“Okay, what’s next?” Falst asks.
“Hm. Breakfast?” Erin responds.
“I meant with the ship. What do we need to do to keep it running?”
“Don’t hit any rocks or pitch me overboard. We’ve got the Northern Route to ourselves, and we’ll have a tailwind as long as I keep the lacrimas charged.
“Tess! The forecast?” Erin shouts up.
“Clear to the horizon!” She calls. “Nothing to worry about for an hour at least!”
“Excellent. We’ll set our heading…” Here, he pushes a lever forwards with a click, to lock the wheel in place. “And spend a little time enjoying the truest form of freedom.” Erin starts down the stairs, glancing back at Falst. “How do you feel about solitude and open sky?”
Falst looks out at the sky as Erin leaves the stern. “exposed,” he answers, but Erin’s already out of earshot.
Poor Falst. Even in the middle of the ocean, no one in sight besides his friends, he still can’t let his guard down. I mean, it’s probably going to turn out that his fear is justified because this is an adventure story, but it’s tragic regardless.
“There’s something…watching us. Maybe a lot of somethings. I can’t tell who or how, but they’re able to observe our every move. Sometimes, I feel like they can hear our own thoughts.”
Seriously though, being able to see the entire horizon can be very unnerving if you’ve grown up surrounded by terrain or trees. I was born and raised in the San Bernardino area, so it felt WEIRD when I visited Iowa and it was just flatness all around me.
Pulse kinda does, but then again I’m not a poet
Also why IS Falst looking directly at us as if he knows that something VERY BAD is going to happen ?
Any guesses on what that’s going to be ?
Oh no! Erin is smiling, confident, and telling his friends how good a situation they are in! Get ready to launch the lifeboats! … Wait a minute, does the Ship of Fools even have lifeboats?!
Art wise, the magic circles and water droplet Kirby Krackle dots are very cool and communicates the power being worked, but my favourite part is actually the non-magic affected water outside of these. The times I’ve been on a ferry across the ocean for my holidays, the water was a very dark blue (on cloudy days resembling black glass), with only the crests of the waves being lighter and forming shapes. This water makes me think of that; it brings back a lot of good memories … and bad ones from seasickness.
Yeah, I can’t blame Falst for being uncomfortable; spending your whole life trying not to be noticed in case things get hairy, thrust into an environment where there’s nowhere to hide and you stick out like a sore thumb. On the other side, Tess seems very happy; she strikes me as someone who’d hate long slow boat journeys (and lightning jumps to land before said boat makes port), so this must be a nice change of pace for her.
One of the things that made the glort terrifying to me was how unknown it was; no extra lore, on the site or tumblr, hinted at its possibility, let along existence. It came as a shock initially and its exact powers and weaknesses were up in the air for the longest time, leaving us all guessing and dreading.
I’m getting a similar feeling here, of knowing something will go wrong, but no idea what. With so many threats like Shrike, the Paladins, and the Collector ruled out on the open ocean on a fast boat, and the sky clear of storms at the moment, what’s left? The threats facing the gang right now are unknown, and that’s what makes them scary.
Prediction for next week: … Honestly not sure. Maybe the gang relaxing with breakfast and discussing the ship? Maybe a scene change back to Argist?
If I had to make a long term prediction, I noticed on Erin’s map in 1-8-1 theres a chain of islands south of the route they’re taking. I’m betting the gang will be forced to stop at some of these islands for various reasons; doing so would allow their pursuers time to catch up and maybe confront them before Helm. … Wait a minute. The Paladin stronghold was shown to be a rocky outcrop by the sea; could it be located on one of those islands?
Hello, fellow sea-sickness sufferer! Travelling on the local ferry on choppy days has never been kind to me.
One thing I’ve been thinking about is how when the Light Dragon told Michael that the Void Dragon had acquired a host, Michael said that was “an ocean away”. If he’s been travelling towards the helm-west continents all this time…
A very interesting plot twist might be if Shrike ended up being a Light Dragon channeler? The thought just popped into my head . . . also, that’s the second time Falst has stared straight at the screen – if anyone feels exposed, it’s me 🙂
I’m with Sylvermage on this one. It Feel like the champion who was planted some time ago is due. and now that they are in open water with open skies and all the gang in a confined space. It may not be the next three posts, but very soon it should be the bright winged fellow’s time to make an appearance, and possibly a fight sequence.
That shot of Tess up on the mast is gorgeous. For some reason, it didn’t occur to me that one thing she and Erin had in common was the love to travel freely on their own.
