That sounds like a tale Best left unsaid. As in, he tried to keep it in his pants, around the sisters, but he couldn’t kick the habits. Or, he thought they called themselves a holey order.
She probably is from Frigg’s old cult. Once the priestlord was taken out (or rather the nun animating him), everything probably changed for the better, and now they’re all straight up crusaders.
Interesting idea, but I doubt that Rachel would recognize Frigg and the others wouldn’t if they were just normal users in a regular run game. Either they’re NPCs/denizens of this dimension/whatever, or they’re another group of people trapped. If they think that Frigg is a part of the game’s lore or whatever, then the other two should be recognizing the party too.
Well it seems that Rachel is the only one wiht proper sight to them at the moment. E-Merl has his back to them and I think Scipio might be more interested in his drink….plus he sort of looks like the type of guy who isn’t easily impressed.
Will I have to eat my words come next page? Stay tuned.
Oh no, it’s a more competent version of themselves. Looks like one of them transporter accidents.
Their nun is prettier and more compassionate with a sexy Marilyn Monroe mole on her cheek, their elf is more dashing and friendlier, their fighter better armoured and tougher looking and finally they’re so cool they have no need of desert dwarves or gnomes. Plus they exude the confidence and flair of a group that has never known defeat. Whatever shall come of this?
I really am wondering if Byron and crew are well and truly incompetent.
So far they’ve succeeded at…what, killing the leader of a religious order who captured one of their teammates who, let’s not forget, BURNED DOWN THEIR CHAPEL? Saving some kids who…at least that one pirate leader kid didn’t seem that unhappy in the first place? Vaguely supporting the kind of douchey government with political intrigue? Failed at stopping a volcano from exploding and sort of causing its explosion? DIED after failing to broker a peace agreement? Allowed a great hero (Yes, Best did a lot of heroic stuff) to die ignobly?
Damn, the way they’re working out, I wouldn’t join their party if you paid me to. Heroes? More like…something that rhymes with heroes but is negative. Sorry, I have zero things I think of that fits here.
Of course this is a bit different. These guys were never supposed to be super soldiers or anything. We’ve gone and systematically dismantled all of the “Friendship, honor and goodness lead to victory” type notions. Their quest is quite blatantly more than they can handle, but they’re still doing it because it needs to be done, or because the pay is right depending on where we are in the journey. A sizable failure rate is quite natural. We’re kind of giving the guys room to grow here.
It’s a rag tag group of adventurers and this isn’t a story that interprets that as a superpower. To get to the top you gotta work your way from the bottom.
Plus, if it really IS an MMO, anyone who’s played one can tell you the first to do raid encounters generally have a low success rate until the strats are discovered.
And by MMO, I mean one with a difficulty level higher than WoW. Like, say, Everquest.
Normally in fiction a rag-tag group of adventurers is able to struggle through by the skin of their teeth though. If they don’t, they DIE. Which happened to this group, but they got a second chance and…kinda still screwed the pooch on their first adventure back.
And yet Syr’nj still has boundless optimism that they’ll one day be memorialized to such a point that Best will be remembered as the one who saved them over, you know, all the other crap he did.
Shooting kinda high there Syr’nj. Maybe you should aim at saving puppies or planting trees behind lumberjacks first.
She was trying to give peace to a dying man. Not the time for pessimism or practicality.
“Hey, Best! You’re dying man. That totally sucks! Don’t worry though, we’ll try and spread the word about how awesome you were! Like, don’t get too hopeful or anything though. We’ll probably be joining you soon. Dangerous profession and all, and frankly this quest has already killed us once. Just don’t go counting that legacy before it’s hatched is what I’m saying.”
Just doesn’t work quite so well does it? That right there is how vengeful spirits are made.
Their successes are more than you’ve given them. Evil cult beatdowns (Whatever that other cult is, not Frigg’s order), beating down an evil order (You don’t really think they didn’t know that Frigg’s order was evil, do you?), saving a bunch of kids (the kid who was the pirate leader didn’t seem that unhappy because HE WAS THE PIRATE LEADER. The other kids were run-of-the-mill kidnapping victims). The volcano I kind of got the impression was going to be used to summon some evil god or something… It’s pretty clear that the villain there wasn’t just after setting off the volcano based on his reaction). Political intrigue, well, they did their job. We certainly don’t know enough about the politics of this world to make some sort of clear-cut decision as to “heroics” there but they did their job.
When considering their difficulties and failures, it’s worth considering that the CEO of the company that created this world was deliberately setting them all up to be killed.
