Order of the Stick General Discussion Thread (Open Spoilers and Speculation)

[Trepa_Mayfield]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Hal_Briston]

Arright, so the Splice Crew are off the tour bus, and V is back to where he was before the Lower Planes Trio showed up… i.e., getting his ass kicked.

However, it seems to me that he can’t die here – I’m sure Leo, Nero and Cedrik would swoop in and make a save before letting V be killed, or else their whole experiment would be for naught, wouldn’t it?

[Chronos]

He’s got every single reader of this strip on the edges of their seats with this Vaarsuvius arc, and every single one is heading over there as the news spreads that there’s a new strip,

Plus, there was also an Erfworld update at the same time… It’s probably not as popular, but still contributes.

And the colors of Tsukiko’s eyes match the colors of her magic. Since she’s a mystic theurge, she has both arcane and divine spells, and so she has two eye colors. It’s probably also a reference to Rich’s friend and fellow D&D contributor Keith Baker, who likewise has mismatched eye colors.

Oh, and I hadn’t noticed the teddy Xykon before… That is indeed creepy, on at least two and possibly three completely different levels.

[Malleus_Incus_Stapes]

Whoa.

“Last stop! Make sure you have all personal belongings before leaving the elf!”

Is V dying? Is that why the splicers left?

[Bosstone]

@Chronos

Oh, and I hadn’t noticed the teddy Xykon before… That is indeed creepy, on at least two and possibly three completely different levels.

So who’s going to make the first bone joke?

[Ferret_Herder]

@Bosstone

So who’s going to make the first bone joke?

Looks like it’s you!

And here we see the result some of us had predicted - sure, Xykon is impulsive too, but he at least had backup.

[jayjay]

@Bosstone

So who’s going to make the first bone joke?

Let’s just hope she’s not a plushie…

[ultrafilter]

@Malleus_Incus_Stapes

Is V dying? Is that why the splicers left?

No, he was just distracted enough to lose control over the soul splice. V already got slammed into a mountain by a dragon without being killed, so this is probably not going to do it either.

Incidentally, if the fiends do swoop in to rescue V, how do you think she’s going to take it? The whole reason he agreed to the soul splice in the first place was because she couldn’t bear the thought that her magic was not strong enough to save the day. If in the end it turns out that that’s the case, he’s not going to be happy.

[Peter_Morris]

@jayjay

That used to be the way it worked. Outsiders like Quarr would get sent back to their home plane to reconstitute if they were killed on the Prime Material plane. But they apparently changed that with 4th Ed. Now Outsiders that get killed stay dead.

Okay, as I understand it, the OOTS world works on 3.5 edition rules, and Rich has said that he won’t be upgrading the world’s rules to 4th edition. And that he’s not totally bound by the rules anyway, he can bend them, invent them, or ignore them for the sake of a plot. So death for Qarr might only be a temporary inconvenience.

[choie]

Tsukiko is hilarious. A good addition to Team Evil! I also never noticed how much Xykon reminds me of Oz’s Adebisi and his little off-center, gravity-defying hat.

Also nice to see some damage to everyone after the last strip; apparently Burlew forgot to show any effects from the Sunburst, so he’s added it in retroactively.

Anyway, to the more important stuff: Y’know, Vaarsuvius became my favorite character right around “I…I must succeed,” so this latest development is sadly expected. I’m a bit heartsick by that last panel.

Though it’s nice to see her wearing her red robes again and speaking in regular speech balloons.

But despite how incredibly, utterly screwed V. is right now, I choose to hold out some hope that Burlew isn’t gonna kill the elf off. Of course, I know next to nothing about D&D rules and I stubbornly choose to view the story not as a game, but as a narrative. So I’m going on the following assumptions:

1. There’s more to be gained, storylinewise, from a V. who must live with the consequences of his/her actions; this is true both coming both from a reader and a writer’s POV. Most writers would cherish the idea of depicting a character gaining some hard-fought redemption or greater wisdom arising from this terrible sequence of events.

