Great Chapter! But, over so soon. I want more !
minor-nitpick: Didn't Doug already discover the "KS" signature a few chapters ago?
Re: Quincy's relation to Loon.
I hadn't thought that Quincy might only have had second-hand knowledge of Doug before like it know appears. I like the explanation of Quincy having had contact with a fictional version of Dougs world.
And I already had myself convinced that Quincy was an older or alternate version of the dimension lost Doug. But I guess the part with Doug spontaneously calling himself Quincy Black upon arrival was some sort of red-herring.
Just out of curiosity what does the "Q" In Douglas Q. Sangnoir stand for, if not Quincy?

Not that I really need to tell anyone who's seen the DW2 forum this morning, but there is new material on the website. Chapter 13 of DW2 is up, with changes made to the main DW and DW2 Concordance pages.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Head to www.eclipse.net/~rms/dwmain.html for the new chapter and the revised and updated concordance. This is an exclusive for folks who read the forums -- I won't be posting the chapter to RAAC, the FFML and all the other usual places until later tonight.
Go to it folks, and enjoy!

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Here's a song I got from my Dad while he was recording all of his old records onto mp3 format. This was part ease of use and part crumudgeony act of defiance to the RIAA. This song reminds me of Doug in a lot of ways, though I don't think he's very mercenary at all. Plus the spegetti western sound of it appeals to me.
Ballad of Paladin by Johnny Western. Theme song to the television show Have Gun Will Travel (1957).
Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man.
A knight without armor in a savage land.
His fast gun for hire head's the calling wind.
A soldier of fotune is the man called Paladin.
Paladin, Paladin where do you roam?
Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home.
He travels on to wherever he must;
A chess knight of silver is his badge of trust.
There are campfire legends that the plainsmen spin
Of the man with the gun,
of the man called Paladin
Paladin, Paladin where do you roam?
Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home.
Far from home.
Far from home.

Next up is one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands. It's got smirking glee written all over it and could be a nasty ranged attack.
Bottlerocket War by Pain
Never enough celebrating Independence Day.
It was never enough to celebrate the eve of New Years Day.
What about my friends and me, can we have our say?
Cuz all our many enemies need to be blown away.
Aint no sting like a bottlerocket burrowing
Deep into the side of your face.
And have you ever felt the big welt
That a Roman candle leaves in its place?
The woods in the neighborhood are worth getting put in jail.
Well fight em in the tunnels and well fight em in the swamps
And theyll never get past never gonna go!
Four Bics get flicked and the punks get lit.
We never asked if we should
Its a game, its a chore, its a bottlerocket war
And life never got so good.
Build a pile, everything we bought from Crazy Bill.
Crazy Bob, and Crazy Ken,
Theyd sober up if they knew about The Plan.
We got enough pyrotechnics to fill up a wagon
Like a Chinese party in the year of the dragon.
Im standing next to Poe and this is what he said:
Chuck can lift a manhole cover with his head!
(Here we go!)
Four Bics get flicked and the punks get lit.
We never asked if we should
Its a game, its a chore, its a bottlerocket war
And life never got so good.
Were just trying to have some fun.
Were not hurting anyone.
The lights burst like magic spells
And make a sweet sound like bells.
Four Bics get flicked and the punks get lit.
We never asked if we should.
Its a game, its a chore, its a bottlerocket war
And life never got so good.
Never got so GOOD.

And just because its silly, Unseen Tears of the Albacore by The Vandals. I'll put up the lyrics later maybe, but its a goofy song lamenting the fact that everybody loves dolphins but nobody cries for the tuna.
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

Hey all, I guess this is my cue to do the introduction thing.
Some might recognize a portion of my handle from the Eyrie forums, and I had to change it as when I tried to set up my account with ezboard I got the much beloved "your screen name has already been taken" text. After some failed attempts to get around this, I just threw up a the Herr as a nod to my german side of the family tree.
I've been watching anime since I was a kid, with Voltron and Robotech being the two biggies, though I do remember being enraptured by Unico to my chagrin. I didn't really get into it until about 1996 I think, when I was channel surfing and I landed Urusei Yatsura II: Beautiful Dreamer on the SciFi channel when they showed still showed anime at night. It was one of those serendipitous moments I'll always remember. One look at that flying girl in the bikini shooting lightning and it was all over.
I used to play DnD and Mechwarrior in junior high with my neighborhood friends but gradually quit in high-school due to lack of interest. We had fun but never had any serious campaigns so there wasn't anything to keep our interest. Now I'd wished I stayed into gaming, since I've been wanting to be a part of a group but can't find anybody I know in my local area to play with.
I found Drunkard's Walk after it was mentioned on the Eyrie boards and did some search engining till I found it. One weekend and eleven chapters later I thought it was safe to say I'd found another story to add to my all time favorites list. Doug's powers is one of the most creative and flat out fun things I've read in any series.
Now back to your regular boarding.Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the
frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses
and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid
deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

