Which raises an interesting point: the characters we’re seeing here are characters that have appeared in the comic before, that therefore we could have voted for as this chapter’s protagonists, yet didn’t. Yet they’re showing up anyway. Presumably the difference is that they’re only allowed to do grunt work (or anti-grunt work, as the case may be), and are not privy to the details of the investigation.
It looks like not only was CHA Whitey’s dumpstat, but WIS and probably INT as well. He should’ve said it was a wizard’s lab or some-such; a place Derro would not want to be, but would explain why there are armed guards.
A good rogue or bard could bluff it perfectly.
Derro: “Aha! The castle!”
Rogue: “Ah shit, Bloodcinerator the Necromancer is going to be pissed I let you into his lab!”
Derro: “Umm…”
Rogue: “Look, even if I kill you, he’s going to flay me after doing unspeakable things to you”
Derro: “…I have an idea, how about I leave and you pretend I was never here?”
Never make WIS your dumpstat folks. Never. Heck, once you start going on quests more dangerous than “Mystery of the Missing Slipper at the Old Kobold’s Hospice Center”, someone without a will-save is more likely to attack your allies than your enemies.
It’s not like there’s any certainty that the people in the other places survived.
It seems out of character. (Mind you, I wonder how he and the princess managed, after this comic. She did, after all, smash her way through a crowd of innocents.)
They are being ambushed by any number of Derro. Their best option is to avoid a fight and then warn the other members of the castle. Get the mage or cleric to handle the mob; a fighter’s only job is to prevent the casters from being distracted while the laws of thermodynamics are being more violated than (insert your own joke about Slaads, Drow, the Geneva Conventions, end user license agreements, and/or peppermint candy).
If nothing else, being as clever and as fun as possible is the best way to get a bunch of free XP and other divine favors from your DM that’d far outweigh anything gained from even the toughest of fights.
Weird observation (hey – I just got back from a medical ‘procedure’ and the GOOD drugs are still going *strong*):
— I LOVE it that ‘Bloodbath’ (apparently the circus strong-man… strong-derro?) has a heart tattoo on his shoulder! About the most out of place thing EVER on a derro! Would be even better if stabbing him through it was the only way to kill him! (I forget, are Derro still a mutant form of quasi-undead? So much gets changed around from version to version)
… weird thought #2: If Whitey gets really bashed and ‘disfigured’ by the derro (especially given their greatly different ideals of appearance), might he end up handsome so he attracts the princess again? That would be awesome… of course, then he’d have to die again because… reasons.
not really possible to share, DocSavage; they injected it while I was on the table before the procedure… I don’t even know WHAT it was and I am pretty sure they wouldn’t let me have some ‘to-go’!
My wife doesn’t let me go out in public after one of these anymore… I think she is still embarassed from the last time!
… but when I wrote it, my post was brilliant and insightful!
Indeed. Now I can see the point of living in a flying castle.
There is some risk of the castle falling a long way down if the magic was to cease to exist, but in the meantime, your basement is at no risk of being intruded from someone’s else basements.
Flying critters are to be watched for, but that’s true for land-bound castles, too.
And if you manage not to be home on the day the magic dissipates, it’s win-win at every turn.
Of course, make sure to have flying critters of your own, and have them regularly patrol the underside of your flying island. Otherwise you get attacked by flying critters that can also burrow.
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Looks like someone is about to evolve into a skeleton again, unless Dr.
Remember Dorilys and Presti are on the way.
Which raises an interesting point: the characters we’re seeing here are characters that have appeared in the comic before, that therefore we could have voted for as this chapter’s protagonists, yet didn’t. Yet they’re showing up anyway. Presumably the difference is that they’re only allowed to do grunt work (or anti-grunt work, as the case may be), and are not privy to the details of the investigation.
They interacted with other characters as long as they didn’t tell them the full story in the other two.
(I remain convinced that the most logical explanation of Anti-M is that she overheard Mimic talking to Stabs, and so he was stuck with her.)
Princess was in the last one, too.
Yeah, but she was explicitly exempted as someone we were not allowed to vote for.
Zar didn’t say they couldn’t tell anyone we didn’t vote for, but anyone at all not their companions.
Revewation! Whitey is a wefty!
Looks like the White Knight is ready for a low-light fight!
…so, who wants to bet he somehow ends up an undead skeleton again, and when the Princess comes back, she likes it?
Gwalf is with him, so maybe he’ll come out of this with a few extra spleens.
Only if Gwalf has a nail clipper, a bottle cap, and two ounces of tuna oil somewhere in that lab coat..
You seriously think he doesn’t?
And more as well!
One notes that the Princess might easily be described as a prodigal daughter.
It looks like not only was CHA Whitey’s dumpstat, but WIS and probably INT as well. He should’ve said it was a wizard’s lab or some-such; a place Derro would not want to be, but would explain why there are armed guards.
A good rogue or bard could bluff it perfectly.
Derro: “Aha! The castle!”
Rogue: “Ah shit, Bloodcinerator the Necromancer is going to be pissed I let you into his lab!”
Derro: “Umm…”
Rogue: “Look, even if I kill you, he’s going to flay me after doing unspeakable things to you”
Derro: “…I have an idea, how about I leave and you pretend I was never here?”
