Drowtales: The Info Dump

[Felius]

Mel's heart. RIP.

Well, she didn't snapped AT Ariel, so there might actually be some salvaging it. Very remote chance, but who knows...

[Hamilkar]

Ah, we are back watching an infiltration attempt by the semi-professional spy Chrystel. I think she sucks at it. They have now ran into Lady 'Piss you in the mouth', this is gonna to be interesting.

Mini-Diva is quite the Ninja though. First I didn't realize that she has already vanished in panel three, so she even fooled me!

[Miklus]

Yay, back to Chrys! Not that her going there makes any sense whatsoever. What is the BEST that could happen? That Chrys gets to join Sillice's gang as a footsoldier? Against the overwhelming odds that Chrys will be tortured slowly to death?

[HandofShadows]

Mini-Diva is quite the Ninja though. First I didn't realize that she has already vanished in panel three, so she even fooled me!

Mini-Diva followed rule "always look up". :)

I wonder what she is up to though. Diva does not have much raw power, but she clearly has a LOT of different skills (how many Queens know how to pick locks? Wonder what kind of skill set shw would have if she where a D&D character ) and knows how to use them for good effect.

[HandofShadows]

Yay, back to Chrys! Not that her going there makes any sense whatsoever. What is the BEST that could happen? That Chrys gets to join Sillice's gang as a footsoldier? Against the overwhelming odds that Chrys will be tortured slowly to death?

Sillice seems to have changed a bit on her Kill all Tainted attitude. Look at how she treated her "niece". She actually tried to take sense to her rather than kill her (wasted effort I know) http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive...hapters&id=966 . Then we have Chry showing up on her own. Sillice planned for this to happen so we will have to wait to see what she has going on. Sillice might send Chrys back as a spy.

[Miklus]

Yeah, I expected something like that. Oh Chrys, your brain has deserted you. I put it down to valium addiction. She is still my favorite character. But if she continues down dumb road, she will lose my favor. Come on, Chrys. Use that brain. You are the only worthwile villian.

[Reverent-One]

Yeah, I expected something like that. Oh Chrys, your brain has deserted you. I put it down to valium addiction. She is still my favorite character. But if she continues down dumb road, she will lose my favor. Come on, Chrys. Use that brain.

What should she have done then? Lies would be pointless and counterproductive, being honest is the best shot here.

You are the only worthwile villian.

Villain? What? She's trying to find out about the conspiracy of demon-using usurpers that killed the ruler of Chel and are attempting to take over, that fits a hero more than a villian. She's even not nearly as much of a jerk as she used to be, otherwise I'd label here more of an anti-hero.

[Hamilkar]

Ariel handled the bomb better than I expected her to do. I mean she didn't broke down...

Well this is Ariel who has been almost killed several times. Experiencing a lot of near deaths does blunt ones ability to be really sensitive I guess. Also she is very driven to please Quaintana now so no facts were allowed to come between her and her goal!

Mini-Diva followed rule "always look up". :)

I wonder what she is up to though. Diva does not have much raw power, but she clearly has a LOT of different skills (how many Queens know how to pick locks? Wonder what kind of skill set shw would have if she where a D&D character ) and knows how to use them for good effect.

But that Lady did not come from above. Anyway, either Diva did practice look-picking, sneaking and acting to be meek when she was Queen, which I find highly unlikely, or she inherited these abilities from Liriel, who did maybe develop these skills by being a slave.

In D&D terms I see Diva as a Sorceress/Rouge dual class. Very Queen like indeed.

Yeah, I expected something like that. Oh Chrys, your brain has deserted you. I put it down to valium addiction.

Well I concur here. Telling the Kyrol's her doubts (which will be likely transferred to Shiminande right away) and attempting to infiltrate the Sarghress fortress (with red eyes extra difficult, at least she didn't drag Shinae with her ^^ ), to seek out Silice (who can be a real dangerous women) to discuss the truth about the past events (of which she is almost certain, anyway), which is at least as risky as Ariel's stunt to free Faen in the human fortress, is not looking very well-thought-out for me. At least Ariel tried to save her best friend, what has Chrystel to win out of this gamble, exactly?

You are the only worthwile villian hero.

Fixed that for you.

[Gamall]

In D&D terms I see Diva as a Sorceress/Rouge dual class.

She's more of a Sorceress/Purple, actually.

*couldn't resist*

ither Diva did practice look-picking, sneaking and acting to be meek when she was Queen, which I find highly unlikely,

How old is she, exactly ? Probably somewhere in the three-figure range; that's a lot of time to pick-up and practice random skills if you have a curious mind. Especially if you spend a lot of time alone in barricaded apartments.

