22 December 2013 - "Shut up"

[LurkerAbove]

here's one solution to the puzzle in 9 moves:

Nice animation !

BTW, it would be nice if we could have a separate picture of the puzzle,
i.e. without the bars in front.

[Tofu]

This next few pages are gonna hit 11 on the epic scale. So cool a Christmas present folks! More n goblins and now the two adventuring parties have way cool artifacts/weapons to stupify Kore and each other with ... eg ...

MinMax - Just Hit the paladin with your Axe ya big yellow doofus BigEars

BigEars - can't, stupid warior ..my Axe just goes thru him.
Cut to a >Boggled Forgath<

[SGTdude]

1) I think there has to be more to this than just being a slider puzzle.

2) Ladies and gents, that is why palidans are great.

3) Dear THunt,
Its frikin Christmas. Take a week off already. You deserve it.
love,
the fans

[WastesTime]

@SGTdude Completely agree

Ad.1 "To open the door, take the key. It will be yours if under the tree."

Door tile is there (door), hand tile is there (take). Maybe they need to align those three (door, hand, tree) and then move the key under the tree tile.

Ad. 2

Dear Thunt

SGTdude has it right. We'll wait for the next comic until well into January if need be. Take the time off and be with your loving family! I don't know how the banners work... do you get the money from them based on how often someone visits the page? Because if that's the case I (and I hope other forum dwellers) will spam your page with visits during the Christmas break

[extrabigmehdi]

In the fourth drawing, it's as if Forgath got a metallic stick on the head...
I'm not sure why, it's perhaps a drawing mistake.

Also it's as if Minimax got "falling" ear rings, if you look at his cloth.

[WastesTime]

In the fourth drawing, it's as if Forgath got a metallic stick on the head...
I'm not sure why, it's perhaps a drawing mistake.

Also it's as if Minimax got "falling" ear rings, if you look at his cloth.

Not a drawing mistake, that's the bolt from Kore sticking out from Minmax's arm

[GathersIngredients]

In the fourth drawing, it's as if Forgath got a metallic stick on the head...
I'm not sure why, it's perhaps a drawing mistake.

Also it's as if Minimax got "falling" ear rings, if you look at his cloth.

That metal 'stick' is the bolt Kore shot into MinMax' arm.

And the 'ear rings' are the fastenings of his armor.

► Show Spoiler

marked in blue for your convenience:

Darn, got ed by WastesTime.


Also, I'd like to say that on top of Ears' body language and the way he gets shut down before he can even say anything, I love how similar Complains and Thac0 are moving/looking/yelling at him. You can really feel their blood relationship in these panels. ^^

[lingrem]

randint: That's a really cool video of solving the puzzle!

I really don't want anyone to die

ETA: Also, I think you can tell by the fact that Forgath is peeking around the corner and looking pretty angry/determined that he's already decided that he'll be the one to try and protect everyone.

[T-RexWithTourettes]

Hahaha this is great
Just like to point out to Thunt, Complains is missing the little gash across his face from Minmax.

[Aegis J Hyena]

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

I was going to say Big Ears is the better choice, since he can lure Kore away with the Axe. Maybe throw the axe off the bridge? Kore'd go after it for sure.

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"...

I like that idea... he says as he looks at the survivors in his civilization game in the games forum, where a mountain fell down as the result of a Wish...

BTW, it would be nice if we could have a separate picture of the puzzle, i.e. without the bars in front.

Yes, this.

And I'll echo SGTDude --- take the rest of the year off, Thunt. Time for a WELL deserved break.

[Tama]

I saw those last three panels coming from a mile away, and I STILL laughed my ass off.

[trebar]

Want to explain those last 3 panels, Tama? Maybe I need to go back and read the archives, but I don't know the goblins well enough anymore to tell what he was going to say.

[Brings Cupcakes]

Big Ears was volunteering to sacrifice himself to save the others. He got voted down.

[stevedj]

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.

Well, some of those toys, when made with a bit of quality, allow sliding a whole row (or part of a row) in a single "move". So, if it is moves that count...

(spoiler consisting of a 10-move solution)

► 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.

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

...would either of these solutions, or perhaps a different one, consist of less "moves" by moving 2 or more tiles at once?

[Dagazzard]

About the puzzle... Maybe you have to remove the "tree" tile, and the physical key is underneath it? The rest of the puzzle may be just misdirection...

[GroundPetrel]

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.

