Durkon gets help from a stunning mid-adventure reveal of a previously unknown family member.
Cast[]
- The Order of the Stick
- Mr. Scruffy ◀ ▶
- Sigdi Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Thirden ◀ ▶
- Hoskin ◀ ▶
- Kandro ◀ ▶
- Logann Brightstone ◀ ▶
- Durkon's Uncle ◀ ▶
- Hoskin's Wife ◀ ▶
- Shirra's Twins ◀ ▶
- Earth Elementals ◀ ▶
- Logann's Soldiers ◀ ▶
- Durkon's Cousin's Brother-in-Law's Niece's Fiancé ▶
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Sigdi's family walks onto the bridge.
Hoskin: So, uh, what're we doin' 'ere, 'xactly?
Sigdi: At tha moment, smashin' those el'mentals 'fore they smash anyone else!
Logann: You heard the lady, troops. Engage the earth elementals!
Blonde Soldier: Aye, Cap'n Logann!
- Panel 2
Durkon removes the paralysis from Roy, Elan, Belkar, and Mr. Scruffy. Haley shoots an arrow at one of the Rock Monsters
Durkon: Remove Paralysis!
- Panel 3
Roy: We need to get into melee range so that creature can't cast any more spells.
Belkar: I knew you wouldn't be satisfied until you'd battered that worm hand-to-hand.
- Panel 4
Light Brown-Haired Soldier: Sir, our weapons're havin' trouble breakin' thru tha rocky hide o' tha—
Logann: You did fine, soldier. You bought us a few moments.
- Panel 5
Durkon's cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé runs toward Shirra's twins.
Light Brown-Haired Soldier: Moments? For what, sir?
- Panel 6
He jumps onto the twins' hands, bounding into the air.
- Panel 7
He decapitates the elemental.
- Panel 8
He lands in front of Durkon.
Durkon's cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé: Hello, Durkon.
- Panel 9
They shake hands.
Durkon's cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé: I'm your cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé.
- Panel 10
Durkon's cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé: Nice to finally put a face to all the stories!
- Panel 11
Elan: It's OK, Durkon. I know what's it's like to have a stunning mid-adventure reveal of a previously unknown family member.
Durkon: She broke up wit Thad?!?
Elan: Like I'm looking in a mirror.
D&D Context[]
- Remove Paralysis is a 2nd level cleric spell and works as advertised.
- Durkon's cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé has a number of possible candidates for what he might be.
- Incarnate: A class introduced in the 2005 book Magic of Incarnum. Incarnates can manipulate the energy of the soul to form magic items, and one potential soulmeld is the Incarnum Weapon - Lawful Neutral incarnates can form it into a sword. Additionally, incarnates have a heavy focus on the color blue in their theming, which matches DCBILNF's speech bubbles and overall color scheme. Incarnum, though obscure, has been referenced in the comic a handful of times, including #546 and a bonus strip in Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales.
- Soulknife: A class introduced in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, soulknives have their signature feature being the ability to conjure up a weapon of pure psychic energy called a mind blade. A soulknife of 5th level or higher can shape their mind blade into a weapon the size and shape of a bastard sword and wield it two-handed, as DCBILNF is shown doing. Soulknives exist in the world of the comic, with one having appeared in #730. That said, soulknives cannot wear heavy armor by default, meaning that DCBILNF has either taken the relevant feats or multiclassed.
- Druid: A druid can cast Flame Blade as a 2nd-level spell. However, Flame Blade's damage output is fairly low, and it would not match up with his armor (druids are incapable of wearing metal armor), though he could be wearing stone plate or dragonhide armor.
- Champion: A homebrew class created by Rich Burlew, the Champion is capable of taking on a form resembling their patron, which is described as a native outsider with a clearly magical theming and bent. Though this does explain the appearance, it has difficulty explaining the weapon.
Trivia[]
- The title refers to Durkon's cousin's brother-in-law's niece staying friends with Thad despite breaking up with him.
- Durkon's cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé has blue speech bubbles, which implies that he is a good Outsider (see above) of some sort. Other characters with similar speech bubbles are Celia, a native of the Elemental Plane of Air, and Eugene Greenhilt, a spirit in the Outer Planes. That said, colored speech bubbles have also been seen with characters who merely have a strongly magical bent, such as Xykon, dragons, flesh golem Crystal, or spliced Vaarsuvius.
- We learn in this strip that Logann holds the rank of Captain in the Dwarven Army.
- Durkon's relative's name is a play on the statement Lord Dark Helmet made to Lone Star in Mel Brooks' scifi comedy Spaceballs: "I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."
- Elan's comment in last panel refers to how he learned about the existence of his twin brother and father.
- This is the first appearance of Durkon's Cousin's Brother-in-Law's Niece's Fiancé