Page 1239…
Happy Monday, All!
So sorry for the delay in today’s page.
The render times on these frames. With the city, the dwarves, the Centaurs, and the Astorian guards just KILLED my computers.
Add to that the rain drops. UGH. I was painting them for HOURS.
I hope you like. And the next few pages have NO city scenes. So should be NO delay.
🙂
Thank you for your patience. ANd hope you like the pages this week.
Scott
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“You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means”
Ahh Princess Bride…love it!
Now, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but where are the wraiths? Aren’t they going to be part of this battle? And how about the other creatures from the Nightmare Realm? (the ones attacking Alex and Co while on the flying ship and into Hilmdell)
Yeah for the dwarves. Yeah!
And I’m just remembering… wasn’t there some sort of animosity between the dwarves and the rock giants? Something to do with destroying the forests…
Yay! Third person! And thats a big acomplishmeant here. Great job as usual, Scott.
hahaha, I should`ve known this was coming!
`you keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means`
btw: Orions expression is pure awesomeness!
I think this is far from over, the wraths overheard Daniel so they somehow must`ve known this was coming right?
Still, a question remains: why did the troops come so close to the walls, right under enemy fire? Danny boy, you’ve got to have some answers, and they’d better be very, very good ones.
“you keep using that wor..”Crap! theBean stole my line!
Princess Bride Reference Rocks!
“Inconcievable!”
“Believe it, Nic…BELIEVE it…”
Nic. I think I speak for all of us when I say…
http://nelsonhaha.com/
This is exactly why Princess Bride is such an awesome movie. Movies are usually lucky to have one quotable line. The whole script of Princess Bride is quotable! 😀
I am so worried for Alex. I can’t see Nick doing anything but trying to eat Alex.
Yay! Nicodemus’ come uppance!
“Never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line!”
Lordy, Nic’s expression in the 4th panel is PERFECT!! I’m loving this!!
Really like all the sound effects, too.
Great reference, Made me laugh and yes the term is correct for thar scene.
means unbelievable and that was perfect for it.
Ha and Dwarves emerging from rocks that was great.
I’m guessing the next scenes are flashback scenes.
I found first and third pictures, too blurry / foggy.
Alex: “And now Nicodemus, I challenge you to a battle of wits!”
Felicity: “Um, Alex, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
:p
No need for apologies. Quality trumps all, and these sure are quality scenes. I almost feel sorry for Nick… Well, no, actually I don;t 🙂
Just clicked on Marooned, as per your request for banner-clicking
it rocks! Funny as all heck, and a decent update schedule.
Doesn’t beat 5-a-day of beautiful, funny, epic character-driven story CGI, though.
You’re still my fave webcomic, Scott.
Love the Alex-Lunge wallpaper – wonder what battle cry he might come up with.
“Gnarggghl!!!”
Nic: “Seriously; ‘Gnarrghll!’-? Bwahhahaha!!”
Ker-Slice-!
“Dan said you’d be easier to cut to bits if you were laughing with your eyes closed and head up.”
I guess the troops approached the gates, and thus the city walls, after the dwarves “took care” of the archers, as stated in yesterday’s page…
and BTW, since this is my first post here: great comic!
Of course not, Nic. If you are a villain that uses that word in surprise, you are guaranteed defeat.
Something like sixty-fourth Law of Super Robot Anime
I like what you did with the water effects in panel 3.
LOL!
You are all AWESOME!
Thank you!
The fairies are coming! The fairies are coming! I can hear their wings buzzing!
It’s hard to shoot straight down from the top of a wall. Leaning over the edge of the wall to try and shoot at someone directly below puts you in a very vulnerable position. That is why later Medieval and Renaissance castles were built with machicolations (murder holes) which allowed defenders to shoot at and/or drop things on foes near the base of the wall without exposing them to enemy fire.
If you mean the dwarves inside the walls, as I said, the enemy can’t shoot straight down from the top of the wall. I doubt anyone would build any machicolations on the inside of a wall because the enemy generally tends to be on the outside of the wall. If the enemy is on the inside of the wall, then you might as well not have a wall in the first place.
