Could be so, initially I thought the bolt came from the sky but it actually came out from the lightning-sphere tess had channeled and yea tess probably launched herself off, cuz staying there would be very dangerous and also there’s a possibility that she could fall into the cave itself. So i think she jumped off, and I’m totally ready to be proven completely wrong.
I’m fairly certain that she created a ground-to-clouds lightning strike, and flew off when everything exploded.
Of course, IIRC, she can’t actually fly, so she is basically doing a Hulk Jump. Fortunately, she appears to be tough enough to always land unarmed after reaching her terminal velocity; she keeps arriving at places by landing out of the sky.
if I recall correctly, she’s not necessarily tough enough to survive her falls, I’m pretty sure her internals aren’t any more durable than an uninfluenced human’s, she just uses magic to negate the impact.
I think Tess has mentioned being able to fly through lightning manipulation before. At the very least, when doing a hulk jump, she can’t seem to avoid using her lightning powers to do it (even if it hurts Erin!).
Loquor: My lord! We’re receiving multiple reports of a large explosion on the island! Stefan: (sarcastically) No, really?
Panel 4’s explosion, lighting, lava, and the “KRACKA-THOOM” (an SFX like that is not one to be used lightly) was indeed worth the complicated lightning effects. I’d like to show some appreciation for panel 3 too; I can practically hear it as a moment of unnerving silence before the earsplitting sound of the blast.
I don’t think you have to worry, Tess. While I’m pretty sure most other gods would hate for something like this to happen to their domain, Rakhn may be the exception. He hates boredom and monotony, and was just entertained by being robbed a few hours ago; a super awesome lightning show you can only do once on his property may only improve his mood.
I’m still not certain what Tess did to accomplish this, though the deliberate choice of switching from her usual yellow to blue lightning is playing a key role. Destructively combined the oppositely charged lightnings? Deeply channeled the magic into the rock for an uncontrolled repulsion bomb?
Whatever the mechanism, it looks like one of Erin’s plans may actually go as he intended thanks to Tess! (famous last words I know)
That had me thinking about the Blue lightning. Is that the lightning type that she chose to channel to make the kaboom? Or was she using that lightning to keep the rocks together as she channeled repelling energy, and when she stopped then came the kaboom?
That is molten rock that she left behind. Yes, rock will glow before it melts, but if you applied enough energy to heat that much rock that rapidly, you are not sitting in that zone of “glowing but not yet lava”.
So, 99% of the time, a magical lightning attack clearly has several magnitudes less energy than an actual, real, mundane lightning bolt does (though precision guidance is a good trade off there).
I think Tess has flipped the scale and is at least a full magnitude above a normal lightning strike. That is an absolutely terrifying amount of molten rock and airborne debris. Just to make sure, I looked up lightning strike effects on ground, and the only thing that comes close is when happens when you get a lightning strike on a large amount of quarts (“Electromechanical disintegration” is my new phrase of the day).
That is F’ing scary, and I think counts as the equivalent of a ‘city killer’ meteor, and approaching nuclear weapon territory.
I hadn’t noticed that! Very appropriate moment for us to see her pupils for the first time, with her performing what will proably be the most powerful lightning magic we’ll see for at least the remainder of this arc.
Her… her face O,O HER FACE! And we see her pupils! And that oneliner…? Also, the muscleees… the lightning, the lighting effects! Ohohoho, ooohohoho, that is fantastic! Tess, you splendid woman you!
“Voip… KRACKATHOOOM!” That is one tasty lightningsplosion, that is. So badass. I think the one thing that remains to be said is:
You can sometimes make out Tess iris (colored part) as distinct from her sclera (white) if the shot is close enough and lighting right for Red to bother (see panel 4 of 1.15.15, panel 3 of 1.20.2, you may need to open the image in a new tab and zoom in). I assume that’s what you mean by ‘pupil’, though Tess’ actual pupil, the hole in the middle of the iris that lets light in, isn’t visible that I can see, likely due to her being metalcaste.
