2.3.20
on November 13, 2024
at 3:00 am
everyone say thank you to the dragon for doing me a personal favor by slowly whittling down the list of glow effects I need to layer on top of each other
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
Oh he’s so annoying
Michael must be glad there’s finally something he can understand, that he was prepared for
The playing field has been levelled! Walter has revealed himself, sort of! Michael is getting dragon claws!
(I really, really want to see VD!Erin with void claws and wings eventually, sometime in the future)
I think it’s hilarious that this whole chapter is basically one guy who’s used to being the outside-context problem suddenly finding himself being subjected to an actual conga-line of other outside-context problems (i.e. our heroes) one after another. And honestly, that really brings just how bonkers everyone’s situations are into sharp relief better than anything else.
The coloring these few pages has been awful. White on white, blue on blue. I checked all my monitor settings, so no, it’s not just me. Took me reading many a comment to realize that there has been a white crown over some characters.
What?
It reads pretty well to me. The crown on the Paladin is a bit hard to see, but the rest of them, even Dainix, have been easy to see.
Have you considered taking an eye test? You might have a form of colour blindness, or at least reduced sensitivity to one of the primary colours. That would also explain why changing the monitor settings didn’t help.
Thanks Walter! 😊
VD is not doing it out of the goodness of its heart. I am sure Kendal is not going to appreciate Walter’s interference. But is services Walter very well.
Anakin Lightwalker vs The Floof Squad; Round Two!!
Now everyone’s extra-angry at him!
Fingergun, headshot!
And CRACK goes the diadems!
Good luck, bodyguard…
This is easily my favorite haiku so far
😀
Man, love how Walter is both helping and making everything way worse at the same time.
Everyone’s freed, but now Michael has seen Walter do something…
How did you come up with Walter name? Ah, let me guess, some random non-cannon twitter thread?
They came up with it when they didn’t know what VD was, because it was funny
And the name stuck
Like how we’re calling the Champion Michael for now
A spear of Void breaks the Diadem bright
Then Walter leaves, gleefully, in mid-fight
Erin’s body flicks out a ray of void
That shatter’s the Champion’s crown.
The other diadems all break with it,
While Erin lays back down.
“There you are,” the Champion snarls.
Erin smiles like a sleeping cat.
“Best of luck now,” the Dragon says,
To Kendal in their mental chat.
How do you two consistently write such good poetry so fast?
I’ve been wondering for a while now, what’s the appeal of giving something with such a boring name an even lamer name?
Well, I’d hardly say Void Dragon is a boring name.
Anyway, the name Walter was chosen when we didn’t have a name for him, and it was a humourous contrast to his scary demeanor.
Because it’s fun. Like Stark said, it contrasts with Its personality and actions, which makes it all the more entertaining. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, nor strictly necessary anymore since we know what It’s called now. But I at least find it fun, precisely because of its “lameness”.
Maybe it doesn’t work for me because of my inablity to find anything he does scary or impressive
And those kind of jokes always seemed off in some way to me
Also, thank you Void Dragon for allowing other people the opportunity to actually do something.
Aurora Question #20: What additional glow effects could be layered on?
Life magic, now that Alinua is freed. Maybe whatever aura the volcano god on Rakhn emits. More lightning?
The storm starts breaking, so there’s sunshine and rainbows in the background?
LIGHTNING!!! Tess is back in the fight now!
A giant anglerfish appears to eat the ship. They find a lighthouse.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: he could at least pretend to not be having fun with this
Image source: luck
Twitter text: My work here is done.
Tumblr Text: Tumblr has stopped showing the link preview images, so here’s one I got special just for you!
. The Void Dragon twists to the side, flicking the bolt of Void directly at the Champion. It shoots past his arm and hits him right in the Diadem-Crown, snapping his head back as the spell shatters, his sword of light fracturing.
. Dainix roars, Tess’s eyes snap open, Alinua relaxes as their Diadems are broken, no power holding their minds.
. The Champion rubs his head, Light and Void streaming off it and his arm. He clamps his hand into a fist, a burst of Light dispelling the Void.
. “There you are,” he snarls, face a mask of anger, Light forming into claws on his hand.
. “Best of luck now,” the Void Dragon says, grinning, the light from the broken Diadem dispelling in the air. Kendal watches the Champion, shocked but determined.
Welp. This is both bad and good. Good that the Diadems are gone. Bad that Champion is even more pissed off.
