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CREATIVE MUSSEL PRODUCTIONS PRESENTSVOL. 3BOOTS ON!
Creator/Writer Jay B. KalagayanArtist Dylan SpeegLayout Design Geoff RakerLogo Design Geoff RakerCover Art Dylan SpeegCharacter Designs William Grapes and Dylan SpeegEditors Kristen Ruthemeyer Hammer and Annie WadmanCREATIVE MUSSEL PRODUCTIONS PRESENTSBoots On!Copyright © 2020 by Jay B. KalagayanAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.Charterer ModelsXu V. Chau, Nina Agelvis, MayaLou Banatwala,Valerie Diehl, Aga Jarynn, Kallisto Langdon, Aiesha Little, Monisha Ringler, Abby Sams,Tate Snyder, Clara Speeg, Wednesday Wood,Mackenzie Vail MastersDedication from JayTo my mom, thank you for supporting my creativity, giving the life lessons, and storing all those long boxes in the attic.Dedication from DylanTo my wife Monisha for helping me do this.SPECIAL THANKSDavid Mack, Cincinnati Cabinet of Curiosities, Christina Wald, Cincinnati Rollergirls, JP Leong, Marguerite Panyko, David Powell, Katlin M. SweeneyServing the public good, the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) processes over one billion gallons of wastewater from over ten thousand miles of pipes a day. Filter workers like Lilliput ensure the wastewater keeps flowing to be treated. She is our tour guide to this wild and scary world, the thick roots under our feet.3
Lilliput inside front coverArtist David MackSandshell 42Artist Michelle LittlejohnAkka and Footsie 43Artist Brandon WagnerFungus Forest and Lilliput 44Artist Jme ForondaCHAPTER 1: Influent 5CHAPTER 2: Aeration 16CHAPTER 3: Sludge 25CHAPTER 4: Clarifier 36PinUp Art TABLE Of CONTENTS4
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MANAGER OF OPERATIONS EXCERPT REPORT Fat MucketAKAFollow up, any suspicious tunnel activity that day with those workers.NON-SUBMIT TO COMMITTEEREPORT #S3020200-100280Thank you Homeland Security money, we got surveillance of most of the treatment plant and campus. I had Fawnsfoot analyze the footage. Fawnsfoot’s play-by-play of the Filament I-N-I. FAWNSFOOT’S SECURITY CAMERA RUN-DOWNFILTER WORKERS TRACKINGExterior Camera #0930 Time 20:24 hours Outside Living Quarters (LQ).Filter workers Sandshell and Maple are playing cornhole with plant workers Pink and Fragile. Pocket and Rabbit are at picnic tables. Pocket looks like she’s tutoring Rabbit. They have their MSD manuals on the table.Ex. Cam #0620 Time 21:09 Outside Admin Building. Wabash, Paper, and Ridge exit main admin building back exit, returning from Roots shift.Ex. Cam #0904 Time 21:11 Outside LQ. Filament spotted in shrubbery observing workers playing cornhole and at picnic tables. SANDSHELL - Filter14
MANAGER OF OPERATIONS EXCERPT REPORT Fat MucketAKACheck with sewer workers if they can ID Peeping Tom.Ex. Cam #0903 Time 21:19 Fragile, Wabash and Ridge walk towards LQ back entrance.Ex. Cam #0903 Time 21:29 Looks like Maple and Sandshell win via their bag-on-the-wood play. Ex. Cam #0905 Time 22:29 Filament “Peeping Tom” moves positions to observe the back entrance of LQ and the filter workers start going in for the night.FRAGILE - MechanicalMAPLE - Filter15
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MANAGER OF OPERATIONS EXCERPT REPORT Fat MucketAKA They want to be seen??? Overlap laments with Lilliput's report during lab collection of the "mother" and the lament, hunt, as she raced back to the Treatment Plant.RABBIT - FilterNON-SUBMIT TO COMMITTEEREPORT #S3020200-110080Continued comments on Fawnsfoot’s play-by-play of the Filament I-N-I. Using the treatment plant’s surveillance system, we’ve got a pretty good big picture analysis of the infiltration. I’m bothered by the level of sophistication these filaments seem to be able to coordinate. We’ve only snatched the “mother” a cycle ago. How long have they been probing us? Did the Zoon Industrial spill off/foam party throw off their timeline?FAWNSFOOT’S SECURITY CAMERA RUN-DOWNFILAMENT INFILTRATION (INI)ADMIN/TREATMENT/LAB AND LIVING QUARTERS (LQ)Exterior Camera #0101 Time 23:33 hours Outside Admin Building. Front. Three filaments making their way up the main driveway. Lilliput ID them as Quasi, Harold, and Harvey. Exterior Cam. #0105 Time 23:38 Quasi breaks the lock and opens the lobby door. Quasi, Harold, and Harvey enter. 23
MANAGER OF OPERATIONS EXCERPT REPORT Fat MucketAKAPeeping Tom isn't seen here yet. How did they coordinate this efciently?What are they doing? Smelling? Sensing? Psychicing? What the dreg?RIDGE - MechanicalInterior Cam. Lobby #001 Time 23:42 Quasi, Harold, and Harvey are standing still in lobby for over two minutes. Each of their tendrils seem to pulse, especially in the head and chest area. Interior Cam. Lobby #002 Time 23:44 Quasi, Harold, and Harvey split up and head to Fat Mucket’s office (Quasi), medical (Harvey), and the lab (Harold).Exterior Camera #0904 Time 23:53 Outside Living Quarters (LQ). Seven filament hounds wiggle out of storm drains sector.Ex. Cam Service Tunnel #0905 Time 23:55 14 filaments come from the service tunnels, shimmying through bars of gate.Ex. Cam #0905 Time 23:57 Eight bull guards rise out of treatment pools. Ex. Cam #0903 Time 24:00 Outside LQ. Group of filaments, bull guards, and hounds converge outside of sewer worker LQ back entrance.24
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MANAGER OF OPERATIONS EXCERPT REPORT MSD HUMAN RESOURCESSUBJECT: QUASI Recurring filament in reported conflicts. Lengthwise gaping scarring from subject’s left side easily identifies subject’s involvement.Quasi is mercurial, able to quickly dodge for defense and flex to pounce. Tendrils can form points and easily pierce through our uniforms. New reported ability to harden tendrils and throw them like javelins (Reference Lilliput injury I-#0623). Aggressive. Violent. Vindictive? Lilliput used a shovel to bisect its torso. Quasi’s violent assault on Sandshell almost introduced her to Old Black Joe. Is Quasi taking this personally? Quasi seems to be independent. A number of solo sightings, including the attack on Sandshell, have been reported. However, Quasi has led the action of various groups of filaments. Is Quasi the upper management we seek to eliminate?Fat MucketAKA35
