(Hmm... It occurs to me that he's looking a little more grey in that last panel than in some of the previous panels—it could just be his equivalent of paling, but it may also be a minor glamour failure.)
My Games and Asset PacksIndeed... So, has this been more about Duane than Sette all along?
(And where will Murkoph come into it?)
Tow other things in this page concern me: what is that smoke that Stockyard has released—it could be a simple fragrance, but with pymary it may not be all that it seems—and where did Anadyne wander off to? (With regards to the latter, we seem to see her head in the first panel, and her skirts and shoe disappear to our left in the panel below it.)
(Perhaps less importantly, I wonder what's behind the "nope" door.)
My Games and Asset PacksAha, I thought so.
Anyone else remember how in one of the earlier chapters, Duane said that Sette's father had deduced his nationality and religion as if it were something that would take work or skill? Dammit, Duane, you exclaim "Merciful saints!" or "My God!" in Aldish like, once an hour. And now it turns out you have a very distinctive accent. It's not that hard.
Be not afraid...![]()
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Ah, fair enough, and thank you both. ^_^
Heh, good point. In all fairness, Duane is, I fear, rather worse at dissembling than he thinks he is.
Crescians seem to be super paranoid about potential Aldish spies (demonstrated by handy propaganda posters
and zealous customs officers
, to give only two examples), so that could be possible. Maybe Shartshanians are just geographically ignorant, due to living in the middle of dirt-poor gangland and all.
On the other hand, we've had suggestions that this trip has a lot more to do with Duane than had at first been presented: Offhand, I recall the discussion with... Lord Winnalils, I think it was? The fellow who was likely a Black Tongue—and now the claim that an object of the trip was delivering Duane to someone. It seems plausible that either Nary spotted Duane and knew who to talk to, or that someone else—Winnalils, if that was his name, perhaps—noticed Duane and hired Nary to send him on this little trip.
My Games and Asset PacksWhatever the reason, I think we can probably guess it's not about Sette at all. She only had one purpose in this scheme: to pacify Duane and make him easier to manage, due to reminding him of Mikaila.
Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.Plus, she wouldn't be nearly as useful at semi-unwittingly manipulating Duane due to the resemblance to Mikaila if she knew what was going on. Childlike innocence and all that (as much as Sette's got, anyway). Also, my finicky browser does recognize Duane as a word.
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.I suspect that Sette is in some way related to whatever's going on here: her mysterious nature seems too unusual to be likely to be irrelevant.
Once again I find myself wondering what the title refers to: Sette being untested? Some part of Duane's nature as yet unplumbed? Something to do with the depths of the khert, the silver-smuggling or Jivi's connection to the sea? Something else entirely?
I believe that "Duane"
is a name in our world, too, albeit that I'm not sure that it's pronounced the same way.
Case in point: Diane Duane.
Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)Villains Never Lie. Poor Sette.
edited 26th May '14 9:55:22 AM by Ninety
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

Caught up! Never expected to see a spontaneous musical in a webcomic. I keep forgetting how truly excellent this comic is. Oh, and regarding the name customs of the Frummagems, Ashley shed some light on it in her tumblr. They're given names not at birth but as children, and based on pretty much whatever their parents feel like (Anadyne was well-liked and planned for, Nary-a-care was "a very phlegmatic infant", Knock-me-down, well, you can infer).
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.