Vaarsuvius dispatches the pit fiend with an assist from Durkon.
Cast
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- Hinjo ◀ ▶
- Lien ◀ ▶
- Daigo Da- ◀ ▶
- Kazumi Kato (pregnant) ◀ ▶
- Pit Fiend (also as statue) ◀ ▶
- Kubota's Samurai ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1, Page 1
The pit fiend holds the enlarged Durkon above his head and roasts him.
- Panel 2, Page 1
The pit fiend throws Durkon to the ground returning to normal size, "WUNK!!"
Lien: DURKON!
Lien: Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead...
- Panel 3, Page 1
Lien: There, at least I can do something useful. I might as well have taken Weapon Focus: Toothpick for all the good my attacks are doing.
Lien: Lay On Hands.
Durkon: Thank ye, lass. How's Hinjo's attack going?
Lien: Well...
- Panel 4, Page 1
Durkon casts Heal on himself while off-panel the pit fiend attacks Argent, "SLASH!!", who due to the damage is forced back to the Celestial Realms to heal, "poof!" Hinjo (off-panel): HEY! No one hurts my dog!!
- Panel 5, Page 1
Lien: ...but not as well as could be hoped.
Durkon: Aye.
- Panel 6, Page 1
Vaarsuvius: It would seem that this foul creature has weathered the brunt of my direct damage spells without so much as a mild inconvenience.
Vaarsuvius: I believe I must attempt a more unpredictable evocation if I am to defeat it.
- Panel 7, Page 1
Vaarsuvius: But first, I must "prepare the battlefield," as they say.
Vaarsuvius: Crushing Despair.
Pit Fiend: Geez. What am I doing with my life? Taking orders from an imp?
Pit Fiend: All the guys I went to high school with have gone on to be men of wealth and taste.
- Panel 8, Page 1
The devil claws and burns Vaarsuvius away.
Pit Fiend: Just leave me alone.
- Panel 9, Page 1
Durkon: Vaarsuvius! Come down 'ere 'an let me heal ye!
Durkon: Ye look so crappy. I cannae even tell how hurt ye are!
Vaarsuvius: I do not require your succor at this time.
- Panel 10, Page 1
Vaarsuvius: If you are intent on assisting, what I really require is a spell that will further lower this fiends's saving throws, as Crushing Despair does.
Vaarsuvius: Unless you do not really have an interest in actually vanquishing this foe and would rather just tell me what I should do.
- Panel 1, Page 2
Durkon: Grrrr...ye damned arrogant piece of...I got yer spell right 'ere, yer lucky I dinnae shove it up yer delicate elven—
Durkon: Bestow Curse!
- Panel 2, Page 2
Pit Fiend: Great, now I'm cursed. Mom was right, I am an embarrassment.
Vaarsuvius: Your capacity for maternal disappointment has only just begun to reach its maximum potential.
Vaarsuvius: Prismatic spray!
- Panel 3, Page 2
Blue ray of Vaarsuvius's Prismatic spray hits Devil.
- Panel 4, Page 2
The devil is turned in a stone statue.
- Panel 5, Page 2
V flies over to Lien and Durkon.
Lien: Wow, I can't believe you actually turned it to stone...
Durkon: Aye, well, ye got lucky. Tha were a foolish risk.
- Panel 6, Page 2
V flies right by without a word.
Durkon: Och. Now I'm startin' ta get worried.
- Panel 7, Page 2
Lien: You mean because the ninja escaped, Elan is missing, and the vile little imp has teleported to who-knows-where
Durkon: Och, aye...
Durkon: But I meant I'm worried 'cause V just passed up a perfect opport'nity ta say, "I told ye so."
- Panel 8, Page 2
Beat. Lien and Durkon look worried.
- Panel 9, Page 2
Cut away to Elan aboard Hinjo's junk.
Elan: Dunh dunh DUNNNNNH!
Samurai #1: Why'd he do that?
Samurai #2: Maybe you're squeezing him too hard?
D&D Context
- The title plays on a pair of D&D spells, as well as the Rolling Stones song as detailed below. Sympathy is a 8th level wizard spell which imbues an object or location with magic that causes certain creatures to want to be near it an to touch or possess it. Its inverse is the 8th level Antipathy spell, which has the reverse effect, causing certain creatures to flee the area or shun the item.
- Weapon Focus is a Feat which allows a character to gain +1 to attack rolls with a particular weapon.
- Lay on Hands is a paladin ability which heals a number of hit points dependent on the paladin's charisma and level.
- Pit fiends, along with most evil outsiders, have very strong resistances to energy-based attacks, as well as Spell Resistance, high saving throws, and regeneration, all of which makes pummeling one down with evocation a difficult task.
- Crushing Despair causes great sadness and -2 to all saving throws, attack rolls, skill checks, and damage.
- Bestow Curse can take one of three forms, but one causes -4 on saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, and skill checks.
- Prismatic Spray hits the target with one or more beams, where each beam has a different effect. The blue beam, which is much wider than the rest of the beams in this comic, turns the target to stone.
Trivia
- The title of the comic is a reference to the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil. The title also plays on the Sympathy/Antipathy D&D spells detailed above.
- Another reference to the same song is the devil's words in panel 8: "All the guys I went to high school with have gone on to be men of wealth and taste." "A man of wealth and taste" is how the Devil describes himself in the song.
- Elan occasionally says "dunh dunh DUNH!" to heighten the dramatic tension. In this case his sixth sense for plot developments is so strong he could feel the need for the musical cue from the ship some distance from the events unfolding.