“You’ve lost me again, brother,” Jane chuckled, interrupting yet another of Prancy’s flights of speculation.
“At which point?” Prancy asked.
“Ah…” Jane mused, “I believe there was something about an elf who kept losing her clothes… and then, something, something… everyone’s turned to stone.”
“You’re horrible,” Prancy sighed, nodding at Mister Rakham, the ratcatcher as they passed him in the street.
“You have to admit,” Jane laughed, “the story’s rather like a ball of yarn that’s been pulled in too many directions. While it may be pretty enough in and of itself, you’ll have no luck trying to knit a serviceable scarf out of it!”
“Damn the scarf!” Prancy grumbled, stuffing his hands even deeper into his pockets, “I wish I’d brought my mittens!”
“It is rather strange weather for the season,” Jane agreed, steadying her bonnet with one hand as another gust of icy wind rattled the shutters of the houses that lined the lane.
“But the turning to stone bit,” Prancy exclaimed, “You must admit that it makes perfect sense from Queen Sephni’s point of view!”
“She wishes for her subjects to remain in a state of eternal happiness, never suffering as she was forced to suffer,” Jane reasoned, “and, so, she has robbed them of all opportunity of suffering, along with their freedom and reason.”
“Exactly!” Prancy said, “You were paying attention!”
“And her cursed necklace gives her the power to do this?” Jane asked.
“No,” Prancy said, “It was the elven throne itself which contained the power, which is why everyone seemed rather intent on preventing her from reaching it.”
“And the rather monochromatic schoolgirl,” Jane asked, “What’s her part in this?”
“Imugi’s intent, it seems, is to find a similar release from her suffering,” Prancy said, “She appears to be another Graysider, brought into the fantasy realm by some misadventure, much like Bree and Sark. She, however, has found no comfort in fantasy and seeks instead to end her existence altogether.”
“Quite simple then,” Jane said, “Just have Sephni turn her to stone as well and be done with it!”
“But she does not turn to stone,” Prancy pointed out, “though Capria, standing beside her was affected, just as were the people in the monastery of Saint Bertilak’s, and, presumably, everyone else inside the borders of the High Elven kingdom.”
“Saint Bertilak!” Jane chuckled, “I wasn’t aware that that Green Knight had been canonized!”
“He’d sooner be sainted than Morgana who apparently founded the abbey next door to Brother Chatham’s,” Prancy laughed, “The Arthurian names are more evidence, perhaps, of some otherworldly meddling in the history of the fantasy world.”
“And Queen Greenfoot’s attire as well, hinted at a bit of Graysider influence, I’d say,” Jane added.
“Her name is Greenboot,” Prancy corrected her.
“Of course, it is!” Jane sniffed, “but it spoils the joke to get it right on the first go.”
Prancy smiled. “You’re much better at this than Phawkes!” he said.
Jane rolled her eyes at the compliment. “I suppose he’d show more interest if you were to discuss the proper calibre of shell for murdering voles!” she snipped.
“He prefers his .455 for garden work,” Prancy sighed, “but they make such of horrible mess of the poor things…”
Jane made a disgusted noise.
“Oh!” Prancy cried, his mood suddenly brightening again, “What did you think of that young artilleryman that Phawkes brought to dinner last night?”
“I do wish you’d stop putting him up to this!” Jane groaned, “I told you, I’m not ready to think about… that!”
“It is my solemn duty as your brother to see that you are properly wed!” Prancy argued, “I’ve no desire to see you, languishing in old maidenhood, atop my favorite divan for the rest of your life!”
“Only for the rest of your life,” she assured him with a pinch of his furry cheek, “I will far outlive you, little brother… particularly so, with the way you eat!” She emphasized her point with a poke at Prancy’s ample middle.
“You still owe me an answer,” Prancy huffed, “What did you think of the artilleryman?”
“He seemed… nice,” Jane sighed her eyes going distant as they continued their walk.
“Nice?” Prancy scoffed, “It was as if someone had poured a marble statue of a god into a dress uniform!”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Jane replied airily.
“You did, I saw you!” Prancy giggled.
