unsounded

16_12

Writing the script, I thought of the scenes up through this one as the prelude, setting up the characters. Next we'll get into the unravelling of things. Hang tight.

16_11

I get the feeling that it wasn't exactly a revelation when Duane outed Siya on stage. Sara's not a moron; she understands that her sister has doubts. Anyway, Jivi will have to referee once he's got the rest of his friends to safety. He doesn't trust Quigley to take proper care of Matty - he's seen too much of his idea of good parenting. And man....

16_10

If someone threw my sketchbook it would be war.

16_09

Everyone's lousy with guilt in this room. Siya is second guessing what she said to Ruffles earlier, Sara is thinking about Duane saying Siya wanted to leave, and this year's sacrificial twin can't help replaying all that the mean Aldishman said about the gods.

16_08

Quigley's spooked, and not sticking around to see how all this plays out. But he's not taking off without some insurance.

16_07

That fourth panel? Elka is considering backstabbing the zombie. Decides against it... but was reeeeal close.

I mostly didn't mind the mask on Duane at the end of last chapter, but this chapter it's really quite the cockblock. You're just dying to see what kind of expression he's wearing - what he's thinking about this sudden turn of events...

16_06

You gotta appreciate Hetr and Keon putting the General's aims aside in order to defend the country itself. They're still monsters of course, but they're principled monsters.

That's Toma in the last panel. His dialog contrasts so nicely with Hetr's bullcrap :3

16_05

I didn't notice on the web-rez but I forgot to slit Keon's disgusting hands in a few of those shots. I'll have to make some stealth edits. The Alds are being pretty conservative with Hetr's forces. They're a surprise, and aren't certain if they should waste time engaging them or focus on getting into the shrine before a larger force arrives. Doe...

16_04

Not the bug ;_;

If Nanna thinks that Inak once were gods, and Inak consider senet beasts to be the gods, is she saying that Inak once were senet beasts? That would line up with her assertion that they are older than the human world. It's quite a claim though because they're obviously nothing like senet beasts now.

16_03

Nanna is content to die in that bed spinning her stories but they're no comfort to Ruffles.

This is pretty juicy lore for anyone who's been following the mythology of this world closely. It's pretty close to the version Nanna told Duane in exchange for his Salt Lizard tale, a summary of which we only heard second hand when he went to Lady ...

16_02

The shrine's under attack!

You may recall that the headmistress banished all the shrine's two-toes underground after three young males broke into her office. Those males had been made paranoid not only by news that their people were being rounded up all over the country and put into camps, but by the sudden arrival of Crescian soldiers who...

16_01

And we're back!

The break was very productive - thanks for your patience, everyone! I was able to do some much-needed site maintenance and convert everything over to SSL, which is good for accessibility, and also do some script polishing so this chapter goes as smoothly as I can make it.

I'm pretty nervous about chapter 16! Lots of ...

Ch15 script & character scribbles

Hey there! Hope February is treating you okay. Here's the promised copy of Chapter 15's script. Going back through it, I found giant chunks of story missing because they were changes I made while drawing the comic that never got reflected in the written story. At the same time, there is a fair amount of cut dialogue and some internal character t...

15_154 and ch16 preview

I've been waiting *so many years* for this page.

Actually, that's more true of a lot of the pages I'm drawing now, for next chapter. There are a lot of revelations I've been sitting on that finally - finally! - I get to put on paper. Er, on the screen, rather. I hope you guys will dig what's coming.

But first, a hiatus so I can draw ...

15_153

Finally a well-lit shot of Litriya Shrine! This was great fun to draw, man, I'm about sick of the f*cking weather :3 The little outbuilding there are guest quarters for travelling pilgrims. Fortunately they're all attending the play in the main shrine at the moment. No casualties... yet o_o

Final page of the chapter is on Wednesday, along...

15_152

If I had to write much more dialogue underwater I would probably die. Duane and I are too loquacious for pithy subaqueous conversations delivered via magical sonar.

This is the last we'll see of Minnow for a long while. Thank you for your service, ma'am. Please watch your back around these "Love is Fear" brain-scoopin' types, they just don...

15_150&151

Two new pages today!

Originally this chapter ended with her "We're all going to die," but I decided it needed just a bit more. Three pages left!

I think Quigley finally managed to say something that breached Duane's defenses - which of course had the effect of immediately pissing him off because he distantly knows the Plat i...

15_149

Minnow is loathe to lose the life she's living now. She understands her sisters don't treat their memories with the same preciousness she does, but she still would never "kill" them without explicit permission. She's very wigged out when it comes, here.

I love Duane in the fifth panel. He's oozing villainy in spite of his self-righteousnes...

15_148

Ya know, Quigley, you could just ASK Duane to hold off on what he's doing rather than hoping he's finally distracted enough for you to manage a successful takedown.

15_147

I don't *think* the zapped lady is dead, but she's going to wake up with those awesome lightning scars that some people get after they're struck.

Do we all know the realisation that Quigley has come to in the final panel? You gotta think back a few chapters.

15_146

I saw some suspicions that the reveal would be an exercise in body horror, and they weren't too far off. Though I think the waterwomen can get away with a lot since they don't have traditionally coloured insides.

Minnow is disappointed, but not surprised.

15_145

A waterwoman can control any liquid she touches, so she can stop the flow of a man's blood if she comes in contact with even the smallest open wound. Never good to let yourself get within grabbing distance of her claws.

15_144

There is a lot happening on this page if you read between the lines - and even if you don't. Got something you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Mathis Quigley?

Everyone was expecting Duane to come in like a wrecking ball but why would he shut up such an agreeable fount of information? Though she does start editing herself when h...

15_143

I've always preferred to keep the current war between Alderode and Cresce at the periphery of this story - it's part of the setting more than part of the plot - but long ago, Quigley read a newspaper to Matty that claimed the war was started by some trespassing Crescian surveyors. A number of chapters after that, inside Uaid, Duane told Jivi tha...

15_142

Quigley, don't be so rude. She only tried to kill you and your new ragtag friends a little bit.

15_141

Elka's a dog person but she could be convinced to go to bat for cats if they're this cute. In Kasslyne the feline equivalent are either domesticated owls or kedises, which both have a different vibe entirely of course. Actual felines have been extinct for centuries, alas.

15_140

Quigley and Elka bonding over how ridiculous Duane is warms my heart.

15_139

Except for Captain Toma, Elka likes dogs more than people as a rule.

15_138

Wait what

I like the disorienting BAM! of white - it'll work best on a full consecutive read of the chapter. Where the heck are they? What the heck is ARFing at them?

15_137

I debated keeping Pantoffel with the group but I don't think Toma would be comfortable with her around all the deadly sand in the corners. One wrong move and she'll get raisin'd. Besides: Even More Danger Ahead.

We have met the voice on the intercom, but it's been a long while both outside the comic and inside it~