The Order of the Stick

The idea that a god's influence is proportional to the number of souls they own in the afterlife is an odd one.

It makes sense for Death Gods: after all, all those souls can only really pray to one person for leniency.

Roy has balls. Again. But why does he think he has chance against a vampire cleric of about the same level as himself?

An undead-bane sword and the mage-slaying attack his grandpa taught him?

edited 27th Aug '15 11:05:02 PM by Enlong

But you have to assume that Durkula's new thralls are going to join the fight as well.

To Clarste: Rich has explained in the forums that in the Stickverse, the souls of the dead are basically batteries for the gods. By staying for an eternity in your aligned afterlife, you slowly lose your individuality and become one with your alignment (which can be blissful or horrible, depending on which afterlife you got). When that process is done, you've become a battery that gives "soul energy" to that afterlife and the gods linked to it.

So yeah, having a ton of souls suddenly pushed into the dominion of one god would give that god an enormous amount of "soul energy", which is basically what gods use to measure their power.

@Petershon: Actually, I'm pretty sure that Durkon has a higher level. Roy lost out on a year's worth of EXP while being dead, plus actually lost a level when resurrected. Like he said in reaction to Haley levelling without the rest of the party's help: "Are you kidding me? I just barely caught up to where I was before I died".

So yeah, looking at the levels, the class tiers, and all the perks being a vampire gives, Roy's odds do not look good at all.

Now, the "no" clerics around him might be able to give him a hand through Loophole Abuse, but since the "yes" faction would be able to do the same, it might end up being a moot point.

Though, come to think of it, Roy does have his Starmetal sword, which happens to be particularly effective against the undead. He even managed to actually hurt Xykon with it. So the vampire's damage reduction goes out of the window, plus more.

It's not an even fight, but at least Roy will be able to hurt Durkula if the opportunity presents itself.

EDIT: Oh, right, I forgot about the Mage-slayer. Assuming that clerics have to make the same concentration checks as arcane casters when hit (I wouldn't know, I don't actually play 3.5), that might actually put Durkula in a bind, especially since he might not actually know about it. His thralls are also mostly out of spells, and Roy actually does have a good chance when it comes to melee combat.

Ooooohh, boy, this is actually going to be exciting.

edited 27th Aug '15 11:21:02 PM by Kayeka

Ah damn, epic 1000th strip.
What was Hel's wager with Thor?

Dwarf souls that die in combat go to Thor, does that do not go to Hel. It's a bet of sorts on who would get the most souls this way.

Statistically, Hel would be correct that most people do not die with honour in battle, but then Thor went all Loophole Abuse (probably with some help from his slightly more cunning brother), and Hel's realm dried up.

edited 27th Aug '15 11:23:40 PM by Kayeka

Wasn't that in a dream ?

I'm betting on Belkar somehow surviving and pulling a Big Damn Hero moment. He is Durkula's bodyguard too.

edited 28th Aug '15 1:56:27 AM by Aetol

Actually, I was talking about their little scuffle here.

Though I admit it's not so much "hurt" as it was "scratched". It was a little more impressive in my memory before I actually looked it up.

Still, he managed to overcome the damage resistance of an epic-level lich (however little). A vampire that's only one or two levels above him should be quite a bit easier.

edited 28th Aug '15 12:17:31 AM by Kayeka

Oh, right. I was thinking of the caster-disrupting maneuver his grandpa taught him.

(By the way, he totally got a feat from his stint in the afterlife. Why was he complaining about some puny level loss again ?)

Realisticly speaking, he's probably gonna die.

Narratively speaking, it's more like 50/50, with Durkon probably using heroic willpower to overcome the vampire long enough for Roy to slay him.

He didn't get a feat, he got the possibility of taking Mage Slayer as a feat after he came back to life and leveled up. :P Might still be worth it, in a less time-sensitive mission.

I think he mentioned that he did gain a level back eventually?

Also, narratively, I'm expecting Belkar to come back to save the day and then bite it.

edited 28th Aug '15 3:32:49 AM by unnoun

I don't expect Roy will die here. He either defeats Durkon, or, more likely, Durkon runs away.

Quick note, the demigods vote via their clerics, who as the representatives of gods (yes demi-gods, but still gods) are protected by the rules in place, on top of that vamping them would remove them from their god and thus make them unable to vote.

Neither of the two stone clerics that are likely to have been vamped can vote in the place of the High Priest of Hel if he gets dusted, as to vote (or even prove that one if the high priest of the god you're claiming to be the high priest of) one seems to need to actually cast "summon proxy", a spell they wouldn't have prepared, and even if they could swap a spell into it they wouldn't be able to cast it due to having already used all their high level spells.

Roy has taken the Mage Slayer feet by the way, as he had it in the dream sequence and the dream was trying to be as realistic as possible, so it wouldn't have had him have a feet he never spent a slot on. Oh and keep in mind that Roy's sword ignores damage reduction, because of the starmetal, and is extra effective against undead.

Still even with all of that I'm expect Roy to only win because of Durkon feeding misleading memories to the HPOH, since he seems to have worked out how to do that a bit ago.

Oh and I suspect that the other clerics are just going to stay out of this completely, the rules on attacking other representatives probably just strait up forbid casting spells on other representatives/bodyguards, as otherwise folks could just cast a buff on someone in a way that messes with them.

Roy is highly specialized at beating undead spellcasters. He's got a very good chance here.

But he's still a Fighter, and Durkula is still CoDzilla. And the only one who can legally assist him is Belkar, who was last seen falling to his doom.

He'll need a lot of Plot Armor, is what I'm saying.

edited 28th Aug '15 5:18:05 AM by Aetol

I think he has some plot armor. In all those stories Durkon has been spinning for Durkula, at NO time has he given any information on how Roy fights. Which I totally believe was intentional. Durkon will *want* Roy to kill him and thus give him every advantage he can.

So odds are he doesn't know about the sword or the interrupt feat Grandpa Greenhilt taught him. And by extension neither does Hel.

This will have to be a FAST fight, though, before Durkula starts getting wise to it all.

edited 28th Aug '15 5:35:31 AM by Zoharan

A fighter with home brewed stuff to harm undead and mages, afainst an undead mage. It's not a guarantee, but it's there.

well, he does know that trying to eat Roy doesn't end well.

edited 28th Aug '15 5:38:53 AM by Enlong

Some other cleric (with a taste for trickery maneuvers) may step in and take the bullet of some spell Durkula casts in order to void his protection and let other clerics zap him.

edited 28th Aug '15 5:46:50 AM by Adannor

So that was her plan. Obvious in hindsight, but not in foresight. Well played Berlew.

One of the other clerics recognized Durkon's name (that is "Thudersheild"). That has to mean something...

She's the high priest of Thor - if she's the same one that wrote him the letter that Mi TD ate, then she's encountered his name in a "oh, another letter to answer" fashion.

I think it doesn't quite seem that Durkon's prophecy has been fulfilled yet - I don't think this counts as dwarven lands? Presumably Durkula will be driven away but not killed, and will show up later to wreak havoc in his homeland. Belkar, on the other hand...

Is it worth looking back at the reasons given by the Yes voters? Tyr in particular just got his reason for voting yes turned back on him. Possibly Heimdall too.