Goblins XIX: New Year, New Updates

[Keltest]

Discussion of the Goblins Comic. New post 1 with the new year.

Previous threads:

Goblins Thread 0
Goblins I
Goblins II
GoblIIIns
Goblins IV: Live Free or Die Horribly
Goblins V: It's Hard-Kore!
Goblins VI: How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?
Goblins VII: I'm TOTALLY Gonna Pee On This Thing!
Goblins VIII: This Thread Contains An Unexpected Variable
Goblins IX: For that, you shall DIE!
Goblins X: Orcs fall, everybody dies (horribly)
Goblins XI: There ARE Goblins In This Comic, Right?
Goblins XII: Your Home for Magical Limb Replacement
Goblins XIII: Now With Goblins!
Goblins XIV: Clerical Omission
Goblins XV: Klik Here
Goblins XVI: Corrupted to the Kore
Goblins XVII: The shocking end of the story arc
Goblins XVIII: Being yourself can be dangerous


Current informations on Axe Of Prissan wielders:

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Wielders of the Axe of Prissan
Starting with the most recent

Big Ears - Male Goblin Paladin. One of the protagonists of the story and current wielder of the axe.
Saral Caine* - Evil Male Half Stone Giant/Half Human. Ally of Dellyn Goblinslayer and minor antagonist in the Brassmoon arc.
Dri Featherknife - Female Human Rogue/Paladin. She was killed by Goblinslayer and Saral Caine after uncovering their plot to frame the sherrif of Brassmoon for murder.
Flejj Hillmover - Male Dwarf. He fought Kore twice and survived. His family was not so lucky. He shaved his beard in shame.

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Felsibeth "Soot" Blackbringer - Young Female Human Paladin. Youngest to ever wield the axe.
Kelstride Blackbringer - Male Human Paladin. Soot's Father. Former chimney sweep. Killed by a Kobold stampede.
Drose - Genderless Golem Paladin. Drose passed the Axe to Kelstride Blackbringer to prevent the demon imprisoned within from taking control of his body.
Eled of the East - "Fat, over confident" Paladin. Was given the axe by Myorg.
Mryorg* - Evil Male Ogre. Beat (but did not kill) Vilias Red in combat and took the Axe from her. Used it to cause great suffering before eventually giving it to Elad purely to make the demon contained within suffer after coming so close to freedom.
Vilias Red* - Female Human Rogue. Was friends with Tivoth Fastfoot and took the axe after Tivoth died in battle with the intention of giving it to another Paladin.
Tivoth Fastfoot - Male Paladin. Encountered Vilias Red looting a corpse and assumed she had murdered the man. Once he realized she was innocent, the two became friends and traveled together.

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Kevitch Gritland* - Evil Male... formerly... Human maybe... Fighter/Wizard. Horribly mutated by an evil swamp. Killed Eldrock Cloudcry and claimed the axe as his own.
Eldrock Cloudcry - Known in name only.

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Cal - Male Gnome Paladin. Egotistic gambler. Had a powerful, icy magic effect.
Jelbin Crae - Male Human Paladin. Gave Cal the Axe willingly. Nothing else is known.

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Kore - Male Dwarf Paladin. Nigh-unstoppable genocide machine against all things that could conceivably be evil, including children. Currently has a speech impediment caused by the axe and rope. Chained and screaming souls as an IME. Created the axe, but may not have wielded it.


The Axe of Prissan is the second Prissan, a counterpart to the Hammer of Prissan which traps a great Good and is wielded by Evil. The third Prissan contains the damned.

*Confirmed non-Paladin

Individual Magic Effects (IME's)

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One of the more frequent sources of confusion is what people are talking about when we're referring to IME's. Here is the comic's explaination of what they are. And now you know.

Shield of Wonder Effects List

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Shield of Wonder page 1

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Shield of Wonder page 2

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Shield of Wonder page 3

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Shield of Wonder page 4

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Shield of Wonder page 5

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Shield of Wonder page 6

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Shield of Wonder page 7

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Shield of Wonder page 8

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Shield of Wonder page 9

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[Fyraltari]

Hey wasn't there already a new thread for this comic? Did something happen or am I going crazy?

[Cygnia]

Mods closed it.

[Keltest]

There was, but it took a turn towards the inappropriate real fast. I got permission from the mods to restart it, without the parts that caused the trouble, and just used the same number.

[tomaO2]

Inappropriate?

Nothing discussed in that thread hadn't been discussed at length before. I really don't get this one at all.

[Keltest]

At any rate, seems like theres been a new update since then, unless I managed to miss this one somehow. Not gonna lie, I could do without the eyeballs on the mushrooms.

[Taevyr]

Inappropriate?

Nothing discussed in that thread hadn't been discussed at length before. I really don't get this one at all.

Same, particularly since it was locked, closed and removed without any warnings whatsoever aside from "has been closed". Seems a bit much, as they could at least remind us on what we ought to avoid in this one.


Either way, we have Goblins in the GoblinsComic again! And trypophobia mushrooms, which honestly isn't surprising at all for this universe.

