The Order of the Stick

That is a pretty important piece of character information. I hope.

@Ninety: Roy heard about the 'Durkon's dying before going back' prophecy, but not about the 'Durkon's return brings death and destruction' one.

Do we know if Durkula knows where the Council is meeting? I can't find any specific reference to where he's heading, but the Priest of Thor seemed to suggest he was mistakenly heading to the capital. On the other hand, he seemed to know all about the Council meeting and Dvalin's vote, so he's obviously got a lot of background info from Hel.

If he is porting to the wrong place, hopefully that'll considerably reduce his head start. Although the dwarves are still going to suffer. (On the plus side, any that get killed in battle without being vamped don't go to Hel!)

edited 16th Feb '16 10:09:40 AM by johnnye

Aren't alcohol overdoses exempt?

Well... this might be the piece of information that gives Durkon an edge over the vampire, in the far future. Somehow. Maybe Roy tells it to the vampire in a spiteful way, not knowing that the real Durkon is listening too.

That'd be my guess. Hearing it gives Durkon the strength to break free or somesuch.

Has the comic at any point even hinted that OOTSverse vampires need an invitation to enter dwellings?

edited 16th Feb '16 10:59:19 AM by Geoduck

Hmm... it might be a bit of a stretch, but does this also count as an open invitation in terms of Durkon being able to cross the threshold of the settlement?

There's never been any implication that Vampire Invitation is a thing in this setting, to my knowledge. I suppose a specific exile might stop a vampire entering a particular location, but that would only come up if such an exile was in effect, and it isn't.

Durkula just teleported into the heart of the Dwarven homelands (I assume?) So if he was supernaturally prevented from entering it, the teleport wouldn't have worked, and if he believed he was, he wouldn't have tried in the first place.

Overall, I'm pretty stumped as to how this fact is going to become relevant. I'm sure it is, I just don't see how.

D&D vampires need an invitation to enter homes and other buildings, but are free to enter public places. Without any indication to the contrary we can assume it's the same for OOTS vampires.

Part of Durkula's very existence is built on Durkon's resentment at being rejected by both his order and people. I'd say that getting told that Durkon was welcomed back in life (even if the communication went AWOL) would be a kick in the fundamentals, so to speak...

So correct me if I'm wrong...

But was it Miko who convinced that priest to send Durkon's return letter?

Cause if so, it's a shame nobody will ever know.

Miko delivered a letter. There was not really any "convincing" on her part.

No. Durkon requested it and Shojo sent Miko to deliver the request.

edited 16th Feb '16 5:43:43 PM by blkwhtrbbt

Oh. Okay then. Still she did kind of help him by doing so.

She undertook a mundane courier task ordered by Shojo, with no knowledge of the purpose or who initiated the request. She did not want to do it.

Now I'm imagining Miko singing along to Big Iron as she traipses along a desolate wasteland on her way to the dwarves

I think from her perspective it was pointless busywork given to her by the evil Shojo in order to prevent her from being around and foiling his sinister plans.

She hadn't (wrongly) learned that Shojo was evil yet. At that point, she still thought he was a legitimate leader.

In retrospect I mean.

Oh yeah. Ok, she might have thought that later on.

I loved the "friggin' rules" gag.

Perhaps because I occasionally binge on Dinosaur Comics.

edited 16th Feb '16 10:20:59 PM by Enlong

On the Belker thing. He will never be able to fully redeem himself. Stabbing that Gnome in the face all those years ago for no reason would have damned anyone's soul. And while he has improved a bit he is not actually trying to be a better person.

The Courier is too badass to be compared to Miko.

From a real-life perspective, I think even impulse murder can be forgiven if the murderer comes to genuinely repent and put serious time and effort into redeeming themselves. (Of course, Belkar doesn't have the time or the inclination for this, even if it were the only sin he had to make up for.)

From a D&D perspective, if everyone who randomly killed the odd civilian got automatically and irrevocably assigned an Evil alignment...

edited 17th Feb '16 2:45:30 AM by johnnye

Yes, D&D morality can't possibly work on a "one evil act make you evil forever" basis. It's the sum of everything you've done (maybe even everything you've done recently) that counts.