Ready...Pose!
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Team Evil
- The Linear Guild
- The Sapphire Guard
- The Flumphs ◀ ▶
- The Prison Guard of Nale and Thog
Transcript
- Panel 1, Page 1
The entire castle blows up with a massive explosion, CCCCRRACKKKAKKOOOOOOOOM!!!!
- Panel 2, Page 1
Flumph #1: Well, I'm sure glad we got out of that dungeon in time.
Flumph #2: I'll say. It was getting way too dangerous in there.
- Panel 3, Page 1
Elan and Roy, ejected into the air by the explosion in the last strip, have their fall safely broken by the pair of Flumphs with a "SPLAT!! SPLAT!!
- Panel 4, Page 1
Elan: Woooo! That was awesome!
Roy: Damn it, Elan, that was utterly reckless. You're lucky no one got hurt!
Flumph #1: So... much... pain...
- Panel 5, Page 1
Elan: Geez, Roy, lighten up a little. For a guy who is on top of the world, you're pretty grumpy.
Roy: "On top of the world"? How do you figure that?
Roy: I almost just got killed for the billionth time by your stupidity!
Flump #1: You're still stepping on my tentacle...
- Panel 6, Page 1
Elan: OK, perhaps, but look at all you've accomplished in the last few weeks here.
Elan: You finally completed your father's oath and destroyed Xykon once and for all.
- Panel 7, Page 1
Elsewhere, in a tunnel, Redcloak leads the way with a Light spell while the MitD follows behind still cloaked in darkness.
Monster in the Darkness: Man, this tunnel goes on forEVER!
Redcloak: Stop whining. We'll be out of the mountains soon enough, and then we can go to the surface.
- Panel 8, Page 1
Xykon: And then I can continue my master plan...as well as plot vengeance on this 'Greensword' guy.
Xykon: Whoever he is.
- Panel 1, Page 2
Cut back to Elan
Elan: You helped defeat my evil twin brother and his nasty gang of mean adventurers.
- Panel 2, Page 2
Elswhere, in a jail cell, a guard comes to feed Nale and Thog.
Nale: What food today, you slack-jawed enforcer of an arbitrary civilization? Chicken? Fish?
Thog: yuck. thog likes meatloaf surprise.
- Panel 3, Page 2
Sabine appears and thrusts her hand through the guard's back and out his chest.
Sabine: Surprise.
- Panel 4, Page 2
Cut back to Elan
Elan: Heck, you even stopped whatever evil plan Xykon was up to when we found him, and we don't even KNOW what it was!
- Panel 5, Page 2
Elsewhere, in the throne room at Azure City, Miko kneels with her face shrouded in a blue cowl below the dais upon which the feet of Lord Shojo can be seen.
Lord Shojo: My diviner tells me the Redmountain Gate has been destroyed. You know what must be done, young one.
Miko Miyazaki: Yes, Master.
- Panel 6, Page 2
Miko: My blades will be bathed in the blood of those responsible.
- Panel 7, Page 2
Cut back to The Order.
Roy: You know, you're right, Elan.
Elan: I am?
Roy: Yeah. I'm going to enjoy this victory for as long as I can.
- Panel 8, Page 2
Roy: To victory!
Durkon and Vaarsuvius: To victory!
- Panel 9, Page 2
Beat. They all stand in classic victory pose, staring at the camera.
- Panel 10, Page 2
The group continues to hold the pose while Belkar walks into the panel.
Belkar: Uh...Why are you guys all standing still?
Haley (out the corner of her mouth): It's the end of the story arc.
Haley: Gotta give them a good panel for the end of the trade paperback.
Belkar: Oh, I get it. In that case...
- Panel 11, Page 2
Everyone is back in victory pose for the camera again, Belkar joining in now with a big grin, a wink, and a thumbs-up.
Trivia
- The title is taken from a speech by Winston Churchill during World War II on November 10th, 1942: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
- This is the first time the comic is split into several pages.
- While yet unnamed, this is Miko Miyazaki's and Lord Shojo's first appearance.
- This is also the only appearance of Guard of Nale and Thog, which, in apparent violation of the forum thread's rules on appearances, is nevertheless named and noted as an extra.