Drowtales: The Info Dump

[guttering flame]

So ultimate weapon Lael will clean the city of demons? She killed drow too first time in that dragon tavern.

[HandofShadows]

That was under orders IIRC. She seems to hunt demons on her own.

[eschmenk]

Maybe a body (especially something like a brain) is required for complex thinking? In spirit form, they can just work with basic emotions and goals.

If so, that's a retcon. Before the timeskip she generally sounded intelligent when in that form. We've heard individual personalities talk before. They normally weren't like that.

As for the "voices" Kern explained those. Those are the remains the many people it has eaten.

"Since its Khaless point of view for the next few pages, i thought itd be fitting if she had the inner voices like Naal. Where Naal had basic needs, Khaless hear conflicting voices."

Which doesn't provide an in-story reason for the voices to be so infantile and grating, unless we are supposed to believe the original people were like that. I think Kern just doesn't know how bad it comes across to at least some readers.

[HandofShadows]

Nomnomnomnom.

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Well Laele'aell ate Khalless. It's really interesting that Lulianne and Erelice seem to show up to try and make sure that Khalless get eaten. Now the question is will Laele'aell be able to "digest"/destroy Khalless? Or might something totally unexpected happen?

[eschmenk]

Well, at least we had less of that silliness from Kahless than we had from the red blob. Hopefully it won't continue with Laele.

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Well Laele'aell ate Khalless. It's really interesting that Lulianne and Erelice seem to show up to try and make sure that Khalless get eaten. Now the question is will Laele'aell be able to "digest"/destroy Khalless? Or might something totally unexpected happen?

Huh? Erelice seemed to show up because it was really Kahless infiltrating the Sharg compound so she could take over the healer and do something to Quain. Maybe she wanted to take over Quain? I don't know if we will ever find out what exactly she was trying to do. I guess we can hope that Laele may become sane and reveal Kahless's plan to the readers. Granted, that would be extremely random, though.

If HandofShadows was talking from a meta perspective and meant that the entire scene involving Kahless, the healer, Quain and Laele was to remove Kahless from the story, then yes, that may be part what Kern was trying to do, but only part of it. He also used it to trigger Quain's rampage, which removed Suu'be from the story and weakened Quain, who has been removed at least temporarily.

On the other hand, if HandofShadows was talking from an in-story perspective, well, there wasn't any sign that Erelice could control Kahless; Kahless seemed happy at how her plan to get at Quain was going; Erelice probably wouldn't put Quain in such danger; and Laele was already there and probably just broke free because she was hungry and sensed a demon nearby. All together, that seems like a very unlikely idea.

[HandofShadows]

KALI HAS RISEN!

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Yeah, look like Khaless is dead now. Buuut those *^%&$ idiots killed Laele'aell and released the demon that nomed Khaless. The "central" spirit has the form of Laele'aell while most of the rest look like monsters.

[guttering flame]

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Looks like two main bodies. The humanoid female above and a nom monster below. Which is Lalae demon and which is Khaless? Also is that a dolphin demon to the right, nose over that drow head?

[HandofShadows]

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I don't think any of it is Khaless other than her consumed aura. This seems like it could be a Glutton Demon like Naal had. The fact that there is a normal elf form in the center of it could indicate that something of Laele'aell remains or was imprinted on the demon. Which given what we now of Gluttons is not supposed to happen. Of course with most Gluttons the host is immediatly consumed by the demon but Naal and Laele'aell are not typical cases so different rules my apply. Unlike Naal I don't think Laele'aell took over the demon, but it imprinted on her.

[eschmenk]

KALI HAS RISEN!

Yeah, it looks like Kern may not be done with having demons running around with conflicting voices saying a bunch of stupid, annoying things. Potentially even worse, this might even be an excuse for Kiel to somehow get involved and save the day.

If Quain had some way of physically fighting the demon, I could imagine both being destroyed in a climatic battle, but I don't know how Quain could fight it. Could Quain wind up tainted somehow? It's as if Kern left Quain's status uncertain so something could happen to her. Will being tainted be it?

[HandofShadows]

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Had a horrific idea. Right now all of the main characters are outside the Shargress fortress. There is still a demon god out there. Khaless and demon Lael must through off one heck of an aura. What if it drops by to have a snack? I don't think demon Lael would go down easy though and might even damage teh demon god badly enough to be fought with normal methods. Or demon Lael could just east everyone. Either way the Shargress as a are probably screwed much more than before.

[guttering flame]

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Had a horrific idea. Right now all of the main characters are outside the Shargress fortress. There is still a demon god out there. Khaless and demon Lael must through off one heck of an aura. What if it drops by to have a snack? I don't think demon Lael would go down easy though and might even damage teh demon god badly enough to be fought with normal methods. Or demon Lael could just east everyone. Either way the Shargress as a are probably screwed much more than before.

