Sentiel gun safe
GunsafeSpace
2020.08.04 01:19 bremergorst GunsafeSpace
Show off your gun safe, collection, organization methods, etc. This is a Gun SafeSpace
2014.11.25 06:00 Virginia firearms discussion group
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2010.08.11 23:35 chunky_bacon Troubleshooting, Building, and Repairing Firearms
Working with steel and wood since 1776.
2024.04.29 08:53 mclarke77 The Wall
I’m trapped. I can hear that thing lumbering through the hallway. My God, what the hell is it? I’m trying my best to keep quiet but I can’t help but whimper. The soft scratching of my pencil on this notepad sounds deafening in the quiet of this tiny closet. I’m almost certainly gonna die in this place. I just hope someone can find this, maybe it will do some good. Or maybe it already doesn’t matter. I’m not sure how long I have until that wheezing thing finds me. Oh God, or that grey stuff might ooze under the door and dissolve me. Oh my God! What it did to Benny, Bill, Jonesy and Donald! To all of them! Even if I don’t survive, the world needs to be warned!
Long story short, I was a cop but I got shot in the head. The doctors said I was lucky, that it went straight through without hitting anything vital. However, I still needed three steel plates to hold my fragmented skull together. Also ended up with permanent tremors in my right hand from brain damage. So it’s no surprise that my cop career didn’t thrive. Just a year later I was a “retired” 45-year-old cop, living on scraps. After a few months, I started to get desperate for work. One evening at my pub, my friend, Graham, mentioned an acquaintance who was looking for employees for some private research institute in the Mojave Desert. “What, are they still blowing A-bombs out there?” I scoffed, eyebrows arched with bemused incredulity. Graham stared down at his beer, “Not sure what the hell they do. But they pay super well, so who cares,” he took a long sip of beer, foam clinging to his lips, “I think it would be a good fit for you”.
Turns out this facility, and it really is known as the “Facility”, was located in the middle of nowhere. When I looked it up online I couldn’t find any information. Later that week I called the number that Graham had scrawled down for me on a beer stained napkin. My right hand was useless to me if I wanted it to do anything that required fine motor function, so when I dialed the number on my phone I had to use my left hand. The phone rang twice before a metallic feminine voice answered and said to hold for an operator. After a few seconds of muted elevator music, I spoke to a soft voiced man who told me my skill set was perfect for their current vacancy: a security management position. He said if I filled out some forms they would pay for me to fly on out for an interview in person.
One month and several NDAs later, I was employed again! By the time I started my new job I realized I had no idea what research went on down here. During the interviews my duties as a security manager had been discussed but any mention of their actual research interests had been carefully avoided, redacted or omitted. The security staff were also told to avoid fraternizing with anyone not from their own department, including security personnel from other sections of the Facility. On my first day I asked others about the nature of the Facility’s research, but no one had any interest. “Just stick to your contract. No point in rocking the boat,” my new boss, Bill, said to me curtly. So since then I’ve not discussed it with anyone else.
If only I had, maybe I would have seen this coming. The section of the Facility which I managed was section B.15. This area, like most of the core Facility, was located several hundred feet below the sun scorched surface of the Mojave Desert and comprised many green painted corridors peppered with tall, wide doors made from dark, stainless steel. The rooms inside were large and sterile. Artefacts were cleaned and studied in these rooms after they were brought from the excavation sites (sites E.1 through E.27). Of course, whether we wanted to know the nature of the research or not, eventually, after patrolling some of the research labs for weeks, it wasn’t difficult to figure out that the scientists were mostly archeologists or paleontologists. I would often find objects of different sizes and shapes lying around in various states of cleanliness. Some looked like ancient amphoras, or large stone bird baths. Others were less identifiable: a chipped statue, a melted lump of some unidentifiable metal or large chunks of a glass-like material. I found this all extremely curious because, as far as I knew, the Mojave Desert didn’t have much in the way of ancient architecture. At least of any ancient civilization that I know.
As the months went by I started to get friendly with the other guards, most of them ex-cops too, and we started playing cards and drinking Irish coffee in the evenings. My two main colleagues consisted of a jovial, short man with orange hair named Jonesy and a much older much grumpier and much balder man, Donald. They were good men and we had a lot of laughs together. My stomach twists when I think about where they are now. Though I grew fonder of my fellow guards, I found myself developing a severe dislike for the white coated researchers. Most of them were pernicious and arrogant. The only scientist my security buddies and me could stand was a scrawny man named Benny. Our favorite thing about Benny was that he never talked about his work.
It was earlier today, at around 1400h, when all the scientists were running from their rooms. They must have received some message a few minutes before and we watched them from the surveillance monitors as they got all excited and leapt up. Their lab coats flapped and flowed around as they jumped to their feet and made for the main exit. Soon after this the large red landline phone near my video surveillance desk began to ring. Expecting the call, I picked up the receiver before the first ring finished, “Hey boss, what’s all the excitement about?” Bill’s voice was uncharacteristically hesitant “The diggers have found a friggin’ huge object out here! The biggest thing they’ve ever dug up, it’s really irregular. They want to bring it to B.15 and I need you to organize the logistics and security”. My brow furrowed, “I guess it’s too big for the main entrance? Maybe we could bring it in via the big doors of the auxiliary hangar?” Bill grunted with agreement, “Yea, we’ll have to improvise a bit but should be manageable. I have no idea what it is… well you’ll see for yourself. I’ll get some of the boys from B.14 to help you out. And just, well…” He paused for a moment, “just be careful.” I grunted, my eyebrow arched from surprise; why was he so afraid? “Um thanks, appreciate it, see you guys soon”.
Donald, Jonesy and I had coffee in the office and called the guards at the hangar doors to arrange clearance. About an hour later we were at the platform near the doors waiting for the cargo to arrive. The massive metal hangar doors had been opened, which was rare. What was more irregular was that nearly every staff member from sections B.11 to B.18 were all gathered together in a silent knot of people. Despite the silence the air sizzled with anticipation, as well as the searing heat. I stood transfixed from curiosity at the massive doorway, waiting in the shade of the hangar as the relentless sun beat down outside. In the distance I saw a black speck grow larger against the bright blue sky. Slowly it took the form of a helicopter which was carrying a large rectangular shaped mass below it.
Within less than a minute the helicopter made its cacophonous approach toward the hangar and gently lowered the object onto an enormous wooden scaffold. I barked orders and signed forms as the guards rushed about, making sure the other personnel stayed a safe distance away. The air was blaring with the sound of the helicopter blades and sand rocketed into my face, forcing me to splutter. “Alright, let’s get this thing processed!” I yelled over the sound of the helicopter as its engines powered down, my colleagues and I wiped dirt from our faces. Bill emerged swiftly from the chopper and shook my hand. We quickly reviewed the paper work he gave me and then he made his way back downstairs to his office in section B.1. He was keen to get away for some reason.
“Alright, it’s officially in my care now. Show’s over. Get the non-essential personnel out of here immediately and secure the object. I want to get Benny up here to analyze it ASAP.” As my colleagues cleared away most of the staff and the excitement died down I was finally able to take a moment to inspect the object. It had been lowered onto the wooden scaffold fitted with wheels just outside the hangar and had been pushed slowly into the center. The few aircraft in this hangar were all currently under repairs and were non-operational, therefore there was plenty of space. As soon as I saw the sheer size of the object, I knew it would be difficult to transport, but not impossible. The object was a wall. Or a large fragment of a wall.
It was about twenty feet long, eight feet thick and ten feet high. At first the wall appeared made from some sort of boring grey stone. However, when I looked closer the wall was… alive. The wall’s surface bubbled slightly. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I stepped closer. When I was only a few inches away from it I felt cold. A bead of sweat ran down my cheek and I thought I heard something. It sounded like someone far away calling my name.
I felt a strange pressure around my head. A sudden invasive thought wormed to life: throw yourself into the wall. I shuddered and held myself back despite the sudden strong desire. I heard the faint voice of Benny and crashed back to reality. My eyes snapped open and I found my nose an inch away from the wall. It radiated cold like an open freezer and it smelled like rotting clay. The surface of the wall simmered ever so slightly. It reminded me of the fizz of some grey effervescent medicine. I paled as I took a large step backward, “I.. uh, what is this?” I turned to face Benny who stood with another scientist. He glanced at her briefly before he approached the wall to apply more straps. He was careful to avoid touching the wall with his bare skin. “Honestly, we have no idea”.
I got Donald and Jonesy to help Benny transport the wall down to room 278B via the service elevator. Donald grumbled about how badly the wall smelled and Jonesy had eyes as large as saucers when he saw it up close, “It looks so unreal!” Once downstairs I returned to my office to get some more coffee and file away the paperwork. I tried to put the strangeness of the wall out of my mind, but it had truly unnerved me. I felt so tired, my forehead drenched with cold sweat. I had been working extra shifts lately, but I had never been hit by such exhaustion so rapidly. As I sat at my desk facing the surveillance monitors I was unable to fight the sleep forcing my eyes shut.
I’ve had many hangovers in my life, most of them unpleasant, but when I woke up at my desk I’d never felt quite so singularly awful. My clothes were soaked with sweat and my whole body felt exhausted. My arms felt like molasses as I attempted to move. My forehead throbbed and I felt bruised. I also felt a pressure squeezing my head from all sides. It was quite peculiar. I sat back in my seat and rubbed my eyes.
Then I froze.
A hand was lying motionless on the floor just behind the table in the center of the office. I leapt to my feet and rushed forward. I gasped from horror as I saw Donald lying on the floor, his chest sliced to ribbons. Gallons of crimson red stained his blue uniform and his eyes stared up empty and terrified. Pallid and shaking I went to my office landline to call for backup immediately. As the receiver met my ear my stomach dropped into my feet.
The line was dead.
The sole means of communication within the core Facility is done through landlines. The landlines are monitored at all times and any interruption results in an immediate response from security. We had many protocols and fail safes to ensure communication remained enabled, but the line was dead and there was no sign of any response. In fact, how long had I been asleep? What was happening? I rushed back to the monitors. I hadn’t noticed it before but I couldn’t see anyone. The cameras were all operating normally but not a single person could be seen. The corridors were just as green and bare as most late evenings. I looked at the clock, it was only 1817h. I had slept for about two and a half hours. Where were the janitors? My heart was hammering in my chest and I couldn’t catch my breath. Meanwhile my head was throbbing and my eyes were burning. Suddenly I heard an indistinct whisper. Gooseflesh bloomed all over my back and arms.
I’d heard this voice before.
I’d heard this voice from the wall.
I turned to the monitors and searched for the wall. It had been brought back to the surface; the hangar! It sat upon the bare ground right by the massive doors. However, the doors were all sealed. The wall itself looked different. It was enormous! Almost three times longer and taller and wider. Just then, I realized that the titanium blast doors had been sealed as well. My heart rate doubled as I noticed large dents, scorch marks and scratches all over the doors. Someone had tried to break them down. The hangar floor was covered in blood and ash as well as abandoned weapons. My God, I even saw a rocket-launcher lying blackened and fractured near the doors. What the hell had happened?
I spun my head to look at the security control panel on the wall to my left. My heart, already blaring, felt like it leapt out of my mouth. My eyes grew wide as I realized someone, probably Donald, had activated a quarantine procedure. This meant that the entire Facility would be sealed airtight. The only way to open any doors now was from the outside. My God! Why had he done this? Where was everyone? Did he try to wake me? Did I really sleep through all this? I looked back at Donald, my heart still hammering from seeing his dead eyes stare into mine. I sighed sadly and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was currently 1831h. I returned to the monitors and began to rewind the security footage.
Surveying the screens, I watched my past-self enter the security office at around 1600h. By 1610h I had passed-out on my chair, drool dangling from my mouth. “Ok, so let’s see where the wall was at that time. Should be room 278B.” I thought to myself aloud as I clicked on the button that would display the footage from that room as well as the surrounding corridors. The screen was black as the footage loaded and I was about to hit the play button but hesitated. Did I really want to see this? I closed my eyes and took a few slow breaths. I can’t figure my way out of here if I don’t know what’s going on. I have to know. I hit play.
The camera was located opposite the door giving a full view of the room. At first everything seemed normal. Benny and some other scientists had transported the wall into room 278B. It was 1623h when they were taking the straps off the wall. A loud popping sound was heard and the researchers spun around. The lights in the room dimmed and flickered. Suddenly something long and slimy exploded from the wall, curled around Benny, and pulled him in. He screamed in terror as he vanished, his cries immediately silenced. My jaw dropped open and a small yell escaped me.
Without realizing it, I was instantly on my feet, shaking my head in pure denial. My heart burst. What the hell was that? What the hell? What the hell? My head was full of static. I felt tears in my eyes as I watched guards and researchers rush into the room. The wall shimmered, it’s simmering surface began to boil and bubble and it grew three feet higher. I saw it reshape itself so that intricately carved figures appeared on the wall’s edge. I leant in closer and gasped. One of those figures looked just like Benny, his mouth stretched open wide into a permanent scream. I didn’t want to continue watching, but I had to. The guards and researchers were horrified by what they saw before them. Suddenly, without warning, their body postures relaxed, their eyes grew glassy, and their arms fell slack at their sides. Those within the room moved as if sleepwalking. Some stayed still while others left the room. Brow furrowed from confusion and fear, my eyes swiveled to the footage of the corridor outside. The guards and researchers that had just exited 278B immediately began attacking and grappling those around them. I yelped as a vacant-eyed guard lazily shot another man in the leg. The thrall then dragged the wounded guard into room 278B. The mad guard held the wounded guard’s leg fast as he casually walked into the grey wall, pulling the struggling man in behind him. During this altercation I noticed Donald for the first time, he was hiding behind the corner of the corridor at the far end and was firing his gun at the madmen. He didn’t manage to hit anyone though. He then ran over to help a stray researcher to their feet and then they both ran down the corridor and out of view.
I can still hear the cries of pain and pleas for mercy as those who fell victim to the thralls were each dragged into that horrifying wall. With every person it swallowed, the wall wriggled and grew and grew. More and more ghastly decorations began to bloom on its surface, all of them made from the bones or likenesses of those who had been absorbed. The bigger it got the stronger its psychic influence became until it seemed to reach nearly everyone in the Facility, turning them into thralls. I looked on in horror as one by one, all janitors, researchers, guards, diggers, admin staff, everyone gradually stopped what they were doing, mid conversation, their eyes emptying. The janitors dropped their mops and buckets. Researchers dropped precious materials and equipment without care, letting them smash to pieces. In unison they all slowly, with vacant expressions, moved toward room 278B. Among the horde of thralls, I saw Bill and Jonesy, and so many others I knew by face. A guy who’d held the door for me once, a researcher who always slurped her coffee at lunch. Hundreds of people! What filled me with an unnamable dread was that I knew what was gonna happen. I knew what was coming. I tried to shout at the monitors, “Stop! Wait!” I grabbed the monitors and shook them with frustration.
A terror began to fill my stomach, deep and cold and aching. Suddenly I noticed Donald reappear on the screen. He was trying to hold back the researcher he’d helped earlier, but it was useless. I saw Donald, chest heaving from effort, stare with incredulity as he sat defeated on the ground. Everyone else around him stumbled dreamily toward their doom. But Donald refused to give up. I saw him run from corridor to corridor, trying desperately to stop them. He threw chairs and tables in their way but they simply pushed them aside or jumped over them. I saw him run toward this office. I saw him enter, saw myself slumped on my chair still completely unconscious. I saw Donald try to shake me awake, he slapped me a few times and was yelling in frustration. He gave up with me eventually and ran over to activate the quarantine lockdown. I saw him tear down the hall back toward room 278B, pistol in hand.
My best guess was that he saw what was happening in room 278B and decided he was gonna stop it. However, as soon as he got close to the door a long pale tendril burst through the door directly into Donald’s chest. The tentacle had a hooked end and it slashed at him. I saw blood spurt out of him, saw him stumble and fall from the ground in fright. However, he still managed to get a hold of his gun and fired multiple shots at the tendril. It writhed and flailed. Donald took the opportunity to climb to his feet. He grimaced and clasped his chest as crimson leaked to the floor. He moved back down the corridor, much more slowly than before. Eventually he got back to the office. He locked the door and then collapsed. I cried out in frustration. That whole time I was completely useless!
My mind felt like static again for a few seconds. I couldn’t work out what my next move should be. A thought hit me hard, one I should really have thought of before. Why had Donald and I not been psychically affected by the wall? Everyone had been enslaved, everyone had been forced to walk into that wall. Why not Donald? And me? I knew it must be connected to my horrendous sleepiness. My eyes grew wide with sudden realization. “Shit, the steel plates in my head!” Donald had a single steel plate in his skull because of a rock-climbing accident he had in his 20s. When I got close to the wall, had it sensed my resistance? Had it tried to incapacitate me? If so, it means this thing possesses sentience.
While I pondered this, I noticed some thralls re-strap the wall in room 278B. They transported it to the elevator and back up to the hangar. Once there, the thralls moved the wall off the scaffold onto the floor and began to beat heavily on the large metal doors with bare fists. Some even shot at the doors with their handguns. The ricochets killed a few of them but not one single person seemed to even notice. Some of the guards even used a rocket launcher! I yelled with shock as they fired at deadly close range, lazily blowing themselves up, leaving the doors scorched. After this proved futile, the thralls all grew suddenly rigid. Next, they all formed a line in front of the wall and one shambling step after another, all the remaining employees were - assimilated. Even the dead and wounded were not spared. Those still alive carried the corpses of their fellow thralls into the wall.
It was 1705h when the last employee disappeared forever into the grey horror, and the wall expanded to its current size. Without warning, a large writhing mass of twisted limbs emerged from the wall. I gasped from horror. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was because the lighting in the hangar wasn’t good enough, but it definitely wasn’t human. Its silhouette was about seven feet tall and thin and stretched. It had too many legs and it didn’t seem to have a head. This thing lumbered over to the doors and began to strike them with a strength and ferocity one would only find in a starving polar bear. I could tell that the doors were taking strain, and they began to bend, but even then, they would not yield. After about half an hour of smashing the door, the creature stopped and slowly shambled toward the stairs. My heart froze. It was coming here! Or was it here already?
My eyes swiveled back to the main monitor and I was surprised to see Donald still alive. He was scratched and bleeding badly as he shakily pushed himself from the floor. He then looked up at the ammunitions cupboard and began to search through his keys. I saw him curse. He couldn’t find the key with his trembling, bloodied fingers. In the next instant his eyes bulged and he heaved as if vomiting. His body doubled over and long grey tendrils oozed from his mouth and wriggled furiously. He grabbed his throat and fell forward onto the floor. Frozen in horror I watched as his body squirmed and he wriggled as if his intestines were filled with snakes. I continued to watch absolutely transfixed as three long grey tendrils emerged again from between Donald’s lips. Slowly they wriggled free of his mouth. They were about half a foot long, dull grey and thin like spaghetti.
I watched as they slithered toward my unconscious form on the monitor. I bit my lip and stood up. Slowly my brain put two and two together. Bile rose in my throat. I yelled at myself to wake up and see the worms. Just then my stomach dropped and I could feel an itchiness in my belly. I could feel the wriggling itch of a thousand grey eels in my gut. Or was I imagining it?
My stomach writhed and I was about to puke when I saw myself awake and stretch in my chair. The worms somehow realized I was awake and they moved out of view towards the –before I could watch the screen any longer, I heard a hiss and something slimy and long wrapped itself around my throat so tight I couldn’t breathe. I gasped with surprise and strained my neck to look at the monitor that showed the room in real time. I saw from the camera behind my head that something thin and grey had wrapped itself around my throat. I saw two more of those things coming at me from behind as well. They were about to come wriggling up my chair when I grimaced with anger and grabbed my gun from its holster. The thing around my neck was hissing and making awful clicking and guttural noises. Its small worm head had a mouth that bit and it latched onto my neck to suck my blood. I pulled at the leach and pressed my gun up against it. I pulled the trigger. With an earsplitting bang and a sound like a water balloon popping the leach was reduced to sticky goo. I pulled the remnants of the leach off my neck and spun around just in time to shoot and kill the others. I grinned with a mad-joy and yelled with relief. Immediately, a wave of nausea and exhaustion hit me and I fell back onto my chair. “What the hell was that? What the hell do I do now?” I sat still for a moment and tried not to lose my mind completely. I swear I could hear Woody the woodpecker laughing somewhere in the distance. I needed to keep it together. I took a long deep breath and tried to think of a way out.
Summarizing the details of my predicament, I realized I was trapped alone inside the Facility with an otherworldly force. Also, even if I found a way out, I’d potentially be letting an evil into the world that could destroy all life. At once an old thought returned to me, one I’d often experienced as a cop. “If I need to sacrifice myself to save others, I will do so without complaint.” A wry smile spread over my face. “Once a cop, always a cop.” My smile vanished as a I continued to think. “But my God, if this thing gets out. If it gets into the minds of other people. If it gets larger and larger. Could it swallow the world? The solar system? What other monstrosities would it unleash?” I was talking aloud now; the sound of my voice gave a new reality to my situation that made me shudder. I turned back to the monitor. It seems I was all caught up with what had happened. I stared blankly into the screen while I watched my past-self continue to wake and wince from pain. I switched the monitor off and saw my reflection in the blackness of the screen. I was pale and my eyes were wide and unblinking. “What do I do now?” I turned in my chair to look at Donald’s body. Were all those worms gone? Could some still be hiding? And what should be done with his body? Probably best to have it burned. “Poor Donald, he didn’t deserve this”, I muttered softly as I examined his corpse, making sure there were no unexplained twitches beneath his skin. My eyes moved from his body up to the ammunition’s cupboard just above. “Wait, why was he trying to get into the cupboard earlier? We don’t have much…”, my eyes grew large with realization. “Holy crap, he was trying to get the bomb! Me and Donald were gonna use a left-over bomb from the excavation site to blow some random shit up!”
I sighed sadly and heavily. We never got around to it. I stood up quickly and walked up to the cupboard. I pulled out my keys and quickly found the key I’d need. I opened the cupboard with little effort and found the ten kilos of plastic explosive inside. It had already been set up with a sixty second timer and a remote detonator by a colleague. I sat at the table with the explosive, a vague plan forming in my broken mind. “Maybe if I somehow get this wall-thing to eat this bomb then...”
Before I could formulate my thoughts fully, the lights flickered, and the entire Facility was plunged into darkness unceremoniously. My nerves were burning with fear. What had happened? Had that thing knocked the power out somehow? The next few seconds that past were some of the longest I’d ever experienced. However, dim green light bloomed to life and the reserve power kicked in. Then I heard slow, shuffling footsteps in the corridor just outside the office. I froze once again, my insides turning to mush. My mind raced. Had I remembered to lock the door? My stomach leapt into my feet as I heard the shuffling get louder and louder. I heard hoarse, wheezing breaths, as if the thing struggled to breathe. I jumped from fright but remained absolutely silent as whatever the thing was banged on the door with a deafening blow.
BANG! The door shook and bent slightly.
BANG! Silence for a moment.
BANG! BANG! Again silence. My heart was hammering in my ears and I sat deathly still. I could hear that thing breathing louder. After a few moments I heard it shuffle away. My entire body was shaking as relief washed over me. Whatever the thing was, it had walked away and I could no longer hear it. I turned to look at the monitors. Dare I turn them on and check what it was? After a few seconds of consideration, holding my breath, I turned to the monitors and switched them on. I waited in nervous anticipation as the screens flickered to life showing me that all the corridors between me and the wall were currently empty. I didn’t bother checking the corridor I suspected the shambling thing was in. I didn’t want to see it unless I needed to. I’d had just about all the stress and terror I could take and by this stage I felt weirdly calm. It must be shock. A thin sigh escaped me as I stood. The fear in my blood began to feed a furnace of anger in my heart. I thought about all those who I had lost. I felt my expression turn to granite, “It’s time to kill this thing.”
I opened the door slowly, my fully loaded gun in my good hand. Spare ammo along with the explosive and a shotgun was stashed in my backpack, and the remote detonator was tied to my belt. I held a heavy-duty flashlight in my shaky right hand. I moved cautiously through the dark green corridors. I’d never thought of how creepy this place could be until this moment. Gooseflesh crept up my arms and neck as I continued. All I could hear were my soft footfalls and shallow anxious breaths. I cleared the corridors one by one until I made it to the stairs that would lead me to the thing that looks like a wall. I walked up the stairs slowly, my ears honing in on any sound. That’s when I heard it. I heard the soft sound of crying.
Someone was crying. I stopped dead in my tracks. My entire body shook from the adrenaline surging through me. I took one step. Then another. Slowly, I climbed. Once my head could peek over the top, I froze. Jonesy was squatting on his knees, naked. He was between the wall and me, with his back facing me. The terrifying thing loomed enormous before us. It was now framed intricately with the skeletons of hundreds of people, all twisted and screaming in agony. Writhing, tortured souls fused together. Then came the sound of crying and moaning from the wall. I could hear them all. They were all screaming. Screaming for me to help them. To join them. I felt that pressure squeeze against my skull tighter and tighter. I shook my head in defiance. “No! You bastard! NO! I will not join you! You’re not Jonesy!” All at once the moans and wails stopped. I suddenly found myself at the top of the stairs without knowing when I’d finished climbing them. “But we are Jonesy” came a voice that was not human. It was a voice made from all those it had swallowed up. It was as though something had made a distorted copy of the voices of all those people and then just used them all at once to speak. It didn’t understand the concept of individuality. All of a sudden, the wall rippled and grey tendrils squirmed from the flesh of the wall, curling around Jonesy as they teased his face and slowly pulled him in. As he disappeared there was a horrendous sucking, squelching noise. “We are Jonesy. We are all. We can be all. We will be all. All and all and more than all.” The voice was chanting this over and over. Louder and louder.
A deafening blast came from the wall and a slithering, writhing mass of tangled human limbs emerged. It had four legs and several arms. It looked like the bodies of eight or more people shuffled and glued into an otherworldly horror. Its multiple mouths screamed a high pitch squeal that was more horrifying than the screams of the damned, and its sharp pointed teeth gnashed and chomped. I only had a second to dodge this monster. I leapt to the side and fired multiple shots at the thing’s center of mass. Its horrifying body of fused torsos wriggled and bled black ichor. It screamed with pain and jumped at me, grabbing my leg. It tossed me into the air and I almost lost my gun as I slammed into the floor a few feet away. Before I could catch my breath, it was upon me again. From the ground I fired several shots at it. This made it jump away and scuttle down the stairs. With it momentarily out of sight, I quickly got to my feet and kept my eyes on the stairs.
After a second, I decided to kneel and take off my backpack as fast as I could. I pulled out the bomb and started the timer. I also decided to get the shotgun out and get it loaded. I needed to do this now or never. As the final shell clicked into place I heard a roar coming from the stairs. The thing was back. Before I could react, it leapt at me and knocked me to the ground. The bomb flew from my grasp. It bared down on me, grabbing at my throat ready to tear me apart. My reflexes saved me though and I managed to use my shotgun to hold the thing at bay, but it was too strong. Desperate, I kicked it hard in the chest and it let go. I used this moment to grab the bomb that lay behind me; only 37 seconds to go! Terrified and crazed, sweat pouring down my face, my mind in pieces, I rammed the bomb into the creature’s mouth and kicked it back again as hard as I could. I heard it yelp like a wounded dog and it lost its footing. It fell sideways and in that second, I took my shotgun and fired at it in the chest. The force of the close-range blast sent me flying. At the same time the creature was hurled back into the wall where it was enveloped quickly.
My head was fuzzy. I was dizzy and the wind had been knocked out of me. Was the bomb going to work? I felt something warm and wet drip into my ear and touched the side of my head. My fingertips came away soaked in blood. My head was spinning. With a foggy mind I grabbed my bag, collecting my weapons and flashlight. As I stood up I heard a low rumbling sound. The ground beneath my feet shook and for a moment I was confused. Then I looked up at the wall. Its surface was roiling and boiling like I’d never seen before. It was shaking and growing. I turned to run when suddenly there was a massive blast from inside it, and the entire wall exploded into hundreds of small grey chunks. These chunks rained down all around the hangar, smashing several aircraft. The blast knocked me off my feet and this time I definitely passed out because when I awoke I could see daylight through the tiny cracks in the blast door. Where the wall had once been now stood a small blackened crater. I turned around to inspect the wall pieces and found that they – my eyes grew wide and my mouth opened. They were melting. As I approached a fragment of wall, a horrible twisted hand shot out at me. I yelled and jumped away. It was still alive! I watched in dumbfounded horror as the pieces continued to melt and began to merge, just like that scene from Terminator 2.
It was rebuilding itself. Then I heard a groan. My blood became ice. I turned slowly in terror to find the shambling, wheezing monstrosity behind me. Like the creature I'd shot, this one seemed made from bits and pieces of human limbs knitted together randomly. This one had legs which came out its mouth, its head positioned within its torso where the bellybutton should be, and it wheezed in pain. I almost puked from fright but my legs were already carrying me away. I sprinted down the corridors, ignoring all the pain and fear and exhaustion and anger and frustration I had inside me. Without thinking, I leapt into the first janitor's closet I found and locked the door with a dull clunking sound. After catching my breath, I found this notepad and pencil, and have been writing this report in the sterile glow of my flashlight. Hopefully, I have left some useful information for anyone who may find this.
Now I lie in wait for that thing. Now I lie in wait for that grey ooze. What is that thing? Is it truly indestructible? If it can survive a bomb like that, what hope do we have? It’s no wall at all. It’s a membrane. An interface. Somewhere very different is pressing up against us. It has torn a small hole, and was now prying it open further. I should blow up this whole damn place! I should burn it! But would it matter? Or would it just be buried, to be rediscovered? I think even if I survive this, nothing can help us. So here I wait, hoping to be saved, but even as I write this I can hear that thing walking past the door. With a soft click I turn off my flashlight. I try not to breathe. I can hear the snuffling, it’s right outside! I can smell its ugly breath.
Oh God! I hear the jingling of keys. The door is unlocking! How? How?
Oh God! The doorknob is turning...
submitted by mclarke77 to libraryofshadows [link] [comments]
Long story short, I was a cop but I got shot in the head. The doctors said I was lucky, that it went straight through without hitting anything vital. However, I still needed three steel plates to hold my fragmented skull together. Also ended up with permanent tremors in my right hand from brain damage. So it’s no surprise that my cop career didn’t thrive. Just a year later I was a “retired” 45-year-old cop, living on scraps. After a few months, I started to get desperate for work. One evening at my pub, my friend, Graham, mentioned an acquaintance who was looking for employees for some private research institute in the Mojave Desert. “What, are they still blowing A-bombs out there?” I scoffed, eyebrows arched with bemused incredulity. Graham stared down at his beer, “Not sure what the hell they do. But they pay super well, so who cares,” he took a long sip of beer, foam clinging to his lips, “I think it would be a good fit for you”.
Turns out this facility, and it really is known as the “Facility”, was located in the middle of nowhere. When I looked it up online I couldn’t find any information. Later that week I called the number that Graham had scrawled down for me on a beer stained napkin. My right hand was useless to me if I wanted it to do anything that required fine motor function, so when I dialed the number on my phone I had to use my left hand. The phone rang twice before a metallic feminine voice answered and said to hold for an operator. After a few seconds of muted elevator music, I spoke to a soft voiced man who told me my skill set was perfect for their current vacancy: a security management position. He said if I filled out some forms they would pay for me to fly on out for an interview in person.
One month and several NDAs later, I was employed again! By the time I started my new job I realized I had no idea what research went on down here. During the interviews my duties as a security manager had been discussed but any mention of their actual research interests had been carefully avoided, redacted or omitted. The security staff were also told to avoid fraternizing with anyone not from their own department, including security personnel from other sections of the Facility. On my first day I asked others about the nature of the Facility’s research, but no one had any interest. “Just stick to your contract. No point in rocking the boat,” my new boss, Bill, said to me curtly. So since then I’ve not discussed it with anyone else.
