Volume Seven Issue Twenty-Seven

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                                We're Back!

 We experienced some downtime from Thursday through Saturday the 25th due to
 a machine crash while LadyAce and Ea! were out of town for the holiday. The
 problem may have been hardware-related -- we are still investigating.

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VOLUME SEVEN, ISSUE TWENTY-SEVEN                          November 25, 2000
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                           TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
                           Calendar of Events
    
                            NEWS AND REPORTS
                         Mud Compression Protocol
                      LegendMUD Connection Analysis
          Kae's Korner: How To Successfully Capture an Immortal
                        Election Night Follies
                      Horoscopes by Mme. Decara

                              LEGENDITES
                             Announcements
                         Dermick's Transformation
                           A Letter from Arturo
                            Legend News Roundup
                            I Remember Rain
			     Gizzy Deveroux
                        The Beginning of an End
                    The Adventures of Chaykin Doane
                  The Tale of Herbert West, Continued

___                                                                        ___
\  |----------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|  LegendMUD Calendar of Events                                        |__\
   '----------------------------------------------------------------------'

[All times are system time unless otherwise specified]

                    */*\*/*\*/*\* November */*\*/*\*/*\*

      Thursday,  November 30th, 7:00 pm       Q & A in the OOC Auditorium

                  -|- -|- -|- -|- December -|- -|- -|- -|- 

      Thursday,  December  7th, 7:00 pm       Q & A in the OOC Auditorium
      Thursday,  December 14th, 7:00 pm       Q & A in the OOC Auditorium

___                                                                    ___
\  |------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                        NEWS AND REPORTS                          |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'


  LegendMUD now supports for Mud Client Compression Protocol (MCCP) v2

   (See http://www.abandoned.org/nemon/compress for more information.)

MCCP compresses the text output from the server to your client using
zlib-based compression. using zlib-based compression. This can greatly reduce
the outgoing bandwidth necessary for the mud server, and speed up your
client's connection. Compression is enabled via telnet option negotiation,
and should be transparent to the user.

We had a few integration problems, but Snapper has been working to clear
those up. We apologize for any confusion experienced by those of you with
autologin scripts who thought we were down for an extended time on Friday
afternoon or if you were having problems with the mud thinking your character
didn't exist all of a sudden. Snapper has already fixed the first problem and
was working on the second Friday evening.

The Native clients that support this protocol with no modifications are:

*   MUSHclient, a Win95/98/NT-based mud client, as of version 2.14.  
*   Kmud, a free graphical mud client for Linux/Unix under KDE.  
*   zMUD supports the protocol as of beta 6.03. Use mcclient w/earlier versions.

There is also patched version of TinyFugue available thanks to Martin Thomson
at http://rabble.uow.edu.au/~weevil/download.html. TinyFugue v5.0 (currently
in testing) will support the protocol -- check the TinyFugue homepage
(http://tf.tcp.com/~hawkeye/tf/). We will also be providing links to these
clients on Legend's website.


     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

                     LegendMUD Connection Analysis
                             October 2000

                         Peak Mortal Players 64
                          Average Peak was 49
                      Peak PK Enabled Players 33
             Pkenabled Characters represent approximately
                        49% of active players.

The first two tables below show the Average Mortal Players and Average
PK Enabled Players connected to Legend by hour of the day as polled
approximately on the hour system time during the period noted above.
The third table shows the same averages calculated by the day of week.

              hour  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11
              ------------------------------------------
              avg  36 32 25 17 14 17 14 12 19 22 25 30
              pke  20 17 14  7  7  8  7  7  9 12 13 16


              hour 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
              ------------------------------------------
              avg  31 34 28 39 33 30 34 33 40 41 36 35
              pke  14 18 15 21 19 18 17 18 21 20 17 16


              day   MON  TUE  WED  THU  FRI  SAT  SUN
              ------------------------------------------
              avg    27   26   27   32   30   29   30
              pke    13   12   13   16   15   14   15


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Kae's Korner: How To Successfully Capture an Immortal
-----------------------------------------------------


So you're planning an event? And you want to spiff it up by hiring 
one of those neat immortal types with all those fun commands like 
Echo and String? But you can't find one? In fact, you're beginning to 
wonder whether they even exist? Let me give you a few quick tips for 
the hunter of immortals. Evasive bunch, we are, but with a little 
pre-planning, we're relatively easy to track and capture.

