Chapter 8 – Page 25
Guilded Age is not over, folks. In many ways, it has only just begun. Chapter 9 begins on Monday, and we hope you’ll be here for it. Thanks for reading so far, and stick with us. Things are about to get exciting.
Annotations Every Day - Written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn - Illustrated by John & Jason Waltrip
Well… damn. If you need me, I’ll be over in the corner there.
Wiped!
Uhh, NO. Please note, she put on her glasses and is about to show us why people go wow when they find out who and what she is.
“Damn, she was a royal non-human! Come back, storm of arrows, come back!”
If S has an eleventh hour superpower to escape the situation I think I’d throw up. Money is still on dream sequence, with a hedging bet on resurrection after the fact (perhaps courtesy of S’ royal connections).
Sorry guys, I should’ve said “Whipped!”.
I hope anyway :D
Really? I hope they’re all dead, or at least half of them are. Not because I dislike the characters (they’re adorable). But here’s a test of whether actions will have consequences in the comic or not.
And I hope they don’t wuss out. (That said, if they do I hope it’s in a more interesting way than “It was all a dream.”)
C’mon, resurrection!
I wonder if it would do any good to bribe the writing team…probably not. The rest of you would kill me if I succeeded :P
O_O
Well… shit.
Chapter 9: They’re Back from the Dead…and They’re Pissed Off
Well, holy crap. One death sucks, but five spells TPK.
Very interested in where we’re going from here.
dodge?
wait, which one did she declare her dodge on? am i playing with the right edition here?
Reference Chinese movie: “Hero”
Well…that’s dark.
That got dark.
Well… fuck, shades of GRRM (not a compliment at all, I hate his character killing drek)
I just get to the point where I get attached to characters and they get killed off
Guess it is time to go torture some defenseless kobolds for a while or something
Heeeeeey~ D: I love Kobolds. ._. -protects them- >:3
Rocks fall. Everyone dies. Actually, arrows fall, but same thing.
Roll the bodies! I call dibs! I get first dibs on their stuff!
Alright, everyone re-roll a new character. Only Frigg’s player is allowed to play the same class again because, uh, she doesn’t seem to be able to play anything else.
I can believe this. The Frigg part, that is.
She was asked to roll a cleric. This is true (for a less than usual value of “true”).
This recent fight had made me want to stat them all out actually, in a couple of systems. Primarily D&D or offshoots thereof though.
I’d love to see it, personally.
I’ve attempted to make a very Gravedust cleric, but there isn’t any class that duplicates his abilities.
Challenge Accepted.
I encountered the same problem. I was going to roll with the Zen Archer Monk from Pathfinder, and a custom magic item (probably the only one in the party) that casts Speak with Dead.
Frigg – Crusader
Syr’Nj – Pathfinder Alchemist
Bandit – Rogue (duh)
Byron – Barbarian/Warblade/Frenzied Berserker
Best – Bard/Warblade
I kind of feel like these builds are too complex or obscure to be of any use though. My aim was to replicate their abilities as best possible while still creating playable characters. That’s why Byron has Warblade, for instance, because Two Weapon Fighting without a source of bonus damage is pretty awful unless you use a Tome of Battle class (in 3.5e). That it splits into disciplines covering teamwork and tactical thinking is a bonus. Then if one melee character is Tome of Battle, they all should be…
/geekout
WHAT IS THIS I DONT EVEN
I feel like she’s talking to US.
Actually, let me rephrase that.
I feel like she’s talking to us, and it’s creeping me the hell out.
Think she was talking to the archers sense they are solidifying a war but at the same time she is talking to us.
It is creepy.
Those goggles? They let her see past the Fourth Wall.
Why would she be talking to Americans only? :/
Because the Canadians are polite enough not to shoot arrows at her.
I agree!
…Dammit, the party needed a bard after all.
It’s alright, he can compose a perky dirge for the party.
I’m holding out for the ‘sent back in time to undo the mistakes that caused him to not join the team, thus destabilizing the timestream’ gambit.
That this would require Best to first undergo a painful series of attitude adjustments is a feature, not a bug.
Something like “Payet Best’s Bogus Journey”?
Okay, how would Best have been any better here? I mean, he wouldn’t have been able to take Harki. He may be better than un-zerked Byron, but not THAT good. And then, when Byron went Axe-crazy, Best would have been among the first to get killed. Or he would have done the smart douche-baggish thing to do and have run the heck away. Either way, it wouldn’t have pullled the rest of the party through.
Best would’ve found a way maaaan. He would’ve talked the talk or walked the walk, either way shit…would…get…done.
