And Ashley leaves us with a weekend cliffhanger on whether she just killed her husbando to prove us all wrong or...

And Ashley leaves us with a weekend cliffhanger on whether she just killed her husbando to prove us all wrong or Darkest Paul just got stabbed in the back...

user leaves us without having unsounded in the subject line

Sorry. It was my first time doing this.

I can't delete it. Wat do?

Rahm saved the day I bet. Somebody had to. Fuck.

Or maybe it's that guy in the background working pymary behind Chorley's back

nothing, It's fine but unsounded makes it easier to find the thread for future reference

The DIRECTION the blood spatter is going makes me think it's not coming from Bastion. But I'm not a fucking CSI shitter so of course nobody should take my word as truth.

Yeah. It was a dumb-dumb moment for me, especially since that's how I find the thread to begin with. Won't happen again.

It's hard to tell.

Open up a major artery and stuff comes SPURTING out like a broken faucet. So it could conceivably spurt upward, do a parabola, and land.

On the other hand... it really does seem like it's coming from both above and in front of Bastion. The knife was at his chin when we last saw it, so presumably, if he'd been stabbed, it would've been on his throat.

One thing I want to point out is that the man working pymary behind Chorley... his pymary glow is yellow. And Chorley's lenses in the 6th panel has a faint yellow glow. I almost wonder if they weren't... forcefully exploded on his face. That could explain the blood.

There's blood on the bridge of his freaking nose so yeah no way it's coming from him

If Bastion's on a khert line when he offsets in the real world, how does Murkoph do it when he offsets while in the khert-- a place where no pymary can be cast?

clearly Darkest Paul > Bastion even with his cheap trick. Hopefully that isn't Paul's blood.

Murkoph is fucking weird and we have no idea about anything related to him, that's how.

So did Bastion's leg make it out of the offset, or is it his turn for dismemberment?

Reposting here
>Duane, what annoyed you about your brother most? Did he have any annoying habits?
>Ach, Lemuel is an enigma; betimes the very model of Aldish propriety and at others as barbaric as a Tain. He has served the Cooperative well with his absolutism against the Crescian and Mmatont, but he brings this same fierceness to bear in internal dealings with the Gefendur. It is dangerous to hold such savage sentiments. The Gefendur are our brothers as sure as I am Lemuel's, but he will not see them as such. The Foi-Hellick Affair struck him hard, much harder than it did myself, but he was much younger when he was flung into that fire and he burned for much longer. The war smelted him; cast him into a certain shape. I do not judge him poorly for it, but I fret over the paths down which it may drive him in the future. I pray his hot head cools.
Lemuel had a motive to aid in Duane's death. He probably wanted to spread the weeping plague to Gefendur like the others.

It looks like his entire body was ejected out. He should be intact.

RIP Dankest Paul

I'm more worried about the cut on his chest. That was the weapon he was attacked with isn't it? And he's not just bleeding there, he's smoking from those cuts.

Shit, that's a good point. And I thought that was blood Darkest was rubbing between his thumb and forefinger, but... it might not be after all.

my bet is Maur decided to step in. He's not going to stand by idly in the background while his dear friend Bastion gets mind-stabbed.

>You want Delicieu? He never left the nest. Ask the birds, they'll take you to him. They'll show you your future.

What did he mean by this? Murkoph? Something like him? Murkoph delighted in the suffering of others, maybe that was a natural conclusion to Delcieu's work with pain?

>The bird's only held us back

Has Darkest ever even fucking MET Ilganyag? He's the newest Black Tongue, right? And she's been gone for a while. At the very least he can't have spent much time around her, so this seems like a highly presumptuous thing to say.

"He never left the nest."

...is it possible Delicieu is Murkoph? Or rather, Murkoph is a fragment of Delicieu's soul? That he's... a part of him, the worst part, the part that's sadistic and obsessed with pain?

holy shit, you came to the same conclusion right before I did.

Not just a dear friend. Bastion was like a son to Maur. However, I just don't know if Maur has it in him... then again, it's the quiet and meek ones who surprise you.

No, he's the only member who hasn't. She jumped ship just before he joined so he took it very personally. Ashley answered this on her tumblr recently in a question about his age.

Nah, Murkoph is far too old for any of that.

I'm betting there's a dead body of Delicieu somewhere that the birds go and peck on.

He's dead or lying in a coma in some forgotten corner of Juste

fucking newfags

Thank you for the hi res, based user.

I've been here for years, it's just literally the first time I ever made a thread here.

Well perhaps they're connected in some way.

>Darkest Paul just got stabbed in the back...
Nah, I don't think that would generate the expression on Basiton's face.

I think Paul's head got asploded.

he was talking about darkest.

I believe user is saying Darkest Paul is a fucking newfag with the way he came in most recently and acts all uppity, thinking he knows better than the old guard.

Though your sudden defense at being called a newfag no doubt telegraphs your true status.

