Roy asks Veldrina to keep an eye on the High Priests while he goes after "Durkon".
Cast
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- High Priests of the Northern Pantheon:
- High Priestess of Odin ◀ ▶
- High Priestess of Freya ◀ ▶
- High Priestess of Sif ◀ ▶
- High Priestess Rubyrock ◀ ▶
- High Priestess of Frigg ◀ ▶
- High Priest of Mani ◀ ▶
- High Priestess of Hoder ◀ ▶
- High Priest of Balder ◀ ▶
- High Priest of Freyr ◀ ▶
- High Priest of Heimdall ◀
- High Priest of Loki ◀ ▶
- High Priest of Sunna ◀ ▶
- High Priestess of Skadi ◀ ▶
- High Priest of Fenrir ◀ ▶
- High Priest of Tyr ◀
- High Priest of Vafthrudnir ◀
- Representatives of the other pantheons:
- High Priests of the Northern Demigods
Transcript
- Panel 1
Roy: Listen up!
Roy: If I've got no status, then nothing is keeping me here.
Roy: I'm going after the vampires. Anyone going to try and stop me?
- Panel 2
The assembled high priests remain silent.
- Panel 3
Roy: OK, good. That's progress.
Roy: Anyone willing and able to pop me and my team directly there?
- Panel 4
The assembled high priests remain silent. Roy looks annoyed.
- Panel 5
Roy: I suppose that was too much to ask for.
Roy: Veldrina, can I talk to you privately for a moment?
- Panel 6
Roy: You're one of the only people here who doesn't directly represent a stake in this vote.
Roy: So I need you to keep an eye on things here. I don't trust these clerics to behave while I'm gone—even the ones who sided with me a minute ago.
- Panel 7
Veldrina: I don't know... I doubt any of them will disobey their patron's orders. They know they may be standing in their presence sooner rather than later.
Roy: That loyalty is exactly what I'm worried about. Everything I've seen here just confirms my belief that the gods, taken as a group, do not have our best interests as their highest priority.
- Panel 8
Roy: If one of those gods gets twitchy and tells their priest to break the moot's rules... things could go downhill fast.
Roy: Do you know the Sending spell?
- Panel 9
Veldrina: Sure! I use it all the time to contact the editors of metaphysics journals and point out basic math errors.
Veldrina: I'm not sure the reply function works properly, though. They never seem to thank me for it.
- Panel 10
Veldrina: I'm also pretty sure the spell that's keeping everyone in also blocks communication magic, though.
Roy: Well, if something changes and the vote resolves, that spell should drop, right? Contact me if the result is a No.
- Panel 11
Veldrina: What is the result is a Yes?
Roy: Then nothing I'm doing will matter. Use those last few minutes to contact someone you care about before it's too late.
- Panel 12
Veldrina: Wow, that's... kinda heavy.
Roy: Yeah, sorry. I usually have a few punchline-friendly characters with me to lighten this stuff back up.
D&D Context
- Sending is a 4th level spell which allows the caster to send a short message to a known recipient anywhere, even on other planes of existence. The recipient may (but need not) reply in kind.
Trivia
- This is the final appearance of Veldrina, the character created by the $5000 donor to the Order of the Stick Kickstarter. It took three years for Rich Burlew to work her character into the story, but instead of the original Kickstarter promise of a cameo, she became a more substantial character with an important part in the plot. She first appeared in #986, appearing in a total of 14 strips.
- This is the final appearance of:
- The High Priest of Heimdall, first appearing in Tinkertown in #985.
- The High Priests of Tyr and Vafthrudnir, first appearing in #999.
- The Representative of the Southern Pantheon. He first appeared in #997.
- The High Priests of the Northern Demigods, except Hermod. They first appeared in #1012.