OOTS #537 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[kpenguin]

Well, well. Charles Phipps is going to scream over this one.

[Callista]

Wow, sure hope Celia's got a good Bluff modifier!

[North]

I liked the title of this one :smallbiggrin:

[FoE]

I'm suddenly reminded of 'On the Origin of PCs.'

"Umm, yes! We're adventurers! Randomnly killing things is what we do!"

[PirateMonk]

Awesome. Could have used more Scruffy, but I suppose animals can't really contribute on a regular basis.

[Verick Severith]

That was great! Maybe without Elan to "help" with the bluffing it will actually work for a change.

[RosesOnConcrete]

Celia's got a sharp learning curve ahead, I think. Love the punchline, though.

[Scatman]

Jesus, people respond damn fast.

"Who needs a spell that will work better than anything that has to do with makeup when you have black eyeliner pencil!"

[Yendor]

That's... really random.

[SolkaTruesilver]

Wow, sure hope Celia's got a good Bluff modifier!

She's a lawyer, what do you expect..?

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Buwhahaha!

Best one for some time :smallamused:

[Saph]

Hee. I loved this one. I really like the interactions you get in parties when adventurer-mentality meets up with the attitude of a normal person.

"Hey look, there are thirty or so soldiers trying to attack us."
"Oh no! What are we going to do?"
"Kill them all. Duh."

- Saph

[Mauve Shirt]

:smallbiggrin: Heeheehee, that's great. I hope it works.

[Martok]

Loved Belkar's lines in this strip, particularly his response to Haley's question about whether or not he could handle 15 guards. Awesome. :smallbiggrin:

[HUMVEE Driver]

Finally! This has been just what I was waiting for. I just can't believe all of it! The characters are acting just as if they were real, and it is truly
running as it should. Something in the back of my mind are the predictions spouted by the Oracle. I assume they'll all come true, but have any come true already? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Personally, I'm still kind of wondering what happened to the Linear Guild, and who can forget Helga? (I do think tha was 'er name; Dwarf speak is good) I really hope they will finally be getting back in the game. This is enough, but I want more!

[Lupy]

Belkar does always seem to make comments comparing himself to teenage girls.... I wonder... :smallbiggrin:

[fractal]

Wouldn't one line have been sufficient to give Haley an X, given that her eye itself formed the other line?

I'm guessing this also means that Celia knows Disguise or Alter Self. Let's see if she's better at it than Elan. (Of course, she could only disguise herself as an Outsider, right? So what good options are there for fooling Hobgoblins?)

[TorJin]

Wouldn't one line have been sufficient to give Haley an X, given that her eye itself formed the other line?

I'm guessing this also means that Celia knows Disguise or Alter Self. Let's see if she's better at it than Elan. (Of course, she could only disguise herself as an Outsider, right? So what good options are there for fooling Hobgoblins?)

It's the wrong angle for the X's that denote death.

[NikkTheTrick]

Belkar's lines are golden.

"That's not true. We run away a lot, too."

[Frosty]

Wow...if this works...

[Shas aia Toriia]

Nice. Belkar's line is just wonderful. :smallbiggrin:

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Looks like Celia has the makings of a trained professional!

Or at least a semi-trained, quasi-professional!

[Chronos]

(Of course, she could only disguise herself as an Outsider, right? So what good options are there for fooling Hobgoblins?)Alter Self requires the same type, but Disguise Self just needs the same general body shape.

[flamingoptimus]

That's just so right !!!

Go Girl Make-up Power!!!

[Vulion]

Wow, it's nice to see the reactions of a non-adventurer when faced with a normal adventuring situation.

Great strip.

[BisectedBrioche]

Poor Belkar. He tries to spout some sarcasm about being a preteen girl and then has to wear make-up....

[Mr._Michael]

Wouldn't one line have been sufficient to give Haley an X, given that her eye itself formed the other line?Nope, a + sign would just make them look like Mimes.

...there ARE things worse than death...

[Pagz]

Now that I think about it, those kits seem to have everything!

Although, I think the sexy shoeless god of wars idea is slightly better

[Pip]

I have a dream. Somewhere around #675 or so, Belkar will end up in a pink, frilly dress.

:smallbiggrin:

[Yiuel]

The more it goes, the more I like Celia, and the more I can understand our Roy to have chosen her as his mate. She does great in this last comic.

She's competing with V as my favorite character.

[dwagiebard]

It's kind of not in hayley's character to agree to close her eyes right after someone says that ending up like Roy gave her an idea. Ever the suspicious one.

