OOTS/Order of the Stick

1299 - Red vs. Red

Homeless People Are Sexy Shirt $21.68

Tip Your Landlord Shirt $21.68

Homeless People Are Sexy Shirt $21.68

  1. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    There are 72 words in this page, if you count ULLGRHs and gllrtkyts.

  2. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    The man who was black said everyone attack, and it turned into a ballroom blitz

  3. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    [...]

    There are more words in this post than in today's comic.

    Thog it down a little.

  4. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    thog won

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      Indeed.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        that's cheating

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          I copied the letters I added from this comic, plus I've seen it done already, and to a greater extent. I agree it's not perfect, but it seemed worth it.

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            >it seemed worth it.
            Not really. It's a pretty weak joke.

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            Just cos someone else cheated doesn't mean you should too.
            And no, cheating with only one letter isn't ok either, it's worse in fact.

            We all at least show some respect to Rich's labour as we shit all over it, so follow suit.

          • 2 months ago
            Anonymous

            Get the frick out of my office

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        Inauthentic/10
        You're the type of person to change the syllable count of a haiku

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          Inauthentic Ten
          You type of person to change
          haiku syllable.

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            bravo

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            Haikubot, what the frick are you doing here, you should be in tumblr.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        Kinda funny, but bad as a thog. You can't just add in letters that weren't there.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        >adding letters
        shamefur dispray

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        You could have easily strung o-o-t-s from previous speech bubbles & it would have been fine (its possible, i checked). Don't change letters.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous
  5. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    Turns out that beating a super old dragon works out the same way as you beat up any other mage. You turn off the magic and grapple them. Sure, you need a little extra to pin it, but it works out when you have a fricking tyrannosaurus rex.

  6. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    I continue to be surprised both this and Darth & Droids are still ongoing

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      Is Darths and Droids any good still? I think I bailed somewhere in Rogue One (which is way after it should have been over, methinks) but I wanted to see how they'd handle the awful Disney trilogy.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        It's OK, it's also the only way I experience new Star Wars now.

  7. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    Alright well hopefully this dragon is dead as shit and is merely foreshadowing for even worse creatures hidden within the dungeon. No more filler.

    ... who the frick am I kidding.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      I mean, the obvious point of this was to partially waste the party's head-start and also to drain some of their resources so they're less fresh for the upcoming conflicts.

  8. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    What spell is the blonde dwarf cleric woman casting?

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      Not clear, but you can make inferences based on the fact that she's a cleric.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      It's mentioned in the previous strip.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      Speed reader

  9. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    How many more years will it take to finish this? I can't believe how long I've been following this thing, every other internet comic I started reading as a youth finished so many years ago...

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      two more years toriyama passing so suddenly makes me worry about rich also doing so

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        At least Oots got off the boat

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          berserk also did then it got trapped on the island and look what happened there

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            They are now back on the boat 🙂

            • 3 months ago
              Anonymous

              I try to avoid acknowledging those since it feels like a berserk skinwalker rather than an actual continuation

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                You say that like it wasn't a skeleton wearing its old skin long before Miura kicked the bucket.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      About 5 years.

      It's clearly close to the finish line now, but we have still yet to see:
      >the 3 devils
      >what's Dark One even doing these days (is he asleep?)
      >the world beyond the rift
      >resolution for xykon, redcloak and monster in the dark
      >a few pages of epilogue, presumably
      There were 21 strips in 2023 (#1273..#1294). At 21 strips per year, that would be 105 more strips, which sounds about right.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        oh and
        >Belkar dies before the end of the (in-setting) year

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          Strictly speaking he just needs to stop breathing

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            I feel it's narratively satisfying for Belkar to die as the endpoint of his redemption arc, so he ends up in the Chaotic Neutral afterlife, in company of Lord Shojo. It'd be a nice contrast to Miko's abortive "redemption arc".

            • 3 months ago
              Anonymous

              I'm still on team "sexy shoeless god of war"; Banjo and/or Belkar becoming the fifth quiddity after the dark one refuses to cooperate.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                It takes believers though. Dark One was powered by the beliefs of all the goblins, because there are very many goblins.
                Banjo and Belkar don't have almost anyone to push them up like that, much less the masses that are required.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                >Banjo
                The orc island down suit
                >Belkar
                On the dreamless night terrore of the survivors, the wide agape anguish wound of his victims, and the lamentations of the women(mostly in Gobbotopia)
                >Thog
                -3 INT posters on the mongolian basket weaving forum
                CHOOSE YOUR DEITY

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                TDO had like a million followers, on top of being a political activist for a long time, before he ascended. A couple of bimbos and a PTSD support group won't cut it.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        >21 strips in a year
        This shit is not ok.