Somehow, I see Best as being the bastard that would say, “Oh, Savage Races? Yeah, I’m on THEIR side. At least THEY appreciate me. And pay me.”
Captain, did you smoke a doobie?
Best would have probably snuck off and slept with Harki’s harem, knocking them all up with half-elf, half-troll bastard babies.
My thought that was that better diplomacy/talky stuff might have kept the party from being in the TPK arena in the first place. It’s been a theme that the group’s people skills have been, ah, in need of further development for a while now.
I disagree. Things opened with them being surrounded by hostility and Syr’nj who who (apparently) talked them down. From there, the group said relatively little as Gondalessa took them on the “tour”. It seems to me that Our Heroes were seen coming and Harki had the “entertainment” planned all along. He said in his speech that he wasn’t interested in anything they had to say.
Sorry: “Syr’nj was the one who talked them down.”
Can brotha/sistah/shawty/babydoll/old man get a rez?
sorry. your diplomacy was given a neg 20 penalty on account of the archers not being able to hear you.
And the fact that he used Under-Common.
D&D joke! ;3
racist joke :(
TPK.
Now, who’s with me that they better not make this a fucking dream sequence like plot-device assholes? :D
From now on the comic will be renamed “The Adventures of Payet Best, Professional Asshole”.
Douchebag, actually. His douchebaggery is even accompanied by pictures of an actual bag of douche. Didn’t really notice that until my second reading.
DAMMIT, PHIL. When I jokingly suggested a TPK and then continuing on with Best being a douche, I did NOT mean that literally.
Phil, I hope that you’re going to cut away to the adventures of Payet best for a chapter, just to tease us further.
Just a friendly reminder, since I see comments addressing only Phil (including one further down) that T writes this comic with Phil. Let’s give ‘im some love too! <3
Who’s Phil?
YOU are phil. here is your phil-crown. ALL HAIL THE NEW PHIL!!
I humbly accept this honor on behalf of nerds everywhere. I promise to treat you all with the same quirky disdain as my predecessor and feed you a steady diet of gold starfish.
Follow me and all your comic book needs shall be fullphilled.
So say we all!
The hell you say.
Not a BSG fan, eh?
Of course I am, but I will have no usurper.
I only wanted to be loved. :(
Owned.
and those shots of bandit face down…. crazy amount of blood… wow.
aw, if she were alive, she could make a snow angel out of her own blood.
That’s why there’s so much – she already tried.
omg I’m goin’ to burn forever for that.
Okay, I wonder if Byron and Syr’nj have really left the fortune teller in a previous chapter? Maybe the dreamed this? Remember the tv show Dallas?
The goggles do nothing!
Well-played, sir.
Winner.
not yet anyways… she did put them back on for the … well you know end act 1
Your comments are the icing on the proverbial WIN cake that is this comic. No lie *w*
No homo? ;)
Hehheh arrows were touching hehheh heh.
Not to mention all the “penetration” going on.
sure they do! the goggles provide well-needed eye protection. she now has +4 armor on her eyes!
Let’s hope all those arrows are aimed at her eyes.
Captain, I am detecting large quantities of win in this sector.
Mr. Zizek, increase sensor resolution to pinpoint the source. We must get to the previous win-ore before the Romulans.
Damn, it was supposed to be “precious” win ore. I noticed it like 3 days later. :P
reading this comic reminds me of a tarentino film. really good but not quite in cronologile order.
Calling all Sky Elves: fix this shit.
T_T Bandit…
Im quittin’ this… just too unfair. v_________v
Wait.
Wait.
Did. Did you just kill the party? What?
Actually, I think that was the Smooth Dwarf killing Gravedust, Byron killing Bandit & Frigg, Syr’Nj killing Byron*, and the archers killing Syr’Nj. We shouldn’t blame the narrators for any of that. :)
*I don’t think that she would be crying over just tranking him; also, the vials were color-coded red. Red is usually Bad.
I thought she was crying because she realized that Byron couldn’t fight the rage; in that state, he’s no more than an animal.
hey, red also means healing potion. oh My GODS!!! SHE HEALED HIM TO DEATH!!!
Actually in chapter one the healing potion looks kinda purple. that could just be the color distorting from Syr’nj’s flashback.
THAT MEANS BYRON WAS A ZOMBIE!
Continue?
I’m interested in the Guilded Age’s afterlife cosmology.
Welcome to Zombie Age!
*kries*
I swear to the great gods of dice, if this turns out to be a dream sequence I will eat my computer screen. Somehow.
