My suggestion of Owl’s Wisdom was to help Belkar throw off the domination, not the Hold Person, though it would also help him resist that. Protection from Evil would suppress the domination, so it would be better for that purpose, but for whatever reason, Durkon hasn’t used it. Maybe he didn’t prepare it, or he doesn’t have any powdered silver, or maybe the sheer cognitive dissonance of casting it on Belkar is just too much for him to consider it.
Bet it would make Belkar itch, though.
Geez, they’re coming fast and furous!
Technically speaking (though this is surely an oversight by the authors), undead suffer no ill effects from the Positive Energy Plane, but it’s highly dangerous for living creatures. A living creature on the PEP will gain HP and bonus HP until at twice their normal maximum, and then have to make a Fort save every round or suffer Death by Awesome, exploding in a glorious light. An undead will also gain HP every round (since it functions as “Fast Healing”, an ability which undead are allowed to have), but will not be subject to the Death by Awesome, since it allows a Fort save and doesn’t affect inanimate objects.
I think any sane DM would houserule otherwise, though.
On the front page the author left this note, dated 2/28/2013:
Yes, he posted the same thing in the Kickstarter thread in response to my question about it. After a couple days, he thought “maybe I better put this message in a more prominent place” after people were still commenting about the update rate. I just summarized his message in my post here.
Of course, that still doesn’t stop people from commenting on the update rate. Many people don’t go to that page, but rather straight to the current strip or to the message board.
I want Malack dead now.
To be honest, I want somebody dead now. I’m getting just a teensy bit tired of fights where someone is beaten to within half a millimeter of their life and then gets saved at the last minute (see Xykon and Redcloak, Nale (twice), Zzdrtwhatever, Belkar (sort of - Mark of Justice) and possibly Thog). Throwing us the odd sacrifical kobold just doesn’t do it anymore.
Well, I think that you will get your wish. Given how it looks like, I cannot imagine any situation that doesn’t end with either Malack, Durkon or Belkar killed here.
The only possibility for something like that would be an enemy of Malack arriving with overwhelming force (and I think that V is still too much in a state of shell-shock to do it, honestly… And the rest of the order is busy disarming that trapped door) that would make Malack go into gaseous form and flee before having turned Durkon. I cannot see that happening; I cannot conceive of any plausible way for this scenario to take place.
Another possiblity would be for Xykon et al. to choose precisely this moment to teleport in and attack… But that would guarantee that somebody is going to die.
All I can say is thank goodness he’s doing daily strips right now. I’d HATE to have to wait a week or more between these…
Well, looks like I may have called it. Short, bearded, armored and fanged instead of short, shoeless, stabby and fanged.
The Giant has apparently noticed that Thor’s notice would make a difference in this exchange and created a nicely absurd reason why he has other matters to deal with in Asgard. So, our doughty dwerrow is to become the kind of creature that he has sworn to destroy. How long does a suicidal vampire last? Until 5 minutes after dawn?
Does anyone expect a Deus ex Machina now?
Can I get a vote on Deus ex Malleus?
Prediction:
[spoiler] Belkar will save Durkon.
Malack left his staff behind in #871, which Belkie will turn into a nice sharp stake [/spoiler]
Belkar’s under Malack’s magical control though.
I don’t think Malack can control Belkar without concentrating on it. And his attention is on Durkon, anyway.
Dominate is a weird ability: it allows the issuing of commands, but once they’re issued, even the death of the dominator doesn’t end the effect (well, not immediately–it allows a daily save against the effect). If he told Belkar to kill Durkon, he’ll continue trying to do so until he gets a new order.
Latin grammar nitpick: Deus ex Malleo (you have to put the object of the preposition in the ablative)
I see three possible outcomes to this battle, one of which is that Durkon is vampired. I don’t think that one is too likely, but I won’t mention the two ways Durkon could win, since I’m having a hard time deciding which is most likely.
So Belkar stabs Durkon and the staff penetrates a bit too far.
The most esoteric staking prediction I’ve read, involved Uncle Geoff (remember him?) sharpening his peg leg, and spin-kicking Malack right in the chest. I have wondered before where he and Ian got off to…
It would be nice to see where the staff went though. Looks like Miller’s in the lead, as far as predictions. I’m pleased though that Malack got ballsy, and went for the grapple, even though I didn’t know that Death Ward also prevented the Con-drain from blood sucking.
Where the hell is the rest of the party? It’s been, what? 8-10 rounds or so since Belkar, then Durkon, found Malack? More? They’re out of earshot?
Edit: I sympathize with Gyrate’s view, but we did get the death of Tsukiko—one of the most powerful moments in this strip, IMHO. We are told that someone (important) will die, if Don’t Split The Party’s commentary is to be believed. Don’t think he meant Tsukiko.
And I’d like to know what just happened in 876, as well as a working definition of Xxzerkgei. Or Xxzerkqei for that matter. Googling gives us… the Oots forum and given time this one as well.
Malack is actually a pretty decent Vampire. Vampires should be polite, mildly sympathetic but ultimately evil. Their weaknesses vary from director to director – sun doesn’t invariably kill them, though they must have some vulnerability, as omnipotence is a plot killer. I wouldn’t mind seeing the fellow stick around.
Nice soliloquy on lawfulness (evilness) in 875.