creature in shadows

[fatninjacow]

what do you think is in the darkness

i think some type of demon

what does the public say?

[Fitzclowningham]

I don't think it's a demon. Actually, I don't think it's evil at all. I do know it's thrifty, though.

[fatninjacow]

maybe undead and true nuetral 'cause it collects bodies

[Lord_Butters_I]

It's some sort of forest creature that is extremely ugly. So sais SoD.

[donkyhotay]

For once we finally have some definite information on the MiTD... it is not a hobgoblin.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I had a guess, but it's so wierd, it's probably true:

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.

But the way I see it, it will be at least 500 to 1000 more strips before we get to the end of this tale. Or more. I hope more. I NEED MORE!!!

Ahem... Sorry.

[Oberon]

Earlier on it DID want to kill things, but that might've justbeen an excuse to come out of the darkness.

[fatninjacow]

its chaotic for sure
minya! what the hell!!!! ( its probably too small)

[Krytha]

Maybe it is a diminutive Devastation beetle. HA HA HA.

[The Extinguisher]

It's lawful evil. And he tries so hard to be evil and act evil, but just fails miserably.

But remember, the comic relief villian is still the villian, and may end up destroying all the protagonists.

[BRC]

It's lawful evil. And he tries so hard to be evil and act evil, but just fails miserably.

But remember, the comic relief villian is still the villian, and may end up destroying all the protagonists.
Well he was able to catapult Miko while TRYING to hit his lightest, so it must be preety strong.

[Ithekro]

Well he is friendly, to Miko at least. Playful as well considering her slashing "tickles" and he wants to play "who can hit the lightest". There is nothing Belkar could do to hurt it physically. Mentally...well, who knows on that count. I don't know it Haley has anything the MitD would want (the amulet?) since they can't light him up. Roy's bag of tricks maybe, but isn't it empty now? Guess we'll see what Haley comes up with, and if Belkar is willing to go along with it, or just does his own thing.

[Triggerhappy938]

I think the MITD is gonna be a normal looking humanoid with a build so cracked out it would make the d20 forum cry.

[jscheibel]

According to start of darkness
It loves stew

Also according to start of darkness
It's not bright enough to realize after many years of getting stew for dinner every single night... its next meal is going to be stew when they come to serve it. (though it really hopped it would be)

really the 2nd one can be construed from other information :)

[dogmac]

It's Celine Dion

[innk]

It's Celine Dion

Score!

!!

[fatninjacow]

maybe its a super buff super large and lawful evil yuk version of belkar with 3int

[Tokiko Mima]

It's the Elan and Nale's third twin brother, who was left for dead and raised by a friendly pack of wild demonic cockroaches. He got all his STR/CON genes from his dad, which is why Elan and Nale aren't physically impressive in those catagories.

[Nomadic]

It's V's gender. In the forgotten past some cataclysmic force sundered V from their gender. Xykon realized how powerful holding the secret of V's gender would be and so captured it. It didn't actually hit miko physically, but when it took off it's umbrella she jumped through the wall followed by her horse. She was really worried about heading back to save windstriker from seeing something so disturbing.

[EpicDisaster]

The creature is Pun-Pun.
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=491801

Pretty obvious really. :smallannoyed:

[yoshi927]

The creature is Pun-Pun.
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=491801

Pretty obvious really. :smallannoyed:That actually makes sense. That's what I'm believing now. :smallbiggrin: Although, wouldn't MiTD inflate his INT and WIS scores, too?

[EpicDisaster]

Being infinitely wise and intelligent dosen't prevent you from being an eccentric goofball, Yoshi.

[mockingbyrd7]

Being infinitely wise and intelligent dosen't prevent you from being an eccentric goofball, Yoshi.

Yeah, I know dozens of examples but none are coming to me. :smallwink:

[Hushdawg]

My thoughts on MiTD:

Grey Render (young)
Krenshar
Death Slaad
Tarrasque

It has to be something really nasty and powerful without class levels and whatever it is the MiTD is most likely in an adolescent phase.

[Proxy]

I still favour the thought that it could be a piece of the snarl. Escaped when the forest gate was destroyed.

[fangthane]

A few things.

1. I still like my "Martha Stewart as the Monster in the Darkness" concept, but I acknowledge it has its flaws. :smallamused:

2. Slaadi? I like the idea. Chaotic, not necessarily as evil as they may seem, but so completely alien that their perception and conception of our (or the OotS') world is completely different from our own. Perhaps a Slaad who likes to Teevo all of Martha's shows? :smallwink:

3. I'm sick and tired of people spouting that Pun-pun BS. Let's just acknowledge that sometimes even Wizards of the Coast screws up on hedging their "wish" spells, yeah?
Pun-pun does not, according to the strictest possible interpretation of the rules, exist. No DM worth the title would permit him, and thus according to the rules as laid out in the PHB and DMG, he doesn't exist. As a DM myself, I'd stipulate a rule-0 erratum to the effect that Manipulate Form includes the comment that "Any creature which possesses the Manipulate Form ability is completely immune to its effects, and any attempt to use Manipulate Form to grant the ability itself automatically fails." Anything less simply makes no sense. And, of course, it completely guts Pun-pun without substantially altering the ability's potential in other respects. You could still wish for the ability, but that's a lot trickier and still doesn't permit the exploit - though at least it permits your kobold to manipulate lizards native to Toril.

