August 9, 2016: The one we cursed

[SoulReaver]

Permalink: http://www.goblinscomic.org/08132016-2/

Old link: http://www.goblinscomic.org/08092016-2/

The question raised immediately: The Second Prissan?

[SirButcher]

Yay, we knew Kore is one of the paladin who was there!

[Tofu]

Nice to see a finished page with lovely bold colour and clean lines of all the characters - including the new one. The teeth motif is quite disturbing, and probably relates to all the faces on the reveal of Kore's face underneath his armour.

With this, we know Kore was there at the time of the Demon being captured, and that the Axe is the axe held by Kore at that time, so it is Kore's axe. The teeth motif suggests the demon also has teeth and bone elements to it. fricking awesome !!! What I love about this is that the teeth are coming out of the ground as the flea-demon talks to the party. How freaky is that!!

This does feel like a sudden lurch of the plot, where it was kinda slow or jerky in odd ways, now it is suddenly on a big big reveal after lots of long waiting around. I would hate to see a cut away to our other party members, but it would be a wonderful time to do this and leave us in magnificent suspense.

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

Interesting. So if Kore created the Axe, and if I remember right, the Axe imparts the memory of those paladins who wielded it before to the next paladin, does that mean that mean that Ears has access to early Kore's memories? Might explain a lot about the nature of his curse as well. Cursed to wander the earth, committing atrocities in the name of Good, until the axe failed. Nice insurance planning by the demon, but apparently other paladins intervened and got the axe away from him.

[Banderwock]

Daaaaaaaang. I like toothy, seems nice.

[WearsHats]

Thunt explained on the livestream that he finds fingers and teeth freaky, so anytime he has to draw something creepy or scary it's likely to have a finger or teeth motif. Don't assume there's any deeper connection than that. This is just a minor demon.

Here's a question:

The axe likely has some good bonuses against demons. But it's cracked now. Using it against this thing: Good idea or terrible idea?

Also, Ears identified attacking Kore with the axe as the moment it probably started to break. Could he be right, but for the wrong reason? Could it have more to do with Kore's role in creating the axe or the nature and origin of his curse?

[YardMeat]

Awesome! I thought that Kore was one of the creators of the Axe, but it looks like he was the creator. I had called the Demon being responsible for the curse, but now it looks like this parasite thing was responsible. I can't wait to see where this goes. Hopefully we'll find out the nature of the curse soon.

I still find it fascinating that both the Axe and Kore himself act as as a sort of prison.

[(^_^)]

The question raised immediately: The Second Prissan?

Possibly first Prison Axe failed already, and as it was about to break, someone recreated it. That someone being one that borke it in first place, Kore. But for whatever reason, it was imperfect. Not as resistant, inflicting curse on him, requiring him to keep on living and killing in the name of good.

Maybe

[GovernmentSpook]

Very awesome. Seeing as the demon deity needs the realm to be a layer of hell, and with Thunt having said before that the GAP would eventually reach a situation where they needed to appoint a new chief; I can see the GAP eventually making their way back to lead their tribe as the whole world gets swarmed with demons. No clue on how they're actually going to deal with the parasite and Kore at the moment tho.

[SoulReaver]

The question raised immediately: The Second Prissan?

Possibly first Prison Axe failed already, and as it was about to break, someone recreated it. That someone being one that borke it in first place, Kore. But for whatever reason, it was imperfect. Not as resistant, inflicting curse on him, requiring him to keep on living and killing in the name of good.

Maybe

But Toothy says (somewhat ambiguously, I concede) "Ripe for <...> holding the Second Prissan" which I assume means that the axe is the first Prissan (or of the first Prissan?), and the second Prissan is yet to appear.

[WearsHats]

Unless Kore himself is (or has) the second.

[YardMeat]

I floated a theory a while back that Kore was, himself, a "prototype" or first stab at creating a prison for the demon, but that he failed and then the Axe was created. Looks like there may be some truth to that, with the Axe being the second Prissan and Kore himself being the first.

[Aegis J Hyena]

I almost choked on my cereal. Kore... really? The creator of the Axe? He's fallen kinda far...

This is an interesting reveal. They could always sit around and chat with this demon and wait for Kore to show up, since he's enroute anyway. "You wanna meet Kore? Just you wait."

[YardMeat]

I almost choked on my cereal. Kore... really? The creator of the Axe? He's fallen kinda far...

