I think all of them survive if only because a main character (Durkon) was killed just a few strips ago. That hasn’t happened in, what, years? unless I’m forgetting someone? So it seems unlikely Berlew would do it again immediately.
That said, I really don’t see how OOTS doesn’t snuff it next strip or so.
We’re also facing a much more critical situation.
Xykon’s arrival means the current story arc is almost certainly ending. We’ve probably only got a couple of strips left. And Burlew has been needing time to work on the Kickstarter projects.
We’re looking at another hiatus.
But the loss of Durkon needs to be balanced somehow. The Order just lost their healer and secondary fighter, the Evil side needs to lose someone to balance that out. As Little Nemo points out, Nale needs to finish his story arc, so is probably safe. Tarquin may just discover that he is not the lead character, but is instead a secondary character whose death motivates the actual lead, Elan, thus fulfilling genre conventions. Malack is iffy. If he dies, I believe Durkon becomes self-willed, but Durkon at this point is very wild, only being restrained by Malack’s will. It may be that Malack survives until they reach the Dwarf homeland when his death releases Durkon to wreak havoc, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
As for how the Order survives, genre conventions. If it is the real Xykon (Which is what I think) then the Linear Guild will show just in time to get involved in a 3 way battle, with V also arriving at an opportune moment to enable their escape, after the destruction of the gate.
Thanks, I really needed to be reminded. The good news is that means another dead tree collection will be on its way.
If it is the real Xykon, given his general dismissive and absent minded attitude towards the OOTS, I think it’s possible that they survive because he just casually hits them with a Hold Person or Force Cage and continues on without even bothering to kill them. Or with a comment like “Eh, I’m busy flesh bags, I’ll be back to kill you later when I have some free time.”
You know, I really think you’re onto something there. If it’s the real Xykon and he just throws a spell at the OotS to keep them out of the way, V could come across them and release them in time to catch up either just as or just after TE and the LG clash. This would explain why it was important to the story that V and the rest of the Order were separated at this point; Xykon may have issues remembering Roy et al, but he’d likely have no problem remembering the elf who was involved in his losing his phylactery for so long. Not to mention Redcloak knowing who was there when his eye was poked.
However it goes, clearly we’re nearing the end of Girard’s Gate and Book 5.
<semihijack> This is one of the great things about the SDMB. I probably never would have come across the OotS otherwise, and I certainly wouldn’t have tried reading it more than a couple of times. But seeing the long threads about it convinced me to give it a try, and I’m glad I did. I’ve gotten a lot of laughs out of it. Thanks, folks. </semihijack>
Are you using the equivalency example of when Roy died, Miko also bit the big one, therefore something similar will happen here? That seems like quite a leap to me.
More just a need for balance in the story. The Linear Guild was a mirror of the Order, and while that has changed somewhat over time, it hasn’t gone away, even in its latest incarnation with Tarquin and Malack. So there needs to be some kind of loss in the LG to balance the loss of Durkon.
And there is the fact that everyone is now at the pyramid. The book is close to ending, this arc is almost over (not more than a year or two to go. :D) and the Order suffered a horrible loss. They need some kind of win, besides just keeping the gate out of Xykon’s hands, to keep things going from a story POV.
It is all just speculation, and lord knows Rich has done many things in the story that has surprised me, but it feels right to me that one of the evil characters is not going to make it.
What about Team Evil who have just lost Tsukiko.
Don’t forget that the Linear Guild is the Order of the Stick’s mirror opposite. If the Order just lost Durkon to the Guild, then it could mean that the Guild is going to lose Malack to the Order to restore the balance.
Tsukiko served her purpose. She was around to show that Redcloak is more of a threat than he acts.
I’d say that Roy frowning/scowling is pretty much his normal expression while swinging a sword. He’s not a happy warrior like Belkar, for example.
The list was compiled as the basis for a thread about the green energy on the OotS message boards. I’ll give you link to it once they’re back up. As I recall, we discussed the possibility that it was Roy emotional state that caused the green flash, but don’t think we came to any firm conclusion. The best we could do was to say we really needed more data.
Oh, and for the other discussion, I think it most likely that Malack will be the next to kick the bucket. Other than teach Durkula how to cast the Protection from Daylight spell, he doesn’t really have much more to do. After Malack’s dead, Durkon will be rejoining the OotS as a vampire. Burlew spent a lot of time getting him vamped and is not likely to undo.
My prediction is that shortly OOTS will consist of Roy, Haley, Elan, and V. Belkar will be dead, and some unknown LG members will join him. Durkon will still be evil and vamped; I have no prediction who he will be aligned with. And Girard’s gate will be toast.
First, I would hardly consider her to be a major part of Team Evil in the way that Durkon was to the Order. Second, she didn’t die because of anything the Order or their allies did, she just pushed Red Cloak too far.
This is what pushes me towards Malack buying it, plus it would prevent him from finishing off Nale, thus keeping him in the action. But I don’t know what would happen to Durkon. We know he is going back to his homeland, but I’m guessing that will be the finale, and there is another gate to deal with first. How does he stay in the story if he doesn’t have a master to keep him there?
Of course, we also have the foreshadowing that Tarquin and Kilkil did in strip #882 to deal with yet. Man, I wish Rich would write faster.
And the survivors will find themselves on the world Blackwing saw through the rift.
My prediction is
[spoiler]
They will not be leaving theWestern Continent any time soon.
There are still unresolved plotlines. Who summoned Ian to the continent? Why did his escape attempts keep failing? Is Geoff working for Bozzok? Some of The Giant’s comments have implied that there is an important subplot coming up that will address these questions.
I therefore predict that Xykon captures the gate.
The ritual takes several weeks to perform so there’s no *immediate *threat to release the Snarl.
Roy will use the time to regroup, gather allies to recapture the gate, leading to a climactic showdown on New Year’s eve. Belkar dies. The gate is destroyed. Durkon is still vamped.
Yhis happens about half way through the next book [/spoiler]
I have a suspicion that this gate won’t be destroyed (at least anytime soon), but something else will happen. Having it destroyed again to stop Xykon at the last moment would be repetitive.
For example, the final defense might be something that no one can get past out of their immediate resources. Or Tarquin’s old group shows up (under the theory that his summoning them is what was foreshadowed in #882) and his group and his army are enough to drive off Xykon and the OOTS for a time; leaving Tarquin in possession of a gate he can’t use for anything, and Xykon and the OOTS plotting their next move. Maybe then the OOTS goes off to Kraagar’s Gate while Xykon and Tarquin stalemate each other for a time.
I’ve predicted in the past that there will be a temporary alliance between the Order of the Stick and the Linear Guild. Both groups have a common interest in thwarting Xykon, who is stronger than either group. So I expect that there will be a confrontation around Girard’s Gate between the combined Order/Guild and Team Evil. Only when this is resolved will the surviving members of the Order move on to Kraagar’s Gate.
If, as some have theorized, Kraagar’s Gate is in the Dwarven homelands, Durkon could remain a character in the story even if he’s not in the Order. He could be heading back to his home (which at this point would fulfill both prophecies regarding him) and the others would follow him and head towards the last gate at the same time.
There’s plenty of reason for Durkon to continue to work with the Order. As Tarquin’s already pointed out, just because he’s evil doesn’t mean he wants the world destroyed. In fact, he has more of a stake in it than most, so he has more motivation to want it to continue to exist. Plus, of course, there’s no reason Durkon wouldn’t still be homesick-- The only difference being vamped would make there is that he’s now more likely to act selfishly on that homesickness.
The site’s back up, incidentally. I’m happy to have access to the archives, but I’m almost sorry to lose Rich’s hand-drawn version.