OOTS #1226 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Svata]

oh hey, it IS Serini.

[Zyzzyva]

Ok so... is that Serini? I don't recall her ever meeting Xykon, and SoD covers his life and unlife up until book 1 pretty well. Have we met any other non-Belkar halflings?

[kebusmaximus]

Wow what happened to her?

[Hekko]

Ooh, is that how Xykon got hold of Serini's diary? She didn't misplace it, or even lose it, he took it by force?

[Grand Arbiter]

This would imply how Xykon got Serini’s diary...

[danielxcutter]

...Huh, so that's how he found her diary I guess.

That is Serini, right? What'd he do to her?!

[Martijn]

Well, I wouldn't be able to play darts very well with a green hand either.

[Kranerian]

Oh, she does *not* look healthy. Partly undead or rotting possibly?

[slb]

Ooh, is that how Xykon got hold of Serini's diary? She didn't misplace it, or even lose it, he took it by force?
A good guess, I was wondering how she would have met Xykon in the first place.

[grandpheonix]

Whaaaaaaaaaat! Shes green voice? Then who's orange voice?

[danielxcutter]

Ok so... is that Serini? I don't recall her ever meeting Xykon, and SoD covers his life and unlife up until book 1 pretty well. Have we met any other non-Belkar halflings?

Hank from the Thieves' Guild and at least one other halfling there, a few in the Godsmoot, and there was a period where Xykon was away so Redcloak actually considered giving up the Plan until he came back and ruined everything again so maybe he met her then.

You know, considering that she's using an amnesia potion I guess she's less antagonistic towards Soon and the Guard than Girard was, at least. Of course considering that she knew Lien would surrender, she probably knows much better about how Paladins think than the sorcerer ever did.

[Schroeswald]

So this is Serini right? She got horribly hurt by Xykon taking the diary and was probably presumed dead by him.

[Zhorn]

*Audible gasp*

now I need to tear through all the old strips to remember all the details about them.

[Ezekiel]

Half expected and totally confused. What boss does she think they have? Hinjo?

[pita]

Ok so... is that Serini? I don't recall her ever meeting Xykon, and SoD covers his life and unlife up until book 1 pretty well. Have we met any other non-Belkar halflings?

Remember there's an arc in Start of Darkness where Redcloak moves in with Righteye and isn't with Xykon - at this point, Xykon shows up having done his research knowing where Dorukan's Dungeon is. There are no other halflings in Start of Darkness

We've met a few halflings but Serini seems to be the best guess.


Half expected and totally confused. What boss does she think they have? Hinjo?

Sapphire Guard? More Order of the Scribble infighting?

[Murk]

So if the plan is to make them forget... then why abduct them in the first place?

[Ruck]

Aaaaahhhhh! I was not expecting a reveal so soon, and it's not only such a big reveal moment, it opens up a lot of other questions. I'm going to go process this.

[dancrilis]

What'd he do to her?!

Perhaps he combined her with Redcloak's niece.

[Estelindis]

Serini?! Amazing! Somehow I never expected she actually would have run in with Xykon. I always thought it found her diary after her death. Can't wait to see where this goes!

[First!]

Senri! I was hoping we'd see her first!

[RMS Oceanic]

Looks like she had a partial Crystal golem treatment, probably in response to Xykon's overdue library book.

[Ivrytwr]

Oh, cool banter and nice reveal.
Thank you Giant!

[skim172]

It's probably Serini. But a long shot bet: Could this be Belkar's long-lost Aunt Judy (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0165.html)? :smallwink:

[Peelee]

Dangit Serini, give me first hand Scribbler exposition!

[factotum]

Was *not* expecting Serini to still be around, but it surely has to be her...elderly female halfling who knows who Xykon is and who's hanging around near Kraagor's Gate? Which just raises so many additional questions.

[RMS Oceanic]

It's probably Serini. But a long shot bet: Could this be Belkar's long-lost Aunt Judy (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0165.html)? :smallwink:

It's still my crackpot theory that when the Order meets her, Belkar will go up to her and say "Hey, Grandma." Having never had a reason to divulge that information.

[Mad Humanist]

oh hey, it IS senri.

I guess she doesn't look too bad for her age. Also I think Haley might have some skincream left.

[PenguinRevoluti]

Serini was brewing a potion,
To end the paladins' commotion,
But is she aware
That the Order is there,
Or is she too filled with angry emotion?

[Linneris]

...Good grief, this is... grim. And more visually disturbing than I expected of OOTS.

Kudos to all those who guessed it to be Serini, though!

[EmperorSarda]

Presuming it is Serini, the whole memory potion indicates she believes they are looking for the gate. When in reality they're just trying to stop Xykon.

Although with the words saying it was nice to exist, does she believe that kidnapping the paladins will be the death of them? Or is she in favor of the gods destroying the world?

She and the other Scribblers probably knew the gods debated on destroying the world, right? So... She must want the gods the destroy the world?

[Peelee]

Hmmm. A thought occurs to me. She has missing limbs, and Durkon does have everything needed for Regenerate....

Presuming it is Serini, the whole memory potion indicates she believes they are looking for the gate. When in reality they're just trying to stop Xykon.

Although with the words saying it was nice to exist, does she believe that kidnapping the paladins will be the death of them? Or is she in favor of the gods destroying the world?

She and the other Scribblers probably knew the gods debated on destroying the world, right? So... She must want the gods the destroy the world?

She knows the other 4 gates have fallen and now knows all the players are at her gate. An assumption that existence may end soon is natural. She wasn't happy about the possibility of reality ending and I never understood how people took it that way.

[RMS Oceanic]

Hmmm. A thought occurs to me. She has missing limbs, and Durkon does have everything needed for Regenerate....


She knows the other 4 gates have fallen and now knows all the players are at her gate. An assumption that existence may end soon is natural. She wasn't happy about the possibility of reality ending and I never understood how people took it that way.

To be fair we didn't know who was talking at the time or why they'd feel that way.

[danielxcutter]

Hmmm. A thought occurs to me. She has missing limbs, and Durkon does have everything needed for Regenerate....

...Hmm.


She knows the other 4 gates have fallen and now knows all the players are at her gate. An assumption that existence may end soon is natural. She wasn't happy about the possibility of reality ending and I never understood how people took it that way.

Honestly, compared to the flashbacks Serini seems much more... pessimistic and bitter than she used to be. That might be relevant.

[Xihirli]

It was Serini AND Redcloak's Niece!

[bengator]

That is one unnecessarily long cloak she has on. Hope it doesn’t get caught on anything, superhero cape style!

[doctor23]

Ok so here's the Scribblers

Soon - Dead we've seen his ghost
Dourukan - Dead killed by Xykon
Draketooth - Dead we've seen his remains in his grave
Kraagor - Presumed dead because of the scene with the mourning and the statue plus I mean we are at Kraagor's Tomb but hey stranger things have happened in this comic. FTR I do believe Kraagor is dead or at least "dead"
Serini - Standing right in front of us albeit looking a bit weird
Liran - Did she die back in the forest when her gate was taken out? I honestly don't know can't remember.

So crackpot theories for orange voice

Liran if she's still hanging on to this mortal coil
"Kraagor" - In some sort of golem form perhaps. Like I said stranger things have happened in this comic

[Schroeswald]

Ok so here's the Scribblers

Soon - Dead we've seen his ghost
Dourukan - Dead killed by Xykon
Draketooth - Dead we've seen his remains in his grave
Kraagor - Presumed dead because of the scene with the mourning and the statue plus I mean we are at Kraagor's Tomb but hey stranger things have happened in this comic. FTR I do believe Kraagor is dead or at least "dead"
Serini - Standing right in front of us albeit looking a bit weird
Liran - Did she die back in the forest when her gate was taken out? I honestly don't know can't remember.

So crackpot theories for orange voice

Liran if she's still hanging on to this mortal coil
"Kraagor" - In some sort of golem form perhaps. Like I said stranger things have happened in this comic


Xykon 100% killed Lirian, and then zombified her corpse, and then also trapped her soul in a crystal, she is absolutely not orange voice

[Shining Wrath]

Short person on stool: confirmed!
Left side of body greenish: what the hell is that? Is this some sort of replacement of halfling flesh with goblin / kobold flesh?
And given the age of the halfling: we have Serini!

[dancrilis]

Dourukan - Dead killed by Xykon
Liran - Did she die back in the forest when her gate was taken out? I honestly don't know can't remember.


Dorukan - Dead, soul in Xykon's pocket.
Lirian - Dead, soul in Xykon's pocket.

[faustin]

Why the extra long cloak? I mean besides the dramatic reveal effect.

[grandpheonix]

Ok so here's the Scribblers

Soon - Dead we've seen his ghost
Dourukan - Dead killed by Xykon
Draketooth - Dead we've seen his remains in his grave
Kraagor - Presumed dead because of the scene with the mourning and the statue plus I mean we are at Kraagor's Tomb but hey stranger things have happened in this comic. FTR I do believe Kraagor is dead or at least "dead"
Serini - Standing right in front of us albeit looking a bit weird
Liran - Did she die back in the forest when her gate was taken out? I honestly don't know can't remember.

So crackpot theories for orange voice

Liran if she's still hanging on to this mortal coil
"Kraagor" - In some sort of golem form perhaps. Like I said stranger things have happened in this comic

Lirian was soul trapped inside of a gem, and used to lure Dorukon out.

[hamishspence]

Wow what happened to her?


Left side of body greenish: what the hell is that? Is this some sort of replacement of halfling flesh with goblin / kobold flesh?

I would speculate that she now has the half-golem template. Given that Crystal, who was a variant flesh golem, had purple text - maybe this green is for half-clay golems?

[Peelee]

To be fair we didn't know who was talking at the time or why they'd feel that way.

Yeah but it still felt like an overly pessimistic reading of it to me, especially since it sounded more wistful than anything.

[BloodSquirrel]

Whaaaaaaaaaat! Shes green voice? Then who's orange voice?

The green half of her. Obviously.

[danielxcutter]

I would speculate that she now has the half-golem template. Given that Crystal, who was a variant flesh golem, had purple text - maybe this green is for half-clay golems?

I kinda hope she's not a half-golem though, because that template is horrible for your mental stats even if you make your save.

[Ghosty]

So if the plan is to make them forget... then why abduct them in the first place?

Because if the people you abduct, simply disappear, the people who sent them will only send more to see what happened. Plus, now they'll be on guard against being disappeared themselves.

Send back the abductees with a totally convincing story that, whatever they're looking for, it isn't here, and your hunters will move off and look somewhere else. Only works if you're absolutely sure in your amnesiac and that your implanted story remains intact.

I really like The Terminator-style that the Giant cobbled up for this elderly Halfling's face. Looks like something Grubwiggler might have thrown together. It's probably intensely painful.

I also wonder if mentioning Xykon will serve like Minrah mentioning the Snarl did to Thor: here's your password that entitles us to different treatment than usual.

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

"Half Expected" is a brilliant comic name. Rich created this expectation with the last comic. The details in the room, the short arm. So we all expected to be Serini, and it is, but not quite what we were thinking. But also, this is only half of her. Well done, Rich, sir.

And looks like someone took classes in big reveals. Why use a long coat like that if not only for dramatic tension? Somewhere in Kraagor's Tomb, Elan senses a peaceful balance in the force. :smallbiggrin:

[The Pilgrim]

Finally, Serini shows up. And alive!

Well, half alive, at least.

Looks like Xykon didn't find her diary in a public library, after all.

[danielxcutter]

"Half Expected" is a brilliant comic name. Rich created this expectation with the last comic. The details in the room, the short arm. So we all expected to be Serini, and it is, but not quite what we were thinking. But also, this is only half of her. Well done, Rich, sir.

And looks like someone took classes in big reveals. Why use a long coat like that if not only for dramatic tension? Somewhere in Kraagor's Tomb, Elan senses a peaceful balance in the force. :smallbiggrin:

Also Serini is a halfling. Or, well, a quarterling now I guess. Ouch.

