I seem to remember something about even a disgraced cleric could still cast up to 3rd-level spells because those were more or less coming from some sort of free-floating jumble of ether or something like that. Clerical spells 4th level and higher were granted directly by the cleric’s god (or pantheon or philosophy or whatever) and were lost completely until the disgraced cleric fulfilled a quest.
Or for a bard to be a cleric of a hand puppet clown, because Banjo is a state of mind.
Malack is about to complain about being left under Nale’s command, and Tarquin is reminding him that this is business, Malack. Business. Hence Malack must put aside his personal grievance for this crucial mission – as per [their] long-standing protocols.
From his comments in the books, I suspect that he will never reveal Vaarsuvius’s gender, because he doesn’t really know himself.
Also, I found another strip where Qarr calls Vaarsuvius “her” (while Vaarsuvius is trying to invisibly escape from Xykon), and then this one where he says “I’m not here to hurt your master. I’m here to keep an eye on him. Or her. Whatever.” My “spouts pronouns at random” theory is looking good!
Interesting that Malack a) lies to Tarquin that Belkar got away on his own, then b) offers that he was weakened, apparently in an effort paint him as an uninteresting non-threat to the LG, then b) looked pissed when this backfired and Tarquin told Nale to go after the OOTS to wipe them out, and made Malack help him. I’ll put a couple of quatloos into the “Malack gets pissed off and turns on (or abandons) Nale and crew” column, at least as a slim possibility.
So if Tarquin wants Nale to wipe out OOTS, how does he think Elan will survive that? He mentioned wiping out just Elan’s “pawns”, but Nale’s never seen fit to spare Elan before. Papa must expect he’ll have control of that situation when it comes up.
And for 2e in between, COMPLETE PRIEST’S HANDBOOK spelled out that, sure, a priest can serve the moon goddess or a city’s patron deity or whatever, but can just as easily gain spellcasting abilities by embracing a philosophy, or by tapping the mystical energies generated by natural phenomena. (It also specifies that priests of philosophies or forces get something like psychic impressions instead of receiving prophecies from a god, but that doesn’t actually change any game mechanics.)
Speaking of which, I find Tarquin’s comment to Malack here in panel 4 (“Try to look forward to the end of the mission”) more than a little ominous for Nale. After all, if Tarquin wants Malack to set aside his hatred of Nale for the sake of the mission, and the mission is over…I think it’ll be “NERGAL WILL EAT YOUR SOUL!” time again.
Remember that Tarquin seems to have a huge blind spot where Elan is concerned: he thinks Elan is competent. He may assume that if the rest of the Order goes down, Elan will pull a grand escape at the last moment.
I think he’s trusting to dramatic necessity to save Elan. Elan will eventually defeat Tarquin, ergo, he must necessarily survive everything else until that happens. And you know, he’s got a point: The laws of drama do seem to be rather absolute where Elan’s concerned.
An aside: I’ve mentioned this before, but I think Tarquin has made a major miscalculation. He’s still assuming he’s the biggest bad guy in his own story. That may have been true in the past, but that ended as soon as he tangled with the Order - because the order already has a big bad guy who’s bigger and badder than he is. He doesn’t know it yet, but his role has changed, from “nemesis” to “obstacle”. My guess is that Xykon will kill him in a few strips.
Tarquin: “Business, Malack. I’ll catch up to you when we’re done.”
I keep coming back to this quote. What is Tarquin planning and how does it involve Kilkil? It seems clear to me that he’s setting Nale up for an epic fall, but I’m so curious to see what plan he has percolating in the background.
Someone woke up grumpy today.
Did Nergal email Thor and get the list of spells that Durkon prayed for today? And Thor complied?
Here is a couple joke panels involving Durkon and his relationship with Thor.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0007.html
Thanks for the info on divine spellcasting, guys. Looking back, I think I conflated the idea in Der Tris’s comment about 4th level coming directly from the god with the statement in, IIRC, the old DM’s Guide about a spellcaster being unable to internally store the required energy to cast. I still think it’d be a more elegant solution for Nergal to be the new deity for D, especially with one of his highest priests doing the guiding, but w/e.
As for the spell list, D still knows the memorized instructions for casting, right? It’s just that Nergal (in my example) would be the powerhouse supplying the energy to do so. So I don’t have a problem with D being able to cast the spells remaining on his spell list. But then my view of intelligent undead like vampires and liches is that the original living entity’s soul and personality still resides within them, so why wouldn’t their knowledge survive too? If your view of the undead is more like RedCloak’s, then I can see some difficulty in D continuing to cast the stuff he knew when he was alive.
For D, we really don’t know what he’s going to be like, as he’s still under the control of Malack. Whether vampirism is something that from the outset makes the recipient evil, or whether they come to evil as a means of addressing the inexorable drives from their condition, is an interesting question, and one I hope Burlew explores when D gets out from under Malack. As it is, D sure looks fairly mindless, like an infant, albeit an infant that can cast 6th level spells.
Away from that, what do we think will happen with Xykon at this Gate? Since X knows Teleport, can scry with the teevoe, and knows the location of both Gates: narratively how can X be delayed from immediately arriving at Kraagor’s Gate if Girard’s blows up in his face? The only thing I can come up with is that X gets chunked again, which both leads to some delay while he rematerializes, and causes strife between him and RC when he does so inside of RC’s case and not at his tomb of horrors…
That, or they go to the world within the rift.
Why is T going to all of this trouble to screw over Nale here, when if he wanted Nale dead or all of Nale’s knowledge, he could have done so fairly quickly back at the palace? Is it just that it makes a more interesting story to see Nale’s convoluted plots in action, rather than his ignominious, painful end on one of the Empire’s torture devices?
Good point. Tarquin and Nale are thinking they’re the main villains of the story and don’t realize they’re just a side-plot.
No, Nale knows about Xykon. The LG used to work for him. I can’t imagine that Nale thinks that either Tarquin or himself are bigger bads than X. He may be just fine with Tarquin continuing to think so, because Xykon may be Nale’s ace in the hole. Who’s to say he’s not STILL working for the lich? I can easily see this going pear-shaped from Tarquin’s perspective but all according to plan from Nale’s.
I’m not saying they’re unaware of Xykon’s existence. I’m saying they’re both self-centered.
Nale thinks Xykon is a character in Nale’s story and isn’t considering the possibility that he’s a character in Xykon’s story. Which isn’t surprising; Nale sees himself at the center of every story.
Tarquin is only mildly more aware. He gets too easily locked into a narrative of his own devising and ignores other possibilities.
Oh, I don’t think there’s any question he’ll be killed by someone other than Elan, and be robbed of the drama and legend he desires. I’m just not sure it’ll happen anytime soon, given his popularity. I think it’ll happen a little closer to the end.
Speaking of which, how far are we to the end of the story?
That is how many episodes?
In the audience’s considered opinion.
Rich has said that we’ve passed the halfway point.
Only Rich knows for sure, but popular opinion is that we are nearly at the end of the current book, and there will be two more books to follow, plus probably one more prequel.
That is pleasant to know.
As an avid follower, I look forward to two more years of a wonderful saga.
Seriously, y’all. This is among the best continuing webcomics out there. I am pleased and delighted to have discovered it.
All due, of course, the amazing presence that is the SDMB!