The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in systems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, such as Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. However, I hope that other fans of cosmic horror will also find something for themselves here. The interesting facts presented here may also be entertaining for people who do not know the work of The Loner of Providence, but some of the references may be unclear to them. The article contains several anecdotes – either from real history or from beliefs that exist in the real world, and suggestions on how they can be related to the Cthulhu mythology. So read about:

• Sea Peoples, bane of ancient civilizations,
• a forgotten Eldritch abomination from Greek mythology,
• Jan Twardowski, the first man on the Moon,
• mathematicians and physicists who wanted to know the structure of reality and lost their minds,
• one of the most mysterious characters from the Bible and a dark, occult ritual that underlies monotheism.

Invasion of the Sea Peoples
Ancient, super-advanced, fallen civilizations are one of the favorite motifs of fantasy. And truth be told, something similar happened in real history. Of course, in reality, the fallen civilizations did not have sci-fi supertechnology at their disposal, but their collapse still led to great destabilization. We are talking about the invasion of the so-called Sea Peoples, which took place at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The Sea Peoples are mobile and warlike groups of people of unknown origin. They caused the collapse of several advanced cultures, including: Mycenaean and Hittite. Only the Egyptians managed to defeat them in a great battle. Well, the material for Lovecraftian inspiration is obvious. A mysterious army, coming out of nowhere, called the „Sea Peoples”, leading to the fall of the most powerful human civilizations at that time? Let us add that, according to some historians, the descendants of the Sea Peoples destroyed by the Egyptians were the Philistines. Yes, the same Philistines, one of whose main deities was the well-known Dagon to Lovecraftomaniacs… Deep Ones say hello. Let us also add that, according to Egyptian records, the tribes of the Sea Peoples had names such as Ekvesh, Teresh, Lucki, Sherden, Shekelesh, Tekel and Peleset. Sounds suitably dark, blasphemous and filthy? If we want to dig deeper, one of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt was Akhenaten – yes, that heretic who tried to replace the worship of traditional Egyptian gods with the religion of the Aten and who is very much liked by conspiracy theorists. Let’s add to the mix that Middle Eastern cultures had quite a negative attitude towards the sea as such. Babylonian Marduk had to defeat the giant monsters of Chaos – Apsu and Tiamat, personifications of fresh and salt waters, respectively. The Bible also contains traces of the myth about the fight between Yahweh and Leviathan, and the Book of Revelation, describing the new, ideal world, emphasizes that „I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Let’s assume that the players are researchers of an antiquity – historians, archaeologists, etc. They conduct research on the Sea Peoples. Of course, as common sense dictates, they assume that these were human warriors. However, as time goes on, more and more evidence appears that they were not completely human again, and the evidence of their monstrosity becomes increasingly difficult to put down to the demonization that Egyptian chroniclers used against their enemies… It becomes clear that an onslaught of inhuman and semi-human monsters came from the sea. , trying to conquer the world of that time. Moreover, after their defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, this species did not become extinct, but instead of open conquest it switched to cautious infiltration. Perhaps the Deep Ones have spies in academia who are tasked with eliminating historians who find the trail of truth…
Oh, one more interesting fact connecting the history of the Sea Peoples with Lovecraft. Well, as we know, HPL liked to use the term „Cyclopean” for huge, monumental buildings. At least he didn’t come up with it himself. Well, when the later (and at first more primitive) inhabitants, the Dorians, saw the ruins of destroyed castles left by the Mycenaean culture, they came to the conclusion that such huge buildings could not have been built by human hands, so they were probably the work of mythical giants – cyclopes.
