Hah, second webcomic I’ve read today that needs a trypophobia trigger warning (I’ve been playing catchup with CtrlAltDel, which has this lovely fellowin a recent story). I love it, suitably annoying dungeon concept.
I was just thinking that the smart move would be to have the entrance be “none of the above” (see also: the skeletal Xykon duplicates at the attack on Azure City).
Welcome to the tomb of [del]Tal Rasha[/del] Kraagor.
There are 98 unmarked doors, and 16 marked ones. Plus whatever’s off-screen
PSA: Don’t google that. Ignorance is bliss.
But in the two cases where we’ve seen that kind of duplicity (the Xykon duplicates and the fake desert gate location) they were created by people who were already disposed towards duplicity (Redcloak and Girard Draketooth). Kraagor’s tomb was developed by Serini Toormuck and her nature, from what we’ve seen, was very straightforward. Serini built her gate protection around the principle of powerful creatures not concealment.
Sereni was a rogue. Aren’t they tricky by definition?
I wonder if the gate is accessed under the statue.
That’s a very interesting thought. Didn’t the Order of the Scribble show them working to seal the gate outside, with Kraagor getting turned to stone due to the sealing spell? That would seem to suggest that he’s sitting right on top of the gate.
No, he wasn’t turned to stone by the sealing spell. The statue came later (see #276). Notice though that the Snarl was fought out in the open, thus the Rift was out in the open, so it probably is sealed by Kraagor’s statue anyway. And not in any of the caves.
The gate being in/near/under the statue would be particularly funny given the time Xykon just spent standing there “decorating” it.
The new artwork for Xykon takes a little to get used to. When we last saw him in #901, he still had the giant bottom jaw with the neck blocked. New Xykon has a smaller, thinner jaw with the neck bone visible. The eye sockets are clearly sunken with a brow ridge creating a more normal skull shape instead of the lightbulb look from before. I don’t think the switch is wrong, just a little jarring at first. More evil, less comical.
Wait, what if that’s not actually Xykon? Maybe he’s a quadruplet!
Hadn’t noticed that (also he seems to have smaller but more numerous teeth, which do make for a more sinister look). However I did notice Redcloak’s boot update, he seems to have clawed feet now or something. Weird soleret design perhaps ? The bugbear lady also has boots-with-individual-toes.
He’s wearing boots because it’s cold, obviously.
Right, but typical boots have rounded ends ; whereas Redcloak’s ones seem to have individual toes.
It’s likely his boots are of local bugbear manufacture with anti-cold protections, so more … Basic? Rustic? Taxidermic?..than he’d get back home.
You have too much time on your hands 
Are we sure of that? Kraagor’s surprised face on the statue, coupled with Soon’s order to cast the sealing spell always made me think that Kraagor was petrified. That doesn’t explain the pedestal though.
Girard and Dorukan did blame Soon for Kraagor’s death, so is it at least implied that Kraagor was killed by the sealing spell, if not petrified?
I did a quick Paint job and removed the glasses and tongue and he doesn’t look particularly surprised to me. Maybe because the eyes are empty you see it but his mouth seems pretty “meh”.
The pedestal and the way Kraagor is standing are both give-aways.
Well, we got what I wanted–an excuse for why Xykon won’t already be way ahead of the Order of the Stick while they are out saving the world.