North_Ranger
Staff member
Haley! Some arrows would be nice now, thankyouverymuch!
[Webcomic] The Order of the Stick thread
- Thread starter Piotyr
- Start date
Um, guys, I just realized something. The prophecy for Durkon said he'd return to his land posthumously.
What if he goes back..
What if he goes back..
...to help raise a vampire army. 
So yeah... mission's kinda fucked now. About the only way I can see them getting out of this one alive is if they hook back up with V and V uses Teleportation Circle or something to get them to somewhere friendly. Honestly, I can't even think of a reason NOT to let Tarquin have the portal right now... he'd just fortify it and fight off the Lich when he tries to take it.
For you, old friend.
North_Ranger
Staff member
Pass me the drink, I'll be needing it now...
Guys, guys, guys. It'll be okay! They just need to get some diamond dust together and Durkon can cast resur -
Oh.
Oh.
I has the sads now.
There were five rifts altogether, so five gates:
1) Dorukan's Gate, which was the first one we ever saw and is either destroyed or at least buried under the castle.
2) Lirian's Gate, which was destroyed during Start of Darkness.
3) Azure City's Gate, which was very dramatically destroyed during the city assault.
4) Girard Draketooth's Gate, which is where we are now.
5) Kraagor's Tomb/Gate, which has been mentioned by name, shown briefly in a flashback, and nothing else so far. The flashback, though shows it'll make for one hell of a dungeon, since it's populated with the most powerful monsters.
So, two still standing, presuming Dorukan's Gate was actually destroyed. Having just re-skimmed through the first book, I'm not sure if it's destroyed or just buried under the castle when it exploded.
Also, I don't know if we're necessarily nearing the final chapters. It took about 100 strips to get to the first, another 150 to get to the next, which didn't even include the war, which lasted until strip #484. They've only recently in the last two dozen strips or so to reach the next gate. We might not even see Kraagor's Gate for awhile yet.
EDIT: Oh, shit, I just thought of something...what if Kraagor's Gate is in Durkon's homeland...and he returns in the manner I suggested above?
Some on the OotS forums have already given Durkon a new name:
Count Durkula
North_Ranger
Staff member
I wonder if he can fight off being evil...
I'm curious and sad, still. A turned Belkar I could see as working somehow, but I don't really see how Durkon could possibly function as an Evil Cleric. Personality-wise there's lots of leeway, I suppose, but simply merely as a healer it's pretty much impossible.
That said, I guess it all depends on how vampirism works in this world. Will killing the Sire redeem the offspring? If killing Malack will restore Durkon, I guess V or someone might eventually accomplish it - and Durkon staying undead for a couple months, the way Roy was dead, isn't out of the realm of possibility. Otherwise, hoping that the last gate is in Dwarf country, I could see them going back to find another Thor Cleric to work a miracle and raise him, maybe, just in time for the last gate? I doubt this is the end for Durkon or Durkon becomes yet-another-evil-NPC.
That said, I guess it all depends on how vampirism works in this world. Will killing the Sire redeem the offspring? If killing Malack will restore Durkon, I guess V or someone might eventually accomplish it - and Durkon staying undead for a couple months, the way Roy was dead, isn't out of the realm of possibility. Otherwise, hoping that the last gate is in Dwarf country, I could see them going back to find another Thor Cleric to work a miracle and raise him, maybe, just in time for the last gate? I doubt this is the end for Durkon or Durkon becomes yet-another-evil-NPC.
Dave
Staff member
It's a duration thing. And it's only 1 round per caster level so it's gotta be close to the end of the spell.
Man, this does NOT look good for the Order. Cleric and probably the sexy shoeless God of War will be dead, V is gone. That leaves Roy, Haley...and Elan.
T - T - T - TPK!! In 3.0/3.5, Healer clerics are kinda shit. If anything, this would make Durkon more powerful because he'd be taking more buffs and attack spells. Even if he doesn't go that route, there really isn't any reason why he couldn't have healing spells as an evil cleric. He'd just need to take them in advance instead of casting them spontaneously.
You might want to look at that again. Vampire automatically turns you Evil. Evil clerics can ONLY worship Evil gods, and no Evil god can give Heal. They get Harmful Touch instead. It's really impossible for an Evil cleric to Smite Evil or Heal, just as a Good cleric can't Smite Good or Harm.
Healer Clerics tend to be shitty because DMs tend to allow for far too much resting/healing in between encounters. Enforce eating, long time delays,... so your party's obligated to start a couple of decent encounters at lower-than-full-health and with the wizard's spell slots exhausted, and healing clerics are suddenly a lot more useful.
Of course, depending on the source books you allow, sorcerers completely overpower a cleric in every possible way, but that's because some of the source books are horribly broken
Healer vs Buffer Vs Damage/Utility builds really depend on how smart your other party members are. In Durkon's case, they are dumb as a bag of hammers so he's kinda forced to do lots of healing, but if they were smarter, he'd have a lot more spells to do buffing or crippling with.