Characters of the Order of the Stick
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This is a list of characters from the webcomic The Order of the Stick.
[edit] The Order of the Stick
The Order is said by Rich Burlew, the author of the strip, to be roughly 7th to 9th level (though fans have noted, based on the capabilities they have displayed in the comic strip, that they seem to have advanced to around 12th level since he made that statement), and seem to be mostly book-legal Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 characters. Burlew, however, has stated that he does not wish to limit the characters by making concrete character sheets for them. The characters in the strip have occasionally mentioned feats, spells, skills and templates which do not exist in the default D&D rules, usually for comedic purposes, such as Summon Plot Exposition, Craft Disturbing Mental Image, Knowledge (What the Hell You're Talking About), a paladin ability of Summon Conscience and Evan's Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion (a parody on the actual spell "Evard's Black Tentacles").
Many characters in the story relate to common stereotypes in fantasy literature and role-playing games, such as Haley being a sneaky thieving secretive Rogue, but some as opposites; Roy Greenhilt, for example, may be a fighter, but he is extremely intelligent, especially compared to other members of the Order.
[edit] Roy Greenhilt
[edit] Belkar Bitterleaf
[edit] Durkon Thundershield
[edit] Elan
[edit] Haley Starshine
[edit] Vaarsuvius
[edit] Recurring characters
[edit] Xykon
[edit] Redcloak
Goblin high priest and chief minion of Xykon, his (un)holy symbol is Xykon's phylactery. Redcloak presently holds the position of honorary hobgoblin leader. He obtained this position when the hobgoblin who was initiating him told him he could just kill the current supreme leader in order to take over. He immediately killed said hobgoblin (using a single 'slay living' spell) and asked if that put him in charge. The real supreme leader, who had seen Redcloak's effortless disposal of the initiator, chose to put self-preservation ahead of power and answered in the affirmative. He is loyal to Xykon, enduring a lot of the lich's insults, but resents him for ordering goblins to their death indiscriminately, although his attitude has changed due to his mastery over hobgoblins, whom he despises. However, loyalty notwithstanding, Redcloak was quite happy to criticize his master after the latter was temporarily bodiless and confined to his phylactery, calling him on his hypocrisy when Xykon insisted on good teamwork only because he was weak at the time. Intelligent, with a dry and somewhat sarcastic sense of humour, Redcloak usually plays the straight man to the rest of his team's antics. He appears to have a decent grasp of tactics and certainly considers them more important than his master does. He has a decent level of education, being familiar with chemistry to the extent that he can summon elementals based on specific chemical elements (to date, magnesium and titanium) rather than the classical elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire. Unlike Xykon, Redcloak seems to remember the names of Roy and his party.
Redcloak is the current bearer of the Crimson Mantle (from which his name is obviously derived), which is well-known to the paladins of Azure City and considered an abomination, to the extent that Redcloak was attacked on sight by Miko Miyazaki. Despite her acknowledged combat prowess, Redcloak proved to be surprisingly effective against her, although she finally got the better of him. Xykon saved him at the last minute (though he was spending the time gambling with the Demon Cockroaches on what round Redcloak was about to be knocked out), enclosing Miko in a forcecage.
Redcloak returns the loathing Miko feels towards him as bearer of the Crimson Mantle for her being a paladin of the Sapphire Guard; the activities of the Sapphire Guard have cost him several family members, including, it is implied, his mother, and friends, plus his mentor, who bore the cloak before him. Redcloak's unnamed deity apparently has an agenda of its own which brought its servant and his predecessors up against the Sapphire Guard before; Miko called Redcloak a 'soulless nihilist who seeks to undo creation'. During Lord Shojo's recitation of the history of the Gates, he described the Sapphire Guard seeking out and exterminating all those who might threaten the Azure City Gate. During this sequence, an image was seen of a Guard member slaying a goblin apparently wearing the same cloak that Redcloak bears, suggesting strongly that the agenda of Redcloak's group is linked in some fashion to the Gates and/or the creature imprisoned behind them. After Xykon let Miko escape (so she could be scryed on) they led their large army to Azure city. Finding Xykon completely uncaring about strategy (prefering to watch his widescreen crystal ball), Redcloak took complete control over the whole force, orchestrating a very elaborate siege. The siege began with the catapults firing titanium elementals at the city walls (40% lighter than earth elementals, but just as strong!) which subsequently tore a considerable chunk out of the walls. After the titanium elementals were destroyed by the Order of the Stick, Redcloak ordered the army to divide into three sections, one heading towards the breach in the wall made by the elementals, another heading towards the north wall, in the hopes of scaling it, while the rest of the army stayed behind to protect the catapults. Each contingent was headed by a decoy of Xykon that Redcloak made to confuse the defenders while the real Xykon, in fact, flew an unded silver dragon over the walls, only to be engaged by Roy Greenhilt.
