Not sure why Byron had to lecture her on assassins. Given that she’s both a princess and a combat medic, you’d think she knows how to handle herself both in a fight and with things like this.
She’s likely never been the target of an assassin, before. Open combat, and even an ambush, is a very different beast, and up until now she’s been largely irrelevant when it came to world affairs.
As a princess, protection against assassins would have been the job of the royal guard, not something she would have been expected to fend off herself.
It’s Byron’s character though. He’s very much the tactics guy in habits and demeanor. I’m not surprised he used her as a sounding board for that internal monologue of his. Even if Syrn’j did experience such things, he’s the type to ruminate over what you would learn from said experiences.
concur. She was a field medic at the beginning of all this, probably not really the target of many assassination attempts. and I didn’t really see much political intrigue in the wood elf realms.
Who says Byron had to be grammatically correct 100% of the time? I have plenty of characters (and myself, admittedly) that use strange tenses and whatnot because of their “accent,” for want of a better word.
“Spring” is definitely the wrong season here; it’s definitely Autumn, what with all of the brown leaves falling from Syr’s dress. And one huge fallen leaf named Kur’ik.
When you run out, I’ve a list of completed webcomics and a bunch in progress that I could refer you to. Binge read material for a long time. Some are even good!
This is a list I found a few years ago, that gets updated, that is wonderfully put together, with link and description. The same site also links to a bunch of in progress things, if you want to look around. This was quickly thrown together out of my “completed” webcomics folder, although there will be some overlap. Some of it might not be entirely safe for work, I’m not even sure I remember all of it.
If those somehow aren’t enough, or you want something that’s currently updating, you can always check out The Hiveworks, of which this site is an affiliate, or Spiderforest which does similar, but with different comics.
There’s a surprisingly small amount of blood, considering the blade attached to his wrist, worn over his pale garments, was lodged pretty deep inside of a living being 2 seconds ago.
I was thinking somewhere on these lines last comic.
“Now, why would his Grace send the whole guild of adventurers on a wild hunt? He has to have some reason for it”
*Watch the assassination attempt in the deserted guild hall*
“Oh!”
Although, the question now, was this assassination planned by one member of the council, acting alone, or is it a concerted action? Syr’Nj chances of survival are quite lower in the later case.
Of course, the assassination attempt may have nothing to do with the council. Wouldn’t bet on it, though.
It would be an interesting ploy on Iwatani’s part. Syrn’j is already aiming at the “conspiracy”, the most obvious solution would be to blame this assasination on them, and Iwatani’s actual goals seem to be unrelated to their doings. To his eyes, getting Syrn’j and the council to off each other may be killing two birds with one stone.
Byron’s beyond- the-grave-Burn-Notice-advice aside, I don’t really buy this. If you’re a high level assassin (and we can only imagine that Iwatani or the other heads of house would pay up the big bucks for someone decent), you don’t buckle and fight like a 2nd grader against a target that has little heavy-duty combat experience, is unarmed, and has no close by bodyguards or armor. I’m not saying that Syr’Nj would be a pushover, but I don’t think a hardened career killer would get ‘desperate’ just because the first plan didn’t go off perfectly. Plan A: kill target without a fight. Plan B: Kill target with a fight, because I’m not a rookie or afraid of violence. Just sayin’
You really think some random mook we’ve never met before is going to be “high level”? Besides, in Arkerra, most “decent” assassins would instead probably opt to have a reasonably-lucrative career as capital-“A”-Adventurers, and don’t need to resort to assassination like this to pay their bills.
I think a high-level assassin would have more tricks up his sleeve than “knife gauntlet” (seriously, the knife even looks like it has a normal hilt, he’s just strapped it to his wrist so he can look like Altair). And given that the green hands suggest a wood elf, I think this guy falls somewhere on the spectrum between “crazed lone gunman” and “patsy.”
What green hands? You can compare them directly to Syr’nj’s across the entire comic. I could go with “olive” but they’re definitely a human-compatible color.
Assassins do not get as much combat experience as normal warriors.
Additionally, you do not actually have to be able to fight well to pull off a succesful assassination attempt. Surprise and a sharp blade is often enough.
Perhaps, but this guys wasn’t after Byron, Frigg, or Scipio. He was trying to take out the MEDIC. You can tack on ‘combat’ to the front of it, but that doesn’t change the fact that medics are not supposed to be blade-to-blade with the enemy much. Yeah the support classes can always do some damage, but they are designed to get taken out quickly when singled out by damage-dealers. Listening to Byron talk shop doesn’t substitute for actual combat training.
