The end

[Sin-Ran]

How do you think this will happen

[Dr.Epic]

Roy wakes up and it was all a dream he was having when he fell asleep in a class at his wizard college.

[Sin-Ran]

Roy wakes up and it was all a dream he was having when he fell asleep in a class at his wizard college.

That sucks

I say it ends with Belkar joining Xykon, Him stealng the phsycaletry, Them fighting, Xykon dieing, And more stuff happening

[Dr.Epic]

That sucks

That was a joke

[Sin-Ran]

That was a joke

Because if that was not a joke i would . . . . i would . . . . .i couldn'st do anything :frown:

[Ranylyn]

They collect the dragon balls and wish their friends back and...

Oh wait, wrong comic.

...

Yeah, give me a minute here.

[Doomboy911]

Belkar dies killing Xykon and they realize although he was a jerk he was their friend.

[Zeofar]

Xykon is defeated at the final gate, having been stopped just before the Snarl was set loose upon the world (Xykon already realized that he couldn't harness its power with the Order at his heels, so he decided to screw it all. If he lived through it, the Order probably wouldn't by being too heroic and trying to save people, so he could just have another shot at controlling it). All of the plot threads lying around have been cleared up, along with whether or not Belkar is dead. There is nothing more. Nobody has any plans, and, to all appearances, the Order will be broken up for good due to differing views and the fact that they all have a place in the world. Suddenly, from off panel, Elan says "Uhh... I kinda pressed this button and now there is this portal here with some flying meanieheads coming out..."

:roy: : :furious:
:haley: : :sigh:
:durkon: : :eek:
:vaarsuvius: : :yuk:

Party rushes off-panel.

The End.

[Xykeb Zraliv]

Like the Demon Roaches point out, there are a bunch of different parties all trying to use the gates for their own purposes. I think at this point there are just too many factors involved to make a real prediction.

[treyh37]

since elan is the only one we know for certain will have a happy ending

we pan to many years later, and elan in true bardic tradition is telling this tale around the hearth of an inn to a large crowd

[suszterpatt]

Miko will be resurrected as a Death Knight, Belkar will realize he's actually not evil and sacrifice himself killing Miko, and Tarquin and Haley's dad will merge to form a single person.

Also, the MitD will be revealed to be three kobolds.

[Sin-Ran]

Miko will be resurrected as a Death Knight, Belkar will realize he's actually not evil and sacrifice himself killing Miko, and Tarquin and Haley's dad will merge to form a single person.

Also, the MitD will be revealed to be three kobolds.

Yeah only the first part is good

And as for what treyh37 said, I think Haley would also be there

[Swordpriest]

since elan is the only one we know for certain will have a happy ending

we pan to many years later, and elan in true bardic tradition is telling this tale around the hearth of an inn to a large crowd

This, I would applaud for. :smallsmile:

[Leecros]

How do you think this will happen

black panel with white lettering


"The End"

[homeosapiens]

Belkar will die in final fight. Order will be loosing. RC will turn the scales, most probably killing Xykon himself in act of revange for killing his brother(which he did himself, but for Xykon) and acting mean to him, when he saved his ass couple of times. Before that Roy will be kinda upset about this whole loosing again thing, V probably will be used by fiends at the time. Durkon will not be streight in the fight with Xykon, since he's not a "losing in fight" character. Elan will be doing something important, probably together with Haley and Serini.

[NerfTW]

It will end with Xykon defeated, and the heroes victorious.

[The Blackbird]

Suddenly, The End shoots Xykon with a sniper round.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080619053931/metalgear/images/thumb/7/71/The_End.jpg/200px-The_End.jpg

...Oh wait, you meant the end of the story! I wrote a fanfic about that once, it wasn't very well thought out though.
Minor element from SoD
Had to do with defeating Xykon with the knife Right-Eye had, and then him getting thrown into the last gate by Roy and being destroyed for good. That's the short version anyways, it was pretty crazy.:smalltongue:

[NerfTW]

Had to do with defeating Xykon with the knife Right-Eye had, and then him getting thrown into the last gate by Roy and being destroyed for good. That's the short version anyways, it was pretty crazy.:smalltongue:

Xykon wasn't destroyed by being thrown into Dorukans gate, he was destroyed by the wards placed on it. It's expanded on a bit more in the print compilation. It's implied that these are defenses specific to Dorukan's gate, much like how Soon's gate was protected by the ghost Sapphire Guard.

[Kish]

I believe The Blackbird means that, in his fanfic, Xykon was actually thrown through Kraagor's gate and eaten by the Snarl, destroying his soul and rendering the phylactery irrelevant. Unrelated to the way Dorukan's ward sent Xykon back to his phylactery.