I hear they taste good with whipped cream and cherry on top…just saying you know.
Ever since I stumbled upon it I’m hooked to Guilded Age!!! I can’t resist it!!
btw, this is my first post
Well, in the spirit of wild mass guessing, here’s mine: This is gonna be like Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix. The next portion of the saga will show either past or future incarnations of our brave adventurers. Then they too will die, and the next portion will take us to the future. Or the past. And so on. The gap between the past and future stories will get narrower and narrower until it all converges in the present. Or the creators (God forbid!) die, whichever comes first. (Those who are Phoenix fans like me will know what I’m on about.)
Sucks. If I wanted visual entertainment where everybody dies I’d watch “Grave of the Fireflies”.
How about “Gravedust of the Fireflies?” Bandit can be his spunky little sister.
And dies.
*strangled noises*
That was vicious. But… I approve. It was a great death for Syr’Nj, and for Byron as well. The last lines are brilliant.
On a related note, it TOTALLY DOES NOT cheapen their death to have main characters come back from the dead once. Really. I am begging you here. BEGGING YOU.
*sob*
And I really liked everybody! Except Best. Could he be sacrificed for them? That would work.
Well, it looks like someone liked Hero.
I hereby move that Syr’nj’s name be changed to Pyn K’ushion.
Too many vowels. Not enough apostrophes.
^
Pyn’Kshyn. Fewer vowels. But woah that is weird looking.
Of course, someone has to ask…can I have their stuff?
hate to be spelling nazi… it’s shall.
and that movie was terrible. shame on you.
sorry, replied to wrong post. :P meant to be one down.
…Then we shale fight in the shade!
May I add, if this IS the end of these characters and not some cleaver ploy… well done.
Awesome!!!
The goggle are clearly for the umbrella of a nuke that Syr is about to deploy thus disintegrating the arrows and the archers because she is just that awesome
If this is the end of the group then…fine. But I think not.
Look at our lovely wood elf, she put her goggles on for some reason. Maybe she is gonna do something at that moment. I don’t think she would stand for her death but instead sit beside the lovely Berserker who took out the entire party as the arrows fall.
They won’t die, not after going through all that. They (like all major groups in a fantasy setting) are part of a grand scheme, maybe one dictated by fate itself. This is not the end for the group.
OH NO YOU DIDN’T!
Seriously, I don’t mind the killing off of beloved main characters as much as I do the wasted backstory of said characters. Especially Byron’s.
Also, Phil? I have to words to express my gratitude for this (hopefully) cliff hanger: Fu-
Byron’s backstory never got around to how he manages to grow an extra head after he dies, did it?
wait…what?
I believe she was holding Byron in her arms and turning her whole body when she looked from Frigg to Bandit and Gravedust. Though I admit, it did confuse me when I first saw those two panels as well, since it would seem more natural if she only turned her head (particularly since I imagine Byron weighs a lot and we have no idea how strong Syr’nj is.)
She’s not turning her hold body, just her neck/head. Byron’s head in one panel is seen from the back, and in the other is seen from the front. She’s looking from one side to the other, and the camera’s switched to be behind her in both perspectives.
Dammit… *whole body,
and byron conveniently moved his head to stay in shot :D
buh…wha…shii..
Ye gods, stave off the “What If’s” now: Syr’nj, lovely wood elf that she is (was?), likely put her goggles on ensure that she face death with some appearance of stoic dignity. This works, as she is the party’s Avatar of the Sciences. I so look forward to what comes next!
Alternative: THE SOPRANOS.
P.S. – Look! Background! It actually happened! :)
i’d like to seem them all survive somehow, but i’m mostly rooting for new cast, dealing with the repercussions of what these fools/tools started accidentally.
heeey… i didnt hear journey….
Trollboy recognized Syr’nj’s tats as signifying royalty (a woad less travelled?) — but I am at a loss to guess what sort of power even a royal wood elf could possibly have that would fix this, short of calling down Divine Intervention…
How about a literal Divine Intervention – Morrowind Style? (i.e. teleport)
Well, it was said that conjuration is actually just basic teleportation.
*ahem* As I said before….
Syr, it’s time to unleash your awesome Royal Elf Magics.
Or… ya know… slam down a pheonix dow— er…. sorry, blinding light orb and everybody suddenly gets ninja’d out somehow.
Who says anything will be fixed? They may not survive. Hanging out and waiting to see how somebody miraculously survives is always fun but it’s even better to see who doesn’t survive. This is getting good, for sure. Great work Guilded Age.
