I griped a bit about the ending of “Pillar of Gold” due to a god just popping up and resolving the story in the last couple of pages, but gods do tend to meddle in the Forgotten Realms. The real issue is when a god has no role in the tale other than as a resolution mechanic. By comparison, “Summer in the City” features a good dose of Selûne, but the ending doesn’t feel like a cop-out. This is largely due to the fact that the heroes still earn the ending they get. It also doesn’t hurt that Selûne has been part of the ongoing story since the beginning, so she doesn’t pop out of nowhere to save the day.

Despite the need for divine intervention, “Summer in the City” is a light-hearted tale and serves as the last one-shot story in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic. Our team of Kyri, Onyx, Timoth, and Vajra are all together once again, so let’s see what they get up to on a hot summer day in Waterdeep.

An Arm-Wrestling Match to Beat Them All

Our story takes place on the hottest day of the year. Timoth and Vajra have made a poor decision to have an arm-wrestling match, and Onyx is cleaning up as the two warriors are locked in a stalemate.

Kyri is hanging out with one of her lovers, a man named Fenn. I don’t remember if we’ve seen him before; with Kyri it’s hard to keep track.

Inexplicably, a pair of monsters appear in the middle of the tavern, free of some magical binding and ready to wreak havoc in Waterdeep.

You would think that maybe Timoth and Vajra might want to help out, but they’re not budging from their match.

In fairness, a hawk-girl and cat-man are pretty ho-hum by Waterdeep standards. Maybe if they breathed fire, it might be worth moving off a bar stool.

A Summer Streetfight

So, do Kyri and Onyx “earn their keep?” Well, it starts off rough…

…but things start to improve.

Unfortunately, the tide turns once again when our heroes’ feline foe realizes that his magic resistance trumps Kyri’s spells.

That furry monster is named Fellandar the Mage Killer, and he’s so upset when Onyx doesn’t recognize the name that he gives Onyx another tossing.

With a new hole in Luna’s roof, Timoth and Vajra decide to stop their contest and help. Before they can, however, one of the onlookers intervenes.

Khelben is not slumming, but in fact has some bad news: due to an alignment in the stars, the arm-wrestling match opened and interdimensional prison that set Fallandar and his lover Aviss free.

Yes, in the Forgotten Realms, friendly games of sport accidentally opening planar rifts is a fact of life. Luckily, Aviss and Fallandar can be pushed back through the rift as long as Timoth and Vajra keep it open with their competition.

Day Gives Way to Night

Although outmatched, Kyri and Onyx keep the fight going into the night with their tricks.

Unfortunately, they’re ultimately outmatched. But at least they lure the pair closer to the portal.

Of course, our heroes have an ace up their sleeves: the tavern is owned by the goddess of the moon. And while she prefers not to show her powers overtly, there are subtle ways she can influence the fight.

Khelben takes advantage of the distraction by casting telekinesis and forcing the pair back through the portal.

Khelben has known that Luna is Selûne since at least “Phases of the Moon,” but if the goddess of the moon wants to pretend that she’s being subtle by calling herself Luna and keeping an inn called Selûne’s Smile, you let her.

Once the pair are imprisoned again, Timoth and Vajra abandon their match, closing the rift. And Khelben, who knew darned well that the match risked causing untold death and destruction, still has the gall to complain when the bet he placed didn’t pay off.

Vajra, the inn’s bouncer, decides to let some damage happen. It wouldn’t be Selûne’s Smile without a hole or two in the walls, right?

I appreciate Khelben’s insistence on gambling in the face of Armageddon for the same reason I like drunken Elminster delivering a baby; it’s nice when these world-shakers show foibles. This is an aspect that doesn’t get conveyed in adventure modules, and it’s what makes Khelben’s frequent involvement with this group amusing rather than annoying.

Thus ends our last truly off-beat and somewhat silly adventure in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. We only have one more story, and it follows a more serious bent. While I have no complaints when the stakes get high, I certainly do enjoy tales like these where the end of the world almost happens on accident and the adventurers smash up a bar at the end.

_{Images: DC Comics}