Spoiler - How the twelve gods saved Miko

[teratorn]

First, I must confess I truly liked #448. Now I see the light, Miko had to fall and be kept in prison so she could survive this fight. She would have died with the others in that room. I wonder how she will see things.

Thanks Rich. Now, you would really make my day if you killed Belkar.

[Demented]

Hah.

It's a point. Now that Miko is one of the last surviving Paladins sort of, she's destined to live for the rest of her natural life. Well, aside from her possibly saving Hinjo or some other dramatic cliche.

[kpenguin]

On a larger scheme of things, the one true god of the Ootsverse (the one known to some as the Giant, to others by his terrible true name, Rich) may have planned this in order to uphold the great cosmic laws that are known collectively as Plot. The lesser deities of the southern lands are unlikely to have planned this, however.

[CardinalFang]

Clearly, this was a part of their divine plan to stop the evil lord Shojo and his accomplices in the Order of the Stick from completing their fiendish plan to destroy the Sapphire Guard. They had her thrown in prison for her protection, that she might rise up as their sole champion and avenge her fallen brothers and sisters.

[InfernusTribble]

First time poster here,
Been enjoying the strip since I found the site a few days ago. First vist of the day on comic update days :)

This is also what I thought after reading #448 and recovering; but now I'm really scared for what will end up happening to Miko since her story thread seems to be some sort of horrible developing tradegy so far, and I'd rather not have happen to anyone what I am expecting to happen to her.
She's already teetering on the precipice imo

[warmachine]

If Xykon and Redcloak win, they'll check out the prison and kill or torture Miko anyway. It is unlikely the twelve gods are that short sighted. Even if this wouldn't happen, a warrior would much rather fight and die to protect their homeland than sit in prison.

[ShiningTed]

When I read the title of this I thought, "O puh-LEASE!!!!!!!" (I often do!)

But you're right - Miko will look at this as the work of the Gods to spare her and bring those nasty OotS to justice, while punishing the paladins for not turning on Shojo. She's that loony.

Also, it fits the plot so nicely :)

[Setra]

I get the feeling both Hinjo and Miko will survive.

It's 50/50 at this point, but there is always at least one.. but a lot of the time... there's two, you just don't know it at the time.

[InfernusTribble]

Dunno about Miko "surviving" - but she'll still probably play a big role in the on-going storyline

[Shadic]

Clearly, this was a part of their divine plan to stop the evil lord Shojo and his accomplices in the Order of the Stick from completing their fiendish plan to destroy the Sapphire Guard. They had her thrown in prison for her protection, that she might rise up as their sole champion and avenge her fallen brothers and sisters.

Oh... Oh gods...

Despite all my hoping otherwise, that IS what is going to happen. Crap.

Miko: "I must avenge my fellow Paladins!" *Slash Slash Slash*

Hinjo: "Then attack Xykon, not me!"

Miko: "Never!"

[the_tick_rules]

miko probably woulda made her save though. with her monk and paladin saves plus the monk +2 vs mind affecting spells plus her paladin divine grace adding her charisma, that's a huge bonus.

[Bozidar]

Clearly, this was a part of their divine plan to stop the evil lord Shojo and his accomplices in the Order of the Stick from completing their fiendish plan to destroy the Sapphire Guard. They had her thrown in prison for her protection, that she might rise up as their sole champion and avenge her fallen brothers and sisters.
nah, you missed it. The whole sapphire guard is evil now because they inprisoned her.. so this is their retribution being paid to them. It's up to Miko to pay the OOTS back herself..

[scwizard]

miko probably woulda made her save though. with her monk and paladin saves plus the monk +2 vs mind affecting spells plus her paladin divine grace adding her charisma, that's a huge bonus.
Ya, combining evasion with divine grace makes her pretty beast. Also her cha is probably pretty high considering how long Roy was chasing her on account of appearance.

It's funny how all the antagonists seem to always have munchkin tendencies. I guess it does make sense for the DM to be better at character optimization than the players.

[Baalzebub]

Good point, I didn't thought of that.

