The fourth volume of the Order of the Stick includes their adventures from #485-672. Haley and Belkar gets stuck in Azure City with Roy's corpse, meeting old friends. Meanwhile Durkon, Elan, Vaarsuvius, and Hinjo sailed off, finding love and making bad deals.
For the list of comics in this book and their wikia pages, please click here.
Plot[]
Roy's Afterlife
Following the destruction of Azure City, Roy and his father, Eugene wander around the Celestial Realm, with the latter berating the former for allowing the city to fall. Eugene also tells Roy that both are cursed to wander the lowest plane of the Realm due to not being able to fulfill the Blood Oath of Vengeance. A Bureaucratic Deva ushers Roy over to help him check into the Celestial Realm.
She informs Roy that multiple factors judge who can enter the Upper Planes, and cites him abandoning Elan and having Belkar in his team register as marks against his Good status. Roy expresses remorse over the former and justifies the latter by stating Belkar's Evil potential can be channeled against even eviler enemies. The deva, convinced, tells Roy that he would be qualified for the Neutral Good afterlife, but the fact that he honestly tries to be Lawful Good allows him entry into the Celestial Realm.
Eugene furiously demands why he is unable to enter the Upper Planes, despite both of them not completing the Blood Oath. The deva explains that Eugene's callous abandonment of the Oath -- coupled with burdening it upon his son -- ensures he will be denied entry until his heir completes it.
Roy, assigned with his own archon, reunites with his mother, brother, and grandfather in the Upper Planes. Despite immensely enjoying Paradise with them, Roy is later told that three months have passed. Roy asks his father to help him scry on his teammates, and after initial disagreements, his father finally complies.
The Azurite Fleet at Sea
Kazumi Kato and Daigo are married on a ship, with Durkon officiating their wedding. Hinjo, with Elan as his self-appointed bodyguard, reveals that multiple nations in the Southern Continent have refused to help the Azurites take back their city. Kubota reprimands Hinjo for promoting the Katos to nobility, and leaves Therkla to assassinate him.
Meanwhile, Vaarsuvius has grown obsessesed with trying to scry and contact Haley, to no avail. Aquatic trolls coordinate attack on the Azurite Fleet -- Therkla prepares to kill Hinjo, but is foiled by Elan. Infatuated by him, she decides to assist Elan in attacking a troll and falls into the water.
Realizing that the Fleet is spread too thin, Hinjo decides that they must find a land settlement for the refugees to avoid more casualties. Meanwhile, Therkla rejoins her master on the boat and begins coordinating another assassination with Qarr, all the while musing on Elan.
Haley Leads the Resistance
Curious to what has happened to his body, Roy and Eugene decide to scry on Haley instead. A group of hobgoblin slavers are interrupted by the Azurite Resistance, consisting of Haley, Niu, Isamu, and Ho Thanh. One of the hobgoblins manages to activate the alarm system, which Tsukiko and her wights promptly respond to. Belkar emerges to fight and finds Mr. Scruffy. Tsukiko manages to Dominate Ho Thanh and uses him to attack Haley, along with herself and her wights, killing Isamu in the process. Belkar and Haley fights off the Black Squadron and escapes with Thanh, Niu, and several Azurites. Haley breaks Thanh out of Tsukiko's Domination by having Belkar dress up as the late Lord Shojo.
Roy descends from the Celestial Realm and unsuccessfully tries to communicate to Haley. Due to an electrical shock from her fight with Tsukiko, Haley is able to break the summoning talisman and summons Celia. After being informed of Roy's death by Belkar, Celia informs Haley that the rest of the Order is unable to contact her because of Xykon casting the epic Cloister spell, targeting all of Azure City and its living residents. Haley leaves the command of the Resistance to Thanh and Niu before deciding to travel to Cliffport. Along the way, Celia is aghast by Belkar's murdeous tendecies, setting her pacifism at odds with Haley and Belkar's adventurer lives.
O-Chul's Captivity
Xykon, Tsukiko, Jirix, the Demon Cockroaches, and the Monster in the Darkness bet on O-Chul's survival odds against an acid-breathing shark, with the latter wishing he would escape. O-Chul manages to escape the shark tank, but is zapped unconscious by Xykon. Redcloak, exasperated with Xykon's antics, drags O-Chul off for interrogation and torture.
