Will V sell his soul for Ultimate power?

[Kranden]

Yes yes he will.

[T-O-E]

If you could sell your soul for infinite power then why isn't everybody doing it?

[Theodoriph]

I vote for him killing the imp.

[Mauve Shirt]

Yes he will.

[docstrange]

There won't be a contract-in-blood or anything like that. Simply Qarr using V to advance his own agenda.

I think Rich will pull V back from the brink, hopefully without a "what have I done!" moment. It'll be good storytelling no matter what.

[jimbo_the_tubby]

If you could sell your soul for infinite power then why isn't everybody doing it?

Because not everybody is a power-crazed wizard.

Also, most people don't happen to be flying past demons who happen to need a pawn to help them recover from a failed something attempt.

[Laurentio II]

Because not everybody is a power-crazed wizard.

Also, most people don't happen to be flying past demons who happen to need a pawn to help them recover from a failed something attempt.
So, the Imp has the key to Infinite Power, but still is a freaking Imp? Nice to know.
No, really, doesn't matter. It would be totally out of character. Vaarsuvius is an achiever, that is he need to reach the goal by his means. Selling the soul is like cheating.

[Lerky]

Simply put:

I really liked this theory (unfortunatly I can't remember who posted it) "Show me Haley Starshine!". V is searching for them mostly out of guilt and trying preserve his self image as a superior being of awesome arcane power. In his quest to find Haley and Belkar he's going out of his mind, and it's not far fetched that he gets some powerful mage to help him on his quest (possibly a demon/devil/doily). The right time being when the duration of the cloister spell runs out, the wrong reasons - he's doing it out of selfishness rather than sincere concern for his comrades.
or the 4 words could be "I will join you"
I still don't get the right time. Most likely when there's a path to join evil or the order set before him/her.

[Salty]

Simply put:

or the 4 words could be "I will join you"
I still don't get the right time. Most likely when there's a path to join evil or the order set before him/her.

Or "OK, take my soul". Not sure about the time either. Maybe when Qaar offers V a deal?

[Wreckingrocc]

The Imp has ultimate arcane power. He says the four words to make a spell that he accidentally uses to kill the imp (which he didn't know was there). He gains the power.

[Linkavitch]

He will end up(in the next comic) either using an incredibly powerful attack to kill the imp, or join him. Considering the events of 599, it will probably be the latter.:eek:

[Enlong]

Yes. Help me I'm trapped in a 10 characters factory!

[AstralFire]

You need to /color, not /white there.

[Samurai Jill]

"Show me Haley Starshine!". V is searching for them mostly out of guilt and trying preserve his self image as a superior being of awesome arcane power. In his quest to find Haley and Belkar he's going out of his mind, and it's not far fetched that he gets some powerful mage to help him on his quest (possibly a demon/devil/doily). The right time being when the duration of the cloister spell runs out, the wrong reasons - he's doing it out of selfishness rather than sincere concern for his comrades.
Hey. That's actually a pretty plausible theory. How did that happen?

The Imp may not have the key to ultimate cosmic power, but it's entirely possible he can put V in touch with someone from the Nine Hells who does- get a cut of the profits, so to speak. High-level souls are a valuable commodity.

[T-O-E]

Anyone else think its a little soon for a character to become essentially omnipotent?

:vaarsuvius: With my newly-gained arcane might, I will kill Xykon, Red-cloak, The Linear Guild and Qarr. Then I will find Roy's body and force a cleric into rezzing him. Later, I will single-handedly repair the rips in reality and permanently kill the Snarl. In just one round after saying the 4-words.

The end.

[Spielman]

I don't care what s/he does... but I hate the character now. I don't want him/her to find redemption, I want his/her head on a pike. At the very least.

In fact, if V is redeemed and comes back to the group, I'll be quite upset about it. I hope his/her end is painful.

[snowbard55]

I think, at this point, V's judgement is clearly impaired. She will probably accept whatever deal Quarr offers her, assuming there is indeed a deal. However, I doubt it is for "ultimate" arcane power, perhaps just a level in some obscure/fictional evil arcane casting prestige class and an alignment shift to something on the Evil axis. After....something(I have not thought this far ahead.)...she has a chance at redemtion. But that won't mean she takes it.

Just my idea.

[Sabin Marcus]

...or the 4 words could be...

Wouldn't it be something for the next strip to be a drawn out dialogue between Qarr and V, with the latter speaking only in four word sentences?

[David Argall]

Anyone else think its a little soon for a character to become essentially omnipotent?

