April 12, 2016: How?

[SpeaksManyLanguages]

Another interesting theory is that characters can only damage their copies. So it was the same as Big Ears smashed the Axe against an unmovable wall.

[mertol]

If the damage is mirrored then why didn't anyone of the party feel the kick of taco from the previous page?

[SpeaksManyLanguages]

I don't think there is any mirrored damage to characters whatsoever.

[wordelo]

it would be cool if that red smoke pulled a Majin buu.

also look how dull the yellow parts of his armor is.

[Jaeum]

Hello to everyone, I have registered since I noticed a thing about the Axe and I wanted your opinion about it:


Here
http://www.goblinscomic.org/08112015/

right after the last time the axe was working, it was used (although it didn't cause any damage) by Complains. As we have already seen, he's kind of half-demon now. Wouldn't so be possible that BE bad intention towards Minmax, plus the lie, plus maybe the usage to attack and damage another paladin, plus the not-helping Forgath, had weakened the Axe, then the usage by a half-demon made it unstable to the point of not being effective anymore?

At this point, the contact with the mirrored staff with powers of destroy magic in things, would have been more than enough to interrupt for one second the seal, hence the Axe's breaking to the Demon's power.

Does this theory make any sense to you?

[spiderwrangler]

Didn't notice it then, but Complains using it and BE lying are the only things that seem relevant between it cutting the vines and not being able to cut the vines.

[YardMeat]

If a staff that disrupts magic is enough to destroy the axe of prissan then the Paladins gave their lives for a very sucky construction. Also: aren't paladin powers divine and not magical? Or doesn't it work like that in 3.5?

Paladins use divine magic. Specifically in 3.x, they get their powers from the divine force of Good and the divine force of Law, just as rangers and druids get their powers from the divine force of Nature, rather than from gods.

[YardMeat]

I do think Kore and the Axe have some history, besides him having gotten the instant download on contact.

I'm 99.99999% sure that Kore was one of the paladins involved with the creation of the Axe in the first place. Only one paladin survived the ordeal (from what I remember), and Kore is "the last of the Greyhill Paladins." They messed with "dark magic," and Kore is cursed.

[YardMeat]

Registered just to post!

Something I just thought of. The axe of Prussian update states that as it weakens, it begins to radiate and increasing sense of evil, in the hopes that it will attract a stronger paladin.

As far as we know, Kore is still a 'good' paladin (ie he has not 'fallen'). Perhaps he has been chasing them this hard because he detects the evil of the axe and has wrongly attributed it to them?

And on a similar note, when Big Ears does his Detect Evil on the demons and comments that they are "so evil", perhaps he was also detecting the axe itself (which was at breaking point) rather than the demons.

I used to think that Kore's detect evil was broken, but the comic seems to indicate it is working fine and that he knowingly kills non-evil creatures simply because they are monsters. When he killed the dwarven kid, Kore specifically said the he knew the kid wasn't evil.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Hello to everyone, I have registered since I noticed a thing about the Axe and I wanted your opinion about it:


Here
http://www.goblinscomic.org/08112015/

right after the last time the axe was working, it was used (although it didn't cause any damage) by Complains. As we have already seen, he's kind of half-demon now. Wouldn't so be possible that BE bad intention towards Minmax, plus the lie, plus maybe the usage to attack and damage another paladin, plus the not-helping Forgath, had weakened the Axe, then the usage by a half-demon made it unstable to the point of not being effective anymore?

At this point, the contact with the mirrored staff with powers of destroy magic in things, would have been more than enough to interrupt for one second the seal, hence the Axe's breaking to the Demon's power.

Does this theory make any sense to you?

I would call shenanigans but knowing thunt that wouldn't surprise me, in spite of it being effective in Caine's hands. I think thunt just wanted the demon to go free so he had ears act uncharatisticlly throughout this dungeon

[YardMeat]

Hello to everyone, I have registered since I noticed a thing about the Axe and I wanted your opinion about it:


Here
http://www.goblinscomic.org/08112015/

right after the last time the axe was working, it was used (although it didn't cause any damage) by Complains. As we have already seen, he's kind of half-demon now. Wouldn't so be possible that BE bad intention towards Minmax, plus the lie, plus maybe the usage to attack and damage another paladin, plus the not-helping Forgath, had weakened the Axe, then the usage by a half-demon made it unstable to the point of not being effective anymore?

At this point, the contact with the mirrored staff with powers of destroy magic in things, would have been more than enough to interrupt for one second the seal, hence the Axe's breaking to the Demon's power.

Does this theory make any sense to you?

I would call shenanigans but knowing thunt that wouldn't surprise me, in spite of it being effective in Caine's hands. I think thunt just wanted the demon to go free so he had ears act uncharatisticlly throughout this dungeon

I seriously doubt that BE's little lie in the dungeon would be the straw that broke the camel's back. There has to be something else going on.

[SpeaksManyLanguages]

right after the last time the axe was working, it was used (although it didn't cause any damage) by Complains. As we have already seen, he's kind of half-demon now. Wouldn't so be possible that BE bad intention towards Minmax, plus the lie, plus maybe the usage to attack and damage another paladin, plus the not-helping Forgath, had weakened the Axe, then the usage by a half-demon made it unstable to the point of not being effective anymore?

I don't buy it. Remember Mryorg. He was even worse than Saral Caine and the Axe survived that.

[extrabigmehdi]

Woaw, so much suspense in this page ! I have only one thing to say: ^^^^^^^ !