[Rainseeker]

Pun-pun does not, according to the strictest possible interpretation of the rules, exist. No DM worth the title would permit him, and thus according to the rules as laid out in the PHB and DMG, he doesn't exist. As a DM myself, I'd stipulate a rule-0 erratum to the effect that Manipulate Form includes the comment that "Any creature which possesses the Manipulate Form ability is completely immune to its effects, and any attempt to use Manipulate Form to grant the ability itself automatically fails." Anything less simply makes no sense. And, of course, it completely guts Pun-pun without substantially altering the ability's potential in other respects. You could still wish for the ability, but that's a lot trickier and still doesn't permit the exploit - though at least it permits your kobold to manipulate lizards native to Toril.[/QUOTE]

Ummm.... excuse me, I like the comic, but I'm not a D&D nerd... what is a "Pun-pun"?

[Rainseeker]

I suppose that it could be a baby version of a monstrously-big thing... Notice that it likes tea parties. Of course, we may NEVER know. It's a bit funnier that way.

[Rakeem]

i'd go with elan's father which will lead to a perfect star wars spoofed ending (hopefully some several 1000 strips later).


btw. he's playfuul-evil

[Rikithasta]

I have a feeling it will be something completely ridiculous, that no one would actually fear, Xykon's wierd phobia or what not. I also wouldn't be surprised if it was a girl, I don't believe gender was ever mentioned

[Hell Puppi]

It will either be something ridiculous...or the tarsk...damn I can't remember that monster's name.
The one that's huge and comes out to kill towns. It's in the first monster manual I believe.

[squidthingy]

I think MitD may not be stupid but could in fact be INCREADIBLY sarcastic ALL the time, that would work as a possiblility for the stew part in Start of Darkness as well as most of MitD's stupid coments

Also to answer the original question, I believe Rich named the :mitd: Monster in the Darkness, because if you look of the drop-down list of smilies :mitd: is listed as Mitd, I think :mitd: should be named MCTitS(Mysterious Creature-Thing in the Shadows), that is what Redcloak refered to :mitd: in the first panel of this comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0082.html)

[Hushdawg]

It will either be something ridiculous...or the tarsk...damn I can't remember that monster's name.
The one that's huge and comes out to kill towns. It's in the first monster manual I believe.

I think you mean a Tarrasque. That's one of my theories as well. an Adolescent one probably.

[Siwenna]

I'm sure it will be something no one expected, though the Pun-pun sounds like the best possibility so far.


I also wouldn't be surprised if it was a girl, I don't believe gender was ever mentioned

In one pannel, I don't remember which, Redcloak says to Xykon, about MitD, "Sir, he's about as scarey as musty styrofoam." WHich, in my opinion, is a lot better evidence towards it being male than it having tea parties and a pink umbrella is towards it being female.

[Swashbuckler]

I concur with the baby tarrasque theory. If it weren't for the promises of more tea parties and adventurers seasoned with nutmeg, it would probably go back to sleep for another d100 years.

[mockingbyrd7]

I'm sure it will be something no one expected, though the Pun-pun sounds like the best possibility so far.



In one pannel, I don't remember which, Redcloak says to Xykon, about MitD, "Sir, he's about as scarey as musty styrofoam." WHich, in my opinion, is a lot better evidence towards it being male than it having tea parties and a pink umbrella is towards it being female.

I already mentioned this and linked it, it was strip 191.

I now deem your post... WORTHLESS!

Just kidding, of course.

[mkill]

Of course the MitD is a girl. That was obvious from the first panel it showed up. I mean, a *pink* umbrella. With little vampires on it.

My theory is that Rich has a thing for Goth chicks, remember what Haley's dominant inner voice was like? And then the new evil team recruit? A vampire girl fits the image.

Oh, and look at D&D rules:

"Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only a single move action or attack action and is destroyed utterly in the next round if it cannot escape. "

Vampires get +6 Strength when they are created, which explains the Miko encounter.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

The MitD isn't injured by light, it actually wants to be seen! It's Xykon's plan to keep him hidden until just the right moment.

Every new strip convinces me that my originally goofy theory is actually right! But it's such an obscure reference, I don't know if everyone or anyone knows it. I only saw the movie once, and it was a VERY long time ago, but the main monster from the series is world famous.

Hmmm...

[jsh]

It's V's gender.

Nouns have gender. People have sex. I don't know about elves.

[Cen]

Nouns have gender. People have sex. I don't know about elves.