Incidentally I suspect her cloak's so big is because that's what she uses to fly. Wings of Flying are a thing.

[Werbaer]

Presuming it is Serini, the whole memory potion indicates she believes they are looking for the gate. When in reality they're just trying to stop Xykon.
In #1189 (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1189.html), O-Chul was pondering about how to find the gate just before he was attacked.

[BloodSquirrel]

Ok so here's the Scribblers

Soon - Dead we've seen his ghost
Dourukan - Dead killed by Xykon
Draketooth - Dead we've seen his remains in his grave
Kraagor - Presumed dead because of the scene with the mourning and the statue plus I mean we are at Kraagor's Tomb but hey stranger things have happened in this comic. FTR I do believe Kraagor is dead or at least "dead"
Serini - Standing right in front of us albeit looking a bit weird
Liran - Did she die back in the forest when her gate was taken out? I honestly don't know can't remember.

So crackpot theories for orange voice

Liran if she's still hanging on to this mortal coil
"Kraagor" - In some sort of golem form perhaps. Like I said stranger things have happened in this comic

Kraagor is dead- he was eaten by the snarl, which is what broke up the Scribblers. Well, okay, there's an outside chance that he's still alive on Snarl-World, but for now he's "dead".

[danielxcutter]

...Huh, now that I think of it, why'd Serini kidnap the paladins? If she didn't want them to find the Gate, she could have just left them there instead. Making them forget something wouldn't really change that.

[b_jonas]

One red and one black eye, had a conversation with herself in two differently colored voices. Is it too early to start calling her Gollum?

[Fyraltari]

So if the plan is to make them forget... then why abduct them in the first place?

Probably going to interrogate them before making them drink. Or do something else, I dunno.

EDIT: I do wonder what her game is exactly: she assumes that they were sent by someone (presumably SG leadership) to look for her/the Tomb and wants them to report finding nothing, so I guess she has a plan to take out Xykon under her own power. Sounds awfully bold though I would venture revenge features more than a little in her intentions.

EDIT the second of her name:
One red and one black eye, had a conversation with herself in two differently colored voices. Is it too early to start calling her Gollum?
Gollum's eyes are both of the same colours. Also we have no reason to think Orange isn't an associate of hers.

[Ghosty]

...Huh, now that I think of it, why'd Serini kidnap the paladins? If she didn't want them to find the Gate, she could have just left them there instead. Making them forget something wouldn't really change that.

I got the impression that, in addition to mindwiping them, she'd feed them a suggestion or two that 'they'd looked high and low, and didn't find anything.' So they'd go somewhere else to look for the Gate.

[BaronOfHell]

Aha, even though the battle between the Order and Xykon will go awry, the world will ultimately be saved, however only a heavily wounded Belkar survives.
Sadly the RedCloak will also perish in the battle, and many years in the future the world will once again begin to unravel. Belkar, the only person left alive who knows about the plot (thanks to Elan's story telling on the mechane) manages to travel back in time to the place where it all went wrong, now his mission is to make sure things goes right so RC can help sealing the rifts.

Also Belkar had a sex change at some point after defeating Xykon.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

So if the plan is to make them forget... then why abduct them in the first place?

I'm guessing to prevent them from getting killed, and thus prompting for more paladins to show up. Also to send a report of "everything is fine, no need to investigate", like she said. She doesn't seem to believe they can help, so she wants them out of the way.


Liran if she's still hanging on to this mortal coil
Lirian and Dorukan's souls are both trapped in a gemstone last seen in Xykon's possession.


Why the extra long cloak? I mean besides the dramatic reveal effect.
Not a lot of haberdashers in the north pole. It might be the one she has, but it is shaped for human height, and she can't re-fit it to her size.

GW

[Peelee]

Kraagor is dead- he was eaten by the snarl, which is what broke up the Scribblers. Well, okay, there's an outside chance that he's still alive on Snarl-World, but for now he's "dead".

Which is why they wrote presumed dead. It was in crayon, which is not 100% reliable, so he's likely dead but we are not 100% certain, while we are 100% certain about the others. Hence, presumed dead.

[Sam K]

Guessing the orange voice is ALSO Serini, but the left side of her. With an orange right side.

Which raises the question what the boop Xykon did to her? All we know is it didn't involve a reflex save for half damage...

Long shot: the orange side has her physical abilities and the green side has her mental. The green side seems to use mostly mental abilities (bluffing, poison) whereas the orange one is less prone to reflection, but it was useful to help carrying knocked-out paladins. But yeah, long shot, based on absolutely very little. Just something that popped into my head.




Also Belkar had a sex change at some point after defeating Xykon.

Or defeating Xykon INVOLVED a sex change.

It wouldn't be the first time the order uses that trick to help out in a fight...

[DavidBV]

Looks like Serini is still confident on the world NOT being destroyed and her own gate failing, otherwise she wouldn't care too much about the Paladins and their memories.

This belief could spring from overconfidence, sure, but probably not since she seems very capable and she already knows first-hand how powerful Xykon is. Which probably means she still has some ace up her sleeve.

[Fitzclowningham]

If Serini knows about Xykon and the threat he represents to the gate, what what is her motivation in getting rid of potential help? She wants to face him alone?

She was in love with Girard, so it seems likely she shares at least some of his antipathy toward Soon and distrusted his motives. Could that be the whole reason for what she’s doing?

[danielxcutter]

If Serini knows about Xykon and the threat he represents to the gate, what what is her motivation in getting rid of potential help? She wants to face him alone?

She was in love with Girard, so it seems likely she shares at least some of his antipathy toward Soon and distrusted his motives. Could that be the whole reason for what she’s doing?

Possibly, but that entry was written quite before the final fight. She may have seen a different side of Girard.

Because frankly so far, he sounds like an ass.

[Fyraltari]

Guessing the orange voice is ALSO Serini, but the left side of her. With an orange right side.


just because a character has a scarred face doesn't mean they're Two-Face from Batman.

[Shining Wrath]

Serini is trying to defend the location of the Gate.
She thinks the Paladins are there to find the Gate, working for someone.
How much she knows about what's going on in the rest of the world is unknown - does she know she's defending the very last Gate?

But her plan for defending it is to create amnesia in those that find it, and then give them false memories of not finding it.
Serini is Gilderoy Lockhart, only actually competent and considerably less cute.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Long shot: the orange side has her physical abilities and the green side has her mental. The green side seems to use mostly mental abilities (bluffing, poison) whereas the orange one is less prone to reflection, but it was useful to help carrying knocked-out paladins. But yeah, long shot, based on absolutely very little. Just something that popped into my head.

Longer shot: the "orange side" is Kraagor. As in, his soul, recovered somehow from the gate, and grafted onto the reconstructed half of Serini.

GW

[danielxcutter]

Serini is trying to defend the location of the Gate.
She thinks the Paladins are there to find the Gate, working for someone.
How much she knows about what's going on in the rest of the world is unknown - does she know she's defending the very last Gate?

But her plan for defending it is to create amnesia in those that find it, and then give them false memories of not finding it.
Serini is Gilderoy Lockhart, only actually competent and considerably less cute.

Personally I never found Lockhart as "cute" even as a kid.

And I'd bet she knows about the other Gates falling; the Draketooths had a device that let them check on their status so I don't see why Serini wouldn't.

[Fyraltari]

does she know she's defending the very last Gate?

Most likely, yes. (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0844.html)

[Schroeswald]

I looked back over 1189, I see no way that the orange voice is on Serinis body. There is absolutely no way a halfling could be holding both O-Chul and Lien in that strip, the orange voice has a seperate physical form

[Fyraltari]

I looked back over 1189, I see no way that the orange voice is on Serinis body. There is absolutely no way a halfling could be holding both O-Chul and Lien in that strip, the orange voice has a seperate physical form

I'm pretty sure Orange has at least four arms considering the spear and saber's positions.

[danielxcutter]

I'm pretty sure Orange has at least four arms considering the spear and saber's positions.

...You do know that katanas are a thing, right?

[Ghosty]

I looked back over 1189, I see no way that the orange voice is on Serinis body. There is absolutely no way a halfling could be holding both O-Chul and Lien in that strip, the orange voice has a seperate physical form

Maybe it's her child, also half/golem-ized? @danielxcutter did mention the subject takes a big hit to INT from the procedure. And leaving her offspring in that kind of condition is the sort of thing Xykon would enjoy, if he couldn't just zombifie the kid and cart him/her away.

EDIT: The point upthread about Serini being very fond of Girard. How's she (assuming this Halfling we now see, is her) going to take the news that V wiped his entire family? As we know she'll find out, even if it takes Qarr to tell her.

[Goblin_Priest]

...Huh, so that's how he found her diary I guess.

That is Serini, right? What'd he do to her?!

Well this answers a lot of questions I never knew I had, I guess!?

It also brings up a whole lot of new questions I have no idea how to begin answering.

[Fyraltari]

...You do know that katanas are a thing, right?

Yes, it's the japanese word for saber and often used to describe a japanese-style saber.

[factotum]

Yes, it's the japanese word for saber and often used to describe a japanese-style saber.

Other than the blade being somewhat curved (and both being types of sword, obvs) there is no relationship whatsoever between a katana and a sabre.

[Deathhappens]

One red and one black eye, had a conversation with herself in two differently colored voices. Is it too early to start calling her Gollum?


The orange voice called green voice (tentatively 'Serini') "boss". The Paladins, when levitated, were also far enough apart to suggest two humanoids holding one each (+weapons), though that could have been any form of telekinesis in the book. I'm still going to bet my money on Serini having at least one helper of some kind with her.

[Fyraltari]

Other than the blade being somewhat curved (and both being types of sword, obvs) there is no relationship whatsoever between a katana and a sabre.

Aren't katanas cutting on only one side?

[mattender]

I'm pretty sure Orange has at least four arms considering the spear and saber's positions.

+1 on this. Orange is both not Green, and also considerably larger. The relative vertical positions, and not having the two weapons together in the second-to-last panel also suggest 'feet that can grab' or 'tentacles' as possibilities. Could be a summon or planar ally sort of thing as well, perhaps...

[eras10]

Just performing a very rare drive by login to say that this is one of the very best works of creative narrative fiction I've ever read in my whole life. I'm so glad Rich has managed to persevere in its creation, and I regret anything I've ever done to hinder it.

[Deathhappens]

Aren't katanas cutting on only one side?

Generally, yes. But they're also not made to be cavalry swords, for one.

[quinron]

The orange voice called green voice (tentatively 'Serini') "boss". The Paladins, when levitated, were also far enough apart to suggest two humanoids holding one each (+weapons), though that could have been any form of telekinesis in the book. I'm still going to bet my money on Serini having at least one helper of some kind with her.

Good catch - the "boss" comment makes it pretty darn unlikely that orange voice is Kraagor, regardless of the possibility of resurrection or soul-binding shenanigans.

[Ninja Dragon]

I always thought Serini might be alive. Halflings live longer, after all. But this whole situation is pretty unique.

I wonder if Serini is trying to get the world destroyed by the Snarl, with the whole thing she said at the end of Book 6 about wanting to stop existing.

[danielxcutter]

Also katanas are two-handed swords and sabres are one-handed I think.

[Thant]

*stares in Gauldoth the Half-dead*

http://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1430285364547.jpg

[DaLucaray]

So if the plan is to make them forget... then why abduct them in the first place?

From the way she talks, it seems she's not just going to make them forget getting abducted, she's going to make them forget the whole area.

[Kantaki]

That looks unpleasant.
But now I'm curious how much of this Xykon did to her and how much she did herself (or had done*) to fix the damage Xykon left on her.

*Assuming it was (entirely) voluntarily. Maybe some traveling alchemist/necromancer/Golem builder/chimaera maker** found her and decided to combine the helpful with the experimenting.

**Someone has to be behind those owlbears, duckbunnies and... well, chimaeras.
I think TDE had a spell for that...:smallamused:

[hungrycrow]

Possibly, but that entry was written quite before the final fight. She may have seen a different side of Girard.

