Goblins XVIII: Being yourself can be dangerous

[Kantaki]

The longer I look at Kore the goofier he looks.
No I idea why, but after a while the whole "body made from countless tiny screaming faces" thing flips from creepy and horrifying to just plain funny.

Quoting myself, because looking at the coloured page?
Yeah, definitely goofy looking.

It's just too much.
The glowing headhole could work.
The trapped souls of his victims struggling to escape from his body might make for a spooky image.
But all of this? No. Just no.
Maybe if he weren't so visible.

Stick Kore into the shadows, throw in some fog and use a cheap camera that's been dropped a few times and you might get a halfway servicable B-movie monster.

[Willie the Duck]

On some level it could be deliberate (mind you, it's also just a goofy look). Kore was supposed to be an unstoppable and unknowable force when he was a mysterious figure under the armor plating. The more we've actually gotten to seen him -- and the act of significantly up-powered PCs slowly destroying said armor (and his head) such that we can see him -- the less impressive he has become. I think someone previously mentioned how he's gotten less and less threatening as the PCs have levelled and gotten a whole bunch of impressive magic loot, and that certainly seems to be the case. It does make one wonder if the final showdown with him is going to be another 'oh, yes, you. You're a speed bump now.' like Goblinslayer was.

But yeah, this shot of him is kinda like Batman in the daytime/those production lot pics of the Xenomorph where you can see the guy wearing the costume's pink shorts that are out-of-shot in the movie, etc. Takes all intimidation factor right out of it.

[Keltest]

I think what really does it for me is the hands. They dont look like hands, i cant identify anything hand like about them, and when the fingers arent drawn separately, they arent even visible. They just look like a stump made of more howling souls, which is... well, that particular drama is done i think.

[Draconi Redfir]

that's not exactly a new thing though. lots of monsters get less scary when you know what they look like. a xenomorph's a xenomorph but two glowing eyes in the darkness could be ANYTHING!


i don't really think it's a problem here though. he's already been big and scary while clad in all that armor. we're just finding out where it goes from here.

[Willie the Duck]

that's not exactly a new thing though. lots of monsters get less scary when you know what they look like. a xenomorph's a xenomorph but two glowing eyes in the darkness could be ANYTHING!


i don't really think it's a problem here though. he's already been big and scary while clad in all that armor. we're just finding out where it goes from here.

Oh, absolutely! No disagreement there.

[Vinyadan]

that's not exactly a new thing though. lots of monsters get less scary when you know what they look like. a xenomorph's a xenomorph but two glowing eyes in the darkness could be ANYTHING!

Well, we know that it wouldn't be a xenomorph

[Fyraltari]

Well, we know that it wouldn't be a xenomorph

Of course not, xenomorphs can't teleport people.

[Kantaki]

Of course not, xenomorphs can't teleport people.

More importantly they don't have umbrellas.
What? Did anyone really expect me to comment about the wrong eye colour?

[Draconi Redfir]

I did not make that post with the monster in the darkness in mind. so you got me there!

[Quild]

New page.
With colour, shading and all the stuff.

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no clue how he intends to progress.
Wouldn't the obvious thing be to crawl under the faces?

[Fyraltari]

New page.
With colour, shading and all the stuff.

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no clue how he intends to progress.
Wouldn't the obvious thing be to crawl under the faces?

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I guess he intends to go very carefully around the blades, but yes, crawling is the first thing that came to my mind as well. Then again, he has a big hole where part of his brain should be.

[Draconi Redfir]

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Waling on the blade-end might make sense if you think about it. At least one of those faces had to move slightly in order to blow on the pebble. so who knows if they can also move up and down. if wind is going to blow, may as well have it pushing you into a wall instead of into a pit or a blade.

[Gez]

The smart thing to do is to walk on the blade side and jam or break them, so that they're not a threat anymore.

[Traab]

Of course, that would be easier to do if he wasnt missing all his gear and so would have to basically punch the blades to death. He is kinda stuck right now. Of course, with how these dungeons work, he will make it past this room and find a treasure trove of +12 to armor and hit gear that grows more powerful for every life you ended. Then when he grabs the weapon off its stand the floor vanishes and drops him towards lava.

[Anteros]

Frankly, I just don't care about Kore or how he makes it through the dungeon. He's much better as an "unstoppable force" antagonist that just shows up. Showing him struggling against traps only serves to make him even less intimidating than he already is.

[Quild]

Frankly, I just don't care about Kore or how he makes it through the dungeon. He's much better as an "unstoppable force" antagonist that just shows up. Showing him struggling against traps only serves to make him even less intimidating than he already is.

Maybe Thunt is going to do one of these things where you slowly starts to root for the character you used to hate.

[Draconi Redfir]

Maybe Thunt is going to do one of these things where you slowly starts to root for the character you used to hate.

It's Ell now. But yeah that could be interesting.

