–> – PREQUEL

Pecon

Excellent, now we can sit this one through with a cup of tea.

Oh, yeah. You might still want to consider waking up.

Ch’marr

This is a test reply! Kaz… plz bahleet.
- Kazerad
  
  No.
  - NoriMori
    
    Lol.
  - wolligepoes
    
    Hey kaz, I have a question, It might be a bit off topic but how long has it been since you start writing the comic? because for everyone’s favourite khajiit mage it has been, what? five, four days? She must have lived for ages before this.
    Also, your artwork has definatedly improved since, good job! keep it up :3 I’m a big fan of ya.
- AndrewNeo
  
  Darn cats!
Georgie

It is too simple to just wake up now… WE NEED TO GO DEEPER
- Ch’marr
  
  You’re gonna need a bigger screen!
  - Ratzmaus
    
    24 inches should be about enough, huh?
    - Thurgood Jenkins
      
      That’s what she said. BAZING!
    - Hakaru
      
      What, the pineapple? Isn’t that a.. little big?
    - Ratzmaus
      
      For a screen? Naaaah if you really wanna play newer games you are supposed to have a big screen, also helps with this website here haha. Plus I have my XBOX on it and we all know how much developers like their small fonts for XBOX games :3 (Dead Rising, The Last Remnant)
      
      As for the other thing, yeah that would be most likely too big 😛
  - Georgie
    
    that can be arranged
  - DK3
    
    Just zoom out 😛
Serene Peace

shhhshhshsh this is YOUR dream, you can make the king into a bunny or something, or give yourself major magic and scare
him away.

stupidjellyfish

This was toteslly awesome, Kaz!

stupidjellyfish

totes*

Zalgo

Well that’s a relief!

Kadai

Well, time then to screw it at some epic proportions… and get new traumas.

At the end, that is what everyone wants xD

(By the way, you have did some awesome work with the last entries)

Lockend

Well I love his series and how good you’ve gotten at it! Totally spooked me when the big guy dropped in, now I’m very interested in what part of her psyche she is talking too.
Best talk to the light Kat it could be instrumental on your path to self greatness!

OldSchoolRPGDude

WHAT. IS. THIS?

OldSchoolRPGDude

(add “silly inflection” HTML tags to the post above)
tronn

My thoughts exactly! I didn’t come here to read some feelgood, happy ending, letting her keep her dignity and not crying at all nonsense, I came here to be entertained.
I sure hope that Kazerad didn’t drop the ball with this one!
- PepperMintFlux
  
  Well, I’ve seen nothing feel good so far, so that’s definitely not a worry. I mean, that thing is TERRIFYING! Just sit back and enjoy the ride because this story has a ton of ground to cover. C’mon this story is addicting, right?

Krystalkitty

I’m still a bit worried about the surrounding fire, but everything seems to be getting better! (At least I hope.)

Fancypantsman

WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?

Tanshin

One big problem I’m having is that I’m never quite sure when the thing is /over/. So I tend to spend a lot of extra time clicking on everything and waiting, scrolling up and down. Maybe you could add a symbol or something that displays discreetly when it has told all it is meant to tell?

OldSchoolRPGDude

Same here — I always wonder if I’m missing something.
Red

There already is: it’s a little grey arrow in the top right of the screen. When you scroll down to Katia, if something new appears above, the arrow flashes; now more arrow, no more changes.
NoriMori

Same!
34

A lot of this.
ievolve

+1
ievolve

+1
- ievolve
  
  …or maybe, the submit button won’t work and will post a double-post of my post. Sorry about that. If there’s a mod or janitor of some time, please to be deleting this and the other thing. Thanks.

Michaleon

The animations and overall artwork just keep getting better… It’s like a zombie invasion of amazing work!
No, back you incredible gif! No! They keep spawning! GYAAAAAAH!!!! XD

Honestly, I kinda laughed pretty hard at this one. The last animation sorta reminded me of a certain fairy friend in a certain game involving certain godly triangles, but this one’s just outright funny. The constantly flickering fire is nice, too. I think it might have been cool had the “king’s” tentacles been animated as well, but that’s not strictly necessary. Overall, a great piece of work.

NoriMori

Lololol! I love the first paragraph of your comment. It makes me want to quote it in a Facebook status for all my friends to scratch their heads at.
- Michaleon
  
  lol, I know, right? The best part is that was just my half-asleep ramblings! XP I posted that just after I woke up and was starting to get ready to go to college for the day… kinda like I am now… just a bit more sleepy… So looking back on it now, it was pretty funny and confusing if you didn’t get the reference, like a random facebooker (that’s a word… now…) or something.
  - NoriMori
    
    So does that mean I can post it?

M

All this time I just wanted to play! But you where always scared of me!

NoriMori

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if that turned out to actually be the case?
- Kaze’aze
  
  No.
  - NoriMori
    
    Yeah it would.
    - Jebediah Oldenheimer
      
      I second this, that would be funny,
wolf

Sounds like the first Pajama Sam game.
Man, Pajama Sam was awesome, I hope I’m not the only one who played it.