Typhon – a classic but forgotten abomination
Modern works drawing on Greek mythology usually make Hades (completely senseless) or Kronos (a little more) the Big Bad, but they forget about Zeus’s greatest enemy – Typhon. After defeating the titans and then the gigants, the Olympian gods had to face the main boss on the way to dominating the world – Typhon. Here is an example of its description: It was larger than the largest mountains, its head touched the stars. When he stretched out his hands, one reached the eastern ends of the world and the other reached the western ends. Instead of fingers, he had a hundred dragon heads. From the waist down he had a tangle of vipers (yay, tentacles!) and wings at his shoulders. His eyes were shooting out flames. In other versions of the myth, Typhon was a flying, hundred-headed dragon. In any case – appearance and stature worthy of the Great Old One. Typhon attacked Olympus, and all the gods except Zeus fled in panic. The supreme god took up the fight… and lost it. Only in the second duel did he manage to defeat Typhon, but not kill him – he only imprisoned him, hitting him with Etna. In the sense of a mountain. A volcano – and volcanic activity is the result of Typhon’s anger, trying to break free. Typhon equaled the lord of heaven not only in strength, but in fertility. His wife was Echidna, about whom Hesiod wrote: „She also gave birth to another creature, invincible, huge, unlike neither men nor immortal gods, in a hollow cave – the divine violent Echidna, half a sharp-eyed young girl, with beautiful cheeks, half a huge snake, a great and powerful, spotted, cruel – in the depths of the holy land. This pair spawned many, if not most, of the monsters found in Greek mythology. Their offspring were very diverse and strange, as befits the spawn of enemies of the divine order, including: – Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon who never slept and guarded the apples that gave immortality, – Cerberus – we all know the dog guarding the gates of hell… but not all of us know that, according to some accounts, it had not three heads, but as many as 50, it was also covered with scales, and it had a snake by its tail… so what does this have to do with a dog? – Scylla – this lady inherited the most from the human, beautiful part of Echidna… at least initially, but eventually, as a result of various perturbations, she turned from a beautiful nymph to her siblings, becoming a six-headed sea beast, so hideous, according to Homer, that even the gods could not stand sight of her – she dwelt in a cave, from where she opened her mouth to devour the crews of ships, – Gorgons – I mean, those ladies with snake hair, not monstrous bulls. Medusa was one of them – the story that Athena turned her priestess into a monster as punishment for being raped by Poseidon is an invention of later poets, – Lernaean Hydra – a multi-headed monster with many reptilian or human heads. In place of each severed head, two others grew, and in addition, the main head was completely immortal – therefore, after chopping off the mortal heads, Heracles had to burn the stumps and bury the immortal, still hissing head underground. Hydra’s breath was poisonous. – various other creatures, such as the Sphinx, the dog Ortus, the Nemean Lion or the Chimera. Each of these descendants has the potential to be portrayed as an Eldritch abomination in its own right. To be precise – according to some accounts, the father of these creatures (and Echidna herself) was Typhon, but a monstrous, ancient (older than Poseidon) sea god, Phorcys. How to use Typhon? Well, Typhon clearly has the potential to be a Great Old One, imprisoned by… Nodens? Some other Elder God? Weak gods of humanity? Maybe his cult is trying to free him from Etna? What if he succeeds? What might distinguish Typhon from many other Great Old Ones? I would recommend focusing on his monster progenitor aspect – if he manages to reunite with Echidna, they will immediately start spawning various blasphemous beasts in series.
Jan Twardowski – the first man on the Moon
Jan (John) Twardowski, the hero of the legend, a Polish nobleman who allegedly sold his soul to the devil and became a sorcerer. Probably a historical figure, according to legend he lived in the 16th century and became famous for summoning the spirit of the deceased queen for King Sigismund Augustus. The ghost allegedly appeared in the mirror. This mirror is still kept in the church in Węgrów. According to legend, when the terms of the pact were fulfilled, devils came to kidnap Twardowski to hell. Interestingly, instead of taking the sorcerer’s soul after death, the most material demons appeared and grabbed Twardowski in order to kidnap him bodily, alive… and instead of heading towards the underground, which in legends is considered the traditional place of residence of demons and damned souls, they began to carry away up with him. At some point, Twardowski started singing religious songs, which caused the demons to escape, leaving him on the Moon, where he is said to have stayed ever since. Could the “demons” actually be extraterrestrials? Maybe mi-go? Maybe Twardowski was their agent and obtained secret knowledge and technology from them that gave him the fame of a sorcerer? As part of his studies, did he acquire knowledge of a system of sounds („religious songs”) that was able to drive away his masters when they decided that his usefulness on Earth had ended and it was time to transport him to a space base where he would be transformed into a brain in jar? Or was transportation to the Moon part of the deal from the beginning? Oh, one more interesting fact – according to legends, Twardowski used to use a rooster as a horse, which he enlarged with his magic. It’s easy to imagine an abomination that, in the eyes of laymen, might have resembled a large rooster… Examples of scenario hooks: – Twardowski’s secret mirror is still in the church in Węgrów. The local priest thinks it is just other „pagan” superstitions, but in fact it is a tool enabling contact with cosmic beings and higher realities. It may prove useful to players if they convince the priest to give it back or simply steal it. – Players are looking for Twardowski’s notes to gain knowledge about the „song” thanks to which he drove away mi-go (or other creatures that became the prototype of the „devils” from the legend). The so-called Twardowski’s „School” or „Cathedral” was located in a quarry near Kraków. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, during the construction of the church of St. Józef, a cave showing traces of alchemical experiments was discovered… And it was destroyed. But perhaps there is a second, secret laboratory under the cave that escaped destruction? And there lie Twardowski’s secrets… And again, potential obstacles may be placed by the local parish priest. But not only him. Maybe Twardowski’s legendary „rooster” lies dormant in the laboratory and was left by the sorcerer as a guard? – players are astronauts on the Moon. However, it turns out that someone lives here, someone who was not detected by previous expeditions and probes. Will Twardowski prove to be an ally in the fight against cosmic horrors? Or maybe their agent, or an independent villain? If he survived this long on the Moon thanks to blasphemous secrets, it’s possible that he had little humanity left…
The rest of the text is avalaible (of course, for free) here: https://adeptusrpg.wordpress.com/2024/05/13/some-lovecraftian-inspiration-form-real-life-and-beliefs/

The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in systems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, such as Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. However, I hope that other fans of cosmic horror will also find something for themselves here. The interesting facts presented here may also be entertaining for people who do not know the work of The Loner of Providence, but some of the references may be unclear to them. The article contains several anecdotes – either from real history or from beliefs that exist in the real world, and suggestions on how they can be related to the Cthulhu mythology. So read about:

• Sea Peoples, bane of ancient civilizations,
• a forgotten Eldritch abomination from Greek mythology,
• Jan Twardowski, the first man on the Moon,
• mathematicians and physicists who wanted to know the structure of reality and lost their minds,
• one of the most mysterious characters from the Bible and a dark, occult ritual that underlies monotheism.

Invasion of the Sea Peoples
Ancient, super-advanced, fallen civilizations are one of the favorite motifs of fantasy. And truth be told, something similar happened in real history. Of course, in reality, the fallen civilizations did not have sci-fi supertechnology at their disposal, but their collapse still led to great destabilization. We are talking about the invasion of the so-called Sea Peoples, which took place at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The Sea Peoples are mobile and warlike groups of people of unknown origin. They caused the collapse of several advanced cultures, including: Mycenaean and Hittite. Only the Egyptians managed to defeat them in a great battle. Well, the material for Lovecraftian inspiration is obvious. A mysterious army, coming out of nowhere, called the „Sea Peoples”, leading to the fall of the most powerful human civilizations at that time? Let us add that, according to some historians, the descendants of the Sea Peoples destroyed by the Egyptians were the Philistines. Yes, the same Philistines, one of whose main deities was the well-known Dagon to Lovecraftomaniacs… Deep Ones say hello. Let us also add that, according to Egyptian records, the tribes of the Sea Peoples had names such as Ekvesh, Teresh, Lucki, Sherden, Shekelesh, Tekel and Peleset. Sounds suitably dark, blasphemous and filthy? If we want to dig deeper, one of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt was Akhenaten – yes, that heretic who tried to replace the worship of traditional Egyptian gods with the religion of the Aten and who is very much liked by conspiracy theorists. Let’s add to the mix that Middle Eastern cultures had quite a negative attitude towards the sea as such. Babylonian Marduk had to defeat the giant monsters of Chaos – Apsu and Tiamat, personifications of fresh and salt waters, respectively. The Bible also contains traces of the myth about the fight between Yahweh and Leviathan, and the Book of Revelation, describing the new, ideal world, emphasizes that „I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Let’s assume that the players are researchers of an antiquity – historians, archaeologists, etc. They conduct research on the Sea Peoples. Of course, as common sense dictates, they assume that these were human warriors. However, as time goes on, more and more evidence appears that they were not completely human again, and the evidence of their monstrosity becomes increasingly difficult to put down to the demonization that Egyptian chroniclers used against their enemies… It becomes clear that an onslaught of inhuman and semi-human monsters came from the sea. , trying to conquer the world of that time. Moreover, after their defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, this species did not become extinct, but instead of open conquest it switched to cautious infiltration. Perhaps the Deep Ones have spies in academia who are tasked with eliminating historians who find the trail of truth…
Oh, one more interesting fact connecting the history of the Sea Peoples with Lovecraft. Well, as we know, HPL liked to use the term „Cyclopean” for huge, monumental buildings. At least he didn’t come up with it himself. Well, when the later (and at first more primitive) inhabitants, the Dorians, saw the ruins of destroyed castles left by the Mycenaean culture, they came to the conclusion that such huge buildings could not have been built by human hands, so they were probably the work of mythical giants – cyclopes.
