‘Hmm, a few superficial cracks in the facing, but the masonry seems sound. Certainly better than another trek over the surface. As long as we keep a torch lit we should be fine…’
Well, there goes my ballooning idea or hang gliding option I suppose. However, I bet at least a FEW of the stairs will be missing halfway to the bottom and make the journey even longer . . . .
‘There shouldn’t be any crevasses’… Okay, if it turns out that there’s this HUUUUGE-ass surprise!canyon in there somewhere with a balrog waiting just out of sight, I for one am hiding under the bed with the chupacabras and dust-bunnies.
Oh ye of little faith! This is as close to ideal as they are likely to get. After all, Digger is good at mountaineering, but she’s MUCH better at spelunking. She will be totally in her element down here …
😉
(P.S. But under the bed with the chupacabras and dustbunnies is probably not too bad an idea either … )
No crevasses and wind is nice, but I can’t help but think that Helix’s, “but it’s all underground,” was more a wombatty assessment than anything else. Then he realizes there are non-wombats in the room and explains some of the benefits that Murai and Grim Eyes would understand.
lets see… if it wasn’t built by wombats, then…. dwarves? I hope it wasn’t dwarves. They stick too much magic on their work. Wombats don’t generally inhabit this area, soooo….. Best case scenario, humans dug it part of the way and the rest are caverns formed by Mother Nature…. OR dug completely by humans. The walls on either side of the entrance look like stone though, so if humans dug it, it would’ve taken them half an eternity.
Well, that’s potentially safer and whatever, but it completely blows Digger’s chance of getting back in time to go home : / She was going to have to force march everyone on the way back, anyway, but a third extra distance to travel?
I’m waiting for digger to say… “BTW where am I? And how do I get home? Oh and about that dead god in the basement, should we break the chains like shadow child said, or what?”
I don’t know who build those tunnels long ago. Possibly people from the monastry long but…
Have you seen the *size* of THAT entrance!?
Either the monks needed a way to move all the furniture in, or it was digged before the building itself by some ancient *god* race which is a bad thing since rancid magic will mix with quite unskilled digging on their side 🙂
Looks like someone needed to put something big underground.
Now where have we seen something big underground before?
(Or has that been explained earlier but conveniently forgotten by yours truly?)
You’re RIGHT! Wait, if it is, doesn’t that mean that mean that it’s part of the same cave Digger came out of in the temple? We’re getting ahead of ourselves. If it was, it wouldn’t be a way down the mountain, it would be a way back to the temple. And I’m pretty sure the size of that enterance is just a way of saying “Ominous!”
(or ominous onomatopoeia, if you were paying attention to the last stripe’s conversation.)
You know, even with an underground passageway being so alluring to Digger, I don’t think she’ll take it. She’s had two bad experiences underground since the story started. Why should she trust it now?
I wouldn’t go in there. That doorway looks like a mouth. A hungry mouth. With teeth. I can’t imagine Digger isn’t getting an uneasy feeling right about now.
But Digger is also eminently practical, and there’s something to be said for being away from the wind and crevasses. So maybe she will let Helix talk her into it.
….then again, we all seem to be forgetting that (at least in comparison to most of the other races we’ve met) wombats are a trifle, shall we say, vertically challenged.
Oh, snap! I didn’t even think about this being the “front door” that Digger missed out on before! Now she may get the chance to see the cantilevered steps, and the large stone marker, and admire Helix’s handiwork!
(Which begs the question: could Helix actually have an ulterior motive – showing off his construction?)
If this turns out to be the dead god’s cavern and we run into cold servants, who wants to post “AAAAAAAH! Behind the couch! It’s like the Daleks, only worse!”
Uhhh, guys? If it leads to the dead god’s cavern, that’s a ***good*** thing! The gang *wants* to go there, *has* to go there, to carry out the deicide already planned and agreed upon. (*How* it leads there may not be great, but that question is answered on still on unturned pages.) So none of this under the bed stuff at the thought of this leading to the dead god, okay? At other thoughts, okay, but not that one. The guilty should feel free to cheer instead, now.
@ ysabet, TekServer. Why not? But bring your blankets, possibly with snorkels. And some Branston pickle. Cheese sandwiches can get a little dull without it. And comfortable running shoes.
Course, the trip would take a lot less time if the tunnel had happened to get infested with a couple night-gaunts; but that’s usually considered a bad thing, right?
“Oh, and try not to wake the Balrog.”
Well, it beats tobogganing down teh side of the mountain in the snow, I guess, unless they encounter a Grue…
They probably will, of course.
‘Hmm, a few superficial cracks in the facing, but the masonry seems sound. Certainly better than another trek over the surface. As long as we keep a torch lit we should be fine…’
Oh, good, it’s not a shortcut. We all know how well THOSE turn out.
…though there’s no way Ms. Ursula’s just gonna let Digger have a peaceful walk through a cave, now, is there?
Oooh, I don’t know about this…can the Cold Servants get into this tunnel?
*Smacks forehead.* Of course, a tunnel! Why didn’t I see this coming? It is wombats we’re dealing with after all. xD
I really like his speech bubble in the first panel. The translucence is a little thing, but I dig it.
Well, there goes my ballooning idea or hang gliding option I suppose. However, I bet at least a FEW of the stairs will be missing halfway to the bottom and make the journey even longer . . . .
I’m not sure Grim Eyes will appreciate that “all underground” bit as much as Digger.
