Okay, first, major kudos to Rich Burlew for one unbelievably well-done head fake. I was so shocked by what happened to Belkar and ach, Mr. Scruffy that I came scurrying in here before I realized from the comments that I had missed the second part of the comic. Heh.
I was thinking how very like him to twist the storytelling conventions – we’ve known for quite a while that Belkar was going to die and soon now, so having Durkon die was a stunner, and then to have Belkar die in such a nondramatic, casual way would be just like Rich. Now he’s twisted the twist. I feel quite pretzely.
So, it’s all illusion, but then why did they picture Redcloak without his eye? They must know that O-Chul stabbed it out, but why wouldn’t they assume that he had regenerated it, as he would have if Xykon hadn’t forbidden him to?
Also, Roy’s sword did the green thing a couple of times when he wasn’t yelling and stuff, merely looking determined. ETA, and his first strike against Xykon connected and didn’t glow.
How is it a trap, though? Have they been standing there drooling imagining all this, and will continue to do so until some outside force intervenes? And is V actually not there either?
OK, I look that entire comic at face value until reading y’all’s reactions to it. So, um… what just happened? It was all a dream? Did Roy just kill V by mistake? Are Belkar and Scruffy really dead?
…Oh, wait. The last panel means that the runes have been active for quite some time, and not that they suddenly activated immediately after Roy killing Xykon. That must be it.
Yes. The runes are creating a group mindfuck. None of anything that happened before the last panel actually happened, as far as we know. All the other stuff like whether Roy just killed V or whatever are entirely speculation. For all we know, they just entered the room and got zapped into the “dream”, even before the previous strip where Elan(?) is trying to suggest to Roy that the runes are actually a problem.
So would Roy’s spell-disruption trick also work on someone like Red Cloak? I mean, we don’t know if it would work in the first place, outside of Roy’s illusion, but still.
Sorry, my mistake. Going back and reading the previous strip, it was Haley falling down on the job. (Roy ASKED her if the runes were safe and she was just “Sure…haven’t blown up yet.”)
When Xykon bit the big one, I thought that was fantastic plotting. We’re assuming that X is the main big bad and will be until the end, but to have him cut down half-way through, (with RC then escaping and deciding that using X for the ritual is way too much trouble, destroying the phylatery and a very shocked Xykon), would be a massive rug thrown from under our feet. It would make thematic sense, as X basically waded into the non-caster group thinking he was going to disperse them like flies.
With Roy’s Grandfather’s move, a room unsuitable for Fly and an overconfident Xykon Rich upset the problem with D&D in general and OotS in particular that melee guys seem to not really matter by making the melee guys take Xykon down like a bitch. (It would be better if Haley had done more.) Xykon’s last line being “Roy”, showing when he’s staring destruction in the face he crumbles. (I don’t remember the capital of Albania, and fuck Albania, but if an Albanian put a gun to my head I would probably remember if I thought it helpful.)
X’s plan for the gates is really Redcloak’s plan for the gates, and he could probably get another arcane caster somewhere in book 6. Tarquin takes a step up in the heirarchy of evil.
A good point. It’s not only 886 that’s Roy’s illusion but maybe everything in 885 as well. Roy imagined he was telling everyone else to start acting more seriously.
Hey, D&D question. Xykon: “How did you do that? I was casting defensively?” What does it matter that he’s casting defensively vs otherwise? Or does it?
Defensive casting can’t normally be interrupted. Normal spell casting can. Roy is using a special feat that lets him interrupt defensively cast spells.