I knew that the vampire must be destroyed but Roy knows that as well. Part of Durkon’s ruse is that he will willingly let Roy destroy him once they can find a cleric capable of resurrecting him. Until then, it makes more sense to leave him a vampire so he can assist the party.
If Durkon was going to violently resist being destroyed then it would make no sense to help Roy set up that confrontation. Durkon has no intent of being destroyed but he must have a more subtle plan than flailing and biting.
In older D&D, by the actual race description dwarves had a 2:1 male:female birth ratio. Some stories I’ve seen have had it even higher, sort of anti-ants. Lots of males, few females.
Usually for story purposes, extra males died in wars/defense or became single minded craftsmen. One would expect a fair amount of pairing up though, even if it wasn’t in the stories.
Huh. So Durkon suspects that there’s a mysterious powerful cleric on the loose? That he’s interested in tracking down for some Hel-ish reason? Is this a new faction or someone we’ve heard of before?
I can’t figure out the puzzle. What is Durk* trying to find out from this putative powerful Cleric that the Gnomish Cleric knows, but won’t let on that he knows? Is he trying to figure out where the High Priest(s) of Odin is (are)? And how does his comment about needing Roy fit into this?
I wouldn’t have thought Redcloak and company would have passed through given that they’re travelling via the astral plane, but Hilgya is due for a reappearance at some point. Also, Hel would presumably be more in tune with dwarven clerics than those of other species. However, I’m not clear to what extent the clergies of Loki and Hel would work together (as followers of Evil deities) as opposed to being in competition.
Is there reason to believe that Hilgya would even be high enough level to cast Resurrection? I realize that vamp-Durkon doesn’t actually want that but no one is going to mention her being around if she’s not. Anyway, Durkon is at his level due to the adventure they’ve been on and Nale & Co kept up due to them being the Elan’s nemesis but Hilgya’s been out of the picture since the beginning.
Plus it sounds as though ALL of the Northern Pantheon sort of holds Hel in contempt. I mean, at least Loki has an actual clergy whereas no one follows Hel. Hel wants to “bring this world to ruin” which may not be Loki’s plan.