OOTS #1225 - The Discussion Thread

[Robots]

Yay, new update!!

Captain Captor has a very short arm. (Yeah, that's my stupid nickname for the mystery guy.)

What is the secret behind the disguise??? Tune in next, like, update maybe! Hopefully we can absorb more information.

Anyway I need to get back to my work LOL

[Shining Wrath]

I notice that neither Lien nor O-Chul have remarked upon the odor wafting from the stirred pot. Now they are stoic paladins - well, Lien is stoic. O-Chul is whatever you get to if you travel right through stoic-land and keep on going. But anyway, if that odor was either good or bad, I'd half expect a remark - "smells like split pea soup" or "whatever they are stirring is vile".

[Cicciograna]

I don't know if I agree with this. An instant pot isn't like an instant coffee maker, it's a vaguely faddish cooking appliance that is a slow-cooker/stockpot with the ability to brown things, but they are more likely to be owned by people who like to cook; it's not like they're for reheating frozen dinners or otherwise not cooking.

So I think this is more of a foodie in-joke than an indication one way or another about whether the pot-stirrer can brew potions or use magic devices.

Aren't slow cookers advertised as low-effort, high-result appliances? Like, "you just put all the ingredients in it, and let it do its thing"? I'm not being sarcastic here, you make a convincing point, except for the fact that I actually always thought that slow cookers were not considered too fancy, not as lowly as the microwave, but not particularly high-tier-ish.

[Shining Wrath]

On the lack of doors - Lien is evidently not a CS Lewis fan, or can't see the wardrobes below her. Or, for that matter, a Scooby-Do fan. Wardrobes can easily conceal doors.

[Yxylu]

It seems to me that the figure is moving around the pot. In both panels, 3 and 4, it is to the right of the pot from the camera’s frame of reference. However, the things in the background are different. In panel 4, we see a desk and a couple of trees in a planter. In panel 3, the apparently same view shows a bureau and beanbag couch.

[Tvtyrant]

Aren't slow cookers advertised as low-effort, high-result appliances? Like, "you just put all the ingredients in it, and let it do its thing"? I'm not being sarcastic here, you make a convincing point, except for the fact that I actually always thought that slow cookers were not considered too fancy, not as lowly as the microwave, but not particularly high-tier-ish.

Yeah Instant Pots are designed to be extremely easy to use. It's a slow cooker with a microwave screen basically, it has auto-sets for most foods and depressures itself automatically. I use it for food prep because it takes about 10 minutes to set up tops and then the food is done in 3 hours and ready to refreeze.

[t209]

Well any speculations?
I can see the mixer's hand being green handed.
Hag?

[Ghosty]

I'd thought the runes were a reference/joke to the present "instant pot" culinary phenomenon. The darts made me think that it's how a small child or teenager would play darts---throw them as hard as they could, even if that was in the wall, while screwing around. And leave them in the wall, vs. placing them next to the board or the like.

I'd think the second member of the Duo was Serini's kid, (which naturally would make the other one Serini) resulting from a liaison with Draketooth, but Familicide would have killed such a child, right?

[Wildstag]

OOooooo self-burn time! And it seems that in his captivity O-Chul developed a resistance to that kind of burn as well!

[ByzantiumBhuka]

Whoa. This is a lot of new landscape; I was expecting a dungeon, not a nice home. Quite worthy of a perfect-square comic.

Those three drawings to give the impression that there are three creatures in whatever "faction" controls this place. Plus possibly a kid.

And we have 2 portals to Narnia. Who knows where they lead? And what might that note be?

[Cicciograna]

Also, possibily only one person entity lives here. There is only one bed in view. Of course, nothing prevents other beds being elsewhere in the room, but applying the Rule of Perception, unless they are not shown we must assume they don't exist.

EDIT: or maybe whatever other entity lives here, they don't sleep / need a bed.

[Turin_19]

Rich, you are a genius.

Thanks again for another brilliant piece of work!

