22 December 2013 - "Shut up"

[kida]

link: http://www.goblinscomic.org/12222013/

Nice to see GAP & FM working together

[Archerd]

http://www.goblinscomic.org/12222013/ - Perma Link

I wonder if two of them will attempt to distract, Forgath and BigEars, since they're the most armored and Kore might have a worse time with two moving targets at that range.

[Liesmith]

I like how Ears' attempt at yet another heroic moment is undermined by the other two.

I also like how there's actually very legitimate reasons for Forgath to be the one to fight Kore:

1) He has the protection against missile attacks.
2) He can get a massive bonus from the Axe of Racism
3) Minmax is probably the only one with the necessary strength bonus to hold the gate up.
4) Fumbles lacks the levels necessary to slow Kore down.
5) Kore is immune to Ears' attacks.
6) Thaco was just knocked to negative numbers, and probably wouldn't survive another hit.
7) Complains just finished raging, and is probably still suffering penalties as a result.

Everything is aligning to take away all options aside from Forgath; it's like a Seldon Crisis.

[currently_awake]

Forgath will volunteer to delay Kore. It's his destiny after all.

[Tofu]

Poor ears ... he gets shouted down no matter what it is that he doesnt say. Nice bodylanguage there of Big Ears.

i also like the way the Big Orange one keeps on being kind and generous with those he hates ... it's positively childish how he can be so hurtfully hateful then so opposite yet still remaining hateful in his language. Very 8yo in my view. Love MinMax in moments like this.

Point taken Lisesmith about it likely being Forgath ... however the axe of racism is not in his hands is it, there is the hammacer though. Mind you, keeping the gate up is easy, the Oblivious sword could just let out to hang there holding up the gate, no effort needed ...

[Liesmith]

Poor ears ... he gets shouted down no matter what it is that he doesnt say. Nice bodylanguage there of Big Ears.

i also like the way the Big Orange one keeps on being kind and generous with those he hates ... it's positively childish how he can be so hurtfully hateful then so opposite yet still remaining hateful in his language. Very 8yo in my view. Love MinMax in moments like this.

Point taken Lisesmith about it likely being Forgath ... however the axe of racism is not in his hands is it, there is the hammacer though. Mind you, keeping the gate up is easy, the Oblivious sword could just let out to hang there holding up the gate, no effort needed ...

If Minmax let go of Oblivious, it would vanish, so he'd have to stay with it regardless. The Axe of Racism could just be handed to Forgath to give him an edge...it seems tailor-made for this very situation.

[ThroughTheWell]

Do we know enough to solve the puzzle yet? Is the black space blank? Are the 2 green space blanks? If all 3 are blank, then it should be simple.

[tsath]

Fogarth, the beer is cold in Valhalla, and the All Father loves valor!
Once you were just an adventurer. Now?

"You just won a do-it-yourself Hero Kit, complete with a monster. Good luck."

[kida]

What happens if Kore tortures Forgath like he did to chief? Will MinMax still go into the maze?

[WearsHats]

Does Kore have any particular reason to attack Forgath?

I guess he would once it's clear that Forgath is defending the goblins. But a random dwarf he's never met? Who was, a moment ago, fighting those goblins?

Granted, he already opened fire for some reason, but I'm not clear on why that happened. Maybe MinMax and Forgath were just in the line of fire to the GAP?

[Thunt]

Do we know enough to solve the puzzle yet? Is the black space blank? Are the 2 green space blanks? If all 3 are blank, then it should be simple.

The only blank space is the black square under the crooked pentagram. The door appears to be like one of those old children's toys where you slide the squares around, moving the blank space around as you do so.

[Apollad]

The puzzle looks easy enough, just time consuming.

► Show Spoiler

Considering that black spot on the right is the empty space, to save time one could loop the right rectangle of the black spot, gray block with black crooked Pentagram, the key, the orange eye, the hand and the mountain 3 times to get the key on the right (5x3 movements instead of 9x3) And that would leave the space next to the ring, so afterwards there would only need to be an additional 6 movements to complete the puzzle, even so, thats 21 movements of the bricks , and there are crossbow bolts in the area already that don't have any blood on them, so Kore is in range of them all already. (Thunt had replied as i was typing this so i updated before posting)

Suffice to say, there's a fair bit to do, and not a lot of time to do it. I'm not sure on the ruleset to much, but how many of those panels could be moved per round i wonder?

[Loyal]

An extremely simple slider puzzle if it is as Thaco has interpreted. Given that there is also a "Door" and "Keyhole" panel, I doubt that's the case.

