Roy and "Durkon" meet Wrecan and Veldrina.
Cast
Transcript
- Panel 1
An inn in Tinkertown. The sign outside reads, "Big Folks Inn", below which another sign reads, "Human-sized rooms at normal-sized prices!" From insides comes knocking, "KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!"
- Panel 2
Inside the inn
Wrecan: Hello? Who are you?
Roy: Hi, uh, one of the clerics of Hoder sent us here. She said there was an elven priestess who might be able to help us.
- Panel 3
Wrecan: I’m sorry, she’s not accepting contract work at the moment. We’re otherwise occupied with important matters.
Wrecan: Good day.
- Panel 4
Veldrina: Ooooo, is that my dumplings?
Wrecan: It’s not your dumplings.
Veldrina: Did they remember the sauce? They’re too dry without the sauce.
Wrecan: There are no dumplings!
- Panel 5
Veldrina: Well, if they forgot the dumplings, just send them back to—Oh!
Veldrina: You don’t look like a gnome delivery boy.
Roy: I get that a lot.
- Panel 6
Veldrina: I’m Veldrina and this is my bodyguard, Wrecan.
Wrecan: You do remember that this is a secret mission, right?
Veldrina: We’re on a secret mission.
Wrecan: *sigh*
- Panel 7
Roy: I’m Roy Greenhilt and this is my friend Durkon Thundershield.
Veldrina: Is he a vampire?
Roy: Um, yes.
"Durkon": Hullo.
- Panel 8
Veldrina: I’ve never seen a vampire in the flesh before.
Veldrina: Fascinating how properly applied negative energy can provide a semblance of biological functions, don’t you think?
- Panel 9
Wrecan: Not as fascinating as your uncanny ability to find the straightest line between your nose and something dangerous.
Wrecan: Back up.
Veldrina: Hmmm? Oh, right.
Roy: Actually, even though he’s a vampire, Durkon isn’t dangerous at all. He’s one of the good guys.
- Panel 10
Wrecan: Uh huh.
Wrecan: My daughters back home read young adult novels—I know all about tragic vampire anti-heroes, thanks.
Wrecan: That doesn’t mean he won’t turn on you when you least expect it, then ask for forgiveness later.
- Panel 11
Veldrina: Oh, stop being such a worrier. They seem nice.
Wrecan: Is that your strategic assessment? “Seems nice”?
Veldrina: Why don’t you come inside and have some dumplings?
Wrecan: There are no dumplings!
- Panel 12
Veldrina (off-panel): They forgot them again?
Wrecan: No, they never—ugh!!
Roy: If you’d asked me to rate the chances of this ending with a bamboo steamer and Belkar in a paper hat, I would have said, “Low.”
Trivia
- First apperances of Veldrina and Wrecan.
- The character of Wrecan is a tribute to Mark Monack, a Giant in the Playground forum goer who went by the screen name "Wrecan". Amongst other things, he started the tradition of counting the number of strips characters appear in. Mark passed away from heart failure in 2013.
- Veldrina is a fan character created by a Kickstarter Backer who donated enough to earn a "walk-on cameo" for a D&D Character of their creation. When the donor created Veldrina as a divine caster elf, Rich Burlew slotted her into an upcoming story role, thereby giving her much more than a cameo apperance.