==>

Apr 232013

“Wait – you know something! You’ve figured something out.”

“Vaermina has a theory. An incomplete theory, but one nonetheless deserving of her full attention. Even as conjecture, she has allies who need to know… and enemies who may already. She must leave at once.”

“Our discourse has proved enlightening, bearded human. Should you discover anything further about your dreams or their propagator… this is my home number. Simply employ another capable summoner and contact me post-haste.”

“Hold on, demon. I called you here to provide answers, and you owe me answers – you can’t just leave as soon as you find something! And what about your unsettling painting you were enjoying so much? You didn’t even finish it!”

“The God of Nightmares owes you nothing, mortal. You have expended your usefulness for the time being, and Vaermina has nothing further to gain from you. You’ve brought an important issue to her attention, and now her efforts must be directed elsewhere.”

“But you’ve only left me with even more questions!”

“You are a mortal standing in the presence of a god, fortunate to have received anything at all. As for Vaermina’s wondrous-yet-incomplete nightmare mural-”

“There. Now it is an aesthetic nightmare. You’re welcome, and goodbye.”

SNeakyRobot wrote:

> Ask Vaermina what you must do to root out this scourge upon your unconscious state.

The Daedric Prince of nightmares begins to stalk back into the void. You realize this could be your last chance.

“Lady Vaermina – please. In nearly fifteen years of searching, you’re the closest I’ve ever come to finding the cause of my torment. If the culprit behind my dreams nearly eluded a Daedric Prince in her own domain, how am I supposed to find answers? What am I supposed to do?”

You half-expect her to continue walking and ignore you, but she turns and gives the slightest smile.

“Simple: ask your dream-thief. Every actor takes their bow sooner or later. Though your unseen malefactor’s actions may give the impression of confidence… Vaermina suspects he is terrified his plan will go astray.”

“W-wait, what do you mean? What does he want me to do? L-”

“-ady Vaermina…”

> ==>

Kazerad

The command thread will open back up after the next update, wherein we get back to Katia Managan’s world of 600*450 panels. I will not miss messing with those weird split backgrounds.
- Vulmen
  
  Masterful…absolutely loved this release, and a strong and fitting end to his meeting with Vaermina. You really pulled this off well, Kaz! Thanks for all your long efforts to see it through with as much dedication as you have. I really enjoy following this series… 🙂
- Unclever title
  
  Those weird split backgrounds are very cool and well done by the way.
David Argall

My computer insists it is still the 22nd, some 7 hours before your date in #1
- Calvin
  
  I suspect you presently reside in Pacific Daylight Time, or another -7 time zone.
  If correct, the time of this post will be will be 8:40 AM
Drak

Someone has disarmed SwordDog! PANIC!
- Goldcat99
  
  OH MY FUCKING GOD WERE ALL GONNA DIE AHHSHSHAHHAHHDDLKFJFJDJEJFJFNJDNFHRJDNDND OHHHH GODDDD WHHHYYYYYYHYY AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
  - Kingkaor
    
    I’m just glad she’s back. Sworddog needs her own spinoff.
  - Ronald Lennon
    
    OH GODS NO! SWORD DOG HAS BEEN DISARMED! WE ARE ALL DOOMED! DOOMED!
  - chimericWilder
    
    And this is where the events of Oblivion begin. With the loss of Sworddogs sword. The only thing that TRULY held Dagon at bay.
    
    The world is doomed.
- L333t
  
  WAIT! Not completely! He has a ball!
  - Vulmen
    
    Or is Sworddog a female? 😉
  - HoochieKookoo
    
    It’s a bitch, L333t.
Goldcat99

Wow thanks for the fast update still not sure why im reading this now tho i should sleep
Andrew McCunn

For no discernible reason you should go play with Sword Dog. He looks lonely. You don’t want him to feel unloved, do you? Go throw a ball for him. It’s the least you can do. It wouldn’t do to make people think you’re a cat person, would it?
- A Nameless Adventurer
  
  I thought Sworddog was a she, but I completely agree with the idea of playing with Sworddog.
  - Kingkaor
    
    Sworddog is a she. I forgot that myself, actually.
- Bmark
  
  i read that in snake’s voice
  - Joyeuse
    
    I laughed really hard at that
- HoochieKookoo
  
  It’s a bitch, Andrew McCunn.
stupidjellyfish

God, that 7th panel. So magical.
tronn

Aww yiss, he got the home number of a Daedric prince, Cpt. Gaius is a smooth playa. Also, Sworddog is cute as a button in this one!
Vermin A

“Even as conjecture”

Shouldn’t it be “Even as she conjectures”
- Vermin A
  
  Okay disregard that comment, I’m a dumbass
  - Kazerad
    
    NO. I am going to cherish your comment forever. I am going to frame it over my fireplace. And I don’t even have a fireplace. I will build one for it.
    - Kingkaor
      
