The Ultimate Linear Guild Tournament: The Ultimate Semifinals!

[137beth]

Greetings all tagonists, both of the 'pro' and 'an' variety, and welcome to

The Ultimate Linear Guild Tournament
Semifinal Edition!

In which all past members of the Linear Guild compete for the title of Ultimate Rival!

The Contestants:
The contestants have been divided into two categories: the main contestants and the tie-breaking contestant. The main contestants are those Nale personally recruited, and who were Evil Opposites of one of the six PCs. The tie-breaking contestants are those who forced there way in, or never formally joined at all. So without further ado, let me introduce:
The Main Contestants

Spoiler

Show

1. Nale
2. Sabine
3. Thog
4. Zz'dtri
5. Hilgya Firehelm-- Eliminated in the fourth Elimination Phase! I think karma just evened the score!
6. Yikyik-- Eliminated in the second Tiebreaking Phase! He tastes good with tortilla chips.
7. Leeky Windstaff
8. Pompey--Eliminated in the fourth Tiebreaking Phase! FREEDOM!
9. Yokyok-- Eliminated in the third Tiebreaking Phase! Getting paid to kill things: Cornerstone of the world economy.
10. Yukyuk-- Eliminated in the first Tiebreaking Phase! While shielding Mr. Scruffy from acid!

And now,
The Tie-breaking Contestants

Spoiler

Show

Introduced by me, the evil genius who concocted this elaborate scheme to begin with! Now remember, these Tiebreakers aren't real evil opposites. All you Linear Guild fans should be hoping that these second-string wannabes lose! They don't even get numbers, just letters.

A. General Tarquin--This fool is a complete coward who doesn't know what real power is! Also, he practices filicide!

B. Malack--A Snake, a leech, a parasite, and a pile of dust are the most generous ways to describe this monster!

C. Kilkil--An overattentive drone who follows my father around. He's even more worthless than Belkon. Or Belker, or whatever the halfling's name is.

D. Qarr--A simple pawn in my grand design...
--Eliminated during the Final Tiebreaking Phase! Okay, I'm out. Good luck, elf.

E. Ysometimesykysometimesyk--What is that, a KOBOLD hiding under the umbrella? Something else polymorphed into a kobold? He's not even a Linear Guilder, how in the Nine Hells did he get in here?
--Eliminated during the third Tiebreaking Phase! Awww man! I lost thrice. I suck.

F. Yakyak--Oh come on, he's not even a character! Whoever picked this terrible line-up of tie-breaking contestants is as dumb as my brother!
--Eliminated during the second Tiebreaking Phase! Everyone knows that they're no real threat to the six of us.

...
...
Phew, I'm glad that's over. I knew there was a reason I wouldn't let Nale introduce the Main Contestants!

The Final Contestants
The Final Contestants are the five Main and three Tiebreaking contestants who reached the Rocket Skate Phase without being eliminated. They are:

Spoiler

Show

1. Nale ---Eliminated during the sixth Elimination Phase! You would have been dead years ago if it weren't for my protection.
2. Sabine
3. Thog ---Has one pair of Rocket Skates! ---Eliminated during the seventh Elimination Phase!
Cross-class ranks in Knowledge (Rocket Skate Engineering)! That's how I use my intelligence score in combat!
4. Zz'dtri ---Eliminated during the Rocket Skate Phase! An' I'm helpin' ye back!
5. Leeky Windstaff---Eliminated during the seventh Elimination Phase! Sit!
6. General Tarquin
7. Malack
8. Kilkil ---Eliminated during the fifth Elimination Phase!

The Ultimate Contestants
In spite of the name, the Final Contestants are not the last group of contestants. The eight Final Contestants have been narrowed down into the three Ultimate Contestants, who are pre-ranked based on their performance in the Final bracket:

3. Malack finished third in the Final bracket, and so qualified for the Ultimate Semifinals!
2. General Tarquin finished second in the Final bracket, and so qualified for the Ultimate Semifinals!
1. Sabine finished first in the Final bracket, and so automatically qualifies for the Ultimate Finals!