I see Erin is feeling better, now that he has a plan and is moving again. “Don’t pitch me off the ship” indeed. He HAS however, brought back to my mind the number one problem with this whole scenario: he’s the lynchpin. If anything happens to Erin (and I’m thinking here of how Red mentioned in her tumblr we’d be learning more about sealing tattoos in this chapter), they’re FUBARed. Erin’s the only one who can charge the lacrimas.
With him feeling calm and confident again, I’m waiting for the situation to be wrenched from his control.
I genuinely think this is possible, I feel like Red would have character-designed the boat more heavily if it was going to be a primary setting. On the other hand, Red did complain on her Tumblr about getting bogged down in the physics of sail aerodynamics, so she might have run out of time on the boat design.
But really, I feel like we won’t be spending much time on the boat.
Cats apparently are a little bit agoraphobic, given that they’re small enough to be prey animals themselves. Large open spaces would leave them vulnerable to raptor attacks.
That’s why it’s recommended you get them somewhere they can hang out near you, but still duck under cover – Those cat trees with a kitty-cave, their carrier, a box, even just a cat bed under an end-table, etc.
Our one kitten absolutely adored a repurposed box that was decorated like a gingerbread house and used for a Christmas present once – Including little window cutouts for him to peak out of, eventually.
Our next cat however, wouldn’t go near it that box at all, though. she’s not nearly as strongly drawn to boxes as he was. Both enjoyed/enjoy the fabric tunnel and cube toys we have, which let them see out and launch surprise attacks, or just chill in a pile of their toy mice.
Anyway, my point is that Falst clearly is feeling that feline concern about a lack of cover.
With all this apparent downtime, I wonder how long it will take for them to test how long Kendal can breathe underwater for. If they do end up doing that, that’s certainly when the danger will strike.
So, at some point, they are going to get attacked by the light dragon while on the open water, aren’t they? There’s not a lot else that’s going to be attacking them from the sky unless we get hit with something new.
Guys, you’re missing the ironic call-back. In 1.11.1, when Erin is describing Helm, Falst is literally the one who says “Open skies and nobody around? This place is sounding better all the time.” Now Erin is bringing that comment back up, and Falst finds he doesn’t actually like it much.
The point there was that nobody would be around. An open sky that COULD potentially host random mini-bosses trying to earn their own music? Nope, NOPE, and nooooope 🙂
i’m waiting for someone to fall off the boat in the middle of a fight or the boat goes out of commisson somehow, and then Tess can’t fly anywhere cuz she’d electrocute everyone.
the fact that the ocean handicaps just about every character except Erin is honestly amazing
I think I knew that (referring to Erin as the lynchpin), but I like the way you put it better. It’s not that they have to rely on Erin, it’s that this particular plan puts everyone ELSE at a disadvantage, and Erin is pretending he doesn’t see it…or is actively choosing not to.
on one hand Falst, youre being a bit paranoid. On the other, youve got reason to be and Im now expecting a dragon or some other flyin critter to drop down on em, death from above style.
It seems like Falst is pretty worried about things coming from above. You what can come from above? Flying white dragon champions looking for the vessel of the void dragon…
I feel like you might care, so it bears mentioning that “headwind” is a wind pushing against the course of travel. I assume if you gave yourself a magical wind, it would be a tailwind!
“Headwind as long as I keep the lacrimas charged”
I think he means they’re going to be going so fast the wind direction isn’t going to matter, they’re pushing against it regardless
Ah, drawing vehicles in wide angles. I’ve heard from various artists/animators that drawing vehicles consistently can be tough!
Many recommend modeling the object in Blender or a similar 3D app, so you can orient it however you wish and then just trace over it as roughly or accurately as you wish!
RE Headwind vs tailwind, a slight (depends on the ship, but let’s say 20 degrees off perpendicular or so) headwind is actually optimal for speed of travel, taking advantage of the airfoil effect like a plane wing to propel the ship forward (and the keel to keep them going straight). However, a tailwind puts a lot less stress on the vessel, which is probably important with a (presumably quite strong) magically generated wind.
as to the alt text, I know what I saw RED (thank you for putting so much effort into making this treasure consistent. I hope it gives you as much if not more joy than it has given us the audience).
I don’t mean to be “that guy”, but from even a pretty tall mast, the horizon is only ~10 nautical miles away at sea level. So either Tess is vastly overestimating how far she can see, or this planet is noticeably larger than earth. Or the ship is pretty slow by sailing standards (which would kind of make sense, since sailing perfectly with the wind is generally not that fast, since you can only ever go as fast as it, but on a beam reach you can outpace the wind by a fair bit).