[ref]

Yeah, Celia. Stab him.

[ChaoticEvilGuy]

Oooooooooooooooo... I don't like where this is going...

[Edan]

Great Comic, I loved the cliffhanger ending. I can't wait to see where this is going!

[Quorothorn]

Y'know, given this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0439.html), I really don't see how Haley could even question whether Belkar can take fifteen hobgoblins. He could take on all thirty, or however many they turn out to number.

[Jachra]

I have a dream. Somewhere around #675 or so, Belkar will end up in a pink, frilly dress.

:smallbiggrin:

A dream where Halflings, and Gnomes, can live together in peace and brotherhood!

Alll y'all are rather excited about Belkar in a dress/as a preteen girl.

[David Argall]

2 main options seem to be Celia bluffs her way past as a burial detail, or she tries to pass them off as some undead.
Either way, the likely problem might be that some undead raising priest shows up.

[Charles Phipps]

Well, well. Charles Phipps is going to scream over this one.

Cool, I've become a Meme.

But yes, *clears throat* now we know that Celia isn't appropriate for Roy since she clearly doesn't understand that there's a difference between "Monsters" and "People." Of which she is the former and thus EXP fodder.

:-)

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

Alll y'all are rather excited about Belkar in a dress/as a preteen girl.

Crossdressing and comedy go together like glowsticks and werewolves. :smallbiggrin:

(Yes, of course those things go together.)

I'm sure Celia, being a lawyer, has sufficient bluffing skills. Some funny dialogue here, such as the bag of dead Roy, and Belkar's volunteering to be stabbed.

[Lizard Lord]

I have a short attention span and didn't even read the 1 1/2-2 pages, so please try not to post your frustration if this has been mentioned before.

Anyways I have my doubts that this plan will work.
1. Are Slyphs shape changers, cause I am pretty sure Xykon doesn't have any in his employ. Heck all of the non-hobgoblins (excluding perhaps the MITD) are top officers and are well known amongst those in Azure City.

2. Why would any of Xykon's minions take human and halfling corpses outside of the city? Why wouldn't they just raise them as zombies (or a skeleton in Roy's case)?

[Qov]

It's awesome. Celia obviously poses no harm, so why shouldn't they let her pass with a cartload of dead bodies? There have surely been more dead bodies lately than the evil spellcasters can control, so hauling bodies out to dump is reasonable.

Lets just hope the guards they encounter are living hobgoblins and not hungry ghouls.

[Charles Phipps]

It's awesome. Celia obviously poses no harm, so why shouldn't they let her pass with a cartload of dead bodies? There have surely been more dead bodies lately than the evil spellcasters can control, so hauling bodies out to dump is reasonable.

Lets just hope the guards they encounter are living hobgoblins and not hungry ghouls.

Well, because Hobgoblins are evil and racist :-)

I'd love to see Celia react in horror as she discovers most evil mortals consider killing her on the basis of her ethnicity as a "Good" aligned creature entirely justifiable.

[fwiffo]

Hey, Giant, I don't think Belkar's line is grammatically correct:

"If I can't, we'll have to stop at the next town to buy me a pink frilly dress, because it'll mean I'll have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl"

I think he meant to say "because it'll mean I have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl". No extra "L"s.

It might also be better to make it "had spontaneously turned". It flows a little better, but I don't know my grammar well enough to claim that Belkar's tense use is wrong.

A hilarious line otherwise.

[hajo]

I really don't see how Haley could even question whether Belkar can take fifteen hobgoblins. He could take on all thirty, or however many they turn out to number.
I'm sure Belkar wants to earn back the XP he lost at his last encounter with the wights (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0515.html) ASAP, so he needs every single hobgoblin that comes their way :smallamused:

[HonoreDB]

Well, at least she didn't stab her through the heart to prevent the world from being sucked into Hell...

Still, there's no way Haley's gonna like the idea of playing dead while somebody with many fewer ranks tries to Bluff.

I end up in Celia's position a lot when I roleplay, actually. It's especially awkward when my GM has radically different politics from me, and thus I'm playing a pacifist in a world where pacifism just never works.

[osyluth]

It's refreshing to have another comic that pokes fun at the basic structure of the generic D&D universe. Since most of the rules jokes have been used (in a most excellent fashion) I assume we'll be getting more of this type of thing. However, I'm not sick of them yet! Keep up the good work! :smallbiggrin:


Originally posted by fwiffo
Hey, Giant, I don't think Belkar's line is grammatically correct:

"If I can't, we'll have to stop at the next town to buy me a pink frilly dress, because it'll mean I'll have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl"

I think he meant to say "because it'll mean I have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl". No extra "L"s.

