>>97644389
Ah, shit

>>97644389
Is Director Lee Mephistopheles?
>Active power grabber
>High up in the fiendish hierarchy (says they'll be "a vacancy")
>Lee, MephistopheLEE

>>97644389
the comedy is lacking in this one, but the plot progresses
I guess he should be commended for managing to squeeze in a Zoom reference that only feels half-forced

actually, I think it represents a bit of a change in how Rich uses referential humor
in the past he would either literally reference a real-world thing, or have an obvious stand-in
but lately he's depending more on wordplay and double-meanings, attempting "subtle" winks
personally I think the new method's been hit and miss so far

This is a comic.
Not a traditional game.

>>97644389
Is this vore

>>97644537
It is a comic about a traditional game. Shoo.

>competent Linear Guild attack
This is a bad sign, but I don't know what of.

>>97644537
Frankly it is rather tragic. Quite ironic too - past misdeeds coming back to pin one down when friends need their help the most.

>>97644389
oh shit it finally happened
>>97644537
lurk for ten thousand years

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>>97644389
I actually forgot about the additional two soul hijacking, this was a good development.
SENRI HELP PLEASE, EPIC LEVEL ROUGE DO SOMETHING
>>97644513
Everything is a miss when compared to this. I can't Rich peaked so early in the comic...

>>97644537
YWNBAJ

>bodies will be unharmed
maybe that's how they'll break the contract and defeat them? mystery of the druids style.

>>97645088
>harry potter reference
incidentally, for people who say the comics are made to flow better when read all at once:
I agree that the plot and dialogue works better
but one thing for which you pretty much need to read on release is exactly the referential humour
and it is this humour that is hurt by the current glacial pace

if you read the archives, some jokes are hopelessly old
you have to remember what the RPG scene was like 15 years ago to properly enjoy them
hell, there are some AI-related jokes from the current plotline that are *already* outdated and won't make any sense five years from now when they get to the end of the dungeon

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>>97645088
personally the lawyers are my favorite gag

If V somehow gets unbound and ungagged, is there anything they could do to disrupt the soul machine on their end?

>>97645451
>implying a high-level DnD Wizard gives a fuck about being bound and gagged

i have to wonder how the order of the stick will get out of this mess. Unless the linear guild screws up (possible) or serini talks them down they look fucked.

Will V somehow tell the three evil directors that the world won't be re-created if it's destroyed by the snarl this time?

>>97645579
Roy still has his super saiyan mode. Serini is still at full power due to being unaffected by the blasphemy. Belkar has taken light damage but is otherwise at full power. O-Chul has been off panel for the last strip and this one so we don't know what's going on with him.

>>97645579
They're going to job because that's kinda their whole thing. And then they're just gone for good.

>>97645510
how are you supposed to restrain spellcasters in dnd?
it's actually in the interest of the player/character for an easy way to exist, because otherwise the only sensible approach is to kill them rather than take prisoner

>>97645848
Salt. Turn them to fucking salt.

>>97645875
okay, I implicitly meant "be restrained but be able to participate in the plot"
being turned into a statue is effectively the same as being dead, from the player's perspective

also, turning into salt is not a widely available option so most unprepared enemies would still have no choice but to murder them, even if they preferred to keep them alive

>>97645510
do remember that V isn't exactly the most optimized wizard on the block
also, I think the fiends would also do some tricks to make sure that the souls in their care can't cast spells
the bindings are just for sadistic pleasure

>>97644492
It's hard to say if there's meant to be more to his name. He's Lee because he's the Lawful Evil (LE) representative of the coalition.

>>97645359
I think Harry Potter is a recognizable enough cultural piece at this point to still make this joke work perfectly fine. Heck, even without the reference landing, it still works as a bit that takes the piss at protagonists that stories fall over themselves to accommodate.

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Must resist urge to post a Harry Potter rant.

>>97646148
I don’t get it.

>>97646265
DnD 4e, that's literally how it worked

>>97646279
It’s more I can’t tell if Rich is for or against 4e wizards, going by that stilted dialogue.

>>97646294
I know it's hard to believe, but the answer is more nuanced than a binary for/against

>>97646481
That adds nothing of value, sorry.

>>97646481
Sorry, I don't follow
Cringe or based?

>>97644951

So far it's in-line with Nale's previous record - he's weirdly effective in setting up ambushes, but he can't handle any real resistance. Serini and O-Chul and the beholder haven't moved yet, and the order still greatly outnumbers them. This is definitely the LG's best effort so far, though.

