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

We're out of beta, we're releasing on time.

Chapter 9 – Page 8

on February 11, 2011
Chapter: Chapter 09
└ Tags: Carol, HR, The Five
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Discussion (201) ¬

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  1. Moe Lane
    Moe Lane
    February 11, 2011, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    Yup. That’s some eldritch there.

    • JarrysKid
      JarrysKid
      February 11, 2011, 10:33 am | # | Reply

      Techno-eldritch

      • Locke
        Locke
        February 12, 2011, 3:29 am | # | Reply

        Wouldn’t that be Cthulhu wielding a pair of glow-stick nunchaku and dancing to a bass beat?

        • Hawk
          Hawk
          February 12, 2011, 7:55 am | # | Reply

          That’s rave-fhtaghn.

          • FreddeX
            FreddeX
            May 18, 2011, 4:09 am | # | Reply

            You know, that sounds suprisingly awesome! :D

  2. Levinia
    Levinia
    February 11, 2011, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    There’s no sense crying over every mistake.

    • DSSCRA
      DSSCRA
      February 11, 2011, 2:28 am | # | Reply

      You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

      • Caitlin
        Caitlin
        February 11, 2011, 6:54 am | # | Reply

        And the science gets done and you make a big gun . . .

        • Catbus
          Catbus
          February 11, 2011, 7:05 am | # | Reply

          . . . for the people who are still alive.

          • Ventris
            Ventris
            February 11, 2011, 7:46 am | # | Reply

            ‘an thinkin’ they don’t have to take no mo jive.

          • Hawk
            Hawk
            February 11, 2011, 7:57 am | # | Reply

            I love all of you so much right now.

            • Fozz
              Fozz
              February 13, 2011, 1:10 pm | # | Reply

              Yeah… that was a perfect moment.

              • SotiCoto
                SotiCoto
                June 26, 2013, 4:23 am | # | Reply

                Meh. Comments repeated a thousand times over across the Internet.

                I pulled it off in meatspace down the pub. THAT is where it is at.

    • Drew
      Drew
      February 11, 2011, 3:17 pm | # | Reply

      THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST

  3. Jeaney
    Jeaney
    February 11, 2011, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    It’s a nice closer look at the people in the tubes. Just makes me wonder more. Monday can’t come fast enough!

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 3:24 am | # | Reply

      yrs. No new info here.

    • Thorn
      Thorn
      February 11, 2011, 9:57 pm | # | Reply

      Well, looking closer we can see that there’s no Bandit in there. So…you know who’s dead.

      • Rothelez
        Rothelez
        February 13, 2011, 11:01 am | # | Reply

        Possibly, but there’s no 6th tank visible and he called them “The Five” Which would seem to imply that Bandit is was not part of this project in the same way they are. What that means of course, who knows?

      • Deans22
        Deans22
        February 13, 2011, 4:15 pm | # | Reply

        Actually, I have a different thought… There’s only five of them, but what if it’s not b\Bandit that’s missing? Think back, who is the only character out of the six that always seemed a little… asynchronous? Frigg. Even the name seems weird. What if they’re making games and these five (Byron, Syr’Nj, Gravedust, Bandit, and Payet Best in order, given the colors of their tubes seem to match their general outfits or appearances) are being forced into NPC-dom? What better way to make an immersive game? And Frigg, in this case, was the player character? Just because none of them in there are short doesn’t mean they couldn’t be a gnome. Just my idea, lemme know what you think fellow readers.

        • Sauron Bane
          Sauron Bane
          February 13, 2011, 11:15 pm | # | Reply

          Seems to me that grey fit’s Frigg just fine…. Bandit is more likely to be the other character, perhaps player made, perhaps something else… It’s hard to tell.

        • Wyrd
          Wyrd
          February 14, 2011, 4:32 pm | # | Reply

          Payet was the only one acting with ‘player character syndrome’ and treating people like those children as if they weren’t real, so maybe that last tank is Bandit, not Payet.

          Then again, of all of the characters Bandit was the only one not to get her own introductory story, though she showed up in some of the other characters’ stories.

  4. RJ
    RJ
    February 11, 2011, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    BYRON!!!!

  5. alicemacher
    alicemacher
    February 11, 2011, 12:03 am | # | Reply

    Funny, now I’m thinking Alan Moore’s run on Miracleman, where the evil scientist Dr. Garzunga used reverse-engineered alien technology to create superhero-selves out of ordinary human beings kept in stasis for years.

  6. Joe
    Joe
    February 11, 2011, 12:03 am | # | Reply

    Calling it now: Genre shift into their new game, but the actual storyline continues more or less the same.

    • Steneub
      Steneub
      February 11, 2011, 9:18 am | # | Reply

      +1;this;qft;etc

      Or: These 5 are the plot NPCs of the MMO – which is how it can be so rich in the first place. Bandit was an actual player.

      “Runs on lost puppies and the souls of orphans”

    • Snowblind
      Snowblind
      February 11, 2011, 10:04 am | # | Reply

      So.. Bacta-the-future tanks?

