The Order of the Stick

That is kinda simplifying it though, you can be crappy gm even if you ignore alignment completely

For what it's worth, I took "Durkon deserved that" to be referring to him immediately proposing marriage after getting resurrected, not for abandoning her in the first place. That seems to have been the actual impetus for the Flame Strike.

I very much doubt that Hilgya has any desire to get married again anytime soon, and probably a dim view of marriage as an institution.

Am I the only person who read that anecdote and wondered "what kind of gas station only has $10 in the register"? How are they going to make change the next time someone tries to pay for $60 of gas with two fifties?

(Or is this just me thinking in European petrol prices, and nobody in America ever pays more than a nickel to fill up their tank?)

I'd think it's now nobody pays in cash anymore.

American petrol prices vary wildly by area, but on the east coast at least the price is currently around $3 or more, which I think converts to €1.75 per gallon. With a 20 gallon tank, you're paying roughly €40. Over in California, I believe the prices are traditionally $1 or $2 higher, easily matching the €60 cost to fill the tank.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

And when you live near the refineries, the oil is usually a dollar or so cheaper. I've seen stations around 1.80 for the cheapest kind.

Writer, or something. And... a button? 🖲️

It's possible a deposit had just been made before the robber came in.

Also, in the age of plastic there's not quite as much cash being paid out for gas, whether the card is swiped at the pump or used for inside prepay.

None of which means anything to the fact that Kudzu is probably going to grow to be one screwed-up kid with her as a mother, with or without Durkon involved.

/VagueAttemptAtGettingBackOnTopicForTheComic

All your safe space are belong to Trump

Yes, Kudzu definitely needs some other parental figure in his life.

Writer, or something. And... a button? 🖲️

It's truly phenomenal that Durkon honestly thought that "Let me marry you and make an honest woman out of you by traditional Dwarven custom!" would be the thing that soothes Hilgya's enraged heart.

It's nice to see he's learned absolutely nothing from this experience.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Dec 19th 2018 at 11:06:09 AM

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Eh, I would not say he's learned nothing. On the contrary, I think we needed this reminder that he hasn't learned everything, after the last three months or so of "Durkon is morally right" pages.

Eh, in modern world everything is all or nothing

Basically. People are so used to characters having all the answers to whatever problems they were facing after something after an arc like this, that the idea "no, there's still some stuff to learn" gets equated with nothing.

But if it were truly nothing he wouldn't have apologized in the first place.

Edited by LSBK on Dec 19th 2018 at 12:52:03 PM

He doesn't know everything that we know anyway. Not about what she's done, not about what she believes, not much beyond 'A woman said she loved me and I abandoned her when she needed me the most. Then she bore my son.'

I'm still genuinely skeptical that Durkon's marriage proposal has anything to do with making Hilgya an "honest woman." I think he just wants to be around for his kid, and make it so Hilgya soesn't have to handle parenthood alone, and has an incredibly shortsighted view of how to make that happen.

Edited by Wackd on Dec 19th 2018 at 2:18:40 PM

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

I don't feel like the whole point about her "demons" had anything to do with her alignment specifically or trying to change it. Just based on what little he's heard, it seems like a reasonable assumption she still has some issues to work out, and he can be there to help with that.

Of course, you don't need to be married to do that.

🎵 Let’s get down to business 🎵
🎵 To-o raise 🎵
🎵 Our son 🎵
🎵 Did you think I’d left you 🎵
🎵 As a single mum? 🎵

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable

I'm trying to imagine what this sounds like in Durkon's accent. For some reason it's proving difficult.

Somehow I did...

Edited by tclittle on Dec 19th 2018 at 6:48:24 AM

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."

...I get the slight feeling you posted in the wrong thread there.

I have the feeling that Rich is going to shock all of us by successfully making Hilgya's perspective seem a perfectly reasonable one for her to have.

🎵Le's g'down ta bus'ness🎵

🎵For t'raise..... ah'r son🎵

🎵Did ye think ah'd leave ye🎵

🎵As a sin.... gle mum🎵

Edited by SalFishFin on Dec 19th 2018 at 9:40:40 AM

Since this ATT post about Miko has popped up again, I thought I'd see if anyone here has anything to contribute to the discussion.

"I have the feeling that Rich is going to shock all of us by successfully making Hilgya's perspective seem a perfectly reasonable one for her to have."

I'm wondering if he's going to split the difference- Hilgya is right that Dwarf culture is honor-bound to the point of being oppressive. And if she doesn't want to marry, she doesn't have to marry. Durkon's a traditional Dwarf, and he just assumed he was doing the right thing instead of asking Hilgya what she wanted.

But just because Hilgya's right on this one issue doesn't make her right about everything. She tried to murder her husband instead of asking for a divorce the first time, might have burned her clan's fortress down if she hadn't come up with another plan to ruin them, and constantly views the world through a It's All About Me lens, using and losing people as she wants.

Hilgya reminds me most of Belkar, post-Shojo dream. He was nominally Chaotic Good, and willing to work with the group, but he was also a passive-aggressive dick about it, taking every opportunity to troll the party. It was only after Durkon died in front of him that Belkar changed his alignment for real and started working with the party. I'm thinking that after Hilgya gives her big speech, Belkar's going to chime in to give his two cents about good and evil and proper behavior and such.

With the Hilgya part, I agree. Hilgya had a very good reason to run away when she did. Attempting to murder her husband, that's not justified. Getting revenge on her clan, even if they are certainly a better target than Ivan, is even worse, since she had already solved her problem: she left her home, and apparently she hadn't missed it either.

As for the Belkar part, not so much. He never was Chaotic Good. He has always been Chaotic Evil. And while there is a clear, gradual Character Development since the Shojo vision, I don't see any definite alignment change. Ever since that point, Belkar has been pragmatic instead of being Chaotic Stupid. When Durkon was vamped, he didn't suddenly start working more honestly towards saving the world (though he definitely doesn't want it to end, so again, pragmatism), but he has been fueled by his hatred towards Greg. Which, given his pragmatism, means working with the Order against him. We saw before what it means to Belkar if something is personal. When he met Buggy Lou, he almost let him take the civilians as slaves, while the rest of the Order was trying to stop him. Until Lou considered eating Mr. Scruffy, at which point Belkar killed Lou without hesitation. Of course, it's a recurring theme that Belkar's Pragmatic Villainy somehow always coincides with the goals of the Order. That's because deep down, he has always been loyal to them. It's just that he failed to confess it even to himself. And while he is starting to get better at it, he still fails it IMO. There is no sudden change of heart. He's been always working with the Order (since his vision at least), and he's always had a justification for working with the good guys.

The universe is under no obligation to make sense to us.

Belkar was acting like a good person. Or, at the very least, like someone who contributed to the team effort. Granted, everyone auickly figured it out and he sort of ended up Becoming the Mask as he started to develop a sense of empathy.