OotS #643

[Asmor]

My guess is that he will try to destroy Xykon next (and we all know that he will fail as otherwise the comic would end), not in order to help someone, but as a "justification" for not giving up the power he has.

Why do you think he would fail and that the comic would end?

I think it's vastly more likely that V's going to become the big bad, and part of that would be establishing his power by destroying or subjugating Xykon.

My prediction: V destroys Xykon, sees how close the Snarl is from being unleashed, and decides the only responsible course of action is to conquer the world so that no one else can try and unleash the Snarl.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I don't think that will happen or is even necessary. Durkon & Co is already on the way to Haley.

There's too many opportunities for side tracking there, I think. V can do it in a very short period of time.

Also I don't think wants V wants to see the rest of the party again after he sold his sold to fiends to become more powerful only to see that they succeeded where he failed before.

1) He doesn't have to mention it. S/he already learned that with his/her significant other.

2) One of V's goals was to rescue Haley by him/herself. If anything, finding out that Durkon and co. are on the way to rescue her could prompt him to get there first.

My guess is that he will try to destroy Xykon next (and we all know that he will fail as otherwise the comic would end), not in order to help someone, but as a "justification" for not giving up the power he has.

From a within-storyline PoV, I can see that happening, but not until after Haley is "rescued". (From an outside-of-storyline PoV, V could pwn Xykon so easily we'd end up with a boring story.) I suspect the splice will break (or be given up) before V contronts Xykon.

 

[Derren]

Why do you think he would fail and that the comic would end?

I think it's vastly more likely that V's going to become the big bad, and part of that would be establishing his power by destroying or subjugating Xykon.

My prediction: V destroys Xykon, sees how close the Snarl is from being unleashed, and decides the only responsible course of action is to conquer the world so that no one else can try and unleash the Snarl.

For that Xykon and Redcloak are too well developed. Also we still have the monster which has to be unleashed before the comic ends. Maybe that will stop V from destroying Xykon, I don't know. But I am pretty sure that Xykon will not fall.
And conquering the world? How. He already has only 2 splices left. He can't keep them forever and as soon when they go away Xykon could kill him.

There's too many opportunities for side tracking there, I think. V can do it in a very short period of time.



1) He doesn't have to mention it. S/he already learned that with his/her significant other.

Dark cloak, pointy teeth, radiating evil like a whole undead metropolis combined and able to use forbidden spells? Its very unlikely that V could hide that.

2) One of V's goals was to rescue Haley by him/herself. If anything, finding out that Durkon and co. are on the way to rescue her could prompt him to get there first.

No, Vs goal was to find Haley (or imo rather to penetrate the magical barrier to show his power and not because he cares for her). Also what should he do when he gets to Haley? He can't raise Roy, so magic fails again. He doesn't know that Roys corpse currently is a bone golem.

From a within-storyline PoV, I can see that happening, but not until after Haley is "rescued". (From an outside-of-storyline PoV, V could pwn Xykon so easily we'd end up with a boring story.) I suspect the splice will break (or be given up) before V contronts Xykon.

I don't think the story will switch back and forth between superpower V and the reunited (sans V and Roy) Order. I guess it will be sequential with V confronting Xykon and after the battle (or in the middle of it) we will see how Elan, Durkon, Haley and Belkar are reunited and go on to capture Roys body.

 

[PoeticJustice]

Call me a flip-flopper, but after the last two strips I don't think V will either kill Xykon or become the big bad. Neither serve the story well enough for Rich to pull the trigger on either of these other wise plausible conjectures.

Why are they not "good" enough? We already have at least two similar characters--Redcloak and Miko--who fell from a position of relative grace and can't recover. Adding V to the lot would make sense, but I think there's a bigger payoff for the Giant when he finally introduces a character that successfully overcomes temptation. Further, V is supposed to be a PC. While they occasionally work at odds with the group and disagree over methodology, PCs don't often become major villains.

Second, I don't believe V will have time to kill Xykon before the V loses control of the soul splice. This is good, because the proper way for Xykon to die isn't at the hands of V in a mage-duel, but as a result of the Order's combined efforts. Otherwise the emotional payoff just isn't satisfactory for all the effort put into Xykon.

 

[wingsandsword]

Well, if V has time to think about it, it just underscores how bad of an idea the Splice (and leaving the fleet et al) was.

He (or she, you know what I mean) originally left to be able to research a way to find Haley without interruption. If he'd just stayed around for a little while, Haley would have contacted Durkon (well via the Cleric of Loki they hired) and they could have gone there to reunite the OotS.

If he had not left the fleet, the Black Dragon would have considered him too well defended to attack, so his family would have remained safe.

When V finally trances, he (she, whatever) will have far more than the massacre at the fall of Azure City to relive and reflect upon.

 

[catsclaw227]

Maybe I missed something, but what was with the big pause and "What. Did you. Say?" from V when NPC woman (I can't remember if she had a name) said she was in Greysky city?

Does that city have some kind of scry blocking protection?

 

[freyar]

Seems pretty unlikely to me that V will kill Xykon (try maybe, but will almost certainly lose control of the soul splice too soon). OotS is fundamentally supposed to be Roy's story, and Roy is deeply invested in killing Xykon personally. In as much as the strip is like a simulated D&D game (or not), it makes the most sense for the PCs and the story for Roy to triumph over Xykon as the climax of the campaign. I mean, GMs are supposed to find meaningful goals for their characters and help them achieve those goals, not find meaningful goals and have alternate characters achieve them. This is V's big moment, but it shouldn't overshadow everyone else's.

 

[wingsandsword]

Does that city have some kind of scry blocking protection?

Yeah, you missed a few big plot points.

When Xykon conquered Azure City, he cast an Epic Spell called Cloister. It blocked all non-epic scrying and teleportation spells in the Azure City area. It also enchanted each person in the city to be unscryable even if they leave the city until the spell wears off (after one week per caster level. . .for an epic spell). Haley and Belkar (with Roy's Corpse) fled Azure City to try to escape the effect and ended up in Greysky City.

The frustration of being unable to scry on or otherwise contact Haley was one of the reasons V had his mental breakdown that lead to him leaving the fleet and all that entailed.

 

[catsclaw227]

It also enchanted each person in the city to be unscryable even if they leave the city until the spell wears off (after one week per caster level. . .for an epic spell).

This is the part I forgot about. I remember the Cloister spell and Azure City being blocked off, but I forgot about it affecting people that leave the city.

 

[WalterKovacs]

In general, the idea of V as a big bad is problematic. In trying to maximize the potential plot threads and plot hooks, the best idea would be for V to have some redemption that would let V come back to the party. I'm guessing that means the last soul splice being given up voluntarily and perhaps showing restraint before doing another epic evilgasm moment. Even with V going back with the rest of the Order and possibly getting a nice dose of humility (each of the characters has gotten some sort of character development that helps them work better within the group, whether it's the increased responsibility of Haley and Elan, or Belkar learning to be a bit more covert about the evilness ... so V being a bit more humble would also help them out) there is going to be the debt issue that the fiends will eventually collect. V as a hero that needs to live with the consequences of V's actions (both the soul debt liability, and the actual evil things that were done) is more interesting than another villain.