Okay, a few things I missed…
One almost-certainly dead Bandit (look at all that blood!). BUT! The axe wounds seem to have only severed through most of her arms. You can see bone, if you look carefully, but not organ. Doesn’t matter, because she still would have bled out by now.
A curiously silent Frigg. Did she pass out? Will she suffocate?
Byron laying chest down. Not that he has needles in him. OUCH.
Finally, no blood from Gravy. That’s a bit strange, as he seemed to have been bleeding a bit when he fell from the bag. This means he may – MAY – still be alive, but simply knocked out.
I think we need to start think possibilities, folks. Me? I think that Byron barely survives, wakes up piled outside the camp on the bodies of his allies, and the rest of the comic is him seeking retribution and vengeance. Oh, and Best joins up with him for some reason. Most likely for fame.
I think Byron surviving actually makes sense. After all his background pins him as a sole survivor of a war, and we just saw that he can shrug off fatal wounds. I’m not sure that’s the path the comic will take, but for all we know he could be near immortal.
yeah, but he’s next to the focus of all the arrow fire.
byron the highlander?
I can’t help wonder if Byron was “the war that felled Battleshire.”
If his ‘zerking was more impressive I’d say so, but apparently he got taken down by four needles of sedative or poison, so I doubt it was the case. He’d have to be a one man whirlwind of doom to BE a war, but he’s more or a one-pump-chump.
Alas Byron, you’re awesomeness just wasn’t meant to be. :(
Uh…he caught them asleep? :-D Maybe he’d do better without a spear through the chest, but if that’s what it takes to set him off in the first place, it’s a bit of a catch-22.
Remember, if you will, Harky was Mr. Overconfidence until Byron went berserk. Then he started raving about devils and daemons and how the madness could spread to all of them.
I’m thinking Byron’s form of madness is supernatural.
I think that bandit’s wounds shouldn’t be *that* graphic, because, you know, this cartoon doesn’t come with a rating warning.
Look closer at her corpse in that last (non-black) panel.
Sorry, chum. I didn’t want her to die, either. :P
you’re in stage one. denial.
next comes you being mad at the creators for the path that came here.
then comes pleading and making deals.
then comes being depressed.
then acceptance.
Actually I’m between “Nice, no manga ninja-saves! Good writers at last!” and “Oh please don’t make it a dream sequence.”
If you read back through the comments we’ve pretty much done the entire circuit… just different people at different stages.
…i kinda think after that ordeal, if he met best on the road, he’d kill him. brutally. just for being a douche. i know i would :P.
…and then the yaoi zone is initiated…
Well, Byron’s axes sank into about halfway through between where Bandit’s neck ends and her shoulders are. Maybe the upper organs and especially lungs, but not anything too critical (if we don’t take the lungs into account). And Gravedust was poisoned.
I love cartoon rules because of stuff like this. Chop someone into three pieces and it’s still not too bad. :D
“Your arm is off!”
“No it’s not. It’s a flesh wound!”
I thought Gravy was roofied.
Achievement Unlocked!
Post the 11,000th Comment!
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I’m so happy!
I’m an achiever, ma! I’ve got a SPECIAL PURPOSE!!!
Every single one of them DEAD? I’m really sad right now man!
And now it’s time for the totally excellent adventures of our new, undead party. Frigg’s totally got dibs on O’Bannon zombie.
Good job, you creative people — and that isn’t sarcasm. Even if someone barely survives, you had the guts/balls/ovaries to kill more than one of your main characters.
Now I’ll return to grieving until Monday.
Well, this is sure to start a war. Of course, there would have been one anyway. I think not even killing Harki would have prevented that.
The question is, where does the story go from here? Please don’t tell me it’s gonna switch to Best from now on.
If I had to guess, I’d say we’re going to see the formation of an entirely different guild. Perhaps… a Horde one?
Don’t forget that they just killed a member of Wood Elf Royalty. That’s sure to bring some Come’uppance. The wood elves weren’t allied with Gastonia, but they might be now.
i doubt it. given the bad blood, the wood elves will likely blame gastonia for sending her there to die, and declare war.
hell, maybe we’ll get a two-fer/three way between the ‘savage’ races, wood elves, and the gastonians.
could be sweet.
Yeah! All Battle of Five Armies style, I’d be down for that.
They (or more specifically, the king) might be mad at Gastonia at first, but let’s not forget the letter Syr’nj wrote to her father (the king) in the event of her death. She writes, in regard to humans, “If you love me at all, father, try not to hate them. Try to see what I see in them. It’s the best way you can keep me with you.”