[Zictor]

Oh... Oh gods...

Despite all my hoping otherwise, that IS what is going to happen. Crap.

Miko: "I must avenge my fellow Paladins!" *Slash Slash Slash*

Hinjo: "Then attack Xykon, not me!"

Miko: "Never!"

Well, That IS a funny picture

Maybe, (just maybe) the Giant has a redemption plan for Miko, but not after giving the Oots a lot of work.

I would like to know what will happen to Hinjo, though. I believe he has a good chance of surviving the battle, but he won't live in the long run.

Maybe he will become a rogue paladin of sorts

[JT]

It's a point. Now that Miko is one of the last surviving Paladins sort of...


According to O-Chul, "many [of the paladins] are away..."

Don't know whether "many" is "more than half" (I doubt it) but there are more than 2 SG paladins (O-Chul, Hinjo) and one fallen SG paladin (Miko) in the world.


(Edit to add)
Not to mention the "newbies" who were ordered to protect the citizens, should the walls be breached.

[elliott20]

the more important question here is... who will now handle Hinjo's packages and junks now that all of his paladin harem has been slain?

[DeathQuaker]

First, I must confess I truly liked #448. Now I see the light, Miko had to fall and be kept in prison so she could survive this fight. She would have died with the others in that room. I wonder how she will see things.


On the other hand, Miko _was_ the most powerful member of the Sapphire Guard. Some have speculated she is higher level than the OOTS and has a pretty powerful build, with very good saving throws. If she had not fallen and she had been there with the rest of the guard, she possibly would have been able to at least detain Xykon long enough for O-Chul to destroy the gem.

So if you're a Miko hater, you can say it's Miko's fault what happened, if you are Miko-esque, you can blame the 12 gods or Shojo, and if looking at it head on, you can say that regardless, the events as they stand were just sad things to happen.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Maybe Miko will go Blackguard to avenge the fallen Paladins. Before she wasn't really heading Blackguard, she was just being an *******. With the Paladin's death she might go bonkers enough.

The main reason why a fallen Paladin would turn Blackguard is for the power. So if Miko can't get her Paladin powers back she might turn Blackguard. Depends on how angry she gets I suppose.

Also she would have been arrested for killing Shojo even if she hadn't lost her powers.

[MaxKaladin]

Miko could have been a great help. After all, she's already howling mad so the symbol of insanity probably wouldn't have had any noticable effect on her anyway...

:smallbiggrin:

[Fawkes]

the more important question here is... who will now handle Hinjo's packages and junks now that all of his paladin harem has been slain?

Actually, Lien wasn't in the battle, and the other woman was just a soldier.

[teratorn]

So if you're a Miko hater...

Are you kidding? I took Miko Fan Club from my sig because I refuse to acknowledge that Miko is not in blue anymore. I wouldn't mind things so much if she been allowed to kill Belkar. Miko, insane paladin before it was fashionable.

[Thorin]

Clearly, this was a part of their divine plan to stop the evil lord Shojo and his accomplices in the Order of the Stick from completing their fiendish plan to destroy the Sapphire Guard. They had her thrown in prison for her protection, that she might rise up as their sole champion and avenge her fallen brothers and sisters.

are you miko´s mind or something?

It´s not that weird that miko would think this kind of thing; after all, she killed the wacky old dude whit the lame cat; didn´t she?

[Megalomaniac2]

That's EXACTLY how Miko will probably rationalize everything. "The Gods didn't make me fall- they elevated me to a higher prestige class variation of Paladin to spare me the righteous punishment which has fallen upon Azure City! Behold, the pure white which is the symbol of my new divine duty!"

Sabine: "Girl, I'm pretty sure that's beige."

Nale: "Closer to light brown, I think."

"Thog thinks it looks sandy."

"IT'S WHITE!"

[SeomanCC]

First, I must confess I truly liked #448. Now I see the light, Miko had to fall and be kept in prison so she could survive this fight. She would have died with the others in that room. I wonder how she will see things.

Thanks Rich. Now, you would really make my day if you killed Belkar.


