Originally Posted by
Marsala
The requirement is supposed to be using a 9th level spell slot for a specific ritual. Unless the ritual is something like, "casting Implosion on a cleric of Thor who was recently resurrected by an acolyte of Loki," it's not related. On the other hand, it does seem odd that Redcloak is using a 9th level spell slot right here and now, and the cliffhanger suggests that Durkon will be saved by something less anticlimactic than a simple saving throw. (Durkon dying also seems unlikely as a resolution of the cliffhanger, since showing him implode would be more dramatic at the end of a comic than the beginning of the next one.)