>>97646148
What's there to rant about?

>>97646814
>What's there to rant about?
A great deal, if you ask Bluesky. (NTA)

>>97646814
There are only like two good books in the whole series and even they fall apart on a reread. Most are crap.

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>>97644389
Ah, the old express bus to Hell. No lines, no waiting!

>>97644389
>the comedy is lacking in this one, but the plot progresses
>I guess he should be commended for managing to squeeze in a Zoom reference that only feels half-forced

I thought it was fairly funny. The jokes are definitely more low-key than is typical for Rich, but that means they didn't distract as much from narrative. Zoom gag fits given the IFCC's corporate attitude. This is also maybe the first time blackwing ever made me laugh.

>>97645802
This. Nale and Sabine are being set up as the fall guys in case something goes wrong with the archfiends' REAL plan(whatever that is - maybe they're gonna try and persuade Xykon to break the gate?)

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>>97645848

>>97647361
What fucking plan do you think they could possibly have? Reality is at stake, they're aware that they will have their minds wiped (at minimum) if the gods flip the table, and if they get too close to winning, the gods will flip the table. They overestimate their position, and based on what they've said, do not understand that the reset button has been pressed more than once already.

This is the ambition of evils as a united front, with the arrogance that usually comes with it hamstringing the outcomes. People who want to play at becoming gods, not knowing what the gods are actually doing.

>>97647838
I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. The IFCC said repeatedly that they have other plans beside Nale. There's zero argument about that, I just don't think Rich would've put that detail in the story unless it winds up mattering later.

>if they get too close to winning, the gods will flip the table

It sounds like you might be mixing up details here. This applies to Redcloak's plan, the IFCC want to knock over the table themselves.

>>97647942
More like they want to burn the entire game store down. They don't want to just destroy the world, they want to have the snarl unmake it so the gods are starved of souls.

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upscale.
and thank god for that telepathy otherwise there might be less words.

>>97646016
It would be incredibly fitting. The only big name in the abyss that I can think of that'd MAYBE be open to such an alliance would be Graz'zt. No idea who the NE rep would be, there aren't really all that many big name Yugoloths to pick from
Though it's equally likely that they're just characters made up for the story.

Im always surprised this shit is still going, I remember buying the xyclon prequel book like 10 years ago when I was a kid.

>>97646148
which book is that nd whats the deal with this story?

>>97646517
Crased and binge.

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>>97649683
find out for yourself

https://litter.catbox.moe/bd64d35gffa65mf7.zip

>>97649349
I always got the feeling that the fiends were relatively modern, competent bureaucrats, not fiends of legend
I don't think being established big shots fits their vibe very well

>>97649349
>>97649958
if they were big shots, they wouldn't have to get regulatory approval (#1324)
even devils like Lee tend to just ignore inconvenient rules

>>97649958
>>97650003

They're archfiends, so they must be one or two ranks directly below the Gods. I don't think they're intended to be any characters in particular, though, since Rich said he wrote them as a single unit, since they blur the lines between law and chaos. Also, even a powerful devil would probably need divine approval to create an artifact.

>>97649916
I hadn't been able to find a scan of that one, thanks

>>97644745
So it's not a traditional game, then. Shoo.

>>97645075
You first.

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>>97649916
>that Xykon preface
10/10

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>>97644389
Belkar is surprisingly, uncharacteristically focused and serious, maybe a sideeffect of the Protection Against Evil(his own nature)?

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>>97646148
How about a Discworld rant instead?

The virgin Harry Potter wizards:
>hide away from the non-magical folk to avoid being genocided
>avoid using their magic on non-magical folk
>hide their school in the middle of the cold and damp ass highlands
>wave little twigs around
>couldn't stand up to one dark lord and two dozen cronies
>only eat big dinners at school
>rise the ranks by reading books, passing tests and making new discoveries like a bunch of nerds
>most powerful wizard got his title by cheating with the Elder Hax Wand
>afraid of death

The Chad Discworld wizards:
>live among non-magical folk, openly display their magical status
>use their magic on anyone who fucks with them, give zero fucks
>put their school smack bang in the middle of their world's biggest city
>use solid oak six foot staffs with knobs on the end
>can stand up to dragons, elves, Things from the Dungeon Dimensions and even the Auditors of all reality
>eat big dinners their whole lives
>rise the ranks by 86ing their superiors
>most powerful wizard fucking earned his title by being too robust and sharp to kill
>summon death to ask him trivial questions

>>97654702
>>use their magic on anyone who fucks with them, give zero fucks
To be fair, there are rules against that. Well, guidelines, really...

