If I tried to carry my cat like that, even if she was asleep, I’d need metal skin.
Ah, deus ex melona, when a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved using a large influx of melons. A classic trope artfully done. (I guess Alinua would have preferred a tree but beggars can’t be choosers)
Well Shrike’s smile is gone but she’s still keeping her cool and giving sensible orders to her hunters. She still has a better grasp of the city than those three and probably thinks of Alinua as just an especially powerful life mage.
They’re still in danger but no one was captured so the Arenamaster cannot use one of them as leverage. Even if he has Zuurith’s permission to make Dainix and Kendal fight he has no means of making Kendal fight seriously.
Next week prediction: The gang will make a b-line to the embassy seeing as the hunters and guards know the streets. Erin will come back with a smile on his face over his successful research, only for it to drop when he sees a frantic Alinua, a very drowsy Falst and a strange metal woman who seems unusually happy to see him.
Quite a dramatic way to adopt a new crew member… meanwhile, Dainix and Kendal peacefully try to avoid bashing each other’s brains and Erin is blissfully unaware as he goes a-reading through the archives. I expect a mighty crash as they all run into one another on some city crossroads, Shrike’s ass getting thoroughly kicked, and a spectacular escape from Zuurith.
When I went from reading the comic, where you had the characters talking about “the elf”, to reading reading your comment about the melons, my initial thought was “Since when does Red talk that way about her characters?”
The last panel kinda looks like the three of them threw a baller party and then the cops showed up, and now they’re running accept for falst who’s waaaaaaay too drunk
Now this is a fun page. I couldn’t really see before what Alinua did, but this is impressive. Even Shrike is impressed- and possibly wondering if this job might be a bit above her pay grade.
Alinua: And Falst said buying melons was a waste of time and money!
Tess: Does carrying your unconscious friend make me a part of your group now?
I have a feeling we’re going to cut to either the prison bros or Erin next week. While we could easily continue on from this point with these three, I feel that now they’ve escaped Shrike (for now) it’s a good time to see how everyone else is doing. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see.
This reminds me of episode 2 of The Last Airbender.
Zuko: “Dig the ship out and follow them!”
*cuts to soldiers freeing other soldiers from ice*
Zuko: “…As soon as you’re done with that.”
Evil Tree:
Just… Kendal and Dainix are thrown into the arena, realize they have to fight each other, and either 1: have a friendly sparring match where neither of them use harmful force, or 2: sit down in the sand and have a nice little philosophical chat. The arenamaster would flip his shit.
Alinua’s melons become even more impressive when you realize that Shrike had seven other people with her and now all but two are in the spontaneous mini jungle.
Yeah, plant wall! *looks closer* Oh shoot, there’s people in there, hope somebody get’s them out safe
Also, to anyone who was here before the flood of new readers, can your repost a link to how to embolden/italicize comments?
Note that Falst saved them all by breaking the pellets and inhaling all the powder. It was enough to knock him totally and immediately out, so it definitely would have slowed them all down if it had been shared among them all.
@That One Trilobite wouldn’t “Melon ex Primordial” More correct? Because to my knowledge “Deus ex Machina” means “god from a mahine”, so what you’ve said (written) would mean ” god from a melon”, and that makes a bit less sense.
Humanoid Clay:
Let’s hope this explanation will show up properly…
(Asterisks included below for demonstrational purposes only; omit them when actually executing these HTML commands)
For italics: insert passage here
For bold letters: insert passage here
Can the Floof Squad get away? Did Alinua just flood the local produce market with a previously expensive item, destroying the deus-ex melon’s value? Has Tess finally made her official entrance as a party member? Will Shrike be able to trace them back to Erin and Kendal? Will Zuurith himself intervene after a disturbance like that? How long will it take for Falst to wake from that Temptations cat treat-induced slumber?
@CaptainCutlet But what if that melon WAS a god? Maybe the spontaneous generation all those melons produced sufficient energy for a melon god to just pop into existence.
Wait…I had a thought. If gods can have their attributes changed by changes in their territory or how they’re perceived, could you, if you made enough melons in Zuurith, turn Zuurith into a melon god?
Wait…I just had a thought. If the attributes of gods can be changed by changes in their environment or people’s perception of them, then, if you created enough melons in Zuurith, so many that people started associating the city with melons, could you turn Zuurith into a melon god?
@TheUnknownGame: I’m predicting scenario 1, Dainix wants to train against strong opponents and Kendal wouldn’t want to rock the boat unnecessarily. Plus Dainix could even teach Kendal a thing or two. Then again maybe openly defying the arenamaster with some impetus from Kendal is part of Caliban’s and Tahraim’s plan for Dainix to regain his agency.
