You're forgiven. At least now you don't have to go down with your Ship.

I vote for evil clone, illusion or sorceress in disguise. Her mentioning that he "still hasn't lost his conscience" makes me think of someone trying to seduce him over to the dark side.

Yes, Cale. Join the dark side. They have cookies. And sex.

No, I actually thought that at first too. It was... odd.

Though I will say it was more like the whole PAGE made it seem that way, not just the last two panels.


Hah. I'm with you, bro.

Honestly does Benny seem like the type of girl to hesitate before a kiss or to take what she wants? Interprit it how you like I'm just saying this is more like her personality.

HOLY SHI-

Tentacle rape!

I don't know why a lot of people are using the other thread; this one was clearly posted first. Also, is this the comic's first kissing scene, or is my memory just that bad?

Title not as good?

Yeah..this turn of events is very much appreciated! Given the fact that Cale=whimp and Benny eats nails for snacks, this should open up a world of opportunity for gags/serious shit/character development..you know the comic has gotten a darker, more "grown up" mood for some time (and thank the gods, NOT lost the funnies for it) and I see tragedy lurking on the horizon. What could be more excruciatingly delicious than the romantic couple having an arc of lavu-lavu which ends in the DEATH of a certain green lusty lady..fantears will fall!!! =) Now, we all know death is not permanent.

I´m just saying.

YES!!! OMFG YES!!! I have been waiting for this since page 152!!! I LOVE how they finally introduced this. This is by far going to be my favorite page! I have never reacted so strongly as I have tonight. <3 BENNY AND CALE!!!!

Registered just to comment on todays comic.

Was there a ton of off-panel developement I missed or something? Romance in a story is generally a hard thing to pull off, and this just seemed way too out of the blue. I know they wanted another hook for this comic after that summer long mountain kaboom, but this seems like a risky move due to the lack of on-panel interaction I've seen between Cale and Benny.

I forsee shark leaping if this is just a way to quiet shippers.

thats actually surprising to hear. Alot of people (myself included) think this has been a long time coming. I believe it starts on page 152, when she starts to warm up to him, and there are a few subtle hints along the way. Depending on your perspective, Benny also glances at Cale a few times in an odd way, but that could be just the way those pages are drawn... in any case, this is certainly not out of the blue... like someone else said, its the most expected unexpected twist.

Dang!

Well - I got dibs on lasting till she dies, or till he dumps her because with great power comes greater responsability, and with greater power you also get powerful enemies, hence the danger and the reason for dumping her for her safety.

I would also bring out a quote from Eddie Murphy's Delirious - "If the b*$%# is green something's wrong with the p&%$$#" (and remind you when Captain Kirk got himself a green woman). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5SSR5Ybgkk...feature=related minute 4:46

So as a conclusion - its either going to last till she dies, till he finds a regular hot elf woman (when he becomes king and stuff), or he will end it in the next couple of strips.

Peace out!

Ohs Noes! This brings a terrible thought to mind... what if Benny dies and this causes Cale's downfall

What he said.
I dunno what to say, this developement made me register a forum account after following the comic for ages. Nuff said.

Thanks for this amazing comic Sohmer, it's getting more intriguing with every strip.

I have to say that this scene was done so brilliantly well that it took me a good half an hour to get over what just happened. Within that half an hour I just had to reread all the things that led us this way.

Now the problem i have with Romance in our media is that a lot of the story writers do it incredibly wrong. They use it to try to add depth but in the end they only staple another shallow emotion to their big ol stack of shallow character design. I don't believe Sohmer will make the same mistakes as them.

What i want to see is how Sohmer uses this to not only flesh his characters out, but to also give us a glimpse of how he views this chemical imbalance we call "love".

I don't know, guess I never read into any subtle hint of affection and more as showing how niave Cale was. Unless you mean the banter, which, shockingly, their wasn't much of in that strip apart from Cale exclaiming his ideals.

Either way, as I am a picky sort with romance in fiction and believe I've not seen enough developement for this to appear in no way forced, I'll stay with the camp that see this as a spell or dream.

Because a plot branch with Cale being tricked and brainwashed by an evil magic user seems like just what this comic needs, some good 'ole fashion DnD style adventuring!

