Comic for February 5, 2014

[unsteddyPhoenix]

Ok, lets be honest here guys. Zen totally deserved that for having that stem thingy in his mouth. That's just asking for it.

So they clearly want to interrogate Zen, otherwise Red woulda used his sword. After they get what they want, I can't see Red caring about sparing Zens life...unless Raine talks him into it...hmm. It's cool we're getting back to regular-paced comics. Now all we need are some streams again.

Huh. I honestly didn't expect that was actually what they were doing. When could they have arranged this? It doesn't seem plausible that they could have done it in the minute they were talking 'in the background' outside the tent, since we know Zen was close enough to overhear. But if they had planned it earlier, when we know Zen wasn't watching, it would have had to have been while Raine was examining the girls, or even before she woke up. And in that case, they are two of the best actors ever.

Gotta say I agree with you. =/ Unless they explain it to where it lined up around the time that we the readers know Zen was sleeping... I'm not buying that they had time to make up this plan without Zen overhearing. Either that or Zen is really bad at his job. He's been hanging around for quite a long while now, and for him to not have heard... just geez, Zen. It's no wonder you're failing left and right. Or perhaps Sythe will explain it (or someone will) that it wasn't particularly planned, but that Sythe assumed Red would come after him. But eh. Guess it works at least.

There's pretty much no reason that each comic page would have to be DIRECTLY after each other. If I had to guess I would say the plan happened between this page and this page. In any case, we shoulda seen it coming. It's not like the magi brothers could POSSIBLY succeed at anything related to assassination. It's just unrealistic.

[graufuchs]

Aww, I was hoping something like this would happen. I didn't expect it would look this awesome.

The more Red and Scythe interacted the more I've thought that they could be great friends if they didn't kill each other first.

[Myperson54]

Ah, nice comeback, team B! Also, is that blood one of the more graphic things I've seen in this comic? Iirc, there have only been a few times we've seen large quantities of blood drawn from a fight.

Except for the War General. That was.... different

[MuonNeutrino]

Whatever she's doing right now probably just got rudely interrupted. What was Natani last doing again? Oh right, if you disregard the stargazing, Natani was last seen strokin' some fine Basitin eahr.

I agree about discounting the stargazing. It's still daytime, and the two parties are at close to the same longitude, as far as I can interpret the maps. Certainly the difference isn't large enough for it to be the middle of the night on the ship while it's only a few hours past dawn for group B. As I said at the time, I have a feeling that the anniversary chapter must not actually happen quite yet - my guess at the time was that it must happen at the end of the current day, and that when we returned to the ship we'd find that it was still the middle of the day.

That said, if that's the case then Natani seems incongruously calm during the anniversary chapter. I'm not sure what to make of that. I suppose she might not actually be aware of what happened to Zen. That might be plausible - she wasn't able to get through to him while he was sleeping, and she may not have tried again since then. If their link is such that she wouldn't be aware of him being injured unless she was actively paying attention to him (which might be the case, given what she said about them learning to block each other out), she might not realize anything happened. Of course, if *I* had a mental link with my brother and I hadn't been able to hear him for an entire day, I would still be getting a bit worried. After all, we saw how worried Zen got when he couldn't hear Natani for only an evening and overnight. I'm not sure what to make of the anniversary chapter at this point, to be honest.

Regardless, last we saw Natani indeed was with Keith. If she *is* aware of what just happened, how would she react? We know how much those two mean to each other, but she's stuck out on a boat a thousand miles away. She doesn't have any mana crystals left, and even if she did we have no indication she had any teleportation waypoints set up that could get her anywhere near Zen. What do you do when you know that your brother, one of the only two (at this point) people in the world who actually cares about you, was just injured or (as far as she knows) killed, but despite knowing all about it there's absolutely nothing you can do? And on top of that, not only is there no way for you to go help, but the only *other* person who cares about you is right there and *also* needs your help? Nasty situation all around.

[AzeNaku]

Zen really needs to pay more attention to his 6.

In related news, Group B is not as dumb as they portray themselves to be.

