I dunno, I kind of get the feeling she won’t take “No” for an answer regardless of who it comes from. This doesn’t seem like it’s going to go anywhere good.
Sorry. That may have sounded like I was calling you out, which wasn’t what I meant. I’m just really goddamn tired, and could have made the joke better.
Puffy red eyes. Not conducive to a logical, scientific viewpoint. Not to mention that on further questioning, she’d know he was dead before “incompetent” Bandit had a chance to kill him. To quote Luke and Han … I’ve got a baad feeling about this.
actually she knows from past experience that when he is berserking he can both be brought back, and is screeching. Also I dont believe syrnj has ever been shown to compromise a situation due to her emotional state. If she was truly being ruled by her emotions she’d probably be yelling at gravedust instead of angry that he doesnt even want to try due to indecision.
Never shown to let her emotions get in her way? You mean besides the part where she was so furious, so disgusted with her own people, that she was perfectly willing to let Graiya use her to commit genocide, up until Byron talked her down?
“Perfectly willing” seems a bit like a mischaracterization when you’re essentially possessed by the still-living arm of the most powerful druid who ever lived.
Obviously, Syr’nj had some anger toward her people, but I highly doubt she would have opted for genocide had she not been influenced by the rage and disgust of a being far more powerful than herself. Virtually a god.
But maybe you interpreted that scene as Syr’nj having much more autonomy than I did.
That’s a really good point.
I wasn’t really buying the “too distraught to think straight” line, a bit too obvious… but the good old oakish lack of compromise, single-minded pursuit of the logical conclusion… yeah, that works.
But then, she’s only wrong about “incompetent”. Bandit really was secretly hating on Byron, she’s a zerk-bigot.
Who saw him dead, though? Prior to his engaging Bandit, I mean. The only appreciable difference between Arena-Berserker Byron and Village-Berserker Byron is that the latter is infecting people. The chest wound the cult leader gave him isn’t visible in the pages following the sacrifice. The only cultists present when he turned was the leader and H.R., both of whom are gone in one way or another. The next time anyone even remotely reliable saw him was when he attacks the village.
Bandit claims to have killed him. His only wounds, particularly the most obvious gaping ones in his back, came from daggers. Syr’nj has witnessed him in berserk mode, and saw Bandit on top of him and stabbing him. She did arrive before Bandit had taken him down.
From the lack of contradicting physical evidence, the most logical assumption is that 1) the cultists kidnapped Byron and triggered his berserker state. 2) Berserk Byron then infected other people(berserker status being contagious is at least suspected, if not confirmed by the characters). 3) Berserk Byron engages Bandit. 4) Bandit kills him.
The idea that he was literally sacrificed and stuffed full of rage spirits or what have you isn’t a conclusion Syr’nj can reach based on the evidence she has. It’s also pretty obvious both prior to the incident and in her rant after the fact that Bandit didn’t trust Byron or believe it possible for him to be cured, so an assumption that Bandit screwed up the antidote, ignored it as a solution or actively sabotaged it isn’t an entirely crazy notion. Compounding all this is the death toll and berserk infection, which handily eliminates the possibility of reliable eyewitness testimony.
Is she emotional? Of course, and that does affect her judgment. But it’s not like she’s gone off the rails and is throwing out hysterical accusations.
The fact that Byron was infecting people isn’t in question. It’s implied at least once that berserker status is contagious(unless I am not remembering it correctly), or at least theorized to be such. No one has witnessed it directly, though.
My point was Syr’nj cannot, with the information available, know that Byron was dead before Bandit was stabbing him there at the end, if that is even the case(kinda up in the air, from my interpretation). To Scipio, Byron would have appeared to be alive prior to him being on the ground unmoving.
It’s also questionable as to how much Scipio can claim to have actually witnessed, given he was fighting for his life against possessed soldiers and cultists, as well as the regular cultists. He doesn’t appear in a single panel, from what I can tell, of the fight between Bandit and Byron. And that’s before or after the large mass of demons was released.
