"Durkon" comes into his own as a vampire.
Cast
Transcript
- Panel 1
Nale wipes some sweat off his brow.
Qarr: What the Hell just happened?!?
- Panel 2
Nale: Heh. Just a little something we've had in our back pocket. Now seemed like the best time.
Zz'dtri: Worked well.
Qarr: You're big with the understatement thing, huh?
- Panel 3
Nale: Killing my brother and Greenhilt will be sweet, but they weren't the real threat here.
Nale: At worst, they'll throw us in prison somewhere again. With Malack, it was always kill or be killed.
Nale: I chose the former.
- Panel 4
Nale walks over to "Durkon".
Nale: As for you—
Nale: You're free.
- Panel 5
Nale: With Malack's destruction, you're no longer his "thrall."
Nale: You're a 100% free-willed vampire cleric. You can go wherever you want.
Nale: But if I may make a suggestion?
- Panel 6
Nale: The Linear Guild would be honored to have someone of your obvious unholy power fighting with us.
Nale: We can help you get through this transitional period.
Nale: Hell, you're even your own evil opposite—for whatever that's worth anymore.
- Panel 7
Nale: I'm sure you're eager to taste the blood of your former friends. Maybe make a few thralls of your own.
Nale: We can help with that.
Zz'dtri: Pay's good.
- Panel 8
Nale: So think about it. You're not the same old Durkon.
Nale: Why not make the most of it?
- Panel 9
"Durkon" stands silently for a moment.
- Panel 10
"Durkon": Aye... mebbe I haf changed.
- Panel 11
"Durkon" smacks Nale and Zz'dtri with Malack's staff, "WONK! WONK!"
"Durkon": But tha two o' ye're still the same old dicks!
Trivia
- With the death of Malack, Durkon becomes free of his thraldom, with a noticeable change in behavior including the return of the Scottish accent. Early speculation in the GiantITP forums suggested that this was the point at which "Durkon" took over control of Durkon, and that the vampire spirit was not present during the period of thraldom to Malack. Rich Burlew gave some additional detail on his conception of vampire spirits in Order of the Stick, and has stated that "Durkon" was present from the beginning.[1] A likely explanation is that, because "Durkon" was a thrall to Malak at this point in the story, he was not attempting to impersonate Durkon. "Durkon's" later dialogue at the godsmoot confirms that the vampire does not speak with the same accent. Originally the "Number of Character Appearances" thread on that forum only counted an appearance of "Durkon" from this point, and then only if he spoke. The new curator of that thread changed this decision to conform with the author's intent and to simplify what counts as an appearance of "Durkon". As such all appearances of Durkon as a vampire are also considered appearances of "Durkon", the vampire spirit.
- [Editor's note: The decision was made to have this wiki conform with the conventions of the Number of Character Appearances thread on GiantITP.com. For consistency that thread also tracks appearances of Malack as a vampire and as the corpse of the Lizardfolk shaman who lived centuries ago, and other vampire body/vampire spirit dualities. This wiki does not track such characters for the sake of clarity over confusion to readers not interested in this sort of trivia. However, as will become clear, the distinction between Durkon and "Durkon" is unavoidable because of the portrayal of the distinct vampire spirit for this character.]
- The title "Always Hiring" can refer both to the Linear Guild specifically (as they consistently lose members) and the side of evil in general. Xykon previously espoused evil's eternal hunt for talent in Hell of a Job.
External Links
References
- ↑ The Answer Thread (February 2020), Rich Burlew