Theory about Monster Hollow

[Riftwolf]

After Roy's comment about the doors being too closely spaced to have a Dungeon (as opposed to a corridor) behind each one, I got to thinking about what is actually behind the doors of Monster Hollow.
Consider the following;
*The Bugbears have been living there a while, yet don't seem to have any maps or anything to work from.
*We're explicitly not shown what's behind the doors.
*Oona describes it as 'so many twistings and turnings'
*Grey view describes it as 'death beckoned behind every corner'
*Redcloak says the maze is built from multidimensional stone, preventing ethereal travel from one Dungeon to another.
*So far, it appears that Team Evil haven't had to back out of a Dungeon halfway; they've searched multiple dungeons and marked them off.
*There are epic monsters in at least once Dungeon, enough to challenge Xykon (who is probably late-20s epic)
*Yet the hollow is also frequented by bugbears who probably aren't all epic (Oona being pegged by the C&G thread as 15-18th level)
*Oona says the tribe hunts a little, then leaves the hollow alone for a while before hunting again.

My theory is the dungeons aren't static shapes; they alter at regular intervals to allow monsters to refill empty corridors, rotate where the stronger creatures are (so they don't eat everything and starve), and keep the ecology from stagnating.
How does this fit with Kraagors belief in strength? Well only one Dungeon leads to the gate, and that Dungeon changes regularly. The only way to find it would be to wipe out *every* doors Dungeon before the reset, or do enough damage to the ecology that the dungeons reset is meaningless. In effect, you can't feasibly search for the gate and clear the dungeons at once; you have to fight through all the monsters *first*, then you're at leisure to search for the gate.
Thoughts?

[dancrilis]

My theory (although it would be push to call it that, random thought might be better) is that the Bugbears are the true guardians of the tomb and are happy to assist Redcloak and Xykon knowing it will lead nowhere.

As for your theory - rather then shifting tunnels I would be more inclinded to think serieses of portals allow the monsters to replenish and also provide ways of expanding the dungeons beyond a single corridor, but we will have to wait and see (or wait and fail to see).

[Dr.Zero]

Your description sounds like the special maze level of a procedural generated roguelike[1].
Which, indeed, fits the requisite of requiring strength (power, to be more correct) to survive.
Hack 'n' slash at its finest.

[1] An example https://te4.org/wiki/The_Maze

[Riftwolf]

Your description sounds like the special maze level of a procedural generated roguelike[1].
Which, indeed, fits the requisite of requiring strength (power, to be more correct) to survive.
Hack 'n' slash at its finest.

[1] An example https://te4.org/wiki/The_Maze

Now I'm wondering if the Giants working towards a Serini/roguelike pun...

[The Pilgrim]

So, Monster Hollow is a roguelike dungeon that is randomly generated when someone enters it, and the infinity number of doors are a metaphor for the infinite number of seeds that can be used to feed the RND() function that generates the sequence that governs the generation of the dungeon. Meaning that entering through the same door twice generates the same dungeon because it uses the same seed.

That means Serini's allies are probably Modrons. And that would be coherent with Rich's hint that someone who has appeared in exactly one comic will become an important ally.

[snowblizz]

That means Serini's allies are probably Modrons. And that would be coherent with Rich's hint that someone who has appeared in exactly one comic will become an important ally.

We've seen a Modron working as a telemarketer, of sorts, at another point. Not the same one because am not sure the "shoulder demons" are really real.

Quarr is exlpaining to someone how sometimes (demonic) jobs are outsourced. But now forget if it was during V talking to IFCC or later on fighting Zzdrit.

[dancrilis]

We've seen a Modron working as a telemarketer, of sorts, at another point. Not the same one because am not sure the "shoulder demons" are really real.

Quarr is exlpaining to someone how sometimes (demonic) jobs are outsourced. But now forget if it was during V talking to IFCC or later on fighting Zzdrit.

I think you might be thinking of this guy (panel 4) - Qarr was not (directly) involved in that.

