To be fair, when your found on top of a body stabbing it and screaming for it to die, you are probably going to be a person of relevance in the “how did they die” inquiry. Plus, as far as Bandit saw, he was moving, then she stabbed him till he stopped moving. I think she’d be pretty in line with the whole “Bandit did it” camp.
Yeah, I mean him being dead was the whole point of her stabbing him like fifty times. Never mind whether he was probably technically dead when she started. You know, if anything, her opening him up like that probably helped speed up the clean-up process for the medics since it got all those zerking whatevers out of him at once…like ripping off a terrible bandaid.
Cyberian Zerk Worms. Imported illegally by a man under the alias of Brother Homon. We’re not even sure why he brought them. I mean, yeah, we have had a bit of trouble with the whole exotic pet imports before, but have you seen these things? To be honest, they’re gross, and that’s without mentioning the insanity and all-consuming bloodlust if they end up in your body.
Well, on the other hand, how many Byron killed on his way there, then in that town ? What Bandit was supposed to do considering that situation ? “Oh, go ahead, Byron, I’ll just stand there and clean my nails with my daggers while you destroy another town in blind rage.” :/
Well, guess we’ll see what that’ll mean for the guild.
Byron was possessed, wasn’t he? And that blondie wee scunner blamed him, saying it was all his fault, while it wasn’t. But she preferred to assume he did it on purpose, as if he ever did that on purpose.
But when is someone going to question the scary cyber beasts pouring out of Byron before Syr showed up? D:
I wonder if they’ve only been made dormant by those drugs and they’ll all wake up later and go on a killing spree just in time to clear Bandit’s name or something.
I think the killing spree is done. Wait for Scipio to get his two cents (or less) in. He will clear up any misconceptions about what happened with the cultists.
Yeah. With knowledge of resurrections happening, and now this voodoo possession virus whatnot, let’s not check breathing or pulse, inspect the body from closer than a bodylength away, or do anything else to confirm.
we still dont know what exactly happened to best. he was last seen alive and falling into a high energy vortex. so until phil or T go on record saying what happened, or there is a reveal in the story, we cant know for sure.
He is very likely the cyber knight. Not absolutely. (At least as of this page. I’m still on my first read through) I’m thinking there’s at least a remote chance of it being someone else.
Like, maybe Carol (musical name, btw), trying to keep HR from destroying the game. Killing an employee is one thing, but killing the company’s cash cow? Heck, no!
Or, it could be one of Ferris’ coworkers, trying to eliminate a boss level mob, that was “accidentally” transferred to the wrong game.
The whole TRON (which means TRACE ON) homage evokes the idea of a programmer debugging software.
You’re forgetting the other angle–that Arkerra is effectively a real place, and the characters have lives outside their of their players, and NPCs lives outside of their programming. Except for the Five–but while they’re in the Tubes, they are their characters.
Exactly. The whole point of this story is to challenge your perception of which world is actually “real”. Why do you think the “real” world is in sepia tones and this one is in color? Guess which one seems more real?
Wow. Amazed you got this far if that was bugging you. You’d think all the whiners about that would have given up already.
It’s not exactly like any of the main characters actually know that, and it’s not like that means they can’t be lost. Even if his player is still alive, it’s quite possible Byron is dead.
Rabbit is 100% unquestionably no disputing it dead with a capital DEAD. How do we know? He’s laying over by Bragga in a puddle of blood, and he doesn’t have a crossbow bolt sticking out of him. If he wasn’t dead, he’d be up and trying to make other people dead.
i dont think weve seen any clues regarding whether or not rabbit is a pc. if he is a pc, its possible for him to get a res. even if he is a pc, maybe no res?
I’ve been wondering the same thing, and trying to compare it to the first time everyone died. If I recall, Gravedust had a roleplay-respecting explanation for their rez, and when Byron took out Bandit, being a normal player assumed by the reader to have respawned normally, she still gave them the RP excuse that Harky’s blood on his axes must have healed her. So…now that Bandit has PKd Byron, is she assuming he’ll respawn? I know her and the rest of B Squad acknowledged the Five’s overzealous RPing, but how far do they really think this extends, they have to be remotely aware of the fact that the Five don’t exactly follow the game’s original coding “being at the center of every major expansion” and all.
Gravedust gave the only explanation he *could* give since he doesn’t know he’s in a game. For him, he is living reality. He tried to explain it based on what he could observe and postulate. Unbeknownst to him, Bandit is controlled by a person in a different universe. However, I don’t think Bandit was giving them any excuses. Bandit’s user (ie Chrissy) might not have been online during any of that interaction. Chrissy might not even know that Bandit”died” and was resurrected.
Is Bandit controlled by Chrissy, or is Chrissy controlled by Bandit?
I’m no longer firmly convinced that it’s any more likely that the Sepia World “players” are driving the actions of the Arkerra folks than it is that the actions of the Arkerra folks are influencing their “players” in Sepia World.
Or that the relationship is even more esoteric than that – that, via the magic that brought Arkerra into being, players “just happen” to create characters who match Arkerrans, and whose personalities “just happen” to cause them to act in the ways that the players would want them to. Like… out of the infinite monkeys on infinite typerwriters, the magic guides you to the exact monkey who is writing your autobiography.
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
I won’t be infected solo
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
I won’t miss when I stab your eye
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
‘Cause I’m not plannin’ on going solo
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
Take me stabbin’ tonight
I wanna hit that high (yeah, yeah)
It’s not like I know how it’s going to end, but imo there is absolutely no way the Five are going to wake up in those tanks alive. Not to mention, HR is in a tank now, too, so there’s that.
Well he did order two extra tanks. So I’m still putting my money on HR in a tank. But I don’t really know. Also, when is Carol going to show up in Arkerra? It’s going to happen. How else will HR get his Pad Thai?
I’m sure he is. I’m sure he’s one of the tougher, tankier fighters of the guild. At the same time, no one attacked him during the frenzy. His worst wound came from when Byron busted in and one of them Cyberia berserker demons got into him.
It’s his mind and sanity I’m worried about, though.