[BadFoMo]

I guess my ‘Suicide by Assassin’ theory was incorrect. I also would have asked how getting one's arms tied up would cause them to trip and fall, but now seeing that it was all an act kind of answered that.

Also, is that some sort of poison on that rock, or is it just moss? The pattern on it makes me think that it's moss.

Whatever she's doing right now probably just got rudely interrupted. What was Natani last doing again? Oh right, if you disregard the stargazing, Natani was last seen strokin' some fine Basitin eahr.

I agree about discounting the stargazing. It's still daytime, and the two parties are at close to the same longitude, as far as I can interpret the maps. Certainly the difference isn't large enough for it to be the middle of the night on the ship while it's only a few hours past dawn for group B. As I said at the time, I have a feeling that the anniversary chapter must not actually happen quite yet - my guess at the time was that it must happen at the end of the current day, and that when we returned to the ship we'd find that it was still the middle of the day.

Who said that this wasn't the day after that? Zen just said it himself that this is been going on for “these last few days.”. Perhaps the anniversary chapter takes place during this time.


P.S. Zen looks different with blonde hair. There's just something about it that's interesting to me.
P.P.S. Why did the background on the home page turn blue?
P.P.P.S. Did this thing change before I got here? If so does anyone have the original?

[Kyrit]

Ok, lets be honest here guys. Zen totally deserved that for having that stem thingy in his mouth. That's just asking for it.

So they clearly want to interrogate Zen, otherwise Red woulda used his sword. After they get what they want, I can't see Red caring about sparing Zens life...unless Raine talks him into it...hmm. It's cool we're getting back to regular-paced comics. Now all we need are some streams again.

Huh. I honestly didn't expect that was actually what they were doing. When could they have arranged this? It doesn't seem plausible that they could have done it in the minute they were talking 'in the background' outside the tent, since we know Zen was close enough to overhear. But if they had planned it earlier, when we know Zen wasn't watching, it would have had to have been while Raine was examining the girls, or even before she woke up. And in that case, they are two of the best actors ever.

Gotta say I agree with you. =/ Unless they explain it to where it lined up around the time that we the readers know Zen was sleeping... I'm not buying that they had time to make up this plan without Zen overhearing. Either that or Zen is really bad at his job. He's been hanging around for quite a long while now, and for him to not have heard... just geez, Zen. It's no wonder you're failing left and right. Or perhaps Sythe will explain it (or someone will) that it wasn't particularly planned, but that Sythe assumed Red would come after him. But eh. Guess it works at least.

There's pretty much no reason that each comic page would have to be DIRECTLY after each other. If I had to guess I would say the plan happened between this page and this page. In any case, we shoulda seen it coming. It's not like the magi brothers could POSSIBLY succeed at anything related to assassination. It's just unrealistic.

I'm not saying that the pages have to directly follow one another. Still though, I pointed out in the discussion of last Wednesday's comic that Zen was obviously already around, squirrel or not. I linked this page and this page for proof. Any plotting that was done would hopefully have been before that first one I linked, otherwise I'm going with Zen's not just a bad assassin. He's a complete failure. I'm still hoping that this wasn't a well planned bait attempt though and that Sythe was just hoping that Red would come after him. I just feel like unless this was planned way, way in advanced that's the only way that Zen will come out not being a moron.

[MuonNeutrino]

Who said that this wasn't the day after that? Zen just said it himself that this is been going on for “these last few days.”. Perhaps the anniversary chapter takes place during this time.

I don't think so. If we go back and look at the group B archive in order, I think it's pretty clear that this is still the day after Raine was injured. She wakes up that morning (which is the same morning as all the stuff that just happened on the ship), and after telling her story she goes to look at Maren and Karen. Next time we see her, she's coming out of their tent and gives a report on what she learned about their condition, and it's just starting to rain. I really don't think that that can possibly be a full day after the last time - that may come after the anniversary chapter in publication order, but I don't think it makes sense to assume that all of group B just cooled their heels for an entire day, especially since the first thing we hear Raine talking about is what she was about to do when we cut away from them. And everything after that is pretty obviously all continuous, of course.