O RLY?

From Webster's Dictionary of English:

Gender:
(n.) Kind; sort., (n.) Sex, male or female., (n.) A classification of nouns, primarily according to sex; and secondarily according to some fancied or imputed quality associated with sex., (n.) To beget; to engender., (v. i.) To copulate; to breed.

[Scatman]

Through difficult analysis, and deep research, I have come up with a completely correct answer in every way.
THE MONSTER IS:

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9759/vadermc6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Forealms]

It's Mr. Scruffy. 'Nuff said.

[Scatman]

It's Mr. Scruffy. 'Nuff said.

...No.
For quite a few reasons.
Mr Scruffy is stronger than 600 Chuck Norris's attacking at the same time.He is taller than a mountain.Scruffy strongest cat in world!A mere WHISPER of his name is enough to strike fear into the universe!!


SCRUFFY IS IMMORTAAAAALLLL

Plus, hes Darth Vader, not Scruffy.

[jsh]

O RLY?

Yes, really. The OED notes gender can be used in the transferred sense to mean sex, but as of publishing, this transferred usage is strictly jocular. Relatively recently, gender has been used in the social sciences to denote social roles — perhaps akin to the way nouns play grammatical roles — as distinct from a person's genital type. So, Michael Keaton's Mr. Mom, in the Reaganite universe, adopts a female gender even though he still has his wang. Although feminist writers may have been the impetus (http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/g.html) for the new use of gender, it's hard to consider it a feminist idea, since it is useful regardless of one's view of feminism.

In the context of Ears, this distinction is exceptionally useful, because V obviously has no gender: his social role is quite clearly neither masculine nor feminine; what we don't know is whether he has a penis or a vagina.

One could operate under the aegis of a permissive dictionary; however, that only muddies the language and makes communication more difficult. In the case of Ears, "who takes care of the babies?" is a distinctly different question from "what's under V's robes?"

[the mysterian]

I had a guess, but it's so wierd, it's probably true:

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.

But the way I see it, it will be at least 500 to 1000 more strips before we get to the end of this tale. Or more. I hope more. I NEED MORE!!!

Ahem... Sorry.

XD BWAHAHAHAHA YEAH MINYA'S DUMB ENOUGH TO FIT! AHAHAHAHHA!
though you probably saw one of the worst of all godzilla movies.


my guess is a the dark one, because it would be funny as hell for redcloak to find out his god is MITD

[Wolfman42666]

I like surfing half Orc's theory but I’ve never seen that show.
Whatever the MitD is I'm sure its male I mean look at its eating habits, and how it acts in its first few strips, it was embarrassed by the umbrella, and well in the tea party thing he doesn't conduct himself in a particularly girly manner.

I mean shouting stop and then adding please is definitely something a girl wouldn't do.

He acts very childlike but so does Elan, and Belkar's hardly mature.
Whatever *it* is if it wants to devour things "one of the short ones" then I'd say that makes it Monstrous.

But like V's gender debating about it isn't going to make Rich reveal it.
Whatever the MitD is it's very docile if Thog can rip through prison bars and it can cause earthquakes why should it obey Redcloak it could probably rip him to pieces.

Still Serini filled her dungeon with the hastiest monsters in the world and we know the MitD is not unique *cough*SOD*cough* so there might be an adult in their for the oots to fight.

It's damage reduction makes it impervious to Belkar, something that's rather rare, and he's what a Lv13 ranger with two daggers, maybe the class and level geekery authors could use that to figure it out, but I don't have any of the books.

I'm more interested in what the MitD is now than when I started writing.

[Koraks]

Don't know what the hell it is! Thought it was demon-like because of the demon roaches that follow it, but that does'nt work. They first came because of the mess he made when making popcorn and are probably still following it because of it eats like a slop.

I'd rule out the tarrasque. Its too small to be even a baby tarrasque. And those big things have an average intelligence score of three. And the MitD is not that stupid (is it?). It does seem to be srtong enough though. And it does eat a lot. And eats anything.

Anyone know of a strong monster with yellow eyes? But I can't help thinking it should be a monster form SRD. Or derived from.

[dakiwiboid]

Obviously, the Monster in the Dark is a repetitive forum thread generator. It has the power to create multiple threads about V's gender (sometimes three or four at the same time), Miko (in endless permutations), itself, and items which are already being discussed in the current comic thread at the top of the page. It has the hidden power to make forum members ignore the Search function and to decide that every tiny little thought is best expressed in a separate thread, whether or not that same thought's already been expressed about six or seven times in the current comic thread or 12-50 previous threads. Indeed, it is a powerful and horrific creature!

[slexlollar89]

It's a vampire lord.

no sunlght weakness, incredible stats (Int being one of the least, bu still good), umbrella w/ little vampire heads on it? also a vampire lord is indestructable unless you do this overly complicated semi-impossibble ritual.

and even then it could still come back to life.