Hello, my friends. The terrors that loom within our world is ever-changing and we must remain as sharp, skilled & properly trained for whatever it could possibly throw at us, even as we prepare to celebrate the tricks, the treats and the spooks that comes with the familiarly haunted season. As for our featured heroine, she’ll finally find herself getting molded into the kind of Lycan that she’ll need to become within her own time period and not just in several years down the line. As such, I welcome you all to another entry of…
We’re officially halfway through this spinoff series, so here’s a recap of what’s going down thus far. Cirilla “Cirray” MacKinlay is a Scottish farmgirl who’s been given an arranged engagement in order to provide some financial support to her family farm and even though she was initially hesitant towards it, she does decide to marry James Chisholm. During their engagement party, some notable men within Britain’s high elite such as the head of a shipping company and a high-end member of the country’s national bank are in attendance. After Cirilla returns home however, her family gets murdered by Grim Fang who had followed her from said gathering after looming over her from afar. This encounter triggers her initial transformation into a werewolf and although she’s able to defeat his minions, she’s not able to remotely harm the fiend. Fortunately, a pair of heroic figures were also at her engagement party and were observing her from afar as Silver Mane and Akileo help her out of her predicament. Afterwards, she forgoes her potential married life in order to travel to London with them as they reach a district that’s hidden from humans and is inhabited to various mythical creatures. They ultimately reach the rest of their group which consists of a forging dwarf named Turrorlig “Turri” Crimsonmace, her pet Charginite named Gorge and a dark elf named Elenalue Elwenys as they’ll be helping Cirray prepare for the fight to come. During all of this, certain Britain-based properties are begin decided by Parliament as to which of the aforementioned rich men should acquire it. In addition to all of that, an evil being is freed from his Amazonian imprisonment and is now going to spread its toxic menace. Now that we’re caught up, let’s get to our featured subject.
Published in May 2024, this saw the light of day five months after Night Wolf’s eighth issue came out. Just like the last two chapters, Robert A. Multari handled the story, script and art direction. Meanwhile, Mog Park and Dave Lentz take care of the line art and colors respectively. So how will our main group help our young lady become the fierce fighter that she’ll need to become? Also, how will a looming acquisition within man’s world become important to the grand scheme of this narrative? Let’s rejoin the pack, resume the hunt and find out.
Issue 3 opens within the Avaloch-based pub known as the Dragon’s Tooth Tavern as the business day is slowly winding down, to which Elenalue tells Turrorlig to help their male comrades escort their newest ally to their guest home where she can rest up and begin her training once the morning arrives. While Turri gets excited about showing off her workshop to their new friend, Elwenys quickly gets her refocused upon her assignment. Meanwhile, Cirilla tells Silver Mane about a group of Lycanthropes who’re staring at them. He then mentions that they’re unrelated to the werewolves who mauled her family as they’re from a completely different breed that looks down on them as outcasts. One of them even calls her Monoki mentor “scum” before Cirray asks why they dislike them, to which Silver Mane explains that they don’t “follow their Pagan ways of worshipping false gods”. While she finds it odd considering that he’s a Viking, he mentions that his own people converted to Christianity before he was even born. Once the majority of the group heads outsides, he then brings up the irony in that the Old Gods (like Odin and Freyja) were the same ones that their cousins actually worshipped named Solarian and Essentia. While their names and origins vary between cultures, those beings aren’t Gods but are actually Celestials. Silver Mane then explains that the Gods created the Celestials as servants, but some of them had their own ambitions which caused them to divide into “three separate factions”. There’s the Seraphim who continue to serve God’s Will, the Fallen which rebelled against Heaven alongside their leader Lucifer (thus making angels & demons Celestials as well) and the Mystics who’re neutral to the aforementioned two groups while also serving as Deities towards the planet’s various cultures over the centuries. Turrorlig then mentions that she follows Patrian who’s the Celestial of Creativity and Inspiration as Cirilla then wonders if the group accepts each other beliefs, to which Akileo says that it’s part of what makes Avaloch and other similar sanctuaries wonderful since various cultures can peacefully live together despite their own differences. However, Silver Mane reminds her that there’re those such as Grim Fang who have malice-filled hearts and would absolutely enjoy seeing this safe place ripped apart, to which Akileo even adds that humans would hunt them down and place them in cages if they ever discovered this realm. Silver Mane tells him that not all people bad, yet Akileo says that they wouldn’t be hiding away in this realm and instead would have the right to live alongside the regular populace. Turri even agrees with him since they used to live alongside humans a long time ago before being driven out due to man’s belief of being the dominant species, to which she then mentions to which she then mentions that she’s lived amongst those people throughout her life and that “the common folk” aren’t the ones to blame since the blame is usually on those who needlessly “crave money and power”. While Silver Mane praises her for being “wise”, he then mentions that the human who’re craving power usually makes the common folks’ decisions, regardless of species. Eventually, they arrive at their home known as the Raeth Luwen as Turrorlig mentions that it’s roughly translated from elvish meaning “Outcast Refuge”. She even mentions that Elenalue (or Elena as she called her) gave the place its name since they’re all outcasts before they head inside as Cirray takes in its immense appearance, to which she’s then led to her room in order to properly rest up.