How dare you speak ill of Belkar!

[DeathQuaker]

Are you kidding? I took Miko Fan Club from my sig because I refuse to acknowledge that Miko is not in blue anymore. I wouldn't mind things so much if she been allowed to kill Belkar. Miko, insane paladin before it was fashionable.

Context, sweetpea. Don't take things out of context. It's important when one communicates publicly. There were a number of "if" statements there, and the whole paragraph was clearly meant to be both general and rhetorical. So you can calm down and breathe, and point your paladin's sword elsewhere. I wasn't attacking your loyalty to Miko.

[Erloas]

Even if Miko in the throne room it wouldn't have changed the first part of the battle much. The insanity ball didn't affect everyone anyway, but the ones that made their insanity save where still hacked to pieces by the ones that failed. The comic showed that in a couple places. Miko would have been more likely to wound Xykon, and could have definately beat him with the help of the other paladins, but she couldn't have beat him while also fighting off or trying to save a lot of crazy paladins trying to kill her.

There is also no way of knowing for sure that if Miko hadn't fallen and was still an un-imprisioned not totally crazy paladin that she would have been in the throne room and not out on the walls helping defend there.

[teratorn]

Context, sweetpea. Don't take things out of context. It's important when one communicates publicly.
Not that I object to being called sweetpea, but you are being a tad condescending here. Of course I understood that you were covering lovers and haters. English is an accursed language but my language skills are not that bad.


So you can calm down and breathe, and point your paladin's sword elsewhere.
??? I was just being informal (and friendly) in my message, explaining that I was above the lover category. I fail to see why I would deserve something like this. Sorry, probably that had some clumsy meaning I wasn't aware of. I never meant to point any kind of sword at you.

[Darilian]

Actually, I think that Miko will be more upset that she DIDN'T die and help protect the gate with Soon, as she had sworn to do.

I see a serious case of 'survivor's guilt' hitting Miko in the very near future....

Darilian

[Daedalus73]

Um not really?

There are a zillion and one ways that Rich could have written the throne room fight w/ Miko in it as a paladin, and let her survive. If he wanted to.

[Jaradcel]

There is also no way of knowing for sure that if Miko hadn't fallen and was still an un-imprisioned not totally crazy paladin that she would have been in the throne room and not out on the walls helping defend there.


I doubt she'd be on the walls. She would have been ordered to be in the throne room with the rest of the SG's "upper crust" so to speak.

I think she'd definetely make her saves to insanity (or even be right up front with O-Chuul) which would have made that fight a hell of a lot more interesting.

I like the person who mentioned that since Miko already IS bat**** crazy she'd probably not notice the effects of the symbol anyway though *laughs*

[Freelance Henchman]

I like the person who mentioned that since Miko already IS bat**** crazy she'd probably not notice the effects of the symbol anyway though *laughs*

Maybe it would make her *sane* then? I.e. she would suddenly realize how badly she screwed up and be wracked with guilt.

[ARMOURERERIC]

After reading 449, I began to think along the lines that Miko will end up like Obi-Wan in EP3, in te aftermath of the death of most of her order, either Hinjo will (or a vision from the 12 gods) will direct her to a life of solitude and meditation, communicating with Soon and her fallen comrads, or Hinjo will get her to accept that she was choosen to rebuild the SG by the gods, and was hence spared by her falling, a task that will be her attonement and fit her ego from hell.

Eric

[Magistrate]

at the OP;

How is Miko any less one dimensional then Belkar? They're both unflinching in how shallow they are as characters. The only difference here is Miko is used in a far less comedic light; the only thing that keeps Belkar from being more than what he is is because of his comedic purpose for what he's parodying and that he has not be presented with the opportunity for non-physical confrontation beyond 'If I don't kill X, I won't get to kill Y anymore! oh noes!'.


But then the whole of the OotS is made of shallow, one dimeonsional parodies, with the exception of Roy. Some of them are tiresome, some of them or not. If I had it my way both Belkar and Miko would be dead by now. *cough*