This is the first time Red’s drawn her iris so distinctly! I wonder if it’s a more permanent art shift or due to the situation, channeling SO MUCH lightning.
It doesn’t seem like it. She is exerting herself with this one, but she (and Dainix) just told Erin to not make dumb decisions like that again, so I don’t think she would do that too.
I don’t think so, but it probably might tucker her out- she’s got a similar glow and exertion vibe that Erin did on the boat, but it might only be a problem if she does it again. It’s a big explosion because she’s using a different type of lightning than she usually does.
I’ve been thinking since last page, why did they all come with Tess to the caves entrance? Doesn’t that mean they’re risking getting caught on the way back to shore, as the paladins inevitably converge on the KRAKOOM?
Not to mention, they can always send more spellbirds to confirm that Erin actually IS at the Singing Caves entrance, and it’s not another trick like the steam and the ambush. Maybe I just answered my own question, maybe I didn’t, I don’t know.
I assume it’s because Kendal and Erin had to lead her to the Caves entrance, and since they were going there was no reason to leave Dainix behind, especially since him and Erin are going underwater together after. The question is how far away (¾ of) the guys got before Tess did her thing.
As for the spellbirds, those are absolutely a problem, but Wind magic can also be used to disrupt them, and the Paladins are totally unaware of Erin’s particular magic-related handicaps and, by extension, that he can’t use Wind magic right now. It’s entirely possible they may assume the spellbirds not behaving as expected is because Erin is doing something to counter them in some way.
Hello everyone, just reread a 16 chapter fic and it was beautiful. (Yes it was tahraim adopts a feral storm god.)
I finished the loki show recently and even with that droughtquencher!Tynan has one of my favorite redemption arcs.
Holy wow that first panel. Tess looks (and is) amazing. Powerful and buff as heck and whoa.
Yay lightning explosions! Looking forward to seeing how all this plays out… but also dear sweet cheese and crackers I wish so badly for the Floof Squad to get respite.
oh golly me its…not redpandaofalltime
I miss y’all I’m sorry I got busy LMAO I still love Dainix I’ll return eventually
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: this is what kid me thought would happen if I touched both nodes of a battery at the same time
Image source: try
tumblr text: voip
Bluesky text: oh THERE’S my earth-shattering kaboom
What a powerful explosion, and so wonderfully detailed. A true spectacle for the eyes.
All according to plan.
Hehehe tess go kaboom
hehehe (in place of like)
hehehe
Hehehe
i’ve never seen VOIP used as an onomatopeia and i still heard it very clearly
me when the voice over internet protocol
I absolutely love the use of “VOIP.” Reminds me of Cern’s “HOIT” in Dungeons and Daddies.
Clearly you are not versed in the lore of HomestarRunner.com
Did she also launch herself into the stratosphere with this?
Could be so, initially I thought the bolt came from the sky but it actually came out from the lightning-sphere tess had channeled and yea tess probably launched herself off, cuz staying there would be very dangerous and also there’s a possibility that she could fall into the cave itself. So i think she jumped off, and I’m totally ready to be proven completely wrong.
Uh… Tess, are you alright?
So, uhhhhh… Is Tess okay after that?! Because that’s not just lightning!!
I’m fairly certain that she created a ground-to-clouds lightning strike, and flew off when everything exploded.
Of course, IIRC, she can’t actually fly, so she is basically doing a Hulk Jump. Fortunately, she appears to be tough enough to always land unarmed after reaching her terminal velocity; she keeps arriving at places by landing out of the sky.
if I recall correctly, she’s not necessarily tough enough to survive her falls, I’m pretty sure her internals aren’t any more durable than an uninfluenced human’s, she just uses magic to negate the impact.
I think Tess has mentioned being able to fly through lightning manipulation before. At the very least, when doing a hulk jump, she can’t seem to avoid using her lightning powers to do it (even if it hurts Erin!).
