories go, that is a pretty plausible one.

[Gavin Sage]

They are using Hide to avoid enemies and the castle in general. Tsukiko has at best a few cross class ranks in Spot. Therefore no encounter.

If they meet anyone it will be the MitD having a teaparty with Roy and O-chul.

[David Argall]

Yeah, as theories go, that is a pretty plausible one.

"As theories go" is not what one calls a high standard. There are still some gaps to take care of in this theory, starting with the obvious, that she needs a reason to be out there at all. [Maybe the lich orders her to go fetch MitD]

Then we need a means for her to get the Eye from Belkar, a means that allows all parties to survive, by the way. [Definitely harder.]

A meeting with the MITD seems a bit more promising here.
(is this how to make a spoiler?)

We can start with it deciding if one extra guest is great, a whole bunch more would just be fabulous, and so Roy and a few misc bodies get "invited".
Haley and Belkar show and join the tea party. After having a bit of "tea" [which causes Haley to gag and breathe fire, and causes Belkar to ask where he can get a few bottles], they convince it to let them take Roy and O'Chul.

Since our Goth is popular, she now shows up with an order from the lich for MitD to get into town. Assuming that a-anything as vicious as Belkar and/or b-in the company of MitD has to be on her side, she is moderately friendly and the others assume that anyone who hates Redcloak has to be on their side. So everything is lovie-dovie.

To use some ideas that seem overly popular, Haley mentions how hard it will be to move Roy to the dock, and Goth procedes to make a zombie out of him, much to the joy of Belkar, since nobody will stop him from killing the zombie and clearly forfilling the prophecy. Since things are going well, Belkar is not far from giving her the Eye [to use on Red?].
It's already been used, but maybe Haley mentions a need to get to the dock fast, to which MitD says "no problem", and throws the entire party into the sea, when they swim to the ship.

[squidthingy]

no slash mark in the first spoiler bracket: [ SPOILER ]*text*[ /SPOILER ] (remove spaces)

btw since it is in the title of the thread it is not really nessicery to use the spoiler tool

[David Argall]

yes, that seems to work better

Thank you.

And I do need to practice using it somewhere, so where better but in a spoiler thread?

[Wrecan]

They are using Hide to avoid enemies and the castle in general. Tsukiko has at best a few cross class ranks in Spot. Therefore no encounter.
Unless Tsukiko is at Roy's body for the purpose of animating him. Then they have to confront her.


If they meet anyone it will be the MitD having a teaparty with Roy and O-chul.
While I doubt Roy would be at the tea party. I also like the idea of them meeting the CitD and O-Chul (and Mr. Dragon).


"As theories go" is not what one calls a high standard.
Was this potshot really necessary?


she needs a reason to be out there at all.
"Stupid hobgoblin priests animating all the best corpses in the city. I'll show them. I'll find a nice powerful fighter outside the walls and turn him into a death knight or something..."
Done.


Then we need a means for her to get the Eye from Belkar
Gee, if only Tsukiko had some sort of ability to cast spells of some sort, like Grease or Ray of Enfeeblement or Eyebite or Grappling Hand or Telekinesis or any number of spells that might cause Belkar to drop the skull and cause it to roll over to Tsukiko.


A meeting with the MITD seems a bit more promising here.
I think that is also a good prediction.


Haley and Belkar show and join the tea party.
Why would they join the party? And why is the MitD collecting decomposing corpses? That doesn't seem his style.

I don't see Tsukiko helping OOTS to escape. I suspect the Tsukiko and MitD encounters would be consecutive, not simultaneous. First they meet Tsukiko and get Roy. Then they meet the MitD and rescue O-Chul (leaving them to drag two bodies back to the ship, unlike the one they had originally planned).

[squidthingy]

Mitd *period*

[BisectedBrioche]

They could also meet Johnny Klatchian. The lovable NPC who has a complulsion to eat ferrous metal and a fear of cold meals. <3 random Discworld references.