As for the whole ‘only relies on surpirse to get the job done’ concept, well that’s just impractical. What if your target is surrounded by bodyguards, or is hard to take by surprise? (Case in point) Surprise is a powerful weapon in a assassin’s arsenal, but any craftsman who relies on only one tool will fail soon. Versatility is important. This is a high-level, high profile, high risk hit, it would take more than a one-trick-pony newb to get the job done. I mean come on, who tries to surprise a elf, that’s like their whole species bit, it would be like trying to drink a dwarf under a table to kill them in their sleep.
I’m not sure I understand the assassin scale of “high level” versus “low level”. if they are high level, that means they get the job done and probably cost a lot? No guarantee that they are any better at hand to hand combat then a “low level”. Iwatani probably qualifies as a “high level” since he killed someone without anyone even knowing the guy was murdered. poisoned soup is the ultimate knife in the back, so to speak.
Does a banker make a better adventurer than a adventurer because they can make more money? No, the ‘grade’ of a character in a fantasy world is the skill, experience, and elite equipment they have gained over a period of time surviving and making successful missions. Of course a elite veteran assassin is going to be superior fighting skills, because he has lived long enough to hone them, perhaps even paid for advanced training with his spoils. A ambush is good, but no one survives long in a business if they only know how to reply on one trick, because it is guaranteed to fail one day.
Now I’m not saying that the guy in question IS a high level professional, just that it makes the most sense for him to be, because if he has been hired by Iwatani or the council money would be no object, and you don’t want your attempted hit to screw up or be discovered, so it makes sense to put the money in to insure success.
One or, if the chest wound in the last strip was fatal, two minor characters* have died. Byron has died and may be back (again). Even Best is actually back (in a vastly improved form). It’s a little premature to start predicting Syr’nj’s permanent death.
*Yes, Kaye was a minor character. Count the number of strips she’s been in–her, not Scipio, unless you have a lot more evidence that her death will actually impact Scipio than anyone who doesn’t work on the comic has.
sometimes people die. and sometimes in a fictional world with an intricate plot centered around combat, characters die. that’s kind of what the story is about. And btw, Byron’s not dead (for long)
As a devoted TF2 Spy, I find Byron’s analysis oddly insulting.
He’s technically correct. You’re only as good as the trap you spring, but that’s sort of, like, you know, the point of assassination.
And escaping is right sensible when things don’t go your way. It’s easy to hide from somebody who doesn’t know you’re there. But it takes excellence to hide from somebody who does.
Of course, I wonder why the heck a guy who isn’t comfortable fighting in close quarters is attacking in close quarters to begin with.
Probably hoping the shock will throw her off her game. It’s a gambit, hoping that the target will not be able to keep their composure and rush them before they can collect themselves.
That said, a wrist blade has terrible reach and so really isn’t a good choice for this sort of thing.
It’s been some time since I’ve played TF2, but those are not really fundamental. They’re tricks.
In a nutshell, you hit targets which are distracted or soft. That comes down to a lot of timing and knowing where to be and being there ahead of time. A lot of bad spies conflate patience with inaction.
The other half of spy is being very very good at being places where you do not belong. It doesn’t matter if the place is awash in fire constantly and heavily patrolled. You are standing in the middle of it all unharmed and unseen. Part of this is seeing the ebb and flow of a fight and slipping through the crack. The other part? Eh, trade secret. Earn it yourself.
Ok now I am NOT nitpicking the plot, I think its fine for there to be a dumb assassin and it makes sense in this context.
I just want to explain HOW/WHY this guy is so so dumb since IIRC no one has made this exact point. This man has chosen to go INTO COMBAT with the altair friggin wrist knife (siiigh) – the stupidest weapon ever. A weapon with LESS reach than a simple dagger and ZERO wrist control over the blade so that all you can make are DUMB easy-to-avoid attacks basically. It’s ONLY conceivable advantage was already demonstrated: you can attack from a two-hand holding position without having to draw a blade. That’s it and it is NOT much for all that sacrifice, hence the weapon is at its worst laughably impractical and at its best useful for only one type of sneak attack and meant to be discarded/withdrawn immediately upon said attack failing.
This dumb sod begging for the ‘arkerra’s WORST assassin’ prize has NO other weapons. NONE. Zero. Not a simple one hand longsword (still small enough to be carried on missions), not a short sword, not even a dagger or a way to remove his friggin dumblade ™ and use it like a dagger.
