He really seems to be back on a fairly regular (at least one a week!) schedule for the first time in years.
This is filler-ish but Rich is all about the hints and foreshadowing in seemingly unimportant places, i.e. when you have pawns on all of the teams <looks at Team Evil>. It is still makes me sad to see vampire Durkon.
Pawns on all the teams would indicate Team Xykon as well. I wonder if it’s the goblin diety pulling the strings.
So thanks to this thread, I have successfully caught up with the current plot! I hadn’t read OotS since 2009, or something ridiculous, so I had a lot of reading to do. Totally worth it, though! I’m glad to hear that Rich is on a semi-regularly update schedule again; this is probably a good time to get back into the story!
I would suspect not, as that would mean that he is working against his direct servant, Redcloak.
Unless of course the Dark One’s ultimate plan is to destroy all the gates in order to open portals to this new – presumably unspoiled – planet for use by the goblinoid races. But if that’s the case, why is he instructing Redcloak to secure the gates rather than destroy them?
Rich once again teasing a forthcoming death:
Live by a technicality…
Updated again! shishkabob!
Elan’s been so much more fun since he picked up the Dashing Swordsman prestige class. I always liked him, but he’s both more useful and more humorous now.
Rimbo
4849
A clear reference to a vital piece of back story that, if I ever read, I have long since forgotten. Anyone know what Nale’s on about?
So do we get Durkon back now? Did his accelerated transformation mean that he’s not quite “cooked” yet and will transform back (or simply die) now that the master vampire is dead?
Seems a little too trite and easy for Burlew though. And Durkon returning to the Dwarven Homelands “posthumously” as a vampire to satisfy that prophesy is too cool a concept to pass up.
I would imagine Durkon’s no longer indentured but will remain a vampire. Should be… incredibly interesting, to say the least. Wow. What an amazing two panels. I can’t help but wonder if Rich has tackled OOTS with not only renewed vigor, but renewed interest as well, with the slew of updates we’ve been getting lately. Maybe being forced to step away for a while helped the heart grow fonder, so to speak?
Must say, I did not see that coming, at least not yet.
Intriguingly the OOTS is slinging high enough level magic that vampirism is theoretically a fixable condition. I’m guessing we will have vampire Durkon hanging around for awhile but eventually restored to normal.
But now that he’s no longer a thrall does Durkon regain his own mind/personality?
Good question. I would assume yes, but a lot is going to depend on what vampire lore Rich decides to draw upon. Technically by DnD standards a vampire is evil and becoming a vampire flips alignment to evil I believe. However Malack certainly had no problems displaying loyalty to friends and I would assume the Durkon may do the same. Amusingly he may even fill the evil niche in the party left by Belkars more recent reform.
Wow, that was great. I’ve never seen Nale so effective, focused, and dangerous.
I think it’s a bit of a problem in the strip. Sometimes evil is goofy and incompetent, sometimes it’s focused and dangerous; and these qualities show up in the same characters at different times, despite being essentially incompatible.
I wonder why the dark elf supported Nale, though.
Well, he’s part of the Linear Guild, and has been for hundreds of strips. Since he hasn’t had any meaningful interaction with Tarquin or Malak, why wouldn’t he support Nale?
I suppose, but due to his repeated failures and screwups Nale would appear to be much less powerful and competent than his father and his group – prior to that moment, anyway. Whatshername the succubus is for some reason in love with Nale, so that explains her loyalty, but there is no such motivation for the elf that I recall, who really is mostly a cipher except in fighting V. Loyalty in an evil group would seem to require some kind of explanation, especially if it seems like it might be going against self-interest. But maybe there is some backstory I missed somewhere.