>I think Paul's head got asploded.

At least then we won't have to see that stupid tattoo anymore?

Joking aside. I think it was Chorley who hit the bucket. His glasses have a faint yellow glow to them, like someone's about to cast pymary on them.

...I also wonder if it isn't possible that the Lady decides to reappear at this exact moment to wreak vengeance on the interlopers and awe among her followers.

I am not a smart man.

But, this was already obvious.

He's got as much in him as any blacktongue, enough to cut off his own balls and burn them. Even Darkest Ballless still has that amount of determination.

What happens if the blade falls onto Bastion?

It would be very painful.

There's a difference between mutilating yourself and killing someone else, though. But your point is taken. You don't get into the Black Tongues if you lack a certain amount of... gumption.

Well, it wouldn't fall from a great height, and the way the blade is designed, it probably isn't balanced in such a way that it would go blade-down. So... it might scratch/cut him again on a fairly superficial level, but probably won't spill his guts.

Rest in piece, Paul.

May the khert take the memories of the monobrow and nothing else.

RIP Paul.
There's no way the entire Order is happy with the situation.

>You will first sign a waiver.

Fucking lawyers.

So do we get to see the satisfying conclusion to whatever just happened and whoever saved Bastion or at least a fight during which there's some dissent about what to do, or is Monday going to be a scene change?

>Darkest Paul
>Shows up for one chapter
>Becomes a full-blown meme printing press
>Dies before the chapter is over

Oh, shit, guys, Darkest Paul isn't Bane. Darkest Paul is CIA.

Considering how deliberate the cliffhanger setup is it could easily be either.

mr chorley, I'm Black Tongues

Thanks for that Bastion gooch, Ashley.

I am legit disappointed we didn't get to see more.

> A blade to pierce flesh and mind at once.

You cut his mind while cutting up his brain? The mind part doesn't sound very useful.

I think it means they can get the memories into a form they can use, since all those go into the khert upon death if you died normally.

The Black Tongues use "mind" and "soul" interchangeably. The blade cuts the soul and you bleed out memories, which are lost forever. It's a handier, more damaging version of Ruckmearkha's venom.

So as Bastion's already been nicked with it, what has he lost?

Why he came into the room? How to do long division? What actually happened to Delicieu?

-We'll find out what he lost if he gets outta this mess.
-He came into the room (and to Juste in the first place) because Rahm said the Black Tongues were fucked, and Bastion needed to see why.
-Use the calculator app on your phone.
-Delicieu went to the birds.

what if he cuts him and he forgets the alphabet

So, he definetly got implanted into Delicious Lizard, and the birds ate his body? Thanks for the confirmation, Ash

>"What's that thing I needed to say to the khert?"
or >"Did I sing them the song yet?"
or >"Why am I naked?"
or >"What HAPPENED to my testicles?!"

>What actually happened to Delicieu?
Dead as fuck if what Bastion said here is to be believed. But I bet his memories, soul, or whatever got thrown into Prakhuta and Cutter's the shit we ended up with.

What's your favorite theory Sup Forums has come up with for things? What about the fanbase in general?

Ashley when are you going to try pegging?

I'll bet she can't reveal it because her favorite theory is some completely ridiculous and 100% correct thing somebody speculated on.

She's admitted as much.

I thought she said all our theories were typically 100% bullshit.

Probably the theory that Murkoph is Ssael. It would explode Duane's head if it was true, and the idea of it delights me.
No one's ever guessed the biggest story twists. I do a lot of misdirection to make certain theories seem very obvious when they're not correct at all. There is some minor stuff I've seen that's been guessed right. Like we all know Toma and Elka aren't REALLY dead.

When is bastion going to get pegged by a dick?

>Like we all know Toma and Elka aren't REALLY dead.

And then you post the next page and it turns out that Bastion was saved by a zombified Toma.

>Like we all know Toma and Elka aren't REALLY dead.
>the misdirection runs so deep that Ashley will blatantly lie about the plot on a Laotian Puppet Forum

Nice try.

If Duane found out conclusively Murkoph were Ssael or someone else similarly evil and terrible how would he react? Would he take it upon himself to become the next Ssael and overthrow him in the spirit of the Ssael he knew or would he completely mentally shut down?

Ssael straight up talked to him as a kid, so more like "deny the validity all evidence that contradicts his preexisting beliefs"

Well that gets us into the entirely separate theory that Duane HIMSELF is Ssael. I mean he is the ultimate Ssaelit. If Ssaelism had a single religious head, Duane would be the Ssaelit version of the old slur, "More Catholic than the Pope."

Yes, but what would the ultimate Ssaelit do when confronted with the fact Ssael is a twisted psychopath? Have a breakdown at the fact that his god who he loves more than anything is a lie? Or follow the spirit of the scripture and do his duty to remove the evil god and replace it with a new one?

>duane gets a chance to kill an unjust god
Jesus can you imagine his glee.

