Comic for February 29th, 2020: Chapter 20 End

[CrRAR]

PREPARE the ritual. (or something, I don't know).

Everyone best form up, watch the shadows. Maybe this is just symbolic of Maren taking over the estate, no more tropical happiness... only gloom and blood moons for everyone.

Maren: *voice echoes disembodied from seemingly everywhere* "What!? This is how I feel inside most of the time. NOW IT'S YOUR TURN. muahaha"

If only

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[steelabjur]

Might want to put those torches out. Sealed rooms + fire are not a good combination.

[BadJoke]

It was bound to happen. You can run for years. You can leave the continent. You can have a manipulative old creep, an overpowered immature god-dragon and an homicidal spy lord covering your back. But at the end, you can't escape your past.

This time Trace will have to face his ordeals alone. No exterior help, no cheating. And having been helped from the start, having faced the least ordeals out of the two groups (less than Raine, Red, Flora... A LOT LESS than Keith) he is clearly NOT ready. Oh boy.

I wonder how Euchre and the other out-of-screen-creeps will react to their planning going straight to hell. For the first time their meticulous scheming has been reduced to ash by good old chance, the bane of all plans, in fiction and reality alike. And now they'll have to improvise. With no way to avoid conflict between them and with an homicidally vengeful crime lord and his entourage in the middle.
That's going to hurt.

Meanwhile poor Maren is going to realize that "He is after you only because you look like his dead wife." was far more literal than she though.
Says a lot about the guy who held her between his arms, gave her kisses, gave her pleasure, came several times at her hin, met her sister, learned a lot of her past... and every second of this all, he was calculating how he was going to vivisect her into necromantic components. Man, I'm not the most optimistic or moral guy around, but by the masks, even for me it's beyond [heavy censoring needed]!
... and now I think about it... when he saved/spared Laura... didn't he said it was because "she reminded him of her"? ...it may have been not to "help someone that looked like her" but to "save a few spare parts, just in case".

Through that may be an occasion to delve into the mind of Evil!Trace. Until now we only had glimpses of his personality, superficial approaches who could be resumed to "super racist evil overlord with a freudian excuse". Here we may have a chance to go deeper, and see how he was inside, what were his plans and how they tied together. After all, if you're so desperate to resurrect someone you must be more depressed than heinous (not that it makes any less dangerous, oh no) and you're surely not aiming at annihilating the world if you want your lover to come back on it.
And evil or not he deserves a chance to plead his case, even if it's completely bonkers.
Heck, was he even interested in world domination or just needed a crazy ton of resources for resurrecting his lover and gave the other templars the means to rule the world and commit genocide just to win their support? (Would be even more creepy. "Oh, the whole mind rape of the entire basitin race? The guys told me they'd bring me a lot more orphans for the flesh bending rituals if I started the whole thing, so...)

Bonus: another example of "the potential of magic for utter horror". A fully magic animated and morphing mansion owned by your best pal? The best place ever! A fully magic animated and morphing mansion owned by the most ax-crazy, genocidal, necromantic maniac on the globe? Hell on earth, with the compliments of Jigsaw.

[Bellhead]

The [censored] has officially hit the fan.

Keith has the right idea about leaving, probably due to how he knew the past of the group and all the crap they went through over the last few months. He knows, probably better than most, what can result from the actions of Evil!Trace. This, though... This takes the cake.

Death incoming. Maybe something after it, too. Not a good time to be in that group, that's for sure.

[IHeartMaeve]

...Tom lied to us. He promised Maeve would return in this chapter by putting her on the chapter cover, and we didn't even see her as a cameo. What is he trying to pull on us?

(I mean, sure, she may appear in the epilogue, but I've seen enough to know not to count my Torchic before they hatch. So... Yeah.)

[Sage Asuka]

Because I gotta

"The Bloodmoon rises once again....be careful Trace"

[AmigaDragon]

Might want to put those torches out. Sealed rooms + fire are not a good combination.

With the illusory trees gone (would they have burned anyway?), there's next to nothing in the room to burn. The pool is stone, the roof and columns are stone, there's tons of sand, and the torch pots are out at the end of the water-filled pool.

Does Natani have any of her mana crystals with her (I would think so for the chest wraps)? If she didn't, could Raine or Reni source mana for her use? Does the mansion's magic prevent internal point to point teleports by others? Could Raine, Natani or Reni teleport through the former door? Would Red blow himself up again trying to blast through it? Is the door just hidden under illusion that Reni or Raine can see through?

[CrRAR]

Might want to put those torches out. Sealed rooms + fire are not a good combination.

With the illusory trees gone (would they have burned anyway?), there's next to nothing in the room to burn. The pool is stone, the roof and columns are stone, there's tons of sand, and the torch pots are out at the end of the water-filled pool.