Jane wrinkled her nose in annoyance as her brother continued to chortle like a schoolboy who’d dipped the headmaster’s tail in the inkwell.
“And why was the orc shamaness crying golden tears in the final panel?” Jane asked.
“You’re trying to change the subject!” Prancy accused her.
“No, I am successfully changing the subject,” Jane insisted, “because I know that you’ll never miss a chance to discuss your salacious little penny dreadful.”
“True enough,” Prancy confessed.
“I can only assume it had something to do with the effect of Sephni’s spell on Bree and Sark,” Jane surmised, “Can we conclude that their sisters are twin souled avatars as well?”
“I think not,” Prancy said, “though it may be right to assume that both sisters serve some similar function in their relationships with Bree and Sark and share as well some connection to the magic that guides their fate.”
“As in they were both fated to serve as a constant source of irritation for their much more capable and attractive older siblings?” Jane asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that…” Prancy’s voice trailed off as he noticed his older sister’s pointed grin. He gave her a scowl and then added, “You know, I think it would be a grand idea to have Phawkes invite Admiral Pawlington around for tea again.”
“Only if you’ve developed a taste for arsenic!” Jane quipped, “I’ve had quite enough of old Pawingbum’s company!”
Prancy permitted himself another bout of childish giggling as he waited for Jane’s temper to cool.
“And what of the card-playing Dracomage and his bad-feelings brigade?” Jane asked at last, “Are we to gather that they somehow managed to save their injured friend in the gray world?”
Prancy gave her a pained look.
“What is it?” Jane pressed.
“It’s actually something I’ve been meaning to speak with you about,” Prancy replied, “You see, late last night, Phawkes received a rather… unusual request. I’m afraid we may be going away for a week or two on urgent business, and I had hoped that you might tend to things at the house for a bit.”
“Last night?” Jane said, giving her brother a confused look, “I heard no messenger arrive.”
“It wasn’t that sort of message,” Prancy sighed, obviously hiding something.
“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Jane demanded.
“No!” he chuckled nervously, “It’s nothing like that… but a friend needs our help. Phawkes would go alone, if I let him, but…”
“You’re frightened,” Jane said, knowing the look on her brother’s face.
“It’s nothing!” Prancy laughed, pulling his hand out of his pocket to pat her arm, “We’ll be back home soon.”
“What aren’t you telling me, little brother?” Jane grumbled.
“Enough about that!” Prancy sniffed, “Tell me what you really thought of our tight-trousered young artilleryman?”
Jane muttered something they never taught her at finishing school.
So… I take it the audience ended up a little more confused than you were hoping for, dear author? 🙂
It seemed like a good time for Prancy to step in.
I was!
As much as I dread a wall of text, this explained a lot.
Thanks
Thanks Chaos that we have Jane to ask the right questions and get things cleared up, at least to some extent. Yes, that ball of yarn has been going all over the place and it’ll be very hard to put it back in proper ball shape.
The key point was, if I gather correctly, that, by the 12th power of Taurus, Sephni turned everybody (well, her elven subjects only, it seems) into stone statues in her madness. Still not sure where that Izumi girl comes from or what she is about: she wants to die but rather kills everyone (so easy to lose a fight but nope), she seems devoted to helping Sephni for reasons that have not been clarified (something to do with the Devourer, I presume).
So I must conclude that Sephni is The Devourer and Izumi some sort of incarnation of one of its followers, she’s still a weird form of The Devourer because she has weird forms of “compasion” that the original one had not. Am I wrong?
Fairly sure Miko wasn’t a subject of Sephni’s
The reason Izumi is different to Bree and Sark, is that she didn’t have an avatar to inhabit when she got to the Delve-world
The voice of the Devourer was what Imugi helped Sephni escape by loaning her the earpiece. The Devourer isn’t the only threat in the world, though he is the most objectively evil. I find puppy-kicking villains boring, so I usually kill them off pretty quick (ie Toesnip, the redcap with the elf fetish). Even the dragon who destroyed the Wood Elf kingdom isn’t trying to kill everybody everywhere. He just wants to be in charge of it all, and he’s not above killing a lot of enemies and henchmen to achieve that goal.
