Prediction for Strip 614 ([Spoiler]?)

[fractal]

There has been a fair amount of speculation in the forum thread for strip 613 about how Bozzok could miss Belkar so much despite being a higher level. Now, it's quite possible that Belkar has a good AC and Bozzok just didn't roll very well. However, going by past history, when people like Nale and Thor felt it necessary to explain their previous strip actions in the first panel of the next strip, I predict the following:

Bozzok will make some comment in the next strip about the reason he was missing (probably Power Attack). He will of course then explain why it is no longer a factor, and so Belkar needs to be worried again. A lower possibility event is that Belkar will explain that he was using Total Defense or some such. Either of these will probably occur in the first panel.

Disclaimer: If the Giant reads this thread, then all bets are off.

[Optimystik]

Something will happen to change the battle? Brilliant!

[Emanick]

Something will happen to change the battle? Brilliant!

Hey now, it's a specific prediction. Not daft, either.

Plus this thread will be convenient for discussing what we think will happen next strip. Wish I had any clue. :smalltongue:

[Flame of Anor]

I'm very afraid that this is when the Belkster bites the dust. His ersatz character development has saved Haley, Celia, and the cleric, and now he's in a heroic rearguard position, flanked by two high-level rogues...eep!

[Haven]

Nahh, Mr Scruffy'll save him.

[TheSummoner]

I think the best Scruffy could do to help Belkar would be distract Crystal. Scruffy couldn't possibly kill either of them alone, and I think Bozzak would be too smart/agressive for Mr. Scruffy to be able to do much against him. Of course... keeping Crystal busy would let Belkar focus on Bozzak and could very well tip the scales.

[Suvar]

I don't think the illustrious author would have spent all of the time and effort drawing and writing the dream-sequence strips with Shojo convincing Belkar to change the way he lives (albeit only slightly) to have him killed off that quickly. Frankly, Belkar has shown almost zero "character growth," pretended or otherwise, and that was Shojo's main point.

Also: Warrior classes beat rogues any day of the week. :smallbiggrin:

[Klose_the_Sith]

Belkar will rage. He will kill those two wannabes. That is all.

[Assassin89]

It could be possible that Belkar will trick Crystal and Bozzok into killing each other.

[Milanius]

Belkar will rage. He will kill those two wannabes. That is all.How can that be ALL?!

Belkar gets his sandwich. DUH.

[gibbo88]

Assassin 89 might be right I think. Its a bit of a trope, but I'm sure Elan would sense it and love it.

[Knolan]

All belkar needs to do is get his ass in a corner, he they won't be able to sneak attack him, like this:
W|W|W|W
W|B |R
W|R

Where:
W = wall
B = Belkar
R = Rogue

The rogues have absolutely no chance against belkar with their sneak attack denied.

[dps]

Somehow, between the last 2 panels of #613, Belkar managed to get out from in between the rogues.

I don't think that he dies yet. I suppose that technically I should spoiler that prediction, but it seems too broad to really be worth it.

[David Argall]

The available evidence says that Belkar won't die before 620, and quite likely before 630. So he is safe in the current fight. But he is facing a Deadline. He buys it soon.

[kabbor]

The Giant did say that the return of the Roy would cost one of the OOTS dearly.

I don't think anyone could pay a higher cost than the loss of Scruffy.

As someone said in an earlier thread, Scruffy is making Belkar too powerful, as he seems to be able to distract casters at will. Scruffy is almost as big as the Eye of Fear and Flame was.

RIP the Scruffinator? We all hope not, of course!

[chiasaur11]

How can that be ALL?!

Belkar gets his sandwich. DUH.

I'm not sure. The sandwich may be a renegade, but he's a good cop.

[T-O-E]

The Giant did say that the return of the Roy would cost one of the OOTS dearly.

Yeah, 5000 gp of diamonds. :smalltongue:

[ZtM]

I think that Belkar will die (soon), not despite but because of his character development. Remember, the Giant loves anticlimax and subverting expectations, as we've seen several times already. Building up Belkar only to kill him unceremoniously would be right up his alley.

On a different (and far less likely) note, can demons breathe? I've been toying with the idea of Belkar dying and then running into Sabine in the underworld...

[Linkavitch]

Disclaimer: If the Giant reads this thread, then all bets are off.

