Issue 27, Page 19
Transcript
1: A wide view of the three as they stand in the hut.
Julia: These things don’t come for free, I just know it.
Rhoda: What I want, you cannot offer. In exchange for helping you here, I get what I want from someone else.
Mel: And what’s that?
I’m not gonna help you if you’re trying to get some sort of… weapon, or something.
2: Rhoda looks away for a moment.
3: A closer look at her, seeming as sad as she can with her eyes covered. The vague shape of Tazim, looking properly melancholy, is reflected in the glasses.
Rhoda: Someone stole something from me long, long ago.
Something very precious. Something irreplaceable. Something worthless to absolutely anyone else but me.
4: Rhoda’s impassioned speaking.
Rhoda: That same “someone” holds the leash to that thing you are trying to summon. She guards what I want.
She’s not a threat to me on her own, but in the hands of him, she is a weapon I cannot hope to disarm.
5: Melissa perks up; behind her is a vision of The Smiling Man, the grinning black cat she met a while ago.
Mel: That… man.
Rhoda: Yes, him.
Get her away from him and we both win.
No tricks. No bargains with double meanings.
I will do nothing to harm either of you, I promise.
Oooh, nyarlathotep time! Let’s hope not-Rhoda ends up keeping their word.
Now this is getting interesting. It’s making me wonder if Tazim should have this thing back or not.
Also, where was The Smiling Man mentioned before?
He appeared to Melissa in this sequence
http://orderoftheblackdog.com/comic/issue-6-page-16/
He was shown a long time ago, closer to the beginning of the comic. He helped Melissa.
My top guesses (as to the thing Tazim wants) are something, or someone, that they love; or some sort of artifact that they placed a significant portion of their own power or soul into—in a similar manner to what Sauron (from Lord Of The Rings) did with the One Ring.
As for The Smiling Man:
– Issue 3, pages 1 and 24
– Cameo in issue 4, page 23
– Issue 6, page 13 and after