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Umbria/Zaedalkaah
You can trust her.
Umbria/Zaedalkaah"I'm as innocent as a child with a fresh, delicious heart."
Umbria/Zaedalkaah is a secondary antagonist in the comic. She has had quite a bit of screen time, and has had many adventures on her quest to get her old body (and character classes?) back. Her quest is basically the B Plot of the entire comic.
- Anti-Climax Boss: In-Universe and Downplayed. Umbria is certainly very dangerous, but when Julie was first warned of Zaedalkah she was only told that it was a powerful imprisoned demon and was actually annoyed at learning its true identity, as she already knew that Zaedalkah was "just" a fiendish assassin when she expected something much more powerful. This doesn't mean Umbria is not dangerous nor a threat, but Julie was expecting something far worse. note
- Back from the Dead: Zaedalkaah's rebirth took the form of whatever revived him. Since it was Julie's form, he may also qualify as a Gender Bender.
- Badass Teacher: When conventionally teaching her non-bard orchestra wasn't working so well, she opted to take them to Mr. Moriatos' practice dungeon for real combat/dungeon experience. She has helped twelve of her students gain their first bard level so far.
- Beta Test Baddie: Umbria was initially on a quest to regain her power and her true form, which this female bardic form isn't. Her former employers however, refuse to take her back due to her weakened state. She ultimately ends up stuck in the Souballo Empire, albeit with a high ranking position, and seems to have dropped this for now, though she is still trying to increase her influence.
- Card-Carrying Villain: She's evil and knows it.
- Combat Pragmatist: This combined with luck is how she's survived so long on her own.
- Consummate Liar: Subverted somewhat. She thinks she's a great liar, but her lying isn't that great, and Jason and Trevoricus caught on and eventually kicked her out of the group.
- Cool Teacher: Many of her students seem to think this... when she's not being really mean to them.
- Dark Action Girl: Quite excellent in combat, and evil.
- Deadpan Snarker: Definitely has her moments, and finding out Angelo's Kids is part of The Empire was probably the
best one. - De-power: Zaedalkaah's reincarnation required her to take Julie's class and levels, making her a Level 3 bard in the beginning. We see that her previous incarnation was stronger than this, to the point of being a famous assassin in the Brotherhood. The guild no longer wants her now that she's weak, so her main goal is to reclaim her lost power.
- Evil Twin: To Julie.
- Eye Scream: She seems to like stabbing people in the eye with her Rapier.
- Fanservice Pack: Inverted just like with Angelika and Julie. Umbria gets a costume change starting from comic #350 onward
which no longer shows off her legs. - Gender Bender: Umbria was originally a male, fiend touched being named Zaedalkaah, but was forced to reincarnate as an Evil Twin of the person who released him from his prison, Julie. She initially tries to recover her old body and class by requesting the help of the organization she once belonged to, but ends up thwarted and sidetracked. She takes her present form in stride, and finds Julie's good looks useful for manipulating people. For the time being at least, she has more or less settled for remaining this way.
- Gilded Cage: She was taken to Souballo HQ and, though in luxury, was forced to produce an anthem for the Souballo Empire.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Umbria's character design is an "evil palette swap" of Julie's design. She lampshades this when talking to two evangelists of Angelo's Kids.
- It's All About Me: Umbria is extremely conceited and self-centered, using people around her at any opportunity to get ahead.
- Jerkass: During her travels with Trevoricus and Jason, she treats them like crap. When she gets voluntered to create the Souballo Empire's anthem, she treats her assigned orchestra like crap.
- Magic Music: A much darker reprise to Julie's powers.
- Manipulative Bitch: She has used Jason's (and Trevoricus' to a lesser extent) attraction to her as well as their greed to get them to do whatever she wants. They wised up and tossed her out of the group.
- Meaningful Name: As Umbria, derived from the Latin for shadow. She is a darker version of Julie who was cast into existence.
- Musical Assassin: Though in her past life, he was more traditional.
- Neutral Evil: Doesn't have any bias for or against law, but is clearly evil.
- Non-Lethal K.O.: Thanks to a bungled move silently check, the Scroll Shop Wizard heard Zaedalkaah coming and promptly foiled the assassination by petrifying him.
- Psycho for Hire: As an assassin, and now for the Souballo Empire; she loves her work and doesn't much care on whose behalf she's killing.
- Psychotic Smirk: Likes doing these a lot.
- Putting on the Reich: Starting with comic #350 she seems to have embraced the dress code of The Empire.
- Quirky Bard: Albeit evil...
- Royal Rapier: Her weapon of choice.
- Sealed Evil in a Wand: Until Julie accidentally released it.
- Smug Snake: Anyone not more powerful than her she tends to treat like crap... and she's even snuck a few snide remarks at the more powerful people around her. She's shown to be very conceited and overconfident, even though most of her successes were due to dumb luck.
- Terrible Trio: With Trevoricus and Jason, until they kicked her out. But then Angelo forces them, along with Jane, to work together again for his own amusement.
- The Unfettered: Umbria seems to be willing to do whatever it takes to reclaim her old power. She manipulates and lies to people, kills them, and has joined Angelo's Kids not because she believes in their dogma but because she believes it's a decent way to achieve her goals.
Jason Moriatos
Not too bright...
Jason Moriatos"Now that I think about it, a 3 vs 5 fight wasn't too smart anyway."
Jason is a barbarian who was part of a three-person team of bandits who attacked Julie's group. They lost, and Jane was killed (though not by Julie's group). Umbria watched over them and joined the group. Jason seems to be attracted to Umbria and is fairly easily bent to her will.
