OOTS #474 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Solo]

Sick and wrong, and terribly funny!

[Almighty Salmon]

Aha :smallbiggrin:

Another great strip!

[Scientivore]

"Oh, man. That's just wrong."

Truer words have ne'er been spoke by man nor psychopath.

[Sampi]

Ooh, WoD reference by Haley? Has she been seeing other games?

Nice comic, Rich!

[The Extinguisher]

Poor Roy and O-Chul.

This is seven different kinds of awesome. Good job.

[blennus]

Love it! Great strip as always. Can't wait to see the resolution.

[Dugray]

Uh oh.. This can't be good, and since when has Belkar been competent in Tracking enough to know they ain't Hobgoblins or Undead tracks?

[warmachine]

Belkar has ranks in Survival?

Mind you, with the Monster in the Dark, we may be due for more zany comedy.

[Eogan]

Uh oh.. This can't be good, and since when has Belkar been competent in Tracking enough to know they ain't Hobgoblins or Undead tracks?
He always has been, he just needs motivation and to find the source before his ADHD kicks in and he forgets that he's tracking something.

Interesting that I didn't see ANY :mitd: theories about Roy. Nice play, Rich.

[Icewalker]

Oh Giant, once again you completely throw away all the crazed conspiracy theories with an excellent touch and slight but possibly expected twist. Excellent work.

[Behold_the_Void]

So morbid! So funny!

[Holammer]

This is disturbing on so many levels that I hardly know where to begin... I love it.
As others have pointed out, I just love it how Rich manages to pull something unexpected on us. Sure we have rough ideas how things may look, but it's always a surprise.

[Bendal]

Wow, Haley and Belkar had better be ready to do some fast talking now that the MitD has Roy as a tea party guest. Maybe they can get both Roy and O'Chul to safety by telling MitD that they were sent by Xykon to tell him to go into the city...

[Attilargh]

...Now I know why the Monster is on the Evil side. But damn, mummy-Roy is pretty damn cool.


Ooh, WoD reference by Haley? Has she been seeing other games?
Nice catch. :smallcool:

Is the Shadow a reference to the Shadow, or some other Shadow, or the Pistol Wraith of Iron Kingdoms, or..?

Ædit: Ah, so it was the Shadow.

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

:roy: Who knows what stupidity lurks in the heart of men?

Ooh! I know, Roy, I know! :smallbiggrin: Cue the ShadowRoy fanclub!

Yeah, Attilargh, that sounds like The Shadow to me.

...oh, almost left the "n" off of "men". That would have been unfortunate.

Anyway, this should be an interesting outcome. Eep.

[Zone]

Weell.. This was pretty fun one.. The last panel *snicker* And the mummy panel.. "How many topics?" "Six hundred". Haa!

[Karellen]

Aw, Belkar both appears to know his tracking and discovers something that disturbs even him. Delightful!

[fluffybunny]

Awww, CitD has a dwagon plushie!!!

Man, how humiliating for Roy! Elan and Belkar will never let that teaparty go uncommented. Oh the humiliation!

[Glorfindel]

The Giant took the Craft Disturbing Mental Image feat, like Belkar?

[Deuterium]

:roy: What's the thread count on this?

I feel we're being mocked. :smallconfused:

Keep up the good work! :smallbiggrin:

[AtomicKitKat]

"your gentlemen" should be "you gentlemen", and shouldn't it be d12s and not d10s? Otherwise, funny strip, as always.:smallbiggrin:

[Karellen]

Xykon's Best Protagonist Deaths video is certainly shaping up to be the greatest ever, I'd say. I wonder if Teevo managed to capture Belkar and Haley's terrified reaction shots.

[Accountant]

Awesome, are we actually going to get some MitD action?

This'll be the first time, won't it?

[Nu]

Oh dear. That's what I said when reading this strip :P

[Malik]

MMMM i wonder if they were savoury or sweet scones?
Great comic as always.

[Accountant]

Also, Craft (disturbing mental image) is a skill, not a feat

[Tal9922]

Awesome, are we actually going to get some MitD action?

This'll be the first time, won't it?

Well, unless you count the "action" he had with Miko:smalltongue:

Oh, that didn't come out so right....

[Fabio_MP]

New comic is up.

great great comic (roy as The shadow or a vampire is great) and now we have double hurrah for the strip

thank you again for it

very nice one, loved it

so it's Shoeless god of death vs Monster in the Dark..... :)

[Allandaros]

Heeeee! WoD throwaway joke! :D

[toysailor]

"your gentlemen" should be "you gentlemen", and shouldn't it be d12s and not d10s? Otherwise, funny strip, as always.:smallbiggrin:

Nah, d10s. The old WoD pen-and-paper uses d10s exclusively. This can be read as a specific reference to the Vampire:The Masquerade RPG.

[Abbott]

Does this mean Roy isn't coming back?

[Attilargh]

shouldn't it be d12s and not d10s?
You haven't played much Vampire, have you? Ædit: Blast the ninjas!


Well, unless you count the "action" he had with Miko:smalltongue:

Oh, that didn't come out so right....
It came out perfectly.

[Lord Herman]

:smallbiggrin:

That was hilarious. You, sir, win the internet.

[Omicroncubed]

HAHA!! I was worried there for a sec! Nice comic

[Mr. Dragon]

Sheesh, the CitD and I never had so many guests at a Tea Party! Awesome!

[Retales]

Hah, that's cool. More humiliation for Roy!

[Binary Stars]

Bravo, Giant, bravo. Not only were our suspicions about the MitD confirmed, but we got to see some awesome undead Roy action. :smallamused:

[Jawajoey]

Oh snap.

I think that about covers it.

[TheJustWiseSage]

Thoughly enjoying the comic.

Hope Gaint gets better or at least feels better for longer periods between bouts.

Now the spoiler type question.....

Well, we now got therotically 3 Paladins surviving this. Assuming Haley sticks O-Chul in a holding bag and a remove curse is cast on him later.

Does that give us the equivalent the three musketeers?

or if another steps forward do we have the teenage mutant ninja turtles?
{Heroes in a half suit of Armour}

or better yet, four more Paladins return from far missions and we end up with the seven samurii.

[Xandu Hotep]

Brilliant.

I love the Vampire Roy. :smallbiggrin:

[rawmutton]

Ha... Egyptian cotton really does have a 600 thread count.

[Spiryt]

:belkar: That poor, poor bastard

Certainly would become one of legendary quotes.

[Grumpy_Frenchman]

Arf! :smallbiggrin:

One thing I though seeing the last panel: "I want one of those Dragon plushies!"

If you ever get them made, Giant, you have at least one buyer!

[Castamir]

Uh oh.. This can't be good, and since when has Belkar been competent in Tracking enough to know they ain't Hobgoblins or Undead tracks?
There are things any half-reasonable person can say even with 0 ranks. It's D&D which allows you to track only if you're either a Ranger or have the Track feat, but telling apart humanoids on one hand and something as weird as the MitD on the other is something even I would succeed at -- even though I have issues tracking a lost network card.

