Giant Girl, Apex Predator

After the drama of the previous page, the action explodes again here as we see the party turning on ‘what was already down here’ that the giants had been fighting off, trying to survive. A polar worm for Ronni, some ice spiders for Smoke, rescued by R’Lithon, and the trio of the elves and Swann battling an animated chest that should look familiar to any experienced dungeon dweller.

Again, King Lars, lord of the Hillbilly Giants, was clearly the smartest and most eloquent of the bunch, as tends to happen in such cases. His death is one of pathos, I hope, even as he makes a classic Jack Elam expression in death.

Hearing Karloff put it in such blunt terms, all accurate from his perspective, is really not something Ronni was expecting, nor did she want to hear, obviously. Which will set us up for a summation of fantasy morality and how it doesn’t jibe well with 21st century society. But the expression on this page really sells it all I think, beyond what my words add to it all. I hope you enjoy this page as much as we did creating it.

DEE’S NOTES:

This page was a MAJOR challenge to pull off and I’m really pleased with the work we put into making it right.

After a lot of back and forth, Sabrina really pushed me to go further into the heavier shadows as Britomart’s sword is essentially the only real light source, reflections aside. Aside from the more intense lighting, which I think really DOES push the EMOTIONAL intensity of this scene, I really wanted to emphasize just how emotionally fragile and conflicted our heroine is during this adventure.

It’s an emotional roller coaster for her that is taking a deep toll on her, and the threat of losing Ali, her only link to her own reality, is bringing her to a breaking point that is a tremendous challenge to visualize. And, of course, leave it to the doomsayer to say the EXACT wrong thing to set off our heroine!