22 2842

Transcript

MENTL:Well - no. You’re not.

TULA: Excuse me?

MENTL: Just that - well, sure, you’re worried about your mom - of course. But you forget, Champ, I’ve seen you lose your shit. And this time you’re not about to, and a good thing, too. You’re doing that Tula thing, maintaining an even strain, using your noggin and keeping chill - which is what’s really needed here.

ZONA: Oh? So that’s how it is?

MENTL: Look, babe, you know I’m with you anywhere you need to go. But it’s like I said. Your Mom wants you here, she has a bigger job, a bigger plan for us than just her own safety, even her own life and …

SFX: thoom thoom thoom thoom

MENTL: What the -- what is that?

ON THE VALLEY FLOOR:

On the Ramparts, Rannik stands watch with a young warrior, Syria.

SFX: THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM

YIRIA: Rannik … Rannik what is that?

SFX: THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM

Two-shot of Rannik and Yiria

YIRIA: Rannik - what do we do? Do I sound the alarm?

RANNIK: (smiles) No. Not the alarm.

On Tula

TULA: Oh my goddess …

ON Mentl

MENTL: Oh - OH! That’s ...

ZONA: YES!

REVEAL:

Ipola approaching the motte on Liri’s shoulder, with Keltan and Emmon on either side of her.
22 2842

Grand Entrance – Page 1197
Posted on October 5, 2020 by jedraft

22 thoughts on “Grand Entrance – Page 1197”

  1. VoidHamlet

    Well, I needed something heartwarming today. This was it.

  2. Corwyn-Ulhar

    HA! Now THAT’S timing!

  3. DMC_Run

    Called it!
    🙂
    Still, I must wonder, is there some fundamental aspect/attribute of a Giant, that makes them (& by extension, those near them) undetectable to a scrying-spell?
    I see no reason for the mages’ failure to scry Ipola. They should’ve long-since detected her location, repeatedly, & thus would’ve already known that she was headed in this direction.
    My current theory is that a Giant cannot physically exist. The “Cube-Square Law” explains how a human of this size would lack a heart big-enough to pump an adequate amount of blood, & if their legs were strong-enough to bear their weight, they’d be as huge as a pair of tree-trunks…
    ( … consider the relative thickness of an elephant’s legs, compared to the legs of a mouse … )
    …& yet, here they are.
    To me, this means that there must be a magical component to their metabolism, bolstering their massive bodies.
    I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it also explains how they might be more “flame-retardant” than your typical “base-line” human.
    This underlying magic might very-well render them, if not invisible, then at-least “un-scry-able”, to most spells.
    This effect would, logically, extend some small distance beyond their skin, otherwise they’d still be detected, at-least as a hollow, mobile set of clothes.
    The effect would certainly seem to extend far-enough to ‘cloak’ Ipola, as she rides on Liri’s shoulder.

    1. Reservist

      “My current theory is that a Giant cannot physically exist.”

      Not with a biology absolutely similar to ours. Maybe their blood would be more efficient at ferrying oxygen.

      1. DMC_Run

        @[Reservist]:
        Possibly.
        My thinking, though, is that the sheer VOLUME of blood needed by a body that big would be so heavy that the heart would need to be disproportionately-huge, even for a body of THAT size, or else it wouldn’t be strong-enough to keep the blood flowing for very long.
        Even a normal, 6ft-tall man has a heart that’s too weak to do the job alone. That’s why the veins in the legs have valves, to help prevent “back-flow” while lifting blood back up to the heart. Even with this help, we see “structural failures” occurring in these valves as we get older, creating swollen, distended blue veins. Without some form of magic-based reinforcement of their body’s structure, the Giant’s legs would probably be a solid blue, from all the resulting varicose veins, leading to swollen feet, which would cause painfully-sensitive neuropathy.

        1. Reservist

          Magic, indeed.
          And also a biology quite-to-very different from a standard human’s.
          Yet, quite compatible with.
          I bet scientists would have a field day at imagining how giants like Keltan and Liri could be possible.

