Tarquin, satisfied with the destruction of the gate, offers his help to Elan, much to the chagrin of Nale.
Cast[]
- The Order of the Stick
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (as vampire) ◀ ▶
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Nale ◀ ▶
- "Durkon" ◀ ▶
- Tarquin ◀ ▶
- Laurin Shattersmith ◀ ▶
- The Army of the Empire of Blood
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Haley, Elan, and Nale stand with Tarquin surrounded by his army. Laurin Shattersmith stands nearby.
Elan: What do you want, Dad? We know it was you in the mask pretending to be Thog.
Tarquin: Elan, I've been assured by Nale that the Gate that both you and he sought has been destroyed. Is that correct?
Elan: ...Yeah, I guess.
- Panel 2
They look down into the crater where Roy, Belkar, Durkon, and Mr. Scruffy stand near the Snarl.
Tarquin: I suppose that weird purple... hole... down there is all that's left?
Elan: Uh huh.
- Panel 3
Tarquin: Well, Elan, it seems as though this conflict is at an end.
Elan: ...Huh?
Tarquin: We were all racing to get to the Gate. You won. Congratulations. I hope you at least gained a level out of this.
- Panel 4
Tarquin: Do you think you'll be needing anything for the next leg of your journey? Supplies? Healing?
Elan: I don't really—
Nale: You're just—you're letting them GO???
- Panel 5
Nale: They destroyed the Gate! They robbed me—you—of your prize! Aren't you going to punish them?
Tarquin: What would the point of that be?
- Panel 6
Tarquin: I was probably going to destroy it myself anyway.
Nale: WHAT?!?
- Panel 7
Tarquin: Honestly, Nale, that "plan" of yours had way too many moving parts.
Tarquin: A Gate, an abomination, a ritual, and you don't even have the ritual but a friend of a friend does?
Tarquin: We were never in any position to realistically pull that off.
- Panel 8
Tarquin: I would have preferred to secure the area and study it for a bit first, but—
Nale: You pompous buffoon! Do you have any idea how much power—
Tarquin: Power I can't access is no power at all.
- Panel 9
Elan: But Dad, there's still one Gate left! The whole world is in danger, including your empires!
Tarquin: Wow, it's too bad I don't have a son who's a big shot hero to go clean that up for me.
Tarquin: OH WAIT.
- Panel 10
Tarquin: I hardly want someone else using these Gates to rule the world, but everyone knows when villains fight villains, it's a toss-up.
Tarquin: And that's where you come in, Elan. As a true hero, you're more narratively equipped to deal with this.
- Panel 11
Tarquin: My son—making the world safe for tyrannical oligarchy!
Tarquin: It's so perfect, I think I'll start implying it was my plan all along.