Near the newly-opened rift, Redcloak interrogates O-Chul for information about Girard's Gate. Due to the Sapphire Guard's oath not to interfere with the other Gates, O-Chul states that he has no knowledge, to which Redcloak believes he is lying. Redcloak threatens to throw Azurite prisoners into the rift, but O-Chul remains steadfast, and the spared prisoners are awed by the paladin's resolve. Redcloak convenes with Jirix and reveals that he is now sure O-Chul knows nothing of the Gates, but Team Evil continues to stay in Azure City in order to solidify the hobgoblins' control. Meanwhile, O-Chul is returned to his cage next to the Monster in the Darkness, where their growing friendship is shown.
Orc Island
In a media res scene, Elan, Daigo, and Durkon flee from a group of orcs on Orc Island. At the coast, Elan and Durkon explain to Vaarsuvius that Elan was successfully establishing supply relations between the Azurites and the Orcs, but at the sight of Banjo the Clown the orcs quickly took to the puppet as their new god and chased the three out, taking Lien captive. Vaarsuvius refuses to help rescue her, citing it as a waste of time.
The orcs are revealed to be working under Therkla and Qarr, although Chief Grukgruk and his shaman express their new profound worship of Banjo. The rescue party (consisting once again of Elan, Daigo, and Durkon) are captured by the orcs to be sacrificed for Banjo. Having fallen in love with Elan, Therkla quickly intervenes and poses as Banjo. With Elan's persuasion the rescue party (and Lien) are released -- but Qarr Charms the orcs to kill the party, and teleports back to Kubota. Therkla leads the party safely to the coastline, but escapes when Lien becomes suspicious. To appease Chief Grukgruk's feelings, Elan creates the puppet-god Giggles (the brother-rival of Banjo) for the orcs to worship, and manages to reestablish trade relations. Lien convenes with Hinjo over Therkla's role.
Return to the Oracle
Remembering the Oracle's words to her, Haley decides to travel to the Sunken Valley instead, mistakenly believing the kobold as a cleric. Belkar angrily insists to the Oracle that his prophecy never came true, but then kills the Oracle to ensure it did. Celia notes the recently-established town of kobolds Lickmyorangeballshalfling outside the Oracle's tower, and Belkar's Greater Mark of Justice goes off, rendering him extremely ill. Haley kicks him out of the Order, but the situation is forgotten when the Memory Charm operates on them. The Oracle is resurrected by several lizardfolk (having predicteed his death) and tells ghost Roy that Belkar will "draw his last breath" before the end of the year, and then banishes him back to the Celestial Realm.
During a night of rest, Celia decides to sneak to Greysky City with Roy's body to resurrect him, but wizard Hieronymus Grubwiggler makes his skeletal body into a bone golem instead. Haley manages to rescue Celia, but Roy's body is left behind. They are forced to stay in Greysky City to keep track of his corpse. Haley asks Old Blind Pete to give refuge and to find a non-Guild cleric, stating that the Thieves' Guild will be seeking to kill her.
The Regicide Plot
Therkla meets with Elan at a secret location to ask him out, but he declines. Qarr reveals it was intended to be an ambush, and the rest of the Azurites (along with the remaining Order) appear, having followed Elan. Qarr manages to summon an enormous pit fiend before teleporting. Therkla urges Elan to take them both to the Azurite fleet,and reveals that Kubota had planned to kill Hinjo, the Order, and any supporting nobility (such as the Katos).
A pregnant Kazumi manages to kill several assassin ninjas before Kubota's forces take her hostage. Therkla and Elan arrive; Therkla pleads for Kubota to stop the killing, and tells Elan to convince Hinjo to allow Kubota to depart. Disappointed by her betrayal, Kubota poisons Therkla while she and Elan fight the rest of Kubota's samurai, and flees. A dying Therkla asks Elan to be her boyfriend, but he is unable to agree, and she dies in his arms. An enraged Elan chases after Kubota and grudgingly takes him back to the ship. Kubota gloats that any trial against him will be useless. Returning from the defeat of the pit fiend, Vaarsuvius overhears him and disintegrates him, much to Elan's horror.
