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The black raven wrote:
Still wondering who Haley's mother is. Did we have some info on this that I missed ?

Haley's mom is dead.

There were various fan conjectures for a long time (still are, AFAIK) that Haley's mom was/is a celestial. It's been around at least since 309, when Haley's crytogram speech in the next-to-last panel translates to

Haley deciphered wrote:
Elan, it turns out I may not be exactly what you would call-

Several people claimed that she was 'obviously' going to finish the sentence with the word 'human', and claimed that she was not exactly what you would call human due to being half-celestial.

It kept popping up enough that eventually, the author himself made a joke response to the running fan-conjecture (along with other weird fan-conjectures that keep popping up on the forum.)

From what's in the actual comics and books, though, Haley's mom was a human from Greysky City, who died a long time ago from unspecified causes (AFB, but I don't remember anything about her death in OtOOtPCs).


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137ben wrote:
From what's in the actual comics and books, though, Haley's mom was a human from Greysky City, who died a long time ago from unspecified causes (AFB, but I don't remember anything about her death in OtOOtPCs).

And by "unspecified causes" you mean an arrow with purple fletchings.

Liberty's Edge

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137ben wrote:
The black raven wrote:
Still wondering who Haley's mother is. Did we have some info on this that I missed ?

Haley's mom is dead.

There were various fan conjectures for a long time (still are, AFAIK) that Haley's mom was/is a celestial. It's been around at least since 309, when Haley's crytogram speech in the next-to-last panel translates to

Haley deciphered wrote:
Elan, it turns out I may not be exactly what you would call-

Several people claimed that she was 'obviously' going to finish the sentence with the word 'human', and claimed that she was not exactly what you would call human due to being half-celestial.

It kept popping up enough that eventually, the author himself made a joke response to the running fan-conjecture (along with other weird fan-conjectures that keep popping up on the forum.)

From what's in the actual comics and books, though, Haley's mom was a human from Greysky City, who died a long time ago from unspecified causes (AFB, but I don't remember anything about her death in OtOOtPCs).

Thank you for all this info. I had indeed forgotten this. Note that I am a fan of the Aasimar theory myself. But this is due to an info a long time ago when Rich stated IIRC that Haley and Sabine were reflections of each other on many levels, hence the Celestial vs Abyssal idea.


Itchy wrote:
137ben wrote:
From what's in the actual comics and books, though, Haley's mom was a human from Greysky City, who died a long time ago from unspecified causes (AFB, but I don't remember anything about her death in OtOOtPCs).
And by "unspecified causes" you mean an arrow with purple fletchings.

Well yea, she was shot with an arrow by an unspecified person for unspecified reasons. And by "unspecified reasons", I almost certainly mean "either a rival for a leadership position in the thieves' guild was trying to bolster their position, or someone who opposed the thieves guild killed her."

:)

The black raven wrote:


Thank you for all this info. I had indeed forgotten this. Note that I am a fan of the Aasimar theory myself. But this is due to an info a long time ago when Rich stated IIRC that Haley and Sabine were reflections of each other on many levels, hence the Celestial vs Abyssal idea.

Oh, yea...

I can't remember whether that was before or after 309. I think it was before, but I'm away from my books now.

Silver Crusade

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The black raven wrote:
2) With all this golem-ruckus, we have all overly focussed on Haley and conveniently forgotten about Durkula. I am betting on vampire action in the coming weeks.

Don't even ask about the train of thought that led me to this, but I just had an interesting thought about why Rich may have inserted this side plot at this time.

If Grubwiggler really is a powerful necromancer, you'd think he'd know something about vampires, and also have high enough will saves to avoid vamp hypnosis. My guess is that he'll either 1) blow the lid on Durkula (unlikely) or 2) cut a deal with Durkula to save his own skin and advance Durkula/Hel's agenda (MUCH more likely).


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So. Really old joke (at least by now, relatively speaking). I just got it.

"Philter of Glibness" is an AD&D item.

A potion would be the natural 3.5 version of an old AD&D philter - and glibness would be updated to the spell version.

