Comics by Shaenon II

Well then... I have no doubt that you'll enjoy it.

(If you want to get technical, the movie basically bumped her reputation up a few notches. Also, she really does look ravishing.)

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Re the current post: I've wanted to write this one for a while.

"If it was a louper, you'd know," Bob said wisely. "In the middle of this town, you'd have a dozen people dead every time the full moon came around. What's going on?"
"A dozen people are dying every time the full moon comes around." -Fool Moon

"Let me tell you something, Morty. When I come into a place and don't say a thing except, 'Let's talk,' and the first thing I hear is 'I didn't do it,' it makes me think that the person I'm talking to must have done something. You know what I'm saying?" -Grave Peril

"I've done smarter things in my life. Once, for example, I threw myself out of a moving car in order to take on a truckload of lycanthropes singlehandedly. That had been nominally smarter. At least I had been fairly certain that I could kill them, if I had to, at the time." -Grave Peril

"Thomas was an annoying wiseass who tended to make everyone he met want to kill him, and when I have that much in common with someone, I can't help but like him a little". -Blood rights

If you recognize the above quotes, you've probably read the Dresden Files books. And if you didn't, but thought they were funny then maybe you should read them. Either way I'm starting an rp bases around the series. Head over there if you want to join in. http://dresdenfilesrp.smfforfree3.com

Claire will figure out she's in Mechanicsburg eventually. Granted, she may well run into Taris, Boris, Lord Heterodyne, and Mama Gkika first, but she'll figure it out eventually.

At the moment, all she's got is that something is a bit odd. It doesn't really help that she's still got a reasonable amount of catnip in her system.


Claire: *confused* Maybe Miss Mama Gkika knows what it is that's off. I can ask her later.

My apologies, I may not post today...

The truth is that I'm not entirely sure what to do with my characters right now... it's not for lack of options, it's just a really bad case of writer's block... arrgh!

ARRGH! WRITER'S BLOCK IS STUPID AND I HATE IT!

Ok, this isn't working. I'm sorry. There's plenty of stuff I COULD be doing with my characters, but I can't really think of how I want to EXPRESS it. I'm having a really lousy time with this. Grrrr.....

That's it. I'm taking a day or two off. I'll be back to post on saturday. I need some time to just goof off. I'm sorry.

Today on the MSW:
Tea With A Martian.

Evidently I can't even stick to my own semi-enforced sabbatical.

Due to lousy internet connection, I won't be on much for a bit until it is resolved. My disconnection last night was due to the dang connection completely dying.


(Seems that clearwire decided we needed an upgrade and ever since they told us that they sent the upgraded modem, which takes 5-7 days, the internet connection has been far worse then dial up.)

(The following is an unpaid ad for a specific game and NOT, as one may expect, a tale of Madness)

The Journal of a Dimensional Drifter

Aka: David's Log

(Ok, ok... NOW it's becoming a story in it's own right, rather than an unpaid ad... after this entry, I'll move it to the Tales of Madness.

I am also going to note that, to avoid in-game spoilers, David's little Avernum journey will not be following the plot of the main Avernum game. Consider it a fan-side-story, where the events run parallel to what happens in the actual game, but don't actually intertwine... regardless, don't look for him to be questing to find Demonslayer or the Orb of Thralni...)

Day 7: You'll never guess what happened!

Well, I don't think anyone's going to be doing any guessing, since this is a private journal, but... ok, I have no idea what I'm talking about here.

Anyways... Demothesis and Other Claire both seemed to battle each other to exhaustion... after they were both too tired to try and kill each other any more, I managed to convince them both to work together. Well, actually, I just sorta talked, hoping that Other Claire had any clue what I was saying and got Demothesis to shrug and say "whatever." But they stopped trying to kill each other.

On a sidenote, I don't need a haircut after Other Claire kindly helped me with trim off some of my hair with her axe! She got really, REALLY close, though... I guess her species likes keeping men's hair short. She even nicked the scalp a few times, which wasn't pleasant. The three of us journeyed off to find the Neph-ill-am fort to the north that was causing trouble. We never got there... a war party of them attacked us on the way there...

