Next-strip predictions

[Fyraltari]

Nothing above addressed what you quoted there.

Maybe I wasn't clear. Do you agree that Elan's plan to topple the three empires is a dangling plot thread? Do you agree that plot resolution comes before or after the climax? Not during the epilogue? If so, then you should agree that the story will go back to Tarquin (and the resistance) before the climax.

[Peelee]

Maybe I wasn't clear. Do you agree that Elan's plan to topple the three empires is a dangling plot thread?

No, I do not. It is not a plot thread, as that part of the plot has been resolved already. It's a loose end, which can be tied up nicely in the epilogue.

It is no more a dangling plot thread than V's marriage.

[Fyraltari]

No, I do not. It is not a plot thread, as that part of the plot has been resolved already.

No, it hasn't. The Three Empires are still out there opressing people and that matters to the main characters.

It's a loose end, which can be tied up nicely in the epilogue.

If this plot is over why hide the plan? Why create that tension? If the idea is that the Order will show up at Ian's place in the epilogue after the Three Empires are defeated offscreen, why tell us how that happened after the fact rather than before?

Why hide information from the reader if that information isn't going to matter to the resolution of the story?

It is no more a dangling plot thread than V's marriage.

V agreed to a divorce. That marriage is over.

[Peelee]

No, it hasn't.

Yes, it has. The Order cannot and will not solve everyone's problems all over the world. They can only solve what they can, and hey, the whole "Tarquin gets defeated off panel" scenario solves it. Unless you think the Order is going to reform the entire Western Continent into something other than a hotbed of constantly shifting oppressive empires, which would likey take much more time than a simple denuoumont, then the person they have an actual connection to is all that really matters, and again, that can be taken care of already.

As to why it wasn't revealed, that's to ensure it works narrative lt since the world runs on narrative.

This is not the plot point you think it is.

V agreed to a divorce. That marriage is over.

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1046.html

I, for one, do not think it will not be revisited in some way by the end.

[KorvinStarmast]

Autocorrect is more often wrong than I am

I have a friend who refers to it as autocorrupt. I think she's right.

The lame jokes just write themselves!

Yes. Yes they do.

This is not the plot point you think it is.

Concur.

I, for one, do not think it will not be revisited in some way by the end.

Do not concur with the idea (which maybe you are entertaining?) that Inky-V union will be restored.

a. Inky sent the divorce decree, and is getting on with the family's life.
b. V signed it, and sent it back, believing it to be for the best.
c. V has indicated to Roy how much they wish to attempt an atonement for their familicide sin once the gate issue/save the world issue is resolved. I do not believe that V will want to drag their family through that.

[Peelee]

Do not concur with the idea (which maybe you are entertaining?) that Inky-V union will be restored.

Oh, I doubt it will be restored. But I think V will try to re-establish contact and start contrition with Inky, given how much V has changed and wants to address the wrongs they have done.

[ShadowSandbag]

One thought I wanted to throw in regarding Elan's plan to topple the empires bot being stated. What if The Giant just didn't want to come up with a plan for that? It is a very complex problem and so its entirely possible Rich never actually came up with an actual solution. I don't at all mean this as a knock to his writing by the way, I just think sometimes that ties up threads more neatly.

[dancrilis]

Do you agree that Elan's plan to topple the three empires is a dangling plot thread?

Elan's plan was to fight Tarquin (panel 9), fighting Laurin and the others does not need to be a part of that (although fighting Tarquin may be a good starting point to fighting the rest).

[brian 333]

The very fact that his story is unresolved is a defeat of Tarquin.

1) He insists on a narrative that focuses on him. Deny him that.

2) He insists on a sense of order. The unfinished story arc leaves his narrative in disarray. Leave his story a tangled, unfinished mess.

3) He wants his son to take his place when his story is over. Keep Elan as far from that situation as possible to prevent him being forced into that role.

The ideal ending that destroys Tarquin and punishes him for his crimes has already happened. He's no longer important to the story, he never gets to 'finish' his story, and his legacy is that he will be forgotten.

