So Cale has been hauling wood for catapults for several weeks and hasn't ever realised it's for catapults?

That's pretty rich. ^^

And little Benny's gone soft....

And Cale has joined the Offender List of Leggy Hairdo Thieves... XD

Since when did he start putting his hair back? Owell. Looks like Cale is just as naive as ever.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hide in my Fangirl-proof bunker. If you wish to join me, you must bring a snack.

*CLANG*

It is a bit silly of Cale to be building for weeks and still not know what it is that he's actually making! Nice that he's happy though.

And Richard's trial has been going on for weeks now? Or does time pass differently in the Plane of Suck?

He's building cannons and he still thinks he's not destroying? Disillusioned! Well, I don't see them going around in diplomatic relationships with other races o.O

Maybe his hair indicates his current moral/emotional status. Bitter Mercenary Cale had shaggy hair falling all over his face and casting weird sinister shadows. Maybe his new open hairdo symbolises his light-hearted and optimistic mindset. ^^ Maybe. XD

I kind of like the old fluffy look, though, and hope he gets it back. :/

Soo...Krunch is being Krunch, Benny is being feminine and considerate, and Cale is shirtless, pony-tailed and smiling.

And a good time was had by all...

You know, I think this is the first time I have ever seen Cale call Benny by name.

By the way Lar, you know that for every panel of shirtless Cale, I'm hoping for one of shirtless Tavor....Pleease? *sad-puppy face*

I miss Tavor! *sniffles* Shirtless Cale is very nice... but... Tavor!

Is it physically possible to curl up and cuddle a hair style? I wouldn't mind cuddling the whole person too, but just saying.

I knooow! *cries* At this point I'll take a postcard: "Having a miserable time in purgatory. Wish you were here! " With little turtles on it.

*Ahem* As far as Cale not noticing the catapults, maybe he thinks they're only for defense? I mean, leave it to Cale to be hopelessly optimistic.

Is it just me, or is the a floating undertone of Benny possibly falling for Cale. Cuz after seeing this newest page, I seem to get that vibe.

Seeing as how they seem to be on a higher bit of terrain, perhaps they are building the biggest of the catapults? They could still be working on the base of it, due to the size, and Cale just never thought to walk a few meters to glance over the ridge.
It's happened to me before, but I wasn't building large wooden death machines.

As soon as the comic loaded for me, the first thing my eyes went to was that chest of his.
Seriously, he could take out the entire female/gay population of any army with his chest alone. O.O

Its nice to see that Richard isn't the only one influencing others.

Despite Cale's tragic twists and turns, he still finds time to be optimistic and that warmth seems to be rubbing off on Benny and melting just a bit of her cynicism away. Either that or without Richard around, Cale doesn't seem to be nearly as goody-goody by comparison and Benny is finding something within Cale that she wasn't able to appreciate before.

I am totally getting that vibe, Teroniss. But really, I think Benny's just starting to like Cale as a person and doesn't relish the idea of breaking his heart.

that is it, these injustices have gone on long enough, If you feel it necessary to constantly shower the fangirls with fanservice I demand the same..... A single instance of Street fighter the animated movie level fanservice involving Pella and/or Benny should suffice.

Cale really uses every opportunity to take his shirt off, doesn't he? Give those arm muscles a proper work-out, there's a good boy. (For the first two panels, I thought Cale was the world's happiest crucifiction victim, before I realized he was simply carrying timber.)

In other news, Cale is busy putting points into his delusion skill again. Aww, he looks so happy.


It took me some moments to notice his hairstyle had changed. Something was different, but I couldn't put my finger on it at first. But I like it. No more silly animé bangs.

But Cale's torso looks.... weird in panel 4.

So it's been weeks, eh? I hope someone was smart enough to go back on their trail and collect all the weapons and stuff like Cale's chain shirt and Benny's staff that the group left behind when Ray'd ordered them to "Drop whatever will slow you down. We run.".

It took me a second, too. However, I actually think the new hairdo looks more anime than before. I think it's because it reminds me of a samurai style. =P

No no, I meant those incredible massive forwards-jutting emo bangs that many animé characters sport. Too many animé characters for my taste have these huge gravity-defying hairstyles of pointy multicoloured hair, like punk pineapples. *points to Yu-Gi-Oh for examples*

Nice... Catapults. But I wanted to have something with Richard.

Ohhh, that kind of anime. I'm with you there.

Oh, my God, Cale looks so hot without a shirt! *Runs off to take a cold shower*

Benny is half orc half troll.
Green skin, pointy ears, 2 toes, 3 fingers.
That is solved.

