Page 1109…
I can’t tell you how much I love the fact that all of you are so active in the comments.
It is the most flattering thing to see so much speculation and discussion based on a single page every day.
Thank you all! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the story and where it’s going.
I uploaded a NEW sketch from Tracy’s Wraith designs. Hope you like.
And don’t forget to visit Catena….
I knew there was a reason I liked the dwarves!
Because of the Scottish accent? 😀
“Nothing stand taller than the might of a dwarf!” -Gimli- -Lord of the Rings-
Glad I got to it before anyone else.
BTW what are those glow-in-the-dark creatures. I know they’re from the Nightmare Realm, but…
Okay, sorry…. Nothing stands…. and …creatures?
Gotta work on my grammar and punctuation.
Looks like the Dwarves aren’t exactly happy with Nick right now with how this discussion is going.
Go team Dwarf!
One thing you can say about the dwarves, they’re fiercely loyal to the king. Now how does Nic convince them to make HIM the king?
Oh, this is interesting. I figured Nicodemus’ first “betrayal” would be of Arthur. It looks like his corruption is going to start with the dwarves, though. It looks like they’re going to make him choose between Arthur and the stability of Dreamland right NOW.
I think I can guess how it’s going to go down…
We already know that, from reading the dwarves’ tablet: he doesn’t, he kills them, instead. It’s only the next generation of dwarves who accept him as king. Under duress? For fear of the same thing happening to them? Perhaps… And if they don’t say anything to their own descendents, those who come later simply won’t know any better, and will be loyal to he who they think is rightful king.
YAY! Go dwarves! ^-^ loyal to a fault! hmmm, yes considering thats what got them in trouble in alex’s time…. poor Bognok, I hope hes okay. And Nic called the dwarves tratiors. They knew that Arthur was trying to do his best for both Dreamland and Camelot. Hmmm, that whole situation in chs 12 & 13 makes so much more sense now.
That too!
Hmm, these dwarves all have normal hair colors.
Nicodemus is well trusted here, and this seems to be the first ever meeting where they consider acting against their king’s wishes.
If the dwarves die here, Nicodemus could say anything to their people, and they’d probably believe him. It kind of negates the possibility of killing Arthur or openly challenging his authority, though, as people might smell a rat.
From all appearances, Nicodemus is soon going to find out a way to bind the sword in Dreamland. It would be interesting if Arthur, entrusting the sword to Nicodemus for whatever reason, later comes across him sealing the blade in stone. It would tie into the real-life lore of King Arthur very well – the sword in the stone story simply getting altered over generations to be more appealing to the listeners.
It would also tie into what we know of Nicodemus’ character well. Even in the ‘modern’ Dreamland, he seems reluctant to outright kill someone. If he’s gained the perspective that he’s the best ruler for Dreamland, and that anyone else attempting to go around him, especially when it comes to humans, it makes sense that he wouldn’t kill unless he has to. He’s said before that the idea of whether someone or something is evil depends on where you stand; he doesn’t seem to consider himself evil. He does, however, see a weapon capable of bringing untested humans into his world to assume command of its people for a few hours a day as a very large threat. I don’t think he cares much if Alex is forced back out of Dreamland for good or not, just if he will be prevented from returning.
It would explain why the only thing he wanted out of Alex at first was the sword’s location; it’s not like he’d need to study it or anything after having sealed it for so many years. He was just trying to use as little force as necessary by simply resealing it.
I think he’s beyond the point of playing what he considers nice, though.
Er, “that anyone else IS JUST attempting to go around him”. >_>
Has anyone noticed that those Nightmare-Realmers look a bit like dragons?
so, I guess now we know who the REAL aggressors are. (“poor” nic’s going to be corrupted… LOL)
makes me wonder, though… what if those wraiths are still behind nic’s overly antagonistic ways even in the present? (although that would make nic a weak character, to fall so easily for the manipulations of those guys)
Citing Drakensang, “a dwarf stands by his word!”
Yay for the dwarfs as well! If I become king, I want them by my side :D! (Random musing, I wonder if these wraiths or others like them are the guardians spoke of in the merman tablet?)
Well this is eight hundred years earlier…Bognok has yet to suffer from Nastajia and the Kool-Aid incident.
It would seem that the dragons may be the “Guardian” race after all. I would have thought that the cloaked figures were also dragons but there’s a huge difference of scale given their apparent age by cognitive development.