[edit] The Monster in the Darkness
Every evil overlord needs a big vicious monster to reveal at the last moment to thwart the heroes. Since Xykon never had the chance to call the monster out of the darkness in his first battle with the heroes and refuses to reveal it until the ultimate evil climax, it remains hidden. By all accounts though, it isn't really that vicious - Redcloak called "as scary as musty styrofoam." It's rather timid, has a low self-esteem, prone to inane observations and completely oblivious about most things around it, possibly due to so much time in the shadows waiting for its grand entrance.
When outside, the monster hides under a Hello Goblin umbrella that spreads magical darkness. However, it desires to come out of the shadow, or be otherwise illuminated, even going as far as to beg a group of lantern archons to attack it with their damaging light rays in order to light it up. Thanks to this darkness, it was unable to recognize Dorukan's Gate, even though it was in front of it. This has become a recurring joke in the strip - every time one of the evil characters mentions a gate, the monster is ignorant of what the gate means or even its existence. Some speculate that this may indicate that the Monster is actually a shard of the Snarl, who is known to be unable to detect its prison (as manifested by the Gates).
Despite calling it a "bozo," Xykon has implied that it is very powerful, and that was verified in his "battle" against Miko Miyazaki where she hit the Monster with a full round of attacks. While both Roy and Hinjo were severely beaten by these attacks, the Monster merely giggled and said it tickled, implying a massive damage reduction. He then challenged her to a game of "Who Can Hit the Lightest", but he lost the game by knocking Miko clear through the wall of the tower they were "playing" in, with her landing an unknown (though clearly considerable) distance away.
[edit] The Linear Guild
[edit] Miko Miyazaki
[edit] Hinjo
The nephew of Lord Shojo and, since the death of his uncle, ruler of Azure City. He is also a powerful paladin in the Sapphire Guard, now officially the strongest since Miko's fall, though unlike Miko, he is much more easygoing and friendly towards others. Like Miko, he is shown to summon his mount with a Poké Ball, though his is a dire wolf named Argent rather than a warhorse. His first appearance was telling the Order of the Stick a humorous story about how he became a paladin while he and Miko were leading the Order of the Stick to pick up Belkar for their trial. He stopped talking after being reprimanded by Miko for "fraternizing with the prisoners," but quietly shared his disdain for Miko with Roy. It was Hinjo who showed Elan around the city, which is where we see more of Hinjo's personality; he is much more easygoing than Miko, but still maintains a sense of duty and does what is needed. Most recently, he and Miko overheard Shojo's discussion about his deceit to all of Azure City. While neither Hinjo nor Miko were particularly pleased about what his uncle said, Hinjo still wanted to give Shojo a fair trial. He wouldn't get the chance, as Shojo was murdered by Miko, which ultimately caused her to Fall. She tried to kill Belkar one last time, but Hinjo stopped her and tried to reason with her after she got thoroughly beaten by Roy. Miko instead lashed out at Hinjo, and would have likely killed him if it weren't for Roy intervening and knocking Miko into the wall, rendering her unconscious. After discovering that his uncle was unwilling to be Resurrected (as described by Belkar), Hinjo was willing to accept his responsibility as the new secular ruler of Azure City and enlisted Roy as his personal bodyguard to protect him from the assassination attempts that plagued Shojo during his reign.
