Aggy: Extrapolate

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Mar 042014
 


^(click the link!)

Or, if your device cannot play Flash, view a summary here!

Additional resource credits:
Makkon – music (“One Cold Morning”)
Bird Catcher – Sound Effects
Ryavis – programming
Dapperpixel – terrain
Squiggles – ghost faces
Cider – usual
George Bell – math that humans could never figure out
Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra – a cymbal roll
Chevy Ray Johnston – Flashpunk

>

  • Kazerad

    Wow, okay, first of all: sorry for the inadvertent three month hiatus there. I feel bad for dragging you along with continual promises of “next week!”, but more and more stuff just kept coming up. Some of it was expected and voluntary, like visiting family over the holidays or finally caving in and trying the Elder Scrolls Online beta. Some of it was completely out of my control, like getting sick or having a storm knock my internet out for almost a week. And some of it was just stuff I viewed as more important than working on the update, like being there for a friend who was going through a serious bout of depression. In the end, though, everything just happened at once, leading to a three month dryspell.

    If I tried to make up for the hiatus with some amazing, hours-long update, it would just keep me from updating for even longer. So instead, I’m just going to continue with the stuff I was doing back in December as though the last three months never happened. If you’ve completely forgotten what was going on in the story, I’d recommend reading up from right after “Katia: Take Control” since it sort of establishes why Katia is in her current state. Alternatively, you could just peek back at the previous update to job your memory. Or, if you’re feeling especially classy, you could check out my brand new Visual Archive, which not only summarizes the entire comic at a glance but serves as a decent timeline of events.

    Also, check out the nifty new “Submit Command” box! It isn’t pretty right now, but Ch’marr and I will get it there. Let’s take it for a test drive by submitting some commands for the next update. You know, after you’ve read the current one.

    So yeah, the best I can say is that I am sorry for the unexpected quarter-year pause. Things seem to have cleared up some now, so you can probably expect another update later this week. For the time being, enjoy some ghost insanity, empathize with some feelings of frustration, and try not to be too sad when I go back and delete some of the fifteen hundred comments you guys managed to leave on the last update.

    • That was beautifully done. Every part of it. Was that an ESO crafting joke in there?

      I tried all combinations of winning and losing, and it was well worth it – though I had hoped the mouth ending would be longer! 😀

      • Shasfowd

        I believe there was…

      • Deodesu

        Me too :p

        This update was a pretty dang good one ESPECIALLY for the delay. I would imagine it’s part of the reason it took as long as it did. This was worth the wait I say.

        • Dan S

          It has been forever, but the peg game! AWESOME and also I have that game memorized (lol no life me) but I agree with you Deodesu, worth the wait.

          Always worth the wait.

          • Deodesu

            True dat

      • Kenzie

        Wow, that ending WAS pretty disappointing. Especially among the first few endings. x3 The interesting part is depending on how you fail at the puzzle subsequent times it seems to also change the dialogue! I love this stuff, so much.

    • Kirone

      Yay! I just began reading this comic about.a month and a half ago, but already I’m hooked! Can’t wait to see the flash when i can use a computer instead of mobile. this is a really great story still no matter how many times I read it. One of the best webcomics, and its all thanks to the creativity of Kazerad and the users!

      • DestinedFateX

        I finished the flash on a mobile phone, so I’m sure you can too! : )

    • Psithief

      Is “eachother” (no spaces) a typo or just part of your local slang?

      Put another way, I think you missed a space in some dialogue.

      • Kazerad

        It’s technically listed as a “nonstandard” spelling. I’ve been trying to push it into commonly accepted use.

        I don’t really remember why. I am very persistent though.

        • Psithief

          You’re promoting your local dialect? Alright, at least it’s intentional.

          • Jared

            I believe that was already covered under “I don’t really remember why”.

          • Ziz

            @Jared, I think it’s ’cause he read about it and it makes an useful and interesting (pro?)noun. I already like it.

    • Jinn

      Do you have an email? Because I’m having trouble viewing “Aggy: Extrapolate”.

    • Zarkloyd

      Well, it was a while, but well worth it for the quality of the update. I was laughing my ass off for most of it. Aggy is a seriously funny dude.

      • Kirone

        Aggy is like me, but his witchunter/crazy person logic makes more sense to me.

    • Ransom

      Don’t feel too bad about the hiatus Kaz, you definitely came back with a bang at least.

      Any rules for the new comment box? Like not to spam it with multiple commands? I know I sometimes have an idea that comes after I’ve already submitted one.

      I will miss seeing all the commands in real time.

      • 2D

        This… Was amazing. I have no other words for this. Congratulations, Kaz. Good luck on the comeback.

      • Bob

        To all those that said the series was dead and kaz gave up on it:

        SUCK IT.

        Also: In regards to “And some of it was just stuff I viewed as more important than working on the update, like being there for a friend who was going through a serious bout of depression” I know who he’s talking about. I definitely know that feel that he’s feeling Kaz,but he shouldn’t beat himself so hard.

        And that’s all I’ll say.. 😀

    • Daki

      God bless you kaz. Please don’t delete too many comments, we need ’em because most of them are really super funny.

      You cut it close back there. Too close. But now, im glad your back. Still though, what happened to Cider?

      And how did you feel about the suggestions?

    • Courage Wolf

      look man, I read ALL of this, in a single night, and it’s glorious. I was saddened when I realized there wasn’t more, I badly wanted to keep going. This is AMAZING… Also, this peg puzzle was HYSTERICAL. This was linked to me by a friend of mine and on a whim I took it up and I could not be happier with that decision, so much so that I’ll be sending links to Prequel to EVERYONE I know who would enjoy this.

      While I’m a bit of a recluse, I’ve managed to surround myself with other antisocial people so this is a fairly substantial group now after years of putting it together. I must get the word out, this must be read and shared and known by all!

      Seriously, I’m not only impressed, but loving it all. Please keep it up.

      • onebajillion

        Yes! Yay for you and yay for this! Go forth, my hermit friend, and spread the word.

        • Kyle

          There ARE others! :’D

          • Gummi-Arms

            I also recently discovered this. I wonder if its too late to try the command box, but I shall make the attempt regardless. I stayed up far longer than I should have reading this, but it is the first time in a long time I have been this fascinated by something.

      • Perinhawk

        I did the same, I was introduced by a reference to a pineapple and yo-yo on The Whiteboard, a comic I’ve been following for a while now. I started reading yesterday and got here today… There were a few things I was supposed to be doing but I just could not stop reading this comic… I love it and I too am sad that there isn’t any more, because I wish I could just keep reading (and interacting with) this story for -at least- another week straight. I’m definitely bookmarking this, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next update

    • Satiated Viewer

      “You can probably expect another update later this week.”

      Hahaha! Oh, you!

      • Daki

        Lol, yeah I think it was a joke.
        I think Kaz may want to umm.. delete that part for the next time. Just in case.

        Haven’t we learned anything?

        • xKiv

          It *will* be “this week” when it updates!

    • DQEight

      Slutcat…lmao

    • Noc

      “job your memory”*COUGH COUGH*

      Anyways… great update, even if it did take 3 months! I’m really hoping this Aggy/Katia partnership lasts… they work well together.

    • ok that was a fun puzzle. glad I failed the first couple of times because then I realised there was special failure dialogue so kept deliberately failing until I’d seen all of it 😛
      but then it still took me a couple more attempts to win

      • Ziz

        There’s a lot of other interesting dialogs too, for different times when you win, and for special conditions like losing with more pegs than last time you tried. There’s really a lot crammed in there. It’s awesome.

        And it’s all interesting and meaningful stuff about life and failure I’ve spent years trying to get across to depressive “failure” friends for years, wrapped up in hilarious ghost-insanity. I love it!

      • Sentlit

        Yeah… I “purposely” failed too :,(
        (At least Katia does the puzzle for you after you fail it some 1000 times DX)

    • Icarus Creed

      Katia: Flip that table like it’s never been flipped before!

      • Icarus Creed

        Whelp, I’mma look like an idiot for posting this! Yay!

    • zortharg

      Ahh crap. Darnit. He asks me if I’ve ever moved anything with my mind and then it becomes nonresponsive, with her standing across the table from him. The spacebar does nothing, nor the arrow keys. What, am I supposed to proceed by THINKING at the computer, is that the implication? So I click on the little white triangle in the left and…. it restarts the whole thing! I have the patience to write this comment but not go through all that again thank you very much. I guess I could see what happens if I lose the peg game though, to see if it branches out to give different endings. Like maybe would he have called me an idiot, fired a lightning bolt at me and left? I guess I could go through it and try it again but eh. Shafted again! Just like how I also got the best possible time in the take-control-of-the-situation game too. I don’t even get a pin. All I get is the blasted aaaahitissogreat jpg I won last year. All in all, a buggy, unfinished mini-game after all that waiting – and the big spell he did was just to make it snow, not to unleash her inner power or whatnot. What a buzzkill. I think I’ve been trolled.

      I KNOW! LEMON MERINGUE PIES! Send out lemon meringue pies! Because let’s face it. That dark elf ghost OBVIOUSLY has never had lemon meringue pie if he thinks lemons are the worst fruit ever, and that if life gave him lemons, he’d take it as nothing short of a declaration of war. Because who frigging needs frigging lemonaide when you can have lemon meringue pie damnit!

      • Ben

        The flash is done, dude. Note the little back-arrow in the lower left corner of the screen…

        • zortharg

          Yeah, that was the thing I pressed that ticked me off. The flash is done. Yes. But it’s not exactly a stopping point. He asks me if I’ve ever moved anything with my mind…. well, I should then press the space bar and see her attempt to move the table with her mind, successfully or not. Otherwise, it’s just ending right in the middle of a thought. Which CAN be good at times. When it’s deliberate. Like the “I’m a traveler from the future, with a TERRIBLE warning for humanity!” at the end of the Dark Midnight sketches. But this, it got me to think that the thing simply crashed and that there was some sort of input it was expecting from me to proceed. And YES, I DID notice the back arrow. That was what I thought was that input.

          • Unclever title

            It is ending right in the middle of a thought. In fact depending on how many times it takes you to succeed at the game you can get slightly different thoughts that the flash ends in the middle of.

            The story will pick back up with this same thought next update.

            In fact if you want to respond to that question specifically submit it as a command through the new link in the sidebar.

            That is pretty much expressly what it’s for after all.

          • onebajillion

            Ugh.

    • anon

      Dunno if you’ll see this Kaz, but might I suggest a “Lastest Update” button so I can just bookmark that instead of bookmarking each new update that pops up?

      • Kazerad

        But… that is exactly what the main page of Prequeladventure.com is! >:

        • anon

          Excuse me while I get my pair of extra thick glasses.

        • Cur non feerrare et facire Ulixes;

          Wait… This is the front page!? I’ve had prequel in a window since the third update… :0
          Man, I need to get a life… With no Latin titles… Or very long, descriptive titles explaining my penis… (Anyone get that joke?)

          (It was in the comments ages ago, by the way)

    • Knife-Eyes

      What’d ya think of ESO?

      I was in it and it sucked to me but I like to hear other stories to help build perspective.

      Aiie!

    • SoulEchelon

      Extremely well done. I feel like a dunce not being able to complete it on my first few tries, but I will state that I got incredibly close. I think maybe two moves off (I did eventually complete it, but ended up following the “memory” lines)

      I’ll try to complete it totally on my own after I get some sleep (which will also let me forget the pattern). 2:30 am over here!

      Also, I have to add that what was stated within this one was extremely heartfelt and uplifting. While I read it, I seriously came to realize that I’m not too far off from where Katia currently is depression-wise. Really pulled at the heart strings and punched me in the gut when the ghost’s statements were actually resonating with me and my own depressive thought processes.

      This was definitely well worth the wait. I’m not kidding when I say that this actually made me feel hopeful for my own future. Oh, and extremely well done flash! Compliments to the music composer as well. I’ll be subscribing to Makkon on youtube.

    • Duggie

      >sometime next week

      • Kazerad

        I got sick >:

        Actually, I think my doctor figured out why I was getting sick, so it might stop now.

        • Trub

          It’ll stop next week. *Budumtissss*

          • Gren

            Oh you son of the charming woman, that was hilarious. I spat my coffee all over the screen. lol

            But yeah, two weeks and counting…

        • Duggie

          so would a new estimate be too much to ask?
          don’t mean to be jumping up your ass or anything

    • Gean

      I knew TESO was guilty!
      Now I hate it even more… if I can hate it more after I realised I can’t just move things around and steal stuff.
      Well done, though. I love snow. *Looking out of the window*
      I hope, it’ll melt in April. Someday.

      • Deodesu

        They also got rid of khajiit night eye….

  • Great to see you’re still there!

  • Ghurdhyll

    Wow ! thank you for the update !
    Don’t worry for the break, Your work worth all the time we could have been waiting for it !

