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Annotations Every Day - Written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn - Illustrated by John & Jason Waltrip

Can a life be measured by the grip it maintains?

Chapter 41 – Page 16

on April 4, 2016
Chapter: Chapter 41
└ Tags: Byron, Gravedust
Comments RSS

Discussion (50) ¬

  1. Alice Macher
    Alice Macher
    April 4, 2016, 12:03 am | # | Reply

    I never figured Byron as one for half-measures.

    • LockeZ
      LockeZ
      April 4, 2016, 4:30 am | # | Reply

      For a dead guy, he still looks half-decent.

      • CinnamonArcher
        CinnamonArcher
        April 4, 2016, 6:18 am | # | Reply

        You guys really give these jokes no quarter, do you?

        • wolfpax
          wolfpax
          April 4, 2016, 7:04 am | # | Reply

          No half-assing jokes here.

          • Flimflamberge
            Flimflamberge
            April 4, 2016, 7:42 am | # | Reply

            His whole spiel seems a bit two-faced to me.

            • Randew
              Randew
              April 4, 2016, 8:03 am | # | Reply

              I don’t know, I’m split down the middle myself on this.

              • Aecius
                Aecius
                April 4, 2016, 9:02 am | # | Reply

                Part of Byron strikes me as being overly clingy here.

                • Chris
                  Chris
                  April 4, 2016, 10:58 am | # | Reply

                  It’s nice to see Byron showing his Best side here.

                  • TxGator
                    TxGator
                    April 4, 2016, 11:02 am | # | Reply

                    I just hope Byron isn’t being two-faced.

                    • TxGator
                      TxGator
                      April 4, 2016, 11:03 am | #

                      Ooops. Looks like Flimflamberge beat me to the punch. ;-)

                    • Captain Nemo
                      Captain Nemo
                      April 4, 2016, 7:15 pm | #

                      Seems pretty half-assed to me.

                    • Captain Nemo
                      Captain Nemo
                      April 4, 2016, 7:17 pm | #

                      Oops my bad I didn’t even do half a decent job

                    • biggmac
                      biggmac
                      April 5, 2016, 4:01 pm | #

                      Byron’s demon is all right.
                      Only Byron is left.
                      Right?

        • Psolo Ghoti
          Psolo Ghoti
          April 4, 2016, 5:09 pm | # | Reply

          Certainly we do! We even give them two quarters.

        • Anarchyant
          Anarchyant
          April 5, 2016, 3:46 pm | # | Reply

          I’m quite divided on this development.

          • ImmortalOracle
            ImmortalOracle
            April 5, 2016, 11:46 pm | # | Reply

            Of two minds, even!

      • Pilchard123
        Pilchard123
        April 4, 2016, 12:34 pm | # | Reply

        He certainly hasn’t let it Dent his outlook on life.

  2. Jordan
    Jordan
    April 4, 2016, 12:04 am | # | Reply

    I’m not liking the looks of the tendrils

  3. Ishmael
    Ishmael
    April 4, 2016, 12:06 am | # | Reply

    So… Arkerran heaven is an instance all to yourself.

    That or they’re adding personal homesteads to offer more privacy than the guild strongholds.

  4. biggmac
    biggmac
    April 4, 2016, 12:09 am | # | Reply

    This looks like where Jean-Luc met Kirk.
    What say ye, Jean-Luc?

    • Insufferable Nerd
      Insufferable Nerd
      April 4, 2016, 4:36 am | # | Reply

      Couldn’t have been more obvious if they stuck a stump and a wood pile out front.

      …Oh, wait.

  5. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    April 4, 2016, 12:14 am | # | Reply

    https://youtu.be/1J7dez_NWSg

    • Robtimus
      Robtimus
      April 4, 2016, 10:12 am | # | Reply

      I thought of the exact same thing.

  6. Nyzer
    Nyzer
    April 4, 2016, 12:19 am | # | Reply

    This is actually way healthier than I expected Byron’s mind to be. He’s gone from hating himself the way he did before Syr’s cure to just imposing a self-quarantine.

    • SteelRaven
      SteelRaven
      April 4, 2016, 12:45 am | # | Reply

      Looks more like denial,

      • Nyzer
        Nyzer
        April 4, 2016, 2:40 pm | # | Reply

        Yes and no. I doubt he has any idea that Bandit had to kill him to make his rampage stop, considering his memories would flat out have ENDED there. He definitely makes a reference to not hurting anyone again, and doesn’t seem surprised by his half-demonic status… so it seems like he isn’t shying away from the fact that Syr’s cure was neutralized.

        Aside from that, though, look at the way he’s treating himself. Before fighting Harky, he thought he could keep the berserker under control. After fighting Harky, he thought he didn’t deserve to live. But now? Even with the demon manifesting on his body, he’s simply keeping himself isolated, no more. He seems to have stopped taking all the blame on himself.
        Yeah, he needs to quarantine himself for the good of everyone else, but considering this is supposed to be his Bubble Hell, the fate he BELIEVES he deserves… and he’s simply living alone in a cabin in the wilderness with full mental control over his body, if not the demonic hands growing from it?

        He could have imagined himself chained down, being cruelly experimented on by the cultists, with Syr’s corpse across the room, dead by his hands. I mean her corpse could still be in the house there or whatever but that doesn’t seem to fit the theme so far. It looks like the fate he believes he deserves is isolation – but a peaceful, serene one. He believes he deserves peace, but that he’s too much of a risk to be around others. That’s a WAY better mindset than what he had before experiencing Syr’s cure and her love.

  7. Zobot257
    Zobot257
    April 4, 2016, 12:21 am | # | Reply

    This is disturbing on multiple levels. I had assumed that the Madness was something artifical, that overtook Byron, forcing him to act in ways he’d never normally act. And, you know, most of the evidence we’ve seen thus far seemed to support that theory. It might still be true. But seeing this?

