- For the other comics titled "Role Reversal", see Role Reversal (146) and Role Reversal (1177).
It's a big day for gender equality all around.
Cast[]
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Daigo Da- ◀ ▶
- Kazumi Kato (pregnant) ◀ ▶
- Therkla ◀ ▶
- Daimyo Kubota ◀ ▶
- Kubota's Samurai ◀ ▶
- Two Ninjas
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Therkla: Please, Daimyo, I don't want to see you get arrested—or killed! Hinjo knows all about your plans to seize power.
Kubota: Oh? Ratted me out to save your own skin, did you?
Elan: Are we rolling initiative? I thought we were rolling initiative. Are we?
- Panel 2
Therkla: No, I didn't say anything. He already knew.
Kubota: Bah! He knows nothing. He may suspect, but he can't prove it.
Elan: He knows that he can prove that he suspects, and that's enough for me!
- Panel 3
Therkla: Look, Daimyo, this plan isn't going to work. Abandon it now, and you can still hold on to your current position.
Elan: Yeah, give up now and you can...
Elan: ...get away with everything you've done so far?
- Panel 4
Elan: I thought we were racing to STOP Kubota!
Therkla: We are. We're stopping him from making a huge mistake that will cost him his career.
Elan: Huh. I was getting more of a "stop him from ever threatening anyone ever again" vibe from it.
Therkla: Well, that too, I guess.
- Panel 5
Kubota: Your new boyfriend doesn't seem to agree with your priorities.
Therkla: What? No, uh, he's—
Elan: Oh, I'm not her boyfriend. We're just good friends.
Elan: I'm in a long-distance, no-communication relationship.
- Panel 6
Kubota: Twelve Gods, woman! I mentored you in villainous Best Practices for years now, and you didn't even have the decency to betray me for a man who at least just PRETENDED to love you?
Therkla: I'm not "betraying" anyone, OK? No one!!
- Panel 7
Therkla: I don't want anyone to get hurt here—not you, not Elan, not the Katos. So just take the guys and go back to the ship. We can sort out the rest later.
Elan: We can't just let him walk away! He's the bad guy! He needs to go to jail!
- Panel 8
Kubota: Oddly enough, I concur, at least with the part about not walking away. I have no intention of giving up before the final outcome is decided.
Kubota: Tell me, bard: You are a man with an appreciation for the theatrical. The hero, along with their fair companion, arrives at the climactic confrontation with the villain after months of intrigue.
- Panel 9
Kubota: Given that the villain is physically weaker, what would be the villain's next step? If we were going by tradition?
Elan: Well...
Elan: Generally, the villain would suddenly take the girl hostage and force the hero to choose between thwarting his plans, or rescuing her.
- Panel 10
A samurai seizes Elan from behind.
Kubota: Again, I concur.
Kubota: Take him.
Elan: HEY!!
- Panel 11
The other samurai holds a katana to Elan's throat. Two ninjas enter with the Katos. They are bound, and Kazumi is gagged.
Kabuto: Well, my former protege? The choice is yours.
Elan: Awwww, man! I didn't know *I* was gonna be the girl.
Daigo: Yeah, it's a big day for gender equality all around.
Kazumi: Mmmph! Mmpher fnnfer nf fnna frrr fff!
D&D Context[]
- Initiative rolls are the process by which the order of play is decided at the beginning of combat in D&D.
Trivia[]
- This is the second comic with the title "Role Reversal"; the first was #146.