We know very little about the king, but I think he’d want to respect his daughters last wishes.
On a scale of one to five…I’d give this a seven!
Sorry, but I really can’t read this at all. I just have no clue where it’s going now. Which rocks hard. I’ll be back monday to check it out.
And now the joke option…. S suddenly displays her monk levels by deflecting all the arrows, slaughtering the archers. FTW.
Well, given that the lenses in those goggles are dark so as to block the flashbang, I’d say she donned those to act as a sort of blindfold so she couldn’t see the arrows coming….
I know I don’t get a vote but I think that the end of the group should be the end of the group. If some Flash Gordonesque, third rate camera trick saves them all then how could we ever trust the strip to have any depth in the future. Face it .. one of the primary reasons that the Wild Bunch is so memorable is that blazing, stunning ending.
And this strip is called “the guilded age” not “four fantasy stereotypes and Frigg” so a new group is not impossible. I like them a lot but that’s because of the care and detail that have gone into them since the beginning not because of their original design (if they hadn’t have been so well built we wouldn’t be so gripped by their probable demise, eh ?).
As an aside – it makes sense that JW would probably prefer a group he helped design (stirling work so far, sir, btw) but that’s just imho.
‘And this strip is called “the guilded age” not “four fantasy stereotypes and Frigg”’
Yeah, but “four fantasy stereotypes and Frigg” would’ve been a much better title.
She’s got something up her sleeve, I am sure of it. See how she is putting on the goggles? Standing up in a badass fashion?
I have a feeling she’ll do magic! Maybe? Or some really last resort science!
it could just be the old adage of, “If I’m going to dye, I’m going to dye with style.”
…or she’ll just die. with lots o’ arrows in her.
Or maybe she’ll turn into a tree! Wood Elf … yeah, could be a stretch.
I’ll sit and wait for the “This isn’t World of Warcraft” guy to come along now.
This isn’t World of Warcraft!
O buddy Roy, the Lich, the Lich came calling
From round to round and in the air this day,
And though we have all found ourselves a’falling,
‘Tis you, ’tis you went splat and we’re OK.
But come ye back when Raise Dead has been cast
After cash for Diamond Dust we pool,
‘Cause we’ll be here tomorrow after breakfast,
O buddy Roy, O buddy Roy, you’re pretty cool.
But if tomorrow, it turns out we got smacked down
If we’re dead, our hit points worn away,
Then sorry dude, you won’t be coming back now;
One death sucks, but six spells T-P-K.
I won’t see you in the afterlife in that case
Because you’re Lawful, and Chaotic Good am I
And I don’t think they’ll let me hang at your place.
O buddy Roy, O buddy Roy, why did you die?
‘Cept when ol’ buddy Roy died, it was funny and I personally expected it. Miko’s death was a bit of a shock, though. Burlew isn’t afraid to keep a character dead instead of milking them for drama.
That said, I’m hoping that resurrection exists in the GA universe. I will do anything, Phil, Mr. Campbell. ANYTHING.
… Ew, but not that.
Go! My horde of identical clone orcen archers!
Hey their hair is different!
And their faces!
ah, Elan from Order of the Stick…
still, I really can’t see how this can get better. not really a re-read the tactics and try again with a new DPS situation, eh?
I… have… a choice…
Oh wait I don’t. I have to keep reading.
+1 Ditto
if you guys moved on to a new group of central characters i’d applaud you, and then buy you all wheelbarrows to carry your enormous stone testicles around in.
cause building up a cast you really love, then unflinchingly axing them, then moving on, nodding to their legacy but otherwise not returning to them… that takes cojones. huge, marble, cojones.
no, what are you doing? dont encourage perma-party wipe!!
pfft. artistic integrity. daring writing. breaking molds.
if you want characters that are basically immortal, no matter what happens, they’re back in four issues, i can reccomend a large number of titles to you, by a variety of publishers, writers, and artists, available at your local purveyor of four-colour funnybooks.
+1
nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Is it time to call in the napalm strike?
Next week –
“Well, so much for that diplomacy mission. Who else do we have?”
“There’s this bard…”
“Eh, he’ll do. Send him in.”
XD
“I’ll accompany him personally.”
The Guilded Age presents… The Misadventures of Payet Best, Professional Douche, and His Stalwart Sidekick, Colonel Pornstache!
I have my own theory, but it is a consistent one, given that we don’t know all the gods of this world.
TPK — For real. Yep. They’re dead, dead, dead, and they died nobly, so here they are at the gates of the afterlife.(insert deity here) says, “Well, you all earned this. You can go on it if you want, but really, I have a use for all of you if you’re willing.”
