O-chul and An Escape!

[Burley]

Since Xykon said "This time", O-chul obviously has been through this before. Which means he's probably had his hands free before. Why hasn't he summoned his mount? The Cloister spell allows summoning from within, and that's exactly what the mount is.

Has anybody else thought of this?

[Nevrmore]

Because he's just been dumped in a vat of acid, impaled of spikes, and nearly eaten by a shark. He's not exactly in the state of mind to think of anything besides "Skeleton man...MUST KILL!"

[The Wanderer]

Because an epic level lich sorcerer and 20,000 armed guards and various other spellcasters have been there to prevent that from happening?

[Glome]

Perhaps he had already done so on a previous attempt and the mount was killed, so it will take another 30 days before he can summon a new one. More likely though he couldn't afford the full round action to summon it when it would have cost him his only chance to smite Xykon. I'm sure he's aware he wasn't going to kill the lich and escape anyway, he just wanted to cause the lich some pain before he got knocked out again.

[Kami2awa]

He doesn't have his Pokeball... in OotsWorld, paladins apparently need an object to summon their mount, and Xykon's minions have taken it away.

[Quorothorn]

Well, I just came up with the theory that O-chul might have the Charging Smite alternative class feature, meaning no celestial mount for him.

[Callista]

The pokeball isn't necessarily an actual object; it could be a magical effect, just like the energy we see around V's hands when s/he casts a spell.

Recall: a Paladin's mount is as smart as a human. That means sentient--it's not just any old warhorse. Remember how Miko's horse was pretty much her only friend? Now consider somebody who cares more about people than Miko does. That mount's not just a class feature; it's a true companion.

If he summons his mount, it'll almost certainly be killed. Considering that he is probably kept paralyzed, unconscious, or in an antimagic field anytime he isn't being closely watched by somebody high-level enough to easily take him down, summoning the mount would just mean that he has to see another friend die.

For all he knows, Xykon could slap a dimensional anchor on the mount and keep it on the Prime Material. I have a feeling O'Chul would rather remain alone than risk a friend getting the same treatment he's getting. Essentially, he's being constantly tortured in a rather creative manner; and the only reason he's fighting back is because he's just too stubborn to give up.

[Surgoshan]

Perhaps summoning his mount isn't allowed by the exemption in the cloister spell.

[Craig1f]

Have you noticed the number of scars on O-Chul? He's obviously been through this before. The wounds he sustained in the last strip overlap many many scars that he has. He's obviously been tortured constantly.