>>97647838
You're forgetting that the IFCC are well aware the Gods made a new world and wiped their memories-The fact they were ever unaware about the Snarl proves that and is how they were able to convince non-evil planar beings to assist their plan.

They think the world haa only been reset maybe 3-4 times but the number of resets doesn't really change what they're doing or why. In fact, it would be possibly good ammo against the Gods to show their utter incompetence.

What they might be unaware is the importance of the Dark One to the Gods but again, that's ultimately not particularly relevant to their plans.

All this being said, I think Xykron is going to fuck their plan whatever it ends up being by being too dumb to fool or having some incredibly simple, elegant solution like he always does when he's super pissed.

>>97654964
Discworld magic is D&D magic with chest hair.

>>97655518
there isn't a single dnd reference in the entirety of Discworld
it's not dnd, it's british
the Unseen University is just Wizard Oxford

I'm do tired of this glacial pace and once per month release schedule. I'm going to have to drop this comic for the sake of my own sanity.

>>97655544
The gods literally play games with the lives of men. They even roll dice.

>>97655964
that's an ancient trope anon
and in any case dnd players aren't gods

>>97655993
They even have a random encounter in the first book. And The Last Hero hangs a few lampshades on stuff like dungeons having convenient item caches. Also I'm pretty sure there's a Discworld GURPS thing that is kind of canon but not really.

>>97645451
>If V somehow gets unbound and ungagged
lol
>is there anything they could do to disrupt the soul machine on their end?
lmao even

Really anon even if they could get away just touching the soul fountain would absolutely void their contract. A fate literally worse than death would await them within seconds. Aint no god or magic going to save there asses.

>>97645451
>is there anything they could do to disrupt the soul machine on their end?
Piss in it.

Why is this unfunny comic always pushing threads off page 10?

Fuck off

>>97657983
Every new thread pushes shit off page 10, that's how the pages work.

>>97654702
>hide away from the non-magical folk to avoid being genocided
Is this in the books? Despite secrecy being a critical plot point, it doesn't come up much.

>most powerful wizard got his title by cheating with the Elder Hax Wand
Which is itself a plot hole. If the wand makes you invincible, how did Grindelwald lose the duel?

>>97657983
I don't see why you feel the need to engagement bait these threads when they usually stick around on their own well enough

>>97656030
>They even have a random encounter in the first book
I admit I don't remember the first book very well
do they literally say that going through wilderness increases their odds of a werebear popping up or something?
I could concede that to be indeed dnd inspired

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>>97658082
>Is this in the books?
Hagrid said it was because the Muggles would be constantly asking the wizards for help but that's an even worse excuse.
>If the wand makes you invincible, how did Grindelwald lose the duel?
Because J.K. Rowling is a shit writer.

>>97658287
>liberals hate change
Uhhhhh.......

>>97658300
I didn't write it, but politics aside it's completely right about Rowling's writing.

>>97658082
>Which is itself a plot hole. If the wand makes you invincible, how did Grindelwald lose the duel?
It doesn't, just like the Invisibility Cloak doesn't make the wearer completely undetectable and the Resurrection Stone can't actually bring people back from death. It's just a very, very good wand that allows the user to do things they couldn't accomplish with an ordinary wand.

>>97658300
Rowling is British, as is that post's author(presumably). "Liberal" means something slightly different in the UK than it does in the rest of the Anglosphere.

>>97648979
>upscale
Thanks!

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>>97649916
I'm ashamed (not really) to admit I laughed at this bit.

>>97654964
>Well, guidelines, really...
Well, so long as no one finds out. I mean, even then, do you know how many frogs there are in the campus pond?

>>97657983
>boo hoo hoo I didn't bump my spam thread fast enough and it fell off
How sad for you lol :)

>>97654702
>most powerful wizard fucking earned his title by being too robust and sharp to kill
No, he earned it by being the eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son.

>>97660610
That's a sourcerer, not a wizard.

>>97660618
And a sourcerer is a super-wizard, wizard^2.

