The Order of the Stick/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

*** It is likely that Tiamat would specifically instruct the Oracle not to provide any assistence to Xykon or Redcloak, considering the danger that they pose to reality. As Start of Darkness showed, Tiamat was the Evil deity who was initially against informing the Dark One about the Snarl.

**** Two things. One, that is very likely. Two, GO TIAMAT! In your platinum-plated [[Holier Than Thou]] face, Bahamut!

** In the first volume, Rich didn't have the backstory entirely straightened out. Eugene's first appearance, wherein he apparently has contact with Roy's mother and expresses a desire to communicate with his son, would be a prime illustration. Still, Fyron's son could be retconned in somewhere.

** I'm not so sure about that... I mean, I can understand it if the son had only been mentioned once in the early strips, but Roy mentions it again in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0434.html 434].

****** [[wikipedia:Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity|Yes]].

****** Oooookay. THAT Just Bugs Me.

****** It's a good way to slow down your mega loot-spree party. And as it doesn't technicaly exist in 3rd edition, it could be multi-use just fine. The Remove Curse is for the person, not the item.

***** Or... they could just find another belt...

** epic level hippies are still hippies. Rich was making fun of [[Strawman Political|touchy-feely enviromentalism]], and Redcloak was showing off how much of a nerd he is.

** Further noted, this is [[Truth in Television]]. Those massive fires out in California? ''this is precisely what happened.''

*** I know it was meant for humour, it still bugs me...

** Note that Redcloak is apparently intelligent enough to have anachronistic knowledge far beyond that of his contemporaries (titantium elementals, anyone?), so this is likely just another example of that.

** While we're at it, why is Durkon drawn small? Dwarves are medium.

*** Dwarves are medium due to their stocky, wide builds. They are, indeed, short.

* Given that everyone forgets what happens in Sunken Valley (except for the questions they asked), how did Goblin Dan remember how to properly exploit the unconscious hydra? Did he ask the Oracle "What possible use is an unconscious hydra?"... might explain why kobolds eat free on certain days at certain times.

** He saw a dead hydra, realized he could sell the heads, and dragged it out of Sunken Valley. He then saw a dead hydra, realized he could sell the heads, and dragged it to wherever he lives. What's the problem?

** As Burlew has said repeatedly, the comic isn't ''in'' an actual D&D setting.

*** That is true, but I get the impression that people think the deconstruction applies to regular D&D too.

* Why has updates been so sparse lately? I mean that as an actual question, not a gripe. I don't expect him to devote himself full time to the comic, but if I remember right he's successful enough that he doesn't have a job, and if so it seems odd to only have one update per week, or two updates at the start and end of the week.

** Health concerns for the author. He's planning to take a break from the comic after this current arc ends as well.

* This dragon is going through WAY too much considering the afterlife is literally a revolving door...

** Maybe only humanoids can be resurrected from the dead?

**** She is a Chaotic Evil creature... who would be willing to have a deal with her?

***** Someone who doesn't want to be eaten for saying, "No, I won't resurrect your son"?

*** Elves don't need to trance as much as humans need to sleep. Are there even any penalties to not trancing?

*** That guy who stayed up for 11 or something days had no serious problem with basic math until, IIRC, day 9 or so. Then things got BAD.

** It's been bugging me for weeks that Vaarsuvius is still able to cast spells, if he hasn't tranced (or at least hasn't tranced more than a couple of minutes every so often, considering the strip with his nightmare). I thought elves had to trance for a full four hours before they regained their used spell slots.

*** That's the joke. By the Rules As Written, an elf technically just needs "restful calm" in order to replenish his/her spells. Trancing has nothing to do with it:

*** You're not getting it. V left the fleet ''specifically'' to get away from Durkon and Elan because he thought they were distractions. He didn't want their help, and didn't think they ''could'' help. If you mean between the Dragon leaving and the fiends showing up, that was all of about a minute or so, during which he had something he thought could grant him the power instantly. Do you have any idea how long it would take a bird to fly out to a fleet of ships in the middle of nowhere when it has no idea where said fleet is? ''Far'' longer than it would've taken for the Dragon to do her thing and leave.

