Haley gives advice to Thanh and Niu as she and Belkar leave Azure City.
Cast
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Ho Thanh ◀ ▶
- Niu ◀ ▶
- Shadowdancer ◀
- "Kaboom" Redaxe ◀
- The King of Nowhere
Transcript
- Panel 1
Ho Thanh: Haley, I'm not certain this is a wise move.
Haley: You'll do fine. They'll eat that "righteous vengeance" shtick you have up with a spoon. Well, with chopsticks.
Thanh: But I wasn't even part of the Sapphire Guard's leadership!
- Panel 2
Flashback of Thanh bowing to the King of Nowhere. The Assassins are hiding behind a curtain.
Thanh (inset): I was a glorified messenger. I only survived the battle because I was on a diplomatic mission to Nowhere at the time.
Shadowdancer: A paladin??
"Kaboom" Redaxe: Screw tha, we're na gettin' paid enuff.
- Panel 3
Thanh: Are you certain you cannot stay to advise me for a while?
Haley: Sorry, the agreement that Celia drafted and they signed stipulates that Belkar and I can't stick around.
- Panel 4
Haley: But I'll give you some advice. When it comes to doing what's right, trust your instincts. When it comes to doing what is stealthy—ignore your instincts.
Haley: You don't have a deceitful bone in your body. Just ask someone else what would be sneaky and do that.
- Panel 5
Haley: Maybe ask Niu here. She's pretty underhanded for a fighter, especially since she took that level in rogue.
Thanh: I didn't know you multiclassed to rogue.
Niu: Yeah, what was I thinking, not advertising it to the team's paladin?
- Panel 6
Haley and Niu hug
Haley: And don't forget, if anyone from Hinjo's fleet shows up, tell them that we went to Cliffport.
Niu: I'll remember. Thanks, Haley.
Haley: Make me proud, girl.
Niu: I will.
- Panel 7
Haley and Thanh shake hands
Thanh: Good luck. My people owe you a debt.
Haley: To you, too. May the Twelve Gods not appear in the sky just to smack you down.
- Panel 8
Belkar: This is totally unfair, you know. That should be ME ruling with an iron fist, not Fuzz-Lip.
Haley: Yeah, fate is a cruel mistress. Just be glad they're letting you take Mr. Scruffy. Apparently a little omen goes a long way.
- Panel 9
Belkar: Ha! As if they could force the Scruffinator to stay!
Belkar: Come on, Mr. Scruffy, time to leave this blue cesspool and hit the open road. It's just you and me now, halfling and cat. Two stone-cold killers cutting a bloody swath across a world of soft squishy targets.
Belkar: What do you say to that?
- Panel 10
Beat. Mr. Scruffy sits down.
- Panel 11
Beat. Mr. Scruffy licks his groin with a "schlict! schlict! schlict!"
- Panel 12
Mr. Scruffy: Meow?
- Panel 13
Belkar: Huh.
Belkar: Well I was hoping for something more like, "Hell yeah, let's find some bitches and get this party started!" but I guess we can work our way up to that.
D&D Context
- Player characters in D&D 3.5e are not bound to just one class, such as fighter or wizard. A player may multi-class and take levels in other classes as well, though at a cost compared to staying with a single class.
Trivia
- This is the final appearance of the pair of assassins from the Weary Travelers Inn and Tavern. They were featured in comics #225 through #242. Shadowdancer appeared in eleven comics in all, Redaxe in ten. Neither are actually named in the comic; Shadowdancer is his class, not his name, and Redaxe's name is only given in the Order of the Stick Card Game.
- This is the only appearance of the King of Nowhere.