Order of the Stick: November II

[Lilly]

And hello second half of November thread. Yeah I know it's a couple of days late.

[Greebo]

Yay, new thread! the old one was *LONG*

.... continuing...




Oh, I don't think V is ignorant of Roy/Regina's plight. Nor do I think that V is inconsiderate of Roy/Regina's feelings on the matter.

I just think that V is concerned more with the immediate danger, and once (s)he calms down from being smited (smote? smitten? Bah!) by the Laws of Comedy Physics, (s)he'll begin to ask Roy/Regina about it and come up with a solution.

(Editted for spelling -- I do that a lot, don't I... :-()
I don't know - I think that in the OotS world, Elves (or at least, elves like V) are so academically minded that they pay almost no attention to biology other than as a necessary means of keeping the species going - and they're so long lived that they don't have to do that very much.

Consider V's comments on his mate. Nothing in his commentary suggested to me that physical interactions played any part in his high esteem for having a mate.

It may make no difference at all to V what gender someone is. Elves, being so long lived, haven't got the biological urgency to reproduce that other races have. No urgency, no reason to care, and probably no significant short term physiological rewards for engaging in reproductive practices.

Of course, I could be just completely pulling this out of my bag of holding here... ;)

[Sylvius]

Do you feel tardy?

Belkar = cowbell.

[Greebo]

Do you feel tardy?
I brought my PEN-CIL!!!

[Malachi, the Lich King]

I brought my PEN-CIL!!!


Give me something to write on?
Is this going somewhere?

[Nikolai_II]

Yay, new thread! the old one was *LONG*

.... continuing...

I don't know - I think that in the OotS world, Elves (or at least, elves like V) are so academically minded that they pay almost no attention to biology other than as a necessary means of keeping the species going - and they're so long lived that they don't have to do that very much.

Consider V's comments on his mate. Nothing in his commentary suggested to me that physical interactions played any part in his high esteem for having a mate.

It may make no difference at all to V what gender someone is. Elves, being so long lived, haven't got the biological urgency to reproduce that other races have. No urgency, no reason to care, and probably no significant short term physiological rewards for engaging in reproductive practices.

Of course, I could be just completely pulling this out of my bag of holding here... ;)



I think you are.

Serini did hint rather clearly that Dorukan would be interested in Lirian, who does not seem to have been completely averse. (And also dresses more obviously)

Of course, Lirian could be an half-elf, but that faults your elven logic as well ;)

[evileeyore]

I don't know - I think that in the OotS world, Elves (or at least, elves like V) are so academically minded that they pay almost no attention to biology other than as a necessary means of keeping the species going - and they're so long lived that they don't have to do that very much.

Consider V's comments on his mate. Nothing in his commentary suggested to me that physical interactions played any part in his high esteem for having a mate.

It may make no difference at all to V what gender someone is. Elves, being so long lived, haven't got the biological urgency to reproduce that other races have. No urgency, no reason to care, and probably no significant short term physiological rewards for engaging in reproductive practices.
I think its just a V thing.

For instance I'm human (or so my doctor tells me) but I feel no overwhelming urge to procreate, in Fact I feel the opposite to the extent I'm mildly perturbed by those that 'over-procreate' (by this I mean have more than 1-2 children).

I also treat people as individuals and not the 'gender roles' assigned them. Nor any other descriminatory 'roles' they may often be associated with. To me it matters not whether one is male or female, black or caucasian, old or young, a leader or a follower.

Now I ain't sexless by a long shot, and I do notice things around me, I just don't comment on everything. For instance I had a friend that was a crossdresser. First time I saw him dressed up as her, no real difference, treated him the same. Granted I refused to refer to him as Ms. but then that was in a mild attempt to annoy.

I'm sure V noticed. Heck even Belkar noticed, V just doesn't think its remarkable, or possibly V knew Elan had the belt all along, made the rational leap in logic, and realized Roy had to use the 'Ultimate' disguise tool to save his friend. Why make a big deal of it, next mornin Vaarsuvius or Durkon will just cast Remove Curse. No lasting harm done.

[Kish]

Neither V, nor Haley seem very good. I think they're both neutral. Haley is probably chaotic neutral, and V is probably true neutral.

Remember the sigils.

[Lothorus]

The difference between "Good" and "Non-Evil" leaves a lot of stretching room. The requirement for toutching the sigil was only that the person not hold a selfish or evil purpose in mind for the amulet, if I remember correctly.

[Kish]

Actually, it requires someone of pure heart (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=57).

[Leveller]

The difference between "Good" and "Non-Evil" leaves a lot of stretching room. The requirement for toutching the sigil was only that the person not hold a selfish or evil purpose in mind for the amulet, if I remember correctly.

Nale said that someone of "pure heart" was needed. Dunno if that proves anything.

EDIT: Beat me to it ;D

[Amalthea]

Remember the sigils.
You're right, but that's only a point for Haley, as she's the one that touched the rune. She was always hard to pin down between neutral and chaotic anyway. V is still neutral.

However, I think 'pure of heart' is a pretty vague concept. It's possible that it works like unholy blight, and you just have to be non-evil.

[Gary_Schaper]

So someone who is pure evil isn't "pure of heart" ? ;D

[Lothorus]

I agree with Tish about the pure of heart deal. Much like the Champion of (Diety) class, you don't need to be good, specifically, just not blatantly evil and willing to think beyond your own needs.

[Sylvius]

I'm sure Rich mentioned somewhere that everyone in the party is good, except for Belkar, but I think he's wrong.

Not that he doesn't know their alignments, because he created them, but that their behaviours so far don't demonstrate goodness. Roy is good. Durkon is good. Elan is good. I don't see goodness in Haley or Vaarsuvius.

That said, if they are good (as Rich says, and again, he'd know), their behaviour so far hasn't been sufficient to change that.

But this detailed debate really doesn't belong here.

[BurntOfferings]

Sorry, I don't have the patience to figure out how to make the quote tag point back to the old thread. :-/

boolean wrote in the first November thread:
A monk also cannot use flurry of blows while armored.
The Giant replied in the first November thread:
Ah, true, my mistake. However, a Monk can't use a flurry of blows when attacking with a bastard sword and a short sword anyway, so it's moot.
Ah, but we've seen that Miko doesn't always attack with her bastard sword and short sword (she kicked Haley to deliver a stunning attack). If she sheathed her weapons, or was disarmed, or simply restricted herself to kicks, headbutts, etc, then the ability to flurry could matter. Especially if the DM allowed her to combine her flurry ability with [Improved] Two-Weapon Fighting (using her firsts as weapons).

Oh, and when wearing armor, she loses any increased speed she may have, too (but she probably doesn't have that many levels in monk, so it really is moot). ;)

Hey, wait, is this our first confirmation of what weapons Miko wields? :D

In other news, I finally got my copy of Dungeon Crawlin' Fools yesterday! Woot! Love the commentary! I only wish the filler had included the Beer of Annihilation. "So deadly, but so tasty!" ;D

[Amalthea]

I'm sure Rich mentioned somewhere that everyone in the party is good, except for Belkar, but I think he's wrong.
Actually, I think that what you're thinking of was the speculation that V is evil, and Mr. Burlew pointed out that V (and everyone save Belkar) was stricken with Unholy Blight, so only Belkar was Evil, and everyone else was either Neutral or Good.

To bring this a back to the topic, I think it's interesting how continued interaction with Elan is nudging Haley's alignment towards Good, and how much Elan's opinion matters to her. I wonder if he's noticed.

He'd better do something nice to her in the next comic, or I may cry. :'(

[Sylvius]

He'd better do something nice to her in the next comic, or I may cry. :'(

Speaking of the next comic...

...it is Friday, right?

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Lothorus]

Glee!

[Amalthea]

Oh my... I wonder if Belkar has taken some sort of Maliciousness feat that grants a bonus to Spot, Listen, and Sense Motive checks if the results can be used to torment someone...

[Eriol]

So is it a striaght-out character exchange, or did you randomize the letters? Did you completely randomize it, or can it be solved?

If it can be solved, I wonder how long until somebody does...

[Lothorus]

Five gold pieces says that a lot of people here are gonna spend a lot of time trying to break the "Haley Code" and see if there is any pattern to the jibberish that can be translated into plain english.

Edit: Dang! Someone even managed a post about it while I was still typing this! You guys are quick.

[Zargon]

Ok - time to translate!
Hmm.. it is not a rotation of letters, but perhaps a letter exchange.
In the 10th panel, she says Xqrm? Ui!
I'm pretty sure she says Elan? No!
So then...
i is o
m in n
q is l
r is a
u is n
x is e

Unfortunately I'm going off-line so hopefully someone will complete this!
Of course it might be a different cypher, but it's worth a shot!

[Zargon]

No, it doesn't appear to be random. The letter F is used in a few places by itself and always capital, so it is very likely to be the letter I.

[Nikolai_II]

It doesn't look like a rotary substitution cipher, but since F seems to equal I at all points it probably is a substitution one of another form.

I fully expect it to be solved by the time I have finished sleeping. Good night all :)

(A kick says more than a thousand words - heh)

[Eriol]

To get people started (REALLY looks like a straight-out character exchange):

Haley <-> Actual
f = i (8th panel is evidence due to capitalization, and alone)
r = a (5th panel, it appears alone, uncapitalized)
u = n
i = o (10th panel "Ui!" strongly suggests this)
fm'v = it's (speculation, but fits with above interpretation of "f = i")

[Eriol]

Ok - time to translate!
Hmm.. it is not a rotation of letters, but perhaps a letter exchange.
In the 10th panel, she says Xqrm? Ui!
I'm pretty sure she says Elan? No!
So then...
i is o
m in n
q is l
r is a
u is n
x is e

Unfortunately I'm going off-line so hopefully someone will complete this!
Of course it might be a different cypher, but it's worth a shot!