[Trickywiggy]

Belkar dies and gets sent to the lower planes a little while before the final battle and we get to see his pleasures of murder and chaos on the lower planes. The final battle arrives and it is a showdown between Team Evil and the Oots, RC turns on Xykon or the other way around and the battle eventualy ends. When the fiends go to take over V for their Master plan Belkar admitting his love for V is in the perfect position in the lower planes to strike at the IFCC, and does, thus saving the gates, Oots, and most importantly V.

[mucat]

Miko will be resurrected as a Death Knight, Belkar will realize he's actually not evil and sacrifice himself killing Miko, and Tarquin and Haley's dad will merge to form a single person.

Also, the MitD will be revealed to be three kobolds.

Yeah only the first part is good

I get this dreadful feeling that you're being serious here.

[Ranylyn]

Belkar dies and gets sent to the lower planes a little while before the final battle and we get to see his pleasures of murder and chaos on the lower planes. The final battle arrives and it is a showdown between Team Evil and the Oots, RC turns on Xykon or the other way around and the battle eventualy ends. When the fiends go to take over V for their Master plan Belkar admitting his love for V is in the perfect position in the lower planes to strike at the IFCC, and does, thus saving the gates, Oots, and most importantly V.

I would love to see that, just for the wtf value.

[KingFlameHawk]

I think the end will take place in Azure city. At Kraagor's tome the final gate will be destroyed, like at Girard's gate, but the Snarl won't be released. during the however V will be "killed" by the Snarl (most likely related to the IFCC) but end up on the other world s/he saw. Because of all this Team Evil and the OoTS will end up having there last battle in Azure City. In the battle both Xykon and Belkar will be killed and in a final act of destparation Redcloak will somehow merge with the snarl and attack the team. During all this V, Kraagor and Soon's wife on the other planet work to damage the Snarl from the inside. Because of this Durkon will be able to use Thor's power to destroy Redcloak and the Snarl but costing him is life in doing so. This will release all the souls the Snarl has killed letting Soon and his wife reunite, V to be resurrected and make up with his/her mate, Belkar will remain in Hell as he has found his happy place. Durkon's body will be returned to his home and his people will mourn his loss, fulfilling both the Oracles and the high priest of Odin's visions about him. Roy and Celia will get together as will Elan and Haley and the gods will destroy the Dark one for his plans but will learn their lesson and remove the always evil part on the goblins giving them a real chance at peace with the rest of the world. and any other little plot points that I forgot or don't know about is also delt with.

[Ron Miel]

Humans and goblins declare a truce. The OOTS acquire a huge pile of diamonds. A team of clerics (including Dwarf, Elf, Human and Goblin) start the job of rezzing the dead from the battle of Azure city. Miko makes a brief appearance, but is happy in the afterlife, and thus refuses to be raised.

[Elfin]

Honestly, at this point it really is too early to make predictions with any sort of accuracy: there are just too many possible ways it could go.
And honestly, at this point I'm quite happy living in the moment.

[Crisis21]

It will end with Elan pestering Roy to be the best man at Elan and Haley's wedding.

[skarl]

it won't end...

at least, I hope so.

please, let this comic never end!:smallwink:

[Kish]

It has a planned ending, and is over halfway to that ending.

[Dr.Epic]

They collect the dragon balls and wish their friends back and...

Oh wait, wrong comic.

...

Yeah, give me a minute here.

Rich abandons the comic before the big final battle? Wait, that's another webcomic.

[Cyrano]

Redcloak is told by The Dark One that he has a destiny to found an empire for the goblins, and so resolves to leave Xykon. Xykon, upon hearing this, informs Redcloak that all his passive-aggressive tendencies were caused by his love for Redcloak, but RC's devotion to his god is such that he departs his dearest love anyway, and after much gnashing and wailing of teeth Xykon commits suicide whilst RC sails stoically into the sunset. A heartbreaking musical chorus ensues, and the Order of the Stick enters the scene, only to see Xykon's re-dead corpse. They gather together around the body to pay respect for a formidable adversary, a memorable antagonist, and, although none of them would ever have admitted it to Xykon, a friend. An epilogue will ensue wherein the death of Xykon is shown to rip apart the fragile relationships of the OotS, but years in the future, when the humans are on their deathbeds, they reunite one last time. They finally find closure together, and finally accept the role Xykon had in bringing them together, and how happy they'd been together. They hang their heads in bittersweet realization of how much time they had wasted being angry with one another, before being eaten by a surprise horde of goblins. Ha! Bet you forgot about the goblin empire, right! Well, if you weren't expecting that, you certainly weren't expecting the Snarl to become relevant again after 1500 strips of obscurity and eat the entire universe either, but it's okay because it was all Thor's autistic imaginings after tragically being struck by a runaway world serpent.

