Order of the Stick

[Hope_Caswell]

Can't go wrong with a Team Evil scene. Xykon may have a cracked skull (or not, actually), but his panache remains intact.

[Krulle]

update notification!

Page 1261 - Certain Doom

Redcloak.
a formidable opponent...
Strategy wise.

[RocketScientist]

I run into people like Oona's cousin all the time on the internet.

[Krulle]

I run into people like Oona's cousin all the time on the internet.

Well, the InterWebs is the place to be for trolls...

[RocketScientist]

I run into people like Oona's cousin all the time on the internet.

Well, the InterWebs is the place to be for trolls...

Good point.

[RocketScientist]

Update

1262 - Two Villages

I'm actually kind of surprised Oona can make word pictures in her brain and then explain them. Good for her.

[Hope_Caswell]

This update is my least favorite in a while. Oona's goofiness ruins any attempt at profundity, and the whole dialogue could be summarized in a panel or two.

[RocketScientist]

Update:

1263 - Assorted Situational Uses

In his lifetime.

[Hope_Caswell]

Super exciting development. More than a little surprising.

Edit: with a bit more research, this reveal is more exciting, as this is clearly a Quinton Modron, meaning it is literally one of the sixteen beings who report to the eight beings who report to the four beings who report directly to the two subordinates of Primus himself. And he's *actually here*, not just summoned (contrary to the name of that License Agreement). I forsee a great opportunity for Durkon and Redcloak to effectively proxy-battle through their Lawfulness "skill", as Redcloak tries to give the Quinton orders that it can't possibly misinterpret, but the Quinton itself doesn't want to be party to the world's destruction, and thus tries to figure out a "legal" way to help Durkon subvert its own hardcoded mandates. This could be an absolutely fascinating encounter, if Rich is capable of writing it right, and I fully believe he is (though it would certainly be fearsomely difficult).

On a more meta level, while we've had allusions to Modrons and Slaadiyes* in the comic before, this is still a bold new testing of the limits of what Rich can get away with, under the aegis of "parody is protected speech". I wonder if we're going to end up with any obviously recognizable Githyanki and Mind Flayers playing significant roles in the story yet, or if even The Giant will stop short of pushing the line quite that far.

* I have no doubt caused an aneurysm or two here; I was planning to just write "slaadi" or "slaads", not being sure which was right... but then I realized, if you're trying to pluralize the names of these Kaos Kreatures, the most appropriate thing to do is to get it as wrong as possible, in as many different ways as possible, all at once, limited only by the need to still be vaguely recognizable.

PS: I'm also greatly enjoying the mental challenge of trying to play "audio" in my head of this scene. Because you just know that those Monodrones are chanting in the most boring, barely-musical monotone droning sound (all puns intended) that you can possibly imagine, which still has to be recognizable as music without being even remotely musical. It'd have to sound spectacularly uninteresting, especially given the total lack of meter and lyricality in the words. Fun stuff, except literally the opposite of that.

[RocketScientist]

Link: 1264 - Also an Uncanny Resemblance

[Krulle]

Update Notification!

Page 1265 - Non-Killer App


Nice reference to current online exercises...

[RocketScientist]

I've always wondered why they don't make the games in the ads.

[Krulle]

Because these apps they're providing for downloads are not games, but an ad-selling venue.
They just need to get you to look into it.

So they advertise what they think works best. (easily checkable through download numbers)

To make something cheap, they buy an old game which code is cheap to buy (or program a cheap copy of that).

That's also why so many very similar games get created.

You fell for that trick?
Let's try again, with a slightly different optic, and pretend it's now the real game.

Hehe, you fell for it again?
Next game, this time, it's the real one, promised!
(add in one or two of the advertised puzzles, the rest is the same crap).
you watch 4 ads, they have their money...


The ad scammers actually make a lot of money that way.

Making a game is more expensive.
They are an ad-machine that generates ad money to buy ad space to get more downloads to generate more ad money.

And due to the way modern "proposal" systems work, well, it's lucrative if you concentrate on maximising the sales of ads.
And that's what they do.

[Krulle]

New page!
Page 1266 - Even Deal

What an odd deal.

Interesting...

Gonna be fun next page(s), reading the Lich's sentences.

I wonder if anyone of that party knows the entrances are just portals?

[RocketScientist]

I think they're about to find out.

[Hope_Caswell]

The original deal would have prohibited Xykon from casting Meteor Swarm and Energy Drain so he was right to refuse it. Besides some nice fleshing out (boning in?) of his motivations, and a vaguely plausible in character explanation for something arbitrary affecting the group, this is also the villains finally getting unstuck, putting some time pressure back on our heroes before they get too comfortable with having their planning window.

[Krulle]

update notification!

Page 1267 - Dead Letters

Lovely how the MitD plays it own game here.

[Hope_Caswell]

update notification!

Page 1267 - Dead Letters

Lovely how the MitD plays it own game here.

Yes, and being surprisingly blatant about his effort to sabotage Team Evil. Xykon barely notices, but he's distracted by the mind game, so his Intelligence roll to notice the treachery is effectively "with disadvantage"; this makes sense. What's more dubious is that Redcloak doesn't notice. I hope that in fact he does, and confronts Xykon about it, suggesting they ditch Mitd from the team. Which Xykon would refuse, since X thinks Mitd is his asset, not only against the heroes but against betrayal by Redcloak. (Rich needs to reveal that info for people who haven't read Start of Darkness, and this would be a good way to bring it up.)

[RocketScientist]

Two updates that haven't been posted:

1268 - No Skill Point
1269 - Stuck in a Meeting

[Hope_Caswell]

Yeah I thought about mentioning the last update, but...



...I figured there was no point in doing so.



In other news, we know know the official name of Sunny's species: the "ball full of eyes".

[RocketScientist]

Update

1270 - Batter's Eye

So we've met Sunny before...

32 - Biting the Hand that Feeds Me

[Hope_Caswell]

It's been a super long time since Rich posted a page. I thought this suggested that he was working on a super big and impactful one that was taking extra time (as has happened before, like back around the time Durkon and Thor went to the astral plane, that one was VERY worth the wait). But instead we get silliness with Elan; I'm a bit disappointed, but an update is an update. Better a "Please stay tuned for next week's episode" than nothing at all.

[RocketScientist]

Maybe it was health issues with his undisclosed chronic condition?

[RocketScientist]

Update:

1271 - Make or Break

[Krulle]

It's been a super long time since Rich posted a page. I thought this suggested that he was working on a super big and impactful one that was taking extra time (as has happened before, like back around the time Durkon and Thor went to the astral plane, that one was VERY worth the wait). But instead we get silliness with Elan; I'm a bit disappointed, but an update is an update. Better a "Please stay tuned for next week's episode" than nothing at all.

He might be preparing something else, like a bigger X-mas update.
But I simply do not know.