The Order of the Stick

IIRC they said they don't want the world to end, they just want constant conflict (evil is not one big happy family, so they don't support Xykon).

I wonder if they've thought that through. To have the power to continue on without the gods (especially if the world does get destroyed in the kerfuffle, and they need to make a new one), they'd need to ascend to godhood themselves. If they do that (maybe the act of killing gods would be enough), they'd better come out of the shadows right quick and get some mortals worshiping them, or they'll wither away in short order. And if the world and all of its mortals are destroyed first?

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Apr 16th 2019 at 11:46:35 AM

The Fiends, like every other creature that aren't the Gods (minus one), Durkon and Minrah have no idea that this is one of billions of worlds and what the destruction of a given world involves for the pantheons. As far as they're concerned, this is the second world.

The point is, they have ambition, they want conflict, and they don't necessarily respect or support the evil gods.

Edited by Resileafs on Apr 16th 2019 at 12:06:03 PM

Yeah. Everybody except the Gods and (now) the Order are acting off incomplete info.

I think Hel does know the truth, which makes her actions even worse. She's seen what happens, and is still pulling her little stunt at such a key moment.

It has been stated the lack of living worshippers has affected her mental state and made her erratic and unstable.

I would expect powerful outsiders to know how important mortal worship is for gods, even if they don't know that the gods regularly fast in between worlds. It would stand to reason that, should they desire godhood, they would want the world intact so they would have worshipers available. Which means they're risking a great deal by using the Snarl in their plan, even if they do ascend.

We have no reason to believe the Fiends had anyway of knowing this Godsmoot/destroy the world business was going to happen in the first place. What exactly could they do to get in the way of it?

And people take the "destructive, unnecessary conflict" line out of context; they don't want it just for it's own sake, they want it for their enemies so it can hold them back just as it has the fiendish races and so that Evil (specifically their brand of fiendish Evil) is more likely to prevail.

Edited by LSBK on Apr 16th 2019 at 1:47:20 PM

Knowingly or not, the IFCC precipitated the Godsmoot by preventing Vaarsuvius from warning Roy against destroying Girard's Gate. The gods convened the moot precisely because there's only one Gate left.

Was this the IFCC's desired outcome? We don't know, because we know very little about how much they know.

We know it's not their desired outcome because they still have two more times they want/feel the need to use Vaarsuvius and if this whole "end of the world thing" happens, that's never going to come up.

Unless you mean we don't know if they wanted the Godsmoot adventure at all to happen, but not the world actually being destroyed.

Edited by LSBK on Apr 16th 2019 at 1:59:14 PM

The gods and Order are also acting off incomplete info. Neither group knows what the deal is with the planet inside the Rifts. There's at least one more reveal still to come.

Of course, everyone else has more incomplete info than they do. Now that Thor's disavowed knowledge of it, there's no reason to assume anybody knows about the planet inside the Rifts.

Not necessarily. V is fighting a battle for the fate of the planet right now, for instance. Suppose the IFCC shows up and steals him away in the next couple strips, leaving the rest of the Order to face the nightcrawler?

I'm not saying that will happen, because I don't know what the IFCC wants here. Just to add another wrinkle, they might be the only faction besides the Order who knows about the planet in the rifts, if they were scrying in the right direction when Blackwing saw it. Not even the gods are aware of that.

edit: , sort of.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Apr 16th 2019 at 3:07:16 PM

I have never found those arguments convincing. The Order is only even here because of the fluke of Durkon happening to be turned into a vampire during their actual mission.

Unless the IFCC somehow knew that was going to happen, I'm not seeing it. And I suppose it is possible they knew it was going to happen, but that hasn't been implied, and I see no reason to assume they actually did until given a reason.

Well, they do know about the planet, for what that's worth. And I find Sabine's comments in that strip interesting, about the mix of Lawful Evil planning and Chaotic Evil gut instinct they work with. Maybe even the IFCC is playing this partially by ear.

I just realized something: How can Durkon AND Durkula BOTH exist independently?

How do you mean? Durkula has been destroyed; he allowed Belkar to stake him after Durkon's spirit successfully turned him into a copy of himself using his memories. The vampire fighting the Order right now is Durkula's chief lackey, Exarch Gontor.

"Our vampire dwarf cleric is a bit younger and has a shield."

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Apr 16th 2019 at 4:56:55 AM

Whoops, you are correct. They DO look alike though.

Our Dwarves Are All the Same

1162: Helping Out

Guys, I think I know what the plan to get inside the chamber is.

Oh look, they brought spare lutes for Elan.

I was going to make a crack about drowning the high-level enemy characters in a flood of NPC corpses, but then I remembered this strip.

Oh, man. This gives me lots of feels, and while I highly doubt Rich planned it this way, it has a lot of thematic synchronicity with a certain very popular film that just came out. More I cannot say without spoilers, but my heart aches (in a happy way).

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 29th 2019 at 11:18:17 AM

Always good to see Hilgya getting put in her place.

"Me. On both counts!"

Iconic.

She really does speak Hilgya's language, doesn't she?