by Nicholas Killewald

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Inside a building, we see a collection of what is best described as four scenes of people using magic objects. From left to right: First, in the foreground, a human is throwing up a set of small glowing objects that produce small magic streaks and some multi-colored sparkles. Nearby, a dwarf and a beach elf are delighted by it. Second, in the back, a kindly old woman is happily standing in front of her collection of several stacks of thick books on magic. Two people are happily reading books from said stacks. One, on the right, is inspired so far as to be producing a small black-and-purple swirly ball of some sort of magic energy from his hand. Third, in the back is a large glass orb with a purple liquid in it, with an output that looks like this concoction is intended to be distilled into a cauldron underneath. Next to it is a contraption that involves a cracked and patched-together sphere atop a pole that, itself, is also patched together, situated on a hopefully stable base. In the foreground, a beach elf is presenting a beaker with a glowing yellow liquid to a human, who is considering the contents. On a table in front of them are four more similar beakers containing blue, green, red, and purple glowing liquids. Fourth, in the back is a weapon rack with several enchanted weapons on it. A scimitar glows red, a broadsword has electricity arcing around it, a spear has a rime of frost hovering around its tip, and a mace has some sort of green energy emanating from it. In front of it, the crafter of said weapons stands proudly as she watches someone examining a sword whose blade burns with a white flame. This customer appears impressed. There is a narration for this collection of scenes: "Roslori, a port city with heavy trade, sees a wide variety of people coming and going. With that comes an also-wide variety of unique and/or powerful magic books, weapons, and doodads. Having an army she can flex is nice and all, but what Stephanie really wants is raw power for herself. So, she went around town for souvenirs." The next panel repeats much of the structure of the first. However, the people are missing from it, replaced by Stephanie reacting to each now-vacated scene. A narration begins, "But, everything she could find was...", and is followed up by a text box describing each of the modified scenes, as follows: "...not really useful...": Stephanie throws one of the glowing objects up, and it makes a magic sparkle. She is unimpressed. "...too complex for her patience...": Stephanie is struggling to haul away an entire stack of magic books. The top of the stack is starting to fall off. "...ruined in the attack, or...": The glass orb and cauldron have been shattered, the contraption has fallen apart, and the purple liquid in the orb has spilled all over the floor. The beakers on the table have been overturned, their liquids spilled on the table. Stephanie is holding one of the beakers, emptying the single red drop it contained. She is frustrated. "...taken by its owners as they fled.": The weapon rack is empty. Stephanie's clenched fists are quivering with her anger. Next, we see Stephanie as she continues storming down the street from the previous comic. The buildings down the street all have smashed windows, debris of which litters the sidewalk, as does smashed lamp posts and trash from an upended garbage can. Narration continues: "Of course, she didn't have time to search the ENTIRE town, but she couldn't even get the tribals to help in the search, as they wouldn't even know what she was looking for. Needless to say, she was not pleased." The final panel shows the view down the street where, in the distance, we can see some tribals milling about near the city wall. Narration concludes: "But, now that we've brought up the tribals again, let's check in on them..."

In my local archives, I store my comics with the names "DoMStrip#" or "DoMCom##-##". The latter is used for chapter intro pages and is separated by chapter. The former is for "normal" comics and just keeps increasing. I had some reason for doing it that way when I started. I don't remember exactly why; it's been a while.

There's been some odd exceptions throughout the years, so the DoMStrip numbers might not be fully accurate, but whatever the case: This comic is DoMStrip1000.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading this long! It's been well over a thousand comics! It's unbelievable!


 
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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.