Yeah, pretty much if the Giant reads any speculation threads, he might deliberately do something different.:smile:

And I agree: The Scruffinator cannot die!

[Warlord JK]

I don't think the illustrious author would have spent all of the time and effort drawing and writing the dream-sequence strips with Shojo convincing Belkar to change the way he lives (albeit only slightly) to have him killed off that quickly. Frankly, Belkar has shown almost zero "character growth," pretended or otherwise, and that was Shojo's main point.

Also: Warrior classes beat rogues any day of the week. :smallbiggrin:

I was going to type this out myself, but then I realized someone had already done it for me :smallbiggrin:.

[Warlord JK]

On a different (and far less likely) note, can demons breathe? I've been toying with the idea of Belkar dying and then running into Sabine in the underworld...

New idea for how to fulfill the prophecy of Belkar taking his last breath :smallbiggrin:.

[TheSummoner]

My money is still on "Belkar is killed by the Snarl after Girard's Gate falls"

[Shanty Man]

My money is still on "Belkar is killed by the Snarl after Girard's Gate falls"

That would be a very cool death and fitting for someone like belkar
however I prefer to go on beleving that he will go on living in someway or other.

(as a sea bard, one of my abilytys is "summon mindles optimisum")

[cheesecake]

he won't die yet. I imagine belkar will die sometimes during the arc with the last gate, final battle.

[TheSummoner]

If it wasn't before the end of the year, I'd probably agree that it would happen in the last battle, but that seems to be too far away to fit the time frame.

[Prowl]

The available evidence says that Belkar won't die before 620, and quite likely before 630. So he is safe in the current fight. But he is facing a Deadline. He buys it soon.

It all depends on the pacing of the strips. One day in Azure City ended up being a ton of strips. The past dozen strips have been all of what, 20 minutes in-comic time?

Bottom line: there's no basis for saying how many strips are left to go before Belkar's time is up. The Giant can make the next 100 strips all about the events of the next in-comic week if he pleases.

[mikeejimbo]

The Giant did say that the return of the Roy would cost one of the OOTS dearly.

I don't think anyone could pay a higher cost than the loss of Scruffy.

As someone said in an earlier thread, Scruffy is making Belkar too powerful, as he seems to be able to distract casters at will. Scruffy is almost as big as the Eye of Fear and Flame was.

RIP the Scruffinator? We all hope not, of course!

Maybe Scruffy will die, and then Belkar will die because of it. They try to resurrect Belkar, but without Mr. Scruffy, he refuses to come back.

See, I don't understand why it would be his last breath ever with resurrections in the mix. But I trust there's a reason.

[Optimystik]

Maybe Scruffy will die, and then Belkar will die because of it. They try to resurrect Belkar, but without Mr. Scruffy, he refuses to come back.

Highly unlikely, he was having tons of fun long before the Scruffinator entered his life. He even enjoys hanging out with the Order (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0042.html), and would be likely to come if they called. (Not to mention, his afterlife may not be thrilling after all the evil he's been doing.)


See, I don't understand why it would be his last breath ever with resurrections in the mix. But I trust there's a reason.

The logical answer to that problem:

He becomes something that doesn't breathe. Whether that thing is an inert corpse, undead, construct, demideity or full deity, is up to The Giant.

[SteveDJ]

The Giant did say that the return of the Roy would cost one of the OOTS dearly.

Umm, when was this statement made? Was is somewhere on these Forums (which I don't read all of)? Or was it in-comic (which I may have forgotten)? Or, in a book (which I don't have yet)?

[Optimystik]

Umm, when was this statement made? Was is somewhere on these Forums (which I don't read all of)? Or was it in-comic (which I may have forgotten)? Or, in a book (which I don't have yet)?

Option 3 (War and XPs.)

[Impz]

My personal belief is that Belkar would eventually be distracted by food and told the thieves to lay it off. Since Bozzok has absolutely no reason to kill Belkar (not unless they wish to earn the wrath of the PCs), they will let him go. Happy ending is for the great fairytale of imps.