The Process
Each week during the Initial Phase, I will post three head-to-head matches between competitors, and y'all will be able to vote once in each. Voting will last for one week, after which I will post another three matches. This will continue until all Linear Guilders have faced three other competitors. At this point, a score for each Linear Guilder will be computed. The score of a competitor depends on the scores of those they defeated, which in turn depends on the scores of who they defeated. It is a variation of the PageRank algorithm used by Google.
Subsequently, the tournament will enter the Elimination Phase. During the Elimination Phase, the Linear Guilder with the lowest score will be eliminated. The three remaining Linear Guilders who previously faced the eliminated contestant will each play each other. Thus, each remaining Linear Guilder will have played three or more matches against other remaining Linear Guilders. The score of the remaining characters will be recomputed, and the cycle continues until only three remain.
If, during the Elimination Phase, there is a tie for last place, the tied contestants will enter a Tiebreaking Phase. The Tiebreaking Phase will feature matches between the Main Contestants tied for last place, along with an equal number of Tiebreaking Contestants! If, due to eliminations, there are an insufficient number of Tiebreaking Contestants for a given Phase, than all remaining Tiebreaking Contestants will take part. The last place Main contestant and the last place contestant (if they are a Tiebreaking Contestant) at the end of each Tiebreaking Phase will be eliminated from the tournament! The winner of the Tiebreaking Phase (if they are a Tiebreaking Contestant) will be inducted into the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions!

Each time there is a Tie for last place in the Elimination Phase, another Tiebreaking Phase will be run, knocking out another Main contestant and Another Tiebreaking Contestant, and adding another 'tagonist to the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions.

Now, at this point, you are probably wondering: what will happen if a Tiebreaking Phase ends in a tie? Well, in that case, we will go into a Tiebreaking Tiebreaking Phase! Hint: it involves puppets. Specifically the Linear Guild puppets from the introduction of No Cure for Paladin Blues. If that ends in a tie, then I will use a refined version of the PageRank algorithm that takes the number of votes for each Linear Guilder into account, and not just who won each match. In the highly unlikely event that a tie still persists, I will cast a tiebreaking vote.

Once only three Main Contestants remain, all Tiebreaking Contestants who have not made it into the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions will face off against each other in an Ultimate Tiebreaking Phase. If there is only one such Tiebreaking Contestant, then it will automatically win this phase. If no Tiebreaking contestants who have not been eliminated nor entered the Hall remain, then this phase will be skipped. The winner of that Phase will join the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions. Subsequently, the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions will be merged into the Main Contestants, an each will face a random set of three original Main Contestants in the Merger Phase.

Once the Merger Phase is complete, a very special phase will begin. The rules and purpose of this Phase will be a surprise, and will not be revealed until the Phase begins.
Really? I love surprises!

The Super Secret Phase was revealed to be the Rocket Skate Phase! The Rocket Skate phase is much like the Initial Phase: it consists of twelve matches over four weeks, with each of the remaining eight contestants facing off against three others. This time, though, a set of rocket skates will be awarded to the winner of each match. However, each contestant may only win up to ONE set of rocket skates--further victories still count as wins, but do not award additional rocket skates.
After the Rocket Skate Phase, the cycle of elimination will then continue until only three Linear Guilders, from either category, remain. Unlike the earlier elimination phases, though, no more Tiebreaking Phases will be played. If necessary, ties will be broken by an alternate scoring system. If a tie is still present, I will break it myself.
In future Elimination Phases, a contestant who won rocket skates in the Rocket Skate Phase can opt to use them, granting a +3 for a single match. Rocket Skates are expended after one use. A contestant 'chooses' to use their rocket skates via majority vote.

Once only three contestants remain, the Final Three will each play rematches against each other to determine the Ultimate Rival!

Main Bracket
There may have been a bit of confusion about how scores are calculated, and what the Main Bracket is, so I'm clearing things up. The Main Bracket consists of all matches played during the Initial Phase and all Elimination Phases. However, matches in which at least one contestant have been eliminated are removed from the Main Bracket. The scores computed at the end of each Elimination Phase are the Page Rank values of contestants based on all Main Bracket matches (not just those from the most recent Elimination Phase).
Once a match is played in the Main Bracket, it is not rerun--matches from the Initial and Elimination phases continue to be counted as long as both of their participants are still in the tournament, up until the Rocket Skate Round.
Tiebreaking Phases use their own separate brackets, which include only matches from that Tiebreaking Phase, ignoring matches from previous Tiebreaking Phases and from the Main Bracket.

Upon the completion of the Final Tiebreaking Phase, the Main Bracket has been rendered obsolete. Scores were subsequently determined by the Final Bracket, which includes all matches played during and after the Rocket Skate Phase.
Upon the completion of the seventh Elimination Phase, the Final Bracket has been rendered obsolete. Now, all that matters is the winner of the Ultimate Semifinals and Ultimate Finals.