[edit] Celia
Celia, a sylph, was first seen guarding the air sigil in Dorukan's tower. Celia lost all loyalty to her job when her old boss "disappeared" and Xykon moved in (at which point she started "stealing office supplies and making personal phone calls"). She was transformed to stone by the Linear Guild but cured by Vaarsuvius, and repaid the Order by taking Nale and Thog to jail and opening a magical portal to allow them to skip two levels of the dungeon. In an attempt to move on to a more satisfying career, she then started attending night classes in law, and has appeared representing the Order of the Stick as a paralegal, successfully defending them in their trial for weakening the fabric of the universe. Elan then hinted at an attraction between Roy and Celia, and Celia is subsequently seen shopping for clothes to "get his attention" (presumably referring to Roy). She then asked Roy to join her at a dinner for two in one of the nicer dining establishments (ironically following a conversation between Roy and Durkon as to whether the phallic nature of his sword in any way causes women to develop stronger physical attractions to him). They enjoyed a candlelit dinner and a romantic walk/flight, leading up to a kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. The next morning, Celia was seen in Roy's hotel room, presumably after having slept with him. She has also given Roy a talisman to summon her should their battles get too rough, though warning him that it's not a 'Booty Talisman'. She gets on well with the members of the Order, with the exception of Belkar, who is too obnoxious to be liked by her.
[edit] Minor characters
[edit] Assassins
A pair of unnamed assassins encountered by the Order during their brief stay at an inn while being escorted by Miko back to Azure City. One of the assassins is an amorous dwarf armed with an arquebus and has a penchant for explosives, while the other is a skilled Shadowdancer, who only after spending many years in his prestige class realized that the world of the stick figure comic lacked any shadows in the first place.
Due to a misunderstanding with the hotel staff, Roy was treated as the King of the country of "Nowhere," who was meeting with other nations at the hotel to discuss a peace treaty. The two assassins mistook Roy for the King of Nowhere and attacked him, wounding Elan in the process and forcing Roy to use the Belt of Gender Changing to get the bard to safety. Once he escaped, Roy returned with Haley and Vaarsuviuus to confront the assassins. In the chaos, a passing Belkar accidentally set off one of the dwarven assassin's barrels of explosives, destroying the inn. In the resulting explosion, the Shadowdancer finally found a shadow he could teleport through, and he and the dwarven assassin escaped. Whether they will make another appearance later on in the course of the webcomic is unknown.
[edit] Bandit Clan of the Wooden Forest
The Order of the Stick encountered an unnamed clan of bandits in the Wooden Forest during their "sidequest" for starmetal. The clan consisted of mostly low-level adventurers (one admitted he was 2nd level) who used bows. The leader of the clan when the Order showed up was a girl named Samantha, a sorceress who defeated her father (whom has only been referred to as "The Bandit King") in solo combat to claim leadership. Her sole use of the bandits was to kidnap adventurers she found attractive, and hence, Elan became the object of her lust (much to Haley's chagrin).
After two botched rescue missions, the Order finally clashed with the bandit clan in battle. The bandits were soundly defeated except Samantha, who was able to defeat the heroes, albeit severely wounded and without spell slots at battle's end. Her father took advantage of this and knocked her out to reclaim leadership of the bandits again. However, he was inadvertently knocked out by Durkon, who hence became the clan leader. After healing up his party members, Durkon disbanded the clan, telling the kids to return to their families.
Samantha and her father were tied up together and left in the forest, forced to endure the "cruel and unusual punishment" of being physically compelled to spend time with each other. They stayed this way until Miko Miyazaki discovered them and freed them, seeking information on the Order. Samantha instead attempted to magically force Miko into servitude, and was subsequently killed. Her father was killed next after pulling out his swords, intent on avenging his daughter's death.
[edit] Cliffport Police Department
The Cliffport Police Department or CPPD are a parody of a real-world police department, or perhaps more accurately, of a real-life police department as depicted in TV-series. These characters protect the city of Cliffport to the best of their ability, which is difficult when clever, strong, and/or magical beings (such as the Linear Guild) show up to cause trouble. The CPPD Chief was the most-commonly seen member, while his unnamed squad members include a man with ginger hair, who the chief called "Rookie" and regarded as the one member of the team with any sense, a female with light brown hair, a bearded blonde man who's losing his hair and a dark-skinned, dark-haired man. The last of these was charged with delivering Pompey to prison, but it turns out that the real officer had been knocked out and replaced by a shapeshifted Sabine. The Chief was recently decapitated by Nale in a surprise attack - the rookie appears to have taken charge of the group since his demise; it's been implied that he may not be as inexperienced as his nickname would suggest. At least one other member has subsequently been slain trying to subdue Thog.