Wow. Crucible Dainix looks TERRIFYING in that mini panel.
Walter’s having the time of his life rn watching Lucy actually have to deal with friends actually being on his side for once. Maybe soon he will learn the power of friendship is more powerful than Hunger. I think, I mean you’re not you when you’re hungry.
Anyone ever fed him a snickers?
“Finally!”
“Unmistakable.”
“I can allow no further delays”
“This one…”
Thank you, Walter.
i think its interesting that the void dragon decided to free *everyone* of the void diadems. it’d have been easy to just free erin and hope alinua or tess don’t survive the fire, it’d make his whole job easier if the primordial of life wasn’t around thats for sure.
but there is the question if he can take erin to the shore alive ,it doesn’t matter if life is dead if erin dies too, especially considering how life can take another vessel faster than the V.D can take another magus
I think he had to. We saw that the Champion could reapply the diadem to Kendal with ease so long as his own crown was up, I assume it would take much more effort on his/LD’s part to remake the crown (effort that isn’t worth it if VD can break it this easily and it won’t hold Kendal and Dainix anyway). If VD just freed Erin, it would have taken all of 2 seconds to trap him again.
Welp. Voidy has made GlowBoy even more angry.
Thank you Voidy for doing your dark dragon duty and decreasing the number of pretty glowy magic lights that need to be layered, I’m sure that your great creator Red appreciates the hard work
Thank you Voidy for helping Red by reducing the amount of glow effects!
Looks like Walter is trying to get on Kendal’s good side. Even worse, he might be trying to get on Erin’s good side. He already used void magic once, now Walter is being helpful. It might relax his guard I’m the long term.
and they were roommates
Wonder what Falst is doing?
Exactly what I was thinking! Considering all the dialog, I think it must be his turn by now, right?
Hopefully he’s driving the boat. Or getting a back up water lacrima from below deck.
Thank you Void Dragon for hleping Red not go insane by reducing the volume of ambient glow effects. Yes, hleping. You heard me.
So did you intentionally misspell it twice or were you making your claim that the void dragon is helping extra clear? If it’s the latter yes I agree that the void dragon is helping in several ways both for red and to free everyone. He’s just simultaneously being very smug and kinda rude while doing it. And may have some ulterior motives. But you can absolutely help someone while doing all of those things.
Thanks Walter!
LOL!! I love Erin/Walter’s expression: smug – but with the just a touch of relief because they realize that they have friends. Because friends may disapprove, may slap you down, but will protect you when a threat approaches. I’m guessing that Walter has never had that feeling before. New can be nice.
I think you misreading Erin’s face and VD words. To me Walter is enjoying Kendal’s consternation about the situation, but that’s just me. Never trust a hungry star sucker I say!
Erin: Ahh! (whips hand over to lighting rune to self-paralyse again)
Kendal: (grabs Erin’s hand) I think we can skip that this time.
I like how the Champion’s face is in shadow for panel 8; it’s because his swords de-manifested, yes, but it does give his line more venom. Speaking of the swords, love how their cracking in panel 3 matches the styling of the CRACK SFX; V.D.’s attack was small, but significant in disrupting the Champion. No wonder L.D. wants to deal with Erin now before he becomes more powerful.
I think this experience has shown V.D. that Erin was right; he does need the gang’s help against the Paladins and other threats. He was helpless against Crucible-Dainix and the Champion would have killed Erin here and now were it not for Kendal, both elements he did not know about or know how to counter. He destroyed the diadem to help them help him, but also makes sure to sound like an ass doing so.
Hopefully with the Diadem gone Dainix can calm down and Erin can take back control, but I do worry that it may be too late for those. Dainix is in full Crucible form and both times he’s transformed this far, it’s taken a long time to turn back; plenty of time for his fire form to cause problems. And while V.D. isn’t possessing like he normally is, that doesn’t imply Erin is resisting him; for all we know those overchannel side effects Tess mentioned have kicked in and Erin isn’t doing too good.
Another good thing about the diadem breaking is that the Champion and L.D. won’t know that Falst had broken it by himself. They now know about Kendal’s immunity to some of their techniques and are alarmed at Dainix’s abilities, but they’re still in the dark about Alinua and Falst. Better to keep them secret for the surprise factor in future fights.
Paladain champion is holding on surprisingly long, but after fighting Kendal and being jumped by Danix, will he be able to fight VD?