Voip
Her expression really reminds me of Erin in 2-2-29. They really are siblings
Oooooh you’re right!
when you smite something so hard with lightning you invent
Voice
over
I
P
KRAKA!!!!!!!!!!!!
toa!
Nice reference
Kraka toa, kraka thoom!
Kraka toa, kraka thoom!
Kraka toa, kraka thoom!
Thoom, thoom thoom, thoom, thoom thoom thoom.
Kraka toa, kraka thoom!
Enjoy this volcanic techno beat. 🙂
Loquor: My lord! We’re receiving multiple reports of a large explosion on the island!
Stefan: (sarcastically) No, really?
Panel 4’s explosion, lighting, lava, and the “KRACKA-THOOM” (an SFX like that is not one to be used lightly) was indeed worth the complicated lightning effects. I’d like to show some appreciation for panel 3 too; I can practically hear it as a moment of unnerving silence before the earsplitting sound of the blast.
I don’t think you have to worry, Tess. While I’m pretty sure most other gods would hate for something like this to happen to their domain, Rakhn may be the exception. He hates boredom and monotony, and was just entertained by being robbed a few hours ago; a super awesome lightning show you can only do once on his property may only improve his mood.
I’m still not certain what Tess did to accomplish this, though the deliberate choice of switching from her usual yellow to blue lightning is playing a key role. Destructively combined the oppositely charged lightnings? Deeply channeled the magic into the rock for an uncontrolled repulsion bomb?
Whatever the mechanism, it looks like one of Erin’s plans may actually go as he intended thanks to Tess! (famous last words I know)
Well, Red answered the question about what happened on the Aurora tumblr; Tess is channeling lightning into the rocks so that everything is so strongly repelling itself that it blows apart (https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/813328071664041984/hello-the-discord-has-been-trying-to-puzzle-out).
That had me thinking about the Blue lightning. Is that the lightning type that she chose to channel to make the kaboom? Or was she using that lightning to keep the rocks together as she channeled repelling energy, and when she stopped then came the kaboom?
Now I’m wondering if Rakhn’s ignians could make fireworks. I think he’d love fireworks shows.
And then, Loquor heard it; a hundred voices crying out at once: “What the F**K was that?”
well that’s one hell of a plasma ball you’ve got here
That is molten rock that she left behind. Yes, rock will glow before it melts, but if you applied enough energy to heat that much rock that rapidly, you are not sitting in that zone of “glowing but not yet lava”.
So, 99% of the time, a magical lightning attack clearly has several magnitudes less energy than an actual, real, mundane lightning bolt does (though precision guidance is a good trade off there).
I think Tess has flipped the scale and is at least a full magnitude above a normal lightning strike. That is an absolutely terrifying amount of molten rock and airborne debris. Just to make sure, I looked up lightning strike effects on ground, and the only thing that comes close is when happens when you get a lightning strike on a large amount of quarts (“Electromechanical disintegration” is my new phrase of the day).
That is F’ing scary, and I think counts as the equivalent of a ‘city killer’ meteor, and approaching nuclear weapon territory.
Thank you for sharing your research! Tess is awesome ❤️
I think the molten rock is from the volcano, not the lightning. But still, splitting a mountain open takes quite a strike.
Gods, Tess is so fucking cool.
The first panel reminds me so much of the one where Erin goes “heh.. trivial” Ruunasers gonna Ruunaser i love them
Right? I love those moments where you can see their similarities.
Yep, think they noticed that! Boom goes the Tess-amite!
WOAH TESS IS SO COOL!
Also; is the dragon in the top left corner of the last panel ok?
I’m pretty sure that Dragon is ok, you can see it winging towards the explosion in the last panel
That is some big lightning
She channeled enough lightning that she had pupils in the first panel!
