Roy telegraphs their plan to cast fireball while dropping the forcecage, allowing Sandstone to use his magic to protect the vampires.
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Blackwing ◀ ▶
- Minrah Shaleshoe ◀ ▶
- Brother Sandstone (as vampire) ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Blue Beard and Bald Head ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Blue Shirt and Beard ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Brown Beard ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Purple Dress ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Short Green Hair ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Brown Ponytail ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Green Beard and Hair ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Green Shirt ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Blue Beard and Balding Head ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Blue Curly Hair ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Gray Beard ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Green Beard and Bald Head ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Green Bun ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Red Ponytail ◀ ▶
- Vampire Dwarf with Straight Blue Hair ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
Vaarsuvius: Sir Greenhilt, given the protection of my Mind Blank spell, I request permission to open my eyes.
Roy: Right, right. Go ahead.
- Panel 2
Roy: What do you see? Any changes?
Vaarsuvius: We are still surrounded by vampires. The cat stopped licking itself.
- Panel 3
Roy: OK, then cast your second Mind Blank spell on me.
Vaarsuvius: I understand. Mind Blank.
- Panel 4
Minrah: I have Protection from Evil prepared. It's not as good, but it should block the mind control thing for a little while.
Belkar: Yeah, uh, I bought something like that. Protection from Mind Whammy or whatever.
Roy: OK, great. That leaves Haley and Elan.
- Panel 5
Haley: I'm willing to take a few shots in the dark as long as no one complains if they get an arrow in the butt.
Elan: I don't need to see to sing! Unless it's a new song that I'm reading from sheet music but this doesn't seem like a good time for that.
- Panel 6
Vaarsuvius: I should mention that I do have one spell prepared in an expedient manner that would allow for quickened casting while I simultaneously dismiss the Forcecage.
Roy: Really? Great! Why didn't you say so before?
- Panel 7
Vaarsuvius: The spell in question is Fireball.
Roy: Ah. So if you cast it to hit the vampires currently surrounding us, we're all going to get burned too.
Vaarsuvius: Precisely.
- Panel 8
Roy: Well... we're not going to get out of this jam without some damage, and I'd rather get a little singed than have our lifeforce drained.
Roy: When you drop the cage, cast it on—
- Panel 9
Sandstone: Mass Resist Fire!
- Panel 10
Roy: Goddamn it!
Sandstone: Also, when the wizard is down, focus on the archer and the bard next. They will be unable to defend themselves properly with their eyes closed.
- Panel 11
Belkar: Nice job announcing our strategy, Roy.
Roy: And whose fault is it that I'm not used to anyone actually listening to anything I say?
Elan: Ooooo! Ooooo! Is it me? I bet it's me.
D&D Context
- Mind Blank is a powerful 8th level wizard spell which protects the target from all mind-affecting spells for its duration of 24 hours. Since V already cast this on themself earlier in #1091, and lost an 8th level spell when they were energy drained in #1102, V has no more 8th level spells remaining. Furthermore, the spell lost must have been an evocation spell, coming from their extra slot from evocation specialization.
- Protection from Evil, which Minrah mentions but does not cast, is a 1st level cleric spell. It does not prevent the vampires from targeting her with their dominating gaze, but it would suppress its effects for its duration of 1 minute per level. Minrah is of unknown level.
- Being blinded in D&D 3.5 has several penalties, including a 50% to miss any target (on top of the usual chances), -2 to AC, and -4 to most dexterity and strength checks.
- Fireball is a 3rd level spell which, at V's level, deals the maximum 10d6 damage in a 20 foot radius from the blast. To hit all the vampires it would need to be centered on the party.
- Mass Resist Fire is a 3rd level version of the 2nd level cleric spell Resist Energy. Resist Energy can be cast against acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic energy. The mass version of this spell is not in the SRD, but was first published in the 2004 D&D 3.5e supplement Complete Arcane. It affects one creature per caster level, which means that Sandstone is at least 15th level. It is unclear if both of the vampires behind Elan were affected by the spell. At this level of spellcasting, those protected would not suffer the first 30 points of damage from any fire attacks. The average damage from V's maxed-out fireball is 35 points.
Trivia
- Belkar purchased his clasp of Protection from Evil in #969. He suffers from its deleterious effects due to his own alignment, but it does protect him nevertheless.