-nods- Mmhm. I noticed that pretty quick, though it seemed I was terrible at expressing it in my first post. Someone also mentioned further up that there is a fourth cup so maybe Ardaic decided he was going to stick with four this time
No, that should be Scorp*. Could end in -us, -ius, -um, -ium, -ia, -ie, -iea, or any number of other things depending on the exact grammatical usage, but it would definitely start with scorp. Scipio was a fairly famous family, renowned for consuls and generals (frequently at the same time). Famous feats included defeating Hannibal and destroying Carthage.
Fourth cup is Bandit. I’m amazed I didn’t see it before. Only question is whether it’s crazed beserker-infected Bandit or persistent-world-respawn Bandit.
Or both?
Which would probably mean cut to real world on Wednesday and chapter page on Friday/Monday
Remember how Bandit had stolen every single item of worth in the city? This is where we find out she had several scrolls of recall and potions of regeneration on her, but she just never told anyone because she didn’t want to share.
The reason they know Ardaic is that he has a yellow ! over his head, and the cultist they are talking about are the same quest that he gave our party a while ago.
Okay, here’s my theory (which, given my track record, is all but guaranteed to be false):
This is another adventuring guild — i.e., player-characters — who were doing the same quest line given by the NPC, Ardaic. They happen to be more or less consistent roleplayers, actually going to a gameworld tavern to discuss their recent success in character.
Rachel, the nun, recognizes Frigg as another player-character, either because they’d done quests together, or because Frigg is famous from the VR tank experiment. In either case, she’s surprised, because Frigg (and the others) disappeared without explanation.
Frigg doesn’t remember Rachel, for reasons similar to Syr’nj’s surprise that these adventurers know Ardaic: they don’t realized they’re in an MMO, and have forgotten their experiences in the game that precede the beginning of the narrative (i.e., they don’t remember what they did before Chapter One).
Has there been any previous mention of scrolls of recall? They’re a familiar CRPG element, and obviously something supremely useful to have on hand, so it’s interesting if our protagonists have never mentioned them.
One counter-point that occurred to me is that ever since Chapter Nine, I’ve been expecting something from Sepia World to intrude upon the characters and disrupt their sense of reality. I was particularly expecting that to happen with the Basin of Destiny. Yet so far, Arkerra has seemed entirely self-contained.
Time for Byron to hit on a nun…
She’ll have nun of that.
Long as he doesn’t make a habit out of it.
..Why am I shippin Byron with every girl…ah well bring on the harem
What do you call a nun who’s pregnant?
A not very often.
*badum-tish*
But then she’d have a nun in the oven!
And nine months later she’d be a mother superior.
And so we have gone from the Best six feet under ever to Nun of the Above.
A twisted sister?
Well, someone’s gotta fill the hole Best left open, and it ain’t gonna be Gravedust…
That sounded dirtier than I intended…
It’ll end with a bang, not a wimple.
+1
C’mon guys. These nun puns Saint funny.
Good, bad, he’s the guy with the nun.
Have nun, will travel?
That’s the other meaning of a “complete cloisterfuck”
That sounds like a tale Best left unsaid. As in, he tried to keep it in his pants, around the sisters, but he couldn’t kick the habits. Or, he thought they called themselves a holey order.
It’s a close tie, not sure if I like the comic or the horrible, horrible puns from the peanut gallery. Comic, but by a head.
We have peanuts, now? How did I miss the memo?!
Is it just me, or do these guys look a little like the Arkerran equivalent of Ar’a’ad (or however it’s spelled) from Fans?
Hm. Someone who looks like a holy woman but not from the crazy cult Frigg was from? This should be interesting.
She probably is from Frigg’s old cult. Once the priestlord was taken out (or rather the nun animating him), everything probably changed for the better, and now they’re all straight up crusaders.
I keep getting “It’s the ‘other’ gaming group we forgot to tell you about” vibe when I read dialog ;)
Well, the KoA game existed before the immersive experiment, so that’s entirely possible…
Interesting idea, but I doubt that Rachel would recognize Frigg and the others wouldn’t if they were just normal users in a regular run game. Either they’re NPCs/denizens of this dimension/whatever, or they’re another group of people trapped. If they think that Frigg is a part of the game’s lore or whatever, then the other two should be recognizing the party too.
Well it seems that Rachel is the only one wiht proper sight to them at the moment. E-Merl has his back to them and I think Scipio might be more interested in his drink….plus he sort of looks like the type of guy who isn’t easily impressed.
Will I have to eat my words come next page? Stay tuned.
That’s entirely possible. We’ll see if the others end up reacting or not. the names sure sound kind of like they’re user created.
Oh great. Another nun. $10 Frigg tries to kill her before she listens to what the nun has to say.
Sheering out of rage of being replaced or sheering out of being Frigg?
Maybe the nun will explain her glowhammer?
Nunsense! Frigg would never jump the nun on something importnat.