[Alfryd]

New comic is up.
Very good. 8.6.
I am pleased to see to have recovered strength sufficient to resume your duties.
Now back to the galley.

There's something very odd about the mental image of a 5-foot greatsword slung over Haley's shoulder.

Not only were our suspicions about the MitD confirmed...
Wow! I got a prediction right! Bow before my Godlike perspicacity.

[Rad]

vampires DO need a lot of d10s :smallbiggrin: LOL!

[Felixaar]

Very Nice, Rich. You Made My Day.

[Tordek]

Excellent stuff! That shadow gag was classic.

[OmegaDonut]

Hehehe, I liked the reference back to #463.

:elan: Everyone knows hobgoblins can't resist a fine gouda.

[DeepChild]

Ha... Egyptian cotton really does have a 600 thread count.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *wipes away a tear*
Awesome.

[meep]

Yes, two birds with one stone.... and that was not expected. And here we were, thinking Tsukiko had animated him or something.

[HOO]

Am I the only one who wants an offical Vampire-Roy avatar for the boards? :smallwink:

[Siwenna]

Brilliant comic! I actual feel sorrier for O'Chul, since he is conscious, just paralyzed.

[Nerd_Paladin]

One of the better comics in a while! The Vampire in-joke was nice, and I swoon for any reference to The Shadow (sans Alec Baldwin of course).

Isn't that Hold Person EVER gong to wear off?

[cheesecake]

MiTD, and Roy. Awww.......

Vampire Roy was awesome. I'd rather see him dead than alive...one step closer to having to listen to :roy: again.

[Tundar]

I love Roy as a shadow :smallbiggrin:

And I hope this means we will get to see what MitD really is.

[Vulion]

Poor Roy, poor O-chul...it's just so very, very wrong...but so hilarious!

[OmegaDonut]

Isn't that Hold Person EVER gong to wear off?

It's not Hold Person, it's lich paralysis. I don't think it wears off on its own, but I'll leave that to someone more knowledgeable about D&D.

[jamroar]

What's the deal with Hobgoblins and gouda cheese. anyway? :smallconfused:

[dogmac]

Gross, Gross, Gross, Gross, Gross

Extremely funny, but gross

(And Roy the Shadow is kind of ... sexy?)

Does this mean thingumy might get rescued too?

And MITD, I hope those scones are nice and light for you, since you are missing jam and cream with them.

[factotum]

I really hope Belkar doesn't use his usual response to anything unknown and try to stab it...MitD might not like being tickled in the middle of his tea party. :smallwink:

[TimothyRorran]

One grammatical error in the last segment of the comic: MitD's "your" should instead be "you."

Well that's a fascinating way for me to make a first post, ain't it.
(Long time lurker. Grammatical errors often convince me to sign up and post in forums I previously merely lurk in.)

[J.Gellert]

Great comic, though I don't think I get the shadow reference. Why is it dressed as a cowboy-era bandit?

And yes, lich paralysis is permanent (and it makes everyone believe you are dead)

[jamroar]

Great comic, though I don't think I get the shadow reference. Why is it dressed as a cowboy-era bandit?

And yes, lich paralysis is permanent (and it makes everyone believe you are dead)

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow) knows!"

[pendell]

New comic is up.

And I'm glad to see you are, too. THAT was a funny strip. Eagerly anticipating what happens next!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Jops]

Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow) for the shadow reference.
Heh, loved that joke, But I loved a lot more the Vampire's d10s one. ^^

[Elfanatic]

:roy: Thank the gods I'm dead!

Roy's dad: See? This kind of crap wouln't have happened if you had been a wizard! You could just have cast Feather Fall!

[Kurald Galain]

Cute!

I didn't know Belkar could track? :smallwink:


(ooh, I can totally imagine that discussion at the last level-up, where Haley's player kept badgering Belkie until he gave in and said okay, okay, I'll put some ranks in survival, just shut up already!)

[Fascisticide]

YAY! Tea party!

[Adventurer]

Also, Craft (disturbing mental image) is a skill, not a feat

It is a feat actually, and Belkar already has it (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0249.html)

[Chineselegolas]

Oh wow...
:belkar: saying something is wrong...
And I have to agree with him.

Nice play Rich.

[ShiningTed]

Damn this was good. Totally unexpected, lets us find out what happened to O-Chul, and...

...when I realised O-Chul was holding a scone, I literally screamed with laughter. Don't normally do that. But I did this time. :smallbiggrin:

[GKBeetle]

This is the first time since Roy died that I have been happy that he was dead. Giant, I bow to your comic genius.

[mohair_ninja]

I'm pretty sure that someone on the boards has overseen Roy at teaparty. And I think it's better for the plot that animating his corpse (who'd even do that - all clerics are in the city).

Haley wouldn't be herself if she didn't looted things around the crater :smallwink:

And how does MitD hold the platter??? I see no fingers and I'm not going to explain that it's physically impossible to hold it in such way. Or... MitD has sticky tentacles like an octopus :smallconfused: ?

And undead Roys are cool. I mean, they're absolutely not warm...

[holywhippet]

Hmm, I was thinking that the party would spot O'Chul with the MitD when they went out to retrieve Roy. I wasn't expecting that the MitD would have actually grabbed Roy as another tea party member. Now, assuming they actually grab O'Chul and shove him in a bag of holding. What's the odds they'll forget about him (out of sight, out of mind).

For that matter, does Lich paralysis mean a person will still die eventually or is he effectively in stasis for now. In theory you'd think they'd starve to death eventually.

[Ink]

Nice, the last panel was great. Hey, they found O-Chul again. That raises the resources of the Sapphire Guard by another 50%.

[Finn Solomon]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better...

Gallows humour. I heartily approve. What on Earth must poor O-Chul be thinking, he doesn't deserve this.

[J.Gellert]

Ah, thanks for the Shadow links :smile:

[hmmmm]

Awesome, but i think i found the "Shadow," reference funniest.

[Gez]

And yes, lich paralysis is permanent (and it makes everyone believe you are dead)

This later effect does not apply in the OotSworld, though, because it fails to override the powerful magic effect known as crossed-or-round eyes.

[flamingoptimus]

:mitd: is so healthy!

fat-Free scones!!! no wonders it grew up healthy and strong ...

:biggrin:

[NeonRonin]

Dear gods, that was a good one... why did nobody foresee the possibility of Roy at the MitD's tea party?

(Damn, I think that rhymed... I gotta start getting more sleep...)

Funny stuff, Rich. Now if only they could figure out how to get Roy(and possibly O-chul) outta there without playing a game of "Who Hits the Lightest" with :mitd:. That could be a problem.

Loved the 'visions of Roy as an undead' too. A morally conflicted vampire is always good for a laugh. Keep up the good work!