If he could just do THAT, remove the blade and use it as a regular knife, his chances of being able to draw sap from Syrnj would’ve gone up exponentially. But he chose to just fly at her gung ho with a fixed blade; the only explanation is he is a very sad noob or not at all sober.
TL;DR Moral justifications aside: This guy is just plain STUPID enough to deserve whatever Syrnj has in store for him.
Also RIP Kurik
Yeah the ones from the game are IIRC. Which actually raises a problem of MALFUNCTION too: what if the blade comes out accidentally slicing your wrist open?
We all know its classic style over substance: 99% of the time your are MUCH better off with a simple concealed knife/dagger than the DERPblade but the DERPblade looks cool cause its like…wrist wolverine or something -__-
Anyway it seems like this guy’s is really just a simple blade STRAPPED to his wrist which makes his choice to not immediately detach it and use it as a normal dagger all the more idiotic.
It cannot be overstated how much you need WRIST CONTROL to kill someone with a small blade. Only with complete surprise can this be ignored.
It might’ve been crucial to be able to deny the assassination plan if he would’ve been caught on the way to the hiding spot. A hand knife is easier to hide than a long shortsword. And besides, this page runs pretty quickly and drawing more weapons takes time. I agree it’s cocky, but I can imagine worst
In light of new info: the blade being poisoned and the poison being fairly rare. I can admit you have a point so I can kinda forgive his lack of other weapons, one blade is much easier to justify/explain than several after all….still I think a backup dagger would be worth its weight in gold during a hit like this but whatevs.
I maintain it was utterly moronic of this guy not to immediately REMOVE the strapped blade and use it as a dagger. Again I’m not attacking the plot since cocky/dumb assassins are in all sorts of fiction and I understand heat of the moment leading to bad tactics.
I just want to dispel any illusions readers might have (mostly from a certain videogame) and state that killing even an alerted POLITICIAN with a fixed wrist blade goes beyond ‘cocky’ and well into delusional.
I’m putting a prediction here because it’s been stuck in my head and I have nowhere better to put it:
Shanna will somehow end up in the last remaining tube, throwing a massive wrench in HR’s plans.
Not sure why Byron had to lecture her on assassins. Given that she’s both a princess and a combat medic, you’d think she knows how to handle herself both in a fight and with things like this.
She’s likely never been the target of an assassin, before. Open combat, and even an ambush, is a very different beast, and up until now she’s been largely irrelevant when it came to world affairs.
As a princess, protection against assassins would have been the job of the royal guard, not something she would have been expected to fend off herself.
Especially living in wood elf central where they can hear your breathing and the trees are your CCTV system.
When have guards ever stopped an assassin or prevented a betrayal in a work of fiction?
That’s the problem with tube interface systems, they really limits your metagaming.
It’s Byron’s character though. He’s very much the tactics guy in habits and demeanor. I’m not surprised he used her as a sounding board for that internal monologue of his. Even if Syrn’j did experience such things, he’s the type to ruminate over what you would learn from said experiences.
Test: Sense Danger -> Partial Success
Test: Reflexes -> Failed
Test: Composure -> Success
Test: Reflexes -> Success
Test: Hypodermics -> Success
Someone played Long Live the Queen! recently ;)
I figured she was thanking Byron for giving her a reason to be in the habit of having a heavy-duty tranquilizer on hand at all times.
That is my interpretation too.
concur. She was a field medic at the beginning of all this, probably not really the target of many assassination attempts. and I didn’t really see much political intrigue in the wood elf realms.
I don’t get the feeling that elf politics is particularly murder-y, though.
Y’all got it all wrong. This was byron’s idea of dirty talk.
Of course she knows about these kinds of things, and it was Byron who taught her!
You can’t just figure out the proper response to every kind of battle situation all alone, however skillful you are.
“They’ve spring”?
I do hope that’s the only assassin around, though. Can’t get complacent after you take out the first one.
Should refer to the trap they’ve SPRUNG, not spring, in the first text box of the second panel.
Or, if we want to keep the word spring (hey, seasonal pun!) they could use they instead of they’ve.
I’m sure winter-bulent commenters want to give edits summer you would prefer we went for the pun rather than fall for the obvious solution.
Who says Byron had to be grammatically correct 100% of the time? I have plenty of characters (and myself, admittedly) that use strange tenses and whatnot because of their “accent,” for want of a better word.
people don’t always talk good grammar
“Spring” is definitely the wrong season here; it’s definitely Autumn, what with all of the brown leaves falling from Syr’s dress. And one huge fallen leaf named Kur’ik.