[Metastachydium]

So, Monster Hollow is a roguelike dungeon that is randomly generated when someone enters it, and the infinity number of doors are a metaphor for the infinite number of seeds that can be used to feed the RND() function that generates the sequence that governs the generation of the dungeon. Meaning that entering through the same door twice generates the same dungeon because it uses the same seed.

That means Serini's allies are probably Modrons. And that would be coherent with Rich's hint that someone who has appeared in exactly one comic will become an important ally.

MOdrons have normally coloured, square/squarish speech bubbles, though.

[mjasghar]

The closest speech bubbles we’ve seen is Celia
In her case it’s white letters white trim blue background
Notice with the 2 figures we see a similar pattern: letter and trim same colour, though background is same colour but much lighter shade

[Riftwolf]

I think you might be thinking of this guy (panel 4) - Qarr was not (directly) involved in that.

Is that a Modron? It's working for Pandemonium, which I thought was the CCE afterlife.

[Morty]

Is that a Modron? It's working for Pandemonium, which I thought was the CCE afterlife.

The joke is that Pandemonium is outsourcing its customer service to Mechanus.

[Metastachydium]

The closest speech bubbles we’ve seen is Celia
In her case it’s white letters white trim blue background
Notice with the 2 figures we see a similar pattern: letter and trim same colour, though background is same colour but much lighter shade

In actual fact, the closest matches are the speech bubbles of Enor, the Empress and Girard-the-Talking-Booby-Trap. That's why some (myself included) suspect that the voices might be dragons or half-dragons.

[mjasghar]

Good catch
The ceasing to exist doesn’t entirely make sense in that context - and whilst there are green dragons, orange ones are rarer

[Metastachydium]

The ceasing to exist doesn’t entirely make sense in that context - and whilst there are green dragons, orange ones are rarer

That context would almost certainly mean Tiamat, and she is known to be a consummate schemer. Her game could be much anything.
As for the specific colurs, yeah, orange is not quite red, I'll give you that, but it might as well stand for it (at any rate, red is a better candidate than bronze for obvious reasons, not to mention orange which for all I know could very well be officially non-existent). We've seen black dragons with purple speech bubbles, after all.

[mjasghar]

Black dragons go slightly purple black as they age
Not sure how other chromatics change colour as they age but I seem to remember they do

[hamishspence]

Black dragons go slightly purple black as they age

In Faerun they do (Thauglor "The Purple Dragon" reached a purple that was a long way from black, in very old age). They don't change much in regular settings though.

Not sure how other chromatics change colour as they age but I seem to remember they do

Green dragons get much paler (young ones are almost black), red dragons go from bright scarlet to deep red, and white dragons lose their glossiness and gain a scattering of blue-grey scales amidst the white ones.

Blue ones don't change much.

[Worldsong]

In Faerun they do (Thauglor "The Purple Dragon" reached a purple that was a long way from black, in very old age). They don't change much in regular settings though.


Green dragons get much paler (young ones are almost black), red dragons go from bright scarlet to deep red, and white dragons lose their glossiness and gain a scattering of blue-grey scales amidst the white ones.

Blue ones don't change much.

So a neon green dragon is cause for alarm then?

[hamishspence]

Olive greens and forest greens, but yes - the older the dragon, the betters its scales match the kinds of forests it's likely to hunt in.

[Metastachydium]

Olive greens and forest greens, but yes - the older the dragon, the betters its scales match the kinds of forests it's likely to hunt in.

You're such a killjoy. Neon green dragons sound fun.

[hamishspence]

Green dragon/white dragon hybrid might work for that

[Worldsong]

Time for a breeding project-wait dragons are sapient beings I'm not allowed to use them for breeding purposes.

Crud.

[Metastachydium]

No need for that. Dragons can be really open-minded.