@CaptainCutlet: No, I think ‘god from a melon’ was pretty good. We know it doesn’t make sense. English is like that. :-/
Plus, while Melon Ex Primordial is more accurate, it loses the connection to Deus Ex Machina a bit from replacing more words, so people won’t get the connection.
@toby lonelytuatara
SHOOT YOURE RIGHT. While that could be a coincidence, the guy looks *remarkably* like Kendal, complete with the purple cape theyre all wearing. The orange-haired dude next to him doesnt really look like Dainix, but maybe its a friend they picked up on their way out.
Everyone (me included) have been gearing up for a prison break, but what if something happened in the meantime and they just broke out? I know its unlikely, given the timeframe and complete lack of any hints, but we have been in a chase scene for a few pages, so something might have happened in the Plot that neither Shrike not Ali/Falst/Tess realize?
Lol, love the melons in the giant wall of plants! Also, just want to say that Shrike is a great antagonist and, as an ecologist, I love the reference to a somewhat obscure but very cool bird!
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but when I see “the arena won’t want her” I see “but she could be useful to me”. Bounty hunter Alinua ain’t happenin’, but Shrike can try.
red, i don’t know if this idea has already been suggested, and i don’t know how many of you reading this have read the “extra lore” page titled “ferin”. but after reading the part about people being scared that ferin might one day out-populate the elder races, i had a thought; what if you do another story set in this universe, but in the distant future. a future where most civilizations are mostly made up of ferin, and mages are a very rare sight, rather than an every day appearance like they are now, and maybe your protagonist could be one of the last remaining elven (or human) mages in the world. or they could be a ferin looking for a specific type of mage for dire purposes, like for example: they’re looking for a life mage to help cure a world leader, or close loved one. (and also maybe for some extra spice and fan-service, you could talk about some legends of these guys and what they did, you know, jus for fun) anyway, hope you like that idea, and if any of you guys reading this like the idea, comment on it to let red know!
Gotta love the single-word declaration, accompanied by glowing eyes, that unleashes a frightening amount of power with ease like that.
Alinua continues to impress with how powerful she is. I hope we get to see more of her deciding enough is enough, and just unleashing hell (or “Life” if you prefer) on everything around her.
If you see weird green dust coming off of a weird plant of unknown provenance, that is a BAD TIME to remove your facemask. Is it story-important that Shrike neglects facemask safety? Absolutely not. But if any of you go into biology it could save your real, actual lungs.
To llepayeargirl96
It’s a good start, but that idea does have one big problem. It’d feel to same-y. We already have a world where X is rare and Y is common. I think if she wrote a future where the main character is a mage livin like a ferin of the past it would just be a re-skin. However that idea of a ferin seekin out a mage is cool
Kendal and Alliuna shipper and Erin x Falst shipper
I agree with lleapyeargirl96 it’d be a very cool idea and go Aluina go girl! Aluina ain’t gonna be a bounty hunter Shrike’s being delusinal .
prison breeeeeeeak!
@coconut, I didn’t mean that mages would be feared and neglected like ferin are now, I meant more along the lines of, mages are rare now, but still very respected and kind of treated like the elemental magus is at this time
My cliffhangers, as well as any other comments I’ve sent, have not been posting for the next two pages. Does anyone know why this might be happening? I am getting increasingly frustrated with this issue and would rather not bother Red if I don’t have to.
William Shakespeare's half cousin three times removed
Translated: you can (try to) kill her for all I care.
Well well well, me thinks Shrike was impressed by the deus ex melon.
I just noticed in the last panel there are two people in the background who look quite a lot like Kendal and Dainix. Weird.
its their stunt doubles. they have the day off
run guys run
shoutout to the person in the lower right corner of the last panel who’s had their bean absolutely freaked by this turn of events
A good villain is one that can appreciate how powerful the heroes are.
A good villain is one that can approacte how powerful the heroes are.
If I tried to carry my cat like that, even if she was asleep, I’d need metal skin.
Ah, deus ex melona, when a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved using a large influx of melons. A classic trope artfully done. (I guess Alinua would have preferred a tree but beggars can’t be choosers)
Well Shrike’s smile is gone but she’s still keeping her cool and giving sensible orders to her hunters. She still has a better grasp of the city than those three and probably thinks of Alinua as just an especially powerful life mage.
They’re still in danger but no one was captured so the Arenamaster cannot use one of them as leverage. Even if he has Zuurith’s permission to make Dainix and Kendal fight he has no means of making Kendal fight seriously.
Next week prediction: The gang will make a b-line to the embassy seeing as the hunters and guards know the streets. Erin will come back with a smile on his face over his successful research, only for it to drop when he sees a frantic Alinua, a very drowsy Falst and a strange metal woman who seems unusually happy to see him.
