Eugene fills Roy in on what has been going on with his body down in Greysky City.
Cast
- Roy Greenhilt (as spirit) ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Celia ◀ ▶
- Eugene Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Roy's Archon ◀ ▶
- Horace Greenhilt ◀
- Frankenstein's Monster
- Robot
Transcript
- Panel 1
Horace: —and that's why I've never been prouder than I am right now.
Roy: Thanks, Grandpa, I'll put everything I've learned to good use.
Horace：I know you will, good luck.
- Panel 2
Horace: ...
Horace: Eugene.
Eugene: Father.
- Panel 3
Roy's Archon: Wow, I think I just took 10d6 cold damage floating between the two of you.
Eugene: I have nothing to say to my father.
Roy: Neither do I, yet you keep showing up.
- Panel 4
Roy: Since you're here, care to fill me in on how the ground game is going?
Eugene: Well, I have good news and bad news.
Eugene: The good news is that I was able to conjure some books that might help you come to terms with the bad news.
- Panel 5
Eugene shows Roy a collection of books: "FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley", "I ROBOT by Isaac Asimov", "PRoMeTHean / THE CREATED", "Everything you always wanted to know about your dead body being used to make a bone golem* / * but were afraid to ask."
- Panel 6
Roy: Either you're trying to tell me that my body was turned into a golem, or...actually, I can't think of any other possible interpretation.
Eugene: Look on the bright side: You're mindless, good at hitting things, and you do what a wizard tells you to do. You're finally the perfect fighter!
- Panel 7
Roy: OK...OK, not ideal. But if they can destroy the golem, I'm pretty sure they can resurrect me from the leftover bones.
Roy: So really, we're just a few combat encounters further away than we were—encounters that will give them valuable XP toward when we face Xykon.
Roy: So it's all good.
- Panel 8
Eugene: Uh, hello? Your skeleton is serving as a butler in Toad Hall! How can you be so damn calm?!?
Roy: Well I'm not exactly making a Perform (jig) check over here, Dad, but it's not nearly as big an obstacle as being dead in the first place, is it?
- Panel 9
Roy: I'm sure Haley and Celia are working on a plan to retrieve my body and get me raised.
Eugene: Then maybe you can tell me why they've been sitting around in Greysky City for eight days instead of continuing north to Cliffport.
Eugene casts scrying.
- Panel 10
Roy: Obviously I don't know, Dad. I've been up on the mountain since they left the Sunken Valley.
Roy: But they are both smart and I trust them, so I'm sure Greysky City is a critical step in that plan.
Eugene: Ahem.
- Panel 11
Haley braids Celia's hair, similarly to how her hair is done, while Celia is giving herself a pedicure.
- Panel 12
Roy: OK, but there's probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for why they've braided each other's hair.
Roy: Maybe they're preparing for battle and oh my gods, is she giving herself a pedicure?? How bad can your calluses be, girl, you FLY most of the time?!?
D&D Context
- Perform (jig) is not a canonical D&D skill; the correct skill would be Perform (dance), which specifically includes jigs.
- Scrying is a 4th level spell that allows the caster to view people remotely.
- The title refers to the Endurance Feat, which gives +4 to certain checks that require endurance. The joke is in regard to Celia's feet since she doesn't walk often, yet she still needs a pedicure, she must not have much endurance.
Trivia
- The books all deal with various forms of simulacra:
- Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is Mary Shelly's 1818 horror classic of a human constructed by a scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The flesh golem in D&D is based on the creature from this novel.
- I, Robot is a collection of nine short stories by Isaak Asimov, published in 1950. The stories all deal with androids, humanoid robots, the interplay of these robots with humans, and the moral conflicts that result. The book is famous for its exposition of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.
- Promethean: The Created is a role playing game published by White Wolf, first published in 2006, with a second edition released in 2016. In the game, inspired by Frankenstein and other sources such as the Golem of Prague, players play characters which are all some form of constructed human or golem.
- The last book is just a joke, but is a reference to the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask).
- Toad Hall is a reference to Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's novel, The Wind in the Willows. The reference is an aspersion on Hieronymus Grubwiggler.
- This is the final appearance of Horace Greenhilt, Roy's grandfather. He first appeared in #497.
- This is the only appearance of Frankenstein's Monster, on the cover of the novel.
- This is the only appearance of the Robot on the cover of I, Robot in the web comic. The robot also appears in On the Origin of PCs.