Chapter 3: Page 32
What’s that old saying about rivers? They always come from somewhere and go somewhere else? They flow in one direction? They… um… they’ll get you wet, I guess? I don’t know where I was going with that one. All I know is, way back when, when I first wrote up this sequence, I had a very specific idea for what this room should look like and I kinda knew it would be tricky to pull off without me taking some architectural studies classes. BUT, as Rachel tends to do, she nailed it in like two passes. It blew my mind — and I’m incredibly happy with the result.
Speaking of happiness, did you know that Armello on Steam/PC/Mac is currently on sale for 40% off? For those who haven’t been around the last bunch of times I mentioned it, I worked on the quests for this wonderful “animals with swords” digital board game, as well as a number of prose novellas based on its incredibly deep lore that will be released sometime soon!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/290340/Armello/
I highly recommend checking it out where possible!
This week for guest art, another great piece from RM Fung, this one a little sadder and more dramatic than the others. I’ll let him explain:
“This picture proposes a darker alternate conclusion to the end of Chapter 2. It answers the question of ‘what if Quin didn’t survive the shot?’ Here, Dak is holding Quin, seizing the last vestiges of comfort and sanity for himself since the jarring events just spurred by his father.”
Grim, right? But he quickly follows that up: “If that’s too much for you, you can just take it as Dak having a little more extra time to spend with Quin before they’re split up by Canid soldiers. (as canon dictates)”
I think I’ll take it as the latter, RM! Though admittedly, Quin and Dak have been put through the ringer quite a bit.
Thank you so much for the artwork, RM! The ending of chapter 2 was an incredibly intense sequence that Rachel and I are both very proud of, and we’re glad to see it having a lasting effect on readers! :)
nice page! this might just be speculation, but an escape through the river, eh? water is a Lutren’s best friend, but what about Quin? is he a good swimmer?
love the guest art, by the way! good job!
Maybe this’ll be more like the Hobbit, when Bilbo smuggles the dwarves out in barrels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7tOq9aD63U
Only time will tell.
http://jeri-june.tumblr.com/post/162468324900/tdcpresents-kobbers-hobbit-references-were-made
oops, my hand slipped
This is too perfect! You’re the best, Jerijune.
Fantastic! Quinlan’s expression brings me joy.
Wow, that was fast! Incredibly done!
Awesome! I’m glad to see Dakkan has a staff again! And that they both have this tantalizing chance of escape, reminiscent of Bilbo’s escape from Mirkwood.
I’m not an artist, but I think I’m beginning to understand some of the challenges, and how very talented Miss Rachel is (that is, I already knew she’s amazing, but I’m realizing how much). All the little details that she has to remember to even input, every week: Remembering Quin’s missing ear tuft, and which side, exactly what they’re wearing, how much gear they have, and then there’s the architecture and landscapes! Incredible!
Also, for fan-art, that truly is a heart-wrenching piece! And that’s a good thing! As a writer, I know how important it is to try to connect emotionally with a reader. But with a picture, you only have one image with which to convey an entire story, or situation. You do an amazing job! I really felt a stir in my heart (though I also had to imagine the latter scenario). I love the rain especially!
Thank you so much for creating this world! I so look forward to visiting it every week!
Let me just say how much I love the intense reddish lighting here. It really adds to the whole “you’re not safe” situation that’s going on without the need of guards or other soldiers around the area.
And wouldnt it suck if Quin just upped and died back then huh. Nevertheless I like Fung’s art piece here and how heartbreaking it is to see Dakkan clinging to the people he loves. You did such a great job!
Of course Dakkan knows the difference between rain sounds and river sounds.
Oh, and the design is very nice, Alex. You and Rachel should be proud.
Huh, I would have sworn his staff was snapped in the last two pages, but it looks full length here. Aw well.
Already I can tell Quin is in for a bad time. Can he even swim? Even if that’s a yes, his shoulder is going to complicate this. Fourth beat me to the Hobbit reference, lol although to be honest shutting Quin in a barrel and having Dak take to the water isn’t an awful plan- Dak can handle himself just fine in the water. Of course, that’s assuming there’s no pike in the water. Which I’m pretty sure there are once you hit the river. If the water here comes from a spring I guess it leads to a river eventually? And then there’s the small issue of the fact that it looks like the barrels are just a tad small for Quin. oh well. Either way, we’ll see! And I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this but I love Dakkan’s unique way of phrasing things- “regular drippy sounds” sounds like a great skype tag.
I’m also giving a quick shoutout to that smear of blood we can see on Dakkan’s face in panel three. it’s a small, small detail that would be justifiable to skip but Rachel your attention to detail really makes this comic a joy to read. And reread. And reread. And every time I catch things I’d missed. Then there’s the doorway in panel one. that could have been swapped out for a wall but it really helps sell the layout and tie everything together. Excellent job!
I second the Armello rec- it’s a lot of fun, and the world is very immersive, both graphics and lore wise. Yess to those novellas, I’ve been looking forward to those for sometime!
