Let’s not hang this whole thing on Roy - the rest of the Order is fooled, too. The fact that only Belkar has a problem with this would, under most circumstances, be further evidence that they’re doing the right thing.
…and Roy is actually correct: Durkevil is fixing the problem.
Recall though that V and the ship’s cleric are just offscreen at the moment. V is thinking before s/he acts now, and has the intelligence to consider Belkar’s outburst (he’s going at it with daggers, not stakes after all) with some care, as well as other possibilities. Frankly, the idea that Durkon is trapped inside Durkevil would require some imagination: the simpler hypothesis is that Durkon is merely infused with bad mojo. Still given recent character growth methinks Durkevil is in a tight bind, still worse because the memories of Durkon and his own inexperience cause Durkevil to underestimate his adversaries.
Though Vampires are tough to fight or kill.
Sure, but at this point we don’t really have confirmation that Thor is even aware that Hel has committed Grand Theft Cleric, and he doesn’t strike me as the most detail-oriented god. We know Durkon *assumes *the magic storm is his god’s work, but then again it’s not like the Order is short on enemies. Redcloak could Control Weather easy-peasy, f’r’instance.
Or it could simply be the dwarves themselves, defending their airspace from unannounced foreign invasion. Julio Scoundrèl wreaked dashing havoc up there in the past for all we know 
True, Thor can be pretty clueless at time - but I think his Devas are on top of things, and alerting him that one of his highest level clerics just got poached by his least favorite goddess would catch his attention.
Then again, the Order is on Scoundrel’s ship, and he’s basically persona non grata in any lawful region.
Seems that if Thor were a PC, he’d just send a Valkyrie or two to let the order know about it.
But he’s not a PC, he’s an NPC, and if Durkevil is revealed to early that’ll be no fun. He’s got to get a chance to betray the Order at least once before he bites it.
Ahem. That’s “Scoundrél.”
Fair point. And he did somehow notice a disturbance in the Force back when Durkon and Ylgia had their “moment”.
I saw what you did there; don’t think I didn’t.
Y’know, it just occurred to me that everybody is on Durkula’s rations rotation (to coin a phrase), and when Belkar’s turn comes around, there could be a “tragic miscalculation” on how much exsanguination a halfling’s Con is prepared to handle.
Roy is already prepared to take that in stride…
Belkar’s admonition is the latest strip is so true. There’s been so many times that clerics & druids are unable to anticipate the predicament in which the party will find themselves that day. So many spells are useless for general situations, they’re usually not worth preparing. But every once in a while, lightning will strike and the cleric looks like a chump for not having the “class feature” prepped.
Belkar never agreed to be fed upon. Neither did V for that matter (though that was through absence).
I can’t imagine that Roy (or Hayley or Elan) being fed upon won’t be an issue later on. Perhaps the first real confrontation with Durkon will comes when he keeps draining one of them (“Uh, Durkon, shouldn’t you be stopping…?”)
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0955.html
New page. first? finally?
Congrats.
Former Master Thundershield?
Is this vampire thing normal for D&D?
I mean, that a vampire is literally a new mind, an entirely separate beastie from the host, that literally confines the old consciousness?
Random thing I noticed: V used to have a gold circlet until he did the whole soul splice thing. Then V’d robe’s turned all evil black and circlet was gone for flowing evil hair. After the splice was dispelled, V was immediately back in the old red robes but the circlet never returned and V went to a pony tail. Just seemed odd that the circlet would go away when the robes reverted to normal. I like the pony tail better anyway.
There’s no D&D rules for the exact state of the soul or psyche when changed into a vampire. I’d say it’s not “normal” in that I doubt many campaigns run it this way but it’s not counter to the rules either.
I’d like to say that I think V’s Plan C for protecting the ship from lightning is clever. It’s a good thing that having a familiar no longer slips his mind.
Heh, the internet seems to be of the opinion that walls of force have to be vertical and that it’s a bit unbelievable that V could create a shield in the instant between when the lightning forms and when it strikes.
I say, at this point, why not just cast Protection from Electricity on the ship.
Can’t be cast on objects.