The Order of the Stick

Bloodfeast is, in effect, a meat shield at the moment.

That jaw definitely looks broken to me.

Good of V to think of something useful to do. And hilarious, to boot.

Why should the goal of a character be to have a narrative purpose then die off?

That's hardly a new trope. It's practically tradition for minor characters, particularly non-sapient ones, to get their "big moment" and then die. It's especially likely in this case since, now that the baleful polymorph is gone, Bloodfeast can't exactly fit back in Belkar's pouch.

There is an alternative ending for him: he joins Serini's Gate-guardian collection. For that to work, though, there has to be a Gate to guard, and that's a matter that is growing pressingly near.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 10th 2024 at 12:20:49 PM

Don't get me wrong, I do think it's possible that Bloodfeast dies during this battle, but I still feel irked by going "He served his narrative purpose so it's time for him to die now."

Edited by Resileafs on Apr 12th 2024 at 10:54:57 AM

It's because OOTS readers are all super genre-savvy and feel compelled to prove it by second-guessing and anticipating Rich's writing. That's just part of the game since Rich has deliberately built a story where narrative causality is an in-universe phenomenon.

Thus, we live in this eternal I Know You Know I Know with him.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 10th 2024 at 12:34:24 PM

Never said he had to die of because he served his purpose. I said he was probably going to die because he served his purpose and lost his portability. Unless the party happens to run into an allosaurus daycare centre, I suppose.

As far as I've seen, portability doesn't seem to be much an issue in this dungeon. It's looking quite big, really. I could easily believe that Bloodfeast would be able to squeeze into most corridors.

Probably off-screen so Rich doesn't have to draw him every panel.

Is it possible they could put him in stasis as an improvised replacement for Calder?

An unlikely possibility: he now becomes Belkar's mount.

(And hey, since Belkar is due to die at some stage, it occurs to me that dying while riding an Allosaurus into battle would be a dramatic way to go!)

It doesn't seem like "LGLRNK!" should work as an exclamation in this situation, and yet it totally does.

If Calder's jaw is broken, that may make it more difficult for him to cast spells and attempt any more mind whammies, unless he can break out the telepathy again.

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Apr 10th 2024 at 1:57:38 PM

If they win this fight (which I fully expect them to), I think there are pretty good chances they level up. I am not familiar with the mechanics of leveling up in D&D, but Rich does put story above mechanics. Having said that, would they gain a bonus by leveling up? Like would Vaarsuvius be able to replenish spells?

In the sense that you are thinking, no. It's not like a video game RPG where leveling up refills your hit points and mana on the spot.

Spellcasters need a full night's rest (and/or meditation), plus a period of study/prayer to regain their spell slots.

A dragon of this age category does award a solid chunk of XP, that's for sure.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 10th 2024 at 2:43:14 PM

Thankfully, this is likely the final encounter before they arrive at their destination and can take a long rest. Probably even two, depending on Team Evil's progress.

We could consider the possibility that this is less "Bloodfeast is getting his big moment", and more "Belkar's getting a nice little upgrade before the final battle in the form of a fully functional dinosaur mount!".

I know this isn't a D&D campaign in the sense that the PCs have players, but if it were, this seems like the sort of tabletop conversation destined to become a Tumblr meme.

The paladins are stuck readying an action each turn, lol

They went out to pick up pizza for the table. With the DM assuring them that the table will wait for them if the fight reaches a point where they can join in.

Tbh I’m surprised we didn’t get a Call-Back to Shapechange.

Though I suppose V can’t Dispel if Bloodfeast is actually in the dragon’s stomach.

You can cast Dispel over an area, which presumably could hit a target inside a dragon's stomach.

Wouldn't trying to target something inside a dragon mean getting past the dragon's own Spell Resistance and saving throws?

Magic generally needs line of sight to affect a target - you can't hit a wall with area Dispel and have it hit things on the other side of the wall, same thing with being swallowed.

Bloodfeast got his big moment, and nearly died for it, nice and tidily. Then this happened, a big moment of rescuing him. If he just ends up dying here anyways because he 'served his purpose' then that's some real chain-yankery, and he should instead have not been saved or at least severely bloody here after a chomp by Calder.

I find it silly to guess about stuff on the assumption a character has a purpose and we can just say, oh, purpose accomplished, as if side characters are plot devices and not characters.

Maybe Bloodfeast dies here, but then it's going to be, I dunno, twisting the knife on Belkar that despite the party and himself doing their best to save his lil' buddy, it wasn't enough, not even against a random fucking encounter. Or something.

Maybe Bloodfeast lives, and will go on to see Belkar die and mourn him, showing that he managed to have a positive effect on this literal allosaurus, not just a loyal housecat. Y'know?

But if it's just, well, no more reason for him, he's out of here, why did we get this page exactly?

Edit: Saying 'there's little narrative incentive to keep him around' is a judgement of his possible future narrative role, saying there's not much of one he could serve, not a judgement of how well he's fulfilled his narrative role so far. Because the narrative purpose of a character is, y'know, the stuff they do in the narrative, which famously keeps going past the current moment up to the ending. People talk about this a lot and it's almost always annoying because they so often get this backwards, and think they can judge 'narrative purpose' in some future-blind way, when it's of necessity intricately tied to the future of the narrative. It's fine to guess Bloodfeast's gonna die because you don't think he can do much going forward to justify his continued life, but then you gotta say that.

Edited by RaichuKFM on Apr 11th 2024 at 8:50:43 AM

Regardless of whether Bloodfeast will die or not, this move tilts the odds in the Order's favor. So far they've been at a serious disadvantage, but they need a few moves to win. Next one is probably the paladins arriving.