[Soup du Jour]

All this perception going on about the contents of the room, and no one's yet brought up how low the wardrobe handles are to the ground? For shame!

[Kareeah_Indaga]

There are a lot of plants about and in the "close shot" there seems to be a small tree, Whoever this is they came form a place where there was a lot of green and they have all the plants about as a way to make themselves feel a little more at home.

My thoughts were ‘alchemical ingredients’ but I might be playing too much Elder Scrolls.

[hewhosaysfish]

Given how the runes on the cauldron run right the way around the curve, I'm thinking that

Spoiler

Show

The letters "-ion" may be on the other side of side of the "horizon".
So it's "magic instant potion" or "magic instant potions" or such.

So Orange-Voice and Green-Voice, may have been using potions of Fly and (Greater) Invisibility.

Alternatively, this alchemist may be making new knock-out poison to replace the doses that were used in capturing the paladins.

[137beth]

Well duh, you're not the protagonists! Of course you're getting captured

[InvisibleBison]

Because halflings have very good aim with thrown stuff.

A halfling has slightly better aim than a human with otherwise identical stats, true. But I think it's going too far to say that the dart-thrower cannot be a halfling. Anyone can roll a natural 1, after all.

[Windscion]

Their captor is literate, at any rate -- book w/ mark next to bed. Not that this looks like a barbarian's hangout. Well, it could still be a picture book.

The beanbag chair/sofa is interesting.
The bed struck me a short at first, but now I dunno.

[ReaderAt2046]

Ok, so a lot to unpack in this scene. First, I really liked the "paladin-off" continuing between O-Chul and Lien. Those two are the best sort of paladin, the kind that is Lawful and Good without being Stupid or Stuck-Up.

Given that we can see the hand of our mystery pot-stirrer, that implies that Green and Orange Voice are corporeal creatures who were temporarily invisible for the ambush, not incorporeal or permanently invisible creatures of some sort.

Also note that the walls seem to be made of carved and joined stones rather than raw stone, so this might be an above-ground facility. Or if it is underground, at the very least it's probably buried under dirt, not carved into the rock around Kraagor's Gate. I feel like Lien would have noted a skylight if there was one, so probably magic full-spectrum illumination.

I suspect all the plants are meant as a natural life-support system to address the issues Ironsmith pointed out, the same way as with Lirian's prison. Makes me wonder if Hoodie here was one of Lirian's apprentices, who survived the destruction of her Gate and moved to Kraagor's gate to provide extra security. This does feel primarily like a home rather than a prison or a warehouse... so many mysteries to unpack!

[Jordok]

Also, possibily only one person entity lives here. There is only one bed in view. Of course, nothing prevents other beds being elsewhere in the room, but applying the Rule of Perception, unless they are not shown we must assume they don't exist.

EDIT: or maybe whatever other entity lives here, they don't sleep / need a bed.

I was thinking one humanoid and the other one sleeps on sofa - kind of doggish figure maybe? Animal companion? But childish drawings don't seem to fit.


Regarding Greenhand: may it be that ze is wearing green gloves? Do we have any examples how gloves-wearing looks like in new graphics? (since fingers gained width I mean)?

Excited about new comic, lots of speculation material. Thanks Giant!


EDIT: Also thinking about the body size. If Greenhand is short, why is ze wearing such a long coat? If it's a short humanoid, I would expect to see figure standing on a stool to stir the pot. Not wearing stilts and a long cloak to cover them. Especially not when ze is at home.

[danielxcutter]

I'm going with the "these guys got sent by Tiamat" theory. She's one of the few gods who does plan on working with TDO, the robed guy could be a kobold on a stool, and it fits a lot of other things so yeah.

[The Pilgrim]

No offense, Lien, but O-Chul is out-palading you again.

Taking into account you are faring against O-Chul, though, you are doing quite well.

[Ephemera]

Yeah Instant Pots are designed to be extremely easy to use. It's a slow cooker with a microwave screen basically, it has auto-sets for most foods and depressures itself automatically. I use it for food prep because it takes about 10 minutes to set up tops and then the food is done in 3 hours and ready to refreeze.