Hati

Fire is yours to wield, and you are no longer afraid, this is your world, take control.

Vins

“like it’s totes ok”?

Sorry, my engrish is no good, wut?

AD

totes means totally
NoriMori

…Really?
- Sofox
  
  No, totally!
  - NoriMori
    
    Well played, sir or madam.
ChasingWagons

I really hope you didn’t intend to say “engrish”.
That was a lie, and you are hilarious.

Sokanas

Dat Dere Engrish

Atrus

“R-Really?”

“lolno” *brutal dream-murder*

tronn

Oh god let it be so, it’s ages since the last dream sequence guro fest.

Chthon

There seems to be a problem with the comic. I’ve viewed all of them fine up until today, yet now, all I get is a still image of the not-emporer and no Katia. Nothing seems to happen. Also image seems to have broken out of normal image borders on the page.

ievolve

I don’t know your system stats, so I can’t be certain, but I think the following steps may assist you in fully appreciating this cutting edge comic.

1) Check to see if you’re using Internet Explorer.
2) Stop using Internet Explorer.
- Kazerad
  
  It should work now, unless the person is using IE8 or older. But I mean, come on, even if you’re an adamant IE user, you could at least upgrade to 9.
  - xKiv
    
    Not if you are still stuck on XP for whatever reason.
    Which is still more people than it should.
    (my work computer is stuck on XP for certain XP-only drivers that didn’t work with the USB keystick from within virtualized PC)
    (but then I don’t use IE except for work reasons)
    - Bladix
      
      im on xp.i simply use mozilla firefox.solves all our problems :3
- patrick
  
  The most common use for Internet Explorer: To download any other Web Browser.
  - NoriMori
    
    That’s all I use it for. XD
    
    Also, I was looking up Firefox on Wikipedia to see if it’s the most used browser yet (COME ON, HUMANITY, RESTORE SOME OF MY FAITH IN YOU), and I found a map that shows that Firefox is the most used browser in Africa and Antarctica, whereas Google Chrome is the most used one in South America, Europe, and Asia. Just us North Americans and Australians that insist on using IE. (As for Opera, it’s the most used in one country in Europe, but I fail at geography so I don’t know which country it is.)
- NoriMori
  
  Hahaha. *high five*

Stormy Dragon

Does this work for anyone with IE9? The previous javascript animations worked fine for me, but this one doesn’t do anything.

Chthon

I too am having an issue with this. I also use IE9 and have javascript enabled, yet it does nothing for me as well.
- Kaze’aze
  
  Haha, people still using internet explorer. You know the difference between HTML and HTML5? Open it in internet explorer. Does it run? No? It’s HTML5.
  - Chthon
    
    Couple things there Kaze-aze: Why are you so worked up about HTML5, when they haven’t finished even a working standard for it yet? It’s been 2 years since they proposed they’d have one, yet it’s still just a draft.
    
    Microsoft simply won’t implement a feature that is not complete, due to security complications that come with it. If you want a browser with exploitable security holes due to implementing half finished features, be my guest. I’ll take one that gets regular security updates and doesn’t implement risky code.
    - Kaze’aze
      
      I don’t need to give credentials over the internet, it’s honestly not worth it, but trust me when I say security risks don’t come from what type of browser you’re using.
    - TSED
      
      Did you just make an argument from authority without providing the authority?
      
      Nice.
    - Kaze’aze
      
      @Chthon
      Web browsers as an infection vector for vulnerable hosts is based and dependent on malicious content being rendered by built-in interpreters such as HTML and JavaScript or plug-ins such as Flash or Quicktime. Since all browsers incorporate at least some amount of these potential vulnerabilities, malicious content can be executed on any web browser. Strictly speaking though, Internet Explorer is actually more vulnerable than Chrome as of now.
      @TSED
      Having a career doesn’t give you authority, and I’m arguing on the internet, not looking to change jobs. You wouldn’t care to credit a resume even if I posted one.
  - Stormy Dragon
    
    Congratulations. Your e-peen is way bigger than mine. In the meantime, a third of the internet is using IE, and I doubt most of them are going to install a whole new browser just to look at one comic, especially when there’s plenty of crossbrowser methods of doing animation.
    - Irishish
      
      A third of the internet needs to learn.
    - cephalostrum
      
      Seriously now. It’s one thing when we’re talking enterprise rollout ‘need to reach every eye possible’ type stuff, but this is a freaking webcomic. Most people who read such things are technologically savvy people, by in large. If you can’t view it, why don’t you try any one of 4 other major, secure, HTML5 supporting browsers temporarily.
      
      Since, you know, it takes at most a few minutes to download it. Yes that would be ladies and Gentlemen:
      
      The Elegant and Closed Source Safari 6! – Located in your ~/Applications folder for you OS X users
      Sporting reasonable HTML5 support, nifty graphics, and a not-so-shabby JavaScript engine, Safari’s probably your default browser – and one sure to serve you well.
      
      The Robust, Wisened, and Free as in Speech FireFox 15! – available at your local neighbourhood Mozilla.org!
      Featuring support on anything that even so much as smells like a motherboard, more extensions than you can possibly fathom, and time tested stability.
      
