Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

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TheFrozenSlime
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#16 Post by TheFrozenSlime »

> last panel
I guess he's feeling it now, Mr Krabs.
Bellhead wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 11:37 am I wonder what's happening to him in that last panel... Too much power, or Brahn having a failsafe?
What's happening is probably exactly what Brahn wanted to happen. He needs Reni and Clovis out of the picture for his plans, whatever they are (probably so there's no one powerful enough to stop him?). Amulet is probably rigged to blow after absorbing x amount of dragon energy, destroying both in the process.
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#17 Post by multilis »

TheFrozenSlime wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 1:06 am > last panel
I guess he's feeling it now, Mr Krabs.
Bellhead wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 11:37 am I wonder what's happening to him in that last panel... Too much power, or Brahn having a failsafe?
What's happening is probably exactly what Brahn wanted to happen. He needs Reni and Clovis out of the picture for his plans, whatever they are (probably so there's no one powerful enough to stop him?). Amulet is probably rigged to blow after absorbing x amount of dragon energy, destroying both in the process.
Or given the start of this comic with what happened to Trace, the amulet is a love amulet and Clovis is going to fall madly in love with Reni. ;P (Not saying that is going to happen but would be funny if it did)

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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#18 Post by Dreamfox »

Clovis has a magic reservoir of 1 gallon
Reni has a magic reservoir of 100 gallons
Between them is a pump with no security valve
Even if Reni cut him off after only 2 gallons, that's twice as much magic as his body can handle. That's how I see this (until the next page).

There is the question what he told them what he needed the mana crystal for. There is a possibility that you can use it to drain art stones and store it inside you for later use. That would not turn him into a full mage, but it would give him a magical reserve that can't be taken away from him, which would be a great advantage to have. The crystal may have a security valve that stops the flow before it kills the source so mages would be safe. I mean, no one in his right mind would try something stupid and try to to drain something like a dragon, right? Right?

Just guessing though.

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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#19 Post by mongoosemazanec »

Rafe said:
She threw Carver all the way to the Basitin Island. Who knows what could happen to Clovis if he gets hit with what Reni is throwing at him
Yeah, that reminds me, what became of him? Is he dead? Does he wish he was dead? Did he escape? i would like to see him again!
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#20 Post by tony1695 »

So, presumably this all takes place before Reni gets blasted up from the dungeons and through the floor.

What we do know is that she has, at least for the moment, lost her telepathy. Now, whether that means that it simply took an obscene amount of magic to overload the amulet, or it actually succeeded in stealing it from her, we don't know. Either way, this makes it seem that the Templar are poised to attempt a proper coup against the current rulers (a royal family?), this probably being the first major strike.

After all, Reni is a non-Templar aligned individual of significant magical power (and I believe has ties to the royals?). Sure, enough mages could likely overpower her, but the loss in both time and manpower make that a poor tactic. So, send in one useful idiot with the perfect anti-dragon device, tell them it'll give them the power to sate whatever petty grudge they have, and there you go, one major obstacle dealt with. Their choice of useful idiot could also help destabilise the power structure of the wolves, potentially letting them slip in a puppet to play every side against the middle or even take over.

The fact that this is happening at the home of the former Grand Templar, whose amnesia now makes him a threat to these plans, is just a bonus, he might get taken out in the crossfire.
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#21 Post by Bellhead »

tony1695 wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:48 am So, presumably this all takes place before Reni gets blasted up from the dungeons and through the floor.
Looking back here, here and here, that does kinda make sense.. But at the time, I had just assumed he blasted her upward with some kind of spell, locked her telepathy, and was in her mindscape starting when it did on screen, with no time jump. After all, remember the cat? That sudden explosion was what I assumed send Reni flying, which it probably was, but I don't think enough time passed in the mindscape for all that transpired to happen between the start of the fight, and the explosion.
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#22 Post by Tornir »

mongoosemazanec wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:19 am Rafe said:
She threw Carver all the way to the Basitin Island. Who knows what could happen to Clovis if he gets hit with what Reni is throwing at him
Yeah, that reminds me, what became of him? Is he dead? Does he wish he was dead? Did he escape? i would like to see him again!
I think Carver is effectively out of the picture for the foreseeable future. The exploding tower drained all magic from the island (and a lot from Nora). Keidran need to use mana crystals, which are a resource the Basitin don't collect (and any in the wild will likely be drained anyway). Even when mana starts to return, Carver won't be able to use it as a Templar would. I'm assuming any crystals he has with him won't have the power to get him all the back to the mainland.
If he wants to get back, he'll have to steal a boat (assuming he knows how to sail) and supplies for a long trip, so I guess he's gonna have to get used to exile.

