The Order of the Stick prepares for their new quest to stop Xykon from harnessing the Snarl, dealing with obnoxious oracles and Nale's vengeance plot. But then Xykon attacks Azure City with his army of hobgoblins!
Tropes in War and XPs include:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Haley breaks her aphasia in order to confess her feelings to Elan, just as Nale is about to Charm him into turning against her.
- Body Double: Redcloak does this for Xykon, creating three undead as decoys, which he notes is surprisingly easy since Xykon is basically a skeleton with a robe and cape on.
- Did Not Think This Through:
- Since they need all the help they can get, Hinjo offers the city's prisoners to cut their sentences down if they fight Xykon's invasion. This proves to be a bad move, as only Belkar has sufficient motivation to help Hinjo (As the Paladin is the only one who can get his Mark of Justice Restraining Bolt removed). One Rogue takes a contract to kill Hinjo from a political enemy, while mystic theurge Tsukiko swaps sides the first chance she gets.
- Roy dramatically leaps onto Xykon's dragon zombie to solo the lich. Not only is this a totally inappropriate level encounter, but as Xykon points out, while the sorcerer can fly of his own magic, Roy can't...which means it's a looong way down when Xykon destroys the dragon.
- Family Eye Resemblance: Durkon instantly figures out Julia is related to Roy because they (allegedly) share the same eyes.
- Hypocrite: Redcloak. He is more than willing to condemn paladins as being as unnatural as Xykon is. Here's the thing: Redcloak himself is a divine servant and he's wearing a magical artifact which gives him an extended life-span and suspended aging. What's more, as Miko is not afraid to die herself, he's not afraid to throw away others' lives to get what he wants. At least this part he gets over within the book.Redcloak: Now, if you'll excuse me, this 100% all-natural goblin has an army to lead.
- I Have Your Wife: Nale lures the Order into an ambush by holding Roy's sister Julia hostage.
- Killed Off for Real:
- Lord Shojo is murdered by Miko, and refuses to be raised from the dead. As Belkar points out, he was already close to dying from old age and all that awaited him in life was being tried and imprisoned for his abuse of power, so why would he want to come back?
- Miko is fatally bisected in the explosion of Soon's Gate. To further set it in, Tsukiko declines to raise her as an undead, as not only is her corpse not in one piece, but Tsukiko believes Miko wouldn't have been all that powerful as an undead.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After Soon's Gate is destroyed, Haley makes the call that it's time to bail; Roy's dead, along with most of the Sapphire Guard, and Xykon's forces have basically taken the city. There's literally nothing else the Order can do to change things, so it's time to pull out and review their options.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Roy goes to check in with Shojo, he doesn't realize that Nale has taken Elan's place, and Nale takes the opportunity to ask for a recap of the whole plot with the gates. Now there are two sets of villains who know about the Snarl!
- Soon's spirit attacks Xykon and Redcloak, and is seconds from destroying both for good and ending their rampage then and there... and then Miko destroys Soon's Gate, which not only severs Soon's connection to the mortal plane, but also provides a distraction for Team Evil to escape. Soon has to explain to Miko just how badly she's messed up.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Roy's dead and the party is split in such a way that he can't be brought back immediately (Durkon, Elan and Vaarsuvius are with the fleeing Azurites; Haley, Belkar and Roy's body are stuck in Azure City). Additionally, Soon's Gate is destroyed, Miko inadvertently foils Soon's nearly-successful attack on Xykon and Redcloak, and Azure City has fallen to the hobgoblins. But the Gate's destruction means Xykon doesn't get to use it, which was what he wanted to have by coming to Azure City in the first place. There are still two chances left for the Order to rally and defeat him. Additionally, while he can't be revived immediately, the Order still has Roy's body, meaning they can still bring him back in the future.
- Redemption Equals Death: Subverted. Miko hopes that destroying Soon's Gate before Xykon can get to it will redeem her of her past mistakes, but Soon Kim's positive energy spirit explains that a single act can't redeem one if they've shown no remorse for those mistakes. He also adds that if she hadn't acted, Soon might have destroyed Xykon and Redcloak, but the explosion gave them the chance to escape.
- Rousing Speech: Elan tries to bolster the Azurites with one of these before the battle against Xykon's forces...
- Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: ...but messes up at the end.
- Steal the Surroundings: Miko realises that she can't damage Xykon's forcecage, so she breaks the floor it's standing on and pushes it over. The only reason this is possible is that Xykon deliberately researched a "Moderately Escapable" variant of the spell.
- Took a Level in Badass: After the Twin Switch, Elan takes a level in the Prestige Class Dashing Swordsman, which lets him use his high Charisma score instead of his low Strength score as a damage bonus, turning him from a joke in melee to a formidable swordsman — so long as he can spout a pun or catchphrase when he attacks.
- Trick-and-Follow Ploy: Xykon and Redcloak arrange for Miko to escape from a brief captivity in order to act as their mole in Azure City via scrying. Using this trick, they are able to determine the precise location of the Gate they are trying to capture.
- Twin Switch: Nale briefly takes Elan's place, planning to kill the rest of the Order off later.
