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

Kill.

Chapter 7 – Page 20

on October 22, 2010
Chapter: Chapter 07
└ Tags: Byron, Syr'Nj
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Discussion (105) ¬

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  1. Dekker
    Dekker
    October 22, 2010, 12:01 am | # | Reply

    Kiss seen in 5…4…3…

  2. Brandon Richard
    Brandon Richard
    October 22, 2010, 1:01 am | # | Reply

    Wow…. with that kind of willpower, sometimes I wonder if he doesn’t have a little bit of Monk in him. Or Jedi. Or both?

    • bob the 6th
      bob the 6th
      October 22, 2010, 10:26 am | # | Reply

      and he’s a fighter, maybe a barberyn, he should have nothing for a will save, and he has not shown a high wisdom

      • Harrowed
        Harrowed
        October 22, 2010, 11:13 am | # | Reply

        Stereotypes aren’t always right. I believe we’ve already seen he’s a bit more than a big dumb ‘zerker.

      • Phil
        Flo
        October 22, 2010, 12:04 pm | # | Reply

        Achievement Unlocked!

        Post the 7,000th comment!

      • Slidth
        Slidth
        October 22, 2010, 2:02 pm | # | Reply

        What are you talking about he hasn’t shown high wisdom? Have you been reading the comic? Next to Gravedust he’s got the highest wisdom in the party.

      • Hertzyscowicz
        Hertzyscowicz
        October 25, 2010, 8:32 am | # | Reply

        I don’t recall seeing any note of which system this comic is using, or if it’s using a game system at all. Really, there’s precious little in real life that means you have to have a dump stat, or that says everyone’s sum total of stats is the same.

        It could be Byron just won the genetic lottery, or rolled a high wisdom if you will, and happens to have a strong willpower. Alternately, he could have spent the time he was recovering from physical exercise exercising his wits and vice versa.

  3. Deets
    Deets
    October 22, 2010, 1:08 am | # | Reply

    Will save success!

    • Alice Macher
      Alice Macher
      October 22, 2010, 1:58 am | # | Reply

      And without him muttering, “Must…unnh…fight it,” Silver Age comic book style.

  4. tejón
    tejón
    October 22, 2010, 1:16 am | # | Reply

    So I see all kinds of “When’s he gonna lose it? We Want Berserk!” re: Byron, but this comic strongly reinforces the impression I’ve had for a while: Byron is not trained as a berserker, he’s naturally one and this fact terrifies him. Remember that scene of the trashed village, with corpses all over? My guess is, he did that as a teen, and when he came to his senses he was crippled with guilt. He’s got “…the Berserker” on his name as a constant reminder, personal mark of shame, not as a job description. He’s spent decades since then training himself to keep his cool, to avoid the rage. And that’s the only reason he doesn’t snap Syr’Nj’s neck in panel three.

    • Alice Macher
      Alice Macher
      October 22, 2010, 1:58 am | # | Reply

      Agreed. Berserking, pretty much by definition, is…not good.

      • Fren
        Fren
        October 22, 2010, 7:42 am | # | Reply

        Berserking … not good, maybe, but it gets shit done.

    • Zizek
      Zizek
      October 22, 2010, 3:00 am | # | Reply

      That was my thinking too. It doesn’t change the fact I wanted to see him flip out for ages.

      As counterpoint, it may be that the slaughter of the village was what caused him to flip out, or that it caused him to flip out and he couldn’t stop even when all the attackers were dead. We can’t say for sure, but I agree with your general point.

      Though he does use it as a job description.

    • Pikey
      Pikey
      October 22, 2010, 3:23 am | # | Reply

      I had the feeling the cult is responsible for the whole thing. Like, they were the ones who cursed Byron to become a berserker in the first place. Which is why he hates them so much.

      And just now the seer tried to use him as a directed killing machine…

      • Marcus
        Marcus
        October 22, 2010, 3:37 am | # | Reply

        Berserking isnit a CURSE.

        It’s a way of life!!!

        • Hawk
          Hawk
          October 22, 2010, 7:40 am | # | Reply

          Clearly you’ve never read some of the grimmer stuff about berserkers. Go, educate yourself, sonny.

          • Mr Ak
            Mr Ak
            October 22, 2010, 11:31 am | # | Reply

            He’s pretty hot, though. For is it not said… I am like to making fuck beserker.

          • Sortelli
            Sortelli
            October 22, 2010, 12:55 pm | # | Reply

            You know what other class is not taken seriously enough in fantasy stories. Rogues. Thieves and murderers, every last one of them.