      • French
        French
        February 11, 2011, 4:13 pm | # | Reply

        I like to think of them as Bacta-reality containers.

        • Hawk
          Hawk
          February 11, 2011, 11:22 pm | # | Reply

          my brain….my brain….!

  7. Caitlin
    Caitlin
    February 11, 2011, 12:04 am | # | Reply

    Uh oh. I am concerned by the quotation marks. That could mean they’re just players and H.R. is using their handles rather than their real names. Until I see pointy ears on Syr’nj, I am going to be nervous.

    Byron looks a lot like a certain character from X-Men there. I’m half expecting him to pop claws and tear this place apart.

    • Codym
      Codym
      February 11, 2011, 4:08 am | # | Reply

      Sideburns are too short … but I see you’re point. Guild-X, perhaps?

    • Rook
      Rook
      February 11, 2011, 5:09 am | # | Reply

      Well, given the very Human sized ‘Gravedust’, I’m thinking them being players might be pretty on the mark unfortunately :\

      • Caitlin
        Caitlin
        February 11, 2011, 7:23 am | # | Reply

        I think he looks human-sized to make us wonder either way. He was only a head shorter than everyone else, and that could still be the case. It also (artistically speaking) explains why Bandit isn’t there–you could NEVER make her look human-sized without totally giving away the fact that they were players. Similarly, you could never have her in a tube at her normal size because that would clue us all in on the fact that everyone actually was from a “Real Akerra.” It’s a very well crafted “Keep everyone in suspense AGAIN” moment.

        I’m holding out hope, considering all the magical hoodoo on the table. If they were just players you could go straight sci-fi. If they’re from a magical alternate universe, however . . .

    • OhNoDinosaurs
      OhNoDinosaurs
      February 11, 2011, 12:39 pm | # | Reply

      Bandit is going to give byron the choice between the red potion or the blue potion later

      • Caitlin
        Caitlin
        February 11, 2011, 1:02 pm | # | Reply

        Health potion or Mana potion . . . that’s not gonna help him get out of the rabbit hole . . .

  8. Doma
    Doma
    February 11, 2011, 12:06 am | # | Reply

    Beard intact.

    All is well.

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 3:34 am | # | Reply

      Byron has something stuck to his chest, but Gravedust doesn’t?

      • JarrysKid
        JarrysKid
        February 11, 2011, 10:36 am | # | Reply

        It’s under his beard.

        • ahdok
          ahdok
          February 11, 2011, 6:45 pm | # | Reply

          That’s what I was thinking.

  9. Samuel
    Samuel
    February 11, 2011, 12:09 am | # | Reply

    First line of comic + alt text = Win.

    • Rognik
      Rognik
      February 11, 2011, 1:31 am | # | Reply

      but is this a triumph? What should I add in my notes?

      • Hawk
        Hawk
        February 11, 2011, 7:59 am | # | Reply

        HUGE SUCCESS.

        Of course.

      • Phil
        Flo
        February 11, 2011, 8:50 am | # | Reply

        You should add,

        “Achievement Unlocked!

        Post the 13,000th Comment!”

        • Gizmo III
          Gizmo III
          February 11, 2011, 11:04 am | # | Reply

          Wow Phill! I daresay it must be hard to overstate your satisfaction.

          • Phil
            Flo
            February 11, 2011, 2:42 pm | # | Reply

            I do what I must.

            • Grug
              Grug
              February 11, 2011, 3:29 pm | # | Reply

              Hey phil. Want to justify why you completely jumped the shark?

              • Phil
                Flo
                February 11, 2011, 3:37 pm | # | Reply

                Not to you.

                • Jean-Luc
                  Jean-Luc
                  February 12, 2011, 9:33 am | # | Reply

                  Are you worried, though, that the webcomic will continue to be defined by the Licentious Adventures of Payet Best? Eight chapters in, it still dominates your output.

                  • Phil
                    Flo
                    February 12, 2011, 11:45 am | # | Reply

                    Tune in Monday and find out, I guess!

                    (I see what you did there)

              • Locke
                Locke
                February 11, 2011, 6:01 pm | # | Reply

                Because Phil is really Fonzie. After Happy Days ended, he had to find a new calling.

    • Kelsey
      Kelsey
      February 11, 2011, 8:48 am | # | Reply

      So much a win that I didn’t realize until I read the alt-text that I was whistling the song. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

  10. Kyubi
    Kyubi
    February 11, 2011, 12:15 am | # | Reply

    Or, if still going with the H.R. = Bandit theory, even if you are interacting via some kind of VR (or not) having someone bury two large axes through your avatar’s shoulder blades leaves an impression. Especially if you’ve been dismissing the “berserk” thing as just a embellishment of vanity until that moment.

    But I agree, it is worrisome if they turn out to be captive players.