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          It's 23 pages (since 2 of those had 2 pages) if that makes you feel better!

        • 2 months ago
          Anonymous

          VGCats are going to outpace OotS at this rate

          • 2 months ago
            Anonymous

            You know that even the idea of that is ludicrous, right? VGCats is a super dead comic that lots of people aren't even going to recognize anymore. Five strips so far since the year 2020. There was a year with no updates at all.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        >the three devils
        They already stated their master plan is to even the scales between oots and xykon because either side having a clear win is bad for them, theres nothing else to expect from them besides "oooh i wonder what'll be happening the next time they put V on timeout".

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          Uh I must have forgotten something major - did they say how their whole project is supposed to benefit them?

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            It's vague, intentionally. They represent the axis of evil though, so no matter what, you can be sure that it's to the benefit of evil.

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            point 1 is whats good for evil at large, oots winning is bad for evil, xykon winning is only good for xykon, and redcloak winning/gods reset universe is unpredictable for evil
            V's familicide moment was an unexpected net boost for evil
            point 2 is that the whole operation is a test drive - they did the "first ever" multiple bargain/soul splice by having representatives from lawful, neutral and chaotic evil working together, if the operation is considered a success then it opens the gates more inter-evil-alignment cooperation

            maybe im forgetting something else

            • 3 months ago
              Anonymous

              >xykon winning is only good for xykon
              Worth mentioning that xykon winning is impossible anyway, as there is no spell to do what he wants to do (control the Snarl).

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                He could kill everyone and decide to snarl the world out of spite, or not snarl the world and walk away. If he gets oots off his back and finds out about redcloak's treachery, I'd call that a win.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                What, destroy the last gate himself? In the current situation, he doesn't know that he's being backstabbed. More than that, while he is a relatively petty person, he also is very angry about what all of this has cost him, which is why he treats Redcloak so extra badly. He might be just as sunk cost in the end.

                There's also no version of this where he gets the Order of the Stick off of his back. Roy is killing him to fulfill a family oath.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                No, he wouldn't destroy the last gate. He thinks he's going to be able to CONTROL the Snarl through the gate, and basically sick his new pet on everyone and everything that displeases him...or amuses him, possibly including the world itself. But the gate would remain intact because that's the metaphorical leash around his attack dog. That's what Xyklon THINK'S he'll be able to do, at least.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                That doesn't make any sense within the premise being replied to "snarl the world out of spite." He had no means to drop the Snarl on everyone, unless he just decides to try to destroy the Gate and flip the table.

                But the gods are also waiting to press the reset button, so that probably won't pan out even if he tried it.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                I thought Xykon didn't know anything about the Snarl (or the impending universe wipe) yet. His number one motivation is staying out of hell, so if he knew what was actually going on he presumably wouldn't be endangering himself like this.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                Xykon's number one motivation is being a legendary bad guy. He thinks the ritual is going to grant him power over the Gate so he can take over the world. He in fact does know that the Snarl exists, because Redcloak tells him about it in Start of Darkness to get him on board with it.

                What he doesn't know is what's in the divine half of the ritual that's meant to take control of the Gate, which when he and Redcloak execute on it will give The Dark One control of the Gate instead of him.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                It's worth noting it doesn't necessarily give control of the Snarl or of the gate itself to the Dark One, merely it's location. It's not a gun, it's a bomb.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                Alas, poor Tsukiko, she died the way she lived - getting eaten by wights.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                christ

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                Hahaha...
                I don't geddit

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                She was a zombie fricker.
                "Eat" can refer both to literal consumption and the act of cunnilingus.
                I assume you can take it from there.

              • 2 months ago
                Anonymous

                He's right. The crown makes him really badass.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                I guess I wasn't clear enough.
                Xykon could kill the oots, thats "getting them off his back".
                Xykon can "release" the snarl by breaking the gate.
                If xykon/redcloak "win" the Battle for the Last Gate, hes going to learn about redcloak's mischief one way or another.

