So she can manipulate metal, interesting… I’m not sure if metal falls under the control of earth magic tho. Also, look at the bg character to shrikes right. It’s the same kind of hairstyle as Caliban and Dainixx .
Ps. It’s nice to know that some of the citizens of zuurith don’t think badly of Ferin.
I wonder, do the guards wear those things so they can be controlled by Shrike, or is Shrike doing something shes not allowed to be doing in the knowledge that she’s too important to arrest for manhandling a guard? Either way it shows interesting dynamics. I also find it interesting that two guards now, Vienne and the guard accompanying Dainix, have expressed sympathies towards the prisoners in their care and a knowledge that the system isn’t perfect. I wonder if it’s because they spend time with the people who supposedly need correction so they have a better understanding than the average citizen and Zuurith, or if perhaps some of the guards were previously prisoners themselves before earning their way out? Maybe I’m thinking too much about it, but this is so much fun to think about!
Shrike: See how easy that was? Whoever said bounty hunting is a complicated profession?
Knows how to get info out of people, has a large group of hunters backing her up and is a stone mage in a city full of stone. Whether she just directs the hunters or takes part on the frontlines Shrike is going to be a major problem for the gang.
This is concerning. Shrike must know that even the hardiest of Ferin or altered humans can’t survive such a feat and walk away uninjured which may lead her to theorise a healer was involved, potentially the second trespasser. Falst is a new predator Ferin in town, Alinua is a cloud elf outside the flying archipelago with a prominent Life rune and both are traveling together in the city; it wouldn’t take too much logical reasoning for her or her hunters to suspect the two.
btw Thank you for trying to reign her in her Vienne, at least you tried. Who knows? Maybe that good breakfast will come to you.
Also new Chapter cover art has landed, and it does not bode well but could make for some interesting symbolism. Dainix is wrapped in chains, he’s already caught and defeated; Tess is outside the reach of the chains, she is a free individual and want to stay that way; Falst is in between, some chains coiling round but he still has some wiggle room to escape.
All attention is on them and certainly not the looming clouds covering the entire top of the page and the title of “Clouds Gather”. I’m sure that’s just more symbolism and not an outside threat, pay it no mind.
Kendal and Alliuna shipper and Erin x Falst shipper
ngl, i unironically stan her so much. i love morally unambiguous female villains who only care for their own gain, and even maybe for fun considering she’s very excited about her prospects, no matter who gets locked up in the process as evident by the guard’s dialogue. of course if she has more depth then i might be more excited but two pages in and i want to see more of her. so sinister conniving yet playful at the same time. ^^ also maybe its because its been a bit since i read the extra lore page, but can stone mages manipulate metal? im guessing so based on her but idk if she’s unique or not. either way, makes sense they would want to send her to capture a metal-caste mage
Hmm… I wonder if the reason she’s so rich is because she has earth magic. Can she summon precious stones/metals from the ground? Or is she just a really good bounty hunter? Also, who are the boys? More bounty hunters perhaps. Find out Monday I guess. Unless we end on a cliffhanger which I suppose would suck but I kinda just want to get back to Dainix and Kendal in their rock room (it’s not really a prison seeing as they could technically escape at any time). Wait, what’s Alinua doing? Surely she’s woken up by now.
HOLD UP!!! Is it just me or does the person in the last panel, just under Mrs Rich Ladys hand look like Caliban. We know that they have been here in the city but are they casually just wondering around, perhaps on the lookout for something.
Just a theory though…
One small spot of hope in this: They don’t know Falst got healed after he made the jump, so Shrike/her bounty hunters might dismiss him since he doesn’t look tough enough to be the intruder.
Guys can we ease up on the venom a BIT? Particularly all the “bitch” comments. This is more venom than any other character has gotten, and she hasn’t even DONE anything yet. The collector got less venom, and she MURDERED a CITY.
TL;DR: Watch out, heroes. This sketchy lady is on your tail and I have a feeling she will not hesitate to dish out brutal punishment. I mean, look at how she controls the guards. Magic restraint rings?
Dark Wolf:
I’m pretty sure she’s just very good at her job. We don’t even know if Zuurith uses metallic currency or not, and if it does, summoning large amounts of it for yourself probably constitutes a financial crime. Meanwhile, about the Caliban look-alike: that person could just be a regular Ignan, considering Zuurith is next to the Rauan Desert, a major population center for them. Plus, I find it likely that Caliban is still wearing their prison guard alias.
