Breaking All Barriers 152
└ posted on Friday, 4 March 2016, by Novil
- Caption: 3 Warmtide 1476
- Kyrill Nightingale: Another cup of tea?
- Ryn: Yes, please.
- Ryn: Thank you very much for the detailed conversation, Mister Nightingale. You really know a lot about the history of Oakdale.
- Darius Nightingale: You’re welcome.
- Ryn: Just allow me one last question.
- Darius Nightingale: But of course.
- Ryn: A couple of days before Violet went insane and set fire to herself, she had brought home a new book. A yellow one.
- Darius Nightingale: This conversation is now over!
Ryn is on to something. And both Nightingale’s do not want to talk about it. Would that yellow book be a book of magic?
@ grumpydevil:
More specifically, a book on barrier spells? One written by an ancient elf mage that is currently in Lilith’s possession?
@ Matt:
Fairly certain that’s exactly it. Got a feeling Ryn ought to report this to Lili. Maybe should take it a little easier on herself?
Incidentally, we know know how Lilith managed to get her hands on that book, and why it hadn’t been bought by anyone else.
Looks like the answer is “Yes”.
Ryn is looking very worn-down in that first panel, his investigation must be getting to him, though it’s definitely getting results.
I don’t think Eldor is responsible for the barriers surrounding the town though, I think it’s possibly Dyson’s fault trying to learn new magic from the book that took Violet’s life. Eldor just took advantage of the situation to train his guinea pigs to run on the big wheel.
The Real identity of that book:
http://corpseparty.wikia.com/wiki/Book_of_Shadows?file=Book_of_Shadows_Evil.jpg
Ryn is quickly working his way up on my favorite characters list by this point. Being all sleuth-like and poised when working clues out of people. It really gives me AotC flashbacks with Obi-wan. I love it! Plus, we get to focus on a character who has, frankly, gotten little development up to now for his frequency of appearances in the comic.
Last reference to Violet? BaB 107.
Eldor: “Kali, perhaps we may have to switch back to a more aggressive approach.”
Kali: “But /He/ shouldn’t forget what happened to Violet…”
Jay wrote:
Ooh, good find… maybe Violet was the last person Eldor tried to train?
Way to approach that sensitive and rather shocking topic with grace and poise. An exemplary performance, right up there with when Morpheus tells Neo about the Matrix. Or when I was ten and I inquired to my mother how women pee.
Sounds like he’s asking the right questions.
Hmm now we know that Violet is from Oakdale, the same village that Lilith raised up in. We also know that Violet was in the past.
Then there’s that hag asking what’d be her 3rd wish (BAB 71/72). Incidentally, the trees were with leaves – a recent conflagration, perhaps?
Theory: Lilith IS Violet, reincarnated in some manner in order to forget the crime that she did that led to Violet’s insanity.
grumpydevil wrote:
Sounds like not. It would be a “magical book” rather a “book of magic.” The second is for learning spells, the first is ensorcelled.
Seems like this book was cursed, what TvTropes calls a BrownNote.
@ AzyWng
Probably. But since those seem to be her parents … they might just not like to talk about her death – or her going “insane” – to a random stranger.
Interesting Name, by the way.
That would not happen to be he Violet Kali talked about to Eldor?
By the way names … Viviana used “Vera Nightingale” as an alias once.
Waaayyyy back
@ Samantha:
Books about strong magic seem to be trapped/cursed in most cases. Lili said something like that, when talking about HER yellow book.
Helz’Bayne wrote:
I think Eldor is behind the barriers. At the very least, Silas seems to indicate this in BAB 99.
I’ve always imagined that Eldor is trying to break the barrier between the redstream and the bluestream, using Lilith as the key.
With that in mind, Violet is an interesting name, since the color violet is made by mixing Blue and Red together…
still unwilling to talk, wonder if they are under a spell or a threat
clickbait wrote:
Shadow-55
But that’s probably a dead end because of Novil’s description of the evolution of Vivi
Real subtle, Ryn.
From the date, can we work out how many days have passed in Oakdale?
@ Quoodle:
Yeah. I just happened to notice that … I don’t think it has any hidden meaning.
