So, Doomsday is coming and Rich is in a hurry to finish OOTS, or...?

[Hardcore]

The pace of the latest events seems to have confused people, but I am not so sure they mean anything. Sure you could interpret them as a build up for something dramatic to come, but isn't it really just showing what you can do when snapping your fingers? I am thinking about Varsuvius of course.
Once you know epic level teleport things go quick and easy. Doesn't mean the STORY goes on in any other than a measured tempo.
That I think keep to the tempo of its narrative, except for the obvious holes for extra material saved for the book.

[shadzar]

I think it is to just wrap it up and get on with the next thing. Doesn't the first strip in the book start with Roy in the clouds? So the last should be Roy returning to life.

Maybe some extra things were slipped in to give the right number of pages without making things run so quick, and also offer places for more thing to happen in the next book, with more plot points to cover even though many were just covered.

It seems the breakdown of the books pretty much close the plot that had being going on in them, while still leaving new things just beginning to slow down Roy.

I mean its been nearly a year as the baby on the way shows. (Anime/manga would use cats having babies to denote passage of time as well as seasons.) So maybe it is high time the order stop slacking off and get back to what they started and were doing in strip #1. Going after Xykon.

Also the set up is getting right for a self-sustaining cycle where the 6 (7 including Celia) are the same as Soon when the gates were initially made. Belkar dies like the previous member. Each OOTS member must in the end guard a gate/rift. So I don't think the world would end. That would just defeat the purpose of going through all this when it could have been done to begin with.

I just think the norse gods may not be too into helping their followers and the time spent in the south has been aided by the more attentive 12 gods. That is all, a little divine providence to get things back on track.

[Red XIV]

Remember, shadzar, Belkar's not the only member of the Order who's going to die. Durkon's also on fate's hit list.

[shadzar]

Remember, shadzar, Belkar's not the only member of the Order who's going to die. Durkon's also on fate's hit list.

True, but there is no time limit on it. Just that he will eventually return home posthumously. It could be many years before that happens. The oracle isn't the most forthcoming with ALL the details. Yet he still let Roy screw himself with the "which gate" question. :smallbiggrin:

Also Durkon was a party to hanging him out the window, so he could have just been being his overly ambiguous self. So if you were referring to how the order could replace the former gate guardians, then Durkon could still do that. Either way, that still leaves 5 gates and 5 members of the order, if you count Celia as a member of the order now, or just a henchman of Roy's.

The only one known to get a straight answer from the oracle was what's-her-face the dragon. Presumably she just asked for the name of the person who killed her son. Nothing much to twist there unless just claiming the order itself did it.

The order does seem like a wish spell. If you don't word it correctly you could end up having less than before you asked for something. Doesn't all divination in D&D work that way?

So I still don't think Durkon is going to die anytime soon. But he just will before returning to his homeland is all.

Also presuming that the next strip or so that brings Roy back is the end of book 4, book 5 will have to tie up some things, that may be left open, unless the strip ends in 5 strips per Belkar. Which I doubt.

Haley's father must still be saved. Elan still has to have a happy ending after all, and Haley being upset will not give him a happy ending now that they have become paired up. Also that shoots down my idea of the order guarding the gates when done if it splits up Elan and Haley, so he won't have a happy end there. But at least it says that the comic is over just yet, and at least another book worth will come out of it. ;)

[[TS] Shadow]

This book's still got at least 10 strips left, possibly 20. Why? Because besides the Order, we have to see what Xykon and the Linear Guild are doing. Xykon and Redcloak need to leave AC and go after Girard's Gate soon. Having the Order walk in easily isn't any fun, right? And we haven't seen the Linear Guild for about 200 strips. Who knows what they've been up too...

Anyway, the recent tempo change would have happened anyway if V DID in fact fix everything himself. Just having nature take it's course and have everyone else fix everything is funnier. I sense a multitude of multi-pager strips soon, with long arguements and plenty of beefy plot and character development. So the Order will finally get back to their goal. (Not "back to the plot." They've been moving the plot along. They just haven't been moving towards their goal. Major difference.)

[GNUsNotUnix]

. . . if you count Celia as a member of the order now, or just a henchman of Roy's.

Girlfriend = Henchman? If Celia weren't a fictional character, I'd say you were being insensitive.



Elan still has to have a happy ending after all, and Haley being upset will not give him a happy ending now that they have become paired up.

Well, you're assuming he has to have a happy ending with Haley. For all we know, it might not work out between the two of them.

[shadzar]

Girlfriend = Henchman? If Celia weren't a fictional character, I'd say you were being insensitive.

:smallconfused: How is that insensitive? She hasn't been oficially made a member of the party, and has only come around twice. The last when the pendant broke, and she was so preoccupied with other things, she couldn't even look down on Roy to notice he had died. I am just trying to place her int he party somehow other than random NPC that travels with them every so often. But she could easily be that. Didn't Eugene state celestials go to where he is to look down on the world? Would a more devoted girlfriend check in every once in a while if not visited? I just think she isn't really a member of the order as girlfriend =/= part member.