You’re imagining typos >_>
Now I am left wondering whether Yakumo indeed imagined a typo, or whether you decided to troll him and silently replaced the comic page.
Woah, man.
What if *that’s* the trap that they sprung.
Woah.
I’d rather fall for the jedi mind trick than the seasonal pun. :/
Finally on current… Damn. What am I to binge read now?
Darken.
Completed back when it was still updating
Slightly Damned. Flipside. No Need for Bushido. White Noise. Onepunch Man.
The Twilight Saga.
If I had the choice to make Rachel read Twilight or kill her, I’d shove her into the digi-beast.
I agree with nathanyel
http://archives.erfworld.com/
This is the correct answer (assuming you aren’t already current on it).
Reading the fics on the site as we speak
When you run out, I’ve a list of completed webcomics and a bunch in progress that I could refer you to. Binge read material for a long time. Some are even good!
The more te merrier
This is a list I found a few years ago, that gets updated, that is wonderfully put together, with link and description. The same site also links to a bunch of in progress things, if you want to look around.
This was quickly thrown together out of my “completed” webcomics folder, although there will be some overlap. Some of it might not be entirely safe for work, I’m not even sure I remember all of it.
If those somehow aren’t enough, or you want something that’s currently updating, you can always check out The Hiveworks, of which this site is an affiliate, or Spiderforest which does similar, but with different comics.
Harry Potter and the Method Of Rationality -> hpmor.org
Byron’s idea of ‘pillow talk’ was the art of war.
And she was totally in to it
So much This.
I have a feeling that she was even the one who prompted it. ^_^
Not just a high-level badass, she’s a high-level boss.
Hope that assassin saved his game first.
A pity this doesn’t have an upvote button…
Now he’s really desynching.
Damn, was hoping she’d die again
There’s a surprisingly small amount of blood, considering the blade attached to his wrist, worn over his pale garments, was lodged pretty deep inside of a living being 2 seconds ago.
It’s probably sap. You ever stab some maple syrup? it doesn’t act like blood, unless its gross syrup.
Oh, so you’re telling me that the thing I’ve been putting on my pancakes all my life is NOT maple syrup?
Wood elf blood, probably flows like sap.
I get the feeling that this assassination attempt is just another step in an elaborate ruse.
Well, yeah, if one thing is clear by now, it’s that His Grace Irritatey has an extremely convoluted plan.
I was thinking somewhere on these lines last comic.
“Now, why would his Grace send the whole guild of adventurers on a wild hunt? He has to have some reason for it”
*Watch the assassination attempt in the deserted guild hall*
“Oh!”
Although, the question now, was this assassination planned by one member of the council, acting alone, or is it a concerted action? Syr’Nj chances of survival are quite lower in the later case.
Of course, the assassination attempt may have nothing to do with the council. Wouldn’t bet on it, though.
It would be an interesting ploy on Iwatani’s part. Syrn’j is already aiming at the “conspiracy”, the most obvious solution would be to blame this assasination on them, and Iwatani’s actual goals seem to be unrelated to their doings. To his eyes, getting Syrn’j and the council to off each other may be killing two birds with one stone.
I see you like intrigue… so I put wheels inside your wheels, so you can wheel while you’re wheeling…
“‘Ere, there’s a dead assassin on the landing.”
“Must be one o’ Syr’Nj’s hits.”
“‘Ow d’ye know?”
“Tattooed on the back o’ the neck.”
This assassin clearly never playd Assassin’s creed.
Depends.
When I’m the one playing it, it’s about how the assassinations are playing out for me :-(
Quick, mr. assassin!
Escape! Sit on a bench! Jump into a pile of hay! Or pray with a trio of monks!
That or stand on top of a ladder and clobber them when they climb up at you one by one.
+10
This page feels like an episode of Burn Notice.
Well, he *is* the Michael Weston of Arkerra. (http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-6-page-12/ – I was thinking the same thing earlier, reminded me of this)
You know adventurers…bunch of bitchy little girls.
“Family too…if you’re desperate.”
;)
Love that show!
