Elan lays Therkla to rest.
Cast
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Hinjo ◀ ▶
- Daigo Da- ◀ ▶
- Kazumi Kato (pregnant) ◀ ▶
- Pit Fiend (as statue) ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
On board the ship. Hinjo is speaking with Daigo, while Durkon is checking on Kazumi.
Daigo: —and then Elan came back a few minutes later, sort of upset. He picked up the half-orc girl's body and carried it out.
Hinjo: Did he say anything about what had happened? Did Kubota manage to escape?
Daigo: He just said that we should tell you that he needed to speak to you, in private, as soon as we saw you.
- Panel 2
Hinjo: Twelve Gods, this is a total mess. My gut tells me that Kubota probably just fled when his coup went belly up, but...
Hinjo: ...I don't like guessing. Any man willing to traffic with devils to get ahead is too dangerous for us to just hope that he left.
- Panel 3
Kazumi weeps tears of relief.
Hinjo: And the only person who knows exactly what happened is...doing what, exactly?
Daigo: Elan didn't say, sir...
- Panel 4
Cut to Elan standing by a grave.
Daigo (inset): ...but I got the impression it was really important.
Elan: So, uh...I don't really know what I'm supposed to say here.
Elan: Something about a dozen gods, I think, but I'm not sure.
- Panel 5
Elan: Right before you died, you said you were sorry. I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that...I don't even know.
Elan: That I led you to this somehow.
- Panel 6
Elan: Even more, I'm sorry that I couldn't save you. I just—I wanted to, but...
Elan: ...
Elan: No, there's no excuse. It's my fault. A real hero would have saved you. Roy would have saved you.
Elan: I'm not a hero...I just play one in a comic strip.
- Panel 7
Elan: I just realized that you don't know who Roy is, but he's awesome. You'd like him, he was big on loyalty and stuff.
Elan: He's dead too, so you guys have that in common.
Elan: I miss him. A lot.
- Panel 8
Elan: Everything is so confusing now. Ever since we left Azure City, I feel like I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.
Elan: I try to think about what Roy would do, but... I don't know, it doesn't always work.
Elan: What would Roy do about Vaarsuvius? I have no idea! I'm not smart enough to figure it out!
- Panel 9
Elan: Anyway, sorry again.
Elan: You were nice, and you deserved a lot better.
- Panel 10
The panel pulls back to reveal the foot of the petrified pit fiend next to the grave.
Elan: At least I could give you a totally kickass headstone.
- Panel 11
The panel pulls further back to show the entire pit fiend statue. A rope hangs from its shoulder and "Therkla" has been carved into its chest.
- Panel 12
Closeup of the engraving on the pit fiend's chest:
| “ | Here Lies THERKLA ???? - 1184 She would have made a pretty cool girlfriend, too. |
” |
Trivia
- Southerners worship the Pantheon of Twelve Earthly Branches, also known as the "Twelve Gods".
- The date on the headstone shows that the year is still 1184. The Battle of Azure City was fought in early 1184, as shown by the Malev-o-meter chart of Belkar in #489, and assuming the Azurite fleet plot arc is happening at the same time as Haley's plot arc in Greysky then this is not new information. See also: the Timeline.
- This is the penultimate appearance of the pit fiend, and the final one to show it in any detail, though a small part of it is depicted in the next strip.