I feel... so dumb for having forgotten that. Right.

Sovereign Court

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Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

She tried to talk things out

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

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KingOfAnything wrote:
She tried to talk things out

Admittedly, Bozzok did not help his cause.


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What will happen with crystal golem now, though? Will she shut down or continue her rampage after Haley?


Eh, I'm pretty sure her electricity boost is going to run out soon, making her much, much more manageable.


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The whole thing reminded me of how Gunnery Sergeant Hartman met his demise.

Silver Crusade

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Fromper wrote:

If Grubwiggler really is a powerful necromancer, you'd think he'd know something about vampires, and also have high enough will saves to avoid vamp hypnosis. My guess is that he'll either 1) blow the lid on Durkula (unlikely) or 2) cut a deal with Durkula to save his own skin and advance Durkula/Hel's agenda (MUCH more likely).

So much for my theory. LOL


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Whump whump whump whump whump whump whump.

Heh. I think that Bozzok is going to be little more than a stain when Crystal-Golem is finished with him.

I'm glad that the Bozzok loose end got tied up.


I'm starting to feel bad for Crystal. I have a feeling we're about to be shown a somewhat more sympathetic side of her. She's clearly led a pretty angry life—nobody's ever respected her, and the one character she's ever treated with any decency just called her a rabid dog on a leash he holds.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Itchy wrote:

Heh. I think that Bozzok is going to be little more than a stain when Crystal-Golem is finished with him.

Yea - I agree with this. Red splotch on the floor at that rate.

Liberty's Edge

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"You were never as clever as you thought you were."

Indeed.


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New comic. What a satisfying conclusion!


That was... perfect.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

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In a way, that was actually a little sad.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

Wow - a situation where we actually see a villain get destroyed. Unless Golems can survive lava, which I am assuming is not the case.

Also:The other reason I am going to kill is that you are a sadistic, unrepentant murder who's like a danger to...everyone. Couldn't put more honestly - no moral grey area there.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Yeah, flesh golems are slowed by fire damage. She's not getting out of that.


I like it. As soon as they were portrayed walking and talking, I knew she was leading to an ambush/trap to finish off the golem.

TriOmegaZero wrote:
Yeah, flesh golems are slowed by fire damage. She's not getting out of that.

But in the earlier versions, wasn't it just slowed but no actual damage? I can't really remember.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

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ElterAgo wrote:

I like it. As soon as they were portrayed walking and talking, I knew she was leading to an ambush/trap to finish off the golem.

TriOmegaZero wrote:
Yeah, flesh golems are slowed by fire damage. She's not getting out of that.
But in the earlier versions, wasn't it just slowed but no actual damage? I can't really remember.

Magical fire. It's one of those weird physics of D&D that a meteor Swarm will do nothing, but enough alchemists fire will toast it.


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Matthew Morris wrote:
ElterAgo wrote:

I like it. As soon as they were portrayed walking and talking, I knew she was leading to an ambush/trap to finish off the golem.

TriOmegaZero wrote:
Yeah, flesh golems are slowed by fire damage. She's not getting out of that.
But in the earlier versions, wasn't it just slowed but no actual damage? I can't really remember.
Magical fire. It's one of those weird physics of D&D that a meteor Swarm will do nothing, but enough alchemists fire will toast it.

Meteor swarm, fireball or any other Evocation spell that allows Spell Resistance is a magic energy formed into semblance of fire but it's still magic energy first and as such fails to affect magic immune golems. Alchemist fire, lava, or a "SR No" conjuration spell affects the subject with actual, honest-to-fire-gods flame (with only enough magic in it to be able to affect creatures immune to non-magical flame in the case of the later but not enough to fail to affect magic immune beings).

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

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Oh I know the mechanics, it just always amuses me that a ball of fire hot enough to melt copper in an instant can't hurt the golem, but I can burn it to death one point at a time with a torch. :-)


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So one idea that has been bouncing around in my head is that Grubwiggler's speech about memories and emotions could be foreshadowing something: since emotions are "tricky", absorbing someone's memories might accidentally result in absorbing some of their personality. Which would be important if, say, an evil negative energy spirit were absorbing Durkon's memories. We've already seen him start to take on Durkon's accent, even in spirit form.
I could just as easily be wrong, though.

