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What if it's a misdirect? Look again at the art in the last few panels; the warp field effect is coming from the left of Durkon. His reaction to Redcloak casting an instant-kill spell isn't outraged shock, it's confusion ("not me..? what is he casting it on?") then horror ("himself?!") If it's a misdirect: Redcloak imploded himself so he could talk to TDO directly. This was already setup earlier in the conversation when they talked about how Redcloak had never had a chat with TDO. There's a high-level cleric right there ready to resurrect him.
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Aug 3, 2020 23:30
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 17:40 |
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The Chad Jihad posted:edit: I can't imagine Redcloak would leave Durkon in a state to be resurrected but it also seems weird for Durkon to exit the comic at this point so I can't begin to really guess what happens next Well, here's the potential plays here: 1. Redcloak implodes himself in a play to talk to The Dark One. Would be a surprising misdirect and unlikely. 2. Redcloak is imploding someone we don't see. Possibly he detected an invisible person, or he's imploding the table, or whatever. Would also be a misdirect. 3. Durkon implodes and dies. Disappointing, and retreads a plot point we've already done twice over with other clerics (and is also directly referenced in this same page). IMO unlikely. 4. Durkon succeeds at his Fortitude save, the two fight for a while before Minrah (or the Order) swoops in to grab him and abscond. The League of Evil is now aware that the Order is here and is on guard. 4 seems like the most likely.
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Aug 4, 2020 00:15
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I don't think it's particularly insane theorycrafting, on a cliffhanger where the question is seemingly obviously "Is Durkon about to die next page?", to wonder whether the question is actually "Is Durkon being targeted?" given Burlew's habit of occasionally playing with narrative setups.
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Aug 4, 2020 02:07
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One line from that page that stands out to me in light of today's page and Redcloak's reaction: "But who cares about equal, anyway? If I hurt you worse than you hurt me, good. That means I win."
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Aug 4, 2020 03:18
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Perhaps there's an intentional reason TDO isn't talking with Redcloak. Some part of the plan that it's important for Redcloak to not know about, or something like that.
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Aug 4, 2020 23:55
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1. Dramatic effect 2. I imagine part of the process of resisting a spell via a successful save is actually resisting the spell's effects instead of having it simply wash off you
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Aug 6, 2020 15:53
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I really think going "Redcloak is targeting someone off-panel" or "Redcloak is targeting himself", or "Redcloak is casting it on Durkon, but isn't trying to kill Durkon" are grasping at straws. He's targeting Durkon and intends to kill Durkon. I mean... SKULL.GIF posted:I don't think it's particularly insane theorycrafting, on a cliffhanger where the question is seemingly obviously "Is Durkon about to die next page?", to wonder whether the question is actually "Is Durkon being targeted?" given Burlew's habit of occasionally playing with narrative setups. Either it's "Redcloak is imploding Durkon and he's going to Fort save the implosion" or "We're being screwed with" The former is super obvious to any savvy reader, and we know Burlew doesn't like "super obvious"...
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Aug 7, 2020 05:38
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If you can find some way to read Start of Darkness I really recommend it. It's pretty vital to Redcloak's character.
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Aug 11, 2020 16:09
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Ponsonby Britt posted:I never noticed before that Julia's line of "My life never ceases finding new and exciting ways to disappoint" is something that Roy has said, word for word. I think also Eugene said it at some point too? That's a nice subtle bit of Greenhilt family characterization. Roy: https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0234.html and I can't remember if/where Eugene said it.
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Aug 13, 2020 17:55
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Regalingualius posted:I’m wondering if there’s going to be some breaking point where someone serving under Xykon decides that potentially dying to him would be preferable to the risk of him not being able to control the Snarl for his “become king of the world” plan. Even odds it's Greyview. Dog's already ready to suffer and die anyway.
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Aug 13, 2020 18:48
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Redcloak is still doing that thing where he catches himself referring to himself and instead correcting to "we goblins" etc. Surprising the dwarves haven't picked up on that yet given how much insight they're showing into his character.
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Aug 24, 2020 14:05
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I wonder if TDO not speaking to Redcloak isn't related to what the dwarves are criticizing him about re: not caring as much about the goblins as he cares about himself/his goals.
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Aug 24, 2020 14:24
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ultrafilter posted:He killed a demonic cockroach, not a person. They're literally embodiments of evil. Do they even "die" in a conventional sense? I thought they just get sent back to their plane. The Chad Jihad posted:They also break the 4th wall constantly, I dont have the author commentary for that strip but I wonder if it was more a wink to those fans who were sick of them and not a statement of intent They don't show up again after that strip, right?