[David Argall]

While I doubt Roy would be at the tea party. I also like the idea of them meeting the CitD and O-Chul (and Mr. Dragon).
The idea here is to tie up several loose ends. If O-Chul is to get rescued, having Haley and Belkar do it at the same time as Roy is a twofer. So we have to figure a way to get H&B to the tea party and O-Chul. They are out there just to save Roy after all. But when we have the MitD decide to have a larger tea party, and recruit Roy for it, we pull H&B into the tea party and contact with O-Chul.
We derive our facts from our conclusions here.

Quote:
she needs a reason to be out there at all.



"Stupid hobgoblin priests animating all the best corpses in the city. I'll show them. I'll find a nice powerful fighter outside the walls and turn him into a death knight or something..."
Done.
But not as well as we would like. The number of corpses in the city is 20,000 soldiers, and possibly several times that number of civilians. So there are plenty of top quality bodies for her use.
And Goth has been shown with Miko to be a girl with a short attention span. She would not get past the wall before she decided it was a dumb idea.

Quote:
Then we need a means for her to get the Eye from Belkar



Gee, if only Tsukiko had some sort of ability to cast spells of some sort, like Grease or Ray of Enfeeblement or Eyebite or Grappling Hand or Telekinesis or any number of spells that might cause Belkar to drop the skull and cause it to roll over to Tsukiko.
Following which Belkar pulls out daggers and treats Tsukiko in a very ungentlemanly manner. And we want her as a continuing character, so both have to survive the encounter.
We of course also want the encounter to be funny, which can be done if both parties are completely confused about the motives of the other side. Two people totally misunderstanding the statements of the other is a common comic routine.



Why would they join the party? And why is the MitD collecting decomposing corpses? That doesn't seem his style.
As said, it wants more guests at the tea party and so collects Roy. Then H&B see Roy and try to sneak in to attack the MidT. As with Miko, it barely notices that it is being attacked and assumes they are more guests, a disguise they quickly adopt since they are having no luck hurting the thing. They then work on some way to com the idiot monster into letting them carry the bodies off.



I don't see Tsukiko helping OOTS to escape.
She is not, which is why confusion is useful here. She helps a "friend", not realizing who is on what side.



I suspect the Tsukiko and MitD encounters would be consecutive, not simultaneous. First they meet Tsukiko and get Roy. Then they meet the MitD and rescue O-Chul
But once they get Roy, why would they want to meet the MitD? It is out of their way and dangerous to them. We can have the MitD first some way, but it doesn't fit as 2nd.

[basilisk 89]

"As theories go" is not what one calls a high standard. There are still some gaps to take care of in this theory, starting with the obvious, that she needs a reason to be out there at all. [Maybe the lich orders her to go fetch MitD]

Then we need a means for her to get the Eye from Belkar, a means that allows all parties to survive, by the way. [Definitely harder.]

A meeting with the MITD seems a bit more promising here.
(is this how to make a spoiler?)

We can start with it deciding if one extra guest is great, a whole bunch more would just be fabulous, and so Roy and a few misc bodies get "invited".
Haley and Belkar show and join the tea party. After having a bit of "tea" [which causes Haley to gag and breathe fire, and causes Belkar to ask where he can get a few bottles], they convince it to let them take Roy and O'Chul.

Since our Goth is popular, she now shows up with an order from the lich for MitD to get into town. Assuming that a-anything as vicious as Belkar and/or b-in the company of MitD has to be on her side, she is moderately friendly and the others assume that anyone who hates Redcloak has to be on their side. So everything is lovie-dovie.

To use some ideas that seem overly popular, Haley mentions how hard it will be to move Roy to the dock, and Goth procedes to make a zombie out of him, much to the joy of Belkar, since nobody will stop him from killing the zombie and clearly forfilling the prophecy. Since things are going well, Belkar is not far from giving her the Eye [to use on Red?].
It's already been used, but maybe Haley mentions a need to get to the dock fast, to which MitD says "no problem", and throws the entire party into the sea, when they swim to the ship.

That was great. I agree.

