Exactly. I just reread the strips from the point where V was taken by the Fiends and either the TV was showing the Order the whole time, in which case V saw Durkon return to them as a vampire and reporting that Malack and Z were dead, or it was focussed on Nale after the Gate blew, in which case V actually witnessed the whole Malack-Z killings.
They’re cut off from the rift.
Especially with Vaarsuvius being a known factor. If anything, Tarquin would have been surprised by V’s absence in the earlier fights.
Given that Tarquin came to secure the Gate and hold it, he should have come prepared to deal with an epic level lich wizard and his “possibly the most powerful cleric in known Stickworld” goblin companion. It’s not as though Tarquin is ignorant of who the competition is.
Yes, but with V on hand they’ve got a much better chance of punching through Tarquin’s army to get there.
Damn, you’re right. I wasn’t considering that all of those events would also be on the blood plasma screen. Nice job of Berlew putting V in front of that screen, it saves a bunch of exposition helping her catch up.
That fireball directed at Tarquin’s minions was pretty gruesome. Good thing this is fiction!
Was that an evil act? Not in D&D terms. And of course our heroes have a world to save, not to mention their own lives. Still, war is hell and maybe even a little worse at times.
Psion shmeon. Let’s engage those Pterosaurs! 
About as evil as James Bond blowing up the vilain’s lair, and killing dozens of henchmen.
Mmm, anyone else getting a corrupted gif rather than the comic?
Just you, MrDibble. Just you.
Which browser are you using? I use Firefox and I haven’t had any difficulties.
I’m also using Firefox and having no problems.
I’ve tried Firefox and Chrome - must be a proxy issue, I’ll check it out from home later. Thanks for the replies.
Indeed, he should have a contingency plan. However, closing to range with V is problematic (not least of which because V has meat shields in Roy and Durkferatu), issues with close quarters combat (Durkferatu doesn’t have many spells left, but he can convert them at will to Inflict X Wounds. Plus Haley could flank for sneak attack damage), and not much in the way of backup (passing through the wall of fire will probably extinguish, pun intended, the average mook in Tarquin’s army).
The trick will be the psion. If she decides to stay out of it, Daddy is losing an army for naught. If she doesn’t, there are a lot of options for a spellcaster duel.
He is however convinced that he’s the chief villain of the story, and probably assumes that “that sub-boss Zyklon” his allies are significantly weaker than Tarquin and his party.
Remind me who the guy in the blue robe and scarf is (seen center panel here). Lots of talk about the psion but that guy has a caster look about him as well. I know he was part of Tarquin’s gang and the “manipulate three empires” plan but don’t remember if he was specially called out and mentioned.
We know his name (which I don’t recall, so I will dub him TowelFace), and that he worked behind the scenes on behalf of Tarquin in the Empire of Tears, and pretty much nothing else.
That’s Miron Shewdanker, the guy who wrote the ransom note to Haley!
ETA: Also he’s here.
He’s part of Tarquin’s adventuring party here so he must be something other than a ransom note writer and bureaucrat. The safe money is on arcane caster since Malack had the cleric job sewn up.
Wildcard!
I’m betting monk/assassin with a prestige class thrown in. I think the psion fills the arcane caster slot.
I figured Cat-Girl had the thief/rogue/assassin role filled. Monk is a possibility – I’ll admit that I never remember that monks exist.
When Tarquin divvies everyone up, it appears that it’s melee/caster in each realm (Tarquin/Malack, Cat-Girl/Psion, Warrior/Towelface) but I guess if Miron is a melee then you’re not going to divide the six evenly no matter what anyway.