Woah... yeah I wasent expecting that at all, at least not today

Not going to read all four pages between 4am EST, but I'm not surprised someone focussed on the bondage at the beginning.

The lead up from this panel here and that panel there was great. And anyone focussed on the romance of it is also missing the continuation of some of the continuing themes throughout, consience/good and necessity/evil. A lot of the history in the comic is reflected in that exchange.

Well done Sohmer and Lar.

What a woman I'm jelous at a commic picture hehe the romance
Behind every strong man there is a stong woman they say.

This single horrid act, this abomination of all things awsome and fun in this world, has brought me back from my month long hiatus from the comic section! IT BURNT! I prayed, prayed in all possible fashions known to man, including sacrifices, and humping the leg of Richard, that this would never EVER happen. But alass, the God SohLar has deemed it so. I just hope this isn't the worse mistake man has ever made, which i fear it may be.

Btu the fork of truth acting out bit did give me a chuckle.

I disagree, BOLE, this could be possibly the greatest thing in the comic, but then again I've been a huge fan of Benny/Cale for the longest time. Ah well, there will always be opinions on either side, eh?

Oh innocent innocent Peanuts. Again, it is a matter of opinion, but when i look at the history of media, when a lovless plot suffers a forced in love interest things tend to go down hill at a rapid pace. It goes from the Will they won't they thrill for many, to the Two-headed-couple senario. And of course, it will draw away from the best aspect of the comic; Richard.

I do agree that many a plot have been destroyed by introduction of romance between the main characters, but I don't think it was forced in this case. If anything, it seemed odd that there WASNT romance between them, because after all they are human(oid?) and have emotions just like everyone else. Again, just my take on the comic, doesn't mean its the way it is

I hardly see the synergy. Cale is a FOR JUSTICE paragon of goodness, goodness and even more goodness. Though admitadly, not as much as in teh beggining. Benny is an amoral... well... she is just amoral. And honestly, they never had THAT much interaction in the story. Richard interacts with CAle more than any of them.... because... well, Ricahrd is just so fun to watch!

HOLY CRAP!!!!

Will cale get some intimate touch(A cookie to the first who guesses where this is from) on monday?
Although it's most likely he'll get it off screen.

I suck at photoshop, but I think you get the picture.

*head exploads from laughter* Now if only they could put Ricahrd in teh same senario... because he would kill us all anyway.

Of course she is, but I kind of got a vibe that benny was the way she was because she had given up on good in human(oid?)ity. It seemed like over time Benny started to realize that he was actually a decent person instead of incredibly naive, and perhaps that restored her faith in something greater... I dunno, I may be looking way too much into it, but thats my explination of things. I agree that there wasn't a whole lot of interaction, but Cale and Richard were the two first characters, and they ARE best friends. perhaps Cale and Benny have implied interactions offscrene

That really complicated stuff. Or they are just a really bad match.

edit: I just realized, with all those large sharp teeth in Bennies mouth Cale's tongue is going to get really badly cut up.

Well, it seems to me that this has been a long time coming (though I admit I haven't... seen it... coming). As surprised as I was to see this story twist, it all seems clear to me now - Cale, the idealist, the dreamer, and Benny, who started as the mercenary care-only-for-number-1 type, but has evolved by showing hints of a hidden (forgotten?) moral code. It does seem like she starts off as the "adult" in the relationship, though the story is likely going to turn things around (perhaps she is the one to help him actually mature as a character in order to become the prophesized King of Kethencia).
Either way, I am both intrigued and delighted with how things are going, keep up the good awesome work!

Ok, I had to join the forum just for this....

I mean ...Wat?! I kinda always expected something to happen between Cale and Tah'vraay, she has all the right things going for her she's elven, hot, badass, elusive AND A PIRATE for frak's sake!!! And something tells me she'll play a bigger part in the story further on even though she left Cale (for the time being, anyway). Am I alone to think this?

