Even assuming he can teleport to the astral plane, how would he be able to get into Xykon’s fortress past all the traps and alarms (which would be pretty tough even for him, given that they represent several weeks of work by Xykon, and that he built it in the first place because he doesn’t trust Redcloak)?
I agree it’s unlikely Red Cloak could Teleport to the astral plane. Word of Recall won’t work across planes, so that’s out.
However, Xykon needed RC to cast a bunch of cleric spells on his “fortress-tomb-thingie”, so who knows what RC found out about the place. It all happened off-panel, so there’s plenty of ways the Giant could handwave RC not having a problem getting in if he can negotiate a way to get there in the first place.
Then there’s the Gate spell, which we’ve seen RC use. I’m the D&D noob here, but d20 tells me that the gate “opens precisely at the point you desire” when travelling between planes. Xykon could have guarded against someone Gateing into his fortress, but RC was mostly there when he did, so there’s possibilities, right?
As far as the end of Book 5, the aftermath of this Krakakoom must be it:
Account for all the various factions reacting to the the explosion of this gate and planning their next move.
OOTS: flying away on carpet: “wow, gate exploded! what now?”.
LG+Tarquin+TarquinArmy: Woah! Pyramid exploded! Now what do we do?!?
TeamEvil: (same as LG+Tarquin)
Fade out once all teams have a long term goal* End of Book 5.
ETA: * explaining this could take some number of strips per faction
Well, looks like I was almost right. Let’s wait for the next strip.
Hah! Both the Order and the demon roaches Nuked the Fridge!
Yeah, the fridge was an awesome touch. Nice.
Fridge humor, only not the trope. 
Also, that was one crowded coffin.
I note that, in addition to his lower half, Xykon is missing a hand. That ought to limit his casting somewhat until it’s restored. Granted, one Harm spell from Redcloak might fix it, but he’s pretty beat up himself, and he seems to have spent his surprise round zapping Roy. Team Evil is unusually vulnerable right now, though they’re still more powerful than the Order in its current beat-down state. Initiative to Haley and a good volley of arrows could conceivably put Redcloak in negatives. With his healing down, his casting restricted, and himself badly damaged, Xykon might retreat–Greater Teleport has only a verbal component. Of course, there’s still the MitD, but that calling on that reserve might not go as well as he’d like.
Oh, and judging by the damage to the umbrella, even the MitD took some sort of hit from the explosion. That should at least put an upper bound on his DR…or indicate that he doesn’t have DR vs Exploding Pyramid damage.
Xykon has both hands. You just have to look closely against the sandy background.
Wait, is Roy dead now, or was that just the “See your skeleton while you’re being electrocuted” effect?
I’m guessing Roy is hurt but alive. It’s the same effect we saw with Hinjo.
Probably alive. That was a disintegrate spell. If it had killed him, Roy would be reduced to a pile of ash, which is as close to being irreversibly killed as you can get in D&D. I don’t see Roy being permanently removed from the narrative right now.
Roy, as a fighter, has a pretty good Fort save, so he probably only took 5d6 damage there, which is nothing at that level (Vaarsuvius was routinely doing more than that to Belkar, just as a prank). And even if he didn’t save, he’d be looking at 34d6, which would hurt him pretty badly, but would still be unlikely to kill him (as mentioned, Hinjo already survived a failed save vs. Disintegrate from Redcloak, and Roy is probably about comparable to Hinjo in toughness).
Of course Roy blew the gate so that the Linear Guild and Team Evil couldn’t get it. But do you figure that he intended for it to go off in Xykon’s face, or is that just icing on the cake?
(“Left or right pelvis”, ha!)
Ah, my mistake. I had to blow it up–appropriate under the circumstances, I suppose–to make it out on my display. That means Meteor Swarm is still an option. Also, I guess he started the day with Overland Flight in effect (perfectly sensible at his level).
Note that one of the roaches has a coiled whip and Indiana Jones hat too. 
You only need one hand (or similar appendage) for spellcasting, anyway.
And Belkar might be the first one (aside from V) to realize that the big picture may not be what they they’ve been told…
Sooo … where’s the Linear Guild? Where’s V’s fiend-protected useless-for-now body? Will Haley, Elan, and Belkar grab Roy’s unconscious body and Mr. Scruffy and jump into the Rift rather than try to dodge more spells from Team Evil?
Wow. Big bada-boom!
First, nice touch with the Indiana Jones hat and the refrigerator, Rich!
Secondly, let’s talk Vaarsuvius… where was s/he? His ‘body’ was left behind directly under the gate, wasn’t it? At least, last time we saw it…
The pyramid went kablooey. Looking at the picture, there’s nothing left of it at all. I don’t even see any tunnels or anything that might have been beneath it, much less any evidence of V’s tunnel. This leads me to the conclusion the entire structure has been destroyed; in fact, the rift’s gate seal leadlined pyramid thingy may have only been the tip of the iceberg, to mangle a cliche’.
So, my thinking is that, since Rich wouldn’t re-use a Fridge Gag (without making that the gag in itself), the Fiends must have (probably) taken his/her body somewhere, to keep it safe.
I wonder where s/he went.