I don't think Xqrm is Elan, because "m" appears a LOT after apostrophes in other sections, and n NEVER appears after those alone in english (that I can remember).

I'm betting on more m = t.

[maxon]

Are those some new pics on the news page?

Sorry OT.

[Theo]

Here's what I have so far... I have to leave, so hopefully someone else can finish it up...


Mnbrvcnp!
Treasure!

Wiup! Rdd is fm, wiup! F tru'm epdfpjp fm'v rdd wiup!
Gone! All of it, gone! I can't believe it's all gone!

F wim prmpu eh r ynrwiu sin mqrm snprafu' mnbrvcnp!
I got eaten by a dragon for that frea?in' treasure!


-----



Xqrm? Ui! Yiu'm hic yrnp!
What? No! Don't you dare!

Vuprz rmmrtz eiim mi mqp srtp!
Sneak attack boot to the face!

Yrnu vmnrfwqm.
Darn straight.

[hsoj]

that can't be treasure... the b and the p can't both be e's can they?


all I know is that in the last panel she clearly says is Happy Birthday Hsoj, and Rich thanks for that, even if it is a couple days early

[NEO|Phyte]

I came here hoping to be the first to have some decent decryption started, but ive been beaten to it :(

I can confirm "Sneak attack boot to the face!", as thats what I used to begin my work

[ref]

your ? must be a k

[Nikolai_II]

What I have so far i

a = m
b =
c = u
d = l
e = b
f = i
g =
h = y
i = o
j =
k = p
l =
m = t
n = r
o =
p = e
q = h
r = a
s = f
t = c
u = n
v = s
w = g
x = w
y = d
z = k

[Wrecan]

Here's the whole thing. Rich should have put "p" where he put "b" in treasure. He also misspelled "freakin'"

Mnbrvcnp!!
Tr_asure!!

Wiup! Rdd is fm wiup!! F tru’m epdfpjp fm’v rdd wiup!
Gone! All of it gone!! I can’t believe it’s all gone!

F wim prmpu eh r ynrwiu sin mqrm snprfzu’ mnbrvcnp!
I got eaten by a dragon for that freaikn’ tr_asure!

F wim jiafmpy ck! Eh r yfvwcvmfuw rtfy-enprmqfuw ynrwiu! Ruy uix fm’v WIUP!
I got vomited up! By a disgusting acid-breathing dragon! And now it’s GONE!

Uim MQP diim, AH diim. Afup!
Not THE loot, MY loot. Mine!

Xrfm, xqh yi F vicuy scuuh? Qpddi? Qpddi?
Wait, why do I sound funny? Hello? Hello?

Xqrm? Ui! Yiu’m hic yrnp!
What? No! don’t you dare!

Vuprz rmmrtz eiim mi mqp srtp!
Sneak attack boot to the face!

Yrnu vmnrfwqm.
Damn straight.

[Theo_Axner]

All I can say is I'm stuck by my computer with a nasty cold and have nothing better to do than crack cyphers. :-[ That said, I thought it was pretty easy.

Except for what's already been posted:


F wim prmpu eh r ynrwiu sin mqrm snprzfu’ mnbrvcnp!
I got eaten by a dragon for that freakin’ treasure!

F wim jiafmpy ck! Eh r yfvwcvmfuw rtfy-enprmqfuw ynrwiu! Ruy uix fm’v WIUP!
I got vomited up! By a disgusting acid-breathing dragon! And now it’s GONE!

Uim MQP diim, AH diim, Afup!
Not THE loot, MY loot, Mine!

Xrfm, xqh yi F vicuy scuuh? Qpddi? Qpddi?
Wait, why do I sound funny? Hello? Hello?

(Edit: Curses. Beaten to the punch in seconds. ;))

[Nikolai_II]

Unless he used several letters for the more common ones.;)

I see nothing wrong with Freakin' ?

[Wrecan]

I fixed it in the translation, but in the acrostic, the letters would translate to "freaikn'"

[Hermes]

wow... you guys are awesome! my compliments on figuring that out so quickly. And major props to Rich for a horendously amusing comic. This one MUST go down in OotS history.

[Eriol]

wow... you guys are awesome! my compliments on figuring that out so quickly. And major props to Rich for a horendously amusing comic. This one MUST go down in OotS history.
Ya. Good job all.

And I like how Belkar has a black eye. I hope he keeps it for a number of strips. ;D

[The Giant]

Strip went up at 5:23, first full translation posted at 6:00.

Looks like I'll have to be more tricky with the next one...

EDIT: However, I did NOT spell "freakin'" wrong, you must have copied it down from the strip wrong.

[Wrecan]

I love the comic and acrostics! Now if he could just throw my wife, kids and a pizza into the mix...

[Eriol]

Strip went up at 5:23, first full translation posted at 6:00.

Looks like I'll have to be more tricky with the next one...
This is why people stopped using letter substitution a LONG time ago for secure messages. ;)

[ScreamerSimon]

What exactly is "Aphasia"?

[enigma]

That was a quick translation. I'm glad I checked in later in the day so I read the comic, check the boards, and reread the comic knowing exactly what she said.
This was a good one. Broken Haley sad, but funny.

Vuprz rmmrtz eiim mi mqp srtp!

Enigma

[Gary_Schaper]

Eprcmfcd, Nftq. ;D

[Lilly]

Strip went up at 5:23, first full translation posted at 6:00.

Looks like I'll have to be more tricky with the next one...

EDIT: However, I did NOT spell "freakin'" wrong, you must have copied it down from the strip wrong.

Or you could just leave the same code since I don't think she'd change her cryptogram within a few however long it is between comics ;)

Boot to the head! Teehee...

[Nighthawk4]

What exactly is "Aphasia"?


The inability to speak properly, or at all ;)

[Illvin]

What is aphasia?Loss or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words usually resulting from brain damage. So sayeth the Merriam-Webster website.

[triffid]

I'm glad I didn't read the boards before I got at the comic, because that was so much fun to decode. ;D

[Starla]

Is she so overwhelmed she can only speak theive's cant?

By the way I liked the potty comment as well. She has been standing there for several hours without moving. She must have a sore neck by now.

[Amalthea]

EDIT: However, I did NOT spell "freakin'" wrong, you must have copied it down from the strip wrong.
This is true, I copied it down to work on before I left work, and I came up with "Freakin'"

EDIT:

Yrnu vmnrfwqm.
Damn straight.

Darn.

[Techonce]

Well I wan't the first to crack it, the comic was posted while I was commuting home.

HOw many other people used Excel to crack it though? huih huh.

Vuprz rmmrtz eiim mi mqp srtp!

Hilarious. although I was expecting it to be:

Vuprz rmmrtz eiim mi mqp qpry! UR! UR!

Techonce

EDITED: UR! UR! was UM! UM! OOps. Kudos to Aiden305. I translated it backwards.

[Aidan305]

Shame I didn't get here earlier. It only took me quarter of an hour to decode.

Vi xqftq is Qrdpd'v doupv vqixbl hic mqb tiyb? Sin ab fm xrv "Xqrm? Ui! Yiu'm hic yrnp!"




Hilarious. although I was expecting it to be:

Vuprz rmmrtz eiim mi mqp qpry! UM! UM!


Um? Why Um? According to my cipher sheet that translates as Nt

[Kizor]

At this rate there's going to be a English - Haley cypher translator program out before Monday.

(No, I'm swamped with studywork. Sorry.)

[The_Shadow]

Just saw the comic, and felt so proud of myself for deciphering it. I shoulda known somebody would've gotten to it long since. :)

I love cryptograms. (It's not an acrostic, btw.)

Just so you know, Rich, apostrophes make for a really easy point of entry for these things. There are very few letters that can follow one, and not very many that can accompany one period. What's more, they're some of the most common letters. The letter "F" is also a dead giveaway.

[Leveller]

Just saw the comic, and felt so proud of myself for deciphering it. I shoulda known somebody would've gotten to it long since. :)

I love cryptograms. (It's not an acrostic, btw.)

Just so you know, Rich, apostrophes make for a really easy point of entry for these things. There are very few letters that can follow one, and not very many that can accompany one period. What's more, they're some of the most common letters. The letter "F" is also a dead giveaway.


I guess he didnt want to make it to difficult because then noone would've gotten it. ;)

[Flak_Razorwill]

I just took it to be random gibberish at face value. Hmmph.

EDIT: Then again, I just got home to read it 10 minutes ago, and I usually make a beeline for the forums after reading it once.

[JumpingBean]

At this rate there's going to be a English - Haley cypher translator program out before Monday.

(No, I'm swamped with studywork. Sorry.)

The English-Haley cypher translator program in PERL
Nftq, sppd snpp mi cvp mqfv sin knikpn mnruvdrmfiu. ;D

#! /usr/bin/perl

#bglo =>jqxz
$alpha="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP QRSTUVWXYZ. ";
$crypt="retypswqfbzdauikgnvmcjxlhoRETYPSWQFBZDAUIK GNVMCJXLHO. ";
print "Enter encrypted message. End program with a blank line.\n>";
chomp($data=<>);
while ($data=~/\w/){
$out="";
@letters=split(//,$data);
foreach $key (@letters) {
if($key eq "?"){ $out="$out$key"; }
elsif($crypt=~/$key/){ $pos=index($crypt,$key);
$dec=substr($alpha,$pos,1);
$out="$out$dec"; }
else{ $out="$out$key"; }
}
print "$out\n\n>";
chomp($data=<>);
}

[Grey Watcher]

Personally, I love the line about bonus langauges. :-) That's too cute.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

At this rate there's going to be a English - Haley cypher translator program out before Monday.
I predict I won't need the bloody translator by Monday :P

Personally, I though Durkon's last line was hilarious. I hope we hear more "words o' wisdom" from his grandpappy.

