Chapter 3: Page 34
Some readers speculated that Dak might try to shove Quinlan into a barrel and Hobbit their way out of this one. Well, obviously the canid guards barreling toward them (wordplay!) did not allow that to happen. Anybody got the Underwater Theme from Super Mario Bros. on cue? No? Well WHY NOT?
Instead of guest art this week, I wanted to take a moment to actually break away from the page and acknowledge some absolutely incredible work by Song of the Eastern Sands artist extraordinaire Jerome Jacinto.
As you may or may not know, Jerome does a good deal of video game artwork, ranging from cards and quest-givers in Armello, to a massive amount of work in the upcoming mobile card-battler Champions of the Shengha. But one of Jerome’s largest projects by far has been handling the key art for PocketWatch Games’ upcoming strategy game: Tooth and Tail. The PWG team actually came to hire Jerome because they had noticed his incredible Redwall fan works on DeviantArt — small world, right? Without further ado, here is the cinematic trailer for Tooth and Tail!
The pitch? Redwall meets the Russian Revolution. I know, I know. It sold me, too.
For an indie game from a relatively small team, the game has evolved into a massive undertaking, with Jerome’s incredible characters literally leading the charge in this wonderful trailer that features both his key artwork and the brilliant in-game pixel artwork of Adam DeGrandis. The music is also being done by the inimitable Austin Wintory, whose Grammy award-winning score for the game Journey remains one of the best musical scores for anything in recent memory.
I highly recommend checking out the game on Steam, GoG, and PS4 when it hits in September. In the meantime, please do check out the YouTube/Twitter/FB pages for the game and support Jerome’s work where you can!
Also, I lied about the guest artwork. HOW COULD I NOT POST THIS AFTER MAKING THE BARREL COMMENT ABOVE?!?
We have some amazingly diligent members of the Salmon Party who offer up some incredible page-by-page illustrated responses to various comment threads and story theories. A couple weeks back, Jerijune caught onto the “shove Quin in a barrel and ride out of there” idea and gave us this wonderful scenario which could totally have happened in a Beyond the Western Deep adventure game! Perhaps that was one of the options available to you. Maybe it was even the smartest one! Who knows? I don’t!
All I know is that if Dak’s the one setting it up, the chances of it working flawlessly are… questionable at best.
Well it appears that Quin can’t swim. this is going to be an interesting next few pages.
Not cool Dak, not cool at all to ditch you one-handed friend who can’t swim. Luckily the Canid lifeguard is already running there to drag him up from the water!
hahaha XD
Quinlan my boy! the fact that he used dammit instead of “darnit” or any other form of such expression is sorta a bit shocking for me. But I guess due to recent events, if he WAS the type to use friendlier language, this journey will more than change his use of words for better or for worse.
Still loving that Jerome artwork popping all over the place. I keep forgetting that he totally did all that Redwall renditions whenever I google search it, those usually pop up frequently haha.
Also I’ve been loving how this whole scenario might play out thanks to Jerijune kickstarting the shenanigans I suppose. If I can add any of the possible theories that what may happen right now, then lets just hope our heroes will not “tease the octopus” or be hungry for some “seafood soup”
I’m trying to remember what other cuss word/s we’ve seen in this comic so far… it hasn’t been a lot and certainly not from Quin (I’m pretty sure?), so I guess this one counts as a Precision F-Strike.
The only other one so far was from Clovis, when he saw that one Canid trainee with sloppy form in the middle of his Caldus condolence speech
AAAAAHHHH thanks for putting my guest art up there!! and congrats to Jerome for the cool stuff he’s done! woohoo!
nice page, by the way! swimming in the water might have some risks of getting Quin’s wound infected buuuut it’s better than being tortured then executed, right? but still, dick move, Dakkan. Quin has one functioning arm and he has to doggy paddle his way out, and it’s the best scenario possible
I’m very happy to see your art on the main page, where it belongs.
Quin’s face is still priceless.
Haha! I love that Dakkan produces a hefty, man-otter SPLOSH! while all Quin can manage is a pathetic little Splish! Love this page, as usual!
Ooh, anything Redwall inspired is top hole, old chap, wot wot!
And I’m so glad that piece made it on the page! It made me laugh!
Well to be fair to Quin, in the panel where he jumps in, the “camera” is farther away from the action, causing everyone and everything, including the letters in the sound effect, to look smaller as a result.
Sooo to review- Quin is jumping into a channel that goes God knows where, fully clothed, wearing a bow and arrow and backpack and sleeping mat, with an injured shoulder, and without the ability to swim! Oh and there’s also an angry canid after him…
^(That comment wasn’t supposed to be posted in this thread. Oh well. It was bound to happen someday.)
REDWAALLLL *ahem* I mean… CANANBALLL! Oh… whelp. your doomed. Can’t swim, injured, heavy, and gaurds on the way. I agree Quin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj_wbpsE_wM (Why not?)
Hmmm . . . no barrels to keep the cold water away . . . swim fast, Quin! Oh, wait.
Well, the die has been cast, I suppose. All that’s left to do now is ride it out.
Bet you’re wishing you put some skill points in swim now, eh, Quin?
And now the Canid are onto them, so when they get out they’ll have to run . . .
I have no idea where this escape is going to fit into the grand scheme of things, but kudos to Alex and Rachel for keeping me on my toes. Great work.