[Edivad]

Eheh, funny. By the way, it DID make sense to think that using "d10"rather than "d12"was a typo...I didn't immediately get the second World of Darkness joke(the one about the dices...I got the one about the conflicted vampire), so I thought that Rich wanted to say that Roy would have needed lots of d12s to roll for his hit dice as an undead. Anyway, really funny strip. The last image was really a surprise!:smallwink:

[Faramir]

Hehehe, I liked the reference back to #463.

:elan: Everyone knows hobgoblins can't resist a fine gouda.

Thanks, I missed that one! Too busy laughing at the d10 joke I guess :)

And it's nice to see the MitD still


has the dragon plushie from Start of Darkness.

[malakim2099]

Ooh, WoD reference by Haley? Has she been seeing other games?

Well, Dark Mistress Shadowgale (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0093.html) probably did a fair amount of LARPing... :smallamused:

Great comic, though I think it shouldn't be too hard to fast-talk the MitD. Heck, they might even convince it to do manual labor of carrying everyone.

[Tura]

Fantastic.

assuming they actually grab O'Chul and shove him in a bag of holding
An entirely valid hypotheses, but what I'd really like to see is Haley using her maxxed bluff skill to lure the MitD in the bag of holding. :smallbiggrin:
:haley: "Here, hop in, there's a BIG cake inside. Fat-free."

[SteveMB]

Poor Roy. His dignity took as many hit points as he himself did....

[stickygoo]

Excellent comic.

Why make Roy one type of undead when you can show the mental images of him as different kinds, and keep him dead.

excellent.

[shylocxs]

What is sick and twisted is not the portrayal of Roy as an undead creature, nor his use as a prop at a tea party. Instead, what is far more sick and twisted is the continual sense of racism against the goblin race! The image of each one of them being addicted to gouda is horrifying, and based on racial stereotypes which simply aren't true! I demand justice! I demand a retraction! Other races, whether human, demi-human, semi-human, or even monstrous also have members who are addicted to gouda! Let us see this issue, which breaks apart families and brings pain to friends and loved ones of all types of creatures, irregardless of what level of Monster Summoning is required, portrayed in this comic strip with sensitivity and understanding!

Down with gouda!

Hehe, and up with more deadly and humiliating circumstances for all of these good-doers!

[Fighteer]

Wonderful comic!


Hmm, I was thinking that the party would spot O'Chul with the MitD when they went out to retrieve Roy. I wasn't expecting that the MitD would have actually grabbed Roy as another tea party member. Now, assuming they actually grab O'Chul and shove him in a bag of holding. What's the odds they'll forget about him (out of sight, out of mind).

For that matter, does Lich paralysis mean a person will still die eventually or is he effectively in stasis for now. In theory you'd think they'd starve to death eventually.
The :mitd: 's involvement is just the kind of zany twist that we have come to love from Rich - it's the kind of thing that makes you look back and say, "Duh, of course," inbetween gales of laughter. I figure that Haley with her maxed Bluff skill should have no problems convincing the :mitd: to do whatever she wants, assuming she figures out that (a) it's smart enough to be bluffed, and (b) it's dumb enough to be bluffed.

As for lich paralysis, there is no indication in the paralysis entry in the SRD that the body is in any kind of physiological stasis. One could read between the lines of the lich's special variant and assume that, since a Heal check is required to determine if the victim is alive or dead, it's implied that the victim does not visibly breathe, or at least breathes very slowly. Regardless of whether his/her metabolism is slowed down, I assume that such a character would die of thirst or starvation if it was not cured eventually.

[Wolfbite]

Hilarious comic! The undead Roy possibilities were funny, ESPECIALLY The Shadow reference from the old radio program. Particularly awesome.
And the last image with Roy Corpse at the tea party reminded me of Salad Fingers. A particularly morbid yet hilarious flash series for those not familar with it.

[OperationTREX]

Please, please please, Rich.

Vampire Roy

Please.

I had a flash of Belkar and Roy in the vampiric future and was stuck by glee unending.

You know Belkar would piss Roy of intentionally just to get him to bite him and become a vampire too.

Roy for Vampire 2007!

[Hushdawg]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
"The Shadow"

hehehehehehehe!!!!!

I love the fact that Vampire Roy automagically gets ranks in Knowledge (Culinary).

[Lizard Lord]

Aw, Belkar both appears to know his tracking and discovers something that disturbs even him. Delightful!

Actually Belkar is creeped out whenever Hailey cleans and polishes her gold coins.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0207.html

[Verick Severith]

Ahhhh so very freaking lol worthy. This bothersome for Belkar and Haley

[SPoD]

What is sick and twisted is not the portrayal of Roy as an undead creature, nor his use as a prop at a tea party. Instead, what is far more sick and twisted is the continual sense of racism against the goblin race! The image of each one of them being addicted to gouda is horrifying, and based on racial stereotypes which simply aren't true! I demand justice! I demand a retraction! Other races, whether human, demi-human, semi-human, or even monstrous also have members who are addicted to gouda! Let us see this issue, which breaks apart families and brings pain to friends and loved ones of all types of creatures, irregardless of what level of Monster Summoning is required, portrayed in this comic strip with sensitivity and understanding!

Actually, if you notice, all of the cheese-related hobgoblin beliefs are only in Haley's head (and possibly Elan's, though she may have planted the idea there), because the Vampire Roy panel is in her imagination. Therefore, it's obvious that Haley is a cheesist (someone who judges others based on their cheese preferences), and this just deepens her character development. I'm expecting a deeply emotional arc where Haley must confront her cheesism, possibly involving her father...

(Haley shoots a hobgoblin.)
:haley: Hah! Take that, you gouda-loving bastard!
:haley:'s Father: Haley, why are you generalizing an entire species based on their cheese-eating preferences?
:haley: I learned it from you, Dad! I learned it from watching you!!
(Cue emotional music.)

[Wikkin]

Vampire Roy is teh awesome. :)

[Hallavast]

No. No. It's all good. See, all the d10s come in one little package... and you even get a cute little baggy thing out of it... I bought one for a game that I ended up never playing in... but it's ok because the next time I need to roll hit points for like a 49 hit dice construct, I can do it in like 10 seconds... Genius.

[garylian]

That was just wrong on so many perfect levels!

Great job, Rich! Keep feeling better!

[zipnab]

LOL, "Just think about all the d10's he'd need to buy.."
Loved it.
Hope you feel better, Giant.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

That's the first time I've seen Belkar show sympathy to someone.

Mr. Burlew, you are a genius's genius!

