The assassins escape, and we get an homage to Dave Sims.
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Roy Greenhilt (as a woman) ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- Miko Miyazaki ◀ ▶
- The Assassins
Transcript
- Panel 1
The first four panels read downwards and precede the explosion.
Roy: Get down! Get DOWN!
Belkar: Whuh?
- Panel 2
Redaxe: It's gonna blow!!
Shadowdancer: I'm pretty sure this ALREADY blows!
- Panel 3
Elan is wearing a sandwich board sign that says "FЯEE PUDDIИG!➔"
Elan: Wow, this plan worked a LOT better! I'm pretty sure that's the last person out.
Miko: I will go back in and check.
- Panel 4
Haley: Huh.
Haley: Well THAT can't be good.
- Panel 5
The barrel explodes, "BOOM!", engulfing the inn in flames.
- Panel 6
The last four panels read downwards and occur after the explosion.
Belkar: Well hello there, honey. Can't wait to get your hands on the Belkster, can you now?
Roy: I think I'm gonna be sick.
Belkar: A lot of chicks have that reaction at first, babe.
- Panel 7
The light from the explosion casts a shadow from Redaxe and the Shadowdancer.
Shadowdancer: Hey! Check it out, a shadow!
- Panel 8
The shadowdancer jumps into the shadow, pulling the dwarf with him.
Shadowdancer: Shadow Jump!
Dwarf: AAH!
- Panel 9
Haley: Geez! We were a lot safer when we just made fairly obvious jokes about the rules!
Vaarsuvius: I blame Cerebus.
D&D Context
- The Shadowdancer Prestige Class has the ability to jump between shadows.
Trivia
- The title is a reference to playwright Anton Chekhov, who wrote, "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." This principle is known as "Chekhov's gun".
- The title misspells "Chekhov" as "Chekov".
- Vaarsuvius's last line is a reference to Cerebus the Aardvark and Cerebus Syndrome. Cerebus the Aardvark is a long-running independent comic written by Dave Sim, which was known for beginning as a comedic fantasy adventure before delving into heavier topics in its second volume, "High Society."
- This is the penultimate appearance of the Assassins, the Shadowdancer and "Kaboom" Redaxe. Their only other appearance to date is in a flashback (though occurring after the events at the Weary Traveler) in #535.