Previous Matches
Initial Phase
1. Nale vs. Yukyuk: 14-5
2. Sabine vs Yokyok: 16-3
3. Leeky Windstaff vs Pompey: 15-4
4. Zz'dtri vs Yikyik 23-0
5. Sabine vs Thog 13-10
6. Hilgya Firehelm vs Leeky Windstaff 9-14
7. Nale vs Zz'dtri: 12-13
8. Thog vs Yokyok: 19-6
9. Hilgya Firehelm vs Yukyuk: 18-6
10. Nale vs Pompey: 19-3
11. Sabine vs Hilgya Firehelm: 18-4
12. Yikyik vs Leeky Windstaff: 1-21
13. Thog vs Yukyuk 21-1
14. Zz'dtri vs Yokyok 20-3
15. Yikyik vs Pompey 9-14

At the end of the Intitial Phase, the scores of each Main Contestant are:
1. Sabine: 1.79388
2. Zz'dtri: 1.77157
3. Leeky Windstaff: 1.3476
4. Nale: 1.03801
5. Thog: 0.889254
6-7. Hilgya Firehelm: 0.728431
6-7. Pompey: 0.728431
8-10: Yikyik: 0.567609
8-10: Yokyok: 0.567609
8-10: Yukyuk: 0.567609
Thog surprised many by failing not only to come in first during the Initial Phase, but to achieve a score that was below average.

Tiebreaking Phase 1
1. Yikyik vs Yokyok: 8-7
2. Yukyuk vs General Tarquin: 2-13
3. Malack vs Kilkil: 13-3
4. Yikyik vs Yukyuk: 5-2
5. Yokyok vs Malack: 0-9
6. General Tarquin vs Kilkil: 6-3
7. Yokyok vs Yukyuk: 3-1
8. Yikyik vs Kilkil: 1-5
9. General Tarquin vs Malack: 2-7

At the end of the Phase, the Tiebreaking Scores (which do not include matches from the Initial Phase) are:

1. Malack: 2.03711
2. Kilkil: 1.12035
3. Tarquin: 1.03901
4. Yikyik: 0.802074
5. Yokyok: 0.562859
6. Yukyuk: 0.438591

Despite defeating him in a direct match, Tarquin narrowly lost to his kobold assistant in the rankings. Yukyuk lost three matches in a row, bringing him to the bottom and making him the first Linear Guilder to be eliminated! Meanwhile, Malack went undefeated and entered the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions!

Elimination Phase 1
1. Nale vs Thog: 6-8
2. Nale vs Hilgya Firehelm: 8-6
3. Thog vs Hilgya Firehelm: 8-6

Thog makes a comeback from his poor showing in the Initial Phase. Nale drops below the average of the remaining Main Contestants. The Main Bracket scores at the end of the first Elimination Phase were:

1. Sabine: 1.90886
2. Zz'dtri:1.29813
3. Thog: 1.25839
4. Leeky Windstaff: 1.14523
5. Nale: 0.986266
6. Pompey: 0.720004
7-9. Hilgya Firehelm, Yikyik, and Yokyok: 0.561042

Leeky maintains his lead on Nale due to going undefeated in the Initial Phase, but likely only because he faced easy opponents.

Tiebreaking Phase 2

1. Hilgya Firehelm vs Yikyik: 12-1
2. Yokyok vs General Tarquin: 2-11
3. Qarr vs Yakyak: 12-1
4. Hilgya Firehelm vs Yokyok: 13-0
5. Yikyik vs Qarr: 0-13
6. General Tarquin vs Yakyak: 11-1
7. Yikyik vs Yokyok: 5-7
8. Hilgya Firehelm vs Yakyak: 12-0
9. General Tarquin vs Qarr: 10-2

The final scores for this Tiebreaking Phase are:
1. Tarquin: 1.8733
2. Hilgya: 1.25191
3. Qarr: 0.928624
4. Yokyok: 0.760682
5-6. Yikyik and Yakyak:0.592739


Tarquin sweeps the Tiebreaking Phase and enters the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions! There is a tie for last place, however, Yikyik is a Main Contestant while Yakyak is a Tiebreaking Contestant, so both are eliminated with no Tiebreaking Tiebreaking Phase needed. (A Tiebreaking Tiebreaking Phase only occurs if there is a tie for last place in a Tiebreaking Phase among tied contestants from the same division, or if any tie for first place in a Tiebreaking Phase occurs).