[Dinkyass]

Oh man... I wonder what the MitD will ask for in return for Roy's body? A rousing game of "Who Can Hit the Lightest"? Delicious chili cheese fries? A kiss on the tongue for his paper cut? :smalleek:

[maitreyi]

Giant, save O'Chul. SAVE O'CHUL!!!:smallfurious:

Have Haley stuff him in her bag and run off!
Thank you. :haley:

Great comic, I cant wait to see how they deal with the MitD.:mitd:

[kierthos]

Oh man... I wonder what the MitD will ask for in return for Roy's body? A rousing game of "Who Can Hit the Lightest"? Delicious chili cheese fries? A kiss on the tongue for his paper cut? :smalleek:

Nah, Belkar will threaten to take away the umbrella and beat the MitD with it, which, of course, the MitD would like, because he'd finally be seen. So Belkar won't do it, but the verbal interaction will be enough of a distraction for Haley to stuff Roy's body in a bag of holding, and try and drag O-Chul away.

Or, of course, Haley fast-talks the MitD into helping them. I mean, it's been how long since Xykon and Redcloak abandoned him?


Giant, save O'Chul. SAVE O'CHUL!!!:smallfurious:

You can't breathe in those things. That would be bad.

[Bluefin]

Undead Roys were certainly my favorite part of this comic. Though the Tea Party at the end was awesome as well.

I kind of hope Roy comes back as one of those undead now. :smallamused:

[Jamie Fameflame]

This was nice! Always great with Belkar... Loved the "more fun at parties" comment :smallbiggrin:

Anywho, this should make for an interesting strip about how they'll manage to disrupt the tea party!

[OneEyedJay]

The Giant strikes again with a plot-twist from left field.

I think I observed a similar scene with my daughter last week. Except not as many dead people.:smalleek:

[tiroskassie]

Great way to tie those two together! Now we'll find out his fate as well! Great job Giant!

[Freelance Henchman]

Heh.

What's that black spot on Roy's face?

[kierthos]

Heh.

What's that black spot on Roy's face?
I believe that's from the Meteor Swarm Xykon used on Roy.

[Freelance Henchman]

I believe that's from the Meteor Swarm Xykon used on Roy.

Oh. I've got to say, dead Roy is really disturbing me. And he's just a stick figure!

[Sigbru]

Wonderful comic!

As for lich paralysis, there is no indication in the paralysis entry in the SRD that the body is in any kind of physiological stasis. One could read between the lines of the lich's special variant and assume that, since a Heal check is required to determine if the victim is alive or dead, it's implied that the victim does not visibly breathe, or at least breathes very slowly. Regardless of whether his/her metabolism is slowed down, I assume that such a character would die of thirst or starvation if it was not cured eventually.

How can you die of starvation or thirst when you're being feed by a monster in the darkness ?

[Fighteer]

How can you die of starvation or thirst when you're being feed by a monster in the darkness ?How do you eat, drink, or swallow while paralyzed? Did they have intravenous feeding in fantasy medieval times?

[bullet]

Had to register just to say this:

MITD tea party is FABULOUS!

[Gez]

What is sick and twisted is not the portrayal of Roy as an undead creature, nor his use as a prop at a tea party. Instead, what is far more sick and twisted is the continual sense of racism against the goblin race! The image of each one of them being addicted to gouda is horrifying, and based on racial stereotypes which simply aren't true!

Exactly. Everyone knows that hobgoblins prefer mimolette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimolette), which color gives them this healthy orange color they have in the same way flamingos are pink because they eat shrimps and prawns.

[Wolfie_1066]

ROFL i love it...and to the mummy thing...STOP MOCKING USSS!!! *goes to make 400 of the 600 threads* yeah i know i have a problem...how come i seem to be the only one here who is'nt disturbed by this? :smallconfused:

[Wizzardman]

My response to this comic:

"...Heh heh heh HA HA HAHAHA!"

[Porthos]

You know, I've been buying way too much bedding material lately, coz I got the thread count joke right away. :smallbiggrin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_count#Thread_count

As for everything else.... Sick, wrong, and funny just about covers it. :smallbiggrin:

"Just think of all of the d10's he'd need to buy."

So true, so very true. :smalltongue:

[TheMeanDM]

I'm kind of surprised Belkar didn't find something humorous in seeing Roy's corpse having tea with MitD. I mean, this is the guy that's making chamber pot cracks while holding a skull....so for him to not make an off handed comment about Roy, whom he's always chided...

[Imrahil]

Now this is exactly why I don't mind waiting for a new comic. This was just a beautiful piece of work right here, and referencing The Shadow brightened my day even more.

[Velazquez]

Hehehe.
I wonder if the monster-under-the-umbrella will invite both Belkar and Haley to the tea party.
And of course who would Belkar react:smallbiggrin:

[Quikngruvn]

Hee hee! That should give all those clamoring for Undead Roy a little fix... at least for a little while.

Oh, and what's happened to Belkar? First he's rendered speechless by Haley's display of kickassery, and now he's disturbed by Roy being used as a prop at the tea party. Is he sick? ...Wait, let me rephrase: is something wrong with him? D'oh! You know what I mean!


You can't breathe in those things. That would be bad.

Not true:


If living creatures are placed within the bag, they can survive for up to 10 minutes (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#bagofHolding), after which time they suffocate.

And presumably, O-Chul's breathing is much shallower while paralyzed, so he may be able to last longer than 10 minutes. (Assuming he's not dead, of course. If he is dead, then his breathing is even shallower still....)

[redcodekevin]

I somehow felt this was going to happen. Now they need to barter for the body, since it's obvious they can't fight MitD. Or if they fight it, they'll reach the docks faster...

[Martok]

Hahahaha!! I can *so* see the MitD doing that.... :smallamused:

[silvadel]

Ooops -- lose 1 san point for the belkster...

Maybe he had a sister?

And the MITD certainly feels female.

And fat-free scones --- eeeww -- maybe 2 san points.

[Etiainen]

Er...I can say only:

HOLY SH*T!!!! :rotfflmfaolfol:

[comicadv]

Wow, Haley and Belkar had better be ready to do some fast talking now that the MitD has Roy as a tea party guest. Maybe they can get both Roy and O'Chul to safety by telling MitD that they were sent by Xykon to tell him to go into the city...

Hmm...we know the MItD is strong and probably won't want to give up his guest this could cause problems...

Also, I feel bad for MITD. So lonely he is playing with dead/paralyed bodies. THen agian he is the MITD this could be normal healty behaveour.

[silvadel]

Naw MitD has some serious psychological problems no matter what she is...

Of course the first thing Haley and crew must do if they want to convince the MitD of anything is get rid of that demon roach -- otherwise they could convince MitD just fine but the roach would say "I dont think Xykon would approve of that."

[DrivinAllNight]

Best part was the Shadow Roy, and how many of us actually have heard The Shadow shows from the radio? They are pretty good, good enough to still be sold in stores. Can't wait to see what MitD does next.
And was Belkar thinking Roy was the 'poor, poor bastard' or was he referring to the MitD? Just hard to imagine Belkar having descent care for Roy and what happens to him.

[Snipers_Promise]

Wow.... That was hallarious. Good Comic Giant.

[TigerHunter]

I would like to dedicate this post to congratulate whoever theorized that Haley and Belkar would run into the MitD. Give me a while and I'll link to the thread for a proper tribute.
Although it's probably already been linked... a well. It was still a brilliant theory.