Frigg: “Do I get ta whump them?”
Gravedust: “That would be an interesting experience.”
Syr’ng (to Byron):
Byron (to Syr’ng): “I’ll go if you will.”
*poof* (A roadway in a forest.)
Meanwhile, Bandit has stolen a magical artifact from (insert deity here) and is resurrected with the rest.
I’m surprised nobody suggested this sooner. It seems like the obvious choice. Well, that or moving on to new characters.
perfect honesty: it’s hack writing. we might as well be reading superman if this happens, as it’s basically the same thing that happens in that comic every four or five years.
And then they’ll come back to life… In the Marvel Universe.
Meanwhile, Captain America awakens in an arena, surrounded by Trolls.
(Yes, I know he’s already come back. But think of the possibilities!)
Hmm I believe, that this is actually not real and some kind of mind therapy for Byron. Our favorite elven woman is somehow inducing a “dream” or some other mind-thingy-mumbo-jumbo for Byron in which she tries to help him control his “madness”. She’s actually able to take part in it/appear in it. And her last sentence is directed toward Byron and the others.
THE END!
Oh god if the next chapter is a time jump in either direction (or a dream but considering using that plot twist in a non-ironic way these days is like painting a bullseye on your face I doubt it) I’m going to cry but with the one million billion arrows about to occupy roughly the same space as Byron and Syr’nj I can’t see how all the science in the world could save them now.
Seems like kind of an odd time to reveal Syr’nj’s royalty only for it to be the “end” of the party’s story without elaboration though aye? I might be giving the writers too much credit and I’VE BEEN HURT BEFORE DAMNIT but I’m choosing to remain optimistic about this!
I don’t really agree that it was odd to reveal Syr’nj as royalty and then kill her off. While their story may be over, that doesn’t mean the rest of the world will just forget about them. I mean, just think of how the wood elves will react when they learn their princess was killed on a mission of peace. Like someone above mentioned, a three-way war between Gastonia, the Savage Races, and the Wood Elves seems likely.
And let’s not forget Syr’nj’s letter to her father (presumably the king), to be delivered in the event of her death. There’s no way it’s a coincidence that the chapter opens with Syr’nj making preparations for her death, and ends with her actually facing it.
after we home point, we’re going to so kick your asses on the second run
So I can see three possibilities at this point.
The first I dsicount on the grounds I do not see this ending in a TPK,
The second involves our elven heroine pulling some device such as teleport from immediate and I mean NOW peril or something along those lines that results in us understanding why Byron holds her military background in such high esteem,
The third involves her father having sent an elite unit to make sure his daughter doesn’t end up in a bad way and the head of said unit just happens to be offended that they’ve decided to use bows and arrows to kill their charge after all to a wood elf thats just like waving a gigantic red flag across your backside saying you can’t hit the side of a barn door to a bull!
What do you think?
I like the one that involves Elf Commandos. Maybe they’ll fight Harki with cookies and hot fudge.
There’s always the possibility the humans sent an army along on the grounds that at least they can say they sent in a diplomatic envoy, its just that this time they actually have just cause which is probably why they waited so long as they’re stunned to realise they were right this time!!!
Aww fack … Byron ? Down. Bandit ? Down ? Frigg ? Down. Gravedust ? Down. Syr’nj is the only one left standing, for now.
That cannot be. They HAVE to survive, all o’ ’em.
If Byron got on so well with a speat through his chest, Bandit might have a chance for surviving axes, doesn’t she ? Right ? Right ?
^^ *happy* O_o
Amazing! Fantastic! Breath taking! And the art is pretty good too.
And yes, gutsy. Killing one or more main characters in a situation where in real life that would be the expected outcome is a refreshing change from the way such fiction usually goes.
Of course it is possible for the fans to find something refreshing and disappointing at the same time. And i certainly will be disapointed if any or all of them are dead for real, no takebacks. But i will also be disappointed if there is a cheap save.
But i trust the authors. And i expect that whatever comes next:
“Continued– in Heaven!”
“Same Age, New Guild”
“Gastonia Honors its Fallen Pawns”
“Saved by Something Awesome (that is totally not an ass pull because, come on it’s Syr’nge)”
“Byron, the Broken Shell of a Once Proud Mercenary, Finds Solace only in the Poignant Songs of his Lover, Best”
“Frigg, Queen of Trolls by Right of Ordeal”
“Bandit, the Cyborg Pickpocket”
“Gravedust, the Unbanishable Spirit of Dwarven Moderation”
Or something even stranger, i will be reading, and enjoying it.