Calling it now. Bragga? He’s going to start losing weight. Starving himself. Won’t live much longer because at heart, he’s a good and kind person…who will remember having eaten his friends. When you are incapable of igesting food, any food, you kinda aren’t gonna last long.
Unless of course Bragga’s player just goes full tilt RP Crazy.
What a page of artwork. Reminds me of the Byrne/Austin foldouts in the late 70’s X-men. I especially love how the sun is over Syr’s left shoulder – and the direction of the shadow cast towards Bandit means that we are seeing through her eyes at her green boss in the first small panel. BRAVO!
Thank you, biggmac. These splash pages can be a challenge to draw, but look very impressive when finished. Figuring out just what to put in all that space, the direction of lighting, shadows, all of that, can be intimidating… and fun. Thanks again.
So, it looks like the survivors of this ‘outbreak’ can be counted on one hand, and even that was thanks to timely reinforcements. Talk about a Pyrrhic victory.
And Bandit remains unrepentant. Not that I blame her.
Yep, that’s what I thought. “We sent in a bunch of guys, and they went kind of crazy and killed everyone, and then each other, and we don’t know if we can do anything to prevent it from happening again. Sooo… budget cuts?”
Actually, it could go rather well, politically. The military and Heads of Houses won’t be blamed, because it was an Adventurers Guild mission, and it was guild members, not soldiers, who were killed.
Even the Head of House who owns this town will probably be happy, as long as he’s reimbursed for the broken gate. The rest of the town is virtually pristine, except for the blood stains. But a few good rains should take care of that. The owner will be able to hire a younger, cheaper workforce, and will probably be able to get his cohorts to vote him some cash, to cover his lost income, in the meantime.
The Heads of Houses will pat themselves on the back for creating the Adventurers Guild, and for having the idea to send them out to deal with the cult. The loss of so many Adventurers had to be expected, given their lack of military training and discipline, and their inexperienced leaders. In fact, the whole group could have been lost, had the Heads of Houses not sent a group of battle hardened military medics to save the day.
Or, did you mean it would look bad politically for the Adventurers Guild? Well, yeah. Any blame will be placed on them, and this might be the excuse the Heads of Houses will use to demand more military oversight of the Guild. But, I don’t think they’ll try to shut down the Guild, or anything. I think they’ll enjoy having their new bunch of scapegoats too much, for that.
I want to say that given they suspected this was a trap designed to lure them in by a guy with supernatural insight, they shouldn’t be too surprised, but really I doubt anyone can bring themselves to expect this kind of outcome.
And just like that the remaining 3 are ready to line up and shove H.R’s Glasses up his bungle hole.
And maybe emotionally punt Bandit around for a while.
It’s been a pretty big deal for Byron to hunt down the cultists. I think its safe to assume that the origin of his madness is known. They might not know the specifics, but I’d bet money that it wasn’t kept from the group.
Besides, it’s not like the reason behind it really makes a difference. If he’d have been run through with a spear and ‘zerked out, again, it wouldn’t be much of a difference. The cultists dropped some major mojo on the guild, but I don’t think they needed Byron at all. I think Tom picked Byron for personal reasons. Tom was nothing if not stylistically consistent. That motherfucker enjoyed arching Byron.
Now let us remember the day 10,000 E-Merls lost their conjuration that day.
If it wasn’t for their brave selfless acts of distraction this very day may have turned out differently.
Let us give thanks.
one thing is to be sure Bandit and Syr wont be seeing eye to eye anymore and i do believe bandit needs to be executed for murder has well, granted the circumstances are in her favor however she did nothing to help anyone else just go right for Byron that being said i doubt the original group are gonna look too fondly at her now all we need is a random axe to fall out of nowhere cutting her head off
Yes yes, you hate Bandit. But her actions are entirely defensible, personal grudges aside. She even tried the potion first, it didn’t work. He was literally killing people right in front of her. She’d seen that a Berserker would not hesitate to kill friends firsthand. Even Syr’Nj, who’s obviously not happy about this, would concede those points.
But the truth is that it’s NOT Byron’s fault, he was singled out for this. It would have been easier for the cultists to take someone else, someone who didn’t need their immunity canceled first, and use them to start the madness, but they went out of their way to make sure Byron was the one. And now he gets to die for it, because Bandit blames HIM!
We don’t know much about the reasons for chosing him. Perhaps he was more suited, even with the drug-induced-immunity, perhaps he’s just a natural carrier? He had his name for a reason after Battleshire, where he was the sole survivor.
Oh yeah, you’re the slut guy from the other day. Let’s put you in Bandit’s shoes. This man has a condition that causes him to kill people uncontrollably. He has actually already killed you and all of your friends once before. I mean, you like the guy, but this is quite an issue. So you’re off doing some culling of cultists, and he gets kidnapped and gets returned Berserked. You think “Oh shit” as you remember the last time this man buried both of his axes in your chest. You manage to use the anti-zerk science Syr came up with, but it seems to do a whole lot of nothing. You look around at the amount of berserked people all around you and make the decision that either he dies or everyone dies. It was a pragmatic choice, albeit backed by a personal grudge of BEING ACTUALLY KILLED BY THE MAN.
I don’t think there’s any way to be helping this guy see reason even when it’s presented to him in a non-confrontational, and sensible way.
It’s quite clear Byron was dead before he even had cyber beasts stuffed into him, but J’s hate for the Bandit isn’t going to let him see that. It’s a nice excuse for him to justify his hatred.
I feel you’ve mis-judged Bandit’s emotional baggage. Her previous death makes a good cover, but judging from her recent dialogue I think it’s pretty evident that her deeper resentment is a lot more petty.
she’s the outcast of the group. “they’ll all go on loving him without him even having to try”. think theres a bit of jealousy mixed in with the whole “oh crap he’s killing everyone again, the f…”
Her history as an outcast extends to long before the group formed too, and while she hides it well it’s been made evident that she has a very deep seated insecurity about her place there.
Remember also that she was eventually elected as squad lead over Byron, and that her position there seems to have been made largely defunct by Byron becoming Guildmaster. She’s almost certainly been feeling more than a bit usurped about that.
