That's one scary crossbow. I'd hate to be in the line of fire.

Edit: My bad... TODAY (Wednesday) is the 30th. Thurday is the 31st.

CRITICAL HIT!!

Let it be a lesson to us all. Never piss off a lady who owns a ballista.

One has to wonder, though, why a king would be interested in the likes of pirates. Even ones as successful as these ones seem to be. If one follows the logic that the feudal lords have throughout history, it is best to make an example of lawbreakers such as these. It is not wise, and was almost never done, to capture said cutthroats because of the certainty of their eventual death...

What was with the big green dude?

Wow... That is possibly the biggest ballista i've ever seen. >_> Can't wait to see how THIS one turns out.

(Woo! First post and nothing to make me look like a fool! Except maybe this...)

i like how she ended that. perfect way to create disbelief and surprise. those are some pretty viable elements for those who are poorly armored.

Having a band of outlaws is beneficial for both thieves and government officials. The people who must remain legitimate in public eye can still get some underhand things done, at the price of keeping a few criminals OUT of jail. Of course, that's as long as both sides can keep their mouths shut about the other.

What do you think Bush is doing with Blackwater?

Gotta love how that bolt impaled THREE PEOPLE.

Lar DeSouza, you are my hero. <3

Please Black Water is not the evil mercenaries everyone makes them out to be. They are down right civil compared to Global or any free lance operative.

On topic, kill first then brag. People talk just to cover hesitation, this comic was good I love seeing over confident military dogs die regardless the time period.

Queen Elizabeth used to employ pirates to gather valuables and boost the British economy...at least that's what I remember from my reading. >_<

Aye, but privateers such as the ones employed by the queen were executed on sight if they decided to destroy property belonging to the government they were working for. They were rewarded for hunting down enemies of their employer. This group seems to prey on anyone.

+edit+
anyone who A) doesn't pay or isn't in a formal agreement

Ah, good point. =P

It also didn't hurt that the most famous English pirate, Sir Francis Drake, paid taxes on all the Spanish plunder he "liberated". Nothing like a few hundred thousand dubloons to change everyone's mind about you!

And great comic! (just to keep it on topic, lol)

If my laptop isn't being retardedly slow right now, I'd type a lot more right now.
I'm wondering if Vrrek is currently close to Kethenecia. Or maybe this IS a side story as I had thought earlier.

I also heard about Queen Isabella (I believe that's her as the queen of Spain during the time Columbus traveled to US) giving prisoners to Columbus to be under his employment during his journey. I might be wrong.

Who would the captain want to send a message to? Could there be a motive other then loot and plunder at work?

And why isn't the first mate in his dress? It makes him feel pretty!

If I remember correctly, Tah'Vraay knows that Aeloon is looking for Benny. She 1) doesn't like Benny, 2) is one of the last people to see her before they ventured into the Ketten Wastelands and 3) could make a hefty profit from turning her in. Maybe Aeloon's been avoiding Vraay, so she's been hunting him down?

I can't imagine Vraay wants to capture and turn in Benny, wouldn't she have gone after her into the Ketten Wastelands?

She probably wanted to contact Aelloon first so that he could arrest them.

I think it's clear what's going on.

Vraay is pregnant. With Krunch's babies. The cleric is in regular contact with Krunch.

That makes perfect sense, and even puts the cleric's line into the puzzle.
I just noticed that Temmet is Aelloon. Observe.

Alot of throaghts are slit in these 2 comics i'd love to see that over confident pirate get crushed.. (gues that isn't gonna happen though). You can never trust a pirate, unless you are one yourself

Just to throw this out there, I think it's more a harpoon than just a regular, run of the mill giant crossbow.

Anyway, great comic

Then the real question becomes, why are Vraay and Temmet referring to each other by their first names unless they have some history/friendship/business...?

Richard called her "Captain Vraay" back in Issue 2. I thought "Vraay" was her last name. =P

I have difficulty perceiving that Aelloon character as a threat though... All he managed to do in the big picture is thinning out his own troops by sending them out against superior adversaries.

Giant crossbows FTW.As that's what AOK said.
If they weren't destroying castle walls with it,they're using
it to impale people...goooood times.

Onoes,don't tell me Vraay dare challenge Richard's level
of badassery.

I bet they got that crossbow from the money they got from Cale and company.

Doesn't anyone else think that the king might want to talk to her because 1) He knows they took Benny, Krunch and the gang to Kethenecia. And also 2) she set fire to his granaries.

Lizardman.


I thought this was rather obvious.


O.o I just assumes everyone else realized this too..


Shortening of her first name. Tah'vraay/Vraay, like joeseph/joe

It just had to be a giant crossbow... What's wrong with cannons? Did they forget to invent them?