** There he is in 658. Looks like he's about to do something important too.

* Vaarsuvius could have easily won the battle against Xykon in a matter of rounds, tops, had he did a few simple things like buffing against Necromancy and Death magic before hand, and not wasted rounds on ranged touch attacks, avoided using his own spells and rely on the splice spells instead. And did not forget to use quickened spells in conjunction with normal spells. The [[Idiot Ball]] award goes to V. More info on the forums.

** Well, the best buffs against Necromacy and Death Magic are Cleric spells, spells V can't replicate, and ze would refuse to get from Durkon, since ze wants to prove Arcane Power trumps all. As well, from what I saw, all this theoretical power V should have is based on unknowns, namely the actual power and abilities of the spliced souls. "If they didn't pick that, they're too stupid to be mages." Yes, because every character in [[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]] has been perfectly optimized for maximum effectiveness.

{{quote|''The strip is ABOUT the trouble these characters get in; if a tactic would result in an effortless solution to their latest problem, there would be little point in showing it, see? The characters are woefully inefficient as a result, and often take actions that are rarely seen in a real D&D game, like running away from moderate danger or .forgetting. major abilities for the sake of a joke. But their foibles are what fuel the humor.''}}

** "The Idiot Ball award goes to V." Well yeah, that was kinda the point. V was drunk on power and trying to batter Xykon to death (well, redeath) with the most powerful spells he/she had on hand. Xykon himself says so in his [[Hannibal Lecture]] immediately after crushing V.

* How did Xykon managed to [[Ass Pull]] the strength to crush V with a giant rock DURING the middle of V's turn?

** Liches gain a Strength boost when they transform. Also, magic items. According to D&D strength rules and carrying capacity, a character with a solid strength score (14 or so) can lift several hundred pounds directly over their head. With a decent strength-boosting magic item, it's not going to be hard for Xykon to lift a large chunk of stone over his head, hold it (he's not going to suffer muscle fatigue, after all) and then use it as an improvised weapon to drop it on V.

** I'd like to point out that had a certain Treasure Type O-deprived ex-paladin not stuck her irritating nose into things, this plan would have worked perfectly.

** What bugs me about that whole episode is this: why did no one think to tell the Sapphire Guard that the reason they and no one else were stationed in the throne room during the Siege of Azure City was to act as soon-to-be ghostly reinforcements for Soon Kim? It's not as if the paladins spoiler: are afraid of death, after all; their code of honour demands they be ready for it at any time. So surely it would've been a good idea to inform them of the plan just in case, when it became clear that they were not going to survive, one of them decided to try and destroy the Gate, thus rendering them unable to come back from the grave and face Xykon, not to mention blowing up a good portion of the caste. As did indeed happen, after all, albeit in a slightly roundabout manner...

*** Hinjo said it. He specifies that it's a secret known only to the ruling family.

*** Hinjo also states that all the paladins knew they would probably die defending the throne room.

** Purgatory? Does that even exist? Soon's dialogue to her as she dies seems to suggest she'll be reincarnated, in my opinion.

*** I like the notion of "wandering ghost" myself.

** The fact that Miko lost her paladin powers does not mean that her actual alignment shifted. She could still have been lawful good upon her death, even though she fell as a paladin. Paladins have a very strict "never commit an evil act or violate the paladin code" rule, but just being lawful good is a looser requirement. As such, she could be eligible for the standard LG afterlife, like Roy. (This seems to be what Soon suggests when he says that Miko will see Windstriker again in #464.)

* Why are the Order of the Stick apparently the only band of adventurers trying to stop Xykon? You'd think with the sheer number of people he killed there'd be more than one lousy blood oath against him. They should be a major industry of the campaign setting by now.

** On another point, Xykon's the only Lich we've seen in the world, and near as I can tell, nobody's mentioned any others, so while it's unlikely that Xykon's the only Lich in the setting, it's possible that they're pretty darn rare, enough so that the whole phylactery thing isn't widely known unless you're the sort of person who's looking to become or create a Lich, like, say, an Evil aligned Cleric.

*** No. Redcloak knew about liches on a purely academic level in ''Start of Darkness''. There have been enough liches in this world. (Consider also, that [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0013.html Elan knew enough at least to call Xykon a lich]. How would he know this if Xykon is unique?)

*** I acknowledged that it was very likely there were other Liches in the setting. Also, I ''did'' mention that Evil aligned Clerics would probably know about it, and hey, that's what Redcloak is. As for Elan, knowing enough to call a skeletal sorceror a Lich doesn't mean he knows everything ''about'' them.

