TRANSCRIPT:
PAUSE. Zona and Pontagar eye each other.
PONTAGAR: You got what you went for. He’s here, now. And … I saw some of what he can do. (To Mentl)
PONTAGAR: So - you’re going to fight for us? Use your magick?
MENTL: Yeah.
PONTAGAR: You can kill an ogre and you can dig a hole in the ground. Can you kill a dragon?
MENTL: (thinks) Yeah. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can.
PONTAGAR: Good. Because if you can’t, then you won’t be any special use. And the warriors we lost because Zona was gone will have bought us just one more little magicker with their lives.
ZONA: Pontagar …
MENTL: No, he’s right.
: That’s why you guys came after me. That’s what Erogenia needs. That’s what The Book said. And now that I’m here after going home, after training there and all - I can feel it. It’s … really sometimes like it’s hard to even keep it under control. What did Tula say - A “walking earthquake”, or something? Well, that’s what my job is now. So point me where you need me. I’ll do the magick.
45 thoughts on “Magick Man – Page 1152”
EmmaC
This is how much Mentl grew…. And Pontagar and even Zona.
This is once again a fine moment.
I am just worried for Mentl. so much power. but once it’s all done. what happen? A weapon without a goal is dangerous.
I know it’s too far but… I don’t remember which one of us spoke about Mentl becoming all godly… I suppose the future will be revealed when our Master will decide
jedraft
Ah, the temptations of power. All good stories – especially fantasy – are tales about how people deal with power.
Warm regards,
JED
EmmaC
yes.. and I keep in mind the interlude with the mirror and Shuach playing mind trick with Mentl…
I am worried about this. there is something that have been left, or at least Shuach believed it… Oh I just hope it won’t be too bad. or that it’ll bite Shuach in the backside.
MidnightDStroyer
Yep. As I see Mentl right now, he’s got it under control. But the risk of losing that control is fairly high. However, the *longer* he can keep it together, the easier it will get. Just don’t startle him with an extremely unpleasant event…May all the gods in Erogenia have mercy on anyone who harms Zona, because Mentl will not.
Right now, Mentl is not a “loose cannon,” but more like a Blunderbus: Powerful enough to do the job, but with certain risks. If you load it wrong it could blow up in your face. Pecision aiming is out of the question, so you have to do with merely a compass heading.
jd.
Though the temptation is great to see Mentl as a living weapon, remember he’s far from just that. After all, his enchanter career started out with charming ladies (and Tethik) by singing love songs. At the very least he could soothe hot tempers in embassies, or strengthen building labourers, or maybe even help crops grow… Of course, that’s how I see him. How he sees himself, not to mention how he will see himself after a war that looks like it will be long, harsh and brutal, is another matter entirely.
EmmaC
I think that’s were the worry lies.
Right now he sees himself as a weapon…
But, I should remember, that Zona will not let him forget what he is. And Tula too of course.
By the way, am I the only finding the look on Tula’s face in the sixth panel… strange? She seems to find the situation fun…
Gabrielli
But don’t rush a miracle man. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.
jedraft
“You got money?”
Warm regards,
JED
vrwhammer
and the big gun comes on line
jedraft
“Big gun,” eh?
Sorry – you probably didn’t mean a double entendre. I just heard it in my head in Eric Idle’s voice. “Big gun! Whoaaa! Say no more!”
Warm regards,
JED
Just_IDD
Wink wink nudge nudge.
Descartes
What a change to hear Mentl speak with both confidence and purpose. I am very much looking forward to what is coming.
Having said that, l am hoping he does not have to kill many but instead destroys whatever it is that is the source of their allegiance to Shuach.
jedraft
Well, not sure he can destroy centuries of religious indoctrination and cultural conditioning.
But he’ll probably give it a good shot.
Warm regards,
JED
Descartes
I was speaking of killing the dragons, which I (perhaps wrongly) assumed would not be subject to indoctrination but, rather, compelled by some other cause. (Instinct? Reward? Punishment?)
jd.
