Roy lays out his plan to seek guidance at the Oracle of the Sunken Valley, while also concealing Celia, who is still wearing her dress from the night before.
Cast[]
- The Order of the Stick
- Celia ◀ ▶
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Roy: OK, great, so we're all here to discuss—wait, where's Belkar? He should—
From off-panel stage left an explosion is heard, "BOOM!"
- Panel 2
Vaarsuvius: Based on the proximity of that explosion, I would say he's on his way presently.
Durkon: *snicker*
Roy: OK, well, I'm not waiting. It's not like he'll pay attention anyway.
- Panel 3
Roy: As you know, Lord Shojo has "hired" us to investigate the two gates remaining that seal in the big scribble monster or whatever.
Roy: Shojo has given me a vague idea of where they are: one is in a desert on the western continent, while the other is in the far north in the tundra somewhere.
- Panel 4
Elan: Neat! Which one are we trying first?
Roy: Good question, Elan. The answer is: neither.
Elan: There's a gate at Neither, too??
- Panel 5
Roy: The fact is that it took us weeks of hard adventuring to even be sure that Xykon was AT the Dungeon of Dorukan.
Roy: If we pick the wrong dungeon, Xykon is more likely to complete whatever his dumb plan is before we can find him.
- Panel 6
Roy: Therefore, we're headed to the Sunken Valley, a few days from here.
Elan: Huh??
Durkon: Ach, not THA agin!!
- Panel 7
Durkon: Thar's an Oracle thar. We visited 'im right before we hired tha lot o' you. It's how Roy knew where ta find Xykon.
Roy: Which means he's got a 100% accuracy rating as far as I'm concerned.
- Panel 8
Roy: We head to the Oracle, and he tells us where Xykon is. Then we pop back here and mooch a Teleport off of Shojo.
Roy: The upshot is that we have a better chance of getting to the right dungeon faster.
- Panel 9
Roy: Now, if you've got anything left to do in this city, get your asses out there and do it! We're leaving in one hour so HUSTLE, people, HUSTLE!
Vaarsuvius: An hour? But I still have reagents to purchase!
Durkon: Ach, an' I have to bring my letter to the castle...
They all leave, stage right.
- Panel 10
beat
- Panel 11
beat
- Panel 12
Roy (whispering): Psst! The coast is clear.
- Panel 13
Celia appears from behind the curtain, with messed up hair, wearing the same dress as she wore on her date with Roy the night before.
Celia: I told you we should have used MY place!
Roy: Just be happy none of them have Spot checks that are worth a damn.
D&D Context[]
- The title The Move Action of Shame refers to a "move action," one of the major actions you can take on your turn. Walking is a move action. Thus the title is a D&D pun on the concept of the Walk of shame.
- Spot skill checks are used to see things.
Trivia[]
- Elan's comment about a gate at Neither suggests the possibility that there is a nation with the name "Neither", just as there are apparently the nations of Nowhere, Somewhere, and Someplace Else, as we learned in #226. However the possibility that it is just Elan being stupid is also strong.
- The party's failure to put skill ranks to Spot was established early in the strip in #3, and has continued as a running gag.