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Well! I finished this comic early on Thursday, and then went home for teh day. Normally I post the comic as soon as I finish it, since I normally finish late on Thursday or sometime on Friday. This time it was still before noon on Thursday, so I decided to wait till I came back to work on Friday morning to post.

And then I woke up on Friday morning and thought “this is a good day to stay home and take it easy!”

Sigh.

About Drudge Angels (taken from the Yeld rulebook):

The Drudge Angel protects her friends with the justice of life, the wrath of death, and the point of her spear. Drudge Angels are servants of the last Princess of Yeld and choosers of the dead, gathering fallen warriors to join the Princess should she one day return. They are warriors who walk between death and life, and between good and evil.

In the final years of the Oathbreaker Rebellion, the Princess of Yeld called upon mysterious powers known only to her to gift her most loyal warriors the ability to walk between the worlds of the living and the dead. These Drudge Angels would guide the souls of the Princess’ loyal subjects to the afterlife and claim the finest of the fallen fighters for their own ranks. Even though the Princess is long dead, her Drudge Angels believe that one day she will return to lead the people of Yeld. Or choose a new Princess who will rule in her place. Drudge Angels are rare, and barely known to the people
of Yeld. Each is chosen by another Drudge Angel at the moment of their death and brought to the mysterious floating castle of Barroh Droh. Once a fortress of the Old Kings, Barroh Droh now floats unseen above the clouds, a training ground and sanctuary for the chosen warriors of the Princess. It is said that in the decades following the Princess’s death, her ghost would sometimes speak to the
Drudge Angels and guide them on quests, or to warriors who deserved to be inducted into their ranks. Those days are long since past. Now, Drudge Angels act on their own, doing their best to guess the will of their long dead Princess and honor her memory. Some Drudge Angels work alone, traveling the Kingdom in secret in search of the next warrior to join their ranks. Others make plans together, secretly aiding the people of Yeld and fighting the forces of Prince Dragul whenever they can.

The powers of the Drudge Angels are mysterious and not well understood, even by the order itself. The word “Angel” is not known in the Magical Land, except in reference to these warriors. Through unknown means, the Princess gave them the ability to step out of life and into death. A Drudge Angel can rescue a warrior from the clutches of the Ghost World, or pull them deep inside that realm. There is an inherent nobility and grace in these warriors, but also a great darkness. The weight of death hangs over each Drudge Angel, and the power they wield wears on their souls. 

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Like a lot of ideas in Modest Medusa, the Drudge Angel came from early drafts of the Yeld ttrpg. It was inspired by the Dragoons of the Final Fantasy series and by Hela from Jack Kirby’s Thor comics. believe it or not, I didn’t think of the Drudge Angel as a Valkyrie equivalent until much later. Drudge Angel was one of teh first Jobs I came up with for Yeld, although it was always designed to be a Job you unlocked later in the game after mastering either White Mages or Black Mages. Their gimmick was that they could use both types of magic, as well as polearms. The updated version of Drudge Angels that you can play now power their Prayer and Wrath magic with good and evil deeds. They are able to step in and out of the Ghost World at will, and bring their allies with them. They wear heavy armor and fight with polearms, which are also the focus for their magic. In limited circumstances they can fly.

I introduced Lady Emmra Bell to the Modest Medusa series late in Season 2 in this strip. Captain Jaspar tells Marah that this a Drudge Angel, who takes the sprits of warriors to the afterlife. We don’t learn anything else about Drudge Angels or see this one again until the end of Season 3, where she shows up to rescue Marah. This Season picks up after that.