True that. Otherwise it would be a “You get killed” like the Godsmoot, but this is too specific plus has the “Until the end of the meeting” rider so there’s not even a question of how to de-petrify anyone*. Somebody’s turning into a statue for a while.
*Granted, with a couple high level clerics (assuming Hilgya is there) it’s no question anyway, but still.
So a plausible pathway out of this is:1) Durkon and Minrah and/or Hilgya enter and confront the vamps.
2) Realizing he can’t attack them directly, he breaks the ceiling.
3) The vamps get fried but Durkon gets turned to stone.
4) Minrah and/or Hilgya explain what’s going on and convince the council to vote No.
5) The council votes, the meeting ends, Durkon gets unstoned, everyone’s happy, beer all around!I know I didn’t need to spoiler rampant speculation but just in case.
Sounds reasonable. Only obvious hitch would be if the chamber is deeper than we suspect. The only exterior view of it is ambiguous.
As an aside, Elan is also able to reverse petrification, and Vaarsuvius might be, if e has the appropriate spell in es book and prepared it.
It may be something like that as an overall plot, Gyrate, but there’ll be more going on. The breaking the ceiling, if that happens, will be a last ditch effort, so it won’t be that simple.
And yeah, it could be he goes outside and breaks the wall from there. No doubt with the help from the Roy, Bandana and the Mechane.
A further possibility: Durkon breaks the ceiling and lets in sunshine, but the three vampires have Protection from Daylight prepared and they cast it immediately. However, Haley has also gone outside and she’s at the edge of the hole. She then nails the vampires with the arrows that she prepared here. I don’t think she’s used any yet. All the arrows we see during the various fights have arrowheads on them. That may have just been an oversight by Burlew, though. Roy may also be out there and gets one of them by throwing his sword.
I doubt the other vampires would have Protection from Daylight at their disposal. They’re all just a day or two old at best and Hayley made the argument that all of Durkon’s time supposedly spent learning the spell from the staff was actually spent learning the “Quick Raise Vampire” trick. Chances are, Durkon didn’t even know the spell and it was lost when the staff broke.
Which brings up a theoretical question of whether Live Durkon still has access to the Quick Raise Vamp spell researched by Vamp Durkon.
In panel 5 of that strip, the councillor does complain about being near the surface.
Elan wasn’t able to reverse Haley’s petrification during the fight with Z at the Gladiator Colliseum. Well, I think he should have been able to with Song of Freedom, but didn’t. At any rate, Elan and V can’t enter the chamber because of the orange barrier and the Song takes a full minute to have an effect.
How about this: Durkon attacks the ceiling, is petrified, and then that is dispelled by Hilgya or Minrah. Casting any spell on a creature results in petrification, but does casting on what is basically a statue count as that?
Heh, I was too busy looking at the artwork and missed, you know, reading it :smack:
When did Elan learn to reverse petrification? He couldn’t do sowhen Haley was turned to stone. It was Durkon that broke the enchantment.
The strip *implies *that V knows stone to flesh, but didn’t prepare it that day.
It isn’t casting a spell that results in petrification, it’s breaking dwarf law. Destroying the walls or ceiling is probably against their law, and would probably result in petrification. Casting a spell may or may not be specifically against their laws. There might be a specific rule forbidding trying to help a petrified person, otherwise it would be fine.
You’re forbidden from casting any spell (or using a supernatural effect) on a creature. Whether or not a petrified statue of a creature counts as a creature, who knows.
(re-reads the strip)
Okay, fair point.
There’s a difference between what Elan can do and what he realizes he can do.
Doesn’t matter in this case. He’s not a dwarf, so can’t get past the orange barrier. I’d be surprised if the orange barrier doesn’t also block spells from outside, but in any case, he can’t see into the inner chamber to cast a spell on someone there. And no matter how loud he sings, the blue barrier will block the sound.
I’m going to guess that the Order’s plan will involve both subverting the main proposal so a “yes” is either meaningless or the reverse of what it appears to be, and at least one good guy deliberately getting petrified. Both points being edited to look like the plan failed until the switcheroo is revealed in the next strip.
Oh, I know-- My point on that was merely pedantic to begin with. But if he were to find himself in a room with a petrified person, and if someone were to remind him of his class abilities, he would, in fact, be able to unpetrify them.
Elan’s multiclass - he might not have gotten to 12th level as a bard before he switched to Dashing Swordsman.
While we’re discussing the theoretical- I wonder if there’s some sort of spell that can animate a petrified person without turning them back into flesh. I mean, if Durkon walked into the chamber as a living statue, it’s not like he would be able to be turned more into stone.
Nah, he’s 14th level Bard, because he took two levels of Bard after taking the Dashing Swordsman. He reached 13th level in 647 and 14th some time before 949. The Geekery thread says he reached 14 by 860, but I’m not sure what they base that on.
nm