Tarquin explains the history of his late wife Penelope and the Draketooth family. The party realizes they are in a race to the Gate with Nale.
Cast[]
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Tarquin ◀ ▶
- Malack ◀ ▶
- Zz'dtri (as Polozius) ◀ ▶
- Gourntonk ◀ ▶
- Penelope ▶
- Orrin Draketooth
- A Crystal-Gazer Diviner
- Four Adventurers
Transcript[]
- Panel 1, Page 1
Durkon (whispering): Discern Lies
Haley (whispering): Sense motive.
Durkon (whispering): Ye dinnae need ta say tha aloud.
Haley (whispering): Couldn’t hurt
Tarquin: The first thing you need to know is that I never met the man personally, but I did hear quite a bit about him from my recently departed ninth wife.
- Panel 2, Page 1
Flashback to Orrin Draketooth wooing Penelope.
Tarquin (inset): When Penelope was young—fifteen years ago, before we met—she fell in love with a man. A street illusionist by trade, red haired and with a very distinctive facial tattoo.
- Panel 3, Page 1
Penelope is in a bed holding a newborn infant with Orrin smiling at her side.
Tarquin (inset): After a whirlwind courtship, they married and she gave birth to a baby girl.
- Panel 4, Page 1
Penelope discovering in horror that her baby not in her crib, only a note.
Tarquin (inset): One morning, shortly after the baby was weaned, Penelope awoke to fine both her husband and their daughter gone—and her family’s considerable coffers emptied.
- Panel 5, Page 1
Penelope sits at a table with a fortune teller. On the table is a crystal ball.
Tarquin (inset): She spent years searching for her daughter, but was never successful. Even divinations could not reveal her location, though they were able to tell her that the name she knew was, in fact, an alias…and his real name was—
- Panel 6, Page 1
Elan: Girard Draketooth!
Tarquin: Orrin Draketooth.
- Panel 7, Page 1
Tarquin: I never said I knew anything about anyone named “Girard,” just “Draketooth.”
Elan: Aww, man! All this trouble and it turns out it was the wrong guy this whole time?
- Panel 8, Page 1
Haley: No, Elan—it makes sense.
Haley: General, I need to confer with Elan privately for a moment. And Brother Thundershield—I may need spiritual guidance.
- Panel 9, Page 1
Haley, Durkon, and Elan walk a short distance away from Tarquin, who watches them.
Haley: We already suspected Girard had an organization, but he’s ultra-paranoid—just like my dad. So if it was my dad guarding the Gate, who would be the only people he would trust?
Elan: …His family!
Haley: Exactly! Orrin must be his son or grandson, sent out to sire another generation to keep the clan going.
- Panel 10, Page 1
Elan: Dad—would Nale have known the story? From before he ever left?
Tarquin: Oh, certainly. Get a few drinks in his stepmother, and she wouldn’t shut up about it.
- Panel 11, Page 1
Flashback of Tarquin and Penelope at a cocktail party with Malack, Gourntonk, and Polozius.
Tarquin (inset): Tragically, she had even hinted to me a few weeks ago that a new friend had helped her uncover a lead that Draketooth might be holed up in Windy Canyon.
Tarquikn (inset): She was planning on hiring adventurers to follow up when she unexpectedly passed.
- Panel 12, Page 1
Haley: Ten gold says that the “new friend” was really Sabine in disguise.
Durkon: Och, no bet.
Elan: Nale probably spent months helping her find the Draketooths, then he must’ve killed her so she wouldn’t spill any more details.
- Panel 1, Page 2
Elan: *Gasp!* Haley! Nale is probably on his way there right now!!
Haley: Yeah, but don’t stress, babe. I’m sure Girard can crush him and Sabine easily.
Elan: I’m not worried about Nale fighting him, I’m worried about Nale talking to him!!
- Panel 2, Page 2
Durkon: Och, lass…lad’s got a point. Nale can be awful tricky.
Haley: Yeah, OK, but even we managed to use Discern Lies, and they’ve probably got their act together a lot more than we do.
Elan: He doesn’t need to lie at all! All he has to do is tell Girard that we’re friends with the sapphire Guard—
Elan: —which is totally true!—
Elan: —and then Girard will never ever trust us!
- Panel 3, Page 2
Haley: Elan, you’re…absolutely right. We need to make contact with Girard—or Orrin, or whomever—before Nale does.
- Panel 4, Page 2
Elan: Dad! I’m sorry to have to run away like this, but Haley and I need to go beat Nale to the Windy Canyon!
Tarquin: Think nothing of it, Elan. We’ve all had that one adventure that suddenly turned into a race.
- Panel 5, Page 2
Flashback to a party of adventurers racing to beat the Vector Legion. A paladin, wizard, barbarian and a lizardfold rogue run through a dungeon.
Adventurer: If Tarquin and his party get their hands on the Lost Treasure of Sdigiji, they’ll have enough money to raise an army of ten thousand men!
Adventurer: For the sake of everyone on the continent, we cannot fail!!
- Panel 6, Page 2
Tarquin: Spoiler alert: They failed.
D&D Context[]
- Discern Lies is a 4th level spell that allows the caster to tell if a person is knowingly lying.
- Sense Motive is the skill that essentially does the same thing, countering attempts to Bluff.
Trivia[]
- This is the first appearance of Penelope.
- This is the only appearance of Orrin Draketooth in the comics.