How the Paladin Got His Scar

How the Paladin Got His Scar
Number of Pages	95
Color	Grayscale
Background Character	O-Chul
First Printed	15 May 2017 (kickstarter) 15 August 2018 (GDGU)

How The Paladin Got His Scar is a 95 page long story featuring O-Chul before he became a Paladin of the Sapphire Guard. Originally released as a bonus comic for backers to the Order of the Stick 2012 Kickstarter campaign, it was available for purchase compiled with the release of Good Deeds Gone Unpunished.

Summary

The story starts with Azure City Army captain O-Chul singlehandedly driving off an attack from hobgoblins after the rest of his regiment is killed. As he's about to ride away with a lone survivor, Nguyen, one dying hobgoblin mentions that it was Azure City that instigated the conflict, accusing Azurites on horseback attacking their settlements. O-Chul returns to the village he was defending to find one of his privates, Zhou Bo, had abandoned her post to hide with the people. Promising to punish her, O-Chul orders Bo to help move the villagers to Blueriver Fort.

At the fort, O-Chul meets with General Nhek, and asks about the possibility of Azurite soldiers attacking hobgoblins, though Nhek denies any responsibility as Azure City is already facing difficulty from the neighboring Realm of the Dragon. O-Chul wonders if the City Nobles are involved, as they own horses, and Nhek points out that while it is possible, evidence is needed before accusations can be made. A Ranger from the Peripheral Frontier named Saha Kapoor offers her services in tracking the hobgoblin village for O-Chul's investigation, demanding in return that her family, fleeing from the Realm, be allowed to immigrate into the City. Nhek agrees to write a favorable recommendation for the Kapoors on their behalf if the mission turns out well, and Bo is drafted to join the expedition as punishment for her earlier cowardice.

After having Bo dig graves for her fallen comrades and the group battling a two-headed ettin (with one head claiming to not be responsible for the violent other head), the party reaches the nearest hobgoblin village, and Saha notices that while there are hoofprints near the village, there were none approaching it for far. Talking with a binturong, Saha confirms that humans did attack, but the animal is colorblind and unable to tell if they were wearing blue. A young noble arrives claiming to be a diplomat assigned to help speak with the hobgoblin leadership, introducing himself as "Hin Jozuki", and though O-Chul accepts him into their party, he insists he is still in charge.

As the heroes camp outside the village, hobgoblins suddenly attack, and O-Chul and Saha are able to kill them while capturing two, the rabbit hunter Tingtox and ditch digger Pangtok. O-Chul ties the two up and orders them to take his party to the hobgoblin leadership, though along the way, the captives try to escape and kill the humans at the river by knocking the log bridge used to cross. Pangtok, Saha, and Hin are swept away by the river, and Bo saves Hin with a rope while O-Chul dives in after Pingtok, while Saha later comes ashore riding a dolphin with her ranger skills. O-Chul explains to the hobgoblins that he wants to stop the mystery riders from starting a war, and after swearing not to tie them up again, they agree to help him once more.

When the party gets to the hobgoblin village in the mountains, Pangtok shows them a secret tunnel to get in past the gates, though they are confronted by guards led by a ruthless General on the way to meet their ruler. After they mention they want to talk peace and end the conflicts, a hunched hobgoblin cleric helps bring the party to the Supreme Leader, who agrees to assist the heroes in finding the raiders due to the strategic benefit in preventing war between the races for now (rather than comprehending humans' empathy towards the hobgoblins). However, a messenger interrupts with news that the raiders are advancing on the front gates, with the Supreme Leader thinking O-Chul's group led them there, so the humans escape thanks to Bo (due to her knowing "the fastest escape route") and rush to the gates.

Outside the gates, the party sees that the mystery cavaliers are paladins of the Sapphire Guard, riding their summoned Holy Mounts and led by Commander Gin-Jun, who is making his warriors search for the Bearer of the Crimson Mantle inside the village. When O-Chul tries to argue about the ramifications of the paladins' actions, Gin-Jun sends in their young monk acolyte Miko Miyazaki, who Hin recognizes as his "cousin", and she proceeds to beat up O-Chul. Saha and Pangtok run to the nearby reservoir to flood the path to the gate, and Saha uses a scroll to summon an orca whale that breaks the dam, banishing the holy horses and making the path too muddy to charge. After they casually kill Pangtok, the paladins retreat, and O-Chul's party run from the angry hobgoblins.

