It turns out that Elan is just a bit too familiar with genre conventions.
Cast[]
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Elan: Good news, Roy! Haley and V found a magic sword for you to use.
Roy: Thanks, Elan, but that's not necessary.
- Panel 2
Roy: I'm going to collect the pieces of my grandfather's sword and have it reforged.
Elan: Wow, cool.
- Panel 3
Vaarsuvius (off-panel): Take your infernal hands off of me! Damn it, I am a wizard not a divining rod!
Elan: Oh, that reminds me, V is awake.
Roy: Gee thanks. I had no idea.
- Panel 4
Haley: I think we've got all the treasure gathered.
Roy: Good, good.
- Panel 5
Roy: Well, gang, it looks like we're out of here.
Elan: Yup. Nothing left to do but activate the self-destruction rune and leave
- Panel 6
Beat. The whole order looks worried at a smiling Elan.
- Panel 7
Roy: The...the what?
Elan: Y'know, the rune over behind Xkyon's[sic] throne labeled "Castle Self-Destruct."
- Panel 8
Elan (off-panel): We just activate that and leave. Right?
Close up of the self-destruct rune. Under the rune are subtitles:
Castle Self-Destruct
(Do Not Touch Ever.)
(No, not even then.)
- Panel 9
Roy: Why would we...want to destroy the castle?
Haley: There's got to be plenty of treasure left in other rooms.
Vaarsuvius: And XP, let us not forget XP.
- Panel 10
Elan: Right, right. But, just for the sake of argument, let's say one of us—could be any of us, really—let's say one of us DID find a big glowing self-destruct rune and had already activated it.
Elan: That wouldn't actually be a problem, would it? I mean, not really?
- Panel 11
Beat. The whole order looks shocked at a guiltily smiling Elan.
- Panel 12
Roy, Haley, V and Belkar run toward the exit, dragging Durkon with them.
Elan (off-panel): Guys?
D&D Context[]
- A party of adventurers will often go back through a dungeon after they have achieved their objective for the purpose of clearing any monsters they may have missed in order to gain additional experience points (XP) and treasure.
Trivia[]
- Typo: In panel 7, Elan says "Xkyon" instead of "Xykon". This mistake was left uncorrected in the printed version.