History Recap / TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness

-->'''Oracle:''' ''(In regards to Eugene's suggestion he come back for a second question)'' We're in the middle of a scene you don't remember in a narrated flashback framed by a flash-forward in a prequel book. There's no way in hell you're finding your way back here.

Unfortunately for the goblins, they soon find out that transforming Xykon into a lich means Xykon has lost all the other earthly pleasures in his life besides killing people (Xykon is especially angry to find out that he has lost his sense of taste and can no longer [[MustHaveCaffeine enjoy coffee]]), and Xykon is so furious upon learning this that he not only comes dangerously close to killing both brothers but also calls Redcloak's bluff about harming the phylactery, which Xykon correctly realizes is a meaningless threat unless his body is destroyed and his soul inside the phylactery. Redcloak barely manages to talk Xykon out of killing them, (by convincing Xykon that if he doesn't go through with The Plan, then Xykon will have done all this for nothing, and he needs Redcloak to continue The Plan) but Xykon usurps Redcloak and declares himself the leader of the team.

Years later, a disillusioned Right-Eye tries to convince Eugene Greenhiltm who by that point has set aside his grudge against Xykon and retired from adventuring, to go out and kill Xykon, but Eugene refuses. Citing the possibility that Xykon could go after his family if he fails, Eugene walks away after urging Right-Eye to abandon Team Evil and try making a new life. Right-Eye decides that he is done with The Plan and leaves their latest hideout. Eventually he found a secluded valley where goblins are living in peace with surrounding human villages, and settled down there, working as a carpenter and raising a small family.

Years later, the boy, now a sullen teenager, comes home from school to find a middle aged, handicapped, bald wizard named Xavion in his room. Xavion tells the boy that the boy's parents asked him to come and talk to the boy about his powers. The boy tries to deny having any strange powers, but when his closet is opened to reveal the zombie of his grandmother standing there, craving brains, it's a little hard to deny. Xavion explains to the boy about [[UnequalRites sorcerers and wizards]], and that the boy is a sorcerer, someone to whom the use of magic comes naturally, without the study that wizards must use to control it. Sorcerers aren't often looked kindly upon, since many discover their abilities early in life and use it to pursue selfish goals, so people often mistrust and fear young sorcerers. Xavion has a school though, where he gives these sorcerers a place to learn how to control their abilities and then use them for good. The boy is turned off by the wizard's condescending attitude and is disinterest in helping people who fear and distrust him, so instead he abruptly murders the wizard, turns him into a zombie, and decides it's time to cut ties to his life and leave home forever. As he goes to kill the rest of his family using the zombies of Xavion and his grandmother, the boy does conceed that everything else aside, Xavion had a cool name, and he should adopt a similar one. Eventually, he comes up with one that he likes: '''Xykon'''.

The story starts about 100 years before the start of the comic, with a four year old boy mourning the death of his dog. He begs the dog to "come back" and suddenly a jolt of energy goes through his body and into the dog. While the boy is confused by what happened, his dog stands back up, clearly zombified. The boy is overjoyed to have his dog back, until a bird flies nearby and the dog attacks and immediately devours it. There's a beat panel, and then the boy exclaims with [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior malicious glee]] over how "cool" that was and goes off to find more birds for his dog to eat. Or to kill and feed to the dog...

Years later, the boy, now a sullen teenager, comes home from school to find a middle aged, handicapped, bald wizard named Xavion in his room. Xavion tells the boy that the boy's parents asked him to come and talk to the boy about his powers. The boy tries to deny having any strange powers, but when his closet is opened to reveal the zombie of his grandmother standing there, craving brains, it's a little hard to deny. Xavion explains to the boy about [[UnequalRites sorcerers and wizards]], and that the boy is a sorcerer, someone to whom the use of magic comes naturally, without the study that wizards must use to control it. Sorcerers aren't often looked kindly upon, since many discover their abilities early in life and use it to pursue selfish goals, so people often mistrust and fear young sorcerers. Xavion has a school though, where he gives these sorcerers a place to learn how to control their abilities and then use them for good. The boy is against the idea of going, both due to the wizard's condescending attitude and a disinterest in helping other people who fear and distrust him. He abruptly murders the wizard, turns him into a zombie, and decides it's time to cut ties to his life and leave home forever. As he goes to kill the rest of his family using the zombies of Xavion and his grandmother, the boy does conceed that everything else aside, Xavion had a cool name, and he should adopt a similar one. Eventually, he comes up with one that he likes: '''Xykon'''.

