go on then
Edit: superceded by Word of God.
You know you’re reading too much OOTS when an entire strip that hasn’t been posted (and probably won’t be) comes to you in a dream. I dreamt that “someone” had “accidentally” left a shoebox-full of cards at the scene of the Order’s battle, and on these cards was the complete description of every single one of Redcloak’s “chemical monsters”, including their vulnerabilities.
The Order uses the one on Silicon to defeat their current enemy, and now that they have time, wonder aloud who could have left behind the shoebox. (About this time, V is slowly reappearing, as if the effects of an Invisibility spell are wearing off). But it probably wasn’t V, because then something speaks from offscreen in a weird speech bubble, and starts to come over the hill in the last panel.
I remember hoping that it was the Monster in the Darkness, and we were about to finally see what he looked like, but the speech bubble was a different color (green, I think) and anyway, he left with Xykon and Redcloak.
The entire strip was done perfectly in Burlew’s signature style, so, yeah. I’m on some good medications. Obviously upon waking I went to make sure OOTS hadn’t really updated.
Awesome! Thank you!!!
(Now I’m going to wonder what that hidden hint was re O-chul’s nature/importance. But I’ve truly gotten a lot of help with this issue in the thread – thanks all!! – so I shant ask; I’ll take that question as a homework assignment and scan the GITP archive for that clue myself.)
BTW, it seems we may be seeing O-Chul and Lien soon, as they were tasked with staking out Kraagor’s Gate to intercept Xykon whenever he showed there, and that’s where Xykon et al just teleported to. MITD’s little speech last strip re how O-Chul is a more important hero to fight than the Order might backfire.
Gosh, it’s taken them four years to get from the seaport to the gate…
My thanks to One And Only Wanderers for posting the author comments from War and XP’s.
But so I can feel that I’ve contributed as well, here are the author comments on O-Chul from Don’t Split the Party:
So, yeah: O-Chul survived (in part) because Rich wanted him around when V tried to solo Xykon. That sequence was one of the awesomest bits in the comic, in very large part because of O-Chul, and especially because of Xykon’s speech pointing out the difference between O-Chul and V. O-Chul earned his mojo the hard way, one saving throw at a time.
It wasn’t until my third read-through that I noticed A) Blackwing, and B) Blackwing’s iiiiitty bitty gag. Good stuff.
“GREENHILT!” just doesn’t work as well as “KHAAAAAAAAAAN!”
V suddenly went from angry eyes to thoughtful. I bet our elf friend is doing some serious deduction right now and will have a surprise revelation soon.
Nice to see V and Sabine rekindling their connection from way back when.
Interesting that V is still a guest of the Evil Three. Of course, their agreement said that he’d be safe during their possession, but didn’t mention anything about being returned afterwards…
So now V is trapped and on another plane. How is he going to get back?
Nah, they’ll return him to her body. Remember, he’s not there physically, she’s there in soul only.
Besides, you can’t mess with someone if they aren’t out and about to get in trouble.
they’ve got shim until the time runs out as per the agreement
My immediate thought:
Tarquin: “Come on Mal. Try to look forward to the end of the mission.”
Mission’s over now…and I think we can guess the one thing that Malack would be looking forward to when it comes to Nale.
“Pawns on every team?”
Yeah, that intrigued me. I assume V and Sabine are OOTS and Linear. Is Tarquin a side unto his own? I bet the demon roaches are the plants on Team Evil.
Nothing works as well as “KHAAAAAAAAAAN!”