[Kantaki]

At any rate, seems like theres been a new update since then, unless I managed to miss this one somehow. Not gonna lie, I could do without the eyeballs on the mushrooms.

Better eyes than teeth.
Though I guess those might come out later.

[Taevyr]

Better eyes than teeth.
Though I guess those might come out later.

As long as they don't combine the two. Though having the mushroom pupils suddenly grow into sabretooth-worthy canines wouldn't be off-brand in the slightest.

[Gez]

As long as they don't combine the two.

I take it you don't play Terraria. Eyes turning into mouths is kind of a running theme in there...

[Keltest]

I take it you don't play Terraria. Eyes turning into mouths is kind of a running theme in there...

Can't say I love it there either.

[Dragonus45]

Inappropriate?

Nothing discussed in that thread hadn't been discussed at length before. I really don't get this one at all.

Making a thread title dedicated to a personal attack against the author probably did it if I had to guess.

[Anonymouswizard]

Making a thread title dedicated to a personal attack against the author probably did it if I had to guess.

I really should have put that bloody suggestion in blue text. It was supposed to be a joke, for Herbert's sake it was a bloody URL, but obviously it was too believable.


Anyway, the comic. How long is it going to be until these two are cuddling together next to a campfire? I'm guessing about four hours after bedtime on their first night out of the dungeon.

[Emperor Time]

Wouldn't be surprised if you eat one of those eyes mushrooms that it either horribly mutates you, kills you or both.

[Morgaln]

Wouldn't be surprised if you eat one of those eyes mushrooms that it either horribly mutates you, kills you or both.

Or you grow eyes in your intestines that allow you to have your personal colonoscopy whenever you choose. I'm only half joking...

[Gez]

Anyway, the comic. How long is it going to be until these two are cuddling together next to a campfire? I'm guessing about four hours after bedtime on their first night out of the dungeon.

I doubt they'll wait that long; it's probably going to happen while they're still in the dungeon.

Partly because they won't be out of this dungeon before the year 2034 at the earliest.

[Anonymouswizard]

I doubt they'll wait that long; it's probably going to happen while they're still in the dungeon.

Partly because they won't be out of this dungeon before the year 2034 at the earliest.

I dunno, I think we've had the penultimate confrontation with Kore. The question is if this dungeon is going to have the entrance to hell or if they're going to have to go through another thirty two puzzles in a different dungeon.

[Vinyadan]

Taking a look at the Twitter feed, on the 30th of December...

I should let you all know, last week I caught an infection on my right ear. It spread across my face, neck and head. Our local hospital helicoptered me to the city hospital, where I've been for 2 days. They've suspected it might be Necrotizing Fasciitis. The Flesh Eating Disease.

It wasn't that, but there was a night, and antibiotics were administered. The affected flesh is described as unphotographable, which may sound odd given the oversharing, but I think the photos on the accounts are mostly meant to look attractive, and this one wouldn't be.

I guess the page had been preuploaded and scheduled, or Danielle took care of it? It's actually a bit difficult for me to piece the dates together, as I'm not sure about which timestamps Twitter or RSS uses (local time of posting or viewing). For what I gather, one night was spent at the hospital, and that might have been when the comic updated.

Anyway, on to the comic... at first sight, I found the page confusing, because the lighting makes no difference between interiors and exteriors, so I thought the goblins had finally got out of the dungeon. Also, the door in panel 1 looked like a column on a pedestal.

What I like is that, according to precedent, the details in the page will probably have a function. Maybe not the mushrooms, but the pedestal to the right must mean something, and it has an insect on it. The skull-cave's eyeholes could be an entrance way for nasties, or be somehow connected to the mushrooms. The flowers might also have odd properties (or simply be one of those single-cave species, although I don't see Goblins taking this approach, as it's not very Monster Manual).

I don't like the IME colours around the speech balloons. They aren't even consistent, as Vorpal's colour has to be outside because it's white, so it's distracting.

By the way, I was thinking about the prophecy "when the serpent becomes the prey, love will fuel hate and friends will become enemies": is it possible that it already was fullfilled when MM grabbed Kin's leash? He got a hold of her (the serpent became his prey) through the leash because of his attachment to her, which made her repulsed of him (love fueled hate) and Kin placed herself in a team of Kins characterised by distrust towards MM (friends became enemies).

[Keltest]

The big crystal stand in the corner reminds me of the teleport pads from Steven Universe.

[Cygnia]

By the way, I was thinking about the prophecy "when the serpent becomes the prey, love will fuel hate and friends will become enemies": is it possible that it already was fullfilled when MM grabbed Kin's leash? He got a hold of her (the serpent became his prey) through the leash because of his attachment to her, which made her repulsed of him (love fueled hate) and Kin placed herself in a team of Kins characterised by distrust towards MM (friends became enemies).

