THE OotS Thread, Part IV.

[LadyTevar]

I said INTEL, not INT.
Big Difference, and a great pun

[Rogue 9]

Anyone else notice how Tarquin skipped guessing "he/she" on Vaarsuvius and went straight to "it?"

[Simon_Jester]

I get the feeling that humans on this continent tend to hate elves.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Spoiler

Also, I love how we didn't even saw hint (like Sabine saying 'mumble mumble') in past strip V got intelligence, that decades old info Sabine had was accurate, or that V correctly calculated power points despite knowing little about psionics and missing part of the spells Laurin cast.

But we get one panel flashback, so it's totally not retcon/asspull!

It was neither a retcon nor an asspull; it was a joke.

Anyone else notice how Tarquin skipped guessing "he/she" on Vaarsuvius and went straight to "it?"

Yes, actually. I was wondering if that was just convenience on Tarquin's part or hostility towards elves.

[Irbis]

Previously, Laurin was never really directly threatened

I meant move the caster fight to desert scenes, have T board the Mechane and immediately meet whatever fate awaits him in 2-3 strips. That way you could skip half of today's page (like emergency maneuvers for one), over last pages you could lose a few more with exact same plot and have less accusations of dragging on.

And yes, I am sure rogue with zero psionic knowledge and V with untrained psionic knowledge* had perfect overview of Laurin's capabilities, it's not like it was established before Xykon and Redcloak needed weeks of research to even establish psions exist and weeks more to actually find one

*read, both had access to DC 10 psionic knowledge. Trivial answers, not pinpointing such stuff like character level and power point count.

It was neither a retcon nor an asspull; it was a joke.

A joke with no setup whatsoever. Burlew did jokes like this one before, and they always had setup.

Was it Agatha Christie that stated worst error and lack of decency towards his readers a writer can have is using pieces he suddenly pulled out of his sleeve?

[Grumman]

It was neither a retcon nor an asspull; it was a joke.

A joke with no setup whatsoever. Burlew did jokes like this one before, and they always had setup.

We knew V and Sabine watched Tarquin kill Sabine's boyfriend. We knew Sabine knew she could not return and that V would.

Given this, the idea that Sabine would tell V anything that might help V kill Tarquin isn't unexpected. And while you could argue it's a case of infinite monkeys on infinite keyboards, they did correctly guess that this would happen on another forum I frequent.

[Serafina]

Honestly, Sabine working against Tarquin is a much more important plot point than a one-off joke about the rarity of psionics.
Plus, neither Sabine nor V need more intricate knowledge than "Psionics uses limited resources and are not Vancian", because V's plan relied upon Laurin being almost bottomed out. No detailed knowledge of power points or psionic powers necessary.

[Simon_Jester]

Previously, Laurin was never really directly threatened

I meant move the caster fight to desert scenes, have T board the Mechane and immediately meet whatever fate awaits him in 2-3 strips. That way you could skip half of today's page (like emergency maneuvers for one), over last pages you could lose a few more with exact same plot and have less accusations of dragging on.

And yes, I am sure rogue with zero psionic knowledge and V with untrained psionic knowledge* had perfect overview of Laurin's capabilities, it's not like it was established before Xykon and Redcloak needed weeks of research to even establish psions exist and weeks more to actually find one

*read, both had access to DC 10 psionic knowledge. Trivial answers, not pinpointing such stuff like character level and power point count.

Were I DM, I might well rule that V's exceptional intelligence and long life spent reading books might give the elf a bit of a bonus to such a DC check. That notwithstanding, V has an estimate of her level from Sabine, who may well be basing that estimate just by knowing what level other characters in Tarquin's party are. This is not enough to give an exact power point count, but it may let V estimate roughly how much hard work Laurin could do. And it seems unreasonable to assume that a high level wizard is entirely ignorant of such things.

And sure, Xykon and Redcloak supposedly had to do research to find out if psions exist in the campaign... and yet Roy was being read "The Little Psion That Could" as a bedtime story. I don't think the contradiction can be resolved except by "the author tells jokes sometimes."

[Rogue 9]

It's also worth pointing out that Xykon's a dumbass and Redcloak has been absorbed in leading goblins and the Plan since he was a teenager. Neither one has any particular reason to know about psions if they never had one in their immediate sphere of influence. Meanwhile, V is a well-schooled wizard and Sabine did have a psion in her immediate sphere of influence, namely Laurin herself. It isn't all that unbelievable.

[FaxModem1]

So, is Tarquin still attached to the ship or were they able to rock him off the boat?

[Kuja]

Still hanging on, although that smack from V's spell knocked the dagger out of his hand. We never saw him pick up his discarded whip either, so he might be weaponless.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Considering how he so casually broke Hayley's arm, he likely has Improved Unarmed Strike. So he's still able to do damage.

As far as V goes, it doesn't take detailed knowledge of power points to figure that Lauren was mostly spent. A Psion is a primary caster, like a Wizard or a Sorcerer. They'd probably be in a similar ballpark to other primary casters. V hadn't cast a ton of spells, whereas Lauren had been manifesting with reckless abandon. Even if Lauren still would have had PPs left after V ran out of spells she'd be nearly tapped and surrounded by hostiles.

[Rogue 9]

They did make some pretty interesting tactical choices, though. Like not playing rocket tag. Laurin used disintegrate to blast out of the resilient sphere rather than on V, while V employed dimensional anchor rather than her favorite ray-targeted spell. Neither one is big on the hit points department; barring exacting preparations the first real high-damage spell to hit either would have been the end.

[Lord of the Abyss]

And sure, Xykon and Redcloak supposedly had to do research to find out if psions exist in the campaign... and yet Roy was being read "The Little Psion That Could" as a bedtime story. I don't think the contradiction can be resolved except by "the author tells jokes sometimes."

That's the real reason of course. But for an in-universe explanation, they might be rare enough to be thought a myth by most people.

[Raesene]

936 is up!

Terrible ending...

He's right...
but will be back, I'm sure

[Crazedwraith]

Haley is my new favourite person.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Spoiler

"And you're not the real villain."

Ouch! Now that's one of the most wounding things Elan could have said. Just look at Tarquin's eyes, that was a definite hit.

[Kuja]

Don't worry. You'll live.
Spoiler

[Jub]

Spoiler

The arc ran on a tad long, but that was a good ending for it.

[Simon_Jester]

Spoiler

I like this strip both because it (by all appearances) wraps up the Elan/Tarquin plotline, and because it leaves Tarquin looking like a completely disconnected fool. He started out as a deconstructor of fantasy stories, bending everything to his will by knowing how the story is supposed to go. At the end, he's literally left in the dust after being totally rejected and denied the chance to make this story go the way he wants. He's very, very thoroughly defeated.

[Ralin]

No other way to put it.

Ice burn.

[Gaidin]

Spoiler

Is it just me or did Tarquin out-story his own damn self? By killing Nale he set Elan up to not be a twin and thus be in no position to need to pull him up? Never minding the fact that he's not the real villain, that's always been true.

[LadyTevar]

Kuja? Where did that clip come from?

As for Tarquin's questions about "Where is the Growth?" I think we saw plenty of growth for Elan.

[Isolder74]

That was quite a good take that dished out to Tarquin. However if he continues to follow the course he is on Tarquin is going to end up not being defeated by his son like he wants to happen but to have the real villian just kill him for just the fun of it.

[Crazedwraith]

Kuja? Where did that clip come from?

As for Tarquin's questions about "Where is the Growth?" I think we saw plenty of growth for Elan.

Yeah, its subtle repeat of Evil does not understand good from the referenced scenario which is cool.