OotS 913

[Richards]

Rich has been cranking them out fast and furious lately. I'm glad to see a bunch of strips in a row. Hopefully this bodes well for his recovery.

Johnathan

 

[frankthedm]

Wow, someone is clearing out the Dramatis Personae list pretty efficiently.

I'd say there is a good chance he'll be back in one form or another.

Wonder if the next comic has Nale dropping in on the IFC.

 

[Orius]

Really? A lot of Rich's plot twists have taken me completely by surprise but this was not one of them, largely for the reason Tarquin gives in the third-from-last panel. The only question was whether Tarquin was going to do the honours himself or merely stand by while someone else did.

Not only this, back in this strip, Tarquin pretty much tells Nale he needs to prove himself. And like I said in the thread for #910:

And I'm not certain Tarquin will be proud of Nale's results here. He failed to capture the gate from the OotS, it got destroyed, then in the confusion he killed Malack instead of trying to subdue the OotS, and then Durkon killed Z'zdtri. Tarquin wanted to see how Nale could lead a team, and the results aren't likely to impress him. Not only did he completely fail his objective, he lost his entire team.

Tarquin's not too bothered by the gate's destruction. And Tarquin wasn't just looking to see how Nale could lead a team.

[sblock]
Nale failed to prove himself. It would also seem he's been a point of contention with Tarquin's friends for a while now. Tarquin protected him, perhaps in the hope that Nale would mature into an effective leader, but it didn't happen. Not only that, Nale killed off one of Tarquin's firends, which would not improve the opinion the others had of him, and he bragged about it, proving to Tarquin that Nale still hadn't learned to curb his ego. Killing Malack would probably make the others wonder which one is next, and likely some of them would probably make a pre-emptive strike on Nale. Tarquin offered his protection one last time and Nale chose to practically spit in his face. At least Tarquin made it quick.
[/sblock]

 

[MarkB]

I feel sorry for Sabine at this point - not for losing Nale, he was a douche and even a Succubus deserves better, but for how doomed she'll be when she goes after Tarquin.

Given his genre-savviness and general strategic acumen, there's no way Tarquin didn't have some precisely-tuned defenses set up against her from the first moment he contemplated killing Nale.

 

[Rune]

While I agree with all of the previously mentioned reasons for Nale's murder, I think there's something more fundamental at play, here, also.

Simply put, Nale made it clear that he was neither his father's pawn, nor possession. He, therefore, was nothing to Tarquin but a liability.

 

[Rabulias]

I wonder if at this point we will ever get the backstory details on Nale's animosity toward Malack? ("I've been thinking about killing you since I was nine years old!")

 

[Orius]

I feel sorry for Sabine at this point - not for losing Nale, he was a douche and even a Succubus deserves better, but for how doomed she'll be when she goes after Tarquin.

If she goes after him. She works for the Three Fiends and they may other uses for her other than going up against Tarquin.

 

[frankthedm]

I feel sorry for Sabine at this point - not for losing Nale, he was a douche and even a Succubus deserves better, but for how doomed she'll be when she goes after Tarquin.

Depends if Nale gets fast tracked to Fiend status or if Sabine devours Nale's Soul as a power up.