Because frankly so far, he sounds like an ass.

I think she was part of Girard's betting pool, so she kept associating with him after the split.

[Robots]

WAOW! New update.

Internally, I was like "Maybe the Mystery Guy is actually two halflings in a trenchcoat. Trenchcloak?" It turns out I was half-right. There was only one halfling in that cloak.

[DaLucaray]

I love the thematics that we finally see how a rogue protects a dungeon- by controlling information. I always felt a little sad that we not got to see how Sereni would do it, but I guess she's just been keeping that a secret!

it does raise the question of how she let an entire bugbear settlement happen around the gate, though

[Keltest]

Also katanas are two-handed swords and sabres are one-handed I think.

Katanas are like later European longswords in that it is possible to wield them one handed or two handed, though i believe they are better suited for two handed use. They were generally sidearms for archers and/or polearm wielders who would not want to overly encumber themselves with a shield that they couldnt use.

[hungrycrow]

I love the thematics that we finally see how a rogue protects a dungeon- by controlling information. I always felt a little sad that we not got to see how Sereni would do it, but I guess she's just been keeping that a secret!

it does raise the question of how she let an entire bugbear settlement happen around the gate, though

The bugbears aren't a threat, and leaving them around conceals the fact that there are active defenders of the gate.

I wonder if Xykon isn't aware that Serini survived whatever encounter they had.

[denthor]

Our boney friend and Redcloak get the diary in comic 195.

There is a dead silver dragon🐉 in the back round.

In start of darkness we see a random Hobgoblin kill it with a critical hit from an axe. The lich wastes the hobo.

This is the first we see or hear of the diary. I think.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Generally, yes. But they're also not made to be cavalry swords, for one.

Neither were most sabres. For one thing, they may have been called "cutlass", but the standard naval sword was a sabre. And of course, during the period in which sabres were used, most of them ended being used by infantry, because there is so many more soldiers in the infantry than on horses. A sabre is a curved sword designed for primarily for cutting rather than thrusting, but with thrusting still being a possibility. As such, the typical katana is more like a sabre than it is like a longsword (which is about even between thrusting and cutting, with I'd say just a shade of preference for thrusting).

I am somewhat aware that katanas vary widely in curvature, with some being practically straight, and those might be more analogous to longswords than sabres, but generally speaking, and certainly in the context of the comic, the katanas employed by the paladins are more analogous to sabres than they are to longswords.

Grey Wolf

[danielxcutter]

Our boney friend and Redcloak get the diary in comic 195.

There is a dead silver dragon🐉 in the back round.

In start of darkness we see a random Hobgoblin kill it with a critical hit from an axe. The lich wastes the hobo.

This is the first we see or hear of the diary. I think.

Wrong and wrong. The hobgoblin thing was in a bonus strip of I think No Cure For The Paladin Blues and that's Xykon's spare fortress which is why they went back there in the first place.

[Rogar Demonblud]

That is one unnecessarily long cloak she has on. Hope it doesn’t get caught on anything, superhero cape style!

[Edna Mode]NO CAPES![/Edna Mode]

Been a while since I could bust out that quote.

[Argis13]

Our boney friend and Redcloak get the diary in comic 195.

There is a dead silver dragon🐉 in the back round.

In start of darkness we see a random Hobgoblin kill it with a critical hit from an axe. The lich wastes the hobo.

This is the first we see or hear of the diary. I think.


The diary is also seen in "Start of Darkness," which is when Xykon found it, but we don't get to see how he did it. (Xykon just shows up in the middle of a sequence focused on Redcloak.)

[TinyMushroom]

So now that we definitely know it's Serini (a known rogue), I wonder if we're going to get a callback to the shell game speech (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0428.html) at some point.

The trick isn't in picking the right door. The trick is in getting you to pick a door at all.

[dancrilis]

I wonder if Serini is trying to get the world destroyed by the Snarl, with the whole thing she said at the end of Book 6 about wanting to stop existing.

I don't know 'I don't want to exist' is something of an odd way of reading 'existing was nice' to me (paraphrasing).

On katanas - to memory they are masterwork bastard swords.

[Goblin_Priest]

Why does Sirini have a colored speech bubble?

What is she now? Half/half something?

Why does she want the paladins to go back home without their memory?

Why does she want existence to cease?

What happened between her and Xykon?

[Fyraltari]

This whole sabre vs katana thing is getting weird.


*stares in Gauldoth the Half-dead*

http://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1430285364547.jpg
Nice, what is that guy from?

[Rogar Demonblud]

She looks to be a half golem now, and golems have colored speech bubbles.

She's pulling a MIB and mindwiping inconvenient witnesses.

We have no proof she wants to end existence. She seems to expect it, though, which makes me wonder if she's been to a Godsmoot.

And we'll be getting an exposition infodump on that subject soonish methinks.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

This whole sabre vs katana thing is getting weird.
Anything involving katanas usually does.


Nice, what is that guy from?

Heroes of Might and Magic IV

GW

[Goblin_Priest]

She looks to be a half golem now, and golems have colored speech bubbles.

She's pulling a MIB and mindwiping inconvenient witnesses.

We have no proof she wants to end existence. She seems to expect it, though, which makes me wonder if she's been to a Godsmoot.

And we'll be getting an exposition infodump on that subject soonish methinks.

Well, she's taking them out and sending them packing instead of letting them reunite with the Order to stop Xykon.

If she's a half-golem, who made her so? The wiki seems to say that half-golems turn evil. Also some pretty crippling ability modifiers, especially for a rogue.

[PenguinRevoluti]

If that really is amnesia potion, how many times have they had this conversation? :)

[Fyraltari]

Why does Sirini have a colored speech bubble?
To denote unnatural sounding speech certainly due to half jer body having been rebuilt/twisted into something she wasn't before.


What is she now? Half/half something?
A half-dead halfling? The magical equivalent of a cyborg? A force to be reckoned with.


Why does she want the paladins to go back home without their memory?
She apparently doesn't want them to interfere in whatever plan she has against Xykon, probably oit of a desire for personal revenge and doubt in their abilities and doesn't trust Soon's heirs with intelligence about her Gate's defenses any more than the Scribblers trusted each other.


Why does she want existence to cease?
Sounds like she doesn't want it to but thinks it's inevitable. Which makes sense if she knows about the quadrillions previous worlds but not about Thor's plan.


What happened between her and Xykon?

Most likely Xykon pried the diary from her cold, seemingly-dead hands, leaving her with grievious injuries resulting in her current look.

[LuPuWei]

She's basically the only member of the Order of the Scribble we've seen alive and in real time in the webcomic, right? Barring the crayon exposition Kraagor and Girard are statues, Soon is a spirit, and Dorukan and Lirian are all already dead, right? (Was there a non-crayon flash back to Dorukan in one of the recent ones?)

[Gnoman]

This is one of those straps where I really wish we could get tone of voice. As it is, you could read the "I know all about Xykon" panel as dismissive, but you could also read it as a "wait, you're here to stop Xykon? Look what that jerk did to me" about-face.

[understatement]

Wow! Just caught up on the previous strip and now this one.

If Serini and Xykon fought, how did she even survive? How did Xykon find her in the first place?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

She's basically the only member of the Order of the Scribble we've seen alive and in real time in the webcomic, right? Barring the crayon exposition Kraagor and Girard are statues, Soon is a spirit, and Dorukan and Lirian are all already dead, right? (Was there a non-crayon flash back to Dorukan in one of the recent ones?)

Correct. Kraagor died before the gates were built. Soon, Dorukan & Lirian were dead pre-comic 1. Girard we aren't sure of time of death, but long enough to be properly interred and a statue commissioned or conjured, so likely also pre-stip 1.


If Serini and Xykon fought, how did she even survive? How did Xykon find her in the first place?
She's a rogue. She might be decent at playing dead. Or rogue-ly escaped grievously wounded.

As to how Xykon found her, no clue. But it took him a while, given that RC assumed he was not coming back.

GW

[hungrycrow]

I don't know 'I don't want to exist' is something of an odd way of reading 'existing was nice' to me (paraphrasing).

On katanas - to memory they are masterwork bastard swords.

Some people read it that because the line before "it was fun while it lasted" was "we're finally doing this, huh?", which would seem to imply that doing this would result in them not existing. "we're finally going to finish our plan...too bad we'll fail and die" is also a weird way to interpret that conversation.

Another thing is that she's trying to get rid of the paladins. It'd be irrationally honorable for her to do that just to keep up with the Scribble's old oath, considering how dangerous Xykon is. I think whatever her plan to deal with Xykon is, she expects the paladins to object.

Of course if her plan was to destroy the whole world, giving the paladins amnesia would be kind of pointless. Maybe she's planning some kind of heroic sacrifice?

[Giggling Ghast]

I think we all expected it to be Serini, but the Harvey Dent makeover is a surprise.

Much like Two-Face, I’m guessing Xykon badly wounded Serini in a way that necessitated the replacement of half her body. Perhaps she couldn’t make it to a cleric who could cast Regenerate and had to instead go someone like Grubwiggler who turned her into a half-golem.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Wow! I audibly gasped at that reveal. I am very curious about what happened to her; it seems clear that she was injured when Xykon got her journal, but what exactly is her current state? She looks like a golem of sorts. Her motivations are also interesting to me here. It seems like she does not trust the paladins, but it's still unfortunate that we can't all work together here. Certainly, I feel bad for Lien here.

Looking back at 1189, I'm certainly interested as to what Serini is indicating when she says, "I guess we're finally doing thus, huh?" Is this a reference to revealing herself in some way? Taking a more active approach to defending the Gate? And who is the orange voice? So many questions and I'm super excited to read on.

[Fyraltari]

Anything involving katanas usually does.
On the internet, at least.



Heroes of Might and Magic IV

GW
Thanks.

Correct. Kraagor died before the gates were built. Soon, Dorukan & Lirian were dead pre-comic 1. Girard we aren't sure of time of death, but long enough to be properly interred and a statue commissioned or conjured, so likely also pre-stip 1.


She's a rogue. She might be decent at playing dead. Or rogue-ly escaped grievously wounded.

As to how Xykon found her, no clue. But it took him a while, given that RC assumed he was not coming back.

GW
Xykon said he took him forever to translate the diary so it may not have taken him so long to find her. I wouldn't be so surprised to learn that she had found him.

[bunsen_h]

...Huh, so that's how he found her diary I guess.

That is Serini, right? What'd he do to her?!

Half-killed her, it seems.

Though we can't completely discount the possibility that this is a trick.


So if the plan is to make them forget... then why abduct them in the first place?

To try to get as much information out of them as possible. A properly-done interrogation doesn't involve force, torture, or drugs, but simply building a rapport with one's subject and having long conversations.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Xykon said he took him forever to translate the diary so it may not have taken him so long to find her. I wouldn't be so surprised to learn that she had found him.

And she was carrying her diary with her while hunting down a potential danger to the gates? I mean, maybe, but that seems foolishly overconfident, which is not a trait that feels like it fits her.

Grey Wolf

[danielxcutter]

Half-killed her, it seems.

Though we can't completely discount the possibility that this is a trick.

Personally I do hope that she's not really that hurt...


To try to get as much information out of them as possible. A properly-done interrogation doesn't involve force, torture, or drugs, but simply building a rapport with one's subject and having long conversations.

Well magic is a thing, but she's not exactly a caster I guess...

[Fyraltari]

And she was carrying her diary with her while hunting down a potential danger to the gates? I mean, maybe, but that seems foolishly overconfident, which is not a trait that feels like it fits her.

Grey Wolf

Good point.

[Adeptus]

New comic is up.

That was amazing Rich! I had no idea, for some reason I missed all the signs and thought this was one of the three archfiends/-devils/-whatevers. Well played sir :smallcool:

[B. Pseudonym]

So that's definitely Serini. Guessing "wild mage" for what's going on with her face, which I believe would explain the flight and invisibility. I'm not an expert on 3.5 gimmick classes, though, so that might be way off.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing how this ends up! Lot of... well, she just said she's not going to exposit anything, but I'm hoping we'll get at least some information as to what she meant during the paladin kidnapping.