[skarl]

well, if it has an planned ending, I think that the snarl will be released, after the order of the stick beated xykon. and he won't be that bad as he seems to be.

[Stmr5000]

Redcloak is told by The Dark One that he has a destiny to found an empire for the goblins, and so resolves to leave Xykon. Xykon, upon hearing this, informs Redcloak that all his passive-aggressive tendencies were caused by his love for Redcloak, but RC's devotion to his god is such that he departs his dearest love anyway, and after much gnashing and wailing of teeth Xykon commits suicide whilst RC sails stoically into the sunset. A heartbreaking musical chorus ensues, and the Order of the Stick enters the scene, only to see Xykon's re-dead corpse. They gather together around the body to pay respect for a formidable adversary, a memorable antagonist, and, although none of them would ever have admitted it to Xykon, a friend. An epilogue will ensue wherein the death of Xykon is shown to rip apart the fragile relationships of the OotS, but years in the future, when the humans are on their deathbeds, they reunite one last time. They finally find closure together, and finally accept the role Xykon had in bringing them together, and how happy they'd been together. They hang their heads in bittersweet realization of how much time they had wasted being angry with one another, before being eaten by a surprise horde of goblins. Ha! Bet you forgot about the goblin empire, right! Well, if you weren't expecting that, you certainly weren't expecting the Snarl to become relevant again after 1500 strips of obscurity and eat the entire universe either, but it's okay because it was all Thor's autistic imaginings after tragically being struck by a runaway world serpent.

My... My God. I'm not even going to read the comic anymore. That is the best possible ending.

[Ron Miel]

if it has an planned ending...

What, you think he makes it up as he goes along? He has mapped out the entire plot long ago. He knows just how long the series will last, what the ending will be and how to get there.

[Xykeb Zraliv]

Redcloak is told by The Dark One that he has a destiny to found an empire for the goblins, and so resolves to leave Xykon. Xykon, upon hearing this, informs Redcloak that all his passive-aggressive tendencies were caused by his love for Redcloak, but RC's devotion to his god is such that he departs his dearest love anyway, and after much gnashing and wailing of teeth Xykon commits suicide whilst RC sails stoically into the sunset. A heartbreaking musical chorus ensues, and the Order of the Stick enters the scene, only to see Xykon's re-dead corpse. They gather together around the body to pay respect for a formidable adversary, a memorable antagonist, and, although none of them would ever have admitted it to Xykon, a friend. An epilogue will ensue wherein the death of Xykon is shown to rip apart the fragile relationships of the OotS, but years in the future, when the humans are on their deathbeds, they reunite one last time. They finally find closure together, and finally accept the role Xykon had in bringing them together, and how happy they'd been together. They hang their heads in bittersweet realization of how much time they had wasted being angry with one another, before being eaten by a surprise horde of goblins. Ha! Bet you forgot about the goblin empire, right! Well, if you weren't expecting that, you certainly weren't expecting the Snarl to become relevant again after 1500 strips of obscurity and eat the entire universe either, but it's okay because it was all Thor's autistic imaginings after tragically being struck by a runaway world serpent.

So...

Much......

Win.........

I... I think I need to go reflect on my life now. :smalleek:

[tcrudisi]

I have heard that Rich says he knows what the last panel will be. I suspect that panel will be Roy, in the afterlife, talking to his father about how he sacrificed his own life to pay off the family life debt. Roy will be playing with his brother. I expect this because it seems to already have been foreshadowed with Roy being in the afterlife for quite a few comics.

Beyond that, I can't really hazard any good guesses. Of course I expect the OotS to defeat Xykon and Snarl to not be released. I just have no idea how any of that gets to that point.

This is a bit more far-fetched, but I almost expect the debt on V's soul to be called in during the final battle (much like everyone else). However, I don't expect it to hinder V in the fight. In fact, since the demons and devils probably don't want the world to end, I expect them to help V out in some way. Perhaps when V runs out of spells, they take over her soul in order to replenish her spells ... or just make V's spells more powerful. Regardless of how they do it, I just expect them to help V out during the final fight.

[EyethatBinds]

What, you think he makes it up as he goes along? He has mapped out the entire plot long ago. He knows just how long the series will last, what the ending will be and how to get there.

Yeah and George Lucas had the entire six movies of the Star Wars trilogy written down before they filmed New Hope.

[suszterpatt]

Yeah and George Lucas had the entire six movies of the Star Wars trilogy written down before they filmed New Hope.The difference here is that Rich is actually a competent writer.