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: falst no that’s the fourth wall you’re supposed to pretend not to see it
Image source: freedom
Speed itself has come to visit I see
Hi Zer0 W0lf!
Tumblr text: sailing for adventure!
Twitter text: good times only on the speedy boat
Alt text was edited to add
ps if you saw the version where Erin said “tailwind” instead of “headwind” no you didn’t
“Okay, what’s next?” Falst asks.
“Hm. Breakfast?” Erin responds.
“I meant with the ship. What do we need to do to keep it running?”
“Don’t hit any rocks or pitch me overboard. We’ve got the Northern Route to ourselves, and we’ll have a tailwind as long as I keep the lacrimas charged.
“Tess! The forecast?” Erin shouts up.
“Clear to the horizon!” She calls. “Nothing to worry about for an hour at least!”
“Excellent. We’ll set our heading…” Here, he pushes a lever forwards with a click, to lock the wheel in place. “And spend a little time enjoying the truest form of freedom.” Erin starts down the stairs, glancing back at Falst. “How do you feel about solitude and open sky?”
Falst looks out at the sky as Erin leaves the stern. “exposed,” he answers, but Erin’s already out of earshot.
They’re going to be attacked by another dragon, aren’t they?
Falst mate, you’re looking the wrong way
Sea monster attacks tend to come from *down*
Sea monsters come from below, but sky monsters won’t, nobody expects the sky monsters.
What about the sky monsters? Plenty of them to go around.
The sky is a lot more transparent than the sea, so sky monsters can be seen from much further away. Gives you more time to prepare.
That’s also why we don’t have nuclear deterrence blimps instead of submarines.
Yeah, I think Falst scanning the sky is foreshadowing for the upcoming dragon-borne paladin attack.
The DM pulls out “Book of giant sea creatures” and mutters “alright, where’s the random encounter table”
“We’ve got the Northern Route to ourselves,”
Erin locks the wheel in place.
Open sea, open sky, Falst feels exposed,
Not safe in the open space.
Best boy Falst recognises that a) the ship is the right plan, and b) Erin is overconfident and this is dangerous.
Does anything rhyme with Falst?
Whilst? If said with a slight accent.
Lost? Cross? star-crossed? That’s a tough one alright!
Maybe you could try to finagle some kind of verb-conjugations with thou in there, though that’d probably be a lot more trouble than it’s worth.
Joust, moused, rowsed, doused, spoused, espoused, oust, proust, etc.
Best I can find is “halsed”:
simple past of halsen (“to embrace, caress”)
simple past/past participle of halsen (“to beseech”)
and “discalced”, assuming that’s a soft C, which is Catholic jargon for “barefoot”.
Repulsed might work if you warp the sound the u makes
repalsed?
Poor Falst. Even in the middle of the ocean, no one in sight besides his friends, he still can’t let his guard down. I mean, it’s probably going to turn out that his fear is justified because this is an adventure story, but it’s tragic regardless.
Don’t let danger sneak up on you Falst! You have to yell “I KNEW it!” when does shows up, eventually.
TL;DR: Ah, a nice relaxing boat ride… what could POSSIBLY go wrong? (Catboy suspects *something*)
“There’s something…watching us. Maybe a lot of somethings. I can’t tell who or how, but they’re able to observe our every move. Sometimes, I feel like they can hear our own thoughts.”
Seriously though, being able to see the entire horizon can be very unnerving if you’ve grown up surrounded by terrain or trees. I was born and raised in the San Bernardino area, so it felt WEIRD when I visited Iowa and it was just flatness all around me.
Same! Born in California, went to Florida for the summer. There are NO mountains there?? Very strange.
Well now all I can here is “aye Falst-mate, we have our heading!”
Yup. That’s some tasty foreshadowing from Falst. I give it a week at most before they’re attacked.
I say two days
I have this gut feeling that Falst may have noticed a very big lizard with wings that may or may not be barreling towards them.
Or a very big sea monster
Pulse kinda does, but then again I’m not a poet
Also why IS Falst looking directly at us as if he knows that something VERY BAD is going to happen ?
Any guesses on what that’s going to be ?
Oh no! Erin is smiling, confident, and telling his friends how good a situation they are in! Get ready to launch the lifeboats! … Wait a minute, does the Ship of Fools even have lifeboats?!
Art wise, the magic circles and water droplet Kirby Krackle dots are very cool and communicates the power being worked, but my favourite part is actually the non-magic affected water outside of these. The times I’ve been on a ferry across the ocean for my holidays, the water was a very dark blue (on cloudy days resembling black glass), with only the crests of the waves being lighter and forming shapes. This water makes me think of that; it brings back a lot of good memories … and bad ones from seasickness.