Think it might be more of a case of us seeing how experienced he is and how he's gone through the motions all before. Feel like this is going to be less "Kore is struggling to overcome the dungeon" and more "the dungeon is struggling to overcome Kore."

i mean for all we know his plan is to jam the sawblade by shoving his metal boot under one of the teeth and letting it turn on, locking it in place until the mechanism spinning it snaps and breaks the whole trap.

[Vinyadan]

He could just duck beneath the chins (although the statues can move like flesh, so who knows, maybe one face would bend over and bite his head).

[Draconi Redfir]

yeah i figure that's why he's going for the sawblades rather then under the statues. they seem to be able to move at least a bit, so they might be able to look down and blow him into the pit at minimum.

[Waistcoatwill]

Quoting myself, because looking at the coloured page?
Yeah, definitely goofy looking.

It's just too much.
The glowing headhole could work.
The trapped souls of his victims struggling to escape from his body might make for a spooky image.
But all of this? No. Just no.
Maybe if he weren't so visible.

Stick Kore into the shadows, throw in some fog and use a cheap camera that's been dropped a few times and you might get a halfway servicable B-movie monster.

The new page demonstrated this perfectly:
Kore in shadow with the glowing headhole - menacing and spooky.
Fully lit Kore edging along sideways - bizarre and a tad ridiculous.

[Draconi Redfir]

So new update came out last night

looks like i called it, using his boot to block the saws!

[Fyraltari]

That's some pretty solid boots.

[Traab]

That's some pretty solid boots.

Ehhh its surprising how easy it can be to jam saw blades. it depends on how much power is behind making them spin, and keeping them from getting up to speed. It looks like he finessed the activation distance of the blades to jam his boot in there. Kin probably could have done the same with mage hand or something.

[Anarchic Fox]

The art continues to improve. To my eye, Kore went from looking kinda silly two pages ago to looking properly creepy on this page.

[Vinyadan]

New update.

Well, it makes sense.

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It never dawned on me that Kore wasn't actually bolted to his equipment, and, with the rate of damage everyone's stuff takes in Goblins, he probably just grabbed whatever nice loot he found over his travels. However, Thac0 does recognise him from the metal door shield, while the other goblins had never heard of it, so it sounds like he had had it for at least, let's say ten years.

[Gez]

Kore's been losing his equipment and taking damage while the protagonists have gained a lot of munchkin items. So giving Kore his own opportunity to gather munchkin items is a simple way to reestablish his very damaged threat factor.

He's still goofy-looking though. It took me a while to figure out that it was his head in the foreground, and not a very wide thumb on his hand.

[Lord Torath]

Kore's been losing his equipment and taking damage while the protagonists have gained a lot of munchkin items. So giving Kore his own opportunity to gather munchkin items is a simple way to reestablish his very damaged threat factor.

He's still goofy-looking though. It took me a while to figure out that it was his head in the foreground, and not a very wide thumb on his hand.

I'd recommend avoiding the 'chest' though. It looks shifty.

[Draconi Redfir]

this world seems pretty low-level on average. i wouldn't be surprised if Kore's old armor was custom made and just all he needed up until this point. So few people get magic gear or enough levels to really be an issue. that and the Goblins have likely been playing a lot smarter then normal just out of necessity. other parties might not think to throw a rope through the guy or use a giant door-moving golem for combat.

[Traab]

Agreed, hitting level 2 is considered an achievement to be proud of. This world is grim as heck in death tolls, but its also absolutely riddled with monty haul dungeons. Its like the DM ruling this world has decided to balance ludicrous lethality with huge prizes for surviving. If you can survive long enough to reach a treasure room you will walk out absurdly stronger than when you started. Assuming the inevitable trap doesnt kill you. (lol pearl) And yes, im guessing the chest is a mimic. I wonder if this room has limits on what you can take? Its clearly setup to give a balanced party significant rewards for everyone. An upper body plate armor, a giant sledge, a bow, a glaive, a staff and spellbook, a sword, paired daggers, that skull and candle thing may be decorative, or it may be a nice magical item. There is even some gold strewn about. The odd thing is, even the trapped treasure isnt that common. We had the goblins get nearly slaughtered by the exploding pearl after they got so greedy they grabbed everything at once without stopping to think or examine them. The maze of many just flat out gave each winning party member an absurd reward, plus there were those chests and such on the way that gave minmax some seriously tough armor and that broken sword of his. (Though that was more an exploit than a function it was meant to have) Heck way back when the gobbos were walking through the swamp they found a nice treasure haul after dealing with that plant monster that gave them all something useful gear wise.

Small side note, that glaive in the upper corner, it looks a lot like the weapon that forgath copy who had enslaved notwalter was using.

[Draconi Redfir]

Small side note, that glaive in the upper corner, it looks a lot like the weapon that forgath copy who had enslaved notwalter was using.

Minmax* But hey you're right! Neat!