Elan covers the team's expeditious retreat.
Cast
- Haley Starshine (also as illusion) ◀ ▶
- Elan (also as illusion) ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf (also as illusion) ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (also as illusion) ◀ ▶
- Hinjo (also as illusion) ◀ ▶
- Daigo Da- (also as illusion) ▶
- Kazumi Kato (also as illusion) ▶
- The Eye of Fear and Flame (as Skullsy) ◀ ▶
- Two Hobgoblin Clerics
- A Troop of Hobgoblin Archers
- A Squad of Hobgoblin Swordsmen
Transcript
- Panel 1, Page 1
The company of archers prepares to loose their arrows.
Hobgoblin Cleric #1: FIRE!
- Panel 2, Page 1
Belkar (off-panel): Don't mind if I do!
The hobgoblins are incinerated in a Fireball.
- Panel 3, Page 1
Belkar sits on a merlon on a tower parapet.
Belkar: Get it? Because he said, "Fire!", and then you used a "Fire"-ball, and now they're all dead!
Eye of Fear and Flame: Yes, sir, very funny, sir.
Eye of Fear and Flame: Please don't hurt me.
- Panel 4, Page 1
Elan Belkar! You came back to help us!
Belkar: Actually, all the hobgoblins ran into the city, and I just followed them.
Belkar: So it was more of a prey migration thing, really.
- Panel 5, Page 1
Belkar: I'd love to kill them all for you, but my friend can only Fireball every so often and SOMEONE decided to keep a spell on me that prevents me from killing inside a city.
Belkar: Hinjo.
- Panel 6, Page 1
Durkon: Lass, tha ones tha lived are startin' ta recover thar focus.
Haley is hit by an arrow.
Haley: OW! I noticed.
Haley: We need to get out of the spotlight, unless we want PC to stand for Pin Cushion.
- Panel 7, Page 1
Haley: As current leader of the Order of the Stick, it is my solemn duty to call for the execution of our oldest, most reliable strategy.
- Panel 8, Page 1
Haley: RUN!!
- Panel 9, Page 1
Daigo: You too.
Daigo: Sir.
He grabs Hinjo.
- Panel 10, Page 1
Hinjo: Take cover in the tower!
- Panel 11, Page 1
Kazumi Kato: Hey, wait for me!
- Panel 12, Page 1
Haley: Well, it's been better than being out there, but I don't like being trapped in a tower.
Hinjo: We're not trapped, there's a tunnel out of here on the ground floor.
- Panel 1, Page 2
Haley: It leads to the castle? Perfect! We can sneak into—
Durkon: Cure Light Wounds.
Hinjo: No, it leads to the armory that builds and services the catapults, about six blocks away.
Hinjo: We thought a tunnel that led directly to the castle was too risky.
- Panel 2, Page 2
Haley: I guess that's something. But what we really need is a way to get into that palace to keep Xykon form getting his bony hands on that Gate.
Hinjo: Agreed.
- Panel 3, Page 2
Durkon: But if'n tha hobbos think we're in here, they'll just break tha door down ev'ntually.
Haley: I have an idea.
Durkon: Cure Light Wounds
Haley: Elan, follow me.
- Panel 4, Page 2
Hobgoblin Cleric #2: Take a squad of men up there and get into that tower. I don't want anyone hiding in—
Illusory Elan (off-panel): Hello, nice hobgoblins!
- Panel 5, Page 2
Illusory Hinjo: My name is Hinjo. I am here right now.
Illusory Haley: I am Haley. I, too, am here.
Illusory Belkar: We are all here right now and definitely not somewhere else.
Haley (whispering): Elan, you put yourself in the wrong clothes!
Elan (whispering): Whoops, I forgot!
- Panel 6, Page 2
Hobgoblin Captain #2: There they are!
Hobgoblin Captain #2: Shoot them!
- Panel 7, Page 2
Haley (whispering): Honey, you have to make them react to the arrow or it's going to spoil the illusion!
Elan (whispering): Oh, right!
- Panel 8, Page 2
Illusory Hinjo: Ow.
Illusory Haley: Ow.
Illusory Elan: Ow.
Illusory Durkon: Ow.
- Panel 9, Page 2
Illusory Hinjo: Oh my. In my death stagger, I am accidentally falling over the edge of the wall.
Illusory Haley: Me too.
Illusory Elan: It sure would be a waste of time to search for our bodies.
- Panel 10, Page 2
Haley (whispering): Did it work?
Elan (whispering): Definitely
Haley (whispering): How can you be sure?
- Panel 11, Page 2
Hobgoblin wearing a t-shirt which says, "I Killed a PC and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!".
D&D Context
- PC stands for Player Character.
- Elan appears to be using the 3th level bard spell Major Image which allows the caster to create illusions with multiple sensory components.
- As Belkar suggests, an Eye of Fear and Flame can only use its Eye of Flame ability once every three rounds.
Trivia
- This is the first unambiguous appearance of Daigo and Kazumi, who at this point are just nameless soldiers. We don't find out their names until #472. Daigo's surname remains a mystery, as they only plan to reveal it in extremis, based on the fact that named characters fare better in stories. We do find out that it starts with the letter D in #501. Because Daigo and Kazumi are initially presented as generic soldiers, it is impossible to know if they have appeared before. However there are two previous soldiers who could be Daigo: Shlubbo Noname-zaki from #435, and the soldier in panel one (and elsewhere) of #438. There is also a possible previous appearance of Kazumi: the soldier who handles Hinjo's package personally in #418, though only her proximity to Hinjo suggests this.
- Illusory Elan is wearing his original clothes from the comic, which he hasn't worn since his stint in the Cliffport prison and his multiclassing in Dashing Swordsman.