The inn explodes, taking Haley's treasure with it.
Cast
- Roy Greenhilt (as a woman) ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- A Bottlecap Collector
Transcript
- Panel 1
Haley and Vaarsuvius are carrying bags of treasure.
Haley: OK, so we drop these off with Elan and then run back for more.
- Panel 2
Roy: Thank the gods! You guys are safe. I was worried when I didn't see you outside.
Haley: We had to rescue the treasure. We just walked through the fire with two big heaping bags of—
- Panel 3
Haley looks into Vaarsuvius's bag.
Haley: —bottlecaps??
Bottlecap Collector: Did you say, "bottlecaps"?
- Panel 4
Bottlecap Collector: I can't believe it! You saved my rare bottlecap collection! And my sister said I was being silly for storing it in the inn's vault!
Bottlecap Collector: Bless you, you brave souls! Bless you!
- Panel 5
Haley: Vaarsuvius!
Vaarsuvius: I have a Strength penalty, so I carried the lightest sack. it is not my fault that you did not specify that not all of the bags were ours.
- Panel 6
Haley: C'mon! We have to get back to save the rest of the gold!
Roy: Haley, I don't think that's a good idea.
Haley: Why not??
- Panel 7
Roy: Because the dwarf had TWO barrels of explosives in his room.
- Panel 8
A massive explosion pushes Haley back, "BOOM!"
- Panel 9
A single gold piece bounces out of the blast and bounces at Haley's feet, "tink! tink!" Haley stares at the gold piece.
Roy: Are you OK?
- Panel 10
beat
- Panel 11
beat
- Panel 12
Elan (whispering): I think we broke Haley.
D&D Context
- Vaarsuvius must have a Strength score below 10 to have a penalty, meaning a very subpar stat. Tables are given in the Player's Handbook for how much a character can carry based on their Strength score.
Trivia
- This moment begins Haley's long psychological journey with her speaking in cryptograms until #393, a span which covers 148 comics, going into the next book, and over 13 months in real-world time.
- It never occurs to anyone to gather up the scattered gold.