:vaarsuvius: With my newly-gained arcane might, I will kill Xykon, Red-cloak, The Linear Guild and Qarr. Then I will find Roy's body and force a cleric into rezzing him. Later, I will single-handedly repair the rips in reality and permanently kill the Snarl. In just one round after saying the 4-words.

The end.

Definitely. The only way V could become so powerful is if he loses that power almost immediately. One idea might be that she finds he is so powerful, that her least cantrip would destroy the world. Since he now is too powerful to save the world, she must give back the power, and ends up worse than when V started.

[Olibarro]

Wouldn't it be something for the next strip to be a drawn out dialogue between Qarr and V, with the latter speaking only in four word sentences?

That would be brilliant. And so typically Rich.

[Samurai Jill]

I think, at this point, V's judgement is clearly impaired. She will probably accept whatever deal Quarr offers her, assuming there is indeed a deal...
Technically, V is still clinging to some plausible rationale for Vs actions, albeit by the slimmest possible thread. It's also clear V is going slowly mad- Roy and Haley are certainly going to insist on collecting their favourite bard and cleric afterward, so final farewells are out of place to say the least.
Oh well. Such is life.


Definitely. The only way V could become so powerful is if he loses that power almost immediately.
Alternatively, (as snowbard also suggested,) it could just have some form of delayed effect.
War and XPs does explicitly mention that one member of the Order will have to pay a terrible price for bringing the group back together. My money's definitely on V's soul at this stage.

[Grail]

The best villains are fallen heroes. I use this in my games all the time, and it never grows tired. Seriously - dead player characters raised as undead abominations, retired players becoming corrupted, or they were always secretly a bad guy... It's quite fun, and adds extra tension to conflicts between the good guys and the bad guys.

I hope that V does indeed tumble down that slippery slope and becomes a genuine bad guy. Not necessarily on the same Wave Length as Xykon, who wants World Domination (or Destruction if it takes his whim), but more on a level of Knowledge and Power first and everything else can go to hell.

As to Qarr knowing or not knowing the secret to ultimate power, he's a devil people. "Yes, I know the secret to Ultimate Power, serve me and it shall be yours". Whoops, I lied. :smallamused:

[AstralFire]

The best villains are fallen heroes. I use this in my games all the time, and it never grows tired.

Get into Warcraft 3 and WoW. Oh, it will become so tired so fast.

[VetMichael]

Yes yes he will.

He definitely will, considering he referred to the refugees as "Plebians" denoting he thinks his search for power (via finding a powerful enough spell to contact Hayley) more important than remaining with the Order or helping Hinjo and company.

[Assassin89]

It would be more likely that V will cast disintegrate on Qarr regardless of whether the imp is the key to power.

:vaarsuvius: You will join your master (Kubota) in the ocean if you don't tell me how to get arcane power.
Qarr: sure.. just give me your soul
:vaarsuvius: Not worth it. [casts disintegrate]

[Setra]

Wouldn't it be something for the next strip to be a drawn out dialogue between Qarr and V, with the latter speaking only in four word sentences?
That would be hilarious.

[AstralFire]

That would be hilarious.

I hope to God that Mr. Burlew does this.

[Trazoi]

So, the Imp has the key to Infinite Power, but still is a freaking Imp? Nice to know.
No, really, doesn't matter. It would be totally out of character. Vaarsuvius is an achiever, that is he need to reach the goal by his means. Selling the soul is like cheating.
That's my thought too. It's like an episode of Pinky and the Brain where the Devil offers the Brain dominion over the world in exchange for his soul, and the Brain was positively insulted that the Devil didn't think that he could conquer the world without infernal help.

I don't think V's quite so far gone to make an unredeemable slide into villany yet - but V might be willing to team up for a while if the cost isn't so permanent.

[Shadow_Elf]

I think the most likely outcome is that comic 600 is one of the "Letters from the Readers" strips, and all of the characters are in the room together, get to say hi, do a bit of metagaming, and then go back to their respective storylines knowing where everybody is.

Or V casts Prismatic Beams on Quaar too, making him pertrified and letting him fall into the ocean... where his stone-ified body is promptly eaten by ravenous dire werepirahnas :smalltongue:.

[AstralFire]

alternatively, it's just a normal strip. Once you hit 500, every 100 becomes less of a big deal.

[Cleverdan22]

Comic 600 is very obviously going to show V's four words. The imp is trying to turn him, based on the last comic, and the prophecy was: "By saying the right four words to the right being at the right time for all the wrong reasons." Seems fairly clear to me. We don't know what the four words are, the being is most likely the imp, the right time is now, and the wrong reasons are for putting saving the world out of the way for grudges.

