Miko looks for a way to escape from her captors.
Cast
- Xykon ◀ ▶
- The Monster in the Darkness ◀ ▶
- Two Demon-Roaches ◀ ▶
- A Demon-Roach Doll
- Miko Miyazaki ◀ ▶
- Windstriker ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1, Page 1
Xykon is leaving, while leaving Miko inside the forcecage on her own.
Xykon: So, yeah, this should be fun.
Xykon: That forcecage should last for like a day and a half, give or take a few hours. You hang here and be miserable.
- Panel 2, Page 1
Xykon: When Reddie and I get back with the rest of the army, we'll kill you and see what kind of cool obscure undead creature pops up afterwards.
Xykon: My money is on death knight, but hey, maybe it's one of those weird "Oriental Adventures" undead. Who's to say, right?
- Panel 3, Page 1
Xykon: I tell you, it's the little day-to-day surprises that make unlife worth unliving.
Xykon: Have fun!
"click" & "lock" sounds from the door
Demon-Roach: Sucks to be you!
- Panel 4, Page 1
Miko drops to her knees in prayer.
Miko: Oh mighty gods of the South: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to personally thwart the plans of the most direct threat to Soon's Gate in the history of the Sapphire Guard.
- Panel 5, Page 1
Miko: Thank you for seeing fit to put me in position to unravel the danger posed by this lich, the goblin priest, and their obvious lackeys, the Order of the Stick.
Miko: As it now seems probable that their destruction of Dorukan's Gate was at Xykon's behest, I take these events as an answer to my prayer, hoping that I be the one who is able to punish them as they so richly deserve.
- Panel 6, Page 1
Miko: I pray in thanks, and further ask, as always, that all who stand in opposition to the holy work of the Sapphire Guard have their evil plans revealed to the light of day so that your paladins may smite them.
Miko: Praise the Twelve Gods. Amen.
- Panel 7, Page 1
Miko: Of course, in order to get any decent smiting in, I'll need to get out of this cage...
Miko: This should prove easy enough...
- Panel 8, Page 1
Miko hits the forcecage with her sword.
Miko: ...or rather it would, if these bars of force were in any way vulnerable to being cut by my blade.
Miko: Which, apparently, they are not.
Demon-Roach: Swing and a miss!
- Panel 9, Page 1
Miko: Hmmmm... I must escape to warn Azure City, but how?
Miko: It is at times like this that I wish I were one of those adventurers who have purchased the entire list of available mundane equipment, "just in case".
Miko: Encumbrance issues aside, I'm sure there's some way a 10-ft pole could get me out of this.
- Panel 10, Page 1
Miko: Wait! Of course!
Miko: I did buy something on my trip up to the dwarven lands!
Demon-Roach: A beard trimmer?
- Panel 11, Page 1
Miko takes out a bottle with a label that reads "AGED DWARVEN BRANDY"
Miko: A souvenir for Lord Shojo!
- Panel 12, Page 1
Miko rips her cape. "RRRRIP!!"
Demon-Roach: Ooo, yeah! Take it off, honey!
- Panel 1, Page 2
Miko reaches to the lower part of the forcecage to grab the roach.
Roach: What the—Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!
- Panel 2, Page 2
Miko: Now, if my knowledge of demons is of any use, this should work...
Miko squeezes roach, making it spit fire with a "woosh!!", pointing to the piece of cape that's held in place by the bottle's stopper, like some kind of Molotov cocktail.
Roach: OWW! Don't squeeze there!
- Panel 3, Page 2
The brandy bottle explodes. "POW!"
Roach is sent away, flying due to the explosion
Roach: Mommyyyyyyyy!
- Panel 4, Page 2
Miko looks down to the floor where the bottle exploded. It is cracked.
Miko: Wow. I guess Lord Shojo's liver will thank me for that...
- Panel 5, Page 2
Miko comments on the floor, that is now charred, smoking and has big cracks on it.
Miko (off-panel): Excellent! While the cage remains undamaged, the flagstones in the floor have loosened and cracked.
Miko (off-panel): I just need some help pushing...
- Panel 6, Page 2
Miko summons Windstriker using a Pokéball.
Miko: Windstriker, I choose you!
Windstriker appears with a "pika!"
- Panel 7, Page 2
Miko pushes forcecage with the help of Windstriker.
Miko: Push harder, loyal steed! Harder!
- Panel 8, Page 2
The forcecage tips over, freeing Miko. "THUNK!"
Miko: Outstanding, Windstriker! Now we must hurry before the lich or the goblin returns here.
- Panel 9, Page 2
Miko keeps talking, looking back at Windstriker.
Miko: If we are to have any hope of arriving at Azure City ahead of Xykon's army, we must ride as fast as we can.
Miko: There are no more watchtowers between here and home, so we cannot afford to fail.
Miko: Even at your best speed, we will only arrive a day or two ahead of—
MitD (off-panel): Hi.
The roach that Miko grabbed is talking to another roach.
Demon-Roach: It... it was horrible!
The second roach hands the first roach a tiny roach doll
Demon-Roach #2: Show me on the doll where she touched you.
- Panel 10, Page 2
Miko turns around and faces MitD.
MitD: What's your name?
D&D Context
- Oriental Adventures is the title of two rulebooks for different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons for use in campaign settings based on the Far East. The first was for 1st edition AD&D and the second was for D&D 3.0.
- Due to drawing from a different cultural background, Oriental Adventures featured a number of undead unfamiliar to Western audiences. The 3.0 version includes the shikki-gaki (a spirit of a negligent servant or healer that turns into a mushroom during daytime), the hopping vampire (a stiff, improperly prepared corpse that spreads a form of vampirism that can be delayed by dancing on sticky rice), and the pennaggolan (another vampire, this one resembling a floating disembodied head and entrails).
- The 10-foot pole is a staple of adventuring gear; the archtypical multifunctional item, used for setting off traps at a distance, climbing, vaulting, and many other uses.
- A normal Forcecage lasts for 2 hours per caster level. Xykon's Moderately Escapable Forcecage presumably has a different time frame, because otherwise a Forcecage lasting 36 hours would make Xykon 18th level, when Xykon is known to be epic-level (level 21+).
Trivia
- The "Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!" is a quote from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It is shouted by a "Bloody Peasant" against Arthur.
- The doll that the roach is holding can be compared with the dolls that are used during interviews with children who may have been sexually abused.
- Miko calls her paladin mount using a Pokeball, beginning a running gag that will continue with other paladins in the comic.
- There is a plothole in this comic in that Xykon closed and locked the tower door when he left, despite the door being destroyed earlier by Redcloak.