So pbbbt!
Title #5: I will KILL YOU >.<
Nooooo!!!! Anything but GA slashfic!
I could stand to hear a little more.
#5: Oh good god, no. The title alone… ARGH, IT’S IN MY BRAIN! XD
This, good sir, was an amazing post.
S-she can still science it, right?
Right?
Oh please, she can ALWAYS do science to it.
Yay! *runs around in circles like an idiot*
I know I may have said this before, but it applies once again:
Ffffffffff…
“you have a choice”… as in…
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE???
pleaseohpleaseohplease
Hell no, I always die in those books. (Mostly on purpose.)
Anyone else ever try reading a CYOA book like a normal book, reading each page in order? It’s rather amusing.
Gonna add my cries to the general kerfuffle
*wailing* Noooo don’t make them dead forever!
But I’ll be back on Monday. Been here since the beginning and not going to quit now.
My own observation of Syr’s pose at the end is more of “I am facing the firing squad with all the dignity of a soldier and a princess. Fuck you, Savage Races.”
I was sort of expecting a TPK, but primarily because Gravedust can interact with the afterlife normally, and that seems like the kind of thing that might be useful after you shuffle off the mortal coil, too.
Now it seems Syr’Nj might have a trick up her sleeve.
Either way, I’m pleased that you went this route. As the team accumulated fatal or near-fatal injuries I was worried you were going to back out and write those injuries off. The comic hasn’t had that ‘feel’ so far, and you stuck with that, so kudos.
Oooo, good point. I hadn’t figured on the Gravedust/spirit realm angle.
Impressive. But you know, that troll on the far right? His hair cracks me up.
The End!
Beautiful friend.
*Looks at name*
I am a silly bugger.
We’ve only just begun…. To liiiiiiiiive…..
despite the bleak situation, i actually found this page quite inspiring due to syr’nj’s words.
and i really liked the arrangement of the panels.
finally: ARRRRGH
what she said leads me to predict the following:
#1 she’s going to do something that will save her comrades from the arrows but damage herself
#2 she’s going to find some impossible way to save everyone WITHOUT harming the archers in her typical peace-loving fashion
hmm.
This is the first time I’ve been prompted to comment on the comic, and I have to say that the art changes and story twists are working amazingly well. But this last scene? Only one sentence will do:
“This cannot end well. It can only end AWESOMELY.”
“- Our arrows will blow our the sun!
– Then we will fight in the shade.”
forgot to add:
Well if she is royalty and she is a wood-elf, she might have some control over wood(arrows & bows), arrows cant fly if they aren’t straight, and why not bend some bows to strangle or hold the archers….slit their throats with the cords.
I sense SCIENCE!
coming up next, ZOMBIE BERSERKERS.
yeah im just prophetic like that
Hmm.. I wonder… so far this story hasn’t been that linear in terms of chronology, so maybe, just maybe, this is for real, they’re all dead, and the next chapter is simply a sort of extended flashback to chronicle their exploits up to this point.
Way to kill the party, Savage races. You’re such a downer.
(Also you guys still have your copyright stuff set to 2010, get with the times)
I think we have a whole new cast moving in to take their place. Or at least it SEEMS that way. We can’t forget that Payet was with them when they took out that gnoll fire shaman.
Sort of. He was there for the first page.
Sigh. Alright. I’ll go there:
Guil-Dead Age.
I am not proud.
Neither is death.
Gold Star.
Hmmm… Well, back on their FIRST adventure, it was “15 men versus Payet Best!” The party has done so much since then, imagine how much experience Payet has earned being awesome on his own and not having to share the XP or Gold with 4 other people? It’s probably at the point where it’s “15,000 men versus Payet best!”
Either that or his adventures have had some slight affect on his personality and he now leads “The Best Team” under the Gastonian banner, shows up, destroys the savage races (because he is a douche and has no moral qualms about slaughtering maybe-innocents) only to then turn and see other members of his team healing the party and being all “Damnit, if I knew the trolls were about to kill THEM, I’d have stayed home.”
Remember, the very first thing we see is a page displaying a party of SIX, Bandit and Payet haven’t been in the party at the same time yet.
I’m quite fond of death, so I’m fine with the direction this story seems to have taken. And things are about to get exciting, you say? Well, go on! I’m sure I can handle more excitement!
Wow… two things.