Frigg jumps everything. Force of habit.
I think that smite not be giving her enough credit.
I’m sure she can hammer out a deal.
Oh no, it’s a more competent version of themselves. Looks like one of them transporter accidents.
Their nun is prettier and more compassionate with a sexy Marilyn Monroe mole on her cheek, their elf is more dashing and friendlier, their fighter better armoured and tougher looking and finally they’re so cool they have no need of desert dwarves or gnomes. Plus they exude the confidence and flair of a group that has never known defeat. Whatever shall come of this?
I really am wondering if Byron and crew are well and truly incompetent.
So far they’ve succeeded at…what, killing the leader of a religious order who captured one of their teammates who, let’s not forget, BURNED DOWN THEIR CHAPEL? Saving some kids who…at least that one pirate leader kid didn’t seem that unhappy in the first place? Vaguely supporting the kind of douchey government with political intrigue? Failed at stopping a volcano from exploding and sort of causing its explosion? DIED after failing to broker a peace agreement? Allowed a great hero (Yes, Best did a lot of heroic stuff) to die ignobly?
Damn, the way they’re working out, I wouldn’t join their party if you paid me to. Heroes? More like…something that rhymes with heroes but is negative. Sorry, I have zero things I think of that fits here.
Their bumbling is charming but frightening.
Kind of reminds me of another whimsical adventurer who’s exploits don’t meet with general success.
http://www.halolz.com/2011/04/13/friends-forever/
Of course this is a bit different. These guys were never supposed to be super soldiers or anything. We’ve gone and systematically dismantled all of the “Friendship, honor and goodness lead to victory” type notions. Their quest is quite blatantly more than they can handle, but they’re still doing it because it needs to be done, or because the pay is right depending on where we are in the journey. A sizable failure rate is quite natural. We’re kind of giving the guys room to grow here.
It’s a rag tag group of adventurers and this isn’t a story that interprets that as a superpower. To get to the top you gotta work your way from the bottom.
Plus, if it really IS an MMO, anyone who’s played one can tell you the first to do raid encounters generally have a low success rate until the strats are discovered.
And by MMO, I mean one with a difficulty level higher than WoW. Like, say, Everquest.
Normally in fiction a rag-tag group of adventurers is able to struggle through by the skin of their teeth though. If they don’t, they DIE. Which happened to this group, but they got a second chance and…kinda still screwed the pooch on their first adventure back.
And yet Syr’nj still has boundless optimism that they’ll one day be memorialized to such a point that Best will be remembered as the one who saved them over, you know, all the other crap he did.
Shooting kinda high there Syr’nj. Maybe you should aim at saving puppies or planting trees behind lumberjacks first.
She was trying to give peace to a dying man. Not the time for pessimism or practicality.
“Hey, Best! You’re dying man. That totally sucks! Don’t worry though, we’ll try and spread the word about how awesome you were! Like, don’t get too hopeful or anything though. We’ll probably be joining you soon. Dangerous profession and all, and frankly this quest has already killed us once. Just don’t go counting that legacy before it’s hatched is what I’m saying.”
Just doesn’t work quite so well does it? That right there is how vengeful spirits are made.
To be fair, the quest that killed them had no win condition*, and the last one was screwed up by Best, who isn’t a problem for now.
(* The only way to win was not to play.)
Their successes are more than you’ve given them. Evil cult beatdowns (Whatever that other cult is, not Frigg’s order), beating down an evil order (You don’t really think they didn’t know that Frigg’s order was evil, do you?), saving a bunch of kids (the kid who was the pirate leader didn’t seem that unhappy because HE WAS THE PIRATE LEADER. The other kids were run-of-the-mill kidnapping victims). The volcano I kind of got the impression was going to be used to summon some evil god or something… It’s pretty clear that the villain there wasn’t just after setting off the volcano based on his reaction). Political intrigue, well, they did their job. We certainly don’t know enough about the politics of this world to make some sort of clear-cut decision as to “heroics” there but they did their job.
Are you kidding? Those are the whole reason I’d hang out with ’em! Hijinks an all.
When considering their difficulties and failures, it’s worth considering that the CEO of the company that created this world was deliberately setting them all up to be killed.
They’re gonna die, thats red shirt emphasis you’ve got going there!
I hope not. I’m already hopelessly attached to the Nameless Elf. That vest. Mmmmmm.
Apparently not Nameless. Possibly E-Merl?
Well that depends. Can he be sent AND received?
Probably. With attachments too.
BAM!
Judging by the coat rack I’m thinking he also sports a frock coat and top hat, all in various states of disrepair.
(Note puprle pants-patches match the coat’s!)