My best guess for Zen's comment is that he had presumably been stalking them for at least a couple days before attacking. And Sythe had definitely been annoying to him the last two of those days, for sure.

[avwolf]

It's quite possible that these events will be resolved by the anniversary chapter's timeframe, even assuming that it happens immediately "this" night, as MuonNeutrino has indicated as the earliest we could expect. Natani could easily have left Keith asleep in his room, and then be quietly having a breakdown in her own cabin as Zen's struck down here. Considering how much worse an injury than a mere blow from a huge stone (seriously, I'm impressed Red could heave something that size like that) we've seen Zen suffer, this probably isn't so bad. If we assume that they're keeping Zen alive to help the girls (which is a pretty reasonable bet), then it's quite possible that Zen will be out of danger within the next couple hours. He might even slip away, injured but undaunted in the next comic. It's simply too early to become overly concerned about Natani's unconcern. That said, I'm glad to see it brought up; because it's definitely something to keep an eye on.

I share my surprise with the others: this is a startlingly clever plan for a pair of individuals who we've never seen get along for more than a few instants to come up with and pull off. I wonder if Raine was in on the plan as well. This trap could have been decided much earlier in the day; it's not like their situation has changed much over the past several hours. Then, Sythe's entire "breakdown" when he started jumping at shadows could have been staged, in an attempt to make him appear unstable and increasingly willing to part ways with Red and Raine. By deliberately increasing their appearance of irrationality and antagonism, Sythe's departure in the earlier comic would be made more believable.

[detrius]

Toldya it was a trap.

Zen totally should have gone after Red & Raine first after Systhe left the camp.

[AndreRhineDavis]

I'm so so happy to see Red and Sythe work together, but as people have already noted, I find it hard to work out how/when they could have planned this out of potential earshot of Zen.

And yeah, I wonder how many of the past comics were staged and acted...

[detrius]

I share my surprise with the others: this is a startlingly clever plan for a pair of individuals who we've never seen get along for more than a few instants to come up with and pull off. I wonder if Raine was in on the plan as well. This trap could have been decided much earlier in the day; it's not like their situation has changed much over the past several hours. Then, Sythe's entire "breakdown" when he started jumping at shadows could have been staged, in an attempt to make him appear unstable and increasingly willing to part ways with Red and Raine. By deliberately increasing their appearance of irrationality and antagonism, Sythe's departure in the earlier comic would be made more believable.

We don't actually know how much time passed between Red leaving the tent to talk to Sythe and them faking a loud argument, but it was long enough to make Raine think that things were going well outside.

So there, they had the time to come up with this plan after Sythe concluded that they can't keep this up. And it may seem a bit surprising that those two would be clever enough to pull this off, but they're both trained warriors who must have some understanding of strategy and tactics. Surely they both agreed that waiting for the enemy to strike put them at an extreme disadvantage and that there needed something to be done about that, and baiting an enemy into attacking a seemingly undefended position is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

[JohnTheWysard]

So my question is...

Was the squirrel in on the trap? or not?

[detrius]

Ow, smashed across the back of the head with a rock. That'll extinguish any smug left on his face. At least it wasn't a sword through the chest this time.

Can't catch a break can ya Zen?

Red probably left his sword with Raine in the camp, so she had something to defend herself with while he was gone.

And Zen being captured alive was foreseeable, too: Red and Sythe will want to interrogate him to learn about his mission and storywise, Zen needs to give them the antidote for the poison, so Team B can move on. So I suppose what's going to happen next is that Zen will tell them all about his mission in exchange for them sparing his live and trading the antidote and a promise to not attack them again for letting him go and some food (they'll still send him home naked, of course).

By the time Zen manages to get back to his base, he'll probably have abandoned all aspirations of becoming a good assassin. But then again, this may change again when he tells his commanders about the white-haired female Keidran who apparently can use magic (they have the report from the raid of the village) and he gets a commendation for not killing her.

[tony1695]

Oh dear.

Zen isn't getting up again any time soon.

Or ever.