  4. Lora

    Oh, we get a double page! 😀 Nice! I love Ipola’s entrance and how the giants are clearly announcing themselves. (Usually they don’t step that heavily so I’m guessing they are doing it on purpose this time).

    1. T'Renn

      I’m sure Keltan has dealt with enough “surprised reactions” of smaller folk to get that it’s best to make sure they know you’re coming.

      Not that most of their weapons will hurt him anyway, but all those arrow pricks are so irritating. 😉 And with the wife and child along for the trip, no sense stirring up unnecessary trouble.

    2. Peregrin

      I was just thinking that, even at their size, they wouldn’t necessarily shake the ground just from walking.

  5. Skalagrim

    Ok, today’s comic made me really smile, and gave me goosebumps. Apparently, I’m more invested in everyone than I thought. Awesome job! Thank you!

  6. Raoullefere

    If giants are a counter to dragons and Shuac, then they probably are un-scryable. And yes, magical just as dragons themselves have to be in order to fly and, Ceiling Cat help us, belch flame.

    I’m taking it from what the priest (Can’t keep up with names) said, that giants are the Earth Goddess’ answer to the dragon create by chaos, and that She calls them forth when another crisis time draws near.

  7. Paddy

    @DMC_Run,

    We’ve seen basically zero scrying so far that I can recall. It could be that the local brand of magic doesn’t easily enable that particular effect.

    1. DMC_Run

      @[Paddy]:
      I haven’t seen any scrying either.
      All I know is, Mentl mentions “scrying” in Panel_4 of Page_1195, as something that the Palace Mages have been attempting, as part of the overall search, because she’s been so late to arrive. We’ve also not been given any explanation as to why their spells failed to detect her.

      1. JustMe

        It might be a mather of aiming, they were scrying for Ipola along the route she would have flown, and widening out from there. We don’t exactly know where the Shuach Sanctuary was, but since Keltan and Lilly headed for the Moon tribe after their marriage, she was a bit further west and south then they would have expected.
        I don’t fully recall the map, but I think that if Erogenia is at the center, Kivalia is to the west and south, Urrt teritory is east of the river, and Sun Tribe even further east.
        Since a river often winds, it’s possible that Keltan, Lilly and Aemon simply took a shortcut through Urrt lands, because Keltan can deal with any urrt.
        Just my thoughts on failed scrying.

  8. jd.

    The last time she arrived somewhere she was on the back of a giant raptor.

    This time she’s on the shoulder of a giant.

    Next time she goes anywhere you’ll see she’s riding a dragon… Wait, it could even happen.

  9. alurker

    And THAT is how you make a triumphant return.

    1. DMC_Run

      @[alurker]:
      Triumphant, yes…
      …but also bittersweet.
      On her trip homeward, she lost a horse, & before that, her ally, the Eagle – in both cases because of Dragon-attacks.
      That Eagle was a dear friend, & her passing shall be mourned…
      …& avenged.

  10. T'Renn

    Slightly off the general topic, in the second-to-last panel, I can’t help but quote Clara Oswald (referring in her case to Any Pond) in reference to Zona: “Dear God, that woman is made of legs. That’s the most legs of any living human!” It’s not normally obvious, since Zona’s legs are as muscular as the rest of her, but proportionally to her body…. O.O

  11. Someguy

    Are they, jogging?

  12. the_eldest

    A general yes to all of the above…
    …but am I the only one who thinks that Emmon grew quite a bit?

    @jedraft: It seems to me the interlinking of pages with tags has been removed, as well as the archive or a direct link to it. Would it be possible to get the latter back? Preferably the former as well, but that I think will take some time.

    1. DMC_Run

      @[the_eldest]:
      Re_”…am I the only one who thinks that Emmon grew quite a bit?”
      ===Agreed.
      ( … wistful sigh … )
      “They grow-up **SO** fast, these days…”
      😉 … 🙂 … 😛 … 😀

  13. Deceptobot

    Shouldn’t Emmon be a little bigger by now?

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