If only I had, maybe I would have seen this coming. The section of the Facility which I managed was section B.15. This area, like most of the core Facility, was located several hundred feet below the sun scorched surface of the Mojave Desert and comprised many green painted corridors peppered with tall, wide doors made from dark, stainless steel. The rooms inside were large and sterile. Artefacts were cleaned and studied in these rooms after they were brought from the excavation sites (sites E.1 through E.27). Of course, whether we wanted to know the nature of the research or not, eventually, after patrolling some of the research labs for weeks, it wasn’t difficult to figure out that the scientists were mostly archeologists or paleontologists. I would often find objects of different sizes and shapes lying around in various states of cleanliness. Some looked like ancient amphoras, or large stone bird baths. Others were less identifiable: a chipped statue, a melted lump of some unidentifiable metal or large chunks of a glass-like material. I found this all extremely curious because, as far as I knew, the Mojave Desert didn’t have much in the way of ancient architecture. At least of any ancient civilization that I know.
As the months went by I started to get friendly with the other guards, most of them ex-cops too, and we started playing cards and drinking Irish coffee in the evenings. My two main colleagues consisted of a jovial, short man with orange hair named Jonesy and a much older much grumpier and much balder man, Donald. They were good men and we had a lot of laughs together. My stomach twists when I think about where they are now. Though I grew fonder of my fellow guards, I found myself developing a severe dislike for the white coated researchers. Most of them were pernicious and arrogant. The only scientist my security buddies and me could stand was a scrawny man named Benny. Our favorite thing about Benny was that he never talked about his work.
It was earlier today, at around 1400h, when all the scientists were running from their rooms. They must have received some message a few minutes before and we watched them from the surveillance monitors as they got all excited and leapt up. Their lab coats flapped and flowed around as they jumped to their feet and made for the main exit. Soon after this the large red landline phone near my video surveillance desk began to ring. Expecting the call, I picked up the receiver before the first ring finished, “Hey boss, what’s all the excitement about?” Bill’s voice was uncharacteristically hesitant “The diggers have found a friggin’ huge object out here! The biggest thing they’ve ever dug up, it’s really irregular. They want to bring it to B.15 and I need you to organize the logistics and security”. My brow furrowed, “I guess it’s too big for the main entrance? Maybe we could bring it in via the big doors of the auxiliary hangar?” Bill grunted with agreement, “Yea, we’ll have to improvise a bit but should be manageable. I have no idea what it is… well you’ll see for yourself. I’ll get some of the boys from B.14 to help you out. And just, well…” He paused for a moment, “just be careful.” I grunted, my eyebrow arched from surprise; why was he so afraid? “Um thanks, appreciate it, see you guys soon”.
Donald, Jonesy and I had coffee in the office and called the guards at the hangar doors to arrange clearance. About an hour later we were at the platform near the doors waiting for the cargo to arrive. The massive metal hangar doors had been opened, which was rare. What was more irregular was that nearly every staff member from sections B.11 to B.18 were all gathered together in a silent knot of people. Despite the silence the air sizzled with anticipation, as well as the searing heat. I stood transfixed from curiosity at the massive doorway, waiting in the shade of the hangar as the relentless sun beat down outside. In the distance I saw a black speck grow larger against the bright blue sky. Slowly it took the form of a helicopter which was carrying a large rectangular shaped mass below it.
Within less than a minute the helicopter made its cacophonous approach toward the hangar and gently lowered the object onto an enormous wooden scaffold. I barked orders and signed forms as the guards rushed about, making sure the other personnel stayed a safe distance away. The air was blaring with the sound of the helicopter blades and sand rocketed into my face, forcing me to splutter. “Alright, let’s get this thing processed!” I yelled over the sound of the helicopter as its engines powered down, my colleagues and I wiped dirt from our faces. Bill emerged swiftly from the chopper and shook my hand. We quickly reviewed the paper work he gave me and then he made his way back downstairs to his office in section B.1. He was keen to get away for some reason.
“Alright, it’s officially in my care now. Show’s over. Get the non-essential personnel out of here immediately and secure the object. I want to get Benny up here to analyze it ASAP.” As my colleagues cleared away most of the staff and the excitement died down I was finally able to take a moment to inspect the object. It had been lowered onto the wooden scaffold fitted with wheels just outside the hangar and had been pushed slowly into the center. The few aircraft in this hangar were all currently under repairs and were non-operational, therefore there was plenty of space. As soon as I saw the sheer size of the object, I knew it would be difficult to transport, but not impossible. The object was a wall. Or a large fragment of a wall.
It was about twenty feet long, eight feet thick and ten feet high. At first the wall appeared made from some sort of boring grey stone. However, when I looked closer the wall was… alive. The wall’s surface bubbled slightly. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I stepped closer. When I was only a few inches away from it I felt cold. A bead of sweat ran down my cheek and I thought I heard something. It sounded like someone far away calling my name.
I felt a strange pressure around my head. A sudden invasive thought wormed to life: throw yourself into the wall. I shuddered and held myself back despite the sudden strong desire. I heard the faint voice of Benny and crashed back to reality. My eyes snapped open and I found my nose an inch away from the wall. It radiated cold like an open freezer and it smelled like rotting clay. The surface of the wall simmered ever so slightly. It reminded me of the fizz of some grey effervescent medicine. I paled as I took a large step backward, “I.. uh, what is this?” I turned to face Benny who stood with another scientist. He glanced at her briefly before he approached the wall to apply more straps. He was careful to avoid touching the wall with his bare skin. “Honestly, we have no idea”.
I got Donald and Jonesy to help Benny transport the wall down to room 278B via the service elevator. Donald grumbled about how badly the wall smelled and Jonesy had eyes as large as saucers when he saw it up close, “It looks so unreal!” Once downstairs I returned to my office to get some more coffee and file away the paperwork. I tried to put the strangeness of the wall out of my mind, but it had truly unnerved me. I felt so tired, my forehead drenched with cold sweat. I had been working extra shifts lately, but I had never been hit by such exhaustion so rapidly. As I sat at my desk facing the surveillance monitors I was unable to fight the sleep forcing my eyes shut.
I’ve had many hangovers in my life, most of them unpleasant, but when I woke up at my desk I’d never felt quite so singularly awful. My clothes were soaked with sweat and my whole body felt exhausted. My arms felt like molasses as I attempted to move. My forehead throbbed and I felt bruised. I also felt a pressure squeezing my head from all sides. It was quite peculiar. I sat back in my seat and rubbed my eyes.
Then I froze.
A hand was lying motionless on the floor just behind the table in the center of the office. I leapt to my feet and rushed forward. I gasped from horror as I saw Donald lying on the floor, his chest sliced to ribbons. Gallons of crimson red stained his blue uniform and his eyes stared up empty and terrified. Pallid and shaking I went to my office landline to call for backup immediately. As the receiver met my ear my stomach dropped into my feet.
The line was dead.
The sole means of communication within the core Facility is done through landlines. The landlines are monitored at all times and any interruption results in an immediate response from security. We had many protocols and fail safes to ensure communication remained enabled, but the line was dead and there was no sign of any response. In fact, how long had I been asleep? What was happening? I rushed back to the monitors. I hadn’t noticed it before but I couldn’t see anyone. The cameras were all operating normally but not a single person could be seen. The corridors were just as green and bare as most late evenings. I looked at the clock, it was only 1817h. I had slept for about two and a half hours. Where were the janitors? My heart was hammering in my chest and I couldn’t catch my breath. Meanwhile my head was throbbing and my eyes were burning. Suddenly I heard an indistinct whisper. Gooseflesh bloomed all over my back and arms.
I’d heard this voice before.
I’d heard this voice from the wall.
I turned to the monitors and searched for the wall. It had been brought back to the surface; the hangar! It sat upon the bare ground right by the massive doors. However, the doors were all sealed. The wall itself looked different. It was enormous! Almost three times longer and taller and wider. Just then, I realized that the titanium blast doors had been sealed as well. My heart rate doubled as I noticed large dents, scorch marks and scratches all over the doors. Someone had tried to break them down. The hangar floor was covered in blood and ash as well as abandoned weapons. My God, I even saw a rocket-launcher lying blackened and fractured near the doors. What the hell had happened?
I spun my head to look at the security control panel on the wall to my left. My heart, already blaring, felt like it leapt out of my mouth. My eyes grew wide as I realized someone, probably Donald, had activated a quarantine procedure. This meant that the entire Facility would be sealed airtight. The only way to open any doors now was from the outside. My God! Why had he done this? Where was everyone? Did he try to wake me? Did I really sleep through all this? I looked back at Donald, my heart still hammering from seeing his dead eyes stare into mine. I sighed sadly and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was currently 1831h. I returned to the monitors and began to rewind the security footage.
Surveying the screens, I watched my past-self enter the security office at around 1600h. By 1610h I had passed-out on my chair, drool dangling from my mouth. “Ok, so let’s see where the wall was at that time. Should be room 278B.” I thought to myself aloud as I clicked on the button that would display the footage from that room as well as the surrounding corridors. The screen was black as the footage loaded and I was about to hit the play button but hesitated. Did I really want to see this? I closed my eyes and took a few slow breaths. I can’t figure my way out of here if I don’t know what’s going on. I have to know. I hit play.
The camera was located opposite the door giving a full view of the room. At first everything seemed normal. Benny and some other scientists had transported the wall into room 278B. It was 1623h when they were taking the straps off the wall. A loud popping sound was heard and the researchers spun around. The lights in the room dimmed and flickered. Suddenly something long and slimy exploded from the wall, curled around Benny, and pulled him in. He screamed in terror as he vanished, his cries immediately silenced. My jaw dropped open and a small yell escaped me.
Without realizing it, I was instantly on my feet, shaking my head in pure denial. My heart burst. What the hell was that? What the hell? What the hell? My head was full of static. I felt tears in my eyes as I watched guards and researchers rush into the room. The wall shimmered, it’s simmering surface began to boil and bubble and it grew three feet higher. I saw it reshape itself so that intricately carved figures appeared on the wall’s edge. I leant in closer and gasped. One of those figures looked just like Benny, his mouth stretched open wide into a permanent scream. I didn’t want to continue watching, but I had to. The guards and researchers were horrified by what they saw before them. Suddenly, without warning, their body postures relaxed, their eyes grew glassy, and their arms fell slack at their sides. Those within the room moved as if sleepwalking. Some stayed still while others left the room. Brow furrowed from confusion and fear, my eyes swiveled to the footage of the corridor outside. The guards and researchers that had just exited 278B immediately began attacking and grappling those around them. I yelped as a vacant-eyed guard lazily shot another man in the leg. The thrall then dragged the wounded guard into room 278B. The mad guard held the wounded guard’s leg fast as he casually walked into the grey wall, pulling the struggling man in behind him. During this altercation I noticed Donald for the first time, he was hiding behind the corner of the corridor at the far end and was firing his gun at the madmen. He didn’t manage to hit anyone though. He then ran over to help a stray researcher to their feet and then they both ran down the corridor and out of view.
I can still hear the cries of pain and pleas for mercy as those who fell victim to the thralls were each dragged into that horrifying wall. With every person it swallowed, the wall wriggled and grew and grew. More and more ghastly decorations began to bloom on its surface, all of them made from the bones or likenesses of those who had been absorbed. The bigger it got the stronger its psychic influence became until it seemed to reach nearly everyone in the Facility, turning them into thralls. I looked on in horror as one by one, all janitors, researchers, guards, diggers, admin staff, everyone gradually stopped what they were doing, mid conversation, their eyes emptying. The janitors dropped their mops and buckets. Researchers dropped precious materials and equipment without care, letting them smash to pieces. In unison they all slowly, with vacant expressions, moved toward room 278B. Among the horde of thralls, I saw Bill and Jonesy, and so many others I knew by face. A guy who’d held the door for me once, a researcher who always slurped her coffee at lunch. Hundreds of people! What filled me with an unnamable dread was that I knew what was gonna happen. I knew what was coming. I tried to shout at the monitors, “Stop! Wait!” I grabbed the monitors and shook them with frustration.
A terror began to fill my stomach, deep and cold and aching. Suddenly I noticed Donald reappear on the screen. He was trying to hold back the researcher he’d helped earlier, but it was useless. I saw Donald, chest heaving from effort, stare with incredulity as he sat defeated on the ground. Everyone else around him stumbled dreamily toward their doom. But Donald refused to give up. I saw him run from corridor to corridor, trying desperately to stop them. He threw chairs and tables in their way but they simply pushed them aside or jumped over them. I saw him run toward this office. I saw him enter, saw myself slumped on my chair still completely unconscious. I saw Donald try to shake me awake, he slapped me a few times and was yelling in frustration. He gave up with me eventually and ran over to activate the quarantine lockdown. I saw him tear down the hall back toward room 278B, pistol in hand.
My best guess was that he saw what was happening in room 278B and decided he was gonna stop it. However, as soon as he got close to the door a long pale tendril burst through the door directly into Donald’s chest. The tentacle had a hooked end and it slashed at him. I saw blood spurt out of him, saw him stumble and fall from the ground in fright. However, he still managed to get a hold of his gun and fired multiple shots at the tendril. It writhed and flailed. Donald took the opportunity to climb to his feet. He grimaced and clasped his chest as crimson leaked to the floor. He moved back down the corridor, much more slowly than before. Eventually he got back to the office. He locked the door and then collapsed. I cried out in frustration. That whole time I was completely useless!
My mind felt like static again for a few seconds. I couldn’t work out what my next move should be. A thought hit me hard, one I should really have thought of before. Why had Donald and I not been psychically affected by the wall? Everyone had been enslaved, everyone had been forced to walk into that wall. Why not Donald? And me? I knew it must be connected to my horrendous sleepiness. My eyes grew wide with sudden realization. “Shit, the steel plates in my head!” Donald had a single steel plate in his skull because of a rock-climbing accident he had in his 20s. When I got close to the wall, had it sensed my resistance? Had it tried to incapacitate me? If so, it means this thing possesses sentience.
While I pondered this, I noticed some thralls re-strap the wall in room 278B. They transported it to the elevator and back up to the hangar. Once there, the thralls moved the wall off the scaffold onto the floor and began to beat heavily on the large metal doors with bare fists. Some even shot at the doors with their handguns. The ricochets killed a few of them but not one single person seemed to even notice. Some of the guards even used a rocket launcher! I yelled with shock as they fired at deadly close range, lazily blowing themselves up, leaving the doors scorched. After this proved futile, the thralls all grew suddenly rigid. Next, they all formed a line in front of the wall and one shambling step after another, all the remaining employees were - assimilated. Even the dead and wounded were not spared. Those still alive carried the corpses of their fellow thralls into the wall.
It was 1705h when the last employee disappeared forever into the grey horror, and the wall expanded to its current size. Without warning, a large writhing mass of twisted limbs emerged from the wall. I gasped from horror. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was because the lighting in the hangar wasn’t good enough, but it definitely wasn’t human. Its silhouette was about seven feet tall and thin and stretched. It had too many legs and it didn’t seem to have a head. This thing lumbered over to the doors and began to strike them with a strength and ferocity one would only find in a starving polar bear. I could tell that the doors were taking strain, and they began to bend, but even then, they would not yield. After about half an hour of smashing the door, the creature stopped and slowly shambled toward the stairs. My heart froze. It was coming here! Or was it here already?
My eyes swiveled back to the main monitor and I was surprised to see Donald still alive. He was scratched and bleeding badly as he shakily pushed himself from the floor. He then looked up at the ammunitions cupboard and began to search through his keys. I saw him curse. He couldn’t find the key with his trembling, bloodied fingers. In the next instant his eyes bulged and he heaved as if vomiting. His body doubled over and long grey tendrils oozed from his mouth and wriggled furiously. He grabbed his throat and fell forward onto the floor. Frozen in horror I watched as his body squirmed and he wriggled as if his intestines were filled with snakes. I continued to watch absolutely transfixed as three long grey tendrils emerged again from between Donald’s lips. Slowly they wriggled free of his mouth. They were about half a foot long, dull grey and thin like spaghetti.
I watched as they slithered toward my unconscious form on the monitor. I bit my lip and stood up. Slowly my brain put two and two together. Bile rose in my throat. I yelled at myself to wake up and see the worms. Just then my stomach dropped and I could feel an itchiness in my belly. I could feel the wriggling itch of a thousand grey eels in my gut. Or was I imagining it?
My stomach writhed and I was about to puke when I saw myself awake and stretch in my chair. The worms somehow realized I was awake and they moved out of view towards the –before I could watch the screen any longer, I heard a hiss and something slimy and long wrapped itself around my throat so tight I couldn’t breathe. I gasped with surprise and strained my neck to look at the monitor that showed the room in real time. I saw from the camera behind my head that something thin and grey had wrapped itself around my throat. I saw two more of those things coming at me from behind as well. They were about to come wriggling up my chair when I grimaced with anger and grabbed my gun from its holster. The thing around my neck was hissing and making awful clicking and guttural noises. Its small worm head had a mouth that bit and it latched onto my neck to suck my blood. I pulled at the leach and pressed my gun up against it. I pulled the trigger. With an earsplitting bang and a sound like a water balloon popping the leach was reduced to sticky goo. I pulled the remnants of the leach off my neck and spun around just in time to shoot and kill the others. I grinned with a mad-joy and yelled with relief. Immediately, a wave of nausea and exhaustion hit me and I fell back onto my chair. “What the hell was that? What the hell do I do now?” I sat still for a moment and tried not to lose my mind completely. I swear I could hear Woody the woodpecker laughing somewhere in the distance. I needed to keep it together. I took a long deep breath and tried to think of a way out.
Summarizing the details of my predicament, I realized I was trapped alone inside the Facility with an otherworldly force. Also, even if I found a way out, I’d potentially be letting an evil into the world that could destroy all life. At once an old thought returned to me, one I’d often experienced as a cop. “If I need to sacrifice myself to save others, I will do so without complaint.” A wry smile spread over my face. “Once a cop, always a cop.” My smile vanished as a I continued to think. “But my God, if this thing gets out. If it gets into the minds of other people. If it gets larger and larger. Could it swallow the world? The solar system? What other monstrosities would it unleash?” I was talking aloud now; the sound of my voice gave a new reality to my situation that made me shudder. I turned back to the monitor. It seems I was all caught up with what had happened. I stared blankly into the screen while I watched my past-self continue to wake and wince from pain. I switched the monitor off and saw my reflection in the blackness of the screen. I was pale and my eyes were wide and unblinking. “What do I do now?” I turned in my chair to look at Donald’s body. Were all those worms gone? Could some still be hiding? And what should be done with his body? Probably best to have it burned. “Poor Donald, he didn’t deserve this”, I muttered softly as I examined his corpse, making sure there were no unexplained twitches beneath his skin. My eyes moved from his body up to the ammunition’s cupboard just above. “Wait, why was he trying to get into the cupboard earlier? We don’t have much…”, my eyes grew large with realization. “Holy crap, he was trying to get the bomb! Me and Donald were gonna use a left-over bomb from the excavation site to blow some random shit up!”
I sighed sadly and heavily. We never got around to it. I stood up quickly and walked up to the cupboard. I pulled out my keys and quickly found the key I’d need. I opened the cupboard with little effort and found the ten kilos of plastic explosive inside. It had already been set up with a sixty second timer and a remote detonator by a colleague. I sat at the table with the explosive, a vague plan forming in my broken mind. “Maybe if I somehow get this wall-thing to eat this bomb then...”
Before I could formulate my thoughts fully, the lights flickered, and the entire Facility was plunged into darkness unceremoniously. My nerves were burning with fear. What had happened? Had that thing knocked the power out somehow? The next few seconds that past were some of the longest I’d ever experienced. However, dim green light bloomed to life and the reserve power kicked in. Then I heard slow, shuffling footsteps in the corridor just outside the office. I froze once again, my insides turning to mush. My mind raced. Had I remembered to lock the door? My stomach leapt into my feet as I heard the shuffling get louder and louder. I heard hoarse, wheezing breaths, as if the thing struggled to breathe. I jumped from fright but remained absolutely silent as whatever the thing was banged on the door with a deafening blow.
BANG! The door shook and bent slightly.
BANG! Silence for a moment.
BANG! BANG! Again silence. My heart was hammering in my ears and I sat deathly still. I could hear that thing breathing louder. After a few moments I heard it shuffle away. My entire body was shaking as relief washed over me. Whatever the thing was, it had walked away and I could no longer hear it. I turned to look at the monitors. Dare I turn them on and check what it was? After a few seconds of consideration, holding my breath, I turned to the monitors and switched them on. I waited in nervous anticipation as the screens flickered to life showing me that all the corridors between me and the wall were currently empty. I didn’t bother checking the corridor I suspected the shambling thing was in. I didn’t want to see it unless I needed to. I’d had just about all the stress and terror I could take and by this stage I felt weirdly calm. It must be shock. A thin sigh escaped me as I stood. The fear in my blood began to feed a furnace of anger in my heart. I thought about all those who I had lost. I felt my expression turn to granite, “It’s time to kill this thing.”
I opened the door slowly, my fully loaded gun in my good hand. Spare ammo along with the explosive and a shotgun was stashed in my backpack, and the remote detonator was tied to my belt. I held a heavy-duty flashlight in my shaky right hand. I moved cautiously through the dark green corridors. I’d never thought of how creepy this place could be until this moment. Gooseflesh crept up my arms and neck as I continued. All I could hear were my soft footfalls and shallow anxious breaths. I cleared the corridors one by one until I made it to the stairs that would lead me to the thing that looks like a wall. I walked up the stairs slowly, my ears honing in on any sound. That’s when I heard it. I heard the soft sound of crying.
Someone was crying. I stopped dead in my tracks. My entire body shook from the adrenaline surging through me. I took one step. Then another. Slowly, I climbed. Once my head could peek over the top, I froze. Jonesy was squatting on his knees, naked. He was between the wall and me, with his back facing me. The terrifying thing loomed enormous before us. It was now framed intricately with the skeletons of hundreds of people, all twisted and screaming in agony. Writhing, tortured souls fused together. Then came the sound of crying and moaning from the wall. I could hear them all. They were all screaming. Screaming for me to help them. To join them. I felt that pressure squeeze against my skull tighter and tighter. I shook my head in defiance. “No! You bastard! NO! I will not join you! You’re not Jonesy!” All at once the moans and wails stopped. I suddenly found myself at the top of the stairs without knowing when I’d finished climbing them. “But we are Jonesy” came a voice that was not human. It was a voice made from all those it had swallowed up. It was as though something had made a distorted copy of the voices of all those people and then just used them all at once to speak. It didn’t understand the concept of individuality. All of a sudden, the wall rippled and grey tendrils squirmed from the flesh of the wall, curling around Jonesy as they teased his face and slowly pulled him in. As he disappeared there was a horrendous sucking, squelching noise. “We are Jonesy. We are all. We can be all. We will be all. All and all and more than all.” The voice was chanting this over and over. Louder and louder.
A deafening blast came from the wall and a slithering, writhing mass of tangled human limbs emerged. It had four legs and several arms. It looked like the bodies of eight or more people shuffled and glued into an otherworldly horror. Its multiple mouths screamed a high pitch squeal that was more horrifying than the screams of the damned, and its sharp pointed teeth gnashed and chomped. I only had a second to dodge this monster. I leapt to the side and fired multiple shots at the thing’s center of mass. Its horrifying body of fused torsos wriggled and bled black ichor. It screamed with pain and jumped at me, grabbing my leg. It tossed me into the air and I almost lost my gun as I slammed into the floor a few feet away. Before I could catch my breath, it was upon me again. From the ground I fired several shots at it. This made it jump away and scuttle down the stairs. With it momentarily out of sight, I quickly got to my feet and kept my eyes on the stairs.
After a second, I decided to kneel and take off my backpack as fast as I could. I pulled out the bomb and started the timer. I also decided to get the shotgun out and get it loaded. I needed to do this now or never. As the final shell clicked into place I heard a roar coming from the stairs. The thing was back. Before I could react, it leapt at me and knocked me to the ground. The bomb flew from my grasp. It bared down on me, grabbing at my throat ready to tear me apart. My reflexes saved me though and I managed to use my shotgun to hold the thing at bay, but it was too strong. Desperate, I kicked it hard in the chest and it let go. I used this moment to grab the bomb that lay behind me; only 37 seconds to go! Terrified and crazed, sweat pouring down my face, my mind in pieces, I rammed the bomb into the creature’s mouth and kicked it back again as hard as I could. I heard it yelp like a wounded dog and it lost its footing. It fell sideways and in that second, I took my shotgun and fired at it in the chest. The force of the close-range blast sent me flying. At the same time the creature was hurled back into the wall where it was enveloped quickly.
My head was fuzzy. I was dizzy and the wind had been knocked out of me. Was the bomb going to work? I felt something warm and wet drip into my ear and touched the side of my head. My fingertips came away soaked in blood. My head was spinning. With a foggy mind I grabbed my bag, collecting my weapons and flashlight. As I stood up I heard a low rumbling sound. The ground beneath my feet shook and for a moment I was confused. Then I looked up at the wall. Its surface was roiling and boiling like I’d never seen before. It was shaking and growing. I turned to run when suddenly there was a massive blast from inside it, and the entire wall exploded into hundreds of small grey chunks. These chunks rained down all around the hangar, smashing several aircraft. The blast knocked me off my feet and this time I definitely passed out because when I awoke I could see daylight through the tiny cracks in the blast door. Where the wall had once been now stood a small blackened crater. I turned around to inspect the wall pieces and found that they – my eyes grew wide and my mouth opened. They were melting. As I approached a fragment of wall, a horrible twisted hand shot out at me. I yelled and jumped away. It was still alive! I watched in dumbfounded horror as the pieces continued to melt and began to merge, just like that scene from Terminator 2.
It was rebuilding itself. Then I heard a groan. My blood became ice. I turned slowly in terror to find the shambling, wheezing monstrosity behind me. Like the creature I'd shot, this one seemed made from bits and pieces of human limbs knitted together randomly. This one had legs which came out its mouth, its head positioned within its torso where the bellybutton should be, and it wheezed in pain. I almost puked from fright but my legs were already carrying me away. I sprinted down the corridors, ignoring all the pain and fear and exhaustion and anger and frustration I had inside me. Without thinking, I leapt into the first janitor's closet I found and locked the door with a dull clunking sound. After catching my breath, I found this notepad and pencil, and have been writing this report in the sterile glow of my flashlight. Hopefully, I have left some useful information for anyone who may find this.
Now I lie in wait for that thing. Now I lie in wait for that grey ooze. What is that thing? Is it truly indestructible? If it can survive a bomb like that, what hope do we have? It’s no wall at all. It’s a membrane. An interface. Somewhere very different is pressing up against us. It has torn a small hole, and was now prying it open further. I should blow up this whole damn place! I should burn it! But would it matter? Or would it just be buried, to be rediscovered? I think even if I survive this, nothing can help us. So here I wait, hoping to be saved, but even as I write this I can hear that thing walking past the door. With a soft click I turn off my flashlight. I try not to breathe. I can hear the snuffling, it’s right outside! I can smell its ugly breath.
Oh God! I hear the jingling of keys. The door is unlocking! How? How?
Oh God! The doorknob is turning...
2024.04.29 08:18 RogueFiveSeven You ever had someone harass you while shooting?
Context: I went out shooting in the Arizona desert with a friend at a pretty popular shooting destination. We were alone with a mountain as our backdrop and the dirt road behind us. My car was pulled up to this small enclave where we could use my car trunk as the storage and staging grounds since neither of us had tables (we were broke college graduates with not much utilities). I wanted to show my friend my Tavor x95 I got used and how it operated so when I pulled out the rifle for a second or two it was pointed at the road we came from. I lifted it up to the air so it wouldn’t be in anyone’s direction as I demonstrated the bolt hold and release with an empty magazine so he knew how it worked. As I did that however this vehicle slowly drove by yelling at me to keep the rifle pointed down range and that I was also a massive fucking idiot who shouldn’t be allowed to own guns. These two guys seemed to have driven by couple of times out of nowhere while revving their vehicle and I felt this weird cold stare coming from them every time they did. Now, that has bothered me for a little bit because I ALWAYS do my best to try and be as safe as possible even if conditions aren’t as ideal and I hate getting into trouble when it wasn’t my intention. To have someone be that angry at me though for what could’ve been an honest mistake (if that was even that at all) comes across as like a Karen type.
Now I don’t remember all the details but to me we were pretty far enough from the main dirt road and I could’ve sworn I had the file pointed up in the air as to not flag anyone. I don’t know what I did what was wrong?
I don’t know. Has anyone ever had experiences like that where someone seemed unnecessarily pushy or aggressive when you were minding your own business? Or maybe I was in the wrong?
submitted by RogueFiveSeven to Firearms [link] [comments]
Now I don’t remember all the details but to me we were pretty far enough from the main dirt road and I could’ve sworn I had the file pointed up in the air as to not flag anyone. I don’t know what I did what was wrong?
I don’t know. Has anyone ever had experiences like that where someone seemed unnecessarily pushy or aggressive when you were minding your own business? Or maybe I was in the wrong?
2024.04.29 08:16 ToeBone_ BG9 details/observations
- Why BG9 is effected by Hollow reiatsu poisoning despite not using Bankai.
The most likely answer for this is that BG9 had his medallion inside of him, so when soi fon used the shinayaku pill it put Hollow reiatsu directly inside his body, unlike the other Sternritter who had their medallion in their hands. Also hence why BG9 is never shown with his medallion.
The only reason I can think of as to why it effected his connections exclusively is that the medallion would presumably be wired to the same connections as his other weapons.
- The mini gun isn't his bow
- BG9 is immune to a number of abilities just by not being alive
And through durability he should be immune to: suzimibachi, gegetsuburi, tobiume, haineko, and maybe senkonzakura
- Possible hints towards his shrift
2024.04.29 08:14 MeaningfulThoughts Is Bangkok safe?
I briefly visited a while ago (maybe 7 or 8 years ago) while waiting for a flight connection, and at the airport the police had to escort me into a cab to make sure that the cab driver was safe and that I would get at destination.
It kinda scarred me. I remember the army with guns out near palaces and temples.
Is it safe or what was that about?
submitted by MeaningfulThoughts to Bangkok [link] [comments]
It kinda scarred me. I remember the army with guns out near palaces and temples.
Is it safe or what was that about?
2024.04.29 07:56 overkill6189 Airsoft 3d printed grenades, Pretty neat. (Meteorite design on cults)
 | Uses duel pop caps. For cap guns. I have another pair of airsoft grenades. They used .22 ramset concrustion blanks. Those aren't hearing safe. But these are at least half the sound db. Costs about $60 for a set of 3 to print from treatstock. If they get lost or stolen I'm not heart broken over it. This will teach those shield guys 🤣. submitted by overkill6189 to airsoft [link] [comments] |
2024.04.29 07:35 WarrenTheHero One-Shot Round 2: Radiation Boogaloo
Hello again everyone!
A few weeks ago I posted a One-Shot I wrote, with the goal of learning the system and eventually showcasing it to some friends. I don't have any experience actually playing SWADE yet, so I got a lot of good feedback on some aspects that were... uh... bad. So I took the advice to heart and revamped parts of the adventure, and I've finally convinced somerubes friends to try it out this upcoming Saturday in a window of about 5 hours. That in mind, I'm hoping to solicit some feedback for the updated version before gameday.
I've read the Blood on the Range onesheet and am really unimpressed with it, and moreover this specific idea for an adventure is what got me to look at SWADE to begin with so I really want to see it work if I can.
The full thing is here on GMBinder, but I'll summarize it here as well.
Setting: The adventure is sci-fi with a sort of "junk punk" aesthetic. The party is a Crew of five mercenaries sent to recover blueprints from a long-abandoned mining facility at what is essentially a radiation-volcano.
