The Order departs the Mechane via Wind Walk.
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Roy Greenhilt (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Elan (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Blackwing ◀ ▶
- Minrah Shaleshoe (also in gaseous form) ◀ ▶
- The Crew of the Mechane
- O'aka XXIII ◀
Transcript
- Panel 1, Page 1
Blackwing: Hey, we're trying to save the day, and you're charging us regular price for these potions?
Haley: Yeah, if you're not gonna price-gouge when the world's ending, then when?
Durkon: Och, lissen up, lads an' lasses! Tha spell we're gonna use ta fly in's called Wind Walk.
Elan: Oh, I love that spell! We used it to get to Greysky City, right?
Durkon: It's an awful spell an' I hate ev'rey minute o' it.
Elan: Yep, that's what you said then, too.
- Panel 2, Page 1
Durkon: It's basically gonna turn us inta mist, an' then we'll zoom off ta tha tomb.
Durkon: Ta anyone on tha ground, we'll just look like fluffy li'l clouds rollin' in, so we shouldnae need ta be invis'ble. 'Specially if'n thar na payin' much mind.
- Panel 3, Page 1
Elan: Thanks for all the help, Captain Bandana!
Bandana: Ah, don't mention it. I'd love to get in there and bust some heads with y'all, but someone's gotta get this boat home in one piece.
Belkar: OK; Bloodfeast, stop napping for a minute and move over a skosh so Mr. Scruffy can ride in the bag with you while we fly.
Belkar: …
Belkar: You call that a skosh? That was a smidge at best. Come on, move!
Vaarsuvius: Are you ready?
Blackwing: Am I ready to leave the nausea-inducing death contraption where a dead dwarf flung me into a wall and then I was almost eaten by rats?
Blackwing: Yes. Yes, I am.
Felix: Good luck saving the world. I hope you succeed, 'cause it's where I keep most of my stuff.
Roy: Yeah, thanks.
- Panel 4, Page 1
Minrah: You're sure you're ready for this?
Durkon: Gotta do what we gotta do, right?
Durkon: Wind Walk!
- Panel 5, Page 1
Haley (in gaseous form): Whoa! This is amazing! We're like genies!
Roy (in gaseous form): Ooo, uh, actually Celia says that word's not cool. Apparently it has roots in the lamp-based oppression of people of vapor.
Elan (in gaseous form): Isn't this great? I feel all light and fluffy, and everything goes right through me and out the other side.
Vaarsuvius (in gaseous form): It must be so refreshing for your outer form to finally align so perfectly with your inner self.
- Panel 6, Page 1
Roy (in gaseous form): Blackwing, you know the way. We'll follow you.
Blackwing: You can count on me, O boss of my boss.
- Panel 7, Page 1
The party leaves the Mechane via Wind Walk with Blackwing flying in the lead.
- Panel 1, Page 2
The crew of the Mechane waves goodbye.
- Panel 2, Page 2
The party flies above the frozen wastes.
- Panel 3, Page 2
One of the wind walking party is flying loops around the one of the others.
- Panel 4, Page 2
Elan (in gaseous form): Haha, Haley, what are you doing? You're gonna crash into me!
Haley (in gaseous form): I'm trying to mingle all our cloudstuff together.
Elan (in gaseous form): Oh, good idea! Our gall bladders barely know each other!
Belkar (in gaseous form): Ugh, get a room.
D&D Context
- Wind Walk is a 6th level cleric spell.
- It targets the caster plus one additional creature per three levels. Durkon have to be at least level 18 to take the six other members of the Order with him, so either he cast it a second time off-panel, or the spell was modified for the comic.
- Durkon previously used the spell to reunite Elan and himself with the party in #647. He did not seem to enjoy himself.
- In D&D djinni are creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Air, as are sylphs such as Roy's girlfriend Celia. The term "genie" is used to refer to collectively to djinni (genies of air), efreeti (genies of fire), and janni (genies of all four elements). It is not considered a pejorative in canon D&D sources.
Trivia
- In panel 3 of page 1, Blackwing is referring to the events of #1013 and #1014, when Gontor Hammerfell invaded V's stateroom on the Mechane.
- The word "skosh" is a rare non-food word in English with a Japanese etymology. The word entered the English lexicon as a slang term used by US armed forces during the Korean war. It comes from the Japanese sukoshi "few, little, some."
- This is the latest appearance of:
- Bandana, birth name Beatrix Secundus, captain of the Mechane, has appeared in sixty-one strips, starting in #931.
- Andromeda (aka Andi), the engineer of the Mechane, has appeared in thirty-two strips, first appearing in #935.
- Carol, a Mechane crewmember who first appeared all the way back in #391, making her twenty-fifth appearance here.
- Kwesi, the Mechane's aeronautical engineer, who first appeared in #990. This is her twenty-fourth strip.
- Felix, the Mechane's sartorial adviser, first appeared in #935. This is his twenty-third strip.
- Mateo, the Mechane's helmsman, first appeared in #949, and makes his twentieth appearance in this strip.
- Ozzie, a Mechane crewmember, first appearing in #1062.
- O'aka XXIII from Final Fantasy X. The main cast of Final Fantasy VI appears in #388, "The Final Frontier".