      The Shiny, Sandboxed bleeding edge Google darling, yes it’s Chrome 20! – Found at the reasonable price of free, and hosted at the always accessible Google Download Page!
      Topped to the brim with super-powerful NaCl, WebGL, and robust extension support. Incredibly secure, and friendly to use, you can’t go wrong with a little Chrome in your life!
      
      Last but certainly not least, the Underdog, but swift as they come – Opera!
      Again found at the low low price of FREE at Opera’s Download Page
      Featuring a unique graphical style and interface with smoking fast JavaScript support, Opera may not be the most popular choice but it certainly gets the job done.
      
      OH WAIT. Did I mention all FOUR of them come with advanced CSS3, JavaScript, and HTML5 support?! Now you too can view the Interwebs in crisp, clear, fully rendered clarity!
    - Michaleon
      
      This is from http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
      
      Browser Statistics Month by Month
      
      2012 Internet Explorer Firefox Chrome Safari Opera
      July 16.3 % 33.7 % 42.9 % 3.9 % 2.1 %
      June 16.7 % 34.4 % 41.7 % 4.1 % 2.2 %
      May 18.1 % 35.2 % 39.3 % 4.3 % 2.2 %
      April 18.3 % 35.8 % 38.3 % 4.5 % 2.3 %
      March 18.9 % 36.3 % 37.3 % 4.4 % 2.3 %
      February 19.5 % 36.6 % 36.3 % 4.5 % 2.3 %
      January 20.1 % 37.1 % 35.3 % 4.3 % 2.4 %
    - NoriMori
      
      @Irishish and @cephalostrum
      
      I love you.
  - Kazerad
    
    These updates actually aren’t HTML 5! It’s just a mix of pretty vanilla CSS and Javascript, and should run on any modern browser. If you are using a browser that hasn’t been updated in over four years, there are plenty of websites that will give you warnings.
    - Kaze’aze
      
      This originally wasn’t even about HTML5, that was just a bad joke on my part about Internet Explorer.
Kazerad

It seems to work here on IE9… can you give me any more info about what’s wrong or what you’re using? Does a refresh fix it?
- Chthon
  
  Just started working for me just now. Likely it was a problem with the formatting of the HTML, and not what extensions of HTML5 implemented (believe it or not IE9 does implement a few extensions deemed finished and functional, just not the ones currently in development)
- Stormy Dragon
  
  Yes, it’s working now for me as well.
- someguy
  
  Hey, I’m one of the readers that’s currently stuck using IE8. That’s not changing anytime soon either. I don’t suppose anyone wants to tell me what the pretty pictures are doing up above. Because that would be pretty cool.

Darkguyver2020

Katia: “That’s right! I no longer need to be afraid anymore! I just need to stand up for myself and *cough* and be more optim *cough wheeze!* optimistic and….. *choke* and….. *passes out from smoke inhalation and burns to death in the fire*.

……….

Whoah!…. Excuse me. I thought I was Kazerad for a second there.

NoriMori

Hey now, you be sweet.

Kimahri_the-Kajhit

Because it’s so easy to not be afraid of a giant, black, spiked, red-eyed figure staring at you.

Hakaru

Giant, black, spiked red-eyed NOBLE at that.
- NoriMori
  
  Not just NOBLE! He’s…*gasp!*…ROYAL!

Shinden

Im really starting to get confused. Is the internet leaking into Katia’s mind…?

Lowblock

The Internet IS Katia’s mind!
- andwhyisit
  
  No. It’s only her subconscious.
  - wolf
    
    Do we imagine Katia, or does Katia imagine us? It’s the whose-dream paradox of Alice and the Red King!
- Woodledude
  
  …That explains so much…

Revereche

Oh god, this is so precious. <3

Ransom

The smoke effects, wow!

I’m lost, but hey, this is great!

Edd

yeah kat. go on now. go defeat the demons.

Derp

Wait, what!? …I was not expecting that. WTFBBQ. Why would the king torture her for almost her entire life and then just go like “HUH HUH LETZ HAV A BBQ GUIYZ!!!1!!”?

I do like those smoke effects, though.

NoriMori

We don’t know it’s the king talking.

IgnisSolus

Is it over after ‘totes ok, you have my permission’? COnfused.

McKaela Kiama

My vote is the vampire girl… what’d we call her? Nah?

Eatsfalconpunch

PRAISE THE SUN

Ransom

You heard the man.

Time to stop beignet afraid.

Time to start being awesome.

orsinox

….Roxy?

NeoDarklight

I thought the same thing.

ChetBetera

Is it just me or does the Nightmare King look a bit… confuzzled? Like he’s all, “What the hell are these golden words glowing above me?”

Ch’marr

+1 Observation Skill!
Kelsier03

Yeah, he has his head tilted to the side as compared with the last update. Good eye.
ChetBetera

Yes! Now I only need to spot 5 more typos so my Observation Skill is high enough to observe the magical wizardry behind Ch’maar’s code.