[silvadel]

Hmmm now that Haley+Belkar have the booty talisman -- I wonder what her reaction would be upon say being summoned by Haley -- or worse -- summoned by Belkar

[Imrahil]

Best part was the Shadow Roy, and how many of us actually have heard The Shadow shows from the radio? They are pretty good, good enough to still be sold in stores.

They're also freely available online. If anyone wants a blast from the past (and they're actually quite entertaining), sites like this one here (http://otr-reviews.com/the-shadow/) and others like it have the programs archived for downloading.

""Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"

[RTGoodman]

I'm not even really a fan of The Shadow (not that I don't like it, but I just haven't really heard or seen much of it), but I just wanted to point out that Shadow Roy is probably the coolest-looking character in the history of OotS. I would not be sad if that happened. Well, I would be, but every time SR appeared, my sadness would be lifted by his pure aura of awesome.

[Siric]

SCONES!

This made me happy :) Finally interaction between OotS and and MitD

[Blayze]

Sorry 'bout this, Rich, but I'm petty like this. :P

Panel Ten: There should not be an apostrophe in 'd10s'. One would be used had the line been, say, "That d10's going to see a lot of work."

Panel Twelve: The line should read "Would either of you gentlemen...", not "Would either of your gentlemen...".

I won't even bother with grammar. After all, who speaks or types in completely grammatically-correct sentences? Good comic, by the way. A part of me wants to see Zombie Roy in action. Y'know, says "Brains...", then tears his own brain out and eats it.

[Forevergrey]

Sorry 'bout this, Rich

Ugh, so you should be.

[Bunny]

:smile: The only thing predictable about this comic is that it's unpredictable. Roy and O-Chul at the tea-party ... and another little poke at all of us who love to speculate about the plotline! (Did anyone actually guess a 600-thread-count Mummy?)

:elan: "He's Mrs. Nesbitt!"

Shh.

Thanks for the comic, Rich.

Bunny

[SteveMB]

Naw MitD has some serious psychological problems no matter what she is...

Of course the first thing Haley and crew must do if they want to convince the MitD of anything is get rid of that demon roach -- otherwise they could convince MitD just fine but the roach would say "I dont think Xykon would approve of that."

Nah, we've never seen the demon roaches really play that sort of role in the plot -- just make wisecracks from the sidelines. I don't see the Giant shifting gears on that point now.

[Blayze]

Ugh, so you should be.

Would you have preferred "LOL, I have found teh spelling errors! Praise me!", hmm?

[David Argall]

Great comic, and I say that even without considering that the writer used my idea. [Mine if you ignore that he obviously thought of it first, and that I merely mentioned it as a possibility, but I'll still take credit if you insist...]

So now, how do we rescue Roy and O'Chul?


The MitD won't play lite hit. The writer doesn't like to reuse gags.
Lugging away the bodies is difficult, and likely boring, for Haley and Belkar. So the idea they con the MitD into helping is in play.
The not-booty talisman is clearly in play here. Celia could be very useful in carrying the bodies to the boat. We will see her in action shortly, one way or another.
Those loving Tsikiko can still keep up hopes. Our Lich can order her out here to fetch MitD. She makes the "natural" assumption that anybody having tea with a horrible monster, and the MitD, as Haley is doing, must be on her side and they have a short tea party with the two/three girls totally misunderstanding each other. T talks about how horrible Redcloak is, while the other girl/s make statements that read two ways.
So party ends and MitD and T head to the city, probably with it carrying the bodies. Haley manages to get the bodies just before they meet the lich, who wants to do something stupid and ignores T mentioning the heros slipping around the corner with the bodies.


On other points.
Belkar can track, badly. It is an untrained wis skill. His track feat mean he can track difficult trails, at least if he can roll enough 20's.

We now know a tiny bit more about the MitD. It does not leave a humanoid track, and so is not a humanoid type, not that this was exactly a leading candidate.

[Avalon27703]

New comic is up.

I read today's Announcement and hope for you to have more good days than bad.

As mentioned in the Announcement I would love access to the RSS thread to know when new comics are up. But I can't find how to do that. Please let me know, it would complete my life.

Avalon

[TheKnifeofTrust]

WHAT!? NO PARTING SHOT FROM THE :roach:!? :smallfrown:
And one was RIGHT THERE! :smallfrown:

[Forealms]

I can't help but think of what is going through O-chul's head right now. And, if they do rescue Roy, will they rescue O-chul, too? That would make Hinjo feel a bit better.

EDIT: I completely forgot Belkar's awesome quote: "He'd be more fun at parties?"

All he needs is a bit of that poison from Roy's paralyzing episode, and it'd be a riot.

[Elurindel]

Loved the comic today. I think Rich knows that lots of people miss Roy, so he decided to throw us all a few tidbits of Roy-ish humour to keep us going whilst we wait for his revival.

[Porthos]

I read today's Announcement and hope for you to have more good days than bad.

As mentioned in the Announcement I would love access to the RSS thread to know when new comics are up. But I can't find how to do that. Please let me know, it would complete my life.

Avalon

<From the RSS Thread down the page a bit - Thanks SteveMB! :smallsmile: >

feed://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots.rss (OotS Only)
feed://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf.rss (Erfworld Only)
feed://www.giantitp.com/comics/comics.rss (Both Comics)

Hope this helps. :smallsmile:

[AyuVince]

Yay for cheesism! Yay for V:tM references! And yay for armor-eating vultures! Now I want a sig picture of an armor-eating vulture. Damn.

[CindyKay]

I SO love this comic! I always like the MitD ones, and I love the Shadow allusion and the Vampire joke.

[Alysar]

My prediction

After they take care of the MITD, Haley and Belkar will talk about how they wish they had some way of getting themselves, Roy's body and O'Chul back to the docks quickly, and that will immediately be followed by some reference to Roy's amulet.

[baerdith]

Aw, damn. I agree. That's just plain wrong!

Funny, but soooo wrong.

"that poor, poor bastard."

Even Belkar has a (small) bit of compassion.

[Baalzebub]

Sweet, I missed oots comics where Roy was included. :smallamused:

[CockroachTeaParty]

Ah ha ha! This tea party keeps getting better. Love it!

[TheNovak]

Hahahaha! "Just think of all the d10's he'd need to buy..." made my day. And Shadow Roy is frickin' awesome.

[Lizard Lord]

Naw MitD has some serious psychological problems no matter what she is...

Of course the first thing Haley and crew must do if they want to convince the MitD of anything is get rid of that demon roach -- otherwise they could convince MitD just fine but the roach would say "I dont think Xykon would approve of that."

The Demon roaches aren't loyal to Xykon. They are just hanging around for the heck of it.

[Tobrian]

Awesome! Now they can rescue O'Chul, too! :smallsmile:

It's The Shadow! I wonder if gamers in 20 years time will still remember that movie and get the reference.


