The Eye of Ramalach

The Eye of Ramalach is an adventure/comedy/drama webcomic written and drawn by Avencri. ID was the intial writer with Avencri. G3off joined as an additional writer on Page 86. ID left the writing team on Page 120. G3off left the writing team on Page 148.

Previously hosted by The Katbox, it is now part of the Kemono Café and Studio Khimera webcomic communities.

Chapter One: The Old Journal
Ronald Rudentof, a researcher at the Hamilton Escarot Museum of Art and History, packing Alexei Rudentof’s, his father, belongings. The vast majority of these artifacts are willed to the museum or placed into storage. The only item of noted interest is a one of his dad’s many journals detailing accounts of his adventures, one of which was named The Eye of Ramalach.

The next morning, Ron meets Mr. Mollery, his father’s executor, to finish the final paperwork and close out the estate. Upon seeing the journal, he does mention that he suspected foul play was involved with his father’s death.

Later at night, Ron is instant messaging with Alex, a female art coinsure and personal friend that sent him a Goth-inspired basket. During their chat, he receives a text message from Ben, a close childhood friend, to meet him outside to go clubbing. During the drive, Ron reminisces about Neon City, there home, and how most of its citizens only care about booze and boobs. He also ponders about the 50th anniversary of Queen Jane’s ascension to the thrown and victory over the Deivons that invaded Fanfolia. These are in addition to the preparations for Queen Jane’s 76th birthday.

After getting into the club, Ben ditches Ron in favor of some avian women but tells Ron to hit on some women and have fun. Rather than taking Ben’s advice, Ron starts to read the journal and completely ignores Avigail hitting on him. Ron had to drive Ben and his lady friends home due to being drunk. While driving, he blames Ben for not hooking him up with any women as he doesn’t believe that he has the confidence with the ladies. Ron had to use Ben’s facilities. Afterwards, he notices a compass on Ben’s table and inquired about it; however, Ben was rather busy with the ladies and told him to leave.

The next day, Ron heads to work at the museum and explains about the booth babes and the crush he has on Marianne that he hasn’t talked to yet during the one year she has worked there. She catches him off guard on news that Peterson, the museum’s curator, assigned them to work on a project for the joint presentation with the Neon City Historical Society. Flustered, Ron heads to his office to clear his head only to have Alex greet him for lunch. At lunch, they talk about his projects and the team up with Marianne and how he needs to live more. After a long day at work, he heads to his house and reads that journal while self-loathing himself for his lack of social skills. Terrato, a clustered of Deivons, emerges from behind the refrigerator.

The next morning, Ron tries to ask Marianne out on a date but is shot down as she has an art history exam tomorrow to study for. Ron offers his assistance and meets her after work at the Sci University library. During the entire study session, Ron spaces out because of several images referencing the Eye of Ramalach. At home, he receives a phone call from a local cable channel regarding an interview for a documentary honoring his father’s legacy.

The next evening, Alysa Fatuli, spokeswoman for the Diverse and Exciting Cable Channel I news team, meets with Ron for the interview. The interview didn’t go over so well in the beginning as he started to reminisce about his father was never truly around, setting off for exploration than raising his son. The interview went better after that until she mentioned that Peterson mentioned that the new exhibit will feature items from his father’s unfinished journal.

Ron meets up with Ben the next day to discuss the interview. While Ben stepped away, Ron reads the next few pages to learn that his father and O’Raely, a close colleague, had a fallen out over mistrust on a compass. The picture within the journal matches the compass found at Ben’s house. Ron confronts him over the compass. Ben finally admits that he stole the compass from his father as they never really got along. It turns out that Ron’s father thought Ben was a bad influence on him. They head over to Ben’s place to grab the compass. Instead of being displeased, Ron is delighted as this compass is the Compass of the Hares, a compass that is legend to point to the Segen Ruins in the Firesands. The Firesands is a country in which its citizens have foregone technology in exchange to focus on harnessing the power of magic. With this discover, he can finally surpass his father in finding the legendary Eye of Ramalach

Chapter Two: Money and Times
Ron and Ben work together on a plan to travel to the Firesands and find the Eye of Ramalach. Ben points out that they needs funding, which Ron dismisses as Peterson and the museum will back them up. Sadly, Peterson denies Ron the funding as the museum is already stretched thin and has no experienced in archeology whatsoever. This forces Ron and Ben to seek other funding opportunities.

At a lunch meeting, Ben shows Ron a picture of Avigail and tells him that she is a daddy’s girl and could be defrauded easily due to her naivety. The plan is to meet her at one of her many parties under the guise that they are a director and stuntman for a movie. Ron would use his charm on her and play hard to get, which does work thanks to Ben constantly dragging him off in the end.

Several days later, O’Raely, an incredibly frail elderly man that used was a former college of his deceased father, calls Ron up regarding that documentary and his mention of the Eye. On news that he may be able to financially assist him in his endeavors, Ron quickly runs over to the restaurant to discuss the matter in person, pumping into Marianne along the way.

