by Nicholas Killewald

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

We turn to a lonely pub on the Landis side of the Landis-Terakol border, today. It is late at night, the winter landscape is covered in snow, icicles hang from the roof of the pub in a way I'm not sure actually works and should have researched better, and the pub itself is clearly closed to the public for the night. From inside, we hear Catherine: "I've been tailing them around Terakol for months now... *grumble* ...and that dwarf's right, something's wrong up there." Inside the pub, we see Catherine sitting at the bar, telling her story to the other two people there this late: The bartender, a heavy-set woman with light brown hair in a purple suit with a light green shirt underneath, who is serving both Catherine and a patron of the pub ales; and the patron, a younger, lighter woman with short black hair in a layered outfit and a large green scarf covering the lower half of her face. Catherine continues: "The more I saw, the more it just bugged me. Like, I don't have any idea what in the hell council lackeys in sanitation uniforms are doing taking notes on random mining experiments and rocket tests, and it just got worse from that. The patron interjects: "Yeah? They're council goons, right? Get anything from the castle?" Catherine responds, with a slight glare from her good eye as if the answer were obvious, "Couldn't get near it. I don't exactly blend in with dwarves." The bartender then speaks up: "Sure, sure... what about Jacob?" Catherine answers: "Haven't talked to him yet. He's clearly not happy about this, but it looks like he's got his own idea. I don't want him to know I'm there until I know what he's got in mind." As Catherine starts to drink her ale, she concludes: "And Bnorm's with them. I do NOT want to deal with him at any rate." The patron and the bartender both respond in general agreement and understanding at that statement as the bartender walks off and the patron drinks her own ale (moving her scarf out of the way first). After a beat of Catherine silently considering something (and not looking happy about it), she asks the patron, "Where's Matthew?" The patron replies, "Matt? Last anyone saw him, he and his sister went down to Roslori. You heard what happened there." Catherine, unfazed, responds "Eh, he'll be fine. He knows how to run."
 
Oct September 2025
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This comic and all material related to it are ©2002-2025 Nicholas Killewald, except where otherwise noted. Please do not redistribute without permission, which I might give if you ask nicely and aren't a jerkface.