  • Obviousguy

    I remember something about it not being too special. That first second of a detailed pixelart Katia really made me smile. Also, fuck that puzzle. No offense, took me like, 17 tries before I could started noticing the little ghost hints, line things. Anyway, nice job!

    • Don Quixotes

      I tried to memorize them right from the get go. Turns out that’s dumb, you just have to remember the right sequence one at a time. It was nice to read all the dialogue, though.

    • Hope

      I just went through all of the dialogue, then cheated and looked up the solution on google. :3c

  • Carlioso

    Ummm… fucking wow.

    That was honestly beautiful, and extremely well done. And while being goofy, that ancestor ghost still held true to one of the most key elements of Dunmeri culture, pain that makes the body stronger, being dominant as the student, the ‘love with evil’.

    Also the racist anti-khajiit comments were brilliant.

    • BanditoWalrus

      It’s not “racist” anti-Khajiit comments. Racist implies that the group being slurred are people. And as we all know, Khajiit aren’t people.

      • Aggy is a dumb name (AIDAN)

        Bravo.

        • onebajillion

          *clapping*

  • This was worth the wait.
    <3
    I'm so glad you're back 🙂

  • Sir Anon O’Myss III

    Whoo, update!

    She’s finally starting to get a little more confidence in herself again. Let’s hope she takes Aggy’s “lessons” to heart. He makes some good points for a mad ghost.

  • Don Quixotes

    Fuck. Yes. I knew I was sticking around here for a reason!

  • Unidentified BA

    The key is to use your meowth. It’s a mouth pun.

    • Kaytavo

      not just her meowth if she wants to catch them all

  • Kume

    WOO! Great update. LOVE the puzzle game.

  • hostergaard

    Oh, awesome, an update. Was just checking the site before leaving and now I am late trying to figure trying to solve all the different puzzle endings. Love the mouth one! Now get the updates rolling please, been waiting for some more khajiit hijinks!

    • hostergaard

      Right, the animation after solving the puzzle from and with attempt 5 stays the same (the angry slam as I have duped it) but the failure animation stops changing after attempt 8 and onward. So you can see everything in 5 tries at minimum.

      Interestingly, I found that no matter how you solve the puzzle you always end up with the last peg in the middle of row nearest you. Thus you can actually extrapolate a solution from that and back to the first move or possibly even from where you currently are if you want. Perhaps what Aggy claimed to be remembering backwards from the future you want (if there is any sense to it at all that is)?

      • Dragomok

        Also, when you fail again and there are more pieces on the board left than on your previous attempt, Katia acknowledges that.

        The amount of polish in this update is amazing.

      • Ziz

        When I was trying to solve it again I kept getting stuck until I realized an important final formation. The last five pieces will form an arrow against one of the corners near you.

    • hostergaard

      Here is a possible solution for those that want it. I am posting this in a separate post so Kazerad can delete it if its not okay that I post one (tough I suspect the game force you to win after enough failures anyway).

      To save some space lets give each row a letter in alphabetic order from top to bottom and a number from left to right like so:
               A1
            B1 B2
          C1 C2 C3
        D1 D2 D3 D4
      E1 E2 E3 E4 E5

      So C2 is the empty one at the start. In that case here is a solution:

      |E4–>C3|E2–>E4|D1–>D3|B1–>D1|
      |E1–>C1|B2–>D2|D4–>B2|A1–>C3|
      |C3–>E3|E4–>E2|C1–>E3|E2–>E4|
      |E5–>E3|

      That should work, unless I made a typo somewhere.

      • DarkNSinth

        You did make a typo. E4->C2 is what the start move should be. E4->C3 is impossible. The rest I think is fine.

        • hostergaard

          Ah ha ha, oh wow. I made a typo in the very first move. You are right. That is what it should be. I think Katia is having a influence on me. 😛

      • zortharg

        Yes, yes, it’s rich with solutions, it hardly deserves even mentioning. You could also have E4C2, D1D3, B1D1, E1C1, E2E4, B2D2, D4B2, A1C3, C1E3, E4E2, and then there’s no choice but to win from there on out. Or the mirror images of either solution. And then plenty of times, it doesn’t matter which order you do them in. For instance the E1C1, B2D2 and E2E4 could be done in any order. So that’s at least 14 slightly solutions right there, and it’s actually a lot more than that. And with each move, you really only have a minimal number of choices. It’s a NP complete problem but it’s such a small board that it doesn’t branch out enough to make it hard to find a solution, anyone should be able to do it without screwing it up unless he/she is just messing around or fantastically stupid. Perhaps a more interesting question is, what’s the most number of pegs you can be left with? The answer is 10: E4C2, B1D3, E2C2, D3B1. Ugh. Again, such a small board that it takes only human level combinatorial consideration to see through.

        • Groggarioth

          Thank you for making me feel really dumb

        • shadowedlight

          It is also important to perhaps realize that not everyone is a math/computer science major, and wouldn’t know to look for game trees.

          Shocking, I know.

        • Ziz

          I’ll admit I was screwing around compared to how I would solve it seriously, but… wow, you’re being an ass.

  • Stupidjellyfish

    That puzzle was EASY-PEASY! It only took me, like, one try!

    :D… :)… 🙁

    • Sir Anon O’Myss III

      One try… before or after playing it enough that the pattern stuck in your head like I did? ^_^

      I love how the dialogue changes based on player performance. Very nice touch!

      • Hysvear

        The second try dialogue was the best. 😀

        Ghost: Kross Delf gran patt korarg, nos…
        Katia: *no comment*

        Ahahahahahahahahahaha

        • NoriMori

          What? O.o

        • NoriMori

          Sorry, I get it now. Didn’t know until now that you get different end dialogue if you solve the puzzle in fewer tries. XD

    • Kazerad

      For reference, Jellyfish was the only beta tester who was able to literally spend an hour and a half on the puzzle without winning. It was amazing.

      • Psithief

        Nchow.

        • NoriMori

          I finally get your comment after solving the puzzle in three tries. Didn’t even know that solving it in fewer tries gives you different end dialogue! That was a treat.

      • Grymm

        i actually kept going until i literally couldn’t make a wrong move or else she would put the piece back down.

        • Calypso

          Same. I’m the dumbest. I just kept trying to look for an elegant solution instead of planning ahead, I think.

      • Not sure whether a good thing or not, but for me it was around 5-10 minutes of staring at puzzle (and two failed attempts) before spending half of a hour on writing a program that would find a solution and output a step-by-step recipe.
        If of interest,
        Program source: https://gist.github.com/YellowAfterlife/9369618
        Output solution: https://gist.github.com/YellowAfterlife/9369636

        Also congratulations on breaking the pause in updates after all. It have indeed been a while.

        • BlueCat

          If your smart enough to write a program, you are most certainly smart enough to solve it without one ^.^.

          • Ziz

            Interesting thing about that. Some people have terrible short term memory for puzzle solving, but great problem-solving and logical skills. Like me. Though I could’ve done it much faster if I just did some sketches (extend my memory to paper).

        • xKiv

          That means you solved it without touching the pieces!

          • NoriMori

            :O

        • Super_Pickle

          Well, I found the programmer. That was easier than the puzzle.

        • Unclever title

          That is some serious linear thinking man. You solved the puzzle so hard you literally conquered it. It now falls at the feat of your digital slave, eternally.

          • Ziz

            That is a totally metal way of putting it.

        • NoriMori

          Give that man a cookie.

        • NoriMori

          Making an entry about this under TV Tropes’s “Mundane Utility – Real Life”. Also, I think this is probably worth posting to your website. 😛

          • Sir Anon O’Myss III

            Found it!

            Aaaaand there go six hours of my life, ’cause TvTropes. Totally worth it.

        • Soadreqm

          I couldn’t figure out how to compile your program, so I rewrote it in Python. It’s not quite as pretty, since I couldn’t be arsed to actually print what move was taken. 😛

          Also feels kind of slow. Takes three seconds to solve the puzzle (on my ancient 1GHz Eee PC 901), and a whopping FIFTY seconds to determine that a variant where the bottom peg has been removed isn’t solvable.
          (that is, the board looks like:
          1
          1 1
          1 0 1
          1 1 1 1
          1 1 0 1 1)
          How does your version fare, speedwise?

          My thing is here: http://pastebin.com/9yAw4Xha

          • On my machine it solves in 78ms on Flash, here’s an online testbench: http://try.haxe.org/#63220
            Haven’t measured native version, but apparently it was executing more or less instantly.

            Also “compilability” issues may come from imports section – those are remains from a generic test project (code in which I’m changing whenever I need to try out something fast), and are not quite referenced in actual program.

  • tronn

    I really liked the pseudo-3D effect at the start of the flash. Also the puzzle dialogue was hilarious, Aggy is so off his rocker that he kinda starts making sense!

    • Huffington

      Now your thinking like an Atronach!

      • Kirone

        I’ve thought like that my whole life, I cant produce magic no matter how racist i am, and that proves I am an Atronach.

  • Monster

    The wait was definitely worth it, I haven’t enjoyed an update as much as I enjoyed this one in a long time!

  • Rufus the ‘Useless at Puzzle Games’

    I deliberately got that puzzle wrong so many times just to make sure I had seen all the conversation, totally… ahem. And now I’m frustrated, I’m late and I feel like a defective hatstand – a glimpse into the mind of Katia?

    Some lovely character animations again, I didn’t realise Aggy was so, well, theatrical.

    Fantastic, loved it all!

    • Nopon

      The second I saw one of the help tips I had to restart the flash because it (very well I might add) made me feel dumb. Got it without the tips though :). Otherwise thanks for the work put into the update. It was quite nice.

      • Nopon

        Huh I didn’t mean to reply to this post : /. Must have randomly clicked while scrolling or something.

      • OmegaU

        They start showing up after you make correct moves. As long as you don’t fail too hard, they should only lead you up to your last correct move. I intentionally failed the puzzle as close to the last move as possible just to see that. As early as the second attempt if you look close you can be lead all the way to the end.

  • Hysvear

    Well It might have taken a long time. And I’ve been checking almost weekly. But it has been worth the wait.. I was happy with the update and the puzzle. I ended up beating the puzzle like 10 times at various different stages just to prove I could beat it and to read the various reactions. 😀

  • Another N

    Oooh, finally!
    Great update, good dialogue, nice minigame, it almost makes me not so angry for such long pause! :3
    Thanks, man.

  • YES!!!
    SHE’S BACK!!!
    IT”S BACK!!!
    THEY’RE BACK!!!

    Animation is beautiful, as always, and I love the game you made, although I ended up looking for the answer online after a few tries. 😛

    And am I reading that right? Makkon made the music? Awesome! I’ll go talk with him about that, next time he’s on skype 😀

    Looking forward to how the story continues to unfold.

    • Kazerad

      The song is by him, though not made specifically for this. I have another Flash in the pipes and needed to find a song that would thematically match the one I’m using there. One Cold Morning was one of the best that came to mind, and Makkon is always really cool about giving permission to use his songs.

      Hopefully he wouldn’t be crushed at my sloppy looping job – Flash seems to have about 50ms of timing variance I simply can’t control. I got it as close as I could, but there is a period where the song is briefly playing overtop itself and it’s a crapshoot whether it sounds smooth or echoey.

      • Ah okay. That makes sense. I have used a song of his (Dregs of a Bitter Cup) for a thing in the past too, and he was cool with it.

        On a side note, I’d like to, if you ever need it, make a song (either vocal or instrumental) for an update sometime in the future. You likely don’t want one right now, but the offer stands open for whenever.

    • Kirone

      SKYPE? I must make one now to talk to VIP`s of Prequel!

  • fitso

    i’m so happy

  • Tokage

    I just wish there won’t be more hiatuses like this. The story is amazing and I would really love to see more of it than a few times a year.

    It’s kind of moving at snail’s pace. It has been nearly two years since Katia got scammed.

    But yeah, whenever it does update, it’s awesome. Just… so damn… slow! (Especially since I pretty much know Katia is going to fail in the end again anyway.)

    • Mzuark

      Yeah, that is kind of an issue, that I don’t really think should be so easily written off. I mean damn Kaz, In two years/1.5 days she’s accomplished fuck all.

  • Merth

    Glad to see it’s back and glad to hear that the world is finally done shoving stuff on your plate all at the same time Kaz. Can’t wait for the next update.

  • Chthonic One

    Welcome back Kaz. Glad to see everything is doing great. I’m glad this comic didn’t go the way of some others as it’s very imaginative and fun. 🙂

    Also, I like where this is going, perhaps Katia will finally get a hold on using her powers soon? >:D

  • GrapeButter

    I JUST got a hang of what to do with the puzzle when Katia put on the cloak, either the length of the conversation is perfectly timed or I’m just the right amount of ignorant. Loved this entire update.

  • HOLY PINEAPPLES IT UPDATED =D
    I’m jumping around and screaming like a mental patient but I don’t care because it updated!!
    I LOVE YOU KAZ

    • Psithief

      I’m pretty sure this is the correct reaction.

