1 Lambert: Oooow... Owooow...
1 Alvissa: Lambert, what's wrong?
2 Lambert: It's been four years to the day, Alvissa... It's never fully healed.
3 Alvissa: Since that Ringwraith stabbed you on Weathertop?
4 Lambert: Since I tried to eat that ninth dessert at the Hungry Boar Inn.... Oooow...

When I arranged the figures for these photos, I had them all handy, and set out these four along the river barge as you see them. I decided Mordekai wouldn't fit comfortably in the scene, so I left him out. I took the photos, loaded them on to my computer, and began putting them together to make this strip...

And I noticed Mordekai was visible in two of the shots, standing in the middle of the "river" behind Draak. Which is why I had to crop Draak so closely. (Actually, you can just see Mordekai's bow in the first panel.)

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2014-09-27 Rerun commentary: Nine desserts seemed like a comically large number, without seeming like it's too ridiculous to be believable for a hobbit.

It also subtly recalls the Nine Ringwraiths of Tolkien's story.