Looks like he is shrugging off a camouflage spell to me.
The Linear Guild is now blind and deaf. Even if they decide to retreat, the only way they can communicate this decision is by touch. Oh, and if the Drow tries to get rid of the smoke with the Gust of Wind spell, he’s got a 20% chance of failure because he can’t hear his own verbal spellcasting components.
Could be passwall, but V’s absence makes that unlikely. Ethereal Jaunt seems likely. Dimension Door or Phase Door is a possibility, if Durkon has the travel domain or a magic item. It does look as though he’s passing through some sort of magical portal to me.
Might any be killed? Paralyzed? Or is Durkon not a high enough level for that? Also, might Sabine get dispelled?
I’d be surprised if any are killed (maybe the kobold, if that). Paralyzed? I’d go with that for the kobold, but probably none of the others.
As Grumman points out, communication is going to be a major issue for them. The lizard-dude and the imp are probably unaffected by the spell, given the wall that separated them from the party, so it’s going to be five of them–Nale, the kobold, Tarquin, Thog, and Tzzir’d (or whatever)–possibly deafened (although the artwork shows him being affected, his level may mean Tarquin is immune). They’ll be unable to communicate plans, meaning Thog will be totally erratic, Nale will panic, Tzzir’d and Tarquin will probably retreat (I wouldn’t be surprised to see the wizard taken out in the fight), and who knows what the kobold will do.
So far, so good; Elan’s plan to keep the plan secret seems to be going according to plan.
Yeah, Durkon needs to be 10 levels higher than someone to kill them with this spell (if I read it correctly). I have a hard time believing anyone will die as a direct result.
And if looks to me like Durkon passed through the wall in some way. Notice the distortion effect.
The Kobold is probably paralysed, but might be a low enough level to just die outright, and yeah, Sabine might be banished.
Tarquin is “Thog”. You forgot Sabine.
:smack: I knew there were four characters, but forgot Tarquin’s disguise.
I didn’t forget Sabine. Holy Word banishes extraplanar creatures unless they make a really difficult save; I expect her to be going home.
Meld Into Stone, a 3rd-level cleric spell. Durkon was already there, waiting for them to walk in to the trap. Once they were engulfed in the smoke, he just stepped out of the stone and spoke.
Yay for partial vindication. 
Mummies have 8 hit dice, and Holy Word from LHoD’s link only kills you if you’ve 10 HD less than the caster’s level. I doubt Durkon is level 18, so that’s out. Further, undead are immune to paralysis, so that’s out. They can be blinded/deafened though, and I’d be inclined to rule (were I DM) that the mummies will therefore just sit there and not attack anybody, as Malack is separated from them by a steel door.
What’s Sabine’s likely Will save? She’s got to make it at -4 or be sent back to Hell. She’s wiser than Nale, but is that really saying much?
I seriously doubt Kilkil’s weak enough to be paralyzed, and I’d be extremely surprised if Tarquin’s level was equivalent or less than Durkon’s. So, I hope Durkon can tank Tarquin and the rest of the LG for a few rounds. Pity that the Order doesn’t seem to have any AoE artillery they can lob into the cloud.
Edit: Can’t the Durkon art just be Rich’s rendering of him moving through the smoke cloud and being close enough to be seen by the viewer? Especially if he’d cast Sanctuary on him beforehand, to get past any undead that weren’t in the cloud?
On further viewing, I like Balance’s theory better.
I wonder how long it will take the LG to notice the cleric is missing.
He gets +1 CL on [Good] spells for having the Good domain, and he might have other relevant feats or items. And we know Redcloak is at that level, so the OotS can’t be far off.
Spell description specifies “a single block of stone” but Durkon is stepping out of a junction of three blocks.
For those of us that read the story but haven’t played the game, can somebody explain what a “Holy” spell does?
Tarquin’s dialog in the 5th panel should finally give away that he is not Thog, at least.
It’s actually a Holy Word spell, and someone linked to a spell description up above.
Basically, based on difference in levels/hit dice, it blinds, deafens, paralyzes and possibly kills. And extra-planar beings on the caster’s home plane get banished for 24 hours. So goodbye, Sabine.
Roy already figured that out.
Follow the link in post 4438
LHoD linked to a description of it higher up in the thread. Durkon said a word so holy that it damaged everything evil within hearing distance. The amount and severity of the damage is based on how strong the evil being is compared to Durkon. So Tarquin won’t be hurt very much, if at all, Nale should take a little more damage than Tarquin and so on. Its counterpart is Blasphemy.
It’s Holy Word.