Level 12: #34
Chapter: Level 12 — Post-Mortem
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most likely???!!!???
Eep. These elves. . . .
At least Derek and Dorilys seem calm enough. And Presti happy if perhaps excessively so.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
No one ever said Elves were nice.
Elves are bad.
Good old Pterry . . .
So Sir M. did succeed for 10 mins in his stealth-rolls, and then some timebending know-it-all gives him away? So unfair!
Given he’s in plate mail I seriously doubt he made the most crucial one. But when the future seeing psychic is talking, everyone is focused on HIM so he’s probably the only one who made his perception check.
Going up a level doesn’t seem to require as much experience as it used to.
Two words : milestone leveling.
Also the DM is merciful and is telling the players : “You can have this. You’re gonna need it.”
Check the archives. This is not the shortest level.
well in fact it only needs some stairs. ;?-?)
https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html
Panel 2:
Boxford: “Why’re goin’ to th’ elves?”
Should there be a “we” in there somewhere?
Love Malevolus’s expression!
Fixed. Thank you.
Even the Princess knows to stay out of the way of somebody in the throes of a creative frenzy.
As Captain Ragnar Ruffenuff, she had to keep her position by her own skill and wits. Possibly picked up some tricks in the process, such as recognizing her limits
Oh, man, what a DELICIOUSLY terrifying line at the end! Well done!
“You are going to need his blood”
Only his blood? Nothing else?
How much of it? Nah, silly question. If we take some now for safekeeping, may as well bleed him dry and save every drop.
Better question. Where is this gnome merchant? Do you have these things called iceboxes? Maybe some weird thing called “freezer”?
It may need to be fresh. Hate to save it all and discover it’s expired when the time comes.
Besides, they can always expire Malevolus later once his blood is no longer needed.
On one hand, I worry that Malevolus might try to extort the heroes with “you can’t kill me, you still need me.” The guy has been too smug by half in the past.
On the other hand, the Princess has just made it abundantly clear that she knows how to deal with people who think they know better than anyone else. I don’t know how she’d undo (or outdo) any attempts at arm-twisting, but I’m sure she’d think of something.
Also, have fun, Presti! Make the most of it even if there’s an ingredient missing (for now).
I suspect Princess is capable of making him BEG to be bleed dry.
Could turn him to stone somehow, and then back right at the last minute. He’d be a lot less likely to cause trouble that way and Madeline’s experience at the hotel establishes the possibility.
So they need him alive because they’ll need his blood for some purpose at some point, and presumably it’ll have to be freshly extracted.
But “alive” is very different from “unharmed”. Now they’re not Evil so I don’t expect them to go to such lengths as cutting off his arms and legs and casting Feeblemind on him, but such things are theoretically on the table and threats can certainly be made.
Remember that Madeline may object.
.. remember that Madeline is going to be too busy elsewhere TO object. 😉
She’s going to be at the castle. Where else would you send our favorite blackguard?
It occurs to me that, despite the fact Mal probably reeks of Evil, Maddie would be the one member of the cast who might show him some genuine kindness in the hopes it inspires Mal to become Good. If a saint like Maddie can have a little Evil in her (thus Anti-Maddie), maybe, just maybe, Mal has a little Good in him? (Now I want to see Anti-Malevolus. Benevolus?)
Especially after her adventure with YT
..This is still all according to the Viscounts plan. Think about it, without the public amnesty from Roxy, the Princess would’ve killed Malevolus for the attempt on her life he made earlier. It seems the Viscounts plan relies on Zar attempting his.
On that note, I bet the whole business with the ‘elven chant’ was there to sour Roxy’s image in the eyes of the elves.
I expect Zar and the Viscount will need to keep adjusting their plans for new contingencies that the other’s plan led to. I think both sides will manage to make these adjustments for several levels yet. The point where one plan can no longer be adjusted and the other prevails is likely to be Level 20.
I pretty sure that it is still a most terrifying line with the context we have. (Only slightly less terrifying than if a completely evil teem said that.)
“Keep him alive. We’ll need his blood.” is straight up one of the most terrifying lines someone can utter out of context
Really sucks to be Malevolous right now. With healing spells, Princess can use him as a punching bag for DAYS and still keep all his blood in him.
Now I’m wondering how much of his blood you could extract in a short time, using healing spells. They could fill bathtubs with just the healers present.
OTOH, as with the Games, that would be foolish. Notice that only Derek’s are being conserved; Madeline and Dorilys are spending theirs on guards to yank them back to health — gently-for-Dorilys. (She could have assigned Derek if she wanted gently gentle. Unless Derek has a skill that makes him good at foundations?)
I don’t think we’ve seen all of Derek’s spell list yet, but in at least two occasions, he’s manipulated stonework to prevent violence. (Some sort of homebrew variant of Stone Shape or Shape Earth?)
Seems like a natural choice for adding a foundation under an existing castle.
It always sucks to be Malevolus. Where other stories tend to make the “Why do these things always happen to me?” character a good guy, it’s amusing for it to be a villain here.
Whitey and Grawlf are going to be back! Now that calmes my mind…
That last line: Star Trek: Into Darkness reference?