Well, you're assuming he has to have a happy ending with Haley. For all we know, it might not work out between the two of them.

True, but what else has he got? Odin will remember or maybe Thor will, and grant Banjo godhood? The worst part is that Elan is a flake and could be happy about just any thing. So there is no real way to tell what will give him a happy ending, but we can think it would be Haley right? Maybe he will convert Nale or is father or both and reunite his family for all that matters...

The possibilities of what can happen in the future are limitless.

[GNUsNotUnix]

:smallconfused: How is that insensitive? She hasn't been oficially made a member of the party, and has only come around twice.

Forgive me if my humor didn't quite come across. It's just unfortunate to refer to a girlfriend by a term which implies subservience.:smalltongue:

[Dr. Cthulwho]

So, Doomsday is coming and Rich is in a hurry to finish OOTS, or...?

Or V is about to learn that magic can't solve everything, and that sometimes it is no compensation for having your team mates watching your back.


Once you know epic level teleport things go quick and easy. Doesn't mean the STORY goes on in any other than a measured tempo.
That I think keep to the tempo of its narrative, except for the obvious holes for extra material saved for the book.

Probably. Though the epic teleport speed of things should be ending soon, one way or another.

[quote=Red XIV]Remember, shadzar, Belkar's not the only member of the Order who's going to die. Durkon's also on fate's hit list.

Well, really the only two that definitely seem safe are Elan and Haley, what with the Oracle's happy ending prediction. V and Roy's questions didn't really offer any scope for the Oracle to allude to their lives.

[shadzar]

Forgive me if my humor didn't quite come across. It's just unfortunate to refer to a girlfriend by a term which implies subservience.:smalltongue:

:smalleek: Oh heavens no a girlfriend wouldn't service their sub, that is why I said Celia would be a henchman. Sub service would be left for underlings.

[Zanaril]

Before the previous comic, I predicted that the quickened pace was a setup for something to go spectacularly wrong. Like almost not having the diamonds, just for real.

I still stick with this idea. It's been building up to a happy reunion with all the party, but I think this story arc still has some steam left. Whatever happens with V is going to happen now, there's no time for any delays.

There needs this little bit more before the party can be properly reunited. After that it'll hopefully get back on track.

Assuming V doesn't find herself with a ticket to the lower planes within the next few strips.

[isocum]

True, but there is no time limit on it. Just that he will eventually return home posthumously. It could be many years before that happens. The oracle isn't the most forthcoming with ALL the details. Yet he still let Roy screw himself with the "which gate" question. :smallbiggrin:


the popular theory is that durkon's homeland is up north(it's snowy), around the area of 5th gate. And since he is to bring doom to his lands on return, and will return posthumously, people tend to think that he will die at girards gate and reanimated as some intelligent undead to wreak havoc with xykon.

[shadzar]

the popular theory is that durkon's homeland is up north(it's snowy), around the area of 5th gate. And since he is to bring doom to his lands on return, and will return posthumously, people tend to think that he will die at girards gate and reanimated as some intelligent undead to wreak havoc with xykon.

:smalleek: I haven't seen this theory before, so reject it.

:smallconfused: Why did they let him leave if he is to bring doom upon his return?

I also don't recall snow on the mountain he was kicked out of when he wrote the letter MitD ate. So many strips soo much too keep up with in each of them.

Rich needs to make a guide to OOTS for people to be able to find what happened when.

But I could be wrong and there could be snow. I just hope Durkon isn't an heir to the dwarf gate, that would mean Xykon has all the info on it thanks to the diary. Woe is everyone then.

[The Blackbird]

But I could be wrong and there could be snow. I just hope Durkon isn't an heir to the dwarf gate, that would mean Xykon has all the info on it thanks to the diary. Woe is everyone then.

I doubt that, then Durkon would have been targeted for capture in the Azure City Battle.

EDIT: Or any other time for that matter.

[Mauve Shirt]

:smalleek: I haven't seen this theory before, so reject it.

:smallconfused: Why did they let him leave if he is to bring doom upon his return?

I also don't recall snow on the mountain he was kicked out of when he wrote the letter MitD ate. So many strips soo much too keep up with in each of them.

Rich needs to make a guide to OOTS for people to be able to find what happened when.

But I could be wrong and there could be snow. I just hope Durkon isn't an heir to the dwarf gate, that would mean Xykon has all the info on it thanks to the diary. Woe is everyone then.

Most of the information used to form that theory comes from On The Origin Of PCs, the prequel book.

[shadzar]

Most of the information used to form that theory comes from On The Origin Of PCs, the prequel book.

:belkar: Oh fudge monkies!