"THE RAMBLER" "Slaying Of The High King" - Part Three Post Two

All four of these frames continue my narration of the Battle of Clontarf with varying degrees of success. The Rambler's sequence with Danny at least now gives the duo some additional purpose rather than simply stay out of harms way; something which they could so easily do if the Beorge Agent just 'jumped' time zones.

Longphort's account of the fighting to Brian Boru is potentially more confusing as their almost 'Homeric' dialogue is crammed full of different notable warriors of the period, most of whom have met some grisly end. Their scene does however reaffirm one of this adventure's central plots, that the High King refused to fight himself during this conflict as, in his mind, it was a day of prayer.

As the Rambler and Danny battle their way through formidable Viking warriors in a desperate attempt to reach Brian Boru, the time-traveller reveals just what must occur in order to ensure the smooth flow of time... 

"THE RAMBLER" "Slaying Of The High King" - Part Three Post One

Rather than simply portray the Battle of Clontarf as a series of panels containing lots of similarly-dressed warriors, I decided to focus on a 'famous' duel between the 'sorcerer' Brodir and Wolf the Quarrelsome. This fight allowed me to include some more interesting dialogue rather than 'charge' or 'die' and continue with my attempt to inform the reader as to whom was thought to be present during the conflict.

In many ways, the Rambler's recovery is admittedly a 'cop out' considering just how bloody his head injury initially appeared at the end of the previous episode. I also don't explain why the time-traveller's opponent didn't finish him off. Suffice to say he was left for dead and then dragged away by Danny. But these events aren't satisfactorily depicted in the panels.

The Battle of Clontarf hots up, and as Brian Boru orders his army forward, the Rambler and Danny find themselves well and truly trapped between the two warring forces...

"THE RAMBLER" "Slaying Of The High King" - Part Two Post Three

This conclusion to Part Two of "Slaying Of The High King" is a little 'choppy' in that I usually like to plot my scenes in pairs or quartets, and yet for this episode I was forced to 'squeeze' up the Rambler's battle with a Viking Hersir in order to make room for Sigtrygg Silkenbeard's speech.

The description of the Viking warrior's armaments, decorations and clothing dye were all historically accurate and based upon archaeological evidence/findings. I always like to include these facts in my stories, and the Rambler is perfectly placed to make such observations. In addition the decoration on the time-traveller's shield is supposedly thought to be similar to that used by soldiers of the time...

With Brian Boru's champion defeated, Sigtrygg Silkenbeard's army launches a vicious attack upon the forces of the High King. Is this already the end of the Rambler..?

"THE RAMBLER" "Slaying Of The High King" - Part Two Post Two

These first two frames quite nicely conclude the Rambler's initial meeting with Brian Boru and help to set-up this episode's cliff-hanger ending, with the time-traveller being nominated as the High King's champion in a personal duel of honour. I did hope to try and capture some feeling of 'David verses Goliath' in the frame where the Rambler is holding his head in one hand as he knows he hasn't got a hope against a well-armed Viking, but I don't think the drawing makes this terribly clear.

The second scene continues to describe the positions of Sigtrygg Silkenbeard's forces, and the army's different units. Admittedly such dialogue doesn't necessarily move the story long all that much, but it does hopefully add to the interest of the period being explored within the adventure...

Armed with sword and shield the Rambler faces a Viking Hersir in deadly close combat, and it isn't the time agent of Beorge who draws first blood...

"THE RAMBLER" "Slaying Of The High King" - Part Two Post One

Despite being a dialogue-heavy sequence, I wanted the opening to Episode Two of "Slaying Of The High King" to not only quickly introduce the man about which almost the entirety of this story's first part had been talking about, Brian Boru. But also establish that despite being a monarch of men, he was (at least according to my sources) something of a peaceful, God-fearing man, who himself didn't wish to join battle on a holy day.

To try and reinforce this somewhat simplistic attitude to the world, I purposely steered away from making the High King look too regal, settling on a simple head-band for a crown and red cloak. Only his blue-linen shirt appears particularly fine (as a result of some texturing over a flat colour), in order to make the garment hopefully stand-out as something that 'bit special'.

As Sigtrygg Silkenbeard continues to manoeuvre his army into position for the battle ahead, the Rambler discovers that the High King's "simple solution" to determining his loyalty is definitely not to his liking...   

"THE RAMBLER" "Slaying Of The High King" - Part One Post Three

Eager to make as much use as possible of at least one of the time-consuming costumes I had drawn for this story, this particular scene features all the 'Irish actors' wearing exactly the same attire; albeit with a few texture tweaks and colour variations. In addition, I was able to include plenty more references from my historical source material, as well as pack the dialogue with even more notable names from the time period.

The final two frames feature a fairly typical ending to so many of my opening episodes, where the story's main characters encounter their adventure's 'nemesis' and are immediately threatened with instant death. I really like this sort of cliff-hanger, although this one lacks the opportunity for the central protagonist to make some sort of pithy retort, even if at times that simply consists of "Gibber."

Facing instant death, the Rambler has but one chance to live by seeking out the protection of the High King himself, Brian Boru. But will such an act save him from so determined a bodyguard as Longphort..? 

"THE RAMBLER" "Slaying Of The High King" - Part One Post Two

This particular sequence starts off with both the Rambler and Danny having already arrived in ancient Ireland, and seemingly in mid-conversation. I've always liked doing these sorts of 'entrances' as I feel it gives the illusion that the characters may well have been on other unseen travels beforehand; albeit the lead protagonists' identical clothing from the previous story would suggest not...

There's a lot of dialogue taking place in this scene, but its predominantly used to further describe the circumstances within which the time-travellers have found themselves. Indeed, this four-parter is actually a very action-packed affair once the 'main playing pieces are all aligned', but until then there's a lot of historical scene setting required.

Playing the part of an Irish Cleric amidst a troop of blood-thirsty warriors, the Rambler's ruse is soon unsurprisingly discovered. So just how will the Earth time agent escape his summary execution at the point of a sword.!?!"