At one of her client’s many art galleries, Alex takes Ron aside and warns him that O’Raely might be taking advantage of his innocence and asks about Marianne. Exhausted from the day’s events, Ron and Alex head over to his apartment to unwind and relax together in bed. Sadly, Avigail was already there with a surprise of her own. She snuck in under the guise of being her cousin and prepared to surprise Ron since he hasn’t called her and was playing hard to get. Angered with the interspecies relationship and proposed three way, Avigail leaves. Upset, Ron calls it off with Alex and offers her the spare bedroom.

The next morning, Alex breaks the silence with a cold shower dumped on Ron’s head. While this is going on, Terrato sneaks into Alex’s clothes. While he walks her home, a Silentmen comes on by and sniffs the couple before leaving, freaking these two out.

With the whole scheme with Avigail has fallen through, Ron prepares a presentation to showcase his expedition proposal to O’Raely. After the meeting, O’Raely turns to Gretta on her opinion of the matter. She isn’t impressed with Ron’s proposal as he lacks the experience. He assures her his plan for her team to use Ron and steal the Eye away from him will work.

Back at Alex’s hotel, we see Terrato absorbing Alex’s nightmares in order to gain strength.

Chapter Three: Firesands
In the morning, Alex suspects that her nightmares are attributed to that encounter with the Silentmen from the other day. She calls Ron to see if he knows what’s going on. Sadly, Ron was super excited about his research and went to the museum for some peace and quiet. He overhears a conversation with Peterson and members of the financial staff discussing the possibility that the museum will close down and fire staff as a result of governmental subsidy cutbacks and lack of donations. While he’s conducting his research, Marianne surprises him with a visit, leading to conversations about one another that lasted all day.

After a long day of work, Ron heads home and listens to two of his three voice messages. The first one came from Ben. He chewed Ron out for supposedly paying a hooker for sex. The second one came from O’Raely. He is pleased to tell Ron that he has arranged a dinner meeting with an experienced explorer. The third message came from Alex.

At the dinner meeting, Ron meets Wallace, an experienced explorer with a British accent. With his rather aggressive yet cheery personality, he has no problem calling out Ron’s inexperience and informing him of the dangers ahead of him that include heat, monsters, and traps. After dinner, he takes Ron on a moonlight stroll on the pier to meet the rest of the Bossanova crew.

At one of her client’s art galleries, Alex is celebrating with her client and Ben for selling off his entire gallery. She mentions the Silentman but only receives strange looks. Terrato continues to grow stronger through absorbing Alex’s nightmares.

At 5:00 AM, Marianne angrily storms into Ron’s place and demands that they get to work on their project since she’s been doing most of it. Feeling guilty, he decides to tell her about his the expedition only to be interrupted yet again with a phone call from Alex. She tells Ron about the nightmares she is having and how she knows about his trips to Segen. Marianne tags along and expresses her concerns about this whole expedition as the timing of everything seems too coincidental to not ignore. At Alex’s place, she decides to invite herself on this expedition and pokes fun at Ron and Marianne possibly hooking up if they go together. And while all this is going on, Ben meets up with Avigail to discuss a “movie deal.”

The next day, Ron says his goodbyes to Peterson and Marianne and heads out to go over the expedition plans with Wallace. They’re interrupted whenever Alex and Ben arrive in vacation gear. Ron does an internal monologue to himself of the new adventures awaiting him and his friends.

Chapter Four: Arrival
Mistah Maik, the Bossanova’s Firesands historian, goes over Firesands’s basic history. Also known as Ramel Narif, Firesands is a very religious society that has sacrificed technological developments in exchanged for the ability to harness magic. Fearing of their magical advancements, the leader of Contamanea dumped poison into their rivers nearly 70 years ago in the hopes of wiping them all off the face of the world.

Frustrated with being stuck on the ship, Wallace tries to cheer Ron up with alcohol and talk of the perfect woman. Ron leaves abruptly whenever Alex invites herself into the conversation. Ben, on the other hand, is equally frustrated over not having relations for a while now and embarrassed as all the women shot him down.

After seral days at sea, they finally arrive at Firesands. Guards immediately meet them. Through Mistah and Janine’s translating skills, they learn that their religious leader recently died and that the whole country is in mourning. The entire area has been shut down for at least one month for funeral rights. If they wish to stay, they have to find a foreign run place that would take them in for the duration of their journey. They find such a place and settle down in their respective rooms. Ben and Ron remember how they first met back in the early days and how Ron would help Ben out with his homework in exchange for protection from bullies. Hungry and thirsty, Ron and the gang head out to a restaurant.

At the restaurant, Gretta is there with Pierre and Velia, teammates, enjoying their drinks and keeping an eye out on Ron. Tired of waiting, Pierre takes the direct approach, introducing himself to Ron as Oscar in order to get close to the compass. Oscar is able to see that it’s pointing northeast before Wallace catches him and tosses him out of the table.

After the restaurant, Alex spends some time with Ron, recalling the first time they met back in college. And while those two spend the night together, Pierre, Gretta, and Velia head out to the Gates of Segen.

