Elan tries to evade Nale, but Sabine takes over.
Cast
- Haley Starshine (as statue and shrunk) ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Nale ◀ ▶
- Sabine ◀ ▶
- Mr. Jones ◀ ▶
- Phil Rodriguez ◀ ▶
- The Flumphs ◀ ▶
- Lizardfolk Judge ◀
- A Lizardfolk Bleedingham City Guard
Transcript
- Panel 1
Nale and Sabine search for Elan in the unfinished part of the palace. Elan hides behind a box.
Nale: Come out from wherever you’re hiding, Elan.
Nale: I know you ran in here, and even your limited ability to comprehend your environment must have realized by now that this is a dead end. Literally, in this—
- Panel 2
Elan leaps out and casts an illusion of a white tree sloth with a halo.
Elan: Celestial tree sloth attack!!
- Panel 3
Sabine: Ahhhh! It’s hanging on me! Get it off! Get it off!!
Nale: He’s getting away! Ignore it, it’s just an illusion.
Nale swings his sword at the fleeing Elan and misses, "ooowhiff!"
Sabine: How do you know?
Nale: You mean besides the phrase, “Celestial tree sloth attack?”
- Panel 4
The floor of the palace abruptly ends.
Elan: Aww, man! It’s like this whole place is made out of ledges!
Nale: Well, Elan, it seems as if you’ve come to the edge of—
- Panel 5
Sabine flies out with a "WOOSH!!" and takes Elan over the ledge.
Nale: HEY! I was in the middle of a great villainous quip there!
Nale: You never respect my process.
- Panel 6
Sabine: I’m tired of you making things complicated for me, Elan.
Sabine: Just die already.
Sabine drives Elan into the side of a tower, "WHAM!"
- Panel 7
Sabine begins to energy drain Elan.
Elan: Doesn’t—*urk!* Doesn’t Nale want to kill me himself?
Sabine: I know lots of tricks that’ll help him get over it.
Sabine: Maybe we’ll do some of them on top of your corpse.
- Panel 8
As Sabine energy drains Elan, the miniature petrified Haley drops out of his belt and falls.
Elan: *Unnnk!* Haley!!
- Panel 9
Petrified Haly glances off the side of the tower, "bink!"
- Panel 10
After hitting the solid surface of the tower, the Shrink Item spell is broken, and the statue grows back to life size as it falls.
- Panel 11
Cut to the palace balcony, where Durkon is talking with the Lawyers.
Mr. Jones: So, you’re not having legal problems of any kind?
Durkon: Nay, lads, I were just workin’ out tha last few details o’ spell research.
Phil Rodriguez: Huh. I wonder why we’re in this scene if we’re not needed to—
- Panel 12
The now full-size petrified Haley comes crashing down on top of the lawyers, with a "THUUNK!", breaking her fall.
- Panel 13
Cut to a courtroom in Bleedingham where the Flumphs are arguing in front of a judge and bailiff.
Flumph #1: But I don’t know the first thing about being a lawyer!
Flumph #2: Just move to adjourn before anyone catches on.
D&D Context
- Silent Image is a 1st level bard spell which creates an optical illusion. It is a staple of Elan's spellcasting.
- Sabine's succubus ability to Energy Drain drains experience levels from her target. The lost levels may return after 24 hours or can be restored with a Restoration spell.
- Shrink Item, a 3rd level spell, was cast on Haley by Vaarsuvius to make her petrified state portable, V lacking the spell necessary to return her to flesh. Shrink Item has a duration of 1 day/level, and so would have lasted over two weeks (V is level 16). But the spell can also be ended by "tossing [the item] on to any solid surface". Thus the spell was broken when Haley hit the tower.
Trivia
- In panel 2, Elan uses the tactic of creating an illusion of a Celestial to explain its sudden appearance, something he learned from Vaarsuvius in #478.
- Haley was petrified by Zz'dtri in #789 and shrunk to the size of a figurine by Vaarsuvius in #790, when she is taken by Elan.
- The final three frames play on the running gag where characters' falls are broken by landing on the Flumphs. The gag began in #74. In this installation, Haley's fall needed to be broken (lest the statue shatter), but rather than having the Flumphs appear at the palace for no reason, Rich decided to have The Lawyers fill the role of fall-breaker, with the Flumphs inexplicably appearing as lawyers elsewhere. Perhaps the Flumphs, knowing that if they were in the comic it was to break someone's fall, plotted to switch roles with the lawyers to avoid this fate. Both the lawyers and the flumphs note the nonsensical nature of their appearance in the narrative.
- This is also the final appearance of the Lizardfolk Judge. He first appeared in #734.