That might be a bit strong. I’m sure Bandit has mentioned by now that she tried the antidote first. Syr’nj did state last page that the Cultists overcame her medications, she’s probably reasoned that whatever they did could make her antidote useless.
Of course, both Syr’nj and even Bandit would probably agree that Bandit is the one who killed Byron. I’m imagining that well she wouldn’t have been happy about it, a less frantic acting Bandit saying “the antidote didn’t work Syr’nj, there was no other way” would have left Syr’nj with a better impression then when she found the lady stabbing the corpse and screaming at it.
I would love to know how Chrissie in sepiaworld is responding to all this. Maybe we’ll get to see some mention of that…
I’m guessing that Bandit’s player is also a bit more cavalier about Byron’s death, because she knows death isn’t permanent. She razzed after Byron PKed her the first time, and as she sees it, turnabout’s fair play. Just PKing someone who PKed her way back.
Except The Five aren’t normal roleplaying PCs, and aren’t going to take that sort of action as lightly as Bandit would.
However, I doubt Syr’nj would believe that Bandit tried to save Byron at all, given the “I’ve wanted to do that for months” sort of finality that Bandit had after Syr’nj pronounced him dead.
Yeah, the player reactions will be fascinating. Of course, if Byron does resurrect, they’re going to want to call bullshit on the game rules. Rachel gets deleted when she dies, but Byron gets an extra life. Again.
plus she didn’t leave behind a body for gravedust to extract her spirit from. maybe while he’s chatting up the cosmos he can be all “hey while we’re on the subject, have yall seen my friend rachel anywhere?”
(and oh god, your icon at this point is just… perfect for the thought)
Guess the only other thing I have to say is that I’m impressed with the level of containment Syr’Nj has on her grief. And I feel for her… even as I cringe.
More to the point, I don’t think Syr’Nj knows about Rachel yet- That was what Gravedust was going to tell her before we got pulled into this conversation.
E-Merl: Rachel’s gone? *falls to the ground sobbing*
Syr’Nj: Ooh, that’s too bad… *taps Gravedust’s shoulder* Don’t you think The Cosmos could help him too?
Gravedust: *glares* I don’t see why not! *grumble* *gestures to E-Merl* Why don’t you come along with us? We’re on our way to see The Cosmos now to get Syr her lover and me a will. I’m sure it could give you Rachel back.
Altogether: Ooooh! We’re off to see The Cosmos, The Curious Cosmos Itself!
There is a story about how the various parts of the human body elected a leader among themselves. The moral of that story is that things that go in must come out, and blackmail can be very effective.
Not strictly wipes, but this is actually his fourth rodeo…. really.
1: his village
2: the players in the arena
3: the players in the trap in the forest
4: the village (again)
The lesson here is, IF Byron comes back, and IF Byron is allowed to lead something somewhere, DO NOT FOLLOW HIM.
Also, I think Syr’nj is mostly pissed at herself for letting him go when she knew something like this could happen.
That last bit is vital. If all it took to handle the problem was a squad of syringe-crossbowomen, then why did she originally think she had to stay behind for some senate hearing? She fucked up badly, more than anyone else IMHO. (Which is why she’s blaming Bandit now.)
Of course, it could be argued that the crossbowomen were so effective only because they arrived when the party was already on its way down, that they wouldn’t have been any use if they’d been there in the heat of the moment, when Byron was banging on the door… but I don’t think I’d buy that.
“In fact, that field leader was so incompetent, that I’m the one who promoted her to that position!”
Blah. I have to give Syr the same benefit I gave Bandit; she should not be expected to act rationally (or not be a bitch) at a time like this, especially since NO ONE here has ALL the facts, (No one who is alive anyway) even though Syr seems to think she does and was at least able to conclude cultist involvement without being there to also see Byron killing everyone.
What if in fact all res healers are bound for hell, for daring to undo the fates the gods have decreed?
Res magic is in fact the highest blasphemy and is powered by demonic forces in the guise of lawfull good just waiting to see the looks on those well-meaning souls faces.