[HiddenElephant]

New person here. Anyways, what's going on is probably a factor of a few things. Like people have noted, what's going on is a combination of several things. Big Ears hasn't exactly been a good boy for the last few while, so that might be influencing the ax. And I do agree, it's quite likely that his axe is overwhelming his ability to sense evil in others. Somebody else noted that the ax exudes a stronger evil sense the closer it is to breaking, in hopes a stronger paladin will pick it up. Mind you, I have no idea why a paladin with any common sense would pick up a weapon that shouts, "I'm Evil!", but that's just me. Big Ears is what, level 4? He's not very strong in the grand scheme of things. Especially if it was in the hands of a malicious torturer for any length of time, he wouldn't have the experience, quite literally, to handle the ax correctly. I'm also thinking that the ax itself might have some innate bias in it, and was meant for the classically good races (elves, dwarfs, humans, etc.) to wield, instead of goblins, classically defined as evil, and wouldn't quite work right in the hands of a perceived-evil race. It's unlikely, but it was a thought I did have.

Finally, about the dopplegangers theory: I think not. Kind of. Part of the axe careened into Complains when it broke, so that's how he was hurt. It doesn't seem to have much to do with hurting the original versions of your enemy. It does seem suspicious that not only are the foes color-coded and are of equivalent sizes, but that may be a feature of the dungeon: A room that summons/creates enemies that are equal in power to the adventuring party entering the room. There are no grounds to this, mind you. Previously, the only hit was Thaco upon the grey foe, who seems to be his equivalent given the wrappings around his hands. We also have no idea what the enemy is saying at all, and they only seem permanently grouchy. We've got quite a few unknowns.

[Guus]

I think the long period of evil/not good deeds chipped away on the axe too long. Lying is actually a bad thing, and paladins aren't capable of doing things "for the greater good". Except for Kore apparently, but hey. So it kind of makes sense to me that BE didn't need to do much to unleash the beast so to speak.


@YardMeat: thanks! But does that mean that the staff works against every magical source? So divine, arcane and primal? Because that would mean that when a druid commands a spirit companion the companion would be banished, and it would destroy roots that are pulled out of the ground with primal magic as long as they still have magic in them. Would a primal tree be destroyed? Are the animated trees of treants primal magical beings and thus destroyed?

[YardMeat]

I think the long period of evil/not good deeds chipped away on the axe too long. Lying is actually a bad thing, and paladins aren't capable of doing things "for the greater good". Except for Kore apparently, but hey. So it kind of makes sense to me that BE didn't need to do much to unleash the beast so to speak.

I don't think 3.x has anything saying that all lying is categorically evil. I think it is more likely to qualify as not-lawful than not-good, and possibly a violation of the paladin's code regardless of any alignment issues. With Kore, I don't know what's going on, except that it likely has something to do with his curse. A couple of characters within the setting itself have said he should have lost his powers by now, so I'm assuming this is something unique to him. What's really interesting to me is that both Kore and the Axe act as a sort of soul prison. Not sure what to make of that yet, but it could be interesting.

@YardMeat: thanks! But does that mean that the staff works against every magical source? So divine, arcane and primal? Because that would mean that when a druid commands a spirit companion the companion would be banished, and it would destroy roots that are pulled out of the ground with primal magic as long as they still have magic in them. Would a primal tree be destroyed? Are the animated trees of treants primal magical beings and thus destroyed?

Hm, not sure. The only magical sources covered in the core books (I'm not familiar with most of the expanded stuff) are: arcane, deities and various divine forces. Nature, Good and Law are identified as such divine forces and the PHB heavily implies that Evil is another such divine force. I would assume that a staff that dissipates magic would get rid of summoned creatures, but I'm not sure about other beings.

[Guus]

Sorry, you're right, it's about lawfulness, not good/evil. Still, it is against their code:

► Show Spoiler

Code of Conduct
A paladin must be of lawful good alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits an evil act.

Additionally, a paladinÔÇÖs code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents.

Source: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/paladin.htm

[TurtleShotty]

If the demons are copys and Ears hits Fumbles copy then he is hitting a paladin since fumbles is all classes. Right?

[Guus]

I'd think 9/11 of an axe hitting you is still pretty bad though :,)

[Aegis J Hyena]

it's quite likely that his axe is overwhelming his ability to sense evil in others.

... I had not thought of that. If that's the case, the goblins are screwed...

[YardMeat]

And I do agree, it's quite likely that his axe is overwhelming his ability to sense evil in others.

I don't think so. BE has tried detect evil while holding the Axe before and it didn't trip him up: http://www.goblinscomic.org/02172016-2/

[HappyCatDragon]

so i leave the internet for a while and i come back and a terrible demon has been released?

Can't i leave you guys alone for a year or so?

On another note, holy goblins is this a crazy and scary turn of events, i can't even begin to comprehend the reprecussions of the axe breaking!

i mean i also don't really get what made it explode in the first place, but i guess in some definitions killing would be evil, and or "defending a demon" would be evil if complaints is seen as such by the axe?

So manny questions ahhhhhh

[Krulle]

The Axe may still have the demon trapped...

[Bayle]

What act of Evil may have happened 13 moons ago...

Edit: I suppose the staff could have destroyed it on contact but that seems rather cheap! Poor ears...

Double Edit: Or... is him attacking the fumbles clone an act of Evil starting the 13 moon clock until the demon escapes?

[Morgaln]

The last time the axe was weakening (while in Saral Caine's hand), it was radiating evil so strong that Ears could barely get near it without screaming in pain. I seriously doubt that has been happening again, because there was no hint at all that Ears was feeling that kind of evil from it since then, so the conclusion is that the axe wasn't weakening. It's an arbitrary event happening at an arbitrary time.