Wow. This...this is brilliant! Minmax has strength 22 base, plus a rage bonus of +4 (I think he still has a rage for the day), so his modifier is +8...Bull Rush provokes attacks of opportunity, but he has the hit points for that. Aid Another action from Forgath gives him +2...Kore weighs several hundred pounds with that armor, so it'd be tough but doable.

Or Minmax could just use Oblivious and rip Kore in half like he did to all those guys in the Maze of the Many. Seriously, a weapon powered by his stupidity? There can be nothing more powerful. Although, he's trying to hold the gate up, so...h'mmm...the Plot seems to have Forgath distracting Kore with the racist axe.

Kore needs a round to switch weapons, so Forgath can get within range and hit Kore at least once before he's screwed. Kore seems to be at or near full hit points, but a lucky crit from the racist axe could deal up to 45 damage, plus Strength modifiers. The Hammace could come into play here too.

If Kin shows up (probably in 2 or 3 strips, if my hypothesis surrounding her and the teapot is correct), she can use her invincible tail to strangle Kore with ease. Plus, she has more hit dice than the other good guys.

Question for Mr. Hunt: Does Forgath's beard give him an armor class bonus?

[Aegis J Hyena]

GroundPetrel: Can we be -sure- Minmax has the HP for that? http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ogre.htm says ogres have 40-some odd HP at -best-, as a Barbarian Minmax at the moment doesn't have much more than that (4d12+Con, say +3? I'd say MM has about 52 HP) and Kore killed Boulder pretty easily in the comic's beginnings... a lucky crit on either side could be the equalizer.

[Changes_everything]

GroundPetrel: Can we be -sure- Minmax has the HP for that? http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ogre.htm says ogres have 40-some odd HP at -best-, as a Barbarian Minmax at the moment doesn't have much more than that (4d12+Con, say +3? I'd say MM has about 52 HP) and Kore killed Boulder pretty easily in the comic's beginnings... a lucky crit on either side could be the equalizer.

MM does have pretty strong armour, other than the Ogre. And that armour probably has not yet displayed its full potential, at least it is to be suspected that the colours do mean something after all.

Remember, he got away totally unscathed, and without noticable damage to the armour too, albeit being hit by a demon's sword strike...

[Aegis J Hyena]

I should edit what I said earlier... 3rd level fighter, 1st level barbarian. So his HP would be lower than the 52 I sorta-kinda-halfassed dug out of my butt. I'll drop that by 10 and say he has about 40-45, still low enough for Kore to make him miserable if the dice go bad.

[Wandering Mage]

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.

Wow. This...this is brilliant! Minmax has strength 22 base, plus a rage bonus of +4 (I think he still has a rage for the day), so his modifier is +8...Bull Rush provokes attacks of opportunity, but he has the hit points for that. Aid Another action from Forgath gives him +2...Kore weighs several hundred pounds with that armor, so it'd be tough but doable.

Remember, Kore is a dwarf. They get a +4 bonus (I believe) against being knocked around and such. Not knowing Kore's strength (probably fairly good), that's a big gambit to make.

[Kamos]

Hahaha this is great
Just like to point out to Thunt, Complains is missing the little gash across his face from Minmax.

Nope he got hit on the ear and it's still there.

[RocketScientist]

IIRC, this is not going to end well for any of them. I'd really rather no more goblins die at this time, if you don't mind, Thunt.

[vonpenguin]

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.

Wow. This...this is brilliant! Minmax has strength 22 base, plus a rage bonus of +4 (I think he still has a rage for the day), so his modifier is +8...Bull Rush provokes attacks of opportunity, but he has the hit points for that. Aid Another action from Forgath gives him +2...Kore weighs several hundred pounds with that armor, so it'd be tough but doable.

Remember, Kore is a dwarf. They get a +4 bonus (I believe) against being knocked around and such. Not knowing Kore's strength (probably fairly good), that's a big gambit to make.

Plus Kore is at least level 14, ten levels higher than any of our main characters. During his attack at the monster tavern he was implied to be epic level, which would make him at leas 16 levels higher than any member of the group, the only reason they aren't all dead is because DnD doesn't do a good job of scaling up damage for martial characters. Kore probably has at least one feat dedicated to helping him resist disarm/trip/bullrush/sunder attempts.

[Gurkenglas]

Couldn't Forgath just slide the panels? Those bolts didn't really seem to tickle him...

[BuildsLegos]

The ring is +4 against missiles, not +infinite. Besides, Forgath needs to face Kore so that his beard adds to the defense and he'll need to be ready to cast defensive spells at just the right moment.