Besides, there is nothing to tell that she was a sweet little law-abiding sugar-angel when she was young, that is, before she became Val'Sharess. We actually know nothing about her outside of her royal role. All that is known is that in this role she 1) kicked some serious bottom in battle (not a personality trait per se) 2) was very demanding of her daughters 3) and just as demanding of her subjects. Points 2 & 3 might just be masks she wore or grew into, rather than an accurate expression of her personality.

For all we know, she might have had the temperament and inclinations of a joyous cut-purse until <warning: tired metaphor ahead> the mantle of leadership fell onto her shoulders.

[HandofShadows]

Read "The Longest Wait" side story. Diva never wanted to be Queen and disliked the job from what I can tell. Her actions where focused on keeping Chel in one piece (not easy considering how chaotic these people are) and the elves/drow alive until Sharess came back. While Diva was Queen she acted how she thought she should act (copying her mother). A mask of Queenship as it where. She wanted her kids to excel because she felt it was their responsibility to do as as the leading Clan.

As a note, Diva ruled for 600 years, but I have seen where she is supposed to be about 1,600 years old. That number could be wrong though.

[Miklus]

What should she have done then? Lies would be pointless and counterproductive, being honest is the best shot here.

She should not have come to the Shagress fortress in the first place. It is not worth the risk. It will probably turn out alright, but there is no way she could have known that from what she experienced the first time there.

Ariel is still the hero, right? I thought Chrys was her nemesis. Ariels eqivalent in the enemy clan. They have history. Chrys wanted to leave Ariel when she fell down and later Ariel stabbed Chrys.

[Reverent-One]

She should not have come to the Shagress fortress in the first place. It is not worth the risk. It will probably turn out alright, but there is no way she could have known that from what she experienced the first time there.

It's a matter of priorities. To Chrys, the risk of death is better than not being able to trust anyone within the Clan, her own family.

Ariel is still the hero, right? I thought Chrys was her nemesis. Ariels eqivalent in the enemy clan. They have history. Chrys wanted to leave Ariel when she fell down and later Ariel stabbed Chrys.

The thing is, Chrys and her friends seem to have become protagonists themselves, involved directly in the conspiracy of the Nidraa'chal's. And while there is little love between Chrys and Ariel, they both are likely to be on the same side when it comes to the Nidraa'chal.

[max_black0]

It starting to look as if Chrys will be tortured this time as well. Chyrs...
...
Chrys your an idoit. Your've basically killed Shinae and things looking great for you either.

[Miklus]

Yeah, this isn't Chrys' finest hour....Maybe I have overestimated her.

Even if Silice is helpful (HA!) this does not solve any of her problems. A little background information is the best she will get out of this. But she already know the main parts: Diva is dead and Snad is bad.

She could have sought out Divas forth daugther (or is that third?), but noooo....

[blackjack217]

Yeah, this isn't Chrys' finest hour....Maybe I have overestimated her.

Even if Silice is helpful (HA!) this does not solve any of her problems. A little background information is the best she will get out of this. But she already know the main parts: Diva is dead and Snad is bad.

She could have sought out Divas forth daughter (or is that third?), but noooo....

You do realize that that one is almost certainly under house arrest?

[Hamilkar]

The thing is, Chrys and her friends seem to have become protagonists themselves, involved directly in the conspiracy of the Nidraa'chal's. And while there is little love between Chrys and Ariel, they both are likely to be on the same side when it comes to the Nidraa'chal.

Yes that's what I also mean. She is active in the story and she is trying, well to make the (under) world a better place sounds a bit too much, but she is trying to find out the truth, which she cares about, so she has some sense of justice/injustice and she is not working on a "the end justifies the means" or a "winners write history" basis.

I see her deeds here on a more relativistic scale, meaning the underworld is such a bad place that she comes up as a relative good character, compared to lets say her mother or some of her other relatives.

Yeah, this isn't Chrys' finest hour....Maybe I have overestimated her.

Maybe Chrystel is looking so clumsy and stupid so that Diva can outshine her more easily.


But to open another topic, that protagonist part left me thinking. Could it be that there are now too many protagonists in Drowtales? I have the feeling that beside the high output of pages, the story slowed down considerably. Since chapter eight we start to follow several characters. When most of them were with Ariel (or together as Team Tainted) the story was still fast, but since we started to watch several characters from several locations it got rather slow in my opinion.

So who do we have now, both protagonists and other important characters. I define a protagonist here as a main character with plans, inner thoughts and feelings. Protagonists are in bold. Antagonists are in red.