Pretty sure he'd only feel glee if it were the Twins. If it were who he had considered to be his god he'd feel deep sorrow and anguish.

Unless there was another weapon introduced in the scuffle, the magic blade doesn't cut like other blades as you can see from Bastion's injury on his chest.

The deeper one believes the more betrayal will unleash the fury.

I think Duane will not overcome that. Ssael seems to be the only anchor he still has. Taking that away will set him adrift.

Nah I agrer. Seems more like Paul's head got popped.

2BH m8 Ashley did not confirm Murkoph was offsetting, did she? Just a smiley face and ambiguous answer.

He might not necessarily be offsetting but it was likely the inspiration for Bastion given to him by Lady I. Since Murkoph has been trapped for Ssael knows how long he couldn't have witnessed it "first hand" probably it was relayed to him by Lady Blacktongue as one of her many inspirations given to her sons.

>a blade to pierce flesh and mind at once

Putting a few things together:
1)Delicieu made a map of the soul
2)Efefefpheby venom cuts apart memories
3)using a map of the soul and the efefefeefefeefphy venom the black tongue are going to take apart Roger
4)Duane is a soul in a corpse (chapter 10 page 45 "Soul whole")
5)That knife can kill Duane

Calling it now, this knife will be very plot relevant and at some point an attempt will be made to use it to kill Duane

>that knife can kill duane
oh shit, I don't know if kill is the right word for what it would do but that's pretty major

I mean in theory couldn't you "kill" duane just by damaging his body enough his soul loses grip on it? I suppose then that goes into stuff like exactly how his soul is bound to his body though.

How much damage does it take to "kill" a Plod anyways? Can you just break their skull and be done with it or do they have a weak point/core that needs to be broken to kill them off? Or are they like old school Zombies that will keep crawling at you with severed fingers and other body parts?

With traditional plods, the enchantment is in the mask so they'd be done once that's taken out.

Duane has no such limitations as far as what's been seen up until now. He tanked Stockyard's painmask entirely and the only thing that caused him actual genuine harm was getting shanked with a First Material weapon.

In theory, shouldn't the khert have reclaimed him if he was walking around in it? If his body's what prevented that then maybe destroying that or severing his connection to it would kill him.

If not... what if something about the way his soul or spirit or whatever is set up prevents the khert from reclaiming him at all? He'd be effectively immortal.

Spitballing ideas- Bastion somehow did a similar thing to Uaid in that the Khert now sees Duane (Or just his soul) as pseudo-First Material and actively avoids touching him. Could be the same for Sette's diggin' hands.

his eyes suggest he is experiencing mindshattering pain. he would be staring in shock at Darkest if the latter had been hurt.

Are you for real? Let's wait for the next page, eh?

Hate to be the asshole but while I appreciate a busier thread a lot of recent posts come across as dumbasses just needing to get hyped by absolutely anything.

There's 100% no way you can tell exactly what Bastion's expression is about yet.

Unsounded Heroes are weak to magic daggers.

He can still be touched by pymary, so doubt it

I agree maybe about a similar thing to Uaid in terms of parts because Duane can just pop a body part on and it's part of him now, whereas other plods don't really seem to get repaired and they run down (possibly it's just not worth or too hard to repair them).

But I don't agree Duane is isolated from the khert because he uses it all the time, still has an active connection in pymary and is affected by pymary, and even has a special connection where he trips the khert open every night.

>100000 degree knife vs pretty boy

Actually, Bastion straight up said offsetting is impossible himself, so him being on a khert line might be a different trick all together. it's hard to say, since Bastion is the kinda smug asshole who would laugh sarcastically agree about something being impossible while still doing it.

either way, this is an interesting insight on how Bastion does that trick. Seems like he breaks his whole body down into it's fundamental aspects, and shifts them all to a different location to be reassembled. kinda horrifically dangerous, but it's also the kinda trick that a Jet like bastion might have a knack for once they figure it out.

My bet is it's the bureaucrat fucker. He's the one one that told Darkest Paul not to kill him, he's the the one doing all the talking and the last face we see other than bastion, and he has a high collar, possibly hiding an Efheby bite mark

Or it coulda just been literally any other Black Tongue mad about Darkest Paul, the newest member, getting all big in his britches and trying to start shit in their hallowed halls in a time of turmoil when their former leader just died

>when DARKEST PAUIL soundly beats you

He's a pain-inured wright.

Uh, you don't get to leave the Order.

What makes you think he hasn't already?

I agree with these two anons. I'm still hoping the Delicieu we've met is actually the lizard granted a soul, rather than just the original bodyjacking. But a dead body wouldn't really count for much in either case.

Huh, on her tumblr, Ashley referred to Duane as "possibly the most powerful creature on the continent".
Wonder how hyperbolic/joking/intentionally misleading/"as far as Bastion knew" that was.

Delicious Lizard doesn't seem much like Delicieu beyond a deep interest in pain.