#277 – “Inspirational Power Chords”

This was an idea that came to me with the most recent model updates – since I took the opportunity to tweak the character design to add greater detail, it felt like it’d be appropriate to actually take the time at some point to show these additions actually being obtained, rather than just sneak or retcon them in like I otherwise tend towards. At the same time, I didn’t want to dedicate too much time to the matter since the main purpose is simply just to sync the visual design with the narrative. This was especially the case for Areen where I felt her gear could only really come from the Order of the Silver Hand, so I both wanted to show her recieving the hammer, but at the same time I didn’t want to end up spending multiple pages trying to write an appropriate ceremony, particularely since the time frame is supposed to imply it’s all done in short order.

I actually went and bothered one of the members of the Silver Hand guild on Earthen Ring for suggestions on what to do with the ceremony, and he too arrived at the same conclusion I did – that the best option was simply to show a few glimpses and then let people work out the details for themselves.

So this is really the whole reason why I gave the two day time frame – I wanted there to be enough time for them to prepare and have things happen, but not so long that they’d have time for an adventure or whatnot to distract them from their course.

#276 – “To Facilitate Unit Cohesion”

Oddly enough, while Areen is the only non-native to Kalimdor of the group, I also felt that her reasoning for joining the group there was also the least overall interesting – still important to touch upon, but it never struck me as this major deciding factor. So long as she feels they’re going for a good cause (and since they’re kind of not allowed, she interprets that as the cause being that significant), I felt she’d want to go along just to return the favor and help do the right thing.

The much shorter exchange between Hani and Tiny I actually found more interesting due to the whole fact that Hani, for once, is fully aware of the potential repercussions of her actions; not to mention that up until this point, Hani has shown as mainly subservient to the Sentinels.

#275 – “Missing Punchline”

I felt that it was important to clarify just why Te’len stuck with the group instead of just heading back to Kalimdor, in spite of clearly neither being happy with Stormwind nor all the violence, danger and death – and ultimately what she’s willing to sacrifice at this particular hook in the plot.

It’s sort of funny to reflect on how the entire visit to Stormwind was facilitated by punching out Staghelm – back then, I could believably picture him as a competent but misguided sort of politician with his priorities muddled through an obcession with his own grief, and a standing source of interesting schism within the Night elven society between those content with trying to heal the world again and those who felt it was about time the world gave them something back for their sacrifices. Of course, now we know he was just totally off his rocker and was directed around by a demon masquerading as the ghost of his dead son that only he could see.

Sigh.

#274 – “It’s Dangerous to Go Alone”

I felt rather early on that to really give Hani’s eventual decision to return to Kalimdor the weight and impact I desired, I needed a sufficient obstacle barring her way – a reason why she didn’t just return earlier rather than mope around in the Eastern Kingdoms feeling sorry for herself. And so I put her on a collision course with Fandral Staghem that ultimately saw her exiled, just to gain that obstacle. It’s not an easy decision she makes, but it is one she feels she must.

She can’t go alone, however – there’s more than just her in the main cast. So Te’len gets her choice to make as well – I felt that once Te’len agrees, it’s more or less implied that the remaining two will as well.

#273 – “Purpose”

Twist.

This page was a rather difficult one to put together due to the dialogue in the middle – my script notes essentially said something like “random non-plot filler dialogue” which can sometimes be really tought to put together because it should be interesting in some way, but it needs to come from somewhere other than plot. In this case I ultimately settled on Tiny and Te’len because it seemed appropriate; especially considering that it’s actually quite rare that they referrence the fact that they grew up together.

#272 – “Awakening”

Thus the second half of last update, and the last part of this particular dream sequence.

I decided fairly early on (in the history of BtT) to put a fair chunk of Hani’s character journey throughout arc one inside her dreams – it lets us see parts of her that she’d otherwise never really show or tell anyone about. It does, however, also mean that we’ve just gone through four pages of first old memories, then strange dream, then almost outright nightmare.

#271 – “What the Mind Sees”

This turned out to be one of those annoying pages to make – part because a whole lot of things that could go wrong also happily did. Not everything, thankfully, but modelviewer and I definitely had our differences regarding what models it was willing to provide. The newer ones seem unable to export anything but the initial pose, and my older legacy one somehow lost the ability to equip character models with my earlier harddrive failure. Very strange. Anyway.

This is actually only about half of the script for this page; I even did a page that had the full script first, but then concluded that since it’s very sparse on dialogue I needed to show the chain of events somewhat more clear to really make good sense of it. The bad thing about this is that the dream sequence that was supposed to end this page will run for the next one too, and that this particular portion of it will last two pages instead of just one. The good thing is that it should hopefully flow a whole lot better, and make a little more sense.