yes, but that doesn’t always force each dialouge bubble to respond in order.
Given the context of the convo, that Byron’s line seemed to fit, and the fact that Byron is looking at Gravedust, I initially thought they were both answering Gravy. Mix up on my part.
They were both answering Gravedust. She’s shocked/upset that he feels so guilty that he would rather have been left dead, than to have another chance at life.
Shock at how willing he is to just give up. Up until this point, he was the one always encouraging the team, even though he was always getting his ass handed to him. So it’s a dramatic shift in his attitude and one that disturbs her. She’s beginning to see just how much of a grip his personal demons have on him. She wants to help him overcome all this but is afraid she can’t.
That could be because in order to replace himself with a youthful successor, he may have to settle down and have some kids. New quest!
“Single white Dwarf, 240, ISO lady for starting a family and raising next gen of mystics. Me: excellent archer, nice beard, enjoy long walks in the desert. Hobbies include improv. You: Fertile, OK with Gastonians and dead people. No tall-ies. e-mail freshgrave@gastonia.net.”
Poor Gravedust. He seems so confused about his own motives. I get the impression that he has never asked himself why he believes reviving the dead is wrong, given that the capability exists.
My reply would be, “Oh yeah, wise guys, where’re YOUR apprentices, eh?! Yeah, that’s right! Now, come on, you’re all coming back from the dead with me. I’ll just stuff you into arrows until we find a corpse. And stop WHINING already, Emoscythe! Jeez.”
No, he binds spirits to arrows in order to be able to put them to rest. Like the pirates, by using them to slay their murderer, they had no more ties to the material world.
Lolp, poor gravey, not allowed to hand with his outline peeps…
y’know, i think he’s stuck considering the circumstances, considering the not alowed to eb dead until your replaced, not allowed to come back to life thing…
“OH, I’m not really a Gastonian you guys just thought I was because you’re ASSHOLES.”
“OH, Best was able to anchor us to the ground but he used a chain of children.”
“OH, I finally started berserking but I killed my friends.”
“OH, I was brought back to life but I wish I were dead.”
I’d really love to see the backstory of how he went from poetry quoting tabletop gamer to DEPRESSING BERSERKER. Hell, we’ve seen the past of everyone else but him and seen how they’ve turned out. (We also haven’t seen the past of that one kid that used to hang around with them who I’m sure no one remembers)
We don’t need TWO Bards in the Party. We don’t even need ONE. Still, consider what he did. He KILLED his friends. He would have killed Syr’nj too if she hadn’t drugged him. Oh, and one of them isn’t back yet, so it’s not like “Hey, we are all alive now, no harm no fowl.”
Angst sometimes actually makes sense.
Poor Gravedust is all sad because his buddies didn’t want him around. They were like “you’re not done yet, you lazy SOB. Get back down there and do your job. We’re not having you around for nothing. Go find someone else to be a mystic or you never get to die. Get on it. Pronto.”
Yes, but it’s been established for the moment that this is reality for the Sepia World people. So it’s not a matter of Sepia Byron rolling up a Berserker and not knowing what to do with it; for all intents and purposes, Sepia Byron is Arkerra Byron, which means as far as he knows he is a Berserker, which is obviously not a very nice situation, at least not for someone with a conscience. (And personally I still theorize that this all has something to do with who Sepia Byron actually is.)
Look, Locke, I used a semicolon correctly! Please come out of your grammar rage now. You don’t have to do this.
I think it’s more that Sepia Byron thought the whole idea of being someone like Lord Byron, all badass quotes and bitches, was awesome till he actually lived it. Now he realizes the downside and it’s going to take some Synr’J between those aspects of his personality.
Maybe, but when was he “badass quotes and bitches”? That’s more Best’s style, and I seem to recall that all Byron has done is exchange an awkward look with Syr’nj. Maybe, as you suggest, he just wasn’t up to living it. But my point is that at present it’s moot what Sepia Byron originally thought he was doing, because according to Daedalus, this is 100% their reality now. Sepia Byron apparently does not exist in Arkerra Byron’s mind. He’s not regretting rolling up a Berserker and playing it wrong or trashing someone else’s character–he thinks he’s murdered his friend, for real. Unless, of course, the authors are screwing with us even more, which is entirely possible.
“…And that’s why I’m going to teach you four my shamanic powers.”
Next four weeks of comics: Special training in a desert area to try and bring the party up to the power level of its strongest member; The guy with the spiky yellow hair…
Waitaminute…
Hey, he’s the only one with a ghost of a chance to pull this thing off. They had to send him back. I’m sure it raised their spirits to know Gravedust was out there working on their behalf.
totally just got shunned.
why’s syr’ng giving byron that face?
She’s hurt that he’d rather be dead, than be with her?
She’s shocked that his guilt runs that deep?
Looking a second time, I thought he was talking to Gravedust, not responding to Syr’nj. It makes sense that way. Wasn’t clear at first.
Honestly, I did too for a moment, and had to reread. You’re not alone.
Don’t you normally read comics from top-left to bottom-right?
yes, but that doesn’t always force each dialouge bubble to respond in order.
Given the context of the convo, that Byron’s line seemed to fit, and the fact that Byron is looking at Gravedust, I initially thought they were both answering Gravy. Mix up on my part.
They ARE both answering Gravedust. No way is he telling Syr’nj he wishes SHE were dead.
He’s telling Syr’nj that he wouldn’t mind HIMSELF being dead.
They were both answering Gravedust. She’s shocked/upset that he feels so guilty that he would rather have been left dead, than to have another chance at life.
ah, yeah… I could see how that would change whole meaning of the reaction. :)
She’s worried that he’d rather be dead than alive?
It’s because there’s a huge ugly bug on the right side of his face, ewwwww.
Shock at how willing he is to just give up. Up until this point, he was the one always encouraging the team, even though he was always getting his ass handed to him. So it’s a dramatic shift in his attitude and one that disturbs her. She’s beginning to see just how much of a grip his personal demons have on him. She wants to help him overcome all this but is afraid she can’t.
A single look can tell you a whole lot.
I have this sudden urge to engage in ecumenical mysticism by demonstrating to the Ziggy Savasis the Hawaiian Good-Luck Symbol.
Is that what the kids are calling it these days? In my day we just called it the finger.
Ah, you don’t know that story, then.
Huh. Link didn’t go through.
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-seizing-of-the-pueblo
Why do I get the feeling that Tombdirt is being punished here?
Grimstare Manskirt says “Get back in there you coward”.
“You’re not cool enough for the afterlife yet, chump. Get lost.”
He’s such a stuffed shirt, even the other mystics can’t stand him.
Who wants to be a blue outline in the sky anyway.
Yeah. Don’t let them get you down! Shine on, you crazy mystic!
So Gravedust is saying they were… re-cycled?
Nah, not possible, they don’t look like they’ve become Howard Taylor’s carbo-silicate amorphs.
Feels/looks like Gravedust is scared out of his mind.
That could be because in order to replace himself with a youthful successor, he may have to settle down and have some kids. New quest!
“Single white Dwarf, 240, ISO lady for starting a family and raising next gen of mystics. Me: excellent archer, nice beard, enjoy long walks in the desert. Hobbies include improv. You: Fertile, OK with Gastonians and dead people. No tall-ies. e-mail freshgrave@gastonia.net.”
Wow. He’ll drive all his potential candidates away with his standup.
Poor Gravedust. He seems so confused about his own motives. I get the impression that he has never asked himself why he believes reviving the dead is wrong, given that the capability exists.
“Oh, sure, we could raise a vast army of murderous, slavering undead, no problem! Ahem…But That Would Be Wrong!
The mystics ordered Dusty out of the afterlife because they needed a new generation to take over their duties.
A classic example of “kids or GTFO.”
My reply would be, “Oh yeah, wise guys, where’re YOUR apprentices, eh?! Yeah, that’s right! Now, come on, you’re all coming back from the dead with me. I’ll just stuff you into arrows until we find a corpse. And stop WHINING already, Emoscythe! Jeez.”
Is that… is that how the arrows work?
No, he binds spirits to arrows in order to be able to put them to rest. Like the pirates, by using them to slay their murderer, they had no more ties to the material world.
I imagine Gravedust was their apprentice.
The Mystics’ task to Gravedust:
You must return here with a shrubbery, one that looks nice and is not too expensive, else you will never pass along to the afterlife.
Mystics:
“Boy, did you screw up. No GTFO and don’t comeback till you have trained a replacement.”
Gravedust:
“…assholes!”
What really happened:
“Sandals, Gravedust? Really, sandals? Footwrappings not good enough for you? GTFO you damn hippy!”
One is reasonably sure it was more due to ‘The constellation’s full, sod off Dusty’.
Wait, was he wearing socks as well?
Lolp, poor gravey, not allowed to hand with his outline peeps…
y’know, i think he’s stuck considering the circumstances, considering the not alowed to eb dead until your replaced, not allowed to come back to life thing…
poor gravey
When there’s no more room in the Astral Plane, glowy outlines shall walk the Earth.
OBJECTION!
My feeling is that it’s an error in the game’s server – you know, that the Astral Plane has crashed.
Goddammit, Byron. Stop being such a downer.
“OH, I’m not really a Gastonian you guys just thought I was because you’re ASSHOLES.”
“OH, Best was able to anchor us to the ground but he used a chain of children.”
“OH, I finally started berserking but I killed my friends.”
“OH, I was brought back to life but I wish I were dead.”
I’d really love to see the backstory of how he went from poetry quoting tabletop gamer to DEPRESSING BERSERKER. Hell, we’ve seen the past of everyone else but him and seen how they’ve turned out. (We also haven’t seen the past of that one kid that used to hang around with them who I’m sure no one remembers)
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22real+roleplayer%22
Byron better not get too emo, or all I’m going to hear when he’s in a panel is “CRAAAAWLIINNNNG IIIINNN MY SKIIIIIIIINNNNNNNN….”