Chapter Four: The Eye
Ron wakes up from a horrible nightmare. Ben comes in and demands to know who was making all that noise with Ron last night and is shocked to see that it was Alex. Ron tells him that he actually met Alex back in college thanks to a dare Ben made with him. The kept the relationship a secret. Ron wanted a committed relationship while Alex didn’t. As such, they agree to be friends with benefits. Mauling over his dreams, Ron heads into the hallway and bumps into a rather cheerful Wallace. He saw Pierre, Greetta, and Velia leaving early last night out of the northeastern gate. He explodes at Ron on his revelation that Pierre saw the compass last night, shouting at him that he doesn’t trust anyone and that his naivety could have cost them the eye.

Gathering the crew around back, Wallace equips his crew with some secret contraband he had stored away just in case something like this occurred. Now that they’re upgraded, all they need to do is sneak out of the town without drawing attention. Fortunately, Zaira, a local resident, overheard the group and offered her services in exchange for money, guns, and Ben’s jacket. She takes the group to her Khunfus ranch and tags along as the group’s transportation provider and caretaker. The group decides to split up with Wallace, Agrio, Ron, Ben, Alex, and Zaira heading to the Gates of Segen while the others stay behind to keep up appearances.

Meanwhile, Pierre, Gretta, and Velia are already at the Gates of Segen and have broken past all the traps with Pierre’s agility, Gretta’s strength, and Velia marksmanship. They enter the central region to find priest corpse surrounding a veil.

Chapter Five: New Blood, Old Blood
Ron's group finally catches up to their competition after following a trail of trackers that their competition left behind. Alex is rather ticked off with the fact that her dream of a golden paradise in the middle of an oasis to be nothing more than a desolate desert.

Inside, Pierre, Gretta and Velia are in awe at these archaic priests employing a binding circle on a powerful deity to the point where Ron and his crew were able to catch up to them and unleashed a barrage of gunfire, which Velia quickly negated with her marksmanship and multiple arms. Wallace and ben assess their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. At that precise moment, a water serpent emerges and attacks Pierre, Gretta, And Velia. This distraction affords Wallace the opportunity to rip off Velia’s antennas, render her temporarily paralyzed. Gretta punches the water serpent right in the nose, causing her to transform into a bipedal serpent to quickly heal her wounds before returning to her serpent state and shooting a pink gum like substance at Gretta’s right arm, completely immobilizing.

Ron dashes for the Eye; however, an enraged Pierre throws both his shoes at him as a means to slow him down. Pierre sacrifices Gretta’s safety and runs toward the Eye. Wallace blocked the water serpent’s tail attack to safe Gretta, only to open himself up to Velia’s claws and stinger. Ron manages to grab the Eye away from Pierre. As he holds it, a mysterious purple glowing substance emerges from the Eye, knocking him down and going into the scar on his forehead.

Back in the Fanfolian Royal Gardens, Queen Jane stops trimming her garden as she senses something evil emerging. She tells Banon, her servant, to retrieve the Silentmen that sensed that presence around Alex and Ron previously. Meanwhile, Terrato continues to fester under Alex’s bed, growing in size and courage at the awakening of yet another Deivon.

Chapter Six: New Insight
With Ron knocked out, Pierre grabs the eye and boasts with utter excitement over his victory. He quickly orders a retreat. While Velia flees, Gretta stays behind and watches Alex struggling to save Wallace. Gretta grabs Alex and tells Ben and Ron to carry Wallace before the final trap is unleashed. Ron hesitates at first as he is in awe of the water serpent now in bipedal mode. The water serpent ignores him and chases after Pierre and the Eye.

With the water serpent now gone, Ron aids Ben in carrying out Wallace. To keep his mind off the pain, Wallace and Ron talk about the perfect woman. Ron mentions that he has fallen head over heels for Marianne. Before dying, Wallace tells him to take care of her. Ron snaps big time as Wallace’s body starts to sink into the water. Ben punches Ron in the face and flies him to safety.

The water serpent tries her best to stop Pierre but fails. Ben flies right into the water serpent, knocking her out of the Gates of Segen and causing a failsafe that sinks everything into the desert. After everything settles, an enraged Agrio orders Ron to use the compass to tail Pierre; however, the compass only points to the water serpent that’s sobbing in Alex’s arms. Zaira reveals that this compass is actually an enchanted compass that’s commonly used to point to members of a specific family line. With this realization, Ron decides to call the it quits on the exploration and return home. He initially instructs Alex to leave the water serpent behind, which she adamantly refuses as the water serpent is completely helpless and may be able to assist with some more information on the Eye itself. The water serpent uses healing magic to mend Alex’s gun wound on the leg and introduces herself as Mayte.

Upon returning back to their temporary headquarters, Zaira offers some advice to Ron before departing. With no valid leads to go on and with Wallace’s death, Agrio breaks the news to the rest of the crew that they were setting home. Mayte comes with them as she may have some leads and information on the relic; however, she speaks an unknown language and will need time to learn Filia. Exhausted, Ron retires to his quarters to wrap his head around all this and to relax from a splitting headache. Alex comes in to change his bandages and discovers a third eye.

Chapter Seven:
Chapter Seven doesn’t exist. There was a coding issue in which the second Chapter Four should have been Chapter Five, Chapter Five should have been Chapter Six, and Chapter Six should have been Chapter Seven.