Do a vision quest or whatever to ask The Cosmos for what she wants Gravedust before she decides to try something else to “see if it works”. Like killing everybody who was dead the last time Byron came back in order to reproduce the original conditions as closely as possible. If she had seen the Best clone you’d probably already be dead.
yeah…but that leads to evil science too. perhaps the cosmos is totally cool with me grinding up this baby to make a healing salve. we can just try it and see if we get hit by lightning? lets see how this plays out before guessing whats ok to do. what happened to the asking she mentioned?
he can literally just dial up the mystics can’t he? he talked to frigg’s courage wolf deity easily enough. “try and see if you get depowered” isn’t a good plan for the party…err…cleric thing.
It’s actually a pretty common occurence in science in general, though. Even without an external pressure, brilliant scientists can make reaaaally stupid decisions just because they want to try things.
I am mystified by the number of people who appear to be reading what Syr’nj is saying not as, “ASK THE COSMOS AND FIND OUT INSTEAD OF JUST ASSUMING IT WANTS HIM DEAD” but as, “TRY TO RESURRECT HIM AND IF YOU LOSE YOUR POWERS THEN…OOPS?”
She’s asking him to perform the will of the cosmos. The language is a little awkward, but I think it’s unambiguous with a careful reading:
“‘It was the will of all mystics and the cosmos itself.’ And you performed that will, as is your duty. So why not perform it now?”
Exactly. And it’s pretty clear to me this “will of the cosmos” means “Byron’s resurrection” in Syr’nj’s mind, called a different way to appeal to Gravedust.
So many great discussions on this episode that I can’t choose one to comment on.
I agree with folks cutting Syr’nj slack.
I agree with folks chastising her.
I agree with Gravedust’s calm, but steady resolve.
This is a quinessential dilema visited over and over in fiction that always generates fantastic conversations on intent, fact, morality, and a whole host of other adjoining topics.
At the risk of not only beating a dead horse, but, y’know… doing something else unsavory to it as well, Phil’s putting the Lament to music inspired me to try my hand at it, playing around with LMMS and Audacity. Forgive the crappy-ass quality, I used a headphone mic and the basic instrument library that came with the program.
I think Gravedust is perfectly capable of standing up to Syr’nj. He won’t do anything unless she truly convinces him.
And I think she has a shot at truly convincing, because I’m pretty sure Syr’nj knows Gravedust isn’t going to be swayed by sobbing or yelling. She really does think the Cosmos will have her back on this one.
Seeing how she and Gravedust go about skrying out the Cosmos’ wishes in this matter will likely occupy quite a few panels, and prove most interesting.
There’s also the fact that, despite his resistance, Byron has been pretty much an unmitigated success for the Ebil side o’ things. There’s no reason to expect that they will not continue to try and recreate him in a more willing subject, while Syr’nj loses her only specimen for understanding and defeating the beserker state.
Byron is too valuable for the bad guys to leave alone, but also too valuable for Syr’nj to leave dead. Emotions aside.
Well yes and no. Those are second hand specimens, so they do not contain whatever the cultists used to neutralize the anti berserk drug. Also it is likely that Byron is also unique in how he contained multiple berserk creatures while all the others only recieved one. The are a huge number of variables that cannot be measured through the second handle berserkers.
Bingo. Byron, in this outbreak, is patient zero. Tree of death starts with him…best chance to find antibodies is in him, if we continue the viral pathology analogy.
I also quite like mine. It is so similar to my face when I read some of this stuff. It also adds a certain dry humor to my posts that I love to employ.
