EQ Readthrough: Issue 6, The Quest Begins

[elf]

Issue 6: The Quest Begins
Questions for this issue:

• Was the transition between last issue and this one jarring to you?
• What did you think of the encounter with the humans?
• Did you get any new insights into Cutter & Skywise's relationship?

Main OQR post with prompt questions
Note: These aren't mandatory questions; they're meta prompts. If you don't care for any of them, or want to tangent from them to some other topic, that's fine too.

Comments

[anke]

A few glimpses of peaceful life and transition would have been nice, but the timejump makes sense, too.

I really liked that the humans gave their side of the story, and that we could compare with what we already knew about what actually happened.

This issue is also nice if you look for the kind of costume details Wendy Pini likes to use to tie families together. Leetah is wearing a plain necklace, like Cutter's, rather than one with three beads and claws, like Rayek's. Woodlock and Rainsong are wearing the same ornament, he on his necklace, she sewn to her shirt (IIRC it showed up on Helper later, too).

Another thing I'd like to share is the description of Strongbow's challenge from the novelisation, because it left quite an impression on me when I read it years ago:

His mind boiling with thoughts that had no words, Strongbow launched himself across the distance. Cutter met him shoulder-first, staggering only a single step against the force of the archer's charge. Knife-edged shards of disbelief and anger tore into his senses, and Cutter drew his own thoughts into a stubborn fist to beat the archer's sendings aside.
**I am Cutter!** the wolf heart in him growled. **Cutter!** The blood of ten elf chieftains pulsed in him, and his sould blazed with a love for his small tribe stronger than even Strongbow could understand. It was these that gave him the strength to push the archer physically away, these that let him wrap his mind around the barbed edges of Strongbow's fiercest thoughts and smooth them into harmlessness.

The way the last bit implies it wasn't a matter of overpowering Strongbow, but calming him, isn't really what I expected.

[dancing_serpent]

Oh, thanks for that. I always wondered about that scene after reading the latter issues, where Strongbow's willpower is presented as extraordinarily strong. Cutter calming Strongbow makes so much more sense than overpowering him!

[darlingfox]

Oh, thank you for that description! Now the whole scene makes more sense.

[blnchflr]

This issue is also nice if you look for the kind of costume details Wendy Pini likes to use to tie families together.
Oh, I hadn't even noticed that yet - I'm still finding out who is who. That's a nice touch.