Stark9865:
If Shrike is as good at her job as I think she is, I don’t think she’ll dismiss Falst just for “not looking tough enough” if the clues line up.
Evil Tree:
One minor interesting detail on the cover for Clouds Gather: the chains snaking around everyone bear a strong resemblance to the chains of Zuurith’s flail, meaning that the hunt for Tess, and now Falst, may attract his attention if it hasn’t already.
@mewtata
Funny thing about fanbases… they get VERY protective when someone threatens their favorite characters. In all seriousness, I think Zuurith has gotten equal or greater venom than Shrike has (because he similarly poses a direct threat to the Floof Squad). Collector hasn’t gotten as much venom because yes, she did kill a city, but she’s also polite, with semi-sorta-kinda sympathetic motivations, and most importantly, hasn’t *directly* threatened the Floof Squad (yet).
Different characters garner different reactions from people. And while I’m not defending the hateful comments (even though I will admit that Shrike also rubs me the wrong way), I’d like to point out that Shrike appears to enjoy inflicting misery on others for personal satisfaction, while the Collector sees herself acting for the greater good, no matter the cost. We also don’t really have much to go on with Shrike–yeah, she’s a mage and bounty hunter, and probably pretty powerful, but the Collector’s strength borders on earth-shattering and she’s apparently gone ’round the bend far enough to be approaching sanity from the other side. That makes her far more scary and deserving of some form of respect.
Long story short, one is probably a psychopath and the other a sociopath, but I don’t know enough about psychology to say which is which, or if they’re both varying levels of one or the other. Either way, that’s probably what’s part of why they’re each getting the reactions they are.
(Also, most of us have probably met someone like Shrike and been on the receiving end of that sort of thing, so it’s an instinctive reaction to a bully character. Few of us have probably met–and everyone’s respective deity willing, we’ll never have to–someone like the Collector)
Is Shrike an earth mage? Can Tess counter her power? Do Shrike and Vienne have a genuine relationship or does Shrike flirt with everyone like that? Will Shrike pick a fight with the Vessel of Life? Can Shrike cheat at crokinole if she uses stone pucks?
WAIT WAIT WAIT. I was rereading the comic (translate: clicking the “random” button over & over), and back when Tess first gets in trouble, the guard sends a birb to “Captain Vienne”. The guard here isnt just a random guard, he’s the CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. Dunno if this changes much in-story, but its fascinating to see that the Captain also has a moral compass (lol) and cares about the people who go to the Arena…
This also establishes that the Arena and the Guards are two separate entities.
(If this is a repeat, I apologize- I tried to post a comment & it vanished so here goes)
WAIT WAIT WAIT. I was rereading the comic (translate: clicking “random” over & over) and when Tess first got into trouble, the guard who saw her sent a message to “Captain Vienne”. THIS GUY IS THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. Fascinating that he still has such a moral compass (lol but seriously, he cares about who goes to the arena); fascinating that Shrike has enough social/IRL power that she can get away with earth-mageing HIS armband; the Arena and the Guards are more seperate than I originally thought.
@Steve, Lord of Darkness: ok im genuinely intrigued. whats cronkinole?
Vienne messed up. Whatever their relationship is, she clearly knew better than to tell Shrike anything, cause she knows that she’ll get some rando incarcerated. That’s just Awful helping The Worst.
Finally! Someone has asked me what crokinole is! Maybe someone else has already asked and I didn’t see it, but that’s irrelevant!
Crokinole is a two-player game with a circular board, each player has a set of small wooden pucks that they are trying to flick into a centre hole that is surrounded by pegs. To my knowledge most crokinole players are seniors, I’ve only played it once against one of my great uncles.
When I started doing my cliff hangers I decided I wanted a dumb running joke unrelated to the events of the comic and making it about crokinole was the first thing that I thought of that I thought was funny enough to try. My intention is to change the running joke each chapter so that they don’t become even staler than this one already is.
Kendal and Alliuna shipper and Erin x Falst shipper
Am I the only one who enjoys writing / reading characters like Shrike? It’s kind of interesting to watch them toy with /annoy other people and remain perfectly calm while the other is fuming.