  • DragonXVI

    Le solved! Eventually! Wait there’s hints? Gah I was just trial-and-erroring/enjoying the dialogue.

    I’m more used to the cross peg solitaire anyway :p

    Awesomely done, love the music too!

  • Mike Dardis

    Well, that was a heaping dose of humility. Here I thought I was good at calculus and math etc, then cut to TWO HOURS LATER and the puzzle has to give me the damn answer. I don’t even have any excuses.

    Jeezus. Guess I should focus on art.

    • Clean3d

      Thanks for leaving this comment, though! Good to know I’m not the only one… seems everyone else is a genius around here.

  • SomeShadyGuy

    I loved the Elder Scrolls Online maple log reference.

  • Kaytavo

    i saw two endings so far i think thats all of them
    one ending fail till the puzzle shows you how to finish it
    second ending finish on first try

    edit third ending finish on second try

  • SomeShadyGuy

    There’s an ending for finishing on the mouth part…

    • Kaytavo

      i figured there would be
      but i wonder which ending in canon

      • Kavec

        They all are! You’re still not thinking like a witch hunter.

        • Gren

          Best. Answer. Ever! Aggy must be proud of you.

        • Kaytavo

          well played sir

        • Practitioner of the Inverted U

          Now you’re thinking with C0DA.

      • Psithief

        Reality on Nirn is the will of the Aedra, and they can screw it up. Go read about the Warp in the West (an example of a “Dragon Break”), when Akatosh again lost his grip on time itself and everything went nuts around Hammerfell and High Rock during the events of Daggerfall.

        Basically, everything the ghost says is right, because their reality is a complete fabrication.

        • Irrevenant

          The dream of a sleeping god, you could say.

          • Psithief

            Oh no, the only Lovecraftian horror in The Elder Scrolls is the Daedric Prince “Hermaeus Mora” (and anything he creates). The other ones are evoke much more mundane, mortal horrors. (Lovecraft’s mythos is just not a big enough part of pop culture to warrant more than one nod to it.)

            A much better analogy is that The Elder Scrolls is a pen&paper game, and when the Game Master makes a plot hole, he explains it away in-universe instead of using retroactive-continuity.

          • Irrevenant

            Heh, the dream part is actually true. Like, it’s actually part of the lore.

      • Ransom

        Repeating what I said in anther comment here but: Personally I’m sticking to the ‘first try’ ending until proven otherwise because if I’m going to have a say in which ending is real darn it I’m going to give her the best one possible!

        But I actually do think her solving the puzzle in one go works great from a storytelling perspective. It’s something small to build on, a character piece that means she’s a step closer to being the hero we want her to be, even if she doesn’t realize it yet.

        • Ransom

          Though on reflection the ‘2nd time around’ ending works pretty well too.

        • Prophet_Lord

          The second ending is pretty damn awesome though. Second ending and final ending are the best.

  • SecludedDreamer

    I just started reading this ten hours ago and hold hell I’m glad I did, I’m glad I was fortunate enough to miss the three month hiatus

    • Gren

      Lucky bastard. >:(

    • John Smith

      You missed _this_ hiatus. There will be others.

      • Gren

        That is Katia’s new spell: Summon hiatus.

  • Gamer1858

    Okay, I may be one of the dumbest people around here when it comes to puzzle.

    Took me at least like 30 min to figure it out and notice the hints. -_- And I thought those so obvious hints was just my hallucination.

    This is a really well-done made flash there Kaz (also Ryavis and everyone else involved) and I really like it.

    Now Katia….

    FUCKING FLIP GODDAMN TABLE !

  • Contrast

    That was so inspirational! Maybe it’s because I’m slightly crazy (people tell me that sometimes), but everything Aggy said made perfect sense to me. ^_^

  • Psithief

    Don’t live too long, Katia, or you’ll lose Telekinesis to Alteration.

  • Urist McCheaterson

    Programmers: before you go and write something to solve the puzzle (I was about to), know that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel: http://www.mathsisfun.com/games/triangle-peg-solitaire/

    I think the reflex to write software to solve menial problems may be a symptom of a twisted world view, but oh well.

    • Psithief

      I think the word you’re looking for is boredom?

    • troper

      thank you, you just saved me a lot of time with that link
      (I was about to open eclipse but I decided to read the comments first :P)

  • Kathi

    I have come to three conclusions:

    1: Aggy practically runs on Insane Troll Logic that shouldn’t make sense but somehow manages to.
    2: Prequel continues to be an awesome webcomic
    3: I’m terrible at peg games.

    Conclusions aside, this is an absolutely delightful update, and well, WELL worth the wait. The art is outstanding, the music fits perfectly, and it’s just overall totally awesome.

  • Kunytran

    Well, thats just…. Amazing… ( taking note that it only took like 3 Months, a broken comment section, almost 2K comments and a New Year to get here)

  • Smallfoot

    I feel sorry for all the people that got it straight off. The ghost-hood flippy-ears bit was adorable.

    • Unclever title

      Darn, now I need to go back and fail some more. XD

      Not that I got it on the first try, I first got it on Mouth Genius.

  • Thats… Kinda bad for me, because i always check prequel at work in my Phone, and when a flash appears im like “._.” Because i cant see that in my phone and the first flash updates had a summary of what happened, so why?please Bring back the summary, for those who cant load flash!

  • SuperGnome

    Dear god Kaz. F***ing awesome piece of work. Ive always hated that puzzle, you know? I spent a whole day memorizing how to solve it as a kid. Had to force myself to fail, to get the whole conversation between the two.

  • M

    Glad to see Katia’s back, and this is definitely the right way for the story to return, with a flash!

    I really enjoyed it!

    I wonder if Aggy’s a worshipper of Sheogorath. Although he definitly has an interesting way of viewing things!

  • Gren

    Splendid! Not sure if it worthed the long wait but at least I did enjoyed it.
    Love the art, the music and the several possible endings. That Aggy has his smarts! Charming smartass, where did he got that level of eloquence? Speechcraft is not a major skill on witchhunters, you know?
    I prefer not to comment about when the next update is coming. Probably it’d be the best if everyone do the same. Just not to attract any more bad luck.

  • kotekzot

    Is something supposed to happen after he asks if you’ve ever moved things with your mind?

    • Psithief

      No, it is the lead-in to the next update.
      For The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Telekinesis was part of the Mysticism school.

      Telekinesis: Moving things with one’s mind.

      • kotekzot

        Thanks for the info. Terribly misleading ending, felt like I was meant to do something to progress.

        P.S. I know telekinesis is under mysticism in Oblivion.

        • Ransom

          I actually wondered if there was more for a second or two myself but that is the nature of this sort of comic sometimes. Each update is supposed to prompt user commands for the next action, so in this case we end with a line prompting Katia, and by proxy the reader, to respond to a question.

    • No, that’s the lead-in for the next update.

  • Considering all the sprite art you’ve been making for this comic, you might as well bundle it up into a point & click adventure game once it’s finished. 😛

  • Quintus

    Sorry, Kaz, but you deserve this:

    http://i.imgur.com/TJDkcFi.jpg

    • Irrevenant

      Katia needs a TOP GUN hat.

  • Kristian

    That was amazing, what an lovely update!

    Must give my love to Makkon too for the song, I just kept it going on the background <3

  • Ransom

    Wow, once again a long wait is worth it for the update.

    The art on Katia in the opening was amazing. The music was atmospheric and well suited.

    Aggy is a crazy ghost but he’s got a point Katia! You’re smarter than you think, stronger than you think, better versed in magic than you think.

    I’ll admit I was a little excited when the peg game appeared since I recognized that way back when it first appeared and I’m a Cracker Barrel fan. I’ll also admit I immediately opened up another tab and found a way to cheat (i used this: http://www.medjh.com/triang/index.htm) but that was for storyline purposes! I wanted Katia to solve it on the first try. Even if I go back and try all the other endings it’s still ‘canon’ in my own mind since it’s what I saw first. And it is great.

    Which brings up the issue of which ending is the real one. Personally, I’m submitting my command with the assumption that the ‘first try’ ending is. Yes all the others are hilarious but it’s a very, very small breakthrough and a demonstration that Katia can think through things a lot better than she gives herself credit for. Plus it ends with the wham line “Have you ever moved objects with your mind?”

  • Kawaii princess chan uguuu neon kitten

    http://goo.gl/0AJ9AE I made something to celebrate the return of cat lady.

    • I don’t have a DeviantArt account, so I probably can’t comment on the actual site, but the art is sort of Adventure Time Katia, and this is not a bad thing.

  • I was just about to bite into a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, thinking to myself how fine a morning it was, when I clicked on the Prequel bookmark. There was an update and today became the best day ever.

    The music was spot-on and it certainly sounds as if it was made for this scene, even if it really wasn’t. It felt good to see Katia succeed at something and not give up in the face of (under my control) many repeated failures.

    It’s nice to see that someone is encouraging Katia to succeed with such vigor and if that someone is a crazy ancestral ghost then so be it.

    The assertion that this would not be worth the three month wait is a complete lie.

    • Daki

      Yes. Today is best day.
      This is good and you should feel good.

      But, more importantly- How was that bagel?

  • OrdoRaptus

    That music was very chilling yet filled with hope. It reminded me a lot of the “Snow is Falling (gsnow_b) theme from Daggerfall in that regard. Rather appropriate, I’d say.
    This update was definitely worth it. Aggy’s motivational speeches…they spoke to me on a personal level. T_T

    • TheTurnipKing

      You should worry. I’m pretty sure he’s completely insane.

      • OrdoRaptus

        Exactly! 😉

  • krystalkitty

    I’m so happy to see that the hiatus is finally over. Welcome back!

  • TheAndyMac

    So, this is what you had us waiting three months for?

    Worth it. Totally worth it.

    Seriously, I don’t think I can think of a single bad thing to say here. Everything was perfect. The mood, the setting with the snow, the incredibly frustrating puzzle that’s offset by the way the music builds as though this is the scene where we’re building to something greater…

    Nice to see Makkon’s stuff here, by the way. I thought the style sounded familiar. 🙂

  • Wind

    My first response when I saw the “Next” button: link

  • The Whicher

    Im so very happy right now 🙂 This update is just so nicely done.
    The graphics, the music, the written content. Purrfect! 😀

  • Dragomok (has bit of a webcomic problem)

    That was… beautiful.

    Beautiful, extremly funny, inspirational, up-lifting, unexpected and you can almost taste the buttloads of effort.

    Thank you, Kazerad.

  • JJR

    When I learned that Katia knew the basics of a language call Dragonish, I thought that the leader of a certain ancient monastic order in Skyrim had been involved. Then I looked it up, oh well…

  • Prophet_Lord

    This was beautiful. This is why Prequel is my favorite webcomic.
    The first ending I got was the mouth one, which is magical, I then spent the next half hour or so trying to get every ending.
    Which is really damn hard since I think every try has two-three different endings.
    Either way, this was well worth the wait. Thank you Kaz.
    Also, any way for all the endings to eventually be revealed in some kind of huge mass? So I don’t have to redo every ending all over again if I want to reference back to something Aggy says? I need to keep some of his monologues as inspirational speeches.

  • TheTurnipKing

    I am disappoint.

    I thought the point of solving the puzzle was so Katia could finally, FINALLY, flip the darn table.

    haha, no seriously. Good job.

  • ganonlink

    Doesn’t work for me, I’ve tried Firefox and IE.

    http://puu.sh/7iLDp.png

    • Klatu

      Change ‘.html’ to ‘.swf’ in the address bar. Worked for me.

  • Piranha!

    The circumstances under which Prequel was updated!

    I was seriously in a BAD PLACE last night–to the point where I had a test in a very important class that I skipped out on because I just really, really did not want to be there. I came home and seriously thought about my life, considered drowning my contemplations in hours of video games again (decided against it), and finally ACTUALLY got some sleep for a night and then woke up to THIS.

    My first Prequel update. 😀 I needed this so badly right now. Thanks Kaz, srs.

  • JustAnotherMonsterGirl

    I think I’ve just found my new favorite character.

    *Goes to edit all over Aggy’s section on TvTropes*

    • NoriMori

      A fellow Troper! *high fives*

  • Restless Viewer

    Holy shit, Katia, you’re kind of a badass. You have no right to hate on yourself when you can speak fucking Draconic.

    • Thisguy

      fucking draconic, its funny cause it’s literal

  • Irrevenant

    Aggy’s descriptions of Mysticism are pretty much dead-on. And are why he makes perfect sense.

    I like the third try ending. Man, I did not know I’d be spending my morning on this. Not that I’m complaining. Great update, Kaz.

    I…don’t suppose there’s a way to skip the beginning dialogue right to the game?

  • woundedkneecap “Jazzy”

    Damn, I’m all excited about Prequel again!

    I loved all the different combinations, I’m going through and trying it again and again till I see every one of them, it’s so dynamic!