We have Ariel and the rest of Team Ariel: Diva and Faen
We have (far far away) Chirinide and Shan
We have Kiel
We have Chrystel, Shinae (who recently achieved Protagonist status) and Nau.
We have Kyonne

So much for the Child cast but it gets better. There are several grownup characters as well.

We have all Illharesses.
We have Silice (and her two kids)
We have the three Sharen sisters (were Snadya is the most ominous one)
We have Kalki
We have Mel and Kel (Kel is still a bit mysterious to me)
We have Lulianne (or Luless ^^)
We have several Vlozress charactes who we watch; Baliir & Kuso, Larvova and Nyoka not to mention Kharlaggen.

So if the comic shows each of them doing something and they are not interacting with each other, the speed of the plot slows down. If you remember what did happen to Ariel from chapter 1 to chapter 8 a lot has happened. From chapter 9 to chapter 23 it got slower but I actually enjoyed the other perspectives. However from chapter 24 on to the current chapter we do get a lot of information from different perspectives but really not much is happening. It took 6 whole chapters for Ariel to return from the surface to talk with her mom! Ok in-between Naal died (?) and Kiel took over part of the Vlozress. On my count we have now eight protagonists and a lot more secondary characters as well while there are still several characters waiting in the third row to shine (Suube and Koildoath for example), so each chapter is telling the story from several angles which leaves only three to six pages for each mini story, before we cut to another character.

Actually the last two chapters (31 to 32) feel so intertwined that it gets now somewhat complicated to keep track of all these characters and what are they doing at which time. The chapters are feeling like one big fragmented chapter instead. This is getting a bit too much for my taste, sometimes I like it nice and simple. In my opinion the story should concentrate a bit more around the core characters, Ariel and Chrystel and the characters connected to them in a lesser degree and maybe from time to time there could be an entire chapter which includes something else entirely (like the council of the Illharesses or Lu spying in Snadyas school, story parts which I enjoyed a lot btw).

Well this is only my opinion but I want to ask you if you think the same or if I am overreacting here a bit?

EDIT: Changed my argument a bit. Split that "Wall of text" of mine.

[Miklus]

You do realize that that one is almost certainly under house arrest?

Yes, but somewhere in the Sharen fortress, right?

Anyway, Chrys' biggest problem is still the taint. She needs to get rid of it and soon. If it can not be done, she is done for. And Kiel too.

[HandofShadows]

We have Ariel and the rest of Team Ariel: Diva and Faen
We have (far far away) Chirinide and Shan
We have Kiel
We have Chrystel, Shinae (who recently achieved Protagonist status) and Nau.
We have Kyonne

So much for the Child cast but it gets better. There are several grownup characters as well.

Diva is a child? I don't know if she would be mad about being called a child or happy.

Anyway, Chrys' biggest problem is still the taint. She needs to get rid of it and soon. If it can not be done, she is done for. And Kiel too.

They might have been given the safe version of the taint, not the normal one.

[Miklus]

They might have been given the safe version of the taint, not the normal one.

There is something screwy about the taint, or at least Chrys thinks so.

Diva finds it surprisingly easy to humiliate herself for an century old empress. I'm surprised she even know how to do a good footrub. Must be the ninja in her.

EDIT: Yeah, ask the ninja for a drink, let's see how that works out for you!

[HandofShadows]

Diva finds it surprisingly easy to humiliate herself for an century old empress. I'm surprised she even know how to do a good footrub. Must be the ninja in her.

Diva is certianly being goal oriented here (She really has taken this whole situation very well. Guess that is what happens when you get "fired" from a job you don't like much). Also she may have been doing much worse things before she got her head back together.

I wonder though. At the last minute Diva may decide not to tell her daughter who she is? (Not a matter of trust, but because it may cause problems)

[Gamall]

I wonder though. At the last minute Diva may decide not to tell her daughter who she is? (Not a matter of trust, but because it may cause problems)

I am not sure that telling her directly was ever really the plan. That would depend on whether they have shared, secret memories that could enable Diva to establish her identity in a few words and beyond the shadow of a doubt. And that does not seem terribly likely.

Diva's plan is probably more along the line of taking a look, gauge Sil'lice's current mood and temperament, and try to present herself as a useful servant at first, then slowly drop clue after clue until Sil'lice is subconsciously "prepped" for the big reveal.

[Hamilkar]

Diva's plan is probably more along the line of taking a look, gauge Sil'lice's current mood and temperament, and try to present herself as a useful servant at first, then slowly drop clue after clue until Sil'lice is subconsciously "prepped" for the big reveal.

Talking about Diva, where is she exactly? Possibly sneaking around and waiting for her opportunity to make a grand entrance.