Isn't Lael/Khaless the demon god?

[HandofShadows]

No, I mean the one from the Puppeteer chapter that basically killed the Voz. This one http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=10694

[Vinyadan]

I thought the demon god was dead. Is it really still down there?

Also, interesting turn of event, and very good rendition in the last panel.

[SterlingAvenger]

If so, that's a retcon. Before the timeskip she generally sounded intelligent when in that form. We've heard individual personalities talk before. They normally weren't like that.



Which doesn't provide an in-story reason for the voices to be so infantile and grating, unless we are supposed to believe the original people were like that. I think Kern just doesn't know how bad it comes across to at least some readers.

I can think of a few reasons, although YMMV. First Khaless has been around for centuries and has been eating people for at least the balance of that time. Depending how old the personalities on this page are this might simply be all they are capable of.

Alternately, on the other occasions we've heard the individual personalities they've either been assumed as her main personality which kinda resurrects their personality? is the best way I can think to put it, or alternately maybe it's simply that she's exerting less control over them. She has to be running pretty low on energy, and between that and perhaps some panic at being the hunted for once, maybe?

[eschmenk]

I thought the demon god was dead. Is it really still down there?

Actually, there isn't any reason it would be dead and I'm not sure that it's even still down in the rift. What happened was that Kiel yelled at it, so it left, which meant falling down into the rift. Well, actually, the mana cannons firing at it and the summoners with sealing stones also probably helped convinced it to leave, but Kiel was definitely acting like a Mary Sue in that scene and it dropped into the rift just to get away. (I had to refresh my memory, though. I didn't remember what happened either, either.)

http://forums.drowtales.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18742 (comment for the first linked page):

Go back Kiel tell the demon with the backing of an army of sealers and volleys of canon blast. Sure the blast cannot truly injure the demon, the demon could go as far as consume them and grow stronger, if it had the chance to do so that is...
Now does Kiel shouting matters? Probably not, the demon has no ears to hear her. But as another demon(Khaless) pointed out before, Kiel may as well be one. It can see Kiel standing there unafraid with all her little buddies. And it can see all those sealing stones ahead. It can see the blasts and can feel them a lot more than it could feel the turtle's attack.

http://forums.drowtales.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18743 (next page comments):

The demon goes away, not before one of it's leg pass through Kiel however. Draining her of her strenght...

So, that's it. The demon god just went away, accidentally weakening Kiel as it left.

I don't know of any particular reason the demon god would die down in the rift nor do I know of anything that would keep it from coming back. The red blob came back from there, after all, after it managed to avoid drawing the attention of demon god. I guess the hope is that the demon god just likes it down there and finds plenty of mana or other demons to eat.

Personally, I hope we're done with it.

[guttering flame]

I don't know of any particular reason the demon god would die down in the rift nor do I know of anything that would keep it from coming back. The red blob came back from there, after all, after it managed to avoid drawing the attention of demon god. I guess the hope is that the demon god just likes it down there and finds plenty of mana or other demons to eat.

Personally, I hope we're done with it.

I assumed it dies of starvation down there. That's what happened to the demon gods after the Moon-age. The elves and other mana-rich creatures all disappeared so demons starved to nothing and were gone.

[HandofShadows]

It would take awhile for something to starve to death and it's only been maybe a week or so. So that thing is still down there and still alive and probably getting hungry.

[eschmenk]

Well, the demon god did seem to be affected by gravity for reasons that weren't clear, so maybe it would have trouble climbing back out. It's pretty normal for demons to be able to fly when they aren't occupying a body, but here it looked like it was falling and crashing into the sides of the rift on the way down. OTOH, the red blob was so unaffected by gravity that it couldn't even feel which way was up.

[HandofShadows]

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Well at least 2 of the idiots got nomed. No surprise there. What is a surprise is that Demon Lael is sentient and talks. I think we can be damn sure now that Khaless is dead. The question is "Who is the demon talking to? Us, the readers (another 4th wall breaker) or the very luck/super UNlucky sealer? Not going to find out for awhile. Honestly, I hope it's not talking to us. Keil talking to us is enough and Naal knowing we are around (but little more) is enough. Really the only character I wouldn't mind breaking the fourth wall would be Diva. She is so old and knows so much she may well have known about the 4th wall for a long time but just ignores us.

[eschmenk]

Well, that was a lot worse than any of us expected!

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The amalgam of Laele's bound demons come to awareness. Boop.
There was quite the dilemma regarding including this scene or not. As we won't be exploring this path further for now , instead we'll switching to Snadhya next.

Why did you even seriously consider this? We don't need more infantile demons!

Yes, we'll get a break, but we'll have a horrible cutsie infant demon to look forward to. To make matters worse, I'm becoming even more convinced that it will be an excuse for Kiel and the Naal demon to get involved somehow.

