OOTS #1005 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[dps]

Guess we knew what was going to happen in this one as soon as we saw the title.

Though sometimes we can't go by that.

[Forikroder]

so hels plan IS more complicated, im thinking all this is jsut a smokescreen

[truemane]

im thinking all this is jsut a smokescreen

I see what you did there.

[Kish]

Looks like the High Priest's earlier literal and figurative bloodlust is coming back to bite him.

[Forikroder]

I see what you did there.

yes

i did that

on purpose

Looks like the High Priest's earlier literal and figurative bloodlust is coming back to bite him.

i dont think so, i think Hel knows the minor ones wouldnt vote for yes so shes trying to stall for time

[goodyarn]

Huh. Interesting twist. So, I guess Durkula took out all the ushers so that the demigods couldn't be called? Because not having the demigods vote is somehow better for Hel? Because... ...anyone know why?

Well...I am certainly on the edge of my seat.

[DaOldeWolf]

This is very interesting. I wonder what Roy's conclusions are of this conversation.

[King of Nowhere]

i can't tell if roy is hurting the gas for with his sword or not. anyway, seems like he cannot reach the vampire now. what will he do next?
also nice to see that killing the ushers actually turned against durkula.

[Smolder]

Is Roy hurting Durkula by swinging at his smoke? By D&D rules, he is, because it has lower DR than the physical form, right?

[Seto]

Hmm, why is he actually answering Roy's questions ? He doesn't need to. It could be out of a need to flaunt his superiority, it could be that he actually is interested in freedom (unlikely), or it could be he's trying to stall for the arrival of the Demigods/the vampires. If Balder's priest not finding the Demigods implies that they've stumbled upon the vampirized Earth cultists, though, I don't get his plan.

[-Sentinel-]

The tell Hel to go to herself line made me chuckle more than it had any right to.

[NerdyKris]

Perhaps they were vamped so that only the ones that would vote yes would be brought in?

I'm betting Belkar has something to do with the missing ushers.

[tmacdevitt]

What is the yellow force field? Hold portal?

[Syldar]

Will Durkon cause that irksome undead annoyance to slip up soon? We have 10 strips max before Haley's prediction becomes a red herring!

[RCgothic]

Really curious about that force field.

[Aahz]

I'm confused about the bit where the halfling is shouting "Hello?" Is that the guy who went for the demigods? Is he shouting out of the room where Roy and Durkon are fighting, or into it? Is he blocked from exiting by that yellow glow, or are all the demigods just dead/vampired?

Edit:
Oh, based on the "all he needed to do was yell" line, I'm guessing the barrier was put there by the priests (not Durkon) and the halfling is yelling out, and the important bit is that nobody is responding, meaning they're all dead/vampired. (probably ninja'd)

[Fshy94]

Yeah, I don't comprehend the barrier up there.

[Forikroder]

Really curious about that force field.

guessing its there so high priests cant leave to avoid the "no backsies" rule

[Demoman]

Probably the first pun related title I actually got since Comic 1000. Interesting to see NotDurkon's reaction to the whole thing. He says he chose Hel, but I wonder if he ever actually had a choice considering she made him (the spirit).

[dancrilis]

So the question becomes did Durkon plan to kill the ushers for the plan or was he not fully aware of the plan and Hel is not fully aware of what he has done.

[nohamotyo]

Huh. Interesting twist. So, I guess Durkula took out all the ushers so that the demigods couldn't be called? Because not having the demigods vote is somehow better for Hel? Because... ...anyone know why?

Well...I am certainly on the edge of my seat.

The other thing I was considering is that one of the ushers could kill Balder's priest, which would (I think?) sway the vote to destroy the world to Yes. But if the demigods vote, assuming Hel is telling the truth, they would also vote Yes. In that case, there would be no point in killing Balder's priest.

Spoiler

Show

I still think this is somehow a delaying action-- the point isn't to gather the demigods' priests and get a Yes/No vote, it's to wait until sundown and have all the vamped ushers undo the structure, killing the priests. Why, I have no clue.

[Toper]

Roy makes a totally fair point, and I bet if the spirit had been around for 200 years like Malack's, it might even work. I'm continuing to love the high priests' outfits, by the way.

What is the yellow force field? Hold portal?

It's not a force field, it's more mist. Where could that have come from, now?

(At least, that was my initial impression. The lighting is weird for that now that I look again.)

[JessmanCA]

How long can a vampire stay in mist form? I thought they only turned to that when "dead". Does Durkula have a coffin? Where?

[SaintRidley]

So Balder's priest is supposed to stand at the top of the stairs and call for an usher. Perhaps he's not allowed to go further without negating his vote? Or perhaps there's some other reason for killing the ushers and having the priest stuck there.

[Knaight]

Yeah, I don't comprehend the barrier up there.

It could be a number of things. The vampires may have placed it to pin in the high priest so they could kill him, the high priest may have put it there to avoid the vampires, it may be an aspect of some other conflict, so on and so forth. A very real possibility is that it's to lock the priests in to the vote, and that there were supposed to be ushers around who are now AWOL for a number of reasons. The look of panic on the high priest's face doesn't bode well though.

[Snails]

I like this comic in every way. Nice twist. Nice build up to the next crisis. Thumbs up, for the Giant.

It also obliterates the argument that the rules are being fudged in a manner that significantly favors Roy.

[Keltest]

Is Roy hurting Durkula by swinging at his smoke? By D&D rules, he is, because it has lower DR than the physical form, right?

I don't know about lower DR, but it definitely has a lot lower AC, which means Roy can power attack for a lot more without suffering in (relative) accuracy.

[NotNale]

My thought is that Durkula has perhaps killed all the demigod priests that would vote "no" -- this would account for Hel's confidence and the silence at the top of the stairs.

But I'm loving the suggestion that Belkar is the reason there's no response. That would be in keeping with the OOTS tradition -- arriving in the nick of time.

[commander panda]

thanks giant!

now let the crazy barrier theories abound!