[Jasdoif]

If that really is amnesia potion, how many times have they had this conversation? :)Hard to say. (http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01699.htm)

[cybishop]

Based on what we know of Serini, what she's said here and in 1189 doesn't make sense. The problem is, we don't know everything. Thor and Odin didn't know anything about the world within the rift. Soon didn't say anything about it (but he's only somewhat reliable). We also don't know exactly why the Scribblers broke up. Probably mostly due to blaming each other over Kraagor's death, but maybe not entirely.

Maybe Serini knows something no one else did, maybe all the Scribblers knew something about it that Soon didn't pass on for one reason or another, maybe Serini has some belief about the Gate that we already know is incorrect. I don't think we're in a position to put all the pieces of the puzzle together yet. Sorry. Speculate away but anyone who gets it right at this point is probably more lucky than smart.

[One Skunk Todd]

Can anybody(besides Rich) read the script on the cauldron?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Can anybody(besides Rich) read the script on the cauldron?

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?627325-Cauldron-text

GW

[Dire_Flumph]

Crackpot theory: Orange voice is the other half of Serini

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Crackpot theory: Orange voice is the other half of Serini

Deja-vu


Long shot: the orange side has her physical abilities and the green side has her mental. The green side seems to use mostly mental abilities (bluffing, poison) whereas the orange one is less prone to reflection, but it was useful to help carrying knocked-out paladins. But yeah, long shot, based on absolutely very little. Just something that popped into my head.

Longer shot: the "orange side" is Kraagor. As in, his soul, recovered somehow from the gate, and grafted onto the reconstructed half of Serini.

And also, to be fair:

I looked back over 1189, I see no way that the orange voice is on Serinis body. There is absolutely no way a halfling could be holding both O-Chul and Lien in that strip, the orange voice has a seperate physical form

GW

[Dire_Flumph]

Deja-vu

Missed that.

[Shining Wrath]

Correct. Kraagor died before the gates were built. Soon, Dorukan & Lirian were dead pre-comic 1. Girard we aren't sure of time of death, but long enough to be properly interred and a statue commissioned or conjured, so likely also pre-stip 1.


She's a rogue. She might be decent at playing dead. Or rogue-ly escaped grievously wounded.

As to how Xykon found her, no clue. But it took him a while, given that RC assumed he was not coming back.

GW

This may be Rich's play on the rogue ability (Uncanny Dodge) that allow you to take half damage from certain attacks, even if you fail your save, and no damage if you make it.
One of the attacks where Uncanny Dodge would apply would be a Meteor Swarm.
Xykon attacked, and she should have died, but instead she's only half-dead.

[Riftwolf]

Serini on a ladder we should have known. The Simic Combine half-lizard graft? Not so much.
I'm wondering if Serini can be talked round by the paladins. By my guess, she might tell the story of how Soon wasn't the Goodly Noble Warrior-Poet that the Sapphire Guard thought he was. Though if she's gonna drop backstory, 'How I gained a Template' would be the more pressing concern of mine.


This may be Rich's play on the rogue ability (Uncanny Dodge) that allow you to take half damage from certain attacks, even if you fail your save, and no damage if you make it.
One of the attacks where Uncanny Dodge would apply would be a Meteor Swarm.
Xykon attacked, and she should have died, but instead she's only half-dead.

You mean Improved Evasion.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Missed that.

Not uncommon - new comics threads can move really quickly. It wasn't meant accusatorially, just as a reference so you could see what had been said (thus why I added the reasonable, grounded answer that pokes large holes in the idea).

GW

[danielxcutter]

This may be Rich's play on the rogue ability (Uncanny Dodge) that allow you to take half damage from certain attacks, even if you fail your save, and no damage if you make it.
One of the attacks where Uncanny Dodge would apply would be a Meteor Swarm.
Xykon attacked, and she should have died, but instead she's only half-dead.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong. Uncanny Dodge is not making you be flat-footed, the half damage thing is Evasion, and specifically that's the Improved version that lets you only take half damage when you blow your Reflex save and none if you do make it.

[Anitar]

And we'll be getting an exposition infodump on that subject soonish methinks.
She has no interest in explaining, as she says in panel one. So, unless "but Xykon has to be stopped" is a big game-changer for her (unlikely, since she clearly already knows about him in #1189), we're gonna have to wait.

(Although... If it's not a game-changer, why is she going back on her decision not to let Lien see her?)

[MornShine]

Clarification, that rogue ability is Evasion, not Uncanny Dodge. Uncanny Dodge prevents flanking and sneak attack, as shown in the Cliffport arc.

Though, come to think of it, there is an option in 3.5 that lets a rogue forego Evasion in return for appearing to be dead after taking a lot of damage...

Ah, Ninja’d.

[Fyraltari]

I'm wondering if Serini can be talked round by the paladins.
O-Chul is surprisingly good at that.

[Bookshelfstud]

Props to the folks in the thread for 1225 who thought there was something fishy about the cloaked figure's hand - turns out you were super right.

Anyway - seems likely to me that Serini is assuming that Soon/the Sapphire Guard have broken their word and are going after the other gates. In strip 695, Illusion!Girard says that the spell triggered in the desert will "notify both her and us" (emphasis mine) that Soon "couldn't leave well enough alone." I would assume that Serini believes Soon and his paladins are hunting down the gates for personal gain/power/whatever, and now that she's captured two of the only surviving Azure City paladins in existence...well, hard to disprove her thinking.

[b_jonas]

Which raises the question what the boop Xykon did to her? All we know is it didn't involve a reflex save for half damage... She did save for half damage, which is why only half of his body is discolored. See Casey and Andy #225 and #226. (http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=226)

[Fyraltari]

Props to the folks in the thread for 1225 who thought there was something fishy about the cloaked figure's hand - turns out you were super right.

Anyway - seems likely to me that Serini is assuming that Soon/the Sapphire Guard have broken their word and are going after the other gates. In strip 695, Illusion!Girard says that the spell triggered in the desert will "notify both her and us" (emphasis mine) that Soon "couldn't leave well enough alone." I would assume that Serini believes Soon and his paladins are hunting down the gates for personal gain/power/whatever, and now that she's captured two of the only surviving Azure City paladins in existence...well, hard to disprove her thinking.

Barring time-travel shenanigans, I don't think she expect Soon to be in charge anymore. He'd be older than Dorukan who was already pushing it.

[Finagle]

Ho-lee shee-utt!

Wow, talk about a great reveal. I never thought Serini would appear in the comic, in the flesh. I thought far too much time had passed. It's times like this that remind me why I still read this comic, other than habit.

Her being marred means she tried to take on Xykon herself too early, and he roasted her. Like what would have happened if Elan tried to confront Tarquin too early. Of course, what with cleric spells being what they are she has little excuse for staying that way, unless it's a contrived excuse like Durkon's mom.

Hey, now they have an epic-level rogue on their side. Well, one of the sides, anyway. I guess this fills in another slot. Maybe she can do a training montage with Haley and teach her a prestige class.

[One Skunk Todd]

Maybe Serini is from Innsmouth? :D

[Sienar]

Magic Instant Pot? So does this mean that Serini has a magic item that allows her to create potions or did she pick up some caster levels to go with the Brew Potion ability? Has she been dabbling in dark arts like Grubbwiggler so that's why her marred flesh looks like his?

[KorvinStarmast]

Send back the abductees with a totally convincing story that, whatever they're looking for, it isn't here, and your hunters will move off and look somewhere else. Only works if you're absolutely sure in your amnesiac and that your implanted story remains intact....
Looks like something Grubwiggler might have thrown together.
1. She seems to assume that they are working for Soon (or whomever runs the Sapphire Guard) what with them being Azurite Paladins, and she wants Soon to stick to the original Scribbler bargain: no interference between gate guarders. (That's my read on why she's handling the Paladins this way).

Longer shot: the "orange side" is Kraagor. As in, his soul, recovered somehow from the gate, and grafted onto the reconstructed half of Serini. Betting a nominal beer against. I am guessing years after Kraagor dies Xykon does serious damage to Serini and got her diary. For some reason, she's been fused with or become in part:
a Hag.
Hence she makes potions and magical stuff. (Though high level rogues can often use many magical devices ...)
See Strip 175; her left side looks to me like that hag who hexed V. (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0175.html)
I realize that Grubwiggler's appearance is similar, and golems and such, but I'm going with hag for the time being due to that resemblance. Also, since in my headcanon she's now Granny Toormuck, being a Granny fits being a Hag somewhat.


it does raise the question of how she let an entire bugbear settlement happen around the gate, though
Misdirection. She is a rogue, and a very high level one at that.

Glad to see that those who predicted that we'd meet Serini were correct. Nice job, all.

Cloak: I am guessing cloak of flying.
Orange voice: a servant or local ally. Not up enough on 3.5 lore to sort out what flying large creature a half hag might have as a sidekick, but I am sure it's a reasonably long list.

PS: Thanks Giant, nice reveal. :smallsmile:

[Ionathus]

It's her! Oh yeah! Serini is BACK IN THE GAME.

This makes me think that we may just get more Order of the Scribble backstory...this would be a natural opportunity for Serini to be angry, and to take it out on the paladins who came sniffing around. I don't think she hates them outright as Girard did, but likely she has a lot of pent-up feelings about it. Would be excited for a ranting monologue next!


Honestly, compared to the flashbacks Serini seems much more... pessimistic and bitter than she used to be. That might be relevant.

Agreed. I'm getting "Old, Bitter Han/Luke/Leia" vibes from her. The cheerfulness is gone.

One interesting thing that I hadn't considered before: Serini was once found & attacked by Xykon, who stole her diary. But it can't have happened HERE, because Xykon has shown no familiarity with this place and nobody's said "Xykon fought a halfling here before."

That makes me think that Serini got attacked, recovered, and then CAME to this gate to bolster its protections. Maybe the traps weren't even an original defense -- maybe they were added after she got her new (fey?) powers. What I don't understand is why Serini wouldn't reach out to warn Dorukan, Girard, or the Sapphire Guard. Maybe she did, and they never had a reason to write it down or share it.

You know, that possibility of communication between remaining Scribblers has been raised before. Dorukan said "we have been trying to find Lirian's soul," but he never really had any second-in-command or other person to talk to other than Lirian. Makes me wonder if they were communicating with Serini...or if she was potentially the only member that everyone else still trusted, right up until the end.

This also means that Durkon's Sendings to Serini did go through, she just didn't respond. That means she knows at least a little about the Order of the Stick, too.

Oh my goodness, so many new and exciting questions! Eeeee!

[Sam K]

I looked back over 1189, I see no way that the orange voice is on Serinis body. There is absolutely no way a halfling could be holding both O-Chul and Lien in that strip, the orange voice has a seperate physical form

I dunno if this is in reference to my long-shot idea, but just in case it is: I'm not suggesting the orange voice is coming from the same body as the green voice. I'm suggesting that there are two physical halves of Serini: the right half is combined with a green golem body (and has a green speech bubble), the left half is combined with a orange golem body (and has a orange speech bubble). They are physically and mentally separate beings. They possibly have different stats, as green Sarini seem to be the clever one (it does look a bit like green has more than half of the head...) whereas the orange one thus far has only been used for carrying knocked-out paladins.

I suppose I should have called this idea... half baked!

[JSSheridan]

Thanks Giant!

[KorvinStarmast]

Just a note, I don't know if there is or was a Hag Template in 3.5. But if Serini has merged with one, as I guessed here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24936332&postcount=140), my guess is Green Hag, though she being a Halfling may not be a great fit with the medium humanoid size for green hags. But ... uh. MAGIC! ... and so on. But Serini does have high Charisma, and Hags cast with Charisma.
(Yeah, it might be a reach, but I am going with it).


A green hag is about the same height and weight as a female human.

Combat
Green hags prefer to attack from hiding, usually after distracting foes. They often use darkvision to their advantage by attacking during moonless nights.