[Eloco]

That black eye is priceless, comedy gold indeed.

[BurntOfferings]

The comic went up just before I left for work. I fully expected Haley's speech to be decoded before I ever had time to try, but the Perl translator still surprised me. Too bad it's not in Python. ;)

Another great comic, Giant!

[Ilaun_Undil]

well so much for trying to crakc the code, oh well I stink at it anyway. poor treasure, poor Elan not knowing how much Haley loves him. and Elan waited up all night with her too. soo cute. :)

[mastroyo]

Now THAT is wha I call a classic OoTS strip.

The last ones where funny, but plot-based. Or the development of it.

But this one is just GREAT!

(I hate to have read it so late at night: it's almost 3:00 AM here, so i'm back from a night out)

But hell, that is just what I get for living so far away.

AGAIN: GREAT COMIC!

[Duraska]

You guys are incredible!

Completely awesome! :)

[ADRegner]

I just found this comic a few days ago and after reading through the entire archive, fell in love with it. (That's saying something: on a 2.5 KB/S dial-up connection, I don't often get into things like this.)

Anyways, after reading though this thread I got inspired to make a simple little visual basic program to translate Haley's gibberish. I do that sometimes; I get really interested in a particular thing, and end up spending hours programming something related to it, just because I can.

You can download it from my server here. (http://www.aregner.com/redir.php?name=OotS%20Translate&url=http://public.aregner.com/OotS_Translate.exe) It is programmed in Visual Basic .NET, so you will need to have the Microsoft .NET framework installed to run it. If you don't have that you can download that from Microsoft here. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&displaylang=en)

I'd appreciate any input anyone may have. If Rich does change the translation matrix, I can easily update it, once someone decrypts it. Also, if any other programmers out there are interested in the source code, let me know and i can send that to you.

Have fun. :)

[Eriol]

The comic went up just before I left for work. I fully expected Haley's speech to be decoded before I ever had time to try, but the Perl translator still surprised me. Too bad it's not in Python. ;)
Ask and ye shall recieve:


#!/usr/env python

# Thanks to JumpingBean for the keys array as the basis of the decrypt. I DID
# alter it to output an "e" instead of a "j" on a "b" input though. I made this
# on windows, though probably this should run just fine on unix

import string
import sys

def populate(crypt, decode, dict):
for i in range(len(crypt)):
dict[crypt[i]] = decode[i]
return

source = "abcdefghieklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIEKLMNOPQRSTUVW XYZ"
keys = "retypswqfbzdauikgnvmcjxlhoRETYPSWQFBZDAUIKGNVMCJX LHO"

# Make a dictionary to decode the text with
decoder = {}
populate(keys, source, decoder)

# make one to ENcode with as well for others
encoder = {}
populate(source, keys, encoder)

# Now read in the stream a line at a time
for line in sys.stdin.readlines():
outstr = ""
for character in line:
try:
# Access the correct keyed value
outstr += decoder[character]
except:
# If the value isn't in the dictionary, check a few things, then just re-output it
outstr += character
# Output the reconstructed line
sys.stdout.write(outstr) # Write instead of print so that the newlines are the same
Similar to JumpingBean's, except this one you'd pipe in the input and it would dump the output.

[Aerysil1]

I'll only say one thing about the most recent strip:

fjki.

EDIT: Actually that's gibberish. I didn't know you guys were actually going to translate the dang thing! How the heck did you figure out the decode pattern!!!?

[evileeyore]

I'll only say one thing about the most recent strip:

fjki.

EDIT: Actually that's gibberish. I didn't know you guys were actually going to translate the dang thing! How the heck did you figure out the decode pattern!!!?It was a simple letter substitution code. Not that hard as the more Haley spoke, the greater the code base to work with. If Rich really wants to hurt us he needss to do a one-time pad for every seperate word bubble that Haley gets until she is 'cured' of the asphasia.

[Kizor]

Or at least one per strip. That'd be pretty nifty, but rather time-consuming for the Giant. It's fairly easy to get started - there's only so many letters that can follow a ', F is a single-letter word always capitalized, "Ui" a two-letter one usable in distress and separately.

[Kish]

And someone who knows that Haley always says "Sneak Attack!" when she sneak attacks has a very good start on what she says when she kicks Belkar.

It is interesting to note that Haley can still understand normal speech perfectly.

[Dark]

I don't think mnbrvcnp was a mistake. I think it was clever of the Giant to use two substitutions for some letters, since he wasn't using all of them anyway. That made it a bit harder to crack.

[JessmanCA]

Off topic, here's a really easy way to do letter substitution: just type one key to the right of the letter you were going to type.

upi [rp[;r jsbr ypp ,ivj yo,r pm upit jsmfd '_

[Penguin_King]

EDIT: Actually that's gibberish. I didn't know you guys were actually going to translate the dang thing! How the heck did you figure out the decode pattern!!!?
Presuming that the spaces and punctuation are left intact, substitution ciphers (that is, ciphers where one letter is swapped for another letter on a one-for-one basis) are pretty trivial - you can learn to crack them in your head, with a little practice. You just have to look at the "shapes" of the words. For example, if you see:

fnq

... repeated frequently in the ciphertext, you can be pretty sure it's "the". Now you have three letters solved, including the two most commonly-used letters in the English language: "e" and "t".

If spacing and punctuation have been removed, it's harder, but all single-letter substitution ciphers are vulnerable to a letter-frequency attack. Basically, you count up the symbols, and see which ones appear most frequently, then "try" those symbols using common letters in the English language, until something clicks. One such handy trick is that given a message of sufficient length, the most frequent symbol is virtually guaranteed to be "e" - though this can be defeated by a clever cipher-monkey who paraphrases the original message oddly to throw the letter frequencies out of whack.

Other tricks that don't depend on spacing and punctuation include double-letter analysis; there are only so many letters in the English language that frequently appear in pairs, even across word boundaries (like "oo", "ee", "tt", and so forth), so you can make some educated guesses about what a given symbol isn't in this fashion.

Back to the topic, tho'... ^^;

[Theo]

I'll only say one thing about the most recent strip:

fjki.

EDIT: Actually that's gibberish. I didn't know you guys were actually going to translate the dang thing! How the heck did you figure out the decode pattern!!!?

Actually? I started out with 'What? No!' and the rest pretty much followed from there. Considering what was going on, her expression, and that's what she/I'd say in that situation (given punctuation), it was a fairly safe guess.

That really was enough letters to get the rest. (That's why my partial cypher started there, then wrapped to the beginning).

[JumpingBean]

Ask and ye shall recieve:

Similar to JumpingBean's, except this one you'd pipe in the input and it would dump the output.

Thanks for the ref Eriol. Let's just hope that if this stuff is ever used again, Haley doesn't say "I just need some time alone with what's left of my gold." That "j" might cause issues.

Back to the regularly scheduled OotS...

[Elethiomel]

I loved solving the cryptogram on this strip! Please change the cypher for next time, and feel free to make it harder to crack. Punctuation and spacing makes for very easy entry into the cypher. Personally, I started with "it's", moved on to "to", from there to "don't", and then the rest went on autopilot. I did copy one word down incorrectly, but I only realised that after the entire thing was cracked. Also I thought it wsa good how there was multiple letters used for "e" -- this might be taken farther next time.

Assuming there is a next time, of course.

Also, Lilly, great to see your Kaylee-style avatar back. I missed it.

[Marller]

Hehe, i smell a sidequest for Haley. :)

Now a bit offtopic:

HaleyPerl - that one worked for me.
HaleyPython - i had to use !#/usr/bin/python (ver. 2.4.2) and got that error:
File "./haleypython", line 12
dict[crypt[i]] = decode[i]
^
IndentationError: expected an indented block
(please look at Dark's post below, if you get that error. Thanks Dark :))

HaleyVB# works with .net but not with Mono ;)

[Dark]

Hmm, the forum doesn't seem to show the whitespace in the python code properly, even though it's in a [code] block. Try hitting 'Quote' to see the raw text of the post, and then cutting and pasting from between the [code] tags.

[jw]

Well, we've had perl, python, vb - I suppose an obfuscated c version was inevitable eventually.

hayley.c
-----------------------------------------------
#include <stdio.h>
main(){long l[]={135398156,285869053,201657350,-183827449,-269225993,-983559,61931,0},a,z;while(a=getchar
())putchar((z=26,a<'a'||a>'z'||(z=a-'a'),z!=26||a<'A'||a>'Z'||(z=a-'A'),a+*(z+(char *)l)));return 0;}
------------------------------------------------------

So don't blame me - if I hadn't done it then someone else would have...

--
jw.

[TarSheva]

I started off with "Rdd is fm, wiup!" Knowing that there are so few 3-letter words ending with double-letters in common useage I was left with 'E' 'S' and 'L' to choose. Once I figured that phrase out I had 4 vowels (AEIO) and 5 constenants (LFTGN).

Thanks Rick. Great job. (as usual)

[Eriol]

Hehe, i smell a sidequest for Haley. :)

Now a bit offtopic:

HaleyPerl - that one worked for me.
HaleyPython - i had to use !#/usr/bin/python (ver. 2.4.2) and got that error:
File "./haleypython", line 12
dict[crypt[i]] = decode[i]
^
IndentationError: expected an indented block
(please look at Dark's post below, if you get that error. Thanks Dark :))

HaleyVB# works with .net but not with Mono ;)
Ya sorry about that. The forum is throwing off the indentaion, but as Dark said below, just "quote" my post and you'll be able to copy-n-paste it raw (hopefully).

Or just figure out the indentations. Pretty obvious usually. ;)

[thatwolfguy]

i'm actually a whiz at letter substitution codes (aka cryptograms) and i didn't even think to try that. i'm slightly dissapointed that it was a cryptogram, i guess i was hoping it was a completely un-crackable random substitution but i guess i'm also glad to know what she was saying. now i'm just dissapointed that i didn't think to try to solve it because i probably would have gotten it pretty quickly too.

[Archonic Energy]

i looked at it. and thought "that's odd she repeats a word, so it can't be random..." then i jumped over to the forum to share my thoughts only to find it's already been translated ! thanks Guys/Gals i would have had to do it myself!

[Lucky2]

If he wanted it hard...

Remove all spaces and puncuation. At every 5th vowel, switch substition...Group the words into groups of four. That'd keep people busy.

[Chaos]

If he wanted it hard...

Remove all spaces and puncuation. At every 5th vowel, switch substition...Group the words into groups of four. That'd keep people busy.

Switch substitution according to a pre-determined rhythm - like 4/4/6/6 (first, four letters in each substitution, then 6 each, then four each again).

Use three or more substitutions.

Group letters into random groups.

(Boy, am I nasty tonight... ;))

[Penguin_King]

Group letters into random groups.
Better yet, group letter according to a defined pattern, then pad all the groups to the same length with gibberish.

F'rex, group 3/4/3/4..., then pad to 5.

Somjr ethit nglop iketz hisiu.

[Nightfall]

Note to Rich about using codes in future comics: take a page from "Windtalkers" and use another language no one knows. ;) Too many people here have too much time on their hands (myself included!). Add to our frustration by cryptogramming Latin, Classical Greek, or something like Chaucer's Middle English. Now THAT was hard to read back in college! ;D

[Duskrider_Moogle]

Note to Rich about using codes in future comics: please don't do what some people are suggesting and make OotS something that, if syndicated, would be in the puzzle section of newspapers and not the comics.

Kthx.

Also, awesome.

[Penguin_King]

Note to Rich about using codes in future comics: please don't do what some people are suggesting and make OotS something that, if syndicated, would be in the puzzle section of newspapers and not the comics.
Oh, come now - you can understand the joke even if you can't understand Haley's dialogue. Context is our friend. :)

[Kish]

I don't really see the value to Haley's words being harder (or impossible) to translate.

[Lothorus]

I don't really see the value to Haley's words being harder (or impossible) to translate.

Well, they -are- supposed to be gibberish. Readers weren't meant to be able to readily understand it. The cypher was just a little perk for the more attentive readers, I believe.

[Penguin_King]

I don't really see the value to Haley's words being harder (or impossible) to translate.
Look at it this way: whether they're possible to translate or not has no bearing on the humour of the strip - the joke operates on the assumption that the reader can't understand what Haley's saying on the first reading. It could be a simple cipher, a fiendishly complex code, or just meaningless gibberish; the comic "works" in any case.

To put it another way, while there's no intrinsic value in Haley's words being difficult or impossible to translate, there's no intrinsic value in them being easy to translate, either - in fact, if they were so easy to translate that you could figure it out as you went along on a first reading, the joke would be diminished.

[Nightfall]

I agree. My comments were made purely in jest. Please disregard. I wouldn't want to diminish the humor of the strip. :)

[evileeyore]

Note to Rich about using codes in future comics: please don't do what some people are suggesting and make OotS something that, if syndicated, would be in the puzzle section of newspapers and not the comics.

Kthx.

Also, awesome.^ Ditto ^, ^ Ditto ^, and ^ Ditto ^.

I would also like to put forth that the 'cryptographers' amongst us please use the "What Haley Said" (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1132355002 ) thread for future translations. This way everyone can enjoy discussing the comic without 'stumbling' across the translations if they don't wish to.

This is in no way a slam on the brilliance you've shown, but honestly I was contemplating the answers myself when I wondered in here. Kinda just stopped about then... but had it been contained in a different thread, I'd have tried my rusty hand at it. ;)

Past present participle errors, gerunded to death

[Duskrider_Moogle]

Oh, come now - you can understand the joke even if you can't understand Haley's dialogue. Context is our friend. :)


Oh, come now - you can understand the complaint I was making and how it was directed towards certain posters and not The Giant, even if you can't understand why anyone would keep on suggesting The Giant make progressively harder cryptograms and placing them in the comic.

Context is our friend ;)

[Penguin_King]

Oh, come now - you can understand the complaint I was making and how it was directed towards certain posters and not The Giant
Sure, I understand your complaint - you think it would hurt the comic in some fashion if a more complex cipher was used on Haley's dialogue. I'm just not sure how you think that's going to happen. Is there some intrinsic connection between the internal complexity of Haley's ciphertext and the quality of the humour?

[Midnight Son]

Personally, I think Rich should keep it simple. That way he can devote more time to the funny. It was unintelligible at first glance and that is what he was going for(also...funny). If he spends all his time coming up with an uncrackable code, I will laugh less, because he would spend less time on the excellent jokes. I'm selfish. I want to laugh more. Besides, I think, from his comments, that he meant it to be crackable. If he really wanted an uncrackable code, all he needed to do was not use letter substitution; just type a bunch of random letters that don't correspond in number to the actual word. In other words, pure gibberish.

[ironoutlaw]

for future strips that may use different codes, http://www.geocities.com/darknesnsilence/decrypt.htm (would've been c++ but i decided to go with something simpler, and yes i know it has some bad coding practices but i wrote this at 2 am, what do u expect.)

[Dark]

Look at it this way: whether they're possible to translate or not has no bearing on the humour of the strip - the joke operates on the assumption that the reader can't understand what Haley's saying on the first reading.
Actually, I think it does. The strip was funnier because even though I couldn't read what Haley said, I could tell that it wasn't just random gibberish. And I derived great amusement from figuring out what she did say, and then reading the strip again.

You're right in that it would have been less fun if the code had been significantly easier, so that it could be decoded immediately. But it would also have been less fun if the code had been significantly harder, so that I'd have had to go to the forums to get a translation, or if it had looked more like completely random letters.

[Wrecan]

Strip went up at 5:23, first full translation posted at 6:00.

Looks like I'll have to be more tricky with the next one...

EDIT: However, I did NOT spell "freakin'" wrong, you must have copied it down from the strip wrong.

I guess you're right. I also mistakenly translated "darn" as "damn". Mea culpa! (<-- not a substitution code)

If you want to make your next code really tough, you could try the following...
1) translate the words into a foreign language and then use a letter substitution key. Of course, only people who know the foreign language can translate it.
2) Instead of a single letter substitution key, use a double letter substitution key. Break the sentences into two letter pairs. Then substitute each pair with a single letter (or even more confusing, a pictogram).
3) Rebuses. A rebus is where you replace syllables with homonym pictures. For example, a rebus for "rebus" might be a picture of a fishing reel followed by "-l" followed by the picture of a bus.

[Leveller]

I guess you're right. I also mistakenly translated "darn" as "damn". Mea culpa! (<-- not a substitution code)

If you want to make your next code really tough, you could try the following...
1) translate the words into a foreign language and then use a letter substitution key. Of course, only people who know the foreign language can translate it.
2) Instead of a single letter substitution key, use a double letter substitution key. Break the sentences into two letter pairs. Then substitute each pair with a single letter (or even more confusing, a pictogram).
3) Rebuses. A rebus is where you replace syllables with homonym pictures. For example, a rebus for "rebus" might be a picture of a fishing reel followed by "-l" followed by the picture of a bus.


But WHY would he want to do that? The good thing with what he did now is that it's not so easy you get it at first glance but it is easy enough to figure it out after a while. If he made it retardedly hard noone would have figured it out and it would be less funny.

[evileeyore]

So by M9onday Roy will either once again have the Trouser Titan back in 'action' or have V or Durkon readying to cast the prepared Remove Curse.

Then its on to solving Haley's dilema. I predict Miko will be angered and accuse the OotS of just trying to delay their inevitable justice.

[ironoutlaw]

i predict that monday's episode will involve some of the characters performing some action that we may or may not expect

[Lothorus]

I predict that it will be funny or lead to other funny happenstance.

I'M PSYCHIC!

[zibeck]

I predict that there will be more senseless predictions on this thread.

[McScope]

I predict that more people will post in code on this thread


F rdvi knbyftm mqrm kpikdb xfdd nbry mqfv ???

;D

[evnafets]

I predict that it will be funny or lead to other funny happenstance.

I'M PSYCHIC!

Wow Lothorus! You're not just psychic - you're a FUTURE psychic!

[Lucky2]

That'd be called precognition.

[Cyrano_Wolfe]

And here I thought I would be dropping the bomb on what Haley actually said. LoL Well, I'm at least posting my efforts so I can say something came out of them.

Frame 4 TREASURE!

Frame 5 GONE! All of it, gone! I can't believe it's all gone!
I got eaten by a dragon for that freakin' treasure!

Frame 6 I got vomited up! By a disgusting acid-breathing dragon! And now it's gone!

Frame 7 Not THE loot, MY loot. Mine.

Frame 8 Wait, why do I sound funny? Hello? Hello?

Frame 9 What? No! Don't you tell!

Frame 10 Sneak attack boot to the face!

Frame 11 Darn straight.

[Cyrano_Wolfe]

And now that I read the page 7 of this thread, I wish I hadn't posted the answers. :-[

[evileeyore]

And now that I read the page 7 of this thread, I wish I hadn't posted the answers. :-[
Well considering it was cracked by page 3, I wouldn't really worry to much about spoiling it for everyone else... ;)

But please use the other thread next time. Think of the Kittens. ;D

[Amalthea]

What I find interesting is that while Durkon says that he and V prepared their spells, there was no mention of any Remove Curse spells for Roy. I wonder if this is an implication that neither of them can remove the effects of the gender changing belt?

