The trial of the century ends rather abruptly.
Cast
Transcript
- Panel 1
Elan has Kubota tied up and is leading him by a rope on Hinjo's junk.
Elan: I can't believe you just surrendered! That's what Therkla wanted you to do in the first place.
Kubota: True, but when she suggested it, there wasn't a high-level aide of mine who had recently died upon whom I could pin the blame.
- Panel 2
Kubota: Clearly, Therkla acted alone, using her position within my house to carry out a personal vendetta against Lord Hinjo without my knowledge.
Kubota: I hear rumor that she even consorted with devils—and certain Northerners.
Kubota: I had no choice but to kill her in order to restore honor to my family name, in accordance with our traditions.
- Panel 3
Kubota: It's not a perfect story, but I think I can make it fly at trial.
Elan: That's just a pack of lies! No one will ever believe that!
Kubota: You'd be surprised what people will believe when they've been stuck on a boat for months.
- Panel 4
Elan: Yeah, well, they'll use magic to MAKE you tell the truth!
Kubota: Interesting fact: Did you know there is at least one aristocrat-friendly prestige class that grants the extraordinary ability to fool magical lie detection?
- Panel 5
Kubota: You did not actually think I had gotten this far in life without clearing THAT little hurdle, did you?
Kubota: My trial will last a few weeks, at most, and when it is over, Hinjo will look like an out-of-touch buffoon for even bringing charges against me—a beloved pillar of the community—while his own people wasted away at sea.
- Panel 6
Kubota: Now come along, bring me before your master so that we may begin the Trial of the Century.
Elan: Yeah, we'll see who they believe. The Katos and I will all testify against you, and then—
- Panel 7
Kubota is struck by a Disintegrate beam.
Vaarsuvius (off-panel): Disintegrate.
- Panel 8
Kubota is reduced to a pile of ash. Elan looks a Vaarsuvius in alarm.
- Panel 9
Vaarsuvius: Gust of Wind.
A gust of wind blows away the ashes.
- Panel 10
Vaarsuvius: Now can we PLEASE resume saving the world?
D&D Context
- The description of "aristocrat-friendly prestige class that grants the extraordinary ability to fool magical lie detection" might fit a couple of prestige classes.
- Assassin: The prerequisites for Assassin are: evil alignment, Disguise 4, Hide 8, Move Silently 8, and killing someone for the purposes of joining the class. Disguise is an in-class skill for Aristocrat, but Kubota would have had to buy the other two at double cost, for a total of 36 skill points. If Kubota had 12-18 Intelligence (which governs skill points for Aristocrats) he could have put together the prerequisites at Aristocrat level 2-4. Assassin has no spellcasting requirements, making it "aristocrat-friendly", since he cannot multi-class to a PC class. Assassins at 7th level gain access to the Glibness spell which allows them to avoid lie detection or forced truth telling. They also gain proficiency in poison use, which Kubota has shown.
- The 2005 Complete Adventurer includes the Spymaster prestige class. The prerequisites are: Bluff 8, Diplomacy 4, Disguise 8, Forgery 4, Gather Information 4, Sense Motive 4. As well as the Skill Focus (Bluff) Feat. All of the required skills are in-class, for a total of 32 skill points and one feat. Thus he could have taken this class at Aristocrat level 1-3, making the same assumption about Int. The spymaster does have some ability to avoid lie detection as it pertains to keeping their true identity hidden. This class is somewhat problematic in that the lie detection avoidance only works if Daimyo Kubota is not his real identity, and he is really someone else (unless "Daimyo Kubota's public identity" can be considered a false identity).
- There are many other prestige classes in D&D 3.0 and 3.5. There are probably others that fit the description, making it hard to determine which one the artist had in mind when he wrote the strip. It could even have been homebrew.
- Disintegrate is V's most powerful offensive spell. It is 6th level and does 2d6/level damage, to a maximum of 40d6. V probably does approximately 30d6 damage at this point. If this spell reduces a creature to zero hit points, the body is turned to dust.
- Gust of Wind is a 2nd level spell which creates a 50 mph blast of air. The removal of Kubota's remains (the dust) makes his resurrection nearly impossible without a True Resurrection spell or a pair of Wishes. Xykon and Redcloak may be the only people in the world capable of casting these high levels spells.
Trivia
- This is the final appearance of Daimyo Kubota, the evil noble who plotted to kill Lord Hinjo and take the throne of Azure City in exile. He appeared a total of thirteen times, making his first appearance at Hinjo's coronation in #412.