...and am I making too much of the way they are arranged beside him in Page 226? It looks as if placing her closer to him than Benny or Pella makes her more important in the long term ...or not. I could be way off with this

*falls to her knees*
No...
Tell me it's not real...
Please no...
*stares into nothingness*
No...
Tell me my favourite comic ever was not just ruined...
By the Gods, I should leave and never read again...
But I can't! I can't leave Richard! Never!
Oh, how my heart is torn...
My world...is ruined...
What will I do, what will I do?!!
(dramatic enough? XD No, really. Personally, I think this is the worst mistake since universe was created, besides the creation of human kind. Respect to all shippers, but I'm just gonna go cry now. Romance ruins EVERYTHING.)
But it's okay...they still didn't get my Richard...they'll NEVER get my Richard! *grabs Richard tightly and looks around in an extremely paranoid manner*



I really, really hope so... That was my first thought... The one my mind created automatically to save my sanity... O__O Uh, wait. What sanity? *maniacal laughter* Ow Richard my love, go and crash their little romantic scene, I beg you...
*dances away* Sorry, but this last page has reduced below zero whatever sanity I had left *blank stare*

I so want this to be a dream sequence that wakes cale up making him realise he's actually useless with the bow and now has awkward feelings that can never be reciprocated by a certain green priest....

ok fine its a good enough twist but still...i can have my hopes

I agree with this so much(except for the invention of humanity bit... the invesntion of sitcoms is much worse by far) that i might just get all of it tatood to my forehead.

BUT RICHARD SHALL SURVIVE!!!!!!!!!! HAIL RICAHRD!

First i have to repeat this...


..then...



Nice photoshopping hehe..





...Then ..Must...Resist...

..Richard might show and they'll make a three-some.

...

..what?...

Don't look at me like that..

duuuude, benny just earned some slut points big time! ^^

Agreed, the gray tones seemed odd. If this is a dream, Cale/Benny's got some weird sex dreams.

*jawdrop* ... *can't lift jaw up off the floor*

Hooray! Finally some sexy bits!
Benny mentioned relieving Cale of his burden of conscience for a while, so I assume that this is just some sexual healing and not a long term romantic thread.

Um, no.

We can hope, dream, pray, and sacrifice animals to this being true! PLEASE BE A AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL DREAM! But it certaintly isn't CAle's if it is, because he dreams about Richard.


Well i can't find joy. Beat that.

My immediate reaction:

OH HELL NOOOOOOOOOO! TOO SOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
.
.
Are my eyes bleeding? Am I dead? Am I having a nightmare?
.
.
.
Dammit... why can't I be Benny right now... f***ing bitch...
.
.
.
Well... I can't say I didn't see this coming... But it's seriously way too soon, but then again at least it's before Cale takes his throne, so nobody can say she's just after the riches and fame. And well, at least Sohmer and Lar did this whole thing with a bang, and did it fairly decently aside from it being too soon in my personal opinion.
...*sigh*... And I am jealous of the green bitch.



LMAO!!! Though I don't believe it does...


Yeah... mine too. I'm not sure if I'm really even typing this or if I'm in some kind of hell and imagining that I'm typing...


LOOK! OMFG LOOK! Look closely at Cale's crotch in the first panel of the bottom row. HE HAS A BONER! They MUST have done this before...


Um... Breath. lol


That was eloquently put. And despite feeling that this has come too soon, I can completely agree with you.

This strip finally got me around to registering

It's an off the wall theory, but what if it's Pella having a nightmare about Cale getting it on with someone else? She is his guide and protector, she's alone and far from home and her own kind repulse her. Plus she seemed pretty upset when Cale chewed her out in the last strip.

I just want you all to know. I hope that in the next Page Richard comes out and kills one of them. ANythign to get this too end quickly... please.... please end this.

Two words. H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T...

but what would their kids look like? green with pointy ears and funny eyebrows??? OMG TROLLS!!!

** oh and afterthought.. im really glad the fork of truth made another appearance.. even though it was unseen.

yes cale is a bloke, a very cissy bloke, but male none the less, think about the number of times we've seen him get his shirt off, no boobs you might notice

Rarely do I leave a comment here but this was much deserving. Thank you for this comic.

I can explain that. He is an 11 year old girl, they have simply not developed yet.

That was just....Wow...no other word for it.

I do wonder if Benny's tusks don't hurt Cale?

I have my doubts of the reality of all this. It looks too much of a dream in my opinion >_>

I call sneaky shenanigans.