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Wow, Durkon's really got his blinders on with regard to Malack. I suppose friendly chats will do that.
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Jan 16, 2013 20:52
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I'm wondering how much longer Malack can stand working with Nale. He's already almost snapped a couple of times; eventually Tarquin just isn't going to be able to hold him back. I wonder if Tarquin would actually kill Elan. Also I'd kind of like to see a little focus on the other members of Tarquin's group. Tarquin and Malack are a force to be reckoned with on their own; I don't think Roy and co. could stand up to a group of six characters at that level, especially if something happens to Vaarsuvius, which it's looking like it might.
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Jan 17, 2013 07:20
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razorrozar posted:I'm wondering how much longer Malack can stand working with Nale. He's already almost snapped a couple of times; eventually Tarquin just isn't going to be able to hold him back. I wonder if Tarquin would actually kill Elan. I'm guessing that we won't see them this time around but we will see Tarquin's whole crew the next time they hit the table. I'm calling it another blown Gate, probably with enough damage to Big X that he doesn't just say "Welp, you blew up the gate, guess I'll go teleport to the next one. Let's go, guys." Tarquin and maybe Malack make it out alive and we'll see the whole lot of 'em in the big finale at Kraagor's Gate. As for Nale? With Tarquin superseding him as Elan's personal nemesis, I suspect that his past, in the form of a death spell from Malack, finally catches up with him, though its possible that Sabine manages to get him resurrected since she's all but certainly going to miss the Linear Guild's Last Stand here at Girard's Gate.
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Jan 17, 2013 07:37
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I think it would be hilarious if Nale died, came to the realization that being in hell really really sucks and came back a reformed man once Sabine swung a resurrection.
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Jan 17, 2013 08:05
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Colonel Cool posted:I think it would be hilarious if Nale died, came to the realization that being in hell really really sucks and came back a reformed man once Sabine swung a resurrection. I actually mixed up the Abyss and the Nine Hells for a second. Afterlives in 3rd/3.5 work the same as in 2nd, right?
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Jan 17, 2013 08:16
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^ I believe they do, it was 4ed that actually changed the planar structure. jng2058 posted:With Tarquin superseding him as Elan's personal nemesis, I suspect that his past, in the form of a death spell from Malack, finally catches up with him, though its possible that Sabine manages to get him resurrected since she's all but certainly going to miss the Linear Guild's Last Stand here at Girard's Gate. I think that would work great with Sabine's arc, since she seems to be personally invested in Nale's well-being despite any orders from below. If the fiends decide Nale is useless they might urge her to drop him, which could cause her to go rogue. Best  theory I can offer is that this turn of events would lead her to take Belkar's place in the order, since the little guy is bound to die at Girard's gate.
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Jan 17, 2013 10:39
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That doesn't mean he'll be gone. You can't tell me Belkar wouldn't love to be some kind of soul-devouring undead abomination.
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Jan 17, 2013 10:43
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At this point everyone is so expecting him to turn undead him actually permanently dying somehow as prophecised would be a twist.
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Jan 17, 2013 10:47
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ZearothK posted:Best 
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Jan 17, 2013 17:28
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razorrozar posted:I don't think Roy and co. could stand up to a group of six characters at that level, especially if something happens to Vaarsuvius, which it's looking like it might.
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Jan 17, 2013 17:32
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MikeJF posted:At this point everyone is so expecting him to turn undead Belkar doesn't have the wis to multiclass cleric.
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Jan 17, 2013 18:41
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CapnAndy posted:It won't. The IFCC are going to take control of him at Kraagor's Gate, to swing that final battle in their favor. I think that would fall under "something happening to Vaarsuvius".  Although then he'd be with them for a while longer, at least.
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Jan 17, 2013 18:56
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CapnAndy posted:It won't. The IFCC are going to take control of him at Kraagor's Gate, to swing that final battle in their favor. Problem is, the IFCC (like most villains in OOTS) is the real life definition of evil, not the moustache-twirling "destroy the world because I can" type. It's not exactly in their favor for all of creation to be unmade, I would think, and I also imagine they're getting orders from above. They probably corrupted V because of hir position in OOTS to do something with the gate, but I doubt it's to destroy it.
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Jan 17, 2013 19:27
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MikeJF posted:At this point everyone is so expecting him to turn undead him actually permanently dying somehow as prophecised would be a twist. Nah. Once he's dead he's dead, and not coming back. Anything else would be cheap.
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Jan 17, 2013 21:00
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I hope Rich pulls a Vriska with Belkar and has him change completely with the help of Mr Scruffy so he can heroically sacrifice himself at the last moment to spend eternity in Neutral Good heaven with Lord Shojo and never get his comeuppance at all.
