Drowtales: The Info Dump

[HandofShadows]

Bad news Chrys, but at least Zhor continues to be awesome even if he is in a wheelchair.

[eschmenk]

That's a nice leap of logic on Crystel's part. Kern's comment for the page makes it sound like she's correct, though.

A fight was about to break out between Mel and Chrys when Zhor speaks out his mind. Outright giving out secret information to a potential enemy in hope to undermine his captor. Chrys quickly come to the dreadful realization that she's been chasing after the very thing she gave away.
The Jaals were working for Snad.

Zhor that the Jaals were working to make more of the antidote. I hope that is explained better rather than just being left as a big plot hole. It's possible that Zhor misunderstood something, but I rather doubt it. You would think that if Snady wanted them to make more antidote for her side to use, she would have provided a starting sample, so it would seem unlikely that she's planning on taking all the production, but why would she let them make more antidote without taking all of it? It's possible that she just hadn't gotten around to giving them a sample yet, I suppose, or maybe she hadn't realized that it might be possible. It didn't seem as if there had been an attempt to spread the infections widely throughout the Sharen or Sharg sides. If that had been the case, I could see Snady deciding to allow her Jaal allies to make just a few copies, which could create conflicts over who got the cures. Since the infections didn't seem to be spread widely, that's probably not the plan, though. Anyway, it would be nice if Kern explained this.

So what now? Assuming Crystel gets away and Snad survives her fight, Mel will have to choose between betraying Zhor and her loyalty to Snad. Then again, if Snad barely escapes, Mel might wind up distracted enough that she can just ignore the issue. If Snad dies, it would be moot. Chrystel would still have to race to get the cure, though.

Kern's blog

Chapter 50 has an END! For Real!!! Right now i have it marked for page 267 which mean i can now say the cameo call is on the 4th march. Even if i add a page or two it’ll still be the 4th’s march. As to which page i’m curently working on : 241. By the time the cameo time happen i will be working on the epilogue.

The current page is 235, so 32 (maybe more like 35) pages left. It will be interesting to see the March 4 cameo call. That, or something else around that time, should explain what he's going to do after the current chapter.

[eschmenk]

Shinae and Crystel together again. Gee, who could have predicted that?

[HandofShadows]

And Kiel hears a LOT of cheering all of a sudden.

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I'm starting to think that Snads isn't Snads anymore and that something took her over. That's why she can pull so many stunts.

[HandofShadows]

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Well, FINALLY one of the *%$# empaths may actually be dead. Shinae FUS-RO-DAH'd one off the balcony and is beating the other with a HUGE (and Scary) smile on her face.

[HandofShadows]

That has got to hurt.

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Snads feels the effects of overspecialization. She could deal with any and all mana attacks, but is pathetically weak to physical attacks. Nish is gotten several good hits in with rocks of all things and Snads is loosing control of her summons. Hoping the next page had Snads skull breaking.

[CWater]

I will be very surprised if Snads actually kicks it, though I wouldn't be at all sorry if this was her end!

[HandofShadows]

Snads organization has taken some very heavy hits this chapter though Snads doesn't know it. Khaless was eaten (great irony there) and at least 2 of her empaths are dead. And Chrys knows that some of the Jal are working for Snads from Zhor.

This chapters name it Unravel and it's happening to all the main factions in the story.

LOL just realized that the Rock +1 is listed as part of the cast.

[eschmenk]

Hoping the next page had Snads skull breaking.

I'm worried that either of them might suffer that. The golem is going to collapse on them.

[Vinyadan]

Now I get why Sillice felt so sure she could kill Snadhya in Felde. I thought she was just cocky, but maybe she did have a chance. Even before the last attack, she was all "just point me at Snadhya, I'll kill her, no wolves needed srsly". Probably she also counted on Nishi.
I really like the summon apparently still following the driver's commands, even though she's just in pain. I guess golems are less good at imitating complex movements, but also better when you're trying to fight and drive like Nishi did.
Actually, I am wondering what kinds of summons there are. The Dragon simply follows her orders (like the turtle), but the warrior summon seemed more autonomous. And then there are the secret summons, like the teacher.

[eschmenk]

Sillice was just stupid and cocky. She never even considered the possibility that Snady would lay a trap for them in her home. Yes, Snady can't fight, but she knows she can't. You have to be able to get to her for that to matter; Normally she wouldn't let you do that. Nishi is doing something that Snady wouldn't allow Sillice to do.