What was surprising was that they were traveling with a demon.

This caused Other Claire to freak out a LOT... I was surprised, and Demothesis seemed to take it stoically, but he did comment that he "never wanted to die poor." whatever that means. Other Claire quickly found the male in command and the two of them started talking hurriedly in what Demothesis called "Kitty tongue." He knows a few words, but he could only make out "brother", "sister", "wrong" and "abomination" as they were taking us prisoner. That Demon is really strong... it made a comment about how tasty we looked that made me uncomfortable.

I wonder why they didn't tie up Other Claire?

Anyways, it looked like they were about to kill us, when Other Claire took a shot at the demon with her Axe. I don't know why she did it, but the other Neph-Ill-am seemed to really freak out about it. She didn't look happy and neither did they. The demon grabbed her by the arm, and started raking into her with clawed hands. This caused the male in command to scream in anger for some reason, and despite the other kitties (Demothesis says that everyone calls them that, so I'm going to start, since it's easier to spell) trying to hold him back, he drew a spear and attacked it. It was a bad idea on his part. The demon took his weapon from him almost effortlessly and impaled him with it. Other Claire didn't seem happy about that!

It was at about this time that I decided to take matters into my own hands. Apparently both myself and Demothesis have had to escape being tied up before (I wonder when HE'S been taken prisoner by evil supervillians? They don't seem common here.) so we both got out of the the ropes at about the same time. The kitties were distracted watching the fight in horror, so we were able to get my sword and his bow without being noticed. He looked like he was going to try to sneak away, but I grabbed him and dragged him over to where the fight was... if the demon was surprised to see me, it DEFINATELY didn't expect Demothesis to plug a few arrows into the back of it's head! Fortunate, too, since my sword didn't seem to hurt it that badly, and whenever I hit it the heat around it's body hurt my hands...

Angrily, the demon's body dissipated. Good for us... but the Male in command wasn't doing so good... Other Claire was watching over him, crying, as he lay there, bleeding out. One of the kitties had a first aid kit, so I snatched it up. I didn't feel good about just watching someone die, even if they are the enemies of the humans of Avernum. I mean, we all have to survive together, don't we? This place is hard enough as it is... I tried my best to figure out how to patch him up... no one else seemed to know how... I may have manically laughed a bit at some point, my head was kinda fuzzy at that point...

After a while, he started being able to talk and walk again, albeit a bit weakly. He made some of that growling chittering noise again to us, which I interpreted as "Leave or we kill you" and we wisely decided to leave.

Weirdly enough, Other Claire won't stop hugging me now. It's really kinda creepy! I'm getting a bit concerned... I'm worried she might be angry and planning something. I do NOT need someone trying to kill me at this point! Things are bad enough.

With limited supplies, no armor to speak of, and no direction, we've decided to travel further north, towards Formello, a city Demothesis says he knows he can find us work at. I'll try updating my journal again when something happens, ok?

(Go play Avernum today!)

(The following is an unpaid ad for a specific game and NOT, as one may expect, a tale of Madness)

The Journal of a Dimensional Drifter

Aka: David's Log

(Ok, ok... NOW it's becoming a story in it's own right, rather than an unpaid ad... after this entry, I'll move it to the Tales of Madness.

I am also going to note that, to avoid in-game spoilers, David's little Avernum journey will not be following the plot of the main Avernum game. Consider it a fan-side-story, where the events run parallel to what happens in the actual game, but don't actually intertwine... regardless, don't look for him to be questing to find Demonslayer or the Orb of Thralni...)

Day 8: ARRGH WHY WON'T SHE STOP HUGGING ME!

Day 9: Ok, Demothesis explained that she's just taking some sort of weird pleasure out of seeing me freak out, especially since the first time she was actually just really happy.