Shumba

Story:
Ooooo its toying with her!
Permission not to be afraid? Evidently this creature is trying to be very controlling.
But so far all its been doing is threatening you in your dreams with, what it wants you to think it ‘could do’ in the real world.
Its a bully, deep inside its just a cowered trying to control you. Don’t let it!
Don’t ask it why you need its permission, tell it you don’t need its permission.
Be brave! Whatever happens its just given you permission to be. Don’t let it control you or your never get your life straitened out!

Scripting:
This is neat! But it dose not appear to be optimised to suit my wide screen.
Rotating my display leaves things the same size so ill hazard a guess and say your using fixed sizes?
This is not so great and I have 1200px of height, I can only imagen it being worse on a smaller resolution.
I would suggest swapping to calculated fixed sizes based on screen height. Its great but id like to see it all at once with out having to rotate my screen!

Ch’marr

Yes, the “fixed size” is intentional. There’s no activity off to the sides. The intention was to make this “so encompassing you can’t ever get it all in.”

Devices with very narrow screens, such as mobile devices, have a distinct level of scaling built in, so on those devices it is shrunk down to, I think, the equivalent of a 900 pixel wide window.
- cephalostrum
  
  I like it, neat effect.

cephalostrum

Since apparently IE is still a thorn in the internet’s side, I’d just like to say it runs lovely in every other major browser. I absolutely adore that you/your scripter are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with a webcomic without it fully being an interactive interface/game/.gif/animated cartoon. Straddles a really weird and nascent area of the internet that could use some love. Plus the comics cool too :).

Murder

Sounds like drunk Kaz.

Or probably Vaermina on her moe moods.

Mao

Well, that can’t be Martin, he wouldn’t talk like a dere school girl.

Bove

Kaz or Ch’marr, suggestion:

You should put a up vote/like system in the chat. So that we can see if a certain comment is popular. For example, a response that solves a viewing problem or contains a good explanation (etc) can be more readily found. Or if a certain sentiment is popular we can “like” it.

Ankoku

The king looks confused…
this gonna be good

unclecho

Oh no.

Derp

You know, I just had a thought. You know, right when she passes out, you can see the stained glass portrait of Akatosh. Maybe those golden words are his?

Bladix

oo000ooo i think your onto something!

sabata2

Hey Kaz, why did you lock the suggestion thread?

Is this one of those multi part ones like how Katia dealt with the booze bottle herself?

RKeno

The demon-king’s face looks familiar here… maybe it’s just me, but he/it looks a bit like a black Katia with with spiky teeth, protrusions and an extra eye… look closely at it’s eyes and facial expression. Would make sense if this was some sort of “demon/evil inner-self” situation.

SJpaladin

Can’t view this on my computer (I use internet explorer). Tried to get it up on my iPad using safari. It went as far as “like it’s totes ok you have my permission” and then nothing. Is that it? It really is hard to tell when some of these are over. I appreciate that you are putting a lot of effort into making these original and cool, but you are getting the same complaints from multiple readers. If I have to download some new program everytime you put up a new page, I’m definitely NOT going to be continuing to follow this comic. I’ve enjoyed it so far, and I will try back in a few weeks and see if it is a page I can read. If not, I will probably not bother again. It kinda sucks that you don’t care that a significant portion of your readers are having difficulty.

Kazerad

More info on your IE version please! This is a really crazy bug, as far as I can tell. I’ve managed to get it to malfunction a few times in IE9, but when I bring up the console (F12) to assess it, it starts working correctly.
- Chthon
  
  Funny, I didn’t bring up the console prior to getting it working. I refreshed many times and it wouldn’t work, then now it does. Maybe you fixed it before I noticed.
  - Kazerad
    
    We just implemented a minor change, yeah, still testing if it is fixed. This bug was really baffling; it would start working whenever we brought up the diagnostics to assess what was wrong!
    - Stormy Dragon
      
      Oh no, the dreaded Heisenbug!
    - Chthon
      
      Well thanks for Supporting us IE9 users 🙂
    - Ch’marr
      
      Chthon: We’re trying! We’re trying! 🙂
  - SJpaladin
    
    Looks like it is working now. Glad to see you that you were working on it. Looking forward to seeing what happens when (if?) Katia wakes up.
Ransom

Wait, I thought after the “totes ok” and ‘thumbs up” that WAS the last bit of text. Is there more I’m not aware of?

Brett

Hey Lil katia cat it’s me, your lovable insane side of things.
Don’t worry, you can trust the dark thing, just as you can trust me, as well as that rock thing over there… although it did ramble on a little bit about something of impending doom earlier. But is ok, I trust the rock. 😀

TwistedLogic

XD Even the king-mare is looking up at the light with a ‘huh?’ expression on his/her/its face.

Unclever title

Well, it looks like the suggestions thread is closed already. Guess that means the next update is already planned. Which is fine by me.

My guesses for what’s going on now.

Either one of the Nine Divines is a seriously cool dude or dudette or a certain nearby bastard has a very calming voice and/or presence.

