I think you misinterpreted that strip. The Oracle had prophesized that Xykon would arrive at Draketooth’s gate before Kraagor’s gate. He did. The gate blew up 1 ms later. Prophecy fulfilled.
Well, yes, that’s what the title of the strip was referring to. But some fans, knowing Belkar’s low HP count, were expecting him bite it. And if they saw the title before reading the strip, they would have misinterpreted that title to be about him. At least until they actually read the strip, but they’d have been faked-out for a little while, anyway. That’s what ear-bones was talking about.
Even if they did read the strip. The strip showed the building blowing up with the group inside. The reveal that they had survived didn’t happen until the next strip.
But, yes, I agree that Burlew intended that readers wouldn’t know which prophecy was being fulfilled.
That… is a thing that just happened. :dubious:
As far as predictions go, I’m chalking this one up as victory-adjacent.
Funny, I don’t recall seeing 1d4+1 anarchic giraffes on any of the Summon Monster lists…
I’m assuming that the rat, beaver, and badger all came from Roy’s Bag of Tricks.
Hah! I’m guessing Hilgya summoned the giraffes as some sort of (non)Celestial thing (Anarchic?) and Roy tossed all his bag o’ animals on top for extra Death Ward power sucking?
Heh, Chronos ninja’d
I saw the “Thuddathunk! Thudathunk!” in the 8th panel, and thought, “Jeez, Roy’s awfully loud in his armor…” Maybe Bloodfeast won’t be killed in this fight after all?
I’m voting for you, Johnny.
Liked the Cat’s (Dis)Grace pun. Greg’s expression at the end is one of the most hilarious things I’ve seen in this arc.
I wonder what Durkon has up his (bound) sleeves? The “It’s def’nitely time fer tha big fight scene,” line sounds ominous, but I can’t think of what trick he’s got in mind. Will Thor himself show up or something? Or is it just a wink at the audience? I’m just happy we’re off the boat.
I interpreted it as acknowledging that people have been champing at the bit to see a clash between the two sides for a while now.
I don’t. I’m expecting a serious inner struggle between Durkon and Durkula in the next few installments. And now that we have critters, I’m doubling-down on my prediction that there will be a certain reptilian surprise awaiting the vamps.
I’m wondering if the little critters are due for some kind of enlargement or buff to make them a more formidable open salvo. Is there an enlarge animal spell?
And yes, we have just seen a badger pulled from a bag riding a blue chaos giraffe while a rat yells “WOOOOOOOO!”.
There is. I’m not sure it’s worth burning a 5th level spell and a standard action on though.
You get a few more HP per critter, +4 to saves, and DR 10/magic, but I think the next strip is going to see our D&D penal battalion suffering the effects from the multitude of runes with which Greg & Co. have seeded the room.
One thing that I saw at the GIDP forums that I think will prove interesting in the fight: Greg ordered the vamps to attack the Elf, and then the Cleric of Thor. Not Hilgya. While I think this might prove fatal for Minrah—though I’d like to see her character stick around—the minions ignoring Hilgya will make sure that Greg has a bad time.
I think Durkon might actually count as a favored enemy for Hilgya.
Is Bloodfeast actually there at all?
He’s napping in a Bag of Holding.
We already know that the interactions between Durkon and Not-Durkon, including assimilation of memories, happen almost instantaneously.
Almost.
But what if Durkon were to unleash a full lifetime’s worth of memories, all at once? I can buy that maybe adding up to six seconds. It’s not something that a vampire’s victim would want to do lightly, since once all the memories are assimilated, the host faces oblivion… but if it can take the vampire out of action for a round or two in a critical battle, it just might be worth it.
EDIT:
Oh, and this also fits in with Durkon’s use of the pimple-popping memories and workplace-orientation memories and so on. He’s testing to see if Not-Durkon is able to resist such an assault, by choosing not to view the memories that Durkon shows him. If he could opt out of it, then he wouldn’t have sat through all of that. But he did, so he can’t.
Somehow I don’t think he’s going to be napping much longer.
checks out current strip
Ya THINK?
My bocce ball was closer 
:
The problem with summoning ‘sacks of hp’ that have rather limited attacks is that they only inconvenience the enemy if the enemy wastes resources (spells, special attacks, etc) on killing them. If you wait for them to be killed, you’re spending down your own buffs as well while you wait.
I’d think that, for a bunch of vampires, a bunch of giraffes would just be pre-battle lunch.