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Roy attempts to think like a rogue, or at least a multiclass sorcerer/ranger.

Cast[]

Transcript[]

Panel 1

Durkon: I could try Communin' wit Thor.
Belkar: Why, are we looking for a good beard groomer in the area?
Roy: No offense to your deity, Durkon, but we know that the gods have a blackout on information regarding the Snarl and the rifts.
Roy: I'm not sure we could trust any answer we got to be true.

Panel 2

Roy: Haley, check my thinking: Could this be a double-bluff?
Haley: You mean that the Gate really IS here, and the illusion was lying?
Roy: Yeah.

Panel 3

Haley: Hmmm. Well, it's obviously possible, but it doesn't seem like a high percentage deception.
Haley: Double-bluffs work best when your target is so prepared for you to be lying that they never think to question your admission that you're lying.
Haley: Soon and his paladins had no reason to think Girard was lying to them in the first place.

Panel 4

Belkar: Hey, back it up a second, Hair-B-Gone: I thought you said that bluffing against a paladin was easy money?
Haley: Sure, if you grasp how paladins think. Mr. Booby Trap here clearly doesn't, or he wouldn't have bet on one to break his oath.

Panel 5

Haley: If the Gate really were here, there would always be a chance that Soon would have found the Gate before he found the message, rendering the trick useless.
Haley: Considering how easy it would be for the Gate to really be somewhere else...I dunno, it seems like an unnecessary risk to take.

Panel 6

Roy: I agree. Plus, the desert is so unbelievably large that anyone with more than two brain cells would know better than to try to search the whole thing—
Haley: —which would lead them to concentrate their search right here again, just in case it WAS a double-bluff
Haley: The message would actually increase the chance of someone finding the Gate.

Panel 7

Durkon: Aye, but wha if Girard thought o' everythin' ye just said, an' did tha opposite, just ta trick us?
Roy: I think we're quickly approaching the point where it doesn't matter if he did.

Panel 8

Roy: We've used dozens of divinations and hundreds of skill checks. The fact is, if the Gate IS here, I'm not sure we're equipped to find it.
Roy: What's more, the clock is ticking. Any lead time we may have had on Xykon has vanished, because he can teleport right to the Gate—wherever it is—as soon as he has his phylactery.

Panel 9

Elan: OK, so, how do we search the rest of the desert?
Roy: Elan, I just said that anyone with more than two—
Roy: ...
Roy: Elan, the desert is too big to search the whole thing.

Panel 10

Roy: Let's stay here the rest of the day, in case Girard sees our message and shows up. We'll concentrate the search right at this spot, too.
Vaarsuvius: I shall change my shape into one which burrows and search below the sand.
Vaarsuvius: Polymorph!
Durkon: An I'll try castin' Greater Dispel magic on the spot. Mebbe I can at least get rid o' tha explosion trap.

Panel 11

Elan: Do we need another searching montage, Roy??
Roy: No! Hopefully this time we can just cut directly to us finding the—

Panel 12

Night falls
Roy: ...A searching montage, you say?

D&D Context[]

  • Polymorph is a 4th level spell which allows the caster to turn one creature into another form of living creature.
  • Greater Dispel Magic is a 6th level spell which cancels existing magical effects with a greater probability than the 3rd level Dispel Magic.

Trivia[]

  • Sand traps, or bunkers, are a feature of golf courses which can cause a player to waste stroke trying to get his ball out of the trap.

External Links[]

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