Typhon – a classic but forgotten abomination
Modern works drawing on Greek mythology usually make Hades (completely senseless) or Kronos (a little more) the Big Bad, but they forget about Zeus’s greatest enemy – Typhon. After defeating the titans and then the gigants, the Olympian gods had to face the main boss on the way to dominating the world – Typhon. Here is an example of its description: It was larger than the largest mountains, its head touched the stars. When he stretched out his hands, one reached the eastern ends of the world and the other reached the western ends. Instead of fingers, he had a hundred dragon heads. From the waist down he had a tangle of vipers (yay, tentacles!) and wings at his shoulders. His eyes were shooting out flames. In other versions of the myth, Typhon was a flying, hundred-headed dragon. In any case – appearance and stature worthy of the Great Old One. Typhon attacked Olympus, and all the gods except Zeus fled in panic. The supreme god took up the fight… and lost it. Only in the second duel did he manage to defeat Typhon, but not kill him – he only imprisoned him, hitting him with Etna. In the sense of a mountain. A volcano – and volcanic activity is the result of Typhon’s anger, trying to break free. Typhon equaled the lord of heaven not only in strength, but in fertility. His wife was Echidna, about whom Hesiod wrote: „She also gave birth to another creature, invincible, huge, unlike neither men nor immortal gods, in a hollow cave – the divine violent Echidna, half a sharp-eyed young girl, with beautiful cheeks, half a huge snake, a great and powerful, spotted, cruel – in the depths of the holy land. This pair spawned many, if not most, of the monsters found in Greek mythology. Their offspring were very diverse and strange, as befits the spawn of enemies of the divine order, including: – Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon who never slept and guarded the apples that gave immortality, – Cerberus – we all know the dog guarding the gates of hell… but not all of us know that, according to some accounts, it had not three heads, but as many as 50, it was also covered with scales, and it had a snake by its tail… so what does this have to do with a dog? – Scylla – this lady inherited the most from the human, beautiful part of Echidna… at least initially, but eventually, as a result of various perturbations, she turned from a beautiful nymph to her siblings, becoming a six-headed sea beast, so hideous, according to Homer, that even the gods could not stand sight of her – she dwelt in a cave, from where she opened her mouth to devour the crews of ships, – Gorgons – I mean, those ladies with snake hair, not monstrous bulls. Medusa was one of them – the story that Athena turned her priestess into a monster as punishment for being raped by Poseidon is an invention of later poets, – Lernaean Hydra – a multi-headed monster with many reptilian or human heads. In place of each severed head, two others grew, and in addition, the main head was completely immortal – therefore, after chopping off the mortal heads, Heracles had to burn the stumps and bury the immortal, still hissing head underground. Hydra’s breath was poisonous. – various other creatures, such as the Sphinx, the dog Ortus, the Nemean Lion or the Chimera. Each of these descendants has the potential to be portrayed as an Eldritch abomination in its own right. To be precise – according to some accounts, the father of these creatures (and Echidna herself) was Typhon, but a monstrous, ancient (older than Poseidon) sea god, Phorcys. How to use Typhon? Well, Typhon clearly has the potential to be a Great Old One, imprisoned by… Nodens? Some other Elder God? Weak gods of humanity? Maybe his cult is trying to free him from Etna? What if he succeeds? What might distinguish Typhon from many other Great Old Ones? I would recommend focusing on his monster progenitor aspect – if he manages to reunite with Echidna, they will immediately start spawning various blasphemous beasts in series.
