Episode 661: Terms and conditions violation.

[rogonandi]

I've got the next comic up. We're back to the imperial headquarters where the Emperors' entourage have planeshifted back to, where one cranky old witch gets her punishment for defying one of the biggest rules the Souballo Empire has. Talk about tall poppy syndrome.



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[nepfan]

Janice knew it was coming... she told Carrus as much. Got to wonder if she wanted to be in that soul gem - perhaps to escape a worse fate?

[Tiltowait]

WHOA! One blown saving throw and she's gone. Why did she think letting the cat out of the bag was a good idea? And for such a meaningless reason too. I didn't know the penalty was going to be this severe.

Wonder what Carrus is going to think about this? He is a black dragon, after all.  First, he's good to have on your side, and next he's going to be an enemy now, which is even worse than losing an ally.

Why did Bruce turn her in like that? I didn't think they had much antagonism for each other? Or just his evil Lawfulness shining through?

Aww, does this mean Melchior is gone as a character? Darn, I liked him. Too hard to write rhyming dialogue? A lot of webcomics do that, come up with a rhyming character or a silent character only to find that it gets really annoying after a while.

Look at the angelic smile on Brian's face when Janice's soul is going into the gem. *shudder* He said he was creeped out by soul gems, but maybe in a good way.

Good comic, I certainly wasn't expecting that. Although I do wish there were more of them these days...this is only the 10th one all year.

[memnarch]

Whelp, I didn't see this coming, though I probably should have as Janice probably should have.

[Naomi]

Janice had mentioned they'd do that to her; I just hadn't thought it'd be official policy and something they do openly.

There are a few ways she could have already managed her escape, though I really wonder if she could have actually slipped one past the duo. Another possibility is that she's set up an escape contingency of some sort that will capture her soul gem and reincarnate her, or something. Or she might have not put things in place yet despite signing her own death warrant earlier in the battle.

[EvilElitest]

Yeah, while the Duo Killing her and eating her Soul makes sense, the fact that Janice knew the consequences and made it clear in such an explicit manner really implies something else. The meteor Swarm was not necessary, and she could have at least lived through that day. Maybe she was hoping that in attacking the palace the Duo might be killed or weakened so that she could get away, but if so why use up her most powerful spell? For a character established as intelligent, it is bizarre how she pointlessly led to her death.

[Myrmex]

Angelo and Brian's official policy is to forbid their minions, under pain of death, to reach level 17.

Janice, on the othe hand, thinks that the real reason Brian and Angelo do that isn't fear of being challenged, but it's just an excuse so Angelo can devour the souls of powerful people. Also, Janice thought that, when she seemed close to death, Angelo would harvest her soul anyways, 17th level or not, and that she could avoid that fate becoming a lich.

At least that's what I understood from her exchange with Carrus.

A good point: Janice wasn't discovered until she got cocky and used Meteor Swarm in front of the others. If she had been extra careful, she might have survived.

[jssheridan]

BrAngelo Wins! Fatality!

Thanks Rogonandi!

[grogg]

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Good, now that that's out of my system....

Is the level cap for all minions or just magic users? How would you tell the difference between a 17th level fighter and a 12th?

[rogonandi]

Apr 19, 2016 23:47:41 GMT grogg said:

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Good, now that that's out of my system....

Is the level cap for all minions or just magic users? How would you tell the difference between a 17th level fighter and a 12th?

They're not quite as worried about 17th level fighters for obvious reasons.

[grogg]

That's what I was thinking. Thanks for confirming!

[Empiricist or Not]

Um did I miss something, She cast Meteor swarm TWICE. That's level 19 unless there's something boosting her spell slots. . . so she'll likely be rezzed with lvl 9 spells.

[rogonandi]

Apr 20, 2016 2:03:33 GMT Empiricist or Not said:

Um did I miss something, She cast Meteor swarm TWICE. That's level 19 unless there's something boosting her spell slots. . . so she'll likely be rezzed with lvl 9 spells.

Angelo casted it twice in the comic so far, but I don't think Janice did. Even if there was a second time I didn't count, she does have an INT of 30 which would give a level 17 wizard a bonus 9th level slot.

[agentschism]

It took me a few moments to twig on why this was such an important facet of Angelo and Brian's plans. I'm betting that when people are brought into Angelo's Kids or the Souballou Empire, OR for that matter when they enter the inner circle, they have a particular spell cast on them: specifically, a Geas. And one of the only things which can actually release someone from a Geas is one particular ninth-level Clerical/Wizardly/Sorcerer's spell: Wish.

Wish is non-aligned, too. ANYONE who is able to cast 9th-level spells, in Wiz/Sor/Cle classes, can do so. Yes, Limited Wish, at 7th level, can do much the same, but I wouldn't be surprised if Brian had researched a higher level thereof for the inner circle.

Of course, I could well be wrong. A&B might just be taking the steps to prevent someone's sudden-yet-inevitable betrayal, as mentioned above. Seems sane, really.