The CPPD had Elan, who they believed to be Nale, and Thog under arrest for 417 charges of murder and one charge of intent to summon a demon (this last offense was made up by Nale after he was "freed" by Rookie), although their imprisonment ultimately only lasted forty minutes before they broke out. Leeky Windstaff, who was subdued by the Order, was also in custody before being freed by his friend Pompey. The local laws forbid the use of magic to determine guilt, due to the fact that the result can readily be faked using illusions. As such, the CPPD expect their investigation into these crimes to take at least six months. With Elan, Thog and Leeky all now escaped, it remains to be seen whether the CPPD will attempt to track them down.
[edit] Demon Cockroaches
Brought out by the Creature in the Darkness leaving a bowl of popcorn out in the living room as opposed to taking it back to the kitchen like he was supposed to, these tiny red cockroaches follow Redcloak and Xykon around. They enjoy watching the carnage and destruction that Xykon brings with him, though neither Xykon nor Redcloak really acknowledge their existence (beyond Redcloak's annoyance and setting of Roach Motels, and Xykon betting with one). They often make sarcastic comments at the seemingly absurd actions of Xykon and Redcloak a la Mystery Science Theater 3000. In one strip, their good counterparts, the Angel Cockroaches, appeared. In another strip, Miko used one of the roaches to escape a (moderately escapable) forcecage. She did this by forcing the roach to breathe fire and light a molotov cocktail made from her cloak and a bottle of dwarven brandy.
[edit] Eugene Greenhilt
Despite having died three years before the Order of the Stick was created, Roy's father, Eugene Greenhilt, visits him from time to time to give foreshadowing clues. Eugene's currently dating the ghost of a woman named Violet, since his wedding vows were only "till death do us part." He has often expressed disappointment in Roy's chosen career path, wishing his son had become a wizard instead. Eugene trained under Fyron the wizard of Cliffport, who was slain by Xykon in front of Eugene (who was trapped in a magical bubble and forced to watch). Eugene vowed vengeance against Xykon for this, a vow that was transferred to Roy as eldest child when he died.
Eugene also seems to have the ability to prophesy future events, and made one prediction that aided Roy and Haley in defeating Nale. In On the Origin of PCs we learn that Roy's father has no confidence in Roy's ability to defeat Xykon - he's counting on Roy's sister Julia for that. Roy has confronted his father after discovering that Eugene (who was apparently an Illusionist in life) was responsible for the phony charge that the Sapphire Guard brought the party in on. Roy said that he would still go after Xykon because of the great threat he poses to the world, but if it weren't for that he'd tell his father to stick his blood oath against Xykon up his "wrinkled, incorporeal ass".
One of the common running gags of the comic is that whenever Roy mentions him, another member of the Order of the Stick (Haley, Belkar, and Durkon have done it thus far) will say "Isn't your father dead?" or some similar phrase, which may or may not show their ignorance of ghosts in the world of the Order (although Vaarsuvius accepts Roy's story of his father giving him the occasional visit without hesitation).
[edit] Flumphs
Two representatives of the only lawful good monster in the original Fiend Folio were introduced as inhabitants of Dorukan's Pit, which was full of monsters that were never updated to 3rd Edition. They have since broken the falls of characters on several occasions. One of them sought counselling in Cliffport for the feeling that it was just a minor character in someone else's story, when Haley landed on it.
[edit] Julia Greenhilt
Julia Greenhilt, Roy's 16-year-old sister, first seen in a flashback comic as a toddler, has since become a recurring character. Following her father's wish for his children to become wizards (unlike Roy, who took his own path), she attended Warthog's School of Wizardry and Sorcery, the same school attended by Pompey of the Linear Guild, where she is considered to be the most popular girl in school. She was recently kidnapped by the Linear Guild as a pawn to lure the Order of the Stick to Cliffport so that Nale could carry out his plan to replace Elan. Freed by the Order, she has returned to her studies.
It was hinted in On the Origin of PCs that Roy may harbor feelings of jealousy against her because he thought of her as being their father's favorite child. ("I can tell because you almost never use the phrase, 'crushing depression' when talking about her.") She does seem to be her father's favorite child (probably because she became a wizard while Roy went to Fighter College) due to the fact that her father is counting on her to finish off Xykon.
