A Heartfelt Moment

A Heartfelt Moment
Order of the Stick Comic
Comic no.	1131
Date Published	31 July 2018
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Durkon overcomes the vampire spirit and allows Belkar to destroy him.

Cast

• The Order of the Stick
  • Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
  • Durkon Thundershield (as vampire and as spirit) ◀ ▶
• Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
• "Durkon" ◀
• Hilgya Firehelm (also dominated) ◀ ▶
• Kudzu ◀ ▶

Transcript

Panel 1

Durkon #1: Ha! It worked! I knew thar had ta be some reason why 'e dinnae just absorb ev'rythin' tha moment 'e took over!
Durkon #2: Och, quit pattin' ourselves on our back an' hurry!

Panel 2

Belkar rests on top of the antilife shell, poised to descend on Durkon

Panel 3

Durkon #1: Yer right. I c'n feel tha negative energy squrimin' around. Thar's no way ta know if'n this'll last.
Durkon #2: Ye know wha we haf ta do.
Durkon #1: Aye.

Panel 4

Durkon hands Kudzu over to Hilgya.
Durkon: Take 'im.

Panel 5

Durkon: Dismiss Anti-Life Shell.

Panel 6

The magical shell collapses and Belkar begins to fall toward Durkon.

Panel 7

As Belkar falls, extending a stake, Durkon bares his chest.

Panel 8

Belkar drives the stake through Durkon's heart, "SHTHNK."

Panel 9

beat

Panel 10

Durkon disappears in ashes and smoke. Hilgya breaks out of the vampiric domination.

Panel 11

Belkar deactivates his clasp.

Panel 12

Belkar: And that's how you kill a vampire cleric without dying, MORON!

D&D Context

• Durkon dismisses the antilife shell he cast in #1126, allowing Belkar in.
• Canonically, while a stake through the heart slays a vampire in D&D, its body should not disappear. Because according to the rules, if the stake is withdrawn, the vampire returns to life. To completely slay the vampire in this way, one would need to decapitate the monster and fill its mouth with holy wafers. However, clearly in the Order of the Stick universe a simple stake through the heart is sufficient, at least for vampires who have not established a coffin, an example of "house rules" or as part of the larger homebrew campaign. The fact that vampires turn to ash when staked has been known for some time, though it was not portrayed until recently. In #617, the Eight Level Greysky Rogue mentions that staked vampires turn to ash.
  • It is interesting to note that when Malack was slain by sunlight, his garments remained, while when Belkar slew Durkon, the vampire and his personal effects disappeared in a wisp of smoke. Rich Burlew has opined that this is related to whether the vampire has established a coffin to keep himself alive and the usage of the quick-rise spell in creating the vampire (i.e. quick-risen vampires without a coffin die at 0HP just like normal undead).
  • The ashes that remain should be enough to bring Durkon back to life with a Resurrection spell. If not, a True Resurrection spell would be needed. Also, the disposition of his weapons, armor, and other possessions is unknown, with these things not having been seen since the Godsmoot.

Trivia

• Belkar's line in the last panel echoes Roy's line after he defeated and possibly slew Thog, when he said, "THAT'S how I use my Intelligence score in combat, DUMBASS!!" in "Five Rows Down, Three Columns Over".
• Belkar's line in the last panel also refers to Durkon being killed by Malack in "The Bright Side".
• Durkon was a vampire for 255 strips, from #878 to this strip. The period spans over five years of real world time, but only about a week of in-world time.
• This is the final appearance of the vampire spirit who controls the body of Durkon Thundershield, known as "Durkon" (aka the High Priest of Hel, though that title has passed to another). Counting strips since he was freed of his thralldom, and where he either speaks or appears as a spirit in Durkon's head (since in the other strips only Durkon's corpse is shown), he appeared in eighty-four strips. His first appearance as an independent entity was in #907. "Durkon" took hold of Durkon's body after Malack, a vampire and cleric of Nergal, killed Durkon and raised him as his thrall. Since Durkon was a dwarf, his vampire spirit was birthed in the hall of the goddess Hel who holds certain sway over dwarves. "Durkon" attempted to destroy the world in order to gain souls for Hel and create a new world where she was queen of her pantheon. He was thwarted by Durkon's incredible will, inviolate morality, and a stake through the heart from Belkar. In this strip he is indistinguishable from Durkon himself, but the fact that there are two of them and there is still negative energy suggests he is still the same being.

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