    Best wishes, Kaz, you really know how to get the Prequel-Fiesta stirred up again.

  • CRDBRDWHLS

    YES! yes I knew it wasn’t dead! yet…
    kidding. this it well worth it!

  • pheonix561

    Completely worth the wait. Utterly brilliant. I haven’t laughed this hard at any webcomic update in god knows how long. I kept getting cynical at the idea of a new update after three months being any good but holy shit I was blown out of the water. Good job Kazerad. If there is ever a donations thing on your website I will probably send you money for a pizza.

    Have you ever considered doing a patreon campaign? I don’t know how serious you are about doing comics, but it looks like you could definitely get a lot of love and support through one to keep working on this. I know I’d gladly give a few dollars a month if it meant more of this.

  • Dan

    Katia just learn clairvoyance!

  • ganonlink

    To anyone who’s not managing to see the flash when clicking the picture in the update, replace the “html” at the end of the link for “.sfw”. It takes you straight to the flash, not the page.

  • Snipe

    Luckely I stuck around here, because it was worth it!
    But that bloody puzzle, I tried it for a whole hour, still didnt do it.
    I always was horrible at logical thinking, which makes it even weirder for me that Aggy tells her to tink “crazy”.
    I tried crazy. Didnt solve the damned puzzle…
    Isnt Einstein’s insanty theory “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.”
    Well I couldnt even remember what I did in the first place!
    After that I noticed the white arrows. Almost flipped my desk.

    • Ransom

      I was watching to see if anyone else had caught the white arrows too. A clever hint, a representation of Katia’s logical thinking skills? Or a way to aid those who are ready to rage quit?

  • Twad

    Absolutely superb update here. Everything is good. Loved the speech from the ghost and the music gives the right atmosphere.

  • Erica

    Another beautiful addition, Kaz and Co.! Very happy right now!

    I’ve seen a few people here comment about the game ‘giving hints’ or ‘telling them how to solve it’, or the like… and some who even mentioned feeling a bit dumb when it started to give the lines: To those people, here’s a funny thing: the game -isn’t- giving you tips at all…. All it does is show you flashes of moves that you’ve already made that are potentially non-terminating… literally, as Katia is advised to, remembering the correct future, hehe. It’ll begin to show memories of moves made that weren’t wrong as soon as you’ve made one, so from the second play…. and if against all possibility you never make a non-terminating move, it’ll never show any (and if you can achieve that in the face of possibility saying otherwise, then you’ve already learned the lesson it’s teaching ^.^)

    You can solve the puzzle a dozen different ways, and the way I did it first will be different to the way you did it first…. and consequently, the lines it might have drawn for me while I was working it out would be different to the ones you saw; you really are working it out for yourself, in reality, and not being helped at all.

    Which means, incidentally, given that all endings are at once canonically true…. Katia has shown once again that, despite everything, she’s actually pretty darn quick on the uptake. And highly skilled at doing things with her mouth. Which there is nothing to be ashamed of.

    I loved it.

    -Erica

  • Ace

    That was amazing; it was funny, beautifully drawn, the music was perfect, and the whole conversation with Katia and her talents was very well done. Easily worth the wait…but don’t do it again.

  • Khoth

    If this keeps up by the end of this comic well have a full version of oblivion done by Kaz. And I’ll love it!

  • Molkifier

    Should’ve called this “Aggy: Cracker Barrel Puzzles”

    Glad to see the update finally out though ^^

  • Pajaul

    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…
    I see what I did wrong and I’m going to try again…

    I see nothing. but I’m still trying.

  • Omicron

    Oh god I am so bad at this puzzle, not only did I fail to get anywhere near completing it on my own, I also failed to notice that it had been spelling out the correct sequence for me all this time! Take heart Katia, there are others who are just as bad, if not worse than you. 😛

    But really, I like how this flash once again outlines a repeating pattern that I keep noticing about Katia – namely the the difference between her being alone versus her being with someone.

    True, a group can always achieve more than a single individual. But the thing is, some people are so competent, they gain very little from allies. Katia however is the complete opposite. There is a lot that should speak for her in terms of skills; she’s a capable artist, a mage, speaks a large number of languages well enough to at least make rudimentary conversation, can outrun a human even if said human is cheating with magic, and so on and so forth. And most of all, she’s an incredibly fast learner, going from zero to fire mage in but 48 hours. She should be capable. But leave her alone, and she’s not. She completely falls apart, all skills be damned.

    This made me realize that it’s not about her skills. It’s not about what she can and cannot do. It’s all about the fact that, for some reason, she can’t handle being alone. Maybe there are deep-seated abandonment issues buried within, amplified by knowing how many people she disappointed. Maybe she has an anxiety disorder, either born with or from those nightmares. Or maybe it’s another reason entirely.

    But put her together with someone else who is genuinely interested in helping her, and suddenly things go right. With Quill-Weave by her side, she was able to brave her fear of royalty, rack up her “disasters avoided” counter to unexpected heights, and even end up having a “best day ever”. With ASOTIL by her side, she was able to focus and motivate herself to the point where she basically taught herself to weave fire without having ever received instruction by an actual mage, and ended up arriving in Kvatch so pumped that she ran uphill the entire mountain, unable to await what might lie within. And now with Aggy, she can even be tricked into making herself try to prove wrong her own self-doubts. And each of these times, these people didn’t actually do the work for her. They just told her to pull herself together and try. And she did.

    The matter is quite simple – Katia needs someone. She’s terminally dependant on it. Call it a counterweight to steady her, or a safe harbor for her to fall back on. A foundation to stand on without slipping, and suddenly she has leverage. I think, what Katia needs more than anything in this world is someone who simply remains by her side, to allow all that potential to finally unfold. Perhaps even a mate.

    I think that’s what drives a lot of the affection that people hold for her – even if they don’t realize it consciously. Because upon seeing her, on some subconscious level, they simply feel: “She needs me.”

    • Lobster

      Nice one

    • Ninja4Hire

      Beautiful theory. I think maybe she is so used to failing that she gets to a point where she can’t succeed unless someone is there to tell her to keep trying. Like with this puzzle, if she doesn’t get it the first time she’s ready to give up, but Aggy keeps her at it.
      Some ppl have said that they like the first few endings (where Katia displays her intelligence and problem solving skills by beating the puzzle easily) and I agree that those ending are good, but I love the last time I played it, where I went until the between game dialogue stopped changing. The first 5 or 6 times she fails Aggy is there to keep her at it, so she continues. But the last few games, all she would say is “I know what I messed up last time. I’m going to try it again.” And suddenly she was determined again. She didn’t need help anymore, she became the Katia that keeps trying until she gets it right. And that just made it so fulfilling when she did.

  • JC 042

    All of your excuses are lies. What happened was in 3 months you became a philosopher and used your philosopherness to make this update! Thank you Kazerad for your commitment to this comic that you even make contributions to modern philosophy for it! 😀

  • J.J. Eldritch

    Heh, totally worth the wait. Loved the ESO bet too, can’t wait for the games actual release! O^O

    • J.J. Eldritch

      beta*, darn you keyboard

  • That dithered sprite art that sets the stage for the flash…. seriously gorgeous stuff! I am… just…. it….

    Yes. Very yes.

    Also, glad to see you back. I always get a kick out of your writing and storytelling, and your love for TES Lore would make Kirkbride proud.

  • Bmark

    beautiful.
    well worth the wait.
    aggy’s lines, the peg game, the music…
    all of it.
    thanks, kaz

  • STOTANS

    I survived the puzzle.

    Really glad that I found this community.

    I think I am going to like it here.

    STOTANS!!!!

  • Guy Noir Private Eye

    No wonder it took so long! This is amazing!

  • thatanos

    I have a flash player at the latest version but I still can’t view Aggy: Extrapolate. I haven’t been able to view any in the past either. Anyone know why?

    • Ninja4Hire

      Try it in Google Chrome. Something in IE (and Firefox maybe) seems to be throwing it off. Also an earlier poster said that you can replace the .html at the end of the address with .swf to go directly to the flash instead of the page with the flash in it, and I tried that in IE and it worked.

      • Thatanos

        Thanks soooo much!

  • Random person of the internet

    Okay, this page was totally worth the wait, I say.
    The game was hilarious, and I was bad enough to get pretty much all the dialogue until I realized it was showing the answer after a while. So, I was pretty happy with it before.
    Then, just for kicks, I remembered how to do it again, so this time I got it in two tries. Then I was rewarded with a completely different dialogue, which was equally amusing.

    I just have to say, this page is great.

  • daki

    Whoa. Just. Whoa. This update was amazing and so good.

    But I’m an idiot, I couldn’t solve the puzzle without looking at a cheat sheet. I just couldnt.
    I’m sorry for being so dumb.

    • Ninja4Hire

      Don’t feel bad, I’ve played this game several times in Cracker Barrel and I still had to play it until the hint lines showed me the solution.

  • Shima

    This is so beautiful. It felt like watching a movie. Great choice of music!
    Thanks, Kaz, I really enjoyed this update.

    I just wish things would now get better for Katia, the constant failures make me a bit sad.

    Also, the timeline is great! I was surprised to it’s only a few days from the start. It feels like it took years (well, it did take a few years to get to the current state 🙂 ).

  • Moo?

    For fuck sake im on my phone! Now I have to go downstairsvturn my computer on! But still atleast there is a update

    • Moo?

      Worth it that music was awsome BTW. And the part when there talking about using her mouth made me laugh

  • Risingsun2252

    Amazingly done. Got pride in myself for finishing on the second go, and I love where its heading 😀 Never knew Katia was multi-lingual

  • Ninja4Hire

    Stunning Update. Just wow. The intro art is so beautiful and the music is just great. Also, even if this was always going to be the next page, it felt so good to get a flash after that wait.
    Lovely expectation reversal with Aggy too. Waiting 3 months thinking he was gonna readying some awesome power-up and all he did was make it snow.

    And just gonna leave this here: http://www.prequeladventure.com/2012/02/nah-fail-to-car/

  • Stupidjellyfish

    Katia on the bottom left of the second panel; she is tripping BALLS.

  • Beep

    Ahhh…sad cats are back with a new animation and mini game *eats up content*

  • Kartafla

    Oh wow. I remember now why this is my favourite webcomic ever. Beautiful update. And don’t worry about the surprise hiatus, lots of comics have done far worse, with much smaller updates!

  • VC

    Wooo! Update! Great job, Kaz. Love the puzzle and all the dialogue possibilities!

  • Dimitriexeno

    This was well worth the time it took, Kaz. It was hilarious and well animated and genuinely made me feel much better about myself. It was very uplifting, to me anyways. I’ve been having some problems with depression, well, for a long time, and this really spoke to me on a level I never expected even existed, let alone from a comic about a sad slutcat.

    Huh, maybe I’m an atronach too!

  • Higuera

    math humans were never meant to endure…

  • metachrono

    Hey Kazerad, i know you put a lot of work into the dialog, and you probably want people to view it the normal way, but i’m sure as heck not going to play the game 14 different times to see everything. So, in case other people feel the same way, here’s the text rip

    That post was fucking huge! Here’s a link to the same text instead: http://chaos.foxmage.com/dialogue.txt
    – The Moderation

  • ICountFrom0

    Okay folks, now that we can enter commands without joining the forum, how about we stuff the ballet box?

    Ghost wants telekinesis…. puzzle that was preventing the flip is gone… arms … bah…

    Telekinetic table flip, lets get this done.

  • Shazbot

    I do like how Aggy suggest bulling forward and following whatever goal you are approaching via the power of making it happen through sheer bloody-mindedness.. unless there’s a puzzle or a quest involved, and then here come the unbeatable railroad tracks. 😉

  • Araph

    Kazerad

    You’re a genius

    Aggy is awesome

  • enistoja

    Even if the ghost is crazy… that is one of the most inspirational things I’ve read in a while.
    Awesome work. Just awesome, and VERY moving.

  • ikearat

    See! See See See!
    This is why we come here, this is why we willingly wait, THIS is why!
    So few things, so damned few things these days are worth a person’s time but Prequel Adventure is one of the things really worth waiting for.

    Simply saying thank you is not enough but I can’t think up worthy words so,

    Thank you!

  • gamboy84

    I can’t get the link to go, every time I click it just takes me to a blank webpage with text at the top!

    • zee

      I was having the same problem, but if you’ll look through the gibberish text and find the url that ends with .swf just copy and paste it into your address bar and go there instead.

      Also I didn’t want Katia to feel dumb so as soon as she started ‘thinking like a witchhunter’ with her new imaginary outfit and cute flappy ears I helped her solve the dumb puzzle with the magical art popularly referred to as ‘googling’, but it seems I missed a lot of dialogue in the process, I’ll have to go back and continue being terrible at it later.

      And in defense of all of us who were so, so, bad at this puzzle, it seems the most difficult possible arrangement of pegs was deliberately chosen–if the initial empty peg starts off in a different spot there’s apparently a lot more winning possibilities.