** That's mostly what I was thinking; I guess specifically what I meant when I said it Just Bugs Me is that I wish they had at least said "What about the phylactery?" "I'm sure it was destroyed in the explosion," followed by some of the inevitable lampshading about [[Never Found the Body]].

* Know what bugs me? The "paladin didn't fall, therefore these people are guilty" defence. (I'll acknowledge that the individuals using it were basically a team of an [[Amoral Attorney]] and [[The Ditz]], and I know it isn't meant seriously). There is, to the best of my knowledge, nothing in the paladin's code that states that arresting a person who all the evidence fits but who just happens to be innocent, and bringing them to a trial you believe to be fair, leads to be falling. Indeed, it could be argued that letting the courts handle it is ''more'' [[Lawful Good]] than the traditional "kill them and take their stuff" of RPG campaigns. So...why was the prosecution using it on a room filled with people who should know this, being paladins themselves?

** 1) Lawyers everywhere use arguments that are obviously spurious if you know what you're talking about but still sound good, all the time. <br />2) Those particular lawyers aren't very bright.

* Okay, how did Xykon get so powerful since Roy last fought him? He really hasn't been doing all that much except maybe killing a handful of good-aligned monsters in his old tower. If anything, one would think that a lich dying and regenerating would leave him slightly weakened (though I don't know the rules on that). Was it because when the Order first fought him he underestimated them and didn't bust out his major spells, or what?

** Xykon in the first battle wasn't trying to outright destroy the Order. He wanted them to activate the gate, and was playing around with them to that end. Roy's "killing" blow caught him completely by surprise. Xykon was as powerful then as he is now.

*** ''"considering the paladins' actions in Start of Darkness"'' God, how often does this have to be pointed out? The events in Start Of Darkness are ''deliberately'' skewed into the villains' POV. Rich Burlew said that explicitly.

**** No, he stated that the fall of Azure City was Karma biting them in the ass for their rampant slaughter of monstrous humanoid villages in ''War and XPs''.

***** Death of the Author my ass. What those Paladins did was wrong, they killed freaking children, how did you miss that? The majority of the Goblins don't seem to have actually done anything wrong, and Right Eye and his village actually lived in peace for years before Xykon fucked that up. I mean, where are you even getting that [[Good Is Not Nice]] is a theme of OotS? And it most certainly is not shown from the perspective of the Goblins, I have no idea where you got that, just as it always has been in [[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]] we see it from an omniscient third person view.

*** First and foremost, I never said that [[Death of the Author]] meant he was wrong, I said that he was wrong, and potholed it to a trope that covers disagreement with [[Word of God]]. If I had thought that was proof enough I wouldn't have then said "To elaborate...". Apart from that, you apparently basically agree with me that Redcloak's subsequent actions were not justified and most importantly that the fall of Azure city is not karmic justice by any measure. To the previous troper, where are ''you'' even getting that Good ''Is'' Nice in Order of the Stick? You just spent the first half of your post detailing exactly how not-nice the forces of Good have been. Sounds like a pretty strong theme to me. And yeah, it is from the goblins' perspective, the fact that we aren't literally looking through the eyes of a goblin doesn't change that. You say that "The majority of the Goblins don't seem to have actually done anything wrong" but you don't realise that this is a function of seeing it through the goblins' eyes (again, not literally). How do you know they haven't done anything wrong? Compare how casually the citizens of Gobbotopia approach the subject of slavery later on in the strip proper. The paladins may not have been justified, but they weren't Evil.

** [[Word of God]] on this issue: [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8081896#post8081896 Many of the paladins DID fall], but because of the [[Law of Conservation of Detail]], it wasn't shown.

* It's clear that the two main villains are Redcloak and Xykon, but which one is the [[Big Bad]] and which is [[The Dragon]]? It's kinda hard to tell sometimes.

** Xykon is the [[Big Bad]], Redcloak is the villainous [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]].

** That's more or less the point. It's near impossible to tell whether Redcloak or Xykon is really [[The Man Behind the Man]], to the extent that seeing Xykon as the [[Big Bad]] with Redcloak as his [[The Starscream|bitch]] is no more or less accurate as seeing Redcloak as the [[Big Bad]] with Xykon as his [[The Dragon|subtlye manipulated tool]]. Xykon sees it as the former, Redcloak sees it as the latter, and only time will really tell.