Byron’s beyond- the-grave-Burn-Notice-advice aside, I don’t really buy this. If you’re a high level assassin (and we can only imagine that Iwatani or the other heads of house would pay up the big bucks for someone decent), you don’t buckle and fight like a 2nd grader against a target that has little heavy-duty combat experience, is unarmed, and has no close by bodyguards or armor. I’m not saying that Syr’Nj would be a pushover, but I don’t think a hardened career killer would get ‘desperate’ just because the first plan didn’t go off perfectly. Plan A: kill target without a fight. Plan B: Kill target with a fight, because I’m not a rookie or afraid of violence. Just sayin’
You really think some random mook we’ve never met before is going to be “high level”? Besides, in Arkerra, most “decent” assassins would instead probably opt to have a reasonably-lucrative career as capital-“A”-Adventurers, and don’t need to resort to assassination like this to pay their bills.
I think a high-level assassin would have more tricks up his sleeve than “knife gauntlet” (seriously, the knife even looks like it has a normal hilt, he’s just strapped it to his wrist so he can look like Altair). And given that the green hands suggest a wood elf, I think this guy falls somewhere on the spectrum between “crazed lone gunman” and “patsy.”
What green hands? You can compare them directly to Syr’nj’s across the entire comic. I could go with “olive” but they’re definitely a human-compatible color.
Assassins do not get as much combat experience as normal warriors.
Additionally, you do not actually have to be able to fight well to pull off a succesful assassination attempt. Surprise and a sharp blade is often enough.
Perhaps, but this guys wasn’t after Byron, Frigg, or Scipio. He was trying to take out the MEDIC. You can tack on ‘combat’ to the front of it, but that doesn’t change the fact that medics are not supposed to be blade-to-blade with the enemy much. Yeah the support classes can always do some damage, but they are designed to get taken out quickly when singled out by damage-dealers. Listening to Byron talk shop doesn’t substitute for actual combat training.
As for the whole ‘only relies on surpirse to get the job done’ concept, well that’s just impractical. What if your target is surrounded by bodyguards, or is hard to take by surprise? (Case in point) Surprise is a powerful weapon in a assassin’s arsenal, but any craftsman who relies on only one tool will fail soon. Versatility is important. This is a high-level, high profile, high risk hit, it would take more than a one-trick-pony newb to get the job done. I mean come on, who tries to surprise a elf, that’s like their whole species bit, it would be like trying to drink a dwarf under a table to kill them in their sleep.
I’m not sure I understand the assassin scale of “high level” versus “low level”. if they are high level, that means they get the job done and probably cost a lot? No guarantee that they are any better at hand to hand combat then a “low level”. Iwatani probably qualifies as a “high level” since he killed someone without anyone even knowing the guy was murdered. poisoned soup is the ultimate knife in the back, so to speak.
Does a banker make a better adventurer than a adventurer because they can make more money? No, the ‘grade’ of a character in a fantasy world is the skill, experience, and elite equipment they have gained over a period of time surviving and making successful missions. Of course a elite veteran assassin is going to be superior fighting skills, because he has lived long enough to hone them, perhaps even paid for advanced training with his spoils. A ambush is good, but no one survives long in a business if they only know how to reply on one trick, because it is guaranteed to fail one day.
Now I’m not saying that the guy in question IS a high level professional, just that it makes the most sense for him to be, because if he has been hired by Iwatani or the council money would be no object, and you don’t want your attempted hit to screw up or be discovered, so it makes sense to put the money in to insure success.
Who’s got a big ‘ol butt?
Assassin’s got a big ‘ol butt!
i swear if EVEN HER DIES NOW…i think am done with this comic…
One or, if the chest wound in the last strip was fatal, two minor characters* have died. Byron has died and may be back (again). Even Best is actually back (in a vastly improved form). It’s a little premature to start predicting Syr’nj’s permanent death.
*Yes, Kaye was a minor character. Count the number of strips she’s been in–her, not Scipio, unless you have a lot more evidence that her death will actually impact Scipio than anyone who doesn’t work on the comic has.
Rachel died, and that cultist guy I liked
You mean the third cultist on the left? Or Dog Cultist number 7? Honestly alot of cultist have died.
Or do you mean the obvious? -looks up-
I guess you aren’t too much into the works of a certain G.R.R. Martin?
sometimes people die. and sometimes in a fictional world with an intricate plot centered around combat, characters die. that’s kind of what the story is about. And btw, Byron’s not dead (for long)
As a devoted TF2 Spy, I find Byron’s analysis oddly insulting.
He’s technically correct. You’re only as good as the trap you spring, but that’s sort of, like, you know, the point of assassination.
And escaping is right sensible when things don’t go your way. It’s easy to hide from somebody who doesn’t know you’re there. But it takes excellence to hide from somebody who does.
Of course, I wonder why the heck a guy who isn’t comfortable fighting in close quarters is attacking in close quarters to begin with.
