So... what exactly is that dragonoid dude and the archmage plotting?overthrow cale once he becomes king? or MAKE him into a king?

Most likely, they were trying to set it up so that Cale becomes King. They're trying to start the whole "City of Justice" thing over again, and Pella is evidently in on it.

Apparently, Cale is also supposed to wield the Sword of Truth.

Cool beans! Cale's all set up in his proto-kingdom with his proto-subjects. Huzzah! And the sand dragons are back!

If Cale's gonna wield the truth, I hope he makes a better Will Save than poor Tavor did.

Oh, and Pella? He's all set now. Feel free to GO.

Very fun update!

I have a feeling that time is looping. The statue the group they saw of themselves (practically) when they first came to Kenethica...not them being part of a prophecy, but being a legend. I don't know. I guess its one of those things when you mess with time.



Maybe, but I think that they dragon ment once Cale knows about this whole conspiracy thing they're plotting (can it be plotting if its for good?). Maybe they want to test him, to see if his is a good king or whatever.

I just hope that means we get to see Tavor again. He needs some closure...and a hug.

As for Pella, I guess at least we now know she has a purpose. Double agent!

I sure hope we'll see him! Does he still have the sword? Or is it somewhere different because os the whole timeline shift? Hmmm...

But if he does still have it, we'll have to see him at least once more so Cale can claim the blade for himself.

Poor Tavor. I really hope he gets a happy ending eventually.

no, what tavor needs is a straight jacket and a rubber room

Boo! That's mean! *sniffle*

He needs a remove curse spell, the poor thing.

What I see is Simcity.
and no, I don't think Tavor will be back anytime soon.

the time looping thing is a good idea but i don't think the statues were exactly the heroes of this comic. just to point out the two in the middle on the platform. one had two swords and the other only had one. either could be cael because he uses two swords but there is only one sword of truth. what they didn't have though was a giant cow with a warhammer the dragons probably used another similar group the last time they tried this lol but who knows.

hopefully Pella doesn't turn into an assassin of some sort there can be only one truly dark member and Richard has completely filled that spot.

tavor wasn't cursed... he was consumed by the need for revenge... unless i completely missed something lol that happens.

More like remove confusion. He be seriously messed in the head, Tavor be. And man am I loving this story. It's like taking the best of every fantasy and turning it into a Supreme Fantasy. David Edding's morbid humor (Richard), philosophical enlightenment and plot elements from Terry Goodkind, races similar to that of Warcraft and a whole bunch of plot styles jumbled together perfectly. All I can say is give me more.

I've said it before, and I'm not changing my mind. Tavor only went nuts after get ahold of the "Really Angry Sword". It probably feeds off of the wielder's already present anger and drives him/her insane. Tavor was pissed before, but he didn't go completely nuts until after he acquired the Sword of Truth. Get it away from him, and he'll be back to (relative) normal.

Yeah, he's just consumed by revenge, no curse whatsoever. It's all him. Which is why I'm not surprised if he'll permanently be the "villain" of the story. And, with Cale being the new leader in Kethenecia, if Tavor ever comes back, it's very likely he'll have Cale's head for not choosing Gamlon.

Yeah... I hope Cale didn't forget about Gamlon. That would piss off Tavor even more.

As for Pella, I wouldn't worry too much about her. She is genuinely wanting the best for Cale. Otherwise, she wouldn't be asking the elderly ones why they didn't just help Cale directly in the first place.

I shall carefully ponder the implications of these revelations later. For now, I have two observations to make.

Cale's looking mighty cheerful.

In the last frame, Richard is standing there slightly apart, as if he wants to say 'I don't know these people'. XD

So... was Pella deceived by the Archmage and the Dragons or....?

We definitely need some closure on the Tavor issue. If he was able to travel through time with his swords, he should be making a comeback.

Just wondering, was i the only thinking that what Pella and the dragon said to eachother seems to imply that all the people are just an illusion, something magical created to give Cale his first subjects?

You think?

Hmm. Can't see that myself, but it's an interesting theory.

I think Pella was in on the deception and was just expressing her displeasure at having to be dishonest.

I wonder, are the dragon and archmage hiding in the city, invisibly, or are they speaking telepathically to Pella? Hope no-one notices that Pella is standing there talking to herself.

Ok, so... the green dragon leader survived? So far I had assumed Tavor had killed him and the other dragons, because how else would Tavor have gotten the SoT away from the dragon leader? Granted, we only saw Tavor dropping the cut-off head of the brown dragon. Was that death only an illusion, too? Except for the poor soldiers who died for real, of course.

