Order of the StickFollow

Well... who could have seen that coming? Probably the wrong time for a mutiny, but is there really a good time?

Yeah. I'm assuming she's just knocked out. Either way though, things are about to get "interesting" for the Mechane. Andi's plan is to take the ship off in a random direction and hope for a passage off the charts that'll get them through (with hopefully fewer giants in the way). Which may work, or may fail spectacularly. At the very least, it'll mean more work for Belkar, Haley, and V to catch up. Well, maybe. Do they even know what the "right way" is anyway? I'm assuming their plan was to finish off the giants in the way, then catch up with the ship. Not sure it matters much which direction the ship is going for this.

The bigger issue is going to be if the ship gets stuck and then has to go back through the same giant infested region again. Which will be "bad". Also, not sure how Roy's going to deal with the whole mutiny thing, much less Bandana when/if she wakes up. What might be even worse for the group is if Andi's plan succeeds. If she does manage to find a safer way through the mountains, then that'll pretty much be the end of Bandana's Captaincy, and likely the end of the group's use of the Mechane.

Dunno. It'll be interesting to see how this moves forward from a storytelling point of view. I'd like to think that this is more than just random drama along the way, but then that would suggest that there will be some impact in terms of their travel methodology. But he's pretty good at twists, and I'm like 5% or so guessing them, so who knows?

Yeah. I get that this part of the story presumably is necessary for some future plot development/obstacles, and it'll probably flow just fine in book format, but it does drag a bit when reading it live. Honestly no worse than a dozen or so sub plot sections that work like that. It's the nature of an online strip that the author has long since written with the more lucrative book sales in mind.

What's really funny is reading the forums about this though. While I'm certainly not in the "defend Andi" camp, some of the lengths to which the "anti-Andi" folks go is a bit silly. Um... Guys? It's a story about the OOTS and how they manage to overcome the odds and defeat the bag guys and save the world. That means, that along the way there will be obstacles to overcome. If they just moved right to the end fight, it might satisfy the whole "let's get on with the story" bit, but then would not be a very satisfying story once you get there. Also, this means that no matter what happens, Andi's actions will not actually result in the OOTS getting stranded and unable to stop Durkon from destroying the world, nor to be unable to stop Xykon from doing whatever (and Redcloak from doing his whatever). It's a story. There is kinda some plot armor aspects to it, in that the heroes are heroes and presumably do win in the end (else it'll be a really depressing story).

Honestly, the one that bothers me the most (and gets repeated over and over) is the base assumption that there is one and only one possible route through the mountains (in this particular area), and thus the only possible result from turning off the charted pass requires them to turn around and run back through the giants. There are dozens of posts that basically assume this as absolute truth, somehow forgetting that they're not on foot, but flying somewhere around 10k feet in the air. At that altitude, there are almost certainly dozens of routes through the mountains, just most of them aren't as straight, as direct, as well documented (or documented at all), and may not have as much clearance. All of which would slow down travel time, which might be an issue for commercial trade blimps, but certainly don't make such alternative routes "impossible", especially for a pirate ship. Presumably the charted pass is the "best route", but almost certainly not the "only route". Just avoid the mountain tops and they should be able to get through. The only real issue is the leaking gas, which may make them lose enough elevation that they might get stuck. But that might have happened even if they stayed on the pass.

Doesn't at all excuse her actions, but her decision to turn off the pass is not actually automatically doomed to failure. It's entirely possible that they take a left off the pass (as they did), then a right (which they did), then find another pass to the right and find themselves right back on the main route, only having avoided several dozen giants along the way via a more circuitous route. Which might put us in the uncomfortable position of maybe discovering that despite her totally wrong actions in taking command, she actually did manage to possibly save the ship (cause we'll never know if they would have fared better just continuing forward). Which, IMO, makes for a much greater bit of drama than having someone doing the obviously wrong thing, for the obviously wrong reasons, and having the obviously disastrous outcome.

I tend to assume that the author has a plan in place for his story, and anything along the way has a purpose in that plan. But that's just me.

"Cause all the best paths between the peaks have been charted".

Pretty strongly suggests that there are other paths, likely many other possible paths, but that each of the ones on the map are the "best path" through the mountains in each geographical area, for ships to get to the nearby Dwarven cities. One could presumably work their way through any part of the mountain range if the wanted to, but most ships are traveling from specific cities in the south to specific cities in the north, and thus would always want to travel through the best paths, which, over time would be well charted on their maps (as we see).



Sure. Same here. Any method works. I just find it more likely from a storytelling point of view that they manage to find a way through the mountains in the ship, than that they crash on a mountainside only to have some other deux-ex-machina come along to get them to where they're going. I mean, they're on the ship named for that trope, right? So that'll presumably be how they get there, even if the method is risky and literally off the beaten path.

Someone on the forums made an interesting point that the theme of this book is people failing to recognize change, either in themselves or in others, leading to disastrous results. Roy fails to recognize that Durkon has actually changed and suffers for it. Belkar isn't recognizing the change in himself (maybe, or others not seeing his change, or something.). It's possible that the Durkon arc resolves in some way where the vamp doesn't recognize Durkon has changed and makes a critical mistake (perhaps foreshadowed with the whole dinner party bit). Andi doesn't recognize that Bandana has changed (and I suppose Bandana doesn't recognize that from Andi either). Oh. And the MitD is changing (has changed), and Xykon doesn't see it (which will almost certainly lead to problems for him at some point). The Giant has repeatedly pointed out that each part of the story is not a "sub-plot", but part of the story that leads to an eventual conclusion. This bit of drama does fit into that story and in some way is necessary to the overall plot.

Just funny how many people don't seem to get that this is a story being written by one person, and thus, unlike real life, the story will unfold and make sense as some point (and works out "as intended"). Literally nothing happening right now will cause failure, only more story. And more story is good IMO.

Edited, Feb 21st 2017 7:20pm by gbaji

We seem to agree enough to argue about it. Yes, there's other paths. However, they're not charted and likely not as straight through (otherwise they'd be the best paths) but rather involve turns, switchbacks, dead ends, etc. We already saw the ship take a hit going through a narrow gap (and the other side looked as bad). My point was just that being at 10k feet didn't mean you just scooted over and around the mountain peaks, there's still good ways and bad ways to go.

However, it's obviously guaranteed that the story doesn't end with the Mechane 'beached' on a mountain peak somewhere and the world ending via rigged divine vote so it's all academic.

Yeah. Pretty much this (Lolgaxe's alternative aside, I suppose). I guess what amazes me is the folks on the forums almost demanding that the party just arrive immediately and without delay at the Dwarf town and 'get on with the story'. Eh. Its' not fun if there aren't obstacles along the way. Although, according to V, there should only be one.

I also have a theory about Belkar, specifically surrounding his imminent death. Lots of folks post theories on that site, but I don't think anyone has considered that the oracles powers presumably are limited to seeing what happens in this universe. Given the possibility of another world in the rift, presumably outside of the realm to which the oracle can see, all of Belkar's predictions could come true via being pulled into said rift (presumably just as Kragaar was), which may or may not actually kill him. Eh. It's just a theory though. It's just not one I've seen anyone else posit.

Edited, Feb 22nd 2017 3:03pm by gbaji

He really needs to start gluing his sword to his hand. Just sayin'

Surely, one of his new powers will involve some kind of "call sword" ability, right? Right!!!?

Alternatively, V should be along with Bugsby's Sword Retrieving Hand any moment now

This was my immediate take as well.

I hate it when Uber gets lost.

For a white woman to trip on while being chased by a monster.