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Starting February 1st ALL new Exiern pages will post ONLY to Exiern.com and Our Patreon. Please read and support us there!
Swords, Sorcery, And Then Some!
Howdy, New Readers! Thanks for reading Exiern!
Written by Scott T. Hicken with art by Antipus, the comic updates Mondays. Please check out the Archive to enjoy the earlier adventures of Typh and Peonie!
Exiern contains mature themes and is best for readers 18+.
Maybe Olivia is not all she appears to be. The evil mage was doing something to her when Tess saved her. Personal i would like to see her live. But her dieing for the sake of the story would make P-cups grow a little more. Hardships and pain break or strengthen a person depending on their character. P-Cups is going to have to get a lot harder if she want’s to rule one day.
Yeah – that’s my bet. The Northwind is a sneaky thing…
Or, i’ll say again that the description of the contest we’ve been given ONLY said the orb had to be pierced. Nothing was said about the bearer of the orb…
There are a lot of clues here. I think I see where it’s heading.
Teresa’s left breast is bigger than her right. Teresa’s hand is on her own chest right where the sword penetrated Olivia.
Teresa looks pleased and at peace, even though Olivia appears to be impaled.
There is a little blood on Olivia, but not a lot…not nearly what this kind of wound should cause.
Coriander is silent. He looks shocked and stunned, and his stance looks all wrong…wobbly, even.
Teresa accepted the duel as a duel. Coriander thought she might back out.
The sword isn’t poking out of Teresa’s back, in this frame or the next.
Olivia is not merely alive, she can still breathe, even though the sword should have impaled her lung and was twisted in her body from the last strip.
Coriander is conveniently armored; his chest is not visible.
Those orbs were magic, and the North Wind hit one dead center.
The North Wind is known for not injuring allies.
This all points to one thing. In Thursday’s strip, Coriander is going to fall forward, dead as doornail, and we’ll see the pointy half of the sword sticking out of *his* back.
Oh, and here’s a critical note: Trust the art to tell the story. Trust us to see it.
The speech bubble from the observer is all wrong. Don’t spoon feed this to us. We can *see* that Olivia is still alive. We can *see* the lack of the pointy end of the sword there. It’s really obvious. You don’t need to point it out to us. Even Peonie doesn’t need to speak to show confusion. Just show us.
Take out the character put in just to explain that part of the sword is missing. Her legs are already missing anyway. She’s just getting in the way. Take out Peonie’s speech bubble. Put the bottom part of the hilt in below Olivia’s hand (it’s missing).
This panel would be much better if you just show us the disappearing sword and the horrified, shocked, confused faces. Leave the only speech as Olivia’s grunting, so the focus is all on her. In fact, this would be even more powerful if Olivia were the only character in the frame.
This leaves the reader to see the half-sword and have the same “Gasp! WTF?” moment as the characters. Leave Peonie so shocked that stops her endless talking and is left speechless.
Artists have much more emotional power when they make the audience feel an emotion, or have a thought, instead of telling them what to feel or think. Show. Don’t tell.
Another clue: This chapter is called “Execution”. Whom do you execute? That’s right. Criminals. Who’s the criminal here? It’s Coriander.
Don’t forget that we still have a big, green, scaly loose end. Eventually, Alicia needs to come back into the story and finish dealing with her missing brother.
I am not sure about this being the making of the Nordwind.
The changes were always subtle. Those strikes back at the Parade might just have fallen short enough to not hurt anyone/only disrobe by accident.
But going into the front but NOT out of the back is not exactly what I would call “subtle”.
Of course this is the dream of a new dreamer, so maybe the severity of Nordwinds effects has increased into the obviously observable since the old days? Or maybe more then those subtle effects have not be nessesary so far?
I do love Corianders “WTF?” expression in the last panel, however. I mean he is leader of the Templars, so he knows how/where swords are deadly.
It not being now goes agaisnt every piece of experience in his life. It is propably the same feeling you get during unexpected Aquaplaning when driving a car.
@ Mr Spock. You are incorrect. The person who named this page is not. A kebab is food on a stick, usually meat. a corndog technically counts as a kebab, in the loosest definition. a SHISH kebab is food on a stick that is SHISH flavored. SHISH is a traditional seasoning from central and southeastern asia: The Middle East, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and the like. It is typically very pungent and at least mildly spicy, kind of a muddy red color like raw red curry paste. the last time i had some it tasted like if you mixed cumin, red curry, and paprika, and a dash of chili powder and salt. If you are going to correct others, you should be correct, yourself, first.