[Hungry Kobold]

It's not lining up to be an encouter with freaky-girl. The Giant could do it, but it's just as likely he'll come up with something else.

[Wrecan]

David,

There is no need to use sopoiler blocks. The thread title says "Spoiler" already.


The number of corpses in the city is 20,000 soldiers, and possibly several times that number of civilians. So there are plenty of top quality bodies for her use.
Not if, as indicated when she almost animated Miko, that she is looking for corpses of high level humanoids. Then we're discussing only General Chang, maybe a coupl of other officers, any paladin corpses that survived the blast (probably none), and maybe the fifth level enlarged fighters (though they were all decapitated).


And Goth has been shown with Miko to be a girl with a short attention span.
It was? When did we see her have a short attention span? She discarded the Miko idea as dumb, but that doesn't mean she has a short attention span.


Following which Belkar pulls out daggers and treats Tsukiko in a very ungentlemanly manner.
Yeah, it's a real shame Belkar hasn't yet recovered his ring of jumping and Tsukiko can fly. Really, a spellcaster at her level should have little difficulty keeping a rogue and a ranger at bay long enough to steal their magic skull and leave. Cast Protection from Missiles and Haley's neutralized as well.


We of course also want the encounter to be funny, which can be done if both parties are completely confused about the motives of the other side.
I think watching Belkar fumble around in a pile of grease is pretty funny myself. YMMV.


As said, it wants more guests at the tea party and so collects Roy.
And as said, hanging around with inanimate decomposing corpses isn't really its style. That turns a funny joke (O-Chul at a tea party) into a gruesome quite unfunny scenario. (CitD likes to use corpses as toys.)


She is not, which is why confusion is useful here. She helps a "friend", not realizing who is on what side.
How does she get confused by this? Because Haley and Belkar also dislike Redcloak?! And she isn't going to realize that a human who dislikes Redcloak might be sympathetic to... the human City that Redcloak invaded?


But once they get Roy, why would they want to meet the MitD?
For any number of reasons they might have to go back a different way than they came. Tsukiko brought a wall of zombies with her so they have to go around. Belkar insists on scouring the area for his ring that came dislodged in the fall. Haley insists that they find Roy's sword. A passing patrol of hobgoblins forces them to take a different routs back. Heck, maybe Xykon comes back thinking he left his keys in the dragon's saddlebags.

[Angela Christine]

I rather thought Tsukiko would find O-chul and try to raise him, since he looks both dead and powerful. What a blow to her ego when she can't raise him at all! Hilarity ensues.

Tsukiko + EoFF has possibilities. He is dead and being oppressed by a halfling. He needs her. Specifically, he needs her to help him recover his body, or find him a new body. Hubba hubba. Unfortunately he considers biology disgusting, which could be a hitch in the relationship.

[Emperor Ing]

What will haley and belkar occur
Something so powerful, so unimaginably strong that you can die just for laying eyes on him.
ME!!!:biggrin:

[Pyro]

Somehow I don't see them meeting. Probably because I think Xykon and Co. landed on the opposite side of the city. But a meeting with the MitD seems likely. Lets just hope he doesn't want to play a game of "Who can hit the softest again".

[Holammer]

H
I predict that somehow, Tsukiko and the Eye of Fear and Flame end up running off together.
)

EoFaF is a bit "running impaired" atm, but I get the gist of it all. It's a good idea and I like it, but there's so many possibilities of an abuse relationship between the skull and Belkar.

[Wrecan]

Another reason Tsukiko is unlikely to think Haley and Belkar are on Redcloak's side. She was there when Roy and Belkar made the deal with Hinjo. She knows Belkar is all buddy-buddy with Hinjo's personal bodyguard. Sure, Belkar might try to convince her that he turned coat as well. But then why are they retrieving Roy's body?

[Garland]

Somehow Belkar will end making out with Haley, only to discover that Elan's been following them!!!

... The drama!

[David Argall]

There is no need to use sopoiler blocks. The thread title says "Spoiler" already.
I often use the idea "What's done twice is done once." Since it is hardly any effort to make it a spoiler, I might as well duplicate it. So ...