Chapter Eight: Ramalach the Deivon Lord
Ron attacks Mayte while Janine is trying to teach her Filia because he believes that she had something to do with the third eye in his head. Janine pulls him off and tries to calm him down. Back in his bathroom, Ron continues to stare at his forehead with a reserve Ben looking at him. Ramalach, the Eye inside Ron’s head, finally reveals himself to Ron, Alex, and Ben. As a result of being constantly taunted, he threatened that they would be dealt a painful death at the hand of the God of the Deivons. Ron was not at all threatened as the God of the Deivons, also known as the Son of the Void, was killed nearly 50 years ago during the Harrowing after levling half of Fanfolia and killing King Xerno. Queen Jane slaughtered the creature and banished him to his realm and has spent her entire life rebuilding Fanfolia. After hearing this tail and realizing that Ramalach is a Deivon, the group decides to keep it a secret as Ron would be killed instantly if the right people found this out.

The next morning, Janine, Mistah, and Ron try their best to communicate with Mayte, which proves rather frustrating due to her immaturity and excitement from years of isolation. After a couple of days of translation, the three finally learn more about Mayte. She was a member of the Maa Tribe that has spent her entire life with her parents and grandparents within the Gates of Segen, protecting the Eye and practicing magic. One night, she was really sick and was taken out of the water with her grandmother so she could be healed. Suddenly, the water turned a horrible red color and killed everyone in their instantly. She and her grandmother were the only ones left; however, her grandmother passed away leaving only her. She stayed to protect the relic and was along until both groups came for the eye. Ramalach laughs at this news as the Maa Tribe were the ones that locked him away. They finally arrive home.

Meanwhile, Gretta drops off the relic to O’Raely. Excited, he couldn’t wait to use the statute for his own twisted means; however, nothing happens. He initially thought that he was double crossed but soon realizes that Ron must’ve done something to it since he was the first to touch it. He employs Terrato to keep an eye on Ron. It refuses and kills itself.

Back to Ron’s group, Ron parts way with the crew of Bossanova. Janine and Mistah wish to stay around to check up on Mayte. Alex decides that Mayte would stay with her despite Ron’s protest. Ben manages to arrange for a fake license for Mayte.

At the apartment, Ron and Ben try to drink their sorrows. Ramalach reveals that, in his prime, he was the master of bargains, offering one’s wildest desires in exchange for their lifespan. At one time, he had 13 Draconic priests in his service until one of Akbar, one of Mayte’s great ancestors and his priest, betrayed him and quite literally stabbed him in the back with a magical dagger that negated his magic. Knowing that he could not die, the Draconic priests sealed him away into that relic and sacrificed their own lives to maintain the spell. Ron’s head now serves as an anchor point between this world and his void dimension.

While all this is going on, Alex bathes Mayte and decides to take her in as she never really had a sister and would love one.She is able to find clothes for her thanks to Ben’s Mementos Box of all the clothes that he kept from all the women he slept with. They join the guys and enjoy a relaxing evening. Elsewhere, Terrato wishes to grow stronger, O’Raely wants more time to live, Pierre gets chewed out from the higher ups for the fiasco in Firesands, and Queen Jane ponders over this presence that she’s been sensing.

Chapter Nine: The Serpent and the Hunger
The next morning, Ron is down in the dumps because of everything that has happened. Ramalach cheers him up with items that were in his treasury that were absorbed with him. Ben works his contacts to see if he can forge some documents for these items.

Meanwhile, Alex takes Mayte to her place. Once there, Mayte transforms into a mermaid. The text disappears whenever a Silentmen is nearby and warns her that magic isn’t allowed within the city. Fortunately, Mrs. Locksworth, one of Alex’s many neighbors offers to help Mayte upstairs to her apartment. Once there, Mrs. Locksworth offers Mayte a pair of pants and explains to Alex what these Silentmen are. Queen Jane created these Silentment after killing the Son of the Voidfor the sole purpose of eradicating any remaining Deivons hiding within the city. Whey they are around, sound goes away, radios and televisions stop working, and magic is negated. Fearing for Ron’s safety, she excuses herself and heads to her apartment.

Once in her apartment, Alex goes to her bedroom for the phone while Mayte enjoys watching some television. Both are cut off whenever Terrato finally emerges and starts to attack Mayte. Mayte manages to kill the Brain with her tail. Despite the initial terror of seeing all her artwork destroyed, Alex snaps out of it and heads to the bathroom to supply water for Mayte. With her new found water supply, Mayte makes quick work of the Torso. Alex realizes that it was Terrato giving her the nightmares and reaches for a taser, which did nothing as Terrato grabbed her hair and slammed her against the ceiling. Terrato unveils his muscles and plays with a laughing Mayte, who transforms into her water serpent state and drags him outside. Once outside, the two continue to fight for over 20 minutes, allowing the bystanders to record this for some the internet. The fight ends whenever the Silentmen arrive and negate Mayte’s magic. They quickly dispatch the Deivon. With the fight now over, Mayte runs upstairs to save Alex from Terrato’s last head and starts healing her. Sadly, the Silentmen stop her.

Chapter Ten: Under the Shadow of the Queen
With all the internet footage, the news picks up on the recent Deivon attack, interviewing several bystanders of their accounts. One of the said bystanders mentions that Mayte in water serpent reminds her of Ogopogo from the Ogopogo and Benji movie. The story shocks Gretta and Velia as they enjoy Gretta’s birthday.

Later that week, Marianne takes her girlfriends out for a night on the town in celebration of getting her cast removed. She hits on some men so as to not pay for the drinks herself and ends up making out with one of them in the car ride home. The next morning, she wakes up at the sound of Ron calling her. Fio, her roommate it seems, playfully teases her about her crush with Professor Goldielocks.

A couple of days later, Alex wakes up in the hospital to see Ron arguing with Ramalach over wasting five days looking over this woman and how Terrato is in fact not a Deivon Lord but an embodiment of multiple Deivons that fused together. Alex’s concern is on Mayte but turns to her leg as she can’t feel it. Ron breaks the news that the doctors may have to amputate it. Ben arrives to also check on Alex. The group concludes that Mayte must be with Queen Jane, and while Ben says they should go see her, Ron has some serious doubts as to what they can do about it. In addition, Ramalach points out that Ron would be killed on the spot as these Silentmen can void magic and sense his presence. Ramalach interrupts his own thought as he feels the presence of another Deivon-like power source approaching. The door opens to reveal Jane.

Everyone is in complete and utter awe of Queen Jane making a public appearance in Alex’s hospital room. Jane was here to check in on her citizens and apologize for the Silentmen’s lack of pleasantries. She offers her friend Mayte as a gift, who is incredibly happy to see Alex and to show off her plushy self. It turns out that the Silentmen took her to Jane, who is delighted at this discovery as her race was long thought extinct. Queen Jane would be more than excited if there were a male for breeding. Queen Jane eases Ron’s concern about the Silentmen and Mayte with news that she has reprogramed them to leave her alone so long as she behaves herself. She also scares Ron with the news that she has unleashed multiple Silentmen across the city to search for any remaining Deivons in public areas only and killing them on site. Queen Jane takes a look at Alex’s chart to see what the diagnosis is. From experience, she knows that each Deivon infection is unique and needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis. She enlists Mayte to use her magic with hers to help Alex. And while the others are amazed, Ramalach is not and warns Ron to not trust her as healing magic could not kill a living infection. Once healed and before leaving, the group bombards Queen Jane with a ton of questions that she answers with small responses. As she leaves, she tells the nurse to check in on Alex once again. In the general area, Banon notices that her leg is bleeding and carries her home.

With everything that has happened, Alex wishes to be alone. Out in the hallway, Ben confronts Ron about his relationship with Alex. Ron tells him that they dated back in college and hit it off quite well since they were complete misfits. Their relationship was kept a secret, and after three years of dating, he proposed as he wanted to settle down and raise a family. She did not. But despite all that, he believes her to be her soul mate and perhaps she’ll change her mind one. Ben cuts Ron off and his BS. He points out all the relationships that he sabotaged over the last two years. The first one was Deya, a dentist. Ron didn’t see it going anywhere after just two dates. The second one was Avigail. Granted that they were kind of defrauding her for the funds, Ron saw her as nothing more than a party girl when, in reality, she’s a nurse at a pediatric hospital. Ben warns that if he keeps this up, he’ll lose Marianne and end up alone. Ben leaves in utter rage, slamming the door behind him.

Once gone, Ramalach pops out and offers Ron a deal. If Ron would allow him to bath in the light of the full moon, Ramalach would grant him the undying love any woman he desires. He first offers Mayte as his first choice, which Ron rejects as he believes him to be joking. He then offers Queen Jane, and Ron gets slightly irritated. He finally offers Alex, and Ron just snaps. Ron doesn’t wish to have anyone manipulated for love as it would be nothing more than living a lie. He warns Ramalach that he’ll turn himself into Jane herself and have them both killed if he ever tries to manipulate anyone.

After that, the party splits up for the time being. Alex would stay and the hospital and enjoy an array of visitors giving her some rather interesting gifts. While resting, Ben would take Mayte back to his place. And Ron would head to the museum to conduct research on how to remove Ramalach from his head.

Falling asleep from hours of research, Ron awakens to see Marianne walking in the hallway. Ron goes to her with a coke in hand to check up on her and ask her out on a date. She initially hesitates but takes him up on the offer.

Characters


Ronald “Ron” Rudentof

Ronald Rudentof, or Ron for short, is the central protagonist of The Eye. A researcher at the museum, he is seen packing up the belongings of his deceased father. During said packing, he finds a journal entitled The Eye of Ramalach. He becomes rather obsessed with the book in and of itself as it was sent to him the day of his father’s death. He does have a social life with his best friend Ben, who often drags him away from his research to party at local scenes; however, he feels sad that people are more interested in boobs and booze than preserving the Neon City’s history. Rather than pick on women as Ben suggests, Ron avoids searching and retreats into his research. He then blames Ben for not helping him out and self-loathes about his lack of social skills with the ladies. He doesn’t make the first move but rather waits for the woman to do so, as seen with Marianne. Ben and Alex often encourage him to live a little. Despite spending countless hours examining the journal, he does make a discovery that provides him an opportunity to surpass his father. Sadly, he lacks the experience needed for funds and resorts to aiding Ben in defrauding Avigail for the funds as a stuntman. He seems rather naïve when dealing with people as evidence with the conversation with Pierre in Firesands. That’s in addition to not trusting people as seen with Wallace becoming enraged as Pierre had the direction needed for the ruins. I almost forgot to mention how heartless Ron could be at times as he was willing to leave Mayte in the desert after the Gates of Segen sank to the sand. He does seem to develop a more suspicious nature during Queen Jane’s visit to the hospital and her ability to heal Alex’s leg.

His friendships with Ben and Alex provide some additional information on Ron. For Ben, they met back as kids. He helped Ben out with his homework in exchange that Ben would protect him from school bullies. To this day, Ben does help him out with life and the ladies, whether it is in the form of encouragement or shouting at him for his stupidity.

The friendship with Alex, on the other hand, is rather complicated. Ron asked Alex out on a date back in college on a dare with Ben. They hit it off pretty well because they were complete misfits. They kept their relationship a secret. After three years of dating, he proposed to her as he wanted to settle down, raise a family, and live a simple life. Alex didn’t. They are still friends with benefits, but he still holds out hope that she’ll one day change her mind.

Alexei Rudentof

Alexei Rudentof is Ron’s father. An extraordinary archeologist, he passed away at the start of the comic after mailing a journal to his son. He was never really around as his work took him to the farthest reaches of the world. In fact, the only real memory that Ron had of him would be at his high school graduation when he said that Ron could not take care of the apartment. He also really didn’t care much for Ben as he saw him as a bad influence and a thief.

O’Raely

O’Raely was Alexei Rudentof’s partner until he passed away. A once thriving and lively anthropologist, he is now a frail old man suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. He even wears a wig since he lost all his hair. Upon hearing of Ron during a documentary dedicated to his late partner, he immediately reaches out to him and plays the dying old man who wants to see this chapter closed before his death card as a way to get the Eye from Ron. He provides the services of Wallace and his crew to aid Ron in his expedition as a means to solidify his dealings with Ron. And while all this is happening on stage, he employs Gretta and her goons to sneak in and retrieve the Eye behind the curtains. He has no problem manipulating people for his personal gain, going so far as to employ Deivons to spy on Alexei and cause Alex nightmares.

Mollery

Mollery is the executor of Alexei Rudentof’s estate. He has suspicions that his client’s death wasn’t natural.

Alex

Alex is one of Ron’s personal friends and on-again off-again girlfriends. She is first introduced as Dark_Diva68 on the instant messaging program back in the first few pages. She is an incredibly talented art connoisseur and representative as evidence with her vast array of priceless collections in her home and ability to sell entire galleries for her clients in a single evening. And while she loves all art, she specializes in the dark and unusual pieces since they provide more flare. She suffers horrible childhood memories of how she was a social outcast and weird thanks to Terrato’s influences. She goes with Ron on his journey to the Firesands because of those manipulated dreams.

Alex met Ron back in college and hit it off quite well since they were both misfits. She really cares deeply for him as he helped her to not care what others think of her. Sadly, she is rather abrasive towards the idea of marriage. She still has an open relationship with him though. Relationship aside, she does care for Ron, looking after him and protecting him from scams while encouraging to him a live a little with her crazy antics and advice.

Alex has a big heart that helps her with new people, such as with Mayte. She is so kind to her that she treated her more of a sister than a complete and utter stranger. During the fight with Terrato, she is thrown against the ceiling. She wakes up in the hospital with her leg in a brace as the doctors feared the Deivon virus would spread. Mayte and Jane were able to heal her.

Ben

Ben is Ron’s best friend. They met back in their youth in which Ron helped him with his homework in exchange for his protection against bullies. He is quite the partier and player with the ability to stack the odds in his favor, such as tipping the bouncer well. He does his best to help Ron unwind with all his research and the ladies. He never really got along with Alexei because of the whole bad influence and thief vibe that he spewed. In retaliation, he took a compass that Ron later learned could lead to the Eye. He happens to know quite a few women, one of which he was able to defraud so that the expedition could be funded. He also knows quite a few disreputable people that can help him out with forged documents. He tags along with Ron on this expedition to serve as additional protection. He has quite the nasty left hook. He called Ron out on rejecting all those women in favor of Alex.

Avigail

Avigail is a partier with vibrant pink hair with blue highlights. She meets Ron at one of the clubs and tries hitting on him with the mention that she is more of a movie girl. Ben tells Ron that she is quite rich since her dad owns a chain of gyms. He does warn him that she is a daddy’s girl that has no problem getting what she wants. They target her to aid in their expedition to Firesands since she is quite gullible and loves it when people play hard to get. She goes so far as to break into Ron’s house to surprise him with some loving. Ben does eventually get the funds from her under the guise of a movie deal. She is a nurse at a pediatric hospital.

Marianne

Marianne is one of the many booth babes at the museum. Peterson assigns her to Ron on an important project for a joint presentation with the Neon City Historical Society. Outside of work she is a college student at the Sci University studying the arts. She enlists Ron’s help for her test studying, which she did not take as she subsequently broke her leg. She appears rather pushy when it came to the project as she is doing all the work. She does show genuine concern for Ron when he told her about his expedition. Upon the cast’s removal, she celebrates with her girlfriends and two guys she picked up at the bar. In between classes and working at the museum, she spends her time painting for the exhibit.

Peterson

Peterson is the curator for the museum. He is the one responsible for teaming Ron up with Marianne for the joint presentation for the Neon City Historical Society. While he is friendly towards Ron and the others, he is unable to grant Ron’s request for funds for his expedition. It’s later revealed that he could not as the museum is short on funds from the government and from low museum attendance. He would hate to fire anyone as he considers the entire staff family.

Alysa Fatuli

Alysa Fatuli is the spokeswoman for the Diverse and Exciting Cable Channel I news team.

Gretta

Gretta is one of Pierre’s teammates and serves as the primary contact with O’Raely. She appears rather snobbish and arrogant towards Ron after his presentation with O’Raely. She tends to enjoy drinking quite a bit. She is the muscle of the group and speaks primarily Spanish. Of the three, she’s the only one remorseful towards Wallace, going so far as carrying Alex outside the ruins.

Terrato

Terrato is the combination of various Deivons that are under the control of O’Raely. Because they are individual units, each one talks to the other. They were sent to spy on Alexei and Ron to see if they had any information on the Eye. They later sneak into Alex’s clothes to spy on her, feeding on her nightmares in order to grow stronger and manipulating her to go with Ron on the expedition. He appears to grow stronger with the passing of each day as he continues to feed off of her nightmares and Ramalach’s energy. Confident that they have grown stronger, the one in O’Raely’s drawer commits suicide. When Alex and Mayte return home, they decide to attack and feed on the both of them. Mayte makes quick work of the first two, the Brain and the Torso, before becoming enraged and throwing them outside. The Silentmen arrive and kill the rest of them.

Frank

Frank is a security officer at the museum.

Lloyd

Lloyd is one of the accountants at the museum that was going over the budget with Peterson.

Wallace

Wallace is the explorer that O’Raely hired to lead Ron’s expedition. He is rather direct and energetic during the dinner, showing off how easy it is to eat a steak half his size and carrying on with grand tales of dungeons and monsters in a British accent of all things. He is the leader of the Bossanova with an experienced team to boot. He rather enjoys his drinks and talking about his ideal woman. He doesn’t seem to show any sympathy towards Ron though whenever he failed to mention that Pierre caught a glimpse of the compass. At the Gates of Segen, he enlists Ben to help him defeat Pierre’s group. He quite literally ripped Velia’s ear right off her head, temporarily paralyzing her. Despite their battle, Wallace does defend Gretta against Mayte’s attack, only to open himself up to Velia’s claw and stinger attack. As Ben and Ron try to carry him out of the collapsing Gates of Segen, he encourages Ron to take care of Marianne and dies.

Inga Belunga

Inga Belunga is the architecture investigator for the crew of the Bossanova.

Janine Lavou

Janine Lavou is the linguistic specialist for the crew of the Bossanova. She tries her best to teach Mayte Filia. She is an avid smoker and may swing for the same team. She sticks around after the expedition to keep taps on Mayte.

Agrio the Third

Agrio the third is the technical specialist for the crew of the Bossanova. He sabotaged Pierre’s GPS equipment. He takes Wallace’s death pretty hard and takes over his leadership role.

Mistah Maik

Mistah Maik is the Firesands historian for the crew of the Bossanova. He too tries his best to teach Mayte Filia. He too sticks around after the expedition to keep taps on Mayte.

Alan “Token” Turner

Alan “Token” Turner is the GPS specialist for the crew of the Bossanova.

Pierre

Pierre is the suave leader of the group. He uses his speed and charm to complete his tasks. He is a master of various dialects and languages, especially French. Wallace recognizes him immediately and tells Ron that he was a former brigand. In battle, he relies heavily on his speed and agility. He lost his cool during his scuffle with Ron’s group and was later reprimanded for abandoning Gretta in favor of the Eye relic.

Velia

Velia is the silent, femme fatale marksman of Pierre’s group. She is quite the shooter because of her four arms. She doesn’t really like alcohol at all. Wallace rips off her antennas during their battles in the Gates of Segen. She kills Wallace with a claw attack and her stinger aimed at the back.

Zaira

Zaira is a local Firesands resident that overhead Ron’s problems of sneaking out and offered to provide him safe passage in exchange for Gennas (Firesands’s local currency), guns, Ben’s jacket, and possible Ron’s hand in marriage. She is the daughter of a Khunfus rancher, which are basically gentle beetles that are used for travel. She serves as the guide and caregiver for the Khunfus. She is the one that identifies the compass as being enchanted to point to a specific family. She also explains how healing magic works. Before departing, she offers some words of wisdom to Ron.

Jane Xerno

In the past, specifically 50 years ago, Jane Xerno was the daughter of the late King Xerno who single handedly killed the Son of the Void and ushered in an era of peace and stability. Dubbed the Green Queen for her gardens and parks, she has worked tirelessly to rebuild Fanfolia for all of her subjects. She created the Silentmen to serve and protect Fanfolia from any future Deivon attacks. Yet despite the years and the stress that comes with the job, she has not physically aged at all.

In the present, Jane senses a Ramalach from Fanfolia and ponders on how to proceed with this new revelation. She introduces herself to Alex, Ben, and Ron a visit at the hospital and offers her sincerest condolences to Alex for the Deivon attack. She brought Mayte back to the group. She is rather excited with Mayte as her species were thought to be extinct. She is hopeful that a male could be found for breeding purposes. She then tells the group that she has unleashed the Silentmen onto Neon City to weed out any remaining Deivons. She somehow heals Alex’s leg, which appears to cause damage to herself. She dodges the group’s questions before leaving.

Banon

Banon is Queen Jane’s royal servant. He seems rather protective of his liege, worrying about her clipping her fingers while cutting flowers and going so far as to carry her from her healing session with Alex. He serves as Jane’s bodyguard.

Avencri changed the name in the middle of the story as people were mistaking him for some kind of demon. Manon in Spanish is big handed guy; however, Mamom is a demon name. To remedy this, he changed it to Banon.

The Silentmen

The Silentmen are green soldiers that Queen Jane created after killing the Son of the Void to protect Fanfolia from any remaining Deivons that may still inhabit her city. They have the ability to negate magic, disrupt verbal communications, and interfere with radio and television. They show little empathy to all those that defy their law.

Mayte

In her past, Mayte was a member of the Maa Tribe that lived with her entire family in the Gates of Segen, training in water magic and protecting the Eye relic. One night, she became ill. Her grandmother took her out of the water so that she could be healed. Suddenly, the water turned a horrible red and killed everyone that was still in the water. This incident correlates to Contamanea dumping poison into Firesands water nearly 70 years ago. Her grandmother passed away years later, leaving her completely and utterly alone. She stayed in the Gates of Segen because she knew her family would want her to protect the Eye.

In the present, Mayte appeared first as a giant water serpent that protected the Gates of Segen from the explorers. She primarily targeted Pierre’s group since they were the primary instigators. She then transformed into her mage state and attacked them all with water magic. She transformed back into serpent mode and shot a pink, sticky substance that incapacitated Gretta’s arm. Her attention ultimately turned away from Ron and his group after Pierre stole the Eye and ran out of the room. Mayte chased after them as best she could but failed. Ben knocked her out of the Gates of Segen, causing a chain reaction that sank it into the desert. She has healing magic and mended Alex’s leg form that gunshot wound. Alone, Alex convinced the group to take her with them as she’s the only one that could help them retrieve the eye. Unfortunately, she speaks a completely different language. Janine Lavou and Mistah Maik tried to teach her English, which proved rather difficult as she was too immature and excited form years of isolation. Once they arrived on land, Alex agreed to take care of her and treated her more of a sister than a guest. While heading home, she encountered a Silentmen and reverted back to her mermaid state. Mayte defended Alex from Terrato and tried to heal her before the Silentmen took her away. Queen Jane reunited her with the group and motivated her to heal Alex’s leg. While Alex is in the hospital, she would stay with Ben.

Ramalach

In the past, Ramalach was the master of bargains, offering to fulfill a person’s desires in exchange for their lifespan. Because of his special powers, he acquired a vast array of treasures and had 13 Draconic priests under his control. His reign came to an end when Akbar, one of the Draconic priests and Mayte’s great ancestor, metaphorically and quite literally stabbed him in the back with a magical dagger that negated his magic. Knowing that he could not be killed, the Draconic priests sealed him away into the Eye relic and sacrificed their own lives to maintain the spell.

In the present, Ramalach managed to escape during the fighting between Ron and Pierre’s group. He escaped into Ron’s forehead from the cracked relic. On the ship, he finally revealed himself and relished in the thought of serving under the Son of the Void, a powerful Deivon. Ron broke the news that Queen Jane killed this Deivon over 50 years ago. Now trapped and completely only, he tries to play nice with Ron by offering him all his treasures that were sealed with him. He is very suspicious of Queen Jane as he has the ability to sense an unusual presence around Queen Jane and of her ability to heal Alex’s leg. He does try to bargain with Ron into allowing him to bath under the full moon by offering to bend the will of any woman to his own desires, which backfires big time.

Mrs. Locksworth

Mrs. Locksworth is one of Alex’s neighbor. She is a kind and pleasant woman that provides a pair of pants for Mayte and explains to Alex the purpose of the Silentmen. She admires Queen Jane since she saved her life some years ago.

Violet

Violet is one of Marianne’s friends.

Fio

Fio is one of Marianne’s friends and roommate. She constantly teases Marianne about her crush on Ron, giving him the nickname Professor Goldielocks.

Sussan

Sussan is one of Marianne’s friends.