Unsounded

Very carefully

#deadhorsejoke

edited 1st May '15 7:27:24 AM by TotemicHero

Hmm... Is she proposing to make Duane a "Khert-walker" such as herself? (Or indicating that he already is one, and is proposing to educate him in the ways of being such?)

And is Murkoph perhaps one too—perhaps even a previous student of hers, or her "lost love"?

Speaking of whom, once again bad things are happening!

Been waiting for Murkoph to really get into the main plot.

I'm just hoping that he doesn't end up doing so by hijacking Duane's body, as he seems to be attempting. o_o

That said, his doing so would make for an interesting turn, and the Lady's offer of teaching Duane as a Khert-walker may open up new avenues for the latter to attack Murkoph even after such a hijacking, and ways for him to interact with the material world from within the Khert...

edited 1st May '15 9:13:02 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

Shenanigans at the municipal offices. Ashley's said that no country is supposed to be the "good" one, but come on. Alderode is a segregated, totalitarian hellhole. Sharteshane is a Wretched Hive on a country scale, and Cresce is a socialist haven with guaranteed employment and food, and super-high level magitek. They got elevators for Christ's sake!

But socialism is evil!

Seriously though, some of Duane's flashbacks paint a pretty damning picture. Weren't they willing to sacrifice half their citizens to a plague or something? Haven't done an Archive Binge in a while.

Crese is great if you don't value personal freedom that much. Not to mention all the signs of corruption, and Duane's hate of Crese seems oddly personal, speaking of the idea we don't know all there is to know about their tactics yet.

They also didn't consider Elan useful enough to treat his heart. But there could be many people who get better medical care than they could afford elsewhere... And they're Gefendur, which means they practice human sacrifice, and probably kill heretics.

Not exactly; Alderode has two official religions, the Ssaelit and Gefendur, each with the same number of seats(two?) on the ruling council. The weeping plague killed far more Ssaelit, so the Gefendur, who became the dominant religion in the continent by wiping out countless others, want the council to be "rebalanced" to reflect that, giving them a majority. A Ssaelit councilman suggested that they should intentionally spread the plague to Gefendur areas.

edited 6th May '15 9:10:30 PM by ManInGray

Well, some of the things Elka and Toma have said seem to suggest that Cresce is pretty brutal and heavy-handed when it comes to dealing with dissent.

Quigley's not good with the whole "non-lethal" thing.

Toma and Quigley getting along surprisingly well, considering.

....well then.]

Shit is going DOWN yo!

Family friendly comic.

Weeeeeeeeellllp.

I do not feel bad for these people. At all. Go freaky red things!

It's nice to see karma happening in this webcomic every few hundreds of pages.

Poor Sette though. Not the best time or place to be tied to a chair.

It is actually about the worst time and place to be tied to a chair, ever.

Jesus Christ, Ashley. The quality of the art is only offset by how gruesome everything is. And I feel sorry for Stockyard, that poor bastard.

Reap what you sow.

Oh no.

Denied. Okay this is enough multi-posting.

Problem is, I have no idea what to say about this.

I don't know whether this was mentioned previously in this thread, but some of the commenters on the comic's front-page have speculated that Murkoph might be Ssael. The points that I recall offhand were that Murkoph's facial scars are very similar to the painted representations of Ssael's wounds that Duane wore as part of his priestly work, and (somewhat tenuously, I feel) on this most recent page Duane addresses a question to Ssael, and Murkoph answers.

I'm not convinced, but it's an interesting idea, at the least...

edited 11th Jun '15 7:38:05 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

Another theory I've seen is that he's part of Ssael. Specifically the mortal, vice-ridden part of himself he shed when he ascended to godhood.

That's also an interesting idea; I rather like it.

I'm reminded of Ultima IX, albeit that the concept seems rather less... unsatisfying (not to mention contradictory) in this context.

Another thought: will Murkoph make it out of the Khert? It seems likely—he's supposed to be a major character in the story, I gather.

If so, then how? I truly hope that it's not in Duane's body, and I doubt that another such body is likely to make itself available any time soon.

Perhaps he'll manage to find some alternate method of manifestation? Infestation of a pymaric construct, perhaps, as we've seen happen elsewhere? Or as something similar to the ghosts that we've seen?

Something to do with Sette, perhaps? We still don't know the secret behind her nature, after all.

edited 11th Jun '15 8:40:52 AM by ArsThaumaturgis