Comment by The Wing

No worries! I'm sure it's nice to take a breather every now and then anyway. :) Art is difficult to churn out on a deadline.

Comment by Tama

You come first. Over the comic, over d&d, YOU come first. Have a good sleep.

Reply by heather

A thousand times seconded.

Comment by TheOtherDibbler

That next page looks complicated and time-consuming, take as much time as you need. :)

Comment by TheHeroicOne

Well, this might be as good a time as any to share my theory. :"D

So I love Xira but... I am really getting increasingly worried he could be working for Iavin. I was rereading Chapter 3, and I noticed the following things;

On page 3.19, Tareth mentions the aberrant hunters. Notice that Xira mentions them being 'trigger-happy', and looking pretty unhappy with that. While it's possible he may of just seen or heard about it, I have a feeling he's known someone who got taken by them. See, Iavin.

And then, 3.39. Tareth says they were going to see Loa, and I find Xira's reaction there very interesting. He's obviously surprised and, this leads to the end of chapter 3, 3.62. We see Xira saying that he 'has a lead' when talking in a mindlink with someone unknown. I believe this is Iavin because we do know that Quentin made a deal with him to steal Loa's notes. I think it's very possible Xira may be friends with them, but he has ulterior motives of helping Iavin locate Loa and then stealing from him.

OR MAYBE I'M JUST OVERTHINKING HAHA BUT THERE'S MY MESS OF A THEORY

Reply by The Wing

WOW!! You are so sharp! I am totally on-board with this theory! And it fits so well into the story, too! I am genuinely excited to see if this theory is correct. :D

Reply by Threnodi

Oh, I hadn't considered the angle that Iavin was sent to get Loa's notes paired with Xira's reaction, good catch!

Here's some other thoughts though:

There's hints, especially in the extras that Xira also has suffered a miscast. Something to do with his memory? So I think his reaction to news of Loa could just be a Wizard of Oz effect. Like, 'If everyone else is on a quest to get fixed up, I want in on that!'


Also regarding the 'trigger happy' comment, we know how scared Xira is of getting found out and marked. I think it might have had to do with the city guards forcing Traders to show their hair at the gate. From the way the man was incredulous when asked on 3.9 ( http://wwww.runewriters.com/index.php?c=106 ) I'm guessing that's not normal routine for the place. Also Iavin was marked a long time ago, I think, leading into the last point..!

Also specifically regarding Iavin, I'm pretty sure the witch that messed up Sev was Iavin, since you see a snatch of his memory when the Madghost steals it at 4.22, and the witch in the vision looks like a young (already marked) Iavin, he even has the rosary-looking rune thing. Xira starts to ask what that was, and I know it's not conclusive, but I kind of feel like if he recognized Iavin in the vision, he might have said his name or at least been a little more freaked out to know his shady partner was the one who traumatized Sev? So hoooping at least it might mean they're not in cahoots!

Reply by Shazzbaa

(EDIT: hope it's okay that I cleaned this up! the RW archive is getting a lot of spam nonsense lately, so I just have the thing that catches spam set to be very aggressive -- if your comment gets flagged for moderation, that's not a bad thing! It just gets emailed to me so I can check whether it's spam or not before it posts on the site, so if that happens you don't have to repost or anything, you can leave it and your comment will show up normally soon enough! :> )

(also, no comment on the rest -- but I'm enjoying this discussion! :3 )

Reply by Threnodi

Thanks for the edit and the info! I'll know for next time. :)

Reply by Random Passerby

Personally, I do take Xira's reaction to mean that he recognised Iavin, but just not that specific context. Like, he might not have the full picture of Iavin. I mean, the mind link conversation didn't seem... IDK particularly warm? Like, I wouldn't really expect two people who like each other to talk like that, so I would think this was a kind of strictly business thing, with mindlinks for convenient micromanagement.

Reply by TheHeroicOne

Thanks for the input! I didn't realize Xira has had a miscast (RIP, not a patreon supporter. Maybe someday...) That's a very possible explanation too. Good catch with 4.22, and that does seem like something to know.

I'm just really excited to see where anything goes with this tbh, there's so many possibilities.

Reply by Threnodi

Yeah, I'm realizing I should have said 'Hopefully Xira's not secretly super evil', 'cause a connection to Iavin could be so interesting! I can't wait to see where it's going in either case!

Comment by Ikwig

Don't mind me sticking my fingers in my ears and going "blah, blah, blah, blah, I can't hear you" through all this talk of Xira working with Iavin. And, um, now I'll have to re-read the archives again to see what I catch. . . *sigh*

As far as this preview page goes - beautiful, beautiful backgrounds! Take your time and get caught up; I certainly don't mind staring at the wip for a week! :)

Comment by Himochi

You already know I believe this but definitely 100% put yourself first. Get all caught up, get all rested and ready for more updates. In the meantime, I'll appreciate this beautiful filler comic, and maybe go reread the archives again. <3

Comment by Shazzbaa

Ahhh thank you everyone!! I really can't tell you enough how much I appreciate how supportive and understanding you all are. ;u;