As it sits now, the very best thing, (in my opinion,) is to never mention Tarquin in story again. If the Order must touch base with the Western Continent again, it should be with Ian, who can discuss the progress of dismantling the empires and the rise of independent but mutually beneficial city-states in which the values of enslavement and violence as entertainment are being eliminated in favor of freedom of expression and individuality. Whatever role Tarquin may have had in resisting this could be subsumed by referring to 'the old guard stubbornly fighting the inevitable changes.'

TLDR: Tarquin is better than dead: everything he fought for for his whole lifetime is over. Anything that gets him more on-panel time now reduces the severity of his punishment.

[KorvinStarmast]

Oh, I doubt it will be restored. But I think V will try to re-establish contact and start contrition with Inky, given how much V has changed and wants to address the wrongs they have done.

That fits well enough and makes sense to me.

[arimareiji]

Pretty sure Aberration Wild Empathy is available somewhere (Dungeon Delver maybe?), though I think there's an intelligence cap to stop rangers schmoozing the Mind Flayers.
Mind Flayer: now to insert a tadpole into his brain!
Ranger: I totally get how that feels bro
Mind Flayer: Y-you do? *single illithid tear* I thought no one would understand meeeee
Ranger: dude it's OK just let it all out
However in lieu of an ACF, presumably Belkar would have similar success with Sunny by just being nice to him. Wild Empathy gets kinda odd when it deals with intelligent creatures.

Reviving an old prediction that may have come true... I can't remember, did Elan ever take a level of ranger during his "I'll take a level of X just for giggles" phase?

[Fyraltari]

Yes, it has.

I suppose, we'll see.

[Mad Humanist]

Maybe I wasn't clear. Do you agree that Elan's plan to topple the three empires is a dangling plot thread? Do you agree that plot resolution comes before or after the climax? Not during the epilogue? If so, then you should agree that the story will go back to Tarquin (and the resistance) before the climax.

Yes I think it is a dangling plot thread, but that we may never get more than a single panel showing someone holding Tarquin's head on a pike reprising earlier such panels. Maybe Elan's plot would be a side book or may be not.

[littlebum2002]

As it sits now, the very best thing, (in my opinion,) is to never mention Tarquin in story again. If the Order must touch base with the Western Continent again, it should be with Ian, who can discuss the progress of dismantling the empires and the rise of independent but mutually beneficial city-states in which the values of enslavement and violence as entertainment are being eliminated in favor of freedom of expression and individuality. Whatever role Tarquin may have had in resisting this could be subsumed by referring to 'the old guard stubbornly fighting the inevitable changes.'

This may be true, but we don't know this unless it's explained in the story. You can't just expect every reader to have the same insight into Tarquin that you do. If we never hear from or see Tarquin again, you'll understand why, but 99% of the readers will just be upset that they never found out what happened. At the very least, we need Elan explaining that Tarquin was defeat offscreen and why.

Yes I think it is a dangling plot thread, but that we may never get more than a single panel showing someone holding Tarquin's head on a pike reprising earlier such panels. Maybe Elan's plot would be a side book or may be not.

I would be extremely surprised if we never hear about Tarquin again and never find out what Elan wrote on the paper to Haley's dad. Even if the plan was "defeat him off-screen so he doesn't have a cool heroic death", which i think is very possible, we would at least be told this by Elan explaining what he did.

[Peelee]

I would be extremely surprised if we never hear about Tarquin again and never find out what Elan wrote on the paper to Haley's dad. Even if the plan was "defeat him off-screen so he doesn't have a cool heroic death", which i think is very possible, we would at least be told this by Elan explaining what he did.

Oh, certainly. I don't imagine for a second we won't know what happened, I just think it will happen in a way that diminishes was Tarquin wants as much as possible. He wants screen time, he gets a footnote from other characters.