Part 1: The Power Station
The crew lands at a safe distance, at essentially a train station that leads to the main facility. They're attacked by a swarm of bugs and have to reactivate the Generator that powers security bots to fight the bugs off. This is a Dramatic Task, requiring 12 Tokens in three rounds. There are three required task categories: Collect Spare Parts, Repair the Generator, and Hack the System, each requiring at least two Tokens and a maximum of four. A fourth task, Kill The Bugs, contributes to Tokens but is not required. Each task has a few suggested skills related to it. The Crew also finds a Hazmat suit during the Task. If the Crew fails, they ultimately get the bots online but take a beating first: A number of Wounds equal to the amount of missing Tokens, distributed how they like. Brutal, but impossible to Incap someone, and one of the Crew members has the Heal power so it's costly but not game-ending.
Afterwards, one of the security bots doesn't recognize their clearance and the Crew has to fight it. It's a Wild Card with Pace 7, Parry 7, Toughness 11(3) with a Fighting d10 (Punch STRd8+d8) and Shooting d8 (2d6)
Part 2: The Tram
The crew gets on the little train that connects to the main facility, but is attacked during the trip by the Bug Queen and a couple smaller bugs. This is a Chase, with the Queen starting on the third card, with the Crew and two bugs on the Tram on the fifth card. The Crew can simply outrun the Queen by managing the Tram's power supply, or fight her off while she tries to catch up and Board the Tram.
A normal bug is Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5(3) with a Fighting d8 (Bite STRd6+d8) and a Shooting d6 (2d6).
The Bug Queen is a Wildcard with Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 9(3) with a Fighting d8 (Bite STRd10+d8, can only be done once she's Boarded) (Claw STRd10+d6, can only be done while on the same card as the Tram) and a 2d6 Breath Weapon that can only be done while adjacent to the Tram. A Called Shot (-4) against her wings gains AP3 and Distracts her for a round. The Crew also finds a Hazmat suit and two Rad-Cures during the trip.
Part 3: The Mountain
The Crew is at the main facility but the radiation is bad; they have to make Vigor rolls every hour vs Fatigue unless they're in a Hazmat suit. A Rad-Cure can remove one level of such Fatigue. It takes two hours to make their way to the main control room where their schematic awaits, but there are Test options to make it shorter to avoid radiation. A third and final Hazmat suit can be found here, as well as two Rad-Cures.
In the final room is the Control Room that houses their schematic, but a large guard Mech is between them and the goal. The Mech is a Wildcard with Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 11 (4). It has Fighting d6 (Slam STRd12+d8) and Shooting d8 (Machine Gun ROF3, 2d8, range 50/100/150). It's a tough fight, but if someone runs past it to the Control console they can reduce its security threshold, stop the radiation, or access the Schematics.
The Crew
The Auto
Role: Melee striker
Construct
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 9 (2)
Attributes: Agility d8, others d6s.
Most important skills: Fighting d10, Shooting d4, Stealth d8.
Edges: Assassin
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty, Wanted, Outsider, Can't Swim, Suspicious
Attacks: Molecular Knife (d4+2, AP 2), Desert Eagle (2d8 AP2, 15/30/60)
The Merc
Role: Combat specialist
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 10 (4)
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, others d6s.
Most important skills: Fighting d10, Intimidation d6, Shooting d8
Edges: Brawny, Soldier
Hindrances: Minor Habit (drinking), Loyal, Major Ruthless
Attacks: Survival Knife (d4), Sawed-Off Double-Barrel (1-3d6, Range 5/10/20)
The Pilot
Role: Leader, tank
Pace 6, Parry 6/8, Toughness 9/13 (4), Cover-2
Attributes: Spirit d8, others d6
Most Important Skills: Fighting d4, Persuasion d8, Piloting d6, Taunt d8
Edges: Provoke, Reliable
Hindrances: Stubborn, Code of Honor, Loyal
Attacks: Shield Bash (d4), Desert Eagle (2d8 AP 2, 15/30/60)
Special: Wields a Shield, buffing his defenses
The Sniper
Role: Long-range striker
Pace 5, Parry 4, Toughness 8(3)
Attributes: Agility d8-1, Strength d6-1, Vigor d6-1, others d6
Most Important Skills: Fighting d4, Notice d8, Shooting d12, Stealth d6
Edges: Dead Shot, Soldier
Hindrances: Elderly, Hesistant, Stubborn
Attacks: Survival Knife (d4), Sharps Big 50 (2d10 AP2, 30/60/120)
The Tech
Role: Support
Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 7(2)
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Strength d4, others d6
Most Important Skills: Fighting d4, Hacking d6, Repair d8, Science d8, Wierd Science d10
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science), New Powers
Attacks: Survival Knife (d4)
Powers (15 points): Boost/Lower Trait (Limit: Touch), Bolt, Protection, Heal
Thanks a ton to everyone who helped with feedback for the last version, and anyone who chooses to offer advice for this revision. I really appreicate it and I'm looking forward to getting Savage!
submitted by WarrenTheHero to savageworlds [link] [comments]
A few weeks ago I posted a One-Shot I wrote, with the goal of learning the system and eventually showcasing it to some friends. I don't have any experience actually playing SWADE yet, so I got a lot of good feedback on some aspects that were... uh... bad. So I took the advice to heart and revamped parts of the adventure, and I've finally convinced some
I've read the Blood on the Range onesheet and am really unimpressed with it, and moreover this specific idea for an adventure is what got me to look at SWADE to begin with so I really want to see it work if I can.
The full thing is here on GMBinder, but I'll summarize it here as well.
Part 1: The Power Station
The crew lands at a safe distance, at essentially a train station that leads to the main facility. They're attacked by a swarm of bugs and have to reactivate the Generator that powers security bots to fight the bugs off. This is a Dramatic Task, requiring 12 Tokens in three rounds. There are three required task categories: Collect Spare Parts, Repair the Generator, and Hack the System, each requiring at least two Tokens and a maximum of four. A fourth task, Kill The Bugs, contributes to Tokens but is not required. Each task has a few suggested skills related to it. The Crew also finds a Hazmat suit during the Task. If the Crew fails, they ultimately get the bots online but take a beating first: A number of Wounds equal to the amount of missing Tokens, distributed how they like. Brutal, but impossible to Incap someone, and one of the Crew members has the Heal power so it's costly but not game-ending.
Afterwards, one of the security bots doesn't recognize their clearance and the Crew has to fight it. It's a Wild Card with Pace 7, Parry 7, Toughness 11(3) with a Fighting d10 (Punch STRd8+d8) and Shooting d8 (2d6)
Part 2: The Tram
The crew gets on the little train that connects to the main facility, but is attacked during the trip by the Bug Queen and a couple smaller bugs. This is a Chase, with the Queen starting on the third card, with the Crew and two bugs on the Tram on the fifth card. The Crew can simply outrun the Queen by managing the Tram's power supply, or fight her off while she tries to catch up and Board the Tram.
A normal bug is Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5(3) with a Fighting d8 (Bite STRd6+d8) and a Shooting d6 (2d6).
The Bug Queen is a Wildcard with Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 9(3) with a Fighting d8 (Bite STRd10+d8, can only be done once she's Boarded) (Claw STRd10+d6, can only be done while on the same card as the Tram) and a 2d6 Breath Weapon that can only be done while adjacent to the Tram. A Called Shot (-4) against her wings gains AP3 and Distracts her for a round. The Crew also finds a Hazmat suit and two Rad-Cures during the trip.
Part 3: The Mountain
The Crew is at the main facility but the radiation is bad; they have to make Vigor rolls every hour vs Fatigue unless they're in a Hazmat suit. A Rad-Cure can remove one level of such Fatigue. It takes two hours to make their way to the main control room where their schematic awaits, but there are Test options to make it shorter to avoid radiation. A third and final Hazmat suit can be found here, as well as two Rad-Cures.
In the final room is the Control Room that houses their schematic, but a large guard Mech is between them and the goal. The Mech is a Wildcard with Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 11 (4). It has Fighting d6 (Slam STRd12+d8) and Shooting d8 (Machine Gun ROF3, 2d8, range 50/100/150). It's a tough fight, but if someone runs past it to the Control console they can reduce its security threshold, stop the radiation, or access the Schematics.
The Auto
Role: Melee striker
Construct
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 9 (2)
Attributes: Agility d8, others d6s.
Most important skills: Fighting d10, Shooting d4, Stealth d8.
Edges: Assassin
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty, Wanted, Outsider, Can't Swim, Suspicious
Attacks: Molecular Knife (d4+2, AP 2), Desert Eagle (2d8 AP2, 15/30/60)
The Merc
Role: Combat specialist
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 10 (4)
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, others d6s.
Most important skills: Fighting d10, Intimidation d6, Shooting d8
Edges: Brawny, Soldier
Hindrances: Minor Habit (drinking), Loyal, Major Ruthless
Attacks: Survival Knife (d4), Sawed-Off Double-Barrel (1-3d6, Range 5/10/20)
The Pilot
Role: Leader, tank
Pace 6, Parry 6/8, Toughness 9/13 (4), Cover-2
Attributes: Spirit d8, others d6
Most Important Skills: Fighting d4, Persuasion d8, Piloting d6, Taunt d8
Edges: Provoke, Reliable
Hindrances: Stubborn, Code of Honor, Loyal
Attacks: Shield Bash (d4), Desert Eagle (2d8 AP 2, 15/30/60)
Special: Wields a Shield, buffing his defenses
The Sniper
Role: Long-range striker
Pace 5, Parry 4, Toughness 8(3)
Attributes: Agility d8-1, Strength d6-1, Vigor d6-1, others d6
Most Important Skills: Fighting d4, Notice d8, Shooting d12, Stealth d6
Edges: Dead Shot, Soldier
Hindrances: Elderly, Hesistant, Stubborn
Attacks: Survival Knife (d4), Sharps Big 50 (2d10 AP2, 30/60/120)
The Tech
Role: Support
Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 7(2)
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Strength d4, others d6
Most Important Skills: Fighting d4, Hacking d6, Repair d8, Science d8, Wierd Science d10
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science), New Powers
Attacks: Survival Knife (d4)
Powers (15 points): Boost/Lower Trait (Limit: Touch), Bolt, Protection, Heal
2024.04.29 07:09 SigFen Okay, my family issue seems a lot more simple than most of yours…
Okay, so several years ago I bought a rifle from my son. It’s just a Ruger 10/22… but, it was also his first firearm. I bought it from him so he could afford to build another rifle. That way he gets the money he needs, and the rifle stays in the family. Oh, by the way, me and his mom aren’t together anymore. We’re still friends and talk frequently. But we live in different states. Anyhow, fast forward a few years, and he’s going off to the army for a security clearance type of position, and training with special forces and that shit. She hits me up saying she wants the 10/22 back, because it was his first firearm and she wants it for sentimental value. And she also says that since I bought it from him, she’ll replace it with a new one. So, of course I agreed. Well, that was 5 or 6 years ago and I still don’t have a fuckin 10/22 in my safe! For a bit of context, we’ve been separated since he was around 8 years old. And I’ve always taken the attitude of “if she asks you fuckin give! She’s raising my son.” Now, you might be thinking; dude, it’s a three to four hundred dollar, shitty little .22! Who cares?! But, as she said, it’s a sentiment thing… and she’s not even into guns like me and the boy are! Like, we are REALLY into them! The engineering, the aesthetics, the history, and on and on. We’re kinda nerds like that. So, with that amount of backstory, what would you do?
submitted by SigFen to FamilyIssues [link] [comments]
2024.04.29 06:05 iMecharic Fire's not producing Light?
Exactly as the title says, I have somehow broken the light-producing aspect of fires. Not for all fires, either, for some of them. Campfires and wildfires (vanilla) work, as do the Signal Fire (Tribal Signal Fire Continued) and Stone Campfire (Vanilla Furniture Expanded). Confirmed not-working-right-now-but-used-to-work are the Large Fire (VFE: Tribals), Hearthfire & Fireplace (LTS Furnishing). I honestly have no idea what could even be causing this, though my going theory is that it's the extra stuff in the deffs where it declares lighting. (If so, how can I fix that?)
(Here's hoping my attempt at using a header to collapse my modlist works. Sorry if it doesn't.)
Harmony [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2009463077\]
Core [https:// no link (local mod)]
Royalty [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ideology [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Biotech [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Anomaly [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Backgrounds Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2775017012\]
HugsLib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=818773962\]
FSharp.Core [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2059725183\]
ANDH - Animals Nuzzling Detects Horrors [https:// no link (local mod)]
Achtung! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=730936602\]
Adaptive Storage Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Adaptive Storage Neolithic Module [https:// no link (local mod)]
Dubs Bad Hygiene [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=836308268\]
Advanced Tribal Cooler [https:// no link (local mod)]
All Memories Fade [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2800155563\]
Allow Dead Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2403873031\]
Allow Eggs [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2534505462\]
Allow Tool [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761421485\]
AllowToolGhoulFix [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Expanded Framework [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023507013\]
Vehicle Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Vehicles Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Alpha Vehicles - Age of Sail [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ambient Rim [https:// no link (local mod)]
Drop Loot When Destroyed Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ancient Junk Loot [https:// no link (local mod)]
Anima Gear [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2215217049\]
Animal Filth? Don't Care [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2573432875\]
Animal Tab [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=712141500\]
Graphic Chair Overhaul 2 [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2982680251\]
Hide Behind Tall Building [https:// no link (local mod)]
Extract Any Plant [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2833838214\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Tribals [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Fishing Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1914064942\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Android [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2975771801\]
ReGrowth: Core [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2260097569\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Empire [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2938820380\]
Vanilla Textures Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016436324\]
Animal Variety Coats [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1511926373\]
AnimalHarvestingSpot (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1542765654\]
Animals Logic [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1098354593\]
Area Unlocker [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725153576\]
Art on Neolithic Weapons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2556397158\]
Auto-Cut Blight [https:// no link (local mod)]
Babies Eat Paste! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879301350\]
Beautiful Outdoors [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2011794898\]
Beautiful Water (Fork) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2039480177\]
Better Explosions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2572683272\]
Better Pyromania [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2624048970\]
Better ground-penetrating scanner [https:// no link (local mod)]
Geological Landforms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2773943594\]
Biome Transitions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2814391846\]
Bionic icons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1677616980\]
Blood Animations [https:// no link (local mod)]
Blooming hedges [https:// no link (local mod)]
BoomMod Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2359846788\]
Build From Chunk [https:// no link (local mod)]
Buyable psylink neuroformers [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2190288136\]
Job In Bar [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086300611\]
CM Color Coded Mood Bar [1.1+] [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2006605356\]
Camera+ [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=867467808\]
Careful Raids [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=864601386\]
Cats Hunt For Fun [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2827497888\]
Character Editor [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1874644848\]
ReSplice: Charmweavers [https:// no link (local mod)]
A Dog Said... Animal Prosthetics [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=746425621\]
Vanilla Psycasts Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2842502659\]
Alpha Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1541721856\]
Vanilla Books Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2193152410\]
Vanilla Cooking Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134308519\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Memes and Structures [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2636329500\]
Charmweaver: Pregnancy Precepts [https:// no link (local mod)]
Childrens Drawings [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2918817041\]
Choose Biome Commonality [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2582875043\]
Cleaning Speed [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2748222814\]
CleaningAreaTemp [https:// no link (local mod)]
Crypto Coffins [https:// no link (local mod)]
Custom Prisoner Interactions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2841231775\]
Cute Chicks [https:// no link (local mod)]
Standalone Hot Spring [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2205980094\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Classical [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2787850474\]
[NL] Facial Animation - WIP [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1635901197\]
DBH & VFEC/Hot Spring Compatibility [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949772583\]
Damage Indicators [1.5] [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016331497\]
Dark Ages : Crypts and Tombs [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2963826335\]
Death Rattle Continued [1.2+] [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896207870\]
Down For Me [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1709963396\]
DragSelect [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2599942235\]
[GMT] Trading Spot [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2874517333\]
Drawn Spots [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917791361\]
Drop All Inventory [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882490442\]
Common Sense [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1561769193\]
Dubs Break Mod [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722398508\]
Dubs Central Heating [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2619214952\]
Dubs Mint Menus [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1446523594\]
Dubs Mint Minimap [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1662119905\]
Dubs Skylights [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=833899765\]
Erin's Body Retexture [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2662457442\]
TDS Bug Fixes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895035527\]
TD Find Lib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895299310\]
Everybody Gets One [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1687566130\]
Fists Aren't Made of Steel [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2845980214\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Mechanoids [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2329011599\]
Fix Mechanoid Resource Drop [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2548077448\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Ancients [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2654846754\]
Flak Turret (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2828255318\]
Floordrawings [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2878970750\]
Floors Are (Almost) Worthless [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2960126462\]
Food Poisoning Cures [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2856335335\]
Food Poisoning Stack Fix (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2843483188\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Architect [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2608762624\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Security [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1845154007\]
XML Extensions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2574315206\]
Fortifications - Industrial [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2561619583\]
Garden Light [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2520773186\]
Graying Hair [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2807132773\]
Grazing Lands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1770268130\]
Halloween Graves(from Halloween Parade) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2569165844\]
Haul Mined Chunks [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799728059\]
Heat Map (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2552838384\]
HotSpring Facial Animation [https:// no link (local mod)]
Hunting Traps [https:// no link (local mod)]
Impressionable Children [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879996327\]
Infestations Spawn in Darkness [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2017514331\]
Injured Carry [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2413690575\]
Inspired Conversion [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851390190\]
Jewelry [https:// no link (local mod)]
JustStoneTile [https:// no link (local mod)]
LWM's Deep Storage (Unofficial 1.5) [https:// no link (local mod)]
Large Animal Beds [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1111387020\]
Less Stupid Romance Attempt (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2014603702\]
Level Up! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1701592470\]
Light Map [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2388098465\]
Wall Light [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1423699208\]
LightsOut [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2584269293\]
Make Butcher Tables from Stone [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1947487170\]
Map Designer [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2111424996\]
Map Preview [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2800857642\]
Metal Don't Burn (UNOFFICIAL 1.4 PATCH) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2557145474\]
Mining Priority [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1345928533\]
More Sculpture [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1612316880\]
Mushrooms is ok [https:// no link (local mod)]
Natural Nudist [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2227596413\]
Need Bar Overflow [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2566316158\]
Neolithic Scavenging (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893843175\]
No Ghoul Eyes [https:// no link (local mod)]
No Hussar Eyes [https:// no link (local mod)]
No Quests Without Comms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2557302879\]
No Random Relations [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2583377522\]
Not My Fault [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2870045856\]
Alpha Biomes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1841354677\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded — Endangered [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2366589898\]
Vanilla Brewing Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2186560858\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814383360\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Pirates [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2723801948\]
Not a Weapon [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2750061895\]
Nudist's Evasion [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2579512280\]
Oharo's Stained Glass Lamps [https:// no link (local mod)]
Research Reinvented [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868392160\]
RimHUD [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1508850027\]
Vanilla Skills Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2854967442\]
Oracle's Skill Icon Retextures [https:// no link (local mod)]
P-Music [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725130005\]
Packs Are Not Belts [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2509511179\]
Pathfinding Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Performance Optimizer [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664723367\]
Portraits of the Rim [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2937991425\]
Practical Pemmican [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761817611\]
Predator Animal Patch [https:// no link (local mod)]
Predators Hunt Boom Critters [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2324221340\]
Preemptive Strike (v1.4 Fork) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2884952468\]
Priority Treatment Ressurected [https:// no link (local mod)]
PrisonerRansom [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=794038005\]
Prisoners Dont Have Keys [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2595360307\]
Prisoners Should Fear Turrets [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2602436826\]
Psychic Emanator Retex + Self Powered [https:// no link (local mod)]
Quality Colors 1.5 - Forked [https:// no link (local mod)]
Quality Of Building [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2101676323\]
QualityBuilder [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=754637870\]
RT Fuse [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=728314182\]
Rachel's Anime Hair Mod, Yo (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2662195015\]
Ragdoll Physics [https:// no link (local mod)]
Raise The Roof 1.5 [https:// no link (local mod)]
ReGrowth: Arid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2466442910\]
ReGrowth: Boreal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2106597000\]
My Little Planet [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1117406550\]
Roads of the Rim (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2280318231\]
ReGrowth: Expanded World Generation (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2791768296\]
ReGrowth: ReTextures [https:// no link (local mod)]
ReGrowth: Swamp [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2182111148\]
ReGrowth: Temperate [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2261114471\]
ReGrowth: Tropical [https:// no link (local mod)]
ReGrowth: Tundra [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2107412614\]
Real Ruins [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1552146295\]
Realistic Human Sounds (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2013191418\]
Realistic Manhunters [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934717535\]
ReGrowth: Aspen [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2545774148\]
ReGrowth: Boiling [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2981924439\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134308522\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded - More Plants [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2748889667\]
Realistic Plant Cycles 2.0 [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2406978493\]
Realistic Ranching [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2788119311\]
Realistic Rooms Rewritten [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2558042766\]
Repair at Crafting Bench [https:// no link (local mod)]
Repairing Priority [https:// no link (local mod)]
Replace Stuff [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1372003680\]
Reverse Commands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=858744731\]
Reverse Engineered Region Adjusters [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2982567135\]
Roots of Rimworld [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2977818583\]
Run and Hide (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2022480344\]
RunAndGun (1.5 Updated by Nillas) [https:// no link (local mod)]
Safely Hidden Away [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1322196379\]
Sand Castles [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1980394843\]
Nature's Pretty Sweet (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2532618635\]
Sandstorms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967158643\]
Self Dyeing [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2562859859\]
Sell Prisoner With No Guilt(patch method) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2100330932\]
Shamblers Hate Wildlife [https:// no link (local mod)]
Shoo! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1307441653\]
Show Me Your Hands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2475965842\]
Silk Road [https:// no link (local mod)]
Simple sidearms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=927155256\]
Sin's Cuter Child Clothes [https:// no link (local mod)]
Small Hot Spring (Continued) [https:// no link (local mod)]
Small Simple Research Bench [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2147483288\]
Smaller radius for Anima Trees, Shrines and Animus Stones [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812513517\]
Smart Medicine [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1309994319\]
Smarter Construction [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2202185773\]
Smoothed stone is worthless [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2976374292\]
Solar Flares Affect Mechanoids [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1906174567\]
Sometimes Raids Go Wrong [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1551336515\]
Interaction Bubbles [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516158345\]
SpeakUp [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2502518544\]
Stabilize [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023407836\]
Stack gap [https:// no link (local mod)]
Stonecutting Extended [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2571676542\]
T's Seal the Spirits [https:// no link (local mod)]
TasteOfVanilla-ish Hotspring Retexture Alt [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2798233112\]
Tech Advancing [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=735268789\]
Thick Roof Miner [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2160890454\]
This Is Mine (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2560584629\]
Thrumbo Horn Weapons (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2937755006\]
Tilled Soil [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725747149\]
Trade Ships Drop Spot [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1969732297\]
Traders Have Money 1.5 [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898006725\]
Trait Rarity Colors [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1751884355\]
Trait and Backstory Icons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2873494547\]
Tribal Backstories [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879649038\]
Tribal Military Aid [https:// no link (local mod)]
Tribal Tattoos [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2782262247\]
Tribals Have Guns [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ugh You Got Me [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1542424705\]
Ugly Together [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2884233923\]
Uncapped Besties! [https:// no link (local mod)]
Useful Filth [https:// no link (local mod)]
VFE Ancients - Vaults are Eternal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811663208\]
Alpha Vehicles - Neolithic [https:// no link (local mod)]
Door Mat [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1505423207\]
Doors Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1316188771\]
Fortifications - Neolithic [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2385960678\]
Misc. Training [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=717575199\]
Mud's Tribal Apparel [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2796703834\]
Quarry [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2007576583\]
Research Reinvented: Stepping Stones [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868389782\]
River's Tribal Mittens [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799808270\]
River's Tribal Shoes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797271174\]
Some Things Float [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940072380\]
T's Wild Child Rags [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879987799\]
Tribal Crib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2881720620\]
Tribal Signal Fire (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2026582975\]
Tribal Warrior Set! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2401466559\]
VFE Tribals - Mod Patches [https:// no link (local mod)]
VVE - Deconstructable Vehicles Junk [https:// no link (local mod)]
Van's Retexture : Misc. Training [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2848956469\]
Van's Retexture : Quarry [https:// no link (local mod)]
Van's Retexture : Steel [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2955560866\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2871933948\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded — Royal Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858079457\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded — Waste Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2962126499\]
Vanilla Apparel Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814987817\]
Vanilla Apparel Expanded — Accessories [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2521176396\]
Vanilla Armour Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814988282\]
Vanilla Backstories Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2861806869\]
Vanilla Base Generation Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Cooking Expanded - Stews [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134312965\]
Vanilla Events Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1938420742\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Deserters [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Settlers [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2052918119\]
Vanilla Fishing Expanded - Fishing Treasures AddOn [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2468543398\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Art [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1968134023\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Medical Module [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1718191613\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Production [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1880253632\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Props and Decor [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2102143149\]
Vanilla Hair Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1888705256\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Anima Theme [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2666998627\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Hats and Rags [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2567387768\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Icons and Symbols [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2552609458\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Relics and Artifacts [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2564895018\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Sophian Style [https:// no link (local mod)]
[KV] Path Avoid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1180719857\]
Vanilla Outposts Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2688941031\]
Vanilla Persona Weapons Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2826922787\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded - Succulents [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2198652536\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Custom Icons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917311689\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Genie [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901424072\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Highmate [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Hussar [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893586390\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Phytokin [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2927323805\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Waster [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2983471725\]
Vanilla Recycling Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Social Interactions Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2439736083\]
Vanilla Temperature Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1718190143\]
Vanilla Textures Expanded - Variations [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2493234474\]
Vanilla Traits Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2296404655\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Makeshift [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2419690698\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Non-Lethal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2454918354\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Tribal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2454918552\]
Various Space Ship Chunk (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2014616487\]
What's That Mod [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2258431182\]
What's for sale? [https:// no link (local mod)]
Pick Up And Haul [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1279012058\]
While You're Up (with add-on for PUAH) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2034960453\]
Won hair_men [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1879950403\]
Won hair_women [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1886150617\]
X - Realistic Roads [https:// no link (local mod)]
Xeva's Rimhair [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705924057\]
Yayo's Animation (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2877292196\]
Yayo's Caravan (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2886919774\]
Yayo's Combat 3 (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2854006492\]
Yayo's Meteor (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2892867866\]
[FSF] Always Rearm Turrets [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1848373717\]
[FSF] Better Ancient Complex Loot [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2559244124\]
[FSF] Better Anomaly Loot [https:// no link (local mod)]
[FSF] Better Camp Loot [https:// no link (local mod)]
[FSF] Better Pawn Lending Quest [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2551381293\]
Ancient mining industry [https:// no link (local mod)]
Hospitality [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=753498552\]
Layered Wall Destruction [https:// no link (local mod)]
Logistics_Mechanoid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2885430743\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Power [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2062943477\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded - Mushrooms [https:// no link (local mod)]
[FSF] Complex Jobs (Legacy Version) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1157350972\]
Utility Columns [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2013476665\]
[FSF] Efficient Utilities [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=951619111\]
[FSF] Encounter Map Resources [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1417825411\]
[FSF] Filth Vanishes With Rain And Time [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1508341791\]
[FSF] Improved Vanometric Power Cells [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1212274603\]
[FSF] Indoor Tree Farms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1515299608\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Farming [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1957158779\]
[FSF] Simply Soil [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2006704353\]
[LTS]Systems [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812826451\]
[LTS]Furnishing [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2567438519\]
[LTS]Biosphere [https:// no link (local mod)]
[LTS]Tenants [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2850306027\]
[Og] Another Wall Turret Mod [https:// no link (local mod)]
[Og] Simple Gate [https:// no link (local mod)]
[RF] Etched Stone Walls (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2015371021\]
[SR]Factional War - Continued [https:// no link (local mod)]
[SR]Raid Extension - Continued [https:// no link (local mod)]
[WD] Realistic Darkness [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1531882210\]
[WD] Small Solar Panels [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722492564\]
[XND] Memorable Auroras (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2270039395\]
[XND] Visible Pants [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2264108215\]
[ZAV] Glowstone [https:// no link (local mod)]
RocketMan - Performance Mod [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2479389928\]
submitted by iMecharic to RimWorld [link] [comments]
(Here's hoping my attempt at using a header to collapse my modlist works. Sorry if it doesn't.)