Spell-Like Abilities
At will—dancing lights, disguise self, ghost sound (DC 12), invisibility, pass without trace, tongues, water breathing. Caster level 9th. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Weakness (Su)
A green hag can weaken a foe by making a special touch attack. The opponent must succeed on a DC 16 Fortitude save or take 2d4 points of Strength damage. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Mimicry (Ex)
A green hag can imitate the sounds of almost any animal found near its lair.

Skills
A green hag has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. Again, it's a reach, but strip 175's hag looks like the left side of Serini's face. More detail in 176 (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0176.html)

[Riftwolf]

O-Chul is surprisingly good at that.

We don't know if him being a Paladin will be a big enough penalty to negate his ability to convert not-quite-evil to thinking-about-it-good. I doubt O-Chul could have talked Girard down, but Elan or Haley might have, because Girard is Elan and Haleys timeshifted child and Haleys part dragon.

[wilphe]

Anyway - seems likely to me that Serini is assuming that Soon/the Sapphire Guard have broken their word and are going after the other gates. In strip 695, Illusion!Girard says that the spell triggered in the desert will "notify both her and us" (emphasis mine) that Soon "couldn't leave well enough alone." I would assume that Serini believes Soon and his paladins are hunting down the gates for personal gain/power/whatever, and now that she's captured two of the only surviving Azure City paladins in existence...well, hard to disprove her thinking.

But she's already demonstrated she understands how Paladins think when she got Lien to surrender

Girard didn't understand that at all

She is therefore going to understand that they tell the truth which Girard seemed to be incapable of understanding

[hroþila]

Serini knows hers is the last gate standing and specifically that Soon's Gate is gone, and she's aware that the world and all of existence are at the stake. She is not hostile to the paladins, so it's not like she believes they destroyed Girard's Gate. She knows who Xykon is, and most likely that Xykon has her diary and that he's the reason why all those other gates were destroyed (wouldn't be surprised if she heard it about Lirian's Gate directly from Xykon). So you'd expect her to welcome any possible help, and it'll be interesting to learn what her reason is for not accepting it. Could be something as simple as her defenses being safe enough as long as no one tries to mess with them from the inside, but it's probably that Serini doesn't want to work with Soon's associates even in these circumstances.

I seriously doubt Soon was squarely in the wrong, but we know Girard and Dorukan were against him, and now this would mean Serini wasn't neutral either, but also anti-Soon. And Lirian might have stayed neutral but it's quite possible that she also agrees with Dorukan - it may have been too big a topic to remain neutral about with your romantic partner. Most curious.

[KorvinStarmast]

But she's already demonstrated she understands how Paladins think when she got Lien to surrender

Girard didn't understand that at all

She is therefore going to understand that they tell the truth which Girard seemed to be incapable of understanding

I have been ninja'd. +1 :smallsmile:

[Ghosty]

Ho-lee shee-utt!....

...Maybe she can do a training montage with Haley and teach her a prestige class.

Lots of laughter reading your post. Kind of where I am, re the tone.


...I don't think she hates them outright as Girard did, but likely she has a lot of pent-up feelings about it. Would be excited for a ranting monologue next!

Agreed. I'm getting "Old, Bitter Han/Luke/Leia" vibes from her. The cheerfulness is gone...

...This also means that Durkon's Sendings to Serini did go through, she just didn't respond. That means she knows at least a little about the Order of the Stick, too...

Going by what Golem Crystal said, I think that whatever prosthetics Serini has merged with her are likely incredibly painful. That would be enough to remove any cheerfulness I had.

The Sending point is a good callback. Serini is likely quite up to speed on the Order's situation up to when the Sendings ceased. I expect next strip (besides an exposition dump, but an entertaining one) to have Lien or O-Chul point out they're working with the Order. If Serini doesn't know that already.

[gatemansgc]

Ooh, is that how Xykon got hold of Serini's diary? She didn't misplace it, or even lose it, he took it by force?

and did whatever he did to her here!

we're gonna have a ton of speculation over the next few weeks over just what this mutation is until the next comic!

[facw]

(Was there a non-crayon flash back to Dorukan in one of the recent ones?)
Not recent, but we see two non-crayon flashbacks to Dorukan way back in Don't Split the Party: https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html

Lirian is also there.

[Ron Miel]

It's still my crackpot theory that when the Order meets her, Belkar will go up to her and say "Hey, Grandma." Having never had a reason to divulge that information.

Except that Grandma Bitterleaf is in a nursing home. (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0689.html)

[137beth]

I am very surprised to see her in an antagonistic role.

[wilphe]

Except that Grandma Bitterleaf is in a nursing home. (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0689.html)

Most people have two grandmas

[HuntedWalrus]

First my BattleBots bracket gets busted on Day 1, and now my Zeus And Giggles theory gets shot to pieces?

Drat.

[gatemansgc]

Except that Grandma Bitterleaf is in a nursing home. (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0689.html)

that could be his paternal grandmother, and she could be the maternal!

[Pory]

Crackpot theory time!

The orange voice is the other half of Serini one of the descendants of Girard! Because they were red headed :smalltongue:! ...Ok, I suppose I have to elaborate on this.

My theory is that Serini and Girard still had some kind of contact when both were alive and possibly the latest send one of his children/grandchildren to stay with Serini, that way they were still somehow in contact but without breaking their own rules...and they couldn't use Sending because they are blocking it because they didn't want to be contacted by anyone.
And then, that kid got familicide'd but were resurrected using the same weird magic that's keeping Serini alive or something similar, it's a working crackpot theory.

[DavidBV]

What I wonder is... if she is so certain about "not existing" soon, why does she care about what the Paladins report?

I just can't see how both things reconcile.

[Doug Lampert]

This whole sabre vs katana thing is getting weird.


Anything involving katanas usually does.

Obligatory link.

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Katanas_are_Underpowered_in_d20

[Fyraltari]

She is not hostile to the paladins, so it's not like she believes they destroyed Girard's Gate.

You have high standards as to what qualifies as "hostility".

[Daibhid C]

Everyone wondering what Serini's motivations are: they obviously vary depending on whether her double-headed silver piece lands scarred side up or not.

[Grey Watcher]

Everyone wondering what Serini's motivations are: they obviously vary depending on whether her double-headed silver piece lands scarred side up or not.

I wish we could like forum posts.

[bunsen_h]

Honestly, compared to the flashbacks Serini seems much more... pessimistic and bitter than she used to be. That might be relevant.

Having to live like that, long-term, might easily do that to a person.


Clarification, that rogue ability is Evasion, not Uncanny Dodge. Uncanny Dodge prevents flanking and sneak attack, as shown in the Cliffport arc.

Though, come to think of it, there is an option in 3.5 that lets a rogue forego Evasion in return for appearing to be dead after taking a lot of damage...

Ah, Ninja’d.

So Xykon hits her with serious negative energy; she appears to be dead. Then he does an Animate Dead on her. She's a bilateral half-zombie.

[Psychronia]

Well, there we go.

...anyone other than Elan have any ideas why she was wearing an impractically long cloak just to cover that footstool and look like a full-sized humanoid?

[Emperor Time]

It nice to see that one of the order of the scribble is still alive. And she planning to only erase their recent memories instead of killing them. Guess this means she isn't a new villain in the story and is merely neutral instead.

[Lionheart261]

So, here's a random thought, not sure if it has any legs, but: what if the amnesia potion is also a bluff? Probably not in the sense that she isn't making one at the moment, but more in the sense that she's not actually dead set on giving it to them just yet.

After all, you probably wouldn't want to have your captives wake up while the amnesia potion is unfinished, and if they do, you definitely wouldn't want to tell them about the amnesia potion unless you're super confident they won't manage to escape. If you were set on mind wiping your captives from the start, you'd time it so that the potion was finished by the time they woke up, so you could get it down their throats before they even realize what's going on, then send them on their merry way. Giving them time to get their bearings, not to mention telling them about the mind wipe in advance and going so far as to reveal yourself to them, is counterproductive to that objective because it's just giving them more of a reason to try and escape before you can mind wipe them. However, these choices do make sense if you have a different goal in mind: obtaining information.

Think about it: if you were told you were about to get mind wiped, and your goal of protecting reality itself hinged on that not happening, assuming escape isn't an option, you'd probably try and negotiate your way out of it with whatever you can reasonably offer your captor. So far, O-Chul's mentioned Xykon, but there's other information he and Lien could offer Serini which she probably doesn't know already. At a minimum, more detailed information on how Soon's Gate went down is almost guaranteed, and since they're clearly breaking Soon's oath by marching onto Serini's turf, it's possible they might know about how the other gates went down too. Moreover, I'd like to direct your attention to who the paladins were talking about before they were captured: Vaarsuvius, described as the paladins' ally and whom Serini might know as one of two spellcasters who have been Sending her a bunch of messages. Assuming that the tomb isn't warded against that sort of thing, it's likely that, as others have suggested, she's been getting both V and Durkon's messages; she's simply elected not to respond for whatever reason. As such, it's possible she now knows about the paladins' connection to V, and can assume they have additional information about V and their other allies which she wouldn't have been reasonably expected to obtain from a bunch of magic telegrams.

So, yeah. If they do prove to have valuable information, the threat of mind wiping would've proven way more effective at getting them to talk than more conventional methods, methods that Serini would know don't work on paladins and which probably aren't her style anyway. And if they don't prove to have valuable information after all, then hey, she can still go with the amnesia plan as long as they don't try and escape. Like I said, not sure whether or not I'm on to something here, but I'm definitely interested in seeing what happens in the next strip.

[Riftwolf]

Well, there we go.

...anyone other than Elan have any ideas why she was wearing an impractically long cloak just to cover that footstool and look like a full-sized humanoid?

Chances are Elan would have the right idea.


So, here's a random thought, not sure if it has any legs, but: what if the amnesia potion is also a bluff? Probably not in the sense that she isn't making one at the moment, but more in the sense that she's not actually dead set on giving it to them just yet

The Order has only just turned up, she might be improvising. Carefully timed plans only really work when you have chance to prepare them.

[hroþila]

What I wonder is... if she is so certain about "not existing" soon, why does she care about what the Paladins report?

I just can't see how both things reconcile.
She's not actually so certain. She was just being fatalistic back there.

You have high standards as to what qualifies as "hostility".
Well, she wants them to go away unharmed. Obviously this would count as hostile if your neighbour did it, but what I mean is she doesn't want to hurt them.

[goodpeople25]

She's not actually so certain. She was just being fatalistic back there.

Well, she wants them to go away unharmed. Obviously this would count as hostile if your neighbour did it, but what I mean is she doesn't want to hurt them.
You have low standards as to what qualifies as unharmed.

[EmperorSarda]

The Order has only just turned up, she might be improvising. Carefully timed plans only really work when you have chance to prepare them.

Serini has to be aware of the Order though. Not only has V tried communicating with her several times, but they did trigger the desert trap (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0695.html) that would have alerted Serini and others to them.

With the destruction of the Girard's gate, Serini has to know and be anticipating them.

[Sakgeres]

I have some assumptions and questions
1) She is treating the paladins this way because she assumes they are from Sapphire Guard coming to interfere with this gate?
2) She mentions "fun while it lasted" which she refers to existing. Does she know it was the last gate? Why does she want to send the Paladins back instead of defending it together?
3) She met Xykon very early on, after she had build Kraagor's Tomb. They must have met far away from the tomb or Xykon would have known about it's location and went there first. Why did she leave and where did she met Xykon?
4) Her current state is the result of fusion (5e Spell) with another creature? Who had cast this spell on her and manage to do it repeatedly over all these years?
5) The orange voice is her underling as it refer to Sirini as boss. What kind of creature is it and why is it with her?

[El_Chupacabra]

Long-shot theory: Serini somehow merged with the snarl entity or a portion thereof. Could explain the new world in the void.

EDIT: as well as the "existing" statement. If the snarl was an unmaking of existence, a sort of "anti-existence" that destroyed what it came into contact with, then the merger, however unlikely, could have given it existence on a different plane as well as better understanding as to the nature of itself and the existence of others.