It might also be better to make it "had spontaneously turned". It flows a little better, but I don't know my grammar well enough to claim that Belkar's tense use is wrong.

A hilarious line otherwise.

I think you're right, but Belkar never really struck me as the type to care about that sort of thing.

[Twisted Otaku]

Y'know, given this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0439.html), I really don't see how Haley could even question whether Belkar can take fifteen hobgoblins. He could take on all thirty, or however many they turn out to number.

I think she was speaking sarcastically, knowing that belkar would say something like that... I think they were just giving celia a hard time. Part of the reason I say this is because of the way her brow is furrowed, if she were really wondering I would think she'd have a different look on her face.


All in all good strip, can't wait to see where this is going

[LordSintax]

Wow, sure hope Celia's got a good Bluff modifier!

call me crazy, but I think bluff isnt exactly cross-class for a lawyer. :smallamused:

[fractal]

I end up in Celia's position a lot when I roleplay, actually. It's especially awkward when my GM has radically different politics from me, and thus I'm playing a pacifist in a world where pacifism just never works.
How exactly IS pacifism going to work when dealing with evil opponents, unless you are dealing from an incredible position of strength (which takes away the challenge from just about every other approach)? I suppose if you were a spellcaster specializing in Enchantments, maybe you could get away with it.

[fwiffo]

How exactly IS pacifism going to work when dealing with evil opponents, unless you are dealing from an incredible position of strength (which takes away the challenge from just about every other approach)? I suppose if you were a spellcaster specializing in Enchantments, maybe you could get away with it.

Hey, when you are role-playing, you are running characters through a fantasy world. That would be the only place where pacifism could work.

[Qov]

"If I can't, we'll have to stop at the next town to buy me a pink frilly dress, because it'll mean I'll have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl"

I think he meant to say "because it'll mean I have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl". No extra "L"s.

It might also be better to make it "had spontaneously turned".

Belkar knows he hasn't turned into a preteen girl as of his statement, so "I have" is incorrect. If he put the whole thing in the subjunctive, with "It'd mean I'd have spontaneously turned," that would work, but the subjunctive is somewhat erudite in English, so it suits him fine, and is not grammatically incorrect to use the future with if. If X happens than it will mean that I will have done Y.

"I'll had" never makes sense.

[teratorn]

Nice to see that Celia thinks about the consequences. But plans and Belkar don't mix well. Everytime Haley tried to go unnoticed the halfling ruined the gig. To stab him would be the right thing to do.




Alll y'all are rather excited about Belkar in a dress/as a preteen girl.
Don't forget the cat with the pink ribbons.

[Roderick_BR]

Hee. I loved this one. I really like the interactions you get in parties when adventurer-mentality meets up with the attitude of a normal person.

"Hey look, there are thirty or so soldiers trying to attack us."
"Oh no! What are we going to do?"
"Kill them all. Duh."

- Saph
It's kinda Haley's payback for all that "doesn't know how humans work" in the past comics :smallbiggrin:

[chibibar]

Belkar in a pink frilly dress... scary

[SPoD]

Hey, Giant, I don't think Belkar's line is grammatically correct:

"If I can't, we'll have to stop at the next town to buy me a pink frilly dress, because it'll mean I'll have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl"

I think he meant to say "because it'll mean I have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl". No extra "L"s.

It might also be better to make it "had spontaneously turned". It flows a little better, but I don't know my grammar well enough to claim that Belkar's tense use is wrong.

A hilarious line otherwise.

"If I can't, we will have to stop at the next town to buy me a pink frilly dress, because it will mean I will have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl" is entirely acceptable grammar. Not the only way he could have said it, but not wrong at all.

[kpenguin]

Cool, I've become a Meme.


Well, you're the most controversial fellow on the boards... well, you and David Argall and Alfryd.

[Woof]

Hehe, that was a refreshing change from the usual way of solving such problems. :smallbiggrin:

[FujinAkari]

Well, you're the most controversial fellow on the boards... well, you and David Argall and Alfryd.

Clearly I need to work harder... :P

[kpenguin]

Clearly I need to work harder... :P

...

Who are you again?:smalltongue:

[Senko]

But yes, *clears throat* now we know that Celia isn't appropriate for Roy since she clearly doesn't understand that there's a difference between "Monsters" and "People." Of which she is the former and thus EXP fodder.

