At least level 14 per the Class & Level Geekery thread.
I’m not asking about Durkon, per se. I’m asking about Hel’s high priest, who’s occupying him.
Does he get all Durkon’s levels?
Did Durkon lose a level for being killed and raised?
According to the rules, characters keep all of their levels when they’re vamped. OTOH, the concept of vampires being completely separate characters (instead of evil versions of the original character) is, IMHO, original to Rick, so who knows?
He hasn’t been raised - he’s still dead.
Rich is following all of the D&D rules for vampires. The rules never actually state that the vampire is a new entity, but they never actually state that it isn’t, either, and Rich’s interpretation clears up some philosophical problems. And a D&D vampire has access to all of the original’s memories and class abilities, which we’ve already seen demonstrated in the strip.
Also, the rules never say that a vampire can’t be on your basketball team.
True. But a dwarf?
He’s better be a high percentage free throw shooter, that’s all I have to say about it.
Air Blood.
It might be a good time to review Durkon’s prophesy, from On the Origin of PCs. [INDENT]You have a young cleric named Durkon Thundershield in your temple. When next he returns home, he will bring death and destruction for us all. [/INDENT] “Us all” includes the Durkon’s dwarfen community, but might also refer to the entire Northern lands. Durkon has checked off one box, bringing death to the Northern Lands in the form of the High Priest of Hel. Unfortunately I don’t think there is a diety of destruction such as Shiva, so that part of the prophesy probably lacks a loophole.
Well, vampire clerics get access to the Destruction domain… but that’s probably not it.
In fact, the High Priest of Hel’s domains are probably exactly those two, Death and Destruction. Vampire clerics have two of Chaos, Evil, Death, and Destruction. The vampire is probably still Lawful, like Malack was, and so Chaos isn’t an option. He might have Evil, but probably not, if he’s trying to maintain his masquerade. And Death and Destruction both fit Hel (and Nerull) pretty well.
As an aside, the Dark One also grants the Destruction domain, as evidenced by Redcloak casting Disintegrate and Implosion.
Well that’s it then. Prophesy fulfilled.
Which is not to say that anyone in the Northern Lands is necessarily safe from Durkevil. Hel’s plot involves wiping the smirk off of Thor’s mug, which I suppose is understandable from a certain perspective. Now excuse me while I check the lightning rods on my house. 
Hey, everyone! Durkon’s staff is conveniently not next to him! 
Noticed that. It seems rather significantly placed. I wonder if Belkar maybe did something to it or switched it with a look-alike from a bag of holding between panels?
I also wonder if there might be some repercussions on Durkula from the Earth Elementals that he didn’t foresee? Like because they’re standing on stone or within the temple.
I have no idea if it’s relevant or not but there was countless speculation about the placement of the same staff when Malack was fighting Durkon. Which, of course, turned out to be entirely misguided speculation.
You know, if this is like most religious meetings I’ve been to, I’m pretty sure they’d at least have been serving bagels, drinks, and tuna hot dish. I guess sometimes though, you just can’t wait for the coffee break.
Don’t forget about the green jello with bits of things floating in it.
Always stay away from Jell-O in D&D settings. You can never be sure if it’ll try to eat you back.
So? Is it just a staff, or does it have a magical/clerical function?