* Minor complaint: Belkar acts more like a Rogue than a Ranger and Hayley acts more like a Ranger than a Rogue. It's always annoyed me in the back of my mind.

* So, Girard lied to Soon about the location of his gate...how did that work? The gates weren't mobile. They were anchored in space, and the whole Order of the Scribble visited each one. Soon, you'd think, would have known where each gate was without having to hear it secondhand; if not the exact location, then the general area at least, and therefore the other Paladins ought to have known.

** Soon knows the general area is somewhere in the desert, which Girard describes as "the world's largest desert." That's not nearly enough to narrow down the gate location, specially when it is hidden by an epic illusionist. I mean, what is Soon going to guide himself on? Deserts are notoriously devoid of significant landmarks, and they are in a politically chaotic region where nation borders get redrawn all the time. Plus, it was Girard doing all the navigation.

** How long was Xykon at Dorukan's gate again? Dorukan lived till then, and as for Soon, maybe he was just older than the other humans in the Order.

** Just checked again, and Shojo says it was 66 years previous that the Order of the Scribble began their journey. I'm aware that they certainly ''could'' be alive, I'm just wondering why the Order of the Stick takes it as such a certainty. You figure any of the Scribblers have to be in their 80s if not 90s by now. Durukan at least was a wizard, so living a long time is pretty much a given for them.

**** Uhm, magic? Going by D&D books, it isn't that hard to get eternal life(one of the reasons why the aforementioned feat really, really, sucks). High level D&D characters(and especially epic ones) are somewhere between [[Physical God|extremely powerful]] and [[Powers That Be|obscenely powerful]] - cheating death, one way or another, isn't a big deal for them. When you're talking about characters like these it's more reasonable and logical to assume that they are still alive rather than that they died of old age.

*** The main problem with that is the only one they're sure of ''did'' die of old age. You can't assume that they all took Eternal Life feats when A. nobody else in the comic's world seems to have and B. the only Scribbler whose condition they know for certain is the one who is ''dead from old age''.

* Does Elan really have 18 Charisma? Going by the root of the word, he seems much less charismatic than Roy, who as a human gets no racial Charisma bonus and as a fighter has little reason to boost the stat.

** It's a sorta injoke among ''D&D'' players that the Charisma score just governs looks, so that's how it seems to manifest with Elan.

* What is this comic's relationship to the fourth wall? Are the characters [[Animated Actors]]? Do they have [[Medium Awareness]] and sometimes pretend not to, or do they lack [[Medium Awareness]] and sometimes display it in out-of-character, non-canonical jokes? Do they gain and lose [[Medium Awareness]], and if so, is there an in-universe reason for it ([[Rule of Funny]] not counting?) This wouldn't be so bad in a gag-a-day strip, but post-[[Cerebus Syndrome]] it's becoming hard to tell how to react emotionally to events that may or may not be "staged" in-universe.

** The comic where Haley steals the diamond from the Cast page is entitled ''It's a Shame She Didn't Grab That Script While She Was There''. Judging from this, most to all of the characters know that they're ''in'' a comic, but they don't know ''what'' the author has in mind for them or the story. This amounts to some strange sort of [[Enforced Method Acting]].

** IMO, the most likely setup is similar to a documentary with manipulative editors- the cast are real adventurers on a real quest, but they're being followed around by a 'production team' who will occasionally try to influence events on a smaller scale, either by arranging a particular encounter or giving people instructions on how to act. Maybe.

* From #703: "Hobgoblin Warrior from Strip #433, Panel 3." #433 only has Roy in it, and totals two panels. Did the Giant screw up, or did this troper just get [[Troll|Trolled]]?

** Maybe cuz there were only humans available? Remember what the cartographer said. Kingdoms, 'empires', etc. change hands all the time on the western continent. Every new conquering warlord isn't necessarily going to bring in his or her own full staff of guards, mages, etc. It's more likely that they just kill the ruler, and take over the place wholesale, keeping most of the staff onhand out of convenience.

*** Makes sense. I just figured, since most if not all of the non-slave civilians were lizards... But if they're sort of the [[Old Retainer|Old Retainers]] of the castle (for a given value of "old"), the might have been kept on because they have loyalty to the castle and not to any particular being or species.