I really like Shrike. Not as a person, but as a character. Reminds me of my character Melior, she took pride in her work and enjoyed it, having an air of superiority about pretty much everything and not afraid to show off.
Whooosh, I come from ze future! we need more vienne x shrike.
Also watch out for ze vampire nazi ninjas! Ze vill strike in Iowa first
Back undercover I go! Avoid the reich 666, aka shogun Dracula!
From
RwacPodcast
Oh she better not touch Falst
Fuck you stone bitch
Why do I feel like Shrike is gonna do something very illegal?
First?
She has a earth rune on her hand. That’s gonna be interesting
So she can manipulate metal, interesting… I’m not sure if metal falls under the control of earth magic tho. Also, look at the bg character to shrikes right. It’s the same kind of hairstyle as Caliban and Dainixx .
Ps. It’s nice to know that some of the citizens of zuurith don’t think badly of Ferin.
I wonder, do the guards wear those things so they can be controlled by Shrike, or is Shrike doing something shes not allowed to be doing in the knowledge that she’s too important to arrest for manhandling a guard? Either way it shows interesting dynamics. I also find it interesting that two guards now, Vienne and the guard accompanying Dainix, have expressed sympathies towards the prisoners in their care and a knowledge that the system isn’t perfect. I wonder if it’s because they spend time with the people who supposedly need correction so they have a better understanding than the average citizen and Zuurith, or if perhaps some of the guards were previously prisoners themselves before earning their way out? Maybe I’m thinking too much about it, but this is so much fun to think about!
I noticed Hello Haiku and Evil Tree aren’t here yet
Shrike: See how easy that was? Whoever said bounty hunting is a complicated profession?
Knows how to get info out of people, has a large group of hunters backing her up and is a stone mage in a city full of stone. Whether she just directs the hunters or takes part on the frontlines Shrike is going to be a major problem for the gang.
This is concerning. Shrike must know that even the hardiest of Ferin or altered humans can’t survive such a feat and walk away uninjured which may lead her to theorise a healer was involved, potentially the second trespasser. Falst is a new predator Ferin in town, Alinua is a cloud elf outside the flying archipelago with a prominent Life rune and both are traveling together in the city; it wouldn’t take too much logical reasoning for her or her hunters to suspect the two.
btw Thank you for trying to reign her in her Vienne, at least you tried. Who knows? Maybe that good breakfast will come to you.
Also new Chapter cover art has landed, and it does not bode well but could make for some interesting symbolism. Dainix is wrapped in chains, he’s already caught and defeated; Tess is outside the reach of the chains, she is a free individual and want to stay that way; Falst is in between, some chains coiling round but he still has some wiggle room to escape.
All attention is on them and certainly not the looming clouds covering the entire top of the page and the title of “Clouds Gather”. I’m sure that’s just more symbolism and not an outside threat, pay it no mind.
Don’t manhandle Vienne you Bitch oh you better not hurt Falst you Motherfucker! Sorry i’m very angry about Shrike doing that.
ngl, i unironically stan her so much. i love morally unambiguous female villains who only care for their own gain, and even maybe for fun considering she’s very excited about her prospects, no matter who gets locked up in the process as evident by the guard’s dialogue. of course if she has more depth then i might be more excited but two pages in and i want to see more of her. so sinister conniving yet playful at the same time. ^^ also maybe its because its been a bit since i read the extra lore page, but can stone mages manipulate metal? im guessing so based on her but idk if she’s unique or not. either way, makes sense they would want to send her to capture a metal-caste mage
It’s getting exciting
Well, I’ve reached the end, so the only reasonable thing to do is start over.
Oh wow, those last 2 panels are soooo assuring. I feel so much safer knowing Shrike is there to help out. On her own terms.
Hmm… I wonder if the reason she’s so rich is because she has earth magic. Can she summon precious stones/metals from the ground? Or is she just a really good bounty hunter? Also, who are the boys? More bounty hunters perhaps. Find out Monday I guess. Unless we end on a cliffhanger which I suppose would suck but I kinda just want to get back to Dainix and Kendal in their rock room (it’s not really a prison seeing as they could technically escape at any time). Wait, what’s Alinua doing? Surely she’s woken up by now.
