Mind if I use crayons?

Nope. Use what you like. It's already been colored by our colorist and is up on the Wayfarer's Moon site if you'd like to see what's already been done, but I put it up for people to play with. Who am I to say how to play with your toys? Just don't poke an eye out, and I'd warn against putting the crayons up your nose, since that can be bad.

Don't ask how I know that.

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The ONLY thing I can see wrong is a technical issue with the wound, nothing with the art itself

The area of the chest, and the downward angle (relative to the body) of the crossbow bolt, that wound would be almost immediately fatal. It would've punched through the upper lung and penetrated the arch of the Aorta where it branches into the brachial artery. Just trying to help out with technical stuff, feel free to tell me to zip my piehole

Hehe, yeah - specialized knowledge always makes it harder to put on the suspenders of disbelief. In this case the wound is not meant to be obviously fatal. Of course I could point out that this is a crossbow bolt, and considerably shorter than an arrow shaft, and that we don’t see it go far enough to do the damage we’re talking about. Maybe Wey’re has super elven armor on that stopped the bolt from getting that far. Maybe Elves don’t keep their hearts in the same place humans do. Maybe I’m making excuses.

Don’t stop pointing out thing that you think look odd, but I doubt I’ll be making many changes to existing stuff based on them, unless of course I’ve missed something really obvious that makes everyone stop and say “No way! Now I can believe in elves and magic and Baboon men, but I draw the line at this!”



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You have a few valid points with the excuses but he's got a point for the severity of the damage. Even so, penetration in that area would also effect how the muscles work throughout the shoulder and arm as it would be constricted there or severed outright thus losing mobility and strength. It isn't the sword arm, so not a big deal as long as he isn't unseated from the saddle.

Another point is crossbows would strike with enough force to knock people from horseback so keeping on the saddle itself is no small feat after being struck dead-on with a bolt.

All good points about the anatomy, assuming that elves keep their internal organs in the same place that we do. Since a crossbow bolt is considerably shorter than an arrow, you can assume from what’s shown in the panel that the bolt hasn’t penetrated more than an inch or two so this is all based on the assumption that it wasn’t somehow stopped or partially stopped by his armor. Notice that the quarrel hits him in the pauldron where three layers of leather and fur overlap. I’ll also point out that we haven’t yet established what lies beneath the leather. There is a very good reason why the Mongols wore silk. Silk would catch an arrow that would easily penetrate mail.

As for the stopping power of a crossbow, this is also a good point, but again dependant on the size and weight of the bow. I based these bows on one I actually happen to have access to, as it belongs to my wife. It’s a very nice cherry wood stock with a stainless steel bow covered in hide to make it look less modern. It has a little less than a 50lb draw and can be easily redrawn with one hand when the but is based on the hip, although it does have the foot loop for ease of use. This is a hunting weapon and was meant to bring down birds and the like, not to penetrate 1/8th” steel. It’s penetrating power it still impressive though, and it will tend to go through the average hay bale during target practice, which has resulting in more than a few lost quarrels. All that being said, most of the crossbows referenced in literature on armor penetration and stopping power are based on heavier crossbows than these, which would have needed the foot loop or used a cranking mechanism for drawing.

I decided to give these guys light hunting crossbows both to reflect that they are not actual soldiers, but bandits, and because I had one in my den.



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