The Order of the Stick

The idea of a telephone tree is that one person send to five people that, by some coincidence might know someone, that person send to five people that might know someone, repeat until goal has been reached or the entire world has been sent for.

It's a bit of a brute-force warning system, but better than nothing. Not something I'd actually count upon, though.

The High Priest of Thor probably knows one of the elders (and if, not, she knows someone who would know), so if she had given them enough information to send to one of her friends, that might have been a good place to start.

The Order werent the only non-sequestered people, surely?

From the Godsmoot? Yes, they were. The Cult of Stone had been turned into vampires and/or killed. They've been chasing behind the vampires ever since then.

Thanks to his change in status when Greg transferred the High Priest title, Roy is the only one who was allowed to attend the Godsmoot in the first place and also allowed to leave once it stalemated. He is therefore the only one able to take the information he learned there to the outside world.

The bodyguards could leave, but they don't seem to be magic users and thus aren't useful without transportation. Also half the clerics would have vetoed their bodyguards leaving and the other half probably wanted to keep their bodyguards around.

A pity all those ushers who could cast sending got killed.

No, though bodyguards can't leave, because they have an official at the Godsmoot.

Roy no longer having such was the only reason he could leave.

Edited by LSBK on Feb 16th 2019 at 11:23:54 AM

New OOTS!

Newts!

1156: In All Fairness

Edited by Wackd on Feb 19th 2019 at 11:01:25 AM

...

Well, that's an interesting way to look at it.

Aw, come on, I just checked the comic to see if there was a new one...

Well, I do like me a fair system, I suppose.

Everyone's condemned to eternal suffering! Equality!

The best kind of equality is the kind that doesn't solve anything

Oh hey. It's that one vampire spawn that was still around when Durkula died. I'd been assuming that Belkar and Hilgya finished her off off-screen, but I guess she got away.

Edited by Gilphon on Feb 19th 2019 at 12:26:13 PM

That means the Exarch knows that his boss is dusted. I wonder if that has any bearing on his plan?

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Feb 19th 2019 at 12:51:07 PM

That's the thing with vampires... they tend to come back if you've not made absolutely sure that their ashes were soaked in positive energy and then scattered to the four winds. Preferably using three separate siege catapults. In the Feywild.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Feb 19th 2019 at 5:51:47 PM

Equal wrongs for all!

Oh my god, I feel this comic. This is the problem with egalitarianism and, more generally, the problem with "equality" versus "equity".

If everyone was dead in a ditch, we would all be equal. That is what this boils down to.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 19th 2019 at 11:53:07 AM

I'm a bit surprised by the vampires' approach. I would have thought they would be a little more discreet.

They are discreet enough to not get caught until their prey falls into their trap. All they have to do is wait for someone to show up, dominate or kill them, and wait for the next batch.

I’m a bit surprised that, given that this is their plan, and Durkon knows their plan, he’s still in the temple letting it happen. As Tobias said a couple pages ago, this feels like it should be more of a race.

Edit: On the other hand, there could have been a Time Skip (it’s probably morning now that fancy-pants dwarven elders are awake and gathering), and we might see the Order try and crash this party in another strip or two.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Feb 19th 2019 at 1:17:42 PM

With regard to the discussion of Dvalin's likelihood of simply overriding the council (or lack thereof), would it be more narratively satisfying if the situation were resolved that way, but only because the Order uses their own character development to demonstrate why bending the rules is sometimes necessary?

Leaving aside that this is Durkon's arc (he's just had a huge character moment), Roy has some history in calling out people who are acting too Lawful for anyone's Good. Even Belkar might possibly have the chance to demonstrate some Character Development here.

I just feel like a combat solution that ends up dusting the Exarch and his minions seems equally anticlimactic...

I have a feeling something unexpected is going to happen, though I'm not really sure what.

The fact that the raw deal the dwarves get is being brought up again here makes me wonder if it might involved that somehow.

The problem is that, by the looks of it, we've already had the climax in the fight with Greg, and we're now in the "Sauruman conquers the Shire" stage. There's a reason they cut that part out of the movies.

There is always something unexpected. When was the last time something worked out as planned in this comic?

Nah, this part is probably going to be more "Durkon brings the destruction with totally-not-Crom-Faeyr."

That's my read, too. The main purpose of this upcoming fight is probably to let Durkon show off his shiny new toy in a curbstomp.