Cloaked lizards: “Pie iesu domine…dona eis requiem…” *FWACK!*
Hmmm….remembers something read in the Dwarve’s czvs bdfore all hell broke loose. Something about ‘..beware for your king is a dragon…’ . Gee, wonder who wrote that….
Smell a rat… Nicodemus… you don’t have The Secret of NIMH in mind, do you?
http://4thwall.240gl.org/viewtopic.php?p=12280#12280
There is a hint about the guardians in the forums. I don’t think it means they are dragons but it doesn’t exclude them depending on how the myths evolved over time.
Not necessarily weak, just a bit over arrogant. That has alwasy been teh fault of Dragons, or anything else that thinks they are smart the rest of us.
Based on the last Camelot scenes, I am going to have to agree with reptile number #1 in the top frame.
Ha!
(Monty Python reference FTW!)
😉
Do the Wraiths remind anyone else of the Kif (or was it Kiff?) in the book Merchanter’s Luck or Pride of Channur ? Great story by CJ Cherryh.
GOOD OLD DWARVES!!
I do. That movie is awesome.
I wonder if the orange-haired drawf is the one to write the dwarven tablet, perhaps when he sees things are too late to stop. As for the next generation of dwarfs accepting Nick as their leader despite what he did to Arthur because loyalty is such a strong trait among them and since Nick is king, well therefore he has their loyalty.
Dwarves are also often too quick to react…
Nothing we have seen in those panels even borders treason – if an adviser is not allowed to try to persuade the king, what good it is to have advisers.
Anyway, great story here! I was absent several weeks and cannot read all the comments. When I left was the discussion about changing the online shop. Could somebody tell me whether the shop is somewhere available? Tx!
I also agree with Evan… Actually, in general I think Nic’s reasoning is sound… I mean, sure, we know he’s evil in the future, but what if he really was just trying to do what was best for Dreamland? Arthur is being pretty stubborn. And just imagine if more humans got into Dreamland. They would try to take Dreamland like they’re trying to take Camelot, not learn from Dreamland and make their own version. Also, while Nic shouldn’t threaten his king, he did try to persuade him first. And even now tried to tell the Wraith/Reptile things to give him more time to convince him.
I do think that he is wrong to justify betraying his king and killing dwarves as protecting Dreamland from those pesky humans though. I almost get the feeling it’s going to be one of those snowballing situations though where they keep killing people to keep things hush hush. Or like in Star Wars with Anakin…(At least he hasn’t started killing children…yet?)
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Those wraiths are so cool looking. Good job!
the problem isn’t that he’s trying to persuade the King against something he believes to be ill-advised, it’s that he’s doing it in a roundabout way behind his back. that is treason.
and yes, i know Arthur went behind Nic’s back first, but he’s the King, he can do that. if Nic was co-ruler, then there would be an issue–a huge issue– and it could be argued that he’s the co-ruler by default in Arthur’s absence, but he’s still just the adviser.
Yay for dwarves!
Oh those dwarves and their treason fetish.
^-^lol!
well, he technically just told Arthur what to do originally. But he did finally buckle down and give some idea of why it would be bad to bring more humans, but he wasn’t clear as to all the details. Sure I like these new sides of nic, it keeps the story fun and interesting. But I disagree with some of your points, so lets just argree to disagree.
Idle hands are the devil’s tools. At least he is trying to do good things for both realms and not just sitting around doing nothing.
An Anakin situation in this story would be aweful!
…These wraiths… They remind me of…something…I just can’t remember what.
Thts right dwarfs show em where u stand and if they don’t stand there make em! hit them where it hurts! lay down the law, show em how da west was won! >:D mua ha haha hahahahaah!
… Ok i over did it again didn’t I? D:
Dwarves are fiercely loyal and keep their word like, well, iron. That’s why they so rarely give it.
And he’s considering violence to force the king to act or to dethrone him: also treason.
Shamlessly I say: I love them dwarves. ^__^
CJ CherryH’s Kiff maybe? (From the Channur stories)
The Nightmare Realm emissaries are very well done, and fit the role perfectly. I especially like the spider design on their shirts. However, this does raise a general question: what does Scott have against reptiles? Nicodemus (dragons are reptiles, right?), the lizard-looking emissaries, the crocodile guards at Astoria…we have yet to see one reptile-based creature helping the good guys. I grant that reptiles have a negative reputation in literature and stories, but it would be nice to see some variation.
To Nicodemus: Liar! Liar! Pants on fire! Nicodemus is a LIAR!!!!!