RM, your shading looks great! I’ve said multiple times that I don’t think both Dakkan and Quinlan are gonna make it out alive, so forgive me for calling your work “prophetic” (disclaimer: while I do think Quin’s more likely to die, I don’t think it’s that much higher than Dakkan’s. Although I’ve been wrong about a lot of things before, so haa)
Also as a note, I’ll probably be down and out for the next six updates. Going abroad and I have no idea what the internet situation will be like.)
Nah, that was just a broken Canid spear sharing the barrel with it. The staff is fine. X)
Ah, ok- I guess it’s the angle its being held on in the third panel on page 31, then because to me it looked like it stopped at about Quin’s shoulder. my bad.
I really don’t think that they’ll die. Or that Janik will, for that manner. Because they’re all the young protagonists. But I think there’s a very good chance that Kenosh will die. And an excellent one that Hardin will, as a sort of tragic hero (from the ermehns’ point of view, if no one else’s).
I love the composition in the last panel, great sense of depth!
Really like the lighting, especially with how it transitions from shadow to a torch indicating a new room.
So there’s gonna be some underwater escape action through that canal? I suppose that’s one way to sneak out, if not through the not-yet-invented vents. I take it that the dungeon the duo are exploring is somewhere in one of the 2 mountains sandwiching Deltrada? It might explain the running water coming out of a dark hole.
Though I do wonder how Dakkan got a whole staff. I thought his was already snapped in half.
Guest art looks emotionally painful, but I guess I’m a masochist, because it’s a really good piece regardless. I’d go with the second option, though I do wonder what would happen if it were the first. Would it be a plot twist where Dak is the actual hero & Quin is the decoy?
I think it’s less of a ‘canal’ and more of a ‘sewer’…
Yeah, that was my impression: They’re basically flushing themselves to freedom. Here’s hoping that no canid show up shortly after Quin and Dak leave, because even if they don’t suspect anything, there will still be something coming up behind our heroes that they don’t want chasing them.
(Er, not to imply that this looks like a toilet, but not knowing its actual purpose, it strikes me as a good place to empty the chamber pot. Also, I’m not sure if I’m kidding.)
Call me crazy but I thought i read something about how this served as a water source in the commentary. Wow, serves me right for staying up till three am. (no regrets)
Anyway, this room definitely has a specific purpose due to the care and detail taken to render the layout. The gears and pulleys (not the right words) indicate movement of something. The question is, of course: what? Not the gate. The only other thing I can think of is a mill, which again, that’s unlikely.
…Maybe something to do with Lake Felnach or defense against the Ermehn? We know the Canid fiercely guard their waterways. Either way, we’ll find out soon enough.
I thought of a mill of some kind as well: Those…winches?…almost look like waterwheels, but are mounted in the wrong place and are wider than the gap in the floor. But I’m not sure what they’d pull out of there.
Fishing net, maybe? If that’s just a regular river thy built the garrison over, maybe there’s a net down there and they just pull it up whenever they need some protein. Probably not, for a few reasons. It’d be tricky to have it there but not have it constantly getting clogged with fish. (Possible, but that might be a level of mechanical sophistication beyond what I’d expect from the canid in a garrison in the middle of nowhere.) Also, I’d expect rope rather than chain, and besides, the chain at the farther winch doesn’t extend into the hole at all.
Scary thought: What if they hang cages down there, and this is some kind of water torture? The hole still seems a little narrow for that but it’s not entirely unfeasible. I don’t think they’d have storage barrels in their torture chamber, though.
There’s always the possibility that the hole is just for the chains, not for whatever they raise/lower. That is, the winches are operated from here but they only have to raise their payloads to a lower floor. (Seems a little inefficient, but probably easier to implement than a pulley system. Again, I don’t expect a lot of fancy machinery in this environment.)
Oh well. Speculation is fun but I guess we’ll just have to wait for the next page.
Let’s hope it’s CLEAN water, what with poor Quin’s shoulder.
(Random thought — are multiple births common with Quin’s people, like irl squirrels? And in that case, is he number five? Or maybe just has four older siblings?)
Squirrel litter sizes range from about one to five. I’m pretty sure Quin is an only child- otherwise, Caldus would have had other grandchildren to whip into the Ideal Tamian Captain.
Also, Quinlan’s name doesn’t relate to the number five- it was taken from the graphic novel “Road to Perdtion” (https://westerndeep.net/comic/chapter-1-page-20/#comment-761) Furthermore, the name Quinlan itself is from Gaelic, not Latin. According to Behind the Name, Quinlan is derived from Ó Caoinlean meaning “descendant of Caoinlean”, the latter of which means “slender” in Gaelic.
Gotcha! That’s what I get for my lazy folk etymology. :p
Oh. nice. Water.
.
.
A.K.A. ESCAPE!!!
“Can you swim?” “Yes, I can swim. Why?”
Will I pass up any opportunity to insert a “Zootopia” reference into the Salmon Party proceedings? No, no I will not.
I approve and shall join you in your quest.
Hi, i know this is an old page and i usually just comment on newer stuff ( that’s if i ever comment at all), but i need to say that this page looks amazing, i love the lighting effect along with the fact that every single stone was drawn in the background/ foreground, also the water reflection and sense of depth are nice details too.
Overall rachel did a great job here, congrats for her!
Well swim out to freedom figure the rest out