I would like to add. Syr’Nj is, indeed, completely consumed by the grief. She should know that there was nothing anybody could do to prevent it. Bandit wasn’t, and never was, concerned with killing Byron. She likes him, he’s her friend. What she WAS concerned about was neutralizing the threat. Ever since the first time that Byron went zerk and KILLED EVERYONE, she knew that Byron was just a ticking time bomb, that sooner or later he would zerk and kill all of her friends again. She even brought it up multiple times, and expressed frustration about how everyone else looked over the imminent threat to all of their lives. They risked everything on the flimsy notion that regular doses of a flimsy little potion that hasn’t had any real testing, because oh my god it’s Byron and we totally have a 100% permanent guaranteed cure. Bandit knew that a potion wouldn’t erase Byron’s core nature, his very essence. So, when he went zerk and was killing everyone again, proving her fears right and everyone else wrong, she was glad that the threat was permanently neutralized. That now something completely unpredictable and uncontrollable that would kill everyone for no reason with no warning couldn’t threaten her friends and herself anymore. The only thing she ever blamed Byron for was willingly putting everyone at risk, but she blamed everyone else for that as well. Kind of a moot point. Syr’Nj knows and understands that. She knows and understands that killing Byron was now the only possible course of action. But now her lover is dead, and that’s the only thing she cares about. And she has power, authority, and access to a high level shaman that has resurrected them before. Cue irrationality.
Still can’t blame her because grief and all, but damn, she’s being a whooooole lot selfish right now.
“By the way, Rachel’s dead, too? Want me to bring her back? Or just the one you were fucking?”
“Dammit, Gravedust, THIS IS ANOTHER PC THAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. Activate the hotkey.”
I dunno, I kind of get the feeling she won’t take “No” for an answer regardless of who it comes from. This doesn’t seem like it’s going to go anywhere good.
6 to 1 that she takes “No” for an answer on Monday. Either from Gravy, or from Mystics & Cosmos Inc.
Then she’ll find out what they do think is actively important and threaten that. Like her own continued active participation/existence.
And, if she does, 6 to 1 she starts building a FrankenByron on Wednesday.
Hey, reanimating the dead is not the same as resurrecting the dead.
She’s a scientist. No matter what her hypothesis, she has to follow the data.
I’m not worried about her scientist side. I’m worried about her “just lost a loved one and clearly not thinking clearly” side.
You think she’s going to impersonate the cosmos in Gravedust’s vision? I would be impressed.
…No.
Whoooooooooo, she’s still really, really grief-raging at Bandit. This…will have ripples. Ripples and ripples.
No need to be sexist … oh, wait. Ripples. …nevermind
Um. we all have the same number of nipples. #spoiler (Well, by gender, anyway.)
Sorry. That may have sounded like I was calling you out, which wasn’t what I meant. I’m just really goddamn tired, and could have made the joke better.
Hey, don’t be hating on those mutant humans that have more than one.
… And the Fuzzy People. If they take after other fuzzy critters, they may have more.
“The one where ties are bound and cut”
Puffy red eyes. Not conducive to a logical, scientific viewpoint. Not to mention that on further questioning, she’d know he was dead before “incompetent” Bandit had a chance to kill him. To quote Luke and Han … I’ve got a baad feeling about this.
And BTW, the “mortified and screeching in agony” is her assumption, not a factual observation
actually she knows from past experience that when he is berserking he can both be brought back, and is screeching. Also I dont believe syrnj has ever been shown to compromise a situation due to her emotional state. If she was truly being ruled by her emotions she’d probably be yelling at gravedust instead of angry that he doesnt even want to try due to indecision.
Never shown to let her emotions get in her way? You mean besides the part where she was so furious, so disgusted with her own people, that she was perfectly willing to let Graiya use her to commit genocide, up until Byron talked her down?
Oh my, but I am going to enjoy this Gravatar…
I am sick with envy of your Gravatar.
“Perfectly willing” seems a bit like a mischaracterization when you’re essentially possessed by the still-living arm of the most powerful druid who ever lived.
Obviously, Syr’nj had some anger toward her people, but I highly doubt she would have opted for genocide had she not been influenced by the rage and disgust of a being far more powerful than herself. Virtually a god.
But maybe you interpreted that scene as Syr’nj having much more autonomy than I did.
That’s a really good point.
I wasn’t really buying the “too distraught to think straight” line, a bit too obvious… but the good old oakish lack of compromise, single-minded pursuit of the logical conclusion… yeah, that works.
