OOTS #579 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

New Erfworld too, for those who read it. I had a few days of being internetless, so I have a slight backlog of comics built up. (Slight.)

[Thormag]

Great comic!

It seems that Celia is not such a dumb character after all.

[blackspeeker]

Sometimes I feel like no one loves or cares for Belkar but me.


And now I feel like I need to go find the prequel books to understand what's about to happen

[Lira]

Hmm... some very interesting developments here.

[Nevitan]

EDIT: Hah! First post! Suckas!

do you even read the stickys and rules?
anyway great comic as always, good jokes and plot forwarding
"airhead", gold. and also a (slight) comic reserve is tons better than none!

[Kato]

what the...? o.o Celia got me almost as well ^^'
anyway, it's a little cruel how they handle poor Belkar... *sigh* still, anyone wondering if it means something that he's getting better?

[Zephra]

what's with the bubbles as speach balloons on belkar? is he less delerious? can the mark of justice wear off? Nice comic...
and:

Sometimes I feel like no one loves or cares for Belkar but me.

I certainly don't love or care for him.... Yikes.

[Admiral_Kelly]

I am disappointed by this comic. It makes me ask 'Why am I reading OotS again?'

Sorry, but the plot devices in play here make this story too much of a cop-out. From Belkar's Mark of Justice to Roy's Body to the Oracle to Celia's stupidity (lack of basic knowledge is a form of stupidity) I'm finding this less and less enjoyable. Why can't we go back to the A plot?

Just one poster's opinion. I'm hoping things get better, so I'm still reading.

[RMS Oceanic]

Apart from validating my prediction that the thieves guild would turn up to complicate things even further, this strip raises an interesting query: can the Mark of Justice be reactivated? If Belkar is getting better, maybe it's meant to be aversion therapy, so when Belkar is healthy again, he'll learn not to do it again.

Not that he will this time, because he doesn't remember what happened.

[blackspeeker]

wondering if it means something that he's getting better?

only that things are going to get worse for everyone else?

[LiteYear]

The comic has been really good lately. I don't understand what Celia was saying about using Belkar as an alarm, though... maybe I need to go reread it.

As far as they know, Belkar just became ill somehow and the MoJ hasn't been activated yet.

[3Power]

Giant, two of Belkar's speech balloons are missing tails.

Either that or he's a psion now.

[Zephra]

[EDIT:^ I thought that was on purpose, and wondered about it--is it to set apart his delerium from his normal state of mind?]

I am disappointed by this comic. It makes me ask 'Why am I reading OotS again?'

Sorry, but the plot devices in play here make this story too much of a cop-out. From Belkar's Mark of Justice to Roy's Body to the Oracle to Celia's stupidity (lack of basic knowledge is a form of stupidity) I'm finding this less and less enjoyable. Why can't we go back to the A plot?

Just one poster's opinion. I'm hoping things get better, so I'm still reading.

Celia's character is supposed to be stupid--it's certainly deliberate. It's definitelly turning into less of a comic and more of an illustrated story, but that's not a bad thing. I remember the cliffport story ark, with Elan in jail, and Nale lose, and I thought, "this can never end! What can the main characters possibly do to get out of this situation!" and, by the end of the ark, it was resolved, plus lose plotlines tied--We just need to be patient.

[T-O-E]

Sometimes I feel like no one loves or cares for Belkar but me.


And now I feel like I need to go find the prequel books to understand what's about to happen

You won't, don't worry.
Great comic, as always.

[SteveMB]

what's with the bubbles as speach balloons on belkar? is he less delerious? can the mark of justice wear off?

It could be a temporary remission, or it could be that he's feeling better even though the illness continues to progress and he's actually getting worse.

[3Power]

Celia's character is supposed to be stupid--it's certainly deliberate.

The word you're looking for there is naive. Celia is plenty intelligent, there's just a lot of things about the world she doesn't understand yet.

[Trebuchet]

No blackspeeker, you are not alone in caring about Belkar. Sure he's evil, with no redeeming characteristics except being funny, but this comic sure wouldn't be as good without him.

[Zephra]

nah, I think the comic would be fine without him.
(When I buy the books, I have to sharpie over like half of his speech baloons, so the little kids don't learn swears :) )

[Fitzclowningham]

Spoiler

Show

Actually, I was wondering what the rattle was in Roy's boot in the previous comic. A toe bone? Maybe they won't need the golem after all.

[otakuryoga]

sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!

Dun Dun DUN!!!! looks like we may see some characters recurring from Origin of Pc's.....

wow, guess she has robbed that place a few times if she knows the layout and routines so well after all this time

and LOVE the idea of using as an alarm for detecting being sold/moved

[HUMVEE Driver]

Whoo-Hoo!

Go Haley!

[warmachine]

Hooray! The evil Belkar will be back.

[Frosty]

I wanna see what's happening with the rest of the group now...

[Berserk Monk]

Great!
Loved the jokes and the story development.
I bet Redcloak is level 17 too.

[AMJ]

Excellent. I just popped in to check before going to bed, and there it is a nice new comic...

[Kaytara]

Huh, I feel somewhat sorry for Celia now... Trying to figure things out when she really has no idea how things in the real world function.

I didn't really get her plan, though. O.o She says she won't leave Belkar behind, but if they take him to Cliffport they'll be setting off the MoJ, anyway, so it won't tell them what happened to Roy's body...

But I guess it doesn't really matter anyway, since there's probably no way they're getting out of the city just yet. :P

On a side note... Haley and Celia consider deliberately triggering a crippling curse on an already incapacitated halfling? Belkar might be evil but that doesn't really justify treating HIM in an evil manner when you're a good character yourself....

And did Rich... did Rich just foreshadow the possibility of Redcloak casting True Resurrection on Roy? It's really too blatant to be foreshadowing, but that could also be a form of subtlety....

[Martok]

....Of course Grubwiggler would go straight to the Thieves' Guild.

This won't end well, that's for sure.

[Holammer]

I like how they don't have the foggiest that the mark is actually already active on Belkar.

[blackspeeker]

No blackspeeker, you are not alone in caring about Belkar. Sure he's evil, with no redeeming characteristics except being funny, but this comic sure wouldn't be as good without him.

It feels good to not be alone.

[Gamerlord]

The more i hear belkar the more i think that belkar has contracted the elan symptom That leads to your mind transforming into a slightly dumber version of elan.