Serini recalls her encounter with Xykon.
Cast[]
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Lien: You're Serini Toormuck! Sort of! You were friends with Lord Soon!
O-Chul: We were taught by the elders of the Sapphire Guard that you did not stay to guard Kraagor's Tomb—that you left it to fend for itself.
- Panel 2
Serini: Yeah, well, that was the original plan.
Serini: But when you look like this, you don't exactly blend into halfling society anymore.
- Panel 3
Serini climbs up to where the paladins are.
Serini: I belong up here with the monsters now.
O-Chul: At the risk of being impolite, may I inquire…what happened?
Serini: Xykon happened.
- Panel 4
Flashback to a younger Serini being attacked by a flying Xykon near a village.
Serini (inset): He tracked me down and ambushed me out of nowhere. Left me for dead and took my diary.
Xykon: Hey look, I made a three-eighthling!
Serini: Aaahhh!
- Panel 5
Cut back to the present.
Serini: But I'd just been to a hidden troll village I'd visited a bunch of times over the years to buy vials of their regenerative blood for my potions and poisons.
Serini: They found me moments after Xykon left, and they gave me a bargain of a lifetime:
- Panel 6
Flashback. A troll heals a gruesomely-wounded Serini by cutting their arm and dripping their blood on her—"sploonk!"
Serini (inset): Buy one, get one free.
- Panel 7
Cut back to the present.
Serini: Turns out troll flesh always grows back, even when you mix it with a halfling.
Serini: Kept me alive. Didn't do much for my complexion.
Lien: Wow, I'm surprised. I wouldn't expect a pack of trolls to go through the trouble to save a halfling's life.
- Panel 8
Serini: Tell you what. If you can tell me why, I'll let you go.
Lien: Well…you said you bought blood from them. Maybe they thought they'd get more value from you returning in the future to buy more?
- Panel 9
Serini hits Lien with her stick—"BONK!"
Serini: Bzzzz! Wrong!
Lien: Ow!
Serini: I had enough magic items on me to make them rich beyond their wildest dreams if they'd looted my corpse.
- Panel 10
O-Chul: While any of us might think of purchasing something as an unremarkable interaction, for them it was likely the nicest anyone from one of our races had ever treated them.
O-Chul: Most adventurers, if they needed troll blood, would have killed the troll.
- Panel 11
O-Chul: Therefore, there was a distinct cost to letting you die that could not be reimbursed by selling your magic items.
Serini: A longwinded way of saying, "We were friends," but you are correct.
- Panel 12
Lien: So…then you'll let us go?
Serini: Ha ha, no.
Serini: Good to know no matter how old you get, you never really forget how to lie to a paladin!
D&D Context[]
- It is unclear what spell Xykon is casting. Some theories include horrid wilting or perhaps a wide-beam disintegrate spell (unlike the standard one that Vaarsuvius and Redcloak cast). Another suggestion is the 8th level necromantic spell Blackfire from the 2004 Complete Arcane. This spell is cosmetically similar to what is depicted with the exception of being a ray rather than a cone. It deals Constitution damage, which might conceivably be interpreted as injuries similar to what Serini sustained.
- It is notable that Serini, an epic rogue, could not Evade the spell.
- Trolls in D&D are well known for their powers of regeneration. In 3.5e, damage that is not fire or acid is considered nonlethal and is healed at a rate of 5 points per round. In addition they regrow limbs or can reattach severed limbs. Troll regeneration with minor changes to the rules is consistent through all editions of D&D. They were first introduced for the game in the 1974 original D&D white box.
- Troll blood is often listed as an ingredient for healing potions. The assumption, questioned in this comic, is that players would kill trolls to get this material.
Trivia[]
- Serini's regenerated foot has halfling hair on it despite being troll flesh.
External Links[]