Locations in The Order of the Stick

This is a list of notable locations in the world of The Order of the Stick, as seen in Rich Burlew's eponymous comic.

Major locations

The Gates
A series of five mystical gates spread around the world, the Gates form a major plot point in the adventures of the Order. Set up originally by a group of adventurers informally known as the , the Gates are designed to close off rifts leading to a prison plane which contains the Snarl, a creature of world-threatening power. Fearing that the Gates could be used for evil purposes, the five surviving members of the "Order of the Scribble" went their separate ways, each vowing to protect their Gate in whatever manner they deemed appropriate. The Gates are of great interest to the lich sorcerer Xykon, who intends to tap their energy for his own purposes. The Gates, each named after the member of the Order of the Scribble who protected it, are as follows:
*Dorukan's Gate: The largest of the five Gates, located in a dungeon stronghold in the Redmountain Hills, warded by the strongest sigils that the wizard Dorukan was capable of creating. Fell into the hands of Xykon for a period, but he was defeated by the Order of the Stick before he could successfully complete his plans. The Gate was then destroyed, along with the surrounding stronghold, when Elan set off a built-in self-destruct mechanism.
*Soon Kim's Gate: The smallest rift, sealed using a single gemstone set into the top of the throne of the ruler of Azure City. Originally located in the skies above the city, the entire castle was built with the aim of reaching the rift; concealing the Gate within the ruler's throne also neatly prevented questions about why the tower was so heavily defended. Defended by the Sapphire Guard, an order of paladins set up by Soon Kim and named after the Gate gemstone, in the belief that only the honour of a paladin was incorruptable, and currently led by Hinjo, who took the throne after his death. The gate has been destroyed by Miko Miyazaki.
*Lirian's Gate: Located within the elven homelands and defended by the creatures of the forest. This Gate was the first to be targeted by Xykon; it was destroyed by Redcloak in the battle, when a fire spell accidentally got out of control.
*Girard Draketooth's Gate: Located in a desert region, Girard hid his Gate behind a complex series of powerful illusions. According to the Oracle, Xykon will be within a 1000-foot radius of this gate before Serini's, these two being the only two Gates left.
*Serini Toormuck's Gate (also known as Kraagor's Gate): Located in a snowy environment, Serini set up her stronghold as a tomb for her fallen comrade Kraagor and filled it with the most vicious monsters she could find, to reflect his belief in physical prowess.

Azure City
The location of Soon's Gate and birthplace of characters Miko Miyazaki, Lord Shojo and Hinjo. Azure City is very large and is apparently well-known to most characters, both good and bad (both Roy Greenhilt and Sabine were already familiar with it when it was mentioned to them). The Order was staying here to defend the city from the ongoing invasion. Azure City is currently under assault by Xykon's forces as part of his quest to take control of one of the Gates. The walls have taken substantial damage from an attack by titanium elementals. Parts of the city are on fire and the central castle (containing the Gate) was destroyed in a massive explosion when Miko Miyazaki shattered the sapphire gemstone sealing the Soon Kim gate. The city is currently under the control of Xykon and Redcloak with the human population having been enslaved by the hobgoblins.

Places to Visit:
*Soon Kim's Gate : Originally located within the Palace, a sapphire gemstone set into the ruler's throne held one of the legendary "Gates of The Snarl". Xykon and Redcloak attacked Azure City to get to this gate, but it was destroyed by Miko to prevent this.
*Sapphire Guard Palace: The large and imposing castle where Lord Shojo, recently murdered leader of Azure City and the new leader, Shojo's nephew Hinjo, lived. Shojo's throne room doubled as a courtroom when alleged criminals (such as the Order) were brought here. The palace was largely destroyed in an explosion following the destruction of the Gate.
*Wizards tower : apperently recently built function unknown.
*The Inn: A large establishment where the Order stayed after their return from Cliffport. Nale Haley in her room, only to be interrupted by Sabine, Elan and Thog. The confrontation led to the defeat of the Linear Guild and their imprisonment.
*The Docks: The only currently-known way out of Azure City being by sea, the city features an extensive dock with numerous ships. Hinjo had Lien, an Azure City soldier, lead the Azurites aboard these to protect them from Xykon's impending invasion. The Order, minus Haley and Belkar (who are out retrieving Roy's body), are currently leaving the city in the Lord of the City's junk.
*The Tower: A structure created during Xykon and Redcloak's occupation. The tower seems to function as a main tower for security.

Cliffport
The town of Cliffport is where mentor, Fyron, lived before being killed by the then-living Xykon. The Order later went there to save sister Julia after she had been captured by Nale and the Linear Guild. Cliffport is the only other named major urban area apart from Azure City in the world inhabited by the Order.

Places to visit:
*Adventurers' Tavern: When Belkar was unable to kill Yokyok of the Linear Guild due to the former's Mark of Justice, he used a note tacked to the door of this place. Several adventurers were attracted by it and the "kobold menace" was quickly overwhelmed.
*Warthog's School of Wizardry and Sorcery: A parody of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the Harry Potter series, complete with a "Larry Gardner" (an obvious parody of Harry Potter), but who met his end at Thog's axe, much to popular acclaim. Students who aspire to become wizards (such as Julia and Pompey) or sorcerers attend this school. The principal is a human whose head, for some unexplained reason, resembles that of a warthog. The Linear Guild here to find a replacement wizard after their previous one, , had been dragged off by lawyers Mr. Jones and Mr. Rodriguez during the Guild's first battle with the Order.
*Cliffport Police Department Headquarters: This building is where the CPPD operate from. It also contains a jail, which was destroyed by Thog when he and Elan escaped. They also had Leeky Windstaff of the Linear Guild, but he was later freed by his teammate Pompey.