>>97658287
could HP have been written better? definitely. starting out as a children's book with fairly black-and-white morality, kooky wizards and mystical magic shit only to later shift to how many things are muddled and fucked up does cause dissonance, but a lot of this screencap's critique seems to be just anon complaining that the books didn't reflect his political leanings and end with harry pulling some rationalist shit by transmuting a log into a fully autonomous sniper drone swarm before becoming the king of england.
or maybe I'm still just annoyed by all the awful "fix"fics the fans have written.

>>97660795
> fairly black-and-white morality

in the first part of the first book Hagrid gets into an argument with Dursley... when his personal hero is insulted, Hagrid's response is to use magic to disfigure Dursley's son.
This is played for laughs and only comes up again when they have to have it surgically fixed.

The 'morality' was fucked from the beginning and never got better. Pretty much any other setting does magic/non-magic interactions better.

>>97660795
>>97660853
The wrong author died.

>>97660853
like I said, kooky wizards. children's stories often have karmic transformations as punishment, such in charlie and the chocolate factory, but more people jerk off to blueberry inflation than debate its morality in the real world.

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>>97660853
B-based?

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I like Elan and Roy together, the final confrontation against Xykon should just be the two of them using the powers of fraternity forged in blood and steel to destroy the lich once and for all..

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first thog at long last

>>97660795
Let me guess, HPMOR fan?

For me, the problem with Harry Potter isn't the morality. Instead, it's the stupidity of anything that goes anywhere near the main plot of any given book. Even the second book has plenty that even being a children's book does not forgive. However, the seventh book needs to be seen to be believed. I'm talking shit like Harry and friends starving in the forest when they have the ability to multiply food and summon fish.

>>97658348
>It's just a very, very good wand that allows the user to do things they couldn't accomplish with an ordinary wand.
That's worse. If the wand is that much of a power boost and Dumbledore won without it, then he should have utterly crushed Voldemort in book 5.

>>97662566
A little cheaty but I chuckled nonetheless.
>rethink your verbositi

>>97662600
>However, the seventh book needs to be seen to be believed. I'm talking shit like Harry and friends starving in the forest when they have the ability to multiply food and summon fish.
All the really good stuff happens off-page, too.

>>97662600
I'm pretty sure magic can't make food, that's why they need the elves to cook in the first place.

>>97662639
What comes to mind? Final year Hogwarts?

>>97662600
>That's worse. If the wand is that much of a power boost and Dumbledore won without it, then he should have utterly crushed Voldemort in book 5.
...and the same logic doesn't apply to a wand that makes the user invincible how? If the wand actually made the wielder invincible, Voldemort would never have been a threat in the first place.

>>97662648
No anon. This is brought up clearly in the book. You can MULTIPLY food, but you cannot make it. At some point in book 7, the cast see a couple summon salmon from a river or some other shit. They use a spell that Harry mastered in book 4.

>>97662665
Exactly. It's a plot hole either way.

>>97662674
Fair. Although you could easily make up something about Grindelwald managing to curse Dumbledore or something, Which would also explain why Dumbledore seems so old when there are wizards twice his age prancing around.

>>97662667
Honestly, the real issue is that they're camping out in the woods waiting for a deus ex machina in the first place. They could easily have been much safer and much more comfortable if they left Britain and only came back when they had an actual plan.

>>97662730
Yeah. Book 4 establishes that they have friends overseas. Also, Hermionie has been abroad so they can teleport out of the UK.

>>97662566
Damn, good job anon

>>97662566
>as last time, you will remain patreons
>sadly, this does extend oots
10/10 thog, good job anon

>>97662730
>>97662787
The problem is that even the best plot falls apart if you start why-don't-they-justing, because the logical conclusion is asking why they don't just prevent all of the problems before the story even begins.

>>97662667
it can't be that simple to solve basic needs with magic, otherwise Weasleys wouldn't be poor
or rather, them being poor wouldn't have been an issue

>>97663147
Molly Weasley is the first example they give of multiplying food. It is completely fucking inexplicable that anyone is poor.

>>97663052
Yes, but the shit you see in book 7 is retarded from any viewpoint. On Christmas, they use a muggle supermarket. THEY STILL STARVE IN THE MONTHS AFTER THIS.

>>97663147
Most of their kids are at Hogwarts for a large chunk of the year, and Hogwarts doesn't charge tuition, two of them already graduated, moved out and got jobs, and three more graduate during the books. They grow veggies and stuff in their garden, and they can use magic to stretch food out as already stated. So they don't have to worry about starving to death, even if they don't have a lot of spending money until they start sucking out the Malfoy family's good luck.