      • BlueCat

        It’s the game you have to fail at in order to win XP.
        and get all the possible dialogue, but that means a lot of failing XD, well worth it though for all the laughs.

  • Mr. Skungeous

    I’ve been jonesing for this update, but this was worth the wait. Beautiful and powerful, and meaningful to more than just Catia.. With the direction Aggy’s pep talk was taking, though, I honestly thought that yanking the pegs out one by one and tossing them aside would have been a valid solution to the puzzle; solving the puzzle by not solving it and proving your wit by adopting a witless solution, you know.

  • Damshe

    Damn. Can’t view whatever it is. Problem on my end, probably. Any suggestions?

    • Nefel

      Send Kaz an email

      [email protected]

    • Ninja4Hire

      Replace the .html in the address with .swf or go to the page w/ Chrome instead of IE/firefox. That’s what worked for me.

  • Zorpike

    See, Katia has what everyone else has. She has determination, bravery, intelligence, and imagination, all in spades. There was only one thing that Katia didn’t have. Someone who truly believed in her, and wouldn’t give up on her.

  • ogg

    great as always, thank you.

  • DiamondMX

    The art of Katia at the beginning of the flash is f*cking gorgeous. Just thought you should know that.
    Love the comic, well worth the wait. Looking forward to the next one.

  • TehMilla

    To quote Gabe newell “Hopefully it will be worth the weight!”
    And it was. ^(,-,)^ *cries of happiness*

    (achievement get, secret muzzle solving ending)

    • xKiv

      It was worth its own weight in gold.

  • Renku

    \o/ Finally beat one of these puzzles!
    …now if only I could remember how so I could do this in real life.

  • Sindri

    That is fucking beautiful. Aggy is best Guardian.

  • Neo za Buraddoejji

    Hey Kaz you took too much time!
    Figuring the puzzle was really a new thing for me because i never played this “Cracker Barrel Game”
    and now is one of these games that really make me think that use our memory is important.
    Puzzle Solution here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILKXEnX_YGM
    The sprite introduction and multiple dialog ending is really beautiful… i liked it a lot, the only bad thing is that i need to wait more for see what happens next.

    Katia now you need to think like a witch-hunter!
    remember what you read in those magic books!

  • Deuce

    fuck, It wont load for me, maybe you could take a look at that kaz?

    • Ninja4Hire

      Replace the .html in the address with .swf or go to the page w/ Chrome instead of IE/firefox. That’s what worked for me.

  • actua

    I’ve never failed this puzzle before…nor was I aware it was possible to get a 5…thanks for that.

  • Caustic

    Really loved this update. I was in the middle of a gigantic creative block before I played this, and now I’m brimming with ideas again.

    I especially like the varying dialogue. Most video games don’t capitalize on this, often placing some generic prompt telling the player to try again, but your take really helps to characterize Katia and Agnes.

    Your work’s been a huge inspiration to me, and I hope you continue this excellent comic.

    • Gren

      Agnes? What nonsense is that?

      • Caustic

        Crap, got his name wrong. It’s been a long time since I got back to this comic.

    • Shazbot

      The limited dialogue choices is almost entirely due to the necessity of full voiceacting. It was a terrible idea.. so it caught on.

  • desertpetrichor

    Dammit! Of course the update would be flash when the only thing I have to access the internet is my ipad.

    Guess I’ll just have to wait another few days. It’s awesome to see an update though!

  • vulcan539

    IS there a way to restart the puzzle with out restarting the flash?

    Also it’s great to have this updated, I’t been well worth the wait and the flash is lovely.
    Can’t wait for the next update.

  • Samus17

    Solving with your mouth=best way to win

  • thepluderking

    holy crap, that was beautiful. never expected katia to actually get a break. aggy is the fuckin savior of this comic. with him around maybe we can actually get somewhere! no more mopey katia!

  • James Almasy

    for the love of god, Kaz. Get Bethesda’s approval to make this an actual game.

    • TheTurnipKing

      I’d rather have a parallel Katia in a different world, tbh.

  • Korangar

    Thank you for the update Kaz. I knew my patience was worth it.

  • Deodesu

    AN UPDATE

    HOLY SHIT SJFGBHRAKJIOUW*SFUH

  • Kishmond

    Hey, it’s “One Cold Morning” by Makkon! I love that song!

    also, /)

  • Hunts-in-Long-Grass

    Beautiful, brilliant update, easily worth the wait and then some. In addition to being wonderfully hilarious, the dialogue was actually very insightful. There’s honestly a lot of great, motivating lines in this that really amped me up. I’ve been sorta down and feeling like despite all my trying, I’m just no good. Count on PREQUEL to update then with a wonderful little glimmer of hope and insight.

    Seriously, great job. Couldn’t have been better timed for me.

    • Deodesu

      I agree. I wish I was good at dialogue and making up stories. :/ This was awesome.

  • GameReaperOZ

    Yeah I can’t open the link, every time I try it just comes up with a page with nothing but a whole bunch of code. I’m using internet explorer if that helps.

    • Ninja4Hire

      Yeah, that’s what I used first too. Then I tried it with Chrome on a whim and it worked. Also one of the earlier posters said that you can just replace the .html at the end of the address with .swf to get it to work if you only have IE.

  • CinnamonSalve

    This is possibly my favorite update! (Haven’t commented before this) Haven’t gotten each of the endings, but I do like where this is going, oh ho ho~!

  • Sir Mcbuttprojectilemcshitontheceiling

    I love how you tied everything together in this update. She had a string of misfortunes, but they all ultimately proved that she could learn fast. Not bad, Sir. She finally had something good happen to her.

  • Octane

    Ooh, you bastard, giving us the hard version. Wait, no, if you didn’t I would be upset.

    Totally worth the wait. As per ushe.

  • hillbillyinablimp

    I’m only up way late at night, with risk of dying in class tomorrow due to sleep deprivation.

    The update was worth it. God damn, do I love puzzles, especially the dumb ones.

  • Arterius

    Found this comic rather recently and it’s probably the best one of it’s kind I have seen. The characters, art and facial expressions* ar all great. *For instance when someone suggest something which makes no sense at all Katia just stares into the screen like “wtf…” and it’s hilarious.

    Just want to say thanks to the author and everyone else working on this, working on something like this during their spare time for others to enjoy. Really appreciate the extra mile you go through with these minigames and more interactive panels (like the latest dream segment whetre she jumped down a bunch of steps). Also don’t worry about updates not being on time, real life issues are more important.

    So thanks, and it will be fun to see where it goes from here!

  • Vicorva

    I totally loved this update. Maybe it wasn’t something you intended to be huge and super amazing, but for me it was just wonderful. It’s weird how much Aggy’s crazy mentoring involved… actual… well, mentoring, and as someone who tends to struggle with dumb puzzles it was nice to be rewarded with extra dialogue with Aggy, which just made the eventual win more sweet.

    Also, so grateful for the submit commands option! I’ll get on it right away.

    I really wish there was some way fan’s could support you to do this full-time, but since we can’t… thanks. There is no reward for being as committed to this as you are, and I don’t blame you for long breaks between updates (much as I hate them). So thanks for making them anyway.

    • needsomemiracle

      >I really wish there was some way fan’s could support you to do this full-time
      There is and it’s called Kickstarter.

      • xKiv

        1) Kickstarter is for one-time things.
        2) For pledging repeated payment, there’s Patreon.
        3) Can’t make money off this either way, Bethesda’s lawyers would take it all and more.

        • Vicorva

          >This.

  • Big Fat Gabe

    It wasn’t worth the weight.

    • Deodesu

      The weight?

      • The weight of the world. For three months…

    • Unclever title

      Worth it’s wait in Scrib Jelly.

  • spud

    To be honest the hiatus left much to be desired and I was incredibly tempted to stop checking however you’ve certainly come back with a terrific bang. The flash was extraordinary and surprisingly detailed as most of your flashes are, you’ve certainly won me back Kaz, keep up the good work.

  • Look at that, 200 comments in two days, thats faster than the last one! Lets go for the 1000 again before kaz updates this one!

  • Tanniyn

    “Embrace the madness”? Since when was Aggy meeting with Sheogorath in Shivering Isles?

  • ooklah

    I completely failed that puzzle, thank you for at least putting in a brute force, no you can’t move there ending.

  • Evan

    Is there anything I’m supposed to do when Katia is asked if she ever moved anything with her mind?

    • Ninja4Hire

      Nah. You can tell when you’ve reached the end because a little triangle will appear in the bottom left that takes you back to the start of the flash if you click it.

  • Evan

    http://www.joenord.com/puzzles/peggame/ To anyone having trouble with the puzzle, scroll down to the very bottom for the answer. :3

  • Dreadmaster231

    LOVED IT!

    So much cool… Now to wait again..

    Also my quest for 100 read through’s is now at 50

  • Damn, that second panel in the flash animation.

  • Laufente

    Ahhh!!! I feel so bad for making Katia feel like an idiot! I suck at these checkers puzzle thingies… I always had to use the super tip for later ones (and slider puzzles) when playing Professor Layton, which I usually try hard to avoid. I just can’t think ahead for shit :/ DUMB PUZZLE SOLVED

    A lovely update, though!

  • tronn

    Hey Kaz, will there eventually be an option to see what suggestions other users have already sent? I think one of the best features of the mspaintforum thread was taking previous commands and building on them, putting your own spin on them. Also, less repetition.

  • Kaz, can I have a still of the second panel in the flash animation?

  • sL360

    Once again, a delayed update is totally damn worth it.

    ….I swear this makes me want to replay Elder Scrolls from Morrowind to Skyrim. I love this frickin’ lore @_@

  • BanditoWalrus

    The wait was worth it.

  • ikkonoishi

    That was literally one of the most inspirational things I have ever seen.

  • CobwebConsensus

    Sudden realization that Katia may have been willing terrible things upon herself from the very start.

  • Kajex

    Kaz must constantly be leveling up. I’m serious. Because with this comic, he goes -more- than a little crazy, and the entire thing becomes gold.

  • Tettix

    I think Aggy has become my favorite Elder Scrolls related character ever. He’s all my favorite parts of Sheogorath and Neloth wrapped into one non-corporeal bundle of crazy confidence.

    I–I think I’m in love.

  • Wangarath

    The day has come when a new update arised, and with it the mighty previous comment section got quickly abandoned. It was really interesting, full of Speculation, magic, character progression, theories, coincidences, Kazerad dieing (quite often), lobster murderers, poems, gravatars, trolls, cultists, someone nearly got executed, christmas & new year, impatience (about the next update), more impatience (and even more), someone threatening Kazerad with… never mind, it’s better if you don’t know about tis one…, the oblivion crisys, sympthoms of prequel addiction, squids, hypnotoads (or hypnotoasts?) The mighty comment breaker, vivid dreams about Katia in orbital course (and some people getting beaten with wooden dongs), a lightning strike and a falling tree, “fuck weather”, 13 inches of snow, Aliens kidnapping Kazerad, illness, a campaign against fate itself, Stating that the comic is dead/abandoned (I lost count of how many times this topic appeared), accusations of lieing to the readers, insulting and betraying them (seriously WTF) and some people having severe prequel addiction. And Pepsidude ate his shoes.

    I hope Kazerad feels better now, and in the name of Prequel readers I’d like to wish him good health.

    • Daki

      Seriously WTF? It was completely true! But that’s a moot point. Now that Kzrd is back, things should be okay. I just hopes he lets us know next time he decides to take a “hawaiian vacation”.

      Note the quotation marks, meaning it’s sarcasm.

      Still, I kinda wish we could’ve made it to 2000 comments though, that would’ve been amazing.

    • NoriMori

      That was wonderful.

  • Grateful

    Hey, if you didn’t explore all the endings, try solving the puzzle on the first go. It’s probably gonna be the canon ending going forwards, judging by the dialogue.

    On second thought: Mysticism. Obviously all endings are canon. And are not.

    Nevermind…

    • JJR

      So would that be some sort of Dragon Sneeze?
      The Twist outside the Tavern?

  • Georgie_leech

    All is forgiven for the delay. This was an amazing update, and a perfect place for an interactive flash. It let us feel what Katia feels, the frustration with the puzzle, the determination to succeed anyway. It really resonated with some stuff going on in my own life, and Aggy’s refusal to abandon Katia really hit home. This is the first update to really make me cry.

  • Teneksi

    This update hit home more than I could have expected, and not so much because of the thinking like a witch hunter with the angles and the future and the …apples… and …. uh…

    but because of the puzzle.

    I first encountered this dumb puzzle when I was like 6, at my grandma’s house. Once I figured out what you were supposed to try to do, I always just jumped whatever looked obvious at the moment, and never gave it much thought. That never worked. I resented its existence.

    Today, I completed it (with Katia’s mouth; “I can’t believe that worked”), by actually taking Aggy’s advice. I could determine the future (of the puzzle anyway). I wished I had that triangle board to slap down on the table myself. Almost threw my mouse instead.