Not wangsty enough

[Morgaln]

By the way, I was thinking about the prophecy "when the serpent becomes the prey, love will fuel hate and friends will become enemies": is it possible that it already was fullfilled when MM grabbed Kin's leash? He got a hold of her (the serpent became his prey) through the leash because of his attachment to her, which made her repulsed of him (love fueled hate) and Kin placed herself in a team of Kins characterised by distrust towards MM (friends became enemies).

We've seen that prophecy three times:

First was Young and Beatiful when fighting Forgath.
Second was the talking wall in Brassmoon.
Third was Fumbles after the teller ceremony.

The first two times, it was worded as "when the serpent becomes your prey." The last time, it was "when the serpent becomes his prey." Both Y&B and the talking wall were speaking to Forgath, Fumbles was talking to Minmax. So the your/his has to refer to Forgath. The most likely interpretation is that Forgath will eventually, for whatever reason, attack Kin. Minmax will side with Kin and fight Forgath ("friends will become enemies") and will hate Forgath for hurting/killing Kin ("love will fuel hate")

Also, the third time the prophecy was spoken (by Fumbles), it happened after the Maze of Many, so it would have been a prophecy of something that had already happened if your theory was correct.

[BaronOfHell]

I agree it could have been fulfilled if it wasn't because in comics like these we're explicitly told when previous plot points are coming to a close with characters quoting what they heard before or something similar. At least that is my impression.

Compared to OotS when V's oracle prophecy came to pass, we were never reminded of it.

[Devlerbat]

The big crystal stand in the corner reminds me of the teleport pads from Steven Universe.

It even looks like it has a sticker on it like what was put on the broken pads (which this seems to be).

[-D-]

NGL, Discussion about comic is often more interesting than the comic itself.

[Kish]

Those "hitting the Shield of Wonder" rules are so needlessly complicated. There are already very simple rules for determining if an attack hits the defender's shield, Elli. It makes no sense for the defender to be able to make it more likely: they're already trying as hard as they can to make attacks hit their shield, that's what a shield's for. And "if you're not trying to block attacks with your shield then you don't have the shield equipped" needs neither spelling out nor special rules for it, either.

[Anonymouswizard]

Those "hitting the Shield of Wonder" rules are so needlessly complicated. There are already very simple rules for determining if an attack hits the defender's shield, Elli. It makes no sense for the defender to be able to make it more likely: they're already trying as hard as they can to make attacks hit their shield, that's what a shield's for. And "if you're not trying to block attacks with your shield then you don't have the shield equipped" needs neither spelling out nor special rules for it, either.

I couldn't bare to read one sentence. The tools for this are right in front of you, and if you want to include a reminder of how to do this it's about two sentences.

'If an attack roll misses by less than the defenders shield bonus then the attacker has struck the shield. A defender may declare on their turn that they are not actively using their shield, thus forgoing the shield A but ensuring an attacker will not unintentionally hit their shield*.'

* If an attacker wishes to intentionally strike a shield refer to Hitting a Held Object.

Now sure, it gets a bit more complex if you're also wearing electrified armour, but it's still just tracking AC thresholds. Reinventing the wheel is fun, but it's no use to make the rims hexagons.

[Vinyadan]

The question is if this dungeon is going to have the entrance to hell

You know, this could also connect to the prophecy.

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Forgath reminds Kin that she could summon Grinnorarcen, give him the axe, and have him carry it to hell. Kin doesn't want to, because she promised a specific use for the name, and she's obviously against that sort of enslavement. Forgath decides that saving the world is more important, and tries to grab her leash to force her to order Grinnorarcen to bring the Axe to hell. Minmax then becomes Forgath's enemy.

Two problems: Forgath is chaotic, and Minmax did the same thing in the past for much lesser reasons, so he might be more horrified than enraged.

[Yuki Akuma]

Those "hitting the Shield of Wonder" rules are so needlessly complicated. There are already very simple rules for determining if an attack hits the defender's shield, Elli. It makes no sense for the defender to be able to make it more likely: they're already trying as hard as they can to make attacks hit their shield, that's what a shield's for. And "if you're not trying to block attacks with your shield then you don't have the shield equipped" needs neither spelling out nor special rules for it, either.

I hope one day Elipsis gets to actually play Dungeons and Dragons.

[WanderingMist]

I read through the whole archive a couple years ago. Can't remember much of it. Checked on it a couple days ago due to this thread and while still not a fan of the artstyle, I will say I find that juxtaposition of free will vs omniscient determinism interesting. I'm assuming it's been proposed before by some scientist and is not actually a new thought by the author.

[137beth]

You know, this could also connect to the prophecy.

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Forgath reminds Kin that she could summon Grinnorarcen, give him the axe, and have him carry it to hell. Kin doesn't want to, because she promised a specific use for the name, and she's obviously against that sort of enslavement. Forgath decides that saving the world is more important, and tries to grab her leash to force her to order Grinnorarcen to bring the Axe to hell. Minmax then becomes Forgath's enemy.

Two problems: Forgath is chaotic, and Minmax did the same thing in the past for much lesser reasons, so he might be more horrified than enraged.

That sounds...oddly plausible? But I think what will trigger Forgath to attack Kin will be something much bigger.