But then, she’s only wrong about “incompetent”. Bandit really was secretly hating on Byron, she’s a zerk-bigot.
Who saw him dead, though? Prior to his engaging Bandit, I mean. The only appreciable difference between Arena-Berserker Byron and Village-Berserker Byron is that the latter is infecting people. The chest wound the cult leader gave him isn’t visible in the pages following the sacrifice. The only cultists present when he turned was the leader and H.R., both of whom are gone in one way or another. The next time anyone even remotely reliable saw him was when he attacks the village.
Bandit claims to have killed him. His only wounds, particularly the most obvious gaping ones in his back, came from daggers. Syr’nj has witnessed him in berserk mode, and saw Bandit on top of him and stabbing him. She did arrive before Bandit had taken him down.
From the lack of contradicting physical evidence, the most logical assumption is that 1) the cultists kidnapped Byron and triggered his berserker state. 2) Berserk Byron then infected other people(berserker status being contagious is at least suspected, if not confirmed by the characters). 3) Berserk Byron engages Bandit. 4) Bandit kills him.
The idea that he was literally sacrificed and stuffed full of rage spirits or what have you isn’t a conclusion Syr’nj can reach based on the evidence she has. It’s also pretty obvious both prior to the incident and in her rant after the fact that Bandit didn’t trust Byron or believe it possible for him to be cured, so an assumption that Bandit screwed up the antidote, ignored it as a solution or actively sabotaged it isn’t an entirely crazy notion. Compounding all this is the death toll and berserk infection, which handily eliminates the possibility of reliable eyewitness testimony.
Is she emotional? Of course, and that does affect her judgment. But it’s not like she’s gone off the rails and is throwing out hysterical accusations.
Re: no eyewitnesses … Scipio knows about Byron’s demon infector status. He saw it directly.
I’m still waiting for Scipio to say a word . . . or maybe even two
The fact that Byron was infecting people isn’t in question. It’s implied at least once that berserker status is contagious(unless I am not remembering it correctly), or at least theorized to be such. No one has witnessed it directly, though.
My point was Syr’nj cannot, with the information available, know that Byron was dead before Bandit was stabbing him there at the end, if that is even the case(kinda up in the air, from my interpretation). To Scipio, Byron would have appeared to be alive prior to him being on the ground unmoving.
It’s also questionable as to how much Scipio can claim to have actually witnessed, given he was fighting for his life against possessed soldiers and cultists, as well as the regular cultists. He doesn’t appear in a single panel, from what I can tell, of the fight between Bandit and Byron. And that’s before or after the large mass of demons was released.
That might be a bit strong. I’m sure Bandit has mentioned by now that she tried the antidote first. Syr’nj did state last page that the Cultists overcame her medications, she’s probably reasoned that whatever they did could make her antidote useless.
Of course, both Syr’nj and even Bandit would probably agree that Bandit is the one who killed Byron. I’m imagining that well she wouldn’t have been happy about it, a less frantic acting Bandit saying “the antidote didn’t work Syr’nj, there was no other way” would have left Syr’nj with a better impression then when she found the lady stabbing the corpse and screaming at it.
I would love to know how Chrissie in sepiaworld is responding to all this. Maybe we’ll get to see some mention of that…
I’m pretty sure what really sealed Syr’nj’s opinion about Bandit was the “good” Bandit answered when announced Byron was dead.
And ditto, I would love to see the players’ reactions…
I’m guessing that Bandit’s player is also a bit more cavalier about Byron’s death, because she knows death isn’t permanent. She razzed after Byron PKed her the first time, and as she sees it, turnabout’s fair play. Just PKing someone who PKed her way back.
Except The Five aren’t normal roleplaying PCs, and aren’t going to take that sort of action as lightly as Bandit would.
Exactly. I think her opinion would be different if she knew that killing one of them could potentially mean their actual death in that tube.
That’s true enough.
