Order of the Stick book 7 discussion thread

He got better.

Yes, but he got better.

None of that - learned though it is, my friend - is respondent to the question of what Roy and the Order should do. The paladins are too important to not have around at the final push.

You make sense. Joining up with the paladins would be a really good move.

Re-reading the strip to try and remember how the Order was supposed to meet up with the paladins in the first place, I thought of a problem. (Besides the all-powerful entity and its henchthing that have scooped up the pallys.) The Tomb is at or very near the North Pole. Lien’s Sending to V said that, “O-Chul and I are holding position on the southeast ledge over ravine.” 1189 Wait and See - Giant in the Playground Games

But all directions are South when you’re at the North Pole. Enough so that even with the ravine providing some structure to the directions, I can see it being really confusing trying to find just where that ledge is. Especially if V and Haley are hidden or invisible, the paladins are trying really hard not to be seen, and both sets of parties are doing everything to stay off Team Evil’s radar. There’s a lot of ledges to choose from.

I’m probably overthinking it.

I’d love for the events in How the Paladin Got His Scar (one of Burlew’s best bits of writing in awhile, IMHO) to play a role in the denouement. I guess RedCloak can call up Jirix to discuss O-Chul if he wants to. Cloister’s long worn off, right? Would RedCloak Send to Jirix to discuss any potential proposal involving The Dark One, by either the Order or O-Chul?

Oh, absolutely the Order should meet up with the paladins-- I don’t think that’s even in question. Or at least, they should try. In the current situation with the paladins abducted, the party might find themselves facing the question of whether they should try to track down and rescue the paladins first, or save that for after they save the world, and that’s not such an easy question.

And I don’t see Redcloak asking Jirix about O-Chul now. But the three of them spent many months together, back in [del]Azure City[/del]Gobbotopia. If it were to have come up, I’d expect it to have been then.

Narratively, I have a hard time thinking that Durkon was tasked, by his god, in person, with talking to Redcloak and is going to delegate the task to O-Chul. O-Chul might play some backing role in it but the heavy lifting is going to be from the dwarven cleric of Thor. No, the other one. The one with the beard.

Besides, O-Chul big narrative moment is going to be with Monster in the Dark.

Can’t argue with that. If Redcloak and Durkon need to connect then certainly O-Chul and MitD need to connect.

We need some sort of closure on the MitD, after all. He’s a good person who fell in with bad friends.

Agree with Jophiel re Durkon. That clearly needs to happen.

MitD didn’t “fall in with bad friends”, he was enchanted. That enchantment has been wearing off. But yes, we do need him to connect to O-Chul. And I expect all of them to interact on some level.

Xykon put some sort of mind-whammy on him, but that was just to eat Redcloak and spit out the phylactery if Redcloak ever turns on him. All the rest of his association with Team Evil is, in fact, falling in with bad friends.

You guys are DELIBERATELY trying to make me feel bad about missing stories that I’d have to buy on Ookoodook, aren’t you?

Also, when would O-Chul have had an opportunity to interact with Jirix in his (Jirix’s) role as Supreme Leader? O-Chul was ESCAPE’d away by MitD while Jirix was still a dead second-in-command, wasn’t he?

How the Paladin Got his Scar (which, yes, is an excellent story, well worth the price). Without going into too much detail, there’s interaction between O-Chul and the hobgoblin we’d seen online as Redcloak’s predecessor as Supreme Leader. I wouldn’t say that the interaction was exactly “friendly”, but it was at least diplomatic. It’s never been confirmed, but I suspect that that hobgoblin was Jirix.

1198: Move Slow and Preserve Things

Guess Rich is keeping busy under Shelter in Place!

I, for one, am grateful that he’s still working from home!

I’m wondering if “Caring about the lives of other people really limits one’s strategic options” is a jab at current events.

duplicate post

Rich Burlew use his comic strip to lampoon those he feels aren’t as socially conscious as he is? Nah.

(Though I didn’t pick up the jibe until you pointed it out.)

Funny, that the Order think’s it’s Xykon painting all of the doors. Guess Lien didn’t mention that little bit of rebellion by the MITD. If the Gate is actually behind one of those doors, any odds that it’s behind one of the extra ones the MITD painted?

On the other hand, I recently read a story where a hero points out to the villain that the hero has a major advantage in their fight, because he doesn’t have to survive to achieve his objective (protecting the people he loves), but the villain does have to survive.

Was that a Dresden story? I think Butcher made that point in a supplementary story (told from POV of Dresden’s doggie).