Belkar gets a new psionic dagger.
Cast[]
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf (also dominated) ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (as vampire) ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Blackwing ◀ ▶
- "Durkon" ◀ ▶
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Vaarsuvius' cabin. Belkar and V are arguing while, Mr. Scruffy is eating.
Belkar: —and somehow it’s my fault for causing trouble! Please tell me you can see through that glorified mosquito’s ruse!
Vaarsuvius: In point of fact, I remain unmoved on the issue, one way or the other.
- Panel 2
Vaarsuvius: Given…recent events…I am inclined not to make assumptions on the vampire’s intent based on his biology (or lack thereof).
Vaarsuvius: However, unlike our human companions, I see no reason to extend to him the trust that the late Master Thundershield had earned.
- Panel 3
Belkar: Oh come on! Get off the fence! I just told you that he tried to kill me!!
Vaarsuvius: Oh my, what a completely unprecedented reaction to spending more than ten minutes in your company.
- Panel 4
Belkar: Ugh, fine. At least you’re not spoonfeeding your blood into his open mouth.
Belkar: Whatever happened to basic adventurer paranoia, though? It’s like these people have never had a ceiling come to life before and try to smother them before!
- Panel 5
Reverse shot on V's desk, revealing a dagger. In the background, Blackwing is lying down to deal with the nausea.
Vaarsuvius: Fascinating, but if we might focus on the purpose for which I have summoned you here?
Vaarsuvius: My divinations indicate this dagger that we retrieved from Elan’s progenitor is more potent than your current weaponry.
Vaarsuvius: I took the liberty of removing the red pleather hilt wrap.
- Panel 6
Belkar: Well it’s about time I got a magic weapon upgrade! The bard’s gotten two, and he fights like an incontinent weasel.
Vaarsuvius: I defer to your greater experience with both fisticuffs and mustelid evacuation habits.
- Panel 7
Vaarsuvius: The dagger’s power is psionic rather than magical, however— likely crafted by the psion with whom I engaged.
Vaarsuvius: It posses maximal efficiency enhancements in addition to psionically shifting its mass as you strike to increase force.
Belkar: Whoa…that is a seriously weird feeling. Like swinging a half-empty bottle of cough syrup.
- Panel 8
Belkar: I don’t know, it’s going to take some getting used to…
- Panel 9
Cut to the deck of the Mechane. Belkar leaps and plunges the dagger into the vampire Durkon's skull, "KRTHUNK!"
- Panel 10
Dominated by "Durkon", Belkar does a backflip off the side of the airship.
- Panel 11
Roy retrieves Belkar in a cargo net.
- Panel 12
Cut back to Vaarsuvius' cabin.
Belkar: It’s fine, thanks.
D&D Context[]
- The Dagger in question is a +5 Dagger of Collision. The Collision special ability increases damage dealt by 5 on a hit. This is also alluded to by the title of the strip.
- In panel 4, Belkar refers to the Lurker, a classic type of D&D monster which resembles the ceiling of a room, and drops down on unsuspecting adventurers to suffocate and eat them. Lurkers were first introduced for D&D in The Strategic Review #3 (August 1975), the forerunner to Dragon magazine. It also appeared in the 1977 AD&D Monster Manual. It was adapted to D&D 3.0 edition in the 2003 Underdark supplement.
Trivia[]
- Tarquin dropped his red-hilted dagger in #934 and wasn't able to retrieve it, not getting back to the deck and all. The psion that Vaarsuvius mentions is Laurin Shattersmith.
- In Panel 6, Belkar refers to Elan receiving a +3 Rapier in "Death From Above" when he took a level in Dashing Swordsman, then a Chaos Sabre in "Everyone Hates Goodbye Scenes".