However, I doubt Syr’nj would believe that Bandit tried to save Byron at all, given the “I’ve wanted to do that for months” sort of finality that Bandit had after Syr’nj pronounced him dead.
Yeah, the player reactions will be fascinating. Of course, if Byron does resurrect, they’re going to want to call bullshit on the game rules. Rachel gets deleted when she dies, but Byron gets an extra life. Again.
“before “incompetent” Bandit”
You can take out the ” ” encircling incompetent, here.
Stage 3: Bargaining.
its called “Demanding”
She’s demanding the chance to Bargain.
Guess she’s still at Anger.
Syr’Nj is going to go all Re-Animator, isn’t she?
All this hand-wringing over telling Byron to run NeverQuest.exe again!
Uh, Rachel died too, bee tee dub.
Yes, but she was super killed via digital deletion.
Yeah, but Syr’Nj and Rachel weren’t banging. As far as we know.
plus she didn’t leave behind a body for gravedust to extract her spirit from. maybe while he’s chatting up the cosmos he can be all “hey while we’re on the subject, have yall seen my friend rachel anywhere?”
And as far as we know, that squad hasn’t returned to base yet, so it’s very possible that Syr and Gravey don’t know about Rachel.
Gravedust was THERE, the only reason Syr’Nj doesn’t know is because she hasn’t given Gravedust the chance to tell her.
this ^
Gravedust saw that thing kill a soul. I doubt he has any hope on recovery for that one.
You TAKE THAT FILTHY SLANDER BACK. Syr’Nj and Rachel were/are totally bangin’, more so than either Frigg or Bandit.
…wait, what?
Nevermind.
Not an unpleasant dream. XD
(and oh god, your icon at this point is just… perfect for the thought)
Guess the only other thing I have to say is that I’m impressed with the level of containment Syr’Nj has on her grief. And I feel for her… even as I cringe.
From the first statement to the tagline and finisher…
Whatever amalgamation of code rules over these comments, they rule with total appropriation…
It was an open relationship. Byron doesn’t get worked up about Syr’Nj and Rachel, Syr’Nj doesn’t ask about the nights Byron spends with his axes.
More to the point, I don’t think Syr’Nj knows about Rachel yet- That was what Gravedust was going to tell her before we got pulled into this conversation.
E-Merl: Rachel’s gone? *falls to the ground sobbing*
Syr’Nj: Ooh, that’s too bad… *taps Gravedust’s shoulder* Don’t you think The Cosmos could help him too?
Gravedust: *glares* I don’t see why not! *grumble* *gestures to E-Merl* Why don’t you come along with us? We’re on our way to see The Cosmos now to get Syr her lover and me a will. I’m sure it could give you Rachel back.
Altogether: Ooooh! We’re off to see The Cosmos, The Curious Cosmos Itself!
The Cosmos never told Gravedust to resurrect Rachel.
The Cosmos never said NOT to
THE COSMOS DEMANDS A HAM SANDWICH
“What I’m saying is go kill yourself”
“Excuse me”
She’s being an asshole about it, but she’s got a point.
Assholes get shit done.
“Reasonable people change to suit the world. Unreasonable people change the world to suit themselves.”
There is a story about how the various parts of the human body elected a leader among themselves. The moral of that story is that things that go in must come out, and blackmail can be very effective.
Or perhaps Byron being at the center of a TPK – FOR THE SECOND TIME – is a sign from the Cosmos to *you*, Syr’Nj.
To be fair, he wasn’t the cause of the first TPK. Walking into an arena like a chump to get murderized by savages was.
Not strictly wipes, but this is actually his fourth rodeo…. really.
1: his village
2: the players in the arena
3: the players in the trap in the forest
4: the village (again)
The lesson here is, IF Byron comes back, and IF Byron is allowed to lead something somewhere, DO NOT FOLLOW HIM.
Also, I think Syr’nj is mostly pissed at herself for letting him go when she knew something like this could happen.
That last bit is vital. If all it took to handle the problem was a squad of syringe-crossbowomen, then why did she originally think she had to stay behind for some senate hearing? She fucked up badly, more than anyone else IMHO. (Which is why she’s blaming Bandit now.)
