Per the spell text, simply knowing the type of creature not good enough. You have to have knowledge of the specific creature, and V doesn’t. Even O-chul never learned its name.
From the spell:
Knowing a specific creature is an option, not a requirement.
Has V had any time with the MITD? So does he sufficiently know the non-specific creature?
I’m willing to be proven wrong by actual events, but if the rules actually do work that way, Roy should be able to go after the morningstar chick. IMHO, he and Belkar are officially bodyguards only to Dutrkon Thundershield.
If I am wrong, the unnecessary execution of Belkkar for dusting her would add pathos to his death.
I’m not sure the scroll is for V at all. It seems like a bit of a weird spell for wizard to bother spending the resources to make a scroll for, rather than just casting if needed. It’s not the most useful ace-in-the-hole in an emergency in a fight or anything.
Although I can’t think of a strategy based on giving it to anyone else right now either.
I just think it’s too early for that, unless they bring him back. If there really are two more years in this plot line, and then the rest of the story to finish, then that’s a long time without him. At least Durkon has been possessed by an antagonist, so we’ll still see him.
And, yeah, I can’t figure out why Roy couldn’t just end all this if he can attack the chick. So, while I think it doesn’t make sense–seeing as he was never guarding who he thought he was guarding–I think it will have to be against the rules for him to attack her. And thus also for Belkar.
Well, unless that anti-life shell is permanent.
V had one very short but intense encounter with the MITD. Enough to know there’s unusual about the MITD.
Did he even notice the MITD in that encounter?
Wizard spells can typically be divided into two categories: generally useful spells that are helpful in a pretty wide variety of situations, and specialized utility spells that are rarely needed but a big help when the situation arises. Since wizards have a limited number of spell slots per day, they typically fill them with the more generally useful spells unless they specifically know what to prepare for.
Forward thinking wizards will typically prepare scrolls of their various utility spells. That way they can fill their daily spell slots with solid, reliable options but still be ready if they happen to need a more esoteric utility spell.
So, Vaarsuvius likely didn’t prepare the scroll because she expected to need it (if she did she would have just used one of her spell slots and saved a few gold), but rather on the off chance that it might come in handy in just the right circumstances. She probably has a scroll case filled with various utility spells.
Actually, a songfrom Disney’s Cinderella.
I don’t know if Wizard of Id has used something similar, but this is the original.
It needed more “Klaatu barata ncough”
And V has been putting a fair amount of resources into trying to contact Serini Toormuck (last of the Order of the Scribble) or her associates; the Locate Creature spell could be geared towards that. Though I’m not entirely sure why e would want it in scroll form.
I don’t know why V scribes scrolls in the first place. As far as I can remember, he’s never used any of his own scrolls. On occasion he’s used scrolls that he bought or otherwise acquired, but not his own.
That’s Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, which is very similar in feel, I’ll grant you. After doing a bit of research, I conclude that my memory of the Wizard’s incantations may be a bit off. So your idea is better than mine.
Have we seen V scribe any prior to the airship ride?
Do scrolls necessarily go “Boom” from misreading them? I tried to look and it seemed as though there’s a number of possibilities but most are less dramatic (spell fails, spell targets caster, spell doesn’t take effect for 15 minutes, etc) but maybe I was reading the wrong rules. Blackwing seemed pretty certain of the effect when he announced a duck-and-cover.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Blackwing knows some mishap will occur if the scroll is read wrong. If it just goes off 20 minutes later, well, nothing lost, they’re all just as dead as if he hadn’t read the scroll. If some explosion happens that brings in someone with more than 2 HD, hey you’ve saved the day. Narratively, while it would be amusing to locate a creature in 3 hours when it’s unnecessary, something PFOOM-esque needs to happen so the companions could be saved.
Well, there were a lot of explosive runes early-to-mid-story, which can be put on a scroll. But I don’t remember V making any real scrolls, even while doing tons of research while Roy was dead.
V did talk about trying more varied methods after the soul splice, though.
He mentions scribing way back in strip 125
I think it may be an OotSverse thing that trying and failing to use a magical device makes for a boom. That happened to Haley when she was learning to use wands (panel 5 in strip 970).
We may not have seen it happen, but V talks about scribing scrolls here. (edit - ninja’d)
I suppose it’s one of those things that happen offscreen. Not worth actually showing unless it’s story-relevant, or leads to a good joke.
It’s surprising how much V’s attitude towards Blackwing has changed. Oh, and who’s going to enforce the Godsmoot entry rules against V now that all of the Stoners have been vampirized? What do we think all of the High Priests/Priestesses will do when they V blithely flying through a window into the main hall?