Ghede: Guerrier Extraordinaire #5: Pages 1-2

Page 1, 6 Panels- Avain's Dhom/Mountaintop Dwelling of Kagu-Tsuchi Panel 1: We start things out with a shot of Ghede leaning out over the front of the railing to the Dhom, observing the scenery with contemplative grace and a bit of exhaustion. You can see, albeit in shadow, Avain at the wheel behind her steering the ship. It's been a mere handful of hours since we last left our two heroes at the end of Issue 4. KAGU-TSUCHI [Off-Panel, translated from Japanese]: How could they still have evaded my grasp?! Panel 2: Cut to a flashback of a previous panel from a few issues ago set a little after Ghede arrived at the In-Between. It shows our heroine flying through the air, confronting the now long-defeated Water Golem while it was at its most lively and fearsome peak. KAGU-TSUCHI [Cont.]: I sent a Water Golem the moment I first spotted her in the In-Between. Panel 3: We move once more to another flashback of a previous panel. This time, from Issue 3, when the Haitian guerrier first took on the long-dead Charybdis. The two combatants frozen in a single moment in time, with Ghede just beginning to swing her mighty Minaj at the imposing monster. KAGU-TSUCHI [Cont.]: I took a Charybdis from its dimensional habitat to attack her ship. Panel 4: We move now to the final set of flashbacks taken around the second half of the previous issue. Here, we see the rush of Ebbos charging the Dhom from the river up ready to attack. KAGU-TSUCHI [Cont.]: Hells, I even brought in those putrid Ebu gogos, adding an enhancement spell to one of them in the hopes they could do the job and get rid of that meddlesome specter. Panel 5: We move to the last of the flashbacks, which is one of the last panels that we enjoyed in the last issue. That on the Dhom of Ghede's sweet blade of Minaj piercing the back of a charging contingent of Ebbos, killing and wounding a portion of them. All the while, you can see more of the small creatures set to attack her from behind. KAGU-TSUCHI [Cont.]: All to pointless futility! Panel 6: Cut to a shot from the interior of the mountaintop dwelling of the Japanese water god, Kagu-Tsuchi. He's a tall, wiry figure dressed in traditional Japanese wear for a man in the 1400s. The color scheme of his robes mixing the light blue of the sea with the traditional red and white found on the Japanese flag. A scar is visible in the middle of his neck, stretching from ear to ear; a vestige of his earthbound death that he holds. You can see him looking down at a screen which, although the reader doesn't know, shows the same type of image that we saw at the beginning of the page. KAGU-TSUCHI [frustrated, to himself]: The Haitian Ghede is proving a far more difficult adversary than I first credited. Page 2, 5 Panels- Kagu-Tsuchi's Mountaintop Dwelling Panel 1-2: A two-part set of panels centered around the same command area that we saw the water god occupy in the last panel of the previous page. This time, we see more of the technological sophistication with screens and radar equipment more befitting a modern 21st century Army installation somewhere in the world. In Panel 1, he swipes away at the image with the same set of motions one would use to unlock a smart phone or move from screen-to-screen. In Panel 2, we see an action shot as he leaves the area toward another unseen area. Panel 3-4: Another two-part set of panels follows our antagonist through a hallway a couple of seconds later that is just outside of the room that we saw in the page's first panel. The steely demeanor is readily visible on Kagu-Tsuchi's face as he moves. In the background, through each of the two panels, we see a cadre of water golems that stretches through both panels, armed with their respective weapons waiting for their boss. Panel 5: Same setting as the previous panel. The layout is different somewhat in that we see the doorway which lies, after a few moments of quick walking, toward another room in the dwelling. From what we see through the limited doorway, as the water god turns toward entering it, has a similar design to a rustic cabin one would find in an outdoor retreat somewhere.