As Haley and Belkar attempt to leave with Roy and O-Chul, they encounter some resistance from the Monster in the Darkness
Cast
- Roy Greenhilt (as a corpse) ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- The Monster in the Darkness ◀ ▶
- A Demon-Roach ◀ ▶
- O-Chul ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1, Page 1
Monster in the Darkness: I mean, Xykon was supposed to introduce me first, though, so I'm not entirely sure...
Haley: Xykon?!? I thought you were just a wandering monster!
- Panel 2, Page 1
Belkar: Screw this! Say hello to my little pointy friends!
MitD: But he's not here. I don't want to get in trouble...
- Panel 3, Page 1
Belkar stabs the MitD several times, "stab! stab! stab! stab! stab!"
MitD: Will I get in more trouble for eating you when I'm not supposed to, or not eating you when I am supposed to? This is hard!
Demon-Roach: 0 for 5, sucker!
- Panel 4, Page 1
MitD: On one hand, I can't uneat you once I've chowed down. So it would be the safer bet to not.
Haley: Is he not even noticing that you're attacking him?
Belkar: I have an idea. Follow my lead.
- Panel 5, Page 1
MitD: But then, Xykon himself always seems to err on the side of whomping first and asking questions later.
MitD: Literally.
- Panel 6, Page 1
MitD: And I do want to get out of this darkness. But once I reveal myself, I can't go back to hiding. I mean, I could, but it would be seriously lame.
MitD: So I might get in trouble for stepping out of the darkness even if I am supposed to eat them!
- Panel 7, Page 1
MitD: Oh, to heck with it! I'm still hungry anyway! I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna cast down this umbrella and show the world what I—
- Panel 8, Page 1
MitD: ...
MitD: Hey, where'd they go?
- Panel 9, Page 1
Haley and Belkar are halfway to Azure City with Roy's body and O-Chul.
MitD: Awww, man! They're getting away! I suck as a monster.
- Panel 10, Page 1
Demon-Roach: Stop the ground.
MitD: Huh?
- Panel 11, Page 1
Demon-Roach: Stomp the ground, like you did when Xykon wouldn't buy you those Transformers.
Demon Cockroach: Trust me
- Panel 12, Page 1
MitD: What, you mean just like this—
MitD very lightly stomps the ground, "stomp!"
- Panel 1, Page 2
Huge waves of force radiate from the MitD; cracks in the ground spread out, stretching all the way to Haley and Belkar.
- Panel 2, Page 2
MitD: Wow! I didn't know I could do that!
Demon Cockroach: Heh heh. Now who's the side dish, halfling?
- Panel 3, Page 2
Belkar: Holy crap! What's happening?
Haley: It's an earthquake!
Fissures open in the ground, "crick! crick! crick! crick!"
- Panel 4, Page 2
A huge fissure in the earth opens up, "CRACK!", separating Haley (holding Roy) and Belkar (holding O-Chul).
- Panel 5, Page 2
Roy's body slips from Haley's hands into the crevice.
Haley: No! Roy!!
- Panel 6, Page 2
Roy's body falls into the widening fissure.
- Panel 7, Page 2
Haley fires an arrow.
- Panel 8, Page 2
The arrow flies towards the falling body of Roy.
- Panel 9, Page 2
The arrow hits Roy's body in the groin.
- Panel 10, Page 2
Roy's body is stapled to the wall of the fissure by the arrow sticking through his gonads.
- Panel 11, Page 2
Haley: ...
Haley: I'm sure Durkon can fix that, too.
- Panel 1, Page 3
The ground shifts, and Belkar and O-Chul fall back from the opening.
- Panel 2, Page 3
Belkar: Sorry, Scarface. Looks like one of us has an appointment with that thing's esophagus, and I nominate you, on account of you not being me.
Belkar tosses O-Chul away
- Panel 3, Page 3
Haley: Belkar! I got a rope around Roy, help me pull him up!
Haley: Where's O-Chul?
Belkar: I lost my grip on him. He fell back towards the monster.
Belkar leaps across the chasm.
- Panel 4, Page 3
Haley: What?? We have to go back!
Belkar: There's no time, the boat is waiting! We got who we came for, let's get out of here.
- Panel 5, Page 3
Haley: But O-Chul is still alive!
Belkar: More to the point, so are we! But only if we leave NOW!
- Panel 6, Page 3
Belkar: "Know when to walk away, know when to run."
Belkar: Right?
Belkar: I think this qualifies as a "run".
- Panel 7, Page 3
Haley: Damn it!
Haley: DAMN IT!
Belkar: ...
Belkar: Did you... did you just shoot Roy's corpse in the nuts?
- Panel 8, Page 3
MitD: Mr. Stiffly! You came back!!
- Panel 9, Page 3
MitD: I knew you weren't like the others. We're friends, right? Of course we are!
MitD: Come on, let's play our game. I'll let you be the banker.
- Panel 10, Page 3
Demon Cockroach: Aren't you going to chase down the other three?
MitD: Nah. I'm really tired all of a sudden. And still hungry. I think I'll just lick the stew pot clean.
- Panel 11, Page 3
MitD: It's great to have a friend like you, Mr. Stiffly. When they get done with the stuff in the city, I want you to meet all my friends.
MitD: You've already met Mr. Dragon and the roaches.
- Panel 12, Page 3
MitD: But I'm sure Xykon and Redcloak and Xykon's brothers will be really excited to meet you, too.
MitD: We're all going to have so much fun!
D&D Context
- The MitD apparently has high damage reduction, an ability that allows creatures to ignore a fixed amount of damage every attack. It is specially effective against character that rely on multiple attacks for their damage input, like Belkar does.
Trivia
- Belkar refers to the line by Tony Montana (played by Al Pacino) from the 1983 movie remake Scarface, where Tony, confronted with enemies assaulting his home produces an automatic Colt AR-15 with an M203 grenade launcher, saying, "Say hello to my little friend!" before blowing down the door with a 40mm grenade, killing several men.
- Belkar again refers to the movie, calling O-Chul "Scarface".
- The title plays on the military doctrine of overwhelming force which came to guide the U.S. forces in the 2003 Iraq War.