** Maybe they [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0413.html only got human figurines] and thought it'd be easier this way?

* The last panel of [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0060.html this strip] seems extremely out of character for Roy, who has at this point already been established to be tactically savvy. His plan involves sending the party's wizard against a drow with SR out the wazoo, his good aligned cleric vs another good aligned cleric, the only other hard hitting melee fighter against the weakest member of the opposition, and ''his'' stupidest and weakest member against the cleverest member of the enemy party. WTF.

** And the enemy cleric is Evil. Just pointing that out...

** Both clerics were out of commission, as evidenced by what Roy said in the ''second to last panel.'' Roy is potentially the only person on his team who can take Thog in one-on-one combat. Nale may be clever, but he's physically and magically on par with Elan. Belkar is going to do what he wants anyway, he might as well be directed properly. And it's good strategy to put your ranged attacker against the flying enemy. As for the drow... who else would you put the wizard up against?

** First thing's first: That's not Redcloak's plan. He ''doesn't want'' to release the Snarl. He wants to ''threaten'' to release it to blackmail the gods; hold a gun to their head and make them give Goblins a fair shake. If he wanted to just release the Snarl, he'd just go around destroying the gates, not capturing them and trying to work a special ritual with Xykon.<br />Actually ''releasing'' the Snarl isn't his Plan A. The only "plan" he's made for doing so amounts to, "If I fuck up, and the Snarl gets released accidentally, then at least when they try to remake the world again, there's already a Goblin god to speak for us."

** Have you actually read the Start of Darkness book? Please go read it before you actually start to complain, no less complaining in a place where you are not supposed to.

*** Because he could just refuse. Nothing indicates that he MUST go along with any challenge that a person makes up on the spot.

* The forums. Holy shit those people are crazy. Make one criticism, legit or no, about the comic, a joke, a character, or (insanely) ''AD&D'' 4e, the first tabletop RPG with a fucking PHYSICS ENGINE, and they detonate on you like a Taliban IED. Worst of all, moderation is ineffective, NEVER timely, and rarely dispensed in anything but a haphazard manner. In 30 years of playing ''D&D'', this troper has NEVER participated in a gaming forum that bad before.

** I tend to avoid the OOTS forums, but the rest are fine.

** Here are some things of note about the forums. First, a good portion of the community in certain lines of discussion (homebrew, OOTS discussion, and any debate about D&D or D&D rules) is passive aggressive but is relatively harshly cracked down on comments made directly at another poster, which has its ups and downs. Basically, you can strongly disagree with everything somebody does in a way that strongly implies you think they're just plain wrong or stupid, but if you directly say "you're wrong," it's likely to get you flak. The moderation is hidden; scrubbed messages are noted, but who got banned (which is only ever a full permaban, never temporary) is not and you can get warnings or even infractions for messages that are in no way edited by the moderation staff. The moderation response was less timely and some believed it to be biased when there was only one active mod/admin, but it's a bit better now. I wouldn't say the forums are horrible, but in many parts of the community where serious discussion takes place, the passive aggressiveness simmering just below the surface is a lot worse than the mild jabs people take at each other on other forums, and the inability to outright say "you're wrong" hinders discussion. Overall, the community is in no way better or worse than others, just different; if you avoid any argument, it's fine, but if you get into an argument, it's significantly different than at most other forums.

* The colours for the first book and the prequels feel messed up. ''Dungeon Crawlin' Fools'' has Elan and a red theme; red has absolutely nothing to do with Elan beyond the fact that his evil twin brother wears red pants. ''On the Origin of PCs'' has Durkon and a yellow border; yellow has absolutely nothing to do with Durkon. ''Start of Darkness'' has Redcloak and a grey border; the only connection I can make is that it is in greyscale and arguably because it is the most serious OOTS book to date. Yellow would have made more sense for Volume 1 (Elan and Nale are blonds), grey for Volume 0 (Durkon's armour, his so-called "blandness", and being the first and thus far only entirely greyscale OOTS book), and red for Volume -1 for obvious reasons. Now, of course the most likely reason for this is that Mr. Burlew was just picking random colours for Volume 1 and possibly 0, but it still stands out when Volumes 2-4 fit perfectly and red ''would'' fit perfectly for Volume -1.

