unsounded

12_67

Great excuse for forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, errands, anything really. "Some blighter with a brain-cutting knife stuck me and I forgot to pick up groceries, it's not my fault at all."

RuckXBastion nsfw

I had a big clamour over on Tumblr for some Ruck and Bastion cheesecake art, so I obliged. Just download the attached image. This scene is violent rape, please do not look at it if that is too intense for you.

Next weekend I'm thinking a much more pleasant drawing of Bastion and the cute lady he was macking on at the party. If you have any other suggestions of fun stuff you'd like me to draw during the upcoming hiatus, speak up! It doesn't even have to be lewd and terrible, really.

12_66

I'm waiting for someone to complain about the blood spatters disappearing from Bastion's face. We all know why they're gone, right? :)

12_64 and 12_65

The print version of 64 shows off more of that first panel, without cutting off Maur and the other shocked Black Tongues. I like the border breaking on the site version too though; it's a nice oomph. Sorry, Chorley.

I'll be skipping Wednesday since this is a two page update!

A humble request, but I'd appreciate it if you guys could refrain from posting these high res versions elsewhere on the web. They are one of the only things I can really offer here - there are no hours left in my day...

12_63

Patreon changed stuff, this is weird D:

I have to say I greatly enjoy the turnaround here. Bastion's set up to be the villain - and he most certainly is an antagonist to Duane and Sette, and not a nice person probably - but we're all the protagonist of our own story, and here he is framed against a group of misled men who may be a helluva lot more desperate, dangerous, and immoral than even he is.

Also, whom do you reckon got opened up?

12_62

Lots of cut dialogue on this page. Originally I had Bastion interrupt Darkest's threat with "CANNIER and BETTER DRESSED?!" but mechanically he really needed to be casting his spell there, boo. I also originally had the two elders take a different tack at the top, suggesting all of Bastion's philanthropic screed is hot air and he wasn't prepared to  sacrifice his pride for the sake of Kasslynian peace, but it started Bastion off on an indignant tangent and this conversation had gone on long ...

12_61

Man, that fifth panel really freaks me out. I had to keep a Photoshop palette over it as I was working, it was giving me the heebies so bad. 

Anyway, I found it odd that I didn't see a single person anywhere consider that maybe this was the Queen's doing. Everyone just sort of went along with the idea that she and Roger were in love and assumed Ruck had somehow stolen him away. If you go back and look at that scene of them together, she never questions why Roger is going away and is in fa...

Adeliers

I like Simon's little vliegeng pennant.

12_60

A few interesting tidbits about tiddybird. She's not trapped in the khert because she can't get out but because she'll die if she leaves. Rough deal.

12_59

I'm fond of this page, the dialogue amuses me. Ruck has a very stilted way of speaking. He wants to sound very personable and... person-y... but does not quite have the knack. Efheby spend long decades by themselves, speaking to no one. The art of conversation quite eludes them.

Bastion starts out feeling very superior but between the casual mention of Duane and the revelation of Foi-Hellick, he's definitely surrendered his attention by the end.

12_58

So long, Master Ballanstern, we never knew ye.

He was not a nice dude, shed no tears.

Ruck is sooooo fun to draw. He's got a lot of doohickeys all over him to keep track of and he's as hard to frame with normal sized humans as Lady Ilganyag is, but he's very expressive. You'll see better on the next page.

12_56&57

Two pages today. I've attached the static version of the second; you'll need to head to the site  to see the silly animation.

12_55

There are regrets on this page; then fear; then a dire warning. Finally, an exploding piano.

V3 Kickstarter ends at 18:00EST

Just a heads up for anyone interested!

12_54

This is the print version of this page. If you'd like to see the animated version, you'll have to view it on the site. 

So Lady Ilganyag definitely founded the Black Tongues. And she definitely asks quite a lot of her problematic faves.

12_53

Maur is a very transparent, honest, loving sort, and was a grand friend to Bastion and Rahm when they both were in residence there in Juste. He's been a little lonely since the clique broke up, and is far too often bullied by Darkest and the other younger, more strident wrights. Bastion should probably stop and take the old man aside for a private chat instead of soaking up the patrons' adolation and baiting Darkest, but hey.  Pianos are a weakness.

12_52

Bastion can never decide if he's a raven or a peacock.

12_51

You can't take Crescians or Alds anywhere.

12_50

I had mad fun with this scene. See the plod with the serving tray of champagne glasses? The birds nests everywhere? Stupid Darkest Paul who is impressing no one?

I bet you thought the Black Tongues would be suave and cool. No, they are totally pretentious dorks! What a tweest! ;)

12_49

Our characters have such warm and happy memories!

We're still in Juste (the Black Tongues' lair) at the end, just in time to spy on a fundraising event. You might remember Maur from the short story Orphans - he's responsible for making Chitz into Matty's eyes.  Apparently he also does undead musicians.

12_48

Bastion's about 16 here and looking a little younger in his exuberance. He was not a bad kid, but definitely fell into a bad crowd. It's a long story.

Getting stuck apprenticed to Thierry Delicieu was both a wonderful and terrible thing in the long run, but it did make Delicieu's Two-Toe test subjects' lives marginally less miserable. Bastion was the only human in Juste who treated them with any degree of respect or compassion.

And it did get him backhanded from time to time.

12_47

A friend was fortuitously playing Bloodborne while I drew this page, which really helped tune me into the mad scientist vibe. We'll briefly go back twenty-five years into the past on the next page. This place triggers some memories.

12_46

Juste is a pretty weird place.  It's the kind of uncomfortable environment that people who have given up most of their appreciation for the natural world might design. There are no trees, no green, no pretty skies. The sun's perpetually on the horizon, casting hard right angles. Everything is light and dark; right or wrong; true or false. Man's hand is the only hand here. Every stone has been wrought by him with hard numbers and reassigned Aspects.

I've always found orange a close and par...

12_45

My favourite part of this page is the poster of the Aldish vliegeng rider about to put a baby to the sword. Subtle, Cresce, very subtle.

Minnow (nsfw)

Had to do a quickie of my freaky fish lady for Mer-May month.

12_44

Now onto probably my favourite scene this chapter. We've heard a lot of talk of the Black Tongues but what's the group really like? What're they up to? Let us accompany Lord Winalils on a visit.

12_43

So many people thought Quigley was gonna kill her, but that wasn't his intention at all. He just wanted to show her off to Matty, and posture a bit. Killing an ancient senet beast isn't something anyone does lightly.

The Kickstarter  is going strong! We're only 5k away from full funding. If you're holding out for a complete set, consider pledging in the meantime to help reach th...

12_42

Uaid is a construct of many talents. Well, a few talents. Vienne intended him to have a lot more capabilities, but died before she could implement them all. Uaid was always meant to largely serve as a conveyance and shelter for moving unscathed through Alderode's dangerous khert, but would have had a number of defensive devices in place as well, for dealing with other threats.

I think this is the strongest Quigley's ever reacted to anything in the comic. He's not liking Matty taking so powerfu...