We then shift to the next morning at the Palace of Westminster where Parliament has reviewed the bidding proposals from Alexander Skelton and the British/American duo of Grayson Tyndall & George Peabody. Ultimately, the properties on Old Pye Street, Great St. Anne’s Lane and Duck Lane a.k.a. Devil’s Acre Slums get presented to the Tyndall Shipping Company and his American partner George much to Alexander’s dismay. Afterwards, Grayson and Peabody meet up with Lord Roderick Chisholm as the latter congratulates Tyndall for his proposal prevailing over Skelton’s, to which Grayson then mentions how this will help Westminster’s citizens have better living conditions. Tyndall then invites Roderick to join him and George to a celebratory drink, yet Lord Chisholm politely declines since he has to return to his castle in Inverness in order to properly plan his son’s wedding. Tyndall then mentions that the young man James is more than eager to begin his married life before he then says that he’s looking forward to the ceremony since they’ll be able to share a drink with each other then, to which Roderick then brings up how he’s looking forward to see how those newly-acquired properties will turn out once he returns before taking his leave. Back at Raeth Luwen, Silver Mane escorts Cirilla into the sub-level where he presents her with their own obstacle course which is located within their training room. He tells her that she’s proven her tactical side to him while also maintaining her own wits while fighting the Nuckelavee, yet it was still foolish of her to leap onto the being’s back despite their successful outcome. As such, her mind and body will be further forged upon an obstacle course that he had build with Turrorlig several decades ago. She then begins her session by leaping onto retractable wooden pillars before one of them thrusts into her gut, causing her to fall off onto the ground. From there, she proceeds to have a rough time on the obstacle course as she either gets hit, slips & falls from a great height or even lands face first in defeat.
Elsewhere upon the Winchester streets, a young boy is out for a walk before he’s dragged into an alley by Skelton and asked if he’s found out any useful information. Because the kid wasn’t able to find anything discriminating and was only able to swipe a pocket watch along with “a few Quid”, Alexander doesn’t have any evidence that he needs in order to overturn Parliament’s ruling. The boy (whose name gets revealed to be William Roberts) is then told to not break into Tyndall’s home in order to investigate his belongings since he’ll mostly like get axed off, in addition to his manor and estate being heavily fortified. They then enter Avaloch which reveals their true animal humanoid forms before William asks Skelton (whose true name is Xandar) what they should do next, to which he tells Roberts that they must plan and fortify this realm’s defenses while there’s still time. We then shift to Raeth Luwen’s sub-level training course a few days later as Cirray finally manages to make it through in one piece. Even though she’s still exhausted from the whole ordeal, Silver Mane tells her that it’s time for some combat training since their enemies won’t wait for them to regain their strength. He then tells her to pick a weapon for her to use within the combat arena, to which she tells him that she still has her father’s hunting knife before she shows it to him. Although he tells her that it won’t be enough to defend her from bigger melee weapons such as swords, hammers or axes, he’s sure that Turri will be able to make a far-more suitable weapon to her liking along with some battle armor. Until then though, they proceed to into the arena in order to work on some basic skills.