At the paladin camp, Gin-Jun laments how he once had the opportunity to destroy the Crimson Mantle back when the Sapphire Guard killed Redcloak's master 22 years ago (during the events of Start of Darkness), and that he has concluded it must be in the village since it's the only goblinoid settlement blocked from their divinations. He uses a Candle of Invocation to summon a Celestial planetar away from her blind date, and though she doesn't agree to help the paladins kill the hobgoblins, Gin-Jun gets her to agree to break down the gates in the morning, which will incite a battle so she will defend herself against the village's forces.

In a nearby cave system, Hin reveals that he is actually Hinjo, Lord Shojo's nephew and the presumed heir to the throne, who wanted to investigate the secretive Sapphire Guard roaming the mountains and learned about O-Chul's mission from the recuperating Nguyen. Tingtox tells the group that the Supreme Leader would declare war on Azure City if humans enter the village, and O-Chul goes off to think how to prevent it from happening, soon joined by Saha suggesting they either join the hobgoblins or the paladins in their fight, though O-Chul refuses either plan.

When Saha asks him why he's willing to save hobgoblins, O-Chul tells the story of "a sergeant" who helped bring down two thieves robbing a road, finding out they were parents to a young sickly boy raised into a life of crime, and instead of sending him away or punishing him for his family's crimes, the sergeant took the boy to his sister's home and helped raise him. When Saha says O-Chul must have had empathy before helping the boy, O-Chul reveals that he was the boy, who now knows firsthand what it's like to have his life be valued despite where he came from.

Saha notes that the paladins are oppressing the hobgoblins now, and he reluctantly agrees to help them in the coming battle, but the Sapphire Guard Subcommander Sato finds the group and tells them about the summoned planetar. Bo suggests running away so they can warn General Nhek to reinforce the human villages against the retaliating hobgoblins, but Hinjo mentions the military is already occupied with the Realm of the Dragon. He reveals to Saha that the Realm was once combined with Azure City's ancestors as the Ancient Empire, so the two nations share old cultural traits while the nobles argue what to do about their neighbor. O-Chul finally comes up with a plan upon hearing all this, instructing Tingtox to go back to the hobgoblin village and deliver a message while Saha tracks Sato back to the paladin camp.

The next morning, the heroes find the Sapphire Guard, and O-Chul challenges Gin-Jun to a "Gyeoltu" duel of honor, which O-Chul is certain he will lose. As they are watched by the paladins, O-Chul's party, and Tingtox bringing the hobgoblin General and cleric as Hinjo's "Honor Witnesses", O-Chul refuses to draw his sword against Gin-Jun, proclaiming they are doing more harm than good, especially when the hobgoblins confirm the Crimson Mantle isn't in the village. O-Chul reveals that he initiated the duel to speak not with Gin-Jun, but to the Sapphire Guard, stating there are only two sides, "The side that wants a war, and the side that does not."

As the paladins begin to question Gin-Jun's orders, the enraged Commander rushes at O-Chul and slashes at his face, giving him his titular scar. Sato stops her superior and states that because Gin-Jun struck an unarmed man, she expels him from the Sapphire Guard, ordering a return to Azure City. When he accuses Sato of betraying him and the planetar refuses to burn the gates for him, Gin-Jun rushes to kill O-Chul as Bo gets in the way to defend her captain and is stabbed through the torso instead, prompting Miko to snap Gin-Jun's neck since "the woman was not part of the duel".

Later on, O-Chul is reporting directly to Lord Shojo in the throne room, telling him about how when he and Hinjo visited the hobgoblins to discuss peace, the Supreme Leader and his cohorts, including the General, all suddenly died from poisoned gouda arranged by the non-hunchbacked cleric, who takes the Headdress, Scepter, and Shiny Gold Amulet of Supreme Leadership to become the new "Supreme Leader". He promises O-Chul that he won't order raids on the human settlements anymore, though they are pinned to blame for the former Supreme Leader's murder and driven out of the village.