So the dragons were in league with the archmage all along? Despite first opposing the archmage's plane to destroy the anchor when the group entered the catacombs? Considering the boy wasn't really a boy, perhaps the whole "anchor" story was a total and utter lie, too. The dragons worked with the archmage and the whole thing was designed to test Cale from the start, a giant deception. If Cale ever finds out, he'll be pissed off. Pray he doesn't hold the Very Angry Sword then.

Stupid archmage. I hate all-powerful NPCs with an Omniscient Morality License. He needs his plan shoved up his wrinkled old youknowwhat. See, back in the Kethenecia arc, Mr. Archmage and the dragon claimed that the reason their Glorious Social Experiment had failed had been corruption and human greed, arrogance and people who didn't share their glorious vision. Alright, at least the dragons admitted that they had been arrogant, too. But the point is, apparently Mr. Archmage has never asked himself one thing: If the vision of a golden age failed the first time around, why do you think it will work better three thousand years later if the same idiots are still in charge of it??? Meaning YOU, Mr. Archmage, former ruler of Kethenecia, and your manipulative time-travelling clique of dragons whose ancestors bred humans like dogs and used them as slaves to drop them off cliffs in insane experiments?? Benevolent ruler, my a**. Apparently they think they merely need to find an idealistic easily led moron like Cale and install him as king... because, to paraprase Terry Pratchett's sarcasm, poeple think that having a king will make them free. Yeah sure, Cale will make everything better. Everyone else, the elves of Gamlon included, can go to hell.

I still have the sneaking suspicion that the archmage and the dragons sent the Vulii to destroy Gamlon, because Gamlon (from what we know) had done much better in creating that "utopian peaceful kingdom" they had wanted Kethenecia to be but failed. So in spite, they decided that Gamlon had to go. Come on, down the catacombs, the dragon leader practically admitted that the Vulii elves were doing the dirty work of destroying the failed experiment Kethenecia! The archmage loftily thought that it was better for his city to crash and burn instead of trying to fix its problems. What arrogance. If your toy doesn't perform as you wanted it to, and you broke it, you throw a hissy fit and throw it into a corner like a sulking four-year-old, Mr. Archmage? And all the mere mortals living there needed to fall to the sword in one apocalyptic final clean sweep so that your ego won't have to live with the reminder of your failure anymore.



*groan* We've been over this before numerous times back in the discussion threads during the Kethenecia arc. (Please, newbies, read older threads before you come to the forum to post! Thank you.) The only current party member not present in the golden statue was Pella. Krunch was faintly visible behind the other statues as a broad, horned silhuette; his statue was facing away from the others.

Another group of "destined heroes"? Please use Occam's razor. There's no wasted space in a webcomic. We get a statue of two pointy-eared elves stabbing something on the ground, a strange female with a "mask" over her eyes, a warlock with a veil over his head, and a minotaur. At the end of the Kethenecia arc, at the climax of the battle we get a scene with all our heroes posing the way they were on the statue... Cale with two swords stabbing the boy, Tavor with the SoT standing over him, Krunch fighting behind them, Benny and Richard to both sides of them casting spells.

And for the love of God, it's "Cale". The name only turns up how many times in the comic? You see it spelled out there on nearly every page.

Sorry, I'm just allergic to people using "lol" as random punctuation.

I just have to quote another webcomic:
dun duuuuuun DUUUUUUUUUUUN

Bang! Richard is not the archmage! Look at him, all... In the present.

So many plot parts. First the "Presence behind the Darkness" and now "Cale for King" again + "Pella, Double Agent"
I'm almost fogetting the whole part about "Finding the Sword of Truth" and "Disposing of Aelloon"
But we'll probably get reminded about that one when the next page comes...
Time travels/paradoxes allways confuse the main plot... which ever that is.

things just got very intersting...

The only thing that REALLY caught my attention (the rest was pretty much expected, even Pella getting her moment), was...

"He will do better THIS TIME."

Assuming Archie is talking about Cale's leadership of a people, a kingdom; what and when was THE OTHER TIME then?

Actually, it says; "WE will do better this time."

wowww lord Cale, oddly i like it lol, poor richard must feel left out

Good Job Pella. You did your job. Now shoo.

And the sand dragons didn't come back? They were to have the Phares in place of the sand dragons.