*hides from angry Lucas fans*

[JoeSkull]

Yeah and George Lucas had the entire six movies of the Star Wars trilogy written down before they filmed New Hope.

Rich has said himself that it will end and that he has the ending planned.
http://www.giantitp.com/FAQ.html#faq27

[Scarlet Knight]

since elan is the only one we know for certain will have a happy ending

we pan to many years later, and elan in true bardic tradition is telling this tale around the hearth of an inn to a large crowd

This ... just change the inn to an ice cream parlor where Thog works and Haley summons him to start the Banjo puppet services they have every hour...

[JoeSkull]

This ... just change the inn to an ice cream parlor where Thog works and Haley summons him to start the Banjo puppet services they have every hour...

Which is when Tarquin takes over the story for the kids.:smallbiggrin:

[tcrudisi]

Which is when Tarquin takes over the story for the kids.:smallbiggrin:

I knew that chocolate ice cream was evil. The very fact that Tarquin is involved proves it!

[Jaffo]

Belkar dies and gets sent to the lower planes a little while before the final battle and we get to see his pleasures of murder and chaos on the lower planes. The final battle arrives and it is a showdown between Team Evil and the Oots, RC turns on Xykon or the other way around and the battle eventualy ends. When the fiends go to take over V for their Master plan Belkar admitting his love for V is in the perfect position in the lower planes to strike at the IFCC, and does, thus saving the gates, Oots, and most importantly V.

I just had to post and say how brilliant this is. I never would have thought of Belkar vs. the IFCC but it's an awesome idea and exactly the kind of thing Rich would do, to give us the drama of Belkar's death without removing him from the story.

[Grendus]

Either Girard's gate is destroyed or Girard manages to drive Xykon off (Soon almost killed Xykon, and Dorukan only failed because he faced Xykon on Xykon's terms instead of his own). During the battle, however, Durkon is killed (Belkar too probably), and they don't have time to resurrect him. Instead, they stuff his corpse into one of Haley's bags of holding and race to the dwarven homeland. Because they don't have windwalk, however, they only barely make it there ahead of Xykon.

This fulfills both the dwarven prophecy that Durkon's return will spell disaster for the dwarven people and the Oracle's prophecy that Durkon will return home posthumously.

Xykon returns to Gobbotopia to martial the remaining hobgoblins to invade Serini's dungeon. My guess is he builds a ship of hobgoblin corpses, just to spite Redcloak, who by this point is being run ragged as a one-eyed toady while Tsukiko is Xykons new favored yes-woman.

The final, epic battle goes badly for the OOtS. I suspect that the IFCC actually does help the OOtS, because it would go with Rich's overarching theme that alignment doesn't define the protagonist/antagonist - that is, you can have an evil protagonist or a good antagonist. In the final moment, Redcloak, fed up with Xykon, hurls his phylactery into Serini's gate, unmaking Xykon's soul.




As for the characters. Well...

Elan was promised a happy ending. I suspect this will extend Haley as well - he sacrificed a chance at bardic drama to keep their relationship strong (when he told her about Theralka), he really does seem to love her. As they're both chaotic good, I wouldn't be surprised to see the two of them ending up as travelers, Elan entertaining crows and Haley robbing the rich blind, or maybe taking on a crusade against slavery seeing as that's one of Haley's peeves.

Roy... well, it could end in either of two ways. If Rich is intentionally screwing the trope, he'll die. The problem is, the hero dieing is only touching if the hero is a messiah type, and Roy really isn't. More likely, he'll win and live happily ever after, probably with Celia. I say this mostly because... well damn it, after all he went through it would suck for him to just die. Plus I imagine that Elan wouldn't be happy if he died, and while it would matter less than if Haley died, I still think that his happy ending would include his 'brother' Roy surviving.

Durkon will probably be resurrected at the dwarven homeland and spend the rest of his life as a cleric. Once he's returned posthumously, the Oracle's prophecy will have been fulfilled, the the Oracle is enough of an asshat that he would say something misleading just to be mean (seriously, I wish Belkar had made a hat out of him).

Belkar will die. He will either refuse to come back when resurrected (maybe he's having too much fun slaughtering demons in the lower planes) or will die doing something so horrible that the group leaves him dead.

Varsuvius I'm not sure about. On the one hand, I'd like to see him/her make the ultimate sacrifice and give up magic to reunite with his/her mate, dedicating the remainder of his/her life to being a good spouse/parent. On the flipside, V has no special relevance to the ending. I have no clue what will happen to V.

Redcloak, on the other hand, will probably die in destroying Xykon. Since the goblins do see him as a messiah leading them to an era of prosperity, it would be very fitting for him to die in order to protect them, perhaps with him giving final advice to the hobgoblin he left as the leader of Gobbotopia.