Do pirates get surnames? Of course they're going to refer to each other by their first names. They don't have enough respect for each other to do otherwise. It's obvious that to Aelloon, Vraay is just another pirate.

And to the person that said pirates can trust pirates...that's far from the case. lol The only pirate that can be trusted to not betray you is a dead pirate. And even then you still have to be careful. >_>

It's a ballista. It's no doubt intended to hook innocent ships and reel them in so that they can be boarded. Well, maybe it isn't quite big enough to be considered a ballista, but it is a siege weapon of sorts.

Cannons don't have quite the same effect when attempted to impale an adversary. The giant crossbow also provides utility in the form of hooking something of importance so it can't get away. Like faster ships.

EDIT: Double posted to decided to make use of the second post. Mea culpa!

True... but a cannon has a wider area of impact, meaning that Temmet would be dead aswell... Though that would ruin the whole motive for finding "THE SWORD OF TRUTH!". Plus I can't argue that three persons impaled on the same projectile both looks cool and has a comical effect of über-pwnadge to it.

Who wants to bet that V'raay was waiting to use that harpoon when a cool retort could be used in conjunction?

I'm actually related to Drake ! ha well his family at least i dont think he ever had kids...but him and his family appear on my moms family tree that goes back to 1302



Anywho, wuwu impalement! I wish they showed Temmets face when he saw the ship

Oh Giant Harpoon Crossbow, you made 1.04am a very lovely time for me.

Also, mebbe Captain Vraay was also in upon the whole archmage/cale and co/kenthecia plot, just like Pella, and is trying to get into contact with the archmage or whichever particular form he was in.

Harder to tie a rope onto a cannon ball than it is to tie one onto a ballista bolt.

That and have you seen any guns around? To use a cannon one requires gunpowder and if gunpowder had been invented by then, everyone would be shooting each other with guns instead of arrows

Kay, srsly though.

Lar, I know you. How come you didn't show us a little more of the Krunch-on-Vraay actions? >( What's with all the secrets?

Wow, that's some stealthy pirate ship, able to sneak up on the coast without Aeloon seeing it when he rowed to the shore with his men. Perhaps the pirates where hiding off-screen?

So, where is Aeloon's ship/fleet? They're scoring incompetence points here. Of course, Tah'Vraay played her "My Cool Pwns You!" card, so Aeloon's men are probably still stuck in a video cut scene.

Hehe.

Soldier-kabobs.

I could do without that thought in my head, but Krunch Was tied up, wasn't he?

He likes it kinky like that

Its possible V'raay's ship sank Aeloon's. that would explain why there was no warning when the ship fired the harpoon, but then why wouldnt they hear the slaughter..? Maybe Aeloon used griffins or zepplins to get there. or dragons.

that is most certain a ballistic, as someone stated that they can be used to destroy city walls...

but they can be put on ships since the ship is stable in the water and is balanced enough to fire with out any mishap.


Ive seen them on some ships they was used in such as not to alert others.



saying goes if i remember right..


a educated assassin will choose weapon a silent weapon, over rather a noisy weapon such as a gun.



vraaay probably knows there dragons around and ships around and doesn't really want them coming down on them if there business with each.

so hence the ballistic... it would be considered a silent weapon and since the crew has all bows drawn they are probably trying to not attract anyone that's not included in there business

maybe they walked? if she owns a ship it would be easy to see them coming and since they were able to sneak up on to Vraay they most probably snuck up on land, not to mention that the people Vraay attacked were traveling over land so the distance probably would not have been too great for the nearest garrison to be dispatched after the troup did not arrive

Alleoon appears to have a knack at getting extras killed.

I was under the impression they are in the former Ketten wastes which is over seas so they couldnt have walked, but im not always right so logically i may be wrong

and indeed he does frozen, indeed he does

I don't think they're in Ketten. There really isn't anything to give that impression, but there is stuff that gives the opposite. This envoy is traveling by horse, so it is most likely on Legarion(The name of the continent, according to the map given). Aelloon set a trap to lure out Vraay and attempt to capture her. Evidently she'd been attacking more of his envoys? He calls her predictable, so I'm guessing she's been doing this to try and get Aelloon's attention.

Now, either she's refering to the king, and Aelloon knows this, so she's trying to go over his head, or she's refering to Aelloon himself. There're a couple of holes in this though, because of the fact that they're squaring off for a fight. Then again, the ship may be a simple CYA. She wants to get him alone, so she'll kill his men so he has no one else to back him up.

All you people and your interesting family trees >.<


Secrets are fun.


Not his fault Tah'vraay is the dominant partner.


Gun+silencer=win

ARGH! just what I needed ... another disturbing mental image in my head ... not as bad as what rabies picture did to me but still ...

That is normal for the comics forum.