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Jan 17, 2013 21:25
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I'm looking forward to the end of the comic when the Snarl gets released and things get all trippy and 4th-wall breaking. I'm not being ironic I want to see where he goes with it
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Jan 17, 2013 21:50
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RickoniX posted:I hope Rich pulls a Vriska with Belkar and has him change completely with the help of Mr Scruffy so he can heroically sacrifice himself at the last moment to spend eternity in Neutral Good heaven with Lord Shojo and never get his comeuppance at all. To go full Huss, Rich would have to then have Belkar's soul get eaten by the Snarl when it starts rampaging across the afterlife, popping planes. ...Which actually kind of sounds like something that could happen.
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Jan 17, 2013 22:47
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Dolash posted:To go full Huss, Rich would have to then have Belkar's soul get eaten by the Snarl when it starts rampaging across the afterlife, popping planes. Then we follow the exploits of a post scratch oots: Eugene the Wizard, Tarquin the Fighter, Ian the Rogue, Mama Bitterleaf the Druid, Hurak the Cleric, and Varsuuvius
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Jan 18, 2013 00:17
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 Order of the Stick #866
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Jan 18, 2013 02:12
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Ursine Asylum posted:Problem is, the IFCC (like most villains in OOTS) is the real life definition of evil, not the moustache-twirling "destroy the world because I can" type. It's not exactly in their favor for all of creation to be unmade, I would think, and I also imagine they're getting orders from above. They probably corrupted V because of hir position in OOTS to do something with the gate, but I doubt it's to destroy it.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:20
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Jesus, Vaarsuvius is hosed up. With good reason. I don't know if it's possible to move on from potentially being responsible for the end of the world, what with the Draketooth clan not being around to help protect the Gate. Also that raven just will NOT stop bringing up the soul splices.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:27
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razorrozar posted:Also that raven just will NOT stop bringing up the soul splices.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:31
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razorrozar posted:Jesus, Vaarsuvius is hosed up. With good reason. I don't know if it's possible to move on from potentially being responsible for the end of the world, what with the Draketooth clan not being around to help protect the Gate. I wonder when V will twig about the gaping loophole in his soul contract.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:40
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sebmojo posted:I wonder when V will twig about the gaping loophole in his soul contract. What's this? That the fiends can take control of the soul anytime they like? Or something else?
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Jan 18, 2013 03:08
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sebmojo posted:I wonder when V will twig about the gaping loophole in his soul contract. Which loophole?
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Jan 18, 2013 03:14
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Who What Now posted:Which loophole? Like I said, Kraagor's Gate.
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Jan 18, 2013 03:21
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CapnAndy posted:What the guy right above you said. V bit at the obvious bait and assumed "we each get your soul for however long you hold the splice" meant after his death, but they never said that. They're gonna get to own his soul at a moment of their choosing. No, with the way that Qarr lit out just now, I'm guessing that we'll see them burn at least one of the splices very soon. They'll have at least one left in the bank, probably the extra long one, for Kraagor's Gate, but I'm betting we'll see the first splice used anytime now.
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Jan 18, 2013 03:46
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CapnAndy posted:What the guy right above you said. V bit at the obvious bait and assumed "we each get your soul for however long you hold the splice" meant after his death, but they never said that. They're gonna get to own his soul at a moment of their choosing. Yeah, that. Though there's an interesting wrinkle that all three get their own amount of time, which goes against the acting-in-unison qualities Rich has painted them with. gently caress, but I love the fiends. They're such lovable scamps. ^^ good point, I agree And actually - is V in a position to reveal how profoundly untrustworthy an ally he is now? Even if a fiend takes him over for a few minutes, he might not be able to tell Roy about it. Fascinating. sebmojo fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Jan 18, 2013 |
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Jan 18, 2013 03:49
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I just realized I've been reading V's name wrong for years.
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Jan 18, 2013 04:01
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jng2058 posted:No, with the way that Qarr lit out just now, I'm guessing that we'll see them burn at least one of the splices very soon. They'll have at least one left in the bank, probably the extra long one, for Kraagor's Gate, but I'm betting we'll see the first splice used anytime now. Aren't two of the splices equally long, about half an hour? The third is like four minutes, I'm guessing they'll use it to steer the Draketooth gate battle in their preferred direction.
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Jan 18, 2013 04:01
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Yeah, you're right, they've got the one short one and two long ones not the other way around. Good call. Probably see one of the long ones, maybe.
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Jan 18, 2013 04:07
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I don't think so, just because it's a one-shot trick. Once they do it, V realizes the loophole and either the party comes up with some way to prevent/neutralize it next time or V leaves the group. They don't want either of those things.