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MANAGER OF OPERATIONS EXCERPT REPORT NON-SUBMIT TO COMMITTEEREPORT #S3020200-110090The Filaments invaded the Queenswell Treatment Plant.Those dregging tangles came up out of the drains and smacked us while we were napping. Sire and the Allicrocs never had the audacity to try something this gutsy. Current count, we have 11 casualties: one dead, three critical, and seven wounded or infected. Casualties are mostly internal staff: mechanical and filter workers that live on the grounds. Fortunately, no city council overseers were present. Council members Bunge and Loftspring would have a field day if they knew half what goes on in the roots. Filter workers are tough on their own but with our organization, initiatives, and support we are able to efficiently keep the flow whether Allicroc skirmishes, dimensional rifts, Zoon chemical spills, toxic fungus forests, or worm chokes birthing season. In a moment of clarity from the dreg storm in my head, I write these observations: The strategy and the intelligence they used to catch us with our pants down was really ... surprising. It was a pretty sophisticated plan from a sentient species we only started classifying three seasons ago. How? How did they know so many filter and mechanical workers live onsite and how to keep them occupied with a large enough force of filaments?We have footage of the filament now known as Peeping Tom. Fawnsfoot is checking past footage to see if Tom has been onsite past cycles. Fat MucketAKA40
MANAGER OF OPERATIONS EXCERPT REPORT How were they able to navigate the interior of the admin, lab, and treatment wings? Kidneyshell theorizes that the mother might emit a pheromone that Quasi and her workers - like Harold and Harvey - were able to track. How did they know where the mother might be located in the main building? Pheromones? Tangle ESP?When? Seems easy, night time has less staff on the grounds and keeps them hidden in the dark. Who?Who to target? Mainly, how did they know to send Quasi to target me? Did they check our website on their smart phone? Boss pheromones?!?Why? Why the risk? Was this “mother” the only key the filaments have to their birthing pools? Kidneyshell compared it to using a bacterial mother to create new barrels of vinegar. It was quite a number of filaments we bleached out there. Last count was 20 filament creatures. Was it worth it for them?ACTION: Have filter and mechanical workers set up a defensive perimeter in all the tunnels leading to Queenswell. Set up sewer jetters on the line. The high-powered hydro will deter additional infiltrations.Once the perimeters are established, send out filter worker hunter/killer squads to track the filaments.Then, we bleach them.Fat MucketAKA41
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JAY B. KALAGAYAN (MeSseD creator, writer and publisher) has been an annoyingly consistent entrepreneur and arts advocate in Cincinnati for more than twenty years. A Xavier University graduate from Erie, PA, Jay is founder of Know Theatre of Cincinnati and a co-founder of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. He is a writer of plays, car-toon strips, reviews, articles, marketing collateral, fundraising appeals, and geeky event calendars. His major influences are his wife Jan and daughters Meggie and Fi.DYLAN SPEEG (MeSseD illustrator) was born and raised in Cincin-nati. He attended The Art Academy of Cincinnati in the early 90s and has worked as a portrait painter and illustrator ever since. He is also a musician in the band Heavy Hinges. His major influences are lurid pulp novel covers, Robert Williams and R. Crumb. Past awards in-clude the Best Illustrated Series Award from the Cleveland Press Club for his spray paint stenciled illustrations in the 2018 CityBeat “Best Of Cincinnati” issue. Cincinnati and its people are a major source of Dylan’s inspiration, and you can aspire to show up in his artwork— meet him bartending nights or during his stand-up comedy gigs around the Queen City. JayBiosDylan45
MeSseD follows the ush to the world underneath, where the vast quantities of human, medical, and industrial waste have transformed our sewer systems into dangerous biomes supporting fantastical and sometimes dangerous creatures. MeSseD explores this world full of adventure and unconventional beauty through lter worker Liliput, our guide to the thick roots under our feet.The universe of MeSseD expands in Season 3 as the creatures of the Roots come above ground to tangle with the lter workers on their home turf. While Liliput recuperates from injuries sustained while snatching the lament “mother” for study, Quasi leads the laments in an attempt to inltrate the MSD Main Treatment Plant, and the lter workers rise to meet them. This season boasts a secret midnight heist, a thrilling confrontation, and a new look at the creatures from the Roots.MeSseDcomics.com “ MeSseD Comics ... has a whimsical and magical quality to it.”—David Mack, award winning artist “ MeSseD gives us a creative look into the weird, wet underground of the sewer system, with a strong, likeable lead, and a fun, science fiction embellishment.” — Outright Geekery“ A purposefully yet uniquely disgust-ing sci-fi/horror comic book.”— IndieComics1