The opening to the anime 'Popotan' (sorry, but I don't know the title of the opening theme) is something that would almost certainly give Doug a power... the question, of course, being *WHAT* that power is. Honestly, it would probably depend on the circumstances under which Doug first heard the song. More on that later -- first, the lyrics.
Ai, Ai, Ai, I love you,
Mai, Mai, Mai, My darling,
Mii, Mii, Mii, Help me,
Popotan, popotan, popotan,
Moshimo genki wo nakushite tohou ni kureta toki ni wa,
popotan no koe wo kikuno.
Souyo anata ga sunao ni natte kokoro wo hirakeba,
popotan wa oshiete kureru.
Ano hito ga kuru konai.
Watashi wo suki kirai.
Kono koi wa uso honto.
Donna koto mo shitteruno.
Moudame popopo, moudame popopo.
Wakatterukedo yamerarenaino.
Mou muri popopo, mou muri popopo.
Yume no yume demo akiramenaide,
Popotan.
Note that this is the short version -- while I have the lyrics for the long version, as well as the long version itself, I *DON'T* have a translation for it. Anyway, the English translation, partially taken from a fansub and partially done by myself, is as follows (stars indicate points in the translation that require comments.):
Ai, Ai, Ai, I love you,
Mai, Mai, Mai, My darling,
Mii, Mii, Mii, Help me*,
Popotan*, Popotan, Popotan,
When you're feeling down and lost,
Listen to the voices of the dandelions*.
That's right; if be yourself and open your heart,
the dandelions* will tell you.
He* will come, won't come,
(he) likes me, hates me,
This love is real, is fake,
They* know everything.
I can't stand it, popopo, I can't stand it, popopo,
I know I shouldn't, but I can't stop myself.
No more, popopo, no more, popopo.
Even if it's a dream of a dream, don't give up,
Popotan.
While my first thought was that this song would give Doug Ai's power from the anime in question (she can speak to dandelions; while they're often quite knowledgeable about certain matters, they tend to gossip a lot, which means that it often takes her quite a bit of conversation to get anything *USEFUL*), something that is quite appropriate, the idea has a few flaws, which should become apparent when I get to the translation notes.
In the opening lines, I was left with something of a translation dillema: they're puns on the names of the three sisters in the anime: Ai, Mai, and Mii. Moreover, the video features shots of the girls in question to accompany their lines. Hence, I decided that leaving the names intact was a better option than simply interpreting them as repeated English words.
Secondly, the name of the anime itself has meaning within the song. Where it does, I translated it; otherwise, I left it as is. That being said, the name's meaning leads into the main difficulty with the power I suggested. The anime's name, 'popotan', comes from the Japanese word for 'dandelion', 'tanpopo'. The main characters in the show, Ai, Mai, and Mii, insist, however, on reversing the characters and saying it 'popotan'. If Doug first heard this song outside of the context of the anime, though, he wouldn't neccessarily know that, and the song uses the same odd term for dandelions.
Next, 'he' one of the lines is something of a mistranslation -- 'he' is really 'ano hito' or 'that person', but from context and the video, it's pretty obvious that 'that person' is male, and the expression's not nearly as awkward in Japanese as the literal translation is in English.
Finally, 'they' on another of the lines is translated in the singular by the fansub I used for portions of the translation, and happens to be on one of the lines I couldn't translate myself, but as Japanese doesn't have a distinction between singular and plural, and the line was referring to dandelions, I feel fairly confident in tweaking that line to match in number.-------------------
I dove through the hailstorm of plasma and laser bolts, ignoring the instantly regenerating wounds I took from the occasional projectile, and focused on my target. Using my flame to sear through the reinforced window of Quincy's office, I plunged into the surprised executive's domain like a guided missile that, after using a small amount of flame to insure that the office's inhabitant wasn't an android double, promptly discharged its payload.
"WEDGIE!!"

I have just discovered this board and am ovejoyed to hear that DW II is going to be continued soon.
I really liked the teasers and glimpses of the planned future steps, but I am a bit puzzled by the rule about 'active franchises' that prevents DW I or a future Sailormoon step from being published. Don't you consider A!MG or EVA to be active franchises? Last time I looked they had both still a Manga running.

Unter glieben glauten globen
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
And all the girlies say I'm pretty fly for a white guy
Uno dos tres cuatro cinco cinco seis
You know it's kind of hard
Just to get along today
Our subject isn't cool
But he fakes it anyway
He may not have a clue
And he may not have style
But everything he lacks
Well he makes up in denial
So don't debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn't get it anyway
He's gonna play the field, and keep it real
For you no way, for you no way
So if you don't rate, just overcompensate
At least you'll know you can always go on ricki lake
The world needs wannabe's
So do that brand new thing
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
And all the girlies say I'm pretty fly for a white guy

He needs some cool tunes
Not just any will suffice
But they didn't have ice cube
So he bought vanilla ice
Now cruising in his pinto, he sees homies as he pass
But if he looks twice
They're gonna kick his lily ass
So don't debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn't get it anyway
He's gonna play the field, and keep it real
For you no way, for you no way
So if you don't rate, just overcompensate
At least you'll know you can always go on ricki lake
The world loves wannabe's
So Hey, hey, do that brand new thing
Now he's getting a tattoo
He's gettin' ink done
He asked for a '13', but they drew a '31'
Friends say he's trying too hard
And he's not quite hip
But in his own mind
He's the dopest trip
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
Give it to me baby, uh huh, uh huh
Uno dos tres cuatro cinco cinco seis
So don't debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn't get it anyway
He's gonna play the field, and keep it real
For you no way, for you no way
So if you don't rate, just overcompensate
At least you'll know you can always go on ricki lake
The world needs wannabe's
The world loves wannabe's
So let's get some more wannabe's
And do that brand new thing
-- The Offspring, Pretty Fly For A White Guy
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

... until the chapter.
I just wanted to say that. Oh, and no teaser this week, for what really ought to be obvious reasons. I'll start on Chapter 14 teasers next week, maybe. But given that I chose all the previous teasers in no particular order, some of them are already for chapter 14...
And no, I'm not going to be annoying and run a countdown until Friday.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

After much thought and consideration, I have made the deciison to split chapter 13 into two parts. As a result, the new chapter 13 is now complete and has been sent to my prereaders for final checkover. If all goes as planned, I should make it available in various venues next Friday, October 17.
The remaining chapters in DW2 are now:
13: Eh... I Wonder What The *Poor* Robots Are Doin' This Season...
14: What For You Bury Me In The Cold, Cold Ground?
15: Pronoun Trouble
That is all.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.