Xykon and Redcloak reveal their plan to let Miko escape.
Cast[]
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Redcloak and Xykon stand against the backdrop of the Southern Mountains. Redcloak holds a spyglass to his eye, which has a tag attached, reading, "1000 GP".
Xykon: So? Did she escape yet or what?
Redcloak: She's riding off into the proverbial sunset as we speak.
- Panel 2
Xykon: Well it's about time! I was starting to think that I'd researched that "Xykon's Moderately-Escapable Forcecage" spell for nothing!
Redcloak: And I owe you an apology: I really didn't think we'd see ANY paladins before we made it to the target.
- Panel 3
Redcloak: Further, can I just say that asking our friend in the dark to guard her was a masterstroke?
Xykon: Best way I could think of to ensure her escape was to give that bozo instructions to the contrary.
- Panel 4
Redcloak: Still, are you sure this is the wisest course of action? We went through a lot of trouble to take out all those magic early warning beacons.
Xykon: Listen, there's a world of difference between an instantaneous magical warning and a lone messenger on horseback.
- Panel 5
Xykon: We'll force march the army. By the time she gets there, we'll be right behind her. It'll be fine.
Redcloak: But sir, won't some of the hobgoblins drop dead from exhaustion?
- Panel 6
beat
- Panel 7
Redcloak: Pffff ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Xykon: Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
- Panel 8
Xykon: Oh man, you really had me going there for a second...whew!
Redcloak: You should have seen the look on your skill...
Xykon: "Won't some of the hobgoblins die?" Priceless.
- Panel 9
Xykon: Anyway, it's worth the risk.
Xykon: Remember, as much fun as it will be to pound those paladins into post-paladin paste, we're going there for the gate.
Xykon: I guarantee that it's well-hidden, in a place where only the paladins know how to find it.
- Panel 10
Xykon: And now that I've met her—and, apparently, have just scored a few stray hairs of hers from this cloak—
Xykon: —it should be a breeze to zero in on her location when I scry.
- Panel 11
Redcloak: Wait, "scry"? So that trip you took the other day was to—
Xykon: Yup. You guessed it.
- Panel 12
Flashback to Xykon at a "Quest Buy" store, looking at a large object labeled, "Widescreen Crystal Ball".
Xykon: So does the warranty on this cover being destroyed when your dungeon is accidentally blown up by a ragtag band of dysfunctional heroes?
Quest Buy Salesman: How ragtag are we talking here?
D&D Context[]
- Xykon's Moderately-Escapable Forecage is obviously not a canonical spell, but something he has researched himself for a specific purpose. The spell's name refers to the fact that many of the traits that his Forcecage displayed are not possible for Forcecage as listed in the SRD: a true Forcecage is perfectly cubical, includes a floor, has gaps between its bars that are a half-inch wide (when it has bars at all, as a caster can also remove the bars at the cost of making it smaller), and is indestructible and immovable by mundane means, with only powerful magic like Disintegrate being able to break through one. The Forcecage surrounding Miko was small and person-shaped, had bars with gaps large enough to fit a hand through, lacked a floor, and was anchored to the ground rather than being simply immovable.
- Scrying is a 3rd level spell that allows the caster to see something or someone remotely so long as they are known to them. Having an object owned by the person being scried increases the chance of success.
Trivia[]
- Quest Buy is a parody of the Best Buy stores.
- Xykon's original crystal ball was destroyed when Elan activated the self destruct rune that destroyed Dorukan's Gate in "The End of the Beginning", hence his query to the Quest Buy Salesman.