  • Helio

    Learn absolutely nothing from this experience! But feel disconcerted sense of victory anyway.

  • Aggy is a dumb name (AIDAN)

    Kaz,

    That was just awesome. Thank you. Katia is the screw-up many see in themselves. I think it’s why you have the following that you do. But it’s also why we are so happy to see her succeed, so miserable when she fails. The talent you don’t see in yourself is always an interesting thing to try and write, but you did it remarkably well. Your loyalty to this story is unbelievable and highly appreciated. I won’t doubt again.

    Thank you for doing what you do. I can’t wait for the next update,
    AIDAN

  • Shadow_Mantis

    5 tries… 5…. I loved what happened after the first few as that resulted in one of my other attempts failing…

    Also never commented before on here… as before… didn’t have something to comment about. BTW nicely done with the dialogue.

  • NoriMori

    That was fucking wonderful. Thank you. It was so gratifying to finally solve the puzzle, and the music…something about the music was *amazing*. It felt like Christmas, or something…some wintry magical-ness. I absolutely fucking loved it.

    And Aggy…oh my God, Aggy. I love him way too much. And his gestures and facial expressions…perfect. Absolutely, 100%, fucking, perfect.

  • Felaeris

    Been checking this thing every other day. Saw it the evening of the same day it came up. Played until I had every ending. Then played again the next day just to relive that awesome dialogue. Never even commented here before, but after 3 months wait finally vindicated…. totally worth it <3

  • Kyber

    This was beautiful! I was almost in tears because I realize what this is to them. He’s teaching her, and she’s learning slowly. You’ve managed to make something that connected to me better than most movies I watch now a days. And every failure makes it seem almost more inspiring.

    Kazerad, this is wonderful!

  • Gren

    Okay, I’d like to say I respect Katia’s privacy but after seeing the second ending I can’t help but wonder WHAT THE HELL WAS DOING A DRAGON IN HAMMERFELL OF ALL PLACES?! Though I think now I know what could have crossed in her mind when she pondered about the weirdest thing she has done drunk after not knowing if she had drunk sex with the unicorn or not.

    • JJR

      She knows Dragonish (http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Dragonish) A language spoken by the Dragonlings that live in Hammerfell. No relation to the Dovah.

      • Gren

        Oh, now that makes sense! Thanks for the information. 🙂

  • Telvanni Pride

    I’m just gonna say that if she pulls this off and becomes a witch-hunter, all the bug musk in the world ain’t gonna save Sigrid from the righteous asskicking she has coming!

  • Henrik

    Yes! Really love your webcomic, Kazerad 🙂
    Even though I was eager for an update, I totally understand the hiatus (most people will, I guess!).
    Cheers from Brazil!

  • reticentReciter

    Great job on this update! I don’t have any sage insight that other people haven’t expressed better and more eloquently, so I’m just going to brofist you through internets.

  • Shazbot

    No comments on the rumbling as Katia gets up angry?

  • Fardrik

    Isn’t there some kind of magic shield against weather or something? Like a magic blanky.

  • Anthrezyk

    I usually dont comment in the comics I follow, but seriously this is getting better and better. You honestly have great potential and its always fun to see an update. While trying to be assiduous on updates is good, i dont think you should stress out too much on it as quality is always worth the wait :), and real life is always more important. Congratulation on this adventure, you are the Carbot of ES.

  • Bluedragon

    Better get the follow up out before TOO long or we’ll break the comments again! Just to chime in, GREAT update and (though I’d not said this a week ago) it was worth it. I hope you can return to updating more regularly obviously. And that intro with the 16-bit-katia took me back to 90’s era gaming! Beautiful. Did YOU do that Kaz? Didn’t look like your style.

    And then yesterday (and this morning) I followed your /co/ thread(s). It’s really a shame we can’t put that “one” .gif up in the fanart. Funniest .gif I think I’ve ever seen. Even more because for 15 seconds I didn’t realize it was animated. (If only I could read your mouse-writing quicker!) But I bow to your wishes and I guess maybe it’s inappropriate – but it’s still a shame that more can’t see it. Anyone who hasn’t – and is an adult – should see if they can’t find it – the bartender and Weedum-Ja one. I’m sure it will be on one of the less reputable sites soon if not already. How Kaz comes up with these scenarios though in – what, an hour at most? – is beyond me.

    Ok, Faceless Mook returning to the back of the crowd.

    • Kazerad

      The intro splash wasn’t mine, one of the other people drew it. They want to remain ambiguous which, though.

      I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my 4chan request threads =P. Someone uploaded most of the drawings to the fanart page, though I think it’s best that kind of racy one with Weedum-Ja and the bartender stay off. Even if it was funny, it still overstepped some boundaries and I don’t want to break my own page’s rules.

      • Aggy is a dumb name (AIDAN)

        It was pretty awesome, though. Was the speech about being a customer but not receiving service a jab at the community’s gripes about how awful it was that you weren’t updating?

        Kaz.

        Were you getting freaky with a lizard in a stockroom for 3 months?

  • rua’iri

    Rua’iri likes this ones puzzles. May you code on warm sands.

  • Banichi01

    I am glad this is still an ongoing thing.

    Purely as a side note, that puzzle is very frustrating when I am doing it with my off hand, since I broke my right elbow.

  • needsomemiracle

    And the “Update of the century” award goes to Kazerad and co!

    I thoroughly enjoyed the sequence. It took me four tries to beat the game, but this process of steadily getting better at it provided great immersion and a strong feeling of agency.
    And who would’ve thought? Aggy isn’t so delusionally mad after all.

    Thank you or all that you’re doing, and don’t you dare to stop.

    • Aggy is a dumb name (AIDAN)

      I love that people assume she has an actual power besides being stubborn. She hasn’t moved anything YET. I woke in a cold sweat this morning when I had a dream that no, Katia still had nothing useful to add to Tamriel, that it was just Aggy still being a crazy dunmer coot.

      • BlackMondayBlues

        Katia HAS moved stuff with her mind already – she learned how to while stuck in the well, and demonstrated it to the human-who-is-totally-not-a-vampire.

        • Gren

          Yeah and last night she threw the benches on the chapel into the air.

  • thedemonslayer51

    I like how Katia says she’ll get oh so cold, and yes she will get cold, but she is VERY unlikely to die from the exposure, mainly because she has a nice fur coating around about all of her body, and some clothes, so she probably isn’t that cold. Like, I can go outside in winter and feel ok with no shirt on, sure only for a few minutes, but with a long sleeve shirt on, I could probably go a while without getting cold. 😛

  • Ves

    So, Kaz, did you intend for it to come off as Aggy speaking to the viewers and not Katia? Cause that’s what it felt like to me.

  • ronin1337

    If you want a super fast way to loose in order to get through all the options faster try 14->5; 2->9; 12->5; 14->2.

    Aggy is simultaneously the best and worst guardian spirit. I like his way of thinking, it’s oddly motivational.

  • Zombieman4

    Brain…. hurt.

  • Revereche

    THAT. Was fucking AWESOME.

  • Fasdaff

    Beautiful choice of music; I love Makkon.

  • Unclever title

    This is my favorite update.

    You’ve trumped Asotil’s introduction flash, tens of times over.

    I keep playing it!

    • Unclever title

      Okay, now I’m certain I’ve won and failed enough times to get all the dialogue.

      “What did I tell you about khajiit being people?” I lost it at this line.

  • Jericoshost

    I failed so many times Katia began repeating herself.
    I used to be half decent at logic puzzles I swear.

    The game actually forced me to win, thats how bad I was.

    • Ghnaggi

      Now you’re thinking like a witchhunter!

  • NoriMori

    I only JUST discovered that there’s different end dialogue if you solve the puzzle after fewer tries. What a treat!

  • that-random-singer

    Welp, apparently I suck so badly the game had to do the puzzle for me. I hate these kinda puzzles.

  • Carrnage

    Aggy sounds like a master of alteration, or illusion.

    Both tend to talk about contradictory nonsense that denies reality.

  • No you guys dont understand

    I think it’s funny that Katia will all of a sudden start thinking to do everything all of a sudden for no reason

  • Aren

    Yay! Here is an extra dialogue here if you solve the puzzle the first time. I didn’t know about it!

  • saltywaters

    Kaz, I enjoyed this update. To be perfectly honest, I think less is more with these flashes. There’s no need to get fancy with it, because the point of anything you do is to tell the story. I liked it.

    Welcome back!

  • Big Fat Gabe

    Lovely how everyone rushes to suck Kaz’s dick the second he finally shits out another pissy little update that doesn’t even drive the plot forward.

    See you in another three months.

    • Bonzohazard

      lololol

    • Lorventus

      He mad for some reason. So sad…

    • Rufus again

      “Lovely how everyone rushes to suck congratulate Kaz’s dick the second he finally shits out uploads another pissy little mind-blowingly complex update that doesn’t even drives the plot forward.”

      There, fixed that for ya.

      • Corrodias

        Is someone going to congratulate Kaz’s dick?

      • Bonzohazard

        Lol!! You know, I laughed at this once before, but Kaz moderated my comment… Apparently my ip Addy was used to sell some shit I’ve never played… What a coincidence

  • Ami

    Okay, I just wanna say that I LOVED that puzzle. The conversation between Aggy and Katia was perfect, and it was a great idea to have your readers try to solve the puzzle! (although I must admit, it took me like, 100 tries.)

  • tekwerk

    Oh God, that Cracker Barrel triangle peg puzzle. Holy heck. The worst part is that I’ve done it a bunch of times before but it was just through blind luck. There’s some mathematical way to do it, I know, but what’s the fun in that?

    • Aren

      Not math. Predicting… or future remembering!
      Here is an extra dialogue here if you solve the puzzle the first time. And if you solve this with your mouth too. I didn’t know about it!

  • Acidicfriend

    well my love for this series just came flying back at me.

    such a charming cast of characters, though maybe a bit too naked all the time for my liking.

    • Gren

      “…though maybe a bit too naked all the time for my liking.”

      Okay, what story were you reading? ಠ_ಠ

  • LP

    Yay! Kaz isn’t dead as I head previously feared! Joy and smiles for today only!

  • Contrast

    I love how the bartender throws his hands in the air as if to say: “Oh FFS!!” xD

  • Herm

    The music in this is killer; I left it open in a tab for a while just to listen to it. If you google Kevin MacLeod, aka Incompetech, he’s done a ton of free-to-use music that you might find useful in future.

  • scooter

    AND ITS A FLASH :O

    • Gren

      AND IT WAS TOTALLY PREDICTABLE!
      (But seriously, I think Kaz already mentioned several times that this update was gonna be a flash).

  • TheDapperChangeling

    This has been the single most inspiring thing in my life. I’ve been going through a life like Katia’s, only with less mugging and more fired for no adequately explained reason…same amount of homelessness though. I’ve felt like her. Like I could do no right, but Aggy’s insane speeches have helped me immensely. Thank you Kaz

  • Zyy

    Please never make your comic inaccessable to people who can’t solve puzzles again.

    Add an option to skip the puzzle. Please.

    I’m a brilliant writer and I’ve been at the top of my class every single year in every class I’ve taken even through community college. I’m not stupid. But I absolutely literally CANNOT solve peg-puzzle. It has always made me feel like an imbecile, and it continues to do so, and it makes me not want to read the comic any more if you’re going to make finishing reading an update dependent on a logic puzzle that not everyone can do easily – or at all.

    • No you guys dont understand

      Google the answer, did you forget you’re on the internet?

      Seriously, if you think Kazerad is going to personally cater to your one inability to solve a peg puzzle, then you’re greatly mistaken.

      Please cease and desist this type of posting.

      • CalmDownGuys

        Hey, chill guys, Kaz thought that out. If you fail a lot, the game actually starts showing you the pegs you have to move, just hover the mouse over them, jot down the positions and pronto… puzzle solved. By the time that happens there probably won’t be any failure dialogue left for you to read, or the ‘bonus’ ones. But now you can use the solution you jotted down to try out the different dialogues if you want to check them all.

        • Jericoshost

          And also eventually it actually forces you to win.
          After a number of tries it will force you to move them right.

      • Shazbot

        You need to remember, those feeling are simply in-tune with modern requirements for gaming. You must make the player completely irrelevant. Any challenge must have a win-button. Any sequence of events must be unskippable, and there can be no alternatives, either in character interpretation or in story interpretation.

        Remember the first rule, never, ever, EVER, ask the player to do anything or accomplish anything. The only thing you need to provide is the illusion of accomplishment, as that is more than satisfactory.

        (I’m hopeless at peg puzzles too, but I lucked out and solved it early. I then did it again to see the hilarious failure dialogue, that is your reward for not being awesome at puzzles. As others have said, there are plenty of in-game hints, and Kaz provided a backstop in the end. If it takes a while, you’re supposed to feel the frustration a little, as Katia would as well.)