So far, Julia is portrayed as the stereotypical Valley Girl i.e. an unapologetically spoiled, superficial brat much more concerned with her kidnappers' lack of coolness than with the mortal peril she and her brother were in. She has revealed herself to be of True Neutral alignment, as opposed to Roy's Lawful Good. She is also a flirt who uses her natural endowments to get the attention of her teachers, a ploy that fails on Durkon. She actually ends up a bit in awe of him, dropping the "cool girl"-attitude, boasting about knowing him, and insisting (correctly) that he did most of the fighting in this encounter with the Linear Guild. She replies "yes, sir" when he lectures her for immodesty twice. It seems highly unlikely that she will actually heed his advice, but not talking back is a big step for this girl. Though she and her brother squabble a lot, which is normal considering their differences, they do actually love each other, something that the disguised Nale finds hard to comprehend.
[edit] Lawyers
Mr. Jones and Mr. Phil Rodriguez are two lawyers that appear in the world of the Order of the Stick. Their main purpose is ensure that no copyright infringements occur. Mr. Jones is highly professional and educated, though arrogant, while Mr. Rodriguez has a relatively childish demeanour, prefers to role-play when around the adventurers, and is prone to odd tricks such as producing a giant boot as a distraction. They were sent by the Spooky Wizard who lives on the Coast. They have appeared several times, once to drag away the "Squid-Thingy" (or Mind Flayer), and once when Vaarsuvius called them out against Zz'dtri for being a copyright infringement on Drizz't Do'Urden.
Mr. Jones appeared at Belkar's request, claiming that Miko's use of Detect Evil "clearly constitutes an illegal search" employing "harmful radiation" (on the basis that many of the creatures Miko has scanned are currently dead, and that the scan is blocked by a lead sheet in a manner consistent with the properties of ionizing radiation). Miko's horse Windstriker then attempted to hire Mr. Rodriguez to put a restraining order on Belkar, but Belkar simply informed Mr. Rodriguez that he was of Chaotic Alignment and chased him out of the stables (Windstriker having been returned to the Celestial Realms so Miko didn't have to pay for him as well). Most recently they were summoned to Azure City by Lord Shojo to act as the prosecution at the Order's trial on the charge of 'weakening the fabric of the universe', though they lost the case due to the whole thing being a sham perpetuated by Shojo and Eugene Greenhilt. Due to Jones' skill at converting trial transcripts, his record is 5-0 while Mr. Rodriguez shoulders the defeats at 0-147.
[edit] Loki
Loki is Thor's evil half-brother and the patron of Hilgya, who was once the cleric for the Linear Guild. While Thor and Loki have been shown to be enemies in recent OotS history, they cooperated in the distant past when the gods created a new world to contain the Snarl. Loki is apparently more sensitive than Thor to bizarre events occurring in the mortal world, as he noticed the liaison between Durkon and Hilgya first (the discovery made both deities ill). He also seems to have more common sense than Thor, as he is renowned for saying, "Dude, don't taunt the god-killing abomination."
[edit] Lord Shojo
Lord Shojo was the leader of the Sapphire Guard of Paladins and secular ruler of Azure City. As his father was given the position by Soon Kim, this makes him the third leader in its history. He is the uncle of Hinjo, who was heir apparent to Azure City prior to Shojo's death. He has admitted to being a 14th level Aristocrat (an NPC class) and to be of a non-Lawful alignment (Belkar believes it to be Chaotic Good). Because of this he has little problems with bending the laws if he sees fit, believing that the end justifies the means. To avoid assassination attempts by the nobles of Azure City, he pretends to be senile and easily swayed (especially by his cat, Mr. Scruffy) to make them feel that all his policies are due to other nobles' manipulations.
In return for Roy's cooperation in defeating Xykon, Lord Shojo agreed to grant each member of the Order one favour, with the exception of Belkar Bitterleaf, who, having murdered his guard, was released on bail in lieu of specific assistance, as well as general aid. Although he is willing to lie to them he does not appreciate Roy insulting or otherwise criticizing his paladins and wizards, such as the one who accidentally sent the Order (and Nale) to a Roc's nest instead of back to Azure City due to the fact that the wizard was drunk at the time.
Lord Shojo does not consider himself bound by Soon Kim's edict that the other Gates must be left alone (he claims that the morality of Soon Kim is obsolete), but he recognises that the oath is very important to the paladins of the Guard and, as such, outwardly does his best to follow the terms of that agreement. Covertly, however, he considers it extremely foolish to risk universal destruction on an oath made to people that he'd never met, and thus he does what he considers necessary to protect the world and the people of Azure City, even if this means lying to the paladins under his command, or recruiting others, like the Order, behind their backs. He was not remotely above threatening his paladins with mundane but unpleasant tasks, such as having to clean out Mr. Scruffy's litter box, in order to get his own way. This attitude made him one of the rare people that Belkar actually showed a degree of admiration for.
