Haley runs into resistance from the Thieves Guild. Celia plays on the rogue's greed to distract them.
Cast
- Roy Greenhilt (as spirit) ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Celia ◀ ▶
- Hank ◀ ▶
- Eighth Level Greysky Rogue ◀ ▶
- Yor ▶
- Three Rogues
Transcript
- Panel 1
Rogue #1: Toby, George, and the Munez Twins haven't come back yet, and we can't see a thing down there because of this Fog Cloud that sprang up.
Rogue 2: I think it's Obscuring Mist actually.
Rogue 3: Are we certain it's not Solid Fog?
Hank: Geez, how many ways to make a cloud does one magic system really need?
- Panel 2
Hank: Well, back out of it, whatever it is. The sylph probably cast it to conceal Haley while she creeps up the stairs for a—
- Panel 3
Haley: Point Blank Rapid Shot Sneak Attack!!
Haley kills the three rogues with one arrow each: "fwunk! fwunk! fwunk!"
Hank: Yeah, that.
- Panel 4
Haley: Funny, Hank, you were never really the type to get worked up over what amounts to a territorial dispute.
Hank: I'm still not.
- Panel 5
8th Level Rogue: SNEAK ATTACK!
Hank: Now I have flunkies get worked up for me.
Hank: You really shouldn't leave that much concealment floating around, incidentally.
- Panel 6
Haley: What level rogue are you?
8th Level Rogue: 8th why?
- Panel 7
Haley: HA!!
Haley: Improved Uncanny Dodge, IN YOUR FACE! No Sneak Attack for you!
8th level rogue: Damn, and I rolled mostly 6's, too.
- Panel 8
Hank tumbles away, "tumble!"
Hank: Now's probably a good time for me to bring up the Guild's new Fighter Outreach program.
Yor: POWER ATTACK!
Yor smashes Haley, disarming her, "WHUNK!"
- Panel 9
Celia: Eeep! Haley! I don't know if she can handle that much melee. I need to do something!
Roy: Yeah, you need to stay here and let the woman with years of combat experience handle this.
Hank (off-panel): Yor, I told you that you don't have to shout that every time you charge.
Yor (off-panel): Awww, Hank, all the rogues get to say something when THEY attack!
- Panel 10
Celia: Gosh, look at me, all defenseless and weak! I sure am having trouble flying right with all these valuable magic items weighting me down!
Celia: Whoever captures me sure would have ample opportunity to pocket a few of them before their supervisors found out!
- Panel 11
8th Level Rogue: I dunno, boss...I don't see that many magic items.
Haley: Not that many...compared to how many she has in her POT OF GOLD!
Haley: Which fairy law says she has to give to the first person who catches her—and ONLY to that person!
Hank: Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's leprechauns, not sylphs.
- Panel 12
Celia: Listen, Soul Patch, we all know what we're trying to pull here, so the real question is this:
Celia: Is your financial outlook so rosy that you can afford to NOT chase me, based solely on how well you remember the odd bit of folklore?
- Panel 13
Hank, Eighth Level Rogue, and Yor chase Celia down the hall.
Hank: You make a very convincing argument in these tough economic times.
Celia: Thank you! Can I use you as a reference on my résumé?
Hank: By all means.
D&D Context
- Obscuring Mist is a 1st level spell which creates a misty vapor, obscuring all sight. There are also the 2nd level Fog Cloud spell and the 4th level Solid Fog spells which are similar but slightly stronger, as the rogues note.
- The Rapid Shot Feat allows the character to take one extra attack in a round with a ranged weapon.
- The Point Blank Shot Feat gives +1 to shots within 30 feet.
- The rogue's Sneak Attack gives extra damage against unsuspecting or flanked opponents.
- Haley also uses her rogue's Improved Uncanny Dodge class feature. This denies other rogues the ability to use sneak attacks unless the rogue is more than four levels higher than her.
- The Tumble skill allows a character to tumble past an opponent, among other things.
- The Power Attack Feat allows the fighter to take a penalty to an attack roll and add that to the damage roll if the attack hits. Since Yor uses a two-handed weapon, he gets double the damage bonus.
Trivia
- In panel 5, the 8th level rogue manages to Sneak Attack Haley in the back with a sword. In the next panels Haley realizes she is immune to his Sneak Attack damage, so the wound slowly diminishes over the next few panels, reflecting only the sword stab damage.
- At the time this strip was published the U.S. federal government had recently created the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also known as TARP, to address the subprime mortgage crisis. The program was viewed by many as a "bailout" of the very same banks who created the crisis.
- This is the first appearance of Yor, the result of the Guild's Fighter Outreach program. It's worth noting that Yor's name is Roy backwards; Yor is a single-class fighter and wears similar boots to Roy's. Beyond this there does not seem to be much significance in the name.