Yeah, I can’t blame Falst for being uncomfortable; spending your whole life trying not to be noticed in case things get hairy, thrust into an environment where there’s nowhere to hide and you stick out like a sore thumb. On the other side, Tess seems very happy; she strikes me as someone who’d hate long slow boat journeys (and lightning jumps to land before said boat makes port), so this must be a nice change of pace for her.
One of the things that made the glort terrifying to me was how unknown it was; no extra lore, on the site or tumblr, hinted at its possibility, let along existence. It came as a shock initially and its exact powers and weaknesses were up in the air for the longest time, leaving us all guessing and dreading.
I’m getting a similar feeling here, of knowing something will go wrong, but no idea what. With so many threats like Shrike, the Paladins, and the Collector ruled out on the open ocean on a fast boat, and the sky clear of storms at the moment, what’s left? The threats facing the gang right now are unknown, and that’s what makes them scary.
Prediction for next week: … Honestly not sure. Maybe the gang relaxing with breakfast and discussing the ship? Maybe a scene change back to Argist?
If I had to make a long term prediction, I noticed on Erin’s map in 1-8-1 theres a chain of islands south of the route they’re taking. I’m betting the gang will be forced to stop at some of these islands for various reasons; doing so would allow their pursuers time to catch up and maybe confront them before Helm. … Wait a minute. The Paladin stronghold was shown to be a rocky outcrop by the sea; could it be located on one of those islands?
Hello, fellow sea-sickness sufferer! Travelling on the local ferry on choppy days has never been kind to me.
One thing I’ve been thinking about is how when the Light Dragon told Michael that the Void Dragon had acquired a host, Michael said that was “an ocean away”. If he’s been travelling towards the helm-west continents all this time…
A very interesting plot twist might be if Shrike ended up being a Light Dragon channeler? The thought just popped into my head . . . also, that’s the second time Falst has stared straight at the screen – if anyone feels exposed, it’s me 🙂
I’m with Sylvermage on this one. It Feel like the champion who was planted some time ago is due. and now that they are in open water with open skies and all the gang in a confined space. It may not be the next three posts, but very soon it should be the bright winged fellow’s time to make an appearance, and possibly a fight sequence.
That shot of Tess up on the mast is gorgeous. For some reason, it didn’t occur to me that one thing she and Erin had in common was the love to travel freely on their own.
I see Erin is feeling better, now that he has a plan and is moving again. “Don’t pitch me off the ship” indeed. He HAS however, brought back to my mind the number one problem with this whole scenario: he’s the lynchpin. If anything happens to Erin (and I’m thinking here of how Red mentioned in her tumblr we’d be learning more about sealing tattoos in this chapter), they’re FUBARed. Erin’s the only one who can charge the lacrimas.
With him feeling calm and confident again, I’m waiting for the situation to be wrenched from his control.
Next page they’ll arrive at Helm and all of you will feel silly for thinking anything could possibly go wrong.
I genuinely think this is possible, I feel like Red would have character-designed the boat more heavily if it was going to be a primary setting. On the other hand, Red did complain on her Tumblr about getting bogged down in the physics of sail aerodynamics, so she might have run out of time on the boat design.
But really, I feel like we won’t be spending much time on the boat.
Cats apparently are a little bit agoraphobic, given that they’re small enough to be prey animals themselves. Large open spaces would leave them vulnerable to raptor attacks.
That’s why it’s recommended you get them somewhere they can hang out near you, but still duck under cover – Those cat trees with a kitty-cave, their carrier, a box, even just a cat bed under an end-table, etc.
Our one kitten absolutely adored a repurposed box that was decorated like a gingerbread house and used for a Christmas present once – Including little window cutouts for him to peak out of, eventually.
Our next cat however, wouldn’t go near it that box at all, though. she’s not nearly as strongly drawn to boxes as he was. Both enjoyed/enjoy the fabric tunnel and cube toys we have, which let them see out and launch surprise attacks, or just chill in a pile of their toy mice.
Anyway, my point is that Falst clearly is feeling that feline concern about a lack of cover.
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale
a tale of a fateful trip,
that started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.
Falset, the truest edgy lancer to ever exist
THAT DAMN BOAT!!!
With all this apparent downtime, I wonder how long it will take for them to test how long Kendal can breathe underwater for. If they do end up doing that, that’s certainly when the danger will strike.
So, at some point, they are going to get attacked by the light dragon while on the open water, aren’t they? There’s not a lot else that’s going to be attacking them from the sky unless we get hit with something new.