"your gentlemen" should be "you gentlemen", and shouldn't it be d12s and not d10s? Otherwise, funny strip, as always.:smallbiggrin:

Nope, the World of Darkness system uses mighty big dice pools of d10s.(*) And part of the World of Darkness setting was THE quintessential vampire RPG of the 1990s: Vampire: the Masquerade. :smallbiggrin:

(* Or at least the old World of Darkness used d10s, I'm not sure about the WoD 2.0 new edition.)

...just one thing, shouldn't "Just think of all the d10's he'd need to buy..." rather be spelled "Just think of all the d10s he'd need to buy..."?? I mean, I'm not a native english speaker, but isn't this the plural instead of a genitiv singular case we're dealing with here?

[Gez]

...just one thing, shouldn't "Just think of all the d10's he'd need to buy..." rather be spelled "Just think of all the d10s he'd need to buy..."?? I mean, I'm not a native english speaker, but isn't this the plural instead of a genitiv singular case we're dealing with here?

Yes (only case where apostrophes are okay for plural are for single letters, like saying "there are two e's in "letter"). But like every other point in that thread, it has already been said over two thousand times. :smallwink:

[Tobrian]

Yes (only case where apostrophes are okay for plural are for single letters, like saying "there are two e's in "letter"). But like every other point in that thread, it has already been said over two thousand times. :smallwink:

Yeah, I know now, I apologize. I went and did a text search across 5 of the currently 6 pages to check for references to "d10" BEFORE I posted, first page 1, then jumped to page 6 and worked my way backwards until I grew bored... And wadda you know, I missed the important page. Meh. Sorry. :smallfrown:
--------

Anyway. now I wish Haley had taken Elan with them. He and Thog and the MitS could be bestest buddies ever, considering that Elan likes tea parties, too, and Thog likes ice cream.

[DrivinAllNight]

Awesome! Now they can rescue O'Chul, too! :smallsmile:

It's The Shadow! I wonder if gamers in 20 years time will still remember that movie and get the reference.

There was a movie?? I thought Mr. B was referencing the old time radio show? Oh well, either way I suppose.

[Chronos]

We now know a tiny bit more about the MitD. It does not leave a humanoid track, and so is not a humanoid type, not that this was exactly a leading candidate.More than that, we also know that it does leave tracks of some sort, albeit very weird ones. So that rules out anything incorporeal, or hovering, or the like, as well as things besides humanoids that leave more-or-less normal tracks (so no hooves, or paws, or the like).

As for how they'll get the bodies away from the Monster, my guess:
The bag of tricks is around there somewhere, too, and we already know that the trick animals enjoy tea parties (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0232.html). Haley will offer a trade: If you let us take away these two guests, we'll find you a whole bunch of guests to replace them!

[Roderick_BR]

Hee hee! That should give all those clamoring for Undead Roy a little fix... at least for a little while.

Oh, and what's happened to Belkar? First he's rendered speechless by Haley's display of kickassery, and now he's disturbed by Roy being used as a prop at the tea party. Is he sick? ...Wait, let me rephrase: is something wrong with him? D'oh! You know what I mean!
Sometimes, even Belkar need to give in to the awesomeness he witnesses... and some visions are so disturbing, that even Belkar can't stand them... :smalleek:

[Alysar]

As for how they'll get the bodies away from the Monster, my guess:
The bag of tricks is around there somewhere, too, and we already know that the trick animals enjoy tea parties (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0232.html). Haley will offer a trade: If you let us take away these two guests, we'll find you a whole bunch of guests to replace them!

MITD is gonna be pissed 10 minutes later.

[silvadel]

Weekend at bernie's -- MiTD stick figure edition...

[Bitzeralisis]

Uh oh. MitD alert.

[GusGusStrumSong]

The comic was halarious! :smallbiggrin:
made my day... poor Roy

[16oz]

Very well done! I have no idea how they are going to solve this pickle (just exactly what CR is a tea party anyways?). Thought all 3 undead Roys were great. The only other one that I can think of would be if Elan was along....
:haley: Or what if he was a ghoul?
:elan: A girl?
:haley: No, I said...
:belkar: and:elan: Roy has boobies!!!

[Alces]

Gouda is such a terribly ...pedestrian cheese. No wonder Hobgoblins go for it.

[Senko]

Why does everyone assume Belkar was talking about Roy I thought his "That poor poor bastard." comment was directed at the MitD after all the poor thing is forced to have a tea party with Roy's corpse and a paralyzed paladin.

[Alces]

Why does everyone assume Belkar was talking about Roy I thought his "That poor poor bastard." comment was directed at the MitD after all the poor thing is forced to have a tea party with Roy's corpse and a paralyzed paladin.

Now, that's an evil thought - top marks!

[fractal]

Yes (only case where apostrophes are okay for plural are for single letters, like saying "there are two e's in "letter"). But like every other point in that thread, it has already been said over two thousand times. :smallwink:
Well, if you'd use an apostrophe for 1's and 0's, why wouldn't you use one for 10's? And if you'd use one for 10's, why not use one for d10's? Seems like reasonable logic to me.

[Ithekro]

Probably because the statement was plural instead of possessive.

[otakuryoga]

hey!!!! what happened to my tea-party invitation?

[YohanLeafheart]

Damn Vampire Emo-Roy was real funny :)

[holywhippet]

One gripe. As far as I can see from the info on http://www.d20srd.org, you can't actually create a shadow using magic. Create undead only makes ghouls, ghasts, mummies, and mohrgs. Animate undead can only make skeletons and zombies. To make someone a shadow they have to be killed by a shadow.

On another topic, how the heck is Haley carrying Roy's sword? She certainly wouldn't have a scabbard for a big sword like that (what is it anyway, a two-handed sword?). I'm surprised she didn't dump it into a bag of holding rather than try to lug it's weight around.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

On another topic, how the heck is Haley carrying Roy's sword? She certainly wouldn't have a scabbard for a big sword like that (what is it anyway, a two-handed sword?). I'm surprised she didn't dump it into a bag of holding rather than try to lug it's weight around.

Magnets. Really big, invisible magnets, cloaked by Hammerspace.
:smallbiggrin:

[Aerysil]

Shadow reference, har.

[Bilbo27]

Didn't see that coming, but it was funny

[Porthos]

I'm surprised she didn't dump it into a bag of holding rather than try to lug it's weight around.

Putting a sword in a Bag of Holding is a Bad Idea (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm). :smallbiggrin:

[Xeticus]

Poor O-Chul.

[Aeek]

Is this the first time that MitD has mattered plot wise?

[Nightfall]

Why does everyone assume Belkar was talking about Roy I thought his "That poor poor bastard." comment was directed at the MitD after all the poor thing is forced to have a tea party with Roy's corpse and a paralyzed paladin.

That's a very astute observation! It's just the sort of reasoning behind Belkar's statement that we've come to expect from him.

