Durkon argues with his spiritual captor about the necessity of holding him.
Cast
- Durkon Thundershield (also as vampire and as spirit) ◀ ▶
- "Durkon" ◀ ▶
- Sigdi Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Hoskin ◀ ▶
- Thirden ◀ ▶
- Kandro ◀ ▶
- Shirra Copperbottom ◀ ▶
- Durkon's Aunt ◀ ▶
- Logann Brightstone ▶
- Amyth ▶
- Shirra's Husband ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
"Durkon" performs a ritual with Malack's Staff in a magic circle.
- Panel 2
Durkon recalls his youth.
Logann: Ha! I scored two Thunderclaps! Boom!
Durkon: Nuh uh! Tha rules say ye haf ta make a Raincloud ‘fore ye can roll a Thunderclap!
- Panel 3
"Durkon": So, what now you see something and a memory just pops up?
Durkon: Aye, tha’s how memory works.
- Panel 4
Durkon's Aunt: Come on, it’s time ta go home, sweetie. Ye can play Smite Tha Tree wit yer Cousin Durkon next time.
Logann: Awww, Ma! I was just aboot ta win!
Durkon: Na, ye were nae! Ye need a Raincloud first!
- Panel 5
Hoskin: Another excellent meal, Sigdi. Are ye sure ye werenae tha army’s secret gourmet chef?
Sigdi: Ha ha, no way! I could barely boil water ‘fore I had Durkon.
Sigdi: Had ta learn ta cook an’ learn how to do everythin’ left-handed at tha same time!
- Panel 6
"Durkon": Another dinner party memory? How many of these did your mother host?
Durkon: Hunnerds. One e’ery other Wednesday night fer me whole lifetime.
"Durkon": With the same five people??
Durkon: An’ thar mates an’ kids, aye.
"Durkon": Ugh. That’s gonna get old fast.
- Panel 7
Durkon: Yer welcome ta release me an’ go back to where’er ye came from, if’n it’s a bother.
"Durkon": I wish. No, I’m afraid we’re stuck with each other, dwarf.
- Panel 8
"Durkon": My mistress has an immediate need for a cleric of your power.
"Durkon": Most priests of your level aren’t foolish enough to fall to undeath—much less a type that retains spellcasting.
"Durkon": Your death was Hel’s lucky break.
- Panel 9
Durkon: Why cannae she just raise her own clerics from 1st level, like all tha other gods manage?
"Durkon": She’s tried! Every time she bequeaths clerical powers on some clever ghast or wight, some party of heroes crushes it as the final boss of a low-level dungeon!
- Panel 10
Durkon: So you think tha makes ye justified in wearin’ me body like a glorified magic item?
"Durkon": My mission justifies everything, thanks, though you won’t understand why until it’s too late.
- Panel 11
"Durkon": And frankly, if you didn’t want your private memories ransacked, you shouldn’t have formed them in the first place!
Durkon: Och, yeah, what was I thinkin’ doin’ all tha thinkin’.
"Durkon": Exactly!
D&D Context
- Malack's staff in the first panel appears be contained with in a Magic Circle.
- Durkon is of the Lawful Good alignment, which can be seen expressed in his youth as his insistence on a strict interpretation of the game rules.
- As "Durkon" points out, many undead types in D&D do not retain the powers they had in life. Skeletons, zombies, mummies, shadows, wraiths, specters, allips, ghouls, ghasts, mohrgs, vampire spawn, and wights all lose whatever spellcasting abilities they had, along with all abilities in general and all memories, with their new forms retaining nothing of their former selves. Though it would still be possible for them to become Clerics, they would be effectively starting from scratch in doing so. The only undead that maintain their original abilities after being transformed are certain templates, including liches and vampires, and vampires are the only major type of undead that can pass their template through the Create Spawn ability (most other templated undead are created by artificial means).
- "Durkon" claims that it is very rare for a powerful Cleric to fall in battle and be turned by an undead. This owes to the fact that Clerics in D&D are classically built to be effective at facing undead: all Clerics possess Turn or Rebuke Undead to ward them off, control them, or obliterate them, high Fortitude and Will saves to resist most undead abilities, protective spells like Death Ward that completely shut down certain avenues of attack that undead use, spells like Remove Paralysis or Restoration that heal the conditions that undead can inflict, positive energy effects like Cure Wounds or Heal that can deal heavy damage to undead, and a number of spells, like Searing Light, Disrupting Weapon, and Undeath to Death, that outright counter undead. A sufficiently-leveled Cleric is the least likely of any core class to fall to undead, barring a massive difference in power or extremely poor luck (for instance, Durkon only lost to Malack because Malack had specifically built a backdoor into Durkon's protective spell).
Trivia
- First mention of Sigdi's weekly dinner nights.
- The game the children play continues the running gag whereby the dwarves have an irrational fear of trees.
- This is the first appearance of Durkon's cousin Logann, his little sister Amyth and Shirra's husband. Logann is not named until #1088, and his last name given in #1175. Amyth is named in a bonus strip in Utterly Dwarfed.
- The text around the Magic Circle, when decoded from Blambot's Dwarven Spirits font, reads: "Still wasting your time decoding this there are no secret messages"