    • Calen
      Calen
      February 11, 2011, 2:47 am | # | Reply

      Not that I’m leaning this way, but I suppose it’s possible that bandit is the one in the blue/gray tube, while Frigg is in a container off to the side with much heavier restraints.

      Because she’s friggin Frigg.

      • Naranth
        Naranth
        February 11, 2011, 4:10 am | # | Reply

        …I can see that, actually. Except for he keeps saying ‘five’. still, it’d make perfect sense

        • Iridion
          Iridion
          February 11, 2011, 5:38 am | # | Reply

          I agree that bandit could be the one in the blue tube. Dark blue or purple is her color, while Frigg is more of an orange type. And even floating in a nutritious fluid she seems to have some sort of stealthy pose. Oh well, perhaps it’s just my imagination…
          H.R. states there are only five… Maybe Frigg is in the yellow tube, since orange would be too close to Byrons color. And, frankly, I just want to dismiss the thought that Payet is part of the group. Not only is he the only character definitely still alive, but what makes me think he isn’t part of the real ‘group of five’ is the alt-text for chapter five: “The one where the real fifth member shows up.” As I recall it, Best left and Bandit joined them.
          To make up for the rather manly silhouette inside the yellow tube: Hell, Frigg is a friggin meat-shield, of course she has a more… err… robust outline. Or perhaps her player counterpart is indeed a man.
          Maybe? Pretty please? I just don’t like Payet…
          Hell, the prophecy he believes matches him was already shown to refer to another guy. Talking sword, loose bootstraps, remember?

          So either there are some reeeeaaally good reasons why Best is still part of the group although previous chapters state otherwise, or… well… get ready, incoming errata-storm!

        • zero
          zero
          February 11, 2011, 6:52 am | # | Reply

          I maintain that he hasn’t ‘Gotten’ to two of them yet.

          hence his interest in Best. I suppose Bandit has eluded him as well, which makes sense!

          Go Bandit!

          • Caitlin
            Caitlin
            February 11, 2011, 7:27 am | # | Reply

            I think Bandit’s either dead or at large. SOMEBODY’S gotta rescue these guys. If my whole party was captured minus one person I’d want the sneaky sneaky Rogue to be the one to escape, considering they would have the best chance of getting back in and busting us out.

            That is, provided they weren’t the kind of Rogue liable to watch the party die so they could loot the corpses.

            • Knives6196
              Knives6196
              February 12, 2011, 3:56 pm | # | Reply

              Is it possible that his secretary might be Frigg?

              • Jean-Luc
                Jean-Luc
                February 13, 2011, 8:41 pm | # | Reply

                Paperwork or gtfo.

    • jast
      jast
      February 12, 2011, 12:32 pm | # | Reply

      I am almost sure that Bandit = Daedalus. First, the tie color. I also remember now when she said “I have 9 in lockpicking” when rescuing Frigg, and Syr was rather puzzled by this remark.
      Some of you already noticed that H.R. face does not move a lot and is described as “reptile” looking. Maybe he is just a “nice hat” disguise for our rogue?

  11. Fairportfan
    Fairportfan
    February 11, 2011, 12:17 am | # | Reply

    I rather like the grimoire and candles…

    • RJ
      RJ
      February 11, 2011, 12:23 am | # | Reply

      those are crazy large candles…

      • GutlordGrom
        GutlordGrom
        February 11, 2011, 2:07 am | # | Reply

        And if you notice, professionally dribbled.

        • SaltyKracka
          SaltyKracka
          February 11, 2011, 2:27 am | # | Reply

          Your name wouldn’t happen to be Nuts, would it?

          • barsukthom
            barsukthom
            February 11, 2011, 9:33 am | # | Reply

            Nah, I suspect it’s “Igor”. or Eegore. Or Ygor.

          • GutlordGrom
            GutlordGrom
            February 11, 2011, 10:15 am | # | Reply

            It’s Nutt, sir.

            • Taxil
              Taxil
              February 11, 2011, 6:01 pm | # | Reply

              Mr. Nutt, how come you are here? I thought you were out training the boys for their footing-the-ball match this wednesday?

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 3:29 am | # | Reply

      Five jars on the right.

      • Hawk
        Hawk
        February 11, 2011, 11:24 pm | # | Reply

        But are they canopic?

    • Jean-Luc
      Jean-Luc
      February 12, 2011, 9:42 am | # | Reply

      It’s not a grimoire, it’s the tech manual.

      • Mujaki
        Mujaki
        February 12, 2011, 8:12 pm | # | Reply

        RTFMftwfm
        Read The Freakin’ Manual (for the whole freakin’ month)

  12. Hoo-ya
    Hoo-ya
    February 11, 2011, 12:20 am | # | Reply

    “Hello, ‘Commissioner’.”

  13. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    February 11, 2011, 12:23 am | # | Reply

    “Hello Byron. Seen any good movies lately?”

  14. Surge
    Surge
    February 11, 2011, 12:23 am | # | Reply

    And the science get’s done
    You make a sweet VR gun
    For the people who are
    Still in tubes

    • Jaang
      Jaang
      February 11, 2011, 12:38 am | # | Reply

      *golf clap*

  15. bob the 6th
    bob the 6th
    February 11, 2011, 12:38 am | # | Reply

    heh bandits an npc, that is a bit shocking.

  16. Taxil
    Taxil
    February 11, 2011, 12:41 am | # | Reply

    Ok, long time reader, first time poster in here.

    I am going to take a WAG at what might be happening. Everything we have been reading so far did happen in reality (give or take a few points), but it was in the far past! the age of magic came to a cataclismic end and much of the evidence of that age is gone. The party was indeed “killed” but their bodies/bones were found with enough D.N.A. samples to clone new bodys. H.R. has found remnets of that age (the occult books and gear in first panel) and is in the process of “rez-ing” them in the modern age.

    This comic’s title is starting to make some sense to me now. just how would a group of people who lived in a “midevil age” would react to today’s world.

    of course all of this is just my WAG at it.

    • Sybarite
      Sybarite
      February 12, 2011, 1:43 am | # | Reply

      Oh, now that is an interesting take!

    • Nekropancser
      Nekropancser
      February 12, 2011, 7:22 pm | # | Reply

      The idea is killed. Daedalus was watching Payet Best real time through his computer. Nice try though…

      • A passer-by.
        A passer-by.
        February 13, 2011, 4:44 am | # | Reply

        This does not necessarily kill the idea, merely suggest a ‘see back in time’ program for the PC. Granted, this does make the guess more contrived and thus less plausible, but by no means impossible.

  17. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    February 11, 2011, 12:43 am | # | Reply

    H.R. reminds me of Dr. Brackman from Supreme Commander. Especially in the last panel with all the red.

  18. Riotllama
    Riotllama
    February 11, 2011, 12:45 am | # | Reply

    I want tube people of my very own.

    • GutlordGrom
      GutlordGrom
      February 11, 2011, 2:09 am | # | Reply

      Will take better care of them then your last ones?

    • JarrysKid
      JarrysKid
      February 11, 2011, 10:41 am | # | Reply

      I believe they were called “Sea Monkeys”.

      • Lynxx
        Lynxx
        February 12, 2011, 2:20 am | # | Reply

        but now they’re monkey sea, monkey dead.

  19. Riotllama
    Riotllama
    February 11, 2011, 12:47 am | # | Reply

    Sorry folks, we just can’t get the cake through the tubes.
    No there really is cake. It’s moist and delicious.
    Really.

    • barsukthom
      barsukthom
      February 11, 2011, 9:34 am | # | Reply

      Mmm. Cake. Not a lie at all. Pity you don’t DESERVE cake.

  20. Ray Radlein
    Ray Radlein
    February 11, 2011, 12:48 am | # | Reply

    So evidently Byron is that guy from that Valvoline commercial with the righteous ’70s muscle car hair.

  21. athief
    athief
    February 11, 2011, 12:50 am | # | Reply

    Hello, squarehead.

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 3:35 am | # | Reply

      Hello, “my-mind-control-strip-is-on-your-forehead-head.”

    • Riotllama
      Riotllama
      February 11, 2011, 12:24 pm | # | Reply

      Better squarehead than TINY HEAD! stupid priest robot.

  22. Bob's Your Uncle
    Bob's Your Uncle
    February 11, 2011, 12:58 am | # | Reply

    Hair Hair Long Beautiful Hair.

    …Sorry, his hair draws my eye to it for some reason. I didn’t even realize the other guy was in that frame.

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 3:26 am | # | Reply

      it’s very well drawn hair.

  23. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    February 11, 2011, 12:59 am | # | Reply

    Oh and those “drawers” on the side are actually servers?

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 3:30 am | # | Reply

      looks like it. I’d been assuming they were servers already…

    • barsukthom
      barsukthom
      February 11, 2011, 9:35 am | # | Reply

      Somebody’s been served, alright…

  24. Nojh
    Nojh
    February 11, 2011, 1:00 am | # | Reply

    I’m doing Science and I’m still alive.

    Not that I’m hinting that I want Syr’Nj to say something like that…

  25. George
    George
    February 11, 2011, 1:30 am | # | Reply

    I’d really prefer to stay inside.

    …I was kidding! Let me outta the tube already!

  26. Randonimity
    Randonimity
    February 11, 2011, 1:32 am | # | Reply

    Did they “summon” their bodies from an alternate reality and are basing the games on their “lives” from said reality? O.O

  27. Rognik
    Rognik
    February 11, 2011, 1:36 am | # | Reply

    Now did he grow all of that beard while in the tube, or is his hair growth “paused”?

    • Riotllama
      Riotllama
      February 11, 2011, 12:25 pm | # | Reply

      I would think paused, or else someone has to go in there every 3 or 4 days to shave or trim Byron’s sexy stubble.

  28. PartakerOfSubway
    PartakerOfSubway
    February 11, 2011, 1:39 am | # | Reply

    Is it just me, or does Syr’Nj’s silhouette resemble a female Undead from WoW?

  29. Neb
    Neb
    February 11, 2011, 1:48 am | # | Reply

    Well, I guess Parson Gotti found a way out of Erfworld.

    • Riotllama
      Riotllama
      February 11, 2011, 12:26 pm | # | Reply

      bwahahaha

    • nihil1234
      nihil1234
      February 11, 2011, 4:42 pm | # | Reply

      And here I was just gonna make a Matrix comment, that’s much better than what I had in mind, thank you.

  30. Lydia
    Lydia
    February 11, 2011, 2:02 am | # | Reply

    Can’t believe I’m saying this, but… Monday now, please.

  31. Snowblind
    Snowblind
    February 11, 2011, 2:04 am | # | Reply

    Is that the Necrotelicomnicon I see?

    • Fren
      Fren
      February 11, 2011, 7:57 am | # | Reply

      No way, man. It’s the phone book. The boss is ordering out for pizza for the whole office. Casual Friday tradition.

  32. Hatman
    Hatman
    February 11, 2011, 2:27 am | # | Reply

    I’m a little thrown here. Payet hasn’t died “in game” so far as we know, so any ideas stemming off all of them having died doesn’t exactly work.

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 3:32 am | # | Reply

      He died inside when the party rejected him.

      • barsukthom
        barsukthom
        February 11, 2011, 9:36 am | # | Reply

        It slew the child in his heart.

  33. SaltyKracka
    SaltyKracka
    February 11, 2011, 2:54 am | # | Reply

    inb4cake

    • Yappy
      Yappy
      February 11, 2011, 4:48 am | # | Reply

      You missed by a lot.

  34. Alma
    Alma
    February 11, 2011, 3:02 am | # | Reply

    As if I didn’t already have a crush on Byron. Unf.

    Gravedust seems a little too tall proportionally, but otherwise, they all look very much like their characters.

  35. Locke
    Locke
    February 11, 2011, 3:12 am | # | Reply

    Phil, are you Gravedust? :P

    • Phil
      Flo
      February 11, 2011, 8:54 am | # | Reply

      Are you a wife-beater?

      • barsukthom
        barsukthom
        February 11, 2011, 9:37 am | # | Reply

        Are you still writing about your characters?

        • Phil
          Flo
          February 11, 2011, 9:38 am | # | Reply

          Are we suddenly playing questions now?

          • Caitlin
            Caitlin
            February 11, 2011, 9:50 am | # | Reply

            Why would we start playing games with you?

            • Tavis
              Tavis
              February 11, 2011, 10:03 am | # | Reply

              Are you able to rephrase this in the form of a yes/no question?

              • Caitlin
                Caitlin
                February 11, 2011, 12:09 pm | # | Reply

                Would you be able to?

                • Stormcrow
                  Stormcrow
                  February 11, 2011, 2:20 pm | # | Reply

                  No.

          • Locke
            Locke
            February 11, 2011, 6:03 pm | # | Reply

            Hey, that was just a very dark moment in Hank Pym’s past! And, well, this picture made me laugh for fifteen minutes straight in it’s use in the “Comics Everybody” article on Pym’s history.

            • Phil
              Flo
              February 11, 2011, 6:07 pm | # | Reply

              The LBFA crew is my not-so-secret webcomics crush.

  36. kenneth
    kenneth
    February 11, 2011, 3:22 am | # | Reply

    Puuuurdy. Oh, and much cooler than I was thinking. I’m glad I kept the faith.

    Keeping the faith and waking up with your favorite Uncle Mike standing over you naked would have sucked. Er, blown. Umm, no, well…

    Just glad things are turning out non-creepy. Not that the candles and spell book aren’t creepy. They’re just creepy in a good way… …rather than in a way that might scar you for life.

    Or not that there’s anything wrong with incestuous relations. I mean, for some folks that’s cool and all. It’s just that if that happened to me…

    • Locke
      Locke
      February 11, 2011, 4:53 am | # | Reply

      Well, to be fair, nobody wants to wake up with their favorite Uncle Mike standing over them. Not even the hillbillies. They’re more into cousins.

    • JarrysKid
      JarrysKid
      February 11, 2011, 10:46 am | # | Reply

      Nothing wrong with a little incest, as long as you keep it in the family…

  37. ahdok
    ahdok
    February 11, 2011, 3:28 am | # | Reply

    Hello Byron.
    You’re sleepy now.
    Your silhouette is so stationary.
    You’re released but your custody calls.
    And I want to be free.
    Don’t you want to be free?

  38. Hellhound
    Hellhound
    February 11, 2011, 4:32 am | # | Reply

    Now that i#m thinking about it,this opens a door for many theories that they are maybe “not” players.Just to mention my favorite two:
    -They could be from a Parallel world where H.R has contact to and power to manipulate things.
    -or like someone above mentioned already it could be from the past of they world where magic still existed and there where time traveld in the “Present”.

    Both theories would also explaine why he could make a game out of it.
    In any case i hope H.R Raised them from the death and brings them back to there own world/time to fix some problems. Because then it would mean that the Fantasy world really existed and i can happyly ignore the whole future(present) world in this chapter.

    Oh yeah and to all you Bandit fans out there.if they get back in “time” to fix things,Bandit would also be saved that way even though she issn’t in a tube here.that would bwe nice right?

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 11, 2011, 6:05 am | # | Reply

      They used to have her stored in a publicly viewable tube in the lobby until the government Bandit.

      • Ash
        Ash
        February 11, 2011, 10:30 am | # | Reply

        They weren’t too keynes on it. Reminded them of that fiasco with BO games a few years back.

  39. flevine
    flevine
    February 11, 2011, 6:39 am | # | Reply

    Maybe this was the original development team. “Gravedust” sure looks like one of those crotchety old UNIX sysadmins.

  40. Facecity
    Facecity
    February 11, 2011, 7:16 am | # | Reply

    So I’m glad you got burned, think of all the things we learned.

  41. BriGuy
    BriGuy
    February 11, 2011, 8:04 am | # | Reply

    It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction!

  42. S.
    S.
    February 11, 2011, 8:24 am | # | Reply

    you know. . .

    i think that bandit is already present on that room….

    you know, like the way they used colors to show who is who…

    there is something more than have a purple color there…. and if you think about it, bandit always had something different bout it… a little…. outsider

  43. Hawk
    Hawk
    February 11, 2011, 8:40 am | # | Reply

    All the GlaDos stuff = WIN.

    Also, Monday now please? Can has Monday now? Update now?

    ….please?

    I must find something to torture until Monday to ease the waiting…!

    C’mere Ahdok

  44. timbo
    timbo
    February 11, 2011, 9:13 am | # | Reply

    Out of Beta and releasing on time? Sounds like Rift in two weeks!

  45. Tony
    Tony
    February 11, 2011, 9:18 am | # | Reply

    I don’t know but i see 5 persons, but there are SIX in the story, maybe one of the is an AI or something?

  46. Soulwind
    Soulwind
    February 11, 2011, 9:28 am | # | Reply

    Logically, the 5 we have back stories for should be the Tube Team here

  47. Gholateg
    Gholateg
    February 11, 2011, 9:54 am | # | Reply

    Am I the only one thinking that Grimmoire has all the old pages of the comic in it? It certainly looks like it’s pictures, and not words on those pages… Twisting magical energies to make an MMO… Rather twisted.

    I’d play it.

  48. Taylor
    Taylor
    February 11, 2011, 9:55 am | # | Reply

    Can’t …tell…if tube Byron is as hot as regular Byron…
    Also, I never would have guessed that Frigg had such a bangin’ figure. 36-24-36 Oww what a winning hand. ;)

    • Taylor
      Taylor
      February 11, 2011, 9:59 am | # | Reply

      Or is that Syr’nj? Either way, nice figure.

    • flevine
      flevine
      February 11, 2011, 12:22 pm | # | Reply

      Depends on whether you like the nose job? ;-)

      • Taylor
        Taylor
        February 12, 2011, 7:15 pm | # | Reply

        You’re right. His node is significantly smaller/more straight… I disapprove.
        I like big noses and I cannot lie.

  49. Brent Felzien
    Brent Felzien
    February 11, 2011, 10:14 am | # | Reply

    Bandit is in one of the jars on the table.

    …uh oh, or several.

    • DrasticSarcastic
      DrasticSarcastic
      February 11, 2011, 11:23 am | # | Reply

      LOL

    • Sybarite
      Sybarite
      February 12, 2011, 1:48 am | # | Reply

      I’m still guessing than Bandit is the perky secretary with the upturned nose that keeps walking on her toes. Didn’t Bandit used to prance like that at times?

  50. The Unreal
    The Unreal
    February 11, 2011, 11:50 am | # | Reply

    Gravedust’s beard: so manly that it exists in every possible reality.

    • Tim
      Tim
      February 11, 2011, 12:39 pm | # | Reply

      Yes.

  51. Conn
    Conn
    February 11, 2011, 11:57 am | # | Reply

    I repent for my sins. Screw ditching out for a while, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON HERE.

  52. flevine
    flevine
    February 11, 2011, 12:22 pm | # | Reply

    John: Second (lower) panel is really nice.

  53. Gillsing
    Gillsing
    February 11, 2011, 12:36 pm | # | Reply

    “Still alive” + “we’re out of beta, we’re releasing on time” = the players survived the TPK event that ended the beta test. Couldn’t market a game that might kill the actual players, now could you?

    I guess that means that Payet Best just got sent out to his certain death. Which really is his ‘destiny’, just as it was the destiny for all the beta testers. Playtime is over, everyone get out of the pool.

    • GutlordGrom
      GutlordGrom
      February 11, 2011, 1:51 pm | # | Reply

      The pool is closed due to machinations.

      • themoonrising
        themoonrising
        February 11, 2011, 2:06 pm | # | Reply

        No, the pool is closed because it was built by BS Johnson…

        • barsukthom
          barsukthom
          February 11, 2011, 6:17 pm | # | Reply

          The kidney-shaped pool that had to be closed because it kept being filled with kidneys every full moon?

  54. swordsister
    swordsister
    February 11, 2011, 2:17 pm | # | Reply

    ..and the cake goes to the artist of the page.

  55. Eldrazi
    Eldrazi
    February 11, 2011, 2:28 pm | # | Reply

    I don’t know, man. This is getting to where I can’t see any sensible endings to this scenario.

    What the hell is going on with this Dedalus fella…?

  56. Shaz
    Shaz
    February 11, 2011, 3:12 pm | # | Reply

    Unless someone’s already mentioned this. I reakon Bandit was probably an NPC within the game the 5 encountered.

  57. TraderInTown
    TraderInTown
    February 11, 2011, 3:48 pm | # | Reply

    I’m not sure I like this twist.

  58. blakhart
    blakhart
    February 11, 2011, 4:13 pm | # | Reply

    I have a theory. I think Bandit is the secretary. She hate’s privilege and honesty, and she is privy to the secret.

    I just have a feeling that she either channels the little gnome’s spirit or at least has something to do with her.

    Just my two cents.

    • Sybarite
      Sybarite
      February 12, 2011, 1:50 am | # | Reply

      I agreed with you in a response further up the page. The secretary also has Bandit’s nose and her walk!

      • blakhart
        blakhart
        February 12, 2011, 6:44 am | # | Reply

        Yay! It’s nice to be validated, even if only for a few seconds, until the authors decide to pull the rug out from under all of us by telling us that Bandit didn’t actually exist, she was a figment of our imagination. That the Island from “Lost” was actually just a suburb or Orlando, and that we are actually all existing to be nothing more than Batteries for a Robotic Ubercollective in the far flung future of a dead Earth…

        Yay, validation!

      • FoolishOwl
        FoolishOwl
        February 13, 2011, 11:40 pm | # | Reply

        That’s the most consistent theory, at this point, given that we’ve confirmed that Byron in the glass tube looks just like Byron the Berserker, corroborating the general idea that the party members look like the people in the glass tube.

        I’d felt sure that Payet Best was played by Dedalus, given that Dedalus was introduced watching Best, but given the closer look at the jars in this page, it seems pretty clear to me that the one on the right end is Best.

        Bandit seems to be the one unaccounted for among the tubes, and she at least arguably resembles Dedalus’s assistant. There’d been almost no character development for Bandit, and she joined the group through an encounter when the rest of the group had already coalesced, so the idea that she was deployed to watch “The Five” makes sense.

  59. Pashakitty
    Pashakitty
    February 11, 2011, 4:16 pm | # | Reply

    If you compare hair styles then the tube contents would range from left to right: Byron, Sy’ringe, Gravedust, Frigga, and Best.

    One does wonder where our little rogue is and why she isn’t in a tube along with the others. Also as much as I hate to admit it best does seem to be part of the team. If you go all the way back to the beginning and look at the cover art he’s there with the rest of them.

    • Hawk
      Hawk
      February 11, 2011, 11:28 pm | # | Reply

      But so is Bandit.

      • Pashakitty
        Pashakitty
        February 12, 2011, 1:20 pm | # | Reply

        I wasn’t disputing that.

  60. Rentok
    Rentok
    February 11, 2011, 5:16 pm | # | Reply

    Maybe Bandit is not actually an NPC, but a hacker who broke into the beta test and joined up with the others, and H.R. either couldn’t kick her out, or decided to see what happened. Gravedust’s stature is explainable by the fact we can’t see his feet, and Bandit… Maybe the hacker is a child genius, so she was just naturally short.

    Which would mean Bandit’s player probably ended up in the hospital when she got murdered, or survived due to having hacked her client to remove the problem that caused near-death. And she’s not one of “the 5” because she’s either freelance, or not supposed to be there anyways.

  61. Yahtzee
    Yahtzee
    February 11, 2011, 5:42 pm | # | Reply

    Hey … where’s Bandit ?

  62. Locke
    Locke
    February 11, 2011, 6:04 pm | # | Reply

    ” “Byron”, or, should I say, “Wolverine”…”

    DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN!

  63. Michael Haneline
    Michael Haneline
    February 11, 2011, 7:47 pm | # | Reply

    Either H.R. is Bandit or Bandit is a representative of Hurricane Inc. who’s job was to look after and guide The Five.
    I’d bet a hundred-billion dollars on it.

  64. ThatGuy
    ThatGuy
    February 11, 2011, 7:47 pm | # | Reply

    my bet is that this is Gastonia millinia in the future and their eldritch science honed in on whatever magic Syr’nj used before she died and they chose them as subjects for their reincarnation experiments. There was a leak in the company so to cover it up they made a MMO game based on the heroes memories.

