Minrah points out the hypocrisy in Redcloak's plans.
Cast[]
Transcript[]
- Panel 1, Page 1
Minrah: OK, does it get smaller again if I drop it? I've never actually cast this spell before…
Durkon: Na, never mind. Change of plans.
Durkon: I can handle this, ye need ta stop 'im from conjurin' 'nother weird elem'ntal thing!
Durkon strikes the statue of Kraagor with his shield—"WHAP!"
- Panel 2, Page 1
Redcloak: Summon Monst—
- Panel 3, Page 1
Minrah strikes Redcloak with the hammer, breaking his concentration.
Redcloak: Urrnnh!
- Panel 4, Page 1
Minrah Listen, I know this sounds crazy, but if the world gets destroyed then the Dark One won't last long enough to have a say in the next one.
Minrah: It's a whole thing with how much worship they get and how long it takes to make a new planet—
Minrah: But the bottom line is, your guy doesn't have enough gas in the tank.
- Panel 5, Page 1
Redcloak: Oh gosh, how terribly convenient that it would work out in your advantage that way.
Redcloak: One thing I'm certain of is that you're definitely not pulling this heretofore unknown technicality out of your overgrown dwarven ass just to stop me from winning.
Redcloak: Unholy Blight!
- Panel 6, Page 1
Minrah: How can you…call it winning…
Minrah: …if all the goblins…are dead?
- Panel 7, Page 1
Redcloak: I understand that not everyone sees the big picture.
Redcloak: I'm willing—we goblins are willing to make sacrifices to accelerate the collapse of this corrupt world. Yes, obviously some people will be hurt in the short term, and that's regrettable.
Redcloak: But once the new world dawns, the goblins created there will be in a better position to—
- Panel 8, Page 1
Durkon: Ye absolute lunatic, ye canne guarantee wha tha next world's gonna be like! It may na e'vn haf goblins at all!
Durkon: It could be talkin' fish or, like, anthr'p'morphic lampposts! Or sumthin' real weird, like only humans!
- Panel 1, Page 2
Redcloak: Well…I mean, all the more reason for the Dark One to have the maximum leverage, then.
Redcloak: He can demand they do include goblins, who will then be in a better position to—
- Panel 2, Page 2
Minrah slams the hammer down on Redcloak—"WHAM!"
Minrah: You—you're putting a bunch of imaginary goblins in the future ahead of the ones alive right now!
Minrah: Aren't you their leader?? They follow you!
- Panel 3, Page 2
Redcloak stares up at her furiously.
Minrah (off-panel): You're just a…a big phony, talking about stuff like equality and and justice to make yourself feel better about shoving them off a cliff!
- Panel 4, Page 2
Minrah sends Redcloak flying—"POW!"
Minrah: I don't think you really care about them—
Minrah: —you just feel bad about not caring!!
- Panel 5, Page 2
Redcloak lands in the snow.
- Panel 6, Page 2
Oona and Greyview watch the spectacle. Redcloak heals himself.
Oona: Giant woman is bringing interesting point of view to table. What is left of table.
Redcloak: Have you been standing there the whole time? Why aren't you attacking?
Oona: Oona did not want to be interrupting spirited exchanging of ideas.
- Panel 7, Page 2
Oona: Very similar to classic bugbear debate technique, with the hitting and the yelling and the more hitting.
Greyview: Words are just pretty hat we put on ugly truths.
Oona: Yes, but sometimes? Very pretty.
D&D Context[]
- The title is a pun on the Critical Hit game mechanic in D&D 3.5. Critical hits were first introduced to the game in Dragon issue #39 (July 1980, "Good Hits and Bad Misses" by Carl Parlagreco), and in the official rules in the 1989 Dungeon Master Guide for AD&D 2nd Edition but only as optional rules. During the TSR era of the game, a critical hit on a natural roll of 20 on the icosahedral die (d20) was a common house rule, but never a core game mechanic. All of the subsequent editions of the game published by Wizards of the Coast have featured critical hits dealing additional damage on a roll of a natural 20 as core rules.
- Summon Monster is a series of spells for bards, clerics, sorcerers, and wizards. There is a summon monster spell for every spell level. (For example, the 1st level version can be found here.) As such it is impossible to know what level spell slot Redcloak lost when the spell casting was disrupted by Minrah's successful attack. A Concentration check must be made to continue casting in the face of taking damage.
- Redcloak's "weird elem'ntal" summons are from the modern periodic table of the elements instead of the classical four elements of D&D cosmology. They have been summoned by Redcloak four times in the comic, with a handful of other Atomic Elementals appearing unsummoned in other contexts.
- Unholy Blight is a 4th level spell only for clerics of the Evil domain, and deals up to 5d8 damage to good-aligned creatures. It also sickens the target, should they fail a Will save. Since Redcloak has been established as having Law and Destruction domains, it is unclear how he is able to cast this spell.
- In page 2 panel 6, Redcloak appears to heal himself. The exact spell goes unspecified; healing is sometimes depicted without announcing the spell name.