Modlist
[Mod list length: 367]Harmony [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2009463077\]
Core [https:// no link (local mod)]
Royalty [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ideology [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Biotech [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Anomaly [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Backgrounds Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2775017012\]
HugsLib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=818773962\]
FSharp.Core [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2059725183\]
ANDH - Animals Nuzzling Detects Horrors [https:// no link (local mod)]
Achtung! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=730936602\]
Adaptive Storage Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Adaptive Storage Neolithic Module [https:// no link (local mod)]
Dubs Bad Hygiene [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=836308268\]
Advanced Tribal Cooler [https:// no link (local mod)]
All Memories Fade [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2800155563\]
Allow Dead Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2403873031\]
Allow Eggs [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2534505462\]
Allow Tool [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761421485\]
AllowToolGhoulFix [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Expanded Framework [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023507013\]
Vehicle Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Vehicles Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Alpha Vehicles - Age of Sail [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ambient Rim [https:// no link (local mod)]
Drop Loot When Destroyed Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ancient Junk Loot [https:// no link (local mod)]
Anima Gear [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2215217049\]
Animal Filth? Don't Care [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2573432875\]
Animal Tab [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=712141500\]
Graphic Chair Overhaul 2 [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2982680251\]
Hide Behind Tall Building [https:// no link (local mod)]
Extract Any Plant [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2833838214\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Tribals [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Fishing Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1914064942\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Android [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2975771801\]
ReGrowth: Core [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2260097569\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Empire [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2938820380\]
Vanilla Textures Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016436324\]
Animal Variety Coats [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1511926373\]
AnimalHarvestingSpot (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1542765654\]
Animals Logic [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1098354593\]
Area Unlocker [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725153576\]
Art on Neolithic Weapons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2556397158\]
Auto-Cut Blight [https:// no link (local mod)]
Babies Eat Paste! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879301350\]
Beautiful Outdoors [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2011794898\]
Beautiful Water (Fork) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2039480177\]
Better Explosions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2572683272\]
Better Pyromania [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2624048970\]
Better ground-penetrating scanner [https:// no link (local mod)]
Geological Landforms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2773943594\]
Biome Transitions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2814391846\]
Bionic icons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1677616980\]
Blood Animations [https:// no link (local mod)]
Blooming hedges [https:// no link (local mod)]
BoomMod Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2359846788\]
Build From Chunk [https:// no link (local mod)]
Buyable psylink neuroformers [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2190288136\]
Job In Bar [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086300611\]
CM Color Coded Mood Bar [1.1+] [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2006605356\]
Camera+ [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=867467808\]
Careful Raids [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=864601386\]
Cats Hunt For Fun [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2827497888\]
Character Editor [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1874644848\]
ReSplice: Charmweavers [https:// no link (local mod)]
A Dog Said... Animal Prosthetics [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=746425621\]
Vanilla Psycasts Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2842502659\]
Alpha Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1541721856\]
Vanilla Books Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2193152410\]
Vanilla Cooking Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134308519\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Memes and Structures [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2636329500\]
Charmweaver: Pregnancy Precepts [https:// no link (local mod)]
Childrens Drawings [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2918817041\]
Choose Biome Commonality [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2582875043\]
Cleaning Speed [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2748222814\]
CleaningAreaTemp [https:// no link (local mod)]
Crypto Coffins [https:// no link (local mod)]
Custom Prisoner Interactions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2841231775\]
Cute Chicks [https:// no link (local mod)]
Standalone Hot Spring [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2205980094\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Classical [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2787850474\]
[NL] Facial Animation - WIP [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1635901197\]
DBH & VFEC/Hot Spring Compatibility [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949772583\]
Damage Indicators [1.5] [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016331497\]
Dark Ages : Crypts and Tombs [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2963826335\]
Death Rattle Continued [1.2+] [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896207870\]
Down For Me [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1709963396\]
DragSelect [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2599942235\]
[GMT] Trading Spot [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2874517333\]
Drawn Spots [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917791361\]
Drop All Inventory [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882490442\]
Common Sense [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1561769193\]
Dubs Break Mod [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722398508\]
Dubs Central Heating [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2619214952\]
Dubs Mint Menus [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1446523594\]
Dubs Mint Minimap [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1662119905\]
Dubs Skylights [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=833899765\]
Erin's Body Retexture [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2662457442\]
TDS Bug Fixes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895035527\]
TD Find Lib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895299310\]
Everybody Gets One [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1687566130\]
Fists Aren't Made of Steel [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2845980214\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Mechanoids [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2329011599\]
Fix Mechanoid Resource Drop [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2548077448\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Ancients [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2654846754\]
Flak Turret (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2828255318\]
Floordrawings [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2878970750\]
Floors Are (Almost) Worthless [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2960126462\]
Food Poisoning Cures [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2856335335\]
Food Poisoning Stack Fix (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2843483188\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Architect [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2608762624\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Security [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1845154007\]
XML Extensions [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2574315206\]
Fortifications - Industrial [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2561619583\]
Garden Light [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2520773186\]
Graying Hair [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2807132773\]
Grazing Lands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1770268130\]
Halloween Graves(from Halloween Parade) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2569165844\]
Haul Mined Chunks [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799728059\]
Heat Map (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2552838384\]
HotSpring Facial Animation [https:// no link (local mod)]
Hunting Traps [https:// no link (local mod)]
Impressionable Children [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879996327\]
Infestations Spawn in Darkness [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2017514331\]
Injured Carry [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2413690575\]
Inspired Conversion [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851390190\]
Jewelry [https:// no link (local mod)]
JustStoneTile [https:// no link (local mod)]
LWM's Deep Storage (Unofficial 1.5) [https:// no link (local mod)]
Large Animal Beds [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1111387020\]
Less Stupid Romance Attempt (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2014603702\]
Level Up! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1701592470\]
Light Map [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2388098465\]
Wall Light [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1423699208\]
LightsOut [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2584269293\]
Make Butcher Tables from Stone [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1947487170\]
Map Designer [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2111424996\]
Map Preview [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2800857642\]
Metal Don't Burn (UNOFFICIAL 1.4 PATCH) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2557145474\]
Mining Priority [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1345928533\]
More Sculpture [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1612316880\]
Mushrooms is ok [https:// no link (local mod)]
Natural Nudist [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2227596413\]
Need Bar Overflow [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2566316158\]
Neolithic Scavenging (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893843175\]
No Ghoul Eyes [https:// no link (local mod)]
No Hussar Eyes [https:// no link (local mod)]
No Quests Without Comms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2557302879\]
No Random Relations [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2583377522\]
Not My Fault [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2870045856\]
Alpha Biomes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1841354677\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded — Endangered [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2366589898\]
Vanilla Brewing Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2186560858\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814383360\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Pirates [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2723801948\]
Not a Weapon [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2750061895\]
Nudist's Evasion [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2579512280\]
Oharo's Stained Glass Lamps [https:// no link (local mod)]
Research Reinvented [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868392160\]
RimHUD [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1508850027\]
Vanilla Skills Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2854967442\]
Oracle's Skill Icon Retextures [https:// no link (local mod)]
P-Music [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725130005\]
Packs Are Not Belts [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2509511179\]
Pathfinding Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]
Performance Optimizer [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664723367\]
Portraits of the Rim [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2937991425\]
Practical Pemmican [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761817611\]
Predator Animal Patch [https:// no link (local mod)]
Predators Hunt Boom Critters [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2324221340\]
Preemptive Strike (v1.4 Fork) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2884952468\]
Priority Treatment Ressurected [https:// no link (local mod)]
PrisonerRansom [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=794038005\]
Prisoners Dont Have Keys [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2595360307\]
Prisoners Should Fear Turrets [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2602436826\]
Psychic Emanator Retex + Self Powered [https:// no link (local mod)]
Quality Colors 1.5 - Forked [https:// no link (local mod)]
Quality Of Building [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2101676323\]
QualityBuilder [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=754637870\]
RT Fuse [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=728314182\]
Rachel's Anime Hair Mod, Yo (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2662195015\]
Ragdoll Physics [https:// no link (local mod)]
Raise The Roof 1.5 [https:// no link (local mod)]
ReGrowth: Arid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2466442910\]
ReGrowth: Boreal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2106597000\]
My Little Planet [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1117406550\]
Roads of the Rim (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2280318231\]
ReGrowth: Expanded World Generation (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2791768296\]
ReGrowth: ReTextures [https:// no link (local mod)]
ReGrowth: Swamp [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2182111148\]
ReGrowth: Temperate [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2261114471\]
ReGrowth: Tropical [https:// no link (local mod)]
ReGrowth: Tundra [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2107412614\]
Real Ruins [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1552146295\]
Realistic Human Sounds (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2013191418\]
Realistic Manhunters [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934717535\]
ReGrowth: Aspen [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2545774148\]
ReGrowth: Boiling [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2981924439\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134308522\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded - More Plants [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2748889667\]
Realistic Plant Cycles 2.0 [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2406978493\]
Realistic Ranching [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2788119311\]
Realistic Rooms Rewritten [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2558042766\]
Repair at Crafting Bench [https:// no link (local mod)]
Repairing Priority [https:// no link (local mod)]
Replace Stuff [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1372003680\]
Reverse Commands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=858744731\]
Reverse Engineered Region Adjusters [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2982567135\]
Roots of Rimworld [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2977818583\]
Run and Hide (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2022480344\]
RunAndGun (1.5 Updated by Nillas) [https:// no link (local mod)]
Safely Hidden Away [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1322196379\]
Sand Castles [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1980394843\]
Nature's Pretty Sweet (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2532618635\]
Sandstorms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967158643\]
Self Dyeing [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2562859859\]
Sell Prisoner With No Guilt(patch method) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2100330932\]
Shamblers Hate Wildlife [https:// no link (local mod)]
Shoo! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1307441653\]
Show Me Your Hands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2475965842\]
Silk Road [https:// no link (local mod)]
Simple sidearms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=927155256\]
Sin's Cuter Child Clothes [https:// no link (local mod)]
Small Hot Spring (Continued) [https:// no link (local mod)]
Small Simple Research Bench [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2147483288\]
Smaller radius for Anima Trees, Shrines and Animus Stones [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812513517\]
Smart Medicine [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1309994319\]
Smarter Construction [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2202185773\]
Smoothed stone is worthless [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2976374292\]
Solar Flares Affect Mechanoids [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1906174567\]
Sometimes Raids Go Wrong [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1551336515\]
Interaction Bubbles [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516158345\]
SpeakUp [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2502518544\]
Stabilize [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023407836\]
Stack gap [https:// no link (local mod)]
Stonecutting Extended [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2571676542\]
T's Seal the Spirits [https:// no link (local mod)]
TasteOfVanilla-ish Hotspring Retexture Alt [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2798233112\]
Tech Advancing [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=735268789\]
Thick Roof Miner [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2160890454\]
This Is Mine (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2560584629\]
Thrumbo Horn Weapons (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2937755006\]
Tilled Soil [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725747149\]
Trade Ships Drop Spot [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1969732297\]
Traders Have Money 1.5 [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898006725\]
Trait Rarity Colors [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1751884355\]
Trait and Backstory Icons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2873494547\]
Tribal Backstories [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879649038\]
Tribal Military Aid [https:// no link (local mod)]
Tribal Tattoos [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2782262247\]
Tribals Have Guns [https:// no link (local mod)]
Ugh You Got Me [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1542424705\]
Ugly Together [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2884233923\]
Uncapped Besties! [https:// no link (local mod)]
Useful Filth [https:// no link (local mod)]
VFE Ancients - Vaults are Eternal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811663208\]
Alpha Vehicles - Neolithic [https:// no link (local mod)]
Door Mat [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1505423207\]
Doors Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1316188771\]
Fortifications - Neolithic [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2385960678\]
Misc. Training [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=717575199\]
Mud's Tribal Apparel [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2796703834\]
Quarry [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2007576583\]
Research Reinvented: Stepping Stones [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868389782\]
River's Tribal Mittens [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799808270\]
River's Tribal Shoes [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797271174\]
Some Things Float [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940072380\]
T's Wild Child Rags [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879987799\]
Tribal Crib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2881720620\]
Tribal Signal Fire (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2026582975\]
Tribal Warrior Set! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2401466559\]
VFE Tribals - Mod Patches [https:// no link (local mod)]
VVE - Deconstructable Vehicles Junk [https:// no link (local mod)]
Van's Retexture : Misc. Training [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2848956469\]
Van's Retexture : Quarry [https:// no link (local mod)]
Van's Retexture : Steel [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2955560866\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2871933948\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded — Royal Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858079457\]
Vanilla Animals Expanded — Waste Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2962126499\]
Vanilla Apparel Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814987817\]
Vanilla Apparel Expanded — Accessories [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2521176396\]
Vanilla Armour Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814988282\]
Vanilla Backstories Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2861806869\]
Vanilla Base Generation Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Cooking Expanded - Stews [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134312965\]
Vanilla Events Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1938420742\]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Deserters [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Settlers [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2052918119\]
Vanilla Fishing Expanded - Fishing Treasures AddOn [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2468543398\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Art [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1968134023\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Medical Module [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1718191613\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Production [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1880253632\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Props and Decor [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2102143149\]
Vanilla Hair Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1888705256\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Anima Theme [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2666998627\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Hats and Rags [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2567387768\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Icons and Symbols [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2552609458\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Relics and Artifacts [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2564895018\]
Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Sophian Style [https:// no link (local mod)]
[KV] Path Avoid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1180719857\]
Vanilla Outposts Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2688941031\]
Vanilla Persona Weapons Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2826922787\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded - Succulents [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2198652536\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Custom Icons [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917311689\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Genie [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901424072\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Highmate [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Hussar [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893586390\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Phytokin [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2927323805\]
Vanilla Races Expanded - Waster [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2983471725\]
Vanilla Recycling Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Social Interactions Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2439736083\]
Vanilla Temperature Expanded [https:// no link (local mod)]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1718190143\]
Vanilla Textures Expanded - Variations [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2493234474\]
Vanilla Traits Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2296404655\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Makeshift [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2419690698\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Non-Lethal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2454918354\]
Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Tribal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2454918552\]
Various Space Ship Chunk (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2014616487\]
What's That Mod [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2258431182\]
What's for sale? [https:// no link (local mod)]
Pick Up And Haul [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1279012058\]
While You're Up (with add-on for PUAH) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2034960453\]
Won hair_men [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1879950403\]
Won hair_women [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1886150617\]
X - Realistic Roads [https:// no link (local mod)]
Xeva's Rimhair [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705924057\]
Yayo's Animation (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2877292196\]
Yayo's Caravan (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2886919774\]
Yayo's Combat 3 (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2854006492\]
Yayo's Meteor (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2892867866\]
[FSF] Always Rearm Turrets [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1848373717\]
[FSF] Better Ancient Complex Loot [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2559244124\]
[FSF] Better Anomaly Loot [https:// no link (local mod)]
[FSF] Better Camp Loot [https:// no link (local mod)]
[FSF] Better Pawn Lending Quest [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2551381293\]
Ancient mining industry [https:// no link (local mod)]
Hospitality [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=753498552\]
Layered Wall Destruction [https:// no link (local mod)]
Logistics_Mechanoid [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2885430743\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Power [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2062943477\]
Vanilla Plants Expanded - Mushrooms [https:// no link (local mod)]
[FSF] Complex Jobs (Legacy Version) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1157350972\]
Utility Columns [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2013476665\]
[FSF] Efficient Utilities [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=951619111\]
[FSF] Encounter Map Resources [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1417825411\]
[FSF] Filth Vanishes With Rain And Time [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1508341791\]
[FSF] Improved Vanometric Power Cells [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1212274603\]
[FSF] Indoor Tree Farms [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1515299608\]
Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Farming [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1957158779\]
[FSF] Simply Soil [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2006704353\]
[LTS]Systems [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812826451\]
[LTS]Furnishing [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2567438519\]
[LTS]Biosphere [https:// no link (local mod)]
[LTS]Tenants [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2850306027\]
[Og] Another Wall Turret Mod [https:// no link (local mod)]
[Og] Simple Gate [https:// no link (local mod)]
[RF] Etched Stone Walls (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2015371021\]
[SR]Factional War - Continued [https:// no link (local mod)]
[SR]Raid Extension - Continued [https:// no link (local mod)]
[WD] Realistic Darkness [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1531882210\]
[WD] Small Solar Panels [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722492564\]
[XND] Memorable Auroras (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2270039395\]
[XND] Visible Pants [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2264108215\]
[ZAV] Glowstone [https:// no link (local mod)]
RocketMan - Performance Mod [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2479389928\]
2024.04.29 05:52 Mountain-Medium-8474 Overwatch Character Concept Tank(Oz revised)
 | (After reading a comment and getting some advice I've revised Oz slightly to make it more clear what he does and also more effective) submitted by Mountain-Medium-8474 to Overwatch [link] [comments] Electricity Tesla Coil Tank(Part of Junkers(Tinkerer's)) Being Part of the Junkers means you need to be ruthless, unforgiving, and damn near insane. So I bring to you Oz the Genius of Electricity! Oz was the one to construct and make the Scrapyard magnet safe enough to not malfunction but kept it dangerous enough to be used as a weapon until the Queen ordered him to fix it properly. He eventually defected from the Junker society to alliance himself with Talon on the Queen orders, following Talon grunts poking around her kingdom. Primary Fire: Magnetic Launcher Charge up fast projectiles(hitscan) for big damage This will add a little something that I like from Winston that being to charge an attack and predict where your opponent will go to hopefully hit them. Damage: 175 Charge up time: 2 secs Cooldown: 1 sec Secondary Fire: Bounce Back A shield that is put up for a short amount of time redirects 10% incoming damage.(Beams unaffected) Following the April Fool's Rein Shield deflect capability I thought having a hero being able to do that will be really cool and the idea of using magnets to redirect gun fire is never not cool. Duration: 3 secs Cooldown: 6 secs Ability 1: Tesla Coil Barrier Sets down Coils that absorbs 20% of incoming projectiles.(Beams unaffected) I like to this the barrier vaporizes bullets as they past through but most still get through it'll be a nice addition to where you can defend but not outright cancel enemy damage. Health: 300 Duration: 8 secs Cooldown: 10 secs Ability 2: Magnet Pull He sends out a magnetized orb that pulls enemies to it and if pressed again they'll be repelled away from the orb. Damage: 30 damage on pull 30 damage on repel Duration: 3 secs Cooldown: 8 secs Ultimate: Thunder Dome Set down a giant Coil damaging any enemies within it's radius. Similar to Mauga's ultimate minus the trap effect. Basically a Coil will be set and charged with so much electricity that it damages all enemies within for 50 damage per second for 8 seconds doing a total of 400 damage. Damage: 400 Duration: 8 secs Ult Cost: 1800 |
2024.04.29 05:39 AaronVonGraff Remember to always carry a gun when hiking and camping.
Howdy everyone. This is a PSA to always carry a gun and a way to contact help when hiking and camping. Some friends were accosted shot at by gunmen in the woods yesterday night. Public campgrounds do not mean you are safe.
Edit: willow creek, at a public and maintained dedicated campground. We will be filing a report. Just got to reception and wanted to remind people to be safe.
I am not advocating starting a gunfight. This is about if you are put in a situation where you might need to protect yourself. Use your own common sense with what that means. The point is for people to remember the woods are dangerous and to be safe. You should not have to be afraid when you go hiking or camping.
submitted by AaronVonGraff to Humboldt [link] [comments]
Edit: willow creek, at a public and maintained dedicated campground. We will be filing a report. Just got to reception and wanted to remind people to be safe.
I am not advocating starting a gunfight. This is about if you are put in a situation where you might need to protect yourself. Use your own common sense with what that means. The point is for people to remember the woods are dangerous and to be safe. You should not have to be afraid when you go hiking or camping.
2024.04.29 04:43 Public_Charity5128 Ideas for Halo 7
Hey guys, Imma present all the ideas I gathered so far for Halo 7. First some disclaimers:
Disclaimer 1: This is gonna be quite a long read, please have patience
Disclaimer 2: I don’t claim credit for everything, not all of these are my personal ideas, but I don’t seek to be credited either, consider this a collective work
Disclaimer 3: I am not a game developer, the process is unknown to me. I'm just a gamer that likes to play games. I only ask for the following ideas to at least be considered. There are 343 employees in this subreddit, and it would be an honor to see this post be at least read, I like these games and I just want the next one to be the best possible experience it can be
Disclaimer 4: If an idea doesn't fully work, it can be altered, and not all of this has to be at launch
With that made clear, let's begin:
Campaign
Not much needs to change really. Some players didn't like that Infinite went for the open world route, I'm not for or against it, but I do recognize that the linear campaigns had more iconic moments and environments, combined with the appropriate use of the game's sandbox. As for the enemies, I love the feature in Infinite where Brutes can kick Grunts with grenades at you, if it was possible and sensible, I’d also like to see a feature where Elites or Brutes steal the shield of a Jackal when they see you with a powerful weapon to protect themselves and leave the Jackals defenseless, as they are canonically disrespected by other species
I have ideas such as rescuing marines, escorting them to safe Pelicans and then have the option to contact the UNSC to request backup in case a mission is too hard, including maybe ordering a squad of ODSTs to drop and help you, or requesting weapons/vehicles. But I don’t think these ideas would work as well as I imagine
Of course, expansions/DLC would be awesome
Skulls
Not much has to change, the fan favorites plus new cool ones like MCC’s Acrophobia. Really I only have a couple ideas for new skulls:
-Cinema: When activated, the gameplay becomes third person
-Hyperlethal: Everything goes down in one hit, including the player
-Heavy armor: Vehicles are indestructible
-Pew pew: I think this is a scrapped Halo CE Anniversary skull. Replaces the sounds of weapons for imitations done by a person
-Insurrectionist: Covenant/Banished, Endless, UNSC, Forerunners, Prometheans, Flood (whatever the campaign has), they will all attack you as the main priority, even joining forces against you
-Cosplay: Master Chief is replaced for your multiplayer Spartan
-Great journey: Vehicles are insanely fast, but extremely weak to enemy fire
-Fiesta: Every entity spawns and respawns with random weapons, including the player
-Malfunction: The player has a different effect every couple of minutes, including things such as disabling an HUD element, being able to fly, superjump, activating instakill mode, changing the speed, etc…
Weapon sandbox
I really can't think of many new weapon ideas, but bringing back both the new ones and the fan favorites would be ideal. It doesn't have to be cramped with variations like in Halo 5, variety is more important after all
One idea I do have is a grenade, not one to attack players, but one to help yourself: teleport grenade (yeah, pretty much the ender pearl from Minecraft)
Another idea would be a land mine grenade, a grenade that you throw and only goes off when someone gets close to it
Vehicle sandbox
Same as weapons, having the fan favorites would be nice. Specifically for flying vehicles I think having 3 of them like in Halo 5 was pretty good. For new ideas, we could have either water vehicles or vehicles that can climb walls. I know some players want the game to go all out and let us drive Scarabs and fly Pelicans, I am one of those players too
Equipment sandbox
I like both Halo 3 and Infinite’s idea of limited-use equipment and Halo Reach and 4’s idea of armor abilities. Maybe it could be possible to have both, with equipment being an active ability and armor abilities being passive, if not, here are some simple equipment ideas:
-Bamboozler (not official name): Changes the color of your armor to that of the enemy team’s (this is considered the game reverts back to making everyone either red or blue in team-based modes).
-Flare: The flare from Halo 3
-EMP trap: Shoots out a device that causes an EMP in a small radius
-Gurdian angel: Special pulse that desticks plasma/spike grenades in case you get stuck
-Flood trap: Deploys a strange Flood goo that temporarly slows down/paralyzes whoever walks on it
-Flood spore: Throws a small spore that releases a small pack of Flood infections forms that will attack enemy players and infect dead AI bodies, reanimated AI will be on your side
Forge
Infinite’s version is perfect, can stay just as it is. I’ve seen some players suggest the concept of 2 Forge variations; a complex one ideal for map creation, and a “classic Forge”, simplified like Halo 3’s and more ideal for custom games. I don’t think that is necessary, but it is worth considering
Maps
Same as all else, the fan favorites along with new ones. I have one idea for an arena map: Standard medium size map set in the aftermath of a fight, the power position of the map is an area where the destroyed top rear of a Scarab lies, players can take control of the Scarab’s turret (the turret, not the beam) and use it as a strong but slow weapon against the enemy team, Yes, the turret can be destroyed
Customization it can be the same as Infinite or MCC, but I think I speak for everyone when I say we would love to earn credits to unlock stuff just by playing the game and unlocking stuff for campaign milestones, you know like, kill 10,000 Grunts to unlock the Grunt helmet and things like that, and player rank, like in prior games. Of course a shop can still exist, as long as it is not overpriced, could also divide the currency into standard and premium like Infinite is doing now, as long as there’s the option to buy premium currency with standard currency Another cool idea would be to bring back assassinations and playable Elites, as they would offer more options. And a concept I had was that both weapons and vehicles can have skins applied, and for the plasma-based, adding an option to make the projectile match with the color (say, you have a pulse carbine and you give it a yellow skin, well, the projectiles also become yellow), just an idea.
One more thing, if crossover customization is possible like the Fallout power armor please consider that too
Firefight
It can stay as Infinite offers it, combined with AI in Forge there’s already plenty of possibilities, just consider making Gruntapocalypse a bonus round instead of its own variation. A wave where you get attacked exclusively by berserker Brutes would also be cool. And yeah more Firefight variations like classic FF, Fiesta FF, KOTH FF, generator defense FF, and if playable Elites are back (or another playable species is added) we could have them be a player boss fight against players on the other team
Operations
Operations as Infinite presented them are ok, but I have an idea:
Operations will be less common in this game, but more special; as every Operation will bring a especial enemy fight, could be a Banished HVT, Endless enemy or something of the sorts (and if Operations are not canon they could bring other characters such as the Arbiter, rogue Spartans or classic enemies like Tartarus). And every Operation brings a campaign-like mission in matchmaking that players go through to eliminate the target of the season along other game modes. Rewards are given based on time completion, score, difficulty and performance in the mission
Matchmaking
All of the modes we already know and love, maybe bringing back race mode. Here I only had some ideas that offer a more out-of-the-box gameplay:
-Hide and seek: One player is visible and overpowered, the rest have permanent active cammo and got to either reach a spot on the map or complete tasks while the “seeker” tries to eliminate them
-Hunt: I have two ideas of how this could work:
1) Nobody in the match has weapons, only their punches, but killing with melee doesn’t give match score, there are just a couple guns hidden on the map, players must find them and kill with them
2) There is a hidden item on the map, like an oddball, players must find them and whoever holds them the most time wins. The oddball disappears and respawns (again, hidden) after the same player had held it for 15 seconds
-Escape room: Players don’t kill each other in this mode, but rather cooperate in rooms where they have to either find a secret teleporter to the next room or solve puzzles. This could integrate the teleport grenade idea I mentioned before
-Survival: Rather than take other player’s lives, protect yours. Players are put in an arena with hazards, like campaign enemies, hordes of Flood or natural phenomenons like an asteroid rain, whichever team or individual players survives until the end or loses the less lives wins
-Battlemode: Similar to Doom Eternal’s battlemode, I just love the idea of one players or Team being Spartans while the other team is made of players controlling campaign enemies and try to kill the Spartans, that would be dope
-Don’t have a name for this one: I remember a mode in Aliens Colonial Marines that was a standard 4v4 match, but the maps had a dormant xenomorph on the map, and whichever player got to it first had the option to “awaken” the alien and play as that until they got killed. Imagine if Halo had that, a 4v4, but you had the option to find a Hunter and play as it, would be really awesome
Warzone reimagined
Cooking this idea had me excited the most. This could be like the main X factor
If you have played Battlefront 2 (2017) you’ll know what I mean. Having a match in a really big map with big teams where players are standard weak units that play a certain role, sorta like Marine (standard rifle), ONI officer (shotgun), ODST (sniper) or Medic (support). Each player earns point in the match and when they have enough points they can choose to spawn with a power weapon, a vehicle, call in an ordinance Pelican or Phantom to help everyone, or playing as power units such as a Spartan. That would make Warzone different from the rest of the game, potentially fun and free of a monetized system
Invasion reimagined
This would be the ultimate HALO experience
Invasion from Reach, in a bigger scale, bigger maps, bigger teams, possibly with AI
2 teams: Team Spartan and Team Elite
Team Elite must make their way through different areas of a Halo ring, gain access to a library, get an activation index, take it all the way to a control room, arm the Halo and fire it
Team Spartan must stop them
Soooo that’s about all the ideas I could remember having so far, I might think of more ideas in the future, if that’s the case I’ll update in a comment. If you got all the way here I thank you for your time and patience, you are a hero :)
submitted by Public_Charity5128 to halo [link] [comments]
Hey guys, Imma present all the ideas I gathered so far for Halo 7. First some disclaimers:
Disclaimer 1: This is gonna be quite a long read, please have patience
Disclaimer 2: I don’t claim credit for everything, not all of these are my personal ideas, but I don’t seek to be credited either, consider this a collective work
Disclaimer 3: I am not a game developer, the process is unknown to me. I'm just a gamer that likes to play games. I only ask for the following ideas to at least be considered. There are 343 employees in this subreddit, and it would be an honor to see this post be at least read, I like these games and I just want the next one to be the best possible experience it can be
Disclaimer 4: If an idea doesn't fully work, it can be altered, and not all of this has to be at launch
With that made clear, let's begin:
Campaign
Not much needs to change really. Some players didn't like that Infinite went for the open world route, I'm not for or against it, but I do recognize that the linear campaigns had more iconic moments and environments, combined with the appropriate use of the game's sandbox. As for the enemies, I love the feature in Infinite where Brutes can kick Grunts with grenades at you, if it was possible and sensible, I’d also like to see a feature where Elites or Brutes steal the shield of a Jackal when they see you with a powerful weapon to protect themselves and leave the Jackals defenseless, as they are canonically disrespected by other species
I have ideas such as rescuing marines, escorting them to safe Pelicans and then have the option to contact the UNSC to request backup in case a mission is too hard, including maybe ordering a squad of ODSTs to drop and help you, or requesting weapons/vehicles. But I don’t think these ideas would work as well as I imagine
Of course, expansions/DLC would be awesome
Skulls
Not much has to change, the fan favorites plus new cool ones like MCC’s Acrophobia. Really I only have a couple ideas for new skulls:
-Cinema: When activated, the gameplay becomes third person
-Hyperlethal: Everything goes down in one hit, including the player
-Heavy armor: Vehicles are indestructible
-Pew pew: I think this is a scrapped Halo CE Anniversary skull. Replaces the sounds of weapons for imitations done by a person
-Insurrectionist: Covenant/Banished, Endless, UNSC, Forerunners, Prometheans, Flood (whatever the campaign has), they will all attack you as the main priority, even joining forces against you
-Cosplay: Master Chief is replaced for your multiplayer Spartan
-Great journey: Vehicles are insanely fast, but extremely weak to enemy fire
-Fiesta: Every entity spawns and respawns with random weapons, including the player
-Malfunction: The player has a different effect every couple of minutes, including things such as disabling an HUD element, being able to fly, superjump, activating instakill mode, changing the speed, etc…
Weapon sandbox
I really can't think of many new weapon ideas, but bringing back both the new ones and the fan favorites would be ideal. It doesn't have to be cramped with variations like in Halo 5, variety is more important after all
One idea I do have is a grenade, not one to attack players, but one to help yourself: teleport grenade (yeah, pretty much the ender pearl from Minecraft)
Another idea would be a land mine grenade, a grenade that you throw and only goes off when someone gets close to it
Vehicle sandbox
Same as weapons, having the fan favorites would be nice. Specifically for flying vehicles I think having 3 of them like in Halo 5 was pretty good. For new ideas, we could have either water vehicles or vehicles that can climb walls. I know some players want the game to go all out and let us drive Scarabs and fly Pelicans, I am one of those players too
Equipment sandbox
I like both Halo 3 and Infinite’s idea of limited-use equipment and Halo Reach and 4’s idea of armor abilities. Maybe it could be possible to have both, with equipment being an active ability and armor abilities being passive, if not, here are some simple equipment ideas:
-Bamboozler (not official name): Changes the color of your armor to that of the enemy team’s (this is considered the game reverts back to making everyone either red or blue in team-based modes).
-Flare: The flare from Halo 3
-EMP trap: Shoots out a device that causes an EMP in a small radius
-Gurdian angel: Special pulse that desticks plasma/spike grenades in case you get stuck
-Flood trap: Deploys a strange Flood goo that temporarly slows down/paralyzes whoever walks on it
-Flood spore: Throws a small spore that releases a small pack of Flood infections forms that will attack enemy players and infect dead AI bodies, reanimated AI will be on your side
Forge
Infinite’s version is perfect, can stay just as it is. I’ve seen some players suggest the concept of 2 Forge variations; a complex one ideal for map creation, and a “classic Forge”, simplified like Halo 3’s and more ideal for custom games. I don’t think that is necessary, but it is worth considering
Maps
Same as all else, the fan favorites along with new ones. I have one idea for an arena map: Standard medium size map set in the aftermath of a fight, the power position of the map is an area where the destroyed top rear of a Scarab lies, players can take control of the Scarab’s turret (the turret, not the beam) and use it as a strong but slow weapon against the enemy team, Yes, the turret can be destroyed
Customization it can be the same as Infinite or MCC, but I think I speak for everyone when I say we would love to earn credits to unlock stuff just by playing the game and unlocking stuff for campaign milestones, you know like, kill 10,000 Grunts to unlock the Grunt helmet and things like that, and player rank, like in prior games. Of course a shop can still exist, as long as it is not overpriced, could also divide the currency into standard and premium like Infinite is doing now, as long as there’s the option to buy premium currency with standard currency Another cool idea would be to bring back assassinations and playable Elites, as they would offer more options. And a concept I had was that both weapons and vehicles can have skins applied, and for the plasma-based, adding an option to make the projectile match with the color (say, you have a pulse carbine and you give it a yellow skin, well, the projectiles also become yellow), just an idea.
