The Order of the Stick

Eh. Not clicking with me for some reason.

Seems too easy.

eh. Haley's outclassed them. potentially that is the point of this mini-arc.

If Rich wants to drag this out, he could have Buzzok/Grubwiggler be prepared for this eventuality, and have some built-in contingency spell to shut Crystal back down.

Hmm, Rich could just have it end here and now, but that would be a bit of a waste of perfectly good foreshadowing, now wouldn't it?

If it just ended here, then what would be the point of it all?

edited 28th Mar '15 4:29:05 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Exactly. Either Bozzok is going to make some kind of deal with the Order to save himself or he's about to die and the Order will try to make some kind of deal with the Thieves' Guild. This isn't over although it's not going in the direction I expected.

edited 28th Mar '15 4:26:34 PM by Kostya

Bozzok knows something that he can use to bargain for his life.

I agree that this seems a little too easy, though it does fit quite nicely into the "chance for the golem to go wild" mechanic.

I think that Bozzok had her retain some of her sentience to give her even more motivation to kill Haley. In this comic, having extra motivation can give serious superpowers to the characters (like when Roy destroyed Xykon the first time). Of course it seems to be his fatal mistake this time.

I hope Crystal survives this. I never really cared about her before, but she is MUCH more interesting now.

Being in constant, unending agony isn't something I'd wish on a person.

Then it's a good thing she's a fictional character. He said "interesting," not "ethically correct."

...she's still interesting

edited 29th Mar '15 9:28:41 AM by deadpool616

I know. Even if she's more interesting, though, I wouldn't wish such a fate on her.

... I liked the strip. I guess it's somewhat predictable, but I thought it was clever in having Haley call attention to how easy it would have been for Bozzok to just rez Crystal.

One for the Evil Overlord List, on the extremely slim chance it isn't already.

"I will never let the heroes have a private conversation with anyone under my flag except for myself, especially if I have a penchant for abusing my underlings."

You know, it's actually pretty scary how often in real life bosses really believe abusing their underlings is the best way to earn actual loyality from them. Like, they act sincerely hurt when said underlings abandon ship as soon as they have a chance.

I still wonder if this subplot is going to be relevant in the larger story or the point is "the OOTS is now Big League enough that Haley alone can handle the whole Thief Guild subplot in the first fifth of the book".

edited 30th Mar '15 12:45:09 AM by Cozzer

She isn't handling it through being "big league", she handling it due to the plot's executioners inner problems.

Well, she managed to convince a being that was literally created to hate and kill her to stop killing her and kill her enemy instead. I'd say that is the Big League version of a Guile Hero.

I think one of the things this scene is pointing out (though certainly not the only one) is how Halry's bluffing/diplomacy skills are at a superhuman level, sort of like the scene on the airship pointed out Roy's supernatural strength.

On a meta level, pretty much everyone (myself included) was wondering when exactly somebody else was going to show up and save Haley's ass, to which the story replied: no, Haley can use her own skillset to get herself out of a situation such as this.

edited 30th Mar '15 7:23:07 AM by Cozzer

"She isn't handling it through being "big league", she handling it due to the plot's executioners inner problems."

?

Some folks are mistaking "plot of the story as intended" for "cheap Ass Pull".

Potatoe, potatoh.

I think it's somewhere in between those two. Haley's argument isnt implausible, but how likely was it really that Crystal would abandon attempting to kill Haley altogether to go after Bozzok? Shouldnt she have settled Haley first, and only then go after him?

Remember, Crystal is stupid. That's the one constant of her character. Haley succeeded at a pretty ballsy Bluff check, which Crystal failed because her Sense Motive is probably negative.