Unfortunately, during a conversation with Roy Greenhilt when his actions with regard to the Order and his opinions on the validity of the oath were discussed, Shojo was unaware that Hinjo and Miko Miyazaki were just outside the door and apparently heard the whole thing. Miko immediately jumped to the conclusion that Shojo was working with Xykon, as she considered the Order of the Stick to be the lich's minions. After summarily judging him guilty of treason, she drew her sword and executed him, though this action caused her to lose her paladinhood. Despite the Clerics casting Resurrect on his body, the spirit of Shojo is apparently unwilling to return to life, being close to natural death already and facing a trial for treason.
[edit] "The Order of the Rift"
Nicknamed The Order of the Rift (or OotR) by fans, this group does not have an official name (though the title of the strip in which they were introduced was "The Order of the Scribble", referring to the crayon-drawn style of that arc). The members have a resemblance to the Order of the Stick. They are old adventurers (some now deceased, some perhaps still alive) who created 'Gates' to keep The Snarl, a god-killing universe-destroying monster locked inside the Earth. After arguments between them, they each chose to guard one gate closest to their homeland. The Order consists of;
- Soon Kim, the apparent leader, a Paladin from Azure City. He was the founder of the Sapphire Guard, which he created to guard the gate, a sapphire located on the back of the throne of Azure City. He passed on the leadership of the Guard to the current Lord Shojo's father shortly before his death. His gate is next on Xykon's list, and Xykon's army is now attacking its gates.
- Lirian, an elven druid and apparently the second in command. As an elf (and as a Druid who cease to age once they reach high levels), there is a chance she is still alive, though the forest gate that she guards, according to Xykon, was destroyed by Redcloak. Shojo's paladins were unable to locate her following the fire.
- Serini Toormuck, a halfling rogue and a well-meaning woman. After the dissolution of the team she built a tomb for Kraagor filled with monsters to protect the Gate named in his memory. She recorded the locations of all the other Gates in her diary, and it was by finding it that Xykon has managed to locate them.
- Kraagor, a male dwarf barbarian. His death precipitated the group's dissolution. The Gate that bears his name is in the north, protected by the most powerful monsters that Serini could find, to commemorate Kraagor's belief in physical prowess.
- Dorukan, a male human wizard who worked alongside Lirian to lock the gates and guarded one in the Redmountain Hills. Years later, Xykon killed him in a duel and seized his castle. His gate was accidentally destroyed by Elan.
- Girard Draketooth, a roguish illusionist and tracker with high charisma, he is often speculated to be connected to Elan (due to having a similar hair style to both him and Nale, along with Nale's goatee) or Haley (due to hair colour and similar attitude and role). His gate, located in the desert, is hidden behind a series of magical illusions. The prophesy of the Oracle of Sunken Valley indicated that Xykon will travel to this location after he finishes with Soon Kim's Gate.
[edit] The Snarl
The aforementioned god-killing universe-destroying monster, the Snarl is literally an embodiment of deific frustration and wrath. It was created when the first world was created by the gods, as the Gods of the West, East, North, and South, analogues to historical pantheons, argued about how to create the world. It slew the Gods of the East, but was trapped when the remaining three pantheons retaliated by sealing it away in a prison made out of the world itself.
The Snarl nearly escaped sixty six years ago through holes in its prison, but was defeated and resealed behind five gates by the Order of the Rift. The recent destruction of two of these gates, and apparent interest in the remaining three by Xykon for unclear motives, has lead to a fear that the Snarl would be released. In response Lord Shojo has sent the Order of the Stick to investigate and protect the remaining gates.
[edit] Thor
Durkon's patron deity and member of the Gods of the North, Thor is roughly equivalent to the real Thor in Norse mythology. However, in the strip Thor acts as comic relief, a drunken buffoon but with a good heart. His less wise acts have included taunting the Snarl, abandoning a village to the fire giant Surt while being hassled by Durkon, and creating a portentous storm while drunk. W.W.T.D?, or What Would Thor Do? is a running joke, as Durkon occasionally considers what Thor would do for guidance. (Unfortunately, since Thor would simply crush his enemies with his divine power, return to Asgard, woo women, and drink, the W.W.T.D. is never as applicable to Durkon's situation as it's supposed to be.) He most recently appeared to grant Durkon a casting of Control Weather via a scroll, which Durkon used to generate a thunderclap of such force that Leeky Windstaff's animated trees (and staff) were blown to pieces (as the Druid had failed to protect them against Sonic damage). After intimidating a Celestial who tried to point out the Control Weather spell couldn't be used like that, Thor wandered off to "get tanked and paw Sif", telling the Celestial to report on whether Durkon lived or died.
