But his spirit lives ON and ON and ON and ONNNNNNNNNNNN
’cause theeeeeeey are the cuuultists, my friiiiends
And they’ll keep on… culting to theee Eeeeeeeend.
They are the cultists!
THEY ARE THE CULTISTS!
No time for morals
Cause they are the cultists
Of Arkerra!
Things are becoming quite intriguing. I won’t say I never expected the earlier bit with the cultists to become relevant beyond Iwatani’s deals with them, but I certainly didn’t expect this guy to pop up again.
But at the same time, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense. We know that it’s regret that keeps ghosts from moving on, and Ashok joined a world-ending cult because he wanted friends, and then died in the single most obvious betrayal ever. A lot to regret.
At the same time, the last time we saw him, his body was being sent to another world.
I assumed his soul went with it, but now I’m wondering what the point was of what the cult was doing.
Well they were setting it up behind the stage when Ashok and his bud arrived. Putting it together piece by piece. So I guess you could take it apart and haul it off same same. It was right where that big indentation in the ground is in back of the stage
Ashok made it sound like his initial motivation had to do with his military genius going unrecognized. But I can see how his secret motivation was a search for friendship.
And I assumed his soul was gone as well. Guess we’re learning new things about cyberspace: it’s soul-friendly!
I think his body was consumed in order to create the portal window. His body exploded and pieces of cloth and his remaining blood were splattered on the stone ring. (I tried linking to the page earlier, but that comment seems to have been eaten.)
It was also a bit of poor luck: If pretty much anyone else got chosen, they likely would end up proud of being the main sacrifice, and this guy would have made it out alive. I know being chaotic is part of their whole deal, but they might want to give people a bit of advance notice when it comes to the big sacrifice rituals.
Did you guys know that Sinatra’s “My Way” was actually a cover of a French song titled “Comme d’habitude” (“as usual”).
Interesting trivia : the original French singer, Claude François, is famous for dying one of the most stupid deaths in the history of show business : he tried to fix a lightbulb above his bathtub WHILE he was in his bath.
And that’s how he faced the final curtain !
Oh, for Fuck’s Sake. That IS a stupid death. Was he drunk, or high when he did it? Is there any mention?
…
OTH; Darwin Award!!!!
(Purely for our amusement…)
Nothing to do with anything but your username (in case you ever see this), BUT: I am a rune-caster (one who practices the art of Runemal). I just liked your “name.” Neat-o.
I’m still trying to figure out how death works in the game. Do PCs suffer permadeath like in some sadistic MMO roguelike? Gravedust reviving the core party was portrayed as a huge rule-breaking by the Mystics. And what happens if Bandit’s player suddenly has power loss and their computer dies?
I suppose it’s possible that you simply suffer permadeath and roll a new character, like with tabletop games. The battle of the elven home was an utter massacre on both sides and clearly showed passage of their spirits to the hereafter. However, this was not a background lore event, but explicitly a mass-player PvP event.
By the same token, we have a small number of characters in the narrative whose power level clearly dwarfs that of the common folk – Our Scipios, our Sundars, our HAMMERHEADs and our Auraugus. Yet they are treated as normally as anyone else. I believe they are Player Characters who’ve simply managed not to die yet, and leveled up and grown powerful as a result.
As to Byron, et al, they are clearly special cases. Anomalies. It’s difficult to make a case concerning them. Their very existence has been stated to have some effect on the normal player characters they interact with.
I’ve been assuming that the original band of five adventurers were the characters played by the five in the tubes, and that many of the other, recurring adventurers are “normal” players: E-merl, Scipio, etc. I’ve been puzzled about whether they, generally, perceive something unusual about the original five. I think we’ve gotten that Bandit Keynes has caught on that something strange is going on, for instance.
I am puzzled about how respawning may work, since that’s a common experience in MMO play, but it’s always tricky to roleplay. The trend in MMO design seems to be to flat out ignore this sort of inconsistency in world-building (which most players ignore anyway).
Ashok is a puzzle. At first, I would have assumed he was a PC, but this scenario suggests he’s an NPC. Except, Arkerra seems to be alive, so it’s not that simple — the characters may actually be alive (or in this case, undead).
…Or they might be something like Hotblack Desiato, who spent a year being dead for tax purposes (The Douglas Adams’ book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe). He had to be hooked up to “death support” systems.