His concern might be CO gas which eventually would suffocate everyone (not again!), but considering they've been burning all day and the room was designed for them to be there the nature of them might somehow be harmless altogether.

...Tom lied to us. He promised Maeve would return in this chapter by putting her on the chapter cover, and we didn't even see her as a cameo. What is he trying to pull on us?

There are lots of things about chapter covers that have never literally happened. That's a common thing. TBH, I'm glad Maeve is spared from this mess. The close call with the fireball was enough for my heart to take.

[IHeartMaeve]

Might want to put those torches out. Sealed rooms + fire are not a good combination.

With the illusory trees gone (would they have burned anyway?), there's next to nothing in the room to burn. The pool is stone, the roof and columns are stone, there's tons of sand, and the torch pots are out at the end of the water-filled pool.

His concern might be CO gas which eventually would suffocate everyone (not again!), but considering they've been burning all day and the room was designed for them to be there the nature of them might somehow be harmless altogether.

...Tom lied to us. He promised Maeve would return in this chapter by putting her on the chapter cover, and we didn't even see her as a cameo. What is he trying to pull on us?

There are lots of things about chapter covers that have never literally happened. That's a common thing. TBH, I'm glad Maeve is spared from this mess. The close call with the fireball was enough for my heart to take.

Well, I wasn't expecting "this mess" when I saw her on the cover, okay? Also, when exactly has this "absent story element" event happened before in the history of Twokinds, might I ask?

[Technic[Bot]]

It was bound to happen. You can run for years. You can leave the continent. You can have a manipulative old creep, an overpowered immature god-dragon and an homicidal spy lord covering your back. But at the end, you can't escape your past.

This time Trace will have to face his ordeals alone. No exterior help, no cheating. And having been helped from the start, having faced the least ordeals out of the two groups (less than Raine, Red, Flora... A LOT LESS than Keith) he is clearly NOT ready. Oh boy.

I wonder how Euchre and the other out-of-screen-creeps will react to their planning going straight to hell. For the first time their meticulous scheming has been reduced to ash by good old chance, the bane of all plans, in fiction and reality alike. And now they'll have to improvise. With no way to avoid conflict between them and with an homicidally vengeful crime lord and his entourage in the middle.
That's going to hurt.

Meanwhile poor Maren is going to realize that "He is after you only because you look like his dead wife." was far more literal than she though.
Says a lot about the guy who held her between his arms, gave her kisses, gave her pleasure, came several times at her hin, met her sister, learned a lot of her past... and every second of this all, he was calculating how he was going to vivisect her into necromantic components. Man, I'm not the most optimistic or moral guy around, but by the masks, even for me it's beyond [heavy censoring needed]!
... and now I think about it... when he saved/spared Laura... didn't he said it was because "she reminded him of her"? ...it may have been not to "help someone that looked like her" but to "save a few spare parts, just in case".

Through that may be an occasion to delve into the mind of Evil!Trace. Until now we only had glimpses of his personality, superficial approaches who could be resumed to "super racist evil overlord with a freudian excuse". Here we may have a chance to go deeper, and see how he was inside, what were his plans and how they tied together. After all, if you're so desperate to resurrect someone you must be more depressed than heinous (not that it makes any less dangerous, oh no) and you're surely not aiming at annihilating the world if you want your lover to come back on it.
And evil or not he deserves a chance to plead his case, even if it's completely bonkers.
Heck, was he even interested in world domination or just needed a crazy ton of resources for resurrecting his lover and gave the other templars the means to rule the world and commit genocide just to win their support? (Would be even more creepy. "Oh, the whole mind rape of the entire basitin race? The guys told me they'd bring me a lot more orphans for the flesh bending rituals if I started the whole thing, so...)

Bonus: another example of "the potential of magic for utter horror". A fully magic animated and morphing mansion owned by your best pal? The best place ever! A fully magic animated and morphing mansion owned by the most ax-crazy, genocidal, necromantic maniac on the globe? Hell on earth, with the compliments of Jigsaw.

And this is why i really Like TRace as a character. He is the big bad guy, while also being the protagonist, yet he has a motive a reason and deep down he is just a sad broken man who can't let go of his past and is doing everything he can to bring it back. This is spades more interesting than the evil guy who is evil because "we needed a villain for the plot and he was the one he looked the most evil in the concept art"

However he is not alone, he rarely is, his fiancee was teleported with him. Which is both a blessing and a curse, Trace has someone to lean on yet this is the first time Flora is gonna realize the kind of monster she is marrying, what kind of man the father of her child is. Up to know she has only known the lovable akward Amnesiac Trace, not Grand wizars Templar Trace Legacy genocidal monster and necromancer. This is not good, all times we have had Dark Trace come out and play is when Trace had a problem with Flora.

Will Trace face his past and confront it? Or will his past self will come out and chew him up? Will FLora accept what man he was and what he is trying to become? Will Nibs be a dragon or an eldritch abomination?