A trance-deprived Vaarsuvius tells Elan and Durkon that they intend to depart the ship, considering the two as obstacles. Unbeknownst to them, Qarr follows behind.
Thieves' Guild Fight
A rogue Cleric of Loki shows up at Pete's house to assist Haley in contacting Durkon, but it is revealed that Pete has sold them out to Bozzok and the Guild. Preparing for battle, Haley and Celia leave behind a sickened Belkar with the Cleric, buying him time to prepare the Sending. Haley is ambushed by Bozzok and Crystal, the former telling her that he had sent her father to the Western Continent to be held for ransom, before mortally injuring her.
In his comatose state, a vision of the late Lord Shojo visits Belkar and urges him to pretend to have character development in order to avoid being killed by society. The Cleric removes the Curse from Belkar, who in turn manages to slaughter the Guild members trying to break into the room, with the aid of the Cleric. Belkar convinces the Cleric to personally kill Pete for his betrayal, to which the Cleric does before leaving town.
A ghost Roy tries to tell Celia not to be distressed. Belkar arrives and manages to hold off Bozzok and Crystal long enough for Celia to rescue Haley. Haley picks out a new ice bow from the deceased Pete's weaponry den and proceeds to decimate the Guild. Belkar fights Crystal alone while Bozzok chases after Haley; he incapitates her but states that her death will be Haley's responsibility as an arch-enemy, not his. Celia is taken captive by Hank and several Guild members, but manages to draw up a truce, convincing Haley and Belkar not to kill a defeated Bozzok. Celia reveals that she promised half of Haley's loot to the Guild to ressurect its dead members, not knowing of Haley's plan to free her father.
Deal with the Devil
Vaarsuvius has relocated their items to an empty island, refusing to trance because of their guilt over abandoning the Azurite soldiers at the Battle of Azure City. They catch Qarr spying on them, and the latter insists they were trying to make a deal with Kubota's killer. Contemptuous, V tries to Disintegrate Qarr, unaware of an adult black dragon sneaking up on them.
The dragon quickly defeats Vaarsuvius and pins them down, explaining that she was the mother of the young black dragon Vaarsuvius had killed, and that she is seeking revenge for her murdered son. She was made aware of V's identity through the Oracle, but waited for them to be separated from the Azurite Fleet. She tells V that she will kill their mate and their two adopted children before binding their souls and leaving the Material Plane. An enraged V tries to stop their departure, to no avail.
Panicked and distraught, V coerces Qarr to making a typical devil deal, to which the Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission appears. The IFFC offers V a Soul Splice of the three most powerful casters ever sent to Hell, in exchange of having V's soul for the amount of time they held onto each splice. Despite being offered an alternative plan, Vaarsuvius takes the deal, unwilling to let go of the chance of ultimate arcane power.
A transformed Vaarsuvius reaches the Mother Dragon and effortlessly defeats her. In revenge for attacking their family, V casts the spell Familicide to prevent the dragon's relatives from threatening their family ever again. The spell wipes out nearly a fifth of all black dragons, as well as any of their relatives. Horrified, V's mate lashes out at them (resulting in V losing one of the splices) and tells V to give up the power, but V leaves to find Haley instead.
Escape from Xykon
Vaarsuvius arrives at the Azurite Fleet and teleports the entire fleet to a larger, more resourceful island. They then reunite with the rest of the Order at the Thieves' Guild, with Durkon and Elan arriving there via Wind Walk, and Haley and Belkar having secured Roy's body from Grubwiggler. Before departing back to the Azurites' new island, Haley kills Crystal and takes her knife, while Belkar callously leaves Jenny behind.