Tsukiko will die. People hate her. She's a jerk. I suspect that Xykon will kill her, just because she loves him so much and he couldn't care less. Either that or Haley will kill her, because she and Haley have a running grudge. Plus it would be hilarious to watch tier 1 Tsukiko have her ass handed to her by tier 4 Haley (though a rogue would probably have the best chance with their massive DPR).


But that's just a rough guess. I'd be surprised if I'm more than 20% right.

[Souhiro]

Belkar dies fighting in the Girard's gate battle. A battle which ends with the usual "KRRAACKKAKOOOOOOM". He goes to hell, and sneaks into the IFCC to see the party with their TV-Like-Gadget.

The party has tons of adventures and reach the last gate, guarded by Serini, near the darwen lands -Durkon dies in the way to his home, but get raised before the final fight.
They fight a hopeless fight, MitD reveals to be a huge menace. O'Chuck pops from nowhere and calms MitD. MitD gets enraged when RedCloack slays O'Chuck and prompts to kill everybody and everyone, Xykon inlcuded, Soul Hidey Place included.

Then sensing the great batle, a rift from reality brings a being forged in the deeps of the hell. A true fighter, a true anti-hero, a true slayer of livings and deads. The rift brings a demon-armor clad sexy shoeless god of war.

Last gate goes "KRRAACKKAKOOOOOOM", and Roy, Vaarsuvius, Durkon and the Demon-Armor Clad Sexy Shoeless God of War jump in there to fight the ultimate, eternal fight against the Snarl, but in there, they discover that the Snarl is quite friendly, and they enjoy a tea at the moonlight.


And Elan get's a totally kick-ass tale to tell to their red-haired, dark-skinned sons.

[Scarlet Knight]

Bloodwort tea? Good thing Durkon befriended Malack after all...

[Tychris1]

Xykon has already fully mastered and controlled The last gate just as OOTS arives to fight off a swarm of beasts being spewed by the snarl as the team slowly weakens and falls one by one with dramatic last stands and detailed deaths (falling on one knee, one eye lazily closed, the whole shebang). Elan and Haley escape as the last member still alive, Roy screams out a battle cry, raises his sword in the air, and gets knocked over and covered with the minions as he hacks and slashes through them before ultimately dying in the most dramatic and detailed way. As the minions swarm forward haly bushes Elan telling him everythings going to be alright and that he should close his eyes, hold her tight, and think of all the good thoughts he can. He falls asleep into a happy, surreal, realistic, dream and she smothers him so that he dies an unpainful and quick death. She then proceeds to gather her bow and sneak past the mob to xykon and yells SNEAK ATTACK YOU MOTHER ****ING BITCH! And fire multiple arrows at xykon and redcloak causing redcloak to began bleeding at ab alarming rate. Before dieng he tells the new leader something about leadership through hard times, then dies. Bow with Haley dead xykon sits down on his throne and with a raise of his boney arm a unlimited and innumerable swarm pours from the gate as it ends with a black box with white text saying The End

[PopcornMage]

Painted in the style of Alex Ross.

Think about it. Pre-universe is Crayon style. Current universe is stick-figure cartoon. Next level up? Painted.

[Nimrod's Son]

Yeah and George Lucas had the entire six movies of the Star Wars trilogy written down before they filmed New Hope.
You really don't see the difference between someone writing a long story all at once, and someone dusting off their merchandising juggernaut to add extra backstory after twenty years?


Think about it. Pre-universe is Crayon style.
Whatever gave you that idea?

[Cleverdan22]

Just a response to the debate of whether or not Rich has it all planned out: I seem to remember a commentary of one of the books where he knows a general plan for the story, like: "Then the Order goes here," but in general he makes things up as he goes.

[TheWerdna]

black panel with white lettering


"The End"

You win good sir

[Dire Moose]

Personally, I hope it never ends. Even knowing it will.

[Mordaenor]

MitD is revealed to be Fruit Pie the Sorceror's twin brother. And they all live happily ever after.

Welcome to MY corner of left field. :)

[Sin-Ran]

Roy kills Xykon, The greek gods come and destroy the snarl, Elan and haley get married, belkar and V end up starting up their own adventuring group.

Then belkar and V fight and both die.

[Felhammer]

since elan is the only one we know for certain will have a happy ending

we pan to many years later, and elan in true bardic tradition is telling this tale around the hearth of an inn to a large crowd

It should end with Elan telling (and embellishing) the story to his horde of grandchildren. :smallsmile:

[Souhiro]

Elan manages to kill Xykon, Kill Redcloack, Save Haley and the universe, just by finding an scroll of polymorph, and polymorphing himself into an Elanasaurus Rex (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0693.html)

He and Haley marries, and have a lot of red-haired sons and daughters, who have the same skin color, the same hair, and the same face than Roy.
Elan fails to notice what this means, and he lives happily ever after.

