Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

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Rafe
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Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#1 Post by Rafe »

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Looks like Natani is turning into SUPER NATANI with these last couple of pages.

Seriously, all this mana she's hoarding seems to have given her a little more than confidence, it's like it's changing her personality.
One thing though, she seems to be getting winded. Unlike Keith and Reni, Natani is breathing hard like this is taking a lot out of her. She can't even say "No problem" without pausing between "no" and "problem".
It could be that all that mana-crystal powered magic Natani is using is hurting her physically and/or mentally.

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Re: Comic for May 30: Dragon Damage

#2 Post by kiabugboy »

*ALERT* DRAGON HURT

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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#3 Post by aitaituo »

Noblesse oblige.

Natani already looks pretty worn out. Does magic (with crystals) have a similar effect as strenuous exercise?

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Eclipse
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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#4 Post by Eclipse »

As I thought, they're not going to last long against the stone dragons. Reni's putting up a tough front, but she seems to be more hurt than she's willing to admit. Natani's getting winded as aitaituo pointed out. This is starting to get ugly. Hope Natani can come up with a plan for those mana crystals beyond "blast them all", because that's probably going to get them all killed.

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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#5 Post by Bellhead »

Given what we've seen in the last two pages, I think it might be prudent for them to change their strategy a bit. I don't know how many there are, but if Nat can damage or stun them from afar, Reni could smash them with physical force with little risk.

Not so keen on her being hurt, though.. And this is not really the situation to be lying about pain. At least, going by her thoughts in that last panel, it seems like it stings more than anything, so she might not be stretching the truth that far.

Things are dire, but not as bad as they look. There's hope yet.
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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#6 Post by Dadrobit »

Something to note here on Natani's condition: it's something called "Mana Burn".

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Not a ton of information was dropped on what exactly that entails other than "exhaustion". Though "magic user" and "person" is pretty ambiguous, so it's pretty likely that it's not just a Keidran-specific condition stemming from their limitation to mana crystal usage. Humans are probably susceptible to it as well. Raine's previous encounter with Carver is presumably the same "mana burn" and it only lead to a headache, so hopefully there are no long term effects. Who knows what might happen if Natani pushes too far though.

On a lighter note, Tom also posted some cut content that would have taken place just before this page. I'll post it in the spoiler below so as to not overload the page. :mrgrin:
Spoiler!
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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#7 Post by Bellhead »

Dadrobit wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 8:34 am On a lighter note, Tom also posted some cut content that would have taken place just before this page. I'll post it in the spoiler below so as to not overload the page. :mrgrin:
Spoiler!
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That's awesome. Natani still trying to act like he's not in love with Keith.. lol

Where were these? And how come I didn't see them? Nevermind, I just forgot to scroll down the Twitter feed...
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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#8 Post by steelabjur »

A few questions spring to mind: How many of these Stone Pseudo-Dragons did Trace make? How many are here in this fight, and how many are still standing?

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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#9 Post by Diabolicon »

They hurt Reni? *Hefts maul* Time to make some gravel boys!

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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#10 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Bellhead wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 6:24 am Given what we've seen in the last two pages, I think it might be prudent for them to change their strategy a bit. I don't know how many there are, but if Nat can damage or stun them from afar, Reni could smash them with physical force with little risk.

Not so keen on her being hurt, though.. And this is not really the situation to be lying about pain. At least, going by her thoughts in that last panel, it seems like it stings more than anything, so she might not be stretching the truth that far.

Things are dire, but not as bad as they look. There's hope yet.
It think the idea is to blow a hole in the wall and scape before being overrun.
In any case i would not discount Reni wounds that easy. Dragon scales have an unconsisten resistance across media but... Well If someone gave us a knife and tolds us: "Go kill that crocodile" I do not think we could do much damage. So I think it is surprising they managed to pierce Reni scales that easily. On the other hand I wonder if she has any formal combat training. Or does she just go: "Reni smash!" when the situation requires it?
Also it makes sense continuous casting would at least tire the user. And if he goes overboard he may faint, just like if you do too much exercise. Oh by the way what is exactly Nat shooting the golems with undescript Magic lasers?
steelabjur wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 11:29 am A few questions spring to mind: How many of these Stone Pseudo-Dragons did Trace make? How many are here in this fight, and how many are still standing?
I imagine a lot. What worries me is that we do not know if these things can repair themselves or if they have any other weird golem trick.
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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#11 Post by Warrl »

Well, obviously, Reni is the gang's main weapon, which puts protecting her high on everyone else's priority list. So Nat is doing a good job here.