Ooooh... What if through some sort of infinite time loop, the Archmage is Cale!

Typo on my side, I know.

But still I have no idea what "the other time" was.

I mean, in Kethnecia past, I got the impression that all they did was what they had to do in order to let history take its course, and that Kethnecia past could not have been "the other time".

Gawd I hate Archie, he always makes people go on with conspiracy theories.

Still, I have no idea whatsoever WHAT he's talking about.

Yeah, but this is just Cale's story right now. They'll probably start on another character's storyline soon enough.

what confuses me the most is that the dragon you see speaking in this scene had his head cut off by tavor and the sword of truth taken from him in the past so does this mean that the arch mage has ressurected the dragons, obtained back the sword of truth and tavor no longer lives??
such a head screw

Did the dragons decieve Tavor and create the illusion of being killed?
Was Tavor and the entire story of Gamlon created by the Archmage to motivate Cale?
Could they have released Hctib and given him the chalice so that he would destroy the village and displace the people?
Is the Archmage the mastermind behind everything that has happened thus far?
Are 'good' characters even allowed to have such complex schemes?

Conspiracy!
/tinfoilhat

I think the "This Time" is simply a case of "This Time, we won't screw up"

No skipping through time this week M'Laddie!


And the one that died is a different dragon

Oh, just a typo? My bad then. Sorry, I thought you misunderstood due to misreading.

By "the other time" I think he meant the version of history in which Kethenecia was in ruins. This alternate timeline they've created is their "second chance" in which they have set up Cale as the king. They feel this will give the city hope of survival. "We will do better this time."

*shrug* But I could be wrong.



The dragon we saw today is a different dragon than the one who had his head cut off by Tavor! We didn't see this particular one die.



The Archmage looks pretty human to me. His ears are not elven!

Although, I suppose he could be disguising his true form. Wouldn't be the first time.

But I don't think Archmage = Cale. Probably not. Cool theory though!

What Cale really needs to wield his true power is the FORK OF TRUTH!!!

Ok, time for me to give a little rant about people hating on Pella. First of all, i always hated Tavor, and i've been reading this comic since the begginning(started when it was advertised on LICD). I thought Tavor was obnoxious in the way he always acted so snobbish in almost everything he said. When he went all crazy i actually began to like him, because he became more realistic. Pella on the other hand, cut off Richards hand, AND got away with it, i don't see Tavor ever doing that. As you saw here Tavor got his ass kicked for sticking richard "in a corner". Pella on the other hand chopped richards hand off, AND split his head in half when he joked about her singing. The hand removal also lead to a wonderful joke about richard sticking a fork in his wrist.

Pella has a personality much more comparable to Cale'anons in that she lives in pursuit of justice and hates inujustice, cruelty, and dishonesty. Cale has very similar concepts that he lives by.

I will gladly go up against anyone with what i have said.

Krunch is the archmage. And he's also Richard's father. Tim is the mother. The gnome king is the mastermind behind it all.

I agree with barysnikov, even though I'm fairly new to this comic...
Tavor only good moments were when he actually JOKED about the king of Gamlon being killed in a most gruesome way, the other when he goes crazy and shows some flaws, like being a villain...
But when Pella was introdused in page on page 79, it was "Wow", her first lines were the lyrics to "Hammer to Fall" by Queen, and following it up by cutting of Richards hand of and joking about it on the next page, making her more like a fighter who sings "modern" songs on her free time than just being a hatable bard.

Haha, that's funny... Next thing you know people will open up a conspiracy thread based on this sentence .

Once again Tobrian manages to knock me off my feet with an in-depth point of view, I wholehartedly agree with the "impale the archmage on the sword of truth" standpoint. The only thing I'm not hoping to see is that people will get this idea: "Richard is the archmage after Cale murdered him."

I doubt that ... sure they have both had their moments when they wanted to kill each other but by now I think they are at the point where they are actually good friends.

