Comment by Kiri

Thanks, Sev, for asking the question I wanted to ask! Would Necropony be sad if Jonan died. Would Necropony also die again? Would they die together. :O

Reply by Shazzbaa

Necropony would de-animate soon after, without Jonan's magic sustaining him. He'd be upset about Jonan being distressed, but once he died Necropony would just assume he's asleep and guard his body until de-animation. :<

Reply by Ely

TT.TT Just thinking about it it making me sad.

Reply by Jade

Wait...Jonan is sustaining Necropony?!?! He's actively choosing to keep him?!?! I HAD NO IDEA THAT WAS THE CASE. THAT IS SO ADORABLE. JONAN IS A BIG SOFTIE.

Also, Sev would never let him hear the end of it.
Well, Sev never lets anyone hear the end of anything, so...

Reply by Karen

It might not be that simple...? If it were by conscious effort then wouldn't Necropony have deanimated when Jonan passed out from dehydration? I recall something in a vote incentive (or maybe it was a Patreon Q&A) that Necropony is a exception / anomaly to typical necromancy -- though that may have been referring more to its abundance of personality. Necropony may be more like the best miscast ever, in that he continues to be sustained by Jonan -without- conscious effort.

Reply by Karen

But I'm sure Shazzbaa will clarify for us all :-)

Reply by Shazzbaa

this might be the vote incentive you're thinking of! (though he did mention it in a patreon Q&A as well). The fact that Necropony appears to act independently of any given commands, rather than waiting until it receives orders, is not normal for Jonan's undead.

Reply by Jade

Okay, but instead of, like, deconstructing Necropony, Jonan chose to keep him. Unless Jonan just...gives off a steady stream of magic he has no control over. But even then, he could just kill Necropony if he didn't want him around.

Pragmatically, keeping an extra zombie around takes up a good bit of energy, so a non-traditional independent zombie is an unnecessary drain. So Jonan is still a softie for keeping our adorable undead pony around, and no one can tell me otherwise!

Reply by mythee

If I had a zombie that behaved differently from the rest and I didn't understand how or why, and it was pretty harmless, I'd keep it around for at least scientific purposes.

If it seemed sentient/sapient/consciously capable of enjoying unlife then I wouldn't be able to deanimate it for the sole reason that it'd be like killing and I can't even kill a fly without crying so um.

It might not be that he's soft if it's the first reason tho! I'm giving him a 'benefit' of the doubt on that. XD

Reply by Shazzbaa

I will also point out, though Jonan would tell us all there are very practical reasons for him doing so, that he argued to bring Necropony along for the trip.

Comment by MagpieM

*spooky music intensifies*


So.....re: the vote doodle, now I'm like super curious about various funerary practices/customs in this world. Like what's standard practice? Does cremation become more frequent in neighborhoods with a resident necromancer? Should we be preparing our tearful eulogies for Jonan or stocking up on booze?

(...I used to be a morbid nerd. Nerdishly morbid? It does not take much to set me off again...)

Reply by Shazzbaa

I feel like it'd be more dependent on the predominant culture/religion in the region rather than the existence of necromancers -- graverobbing is illegal in probably(??) every state so your body should be safe. But places like Dhemin with more Artisan influence would have more of a traditional mourning funeral + burial; places like Aghir with a majority Alaqan population might be more likely to have quiet rites and cremation, that sorta thing.

Comment by Ely

Sidenote: I love Xira's lil nighttime headscarf

Reply by Shazzbaa

(omg i'm glad i'm not the only one)

Comment by Glew

Didn't expect this chapter to literally turn into a haunted house. But now it is literally a haunted house.
Oh my, there could be a Scooby Doo crossover! :D
Sev=Shaggy
Tarri=Velma
Xira=Fred
Aember=Daphne
Necropony=Scooby Doo
Jonan=the grumpy contractor at the beginning of every episode who gets abducted early on and doesn't help one bit

Reply by Shazzbaa

I CANT BELIEVE THIS

Reply by Jade

You found your next vote incentive, Shazzbaa...

Reply by Glew

wow, that would be cool! :D

Comment by eoforyth

What?!?! No, not my favourite curmudgeonly necromancer! I mean, there he was actually doing a good deed for the girl stuck in a box, and something up and grabs him (something with tentacles rather like Sev's, come to think about it). And what happens to Necropony if he's gone? Actually, will Necropony be stepping up to help its beloved master, like when he collapsed?

I refuse to believe it, he's not dead yet, and I look forward to seeing the gang all back together again very soon. Mind you, looking at the vote incentive I can see why Jonan avoids the likes of Sev in his usual daily life :D

Reply by Heather

I'm sure he knows more about madghosts than the madghost knows about itself. He'll be fine. Probably.

Reply by Shazzbaa

"No, not my favourite curmudgeonly necromancer!"
That, can't be a very competitive field,

Comment by Heather

Aember might be tiny, but Jonan is such a weakling that it kinda cancels out. Also, does that box have mass? Could she not have managed an accidentally-permanent box with wheels?