Unlike Sillice, Nishi had the advantage of being underestimated badly because she had never done anything useful before. Nishi would always give up before a fight or cut and run as soon as a fight started. Unsurprisingly, Snady expected her to do the same thing this time, too. Snady wasn't nearly as well prepared as she would have been for someone like Sillice who is known to be a fighter. Not only that, Nishi was using abilities (e.g., removing Snady's mana stones by melting the metal mountings) that Snady had no way of knowing that Nishi could do because Nishi had never done anything like that before. Even at that, despite all of Nishi's one-time advantages, Snady almost won anyway. Nishi was about to die, so she did something that was pretty much suicidal that happened to work.

TLDR: Snady had good reason to think she knew what Nishi could and would do; fortunately for Nishi, she was wrong. She does know what Sillice can and would do. Sillice wouldn't do nearly as well against Snady as Nishi is doing, and Nishi almost lost anyway.

The summons contain the nature of whatever is being summoned. The animals still act like animals. The teachers still act like teachers. The warrior still acted like a warrior.

Having Snady's dragon crashing around might cause the greenies to hold back enough to allow Chrystel and friends to escape.

[HandofShadows]

Spoiler: Ding Dong

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The &*%&*$# is DEAD. Or at least she feaking should be. She has a huge rock sticking out of her. Even a modern hospital can't save someone with that kind of damage. Even if that didn't kill her she landed flat on her back from a good height likely breaking bones and possibly her skull.

On the bad side Nish broke her leg and can't retreat.

[eschmenk]

Spoiler: Ding Dong

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The &*%&*$# is DEAD. Or at least she feaking should be. She has a huge rock sticking out of her. Even a modern hospital can't save someone with that kind of damage. Even if that didn't kill her she landed flat on her back from a good height likely breaking bones and possibly her skull.

On the bad side Nish broke her leg and can't retreat.

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In movie, it turned out the troops weren't loyal to the witch. I don't know, but I suspect it will probably be the same sort of thing here. The greenie who was hosting Snady was just a paid cameo and supposedly just an ambitious politician, not a Val. Perhaps many in the clan didn't have anything to do with this and may not be happy that the politician involved them in a destructive war. They probably won't be happy to see the damage the golem caused. Snady is probably dead, so it's not as if they have anything to gain by following her.

OTOH, one empath is still around, so they might be coerced into killing Nishi.

One more thing: What are you going to do now, Mel?

[CWater]

Oh please be dead, be dead. I loved to hate you Snads, but won't miss you.

[Vinyadan]

The fact that this all probably happened because Sillice was a jerk to Nishi makes Nishi's bewilderment even more understandable. I actually wonder if Sillice raised Nishi, which would add a layer to their "what the hell is wrong with you?!" "No, what the hell is wrong with YOU?!" relationship.

I wonder if this is all for Snadhya.

[eschmenk]

The fact that this all probably happened because Sillice was a jerk to Nishi makes Nishi's bewilderment even more understandable. I actually wonder if Sillice raised Nishi, which would add a layer to their "what the hell is wrong with you?!" "No, what the hell is wrong with YOU?!" relationship.

What bewilderment? What "what the hell is wrong with you?!" "No, what the hell is wrong with YOU?!" relationship? With so many servants, why would Sillice have raised Nishi?

[SterlingAvenger]

What bewilderment? What "what the hell is wrong with you?!" "No, what the hell is wrong with YOU?!" relationship? With so many servants, why would Sillice have raised Nishi?

It's Drow tradition. Oldest daughter raises the next daughter when she is old enough an so on down the line. So Snadhya raised Sarv'swati who raised Sillice who raised Nishi'kanta who raised Zala'ess. If I remember properly it's supposed to help them both contribute to the clan by freeing up their mothers to do other things as well as give them practical experience before they have their own children.

[eschmenk]

That's questionable and doesn't address what was in the question!

It's Drow tradition. Oldest daughter raises the next daughter when she is old enough an so on down the line. So Snadhya raised Sarv'swati who raised Sillice who raised Nishi'kanta who raised Zala'ess.

Where does it say that it is a drow tradition, rather than a Sharg tradition? Where does it say that the Sharen Vals followed that tradition? Where does it say that Snad raised Sarv? Please provide the links that prove what you are claiming.

If I remember properly it's supposed to help them both contribute to the clan by freeing up their mothers to do other things as well as give them practical experience before they have their own children.

