OOTS #622 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Assassin89]

Looks like we are seeing what Belkar was doing during that time. More conflicts between Celia and Haley arise.

[bue52]

Cool, great comic! I think the Celia hate is gonna intensify. And Belkar is....... yeah, kinda typical, though I didn't expect it.

[UncleWolf]

And Belkar still tops the list as my favorite.

[Brett Wong]

Haha, good ol' Belkar. I've really been feeling alot of celia hate lately

[Quorothorn]

Wow, I don't think I've ever been so early in reading a new strip. Sweet.

*Begins signing "A Mighty Halfling is Our Belkar".*

Edit: Also, was Mr. Burlew reading the forums, or did he just call the reaction?

[Lunaya]

Wow. Hours of screaming and they got nowhere? Sounds like the U.S. Senate.

Seriously, Haley. Just tell her about your father already.

[Theodoriph]

*giggles* A solo adventure and joining the quest....I'm going to have to use that line some time.

[BigFatLion]

Oh, you don't let the lady go Solo Belkar. It's bad form...

[PhantomFox]

Hmm, this one seemed like a lull in the story. A transition comic if you will. But a transition to what I wonder?

[Rutskarn]

I fear that certain entities now have grounds to sue or incarcerate Mr. Burlew for the crime of innuendo abuse.

I think it might be 25-Life in some states.

[Blanth]

Neat! I got a RSS notice the new strip was posted before it was linked in the navigation sidebar.

Also, now I want a pastrami on rye with pickles.

[Lamech]

Belkar for the win!

[Quorothorn]

Hmm, this one seemed like a lull in the story. A transition comic if you will. But a transition to what I wonder?

Good question, that. I'm going to jump on Argall's train and say that the next comic will shift the scene. I say we're going back to the fleet.

[Shadic]

It's nice to get a new strip, but ugh, with all the hope of things happening I'm getting impatient for Roy to come back.

[bibliophile20]

Okay, the Belkster cranks it up another notch... and carves another notch.

And even though I have some liking for Celia, I think she went way over the line. But it doesn't look like Hayley told her why she needs the money yet, so perhaps she'll change her tune when she finds out about Hayley's father (if she doesn't, perhaps citing "he's still alive. these people you killed aren't, and they'll stay that way if they aren't raised soon," then I'll start petitioning for another love interest for Roy, because that's too cold).

[NeonRonin]

Heh. Belkar, livin' large and in charge at the Guildhouse.

And while I've tried to give the benefit of the doubt, I must confess. Celia is really starting to annoy me now. Could SOMEBODY bean that girl with a +2 Clue-by-Four?

(Of course, Haley not mentioning her dad is just exacerbating it...)

Wonder what Roy might have to say once he's up and active again.

[Teatime]

Good question, that. I'm going to jump on Argall's train and say that the next comic will shift the scene. I say we're going back to the fleet.

Or another rendezvous with Team Evil who we haven't seen in almost 100 strips. With the resurrection of Roy now so close at hand, Team Evil's gonna have to get a move in lest the Order actually gain a significant advantage by heading for the next gate first.

[Raging Gene Ray]

Oh, you don't let the lady go Solo Belkar. It's bad form...

Are you trying to tell Belkar how to treat his woman? That's...doubleplusunwise, I tells ya.

[DragoonKain]

Belkar: Two for me. None for you.

Twix!

[xyzzy]

Ah, the good old mysteriously clingy bed sheet. Given how Belkar's apparently been spending his time, why exactly does Jenny feel the sheet necessary? (Yes, I know, it's the whole "the readers are watching her", but that doesn't explain her motives.)

Jenny's comment reminds me of a wonderful experience with a group I was in --- I was playing a bartender with high perform (comedy), and as the rest of the party is returning to the bar to celebrate the death of a troll (which no one knew really existed until this event). A man in the bar turns to one of the girls in our group and asks her if she'd be interested in "slaying another troll" with him. I turn to the back room, a streetcat-slaughterhouse/food-prep room where a short but enormous man named Demetri is killing whatever meat he can get his hands on. "Hey, Demetri," I say, and after he enters the room, covered in blood and things possibly originating from something that was alive minutes before, I finish: "there's someone here who wants help slaying a troll!"