Quote:
Originally Posted by David Argall
The number of corpses in the city is 20,000 soldiers, and possibly several times that number of civilians. So there are plenty of top quality bodies for her use.


Not if, as indicated when she almost animated Miko, that she is looking for corpses of high level humanoids. Then we're discussing only General Chang, maybe a coupl of other officers, any paladin corpses that survived the blast (probably none), and maybe the fifth level enlarged fighters (though they were all decapitated).
Decapitation should not be considered particularly literal in this comic. Often enough, it merely means the victim is dead/dying. Easier to draw a head bouncing off than first a stab wound and then in the next box a body with X eyes. But this excuse still requires quite a few assumptions. She has to still be interested in a project she said she was abandoning. She has to quickly discover there are no suitable bodies, which there are bodies scattered over a massive area, she has to ... It amounts to a determination to use the idea and force the facts to fit.

However, a major problem here is OOTS style. Themes are introduced and thrown away rather casually. Thus we had the idea of the party using the catapult to get to the throne room. It gets one picture and is gone. We speculated about it for some time anyway, but it just didn't get used.
Same thing with Tsukiko making any sort of stud undead. The theme is introduced, used for a quick joke, and is gone. We can say there is a message from the writer in such cases that the story is not going to go in that direction. It's sorta an anti-forshadowing.

Quote:
And Goth has been shown with Miko to be a girl with a short attention span.


It was? When did we see her have a short attention span? She discarded the Miko idea as dumb, but that doesn't mean she has a short attention span.
She abandons the idea at the first difficulty. If you want to use a different name, fine, but it still means she is not going for a long walk just to find a body. By the time she reaches the wall, she will be into a different project.

Quote:
Following which Belkar pulls out daggers and treats Tsukiko in a very ungentlemanly manner.


Yeah, it's a real shame Belkar hasn't yet recovered his ring of jumping and Tsukiko can fly. Really, a spellcaster at her level should have little difficulty keeping a rogue and a ranger at bay long enough to steal their magic skull and leave. Cast Protection from Missiles and Haley's neutralized as well.
As V shows, a spellcaster gets weaker the longer a fight continues. Goth has just been thru quite a bit of fighting. As a MT, she has a whole lot of spells, but she's still running low. [Her fly spell has likely expired. It lasts about 10 minutes max and she has been doing a lot of walking of late.] But H&B are of at least her level and that means she is an underdog in any fight.

Quote:
We of course also want the encounter to be funny, which can be done if both parties are completely confused about the motives of the other side.


I think watching Belkar fumble around in a pile of grease is pretty funny myself.
It is largely a one-shot. The misunderstanding can cover the entire comic and have effects on future events as well.

Quote:
As said, it wants more guests at the tea party and so collects Roy.


And as said, hanging around with inanimate decomposing corpses isn't really its style. That turns a funny joke (O-Chul at a tea party) into a gruesome quite unfunny scenario.
We have to deal with Roy the stiff in any case, so that damper exists anyway.

Quote:
She is not, which is why confusion is useful here. She helps a "friend", not realizing who is on what side.


How does she get confused by this? Because Haley and Belkar also dislike Redcloak?! And she isn't going to realize that a human who dislikes Redcloak might be sympathetic to... the human City that Redcloak invaded?
Confusion happens. And the more obvious it is to the reader that the two parties are talking at cross-purposes, the funnier the sequence likely is.

Quote:
But once they get Roy, why would they want to meet the MitD?


For any number of reasons they might ...
None of these reasons give H&B any reason to approach the MitD. They are on a rescue mission, with a deadline, in enemy territory. They simply have every reason to avoid the MitD, or anybody else, if at all possible. [Thus the idea that it has Roy's body. That forces them to go to it.] No amount of detours will get them near it because their reaction will routinely be to avoid it.
If we want MitD in the scene, we need a reason for H&B to go to what they should be trying their best to avoid.


