Goblins/Heartwarming

The part of the rescue arc where everyone bands together to save Fumbles, from Big Ears' reiteration of "Right, so what's the plan?" to Complains walking away to fume, then deciding "Screw it, I'll take them all on".
While Complains' screaming banzai charge against the Elite Guard was an unquestioned Crowning Moment of Awesome, it becomes a Moment Of Heartwarming as well in the context of this older strip which tells you what his battlecry means. I only hope Thaco got to hear it.
This particular story arc involving the blind ogre Pan and his paraplegic, mute kobold companion Yala. See Tear Jerker.
With the gate open, the monsters rush to get out-- except for one kobold, who is too injured to walk and gets knocked down by the crowd. We see him struggling to stand up as he's left behind, desperately reaching out toward the gate as the last of the crowd vanishes through it... and just as it seems that hope is lost, a passing minotaur scoops him up into its arms, along with no less than five others who needed help. A minotaur who is clearly terrified and bleeding from multiple injuries, but carries all of them out and away from the city.
Also, when Kin gets her (fully deserved) revenge on Dellyn. It was long time coming, and after what he had put her through, finished off that plot point nicely.
- Even moreso her reaction when she escapes the city and is finally free. The look on her face is it's own Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
- So... Um... Happy Birthday.
  - I... I think it's okay to like Minmax now...
    - Yes. Yes it is.
    - Minmax started to walk on the path to redemption when he decided he had standards.
  - It's the thought that counts...
  - As part of the whole scene, his explanation of the meaning of a birthday present.

Minmax: It's just...I guess...it's just a way for people to say "I'm glad you were born." So here. I'm glad you were born.

- - - Really, we can probably just say every interaction between Kin and Minmax after it became clear he had no intention of killing her.
    - It's actually even more heartwarming the more I look at it. I mean, think about it. Minmax's entire concept is based around proving how awesome he is through combat. He has turned himself essentially into a social cripple because he sacrificed so much to make himself a combat monster. He enjoys fighting, he enjoys getting XP and he enjoys killing monsters. Kin is, from a player character perspective, a monster, so it makes sense not only that he would kill her, but that he'd look forward to killing her. Instead, he spends what had to be hours using skills that he admits he sucks at using, doing everything he can to give her something he considers normal so that he could think of her as something other than untapped XP. Minmax, of all people, essentially spent hours of hard work so that he couldn't justify killing her. He went against his very character concept because he doesn't want her to die. It's possible we might get thrown a swerve at some point, but that's an amazing display of character growth over a relatively short period of time.
      - Ironically, the above means that (if Herbert is at all a competent GM) Minmax should be getting FAR more experience points for this sort of thing than he should for combat--he's actually challenging himself and showing personal growth.
      - It was established early on that God DOES give xp for role-playing.
  - That birthday party scene is my desktop.
  - There's just a bit more to this story. Look carefully at Forgath's demeanor and actions here. He, after agonizing over the decision, very deliberately and determinedly put on his helmet and retrieved his weapon - he was ready to fight Minmax, his traveling companion and brother in arms, to stop him from killing Kin, who they just met. You're a good man, Forgath. A good dwarf, rather.
And now, Kin seems to have gotten over her dislike of physical contact.
- Points for Minmax as well. Trapped in a room behind a door opened by confusion and closed by understanding, about to die from the deathtrap therein, what confuses him enough to fully open the way in one swoop? Kin choosing to spend her last moments holding him for comfort. It's sweet, in his dumb as rocks kind of way.
  - There's also the alternate interpretation that she's not over it at all and forced herself to do it just because she knew it would confuse him.
- And equally heartwarming is the idea that Minmax isn't confused by Kin's actions, but rather the fact that he feels protective of her.
The author of the comic recently got one as well. TL;DR: Hi, guys, my wife and I are going to be kicked out of our house if we don't pay for it right now. But I am not going to ask you because that'd be disrespectful. Come hang out with us anytime.
- On the subject of the author, we would be remiss not to mention this little gem.
- On the subject of the house, Thunt recently gave in to both his own misgivings and reader pressure to at least try to raise the $30,000 they needed. He put up Tempts Fate 11 with an eventual goal of $30,000 and a July 21st goal of $7,500. By July 21st, Tempts Fate was already going to live through the entire thing, the fans having raised the entire amount within the five days. To say Thunt's been crying tears of happiness is a bit of an understatement.
Minmax is getting a lot of these lately. In this strip, Kin is being crushed by these magically growing trees, and their presence is so traumatic that her mind is superimposing Dellyn over the trees, making it as if he was crushing her. She's crying tears, desperate to get away, and right when it looks like that might be it for her, Minmax just TACKLES Dellyn's distorted face right out of existence, takes her in his arms, and just about challenges anything else to try and hurt her. Darnit, but the Kin/Minmax relationship is making me love the big lug.
- I'm sorry...I broke the no-touching rule... Cue Big Damn Hug by Kin to Minmax.
  - . . . darnit Minmax. Now I've got something in my eyes. To clarify, it isn't that the scene is sad, but the fact that the first thing Minmax does after saving Kin's life is to apologize for touching her, because he knows how much it freaks her out. That sentiment and Kin's reaction to it is just touching in all the right ways, and is too tender for Manly Tears. So . . . yeah . . . *sniff*
- Consider also the next strip. As was predicted by the forums, Minmax took a level in barbarian to extract Kin from the trees. But think about that for a minute - Minmax just screwed up his carefully planned-out build optimization, by taking a level and a feat that he never previously intended to take. His name is MinMax and he derailed his minmaxed character path without hesitation - a permanent, irrevocable decision - to save Kin. Now that's love.

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