Also, when two forces have made contact and are fighting, firing projectiles into the melee is risky because you might hit your own troops.
Princess Bride reference! Classic! And used like Vizzini would have used it. That’s great.
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – The Princess Bride
Dan would be a Great Military Strategist
so did Dan know that Nicks spies were there?
Yay yay yay yay ya yay *jumps up&down, all the while racing through the house like a toddler on a sugar-rush* I GOT MY “INCONCEIVABLE!!! na na ni nah nah..
Well, after all the pleading of the fans, Scott didn’t have much of a choice here (neither has Ol’ Nic… 😆 “What a mistaike to maike” -reference=prolly only understandable to Northern Europeans and Brits-
Nicodemus will NEVER underestimate a genius-boy with a genius girlfriend again.)
Alex can be rightfully proud of his brother!
YES YES YES!!!! It’s been so long since I heard that word in this comic! Thank you! I love the Princess Bride and the look of utter surprise on NIc’s face, but I still have a sneaking suspicion that he’s faking it…
Wait…no scenes from the town? Does that mean all treasure chamber, or are we cutting to Dan and Nicole fending off the attacks of wraiths? *is worried for the “real world” crew*
that’s what i was going to say
i think nic needs a border vocabulary. lol XD great princess bride ref.
nic as the perfect OMG face.
Wait… If it were inconceivable, then how did they conceive of the plan…
I too am just here to say, “Hooray for the Princess Bride quote.” :-d
HEy! Why was my comment moved down to the fifth comment?
Haha! You fell for one of the most classic blunders! While the most well known is; never get involved in a land war in asia, only slightly lesser known is; never go in against a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line! HAHA! HAHA! HA– *thunk*
I loved the Princess Bride reference. : )
Bwahaha! Fabulous! I think ‘impossible’ would have been just as likely, but I love the PB reference.
My take on why the wraiths are so conspicuously absent is that they’re more inclined to instigate and manipulate than actually do the dirty work. That ancient centaur shaman they killed was a single easy target, not an army. Having said that though, they might just show up and prove me wrong. They’re sneaky enough for it.
Excellent way to finish this comic, and I really hope that we get to see some up close scenes of the Dwarves fighting soon. They are awesome, and I look forward to seeing the rest of the fight.
No, they probably didn’t, because Alex and Dan knew about the wraiths, so they avoided them this time. While Arthur and the others might not have known about the wraiths being spies the first time, and thus fell prey to Nicodemus and the Nightmare Realm, this time the shoe was on the other foot. The Wraiths din not know that the sword is able to record things and play them back, and even if Nicodemus knew that it could, he didn’t realize that it recorded the wraiths’ presence, thus letting Dan and Alex plan for that, too.
“Celebrating 5 years of action, adventure, and fun!”
Either I’m really tired because of the homework I’ve been doing for hours, I’m missing something, or there’s a glitch in the system, but is it Dreamland’s 5th anniversary or something? Or is that just there to attract new readers and say “hey, look! Dreamland’s been around that long! It must be as great as everyone I know says it is!”
Anyways, I know I don’t mind the delay, since I’m never awake when it updates, anyway 😛
It had to be said. Thank you for being the one to do it.
No, wait. Put that wrong.
Congratulations on getting to be the one who said that.
“Inconceivable!”
“No, quite believable!”
“No more rhymes now, I mean it.”
“Anybody want a peanut? “
I always love The Princess Bride references. Thanks for those!
Princess Bride ftw!
And yet another reminder that I need to get my fiance to watch that movie…
Maybe Nic thought he wouldn’t need them. He thought he had the plan all figured out and was a little too sure of himself. Also, I think the dwarfs and the giants could realize how both their roles in this war are more important than any past transgressions. They’re both fighting for their world afterall. That is my two cents anyway. 🙂
I must say, in today’s post I saw the last panel and the only thought to go through my head was, “You look like a chicken.” I think it’s his eye and the angle of his snout… but I’m going to have trouble ever looking at Nicodemus the same!