            • 3 months ago
              Anonymous

              It is suggested in this panel that they have a more specific secret plan.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                ... and yet here, they say they would have been fine with Hel winning as well.
                I can't find the strip that said that, but wasn't it said the angels get mind-wiped when a world is replaced with a new one, shouldn't the devils get mindwiped or something also? I don't think they would be fine with that.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                maybe that's part of their plan, they found some way to avoid getting mindwiped?
                After all they're managing to do something not even the gods can: cooperate, so who knows what else they can achieve

            • 3 months ago
              Anonymous

              How was familicide a net gain for evil? It got a shitload of evil dragons killed. If it's because of the Draketooths, I don't think those guys were particularly good, maybe chaotic neutral.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                V isn't a top level player but a pretty big one.
                V was told "all Evil actions during the soul splice count as the soul's evils and not yours" when really they still fall 100% on V
                V then went maximum overEvil
                In comic #i-dont-remember when the three devils quip about placating Tiamat's anger over familicide they also say it was a net boost for evil

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                The relevant part of that comic is literally pasted above. They didn't say killing the dragons was a net gain, it was simply for placating Tiamat, like you said. Slaughtering the dragons wasn't beneficial to Evil by itself, only insofar as they were a casualty of the plan that supposedly benefits Evil in the end. But since the plan hasn't succeeded yet, at the moment their deaths are massive net loss.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                NTA, but I don't know if "at the moment" is where you calculate the net loss. Even if that phrasing is understandable, it's not really what "net" means. That's when you line up the results at the end, considering all of the collective parts and any other external effects on the total.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                Sure. So when all is said and done, you can sit down and calculate whether it was worth it or not. Two problems, though.
                >V's familicide moment was an unexpected net boost for evil
                One, this was the original assertion. That's just not true at all. You don't get to declare gain until said gain actually occurred.
                Two, killing massive amounts of dragons was in no way a necessary step of the plan. (Well, as much as know of it. But it really doesn't look that way.) It was a side effect, and the fiends would have been happier if V didn't do it.
                So while you can argue that the plan as a whole is going to be a net gain (in true Redcloak fashion), it still would be thanks to the plan making up for the murder, basically sweeping the transgression under the rug. But taken in isolation, the "familicide moment" specifically is a definite loss.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                I mean, I agree with you that you don't get to declare gain until it's all played out. You can estimate the net gain, but that's not a guarantee. This is also why I said you can't declare "net" while it's all still in motion. It's probably more accurate to judge the killing of the dragons as "perceived acceptable losses" for the time being.

              • 3 months ago
                Anonymous

                >killing the dragons was a net gain
                Its not about the dragons dying, its about V shifting down in the Good-Evil spectrum.

              • 2 months ago
                Anonymous

                Has V even shifted towards evil, or is that only when spliced? Because now, V is regretting all that shit after seeing the Draketooths and the damage one single evil act can do, confessed everything to Roy, and has Blackwing sorta trying to be sort of a conscience (I dunno if that shit even went anywhere or just got dropped)

            • 3 months ago
              Anonymous

              "Test drive" is heavily implied to have been bullshit, an excuse to get V on board without getting him too suspicious. True, but not the real aim. The fiends have some sort of hidden agenda.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      In last read it when Elan met his evil dad and then had to stop due my internet being shut down and life getting destroyed. God I cant even remember how long ago that was and how much that would mean I would need to catch up on

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        Your autism is weak, anon. Learn to hyperfocus and take 20 on your Reading Comprehension checks.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        >my internet being shut down and life getting destroyed.
        It sounds like a better story than this comic.
        Wanna make a serial out of it?

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      About 5 years.

      It's clearly close to the finish line now, but we have still yet to see:
      >the 3 devils
      >what's Dark One even doing these days (is he asleep?)
      >the world beyond the rift
      >resolution for xykon, redcloak and monster in the dark
      >a few pages of epilogue, presumably
      There were 21 strips in 2023 (#1273..#1294). At 21 strips per year, that would be 105 more strips, which sounds about right.

      There is no way in hell OOTS will be finished before the decade is out. Rich was once asked how many books there would be, and his answer was "Seven, even though the last one might be so huge it'll need to be split into two physical volumes." He said this sometime around 2010, ie BEFORE his output slowed to shit and he started clogging up every plot arc with worthless filler. We are not even close to being done with this crap, sadly

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        I don't know how to tell you this but he was telling a homestuck joke.

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous
        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          Which one?

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            Homestuck was split into seven acts, the sixth of which was larger than the previous five acts combined.