[ironoutlaw]

the item description says that even wish only has a 50% chance of succeeding, so i doubt durkon or v could cast spells poweful enough to counter the effects

[Nightfall]

Even the belt's original owner (the ogre) only changed back after death. This doesn't bode well for Roy...

[Kish]

the item description says that even wish only has a 50% chance of succeeding,
That's 2ed. All we have to go on in the strip is that Belkar (admittedly an idiot) assumes a Remove Curse will be sufficient.

[rwald]

Note to Rich about using codes in future comics: please don't do what some people are suggesting and make OotS something that, if syndicated, would be in the puzzle section of newspapers and not the comics.

Kthx.

Also, awesome.

What, you didn't like the Foxtrot a few weeks ago with the numeric word search? I sat down with three or four friends, and we solved it by hand -- no calculators (except for the square root).

[Aidan305]

the item description says that even wish only has a 50% chance of succeeding, so i doubt durkon or v could cast spells poweful enough to counter the effects
Maybe V failed his/her knowledge(arcana) check to realise this.

[Amalthea]

the item description says that even wish only has a 50% chance of succeeding, so i doubt durkon or v could cast spells poweful enough to counter the effects
Yeah, but the original item lost all effect after being used once, and the orger they got it from had used it. This isn't the original magic item, so right now we don't really know what will remove it. It seems natural that Roy would ask V or Durkon to at least try a Remove Curse, before looking for other options.

[Buzzaro]

I predict that more people will post in code on this thread

F rdvi knbyftm mqrm kpikdb xfdd nbry mqfv ???

;D


WHAT!!!!
OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Are you guys telling me I went out and bought 24 boxes of The Order of the Stick Breakfast Cereal, carefully cut off all of their UPS Codes, filled out the registration, sent them all in with a check for 4.95 to cover the shipping and handling, so I could become a Gold Member of The Official Order of the Stick Fan Club, so that I would get The Official Order of the Stick Decoder Ring, so I could be one of the special chosen people that would really know what Haley was saying and someone has cracked it and published the thing. I did that all for NOTHING???
Oh my lord... I am not special anymore... /weeping :'( /weeping :'(

[Iazmynh]

I would have sat down on Friday to translate Haley's cryptoquoted speech, but decided I ought to do something else at the time. However, It just took me only a few minutes to solve the replacement letters. the "boot to the face" scene kind of got me started on the right foot. hehehe

I enjoy using my logic skills. (eg: minesweeper, best time on expert level 360 seconds so far.)

[ironoutlaw]

challenge for anyone that wants to test their logic skills
http://www.geocities.com/darknesnsilence/fiendish.htm
I made it myself ;D

[eof]

Well, we've had perl, python, vb
Here's a decoder for those who can only use their browsers to execute code. You need to copy the code into your location bar.

javascript:var from = "retypswqfbzdauikgnvmcjxlhoRETYPSWQFBZDAUIKGNVMCJX LHO"; var to = "abcdefghieklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIEKLMNOPQRSTUVW XYZ"; var mes = prompt("Enter text to decode:", "Vuprz rmmrtz eiim mi mqp srtp!"); var mes = (mes == null ? "" : mes); var res=""; for(var i = 0; i < mes.length; i++) {var j = from.indexOf(mes.charAt(i)); res += (j == -1 ? mes.charAt(i) : to.charAt(j)); } if (res != "") alert(res);

[McScope]

why assume the item is cursed? Roy hasn't tried to take it off yet.

Some people would pay a lot of money for the belts effects. ::)

[ironoutlaw]

given that we can't see the belt and that roy has no reason to remain a girl now and his reluctance to use the belt in the first place, i'd guess that roy has already removed the belt.

[Omellette]

Yeah, but the original item lost all effect after being used once, and the orger they got it from had used it. This isn't the original magic item, so right now we don't really know what will remove it. It seems natural that Roy would ask V or Durkon to at least try a Remove Curse, before looking for other options.

OK, unless I'm missing something, it IS, in fact, the same belt that the Ogre way back when was wearing.

So, technically, it shouldn't have worked again (again, depending on the ruleset you choose to follow), but that's ALL irrelevant. Why? Simple...

Rich has always mentioned that the characters and the game mechanics underneath them are all slaves to the funny.

In other words, if a rule needs to be broken to make the plot more coherent, or funnier, then so be it. DOn't over-analyze it, and just enjoy the show!

[Lothorus]

OK, unless I'm missing something, it IS, in fact, the same belt that the Ogre way back when was wearing.

So, technically, it shouldn't have worked again (again, depending on the ruleset you choose to follow), but that's ALL irrelevant. Why? Simple...

Rich has always mentioned that the characters and the game mechanics underneath them are all slaves to the funny.

In other words, if a rule needs to be broken to make the plot more coherent, or funnier, then so be it. DOn't over-analyze it, and just enjoy the show!

Hear hear! Well put, Omellette.

[Sylvius]

1) translate the words into a foreign language and then use a letter substitution key.

I always thought this would be a good combination when paired with a legionnaire's code. Translate your message into some language with a different alphabet. Spell it out in phonetic romanization. And then run it through a legionnaire's code (letter-substitution that changes every letter based on a pre-determined sequence).

My preference was usually ancient Greek.

[ilikebasketball]

I always thought this would be a good combination when paired with a legionnaire's code. Translate your message into some language with a different alphabet. Spell it out in phonetic romanization. And then run it through a legionnaire's code (letter-substitution that changes every letter based on a pre-determined sequence).

My preference was usually ancient Greek.

Translating to another language works, but only partially.

Even when using a different alphabet and language, a long text would mean that a probabilistic attack would be possible: just count which values occur often. And note any similar fragments (e followed by n, for example in english). Then compare to a dictionary of different languages (each language has specific characteristics)
Work from there.

It's good, but far from perfect.
But in times of computers, good is not good enough if you want it done well...

koos

[GypsyThorn]

(I apologize in advance if this is inappropriate. If so, gentle moderators, please zap as needed....)

Friday's strip reminded me of this, and I feel compelled to post.

If you enjoyed Friday's strip with its nice combination of puzzle solving and role-playing, you'd enjoy the NASCRAG event at Gencon(tm). Our events emphasize role-playing, puzzle solving, and fun (emphasis on fun), and have been delighting fantasy role-players for 25 years. (Okay, 24 years. One of those years wasn't really that hot.) Last Saturday I just ran a playtest of our 2006 offering, and it's very much up to our standards even this early in the process. I recommend it highly.

Visit www.nascrag.org for more details.

[Devils_Advocate]

Omellette: Yes, Rich sometimes bends the rules to make things funny.

That said, I think you may be misinterpreting what Amalthea wrote. By "the original magic item", she's refering to type, not specific instance, i.e. she means

"Obviously this belt isn't the original 2nd Edition version of the belt, because we've already seen it work differently. So unlike that original version, this one could be removed with a Remove Curse, so far as we know."

and not

"Since a Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity can only be used once, this one must be a different one than the one they took off the ogre."

'Cuz, see, if she had meant the second one, it would be because she assumed it was the original, 2nd Edition, version of the belt, in which case she would say that a Remove Curse wouldn't work. So clearly she meant that it's a different type of item than the original Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity, not that it's not the same item as they found in strip #9.

(Also: You think that picking things apart means not enjoying them? We live in very, very different worlds. ;D)

[Omellette]

Hahaha, I never meant to imply that picking things apart wasn't a way to enjoy them.

I'm just saying that Rich has instructed us all (myself included here) to not look into things TOO much. He tries to follow "the rules", but only so far as the story/funny allows.

Anyways, if I misinterpreted Amalthea's remark, and she didn't mean this specific belt (that's how I took it, at any rate), then I sit corrected.

:-)

[Amalthea]

OK, unless I'm missing something, it IS, in fact, the same belt that the Ogre way back when was wearing.

So, technically, it shouldn't have worked again (again, depending on the ruleset you choose to follow), but that's ALL irrelevant. Why? Simple...

Rich has always mentioned that the characters and the game mechanics underneath them are all slaves to the funny.

In other words, if a rule needs to be broken to make the plot more coherent, or funnier, then so be it. DOn't over-analyze it, and just enjoy the show!

:'( I was just wondering about how they were planning on going about removing the belt, and thought it worth mentioning that since it isn't living up to it's original description, that it might have a unique cure as well...
:-[

[Duraska]

Elan: "...and if nothing else, I would think she'd have had to go potty by now."

How old is Elan? Six? What kind of adventurer can stab things to death, watch the life drain out of their eyes, clean the blood off of their hands, and then use the phrase "potty" with a serious face? He's starting to remind me of Minsc.

[BurntOfferings]

Elan: "...and if nothing else, I would think she'd have had to go potty by now."

How old is Elan? Six? What kind of adventurer can stab things to death, watch the life drain out of their eyes, clean the blood off of their hands, and then use the phrase "potty" with a serious face? He's starting to remind me of Minsc.
I don't know who Minsc is, but I have a hard time picturing Elan as the "stab things to death, [and] watch the life drain out of their eyes" type of adventurer. He usually sings while others do the stabbing (with a few notable exceptions). But I can definitely picture him using the word "potty."

[Dark_Stalion]

Well, it looks like virtually everyone on the forum has some points in Decifer Script.

I believe that the code shouldn't change, at least for Haly's blather. I get the feeling that Rich meant that he would use a different code when he generates one for a different usage, rather than for the next script which he writes for Haley. Just my though though.