*Thank you, VD*
While Walter *has* decreased the number of glow effects he also greatly increased the number of characters that need to be kept track of in fight choreography, so I don’t know how much hes actually reduced the amount of work Red has to do
Thinky-work and artsy-work are different, I suppose it depends on what’s easier and/or less time-consuming for Red.
Hey where’s Falst? And at this point I’m wondering if he’s going to try to sneak attack the paladin with an eight foot vertical leap! There’s a couple things he could be doing but until proven otherwise I will not except the boring answer of: probably trying to free someone from a diadem. Because as stated that’s the boring answer.
My guess is he is trying to steer the ship towards land.
Is anyone else hearing Xanatos’s voice when Walter is speaking? Just me?
VD is having a great time. He’s had to deal with the Floof Squad and their weirdness for ages and now someone else, someone he doesn’t like, has to deal with them. Ah, sweet schadenfreude. Someone get him a bucket of popcorn
In one move Walter both put all of Erin’s friend back in the fight and drastically reduced the odds that the paladin with talk to the floof squad; and let’s take a moment to appreciate how tricky it would be to precisely hit a moving target that small, at range, with a flick of the wrist.
Which plan is going worse, Erin’s or the Paladin’s?
Erin’s “Keep the Void Dragon in Check” plan is going amazingly well. He seems downright disinterested in taking over at this time.
His “Let’s Sail to Helm in a Day” plan is… eh. They’re almost there, but the ship’s dangerously close to sinking. And for a sinking ship, the difference between ‘there’ and ‘almost there’ is drowning.
The Paladin’s plan? Basically trashed. Not one thing has gone according to his will since landing on this ship.
I love the smugness of VD. He sounds like he’s actually having fun, without making it all about throwing the Fluff Crew under the bus for his amusement. He’s actually helping!
That smug goober lmao. The real trick here is, now that he’s gone and directly helped the gang, there’s waaay less chance of talking it out and ending up on good terms with purple bro’s nemesis
Kicks the hornets nest and then just throws Kendall in front of it.
Gotta love Voidy’s panache.
Last page might have been more fitting to post this, but I have decided that the Void Dragon’s theme song is “If You Fall” (UNDREAM x Brad Arthur) until further notice
Thank you, Dragon! 🙂
Rip light diadem, only lasted 11 pages
Longer than a lot of magical attacks last tbh
Speaking of things lasting, how much longer are we giving Kendal’s shirt?
Man, those damn concentration spells. Just can’t hold up to a good smack across the head. In other news, Michael has a pretty low Constitution score if he can’t make that save.
To mix systems a bit, his Cool can’t be super high either. Given how thoroughly he failed to Read this Bad Situation.
Which game is this?
dnd
I know con saves are dnd, but what’s cool and reading situations from?
It’s from MotW (Monster of the Week).
i mean his concentration lasted fighting against kendal and dainix and was only broken by literal divine intervention, i wouldnt be surprised if this was an asspull by the DM to let the others join the fight
TL;DR: Pew pew, now get him guys
I love that Walter has been basically forced into helping out our heroes because it’s his best bet if he wants Erin to live, while the Light Dragon (via Michael) is actively being a hindrance to everyone, including herself. Almost makes it seem like the Void Dragon is more of a good guy than his Light counterpart.
Well, think about it from the Light Dragon’s perspective. Your worst enemy has finally acquired a vessel after 4000 (I’m right about that, right? 4000 years?) of stalling. Now, he’s crossing the ocean with no risk of collateral damage, aside from what should have been 5 innocent humans. Perfect opportunity to wipe out the void dragon’s last chance at freedom.
Well, the Elder Races have existed for over 6100 years, the Storm of Magic (which was the trap VD has set) stayed unsprung for some 4500 years.
Nothing more annoying than having your concentration on your powerful spell broken
So VD did a neat politics roll here, most likely hoping to force the Floof Gang and Pal Mike to fight to death. Pal Mike knows for sure there’s his mortal enemy, his lifegoal, the threat to everything having control over their vessel – he must succeed, so diplomacy is not an option. Pal Mike dies -> points for VD. Anybody from the Fluff Gang dies -> less control over VD -> points for VD. All with a flick of fingers.
The only downside is the possibility that the Fluff Gang all die and the Pally gets to do the whatever that will supposedly kill both Erin and VD…assuming that’s actually a viable threat – from what I’m seeing of this lawful stupid paladin, I’m guessing that their approach is, in fact, just going to make things worse if they do win.