First, let me ask you this: Do you really need an immortal? Let's say 
you're getting married. Maybe there is some mortal character who 
could perform a brilliant wedding ceremony for you? Look around -- 
because it's often twice as fun when you can get one of your fellows 
to participate. Oh, you still get your wedding strings this way, 
don't worry. You simply let one of us spiffy PR people know that you 
married so and so -- then we confirm it with the bride (or groom), 
and unless he or she claims they've never heard of you, everything is 
in order. If he or she does claim they've never heard of you, I get 
to roast you over a slow fire for trying to con me out of a free 
string.

Okay, so you do need an immortal. Here's what you do. Write down a 
quick outline of the event you're planning. You don't have to go into 
excessive detail -- just a few names, a general idea of what you 
expect to happen, and whom you expect to be involved. A few notes on 
theme and atmosphere won't hurt, either.

Pick your immortal. If you're not sure which one you want, check the 
WIZLIST for a list of PR people. If this doesn't make you any wiser, 
ask around a bit to find out which immortals are most commonly 
available during your playing hours and so on. After all, some of us 
have real lives -- yeah, it's true! -- and may not want to sit up to 
3am on a workday to accommodate your wishes. We're mean like that.

Once you've decided on an immortal, send your note to him or her a 
few days, or even better, a week in advance. This gives the happy 
immortal time to consider your request and get back to you with 
ideas, tips, suggestions, and whatever else may come up. Really. We 
like that. A lot.

Here's how you *don't* capture an immortal successfully:

-- By asking on chat whether any immortals are available, then, seven 
minutes later, complain that the entire PR department is inactive and 
sucks. This is particularly bad if several PR people are visible, but 
you're too lazy to leave a message in their AFK buffer.

-- By demanding that an immortal zip right over to your place to do a 
shotgun wedding. Not in ten minutes, not in half an hour, but NOW! 
Hey, we're often at work, we can be out of window, we can even be, 
like, you know, busy or something.

-- By getting married and divorced 3 times a week. You know, free 
wedding strings are nifty, but it's not like we're THAT stupid.

     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

                        Election Night Follies

On Thursday, November 9, as America still awaits the Florida recount, an
announcement is heard throughout the world...

"Pat Buchanan, George W. Bush, Al Gore, and Ralph Nader are giving the pirate
captains a little vacation. Feel free to go vent your aggressions on them!"

After spending some time building up their forces to safe levels, a group
led by Zeratoul went in search of the candidates. They first fought past
the many pirates who barred their way, thus confirming long-held suspicions
about the nature of campaign volunteers, speechwriters, strategists, and
assorted aides-de-camp.

At last, the brave group lured Pat Buchanan out of his collapsing room,
seeing "Pat Buchanan stands here converting the Reform Party to
conservatism." as they defeated him easily, Zeratoul getting the death
blow. Next, out of a similarly collapsing campaign headquarters, came
"Ralph Nader stands here berating the two party system." Credit for Nader's
death blow goes to Lord Marcel Alexander. In addition to the satisfaction of
beating up on these so-called politicians, the group obtained a token of
achievement from each candidate felled.

With the third and fourth parties out of the way, tensions between Gore (Al
Gore stands here, inventing new ways to make you hate politicians.) and
Bush (George W. Bush stands here, spending his daddy's gold to get
elected.) grew. Petitions, injunctions, and "lost" ballots flew back and
forth, until they brought the entire world crashing down around them,
depriving players of the chance to remove them forcibly.