[hamishspence]

My next strip prediction, for which I have a 100% average, and a debt of 60 quatloos, (because I have been wrong every time,) is that in the next strip Serini actually listens to The Order and in the one after that we learn from her, "The Thing You Didn't Know..."©

"Serini actually listens to The Order" appears to be correct this time round.

My prediction - Serini will be untied in the next strip.

[Fyraltari]

Sunny shows Elan a dead demon-roach.

[RatElemental]

Mark me down for Serini continuing to be an obtuse old fool and needing to stay tied up, but Sunny doing what they can to help without her knowing.

I was right for all of four panels, I guess.

[Mad Humanist]

I think the next strip will shift to Team Evil as they explore the dungeon. Superficially we're all lined up for the big climactic ambush (albeit with an IFCC intervention). I doubt it is even going to that smoothly however.

[ziproot]

I think a key part of Elan's plan is that we do not know Elan's plan. Elan is a bard and he knows he is in a story, so the best way to deny Tarquin what he wants is to have a loose ending to the story, where the readers do not know how Tarquin is defeated. This way, Tarquin can be defeated (there's a plan that might work), without being defeated (we won't ever know if he gets defeated).

[pearl jam]

If an empire falls in the forest the desert a story but nobody is around to hear it report it does it make a sound actually fall?

[brian 333]

If an empire falls in a star-eating planet but nobody is around to shoot it with turbolasers does it actually fall?

(Fixed your question.)

Not until the nemesis of the first two sequels of the third trilogy turns good. (Or the first trilogy.) (Or until the protagonist of the first two prequels turns evil in the third prequel of the second trilogy.)

Actually, forget that answer, the question answers itself better than the answer does.

[No good @ names]

Redcloak starts to suspect the true nature of Serini’s defence (or first layer perhaps).

Xykon loves to threaten to kill Redcloak and just assume the next bearer of the Crimson Mantle will continue to work with him, but regardless the plan would not have gotten this far if not from the Goblin himself seperate from the Mantle’s induced abilities.

Also not sure if there’s going to be more characters introduced at this point, but if others think Team Evil needs a rogue to detect the trap, isn’t there a whole bugbear village of candidates loyal to the Crimson Mantle?

[faustin]

The souls of Dorukan and Lirian are still trapped in Xykon's gem, right?

I wonder if there is any possibility of Vaarsuvius recreating the Soul Splice with them. They must be itching for round two againt the lich.

Providing V finds out about them, of course. Maybe Xykon himself mocking Serini about reuniting the old rogue with her friends.

[KorvinStarmast]

isn’t there a whole bugbear village of candidates loyal to the Crimson Mantle?

No, loyalty to Crimson Mantle cannot be assumed, per Oona's observations here.
"In bugbear culture, Dark One no big whoop" (good for funerals and weddings, mostly)

I wonder if there is any possibility of Vaarsuvius recreating the Soul Splice with them.

That spell wasn't cast by V. The three fiends did that.

[Leriel]

Just my 2 cents:
- Serini surely has a way to scry what's happening outside (she managed to discover the paladins);
- I think she has some "emergency route" to get out from her hideout without teleporting (she was with Sunny when catching the paladins and somewhat she had to bring them in her hideout);
- so why can't we suppose that she can share this passage with Roy and the team to actually start the Big Battle against Xykon?

[Fyraltari]

- I think she has some "emergency route" to get out from her hideout without teleporting (she was with Sunny when catching the paladins and somewhat she had to bring them in her hideout)

You mean, the door?

[Leriel]

You mean, the door?

Something more direct to the outside, I mean. But again, my two cents

[Fyraltari]

Something more direct to the outside, I mean. But again, my two cents

What makes you think such passage exists?

[Leriel]

What makes you think such passage exists?

She brought inside her hideout Lien and O'Chul; if such door does not exist, this means:
- arrive at some door (I mean, the ones that are checked by Team Evil);
- bypass the "swap-over";
- arrive to a place with a wall of magical conjured stone;
and everything making sure no one could spot, hear or smell her + Sunny + the paladins.

It's my Occam razor, but Serini's mind works in mysterious ways...