Oh dear, I hope not. I'm quite happy with the fact that so far there was zero sexual subtext between Cale and Benny, or Cale and any other person, no soap-opera like pairing off of characters for the sake of a love story. He never steals glances at Benny's body (he could simply be a gentleman, or he's seriously not interested), and even when he runs around with his shirt off in front of Benny or Tah'Vraay he seems so innocent, as if he has no conception of the fact that he's, well, an adult man (elf. whatever) and she's an adult woman, and all the complicated things that might lead to... Cale would probably be honestly confused by the notion that other people might think he's sending "signals".

We do not know how long elves in the LFG live, and how old Cale is. It's realistic that a long-lived race that lives for centuries does not constantly think about sex and has a markedly reduced sex drive. Maybe elves reach adulthood first, and enter reproductive age later, and Cale is simply too young yet. Humans on thew other hand...

[Humans are fertile all the time. Not only that, we're a neotene species, meaning humans become fertile long before our bodies are fully grown (in fact, the youngest mother on record was not quite 5 years old when she gave birth to a healthy son). Another species, the one most famous for neoteny, is the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), an amphibian salamander that lives in lakes that remains in its larval stage for its whole life; it keeps its external gills and lives and reproduces underwater and never undergoes the final metamorphosis - although the metamorphosis into the land-dwelling form without gills can be artificially induced by taking the axolotl out of the water and giving it Thyroxin, a thyroid growth hormone, in which case the axolotl only becomes fertile when its 4-5 years old.]

Do we even know if Benny would find Cale attractive? She has definitely mellowed in her opinion of him but I feel Benny is treating Cale more like a brother (a slightly mentally retarded brother) than a potential suitor. When they first met she seemed to regard Cale with a certain distaste contempt, as if she was wondering "Is this guy for real? Let's wait and see how long he survives before someone guts him.". He was a useful idiot. But Cale is so enthusiastic, his optimism so infectious, while Benny is jaded and cynical, that maybe his naive idealism is something she wants to cherish and protect because to her it represents the kind of life she was never allowed to lead.


[edited because I finally remembered the word I wanted to use]

Ok... Just where did they find the time to rebuild, and even build catapults? Don't they have Legara and every other tribe breathing down their necks?

Benny gives the cutest, saddest puppy eyes on frame 6.

Agreed. And the color, I just love the colors of her eyes. Almost seems like she's near tears, or they're just a bit glassy.

And it's been a few weeks, I think. They prolly found a bit of time, or defeated some armies or something in that time. Plane-Time is probably going pretty slowly, so don't let that confuse you.

As for a Benny/Cale romance......just...no....NO.

Panel 2: Cale directly states that it's been a few weeks since Richard was zapped away.

The sad expression on Benny's face in panel 6 is brilliant. Well done, Lar. Not even Benny is so heartless that she wants to break Cale's heart. That would be like kicking a puppy.

There's one interaction I'd like to see on-screen: Cale vs the warmongering Bloodrage patriarch. I wonder if Krunch and Ray'd even told the others about what Pappy Bloodrage revealed while he was ranting and raving in his throne room? Once they march against Legara, who will be the warleader of their little gang? Who'll be calling the shots? Somehow I can't see the crazy Bloodrage king taking Cale seriously or accepting Cale as leader, and Cale won't be happy with senseless slaughter. Or is Krunch going to be the new king? (If it's Ray'd, he's still doing the king's bidding.)


P.S. I only really noticed Pella isn't there after re-reading the whole page. Not that I miss her. But I wonder, is she off scouting with Ray'd, gathering their belongings, spying on the Legaran outpost, or did she sneak away to talk with Mr. Archmage?

hmmmm... i didnt even notice that but now im suspicious archmage hasnt popped in for a good long while gonna be interesting if hes been playing puppet master the whole time

I can't tell if this was an intentional reference to Slaughter Your World, but I think it does show a big difference between the two casters. Benny has a sense of empathy and caring, whereas Richard wouldn't hesitate for a moment to point out why they were getting so much lumber.

I also agree that her facial expression is fantastic. Is it just me, or are the darker parts around her eyes asymmetric? In panel 6, one stops right under the eyebrow, but in panel 8, the other one appears to extend into the hairline.

Did Lar just draw Benny a cameltoe?

I think its much the same as why Benny is wearing leather breeches, Its the local custom. Cale's just going a little native. That or its just to keep his hair out of his face while he works.

It's probably just more convenient to have his hair out of the way when he's lifting a bunch of lumber all day. Manual labor restricts how much you can focus on keeping your hair elfy-tidy.