[edit] The Oracle of Sunken Valley
An oracle who was sought out by Roy and Durkon to locate Xykon's lair prior to the formation of the Order of the Stick, then subsequently in order to determine where the lich is headed next. In order to keep out pesky adventurers, the Oracle hired QuestGuard to establish a series of moderately challenging tests, including a heart test to prevent him from getting sued for health reasons. Once the Order actually encountered the Oracle, it turned out to be a sarcastic, rambling, and irritating kobold, who proceeded to give the group a series of prophecies laden heavily with multiple meanings and ambiguous language. However, when Roy worded his question carefully to keep the Oracle from being too ambiguous, he ended up making it too precise, eliminating Xykon's actual next target from consideration. Despite the kobold's attempts to hint that the question was too specific, Roy insisted that the Oracle had to answer the question as stated, and thus the Order was mistakenly led to believe that Girard's Gate was Xykon's next destination. This mistake was corrected when Miko Miyazaki arrived in Azure City a day ahead of Xykon's army, informing them in an angry tirade of Xykon's impending invasion.
While Roy did figure out where he went wrong before leaving the valley, the magic associated with the Oracle causes all visitors to forget everything about their visit except the answer to their question, so his realisation of the truth was quickly lost. This magic effect means that nobody is able to remember the nature of the Oracle, so Roy was surprised to find out that he was a kobold, despite his previous visit.
The Oracle worships Tiamat and uses her powers to grant him his visions of the future.
[edit] Julio Scoundrél
The dashing air pirate and captain of the airship Mechane, Julio Scoundrél is a famous action star and listed as the thirty-second out of the one hundred greatest swordsmen the century. His proficiency is due to taking ten levels in the obscure prestige class Dashing Swordsman, allowing him to apply his incredibly high Charisma bonus to attacks with a rapier. Elan encountered Julio while attempting to get transport from Cliffport to Azure City; the air pirate agreed to help Elan because the bard reminded him of himself. While traveling to Azure City, Julio also agreed to train Elan in the ways of the Dashing Swordsman so he could defeat Nale once he arrived. Much like Elan, Julio is extremely well-versed in the ways of Genre Conventions and follows such rules. He is also a wanted criminal in Azure City, which is the reason that he is immediately attacked by the local militia upon approaching the city. Before parting ways he gave Elan the +3 Keen Rapier that he used when he was a Level 1 Dashing Swordsman (claiming that since he has managed to father children in every port on the continent he doesn't know who to give it to). He also told him that he wished never to cross paths with Elan again because, due to genre conventions and the demands of stories, he would most likely be killed by a random enemy of Elan's the next time they meet so that Elan could swear vengeance on his killer.
[edit] Sangwaan
An oracle in the employ of Lord Hinjo. She is a black haired woman in a blue robe who wears a blindfold of the same blue material over her eyes. She seems mostly unaffected by being apparently blind though occasionally she needs to be turned around to face whoever she thinks she is talking to. Her class is as yet unstated; her post as a top ranking aide to Lord Hinjo could indicate that she is either a cleric or (given her lack of armour and the generally oriental theme prevalent in Azure City) shugenja, most likely with the Oracle prestige class. She possesses some ability in the divination school, as she was at one point asked to perform the spell True Seeing. Despite her substantial power as an oracle, however, she proved unable to predict what miniatures were in a package before they are opened.
During the assault on Azure City, she was able to use her True Seeing spell to determine Xykon's true location after Haley figured out that none of the three that they could see was the real lich. She was immediately attacked by the undead dragon that serves as Xykon's steed and flung from the walls of the city, presumably killing her almost instantly.
| The Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew | |
|---|---|
| Characters: | Roy Greenhilt | Durkon Thundershield | Haley Starshine | Elan | Vaarsuvius | Belkar Bitterleaf | Xykon | Miko Miyazaki |
| Character lists: | General list | Linear Guild |
| Locations: | General list |