I'm ignoring the presence of Kore in this case since I'm running on the assumption that the average adventurer would be expected to solve this while not facing the threat of a dwarven juggernaut bearing down on them.

[Slicer]

If that's the only rule- to put the key under the tree- it's trivial.

Of course, a particularly mean GM would put in something like "every time you move one of these pieces, something happens related to that piece's picture, and every time you move it, it gets worse- oh and there's a couple of other things that aren't immediately apparent"...

Which would make it definitely not a good problem for time-pressure situations, especially not when the Dwarven equivalent of Jason Voorhees is coming after you.

[Cold Burn]

It doesn't necessarily have to be overly complex- remember skyrim? one of the books state that the point of the really simple puzzles was so that the undead couldn't get out even if they somehow got the key(since placing the code on the key removes the point of having a key and code combo). it may simply be designed to keep animals and such out- anyone who solves the puzzle is smart enough to know better basically.

[Grassy Tale]

If Forgath alone would be enough to hold Kore off while they are solving the puzzle... wouldn't Forgath + Minmax (+ Minmax's Oblivious) be enough to push Kore off the bridge? Minmax could use Oblivious like a baseball bat, and easily push Kore off the bridge with the sword's flat side. Even if Kore survived, he isn't exactly nimble, and it would take him forever to get out of a chasm like that.

[WastesTime]

Crap, Thaco is going to die here. Why? He is old so he's gonna want others to survive + he has the biggest chance to stand up to Kore out of them all. Unless Forgath will join. This whole comic is about destiny and fighting it. I wonder if Forgath is going to help Thaco (being a cleric and with his new hammace not even mentioning the +4 ring to protection against missiles).

All in all my prediction is that either Thaco or Forgath will die here. I doubt that Forgath's death will be this early in the comic (early as compared to how much of the comic is still to be there), so my bet is on Thaco.

Also: see how Complains still has the marking left by Chief? While other bloodstains seem to have disappeared almost completely? Given that Dies refused Duv, it's highly likely that Complains will become the next chief of Cryptic Fall.

[vonpenguin]

My guess is that the puzzle also involves the hand tile "taking" the key. and possibly opening the door tile to reveal the physical key needed for the lock shown behind the GAP.

[Liesmith]

If Forgath alone would be enough to hold Kore off while they are solving the puzzle... wouldn't Forgath + Minmax (+ Minmax's Oblivious) be enough to push Kore off the bridge? Minmax could use Oblivious like a baseball bat, and easily push Kore off the bridge with the sword's flat side. Even if Kore survived, he isn't exactly nimble, and it would take him forever to get out of a chasm like that.

Thunt had explained this in a blog post: other people cannot move Oblivious, but Oblivious can only move things using Minmax's own strength. For instance, He could hold the sword over his head and stop a massive boulder that's dropped on him, but he wouldn't be able to lift the boulder any higher.

[Zouron]

► Show Spoiler

Considering that black spot on the right is the empty space, to save time one could loop the right rectangle of the black spot, gray block with black crooked Pentagram, the key, the orange eye, the hand and the mountain 3 times to get the key on the right (5x3 movements instead of 9x3) And that would leave the space next to the ring, so afterwards there would only need to be an additional 6 movements to complete the puzzle, even so, thats 21 movements of the bricks , and there are crossbow bolts in the area already that don't have any blood on them, so Kore is in range of them all already. (Thunt had replied as i was typing this so i updated before posting)

► Show Spoiler

This assumes they can't move the tree, if the tree can move then I believe it can be done in as little as ten moves.

pentagram > key > eye > glove > tree > belt > mountain > pentagram > key > tree

afterall the puzzle so far doesn't mention that you can't move all the blocks.

[Sleeping Bear]

Does Kore have any particular reason to attack Forgath?

I guess he would once it's clear that Forgath is defending the goblins. But a random dwarf he's never met? Who was, a moment ago, fighting those goblins?

Granted, he already opened fire for some reason, but I'm not clear on why that happened. Maybe MinMax and Forgath were just in the line of fire to the GAP?

I know why Kore opened fire. He's jealous of Forgath's magically fixed beard, while his is still ruined

[randint]

making some assumptions here about what can be moved, but here's one solution to the puzzle in 9 moves:

[taytay]

How long until comic ends? I am starting to feel it will be soon

[Glemp]

How long until comic ends? I am starting to feel it will be soon

Nah. Thunt's said before that we're only about a third of the way in (can't recall when he said that, though), and we've still got Junior and the Vipers to deal with.

[I'mBob]

How long until comic ends? I am starting to feel it will be soon

I think some people think that once the prophecy occurs the comic is at its end. It's not necessarily right.