>>97663179
Fair enough, I'm just saying I can see why Rowling didn't just have them stay at Fleur's place or Beauxbatons or something. That would ruin the dramatic tension a bit. Plus at some point you have to learn to start enjoying Harry's stupidity screwing him over because otherwise you'll just have a frustration-induced aneurysm, probably about halfway through Order of the Phoenix.

>>97663189
*Fleur's parents' place

>>97663189
>probably about halfway through Order of the Phoenix.
No, I had that in Chamber of Secrets.

>>97663208
Order of the Phoenix is where it gets really frustrating, it's like a mind flayer pounces on him every time he's in the same room as Umbridge. Even in Deathly Hallows he still hasn't learned his lesson and lets her piss him off so much he fucks up AGAIN.

>>97663052
"Why don't the Eagles just fly the Ring to Mordor?"
Because Sauron will see them coming and the Nazgul are capable of intercepting them. In most well-written stories if there's an obvious solution the heroes don't use, there's a reason why.

>>97663147
Arthur bought a car just for fucking around with (it's not like they need it for transportation except maybe a few times per year if for some reason the entire family is going somewhere they can't reach by floo). The children have brooms, they have a rather nice house, etc. They're "poor" by the standards of other wizarding families, but that's only because they have seven children and Molly doesn't even work. They're not POOR-poor.

>>97663222
Why doesn't Gandalf just use his magic to make the eagles harder to intercept? Why doesn't he just magic them to Mordor? Why doesn't he just magic the the entire world to be one where Sauron never existed, everything is magically perfect forever, and no kind of interesting story can be told? If you play D&D with a why-don't-they-juster, you'll be done in like five minutes because they'll just not do whatever is supposed to start the quest. "This merchant wants to hire me to protect him on his journey to the next city over? No thanks." That's all, folks!

>>97663250
>Why doesn't Gandalf just use his magic to make the eagles harder to intercept? Why doesn't he just magic them to Mordor? Why doesn't he just magic the the entire world to be one where Sauron never existed, everything is magically perfect forever, and no kind of interesting story can be told?
Because Gandalf isn't omnipotent, dumbass. Do you have any questions that aren't completely retarded?

>>97663280
Why didn't Gandalf just magic himself into being omnipotent?

>>97663286
So that's a no, then.

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>>97663222
>Because Sauron will see them coming and the Nazgul are capable of intercepting them. In most well-written stories if there's an obvious solution the heroes don't use, there's a reason why.
WRONG
Here it is from the horse's mouth:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wvlDIA7gTSA

>>97663294
Again, I'm just saying that any plot falls apart if you ask "why don't they just" too many times, especially if magic is involved, because we all know that magic can justify damn near anything because it's MAGIC! I AIN'T GOTTA EXPLAIN SHIT!

>>97663313
Well, you're doing exceedingly bad job at demonstrating your point, most likely because you're an idiot.

>>97663330
Yeah, well, at least I'm not the kind of idiot who can't enjoy a fictional narrative without constant nitpicking and why-don't-they-justing. It's like, do they even like fiction at all? Wouldn't they be happier reading a math textbook or something?

>>97663359
That's because conceiving complex hypothetical scenarios requires more intelligence than you have.

>>97663369
No, me am da bestest at conseeving hypofettikul skuh-narios! Me have INFINITE IQ!

play nice anons
willing suspension of disbelief has a different breaking point for each of us
although it is true some works of fiction make it easier than others

>>97663382
I mean, there are "why don't they just" questions for LotR that look a lot like plotholes ("Why didn't the valar do anything?"), but as you've demonstrated, Tolkien did a good job at covering the obvious ones.

>>97663400
If Tolkien wanted to write in a way to make Gandalf omnipotent, he could have done so. That's kind of the thing about stories: it doesn't matter how improbable, unlikely, or outright impossible something is. If the writers want it to happen, it'll happen. Otherwise, there would be a lot less movies/sitcom episodes/cartoon episodes about people winning the lottery.

>>97663416
Yeah, that's the difference between a good writer like Tolkien and a hack like Rowling.

>>97663426
Look, the point is that a story where the characters are always logical and always take the most optimal course of action is going to be a very boring story. If you can't accept that, fiction ain't for you.

>>97663416
I don't disagree with you but there's certainly a level of skill in a writer not only creating what they want to happen (which is trivial) but also intelligently navigating the implications and ramifications of those events. As Asimov said, "It is easy to predict an automobile in 1880; it is very hard to predict a traffic problem."