Matthew Morris wrote:
ElterAgo wrote:

I like it. As soon as they were portrayed walking and talking, I knew she was leading to an ambush/trap to finish off the golem.

TriOmegaZero wrote:
Yeah, flesh golems are slowed by fire damage. She's not getting out of that.
But in the earlier versions, wasn't it just slowed but no actual damage? I can't really remember.
Magical fire. It's one of those weird physics of D&D that a meteor Swarm will do nothing, but enough alchemists fire will toast it.

Unless it's non-magical fire generated by a spell, like Orb of Fire:)

Anyhow, the author recently commented on how he writes and other stuff (plus more in that thread that I don't feel like linking to.)


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137ben wrote:
Anyhow, the author recently commented on how he writes and other stuff (plus more in that thread that I don't feel like linking to.)

That was a great thread to read through. I thought that his comments on how he felt about the Kickstarter campaign were especially interesting.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Matthew Morris wrote:
Magical fire. It's one of those weird physics of D&D that a meteor Swarm will do nothing, but enough alchemists fire will toast it.

I also forgot that when it comes to flesh golems, one of the original source materials of inspiration was Frankenstein's monster. Not the book; more the old Universal movies. Villagers with torches and all that. ;-)

Liberty's Edge

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If a sentient Flesh Golem dies, can it come back as a hatred-filled undead, or even fiend ?

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

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The black raven wrote:
If a sentient Flesh Golem dies, can it come back as a hatred-filled undead, or even fiend ?

Possible, but I doubt it.

The story appears to be tying up subplots at this point. I doubt that she will be reappear.


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When Crystal falls into the pit, her color scheme goes from gray/purple to more flesh toned. I think it's supposed to be the light from the lava washing over her, but the effect is like those movies where things start off black and white, but then suddenly switch to color.


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I feel like there's a very quiet genre joke in the placement of the Tinkertown Municipal Waste Disposal Facility over a lava chasm, and the composition of Crystal's death being so similar to Gollum's.

I would have loved to see Crystal and Thog wander off into the sunset to populate the world with a generation of tertiary colored stock villains, but I guess that's just not in the cards.


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Or Terminator

Liberty's Edge

MannyGoblin wrote:
Or Terminator

I vote for the "I'll be back", just in case ;-)

I really did enjoy the new Crystal.


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982: Respirate in Peace
Turns out there are some physical skills of Durkon's that HPoH hasn't learned....

Silver Crusade

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How long has Roy's sword had that level of extra detail on the hilt? Also, is the green belt new? I never them noticed before.


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It can all be attributed to the new art style that came with the start of the new book.

Although the belt came much earlier.


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983: A Healer's Reason

So different dwarven clans have different views on romantic relationships.


Hm. "Smugger". Heh.


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984: Hence the Fence

gwoooBWEARF! gwoooBWEARF!


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Aargh!
So close!
...to finding out what HPoH is up to.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

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"I like to think of my bruised shins as my god's way of reminding me to practice my low-level healing spells"

Priceless.

Liberty's Edge

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137ben wrote:

Aargh!

So close!
...to finding out what HPoH is up to.

Next week I guess. Though new strips are appearing real quickly these days, so we might be only 3-4 days from the next one.

Which is awesome IMO.

Shadow Lodge

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Ross Byers wrote:

I forgot he had prestige class levels. He mentions planning to swap a 4th level spell for Cure Critical, but he's still not allowed to swap 4th level spells until he has 6th level spells, so that's only at 17th (or I guess 20th) level of Bard.

And since he mentions learning two new 5th level spells, that panel occurred just after gaining 13 levels in bard (with some unknown number of Dashing Swordsman).

Two possible conclusions here:

1) Elan is at least 17th level of bard, plus some of Dashing Swordsman (possibly making the party 20th level, nearing the end game), and we should see 9th level spells immiently.

