ZONN: (Gazing into the sky) Just look at that!
MENTL: What - wait, I see it now. What …?
ZONN: It’s an Aburor. Don’t usually see them this far east.
MENTL: Okay, what the hell is -
JEEVIK: The Aburori are raptor birds of gigantic size. They are not numerous, and their territory is in the high mountains in northern Erogenia, so I am informed. I have never had the privilege of witnessing one in flight until now. They are friendly with the Hawk Tribe.
ZONN: Ipola used to have some friends among them. Made a pact during the war where we basically keep our arrows to ourselves, and they don’t steal our cattle or interfere with our troops.
It is a big fellow. Something odd about its head. It’s … something on it?
TULA: It’s Mother.
ZONN: WHAT
48 thoughts on “Stupid or just Erogenian? – Page 1071”
Tom Billings
OK! Not a dragon, …but with all kinds of News, …big time news, …for all of her family. 20 years of non-communication will once again have to be explained. One good thing is that there *are* things flying at that size besides dragons, …which implies magical abilities in them. We are definitely breaking out of the script a bit here as it was previously established. I wonder what Mentl could do with such a friend for transport? Makes *him* a lot more useful in the coming conflicts. Of course, the fact that Ipola is mounted on the Aburor means that she is not at this time standing around projecting her image in conference with Gudik and the cohort at Greymouth. Or hasn’t done so just yet.
Tgape
Or she’s good enough at the projecting her image thing to do it while she’s doing something else, and not project what else she’s doing.
Really, if you’re projecting an image of yourself across a distance of miles, targeting an object that allows you to bridge the distance no matter how far, how much harder is it to control that image to the pose and attire you wish to project? This is, of course, a question for Jed, as the author gets to choose. In some universes, it’s easy enough that even someone with no magic of their own could do it with such a ring, given practice. In others, it would take someone with sufficient imagination control as to be able to be powerful enough to make such rings, and still others, impossible. I’m guessing that this is not a world of the last sort.
TheSparkOfCuriosity
This is going to be such a glorious “Confront or Flee for your Life” moment. He reminds me of people I used to see on Jerry Springer when they learned the child was theirs.
jd.
I think Ipola sees Zonn as a very valuable war asset, too valuable to kill for being, well, Erogenian. So I believe she won’t kill him.
(Then again, she may well make him wish she had.)
Someguy
Or she will be happy to know he’s actually alive…
Reservist
Why would she want to kill him? She’s finding her long-lost husband back, he’s safe and sane. And she would threaten him?
Unlikely. Besides, any threat wouldn’t do much good to the war effort.
SeanR
I don’t think “husband” is the right word. Favorite lover, perhaps. Most frustrating inner-circle confidant, probably.
jd.
Not kill him, but she has stated she’d geld him if he came back alive from his previous uncommanded caper : https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/forward-looking-back-and-return/page-509/
And she advised him to sleep lightly when he did come back. https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/forward-looking-back-and-return/page-514/
And, as we all know, Erogenians *never* lie.
Tgape
It’s my understanding that they know the difference between a lie and an empty threat.
Also, I believe that a large part of why she likes him would be frustrated by her gelding him, so that was most likely an empty threat.
Not that the part is as large as he would have you think, mind you.
Jean
Well, we all know Mentl has him beat 2 outta three, Tgape, so yeah, not as large as he’d have you think. XD
Freelance
Welp, Zonn, you’re boned. And not the fun kind, either. He better hope she doesn’t still have that gelding knife.
Reservist
Implying Zonn would let himself being gelded. 😀
Why would she really do that, anyway? Them Erogenians don’t seem too ok with genital mutilations.
Descartes
Verging on “Deus ex machina” here. How does Ipola know about them? Has she always known? If so, why not act sooner? Presumably this was the reason for her mission to the north, but did she know then? Or was it a coincidence that she found out while negotiating and decided to take advantage of the situation?
Calisto01
She wasn’t in the North before; she used the magic of the ring to appear at the meeting. I think she has been flying for a long time now.
Descartes
The last time we saw Ipola in the flesh she was speaking of heading north to do something “Erogenian.” Presumably her mount is the result of this trip. More recently, probably in the last few days, she participated in a meeting in Greymouth via projection at which time she could have been anywhere–we aren’t told, but she was dressed for winter so probably somewhere cold. Following and some time after that meeting, time lapse uncertain, she appears here.
Jean
Dressed for cold, OR dressed for high-altitude flying, where it’s effing cold up where eagles fly. She most likely would’ve been taking a landing/resting break with her beaked buddy, there, and just stayed on the ground until the meeting was over.