Lol sorry Quin. This is just not your day. Dakkan legitimately might not know Quinlan can’t swim. If it never came up during his visits to Terria, the question might never have occurred to him. If he does know, I’m sure it just slipped his mind- Dak is more of an ‘act first, then regret it later’ person. We’ll see how this goes. Or doesn’t. There really wasn’t anything else they could do, though- even if there’s only one guard here (unlikely because we heard one guard ask someone if they “heard that”) stopping to fight them is probably very different than fighting a trio of malnourished Ermehn, not to mention that neither of our heroes are at full strength. Quin has his injury and no sword and Dak. Well, he seems to be functioning ok now but he did get to experience the brunt of Canid hospitality. That’s probably at least part of why he didn’t hesitate to take the water way out.
I love how the top half of the page especially is constructed- the symmetrical contrasting portraits and the way the water flies up to cut off Quinlan’s protest. That expression on Quin’s face when Dak jumps in reminds me of the one on Dakkan’s when Quin was shot. I’m sure it’s about as traumatic for him. As others have pointed out, the differences in onomatopoeia between the two splashes is somewhat hilarious, too.
I’m also fond of that overhead angle in the final panel. It gives us a nice view of the action, and the Canid guard. Speaking of, nice to see another lady Canid guard!
….I am curious as to why the females get chain mail shirts and the males don’t. Chain mail would have saved several guards from Hurricane Hardin during the Deltrada invasion since he stabbed at an angle under their breast plates, not to mention that it might have kept Clovis alive a bit longer.
I am very, very interested to see the next couple of pages. I’m thinking they will be at least partly underwater, and I’m sure Rachel will render them beautifully. Considering nearly half the chapter has been with these two as well, there will probably be a change of scenery soon. I’m excited for wherever these pages will lead.
There are actually quite a few lady Canid guards if you look back. I don’t think we’ve seen this one before though. The lack of colors on her face prevents her from being the Lady Canid, and I don’t remember many pure white guards.
. . . And now I’m tempted to archive binge and make a tally of both of those things. I’ll do that tomorrow, I’m going to be out most of the day today.
As for the chainmail, I’d say it protects a greater area of the body but it isn’t as effective at stopping a spear or arrow as a solid metal plate would be. Perhaps the female Canid are considered more agile and therefore the chainmail is mostly supposed to deflect glancing blows, while the males are supposed to take heavier hits better (but with a corresponding vulnerability to extremely close dagger fighting). Or perhaps it’s just an aesthetic thing to distinguish them in battle. These things don’t always have to make logical sense.
That said, Clovis could have learned a thing or two from medieval knights and worn chainmail under his plate armor . . .
^ For some reason my computer wouldn’t let me post that as one part. It was too long and the post button got cut off in my screen. I don’t know if the problem is on my end or with the site.
Those are excellent assessments, Fourth. Yeah, I know we’ve seen quite a few, but still, it’s refreshing to see background female characters with such frequency.
Too bad Clovis wasn’t wearing a mithril-coat!
Another great page! Ladyoftheshield does make a good point about armor. If BTWD is set with technology from the early middle ages, chainmail would be the go to armor.
Anyway, quick question. If the canid have this elaborate water system, do the felis or vulpin have aqueducts like Rome? VULPIN BATH HOUSE! no? Well I tried.
Also the salmon party has to do something with hurricane Hardin, I’d volunteer but it takes me weeks to complete a simple piece and I’m already working on a different erhmen. So good luck!
The Felis have concrete at this point in time, so I think it’s likely that they have aqueducts, especially considering how famous their architecture is. Not sure about Nessa, depending on how they get their water.
I was about to say that bathhouses seemed more like a Felis thing.
That’s just my opinion though.
But don’t cats not like baths? :P
Cats are quite invested in being clean, in my experience. Though they usually bathe with their tongues.
Though jaguars and tigers actually enjoy swimming, so not all cats have a hatred of being immersed in water.
It’s possible, is all I’m saying.
Judy: “Can you swim?”
Nick: “Yes, I can swim. Why?”
Quin: “Uh … I can’t swim.”
*Judy, Nick and Dak look at the Tamian aghast*
Nick: “Great. We’re dead. We’re dead. That’s it. I’m dead, you’re dead, everybody’s dead.”
(Did you really think I could resist?)
Eh, they can still drag him along for the ride . . .
Just wanted to pop in here briefly and say how impressed I’ve been with Rachel’s visual storytelling this chapter. There have been a few subtler moments in previous pages that I think were well done, but I especially like the splash coming into Quin’s voice bubble to interrupt him on this page. Good touch.
Agreed, the first panel is a real treat how it combines visual elements with narrative.
Well I tell you, you got my hopes up that Tooth and Tail was already out. Looks super cool!
Holy moley, the armello artwork? Seriously I love that art. Its so expressive and amazingly detailed! I had no idea, consider me stunned.
At first glance, Dak and Quin seem to make very similar expressions before they each take the plunge, but if you look more closely, Dak is more resolute, and Quin, well, his choice of accompanying language conveys what he’s feeling.
Quinlan has done well to hold on to that one arrow through all this.
Hope his bowstring is made of something waterproof or he won’t be shooting anything after his swim, injured arm or no.