2. The Order’s been split up for more than two hundred strips. Roy is finally coming back at last. If Vaarsuvius dies and there’s any way to resurrect V., they still need more diamonds to pull off the task, so that means it can’t happen immediately. Burlew may like to screw with his audience’s expectations/hopes, but it seems like it’d be a bad decision to keep the Order apart very much longer, much less break up the gang permanently.

3. The MitD and O-Chul are in that room for some reason. I mean, the Go strip didn’t occur in a vacuum – why have this activity go on in front of O-Chul and Monster-san if they have no affect on it (or vice-versa)?

4. The fight’s just been waaaay too one-sided. No one seriously expected V. to destroy Xykon permanently, not at this stage in the plot, but a battle that lasts two strips with nearly all the damage being done by one side is very unlike OOTS. Look at the history of past battles:

[ul][li]Roy vs. Xykon, #1: Starts with Xykon kicking his ass, ends with Xykon thrown in the Gate.[/li][li]Order vs. Linear Guild, #1 (in the dungeon): Starts with Linear Guild badly trouncing the Order (Nale stabbing Elan, capturing the Order in a block of ice), ends with Nale et al. captured and sent to jail.[/li][li]Order vs. Bandits: Starts with Order badly beaten and nearly hanged, ends with Order escaping and bandits (eventually) dead.[/li][li]Roy vs. Xykon, #2: Starts with Roy doing well (impressing Xykon with his sword, slicing the dragon’s head off), ends with dead Roy.[/li][li]Xykon vs. Sapphire Guard: Starts with Xykon using bouncy ball to drive them mad and kill them all, ends with Xykon nearly destroyed and surviving only thanks to Miko’s dumbassery.[/li][li]Vaarsuvius vs. Dragon: Starts with dragon stomping V. to the ground, ends with V. destroying both dragon and entire freakin’ family.[/ul][/li]
Sure, there are some minor exceptions to these twists (e.g. dashing swordsman Elan vs. Nale remained pretty one-sided, surprisingly so, until Nale nearly turned Elan against Haley) but in general, ending a fight after two strips of complete trouncing doesn’t seem like Burlew’s style.

So with all this being true (at least, as I see it), I remain hopeful that Vaarsuvius will walk or crawl or in some other way get out of this alive. Of course, I don’t see how V. could actually “win” this fight, but s/he could end up:

• ending up as some sort of captive, assuming Redcloak or Xykon think V. has some knowledge of the Gate;
• pulling out a surprising spell of his/her own, even without the splices, long enough to escape (though how I have no idea);
• siding with Team Evil, although I don’t know what exactly Team Evil has to gain from such a bargain, considering V. was so easy to vanquish;
• helped by MitD, with an assist by O-Chul
• aided by the Fiends, who don’t want to lose their investment

Any of these would seem to me to be more interesting (if far less likely) than outright destroying Vaarsuvius, even though Xykon typically doesn’t hesitate before killing off / raising his virtual cannon fodder.

Or am I crazy and living in the land of denial?

[Reno_Nevada]

@choie

Any of these would seem to me to be more interesting (if far less likely) than outright destroying Vaarsuvius, even though Xykon typically doesn’t hesitate before killing off / raising his virtual cannon fodder.

Or am I crazy and living in the land of denial?

My money is on V. rescued by the rest of the Order of the Stick, with a safety bet on MitD + O-Chul. All of V.'s magic has been pretty useless since he blasted the dragons, and it is time V. realized it.

However, my track record on foreseeing events in this comic has been pretty poor.

[choie]

@Reno_Nevada

My money is on V. rescued by the rest of the Order of the Stick, with a safety bet on MitD + O-Chul. All of V.'s magic has been pretty useless since he blasted the dragons, and it is time V. realized it.

Oh, but I like that. Can’t see how it’s possible for them to reach V. immediately (none of them can transport, surely?) but if s/he’s captured and they eventually fly to the rescue, I definitely like it. S/he’d be humbled and humiliated for sure if such a thing occured. Ouch.

[Steve_MB]

@Max_Torque

Her slippers match her eyes. I’ve never understood why her eyes are different colors, but they have been from her first appearance.