There’s also her shifting of blame. In the woods, while calm, she claimed full responsibility for the entire incident. In the town, while enraged, she blames Byron for everything.
In short Bandit has held together surprisingly well, but she’s long held a deep-seated grudge against someone that she just killed and his death was probably not strictly necessary.
I think I’m going to write up a situation summary in a separate post, I’m concerned that this whole mess is probably going to be largely ignored because it’s a nested response to some sort of rampaging asshole (not you, Nemo).
I’ve been trying to put together a concise summary of events for about an hour now and I think I give up. So much *stuff* has happened!
Is this how Tom always spreads the madness? Why didn’t he know more about how it worked? Why did Harky believe it was actively contagious when this seems to have been a special case?
With Rabbit dead Bandit is the only one who knows about the ritual site now!
Where is Lectrus, and was he a cultist?
Bandit’s tactical choices deserve an analysis all by themselves, and then the possible implications of everything revealed about the madness need another one!
I’m going to go ahead and predict that Scipio is going to come in with some succinct, perfectly chosen words and let everyone know that Bandit just saved the world. If she had not sliced Byron open, they would have had to shoot him with about 1,000 of those crossbow bolts, and they might have given up or been killed before being able to bring him down.
I don’t know. I don’t think the additional demons made Byron stronger, just more resistant to the cure. Trying to limit the Madness to one easily surrounded person might have been preferable. Not that I think Bandit considered those options, or even knew what they were.
Regardless of that, we still don’t know if Byron was still ‘zerking after being sliced open. I would assume not, but the fact that we never saw his eyes afterwards tells me that we’re not supposed to be certain. That determines whether Byron was alive or just reanimated when he stood up again, and that determines whether or not there was any reason to keep stabbing him, besides rage-fueled vengeance.
Syr is usually quite sensible, but she just saw the man she loved being (in her eyes) brutally murdered by one of her best friends, who is now showing the opposite of remorse over it. That can make people do some less than sensible things, and the pacing and blocking of this scene made me think such a thing was going to happen.
As a fan of both Syr and Bandit, I’m glad to have been proven wrong.
^ Spoilers. (Even though I was almost certain that wouldn’t happen)
If she executed Bandit, then she’d have to execute everyone in the group. Or, at least all the ones who weren’t possessed. They all killed possessed comrades. And, would she be able to pardon the possessed ones, just because they weren’t in control of their bodies?
Aww, I was wondering if it might have been possible for Bandit to have pretended she was infected as well. Then maybe her imminent punishment would be much lighter. I mean, Bragga ATE Rabbit, but I bet he’s not going to jail because he wasn’t in his right mind.
We are not sure of that. A few of the zerked out people have seemingly recovered and on top of that he recieved only a small wound from the demon that possessed him.
This is true, but I can’t help feeling Syr saying “YOU killed him” means Bandit could be in a whole heap of trouble since Syr doesn’t know the whole story yet.
Really, this doesn’t have as much emotional weight as it should since Rachel is the only character to suffer a perma-death. Byron the Berserker Wraith/Phantom anybody? Or Byron the Barrow-Wight? Cyber world demons leave curse that leaves his spirit, even with Gravedust’s help unable to move on?
Is that one of the town guards next to Scipio? I really hope so, I always love it when a random guy survives something untouched that breaks main characters. It adds a splash of authenticity to it all.
I noticed in the tags that certain characters have different colors for the tag. For example in this one Isidro and Rabbit have a kind of brownish color for the letters in their names, as opposed to the black for the other characters.
I assumed that meant they were dead. I think Rabbit is, but isn’t that Isidro being tended by a medic next to Scipio? He has a green sash on the right of his body, and a headband so I figured he lost his hat.
Geez this one is a bummer. We lose Rachel and Byron.
I guess everyone has their favorite characters but those were two I liked. I’m not so keen on seeing a whole lot of Bandit or Scipio for that matter.
ok real talk it took me 4 friggin years to catch up and im freaking out. im freakin out man. ive been reading for like days straight and hoooooly crap. im not ready for this wild ride.
Not that I dislike Byron, but I think giving the main cast infinite chances is just cheating. I’d much rather see him die and stay dead rather than an Instant Plot Device (just add water!) be used to res him. Whatever cockamamie excuse they’re going to come up with isn’t going to be as good as just letting him die. They let Best die, they let Rachel die, I see no reason to not let Byron die. (And no I’m not in the camp of Best = Bandit. In fact I’m not totally convinced she’s even a PC)
And for those who think the story can’t go on without him–yes it can. The voice of the Adventurer’s Guild, silenced by cultists (come on, they’re not going to publicly tell the whole truth). With this debacle, the Guild now has the political evidence to get the resources to hunt down these jackals and terminate with extreme prejudice. Up to now it wasn’t believed they were a credible threat. Byron will be (publicly) remembered as a fallen champion. Syr’nj will, naturally, be crushed, and she will have to work through that grief like anyone would that lost a loved one.
Or Byron respawns thanks to some convenient deus ex machina, not much actually changes and Byron is either forced to leave the Guild in disgrace or Bandit tries to kill him again.
We know who Bandit is. The woman who’s playing her showed up up the sepia Axemas special. Best is not, at least not entirely, dead, as confirmed by HR. I think that the world of Arkerra keeps bringing the Five back, by whatever means it can, for reasons as yet undivulged. That in some way their being has become linked to its existence. So while normal PCs like Bandit find some rationale or other for how they survive to keep up the role-play, the WORLD finds ways to keep the Five alive in Arkerra, (or possible Cyberia, if WAV is indeed Best reborn as some suspect) even if HOW has not been made clear yet.