                    .+'''+.            .+'''+.
                    Horoscopes by Mme. Decara
                             '+,,,+'

+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| SCORPIO       (Oct 24 - Nov 22) | SAGITTARIUS   (Nov 23 - Dec 21) |
|                                 |                                 |
| To get what you truly desire,   | Things are looking adventurous  |
| dedicate your intense attention.| especially when you wear purple.|
| Enemies must avoid your poison. | Thursdays look especially good. |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| CAPRICORN     (Dec 22 - Jan 19) | AQUARIUS      (Jan 20 - Feb 19) |
|                                 |                                 |
| Get organized! Form a new clan! | Friendly and outgoing, have you |
| Ascend to new heights - take    | thought about joining the NPH?  |
| advantage of every foothold.    | Guard your shins when in Arabia.|
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| PISCES        (Feb 20 - Mar 20) | ARIES         (Mar 21 - Apr 19) |
|                                 |                                 |
| Stop swimming in circles! Tune  | Wearing your new red clothing,  |
| into your spiritual side. Use   | and starting that new adventure |
| sustained breath for deep dives.| on a Tuesday will bring luck!   |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| TAURUS        (Apr 20 - May 20) | GEMINI        (May 21 - Jun 20) |
|                                 |                                 |
| Both fierce and gentle, you are | You & your doppelganger make a  |
| often seen as stubborn and slow.| striking pair when you travel.  |
| Guard your neck - wear a scarf. | Wednesdays are good chat days.  |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| CANCER        (Jun 21 - Jul 22) | LEO           (Jul 23 - Aug 22) |
|                                 |                                 |
| Having trouble expressing just  | Polish up your bard skills, you |
| how you feel? Check moods and   | are a natural entertainer. Your |
| suggest some useful new ones!   | generosity on Sunday pays off.  |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| VIRGO         (Aug 23 - Sep 22) | LIBRA         (Sep 23 - Oct 23) |
|                                 |                                 |
| Put your energy to good use -   | Use diplomatic charm to shift   |
| use healing abilities on the go,| the balance in your favor. You  |
| a service to fellow adventurers.| should learn the skill first.   |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+


           ________________________
          /                        \
      o O | Wonder what folks are   |
 `\|||/   | doing over at LegendMUD?|
 (o o)    \________________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo________________________________________________________________
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  /__|  LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World     |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'


                              Announcements


The Knights of the Dark Circle Clan was disbanded by Drakkon. The Dread Lords
of Legend Clan was formed by Zeppelin. ClanTrixie Clan was disbanded by
Wixen. There are now 18 RP clans and 8 PK clans.


                   Xena has reached 100 million experience!

                Aaaaarrgh has reached 100 million experience!


                         Dermick's Transformation

After living with my hump for almost 20 years, I went in to the doctors
office and they told me that a new form of test was developed to see if the
hump could be cancerous. When I went to the hospital, they did a series of 4
tests to determine if I had cancer, and if I did, if it needed to be
removed.  I hoped that it was able to be removed because I was tired of
receiving strange looks while walking around city.  When I was a child, I was
made fun of so much, that I decided not to go to college in fear of
criticism. The doctors told me that the hump could be removed.

I was so overjoyed that I almost stood perfectly straight up, but then I
almost fell over, so I had to start to slouch again. The operation took
about a day because my hump was so big. After the surgery, i had to adjust
to not leaning forward when i walked, and ate. The feeling was so different
that i was astonished. I had to teach myself to walk without a limp now, but
that only took about two weeks to master. 

After about three weeks at the hospital, I was allowed to return to my home.
I was so amazed at what I could do now! I could reach the top cupboard, and I
could actually go to sleep on my back, but ended up rolling over out of
habit. After about a year, I realized that since I would not be criticized
anymore, I began to think about going to college. I applied to the University
near by, and surprisingly I was permitted to start 2nd semester. Now I am
taking classes to become a engineer at a tech school so I can help develop
equipment to detect cancer. I am doing this to help others with similar
problems. I'm so stressed out now though, I have to work all day on school
work -- besides the 6 hours of sleep of course.

     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

                           A Letter from Arturo

Hello my friends.

