The Order of the Stick

True. But as Durkon just pointed out, Roy has experience with talking to people in the midst of fighting them.

That's fair, and perhaps it would be fitting that Roy and Redcloak talk things out, considering that they have an unknown connection via Roy's dad and Right-Eye.

I suppose nearly anything is on the table at this point.

The connection of:

Right-Eye: "Hey, I want you to go kill somebody. I hate him and I think he's the dude you swore a oath to kill."

Eugene: "Piss off, I've got better shit to do like not attend my son's sports activities. That takes a lot of work to be a neglectful parent, you know."

Edited by fredhot16 on May 23rd 2021 at 4:47:56 AM

Eh. Its still something.

Like, maybe Gerald can be useful for a change and actually help with that.

I doubt it, but you never know. Things you think aren't important or are just there for more flavour could play an unexpected role later.

And if I'm role WRONG, then meh. It's no crazier than some of the other guesses on both this thread and the GITP forums.

Right. How did I forget that?

Edited by HandsomeRob on Apr 30th 2021 at 10:47:22 AM

I thought your name was Rob.

Roy's father's name is Eugene.

Gerald to his friends

I think Gerald Greenhilt is related to Girard?

Wouldn't that mean the Greenhilts also should have died as a result of Familicide?

Wait, what? I thought he was joking?

I mean, he's not. But going down the rabbit hole for shits and giggles.

Eugene Greenhilt was Girard's cousin and the black sheep of the family. Fortunately for Julia, the only living Greenhilt at the time of Familicide's casting, she was actually the product of an affair. Sara cheated on Eugene many times because the unlikable prick made her miserable, and this eventually resulted in Julia.

Had Roy been alive to be a viable target for Familicide, the second chain would have lashed out to Julia. But with his unfortunate death by gravity-induced head-smashies, she was spared a dire fate.

I'm joking. I guess I should've put Humor Mode.

Although I did want to ask on Familicide: if Penelope and Tarquin had a kid, would Tarquin also die, considering he'd also have the "blood of the dragon" from the kid which got the blood from Penelope?

Would Elan/Nale/Elan's mother die as well?

I think that Tarquin would die, but Elan and Nale not. Tarquin is not a blood relative to the Draketooths, so he won't die by the "anyone related to the dragon" clause. He would die to the "everyone directly related to them" clause, which would affect Tarquin as his child's father. But it doesn't go further than that, if I understand the spell correctly, so it won't affect Tarquin's other relatives.

Penelope was a secondary target, so being related to her wouldn’t have gotten a person killed.

Even if Tarquin had had a child with Penelope he still wouldn’t have been related to her first child, so it would have just been Penelope and the first child that died.

I think the hypothetical second child would also die; siblings are blood relatives, so the second child would be a secondary target chaining off the first child just like Penelope was.

But Tarquin would still be totally safe.

The spell can travel from parent to child to other parent (that's how Penelope died) so Tarquin would have died as well in that case.

But Penelope was related to the black dragon through the Draketooths, Tarquin isn't.

...I think? It's a bloodline curse, targeting anybody even tangentially related to the dragon.

...Weirdly enough, a book I'm reading, Changes of the "Dresden Files,'' also involves a bloodline curse, targeting the protagonist and every inch of the family tree he belongs too, like his half-brother.

X3 Correct, I meant to say “new child”.

Nope, because the spell only goes one jump from a primary target. Penelope was a secondary target and thus it didn’t jump from her.

She wasn’t related to the dragon, she was only related to her child, thus why she was a secondary target.

It goes like this. Initial dragon > people related to the dragon by blood > people related by blood to people in step two.

The index of the Giant’s comments thread over on Giant in the Playground actually has two posts from Rich on this.[1] [2]. He explains how the spell didn’t wipe out all black dragons or hit any other humans (lack of common ancestors and no other instances of black dragons mating with humans).

Right. The first step is blood relatives of the Black Dragon. That includes the guy who was one of Girard’s descendents who seduced Penelope, as well as the child he had with Penelope.

The second step is blood relatives of those people. Penelope, and her unborn child with Tarquin, were both blood relatives of her previous child, so they died.

Tarquin was in no danger, because he was not a blood relative of Penelope’s previous child.

Oh right, I got it wrong then. Penelope was not directly related to the Dratketooths. As a secondary target, the spell doesn't travel further from her. She died because she was the mother of her child with Orrin, and that child, as a Draketooth, was a primary target.

Well, going back to the original topic, Julia would’ve been fine even if she was distantly related to the Draketooths, since she didn’t have any living relatives the spell could’ve jumped through.

I'm not sure a half-sibling counts though. He's not related to any Draketooth except through Penelope, who's already a secondary target.

No, they'd be directly related to their half-sibling. Vaarsuvius explicitly states in this strip that if Penelope had ever had more children, Famlicide would have killed them too.

Edited by LSBK on May 1st 2021 at 4:22:07 AM

Doesn't that mean that if she had had any children with Tarquin, the spell would have also targeted Tarquin through them - and then Elan through him? Or am I misunderstanding how far this spell can jump?

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on May 1st 2021 at 12:12:40 PM

Nope, because it stops at two levels. It would kill the hypothetical children for the same reason it killed Penelope: direct relationship to the Draketooths. But Tarquin, Elan, and Nale wouldn't have that direct connection, so they'd be fine.