What else they can do - they don't have a lot of equipment to work with, none of it really suitable for fighting stone monsters, and Nat's limited abilities are better used defending Reni than trying to be an offensive weapon in his own right.

(Natani does *not* have a lot of training, and isn't necessarily using the mana as efficiently as possible. Considering how easily both he and Reni got mild mana burn, compared to what we've seen Trace and other high-power mages do, I have to imagine that a sufficiently well-trained mage has ways of channeling power that do NOT involve passing ALL of it through themselves. Wildspec that failure to achieve this is what got Red sent home from the Templar academy.)

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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#12 Post by Eclipse »

Dadrobit wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 8:34 am
Spoiler!
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XD. Someone please ask him to finish this on Patreon!

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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#13 Post by Dreamfox »

Technic[Bot] wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 6:35 pm In any case i would not discount Reni wounds that easy. Dragon scales have an unconsisten resistance across media but... Well If someone gave us a knife and tolds us: "Go kill that crocodile" I do not think we could do much damage. So I think it is surprising they managed to pierce Reni scales that easily. On the other hand I wonder if she has any formal combat training. Or does she just go: "Reni smash!" when the situation requires it?
Also it makes sense continuous casting would at least tire the user. And if he goes overboard he may faint, just like if you do too much exercise. Oh by the way what is exactly Nat shooting the golems with undescript Magic lasers?
Let's not forget that these things were probably made by the Trace Legacy at the height of his power and ability trying to copy the copy the work of a 2,000 year old dragon. I would be disappointed if they could not hurt Dragons. Not because I'm thinking Trace would have them fight Dragons, but because if they can hurt Dragons, they shred anything else. In addition, Reni is only 20 years old. I would be surprised if there was some kind of 'Dragon Martial Arts'', it's probably difficult for a Dragon to learn combat. First off, you'd have to decide what kind of combat you want to train. You'd need a very special training to fight other Dragons and considering the aerial maneuvers involved you need at least another Dragon as a sparring partner. Attacking humanoids from the air is also another thing than fighting them on the ground. And again we get into the problem of sparring partners seeing that she can hurt or even kill normal people by accident.
Aside from that it takes time to learn and between learning shapeshifting and magic plus whatever else she does, that's already much on a plate for a 20-year old of any species.

As for Natani? I am a little worried here. We have seen how magic harms Basitin. I have my doubts that any Keidran has ever used so many Mana Crystals at once and drawn that much power from them. Again, I expect Trace Legacy's work to be of high quality, so destroying one of them with one bast is no mean feat. Though, not all changes these Mana Crystals make have to be bad.
Her pause might come from her breathing harder, or from accepting that a Dragon thanked her for helping out. We know how she see's her female side, but also that this is changing. Though, accepting that as a female she could be more powerful than she ever was as a male? Yes, with the help from Mana Crystals and the thanks coming from a very young Dragon. But the subconscious can be that way. It may only see a thank you from a Dragon during combat where she kick's [censored].

Just my musings.

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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#14 Post by Bellhead »

Dreamfox wrote: Sun May 31, 2020 9:54 pm But the subconscious can be that way. It may only see a thank you from a Dragon during combat where she kick's [censored].

Just my musings.
That it can, in all fairness. You're most powerful when you have no insecurities, after all.

That said, I have a hard time believing that Nat's heavy breathing and pauses are simply him nervously accepting a compliment. Tom mentioned mana burn in the stream, and I seem to think it's relevant here. Just as well, there's been a LOT of huffing and puffing by him these last two pages, and even if it's from hand-to-hand combat, that's quite a strain, regardless of physical ability. If its enough to cause you to breath heavily enough to not say two words at once, you're either in REALLY rough shape, or you're almost completely exhausted. And Nat's definitely not out of shape. :wink:

No, what concerns me is how long he can keep this up before he passes his physical limits, and whether or not the rest of them can keep him safe afterward.

Wait... Where's Karen? And Mike and Evals? And Eric? Are they just in the corner somewhere? And where's Sythe been all this time, aside from standing naked waiting for Maren...
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Re: Comic for May 30, 2020: Dragon Damage

#15 Post by Eclipse »

Bellhead wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:11 am Wait... Where's Karen? And Mike and Evals? And Eric? Are they just in the corner somewhere? And where's Sythe been all this time, aside from standing naked waiting for Maren...
There's a lot of characters we haven't seen much of. Hell, for that matter where's Maddie? I don't think she even made it to the beach party, so what's she up to? And Lynn pretty much fell off the face of Mekkan the moment he made it to the estate, we all pretty much forgot about him.

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