I Arturo am penning this missive to inform you that my guise of 'a fierce
fellow', my eyes smouldering with an eerie green fire as I lounged about...it
no longer suits my role in life. My life has taken a new direction, as many
of you are already aware. On many occasions I have tried at love to no
avail, either to be hurt or in turn hurt the one I cared about. After many
long sleepless nights and many conversations with the dear Abbot Suger, I
have elected to immerse myself in the life of a priest. This change to the
order of the priesthood has caused great physical change to my appearance as
you shall see I shall henceforth be known as Arturo Ni'Eyrinn, and I shall
appear as a lamenting priest when I stand before you.

Thank you for your time my friends.

Arturo Ni'Eyrinn.


     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

                          Legend News Roundup

The engagement of Blossom Utonium to Kritter seems to have been called off in
a rather nasty quarrel; it seems both parties only agree on the fact that
they will have nothing more to do with one another. On the lighter side,
Blossom has been adopted by Jealousy (leading us to wonder if she was old
enough to get engaged in the first place), which means that the young lady
now has a real, functioning family comprising a mother and an uncle. Moreso,
she even got a job, enrolling in the ranks of the USL thugs.

Many travelers have reported seeing Soze of the Seven Circles wandering the
countryside, looking for some way to regain his master's favor after the
unfortunate servant was discovered attempting to further his own cause and
add to his own power during the recent hauntings of Boston.

A bitter defeat for Christianity was reported on All Hallow's Eve, when Abbot
Suger and Templar Knight Tancred de Gisborne attempted to beat off a pagan
invasion of St. Denis comprising such a motley crew as Kendrik, Akai_Hayate,
Stewart, and SkullKrusher.

Soze was seen attempting to purchase young girls for his master, and opened
dealings with Jealousy on the possible purchase of Blossom.  Whether a price
was agreed on remains yet unknown.

Much to the surprise of Knight Templar Tancred de Gisborne, his illegitimate
daughter Edwina popped up out of nowhere last week. Her mother being Mertjai
LaRue, we should have fair reason to assume that both will have a few
questions to answer -- one from his fellow church knights, and the other from
her wife.

Dashiva, Dashiva, and Dashiva, three alternate personalities in one frail
body, have broken off their long-term relationship with Gallowglass, to run
off with Malia, High Priestess of the Grand Coven. Beginning with jumping on
Arthur Dimmesdale's bed (don't ask!), their time together is indubitably
going to be anything but boring. It's probably also going to cause several
quick deaths here and there.

Mitra and Marcel Alexander finally married after an almost two year long
engagement; the service was officiated by the Goddess herself, who also
kindly prevented the groom from escaping (*grumble*). In her usual flamboyant
style, Malia arranged for beautiful wedding gifts -- Mitra gained Xerox and
Vinnie, Marcel got Jealousy.

At this time it is not entirely clear what exactly Unix was up to when
examining Mitra with a reputably very cold stethoscope; the lady herself is
very confused and upset and claims that he tried to impregnate her -- yet, as
no pregnancy is evident, it must have been the Mexican take-out food that
made her sick. Confusion remains as to the exact identity of the person who
devised the plot that Unix be punished by being impregnated with the seed of
demonic triplets; we know for certain that the actual -- uh, material -- was
provided by Hope and Vi-Kata who can now consider themselves the expecting
fathers to the children that Unix is going to be the mother of. Let's hope
for Unix' sake that he manages to somehow rid his body of these demonspawn
before he has to ... um... give birth. Other people involved with this scheme
appear to include Malia, Plagasgraw, Kayuha Kazir, Marcel Alexander, and
Mitra Alexander.

Much to the surprise of everyone, Xena has been seen running around naked
lately -- rumor has it she got into river rafting and had a small accident
revolving around a punctured boat and a waterfall.

Young orphan Maggie has been adopted by Xerox. It remains unknown whether her
billion of magpie friends get to live there too.

Genocide recently lept to the defense of his friend Unix, in the process
calling Mitra Alexander a slut and a liar in public. This obviously enraged
not only her husband Marcel, but also her sisters in the Grand Coven.
Genocide seems to be rather busy defending himself of late. It now remains to
be seen whether anyone is going to leap to *his* defense.


     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

I remember rain...

I remember mud...

