Apr

part six, page twelve

Posted by MGK Published in Al'Rashad, Comics

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As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Announcing RA-BOKA: KINGDOM OF THE BOUND (May 23rd, 2016)
part eight, page THE END (December 31st, 2014)
part eight, page forty-one (December 29th, 2014)
part eight, page forty (December 23rd, 2014)
part eight, page thirty-nine (December 16th, 2014)

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Murc said on April 1st, 2013 at 12:01 pm

Called it!

Hell of a Chekov’s gun there, MGK. I think we were informed Alric was given two single-shot pistols, and observed him using precisely one and only one shot, going on two years ago.

All of Broah’s physical prowess matters precisely dick in the face of a tiny bit of metal moving at a significant fraction of the speed of sound. I bet he’d be insulted by that if he were still alive.

Mitchell Hundred said on April 1st, 2013 at 1:19 pm

I’m not so sure that he is dead. You don’t get to that size without developing a pretty thick skull. And it’s not like these guns are equal in power to modern firearms.

Murc said on April 1st, 2013 at 1:40 pm

At close range, right between the eyes? He also fell over. I can’t see Broah going down like a sack of potatoes if the bullet didn’t even penetrate his skull. He’s likely not a stranger to pain or shock.

I suppose he could still be alive, but I’m reminded of a few weeks ago when people were all “maybe Jandal isn’t dead, he got stabbed and there is no blood.”

Mitchell Hundred said on April 1st, 2013 at 1:57 pm

They’re not that close together: if last week’s page is to be believed, they’re on opposite sides of the room. Maybe he’s just been knocked back temporarily.

Murc said on April 1st, 2013 at 3:01 pm

They’re close enough that Fezay got over there pretty fast. In firearms terms, that’s really, really close.

Also, knocked back HOW? Contrary to popular belief, getting hit by a bullet will not generally knock you over, and it certainly will not hit you with enough force to hurl you into the air or (for example) through a plate-glass window. The reason people who get shot often spasm and fall over is because you’ve blown away a vital organ and they’re in intense, crazy pain.

Broah has been sent sprawling. Not only has he been sent sprawling, he went sprawling without slitting Rayana’s throat. I can’t see that happening to the former pit fighter who is used to enduring far more intense pain if the bullet simply bounced off his skull without doing real damage. That thing is in his brain.

He might live through that, people have lived through worse. But it’s… unlikely.

DJA said on April 1st, 2013 at 5:26 pm

I like that Alric disdains swords for not being traditional Gundring weapons, but he’s insanely skilled at *newfangled* Gundring weapons. I presume the time not spent working on his swordsmanship was instead spent at the firing range?

Tice with a J said on April 1st, 2013 at 9:07 pm

Alric seems to have a knack for capping fools off to his side while looking in another direction.

Also, this is why it’s a bad idea to make a habit of backstabbing. It invites retaliation in kind, and eventually, you will piss off someone who’s better at surprises than you are.

Chris Lowrance said on April 2nd, 2013 at 12:03 am

Broah will live because Comics.

I don’t think he’s fully human – I’m betting his skull is thick enough that it’s only been cracked. He’s out cold, at worse.

Polychrome said on April 2nd, 2013 at 12:48 am

Regardless, I’m pretty sure he’s out of the fight, which leaves our vizier in a bad position. We’ll see what his backup plan is.

Tice with a J said on April 2nd, 2013 at 1:35 am

The question on my mind is: are Chris and Davinder willing to ice Broah already?

They might not, because Broah is Cool. He is the epitome of the strong, silent type (and since he’s never so much as grunted, I think he’s mute) and he makes Dalakhra much more threatening. Also, they have an excuse to keep him alive, as those before me have pointed out already.

On the other hand, they’ve been willing to kill all sorts of people up until now, including the Caliph, the ambassador, the entire crew of the flagship, etc. These guys do not hesitate to off their own characters, and Broah is not looking so good right now.

What will become of our agile giant? CAN YOU STAND THE SUSPENSE?

Evan said on April 2nd, 2013 at 5:54 am

If Broah is fully human, he’s probably dead. If not, he has an out.

I’m a little surprised that I’m able to write coherently, what with all the AWESOME we have just been served.

DistantFred said on April 2nd, 2013 at 10:13 am

Whether or not Broah dies really doesn’t matter. Dalakhra works for an “Undying Wizard King” who has already provided him with undead. Being a huge mute enforcer, any loss of intellect or speech would be negligible to Broah’s narrative purpose.

Sean D. Martin said on April 2nd, 2013 at 1:53 pm

Hell of a Chekov’s gun there, MGK. I think we were informed Alric was given two single-shot pistols, and observed him using precisely one and only one shot, going on two years ago.

My first thought was “Where the hell did THAT come from?” As you said, a long while since maybe we heard about him having guns. In this issue all we see is a bit of holster on the prior page.

Nice surprise, and I guess it makes sense. But I hate having story flow interrupted with a “Huh?” which should have been an “Oh, right.”

Murc said on April 2nd, 2013 at 4:54 pm

It’s less ‘huh’ if you read the whole thing all in one go. It only takes about half an hour to get from ‘gunfight in the laundry’ to ‘Alric blows away Broah’ if you read straight through.

It just took years to get here at a page a week. Not that I’m complaining.

Sean D. Martin said on April 2nd, 2013 at 8:33 pm

True, Murc. A page a week is not how one’d normally read it. (Reminds me of Snoopy Reading War and Piece a word a day. But I digress.) But I still think we should have had at least one panel showing a clear look at his back somewhere earlier in THIS issue.

DJA said on April 3rd, 2013 at 1:04 am

“Not that I’m complaining.”

Well, we are kind of complaining. I think even its authors are aware that the page-a-week webcomic format is spectacularly ill-suited to a narrative that makes the kind of demands _Al’Rashad_ makes of its readers.

However, since us readers are all totally hooked at this point, none of us has the self-discipline to just cool our heels until the first volume is finished and then read the whole thing in a single sitting (which is really how it wants to be read).

And since the alternative to the page-a-week pace is “This thing wouldn’t exist at all,” I’m quite okay chalking up the occasional “huh” to the creators quite reasonably writing for the trade, not for the web, or even for the “issue.” (Especially considering we are getting all this awesomeness completely gratis.)

Murc said on April 3rd, 2013 at 2:49 am

Well, its not in this issue per se, but in Book Five pages 27 and 26, we get some pretty detailed shots of Alric’s back, and the two guns he has stowed there. That’s only two and three pages respectively before this issue started.

Lurker said on April 3rd, 2013 at 3:26 am

I don’t claim to be a skilled pistol shot but that shot is impressive. In real history, the pistol of similar technological level was useless beyond the range if five meters. You usually fired it only when the muzzle was touching the target.

To shoot even at five-six meters with that kind of accuracy, you need rifling. And if the Gundring have rifled pistols, they have rifled artillery, too. That is impressive.

Murc said on April 3rd, 2013 at 12:19 pm

Alric may be closer to Broah than we all think he is.

I don’t THINK the pistol is rifled. We get a pretty good look at the barrel in Monday’s page and there’s no sign at all of rifling grooves, which would be visible even through the smoke.

Also, remember: runes. The pistols may be engraved with awesome runes that tell the bullet ‘fly straight and true.’

Chris Lowrance said on April 3rd, 2013 at 11:37 pm

If you go back a few pages and count floor tiles, Alric’s only a handful of paces. I’ve made that shot with a Nerf dart.

part six, page twelve

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