By the way I must mention at how adept we are getting at what is coming next ... the people Cale leads from the village become his subjects and I remember some1 predicting that Pella would be an agent for the Archmage like ftw?

nah you saw a YELLOW dragons head this one is Green

and I Think they failed in their past... and they are trying to help Cale NOT to do THEIR mistakes

(YAY, First post =D)


Greetings TheThing ^^

nah you saw a YELLOW dragons head this one is Green

and I Think they failed in their past... and they are trying to help Cale NOT to do THEIR mistakes

(YAY, First post =D)


Greetings TheThing ^^

Yaaay! Pella finally has a purpose! Too bad it's more or less exactly what one would have assumed her continuing presence to mean anyway. Owell. I still like how in the book cover painting it looks like Richards going to smush her head like a grape. ^.^

Speaking of the Lord of Darkness, he looks kinda annoyed. Hard to tell, since he's like, half an inch big on the page, but thats the first impression I got. Maybe because all those people are bowing before Cale instead of him. Owell, it's not like he still can't kill them all if he felt like it.

Also speaking of Richard, there's something I gotta wonder. Either he's in on it all, (which wouldn't be too surprising), or he's just keeping his mouth shut about Pella's dark-alley visits. (Which would be even less surprising.) Because seriously, I can see Cale, Benny and Krunch not noticing, especially if AM is involved; given AM would probably be talking in her mind or have some sort of way to keep them obscured from the rest of the group. But do ya really think something like that would really get past Richard? I doubt it.

As much as I dislike the theory that Richard is 'working' for the Archmage (I refuse to believe he is, however, in any way, controlled by AM), that would make the most sense in the long run. It would explain 1)Why he stuck around with Cale, even going so far as to have him rezzed after the 'Dick' incident, 2)The whole, 'You seem familiar' comment [Probably just did it to get on AM's nerves], and 3)The reason he still stuck around after the whole thing with Hctib.

Who knows. I'm actually a little bit less interested in Richard's motives [at the moment] than I am about what Cale's gonna think about being more-or-less forced into ruling Kethencia. Is he gonna go happy-goo and break into song whilst woodland creatures frolick about and share in his joy, (shortly before getting roasted by Richard for being too cute), or is he going to rebel against the Archmage? And when, if 'if', will he find out that he never really killed a kid in the first place?

This page was kinda stale, revealing, but stale, yet it opened a floodgate of possibilities that Richard would have trouble getting under control. Not that he'd want to. ^.^

Well technically, Tavor has not been "alive" since Issue 2. If the dragon who was wielding the Sword of Truth didn't die, how exactly did Tavor acquire the sword? It really makes me wonder what the hell went on between the time he was frozen and the time he reappeared.

Practically everything I wanted to say has already been said, so the only real purpose to this post is this:

@Mr. Shadow: Dumbledore is just as crafty as AM, and he's good. In fact, he's too good. It would be enough to make one suspicious...

And so a kingdom is founded! One built upon the values of justice, equality, and freedom. One that has the noble Elf, Cale'Anon Vatay, as its wise king.

...

I'm going to run into a corner and cry. Alot. I was also displeased with the lack of Richard up til the bottom.

And, um, is it just me, or is the dragon/human wearing armour similar to Tavor's?

The dragon dude was wearing that in the catacombs too, a chain mail shirt and blue cloak. Similar to Tavor's but not the same.

Krunch could be seen outlined in the background of that statue. The scene of the statue was actually foreshadowing to Tavor's betrayal, in the scene where Cale kills the child-- Tavor standing overhead, ready to bring the Sword of Truth down on Cale, who is about to stab the child with both his swords, while Benny and Richard stand at the front casting and Krunch stands behind.

Do you honestly beleive the sword of truth is what made Tavor crazy? He did not have the sword when he tried to kill the Archmage. He did not have the sword when he fought alongside the Vulle and against the dragons took the sword.

What made him crazy was spending centries as a ghost trapped in a city he believed to responsible for the fall of his kingdom. The Vulee destroyed his kingdom, but he decides to take it on the allys that did not come to their aid, even though he latter finds out that they had problems of their own.

Thw sword is not responsible for that, and that can not be fixed by any spell I know of (expect maybe a reverse alignment curse).

Has NO ONE noticed what the Dragon is wearing?

Lemme show you what I mean:



What their wearing look creepily similar, and the dragon's line 'There will come a day when I fight by his side once again' could be construed to mean that it's Tavor speaking. After all, we didn't see what happened to him. My thinking is that the Dragon we see there is Tavor after the SoT turned him into a Dragon.

Anyone else agree with me?

No. You guys are funny and usually over analyze things... but that's okay. As for the similarity of their armor - So, they're both wearing mail armor. Is that really so strange? How different do you think mail armor is going to look?

On a side note, good job Tobrian. You crack me up almost as much as Sohmer does sometimes... almost Allergic to people that use lol as punctuation. I like that one.