Calder was an ancient red dragon who was originally a cult leader and an enemy to the Order of the Scribble.

History

At an undetermined time around the 1110's,^[1] Calder created a cult based around himself, using his mind-affecting spells and abilities to manipulate his followers and build up power. After the Order of the Scribble encountered him, they fought and subdued him, depicted in the 2015 OOTS calendar. Serini describes this as a hard fight, (likely leading to her fear of him) saying “It took all six of us working together to take his operation down.” in strip 1296, Cult Classic. One of Sunny’s crayon drawings in 1257, Mental Block, were likely inspired by stories of this battle told by Serini. According to Serini, she had wanted to kill him, but he surrendered and Soon Kim (the order’s paladin) spared him.

Calder was later imprisoned in a stasis trap in the Final Dungeon of Kraagor's Tomb to be used as an opponent against intruders. Thanks to his Spell Resistance (or perhaps, "with it to blame"), he was fully conscious for the 60+ years he was imprisoned, but unable to move. He described his ordeal as "an endless waking nightmare", trapped in his own body. Quoting Serini, "Sucks to have spell resistance, I guess". When the Order entered the Walkway Room, the fully awake Calder was able to mind-control Sunny, making them cross the walkway and use their anti-magic eye to break him free.

After a fierce battle against Serini, Sunny, and the Order of the Stick, Calder is finally killed after Roy Greenhilt uses the Greenhilt Sword to decapitate him.

Personality and Traits

Calder was primarily focused on freeing himself and exacting horrific vengeance on his captor.

Calder was eloquently spoken and wore a paper-thin mask of civility but was a tyrannical dragon that refused to tolerate any less than subservience from other creatures, including when Roy tried to defuse the situation.

Powers and Abilities

• Stasis Awareness: Even while in stasis, Calder stayed conscious the entire time, as revealed in #1297. This was because of his Spell Resistance, which presumably reduced the effects of the stasis trap.
• Telepathy: Calder can communicate telepathically. One likely explanation for this might be that Calder has levels in the Mindbender prestige class. (see below)
• Power to Enchant Others: Calder uses a mind-affecting spell or other ability on Sunny. It is not yet known what ability this is.
  • One possibility is suggestion, which is a spell-like ability for Old or older red dragons.
  • A stronger alternative is dominate monster. As a ninth-level spell requiring an 18th-level sorcerer, this could be cast by a great wyrm red dragon (19th caster level), or a younger dragon with class levels in sorcerer.
  • Push the Weak Mind - a Mindbender class ability that allows a character to use suggestion telepathically. This may explain how Calder was able to enchant sunny while in stasis.
• Mindbender: Serini specifically calls Calder "a bit of a mindbender". This could (or not) be a reference to the Mindbender prestige class (see below for details), but in any case, is clearly a reference to, and great description of, Calder's many mind-affecting skills and powers.

Trivia

• Calder first appears in one of Sunny's crayon drawings in 1257, as evidenced by the matching broken horn.
• Even before that, Calder (already with a broken horn) was featured in the February drawing of the OOTS 2015 Calendar, in the process of being subdued by Kraagor and the rest of the Order of the Scribble.
• Before it was revealed in 1295, the creature was referred to as "the Thing at the End of the Walkway", or TEW for short. There was much speculation about its species, including beholderkin, titan, efreet, half-dragon, and even it being a manifestation of lower-planar beings.
• Before the strip Cold Open, one theory to explain Calder being conscious while in stasis was that Sunny activated a trap on the walkway that for some reason only broke one layer on the stasis trap and left him conscious but unable to move for the brief moment between Sunny’s enchantment and Calder being freed. However, Cold Open showed that it was, instead, a matter of his own Spell Resistance not allowing the stasis trap to have full effect.
• One proposed method of acquiring two of the above powers (telepathy and the ability to enchant creatures while physically in stasis) would be the Mindbender prestige class, which Serini makes a possible reference to in 1296. Among the abilities this Prc provides in the first two levels are permanent telepathy and Push the Weak Mind, which allows a character to essentially issue a telepathic suggestion a number of times per day. This prestige class fits well, given Calder’s specialization in mind-affecting/enchantment spells and probable levels in sorcerer, which would allow him to qualify for Mindbender.
• Calder is the fourth dragon to be killed in the comic, with the first three being the Black Dragon of Wooden Forest, the Zombie Dragon, and the Mother Dragon.

Appearances
1257, 1294, 1295, 1296, 1297, 1298, 1299, 1300, 1301, 1302, 1303, 1304, 1305, 1306, 1308, 1311