Y’know, rereading the page I get a vibe of “Dude, I retorted Zonn silent. Y’really think y’all can intimidate me?”
Mentl’s confident, yes, but not entirely happy about it. One more part of this story’s beauty.
JustMe
Yeah, let’s talk him down from that attitude quickly.
I’ve seen enough stories where someone who believes himself to be no more than the weapon waiting to be fired ended up losing him/herself and seriously harming his own side/hurting someone they care about, rendering them useless in a key moment.
Yes, Mentl needed to grow stronger, but that is not why Zona brought him back, and frankly, even for Tula his strength was a nice extra.
jedraft
Will he get talked down? Stay tuned for the next exciting installment!
🙂
Warm regards
JED
Jean
Oh Luna, YES!! Pontigar was the PERFECT person for this discussion! Thank you, JED!
(I love it when a particular characterization is just the perfect pivot point for a story…!)
jedraft
Just seemed natural for Pontagar. He’s becoming more fun to write, actually.
And I’ve got some interesting plans for hm. Stay tuned to this station. 🙂
Warm regards,
JED
The Last Garou
“An Earthquake in *each* fist.” As I recall.
This is gonna be *GOOD.* ^_^
jedraft
That is the intention, and I hope you will be along for the ride. 🙂
Warm regards,
JED
Lora
Wow, that was intense, despite the completely lack of action. Well said, Mentl.
And you may have to also free a Queen soon in addition to kill (or tame) dragons.
jedraft
What queen was that?
Ohhhh, oh, yeah. Almost forgot about her. 🙂
Watch this space.
Warm regards,
JED
jd.
Mentl can probably kill a dragon. The only little tactical problem is, everyone has to clear a large distance around said dragon.
(Then again, staying away from enemy dragons is generally sound tactics.)
Oh, and Pontagar is being needlessly aggressive here. As I said before, the people who died didn’t die just because Zona was away. The group made sure that they picked their battles, so they had to be careful to pick the ones they could win without her. If she had been there, they’d just have picked harder battles and have had more dead.
(I’m still wondering at the wisdom of taking the hundred best warriors in all of Erogenia, not to mention the finest swordsman in all of Kivalia, on what appears to be more or less a suicide mission. Reservist, since you seem to have extensive military experience, would you care to shed some light on the subject? I mean, people are going to die in war, that’s a given. But sending your finest to die first… I know there are pros and cons, but maybe I don’t see all of them.)
jedraft
Reason 1: It’s good for the story. Like Kirk, Spock and McCoy all on the landing party. Kinda stupid, but lots more fun to watch.
Reason 2: The best warriors will do the most damage tactically. Being a reenactor of the English Renaissance I think of Drake in the years before the Spanish Armada’s invasion. He drove the Spanish wild and screwed up their war effort, costing them years in delays, giving the English time to beef up their own smaller fleet with faster, newer ships. So that’s kind of where my head was at.
Oh, and Pontagar being needlessly aggressive is just the way he rolls. 🙂
Warm regards,
JED
Reservist
Aggressive? I like to think about him here as just being bluntly honest.
He saw several fellow Erogenians die, so he does not want all the deaths to have been in vain.
RED Soldier’s voice: “These are the facts as I understand them.”
jd.
Summarizing Mentl’s actions as “kill[ing] an ogre” (that wasn’t just an ogre) and “dig[ging] a hole in the ground” strikes me as downplaying what actually happened.
Also, as I have pointed out elsewhere, I feel it’s wrong to blame the valiant Erogenians’ deaths on Zona’s departure since they’ve been shown as systematically picking their fights. So laying that weight on Mentl’s shoulders is too much in my opinion.
Not to mention it’s pretty clear to me that even Guntig can’t do as much battle damage as Mentl (since he didn’t appear to have done so when our beloved trio appeared on the scene). So describing Mentl as “one more little magicker” is talking him down again.