Her different-colored eyes appear to be a reference to her Mystic Theurge (arcane and divine magic) character class.

[Finagle]

@choie

• ending up as some sort of captive, assuming Redcloak or Xykon think V. has some knowledge of the Gate;
  h Xykon typically doesn’t hesitate before killing off / raising his virtual cannon fodder.

Or am I crazy and living in the land of denial?

Xykon has a habit of turning people into undead slaves, ala the flying zombie from the dungeon of Celestials. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time we see Vaarsuvius, she’s a soulless zombie. Which I suppose has interesting implications considering that soul splice deal.

Does D&D allow a player to be resurrected if they’ve been turned into an undead? Is that better or worse than being turned into, say, a bone golem?

[Steve_MB]

@Finagle

Does D&D allow a player to be resurrected if they’ve been turned into an undead? Is that better or worse than being turned into, say, a bone golem?

If I recall correctly, the undead would have to be destroyed before the body’s former owner could be rezzed.

Man, V-roy Jenkins has gotten h**self into a mess…

[Hamlet]

I’ve deliberately avoided reading this thread over the last couple months to avoid any spoilers, and I haven’t read any of the last couple pages.

But could someone please tell me if they are having problems loading the comics, because every time I’ve tried over the last couple weeks, I get timed out. Is it just me? Is my -9 Wand of Website Power on my own computer, or a problem with their server?

[Steve_MB]

@Hamlet

I’ve deliberately avoided reading this thread over the last couple months to avoid any spoilers, and I haven’t read any of the last couple pages.

But could someone please tell me if they are having problems loading the comics, because every time I’ve tried over the last couple weeks, I get timed out. Is it just me? Is my -9 Wand of Website Power on my own computer, or a problem with their server?

Their servers are creaking under the load. They’re moving to a better server this week, which should help somewhat.

[MHaye]

@Peter_Morris

Okay, as I understand it, the OOTS world works on 3.5 edition rules, and Rich has said that he won’t be upgrading the world’s rules to 4th edition. And that he’s not totally bound by the rules anyway, he can bend them, invent them, or ignore them for the sake of a plot. So death for Qarr might only be a temporary inconvenience.

That wasn’t a change for 4e; it was changed for 3e.

[Just_Some_Guy]

@shantih

Goblin, please. Is it my imagination, or does Tsukiko have a stuffed Xykon instead of a teddy bear? Because if so, ewwwwww.

She loves the undead. I mean she really…

@Hal_Briston

However, it seems to me that he can’t die here – I’m sure Leo, Nero and Cedrik would swoop in and make a save before letting V be killed, or else their whole experiment would be for naught, wouldn’t it?

If they do it won’t be as rescuing heroes. It’ll be by seizing Vaarsuvius now and dealing with Xykon.

@choie

4. The fight’s just been waaaay too one-sided. No one seriously expected V. to destroy Xykon permanently, not at this stage in the plot, but a battle that lasts two strips with nearly all the damage being done by one side is very unlike OOTS. Look at the history of past battles:

I suspect that Xykon would be a lot more prepared for a magical duel like this than being confronted by a guy with a sword that hurts him. It’s just the nature of the character.

But for those counting down: 1.

@Finagle

Xykon has a habit of turning people into undead slaves, ala the flying zombie from the dungeon of Celestials. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time we see Vaarsuvius, she’s a soulless zombie. Which I suppose has interesting implications considering that soul splice deal.

V’s ghost will be vengeful and retain all of his/her spellcasting abilities.

[Der_Trihs]

@Just_Some_Guy

@shantih

Is it my imagination, or does Tsukiko have a stuffed Xykon instead of a teddy bear? Because if so, ewwwwww.

She loves the undead. I mean she really…

Redcloak : “Why . . . do you have a Xykon teddy bear ?”

Tsukiko : “Bigby’s Lesser Vibration !”

Xykon Doll : “whirrrrrr”

Redcloak : “Ewwwwww.”

Tsukiko : “Hey, a girl’s entitled to her fantasies !”