Novago

another WTF/LOL moment for the eternity

Zer0DusT

she is going to see martin isn’t she? i mean when she wakes up? but i know somewhere in these infernal pages someone does call her Kat when they talk to here, i just can’t find who, but someone did call her cat sometime at the beginning and i’m wondering if they’re there now too?

(command)
*ugh! there’s too much info in your head Zer0! stop writing before you make a wall of text!!*

Zer0DusT:(looks down, clicks submit)

Jessica U. Ingmann

… lawl. Wuhduhfuh.

Dovahkiin

Well, i suppose you are about to lose your fear, and get some power unlock/level up!
and then……
~katia: realize, since as an atronoc [excuse spelling] you absorb magic, you could simply absorb the magical barrier, letting you in AND supercharging you!

NeoDarklight

…Okay, that text is making me think that Roxy Lalonde is the person speaking to Katia. Also, why was the suggestion box closed?

unclecho

As you probably noticed the last 2 updates haven’t had any suggestions used. There’s probably going to be one or a couple more updates like this. Then it will be open again. That’s what I’m guessing.

JJA

Just noticed that the white flames look like a huge, Grinch-grinning face. Cool!

Eris

Next time, the monster will grow out of your screen and eat your face. I’m sure Ch’marr can do that o.o

Ch’marr

I think I’ll need a plugin for that, and I’m trying to avoid those 🙂
- Eris
  
  Even magic requires plugin? MAGIC RUNS ON A NPAPI ARCHITECTURE O.O

Tezarro

even the king is like ‘wtf’

Cyph

This is the best update ever the end. Nothing will top it.

Bladix

besides that stair thing.that was cool

Alceris

Well that just brutally tore apart the mood with a chainsaw lawnmower.

Trance

Agreed. Still holding out to see if these last two updates make any sense at all in future context. Hopes are not high with a line like “it’s totes ok *thumbs*”.

Newbienice

I really hope this webcomic doesn’t turn all meta like homestuck

TheTurnipKing

So… what’s the deal with the mspaint forums thread?

Ransom

I’m assuming Kaz already has the script for the next page up and isn’t taking commands.

R’Becca

Didn’t he mean PURRMISSION

Ch’marr

Or perhaps “purrsimmons” ?

Scout

Wow, this dream sequence was amazing. Quite memorable, actually!! Great job dudes, the wait times were worth it! That being said, I won’t be expecting cool effects all throughout the rest of the story. I am already satisfied. C: But stay in touch with the wizard!! He can work unthinkable magic. Really appreciate your input, Ch’marr!

Ch’marr

Ta muchly!

Keel

… I spend the last 24 hours catching up, and suddenly
Epicness.

Best No sleep night I ever spent.

Kitty Monroe

Listen to the shiny text. It sounds nice. It seems to be trying to help. You’re not even hurt now.

wolf

Didn’t you hear me? It’s TOTES OKAY! TOTES! You have my PERMISSION and a FREAKING THUMBS UP! Oh my GOODNESS, STOP being AFRAID or I will MURDER YOU in your SLEEP.
Yeah, I bet you don’t feel so scared NOW, huh? You had better NOT. >:(

Pegashush

I think it’s time for you to wake up, little one.

SuperGnome

I’m fine with that too. ^^

I still think you should kick him in the face though.

Canuhearmenow

So… Is that the Emperor-Monster speaking, someone in the material realm, or some as-of-yet unseen force?

Or could it be the manifestation of the gestalt intelligence that is “Submit Commands.”

lrregular

Ok, that voice is obviously familiar to you and obviously not from the creepy king beast. Who is it?

KatenRala

I’ve been hitting the lore hard to help me write a story for a Skyrim mod, and I’m wondering: was Katia born in the “Warp in the West” when time could have been so messed up during the dragon break she may really be 19, older than 19, a version of her own mom maybe even great grandfather born female from another dimension, or was involved with the Underking, the Mantella, Zurin Arctus, and Tiber Septim or somehow begat as a part of the interaction of Aetherius with the mortal plane? She could even be some weak-ass Daedric Prince whose “realm” is just wherever she happens to be, or the lap kitty of Lorkhan or is a Ka Po’ Tun. Or eff me a Kilrathi or Kzinretti (it’d explain where her smarts came from) if this turns out to be a crossover of some sort.

I was told a while ago that somebody in the forums figured out the exact date of her birth but I was given no answer as to or when and no directions and searches aren’t coming up with anything like her birth date. ): I’ve been much to sick till now to get back into things. Hopefully this dream sequence will reveal more clues.

Considering her dreams, something else occupies her mind/brain/soul, however it works in the TES world and possibly she is a resurrection of a Daggerfall character or earlier, wholly or in part. I unfortunately hadn’t played Daggerfall and can only read lore articles and game books about it.

(My mod has more to do with events that happened from Morrowind and Oblivion, yet before Skyrim starts though, no pre-Morrowind dates either, but I get side-tracked reading the in-game books and stuff when I get tired; and nothing about the mod save maybe a possible easter egg reference will have anything to due with this comic.)

Anyway if anyone knows a definitive answer may they share it?