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Aug 24, 2020 16:35
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For some reason lately when reading Redcloak in the comic, I'm reminded a lot of Miko, and particularly Soon's final lines to Miko.
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Aug 24, 2020 23:55
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Mniot posted:If Redcloak gets stripped of class powers because The Dark One doesn't approve of his behavior (attacking someone who offers to broker a peace deal), I will be pretty disappointed in Rich. Hold up, slow your roll. (I agree with you that I would be disappointed in Redcloak receiving a similar fate to Miko.) What I was trying to bring up, what reminded me of Miko, was the total dedication to their cause and (less absolute in Redcloak's case) an unwillingness to admit that there could be alternate interpretations/paths to that outcome. That led to Miko very nearly loving everything up by destroying the seal on the Azure City Rift. Given the past few pages, and given Start of Darkness, I think Redcloak is receiving a long, slow setup here to eventually redeem himself / his history. That's the other thing that reminded me of Miko: Soon's final words towards Miko, "Redemption is a rare and special thing, after all. It is not for everyone." It would be suitably Burlew-ian for Redcloak to be the one to walk a paladin-style path of redemption (though, again, not necessarily with the losing-of-class-powers and all that). The other thing that makes me suspect this is the setup is what another goon brought up: What Xykon is to Roy, I think Redcloak will be to Durkon. We've already seen that Durkon successfully turned the vampire Good (temporarily), and that he tried to do the same with Malack (and with Hilgya, in different ways). What's Redcloak's problem? That Goblins are always Evil. How do you solve that problem? Make Goblins not always Evil. What's a good first step? Why, how about starting with the High Priest of the god of the Goblins...?
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Aug 25, 2020 02:31
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Johnny Aztec posted:46 new posts and no new strip? This is certainly an Evil act. The comic has been on an unofficial Monday schedule for awhile now.
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Aug 26, 2020 18:14
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jng2058 posted:Jesus, I hope Rich is okay. Jokes aside I think yesterday was the first time we haven't gotten a Monday update in a couple months?
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Sep 1, 2020 17:16
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The Chad Jihad posted:For some reason I'm foreseeing a new development that interrupts the brawl with a temporary truce/mutual retreat but I cant decide what it would be Snarl breaking through like in the desert.
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Sep 11, 2020 19:42
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Isn't the paladins' overlook like right underneath where they're fighting at? Minrah shouting and crashing into the ground, then the sounds of fighting and spellcasting should tip the Order off that something's going on, I fully expect Roy and co. to show up within the next two pages.
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Sep 11, 2020 20:22
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Cup Runneth Over posted:This is 1000% when they realize that the MitD has been painting doors they haven't cleared. They will argue about whether or not it repopulated for a while before Redcloak will come up with a reason why it couldn't have, and they will either discipline the monster assuming it was just dumb or realize that it can't be trusted and get rid of it. It might use its "escape" power again to avoid being killed and join up with the good guys, eventually. This is probably not where they have their climactic showdown with Xykon because too much is still unresolved. However, whether this is where Xykon finds the gate, or he finds it later on, he will use his possession of it to threaten the protagonists, only for them to point out that the gate is no actual threat to them since Redcloak is just planning to teleport it to another plane as a bargaining chip for his god. Then Xykon will turn on Redcloak, realizing he was being used all along, at the least opportune time for the both of them. This resolution neglects the role of the IFCC.
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Oct 5, 2020 21:51
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So I'm wondering about that Superb Dispelling that Xykon declined to use earlier in this encounter. He probably won't use it on Greyview, but if the Order shows up he's definitely going to switch all their magical effects off. There's precedent in the comic too (Durkula's coven shutting down the party with Dispel). But what would Superb do that a barrage of regular/greater Dispels couldn't do? It's going to have to do something otherwise there's no real narrative reason for Xykon to have it (at least, compared to just regularly dispelling) and have this Chekhov's gun primed in this encounter.
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Oct 20, 2020 17:19
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Gwyneth Palpate posted:It has a +40 to the dispel roll. The target you have to hit is 11 + the spell caster's level, so it gives him a really, really good chance of dispelling anything. Cf. regular dispel at +10 and greater dispel at +20. Right. Is there a hitherto-existing magical effect that requires that much of a boost to the roll to dispel? I can't think of anything and using it to switch off Durkon's Mass Death Ward seems too simple.
