Quote Originally Posted by Sunken Valley View Post
Okay, for the first time I'm dissatisfied with an OOTS development.

Belkar dying in an un-dramatic moment, separate from his party that's fine. Also FYI he's not dead yet there's still time.

Malack as a Vampire is a massive throw off. Firstly he hangs out in the sun multiple times. Doubtless, I'm sure Malack has some super magic homebrew item that as high priest of so many nations (and Tarquin's chum) he can afford. But it comes almost out of nowhere and the sun thing is a major trick. Not only that but shouldn't a god like Nergal be against undead as it is an attempt to cheat death. Although, Rich's interpretation of Nergal is different.

But the most important thing is that it almost ruins Malack's relationship with Durkon. Rich believes that the presecution of "Savage Humanoids" in fantasy is wrong and that he'd kill alignment, leaving it for the supernatural. The LE Lizardfolk befriending the LG Dwarf tied in with that. But now that Malack is a Undead LE Lizardfolk that undercuts all that. Because Malack is a inherently evil monster. Undead are and should always be evil (except Ghosts). They are fueled by Negative Energy. And Redcloak said they were tools in 830. So Durkon was chatting with an evil weapon the entire time. I was charmed by their alignment and race bridging friendship. Now that I know Durkon dined with a beast, not so much.

Will Rich reply? Unknown. But I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the commentary in Book 5 (which we are probably getting come Christmas) where he explains it all.

Everything else in your wonderful wonderful comic is perfect and I'm sure there's something I'm missing come the end.
I think one of the points with this is that Redcloak is wrong. At least partially. You can control an undead creature, but you can control a living one too. Redcloak using trickery to point Xykon in the direction he wants him to go is manipulation and control that he would use on a living Xykon as well. The Wights could be controlled with a spell, but they were weak...and wouldn't it be much the same if, say, Tsukiko had a bunch of human minions and Redcloak had used a Dominate Person spell to order them to kill her too?

But Malack? Malack's his own person, and he's free from control. If Redcloak used a control undead on him...well, wouldn't that be much the same as a Dominate on Tarquin? Left to his own devices, Malack's a potential weapon, and dangerous, but not necessarily a guaranteed weapon like Redcloak says. Anyone of that power in this setting can be a weapon.