[David Argall]

It all depends on the pacing of the strips. One day in Azure City ended up being a ton of strips. The past dozen strips have been all of what, 20 minutes in-comic time?
And a couple more lasted a week. However, our switching view has rarely focused on one part of the party for 20 strips. [The one exception involves several different scenes.] So we are due for a change of scene about 620 or a bit earlier. And if we look at Azure City, it too features frequent changes of scene. So the current battle will be over before 620 and we will be a] switching to another part of the party, or b] staying with Haley as they do something like try to steal Roy's body. Either way, Belkar survives the current battle.
Moreover, we have the false character development. That will likely keep Belkar alive for about a dozen strips. [It may then be what kills him, but we need to see that in action and that is going to take space.]


Bottom line: there's no basis for saying how many strips are left to go before Belkar's time is up. The Giant can make the next 100 strips all about the events of the next in-comic week if he pleases.
The current book ends about 670. The presumption is that the party will be re-united by then, and Azure City quite likely regained. We may well see more than 5 more Greysky strips, but we are unlikely to see 50.

[Jan Mattys]

The Giant did say that the return of the Roy would cost one of the OOTS dearly.

My bet is on V.

[dps]

My personal belief is that Belkar would eventually be distracted by food and told the thieves to lay it off. Since Bozzok has absolutely no reason to kill Belkar (not unless they wish to earn the wrath of the PCs), they will let him go. Happy ending is for the great fairytale of imps.

Bozzok has plenty of reason to kill Belkar--to punish him for interferring in what Bozzok thinks of as Guild business (for someone like Bozzok, that's plenty enough reason).

The rest of your post, I don't even understand.

[Optimystik]

My bet is on V.

I'm hoping it's Durkon... he could sorely use some character development. Just a little...

[Golden-Esque]

To be honest, I don't think we're going to see Bozzak and Belkar duke it out next strip. While she's probably going to get flattened, Crystal is preoccupying Belkar at the moment (would you turn your back to that dagger? Would you?) and Bozzak has clearly shown his single-minded determination is set on Haley right now.

I predict that Belkar and Crystal are going to duke it out and Crystal will be knocked unconscious. Belkar and his new character development will then rush to save the girls again without checking to make sure Crystal is dead. Bozzak and Haley are going to be fighting (Haley, now armed with one of Pete's badass new bows) and Bozzak will finally advance Haley's Plot Line (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0131.html) in an attempt to piss her off. Belkar will charge in and together he and Haley will take down Bozzak and with his dying breath, Bozzak will tell Haley that he "ain't tell'in you nothing". The trio leave to try to catch up with the Cleric of Loki (who inncidentally is a 16th Level Cleric). Meanwhile, Crystal in some sort of plot turn meets up with and joins the Linear Guild. After all, Evil is a Growth Industry! (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0446.html)

[Occasional Sage]

Meanwhile, Crystal in some sort of plot turn meets up with and joins the Linear Guild. After all, Evil is a Growth Industry! (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0446.html)

She does show their level of competency and their style of planning... huh. I hadn't thought of that!

[Assassin89]

Meanwhile, Crystal in some sort of plot turn meets up with and joins the Linear Guild. After all, Evil is a Growth Industry! (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0446.html)

Few problems:
First Crystal and Sabine would fight over who gets to kill Haley once Crystal is no longer interested in XP gain.
Nale might not see how Crystal could be an evil counter part to any members of the Order of the Stick. (Haley's position is taken by Sabine.)

Now that Strip 614 is out, most of the predictions should be invalid.

[TheSummoner]

See, I don't understand why it would be his last breath ever with resurrections in the mix. But I trust there's a reason.
Which is why my belief is he will meet his end to the Snarl. The Snarl doesn't simply kill you, it unmakes you. Belkar wouldn't be able to be raised after such a death (previous examples: Soon's wife and Kraagor. Both would've been raised for sure had it been possible).

Crystal could be seen as a counterpart to Belkar as both are dagger wielding sadists. Neither are that intelligent either (though Crystal makes Belkar look like V). Possibly voided by Belkar's "growth," but Nale doesn't know that.

As for Roy's return costing someone dearly, I doubt it is Belkar. Sure, he COULD die in the battle against the thieves guild or in the struggle to get Roy's body back, but in such a case, whats stopping him from being raised? Haley owes her life to the little sociopath, and even if she doesn't particularly like him, I don't think she'd turn her back on him after that. Roy and Celia both saw him come to the rescue so even if Haley was that disloyal, Roy might not be and Celia, naive as she is, would insist that he was good now and deserves being raised.