Speaking as one of a non-human (and non-core race) persuasion I resent that. Besides everyone who know's anything know's that you "people" are the ones who are really the EXP/cannon Fodder.:smallamused: I mean most of you need a level adjustment just to equal what we do normally. You often hear of a villiage wiped out by rampaging "monsters" or farms destroyed by a single creature but how often do we hear of the innocent goblin/kobold/small blue smurf thingy's villiages being destroyed for no reason by adventuring parties. How many innocent lives have been snuffed out because they were non-human. Why I even know a very nice demoness that couldn't even go shopping for nice clothes personally beause everyone ran away when she walked into town.

Ahem cough cough getting off the soapbox and back on topic I have to admit I'm rather intrigued by the idea of Belkar spontaneously turning into a pre-teen girl because it brings to mind an old caption I saw about an evil warrior that was turned into one and continued to wipe out entire villiages while singing and skipping. Hmmmmmm delightful.

I also agree Celia's actions are really entertaining "Hold still while I use makeup to help you resemble a corpse." Always nice to see party members thinking their way through things rather than just hack and slash.....you know I suddenly find myself wondering if Roy's player is controlling her while Roy is on the backburner since she's seeming a lot more PC like?

Oh and I also agree people respond insanely fast around here I was surprised to see I was posting on just the 2nd page for once.

EDIT
Oh well in writting this post I delayed too long and am now on the 3rd, still this is about as far up the pages as I've gotten so I'm happy.

[Arkenputtyknife]

Belkar in a pink frilly dress. Has the Giant been reading The B-Movie Comic (http://www.bmoviecomic.com/?cid=231)?

[Charles Phipps]

But yes, I hope this becomes' Celia's running gag where she's horrified at the adventuring lifestyle. I think you could do a lot of fun with the realization that she's travelling with what amounts to a bunch of bloodthirsty brigands.

Just imagine her reaction to the description of a Dungeon Crawl. "YOU INVADE THEIR HOME AND MURDER THEM!?"

"Yeah, duh, they're evil."

[teratorn]

Just imagine her reaction to the description of a Dungeon Crawl. "YOU INVADE THEIR HOME AND MURDER THEM!?"


Ah, some tension and conflict in the Roy/Celia relationship. Better stay dead Roy.

[Tik]

Hrm. This comic leaves quite a door open. What would happen if V is able to finally cast her scrying spell and see Haley eyelinered dead? That can't be good for morale. I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Well done Rich, first time poster long time reader. Thanks for making such an amazing comic!

[Laurentio]

Wow. And so we the word of God on a thread started on Erfworld ("Why Parson didn't killed Stanley for the fact that it's annoying?" "Because Parson is a civilized person" "And the point is?")

I really liked this strip. Remind me of very old session of D&D (red box... sigh...), when we had to decide what to do. Now it's just "We kill them this way, or the other way?". Innocence is dead on the way (and no XP!).

Oh, on the side: Belkar won't take any XP from Hobgoblin. Too low menace... no way. It's just Boredom Slaughter.

Laurentio

[Querzis]

Well, at least she didn't stab her through the heart to prevent the world from being sucked into Hell...

Still, there's no way Haley's gonna like the idea of playing dead while somebody with many fewer ranks tries to Bluff.

I end up in Celia's position a lot when I roleplay, actually. It's especially awkward when my GM has radically different politics from me, and thus I'm playing a pacifist in a world where pacifism just never works.

Really? I played in a pacisfist party once, it worked very well against orcs, goblins and brigands...it didnt worked so well with the devil in disguise though. I think your DM was just being dumb, evil doesnt mean completely stupid or willing to die for no reason so, unless your quest is specifically to search and kill them, its quite easy to find pacific solution when evil people attack you. After all, they can see you got weapons and magic user so they dont want to attack you unless its absolutely necessary. And the best in all that is that you still get the XP.

I do think my DM was getting tired of our Bluff/Diplomacy/intimidation things though since he almost only sent mindless undead against us after that...we started level 1 and got to level 2 just by talking to people and we never actually fought before he sent us those zombies.

Anyway, if Celia keep it up like that in the next few comics I'm probably gonna join the Celia fan club, shes great. Sylph can cast pretty high level magic and shes a lawyer so I'm sure she can fool those hobgobelins one way or another...the problem is that I'm almost sure Belkar will jump out of the cart and kill the all the hobgobelins anyway.

[factotum]

Wow. And so we the word of God on a thread started on Erfworld ("Why Parson didn't killed Stanley for the fact that it's annoying?" "Because Parson is a civilized person" "And the point is?")