Guys, you’re missing the ironic call-back. In 1.11.1, when Erin is describing Helm, Falst is literally the one who says “Open skies and nobody around? This place is sounding better all the time.” Now Erin is bringing that comment back up, and Falst finds he doesn’t actually like it much.
The point there was that nobody would be around. An open sky that COULD potentially host random mini-bosses trying to earn their own music? Nope, NOPE, and nooooope 🙂
As far as “Not hitting any rocks or pitching Erin overboard” goes, I’m sure one of those will be pretty easy to do.
Everybody wave to Falst
i’m waiting for someone to fall off the boat in the middle of a fight or the boat goes out of commisson somehow, and then Tess can’t fly anywhere cuz she’d electrocute everyone.
the fact that the ocean handicaps just about every character except Erin is honestly amazing
I think I knew that (referring to Erin as the lynchpin), but I like the way you put it better. It’s not that they have to rely on Erin, it’s that this particular plan puts everyone ELSE at a disadvantage, and Erin is pretending he doesn’t see it…or is actively choosing not to.
That’s foreshadowing if I’ve ever seen it.
on one hand Falst, youre being a bit paranoid. On the other, youve got reason to be and Im now expecting a dragon or some other flyin critter to drop down on em, death from above style.
It seems like Falst is pretty worried about things coming from above. You what can come from above? Flying white dragon champions looking for the vessel of the void dragon…
TRIPLETS BORN
oh no now im imagining erin with a slicked back hairstyle and it… doesn’t look bad?
Headwind? Wouldn’t a tailwind be what they’d want?
…They’re gonna get attacked by dragon riding knights, I just know it.
I feel like you might care, so it bears mentioning that “headwind” is a wind pushing against the course of travel. I assume if you gave yourself a magical wind, it would be a tailwind!
On a sailing ship, isn’t a tailwind preferable to a headwind? Constant headwinds would seem to make it hard to get anywhere at all.
Headwind? They taking the slow route? Or just making sure nothing can catch up to them?
Honestly, Erin seems the type to mix up head- and tailwind.
No, I’m not just saying that because I’m the type to mix up head- and tailwind
“Headwind as long as I keep the lacrimas charged”
I think he means they’re going to be going so fast the wind direction isn’t going to matter, they’re pushing against it regardless
it was a mistake on red’s part, she changed it and updated the alt-text
Dragons? Dragons. Definitely dragons.
Nothing could possibly go wrong!
This is an automated vessel. You are perfectly safe. Nothing can possibly go wrong-
go wrong-
go wrong-
as a lion Ferin, Falst has peak cat behaviour wanting to be in a high corner somewhere. I absolutely approve
For some reason Falst in that last panel is giving me Final Fantasy vibes and I can’t figure out why.
Cats do tend to be wary of open spaces. Hope he doesn’t get scooped up by anything.
A smooth start, it seems, deceptively so?
Falst is suspicious of Erin’s great bravado
A good (belated) midsummer to all of you who celebrate!
re to alt-text:
What are you talking about, I never saw “headwind” and nobody else did either.
Neither did I
Don’t worry red, there are only so many angles before they start repeating.
Ah, drawing vehicles in wide angles. I’ve heard from various artists/animators that drawing vehicles consistently can be tough!
Many recommend modeling the object in Blender or a similar 3D app, so you can orient it however you wish and then just trace over it as roughly or accurately as you wish!
I really like how the boat is basically just the “Why not put big fan on boat to power sail” question, but it actually works cuz magic.
Those runes in the sixth panel are amazing
WAIT ok someone has probably said it already but I bet that champion guy is going to show up since he can fly and get to them in the ocean
RE Headwind vs tailwind, a slight (depends on the ship, but let’s say 20 degrees off perpendicular or so) headwind is actually optimal for speed of travel, taking advantage of the airfoil effect like a plane wing to propel the ship forward (and the keel to keep them going straight). However, a tailwind puts a lot less stress on the vessel, which is probably important with a (presumably quite strong) magically generated wind.
as to the alt text, I know what I saw RED (thank you for putting so much effort into making this treasure consistent. I hope it gives you as much if not more joy than it has given us the audience).
What was it that Tahraim said about Soulfire burning at the bottom of the ocean again? HMMMMMM
I don’t mean to be “that guy”, but from even a pretty tall mast, the horizon is only ~10 nautical miles away at sea level. So either Tess is vastly overestimating how far she can see, or this planet is noticeably larger than earth. Or the ship is pretty slow by sailing standards (which would kind of make sense, since sailing perfectly with the wind is generally not that fast, since you can only ever go as fast as it, but on a beam reach you can outpace the wind by a fair bit).