He doesnt need to kill the VD, he needs to kill erin, killing erin postpones walter’s plan until atleast another elemental magus is born and there is always the possibility of the next magus not falling for walter’s trap and not becoming his vessel
The coloring these few pages has been awful. White on white, blue on blue. I checked all my monitor settings, so no, it’s not just me. Took me reading many a comment to realize that there has been a white crown over some characters.
Oh yeah. I didn’t realize that those might be hard to see, but makes sense. Yeah, there’s been a crown of light over all of the characters except Kendal and Falst (who broke it a few pages back).
Oh, it makes more sense this was a seperate comment and not you replying to me. mb.
It’s white on blue because Michael showed up with his light magic and stuck a paralysing glowing Diadem over everyone. It fell off Kendal and Crucible!Dainix has been ignoring it, though.
Anyway, expect more white/blue glow effects in the near future, but there should be more of a variety of colour now Walter’s a. broken the diadem and b. brought everyone else back into the game
(I wouldn’t say the colouring has been awful though)
Oh, it’s you again… great…
I know you said it’s not just you, but I’ll have to say it is just you. They were very easily visible from the first page the appeared on. Like, I just went back through to check, literally the only one that is sometimes harder to see is the one on the champion, and that one was enormously visible and focused on in the first two pages after they appeared. After that it could really be assumed that any reasonable reader would remember its presence despite the rest of the white glow surrounding this particular character.
Have they commented here before?
Who’re they again?
They commented on 2.2.25 as PlotHoleMan and PlotHoleMan2
I’m also fairly certain that “brisklyglittery” on pages 2.2.26 and 27 was the same person. At least briskly had the exact same “concerns” about “plot holes” and the comic’s quality, the same “nicknames” for the characters, and the same charming style as the PlotHoleMan a page earlier.
Would be a coincidence of cosmic proportions if that wasn’t the same person.
Ahhhh.
“there is no balm more soothing for criticism than ‘ah. this guy again'”
I do love a cocky villain, ESPECIALLY when they’re temporarily on the heroes’ side at the time.
As Voidy was saying last page, he didn’t really need to break the mind crowns at this point, but I think he just likes causing problems on purpose.
I wonder what Michael’s voice actually sounds like. As in, he has the blue speech bubbles, which make me think that his voice has taken on a quality similar to the Lady’s voice. What if Erin’s speech bubbles start to drip with Void as his possession progresses?
Yeah, good question… I’ve noticed his fancy speech bubbles and the filled-out glowing eyes make him look an awful lot like the gods in Aurora.
…wait a minute. IS Michael a god?
Probably not. There’s been times when Alinua has had both of those things due to Life’s influence.
i like to think that there is a bit of echo with the lady when he speaks kinda like the times when alinua’s dialogue bubble gets a second tail
That would be storming terrifying. Would make for a great cliffhanger though – the last panel has Erin saying something accidentally with a purple outline – ‘See you on monday!’ says Red.
Does the Lady have a name yet? She feels like possibly a Vanessa.
“Lucy” has been catching on recently.
People have been using ‘Lucy’ from what I’ve seen, but Vanessa does fit lol
I never thought I’d say this, but… go Void Dragon!
I do like how much fun he seems to be having. I’m imagining him just sitting in Erin’s brain with a bag of popcorn watching this unfold.
Thank you, Walter.
Panel one looks pretty cool (VD just doing a finger gun at the paladin and shooting a bullet of Void), and I like the three panels with the diadems releasing. Maybe Dainix will calm down soon. Maybe. Hopefully.
I think someone already asked this, but where’s Falst? Will we get to see his combat light power things again? How will the rest of fight go, now that Tess and Alinua are back? Can Michael just re-cast the diadem? I’m very excited for the rest of this scene, even if I don’t 100% know what’s going on with the magic. The art is especially good.
Boom, headshot!
Thank you, Walter…you little shit. Who knew Eldritch Abominations could be so bratty?
I feel like VD’s quips on the previous page are aimed at breaking down trust, to eventually get Erin kicked out of Team Floof so that the breaking-down-of-will LD has warned of can occur without interruption.
The first panel is honestly pretty similar to the Tynan Fight. Erin’s down, VD’s blasting void at a dragon figure, Dainix is going haywire, and Kendal’s just trying his best to hold it all together.
Has anyone else noticed that panel where Michael makes a fist has void around it too? I think that void bullet clipped his sword! His hand was covered in void for a moment before he reformed that claw of Light.