*GASP* – PURPLE! as in Daedelus purple… perhaps?? Purple patches and hat ribbon anyway.
not my intention to niptick or anything… but what the hell happened on teh first panel? :o
byron porportions are fucked up and frigg looks like a monkey :(
its strange becasue its not like the drawing guy have had any similar problem with the rest of the story
That waitress’ indifferent look brought him down to size. She was not impressed with what she saw.
Cue Frigg/Rachel pairing in 3… 2….
It’s no wonder they’re unstoppable…if the top hat belongs to that nun.
Wonder if Elf boy is a Best elf or a sky elf?
There’s a smaller cup at the empty chair of that table for four. I’m betting next page, we’ll see Bandit revealed as the fourth member of their party.
New fan here. 1st time posting.
I can’t help but notice that the last panel with the white nun- it almost looks like Marjane Satrapi’s (creator, author, artist of Persepolis) work.
Ah, back to civilization. First thing, gotta check my E-Merl, see if the boss has any news.
Gravedust is actually itching for a half pint of mild and bitter but damned if he’ll let anyone know it.
And then, the nun goes “Yo, Frigg ! Long time no see, huh ? How ya doin’ ?”
Since they’re not ordering dinner I assume they are the rhinosaurii?
*ate
You are what you eat.
Touché.
E-merl?
Death to the users!
ALL OF THEM.
Ohsnap! I just checked the cast page and Ardaic is the dude who was giving the group orders before they died. These are the replacements!
-nods- Mmhm. I noticed that pretty quick, though it seemed I was terrible at expressing it in my first post. Someone also mentioned further up that there is a fourth cup so maybe Ardaic decided he was going to stick with four this time
First time post:
I love that she has the same last name as the lead singer from Opeth :D
Methinks Syr should stock up on some of these “Scrolls of Recall”, they sound quite useful.
On a separate note, I love the emblem on that shield in panel 1. Assuming it belongs to the fellow in the middle.
Sonnuva…I though the name Scipio sounded familiar. Isn’t it Scorpion in Latin?
No, that should be Scorp*. Could end in -us, -ius, -um, -ium, -ia, -ie, -iea, or any number of other things depending on the exact grammatical usage, but it would definitely start with scorp. Scipio was a fairly famous family, renowned for consuls and generals (frequently at the same time). Famous feats included defeating Hannibal and destroying Carthage.
Come to think of it his armour does look slightly Roman.
Ah my bad then, thanks for pointing that out, CC.
Not a problem. Afterall, there has to be some use for the pointless knowledge drilled in by compulsory classics courses.
I keep forgetting Frigg has such a cool surname.
Also, I can’t help but feel like the other adventuring team is a reference to something we’re all not getting.
Perhaps its just me but they all look really familiar as if I’ve seen them in something that is not Guilded Age before.
Fourth cup is Bandit. I’m amazed I didn’t see it before. Only question is whether it’s crazed beserker-infected Bandit or persistent-world-respawn Bandit.
Or both?
Which would probably mean cut to real world on Wednesday and chapter page on Friday/Monday
Remember how Bandit had stolen every single item of worth in the city? This is where we find out she had several scrolls of recall and potions of regeneration on her, but she just never told anyone because she didn’t want to share.
Extending bag of swag?
I at first thought that the nun was Bandits Alt.
The reason they know Ardaic is that he has a yellow ! over his head, and the cultist they are talking about are the same quest that he gave our party a while ago.
Okay, here’s my theory (which, given my track record, is all but guaranteed to be false):
This is another adventuring guild — i.e., player-characters — who were doing the same quest line given by the NPC, Ardaic. They happen to be more or less consistent roleplayers, actually going to a gameworld tavern to discuss their recent success in character.
Rachel, the nun, recognizes Frigg as another player-character, either because they’d done quests together, or because Frigg is famous from the VR tank experiment. In either case, she’s surprised, because Frigg (and the others) disappeared without explanation.
Frigg doesn’t remember Rachel, for reasons similar to Syr’nj’s surprise that these adventurers know Ardaic: they don’t realized they’re in an MMO, and have forgotten their experiences in the game that precede the beginning of the narrative (i.e., they don’t remember what they did before Chapter One).
Has there been any previous mention of scrolls of recall? They’re a familiar CRPG element, and obviously something supremely useful to have on hand, so it’s interesting if our protagonists have never mentioned them.
Makes sense, had pretty similar thoughts.
One counter-point that occurred to me is that ever since Chapter Nine, I’ve been expecting something from Sepia World to intrude upon the characters and disrupt their sense of reality. I was particularly expecting that to happen with the Basin of Destiny. Yet so far, Arkerra has seemed entirely self-contained.
You all realize Best isn’t goin’ nowhere, right? I don’t understand the cheers over his “demise”.
still crying about best… not funny guys!