xkcd

by **phlip** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:37 pm UTC

That gag never gets old.

Never.

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:55 pm UTC

It's good to see V doing something cool without also being an ass/evil at the same time.

by **Naurgul** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:09 pm UTC

This comic needs to stop ending every strip with a cliffhanger. It's driving me crazy!

by **LuNatic** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:36 am UTC

Is it just me, or does that page feel like a bit of a cheap way out? :S

by **Random832** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:19 pm UTC

LuNatic wrote:Is it just me, or does that page feel like a bit of a cheap way out? :S

To be fair, he has been building up to the possibility of MitD doing something helpful for the good guys, and it has been demonstrated to be powerful.

by **phlip** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:36 pm UTC

And besides, this is (or at least is likely to be) a rather major character-defining moment for the mysterious creature... it's only fitting that the circumstances be suitably epic.

by **Moo** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:48 pm UTC

I thought it was quite cool that I assumed all along it was some big scary monster that would be powerful due to physical strength or something; and it seems to have magicked them away instead...

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:54 pm UTC

Well, it's obviously no slouch in the physical department either--remember "Who can hit the softest"?

I'm still trying to think about what it is, exactly, and how much Xykon knows about it. He knows it's powerful, but does he realize to what degree? I think we've discussed the possibility that it is the Snarl before and dismissed it.

by **Yakk** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:43 pm UTC

50-50 that it is a coincidence?

Ie, someone did a scry-and-teleport rescue after V bashed down the epic-level defences.

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:46 pm UTC

Yakk wrote:50-50 that it is a coincidence?

Ie, someone did a scry-and-teleport rescue after V bashed down the epic-level defences.

Hrm. Possibly. Did V bash down the epic-level defenses, though? I thought he just teleported through them, not actually disabling them.

Oh, guys, enough time has passed that Roy would hypothetically be resurrected by now....

by **Will** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:47 pm UTC

Yeah, I'm pretty sure nothing has happened to the cloister spell or any other similar defenses Xykon cast--V's power during the soul splice was simply high enough level to bypass it (the same way Roy could scry on Azure City from the upper plane)

by **Belial** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:27 pm UTC

Sir_Elderberry wrote:I'm still trying to think about what it is, exactly, and how much Xykon knows about it. He knows it's powerful, but does he realize to what degree? I think we've discussed the possibility that it is the Snarl before and dismissed it.

I think it pretty much has to be related to the snarl, at least. Possibly an incarnation or a shard of its consciousness.

by **TaintedDeity** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:09 pm UTC

Apparently the author has said that we will recognise the creature as soon as we see it, not necessarily from D&D, but we will. Basically, it hasn't been made up which makes me think it's not related to the Snarl.

by **Naurgul** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:43 pm UTC

I was going to post the same thing, but then I realised that "you'll recognise it as soon as you see it" could easily be interpreted to mean that it's part of the Snarl.

by **Random832** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:06 am UTC

Yeah - I mean that claw tentacle thingy was pretty distinctive, as far as the art in the comic goes - so if it pulls out one of those everyone who's been following the comic will recognize it immediately.

by **SecondTalon** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:07 pm UTC

On the other hand - of the people who have seen the creature and also the Snarl, none of them have seen fit to mention a connection. The lack-of-mentioning seems to me to fit more in with a mundane monster of some sort that everyone knows the name of so they don't see a reason to actually name it. Given the discussion around it, though, I can only assume that it's some high level beastie in that Xykon doesn't want to use him yet. Incredibly Strong, Magical Powers.... I don't know if attentive as a gnat is indicative of it's species or not. Medium to Large creature....

I dunno.

by **Random832** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:00 pm UTC

SexyTalon wrote:On the other hand - of the people who have seen the creature and also the Snarl,

Who's that?

by **Jorpho** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:10 pm UTC

Random832 wrote:
SexyTalon wrote:On the other hand - of the people who have seen the creature and also the Snarl,

Who's that?

Indeed, only some of the Paladins would have seen the Snarl.

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:53 pm UTC

And, I don't know the circumstances by which Xykon met the MITD, but as far as I know, he's been, well, in the dark for the entire comic. So none of the characters (save, I would guess, Xykon and Redcloak) know what he look slike.

by **Naurgul** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 2:45 pm UTC

He stole it from a circus and the circus bought it from some adventurers travelling in the jungle. So, I guess those adventurers and everyone who went to that particular circus has seen it.

by **SecondTalon** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:06 pm UTC

Yeah, the long and the short of it is that Redcloak and his brother, Right-Eye.. Right-Eye especially, would have recognized the Monster in the Dark as being Snarltastic and/or relating to the Dark One were the MITD related to that deity as well... (I say Right-Eye especially as Right-Eye seems to have spent the most time with him and actually looking at him. Or her. Whichever)

Quick'n'dirty version of MITD : Lived in the jungle(ish? Forest? Swamp and just happened to be on some dry ground? I forget, not that it's necessarily indicative of the MITD's species), captured by game hunters, sold to a circus, Right-Eye and his kids saw the MITD at said circus, Redcloak later met him, even later Xykon shows up and says something to the effect of "Good Lord are you ugly! Come with me, I've got plans" to the Monster, fast-forward to Now.