    • LP

      The polite version of the first response:

      Just Google “peg puzzle solution middle peg”. Do it a million times in the game in order to memorize. ASTOUND YOUR FRIENDS IN BARS. GET CHICKS/DUDES.

  • Dallas

    This was one of the most profound experiences I have ever had reading a webcomic.

    <3

    And for those complaining about not being able to solve it. If you just keep trying, and trying, and trying… you aren’t getting it if you give up. :X

  • KamikazeCat

    inb4 2000 year hiatus

  • Kurai

    Heh, that was funny. I won on my own but it said to redo it so I did until I won it the way it told me to by fading some of the white circles.

  • Osato

    Phew. I was afraid for a second there that Aggy intended to make Katia achieve CHIM.

  • Clonious

    Wow, I was reading pages from 2012, and suddenly I reached the front page… Agh, I thought I had muuuuuuch more delicious story time to keep me company…

    Anyways, this was a lot of fun to read. At least now I could potentially effect what happens next, I guess.

  • Daki

    “You can probably expect another update later this week.”

    – Sunday of the following week, no update.
    Just saying- It’s an all around bad idea to remotely suggest update times after the big Prequelgate scandal of Winter 2013.

    Surprise us! This one was pretty awesome, so it must be a tough act to follow.

    • Gren

      “You can probably expect another update later this week.”

      PROBABLY

      But yeah, I know how you feel so I don’t want to rub in your face the same shit that every ass-lickers says whenever someone makes this kind of comments. You’re on your right to feel cheated after so many empty promises but at least you have to acknowledge that he didn’t promised anything this time, he simply mentioned about the possibility. Perhaps he’s reserving it for Prequel’s aniversary?

      • Daki

        Anniversary? Whens that?

        • Gren

          March 12th perhaps? At least that’s what it says the first page of the story when you click on “start at the beginning”. I’m not sure about that though. Maybe that was just the date when it was posted in the webpage while the story had started quite some time ago in the MSPA forums.

          Well, at least one thing is clear: March 12th is the webpage’s anniversary!

          • Gren

            Wait, now that I think of it better, I think the webpage’s anniversary is on July 23rd since that’s the date of the very first comment posted on the site.

  • Ransom

    You know, it just struck me that Aggy might be the most positive, you’re actually good at something influence Katia’s had. I mean Quill Weave was pretty good, as was Asotil in his own way, but he’s actively arguing with Katia as she’s moping saying “You’re awesome.”

    That despite being both crazy and hopelessly racist.

  • MegSkoomaPirate

    I hereby nominate this update the BEST. UPDATE. EVER! Does anyone second?

    • Gren

      I can’t be that sure. There’s a lot of good pages through the whole story so far.

      • Contrast

        My absolute favorite part was where she smashed the wine bottle. I was so ecstatic for her! And then, while I was still in that state of ecstasy, BOOM!! She burned it up right through her amulet. It was a double gut-punch of pure awesomeness that left me speechless and staring at the screen for like, ten minutes, I kid you not. 🙂

        • MegSkoomaPirate

          Oooohh… Good point! Still, it makes the top ten for me.

        • Kofiman

          My reaction to that could be summed up in my command next update. Nice job not surrendering to the pit of alcoholism… and there’s something seriously wrong with you.

  • Derpy Fan

    Yay! It updated!

  • DGR

    OMG that took me forever to solve the dumb puzzle. Kept screwin’ up.

  • I was worried it would just update with something static. This was great, well done Kazerad.

    I come bearing transparent gifs of the winning scene:
    http://31.media.tumblr.com/db173381b79a494b1e795074fa9e6ee5/tumblr_inline_n27zi3nun71s4nleg.gif

  • Pankrazius

    The last update is really sweet.
    Katia is in dire need of some real friends (Yes – there is Quill Weaver. But she is not here right now.)
    Even if they are mad-as-shit ancestort ghosts (with an brighter insight than most sane people around).

    And look – she is a real hero. Because to be a real hero, there is no need of fancy weapons or magic. Though they may come in handy. A real hero just never gives up hope. A real hero fights, where every other flees or face the defeat. She may stumble and even fall – but as a real hero, she get back up.
    She already won a battle against her alcoholism (only a battle – the whole war may take a lot more time). But she has proven, that she CAN win.

    Sigrid on the other hand seems to be like a ‘Player-Hero’. hoarding gold, doing random stuff and shows a very random sense of morale (like they were the only real people in the whole world and all others just some kind of NPC)
    But – she don’t know how to lose. Sigrid just didn’t learn how to take a defeat. And this is the flaw on her.
    Because of this, she will lose against Katia.
    Oh – and because she stole the lockpick. And robbed the poor Clanfear (or Dino, don’t know).

    Last but not least – Kaz this is a great piece of art. One of the sweetest storys I had the pleasure to read in a long time.
    Keep on. Keep the quality even at the cost of update-speed (as long as they won’t take too long 😉 )

    Thanks and greetings from Germany
    Pankrazsiu

  • thoughtlesslyTruthful

    In a single flash animation, Aggy has replaced Quill-Weave as my favorite character. It’s like the spirits of Red Mage and Thief fused together into a character in a comic with good writing.

    • Denizenshipper

      Yep. But for me he’s replacing a certain Justicebringer.

      Also glad I’m not the only one who finished that series solely because I liked the characters.

  • Wolfee

    alright that was SO WORTH IT, the peg puzzle is now forever in my mind

    the wait was completly worth it keep it up!

  • Ezekial Wolffe

    I feel so left out since this isn’t working on my computer. Whelp, time to try another one.

  • Hope

    I have realized that since I own one of these games in real life, I could’ve just practiced on that.
    Eh well. :U

    • Woodledude

      It’s no fun if you don’t lose. Even though Kaz accounted for that.

  • OtterLad
  • Fireeaters

    Fornicate with the puzzle!

  • Curtisimo

    It makes me cry that my mobile device can’t watch that link, and I don’t have access to my computer for a few weeks.
    It makes me cry.
    So many tears. Like, at least fourteen.

  • Insert Guest Pun Here

    Holy already at 25% of the comments we had for the last update in a week, batman! Srsly, I think this will be #380.
    Keep up the spectacular, Kaz, and Thank You!

  • The text within the flash was pretty good, but the reward for finishing the puzzle is extremely disappointing.

    • andwhyisit

      The ending dialogue is different depending on the number of attempts to win it. Plus you get more dialogue for the first however many times you lose.

  • A persom

    Congratulations. You made a depressive consider suicide.

    • Kazerad

      That was certainly not my intent! If you need help, this website can help you find a local hotline or crisis center. If you would like to let me give me more details on what I did that affected you, you can reach me at [email protected].

    • Jarik

      I hope your serious, man… dicking around with topics like that isn’t fucking cool and you’ve got Kazerad worried

      • Kazerad

        Well personally I hope he or she’s not serious. While joking about the topic would be incredibly inappropriate, strictly speaking I would still rather find out it was a joke than a truth.

        The email is fake and their IP registered incorrectly, so there sadly isn’t much I can do beyond leaving the appropriate resources for them.

        • Deadly-Bagel

          True depressives typically don’t announce that sort of stuff, I’ve spent a lot of time in an online community containing a fair few low self esteem people and you learn very quickly that in MOST (not necessarily all) cases the practically suicidal ones either have happy masks on or are very quiet. Personally I had a happy mask.

          The “the iPhone I got for Christmas was the wrong colour so I smashed it” people are the ones going on about suicide. Besides that, when you are teetering over that edge of the abyss, you don’t get sarcastic.

          Persom, if you are reading this I understand you may very well be depressed to some degree but this sort of attention you’re attracting won’t help. If you can’t find your fighting spirit then seek help either a hotline or from relatives. There will be darker days in your life but it is worth it to see the sun rise.

        • Jarik

          A fair stance. The situation bugs me due to the fact that I’m certain crafting this webcomic is stressful enough without the guilt and worry of another taking their life after reading it.

          @Deadly-Bagel
          I agree. Here in the Navy we get talked to a lot about suicide (our branch has the most out of the whole military) and occasionally true stories pop up. It’s almost always that “happy mask” situation. I’ve never heard one where the person was anything more than a little mopy.

        • Deadly-Bagel

          Don’t worry Kaz, shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Your comic, while depressing at times, isn’t really enough to warrant concern about this sort of reaction. If someone does decide it’s what tipped them over the edge then they were already over it. If anything, Katia’s perseverance might even bring them back.

          Looking forward to the next update ^^ Keep it up and don’t be dissuaded =3

  • Anapona

    Beautiful, worth the wait.

  • Urilikya

    Wow. It’s got different dialogue if you finish the puzzle with different numbers of tries. That’s cool.

  • Soultaker

    This is actually my first comment here but i’ve been reading for awhile now. I loved this update and hopefully I can get to see my commands one day 🙂

    Also I hope Aggy is a continuing character. His dialog is just awesome.

    By the way is it possible to buy this guys music?

  • Quiet or i eat your soul

    Gotta say i really like this comic, can relate with katia about social ackwardness, also on not having the best upbringing. all in all i really like this comic. btw sorry for grammatical/spelling errors.
    I am using my ps3 to type this…

  • Tovarishch Lenin

    Picturing Aggy with the generic Morrowind Dunmer/Jiub voice makes his lines that much more fun to read. In fact, I’m reading this aloud in that very voice, and it’s not that bad. I wish I had a decent mic setup so I could do a reading of some kind. (Of course I would ask Kaz’s permission if I did this.) Oh, well.

    • Irrevenant

      Weirdly, I don’t imagine him with a gravely voice. Probably because it’s Oblivion.

  • R.A

    whew, finally caught up to current from start.

    let me just say, wow, fantastic! Not much of a reader, but… I found this story so intriguing! Thank you for all who have gotten the story this far. aaaand I have some serious fan art to do!

  • Daki

    Happy anniversary Kaz!
    How are you going to celebrate?

    Please don’t tell me you forgot about the 3rd anniversary of your comic..

    • Gren

      Yup, he forgot.

  • Higuera

    congrats on this 1s 400th comment also try not to katia it (again) for the 3rd aniversery like the last page

    • Gren

      New achievement! Katia has now become a verb!

  • Durrsly

    Happy 3rd anniversary!
    I can’t believe it’s been that long.

  • Thrime

    Has anyone else noticed Aggy has replaced Katia in the title? Where it says Prequel in fancy text.

    • JJR

      I still see Katia up there.

    • Durrsly

      The banner changes whenever the page loads.

      • Gren

        Still I haven’t seen him there though. The only ones I get are Katia, Asotil and a bunch of Nightmare King.

  • Bane

    Is it weird that I like Kaz’s artistic style of Katia better than the semi-realistic pixel animation of Katia? I just think Kaz’s style is cool I guess…

  • Shadowkey392

    Wow, really well done! Really like the animation, too!

  • Practitioner of the Inverted U

    Man, I’m glad I found this just as you started updating again; this is the most adorable comic! xD

    Also: Your Dunmer is spot-on. I love it!

  • Kaytavo

    welp it seems another eso beta is going on tomorrow(ind), and i got access WOOT can’t wait

    • Gren

      That pun made me chuckle. Good one.

      • Kaytavo

        5 more hours… till ESO BETA!!!

        • Kaytavo

          <30 mins

  • Nappa

    Kaz feels bad for leading everyone on with continuous promises of “Next week”. Continues to do it with the next update. >:[

    • Jarik

      Perhaps he should lessen the number of big and ambitious undertakings and instead try a slow and steady increase in quality over time. I mean, that comes naturally anyhow as one’s skills mature. I think the wait times may not be worth the payout for trying to force Prequel onto the next rung of the “wow” ladder.

      • Gren

        Agree with this. I’ve never complained about quality not even in the first moments of the story, everything was perfect. The problem comes down to continuity, and when each update takes several weeks till its release, well, that makes it quite difficult to push the plot forward. Also it is detrimental to the interactivity of the story, forcing you to check up the previous pages cause you forget about what the hell was going on.

    • Rufus stating the bleeding obvious again

      It appears that this update pattern could well be the new ‘normal’. It may be wise to adjust your expectations accordingly.

  • The Stitch

    Hey kaz, what method did you use to make the website? I’m trying to make my own, and would like some tips.

  • Jack

    Waited for this update for three months… Now my computer’s broken and IPod doesn’t support flash… FML

  • Art3r

    Interesting. I presonaly associate it with one of Twokinds comic and explosion of magic tower.

  • random encounter

    I wish that Kaz would make a small update exactly every week, rather than having to wait an unpredictable amount of time for an update of unpredictable importance to the storyline. It would also keep the story relevant and fresh in our minds.

  • simon

    anyone else who got a spiritual confidence lift up from this? and i gotta say thats the best animation i’ve ever seen.

  • Person formally known as Uknown

    Any chance I could get a download file for this? If so, thanks. (Make sure download is compatible with a mobile phone, too, please.)

