With Julio keeping Tarquin busy with a string of puns, Roy directs the party's retreat to the Mechane.
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (as vampire and as bat) ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Blackwing ◀ ▶
- Tarquin ◀ ▶
- Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator (as lizard) ◀ ▶
- Julio Scoundrél ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
Tarquin and Julio face off. A giant pink spectral hand has grasped the Greenhilt Sword.
Tarquin: I am not going to indulge you in your usual idiocy today, Scoundrél.
Julio: What, feeling shagged already? But this time we're doing something different!
Julio: I was running out of ways to crash your wedding and rescue your bride anyway.
- Panel 2
Vaarsuvius' giant hand delivers the sword to Roy. Elan supports a dazed Haley and drags an unconscious Belkar to them, while Durkon, hiding in the shadow of the Mechane, holds Malack's Staff and uses it to cast Protection from Sunlight again.
Vaarsuvius: Your sword, Sir Greenhilt.
Roy: Thanks. I think I need to start lashing it to my hand.
Haley: What is the... Where? The whuh?
Roy: The answer to your question fragments is: Time to get the hell out of here.
- Panel 3
Elan: What? Roy, we have to go support Julio—he came here to help us!
Roy: Yeah—help us escape. Big Picture time, Elan. We're in no shape to survive unless we retreat.
- Panel 4
Cut to Julio and Tarquin dueling. Juilio is flying circles around the frustrated Tarquin on his magic carpet.
Roy (inset): Look how he's fighting. He's so focused on defense, he hasn't even drawn blood.
Roy (inset): That's a distraction if I've ever seen one, and I don't intend to let it go to waste.
- Panel 5
Cut back to Roy, with the Mechane in the background.
Roy: I want everyone on that airship before the psion pops back over here.
Roy: If you can fly, carry someone who can't.
- Panel 6
The party takes to the air; Haley carries Elan, Vaarsuvius carries Belkar while the Bugsby's Hand carries Roy who is carrying Mr. Scruffy, Durkon has transformed into a bat and flies carrying his staff, and Blacking flies alone. Down on the ground, Julio continues to taunt Tarquin.
Julio: Do you remember Jenella? Or how about Mandy? I heard she married a cleric and spit out a few rugrats.
Elan (singing): ♪♪Keep, keep, keep, keep my dad's attention then get the heck out of there!♪♪
- Panel 7
Tarquin: Elan!! Elan, don't you dare leave, young man. We are not done with—Aaarggh!
Julio draws blood from Tarquin, "slash!!"
Julio: Come on, Tarkie, you got to keep your eye on the guy with the Chaos Sabre—keep moving, maybe bob and weave a little.
- Panel 8
Cut to Vaarsuvius flying through the air. Belkar has awoken.
Belkar: Wait!! We have to go back!
Vaarsuvius: Sir Greenhilt has your cat.
Belkar: But what about Bloodfeast??
Vaarsuvius: Who?
- Panel 9
Belkar: The dinosaur! The lizard! The lizard that used to be a dinosaur!
Belkar: You gotta go back, elf—they'll roast the little guy on a spit for helping us!
Blackwing: I see him!
- Panel 10
Blackwing dives down and snatches Bloodfeast with his feet, "SWOOP!"
- Panel 11
Blackwing: You probably get this all the time, but I wanted to say that I'm a huge fan of your work.
D&D Context
- Vaarsuvius is using one of the "Bugsby's [insert action here] Hand" spells, which themselves are part of a running gag. In this case V may be using Bigby's Grasping Hand. The name "Bigby" is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, and as such it is replaced with various parody names, usually "Bugsby" in the OOTS strip. Bigby was originally an NPC created by Rob Kuntz that became a henchman of D&D creator Gary Gygax's PC, Mordenkainen. He has since become a feature of every edition of D&D, particularly in the Greyhawk setting from whence he came.
- "Durkon" is out of spell slots, but Malack's Staff still has uses of Malack's Protection from Daylight spell.
- As a vampire, "Durkon" can take an alternate form such as a bat or a wolf.
- Elan's music gives bonuses to Julio's combat rolls.
Trivia
- The title, and Blacking's line in the last panel refer back to #784, where Blackwing called Bloodfeast a "strong theropod role model".
- This strip officially cements that Bloodfeast is now a member of the Order of the Stick.