Comment by Kiri

Okay but now I'm envisioning a RW visual novel and the player character is another party member and has to direct the (very uncooperative) team and there would be SO MANY WAYS TO BAD END OMG.

Reply by Shazzbaa

LOL YOU'RE NOT WRONG

at this point in the game bad endings are probably about 50% getting eaten/killed by monsters, 25% failing to rescue Jonan from his problems, and 25% getting arrested or killed by aberrant hunters

(I actually think an RW game would have to be a like... point-and-click type deal where you interact with people and solve puzzles and can switch between different characters who have slightly different pros and cons. I'm not sure I'm any good at those kinds of games tho)

Reply by Meggyc

I could see a Dragon's Lair styled Runewriters game with SO MANY negative outcomes for Jonan.

Reply by Adam

Most of the puzzles would actually revolve more around the character's handicaps. You have a person that can't hear but can speak, you have a person that can hear but can't speak, you have a person that's trapped in a cube. You have one shape-shifter that gets worse with every shape-shift. At this point, Xira is the freak of the party because he has no handicap.

It's the sort of constrained logic with over-complicated solutions that traditional point and click adventures love.

Also, you can have lots of "bad ends" in adventure games. Old ones (like King's Quest) had dozens of death scenes you could have. So it would fit the theme of "horrible ways to die". But it wouldn't be a real adventure if the change of horrible death wasn't involved.

Reply by Kiri

Xira's handicap is that if his turban comes off it's instadeath.

Reply by Adam

That's not a handicap. That's a doom. Dooms are constant, certain risk of death and/or harm that pressed on a person's entire life that can crop up at any moment. Handicaps just give obstacles in your life.

Comment by Karen

Oh man I love everything about this update. Vote incentive included.

But uh... Sev, if it dissolves your arm before said arm pulls Jonan out, then what?

Reply by Shazzbaa

SEVERIAN??? THINK A PLAN THROUGH AND HAVE CONTINGENCIES IN PLACE??? PERISH THE THOUGHT

Comment by Ely

I was about to assume he could runewrite it back, but then I realized that this is coming from a guy who's missing a nipple, so, maybe he's just stupidly heroic.

Reply by Ely

I just realized - Jonan also has a chest scar? (*whispers* tragic backstory, TRAGIC BACKSTORY)

Reply by Karen

Scar = http://runewriters.com/index.php?c=74
As Shazz says, getting grabbed by a flesh rotting abberant is terrible for your complexion :-)

Reply by Ely

Whoops, forgot about that. Well, I guess that's plenty tragic.

Reply by Shazzbaa

oh my goodness I'm so entertained that Sev's Missing Nipple is actually a relevant point here

Comment by The Doc K

Jonan's expressions give me life

Reply by Shazzbaa

omg I'm so glad

Comment by Fal

"It's okay I'm right-handed" I love this line.
Which makes me wonder: do shapeshifters, like Sev, get to regrow whole members if they lost them while transformed? Would a quick shapeshift work for healing your original form?

And I just realized Jonan is probably asking "mine or yours?" in the second panel.

And is Sev shifting Jonan into a squirrel on the last panel? He can't, right? I guess we'll see next week.

Reply by The Quiet One

Thank you for your comments on the last panel as I was somewhat confused on what was happening there and now I can see it plainly.

Reply by PK

Oh! That explains why he figures he can get him out as long as his arm doesn't actually fall off!

...I love these characters so much.

Reply by Shazzbaa

(omg thank you, this means so much)

Reply by Fal

You're welcome :)

Reply by Shazzbaa

THAT JONAN TRANSLATION IS SPOT ON, EXCELLENT WORK

"would a quick shapeshift work for healing" - The simple answer is -- nope! You can still see Sev's scars in his other forms; if he lost an arm, that'd carry over too

(The complicated answer actually came up over on the runewriters tumblr once, in response to someone pondering some kind of sheep-scam)

Comment by eoforyth

Wow, so has Sev used his Shapechanger runewriting to change Jonan into a small furry? Is this like when he turned Tarri blue, and will Jonan's lips still be sealed in the new form? Will Sev lose an arm, or is it okay to touch a surprised abberant while it is concentrating elsewhere? So many questions! Like...will squirrel!Jonan be pettable?

