There were going to be some extra panels in the dream here:
Panel 1: Imogen is walking through the meadow, hand in hand with Laudna.
Panel 2: She runs her hand through the tall grass.
Panel 3: But when she looks back, Laudna is gone. She is alone, except for the red moon in the darkening sky, and the red clouds of a familiar storm beginning to crawl in over the horizon.
Imogen:
No . . .
Panel 4: Unable to get away, she presses her hands to her ears as the storm overtakes her.
Imogen:
No, no, no, no, no . . .
But I decided I wanted to give the storm more room to be ominous.
Also the script originally had Laudna giving her a hug instead of a glass of water. Back when I wrote this I remember having to make the decision because there wasn’t panel space for both and I decided that the hug seemed more fitting. It was THAT long ago haha.
I love delilahwhatdoesntbreakbriarwood for many reasons but upon listening to the audiobook again for the ??th time I keep finding more
she gets so offended at laudna’s assumption that dead/undead people grow on trees, not because laudna is objectively wrong, but because delilah can’t stand by and let her work be disrespected, insisting with a self-satisfied note, “they’re hung there”
at multiple points she’s huffs and crosses her arms and goes “fine. go ahead and get yourself killed I guess. see if I care.” while Very Much Caring and actively corralling this undead toddler away from sharp edges
“you know what you apology cow toy needs? human teeth. laudna, they won’t like it unless it has Human Teeth. laudna go take the teeth from the skull in the river and put them in your weird apology cow.” literally just for her own amusement.
begrudgingly accepting that pate is raunchy the third in their relationship
“you meet one exemplar, you’ve met them all.”
the way her manipulation tactics change as the decades go by because at the end of the day laudna is gonna laudna
Panel 1: At the end of the day they sit together in the swing Imogen was painting on the previous page, which they have hung on the porch. Imogen is lying with her bare legs across Laudna's lap, and she is tracing aimless patterns on her skin with her fingernails. Evening is descending, and fireflies begin to emerge.
Panel 2: Laudna stares at them in fascination. Imogen opens her eyes and smiles.
Laudna:
Imogen! What's happening?
Imogen:
Y'all don't have lightnin' bugs in Tal'Dorei?
Laudna:
No! Not where I'm from, anyway. Are they from the Feywild? What do they mean? Is it an omen?
Panel 3: Laudna crouches down in the grass trying to touch them. Imogen laughs.
Imogen:
They don't mean anything, except that summer's right around the corner. They're just li'l bugs. Catch one and you'll see.
Panel 4: Imogen joins her in the yard as she reaches up intently with her hands poised to catch a firefly.
Panel 5: The little bug glows in the darkness of her cupped hands as she opens them to show Imogen.
Imogen:
Make a wish.
Panel 6: They sit together in the grass, heads tilted up to watch the fireflies rise and mingle with the appearing stars. For the first time in months, Ruidus has appeared on the horizon.
(although I guess it's already 153 taking into account the title pages.)
This page was inspired by a long-ago tumblr post where someone posted a video they’d taken of fireflies and someone else was amazed to discover that they’re real. I have never lived outside the Firefly Zone so it had never occurred to me how surreal they must look to someone who doesn’t live in their native area. Cute little glowing bugs that appear at night in the summertime? That is some Feywild levels of whimsy.
The last panel is a mirror of page 85, where they were peacefully watching the sky while Ruidus was elsewhere in its orbit. Half a year later they are doing the same thing, only the moon of ill omen has returned.
having chronic pain is just like. ur sitting perfectly still doing nothing meanwhile the space above your head keeps flashing -1hp -1hp -1hp -1hp -1hp -1hp -1hp -1hp -1hp -1hp
I've been playing Deadlock recently, and wanted to do a bit of an art study using Laudna! Lots of fun trying to imagine her playstyle in the context of Deadlock.
Some rambling on her abilities under the break:
In my head, her abilities are:
1) Summoning Pate, similar to how Calico summons Ava or how Grey Talon summons his bird, but for scouting purposes (Could maybe grab some souls along the way back to Laudna). At max level, he might increase healing effects passively (Gift of the Ever-Living Ones). In theory he could maybe be alt-cast to just deal some DoT "poison" damage, but that feels a bit overcomplicated.
2) Her Twinned Spell metamagic. Maybe like Paradox's carbine (though no time effect), where it's charged up and has to be shot precisely- can either bounce to a nearby enemy, or if there are no extra enemies nearby, the original target gets hit twice.
3) Summoning Caviar (Hound of Ill Omen), similar to Graves' Ghouls but just one. I think it would be interesting if, once summoned, you could target and enemy with 3 again to sic Caviar on them. Otherwise it could either act independently, going after the nearest enemy, or circle around Laudna, attacking enemies in a 5m radius.
4) Her ultimate, Form of Dread. Maybe adds a slow or a Fear effect to surrounding enemies? In DnD that frighten would mean people couldn't approach, but I'm unsure how that would work in a game like Deadlock. Maybe she sends out a pulse that applies knockback? And to mimic the other traits of Frighten, gain spirit/bullet resist? Plus a bit of extra health from her Form of Dread (around the Guardian Ward amount). No idea on the tuning!
Gun= Spell sniper eldritch blast!
She'd be pretty squishy, especially in lane, and would want to keep enemies at length, but with Caviar and her ult I think she could handle herself decently in closer ranges. In theory she could even have her Spider Climb as a passive, giving her a bit of extra mobility.