[Greebo]

Minsc, insane adventurer extraordinaire, and his hampster of doom, Boo, are famous characters from the "Baldur's Gate" PC game series. :)

[Chumbaniya]

[Feel the wrath of Minsc and Boo!

Anyhow, I'd say the six-year-old-speech Elan is way better than any stabbing-to-death Elan could ever be (they have Belkar for stabbing duties anyway). I know it's traditional to have adventurers being all stabby and violent, but it's a lot more sensible (and funny) to have a variety of character types - we've all met people with at least a vaguely Elan-esque naivete, probably more often than we meet those who are like stereotypical adventurer types. OOTS is, it seems to me, more about character humour than it is about poking fun at DnD, and that character humour is all the better for having a naive character like Elan in it.

[Sylvius]

Translating to another language works, but only partially.

Even when using a different alphabet and language, a long text would mean that a probabilistic attack would be possible: just count which values occur often. And note any similar fragments (e followed by n, for example in english). Then compare to a dictionary of different languages (each language has specific characteristics)
Work from there.

Hence my suggestion of a legionnaire's code, which changes the substitution value each letter.

[Duraska]

"Go for the eyes, Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!"

I dunno. I just thought the "potty" comment was especially childish, even for Elan. He is, I assume, in his early 20's, and has lived atleast 1/10 of that time (i assume) away from home, sleeping on dungeon floors, facing monsters, and generally doing things that risked his life. "Potty" seemed rather out of character for even him. Oh well.

"We must rest soon. Boo is getting squirrely!"

[The Giant]

The comic is going to be later than normal today. Expect it in the late evening. Heck, you might just want to check first thing tomorrow, actually. Sorry.


(Oh, and if you're one of the 512 people who emailed me with a decryption of Haley's words as if you were the only one with the skill necessary to understand it? You aren't. Please stop emailing me.)

[GypsyThorn]

(Oh, and if you're one of the 512 people who emailed me with a decryption of Haley's words as if you were the only one with the skill necessary to understand it? You aren't. Please stop emailing me.)

Would that be 2 to the ninth or 2 to the nth?

[Eriol]

The comic is going to be later than normal today. Expect it in the late evening. Heck, you might just want to check first thing tomorrow, actually. Sorry.
/sad

Oh well. Always worth waiting for quality.

[Ilaun_Undil]

Would that be 2 to the ninth or 2 to the nth?

512 usually refers to 2^9 however there are many differnt ways of looking at it.

[Gefangnis]

Even the belt's original owner (the ogre) only changed back after death. This doesn't bode well for Roy...

Couldn't he just take off the belt...?

They showed the ogre when they were holding the belt.

[Valorath]

So what happened to the sole surviving coin? Both Durkon and Elan have trod upon it. Has it been pressed into the dirt, lost forever?

Looking at the movement and positioning of characters, it may also be out of frame to the left, where Belkar is heading off to.

Or.... the attorney (assuming Belkar didn't catch him with some stabbity justice), has a night job as a ninja, and snuck back to get something for his troubles. If so, Haley will surely track him down and finish what Belkar started.

[Buzzaro]

...(Oh, and if you're one of the 512 people who emailed me with a decryption of Haley's words as if you were the only one with the skill necessary to understand it? You aren't. Please stop emailing me.)

Let not your heart be troubled, for the number of emails you receive each day is directly proportional to the amount of affection and respect we have for you and your work.

[TarSheva]

Hmm, that's funny. I playtested the 2006 offering on Saturday. ;D



(I apologize in advance if this is inappropriate. If so, gentle moderators, please zap as needed....)

Last Saturday I just ran a playtest of our 2006 offering, and it's very much up to our standards even this early in the process. I recommend it highly.

Visit www.nascrag.org for more details.

[Nikolai_II]

Or the lack of interest for the forums, or the lack of ability to read the forums and see that there are so many solutions in there that they are spilling over into other threads.

-

Since it should be late enough for a prediction I will assume that Remove Curse will be enough to cure Haley, and that D and V have memorized one in total between the two of them.. ;)

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Of course, there's always this situation:

D: Okay, V, do your stuff.
V: Me? I thought you were supposed to prepare remove curse.

Or The Giant could be using the old 2nd edition one which can only be negated by a wish 50% of the time.

I smell a sidequest coming along...

[DOOM2099]

Daddy needs his fix... Is there a way to get notified when its up?

[ref]

ouch. What's it this time? Another B&E? Dire Armoire take two? something more obscure? hehe ;)

Just hope you're ok.

[UnHoly_Ram]

The comic is going to be later than normal today. Expect it in the late evening. Heck, you might just want to check first thing tomorrow, actually. Sorry.


Wait, I thought you said it was going to be later than normal, The quoted timeframe seems to be the normal schedule to me.

[idksocrates]

maybe your timezone places the normal placement of the comic. Usually, in my timezone, I see a new comic at 9:00 in the morning, but now, at 4:00 in the afternoon, its still not up.


And I can so see Elan saying Potty. "Go to the Bathroom" just isn't naive enough, and there's no way he's gonna say "go take a (insert slightly offensive word here)."

[The Demented One]

"Go for the eyes, Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!"

I dunno. I just thought the "potty" comment was especially childish, even for Elan. He is, I assume, in his early 20's, and has lived atleast 1/10 of that time (i assume) away from home, sleeping on dungeon floors, facing monsters, and generally doing things that risked his life. "Potty" seemed rather out of character for even him. Oh well.

"We must rest soon. Boo is getting squirrely!"


I always liked "Go for the b33r Boo!" better.

[Devils_Advocate]

I'm just saying that Rich has instructed us all (myself included here) to not look into things TOO much. He tries to follow "the rules", but only so far as the story/funny allows.
I think it's not a matter of looking into things too deeply per se. It's when people expect the comic to follow game rules exactly that it's a problem. (For starters, it's not even realistic to expect that of a world that behaves like a D&D game -- how many games of D&D follow the standard rules with complete accuracy all of the time?) But I'm guessing that's probably pretty much what you meant. ;)


How old is Elan? Six?
He seems to act like a (creative and impulsive) 6-year-old most of the time. He's struck me as having the mind of a child in pretty much all respects for a while now. Seeing him talk like a kindergartener is pretty much par for the course. ("Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me! Ooh! Ooh!")


(Oh, and if you're one of the 512 people who emailed me with a decryption of Haley's words as if you were the only one with the skill necessary to understand it? You aren't. Please stop emailing me.)
Sadly, anyone still emailing you now presumably isn't reading this thread. (Seeing how the decryption has been posted multiple times and discussed at length in it. IOW, what Nikolai II said.)


Since it should be late enough for a prediction I will assume that Remove Curse will be enough to cure Haley, and that D and V have memorized one in total between the two of them.. ;)
Doubtful, I think. Isn't a curse by definition a magical effect from some external source? Darned magical semantics! (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=233)


Of course, there's always this situation:

D: Okay, V, do your stuff.
V: Me? I thought you were supposed to prepare remove curse.
Well, I should certainly hope that they would have discussed ahead of time who should prepare it (and probably decided on Durkon, since it's only a level 3 spell for him, as opposed to level 4 for Vaarsuvius. If V even has it).

Please, people. Not coordinating your spells makes baby Banjo cry.

[Demosthenes]

The comic is going to be later than normal today. Expect it in the late evening. Heck, you might just want to check first thing tomorrow, actually. Sorry.


(Oh, and if you're one of the 512 people who emailed me with a decryption of Haley's words as if you were the only one with the skill necessary to understand it? You aren't. Please stop emailing me.)

Oh good, at least nothing has gone terribly wrong (again) Phew, afraid someone got hurt or something.

{Not at all Sarcastic}

[Nightfall]

The comic is going to be later than normal today. Expect it in the late evening. Heck, you might just want to check first thing tomorrow, actually. Sorry.

Not at all, Rich. Quality is well worth waiting for.

[Duraska]

Couldn't he just take off the belt...?

They showed the ogre when they were holding the belt.

good point. the "male" ogre turned back to female after the belt was removed. Sounds like all Roy has to do is remove the belt. Wonder why he hasn't done it already?

[Midnight Son]

good point. the "male" ogre turned back to female after the belt was removed. Sounds like all Roy has to do is remove the belt. Wonder why he hasn't done it already?I read somewhere that the belt comes off if you die. The ogre was dead. I think the only other way is to find some method to magically remove it.

[Variform]

OotS #247 won't load on my computer with my connection. The first three panels load just fine, and the rest of the page is blank, and staying that way. I'm kind of new to this site, so I'm not sure how typical that is. Am I missing something? Is it my computer? My software? My connection? Or should I just be patient?

*added in edit* And I am having a similar problem with #246. The first three rows are loading, and the last 1 1/2 is just black space. Not blank, black. *Really* not sure what that signifies.

[zibeck]

Need...OotS...fix.

[Invariel]

I think that might be a server issue. Something about (tens of?) thousands of readers trying to get their Monday OotS fix.

[DOOM2099]

I ...am growing weak... go on without me.... need.... fix....

[Ronfar]

It's Tuesday. The strip is officially late. :'(

[The Giant]

The new strip is up now.

[HailSpork]

Yay!

This one's a lot harder to decode though... no obvious phrase to start on; yet...

[Matuse]

Jayne err...Belkar: I'll be in my bunk.

[Midnight Son]

I think Q=W. It's the first letter of most question sentences.

[triffid]

Wow, that was fun to decode! ;D A bit tougher to get into than the first, but definitely worth it.

(hee hee hee)

[HailSpork]

Wow, that was fun to decode! ;D A bit tougher to get into than the first, but definitely worth it.