As I just asked, why would that apply to the Sharen Vals when they have plenty of servants to do it. Well, servants and slaves, really. That's why I doubt they did it the same way as the Shargs did. I'll also note that the Shargs don't have protector twins like the Sharen do, so obviously the different clans can do things differently.

[Oneris]

Where does it say that it is a drow tradition, rather than a Sharg tradition? Where does it say that the Sharen Vals followed that tradition? Where does it say that Snad raised Sarv? Please provide the links that prove what you are claiming.

The most recent evidence comes from this artwork of baby Sarv under the care of Snadhya.

After that is the old World Setting, which used the Sargs as an example but didn't list the Sharen as an exception. Of course, it was never really mentioned in the story proper after they updated to the current setting, and it's now become mostly irrelevant since everyone's grown up.

[guttering flame]

The most recent evidence comes from this artwork of baby Sarv under the care of Snadhya.

Her mother is taking care of her in that picture.

Can someone remind me who are the Greenies that are coming and what their intentions are?

[Oneris]

Her mother is taking care of her in that picture.

Can someone remind me who are the Greenies that are coming and what their intentions are?

The description of 'under the care of her mother and uncare of her older sister' vaguely implies that Snadhya did have some responsibility as an older sister. But again, this hasn't really been mentioned at all outside of very outdated material.

The Greenies are Nal'Sarkoth under the command of the Virisylvia.

[Vinyadan]

What bewilderment? What "what the hell is wrong with you?!" "No, what the hell is wrong with YOU?!" relationship? With so many servants, why would Sillice have raised Nishi?

Bewilderment: "I didn't think I'd die this way".

As for the wthiswwy relationship, Nishi and Sillice are seen in profound disagreement more than once, especially during the events of the Nidra war, after the failed attack against Snadhya in Chel, and before Sillice goes raiding the school.

As for the raising thing: Faen had to take care of Yafein, Ariel was raised by her siblings, and, in earlier versions, Syphile was raised by Sillice because she was her sister. Yafein is Faen's cousin, but he still is a close relative. Rosof's daughter also raised his son, which is interesting, because Rosof's house is unusual enough as to be led by a man, which could mean that siblings raising siblings is a common thing in drow culture; on the other hand, Quain might simply have taken Rosof's habit. AFAIK, in every single case portrayed in the comic, people are raised by siblings or close relatives. Until there's proof of the contrary, I'll take it as generally true. The only opposing argument I can think of is that the new Sargh kids hadn't been raised by their sister until they were quite older.
While servants and slaves can help with raising the baby, as well as specialized teachers, that's not the same as acting as a parent. Quain didn't see Ariel in ten years, and her role was fully taken by Syphile. However, we know that Chris saw Sillice, which means that she wasn't confined like Ariel, and probably also had a deeper relation with Zala, who admitted that she didn't see Diva as a mother. Zala is personally raising her last kid, and implies that her methods are different from Diva's. Sillice seemed to be raising the twins herself, which might have had something to do with small spaces; she also said that they weren't being raised as proper vals, whatever that meant.

So I don't think it improbable that the Sharen sisters raised each other. Actually, I think that's what happened. Sure, it hasn't been stated, but the opposite also hasn't.

[eschmenk]

Bewilderment: "I didn't think I'd die this way".

As for the wthiswwy relationship, Nishi and Sillice are seen in profound disagreement more than once, especially during the events of the Nidra war, after the failed attack against Snadhya in Chel, and before Sillice goes raiding the school.

OK. I don't read Nishi as being bewildered, though. Also, I would classify Sillice and Nishi's relationship as more like, "What the hell is wrong with you?" "I have no choice. This is the way I must be. Please reconsider what you are doing." Nishi has come across as being very meek and willing to let Sillice walk all over her, to me. Yes, she has said that what Sillice is doing is "madness" (well, duh!), but only lately (IIRC) and even then she didn't seem that angry when she said it. (All of the sudden she has some determination now. It's as if she had a reverse lobotomy.)

As far as the raising the younger sibling goes, we have seen that not even the Sargs are that consistent about it. Ariel didn't raise the next youngest; Faen seems to be doing that. Obviously, it wasn't happening at all beyond that point because the elder child was still too young to raise the next child. It seemed to be Faen with other helpers doing the child-raising.

As far as the Sharen go, I wouldn't be too surprised if each Sharen siblings had responsibility for raising the next, but even if they did, I wouldn't expect that it would need to be much more than assigning a servant or slave to take care of it. If Faen could handle whatever responsibilities Ariel and the younger siblings had, why couldn't a servant handle whatever responsibilities a Sharen Val would have?

If Sillice was the same way back when Nishi was young, I could imagine Sillice getting angry at the servants and deciding that she would have to do it herself, though. And maybe constant bullying from Sillice could be what made Nishi grow up to be so meek. IDK, that wasn't part of the story. *shrug*

[HandofShadows]

Her mother is taking care of her in that picture.

I really think at times Diva gets unfairly dumped on as a parent. She truley loved her kids. When Sarv died Diva still was sad despite Sarv trying to kill her. The job of Empress really screws with a family.

[eschmenk]

Bewilderment: "I didn't think I'd die this way".

Oh, BTW, I don't know what she means by that, other than what's obvious. My best guess is that she didn't expect to die as a hero, although the fact that Snad died in a somewhat anticlimatic way takes away from that a bit. (I think she would have trouble thinking of herself as a hero and Snad's golem crushing Snad gives her another way to think of Snad's death.)

I don't know how Nishi expected to die. Maybe she expected Sillice's stupidity to do her in at some point. I think it's more likely that she meant that she had expected Snad to win. Or maybe she just never thought about it. IDK, though.

[Vinyadan]

Someone posted this about today's page on the forums

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About Snadhya being crippled for life:

Mel: "Good thing I have practice taking care of crippled loved ones! Oh, maybe Ariel will stay if I break her legs."

Sounds just like her kind of logic XD

[eschmenk]

Someone posted this about today's page on the forums

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About Snadhya being crippled for life:

Mel: "Good thing I have practice taking care of crippled loved ones! Oh, maybe Ariel will stay if I break her legs."

Sounds just like her kind of logic XD

More like Quain's logic, I think! Remember what she did to Mel? (Granted, IIRC, that was her arms.)

For the sake of everyone else: The current page is 253. It didn't show up in my RSS reader.

[lingotony]

This chapter has had a LOT of surprises in it and many of the mysteries that have been around since the very start of the series are answered.

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Snad (Snadyha'runes) has been pulling some major tricks. She had one of the other clans that are VERY good with bioenginering make a test tube kid for her. The "father" is Mel'arnach, Ariels real mother. (This Clan has gotten very good at bioenginering so the male of the species is no longer needed for procreation). Snad's kid is much older than Areil and a spoiled brat to boot (as well as probably being a sociopath) being. It's not hard to see Snad's kid trying to kill Ariel at some point in the future. Mel herself is showing that she needs to grow up more. Her emotional maturity is that of a teenager in love. She really does love Snad, but I'm not really sure Snad can feel the emotion.

Meanwhile, Lulianne (Mel's guard) decides to go looking around and gets an a clue (lots of them really) about what other things Snad has been up to. Seems the Tainted are basically doomed. In 20 to 50 years the demon seed in the Tainted will grow and consume the person who is tainted. Only a few people have had the seed "crushed" so it cannot happen to them. For everone else it's demon feeding time. Snad has not only tried to kill her own mother (she thinks she succeded), and killed a great many civilains in the war 16 years ago. She also also doomed a large portion of the cities population to a fate worse than death. Many of those eaten will be her allies and supporters as well. Snad is heading towords genocidal maniac in her plans. I really wonder is that is Diva's kid at this point. Did a demon take her over or something? Demons are about the only ones that would really benifit from this plan Snad has.

I enjoyed it.

[CWater]

I'm not sure how to read the most recent page. Is Snad actually tougher than she lets on, having some method of staying alive even with these wounds, or is she dying but doesn't realise it herself yet?

[eschmenk]

I'm not sure how to read the most recent page. Is Snad actually tougher than she lets on, having some method of staying alive even with these wounds, or is she dying but doesn't realise it herself yet?

http://forums.drowtales.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19406:

Snadhya lay crippled on the ground, unable to move and fearing her former ally would end her if they knew her weakness. But the person to choose wheter she live or not is a former enemy himself.
Jiaan just need to slit her throat and no one will know she had survived. And if he doesn,t Snadhya will find life extremely difficult as a cripple.

So apparently she's not dying unless Jiaan kills her, but she is crippled.

It's not unusual to have to read what Kern writes in the forum to be able to know what he wants the readers to understand. I recommend doing that.