            Everyone stop what you are doing and educate yourselves.

            • Hawk
              Hawk
              October 22, 2010, 7:11 pm | # | Reply

              Depends on which version of “rogue” you look at. Technically Indiana Jones could qualify as a rogue. Possibly a multiclassed rogue, but still.

              Of course, narrow definitions are FTW! (sarcasm button)

              • Phil
                Flo
                October 22, 2010, 8:44 pm | # | Reply

                I have to say, I wouldn’t see Indy as anything but a Rogue class. He just maxed out his ranks in a bunch of knowledge skills and chose CON over DEX.

                • The Indomitable Eric
                  The Indomitable Eric
                  October 22, 2010, 9:39 pm | # | Reply

                  He’s got at least one level of barbarian, I think. Indy does have a POWERFUL rage when provoked.

                  • khavren
                    khavren
                    October 23, 2010, 12:56 am | # | Reply

                    What are you all talking about?? Indy is CLEARLY a 1st ed Monk! He has a little bit of thief skills, and can trigger massive traps but take no damage with a single saving through. He can also fall great distances with no ill effects!

                • MarkS
                  MarkS
                  October 24, 2010, 1:59 am | # | Reply

                  I always saw him as a rogue/swashbuckler myself. Maybe he dipped into fighter, but.

          • Locke
            Locke
            October 22, 2010, 4:43 pm | # | Reply

            For me, I’ve always encountered Berserker types as either happy violence junkies or mouth frothing maniacs. For me, this will be the first work to deconstruct it.

    • Deets
      Deets
      October 24, 2010, 3:17 pm | # | Reply

      YEAH THATS why he doesn’t kill humans, it would SET HIM OFF

  5. AMRIV
    AMRIV
    October 22, 2010, 1:24 am | # | Reply

    Kill.

    • SteelRaven
      SteelRaven
      October 22, 2010, 10:40 pm | # | Reply

      Kill, KILL!

  6. Faceless Minion
    Faceless Minion
    October 22, 2010, 1:28 am | # | Reply

    Dear Syr’inj looks adorable vulnerable in that last panel.

    • Squip
      Squip
      October 22, 2010, 1:44 am | # | Reply

      She also looks rather…”zonked on fairy dust” in panel 2

    • khavren
      khavren
      October 23, 2010, 12:56 am | # | Reply

      She also just got choked by the guy she trusted

      • shallot
        shallot
        October 25, 2010, 12:07 pm | # | Reply

        No, she didn’t. I think.

  7. Amaster
    Amaster
    October 22, 2010, 1:34 am | # | Reply

    I just have one thing to say. Where there is a will, there is a way.

  8. Lala
    Lala
    October 22, 2010, 1:57 am | # | Reply

    ……………….Go on and kiss the girl! Sha-la-la-la-la-la! Don’t stop now! Don’t try to hide it how! You wanna kiss the girl! >.>

    • BeetlesBane
      BeetlesBane
      October 22, 2010, 12:34 pm | # | Reply

      At the current 2 strips per arc progression it will be a while.\\- 2 strips on Frigg + 2 on Gravedust * Bandit –

  9. Randall
    Randall
    October 22, 2010, 2:49 am | # | Reply

    It’s the period that makes the difference:

    “Kill” –> doin’ it wrong
    “Kill.” –> professionally direct and concise.

    • Mic-Gold
      Mic-Gold
      October 24, 2010, 4:12 pm | # | Reply

      Kill?

  10. Zizek
    Zizek
    October 22, 2010, 3:04 am | # | Reply

    The expressions in this one are great. The second panel reminds me of sensationalist movie posters or even war propaganda

  11. Zizek
    Zizek
    October 22, 2010, 3:05 am | # | Reply

    Also, this would be a pretty good time for the cultist to stick a knife in his back. Just sayin’.

  12. SaltyKracka
    SaltyKracka
    October 22, 2010, 3:27 am | # | Reply

    Yes.

  13. Niall
    Niall
    October 22, 2010, 3:32 am | # | Reply

    I’m curious, who pictures the voice in Byron’s head as his own and who pictures it as belonging to somebody else?

    • Zizek
      Zizek
      October 22, 2010, 3:43 am | # | Reply

      Donald Duck.

    • TexasNinjaBuzzard
      TexasNinjaBuzzard
      October 22, 2010, 7:27 am | # | Reply

      Arlo Guthrie.

      …C’mon, we already saw Bandit stting on the Group W bench.

      • Miklanin
        Miklanin
        October 25, 2010, 5:59 pm | # | Reply

        …havin fun fillin out the forms and playin’ with the pencils on the bench there?

    • Locke
      Locke
      October 22, 2010, 4:44 pm | # | Reply

      Wilford Brimley.

      • Nate
        Nate
        October 23, 2010, 12:19 pm | # | Reply

        It said ‘kill’ not ‘dia-beetus’.

    • Sineplex
      Sineplex
      October 22, 2010, 9:47 pm | # | Reply

      It is Byron’s voice.
      The “Kill.”s are in red, red is the color of Byron’s thoughts to himself. I think this is a ‘gimme’.

      Still, VERY MYSTERIOUS.

      • flevine
        flevine
        October 23, 2010, 7:29 pm | # | Reply

        Yep–you beat me to the comment. Ever since Byron’s first appearance, his thoughts have been in red boxes like that. I think I more interesting question, if you would like to discuss the symbolism of speech/thought containers, how about the white-on-black ones he uses before coming to his senses?

        • Niall
          Niall
          October 24, 2010, 1:58 am | # | Reply

          I think we can safely say that those are actual noises Byron makes (groaning and the like)
          OK, good point, it probably is Byron’s, but in my mind I imagine this horde of angry voices uncontrollably chanting “Kill.” over and over.
          I wonder if the cultist a catalyst or a puppeteer to Byron’s beserking.

          • flevine
            flevine
            October 24, 2010, 9:04 pm | # | Reply

            Yeah, I could definitely imagine a horde of voices–maybe his own, his subconscious/inner voice/whatever, layered and goading him on.

  14. The Auld Grump
    The Auld Grump
    October 22, 2010, 3:46 am | # | Reply

    He obviously suffers from Guthrie Syndrome –

    And I went up there, I said, “Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL.”

    And I started jumpin’ up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL,” and he started jumpin’ up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL.” And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,sent me down the hall, said, “You’re our boy.”

    The Auld Grump

    • Dusty668
      Dusty668
      October 22, 2010, 5:46 am | # | Reply

      *gets pencil ready for hanging out on group W bench*

  15. NicolasRei
    NicolasRei
    October 22, 2010, 7:27 am | # | Reply

    My impression is that they are in fact the ones who can trigger his rage. And he was killing her before he snapped out of it. And she just realized why he is called a Berserker. And possibly, she just realized how much she means to him, if he finally managed to stop it before killing her.

    • khavren
      khavren
      October 23, 2010, 12:58 am | # | Reply

      Or she just really really enjoyed being choked…

  16. TraderInTown
    TraderInTown
    October 22, 2010, 7:28 am | # | Reply

    Dammit! So close!

  17. Hawk
    Hawk
    October 22, 2010, 7:46 am | # | Reply

    And next time we see them, Syr’nj is smacking Byron upside the head. “What the HELL was that?!?”

    Since she may or may not have “heard” all the kill commands.

    I mean, for Syr, what did that look like? Certainly she can deduce that the cultist caused Byron’s, uh, outburst, but she’s likely to either demand details (as his physician, you know) or she’s going to be very freaked out and not want him near her for a while. Just in case.

    BTW it does not look like his hands have actually contacted her throat, in panel 2, so I don’t think he hurt her. Unless he bruised her wrist when he grabbed her to get her out of there.

    Also, where’s that pesky cultist? Syr needs to do science to him!

  18. DCB
    DCB
    October 22, 2010, 7:59 am | # | Reply

    Byron escapes the cultist’s trap of murderous inTent!

    • Locke
      Locke
      October 22, 2010, 4:46 pm | # | Reply

      Ooh, a pun in the most unlikely of places. Those jokes just seem to be all the rage nowadays.

  19. Michiko
    Michiko
    October 22, 2010, 9:47 am | # | Reply

    cultist = ????
    what is a cultist

    • Mutters
      Mutters
      October 22, 2010, 10:46 am | # | Reply

      Someone who’s part of a cult Michiko.

      A cult being an organization dedicated to a non-mainstream god, typically very evil ones in fantasy literature.

      • GE
        GE
        October 22, 2010, 2:10 pm | # | Reply

        Of course: define “mainstream.” ‘Cause most assume their deity is.

        Whereas those who don’t do deity assume none of them are.

        So: good definition, Mutters. :)

        • shallot
          shallot
          October 25, 2010, 12:11 pm | # | Reply

          No, mate. I’m a lifelong atheist and I still have an idea of the difference between a “mainstream” and a “non-mainstream” god. There’s no clear definition (and it’s obviously a culture based decision), but common sense comes into it somewhere.

          • GE
            GE
            October 26, 2010, 12:39 pm | # | Reply

            Hence the brief humorous jab, rather than a detailed intellectual analysis, shallot. ;)

            I’m aware of the difference between “mainstream” and “non-mainstream” cults, too. (Generally speaking: numbers and political influence.)

            But I still see pretty much all of them as cults.

    • Zizek
      Zizek
      October 22, 2010, 10:47 am | # | Reply

      A miserable pile of black magic.

      • Jake
        Jake
        October 22, 2010, 12:01 pm | # | Reply

        They summon monsters that don’t belong in this world.

        • barsukthom
          barsukthom
          October 22, 2010, 5:15 pm | # | Reply

          ‘Cause they bad, they BAD, they really really bad
          They ain’t no good they don’t do GOOD
          They BAD. Shybonk.

        • Mic-Gold
          Mic-Gold
          October 24, 2010, 4:41 pm | # | Reply

          By chanting “DRA-AG-GON” over and over again while sitting in a circle . . .

  20. NoRealLife
    NoRealLife
    October 22, 2010, 10:20 am | # | Reply

    HUGS. Now.

  21. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    October 22, 2010, 10:47 am | # | Reply

    Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kiss!

    • Angelina
      Angelina
      October 22, 2010, 6:37 pm | # | Reply

      looooooool

  22. gravon
    gravon
    October 22, 2010, 11:32 am | # | Reply

    That was an excellent will roll.

  23. Meirnon
    Meirnon
    October 22, 2010, 12:59 pm | # | Reply

    The obsessive mantra in his head is now “Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.”

  24. drakvl
    drakvl
    October 22, 2010, 4:04 pm | # | Reply

    -Kill. Kill kill kill, kill kill? Kill kill kill!

    -Die die, die — die.

  25. Locke
    Locke
    October 22, 2010, 4:47 pm | # | Reply

    You see, the voice failed because it wasn’t specific. When it said “KILL.” Byron took it to mean “KILL the crazy voice in my head.”

  26. shing
    shing
    October 22, 2010, 6:09 pm | # | Reply

    I am also on the side of the people who were hoping for the makeouts.

    • Phil
      Flo
      October 22, 2010, 6:10 pm | # | Reply

      You’re not alone.

      • Jean-Luc
        Jean-Luc
        October 24, 2010, 4:43 pm | # | Reply

        Nevertheless I don’t expect we’ll get a kiss in the next strip. GA is way to unconventional for that. Or is it?

  27. Chocowatte
    Chocowatte
    October 22, 2010, 8:03 pm | # | Reply

    Byron: Damn that Cultist!
    Syr’nj: What was his name?
    Byron: Bill. We must find him… We must KILL… BILL.
    Syr’nj: (reaching into her bag) I have just the jumpsuit… *zziiiip*
    (Would make for a bad-ass drawing I must say…)

  28. Dojang
    Dojang
    October 22, 2010, 10:09 pm | # | Reply

    they held hands! oooOOOooOOOoooh!

  29. SteelRaven
    SteelRaven
    October 22, 2010, 10:47 pm | # | Reply

    One thing you guys haven’t asked yet, what was Syr’nj hearing in her head?
    If the Cultist was trying to get them to kill each other, I wouldn’t be surprise to see a dagger from Syr’nj’s Bag-O-Plenty sticking out from Byron side in the next page.

  30. Schlock
    Schlock
    October 22, 2010, 10:51 pm | # | Reply

    Killing has such finality to it, it seems like there’d be less resistance to less…brutal suggestions. Perhaps the cultist should have started with “maim” or “wound”, or really scaled it down and tried “poke” as a warm up.

    • blergh
      blergh
      October 23, 2010, 12:55 am | # | Reply

      This would be called the foot in the door technique! Or wait, was that the low-ball technique? IDK, I DIDN’T DO SO WELL ON MY PSYCH TEST.

    • khavren
      khavren
      October 23, 2010, 12:59 am | # | Reply

      I think “poke” might be too vague. I can imagine alot of ways that wouldn’t involve violence at all

    • shallot
      shallot
      October 25, 2010, 12:15 pm | # | Reply

      Poke. Poke poke poke, poke. Poke poke! POKE! POKE POKE!! POKE!!!