Teresa is holding her hand over the same part of her chest as where Olivia got stabbed. What if winning the Duet of the Skillful Blades somehow results in taking the wound inflicted on the champion of the loser? I.e., Teresa just killed herself.
That would mean that Teresa accepted the challenge in order to take down Coriander, even though she knew that taking him down might result in her death. Now that is dedication.
It explains the hand on the chest.
It explains why Coriander was reluctant to make Olivia run Peonie through.
It explains why Olivia isn’t dead and explains where the pointy end of the sword went.
It explains why the Duet hasn’t been used in a century, and maybe also why asking for it is akin to admitting guilt.
@Corwin: You are wrong on two notes. First one is kebab does not need to be on a stick any meat with or without vegetable that is barbecued (or in some cases just cooked in an earth or wood oven) counts as kebab(actual word from arabic means cooked, fried). Secondly a shish is the name of stick actually hence the food on stick counts as a shish kebab and yes I know these as fact since I live in Turkey and basicly eating kebab every day in my life.
I meant grill in my previous post not just barbecue shish /sticks) are used to cook meat easily over heated grill without burning hands hence the food came to be known. Also there is no such thing as shish flavor. Every country heck in here every city or town uses their own flavor for their kebab. What you describe is something else entirely.
The next strip is where we find it it is a gimmick sword, one where the front half collapses into the rear half and Olivia is stage acting being stabbed. The blood you ask? Blood squib, of course!
@Kathucka: I like your first theory better. I think Teresa simply has her hand there because she’s relieved. Her smile is odd, tho’. She must know something about why Olivia isn’t dead yet.
@ Greenstalker. I am not trying to get into a flame war or anything, but i don’t think your information is 100% accurate either. Mainly because i live with a professional chef, and we have a jar of Shish seasoning FOR KEBABS (says it right on the jar). Bought it an one of the local Asian markets. And like i said, it is a lot like curry paste. but it is not curry paste. And he has a cookbook of middle eastern cuisine with a whole chapter on how to properly make kebabs and various traditional kebab seasonings, one of which is shish seasoning. your experience eating may tell you one thing, but my experience cooking and watching my chef friend cook and reading through cookbooks in my boredom tells me a very different story. just because you have not seen it does not mean it is not there, like evolution or god. again, not offense meant or anything, just striving for accuracy.
@corwin: Check where shish kebab (I mean name otherwise there are various dishes on stick in various country like shasylk or however it is written from russia) originated. Shish (or şiş in turkish) literally means one end sharp or pointy metal or wooden thin stick. Knitting needles, skewers and anything that can be hold in your palm that has a pointy or stabby end is called a shish. Now they might be producing or calling something shish seasoning but that thing actually does not exist kebab seasoning exists though and it is usually like garam masala a mix of various spices which will be marinating meat with either oil or yogurt. Ofcourse i am not trying to start something either so dont take my words in the wrong way i am just saying Spock has a point and it should be shish kebab.
If i was not clear enough let me rephrase it. A shish kebab does not need to be seasoned to be shish kebab. As long as it is on a skewer while cooked and/or when it is being eaten than it counts as a shish kebab (usually it requires meat to be on skewer but there are vegetable shish kebabs too like eggplant, tomato, bell or chili pepper, mushroom etc)
@kathucka – Teresa’s hands are splayed and there’s no wound visible. Further she doesn’t seem to be in any pain. OTOH Coriander looks to be in considerable discomfort, though his monocle hasn’t dropped. Is he just slumped in defeat or is there more to it?
Maybe Olivia was the real bad guy in this all long and this was the only way to expose her for being responsible for the worthog attacks. So the King and Teresa knew about her all along and had the Count play along so this little known duel could take place.
OK, my take on this:
1) The sword should be flat, so it went between her upper ribs, yet above her heart. This is an art issue, and fixable.
2) The sword destroyed the orb, pierced Olivia, then continued into Coriander via the magical conduit. He’s not stunned–he’s dead. When Olivia pulls the sword out, he’ll fall. That said, there’s likely more to Olivia than meets the eye…even moreso than the conduit.
3) The sword worked out this one solution and oriented itself via Peonie.
For those that think the blade went into Teresa’s heart, that would mean it would probably go out her back, and screaming girl should see a good-sized blade coming out of her, no?