KatenRala

sorry, I forgot to close a tag only something else should be that way.

Ch’marr

Fixed for you!
- KatenRala
  
  Thank you. 🙂

StolenMango

Awesome sauce,i’m done! Now i can also contribute to this great story with comments…or at least try to…

OldSchoolRPGDude

Is that the equivalent of her “id” speaking? As some pointed out earlier, this seems (deliciously!) in-tune with the drunken scrawlings in that book she ruined.

Ohhithere

Fight back.

Kit

I wish I could use that background as a wallpaper. It looks so cool!

Apollo

Hey Kat.

It’s time to stop being afraid.

BlackVolk

Good God! ! that is awesome!

Seka

“Well… maybe you could stop being so damn scary?”

Scott

I’m also stuck on the “it’s totes ok” thing. I use Google Chrome.

Ch’marr

Which version?

And, can you open up the javascript console (developer tools) and tell me if there’s any errors showing up.
Kazerad

If you see the thumbs up, that’s the end of this update.

I should probably define those more clearly >:

Karhs

The King has no idea what to make of this

filipater

He better not be playing games with you Kat!

And if he isn’t trolling you right now….THEN WHAT THE HELL MAN? All those years of nightmares and NOW he says something?!

Kubik

Dammit, I hate catching up D:

Esven

Might I just say, I love the way you do your ‘y’s and ‘g’s. It’s got a lot of subtle flair.

Kalasen

I just had a thought. The king gets more and more horrific whenever Katia tries to be brave, but only seems to attack her when she attacks it first. Maybe it is some horrorterror from Oblivion, perhaps one of Vaermina’s underlings, contacting Katia’s dreams, and actually totes wants to be friends. Its true form is just horribly frightening. So when Katia shows bravery, it grows closer and closer to its true form, trying to ease her into being okay with comprehending that form.

stupidjellyfish

Now that’s the stuff. Totes.

AudunTheNord

This comic/illustrated story is the greatest thing on the internet. Please never stop making stuff like this.

AudunTheNord

Katia, you have strength to overcome it. The king is merely a metaphor for your cowardliness (or however you spell that) and only you can stand up against yourself.

stupidjellyfish

http://mspaforums.com/showthread.php?48359

Put your commands here on this ultra-awesome site!
- Kazerad
  
  But it’s closed right now until the next update! >:
  - stupidjellyfish
    
    Touche.

rainP

Im new here. What is usually the time between updates?

Zer0DusT

random considering when kaz puts a normal page out versus a coded page

if you’ve read through the comic up to this point you know what i’m talking about

*cough, cough*, stair way, *cough*
Ch’marr

There’s a number of factors here at play:

* The amount of effort the current update took (ie, recovery time)
* The amount of effort in the new update, which includes number of pixels, colours (or colors), length of the page, and how close we are currently to the sun to account for gravitational effects
* The proximity (in either direction, temporally) to the latest TF2 or TES update or DLC
* Current legal limits on voltage for taser devices.
* Alcohol content, and quality of tequila, for assisting programmers
* How many “awesome but ridiculously complex” ideas the programmers have suggested.
* How much grief Kaz got for the usability of the most-recent 2 updates (how can I tell if that’s the end? I can’t make this go! Why does this not run on IE6? Why should I have to update my buggy browser? I can’t play this game on my iPad!)… this is exacerbated by tequila or whiskey quality, too.

Now, put all those factors in a bucket, add in a generous sprinkling of squares and cubic operations, coefficients and random astronomical constants… and stir. If its not mixing well, add more tequila. (Yes, _more_… if you didn’t START with tequila, then you’re doing it wrong).

Then bake at 3750 degrees Kelvin for 3.5 fortnights, and ignore the bashing on the door from the police or child services. Then, if done correctly, your answer will be “it’s already updated! Where have you been for the past 2 months??!”
- Bove
  
  I love you with the very core of my soul.

MirrorMirror

Stop trying to assert control over everything. You don’t have to go through life making everyone happy. Learn to just lay back, and let things go where they may. Instead of fighting this fear of yours, accept it. Acceptance is a powerful thing. You’re in a dream, so just dream a little.

woof

That’s it?

AwwYiss

Can we please start getting some story development again? One animated comic that doesn’t progress the story at all a month isn’t cutting it anymore. This is getting really boring.

theplunderking

who is that? he is obviously a wizard because he clearly has seen the internet in the future to know its language and the thumbs up button… kaz, have you just made your first in story appearance as god?

theplunderking

okay one other thing, kaz please tell me its not the king cause he is making that face and i can`t tell if it`s a sympathetic face or a da faq face.
- Zer0DusT
  
  looks more lie an “OH SHIT!!!” face

Tendoking

All is not lost! All Katia needs to do is wake up and find the thieves guild! She can tell them about the huge piles of gold in the Kvatch mage’s guild and suggest they take those as payment for breaking in to retrieve QW’s letter, her robes, and her own money that was taken!

IgnisSolus

Actually, the church is on fire, Tendo. She’ll probably burn.
- Murder
  
  …I don’t get why the burning church has anything to do with the Thieves Guild.

