I'm going to discuss the next two chapters of Order of the Skull. The chapter opens with a poker game between our hero Hawkins and the villain Eigenstulf. Tabor, at least, shows some experience with poker, by not having the winning hand be a straight or full house; instead, it's a king-high bluff against less than a king high bluff. He even discusses the poker strategy that the characters are using.
One thing I find interesting is that when Hawkins does get his hand on the skull (as a result of beating Eigenstulf), he mentions that it's a culmination of months of effort. I never really got the impression that these characters had spent months chasing this thing. I mean, they took a drive and a train ride. It's not like they hiked all the way across America.
And then, because the men of the story had turned their backs on them for one freaking second, the women of the story end up as hostages. This is one pulp trope that I'd rather Tabor not use.
The scene cuts to Sister Cecelia, the waffling nun. This might be the first time the action has shifted away from Hawk, but it's necessary to establish the situation the women are in. Unfortunately, the situation isn't all that interesting, since all Eigenstulf does is give the "We are not so different, you and I..." Evil Villain Recruitment Speech. Seriously, what's this guy's hiring policy? Will he take anyone? Should I send him my resume? The bad guy's long term goals are also revealed, the typical apocalyptic BS about causing the end of the world...doesn't make a lot of sense for a bunch of rich guys who own everything, but whatever.
Tabor does a good job writing this section, I think, at least physically, but with this viewpoint change we don't get a good sense of just who is Sister Cecilia. So far, the entire character doesn't seem to have much point, other than giving Dirk a date to the masquerade (albeit one with an inconvenient vow of celibacy). I suspect that Tabor had some authorial plan for the character that just never materialized.
The characters have trouble finding the island on a map, and I'm reminded of a line from MST3K. "Being good with maps is like being good at eating cereal." There's kind of a low skillcap, you know? This seems like a pointless obstacle to throw in front of the characters at this point...as if Indiana Jones couldn't get to the Ark of the Covenant in time because his car gets a flat tire, and he doesn't know how to fix it.
After they overcome that terrible obstacle, the two men make their way into the headquarters of the Order, which they do with surprising ease. Suddenly, after the characters finally learn enough to be dangerous and manage to almost disrupt the villain's plans, they're no longer followed and harassed at every opportunity. In a move of even greater stupidity, the evil cult leaves the skulls, secret to their dark demonic power, unguarded.
A confrontation ensues. There's another hostage scenario, with the hostage sitting by helplessly waiting for Hawk to save them, since he seems to be the only one in this story allowed to ever really succeed at anything. And succeed he does. He ends up facing off against all six of the demonic cultists with scary supernatural powers...and kills five of them at once. With bullets. It's not like he even shoots them in the back while they're doing some chanting either. What. A. Letdown.
The reader in me is thinking that obviously this is a trick, that they're just some poor mooks dressed in fancy robes, so then the real bad guys come out behind the corner and enjoy a good laugh at their minion's expense. Nope. It's not even a plan from Eigenstulf where he renders all of his buddies impotent, so he can gain full control over the cult. Speaking of mooks, they're all gone by this point. I guess they're not allowed on Elk Island.
The chapter ends with another hostage trade, and a sudden but inevitable betrayal by the bad guy. This wasn't the actual climax, I think, but it makes you wonder why anyone would bother selling their soul to the devil if they end up getting taken out like such chumps. The Order of the Denarius from the Dresden Files could teach these losers a thing or two, I think.
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