OotS #462

[dmccoy1693]

From a strictly game-related POV, I wonder how the 'PC's' are going to react to all this going on outside of their influence. I understand that it's not entirely right to compare OOtS to a actual game, but there are precedents, so I'll go ahead and do so.

I tend to think of OotS as actually three games going on at the same time. Each in the same world, each with the same DM, just on different nights and occassionally the DM saying, "Ok, Group A and B are meeting both A's and B's nights for the next 3 weeks while the big battlescene is going on. C is not going to be meeting at all while some of the group is on vacation and so forth," where A is the OotS, B is Xykon, Redcloak, and the MitD and C is the Linear Guild.

So something like Miko destroying the gate is perfect to make group B be special as they witness the great earthshattering event and change plot direction first hand.

I also see Miko as a major GM wildcard to railroad the plot/screw with any or all of the players, etc.

 

[Pbartender]

As someone mentioned in the previous thread...

I wonder if Miko realizes that she is now guilty of "weakening the fabric of the universe by destroying the magical gate located in" Azure City*... Precisely the crime, "for which the only possible sentence is death", that she was originally tracking down the Order of the Stick for.



* Assuming, of course, that smashing the gem actually destroys the gate... It might not.

 

[Random Axe]

The events in this panel makes the entire story arc meaningless.

The heroes didn't resolve the action. That's a huge 'no no' in stories of any sort, whether literature or gaming. The PC's were made to stand by and watch the issue be resolved by NPCs. The PC's contribution has been negligible. Ultimately, the whole battle out there (that they lost) is meaningless, and was rendered even more meaningless.

What makes you think this is a "resolution"? No the PC's haven't "resolved" the action -- YET. And neither did Miko. This is not a story resolution by any stretch. This is called a complication. If you are thinking about this in literative story terms, this is a "plot point".

Nothing to do with climaxes or resolutions.

 

[dmccoy1693]

* Assuming, of course, that smashing the gem actually destroys the gate... It might not.

The gem is the gate.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Ah, I liked the strip.
And I liked Xykon and Redcloak when they believed they had failed. Xykons "luckily-not-last-words" sounded as if he and Redcloak were really close and just not two evil masterminds with similar goals...

 

[freyar]

I tend to think of Redcloak as a very trusted minion. _Why_ a power-mad CE lich trusts him is another question (maybe answered in the new book). And _why_ Redcloak doesn't just break the phylactery when he clearly gets fed up with Xykon and seems ready to take over is also.

 

[Nail]

Eh.

This was one of the expected outcomes, given #461.......


And it does give the members of the OotS time time recover, raise Roy, and level-up some before they have their final showdown with Xykon.

I mean, COME ON, you all know that the OotS didn't stand a chance against Xykon + Redcloak, right? They need to be higher level!

 

[wolff96]

I'm not sure Azure City is going bye-bye. (And if it is, that's a bonus -- most of the paladin army is dead, mostly just hobgoblins left to kill.)

Still, what caused the destruction of the Redmountain Gate was Elan hitting the "Self-Destruct Rune" on the DUNGEON.

Remember that the gates help to seal the Snarl's prison -- they aren't inherently powerful unless someone like Xykon starts draining the Snarl's power through them. I would love to see the Snarl reach out and end Miko (or even Soon!) through the weakened fabric of reality....

In addition, the Azure City gate is really, really small compared to the Redmountain Gate. So if it took the huge gate in the throne room to make the moutain blow up, how much bang could a fist-sized gate have? Even if it *IS* the source of the explosion, which I don't think is the case.

 

[Slife]

The gem is the gate.

The what?

 

[Pbartender]

The gem is the gate.

No it's not.

"...to the smallest breach, in the skies above Azure City. It was so tiny that Dorukan and Lirian were capable of using a singel gemstone to seal it."

So the gate is inside the gem, but is not the gem itself. What will be the result of Miko breaking the seal? Tune in Friday to find out!