The story itself

[cairn destop]

Three years?

Congratulations on that milestone.  Best of luck to your cartoonist and even more success with the game.

[Riff Fox]

Greetings! I just found out about this site having dug up my old copy of the ITE CD and checked to see if the game website still worked.

I've spent the afternoon getting caught up on the comic, and there is one question I've had since the start of this story.  Rif and Rhene are living in the ferret village. Can anyone tell me why, and why they haven't returned to the fox tribe?

I never actually completed the game (though after dusting it off I hope to have another shot at it), so if the answer was there, I haven't gotten to it yet.  :3

..Riff

[AllieFiona]

I'll see if I can persuade Rif or Rhene to tell us why they set up housekeeping there.  Stay tuned.

[WyrmMaster]

Sandy asks a similar question in strip 33 ("Not Here, Not There"). We haven't forgotten -_-

[cairn destop]

Today's strip was a classic parent trap.  Kid asks mother question and mother tells kid daddy will explain it.  Kid asks daddy question and father sends him back to mother.  In computerise, it is also known by the term "endless loop."  If the parents are lucky, the kid becomes so dizzy running back and forth he gives up and remains ignorant.

Don't think our hero is going to be that lucky.

[Riff Fox]

You're such a tease. :3

But anyway. I completed the game finally, so I have a good idea why they're living with ferrets - question yet remains why they didn't go back home.  On that note, where *is* the fox tribe anyway? Seeing as how they traveled for three days to get to the faire, it could possibly be beyond the maps for the game.

Perhaps they're just staying awhile until they're ready to make that journey again. (Ten months is a long "awhile" though)

[cairn destop]

For those, like me, who never played the game, this is a big revelation.  Do wonder if this will have any impact on the game's sales now that the ending has been exposed.

Just one observation.  In the second frame, the fox looks like he has aged twenty years.  His "youth" returns in the other frames.  At least that was my first impression when I saw it.

[WyrmMaster]

I doubt that revealing little tidbits from the game will have any significant affect on sales, which is fairly light anyway.

[Allester]

To answer your question mildly and not reveal anything major. Rif and Rhene stay with the ferrets because Rif is an member of their building guild and therefore given the right to stay with them. It's already well known at the beginning of the game that Rif and Rhene both left the fox tribe to explore on their own. =^^=

Where is the Fox tribe? They're Nomads, the book explains this. They move from place to place like Gypsys, stopping in towns to supply themselves, entertain the masses, and then leave... Okk's fellow boar's like to refer to foxes as nothing but thieves and liars, so many also see them as untrustworthy.

I hope that answers your questions Riff. =^^=

~ Allester E. Darkflame

[WyrmMaster]

Even though the Foxes are nomads, they do have a home territory. I currently place it in the southwestern corner of the island, on the other side of the Elk's forest.

[cairn destop]

Two comments to make.  First is the nice bit of back history.  Enough to entice and yet not enough to reveal.  Momma bear looks nice in her bandages.

Second comment is referring to the previous comment by our host.  Didn't know this took place on an island.  For some reason, I pictured this location as somewhere in the western section of Washington State.  Nothing I can point to with certaincy, just my feeling.  That "feeling" also explains why the fan fiction I'm doing mentions the area around Seattle and Vancouver.

[WyrmMaster]

First is the nice bit of back history.  Enough to entice and yet not enough to reveal.

We will be revealing a little bit more as we answer Mama Bear's question, " How did that happen?"

[cairn destop]

Since I haven't played the game, getting this back history is going to be a nice way of learning about the character's background.  Thing I wonder is how much insight our vixen lady could possibly have.  As a captive, her only knowledge is going to be regarding her accomidations.  Kind of like her telling us the tower was boring.  So unless you intend interweaving things she learned from Rif after the fact, I'm curious knowing how much insight she could offer.

[Lymril]

Actually, you have about 90% of the story in that one strip.  The Orb of Storms was stolen and Rif was accused simply because he was a fox.  I guess even the Morphs aren't immune to racism (specism? Morphism?).  Rif wasn't able to convince the Boars and the Elk that he didn't steal the Orb but he convinced them that he was the best Morph to recover it.  The rest of the game is mostly puzzles and problem solving with very little violence.  It's a shame there aren't more like it.  So why have you never played it?

[Allester]

Heh, but see the point of the game is the characters not the story. In fact you learn a lot about the world and the characters since the story is mostly thrust at you. I do wish there was a bit more information about what the raccoon was going to do with the Orb of Storms. I figured it had to do with the weather, but now where did he learn to use the Orb like that? Where did he come from? Sooooo many plot holes I could fly a squadron of B52 Bombers through it and never hit the sides. Here's hoping #2 has much more story and explination. =^^=

~ Allester E. Darkflame