I’ve been told that the old rules for sabre fencing required you to pronate your hand when doing a point attack so that the blade can slip more easily between the ribs. This sword however is, as pointed out above, THE NORTH WIND! Which, as we’ve seen, seems to be able to cut through entire bodies (ribs and all) without leaving a mark, so a little twisty of the blade in a chest doesn’t surprise me much 🙂 With adrenaline running through everyone, maybe they didn’t notice you can rotate the blade in Olivia’s chest.
Lastly, I’m pretty convinced now that Olivia is totally going commando. Unless she’s got on undergarments that sit higher than her hips 🙂
Another idea I had just now was that the Norh Wind will never fail its wielder, which could mean that because it is in Olivia’s hands, she is the wielder. So…if she wanted to pull it out and live, wouldn’t it NOT fail her? 🙂
OOO, ooo, and is it just me or are the Princess’s Knight Teacher’s eyes shaped into moon sickles of happiness? 🙂 I’d be proud too, she kept on not dying! 😀
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That must’ve really hurt when the blade twisted…it went in horizontal…now it’s vertical.
Someone grab the bad guy before he makes his get a way.
So, Olivia’s not human?
Maybe Olivia is not all she appears to be. The evil mage was doing something to her when Tess saved her. Personal i would like to see her live. But her dieing for the sake of the story would make P-cups grow a little more. Hardships and pain break or strengthen a person depending on their character. P-Cups is going to have to get a lot harder if she want’s to rule one day.
It could be Northwind’s magic at play.
Yeah – that’s my bet. The Northwind is a sneaky thing…
Or, i’ll say again that the description of the contest we’ve been given ONLY said the orb had to be pierced. Nothing was said about the bearer of the orb…
Pretty sure the other end of the sword went into the old bad guy.
There are a lot of clues here. I think I see where it’s heading.
Teresa’s left breast is bigger than her right. Teresa’s hand is on her own chest right where the sword penetrated Olivia.
Teresa looks pleased and at peace, even though Olivia appears to be impaled.
There is a little blood on Olivia, but not a lot…not nearly what this kind of wound should cause.
Coriander is silent. He looks shocked and stunned, and his stance looks all wrong…wobbly, even.
Teresa accepted the duel as a duel. Coriander thought she might back out.
The sword isn’t poking out of Teresa’s back, in this frame or the next.
Olivia is not merely alive, she can still breathe, even though the sword should have impaled her lung and was twisted in her body from the last strip.
Coriander is conveniently armored; his chest is not visible.
Those orbs were magic, and the North Wind hit one dead center.
The North Wind is known for not injuring allies.
This all points to one thing. In Thursday’s strip, Coriander is going to fall forward, dead as doornail, and we’ll see the pointy half of the sword sticking out of *his* back.
Oh, and here’s a critical note: Trust the art to tell the story. Trust us to see it.
The speech bubble from the observer is all wrong. Don’t spoon feed this to us. We can *see* that Olivia is still alive. We can *see* the lack of the pointy end of the sword there. It’s really obvious. You don’t need to point it out to us. Even Peonie doesn’t need to speak to show confusion. Just show us.
Take out the character put in just to explain that part of the sword is missing. Her legs are already missing anyway. She’s just getting in the way. Take out Peonie’s speech bubble. Put the bottom part of the hilt in below Olivia’s hand (it’s missing).
This panel would be much better if you just show us the disappearing sword and the horrified, shocked, confused faces. Leave the only speech as Olivia’s grunting, so the focus is all on her. In fact, this would be even more powerful if Olivia were the only character in the frame.
This leaves the reader to see the half-sword and have the same “Gasp! WTF?” moment as the characters. Leave Peonie so shocked that stops her endless talking and is left speechless.
Artists have much more emotional power when they make the audience feel an emotion, or have a thought, instead of telling them what to feel or think. Show. Don’t tell.
Stupid errors. I typed:
“The sword isn’t poking out of Teresa’s back, in this frame or the next.”
I meant:
“The sword isn’t poking out of Olivia’s back, in this frame or the previous.”
Another clue: This chapter is called “Execution”. Whom do you execute? That’s right. Criminals. Who’s the criminal here? It’s Coriander.
Don’t forget that we still have a big, green, scaly loose end. Eventually, Alicia needs to come back into the story and finish dealing with her missing brother.
correct term would be shish kebap.