I hadn’t noticed that! Very appropriate moment for us to see her pupils for the first time, with her performing what will proably be the most powerful lightning magic we’ll see for at least the remainder of this arc.
I mean knowing Rakhn, He’d probably say “ooh pretty fireworks”
first panel reminding me how much i love women
“Volcanic Strike!” – Tess
why is the low poly dragon dodging the explosion so cute
Kablooie!
Kablooie!
Huh. Looks like Tess touched both terminals on a battery at the same time!
You think they noticed?
Her… her face O,O HER FACE! And we see her pupils! And that oneliner…? Also, the muscleees… the lightning, the lighting effects! Ohohoho, ooohohoho, that is fantastic! Tess, you splendid woman you!
“Voip… KRACKATHOOOM!” That is one tasty lightningsplosion, that is. So badass. I think the one thing that remains to be said is:
“Yep. That definitely got their attention.”
Is this the first time we’ve seen Tess with pupils?!
You can sometimes make out Tess iris (colored part) as distinct from her sclera (white) if the shot is close enough and lighting right for Red to bother (see panel 4 of 1.15.15, panel 3 of 1.20.2, you may need to open the image in a new tab and zoom in). I assume that’s what you mean by ‘pupil’, though Tess’ actual pupil, the hole in the middle of the iris that lets light in, isn’t visible that I can see, likely due to her being metalcaste.
This is the first time Red’s drawn her iris so distinctly! I wonder if it’s a more permanent art shift or due to the situation, channeling SO MUCH lightning.
“voip” and “KRAKATHOOM” are both superb onomatopoeia that I’ve never seen before!
I know “voip” from Homestar Runner.com, and I know “krack-a-thoom” from the webcomic El Goonish Shive.
Voice over IP indeed
To clarify, is Tess overchanneling?
It doesn’t seem like it. She is exerting herself with this one, but she (and Dainix) just told Erin to not make dumb decisions like that again, so I don’t think she would do that too.
I think the question is: CAN Tess over channel, as she’s technically not a mage?
I don’t think so, but it probably might tucker her out- she’s got a similar glow and exertion vibe that Erin did on the boat, but it might only be a problem if she does it again. It’s a big explosion because she’s using a different type of lightning than she usually does.
You know an explosion is big when you have to use a dragon for scale.
Banana for scale wouldn’t really work here XD
I’ve been thinking since last page, why did they all come with Tess to the caves entrance? Doesn’t that mean they’re risking getting caught on the way back to shore, as the paladins inevitably converge on the KRAKOOM?
Not to mention, they can always send more spellbirds to confirm that Erin actually IS at the Singing Caves entrance, and it’s not another trick like the steam and the ambush. Maybe I just answered my own question, maybe I didn’t, I don’t know.
I assume it’s because Kendal and Erin had to lead her to the Caves entrance, and since they were going there was no reason to leave Dainix behind, especially since him and Erin are going underwater together after. The question is how far away (¾ of) the guys got before Tess did her thing.
As for the spellbirds, those are absolutely a problem, but Wind magic can also be used to disrupt them, and the Paladins are totally unaware of Erin’s particular magic-related handicaps and, by extension, that he can’t use Wind magic right now. It’s entirely possible they may assume the spellbirds not behaving as expected is because Erin is doing something to counter them in some way.
But we’ll see.
WOW that lightning
Love me a good *KRACKA-THOOM* (and how surprised that one dragon looks from body language alone)
She’s so good I love her SO much
Hello everyone, just reread a 16 chapter fic and it was beautiful. (Yes it was tahraim adopts a feral storm god.)
I finished the loki show recently and even with that droughtquencher!Tynan has one of my favorite redemption arcs.
Holy wow that first panel. Tess looks (and is) amazing. Powerful and buff as heck and whoa.
Yay lightning explosions! Looking forward to seeing how all this plays out… but also dear sweet cheese and crackers I wish so badly for the Floof Squad to get respite.