OOTS #653 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

EDIT: Oh, and since I got a few dozen emails about it, yes, the art for OOTS #652 was missing the proper battle damage on Xykon, Redcloak, and Jirix. A revised version has been uploaded.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Fight, Fight, Fight!

[Robert_Frazer]

Ah well. You did scuff and scratch him a bit, Varsuvius - you can at least console yourself with the fact that that's a lot more than most other of his foes have managed!

[Snake-Aes]

Bye V...

Rock beats Elf.

[Belkster11]

First off:

1) Awwww, Tsukio has a widdle Xykon doll she sleeps with. ^_^

2) Xykon owned V HARD both verbally AND spell-wise.

3) Poor V. Things are not looking good for her. At least she's not all veiny like she used to be. :(

[Silverraptor]

Noooooo!!! Vaarsuvius! Hang in there!

[Belkster11]

I forsee...

Spoiler

Show

V will be thrown into the cage along with O-Chul and he'll also begin giving her life lessons as well.

[Yendor]

Ouch. That's gotta hurt.

[Gawaeyn]

You know, it occurs to me to wonder where Ganonron and Jephton are going. Where DO incorporeal soul splices go after they escape?

[pendell]

...

PWNED!

That's the only proper title for this strip. PWNED. V was utterly and completely smacked down.

*Applause* I should be rooting for the good guy, but this was a crowning moment of awesome for Xykon. I haven't seen such a complete and total owning since .. ever! It was a delight to watch.

Other little details are fun too .. I note that Tsukikko has a little Xykon doll .. ewww.

Strange. T's outfit is less revealing than a bikini is but *seems* more enticing. Guess it's more about the presentation than anything else.

Anyways, great strip and a funny strip, even if what's about to happen to V isn't funny at all. But really, who didn't see something like this coming?

Attack the main villain in his lair without scrying beforehand or making the least vestige of a plan? V *deserved* to lose. I'd have been disappointed and angry if he won. The same reason I was angry when Xykon owned the Sapphire Guard. Because X then, like V now, was reckless and overconfident in his power. Happily the world is working as it should.

Question: Why is Xykon willing to 'go easy' on a knight-on-a-valiant-quest like Roy -- remember , he tried to give Roy the option of walking away alive -- but pulls out all the stops for a challenge to his rep by an evil magic-user?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Iain]

Heh, Tsukiko's slippers match her eyes

[JeptCloak]

I actually like this comic alot more than I should... sure, Xykon is still inexplicably powerful, but the comic has veered away from the direction it seemed doomed to go at the end of the last issue. It stuck with one inconsistency (Xykon's lvl), even beefing him up more to justify it, while giving Ganeron and Jephton the respect they deserved and freeing them of the splice before defeat. V actually fights a little smarter, Xykon gets a bunch of items to defray the difference in power further, and it was much less forced than the last issue... so, what lvl is Xykon now? It seems to keep getting pushed higher...

[Adventurer]

Ouch. Not that it wasn't inevitable but... poor V. Wonder if he'll get away from this

The only good news is that the soul splice is ended now, so V's soul won't be damned any more.


PS: Yeah, it's funny how Tsukiko's slippers match her eyes.

[Aharon]

The banter was funny, as was pigtail chick's doll.

I continued to be a bit disappointed by the action itself, so I guess I will just wait until the story becomes less rules-intensive again.

[Zordrath]

That was awesome on so many levels It's good to see Xykon being restored to the top of the food chain again - after him being absent for so long and V committing acts that rivalled his in both power and atrocity, I'm happy that it's been made clear again who the real boss is.

I have to admit, though, I didn't expect V to fail that hard. It was obvious he had to fail somehow - you don't let one of your main characters trump the main villain in power halfway through the story - but I would have expected him to put up a better fight. He acted like a complete moron and was owned by Xykon on every level - even verbally, and, with a little help from Redcloak, tactically, both fields where you'd think V should excel.

I'm curious to see what happens next. I really hope V doesn't die (we already had that plotline, and it's been frustrating the first time), but it seems pretty inevitable to me. Redcloak might try to save V for interrogation, but I don't think Xykon will see reason in this case - V did try to scratch his rep, after all. Neither O-Chul nor the MitD could hope to save anyone from the lich, and the Order is far away. Maybe it's time for Aarindarius to finally make an entrance? It seems logical to me that Kyrie would look to V's former master for advice after witnessing his transformation, so it's possible A (perhaps epic level himself, seeing how V and the fiends trusted him to single-handedly pown the dragon) knows what has happened. I wouldn't sit idly if I were him, and if V ever needed his master's advice, it's right now.

