So here I am, recognizing something about what Dainix and his squad appear to have encountered and started thinking about the Deep Lore.
I think Dainix’s crew stumbled upon an Obsidian Ghoul. To quote from a couple of Tumblr asks from January of last year. “Sometimes, very strange things come out of the volcanos – […] very rarely strange and deadly humanoid monsters composed almost entirely of lava and a thin shell of rock and colloquially called Obsidian Ghouls.” “They aren’t [organic]. […] Obsidian ghouls are basically humanoid shells of black rock filled with magma; they’re very destructive when they erupt out and swarm, but they’re structurally extremely simple.”
Dainix, a member of the Ravvan warriors,
Had gone to an abandoned wyrm nest,
To search for precious wyrmsilk- at first,
No dangers threatened their quest.
The weather was good, there were no surprises
Wrapped up in the silk to slay.
In the routine and the joy Dainix didn’t think to wonder,
“What had scared the wyrms away?”
GREAT expressions on this page. Truly some of the best art I’ve seen in a webcomic.
The silk is life.
Nice sibling interaction between the Ruunasers, and also highlights their different knowledge bases. Erin’s knowledge comes from studying academia while Tess’s comes from well-traveled experience.
All those Ignans, so happy for their silk bounty and, since we’re not being show his face, I’ll assume Dainix still has his right eye. I know this is all going to go south, but I’m still sad to see it.
I think @Mat’s on the money with the obsidian ghost idea; if that’s the case that hand could just be one of many ghosts too. I’m thinking Dainix’s first transformation was to try and save his squad from a swarm of them and ended up losing control.
Notice Red’s language consistency: the Ignans called the Storm Of MAgic “Ravv Ainox” meaning “The Starving Caldera”. Therefore Drunn Ainox, as a volcano, is also called a “Caldera”. Does “Ravvan” mean “Starving Ones” or something similar then? Or perhaps “Ravv” can translate as both “starving” or “desert”, since the two are somewhat associated.
Oh my god the sibling dynamic between Tess and Erin. The snark! I love it!
(also this does a really good job of showing the different kinds or smart between them, Erin’s book smart, Tess is clever in how the world works, both are useful in different ways and cover each other’s bases)
Also I absolutely love the colours in panel 1, the different shades of gold-orange just work together in a really appealing way. Beautiful as always
Mm. It’s like the magma titan from The Dragon Prince, but smaller and nastier-looking. Apparently elementals are a thing in energy-saturated environments. I started to wonder if Erin encountered any lightning elementals in The Storm, but based on how Dainix is setting the tone here, and how this thing scared off a nest of dragons (and fire-adapted dragons at that), I think the answer to that question is no, because if Erin had encountered an elemental in The Storm, he would now be dead.
Tess seems to know and care a lot about Ignan societies, between this and her protecting an Ignan settlement from a burrower wyrm in chapter 11. Perhaps she spent a lot of time around them when she was wandering the world, and/or some of them saved her from a bad situation?
Dainix mentioning automatons makes me want to see one. Something about half-ruined machines that are somehow still functioning several millennia later is just really cool, and since the Ancients infused their machines with magic, that just makes them all the more fascinating.
I would say that Tess just told Erin to touch grass, but the moment I thought of it, I noticed @Keys said it already. So, instead:
The wyrms moved out of their comfy boiling lava house because they wanted to go somewhere that no one could ever again be able to see how much their silk looks like rapunzel hair.
Give them some slack guys they were embarrassed ?
There once was a sister and brother
Who sniped and bickered with each other
Interrupting the story
Of the Ignan’s fallen glory–
Yet they clearly get along with one another.
I second all the comments saying how cute they are.
Or perhaps this encounter is the reason for his transformation in a different way–could the ghoul have infected him somehow? Could they be particularly powerful or long-lived demons, or the end result of a Crucible going bad? Perhaps the Crucible is an imitation of the ghoul, or a transitionary stage–so many possibilities, based on how similar its hand looks fo Dainix’s in his fire-form. Guess we’ll have to wait till Friday, when we’ll hopefully be getting a reveal….
