Song of the Eastern Sands: Page 15
Score! The heist was a success! Looks like they nabbed the Tamian jeweler’s stash of goods — but that’s okay, right? They must have been insured for theft. Though to be honest I can’t really imagine trying to have that conversation with some Vulpin insurance adjuster.
Okay, maybe I can. And maybe it’s hilarious.
“It was a chest full of hand-made jewelry. Worth about 50,000 Vulpin Silvers? I’m covered under the-”
“Nope. Sorry. Don’t see it here. You sure you’re insured with us?”
“Um… yes, I’m sure. And you didn’t even look just then.”
“I’m pretty sure I did.”
Yikes.
We are officially confirmed for Boston Comic Con in August, though I don’t have the table number yet. Rachel might also be making an appearance, depending on her schedule. The plan is to have Volume 2 ready for then, along with some new merch! Both will be up on the online store in the future as well in the coming months.
Well, it turns out the chest is, in fact, full of treasure. But wait- Murphy’s Law hasn’t kicked in yet! It’s too soon to relax!
I love the varied reactions to the loot- particularly Beck and Asha. You’d think they’d never seen that much money in their life- of course, given the location of Felismum’s bar, it’s not unlikely that this is the case. Rook’s reaction made me chuckle- as a pirate, he’s probably seen his fair share of loot and has acquired preferences. No Ublaz tendencies here, I see.
From my definitely spare knowledge of burglar procedures, nest they actually have to sell the stuff for money without actually getting caught- I’m sure handmade jewelry was fairly easy to track even back then. The silvers should be relatively safe to use, so unless Beck decides to take her cut entirely in Tamian amber, they might have to use a bit of caution there when reselling for profit.
The lighting contrast in that last panel looks very good! Good luck at Boston, Alex!
Question: Do the Canid have a life insurance policy on Clovis? Because methinks they needed one a few pages back.
Canid insurance lawyer: “No, see, your general was covered under our standard package, which covers accidents, illness, and Ermehn uprisings, but there is no ‘betrayal by one’s allies’ clause.”
Tosch, Lady Canid, and Canid soldiers: “But the betrayal was a direct result of an Ermehn uprising. Surely that qualifies?”
Canid insurance lawyer: “I’m afraid not.”
Tosch, Lady Canid and Canid soldiers: https://westerndeep.net/comic/chapter-2-page-95/
I must second my love of the varied reactions to the treasure in the second panel. Theo and Rook’s faces say “Eh, not bad, but I’ve seen better,” while Asha and Beck’s say “BLOODY HELL THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY!”
And now they need to figure out how exactly to safely sell this stuff. If the Tamian merchant had an inventory list, Nessan law enforcement could already be on the lookout for anyone possessing or trying to sell objects that fit the descriptions of those stolen. At least some of this jewelry has to be unique, or at least distinctive, right? Shouldn’t be a problem with the gold coins, though, unless their thefts are so frequent and successful that the city government begins using marked money.
Now it looks like Theo has a plan. Maybe he’s dealt with this sort of thing before, participating in thefts in his younger days. Or maybe he only turned to criminal mastermind later in life. Either way, the game is truly afoot now, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Gorgeous lighting abounds.
“Let’s Drink!” “Be Merry!”
and thats how Rook, Beck, Asha and Theo got fame and prestige and they all lived happily ever after The End.
Although, perhaps the Vulpin Popo will barge in any time soon. (That’s right! I still remember that one teaser thumbnail of what appears to be Beck fleeing from the Vulpin soldiers!)
VarVau your piece looks amazing! I’m a sucker for atmospheric landscape drawings. It sort of reminds of that 1st dungeon in Skyrim. But seeing this I’m really intrigued to what stories such ruins hold.
awesome page! and the gang probably has enough to last them months (or even a year!)
there are two possibilities:
a) they actually spend their newly acquired loot on what they actually need and solve any financial problems and probably invest for the long run
or…
b) blow it all off on unnecessarily expensive stuff they don’t really need… (hey, at least that golden hand-crafted toilet seat with red velvet padding has a purpose!)
Oh, and before I forget, VarVau has graced us with another fantastic piece of art this week. I love anything that helps set the scene, which this does quite well.
NICE HAUL, BRAHS
I want there to be an edit of this comic where everything is the same, but the dialogue is replaced with Jerome’s substitute script.
One of those is definitely a Chelsea bun with a cherry on top.
Not only did the Tamian merchant want to keep his jewelry and money safe, he also wanted to be ABSOLUTELY SURE that nobody could steal his midafternoon snack.
And look how well that turned out for him.
Edible treasure. So that’s why the merchant chose a felis lock for it.
“Sit. Drink.”
“Oh no! He’s gonna make us drink tea again!”
Also, at the risk of sounding sexist, I can’t help but note how it’s the two females’ eyes who are agog at the haul, while the two males of our Fabulous Foursome are far more nonchalant about it.
And Beck finally manages a face that’s purely funny without being terrifying. Also, I think that might be the best and most appealing rendering of Mama Felis we’ve gotten so far. Another good page, with another fine piece of work from VarVau to go with it. (Happy Birthday, Alex!) Another week of win!
I’d say it’s a age and/or class thing.
We know for a fact that Rook was an ex pirate, which explains his reaction- he’s already seen several examples of treasure. Theo we aren’t sure of, but it’s clear he’s the leader of the gang, and that probably came from experience- which his ‘nice haul’ comment supports. Also, Felismum doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction and she can probably see into the chest from her position. Temperance comes with age.
Asha and Beck are the two youngest members of the literal gang. Remember that Abadis Tavern is in the slums of Nessa, meaning at at least Asha has grown up amongst poverty. We don’t know much about their background, but it’s safe to assume that Asha and Beck don’t have the experience with money that Theo and Rook do. It’s very likely that this is more money than Asha and Beck have ever seen in their life.
Also, I apologize if I asked this already but will there be a hardcover version of Volume Two or will only the Action Labs paperback edition be available?
Hi Shield!
We’d love to do a hardcover of Volume 2, but this time around we’re going to start with the paperback edition and see how it does before taking the (much more expensive) route of a hardcover with bonus art and whatnot. Rachel’s cranking away on finalizing the chapter 2 pages that are missing color (and making a little dialog change we’ve been wanting to hit for a little while), so hopefully we’ll have something to announce re: the Action Lab version soon!
What’s the dialogue change?
If you compare the online comic to the volume one book, there’s quite a lot of changes. Most of them are small, such as replacing “ah” with “gah” or trimming down the word count, but sometimes entire lines have been cut, rearranged, or outright replaced with new text. I’m assuming it’ll be the same case with the volume two book.
Fortunately, most of the changes set for volume 2 are aesthetic. Adding in color where necessary, maybe tweaking an expression or two. By the time volume 2 was written, we’d already learned a lot from the first one, so there are fewer required changes as a result!
Oh darn! I was hoping the hard cover would be for all volumes T_T
We want to do a hardcover for volume 2, too! But with comics, it’s actually quite common for the paperback to land before the hardcover “collector’s edition” does. We’ll do a hardcover eventually, we just want to get the initial volume ready in time for the upcoming convention season :)
For some reason I feel suspicious in regards to this page…. Maybe its just the way he said “Sit. Drink.” I don’t trust ‘im.
WOW that is a lotta cash! And Theo’s just all sitting there like “Meh, seen it before, no biggie.”
Dude is CHILL.
Perhaps in Dunia gold is very common and the gang have stolen what in our world would amount to a crate of bedazzler beads and craft supplies.
Everyone loves shiny treasures. Who doesn’t? But I agree with the general sentiment that Theo’s trustworthiness is debatable. I love the lightning in all of these images, even if it makes difficult to pin down what everyone’s true fur color scheme is. I suppose that’s subjective. :p
I hope everyone has been doing well this February. Anyone escaped winter yet? I haven’t.
So, whaddya know? Theo actually CAN smile when he wants to!
And now our merry band of miscreants has a name too! Loved the moniker “Sand Spiders” even before I scrolled down to read of its source/inspiration … although I bristle a bit at hearing “True Lies” referred to as “the old James Cameron movie,” since I saw it in the theater when it came out!
Also completely blown away by that awesome Dakkan pic Elson gives us here (Dak has a fang!). Our parade of talented fan artists continues to impress!
And that is why you always insist on getting a copy of the insurance certificate after signing up. ;)