Of course, it could be argued that the crossbowomen were so effective only because they arrived when the party was already on its way down, that they wouldn’t have been any use if they’d been there in the heat of the moment, when Byron was banging on the door… but I don’t think I’d buy that.
The peer pressure is strong in this one.
It seems she’ll give Bandit as little a chance to talk as she’s giving Gravy.
“In fact, that field leader was so incompetent, that I’m the one who promoted her to that position!”
Blah. I have to give Syr the same benefit I gave Bandit; she should not be expected to act rationally (or not be a bitch) at a time like this, especially since NO ONE here has ALL the facts, (No one who is alive anyway) even though Syr seems to think she does and was at least able to conclude cultist involvement without being there to also see Byron killing everyone.
We’ve all had a healer in the party who just refuses to res.
I hope they have a special place reserved in hell.
Aye.
What if in fact all res healers are bound for hell, for daring to undo the fates the gods have decreed?
Res magic is in fact the highest blasphemy and is powered by demonic forces in the guise of lawfull good just waiting to see the looks on those well-meaning souls faces.
Res, damnit!
Do a vision quest or whatever to ask The Cosmos for what she wants Gravedust before she decides to try something else to “see if it works”. Like killing everybody who was dead the last time Byron came back in order to reproduce the original conditions as closely as possible. If she had seen the Best clone you’d probably already be dead.
ohhhh….crap.
Best died beyond resurrection…but now theres WAV. if Syr can’t get him back, then, whats the next best option? Cyberia
That’s assuming Best actually did die and wasn’t just…upgraded. Forcibly. Wasn’t he just presumed dead? Or did I miss something.
And that triggered an amnesia state, a la Wolverine.
Or else the upgrades came with…reprogramming.
Lol! I’m going to have to mark today’s alternative text as one of my all time favorites.
Well. Let’s see how this plays out.
“try things and see if they work”?
yeah…but that leads to evil science too. perhaps the cosmos is totally cool with me grinding up this baby to make a healing salve. we can just try it and see if we get hit by lightning? lets see how this plays out before guessing whats ok to do. what happened to the asking she mentioned?
he can literally just dial up the mystics can’t he? he talked to frigg’s courage wolf deity easily enough. “try and see if you get depowered” isn’t a good plan for the party…err…cleric thing.
It’s actually a pretty common occurence in science in general, though. Even without an external pressure, brilliant scientists can make reaaaally stupid decisions just because they want to try things.
I am mystified by the number of people who appear to be reading what Syr’nj is saying not as, “ASK THE COSMOS AND FIND OUT INSTEAD OF JUST ASSUMING IT WANTS HIM DEAD” but as, “TRY TO RESURRECT HIM AND IF YOU LOSE YOUR POWERS THEN…OOPS?”
Personally, it’s because of the second panel, where she quite directly ask “why not perform it now ?”.
She’s asking him to perform the will of the cosmos. The language is a little awkward, but I think it’s unambiguous with a careful reading:
“‘It was the will of all mystics and the cosmos itself.’ And you performed that will, as is your duty. So why not perform it now?”
Exactly. And it’s pretty clear to me this “will of the cosmos” means “Byron’s resurrection” in Syr’nj’s mind, called a different way to appeal to Gravedust.
So many great discussions on this episode that I can’t choose one to comment on.
I agree with folks cutting Syr’nj slack.
I agree with folks chastising her.
I agree with Gravedust’s calm, but steady resolve.
This is a quinessential dilema visited over and over in fiction that always generates fantastic conversations on intent, fact, morality, and a whole host of other adjoining topics.
Really eager to see how this plays out! :)
At the risk of not only beating a dead horse, but, y’know… doing something else unsavory to it as well, Phil’s putting the Lament to music inspired me to try my hand at it, playing around with LMMS and Audacity. Forgive the crappy-ass quality, I used a headphone mic and the basic instrument library that came with the program.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2198131/WCAL.mp3
I envisioned it as a drinking song, but it takes on a whole new life as a labor song. Great work!
