Possible twist in the resurrection plan...

[Mapmaker]

What if it's Redcloak who eventually resurrects Roy? That would give him quite a moral dilemma, depending on what purpose Redcloak might have for this.

Haley might end up caught, and demand Roy's resurrection in exchange for whatever Redcloak wants from her. (Possibly knowledge of the rest of the Order's whereabouts or plans; imagine if she had to betray Elan and the others in order to give them back their leader?! Her own self-doubt might support this kind of decision on the basis of "you're not half the leader Roy is!" etc.

Or, Belkar could end up captured, with Roy, while Haley escapes. Perhaps he'll hand over Roy (as a plaything for the MITD) in order to buy his own freedom.

Or, one more theory here...Redcloak might end up with Roy's body while Haley and Belkar escape. He might resurrect Roy to use him as bait...)

Just some theories, but they could all be interesting as part of the bigger plot, IMO.

[Greebo]

Why would he?

SoD Spoilers
Redcloak's ultimate goal is a level playing field for Goblin kinds. He now HAS it. He's got Azure City.

Yes, The Dark One's plan is to gain a limited control of the Snarl, but the purpose of gaining that control is to even the playing field.

Mission accomplished.

I think we're going to see a big change in Redcloak. But I don't see him rezzing some human...look what happened last time he trusted one.

[David Argall]

At this point, all we know is that something has gone badly wrong. Just what is a wild guess among a zillion possibilities, and likely not worth trying until we have a little data to work with.

[psychoticbarber]

Depending, of course, on how closely Rich decides to follow D&D rules here, Roy would have knowledge of the name and alignment of his ressurector.

[UncleWolf]

ah. but then we would know Redcloak's real name

[Tempest Fennac]

Technically, we might not find it out:

Very minor SoD spoiler:
Xykon was never refered to by his real name, and not even the oracle or scrying spells seemed to be able to find his real name.

I don't think RC and Xykon's real names will be refered to until the very end of the comic if at all.

[Roderick_BR]

Why would he?

SoD Spoilers
Redcloak's ultimate goal is a level playing field for Goblin kinds. He now HAS it. He's got Azure City.

Yes, The Dark One's plan is to gain a limited control of the Snarl, but the purpose of gaining that control is to even the playing field.

Mission accomplished.

I think we're going to see a big change in Redcloak. But I don't see him rezzing some human...look what happened last time he trusted one.
Well, only one reason it would happen:

For some reason, Red Cloak wants to turn against Xykon. The reason? No one will know for months. He'd rez Roy so he can gather his group to oppose Xykon, so Red Cloak can strike him when he's vulnerable, since Roy was only of the few adventurers to grasp above five minutes of Xykon's attention. Of course, Red Cloak would demand some costly payment from Roy, since he's not only rezing him, but giving him a chance to destroy Xykon.

[bluish_wolf]

Why would he?

SoD Spoilers
Redcloak's ultimate goal is a level playing field for Goblin kinds. He now HAS it. He's got Azure City.

Yes, The Dark One's plan is to gain a limited control of the Snarl, but the purpose of gaining that control is to even the playing field.

Mission accomplished.

I think we're going to see a big change in Redcloak. But I don't see him rezzing some human...look what happened last time he trusted one.

Unless he took over the entire country, I don't think Redcloak would be satisfied. One city for an entire race of people is hardly an equal playing field.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Technically, we might not find it out:

Very minor SoD spoiler:
Xykon was never refered to by his real name, and not even the oracle or scrying spells seemed to be able to find his real name.

I don't think RC and Xykon's real names will be refered to until the very end of the comic if at all.

Xykon's real name is
Bob

and Redcloak's real name is
John
:smallwink:

[hamishspence]

Question. Can roy get rezzed WITHOUT a body?
Answer. Yes. True Resurrection. Expensive. Can be done though.

Question. How can roy get true rezzed, in the absence of help from the order?

Possible answers: Ask the angels or gods. Very, very politely. Get a message through to a very high level cleric on the ground. Explain the situation and promise to pay the cash when the situation has stabilized. Hey, the cleric might even agree to team up, if the situation is end-of the-world-ish.

Problem. Powerful NPC syndrome. If the cleric does all the work, it stops being Roy's story and starts being Big Cleric & Associate. If this approach is used, ways around the problem are needed.

[hamishspence]

Oh, and I take issue with the assumption that things have gone very wrong.
Not gone right yet is not proof of Gone Wrong.
There are ways in which the order could be kept apart without postulating their capture. E.G. there is a whopping (now not quite so whopping) hobgoblin & zombie army standing between both groups.