      • Schlock
        Schlock
        October 26, 2010, 12:13 am | # | Reply

        Picturing all the kills in this comic replaced with poke has me cracking up

  31. Becca
    Becca
    October 23, 2010, 11:49 am | # | Reply

    I love how scared/desperate Byron seems in panel 5–like he’s afraid the Berserk!Blackness will follow him out…

  32. Bruceski
    Bruceski
    October 23, 2010, 2:46 pm | # | Reply

    All the repetitions of “kill” make me think that a bard will turn this into an epic verse of Syr’ynj’s Restaurant.

  33. Wonko The Sane
    Wonko The Sane
    October 23, 2010, 4:01 pm | # | Reply

    Yeah, I had that same reaction when I first saw The Crawling Eye…

    Come to think of it, this cultist’s religious symbol looks a bit like the crawling eye…

    My god… it’s a cult of Crawling Eye worshipers… What madness do they seek to unleash upon the world?

  34. flevine
    flevine
    October 23, 2010, 7:37 pm | # | Reply

    OK, this is something I’ve been thinking about that I don’t think anyone’s pointed out yet: There has been some speculation on the meaning of the Cultist’s “fairy dust”–now, is it me, or in the last panel, after Byron and Syr’nj’s exit from the tent, is the background distinctly un-town-like?

    Love the comic, guys–I was finally inspired to comments since the comments section is always fun to read. Also wanted to remark that as a former gamer who never liked and rarely played D&D, I’m not reading this in gaming terms or wondering if it’s meant to parallel any actual game–I’m just enjoying it as a good story with some anachronistic/internet/meta humor.

    • Dojang
      Dojang
      October 24, 2010, 5:59 pm | # | Reply

      isn’t the background the ripped up tent still standing on it’s poles?

  35. Pyre
    Pyre
    October 24, 2010, 12:08 am | # | Reply

    Soo, in just a few pages we’ve had Bandit’s most adorable expression yet, and then Syr’nj’s most adorable/beautiful expression yet.

    And pretty darn good story on top of it. I may squee.

  36. dr pepper
    dr pepper
    October 24, 2010, 1:55 am | # | Reply

    Byron: founder of Adrenaholics Anonymous.

  37. Mic-Gold
    Mic-Gold
    October 24, 2010, 4:49 pm | # | Reply

    In the last couple of comics there have been plenty of “kill, kill, kill”‘s, but no “ka, ka, ka”‘s. Can you have kill, kill, kill without ka, ka, ka following it?

  38. Jon
    Jon
    October 24, 2010, 7:13 pm | # | Reply

    Actually, it looks to me like Byron didn’t actually choke Syringe. If you look at the panels, looks like he’s about to – but he manages to pull his hand back just short of it. So at least there’s that.

  39. Kern
    Kern
    October 24, 2010, 11:06 pm | # | Reply

    Is it odd that I saw the last panel as Byron looking lovingly at Syr’nj and whispering into her ear
    softly,
    seductively
    …

    Kill.

    • Qlippoth
      Qlippoth
      November 4, 2010, 7:51 pm | # | Reply

      Byron: Normally I only choke, the chicken…

  40. Jake
    Jake
    November 9, 2010, 10:14 pm | # | Reply

    Of course, being a warrior at all takes tremendous mental willpower: we saw this with Frigg, to, and her resisting torture so adamantly.
    Secondly, someone recommended “training his wits.” While Byron is obviously intelligent, intelligence does not willpower make. There are a huge amount of beta scientists. INT doesn’t equal WIS doesn’t equal CHA.
    (And the D&D system has some huge incongruences if you apply it to real life ™, which this comic seems to be using as it’s default platform (save magic). For example, I’m an above-average endurance athlete. This should indicate that I have a high Constitution, right? Well, I’m also very prone to stomach aches and cramps, things that would be easily shaken off by a nice Fort. save. So, you know, odd…)

  41. Locke
    Locke
    January 11, 2011, 1:46 am | # | Reply

    Holy crap… I just realized, not only did Byron resist his rage, but he pulled Syr out of the tent of doom.

    Way to go, man.

  42. Adell
    Adell
    September 16, 2012, 6:23 pm | # | Reply

    The art style from these earlier comics is very cool and stylized. Is it the same artist?

  43. Joe
    Joe
    July 25, 2013, 9:04 pm | # | Reply

    Given how Byron has been acting so far and the flashes of carnage we’ve seen, I assume he sucks at fighting normally, but when he gets bloodthirsty, armies fall at his feet

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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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