One more thing, if crossover customization is possible like the Fallout power armor please consider that too
Firefight
It can stay as Infinite offers it, combined with AI in Forge there’s already plenty of possibilities, just consider making Gruntapocalypse a bonus round instead of its own variation. A wave where you get attacked exclusively by berserker Brutes would also be cool. And yeah more Firefight variations like classic FF, Fiesta FF, KOTH FF, generator defense FF, and if playable Elites are back (or another playable species is added) we could have them be a player boss fight against players on the other team
Operations
Operations as Infinite presented them are ok, but I have an idea:
Operations will be less common in this game, but more special; as every Operation will bring a especial enemy fight, could be a Banished HVT, Endless enemy or something of the sorts (and if Operations are not canon they could bring other characters such as the Arbiter, rogue Spartans or classic enemies like Tartarus). And every Operation brings a campaign-like mission in matchmaking that players go through to eliminate the target of the season along other game modes. Rewards are given based on time completion, score, difficulty and performance in the mission
Matchmaking
All of the modes we already know and love, maybe bringing back race mode. Here I only had some ideas that offer a more out-of-the-box gameplay:
-Hide and seek: One player is visible and overpowered, the rest have permanent active cammo and got to either reach a spot on the map or complete tasks while the “seeker” tries to eliminate them
-Hunt: I have two ideas of how this could work:
1) Nobody in the match has weapons, only their punches, but killing with melee doesn’t give match score, there are just a couple guns hidden on the map, players must find them and kill with them
2) There is a hidden item on the map, like an oddball, players must find them and whoever holds them the most time wins. The oddball disappears and respawns (again, hidden) after the same player had held it for 15 seconds
-Escape room: Players don’t kill each other in this mode, but rather cooperate in rooms where they have to either find a secret teleporter to the next room or solve puzzles. This could integrate the teleport grenade idea I mentioned before
-Survival: Rather than take other player’s lives, protect yours. Players are put in an arena with hazards, like campaign enemies, hordes of Flood or natural phenomenons like an asteroid rain, whichever team or individual players survives until the end or loses the less lives wins
-Battlemode: Similar to Doom Eternal’s battlemode, I just love the idea of one players or Team being Spartans while the other team is made of players controlling campaign enemies and try to kill the Spartans, that would be dope
-Don’t have a name for this one: I remember a mode in Aliens Colonial Marines that was a standard 4v4 match, but the maps had a dormant xenomorph on the map, and whichever player got to it first had the option to “awaken” the alien and play as that until they got killed. Imagine if Halo had that, a 4v4, but you had the option to find a Hunter and play as it, would be really awesome
Warzone reimagined
Cooking this idea had me excited the most. This could be like the main X factor
If you have played Battlefront 2 (2017) you’ll know what I mean. Having a match in a really big map with big teams where players are standard weak units that play a certain role, sorta like Marine (standard rifle), ONI officer (shotgun), ODST (sniper) or Medic (support). Each player earns point in the match and when they have enough points they can choose to spawn with a power weapon, a vehicle, call in an ordinance Pelican or Phantom to help everyone, or playing as power units such as a Spartan. That would make Warzone different from the rest of the game, potentially fun and free of a monetized system
Invasion reimagined
This would be the ultimate HALO experience
Invasion from Reach, in a bigger scale, bigger maps, bigger teams, possibly with AI
2 teams: Team Spartan and Team Elite
Team Elite must make their way through different areas of a Halo ring, gain access to a library, get an activation index, take it all the way to a control room, arm the Halo and fire it
Team Spartan must stop them
Soooo that’s about all the ideas I could remember having so far, I might think of more ideas in the future, if that’s the case I’ll update in a comment. If you got all the way here I thank you for your time and patience, you are a hero :)
2024.04.29 04:14 TJKitsune Had to remove a player for the first time an what caused it. C/TW: mentions of in game bodily harm, likely manipulative/gaslighting.
I recently had to properly kick my first ever player, things got a little intense between us for it and well left me on the all sorts of spectrum of emotions sides. I just had to get both feelings and my logic for the reasons for this removal of at the start, a good player and good guy and character that.. to me just started to not be. Maybe to just vent out, maybe to see if I was justified, but also to hope that, if there were points I didnt see or think of at the time that someone can help me think better if a scenario ever bubbles up like this, I have a better headspace to go about things right.
To start, I am more or less a newby forever DM (1 oneshot game to my belt under as a player), my current running campaign is only my second, going 2 years strong now. Its been bumpy recently do to my work schedule last few months but we are nearly up to our 100th session together and things have begun to heat up story wise and excitement wise by my players. Everything's in the story is homebrew more or less, both my own works and others I found and my players bring up to me.
At the start of the game, I had 5 starting players, and the one in question was one of them. We lost a few of them, first sadly I more suggested he leave, as much as he wanted to play, it was to the point he was playing while traveling via busses, planes and others (he traveled alot for his daily life events he couldnt get out of) an never mentioned when these would happen. That went smooth, we were both polite and I wasnt upset with them, just upset a good player like him will have hard times with finding a table. Better ways, would have been having a blast with them to this day. The second was starting to act up, I had to shoot him down a bit hard at times, more so when a new player, a girl, joined up an he started being a bit inappropriate and not act like the character he told me he would be. After I started blocking his more chaotic antics, he pretty much ghosted the group all together. Our third player who left is more on a prolonged hiatus cause of his work schedule, but he keeps in contact. So as far as the original party goes there are only two, with the first whom replaced our enthusiastic but unable to stay with us player being 'Miss 3 1/2's'.
With most of that out of the way, I can get onto the player in question. Again, he was there from the start, only second in my player search to start this campaign. Wanting to play a neutral good paladin who grew up a simple farmers life and was on a life walk-about to enrich himself before his turn to take over the family farmlands. At the start things were bit fine, he showed a general interest to hooks that kinda developed in the intro fight, making some good goofy aspects with his character and interactions and at least at first, an interest to some of the things in the world at the time. But looking back, I did likely trust him with a bit much, the other characters likewise were very 'go with teh flow' but they liked to investigate and get into things outside the city that they were given slight hero titles to after the start of things. With him though, he did 'actively' have his character go to get the town effective 'quest board' and ask around if people needed help with things... and.. not tell the other PC's about it or try an start the missions or plots.
While in itself it wasnt 'bad' people also trusted him a bit as 'the note taker' at first, so maybe we just expected him to go into things later or something, but, this became something I was concerned of with him on it. I mentioned his own story progression aspects from the start of the game, well, when given a lead that would let him undo a poor families ailment he showed interests too with time to go at least check it.. he suddenly invented a sister for his character.. who was getting married, back in his home country, that they 'had' to visit right then an there.
He had been vague about his characters history, he may have mentioned a sister 'in passing' but nothing ever set in stone besides his Grandfather being the true head of the farm and his dad. Not even anything about his characters mother, an now suddenly he wanted to spend a week or two travel via air ship to go see a 'new fiance' on top of it. I admit, I wasn't too happy but I also didnt outright pull him to the side to talk about that. Mark against me I know.
But it kind of worked out, as because no one could do much since he was kinda blocking the group from reaching the intended quest givers that he swore he would get with (2 of the other remaining characters at the time mostly had their stuff working on things they were trying to do that wasnt too crazy but at least progressed their characters in ways). And Miss 3 1/2 wasnt sure of her character at the time so played a temp one to feel out being another class and style for a bit. It helped her bloom a little. They ended up helping another little quest idea i had for halloween, late it was, but had fun with it an great action. But do to how that took an bad dice rolls which I do no flub or such, they got sidetracked from things an had to go back to go onto a quest 3 1/2 got them to.. an he wasnt exactly actively happy or doing the quest (guard a noblewoman on a quest to one of the countries for buisness matters. Kinda.. avoided the woman in weird ways.. like trying to push the hotel cooks asideto 'show them how its done'..).
When the crew finished with it, it was with another teaser to quest lines he was kinda pinning the group with. Again unfortunately the rest were 'kinda' okay with his choice on it but they were doing a bit more to be active now so it wasnt likely to work out for long. Around this time is when 'Work Haitus' had to sadly step away, so i started to put feelers out for new players again. During this time, he was still kinda pulling back on things as best he could, but he started to show a.. interesting trait. He wanted to start 'grinding' for EXP.. without going into the literal forest where some creatures could be faught, instead, he went to the city coliseum. Now this was explained since session one, I dont give any real EXP for fights there, quit literally if you have a fun sparing match or a more rough bloody match in it against a tamed or caught creature or class person, you'll only end up with 1 xp point. I did this cause I heard of a number of stories of 'those' players showing up, going to fight pits to make themselves stronger an not bother with rp time stuff. But I also tweaked it, so you could make bets for yourself, and the boon of prize and noterity (IE, people start being more favorable to you, seek you out that sort of stuff.. which considering he had so many 'hidden to activate quests' at this point wouldnt have mattered either way). He very quickly stopped after his 2nd or so solo attempt and made a passing comment on being upset of it. I overlooked that time.
During this, the entire party collectively was sought out, as the city knew 'all of them' roughly, so no reason only someone looking to the quest board would be involved alone. They were given a new quest by a neighboring kingdom, to deal with monsters they had ties with from the start as an already active side-story plot. He kinda 'backed' a bit into doing his characters 'im off to clean the broom closet' antics during some of this.. alot.. so looking back it feels he was upset not only was he not 'in charge' of getting the quests, but that the whole party agreed to be invovled with it regardless of anything else. I did try to bring him bback in, by having that Sister and her Fiance appear to meet them since he couldnt make the meeting.
There was some .. issues.. he kinda started to instantly mistrust the fiance, he litterally used 'every' detection spell he had on them trying to sus if they were demon, enregy or otherwise. An more or less ignored the sister even when she asked him his plans on things.. an since he 'left the sibling things to me besides she pranks him maybe' he didnt seem thrilled that she was upset the 'Lord title' brother, who won plots of land in this country an was going to open, I kid you not, an 'Pizzaria Inn petting zoo pet super plant farm forge and factory' on said plot of land with 'secret super caves our befriended monster friend will terraforming for us'. Short version of the monster thing.. monster had no such ability and at best had very tiny cute versions of itself digging out the cave, one pebble at a time.. this is when i noticed he sort of 'half' listened to details given.
I will admit, I wanted to have a moment where the sister was going to become some sort of 'rival', if she couldnt find way to convince the older men who are currently running the farm that big bro might have more important things to do as 'a Lordship hero paladin' maybe its time to break 'the men run the farm' tradition. In character he was warned 'she really wants your farm, and as someone whose seen people go extremes maybe you should reach out to her so its not so bad an no bad blood has to happen'... he kinda took it that she wants him dead, sorta. Took a bit with the informer to correct it.
He .. 'kinda' tried to 'make it up to her' i think by baking her favorite pie an admittedly as a nice act gave her his holly symbol which was the family's given by grandpa to him.. no biggy as the city hade a temple of his goddess to get a replacement soo.. yeah. Honestly I did talk with him a little on it.. but this is when another aspect started being apparent.
I hadnt mentioned, but I am not a fan of no call no show specially when we had a constant schedule, he had a few, but 'did' sorta apologize, at first. We do everything discord and roll20, so when he starts to not appear i would '@' the group and then '@' via DM's, and there maybe 'weeks' to 'months' if theres nothing 'important' to talk to me about response wise. And at the start of those times he started missing alot. An also, not apologizing or saying why. He doesnt always have to I know, but given we were having fewer players, wed have sudden 'we cant plays' cause it was 2 people only..
Then, we get introduced to not one or two but three new players. I kinda worried with them being prior friends and click group but its been working out for most part. Timing for ones admittedly stunk, an their on a personal leave Im not faulting but having their character background for now. They show up, an their characters, well starting at high level for at least 2 fresh faces an one long term one is a little odd, but its been fun. They instantly get into their characters mindsets, weird quirks that fit their upbringings and own style of things, but they also work as a functional communicating and asking questions group with slight airs of 'they are not lower class but deal with both from the noble side of things' air to them. Again its worked out, given they lost a litter hard hitter the three work great.
As the plot went, they were actually being lured away by a group who they helped bust antics an get called out on it in the city, the bait was just 'oh it might be the same type of monster you guys are looking for who might eat an entire city', done via a modified memory spell on the patsy. They were lead to a campsite the badguys set up to be a kill/trap spot.. It was a bit rough with things, but the group was doing 'amazingly' well. But I had an even bigger surprise for everyone, to take our game to a new level an give a 'big' meaty plot hook to hype and put every character on an equal 'i dont know anyone around here/dont have the same resources you do' foot from how the characters went, as an idea to build their bonds.
The trap, got ambushed, by a big honken monster I teased the first players with barely into session 4 that was a corps but came back. An this thing was a beast, CR minimal 20+ an higher (i suck at figuren the maths) but yeah, it was 'not' a winnable fight they could escape from that even the badguys said 'truce till were not monster food???'
It blew apart the trap-badguys, an sent the PC's hurdling into a space that was supost to be instant death, but plot armor I intended for em saved them if only 'barely' but now, their in ' a ocean like space between the outter realm and multi realms', with faint contact by the holly characters gods saying 'theres a way back, you must return'. including to the Paladin an 3 1/2 (who is cleric).. and honestly, everyones raved to me about it.. but looking back agian, given lack of Paladins communications 'out' of his appearances in game.. he hasnt said much, unless someone else starts it..an even then its.. barely a sentence..
The players were picked up by 'friendly pirates' an have been discovering things and gaining new strengths.. least, most of them again. 3 1/2 really bounded with the new NPC's an been expanding their character (shes been very creative that way an shes really gotten into the player bug, im sooo happy i could get her into the hobby) the new players had their growths too, the full slightly higher brow noble of them has come to terms 'hes mortal an can die, but people need his strength' too, as well as 'living is hard.. their not just 'dirty' or something by chance its just the efforts of their brow' to the sorceress of his friends being delighted to be sailing the seas with quirky merman, turtle an other type pirates with treasures an jerks to kick in the seat of the pants. Even the other first player has tried new character aspects, trying to be a 'new version' of himself till an event happened (which he half told me of, but it was more workable then 'sudden sister quest').
But.. paladin has been a bit more missing an sadly we have had spotty game times cause this is when my own work schedule has been bad. An again, he never gets back or says 'oh sorry cant make it' or whatever happened. I brought up a bit ago about his passing remarks of the exp thing for this point to make, he doesnt like to have his character have much of my homebrew stuff.. despite how many treasures hes had that hes just gone 'i sell it' or 'eh if you want it take it dont want it' that has been (a) a plot starter, or (b) a pretty handy if maybe OP item, hes just passed them off even from session z where I give every player chances to pick a unique thing for their character that helps tie them to the world. He opted out of it, an through everything they have done an gathered.. hes held onto a grand total of 2 homebrew things.. a sword, that after a 'certin point' he used as his hexblade warlock focus point with his goddess also being his patron, and 'one' spell that I had to reach out to offer him, well, technically '2' spells. One that he could use to turn a mundane object into a powerful magic weapon, an a ritual spell that he needs to cast to regain uses of the other spell.
The reason this ties to the EXP block from the coliseum bit, is because as part of the ritual to regain usages, he has to create a small 'choke point' of a ritual spell ring to fight an unending horde of monsters that the spell summons to fight just him. Now, the monsters are extremely low level, like 1/4 cr, an they wont try an kill him, as the ritual ends when hes KO'ed. It took a bit before he had to properly cast it in ession (big surprise, had him recharging it on some of the missing day's of his). But when eh did, an he finished it, he did instantly ask 'how much exp to i get?' an kinda grew hushed when I said 'you.. get your six usages of your spell back?'. I.. low key wonder if he wanted to try an use it as a cheat to grind or something..
This also does not help that, just prior, 3 1/2 managed to do our 'biggest' damage in a single round during a hord fight, literally between her spells an a new weapon with some seriously amazing rolls, did over 200 hp of damage on her own. To the point she KO'ed the boss monster leader. granted it was with a smart play and some literal crit hits, but thats when his vibe for games started kinda feeling off big time. An come now, to the more recent events before the kick..
I had a rare day off i could have a game completely unhindered, an we agreed to all have it.. sadly starter 2 forgot the US has Daylights saving, so we did loose an hour for him getten outta work. Eh it happens. An sadly the new 3 didnt get to join in so it was an agreed on one shot. Well, that 'was' the idea..
When we started.. when we 'could' have started, I gave them the quick plot of how they got to this place (this all happened just before the event with the pirates so they had their stuff but meta'ed they were still their current levels). Now, Im loose with my own OS's, so I used a module i bought that looked fun an it was interesting. I did have to build a bunch of rough doubles of the maps, since turns out the PDF didnt want to let me get the pics right at the time, so wasnt focusing too much on some details but for key point ones. Its important for later. But anwyay after the basic 'you did a hero thing an was invited to a small isle city by its noble ruler who has big parties every week an your the guests of honor', you know the usual kinda crud. Well i started to get into the start of it, about to go to details of the maps location.. when he, stopped me an blocked me to go 'oh i climb the building or whatever to get that gun!'.....there was unfortunately an image of a gun on the part of the token i used to build the maps clocktower..didnt notice it.. he sure did.. an kinda derailed me a bit more..reminder, we were an hour late into session.
I managed to get back on track, the security at the start of the party line stoppen the crew an saying 'sorry its a costume party, dont worry we always have spares, pick one' an they got to pick a set of masks for themselves. They rolled to take turns, he got first dibs, an picked one he 'really liked', but I do kinda wonder cause my tag name relates to what it was.. Well, I sent them the screenshot of the masks an their effects as an item/equip card... he started to.. get sour sounding.
In prior in between an pre game times, hes mentioned hes.. not exactly a fan of alot of stuff. Even some of the oldest movies an comics that are still being made now an are big on fandoms, hes got zero interests or cares for.. an on troupes, he is not big on mysteries. An sadly, the mask gave him an ability thats great in discovering secrets...
Well, I started to bring one of the moduels NPC's to start pointing out details, give them some hook bits an background to what goes on normally in the city... and.. he used that one use ability to check if she liked her mask.. literally stepping the entire conversation, then walked away to break into that clocktower.. that had the guns on it..
3 1/2 an second 1'st decided 'lets try an get on with the actual story regardless' an tried to go to the party which they did, trying to get him to come with too, crossing the small castle bridge to get to there an start mingling as they do.. paladin did 'eventually'.. but first he shimmied the bridge to use up his stealth abilities from the mask... then when 3 1/2 noticed, tried to get him to come in, he... started climbing to the top of the castle wall..
His character, never acted like this, in any OS we had before or in game before. Second 1'st did do a little weird, but it was stuff his character was infamous for, but not good for the long run. I admit.. I lost my cool, I didnt shout, yell, or otherwise.. but at this point, from when we 'late started', to paladins 3'rd athletic roll to scale the building he was invited for, we had lost over 2 hours of our usual session time an it was very apparent he was really not going to act like the character we were accustomed to.. so I said, 'sorry guys, see you next time'.. admittedly, I did kinda vent in our group chat text wise.. I was pretty upset an tired i cant lie on this, i had spent very early hours on the maps an looking over to familair most of the thing as best i could while having lack of sleep beforehand. But, I basically just said, if you dont feel up to a game please just say so cause putting all that time en effort for even a one shot was time an tiring thing an just frankly kinda rude antics for no reason just hurt.... didnt use cures or otherwise but that was about it..
It did help that, the group reached out to me about it, even both our Hiatus ones.. everyone but Paladin who kinda went back to basic no coms with me pretty much like norm.. he kinda missed a few more sessions between then to now.. so lets get to what became the last straws of the DM..
So, in the 'undersea' places, the crew realized that, the party had something they could use with their nations rulers to try an breach peace with the races that was locking everyone up in this space between the multiverse, to escape some big dangers thats happening here. This thing was second 1'sts 'tie in starting choice' i gave the first party options too an hes loved ever since, giving his character a level of importance. Of course there is the risk the guys could go 'we dont need 'them' for just 'that'. but thankfully its the nicer space sea folks side so thankfully its all negotiations. I rolled beforehand to see what outcome would happen.. not the best roll but it was one with surprising good results but the meeting was postponed with the intended target cause.. well the system got fragged as they sent the unintended invite back to the outer realms and their time slot to reach out to there was lost. So the party an the friendly pirate captain npc buddy was told 'come back in several months well try again'. The captain was telling the leaders 'oh sure no problem' while giving a 'if we dont find you guys a way back to your side of the world to stop that big bad monster for good first 'wink' to them..
An paladin.. confronted an tried telling the nation guys the details in a... weird way. I really dont know how to explain how he said it it still sounds weird to me. But he basically wanted too.. convince the nation that 'the party' could end all their troubles.. against a hord of demons an undeads effectively 'not understanding' the monster that threw them here was not one of the creatures in question. Which even after i pointed out 'if he couldnt do more than 13 points of damage to that thing, how would he think he can beat the monster he 'thinks' made it?'... which on that matter, he was told multiple times it wasnt.
Well, the rest of the gang tried to talk reason to him, even pull him aaway.. an i had made split choice of the captain decided to put a 'command bracelet' on him, effectively 'if you fight the order given you get zapped an paralyzed'. telling him 'please stop an lets talk about this somewhere 'safe'... because the party and them werent safe..
People in the sea space place, dont like people 'from their side' not that any survive coming down to there. Again, they survived via their plot armor's they dont even fully get yet. With the leadership litterally saying to him before the captain dragged him to the doors a bit 'let them hang for all we care'...
Well, paladin passed the check against the paralyze effect (again, i give honest rolls unless absolutely necessary which i dont like doing..) an.. he had his character chop his hand off, use every will save till he passed the players spells an use his tp abilities to get out of any grapple an ran into the building to more or less brow beat the leaders into listening to him...I made a choice as the captain npc... an ran for the ship to get the heck out before his crew would be arrested an maybe killed for hiding the PC's, an the other PC's likewise, ran for the hills too with them saying 'your mad if you do this'..
That is where that session ended, he made a passing comment 'guess ill reroll a character for the time being'... an he never showed up for the following one despite knowing 3 weeks in advance..though it turns out he 'did' roll stats for a character after I left the chat an roll20... an 'then' designed his character... which at first i was iffy but gave him a sheet to fill in to go ahead an start worken it, not knowing he had pre existing stat rolls for it or clearing that with me.. something I dont like..
Well, cant say i fault him for not knowing this, none of them did.. but there was a planned event for the city they were in. After the 'meeting the outsiders' event, they were going to be there during a siege by the monsters the leaders were worried about. I had the mechanics that, theyd get swarmed by mooks they could likely kill in a round or two at worst with a few higher level front line commanders thrown in, for each one of these theyd get a -5 to around -15 against a d100 roll (which I infamously roll low on all the time) on how much the city gets damaged up (multiple of the results for fyi), where either (a) they would stand their grounds just enough to cause the enemy to tempt pull back from the current onslaught, (b) the do enough damage an pull back gettin more then they need for now (long story) or (c) the party retreats for the time trying to pick up some survives they could fit on the ship an get the heck out as the city is torn up...
Instead.. I roll flat 3d100's as the party 'just' avoided the guards an lockdown.. which didnt add any bonses for the city guards chance to prep ships an counter attackk.. of the three, 2 in the ninties, one over fifty.. the city was whiped out.. I was 'devastated' that now i may have put the paladins character in a state he was just outright mamed and couldnt even give his player a 'last hura an fade to black'...because they never showed up or said anything...
I had to take a day or two before i sent the news to him, i did kinda phrase it a little angerly but i was 'where were you what happend'?... no response the entire week, right up to our next game session with nothing being done to that character sheet i gave him for a month..
And then came to our last bit of communication.. one hour before we started, he wanted to ask me about his character creation thing.. he stuck with the class i was iffy on to begin with but he.. went with a completely different class, an frankly he was maxing out the stats on the class too..
I confronted him since at least then he was 'finally' speaking to me. He was giving me the 'he would have convince them' speach of his characters plans.. I was just getting more confused by some of his responses of what that even was. The 'misunderstandings' of his character of what things are going on, why he did an extrem like 'why would he cut his hand off' an then he admitted no matter what, his character was going to leave. All on the fact his 'Paladin Alignment as Lawful good' wouldnt let him 'let a bunch of people die in the city'... his character has pulled back from fights an stuff before, while yeah if he saw a fight he would totally try an defend someone if need be, but, the abandon the party thinking they were doing wrong, knowing that the plan the group would be involved with after the outsider meeting, was to go search for things that might power them all up enough to be on the same playing field as the monster that beat them, or event he ones attacking the undersea side.. He even made a passing comment 'yeah i know they all talked about it for an hour'.. when.. he caused the conversation to las tthe hour by having them repeat it different ways several times.. something he also did alot im afraid when the quest was not one he started/invested in specifically of himself (the starting foot of it happened to one of the new players an 3 1/2 while he was on one of his missing days again).
He made a slight passing comment about me jus killing off his character an how they were acting as a 'what if someone wanted to play something else' .. which i did ask 'did you want to play something new why didnt you just ask?' to which.. he kinda ignored an went on. It was roughly at this time that he said he was trying to focus on his wizard spell list that i clicked to he was playing a new type of character all together.. one he admitted he wanted to play as 'weird and kinda crazy'.. it honestly sent chills to me given his 'sane' character did something extreme out of the blue for no reason an would never had done before was a bad sign what he considers 'slightly weird/crazy' would be.. but i was further made up set he made up a character only 'after' getting rolls he didnt get clearance from me with beforehand. I asked if this was the case which he confirmed and simply asked 'what want me to do point buy instead?'... an thats when I said i dont think he was set for my game again.. most so since all this all he focused on, again, an hour before game time, was only the basic mechanics an nothing else (given my honest mistrust of him springing something on me on this point with the sister visit 'quest').
I had literally given him my reasons, told him didn tlike how many red flags hes pulled lately. Including our game communities famed words by players who do things that tend to do things that.. kinda make things weird or bad or start to trail from how they start as.. When he first started missing the bulk of sessions, an losing plot interest, was when he 'lost his notes'. Then an most infamous last appearance, literally last bits hes said when he decided to have his character leave (which in hindsight i think he may have just wanted but again.. pardon me for guessing since he never communicated) 'Its what my character would do' when he had him cut his hand off.. Then during our conversation when i was trying to figure out what the heck was all that an what happend he said 'because my lawful good paladin couldnt let that under his oath'... his 'netual good' character whose hidden monsters under his house, stolen from a school of magic, made friends with an had sight powers from a devil an a few other shady things to say the least...so he was plannen or taking that his character should have a diff alignment without communing with me on it..who knows ont hat one..
I honestly did my usual, 'i dont think this game is for you' exit speech... an he said 'dont bs me with this over polite crap' an tried to make me say 'i want you gone'.. he was more or less animate on the specifics of the words.. and I think i know why..
Because, the players have a private text chat, not that hes much on there himself unless his character name is mentioned multiple times, but they do have it for funnies an stuff between em. I dont mind it, but.. at some point when I officially announced I'd be removing the player in our whole group chat.. he sent a very cropped two lines that was the tail end of us with me saying him in the groups not looken good, but told them 'i shouldnt be contacted about this'..
Tooo bad for him, I screenshot everything big like this. An further bad for him, the new guys an me talk alot too, like constant, and he forgot, 3 1/2 are friends for over a decade. 3 1/2 told me that... so i reached out to the rest of the group, shared the entire thing with them on the spot, saying 'i am sorry, its been bad with all these points' (i mention in here better more details after all, given how it was an hour of getting heated an trying to get him to tell me what his game plan is or anything else if need be given everything else sounded like he was flipping between wanting to be something new or... again i can only speculate since he just went offensive/defenses with no explanations or stuff to understand him the player). an sent them the entire conversation the two of us had as a screenshot.
While I was polite an just saying 'dont think the games for you' which yeah is a little over gentle.. after i pointed out one of them mentioned with a tiny screenshot of only me saying 'you should go' an the 'dont talk to me about it'. He honestly said 'i told them they shouldnt bother with it' like they should have just listened to him on the get go...an that 'he' would send it.. told him I already had. And for that level of honestly kinda manipulative tactic, both trying to isolate the party from me and only showing the 'closest' he would have of me saying 'i want you gone' comment, which he had stressed for a bout a minute i should 'say' in our private chat, i cant help but wonder if he was seriously trying to poison the well between me and the others.. an then said he would 'show them the whole conversation.... well he kinda got super silent with the private group and to me when i said 'i already sent the whole. I told him, good luck an goodbye, an then removed him from my DND group.. he suddenly for the first time in 2 years 'went offline', on my notice thing, so i think he made himself invisible but at first i thought he blocked me.. made a passing comment to test, but he went 'no' an was suddenly fully online an back to his MMO's that he 'usually' played too much an overslept some of our early day games on... not surprising..
The rest of the party were.. thankfully understanding, 3 1/2 suggested we didnt play but i pressed on but we did kinda vent.. helped one of the experienced newby of the three was a dm, an said 'hey its what you feel too, if he was making you feel uncomfortable at the table with that, your alright to feel it an remove him' which helped too..
But part of me does have to have that nagging feel since, he is the 'first' true kick i have done. ALl my other possible problem players ghost themselves from my games an he had been in for 2 years.. not that we done much since we are nearly at our 100'th session an only 'now' getting to the possible tea of the world i have been sitting on for 3 years since started working on the campaign over it. I left it openf or them to discover, an things started to click when the new guys came in an started being able to 'take lead' a bit on group choices.. not waiting for the paladin to lead them.. but.
of course, communication is '2 way street' i know, I said he didnt talk to me on things but likewise maybe i shoulda been more active reaching to him. To a point I tried, but, unless it was 'hey want a new power or something' ...he didnt respond back much. Again we had not much on similar things an it feel slike he was cluing in that many of my influences was from comics, movies games an anime that even if he was into the fandoms of, he didnt know alot as I have a broad and little known spectrum of series. Maybe a bit of it was lill mix of we didnt upfront what we expected, but also disinterests... but I do know at least 2 of his fave games.. tha has owning land, getting bonus in some way from that, an thats that.. an some other aspects, kinda in hindsight were what he wanted/expected for his character at times.
Again, my thing is full homebrew, an always say 'hey if you find something you like, lemme know an see maybe we can toss it in.', sadly some of the gang dont take that up too much, but the new players have lately an its been fun. He did at first 'start' suggesting something.. but with no set things, so when i brought up things that we can do for it he kinda.. shot em down, like not say full on no but.. just went silent.
In the end, Im upset with myself over not confronting the problem a bit more 'first', but i guess i just started to let him just 'be silent all the time is fine the problem goes away' as much as he did it when i reached out to him. Hell if he stepped away for a bit, sadly perfect since his first character might be KO'ed, i may have taken him back if he just said 'been dealing with things' or 'wanted to be something new' or, 'can i try something crazy'.. but in the end he only wanted me to respond in the moment to what he came up without double checking things an it can happen so sparatically, so 'railroady' for me an the other players I just cant anymore. An knowing hell honestly try an manipulate my words behind my back to the rest of the players.. yeah Im not trusting that player at any of my games ever again and wont ever trust one like that... but I hope it doesnt turn to that for just that factor an not because of other reasons that can be avoided...
Anyone who reads, thanks for your time. If you got tips or mindsets to consider for me here, like to help get them like a mindworm to maybe help me over things, given how my head is still lill swimmen on it both emotionally an thoughts. I guess maybe im looking to see if I was valid (I know for my 'mental health' i was, but want to know its not just my own head thinking it an maybe cases like this is at least partly justified). An hey, if you ever had a sitch like this, lemme hear how ya felt too, never helps bottling it in. Just typing this at first as a note to myself before it showed up anywhere helped me clear my head a fair bit, so theres always getting the words out there wither someone's ear or eyes take it is a nice way to get the happy feels in. Next order buisness to feel better... getten to those cursed die rolls (come on Dice Gods treat me an my players failry, ah dangit another 1! I thought i blotted it out!)
submitted by TJKitsune to rpghorrorstories [link] [comments]
To start, I am more or less a newby forever DM (1 oneshot game to my belt under as a player), my current running campaign is only my second, going 2 years strong now. Its been bumpy recently do to my work schedule last few months but we are nearly up to our 100th session together and things have begun to heat up story wise and excitement wise by my players. Everything's in the story is homebrew more or less, both my own works and others I found and my players bring up to me.
At the start of the game, I had 5 starting players, and the one in question was one of them. We lost a few of them, first sadly I more suggested he leave, as much as he wanted to play, it was to the point he was playing while traveling via busses, planes and others (he traveled alot for his daily life events he couldnt get out of) an never mentioned when these would happen. That went smooth, we were both polite and I wasnt upset with them, just upset a good player like him will have hard times with finding a table. Better ways, would have been having a blast with them to this day. The second was starting to act up, I had to shoot him down a bit hard at times, more so when a new player, a girl, joined up an he started being a bit inappropriate and not act like the character he told me he would be. After I started blocking his more chaotic antics, he pretty much ghosted the group all together. Our third player who left is more on a prolonged hiatus cause of his work schedule, but he keeps in contact. So as far as the original party goes there are only two, with the first whom replaced our enthusiastic but unable to stay with us player being 'Miss 3 1/2's'.