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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#23 Post by Warrl »

mongoosemazanec wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 9:36 am By the way, is a wox (or folf) like Clovis fertile? I am pretty sure felineXcanine are sterile (IIRC...I binge read the archive) and, say, coyoteXwolf would be fertile (they even are in RL).
Well, it's explicit that Kathrin is sterile and implied that this is pretty common for felineXcanine crossbreed Keidran, but not stated just how common. Somewhere I got the impression that at least one of Kathrin's parents was also a crossbreed.

Thing is, though, I think that if the crossbreed infertility rate was anywhere close to 100%, the feline and canine Keidran wouldn't be regarded - by themselves or anyone else - as a single species.

With horseXdonkey, it's just barely shy of 100%. (There are like 8 documented instances of female mules giving birth in the past 1200 years. And even today, when we have very limited use for them, there are about 25,000 mules in the US alone.)

Polar bears and brown bears are regarded as separate species, even though they are apparently genetically fully compatible (and there is a subspecies of brown bears that is descended from polar bears), because their ranges don't overlap much during breeding season.

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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#24 Post by Eclipse »

mongoosemazanec wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:19 am Rafe said:
She threw Carver all the way to the Basitin Island. Who knows what could happen to Clovis if he gets hit with what Reni is throwing at him
Yeah, that reminds me, what became of him? Is he dead? Does he wish he was dead? Did he escape? i would like to see him again!
We haven't seen anything of him since he was found by the Western Basitins, and we probably won't see him again for a while. It'd be difficult for him to find his way back, and it's probably not in his best interest to do so anyway seeing what he's done to Roan and Brutus, so he's probably not going to be plot relevant for a while. I suspect we won't see him again until there's some reason for the cast to return to the Basidian Islands.

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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#25 Post by Bellhead »

Warrl wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:25 am Somewhere I got the impression that at least one of Kathrin's parents was also a crossbreed.
"I don't look like this by accident."

Yup.
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#26 Post by Thomas Rot »

tony1695 wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 8:48 am So, presumably this all takes place before Reni gets blasted up from the dungeons and through the floor.
Is it though? If you look closely at the inset just before we cut to Reni's mindscape you can see the manor lighting behind her head – it's kind of cold and subdued, not like the natural lighting in the dungeon when Clovis was down there. Certainly the jump between pages makes it seem like a direct cut in real time to the mindscape.

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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#27 Post by mongoosemazanec »

Bellhead wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:52 pm
Warrl wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:25 am Somewhere I got the impression that at least one of Kathrin's parents was also a crossbreed.
"I don't look like this by accident."

Yup.
You know, something I have noticed is that her spots are consistent and not randomly changing. Good work!
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#28 Post by Rafe »

Bellhead wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:52 pm
Warrl wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:25 am Somewhere I got the impression that at least one of Kathrin's parents was also a crossbreed.
"I don't look like this by accident."

Yup.
Kathrin was probably talking about her ancestors being selectively bred as sex slaves, not being cross-bred. I assume one of her parents came from a line of canine slaves and another from a line of felines, both of which were bred for the desirable traits and attractiveness.

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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#29 Post by Bellhead »

Rafe wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 11:45 pm
Bellhead wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:52 pm
Warrl wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:25 am Somewhere I got the impression that at least one of Kathrin's parents was also a crossbreed.
"I don't look like this by accident."

Yup.
Kathrin was probably talking about her ancestors being selectively bred as sex slaves, not being cross-bred. I assume one of her parents came from a line of canine slaves and another from a line of felines, both of which were bred for the desirable traits and attractiveness.
This was my impression as well. As she says, "aren't often bred together". I interpreted that as 'lines of canines and felines aren't often crossed".
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Re: Comic for November 12, 2022: Dragon in a Bottle

#30 Post by Technic[Bot] »

So think this goes one of a few ways:
  1. Clovis is overloaded and goes kaboom
  2. Amulet is rigged by Brahn and goes Kaboom
  3. Is that is? Reni power is too little much to Clovis dismay
Hope for #3 really. I do not expect Clovis to survive the chapter but it would be kind of boring if he simply blows up as it is now. Let him at least fight team b and then he can go boom

Also yes Kat is a CatDog and it is implied her market value is diminished greatly due to her sterility. Which... yikes!
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