I’m curious as to whether the tube-player for Byron will come back as another character. The player of Rachel has been harassing Maelstrom (is that the name of the company?) games to re-instate her character, so Rachel’s not officially gone. c:
you all can justify your own opionons of my opionon but thats the great thing about the internet and people they are entitled to thier own opinons, such has bandit is a conviing little sneak that will do anything to get her way i dont liek that she has authority issues i dont like that either when she gets put in byron’s place she procedes to rub it in dont like cocky holier than thou attitudes period, and if you dont like the fact that i dislike bandit guess what your entitled to that opinon but dont try and force feed me bullshit or try and state that you made valid arguements when all your trying to do (most of you) is flame me for my opinon
Thank you for informing us that we are entitled to our own opinions. I think we were all feeling a bit insecure about that. I, at least, was starting to worry that my ability to speak my mind had been impaired, and I didn’t want to reply to you directly for fear that it might impair your ability to do so.
At least it’s a good thing that no one had been trying to force feed you bullshit yet. Not that I know how to force feed anyone anything without physical interaction, but I’m not surprised to learn that it’s possible. I mean, what can’t you do over the internet these days?
I don’t mind you having a negative opinion of Bandit. What bothers me is the hateful and crass way that you and a couple of others express that opinion. I know she’s not a real person, but we like to think of the characters as if they’re real.
It hurts to see such spiteful language used in GA’s comments section, especially when it’s usually such a friendly place. I enjoy reading opposing opinions, but I’d appreciate it if you tried not to harsh the vibe around here.
Oh my…
It’s as every commenter predicted…
BANDIT IS GETTING BLAMED FOR THE KILL!
What happens in crazy blood-thirst cult rituals, stays in crazy blood-thirsty cult rituals.
Until it gets out, possesses an adventurer and murders dozens.
Well, y’know, Bandit has gone much crazier than the ones who caught “Berserk Syndrome”.
To be fair, when your found on top of a body stabbing it and screaming for it to die, you are probably going to be a person of relevance in the “how did they die” inquiry. Plus, as far as Bandit saw, he was moving, then she stabbed him till he stopped moving. I think she’d be pretty in line with the whole “Bandit did it” camp.
Touche. I suppose you’re right.
Also, staying up til’ midnight to catch the new GA comic my hobby now.
GAA (Guildie Addicts Anonymous) meets here every non-posting day (S,S,T,TH) at 12:01 AM. Tomorrow’s topic: Getting through Friggdrawal.
Yeah, I mean him being dead was the whole point of her stabbing him like fifty times. Never mind whether he was probably technically dead when she started. You know, if anything, her opening him up like that probably helped speed up the clean-up process for the medics since it got all those zerking whatevers out of him at once…like ripping off a terrible bandaid.
Cyberian Zerk Worms. Imported illegally by a man under the alias of Brother Homon. We’re not even sure why he brought them. I mean, yeah, we have had a bit of trouble with the whole exotic pet imports before, but have you seen these things? To be honest, they’re gross, and that’s without mentioning the insanity and all-consuming bloodlust if they end up in your body.
You have clearly never played Phoenix Wright :)
“In his rage, he saw my pointy ears, thought I was you, Syr’Nj, and tried to molest me – I PLEAD ELF DEFENSE”
When you reply “Good.”, you’re not being blamed; you’re accepting the credit.
Exactly. Bandit clearly intended to kill Byron, and both of them believe she did.
Well, on the other hand, how many Byron killed on his way there, then in that town ? What Bandit was supposed to do considering that situation ? “Oh, go ahead, Byron, I’ll just stand there and clean my nails with my daggers while you destroy another town in blind rage.” :/
Well, guess we’ll see what that’ll mean for the guild.
Byron was possessed, wasn’t he? And that blondie wee scunner blamed him, saying it was all his fault, while it wasn’t. But she preferred to assume he did it on purpose, as if he ever did that on purpose.
But when is someone going to question the scary cyber beasts pouring out of Byron before Syr showed up? D:
I wonder if they’ve only been made dormant by those drugs and they’ll all wake up later and go on a killing spree just in time to clear Bandit’s name or something.
I think the killing spree is done. Wait for Scipio to get his two cents (or less) in. He will clear up any misconceptions about what happened with the cultists.
Nah, they’re too busy trying to hold Byron’s corpse accountable while exonerating Bandit’s Byron-soaked dagger-wielding hands.
“He killed me first!”
“Now we’re even. Hey, Byron, you can respawn now. Byron?”
I think that’s the opposite of what she would say or want.
Not sure i believe Syr’nj…
I do. Just am not sure that means much.
Maybe not to us but probably to Syr’Nj.
And she’ll likely never believe that he was long-dead… He was the first, and the former lord of Consult a Cultist was second…
Which part? The “He’s dead” or, “you killed him”?
Well, I believe Syr’Nj too Insanenoodleguy.
Yeah. With knowledge of resurrections happening, and now this voodoo possession virus whatnot, let’s not check breathing or pulse, inspect the body from closer than a bodylength away, or do anything else to confirm.
She was already kneeling over Byron in the last comic. I had assumed then that she was checking him, and that she would proclaim him dead this comic.
E-Merl’s gonna look back on this as the good old days of joy and candy drops after he finds out about Rachel.
How long has it been since she was perma-deleted? Does he not know? His player certainly knows.
I assumed these two chapters were happening more or less simultaneously. This may have all happened before Christmas.
Hey, I saw Mr. Fatso Cook and his “dinner”. Mmm… yummy Rabbit face.
I’m interested to see whether the “game” finds another way for Byron to respawn.
This is what I’m thinking as well.
Maybe he goes the way of Payet and respawns as a new character?
we still dont know what exactly happened to best. he was last seen alive and falling into a high energy vortex. so until phil or T go on record saying what happened, or there is a reveal in the story, we cant know for sure.
Best’s profile on the cast page says MIA, but presumed dead. We aren’t sure where that vortex led to, if anywhere at all.
You don’t think he was the green Cyberia dude, with all the same powers that Best had?
Oh, good point, I thought he was the drum dude, but that’s another possibility.
He is absolutely the Cyber Knight. Absolutely.
He is very likely the cyber knight. Not absolutely. (At least as of this page. I’m still on my first read through) I’m thinking there’s at least a remote chance of it being someone else.
Like, maybe Carol (musical name, btw), trying to keep HR from destroying the game. Killing an employee is one thing, but killing the company’s cash cow? Heck, no!
Or, it could be one of Ferris’ coworkers, trying to eliminate a boss level mob, that was “accidentally” transferred to the wrong game.