[EvilElitest]

"Oh, man. That's just wrong."

Truer words have ne'er been spoke by man nor psychopath.

when that phrase comes from Belkar, you know something is wrong
from,
EE

[Ariko]

Well, if you'd use an apostrophe for 1's and 0's, why wouldn't you use one for 10's? And if you'd use one for 10's, why not use one for d10's? Seems like reasonable logic to me.

:smallconfused: logic? logic has no place in english grammar!

[Tobimaro]

Poor Roy. His dignity took as many hit points as he himself did....

And what about O'Chul? His dignity is still suffering. :smallbiggrin:

Here's to hoping that Haley and Belkar can outwit the MitD.

And I really liked the Shadow references. Loved to listen to the radio replays of "The Shadow". Hahahahahaha! (better than the Vampire reference, and I played a bit of V:tM.)

[Tharr]

The lich touch should have gone now. Like maybe they might have t o deal with getting both of them home.

[David Argall]

as has been said once or twice, lich touch is permanent paralysis. It does not wear off.

[Kiloku]

Why do I sometimes have the feeling that :mitd: will end up joining :roy::haley::durkon::vaarsuvius::elan::belkar:?


I mean, look at him! He just doesn't sound evil at all!
A tea party with a stuffed dragon, a paralyzed paladin and a dead man? Not Evil, just plain weird.

[malakim2099]

Why do I sometimes have the feeling that :mitd: will end up joining :roy::haley::durkon::vaarsuvius::elan::belkar:?


I mean, look at him! He just doesn't sound evil at all!
A tea party with a stuffed dragon, a paralyzed paladin and a dead man? Not Evil, just plain weird.

I think if :mitd: has a conversation with :elan:, the Snarl will break free due to the weakening of Reality, and the world will End.

Some things should just NOT be. :smallamused:

[Aquillion]

I think if :mitd: has a conversation with :elan:, the Snarl will break free due to the weakening of Reality, and the world will End.

Some things should just NOT be. :smallamused:!!

That's it! Maybe :mitd: is really :elan:... from the future! It would explain so much. He's the ultimate weapon against the OOTS, since they wouldn't actually be able to fight him (well, the others would keep Belkar from fighting him, anyway.) But he'd only be effective as a surprise, so they hid him. And because he's from... the future, he's epic level and could slam Miko through a wall.

It all makes perfect sense!

[johnnyriot999]

Yikes and a half! That last panel is unsettling. :smalleek:

[Eogan]

For all the pseudo-grammarians out there, until very recently, and mostly in the States, it was common to use an apostrophe when pluralizing anything that isn't a standard english word, such as numbers, letters, anagrams, etc.

Other ways Americanish has befouled up the English language:
- the arbitrary rule of "no punctuation outside quotation marks".
- not using just a single apostrophe in the possesive form of words ending in 's' or 'z'. "Enchantress's"? Seriously, no word should end in THREE S's.
- really bad spelling thanks to that hack, Webster.
- not doubling single consonants at the end of verbs in the past-tense.
- misspelling "philosopher" s-o-r-c-e-r-e-r.

[Gez]

Well, if you'd use an apostrophe for 1's and 0's, why wouldn't you use one for 10's? And if you'd use one for 10's, why not use one for d10's? Seems like reasonable logic to me.

Numbers are not letters. :smallcool:

[Angela Christine]

The Demon roaches aren't loyal to Xykon. They are just hanging around for the heck of it.

The demon roaches are there because of :mitd: . It attracts them. Or possibly they are attracted to all the crumbs it drops. Evil crumbs.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0082.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0095.html



So as long as it looks like :mitd: will keep getting snacks, the roaches shouldn't have a problem with it.

[carais]

I wonder how Haley manages to put Roy's sword on her back at all. You'd need a scabbard or at least some leather strips ("Schwertgehänge" in German - edit: probably a baldric in English -). Of course Roy has one, but it would have stayed on his body while he's using the sword.

[Jaxinator]

oh man, I loved the shadow. hah! Poor Roy's corpse has to deal with a picnic with CitD. If he was alive, he'd probably kill himself :P

[Lissou]

For all the pseudo-grammarians out there, until very recently, and mostly in the States, it was common to use an apostrophe when pluralizing anything that isn't a standard english word, such as numbers, letters, anagrams, etc.

Other ways Americanish has befouled up the English language:
- the arbitrary rule of "no punctuation outside quotation marks".
- not using just a single apostrophe in the possesive form of words ending in 's' or 'z'. "Enchantress's"? Seriously, no word should end in THREE S's.
- really bad spelling thanks to that hack, Webster.
- not doubling single consonants at the end of verbs in the past-tense.
- misspelling "philosopher" s-o-r-c-e-r-e-r.

Erm, I'm French, so English isn't my first language. But I've been taught British English, and the academic one. The possessive rule is that you use " 's" for any word, except when the word ends with an s and is plural. In other words, "people" being a plural with no s becomes "people's" and "Ross" being a singular, even with an s, becomes "Ross's". It should also be pronounced "Rosses", which it wouldn't be if it was written "Ross' " (it would then be pronounced the same as "Ross").

Oh, and as far as I know, it's never correct to use an apostrophe for a plural form. The plural of 1 is 1s, the plural of S is Ss.

And I assumed Belkar was talking about Roy, mostly because it sounded like something you'd say only about someone you know well. I'm not sure why. Could very well be the Mitd he's talking about, but it sounds less logical to me. I mean, isn't it ironic that he doesn't pity Roy for being dead, but he pities him for being an unwilling member of a tea party?

[unstattedCommoner]

And I assumed Belkar was talking about Roy, mostly because it sounded like something you'd say only about someone you know well. I'm not sure why. Could very well be the Mitd he's talking about, but it sounds less logical to me. I mean, isn't it ironic that he doesn't pity Roy for being dead, but he pities him for being an unwilling member of a tea party?

I think Belkar's real concern is that the MitD is forcing fat-free scones on his guests. Abominable. Next he'll be serving low-fat spread instead of clotted cream.

[Alysar]

For people who have read SoD:

Anyone notice that's the same dragon plushie that MITD had when he was working at the circus sideshow?

[Fighteer]

There was a movie?? I thought Mr. B was referencing the old time radio show? Oh well, either way I suppose.
A movie was made based on the old radio shows and pulp novels, starring Alec Baldwin. It was actually pretty good, as comic book fare goes.

Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111143/

[factotum]

Is this the first time that MitD has mattered plot wise?

No. Xykon specifically chose MitD to guard Miko because he knew that was a way to let her escape without her realising that she was being let free...given what resulted from that I think we can safely assume that was a pretty important development, plot-wise!

[Prince_Rohan]

I think Belkar's real concern is that the MitD is forcing fat-free scones on his guests. Abominable. Next he'll be serving low-fat spread instead of clotted cream.

STOP!! STOP!! Isn't it enough to make us all relive it??!!??!!