      This just made my day, Kaz.
Digo

Her “aesthetic nightmare” comment in panel 4 made me laugh for a good long while. Wonderful timing.
cake

I still don’t get who it is.
Stormy Dragon

What’s the point of that summoning circle if the summoned creature can leave whenever they like? I was expecting she was going to go through that whole speech about how he’s beneath her and of no use to her, etc. and then have to awkwardly ask him to open the circle for her.
- Derp
  
  This was a summoning circle, not a binding one.
  - catchTwentythree
    
    Yeah, binding a Daedric Prince would be both nigh impossible and also really fucking stupid. Because if they had to ask you to allow them to leave, when they inevitably left, they would use every power in their domain to ruin the living shit out of your life.
    - varsaigen
      
      not to mention that even if they were bound for the rest of your life, the moment you die, they are taking your soul and torturing it for the rest of eternity… It’s best to just go unnoticed.
furnut

Whoa that closing gif was awesome 😀

I hear these sound effects in my head:

>>rummrummrumrummMMPHOFHH!<<
- Raves
  
  Is there a deadric god of sound effects?
Greg

Amazing.
Blezmo

Damn Kazerad you made wonderful works of art super fast.

Never you could do that much in so little time.
Nodzilla96

Never in m life have I ever felt bad for a character in a novel until i saw Gaius’s eyes in the panel with him pleading for an answer.
- A Coyote
  
  ^ This.
  
  You could truely see and ‘feel’ his torment from that panel.
- catchTwentythree
  
  God, yes. I was just like “holy shit Gaius I need to hug your life better” D:
- RychschaX
  
  wait…you’ve never felt sorry for Katia? You MONSTER!
Casey

Vaermina took the summoners staff as she left… What would she want with that I wonder? Maybe another item useful for solving this new theory?
- catchTwentythree
  
  The staff was there holding the rift open so she could leave– certain forces make it very difficult for Daedric Princes to make their own portals into Nirn. Kazerad is actually fudging things a bit with a summoner that CAN create a stable portal to Oblivion, actually (mind you, it works very well for the purposes of the story). So when she picked up the staff, she closed the portal. Likely only a fraction of her power was allowed through, of course– getting a Daedric Prince into Nirn in their true form is HARD, and requires… well, the events of Oblivion to be taking place.
  - Kazerad
    
    My personal explanation here is that it’s not a gateway, just a window. They can’t walk through it, it’s just letting them be in roughly the same place.
    
    Of course, it’s really just me trying to BS some internal consistency out of a lot of conglicting lore. For the most part it’s based off the Daggerfall summonings, which did claim that the Daedra was being brought to Mundus. It also had that starry effect.
    
    Tl;dr kaz plays too many games. All you really need to know is that a big god-thing was summoned.
    - Nilithius
      
      “a lot of conglicting lore”
      
      Over the fireplace it goes.
      - Kazerad
        
        I deserve that one. In my defense, though, I was typing on an iPod. And apparently somehow got that past autocorrect.
      - Casey
        
        “Conglicting” : A conflicting conglomeration of useful terms. 😉
    - egg brother
      
      how bout this : F* logic. why are we arguing over videogame logis? also, it’s a comic and its great. keep it up kaz!
      - catchTwentythree
        
        Well, it’s a comic based in a video game series. If you skip out on the logic of the in-game universe, what’s the point in running in the game universe? Kaz had a good response, and it works well! The conflicting lore is an issue, and Kaz is doing a swell job of weaving it all together.
        
        … The long and the short of it is that no, the staff probably has nothing to do with the mystery. It was just propping the window open, so to speak.
    - Dan
      
      So… did she stole the staff for some reason? Did it travel with her just because she was holding it at the time she was been banished? Will the summoner miss it?
      - Deltronzero
        
        She didn’t take the staff. Though it’s hard to see since it’s so fast, it flies off when the rift closes.
      - Dan
        
        Thanks. I hadn’t notice that.
Zer0DusT

my guess is that they’re all experienceing premonitions of events to come, gaius is aware of cultists, katia is aware of kings, what else pretains to oblivion’s events? this could help us understand why its also called prequel adventure, maybe katia is important because she gets the hero of kavatch arrested to stop these events, seeing how if he wasn’t he couldn’t have prevented the end of the world, and the person(s) responsible are associated with mankar camoran as a means to prevent these people’s destinies from intruding on their plans.

to seperate the barriers betwen tamriel and oblivion for good

there’s also the fact that they’re dragon born and have premonitions given to them by the gods, this aids my theory further seeing how great most dragon born become and how someone pointed out how great of people like gaius and katia could have been, had they not had these nightmares, and where they could have gone

katia could have been uriel’s court mage, like jagar tharn or ria silmane, and gaius could have become grand master and head of the blades like jauffre
- Mangulwort
  