Which also raises something I noticed when I reread the comic and available incentives last week. Despite appearences, Sev spends a lot of time rescuing Jonan from life-threatening peril, at great risk to himself, and Jonan is unusually tolerant (for Jonan) of Sev. Then there was that comment about Jonan being the Princess of the party as Sev carried him bridal-style in his strong, tentacular arms -- with that kind of thing going on, it's just as well I don't ship these two, is all I can say ;D

And no, no naughty Bad Ending!

Reply by Heather

I'm not sure there's any form of Jonan that's pettable. Furry things still have teeth and claws.

Reply by Shazzbaa

i love this

Reply by Fal

Ooooh, I had forgotten about blue Tarri! I thought he could only change himself. That... makes it a kinda freaky power, actually, like, how are people afraid of witches and necromancers but not of shapeshifters?. I mean, you can change someone you don't like into a ladybug. Or a worm. Or anything (on the other hand, you can turn kids into birds or dragons, which they'd probably find pretty cool).
But maybe there is the same stigma against shapeshifters, except people at the village knew Sev, and accepted him, the same way Xira's family seems to have accepted him (I don't remember how strangers reacted to Sev being a shapeshifter).

I don't think Jonan's lips will be fixed, since Sev's own miscasts stay when he changes.

Reply by Tom-Tomy

Shapeshifting tend to have obvious results. If you change someone publicly, everyone know you've done it. If you do it secretly, well, anybody with a dagger can be a murderer, shapeshifter are just a bit more dangerous.
Witches, on the other hand, can manipulate memories thoughts without anyone noticing. It's the secretive part that's terrifying, the idea of your mind not being safe.

Reply by Shazzbaa

No other runewriter type has the same stigma that witches do! Even necromancers -- no one's too upset about Jonan wandering around with an obvious zombie until they realise he's that Jonan. It was sort of implied that the Dhemin guard wanted them to register at the gate, but he was willing to drop it; he was mostly there to check for and mark witches. Even the guy outside this settlement who obviously doesn't feel too kindly about magic -- when insisting that Xira had something to hide, he immediately assumed it was witchcraft.

But yeah, pretty much every runewriter type is hypothetically capable of terrifying things.

Reply by Fal

Oh :(
I mean, that's cool for other shapeshifters if -they- don't suffer from prejudice, but, poor witches.

Reply by Shazzbaa

we've actually seen him use this spell before!! it's a forced transformation, tho Sev has a slightly less elegant name for it.

I also really like "Jonan is tolerant of Sev" being listed as possible ship evidence.

Comment by Glew

So:

Alt text is hilarious!

Once again, Sev can be perfectly summed up by my favourite Harry Potter quote "What he did was both very brave and very stupid"

Jonan is turning in a/multiple(?) squirrel???

Re vote incentive: now that I think of it: What happened to face-stolen people? Do they disappear/dissolve?

Reply by Shazzbaa

that quote is honestly a good description of Sev, just, in general,,,,

Sometimes victims are consumed! Sometimes it's more like the innkeeper where they're just, uh, missing important pieces.

Comment by Anna

I'm curious, why didn't he just breathe fire at the rest of the facestealer? It looks like he would've been able to kill the creature that way, and if not kill it, at least make it possible for Jonan to walk out or Sev to grab him without getting anything dissolved.

Or is Sev able to regrow facestealer dissolved appendages, and that's why it doesn't matter?

Like how he can grow an extra appendage, ie. the tail? So anything hurt while in another form can be regrown?

Reply by Shazzbaa

Sev's fought one of these a couple of times before, so it's safe to say he knows that wouldn't be a quick process. Amorphous masses tend to be good at dodging!

Whether he thought about it and decided that shooting more fire towards a small space could make things worse, or if he's just focused on Jonan and genuinely didn't think that far ahead is anyone's guess, though.

Comment by Anna

Also Jonan looks very surprised at seeing what Sev can do. :D Did he know he could do this?

Comment by Meggyc

I love panel's 3 and 4. The staging in panel 3 is really nice, and Jonan has this look of "Well, that happened." in panel 4.

And I love Sev's logic. I just want to hug him. And Xira's reaction is perfect.

Also, that splorch sound effect is so unnerving.

Reply by Shazzbaa

ahhh omg thank you!!

(Sev welcomes hugs but now is really not a great time)

I feel like most sounds a tentacled mass of eyes would make might be unpleasant.

Comment by NoRAd

Wait... Did I actually call that?

Reply by Shazzbaa

YOU DID!! I was grinning when I saw your comment last week xD

Comment by Toanovu

The thought of a facestealer replacing one of the party is absolutely terrifying, I'm glad that our Aember is pretty observant.