“I am excited for you because I am supportive of your professional achievements”
Do I spot an International Women’s Day shout out in there?
If Gontula has a CL of 9 then he had a 40% chance of failure. To read the scroll without any issues, Gontula has have a CL of 17th level and be capable of casting 9th level divine spells.
He might just have rolled well on his check.
And once he’s made the check, his own caster level (which is almost certainly not as high as 17) is irrelevant; the caster level that the spell is cast at is a property of the scroll, not of the scroll’s user. So if he’s using the calling function, then he can get either 17 HD worth of multiple creatures, or a single creature with up to 34 HD.
But I don’t think he used the calling function, anyway. I think he just opened up a portal to Hel’s realm, to enable things to come through. Ordinarily, this would be an iffy tactic, since a goddess can choose not to allow a Gate to form in her personal realm, and any creatures on the far side could choose on their own whether or not to come through (and would be completely uncontrolled if they did). In this case, though, they’re about the business of implementing their goddess’s most-prioritized Plan, so they can trust that she’ll allow the Gate, and send through something useful that will act in a way they find suitable. Note Not-Gontor’s wording, “give our mistress a chance to send in reinforcements”: He’s putting the ball in her court, so to speak. Ordinarily, that level of direct divine intervention would be legally iffy, but the use of spells can justify certain sorts of divine intervention (see also, how Thor tells Durkon that he’ll give him more specific instructions via a Commune spell: he wouldn’t be allowed to just give Durkon the information outright, and he’s not obligated to give helpful information in response to a Commune, but it gives him the option).
That CL of 9 was a mistake on my part. I corrected myself two posts above yours. Sorry that you didn’t notice that.
Instead, he probably has a CL somewhere between 11 and 15. Casters of higher levels seem to be very rare in the OotSverse, so I’d be surprised if his is that high.
My interpretation is that he made his caster level check, but that kind of thing usually happens without overt notice in this strip. We usually only learn about them when they fail and that often is for the sake of a joke. If we got a notice of every die roll, it would totally bog down the story.
I disagree: we have Xykon at level 27+, Redcloak at level 17+, V and Elan at level 16, Durkon was level 14+, Veldrina was high level, and so on. Then there was the Vector Legion. And before that Lirian and Dorukan.
And there are high-level non-casters too. Bozzok had to be level 20+ to be able to Sneak Attack Haley, Crystal was 16th level. Tarquin. Nale. O-Chul is highish level.
People seem to have an institutional aversion to high level characters but the evidence is that The Giant uses them when he needs to. And remember that while a vampire may be LA +8 it is only CR +2, and a CR 19 (17+2) opponent is entirely appropriate as a climactic encounter for a party of the Order’s levels.
Well, another thought is that if Gontula could cast Gate without a scroll, the Giant would have just have him cast it directly without a scroll. There’d have been no need for it, so why have one?
Members of the Order have explicitly said that they doubt there are any 17th-level clerics in the world, or that Redcloak might possibly be the only one. And we haven’t seen any hard evidence to the contrary.
Because he doesn’t have that spell prepared.
Anyway, we’ll find out in due time.
There’s no reason for Gontula not to have whatever spells he needs prepared, since he knew what they were planning on doing before he last prepared his spells. This isn’t some sudden need type situation.
In order for the scroll to exist in the first place, someone needs to be high enough level to cast it, is that not the case? I presume Redcloak is not supplying the dwarves with spell scrolls.
It’s necessary for someone at some point to have created it. But we don’t know how old that scroll is, so it’s possible that the creator died of old age a century ago.
That, and some magic items, it really doesn’t pay to pry too closely into just how they came into existence. Where did it come from? Why, a treasure chest, of course!
This giant death-worm’s lack of confidence makes him my new favorite worm.
Hey, it’s not HIS fault that the boss vampire - who’s name I forget - was exceedingly imprecise in his instructions. He’s trying to do his job properly and with some professionalism.
A good worm is never appreciated by his bosses. It’s speciesist, is what it is. It’s annalidest. He should file a complaint with Hel’s HR team.
I had the same thought - he’s probably been sent through/summoned before and gotten a 2 or 3-star rating for assuming what his responsibilities were. Not going to get burned again if he can help it.
It would be too much to hope that V just flips a Sunburstinto their midst, and brings this subplot to a close, would it? Probably wouldn’t get through the SR of the Nightcrawler, if indeed that’s what it is, but it should do for the two vamps sitting there.
Let’s see: flying above a chasm of God-knows how deep, in front of a creature that can spam Greater Dispel Magic at will. As a 25th level caster, DC 18. This will end well. Hope they hit the walkway.
The eagerness to know the exact parameters of the orders doesn’t strike me as very Chaotic Evil—though it is really endearing and funny—so I wonder if this really is a Nightcrawler per the SRD? Or maybe he just really, really wants a new Ipad?
And where’s the rest of the party, especially Durkon and Hilgya?
Dispelled invisibility aside, it’s interesting to see that the Order as the ones with the plan for once, and aren’t just reacting like they usually do. Should be an interesting change of pace.
Oh, and the worm is obviously some sort of extra-planar being. An extra-planarian, if you please.
That joke leaves me flat.
I was afraid for a moment that the comic was about to rehash the guard scene/skit from Holy Grail.
Hopefully engaged in some well-planned shenanigans (no, not that kind). Durkon already knows the plan so hopefully they can come up with a nice countermeasure. I want something like the Order kicking Tarquin’s crew’s butt in the pyramid rather than the usual reactionary saved-by-a-miracle victories.
groan