Anyways, we've been traveling up towards Formello, and we've picked up a few new guests! Two wandering spell casters, Andrew Tinker, and Jane Narbon, a wizard and a healer respectively, were traveling together to see their friend in Formello, whom I cleverly guessed was named Emily. They both seem pretty nice, although Jane seems to be OVERLY nice, which freaks me out a bit. I get the feeling she's just trying to relax me or something.

I'm kinda curious as to what Chic'll be like. Andrew has a little bunny familiar he brought with him from the surface, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about it... the little guy seems awfully thin for a bunny, and he rides in Andrew's pack a lot.

I'll try to write more once we get to Formello. From there we're gonna decide what to do next.

(Go play Avernum today!)

Revel has no idea what to do =/

It's Revel. Surely that doesn't stop him... He could poke a random Martian, or try to teach Eta philosophy, or run into David and Hawk, or suddenly be in Russia and start pestering Demo or Isaac with completely irrelevant questions...

Or, in an extreme case, he could notice Boxxy breaking into his office, but you probably don't need to get that ridiculous.

Dag nab it! Are you trying to derail the game?
No matter. My games are resilient! They stand up strongly! All your base are belong to us!

Oh, wait, I should be saying that after the Big Surprise.

The big surprise which is coming... when?

Well, when the party reaches a certain location (nearing their ship), there will be a cutscene. That's all I'm saying for now.

Coooooooool.

Well guys, you know what to do...

Flux: Anyone want a teleport ride?

Hello, there. It's me, Amino. I know it's been a very, very, very long while since my last post, and I'm terribly, terribly sorry about that. I'm posting now to do two things: first of all, to explain why I vanished, and second, to ask you all here a question.

I feel you deserve a full explanation to why I disappeared from the forum. After all, I never really bothered to tell you before I stopped posting. The main reason is that I had decided to start actually writing rough drafts for a novel, something I had been promising to do for years, but had only just worked up the nerve to actually do. And I found that I loved it very much. I also found that it took far more time than I would have first expected. The result of this was that I would scramble to complete short, low-quality posts for this forum at the very end of the day. And even worse, I didn't have time most nights to read anyone else's posts. I felt terrible about that, because you all have such wonderful stories and characters, and it just wasn't fair to you. With all of this going on, I guess I just stopped enjoying it like I used to. I kept trying to maintain a steady posting schedule, but every time I would end up not posting anyways. So I stopped posting altogether.

But the thing is, the Mad Scientist Wars used to be my favorite part of the day. I was always so excited to read everyone's posts and take part in wacky hijinks. More than that, though, you guys are just wonderful and I love being a part of this forum. I'm sorry for being so sappy, but what I'm basically trying to say is that I really don't want to give up the Wars for good. I think that I'm finally ready to enjoy the Wars the way I used to, and I'd really love to be a part of this again. That is, if you're willing to let me back. Which leads to my question: could I have another chance at the Wars? It's okay if you say no, really. I wouldn't blame you. I've built up kind of a reputation for being flaky when it comes to actually posting instead of just disappearing.

Either way, thanks so much for listening.
Sincerely,
Amino

P.S. I'd also like to apologize for the fact that I'm probably not making much sense right now. Sorry about that. And the fact that this whole thing probably sounds really weird and awkward. Sorry about that, too. And another sorry for disappearing and all. So...yeah. Sorry.

*hugs Amino*

YES! Of course you can come back! Please do...

Even if you wanted to only post occasionally, or just put stuff up in the Tales of Madness section, or say something in the lounge every once in a while... I always love reading your stuff, and I find it hilarious, and if you'd be willing to keep putting it up, I, at least, would be really grateful and enjoy reading it a lot.

I certainly understand if you're busy, and I appreciate that you keep trying. You're awesome, and I certainly hope you start posting again, even if you can't always do it regularly.

Ha ha...

Geeze, it's weird for me to be in this position.

Amino, do you remember how we'd cheer every time you'd log on and post? Even when you were flaking on and off, even when you went weeks and even months between posts, we'd be so very, VERY happy to see you back. Not just because you had awesome characters.