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Jan 18, 2013 04:20
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CapnAndy posted:I don't think so, just because it's a one-shot trick. Once they do it, V realizes the loophole and either the party comes up with some way to prevent/neutralize it next time or V leaves the group. They don't want either of those things. Youo're probably right. That considered, my best guess is whenever they use them, they'll use them all one right after the other, bam-bam-bam. They have Vaarsuvius for about an hour and when it's done there's nothing he can do about it. e: Somehow I keep forgetting that Vaarsuvius is still gender-ambiguous. He's a he in my head, so... razorrozar fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Jan 18, 2013 |
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Jan 18, 2013 04:36
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Unless they burn it during 'unconsciousness' or something else so that V never even notices her missing time.
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Jan 18, 2013 04:38
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MikeJF posted:Unless they burn it during 'unconsciousness' or something else so that V never even notices her missing time. We don't know how obvious their control might be, in all honesty. It's not entirely inconceivable that V is experiencing some control right now, forcing his/her emotional responses into overdrive so as to weaken the rest of the OotS by V's absence.
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Jan 18, 2013 06:42
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Bigby's Irrepressible Crushing Guilt?
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Jan 18, 2013 06:54
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:We don't know how obvious their control might be, in all honesty. It's not entirely inconceivable that V is experiencing some control right now, forcing his/her emotional responses into overdrive so as to weaken the rest of the OotS by V's absence. Hell, did they even say the individual chunks had to be continuous? A couple seconds here and there to influence vital decisions unconsciously can really add up.
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Jan 18, 2013 06:55
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404GoonNotFound posted:Hell, did they even say the individual chunks had to be continuous? A couple seconds here and there to influence vital decisions unconsciously can really add up. That's a good point, and with Rich's penchant for twists I wouldn't be at all surprised if it happened this way. Of course Rich's penchant for twists also means Belkar's going to die and stay dead because everyone expects him to come back somehow. e: Just had a thought- what if when the possessions activate, assuming they're in blocks and not split up like we mentioned, V just experiences a temporal dislocation so that he's unaware any time passed between the moment of possession and the end of it? razorrozar fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Jan 18, 2013 |
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Jan 18, 2013 06:58
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I went and reread the "V goes evil" arc and something struck me: why exactly has everybody been assuming that the fiends will possess V like a puppet? Not only is that not what "selling your soul to the devil" traditionally means, but the text doesn't hint at that either. Words like 'control' or 'possess' are never used by the fiends. In #633, the process is only generically described as "each one of us will get your soul" and "your soul spends one hour with me" - the latter in particular would seem to suggest V's soul goes to Hell more than anything. More importantly, in #668 the fiends say that the elf's soul was just a side benefit and their main goal was shaking Xykon into action, giving their time to move their pawns, the Linear Guild; also they say "we have a 50-50 chance of ending up with it anyway", and if V goes to hell I don't think that means the fiends will have a perma-Dominate going on to him. Now, it is all but stated that the fiends intend to use the debt to mess with V during the mission. In #656 they say that "if the elf dies here this whole thing was a huge waste of time" (although, in light of the above, it makes at least as much sense if they mean that Xykon wasn't yet pissed off enough), and in #667 they count how much time they got and say it is "more than sufficient for our purposes". So I'd be inclined to guess that the way the fiends can use their debt is "only" by taking V's soul to Hell at the right moment, removing him from the battle equation, not assuming possession of him. What happens to V's body in that time I can't guess - maybe it goes along for the trip, or maybe it stays in a lifeless coma (from which some demonic agent can possess it, although the magical powers would presumably be with V's soul, so it would only be useful for impersonation). Does this sperging sound about right?
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Jan 18, 2013 07:56
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NihilCredo posted:So I'd be inclined to guess that the way the fiends can use their debt is "only" by taking V's soul to Hell at the right moment, removing him from the battle equation, not assuming possession of him. What happens to V's body in that time I can't guess - maybe it goes along for the trip, or maybe it stays in a lifeless coma (from which some demonic agent can possess it, although the magical powers would presumably be with V's soul, so it would only be useful for impersonation). Well, they owned the Soul-Spliced Wizards and bound them to Vaarsuvius, and they were mostly controllable. The way I see it they could either control V likewise or, in your hollowed out scenario, inhabit his body with a more loyal soul. Considering the rule of drama, I'd say V being under direct control of the IFCC as the most nightmarish and interesting scenario, so I think that will be it. Well, it's second to the "minor decisions tweaking" that 404GoonNotFound proposed, which would be a whole different type of horror.
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Jan 18, 2013 11:40
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