Team Evil discusses their loot and XP while MitD takes care of the methodical approach.
Cast[]
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Redcloak: What a waste. No Gate, no sign of the rift.
Redcloak: Inflict Critical Wounds.
Xykon: Yeah, but we got to kill a bunch of stuff.
Redcloak: To what end? What did their deaths mean?
Xykon: They meant we don't have to kill them later. I thought you liked efficiency.
Monster in the Darkness: Should I close the door? I'll close the door.
- Panel 2
Oona: Should we be trying a second door tonight? Oona still fresh and ready!
Redcloak: No. I'm tapped out.
Redcloak: Keeping both undead and living party members standing through a bunch of fights in a row burns through way too many spells.
- Panel 3
Oona: Is OK. Lots of monster parts. Maybe shaman will make Oona nice new magic belt or something.
Xykon: See, that's the spirit! Focus on how snuffing the life out of other creatures benefits us!
- Panel 4
Redcloak: You're in a surprisingly chipper mood tonight.
Xykon: Why shouldn't I be? Some of those ugly bastards were strong enough that I actually gained experience!
Xykon: Do you have any idea how rare that is at my level?
- Panel 5
Xykon: And don't forget these sweet magical Boots of Free Movement we found. No more getting grappled or entangled or whatever.
Xykon: Plus they keep my toe bones from catching on things and popping off!
- Panel 6
They walk away from the tombs.
Redcloak: I'm so glad you're enjoying our fruitless struggle.
Oona: Mmmm, fruit! Oona could go for lunch!
MitD: So, uh, I'm just gonna paint the big red X on the door, OK?
- Panel 7
Xykon: Yeah, fine, whatever.
Redcloak: Do you even have fruit in the arctic?
Greyview: Have bitter fruit of eternal dispair.
Oona: Also certain berries!
- Panel 8
Paint swipe down on the door
- Panel 9
Paint swipe up on the door
- Panel 10
Paint swipe down on the door
- Panel 11
Paint swipe up on the door
- Panel 12
Paint swipe down on the door
- Panel 13
Paint swipe down on the door
- Panel 14
Beat panel. MitD looks at his work.
- Panel 15
MitD departs from the rockface. Wider panel reveals he has painted over multiple doors that have yet to be entered.
MitD: Hey guys, wait up!
D&D Context[]
- Redcloak is using Inflict Critical Wounds to heal Xykon, but in the previous strip he was using Cure Critical Wounds to heal the living members of the party. These spells have the opposite effect on undead that they do on the living. Clerics have a limited number of spell slots per day in D&D and as Redcloak points out, this uses up a lot of them since he can't use the same spells to heal everyone. He will need to wait till tomorrow to regain his spells which is why they can't go back in to clear another door.
- Oona is collecting rare ingredients for spells or magic items from the monsters they killed.
- Xykon is at least level 21, which means that even monsters with a Challenge Rating of 12 or lower will present a Very Easy challenge for him and he will not get any experience points (XP). This is before accounting for his Lich template boosting his Level Adjustment by +4.
- Xykon has obtained a pair of Boots of Free Movement. They (assumably) allow the wearer to act as if they are under the effect of the spell Freedom of Movement which, as Xykon points out, protects the target of the spell from being grappled or entangled.
Trivia[]
- The strip's title refers to the "X" that MitD paints on the doors that they have already tried, or order to prevent them from going through them again. In mathematical modeling, for a function in one dimension, x is conventionally called the independent variable and y is called the dependent variable.
- The title is also a pun on the word "value." The value of an independent variable determines the value of the dependent variable. But in this case he means value in the sense of the utility of painting the X's, or else MitD's value to the paladins due to him acting independent of Xykon and Redcloak, since he appears to have painted more than one "x", confounding his apparent purpose.
- MitD didn't leave new footprints in the snow while marking extra doors including the one located higher up. This may be another clue into what kind of creature he is.