Annotated 21-8
A quick, focused sequence like this–almost more of a Sunday comic strip than part of an ongoing story–is very much more my style than Phil’s, and I think it manages the tricky balance between showing off Syr’Nj’s impressive range of talents and delivering the message that she’s finally doing too much even for her. I mean, we’d been leading up to that concept for awhile now, anyway.
Phil was somewhat concerned about the logistics of when that message was delivered, but I think it’s pretty realistic that most information takes a little while to disseminate even in the heart of Gastonia the capital.
He also tweaked the combat training scene in the penultimate panel, because “Syr’Nj is already combat trained from being in the Field Medic Brigade. What she might NOT be trained in, that Byron is absolutely an authority on, is dual-wielding weapons.”
Well? DOES she bear fruit or what??
Don’t just leave us hanging!
That’s a berry rude question!
I am sure they will tell us, when the time is ripe.
Just leaf the poor woman alone. Or she might beat us to a pulp!
I seed what you did there.
Panel 6 is exactly where she gets exhausted. RUDE
That’s because dual-wielding weapons is generally inferior to having a weapon and a shield with minor exceptions for when a shield is just too much of a pain to carry around and when the user is coordinated enough to truly use both weapons independently and simultaneously (rather a rare talent).
I agree. It could be a useful skill to keep in her back pocket for if her shield is, for some reason, unavailable. But this is fantasy/game territory, so dual wielding is filed under “awesome” and results in DPS-gain for minor defense penalties.
If you’re coordinated enough to use a shield, you are coordinated enough to use a weapon in the second hand. A shield is far less passive than people think. The only reason it’s superior is coverage. And a shield is no less tiring to use, often being quite heavy (compared to a weapon) or if it’s light, requiring just as much energy to move and practically being glued to the weapon hand anyways. Syr has and usually uses a buckler, and honestly a good parrying dagger offers only slightly less protection (though the weapons she’s using here look rather simple for such things, and would almost certainly be used with a shield) as a buckler is pretty garbage against missiles, and is in nearly constant motion as a guard for the sword hand, much as a parrying dagger would be. What I’m saying is Syr is probably proficient enough to use a dagger in place of her buckler.