Redmountain Hills
A rocky area with perpetually red skies and thunderstorms. This area is seen most extensively in the bonus strips found in the first compilation book of OOTS, Dungeon Crawlin' Fools.

Places to visit:
*Dungeon of Dorukan: The first dungeon visited by the Order of the Stick and the setting for the first one hundred and nineteen episodes of the webcomic. Constructed, along with the castle above, by the wizard Dorukan to protect the Gate located there, the dungeon was invaded by Xykon and his goblin forces. Dorukan was slain, leaving Xykon in possession of both the dungeon and the Gate it contains. Dungeon, castle and Gate were all when Elan inadvisedly set off a self-destruct rune that he found there.
*Small Unnamed Village: After the destruction of the dungeon, the Order of the Stick rested and restocked their supplies at a just outside the Redmountain Hills. The town included a blacksmith, a weapon shop, a barbarian's guild, a temple to Freya, a potion shop, a gnomish armorer, an inn, and a tavern.

Southern Mountains
An area of tall grey mountains that seems to stretch over most of the Southern Lands, up to and including the area right outside of Azure City. The secret escape tunnel that Redcloak followed after the destruction of the Dungeon of Dorukan .

Places to visit:
*Hobgoblin Settlement: A large settlement located in a valley with an estimated population of around thirty thousand, not including non-combatants. Redcloak was able to recruit the hobgoblins here to Xykon's cause after their alleged leader with a slay living spell; the real leader of the hobgoblins saw this and wisely chose not to correct Redcloak's assumption, putting the goblin in charge by default.
*Xykon's Tower: Located in the southern part of the region, Xykon considers this his back-up fortress, which he set up just in case he needed somewhere to hide out for a while. By his own admission, he hasn't been there for a few decades, strongly suggesting that he set it up before his conversion into a lich. When Xykon, Redcloak, and the Monster after the destruction of Dorukan's dungeon, the tower had been taken over by Good-aligned creatures, all of whom met their end when faced with Redcloak's hobgoblin army.
*Watchtower: One of a series of defensive positions by the people of Azure City, outfitted with to alert the city of impending invasion. Xykon and Redcloak successsfully negated each of these towers in order to keep their imminent attack a secret. In one such tower, they Miko Miyazaki.

The Afterlife
An extraplanar paradise where the souls of people who die reside. The comic has only thus far depicted the afterlife awaiting people who are of Lawful Good alignment, which is seen as a blueish-green mountain that stretches many times higher than the highest mountain.

Places to visit:
*Fluffy Cloud Demiplane: An unnamed extraplanar location that resembles white fluffy clouds in a blue sky, where creatures from the Upper Planes can come to on the mortal realm. Newly deceased souls are judged here before passing on to their final rest. Eugene Greenhilt cannot leave this demiplane until his Blood Oath is fulfilled.
*Sara Greenhilt's House: The home of Roy Greenhilt's mother, Sara, as well as his little brother, Eric.
*Attractions: Locations designed to allow dead souls to work out the frustrations and hang-ups of their mortal life, such as the .

Minor locations

Somewhere
The only location of note here is the Weary Travelers Inn, which the Order visited to rest after being confronted by Miko Miyazaki and agreeing to accompany her back to Azure City. Being located literally "somewhere", the region of Somewhere is one of several locations whose names easily confuse visitors: Somewhere, Anywhere, Nowhere, and Someplace Else. The strip uses these in a variation of the famous "Who's on First?" routine. In his confusion Roy stated (since the inn obviously had issues with royalty) that he was the "king of nowhere at all," which led to the inn management immediately welcoming him as the King of Nowhere. Roy did nothing to dispel the illusion, probably to avoid worse confusion, receiving complimentary treatment at the inn. The inn was accidentally destroyed by the dwarf assassin "Kaboom" Redaxe and his unnamed Shadowdancer partner, ending Roy's masquerade as king and also resulting in the loss of the Order's treasure (an event which culminated in Haley Starshine, the team's rogue, losing her ability to speak intelligibly).

Sunken Valley
Located a few days travel from Azure City, Sunken Valley is the home of an Oracle, a rather bad-tempered kobold seer who Roy and Durkon visited prior to the formation of the Order. They then made a second visit some time later, with the rest of the Order in tow. Both visits were to assist in tracking down Xykon. The Valley has a magical spell cast over it which causes visitors to forget the details of their visit, remembering only the answer given to them by the Oracle.

Wooden Forest
One of the generic "nature locations" in the Order's world, the Wooden Forest is incredibly large, even by forest standards. The forest is in no kingdom, and is home to the Bandit Camp formerly overseen by Samantha the sorceress, before a series of battles that ended with Durkon in charge of the bandit clan. Also located here underground is the Dragon's Cave, where the Order went to find a meteorite of Starmetal; the dragon who lived there was destroyed when Vaarsuvius used Disintegrate on it.

Order of the Stick, The

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