HOLD UP!!! Is it just me or does the person in the last panel, just under Mrs Rich Ladys hand look like Caliban. We know that they have been here in the city but are they casually just wondering around, perhaps on the lookout for something.
Just a theory though…
Yes! I can beat Hello Haiku to a haiku!
I, uh, wow, huh, uh…
I really cannot think of
A haiku, at all
Oh hey
Oh boy, this might lead to an international incident if she ain’t careful.
What if you wanted
To like a blonde hottie
But Red said:
“Haha she’s down for slavery”
One small spot of hope in this: They don’t know Falst got healed after he made the jump, so Shrike/her bounty hunters might dismiss him since he doesn’t look tough enough to be the intruder.
Guys can we ease up on the venom a BIT? Particularly all the “bitch” comments. This is more venom than any other character has gotten, and she hasn’t even DONE anything yet. The collector got less venom, and she MURDERED a CITY.
f*cking magnets how do they work
TL;DR: Watch out, heroes. This sketchy lady is on your tail and I have a feeling she will not hesitate to dish out brutal punishment. I mean, look at how she controls the guards. Magic restraint rings?
Dark Wolf:
I’m pretty sure she’s just very good at her job. We don’t even know if Zuurith uses metallic currency or not, and if it does, summoning large amounts of it for yourself probably constitutes a financial crime. Meanwhile, about the Caliban look-alike: that person could just be a regular Ignan, considering Zuurith is next to the Rauan Desert, a major population center for them. Plus, I find it likely that Caliban is still wearing their prison guard alias.
Stark9865:
If Shrike is as good at her job as I think she is, I don’t think she’ll dismiss Falst just for “not looking tough enough” if the clues line up.
Evil Tree:
One minor interesting detail on the cover for Clouds Gather: the chains snaking around everyone bear a strong resemblance to the chains of Zuurith’s flail, meaning that the hunt for Tess, and now Falst, may attract his attention if it hasn’t already.
Why is shrike so prebby this is illegal 🙁
It’s been a long day’s night~
And I don’t need this
Female dog
Huh. Good Guard, they seem like they actually want the culprit caught instead of the first possible bystander
Alt text: or maybe he just evaporated when he hit the ground
@mewtata
Funny thing about fanbases… they get VERY protective when someone threatens their favorite characters. In all seriousness, I think Zuurith has gotten equal or greater venom than Shrike has (because he similarly poses a direct threat to the Floof Squad). Collector hasn’t gotten as much venom because yes, she did kill a city, but she’s also polite, with semi-sorta-kinda sympathetic motivations, and most importantly, hasn’t *directly* threatened the Floof Squad (yet).
Today’s Alt Text:
or maybe he just evaporated when he hit the ground
To mewtata:
Different characters garner different reactions from people. And while I’m not defending the hateful comments (even though I will admit that Shrike also rubs me the wrong way), I’d like to point out that Shrike appears to enjoy inflicting misery on others for personal satisfaction, while the Collector sees herself acting for the greater good, no matter the cost. We also don’t really have much to go on with Shrike–yeah, she’s a mage and bounty hunter, and probably pretty powerful, but the Collector’s strength borders on earth-shattering and she’s apparently gone ’round the bend far enough to be approaching sanity from the other side. That makes her far more scary and deserving of some form of respect.
Long story short, one is probably a psychopath and the other a sociopath, but I don’t know enough about psychology to say which is which, or if they’re both varying levels of one or the other. Either way, that’s probably what’s part of why they’re each getting the reactions they are.
(Also, most of us have probably met someone like Shrike and been on the receiving end of that sort of thing, so it’s an instinctive reaction to a bully character. Few of us have probably met–and everyone’s respective deity willing, we’ll never have to–someone like the Collector)
Ok its ok I thought of a haiku.
Everyone hates you
Shrike put that goddamn stone down
Why are you like this?
Is Shrike an earth mage? Can Tess counter her power? Do Shrike and Vienne have a genuine relationship or does Shrike flirt with everyone like that? Will Shrike pick a fight with the Vessel of Life? Can Shrike cheat at crokinole if she uses stone pucks?
Tune in Next Week and Find Out!
These two are giving me similar vibes to Sir Caroline and Quanyii from the Penumbra Podcast
Oh boy, this cant be good.