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            homestuck has 5 acts that are only medium bad and then act 5 act 2 which is impossibly bad and an act 6 which is somehow worse
            it makes sense rich likes it since it's a webcomic that is heavy on copy-paste and has "pages" with several paragraphs of inane unfunny dialogue

            • 3 months ago
              Anonymous

              >it makes sense rich likes it since it's a webcomic that is heavy on copy-paste and has "pages" with several paragraphs of inane unfunny dialogue
              I think oots is funny and only rarely inane and I like the text-to-other-visuals ratio in it

  10. 3 months ago
    Anonymous
    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      Finally, an honest thoggay.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      Could have kept Calder making pained noises and perhaps him saying "Aberration-" but the last panel is perfect
      I lack both talent and patience or I'd do it myself.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      >ew
      >ew www
      Bravo.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      Does the effort required to also remove the background "CRUNCH!" etc. noises in panels 1 and 4 count as thog?

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        No, because you missed two of them in panel 4.

  11. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    holy shit this comic is still going on? why is durkon alive? i stopped reading around the part he fell. What did I miss?

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      While trapped in his own mind Durkon drip-fed the vampire his memories of growing up as a dwarf and essentially hit him with a mind whammy by dumping a bunch of emotional turmoil at once onto him. That let him wrest control long enough to get staked, at which point he could just be resurrected normally.

      Beyond that you've missed the fact that many gods are ready to blow up all of reality to avoid what might happen with the Snarl if the final gate is misused, purple quiddity be damned. The last multiple real world years have been the order trying to navigate Sereni's labyrinth to get to the final gate.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      durkon came back to life six years ago

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        So it's only been like, what, twenty strips? twenty-five maybe?

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          Durkon's proper resurrection (and stays alive) is on 1150. This latest strip is 1299, so it's been 149 strips since then.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      >holy shit this comic is still going on?
      There's been regular /tg/ updates for each new page for the past decade. You're not fooling anyone by -

      While trapped in his own mind Durkon drip-fed the vampire his memories of growing up as a dwarf and essentially hit him with a mind whammy by dumping a bunch of emotional turmoil at once onto him. That let him wrest control long enough to get staked, at which point he could just be resurrected normally.

      Beyond that you've missed the fact that many gods are ready to blow up all of reality to avoid what might happen with the Snarl if the final gate is misused, purple quiddity be damned. The last multiple real world years have been the order trying to navigate Sereni's labyrinth to get to the final gate.

      durkon came back to life six years ago

      ...okay well you're not fooling me, anyway.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        I don't spend my life on this website all the time like a loser, bro. Some of us have things to do.

  12. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    The artstyle update happened ten years ago

  13. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    upscale.

    this is why every boss needs some backup summoning; single targets get shit on by the action economy.

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      He was doing great until a lizard inexplicably became a creature large enough to grapple him.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        It's the same T-Rex Belkar befriended way back when they were dealing with Elan's dad. It was Polymorphed into a lizard, and the anti-magic cone dispelled it. All set up on screen.

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          Anon knows that, they're saying it's inexplicable from Calder's perspective.

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          Yes. I am entirely aware of that.

          Anon knows that, they're saying it's inexplicable from Calder's perspective.

          both has great trips and is correct.

          There was no reason to believe that a creature of at least his own class size would suddenly appear in mid-air and grapple him and deal him some real damage. Up to this moment, he was basically in control of the situation. Being grappled is a b***h to start with, but they also managed to take advantage of the anti-magic to prevent him from getting out of it.

          • 3 months ago
            Anonymous

            Anon knows that, they're saying it's inexplicable from Calder's perspective.

            Oh okay my bad

    • 3 months ago
      Anonymous

      He has an entire dungeon full of backups that were intended to cause attrition or follow the party in, they were just bypassed.

      • 3 months ago
        Anonymous

        He didn't design them. He WAS one of those backups to cause attrition

        • 3 months ago
          Anonymous

          You're right but maybe that anon was referring to his dominated cult before serini locked him up in Final Dungeon.

  14. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    this stop being good like 900 strips ago

    • 2 months ago
      Anonymous

      Just like your mom

  15. 3 months ago
    Anonymous

    >Senri designed Kraagors gate defences to exhaust and misdirect potential intruders until they leave or die without ever coming anywhere near the goal
    It's pretty cool of Rich to make the entire comic reflect that, very meta

    • 2 months ago
      Anonymous

      Heh

    • 2 months ago
      Anonymous

      I mean, jokes aside, its actual design is a throwback to the dungeon crawling of the comic's beginnings. Same stuff, different day, but also with the difference being in showing how far they've come since they were those much lower-level adventurers. It book ends the story, in a sense.

  16. 2 months ago
    Anonymous

    I can't believe the gang is actually beating a midboss without having their plans totally ruined and being forced to go on a huge side quest

    • 2 months ago
      Anonymous

      To be fair, having to waste more resources readying themselves for the inevitable showdown later is still an inconvenience.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *