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Somewhere, there are tales told of legendary warriors who fight for justice and righteousness, who defend the helpless, who have fought to save the very universe itself. And then, somewhere else, very far away, rides the Gentlemen's Ale-Tasting Company. All they want is a steady supply of cool brew and maybe a wench every so often. It isn't their fault the forces of evil keep harassing them... There's the shadowy trollbreed Arjuna; Derric Cloudpiercer, an exiled dwarf; Ferris Alain, once a mighty wizard, now reduced to minor tricks and hanging around with these guys; Kainar, warrior of the Night Folk, and Jaffar Free Edger, on the run from the monastary of a warrior-god, a student whose powerful magics rarely work properly. The fact that they stay alive is nothing short of miraculous. Like Tatterlimbs, this story changes location quite often, so a well-rounded artist capable of handling a variety of situations is needed. A humorous edge is helpful, but as I mentioned, I don't favor the overly distorted slapstick expressions that many manga use in such situations. |
| The following synopsis is provided only to give a very rough idea of the kind of story that is being told; many details are omitted for brevity's sake. Artists who agree to draw this story will be provided with much more detailed scripts. |
| In issue one, the Company comes across a mining village that has been destroyed by a dragon. When the dragon appears, it does not breathe fire, but instead a gas. Derric uses a magical axe which he can command to burst into flames; when he sets it afire, it ignites the gas the dragon breathes. Now the dragon breathes fire, but the fire is linked to the magic of Derric's axe, and turns off and on as the axe is lit and extinguished. Hilarity ensues as the dragon attempts to obliterate the Company while its fire goes on and off; meanwhile, Derric sneaks into the local mine and sets a trap. Luring the dragon into the mine, he manages to get it into a pocket of natural gas, at which point he gets clear of the mine and ignites his axe. The dragon's fire ignites as well, and the mine is rocked by a huge explosion, apparently destroying the dragon. In issue two, the Company arrives outside of Haragar, the city where Arjuna grew up. It is a place of ill repute and debauchery - anything can be had for a price. Arjuna takes the group to an inn he knows, and they settle in. He also takes a moment to slip away and threaten a pair of old childhood enemies. Far away elsewhere, two mysterious figures speak - one is hiring the other to prevent Ferris Alain from finding a certain magical artifact. But Arjuna's name comes up, and that's troubling to the one being hired. After their business is done, she contacts her agents in Haragar and gives them not only the original task, but an additional instruction to kill Arjuna. Soon after, a woman approaches Arjuna's old enemies with a proposition... In issue three, Ferris and Jaffar rise early in the morning and Ferris convinces the other to assist him in his search for Zeerakh's Eye, a magical item thought to be in the city. They leave and wind up at the house of Naktor, an elderly wizard who Ferris worked with in the past. Naktor believes that Ferris has lost his magic, though Jaffar has seen him use magic before. Also at the house is Nyni, Naktor's improbably young and beautiful girlfriend. After getting some information from Naktor, Ferris and Jaffar leave and rejoin the rest of the Company. While wandering through the town, the Company witnesses an attack of a band of hoodlums against a fancy carriage. When the driver offers a reward for assistance, the group enters the fray and drives off the thugs. The driver and passengers are revealed to be pretty women from "Heaven's Gate", a high-class brothel for the rich which is rumored to be able to fulfill any fantasy no matter how depraved. The reward they offer is, ah, free service. The ladies invite the Company to their mansion. Inside, each of the Company is taken to different parts of the mansion, where secret desires are acted upon - well, except for Arjuna, who is led into a dank cellar where some girls attempt to kill him. Arjuna manages to do in his attackers and escape; he sees the rest of the group is okay and decides to hide out for a while. In issue four, it's discovered that Arjuna was not killed, so the women round up the other members of the Company and usher them out while trying not to arouse suspicion. Ferris and Jaffar break away from the group again to try to find Zeerakh's Eye - they trace it to a temple of the god Drovum, whose priesthood Jaffar belongs to. Upon seeing Jaffar, the priests at the temple try to capture him - he is wanted for crimes against the church. Escaping the priests, the pair hook back up with the rest of the group. Arjuna appears, and the bunch of them are attacked by another group of thugs. Once that fight is over, Ferris tells the rest of the group about the item he's looking for, and they all head out to Naktor's house - only to find him dead, and Nyni nowhere to be found. Suddenly, the house is surrounded by the priests of Drovum. The company tries to escape, but are soon being pursued by the priests - and not long after that, a group of female assassins from Heaven's Gate also join the fray, as well as some more thugs from the crew of Arjuna's old enemies. These thugs were the attackers of the carriage, and were working with Heaven's Gate to stage the event, but they lost quite a few men in that incident and haven't been paid what they think is enough. Soon there is a four-way battle in the streets. The local high priest of Drovum has Zeerakh's Eye; it allows its user to see anything he wishes to see. The priest loses the item in the battle, and Ferris grabs it. He nearly uses it to find out who betrayed him in the past, but it is knocked from his grasp by an assassin and goes down a sewer. Eventually the fight breaks up as most of the combatants get killed or flee. The Company dusts themselves off and get ready to leave town in a hurry. In one epilogue, Ferris tracks down Nyni, who is actually a Heaven's Gate assassin, and tricks her into poisoning herself, as revenge for her killing Naktor. In another epilogue, the head of the local Heaven's Gate office is eliminated for her failure. In the last epilogue, Arjuna has managed to find Zeerakh's Eye, which he places in a hidden temple of a mysterious unnamed goddess. |