52: The Tale of Sally Eliptor
I love when I get the chance to drop something completely new into the story that’s so disconnected from known quantities of the “preboot”. We finally get our first glimpse into Bedlum in the form of Bedlum Manor. I won’t say much now on the matter. But I’m really happy with how the place turned out… gonna have to make another room to finish out this scene but, honestly, this whole scene is going to keep me busy.
Holy CRAP I understand why you wanted to take extra time on this update. The DETAILS in this place are amazing!!! I want to go here….
So uh, commentary notes, I guess:
-Looks like things are going to break VERY bad here, considering that Sally is completely fine here and near dead halfway through the following day. Looks like she also has a rather good sense of smell.
-No clue who ‘alchemy bitch’ could be off the top of my head.
-IT’S BAEL HI BAEL MISSED YOU. (Also- very sweet to see that him and Sally are still together in the new timeline, and having little quiet moments like this.)
-I loooove how Bael’s plagued side/arm now has an ominous black claw instead of a regular hand. Very nice character design decision. :3
-Bael has his classic hat of course… but also interestingly has the same jacket Iggy had in the last timeline. I wouldn’t THINK he would have gotten them from Charlie this time around, but I can’t help but think there’s still a connection between Bael and one of those two characters now.
-I wonder if these two consider themselves to ‘own’ the manor, or if other people live in there with them. AKA is ‘alchemy bitch’ someone trying to take over their territory, or just an annoying neighbor. I’m inclined to think its the former, but I could be wrong.
(It feels very nice to stretch my commentary muscles like this, lol.)
So I had known from the start that I wanted Bedlum Manor to be covered in plants, and to have Sally and Bael not really use the space properly. So I ended up making a handful of plants to populate the area with and just had then growing out of the walls and floors… but what really made it pop more than the plants and the haphazard furniture placement was the lighting. I wouldn’t call it all that detailed, there are only a handful of unique objects. But I’m definitely picking up more tricks for building these places with each one I make.
I gotta say, I’m really happy to have Bael back in the story. As much as I tend to beat myself up over the story being slow going, this whole scene is gonna be uncharted territory on the reader side so I’m gonna try not to rush it, because it doesn’t need rushed. Probably sounds out of left field for me to bring that up, but I’ve written enough drafts of this scene to have pacing on my mind.
Oh hey, this actually rebooted! It’s certainly been a while. I just came back here because I was reminded about this comic and wanted to check out a few old scenes again.
It’s a bit confusing to find a lot of familiar faces doing some rather low key things. Like, I’ve never pegged Cerene as a social butterfly or somebody who’d open her own restaurant but hey, here we are!
I’ll try and keep tabs on this again, still a fun story!
Anyways, onto the page itself, Bael is still Bael. I find it funny that it seems like both him and Sally are the two that have changed the least between timelines.
And Alister’s description of Bedlam being a hive of scum and villainy checks out here. After all, looks like Bael’s here. Although the manor seems to be in a decent state at least. Don’t know who “Alchemy Bitch” would be though. Unless Jerico got genderbent this timeline… which is not entirely impossible.
Always nice to see people come back out of the woodwork. Things have been slow going with one update a week but it’s a good deal better than no updates at all.
It’s be a lot of fun plotting out new complex and interwoven backstories for everyone. Bael and Sally might have ended up in a similar place but they didn’t exactly follow the same path to get there. I can’t imagine how long it’ll take me to actually tell those stories but I’m settled in for the long haul.