2.7.29
on May 27, 2026
at 3:00 am
the last few times they did this “spin around and shoot” thing it was a lot less impressive. mostly just startling wild animals and in one case a completely unrelated paladin squad
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
*accidentally kills three paladins*
perfect
Aww, it’s okay. They were unrelated.
The time he killed his cousin was awkward, but his cousin was a jerk, so it worked out.
They were unprepared for the task
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: multishot doesn’t actually work in real archery but I think if you magically make the arrows out of hard light it should be allowed
Image source: ambush
Tumblr text: whoosh!
Bluesky text: meanwhile…
Yeah, sadly arrows have “Collision,” laws of physics are annoying like that.
Multishot on a bow? At least try to disguise it as a crossbow you hacker.
Through the magic of quantum physics, the single arrow takes 3 separate paths simultaneously, with each path having equal probability. Oddly enough, all hit targets take the same damage as if a single arrow were fired. No one knows why.
I’m not sure if this guy understands what it means to “have somebody cornered,” because “being taken supposed by and attacked in an ambush by somebody” is generally not considered the same thing.
*suprised, not “supposed”
Context is important. “Our enemy is a coward and an opportunist”
If a coward attacks you, that means they’ve run out of other options, i.e., are cornered.
If a coward attacks you, it might be a case of mistaken identity. Of either party.
These guys have lot of nerve – seeing that they tried to ambush Erin.
I have been getting quite attached to the anxious Paladin Caleds, actually xD
whoa there paladin leader, even if you were anywhere close to right, WE (and Tess) are the ONLY ones allowed to talk about Erin like that
And Walter. Can’t forget Walter.
Hey! Was that Falst’s tail I saw in panel 5?
Oh man, I can’t believe that I completely missed Falst’s tail in panel 5! XD
I did too! I was kind of hoping the arrows would just *tink* off Tess :p
If falst gets scratches im coming for them i swear-
CATCH THE ARROWS FALST! Honestly, if being able to hold hard light constructs without hurting himself is as far as his power gets for now, it still makes him an utter [BLEEP] to fight, because the paladins won’t be used to it, AND, its their only form of weaponry. This took a lot of words to essentially say kick their asses Falst!
Main not only, sorry
Remember kids, shooting into the dark at an unseen target is always a good idea
Episode 6, They All Get Guns /ref
Now that there’s no one (from the floof gang) to see him do it, Falst can use his Light powers against proper paladins! I hope. Since the paladins showed up I’ve really wanted to see him negate one of their attacks or something and then seeing their reactions. It’s probably our only chance for a while at getting a real paladin to explain what it means for somebody to have Light powers without being a member.
I’m not sure they’ll be in a teaching mood. I’d expect that conversation to come later, perhaps when Theia and Shrike catch up to them.
As far as we know, Falst has no idea how his mysterious powers work, so he’s not going to try and use them in this sort of situation when his normal fighting style works just fine.
A cult of white, blue, and silver wearing warriors using hard light arrows to purge all they deem monsters?
Close enough, welcome back Bleach’s Quincies!
Two Paladin Caleds lost in their own arguments, the Glacial Drakes ignoring protocol for their own amusement, now friction between a Caled and their Recten over a pretty minor remark. The Paladin army, while still dangerous and monolithic, is looking a lot less unified and disciplined with each page.
I can guess that Tam and Stefan don’t see eye-to-eye, but this makes me wonder how much the fiction among the rank and file could grow. They know the squad’s members are incredibly powerful and can grievously harm even their strongest; if they manage to escape while keeping casualties to a minimum, more Paladins may start to question why the Dark Avatar and his allies are pulling their punches.
A rather cool turnaround and fire shot by the Recten towards a sneaky Falst; certainly and improvement over the last one’s deforestation whip. However, it is an ultimately doomed manoeuvre because:
a) If they don’t hit Falst and he remains hidden, they’re going to look rather silly and skittish in front of their troops.
b) If they don’t hit Falst but expose where he is, they just fumbled his capture and/or could have followed him to the others.
and c) If they do hit Falst, then may the Light Dragon have mercy on their soul when the squad finds out; just ask the Caled who tried to “thin their numbers” in 2-6-26.
Coward? No. Opportunist? Absolutely.
The moment I saw that bow, I thought: “PLEASE, ARROWS OF LIGHT, PLEASE”
However, as cool as that is, this Recten is the worst so far. These Paladins are increasingly becoming an ideological cocktail of Muscular Christianity (real thing) and Toxic Masculinity. Like, they’re just awful people. More and more I find myself thinking: “Oh, they’re actually Lawful Neutral, not Neutral Good.” It’s almost like Red is trying to criticise military organisations. That can’t be right though.
…No? Because he’s not an idiot?
I can see that getting promoted to Recten seems to involve a fair bit zealotry…or is that just a bonus feature that comes with the rank?
I would think that in order to get pretty much any rank and start handing out orders, they would need to be fairly deep. The curve of zealotry in basically any organization tends to make an interesting backwards-n shape. You need a baseline belief to join up in the first place, then more and more zealous as you climb in rank, then your zealotry drops dramatically (to below-baseline levels) when you get into the upper echelons, and finally it soars to new, stable heights in the inner circle.
Y’know it just occurred to me that, narratively, the paladin threat will have to be resolved by the time the squad gets back together, just because it’s going to be hard to raise their threat level beyond “the lord personally brings dozens of dragons and an army to capture 5 or 6 people who just recently survived a shipwreck.” It would be like if ATLA started at the south pole with Ozai personally commanding the north pole armada.
Man who spins around to fire his arrows dramatically into the woods is a fool every time except one
SKIDS INTO HERE PANTING HEAVILY OH GOLLY ITS FALST!!!! WATCH OUT!
If they all do that kind of thing on the regular, it makes me think they should issue the Paladins orange high vis vests, so they don’t shoot each other.
The Paladin’s technique reminds me of the hunting technique described by Tom Lehrer:
People ask me how I do it, and I say, “There’s nothing to it
You just stand there looking cute
And when something moves, you shoot”
And there’s ten stuffed heads in my trophy room right now
Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a pure-bred Guernsey cow
*Reads the alt text*
*Remembers watching Blumineck fire three arrows at once and hit the targets with all of them despite the weakened power*
Red, you use all the multishot you want. It’s absolutely dope. No complaints here.
The sheer arrogance on display here is quite something. “Pray for an ambush because it means we have him cornered?” Really, Recten? You *vastly* underestimate the damage the squad could do with an ambush, and the ease with which they could slip away from a well-chosen location afterwards. It reminds me of the paladin Recten on page 2.6.20 that said Kendal couldn’t break through the Lady’s shields. Couldn’t, or wouldn’t? There is a very big difference here, and if these fools ever do drive the squad to use lethal force, they are in for an absolute nightmare of a time.
Quite the display of zealotry and arrogance by this Recten, as others have noted. Crossing my fingers that Falst dodged damage here. He’s been through heck and I’m worried about the guy.