[Wildstag]

I still hold on to the hopes that Monster Hollow is just another shell game (especially since Serini was supposedly a rogue). The actual key to the gate is tied to the "Sacrifice Forgotten" message at the bottom of the statue. The current comic will be hyper-relevant to it, since it'll be a matter of Durkon or Minrah sacrificing themselves for the other to live. The one choosing sacrifice will be granted the information and teleported to safety by some epic-level "trap" effect, and the other will be taken captive as the sole remaining dwarf.

Monster Hollow itself is just going to be a mystery dungeon. Each time you enter a door, the path will be randomly generated and monsters will wander around the floor. This will be unknown to the villains, who will have only gone into each door once, and because they never asked the bugbears (who seem kinda literal) they will have never learned this. The Order of the Stick will have to retreat into a door, and when they go in and subsequently get chased, the secret will get out.

P.S. I kinda want to run a mystery dungeon kinda game now. It'd be fairly easy to just run a dungeon with only wandering monster encounters and an rng-based floor plan.

[KorvinStarmast]

So, Monster Hollow is a roguelike dungeon that is randomly generated when someone enters it ...

quite possibly fits Serini, who I think is CG? RNG and chaos fit somewhat.

who has appeared in exactly one comic

That the slaad makes the most sense in that whole strip is I think part of the joke.

The joke is that Pandemonium is outsourcing its customer service to Mechanus.

OK, I can get on board with that. (like the very, very old Joke about Hell for Europeans being where the Brits are the cooks, the Italians organize things .. etcetara)

I still hold on to the hopes that Monster Hollow is just another shell game (especially since Serini was supposedly a rogue). The actual key to the gate is tied to the "Sacrifice Forgotten" message at the bottom of the statue. The current comic will be hyper-relevant to it, since it'll be a matter of Durkon or Minrah sacrificing themselves for the other to live. The one choosing sacrifice will be granted the information and teleported to safety by some epic-level "trap" effect, and the other will be taken captive as the sole remaining dwarf.

Neat idea, I wonder if that's it.

I kinda want to run a mystery dungeon kinda game now. It'd be fairly easy to just run a dungeon with only wandering monster encounters and an rng-based floor plan.

I have done that. It can be fun for a while. Depends on how much you like dungeon crawls.

[Gurgeh]

The Crayons Of Time strongly imply that Serini was Lawful Good during the Order of the Scribble's heyday, though if she's still alive it's possible her alignment might have changed in the intervening years.

[hamishspence]

I thought "I don't know if you're the paladin type" was subtext for

"You're NG (or CG) - do you really want to change yourself that much just to take paladin levels?"

But that's just my reading.

[Gurgeh]

Sure, that's a valid way to read Kraagor's comment; it could also have been intended as a more polite way of saying "you have a poor stat spread to work as a front-line fighter", or "you lack the discipline needed to live by the paladin code", or any number of other things.

Serini's own words are pretty direct, and imply that it's possible for her to take a paladin level; we're given no reason to think she's at Elan's level of incompetence when it comes to class requirements.

[Morty]

As usual, Serini being a rogue is no particular reason to assume there's any kind of deception at play. Though there is very likely something we're not seeing just yet.

[Verdruss]

I'm just throwing in my theory that the rift will always be behind the door to the dungeon that you have just left. So, if you clear dungeon behind door A, the moment you leave it the rift is behind door A. Once you clear the dungeon behind door B, the rift is behind door B.

In that way you can ensure that someone who is just blasting through all the dungeons with his goblin army will never find the rift.

I don't have any proofs to help my hypothesis, I just thought it would be a neat trick :D

[KorvinStarmast]

So, if you clear dungeon behind door A, the moment you leave it the rift is behind door A. Once you clear the dungeon behind door B, the rift is behind door B.

In that way you can ensure that someone who is just blasting through all the dungeons with his goblin army will never find the rift.

I don't have any proofs to help my hypothesis, I just thought it would be a neat trick :D

Yes it would be, and it has a certain Gygaxian sort of gotcha as well. (Why else use multidimensional stone?)

There is also an odd chance that it's in a Tesseract type of dungeon/room sequence, but we'd not discover that until one of the parties delves that deep and it is shown on screen.