Uzi_Man

Umm.. so, is she dead or not? Nice updates, but make the story advance quicker, Kaz. Please.

Silverslate

Started reading this a few days ago…I’m hooked, and must keep reading…Wait…This is getting REALLY good…Wh-where’s the “Next Page” link? I’m caught up? N-no…No!

*Deep breath*

*Obnoxiously long “No!!!” of anguish*

Hide-of-Scales

Ugh, is this nightmare sequence still going on? I’ve been super-quiet about this so far, but I have to speak up now: Kaz, what is the fucking point of this nightmare sequence? It’s already been established that Katia has an ungodly fear of royalty and nightmares involving a Septim-shaped monster (a monster that obviously reacts very violently when people decide Katia should confront him – something that was also established in the previous nightmare sequence). Unless you plan to do something with this sequence that gives Katia some sort character development (or at least, some added backstory; seeing how Katia appears to be a child here), there was no reason to make the nightmare last this long. And if you are planning to use this sequence to give her character development/backstory, then you took for-fucking-ever to get there and as a result, I’ve become so disinterested in learning it that I’d rather the nightmare just end so the story can actually continue and go somewhere.

Everyone else here may be wow’d be Ch’marr’s “wizardly codewrangling” and give you asspats for it, but if you want to keep me interested, you’re gonna have to give me a reason to care about all of this and stop dragging this sequence on.

Uzi_Man

Speech skill decreased to 1
- Hide-of-Scales
  
  Okay, maybe it wasn’t the nicest way to tell Kaz his comic is getting boring and he needs to give us less style and more substance (skimming the comments, AwwYiss said it best in that these slow updates that do fuck all to progress the story aren’t cutting it anymore), but I’m fed up with waiting for something to actually happen. Maybe I should’ve spoke sooner and not let my impatience grow, but seriously… it’s been over a month and nothing’s fucking happening (the slow pace of the updates themselves really isn’t helping matters, either).
  
  While I know could leave at anytime, I’m staying and I’m commenting because I liked this comic, and I want to keep liking it, but that’s hard to do when the story’s going nowhere and nothing’s actually happening despite Kaz actually updating it.
  - Uzi_Man
    
    Well, it’s true that the comic is becoming boring. l miss the lesbian and necrofilic jokes and the travel scenes.. and her adventure in the ruins, that was awesome.
    
    But now, this story is just about a cat with existential problems.
- Kazerad
  
  Aww, don’t be like that; Scales guy is entitled to his opinions. And really, negative opinions are very important to help me ascertain the range of reader perceptiveness. Oftentimes I put in details that end up being so subtle that absolutely nobody notices them – I think my most shameful example is this update, where the ruined bucket moves a couple pixels after Katia tries some non-cat burns. Somehow I actually thought people would notice that and go nuts speculating.
  
  If you can’t see plot progress in the current sequence, it is because I have once again utterly misjudged how much readers pick up! Live and learn, I guess – that’s why feedback is important. In the “moving bucket” instance, the lack of people noticing that detail led to it being explained a completely different way shortly thereafter. Since a couple people are having trouble picking up things in this current sequence, most of the plot progression will likewise probably be reiterated more overtly in time.
  - Ransom
    
    Huh, there you go.
    
    That said, I’m not sure how you could not see that something important is going on here, with the glance into Katia’s past and the sheer gravity of how horrible the visions are, combined with the “wha?” nature of this post. Clearly something important is going on here, not just fancy coding.
    - Hide-of-Scales
      
      Well, it’s easy to not see something important happening here because, well… nothing’s happening. All I see from these updates a horrible case of “style over substance” that has nothing else to establish outside of “Katia has another nightmare with evil Septim monster… oh, but she’s a kid now even though that has changed literally nothing about the nightmare sequence thus far!” I mentioned this before: The gravity of how unpleasant the Septim monster is was established in the last nightmare sequence. Remember? When it murdered her friend(?) and then decided to rip Katia asunder, forcing her to wake up in a cold seat? Having another nightmare tell us the Septim monster is horrifying (and proceeding to drag it out like such) is just redundant.
      
      Also, what has making Katia a little kid explained? That she’s had this phobia since she was very young? I’m pretty sure this was already established early on in the story. Right now, having Katia as a child seems pointless unless we get an actual glimpse into her childhood, and as I also said before: If that’s the case, Kaz took so long to get to the actual substance that I don’t even care to hear it anymore if it means getting the story back on track (where stuff was actually happening).
      
      If something important is going on, then let’s actually see it and stop dragging this largely pointless and boring nightmare out.
  - ChetBetera
    
    Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell?! Am I going to have to re-re-read the whole story again and do .gif comparisons of each and every frame? How did I miss that? How many more of these imperceptible changes whihc add oh-so-much to the story have I missed?
    - weweh
      
      Just think if we noticed that bucket move, Katia could’ve learned some type of telekinesis spell, which totally may have helped her get her stuff back.
      