HA! And they were all, oh no, the sword going through her in the sketch panel was an error, liars! lol
Heh heh, loving Cory’s reaction 😀
Umm, what happened to P-Cups’ yellow orb? Are they supposed to just dissipate when one is pierced? o_O
#Mr. Spock I think the term you are looking for is shish keboob. 😀
I am not sure about this being the making of the Nordwind.
The changes were always subtle. Those strikes back at the Parade might just have fallen short enough to not hurt anyone/only disrobe by accident.
But going into the front but NOT out of the back is not exactly what I would call “subtle”.
Of course this is the dream of a new dreamer, so maybe the severity of Nordwinds effects has increased into the obviously observable since the old days? Or maybe more then those subtle effects have not be nessesary so far?
I do love Corianders “WTF?” expression in the last panel, however. I mean he is leader of the Templars, so he knows how/where swords are deadly.
It not being now goes agaisnt every piece of experience in his life. It is propably the same feeling you get during unexpected Aquaplaning when driving a car.
@Kathucka a neat theory but coriander’s expression seems less “I’ve been stabbed!” and more “dafuq just happened!?”
@ Mr Spock. You are incorrect. The person who named this page is not. A kebab is food on a stick, usually meat. a corndog technically counts as a kebab, in the loosest definition. a SHISH kebab is food on a stick that is SHISH flavored. SHISH is a traditional seasoning from central and southeastern asia: The Middle East, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and the like. It is typically very pungent and at least mildly spicy, kind of a muddy red color like raw red curry paste. the last time i had some it tasted like if you mixed cumin, red curry, and paprika, and a dash of chili powder and salt. If you are going to correct others, you should be correct, yourself, first.
I finally noticed Olivia’s hairstyle (regular to dreads)
The blade never fails, it shortened itself.
@Sam S Yes, and the angle of entry flattened out too.
So now the question is which wizard did it, and why?
It’s MAGIC, I say … Sorcery!!!
Oh, Wait … this whole fight was full of magic or magic items of one sort or another.
Good Fight, P-Cup.
Yep – i bet [b]Kathucka[/b] is right. The same thought just came to me while i was discussing this at the [i]Misfile[/i] board.
Arrrgh. I hate switching back and forth between boards that use HTML and boards that use BBCode.
Sister Teresa’s hand notice wear it is? And her smile? Think she knows Exactly whats going on..
As others have said, the woman’s legs missing is really strange. Please fix that. And yes, this page would be 100% better without speach bubbles.
I think its perfect. Nicely done!
Oh, wow. I just had a really wild theory.
Teresa is holding her hand over the same part of her chest as where Olivia got stabbed. What if winning the Duet of the Skillful Blades somehow results in taking the wound inflicted on the champion of the loser? I.e., Teresa just killed herself.
That would mean that Teresa accepted the challenge in order to take down Coriander, even though she knew that taking him down might result in her death. Now that is dedication.
It explains the hand on the chest.
It explains why Coriander was reluctant to make Olivia run Peonie through.
It explains why Olivia isn’t dead and explains where the pointy end of the sword went.
It explains why the Duet hasn’t been used in a century, and maybe also why asking for it is akin to admitting guilt.
That would be a hell of a twist.
@Corwin: You are wrong on two notes. First one is kebab does not need to be on a stick any meat with or without vegetable that is barbecued (or in some cases just cooked in an earth or wood oven) counts as kebab(actual word from arabic means cooked, fried). Secondly a shish is the name of stick actually hence the food on stick counts as a shish kebab and yes I know these as fact since I live in Turkey and basicly eating kebab every day in my life.
I meant grill in my previous post not just barbecue shish /sticks) are used to cook meat easily over heated grill without burning hands hence the food came to be known. Also there is no such thing as shish flavor. Every country heck in here every city or town uses their own flavor for their kebab. What you describe is something else entirely.
The next strip is where we find it it is a gimmick sword, one where the front half collapses into the rear half and Olivia is stage acting being stabbed. The blood you ask? Blood squib, of course!
@Kathucka: I like your first theory better. I think Teresa simply has her hand there because she’s relieved. Her smile is odd, tho’. She must know something about why Olivia isn’t dead yet.
