Tarquin double-crosses Amun-Zora.
Cast[]
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Tarquin ◀ ▶
- Amun-Zora ◀ ▶
- Three Soldiers of the Free City of Doom
- Five Empire of Blood Dragoons
- Twenty-four Soldiers of the Empire of Tears
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Elan: Huh. I wonder how they use the snorkels in the desert...
Tarquin: Elan, I know you're enjoying the parade, but I'd like you to come up to the top level with me for a moment. I have a surprise for you.
- Panel 2
Haley: What's going on? Where are you taking him?
Tarquin: Don't worry, Haley, he'll be fine on his own for a moment.
Elan: Really? I love surprises! Except for the ones where you lose your dodge bonuses. Those ones suck.
- Panel 3
Tarquin: Too true. But this surprise will have none of that. My associates in the Prefecture informed me of a unique—
- Panel 4
Amun-Zora charges Tarquin and tries to hit him with a sword, "whoosh!", but Tarquin dodges.
Amun-Zora: DIE, TYRANT!!
Tarquin: Whoa!
- Panel 5
Amun-Zora: I'll kill you!!
Amun-Zora misses Tarquin again, "woosh!"
Tarquin: Ah, I see you've heard the latest news from your homeland.
- Panel 6
Elan: What? What's going on? Did you two have a spat?
Amun-Zora: Your slime mold of a father betrayed my people!
Amun-Zora misses Tarquin again, "woosh!"
Tarquin: Now that's a highly slanted view of events, in my opinion.
- Panel 7
Elan steps in between and parries Amun-Zora with his rapier, "KLANG!"
Elan: Wait, please!
Elan: STOP!
- Panel 8
Elan: What's going on here? Can one of you explain this to me?
Amun-Zora: I will.
Amun-Zora: Your spawn should know what kind of monster sired him.
Tarquin: By all means. I have nothing to hide.
- Panel 9
Amun-Zora: I received word via Sending an hour ago. Your father sent 500 dragoons, as he promised.
Amun-Zora: Our troops rendezvoused with them shortly after dawn, and brought them into the city via hidden passageway to shore up our defenses.
- Panel 10
Scene of blue-clad soldiers marching through a gate, some Empire of Blood soldiers and a couple of killed people aside of the gate.
Amun-Zora (inset): They turned on us almost immediately, overcoming the guard and opening the front gates to the city.
Amun-Zora (inset): The Empire of Tears overran the city by noon.
- Panel 11
Tarquin: Excuse me, I offered to send my troops to join the battle. I never specified which side of the battle they would join.
- Panel 12
Tarquin: And man, am I relieved now. Here I was worried all night that you were going to figure it out early.
Tarquin: I mean, I thought I just made it, like, WAY too obvious, but I guess it all worked out, huh?
D&D Context[]
- At the start of combat in D&D, characters are Flat Footed, until they have have a chance to act, which causes them to lose their Dodge Bonus. If they are Surprised, they are caught flat footed for a Surprise Round, followed by possibly being attacked flat footed in the first regular round of combat.
- Sending is a 4th level cleric and 5th level wizard spell which allows a short message to be delivered across arbitrary distances, even to other planes.
Trivia[]
- Tarquin told Amun-Zora that he had sent troops to her city in #742.