      Now I have to make sure I examine every still image/gif frame by frame for now on…
  - Hide-of-Scales
    
    Well, it’s good to see you acknowledge all feedback is important good or bad. As someone who also likes to make drawings and post them online (sorry, I’m not comfortable sharing them here), I find that you can learn alot about an artist based on how they react to criticism, not just with replies that embrace or shun them, but also if it has any effect on their future works; actions speak louder than words, after all. It separates the real artists worth their salt from the hacks, if you ask me.
    
    There’s nothing wrong with subtlety; but it’s not exactly the best tactic to use when presenting important plot devices because they can be very easy to miss depending on how subtle you make things. Mind you, that’s not always a bad thing; the super-subtle path can make for a real effective mind-screw or two later in the story that could blow all of our minds… or it could so long as audience doesn’t catch on to what you’re doing and reactions can be less than favorable when the supposed mind screw comes. Getting the right message across to your audience isn’t always that easy – in fact, it can be really hard at times, but you probably already know that.
    
    Anyway, I’m getting off track. The point I’m making is this: If you’re trying to tell us something, it’s important to make sure we can actually hear you, otherwise… well, you’ve read my angry comment a few posts above: We don’t get the message and wind up seeing something else instead (in my case, it’s a case of redundancy that’s going on for far longer than it really needs to).
    - Kazerad
      
      I appreciate the advice, but don’t worry; I’ve been at this longer than you have and have a pretty good idea what I’m doing! I could always go with methods I know will work from the outset, but there’s sadly not much fun in that.
    - John
      
      Also there are those of us who don’t really mind that it’s taking a while. Or at least do not feel as indignant and jilted as you do.
    - Crav
      
      How in the hell could you not see something happening? We just had a mysterious voice with a golden light tell Katia she doesn’t need to be afraid any more. That kinda screams plot development to me.

Bladix

im sorry…what is going on in this panel?i don’t even…what?

Fabhar

Looking forward to the next part! I caught up a couple of days ago and eagerly await more!

AudunTheNord

maybe this is Emperor Uriel, and he is trying to tell you something. Maybe he wants your help (or, spoiler alert, this is a symbol for his impending death?)

John

Out of interest, do you need an extra help with this? Not that you don’t seem like an eminently capable enough artist to cover this, but if any help would let you work faster and worry less, I believe you will find I am quite competent.

http://zombie-d0g.deviantart.com

Kazerad

Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got it under control! Most of the time consuming parts are just planning/tweaking/trying to figure out what I named a file I need. I’ll keep your name in mind next time I do one of the game segments though, since I usually end up outsourcing a lot of those resources.
- John
  
  Cool.
  
  Also! I am like twelve months into a course on animation

Ranzick

love this comic! tell me (and forgive me if i am asking a question thats been ask wayyyy tomany times) but where do i go to make suggestions for Katia’s subconsciousness

Kazerad

http://mspaforums.com/showthread.php?48359-PREQUEL-suggestion-box <- here! But it is temporarily closed until the next update. And thank you! 😀
- Ranzick
  
  AH! thank you ill be sure to use that when i see the chance

Lucien Lachance

You sleep rather soundly for a murderer…

Bigpunk157

When is the next update going to come out? I am looking forward to it 😀

Foxworth

Kat investigate strange letters above your head, what do they mean?

Murder

Kat??? : Really?
Voice: Nope.avi

-brutal dream murder-

creeperbro

Am I the only one who thinks the voice would sound like Cicero’s?

john

make the skull of corruption rise up from the ground 😛

waffles

Wake up in QW’s house, only covered in bandages.

OldSchoolRPGDude

Where is the “Like!” button for comments like this?! ;D

kalikay

what now?

Aydenator8

This webcomic. This is one the best webcomics.

Elosan

YAY! I caught up. Damn this a really good webcomic. I am officially hooked (or I have been hooked).

Fox Eternal

Hey, look!I caught up… … …
*Darth Vader impersonation*Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Neuronyx

Ha! I just noticed the look the evil tree thing is giving the words!

Raziel

You’ve been afraid all these years because you had nothing that you could fight back with, but now you do. Fire. You have fire.
Burn him, envelop him in the flames of your bravery and courage. No matter how strong he is, no matter how scary, YOU are stronger. Don’t let him control you, turn him into ash.
Let your fire consume all of him.
If you don’t, then one day he might actually hurt your friends.

shadowpelt

Katias expresion is adorable! I love the art.

NoriMori

I can haz “previous” button?

Stlip

OH GOD!!! ABORT, ABORT, ABORT!!! MY TINY LITTLE IPOD CAN NOT HANDLE THIS LEVEL OF AMAZING!

Bewarethecarpenter

I really like thus senction, but when it’s in scenes you should give something to say when one clip is over; I keep waiting for a few minutes at each page, afraid I’ll miss something good,

Dragon

This reminds me of how I started liking Eldritch Abominations.

UNISDA SELALU DI DEPAN

You’re so awesome! I don’t believe I have read a single thing like that before. So great to find someone with some original thoughts on this topic. Really.. thank you for starting this up. This website is something that is needed on the internet, someone with a little originality!