- For the other comic titled "Do-Over", see Do-Over (143).
Durkon lets out a secret unknown even to Thor and Odin, confronts Hilgya again, and reunites with the Order properly.
Cast[]
- The Order of the Stick:
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (also as spirit) ◀ ▶
- Hilgya Firehelm ◀ ▶
- Kudzu ◀ ▶
- Minrah (as spirit) ◀ ▶
- Thor ◀ ▶
- Odin ◀ ▶
- Durkon's Deva ◀
Transcript[]
- Panel 1, Page 1
Durkon reappears in the afterlife with a "PINGG!"
Durkon: Och, come on!
- Panel 2, Page 1
Durkon's Deva: Uh, was there some sort of issue with the spell?
Durkon: It's fine. It's all fine. Just a li'l miscommunication b'tween me an' Hilgya.
Minrah: Oooo, problems with the baby mama? She did seem a bit...tightly wound.
Thor: This might be all my fault, really.
Thor: When I decreed that you should "totally smash" the followers of Loki, that wasn't what I meant.
- Panel 3, Page 1
Durkon's Deva: Wait—we're actually getting a Raise Dead request from the same spellcaster.
Durkon's Deva: I assume you want me to deny it?
Durkon: Na! Na, I'll take it. I'll take tha chance.
- Panel 4, Page 1
Durkon's Deva: OK, they're your funerals.
Durkon: We'll just work it out, an' we can get on wit' tha bus'ness aboot tha Snarl an' tha rifts an' tha planet inside the rifts an' wha'ev'r else.
- Panel 5, Page 1
Durkon disappears with a "SPLONF! (again)"
- Panel 6, Page 1
Thor: Wait, what did he mean about a planet inside the rifts?
Odin: ?
- Panel 7, Page 1
Hilgya: Raise Dead!
Durkon: *gasp*
- Panel 8, Page 1
Durkon: Protection from Fire!
Durkon: Stay back!
- Panel 9, Page 1
Durkon: ...Are ye gonna Flame Strike me again?
Hilgya: I don't know, are you going to say something that dumb again?
Hilgya: 'Cause I'm not planning on it, but I reserve my right to respond to idiocy with cleansing divine fire.
- Panel 1, Page 2
Durkon: Ye dinnae haf tha "right" ta kill me fer tryin' ta work things out b'tween us, Hilgya!
Hilgya: Good news, then. There's nothing left to work out. I got what I needed out of this.
- Panel 2, Page 2
Hilgya: To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I caught up with you—
Hilgya: —but your shallow thoughtless proposal really clarified things for me.
Hilgya: It's so simple: You burned me, so I burned you. Now we're done and I feel a lot better.
- Panel 3, Page 2
Durkon: Ye cannae possibly think me rejectin' an' ye literally murdering me are equal?
Hilgya: Of course not. You can't fix rejection with a ten-minute cleric spell.
- Panel 4, Page 2
Hilgya: But who cares about equal, anyway?
Hilgya: If I hurt you worse than you hurt me, good. That means I win.
- Panel 5, Page 2
Durkon: "Win?" This ain't some kinda competition!
Hilgya: Everything is a competition, and the only people who think otherwise are losers who lose.
- Panel 6, Page 2
Pan out, revealing Roy and the rest of the Order have their weapons drawn and aimed at Hilgya.
Roy: OK, enough. This is fascinating and/or disturbing but my arms are falling asleep.
Roy: Does this conversation end with us rolling initiative or not?
Durkon: Dunno. Ask her.
Hilgya: No, I'm fine.
Roy: Then how about we table it for now.
- Panel 9, Page 2
Roy: Unless I'm mistaken, Durkon [sic] some of the vampire's little minions were missing from the the fight scene, so we're not out of the woods just yet.
Durkon: Aye. The Exarch an' a few others'll still try ta sway the council's vote.
Roy: Let's head back to the temple of Thor and plan our next move.
- Panel 8, Page 2
Roy: Also, it's good to have you back. You have no idea how much we needed you.
Durkon: Thanks, lad. It's good ta be back.
- Panel 9, Page 2
Elan: Hooray, Durkon's back!
Haley: We missed you, big guy.
- Panel 10, Page 2
Durkon: I missed all o' ye, too.
Durkon: The hardest part o' bein' trapped right thar, inside me own 'ead, was na bein' able ta reach out an' tell all o' ye that it'd be OK.
- Panel 11, Page 2
Durkon: The second hardest part was knowin' only Belkar could tell tha diff'rence b'tween me an' an evil spirit!
Durkon: I mean, Belkar? Seriously??
Belkar: I know, right?
Roy: I got there! Eventually!
Elan: In my defense, I am not very smart.
Haley: I already got fooled by Nale! What were the chances of two imposter storylines?!
D&D Context[]
- Raise Dead is a 5th level clerical spell that allows you to restore life to a dead creature, provided that their body is intact. Because Durkon's body is still intact from the previous Flame Strike, Hilgya is able to Raise him with a 5,000-gp diamond.
- Protection from Fire is a one of the possible types of energy protected by the 3rd level Protection from Energy spell. It grants immunity to up to 12 points of damage per level of the caster.
Trivia[]
- In Panel 4, Durkon refers to the planet Blackwing had seen in the Azure City rift in #659 and revealed to V in #672, which apparently even Thor and Odin didn't know about.
- Elan's line in Page 2, Panel 9 was used before in "Marching On", when it appeared that Durkon was back to normal despite being a vampire.
- In the last panel, Haley refers to when Nale switched places with Elan during the Order's second fight with the Linear Guild in Cliffport. She figured that the comic wouldn't be repetitious enough to repeat a storyline it had already used.
- This is the third and final appearance of Durkon's deva. He first appeared in "Headed Back".