(hee hee hee)
That's pretty fast... I'm still having trouble with it.
I tried http://www.kirby98.fsnet.co.uk/Decoder-Random.htm to do letter substitution, but no luck. I don't think Q==W, since ECGGQV makes no sense that way. I'm thinking it's not direct letter substitution; perhaps backwards or just not direct...

[Douglas]

It appears that Rich made a mistake in this one - two (decoded) letters map to the same (encoded) letter. There are two t's in Haley's coded speech, but they decode to two different letters.

Highlight to read:
Ry dgose du ecggqv rt oii wkssu-emksnrsb.
It means my speech is all funny-sounding.

Qmdg obors?
Come again?

Qos emdghmnu cigoeg bgy zggcu ytoseegfkoi mww dg?
Can somebody please get weepy transsexual off me?

Code - decoded
a
b - g
c - p
d - m
e - s
f - x
g - e
h - b
i - l
j
k - u
l
m - o
n - d
o - a
p
q - c
r - i
s - n
t - s r
u - y
v - h
w - f
x
y - t
z - w

[triffid]

Aw, so much for requests to keep the code out of the monthly thread. I thought that was a good idea. :(

[Douglas]

There, I changed the color to make it hard to read. Is that better?

[zzyss]

... ah, and here I was thinking I was really smart... code was cracked in the intervening period from when I started writing my post, to when I actually posted it :( Crazy, you internet people, crazy.

[Midnight Son]

Cracked it with a few problems, but I was wrong about the Q. Definitely not a W.

[Shatteredtower]

(Oh, and if you're one of the 512 people who emailed me with a decryption of Haley's words as if you were the only one with the skill necessary to understand it? You aren't. Please stop emailing me.)

Maybe they just want to ensure that you'll Never Do It Again. I guess will know if it happens with this next strip as well. ;)

[The Giant]

It appears that Rich made a mistake in this one - two (decoded) letters map to the same (encoded) letter. There are two t's in Haley's coded speech, but they decode to two different letters.

Considering there are no rules given that I am required to abide by, there can be no mistakes.

Not that anything I say is going to stop another 500 people from emailing me about it.

[kit]

It appears that V has, in fact, Noticed. Although I suppose there's still the question of whether said Noticing occured immediately or not.

[Midnight Son]

Considering there are no rules given that I am required to abide by, there can be no mistakes.

Not that anything I say is going to stop another 500 people from emailing me about it.
Besides, this is a new language for Haley as well. She could be pronouncing it badly. ;)


It appears that V has, in fact, Noticed. Although I suppose there's still the question of whether said Noticing occured immediately or not.No. She was talking about him pretending to be a king, not a woman.

[Jades]

Considering there are no rules given that I am required to abide by, there can be no mistakes.

Not that anything I say is going to stop another 500 people from emailing me about it.

What you need to do is have a fake e-mail address that you give to us slugs and a real one. Of course, the fake one given to the slugs needs to be checked by a team of poorly trained monkeys. (Stupid well trained monkeys form unions and sue because of the "cruel and unusual punishment" that you'd be subjecting them to making them read our e-mails...)

Just trying to help, Giant. ;D It always helps for a reader to call all readers slugs and say that our e-mails constitute cruel and unsual punsihment.

[Variform]

I have the same problem as before. A black area is occluding the lower panels of #246, and #247 is only loading the top three panels. I can read #248 just fine, so there is little reason to believe it is a server issue. It's been like this for days. Should I be putting this up on the board forum, or what?

[Jades]

I would.

[phlip]

I have the same problem as before. A black area is occluding the lower panels of #246, and #247 is only loading the top three panels. I can read #248 just fine, so there is little reason to believe it is a server issue. It's been like this for days. Should I be putting this up on the board forum, or what?


Clean your cache and try again.

Probably your browser has cached the broken image, and isn't trying to download the correct version.

[tinsmith]

I have the same problem as before. A black area is occluding the lower panels of #246, and #247 is only loading the top three panels.

Spoooooooky!

[Variform]

Cache cleared, same problem. This is starting to get frustrating.

*Added in edit* Spoke too soon. Stupid arts files. Problem solved.

[Ilaun_Undil]

well now we have a weeping transsexual. Is Royanna going to have this many emotional problems from now on. anyway, hurray for to more strips is 250. I can remember the great anticipation only 50 strips ago, strange noone seemed to mention it yet :)

[Valorath]

good point. the "male" ogre turned back to female after the belt was removed. Sounds like all Roy has to do is remove the belt. Wonder why he hasn't done it already?

Isn't it pretty standard that a "cursed" item cannot be removed? That's part of the peril of just equipping an unidentified item. It applies the negative effects of the curse, and you cannot remove the item without a remove curse type of spell or item.

That is of course, assuming that the belt is cursed. Was that ever established? I know it's been assumed a couple of times in the past, but don't recall anything concrete.

[hairball]

This one was easy. :)

I have a program that looks at the patterns of letters in a word, and it basically said that "ytoseegfkoi" can only be three words that are in my word list:

preassigned
transsexual
tyrannizers

Based on context, I chose "transsexual" and once it replaced those letters, the rest just kinda popped out at me. :)

[Omellette]

It appears that V has, in fact, Noticed. Although I suppose there's still the question of whether said Noticing occured immediately or not.

Ah, but has V really noticed? Note that he says that Regina is "pretending to be"...

Meaning, as far as (s)he knows, Roy is still Roy wearing a costume. Not Regina. :-)

[Lothorus]

Ah, but has V really noticed? Note that he says that Regina is "pretending to be"...

Meaning, as far as (s)he knows, Roy is still Roy wearing a costume. Not Regina. :-)

As has been mentioned earlier, it's likely that V is only referring to Roy pretending to be a King. The probably reason why Roy is angry about it being mentioned is that Miko is right there, and probably adverse to people pretending to be royalty so they can enjoy a bit of hedonism.

[Omellette]

As has been mentioned earlier, it's likely that V is only referring to Roy pretending to be a King. The probably reason why Roy is angry about it being mentioned is that Miko is right there, and probably adverse to people pretending to be royalty so they can enjoy a bit of hedonism.

D'oh! You're absolutely right -- I didn't even think of it in that sense, and now Regina's reaction makes more sense, hehe...

:-)

[Flak_Razorwill]

This crypto thing is getting a bit itchy. My lack of initiative is starting to kick in...

Anyways, looks like 2 members of the team are going to be in a bind for the forseeable future. Unless someone starts crackin' on Roy, that is. Everyone's taking their sweet time on him.

Electroshock therapy MAY help get Haley out of her kink. Personally, I think it'd be funny just to see V conjure a low-level lightning bolt to knock her out of it.

[Starbuck_II]

Ooh, maybe since this is a mental problem: they will go searching for a Psionic manifestor to cure her?

When arcane and divine don't work; call Psionic. ;D

Kinda funny that people think they can read gibberrish...

[Slibs]

Roy has been getting awfully moody and weepy all the sudden.

[Grey Watcher]

Considering there are no rules given that I am required to abide by, there can be no mistakes.

Not that anything I say is going to stop another 500 people from emailing me about it.

After all, he may have deliberately included the "errors" to confuse us! Wicked, tricksy, fasle giant! ;D

[Midnight Son]

This one was easy. :)

I have a program that looks at the patterns of letters in a word, and it basically said that "ytoseegfkoi" can only be three words that are in my word list:

preassigned
transsexual
tyrannizers

Based on context, I chose "transsexual" and once it replaced those letters, the rest just kinda popped out at me. :)
Anyone can cheat. The fun of it is figuring it out all on your own.

[Taliesin]

Actually it is bad news for the lass.

And good news for fans of cryptograms.

Man, we found it so funny and then we looked at the forums and discovered the encryptal fever.

[Lothorus]

Heh. And Roy, for some reason, still feels the need to wear the mop head/wig. A nice toutch.

[hairball]

Anyone can cheat. The fun of it is figuring it out all on your own.

True. That's why I did Friday's on my own. But I was interested to see how much better or worse at it my program would be.

The funny thing is that I wrote my program a while ago to solve the "Celebrity Cipher" feature in our newspaper because I could never figure the things out. It turned out not to work that well on its own - I'd get a bunch of gibberish back most of the time.

After I did that program, I found that I was much much better at them even without my program. Now I usually figure them out on my own in a minute or two - sometimes without even having a pencil available. I find them a little too easy most of the time.

Friday's strip made me think about my program again and I decided the program would work much better if I made some tweaks and if I made it interactive by having it pick a word but also allow me to make my own try if I didn't think its idea was good. Now it works really well - especially once I pick the first substitution to get it started.

[Greebo]

Roy has been getting awfully moody and weepy all the sudden.
Estrogen. Its nothing to laugh at.

(Not if you live with a woman and want to survive to see your next sunrise, anyway...)

[Solara]

Oh lord, Roy's getting PMS already, change him back quick! :D

[DeathQuaker]

You know, for some reason, when I first read the strip, I read V's speech bubble before looking at the whole panel. And thus, before I realized V was talking about Haley, I thought she was talking about Roy.... :) "What do you mean no cure?!" Heh. :)

I thought Roy's feeling bad over Haley was cute. Haley's (translated) comment wasn't very nice. I realize she's under a lot of stress, but the girl's got quite a mean streak, doesn't she?

[Leveller]

You know, for some reason, when I first read the strip, I read V's speech bubble before looking at the whole panel. And thus, before I realized V was talking about Haley, I thought she was talking about Roy.... :) "What do you mean no cure?!" Heh. :)

I thought Roy's feeling bad over Haley was cute. Haley's (translated) comment wasn't very nice. I realize she's under a lot of stress, but the girl's got quite a mean streak, doesn't she?

maybe she only said because she knew noone would understand anyway ;)

[Kish]

She was equally nasty about Roy's transformation before she lost her language. Yes, she does have a mean streak--and, unlike Roy and Vaarsuvius (and hey, even Belkar!) we've never seen her feel really guilty about anything.