[Bellhead]

Complete change of topic here, but look at Raine's ears. Last page they went wolf from surprise/shock/etc., now they're human again. Flub, or control?

[CrRAR]

Complete change of topic here, but look at Raine's ears. Last page they went wolf from surprise/shock/etc., now they're human again. Flub, or control?

Must have had to hear that startling proposal loud and clear with her own two wolf ears.

Probably though, so much distraction her control is wavering.

Will Trace face his past and confront it? Or will his past self will come out and chew him up? Will Flora accept what man he was and what he is trying to become?

"I'm bad, and that's good... There's no one else I'd rather be than me."

Well, I wasn't expecting "this mess" when I saw her on the cover, okay? Also, when exactly has this "absent story element" event happened before in the history of Twokinds, might I ask?

One major one that was quite the topic of sensational discussion was the Chapter 12 cover and how it portrayed what might have happened to the King. It was quite scandalous at the time.

I do agree with the sentiment though that more Maeve in the comic is a good thing. Maybe there will be a reunion after all this crazy stuff is over and we'll hear how heroic she heard everyone was and all she's been up to recounted in the most enthusiastic lil-snep story ever imagined. :3

[Rafe]

For those of you too busy to notice, I've been tracking Karen's swim suit - specifically the color. The beach party has been going on since the end of August. When we first saw Karen in her swim suit in December, it was green. It stayed that way until Trace proposed to Flora a couple of weeks ago, when it turned pink. Last week it went yellow, and now it's an ominous red.




I'm wondering if this is just some random playing-with-artwork-for-fun thing, or if it's someone seriously trying to communicate via swimwear - which really sounds odd now that I say it.
Maybe the "strange magic" Reni mentioned is affecting Raine's ears and Karen's swimsuit. (Or maybe it's an Electric Light Orchestra reference.)
My biggest fear right now is, what's happened to Rose? For the first time, someone (Raine) has mentioned her name, and she didn't immediately appear.

[CrRAR]

I'm wondering if this is just some random playing-with-artwork-for-fun thing, or if it's someone seriously trying to communicate via swimwear - which really sounds odd now that I sayy it.
My biggest fear right now is, what's happened to Rose? For the first time, someone (Raine) has mentioned her name, and she didn't immediately appear.

Could be a bit like a mood ring, changing depending on Karen's particular energy at the moment. I actually meant to make a comment about her mentioning experiencing deja vu.

It's a bit unsettling. She no longer directly recalls the Rose-hallway incident by her dialog there despite it being a very recent occurrence. Like it's only a distant shadow of a memory. No question the consequence of what Reni detected as very powerful dark magic.

It's almost like it's been rendered a dream-like event that slips slowly from your grasp.


A fleeting sense of familiarity for something you can't quite remember; only an anguishing silhouette of feelings left lingering in its absence. *shivers*

[Dadrobit]

I'm wondering if this is just some random playing-with-artwork-for-fun thing, or if it's someone seriously trying to communicate via swimwear - which really sounds odd now that I sayy it.
My biggest fear right now is, what's happened to Rose? For the first time, someone (Raine) has mentioned her name, and she didn't immediately appear.

Could be a bit like a mood ring, changing depending on Karen's particular energy at the moment. I actually meant to make a comment about her mentioning experiencing deja vu.

I think it's mostly just for giggles akin to the changing mug Landen had. It would also fit with her character being a theatrical and flamboyant kid going for the fun/flashy magical swimwear that disco-light changes colors all the time.

Well, I wasn't expecting "this mess" when I saw her on the cover, okay? Also, when exactly has this "absent story element" event happened before in the history of Twokinds, might I ask?

One major one that was quite the topic of sensational discussion was the Chapter 12 cover and how it portrayed what might have happened to the King. It was quite scandalous at the time.

I do agree with the sentiment though that more Maeve in the comic is a good thing. Maybe there will be a reunion after all this crazy stuff is over and we'll hear how heroic she heard everyone was and all she's been up to recounted in the most enthusiastic lil-snep story ever imagined. :3

Tom's gone on record a few times before that although he has most of the broad strokes worked out on where he wants the characters and story to go, on the week to week and moment to moment level he very much writes from the seat of his pants and it sometimes leads to problems. A while back he was talking about reading a book to help him combat this and he's spent some time doing physical storyboards even! But as recently as one of the breaks he took last year, he admitted that the comic release delays were in part due to him not knowing how he actually wanted the story to proceed, so he' still working on it. To his credit though, his recent Friday streams haven't been comic streams because he managed to write ahead by a few pages already!

So it wouldn't surprise me to find out that his overarching plans to include Maeve were shelved once he had to actually figure out how to write her in and was faced with a "but how?" question he didn't think of in his tentative planning almost two years ago.

**EDIT**

So yeah, two years ago, a loose plan didn't quite hold up. It happens, she'll be back.