[Canisius]

Now THAT was a reveal!

[IntelectPaladin]

Oh no! Not memory stuff! That's killing the "them" that know!
The situation's changed, and the sapphire guard are dissolved, if that's the right term.
She probably is both voices, taking control of an undead partially made from herself?

Whatever goes on, I just hope they remember all of it.

[dps]

Good catch - the "boss" comment makes it pretty darn unlikely that orange voice is Kraagor, regardless of the possibility of resurrection or soul-binding shenanigans.

Wonder if it's a new character, or someone we've already met? If the latter, who could it be? Hank? Maybe Bozzok had Grubwiggler do something to him similar to what he did to Crystal, even though Hank was alive when we saw him last.

Malack? Can't really see him calling Serini "boss" or how he would still be alive (well, undead).

Really, I think it's a new character. It sounds like whoever it is has had a long-term association with Serini, which seems highly unlikely for any character we've already met.

EDIT: could the character with the orange speech bubble be the major character who has only appeared on 1 page previously? Have we seen anyone with an orange speech bubble before?

[hroþila]

You have low standards as to what qualifies as unharmed.
I think they still have all their HPs.

[Fyraltari]

I have some assumptions and questions
1) She is treating the paladins this way because she assumes they are from Sapphire Guard coming to interfere with this gate?
They are.

2) She mentions "fun while it lasted" which she refers to existing. Does she know it was the last gate?
Unless she lost this thing (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0844.html) or it was somehow disabled, she knows.

3) She met Xykon very early on, after she had build Kraagor's Tomb. They must have met far away from the tomb or Xykon would have known about it's location and went there first. Why did she leave and where did she met Xykon?
According to SoD they only met a handful of years ago since that's when Big X shows up with her diary. According to the Secret Lore of the Sapphire Guard, she left because she wasn't the type for retiring (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0277.html).

4) Her current state is the result of fusion (5e Spell) with another creature? Who had cast this spell on her and manage to do it repeatedly over all these years?
Looks more like she was grafted artificial organs or something. In any case none of the Scribblers were operating alone so she most likely has somebody on hand to take care of whatever she needs.

5) The orange voice is her underling as it refer to Sirini as boss. What kind of creature is it and why is it with her?
Judging by the way they carried two unconscious bodies and two weapons along a cliff-face, either a multi-limbed creature or somebody with telekinetic magic as for why they worknfor her to stop the end of the world, I would guess a combination of personnal loyalty, being paid and not wanting the planet to be consumed by an eldritch horror.

[Sakgeres]

According to SoD they only met a handful of years ago since that's when Big X shows up with her diary. According to the Secret Lore of the Sapphire Guard, she left because she wasn't the type for retiring (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0277.html).


I mean, she must have left Kraagor's tomb after building it, and met Big X somewhere far away right?

[Fyraltari]

I mean, she must have left Kraagor's tomb after building it, and met Big X somewhere far away right?

Yes because she wasn't the type to retire. So she didn't retire unlike the others and kept being an active murderhobo adventurer. Being an active adventurer, she adventured which would bring us to many places that weren't the arctic.

[BruceGee]

I'm pretty sure Orange has at least four arms considering the spear and saber's positions.

Another clue in 1189 is that Serini said "Grab them." If she and another flying humanoid were each carrying one, she would have said "Grab one." My guess is that orange-voice is a large flying mount, probably a dragon -- definitely something big enough to carry two paladins.
I always figured we would see Serini in the flesh eventually, but the green hand and the stepladder were a great fakeout!

[AMoonWalker]

So just going to point out to the people discussing the current status of the various characters making up the order of the scribble, that (SoD spoilers) Liran and Dorukan's souls probably aren't in that gem anymore, given that it was supposed to be in Xykon's pocket, and his body was destroyed by Dorukan's gate. Decent chance the gem was destroyed and the souls freed when X's body went boom. Figure they're chilling in their respective afterlives by now.

(unless I'm forgetting some critical detail or statement by The Giant)

[Fyraltari]

So just going to point out to the people discussing the current status of the various characters making up the order of the scribble, that (SoD spoilers) Liran and Dorukan's souls probably aren't in that gem anymore, given that it was supposed to be in Xykon's pocket, and his body was destroyed by Dorukan's gate. Decent chance the gem was destroyed and the souls freed when X's body went boom. Figure they're chilling in their respective afterlives by now.

(unless I'm forgetting some critical detail or statement by The Giant)

Dorukan's crown-magic-thingie survived Xykon'd exploding so the gem may have as well.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Also, there's nothing in the spell description for Trap the Soul that says destroying the gem frees the soul.

[Anitar]

So, that dartboard in panel 1. The one with three darts that missed very badly. I don't imagine a halfling rogue would have any business missing with darts at all. I'm thinking that either Orangetext threw those, or they're from Serini trying to acclimate to her "second" left hand.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Also, there's nothing in the spell description for Trap the Soul that says destroying the gem frees the soul.

???

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trapTheSoul.htm

The gem holds the trapped entity indefinitely or until the gem is broken and the life force is released, which allows the material body to reform
(emphasis mine)

GW

[TRH]

Haven't fully caught up, but I suspect Serini is half-undead now, not half-golem. Golems don't have red eyes as far as I can remember, and while I'm sure it's mostly a coincidence, the final effect on her does make her look a fair bit like the mythological version of Hel, half-dead, half-living.

More importantly, if she were half-golem, there would definitely be visible stitches were the golem parts were grafted on, but here the two halves are blended seamlessly.

[The MunchKING]

Except that Grandma Bitterleaf is in a nursing home. (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0689.html)

Like one of THOSE could hold an Epic Rogue in.

[Manic Raven]

Neither were most sabres. For one thing, they may have been called "cutlass", but the standard naval sword was a sabre. And of course, during the period in which sabres were used, most of them ended being used by infantry, because there is so many more soldiers in the infantry than on horses. A sabre is a curved sword designed for primarily for cutting rather than thrusting, but with thrusting still being a possibility. As such, the typical katana is more like a sabre than it is like a longsword (which is about even between thrusting and cutting, with I'd say just a shade of preference for thrusting).

I am somewhat aware that katanas vary widely in curvature, with some being practically straight, and those might be more analogous to longswords than sabres, but generally speaking, and certainly in the context of the comic, the katanas employed by the paladins are more analogous to sabres than they are to longswords.

Grey Wolf

I've trained HEMA w/ longswords. Full disclosure, only longswords and I've never done full contact sparring. That being said....

Katanas are like longswords because they are used like longswords. There are some European longsword techniques that have no analogues in Japanese swordsmanship (like anything using the false edge) but in general, the overlap between the usage of both is significant. The both have most of the same stances and footwork, and many of the same kinds of swings. Both are used to stab and cut. Conversely, the saber is nothing like either. It is an exclusively single-handed weapon with swings made not with the hips but with the wrist, and the lead foot is almost never changed. Treat yourselves to some youtube videos of longsword vs katana, or longsword vs saber, or any combination thereof. Or for a more thorough breakdown, watch technique videos for each weapon.

[mikelibrarian]

Haven't fully caught up, but I suspect Serini is half-undead now, not half-golem. Golems don't have red eyes as far as I can remember, and while I'm sure it's mostly a coincidence, the final effect on her does make her look a fair bit like the mythological version of Hel, half-dead, half-living.

More importantly, if she were half-golem, there would definitely be visible stitches were the golem parts were grafted on, but here the two halves are blended seamlessly.

Half Clay Golems don's have stitches. She's have to pass a DC 25 will save to avoid turning Neutral Evil with a hatred for all fleshy life if she's a half-golem.

[TRH]

Half Clay Golems don's have stitches. She's have to pass a DC 25 will save to avoid turning Neutral Evil with a hatred for all fleshy life if she's a half-golem.

Half-clay golems also have "grotesquely distorted musculature, such as an overlarge chest, arms attached by thick knots of muscle at the shoulder, stubby fingers, or arms that hang almost to the ground." I don't see any sign of that either. In general, my point here isn't even literally about stitches, but just that stylistically, the union between golem and person will invariably be depicted as mismatched and awkward in some way, while Serini's halves seem too harmonious for that, at least the way I see it.

Remember also that Rich cares more about having things feel thematically consistent as opposed to rules consistent, which is one of the reasons characters always use healing potions and almost never use healing wands the way actual 3.5 players do all the time. I think that mindset rules out a half-golem who would look this well-put together, even if it were mechanically or even flavor-text possible.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Perhaps [Xykon] combined her with Redcloak's niece.
"Alright, I know this sounds crazy, but it'll make a bunch of people go nuts. It'll be hilarious! Also you're too low-level to object."



Xykon 100% killed Lirian, and then zombified her corpse, and then also trapped her soul in a crystal, she is absolutely not orange voice
Unless Serini stole the crystal from Xykon when they last met. Or, more likely, it got lost between the couch cushions when Xykon moved and it was wound up in a black market novelty lamp she happened to buy last time she was in town.
...okay, the part about losing a crystal containing the soul of one-time enemies because he doesn't care enough to keep track of it does sound plausible.



Maybe it's her child, also half/golem-ized? @danielxcutter did mention the subject takes a big hit to INT from the procedure. And leaving her offspring in that kind of condition is the sort of thing Xykon would enjoy, if he couldn't just zombifie the kid and cart him/her away.
"Alright, your choice: Do I kill you or the kid?"
"Oh ****. Okay, calm down, think logically. If I die, what're the odds Junior could find a cleric willing to resurrect me? I'd probably have better odds, so from that perspective I'd be the better choice to survive. But am I just trying to justify a selfish—?"
"Time's up, I'm killing half of each of you."





So if the plan is to make them forget... then why abduct them in the first place?Because if the people you abduct, simply disappear, the people who sent them will only send more to see what happened. Plus, now they'll be on guard against being disappeared themselves.
Send back the abductees with a totally convincing story that, whatever they're looking for, it isn't here, and your hunters will move off and look somewhere else. Only works if you're absolutely sure in your amnesiac and that your implanted story remains intact.
I'd like to point out that you started your response to "Why were the paladins abducted if they're just going to be amnesia'd and released?" with an explanation of what would happenif they were abducted and released without being amnesia'd.



Aha, even though the battle between the Order and Xykon will go awry, the world will ultimately be saved, however only a heavily wounded Belkar survives.
Sadly the RedCloak will also perish in the battle, and many years in the future the world will once again begin to unravel. Belkar, the only person left alive who knows about the plot (thanks to Elan's story telling on the mechane) manages to travel back in time to the place where it all went wrong, now his mission is to make sure things goes right so RC can help sealing the rifts.

Also Belkar had a sex change at some point after defeating Xykon.
Anyone else have D+D=T flashbacks?



If you were set on mind wiping your captives from the start, you'd time it so that the potion was finished by the time they woke up...
Even assuming she had the time to prebrew the potion (ie, it doesn't take longer to brew than it takes to wake up), the paladins left their alarm clocks at home, so it's hard to know exactly when they'd wake up.



So just going to point out to the people discussing the current status of the various characters making up the order of the scribble, that (SoD spoilers) Liran and Dorukan's souls probably aren't in that gem anymore, given that it was supposed to be in Xykon's pocket, and his body was destroyed by Dorukan's gate.
Xykon canonically washes his laundry (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0110.html), and most people empty their pockets before washing their robes. Jokes aside, the gem is more likely to have been destroyed in the dungeon explosion than the gate explosion.



Haven't fully caught up, but I suspect Serini is half-undead now, not half-golem. Golems don't have red eyes as far as I can remember...
Unless you let an iron golem rust. Or build a stone golem out of sandstone. Pretty sure I remember these things (https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/654781233299035201/) being in 3.5, too.
But it's pretty rare for only the eyes to be red, barring an after-market paint job.



Half Clay Golems don's have stitches.
glances at Serini's color palette
I think you're confusing clay with swamp gunk.