Heheheh…
Yes. January of 2006!
Can you believe it?
I can’t.
🙂
Thank you for the kind words.
BKAWK???
hehehe, even if there was no reference intended by Scott, that word is inextricably linked to that movie, especially when the audience saw it coming a mile away ;P. GO DWARVES :D!
Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! Perfect line for Nic! Loved it!
The fact that his war can end in one talon stroke has escaped you it seems… I would expect ol Nick to try to fry Alex.
Now THAT is conceivable!
AWESOME!!! BAHAHA <3
hehe! thats a cool page. 🙂 Great work, Scott.
the “chick”-onomatopoeia on the second panel leads me to the assumption that Alex is booting up his super-duper-magic helmet, eh?
Just great. Now I wanna see how Alex gets out of the lions den unscathed. ^^
EPIC WIN to you good sir!
ah, so they discussed their plans, KNOWING the wraiths were listening, and discussed the Trojan horse/rocks somewhere else where they were not overheard?
And Nic’s been right all along.
Who brought war to Dreamland?
The human.
GO TEAM NIC!
Nope. They’ve been in range long before:
http://thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/chapter-16/page-1226/
I mean the troops right behind the Giants, page 1225 and around. When Alex wakes up knowing Nastajia’s almost got an arrow through her, things may get a little rough for Mr. Daniel Carter the Strategist.
Inconceiveable!
Duhn duhn duuuuuhhn! Nice continued job on the comic ^_^. Whenever this comes out to movie (I think you mentioned it some odd monthes ago) you should have the guy who says that (as a dwarf) be shown in then next scene doing something. (Sticking his tongue out at an enemy troop perhaps?)
Ha! Same here!
Try? Yes. Succeed? Not so much. Alex’ armour will imediately shut, and he won’t feel a thing while Ol’ Nic runs the risk of becoming “file dragon”. Remember that lil’ alex could already cut Niconemus seriously with the sword.
Only one at risk is Felicity. Scorched kitty, anyone?
Everyone who’s seen Princess Bride and just read this is thinking that.
I love how many people have seen the PB 😀
Could this be the turning point?
well, as i have found out the hard way on RTS games, your guys can only charge so far, and bows shoot much farther than that…
Thanks Scott for continuing to provide a chuckle even after 5 years!
Not ‘inconceivable,’ but bold. He who dares, wins.
Here we have a very special case. Stone Giants, immune to arrows, throw the Dwarf Bouldertroopers over the wall, and the rest of the troops only have to wait for the walls to be mopped clean of archers and the gates be opened from inside. We also know that Fairies are incredibly strong for their size and could just throw the archers off the wall suffering minimal casualties, if any at all. Why endanger the whole gang?
I think you just gave Scott the troop name, Dwarven Boulder Troops., for those special ops dwarfs. I am personally going to steal that for my D&D games.
Arg, that was a coffee blower!!!
i’m thinking more along the lines of
“prepare to be smitten! er, smited? Smote?”
Nick:
“I do not think it means what you think it means…” ;o)
FIGHTFIGHTFIGHT!!
dwarf king: Ya want summa dis!?
Guard: no!!
DK: too bad! can ya smell what Bognok is cookin?!
or
DK: this is a mace, probably the deadliest blunt weapon ever made, now your probably askin yerself ‘can he crush my helmet in one hit or two?’ well punk, do you feel lucky?
yeah scott! your fantasy castle walls are not historically accurate! geez!
(JK i relly dun care)
BTW Bognok and centaur guy are playing badminton with that poor walrus…
Gotta love those Princess Bride allusions!!! No matter how many times they are used, those classic homages NEVER get old! Next thing you know, someone will get cracked on the head with a club and say “My gosh, it was full of stars.” Beautiful!
