Order of the StickFollow

Should have this fight wrapped up around Christmas.

I don't.





Wait, what? Where am I?

#1009


@#$% you, Jophiel.

Edited, Oct 19th 2015 9:18am by Bijou

He may be smart, but he's still just a fighter. Questions of Alignment and the nature of turned undead are outside of his skill set. Probably. Honestly, I barely remember.

That's how I imagine going Super Saiyan would be.

#1011
Was Roy's Sooper Seekrit melee attack he learned in "heaven" an spellcast disruptor or did it disrupt spells? I'm too lazy to go back and look.

ALSO: I forget if the talisman Durkon has for a neck piece has some awesome property or not? Too lazy to look that up, too.

Edited, Nov 6th 2015 11:56am by Bijou

It just disrupts spells as they are being cast. So he can't whack the shell and blow it down or anything (unless his swords anti-undead properties apply somehow, but I doubt it).



So like double plus good laziness! I think it's just a generic holy symbol. All clerics seem to have one. I don't recall that his had any special properties.

So... How will our heroes get around a field that nothing that is alive can enter? Hmmmm... I'd point out that arrows aren't alive, but that might just tick Roy off.

Burlew mentioned before that Durkon was going to be a vampire for a while although who knows if that means in strip time (where the new book started a few days ago in strip time) or real time where this fight alone has been going on for weeks. But the vampire spirit also mentioned a Plan B.

My guess is that the demigods vote against Hel's expectations and the world is saved, however vampire-Durkon departs for now to go Plan B it up, leaving Roy to head to the Gate sans cleric.

Or, you know, maybe Roy just throws his sword or something.

Burlew had to post a Cliff Notes of sorts because so many people were confused by the strip:
(1) There is a still a demigod cleric who hasn't voted. Hel's plan was to have the score be 4-2 before that one even got a chance to vote rather than hope for a tie breaker.
(2) The vampire on the ship is Gontor, the Exarch that Durkon killed
(3) Durkon turned Gontor into a vampire thrall using Malack's staff, same as Malack made Durkon into a vampire immediately.
(4) Gontor doesn't get a vote

I assume that Gontor is on the ship (in V's room no less) to steal the Orb of Teleportation, thus allowing Gontor and/or Durkon to head directly to the Gate to try and destroy it since that would require the gods to destroy/remake the world to contain the Snarl once more. Thus that being Hel's "Plan B" to get what she wants.

Yup. It's kinda shocking how many people were confused by the strip, and asked questions in the forums which were directly answered in the strip itself. You know, simple things like counting could have resolved most of the confusion. The strip tells you there's 7 demigods, it shows you 6 of them voting, and Darkon even says "there's one vote left". Confusion arose I suspect because the 6th vote was obviously the one Hel was counting on to tip the scales. Lots of people confused about why it was the 6th that was the dramatic vote, and not the 7th, but I actually like that Rich avoided the obvious trope on that one. Also, it allows him to switch to the side plot (plan B) while still showing that the voting/drama/etc is going on. If he'd made it the 7th vote, the voting would be done, drama/questions/speculation about the vote would be finished, and folks would be wondering why people are still standing around in the Godsmoot doing nothing while plan B is being enacted.

I saw it as a good use of timing for the story, but apparently some folks didn't get that.

You'd also think fans avid enough to register and regularly post on the forums would be far more in touch with the actual story and things like immediately recognizing who the additional vampire was. It's not like there wasn't a ton of speculation on those very forums about whether Darkon had vamped some or all of the creed dwarves, so why was that such a surprise? Just struck me as strange, is all.



Yeah. This x100. Again, I'm a bit baffled by the sometimes bizarre speculations on that board. Hel's objective is to get the Gods to destroy the world so that the dwarves will die dishonorable deaths and become her souls and thus tip the scales in her favor power wise when they remake the next world. That's it. Plan A is to get them to vote to destroy it now. Plan B would obviously be to destroy the gate directly, thus forcing the Gods to do so in the brief period of time before the snarl starts eating everything (stated as 10 to 15 minutes, apparently plenty of time if the God's are prepared). Sending a few vampires to the Dwarf lands to vamp a few more seems like a silly plan and doesn't actually help her (and is probably not of sufficient scale to meet the prophecy about Durkon). Burlew has clearly established now that vampires are initially thralls; new vampire spirits with no free will under the control of the vamp who made them, with the real soul trapped inside. When released or their master dies, the vampire spirit is free to take full control, and will act based on the most dark/evil aspects of the trapped soul. Hence, Durkon's vampire spirit hated the dwarves for what they did, and eagerly sought out Hel for vengeance against them. But a happy dwarf who is vamped will be loyal as a thrall, but if killed will still result in his soul going wherever it would otherwise go (presumably to his god). If later released, said vampire might be evil, but would not necessarily choose to serve Hel (also stated clearly in the comic).

So Hel gains little at all by sending a squad of vampires into the dwarven lands to wreak havoc (and frankly, it's not like they'd do much), and would actually lose out since those who were vamped would have died honorable deaths, and thus if the last gate is destroyed (without her intervention), she'd lose those souls she would otherwise gain from doing nothing at all. So yeah, that scenario makes zero sense, yet it's repeatedly bandied about with complete seriousness.

The only logical plan B is the one that actually achieves her objective. Sure, if she could get the gods to destroy the world right now, she wins right now. But if she can get Darkon and a few vamp thralls to destroy the gate sometime later, she gains the same thing.

Here's my prediction:

SpoilerNext strip will show the creed vamp stealing the orb, perhaps hastily due to alerting V via blackwing (questions arise as to whether he could destroy her spell book in the amount of time he'll have, probably not). He'll then gas form out with the orb. Next section (either second half of that strip, or the next) will show the final demigod voting no, thus apparently thwarting Hel's plan. Roy will then demand that the others help him destroy Darkon so he can be resurrected as Durkon, but Durkon will point out that the godsmoot protection applies to all representatives and bodyguards, not just for the duration of the voting itself, but from the moment they are designated as representatives to some period of time allowing them safe leave from the event (cause it would otherwise be a death sentence for some god's representatives if they could be killed the second voting is over, right? I mean, let's apply a tiny bit of logic here as to how a meeting including some hated enemies could possibly work). As Hel's representative, he's protected, thus he can only be destroyed by Roy himself. Ah... But then the dramatic return of Belkar occurs! (ok, maybe, but it would be great timing IMO). Things look bad for Durkon, as Belkar turns the tide. Then, after a strip or two of batttle, when it looks like Darkon is defeated, his thrall(s) show up, orb in hand, and "poof" (perhaps with Darkon in typical mustache twirling fashion, revealing that plan B is to destroy the last gate). Roy and Belkar express appropriate expletives, and then we move on towards how they're going to have to get to the gate, now to stop both Xykon *and* Darkon.

Of course, the usual caveats apply to any such prediction. Pretty sure the plan B thing will progress though. The details are what's in question.