Elan donates blood to "Durkon", and Durkon remembers happier times in his youth.
Cast
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield (also as vampire) ◀ ▶
- "Durkon" ◀ ▶
- Sigdi Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Hoskin ▶
- Thirden ▶
- Kandro ▶
- Shirra ▶
- Durkon's Aunt ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
"Durkon": An’ then ‘e just jumped o’erboard, like ‘e was tryin’ to kill ‘imself. Ask tha crew, they all saw.
Roy: Ugh. This is like when he tried to get Miko to kill him, just to get her in trouble.
Elan: There you are! Guess what time it is?
- Panel 2
Roy: Time for me to reply to your rhetorical prompt with a sarcastic quip?
Elan: Well, yeah, but also: It’s time for my first turn donating blood for Durkon!
Elan: I’m super-excited! We all agreed to let him drink from us each day in exchange for an immediate healing spell afterward that returns us to full strength.
- Panel 3
Roy: I know all about it Elan. It was my idea, and I did it yesterday.
Elan: Roy, you should really know how recapping plot points using dialogue at the start of a new book works by now.
Roy: Yes, I know. I was actually helping you do so by mentioning—Ah, forget it.
- Panel 4
Elan plays his lute, "♪♪♪"
Elan: Ok, Durkon: Chomp away!
"Durkon": Why’re ye playin’ yer lute?
Elan: I thought some nice dinner music might class it up a bit.
- Panel 5
Elan: This is an old dwarven song about—OWW!!
"Durkon": Grrrrrrawr!
- Panel 6
In Durkon's head, a memory is recalled of young Durkon with his mother and her friends playing music and drinking ale. Thirden plays a lute, "♪♪♪"
Durkon: Play another song, Unca Squeaky!
Kandro: Yeah, Thirden—how ‘boot tha one where Freya gets ‘er necklace from us dwarves?
Thirden: Let’s save that one for after tha wee one goes ta bed, aye?
Female Dwarf: How ‘boot Thor Against tha Frost Trolls?
- Panel 7
"Durkon": All done, lad.
Elan: Whoa…I fell really super lightheaded.
Elan: Except I think my head is pretty dark inside, so I guess I feel darkheaded.
- Panel 8
"Durkon": Restoration!
Elan: Wow, now my head has the exact right level of lighting!
- Panel 9
Elan: So, how long until my strange quasi-vampiric powers kick in?
"Durkon": Uh, they dinnae. Na unless I drain ye all tha way.
- Panel 10
Elan: Huh. Do we at least share a mystical blood bond that draws me into a mesmerizing web of erotic subtext?
"Durkon": Na.
Elan: Man, real vampires are way less interesting than fictional ones.
D&D Context
- Restoration dispels negative level and cures ability damage. The latter is the effect of a D&D vampire's blood drain attack.
Trivia
- The song that Kandra suggests about Freya and her necklace refers to the Norse myth of Brísingamen, attested in the 10th century epic Beowulf, and the story of which is told more fully in the Poetic and Prose Eddas of Snorri Sturluson. The origin of the Necklace of the Brisings is told in Sörla þáttr, a part of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason. The legend states that the necklace was made by four dwarves, Álfrigg, Dvalinn, Berlingr and Grérr. They only agreed to sell it to her if she would spend one night with each of the dwarves. (Note that Kandro winks when he suggests the song, and Thirden's response.) J.R.R. Tolkien borrowed the name Dvalinn (Dwalin) for one of the dwarves in his classic 1937 novel, The Hobbit.
- There are numerous folktales of Thor scaring away trolls, so the second song suggestion is more ambiguous.
- This is the first appearance of Sigdi's friends, Hoskin, Thirden (aka "Squeeky"), Kandro, Shirra, and Durkon's Aunt. Although Durkon refers to Thirden as "Uncle", none of them are actually Durkon's biological relatives, a fact which is revealed in #991. Durkon's Aunt refers to "Cousin Durkon" when speaking to her son in #962, so "Aunt" is just a convenient title for her since no name for this character has been given.