  How do you know that the hero of Kavatch is a guy?
  - Zer0DusT
    
    because in my play through he was a guy and im only associating it with my experiences and not yours
Tut

Just commenting to comment.
Because I care.
panoz

Where did she get the cheap bic ballpoint pen from? Now I need to make a mod for plastic forging.
- Kingkaor
  
  She probably just conjured it from nothing. Vaermina IS a Daedric Lord, after all.
Tormuse

Sworddog looks so pleased with herself in that last panel! 🙂
A Coyote

I must say that the overall quality of this comic and its depth of thought regarding the gods and the games they play deeply moves and inspires me. Thank you for your time, effort, and deepness of the world you are creating, it is one of the most awe-striking comics I read and I would be at a loss if you stopped the story pre-maturely and left it to drift astray.

– Feyote
- catchTwentythree
  
  Not to undersell Kazerad’s ability to weave a great story, but you do know this is based on the Elder Scrolls video game series, right? It takes place a few weeks before the the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The world and its gods and the Daedra all come from Elder Scrolls lore.
- Kazerad
  
  Thank you! Though I don’t deserve full credit here; like Catch pointed out, it is based off the lore from a long-running video game series I played way too much. If I can weave an entertaining story out of it, though, that’s good enough for me!
  - Kingkaor
    
    And it’s good enough for the rest of us.
    - catchTwentythree
      
      I never said I don’t absolutely love the comic. :V ‘Cause I do. But it would be neat if it also turned this guy onto The Elder Scrolls, since this story will probably lead into the events of TESIV.
    - Sonadora
      
      True, that! I stumbled upon this comic without any knowledge of the Elder Scrolls games or Oblivion or…any of that. But, Kaz, your story is so captivating and well-written that I’ve had no problems keeping up. Well done! The depth you are giving to the characters and the story keeps me interested, even with no prior experience of this world. Thank you. 😀
  - Blezmo
    
    You deserve a lot of credit actually. There are a lot of mods, but there are very few literary works on the Elderscrolls Series. Maybe you’ll inspire others to make more fanfics.
    
    Unfortunately people don’t write fanfics for this nearly as much as they do for other games like Mass Effect and War hammer 40k.
    
    This is not the only fanfic though, but this is the first Elderscrolls fanfic I read.
Shard

I think Katia could be a capable enough summoner, like she could conjure a giant creature made purely of fire and it will dig it’s claws into the universal fabric and summon Vaermina once more.
- catchTwentythree
  
  Those are called Flame Atronachs. They’re relatively weak lesser Daedra. And besides, the whole point of Nirn is that the Daedra can’t summon themselves or one another into it, isn’t it?
  
  Any case, that seems to be where they’re going with this; Vaermina gave Gaius her home number so he could let her know if he got more information, which he just has, from Katia.
  - Shard
    
    I just mean like a monster, not any type of Daedra, just a cool fire monster that will tear the fabric of reality.
    - catchTwentythree
      
      Those tend to be Daedra in the Elder Scrolls. I mean maybe something from the Soul Cairn, maybe– wait why would you even want that to happen, that would be like the worst, most terrible thing D:
      - Shard
        
        I mean just like, a giant creature, not a specific creature or individual, just something to open the reality tear thing.
      - catchTwentythree
        
        Okay just… that doesn’t really work in Elder Scrolls. There’s rules to this kind of thing. Daedra– the only thing that could BE a giant monster made of fire are Daedra, not all of which are as powerful as Vaermina– cannot summon other Daedra into Nirn because the Septim bloodline maintains a powerful abjuration around the entire dimension of Nirn preventing stable portals and tears in reality from forming. That’s why you can only summon Daedra into Nirn for a limited time. Now, could another Daedra make a window, like this one, that allows Vaermina to peer through and have limited power to influence Nirn?
        
        Still probably not, they’d be too busy summoning their own Daedra to kill you and remove their own binding.
      - Dan
        
        Some summoned creatures can conjure their own minions.
        In TESV sometimes dremoras take staffs from dead npcs and conjure creatures during battles. Although not an daedra, Lich summon another undead in TESIV.
        Doesn’t seem impossible to conjure a daedra mage capable of summoning an Prince.
        
        I don’t think the daedras try to kill their summoners to remove their binding. If they are binding in the first place they will not try to kill the mages who binded they, and if those mages die they will be banished.
        There is one book in the game that tell the story of one boy who summon an dremora with one scroll and accept a present from the demon who proceed to kill the boy claiming that the act of accept one gift from one summoned creature frees the monster. It may be just a tale.
        