Oh. I figured it was just hot out. That's the only time I put mine up.

...Or when I'm having a bad hair day.

haha looks like we have a trebuchet in the last panel. very nice
I don't think Cale is THAT naive to not know what he is building.. I am pretty sure he knows that those are catapults and trebuchets (yes, same in some aspects but oh so different in others... had to build a 6 foot trebuchet for engineering class once, so much fun hehe.) He more than likely assumes they are for defense. and if he is indeed that naive.. well I personally cannot await his reaction

Maybe he knows what they're building, and just decidet to ignore it? After all, they are building something, and they are doing it peacefully. That it's just preparations for an less-peaceful action might be just ignored by him...

Wait, why is everyone working/lifting and is Benny just doing ab-so-lute-ly nothing? Unfair!

I think Benny is working, just giving water to everybody. The question is how long will it take Cale to realise.

well..guess 'till someone tells him, or when he overhears someone...

I agree, actually. I've been getting that vibe for a while. Benny is the only steady female character, after all, other than maybe Captain Tah'Vraay. Who else would Cale fall for? The Shriek? Call me a hopeless romantic, but I think the pairing could be a little sweet, if done properly.
Or else Cale could totally reject her and Benny could pull a Richard. (start mercilessly destroying things, go evil, etc.)
And, yes, more shirtless Cale and Tavor (PLEASE?) would be lovely.
(Looking back, I realized something: what happened to Benny's boobtastic white dress from when they were looking for Kethencia? That thing looked great! It's a little surprising that they haven't brought it back.)

Benny is a sklog. Green and stacked.

A propos her expression...seems she goes soft when Richard isn't around. Maybe it's related to some long-forgotten memory on her part. I could hardly believe it has to do only with Cale and his mindless optimism. I think the whole thing has stirred up something in her mind.

That's true, but even then,Legara and the tribes should've made some sort of counter attack. Either that, or they are preparing for something... Methinks that the group is in for quite a surprise.

Guess that one of the next pages will be a huge ***** battle....

Is it too late to come hide with you ? Please !
I brought chips, cola and the TV !
Open the dooooor !!! *Knocks like crazy*

I lol'ed... xD

BTW: I bought a Richard figurine!!! Tralalalala =]

And btw, I miss the plane of suck :'(

ONE comic without the plane of suck HALLJUAH.....


oh can i come into the bunker?i the 3 new mountain dew flavors...hello?PLEAAAAAAAASE SAVE MEEEEE!!!!

i also got a parmeasean and bbq flavored bags of chips!

Hello everyone, first post here, been reading for a long time and am big huge fan.

I haven't read the whole thread and don't know if anyone pointed this out, but if you take a look at panel 1 on the background you'll notice the city is also being rebuilt which is why Cale is happy helping out and the most likely reason he hasn't noticed the huge catapults being built elsewhere.

That was very cute. I had wondered where the funny was going to come from, since most jokes center around some combination of Richard, targets, and fire. It's actually a little refreshing to see the rest of the gang doing stuff on their own, and even more so since it doesn't involve breathless fighting.

I'm also glad Cale hasn't totally lost his clueless innocence. He's a good nut. Fun to crack a little, but no one wants to see him completely broken!



Those are trebuchets. Catapults don't have wheels.

Well... some catapults do have wheels, but you are right those are trebuchets, the actual difference is the mechanics, there are also trebuchets without wheels. Trebuchets are basically a better way to throw large projectiles.

I think it might actually be funny to have Benny fall for Cale... it would be a lot like a Three's Company episode, or any other show where one person is in love with someone, with that someone being totally naive and oblivious to the person in love with them. Cale could easily be that person, since he has shown himself to be simple enough to not realize he is working his butt off to build war machines...

Oh, I can't wait for the hijinks to ensue.

Too clichéd for my taste.

Welcome aboard. Though, I have to admit, its not as bad as I thought it would be. Not that I'm going to do anything brash, like leave, until the next page. *cracks open a Full Throttle, uses the intercom to communicate with the rest of the forum*

I love how pretty much everything Cale said on this page could be followed up with 'Because Richard isn't here' (0r some variant thereof). You know he wants to say it, but if Cale's got anything other than naivety, its tact. Then again, Richard does seem to have a penchant for popping up when you least expect it, so maybe he's just being careful.

Couple of things I noticed...first off, is Benny wearing purple eyeliner? Do they even have purple eyeliner?

The wood looks like giant ice cream sandwiches...mmm. Also, the Bloodrage in panel 3 is wearing nothing but a loin cloth. *cue badly timed gust of wind*