It’s how she puts the elf in his place that is so truly enjoyable… and disturbing, when you consider it. She starts with a simple number… of how many elves are still alive in the mountain. Because she can feel their heart beats. She knows their emotions. She knows some are hurt. She knows some are trapped in rubble and wreckage and need aid. And she even can feel the heartbeat of the elf who has the audacity to threaten her after she and her friends saved all of their lives. Her threat isn’t to bring down the mountain upon the elves. She’s not going to “kick up dust and make a mess” like Ian did. Instead, she’ll just end those heartbeats.

In short, this is one of the most delightful badass retorts I’ve seen. It’s quiet, assured, and says volumes more than any visible use of force would present. The Meji of old would have fried her antagonist with a fireball or lightning bolt. This Meji is older, wiser… sadder even (having lost her long-time familiar, Ellis, and had to kill Ian, who she’d once hoped to hook up with). What’s more, this is a significant change from the protagonists of old that Michael Poe had written (which includes a drunken 16-year-old with a cybernetic arm who wanted to be molested on Christmas Eve so not to feel lonely any longer, from a previous series).

Oh, I’m sure we’ll soon see Meji say or do something reminiscent of her old self to wrap up this series on a humorous note. But I must admit that I for one prefer this Meji to the dumb kid who started this series years ago who went on a silly quest to achieve godlike powers to graduate rather than study and do the right thing. But the price she’s paid for this power has tempered her, and made her a better person. Half the point of effective storytelling is growth and change, both with the protagonists and with the world they inhabit. At this point, Poe has succeeded in telling that story.

Recent Order of the Stick comics have been a decent example for the use of ensemble casts in combat, what with Roy’s fight with Thog, Vaarsuvius’s fight with the dark elf Zz’dtri, Elan and Nale’s fight, and on down the line. However, I must admit the ongoing fight has been dragging in places; part of this may be because Burlew is drawing in anticipation for this chapter going to print (as has happened with previous storylines). It may be that when the story is done, it’ll read better (or at the very least readers will be able to skim through the fight scene). Fortunately the latest update has helped salvage the fight (and also suggests that we’ll be seeing things wrapping up on all fronts fairly soon), with Roy using his brains (and the terrain) to prevail in his fight over Thog.

I must hand it to Burlew: he foreshadowed this moment with an earlier scene as Thog and Roy argued over the effective placement of statistics (as characters in the OotS world understand game mechanics for some odd metaphysical reason). Thog’s taunt at Roy over how intelligence was ‘useless’ in a fight has been decisively disproven with Roy not only using his knowledge of architecture and engineering to realize how best to bring the roof down on Thog (literally), but also on how to taunt Thog into attacking him and damaging the pillars holding the ceiling up. Ultimately, what makes a fight uninteresting is how mundane it is. But when it’s spiced up with elements like this, it works. Oh, it can’t be done all the time, but it’s the perfect culmination of a conflict to drag the reader’s attention back to the story.

Belkar’s adoption of Mr. Scruffy has been one of the few things to help redeem the character, and I must admit I’m glad to see he survived his battle against the kobold’s canine mount. Well, it’s no real surprise that he did; OotS sticks to D&D physics for the most part, and ignores little things like bleeding to death from an arrow wound (unless of course the opponent is brought to negative hit points… at which point they usually stop moving). Nitpicks aside, however, Belkar coming across his wounded cat and freaking out about it was a refreshing touch. Of course, what makes it even more amusing is watching Belkar’s realization he’s changing.

When he was first given a chance at redemption in the midst of his fever dreams, Belkar was under the assumption that he could fake character growth. Somewhere along the line, that distinction has gotten blurry, especially as he’s found he finally does care for something other than himself. I just hope Burlew takes this the next step; it would be fun to see him realize he also cares for his adventuring companions (if only in a small way). And who knows? Perhaps Belkar himself will finish his growth at the end of his adventures and willingly step into the Unknown in an unexpected bit of heroism, be it to save his companions… or even just Mr. Scruffy.