Annotated 18-11
We had to strike a bit of a balance in terms of who was responsible for Gravedust bringing himself and the others back. Was it the will of the cosmos, the mystics, or the cosmos AND mystics? But then, mystics are supposed to be able to speak for the will of the universe, and it’s reasonable to assume they could keep doing so even after they were dead. “Use the Force, Luke,” said the ghost.
Sorry, E-Merl, but it’s going to be quite a while before anyone bothers really answering your question, and there’s a reason for that. At this point in the story, we had a pretty good idea of Rachel’s likely destiny, and therefore we knew E-Merl might get dangerously obsessed with resurrections. So we wanted his knowledge of them to be imperfect, since that would increase the chances that he’d do something reckless. We were thinking along the lines of “bargaining his soul to black magick” or even “getting radicalized as a Cultist,” but it turned out “getting suckered into a trap” made more sense for him and the story when we got there.
On the other hand, the way Gravedust describes his greatest power and the price for using it here was not meant to sow any seeds: Chapter 41 and the events leading up to it were not even a glimmer in our eyes at this point.
I’m thinking this is the moment Yalaria’s fate was sealed.
I think Yalaria was alreay done for at this point. Ardaic told us she would be executed “soon” three days before the group left to go on this mission, and they must have had some travel time.
Yep. And also I can’t imagine Syr’Nj being so angry and vengeful as to execute someone who clearly couldn’t of participated in the attack.
So Naror’Nj is an arrow, now? Is there any canon on when or against whom Gravy uses him?
I believe he gets the arrows mixed up and shoots Narror’nj at a tree for target practice. Syr’Nj is super pissed.
“She’s the High Elder now. I know she’s high because I saw her eating half a dozen mushrooms earlier.”
I feel the need to point out that this page is absolutely gorgeous.
The expressions are moving.
Panel 3 is just fantastic, from Gravedust’s speech, surrounded by corpses, to E-Merl’s confusion in the background.
The last panel with the burning huts in the background, the sheer determination of Syr’nj, everything, just really well done. Very artfully done.
I particularly like the welling, but finally unshed tears in Syr’Nj’s eyes in panel 2.