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Oct 20, 2020 17:43
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Could Bloodfeast's Baleful Polymorph be undone by Superb Dispelling?
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Oct 24, 2020 04:44
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To get to the Gate you have to go through all of the doors. Feat of Strength. Haley disabling the "trap" here will prevent them from finding the Gate.
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Nov 17, 2020 20:49
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The line about "suboptimal" INT comes from that one page with the Mind Flayer preferring Roy over V but I doubt Roy has more than 18 (or 20, given V being an Elf) INT.
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Nov 28, 2020 03:13
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On a similar note, the combat scenes in the past two books have been fantastic and I'm looking forward to more fighting in the current book.
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Nov 30, 2020 00:42
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Durkon still has one Sending left -- he was going to use it for Redcloak, but instead decided to go to him directly. That spell's going to be important at some point.
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Dec 1, 2020 05:29
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The Chad Jihad posted:Yeah, I've got my money on them opening the door and not seeing the party despite seemingly being three feet away due to whatever the hell the trap is So kinda an inverse of the Girard illusion? Instead of them thinking they were there, but they weren't, they're actually there, but they don't know it.
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Dec 4, 2020 15:10
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Cup Runneth Over posted:That's why it's perfect. V resolves their quest to become the ultimate wizard and wield unimaginable power capable of solving any problem... by turning off all the magic so that the fighter can smack the bad guys, thus saving the world. This would also tie into Roy's personal arc about choosing Fighter College over following his father as a wizard.
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Dec 6, 2020 03:24
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No claws, though.
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Dec 21, 2020 03:12
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I was rereading the 2020 strips (there's only about 30 of them... the final book is going to take years to finish) and a few panels jumped out to me. Final row of 1198 and first panel of 1199. Elan's response was delivered as a throwaway joke but I'm almost certain it's actually foreshadowing.
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Jan 2, 2021 20:12
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PMush Perfect posted:... Two panels for Aarindarius. https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0630.html https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0634.html
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Jan 26, 2021 23:19
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This feels like it's setting up for a GM railroading joke. The party is consciously not exploring deeper down in the secret dungeon that they discovered! They'll just sit there until the "final boss" comes back and then ambush him way ahead of schedule. How do you get the party back on track? Send your superpowered NPC to ambush them / lead them back to Lien/O'Chul.
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Jan 27, 2021 21:47
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Whybird posted:Can anyone make out what the drawings above the beanbag are? One looks like a dragon but the other two could be anything. 500% zoom, probably not getting any better than this unless someone has the original file:  The leftmost drawing looks almost like the giant spiky blob is watering a potted plant. I can't make out at all what the bottom drawing is other than that it's two separate figures (one green, one purple).
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Feb 8, 2021 16:03
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ikanreed posted:The two invisible voices: her left and right side, maybe? ultrafilter posted:I'm going with "minion". Whatever it is, Orange is physically separate from Green: https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1189.html
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Feb 19, 2021 18:07
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Cup Runneth Over posted:why they really fell out. Almost certainly the real reason's going to be "What do we do with the Snarl?"
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Feb 22, 2021 06:22
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Hell, I'd be willing to bet that by the end of the comic we'll have seen every member of the Scribble, in one form or another, in the main comic. We've already got Soon's force-ghost, Girard's illusion and skeleton, and now half of Serini. There's that dangling plot thread from Start of Darkness plus whatever really happened to Kraagor which is highly likely to be tied to the mystery of the Snarl.
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Feb 23, 2021 16:23
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I have a feeling the very next page will be the reveal of Serini's orange-bubbled friend, who is highly likely to be a monster. I also have a feeling that Serini is going to be amenable to the goblins' plight and TDO's plan, if not necessarily Redcloak's way of going about it.
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Feb 25, 2021 16:20
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karmicknight posted:O-Chul on this page is simply explaining his relationship with the Monster in the Dark. By treating the monster like a person he extended it a kindness that cost himself nothing, but gave the monster so much. This is paralleled with Serini's interactions with the trolls to establish that Serini is not evil. Honestly this is a theme that's popped up repeatedly throughout the comic, both in the positive, the negative, and the mirror:
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Feb 26, 2021 05:23
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 17:40 |
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There are loads of stories with epic wizard/sorcerer fights, but we rarely get to see epic rogue fights. I'm pumped.
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Mar 17, 2021 15:25
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