After the report, O-Chul requests that Lord Shojo disband the Sapphire Guard, feeling they cannot be trusted to take action for Azure City on their own. When Shojo states that he can't do so, O-Chul instead asks to be allowed into the group to watch out for them with a commoner's point of view, and Hinjo volunteers to join as well. Shojo then reveals to them the Secret Lore of the Sapphire Guard, and forty-five minutes later, a shocked O-Chul and Hinjo drink at a bar with their newfound knowledge. Miko comes and informs them that eleven paladins resigned at the announcement of O-Chul's induction, and O-Chul explains why he must join to curtail them even if they don't want him, though Miko takes away a wrong lesson about stopping whoever betrays Azure City.

Saha is angered by O-Chul's decision to join the Sapphire Guard, and though she now has permission to live in Azure City, she decides her family will instead settle northward. Hinjo offers clerics to help heal O-Chul's scar, but O-Chul wants to use it as a reminder to the Sapphire Guard and himself of the dangers in losing their sense of duty. He then goes the graveyard to visit Bo... who is digging graves for a job after being honorably discharged from the army and now lives with O-Chul's "Auntie O", whom he tells about his new job "defending the border of... well... everything."

Continuity

The story takes place twelve years prior to the start of events of Order of the Stick, in 1171.

Locations

• Azure City
• Southern Mountains
  • Blueriver Fort
  • Gorge Ravine

Cast

• O-Chul
• Saha Kapoor
• Hinjo
• Lord Shojo
• Zhou Bo
• Tingtox
• Commander Gin-Jun
• Pangtok
• Subcommander Haruna Sato
• Miko Miyazaki
• Lustre
• Duong
• General Claire Nhek
• Gin-Jun's Horse
• Hobgoblin General with Sash
• Hobgoblin Supreme Leader
• Obese Hobgoblin Supreme Leader
• Sapphire Guardsman with Backless Shirt
• Sapphire Guardsman with Bald Head and White Robe
• Sapphire Guardsman with Cloak Clasp and Ponytail
• Sapphire Guardsman with Dark Hair and Belt
• Sapphire Guardsman with Goatee and Forelock
• Sapphire Guardsman with Horned Helmet
• Sapphire Guardsman with Jagged Black Hair
• Sapphire Guardsman with Sash and Sword
• Sapphire Guardsman with Short Dark Hair and Beard
• Sapphire Guardsman with Short Dark Hair and Ponytail
• Sapphire Guardsman with Short Light Hair and Multicolored Boots
• Sapphire Guardswoman with Black Bun and White Boots
• Sapphire Guardswoman with Dark Bun and Multicolored Boots
• Sapphire Guardswoman with Dark Hair and White Clothes
• Sapphire Guardswoman With Long Hair and Multicolored Boots
• Sapphire Guardswoman with Short Light Hair
• Planetar
• Kapoor's Daughter
• Ettin
• Hobgoblin Male Inner Bulwark Guard
• Hobgoblin Female Inner Bulwark Guard
• Mount of Sapphire Guardsman with Jagged Black Hair
• Mount of Sapphire Guardswoman with Black Bun and White Boots
• Mr. Kapoor
• Nguyen
• Zayan Kapoor
• Auntie O
• Sapphire Guardswoman with Blonde Hair
• Hobgoblin Band Leader with Goatee
• O-Chul's Foster Uncle
• Riding Horse
• Mount of Sapphire Guardsman with Ponytail and Amulet
• Civilian Woman Carer
• Hobgoblin Band Female
• Hobgoblin Band Member with Axe
• Hobgoblin Band Member with Spear
• Sapphire Guardsman with Beard and Ponytail
• Sapphire Guardsman with Ponytail and Amulet
• Dolphin
• O-Chul's Father
• O-Chul's Mother
• Old Civilian Carer with Cane
• Redcloak
• Strike Force Sapphire Guardsman with Black Hair
• Strike Force Sapphire Guardsman with Bald Head
• Strike Force Sapphire Guardsman
• Strike Force Sapphire Guardsman
• Strike Force Sapphire Guardsman
• Strike Force Sapphire Guardsman
• Xo
• Wolverine

Gallery

The former cover.