2) Burlew forgot/deliberately ignored the rule about bard swapping spells only two or more levels below their highest spell level and Elan swapped at 14 levels of bard, making the party as a whole somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-17th level.

he has at least 16 levels of bard plus an unknown number of levels of dashing swordsman

We know this because he used song of freedom, a bardic class feature gained at level 16 near the end of the desert arc


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Lord Foul II wrote:
Ross Byers wrote:

I forgot he had prestige class levels. He mentions planning to swap a 4th level spell for Cure Critical, but he's still not allowed to swap 4th level spells until he has 6th level spells, so that's only at 17th (or I guess 20th) level of Bard.

And since he mentions learning two new 5th level spells, that panel occurred just after gaining 13 levels in bard (with some unknown number of Dashing Swordsman).

Two possible conclusions here:

1) Elan is at least 17th level of bard, plus some of Dashing Swordsman (possibly making the party 20th level, nearing the end game), and we should see 9th level spells immiently.

2) Burlew forgot/deliberately ignored the rule about bard swapping spells only two or more levels below their highest spell level and Elan swapped at 14 levels of bard, making the party as a whole somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-17th level.

he has at least 16 levels of bard plus an unknown number of levels of dashing swordsman

We know this because he used song of freedom, a bardic class feature gained at level 16 near the end of the desert arc

Do we know what dashing swordsman gets for class features? I t could get song of freedom early. I was under the impression that they were only 15th-16th level. We haven't seen a 9th level spell yet that I know of.


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Lord Foul II wrote:
Ross Byers wrote:

I forgot he had prestige class levels. He mentions planning to swap a 4th level spell for Cure Critical, but he's still not allowed to swap 4th level spells until he has 6th level spells, so that's only at 17th (or I guess 20th) level of Bard.

And since he mentions learning two new 5th level spells, that panel occurred just after gaining 13 levels in bard (with some unknown number of Dashing Swordsman).

Two possible conclusions here:

1) Elan is at least 17th level of bard, plus some of Dashing Swordsman (possibly making the party 20th level, nearing the end game), and we should see 9th level spells immiently.

2) Burlew forgot/deliberately ignored the rule about bard swapping spells only two or more levels below their highest spell level and Elan swapped at 14 levels of bard, making the party as a whole somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-17th level.

he has at least 16 levels of bard plus an unknown number of levels of dashing swordsman

We know this because he used song of freedom, a bardic class feature gained at level 16 near the end of the desert arc

Song of freedom is gained at bard level 12th, not 16th.

He didn't take CCW at 13th level (since he took Neutralize Poison instead). He got at least enough xp to have a total level of 16.
Maybe the Giant forgot that he can only retrain spells two below his max. Alternatively, maybe he took Extra Spell (Complete Arcane, pg 79) as his 15th level feat. Or maybe the Giant just wasn't thinking very much about Elan's spell list.


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Strip 985 is up!


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"Wait, did he just say, 'vampire?'"

I think that the gods of good are on to Hel's scheme (whatever it is) and are trying to counter it somehow without her knowledge. Sounds like all the good clerics are on the lookout for a Dwarf vampire.

Also, I'm betting that all the good clerics are meeting up at Durkon's old hometown. That would fit with the prophecies.

I'm probably wrong, but that's my guess for now.


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Itchy wrote:

"Wait, did he just say, 'vampire?'"

I think that the gods of good are on to Hel's scheme (whatever it is) and are trying to counter it somehow without her knowledge. Sounds like all the good clerics are on the lookout for a Dwarf vampire.

Also, I'm betting that all the good clerics are meeting up at Durkon's old hometown. That would fit with the prophecies.

I'm probably wrong, but that's my guess for now.

Maybe, but whatever's going on with the cleric migration, Durkula knows about it and wants in on it. So that Hel can find out some secret location or something?


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

It's an interesting twist that Rich has come up with. After so much exposition on the storyline, its different that audience and characters are both being kept in the dark on the details of what's going on.

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