Probably hoping the shock will throw her off her game. It’s a gambit, hoping that the target will not be able to keep their composure and rush them before they can collect themselves.
That said, a wrist blade has terrible reach and so really isn’t a good choice for this sort of thing.
Happen to watch MrPaladin videos? Learned a lot about Spy there…not that I play it, but it helped to learn their tricks so I eat less trick stabs.
It’s been some time since I’ve played TF2, but those are not really fundamental. They’re tricks.
In a nutshell, you hit targets which are distracted or soft. That comes down to a lot of timing and knowing where to be and being there ahead of time. A lot of bad spies conflate patience with inaction.
The other half of spy is being very very good at being places where you do not belong. It doesn’t matter if the place is awash in fire constantly and heavily patrolled. You are standing in the middle of it all unharmed and unseen. Part of this is seeing the ebb and flow of a fight and slipping through the crack. The other part? Eh, trade secret. Earn it yourself.
More people should realize this when playing Assassin’s Creed. If you miss your mark, DON’T keep fighting!
Poor sod. Nobody told him this plant has thorns.
Ok now I am NOT nitpicking the plot, I think its fine for there to be a dumb assassin and it makes sense in this context.
I just want to explain HOW/WHY this guy is so so dumb since IIRC no one has made this exact point. This man has chosen to go INTO COMBAT with the altair friggin wrist knife (siiigh) – the stupidest weapon ever. A weapon with LESS reach than a simple dagger and ZERO wrist control over the blade so that all you can make are DUMB easy-to-avoid attacks basically. It’s ONLY conceivable advantage was already demonstrated: you can attack from a two-hand holding position without having to draw a blade. That’s it and it is NOT much for all that sacrifice, hence the weapon is at its worst laughably impractical and at its best useful for only one type of sneak attack and meant to be discarded/withdrawn immediately upon said attack failing.
This dumb sod begging for the ‘arkerra’s WORST assassin’ prize has NO other weapons. NONE. Zero. Not a simple one hand longsword (still small enough to be carried on missions), not a short sword, not even a dagger or a way to remove his friggin dumblade ™ and use it like a dagger.
If he could just do THAT, remove the blade and use it as a regular knife, his chances of being able to draw sap from Syrnj would’ve gone up exponentially. But he chose to just fly at her gung ho with a fixed blade; the only explanation is he is a very sad noob or not at all sober.
TL;DR Moral justifications aside: This guy is just plain STUPID enough to deserve whatever Syrnj has in store for him.
Also RIP Kurik
Could be wrong but I think the blades are also retractable which is nice for concealment.
Yeah the ones from the game are IIRC. Which actually raises a problem of MALFUNCTION too: what if the blade comes out accidentally slicing your wrist open?
We all know its classic style over substance: 99% of the time your are MUCH better off with a simple concealed knife/dagger than the DERPblade but the DERPblade looks cool cause its like…wrist wolverine or something -__-
Anyway it seems like this guy’s is really just a simple blade STRAPPED to his wrist which makes his choice to not immediately detach it and use it as a normal dagger all the more idiotic.
It cannot be overstated how much you need WRIST CONTROL to kill someone with a small blade. Only with complete surprise can this be ignored.
It might’ve been crucial to be able to deny the assassination plan if he would’ve been caught on the way to the hiding spot. A hand knife is easier to hide than a long shortsword. And besides, this page runs pretty quickly and drawing more weapons takes time. I agree it’s cocky, but I can imagine worst
In light of new info: the blade being poisoned and the poison being fairly rare. I can admit you have a point so I can kinda forgive his lack of other weapons, one blade is much easier to justify/explain than several after all….still I think a backup dagger would be worth its weight in gold during a hit like this but whatevs.
I maintain it was utterly moronic of this guy not to immediately REMOVE the strapped blade and use it as a dagger. Again I’m not attacking the plot since cocky/dumb assassins are in all sorts of fiction and I understand heat of the moment leading to bad tactics.
I just want to dispel any illusions readers might have (mostly from a certain videogame) and state that killing even an alerted POLITICIAN with a fixed wrist blade goes beyond ‘cocky’ and well into delusional.
It appears Byron has a new character… I wonder if it’s like his old one, in that it comes with a bunch of problems he didn’t realize when he made it…
I’m putting a prediction here because it’s been stuck in my head and I have nowhere better to put it:
Shanna will somehow end up in the last remaining tube, throwing a massive wrench in HR’s plans.