Hmm, personally took Mr. Spock‘s comment to be referring to the fact breasts are sometimes referred to as ‘baps’
@ Greenstalker. I am not trying to get into a flame war or anything, but i don’t think your information is 100% accurate either. Mainly because i live with a professional chef, and we have a jar of Shish seasoning FOR KEBABS (says it right on the jar). Bought it an one of the local Asian markets. And like i said, it is a lot like curry paste. but it is not curry paste. And he has a cookbook of middle eastern cuisine with a whole chapter on how to properly make kebabs and various traditional kebab seasonings, one of which is shish seasoning. your experience eating may tell you one thing, but my experience cooking and watching my chef friend cook and reading through cookbooks in my boredom tells me a very different story. just because you have not seen it does not mean it is not there, like evolution or god. again, not offense meant or anything, just striving for accuracy.
Northwind – Well I guess that explains why she is still alive then.
@corwin: Check where shish kebab (I mean name otherwise there are various dishes on stick in various country like shasylk or however it is written from russia) originated. Shish (or şiş in turkish) literally means one end sharp or pointy metal or wooden thin stick. Knitting needles, skewers and anything that can be hold in your palm that has a pointy or stabby end is called a shish. Now they might be producing or calling something shish seasoning but that thing actually does not exist kebab seasoning exists though and it is usually like garam masala a mix of various spices which will be marinating meat with either oil or yogurt. Ofcourse i am not trying to start something either so dont take my words in the wrong way i am just saying Spock has a point and it should be shish kebab.
If i was not clear enough let me rephrase it. A shish kebab does not need to be seasoned to be shish kebab. As long as it is on a skewer while cooked and/or when it is being eaten than it counts as a shish kebab (usually it requires meat to be on skewer but there are vegetable shish kebabs too like eggplant, tomato, bell or chili pepper, mushroom etc)
@kathucka – Teresa’s hands are splayed and there’s no wound visible. Further she doesn’t seem to be in any pain. OTOH Coriander looks to be in considerable discomfort, though his monocle hasn’t dropped. Is he just slumped in defeat or is there more to it?
This has devolved from a discussion over the results of the fight to FOOD??
…what if the red we’re seeing isn’t blood? What if it’s a visual effect of magic?
Maybe Olivia was the real bad guy in this all long and this was the only way to expose her for being responsible for the worthog attacks. So the King and Teresa knew about her all along and had the Count play along so this little known duel could take place.
Best guess is it’s something to do with her mathamancer run in.
I am disappointed the king doesn’t already have his men swinging a sword down on a certain priest’s head though.
Seriously, kill the spell singers fast! Don’t want to find out what that other song they’ve been hearing is all about.
Does anyone think the Pope, he is the Pope, right, might have been the one to attack Olivia way back when?
Once again, not going to speculate. Just going to wait til the next installment. As should all of you! 😛
OK, my take on this:
1) The sword should be flat, so it went between her upper ribs, yet above her heart. This is an art issue, and fixable.
2) The sword destroyed the orb, pierced Olivia, then continued into Coriander via the magical conduit. He’s not stunned–he’s dead. When Olivia pulls the sword out, he’ll fall. That said, there’s likely more to Olivia than meets the eye…even moreso than the conduit.
3) The sword worked out this one solution and oriented itself via Peonie.
Where s Larry the Cable Guy pushing heartburn medicine?
Not much blood + bigger Teresa breast => Olivia’s heart was magically transferred into Teresa.
(anyone’s allowed a wild guess, right?)
@Shai nice theory but why is the blade not coming out the other side?
For those that think the blade went into Teresa’s heart, that would mean it would probably go out her back, and screaming girl should see a good-sized blade coming out of her, no?
I’ve been told that the old rules for sabre fencing required you to pronate your hand when doing a point attack so that the blade can slip more easily between the ribs. This sword however is, as pointed out above, THE NORTH WIND! Which, as we’ve seen, seems to be able to cut through entire bodies (ribs and all) without leaving a mark, so a little twisty of the blade in a chest doesn’t surprise me much 🙂 With adrenaline running through everyone, maybe they didn’t notice you can rotate the blade in Olivia’s chest.
Lastly, I’m pretty convinced now that Olivia is totally going commando. Unless she’s got on undergarments that sit higher than her hips 🙂
Another idea I had just now was that the Norh Wind will never fail its wielder, which could mean that because it is in Olivia’s hands, she is the wielder. So…if she wanted to pull it out and live, wouldn’t it NOT fail her? 🙂
OOO, ooo, and is it just me or are the Princess’s Knight Teacher’s eyes shaped into moon sickles of happiness? 🙂 I’d be proud too, she kept on not dying! 😀
No, that’s how their eye glows normally look