‘There shouldn’t be any crevasses’… Okay, if it turns out that there’s this HUUUUGE-ass surprise!canyon in there somewhere with a balrog waiting just out of sight, I for one am hiding under the bed with the chupacabras and dust-bunnies.
I still liked the idea of bobsledding. I have a bad feeling about this.
“…Oh, and you can COMPLETELY ignore the endless catacombs that it passes through.”
I have a bad feeling about this.
Oh ye of little faith! This is as close to ideal as they are likely to get. After all, Digger is good at mountaineering, but she’s MUCH better at spelunking. She will be totally in her element down here …
😉
(P.S. But under the bed with the chupacabras and dustbunnies is probably not too bad an idea either … )
No crevasses and wind is nice, but I can’t help but think that Helix’s, “but it’s all underground,” was more a wombatty assessment than anything else. Then he realizes there are non-wombats in the room and explains some of the benefits that Murai and Grim Eyes would understand.
*sagenods*
I really hope wombats built that tunnel.
lets see… if it wasn’t built by wombats, then…. dwarves? I hope it wasn’t dwarves. They stick too much magic on their work. Wombats don’t generally inhabit this area, soooo….. Best case scenario, humans dug it part of the way and the rest are caverns formed by Mother Nature…. OR dug completely by humans. The walls on either side of the entrance look like stone though, so if humans dug it, it would’ve taken them half an eternity.
Well, that’s potentially safer and whatever, but it completely blows Digger’s chance of getting back in time to go home : / She was going to have to force march everyone on the way back, anyway, but a third extra distance to travel?
Oh dear. If Tolkien taught me anything it’s that underground passages are Usually A Bad Frickin’ Idea.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who saw the tunnel entrance and went… “Gearworld?”
so i’m guessing i shouldn’t be thinking about the mines of Moria at this point…
Ten bucks says Murai freaks out in that thing, and durring the time that we’re all afraid is going to put them in mortal peril.
I’m waiting for digger to say… “BTW where am I? And how do I get home? Oh and about that dead god in the basement, should we break the chains like shadow child said, or what?”
I don’t know who build those tunnels long ago. Possibly people from the monastry long but…
Have you seen the *size* of THAT entrance!?
Either the monks needed a way to move all the furniture in, or it was digged before the building itself by some ancient *god* race which is a bad thing since rancid magic will mix with quite unskilled digging on their side 🙂
two wombats? have I been missing sometthing?
Looks like someone needed to put something big underground.
Now where have we seen something big underground before?
(Or has that been explained earlier but conveniently forgotten by yours truly?)
Oh dear Ganesh! Might that be part of the tunnel they used to get the dead god DOWN there??
Yipe!
*joins the hiding-under-bed party*
You’re RIGHT! Wait, if it is, doesn’t that mean that mean that it’s part of the same cave Digger came out of in the temple? We’re getting ahead of ourselves. If it was, it wouldn’t be a way down the mountain, it would be a way back to the temple. And I’m pretty sure the size of that enterance is just a way of saying “Ominous!”
(or ominous onomatopoeia, if you were paying attention to the last stripe’s conversation.)
“… and pay no attention to that half-effaced inscription – you know, the one that says, ‘ABAND………HOP…………….NTER HERE’ – it’s not important….” 7@=Q
Where? I don’t see it.
“… and pay no attention to that half-effaced inscription – you know, the one that says, ‘ABAND………HOP…………….NTER HERE’ – it’s not important….” 7@=Q
it has been traditional since the early 1600’s.
Sean
You know, even with an underground passageway being so alluring to Digger, I don’t think she’ll take it. She’s had two bad experiences underground since the story started. Why should she trust it now?
I wouldn’t go in there. That doorway looks like a mouth. A hungry mouth. With teeth. I can’t imagine Digger isn’t getting an uneasy feeling right about now.
But Digger is also eminently practical, and there’s something to be said for being away from the wind and crevasses. So maybe she will let Helix talk her into it.
….then again, we all seem to be forgetting that (at least in comparison to most of the other races we’ve met) wombats are a trifle, shall we say, vertically challenged.
Oh, snap! I didn’t even think about this being the “front door” that Digger missed out on before! Now she may get the chance to see the cantilevered steps, and the large stone marker, and admire Helix’s handiwork!
(Which begs the question: could Helix actually have an ulterior motive – showing off his construction?)
😉
If this turns out to be the dead god’s cavern and we run into cold servants, who wants to post “AAAAAAAH! Behind the couch! It’s like the Daleks, only worse!”
Uhhh, guys? If it leads to the dead god’s cavern, that’s a ***good*** thing! The gang *wants* to go there, *has* to go there, to carry out the deicide already planned and agreed upon. (*How* it leads there may not be great, but that question is answered on still on unturned pages.) So none of this under the bed stuff at the thought of this leading to the dead god, okay? At other thoughts, okay, but not that one. The guilty should feel free to cheer instead, now.
@ ysabet, TekServer. Why not? But bring your blankets, possibly with snorkels. And some Branston pickle. Cheese sandwiches can get a little dull without it. And comfortable running shoes.
and Raigne, no, no you weren’t
Helix is a no-nonsense ghost wombat. None of this ridiculous floating-around for him, no sir.
Course, the trip would take a lot less time if the tunnel had happened to get infested with a couple night-gaunts; but that’s usually considered a bad thing, right?
Sean: Speaking from lots of personal experience, I can tell you that if you have to ask, the answer is “yes”.