Path Through The Woods

An interactive story/webcomic, based on Slay the Princess and remixing its characters. --- Find it on ComicFury --- Status: On Hiatus Creator: Artificial Radiance

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Path Through The Woods is an AU created by Dune (@artificial-radiance) for Slay the Princess by BlackTabbyGames. This blog hosts the fledgling interactive comic for the AU, which is posted here and on ComicFury. The audience can interact with the comic through polls posted on Tumblr whenever a page with a choice pops up.

--- Content Warnings

I would say PTTW is a more mature comic, like its source material, for the following reasons:

Canon typical gore and violence

Swearing

Occasional/implied nudity

Existentialism

(More will probably be added on as time goes on)

--- Schedule:

PTTW has a dubious upload schedule --- Posts are made the day after the poll ends, and writing is done during my free time whenever I'm not at work. This means, typically, posts are spread four days apart rather than uploading on any particular day.

When a new chapter or loop starts, there will be a two-week break before posting occurs.

--- Where to read:

Tumblr: Start here

ComicFury: Start here

--- Other Info/Links

PTTW will only be ran for one meta narrative loop -- this is because doing anything more than that will be difficult to maintain on my end as the person writing this. There are plans for when the comic/interaction is over, though.

How choices work

Shift to text-based posting

[path-through-the-woods]

[[ Letting people know that I am working on PTTW -- its slow and a lot of changes are happening. To simply put, I'm restarting what I have, and the format will be different. I'll be back to cross posting on ComicFury when I have pages done, and I'm excited for what's to come. Thank you everyone supporting the project during this hiatus. ]]

[[ As a general note, I'm happy to answer none spoiler questions -- I won't blatantly tell you how to get a certain route (I don't even properly have all of that planned out still) but I can talk abt a few things. I'll also give progress updates every once in a while, I think ]]

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[[ sorry for the extended hiatus -- i've been busy and debating what i want to do with the project atm. i'm taking this break to test out some art stuff, work on commissions, and do more writing. if we're lucky, i'll be back to it in august ]]

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[[ Sorry for the pause in updates -- personal things came up that was preventing me from writing the update properly. It'll be up sometime later today or tomorrow ]]

[path-through-the-woods]

> (Explore) "So, Whisper, where am I?

Oh. Well, this is your home isn't it? Having a room in a... Uh... Quaint basement isn't what I'd picture for someone like you.

You tilt your head a little, and then you properly look around. All this talking right after waking up made you zone out some.

You do appear to be in a basement, in your bed specifically. It's... middling in comfort. Your sheets are a little thin, but your pillows are plentiful and fluffy. The walls are stone, and so is the floor, and there's only one window -- right above your head. Next to you is a nightstand, but it doesn't even have a candle to help illuminate the dim of the room.

It's not the coziest place, but it's livable.

(Explore) “I see what you mean...”

(Get up.)

(Try to go back to sleep.)

> [Vote]

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> “What about Whisper? Since you're... you know.”

A little on the nose, isn't it, mate? That's fine, though, I like it. Sometimes the obvious choice is the best one!

It laughs a little, and you give the briefest chuckle and rise of your shoulders. You think you like it.

(Explore) “So, Whisper, where am I?”

(Get up.)

(Look around.)

> [Vote]

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> “We could always come up with a name together!”

Really? I mean-- Yeah we could! Do you have any ideas?

You pause to really think about it, even if you only come up with a few options.

“What about Whisper? Since you're... you know.”

“Hm... Blue? You seem very 'Blue' to me, for some reason.”

"What about... Watcher? Or Spectator? Since you're..." (you make a gesture with your hands.)

“Mm... On second thought, I have no idea.”

> [Vote]

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> [Explore] Who are you?

Oh! Well, uh, hm.

I don't exactly... I don't really know. I don't think I have a name?

I mean, I haven't really needed one? I've been on my own for a long time.

You stare into the open space, thinking. Whoever it is, it doesn't have a body for you to look pointedly at, but it otherwise can see and hear you, which is fortunate. But listening to it, it feels like its everywhere and nowhere all at once.

“I don't think a name is very important, but if you want one you can think something up.”

“We could always come up with a name together!”

“Well, I could always come up with something to call you.”

(Explore) “Where am I?"

(Get up.)

(Look around.)

> [Vote]

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Post in 30 minutes.

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Upload Schedule:

I post a segment of dialogue

I run a poll for 2-3 days

On the 4th day, the update will post.

On a day when a chapter ends, I will take a 2-week break to prepare some writing -- I am only writing so much, since getting everything down right away would make this take a very long time.

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?

> [Restart]

> [Endure]

Voting ended onMay 29, 2025

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Thoughts?

Continue with the full comic idea

Pivot to only using art for important scenes, otherwise just write text*

Text and polls only*

Voting ended onMay 11, 2025

*I will still make the comic in the background, but Tumblr would turn into the only place with live updates. ComicFury readers would not be able to partake in polls but would get the full comic -- Tumblr would not be getting the full comic but would get updates on when pages are posted to ComicFury.

I'm making this poll because I've been writing bits and pieces and trying to solidify a few narrative things -- I paused the comic because I felt like I was rushing into this project. I'm having a lot of fun writing, but it's a very different experience to what I was planning with the comic. Expressing things in text is very different from expressing things in drawings.

Drawings that would be included if I just pivoted to including some art:

The Warden's first appearance and actions

The Runaway's appearance should it come up

Items/environments that may be interacted with

Endings and Betweens

Death POVs

[path-through-the-woods]

Thanks for the input everyone! Let's treat this as live script writing and a new experience :)

I'll be rewriting when I've done for ch 1 so far for the new format, but I won't be rerunning the polls already done.

[path-through-the-woods]

Thoughts?

Continue with the full comic idea

Pivot to only using art for important scenes, otherwise just write text*

Text and polls only*

Voting ended onMay 11, 2025

*I will still make the comic in the background, but Tumblr would turn into the only place with live updates. ComicFury readers would not be able to partake in polls but would get the full comic -- Tumblr would not be getting the full comic but would get updates on when pages are posted to ComicFury.

I'm making this poll because I've been writing bits and pieces and trying to solidify a few narrative things -- I paused the comic because I felt like I was rushing into this project. I'm having a lot of fun writing, but it's a very different experience to what I was planning with the comic. Expressing things in text is very different from expressing things in drawings.

Drawings that would be included if I just pivoted to including some art:

The Warden's first appearance and actions

The Runaway's appearance should it come up

Items/environments that may be interacted with

Endings and Betweens

Death POVs

[path-through-the-woods]

[path-through-the-woods]

I should have mentioned this sooner, but there will be a small delay in the update (very upset abt this) but I am sick with what could be either a cold or covid so 👍🏻

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Just started feeling better ! Hopefully I can get pages and polls out next week :]

[path-through-the-woods]

I should have mentioned this sooner, but there will be a small delay in the update (very upset abt this) but I am sick with what could be either a cold or covid so 👍🏻

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Vote Here (Poll Closed)

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(After this point, we shift to a text based system [explained here])