The Order of the Stick

It isn't a robe like theirs, though...?

Trolls! I knew I recognized that mottled green skin tone from somewhere, but I couldn't put my finger on where.

Well, with that knowledge, I'm putting my money on her companion being a troll from that village.

Her companionhad a bright orange speech bubble, though. Do we know anything, let alone a troll, that has a speech bubble like that?

This is a good notice. I'm comfortable saying that connecting the elf that keeps sending her information to the Paladins is what made her decide to take action.

Which still doesn't actually tell us the why here. But it's a piece of the puzzle.

It seems to me that she's planning on destroying the gate, and feels comfortable that she can do this, whatever Xykon and company try to do. But she isn't that confident in the face of the Oot S and/or the Azure Guard arriving in force, so she's mindwiping the Paladins and preparing to do whatever she is planning to do. It's the arrival of the good guys that is forcing her hand, not Team Evil.

It still isn't clear to me that she is aware that the Order is already inside the correct cave.

I'd just like to note for the record that if she was as confident in the gate's defenses as some seem to be assuming, she wouldn't be saying things such as existing was nice while it lasted.

It's pretty clear from that line that Serini's course of action here is self-destructive in nature.

Generous assumption is that she expects to die trying to do what she intends to do and is just being fatalistic.

Reasonable assumption is that she expects the Gate to be destroyed and possibly even intends to do so herself, in order to force the gods to reboot the world for what she believes to be only the second time.

Batshit assumption is that she intends to release the Snarl and feed Xykon to it! Everyone will die but especially him!

If she wants to destroy the Gate, and thinks the arrival of the good guys is a big enough risk that she has to destroy it now... Why wait until they showed up in the first place? And if she's planning on destroying the Gate soon, rendering the Paladins amnesiac and turning them loose is a waste of valuable time. They can't report to their boss if their boss, like everything else, has been unmade. And if the amnesia thing is yet another lie (which I doubt), why bother talking to them at all?

If she has a self-destructive plan (as opposed to a resigned-to-failure type one) I don't think it can be as simple as destroying the Gate. They have, historically, proven pretty easy to break. There'd have to be more to it, or she would have done it by now. If her plan is simply destroying the Gate, she doesn't seem to be in "I need to do this now" mode, but rather a "I'm definitely going to wind up having to do this" mode, I think.

I agree fully, that seems the proper reading of the situation. As we know it, anyway. The way these sorts of conversations tend to go, we’ve got at least three or four more strips of exposition that will completely change our understanding before the scene is over. Probably more. And it isn’t likely to actually end with the paladins being force-fed amnesia potion either, because of the Unspoken Plan Guarantee if nothing else. Or, if it does, we will continue to follow Serini as a viewpoint character and learn more about her and her plans, so that when next she encounters the paladins we can get some good Dramatic Irony going.

No Intention. Well she raises a good point...

She is remarkably well-informed, it seems.

Oh. Oh, my. Yes, that's an astonishingly good point. It's even better when you consider that the Order did the same thing in Dorukan's Dungeon.

Wait...

So she doesn't want them to destroy the Gate. But at the end of the last book she says existing was nice as if she knew stopping them would lead to the end of the world. So...is she just resigned to her fate but will try to fight against it even though it's hopeless?

Edited by Kostya on Mar 8th 2021 at 9:38:55 AM

That does seem like the correct interpretation at this point. Serini has apparently given up any hope that things can be salvaged. From her point of view, either the world gets destroyed or Xykon takes it over, and I suppose that the latter option is preferable for her given that she at least remains alive in it.

What she doesn't know is Thor's plan. That might change her mind.

Edited by Fighteer on Mar 8th 2021 at 9:44:11 AM

Does O-Chul know Thor's plan? Is it something he can explain? I'm pretty sure just the Order (and Redcloak, technically) know about that plan at this point.

Nope. Which is why this particular side conversation isn't going to resolve anything. Now we know a lot more than we did previously (and I'm afraid that the Holey Brotherhood idea is pretty much definitively sunk at this point unless it shows up later in a completely unrelated way), but all that really matters is what the Order of the Stick finds in that cave.

Unless the Order relayed it to them via Sendings off-panel, I suppose.

EDIT: No, wait, NVM, read that wrong.

Edited by Kayeka on Mar 8th 2021 at 3:58:17 PM

Does the Order know Thor's plan? I thought it was mainly Durkon and Roy?

To be fair, that was an accident. Girard's Gate wasn't, though.

And Redcloak bears the responsibility for Lirian's, though that too was an accident. Literally the only side of this conflict that hasn't destroyed a Gate is Xykon himself. You could even add the Scribblers to that given that it was Dorukan's self-destruct rune and one of Soon Kim's paladins that destroyed their respective Gates.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 8th 2021 at 7:03:54 AM

I like how your post's wording is such that Xykon isn't on the same side as Redcloak. Because they really aren't on the same side.

It's also kinda funny because despite being the big threat, Xykon's the most disengaged from all of this. He's just an evil guy trying to do an evil thing and secure his legacy. This whole "Take over the world using the Gates" idea that Redcloak used to deceive him sounded like a nice epic plot to really get people saying his name and talking about how wicked he is. Which, uh, mission definitely accomplished; a lot of people know his name now.

Xykon has less to gain out of preserving the Gates than anybody else involved. If things with this last Gate goes south, Xykon's response will be to shrug and be like, "Well, that was fun. See ya around, everyone. Gotta go find my next wicked sche—why is the universe exploding?"

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 8th 2021 at 7:14:45 AM

Serini is very quickly climbing up the ranks of favorite character there.

What Serini doesn't (seem to) know, besides Thor's plan, is that the paladins aren't in charge here, not even Hinjo. Roy is, and based on his speech at the Godsmoot, he is just as interested in preserving this world as Serini. Thor's plan gives them a way to do that. Serini really needs to get in touch with the Order, stat.

I still wonder if she's gotten Vaasuvius's Sendings and the Order's perspective on the matter; so far she hasn't mentioned them at all. "Two clowns and an old lady with a blowgun" are not the entirety of the assets arrayed here. And speaking of V, they were attempting to stop Roy from destroying Girard's Gate when the IFCC swiped them the first time. Now that V has come clean about that to Roy, he has even more incentive not to destroy another Gate.

Edit:

"Crisis delayed. Durkon resurrected." That's pretty clearly everything the paladins know about what happened in Dwarven lands, so I'd say no, Thor's plan is nowhere on the radar for anyone in this conversation.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Mar 8th 2021 at 10:52:54 AM

While all of the above is true, is it going to be persuasive to Serini?