[Jasdoif]

Pretty sure I remember these things (https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/654781233299035201/) being in 3.5, too.That's the book art for a psion-killer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/psionKiller.htm).

[Ghosty]

...I'd like to point out that you started your response to "Why were the paladins abducted if they're just going to be amnesia'd and released?" with an explanation of what would happen if they were abducted and released without being amnesia'd...

If you're responding to me, I'd say that releasing the Paladins merely with a bad case of amnesia, doesn't help Serini very much. It's not enough that the Paladins don't remember getting darted, or her little cave; they need to remember something innocuous that prevents them from wondering why they have a blank spot in their recollection for however long it was.

The point is for the Paladins to think of the area as unremarkable. Big lapses in memory aren't unremarkable.

I love your idea of the proposed dialogue between Serini + child, and Xykon. He's a Complete Monster, but damned if he isn't one of the most entertaining characters in the strip.

Well said comments too, in the rest of your post. EDIT: Not having looked at the SRD for the critter, Crystal really should have been made into a Crystal Golem. I had no idea such were possible.

I still think the art is a nod to the Terminator. We'll see.

[hamishspence]

Have undead in OOTS ever had coloured text on coloured background for their speech bubbles? The Nightcrawler had coloured text on black background (as opposed to the white text that is standard for undead) - but the coloured text on coloured background is less usual.


Whereas, as demonstrated by Crystal, it's quite appropriate for constructs:

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0978.html

[GreatWyrmGold]

That's the book art for a psion-killer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/psionKiller.htm).
Told you it was in 3.5!
(I googled "red crystal golem," found a familiar-looking image; the page title said Pathfinder, so I made a silly assumption.)



If you're responding to me, I'd say that releasing the Paladins merely with a bad case of amnesia, doesn't help Serini very much. It's not enough that the Paladins don't remember getting darted, or her little cave; they need to remember something innocuous that prevents them from wondering why they have a blank spot in their recollection for however long it was.

The point is for the Paladins to think of the area as unremarkable. Big lapses in memory aren't unremarkable.
My point being that you seemed to be answering the opposite question of what had been asked. Even if the answer to the actual question was buried in there, it was far from the best way to explain it.

[Dion]

She's have to pass a DC 25 will save to avoid turning Neutral Evil with a hatred for all fleshy life if she's a half-golem.

It’s not impossible that she is, in fact, evil.

There’s no guarantee that she’s actually *protecting* the gate at this point.

It seems unlikely, because if she was actively trying to destroy the world it’s hard to see how she’s currently doing that. But it’s impossible for me to guess at her current mental state.

[understatement]

Honestly, Serini's condition resembles greyscale from ASOIAF; a slow-moving disease that consumes the body and mind, leaving a rotted husk behind. She might only have a few years or even months to live.

[TRH]

Have undead in OOTS ever had coloured text on coloured background for their speech bubbles? The Nightcrawler had coloured text on black background (as opposed to the white text that is standard for undead) - but the coloured text on coloured background is less usual.


Whereas, as demonstrated by Crystal, it's quite appropriate for constructs:

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0978.html

Good point, but on the other hand, she's not entirely undead either, going by my theory. Whatever's going on with her is definitely unique one way or another.

[Riftwolf]

My guess for Serini's Template is a rush-job fix by Grubwiggler. She was rushed in to the castle in a series of bags, but Grubwiggler pointed out that she was only *mostly* exploded. Now, mostly exploded means partly intact. All exploded, there's only one thing you can do; get a mop.

[The MunchKING]

It’s not impossible that she is, in fact, evil.

There’s no guarantee that she’s actually *protecting* the gate at this point.

It seems unlikely, because if she was actively trying to destroy the world it’s hard to see how she’s currently doing that. But it’s impossible for me to guess at her current mental state.

Or she's Evil but still wants to protect the world because she likes existing as much as the next half-golem Halfling lady.

[Mortsdeer]

Generally, yes. But they're also not made to be cavalry swords, for one.

Right that would be the katana's predecessor, the tachi.

[Sutehp]

Ugh, that Rich Burlew is a sneaky bastard. When I first saw that cloaked figure in #1225, my first thought was "Is that Serini? Can't be, whoever that person is, they're too tall to be a halfling." Come one strip later and...yup, it's an old female halfling (quarterling?) on a stepladder.

Wicked, wicked Rich Burlew. Sneaky bastard, he is. It's precisely that sort of double subversion that makes me question his parentage once again. :smalltongue:

Very well done indeed, Rich! :smallcool::smallsmile:

[ebarde]

I just wanted to point out something interesting with her wording. At first I thought that Xykon had blasted her with some necromancy spell and that's why she's like this, but her saying that he's the reason she lost her first hand makes me think he somehow injured her in a way she couldn't regenerate from and she ended up getting this green hand to replace it. I'm not sure how educated this guess really is, but I'm pretty sure that Xykon wasn't the one that made her be all half-green.

[CountDVB]

Haven't fully caught up, but I suspect Serini is half-undead now, not half-golem. Golems don't have red eyes as far as I can remember, and while I'm sure it's mostly a coincidence, the final effect on her does make her look a fair bit like the mythological version of Hel, half-dead, half-living.

More importantly, if she were half-golem, there would definitely be visible stitches were the golem parts were grafted on, but here the two halves are blended seamlessly.

There's also the fact that she still has her white hair on her green side, including on her green foot.

It kinds reminds me of gangrene a bit. Is there a spell that inflicts onto someone?

Then again, she does say she lost her original hand so unless it's basically her old flesh golemized and attached...

As for the stat concerns about her potentially being part-golem, it has been pretty clear that the Giant has been willing to tweak the precisions for the sake of the story.

I mean, losing Int doesn't always makes sense for a half golem and it may not affect her alignment.

For example, from the "The Year of Rogue Dragons" trilogy by Richard Lee Byers, we have the Chaotic Neutral half iron-golem mercenary named Dorn Graybrook. According to the Forgotten Realms wiki, he has 10 levels of Fighter and 3 in Ranger (according to the Forgotten Realms wiki) so he wasn't too impeded by his condition mentally, though I never read the books.

[bunsen_h]

My guess for Serini's Template is a rush-job fix by Grubwiggler. She was rushed in to the castle in a series of bags, but Grubwiggler pointed out that she was only *mostly* exploded. Now, mostly exploded means partly intact. All exploded, there's only one thing you can do; get a mop.

Heh. "Go through their clothes and look for loose copper pieces..."

It would be odd if Resurrection wouldn't fix her problems, at a cost of a level, of course. Unless Xykon did something creepy with her soul but still left her body wandering around.

[Yirggzmb]

Props to the people who called "halfling or other small creature standing on something"

I'm hoping the paladins will be able to get an explanation out of her over the next couple comics. The story of what Xykon did to her is bound to be interesting.

[jstorrie]

long time lurker, first time poster: Serini might be a Green Star Adept, a 3.5 prestige class for casters that focuses on replacing the character's body piece by piece with starmetal. we have seen already that starmetal is a material that exists in this setting and which has some narrative significance.

[factotum]

long time lurker, first time poster: Serini might be a Green Star Adept, a 3.5 prestige class for casters that focuses on replacing the character's body piece by piece with starmetal. we have seen already that starmetal is a material that exists in this setting and which has some narrative significance.

Um, but Serini wasn't a caster? She was a rogue. I mean, I suppose you could argue she multiclassed to caster and then went for a prestige class, but seems really, really unlikely to me--not to mention that the clear implication of what she says in this strip is that she was forced to replace parts of her body because of Xykon, not because she chose to go prestige.

[arimareiji]

Dumb question: Is it just me, or are the circles on Serini's face more evocative of her being partly insubstantial (i.e. bubbles) than they are of boils/warts/etc? I blame the cauldron bubbles for making me think this. (^_^)°


To try to get as much information out of them as possible. A properly-done interrogation doesn't involve force, torture, or drugs, but simply building a rapport with one's subject and having long conversations.

My memory plays tricks on me, not sure: Have we ever seen that happen in this comic, apart from O-Chul?

(With MitD, that is. I don't think anyone could seriously believe I'm talking about Redcloak with O-Chul, but better safe than sorry.)

[The_Cardinal]

I don’t think it is Serini. At least, not the brain part.

What I suspect is happening is that “Serini” is Redcloaks niece. She had some conflict with Xykon gone poorly and was left in a badly damaged state. In the same conflict, Serini was killed.

In order to survive, the niece grafted Serinis body parts to her own, but it isn’t Serinis brain in that head.

Why do I think this?

1) Serini should have good ability with projectiles, being a halfling. Instead we see that she can’t hit a dartboard particularly well.
2) Serini was a chirpy, happy go lucky, bubbly character. Yeah, I suppose it could be conceded this might have changed given the severe trauma she had obviously suffered.
3) Making potions like this isn’t really rogue skill set. It’s something else...

[Edric O]

Wait... I feel like there's something important missing here. Hmm... Oh yes! I got it.

Dun dun DUUUUN!!

[Wraithfighter]

God I love the O-chul/Lien double-act. Panel three is just chef's-kiss perfection.

Seriously, anyone that complains that Paladins are dull, rote, boring characters needs to be forced to see all of their scenes. Clearly Lawful-Good, clearly heroic, but funny as **** with markedly different personalities that still gel incredibly well. Them and Hinjo really shows the many different ways you can play really excellent Paladin-types, they're all just so good...

[ManuelSacha]

Can I just say that I love the fact she's wearing a very long cape, covering both herself and the ladder, just for the dramatic effect?
Elan would be proud. :smallbiggrin:

[locksmith of lo]

wait a second... do we know who sent that scrying green eye (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0698.html)? maybe that was serini that was looking in on them, after girard's exploding message, green like her speech bubble. or was that answered elsewhere? :smallconfused:

[Rogar Demonblud]

That was ZZ'dtri and the rest of the Linear Guild, during their whole search all of the desert to 'help' Penelope fond the Draketooth clan.

[Mariele]

It's still my crackpot theory that when the Order meets her, Belkar will go up to her and say "Hey, Grandma." Having never had a reason to divulge that information.
Ahahaha! Hahaha. Hehe. Heh. Heh.

:smallsmile:

Boy, am I glad we got a reveal so soon! Has to be Serini (or a daughter? I think it's probably just Serini though). I guessed she might be one of the voices when we first saw em, didn't expect it to actually happen, though. Now I'm wondering who the orange voice is. I think a construct assistant sounds right.

[Ironsmith]

Boy, am I glad we got a reveal so soon! Has to be Serini (or a daughter? I think it's probably just Serini though). I guessed she might be one of the voices when we first saw em, didn't expect it to actually happen, though. Now I'm wondering who the orange voice is. I think a construct assistant sounds right.

I'm thinking it's probably still someone we met (once), but haven't seen since. The Giant did say such a character was going to be an important ally.

Hey! Wasn't he talking about Sereni?

Eh, maybe? She's had more than one appearance before now, and I don't think the Giant screwed up in his reckoning of that fact. It could just as easily mean he wasn't talking about her.

[CountDVB]

I don’t think it is Serini. At least, not the brain part.

1) Serini should have good ability with projectiles, being a halfling. Instead we see that she can’t hit a dartboard particularly well.
2) Serini was a chirpy, happy go lucky, bubbly character. Yeah, I suppose it could be conceded this might have changed given the severe trauma she had obviously suffered.
3) Making potions like this isn’t really rogue skill set. It’s something else...

Yeah, but if she did become part golemized, it would affect her motor skills and eyesight, especially precision and meanwhile, would make sense she became jaded by truama.

Well, amnesia could fall under the sort of brew classification as making poisons...

[Ron Miel]

I gotta admit, seeing Serini alive was a total surprise. I stated several times before that she wouldn't have survived Xykon taking her diary. Seems I was wrong.

[Peelee]

I gotta admit, seeing Serini alive was a total surprise. I stated several times before that she wouldn't have survived Xykon taking her diary. Seems I was wrong.

You and me both. Imean, I thought she very well may have still been alive for story reasons, but I didn't think she'd have been able to survive the lich storm.