(This whole thing feels like the setup to a werewolf story–we all know Dainix is going to survive changed, but now the question is, are we going to have another transformed survivor, and are they going to be the first to turn? Because that would explain quite a bit…)
Erin and Tess embody the nerk and jock sibling dynamic. I can kinda picture Erin replying something like ‘Last time I went outside I got possesed by a star eating dragon. I’m *not* taking that risk again.”
@Skye The thought had crossed my mind, but past pages of Dainix dialogue imply to me he was born with. I don’t think these creatures “infected” Dainix, but it’s possible they may have unlocked his latent abilities in this encounter.
TL;DR: We were so focused on whether we could that we never stopped to think why we could.
Bonus, sibling shenanigans. Always a plus.
Does anyone still read these?
Hey I just noticed that one of the Ravvan in panel five has not so much a poncho but more of a cape. Maybe it’s a sign of status or something. If it is, that’s a really cool detail.
Also: a whole gang of shirt-phobic war people? HELL YEAH!!!
@veggiesnake, yaaay I’m not the only one who noticed this! I interpreted it as ‘the hungry ones’ in the sense that they pick fights with monsters on purpose and scavenge for resources whenever they aren’t busy (hungry for monster fights and treasure finds), and they also spend all their time out in the desert and are highly trained fighters (so when one or a squad of them shows up in a settlement, they’re *always hungry*; see the poncho, cook seconds). I like the interpretation of ‘starving’ as more broadly ‘remote’ or ‘deserty’ too, though.
Did you know:
A caldera is a feature of volcanoes that form the release of loss of magma from the volcano, either through violent eruption or a release of lava over time. As magma leaves behind now empty spaces the rocks above come down to fill it in, causing the top of the volcano cave in. So while it might be referred to as crater it is in reality a sinkhole.
(This is from some of the lore commenters mentioning that The Storm in the Ingnan language is referred to as Ravv Ainox translated to “starving caldera” and the volcano also has Ainox so maybe its named for a caldera too?)
Also the magma hand with rock encrusting it is completely my jam!
Bluefire:
Of course I do!
Stark9865:
This is very crucial information, thanks for bringing this to my attention.
The sibling sass is ALWAYS appreciated. If you end up killing off either of these siblings you have to have them sass their sibling just as they’re dying. It is Important. (Also do not kill either, they are precious and I love them)
love wyrms sm. Literally Guys. but like long and undulating. ALSO THE PONCHO
Monster: I cast Mugging The Monster!
Dainix: I cast Always Bigger Fish!
Monster: Death from irony.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: rising property values
Image source: ravvan
Certified Tess dunk
“Go outside more” xD
Aaaah, snarky as only a sibling can be.
siblings 😀
Tess is me at my little brother literally every five seconds
I haven’t finished reading this page but omg Tess and Erin are the best
I love Tess and Erin’s dynamic!
“Do you mind?”
“Go outside more!”
They are *So* brother and sister
“Touch grass” -Tess
That is one COOL lava hand thingy
Erin and Tess are very cute together
And Dainix’s story is scary altogether
Dainix’s face during the “go Outside more” is gold
So here I am, recognizing something about what Dainix and his squad appear to have encountered and started thinking about the Deep Lore.
I think Dainix’s crew stumbled upon an Obsidian Ghoul. To quote from a couple of Tumblr asks from January of last year. “Sometimes, very strange things come out of the volcanos – […] very rarely strange and deadly humanoid monsters composed almost entirely of lava and a thin shell of rock and colloquially called Obsidian Ghouls.” “They aren’t [organic]. […] Obsidian ghouls are basically humanoid shells of black rock filled with magma; they’re very destructive when they erupt out and swarm, but they’re structurally extremely simple.”
Man you can REALLY see the resemblance between them in panel 2. :3
Story time, whee! 😀
Dainix, a member of the Ravvan warriors,
Had gone to an abandoned wyrm nest,
To search for precious wyrmsilk- at first,
No dangers threatened their quest.
The weather was good, there were no surprises
Wrapped up in the silk to slay.
In the routine and the joy Dainix didn’t think to wonder,
“What had scared the wyrms away?”