Elimination Phase 2
1. Thog vs Zz'dtri: 11-11 tie! I broke the tie in favor of Thog
2. Zz'dtri vs Leeky Windstaff: 14-8
3. Zz'dtri vs Pompey: 21-1

The final scores for the Main Bracket at the end of the second Elimination Phase were:

1. Sabine: 2.28503
2. Thog: 1.99705
3. Zz'dtri: 1.36448
4-5. Nale and Leeky Windstaff: 0.587541
6-8. Hilgya Firehelm, Pompey, and Yokyok: 0.392785

Zz'dtri falls behind Thog due to his direct loss. Sabine maintains a lead, while the sole remaining kobold is forced into a Tiebreaking Phase!

Tiebreaking Phase 3

1. Hilgya Firehelm vs Pompey: 12-3
2. Yokyok vs Kilkil: 8-7
3. Qarr vs Ysometimesykysometimesyk: 13-2
4. Hilgya Firehelm vs Yokyok: 9-2
5. Pompey vs Qarr: 1-11
6. Kilkil vs Ysometimesykysometimesyk: 10-0
7. Pompey vs Yokyok: 6-4
8. Hilgya Firehelm vs Ysometimesykysometimesyk: 10-0
9. Kilkil vs Qarr: 4-6

At the end of the third Tiebreaking Phase, the scores for this Phase are:
1. Hilgya--0.247993
2. Qarr--0.237546
3. Pompey--0.155383
4. Yokyok--0.144936
5. Kilkil--0.120357
6. MitD--0.0937847

Ysometimesykysometimesyk is eliminated from the tournament due to placing last, as is Yokyok due to being the last place Main Contestant. Since Hilgya, a main contestant, came in first, no one enters the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions this phase.

Elimination Phase 3
1. Nale vs Leeky Windstaff: 16-3
2. Sabine vs Zz'dtri: 12-7
3. Sabine vs Pompey: 17-2


The Main Bracket scores at the end of this Phase are

1. Sabine: 2.2272
2. Thog: 1.35173
3. Zz'dtri: 1.12727
4. Nale: 0.853767
5. Leeky: 0.599135
6-7. Hilgya and Pompey: 0.420446

Tiebreaking Phase 4
1. Hilgya Firehelm vs Kilkil: 12-3
2. Hilgya Firehelm vs Qarr: 9-6
3. Pompey vs Kilkil: 2-13
4. Hilgya Firehelm vs Pompey: 10-2
5. Pompey vs Qarr: 2-10
6.Kilkil vs Qarr: 9-3

The final scores for this Tiebreaking Phase are:

1. Hilgya Firehelm: 1.80551
2. Kilkil: 0.975949
3. Qarr: 0.684876
4. Pompey: 0.53367

Since the first place Tiebreaker, Hilgya, is a Main Contestant, no one enters the Hall of Tiebreaking Champions this round!
Pompey comes in last and is eliminated from the tournament!

Elimination Phase 4
1. Nale vs Sabine: 10-10 --In the interest of keeping the tournament closer, I broke the tie in favor of the underdog, Nale.
2. Sabine vs Leeky Windstaff: 14-6
3. Thog vs Leeky Windstaff: 15-5

The Main Bracket scores at the end of this phase are:
1. Sabine: 1.73548
2. Nale: 1.69568
3. Thog: 1.32765
4. Zz'dtri: 0.909314
5. Leeky: 0.181875
6. Hilgya: 0.15

Hilgya is eliminated from the tournament!

Final Tiebreaking Phase
1. Kilkil vs Qarr: 11-4
Kilkil moves on to the Final Bracket, while Qarr is eliminated!


Rocket Skate Phase
1. Nale vs Zz'dtri: 11-5
2. Sabine vs Malack: 9-7
3. Zz'dtri vs Malack: 5-11
4. Nale vs General Tarquin: 8-9
5. Sabine vs Leeky Windstaff: 10-7
6. Zz'dtri vs Kilkil: 8-9
7. Thog vs Kilkil: 9-4
8. General Tarquin vs Kilkil: 12-1
9. Thog vs Leeky Windstaff: 9-4
10. Leeky Windstaff vs General Tarquin: 8-9
11. Nale vs Sabine: 4-12
12. Thog vs Malack: 8-9

The scores for this Phase are:
1. Sabine: 2.14074
2. Malack: 1.43248
3. Tarquin: 1.19845
4. Thog: 0.923133
5-6. Kilkil: 0.647812
5-6. Nale: 0.647812
7-8. Leeky: 0.504789
7-8. Zz'dtri: 0.504789

