Before I resume the story of my heroes and one unlucky dragon, I'd like to show how the costumes evolved through the planning stages. The witch was always a short crone, changing from a lethal innkeeper (note apron, cleaver) to a creepy looking sorceress. The last image in her progression is a "curse-free" look from her youth. Most of the art for Laris resulted from armor alterations, settling on a banded suit that has a few too many parts. She has superhuman strength, allowing her to swing the monster-hewing pole axe. I was drawing ninjas before this comic started, so I had a lot of designs for Kinoko. For a hard-boiled mercenary look, I opted for the clawed left hand and military jingasa. A fourth protagonist, and the only guy, was to be an archer wearing chain mail stolen from the Dark Elves.

In the previous scene, Laris smashes the dragon egg and starts the fight. Since my monster design follows the "bird/bat" morphology, the dragon doesn't have any extra arms to catch the animated tree limb crashing down on its neck. I've always favored the dragon model that ILM made for the movie Dragonslayer, where the number of limbs was reduced. In these next pages, you will see how the Impwitch finishes the combat before the beast can recover from the pin down...

In the comic plot, the heroes are dodging a dragon, after stealing a rare egg from the ancient matriarch. However, the perilous encounter is another of the old witch's stratagems, aimed at luring the beast into position...

I refer to the Half-Giantess and the Ninja as the Axemaidens, simply based off the weapons used. Both ladies are equipped for fighting large targets or the well armored Dark Elves. The comic pages are not typical in size, only 18x27 cm at the inked frame.

Like the Tajamul Island data, these scanned pages were on my first web site. I illustrated this manga-esque story to practice comic creation, intermixed with RPG flavor. After a number of months, I retired the idea. Below I have an introduction to the characters, since I started in what would've been the latter half of the story. 

The ImpWitch (Wizard 11/Cleric 4) - A spiteful crone armed with terrible magic and a swarm of Imps from the netherworld. She wants to cripple a powerful clan of Dark Elves, in retribution for acts that resulted in her accursed state. Far stronger in battle than her appearance hints, The Witch has not been defeated since her pact with her demonic pets.

Laris - (Giantess Fighter 8/Elf) A female fighter born from an experiment that combined Dark Elf stock with that of Giants. She was a living commodity, a vessel for granting Elven longevity to future generations, if the Giants paid a price in gold and steel. As the fateful year of Laris' maturity came to pass, the Giants learned that only unnatural magics could mix Elven blood with other, and that they had been deceived with the barren gift. Laris was forced out of the tribe and into the Human world, where she survived as a nameless mercenary. Recently, she crossed paths with the ImpWitch, who offered riches and revenge against her Elven forebears.

Kinoko - A kunoichi (Ninja 7) from a distant land, and formerly a bodyguard to a sea-faring Warlock. However, this Warlock was in business with the Dark Elves, and a target for the ImpWitch's wrath. In a destined fight, Kinoko lost her hand to Laris' axe, but endured longer than her master. Impressed, the ImpWitch spared the girl, although a few secret enchantments were cast to erase certain memories and ensure new loyalty.

The Dark Elves - In this world, Dark Elves are elfkind that relish the power associated with evil sorcery. They formed clans and abandoned the forests, taking arcane knowledge with them that would do more harm than good. The clans gained power through alliances with monster races and greedy humans. The "Fallen Star" Clan is shown in the comic; a treacherous cadre of spellcasters and beastmasters allied with an Elder female Dragon.

The next release of Fight On! magazine will feature my attempt at a dungeon level, the name of which had already been selected. Writing the wordy descriptions reminded me of why I just like to make the cool illustrations. Below is a sneak peek at one of the new creatures, a chimerical beast that is part Dire Tiger, Giant Wasp, and Horned Beetle! I didn't make it really overpowered; the dungeon is only level 6.