“Hello! My name is Alexander Carter. You killed King Arthur. Prepare to die.” XD
Wait, there are people who havn’t seen the princess bride? INCONCEIVABLE!!
It has been almost 4 years since Nicodemus’ last Vizinni quote.
875 pages ago!
I think I can safely say I’ve been “prudent” with my use of Princess Bride references.
🙂
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1630/chicodemuscopy.jpg
😀
Let me add my vote to the hivemind that was thinking exactly the same thing!
Yes, very nicely done.
Cue the appropriate dialog at the gate:
Orion: Give us the gate key….
Guard: I have no gate key!
Orion: Paddington, rip his arms off.
Guard: OH, you mean this gate key….
*laughs* Yes. He watches mainly anime, so there are a lot of ‘classic’ live-action movies I still need to introduce him to. Not sure he’s seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail yet, either.
Heeheeheeheehee! I don’t think I’ve seen Nic’s eyes poppin’ before! XD
BTW, question for you, Scott. What format are your 3d files in? Would you be adverse to giving some of the render work to some of your readers? It might help speed things up a bit if we have the right program.
Hi everybody! Please vote!
http://topwebcomics.com/vote/4274/default.aspx
Dreamland is falling behind… we need to keep it in the top 10!
“Have fun stormin’ the castle!”
Another possibility: the Wraiths are good spies, but not so good in combat, or may be limited in their effectiveness–what if they are hurt by rain? Or must sleep in daylight hours?
It all depends–when are they historically accurate for? Certainly they are more advanced than the last human king, Arthur’s time. Well, maybe not, since this world has Arthur in the 1200s. And the walls might be accurate for that time–but I’d put them some 100 or 200 years earlier.
But, given that Arthur has been out for 600+ years, I wouldn’t expect 15th-16th century walls.
*gasp*
Actually I think that is the sound of the gate opening. Picture the chain being wound up onto a crank.
You should’ve used particle effects for the rain drops sliding down the characters, that would have really killed your computers!
What Nic meant to say was:
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUU–!!!
language …
😉
Agreed. My sinuses will never be the same!
😉
Particle effects would have worked…although it would have taken a lot of render time…
Nicodemus: “Inconcievable!”
Alex: “How many times are you going to keep using that line?”
Nicodemus: “I could have had that gig with Dreamworks, but noooooo…I had to take over a nation…”
“You’ve just made the greatest blunder- second only to waging a land war in Asia, and only slightly lesser known- never go up against a Human Arthur type when death is on the line! Hahahahahahahahaha!”
😉
I love you all. That made my day. XDD
always keep your eyes open for something out of place one of the major things ya need to know in a fight or war.
hahahahaha i loved that movie growing up!
Well I have to admit all this now and thenr eference to this princess Bride movie has me interested to see why it has so much hype but you mentioning Monty Python & Holy Grail….if its as good as that movie I will definitely look into it further.
Now, you HAVE to get that guy to play Nico. It would be perfect!
Still no Wesley!
Awesome
Make it yet one more. Inconceivable!
A five ounce bird cannot carry a one pound coconut! It’s a simple weight ratio.
That last panel- hilarious!
About the rain drops, I’m surprised to hear you’re painting them on by hand each time. I would have thought you would have painted them once and then stuck that on a transparent plane in front of the camera. Surely any time that that would add to rendering would be made up for by the time you don’t have to spend painting individual raindrops on every frame?
If the rest of the army had stayed back while the stone giants advanced to deploy the dwarf-pods, that may have signaled to Nicodemus that something was up. As it is, the stone giants look like they were merely taking a fire support role. Had they been on their own, it would have been clear that they were the ones making the real effort to send forces inside the castle.
Rogue dodge bonus to reflex save much?
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, I’m sorry, did you think I was YAHing at the dwarves? No no no, I was simply enjoying the Princess Bride refrence! :3
look now, the comic is well written and the art is great, but you kind of gave the game away when you had Nicodemus doom himself by uttering the one word that must not be spoken.
and now you’re doing it again!
I think this one is my all time fav page!