[Kranden]

If you could sell your soul for infinite power then why isn't everybody doing it?

There's the whole Eternal Damnation thing you know

[snowbard55]

Technically, V is still clinging to some plausible rationale for Vs actions, albeit by the slimmest possible thread. It's also clear V is going slowly mad- Roy and Haley are certainly going to insist on collecting their favourite bard and cleric afterward, so final farewells are out of place to say the least.
Oh well. Such is life.


Alternatively, (as snowbard also suggested,) it could just have some form of delayed effect.
War and XPs does explicitly mention that one member of the Order will have to pay a terrible price for bringing the group back together. My money's definitely on V's soul at this stage.

I certainley agree that Haley and Roy would demand that they retrieve Elan and Durkon.(probably in that order of importance,poor Durkon:smallfrown::smallfrown:) But as for V still being rational, not so much. I think that she is using some kind of "moon logic" so to speak, in that she is in an almost delsuional state and is not behaving in a way that follows his normal character. I just really think that the lack of true rational thought is the first step to the DARK SIDE(cue Imperial March)
I had forgotten about that particular spot of commentary, although I would put the money, not on V's soul, but perhaps her status as "the logical one"

[Finwe]

There's the whole Eternal Damnation thing you know

If you had infinite power, who would be able to damn you for eternity? :smallconfused:

[AstralFire]

If you had infinite power, who would be able to damn you for eternity? :smallconfused:

The voice of James Earl Jones in a pasty white man's body.

[Kranden]

If you had infinite power, who would be able to damn you for eternity? :smallconfused:

I'm pretty sure he asked for Ultimate Arcane power not infinite :P

besides how could a being give more power to another than it has itself. That wouldn't make any sense. And Obviously Qarr wouldn't be the one to do it he would just be a mediator for something a lot more powerful.

[Voyager_I]

I'd be wondering more along the lines of "Will Quarr survive the next six seconds?"

Somehow, I don't see being incredibly irritable making V more sympathetic with a member of the "bad guys" who was responsible for many of the distractions he has had to endure thus far.

[David Argall]

If you could sell your soul for infinite power then why isn't everybody doing it?

Well for one thing, because the offer is rarely that good. More like $22.98 if you offer a premium.

[keeperoflore]

There won't be a contract-in-blood or anything like that. Simply Qarr using V to advance his own agenda.

I think Rich will pull V back from the brink, hopefully without a "what have I done!" moment. It'll be good storytelling no matter what.

actually... i would say that would be to cliche to be good storytelling.

[Ponce]

I guess everyone is now going to make a thread about every 4-word speech bubble attached to V? :smallcool:

[Phae Nymna]

Or, when Qarr reaches V, V screams, "DO YOU LKE WAFFLES?". Everyone in the world starts singing that delightful little song and V becomes a Foodamancer of unspeakable power.

[Bilgore]

Ultimate power != infinite power.

He just has to be a little more powerful than the next guy down the list.

[Samurai Jill]

Somehow, I don't see being incredibly irritable making V more sympathetic with a member of the "bad guys" who was responsible for many of the distractions he has had to endure thus far.
:vaarsuvius: "...What is a 'Qar', exactly?"

Of course, the 'next guy down the list' would probably be :xykon:.

...Y'know, on reflection, this whole topic should probably be spoiler'd.

[mlsq42]

Now V should only speak in 3 or 5 word sentances in 600, then say the 4 in 601.

That would be funny to me. And annoying.

[Leliel]

Get into Warcraft 3 and WoW. Oh, it will become so tired so fast.

Yeahhh, no.

There's a reason anti-villains are popular, you know.

[Nerdanel]

Ultimate power != infinite power.

He just has to be a little more powerful than the next guy down the list.

Exactly. I'd even say that he needs to be a little more powerful than the next guy in some specific niché aspect. He could even share the Ultimate Power with several other people who are just as Ultimate as he is.

Even, it could be that V would just gain access to the most potentially ultimate power ever, but there are still people who are ahead of him in its application due to having more caster levels.

And if we really want to play the semantics game, it is possible that Ultimate Power for V means nothing more than the most powerful power he will ever obtain, and is thus Ultimate only for him.

[Kilbia]

Or, when Qarr reaches V, V screams, "DO YOU LKE WAFFLES?". Everyone in the world starts singing that delightful little song and V becomes a Foodamancer of unspeakable power.

I believe you mean a "Culinomancer". (http://theferrett.livejournal.com/3511.html)