[Malanthyus]

Am I the only one who's interested in figuring out how much xp Xykon got for winning?

[Dublock]

how much exp would he get? Exp from all three (splice) or just V? Or just V's old level? Or V's Splice level?

Also...Bye bye V :(

[Castamir]

Attack the main villain in his lair without scrying beforehand or making the least vestige of a plan? V *deserved* to lose. I'd have been disappointed and angry if he won. The same reason I was angry when Xykon owned the Sapphire Guard. Because X then, like V now, was reckless and overconfident in his power.

I wouldn't call making the bouncy ball beforehand going unprepared. It was a grossly unorthodox plan, yeah, but for Xykon, even this amount of planning is a great feat.

[Llama231]

how much exp would he get? Exp from all three (splice) or just V? Or just V's old level? Or V's Splice level?

Also...Bye bye V :(

edit: First time on the first page :D

This would be frightening...

[Dacia Brabant]

So, rocks fall Vaarsuvius dies?

Well at least he can take solace in how arcane magical power was proven to be superior... just not the power V was wielding.

[RMS Oceanic]

Things look bad for V. Short of a Deus ex Machina, there's nothing the Order could theoretically cast that could retrieve h**. The only thing that could snatch her is a Conjuration (Calling) Spell, and there are no Cleric or Bard spells of a low enough level that Durkon or Elan could cast.

For the record, I will not complain if a Deus ex Machina does rescue V. I think (s)he's been curbstomped enough to get the message, and I don't think we're due for another long-term split of the Order, even if it is a 5-1 split.

[Trixie]

Now, it turns out that any and all preparations by V would be pointless - first Epic Spell from Xykon turns out to be a dispelling one - as if Giant decided to kick all these inane protection schemes floating on the forum

That, plus another 11th spell slot - sorry, V was dumb to even try. Honestly, I loved the inclusion of the grappling hand and disintegration - two most shouted end-all-V-victory-spells turned out to be useless, just as I hoped

So, we now have depowered V along with Xykon with a lot more XPs? Ouch. I don't see how V will get out of this one, nor I want V to.

Oh, and I loved Xykon doll, Tsukiko banter, and that finishing line that literally crushed V

One question to Giant, though - if it turns out that Xykon's lack of battle damage was a mistake, does this mean that V's lack of battle damage during that Black Dragon battle was a mistake as well? The circumstances seem to be the same, but there are (not mentioned) ways for V to not receive any damage - so, was that a mistake as well or just some hidden protection on V's part?

[Volkov]

Holllly....Ccccrraaaappp......XXxxyyykkkonnn....bu hbubbeat Ssssuuuppper vvvaaaarrrsssuuvvviussss....innnn....aa..dispel... ..cccheckkk.

[Doug Lampert]

so, what lvl is Xykon now? It seems to keep getting pushed higher...

How so? He's STILL done NOTHING that a level 21 Sorcerer Liche with two metamagic rods or sudden metamagic feats and Epic Spell for his only feat would have any trouble with, and sudden metamagic is a pretty good set of feats for a sorcerer. If you insist that he can only have one rod and that sudden metamagic doesn't exist then level 23 will still do fine.

[motub]

Wow... I never thought I'd see something like that...superb dispelling... wow.

I also liked the fact that the splices were gamely sticking by V... until shi got hit in the entire body by a really big rock...

It was also fun to return to the motto "sometimes ya just have to do it the old-fashioned way"-- all these high-level spells being thrown around (superb-frickin'-dispel (!!) (on a plane (!!) )), and the actual method of breaking the remaining splices is not one of them, or even Xykon's witty repartee, but a really big rock.

Ha.

Glad to see Tsuiko, with her dolly and slippers, also nice to see her have no particular effect on the battle, because she's really still an up-and-comer, but nobody, at the level they were fighting at.

Wonder if V will survive somehow (even though if shi did, shi's captured and at the enemy's mercy), or if this is the "great loss". And it certainly would be... so many regrets to die with, not to mention "the other shoe" that is yet to drop in terms of the fiends' deal....

[Mercenary Pen]

Ouch, massive plot in the last few strips. Particularly the idea that V's power (ultimate though it may be) simply isn't enough without the smarts to use it properly.
also, first page!

[khoregate]

great i love splatting elves !!!

[zyphyr]

While I knew V wasn't going to be successful, I didn't expect that complete a stomping.

[Zanaril]

V looks astoundingly helpless and powerless in that last panel.

[chiasaur11]

Splices gone, nearly dead, and with Xykon right there...

Those of you who mentioned V turning this fight around: You lost the bet.

Also, gotta love Xykon's motivations for a complete crushing of a target.