Impatient with the casting time for Durkon's Resurrection spell, Vaarsuvius teleports to Xykon's tower to kill Xykon. V grossly underestimates Xykon's shrewdness and is brutally defeated, losing control of the other splices. In the resulting chaos, O-Chul breaks free from the cage, stabs out Redcloak's eye and rips off his holy symbol, forcing the latter to retreat. Xykon defeats O-Chul takes back the phylactery. V turns invisible and attempts to flee the scene, but has a change of heart and goes back to rescue O-Chul. The two of them escape with the phylactery to the edge of the tower, where V uses their familiar Blackwing to drop the phylactery into the rift. Xykon chases after Blackwing, unaware that V had casted Explosive Runes onto the phylactery. The explosion ensues in the phylactery dropping into the sewers. Furious, Xykon decides to kill V and O-Chul immediately, but the Monster in the Darkness teleports both of them out. Xykon takes his anger out on Redcloak instead and forbids him from regenerating his eye.
The Order is Reunited
Vaarsuvius and O-Chul are teleported back to the island with the rest of the Order, much to Hinjo and Lien's joy. Roy is finally resurrected. He tells Haley that he is proud of her leadership, and informs her that Belkar will die within seven weeks -- they bet each other they can defeat Xykon and the goblins in that interval of time. Durkon and Vaarsuvius mutually apologize to each other, the latter unaware that the IFFC had planned for them to attack Xykon in order to make the lich take action once more. The IFFC, with their new employee Qarr, reveals that they have a new set of pawns in mind.
O-Chul provides a list of Xykon's spells (as well as other intel) to Roy. Hinjo informs Haley that her Resistance movement will be integral to liberating Azure City, as the elves have sent a strike team to assist Thanh. Haley dismisses Celia, allowing the latter to return to the Plane of Air.
The Order embarks on a ship to travel to the Western Continent. Vaarsuvius summons Blackwing and awkwardly thanks him for his assistance, before asking what had mesmerized him in front of the rift. Blackwing reveals that he saw an entire planet within the rift. Realizing the magnitude of the conflict, V contemplates that there is much to be known.
Locations[]
- ïğżHinjo's Junk
- Kubota's Junk
- The Kato's Junk
- ïğżOrc Island
- Cave Passage
- Tiny Island
- Therkla's Island
- Realm of the Dragon
- Ghostlands
- Raja Kingdom
- Rainforest Jungle
- ïğżUnderwater (Elan's Underwater Adventure)
- The Celestial Realm
- Eugene's Cloud
- The Mountain
- Sara's House
- The Lake
- Azure City
- The Granary
- Resistance Headquaters
- Xykon's Green Tower
- Sunken Valley
- The Oracle's House
- Lickmyorangeballshalfling
- Greysky City
- Hieronymous Grubwiggler's Castle
- The Thieves Guild
- Pete's House
- Elven Lands
- Inkyrius's Cottage / Garden
Characters[]
The Order of the Stick[]
Pets and Familiars[]
Team Evil[]
Minions[]
- Hobgoblins
- Zombies
- Ghouls
The Black Squadron[]
- Wights
Azurites[]
The Sapphire Guard[]
- Lord Hinjo
- Argent
- Lien
- Razor
- O-Chul
- Lord Shojo (Flashback)
House Kubota[]
The Resistance[]
The Afterlife[]
- Eugene Greenhilt
- Roy's Archon
- Sara Greenhilt
- Horace Greenhilt
- Eric Greenhilt
- Evil Adventurers
Orcs[]
Sunken Valley[]
- The Oracle
- The Oracle's Helpers
- Magic Mouth
- The Oracle's Guards
Greysky Citizens[]
- Old Blind Pete
- Cleric of Loki
- Hieronymous Grubwiggler
- Grubwiggler's Assisstants
- Grubwiggler's Golems
Thieves Guild[]
Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission[]
Elves[]
- Inkyrius
- V and I's Children
- Aarindarius
- Team Peregrine
Other Characters[]
- Mermaid (Elan's Underwater Adventure)
OOTS Books
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| Main Series: Dungeon Crawlin' Fools · No Cure for the Paladin Blues · War and XPs · Don't Split the Party · Blood Runs in the Family · Utterly Dwarfed |
| Prequel Comics: On the Origin of PCs · Start of Darkness · Good Deeds Gone Unpunished |
| Kickstarter Comics: Uncivil Servant · Haleo & Julelan · Spoiler Alert · How the Paladin Got His Scar |
| Other Books: Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales · Order of the Stick Coloring Book |