1. That’s a LOOOOOt of TROLL ARCHERS.
2. I’d like to see if there’s going to be a second party, I think that’d be awesome. I don’t invest myself emotionally into characters as other people do, so this stuff doesn’t bother me. It’s a comic, not real life. x3
I did, which is why this would be a brillent Kirkman-like act of story telling if they are infact dead.
Agreed! It would kind of be like the players rolling new characters, I suppose. o.o
Argh, suspense!
Though we’ve seen Syr’nj use teleportation before, whilst wearing goggles..? Chapter 6, after Byron and Gravedust discover the murdered city.
That’s a good point, and because there’s a precedent it wouldn’t be utterly lame. But, if she did have the device on them, why didn’t they zap out the moment it became clear they were hosed?
Son of… : C
Monday (or rather, Wednesday, because there will probably be a cover page) will not come fast enough. ._.
(Speaking of which, Bandit looks very… not unarmed from here. Wonder where she’s wounded…)
I have a feeling the scope and scale of the story just went up.
http://http.cdnlayer.com/itke/blogs.dir/8/files/2008/01/the_scream_munch.jpg
I know this is overdone but with syr’nj donning the glasses, she should have said “i guess we get your point”
YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
“Well I guess… *don goggles* we’ll stick around.”
YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
“Looks like we really…”
*goggles*
“Got the shaft on this one.”
YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
I expect that there will be at least one major character fatality, but not a total wipe. Actually I think Bandit would make an excellent ghost in terms of espionage and generally driving Gravedust up the wall.
Wherever the inspiration comes from, it’s still a story, not an RPG (I hope we don’t suddenly cut to people around a table…). Much as I’d like to see him kick butt, I honestly don’t care if Byron is a “good” Berserker–it’s the whole story I’m interested in and maybe in the end that is not in fact his calling. Maybe that’s not how he helps the party “win.” If they’re going to fight about whether he deserves to be on the team after this mess, great–it’s the debate I’m interested in more than whether or not it’s true from a mechanics standpoint.
I still believe that it would be counterproductive to the story to abruptly dump so much setup with multiple characters, some of which was only recently revealed.
Let’s say the creators are ballsy, kill everyone, and start with a 100% new group. The story would either slow to a crawl as we’d take the time to get to know everyone, or the new folks would need to rush in to pick up the high-stakes plot-in-progress without us really knowing them, which would make me at least wonder why I should care, when I was invested in how the current characters would deal with or survive this. For me, that would be terribly unsatisfying.
No, you don’t always get resolution in real life–sure, people sometimes fail utterly. But this is a fantasy narrative. I don’t mind if ultimately some heroes die, but this feels like the wrong point. What if at the end of “Empire Strikes Back” no one had escaped Cloud City and Lucas said,”Well, they’re screwed, but Darth Vader is cool, so I’ll just cast some new folks to fight him in the next movie.”?
Now that she donned the googles and said the cool line at the end will she fly away too like Neo ? :D
Good for a laugh, that! Umm … bronze star?
I’m concerned that we’re killing off the old cast so that our new artist can establish his own characters in his own style instead of having to hear from the readership about how he’s doin’ it wrong.
Unlike the other guy I really liked the cast. : /
Well, it has been said that this is not at all a split from the script. I believe it was in the comments from Phil maybe a comic or two back.
I, too, liked the cast. I’ll miss Bandit the most’est!
See, having GM’d a game or two, my players know that everything was what I meant to do all along. If you catch my meaning.
Honestly, if John wanted to make the party over “in his own image” … he wouldn’t have taken the GA job in the first place.
I really hope in this vast sea of comments someone has already said the two magic words…
Dream Sequence
Last one standing against certain death with their comrades dead around them, the only real way to pull from the jaws of defeat is having it end up as some kind of portent dream. Only other way out is a alternate universe (very unlikely), the savage races all of a sudden becoming humanitarians (also unlikely) or they are really all flat out dead. And that last one should be unlikely, I don’t mind a character death now and again to remind readers of mortality, but the whole cast? That would be way too drastic.
It’s been discussed. And fervently hoped that the authors would not make such a cheap move.
There’s a lot of ways for them to go from here – I’m sure they’ve thought up something clever.
I’m awestruck by Syr’njs’ (how do you decline this insane name?) composure even when facing death by getting arrowstruck.
Inspiring.
Okay… is todays SMBC-comics Votey an accident or is Zach Weiner even funnier than I ever could imagine (a lot!)??
Nothing? No one?
(Comic: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2131#comic
Votey: http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20110121after.gif)
I love the symmetry in all the panels, and I love the shield in the third. Excellent art for an epic finish to Act I.