Reply by Ely

They really need to put the box on a skateboard or something

Reply by myriadism

omg imagine Æmber in her box on a segway xD

Reply by Shazzbaa

someone send marty mcfly back to help these kids out

Comment by Jess

I can sort of read what Jonan's response was to Xira when he said, "I think we're okay?" Jonan was trying to say, "No, we're not! There's an aberrant! We need to leave!" I'm not saying he's dead, but he's definitely in trouble. The aberrant that gave Sev those tentacle hands has returned and it was hissing at Jonan. Hopefully, Xira and Sev can use their magic to fight off the aberrant. And if it's not an aberrant, then it could be a ghost disguised as the aberrant trying to scare the living daylight out of them, so to speak. I'm kind of hoping it's just a ghost in disguise. Jonan may not be a very likable character, but he is a smart and important one to this story.

Reply by Shazzbaa

omg, I know this is basically just word-shape recognition but I'm still way too pleased when you guys figure out what he's trying to say

Reply by Heather

I admire the fact that he's still trying- nobody yet has worked out what he's saying with his mouth sealed shut, but he probably feels that honestly he's just speaking common sense, they should already know what he's saying without him having to say it.

Comment by Ikwig

My thoughts on this particular page:
1. I agree with Ely: Xira's headscarf is adorable! *sits around and wonders for a bit how I managed to miss that he had changed his headgear for the night*
2. Aember is really, really good at backward writing!
3. But she's writing on breath fog, which really makes me wonder just how she's managing to get oxygen in there . . . I mean, since she doesn't need to eat or drink or that sort of thing, I pretty much assumed that she didn't need to breath either, but you can't make fog without hot breath on a cold surface, sooooo . . . (maybe I should stop thinking so much?)
4. In Panel 6, Jonan's surprised look as he reads Aember's message actually makes him look close to his real age! Perhaps he should be surprised more often!
5. The facial expressions are, as per usual, so perfect that the interchange between Aember and Jonan, where Aember asks him not to leave her behind, actually made me laugh out loud! And Aember's look of horror as she looked at what had grabbed Jonan made me feel afraid. Shazzbaa, you are the absolute mistress of facial expressions!

Reply by Shazzbaa

2) Check out her book -- she has a lot of practice. : )
3) Okay, in general the box is magic so "don't worry too much if it's weird" is a good policy, but the basic answer is that she doesn't need to breathe, but she can. I have no idea whether that means there's magically still oxygen in there, or if that means she's just breathing not-oxygen and being magically okay, HEADCANON THAT AS YOU WILL
5) omg thank you so much

Reply by Thracecius

3) That's an easy question with a little imagination and no stated 'rules' applied to it yet:

The box is magically protecting Aember from all manner of harm and sustaining her (no need for food or water), therefore it is logical to assume that it can let harmless gasses, like breathable air, pass through without any difficulty while still maintaining it's integrity, and even filter toxins out / remove carbon dioxide.

The only creative limits on the box's properties come from it's creator, so Shazzbaa can leave it open-ended and explain or leave hidden anything as she sees fit. :)

Comment by Meggyc

This page. XD

This page just filled me with so many different mixed emotions. I'm at work and thinking, "Aww, poor Jonan" and trying to supress laughter, so I'm tearing up and I'm so happy that my co-workers are on the other side of the building eating lunch right now so no one else can see my cracking up moment. This page is also really creepy/scary, so yes, mixed emotions all around! But the good kind of mixed emotions.

Also, I was listening to Hamilton while reading the vote incentive (which also cracked me up. Poor Jonan) and Sev talking about sausage getting made completely made me think of The Room Where It Happens and now I want to see Runewriters characters in Hamilton garb.

Reply by Shazzbaa

omg thank you, I'm really glad

ALSO AHHH I STILL HAVENT LISTENED TO THE SECOND HALF OF HAMILTON!! LIKE A BIG SLOWPOKE!! but I gotta know WHAT HAMILTON PERSON WOULD THE RW FOLKS EACH BE

Reply by Meggyc

Unexplainably, I kind of want to see Sev as LaFayette. Really, the more I think about it, the more I want to see this, and I'm not sure why.

Comment by Why?!?!

I seriously doubt Jonan's actually dead. Whether or not he loses an appendage or two, now that's another question.

Reply by Shazzbaa

alas, we knew him well

Comment by Toanovu

Hoooooooooboy there's a lot going on in this page, I assume whatever "grabbed" Jonan is an illusion that he's seeing, except... can the illusions physically affect things?

...maybe Jonan is just falling back because he thinks he's being grabbed, but not really?

I don't know.

Reply by MagpieM

I think there might be more than one spooky critter here. I think there's a ghost, mad or otherwise, which is responsible for the mindscrew stuff and a facestealer which is posing more of a physical threat? Maybe? I mean, Aember looks super horrified at whatever is behind Jonan there so whatever it is, she can see it.

Comment by Capsin

panels 6-8 made me honest to God afraid so good job on that

Comment by Kira

Does Jonan have something going on with his chest? -squinting- I think I've noticed it before, but I forgot about it until I saw panel four. Like scars or something?

Reply by Shazzbaa

YUP getting grabbed by a flesh-rotting aberrant is just not any good for your complexion

Reply by The Wing

I THOUGHT IT WAS CHEST HAIR!

ASDFKSJDFH XDDDD

Comment by Mujaki

When the ghost runs away, that's when you're in big trouble.

Comment by Karen

So wait, if Aember is saying it's the other door... Does that mean Tareth is standing in a facestealer-warped closet? Or is she through the real door and Jonan got frustrated enough to forget which door he just came through?

Comment by Glew

I think I accidentally figured out what Jonan is saying! Ha!

"No we are not! There is an aberrant! We need to leave!"