That's about all I can remember. Speech, language, came to me quickly, but
when I woke up some time ago in a muddy trench in the South of India, I
couldn't remember even that. It didn't help that the locals spoke a language
that wasn't, I think, my first language. There were two nasty-looking knives
on my person when I awoke. Or rather, one on my person, clutched in my hand,
and one in my person, buried to the hilt in my gut. Someone tried to erase
me, I suppose, but missed. If only I could remember why they would do
that...

There was lots of blood when I pulled the second knife out, but no pain, not
until later. Almost as if by instinct, I covered the wound with what remained
of my clothes, which wasn't much, but it did the trick. Then I proceeded to
try to remember my name. At least one of them, anyway.

Limping toward the sea, dragging myself, the pain started. Each step it felt
like the blade was still inside me, driving deeper. I saw a hut and thought
of getting out of the rain, not thinking of how I looked.  Strange how I
killed its inhabitants, almost as instinctively as I'd bandaged myself. They
had it coming. The drugs I found were easy on the pain, but these were not
pharmacists, and I decided it was probably unsafe, when I passed out, waking
up some time later (that day, the next day, the next week? who knows?) in a
pool of blood.

I wasn't bleeding from my wound, and tried not to think about where the blood
had come from. Eventually, I made my way to a forest, somewhere in England,
that for some reason felt like home. There people seemed to know me, but only
when I was alone with them. No one called my name in public, and in private I
had several.

Marjorie, the most common, is what I now call myself, whether it was before
or not. I've been often called "Miss Baldwin" as well, so that will be my
adopted last name.  Marjorie Baldwin, Angela Morton, Jennifer Laszlo, Kerry
Shaughnessy... these seem to be my names. Why I have so many, I don't know.
Why someone wanted me killed, why I was in India, why I could speak the
languages of all the world once my own came back to me... I don't know. Who
was I? Will my would-be assassins return to finish the job? So many
questions, and all I can remember clearly is rain, and mud...

     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

			Gizzy Deveroux


Born and raised in Tara Ireland, I started my life learning the ways of the
earth.

I met and fell in love with Rerun. However, that was short lived.

Next in my many travels I met a rogue, GM of the Avengers, RogueMoon. He was
wonderfully attentive, loving, caring, we did everything together. One day we
were sitting in his clanhall and he kneeled down before me and asked me to
marry him. I was shocked, we hadn't been together long. After a debate with
myself, I said yes. We seemed so happy.

Then one day I showed up to meet him and a woman was with him, her name was
Cloud_Kitten. I felt an ill feeling come over me from deep within.  RogueMoon
had told me he had an ex-wife. Well, when I walked into the room, I had a
feeling this was her. He introduced us and to my surprise, I found out she
was still his wife. They talked of divorcing, however, in the end they
decided to stay together.

Alone once again, I traveled to London, where I decided to go to school and
try to become a great surgeon. That didn't last long. I wasn't cut out to be
a surgeon.

Once again traveling, searching, not knowing for sure where I was heading or
what I was going to do. I met a handsome, charming warrior, his name is
TheThing. We had a passionate, yet, like all my other romances, brief
romance. As a result of my time with TheThing, I now have a love greater then
all love I could have ever imagined. I have my wonderful daughter Aspen
Deveroux and my handsome and strong son Kaloe Deveroux. The children and I
will find our way together in this world of uncertainty.

     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

                     The Beginning of an End

A man sits alone atop a fallen log.  He holds two items, one in each hand.  A
jade pendant, circled with silver, inscribed with gold, a twinkling soul kept
within, his soul, his love, bonded by the gods within this trinket at his
deepest request.  In the other hand, a small wooden item, a ring, hand carved
personally by him for a delicate finger.

He sits alone, slow single tears falling from his dimmed orbs, fixed
pointedly on these two objects.  The entirety of his existence is entwined
with these articles of the truest, deepest love fathomable an eternal
devotion bound by the physical limitations of the human body.