He speaks three times, and is overly harsh three times. So yeah, by me that’s needlessly aggressive.
Of course, all the above is merely my opinion and you’re welcome to disagree on that or on other topics; I’ll be glad to discuss them with your educated point of view, brother.
jd.
Thanks for answering, JED! Your answers are always entertaining, almost as much as the story.
Reason 1 is totally valid, except I was talking fiction-world purposes.
And reason 2 is more or less what I was expecting: sacrificing one’s queen is still a valid move if it allows one to take four pawns, two bishops, a knight and a rook. (Initially, I was going with a hundred queens and five thousand pawns, then it occurred to me that Ogres aren’t pawns, and that I’d need a thousandish-square wide chessboard — I scaled it down from there.)
Last, I fully agree with your assessment of Pontagar. (Even without taking into account that you know him better than anyone else.) My comment was aiming at him, not at the story. I can see how it may have sounded the latter — apologies if so.)
Prairie Son
If you need to buy time, you use the people who will buy you as much as possible. Generally, that means you use your best. Often otherwise, it’s whoever is closest or ready to move right now. FrEx, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, an understrength force with worn out ships, had to buy as much time as possible in early 1942. It cost them heavily, but they did what they could.
Some days, every choice sucks and it comes down to what hurts you least.
Reservist
Me, military experience? X-D I am training to join the reserve army of my country (France), but that’s it.
So far, I dabble in a bit of military knowledge,
I hear what servicemembers tell me when I can get around some of them, but that’s it, really. 🙂
jd.
Autant pour moi, frangin ! You have been sounding convincingly veteranish to me for quite some time, so at least you listened well. (Which, come to think of it, is a good skill to have in most careers and a vital one in the military.)
Reservist
Thanks for the compliment, jd. 🙂
“Au temps pour moi, frangin !”
Waitwaitwait… are you French? Or is it your native language?
MidnightDStroyer
“Hold my beer & watch this.”
jedraft
Hehehe!
Yeah.
Warm regards,
JED
calisto01
Am I getting old or is this page a lot more difficult to read? Seems slim- are we on a diet or something?
jedraft
Can’t attest whether you’re getting old or not, but the upload of the image was, in fact, wrong size. I fixed it.
Thanks for the catch!
Warm regards,
JED
Mike Bentley
The lettering is so fuzzy on this page I had to upsize the page a couple stops to make it out.
jedraft
Sorry about that! See previous comment. Refresh and you should see the image in the proper size.
Warm regards,
JED
the_eldest
Again I would like to mention that the dragons might not be so willing a tool in this war. I wonder how they would react would their rider die and/or they be set free from them; would they fight on a specific side or even decide not to at all?
Well written story with plenty of action and great suspence. Keep it up!
DMC_Run
The current impression of “PONTAGAR” seems to include “Honesty Without Diplomacy” — a strategic warrior-trait that has doubtless kept him alive through many battles, & (possibly) kept him FAR_AWAY from the diplomats’ negotiation-tables.
Matt
I have this crazy desire to hear Mentl playing “You Got The Touch!” from Transformers whenever they go into battle to buff everyone lol.
DMC_Run
@Matt:
The tune I’m hearing, is Mentl wordlessly humming the theme-song from the first “TERMINATOR”-film — Relentless. Inexorable. Non-negotiable. Unstoppable. A Juggernaut, crushing all in his path.
“The only one who has any hope of my Mercy is BEHIND me. You are IN-FRONT of me. Either Suffer, or… BE. SOMEWHERE. ELSE.”
Hypertrophobic
Maybe Mentl can compose some music for Dragon Slave. 🙂
https://kanzaka.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Slave
Hypertrophobic
Has Mentl ever watched any Anime? Because if he can come up to some music for this…
https://kanzaka.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Slave
Archone
“Earn this.”
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