[Duraska]

Roy's sudden mood swings remind me of that episode of Futurama where Bender gets a robot sex-change in order to win a bunch of gold metals in the robot olympics.

Hail, Hail, Robonia! A land I didn't make up!

Anyway, Bender starts having mood swings and the Professor says something to the effect of "You fool! You've waited too long to turn back into a manbot!" Crazy stuff.

[Edit: Spelling]

[Nightfall]

Tears! ;D ;D ;D OMG! Tears! Funniest one I've seen so far!

[Samiam303]

As to the comments about how mean Haley's being, I would like to suggest this: what if she has totally forgotten about the belt by now? I mean, with the amount of loot she's seen in her day, I wouldn't expect her to be focusing on the loot they deemed so unimportant that they left it behind. Therefore, seeing as Bards specialize in illusions, she could be under the impression that when Elan offered to magicly disguise Roy, Roy changed genders completely on his own accord. This could explain her 'Transsexual' comment.

Jeez, I really can't spell.

[Rawhide]

Anyone else notice that the first speech bubble in strip #249 (Elan's one and only) doesn't line up nicely like all the others? Very interesting change of style Giant (well, I thought so...).

[Chlodwig]

'Craft: Disturbing mental Image' is something really fitting as a craft skill for Belkar. :)
Much more worthwile to take compared to useless stuff like 'Spot' :)

[JessmanCA]

What is next for the belt?

I see Durkon clenching it pretty tightly in those last five panels.

[maxon]

awww

Damn - I was looking forward to Roy being a girl for a bit.

[Shatteredtower]

Anyone can cheat. The fun of it is figuring it out all on your own.

Speak for yourself. I don't do cryptograms in my spare time, so I'm hardly going to start just to read this comic. I'll wait for others to have their fun and rush to submit the results for the rest of the class. ;)

And for the record, it's not like Roy was ever unable to write his name in the snow. At least two women of my acquaintance have proven that.

(Yes, yes, I'm sure that's more than you wanted to know. So I know a few women, big deal...)

[Amalthea]

And now the genderbending belt is resolved. I'm a little sad, I was looking forward to a short sidequest. Oh well, we still have Haley's hysterical aphasia.

[eof]

Any takers for "Maybe you're right..."? It would map both 'h' and 'p' to 'y', but it would work. At least "pid'cq" should be "you're".

[Sylian]

'Craft: Disturbing mental Image' is something really fitting as a craft skill for Belkar. :)
Much more worthwile to take compared to useless stuff like 'Spot' :) Exept it's Craft Disturbing Mental Image, so it is a feat, like Belkar said.

[Chlodwig]

Exept it's Craft Disturbing Mental Image, so it is a feat, like Belkar said.

Oh, my fault but even better. :)

[Flak_Razorwill]

Well, that was easy. Thanks for the quick undo, Giant!

EDIT: I was expecting more of a bind in the aftermath of the hotel splodey, but I like normal Roy.

[thatwolfguy]

Any takers for "rthfq pid'cq ckmaz"
(i deleted the translation and spoilers because i didn't think the colors would match the "quote" background)

giant said, he doesn't have to follow any rules, he is writing this, therefore he has ultimate power over how it written. i got the same translation as you

[Particle_Man]

??? Since when has Belkar *ever* felt guilty about *anything*?


She was equally nasty about Roy's transformation before she lost her language. Yes, she does have a mean streak--and, unlike Roy and Vaarsuvius (and hey, even Belkar!) we've never seen her feel really guilty about anything.

[Theo]

While I'm perfectly happy to see Roy a male again, I have to wonder if we'll ever know how V saw Roy?

Did he know? Did he not know?

[Wrecan]

??? Since when has Belkar *ever* felt guilty about *anything*?

When V casts Crushing Despair on him.
:)

[Kizor]

Speak for yourself. I don't do cryptograms in my spare time, so I'm hardly going to start just to read this comic. I'll wait for others to have their fun and rush to submit the results for the rest of the class. ;)

And for the record, it's not like Roy was ever unable to write his name in the snow. At least two women of my acquaintance have proven that.


..

...

.....

.......

How can they even aim?

[Freeman333]

I can answer that question, but not on a PG board. So, sorry, you'll just have to use your imagination. (If you're close to levelling, taking Craft Disturbing Mental Image as your next feat might help you.)

[zibeck]

??? Since when has Belkar *ever* felt guilty about *anything*?



Belkar has felt guilty plenty of times...about NOT killing people.

[deathbyhokie]

I got the same translation as the others for what haley said. If not for the apostrophe though, i would've been lost.

[sniffles]

ROTFLMAO!!
Oh... my... gawd! LOL

The scary thing is, I think my fiancee has taken Craft Disturbing Mental Image. It must stack, because I'm pretty sure he's taken it more than once. ;D

[rowe]

I had forgotten that Roy actually *was* a woman instead of just dressed up like one!

Love the 'alone' joke, though it's a bit frightening...

[Fireballed_Mage]

My only complaint...

Roy's line was, "I can write my name in the snow again," instead of, "I welcome back the Trouser Titan!" or "The Trouser Titan returns!" or "Fear the wrath of the Trouser Titan!"

Basically anything with the words 'Trouser Titan' would have been good.

[Eriol]

??? Since when has Belkar *ever* felt guilty about *anything*?
WAY back in the beginning, in comic #8 (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=8), he felt remorse for accusing Haley.

Though really, that's so early it could simply have been a slip by The Giant, having Belkar feel remorse at all. Looking back, it does seem very out of character for him, so could have been before Belkar was "100%" formed in his mind, and thus was capable of remorse.

[Dark]

Remember that Haley was hitting him in his halfling sensitivity. That might have been the trick.

[Omellette]

Hahahahaha!

Man, I love Belkar...

It tell me more and more that he doesn't really fail so many spots checks, as he like to just mess with people's heads.

:-)

[Gary_Schaper]

It tell me more and more that he doesn't really fail so many spots checks, as he like to just mess with people's heads.
I can see this, particularly for the failed Spot checks that get his teammates mauled in some way.

[DOOM2099]

HEE HEE Belkar rules. Who winds up with the belt next?

[GuywithSword#2]

Ahhh... Classic Belkar. Really great stuff!

[mossfoot]

HEE HEE Belkar rules. Who winds up with the belt next?


My guess. Belkar! I think he'll steal it and sneak it on Roy or trick Roy to wear it again, and continue the harassment process ;)

[Flak_Razorwill]

My Gf must think I have "Craft Disturbing Mental Image." But hey, all I did was describe 15 minutes of the movie "Saw" to her. And she says she's a JTHM fan.

Pfft.

[Winged One]

That still has me convulsing with laughter. Craft Disturbing Mental Images... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Ilover_Juventad]

The newest thread was...humorous! Craft Disturbing Mental Image...that little psycho! LOL! Belkar messes with heads...no matter what the cost.

"Excuse me, I need to soak my brain in acid now."

Priceless!

-IJ

[Eldhrin]

My sides nearly split when Belkar revealed he took Craft Disturbing Mental Image. I'd love to have that feat.

[Lasombra]

surely he meant Craft (disturbing mental image) as a skill :P

i might have to take that with one of my characters sometime.

[Nightmarenny]

surely he meant Craft (disturbing mental image) as a skill :P

i might have to take that with one of my characters sometime.
No there are several craft feats.

[Dark_Stalion]

WAY back in the beginning, in comic #8 (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=8), he felt remorse for accusing Haley.

Though really, that's so early it could simply have been a slip by The Giant, having Belkar feel remorse at all. Looking back, it does seem very out of character for him, so could have been before Belkar was "100%" formed in his mind, and thus was capable of remorse.

Hang on, aren't we forgetting when V cast 'Owels Wisdom' on Belcar so he could read the scroll to heal Durkon 'cos no one else would, and he had a whole change of heart and vowed to never kill another living creature. That was just before V dispelled it.

[Sir_Banjo]

It could just mean that bastard that he is, Belkar is also human (halfling) and part of being human (halfling) is that you occassionally act out of character. Hell, half of the nazis high command were loving family men (the other half were drug addicts and transvestites) but they still aren't the kind of guys you'd want as in-laws.

[mec]

I enjoyed the cryptograms. I certainly cared more about figuring them out than most cryptograms I've solved before!

Also, Haley got to vent without everyone around her asking her why she is so obsessed with treasure.

I wonder if Haley is right and the gold evaporated. In our universe, gold is an element with a high melting point. In an alchemical universe, the elements might be air earth fire and water, and it might be just as easy to destroy gold as it is to create it. I haven't played D&D since 2nd edition so I don't know what alchemy is like these days.

[Lasombra]

No there are several craft feats.

Hmm, i'll have to look for those. i havnt seen any in the books recently.

[Rawhide]

Right there in your Players Handbook

Craft Magic Arms And Armor
Craft Rod
Craft Staff
Craft Wand
Craft Wondrous Item

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#craftMagicArmsAndArmor

[The Glyphstone]

A little late, but....

Durkon's distressed expression in the last panel is so cute. :D


Oh! Oh! And the next comic #250! Special, I hope? Or maybe Rich will pull another #100. Either way, I'm looking to seeing it tomorrow morning - no sane person would expect our favorite artist to draw a comic bloated to the gills with turkey and such.

[The_Great_Dane]

Does anyone else find it a bit disturbing that Roy didn't leap at the chance for some 'hands-on' biology lessons?
If I had been in Roy's high-heeled shoes, knowing that Durkon could reverse the effect at any time, then I would have spent some time exploring my new self. ;)