They are...but also it's a $100 combo pressure cooker/saute pan/slow cooker/rice cooker/yogurt maker, whereas you can get a basic slow cooker for like $30. All the people I personally know who have them are pretty good cooks who like the ease but also the flexibility as opposed to people who otherwise don't cook (although maybe that's just me). All I'm saying is that it's more like a programmable coffee machine with a timer than, say, a nespresso pod machine.

Therefore (or maybe just "in any case") this seems to me to be more likely to be a joke based on the faddishness of the instant pot (like the TeeVo way back when) than it is an indication of whether the pot requires a magic user to use.

[The Pilgrim]

Now for my longshot theory on who the cloaked figure is:

Leeky Windstaff standing over Pompey's shoulders :P

[Emanick]

I’m guessing Captain Captor works for the IFCC, given how much they seem to like stirring the pot.

[Kastor]

O-chul seems really out of it as he wakes up...
I know he was poisoned, but you'd think the guy was out for a year or something!
/joke

[B. Pseudonym]

I second the motion to nickname this guy "Captain Captor" for the time being.

Anyway, I think there's some holes in the kobold theory. All the ones we've seen so far (the Oracle, Belkar's various evil opposites) have had orange skin and white speech bubbles. This guy appears to be green, and we don't know what color their speech bubbles are. (Personally, I'm assuming they're the green ones from the end of book six, but y'know, assumptions, you and me, etc. etc.)

Wait... green, lives near the north pole, very good at stealing...

O'Chul and Lien have been kidnapped by the Grinch.

[bunsen_h]

I'm not buying any theory involving someone really short standing on something elevating, and wearing a really long coat/cloak. That would be extremely cumbersome, and none of the justifications really hold water. Belkar's history on stilts notwithstanding.

Anyone have theories as to why there are so many sets of manacles on the wall?

it implies an intention to hold I think up to 6 medium humanoids, which is an oddly specific form of restraint given the diverse nature of creatures and the escape capabilities they might have.

They're set up to handle humanoids, which are the most likely general form of intelligent life they'd need to restrain. There may well be other forms of restraint, not in view, for other types. And I'm sure they can improvise.

I was thinking one humanoid and the other one sleeps on sofa - kind of doggish figure maybe? Animal companion? But childish drawings don't seem to fit.

So far, we've seen only about half of the room, at most.

They are...but also it's a $100 combo pressure cooker/saute pan/slow cooker/rice cooker/yogurt maker, whereas you can get a basic slow cooker for like $30. All the people I personally know who have them are pretty good cooks who like the ease but also the flexibility as opposed to people who otherwise don't cook (although maybe that's just me). All I'm saying is that it's more like a programmable coffee machine with a timer than, say, a nespresso pod machine.

Therefore (or maybe just "in any case") this seems to me to be more likely to be a joke based on the faddishness of the instant pot (like the TeeVo way back when) than it is an indication of whether the pot requires a magic user to use.

The "programmable pressure cooker" is what persuaded me to buy one, and I find it very useful. I'm currently using it about once every three days, and it scores over my old "regular" stove-top pressure cooker in that I can set it up and let it run without having to pay attention to it. The old one requires regular checking to make sure that the burner setting is right to have the thing hissing gently but not too much. (And yes, I consider myself a pretty good cook.)

[Fincher]

A halfling or a kobold might stand on a footstool or another small being to reach the top of the cauldron, but I don't know why they'd be wearing a cloak that's too big for them. Also, it looks to me not that the arm is small, but that the person in the cloak is unusually tall. I had an idea that it might be a lamia, as in a woman with the lower body of a snake, but I guess those are called lamia nobles in D&D and they don't appear to be in 3.5.

[hamishspence]

I had an idea that it might be a lamia, as in a woman with the lower body of a snake, but I guess those are called lamia nobles in D&D and they don't appear to be in 3.5.

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits has 3.5 rules for lamia nobles.