In order to break the tie for last place, an Alternate scoring system is used. These scores do not affect future rounds in the Bracket:
1-2. Sabine: 0.59468
1-2. Tarquin: 0.59468
3. Malack: 0.444422
4. Thog: 0.305434
5. Nale: 0.294165
6. Kilkil: 0.0961065
7. Leeky: -0.054151
8. Zz'dtri: -1.27534

Elimination Phase 5
1. Nale vs Malack: 4 +3 -6 +3
2. Should Nale use his Rocket Skates in match 1? (Yes vs No): 6-3
3. Should Malack use his Rocket Skates in match 1? (Yes vs No): 5-4
4. Nale vs Kilkil: 11-4+3
5. Should Kilkil use his Rocket Skates in match 4? (Yes vs No): 8-5
6. Malack vs Kilkil: 12-1

At the end of the fifth Elimination Phase, the main bracket scores were:
1. Sabine: 2.1045
2. Malack: 1.47645
3. Tarquin: 0.960476
4. Thog: 0.781087
5. Nale: 0.633138
6-7. Leeky: 0.522175
6-7. Kilkil: 0.522175

To break the tie, an alternate scoring system was used:
1-2. Sabine: 0.920576
1-2. Tarquin: 0.920576
3. Malack: 0.898072
4. Thog: 0.891696
5. Nale: 0.846689
6. Leeky: 0.82954
7. Kilkil: 0.69285

Kilkil is eliminated from the tournament!

Elimination Phase 6
1. Nale vs Thog: 8-10
2. Should Thog use his Rocket Skates in match 1? (Yes vs No): 8-9
3. Thog vs General Tarquin: 10-7
4. Should Thog use his Rocket Skates in match 3? (Yes vs No): 6-11
5. Should Tarquin use his Rocket Skates in match 3? (Yes vs No): 7-10
6. General Tarquin vs Malack: 8-8, so I will break the tie in favor of Malack
7. Should Tarquin use his Rocket Skates in match 6? (Yes vs No): 7-9

The final scores at the end of Elimination Phase 6 were:
1. Sabine: 1.98939
2. Malack: 1.58053
3. Thog: 0.920474
4. Tarquin: 0.645947
5-6. Nale: 0.431831
5-6. Leeky: 0.431831

Since there is a tie for last place, the alternate scoring system was used:
1. Sabine: 1.08666
2. Malack: 1.05454
3. Thog: 1.04544
4. Tarquin: 1.00165
5. Leeky: 0.926456
6. Nale: 0.885244

Nale, the founder of the Linear Guild, has been eliminated!

Elimination Phase 7:
1. Sabine vs Thog: 7+3-9
2. Should Sabine use her Rocket Skates in match 1? (Yes vs No): 9-7
3. Should Thog use his Rocket Skates in match 1? (Yes vs No): 6-10
4. Sabine vs General Tarquin : 10-10+3
5. Should Tarquin use his Rocket Skates in match 4? (Yes vs No): 13-6
6. Leeky Windstaff vs Malack: 8-11

The final scores are:

1. Sabine: 1.48187
2. Tarquin: 1.44147
3. Malack: 1.13216
4. Thog: 0.794499
5. Leeky: 0.15


Sabine automatically qualifies for the Ultimate Finals! Tarquin and Malack qualify for the Ultimate Semifinals!

Leeky is eliminated from the tournament!
Sit!

Thog is also eliminated, because someone put cross-class skill ranks in Knowledge: (Rocket Skate Engineering) in order to use his intelligence score in combat!


The Current Phase
Malack and Tarquin finished second and third in the previous Phase, so they both qualify for the Ultimate Semifinals. Rocket Skates are not allowed from here on out: it is a straightforward fight to the finish. There is no complicated scoring system in this Phase! The loser shall be awarded the title of Third String Villain, and be eliminated from the competition. The winner will proceed to face Sabine for the title of Ultimate Rival!


The Current Match: the Ultimate Semifinal
Vote once. There are no more Rocket Skates.
1. Malack vs General Tarquin

As this match is the penultimate match in the entire tournament, it will remain open for twice as long as normal. Voting will last until October 19. The loser is awarded third place for the entire tournament, whilst the winner proceeds to the Ultimate Finals in a one on one match with Sabine!

[ranagrande]

General Tarquin

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Malack for me.

[Gift Jeraff]

Malack 10 c

[Rakoa]

Tarquin

Only one man is the best.

