THE OotS Thread, Part IV.

[Raesene]

Maybe Belkar will become a vampire, too ? This time there's no Malack around to hold Durkula back.

[Simon_Jester]

Very possible.

Although honestly, so far there's not much evidence Durkula even knows Belkar is there...

[Raesene]

996 is up

Not what I expected

[Crazedwraith]

Indeed. I hope... Spoiler

that is not Belkar's death. It'd be even suckier than Nale's if it was

[Raesene]

997 is up

Definitely not what I expected!

[Ahriman238]

Makes sense if the Snarl is going to get loose, though.

[FaxModem1]

Whew boy, let's assume worst comes to worst, what happens to all the people of the planet when it goes boom? Do they survive in the various afterlives, or do they just stop existing all together?

If so, is Durkula's agenda to stop this action, at all costs?

[Bedlam]

Whew boy, let's assume worst comes to worst, what happens to all the people of the planet when it goes boom? Do they survive in the various afterlives, or do they just stop existing all together?

If so, is Durkula's agenda to stop this action, at all costs?

It's interesting that he's working for a goddess of death, she might want the world to end to get lots of souls or that might be a bad thing for her, her home might get overwhelmed. Or if everyone just goes poof, she might be protesting about loosing a steady flow of souls.

[Napoleon the Clown]

If everyone dies at once, that means she won't be having even more people die in the future. Long-term loss.

[AniThyng]

Not if she's angling for a better deal in world 3.0

[Crazedwraith]

If this word is ended maybe they'll all end up on the world inside the snarl?

[Venator]

From how I understand the cosmology of OOTS, it's just the Snarl that destroys souls - so the Gods destroying the world would mean that they claim all the souls currently on it. So, short-term gain and net loss for Hel.

We're definitely missing a piece of the puzzle though - if the Gods want to create World 3.0, if they have designs on the Snarl-world, or if they even know that there IS a Snarl-world.

[Ahriman238]

Also, terribly sloppy of Durkula to throw an adventurer out a window and just presume him dead. Clearly he hasn't been paying all that much attention to Durkon's memories.

[Sinewmire]

Also, terribly sloppy of Durkula to throw an adventurer out a window and just presume him dead. Clearly he hasn't been paying all that much attention to Durkon's memories.

Displaying that curious inability to link together memories and learn something new?

[Venator]

Also, terribly sloppy of Durkula to throw an adventurer out a window and just presume him dead. Clearly he hasn't been paying all that much attention to Durkon's memories.

Displaying that curious inability to link together memories and learn something new?

Is that anything familiar to Vampire or Undead lore in D&D - problems with association/lateral thinking? Or is Durkula just overconfident/an idiot?

[Simon_Jester]

Whew boy, let's assume worst comes to worst, what happens to all the people of the planet when it goes boom? Do they survive in the various afterlives, or do they just stop existing all together?

If so, is Durkula's agenda to stop this action, at all costs?

It's interesting that he's working for a goddess of death, she might want the world to end to get lots of souls or that might be a bad thing for her, her home might get overwhelmed. Or if everyone just goes poof, she might be protesting about loosing a steady flow of souls.

Presumably the gods would create a new world afterward- the gods' Plan B is apparently to unmake the world and recreate it to (once again) imprison the Snarl.

Hel really shouldn't have much of a dog in this fight. If anything, it would be to her advantage- because if the gods simply 'delete' the world, then people would not be dying in battle or the like. So assuming that souls still go to the afterlife, any followers of the Northern Gods would end up in her afterlife.

Also, terribly sloppy of Durkula to throw an adventurer out a window and just presume him dead. Clearly he hasn't been paying all that much attention to Durkon's memories.

Displaying that curious inability to link together memories and learn something new?

Hm, yes. Now that you mention it, the vampires we've observed DO show a problem with being unable to learn from experiences by acting in fundamentally different ways. They're obviously good actors (or Durkula's entire plan would have failed dozens of strips ago), but they don't seem to change or evolve in any meaningful way over time.

That said, I'm not sure this is so much a case where Durkula would benefit from Durkon's memories, unless maybe Belkar can somehow use the Ring of Jumping or another magic item to avoid death. Canonically, the Jump skill can reduce falling damage, but not by nearly enough to significantly reduce the 70 or so points of damage Belkar will take from the fall.

And, hm. Tactically, throwing Belkar off the cliff at least gets him out of the action for a substantial length of time, because just the act of climbing back up to the meeting-place would take considerable time. Even if Belkar doesn't die, and death is a plausible outcome, he's out of the way, arguably more so than he would be if he were killed somewhere in the meeting-place where a high level cleric might happen upon his body and Raised him.

[Belkar was bitten by a giant wolf-monster a couple of times before falling, plus any damage he took from the Protection from Evil item. 70 damage on top of that is certainly a credible threat with a good chance of killing him]

[Sinewmire]

That said, I'm not sure this is so much a case where Durkula would benefit from Durkon's memories, unless maybe Belkar can somehow use the Ring of Jumping or another magic item to avoid death. Canonically, the Jump skill can reduce falling damage, but not by nearly enough to significantly reduce the 70 or so points of damage Belkar will take from the fall.

I meant Durkula's own memories. How many times has he thrown Belkar off the airship, and now he's doing it again and just assuming he's dead?

[Venator]

That said, I'm not sure this is so much a case where Durkula would benefit from Durkon's memories, unless maybe Belkar can somehow use the Ring of Jumping or another magic item to avoid death. Canonically, the Jump skill can reduce falling damage, but not by nearly enough to significantly reduce the 70 or so points of damage Belkar will take from the fall.

I meant Durkula's own memories. How many times has he thrown Belkar off the airship, and now he's doing it again and just assuming he's dead?

On the airship there were a lot of people around to see him fall, and a Wizard handy to do the actual rescuing. Out here Durkula probably thinks that he got off unobserved (or actually did so). Or, he just wanted to keep him out of action for enough rounds to disrupt the Godsmoot somehow.

[FaxModem1]

Here's an odd question, if this was an actual RPG tabletop game, what would Durkon's player be doing for all of this? Would he be making constant will saves against the DM's playing of his character, rolling up as the bodyguard that is now with the party, or just sitting by with a bag of chips watching?

[Mr Bean]

Here's an odd question, if this was an actual RPG tabletop game, what would Durkon's player be doing for all of this? Would he be making constant will saves against the DM's playing of his character, rolling up as the bodyguard that is now with the party, or just sitting by with a bag of chips watching?

Watching or if trusted playing his character as if nothing has happened. It's a classic case of player trust to hand a player a small card and inform him that his or her character is currently unconscious in a box and they are currently playing a doppelganger with some objective to get from the party bonus XP if the party never figures it out and of course the doppelganger can talk and move and think like you but can't do X,Y,Z

[Raesene]

998 is up

updated again, that was quick

[Raesene]

998 is up

updated again, that was quick

Spoiler

Am I the only one who thinks that Veldrina and Wrecan might become replacements for Belkar and Durkon ?

[Simon_Jester]

That... is an alarmingly plausible speculation, Raesene.

Although with regards to Wrecan it's problematic because he's... thematically speaking not an interestingly different character. He's a lot like Roy- the designated driver, only for a smaller team.

[Crazedwraith]

998 is up

updated again, that was quick

Spoiler

Am I the only one who thinks that Veldrina and Wrecan might become replacements for Belkar and Durkon ?

Spoiler

Hmm. I'd rather see O-Chul and Lien reappear and take their roles. Even if they aren't as good a match. Back when Durkon died. O-Chuul was my bet for a replacement. And weren't they supposed to be heading for the northern gate?

[Raesene]

999 is up

and counting...