As for Imugi seeking oblivion, I think we can assume that she’s tried dying in her new incarnation but found it ineffective and thus was forced to seek out something a little more effective.
Yeah, they are quite sturdy, see jen/bree killing herself against the dragon outside the delve, it’s implied that she just …got better(sephni meddling made it so bree took over the outer body)
Just like last time: it answers some things correctly, and others are false-leads (or presumptions on the case of Prancy being a reader as well)
And hints at something else with Phawkes making an appearance somewhere
I’m wondering if the formidable Phawkes next appears to rescue the DM’s rather hapless crew in the ‘graysider’ world, summoned there by Teal? She is the most likely ‘friend’ Phawkes has. Could be the next episode is back with the ‘graysiders’….maybe? If poor Brian hasn’t bled to death by now. At least we know (or think we know) the status of Bree and Sark’s Delve world siblings, in as much as they aren’t players, but somehow linked to the two ‘graysider’ aviators.
Nope, I still don’t understand anything. Why is the elven princess wanted to be dead? Why did turn everyone(?) to stone? What was the kings problem that he died when she walked up to him?
I thought I didn’t understand anything because I’ve only been following the comic for a few months…but turns out I’m not alone and no one else understands either? Bree and her adventure’s are the only thing I can follow, but I don’t understand why the card guy was who wanted to make everyone depressed.
Is there another half of the comic I’m supposed to read to understand? Like I’m missing half the panel’s somewhere?
Nope, no secret hidden pages
Some things are just confusing until they get explained (personally prefer it that way, rather than having everything be obvious or dumbed-down, a little mystery adds to the fun 🙂 )
I left it to the reader’s imagination as to why Kindall would die when Sephni touched him. Honestly, I’ve found that you folks come up with such amazing theories when given a few clues and a bit of a mystery, that half the fun for me is seeing what you all think of it. Some of the best characters and storylines have sprung up from wild theories or comments that the fans have posited, and I feel that the comic has become a hundred times better because of that than it would have been if I’d just tried to explain everything and shove my own interpretation of the story down everyone’s throat.
I know that some people will be irritated by that. I mean, I’m the author! What kind of incompetent noob am I that I don’t have this all outlined and set in stone beforehand? I guess maybe it all goes back to my dungeon master days and one convention where I was picked to write the D&D tournament dungeon. I was so proud of how it turned out and the story I had crafted for the tournament, and I remember eavesdropping on the teams as they did their little “exit interviews” with their DMs after the rounds.
The only criticism that I remember from that day was the player who, when asked what he thought of the dungeon, replied, “Dungeon? More like the Underground Railroad!”
Ever since then, I think I’ve erred on the side of letting the audience bring their own interpretation to the story, and I’ve enjoyed that experience far more than I ever did just making people sit and watch my make-believe characters read their little scripts.
So, while I will endeavor to bring all these storylines together in a pleasing way in the coming chapters, I can practically guarantee that some things will go unexplained.
In any case, thank you for reading, and I hope you will find the answers you seek before long. Your fellow commenters are often very spot-on with their theories, I just won’t often spoil the fun by confirming their correct guesses.
What’s the point in still writing the story if you, the author, already know the end? Never my way. The surprise is as much yours, as us, the readers. Just keep on doing what you’re doing. we devotees, follow.
Yeah, a good author has the basic plot set out (maybe even the ending), but is ready to change things up as the story progresses, and a great author actually listens to feedback (even the shitty ones) from the readers (doesn’t mean they will always follow the feedback, but they don’t just dismiss it out of hand or get angry with the readers for pointing out possible errors)
Tell us Prancy is gonna push the bad guy from a tower AGAIN, please!
Heh heh 8)
So Her Psychoticness just killed everyone to ‘save’ them. Great. Someone needs to take her collar from her and return the favour before she ‘saves’ more ppl from the onerousness of life.
These Prancy/Phawkes/Jane interludes are always a joy, regardless of when or why they show up.
I do worry about poor Jane though. Gothic characters with her name always seem to end up on some troublesome adventure or another, and she’s probably due for another after the “Bingles Caper” so many years ago.
Heads-up, this Prancy appeareance is not properly tagged
Thanks!