Another reason Tsukiko is unlikely to think Haley and Belkar are on Redcloak's side. She was there when Roy and Belkar made the deal with Hinjo. She knows Belkar is all buddy-buddy with Hinjo's personal bodyguard. Sure, Belkar might try to convince her that he turned coat as well. But then why are they retrieving Roy's body?
A problem, but not that serious. The comic merely has T and B in the same room briefly, under conditions where she has no reason to think B is any different from her in being willing to switch sides at the right time.
Obviously, at some point, Hinjo ordered the prisoners off to wherever, but the comic doesn't say when he did. We are at liberty to assume he heard the answers of all but Belkar and then ordered them back to their cells or to the armory or whatever. And only then did he turn to Belkar after they left and we return to the printed comic.
Getting back to the misunderstanding theme, we might have H&B at the tea party, trying to find an excuse to let them leave with Roy & O-Chul. T approaches with an order from the lich for MitD to get into the city. She recognizes Belkar and assumes he joined the victors since he is with it. Belkar recognizes her and since he didn't see her switch sides, assumes she is on their side.

[I'm da Rogue!]

Somehow Belkar will end making out with Haley, only to discover that Elan's been following them!!!

... The drama!

I love this version! But why did they end making out??? Here's my theory:
Belkar missed again his Spot check and in search of Roy's body, he got lost.
Haley started looking for him, realising that life's nothing without Belkar. Finally, she finds him and tells him everything about her feelings (she's a rogue, he's a halfling, the perfect combination!!!)
Belkar enjoys the idea of makning Elan feel horrible, so he says yes to Haley's offer(plus she's HOT!)
After making out, they like the idea of saving Roy's ass (Haley for the money Roy will give her, Belkar for making Roy see him as a savior), so they find him and carry him back to the port.
BUT!!! On their way there, they find poor Elan who can't believe what he just saw. He kills himself by singing "Die, die, die poor bard" and now Haley and Belkar have to carry 2 bodies back to the port.
But! on their way there... Dun dun duuuun!
(I live the rest to another drama maniac)

[David Argall]

If you are going to suggest such nonsense, recall the limits put on us by the comic. Elan is going to get a happy ending. He can't suicide.

So the idea might run that he discovers he gets his jollies from watching Haley in action.

[Tussy the Druid]

Unless Tsukiko is at Roy's body for the purpose of animating him. Then they have to confront her.

"Stupid hobgoblin priests animating all the best corpses in the city. I'll show them. I'll find a nice powerful fighter outside the walls and turn him into a death knight or something..."
Done.

Gee, if only Tsukiko had some sort of ability to cast spells of some sort, like Grease or Ray of Enfeeblement or Eyebite or Grappling Hand or Telekinesis or any number of spells that might cause Belkar to drop the skull and cause it to roll over to Tsukiko.



But Roy is 3 miles away from the docks. Tsukiko is in the city. Why would she go all the way out there, when she doesn't even know a person is out there.

Also, why would Tsukiko want to capture the Eofaf, Redcloak can make many more, and she can animate dead. I don't think she's the kind to waste spells so she can get one skull.

[Ariko]

I'd like them to run into the MiTD too, even if it's only in passing. Poor thing never gets to do nothing...

Actually he gets to do nothing quite often :smalltongue:

[Tyrmatt]

I forsee a hilarious scenario where Belkar's curse is activated by MitD "Pulled Punch" :D

[Tharr]

Reading threads prediction is no comic will come on Monday and to read more predictions during the week before we get some guest artist filler posted.

[Tulisin]

Wouldn't his sword being "particularly harmful to the undead" cause, erm, problems for zombie Roy?

[Demented]

It's not like it'll make him any dead-er.

[Gales]

Wouldn't his sword being "particularly harmful to the undead" cause, erm, problems for zombie Roy?

I doubt he starts cutting himself after he turns undead.

"Look everybody, I'm taking full use of my weapon enchanments! *Cut wrists*"

[David Argall]

As is not uncommon, it looks like our predictions are largely failing, but I will try one...


Haley and Belkar will be left hanging for about 5 strips while we deal with other elements.