Never make WIS your dumpstat folks. Never. Heck, once you start going on quests more dangerous than “Mystery of the Missing Slipper at the Old Kobold’s Hospice Center”, someone without a will-save is more likely to attack your allies than your enemies.
In my current campaign, my character has the highest Wisdom score in the entire party. His wisdom score is 12. We miss a LOT of spot checks…
What, let him go terrorize other innocents?
It’s not like there’s any certainty that the people in the other places survived.
It seems out of character. (Mind you, I wonder how he and the princess managed, after this comic. She did, after all, smash her way through a crowd of innocents.)
They are being ambushed by any number of Derro. Their best option is to avoid a fight and then warn the other members of the castle. Get the mage or cleric to handle the mob; a fighter’s only job is to prevent the casters from being distracted while the laws of thermodynamics are being more violated than (insert your own joke about Slaads, Drow, the Geneva Conventions, end user license agreements, and/or peppermint candy).
If nothing else, being as clever and as fun as possible is the best way to get a bunch of free XP and other divine favors from your DM that’d far outweigh anything gained from even the toughest of fights.
White knight’s gotta white knight.
In what way is that the best, when it could merely redirect the slaughter?
You’re not “redirecting the slaughter”, you’re sending the derro on a wild goose chase while you rally the troops to ambush them from behind.
They’ve already found other people.
My concern isn’t that Whitey loses this fight, but that one of the Derro escapes with the knowledge of where their target is.
Eh, it’s early. Either Derro are the main problem, and they will face many more, or they aren’t, and something worse is coming.
Okay but Blood Bath’s moustache is *amazing*
The plot thickens…
Well, blood is thicker than water…
I like the idea of having Whitey and Y.T. in the same discussion.
It can’t happen in this adventure, of course, since Y.T. is at the hotel.
“Finally” found the castle? Did he take a left turn at Albuquerque?
He *should* have. That was why they were late.
At Abeir-Toril. Like the xorn.
Weird observation (hey – I just got back from a medical ‘procedure’ and the GOOD drugs are still going *strong*):
— I LOVE it that ‘Bloodbath’ (apparently the circus strong-man… strong-derro?) has a heart tattoo on his shoulder! About the most out of place thing EVER on a derro! Would be even better if stabbing him through it was the only way to kill him! (I forget, are Derro still a mutant form of quasi-undead? So much gets changed around from version to version)
… weird thought #2: If Whitey gets really bashed and ‘disfigured’ by the derro (especially given their greatly different ideals of appearance), might he end up handsome so he attracts the princess again? That would be awesome… of course, then he’d have to die again because… reasons.
Doesn’t the strong smurf wear a heart tattooed on his shoulder? Maybe it is a rune of strength on blue creatures…
A heart (usually pierced by an arrow) tattoo on the shoulder is somewhat stereotypical of the “strong man”, which is why Hefty Smurf sports them.
It might vary depending on the culture, though. Remember The Smurfs is a Franco-Belgian comic originally.
You should share some of whatever you were smoking when you wrote this post 😉
not really possible to share, DocSavage; they injected it while I was on the table before the procedure… I don’t even know WHAT it was and I am pretty sure they wouldn’t let me have some ‘to-go’!
My wife doesn’t let me go out in public after one of these anymore… I think she is still embarassed from the last time!
… but when I wrote it, my post was brilliant and insightful!
Why do you even have a comments section if you’re going to randomly delete comments for no good reason?
I swear to ZOD I heard this sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk
… when I saw this image:
https://i.imgur.com/H9SxCWa.png
“Basements are nothing but trouble”.
Indeed. Now I can see the point of living in a flying castle.
There is some risk of the castle falling a long way down if the magic was to cease to exist, but in the meantime, your basement is at no risk of being intruded from someone’s else basements.
Flying critters are to be watched for, but that’s true for land-bound castles, too.
And if you manage not to be home on the day the magic dissipates, it’s win-win at every turn.
Of course, make sure to have flying critters of your own, and have them regularly patrol the underside of your flying island. Otherwise you get attacked by flying critters that can also burrow.
Wouldn’t it be easier to keep the castle on the ground – and just get some burrowing critters of your own to patrol the underside?
Problem is earth is hard to see through, so two burrowing critters could have tunnels that run right next to each other and still fail to notice.
Also, if you burrow too much, you’ll undermine your foundation and the castle will collapse.
I want to know if Blood Bath is grunting, or if he is actually saying GRUNT in an aggressive manner.
Whitey has probably reached a higher rank than “grunt,” but Blood Bath may not realize that.
The White Knight is scraping mushrooms in a basement…during a seige. I bet a serf is more battle hardened.
The weird font makes me think the former, but we’d have to see him saying something else to tell for sure.
“Listen: If anyone talks to you, just grunt. Don’t speak. And if anyone gives you anything to sign, just write an X. Got it?”
“Grunt!”
“Don’t just say grunt…Ugh, never mind…”
“…So, does that mean you want me to snap his spine, or his neck, or…?”
“No, it means I want you to take a nice picture with him to commemorate our meeting.”
That mustache, lol