        And fire atronachs are wicker than other types as game mechanic. The same think happens with the destructions perks in TESV, making fire the specialization that you are first allow to acquire, ice the second and shock the third. The master level Flame Thrall spell actually summon an creature of the same level as the Frost Thrall spell and the Storm Thrall spell (30).
Fishing4Food

I’m just going to randomly say who my suspects are, nocturnal or the gray fox, Gray fox is my main suspect though due to that tamrelic history book.
- catchTwentythree
  
  The Gray Fox is not a magic user, and has nothing to do with the cult of the Mythic Dawn. Neither does Nocturnal; neither of those two have any motive here.
  - Kingkaor
    
    Besides, at this point, Nocturnal has probably already had her eye stolen, so she would have barely any clue on what’s happening.
Armael

http://www.prequeladventure.com/this/story1428.gif

now, that face just puts a hole in my heart 🙁
Blezmo

I wonder if anyone in Kvatch that was sleeping at the time just had a nightmare simply from Vaemina’s presence.
- catchTwentythree
  
  Probably everyone.
Asoyna

That’s simple! Cultists will kill the Emperor! They’ll save Katia!
dude

I came here a while ago and i didn’t realize it was a new update.
🙁
400321

Poor Cap’n Gaius! I feel so sad for him. Only goes to show how much development each character has
Nodzilla96

I wanted to make a cool bioshock/prequel themed vigor bottle, but I looked at production price. $400? Sorry kaz, I’m not a bag of money… And it would’ve been katia’s kiss too…
Nodzilla96

Also, I have never played any elder scrolls game. DON’T FUCKING SPOIL THIS SHIT.
- catchTwentythree
  
  If you don’t want spoilers, you’re… probably okay reading Prequel, but stay out of the comments section. I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers, though I admit I’ve dropped the name of the cult a few times. But seriously, I’d just keep out of the comment section altogether if you don’t want the game spoiled. Or especially the DLC, people mention Shivering Isles-related stuff all the time.
  
  Prequel does a good job of keeping the game from being spoiled in the comics, of course, since the main character is caught as much by surprise by what happens as anyone else.
- A big jerk
  
  Martin dies HAHAHAHAH
  - RampantSeaTurtles
    
    Quotes from A Big Jerk.
Tylor

Actual Oblivion is so much easier than this. Mage guild accept anyone not wanted by police, and you immediately has access to half of guild stuff and a nice bed to sleep in. And just any mushroom or flower you find can be sold for at lest one gold.
ThatThorn

I don’t know if it was intentional, but the way that final gif plays with persistence of vision and leaves an afterimage of Vaermina in your eye is a really nice touch.
- Alex Franklin
  
  Oh man, I just noticed that. That’s a really cool catch!
L333t

Katia> return to being main character.
- L333t
  
  Or else.
  - L333t
    
    I mean it
    - L333t
      
      Do it
      - L333t
        
        NOW
- Dan
  
  Gaius is a cool character. There is no reason to speed up his story.
  The focus will eventually return to Katia, don’t worry, she is the main character.
L333t

Who is that man in green? ! He is the one who disarmed Swordog! HELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERERHELPHELPHELPHELPMURDERER
- catchTwentythree
  
  That’s the guild mage who summoned Vaermina.
  - L333t
    
    Or is it an IMPOSTER?
    - L333t
      
      DUNDUNDUN
    - Champion of Morrowind
      
      HE MIGHT BE A……cultist……..
Alex

Yes! I was hoping this would end up with Katia having a reason to bring up her dream-thief speaking to her and meeting Vaermina!
Gavinfoxx

Kaz: The forum thing is closed, so I’m posting here:

Anyone else notice the really weird and anachronistic plastic clicky pen? Oh these gods and their strange instruments…
Vdrake

I gotta say, go Gaius! Less than an hour chatting with a Daedric Prince of Nightmares and you already have her home phone number. Do you dare make that booty call? 😛
Conzeit

watch the next clue be a king that is afraid of guards
- Tylor
  
  Not sure about kings, but Emperor had nightmares about oblivion gates all of his life. Which may, or may not be similar to Gaius/Katia nightmares.
- 65534
  
  That would cause… some serious problems with his professional activity.
  On the other hand, a cultist who is afraid of guards, or king who is afraid of khajiits, or cultist and king afraid of each other, would be pretty normal.
Dupence

Wow, spot on my birthday! I can’t believe I haven’t noticed this earlier. Thanks, Kazerad, for the only birthday gift I got!
Dreadmaster231

The Vibe I’m getting Is The Cat, The Gaurd, The Orc, and The necromancer all become some important group of heroes who must band together against a great evil(Aside from Mehrunes) in cyrodill, At least thats what I can gather right now.
dtlux14

Ok then… What?