HUH you’re right,, i think they’re actually a mother and child though ?
Mmmm, melons.
Alinua, a living food market disruption.
Imagine if Faust’s tail dragged on the ground and Tess accidentally stepped on it.
Yay! Now we only have to meet up with erin & free the prison bois, and the party will finally be complete!
Quite a dramatic way to adopt a new crew member… meanwhile, Dainix and Kendal peacefully try to avoid bashing each other’s brains and Erin is blissfully unaware as he goes a-reading through the archives. I expect a mighty crash as they all run into one another on some city crossroads, Shrike’s ass getting thoroughly kicked, and a spectacular escape from Zuurith.
Erin: *blinks*
Kendall, Alinua, and Falst surrounded by chaos and destruction
Erin: how many times is this guys
When I went from reading the comic, where you had the characters talking about “the elf”, to reading reading your comment about the melons, my initial thought was “Since when does Red talk that way about her characters?”
That’s twice she’s saved Falst (even if she was kind of responsible for this one). Welcome to the troupe, Tess.
The last panel kinda looks like the three of them threw a baller party and then the cops showed up, and now they’re running accept for falst who’s waaaaaaay too drunk
Now this is a fun page. I couldn’t really see before what Alinua did, but this is impressive. Even Shrike is impressed- and possibly wondering if this job might be a bit above her pay grade.
Alinua: And Falst said buying melons was a waste of time and money!
Tess: Does carrying your unconscious friend make me a part of your group now?
I have a feeling we’re going to cut to either the prison bros or Erin next week. While we could easily continue on from this point with these three, I feel that now they’ve escaped Shrike (for now) it’s a good time to see how everyone else is doing. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see.
This reminds me of episode 2 of The Last Airbender.
Zuko: “Dig the ship out and follow them!”
*cuts to soldiers freeing other soldiers from ice*
Zuko: “…As soon as you’re done with that.”
Evil Tree:
Just… Kendal and Dainix are thrown into the arena, realize they have to fight each other, and either 1: have a friendly sparring match where neither of them use harmful force, or 2: sit down in the sand and have a nice little philosophical chat. The arenamaster would flip his shit.
Alinua’s melons become even more impressive when you realize that Shrike had seven other people with her and now all but two are in the spontaneous mini jungle.
Yeah, plant wall! *looks closer* Oh shoot, there’s people in there, hope somebody get’s them out safe
Also, to anyone who was here before the flood of new readers, can your repost a link to how to embolden/italicize comments?
alt text: pshhhh. nah. you can take her.
Note that Falst saved them all by breaking the pellets and inhaling all the powder. It was enough to knock him totally and immediately out, so it definitely would have slowed them all down if it had been shared among them all.
@That One Trilobite wouldn’t “Melon ex Primordial” More correct? Because to my knowledge “Deus ex Machina” means “god from a mahine”, so what you’ve said (written) would mean ” god from a melon”, and that makes a bit less sense.
*be more accurate, not more correct. Forgive my mistake, English is not my native language.
Humanoid Clay:
Let’s hope this explanation will show up properly…
(Asterisks included below for demonstrational purposes only; omit them when actually executing these HTML commands)
For italics: insert passage here
For bold letters: insert passage here
Can the Floof Squad get away? Did Alinua just flood the local produce market with a previously expensive item, destroying the deus-ex melon’s value? Has Tess finally made her official entrance as a party member? Will Shrike be able to trace them back to Erin and Kendal? Will Zuurith himself intervene after a disturbance like that? How long will it take for Falst to wake from that Temptations cat treat-induced slumber?
Tune in Next Week and Find Out!
@CaptainCutlet But what if that melon WAS a god? Maybe the spontaneous generation all those melons produced sufficient energy for a melon god to just pop into existence.
Wait…I had a thought. If gods can have their attributes changed by changes in their territory or how they’re perceived, could you, if you made enough melons in Zuurith, turn Zuurith into a melon god?
…Asking for a friend.
Wait…I just had a thought. If the attributes of gods can be changed by changes in their environment or people’s perception of them, then, if you created enough melons in Zuurith, so many that people started associating the city with melons, could you turn Zuurith into a melon god?
…asking for a friend.
TL;DR: Great going, you’ve exposed your magic powers AND gotten yourself onto a certain bounty hunter’s hit list. At least there’s more melons now.
@Humanoid Clay: Here you go https://wordpress.com/dailypost/2015/07/02/comments-nuance-context/
@TheUnknownGame: I’m predicting scenario 1, Dainix wants to train against strong opponents and Kendal wouldn’t want to rock the boat unnecessarily. Plus Dainix could even teach Kendal a thing or two. Then again maybe openly defying the arenamaster with some impetus from Kendal is part of Caliban’s and Tahraim’s plan for Dainix to regain his agency.