With most of that out of the way, I can get onto the player in question. Again, he was there from the start, only second in my player search to start this campaign. Wanting to play a neutral good paladin who grew up a simple farmers life and was on a life walk-about to enrich himself before his turn to take over the family farmlands. At the start things were bit fine, he showed a general interest to hooks that kinda developed in the intro fight, making some good goofy aspects with his character and interactions and at least at first, an interest to some of the things in the world at the time. But looking back, I did likely trust him with a bit much, the other characters likewise were very 'go with teh flow' but they liked to investigate and get into things outside the city that they were given slight hero titles to after the start of things. With him though, he did 'actively' have his character go to get the town effective 'quest board' and ask around if people needed help with things... and.. not tell the other PC's about it or try an start the missions or plots.
While in itself it wasnt 'bad' people also trusted him a bit as 'the note taker' at first, so maybe we just expected him to go into things later or something, but, this became something I was concerned of with him on it. I mentioned his own story progression aspects from the start of the game, well, when given a lead that would let him undo a poor families ailment he showed interests too with time to go at least check it.. he suddenly invented a sister for his character.. who was getting married, back in his home country, that they 'had' to visit right then an there.
He had been vague about his characters history, he may have mentioned a sister 'in passing' but nothing ever set in stone besides his Grandfather being the true head of the farm and his dad. Not even anything about his characters mother, an now suddenly he wanted to spend a week or two travel via air ship to go see a 'new fiance' on top of it. I admit, I wasn't too happy but I also didnt outright pull him to the side to talk about that. Mark against me I know.
But it kind of worked out, as because no one could do much since he was kinda blocking the group from reaching the intended quest givers that he swore he would get with (2 of the other remaining characters at the time mostly had their stuff working on things they were trying to do that wasnt too crazy but at least progressed their characters in ways). And Miss 3 1/2 wasnt sure of her character at the time so played a temp one to feel out being another class and style for a bit. It helped her bloom a little. They ended up helping another little quest idea i had for halloween, late it was, but had fun with it an great action. But do to how that took an bad dice rolls which I do no flub or such, they got sidetracked from things an had to go back to go onto a quest 3 1/2 got them to.. an he wasnt exactly actively happy or doing the quest (guard a noblewoman on a quest to one of the countries for buisness matters. Kinda.. avoided the woman in weird ways.. like trying to push the hotel cooks asideto 'show them how its done'..).
When the crew finished with it, it was with another teaser to quest lines he was kinda pinning the group with. Again unfortunately the rest were 'kinda' okay with his choice on it but they were doing a bit more to be active now so it wasnt likely to work out for long. Around this time is when 'Work Haitus' had to sadly step away, so i started to put feelers out for new players again. During this time, he was still kinda pulling back on things as best he could, but he started to show a.. interesting trait. He wanted to start 'grinding' for EXP.. without going into the literal forest where some creatures could be faught, instead, he went to the city coliseum. Now this was explained since session one, I dont give any real EXP for fights there, quit literally if you have a fun sparing match or a more rough bloody match in it against a tamed or caught creature or class person, you'll only end up with 1 xp point. I did this cause I heard of a number of stories of 'those' players showing up, going to fight pits to make themselves stronger an not bother with rp time stuff. But I also tweaked it, so you could make bets for yourself, and the boon of prize and noterity (IE, people start being more favorable to you, seek you out that sort of stuff.. which considering he had so many 'hidden to activate quests' at this point wouldnt have mattered either way). He very quickly stopped after his 2nd or so solo attempt and made a passing comment on being upset of it. I overlooked that time.
During this, the entire party collectively was sought out, as the city knew 'all of them' roughly, so no reason only someone looking to the quest board would be involved alone. They were given a new quest by a neighboring kingdom, to deal with monsters they had ties with from the start as an already active side-story plot. He kinda 'backed' a bit into doing his characters 'im off to clean the broom closet' antics during some of this.. alot.. so looking back it feels he was upset not only was he not 'in charge' of getting the quests, but that the whole party agreed to be invovled with it regardless of anything else. I did try to bring him bback in, by having that Sister and her Fiance appear to meet them since he couldnt make the meeting.
There was some .. issues.. he kinda started to instantly mistrust the fiance, he litterally used 'every' detection spell he had on them trying to sus if they were demon, enregy or otherwise. An more or less ignored the sister even when she asked him his plans on things.. an since he 'left the sibling things to me besides she pranks him maybe' he didnt seem thrilled that she was upset the 'Lord title' brother, who won plots of land in this country an was going to open, I kid you not, an 'Pizzaria Inn petting zoo pet super plant farm forge and factory' on said plot of land with 'secret super caves our befriended monster friend will terraforming for us'. Short version of the monster thing.. monster had no such ability and at best had very tiny cute versions of itself digging out the cave, one pebble at a time.. this is when i noticed he sort of 'half' listened to details given.
I will admit, I wanted to have a moment where the sister was going to become some sort of 'rival', if she couldnt find way to convince the older men who are currently running the farm that big bro might have more important things to do as 'a Lordship hero paladin' maybe its time to break 'the men run the farm' tradition. In character he was warned 'she really wants your farm, and as someone whose seen people go extremes maybe you should reach out to her so its not so bad an no bad blood has to happen'... he kinda took it that she wants him dead, sorta. Took a bit with the informer to correct it.
He .. 'kinda' tried to 'make it up to her' i think by baking her favorite pie an admittedly as a nice act gave her his holly symbol which was the family's given by grandpa to him.. no biggy as the city hade a temple of his goddess to get a replacement soo.. yeah. Honestly I did talk with him a little on it.. but this is when another aspect started being apparent.
I hadnt mentioned, but I am not a fan of no call no show specially when we had a constant schedule, he had a few, but 'did' sorta apologize, at first. We do everything discord and roll20, so when he starts to not appear i would '@' the group and then '@' via DM's, and there maybe 'weeks' to 'months' if theres nothing 'important' to talk to me about response wise. And at the start of those times he started missing alot. An also, not apologizing or saying why. He doesnt always have to I know, but given we were having fewer players, wed have sudden 'we cant plays' cause it was 2 people only..
Then, we get introduced to not one or two but three new players. I kinda worried with them being prior friends and click group but its been working out for most part. Timing for ones admittedly stunk, an their on a personal leave Im not faulting but having their character background for now. They show up, an their characters, well starting at high level for at least 2 fresh faces an one long term one is a little odd, but its been fun. They instantly get into their characters mindsets, weird quirks that fit their upbringings and own style of things, but they also work as a functional communicating and asking questions group with slight airs of 'they are not lower class but deal with both from the noble side of things' air to them. Again its worked out, given they lost a litter hard hitter the three work great.
As the plot went, they were actually being lured away by a group who they helped bust antics an get called out on it in the city, the bait was just 'oh it might be the same type of monster you guys are looking for who might eat an entire city', done via a modified memory spell on the patsy. They were lead to a campsite the badguys set up to be a kill/trap spot.. It was a bit rough with things, but the group was doing 'amazingly' well. But I had an even bigger surprise for everyone, to take our game to a new level an give a 'big' meaty plot hook to hype and put every character on an equal 'i dont know anyone around here/dont have the same resources you do' foot from how the characters went, as an idea to build their bonds.
The trap, got ambushed, by a big honken monster I teased the first players with barely into session 4 that was a corps but came back. An this thing was a beast, CR minimal 20+ an higher (i suck at figuren the maths) but yeah, it was 'not' a winnable fight they could escape from that even the badguys said 'truce till were not monster food???'
It blew apart the trap-badguys, an sent the PC's hurdling into a space that was supost to be instant death, but plot armor I intended for em saved them if only 'barely' but now, their in ' a ocean like space between the outter realm and multi realms', with faint contact by the holly characters gods saying 'theres a way back, you must return'. including to the Paladin an 3 1/2 (who is cleric).. and honestly, everyones raved to me about it.. but looking back agian, given lack of Paladins communications 'out' of his appearances in game.. he hasnt said much, unless someone else starts it..an even then its.. barely a sentence..
The players were picked up by 'friendly pirates' an have been discovering things and gaining new strengths.. least, most of them again. 3 1/2 really bounded with the new NPC's an been expanding their character (shes been very creative that way an shes really gotten into the player bug, im sooo happy i could get her into the hobby) the new players had their growths too, the full slightly higher brow noble of them has come to terms 'hes mortal an can die, but people need his strength' too, as well as 'living is hard.. their not just 'dirty' or something by chance its just the efforts of their brow' to the sorceress of his friends being delighted to be sailing the seas with quirky merman, turtle an other type pirates with treasures an jerks to kick in the seat of the pants. Even the other first player has tried new character aspects, trying to be a 'new version' of himself till an event happened (which he half told me of, but it was more workable then 'sudden sister quest').
But.. paladin has been a bit more missing an sadly we have had spotty game times cause this is when my own work schedule has been bad. An again, he never gets back or says 'oh sorry cant make it' or whatever happened. I brought up a bit ago about his passing remarks of the exp thing for this point to make, he doesnt like to have his character have much of my homebrew stuff.. despite how many treasures hes had that hes just gone 'i sell it' or 'eh if you want it take it dont want it' that has been (a) a plot starter, or (b) a pretty handy if maybe OP item, hes just passed them off even from session z where I give every player chances to pick a unique thing for their character that helps tie them to the world. He opted out of it, an through everything they have done an gathered.. hes held onto a grand total of 2 homebrew things.. a sword, that after a 'certin point' he used as his hexblade warlock focus point with his goddess also being his patron, and 'one' spell that I had to reach out to offer him, well, technically '2' spells. One that he could use to turn a mundane object into a powerful magic weapon, an a ritual spell that he needs to cast to regain uses of the other spell.
The reason this ties to the EXP block from the coliseum bit, is because as part of the ritual to regain usages, he has to create a small 'choke point' of a ritual spell ring to fight an unending horde of monsters that the spell summons to fight just him. Now, the monsters are extremely low level, like 1/4 cr, an they wont try an kill him, as the ritual ends when hes KO'ed. It took a bit before he had to properly cast it in ession (big surprise, had him recharging it on some of the missing day's of his). But when eh did, an he finished it, he did instantly ask 'how much exp to i get?' an kinda grew hushed when I said 'you.. get your six usages of your spell back?'. I.. low key wonder if he wanted to try an use it as a cheat to grind or something..
This also does not help that, just prior, 3 1/2 managed to do our 'biggest' damage in a single round during a hord fight, literally between her spells an a new weapon with some seriously amazing rolls, did over 200 hp of damage on her own. To the point she KO'ed the boss monster leader. granted it was with a smart play and some literal crit hits, but thats when his vibe for games started kinda feeling off big time. An come now, to the more recent events before the kick..
I had a rare day off i could have a game completely unhindered, an we agreed to all have it.. sadly starter 2 forgot the US has Daylights saving, so we did loose an hour for him getten outta work. Eh it happens. An sadly the new 3 didnt get to join in so it was an agreed on one shot. Well, that 'was' the idea..
When we started.. when we 'could' have started, I gave them the quick plot of how they got to this place (this all happened just before the event with the pirates so they had their stuff but meta'ed they were still their current levels). Now, Im loose with my own OS's, so I used a module i bought that looked fun an it was interesting. I did have to build a bunch of rough doubles of the maps, since turns out the PDF didnt want to let me get the pics right at the time, so wasnt focusing too much on some details but for key point ones. Its important for later. But anwyay after the basic 'you did a hero thing an was invited to a small isle city by its noble ruler who has big parties every week an your the guests of honor', you know the usual kinda crud. Well i started to get into the start of it, about to go to details of the maps location.. when he, stopped me an blocked me to go 'oh i climb the building or whatever to get that gun!'.....there was unfortunately an image of a gun on the part of the token i used to build the maps clocktower..didnt notice it.. he sure did.. an kinda derailed me a bit more..reminder, we were an hour late into session.
I managed to get back on track, the security at the start of the party line stoppen the crew an saying 'sorry its a costume party, dont worry we always have spares, pick one' an they got to pick a set of masks for themselves. They rolled to take turns, he got first dibs, an picked one he 'really liked', but I do kinda wonder cause my tag name relates to what it was.. Well, I sent them the screenshot of the masks an their effects as an item/equip card... he started to.. get sour sounding.
In prior in between an pre game times, hes mentioned hes.. not exactly a fan of alot of stuff. Even some of the oldest movies an comics that are still being made now an are big on fandoms, hes got zero interests or cares for.. an on troupes, he is not big on mysteries. An sadly, the mask gave him an ability thats great in discovering secrets...
Well, I started to bring one of the moduels NPC's to start pointing out details, give them some hook bits an background to what goes on normally in the city... and.. he used that one use ability to check if she liked her mask.. literally stepping the entire conversation, then walked away to break into that clocktower.. that had the guns on it..
3 1/2 an second 1'st decided 'lets try an get on with the actual story regardless' an tried to go to the party which they did, trying to get him to come with too, crossing the small castle bridge to get to there an start mingling as they do.. paladin did 'eventually'.. but first he shimmied the bridge to use up his stealth abilities from the mask... then when 3 1/2 noticed, tried to get him to come in, he... started climbing to the top of the castle wall..
His character, never acted like this, in any OS we had before or in game before. Second 1'st did do a little weird, but it was stuff his character was infamous for, but not good for the long run. I admit.. I lost my cool, I didnt shout, yell, or otherwise.. but at this point, from when we 'late started', to paladins 3'rd athletic roll to scale the building he was invited for, we had lost over 2 hours of our usual session time an it was very apparent he was really not going to act like the character we were accustomed to.. so I said, 'sorry guys, see you next time'.. admittedly, I did kinda vent in our group chat text wise.. I was pretty upset an tired i cant lie on this, i had spent very early hours on the maps an looking over to familair most of the thing as best i could while having lack of sleep beforehand. But, I basically just said, if you dont feel up to a game please just say so cause putting all that time en effort for even a one shot was time an tiring thing an just frankly kinda rude antics for no reason just hurt.... didnt use cures or otherwise but that was about it..
It did help that, the group reached out to me about it, even both our Hiatus ones.. everyone but Paladin who kinda went back to basic no coms with me pretty much like norm.. he kinda missed a few more sessions between then to now.. so lets get to what became the last straws of the DM..
So, in the 'undersea' places, the crew realized that, the party had something they could use with their nations rulers to try an breach peace with the races that was locking everyone up in this space between the multiverse, to escape some big dangers thats happening here. This thing was second 1'sts 'tie in starting choice' i gave the first party options too an hes loved ever since, giving his character a level of importance. Of course there is the risk the guys could go 'we dont need 'them' for just 'that'. but thankfully its the nicer space sea folks side so thankfully its all negotiations. I rolled beforehand to see what outcome would happen.. not the best roll but it was one with surprising good results but the meeting was postponed with the intended target cause.. well the system got fragged as they sent the unintended invite back to the outer realms and their time slot to reach out to there was lost. So the party an the friendly pirate captain npc buddy was told 'come back in several months well try again'. The captain was telling the leaders 'oh sure no problem' while giving a 'if we dont find you guys a way back to your side of the world to stop that big bad monster for good first 'wink' to them..
An paladin.. confronted an tried telling the nation guys the details in a... weird way. I really dont know how to explain how he said it it still sounds weird to me. But he basically wanted too.. convince the nation that 'the party' could end all their troubles.. against a hord of demons an undeads effectively 'not understanding' the monster that threw them here was not one of the creatures in question. Which even after i pointed out 'if he couldnt do more than 13 points of damage to that thing, how would he think he can beat the monster he 'thinks' made it?'... which on that matter, he was told multiple times it wasnt.
Well, the rest of the gang tried to talk reason to him, even pull him aaway.. an i had made split choice of the captain decided to put a 'command bracelet' on him, effectively 'if you fight the order given you get zapped an paralyzed'. telling him 'please stop an lets talk about this somewhere 'safe'... because the party and them werent safe..
People in the sea space place, dont like people 'from their side' not that any survive coming down to there. Again, they survived via their plot armor's they dont even fully get yet. With the leadership litterally saying to him before the captain dragged him to the doors a bit 'let them hang for all we care'...
Well, paladin passed the check against the paralyze effect (again, i give honest rolls unless absolutely necessary which i dont like doing..) an.. he had his character chop his hand off, use every will save till he passed the players spells an use his tp abilities to get out of any grapple an ran into the building to more or less brow beat the leaders into listening to him...I made a choice as the captain npc... an ran for the ship to get the heck out before his crew would be arrested an maybe killed for hiding the PC's, an the other PC's likewise, ran for the hills too with them saying 'your mad if you do this'..
That is where that session ended, he made a passing comment 'guess ill reroll a character for the time being'... an he never showed up for the following one despite knowing 3 weeks in advance..though it turns out he 'did' roll stats for a character after I left the chat an roll20... an 'then' designed his character... which at first i was iffy but gave him a sheet to fill in to go ahead an start worken it, not knowing he had pre existing stat rolls for it or clearing that with me.. something I dont like..
Well, cant say i fault him for not knowing this, none of them did.. but there was a planned event for the city they were in. After the 'meeting the outsiders' event, they were going to be there during a siege by the monsters the leaders were worried about. I had the mechanics that, theyd get swarmed by mooks they could likely kill in a round or two at worst with a few higher level front line commanders thrown in, for each one of these theyd get a -5 to around -15 against a d100 roll (which I infamously roll low on all the time) on how much the city gets damaged up (multiple of the results for fyi), where either (a) they would stand their grounds just enough to cause the enemy to tempt pull back from the current onslaught, (b) the do enough damage an pull back gettin more then they need for now (long story) or (c) the party retreats for the time trying to pick up some survives they could fit on the ship an get the heck out as the city is torn up...
Instead.. I roll flat 3d100's as the party 'just' avoided the guards an lockdown.. which didnt add any bonses for the city guards chance to prep ships an counter attackk.. of the three, 2 in the ninties, one over fifty.. the city was whiped out.. I was 'devastated' that now i may have put the paladins character in a state he was just outright mamed and couldnt even give his player a 'last hura an fade to black'...because they never showed up or said anything...
I had to take a day or two before i sent the news to him, i did kinda phrase it a little angerly but i was 'where were you what happend'?... no response the entire week, right up to our next game session with nothing being done to that character sheet i gave him for a month..
And then came to our last bit of communication.. one hour before we started, he wanted to ask me about his character creation thing.. he stuck with the class i was iffy on to begin with but he.. went with a completely different class, an frankly he was maxing out the stats on the class too..
I confronted him since at least then he was 'finally' speaking to me. He was giving me the 'he would have convince them' speach of his characters plans.. I was just getting more confused by some of his responses of what that even was. The 'misunderstandings' of his character of what things are going on, why he did an extrem like 'why would he cut his hand off' an then he admitted no matter what, his character was going to leave. All on the fact his 'Paladin Alignment as Lawful good' wouldnt let him 'let a bunch of people die in the city'... his character has pulled back from fights an stuff before, while yeah if he saw a fight he would totally try an defend someone if need be, but, the abandon the party thinking they were doing wrong, knowing that the plan the group would be involved with after the outsider meeting, was to go search for things that might power them all up enough to be on the same playing field as the monster that beat them, or event he ones attacking the undersea side.. He even made a passing comment 'yeah i know they all talked about it for an hour'.. when.. he caused the conversation to las tthe hour by having them repeat it different ways several times.. something he also did alot im afraid when the quest was not one he started/invested in specifically of himself (the starting foot of it happened to one of the new players an 3 1/2 while he was on one of his missing days again).
He made a slight passing comment about me jus killing off his character an how they were acting as a 'what if someone wanted to play something else' .. which i did ask 'did you want to play something new why didnt you just ask?' to which.. he kinda ignored an went on. It was roughly at this time that he said he was trying to focus on his wizard spell list that i clicked to he was playing a new type of character all together.. one he admitted he wanted to play as 'weird and kinda crazy'.. it honestly sent chills to me given his 'sane' character did something extreme out of the blue for no reason an would never had done before was a bad sign what he considers 'slightly weird/crazy' would be.. but i was further made up set he made up a character only 'after' getting rolls he didnt get clearance from me with beforehand. I asked if this was the case which he confirmed and simply asked 'what want me to do point buy instead?'... an thats when I said i dont think he was set for my game again.. most so since all this all he focused on, again, an hour before game time, was only the basic mechanics an nothing else (given my honest mistrust of him springing something on me on this point with the sister visit 'quest').
I had literally given him my reasons, told him didn tlike how many red flags hes pulled lately. Including our game communities famed words by players who do things that tend to do things that.. kinda make things weird or bad or start to trail from how they start as.. When he first started missing the bulk of sessions, an losing plot interest, was when he 'lost his notes'. Then an most infamous last appearance, literally last bits hes said when he decided to have his character leave (which in hindsight i think he may have just wanted but again.. pardon me for guessing since he never communicated) 'Its what my character would do' when he had him cut his hand off.. Then during our conversation when i was trying to figure out what the heck was all that an what happend he said 'because my lawful good paladin couldnt let that under his oath'... his 'netual good' character whose hidden monsters under his house, stolen from a school of magic, made friends with an had sight powers from a devil an a few other shady things to say the least...so he was plannen or taking that his character should have a diff alignment without communing with me on it..who knows ont hat one..
I honestly did my usual, 'i dont think this game is for you' exit speech... an he said 'dont bs me with this over polite crap' an tried to make me say 'i want you gone'.. he was more or less animate on the specifics of the words.. and I think i know why..
Because, the players have a private text chat, not that hes much on there himself unless his character name is mentioned multiple times, but they do have it for funnies an stuff between em. I dont mind it, but.. at some point when I officially announced I'd be removing the player in our whole group chat.. he sent a very cropped two lines that was the tail end of us with me saying him in the groups not looken good, but told them 'i shouldnt be contacted about this'..
Tooo bad for him, I screenshot everything big like this. An further bad for him, the new guys an me talk alot too, like constant, and he forgot, 3 1/2 are friends for over a decade. 3 1/2 told me that... so i reached out to the rest of the group, shared the entire thing with them on the spot, saying 'i am sorry, its been bad with all these points' (i mention in here better more details after all, given how it was an hour of getting heated an trying to get him to tell me what his game plan is or anything else if need be given everything else sounded like he was flipping between wanting to be something new or... again i can only speculate since he just went offensive/defenses with no explanations or stuff to understand him the player). an sent them the entire conversation the two of us had as a screenshot.
While I was polite an just saying 'dont think the games for you' which yeah is a little over gentle.. after i pointed out one of them mentioned with a tiny screenshot of only me saying 'you should go' an the 'dont talk to me about it'. He honestly said 'i told them they shouldnt bother with it' like they should have just listened to him on the get go...an that 'he' would send it.. told him I already had. And for that level of honestly kinda manipulative tactic, both trying to isolate the party from me and only showing the 'closest' he would have of me saying 'i want you gone' comment, which he had stressed for a bout a minute i should 'say' in our private chat, i cant help but wonder if he was seriously trying to poison the well between me and the others.. an then said he would 'show them the whole conversation.... well he kinda got super silent with the private group and to me when i said 'i already sent the whole. I told him, good luck an goodbye, an then removed him from my DND group.. he suddenly for the first time in 2 years 'went offline', on my notice thing, so i think he made himself invisible but at first i thought he blocked me.. made a passing comment to test, but he went 'no' an was suddenly fully online an back to his MMO's that he 'usually' played too much an overslept some of our early day games on... not surprising..
The rest of the party were.. thankfully understanding, 3 1/2 suggested we didnt play but i pressed on but we did kinda vent.. helped one of the experienced newby of the three was a dm, an said 'hey its what you feel too, if he was making you feel uncomfortable at the table with that, your alright to feel it an remove him' which helped too..
But part of me does have to have that nagging feel since, he is the 'first' true kick i have done. ALl my other possible problem players ghost themselves from my games an he had been in for 2 years.. not that we done much since we are nearly at our 100'th session an only 'now' getting to the possible tea of the world i have been sitting on for 3 years since started working on the campaign over it. I left it openf or them to discover, an things started to click when the new guys came in an started being able to 'take lead' a bit on group choices.. not waiting for the paladin to lead them.. but.
of course, communication is '2 way street' i know, I said he didnt talk to me on things but likewise maybe i shoulda been more active reaching to him. To a point I tried, but, unless it was 'hey want a new power or something' ...he didnt respond back much. Again we had not much on similar things an it feel slike he was cluing in that many of my influences was from comics, movies games an anime that even if he was into the fandoms of, he didnt know alot as I have a broad and little known spectrum of series. Maybe a bit of it was lill mix of we didnt upfront what we expected, but also disinterests... but I do know at least 2 of his fave games.. tha has owning land, getting bonus in some way from that, an thats that.. an some other aspects, kinda in hindsight were what he wanted/expected for his character at times.
Again, my thing is full homebrew, an always say 'hey if you find something you like, lemme know an see maybe we can toss it in.', sadly some of the gang dont take that up too much, but the new players have lately an its been fun. He did at first 'start' suggesting something.. but with no set things, so when i brought up things that we can do for it he kinda.. shot em down, like not say full on no but.. just went silent.
In the end, Im upset with myself over not confronting the problem a bit more 'first', but i guess i just started to let him just 'be silent all the time is fine the problem goes away' as much as he did it when i reached out to him. Hell if he stepped away for a bit, sadly perfect since his first character might be KO'ed, i may have taken him back if he just said 'been dealing with things' or 'wanted to be something new' or, 'can i try something crazy'.. but in the end he only wanted me to respond in the moment to what he came up without double checking things an it can happen so sparatically, so 'railroady' for me an the other players I just cant anymore. An knowing hell honestly try an manipulate my words behind my back to the rest of the players.. yeah Im not trusting that player at any of my games ever again and wont ever trust one like that... but I hope it doesnt turn to that for just that factor an not because of other reasons that can be avoided...
Anyone who reads, thanks for your time. If you got tips or mindsets to consider for me here, like to help get them like a mindworm to maybe help me over things, given how my head is still lill swimmen on it both emotionally an thoughts. I guess maybe im looking to see if I was valid (I know for my 'mental health' i was, but want to know its not just my own head thinking it an maybe cases like this is at least partly justified). An hey, if you ever had a sitch like this, lemme hear how ya felt too, never helps bottling it in. Just typing this at first as a note to myself before it showed up anywhere helped me clear my head a fair bit, so theres always getting the words out there wither someone's ear or eyes take it is a nice way to get the happy feels in. Next order buisness to feel better... getten to those cursed die rolls (come on Dice Gods treat me an my players failry, ah dangit another 1! I thought i blotted it out!)
2024.04.29 03:40 Storms_Wrath The Human Artificial Hivemind Part 505: Alien Minds
First Previous Wiki
Admiral Tenrah returned to the battle map, looking at all the various icons and routes to and from star systems. So far, the Sennes Armada was keeping its pace mostly on track. The delay due to the diplomats from the Misan Li Heptarchies no longer would matter.
King Siran had pulled back from the battlefront against the High Federation in an attempt to pivot to the Hive Union. He had won the battle, but the stragglers included the remaining leadership of the High Federation anyway, so they could continue to remain somewhat organized. The massive civil war would soon spill into a more international affair, due to the King's rhetoric. But that was entirely his fault when he so strongly advocated for the deaths of Cawlarians who had lived on planets for generations that he happened to desire.
And he would not let his name be stained with even the suggestion of a loss. The Battle Planner and Fleet Commander Annabelle Weber were also now on their way to the front, and the diplomats from the Heptarchies were tagging along. Phoebe was in discussions with them now, and supposedly there'd been a few breakthroughs on that front. Whatever she'd promised them or get them to agree to, the fleet buildup along the Hive Union's border with the Heptarchies was slowing.
The Interstellar Gathering seemed to have realized no amount of bluffing would get the High King out of war. Even if he was a proxy force aligned with them, King Siran was not valuable enough for them to risk a wider war. It was just as Tenrah had expected and had told Eyahtni, Kawtyahtnakal, and the Patriarchs when he'd met with them several days ago. Just as a young hatchling couldn't be allowed to stray too far from the nest, there was simply no sense for the Heptarchies to risk economic ruin.
Orith and those who ruled over him would shift their tone while pretending it was a natural decision, not one they'd been forced to make to align with reality.
"I must commend your tactics in the latest training exercise," Tenrah said, ruffling his feathers slightly before respectfully nodding to Annabelle.
"I am pleased to hear such high praise from you, Admiral," the woman said. She was fully dressed in her regulation spacesuit, meaning most of her face was obscured. But Tenrah wouldn't complain since it was more than prudent to be ready for anything. The next unknown ships might not be friendly.
He had also looked into the parties responsible for the lack of communication or warning of the Misan's arrival. As it turned out, general incompetence was to blame. A receiver hadn't been properly calibrated, so the transmission signal had just been noise. He'd given the officer in charge of that an earful before eventually letting up and telling him to do better. A personal visit with the Admiral was one thing. But a second personal visit was quite another.
Tenrah drew a vector toward some of the outer systems controlled by the High King. A few garrison forces were there, but they would be swept away almost instantly. What most concerned him was the shipyards in the region that received most of their metals from a select group of planets in those systems. They were rich in the metals required to forge the alloys needed in the High King's fleet.
The High Federation had been something of a dumping ground for either overthrown species or other alien species that had been deported from their homeworlds before the war broke out. This was reflected in the number of species inhabiting the worlds, each with unique names, traits, and temperaments.
"We plan on taking this path, and then splitting to conquer these systems and disable their metal exporting abilities," he explained. "Then we will move to this system."
He zoomed in more and drew a new vector from where the previous one ended. "We have intelligence that they have at least four planet crackers there. Brey will send FTL suppression satellites through portals on the outer edges, with her portals boosted by our psychic amplifier fields. we will be able to take over the system quickly, and begin the process of either disabling the planet crackers or moving them back to our territory."
"We will need to know the angles the superweapons are at before committing to the battle," Annabelle said. "Otherwise, judging by the trajectory cone you have, we can bypass them entirely and reach Siran within two weeks."
"And that is an interesting proposal. Can you lay out your plan, in that case?"
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Annabelle did so. She and Tenrah discussed the strategy's risks, and they eventually decided that such a tactic, while bold, wouldn't do what they set out to do: ensure the safety of the Cawlarians near the border. They were already trying to evacuate from the coming war front, but cities and planets were large things that took a lot of time to completely empty.
And more garrison forces, whether they were androids from Phoebe or specialized and highly trained defenders from the Union, were still moving in as the civilians evacuated. Kawtyahtnakal had established a fund for them, but many people were too stubborn to leave. Despite the looming threat of war and possible massacre, they still refused to board the passenger ships. Annabelle could respect their tenacity and courage, though she personally believed it was counterproductive.
A few encroaching splinters of Siran's fleet had already struck the evacuation forces. He'd sent around 2% of his ships away to harass all the border systems within reach in an attempt to get the Armada bogged down in defense. But with such small forces and the Union on such high alert, all of the important stations with weak shields were well within the protective layers of planetary shields in the area.
Larger garrisons than necessary were still required, of course, but Tenrah had managed to navigate the desperate concerns of the Feathers and those like them in charge of governing their planets with his natural political skill. He didn't need to ask them for favors because, as an Admiral, he alone held power over how his portion of the fleet would respond. Annabelle had witnessed that loyalty and control well within the organization of his fleet. Even at his advanced age, she continued to be impressed with his adaptability and skill at monitoring three-dimensional battle planes and fields.
She pointed to the cone of possible directions Siran was expected to take. They were generally adjacent to the border, though they would head around the left side of the territory he claimed from the Union. If he reached it, millions of lives would be lost every day. Once he broke the shields entirely, the planets would be utterly glassed down to their mantles.
She'd read up on his methods and had seen videos of them in action. Despite all her training, it still was haunting. The hivemind helped to soothe her when the unpleasant parts of command sizzled up to meet her in the middle of the night.