[DrivinAllNight]

A movie was made based on the old radio shows and pulp novels, starring Alec Baldwin. It was actually pretty good, as comic book fare goes.

Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111143/

That might be why I don't remember it, so NOT an Alec Baldwin fan, no offense to those who enjoy him, just never enjoyed him as an actor.

[Mystitat]

Addressing those theorizing on the MitD's identity based on Belkar's tracking, could not Belkar have rolled a natural 1 on his identify check (or whatever skill he would have used that I would have cited if I knew more about D&D). If a natural 1 serves up catastrophic failure, the MitD could be an ordinary humanoid and Belkar wouldn't have known, yes? (Plus, I would think it typical of Belkar to roll that low. ^_^ )

LOVED the thread count joke (have you ever tried to FIND 600 tc cotton sheets?! it's like they don't exist!).

[Fighteer]

Addressing those theorizing on the MitD's identity based on Belkar's tracking, could not Belkar have rolled a natural 1 on his identify check (or whatever skill he would have used that I would have cited if I knew more about D&D). If a natural 1 serves up catastrophic failure, the MitD could be an ordinary humanoid and Belkar wouldn't have known, yes? (Plus, I would think it typical of Belkar to roll that low. ^_^ )If you read Start of Darkness, you know that the MitD is not any kind of normal creature. However, it is something that an experienced and knowledgeable game hunter might be able to identify.

Skill checks in D&D do not have automatic successes or failures, although there may be defined bonuses or penalties for succeeding/failing by a certain amount. If Belkar had failed his Survival check to track the MitD, he either would not have spotted/identified the tracks in the first place, or he would have followed them to an incorrect destination.

All we can really conclude from this, since Belkar has a Wisdom penalty and failed to take any ranks in Survival (that we know of), is that the MitD is really easy to track.

[calvinism]

Man why does Belkar get all the good lines?

[Surfing HalfOrc]

If you read Start of Darkness, you know that the MitD is not any kind of normal creature. However, it is something that an experienced and knowledgeable game hunter might be able to identify.

Skill checks in D&D do not have automatic successes or failures, although there may be defined bonuses or penalties for succeeding/failing by a certain amount. If Belkar had failed his Survival check to track the MitD, he either would not have spotted/identified the tracks in the first place, or he would have followed them to an incorrect destination.

All we can really conclude from this, since Belkar has a Wisdom penalty and failed to take any ranks in Survival (that we know of), is that the MitD is really easy to track.

My theory, from a thread further down.


The MitD is actually Minya, son of Godzilla!

What can I say, I remember watching that movie as a kid. Minya was the somewhat cowardly son of the King of the Monsters. Minya was being picked on by another monster named Gabara, which was also the name of a bully that was picking on a boy named Ichiro. Minya and Ichiro join forces, and after many adventures (in 90 minutes or less) Minya is finally able to stand up to monster Gabara, and Ichiro stands up to boy Gabara.

I'm still waiting on my copy of "Start of Darkness," but the stereotypical big-game hunter says he's never seen "one of those, in this part of the world," and the monster is described as ugly, but kind of cute. A pretty accurate discription of Minya...

Also, Minya was very strong, not real smart, wanted to be "the monster," but never seemed to get his chance.

I would think that tracks like that would be pretty easy to distinguish even for a non-ranger.

Normally, I hate cutting and pasteing my own posts (smacks of egotism), but I wanted to throw this out where it might get read.

[Rufio]

Oh, the jokes never end!!

[Alysar]

If you read Start of Darkness, you know that the MitD is not any kind of normal creature. However, it is something that an experienced and knowledgeable game hunter might be able to identify.


And it is something that does not normally speak common.

[Haruspex]

If the MiTD's movement speed is less than 30, Haley and Belkar might be able to pull a grab-and-run.

[Vargtass]

And it is something that does not normally speak common.

Can you please refrain from SoD spoilers in the main thread? Delivery problems ate my books...

[Gez]

Erm, I'm French, so English isn't my first language. But I've been taught British English, and the academic one. The possessive rule is that you use " 's" for any word, except when the word ends with an s and is plural. In other words, "people" being a plural with no s becomes "people's" and "Ross" being a singular, even with an s, becomes "Ross's". It should also be pronounced "Rosses", which it wouldn't be if it was written "Ross' " (it would then be pronounced the same as "Ross").

Oh, and as far as I know, it's never correct to use an apostrophe for a plural form. The plural of 1 is 1s, the plural of S is Ss.

Well, here you go (http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html#apostrophe). See also here (http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/p.html#plurals). As I said, apostrophe-s for a plural is valid if and ONLY if the pluralized thing is a single letter (NOT a number, a letter).

Apostrophe-s for a genitive after a name or noun ending in -s is a question of style, not of grammar: both are correct, but you have to stay consistent.

[rxmd]

As I said, apostrophe-s for a plural is valid if and ONLY if the pluralized thing is a single letter (NOT a number, a letter).
Sounds like a special orthographic rule for the plurals of letter names. I am not an English native speaker. How many things are there in the English language that can be pluralised and written with a single letter, but are not letters themselves? The only thing I can think of is highly artificial and constructed examples revolving around the usage of "I", as in "The 'I' of Descartes' 'I think, therefore I am' and of the Old Testament's 'I, the Lord, your god, am a vengeful god' are actually two I's referring to different subjects".

[Gez]

How many things are there in the English language that can be pluralised and written with a single letter, but are not letters themselves?

Music notes, and school grades. "I guess I should work harder, I only got E's and F's this semester." You can argue that they actually are letters, but they're actually notes or grades.

And English isn't my mothertongue either, which is precisely why I keep bookmarks to sites such as Lynch's guide to grammar and style. :smallbiggrin:

[Davio]

Wow, MitD reminds me of a coworker we have, that we shuttle work to when we don't care if it gets messed up.

(first post, howdy, etc)

[Elfanatic]

Hmmm, gouda. From the city of Gouda, the Netherlands, this cheese has filled many a stomach.

Hamburgers are also pretty good.

I wonder what kind of cheese the MitD normally eats?

[Eogan]

Well, here you go (http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html#apostrophe). See also here (http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/p.html#plurals). As I said, apostrophe-s for a plural is valid if and ONLY if the pluralized thing is a single letter (NOT a number, a letter).

Apostrophe-s for a genitive after a name or noun ending in -s is a question of style, not of grammar: both are correct, but you have to stay consistent.

Umm... the first link specifically gives the example of using apostrophes for abbreviations and numbers. This person recommends against them, but that's to be expected from an American site.

here (http://www.meredith.edu/grammar/plural.htm) and here (http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/pizza) give more detail.

The modern fad is to do away with the apostrophes as much as possible, but in my experience that causes more confusion in certain cases than the imaginary problem omitting them never really solved. Personally, I still write "CD's". I also double-space after periods (Curse you, HTML!), colons, and semi-colons and wouldn't mind seeing the pre-colon space come back.

I am a native speaker, by the way.