Quite a few years later, a quiet goblin village is celebrating as a local youth becomes an apprentice cleric. The priest who conducts the ceremony tells the youth that he expects great things of the young goblin, to which the youth modestly replies that he simply wants to do a little good for his people. The youth is celebrating with his various family members afterward, (including an uncle, his mother, a respected warrior older brother and a pair of bratty younger siblings, a boy and a girl) when the festivities are disrupted by a group of Paladins and clerics from Azure City, who suddenly attack and start massacring the village. Their primary target is the High Priest who was in charge of the ceremony, but they are quite happy to slaughter all the other goblins around, including the youth's elderly mother, who is one of the first casualties and is standing mere feet away from him when she's killed.

The goblins attempt to fight back, but are no match for the paladins and clerics attacking them. The High Priest urges the confused youth to run, while the High Priest calls attention to himself and tries to hold off the human attackers. He kills several of them but is soon swarmed by the attacking humans and before long [[NoKillLikeOverkill is very thoroughly dead]]. After his death, the humans move to wipe out all of the other villagers still around. With the High Priest's body momentarily forgotten, the youth goes back and sees the ghost of his old teacher near its former body. The spirit urges the young goblin to take his cloak and put it on, which draws a protest from the young goblin, as the High Priest's cloak is the Crimson Mantle, the symbol worn by their god's High Priest, but the ghost points out that with the slaughter going on, soon the young apprentice may be the only cleric left. So the young goblin takes the Crimson Mantle and puts it on... and receives a communication directly from his god. In a haze, he starts to wander away from the site of the battle, until he hears the voice of his younger brother pleading for help, because he's already wounded, (and lost an eye) and a paladin is about to finish him off. The goblin with the Crimson Mantle saves his brother by killing the paladin, then tries to find his little sister, the only member of his family who is unaccounted for... and sees her impaled on the katana of a nearby paladin. The two brothers leave, perhaps the only goblins to survive the encounter.

Eventually, the paths of Xykon and the young goblin would cross. The goblin and his brother met with other goblins who were driven from their lands and into a large swamp by crusades of the paladins, where they tried to make a life for themselves. When the paladins began encroaching even there and building local fortresses, the goblins planned to fight back and drive the paladins out, only for the local lizard people to try to one-up them and get to it first. As that is happening Xykon happens to be flying nearby, and begins wiping out the paladins, while also carelessly killing a number of the lizard people as well. Impressed by the power of the now elderly sorcerer, (Xykon hardly broke a sweat as he wiped out the Azurite fortress) both the lizard people and the goblins attempt to recruit him for their various schemes. After Xykon offhandedly murders the chief of the lizard people for having a long, difficult to pronounce name, the goblin with the Crimson Mantle introduces himself as '''Redcloak''', and his one-eyed brother as Right-Eye.