The whole TRON (which means TRACE ON) homage evokes the idea of a programmer debugging software.
Meh, the whole “this is an mmo” angle has utterly ruined any sort of emotional investment.
Then you’re missing the point. It’s not an MMO. The MMO is a reflection of a real world, not the other way around.
You’re forgetting the other angle–that Arkerra is effectively a real place, and the characters have lives outside their of their players, and NPCs lives outside of their programming. Except for the Five–but while they’re in the Tubes, they are their characters.
Exactly. The whole point of this story is to challenge your perception of which world is actually “real”. Why do you think the “real” world is in sepia tones and this one is in color? Guess which one seems more real?
Why would you think it’s an MMO?
mmm hmm. jaded and cool, a good look.
(It’s been established multiple Times by now that Arkerra is a wee bit more than “just” an MMO…)
HAS IT, NOW? *points to emotionally exhausted self*
Wow. Amazed you got this far if that was bugging you. You’d think all the whiners about that would have given up already.
It’s not exactly like any of the main characters actually know that, and it’s not like that means they can’t be lost. Even if his player is still alive, it’s quite possible Byron is dead.
“Amazed you got this far if that was bugging you. You’d think all the whiners about that would have given up already.”
How could you say something so mean to another fan!!!
Didn’t that reveal happen about three years ago?
it was Ch 9…that was in 2011. So four years ago. February 2, 2011, to be exact.
So, are all the other Guildies dead too, or what? If not, Rabbit probably wishes he were dead.
I’m pretty sure Rabbit IS dead.
As I’m sure that Brag is going to need a lot of counselling (or its equivalent) once he wakes up.
Rabbit is 100% unquestionably no disputing it dead with a capital DEAD. How do we know? He’s laying over by Bragga in a puddle of blood, and he doesn’t have a crossbow bolt sticking out of him. If he wasn’t dead, he’d be up and trying to make other people dead.
i dont think weve seen any clues regarding whether or not rabbit is a pc. if he is a pc, its possible for him to get a res. even if he is a pc, maybe no res?
either way, he aint pretty no more.
I’ve been wondering the same thing, and trying to compare it to the first time everyone died. If I recall, Gravedust had a roleplay-respecting explanation for their rez, and when Byron took out Bandit, being a normal player assumed by the reader to have respawned normally, she still gave them the RP excuse that Harky’s blood on his axes must have healed her. So…now that Bandit has PKd Byron, is she assuming he’ll respawn? I know her and the rest of B Squad acknowledged the Five’s overzealous RPing, but how far do they really think this extends, they have to be remotely aware of the fact that the Five don’t exactly follow the game’s original coding “being at the center of every major expansion” and all.
Gravedust gave the only explanation he *could* give since he doesn’t know he’s in a game. For him, he is living reality. He tried to explain it based on what he could observe and postulate. Unbeknownst to him, Bandit is controlled by a person in a different universe. However, I don’t think Bandit was giving them any excuses. Bandit’s user (ie Chrissy) might not have been online during any of that interaction. Chrissy might not even know that Bandit”died” and was resurrected.
Is Bandit controlled by Chrissy, or is Chrissy controlled by Bandit?
I’m no longer firmly convinced that it’s any more likely that the Sepia World “players” are driving the actions of the Arkerra folks than it is that the actions of the Arkerra folks are influencing their “players” in Sepia World.
Or that the relationship is even more esoteric than that – that, via the magic that brought Arkerra into being, players “just happen” to create characters who match Arkerrans, and whose personalities “just happen” to cause them to act in the ways that the players would want them to. Like… out of the infinite monkeys on infinite typerwriters, the magic guides you to the exact monkey who is writing your autobiography.
Even if they aren’t, they’re all infected, now.
We’ve upped it from one berserker, like, 20. IMO, the solution now isn’t to suppress it. It’s to HARNESS it.
Wow…
First Rachael and now Byron…
All I can say is “Wham Episode”!
P.S. It looks like H.R.’s plans to whittle down the ranks of the Five and their allies is proceeding apace.
P.P.S. I wonder if the real “Byron” is finally going to wake up from his slumber now that he’s been killed off in the game AGAIN.
Probably not. They’ll find a way to bring him back just to piss off h.r. No other reason than that.
He can piss off sepia H.R. by wandering around the Hurricane building, wielding makeshift axes…
Killing off main characters? Someone has been watching a TV show about thrones or reading books about ice and fire.
Or just watching Joss Whedon.
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
I won’t be infected solo
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
I won’t miss when I stab your eye
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
‘Cause I’m not plannin’ on going solo
Zerk me up, and let me go-go..
Take me stabbin’ tonight
I wanna hit that high (yeah, yeah)
Probably the wrong WHAM….
That is *never* the wrong WHAM.
Someone should collect all the new songtexts. This is another one I really like.
If he wakes up in the tank, H.R. will have to kill him.
It’s not like I know how it’s going to end, but imo there is absolutely no way the Five are going to wake up in those tanks alive. Not to mention, HR is in a tank now, too, so there’s that.
I don’t believe he is in a tank. Brother Homon is the homunculus sent in by H.R.
Well he did order two extra tanks. So I’m still putting my money on HR in a tank. But I don’t really know. Also, when is Carol going to show up in Arkerra? It’s going to happen. How else will HR get his Pad Thai?
What I want to know is if the incredible eating machine braggadocio is still alive.
I may have misspelled his name.
Hah he’s over by rabbit. It almost looks as if he fell into a food coma after eating that guy and rabit’s face.
“Too much gome ugh” (thump)
I’m sure he is. I’m sure he’s one of the tougher, tankier fighters of the guild. At the same time, no one attacked him during the frenzy. His worst wound came from when Byron busted in and one of them Cyberia berserker demons got into him.
It’s his mind and sanity I’m worried about, though.
Calling it now. Bragga? He’s going to start losing weight. Starving himself. Won’t live much longer because at heart, he’s a good and kind person…who will remember having eaten his friends. When you are incapable of igesting food, any food, you kinda aren’t gonna last long.
