I hope I’m not starting this thread prematurely, but I was hoping to get some OOTS fans’ predictions (though Rich always seems to prove us wrong) on what we can expect in Book 6, which is due to start on March 31.
It was obvious a few strips ago that Durkon is not working for the Order of the Stick when he didn’t take any actions during the fight with Tarquin. Now we know he belongs to Hel, and I predict Thor will finally get off his lazy ass and intervene. We also haven’t seen Xykon in a while, and I think he’ll pop up very soon. It would be nice if for once the OOTS could actually have a major fight while all together and at full health.
I don’t necessarily see why Thor would intervene. Durkula is evil and worships an Evil goddess. That much, at least, appears to be SOP. Whether Durkon’s trapped soul is also SOP or an unusual incident is yet to be determined and if it is foul(er) play, we still don’t know that Thor would know or necessarily even care. This is the god who let a whole village get eaten by Surter, after all.
Agreed, but enough’s gotta be enough eventually. Thor is supposed to be Lawful Good, but he’s not going to intervene when one of his most devout followers’ soul is being trapped and exploited by a supernatural abomination?
I’d guess that Thor would intervene fairly soonish, but that would be fairly soon after he found out what had happened. That looks like Durkon’s mind or soul tied and gagged, there. I’m guessing that his ability to pray is likewise gagged. And Thor isn’t the kind of god who keeps careful tabs on his clerics.
Thor’s repeatedly been shown to vacillate between drunkenly ignoring Durkon and being kind of annoyed by him. I don’t really see him intervening - at least not effectively and not any time soon.
I don’t know. All I know is that we haven’t really seen a lot of divine intervention in the strip beyond the built in prayer and cleric stuff. I could see Thor rewarding Durkon for a particularly impressive escape and defeat of Hel’s minions more than I could see Thor going toe to toe with Hel over him.
I’m no expert, but I thought there was some prophecy for bad times when he returned home. If this is the case, then RealDurkon™ isn’t getting free anytime soon.
Seems like one of those reverse ‘Scouring of the Shire’ things, after the main ending.
Durkon sent his barbed devil to fight Tarquin’s men and Dominated them into fighting their fellow soldiers. He also briefly fought Laurin (smacked and drained her for a few levels and she Dimension Door’d out).
He didn’t fight on the ship for the same reason Roy and Belkar didn’t – they were below deck. Now, of course we now know that Durkon ain’t just Durkon with pointy teeth, but the “didn’t fight Tarquin” bit seemed odd.
And he didn’t do more than directing his barbed devil and dominating because by that point he was pretty much running on fumes, spell-wise. An at-will ability and an already-bound minion were about all he had left. Even at that, Dominate isn’t a bad ability to spam: Each usage removes one enemy and adds one disposable ally.
My guess is that Hilgya will (1) reappear and (2) quickly figure out what the state of Durkon is. A more predictable writer would then have the Order discount her insight because Linear Guild/evil et cetera; I’m not going to speculate where Rich will go with it.
I think (and I’ve heard one other person here also think) that it will start with Lien and O-chul heading for (or already at) the site of Kraagor’s tomb. No further predictions beyond that.
If Lien and O-chul aren’t there already, then Team Evil have just arrived at the last gate unopposed. Granted, Kraagor’s defences may still be in place but they’ll be an inconvenience rather than a threat. On the other hand, the same could be said for Lien and O-chul.
So hopefully those two are already there and have had time to get a plan together that will keep Team Evil in check for c.8 days.
I’m hoping that’s where Book 6 starts - right in the middle of an epic O-Chul/Xykon battle
No, that’s Hinjo and company fighting the monsters that inhabit the castle on their new shiny abandoned island. There’s some cleaning up to do before they can move in.
But Xykon would be in for a surprise in such a battle. We’ve seen the MITD has started thinking for himself and O-chul is his friend. Xykon would probably find his strongest weapon switching sides.
Well, I’d suggest that it’s obvious that there HAS to be a Xykon/Order battle for the last Gate. Furthermore, I’d suggest that Xykon has to gain control of it long enough for Redcloak’s betrayal to play out as he attempts to give the Gate to his god via the ritual. That’s sort of Redcloak’s whole raison d’être and I can’t believe we won’t see a resolution to it but it wouldn’t be revealed unless Xykon has control of the Gate for long enough to conduct the ritual (which I seem to recall had significant prep time… ten days or something?).
Xkyon could show up, beat through the two paladins and then still just be getting around to starting the ritual (and perhaps having a conflict with Redcloak) before the Order shows up in another eight days or whatever.
Somewhere in there, MitD needs to find out more about his nature, and give us more hints. Even he seems unaware of what he is or his power(s) are, so how is he going to consume anybody? Witness when the fire roaches told MitD to “stamp the ground” when Haley and Belkar were fleeing with O-chul and Roy’s bodies. Giant cracks appeared in the earth, while MitD hadn’t known he could do anything of the sort. There will be other incidents like that one.