GREAT expressions on this page. Truly some of the best art I’ve seen in a webcomic.
The silk is life.
Nice sibling interaction between the Ruunasers, and also highlights their different knowledge bases. Erin’s knowledge comes from studying academia while Tess’s comes from well-traveled experience.
All those Ignans, so happy for their silk bounty and, since we’re not being show his face, I’ll assume Dainix still has his right eye. I know this is all going to go south, but I’m still sad to see it.
I think @Mat’s on the money with the obsidian ghost idea; if that’s the case that hand could just be one of many ghosts too. I’m thinking Dainix’s first transformation was to try and save his squad from a swarm of them and ended up losing control.
Ponchoooos. They have their own backstory now. I’m so happy for them.
I love Tess.
Dainix: “My pain… is indescribable.”
Erin: “…But could you give it a go?”
Notice Red’s language consistency: the Ignans called the Storm Of MAgic “Ravv Ainox” meaning “The Starving Caldera”. Therefore Drunn Ainox, as a volcano, is also called a “Caldera”. Does “Ravvan” mean “Starving Ones” or something similar then? Or perhaps “Ravv” can translate as both “starving” or “desert”, since the two are somewhat associated.
The most important thing on this page is the fact that AUTOMATONS exist. Magic robots for the win!
Oh my god the sibling dynamic between Tess and Erin. The snark! I love it!
(also this does a really good job of showing the different kinds or smart between them, Erin’s book smart, Tess is clever in how the world works, both are useful in different ways and cover each other’s bases)
Also I absolutely love the colours in panel 1, the different shades of gold-orange just work together in a really appealing way. Beautiful as always
Hol’ up…AUTOMATONS?
THE IMPLICATIONS MAKE ME VERY HAPPY
Mm. It’s like the magma titan from The Dragon Prince, but smaller and nastier-looking. Apparently elementals are a thing in energy-saturated environments. I started to wonder if Erin encountered any lightning elementals in The Storm, but based on how Dainix is setting the tone here, and how this thing scared off a nest of dragons (and fire-adapted dragons at that), I think the answer to that question is no, because if Erin had encountered an elemental in The Storm, he would now be dead.
Tess seems to know and care a lot about Ignan societies, between this and her protecting an Ignan settlement from a burrower wyrm in chapter 11. Perhaps she spent a lot of time around them when she was wandering the world, and/or some of them saved her from a bad situation?
Dainix mentioning automatons makes me want to see one. Something about half-ruined machines that are somehow still functioning several millennia later is just really cool, and since the Ancients infused their machines with magic, that just makes them all the more fascinating.
Tess really just told Erin to Touch Grass huh
The silk must flow.
THE VOLCANO ZOMBIES ARE COMING FOR US JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN! AHHHHHHHHHHH
I would say that Tess just told Erin to touch grass, but the moment I thought of it, I noticed @Keys said it already. So, instead:
The wyrms moved out of their comfy boiling lava house because they wanted to go somewhere that no one could ever again be able to see how much their silk looks like rapunzel hair.
Give them some slack guys they were embarrassed ?
“Vegeta, what does the scouter say about their sibling energy level?”
“It’s over NINE THOUSAAAAND!!!!”
“WHAT?! Nine Thousand?!”
There once was a sister and brother
Who sniped and bickered with each other
Interrupting the story
Of the Ignan’s fallen glory–
Yet they clearly get along with one another.
I second all the comments saying how cute they are.
To Evil Tree:
Or perhaps this encounter is the reason for his transformation in a different way–could the ghoul have infected him somehow? Could they be particularly powerful or long-lived demons, or the end result of a Crucible going bad? Perhaps the Crucible is an imitation of the ghoul, or a transitionary stage–so many possibilities, based on how similar its hand looks fo Dainix’s in his fire-form. Guess we’ll have to wait till Friday, when we’ll hopefully be getting a reveal….