Unless of course Bragga’s player just goes full tilt RP Crazy.
What a page of artwork. Reminds me of the Byrne/Austin foldouts in the late 70’s X-men. I especially love how the sun is over Syr’s left shoulder – and the direction of the shadow cast towards Bandit means that we are seeing through her eyes at her green boss in the first small panel. BRAVO!
Thank you, biggmac. These splash pages can be a challenge to draw, but look very impressive when finished. Figuring out just what to put in all that space, the direction of lighting, shadows, all of that, can be intimidating… and fun. Thanks again.
So, it looks like the survivors of this ‘outbreak’ can be counted on one hand, and even that was thanks to timely reinforcements. Talk about a Pyrrhic victory.
And Bandit remains unrepentant. Not that I blame her.
Omg just realized how bad this is gunna look politically.
Yep, that’s what I thought. “We sent in a bunch of guys, and they went kind of crazy and killed everyone, and then each other, and we don’t know if we can do anything to prevent it from happening again. Sooo… budget cuts?”
Actually, it could go rather well, politically. The military and Heads of Houses won’t be blamed, because it was an Adventurers Guild mission, and it was guild members, not soldiers, who were killed.
Even the Head of House who owns this town will probably be happy, as long as he’s reimbursed for the broken gate. The rest of the town is virtually pristine, except for the blood stains. But a few good rains should take care of that. The owner will be able to hire a younger, cheaper workforce, and will probably be able to get his cohorts to vote him some cash, to cover his lost income, in the meantime.
The Heads of Houses will pat themselves on the back for creating the Adventurers Guild, and for having the idea to send them out to deal with the cult. The loss of so many Adventurers had to be expected, given their lack of military training and discipline, and their inexperienced leaders. In fact, the whole group could have been lost, had the Heads of Houses not sent a group of battle hardened military medics to save the day.
Or, did you mean it would look bad politically for the Adventurers Guild? Well, yeah. Any blame will be placed on them, and this might be the excuse the Heads of Houses will use to demand more military oversight of the Guild. But, I don’t think they’ll try to shut down the Guild, or anything. I think they’ll enjoy having their new bunch of scapegoats too much, for that.
Well, she killed the guy responsible for all the dead people. She’s not wrong.
Except Byron *isn’t* the guy responsible. Byron was just the gun. And he wasn’t even loaded when he started the mission.
But all the people that know that are dead. Except for HR, and methinks he will not spill ye old beans.
The guy was possessed by Demons. He had no control over himself. It wasn’t his fault.
But nobody seems to be mentioning those demons they all saw jumping out of him yet.
Pleading ignorance makes it easier to lay blame. c:
You didn’t have to be so insistent, Bandit. I think that by now, Byron got the point.
that really cut to the bone, that did
Keynes is going to have to change her name again.
From Carrier Keynes to Bandit Keynes to ????
I like Civilisation Saver Keynes but I bet it will be Murderer Keynes.
I’m fond of Florida Keynes, myself.
Keynes Lime Pie? Sweet and tart. (The cutting, sarcastic kind of tart, not the trollop kind)
Stabby-stab-stab Keynes?
/Gquit Keynes.
Assasin keynes?
Backstab attack, duh. What did you expect ? Anyway, we are adventurers. We kill monsters.
And another thing: *ZZZZZZ*
Yeah (yawn) I want to see what Just Joe is gonna do to get even with Shanna fer jackin his whip
I want to say that given they suspected this was a trap designed to lure them in by a guy with supernatural insight, they shouldn’t be too surprised, but really I doubt anyone can bring themselves to expect this kind of outcome.
Well yeah, there has to be like 30d6 worth of sneak attack damage in that back. Plus the inconspicuous frontal stab.
He’s dead, Jean.
And just like that the remaining 3 are ready to line up and shove H.R’s Glasses up his bungle hole.
And maybe emotionally punt Bandit around for a while.
I wonder if he went through the portal to Cyberia? o:
so that’s 2/5 down from the initial group. best and byron will be partying hard in the “afterlife” waiting for the rest at this rate:/
I think Byron was already dead. His body just hadn’t stopped moving.
I concur. But he won’t be dead forever.
At this juncture I think it worth mentioning that Bandit was TOTALLY ON BOARD with Byron coming along right up until it turned out to be a bad idea.
People usually are.
Did Bandit even know about the cultist connection?
It’s been a pretty big deal for Byron to hunt down the cultists. I think its safe to assume that the origin of his madness is known. They might not know the specifics, but I’d bet money that it wasn’t kept from the group.
Besides, it’s not like the reason behind it really makes a difference. If he’d have been run through with a spear and ‘zerked out, again, it wouldn’t be much of a difference. The cultists dropped some major mojo on the guild, but I don’t think they needed Byron at all. I think Tom picked Byron for personal reasons. Tom was nothing if not stylistically consistent. That motherfucker enjoyed arching Byron.
So what happens now?
What are the ramifications for Bandit going to be? Sy’Rinj? I can’t see them having a chummy relationship from here on.
And there seems to be no way for Sy’Rinj to step down from her position. Who could take her place at this point?
Syr is remarkably calm for someone standing over the bloody corpse of her husband.
Calm before the storm.
While I don’t want to ruin the mood here…there were three arrows shot into Byron’s leg, not two, as is displayed on the page.
Bragga ate one? Look, it was a wild party, these things happen.
There were four crossbow bolts in the previous page, actually. c:
Now let us remember the day 10,000 E-Merls lost their conjuration that day.
If it wasn’t for their brave selfless acts of distraction this very day may have turned out differently.
Let us give thanks.
one thing is to be sure Bandit and Syr wont be seeing eye to eye anymore and i do believe bandit needs to be executed for murder has well, granted the circumstances are in her favor however she did nothing to help anyone else just go right for Byron that being said i doubt the original group are gonna look too fondly at her now all we need is a random axe to fall out of nowhere cutting her head off
Yes yes, you hate Bandit. But her actions are entirely defensible, personal grudges aside. She even tried the potion first, it didn’t work. He was literally killing people right in front of her. She’d seen that a Berserker would not hesitate to kill friends firsthand. Even Syr’Nj, who’s obviously not happy about this, would concede those points.