But they would not impede her on the field of battle. When she went to war, the hivemind suppressed all that wasn't necessary for the mission. It was their agreement, one which she'd asked of it. And being a node of the network meant that her stability was paramount, even more so than her title as Fleet Commander. For if she fell, others could take her place. Protocols ensured and demanded that.
But her place in the hivemind was what allowed it to have any strength this far out. It could form avatars and help with long-range communications, though the main mind back on Earth and Luna obviously remained disconnected from this distance.
"I would normally agree with you, Fleet Commander, but I am reminded of your tactic to use decoy hard light holograms."
"They will suspect that any ships heading right for the barrels, or close enough, are either not valued enough or are the decoys."
"Then all you have to do is make them impossible to ignore," Tenrah said. "I can lend you bombs capable of remaining armed and capable of being triggered inside of hard light holograms, even with jamming involved. Then, they will be unable to ignore them, and the explosions generated would destroy the shields in place around the planet crackers. If they fire the weapons, then the residual magnetic interference will allow us to destroy them, since the shields will be far weakened."
Annabelle could see the potential brilliance of the strategy. But it was just that- potential. In space, there were no obstacles. Without stealth fields, there was no hiding. And with hard light holograms, stealth was obviously off-limits.
They would be left approaching from angles that they would be unable to adapt to. She had her VI plot several routes but was unsatisfied, so she had Edu'frec link into the network to do it. Phoebe had been replaced after contacting a Sprilnav network to ensure she could scrub any programs that may have gotten through to her without distraction.
It would be a terrible thing for a Sprilnav AI to make it to her dreadnaught, for sure.
"We will likely need a threefold diversion at least," Annabelle said. "Maybe fourfold, if we can spare the forces, and brave any minefields that may exist."
"Well," Tenrah began. He pulled up a few schematics of the weapons her dreadnaught carried. "I believe you can solve the minefield issue from a distance, even with the lightspeed limit. After all, they can't move easily. As for the actual attack? I suggest a sixfold flower formation, with a twisting wings accent."
"You will have to show me a diagram of that," Annabelle said, grasping uselessly at the unfamiliar words. Before their integration had begun, there had been a limit to how much doctrine she could memorize.
Tenrah pulled up an image of an alien flower blooming with six petals. And then the image faded, overloading with a stylized ribbon of red shapes. The ribbons spun on their sides every thirty seconds, like corkscrews that were flatter.
"And in this case, the ribbons represent the drone formations. I can send a few carriers into the battle with fighter escorts, though we will need to keep them spread out to avoid any direct lines of sight from the planet crackers."
"I heavily doubt they will waste such shots on carriers," Annabelle said. "And if you commit more, you will overwhelm their defenses. I believe your drones are highly reflective, so only missiles and bullets can deal sufficient damage at the involved speeds and numbers we are working with here."
She tapped the diagram, shifting it by about 45 degrees.
"I believe I can fit a stealth force here, which will engage the back defenses of the planet crackers once they focus their shields frontward. I can likely get a full battlecruiser group in, and if you can press in as a wedge around 10 million kilometers above me from where I come in, and around 30 million kilometers below," Annebelle paused to draw the vectors with her hands, "Then it will aid in my ability to subdue them. It would likely shorten the battle time from a week down to four days."
"Assuming their detection satellites are not capable of seeing it."
"And we will target those too. I believe the first strike can fall on those, since the planet crackers will interfere with their ability to scan behind themselves, and such large power signatures can be noted."
"There is one more problem," Tenrah said. "We are generally working on the assumption of trying to capture these ships, yes?"
"Yes," Annabelle said.
"Then will we board them?"
"Yes, but no. Edu'frec and Phoebe's commando androids will open up the beach heads on the physical surfaces of the planet crackers, while our specialized mental warfare agents will take the fight to them in the mindscape. I assume you have your own plans in that regard?"
"It depends on how we will split the planet crackers. There are 12 in the system. Half and half?"
"That seems prudent," Annabelle replied. She selected the ones that would be most advantageous for her various gambits and strategies to work. They were closer together, which meant more capacity for coordination, mutual aid, and shielding. But it also meant a larger target, one which she could hit from many vectors without worrying about each enemy ship having a wide field of view. Some battlecruisers and cruiser groups were scattered around, but they were not enough to resist the Armada. And once Siran was robbed of a quick way to end the war, the Union would hold the upper hand, capable of committing devastating power to a fleet that remained in a system for a long time.
Yet the same was true for the Union and the Alliance. If the battle took too long, or their command positions were located, then the terrible might of the planet cracker beams would be turned upon them instead. Annabelle's dreadnaught was powerful. More so than all the ones before it. But that didn't mean she wanted to test her shields against alien planet crackers.
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Penny was talking to a group of freed slaves on Justicar. These were recent ones who still held quite a bit of trauma. They'd taken to calling her 'Liberator' despite her never identifying herself as such. It was oddly endearing and did make her feel quite a bit better. It was good to just be able to go out and help people.
She felt some perturbations in the mindscape but ignored them. Right now, she needed to ensure that the gangs couldn't continue their horrific industry. She'd taken out most of their heavy equipment and was now waiting for the Guides to finish searching.
Sirens and alarms echoed in the distance. Penny sent psychic energy into her eyes, but she was too far underground to see anything without using the energy itself instead of light to see. Justicar's mind seemed busy, so she couldn't connect with him. As time went on, Penny felt that something was wrong. It was a gut feeling that she couldn't place. But because of that, she was on edge. She made a large shield of psychic energy above them.
She held it for several minutes. Nothing happened, but Penny wouldn't let it down that quickly. Justicar still didn't respond. Her communicator rang. Kashaunta was calling.
"What's going on?" Penny asked.
"The Grand Fleet is-"
Light and heat smashed into her, easily breaking through her shields. She briefly saw tens of thousands of Sprilnav burning before the light overwhelmed her eyes. Her communicator was destroyed. The onslaught was accompanied by a monstrous level of sound. Shockwaves drilled Penny into the melting and fracturing ground, forcing her lower and lower into expanding pools of magma and liquid metal.
The city's upper layers fell upon her, crashing with great and terrible force. But Penny was now fully reinforced with psychic and conceptual energy. She erupted furiously from the rubble. The air around her burned with heat as she continued to accelerate. The armor plates now surrounding her glowed cherry red, but they were white by the time she'd reached space.
She reached the first planetary shield.
"Displace," Penny growled. She forced reality to move as she willed and to place herself where she saw fit. The Grand Fleets were high above, firing upon a small group of ships that had detached from Azeri's fleet. They seemed to be directly attacking the broken-off contingent and not Justicar itself.
So Penny increased her eyesight and analyzed the battle in both real space and the mindscape. Nilnacrawla helped her identify Justicar's targets. The massive Elder was angrier than she'd ever seen him, and his size, which was even larger than Tetelali, made that incarnation of him appear more like a god of wrath. She saw him brutally tear through groups of minds desperately running to avoid him.
She could faintly see spheres of psychic and conceptual energy area denial fields. From this distance, the flagships' strength was truly impressive. Both of them were at least ten times as powerful as Azeri's had been during their battle. It was clear both Kashaunta and Valisada had ordered upgrades.
Then, her attention came to the dreadnaught, which seemed to be at the head of the attack. Penny explored the ship with her psychic power, pushing aside all resistance. Several lasers struck her, but she ignored them, denying their impact in reality against her own.
It glowed with the fury of weapons firing. Missiles and fighters flowed out of its bays. Bullets, nukes, and lasers streamed from red-hot gun barrels. A nuke hit her but didn't explode. She ripped it apart, using the materials to add energy to her reserves.
Justicar continued to go in inside the mindscape. He tore at them like a shark at a school of minnows in a coral reef. His ravenous anger and hatred were frightening, but Penny rapidly got used to it. Calling up her own memories of the innocent people who'd been killed for no reason, Penny wrapped herself in energy and began to erase her signature from the area.
Fighters flew past her, no longer hitting her psychic shields with bullets. Lasers stopped firing at her since she'd moved from her last position, and there was no longer anything for them to track. Penny floated in the stars, with bright blooms of white fusion explosions blossoming around her. And so she moved forward. She reached a cruiser. She reached forward, teleporting past its shields, and shut down the ship's reactor by teleporting all of its fuel into the void.
Soon, a missile from Kashaunta's Grand Fleet found the vessel, and it vanished in another sphere of heat and light. Of course, it was all silent in space. Penny could only hear her heart beating and occasional warnings from Exile or Nilnacrawla at incoming attacks. Exile occupied the area in her ears, which felt weird, but it allowed him to speak without showing himself in the mindscape. Given his nature and the fact that the Grand Fleets likely had detections for speeding space entities, it would be a terrible idea for him to appear there. Nilnacrawla continued to help Penny with the mental aspects of the battle.
He processed the energy input and output that Penny was giving off in the hopes of keeping her off the sensors of the dreadnaught battlegroup. She didn't want to attract the full focus of one of those massive guns. The explosions on Justicar would have been capable of cracking apart a mountain range if not for the extensive dampening Justicar's shields had done. And she'd withstood them only because she could shunt off most of their impact into reality, leaning into her conceptual nature and the nature of Cardinality to escape certain death.
Even with her power, as high as it had ever been, the blow she was taking were the most powerful physical impacts she'd ever endured.
She also suspected Yasihaut's work in this, though she had nothing to prove. She also had to remain vigilant about the Judgment. She couldn't take overly hostile actions, so she didn't just teleport the Sprilnav in the area out of their ships. She tried it on a smaller scale, and a weak pressure from the dreadnaught made her power fail to affect them.
But those Sprilnav were still doomed to die by their commander. But Penny didn't wish to doom the Alliance and herself by taking their deaths into her own hands. And she was stained with enough blood, metaphorical and literal. The ashes of the people she'd freed had fallen away with her ascent into the atmosphere, but the gritty memory and feel of them never would.
Once again, she'd been powerless to save those who'd needed her. And if she'd had that power, what could she have really done? Would she have been forced to stand there and take it? Or could she have really fought back in a way that wouldn't be turned against her in the Judgment? And was she wrong for considering all of that during such a horrendous time, when she'd literally seen thousands of people turned to slag and ash before her very eyes just ten minutes ago?
Penny burned with shame and grief. She hated this. She hated that things always turned to this. Why couldn't the galaxy just leave people alone? Why did there have to be so much suffering? Her anger threatened to overwhelm her, but with a herculean effort from her, Nilnacrawla, and Cardi, it was beaten back.
Penny felt Justicar getting close to breaking through the shield. She sent a small jolt of power to its underside. A thick bolt of psychic lightning infused with rage leaped from her arms, shattering the shield completely and taking roughly half her power. In the dreadnaught, the antimatter reactor she could sense radiating its energy suddenly lost all coolant access.
She pushed her psychic energy into herself and her conceptual energy into words that she harmonized into existence with the force and might of her will.
"Cardinality: One to zero. Reversal."
A heap of her energy left her instantly, stopping a budding explosion from ripping the dreadnaught apart. Justicar absolutely ravaged whoever was inside that ship, including what appeared to be a leader figure in the mindscape. Penny watched Justicar smash the Elder's corpse in his jaws and tear his soul from his body before shredding it violently with a contraption that looked straight out of a horror movie.
She let the explosion go, and so it went. The dreadnaught cracked in half. The Grand Fleets, which had never stopped firing, finally broke through the shields as the circuits failed to supply them with power. Hundreds of thousands of lives winked out instantly, torn to subatomic particles by beams coming from two different flagships. Penny went straight to Kashaunta, appearing on the ship's bridge still in stealth. To their credit, her guards noticed immediately and bared their weapons at her.
The guns that were powerful enough to blast holes in skyscrapers and sturdy enough to withstand a fall from orbit with hardly a scratch unloaded their payloads into her. Penny opened her mouth, and strings of psychic energy writhed outward, wrapping themselves around the guns and wrenching them out of the claws of Kashaunta's guards while the impacts' explosions were contained by thick shields.
Kashaunta herself had already drawn her sword but hadn't moved an inch.
"Penny," she said dryly. "Welcome to my ship. I apologize for your reception."
A new shield came down on both of them, preventing their words from reaching the ears of Kashaunta's subordinates.
"Think nothing of it, Elder Kashaunta. What punishments will be given to the Grand Fleet Commander?"
"Well, technically I am not the Grand Fleet Commander of this fleet," she said. "So that is not really something I can enforce. However, the Grand Fleet Commander of the 85th Grand Fleet does wish to talk with you, Justicar, and myself about what just occurred."
"And you believe him?" she exclaimed.
"He sent transcripts of the message he sent to one Elder Solei, asking him to cease his actions before it was too late."
"Even the Alliance can make deepfakes," Penny said.
"And do you think I would be ignorant of such things, child?" Kashaunta asked. "We have ways around those. That is why we still have a society after billions of years of time to screw it all up. Deepfakes are a problem of less advanced species and cultures, not those with the tools to handle them."
"Which are AIs, which you also ban throughout the galaxy."
"Yes."
"Isn't that hypocritical?"
"Yes, it is," Kashaunta said. "You can go and complain to the Judges who decided that if you wish, though asking them to think of the children instead of preserving the power of the entire Sprilnav species will get you laughed at by a billion mouths."
Penny felt something in her mind take offense to Kashaunta's wording. It didn't feel like it was part of her, but it also did. The shock of all the lives lost hit her again, making her scowl.
"So there will be nothing done?" Penny growled.
"No. Prepare for a neutral and level-headed discussion. If you wish to have any seat at a table such as this, you will conduct yourself with decorum. You will not accuse Elder Valisada of being responsible for whichever fool did this, and you most certainly will not baselessly claim that Yasihaut is at fault for this, even if it is likely that she or her backers are. It is time you learn the lesson that all Elders have: there are always more Sprilnav. Recognize that this was a strike against you without casting aside all of your goodwill among those that matter."
"Those that matter," Penny mused. "Sometimes I forget what you are."
Kashaunta stepped forward, eyes narrowing. She let out a hiss.
"You saw a few thousand people die, and now you're back to the racism again? Grow up. People die all the time in this galaxy. You complain about the status quo. I would respect that, if you could stomach what is required to change it. Death will continue to run rampant, and you will be the reason more die no matter what you do. 760 sextillion Sprilnav, Penny. And you cry over ten thousand?
During the Source war, we sent two years olds to war. You don't get to slide back into comfortable dumb hatred of our species because of a few stupid people. Rest assured, if you ever get this Alliance-based order, you or your successors will become tyrants. There will be a human who has the power and will to start wars, and enact genocides, for functionally no reason. Need I remind you of World War Two, and World War Three? If you multiply the population of Humanity by a trillion, that means you'll get a trillion Pol Pots, or Hitlers, or Genghis Khans.
And a hell of a lot more dumb idiots in power, which ascribes most of the history of nearly every species in the galaxy. Notice how Valisada and I both fired on Solei once he decided to be an adult daycare nominee? Notice how Valisada has not fired at us, or Justicar, and is trying his best to start a constructive dialogue? People die in war, Penny. This is reality. And you cast your disdain onto me, the only Sprilnav keeping you alive in this place, because I happened to be born an Elder. But no. I'm still some alien, right? Just another dirty animal for you to kill when the Judgment ends."
Kashaunta's fury caught Penny off-guard. The Elder truly meant her words. Penny had deeply offended her, cracking open the facade she usually maintained. The smug feeling at having made Kashaunta go on such a tirade faded when she considered the circumstances. Maybe she had acted like a child. But she hadn't said anything truly deserving of such a furious tirade, had she?
Not unless her proclamation that she remembered 'what Kashaunta was' had an implication that she didn't understand. Kashaunta was a mass murderer, one who was more than willing to justify it when necessary. And she downplayed the fact that this attack was on Penny herself and on thousands of innocents on a Sprilnav planet where she was meant to be safe. This wasn't a pair of assassins in the night, slipping poison into water or dropping snakes into a bed. This was a much more insidious and terrifying evil. Penny had been powerless to stop it.
Penny knew she was right, but Kashaunta did not. Could she truly weigh her scant decades against Kashaunta's billions of years of age? Perhaps. Age was not wisdom, though it certainly could be experience. Kashaunta turned around and started to walk away. Sadly, Penny still needed her.
"I'm sorry, Kashaunta. I am... incredibly charged. I am very pissed right now. I am not apologizing for how I feel about this attack. I have every right to be upset, and I will remain so. I will not be bullied or cowed into submission, even by a thousand more tirades. There comes a point where something must be done. But if you are upset over what I said, then I would at least like an honest clarification why."
"Because you had showed me you could think like a person should. That you didn't see people's species anymore. That you were becoming less racist. And yet, when you are cut raw, you still see me as a Sprilnav Elder alone, and therefore complicit in this massacre I literally did everything I could to do stop before it worsened. You said you knew 'what I am' as if you'd forgotten that. And it is clear that you meant that you'd forgotten your belief that I am some dirty criminal Sprilnav, who deserves to be slaughtered in the dark for the crime of being born in her species.
You care more for the ash on Justicar than you do for what I have given you. Your simplistic view of reality would mean that if you could push a button to kill us Elders, you'd do it, robbing countless families of their loved ones, because you now remember 'what we are,' and are again regressing away from your previous growth."
"I am one person, Kashaunta. I don't understand why you care this much about me. But I can recognize that the message you received is one of terrible bigotry. I am suffering, every day, every week, that I remain in this god-forsaken place. It hurts for you to dismiss the people I care about, even for a moment, dying just because there are many of them. But that does not excuse what I said to you despite the death toll you carry on your own head. It was a half-truth."
Kashaunta laughed. "Do you know why I care so much about what you think, Penny? It is because you are the other aliens. All at once. The Alliance is the face of all things 'alien' in many places. Remember what conceptual energy is? Lecalicus told you, I believe. You represent more than just your own views. And if you're able to forgive a speeding space entity, but not me, then it shows that we will never have peace. That no matter what, this cycle of hatred will continue, and I will need to either build a new galaxy with aliens that don't hate us for our ancient crimes, or just figure out another way. You are the face of the rest of the galaxy, Penny. And you have just told me that you still hate me for being an Elder. After I thought you had changed."
"And you believe you are undeserving of such hatred?"
"Penny," Kashaunta said. "The Alliance didn't exist when many of these events happened. Some of your grievances are older than the mountains on Earth. You say you hate us for genocides that happened so long ago that they no longer hold any meaning. There is no compensation we can give to dead species on dead worlds. What you want is an alien species to hate and blame for all the universe's problems. Because it is easier to hate us than to confront reality. And we are the ones you have been told to hate."
"They were not small things. It was the deaths of trillions of people, Kashaunta."
"Yes. And it was wrong. I can understand that. But what do you think will happen when your Alliance, filled with people who hate us, takes over? You will see humans bombing Sprilnav schools, and the hivemind will do nothing, for it will share that hate. Acuarfar will abduct and torture us. Knowers will devour our children. And in the face of that? You would turn a blind eye, because it is too hard to solve with a simple fix. You will only propagate generational hatred, just as all the Alliances and Galactic Republics and Peace Unions did before you.
Because underneath your message of equality for all species is oppression and genocide for us, the villains in your little story. That is what happens in reality, once the benevolent dictators die. And you, who have lived with us, eaten with us, and talked with us, will sit upon your golden throne, and when I am brought before you, naked, bleeding, and in need of support, you will throw me away, because all I am to you is an Elder. That mindset is exactly what stands in the way of peace. It is why I stopped giving you aliens chances for so long. And having to argue this with you at all makes me think you may no longer be worth my effort."
More manipulation. Penny was ready to shout at her, but Nilnacrawla pulled her thoughts away from blind anger. And it did feel unnatural for her. Alien.
"This is not peace," Penny said. "This is war. And we are circumstantial allies. I will not become what you claim."
"I have sown the seeds of a thousand despots," Kashaunta said. "I recognize them when I see them because I have reaped the heads of a million more."
Penny sighed. She wanted to resist and continue arguing, but it wouldn't get her anywhere. Now that she had thought about it, she was unlikely to overturn a viewpoint set in a billion years of experiences. Perhaps Penny could explore this later, when she had time to properly process it all.
"Very well. I will go to this meeting of yours, and I will conduct myself with decorum. However, while I refuse to belittle or forget thousands of deaths, I am sorry that you feel this way."
"But you are not sorry about making me feel so."
"No," Penny replied. She suppressed her emotions more, taking the time to carefully consider her words. Kashaunta was wrong and oddly sensitive right now. Saying the wrong thing could damage far more than their mutual feelings. As much as she wanted to win this argument, Kashaunta was who she was. She was the alien dictator keeping the Alliance alive.
"We are both right in some ways, and perhaps we might be both wrong, too. This only shows how tough the road will be. We at least are consciously trying to come to an understanding. But for the billions of Alliance citizens, quintillions of aliens, and sextillions of Sprilnav? It is a gargantuan task. And... right now, I don't think it is possible."
"It isn't," Kashaunta said. "And it won't be for thousands of years. But we don't get some neat little time skip to wait and solve all of our problems for us. Change will start only when we make it."
Kashaunta was throwing her a bone, then. They both knew the argument couldn't continue right now.
"So we have an understanding, then," Penny said. "Hatred will remain, but it must be minimised. That way, cultural and social pressure will eventually stamp it out, and we may have peace."
"No. We will have a truce, which will only become peace with much more work. The Alliance is a nation that is 24 years old. Only a single generation has grown up within it. Negotiations will be hard with so many who remember the hatred. But Valisada is not like other Sprilnav. He will seek to bring a hybrid war to you and the Alliance, unless you can convince him that you truly mean to bridge the divide. You are clearly misguided, but have a genuinely good heart. That will make life hard for you. Your words today would have spelled the death of you and the Alliance, had I not established this shield around us to hide them. Out of the spirit of our friendship, I will not request a favor in return for this boon."
"Thank you, Kashaunta. Though I'm not sure I can consider you a friend."
"The fact that you bothered to listen to my side of things, in this limited aspect, despite the hurt you must feel right now, proves otherwise. I am well aware of my past crimes, Penny. I know that my emotions today were a weakness I should have been able to seal, and that you will still see me for who I was, and not who I am. I know how it sounds for me, a killer and a ruler, to be upset at being confronted. But that is how I am. I still have my pride as an Elder, and there is only so far it can be pushed. Who I was certainly would qualify as beyond evil. But to remain at the top, there are limits to how far you can swing into benevolence.
I cannot atone. Do not try to make me repay debts that you don't own. If you are ever to have more Elders on your side, whether Progenitors or otherwise, you will need to learn to deal with this. There will be people with death tolls higher than the population of the Alliance, who were once the heart of evil and are now at least acceptable. The first step will be recognizing that, yes, we are in fact friends, despite my history. Because only from friendship and understanding can hope come."
"I will think about this more. My feelings about this, and about you, have not yet solidified."
"I was wrong for what I said to you, Penny. We are both on edge, and said things that we didn't properly express. We should get our heads in order before re-entering this argument with logic instead of emotions."
"I agree. I will go and see who I can save. And I will think more about this. I freed people from slavery, and watched them die today. Respectfully, I must spend some time away from you for now."
Penny left the ship. In something near her subconscious, anger remained. When she landed in the rubble once again, she missed a small but steady stream of conceptual energy wafting into her from below.
submitted by Storms_Wrath to HFY [link] [comments]
Admiral Tenrah returned to the battle map, looking at all the various icons and routes to and from star systems. So far, the Sennes Armada was keeping its pace mostly on track. The delay due to the diplomats from the Misan Li Heptarchies no longer would matter.
King Siran had pulled back from the battlefront against the High Federation in an attempt to pivot to the Hive Union. He had won the battle, but the stragglers included the remaining leadership of the High Federation anyway, so they could continue to remain somewhat organized. The massive civil war would soon spill into a more international affair, due to the King's rhetoric. But that was entirely his fault when he so strongly advocated for the deaths of Cawlarians who had lived on planets for generations that he happened to desire.
And he would not let his name be stained with even the suggestion of a loss. The Battle Planner and Fleet Commander Annabelle Weber were also now on their way to the front, and the diplomats from the Heptarchies were tagging along. Phoebe was in discussions with them now, and supposedly there'd been a few breakthroughs on that front. Whatever she'd promised them or get them to agree to, the fleet buildup along the Hive Union's border with the Heptarchies was slowing.
The Interstellar Gathering seemed to have realized no amount of bluffing would get the High King out of war. Even if he was a proxy force aligned with them, King Siran was not valuable enough for them to risk a wider war. It was just as Tenrah had expected and had told Eyahtni, Kawtyahtnakal, and the Patriarchs when he'd met with them several days ago. Just as a young hatchling couldn't be allowed to stray too far from the nest, there was simply no sense for the Heptarchies to risk economic ruin.
Orith and those who ruled over him would shift their tone while pretending it was a natural decision, not one they'd been forced to make to align with reality.
"I must commend your tactics in the latest training exercise," Tenrah said, ruffling his feathers slightly before respectfully nodding to Annabelle.
"I am pleased to hear such high praise from you, Admiral," the woman said. She was fully dressed in her regulation spacesuit, meaning most of her face was obscured. But Tenrah wouldn't complain since it was more than prudent to be ready for anything. The next unknown ships might not be friendly.
He had also looked into the parties responsible for the lack of communication or warning of the Misan's arrival. As it turned out, general incompetence was to blame. A receiver hadn't been properly calibrated, so the transmission signal had just been noise. He'd given the officer in charge of that an earful before eventually letting up and telling him to do better. A personal visit with the Admiral was one thing. But a second personal visit was quite another.
Tenrah drew a vector toward some of the outer systems controlled by the High King. A few garrison forces were there, but they would be swept away almost instantly. What most concerned him was the shipyards in the region that received most of their metals from a select group of planets in those systems. They were rich in the metals required to forge the alloys needed in the High King's fleet.
The High Federation had been something of a dumping ground for either overthrown species or other alien species that had been deported from their homeworlds before the war broke out. This was reflected in the number of species inhabiting the worlds, each with unique names, traits, and temperaments.
"We plan on taking this path, and then splitting to conquer these systems and disable their metal exporting abilities," he explained. "Then we will move to this system."
He zoomed in more and drew a new vector from where the previous one ended. "We have intelligence that they have at least four planet crackers there. Brey will send FTL suppression satellites through portals on the outer edges, with her portals boosted by our psychic amplifier fields. we will be able to take over the system quickly, and begin the process of either disabling the planet crackers or moving them back to our territory."
"We will need to know the angles the superweapons are at before committing to the battle," Annabelle said. "Otherwise, judging by the trajectory cone you have, we can bypass them entirely and reach Siran within two weeks."
"And that is an interesting proposal. Can you lay out your plan, in that case?"
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Annabelle did so. She and Tenrah discussed the strategy's risks, and they eventually decided that such a tactic, while bold, wouldn't do what they set out to do: ensure the safety of the Cawlarians near the border. They were already trying to evacuate from the coming war front, but cities and planets were large things that took a lot of time to completely empty.
And more garrison forces, whether they were androids from Phoebe or specialized and highly trained defenders from the Union, were still moving in as the civilians evacuated. Kawtyahtnakal had established a fund for them, but many people were too stubborn to leave. Despite the looming threat of war and possible massacre, they still refused to board the passenger ships. Annabelle could respect their tenacity and courage, though she personally believed it was counterproductive.
A few encroaching splinters of Siran's fleet had already struck the evacuation forces. He'd sent around 2% of his ships away to harass all the border systems within reach in an attempt to get the Armada bogged down in defense. But with such small forces and the Union on such high alert, all of the important stations with weak shields were well within the protective layers of planetary shields in the area.
Larger garrisons than necessary were still required, of course, but Tenrah had managed to navigate the desperate concerns of the Feathers and those like them in charge of governing their planets with his natural political skill. He didn't need to ask them for favors because, as an Admiral, he alone held power over how his portion of the fleet would respond. Annabelle had witnessed that loyalty and control well within the organization of his fleet. Even at his advanced age, she continued to be impressed with his adaptability and skill at monitoring three-dimensional battle planes and fields.
She pointed to the cone of possible directions Siran was expected to take. They were generally adjacent to the border, though they would head around the left side of the territory he claimed from the Union. If he reached it, millions of lives would be lost every day. Once he broke the shields entirely, the planets would be utterly glassed down to their mantles.
She'd read up on his methods and had seen videos of them in action. Despite all her training, it still was haunting. The hivemind helped to soothe her when the unpleasant parts of command sizzled up to meet her in the middle of the night.
But they would not impede her on the field of battle. When she went to war, the hivemind suppressed all that wasn't necessary for the mission. It was their agreement, one which she'd asked of it. And being a node of the network meant that her stability was paramount, even more so than her title as Fleet Commander. For if she fell, others could take her place. Protocols ensured and demanded that.
But her place in the hivemind was what allowed it to have any strength this far out. It could form avatars and help with long-range communications, though the main mind back on Earth and Luna obviously remained disconnected from this distance.
"I would normally agree with you, Fleet Commander, but I am reminded of your tactic to use decoy hard light holograms."
"They will suspect that any ships heading right for the barrels, or close enough, are either not valued enough or are the decoys."
"Then all you have to do is make them impossible to ignore," Tenrah said. "I can lend you bombs capable of remaining armed and capable of being triggered inside of hard light holograms, even with jamming involved. Then, they will be unable to ignore them, and the explosions generated would destroy the shields in place around the planet crackers. If they fire the weapons, then the residual magnetic interference will allow us to destroy them, since the shields will be far weakened."
Annabelle could see the potential brilliance of the strategy. But it was just that- potential. In space, there were no obstacles. Without stealth fields, there was no hiding. And with hard light holograms, stealth was obviously off-limits.
They would be left approaching from angles that they would be unable to adapt to. She had her VI plot several routes but was unsatisfied, so she had Edu'frec link into the network to do it. Phoebe had been replaced after contacting a Sprilnav network to ensure she could scrub any programs that may have gotten through to her without distraction.
It would be a terrible thing for a Sprilnav AI to make it to her dreadnaught, for sure.
"We will likely need a threefold diversion at least," Annabelle said. "Maybe fourfold, if we can spare the forces, and brave any minefields that may exist."
"Well," Tenrah began. He pulled up a few schematics of the weapons her dreadnaught carried. "I believe you can solve the minefield issue from a distance, even with the lightspeed limit. After all, they can't move easily. As for the actual attack? I suggest a sixfold flower formation, with a twisting wings accent."
"You will have to show me a diagram of that," Annabelle said, grasping uselessly at the unfamiliar words. Before their integration had begun, there had been a limit to how much doctrine she could memorize.
Tenrah pulled up an image of an alien flower blooming with six petals. And then the image faded, overloading with a stylized ribbon of red shapes. The ribbons spun on their sides every thirty seconds, like corkscrews that were flatter.
"And in this case, the ribbons represent the drone formations. I can send a few carriers into the battle with fighter escorts, though we will need to keep them spread out to avoid any direct lines of sight from the planet crackers."
"I heavily doubt they will waste such shots on carriers," Annabelle said. "And if you commit more, you will overwhelm their defenses. I believe your drones are highly reflective, so only missiles and bullets can deal sufficient damage at the involved speeds and numbers we are working with here."
She tapped the diagram, shifting it by about 45 degrees.
"I believe I can fit a stealth force here, which will engage the back defenses of the planet crackers once they focus their shields frontward. I can likely get a full battlecruiser group in, and if you can press in as a wedge around 10 million kilometers above me from where I come in, and around 30 million kilometers below," Annebelle paused to draw the vectors with her hands, "Then it will aid in my ability to subdue them. It would likely shorten the battle time from a week down to four days."
"Assuming their detection satellites are not capable of seeing it."
"And we will target those too. I believe the first strike can fall on those, since the planet crackers will interfere with their ability to scan behind themselves, and such large power signatures can be noted."
"There is one more problem," Tenrah said. "We are generally working on the assumption of trying to capture these ships, yes?"
"Yes," Annabelle said.
