#bumpkins of gelvaan

[southern-gothic-comic]

Page 49

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(Author Notes)

Panel 1:  Laudna returns to her lonely hovel, which looks more cheerless than ever after the weeks she’s spent in a real house where she was loved and needed. The produce on her shelves has withered and blackened and half a loaf of bread is covered in mold. She looks out the window nervously.

Panel 2: Instead of going to bed she huddles underneath it with Pâté held close, terrified.

Panel 3: That night Imogen is sulking in bed when she hears Laudna’s voice calling to her through the message spell.

Laudna: Imogen!

Panel 4: She goes to the window and sees smoke rising from the woods.

Imogen: Laudna!

Panel 5: With a coat and boots hastily thrown on over her pajamas, she rushes through the woods.

Panel 6: There she finds Laudna’s cabin set alight by a mob of angry villagers.

Mob: Whole place was full of poppets! That just proves it! Burn it all down! Kill the witch!

[mintywolf]

A Long Road Home - Page 38 Author Notes

Page 38

Imogen, trying to convince the townsfolk that it’s fine Laudna just has really poor circulation:

When clothing the Bumpkins of Gelvaan I have been deliberate about never using Imogen and Laudna’s colors on them — none of them have been seen wearing purple or black, and their color palettes were designed to be not as bright as Imogen’s and not as dark as Laudna’s. This reinforces the sense that they are misfits in a town that doesn’t want them there. (Although it does make Imogen look like an anime protagonist.) Recurring Matts on this page include Fashionable Half-Orc Mom and Daughter (from page 30), Banjo Granddad (from 36) and fan-unfavorite Doughnut Guy (from 33). :D

Speaking of the Matts . . . I have accidentally done a terrible thing.

When I started planning this story (early-mid 2022) I spent a while considering what the final incident, after a chapter of rising tension between them, that turned the people of Gelvaan into an angry mob against Laudna would be. (This was long before we got the description of events as “I rolled into town . . . and the town tried to roll me out of it, violently.” And while I had guessed that was the case, I didn’t realize it was so immediate, which is why they’ve been hanging around in Gelvaan getting to know each other at a leisurely pace over a timespan of several weeks, haha.) I wanted something more specific than “there’s a witch in the woods and we don’t like that” but “Laudna accidentally scared a kid at the harvest festival” didn’t seem like enough of the reason for them to want her dead. Coming up with incidental things that might happen in an old-timey small town that a witch could be blamed for, I decided on an epidemic of something like scarlet fever.

Now, originally, the only NPCs that had any real definition in the script (apart from the harbingers of doom we saw on the previous page) were Dolores Garrod and her kid, the rest I just made up as I went along to fill out background scenes, and people really liked them so I started including more townspeople and cute kids doing funny background things. Kind of forgetting that the Chekhov's Gun I hung on the wall was going to fire a scattershot.

I promise I did not do this on purpose! I didn’t intentionally invent a bunch of cute kids just to then stab you in the heart by having something terrible happen to them by the end of the chapter. And I promise: Overalls Tabaxi Boy is okay.

[southern-gothic-comic]

Page 3

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(Author Notes)

Panel 1: Imogen enters the market square uncomfortably, avoiding the eyes of the other villagers, who regard her with suspicion or even outright hostility. The population is largely human with a few half-elves and halflings sprinkled in and it’s clear that Imogen’s appearance makes her an oddity. Their thoughts crowd her, painfully, and she can hear what they think of her -- and each other -- without them having to say anything.

Townsfolk Thoughts: There’s that Temult girl what’s she doin’ here? -- Get out of my head, you freak! -- Cryin’ shame, what a waste of a pretty face -- Is she lookin’ at me don’t look at me I got nothin’ to hide don’t look at me -- how long ‘til closing time I want to go home maybe stop at the pub just one pint this time I swear just one Penny and the kids don’t need to know -- Just honest folk here trying to get by -- damn Susannah Mason is lookin’ fine in that tight dress if I weren’t married if I weren’t married I’d -- in MY day these only cost -- such a tragedy for poor Relvin first the wife and now the girl too -- where the hell is the damn squash --

A Mother: (hastily towing her child away) Come on, babygirl. Let’s go.

Babygirl: What’s wrong with that girl, Mommy? Is she bad?

Panel 2: The babel of voices continues as she tries to do her shopping. Someone else counting change beside her is making it especially difficult.

Townsfolk Thoughts: So that’s one silver, four copper, wait, no  -- one silver, six copper and -- heard there was a witch in the woods we already got one witch in town we don’t need another what is Gelvaan coming to -- pears, radishes, goat cheese, ham bone -- purple hair around here somewhere Temult’s girl must be nearby -- don’t think about the thing don’t think about the thing -- fu--!!

Imogen: One silver, six copper?

Produce Vendor: No! I said two silver, four copper.

Produce Vendor’s Thoughts: Girl’s tryin’ to cheat me.

Imogen: Right. Sorry. I wasn’t, honest. Just got a little mixed up.

Produce Vendor: Wasn’t what?

Imogen: Nothin’. Sorry.

Panel 3: She stumbles out of town, holding her head against the pain of an oncoming headache. Her nose is starting to bleed. Instead of heading home, she seeks refuge in the woods, but the clamor drifts after her.

Townsfolk Thoughts:  -- if those goodfernothin’ Fowlers let their dogs on my land one more time I’m gonna shoot I don’t care can’t lose any more chickens -- what’s her problem? -- think the wife knows the wife always knows wish she were dead maybe I should -- oh gods what’m I gonna tell Momma she’s gonna kill me -- don't know why I bother nothin’ to look forward to here not since Janey took my grandbabies and moved to the city got no one left to miss me -- then Clarissa and I could be together -- pennyroyal? Is it pennyroyal? Rue? Can’t ask Aunt Edith for help she’ll just tell Momma -- 

Panel 4: Deeper in the woods, there is finally quiet. She sits on the riverbank with her feet in the water and her head on her knees, exhausted.

Panel 5: Her hand, idling in the sand, finds a smooth river rock.

Panel 6: Imogen puts the rock in her pocket.