  65. MarkS
    MarkS
    February 11, 2011, 9:38 pm | # | Reply

    Weird how he maintains the permanent stubble even in the tube.

  66. KDef
    KDef
    February 12, 2011, 1:25 am | # | Reply

    The color coding of the tubes is no accident. We have a man and a woman in these two tubes where we would have expected two women. The colors and genders of Byron, Syr’nj, and Gravedust’s tubes seem consistent. I won’t lie. It looks like Best is in. But who’s out? The hair and build suggest Frigg, but the color says Bandit. Or does it? Ch 8 pg 5 has Frigg wearing gray armor over a blue outfit, while Bandit’s wear is more purple. And who has a purple tie? I would hate for H.R. to be any incarnation of anyone we’ve already seen, even Best. But the stark use of colors in these otherwise sepia pages has a meaning, or else the artist is a dick.

  67. Wandering Mage
    Wandering Mage
    February 12, 2011, 2:18 am | # | Reply

    I’m thinking the far right is Frigg, despite the look of the figure, and the reason I say that is quite frankly you can almost mistake Frigg for a guy early on in the story. So I think it’s bandit in the fourth one.

    As to HR being any of them, that’s doubtful as the beginning of the chapter states where the real villain appears or whatever with HR’s silhouette. Plus he’s also on the 2010 coming to Guilded Age poster.

    Still itching to see where this goes.

  68. Haley
    Haley
    February 12, 2011, 1:18 pm | # | Reply

    I like seeing byron in a more realistic drawing style
    I’m kind of hoping I get the same view for all of them-especially syr’njj (not sure I spelled that right vv)

  69. dr pepper
    dr pepper
    February 13, 2011, 2:12 am | # | Reply

    I’m a little disappointed in some of the commenters here. Why do you keep assuming that a player is going have a character who’s the same sex or body type as them? You don’t expect them to be the same species, after all!

    • Gravaman
      Gravaman
      February 13, 2011, 6:24 pm | # | Reply

      I don’t.
      But I do expect, when facing 5 player characters that each look like one of 5 game characters, for the look-alikes to correspond.

      • FoolishOwl
        FoolishOwl
        February 13, 2011, 11:47 pm | # | Reply

        We’ve just had confirmation that the one in the glass tube who most of us thought looked like Byron actually looks exactly like Byron, and is Byron. The one in the middle looks a great deal like Gravedust. The others are, I think, less definite, but then there’s the color coding. At this point, assuming that the characters strongly resemble the people in the tubes seems a pretty well-supported conjecture.

        As an aside, I frequently roleplay female characters and elven characters, despite being neither female nor an elf. So, no, I do not generally assume characters are identical to players.

  70. dr pepper
    dr pepper
    February 13, 2011, 2:13 am | # | Reply

    Oh, and for this VR tank portion of the story, the real question is: what is the involvement of that plucky programmer from “Duel in the Somme”?

  71. Dashiar
    Dashiar
    February 13, 2011, 11:00 pm | # | Reply

    Im guessing that big blue ghostman from a few pages ago sent Best to get some magic whatsit that somehow ended up putting the group where they are now, and H.R. was simply going threw their memories the last eight or so chapters, possibly trying to find the Whatsit.

    • Dashiar
      Dashiar
      February 13, 2011, 11:02 pm | # | Reply

      or maybe he was going*through* said memories as well. (Beats head with a dictionary.)

  72. dinji
    dinji
    February 13, 2011, 11:23 pm | # | Reply

    I’m going with the HR is Bandit theory. Bandit’s armor was mostly purple. So far, the only thing in color aside from the tubes has been his tie. Also, the different character’s tubes kinda match up to the theme of their armor colors if I remember correctly.

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      February 14, 2011, 3:25 am | # | Reply

      In the Cold Light of Day,
      The colours all fade away.
      We live in monotony
      …nothing to say.

  73. Dusty668
    Dusty668
    February 15, 2011, 4:50 am | # | Reply

    The “Spring break look” comment of Frigg’s makes a lot more sense now.

  74. FreddeX
    FreddeX
    May 18, 2011, 4:10 am | # | Reply

    While i do have some doubts about the direction this comic has begun to take i will trust the authors decision in this, they have not let us down once during the length of this comic and i doubt they will let us down now! :D

  75. Observer
    Observer
    March 5, 2015, 11:21 pm | # | Reply

    Suspended animation or do they have scuba midgets shave him?

  76. Josh
    Josh
    April 27, 2015, 7:40 am | # | Reply

    everything i know is a lie! D:

  77. Neferius
    Neferius
    September 3, 2015, 1:26 pm | # | Reply

    -Hello “Byron.”
    He spoke as-if to say “I hate you most of all.”

  78. Drewid
    Drewid
    December 1, 2015, 2:04 pm | # | Reply

    This comic just grew a really, really epic beard.

  79. Drewid
    Drewid
    December 1, 2015, 2:08 pm | # | Reply

    Wait, so the thief isn’t an actual person?

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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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