- For the other comic titled "Running on Empty", see Running on Empty (879).
The Order is down for the count, but run into an unexpected ally.
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Samantha's Father (Bandit King) ◀ ▶
- Samantha ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
Elan throws Belkar into Samantha.
Samantha: Hold Person!
Samantha's spell fizzles, "fizzle!", due to her lack of concentration as an arrow bounces off her magical defenses.
Samantha: Damn it, stop doing that!
Elan: Um... no?
Belkar: Wheeeeee!
- Panel 2
Samantha: All I wanted was to have some fun with you!
Elan: My friend Haley thinks that's a bad idea, for some reason that I can't quite figure out. But I trust her judgement.
- Panel 3
Samantha: Fine! You want to play tetherball, I hope you don't mind if I play FIREball!
Samantha: Maximimized Fireball!
Samantha blasts Belkar and Elan with a fireball.
Elan: Owwww!
- Panel 4
Haley: Elan!!
Belkar: Don't worry, I'm OK, Elan's head broke my fall.
- Panel 5
Vaarsuvius: Your primary advantages are your spells of protection and aviation. Therefore:
Vaarsuvius: Dispel Magic!
- Panel 6
Vaarsuvius: Miss Starshine! Her Protection from Arrows spell is also disrupted. You may fire at will!
Haley: Don't mind if I do.
Haley shoots three arrows into Samantha, "fft! fft! fft!". All three hit, "thunk! thunk! thunk!"
Samantha: Aaaah! You hag!
- Panel 7
Samantha blasts Vaarusivus and Haley with lightning.
Samantha: Maximized Lightning Bolt!
Haley: Arrgh! Her Reflex save DC is just too high!
- Panel 8
Samantha: Looks like you're the last one still up and fighting, old woman.
Haley: I'm not old! I'm 24! That's not old! Twenty! Four!
- Panel 9
Samantha: Whatever.
Samantha: Magic Missile.
Haley: Aaaargh!
- Panel 10
The Order of the Stick has been disabled.
Samantha: Whew! I did it! It may have used up all of my higher level spells, but I kicked their asses!
Belkar: Hee! You said, "asses".
- Panel 11
Bandit King: My little girl! Low on hit points and with no more spell slots today, pumpkin?
Samantha: Yeah, Daddy, but I beat—
- Panel 12
The Bandit King punches Samantha in the face, "POW!"
Bandit King: I challenge you for leadership of the bandits!
D&D Context
- Maximize Spell is a metamagic Feat that makes it so that all dice rolls are the highest possible roll for a single spell.
- Haley is often able to avoid magic attacks because of her evasion ability, a high reflex save and high dexterity. She is complaining that Samantha's save difficulty is too high, even for her.
- Vaarsuvius confirms that Samantha had a Protection from Arrows spell cast. The 2nd-level Sorcerer spell prevents damage caused by ranged attacks.
- Hold Person is a 3rd-level Sorcerer spell that paralyzes a target unless they succeed a Will save, although it fizzled because of lack of concentration.
- Fireball and Lightning Bolt are 3rd-level Sorcerer spells that deal damage. Magic Missile is a 1st-level Sorcerer spell that deals damage.
- Dispel Magic is a 3rd-level Wizard spell that removes all magic effects on a target, including the Protection from Arrows and Fly spells on Samantha.
Trivia
- Samantha calls Haley an "old woman", a joke which was set up by Elan's comment about her age and Charisma score in #161.