These two items, rendered meaningless by one woman, rendering his life
meaningless, his existence meaningless.  He has tried living without her.
The kindness of his friends, his loved ones, have sustained him this short
time.  They cannot be with him at all times, and thus, he lapses into his
thoughts.  Thoughts of this depression, thoughts of the emptiness within,
thoughts of being alone forever.

He closes his eyes and the memories begin. Memories of her, the times they've
shared.  How she taught him to explore, how to dabble in the intricacies of
magic (which he lost with the separation of his soul to the pendant), how to
hunt, how to forage, how to survive in the world away from his home, away
from Kleinstadt.

Memories of the love they shared, memories of the pain love brings, memories
of anger, of sadness, memories most of all memories of the complete and
absolute filling of the emptiness of his missing soul with the
acknowledgment of her love for him her acceptance of his proposal to share
his life.

GONE.  Her love, his existence, gone with a single event.

He has slowly been dying from the inside out, slowly waiting for the eventual
day his empty heart stops.  She does not want him; she has made it clear.
She must not need him; she has another for that.

He looks up from his resting place, to the flowing River Boyne a few yards
distance.  Fast and violent, the angry river fills his vision.  The sadness
in his eyes leaves slowly, filling with a hardened determination.

He stands, nudging his satchel to the side, out of his way.  Dropping his
weapon, a shard from the shining sword of Charlemagne, a gift to his father
destroyed to keep it from Dark Forces.  He drops this artifact of his life,
his past, onto his bag, removing the rest of his clothes with it.  He strings
the wooden ring onto a leather cord, hanging it around his neck.  He clasps
the pendant around his neck as well.

With these tokens of his love and his soul, everything his existence means,
he strides quickly toward the rushing water.  He whispers to her, before his
head disappears beneath the icy water, 'I will always love you.'

     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]


               Pillaging Pirate Productions Proudly Presents...

                      THE ADVENTURES OF CHAYKIN DOANE
                                 Episode 13


Let us now go back to a day before our precocious hero arrived in the time-
warping worlds of Legend.  Today we join him as he patrols the alleys and
shadows of nighttime Pittsburgh in the year 2068, on his nightly beat along
the city's dark underbelly!  He walks tall and bold!  Graceful as a jungle
cat!  Fearsome as an agitated grizzly bear!  Quick as--

"Zoot!  What's going on here...?!"

Chay has stumbled upon a couple of crooks beating a poor old bag lady with a
cheese loaf!  Wasting not a moment, he springs into action!

"Hey you!  Give me that!"

The hooligan with the dairy-made cudgel whirls around to face our hero!
"You!  Get out of here!  This don't concern you, bud!"

"I am Chaykin Doane!  I protect the poor weak denizens of the city and I am
handy with tools around the house too!  Let that lady go and I won't have to
get that cheese all bloody by killing you!"

"Why you big, stupid--!"  The crook leaps at Chay and a struggle ensues!  But
what's this?  While the brave Chaykin is trying to put the cheesy criminal
out of commission, the second man is running away, trying to escape!  But no
sooner does he reach the end of the alleyway than POW!  A man passing by has
seen what's going on and clocks him right on the jaw, putting his lights
out!  After recovering the thankful bag lady's bags, Chay confronts his
mysterious benefactor!

"Is good...you helped me back there!"

The strange man shrugs, "Hey, I was just doing what was right."

"But you are hurt!  Will fix your wounds...but not here...those guys might
have friends and come back in numbers...we go to secret hideout!"

"Um, okay..."

Chay leads the way and soon the two are hopping across rooftops high above
the streets!  As they make their way to Chay's hideout, they talk...

"Are you my friend?" asks Chaykin, munching pensively on the cheese loaf.

"I don't know...I can't remember anything!  First thing I remember is waking
up in that alleyway...and I was hurt.  Who are you?"

"Name is Chaykin Doane...I am a superhero!"

"Never heard of ya..."

"Is amnesia!  Obvious!  You have amnesia if you don't remember anything
important!"

Finally, our two unlikely companions reach Chay's hideout, in a little
abandoned loft...

"Pretty cool place huh?  I have a telescope and everything!"

Our forgetful friend surveys the place finds it to his liking!  The two chat
further...