This is an interesting reveal. They could always sit around and chat with this demon and wait for Kore to show up, since he's enroute anyway. "You wanna meet Kore? Just you wait."

Well, we knew that he was the the last of the Greyhill Paladins. We knew that only one paladin survived the Axe fiasco, and that the paladins/clerics involved in creating the Axe had dealt in "forbidden magic." I'm curious to see what happens if the demon ends up imprisoned in Kore instead of the Axe. He may even *shiver* encounter Chief in there.

[RocketScientist]

That thing is freaky. Suddenly looking forward to Kore getting here, though.

[Guus]

Yeah, things are going to happen!

[hector212121]

Actually? This totally explains why Kore is still a paladin.

You see, a evil act can only be called evil if it's commited of your own free will. I'm not talking about coercion('i'll kill you if you don't') or anything like that; it could still be CALLED evil. I'm talking about flat-out mind control.

That said, I would have expected his patron deity to withdraw divine powers ANYWAY, so that position has probably been taken up by a Lawful Evil or other evil aligned deity who managed to emulate Good divine power.

Well, that, or he's a Paladin of a Lawful Neutral deity who agrees with 'kill potential evil', but i somehow doubt any such would exist. Certainly no LG or NG gods would.

[WastesTime]

And now, Ladies and Gents, it is time to switch to the MAP... you know, just to mess with us

[YardMeat]

Actually? This totally explains why Kore is still a paladin.

You see, a evil act can only be called evil if it's commited of your own free will. I'm not talking about coercion('i'll kill you if you don't') or anything like that; it could still be CALLED evil. I'm talking about flat-out mind control.

That said, I would have expected his patron deity to withdraw divine powers ANYWAY, so that position has probably been taken up by a Lawful Evil or other evil aligned deity who managed to emulate Good divine power.

Well, that, or he's a Paladin of a Lawful Neutral deity who agrees with 'kill potential evil', but i somehow doubt any such would exist. Certainly no LG or NG gods would.

Gods don't grant/withdraw paladin powers in 3.x, which the comic is based on. Thunt can house rule it, of course, but deities have nothing to do with paladinhood in the core rules.

[Treharren]

First post, but the way I read it is as this, wondered what people thought?

I think the curse might be as simple as living forever, doomed to know that the axe would be broken sooner or later, and that his work would eventually be for nought.

So, over time he goes a little crazy trying to exterminate any evil and any trace of evil just to try and make sure that there are fewer possible axe wielders... because the little wrongs are in the name of preventing death to all, he keeps his paladinnines?

Maybe that fails in the rules, but seems the most likely thing to me?

[Guus]

It's a fun thought Treharren, but it'd break the paladin code, and thus would cause him to lose his powers. So, because Hunt says that Kore retained his powers according to the rules, that cannot be the case.

Gods don't grant/withdraw paladin powers in 3.x, which the comic is based on. Thunt can house rule it, of course, but deities have nothing to do with paladinhood in the core rules.

You'd think this has been mentioned enough for people to understand this by now

Domination would excuse actions, I'm not sure if a charm spell would. If Kore does what he does because he is compelled to, the way he does it suggests he's charmed, not dominated.

[hector212121]

Bah, too used to Pathfinder.

In any case, I think it's more likely to be a Geas--No saving throws, no HD limit, and 'The geased creature must follow the given instructions until the geas is completed, no matter how long it takes.'

Since, given infinite time, THEORETICALLY Kore could obliterate all evil(in mortals? Since I'd assume demons wouldn't issue a order to obliterate all evil), especially if he killed 'potential' evil as he sees it(Notice:I'm 90% sure Wisdom would have to be Kore's dumpstat for that) but since it is a open ended task that he COULD complete through his own actions...well... Kore could very easily complete it, given immortality. And seeing as we have that bonus comic to tell us that demons CAN DO THAT....

[ForgetsOldName]

Here's a question:

The axe likely has some good bonuses against demons. But it's cracked now. Using it against this thing: Good idea or terrible idea?

Seeing as very bad things happened just because Complains touched it, I'd say terrible. It might kill the minor demon but who cares?

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

That thing is freaky. Suddenly looking forward to Kore getting here, though.

Might not be an improvement. While I fully expect him to prioritize his targets by threat level, I suspect he's going to be completely PO'd that someone broke his ax.

[Hjerne]

Well, time to head back to Forgath's story for another year.