[Nemeean_lion]

Malack.

No contest.

[Sheba]

Malack all the way.

[Malfarian]

Tarquin, he planned for this.

[Bird]

Minister Malack

[Arvedui]

Tarquin, then.

[Sylian]

Tarquin - I do think Malack is an interesting character and all, but Tarquin is one of the most interesting characters in the strip, I think. He might be my 10th or 11th or 12th favorite character, even! Why? For a few reasons. Firstly, he's funny, easily the funniest villain. Secondly, I find the contrast between the suave, cool way he presents himself and the actual reality of him being überpetty* very interesting. Thirdly, he provides some very meaningful character development for Elan. Granted, so does Malack with regards to Durkon, although most of the actual character development is due to the High Priest of Hel's interaction with Durkon's soul rather than Malack directly, so Tarquin edges out Malack there. All in all, I find Tarquin to be both funnier and better developed than Tarquin. I hope that he secures second place.

He's also closer to actually being a legitimate Linear Guild member than Malack, for what it matters. Malack was figuratively dragged kicking and screaming into "joining" the Linear Guild, while Tarquin was the one suggesting it in the first place. So if that matters, then that's another point in Tarquin's favor.

*Apologies to any German speaker for appropriating and misusing the term "über".

[declinator]

Malack. His opponent is just an usurper to the Linear Guild leadership.

[obaryb]

General Tarquin

[Mike Havran]

Tarquin!!!

[137beth]

Hmm, it's interesting to observe the apparent shift in opinion since Tiebreaking Phase 1....

[konradknox]

I vote for Tarquin.

Because, mainly, he is still in the game.
Tarquin made an epic showdown, with persistence, throwing everything at his disposal to accomplish his narrative goal, psion chases, triceratops, calling in a favor, he spared no guns.

Malack... meh, checked out like a bitch. "Boo hoo, Nergal, help me!" You're a priest of an evil god, come on, what did you think? That your evil god will save a failure? You didn't kill Tarquin's brat when you had a chance, and thus don't deserve mercy.

General T. is still alive, and thus, can still make a difference.

[Sylian]

Hmm, it's interesting to observe the apparent shift in opinion since Tiebreaking Phase 1....

I decided to compare the votes, and it turns out that everyone who both voted in this round and that round kept their votes the same. So it's less of a shift in opinion and more "new people voting", and some of the old Malack voters not voting (yet?). That round only had 9 votes in total, while this round has 14 thus far.

[Killer Angel]

Hard decision. I like Malack, i like him very much, but Tarquin is one step ahead.
So, Tarquin.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I really feel like voting for Malack, but whenever I try to think of moments where either of these characters really came alive and made me enjoy the strip the one moment that drowns out all the others is "This is a terrible ending!" It's not even a plot twist or a defining moment, and still it's one of the best pages in oots. So I guess objectively I'd rather see Sabine being taken on by Tarquin.

[Pyrous]

I really feel like voting for Malack, but whenever I try to think of moments where either of these characters really came alive and made me enjoy the strip the one moment that drowns out all the others is "This is a terrible ending!" It's not even a plot twist or a defining moment, and still it's one of the best pages in oots. So I guess objectively I'd rather see Sabine being taken on by Tarquin.

And a Final Showdown between Tarquin and Sabine would be the proper procedure, after Nale's demise.

Tarquin

[ti'esar]

Tarquin text

[Norrefve]

Malack gets my vote. This is a tough one, as they are both Lawful Evil (which is the best alignment) but Malack actually died for his cause, which says to me that he is more committed.
Also, Tarquin was only after power and fame, which are pretty lame compared to what Malack sought after; knowledge, longevity, and loyal companions.

[crunchykoolaid]

Malack! Still my favorite vampire character in any media ever. (Okay maybe a slight overstatement).

[Rakoa]

Malack sought after; knowledge, longevity, and loyal companions.

Don't forget about theocratic genocide!

[137beth]

With one week down, we are halfway through this voting period! Currently, the tally stands at 12 votes for Tarquin, and 8 for Malack. Whilst Tarquin leads, there is ample opportunity for Malack to catch up before voting closes in one week!

[bookguy]

General Tarquin

[martianmister]

General Tarquin

[137beth]

And the results are in!

1. Malack vs General Tarquin: 8-14

Malack receives third place for the whole tournament, whilst Tarquin will face Sabine in the Ultimate Finals!

The next (and last!) match will begin shortly!