> She’d seen that a Berserker would not hesitate to kill friends firsthand.
That word is one massive understatement. Is there something such as “zerothhand”?
But the truth is that it’s NOT Byron’s fault, he was singled out for this. It would have been easier for the cultists to take someone else, someone who didn’t need their immunity canceled first, and use them to start the madness, but they went out of their way to make sure Byron was the one. And now he gets to die for it, because Bandit blames HIM!
We don’t know much about the reasons for chosing him. Perhaps he was more suited, even with the drug-induced-immunity, perhaps he’s just a natural carrier? He had his name for a reason after Battleshire, where he was the sole survivor.
Oh yeah, you’re the slut guy from the other day. Let’s put you in Bandit’s shoes. This man has a condition that causes him to kill people uncontrollably. He has actually already killed you and all of your friends once before. I mean, you like the guy, but this is quite an issue. So you’re off doing some culling of cultists, and he gets kidnapped and gets returned Berserked. You think “Oh shit” as you remember the last time this man buried both of his axes in your chest. You manage to use the anti-zerk science Syr came up with, but it seems to do a whole lot of nothing. You look around at the amount of berserked people all around you and make the decision that either he dies or everyone dies. It was a pragmatic choice, albeit backed by a personal grudge of BEING ACTUALLY KILLED BY THE MAN.
I don’t think there’s any way to be helping this guy see reason even when it’s presented to him in a non-confrontational, and sensible way.
It’s quite clear Byron was dead before he even had cyber beasts stuffed into him, but J’s hate for the Bandit isn’t going to let him see that. It’s a nice excuse for him to justify his hatred.
I feel you’ve mis-judged Bandit’s emotional baggage. Her previous death makes a good cover, but judging from her recent dialogue I think it’s pretty evident that her deeper resentment is a lot more petty.
How so? Where is the evidence to support that claim good sir?
she’s the outcast of the group. “they’ll all go on loving him without him even having to try”. think theres a bit of jealousy mixed in with the whole “oh crap he’s killing everyone again, the f…”
Her history as an outcast extends to long before the group formed too, and while she hides it well it’s been made evident that she has a very deep seated insecurity about her place there.
Remember also that she was eventually elected as squad lead over Byron, and that her position there seems to have been made largely defunct by Byron becoming Guildmaster. She’s almost certainly been feeling more than a bit usurped about that.
There’s also her shifting of blame. In the woods, while calm, she claimed full responsibility for the entire incident. In the town, while enraged, she blames Byron for everything.
In short Bandit has held together surprisingly well, but she’s long held a deep-seated grudge against someone that she just killed and his death was probably not strictly necessary.
I think I’m going to write up a situation summary in a separate post, I’m concerned that this whole mess is probably going to be largely ignored because it’s a nested response to some sort of rampaging asshole (not you, Nemo).
Wow do you have a psychology degree or something because that was an amazing break down of the situation. And no im not being sarcastic.
I took a 101 course once! >_>
I’ve been trying to put together a concise summary of events for about an hour now and I think I give up. So much *stuff* has happened!
Is this how Tom always spreads the madness? Why didn’t he know more about how it worked? Why did Harky believe it was actively contagious when this seems to have been a special case?
With Rabbit dead Bandit is the only one who knows about the ritual site now!
Where is Lectrus, and was he a cultist?
Bandit’s tactical choices deserve an analysis all by themselves, and then the possible implications of everything revealed about the madness need another one!
I’m going to go ahead and predict that Scipio is going to come in with some succinct, perfectly chosen words and let everyone know that Bandit just saved the world. If she had not sliced Byron open, they would have had to shoot him with about 1,000 of those crossbow bolts, and they might have given up or been killed before being able to bring him down.
I don’t know. I don’t think the additional demons made Byron stronger, just more resistant to the cure. Trying to limit the Madness to one easily surrounded person might have been preferable. Not that I think Bandit considered those options, or even knew what they were.
Regardless of that, we still don’t know if Byron was still ‘zerking after being sliced open. I would assume not, but the fact that we never saw his eyes afterwards tells me that we’re not supposed to be certain. That determines whether Byron was alive or just reanimated when he stood up again, and that determines whether or not there was any reason to keep stabbing him, besides rage-fueled vengeance.
You make valid points, and I don’t disagree. But from Scipio’s perspective, though, I think he would say Bandit just saved all of them.
That is also a good point. So many points of view to consider…
Syr: hes dead. you killed him
Bandit: good. *checks pvp ranking* aww, yisss
*posts “friendly fire” from Skada*
“Guys, it was hard, but I topped it!”
I bet we shift over the sepia mode next page.
I’m thinking Chapter 40 starts on Monday.
I’m thinking Syr executes Bandit on Monday, we have two more pages of fallout, and then Chapter 40 starts next Monday.
Why should Syr execute Bandit?? Am I the only one who thinks she is quite the sensible non-human being?
You are not the only one.
Syr is usually quite sensible, but she just saw the man she loved being (in her eyes) brutally murdered by one of her best friends, who is now showing the opposite of remorse over it. That can make people do some less than sensible things, and the pacing and blocking of this scene made me think such a thing was going to happen.
As a fan of both Syr and Bandit, I’m glad to have been proven wrong.
^ Spoilers. (Even though I was almost certain that wouldn’t happen)
If she executed Bandit, then she’d have to execute everyone in the group. Or, at least all the ones who weren’t possessed. They all killed possessed comrades. And, would she be able to pardon the possessed ones, just because they weren’t in control of their bodies?
I hope so, the comment section needs to cool off I think.
Aww, I was wondering if it might have been possible for Bandit to have pretended she was infected as well. Then maybe her imminent punishment would be much lighter. I mean, Bragga ATE Rabbit, but I bet he’s not going to jail because he wasn’t in his right mind.
plus he’s dead
We are not sure of that. A few of the zerked out people have seemingly recovered and on top of that he recieved only a small wound from the demon that possessed him.
Imminent punishment?? What am I not getting? Bandit killed berserking Byron. So? Shouldn’t she have??