Redcloak then explains to Xykon about the vision he received when he first put on the Crimson Mantle: how his god, The Dark One, was once a mortal goblin with an unusual, purplish skin tone who united the goblinoid races and fought for their betterment, only to be assassinated at a truce conference with human and elven leaders. Following that, the worship and furious rampages that his followers devoted to him [[DeityOfHumanOrigin allowed the spirit of The Dark One to ascend to godhood]], and finally after becoming a god he discovered the existence of The Snarl, the embodiment of discord between the gods that had destroyed the first world all of the original gods had built together after slaughtering an entire pantheon of gods. Furthermore The Dark One discovered that there were holes or rifts in the fabric of the current world where the Snarl could reach through and affect things. The Dark One then created the Crimson Mantle to empower his high cleric and allow said cleric to seize the Rift while The Dark One tried to find a way to make use of it, but said cleric was beaten to the punch by a group of mortal adventurers, who created a Gate to seal the Rift. Still, The Dark One found a way to use this, by creating a ritual using a divine and arcane spellcaster to control the location of the Rift...and here Xykon jumps to a conclusion, thinking the Gate can be moved to threaten mortal enemies, and allow you to TakeOverTheWorld. Redcloak allows him to believe this, and Xykon agrees to be part of the scheme. Later conversation between the Redcloak and Right-Eye reveals the true purpose: the Ritual would allow The Dark One to change the Gate's location in time and space, so he could use it to do things like transport the Gate into the throne room of the gods and threaten to unleash The Snarl on them unless his demands for a better life for goblinkind were met. Redcloak fondly dreams of the ideal civilization goblinkind could build if only they had the resources of the other races, and figures that as a consolation prize, they'll give the elderly Xykon a cushy and privileged position in their new society.

We then cut to a battle between a small army of goblins, led by Redcloak, Right-Eye, and Xykon, attacking the base of the elven druid Lirian, the guardian of the Gate that the Dark One discovered years earlier. The battle is hanging in the balance, (partially due to Xykon's careless use of his spells, which is resulting in nearly as many goblins dying as the defenders of the Gate) when Lirian's secret weapon kicks in: a magically-created virus which wipes out the abilities of any spellcasters who aren't protected by Lirian's abilities. While Redcloak isn't affected thanks to the Crimson Mantle, with Xykon and the other goblin spellcasters out of the fight, the goblins are quickly defeated, and most are killed before Lirian gets the more aggressive of her followers to spare the rest and take them prisoner. Redcloak, Right-Eye, Xykon, and a few other goblins are left in an underground cell supplied with natural foods such as mushrooms that will let them live for years there.

Redcloak, however, comes up with an idea to escape: turn Xykon into [[OurLichesAreDifferent a lich,]] so that he will be immune to Lirian's plague and powerful enough to break through the prison's wards. Xykon gleefully accepts the chance to gain more power, but Right-Eye is hesitant, believing that this will only make Xykon harder to control. Redcloak dismisses his brother's fears, reasoning that they can goad Xykon into cooperating by threatening to harm his phylactery, the SoulJar that prevents a Lich from dying if their mortal body is destroyed. The transition is a success, and Xykon goes to fight Lirian while Redcloak and Right-Eye capture the Gate. Things go wrong when Redcloak sets the forest on fire defending himself from [[WhenTreesAttack some Treants,]] causing the Gate to be destroyed. But all is not lost for our villains, as Lirian lets slip that there are ''four'' other Gates just before Xykon snaps her neck. Xykon zombifies Lirian, seals her soul inside a gem, and recovers Redcloak and Right-Eye, the three regrouping before beginning to plot their next move. Unfortunately for the goblins, transforming Xykon into a lich means Xykon has lost all the other earthly joys in his life besides killing people (most notably his deep-seated love for coffee), and when he finds out that all his little joys like taste are gone, an enraged Xykon not only comes dangerously close to killing both brothers but also calls Redcloak's bluff about harming the phylactery, which Xykon correctly realizes is a meaningless threat unless his body is destroyed and his soul inside the phylactery. Redcloak barely manages to talk Xykon out of killing them, (by convincing Xykon that if he doesn't go through with The Plan then Xykon will have done all this for nothing, and he needs Redcloak to continue The Plan) but Xykon usurps Redcloak and declares himself the leader of the team.

Years later, Right-Eye has grown disillusioned with The Plan, and after trying and failing to convince Eugene Greenhilt to go out and kill Xykon, (Eugene has given up revenge by that point and doesn't want to take any chances that Xykon might harm his family as payback should an attempt on Xykon's life fail) he decides to leave and start a new life elsewhere. He eventually found a secluded valley where goblins are living in peace with surrounding human villages, and settled down there, working as a carpenter and raising a small family. After taking his children on a trip to the local circus to see their favorite attraction ("It", AKA The Monster in the Darkness), they encounter Redcloak again. Redcloak explains that Xykon vanished a few years ago, and Redcloak is in between schemes at the moment and needs a place to rest. He, too, sees the [=MitD=] and knowing both what it is and how powerful it is, Redcloak decides to free/kidnap it, recruiting his oldest nephew for the task. Things go wrong and they are almost caught by the circus guards before Right-Eye bails them out, the goblins retreating with their prize in tow. However, the whole experience set off a change in Redcloak, and he decides to rework The Plan and try to build up the goblins from what they have already instead of ripping other societies down.

