rejects her after she reveals she is married. Returns, accompanied by her and Durkon's baby son Kudzu, to help the Order fight Vampire Durkon at Firmament. (In a running joke, Belkar's Linear Guild opposites are a succession of kobolds, none of whom survive contact with him.) Miko Miyazaki (Human Monk/Paladin, Lawful good): Strongest warrior of the Sapphire Guard, Miko is dispatched to apprehend the Order at the request of her liege. Her sanctimonious attitude and her frequent judgment of others on moral grounds create conflict with the Order, although both oppose the forces of Evil. Miko breaks her Paladin oath by killing Shojo, her liege lord. She is killed during the battle of Azure City. General Tarquin: The de facto ruler of the Empire of Blood on the Western Continent and the father of Elan and Nale, General Tarquin is a lawful evil fighter who has schemes within schemes. Much like Elan, Tarquin is genre-savvy and has a flair for the dramatic, and becomes upset when others fail to respect literary convention. Minister Malack: A lawful evil lizardfolk cleric of Nergal and close friend of Tarquin; secretly a vampire. He harbors a grudge against Nale for killing his children (i.e. vampire spawn) and befriends Durkon soon after they meet, but later turns him into a vampire. Ultimately murdered by Nale. Vampire Durkon: An evil spirit created by Hel to fit the darker aspects of Durkon's personality. When Durkon is vampirized this spirit takes possession of his body, keeping the original Durkon a prisoner in his own brain. He is Hel's agent in the attempt to sway the gods' vote to destroy the world. Sacrifices himself when outwitted by the real Durkon. Hel: The Northern goddess of death, daughter of Loki. At the creation of the current world, she and Thor agreed (with Loki's connivance) that she could have the soul of every dwarf who died without honor. The dwarves since became a race of honorable warriors, frustrating her plans. When the gods debate whether to destroy the world, she attempts to swing the vote to Yes, since if the world is snuffed out every remaining dwarf soul becomes hers. Plot While the online version of The Order of the Stick unfolds continuously, the strips have been broken down into plot arcs for purposes of publication; the plot summary that follows breaks the story down into these arcs for clarity. Burlew