I have question!
When Gaia is all done, will you be making printed copies? Rereading I’d love it to be on paper.
I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting this 😉
clickbait wrote:
In BaB 73, Lilith mention about significant event 1478 years ago. Considering that people usually start counting from years from 1 only when something really important happens, that might be a clue.
We last got a date in BAB 22, which was 1 Flowerall, the day they left for Oakdale. According to the glossary, Warmtide would be the next month, so they’ve been trapped in Oakdale for just over a month.
In a weird way, that bodes well for Lili; she’s lasted a month, while Violet apparently was driven insane after two days…
I’ve read all Comics today and i love it, i cant wait for the next one, 🙂 (I bet that on of These 3 persons : Lili Ilias Or Vivi My closest bet Would go to Ilias)
@ Crestlinger:
Alternatively, “Have you seen the yellow sign?”
I think a lovecrafting spellbook would take a very serious toll on anyone trying to learn from it. If you manage, however..
He could have just said “I don’t recall.” and that would have been that.
Quoodle wrote:
Actually, he says that she’s a mix of the earlier Viviana and Jael Nightingale, so I think it’s very relevant.
Wow Ryn, you’re so smooth
@ Crestlinger:
Crestlinger wrote:
That is one butt-ugly book cover!
That was very tactful, Ryn. You’ll surely get a lot of cooperation by being so blunt.
Of course! This is the work of the King in Yellow! All this time we thought we were reading a fantasy story, but this is really about cosmic horrors!
I can imagine this as a D&D session:
DM: Roll diplomacy
Player: *Rolls 1*
“This conversation is now over!”
A yellow book that drives people insane?
Reference to The King in Yellow?
Lasersword wrote:
I don’t under what “I bet that on one of These 3 persons” means. Can someone explain it to me?
ktrimbach wrote:
Ooops – how could I miss this.
Illuminati wrote:
It is the year 1476 of the “second age”: There were some mayor events at the end of the first age, namely “The Darkness” (= Baals demons and creatures attacking Gaia), the war of the races, the extinction of the Darfs, the Elves building the Mythal and hiding behind it. Not to forget the downfall of Mithra
The year 1476 probably refers to the founding of The Kingdom Of Midgard by Arathor as a marker for the begining of the Second Age.
So 1478 would probably refer to either the darkness or the construction of the Mythal.
“Well, nothing suspicious there, see ya! Thanks for the tea!”.
@ Silly Name:
I had the dame thought.
Hmm… We are commenting on the bluntness of Ryn, but we do not know what went before. It is clear there has been extensive and open discussion before. That may well have led Ryn to believe he could ask the way he could. With the reaction not in line. As has been commented, a simple “do not remember” would have been much more effective. This reaction gives a lot of information.
I agree with @ grumpydevil; his last question wouldn’t certainly be blunt since they obviously were talking for long enough time.
In regards to suggested “I do not remember” – while I agree this would be more effective, such feign wouldn’t work if they knew that Ryn knew that they know something. It might be well the case that they inferred from Ryn’s last question that they already have disclosed far too much and not for what they thought it was for (e.g. Ryn being interested in history of Oakdale). The cat’s out of bag, so to speak.
At least that’s what I’m coming up to convince myself why they couldn’t feign ignorance.
Meraxes wrote:
Heee hehe. Yep, exactly what it looked like.
So, just over a month, AND we have reason to believe that at least one person has been put through this same trial before, right here in Oakdale- and people in Oakdale may even have some inkling of it. Hmm.
I like his Vault shirt.
Helz’Bayne wrote:
I think in that case there would be a smoking crater where the town is… that magic is beyond most peoples ability…
I was just noticing that Ryn is surprised by their reaction, so they must have already been discussing Violet. His surprise would be to their violent reaction to the yellow book part of the question.
ALL PRAISE TO THE KING IN YELLOW!
clickbait wrote:
Novil answered this some time ago. The dating of the years count from the construction of the Mythal which occurred two years after the discovery of Gaia’s Tear.
PMark wrote:
… which in turn was used to defeat Baal’s troups and was broken and lost during the war between the three rares …
And that went south quickly.