"Then will we board them?"
"Yes, but no. Edu'frec and Phoebe's commando androids will open up the beach heads on the physical surfaces of the planet crackers, while our specialized mental warfare agents will take the fight to them in the mindscape. I assume you have your own plans in that regard?"
"It depends on how we will split the planet crackers. There are 12 in the system. Half and half?"
"That seems prudent," Annabelle replied. She selected the ones that would be most advantageous for her various gambits and strategies to work. They were closer together, which meant more capacity for coordination, mutual aid, and shielding. But it also meant a larger target, one which she could hit from many vectors without worrying about each enemy ship having a wide field of view. Some battlecruisers and cruiser groups were scattered around, but they were not enough to resist the Armada. And once Siran was robbed of a quick way to end the war, the Union would hold the upper hand, capable of committing devastating power to a fleet that remained in a system for a long time.
Yet the same was true for the Union and the Alliance. If the battle took too long, or their command positions were located, then the terrible might of the planet cracker beams would be turned upon them instead. Annabelle's dreadnaught was powerful. More so than all the ones before it. But that didn't mean she wanted to test her shields against alien planet crackers.
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Penny was talking to a group of freed slaves on Justicar. These were recent ones who still held quite a bit of trauma. They'd taken to calling her 'Liberator' despite her never identifying herself as such. It was oddly endearing and did make her feel quite a bit better. It was good to just be able to go out and help people.
She felt some perturbations in the mindscape but ignored them. Right now, she needed to ensure that the gangs couldn't continue their horrific industry. She'd taken out most of their heavy equipment and was now waiting for the Guides to finish searching.
Sirens and alarms echoed in the distance. Penny sent psychic energy into her eyes, but she was too far underground to see anything without using the energy itself instead of light to see. Justicar's mind seemed busy, so she couldn't connect with him. As time went on, Penny felt that something was wrong. It was a gut feeling that she couldn't place. But because of that, she was on edge. She made a large shield of psychic energy above them.
She held it for several minutes. Nothing happened, but Penny wouldn't let it down that quickly. Justicar still didn't respond. Her communicator rang. Kashaunta was calling.
"What's going on?" Penny asked.
"The Grand Fleet is-"
Light and heat smashed into her, easily breaking through her shields. She briefly saw tens of thousands of Sprilnav burning before the light overwhelmed her eyes. Her communicator was destroyed. The onslaught was accompanied by a monstrous level of sound. Shockwaves drilled Penny into the melting and fracturing ground, forcing her lower and lower into expanding pools of magma and liquid metal.
The city's upper layers fell upon her, crashing with great and terrible force. But Penny was now fully reinforced with psychic and conceptual energy. She erupted furiously from the rubble. The air around her burned with heat as she continued to accelerate. The armor plates now surrounding her glowed cherry red, but they were white by the time she'd reached space.
She reached the first planetary shield.
"Displace," Penny growled. She forced reality to move as she willed and to place herself where she saw fit. The Grand Fleets were high above, firing upon a small group of ships that had detached from Azeri's fleet. They seemed to be directly attacking the broken-off contingent and not Justicar itself.
So Penny increased her eyesight and analyzed the battle in both real space and the mindscape. Nilnacrawla helped her identify Justicar's targets. The massive Elder was angrier than she'd ever seen him, and his size, which was even larger than Tetelali, made that incarnation of him appear more like a god of wrath. She saw him brutally tear through groups of minds desperately running to avoid him.
She could faintly see spheres of psychic and conceptual energy area denial fields. From this distance, the flagships' strength was truly impressive. Both of them were at least ten times as powerful as Azeri's had been during their battle. It was clear both Kashaunta and Valisada had ordered upgrades.
Then, her attention came to the dreadnaught, which seemed to be at the head of the attack. Penny explored the ship with her psychic power, pushing aside all resistance. Several lasers struck her, but she ignored them, denying their impact in reality against her own.
It glowed with the fury of weapons firing. Missiles and fighters flowed out of its bays. Bullets, nukes, and lasers streamed from red-hot gun barrels. A nuke hit her but didn't explode. She ripped it apart, using the materials to add energy to her reserves.
Justicar continued to go in inside the mindscape. He tore at them like a shark at a school of minnows in a coral reef. His ravenous anger and hatred were frightening, but Penny rapidly got used to it. Calling up her own memories of the innocent people who'd been killed for no reason, Penny wrapped herself in energy and began to erase her signature from the area.
Fighters flew past her, no longer hitting her psychic shields with bullets. Lasers stopped firing at her since she'd moved from her last position, and there was no longer anything for them to track. Penny floated in the stars, with bright blooms of white fusion explosions blossoming around her. And so she moved forward. She reached a cruiser. She reached forward, teleporting past its shields, and shut down the ship's reactor by teleporting all of its fuel into the void.
Soon, a missile from Kashaunta's Grand Fleet found the vessel, and it vanished in another sphere of heat and light. Of course, it was all silent in space. Penny could only hear her heart beating and occasional warnings from Exile or Nilnacrawla at incoming attacks. Exile occupied the area in her ears, which felt weird, but it allowed him to speak without showing himself in the mindscape. Given his nature and the fact that the Grand Fleets likely had detections for speeding space entities, it would be a terrible idea for him to appear there. Nilnacrawla continued to help Penny with the mental aspects of the battle.
He processed the energy input and output that Penny was giving off in the hopes of keeping her off the sensors of the dreadnaught battlegroup. She didn't want to attract the full focus of one of those massive guns. The explosions on Justicar would have been capable of cracking apart a mountain range if not for the extensive dampening Justicar's shields had done. And she'd withstood them only because she could shunt off most of their impact into reality, leaning into her conceptual nature and the nature of Cardinality to escape certain death.
Even with her power, as high as it had ever been, the blow she was taking were the most powerful physical impacts she'd ever endured.
She also suspected Yasihaut's work in this, though she had nothing to prove. She also had to remain vigilant about the Judgment. She couldn't take overly hostile actions, so she didn't just teleport the Sprilnav in the area out of their ships. She tried it on a smaller scale, and a weak pressure from the dreadnaught made her power fail to affect them.
But those Sprilnav were still doomed to die by their commander. But Penny didn't wish to doom the Alliance and herself by taking their deaths into her own hands. And she was stained with enough blood, metaphorical and literal. The ashes of the people she'd freed had fallen away with her ascent into the atmosphere, but the gritty memory and feel of them never would.
Once again, she'd been powerless to save those who'd needed her. And if she'd had that power, what could she have really done? Would she have been forced to stand there and take it? Or could she have really fought back in a way that wouldn't be turned against her in the Judgment? And was she wrong for considering all of that during such a horrendous time, when she'd literally seen thousands of people turned to slag and ash before her very eyes just ten minutes ago?
Penny burned with shame and grief. She hated this. She hated that things always turned to this. Why couldn't the galaxy just leave people alone? Why did there have to be so much suffering? Her anger threatened to overwhelm her, but with a herculean effort from her, Nilnacrawla, and Cardi, it was beaten back.
Penny felt Justicar getting close to breaking through the shield. She sent a small jolt of power to its underside. A thick bolt of psychic lightning infused with rage leaped from her arms, shattering the shield completely and taking roughly half her power. In the dreadnaught, the antimatter reactor she could sense radiating its energy suddenly lost all coolant access.
She pushed her psychic energy into herself and her conceptual energy into words that she harmonized into existence with the force and might of her will.
"Cardinality: One to zero. Reversal."
A heap of her energy left her instantly, stopping a budding explosion from ripping the dreadnaught apart. Justicar absolutely ravaged whoever was inside that ship, including what appeared to be a leader figure in the mindscape. Penny watched Justicar smash the Elder's corpse in his jaws and tear his soul from his body before shredding it violently with a contraption that looked straight out of a horror movie.
She let the explosion go, and so it went. The dreadnaught cracked in half. The Grand Fleets, which had never stopped firing, finally broke through the shields as the circuits failed to supply them with power. Hundreds of thousands of lives winked out instantly, torn to subatomic particles by beams coming from two different flagships. Penny went straight to Kashaunta, appearing on the ship's bridge still in stealth. To their credit, her guards noticed immediately and bared their weapons at her.
The guns that were powerful enough to blast holes in skyscrapers and sturdy enough to withstand a fall from orbit with hardly a scratch unloaded their payloads into her. Penny opened her mouth, and strings of psychic energy writhed outward, wrapping themselves around the guns and wrenching them out of the claws of Kashaunta's guards while the impacts' explosions were contained by thick shields.
Kashaunta herself had already drawn her sword but hadn't moved an inch.
"Penny," she said dryly. "Welcome to my ship. I apologize for your reception."
A new shield came down on both of them, preventing their words from reaching the ears of Kashaunta's subordinates.
"Think nothing of it, Elder Kashaunta. What punishments will be given to the Grand Fleet Commander?"
"Well, technically I am not the Grand Fleet Commander of this fleet," she said. "So that is not really something I can enforce. However, the Grand Fleet Commander of the 85th Grand Fleet does wish to talk with you, Justicar, and myself about what just occurred."
"And you believe him?" she exclaimed.
"He sent transcripts of the message he sent to one Elder Solei, asking him to cease his actions before it was too late."
"Even the Alliance can make deepfakes," Penny said.
"And do you think I would be ignorant of such things, child?" Kashaunta asked. "We have ways around those. That is why we still have a society after billions of years of time to screw it all up. Deepfakes are a problem of less advanced species and cultures, not those with the tools to handle them."
"Which are AIs, which you also ban throughout the galaxy."
"Yes."
"Isn't that hypocritical?"
"Yes, it is," Kashaunta said. "You can go and complain to the Judges who decided that if you wish, though asking them to think of the children instead of preserving the power of the entire Sprilnav species will get you laughed at by a billion mouths."
Penny felt something in her mind take offense to Kashaunta's wording. It didn't feel like it was part of her, but it also did. The shock of all the lives lost hit her again, making her scowl.
"So there will be nothing done?" Penny growled.
"No. Prepare for a neutral and level-headed discussion. If you wish to have any seat at a table such as this, you will conduct yourself with decorum. You will not accuse Elder Valisada of being responsible for whichever fool did this, and you most certainly will not baselessly claim that Yasihaut is at fault for this, even if it is likely that she or her backers are. It is time you learn the lesson that all Elders have: there are always more Sprilnav. Recognize that this was a strike against you without casting aside all of your goodwill among those that matter."
"Those that matter," Penny mused. "Sometimes I forget what you are."
Kashaunta stepped forward, eyes narrowing. She let out a hiss.
"You saw a few thousand people die, and now you're back to the racism again? Grow up. People die all the time in this galaxy. You complain about the status quo. I would respect that, if you could stomach what is required to change it. Death will continue to run rampant, and you will be the reason more die no matter what you do. 760 sextillion Sprilnav, Penny. And you cry over ten thousand?
During the Source war, we sent two years olds to war. You don't get to slide back into comfortable dumb hatred of our species because of a few stupid people. Rest assured, if you ever get this Alliance-based order, you or your successors will become tyrants. There will be a human who has the power and will to start wars, and enact genocides, for functionally no reason. Need I remind you of World War Two, and World War Three? If you multiply the population of Humanity by a trillion, that means you'll get a trillion Pol Pots, or Hitlers, or Genghis Khans.
And a hell of a lot more dumb idiots in power, which ascribes most of the history of nearly every species in the galaxy. Notice how Valisada and I both fired on Solei once he decided to be an adult daycare nominee? Notice how Valisada has not fired at us, or Justicar, and is trying his best to start a constructive dialogue? People die in war, Penny. This is reality. And you cast your disdain onto me, the only Sprilnav keeping you alive in this place, because I happened to be born an Elder. But no. I'm still some alien, right? Just another dirty animal for you to kill when the Judgment ends."
Kashaunta's fury caught Penny off-guard. The Elder truly meant her words. Penny had deeply offended her, cracking open the facade she usually maintained. The smug feeling at having made Kashaunta go on such a tirade faded when she considered the circumstances. Maybe she had acted like a child. But she hadn't said anything truly deserving of such a furious tirade, had she?
Not unless her proclamation that she remembered 'what Kashaunta was' had an implication that she didn't understand. Kashaunta was a mass murderer, one who was more than willing to justify it when necessary. And she downplayed the fact that this attack was on Penny herself and on thousands of innocents on a Sprilnav planet where she was meant to be safe. This wasn't a pair of assassins in the night, slipping poison into water or dropping snakes into a bed. This was a much more insidious and terrifying evil. Penny had been powerless to stop it.
Penny knew she was right, but Kashaunta did not. Could she truly weigh her scant decades against Kashaunta's billions of years of age? Perhaps. Age was not wisdom, though it certainly could be experience. Kashaunta turned around and started to walk away. Sadly, Penny still needed her.
"I'm sorry, Kashaunta. I am... incredibly charged. I am very pissed right now. I am not apologizing for how I feel about this attack. I have every right to be upset, and I will remain so. I will not be bullied or cowed into submission, even by a thousand more tirades. There comes a point where something must be done. But if you are upset over what I said, then I would at least like an honest clarification why."
"Because you had showed me you could think like a person should. That you didn't see people's species anymore. That you were becoming less racist. And yet, when you are cut raw, you still see me as a Sprilnav Elder alone, and therefore complicit in this massacre I literally did everything I could to do stop before it worsened. You said you knew 'what I am' as if you'd forgotten that. And it is clear that you meant that you'd forgotten your belief that I am some dirty criminal Sprilnav, who deserves to be slaughtered in the dark for the crime of being born in her species.
You care more for the ash on Justicar than you do for what I have given you. Your simplistic view of reality would mean that if you could push a button to kill us Elders, you'd do it, robbing countless families of their loved ones, because you now remember 'what we are,' and are again regressing away from your previous growth."
"I am one person, Kashaunta. I don't understand why you care this much about me. But I can recognize that the message you received is one of terrible bigotry. I am suffering, every day, every week, that I remain in this god-forsaken place. It hurts for you to dismiss the people I care about, even for a moment, dying just because there are many of them. But that does not excuse what I said to you despite the death toll you carry on your own head. It was a half-truth."
Kashaunta laughed. "Do you know why I care so much about what you think, Penny? It is because you are the other aliens. All at once. The Alliance is the face of all things 'alien' in many places. Remember what conceptual energy is? Lecalicus told you, I believe. You represent more than just your own views. And if you're able to forgive a speeding space entity, but not me, then it shows that we will never have peace. That no matter what, this cycle of hatred will continue, and I will need to either build a new galaxy with aliens that don't hate us for our ancient crimes, or just figure out another way. You are the face of the rest of the galaxy, Penny. And you have just told me that you still hate me for being an Elder. After I thought you had changed."
"And you believe you are undeserving of such hatred?"
"Penny," Kashaunta said. "The Alliance didn't exist when many of these events happened. Some of your grievances are older than the mountains on Earth. You say you hate us for genocides that happened so long ago that they no longer hold any meaning. There is no compensation we can give to dead species on dead worlds. What you want is an alien species to hate and blame for all the universe's problems. Because it is easier to hate us than to confront reality. And we are the ones you have been told to hate."
"They were not small things. It was the deaths of trillions of people, Kashaunta."
"Yes. And it was wrong. I can understand that. But what do you think will happen when your Alliance, filled with people who hate us, takes over? You will see humans bombing Sprilnav schools, and the hivemind will do nothing, for it will share that hate. Acuarfar will abduct and torture us. Knowers will devour our children. And in the face of that? You would turn a blind eye, because it is too hard to solve with a simple fix. You will only propagate generational hatred, just as all the Alliances and Galactic Republics and Peace Unions did before you.
Because underneath your message of equality for all species is oppression and genocide for us, the villains in your little story. That is what happens in reality, once the benevolent dictators die. And you, who have lived with us, eaten with us, and talked with us, will sit upon your golden throne, and when I am brought before you, naked, bleeding, and in need of support, you will throw me away, because all I am to you is an Elder. That mindset is exactly what stands in the way of peace. It is why I stopped giving you aliens chances for so long. And having to argue this with you at all makes me think you may no longer be worth my effort."
More manipulation. Penny was ready to shout at her, but Nilnacrawla pulled her thoughts away from blind anger. And it did feel unnatural for her. Alien.
"This is not peace," Penny said. "This is war. And we are circumstantial allies. I will not become what you claim."
"I have sown the seeds of a thousand despots," Kashaunta said. "I recognize them when I see them because I have reaped the heads of a million more."
Penny sighed. She wanted to resist and continue arguing, but it wouldn't get her anywhere. Now that she had thought about it, she was unlikely to overturn a viewpoint set in a billion years of experiences. Perhaps Penny could explore this later, when she had time to properly process it all.
"Very well. I will go to this meeting of yours, and I will conduct myself with decorum. However, while I refuse to belittle or forget thousands of deaths, I am sorry that you feel this way."
"But you are not sorry about making me feel so."
"No," Penny replied. She suppressed her emotions more, taking the time to carefully consider her words. Kashaunta was wrong and oddly sensitive right now. Saying the wrong thing could damage far more than their mutual feelings. As much as she wanted to win this argument, Kashaunta was who she was. She was the alien dictator keeping the Alliance alive.
"We are both right in some ways, and perhaps we might be both wrong, too. This only shows how tough the road will be. We at least are consciously trying to come to an understanding. But for the billions of Alliance citizens, quintillions of aliens, and sextillions of Sprilnav? It is a gargantuan task. And... right now, I don't think it is possible."
"It isn't," Kashaunta said. "And it won't be for thousands of years. But we don't get some neat little time skip to wait and solve all of our problems for us. Change will start only when we make it."
Kashaunta was throwing her a bone, then. They both knew the argument couldn't continue right now.
"So we have an understanding, then," Penny said. "Hatred will remain, but it must be minimised. That way, cultural and social pressure will eventually stamp it out, and we may have peace."
"No. We will have a truce, which will only become peace with much more work. The Alliance is a nation that is 24 years old. Only a single generation has grown up within it. Negotiations will be hard with so many who remember the hatred. But Valisada is not like other Sprilnav. He will seek to bring a hybrid war to you and the Alliance, unless you can convince him that you truly mean to bridge the divide. You are clearly misguided, but have a genuinely good heart. That will make life hard for you. Your words today would have spelled the death of you and the Alliance, had I not established this shield around us to hide them. Out of the spirit of our friendship, I will not request a favor in return for this boon."
"Thank you, Kashaunta. Though I'm not sure I can consider you a friend."
"The fact that you bothered to listen to my side of things, in this limited aspect, despite the hurt you must feel right now, proves otherwise. I am well aware of my past crimes, Penny. I know that my emotions today were a weakness I should have been able to seal, and that you will still see me for who I was, and not who I am. I know how it sounds for me, a killer and a ruler, to be upset at being confronted. But that is how I am. I still have my pride as an Elder, and there is only so far it can be pushed. Who I was certainly would qualify as beyond evil. But to remain at the top, there are limits to how far you can swing into benevolence.
I cannot atone. Do not try to make me repay debts that you don't own. If you are ever to have more Elders on your side, whether Progenitors or otherwise, you will need to learn to deal with this. There will be people with death tolls higher than the population of the Alliance, who were once the heart of evil and are now at least acceptable. The first step will be recognizing that, yes, we are in fact friends, despite my history. Because only from friendship and understanding can hope come."
"I will think about this more. My feelings about this, and about you, have not yet solidified."
"I was wrong for what I said to you, Penny. We are both on edge, and said things that we didn't properly express. We should get our heads in order before re-entering this argument with logic instead of emotions."
"I agree. I will go and see who I can save. And I will think more about this. I freed people from slavery, and watched them die today. Respectfully, I must spend some time away from you for now."
Penny left the ship. In something near her subconscious, anger remained. When she landed in the rubble once again, she missed a small but steady stream of conceptual energy wafting into her from below.
2024.04.29 03:28 DIDiMISSsomethin Neighbor pulls gun when their kids friend bangs on the door at 850pm, complains to the whole neighborhood about the kids being irresponsible
 | submitted by DIDiMISSsomethin to BoomersBeingFools [link] [comments] |
2024.04.29 03:22 DIDiMISSsomethin Neighbor pulls a gun because their kids friend knocking on the door at 850pm, complains about kids being irresponsible to the whole neighborhood
 | submitted by DIDiMISSsomethin to insanepeoplefacebook [link] [comments] |
2024.04.29 02:53 Vance_Sadonte 1:8 308 16" barrel Newbie
 | So I got this V&T APR308S Pro. And I decided I want to get into reloading. And really push all the potential out of this gun. submitted by Vance_Sadonte to reloading [link] [comments] It is a laser beam with 220gr subs (460yd shots, 16 mil drop. Consistent as hell. But wind really pushed rounds around once a gust picked up) About 2moa with m80 ball (pmc) 20fps deviation. Honestly not bad. I figured it would be a lot worse. I really want to find a round where I can stretch it out to 1.1k and hit an Ipsc Silhouette. I know it's a stretch. It has a 16" barrel 1:8 twist. Is it possible to push +200gr bullets safely supersonic? Would it be worth it? Should I just stick with 175/185gr and play around with load development? Curious of your thoughts. |
2024.04.29 02:47 Ihateredditdfs Is my gun safe from OOB if the firing pin doesn’t float forward?
 | After watching this video the guy in the video showed that the firing pin in his bolt would float forward freely and he claims that is the cause for the CZ scorpion malfunctions. I pulled the bolt out of mine and it does not float forward like the one in the video. Does this mean I am safe from OOB detonations. I already have way too much money into this gun I don’t have another $300 to blow on a nexus bolt. submitted by Ihateredditdfs to czscorpion [link] [comments] |
2024.04.29 02:18 International-Tune61 Top 10 Summer Movies of 2024: My Predictions
 | Here are my predictions for the top ten movies of the summer! I will definitely be wrong but I love doing this every year, so here goes. submitted by International-Tune61 to boxoffice [link] [comments]
|
2024.04.29 02:03 yonytz Didn't die when i got killed in a dream ?
I've seen people online saying they didn't die in a dream, but my dream is a little bit weird. Dream starts at some restaurant, i was there with my girlfriend and my friend with his girlfriend, everything was going nice until 3-4 guys with some guns came in and made everybody lay on the floor. I layed on the floor over my girlfriend to try and protect her becase one of the guys was randomly shooting towards our heads but kind of let bullets fly random. At one point, multiple guys got killed and he looks at me, points the gun at me, shoots and i feel 2-3 bullets entering my skull/brain, everything going quiet and very "empty/cold" i might say, for around 30 seconds ? After that, i just wake up on a street, i was feeling safe, relaxed, no thoughts of why i am alive even do i clearly got shot. i remember asking "is this heaven?". After asking myself, i started going down the street and i saw a very very beautiful beach, with a very clean and blue water, very nice waves... It wasn't cold or hot even though the sun was shining just right, the breeze was so relaxing. after a few seconds of walking on the sand i saw in a nearby distance someone that was just as surprised to see me as i was to see them, and as we got closer i saw it was my girlfriend, we hugged and i can t remember anything more after that from the dream except some little chat but i was the happiest and everything felt just like heaven... any idea of the meaning? in general, i am religious. Might this mean something beyond our understanding or should i blame it on a rich imagination ? Its my first time having a dream that felt so real. Thanks for reading ! :)
submitted by yonytz to Dreams [link] [comments]
2024.04.29 01:37 Euphoric_Dance_6037 G29 extra grip. Before and after.
 | submitted by Euphoric_Dance_6037 to Glocks [link] [comments] |
2024.04.29 00:43 Sea-Following5440 I Give up. Someone smarter than me plz help
here is a list of all my mods from MO2
[DLC: Automatron]
Address Library for F4SE Plugins
AER15 Modern Laser Assault Rifle
Agency Arms Benelli M2 - Shotgun
Archimedes-II
Armament - Ammunition and Ballistics Overhaul
AX
BH SIG MCX Spear NGSW - Assault Rifle
BH_MCX_Spear Replacer as Institute Replacer
BT APCMP
Buffout 4
Bullet Counted Reload System (BCR)
Cazador Missile Launcher
Combined Arms - Modern Weapon Pack
CROSS_Courser Strigidae
Energy Weapon Replacer - AER15 - FOMOD Installer
Enhanced Lights and FX
Escape from Boston - CheyTac M200 Intervention
Escape from Boston - Desert Tech SRSA2
FACTOR - Modular Rifle
Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife
FN FAL - SA58 (Plus Kukri)
FNX-45
Fostech Origin 12
Glock 19X - Pistol
Gritty Subways (2K - 4K)
Heckler und Koch - MP5 Complex
Heckler und Koch - MP7
HK USP .45(New) with Tactical knife
HS Produkt VHS-2 Rifle
Ingram MAC-10
JSRS Sound Mod for Fallout 4
Ka-Bar Knife and Sword
Kriss Vector
Laugo Alien
LMT M203 - Grenade Launcher
Longer Lasting Fusion Cores
Manual Reload Simple
MK14 EBR
Mod Configuration Menu
MW - M91
Outland Multi Mission Axe - Combat Axe
Plasma Cycler Replacer
Predator Knife
Q.M.W (Quick Modification Weapon)(Only support HQ modern Guns)
QMW Weapons Replacer
Remington 700 M24 and XM2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle
Remington Model 11 - Shotgun
Remington Model 700
Ruger Mini-14
Russian Assault Pack - SVD Dragunov - Saiga 12 - PP-19 Bizon - Stechkin APS - MP412 REX
Scopes Framework
See-Through-Scopes
Sniper Scope Overlay And Reticles Replacement
SOG FastHawk - a Standalone Melee Weapon
Springfield Armory M1A
Standalone Fallout 3 Trench Knife
Super Mutant Weaponry - Post-Apocalyptic Weapons
Tactical Reload
Vargo 52 - Assault Rifle
Walther Q5 Match SF
Weapon Debris Crash Fix
Winchester Model 1873 - Lever Action Rifle
American 180 - .22 Submachine Gun
M2 Flamethrower Redux
HK G3 - Battle rifle
American180nv-Fallout4-SubmachineGun-Replacer
And here is my crash log/system spec (cpu trash)
submitted by Sea-Following5440 to Fallout4Mods [link] [comments]
[DLC: Automatron]
Address Library for F4SE Plugins
AER15 Modern Laser Assault Rifle
Agency Arms Benelli M2 - Shotgun
Archimedes-II
Armament - Ammunition and Ballistics Overhaul
AX
BH SIG MCX Spear NGSW - Assault Rifle
BH_MCX_Spear Replacer as Institute Replacer
BT APCMP
Buffout 4
Bullet Counted Reload System (BCR)
Cazador Missile Launcher
Combined Arms - Modern Weapon Pack
CROSS_Courser Strigidae
Energy Weapon Replacer - AER15 - FOMOD Installer
Enhanced Lights and FX
Escape from Boston - CheyTac M200 Intervention
Escape from Boston - Desert Tech SRSA2
FACTOR - Modular Rifle
Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife
FN FAL - SA58 (Plus Kukri)
FNX-45
Fostech Origin 12
Glock 19X - Pistol
Gritty Subways (2K - 4K)
Heckler und Koch - MP5 Complex
Heckler und Koch - MP7
HK USP .45(New) with Tactical knife
HS Produkt VHS-2 Rifle
Ingram MAC-10
JSRS Sound Mod for Fallout 4
Ka-Bar Knife and Sword
Kriss Vector
Laugo Alien
LMT M203 - Grenade Launcher
Longer Lasting Fusion Cores
Manual Reload Simple
MK14 EBR
Mod Configuration Menu
MW - M91
Outland Multi Mission Axe - Combat Axe
Plasma Cycler Replacer
Predator Knife
Q.M.W (Quick Modification Weapon)(Only support HQ modern Guns)
QMW Weapons Replacer
Remington 700 M24 and XM2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle
Remington Model 11 - Shotgun
Remington Model 700
Ruger Mini-14
Russian Assault Pack - SVD Dragunov - Saiga 12 - PP-19 Bizon - Stechkin APS - MP412 REX
Scopes Framework
See-Through-Scopes
Sniper Scope Overlay And Reticles Replacement
SOG FastHawk - a Standalone Melee Weapon
Springfield Armory M1A
Standalone Fallout 3 Trench Knife
Super Mutant Weaponry - Post-Apocalyptic Weapons
Tactical Reload
Vargo 52 - Assault Rifle
Walther Q5 Match SF
Weapon Debris Crash Fix
Winchester Model 1873 - Lever Action Rifle
American 180 - .22 Submachine Gun
M2 Flamethrower Redux
HK G3 - Battle rifle
American180nv-Fallout4-SubmachineGun-Replacer
- Fallout 4 v1.10.163
- Buffout 4 v1.28.6
- Unhandled exception "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" at 0x7FF7DEA38F6A Fallout4.exe+1AF8F6A
- [Compatibility]
- F4EE: false
- [Crashlog]
- AutoOpen: true
- PromptUpload: true
- [Fixes]
- ActorIsHostileToActor: true
- CellInit: true
- CreateD3DAndSwapChain: true
- EncounterZoneReset: true
- GreyMovies: true
- MagicEffectApplyEvent: true
- MovementPlanner: true
- PackageAllocateLocation: true
- SafeExit: true
- TESObjectREFRGetEncounterZone: true
- UnalignedLoad: true
- UtilityShader: true
- [Patches]
- Achievements: true
- ArchiveLimit: false
- BSMTAManager: true
- BSPreCulledObjects: true
- BSTextureStreamerLocalHeap: false
- HavokMemorySystem: true
- INISettingCollection: true
- InputSwitch: false
- MaxStdIO: -1
- MemoryManager: true
- MemoryManagerDebug: false
- ScaleformAllocator: true
- SmallBlockAllocator: true
- WorkshopMenu: true
- [Warnings]
- CreateTexture2D: true
- ImageSpaceAdapter: true
- SYSTEM SPECS:
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home v10.0.19045
- CPU: AuthenticAMD AMD Ryzen 5 2400G with Radeon Vega Graphics
- GPU #1: Nvidia GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 3GB]
- GPU #2: Microsoft Basic Render Driver
- PHYSICAL MEMORY: 7.40 GB/7.70 GB
2024.04.29 00:17 425trafficeng New to CCW/Gun Ownership, What Overlooked Gear/Accessories Should Someone New Have?
Hey All!
32M and new to owning a gun. Always have been interested in concealed carry and gun ownership in general, but the wife was very much against it. Moving from an apartment in a city to a single family house in the suburbs sort of had her mention that she would feel more comfortable knowing that we are protected with a gun and thats all I needed to hear.
My experience with firearms in general is limited to rifles and shotguns. Mainly shot my brothers and his friend's firearms at the range and woods. Took some of advice and the first thing I did was:
Now whats next?
At a minimum I know I need a:
So thats kind of where I'm at now, anything else I'm missing either get myself set up properly and safely?
Thanks!
submitted by 425trafficeng to CCW [link] [comments]
32M and new to owning a gun. Always have been interested in concealed carry and gun ownership in general, but the wife was very much against it. Moving from an apartment in a city to a single family house in the suburbs sort of had her mention that she would feel more comfortable knowing that we are protected with a gun and thats all I needed to hear.
My experience with firearms in general is limited to rifles and shotguns. Mainly shot my brothers and his friend's firearms at the range and woods. Took some of advice and the first thing I did was:
- Register for my states CPL (should have that in hand by end of May)
- Take an introductory handgun class at a range and fire a few different ones to see which I like.
Now whats next?
At a minimum I know I need a:
- Lockable case (Valutek or Pelican seems to be popular)
- Holster (looking up the IWB options and will see if my local store has any to try).
- Ammo (leaning towards Federal HST for defense and bulk FMJ for practice)
- Extra Magazines (moving out of a 10rd state in the next few months so will wait on that)
- Ear Protection/Eye Protection
- A good tactical flashlight and OC spray for non-lethal.
So thats kind of where I'm at now, anything else I'm missing either get myself set up properly and safely?
Thanks!