Also we've seen before that Drow can identify somebody by her Aura. Ariel could even sense Faen's aura about great distances with the right tool. So if Mini-Diva has the same aura then Old-Diva, things might be easier than expected.

[Gamall]

So if Mini-Diva has the same aura then Old-Diva, things might be easier than expected.

She does not. Back on the surface, a Kyorl' warned Ariel about the strange aura of Liriel; she thought Liriel was possessed, as though by some kind of demon, but she could not tell exactly what was going on.

So no, it is very safe to assume that Diva's current aura is very different from her old one -- and much smaller. Whether someone experienced in these matters and having known Diva for long could recognise her by her aura remains open for speculation, but it is certain that even such a person would need more than a cursory glance.

[Miklus]

Hey, I just figured something out! You know how we never see elf nipples? That's because the don't have any. I was reading the chapter where we see Sharess body and she sure don't have any. That's because they are not for breastmilk, they are for storing mana. Just like a camel stores water in it's humps. That explains why female elves are more powerful than males. There is even a correlation of size vs power. Check out Kharla and Snad. They are the most powerful casters and *damn* they are big. The rest of the characters fit in nicely, the more boobs, the more power. That also explains the outfits we see. They are intimidating their enemies with this aggressive display of raw power. Don't mess with me, my boobs are bigger! Grrr! Like a wolf baring it's teeth. Yep, it all makes sense now.

[max_black0]

Hey, I just figured something out! You know how we never see elf nipples? That's because the don't have any. I was reading the chapter where we see Sharess body and she sure don't have any. That's because they are not for breastmilk, they are for storing mana. Just like a camel stores water in it's humps. That explains why female elves are more powerful than males. There is even a correlation of size vs power. Check out Kharla and Snad. They are the most powerful casters and *damn* they are big. The rest of the characters fit in nicely, the more boobs, the more power. That also explains the outfits we see. They are intimidating their enemies with this aggressive display of raw power. Don't mess with me, my boobs are bigger! Grrr! Like a wolf baring it's teeth. Yep, it all makes sense now.

First off, camels don't store water in their hump. It's a fat reserve.

Second. You can see elf nipples in the daydream section.

Third. What the hell, man?

[FatJose]

Third. What the hell, man?

Great discoveries in history have been fueled by wild theories. I applaud Miklus' critical thinking skills.

[HandofShadows]

Been thinking about Diva's aura. I think it can go one of three basic ways. #1 Diva's totaly destroyed Ragini and there nothing left. Diva would have the same aura as she did before. #2 Ragini is merged with Diva, which would alter her aura, but Diva's personality is dominant. #3 Ragini is in there someplace and Diva still has two aura's. Diva cared a great deal for Ragini and have unconsiously stopped herself from destroying her (and does not know Ragini still exists).

Of the three, I suspect either 2 or 3. Why? Diva's eyes. In possession, the eyes have always been the first thing to change and Diva has Drow eyes (red center), not Dark Elf eyes. They don't seem to have changed at all from Ragini's. The eye's should have changed when Diva boostrapped herself into Ragini, but they didn't. And they still didn't change when Diva was "reborn" despite her skin and hair very suddenly altering.

It's logical that Ragini esists in some form, but this is also DrowTales and Bad Things (tm) happen.

[Miklus]

Sorry, I will try to be more serious! (Not likely)

If Ragini is still in there, she no longer have control of her body. Am I the only one who is bothered by Diva taking over Ragini? I know that Diva needed to save herself, but at the expense of Ragini?

To quote Xykon: "Sacrificing minions, is there any problem it CAN'T solve?".

Diva is ruthless, man. Ruthless.

[HandofShadows]

If Ragini is still in there, she no longer have control of her body. Am I the only one who is bothered by Diva taking over Ragini? I know that Diva needed to save herself, but at the expense of Ragini?

Actually, I don't think Diva did it to save herself. Or that was the overriding reason. You will recall Diva freed Ragini and gave her a chance to leave, though Diva did not explain what she was going to do. The real motivation for Diva taking over Ragini was that it was the only way to stop the three traitor sisters. ( http://www.drowtales.com/longestwait...page=1&check=1 ) And Diva herself is quite bothered by what she did, she herself thinks it was wrong. Often she still calls her body "Ragini's body", not her own.

[Gamall]

No, Sil'lice, I have no doubt that using a big-ass stone with your easily recognisable symbol on it as a secret key to your secret lair to give secretly to your secret followers and allies is a perfectly capital idea. You go girl!


* Two days later, Chrys inadvertently drops the stone before Zala. Hilarity ensues. *