This is true, but I can’t help feeling Syr saying “YOU killed him” means Bandit could be in a whole heap of trouble since Syr doesn’t know the whole story yet.
Maybe I overestimate Syr’nj… I don’t think so, but it is possible that she reacts without knowing the whole story.
Even if there’s no punishment, I doubt Syr’nj will be fond of Bandit after this. Their relationship well become hostile.
Really, this doesn’t have as much emotional weight as it should since Rachel is the only character to suffer a perma-death. Byron the Berserker Wraith/Phantom anybody? Or Byron the Barrow-Wight? Cyber world demons leave curse that leaves his spirit, even with Gravedust’s help unable to move on?
Shadow of Mordor Byron would be awesome. :D
Stuff’s finally happening, but I’m not allowed to comment on it, because I complained when there was nothing happening. Who’d have thought it?
Oh, you.
Is that one of the town guards next to Scipio? I really hope so, I always love it when a random guy survives something untouched that breaks main characters. It adds a splash of authenticity to it all.
Looks like there’s a cultist standing next to him. Maybe the one he put in jail?
Exactly who is dead?
I noticed in the tags that certain characters have different colors for the tag. For example in this one Isidro and Rabbit have a kind of brownish color for the letters in their names, as opposed to the black for the other characters.
I assumed that meant they were dead. I think Rabbit is, but isn’t that Isidro being tended by a medic next to Scipio? He has a green sash on the right of his body, and a headband so I figured he lost his hat.
Geez this one is a bummer. We lose Rachel and Byron.
I guess everyone has their favorite characters but those were two I liked. I’m not so keen on seeing a whole lot of Bandit or Scipio for that matter.
Brownish is the color this site uses for links to pages you’ve accessed before. You must’ve visited those characters’ tag pages, at some point.
ok real talk it took me 4 friggin years to catch up and im freaking out. im freakin out man. ive been reading for like days straight and hoooooly crap. im not ready for this wild ride.
Not that I dislike Byron, but I think giving the main cast infinite chances is just cheating. I’d much rather see him die and stay dead rather than an Instant Plot Device (just add water!) be used to res him. Whatever cockamamie excuse they’re going to come up with isn’t going to be as good as just letting him die. They let Best die, they let Rachel die, I see no reason to not let Byron die. (And no I’m not in the camp of Best = Bandit. In fact I’m not totally convinced she’s even a PC)
And for those who think the story can’t go on without him–yes it can. The voice of the Adventurer’s Guild, silenced by cultists (come on, they’re not going to publicly tell the whole truth). With this debacle, the Guild now has the political evidence to get the resources to hunt down these jackals and terminate with extreme prejudice. Up to now it wasn’t believed they were a credible threat. Byron will be (publicly) remembered as a fallen champion. Syr’nj will, naturally, be crushed, and she will have to work through that grief like anyone would that lost a loved one.
Or Byron respawns thanks to some convenient deus ex machina, not much actually changes and Byron is either forced to leave the Guild in disgrace or Bandit tries to kill him again.
We know who Bandit is. The woman who’s playing her showed up up the sepia Axemas special. Best is not, at least not entirely, dead, as confirmed by HR. I think that the world of Arkerra keeps bringing the Five back, by whatever means it can, for reasons as yet undivulged. That in some way their being has become linked to its existence. So while normal PCs like Bandit find some rationale or other for how they survive to keep up the role-play, the WORLD finds ways to keep the Five alive in Arkerra, (or possible Cyberia, if WAV is indeed Best reborn as some suspect) even if HOW has not been made clear yet.
I’m curious as to whether the tube-player for Byron will come back as another character. The player of Rachel has been harassing Maelstrom (is that the name of the company?) games to re-instate her character, so Rachel’s not officially gone. c:
Close — it is a giant swirly thing, but in air, not water. (Hurricane, not Maelstrom.) ;)
DANG IT. D:< I was so close. ;w;
Best isn’t dead, my friend. The whole plot of this comic is that the Five can’t get out of the game. Go read Ch 9 again, it’s important.
you all can justify your own opionons of my opionon but thats the great thing about the internet and people they are entitled to thier own opinons, such has bandit is a conviing little sneak that will do anything to get her way i dont liek that she has authority issues i dont like that either when she gets put in byron’s place she procedes to rub it in dont like cocky holier than thou attitudes period, and if you dont like the fact that i dislike bandit guess what your entitled to that opinon but dont try and force feed me bullshit or try and state that you made valid arguements when all your trying to do (most of you) is flame me for my opinon
I can assure you that the reasons people dislike you are entirely unrelated to your opinion on Bandit.
Thank you for informing us that we are entitled to our own opinions. I think we were all feeling a bit insecure about that. I, at least, was starting to worry that my ability to speak my mind had been impaired, and I didn’t want to reply to you directly for fear that it might impair your ability to do so.
At least it’s a good thing that no one had been trying to force feed you bullshit yet. Not that I know how to force feed anyone anything without physical interaction, but I’m not surprised to learn that it’s possible. I mean, what can’t you do over the internet these days?
Dude, c’mon. Don’t make me do it. Just chill out.
I don’t mind you having a negative opinion of Bandit. What bothers me is the hateful and crass way that you and a couple of others express that opinion. I know she’s not a real person, but we like to think of the characters as if they’re real.
It hurts to see such spiteful language used in GA’s comments section, especially when it’s usually such a friendly place. I enjoy reading opposing opinions, but I’d appreciate it if you tried not to harsh the vibe around here.
“AND I HOPE THE FUCKER IS OUT OF SOUL STONES TOO!”
Didn’t expect Bandit to actually say that out loud. It’s like she’s TRYING to get people to turn against her. o:
I kinda want some Guilded Age town/landscape art for D&D books, now. c:
Some things are familiar and comforting in this new world, like MMO PvP sucking.
I know he was already dead and all.
But.
Byron… Noooooooo! ;_;
I hope they don’t hate her for this. Though I suspect Bandit is ready to take it.
She’s built a life she wanted to protect here – but. Even more. She wants to protect the people in that life.