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 |  A hub for the "Book of Masks" universe. |
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The Interactives "The Book of Masks"  : A high school student discovers a grimoire that can make magical disguises."The Wandering Stars" : Sequel to "The Book of Masks.""Student Bodies" : A high school student is turned into a blue goo that can possess people.For non-WdC Members "The Book of Masks: Archives" : Dodges the "Servers Busy" barrier!"The Book of Masks (Abridged)" : Introductory storylines for new readers.Community "BoM/TWS Message Forum" : Community for readers of the interactives."BoM/TWS/SB Wiki" : Notes and documentation for authors. Spoilers!Current Polls None The Latest 5/14: Interactive: "The Family of Heather Dow" 5/14: Public: "The Family of Heather Dow"
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| Today's chapter— * Interactive: "Party Tardy" * Public: "Party Tardy" —brings this branch to a climax and temporary stopping point. Don't look for it to continue beyond this point any time soon. My plan for this branch is to backtrack to earlier chapters and graft on alternate branches. Oh, and if you've anything to say about the chapter, there's a commentary/talkback thread in the forums: "Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Clover Mystery" .* * * What comes next? I'm stepping back from publishing anything for a little while. Instead, Masktrix will be publishing chapters in the "Conspirators Three" branch, continuing from "A Face to Meet the Faces That You Meet" . This was a fun thing for me and I hope too for him (it was his idea). He wrote it Plot Plinko style, giving me chapters privately and asking me to pick the choice for continuation. So he gets all the credit for the chapters; I must shoulder any blame for the direction the story took.I would like to do some writing while Masktrix is publishing, but I am currently on a small hiatus. A dog I was caring for had to be euthanized last Monday, and I haven't been in the mood for anything but rote work and mind-numbing entertainment. But even if I am not writing, I will still be checking in here every day. |
| I'm skipping publication today. I was up until 1:30 this morning at a veterinary hospital with a sick dog, and I'm too exhausted to want to deal with anything. (The dog, to be clear, is not mine. It belongs to an elderly neighbor I have been lending help to. Still, the stress of dealing an elderly man in a declining condition is not improved by helping his elderly dog who also in a declining condition.) Monday update: I'm not exactly tanned, rested, and ready -- I'm pallid, tired, and looking forward a fairly shitty day -- but there's nothing to stop me from publishing. So here's the next chapter in the branch: * Interactive: "Pickalittle Talkalittle" * Public: "Pickalittle Talkalittle" |
| Today's chapter— * Interactive: "A Self-Made Girl" * Public: "A Self-Made Girl" —brings Plot Plinko and this branch to a close. Tomorrow, Clover Mystery returns in a sequel to "Who's Who at Westside High" . The story thus far:The book of magic that Will found has somehow gotten lost in the school's drama department, but he's had lots of other things to worry about. He's made new friends with some new-to-him people, including some girls who seem to be quite interested in him. At the same time, he started getting teasing texts from someone calling themselves "Clover Mystery." All of this climaxed in a bizarre way when he found himself body-swapped with a classmate, Jack Li. And then there was another body swap that put Jack into the body of basketball hooligan Steve Patterson, and put Patterson into Will's old body. As near as any of them can tell, Chelsea Cooper has been the one responsible for the shenanigans. |
| Yesterday brought the last poll in the present game of Plot Plinko, and thanks to some GPs it was as close as it could be without being another tie: Grab Jelena: 12,400 Keep the date with Bastian: 12,200 Because I didn't know which one was going to win, I don't have a chapter prepared. But here's a consolation prize: * Interactive: "Needs and Desires" * Public: "Needs and Desires" That's an alternate sequel to "The Junior Menu" . The tie-breaker sent the story down the "Pick Scarlett Bard" route, but this one sends it down the "Pick an alpha girl" route. |
| I don't even know why I bothered to run a poll yesterday. I knew what the results would be, and they were what I guessed. "Switch with Scarlett" beat "Stay as Annabelle" by a decisive margin: 3380-1520. New chapter is up, along with a new poll: [Poll completed and deleted] |
| I was pretty sure that "Jelena Petrovic" would be the runaway winner in the last poll, and I wasn't disillusioned. I was surprised, though, at how well (all things considered) "Bastian Jankowski" did. Anyway, final tally, adjusted for GPs: Jelena: 12,933 Anne: 3033 Bastian: 2600 New chapters are up, along with a new poll: [Poll completed and deleted]. |
| The latest poll—[Poll completed and deleted]—is again deadlocked, thanks to the influence of some GPs that were voted. So, once again we enter a game of Sudden Death. I have locked the vote, and invite people to vote with GPs. Only the first GP vote will be accepted and applied; any subsequent GP votes will be ignored. There's a catch this time: Yes, the GPs will be voted in accord with the voter's preference, but there is no guarantee that this will break the tie in favor of the voter's choice. There is a chance, thanks to the way the voting rules are set up, that the GPs will alter the value of the Free Votes in a way that tips the decision in some other direction. Well, that's the chance that you take. EDIT: And the tie is now broken. Final standings, adjusted for GPs: Scarlett Bard: 2515 Alpha girls: 2319 Ryder, Bastian, Kyle: 147 each Because of the tie, there will be no chapter today. |
| The latest poll—[Poll completed and deleted]—is tied. Rather than let it drag on, I have closed it to voting and instituted Sudden Death rules: The first choice to get GPs, in any amount, will be declared the winner. To send GPs to break the tie, go to [deleted choice chapters] and send GPs using the form at the bottom of the page. There will be no chapter today, because the tie vote during my writing hours meant I didn't know which choice to write. EDIT: And, five minutes later, Sudden Death gives us a winner: "Replace a few key juniors." Any GPs sent in now will be refunded to the sender. |
| As you can tell from the new chapter I've posted— * Interactive: "The Boyfriend" * Public: "The Boyfriend" —the winner in yesterday's poll was "Keep the date with Luke." The vote was neck and neck through most of the day, but then it pulled away, even in the Free Vote. Adjusted for GPs, the margin was even larger: 9500 to 4500. New poll to go with the new chapter: [Poll completed and deleted]. I've been posting new chapters at the rate of one a day, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep this up. If I get up early enough and write fast enough, I can get a new chapter published before the day starts in earnest, but that might not happen every day for the coming week. |
| Readers just couldn't wait for Will to make a change, so "Finish" dominated the first of the Plot Plinko Polls with 4600 adjusted points while "Wait" earned 1400 adjusted points. The resulting chapter is now posted: * Interactive: "Marching to a New Drummer" * Public: "Marching to a New Drummer" And there is also a poll to go with it: [Poll completed and deleted.] |
| Today starts a new Plot Plinko storyline: * Interactive: "The Piccolo Player" * Public: "The Piccolo Player" This time it's a little different, in that it was commissioned, with the commissioner choosing where to continue and giving some direction as to the desire tone, but leaving the plot evolutions up to me and to the readers. Each day that a chapter ends with a choice, I will put up a poll; and because I will probably not know the winning choice until after the poll is closed, I will probably be publishing every other day during this eight-day run. The first poll is here: [Poll completed and deleted.] * * * Also, my thanks to Easy and to Puuuuuth for the Gift Points they sent me during the "Student Bodies" run. |
| Today's chapter over in "Student Bodies" wraps up one commission, and today also wraps up the second in what will be a sequence of "Plot Plinko" polls. The rankings, adjusted for GPs: 1. Annabelle Edwards: 11,800 2. Dallas Lockhart: 7400 3. Naomi Batson: 7200 3. Leah Parrish: 7200 5. Rebecca Leary: 800 So, tomorrow I will publish the "Annabelle Edwards" sequel to "Junior Jubilee" , along with a new poll on how to continue it. We'll continue this way for eight chapters. Because each continuation will be subject to a poll, for the next week or so I will likely be publishing only every other day.I forgot to publish "Junior Jubilee" over in the Archives. It is there now—"Junior Jubilee" —along with the last four chapters in the catch-up run I've been publishing there. |
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