Chapter 15 Page 28

Chapter 15 Page 28 - http://bit.ly/1XGLRbr

Finally, Caldwell's determined face! It's popped up before in the comic, but here it's made much more evident.

A quick note on the eyes. My preferred style of eye is to have a white dot in the center. No real reason, I just enjoy the way it looks. Certain characters, such as Bram, have their eyes filled in for stylistic differences. Caldwell, as the main character, is a bit of a special case. I normally draw his eyes as just black with a dot in the middle. However, whenever he feels particularly determined or motivated, I draw them so you can see two rings, one for the outside of the iris and one around the white in the middle. It's a technique I lifted from One Piece, i'm not afraid to say. While I can't accurately say why, but I enjoy the effect it brings. Keep an eye out for these eye related changes during further pages.

Chapter 15 Page 26-27

Chapter 15 Page 26 - http://bit.ly/1MAwby3

Chapter 15 Page 27 - http://bit.ly/1XGLRbr

Once again, it's important to keep in mind that monologues such as this take up a lot of page space, but very little actual time is passing. The killer speaking here is very important, and perceptive readers will be able to piece together the killer's motivation even before it will be later revealed. Some in the comments already have! It's very interesting to me, and encouraging. If people can follow my plot threads and foreshadowing, then that must mean my writing is at least passable. I'm constantly worried about this.

Chapter 15 Page 24-25

Chapter 15 Page 24 - http://bit.ly/1YuS2fs

Chapter 15 Page 25 - http://bit.ly/1PUXx5M

Well, now we've come to the first big "character building" event, though it's a bit crass to call it that. Some people up 'til this point have commented that Caldwell acts unreliably, or that it's hard to get a judge of his character. It's my belief that a main character should be pushed to the limit in order to show how they react under pressure. One of Caldwell's main traits is strong willpower, and I hope this will be apparent given his actions and motivations. There's more, but... well, I don't want to ruin any surprises.

Chapter 15 Page 23

Chapter 15 Page 23 - http://bit.ly/1MAwby3

Bram's spell here will hopefully be one of those things that people look back on with greater understanding much later down the line.

Lightning magic is a highly advanced mixture of fire and air magic, known for its volatility and tendency to blow up the wizard trying to cast it. It's considered totally off limits for lower ranked wizards due to its danger, and masters of lightning are hailed as geniuses of magic (such as White Flash Heath who appeared several chapters ago with the AA rankers). Bram's fear, anger, and desperation allowed him to put everything he had into this lightning bolt, which no doubt would have decimated a more normal opponent. The Killer is on a different level entirely, unfortunately for our party.

Chapter 15 Page 22

Chapter 15 Page 22 - http://bit.ly/1QTXDda

Briar's determination shows through here, as she throws herself at this terrifying new enemy in an attempt to save her friends. What a shame that her knife bounced right off, and was blasted out of her hand. I'm sure she'll be alright!

Chapter 15 Page 21

Chapter 15 Page 21 - http://bit.ly/1kFAHCu 

A quick reminder about Barriers and Force magic in general: force manifests mainly as one of two different types of energy. The first is an invisible "push" used to move or manipulate something through magic, and the second is molding the force into a more visible form to create objects. This is achieved through compressing the force, and molding it through willpower into a sheet of force, somewhat like glass.

As with glass itself, force constructs gain strength through adding layers and compressing the force to gain more density. A barrier is only as strong as the caster makes it, in other words. Bram's barriers have worked well so far... but when facing an attack from the dungeon killer the wall of force literally shattered, and the shockwave blasted them back unabated. Scary!

Chapter 15 Page 19-20

Chapter 15 Page 19 - http://bit.ly/1RUneB1 Page 20 - http://bit.ly/1LfKlQS

And here we are, after such a long time of talking about him, the killer has arrived! There were some who thought he was going to show up in the first dungeon... and truth be told my initial script had him appearing even later. These things sometimes change in progress, and I decided I liked it to happen here instead.

In essence, this is the first major plot point of the story. The first big "Crisis" that will push the characters forward and establish many more story elements to come. If they don't all get murdered, that is.