Wrong God--Rich is not the God of the Erfworld strip.

Anyway, evil of the Giant to leave the strip without showing us whether Celia's plan works or not! Going to have to wait for the next one to find out now...

[Lunaya]

Oh, that is definitely going on my list of favorite Belkar lines. XD Am I the only one who forsees him blowing their cover in a completely hilarious manner?

[the_tick_rules]

so now celia is a member of OOTS huh? So the entire order is gonna date itself? Well this doesn't bode well for durkon and V does it?

[Supermagle]

Hey, Celia is becoming genre savvy!

[RosesOnConcrete]

Hrm. This comic leaves quite a door open. What would happen if V is able to finally cast her scrying spell and see Haley eyelinered dead? That can't be good for morale.


That would be absolutely BRUTAL. *imagines Elan's reaction*

[Ilphros]

The fact that Celia has chosen this particular way to disguise them means... One of two things. Most likely, they won't be scryed as 'dead' - Hasn't been THAT long yet. Remember, the spell isn't due to wear off for weeks, no? :smallsigh: the waiting! Two, Rule Zero trumps spell durations:smallwink:! I would not be surprised to have Xykon exclaiming :xykon: 'WHERE did my spell go?'...

[Shadowcaller]

Hrm. This comic leaves quite a door open. What would happen if V is able to finally cast her scrying spell and see Haley eyelinered dead? That can't be good for morale. I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Well done Rich, first time poster long time reader. Thanks for making such an amazing comic!

V cant cast any scrying spells on the party (except Ceilia of course) since they are still effected by the cloister spell.

And by the way, welcome to the forum Tik:smallsmile:

[kukn]

This is the best strip in a long time. Well paced and hillarious! Had me laughing out loud on several places :D

Belkar and Celia ftw, seriously, Celia is brilliant in how she is completely different from the adventuring party.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Clearly Celia went to the Charlie's Sylphs school of sneakery

[KIDS]

I never understood what was the exact symbolism of eyes crossed into X and if it were only OOTS's invention or some widespread classic...

[Senko]

No idea where it came from but its definately wider spread. Having crosses for eyes is a common indication of a dead person at least in the wester media.

[Arkenputtyknife]

Oh, on the side: Belkar won't take any XP from Hobgoblin. Too low menace... no way. It's just Boredom Slaughter.
Belkar: “Boredom Slaughter? Inconceivable!”

[Blaznak]

Its fantastic that the non-adventurer tells the adventurers most folks just don't go around murdering people.

I also loved the 'X' on the eyes! Hee hee!

Later

[Forealms]

*Giggles* This will never work, but it's hilarious.


She's a lawyer, what do you expect..?

That... is actually a really good point.

[otakuryoga]

Noooooooo!!! 1st roy..and now Haley is dead...its not fair



oh, wait....its a disguise.....the eyes fooled me :smallbiggrin:

[itliaf]

Hahahahahahhaa


thanks, Rich. Belkar is hilarious

[Oregano]

Nice comic, I was a bit surprised to find a new comic had been put up.

Is Belkar's comment on turning into a preteen girl a crack at 4E and how halfling's have been changed to be the size of preteens? Probably not, but it just clicked in my head.

[Kedami]

Great comic.

I think this'll end with Belkar blowing their cover as well, but it should be funny either way.

[kierthos]

If Belkar doesn't blow their cover, it might just work... consider the intelligence the hobbos have shown (for the most part)... dipping themselves in mustard and using cracker shields?

It could work....

[HOLEkevin]

This is my favorite kind of OotS joke, when Rich is poking fun at the conventions laid down in the strip itself. Also, the I'm a Good Adventurer so I can kill people shtick has always to me been one of the most glowing points in role playing games, so this was a great strip for me.

[Kastanok]

Thinking on Celia's horror at the quite understandable slaughter of 30 enemy soldiers, there are parallels with events from The Origin of PCs.

Roy's initial adventuring party were all for killing the rock band fans, quite mindlessly, and Roy was appalled at that attitude.

It's always a good giggle when the solutions revolve around meta-comic stuff. Reminds me of how they got rid of how Dzzitri way back when. And when the Shadow-dancer realised there was no shadows in a comic. And when... (stops pointing out the repetativness of the B-plots)

[Tundar]

I have a dream. Somewhere around #675 or so, Belkar will end up in a pink, frilly dress.

:smallbiggrin:
Hahaha, I'd buy that poster for sure!

