The Order of the Stick

As far as the mind/soul thing goes I don't think those things are separate in D&D metaphysics.

Even if they were, the golem wouldn't think it's Crystal thanks to having her brain because I doubt Crystal's brain is even intact inside her head. I think that's kind of what you were getting at, right? Because it/she definitely identifies as Crystal.

edited 17th Apr '15 4:26:19 PM by Arha

...I feel like Crystal has potential to be replacement!Belkar.

Please no.

My guess is that, in addition to reintroducing Crystal and giving Haley an opportunity to be awesome, a central purpose of this story arc will be to play into the question of "are the undead people?".

The comic has thus far spent some time examining who is, and who isn't, regarded/treated as a person, particularly with the plot surrounding the black dragon, and the one surrounding Redcloak and the goblins. Redcloak has stated his view that the undead are not people; they're just tools. I think the presence of Crystal and the HPOH (not to mention Xykon) in the story enables the comic to interrogate that assumption.

Given that the comic has thus far adopted an expansive view of who is considered a person, and that Rich has expressed personal views to that effect, I expect that Redcloak's assumption is going to be proven wrong and will come back to bite him. We'll also get the issue examined through the interactions of the Order of the Stick.

edited 17th Apr '15 6:17:28 PM by Galadriel

This was so worth waiting three weeks for. I always wanted Bozzok to be dead since the Greysky City story arc when he nearly killed Haley with that sneak attack.

I doubt that "undead are people" will ever be a moral of the story.

I take offence to that.

I take offense to you taking offense to that.

Xykon's a person. A horrible, horrible person, but he is a person, with desires and goals and enjoyments and things that make him angry. So's Crystal (well, maybe without the enjoyments). So's the High Priest of Hell.

They're all evil (as was the Ancient Black Dragon, and as is Redcloak), but they're people, just as much as evil humans like Nale and Tarquin.

The argument gets more complicated when applied to undead who aren't self-willed, like zombies. But self-willed undead are people.

edited 17th Apr '15 6:55:07 PM by Galadriel

So?

You know, thinking about it now that the latest update's happened, I'm actually glad that Rich got this out of the way now instead of having them interfere in a much later and more important part of the story. It was a loose end and we all knew Bozzok'd go after Haley eventually, better now then closer to the Gate in Dwarven Lands.

edited 17th Apr '15 7:26:15 PM by DamascaRamza

I can't wait to see what Team Evil looks like in the new style

I would assume they'd look evil.

I think MitD would have a My Little Pony umbrella. Otherwise, not sure on that.

Touché.

I hope there's an epic wallpaper-worthy splash panel to hail their appearance in this sexy new art style.

I still feel it's questionable as to whether the Crystal Golem is actually Crystal as a Golem, or merely a Golem that thinks it's Crystal.

Probably involving an anti-climax panel where they speculate on why they all decided to stand like that.

As regards resurrection and its story aspects, that's one of the things I loved about Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame. Getting a cleric to resurrect Akira required sacrifices, very great ones.

Character growth!

Plus an awesome resolution to a subplot that thankfully wasn't as long as the Desert.

For a while there I was worried she'd actually let Crystal go. This has to be one of the coolest resoluions I've ever seen.

The fact that this also is a meta "FUCK YES" answer to all those "but was it morally justified" drama that came up on the Giantitp forums after Haley killed Crystal the first time makes it even more awesome.

edited 27th Apr '15 2:26:40 AM by Cozzer

Has it happened that Haley backstabbed anyone else beside Crystal (not counting literal backstabbing, i.e. sneak attacks)? Because she killed her second time this way.

Edit: I don't think there will be a same debate now. You know, because Crystal was a golem now. The fact that she announced that she was about to just kill people from now on probably helps.

edited 27th Apr '15 2:29:56 AM by petersohn

Quick question. Does anyone else think Haley was genuine about Crystal going on a quest to remove her pain? It seems like she was offering Crystal a way out there.

Maybe the incinerator was plan B?

Probably. I mean, it was a long shot, but it would have been a dick move not to at least try.