Haley and Roy live happily ever alter, too.

By the way, Belkar dies happily ever after. He finds Miko in the afterlife and play Mortal Kombat for eternity. After 6.023*10^23 fatalities -each- they even begin to tolerate the one of the another. 6.023*20^23 fatalities more, they grow as close friends -who incidentally kills each other frecuently- [URL=http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u86/gr33d_2007]Like here[URL]



And Vaarsuvius and Durkon are a little forgotten by don't having any CHA... so they take a few levels in Bard and start a new party

[Sin-Ran]

Belkar becomes death's apprentice

[Mr. Snuggles]

Nah. The one and only one way it can end is with the Monster in the Darkness turning on and killing Xykon.

[Timeless Error]

Redcloak is told by The Dark One that he has a destiny to found an empire for the goblins, and so resolves to leave Xykon. Xykon, upon hearing this, informs Redcloak that all his passive-aggressive tendencies were caused by his love for Redcloak, but RC's devotion to his god is such that he departs his dearest love anyway, and after much gnashing and wailing of teeth Xykon commits suicide whilst RC sails stoically into the sunset. A heartbreaking musical chorus ensues, and the Order of the Stick enters the scene, only to see Xykon's re-dead corpse. They gather together around the body to pay respect for a formidable adversary, a memorable antagonist, and, although none of them would ever have admitted it to Xykon, a friend. An epilogue will ensue wherein the death of Xykon is shown to rip apart the fragile relationships of the OotS, but years in the future, when the humans are on their deathbeds, they reunite one last time. They finally find closure together, and finally accept the role Xykon had in bringing them together, and how happy they'd been together. They hang their heads in bittersweet realization of how much time they had wasted being angry with one another, before being eaten by a surprise horde of goblins. Ha! Bet you forgot about the goblin empire, right! Well, if you weren't expecting that, you certainly weren't expecting the Snarl to become relevant again after 1500 strips of obscurity and eat the entire universe either, but it's okay because it was all Thor's autistic imaginings after tragically being struck by a runaway world serpent.

*Sob* That was beautiful.

[Bulzeeb]

Xykon in his confrontation with Vaarsuvius mentioned this:

"Be a vampire, or a ghost, or an immortal with a paint-by-numbers portrait in the rec room. Hell, even a brain-in-a-jar, in a pinch. Anything to avoid the Big Fire Below."

While he was mainly belittling the ability of V's bound souls, it's also revealing about his attitude towards the evil afterlife. It's possible that when he knows he's defeated, rather than be sentenced to the fires below, he decides to lose his soul to the Snarl.

[Jay R]

Malack serves the cake, and Vaarsuvius says, "Is that a doily?" These four words, said for all the wrong reasons, lead him/her to understanding the doily as a source of ultimate cosmic power. With this power, she/he finds and destroys Xykon's phylactery.

Roy meets Xykon once again, but this time, the Order is with him. Durkon provides the buffs, but is himself killed in the battle, having been blasted by Xykon into a tree. The Sexy Shoeless God of War and Roy combine to defeat Xykon. Roy dies at the same time, and in lieu of paradise, is given a picture of his father's face when Eugene first heard that Roy was going up but he wasn't.

With ultimate arcane power, Vaarsuvius flies to the Snarl, and reshapes it into a giant script, which reads, "Guess what spell I cast before re-shaping the Snarl, halfling?" Belkar looks up, reads the Snarl, and dies from the ensuing explosion, and the words themselves (and therefore the snarl) disappear forever. The explosion throws Durkon's body all the way to the dwarven homelands, posthumously.

Elan and Tarquin have a final epic battle, in which Elan finally defeats him in a properly story-driven way. The Empress of Blood tells Elan to strike down his father and take his place by her side, but Tarquin kills her, dying in the process. In the pullback, we see his father's long-lost sled Rosebud.

On his way home with Haley and Haley's dad, Elan complains that without his best buddy Roy, he didn't really get a happy ending. Haley tries to cheer him up, but Elan is unconsolable.

The final panel reveals that on the road in front of them, they are about to find a whistle.

[suszterpatt]

Malack serves the cake, and Vaarsuvius says, "Is that a doily?" These four words, said for all the wrong reasons, lead him/her to understanding the doily as a source of ultimate cosmic power. With this power, she/he finds and destroys Xykon's phylactery.