[[YankTheDogsChain Too bad Xykon returns]] and [[TrappedInVillainy forces the entire goblin village into his new army.]] During his time away, Xykon found the journal of Serini from the Order of the Scribble, and with it determined the location of Dorukan's Gate. Xykon encounters the [=MitD=] and is immediately impressed by it, and thinks that it could be valuable insurance. [[CharmPerson He charms the monster]] to kill Redcloak but leave the [[SoulJar phylactery]] unharmed if Redcloak should ever betray Xykon.

Xykon and company lay siege to Dorukan's fortress, but the wizard is content to hide behind his massive amounts of defensive wards and traps. He only comes out when Xykon reveals he has Lirian's zombified body in his possession and her soul captive in a gem, and that Xykon intends to torment her soul by having an ogre chop up and devour her body right in front of her spirit. As the two spellcasters fight, Redcloak orders Right-Eye to attack the castle, but Right-Eye refuses and reveals he has a better plan: kill Xykon with a magically-enhanced dagger to avenge all the goblins that have died at his hands/negligence (including Right-Eye's entire family except for his daughter). Redcloak again refuses to cut the lich loose, saying [[IveComeTooFar that they've come too far to back off now,]] while Right-Eye accuses his brother of short-shortsightedness and never knowing when to let go. As Right-Eye goes to attack Xykon during a moment of weakness, Redcloak hits his brother with a disintegration spell, mortally wounding him. While Xykon first recovers from his momentary disadvantage and then proceeds to kill Dorukan, (trapping Dorukan's soul in the same gem where he has Lirian's soul captive) Redcloak and Right-Eye have one last conversation during which Right-Eye subtly disowns his brother just before dying.

* ApologeticAttacker: Redcloak is this when he mortally wounds his brother.

* BreakingSpeech: Xykon gives a truly nasty one to Redcloak, as listed [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech/WebComics here]].

''(Cut to Xykon in a jail cell as a pair of paladins look on)''\\

-->'''[=MitD=]:''' Wait -- the scene on the cover didn't actually happen that way.\\

* DisasterDominoes: In their second assault on Lirian's Gate, Redcloak uses the [[PlayingWithFire Flame Strike spell]] on a Treant. The burning Treant topples over onto a second, who does the same to a third, and so on until the entire forest is on fire, destroying the Gate.
-->'''Redcloak:''' ''(As the Treants fall over)'' Hey, check it out: I got a two-fer! Ummm...make taht a three-fer. Huh. Well this... This probably isn't good.

* DisasterDominos: In their second assault on Lirian's Gate, Redcloak uses the [[PlayingWithFire Flame Strike spell]] on a Treant. The burning Treant topples over onto a second, who does the same to a third, and so on until the entire forest is on fire, destroying the Gate.

* DragonInChief: Thoroughly deconstructed. Xykon is essentially hired on to be Redcloak's dragon, but because Xyk on is so much more powerful than Redcloak, Redcloak has no means of preventing Xykon from making foolish decisions or mistakes that kill off other goblins, and later loses any ability to control Xykon at all and can only watch as Xykon usurps the title of BigBad.

* DragonInChief: Thoroughly deconstructed. Xykon is essentially hired on to be Redcloak's dragon, but because Xykon is so much more powerful than Redcloak, Redcloak has no means of preventing Xykon from making foolish decisions or mistakes that kill off other goblins, and later loses any ability to control Xykon at all and can only watch as Xykon usurps the title of BigBad.

[[caption-width-right:276:"Wait-- the scene on the cover didn't actually happen that way." "Welcome to show business, kid."]]