- Badass Normal: Uses his strength and combat skills instead of magic.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Jason comes from an evil family. This may attribute to why he's such a Horrible Judge of Character.
- Evil Matriarch: Jason's mom is implied to be one.
- Evil Matriarch: Jason's mom is implied to be one.
- Brains and Brawn: The brawn part, while Trevoricus is the brains.
- Captain Obvious: States some pretty obvious things during his and Trevoricus' travels with Umbria.
- The Ditz: Jason can be pretty friendly, but he isn't very bright.
- Dumb Muscle: Jason doesn't strike the viewer as very smart.
- Epic Flail: Jason's choice is a one-handed flail.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He welcomed Umbria as the new leader of their little group with little question.
- Superhero School: Jason graduated from "Olivia's school for Responsible Barbarians".
- Terrible Trio: With Trevoricus and Umbria.
- True Neutral: Doesn't have the chaos we've seen in Pauline, and goes along with whoever is commanding him.
- The Unfavorite: Implied when compared to his sister, who has so much more power and so many more achievements.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Jason comes from an evil family. Jason has complained about them chiding Jason over not being more evil like them.
Trevoricus
"Confuse a little human girl for a halfling ONCE and they never let it go!"
Trevoricus is another part of Jane's team, before it was hijacked by Umbria. Trevoricus is a gnome wizard who is unliked by the law due to some unfortunate mistakes and indescretions he had with a young female human child. He is also the brains of the group, though he too passively follows Umbria's selfish and crazy schemes.
- '80s Hair: When he talked about his past he was shown with a pretty epic '80s mullet.
- Accidental Pervert: A camp full of halflings and the girl he propositions turns out to be an underage human.
- Action Survivor: In his backstory comic, he tells that he fled when his hometown was destroyed by the Souballo Empire.
- Brains and Brawn: The brains part.
- Cowardly Lion: He's not known for his guts and knows it. It took him over 100 pages of comic to confront Umbria with her jerkassery. Thanks to help from Jane's Ghost, he gets over his cowardice, confronts Umbria and kicks her out of the group.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: He eventually explains that the "molestation accident" was him mistaking a human child for a halfling adult; he had good reason for that, since he was traveling with a caravan of halflings.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: He is a gnome, and they are short, yellow-skinned humanoids with pointy tails.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: In the tale of his past, we can see him rapping "Top That" with two other guys. It's as awful as it sounds.
- The Resenter: Towards Jason at times in regards to his success with women (or supposed success with Umbria).
- Running Gag: Umbria ribbing him over the whole accidental attempted child sex thing. Though the only one who finds that funny is Umbria herself.
- Squishy Wizard: Trevoricus has the least amount of physical strength in the trio.
- Terrible Trio: With Jason and Umbria.
- True Neutral: Not so much as a philosophy but that he's wishy-washy this way.
- Ultimate Job Security: Implied in a conversation with Umbria and co., as the Souballan Empire apparently doesn't have access to that many mages. So his skills are very valuable, even though he's not all that high a level (yet).
Jane
"You can't fight us with all that crap on your back!"
Jane was the former leader of a small adventuring group that waylaid Julie's group. They tried to bluff Julie that some treasure Julie's group found earlier was theirs. The bluff failed and they fought Julie's group for the swag instead, but that also failed. Julie's group spared the trio, but Jane was killed by Umbria/Zaedalkaah while Jason and Trevoricus were unconcious in order to usurp Jane's position in the group. However, recently she has come back as a ghost and appeared before Trevoricus. The two work together to defeat Umbria and kick her out of the group, so Jane can take her spot as leader back.
- Action Girl: Even as a ghost.
- Back from the Dead: Story-wise, but played with, as she's still technically dead. Played straight later on. According to the character page, Angelo learned of her existence and, due to his dislike of ghosts, offered her an ultimatum: Be destroyed, or be resurrected and swear fealty to the Souballo Empire. She chose the latter.
- Badass Normal: Before she dies.
- Came Back Strong: Though ghosts have a couple of weaknesses, she gains some special powers and is harder to defeat outside of Turn Undead.
- Chaotic Neutral: Being an unscrupulous thief.
- Fog Feet: As a ghost.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Jason does do something akin to an Alas, Poor Yorick speech about her, but other than that she's not mentioned afterword. It took 120 or so strips, but she has come back.
- Killed Off for Real: Originally, but has come back as a ghost, 120 pages later.
- Loveable Rogue: Jane is fairly charismatic and sociable, but still a thief.
- Nominal Importance: Double subverted with her death, and return as a ghost.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: She seems to be able to freely interact with living things.
- Twin Tails
Kergak
"I got no clue, yo. This ain't my call, so don't take it personal."
A dwarven fighter and soldier of the Souballan Empire, put under Umbria's command along with several other Mooks. In a hard-fought battle with some elves from Silverfronds, he was the only survivor among them, and proved to be fairly effective. He's stuck with Umbria and co. since.
- Arranged Marriage: The main reason he joined the Souballan Army was to get away from one of these.
- Demonic Possession: Got controlled by a demon due to a cursed shield he picked up. Said demon willingly gives up the possession in order to go serve Mortaridar.
- Dumb Muscle: Kergak is a decent fighter, but tends to believe what anyone tells him, even if it's obviously wrong. Umbria is not above abusing this.
- Mauve Shirt: He started out as one, being the only survivor out of a group of Mooks. Kergak's gained quite a bit of characterization since, and eventually the author confirmed he was "gonna be around for a while".
- Mundane Utility: Uses his high Strength along with his shield to act as a footstool for Trevoricus.
- Punch-Clock Villain: See his quote above. Ultimately, he treats it like a normal job, and is very polite, even to someone he's trying to kill.