Over at Tyndall Manor located within the London-based Queen Anne’s Square, Grayson is met upon by his lawyer named Lucas Ferrara who informs him that the transfer of property has just been fully registered and notarized which now opens the door for him to move forward with his plans under the guise of his new shell companies along with his American business partner. They then look over a map as Lucas asks him how he’ll clear the residents out since they won’t be give their homes up willingly, to which Tyndall says that he’ll use surprise them through his mounting forces. Once his denizens have finished their task, they’ll navigate the sewer tunnels in order to get the drop on them. Ferrera then asks him about their opposition since they’ll most likely be prepped for him, to which Grayson transforms behind a changing booth as it’s revealed that he’s actually Grim Fang. He then says that Alexander Skelton a.k.a. Xander Scaldtongue can prepare all his wants, but it won’t be remotely enough to stop them. After pulling on a switch hidden within a book that open a staircase to a sub-level, Grim Fang and Lucas make their way down as the former instructs the latter to keep on Mr. Peabody since he doesn’t trust his drones to do so before he then mentions that Avaloch’s residents will ultimately join the Dark Covenant or perish. We then shift to the next day over at Avaloch’s Market District where Cirilla and Turrorlig arrive at an armory store in order for the former to receive some proper battle armor, to which Turri even mentions that she’s made of all them with some help from her pet Gorge and its fellow Charginites. Gorge then gets angry with its dwarf owner as Turrorlig mentions that it’s accusing her of “hogging all the glory” while doing some name-calling as well, to which Cirray then wonders about the Charginites and where they come from. Turri then proceeds to explain how they used to be a common species of cave dwellers and that they used to make their nests near her ancient dwarf civilizations, to which the dwarves would ultimately discover their fire-breathing ability along with their flame-resistant fur. As such, the ancient dwarves would bring the Charginites in as pets before using their flame breaths to help them forge various weapons while also shirring their furs and repurposing them into fire-resistant clothing. However, what caused the species to become far-less common was due to trolls poaching them for consumption in order to keep their bellies warm while they live within cold climates while also poaching their furs for their own flame-resistant clothes. Although the dwarves saved as many as they could, the grim incidents has resulted in the lack of wild Charginites being around for several centuries. Turrorlig then concludes her explanation by mentioning how even though she does argue with Gorge sometimes, she’ll never let anything bad happen to it. She then presents Cirilla with some battle armors for her to try on, yet MacKinlay isn’t entirely satisfied with what she’s been presented with. She then grabs her father’s kilt and asks if it can be incorporated in an outfit that benefits “a highlander” yet won’t tear when she transforms into a werewolf, to which Turri says that it’s inspired her and that she’ll need a few hours in order to make “a more suitable garment” for her.
Later that evening over at Raeth Luwen, Elenalue arrives alongside Xander as he meets up with Silver Mane and Akileo. Silver Mane wonders what he’s doing here and what he could remotely have that would concern them, to which Elwenys says that she’s closed the pub early for a good reason as Scaldtongue mentions how they must put their personal differences aside to order to protect Avaloch from a shared adversary. He then explains that he’s spent the last several centuries guarding the realm from the mortal world and that in order to maintain Avaloch’s secrecy, he’s had to “outmaneuver” them by playing by their own rules and that he thankfully had plenty of time in do so via his control over the British National Bank. Although this scheme had worked for a long time, one of Silver Mane’s “kind” managed to play this game as well by using his own ability to help his shipping company grow in financial and influential strength as he reveals the fiend to be Grayson Tyndall a.k.a. Grim Fang. After transforming into a werewolf, Silver Mane takes offense to the notion of their foe being remotely of the same “kind” since the fiend is a Mongrel while he’s a purebred. However, Xander doesn’t see the differences between the various Lycans before Elenalue is forced to step in and cool their tempers by reminding Scaldtongue that he came here to get their help. Xander then tells the group that Grim Fang has just purchased the ownership over Devil’s Acre (and by extension, Avaloch itself) by using an American partner to bypass the British National Bank and thus, the Dark Covenant’s forces will be mobilizing very soon. Silver Mane then asks him why he didn’t come to them sooner, to which Scaldtongue that he wanted to keep this realm a secret and that he tried to hold onto or reverse the decision. Silver Mane then scolds him on how there will now be innocent blood spilled as a result of this, to which Elwenys then says that further fighting amongst themselves will only bring more dread to the realm’s populace. As such, Xander tells the group that his associates are assembling anyone who’ll help them fight back while the remaining citizens are being led to safety. He also came to Silver Mane for help due to his experience as a commander and a battle strategist, to which the heroic Lycan agrees before he then mentions that Grim Fang’s tactics will be shrouded in secrecy and that he’ll most likely wait until nighttime while also avoiding direct confrontation by entering through the sewers. As such, he then tells Scaldtongue to position his associates on the rooftops and keep watch over the streets as well as any sewer opening. Just then, Cirilla shows up alongside Turrorlig while overhearing their conversation and is now wearing her new battle outfit before she then transforms into a werewolf. Silver Mane then informs her that Grim Fang and his army will invade Avaloch once night falls, to which Cirray eagerly wants to warn the realm’s innocent beings. Xander assures her that they’re already aware and have been escorted to a sanctuary before they proceed to introduce each other. Scaldtongue then mentions in his narration that he recognizes her from the engagement party and that he regrets insulting her father, especially since he was unaware that she’s been brought into Silver Mane’s group and that her present anger towards Grim Fang speaks for what had happened back in Scotland after he left the party. As he takes his leave, he then wonders if he could’ve prevented the tragedy that had befallen unto her. Silver Mane then praises her new outfit before he takes her off to the side for one quick conversation. After they head outside, he says that he would like to bestow a tribal name that properly suits her. With her having a pure heart, her paws being white as pure snow and it reminding him of the freshly fallen show from his homeland, he officially calls her Snow Paw to which she takes an immediate liking to. He then gives her a pair of silver knives that were forged by Turri as a surprise gift, to which she also likes before she then hugs him. They’re then upon by the rest of their allies in order for them to finally engage the approaching Dark Covenant.