    Well, this seems to indicate that Byron has taken it so deeply into him, he sees it as a literal other side to him. Not just a curse, but an aspect of who and what he is, an aspect he is neither in control of nor capable of controlling. Something about him that hurts and kills others. The Hyde to hsi Jekyl. Which makes sense, given his history with The Madness, but it makes this… so much harder for Gravedust to do anything helpful here.

    • Zalocin
      Zalocin
      April 4, 2016, 1:44 am | # | Reply

      I have a feeling that that is the exact reason why Gravedust is there. Byron needs his help to stop defining himself by his curse.

    • Matthew Davis
      Matthew Davis
      April 4, 2016, 2:00 am | # | Reply

      Well remember that Eric created the Madness, if HR is to be believed. It may be that because of that it’s more firmly entrenched in Byron than it might be in another character.

      • Aslandus
        Aslandus
        April 4, 2016, 8:49 pm | # | Reply

        Also, his character is “Byron the Berserker”, it was created with this kind of thing in mind to begin with. Maybe it wasn’t intended to be a curse, but the whole raging out thing is kind of attached to him…

    • Armagrodden
      Armagrodden
      April 4, 2016, 2:32 am | # | Reply

      It may also be that, since your opinion of yourself creates your bubble-afterlife, Byron’s feeling that he “deserves this” may be subconsciously manifesting itself in this Two-Face look he’s sporting now. The outer layer might be Mr. Zerky, but the inner layer might…just be Byron.

      • ImmortalOracle
        ImmortalOracle
        April 5, 2016, 11:48 pm | # | Reply

        The eternal martyr.

    • Rolan7
      Rolan7
      April 5, 2016, 9:54 pm | # | Reply

      Avatar win, as usual.

  8. Bot
    Bot
    April 4, 2016, 12:26 am | # | Reply

    So Byron really isn’t dead.
    He was just sent to a nice farm upstate, where he can play with all of the other dead dog… totally living dogs.

    • The_Rippy_One
      The_Rippy_One
      April 4, 2016, 5:04 pm | # | Reply

      This may be why Best isn’t back in either direction yet, either. While normal players re-spawn, our VR troupe is getting locked onto private meta-servers – can’t go home, can’t go back.

      • Psolo Ghoti
        Psolo Ghoti
        April 4, 2016, 5:20 pm | # | Reply

        Uuh, what? Best isn’t back (and likely won’t be) because his “player” is “controlling” WAV now.

  9. Lingo
    Lingo
    April 4, 2016, 12:51 am | # | Reply

    Nothing clever to say…but I just wanted to state that “Rent free!” made me literally laugh out loud. Thank you!

    • Lingo
      Lingo
      April 4, 2016, 12:57 am | # | Reply

      But it’s getting harder to avoid Inception jokes….

      • LockeZ
        LockeZ
        April 4, 2016, 4:31 am | # | Reply

        Yo dawg, we heard you like Inception jokes, so we put Inception jokes in your Inception jokes so you can go deeper while you go deeper.

        • Psolo Ghoti
          Psolo Ghoti
          April 4, 2016, 5:30 pm | # | Reply

          BRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAW
          RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWW
          RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWW
          RRAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW
          RAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW
          AAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW
          AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW
          AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW
          AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW
          AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW
          AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW
          AAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW
          AAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWW
          AAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
          AAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
          AAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
          AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
          WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWP

          • Danzin
            Danzin
            April 5, 2016, 9:57 am | # | Reply

            Strong Bad: Get outta here Inception Horn, no one likes your style

    • Dean
      Dean
      April 4, 2016, 2:36 am | # | Reply

      Yeah, Gravedust may want to think twice about this. Or at least ask if Byron has to pay utilities, or a security deposit. I mean, let’s not be too hasty here.

  10. Zalocin
    Zalocin
    April 4, 2016, 1:47 am | # | Reply

    I’m enjoying the little series of philosophical questions in the alt text of this and the past two posts.

    • LockeZ
      LockeZ
      April 4, 2016, 4:32 am | # | Reply

      Can a life be measured by the flip of a coin?

      Heads, it can. Tails, we blow your brains out.

  11. LockeZ
    LockeZ
    April 4, 2016, 4:36 am | # | Reply

    Remember that name you all had for me when I was at Internal Adventurefairs? What was it, Gravedust?

    Say it.

    SAY IT!

  12. Toecutter
    Toecutter
    April 4, 2016, 7:10 am | # | Reply

    So if Byron flips out and kills Gravedust here, does Gravedust go to… heaven’s heaven? For heaven’s sake!

  13. TxGator
    TxGator
    April 4, 2016, 2:37 pm | # | Reply

    It’s interesting how Byron came to terms with his demons in his heaven bubble. Not quite getting rid of them, but at least finding a simple work around (ie. live life as a hermit).

    • Nyzer
      Nyzer
      April 5, 2016, 1:12 pm | # | Reply

      Yeah, I was thinking (and saying) that too. Clearly he still considers himself a threat, but he actually sees the berserker demon as an external infestation rather than some kind of horrible half-buried part of himself now. It’s pretty different from the way he regarded it before the cure and all.

  14. Snowblind
    Snowblind
    April 5, 2016, 1:56 am | # | Reply

    I’m living in a room without any view
    I’m living free because the rent’s never due…

  15. MDude
    MDude
    April 5, 2016, 11:56 pm | # | Reply

    Byron might be in the clearing for now, but a look around will show that he’s not out of the woods yet.
    On the other hand, that’s probably not what he’d want anyway, given Syringe.

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Guilded Age is co-written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn, and illustrated by John Waltrip. Site design by Samantha Kyle. Fonts by Blambot.com.
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