It's because we enjoy YOU. Your company. Your wit. We like having you around. The Mad Sci Wars, as good as it is, is all the poorer when you're not here.

I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd love to have you back in the game, whenever you want. I know that I'd say that to anyone who used to play, and I don't think we'd ever turn away anyone who wanted to pick the test tube back up.

We're really happy that you're here, and we hope you'll stay around again. Plus, Dave Olsen's started getting really snotty and proclaiming that he beat Dana Amino for good.

I'd offer you a hug right now if we were meeting in real life. As it stands, I'm just gonna say this: I hope that the game becomes, once more, the highlight of your week.

Amino? What Zobot said. I'm always glad to see you. And, even if you can't post, if you just have fun reading and say 'hi!' occasionally, that's spiffy.
And that's great news about your novel writing! I hope it keeps going well for you.
Hugs,
Your Nemesis

Seriously? Your posts carry the spirit of the old game, back when all was silly, swivel chairs danced, and I liked to fire missiles at Professor Tinker. It's good to have some of that (personified as YOU) around. By all means, return! We'll be happy to have you.

...I still wish Jane fired missiles at people again. I miss those days. Those were good days.

Anyways, yeah! Amino, come on in and take a seat.

Wait! Don't sit there!

That's the evil chair.

Be careful what you wish for, Zobot...she might oblige you.

*wipes away happy tear* Thanks, guys. That means so much to me.
*avoids evil chair and breaks out tinfoil party hats, then promptly does hooray-I'm-back-in-the-Wars-dance* Whoo-hoo! I'm back! Yay!!!

Okay, *rubs hands together in businessy yet slight evil manner* Step 1 is going to be to get myself caught up with the plot and figure out the most convenient time to reinsert Dana and Ingrid. Then Step 2 will be a long and lengthy reintroduction sequence with a plausible explanation for the duo's disappearance that doesn't interfere with previous continuity...*notices something in a previous post* wait a minute, what's this?


WHAT. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

Scratch that. Step 1 will be a long and painful death for Dave Olsen. Jellybeans will be involved. Step 2 will consist of dancing on his grave. For maximum humiliation, I believe I will perform the polka. Or maybe the Macarena. Or both. Step 3, resurrection followed by another long and painful death, this time with sporks. And jellybeans. And then more sporks...

Dave Olsen will rue the day he crossed Dana N. Amino.

Pleasure to meet you Dr. Amino. Heard many stories about you and glad you finally came back. *bows*

Okay. If anyone wants to make posts with the party approaching the Stardust, now is the time. Don't get near to it yet, though-- saying any more would spoil the surprise.

After a short time, I'll make my post, and then we'll kick off Part II.

Did...

Did Revel just take a COHERANT LESSON?

...

I'm scared...

...

Mostly because I know why...

Ok, first of all, Revel:

I'm scared. You've managed to SCARE me with that post. It's a rare honor only also earned by Jane Narbon and Andrew Tinker. Know a weird sort of creepy pride because of it.

Second of all: In regards to Amino's latest post: I felt it was fitting to let Dave Olsen have a rebuttal, and for me to apologize for him being a snot. Both of these things may be found in the Character Chat section, which suddenly has seen slight use.

As one of the new guys; Welcome back, and I've heard entertaining things about your characters. I look forwards to your posts.

Also to satisfy my ego(it never shuts up these days, I blame everyone else); Check out the last few pages of the mad arts section. I'll be adding Amino to the list of 'things I need to draw'.

AMIIIIIIIINNNOOOOO!!!! *tacklehug*
You're back! So awesome! you made a novel?! Cool! I'm so glad you're back and I missed you and too many people have vanished and... and...
I'm glad you're back again. Oh- and I think Dave might be rivaling Maxwell Eta now- the Tinker Twins kid. You'll like him.

Eta: *holding off Dave Olsen with one hand* I wanted a wivaw fitting wiv my cuwwent powew wevews. I don;t mind giving him back.