The Exarch, now a vampire, wants to steal V's teleportation orb. He'll have to deal with the Mechane's menagerie first.
Cast[]
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Blackwing ◀ ▶
- Bandana Secundus ◀ ▶
- Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator (as lizard) ◀ ▶
- Gontor Hammerfell (as vampire) ◀ ▶
- Little Whiskers ◀ ▶
Transcript[]
- Panel 1, Page 1
Blackwing: Or has that part been recast?
Blackwing: "The role of Durkon Thundershield will now be played by—
- Panel 2, Page 1
Blackwing: Whoa! Hold on just a moment! Are you stealing our Super-Sparkly Thing?
Gontor: My master has asked for it.
- Panel 3, Page 1
Blackwing: No way, nuh uh! Not on my watch, pal! I don't care what your—
- Panel 4, Page 1
Gontor: Then I relieve you of your watch.
Gontor Energy Drains Blackwing.
Blackwing: Caaww!!
- Panel 5, Page 1
Gontor tosses Blackwing to the other end of the room, "WHHHSHH!", where he hits the wall, "SPLAT!", next to Little Whiskers and Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator.
- Panel 6, Page 1
Mr. Scruffy: mrrrrrrrwwwrrr
- Panel 1, Page 2
Mr. Scruffy leaps at Gontor.
Mr. Scruffy: mmrrrRRROWWR!
- Panel 2, Page 2
Mr. Scruffy starts slashing at Gontor with his claws, "slash! slash! slash! slash!"
Gontor: I am a vampire, you are a cat! Do you not appreciate the implicit hierarchy here?
Gontor: At least the bird was a magical creature of some sort.
- Panel 3, Page 2
Bloodfeast rouses the stunned Blackwing, "poke. poke."
Blackwing: Yeah, I'm OK. Don't worry about me. I've got a plan. No way that jerk is getting our ultra-bauble.
Little Whiskers: mmrr
- Panel 4, Page 2
Blackwing: The same secret backup plan plucky animal sidekicks have always had: Get their person to come save their feathered butt.
Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator: ??
Blackwing: I guess they're not always feathered, though. That was very ornithocentric of me, sorry.
- Panel 5, Page 2
Blackwing: Vaarsuvius! VAARSUVIUS!
Blackwing: Intruder alert! Whoooop, whoooop! Intruder alert!
- Panel 6, Page 2
Gontor's eyes begin glowing.
Gontor Hammerfell: You wish to fight, cat?
Gontor Hammerfell: I will provide you with a fight more befitting the proper order of things.
Mr. Scruffy: hissss!
Blackwing: Why does yelling youdly never actually get anyone's attention? Fine, I'll just fly up there and get—
Blackwing: Oh right. Doors.
- Panel 7, Page 2
Blackwing: Wait, I know! We have that two-way empathic link that all wizards share with their familiars!
Blackwing: If I empathicize really super hard, V will feel what I'm feeling and come check on me!
- Panel 8, Page 2
Blackwing: Ok, now concentrate... Give in to my emotions...
Blackwing: My mind to your mind... my thoughts to your thoughts...
- Panel 9, Page 2
Mechane deck.
Bandana: So you fly a lot—what do you do about the bugs getting in your teeth?
Vaarsuvius: I have a cantrip for that.
Bandana: Shoot. We just rinse a lot and—
- Panel 10, Page 2
Vaarsuvius: Hmmm.
Bandana: You OK?
Vaarsuvius: I just felt a burst of possessiveness, righteous anger, and fear.
- Panel 11, Page 2
Vaarsuvius: I've been getting them all day whenever anyone glances momentarily at my familiar's new bracelet and he becomes subsequently convinced that the entire ship's complement is engaged in a circuitous plot to steal it.
- Panel 12, Page 2
Vaarsuvius' study.
Blackwing: Don't you emote dismissive apathy at me! It's a valid concern on a boat full of pirates!
Blackwing: Plus you don't see how they greed at it with their money-eyes!!
D&D Context[]
- Perhaps the last vampire ability that has not been on display in the recent comics, Gontor uses the Children of the Night ability to command the rat swarm.
Trivia[]
- Blackwing twice references Star Trek:
- The claxon sound is reminiscent of the red alert warning.
- "My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts" is a reference to the Vulcan mind meld.
- Blackwing's comment "Give in to my emotions..." may be a reference to Emperor Palpatine from The Return of the Jedi, when he says, "Give in to your anger".
- Blackwing stole an Ioun Stone from Laurin Shattersmith in #935. He had it turned into a bracelet that would grant the stone's bonuses to V in #967, "Craft Wondrous Bauble".