Roy meets Xykon once again, but this time, the Order is with him. Durkon provides the buffs, but is himself killed in the battle, having been blasted by Xykon into a tree. The Sexy Shoeless God of War and Roy combine to defeat Xykon. Roy dies at the same time, and in lieu of paradise, is given a picture of his father's face when Eugene first heard that Roy was going up but he wasn't.

With ultimate arcane power, Vaarsuvius flies to the Snarl, and reshapes it into a giant script, which reads, "Guess what spell I cast before re-shaping the Snarl, halfling?" Belkar looks up, reads the Snarl, and dies from the ensuing explosion, and the words themselves (and therefore the snarl) disappear forever. The explosion throws Durkon's body all the way to the dwarven homelands, posthumously.

Elan and Tarquin have a final epic battle, in which Elan finally defeats him in a properly story-driven way. The Empress of Blood tells Elan to strike down his father and take his place by her side, but Tarquin kills her, dying in the process. In the pullback, we see his father's long-lost sled Rosebud.

On his way home with Haley and Haley's dad, Elan complains that without his best buddy Roy, he didn't really get a happy ending. Haley tries to cheer him up, but Elan is unconsolable.

The final panel reveals that on the road in front of them, they are about to find a whistle.This deserves quoting.

[IndigoFenix]

The whole team faces off against Xykon with the final Gate destroyed, the rift swirling in the background, ripping up pieces of the landscape and gradually growing bigger.

Redcloak, who had earlier thrown the phylactery into the rift, is on the ground, dying. He sees the spirit of his brother, who reveals that he had been by his side all along, guiding him to bring about the death of Xykon.

Tsukiko, having been mortally wounded after betraying Xykon, is lying in the arms of her secret lover, Undead Belkar, who she realized had more love to give than Xykon ever did.

Xykon, enraged at being betrayed by his allies, the destruction of the Gate, and literally falling to pieces due to the loss of his phylactery, finally orders the Monster in the Darkness to destroy the Order once and for all. The Monster steps out of the darkness, revealing himself, then turns and throws what's left of Xykon into the remains of the rift. (Wait, what rift?)

With Xykon destroyed but the rift growing out of control and beyond the ability of mortals to contain it, the Order gathers together to make peace among themselves, while the gods begin to unravel the universe, one piece at a time... mountains dissolving into threads and disappearing into the sky, the ocean evaporating...

And then suddenly... It stops. Because the Snarl is nowhere to be seen. The rift has stopped growing, and has become a portal...

to another world, a world empty of sentient life but filled with untouched beauty. The world within the rift. While the Snarl had been encased in its prison of order, it had gradually turned toward itself and began to try to understand its prison. In doing so, it had constructed a world of its own, and had in doing so unraveled the last of its hatred. The destruction of Xykon had provided the last bit of energy needed to complete the new world.

With his dying breath, Redcloak requests of the Order that his followers be given this new world, where they can live in peace. Belkar is disappointed, but Roy agrees.

Cut to 20 years later:

Roy and Celia are married. Roy is complaining about his hybrid son, who wants to become an illusionist - but finally, he agrees, saying "you'll be back in six weeks".

Durkon and Malack are fast friends. Durkon receives a letter saying that he is allowed to go home, but he decides not to, because he has learned more traveling than he could ever hope to back at home. He does ask for a burial plot to be prepared for him, though.

Varsuvius returns home hoping to make amends with hir mate, but discovers that s/he has already begun a loving relationship with another elf. V accepts this, and sets out to wander the earth.

Belkar is nowhere to be seen, but there are rumors of an undead halfling warrior stalking the forests, and if you leave a small tribute on your doorstep daily when he's around, no monster will ever come near you...

The story ends with Elan and Haley in the rebuilt inn from Chapter 2. People are talking about the recently reconstructed Azure City in the background, and Haley is counting her coins. Elan walks in, and tells everyone to gather round, as he will tell the tale of the Order Of The Stick.

The End

[cho_j]

Malack serves the cake, and Vaarsuvius says, "Is that a doily?" These four words, said for all the wrong reasons, lead him/her to understanding the doily as a source of ultimate cosmic power. With this power, she/he finds and destroys Xykon's phylactery.

Roy meets Xykon once again, but this time, the Order is with him. Durkon provides the buffs, but is himself killed in the battle, having been blasted by Xykon into a tree. The Sexy Shoeless God of War and Roy combine to defeat Xykon. Roy dies at the same time, and in lieu of paradise, is given a picture of his father's face when Eugene first heard that Roy was going up but he wasn't.

With ultimate arcane power, Vaarsuvius flies to the Snarl, and reshapes it into a giant script, which reads, "Guess what spell I cast before re-shaping the Snarl, halfling?" Belkar looks up, reads the Snarl, and dies from the ensuing explosion, and the words themselves (and therefore the snarl) disappear forever. The explosion throws Durkon's body all the way to the dwarven homelands, posthumously.

