ETA: not that it matters a whole lot. V hasn’t done anything effective since defeating Z-person, and that was 97 strips ago. Maybe she/he should die in the blast. So we don’t have to spend another 100 strips watching the character be utterly pointless. If she doesn’t become really damned relevant and effective at something – anything! – in like 5 strips, that’s my vote.
New strip. Really. (It’s #899, and quite short.)
I think Rich is trolling us. Though if he really wanted to, he’d have ended the book right here. Spent a ton of time squinting at the final panel, but I don’t see any of: the Order; Team Evil; Team Tarq; the Linear Guild; hell, even a ghost Girard.
Edit: This is what I get for trying to put content in the new strip post…sigh.
So what’s the Prophecy that’s been fulfilled in the strip title?
I assume it’s the one that the Oracle gave Roy - that of the two gates (Girard’s or Kraagor’s), Xykon would be closest to Girard’s first. Which is true, albeit very, very briefly.
That makes sense.
This is going to be interesting for Team Evil when Xykon doesn’t reappear in his Astral Fortress.
Maybe. Or maybe Belkar was just killed in the explosion.
The one from here, where Roy asks which of two Gates (forgetting about Azure City) Xykon will be within 1000 feet of next.
Awesome timing, Xykon. Brilliant comedic timing, Berlew. 
That’s what I was thinking. Who’s alive, who’s dead, who’s undead? it’s gonna be a mad mad mad mad race to the final gate.
I’ll posit this:
Panel 1: Redcloak, definitely the worse for wear, hitpoints = 1. Wakes up, looks around, sees:
Panel 2: Xykon. Pile of bones. Dead. MITD looks on.
Panel 3: Redcloak: “Tele”
Panel 4: Redcloak: (Now in Astral Fortress) “-port”.
What follows after a few stips is Xykon reconstituting in the Astral fort. But not because that’s where his real phylactery is located, but because Reddy teleported there. Xykon is no wiser.
Meanwhile, MITD was left behind in the scenario above.
MITD wanders despondent, alone, amid the pyramid’s debris for a while. Suddenly discovers V in stasis.
“MrMrs Stiffly, yay!”
Maybe Burlew’s pulling a big twist here. We’ve all been assuming Xykon is the Final Boss. So Burlew might screw with our expectations and the next scene will be Redcloak in his safe house with Xykon’s phylactery and realizing Xykon can’t be allowed to resurrect himself again. So Redcloak casually destroys the phylactery, Xykon’s out of the story, and Redcloak becomes the new top villain. And he might even be worse: Redcloak’s not as magically powerful as Xykon but he’s a lot smarter - and unlike Xykon, Redcloak knows what the Snarl is and is willing to let it loose to destroy the universe.
I’m standing by my theory that they’ve all been blown into the Snarl World. Next book will show the race to the last gate - from the other side.
Do clerics/priests get teleports these days?
I’m asking sincerely; haven’t played since 1st ed.
Clerics don’t get the spell Teleport (unless they worship a god of travel). They do get the spell Word of Recall, though, which teleports tha caster back to a pre-designated sanctuary. Redcloak used it to get away from V. when the elf tried to solo Xykon.
Yeah, I would expect he’d Word of Recall and hopefully his sanctuary is close to the fake phylactery. Also, doesn’t it take Xykon a little bit to actually start reformulating?
Last time he went boom, he was talking out of the holy symbol two strips later. The fact that the MitD was still in his hiding place, waiting for the big reveal, suggests that it had not been very long. A couple of minutes, at most, I would think. He’d be pretty helpless for a while, but he’s apparently aware of what’s going on around the phylactery, at least. On the other hand, if he left the fake phylactery in its handsome faux leather carrying case when he dropped it off in his fortress tomb, he shouldn’t be able to see anything out of it. If Redcloak also has the real one in a box, Xykon may not be able to tell that he’s not where he’s supposed to be.
Of course, all this assumes that Xykon got dusted by the exploding pyramid, which is not something I’d take for granted just yet.
tadaaaaaaaaaaaa?