by **Random832** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:45 pm UTC

SexyTalon wrote:Yeah, the long and the short of it is that Redcloak and his brother, Right-Eye.. Right-Eye especially, would have recognized the Monster in the Dark as being Snarltastic and/or relating to the Dark One were the MITD related to that deity as well... (I say Right-Eye especially as Right-Eye seems to have spent the most time with him and actually looking at him. Or her. Whichever)

What I'm not getting (and this is what I was trying to get at before) is - when did any of them see the snarl? I'm not talking about the rift or the gates, but the snarl itself - the thing that reached through one of the rifts and stabbed someone in that one scene.

by **Naurgul** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:01 pm UTC

It's true that nobody has been shown to see the Snarl and live to tell the tale, but I suppose we can assume that at least Redcloack has studied its nature.

by **SecondTalon** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:56 pm UTC

I presumed that due to the nature of Redcloak and his gaining of knowledge from his God, the Dark One, who has been instructed as to the nature of the Snarl as well as the gates, that Redcloak would be capable of recognizing what's what. I could, however, be mistaken.

As best, though, I figure the MITD is a mobile gateway. But I think that's still putting too much on it. I think it's just a mid-range creature with more physical power than usual, like some sort of djinn maybe.

by **pseudoidiot** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:51 pm UTC

"If I ever see you with more eyes than assholes, I'm going to shove one in the other and give your cloak to that hobgoblin." Is now one of my favorite OotS lines ever. Xykon's so cute when he's angry.

by **McCaber** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:20 pm UTC

So it looks like Roy's really coming back. And in a limo on the Highway from Heaven, no less. But if V's misadventures have an effect on Roy's alignment status, I'm going to be upset.

Also, S. Rogers? Hilarious.

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:22 pm UTC

Hrm. So is Roy's dad...plotting?

by **pseudoidiot** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:28 pm UTC

McCaber wrote:So it looks like Roy's really coming back. And in a limo on the Highway from Heaven, no less. But if V's misadventures have an effect on Roy's alignment status, I'm going to be upset.

Yeah, I wasn't real sure what the implications were of that. If it would somehow affect his alignment, or If they just wanted to inform him, because he's good, and V is a member of his party and he may have enough influence to keep V from sliding any farther, or what.

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 8:51 pm UTC

Well, they gave him a hard time for Belkar's actions, but Roy knew how evil Belkar was. He doesn't know how evil V is or could be. Yet. So, I would hope that it wouldn't count against him.

by **Random832** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:11 pm UTC

If the fiends are able to take control of V at any time (most people on the forums over there believe this to be the case), it could also be for a warning about the present danger this could be for the rest of the party.

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:36 pm UTC

Random832 wrote:If the fiends are able to take control of V at any time (most people on the forums over there believe this to be the case), it could also be for a warning about the present danger this could be for the rest of the party.

I would go back and try and determine their Exact Words, but only one of them is lawful, so it doesn't guarantee anything.

Anyone want to take a bet on how long V spent racking up Frequent Sinner Miles? It doesn't immediately seem to be more than...eh...half an hour, max? Less, probably. Between V teleporting to Xykon and him getting back is about ten minutes, as demonstrated by the Resurrection.

by **Yakk** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:41 pm UTC

She teleported, killed the mama dragon, lost a soul splice, teleported, epic teleported the fleet, teleported, ran out before Roy got resurrected, teleported, lost both soul splices, lost to Xylon, teleported.

... that is a lot of teleporting. I suppose 4 casters, all of whom are reasonably likely to memorise a teleport spell, might have a few up their sleeve.

by **Jesse** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:30 am UTC

Yeah, and it'll only be up to the point where the last Soul Splice was gone, right?

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:38 am UTC

Yakk wrote: I suppose 4 casters, all of whom are reasonably likely to memorise a teleport spell, might have a few up their sleeve.

Don't forget that one was a sorcerer.

by **Jorpho** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:25 am UTC

Ah, of course! It's all been an ingenious plan to have the fiends return in Strip #666, amirite?

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 3:29 am UTC

I just read through 665 again, and caught Elan's "You're invisible!" line. How did I miss that the first time?

by **TaintedDeity** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:43 am UTC

I caught it but quickly brushed it away, it wasn't until you reminded methat I got it.
Good joke

by **Gojoe** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:54 am UTC

I totally did not pick up on that joke until you pointed it out. That is hilarious!

by **McCaber** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:57 pm UTC

So the total debt incurred with V's deal with devils is 44 minutes, 16 seconds. No harm done, right?

(And Jorpho was one strip off. 667 ain't too bad though, it's like right next to evil.)

by **Naurgul** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 5:01 pm UTC

You realise that most likely the demons will not get to torture V in the abyss for that time but instead mind-control him just at the right moment so they can get hold of the gates or something. 44 minutes is a freaking long time if you think about it like that.

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