That was longer than I intended, especially since the entire thing was "ha ha D&D innuendo funny story scary axe guy". Oh well.

Nice comic, by the way

[Ganurath]

That's...doubleplusunwise, I tells ya.

Doubleplusunsmart, Ray. Doubleplusunwise is ungood newspeak.

As for the comic itself, I think Haley would explain all the details of what Celia has done during those hours of screaming, and since nothing was resolves, we can assume Celia was unapologetic. Point for the Celia Unfanclub!

[Deathslayer7]

Belkar is the best.

[lothos]

Rich has a great talent for surprising me (and I think most of his other readers). I just get the feeling the Roy's resurrection isn't perhaps as close to hand as we expect. There is SURE to be some kind of complication, probably with great humorous impact.

Perhaps a cutaway... team evil (and Maybe O'Chul (yay !)) or Maybe the Linear Guild.... or who knows what else. I just have the feeling that whatever I expect it won't be that simple and it will be a lot funnier than anything predicted so far.

I wonder about how the guild knows what they are entitled to 50% of..... for example all that dragon treasure that was destroyed in the INN explosion leading to all the cryptograms. First off, it's gone so there's a problem giving them 50%. More importantly who would tell them about it.

I can see Haley having a conversation with Hank like this:

Hank - so how much have you earned since you left the guild ?
Haley - errr, what's the lowest figure you would believe ?

Great series of recent strips recently in general.

[Gloverboy]

Ah, its good to be Belkar.

[Red XIV]

Good question, that. I'm going to jump on Argall's train and say that the next comic will shift the scene. I say we're going back to the fleet.

Possible. But since Unnamed Cleric of Loki finished the Sending to Durkon, he and Elan probably wouldn't be on the Azurite fleet for much longer.

Though whether they can get to Greysky quickly, of course, depends on whether there are any wizards still alive there who can cast Teleport.

[SinsI]

Ah, the good old mysteriously clingy bed sheet. Given how Belkar's apparently been spending his time, why exactly does Jenny feel the sheet necessary? (Yes, I know, it's the whole "the readers are watching her", but that doesn't explain her motives.)

She is trying to seduce him - half naked is sexier than nude.
Bonus for more WOW references.

[Doug Lampert]

Wow. Hours of screaming and they got nowhere? Sounds like the U.S. Senate.

Seriously, Haley. Just tell her about your father already.

Logically that shouldn't really matter. Most of the dead had nothing to do with Haley's father except very indirectly, some may have supported him. She's not stealing gold from anyone responsible for what happened to her father either. You needing money to pay blackmail doesn't justify you robbing me.

The Good response if she's all that worried about her father would be to go where he is and at least try to break him out. At one point she was even a member of a high level adventuring party willing and able to teleport to rescue member's family members, and didn't bother to mention her father to any of them. That's the same father she's planning to charge 10% of his lifetime earnings in exchange for ransoming him.

If Durkon manages to arrange to Teleport in then diverting to rescue her father directly again becomes practical. I'd guess that rescue is better than paying ransom to a presumably evil ruler.

So she's making no effort to kill the men holding her father or find out if they are justified, instead she steals from and kills others to get the money for a ransom while concealing her reasons from all her friends.

Somehow I don't see Celia being all that supportive of her course of action. She might be more sympathetic if she knew, people can do the wrong thing under stress and a threat to your family is as bad as stress gets. But if it's wrong for Haley to kill and rob without knowing about her father it's still wrong if you do. There's an exception in law for minor violations under major need (speeding to the hospital, breaking and entering to use a phone in a real emergency), but that doesn't apply to killing someone so I really don't see how knowing changes the ethics of anything other than finishing Bozak off (He admitted to Haley to being responsible at least in part for what happened to her father).

[xyzzy]

She is trying to seduce him - half naked is sexier than nude,.

But he's already been seduced --- notice "another encounter", emphasis on "another".

[Quorothorn]

Possible. But since Unnamed Cleric of Loki finished the Sending to Durkon, he and Elan probably wouldn't be on the Azurite fleet for much longer.

Though whether they can get to Greysky quickly, of course, depends on whether there are any wizards still alive there who can cast Teleport.

The wizard Shojo lent to the Order who could 'Port got munched. I don't think we have any idea if there's another of if that one ever got rezzed. Maybe we'll find out real soon now, eh?