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in: Comics, Battle of Odin's Hall

Reasons Why

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Sigdi explains why she spent her fortune raising total strangers from the dead instead of her husband, leaving the vampire dumbfounded.

Cast[]

Transcript[]

Panel 1, Page 1

The Vampire with Long Hair exits the Anti-Life shell.
Vampire with Long Hair: Hel, yeah! I'm gonna go get a drink!
"Durkon": ...Yeah. OK, yeah, do that.
Vampire with Blue Curly Hair: *Whew!*

Panel 2, Page 1

Cut to inside Durkon's head. "Durkon" is not taking the memory very well.
"Durkon": This doesn't make any...logical sense.
"Durkon": Why would someone give up living like a princess to raise five total strangers from the dead?

Panel 3, Page 1

"Durkon": Explain this!!
Durkon: ...
Durkon points at the memory, which is continuing.

Panel 4, Page 1

Durkon: Tha's how ye met Uncle Squeaky an' Hoskin an' tha rest?? I had no idea.

Panel 5, Page 1

Sigdi: I dinnae tell ye when ye were a wee lad 'cause I weren't sure ye'd really unnerstand.
Durkon: I still dinnae unnerstand!

Panel 6, Page 1

Cut back to the banquet hall. The vampire with long hair drinks Elan's blood, "SLURP! SLURP!" In the background, Mr. Scruffy is trying to wake Belkar.
Vampire with Long Hair: Mmmmm! A simple but crisp, bold flavor, perfect for relaxing with friends.
Vampire with Long Hair: Delicious! Are the rest this tasty?

Panel 7, Page 1

Back to Durkon's memory
Hoskin: We're alive??
Durkon's Aunt: My family line almost ended with me.
Thirden: I almost died as a miner.
Thirden: Screw it, I'm going back to bard college and finishing my training.
Shirra: I'm gonna sue the pants off that mining company! They'll be taking orders from me when I'm through with 'em!
Kandro: Lass, I'm just glad ta get a do-over ta get inta Valhalla. Praise Thor!
Priestess of Thor: You should make sure to thank the Sergeant here, too.
Priestess of Thor: She's the one who donated the diamonds we needed.
Sigdi: Och, no, ye dinnae need ta tell 'em tha!

Panel 8, Page 1

Hoskin: Uh, hullo. Have we...met?
Sigdi: Uh, well...Na. N b'fore now.
Sigdi: Sergeant Sigdi Thundershield, Special Threat Response Squadron. Uh, retired, I s'ppose.

Panel 9, Page 1

Sigdi: But...what I'd really like would be findin' out more aboot all o' ye.
Sigdi: How aboot ye all join me at me cave fer dinner t'morrow night, an' we can get ta know each other?

Panel 10, Page 1

Kandro: Och, it'd be me honor, Miss.
Shirra: Count us in, too!
Hoskin: Aye. I'd like tha.
Thirden: Hmmm, well, I had been planning to hold my funeral then, but it looks like my calendar just opened up.

Panel 1, Page 2

Sigdi: An' tha's how we started meetin' 'ere ev're week.
Sigdi: I guess since the tha donation were ta tha church, technic'lly, they put me name on tha wall.
Sigdi: So...mystery solved!

Panel 2, Page 2

Durkon: Ma, how could ye do tha?!? Ye dinnae know them! Wha if'n they were bad dwarves?
Sigdi: But they weren't. An' ye ferget, I was a warrior back then. Like I'd tell ye when ye were actin' up as a lad:
Sigdi: I brought ye inta this world, an' I can take ye back out, too.

Panel 3, Page 2

Durkon: Yer missin' tha point! Tha high priest o' Odin's more powerful. 'E coulda used those diamonds ta bring back Pa!
Sigdi: Och, Durkon, yer a cleric now. I thought ye'd get it.

Panel 4, Page 2

Sigdi: Yer Pa died a hero. 'E's up in Valhalla, drinkin' wit Thor.
Sigdi: Wha was I gonna do, pull 'im outta paradise when five others right in front o' me were damned ta Hel thru na fault o' their own?

Panel 5, Page 2

Durkon: But...but ye loved 'im! Dinnae ye? An' ye just let 'im go like that?
Sigdi: I NEVER LET GO!

Panel 6, Page 2

Flashback to the cave-in at the troll raid. Sigdi is desperately holding on to Tenrin with her right arm. Tenrin is smiling peacefully.
Sigdi (inset): I ne'er let go.

Panel 7, Page 2

Durkon: But Ma...ye coulda...they coulda fixed yer arm wit tha money. Ye've been strugglin' all these years...
Sigdi: An' wha kinda dwarf would I be if'n I did tha? If'n I put me happiness ahead o' tha lives—tha very souls— o' five others?

Panel 8, Page 2

Sigdi: Sometimes, bein' a dwarf means takin' feelings like tha an' burying 'em inna deep dark part o' yer soul—
Sigdi: —an' ne'er ev'r talkin' aboot 'em again.

Panel 9, Page 2

Durkon: 'Cept mebbe wit yer son, when 'e's old enuff.

Panel 10, Page 2

Cut back to the banquet hall. The Vampire with Long Hair has drunken some of Haley's blood.
Vampire with Long Hair: Oh wow. Subtle, but with so many complex undertones
Vampire with Long Hair: Seriously, Boss, I can't believe you ate this well on the flight up.

Panel 11, Page 2

"Durkon" does not answer. Kudzu sits unhappily in his lap.

Panel 12, Page 2

Vampire with Long Hair: ...
Vampire with Long Hair: Boss?

D&D Context[]

  • By using her blood drain special attack on Elan and Haley, Ponchula drains 1d4 points of Constitution from each of them and gains 5 temporary hit points per drain.

Trivia[]

  • In page 1, panel 2, the vampire spirit slips into Durkon's accent ("...from tha dead."). Normally, when appearing as a spirit inside Durkon, he has always spoken without the accent, needing to delve into Durkon's memories to impersonate it in real life. This lapse may suggest a change whereby he is becoming more like Durkon.
  • Sigdi's line on page 2, panel 6, ("I ne'er let go.") informs her words in the first strip she appeared in where she saved a dwarf from falling saying "Di. Nae. Le. Go."
  • Sigdi's line in page 2, panel 8 are exactly the words that Durkon said his mother told him in #84, "Saddest. Comic. Ever." That comic was published 14 years before this one.
  • This is the second and final appearance of Durkon's father, Tenrin Thundershield.
  • The only other time "Durkon" froze up like this was after Nale destroyed Malack in "Nothing Lasts Forever", just before the the vampiric spirit officially spawned in "Always Hiring". This could signify that another great change is taking place inside Durkon.

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