Elan and Tarquin have a final epic battle, in which Elan finally defeats him in a properly story-driven way. The Empress of Blood tells Elan to strike down his father and take his place by her side, but Tarquin kills her, dying in the process. In the pullback, we see his father's long-lost sled Rosebud.

On his way home with Haley and Haley's dad, Elan complains that without his best buddy Roy, he didn't really get a happy ending. Haley tries to cheer him up, but Elan is unconsolable.

The final panel reveals that on the road in front of them, they are about to find a whistle.

You, good Jay, are a genius. So much joy at reading this!

[IronWilliam]

I think that Redcloak and The Monster In The Darkness will team up against Xycon (He does treat them pretty poorly). I then think that the Order Of The Stick will help Redcloak create a goblin nation. In "On the Origin of PC's" Roy already said that it was wrong to kill orc's because it was slightly easier then talking to them. So he would probably be on Redcloak's side.

[Innis Cabal]

Xykon in his confrontation with Vaarsuvius mentioned this:

"Be a vampire, or a ghost, or an immortal with a paint-by-numbers portrait in the rec room. Hell, even a brain-in-a-jar, in a pinch. Anything to avoid the Big Fire Below."

While he was mainly belittling the ability of V's bound souls, it's also revealing about his attitude towards the evil afterlife. It's possible that when he knows he's defeated, rather than be sentenced to the fires below, he decides to lose his soul to the Snarl.

That isn't the context of that quote at all. He was referencing the fact that the souls were dead and got out of "The game". Not that the afterlife sucks. Heck, Xykon has never been to any afterlife.

[Ron Miel]

Belkar becomes death's apprentice

Death becomes Belkar's apprentice.

[Burner28]

Also all the Villains will die obviously:smallwink::smalltongue::smallamused:

[Sin-Ran]

Death becomes Belkar's apprentice.

No, definently the other way around

[Swordpriest]

The whole team faces off against Xykon with the final Gate destroyed, the rift swirling in the background, ripping up pieces of the landscape and gradually growing bigger.

Redcloak, who had earlier thrown the phylactery into the rift, is on the ground, dying. He sees the spirit of his brother, who reveals that he had been by his side all along, guiding him to bring about the death of Xykon.

Tsukiko, having been mortally wounded after betraying Xykon, is lying in the arms of her secret lover, Undead Belkar, who she realized had more love to give than Xykon ever did.

Xykon, enraged at being betrayed by his allies, the destruction of the Gate, and literally falling to pieces due to the loss of his phylactery, finally orders the Monster in the Darkness to destroy the Order once and for all. The Monster steps out of the darkness, revealing himself, then turns and throws what's left of Xykon into the remains of the rift. (Wait, what rift?)

With Xykon destroyed but the rift growing out of control and beyond the ability of mortals to contain it, the Order gathers together to make peace among themselves, while the gods begin to unravel the universe, one piece at a time... mountains dissolving into threads and disappearing into the sky, the ocean evaporating...

And then suddenly... It stops. Because the Snarl is nowhere to be seen. The rift has stopped growing, and has become a portal...

to another world, a world empty of sentient life but filled with untouched beauty. The world within the rift. While the Snarl had been encased in its prison of order, it had gradually turned toward itself and began to try to understand its prison. In doing so, it had constructed a world of its own, and had in doing so unraveled the last of its hatred. The destruction of Xykon had provided the last bit of energy needed to complete the new world.

With his dying breath, Redcloak requests of the Order that his followers be given this new world, where they can live in peace. Belkar is disappointed, but Roy agrees.

Cut to 20 years later:

Roy and Celia are married. Roy is complaining about his hybrid son, who wants to become an illusionist - but finally, he agrees, saying "you'll be back in six weeks".

Durkon and Malack are fast friends. Durkon receives a letter saying that he is allowed to go home, but he decides not to, because he has learned more traveling than he could ever hope to back at home. He does ask for a burial plot to be prepared for him, though.

Varsuvius returns home hoping to make amends with hir mate, but discovers that s/he has already begun a loving relationship with another elf. V accepts this, and sets out to wander the earth.

Belkar is nowhere to be seen, but there are rumors of an undead halfling warrior stalking the forests, and if you leave a small tribute on your doorstep daily when he's around, no monster will ever come near you...

The story ends with Elan and Haley in the rebuilt inn from Chapter 2. People are talking about the recently reconstructed Azure City in the background, and Haley is counting her coins. Elan walks in, and tells everyone to gather round, as he will tell the tale of the Order Of The Stick.

The End

I like this one, myself. :smallbiggrin: