Chapter 36 – Page 32
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Scipio panicked, Colonnus grimacing, Bandit livid… it’s like opposite day in here!
How DARE you get kidnapped and get turned into a berserker virus host?
You’d think he’d show some self-control while he’s dead and being moved around by an evil cyber-demon!
He should at least offer an apology tweet. “If anyone was offended by me being used as a vessel to release a host of demons into the world…”
And all I can think is that Bandit giving into rage is going to help the Grand (Evil) Plan somehow.
I’m calling it: Bandit is now officially at risk of being the guildie who dies in this battle. Her sudden unlikeable response makes her the likely sacrifice. Just as two likeable teens in a slasher flick are dead meat as soon as they take off their clothes and start smoking pot.
…why would you take off your clothes to smoke pot? That’s just frivolous.
Why wouldn’t you?
Well, we need more info here. Like, how good is the pot?
It’s a literal pot, smoking with cleansing enzymes, to pitch their clothes into. They’d better pitch’em into the pot, or one day they won’t have a pot to pitch in, knowutimean?
Aaaaand this is why I don’t like you, Bandit.
Though I’m totally curious to see whether Byron’s alive again, or is a lifeless husk, or is just back to ‘Zerkin’… or whatever. o:
TURN AROUND! I WANNA SEE! D:
Well, were he tryly dead, his player would’ve waked up (at least according to Purpletie)
Considering the circumstances I think it’s ok for her to have a moment of irrationality.
Besides, this isn’t the first time this has happened or even the second. Byron’s always been a liability and everyone (in the core group) knew it. As the probably least naive person in the group (despite her cutesy exterior) Bandit is probably angry at herself as much as Byron for allowing this to happen and not insisting that Byron be either locked up or at least kept away from Cultist related missions.
We haven’t seen the bezerker spirit that just possessed her from this camera-angle…
Zerked people don’t talk.
I’m pretty sure I saw a lot of Hrrrrrngrrrrghhharrrghhh out of Byron last time…
Regardless… Bandit is a more refined class of lady than Hackenslasher :D
Yep. I think you called it. She’s yelling at him because she’s more mad at herself than anything.
“Byron’s always been a liability and everyone (in the core group) knew it. ”
Really? O_o Considering how many enemies he has felled, he’s not a liablility.
Ok for her to break down? No. A true leader wouldn’t break down, even in this dire straits. That is, if ever Bandit was such a character, of course.
It’s amazing that we are so judgmental of people’s decisions in a comic book when in real life people do waaay stupider things all the time. Bandit and Byron both made the best decisions they could from what they knew. Byron thought the cure was going to be his ace in the hole. He had no clue that HR was waiting with the electro-dudes and the anti-cure.
There isn’t really anything that can counter HR’s stuff I’ll bet, seeing as he made the game and all. o:
You can see the future?
Did Bandit get herself infected or is this her assuming the worst of things?
Or maybe a ploy to bring the “real ” Byron back by hitting him right in the friendship.
I wonder how she avoided having a ragefiend tear into her, being the closest to the source. Passed a butt-ton of DEX saves?
Looks like the cyber rage demons only go for open wounds of some sort, and Bandit’s high dex has saved her bacon thus far.
Bandit’s not infected, she still has pupils and isn’t slavering uncontrollably.
Uh oh, it’s hamburger time.
NSFW
GYAAAAHHHnorrhea.
he should probably get that checked by a doctor…
“Personally, Bandit, I think mistakes were made on both sides here.”
“SHUT YOUR STUPID, ‘ZERKING FACE!”
Cultist 1: Hey! We helped too!
Cultist 2: Yeah man! Credit where credit is due!
Shut up Bandit
Actually…it is all Byron’s fault. I don’t mean the part about how he was a victim to an evil curse. I am not going to blame a victim for being a victim.
But he knew, or at least highly suspected, that this was a trap specifically designed to get him to berserk. Sure he had Syr’nj’s cure, but he knew that they had a fortune teller and had to suspect that they knew about the cure. Sure he had know way of knowing the details or full scope, but he had to have figured that they wouldn’t go through all this effort just for the small patatoes of JUST getting him to berserk.
And yet Byron went anyways. Because, while he was made strides to put the past behind, he still needs that closure. He needed to lead the charge and finish his vendetta. The Cult of the Countless Limbs is Byron’s white whale and because couldn’t stop chasing it the Adventuring Guild is sinking.
Okay maybe not ALL his fault, Tom and his cultists get a good dose of the blame, but still.
I partially agree with this. The problem is a bulk of the other characters went along with the terrible plan. I don’t remember Bandit speaking up (or did she?).
Well, I am pretty sure Syr’nj was the only other one that knew about Brother Tom the fortune teller (though I could be wrong). Thus the others would not have a reason to suspect that the cultists knew about the cure. Thus in turn they would find it less likely that the cultists would have a contingency plan for it.
Byron appears to have lost a contact lens.
And other things.
To be fair, everything was going fine, until she slashed him open.
Are you being serious? I can’t tell. My sarcasmometer is on the fritz.
Everything was less terrible
…not that it would matter. Now.
Time to call in the Kaspersky group…
Do you think casting “Fire Wall” will really help at this point? I mean it’s a breach!
But tragedy and drama aside, look how HAPPY the little fire guys are. That must count for something.
Hey look you guys! An EXPANSION pack!
Let´s hope it isn´t that one sided…”everybody is being grilled” gets old quickly.
Hmmm…frost giants ?
1. I really think this could be the most badass / crazy generic cultists flunkies get. Just look at how happy and eager some of them in the first panel are to suffer unnatural magic-induced deaths and corpse desecration – they’re simply adorabloodthirsty
2. I really can’t wait to see where this goes, a most epic showdown approaching regardless I’m sure
Demons running amock, everyone is dying, people are getting pissy and Byron went nuts again.
So how’s everyone’s day going?
No.. No it’s not his fault.
Yes, yes, Bandit. He is, but he may not be in a position to take critque from you.
Am I the only one who has a feeling he’ll turn around with a scary ass zombie face (or a freaky grin) like Michael Jackson from Thriller? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m-kxkfGOBE
The real Lord Byron once said “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.”
Maybe Byron just needs to hear a joke…
…and then 2nd Battleshire happened.
No but seriously, Mob zerk byron was lame as hell… Now that the rifraf is outa there, i wana see the original take control and mop the place up. starting with a loudmouth midget. :P
Whoa, Bandit’s going berserk and she hasn’t even been infested yet…
This could be a bad thing for the guild. Even if everything gets fixed, there might be some inter-guild civilwar to deal with. If she survives, Bandit, one of their top squad commanders, seems to have lost all confidence in the guild master.
Could be worse. If they lose faith in DKP the guild is toast.
She works for Ardaic, and can’t really do much as far as the Guild Master goes since there’s only one – Byron. But if he’s dead, which would be unfortunate, I imagine Syr’nj would have more say on the matter. c:
I’d say maybe 30% his and Syr’nj’s fault for not warning the others that something like this was a possibility. Even then there’s only so much they could do to counter any plans that the cultists might have, especially when they managed to separate Byron so easily from the rest.
Panel 1 is way more fun if you imagine “This is Halloween” from Nightmare Before Christmas playing in the background.
Whoa, harsh!
I’m thinking maybe this is bottled-up resentment towards Byron for splitting her in three that one time. She knew it wasn’t fair to resent him, and that just made it worse.
“Bandit, now, I did try-”
“I REMEMBER, BYRON – YOU “TRI”-SECTED ME!!!”
Hmm…I think Byron’s berzerking may have subsided…and I think Bandit may be about to “break character”.
Assuming she is currently under the influence of her Sepia World “Other”.
I always figured the reason she held Byron’s “killing her” against him so strongly and personally despite the core group vouching so solidly for the unusual factors controlling him at that time was because her Sepia self had never heard of such a mechanic in the game and believed he had slaughtered them all, in the middle of a huge quest chain/mission/whatever thingie, as part of his “role playing” which was apparently going a bit too far in her opinion (I don’t know too much about role playing MMO players and how far they will go for authenticity but some of them probably have limits to how far they want that to go right? Like wiping the party in the middle of an unrepeatable and awesome quest chain??) And that resentment, suspicion of motives and trust issues from the Sepia world bled over into Arkerra Bandit taking root (not real hard to find fertile ground since that version believes she was slaughtered by him and only saved by dumb luck) and affecting her behavior even when Sepia user logs off.
Also, congrats on the book sales going to brick and mortar stores! Hopefully I’ll be seeing some at my local game/comic shop.
From the makers of such classic beers as:
Cult, “Slaughtering the competition since 1109!”
and
Cult Lite, “Same killer taste. Half the calories!”
comes
Zerker!
Using a truly visionary technique Zerker! beer is fermented by a secret blend of dark magics and other world demons resulting in its unique red color, full frothy head and that sharp out of this world taste that will put the light back in your eyes.
Just one sip and we know you’ll agree, “HuuUUaaAAGGGHHH!!”
______________________
Zerker! beer, got a little demon in ya?
Sell it at sports events and no one could tell the difference between it and normal beer.
I guess there’s a place for everyone in this world. Even the Beerzerkers.
With how these madness sprites have been digging into wounds, it’s hard to tell if they’re actively stabbing guys or just exploiting existing cuts at this point.
I’m thinking they are just exploiting existing wounds. A few pages back, Bandit is just standing there as the cyber-demons come flooding out of Byron. I suspect they ignored her because she hadn’t been wounded yet.
Then again, maybe she just has plot armor. ;-)
If not for the cultist in the bottom right of the first panel, I’d definitely lean that way entirely.
Well, the world is ending, sure. But blame has been assigned. We know who’s fault it is. It’s going to be okay.
PHEW! That was a close one, man I don’t even want to imagine dealing with an apocalypse WITHOUT a scapegoat. Now we can sit back and enjoy watching our gravatars’ facial seizures.
Keep calm and charge phasers.
I don’t blame her one bit. This seems as good a place as any for the stress to finally come crashing down and make you say/do stupid things.
Also, am I the only one who likes Bandit…
…You haven’t been here long, or at least not reading the comments for long, have you. No, no you are not alone in that.
An adorable rogue/assasin? Yup she’s definatly my favorite.
Been here since 2012 anyway, but I’m not usually in the comments section, no. :)
I guess when she has a moment of weakness it’s the perfect time for those who dislike her to point and say “See?!”, so I saw a suddenly larger amount of it than what I expected.