We don’t need TWO Bards in the Party. We don’t even need ONE. Still, consider what he did. He KILLED his friends. He would have killed Syr’nj too if she hadn’t drugged him. Oh, and one of them isn’t back yet, so it’s not like “Hey, we are all alive now, no harm no fowl.”
Angst sometimes actually makes sense.
Dead Mystics: “Seriously, Gravedust, haven’t you read Garth Nix’s SABRIEL? You should have seen this coming.”
Such a wonderful magic system. Such an appaling plot.
Poor Gravedust is all sad because his buddies didn’t want him around. They were like “you’re not done yet, you lazy SOB. Get back down there and do your job. We’re not having you around for nothing. Go find someone else to be a mystic or you never get to die. Get on it. Pronto.”
When will Byron stop moping? He’s a beserker. He goes beserk sometimes. You don’t want to go beserk? Don’t roll a beserker class! Jeez.
Yes, but it’s been established for the moment that this is reality for the Sepia World people. So it’s not a matter of Sepia Byron rolling up a Berserker and not knowing what to do with it; for all intents and purposes, Sepia Byron is Arkerra Byron, which means as far as he knows he is a Berserker, which is obviously not a very nice situation, at least not for someone with a conscience. (And personally I still theorize that this all has something to do with who Sepia Byron actually is.)
Look, Locke, I used a semicolon correctly! Please come out of your grammar rage now. You don’t have to do this.
You have a choice.
Maybe sepia Byron thought that “berserking” meant being really passionate about things and now he’s suffering from buyer’s remorse.
So…this is how we get, “My love for you is a like a truck, berserker!”?
I’m trying to imagine adapting this idea to my passions for snorkeling, Photoshop, and guinea pigs.
ARRRGHARGHLEBLARGH10%TOOMUCHMAGENTAGAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
[tries to remove magenta with axe]
Oops…that’s the third monitor this week!
choose the sepia pill.
Funny, the first comment I’ve made in a while and i missed the mark. It should have been posted after flevine’s response to traderintown. smoooooth.
It was, but after Jean-Luc’s. It cascades by thread.
HARGHLEBLARGHLE- *gets hit by semicolon, collapses.*
I think it’s more that Sepia Byron thought the whole idea of being someone like Lord Byron, all badass quotes and bitches, was awesome till he actually lived it. Now he realizes the downside and it’s going to take some Synr’J between those aspects of his personality.
Maybe, but when was he “badass quotes and bitches”? That’s more Best’s style, and I seem to recall that all Byron has done is exchange an awkward look with Syr’nj. Maybe, as you suggest, he just wasn’t up to living it. But my point is that at present it’s moot what Sepia Byron originally thought he was doing, because according to Daedalus, this is 100% their reality now. Sepia Byron apparently does not exist in Arkerra Byron’s mind. He’s not regretting rolling up a Berserker and playing it wrong or trashing someone else’s character–he thinks he’s murdered his friend, for real. Unless, of course, the authors are screwing with us even more, which is entirely possible.
(To the tune of a famous holiday song)
Gravedust the Savasi Mystic! (Mystic!)
Had a very tangled plot!
And if Best hadn’t found him, (Found him!)
Underneath the ground he’d rot!
All of the other mystics (Mystics!)
Were slaughtered for political gain!
They couldn’t let poor Gravedust (Gravedust!)
Join them on the Astral Plane!
I like it, Mujaki.
Best – er, I mean greatest summary ever!
Nice. :-)
(Continued)
Then one foggy retcon later,
Gravedust had to sayyy:
‘Byron you’re a Raging fright,
Don’t you slay your pals this time!’
Then all his guildies loved him,
Even though they cried in paiiiiiin,
‘Cuz the next time that Byron kills ’em,
Gravedust’ll just revive’m agaiiiiiiiin!
That is very sparkly sand… I like it.
The look on Syr’nj’s face in panel 2 is actually because Birdserker is back, and attempting to build a nest in Byron’s right ear.
Is one of the Mystics sitting on the butt of an ethereal axe, as if it were a chair?
Owwwww, that would hurt x.x No wonder mystics are all such stiffs they’ve all got sticks up their……
Are you saying that mystic is butthurt?
Oh gods… Now I can mentally HEAR Patrick Stuart saying “That mystic is butthurt? Get him to sickbay immediately.”
“…And that’s why I’m going to teach you four my shamanic powers.”
Next four weeks of comics: Special training in a desert area to try and bring the party up to the power level of its strongest member; The guy with the spiky yellow hair…
Waitaminute…
Joseph Stalin could have conquered the world if he’d had *that* hammer and sickle.
Hey, he’s the only one with a ghost of a chance to pull this thing off. They had to send him back. I’m sure it raised their spirits to know Gravedust was out there working on their behalf.
Syr’nj, panel 3, echoes of page 7… Lookin’ good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tljaQoKlNwA&feature=related
Also digging (ahem) Gravedust’s puzzlement. Must be a bit startling to wake up from a [literal] dirt nap.
So this game had permadeath?
Hardcore.