Or similar to what happened to Rache Bartmoss in the Cyberpunk RPG (as of the 2020 version). He was hooked up to life support while cruising the Net, when someone finally managed to stop his heart with a security program…He remained half-alive mentally, still hooked into the Net, while his body was frozen by the life support equipment.
In this case of this comic, perhaps if someone dies in the game, the stasis tubes keeps the body “alive” while the mind remains hooked into the game. Since their minds have perceived their own deaths in-game, they manage to find a way to communicate with the living by using the rules & parameters of the game itself to make contact.
But then again… too few to mention.
I “did” who I had to “do”; I saw it through with their extinction.
And bad mistakes. He’s made a few.
He’s had his share of sand kicked in his face, because that’s how they filled the grave in.
Err. The record shows he took the blows and got splattered all over the place.
Comme d’habituuuuuuuuuude !
But his spirit lives ON and ON and ON and ONNNNNNNNNNNN
’cause theeeeeeey are the cuuultists, my friiiiends
And they’ll keep on… culting to theee Eeeeeeeend.
They are the cultists!
THEY ARE THE CULTISTS!
No time for morals
Cause they are the cultists
Of Arkerra!
(stomp stomp clap, multiple time)
Gravedust Gravedust
Dwarf-dude
(…gotta keep it going, even if it requires another/the next part (depending on if you know they used to be one song))
Well, sure, but that one doesn’t start with that line o.o
Ah, but it’s about quality, not quantity.
HA! It’s that guy! Guess offing him to feed to cyberspace wasn’t such a hot idea after all.
The importance of being Frank.
I mean, he doesn’t have a strong Will. I mean quite Franklin he has a lot to make up for.
I’m Ashoked he even bothered to show up at all.
Things are becoming quite intriguing. I won’t say I never expected the earlier bit with the cultists to become relevant beyond Iwatani’s deals with them, but I certainly didn’t expect this guy to pop up again.
But at the same time, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense. We know that it’s regret that keeps ghosts from moving on, and Ashok joined a world-ending cult because he wanted friends, and then died in the single most obvious betrayal ever. A lot to regret.
At the same time, the last time we saw him, his body was being sent to another world.
I assumed his soul went with it, but now I’m wondering what the point was of what the cult was doing.
And what, might I ask, led you to believe that the nihilists were doing something that had a point?
All for show! Yes! All for show!
H.R. seemed to think so. Plus, nihilism doesn’t exclude having goals and motives. Just a difference in one’s perspective on their importance.
What I’m wondering is what happened to the portal, that didn’t really seem like something you can just pack up and move.
Well they were setting it up behind the stage when Ashok and his bud arrived. Putting it together piece by piece. So I guess you could take it apart and haul it off same same. It was right where that big indentation in the ground is in back of the stage
Ashok made it sound like his initial motivation had to do with his military genius going unrecognized. But I can see how his secret motivation was a search for friendship.
And I assumed his soul was gone as well. Guess we’re learning new things about cyberspace: it’s soul-friendly!
I think his body was consumed in order to create the portal window. His body exploded and pieces of cloth and his remaining blood were splattered on the stone ring. (I tried linking to the page earlier, but that comment seems to have been eaten.)
Nice to see the cultists’ practices come back to bite them on the ass.
And somehow my new randomly-selected gravatar is appropriate.
indeed it is. Quite so.
It’s always nice when that happens.
Wait, is that the guy “you” stabbed in the back?
in fact, i think that’s the exact face he made as he did it XD
Rom: Yep, it’s really the same (dead) guy. Check out the tags on the comic, it has his name.
It was also a bit of poor luck: If pretty much anyone else got chosen, they likely would end up proud of being the main sacrifice, and this guy would have made it out alive. I know being chaotic is part of their whole deal, but they might want to give people a bit of advance notice when it comes to the big sacrifice rituals.
It’s good for the cultists to have such a helpful doorman.
..or in this case, doormat.
No, see, I said ‘doorman’, because he was used to make a door to another realm, and…
…
…
… Never mind.
My brethren do not understand complex puns. They only care for eating.
I want this guy to be named Frank now…
And to you, good Sir, I answer “Ni” !
But it’s only for your gravatar, really.
Personally, I’d be interested in some Oz-some shrubbery… Y’see, I am not afraid of pruning shears, as (at most) they only inflict flesh-wounds.
pfft. for such terrible references i fart in your general direction ;P
I’d like to think the “ha ha” was a Nelson Muntz laugh. A full Nelson if you will.
…
No regrets.
All gnolls sound like Nelson don’t they?
Haa!…
….Ha!
I think this pun-string only rates a half-Nelson. Sorry.
That ghost flipping Gravy the bird in second panel is killing me :D
Great stuff.
Same here, loving it :D
Just about had a caffeinated sinus drench because of Panel Two :-D
Ouch. Be glad it wasn’t carbonated…
the plot thickens
As does pudding, while you’re cooking it. Hey, doesn’t that old phrase seem significant here? After all, the proof IS in the pudding…
Looks like we will be able to hear The Diary of “And Frank”
Regrets, he’s had a few? Ok guys, lets do this!
And now, the end is near.
And so I face the final curtain.
Did you guys know that Sinatra’s “My Way” was actually a cover of a French song titled “Comme d’habitude” (“as usual”).
Interesting trivia : the original French singer, Claude François, is famous for dying one of the most stupid deaths in the history of show business : he tried to fix a lightbulb above his bathtub WHILE he was in his bath.
And that’s how he faced the final curtain !
Oh, for Fuck’s Sake. That IS a stupid death. Was he drunk, or high when he did it? Is there any mention?
…
OTH; Darwin Award!!!!
(Purely for our amusement…)
Apparently he wasn’t high or anything. He was just an incredible stickler for details, and he couldn’t stand seeing that lightbulb askew…
So, while in his bath, he faced his final shower curtain?…
Longest character intro EVER.
Chapter 22 for those who want to read it over again.
“I can’t tell you how much I regret my last words being all about how I could never kill the dude that was currently killing me.”
love the second panel in the background. Can just imagine him “I’m doing it as hard as I can!”
Nothing to do with anything but your username (in case you ever see this), BUT: I am a rune-caster (one who practices the art of Runemal). I just liked your “name.” Neat-o.
Well thank you ^_^
Wait, so is Ashok a PC or an NPC?
I’m still trying to figure out how death works in the game. Do PCs suffer permadeath like in some sadistic MMO roguelike? Gravedust reviving the core party was portrayed as a huge rule-breaking by the Mystics. And what happens if Bandit’s player suddenly has power loss and their computer dies?
I suppose it’s possible that you simply suffer permadeath and roll a new character, like with tabletop games. The battle of the elven home was an utter massacre on both sides and clearly showed passage of their spirits to the hereafter. However, this was not a background lore event, but explicitly a mass-player PvP event.
By the same token, we have a small number of characters in the narrative whose power level clearly dwarfs that of the common folk – Our Scipios, our Sundars, our HAMMERHEADs and our Auraugus. Yet they are treated as normally as anyone else. I believe they are Player Characters who’ve simply managed not to die yet, and leveled up and grown powerful as a result.
As to Byron, et al, they are clearly special cases. Anomalies. It’s difficult to make a case concerning them. Their very existence has been stated to have some effect on the normal player characters they interact with.
It’s a puzzle.
I’ve been assuming that the original band of five adventurers were the characters played by the five in the tubes, and that many of the other, recurring adventurers are “normal” players: E-merl, Scipio, etc. I’ve been puzzled about whether they, generally, perceive something unusual about the original five. I think we’ve gotten that Bandit Keynes has caught on that something strange is going on, for instance.
I am puzzled about how respawning may work, since that’s a common experience in MMO play, but it’s always tricky to roleplay. The trend in MMO design seems to be to flat out ignore this sort of inconsistency in world-building (which most players ignore anyway).
Ashok is a puzzle. At first, I would have assumed he was a PC, but this scenario suggests he’s an NPC. Except, Arkerra seems to be alive, so it’s not that simple — the characters may actually be alive (or in this case, undead).
…Or they might be something like Hotblack Desiato, who spent a year being dead for tax purposes (The Douglas Adams’ book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe). He had to be hooked up to “death support” systems.
Or similar to what happened to Rache Bartmoss in the Cyberpunk RPG (as of the 2020 version). He was hooked up to life support while cruising the Net, when someone finally managed to stop his heart with a security program…He remained half-alive mentally, still hooked into the Net, while his body was frozen by the life support equipment.
In this case of this comic, perhaps if someone dies in the game, the stasis tubes keeps the body “alive” while the mind remains hooked into the game. Since their minds have perceived their own deaths in-game, they manage to find a way to communicate with the living by using the rules & parameters of the game itself to make contact.