Zac
How she knew was in the Title of this page…. A little bird told her… maybe not so little
https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/the-long-road-home/page-990/
Descartes
Ahhh… I forgot about the hawk messenger. Of course you are right. The bird network must have been on alert for their arrival as Ipola is notified almost immediately even though they spend only a brief time on ty surface. Still, she might not know exactly what she is flying into given the timing of the message… unless there have been updated since.
Descartes
Maybe our big, magical book is behind it all? Or a conference of the sun, moon, and Earth gods?
Salisria
All I know is that soon everyone will know that the Bird is the Word.
Reservist
X-D
Aye. Totally.
Wesley
R.O.U.S.? Raptor Of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist
EmmaC
Coooooooooool.
But…
Where is Gandalf? :p
Seriously, I think Ipola knew a thing or two. If she knew about Dragon then she knows Zona and Tula went looking for Mentl. As for coming there: the Sun tribe might not be that isolated? Or the Sund God decided having dragons around is not a good thing?
And, of course, I am waiting to know if Ipola convinced Gudik or not…
Prairie Son
For a spellcaster of Ipola’s class, tracking her daughters down is probably old hat by now.
Iarei
https://i.imgur.com/HbNInzb.jpg
MikeLinPA
Buh, buh Bird is the word!
Calisto01
Yeah Zonn, you BETTER be scared. Start running now.
Reservist
Why should he? What did he do wrong, exactly?
Paddy
Vanish for 20 years, leaving Ipola with a war to finish and a baby Zona to raise.
Reservist
Let us be fair. He was leading a rescue mission that went awry and tried to get as many survivors as possible to safety.
He did not have it easy, nor did he particularly like the idea of leaving his lover and daughter.
He placed his duty to his nation and people above his family.
And in this case, in his situation, nobody would be right to blame him.
As far as I see it, it would be like blaming a servicemember for being deployed.
RBZ
Who needs Gandalf? Radagast was the one who could summon the giant eagles.
Daikaiju
LIKE A BOSS
Peregrin
…ask Jeevik?
Marcusoterra
I’m still laughing as I type. THat look of WHAT. Because here he is, after running off, getting many good warriors killed, during the end of the war, and now ‘technically’ starting up a tribe of his own?
Reservist
Zonn’s actions also led many slaves of the Urrts to freedom.
Besides, it’s not like Ipola’s operations were without losses for her side either.
Lora
Very LotR page. I do hope you’ll explain how Ipola knew where to go to find her daughters. Maybe a spell?
Paddy
I wouldn’t be surprised if she put some kind of a tracking spell on Zona’s gear, given (a) what happened to Zonn, and (b) Zona’s own penchant for getting into trouble.
Paddy
Or if Tula had somehow been in communication with Ipola, especially given that she knew who it was.
TMI Fairy
Zon – “In hindsight braiding my hair to say “free and looking” this morning was not the best idea …”
jd.
I thought “free and looking” was the default Erogenian status?
Jochi
I think they both have considered themselves free during this separation — hopefully with minimal animosity. Tula does exist, after all, so Ipola is unlikely to expect that Zonn has been celibate — besides the fact that they are Erogenian.
Sleel
Hmmmm. Methinks he’s worried about a much delayed smack upside the head….again.
Archone
It should be noted: he didn’t just “disobey his Queen.” He went off on his own, rescued a bunch of people, and disappeared for years… while protecting those people, and while making new friends and allies.
Yeah, she’s going to spank his ass. But given that he did it with the most noble of intentions, doing the sort of things that made her fall in love with him in the first place, I’d say that she’s going to… well, spank his ass. As foreplay.
SeanR
He just better not fall asleep afterwards.
She knows just which knife to use. Nice and sharp.
Sita
So he got beaten up by his daughter and now by the ex? His bruises won’t have even come out yet…
SeanR
He got knocked around by his daughter, (mostly through a combination of surprise and his not fighting back.) His queen, (and yes, she’s his queen, since all the tribes united under her, even the one no vote of the fire tribe,) will leave bruises on his psyche.
…And she did threaten to geld him.
Reservist
That alliegance is carried out through a yearly oath, with none of his own clan (Sun Clan) renewed for at least 20 years.
So far, that alone makes the Sun Clan, de facto et de jure, an independant clan.
Besides, Ipola could not possibly have been serious back then about her gelding threat.
This kind of bodily harm, just for a mere disobedience that saved many people? It was an empty threat.
He disobeyed her, and he was utlimately right to do so.
Soulworker
Whoops…
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