  • This has been the most exhilarating past three days of binge-reading I’ve ever had. I honestly don’t remember what exactly pointed me at this comic here, but the wonders that you’ve done with Flash and HTML are just… *sniff* They’re beautiful…

    The staircase in the dream that Katia would run down as you scrolled down the page… All the little games (exploring the town was awesome, as was chasing down Stephan. x3 And PEG! YUSH! I love Peg! Is it called Peg? I have a golf-tee version of it somewhere in my closet…), this is a truly glorious comic, and I as someone who has never been able to draw wish more comics were like you, yet at the same time am oh so totally glad there aren’t any (that I know of, at least), because then it wouldn’t be as amazing when you stumble across a goldmine such as Prequel here. Consider this loved, and consider me a fan.

    Bookmark’d and saved right at the top o’ the window!

  • Alex

    So why is Katia suddenly naked when wearing the ghostly hood?

    • Unclever title

      What do you mean? That’s what naturally happens when you equip armor or clothing to the same slot when something else occupies it right?

      Are you implying that Katia could equip two different items in the chest armor slot at the same time?

      I applaud your initiative in Witch Hunter thinking, but even Mysticism has it’s limits!

  • Mzuark

    Aw man, that ghost is a smug, yet positive influence on Katia. Crap! Who knows how much pain and suffering we’ll be missing out on!?

  • Carbon

    Man this comic is too good! And this flash proves that these guys could make one hell of a indie game, the awesome art style, the humor, the excellent story and fun little mini games/sequences my god if a Prequel game was ever made I would die of happiness…

  • Sumday

    Crazy Idea…. this is a prequel right? And if this is a prequel then there is going to be a main adventure. But… what is a main adventure without character development?Yeah, not really an adventure eh? Yet… in the prequel all we get is character development. katia is being put up with so many challenges and foes and she can never get it right… She seems to always be failing and has a long, tragic backstory… Sure.. hero’s have this… but you know who else has this?

    Villains. Villains don’t just get out of bed and decide this kingdom is going to be theirs… they don’t just on a whim want the world or to kill a man. They have motives.If this is the prequel to a story with a hero… yet a hero needs to be developed… then what’s the point of making a prequel where the hero is developed?

    Let’s look at star wars for example… WHOA! He’s this dark death and doom guy ready to help the emperoer take over and control the galaxy!THen he has a story.. a family.. he was someone before he was a monster. And.. then the PREQUELS showed that. They showed his accession into the jedi and how he was corrupted. he actually had character and meaning. he wasn’t just an obstacle, he was a person!

    Katia’s a person too! She has friends and family and she has a reason to be mad, to get angry! She just.. doesn’t want to… she’s holding herself back because she wants to fit in. Katia is the villain. She is the monster… she just doesn’t know it yet… and it’s so sad. Anyone can be a hero… but it works the other way around too. I’m sorry Katia.

    • Pankrazius

      Hmm my first thought was:

      Maybe there is an event in Katias future, wich causes a jail sentence.
      And there she is – in an Imperial-City-Dungeoncell, left to forget. And only an anoying Dunmer as Cellneighbor.

      Please excuse the spelling 😉

    • Tuki

      This idea makes sense…

      your idea also explains Katia’s nightmares. She sees the emperor Uriel Septim VII every night. The emperor says at the beginning: “You … I’ve seen you…Let me see your face… You are the one from my dreams…”.
      So they see each other in these dreams… interesting.
      I want to see her furry scared face when she meet the emperor in PERSON xD

  • billy

    lmao! Come on, catslut! love it

  • I don’t usually ever comment or post on any website as I am a recluse but after reading all of this I just wanted to say that this is one of the greatest things I have had the pleasure of reading. I don’t frequent web comics or anything like that so my comparisons are based on universal reading(and viewing) entertainment. The work done here is, in my opinion, work of art and master pieces. I am glad to discover that this is still going. It is a shame that this does not have a facebook page for updates as well as I do not use twitter. Kaz you do amazing work here and however long it takes to update will always be worth the wait for me.

    p.s. Mouth Genius = awesome

  • Daki

    Happy St Patricks day!

  • troper

    at this rate we’ll break the current coment record, it’s set at 1485

    GOGO TEAM, WE CAN DO IT

  • Ben

    Tell Aggy to make it rain again so you don’t die of frostbite or you could ask him to make it stop precipitating all together

    • Corrodias

      On the right side of the web page, there’s a new link under “extras” named, “submit command’. That will take you to a nice interface for these. … Well, an interface. It’s not a bad one.

  • Bluedragon

    So I read Kaz’ latest tumblr posting, this one a review of ESO (sorta!). My first reaction honestly was – “Hey, stop playing ESO and make another Prequel update!”. But then I started thinking, you know – without Kaz’s affinity for games and Oblivion in particular, there would be no Prequel. So Game On Kaz. (But please, your review killed me. I was just about ready to go plunk down some $ till I got to the end! I am NOT an MMOer by habit.)

  • KamikazeCat

    This update was just purrfect.

  • I hadn’t heard about this comic until a week ago and it has had me gripped ever since. I feel for Katia, who my friends call SlutCat, though I can’t bring myself to call her that. Its a little rude. There were times I just wanted the poor thing to have good friends. Glad she has the Ancestral Spirit now though. *nods*

  • Anonymous

    http://www.prequeladventure.com/2011/04/298/
    first thing I thought when he found Katia

    it’s happening

  • Menmonmspore

    That was fucking awesome!
    Is there a transcript or something of all the text in the flash?

  • Gren

    Katia is getting old. At this rate she is going to grow a beard.

    • Jarik

      >grow a beard
      And unlock the full potential of her wizardly powers? Highly doubted my good man

      • JJR

        Besides, wouldn’t it be called a “mane” on her?

        • Deodesu

          Idk. Are khajiits lions?

          • Deodesu

            Nope can’t be. lol ( stupid me )

  • 9goat

    you oughta stop saying “maybe within a week”

  • Bluedragon

    So Kaz wrote a Tumblr piece that you should constructively criticize things you love. Ok! Prequel should update more frequently. There. That’s the only criticism I have of it. I also remember, though, that Kaz was considering doing more writing and less art. That would, IMHO, be a mistake if applied to Prequel. Kaz may not be Best Artist Evar, but his ability to convey emotions by a slight down-turned lip (of just a couple pixels even) or a very slightly narrowed eye is Best Evar. I really don’t think anyone else could do that as well. Backgrounds etc. fine, but losing Kaz’s style on the characters would be a loss. Ok, all just my opinions, but they are strongly held.

    Especially that one about updating more often! ^_^

  • Mzuark

    But seriously though, I’m not too big a fan of adding actual companions, especially not some disrespectful tagalong, when there’s an established dynamic of being solo. But since you seem content to have Ms. Managan not really get anywhere by her lonesome I guess this is really necessary.

    • Gren

      Do not worry, I don’t think this will last long. Why? Because there is a better suitable adventurer in the city: Jiub. Another Dark Elf renowned in all Tamriel. It’s only a matter of time until Aggy finds him and leave Katia on her own.

  • m

    No fair giving us the answer, Kazerad. I’m going to solve this goddamn puzzle by myself or DIE TRYING.
    You friggin’ cheater.

  • Huffington

    I just thought of something… when Aggy says that Katia was able to think her way out of Sigrids enchantment, that thought was a command from a viewer. That logic implies that Katia has a bleary knowledge of everything that WE see. All the voices in her head are the witch-hunter way of thinking within her. She was able to all along. We are the secret to witch-hunter thinking. And we have faith that she is a Hero. So, does that not mean that Katia should start acting like it? Come on, we can think about how to do it together!

  • OverSane

    Katia: Try saying you got your crap stolen, and then showing the entrance, Those ghost things might be able to break down doors.

  • Hopeira

    oh noes. Oh noes. OH NOES! I’M UP TO DATE!!!! Reading this is the only thing i’ve even been doing the past 3 days! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOWS!!!! :O

    • Gren

      Wait three months till the next update.

      • Kazerad

        >: that was one time!

        As for the more recent delay, I got sick.

        >:

        • Nappa

          Sick of updating you mean.

          • Kazerad

            Actually wheat, of all things.

          • Gren

            You mean you’re celiac?

        • Gren

          It must be Anthrax.

    • Deodesu

      That is exactly how I felt the first read through.

    • JJR

      maybe, read it backwards?

  • Tekh

    It is awesome that the dialogue changes if you solved the puzzle with her mouth.

    • Tekh

      And if you did it on the first try. Nice bit of exposition from both parties in that case. Nice planning of events, Kaz. :3

  • I really hope Katia actually “wins” things after this. It seems like the set-up to a turnaround, overcoming her expectations of failure to make true progress. Two years of status quo is… a tad frustrating.

    Granted, I also got a heaping helping of humiliation from a peg game. Didn’t get to the point where there was literally no other option but winning, so I guess that’s good on me? Sort of. …I need to go write down the solution for the sake of seeing all the dialogue.

    • Gren

      Welp, I have the feeling that no matter if she somehow defeats Sigrid and get her stuff back and acquires all the shinies, when the time to depart from Kvatch comes, Gharug is gonna be waiting not too far from there on the road. All the joy will not last long. However, there’s the chance that she somehow manages to deceive him and steal something valuable of his belongings (and that would be the whole revenge-thing Aggy was talking about some p-ages ago). The only valuable things which Katia would be interested to acquire are the “fancy enchanted dress” and the “ring of friendship”.

    • A1Qicks

      Oh, well, if you want the solution, here you go:

      Take the puzzle as:
      1
      23
      456
      7890
      abcde

      then:

      d-5
      7-9
      b-d
      0-8
      2-7
      3-0
      e-6
      6-4
      7-2
      1-4
      4-c
      d-b
      a-c

      I’m hoping we’re not on one update a month here, I love this story.

  • Tolfor

    I think Kaz needs to just stop trying to make promises or indications about when the comic is going to update if he isn’t going to do a better job of sticking to them. I’d be less frustrated about the 20-day (so far) unannounced hiatus following hot on the heels of the three-month unannounced hiatus if he hadn’t said “probably another update later this week” when he posted the latest one.

    Keeping a webcomic schedule is hard when you’ve got real life to deal with – I understand that – but this story has been moving so painfully slowly lately I’ve been thinking of just removing it from my favorites menu and forgetting about it for a year or two. Then maybe I can read four whole updates at once. : P

    • Shadow_Mantis

      It will probably take that long (a few years… maybe 1 or 2)… to get out of Kvatch.

      • Skianous

        Yup… Four days in Kvatch, four years in real life !

        • Unclever title

          What so does that make the Prequel world Reverse Narnia?

    • blollo

      Well the point of weekly deadlines is that they are deadlines.
      Regardless of what your wildest dreams are, you are supposed to stick to them, as every weekly broadcaster, radio head, youtuber, comic artist goes on and on about. In the end it works out to your benefit, being able to provide better content more regularly.

      Punctuality is pretty much tantamount for a comic; we know you have a cool crew, and cool skills, but it’s not practical to go on these month hiatuses between each individual page.

      • Acidicfriend

        Your logic on this is quite flawless!

      • blollo

        I know they can do it, even their most basic drawing are pretty damn good.

      • My one concern is that this magnificant comic could die of starvation.
        But on the other hand i would prefer quality over quantity. Maybe it takes years to leave Kvatch – but it would be an awesome experiance. Like the last flash – one pure cool impression.

        In the meantime there are some possibilities: Maybe someone could do a spin-off (strongly hoping, Kaz don’t mind if we do more then a little fanart.)
        We have his commentsection to talk – and try to get new highscores, and even break the commentsection another time…

        Fact is – the story is really really cool. And as long as Kaz don’t stop it entirely, there is – in my opinion – no big problem.
        (only that i scratch the paint from my roomwalls and biting in my desk, desperatly waiting *g*)

        greetings
        Pankrazius

        • Aggy’s Mother

          It’s out, but you won’t see a next button. Just go to the base site, prequeladventure.com

  • clutchedbyanangel

    Thanks for making the puzzle solve itself. I used to be good at those fucking things.

  • Arstyanyaxz

    That puzzle…god I hate those puzzles.

    I think I’d just solve it by pushing the damn thing off the table. Then there’s no puzzle unsolved left on the table!

  • Wew Lad

    How many different “endings” are there? Like different dialog.

    • Alex Franklin

      There’s one for completing it on the first try, one for completing it on the second or third try, one for the forth try, and one for the rest of them.

  • ADECOSTAR_ELITE

    Puzzle Solved! Ignoramus I am not.

  • dtlux14

    Glad it eventually told me, otherwise I could never do it, though I want to try again. Also, ONLY ONE MORE PAGE! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

  • Djinnfest

    When she started actually trying too solve the puzzle with her mouth, I just couldn’t deal…

  • Alex Franklin

    This is the music I put on when I have work to do. It makes anything feel epic.

  • EMPeace

    Damn, a few years ago I’d have gotten that on my first try.

  • Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.