My unabashedly radical sympathies showing through once again. Thanks!
I think that this was awesome! Considering your limited resources, you did extremely well.
Last page, I was a bit scared. Now I’m mostly confused.
I think Gravedust is perfectly capable of standing up to Syr’nj. He won’t do anything unless she truly convinces him.
And I think she has a shot at truly convincing, because I’m pretty sure Syr’nj knows Gravedust isn’t going to be swayed by sobbing or yelling. She really does think the Cosmos will have her back on this one.
Seeing how she and Gravedust go about skrying out the Cosmos’ wishes in this matter will likely occupy quite a few panels, and prove most interesting.
Sooo… Cast the spell, succeed or fail, the universe has answered. Only by not casting, do you deny the universe’s will.
This guy gets it. People always talk shit about karma sorting shit out like they’re not something the universe gets shit done through.
I don’t think that’s how the “spell” works, Syr is grasping at straws.
There’s also the fact that, despite his resistance, Byron has been pretty much an unmitigated success for the Ebil side o’ things. There’s no reason to expect that they will not continue to try and recreate him in a more willing subject, while Syr’nj loses her only specimen for understanding and defeating the beserker state.
Byron is too valuable for the bad guys to leave alone, but also too valuable for Syr’nj to leave dead. Emotions aside.
I think she now has a whole lot of specimens besides Byron.
Well yes and no. Those are second hand specimens, so they do not contain whatever the cultists used to neutralize the anti berserk drug. Also it is likely that Byron is also unique in how he contained multiple berserk creatures while all the others only recieved one. The are a huge number of variables that cannot be measured through the second handle berserkers.
SCIENCE BITCHES.
Bingo. Byron, in this outbreak, is patient zero. Tree of death starts with him…best chance to find antibodies is in him, if we continue the viral pathology analogy.
Meh when the smug look on your gravatar’s face almost adds a pompous air to your post Hermitage.
I was rolling on the ground when I saw it. No better time for a gravatar flip!
I also quite like mine. It is so similar to my face when I read some of this stuff. It also adds a certain dry humor to my posts that I love to employ.
Minus the pure evil growing on my gravatar’s face of course. My beard is more akin to a dwarf’s than anything.
I would like to add. Syr’Nj is, indeed, completely consumed by the grief. She should know that there was nothing anybody could do to prevent it. Bandit wasn’t, and never was, concerned with killing Byron. She likes him, he’s her friend. What she WAS concerned about was neutralizing the threat. Ever since the first time that Byron went zerk and KILLED EVERYONE, she knew that Byron was just a ticking time bomb, that sooner or later he would zerk and kill all of her friends again. She even brought it up multiple times, and expressed frustration about how everyone else looked over the imminent threat to all of their lives. They risked everything on the flimsy notion that regular doses of a flimsy little potion that hasn’t had any real testing, because oh my god it’s Byron and we totally have a 100% permanent guaranteed cure. Bandit knew that a potion wouldn’t erase Byron’s core nature, his very essence. So, when he went zerk and was killing everyone again, proving her fears right and everyone else wrong, she was glad that the threat was permanently neutralized. That now something completely unpredictable and uncontrollable that would kill everyone for no reason with no warning couldn’t threaten her friends and herself anymore. The only thing she ever blamed Byron for was willingly putting everyone at risk, but she blamed everyone else for that as well. Kind of a moot point. Syr’Nj knows and understands that. She knows and understands that killing Byron was now the only possible course of action. But now her lover is dead, and that’s the only thing she cares about. And she has power, authority, and access to a high level shaman that has resurrected them before. Cue irrationality.
That right there is the single most fitting Gravatar to ever happen anywhere.
Nice analysis. Thank you! :)
Still can’t blame her because grief and all, but damn, she’s being a whooooole lot selfish right now.
“By the way, Rachel’s dead, too? Want me to bring her back? Or just the one you were fucking?”