The way the phylactery works is that as long as it's intact, the lich (Xykon) is essentially immortal - he'll (over time) re-grow his skeletal body from the phylactery. But if the phylactery gets destroyed and the lich is killed, then he's straight up dead. Redcloak keeping the phylactery gives him the option of destroying it at any time that seems convenient.
The way the phylactery works is that as long as it's intact, the lich (Xykon) is essentially immortal - he'll (over time) re-grow his skeletal body from the phylactery. But if the phylactery gets destroyed and the lich is killed, then he's straight up dead. Redcloak keeping the phylactery gives him the option of destroying it at any time that seems convenient.
Thanks for the explanation. So this should also not cause any problems for him if he fights them now.
Spoiler:
So my guess would also be that the LG gets in the way and the OotS slips away while they and Xykon duke it out.
wonderpug wrote:Holy shit. Someone explain 886 to me please!
edit: OHHHHHHH
Spoiler:
Wait, did the runes activate a trap?
Oh, I think I get it. They're all living an illusion. There was no Xykon, no Vee, and Belkar didn't "die". They *did* hit a rune trap.
Yup
Spoiler:
Redcloak's patch is on the wrong eye, I read the phylactery appearance is outdated and based on the last design the Order saw, and even funnier, real Xykon never remembers Roy's name.
Big stuff, and I suspect these are the last few panels in book 5. In fact, the current one might well be the end of the book, though I think there might be one or two more. This is already the largest book in the series so far.
I am starting to think this book will end at strip 1000, unless he wants to pull a cliffhanger on us.
Spoiler:
Either V pops up and saves the day (sandstorm?) or they escape through the portal. There is no other resolution that I can think of. I'm sure I will be surprised... again.
My game FAQs | Playing: She Will Punish Them, Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, The Outer Worlds
I agree having V save the day or escaping through the portal seem like logical next steps... which is why we'll probably be thrown some other hard to predict curve ball. How much is Tarquin's current meddling agreeing or disagreeing with how the three arch fiends wanted this to play out? If they don't like what Tarquin is doing, perhaps they will be the ones to jump in?
Seems like something has to happen with that portal, though, if only just to give the heroes a chance to explore it and uncover more about The Ultimate Plot. That would be a good cliffhanger, too. Have some big battle in the current situation, daring escape... and then see something crazy on the other side as the cliffhanger.
I'll go with a combo prediction. V has to rejoin the party somehow, so I'll say the archfiends and V AND Nale's girlfriend all jump into the battle right now, things still go horribly wrong for our plucky heroes, and they have to escape through the portal.
Going through the portal would presumably leave at least Elan and Haley behind (not sure how they could plausibly get to the portal through the army. I suppose V could show up and go through the portal with Roy, Belkar, and Durkon - that would almost have to happen, as I can't see them hacking portal shenanigans without some arcane magic. Elan and Haley would then have a side adventure rescuing her father. Though I'd be a bit surprised if Rich split the party for yet another extended narrative, though thinking it out it is plausible.
My guess is that Elan does something heroic (challenge his dad to a duel?) that convinces him to call off his army.
Nah, that would be non-heroic and anti-climactic, which are two things that Elan is steadfastly opposed to. More likely is that he would either challenge the father to a duel, or would agree to accept his help in going after Girard's gate in exchange for calling off the army.
It's more like Hailey raised a point about Elan doesn't NEED daddy's help and killing off the rest of the party to make Elan the leader would constitute help. (And who's to say Roy will survive the fight between now and then?)
Either that or... the UBG, red cloak, and the rest, decided to come back for something.
My game FAQs | Playing: She Will Punish Them, Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, The Outer Worlds
What was V's secret meaning about Xykon being chilly? What did the gal do in the last panel? What class is she? And for that matter, what class is the guy in blue?
What was V's secret meaning about Xykon being chilly? What did the gal do in the last panel? What class is she? And for that matter, what class is the guy in blue?
Spoiler:
Not sure. Again, not sure. Looks like a scream of some kind.... Though I don't know why Tarquin isn't affected? I'm guessing mage. Isn't Horrid Wilting the awesome replacement for Fire ball... same kind of damage, but only targets enemies?
Edit:
Spoiler:
Oh, and I'm assuming that the gal is a cleric of some kind, based on the "healing" comment. Also, didn't she do some auguring earlier?
Black Lives Matter
Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
it looks like a mass version of whatever she did in 925 and 927, which is also beyond my D&D knowledge
Spoiler:
I don't think it's that easy... It looks like he's opted on a certain "look" to represent her spells. If I had to guess, I'd say that 927 is Hold Person. As for 925, that could be anything. I'm not sure how much it damaged Haley. It could mostly have been to neutralize her flying spell.
In 928 she definitely appears to be yelling. And most of them are covering their ears.
Edit: Dammit... now you got me wondering.
Just looked up cleric spells. She could be using one of the words (e.g. Word of Chaos). Of course, she also could be dual-classed. Tarquin and his cronies clearly have the levels for that.
Black Lives Matter
Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
What was V's secret meaning about Xykon being chilly? What did the gal do in the last panel? What class is she? And for that matter, what class is the guy in blue?
Spoiler:
The yellow caster (Laurin) is a psion. The other caster that popped out with a contingency is Miron. The bad guy fighter dude is Tarquin who is also Elan's father. He is a very high level fighter of some sort.
I'm not sure what ability she used. It could have been Ultrablast but that would have probably killed much of the Order and they are all still alive. Not sure what it was.
V's secret meaning was secret to me too. It meant jump on Miron. Don't understand it but the rest of the Order did.
The girl with the ioun stones floating around her head is almost certainly a psion. I'm not familiar enough with the psionics list to know what she's doing in that last panel, though. It's hitting but not hurting Tarquin, Durkon, and the cat, and it doesn't seem to be affecting Belkar as badly as the others.
I guess it's possible she's a cleric and is using blasphemy or word of chaos, which affect creatures of different alignments based on how powerful they are compared to the caster. If the alignments are the same or the targets are more powerful, it has no effect; if the targets have a vastly different alignment and are weaker, it's crippling or even outright lethal. It can't be wail of the banshee because that would affect everyone except Durkon and would surely have killed at least one of the targets.
I'm almost positive she's a psion, though. Neither blasphemy nor word of chaos should have exactly the results shown; Elan and Haley are almost certainly chaotic, so word of chaos wouldn't affect them, and while Belkar has been nicer lately he's still probably evil, so blasphemy wouldn't work on him. Furthermore, spellcasters in OotS nearly always state the name of their spells as they cast them, especially for big dramatic end-of-strip spells, and this lady never has.
The dude was a wizard for 100% certain, though. They're the only remotely mainstream class with access to both contingency and horrid wilting.
she was introduced as one in the last panel of 911.
"Where are you off to?"
"I don't know," Snufkin replied.
The door shut again and Snufkin entered his forest, with a hundred miles of silence ahead of him.
I blame my 20+ year old D&D knowledge. I remember psionics existing, but we never had anyone with the ability/potential. However, I was not aware that it had morphed into becoming it's own class.
Black Lives Matter
Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein "I don't stand by anything." - Trump “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867 “It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
I was just thinking during the discussion at the top part of the strip that I hope that they're making *some* anti-vampire preparations in case Durkon turns on them. They seem to just be taking it on good faith that he's the same ol' Durkon.
Also seems likely now that "good Durkon" will return at some point, probably a la "good Angel" from Buffy.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein "I don't stand by anything." - Trump “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867 “It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
So this should also not cause any problems for him if he fights them now.