And so, Issue 3 ends on Avaloch’s rooftops just after midnight as the group keeps watch over the realm. Suddenly, a group of people emerge from the sewers before they flee in terror as Turrorlig immediately recognizes them as citizens of “the tunnel community below Avaloch”. Just then, Grim Fang’s monstrous armada also pop up in order to begin their malevolent invasion.
Overall, this chapter is filled with compelling narrative progressions that brings the essential details into focus. The reveal that George Tyndall is actually Grim Fang was neatly handled, especially since he was introduced as a noble gentleman who operates a company that would naturally hire and be related to the common/working class man. Not to mention, his Lycan minions lurking on the rooftops during Cirilla’s engagement party most likely served as his way of discovering that she has some noble Lycan blood within her. Not to mention, Alexander/Xander having an initially rude first impression and that he works within a high-end financial institution would make anyone see him as unrelatable at first glance while leaving them unaware until this entry that he’s actually one of the good guys and that he was trying to stop this takeover plot that would pave the way for the invasion of a mystical realm. At the end, it does seem that Grim Fang has also gotten some help from the Amazonian-based terror that was featured in the beginning of the prior issue, especially given the creatures that’re briefly shown. It’s possible that an explanation as to how they joined forces will be given in the final chapter, as well as how he got George Tyndall on board to serve as the key lynchpin towards his purchases of some key properties, thus allowing him to unleash his master invasion plan onto Avaloch. Either way, both Xander & Grim Fang managed to achieve their most significant character development up to this point and it should become interesting as to how their own progressions will ultimately conclude. As for our newly-codenamed heroine herself, she delivers the only bit of “action” that this book has in the form of her many trials upon the obstacle course. This time around, her development is more about receiving the proper training and armor for the final battle while we also get a few more key pieces of this universe’s lore in the forms of the three different kinds of Celestials that’re worshipped along with the dwarves’ relationship with the Charginites. The explanations felt very natural and did a captivatingly good job of expanding upon the vast world that Snow Paw & eventually Rodney’s own cast of characters will inhabit. While there doesn’t seem to be anything significant or greatly revealing that she gets here in terms of personal development, her own character progression continued to be well-handled throughout while leaving her set up for the climactic clash to come. The rest of our supporting players handled their parts with effective ease with both Silver Mane and Turrorlig making significant strides here, given how were the most direct help to our main heroine when it came to getting her ready for the final battle. Despite being present in both the prior issue and this one, Elenalue has been the most lacking member of the team since all we’ve seen out of her up to this point is being the owner of Avaloch’s primary pub and as the cooling mediator once an argument flares up. Maybe she’ll ultimately show some grand worth towards the entire team within the final chapter, but what we’ve been given from her thus far hasn’t helped her stand out a whole lot. As I’ve already mentioned, the story is the book’s strongest feature since the key revelations, sufficient amount of interesting lore and our main character making a major stride towards becoming a supernatural warrior makes this chapter have a substantial amount of narrative meat for readers to eat up. It more than makes up for the limited action as it brings the majority of the relevant plotlines into the light while still leaving a few unresolved for the last entry to deal with. It’s also nicely paced and allows its revelations to be brought to the forefront within a reasonable clip. Every vital character gets plenty of space to further their own development while some important pieces of necessary details get delivered as naturally as it can be, thus making the scenes both informative and entertaining. Finally, all of these elements are able to be brought together thanks to the art work. From pleasant backgrounds and eye-pleasing settings to the presentation of our principal players, Mog Park and Bruna Costa continue to display their dedicated talents across skillful pencils, a wonderful color palette and professional quality detail, they continue to be an eye-catching duo as they translate Multari’s vision into a visually-pleasing experience. All-in-all, this penultimate chapter has brought our main characters, her comrades & our main villain a long way over these initial three issues (which are all worth checking out) and are now set up for a thrilling conclusion. How much of our primary group will survive this ordeal? What will become of the adjacent properties as well as Avaloch when all is said and done? What further revelations will be brought to the forefront? Come back next time as well dig into the final entry for this spin-off tale. Until then, may you stay on the hunt for a good time!
Snow Paw (created by Robert A. Multari) is owned by Lone Wolf Media Entertainment, Inc.
