A short strip but I bet the artwork on it took longer than usual. In addition to the breath effect, the temple, and the mountain scenery, Burlew had to design winter clothing for the characters.
You’re allowed to complain about the pace over here. Just don’t do it on the gitp forums.
I do wonder if the slow pace of updates has decreased the readership of the strip. There doesn’t seem to be as much activity lately on the gitp forums, especially comments about the individual strips. Of course it’s hard to separate that effect from the fact that many of the strips lately have not been that significant and so there isn’t as much to comment on. Well, we’ll see how it goes when there is a significant strip.
It looks as though they hollowed out the mountain peak itself for the temple. Stone Shape might be helpful for that, though Wall of Stone doesn’t look as though it allows for fine detail work either. And then there’s the windows…
Plus, it’s only temporary so I assume later they have to put all the stone back. I guess Wall of Stone would work fine for that purpose.
Or they could just have called for a Miracle. Gods do that, you know :).
I wonder somewhat if the gods are more involved than just granting a miracle - i.e. we’ll actually find a few pantheons there in the mortal realm.
I really doubt Durkon could solo a god, but I bet Hel would be pretty happy if he provoked a couple of the Northern Pantheon gods into offing each other. After all, killing some of the gods is a not uncommon thing to do at high levels.
Yes, this has the potential to be really interesting. Eagerly awaiting updates.
“Moots and Ladders”! LOL.
Any other rules we should know about?
Oh, just some stuff that I’ll mention in passing as a point of reference but there’s no possible way it’ll apply to you, so I’ll skim over it.
I love how Roy doesn’t need to hesitate to pick Belkar. He knows that he’s an evil little twerp, and will be glad when he’s soon dead, but despite that, Roy is still a team player, and knows the evil little twerp’s strengths and value to the party.
You really think Roy will be glad when Belkar’s dead?
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0951.html
“I’m going to dance on your grave, you know. Maybe a nice jig? I might take lessons first”
Well, at the least, he’s said things like “Soon he won’t be our problem any more”. Yeah, he might feel some pangs on the old heartstrings anyway, when it happens, and the circumstances of Belkar’s death might end up tragic for other reasons (if it means the Order losing a critical fight, for instance), but he’s certainly anticipating the event without grief.
Considering that having associated with Belkar AT ALL has already earned Roy a long, embarrassing and really annoying “audit” by the Powers Which Is, I can see kind of hoping to have Belkar drop out of existence and save him future trouble.
Yet.
I’m still predicting there will be a major issue over this. There’s been a lot of foreshadowing to that effect. At some point Roy will be confronted with the immorality that he is knowingly leading Belkar unknowingly to his death.
There’s a lot of room between not feeling grief and glad he’s dead.
Clearly teasing.
Re: Belkar - there’s also this in 838:
HALEY: Wow, it’s amazing how useful that little guy has become.
ROY: He might seem cooperative now – but don’t forget that he’s a cold-blooded monster that we’re just managing to control through intangible means until either he escapes or he dies for a cause that isn’t his own.
[…]
HALEY: Are we talking about the kobold, or Belkar?
ROY: Eh.
I’m also thinking about this scene where Roy had a belated realization about the morality of what he had done.
Wait. Unknowingly? Nobody told him? Man, I got to go through the archives again.