There’s got to be a roleplaying bonus for Roy there, though.
That’s a good point – is there a way to calculate whether Belkar (and Mr. Scruffy) creating concealment for the Order actually IS worth more than him killing two soldiers? Is Roy actually sacrificing anything to keep Belkar from dying here, and thus his “You’re more useful creating concealment” line is just a rationalization? Or is he correct?
In 3.5e, concealment gives a 20% chance of miss, after a hit is rolled. So first you make the attack roll, and if you manage to hit, you then roll the 20% chance of missing. Total concealment raises this to 50%.
If they get concealment out of the sand, that’s a 20% miss chance for all those crossbowmen, which is not insignificant with the number of bolts coming their way. If it provides total concealment, that goes up to 50%.
Edit: ninja’d!
Killing two of hundreds is meaningless. Belkar is much more useful to everybody kicking up sand. Besides, Roy knows he’s seriously understrength as a team and can ill-afford to lose anybody, what with two members separated, one vamped, one MIA and one down to single digits survival-wise. So it’s not just a rationalization.
Maybe, but Roy is still LG, and is still loyal to his team - even Belkar.
One man versus an army!
And I note that this episode shows they’re well away from the rift.
How is Durkon dominating multiple soldiers per round? I thought a vampire’s gaze could trip up one mook at a time.
I don’t think he’s dominating more than one a round - I think he just means that if he dominates one mook a round, they only last 3-4 rounds before they drop. So he can have a few mooks going, but they’re getting killed too fast for him to build up an army.
V needs to show up again at some point, and since the Fiends assured safety from harm and since V missed most of the action, no doubt still has lots of spells intended for use against Xykon & Co. Wizards are really the best class to deal with an attacking army, too.
I’m just thinking that at some point soon there has to be a climax to wrapup this book. V seems likely.
We’re terribly close to the end of the book and all we need is the final crisis and resolution before Rich can lay down his pen (or computer mouse) and massage some feeling back into his drawing hand. I had been thinking that the Order escaping Tarquin and his army by going through the rift was going to be it, but now, with that rift so far off, I think this is all going to end with Tarquin dying. I don’t know how, but I now don’t see him living into the next book.
Maybe Sabine does something as soon as her 24 hours of exile are up to avenge Nale? I don’t know, but I think Tarquin has served his purpose in the story. He was there to kill Nale to resolve that subplot and now he’s driven Elan completely away from him.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I dunno. They have to go through the rift at some point - else why is it there?
Tarquin’s Face-Heel turn is too recent (for him to be killed off now). Although evil, he’d been charming and popular among readers. It wasn’t until the most recent strips, his killing Nale and pigheadedness toward Elan that many readers soured on him. He wasn’t really seen as an enemy of the Order. There needs to be some story time with him in this new light before his storyline is over.
Actually, druids are the best class to deal with an attacking army. Wizards are still pretty good at it, though.
And Tarquin definitely lives through this. Remember, Elan has a great idea for dealing with him (or dealing with the situation, or something…) that hasn’t been revealed yet.
Perhaps as a reminder that there’s more to the business with the Rifts than we (or the OotS) know.
Right - and we need to learn what that is.
I’m going to venture that the next book opens with Lien and O-Chul at or near Kraagor’s tomb.
A gate will open up and legions of infernal troops sent by the IFCC will attack Tarquin’s and save the Order. The IFCC needs the Order alive, after all.
I don’t see any other way of Roy and Belkar surviving this. Roy will succumb to exhaustion after a while.
(Yes, I know it’s not that easy to send outsider armies to the Prime Material Plane, otherwise it would’ve become a massive battlefield eons ago. But I got nuttin’ else.)
Maybe Durkon can dominate an allosaur?
Do they have enough INT to be dominated?