Elan and Durkon explain their arrival.
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius (Soul Spliced) ◀ ▶
- Celia ◀ ▶
- Ganonron ◀ ▶
- Jephton the Unholy ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
Elan: I like your hair.
Haley: Really?
- Panel 2
Elan: Oh, definitely! Appearance changes after a period of time has passed are a great way to provide narrative distance from earlier events.
Haley: Heh, yeah... I half expected you to have grown a beard or something.
Elan: I had an eyepatch, but Hinjo took it away.
- Panel 3
Elan and Haley share another kiss.
Durkon: I thought ye probably weren't comin' back, Vaarsuvius.
Vaarsuvius: Technically, you have arrived at my location, rather than the reverse. What I demand to know is how you have done so with such alacrity.
Ganonron: Tell us, dwarf!
Jephton: Now!
- Panel 4
A flashback to Durkon and Elan travelling with through the air in vapor form. Elan is doing loops around Durkon.
Elan: Woooooo! Wind Walk is the best cleric spell ever!!!
Durkon: Dinnae look down, dinnae look down, dinnae look down...
- Panel 5
Haley: Hey Durkon, can we get some quick healing? Belkar and I are a bit scuffed up from getting Roy back.
Vaarsuvius: I suppose I, too, could use some restorative conjura—
- Panel 6
Elan: Oooo! Oooo! Let me, Durkon! Let me!
Elan: Mass Cure Light Wounds!
Haley: What the—? Elan, you learned how to heal???
Belkar: Let's split up for another year, maybe he'll finally master basic multiplication.
Ganonron: Zing!
Jephton: Ha ha!
- Panel 7
Elan: Yeah, I finally leveled up yesterday, so I decided to take a bard level instead of the next level in Dashing Swordsman.
Elan: I picked Greater Dispel Magic and Mass Cure Light Wounds as my new 5th-level spells.
Elan: I know it doesn't cure much per person, but eventually I'm thinking of swapping one of my current 4th-level spells for Cure Critical Wounds.
- Panel 8
Haley: Wow, that's... that's very... planned... of you, Elan.
Celia: Wait, didn't you get a new 4th-level spell at this level, too?
Elan: Oh, I did, but I needed to use it on something more important.
Haley: Another illusion spell?
- Panel 9
Elan: Neutralize Poison, actually.
- Panel 10
Elan: It's sort of a long story about a ninja, so I'll tell you later.
Elan: I don't want to miss one moment of the happy reunion!
- Panel 11
Durkon: ...
Belkar: So.
Belkar: Still unstylishly bearded, I see.
- Panel 12
Elan: You know what? Never mind. I'll tell you now.
Belkar: Embrace change! Somewhere deep inside you, there's a chin yearning to break free!
D&D Context
- Wind Walk is a 6th level spell which changes the caster and others into a gaseous form which allows them to move through air at great speed (600 ft/round). The effect lasts 1 hour per level of the caster.
- Elan’s new spell, Mass Cure Light Wounds, is a 5th level bard spell and heals 1d8+1/level hit points on up to one creature per level.
- Elan's other two new spells (which he doesn't use) are:
- Greater Dispel Magic, a 5th level spell which cancels most magical effects.
- Neutralize Poison is a 4th level spell which detoxifies any poison, venom, or toxin.
- Elan hopes to one day also have Cure Critical Wounds which heals 4d8+1/level hit points.
Trivia
- Elan cannot actually grow a beard, as when the barber shaved off his fake goatee in 388 he told him that the Sovereign Glue that Nale had used to stick it on prevented him from ever growing facial hair again.
- "Be Prepared" is the Scout Motto of the international Scout Movement. The title refers to Elan's choice of Neutralize Poison as a new spell; it is too late for him to use it to save Therkla, but now he is prepared should he need it to save someone else.
- Elan's comment in Panel 2 in regards to his eyepatch is a reference to #502.
- In the next book, Durkon would indeed go through a very obvious visual change.