** Speaking as a former regular of the crack pairings thread, we had numerous warnings prior to that. Good though it may have been, we crossed a line (and had done so several times before the thread was finally locked). All things considered, I'm amazed we lasted as long as we did. We could have been locked numerous times before we actually were. The mods were exceptionally generous with us, but enough was enough.

** Plus, she ''doesn't know where he is''. She'd never been to the Western Continent before the current arc, and the first thing she does when she gets there is try to find the place on a map, only to be told it no longer exists. She can't break him out if she can't find him.

** {{spoiler|You may get your wish soon enough.}}

 

* The question why the deities don't personally close the rifts is explained well: in doing so they would need to undo creation and create everything from scratch, possibly freeing the snarl while they try to resew the threads of reality. All well. However, this still does not explain why they don't intervene in protecting the gates. They could just put some impenetrable barriers around them, or at least be able to use higher level traps and monsters to guard them, as what those five mortals were capable.

** Besides, if someone does start abusing the Snarl, there's nothing to stop the gods from hitting the cosmic reset button again.

 

* I'm no expert on slinging bows across one's back, but shouldn't Haley be orienting it in a way so that all the weight isn't on the string?

** Bows typically have a pull weight of something like 20-30 lbs, possibly up to 50 or more. The bow itself isn't going to weigh more than a few pounds, 10 on the outside. It's not going to hurt a bow for someone to hold it or sling it by the string like that.

 

* Why Haley didn't let Loki's cleric help Belkar, when she found out it's an effect of his curse? They were in desperate situation and needed all help they could get, teaching Belkar a lesson wasn't reason to keep him inactive and defensless against army of rogues Haley knew, she had no chance.

** OP posting to correct the above statement. Did not take in to account the 'Only within city limits' restriction of the Mark.

 

 

* If Celia's a pacifist, then why did she shoot lightning at Nale and Thog [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0070.html here]?

** He was taunting Thog to get him to smash the pillars. The rage itself is a game mechanic (Barbarian Rage). It only lasts a certain number of rounds (3+ con modifier), which have presumably passed by then.

*** Ah, I see. I thought the taunting was to somehow make his rage wear off, which didn't make sense. I'm not familiar enough with D&D to recognize the game mechanic. Thanks for the clearing that up.

 

** The goblins from the old dungeon all died, excepting Redcloak. The greenies in Gobbotopia are immigrants, like the kind [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0707.html this guy] got locked up for harassing. The [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0702.html textbook] claims that Gobbotpia's borders are open to all "disenfranchised humanoids", but since the nation was founded by a massive and exclusively hobgoblin army they still represent 93% of the population. It'd probably take a huge mass exodus for them to reach levels above "visible minority" in only a year's time.

 

*** (OP here)Yeah, I figured it was Xykon that was lying (the pause makes his answer very suspicious), but I couldn't really figure out why. But that's a good point, that by admitting that he did give it to Tsukiko, Xykon would have to explain why, and any possible reason would still point to Xykon not trusting Redcloak fully. That explanation works for me.

* Why did Nale have a beard even when he was a baby?

* According to http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0267.html , the paladins had the right to arrest them based on them having to guard the gates in the name of the gods and the gods not having any jurisdiction. Except, well, they're the gods of the south. And is explained later, they really only have jurisdiction in the southern lands.

** Start of Darkness spoiler: {{spoiler|Divine casters are the agents by which gods enact their will in lands not their own, in cases when things that would affect their lands would happen in other lands. The gods agreed to this. However, they can't do special things for them when not in their own lands, so Durkon couldn't use his Thor's Might to increase his speed in the Southern Lands.}}

** In the first one, O-Chul was hit by the Lich's Paralytic Touch ability, which is permanent until dispelled. Mass Hold Person on the other hand, allows a saving throw every round.

*** Oh, I thought he hit him with a Hold Person. That makes more sense then.

*** Xykon flat out says what he's using on O-Chul. "Paralyzing Touch. Heh."

** He is/was an illusionist. Perhaps he looked more dragon-y, but used his illusions to cover it up in order to blend in better. Might've been able to change his smell, too.

** Alternatively the genetics of cross-breeds in D&D is always a bit weird. It's plausible that quarter-dragons express very few overt draconic traits. In particular his siblings and cousins are also depicted as being fully human and presumably they were not all illusionists.

'''All 3:''' Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh! }}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Web Comics/Headscratchers]]

__NOTOC__