Investment Talk: Like issue 1-3, this is a book to buy for art and story, not investment. Though I am fairly certain the print run was really low for this one. Dreamwave was already on the decline at this point, as was the entire comic book industry. So if by some crazy chance these properties get picked up and revamped, the value could go up. Just seems unlikely. I have tried to track down the rights owner many times with no luck. It was once my plan to try to buy the IPs and start a business of my own to revive the Dreamwave line. Not sure I could afford it, but I still try to find the guy that owns it all from time to time. I've just run out of ideas on how to track him down.
The story so far: Belmiro recruited Greyson to join Raithe and the others on an attack against Tessan to gain more soul and power. Spoiler, turns out Belmiro is Tessan and this was all a trap, mainly for Raithe. Tessan's guardian has wiped out the entire group except Raithe, Rosala, Greyson, and Varrus.
The issue jumps straight into the action. Varrus gets impatient and tries to attack Tessan alone. Raithe uses this sacrifice to formulate a plan. Telling Rosala and Greyson that Varrus is already as good as dead so they need to separate and take the guardian alone.
As Tessan easily dispatches Varrus slicing him into many pieces, the other three run off into the catacombs. As planned the guardian follows.
While running off, Rosala disappears, seemingly abandoning Raithe and Greyson. The guardian continues to pursue them to a bridge. This is the only path to the east wing and a choke point of sorts. They had planned to get across and trap the guardian but she is too powerful. She destroys the bridge behind them and they are forced to confront her head on.
Rosala noticed earlier that Greyson was able to slice off one of the guardians fingers. Her attacks have all been those appendages extending and causing mass destruction. When Rosala disappeared earlier it was on purpose to put herself in a position to surprise the guardian. She springs into action when the guardian attacks, this is the only time it is vulnerable. And she was right! Rosala slices off all the fingers this time, rendering the guardian useless.
Tessan shows up. Does the typical bad guy thing and talks a lot. Uses his own weapon to slice his own guardian into pieces and set the stage for the final fight. he is clearly too powerful for the trio of Raithe, Greyson, and Rosala. However, Rosala comes up big again landing a blinding blow, taking out Tessan's sight.
Tessan is still extremely boastful and rightly so. He manages to knock Rosala out of the fight and has Raithe and Greyson down as well. Raithe reveals his plan to be to take advantage of Tessan talking too much! Kind of funny but cliche. It does create the opening though as Raithe grabs hold of Tessan's sword to hold him place while Greyson leaps up and runs a spear through Tessan, landing the fatal blow.
The three remaining victors each receive a portion of Tessan's soul, and power by extension. Clearly exhausted the three decide not to betray each other and instead consider their pact still in place until they can find more vampire lords to slay.
This is how the series ends. At least it was not a cliffhanger! I feel like the series was a bit rushed and condensed in the end. Like they probably knew they were going out of business soon and wanted to wrap it up. Not that it was bad, just short. I really liked the art throughout the entire series. The story was relatively simple but a fun little adventure. There are no real 'Good Guys' unless you consider Greyson good. Though he is literally killing people at the start of the series so... I guess 'goodness' is relative?
It does end like there could be many more battles ahead for the trio of vampires trying to regain their souls. Sadly, this is the last we will see of any of them though I think. Their character development was not bad at all. Again, just kind of short. Like we were just getting to know them and it ended. Greyson is clearly one that wants to be human again and tries to be a lone wolf anti-hero kind of guy. Kills his own kind (vampires) but also kills humans for food. Rosala is somewhat mysterious till the end. She is obviously a seductive vampire archetype but what does she want? We don't really know if she's in this for power or also to regain humanity. Raithe is obviously a powerful character that commands respect. His goals seem to be to take over as head of the Vampires but even that is not super clear.
Overall, I enjoyed the series. It was not as good as the first volume of Warlands for sure, but it was an enjoyable little side adventure.
So what's next? We still have Age of Ice and Volume 3 of the main Warlands saga, as well as the Shidima side story. But I may take a break from this world and read something a little more mainstream next. Something with investment value maybe.
I also need to put more time into working on Titan Climber. But Splinterlands has really been stealing a lot of my attention. Investment and playing. I even entered this weekes art contest with a dragon whelp 3D animated model. Fingers crossed I manage some free packs! 😁
Think that's enough for this post though. Also, still trying to do the 30 day challenge. I think this is day 4.