[Lamech]

(now not quite so whopping)
Not really, it actualy probably bigger. Xykon and Redcloak can use the corspes of all the slain Azure City soilders along with the hobo corspe's. That would mean about a little under 20,000 hobo's and about 20,000 zombies, ghouls, or ghasts in the new army.

[factotum]

Question. Can roy get rezzed WITHOUT a body?
Answer. Yes. True Resurrection. Expensive. Can be done though.


Unlikely to be done, though...True Resurrection is a 9th level spell, and even Redcloak (who appears to be the most powerful cleric we've seen in nearly 500 strips--he beat the Azure City high priest OK) is apparently not able to cast spells that high a level.

[Fuzzy_Juan]

Unlikely to be done, though...True Resurrection is a 9th level spell, and even Redcloak (who appears to be the most powerful cleric we've seen in nearly 500 strips--he beat the Azure City high priest OK) is apparently not able to cast spells that high a level.

Xykon is high enough level to res with a wish...though why he would sacrifice XP for Roy is beyond me...and it is unknown if wish is one of his spells...though if he had a scroll then he would be able to cast it without the expendature since whoever wrote the scroll would be the one to sacrifice the xp.

Then again...it would be pretty funny if Belkar and Haley can find Leaky and convince him to res Roy...though from a druid, it would be a reincarnation likely...hello again female Roy :smallbiggrin:

[David Argall]

Well, only one reason it would happen:

For some reason, Red Cloak wants to turn against Xykon.

SOD This Redcloak is going to turn agains Xykon idea is completely unsupported by the text. The goblin is absolutely the lich's bitch. Now he has right from the start betrayed the lich, but for that betrayal to work, he has to be under Xykon's thumb all the way. He's a slave all the way to the end. Redcloak has too much emotionally invested to cross the lich.

[Chronos]

Xykon is high enough level to res with a wish...though why he would sacrifice XP for Roy is beyond me...and it is unknown if wish is one of his spellsAll of Xykon's 9th-level spells are known, and Wish is not one of them.

[nimby]

During Roy's time away, Xykon had a change of heart. He's decided to end his wicked ways, and help goblinkind rebuild Azure City (henceforth Crimson City). They've struck a deal with the paladins to share the lands, the world is at peace.

Then Roy gets resurrected and tries to fulfill his blood oath to kill Xykon, pushing the world back to the brink of annihilation!


Or something like that.

[David Argall]

Not gone right yet is not proof of Gone Wrong.
There are ways in which the order could be kept apart without postulating their capture. E.G. there is a whopping (now not quite so whopping) hobgoblin & zombie army standing between both groups.

Not gone right yet is not Absolute proof of gone wrong, but for for any lesser level of proof it is powerful evidence. Your buddy is a half hour/hour late for the pickup, you figure he is not going to the party after all. You are 5 minutes late getting home, your mom is ready to phone the hospitals. etc, etc. Roy may not be convinced something is wrong, but he is entirely right to check because it is durn likely.


Question. How can roy get true rezzed, in the absence of help from the order?

Possible answers: Ask the angels or gods. Very, very politely. Get a message through to a very high level cleric on the ground. Explain the situation and promise to pay the cash when the situation has stabilized. Hey, the cleric might even agree to team up, if the situation is end-of the-world-ish.

Problem. Powerful NPC syndrome. If the cleric does all the work, it stops being Roy's story and starts being Big Cleric & Associate.

This probably means this is not the method that will be used. Most likely Roy will find some way around the rules more or less by himself. Maybe he will be able to use the sword. Maybe he will hijack a messenger from LG. [Neither too likely as the writer has used those ideas and doesn't seem to like to repeat himself.] But he will find some way to raise himself.

[Draz74]

All of Xykon's 9th-level spells are known, and Wish is not one of them.

Eh? I don't think we've seen any 9th-levelers except Meteor Swarm.

Disclaimer: I haven't read SoD. If this info comes from there, ignore my rambling.

[David Argall]

SOD Xykon 9th level spells are Energy drain, Soulbind, and Metor swarm. By PH and DMG, that is all he gets. Of course, that will likely not stop him from casting another that is story useful.

[Mapmaker]

I wasn't actually suggesting a major turn of alignment or anything, but rather:

Redcloak might decide to rez Roy (if he does have the ability to do so) in order to honor the literal terms of some agreement, with the full intention of killing roy again after getting what he wants.

I could even imagine a rather funny/traumatic scene in which Roy finally gets rezzed, only to be struck dead by his resurrector moments later and end up back on the clouds next to his father in the same strip, a level lower, spitting profanities.

It could be a game for Redcloak as he torments Haley (and amuses Belkar), but the next time he tries it Roy will be ready to dodge out of the way, and the story is on...

Idle speculation is fun. :smallsmile: