3544 Class Act
on May 12, 2023
Characters: Captain Lilianne Carruthers, Detora, Eliddel, Jystine Orlando, Lucas Greyfort, Maula Bloodhand, Vera Broadwind
Location: Abbey of St. Aldwin the Skilled
No new strip today for the Murder Mystery I’m afraid. But we’re in production and there should be more soon.
In the meantime, here’s the next comic in the Strip D&D story!
And another.
-Rich
Got to love Maula.
Maula will never cease to be an amazing character!
…I mean, until she kicks the bucket I guess. But I bet she'll find some way to keep being awesome even after that.
Maula would be the first to admit to anyone she killed. She takes pride in her work.
Maula: "I know me and I'm still not sure I didn't do it"
The criminology equivalent of the Winston rule for divinity? Instead of one of the standards for being a god (be the Winston), it's for being a suspect (be Maula Bloodhand).
Winston…god.. Do you mean the Winslow?
Yeah. I have got to find a way to permanently kill autocorrupt on my phone. Or at least quintuple the size of the dictionary.
Nobody will ever convince me that Maula does not know who did it and why, she's just watching the proceedings for the entertainment value.
I agree that Maula knows far more than she's letting on, but I doubt her motive is just "for shits and giggles". That would be disrespectful to Taurenil, and would endanger a lot of other people she cares about (since, after all, the next twist in a traditional murder mystery will be for someone else — suspect or investigator — to turn up dead.)
Clearly Taurenil had an agenda of her own she considered quite important, and I would wager that she and Maula were in cahoots. Clearly things have gone disastrously wrong (unless it was a Thanatos gambit by a terminally ill Taurenil?) but maybe the goal Maula's friend gave her life for can still succeed…only NOT if she spills the beans too soon.
I confess I've no idea who Winston is.
I do know Maula wouldn't be devious about killing someone. I still giggle at what she did to the person who attacked her when leaving castle greyfort!
Ghostbusters.
Winston: "Ray, next time someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES!"
Duhhhh. Yes, i know that Winston and quote… Lmao one of the best lines
Ty for jumpstarting my brain…
There is a Gorilla in Overwatch, a scientist non the less – who's called Winston.
Auto correct struck again.
Phil Foglios comic Buck Godot Zap Gun for hire featured a being simply called The Winslow which was apparently immortal and unkillable and was worshipped as a God by some races
It's shown up in Girl Genius as well, and has made a few guest appearances elsewhere, mostly as a kind of in-joke.
Y'know I think it showed up in a back up comic Phil Foglio did in an issue of 'Grimjack' comic way back when
Why do I remember this stuff when I can't remember my phone number ?
Winslow is funny. Numbers aren't (Unless you are one of THOSE people milling around wearing grandpa glasses).
Maula really does understand honour. I wonder if that is a key trait of orcs.
It's certainly a key trait of Carruthers!
t!
A couple of things I've noticed but not sure what to make of them. In panel 1, I can't decide if Captain Carruthers is letting out a deep breath before she starts the process of calling in the suspects 1 by 1 for Lucas to question, or is she whistling softly to let Lucas know she's about to start.
I suspect it's the latter, because in the next panel Captain Carruthers clears her throat to get everyone's attention, yet in panel 4 Lucas is keeping his back turned. It seems a bit odd he would do that, especially since Captain Carruthers is apologizing to Maula. Under ordinary circumstances you would think that would be something Lucas would be turning his attention to.
Of course I could be reading way too much into this and Lucas is just way more interested in eating a delicious meal. 🙂
Not sure if you're reading something different into it or if I wasn't clear in my drawings, but she's taking a deep breath before making a huge public apology in front of everyone. It's hard to admit that you were wrong, especially when the consequences of being wrong about something can have such large consequences.
I would have figured Carruthers was drawing a deep breath before making the apology, but it was seeing Lucas with his back turned got me to wondering if something else was going on in that 1st panel.
So, yep, I was indeed reading too much into things. 🙂
Rich, it's a delight to see another episode in the strip D&D story. I wonder if Glon is having flashbacks to this game: https://www.yafgc.net/comic/0379-butt-betting.
Hahah, that crossed my mind too!
*Quietly slips the lyrics to "Bad Moon Rising" to Princesses Gaggia, Hogga, Ibkis, and Shaija.* 😀
Queen Hogga, isn't it? Or was this happening quite some time ago?
Technically, at this point they're all Queen Consorts to the King Under the (Former) Mountain.
Yeah, but Hogga might outrank (or at least rank differently from) the others. She made it clear that she retains rulership of her own people, independent of any rank or titles from her marriage to Glon.
You're right. I'll make a list with proper titles and so on later but for the moment the Goblinlands Royal Family is structured like this:
King Glon of the Orcs, Queen Hogga of the Goblins sharing the top rung.
Queens (consort) Gaggia and Ibkis, of the Orcs. – Queen Mother Maula, second rung.
Queen (consort) Shaija of the Red Orcs – A very close 3rd rung.
There are other nobles and whatnot in the Goblinlands, but the Royal Family is like that.
-R
Rich, i'm curious as the why Shaija isn't on an equivalent rung with Gaggia and Ibkis, and also why she ranks below Maula. No hurry, as i know you're busy, but maybe when you post the titles etc 🙂
Awesome question. I promise I will answer this when I get the chance to make the proper chart, but in the meantime, anyone care to speculate?
As the red orcs are technically a conquered population due to the whole Dungeon Keeper arc they have a lower status for now.
Shajia has no children, being baren, and therefore no royal heirs, affording her a slightly lower status to those Queens that have produced royal heirs. They don't love her any less though, and she is still family, just with slightly less official power. She will never be a Queen Mother.
Oh, and you should probably list all the royal kids, particularly as some of them are teens now, in the power structure. Who is the heir-apparent to Glon, whether Queen Hogga has her separate heir that she said she wanted, etc. If the Queens kept having children in the last ten years, it will be quite a sizable clan by this point.
Totally unrelated, but if a Lama with one L is a holy man in Tibet, a Llama with two L's is a beast of burden, what is a three L Lama? A big fire in Boston!
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhh!!!!!
Replying here as there's no link to do so below.
Re Shaija: might it have something to do with children? I seem to remember reading that one of Glon's wives has no children, although I'm not sure which one. Also under the impression she was OK with it.
You're right, it is Shaija who has not had children, and she's happy to stay that way.
I think Glon could exploit even the game of spin the bottle. 😂
D&D ignorance showing…. Is "KEWP" an acronym or sound effect here?
Nope. "Then-KEWP" is Glon saying thank you to his wife as she hands him her top (and thus goes topless for the rest of the game).