@CaptainCutlet: No, I think ‘god from a melon’ was pretty good. We know it doesn’t make sense. English is like that. :-/
Plus, while Melon Ex Primordial is more accurate, it loses the connection to Deus Ex Machina a bit from replacing more words, so people won’t get the connection.
(just my 2p)
I’m sure glad they’re keeping a low profile. Like they were supposed to.
@toby lonelytuatara
SHOOT YOURE RIGHT. While that could be a coincidence, the guy looks *remarkably* like Kendal, complete with the purple cape theyre all wearing. The orange-haired dude next to him doesnt really look like Dainix, but maybe its a friend they picked up on their way out.
Everyone (me included) have been gearing up for a prison break, but what if something happened in the meantime and they just broke out? I know its unlikely, given the timeframe and complete lack of any hints, but we have been in a chase scene for a few pages, so something might have happened in the Plot that neither Shrike not Ali/Falst/Tess realize?
Shoot that was supposed to be a reply to @Sunstorm the Bugie :p
sorry!
‘I’m not Alinua! I am Melon Lord!’
Lol, love the melons in the giant wall of plants! Also, just want to say that Shrike is a great antagonist and, as an ecologist, I love the reference to a somewhat obscure but very cool bird!
Piggyback ride!
Well, when life gives you melons…
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but when I see “the arena won’t want her” I see “but she could be useful to me”. Bounty hunter Alinua ain’t happenin’, but Shrike can try.
Low profile working out great I see xD
Humanoid Clay:
Ah, crap, my explanation didn’t show up properly. Just follow Evil Tree’s link, they taught me how to do it in the first place.
They use weapons when they fight…
But I use blue desert melone instead!
I’m loving this– I miss vash lmao
A wall made of vines
and a successful escape!
Well, at least for now…
Oooh Shrike said a bad word that’s one dollar for the swear jar
@Blarmy Blar blar
Is that a wimpy kid reference?
@Indigo Toxin
No, I was just referencing how that’s pretty much the most extreme language that’s been in this comic so far
When your enemy says, “Enough” as its own sentence in the middle of a fight it is NEVER good for your team.
red, i don’t know if this idea has already been suggested, and i don’t know how many of you reading this have read the “extra lore” page titled “ferin”. but after reading the part about people being scared that ferin might one day out-populate the elder races, i had a thought; what if you do another story set in this universe, but in the distant future. a future where most civilizations are mostly made up of ferin, and mages are a very rare sight, rather than an every day appearance like they are now, and maybe your protagonist could be one of the last remaining elven (or human) mages in the world. or they could be a ferin looking for a specific type of mage for dire purposes, like for example: they’re looking for a life mage to help cure a world leader, or close loved one. (and also maybe for some extra spice and fan-service, you could talk about some legends of these guys and what they did, you know, jus for fun) anyway, hope you like that idea, and if any of you guys reading this like the idea, comment on it to let red know!
good
Gotta love the single-word declaration, accompanied by glowing eyes, that unleashes a frightening amount of power with ease like that.
Alinua continues to impress with how powerful she is. I hope we get to see more of her deciding enough is enough, and just unleashing hell (or “Life” if you prefer) on everything around her.
If you see weird green dust coming off of a weird plant of unknown provenance, that is a BAD TIME to remove your facemask. Is it story-important that Shrike neglects facemask safety? Absolutely not. But if any of you go into biology it could save your real, actual lungs.
@ILeapyeargirl96
That’s an interesting idea.
To llepayeargirl96
It’s a good start, but that idea does have one big problem. It’d feel to same-y. We already have a world where X is rare and Y is common. I think if she wrote a future where the main character is a mage livin like a ferin of the past it would just be a re-skin. However that idea of a ferin seekin out a mage is cool
I agree with lleapyeargirl96 it’d be a very cool idea and go Aluina go girl! Aluina ain’t gonna be a bounty hunter Shrike’s being delusinal .
prison breeeeeeeak!
@coconut, I didn’t mean that mages would be feared and neglected like ferin are now, I meant more along the lines of, mages are rare now, but still very respected and kind of treated like the elemental magus is at this time
For some reason my cliffhanger on the next page isn’t posting. Testing here to see if my comment will show up on this page.
My cliffhangers, as well as any other comments I’ve sent, have not been posting for the next two pages. Does anyone know why this might be happening? I am getting increasingly frustrated with this issue and would rather not bother Red if I don’t have to.
Cat Nap :3
at least they have more food now!