[Zinthius]

Hey, Giant, I don't think Belkar's line is grammatically correct:

"If I can't, we'll have to stop at the next town to buy me a pink frilly dress, because it'll mean I'll have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl"

I think he meant to say "because it'll mean I have spontaneously turned into a preteen girl". No extra "L"s.

It might also be better to make it "had spontaneously turned". It flows a little better, but I don't know my grammar well enough to claim that Belkar's tense use is wrong.

A hilarious line otherwise.

no, actually it's grammatically correct as is... I'll is a contraction of I will, so saying "...it means it means I will have..." means that it happened already if it did and he somehow didn't get the memo. Also seeing as how he was being sarcastic, it really doesn't matter anyway.

[Mad Scientist]

Gotta love Belkar. Eyeliner? Couldn't you just stab me?

Wouldn't it be ironic if Roy chooses this moment to look down and thinks that Belkar and Haley are dead? :smalleek:

[Tobimaro]

And this strip shows us the general feelings of those involved. Celia cares for all beings, or at least does not get the whole thing about killing just because the evil (or good) being gets in the way. Haley is the realist, in that she becomes convinced that the mindless killing to the hobgoblins will lead to the loss of the Resistance (Xykon's army might find the hideout). And Belkar?

:belkar: "Hey, they had their chance to serve me as a living god. I say, let 'em suffer." :smallbiggrin:

Gotta love it.

[OverWilliam]

The problem with all of the 'perfect timing scrying' theories is that if they were really dead, the scrying wouldn't work at all (what about big, dead objects?).

[Remirach]

Now seems like a surprisingly convenient time for Celia's conscience regarding murder to surface. In 531 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0531.html) she advised Haley to "roam about the countryside a bit and I'm sure some treasure-laden monsters will throw themselves in front of your weapons." Murder for money is acceptable -- even desirable -- but murder for pure self-defense earns a lecture?

[Pointy Things]

Hee Hee... funniest in a while

[Morgan Wick]

Now seems like a surprisingly convenient time for Celia's conscience regarding murder to surface. In 531 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0531.html) she advised Haley to "roam about the countryside a bit and I'm sure some treasure-laden monsters will throw themselves in front of your weapons." Murder for money is acceptable -- even desirable -- but murder for pure self-defense earns a lecture?

That was sarcastic even in its own context; it takes on a whole new layer of sarcasm now.

[Pointy Things]

Now seems like a surprisingly convenient time for Celia's conscience regarding murder to surface. In 531 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0531.html) she advised Haley to "roam about the countryside a bit and I'm sure some treasure-laden monsters will throw themselves in front of your weapons." Murder for money is acceptable -- even desirable -- but murder for pure self-defense earns a lecture?

I think that Celia is being sarcastic in 531... her statement shows ambivalence and maybe even disapproval of the adventurer's SOP... wander around and kill stuff!

[raphfrk]

Hrm. This comic leaves quite a door open. What would happen if V is able to finally cast her scrying spell and see Haley eyelinered dead? That can't be good for morale. I guess we'll find out soon enough!


Celia should not have been hit by the cloister's effects since she wasn't present at the time it was cast. If Vaarsuvius started targeting everyone the party has ever met in desperation, (s)he would be able to see Celia, now that they are outside the city.

The image could be of Celia walking beside a cart containing the corpses of Roy, Haley and Belkar and the cart being pulled along by hobgoblins (after she had successfully bluffed them into considering her an ally) ... perhaps followed by Vaarsuvius casting summon monster on Celia.

(oh, and 'first post' ... cool comic)

[Remirach]

That was sarcastic even in its own context; it takes on a whole new layer of sarcasm now.

It struck me as straight mockery, not sarcasm. She'd have been sarcastically suggesting the idea of going out farming for cash if she did not expect Haley to in fact do exactly what Celia was proposing. As it is, she's making fun of the adventurer way of life by phrasing their fund-raising endeavors so flippantly, but what's missing is actual disapproval -- which shows up here.

There are a couple ways I could think of to explain this away -- doubtless it's different to actually see an adventurer at work than it is to know intellectually what it is they do, or maybe she thinks it's less bad to kill something that's actively going to ambush you rather than a hobgoblin who's just doing his job -- but actually it was less the implication of Celia being hypocritical that caught my attention than the thought that "hmm, that's an almost suspiciously convenient time for someone in the party to express a worldview like that."

Although I am often wrong.

[Nightfall]

From now on I'm adding black eyeliner to the list of general supplies my characters buy. Classic!