The OotS Thread III

[Gaidin]

Ok, show of hands, who here is annoyed that Spoiler

Tarquin and his group basically "KO'ed" the order in a hand full of panels and then Sworded Roy?

I mean enough already! move on with the plot!

Spoiler

Which short of a miracle is what makes this take too damn long. To have a shot at getting Tarquin out of their hair now they need some time for healing. Assuming all of them are alive at the end of this little bout to even bothered to be put in a cell as something so Tarqin-like as to blackmail his own son into being the leader.

[Spekio]

Oots could use some daily updates for this part. It is dragging a little.

[Irbis]

930 up.

TWIST!
Spoiler

Anyone saw it coming? Also, the arc is here to stay for about 20+ more strips!

[Simon_Jester]

...There are going to be SO MANY puns...

[Crazedwraith]

Stop drawing this out dammit.
Spoiler

And this is not going to end well for Julio Scoundrel. Remember his parting words last time?

[Ralin]

"Though I admit that it has been many years since I've been called upon to pun-duel."

That was perfect.

[Kuja]

Although I'm a little twitchy at the continual drawing out of this fight...the arrival of Julio's airship does make sense, as it gives the Order a way to head off after Xykon once this fight is finally over. And I think Julio's resigned to one last hurrah as the dying mentor. He looks happy to be confronting Tarquin, while if he really wanted to stay alive he just wouldn't have answered Elan's letter.

[Dass.Kapital]

Spoiler

Plus, Durkon gets some shade.

[Jub]

I don't think this will draw things out much at all.
Spoiler

I see Julio making a last stand while the Order gets away on the airship. Julio likely dies in a strip or two, Tarken doesn't get what he desires, Elan gets a rest from being in the center of the plot, and the party gets to go after their actual goal while gaining a secondary recurring villain.

[Rogue 9]

I don't think this will draw things out much at all.
Spoiler

I see Julio making a last stand while the Order gets away on the airship. Julio likely dies in a strip or two, Tarken doesn't get what he desires, Elan gets a rest from being in the center of the plot, and the party gets to go after their actual goal while gaining a secondary recurring villain.

Spoiler

Tarquin still has the Greenhilt Sword in his hands, something that will need to be rectified.

[Jub]

I don't think this will draw things out much at all.
Spoiler

I see Julio making a last stand while the Order gets away on the airship. Julio likely dies in a strip or two, Tarken* doesn't get what he desires, Elan gets a rest from being in the center of the plot, and the party gets to go after their actual goal while gaining a secondary recurring villain.

Spoiler

Tarquin still has the Greenhilt Sword in his hands, something that will need to be rectified.

Spoiler

Doesn't need to be done right away. It could give the Order a reason to want to deal with Tarquin at a later date. Still, given how long this arc has already been I can see that being just another in a long series of things that has drawn it out.

Ghetto Edit: Tarquin. I was fresh back from work and my brain fluffed how to spell his name.

[Forgothrax]

Spoiler

Unless the spellcaster shows back up again, I can actually see Julio's intervention giving the rest of the Order time to get on their feet. With Durkon in the shade, and Hailey given a round or two to recover, I can see them dealing with the psion and then either holding Tarquin off or killing him. If Elan is willing to tag-team with Julio, they might actually do OK.

[Napoleon the Clown]

I could see Julio having Improved Disarm, which could solve the problem of getting Roy's sword back. The feat would be thematically appropriate for him.

[Spekio]

Okay, did anyone saw the hints? Cause sure as hell I did not.

[Irbis]

Well, suggestion Elan needed Durkon for sending, but it was way too early, besides that, pure DEM.

[Sharp-kun]

Tarquin talks about how he's pun dueled before.

Elan talks about how his hum has pics of Julio

Julio said this would be the kind of situation he shows up again in.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Elan and a confused looking Durkon return to the rest of the party with Elan announcing that he's done with his "super top secret plan" for now. Durkon is presumably confused because he just sent a Sending to Julio, whom he has no idea who he is.

[Ahriman238]

And just the page before they had that exact conversation Elan mentioned, where Elan was freaking out over how to take down Tarquin without adding to his legend, if he could fight his own father, and that that sort of brooding is exactly what Tarquin wanted him to do. Roy tells him to try and find a sense of family among good people instead of trying to find good in his family, then Elan shouts "That's it!" and refuses to tell Roy what his new super-secret plan is, because everyone knows the audience only hears the plan so they can see where it goes wrong.

[Irbis]

Tarquin talks about how he's pun dueled before.

Yes, but 90% of what people say in OotS is just backstory that never shows up again. Did we ever saw V. teacher? No? You could argue there had been exactly as much foreshadowing, V mentioning wanting to call him in time of need, V having magic to contact and Aarindarius being able to teleport. It would be also a lot more plausible than Julio showing exact second in place he had no idea Elan is.

Elan and a confused looking Durkon return to the rest of the party with Elan announcing that he's done with his "super top secret plan" for now. Durkon is presumably confused because he just sent a Sending to Julio, whom he has no idea who he is.

The timing is off, though, it was when OotS thought Nale and Co are soundly beaten, nor had any indication Tarquin will join them. Why send then, if you know you will be busy with main plot (Girard) and everything points on not meeting T. for weeks or months? How would Julio even know where Elan is? The page you linked shows the pyramid's location to be unscryable...

[Lord of the Abyss]

It would be also a lot more plausible than Julio showing exact second in place he had no idea Elan is.

No, that's a class ability of the Dashing Swordsman. Elan even demonstrates it here, starting at panel 18.

"Relax. Trust your dramatic instincts. The scene calls out to you, asking you to arrive in the nick of time."

It's kind of like sensing a disturbance in the Force I guess. Dashing Swordsman = Plot Jedi.

[Gaidin]

The timing is off, though, it was when OotS thought Nale and Co are soundly beaten, nor had any indication Tarquin will join them. Why send then, if you know you will be busy with main plot (Girard) and everything points on not meeting T. for weeks or months? How would Julio even know where Elan is? The page you linked shows the pyramid's location to be unscryable...

That's the point of the dramatic instincts ability. If you've got two of the Dashing Swordmen meeting together the leadup foreshadowing is going to look crazy if done right. But only look. Elan's is kicking in because he's got to send the sending now for Julio to get here in time. And then Julio's is kicking in so that he knows where he even has to go. And the particularly subtle ones like the 'super secret plan' bit can be thrown in whenever and Julio just gets there when the story happens to be right for his entrance. All it takes is a particularly reasonable story outline of this part of the comic before you start the desert scenes.

[Questioner]

Well, suggestion Elan needed Durkon for sending, but it was way too early, besides that, pure DEM.

Mechane is the name of the airship.

A mechane is the machine the greeks used to lower the DEM into the set of the play

[Irbis]

It's kind of like sensing a disturbance in the Force I guess. Dashing Swordsman = Plot Jedi.

That's the point of the dramatic instincts ability.

So, yeah, it's pretty much Deus Ex Machina Entrance class feature

[Gaidin]

And that's not even considering Tarquin may have a level in it for kicks given all the stuff he's doing for plot's sake and the pun duel reference. He's the evil plot jedi that wins not by really winning but by stacking the plot.

[Simon_Jester]

To be fair, he is a reasonably dashing man with a sword. So he clearly has the prerequisites.