(This whole thing feels like the setup to a werewolf story–we all know Dainix is going to survive changed, but now the question is, are we going to have another transformed survivor, and are they going to be the first to turn? Because that would explain quite a bit…)
Erin and Tess embody the nerk and jock sibling dynamic. I can kinda picture Erin replying something like ‘Last time I went outside I got possesed by a star eating dragon. I’m *not* taking that risk again.”
siblings! siblings! siblings! siblings!
@Skye The thought had crossed my mind, but past pages of Dainix dialogue imply to me he was born with. I don’t think these creatures “infected” Dainix, but it’s possible they may have unlocked his latent abilities in this encounter.
fuck him up Tess
TL;DR: We were so focused on whether we could that we never stopped to think why we could.
Bonus, sibling shenanigans. Always a plus.
Does anyone still read these?
Every single one.
Does anyone still read these?
Yup
@Bluefire I do.
The closest thing to an automaton we’ve seen was the Sentinel from Chapter 3. Wonder how an actual automaton functions.
@Bluefire
I do, and I think they’re really cute and funny. Keep going!
Hey I just noticed that one of the Ravvan in panel five has not so much a poncho but more of a cape. Maybe it’s a sign of status or something. If it is, that’s a really cool detail.
Also: a whole gang of shirt-phobic war people? HELL YEAH!!!
@veggiesnake, yaaay I’m not the only one who noticed this! I interpreted it as ‘the hungry ones’ in the sense that they pick fights with monsters on purpose and scavenge for resources whenever they aren’t busy (hungry for monster fights and treasure finds), and they also spend all their time out in the desert and are highly trained fighters (so when one or a squad of them shows up in a settlement, they’re *always hungry*; see the poncho, cook seconds). I like the interpretation of ‘starving’ as more broadly ‘remote’ or ‘deserty’ too, though.
I ? love ? Tess ?
Did you know:
A caldera is a feature of volcanoes that form the release of loss of magma from the volcano, either through violent eruption or a release of lava over time. As magma leaves behind now empty spaces the rocks above come down to fill it in, causing the top of the volcano cave in. So while it might be referred to as crater it is in reality a sinkhole.
(This is from some of the lore commenters mentioning that The Storm in the Ingnan language is referred to as Ravv Ainox translated to “starving caldera” and the volcano also has Ainox so maybe its named for a caldera too?)
Also the magma hand with rock encrusting it is completely my jam!
Bluefire:
Of course I do!
Stark9865:
This is very crucial information, thanks for bringing this to my attention.
@Bluefire: I do, and I enjoy reading them.
Oh, nothing SCARED the wyrms away, it was the cost-of-living. You see, currently it’s a seller’s market…
Bluefire:
Yes, we do; you don’t have to quit if you don’t want to. If you still want to make them, keep going.
The sibling sass is ALWAYS appreciated. If you end up killing off either of these siblings you have to have them sass their sibling just as they’re dying. It is Important. (Also do not kill either, they are precious and I love them)
Imagine being told by your sister to go outside
“Go touch grass.”
– Tess hitting Erin with that AOE, which in turn struck me as well.
tess just seriously told erin to go outside.
that has to hurt. man likes books ok?
Oh hey, I just noticed: in panel 4, the Ignan with the muted blond hair looks kind of like a desaturated version of Kyana. Neat!
can anyone tell what the swirly thing coming off of Dainix’s spear in panel one is?
Also upon re-reading, I love that the outfits have a backstory too lol
“We were lucky.”
They weren’t lucky.
Vedrit; yeah we know, they about to find out
I’ve been looking at it closer, and the lighting on Erin’s face in the “Go outside more” panel is just gorgeous. Love it, Red!
I know Red is building up to it but SHOW. ME. DAINIX’S. TITS.
Also, what’s his dead-name, Daini? Daina? Dank?!
@Question bag, that is fifteen different kinds of uncool and inappropriate, hon.
@Question bag
YIKES and NOPE
Please Red, we do not want to see that.
Question Bag:
We already saw them in Zuurith, we don’t need to see them again. Besides, I’m more interested in finally seeing his right eye…
Tess is pure sass here I love her
Adding my voice to the sentiment that @Question bag is saying some hot nonsense
Did Tess really just tell Erin to touch grass?