OOTS #1229 - The Discussion Thread

[dancrilis]

You mean how Lirian, Dorukan, Soon Kim and Girard all called the shots with their gate and defended it as they saw fit? How well did it go for them?

Spoiler: SOD Lirian

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Lirian actually won and defended her Gate successfully only a) her mercy, b) an artifact of a god and c) Redcloaks prior research into how to prolong Xykon's life (or bypass the issue) caused her defeat in the second conflict.

Spoiler: SOD Dorukan

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Dorukan's with six months preparation, and an army of angels at his beck and call died fairly quickly (a cautionary tale about opposing Xykon head on), however his seal over the Gate did prevent Xykon accessing it - as such his Gate defence was not beaten, when the Gate was destroyed by a band of heroes they still had not beaten his actual seal and while it is suspected that they could it is not known.

Soon:
Soon's standard defence (the city) was overwhelmed by an invading army, his second defence (the living Sapphire Guard) died without much of a showing for themselves, however his third defence (himself and the dead members of the Sapphire Guard) had a decent showing of themselves - they forced Xykon to retreat (prior to the Gate being destroyed) and he believes that he might have been able to end the threat if Miko had not seen fit to undertake her duty.

Girard:
Girard's defences were breached by epic level magic that was not targeting them specifically - as such his defences cannot truely be blamed for his gate falling, a similiar but different spell (targeting friends and friends of friends) could have been cast instead and wiped any mortal defenders out.

So all in all the defences didn't do too badly.

Serini has an option of teaming up with The Order of the Stick to stop Xykon - lets consider that for a moment.

The Order of the Stick - who destroyed two of the five gates (the second delibrately to prevent it falling into Xykon's hands).
However the first destruction might be more interesting as while it was destroyed accidently the leader of the Order admitted at trial that had he known it was one of the corner stones of reality he would have destroyed it anyway to keep it out of the minions of Xykon's hands (he believes that Xykon himself was gone at the time).
As such rather then guarding Dorukan's gate against abuse, and knowing that Dorukan's gate was a rock upon which the stability of the world rested, and believing that Xykon was no longer a threat- Roy Greenhilt would have broken it anyway, panels 1 and 2.
The fact that he actually broke the second one only supports that he continues to believe that universal destruction is acceptable to prevent the forces of evil getting a win.

Now at the Gate Serini's is guarding the Order did the following:
1. Announce their presence.
2. Alert Team Evil to the fact that someone is actively sabotaging their search.
3. Begin a plan that if it fails will alert Team Evil to the 'portal trap' that has so far kept them at bay successfully.

None of this gets into the fact that the epic magic that killed the Draketooths was also cast by a member of the Order without consideration of consequences.

Frankly Serini is likely correct that the Order as not good partners in the quest for global stability.