I will say I wasn’t expecting that group to show up, I was thinking Phantasia and the group would have to use some high explosives (that Theseus no doubt has) to obliterate the ritual. Another well written chapter full of suprises!

Anyhow. I moved things around a bit in upcoming episodes to give me a little room to breath. They were all a bit bulky, either in terms of word count or illustrated scenes. Now I’ve got a little bit more time to work things though! The illustrated bits are coming in #54 (a couple of pages) and #55 (hopefully a whole scene, because it just wouldn’t have the same impact in writing).

Also the events in the next chapter have been a right bastard to edit, since I’ve got to keep in mind what people are doing and how long it’s taking them. The extra time is helping get those in order!

As for THIS chapter… I guess it’s very much transitional, moving the characters from their approach on onto their main objective. I gave Andromeda something to do, since she’d been lacking in that department, although it was only a minor thing and certainly doesn’t show off her abilities – it does set her up for the future, though.

Things to note:
~ It takes Faye less than thirty seconds to reach the church (it’s not that far away) and a few minutes to recover at least part of her strength. A need for recuperation is something she would have planned for. She wouldn’t have returned to full strength, however, only what she deemed necessary for the task ahead. Working on the physical plane is much less strenuous than on the fringe.

~ In regards to how much energy she wasted: recall that the fringe plane is more volatile and rife with strands of contamination. It would be to faeries like standing in a hail storm and Faye opening herself up to all the thoughts around her would be like walking into that hailstorm naked! Phantasia, at least, has had some practise enduring the atmosphere.

~ As for humans walking the higher planes… This tossed up the question of “is it even possible?”. Then I decided “yes, it is, because I said so,” XD I don’t want to delve too deep into metaphysics. The higher planes aren’t physical like ours. They’re reflections. You can’t pick up a stone and bring it back with you no more than you can in a dream. I figured the trade-off for a human walking a higher plane physically, rather than astrally, would be adequate. It drains their spiritual energy because that’s what is keeping them alive there.

Questions to consider:
~ How did Ceres and Korrigan get past a golem?

~ Why is Ms Chiltern so anxious about the whole situation?

~ Is SEELIE/Mr Payne aware of what Faye is doing? Of the students getting involved?

~ Thus far the shaman have been taken out rather easily. Is their strength overestimated?

~ What sort of demon is this Alastor?

And yes, I couldn’t think of a poll question so resorted to that old favourite: the popularity contest!