[Ariko]

wait a second... do we know who sent that scrying green eye (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0698.html)? maybe that was serini that was looking in on them, after girard's exploding message, green like her speech bubble. or was that answered elsewhere? :smallconfused:

We have know for a long while that it was Zz'dtri

[Bilbo Baggins]

I don’t think it is Serini. At least, not the brain part.

What I suspect is happening is that “Serini” is Redcloaks niece. She had some conflict with Xykon gone poorly and was left in a badly damaged state. In the same conflict, Serini was killed.


At this point I'm never sure if people are serious when bringing up Redcloak's niece :P
But if you are then I want to point out that the Giant confirmed (https://www.patreon.com/posts/answer-post-aug-45605183) in the latest QA post that Redcloak's niece will have no significance or further presence in the comic. (Yeah, I know, "unless she is". But it's pretty clear that Rich doesn't have big plans for her.)

[Grey_Wolf_c]

At this point I'm never sure if people are serious when bringing up Redcloak's niece :P
But if you are then I want to point out that the Giant confirmed (https://www.patreon.com/posts/answer-post-aug-45605183) in the latest QA post that Redcloak's niece will have no significance or further presence in the comic. (Yeah, I know, "unless she is". But it's pretty clear that Rich doesn't have big plans for her.)

You may want to re-read Rich's careful avoidance of both truth and lies when discussing Malack, Greg and vampirism. If Rich does not have plans for RC's niece to come back, that's the response he would use. But so would it be if he did have plans for her to come back.

Grey Wolf

[Jasdoif]

At this point I'm never sure if people are serious when bringing up Redcloak's niece :P
But if you are then I want to point out that the Giant confirmed (https://www.patreon.com/posts/answer-post-aug-45605183) in the latest QA post that Redcloak's niece will have no significance or further presence in the comic. (Yeah, I know, "unless she is". But it's pretty clear that Rich doesn't have big plans for her.)You may want to re-read Rich's careful avoidance of both truth and lies when discussing Malack, Greg and vampirism. If Rich does not have plans for RC's niece to come back, that's the response he would use. But so would it be if he did have plans for her to come back.Indeed. I think it's most accurate to say the Giant had no big plans for Redcloak's niece to return when he was writing Start of Darkness. Whether he has plans (big or otherwise) for her to return now, around a decade-and-a-half later, isn't anywhere near as certain.

[LuPuWei]

Not recent, but we see two non-crayon flashbacks to Dorukan way back in Don't Split the Party: https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0532.html

Lirian is also there.

Ah, yes...


Correct. Kraagor died before the gates were built. Soon, Dorukan & Lirian were dead pre-comic 1. Girard we aren't sure of time of death, but long enough to be properly interred and a statue commissioned or conjured, so likely also pre-stip 1.


Thanks!

[ebarde]

I'm really surprised considering this strip has an older hero coming back all bitter and cloaked after a dramatic encounter with a bad guy this thread has yet to mention that one movie once...you know the one! Terminator Dark Fate, yes

[locksmith of lo]

We have know for a long while that it was Zz'dtri

ok, i remember seeing something about that, someone's signature, but reading around i could not find a specific strip that confirms that. did i miss something, or is it just an circumstantial confirmation because his magic was green too and they were on scene fairly soon thereafter? i am not doubting that conclusion, but just wondering how it was arrived at or where it was found. :smallsmile:

[Xlsfd]

Okay, this invalidates my personal theory that Serini had a child with Girard Draketooth (she did mark him with hearts in her diary) and died when V cast Familicide on that ancient black dragon back in book 4.

[Ruck]

I'm thinking it's probably still someone we met (once), but haven't seen since. The Giant did say such a character was going to be an important ally.

Hey! Wasn't he talking about Sereni?

Eh, maybe? She's had more than one appearance before now, and I don't think the Giant screwed up in his reckoning of that fact. It could just as easily mean he wasn't talking about her.

I don't think Serini is the "unexpected ally who appeared on only one page before."

[Peelee]

ok, i remember seeing something about that, someone's signature, but reading around i could not find a specific strip that confirms that. did i miss something, or is it just an circumstantial confirmation because his magic was green too and they were on scene fairly soon thereafter? i am not doubting that conclusion, but just wondering how it was arrived at or where it was found. :smallsmile:

It was in a book commentary, IIRC.

[Werbaer]

did i miss something, or is it just an circumstantial confirmation because his magic was green too and they were on scene fairly soon thereafter? i am not doubting that conclusion, but just wondering how it was arrived at or where it was found.
In the online strips, there's only the fact that Nale knows (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0801.html) the Order was in the middle of the desert a week before.

It's explicit mentioned in a bonus strip in the printed book.

[Agi Hammerthief]

gives a whole new meaning to „half-ling“

[Jasdoif]

ok, i remember seeing something about that, someone's signature, but reading around i could not find a specific strip that confirms that. did i miss something, or is it just an circumstantial confirmation because his magic was green too and they were on scene fairly soon thereafter? i am not doubting that conclusion, but just wondering how it was arrived at or where it was found. :smallsmile:You're probably looking for this:


Yes, the scrying beacon was Zz'dtri, checking up on Elan at Nale's request. It was primarily a bit of foreshadowing that Zz'dtri was coming back, since at that point no one expected him to ever show up again. You'll note that Nale confirms that he's been keeping tabs on Elan right after Z reveals himself (both to V and the reader).

[lio45]

I'm thinking it's probably still someone we met (once), but haven't seen since. The Giant did say such a character was going to be an important ally.

Hey! Wasn't he talking about Sereni?

Eh, maybe? She's had more than one appearance before now, and I don't think the Giant screwed up in his reckoning of that fact. It could just as easily mean he wasn't talking about her.


I don't think Serini is the "unexpected ally who appeared on only one page before."I was precisely going to ask: is there any consensus in this community as to whether Serini is the "unexpected ally who appeared on only one page before"...?

She appeared on several pages, for sure. But never as herself. So it would be either >1 appearances or 0.

Plus, Rich said "unexpected", and it was logical to expect to hear from Serini at some point--she's the only Scribbler not dead yet, and this Gate is her Gate. Even the comic title admits the half(ling) was expected!

So, IMO, it's a firm "no, we haven't seen that mysterious ally yet".

[Squire Doodad]

Delurking to say my piece:

If I had to guess, Serini knows Soon would never betray his oath, but that Soon must also be quite old. It'd be hypothetically possible for Soon to pass down power to someone less lawful, or perhaps have his power be usurped by someone hoping to exploit the gate. Maybe some Blatantly Evilchancellorson claiming power as the poor old paladin lord is senile and has no living heir, or a different cliche.
If she's seeing paladins and the gates are down, she may have come to the conclusion that Soon is dead and someone from Azure City is trying to conquer the gates.

She may believe Xykon is a real threat, but then have trouble believing it's actually him since Roy's party technically caused the destruction of two of the gates

Other things to note:
*Assuming they maintained communication, Girard's clan and Serini may have talked after Azure City fell, as there's a several month stretch before V wiped them out. Suspicions put up by Girard's clan would have been somewhat validated from Serini's perspective after they all died and Roy set off the trap that was set to alert all of them about Soon looking for Girard's Gate.

*Also Serini may not be aware Xykon specifically is in the encampment, as the Bugbears have been there for a long time.

*It's unclear if Serini knows Roy exists, odds are at most she knows Roy is associated with them.

[Rogar Demonblud]

It's also possible that after she heard about Soon's death (Gather Information check), she eventually went to Azure City and saw Shojo. And immediately spotted that he was no paladin.

[Squire Doodad]

It's also possible that after she heard about Soon's death (Gather Information check), she eventually went to Azure City and saw Shojo. And immediately spotted that he was no paladin.

Something along those lines would work, yeah. Then she sees all the gates are destroyed, doesn't know why, then paladins show up at her door and things go from there.

As an aside, I'd like to point out how wonderful the rest of the room is. Beanbags, dart boards, a houseplant...
Odds are she's living with "Beaker" and this is their living room/potion chamber.

[GreatWyrmGold]

It would be odd if Resurrection wouldn't fix her problems, at a cost of a level, of course. Unless Xykon did something creepy with her soul but still left her body wandering around.
I realize this is going to sound crazy, but maybe Serini just didn't want to die? I hear that there are some weirdos like that.



It'd be hypothetically possible for Soon to pass down power to someone less lawful...
(And also that's exactly what happened. Even if it's largely unrelated to what's going on now.)

[Squire Doodad]

(And also that's exactly what happened. Even if it's largely unrelated to what's going on now.)

I mean, yeah, technically speaking the plot in Azure City is literally "someone not a paladin takes control, wants to look into the other gates, and then one of the paladins destroys the gate to keep it out of evil hands", but in a precisely different way XD

[Malloon]

I. CALLED. IT!

As did many people, but still. I am looking forward to learning what happened to her.


I'm pretty sure Orange has at least four arms considering the spear and saber's positions.

Could be, but it works equally well if you presume the katana and spear are tucked into a belt.

[dps]

Haven't fully caught up, but I suspect Serini is half-undead now, not half-golem.

FWIW, I agree.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I seriously doubt Soon was squarely in the wrong, but we know Girard and Dorukan were against him, and now this would mean Serini wasn't neutral either, but also anti-Soon. And Lirian might have stayed neutral but it's quite possible that she also agrees with Dorukan - it may have been too big a topic to remain neutral about with your romantic partner. Most curious.

I think Girard talking about Serini (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0695.html) could potentially count as evidence towards her being anti-Soon. Although, I suppose it could also just mean he thought she would be hard to find.

[Jasdoif]

Serini knows hers is the last gate standing and specifically that Soon's Gate is gone, and she's aware that the world and all of existence are at the stake. She is not hostile to the paladins, so it's not like she believes they destroyed Girard's Gate. She knows who Xykon is, and most likely that Xykon has her diary and that he's the reason why all those other gates were destroyed (wouldn't be surprised if she heard it about Lirian's Gate directly from Xykon). So you'd expect her to welcome any possible help, and it'll be interesting to learn what her reason is for not accepting it.It's probably not a coincidence that the attack started immediately after O-Chul talked about locating the Gate themselves (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1189.html).

[locksmith of lo]

You're probably looking for this:



ok, thank you. i had a couple of replies like it was self evident, but it was more answered outside of what it available from only reading the strips.

[Vorpal word]

I just logged on for the first time in years to say - there have been fewer than 40 pages in the last year (O'Chul and Lien were taken by Serini on Feb 3rd, 2020). And yet with every strip it feels like we're accelerating toward the endgame. Hats off to you Mr. Burlew, your story pacing is on-point.

[Patterned_Pike]

It nice to see that one of the order of the scribble is still alive. And she planning to only erase their recent memories instead of killing them. Guess this means she isn't a new villain in the story and is merely neutral instead.

My bet is that once they explain Xykon's destruction of Soon's gate (and the loss of Azure City) she will become the "ally for the first half of the book" people have been talking about.

[Peelee]

My bet is that once they explain Xykon's destruction of Soon's gate (and the loss of Azure City) she will become the "ally for the first half of the book" people have been talking about.

I'll take that bet.

[Wizard_Lizard]

Just popped in and saw the comic.... I guess that's how Xykon got Serini's diary...

[facw]

My bet is that once they explain Xykon's destruction of Soon's gate (and the loss of Azure City) she will become the "ally for the first half of the book" people have been talking about.

Personally I think it's unlikely that a character who has appeared on 7 pages (more if you count "invisible with a speech bubble") will be


Someone who has appeared in exactly one (1) page of the story so far (including all the prequel stories)

[lio45]

I just logged on for the first time in years to say - there have been fewer than 40 pages in the last year (O'Chul and Lien were taken by Serini on Feb 3rd, 2020). And yet with every strip it feels like we're accelerating toward the endgame. Hats off to you Mr. Burlew, your story pacing is on-point.Not that it changes your point much, but O'Chul and Lien were taken by Serini on Dec. 2nd, 2019, at which moment Rich announced to his readership that he was taking a couple months off.