"You were pretty good back there!  Wanna be a superhero too?"

"What do I do?"

"You fight crime...go where you wanna go...do what you wanna do...and try not
to wind up in cat and dog heaven!"

"Man, that sounds great!"

"But you gotta have an outfit if you're gonna fight crime!"

Chay and his new friend climb a flight of stairs to a dark attic, where Chay
pulls an old footlocker out from under some ratty old blankets!  Chay outfits
the newcomer...

"Purple pajamas, and a black cape, and this sack will make a mask!"

"Why's this say 'bread' on it?"

"Was from an ad...here, we put weird designs on your face with paint and
voila! ...The Dark Avenger!"

"Is that who I am?  The Dark Avenger!  Sweet!"

Chay rummages some more in the old trunk to find the new hero some
weapons...

"Here!  I use these to climb walls!  You can borrow them tonight til we find
a proper weapon!"

"Toilet plungers!  I can't..."

"You gotta start somewhere!"

And Chaykin has more supplies to outfit the Dark Avenger with, in order to
make him a truly first-class superhero...

"That's your utility belt!  Is a spare I made for myself but can
have...er...  borrow it tonight!"

"Band-Aid cans sewn and taped together...is this sauerkraut in here?"

"It is!  It is!  Also fire crackers, slingshot, whoopie cushion, harmonica,
marbles, a rubber mouse and a whole buncha other stuff!"

"Cool!"

Chaykin makes the Dark Avenger swear an oath to uphold and protect the cause
of justice, and soon they are striding through the city's dirty nightlife,
looking for danger!

"All right Dark Avenger!  Let's clean up this city!"

To be continued...!

     []-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

                  The Tale of Herbert West, Continued

Once more I write to this amazing journal about the events of late, I have
been researching the formula I began in the esteemed university of London and
have come to several rather astounding conclusions.  With the muscle tissue
of certain reptiles and various other elements I can provoke certain
responses from the human body.

I traveled the world for several months with but a small amount of my new
formula searching for people who might like the benefits of its new
strength.

Though most were unwilling at the time I inject a select group of worthy
subjects with the new formula, most reacted most harshly to my surprise
operation and some became violent immediately after, certainly a
pseudopsychotic response bought on by the formula.

Each and every patient sought to be released of the formulas effects before
they became permanent which was accommodated in all cases, however a few of
the subjects did seek me out at a later date for more information.  It was at
this point that my insignificant formula and the syringe I carried about with
me became the object of much attention by several people I had recently met.
Lord Marcel himself was intrigued by its effects and we had many
conversations about the resurrection of dead tissue, though his ideas were a
little more arcane than mine this was a great time for the advancement of my
studies.

However at this point the small town of Boston was being filled with strange
happenings, and myself being a fairly interested party in the occult goings
on decided to make the voyage to determine for myself what was happening
there.

The town had been nearly split in two by a large crack in the earth which was
filled with the fires of hell and seeping a dark noxious gas into the
streets, the gas itself having some curious effects on the residents I am
sure, I witnessed a man named Johnny be slain and yet moments later I spied
him wandering the streets as though nothing were amiss.

However once more I begin to ramble and get off the subject, the crack was
some form of otherworldly portal which had begun generating various impish
creatures and demonic entities, of course most people blamed Lord Marcel for
this and screamed for his blood..

It was at this point that I was contacted by an unknown entity and told
quietly that my syringe was one of the many sources of evil which being
collected in the world had opened this crack.

I was determined to have no part in this rip between planes and resolved to
destroy the link to myself this fissure seemed to have.

And so I threw my syringe into the crack where it seemed to float for a time,
then the earth began shaking as though the foul evil around that syringe were
being absorbed, the smoke from the crack changed its hue slightly to a
greenish glow and I smiled... rid of that syringe and its powers over me.

This may seem the end of the tale to most, however this morning I received a
caller to my home who bore with him a small package labeled "Herbert West -
Rightful Owner", this package contained an empty syringe and a remarkably
well documented recipe to a new and less dangerous formula.

I will keep you posted as to its results,
Herbert West.

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