WAIT WAIT WAIT. I was rereading the comic (translate: clicking the “random” button over & over), and back when Tess first gets in trouble, the guard sends a birb to “Captain Vienne”. The guard here isnt just a random guard, he’s the CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. Dunno if this changes much in-story, but its fascinating to see that the Captain also has a moral compass (lol) and cares about the people who go to the Arena…
This also establishes that the Arena and the Guards are two separate entities.
(If this is a repeat, I apologize- I tried to post a comment & it vanished so here goes)
WAIT WAIT WAIT. I was rereading the comic (translate: clicking “random” over & over) and when Tess first got into trouble, the guard who saw her sent a message to “Captain Vienne”. THIS GUY IS THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. Fascinating that he still has such a moral compass (lol but seriously, he cares about who goes to the arena); fascinating that Shrike has enough social/IRL power that she can get away with earth-mageing HIS armband; the Arena and the Guards are more seperate than I originally thought.
@Steve, Lord of Darkness: ok im genuinely intrigued. whats cronkinole?
oh so NOW the comment shows up *facepalm*
@DragonMaster66 I may be mistaken, but I think Vienne is a woman.
Now, THAT’S an introduction to a new antagonist. Good job Red.
Ohh, she’s a stone mage,
with a smug disposition.
The guard seems nice though!
To Indigo Toxin:
I was late today ?
But I haven’t forgotten!
My haiku streak lives! 😀
Even more poems!
Cool haikus, Coconut and
PersonMcPerson!
@Obscuria and DragonMaster66: yeah, Red refers to Vienne as “her” in the alt text of the previous page
To Hello Haiku:
Glad ur here! I love ur haikus, and everyone else’s as well
Ooh, she’s a stone mage! This’ll be interesting!
@Dark Wolf your right it does look a lot like Caliban
Ayyy lets go the haiku man is here
I’m kind of regretting drawing my comic by hand, every time I lose my ruler I can’t do anything. Sigh.
To Bill Erak:
You can still like her, but I don’t know if the comments section will like you.
I think that the elemental magus is interesting he cools off.
Vienne messed up. Whatever their relationship is, she clearly knew better than to tell Shrike anything, cause she knows that she’ll get some rando incarcerated. That’s just Awful helping The Worst.
Does HelloHaiku speak only in haikus? Do they have a poetry curse like in Percy Jackson? There’s some comment section lore now.
Dang, I just binged this whole comic! Now I have to wait for updates like everyone else >_<
To DragonMaster66:
Finally! Someone has asked me what crokinole is! Maybe someone else has already asked and I didn’t see it, but that’s irrelevant!
Crokinole is a two-player game with a circular board, each player has a set of small wooden pucks that they are trying to flick into a centre hole that is surrounded by pegs. To my knowledge most crokinole players are seniors, I’ve only played it once against one of my great uncles.
I had forgotten about it for years until I had stumbled upon this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddm8vXSpRLo
When I started doing my cliff hangers I decided I wanted a dumb running joke unrelated to the events of the comic and making it about crokinole was the first thing that I thought of that I thought was funny enough to try. My intention is to change the running joke each chapter so that they don’t become even staler than this one already is.
Bitch please she could kick your ass
To, Lorem lpsum
Huh. Come to think of it, have I ever seen him speak outside of Haikus? Im pretty sure he has but I cant remember.
All I know is if its a curse, its the best one you could get.
The new chapter drops today!
new chapter upcoming
Am I the only one who enjoys writing / reading characters like Shrike? It’s kind of interesting to watch them toy with /annoy other people and remain perfectly calm while the other is fuming.
I really like Shrike. Not as a person, but as a character. Reminds me of my character Melior, she took pride in her work and enjoyed it, having an air of superiority about pretty much everything and not afraid to show off.
Clearly that cat-boy was magical. And/or self-cleaning.
Whooosh, I come from ze future! we need more vienne x shrike.
Also watch out for ze vampire nazi ninjas! Ze vill strike in Iowa first
Back undercover I go! Avoid the reich 666, aka shogun Dracula!
From
RwacPodcast
I feel very stupid because of my last comment, as I had just woken up. I am very confused at my comment. Ignore everything I’ve said
Haiku’s can’t be that
Complicated you would think, right?
Well, f**k.
I feel like Vienne’s relationship with Shrike is… complicated and not altogether healthy.