ADDED: I missed part of what was going on in that scene because the artwork extends to the sides, but wasn't displayed in my browser. Everyone else might want to check that.

[HandofShadows]

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I think Snads might have screwed up here. Only one of the kids is dead, Quain and her "adopted sister" Suu'be are both dead as well. It very hard to get the wrong info about those two. I think what Snads is telling Mel is what Snads *planned* to happen and it didn't work out. Snads has no clue that Khaless is dead either. And Mel is eating it up. But I wonder what will happen when Mel finds out the truth? I imagine Silice and/or Crys and company will be showing real soon. Get ready for a party!

[guttering flame]

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I think Snads might have screwed up here. Only one of the kids is dead, Quain and her "adopted sister" Suu'be are both dead as well. It very hard to get the wrong info about those two. I think what Snads is telling Mel is what Snads *planned* to happen and it didn't work out. Snads has no clue that Khaless is dead either. And Mel is eating it up. But I wonder what will happen when Mel finds out the truth? I imagine Silice and/or Crys and company will be showing real soon. Get ready for a party!

She'll say the rumors she heard were mistaken. Not a big deal. What about their own daughter? That mad wind girl. Is she with them?

[Vinyadan]

She'll say the rumors she heard were mistaken. Not a big deal. What about their own daughter? That mad wind girl. Is she with them?

Uh... you may want to reread this and the following page from chap. 46.

[CWater]

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I think Snads might have screwed up here. Only one of the kids is dead, Quain and her "adopted sister" Suu'be are both dead as well. It very hard to get the wrong info about those two. I think what Snads is telling Mel is what Snads *planned* to happen and it didn't work out. Snads has no clue that Khaless is dead either. And Mel is eating it up. But I wonder what will happen when Mel finds out the truth? I imagine Silice and/or Crys and company will be showing real soon. Get ready for a party!

The adopted sister is Koil, not Suu'be who was the former's biological mother. She might have well ended up in charge.

Hmm, I'm not sure if Snad really was told all the kids were dead, or if she's lying to Mel on purpose to enrage her.

[eschmenk]

Hmm, I'm not sure if Snad really was told all the kids were dead, or if she's lying to Mel on purpose to enrage her.

http://forums.drowtales.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19350

Meanwhile Snadhya is giving the news about what happened to Mel. Including the deaths of her 3 childs and her mother.
Lies or perhaps Snadhya is not as well informed as she think... most likely lies. its Snadhya after all. Keep Mel all scared and angry at the same time, got to be easier to use her later. Also,that the edge of the Nalsarkoth's home above , the gate to their fortress is to the right.

Well, at least it sounds like we can rule out Snadhya ordering them to be killed.

[Vinyadan]

There's some encoming sublety!

[HandofShadows]

While Nish causes all sorts of trouble and makes a ton of noise, Chrys slips in unnoticed.

[eschmenk]

Nishi might finally do something that's useful?

While Nish causes all sorts of trouble and makes a ton of noise, Chrys slips in unnoticed.

The sad thing is that being a decoy is a step up for Nishi. It will probably both Anjin and Chrys slipping in, though, with Anjin clearing a path for Chrys to a large extent. At least that would be more realistic.

I think Shinae and the empaths are being set up as Checkov's guns. Would the empaths theoretically be able to sense Chrys or Anjin nearby? I can remember whether empaths do that in Drowtales or not. In any case, I suspect that the question will become moot. Although I would like to see how well Chrys and Anjin could handle the empaths, I think it's more likely that the empaths will eventually be sent out to face off with Nishi, while Chrys winds up facing Shinae. That's the more obvious paring. Swapping the pairings might be more interesting, but it would also leave more things unresolved.

[Vinyadan]

Empaths can search for people and detect some information about them, we have seen the Kyorl empath doing that. However, she couldn't use her powers to attack like the Sul can. So it could be that she has received a completely separate training. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=610

[eschmenk]

Empaths can search for people and detect some information about them, we have seen the Kyorl empath doing that. However, she couldn't use her powers to attack like the Sul can. So it could be that she has received a completely separate training. http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=610

After thinking about it again, I think I was half remembering this page, where it seemed that one of the three sensed Nishi behind them. I think the current situation would be more difficult, though. There would be a lot of unfamiliar people moving around, so unless they were expecting Crystal or Anjin to be there, they probably wouldn't notice them sneaking around. OTOH, they might recognize Nishi's aura since they fought against her and they might be curious about who is attacking once they learned there was an attack.

The Kyorl could probably have sensed someone trying to be sneaky, but even she probably would have needed to actively scan nearby feelings to be able to do that. I doubt any of the three in the current scene would think to do so, whether or not they could. Also, the scanning seemed to exhaust the Kyorl, so it's not something to do regularly, anyway.