Jan Twardowski – the first man on the Moon
Jan (John) Twardowski, the hero of the legend, a Polish nobleman who allegedly sold his soul to the devil and became a sorcerer. Probably a historical figure, according to legend he lived in the 16th century and became famous for summoning the spirit of the deceased queen for King Sigismund Augustus. The ghost allegedly appeared in the mirror. This mirror is still kept in the church in Węgrów. According to legend, when the terms of the pact were fulfilled, devils came to kidnap Twardowski to hell. Interestingly, instead of taking the sorcerer’s soul after death, the most material demons appeared and grabbed Twardowski in order to kidnap him bodily, alive… and instead of heading towards the underground, which in legends is considered the traditional place of residence of demons and damned souls, they began to carry away up with him. At some point, Twardowski started singing religious songs, which caused the demons to escape, leaving him on the Moon, where he is said to have stayed ever since. Could the “demons” actually be extraterrestrials? Maybe mi-go? Maybe Twardowski was their agent and obtained secret knowledge and technology from them that gave him the fame of a sorcerer? As part of his studies, did he acquire knowledge of a system of sounds („religious songs”) that was able to drive away his masters when they decided that his usefulness on Earth had ended and it was time to transport him to a space base where he would be transformed into a brain in jar? Or was transportation to the Moon part of the deal from the beginning? Oh, one more interesting fact – according to legends, Twardowski used to use a rooster as a horse, which he enlarged with his magic. It’s easy to imagine an abomination that, in the eyes of laymen, might have resembled a large rooster… Examples of scenario hooks: – Twardowski’s secret mirror is still in the church in Węgrów. The local priest thinks it is just other „pagan” superstitions, but in fact it is a tool enabling contact with cosmic beings and higher realities. It may prove useful to players if they convince the priest to give it back or simply steal it. – Players are looking for Twardowski’s notes to gain knowledge about the „song” thanks to which he drove away mi-go (or other creatures that became the prototype of the „devils” from the legend). The so-called Twardowski’s „School” or „Cathedral” was located in a quarry near Kraków. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, during the construction of the church of St. Józef, a cave showing traces of alchemical experiments was discovered… And it was destroyed. But perhaps there is a second, secret laboratory under the cave that escaped destruction? And there lie Twardowski’s secrets… And again, potential obstacles may be placed by the local parish priest. But not only him. Maybe Twardowski’s legendary „rooster” lies dormant in the laboratory and was left by the sorcerer as a guard? – players are astronauts on the Moon. However, it turns out that someone lives here, someone who was not detected by previous expeditions and probes. Will Twardowski prove to be an ally in the fight against cosmic horrors? Or maybe their agent, or an independent villain? If he survived this long on the Moon thanks to blasphemous secrets, it’s possible that he had little humanity left…
The rest of the text is avalaible (of course, for free) here: https://adeptusrpg.wordpress.com/2024/05/13/some-lovecraftian-inspiration-form-real-life-and-beliefs/

Platform(s): PC Flash Game
Genre: Beat em up
Estimated year of release: possibly around 2006-2009?
Graphics/art style: a simple, cartoon-y, almost vectorized style with lots of simple shapes, bright colors and visuals
Notable characters: there were four characters but two fighting styles in the whole game, a green ogre person with a cone shaped hat who attacked with a wooden club, hitting rocks like a baseball or slamming the ground with it, a woodsman character with a robin hood like hat and a brown beard who used throwing axes and occasionally slammed his axe on the ground, a princess with red/brown long hair and a pink dress and a cone shaped hat who attacked with little kisses and occasionally swept at the ground with her lipstick and a yellow lemon shaped headed elf/goblin like guy, with yellowish skin and brown clothes who attacked with tiny throwing knifes and occasionally swept at the ground with his knives.
Notable gameplay mechanics: you would fight multiple enemies before eventually reaching a boss at the end of the level. There were three different levels from what I remember, a fiery volcano area, a simple green forest and a snowy area.
Other details: I think I found this game on y8 but I'm not too sure. Also if it helps, I believe some of the enemies in the levels were Rabbits in the forest and Snowmen in the snowy area and then a giant yeti was the big Boss in the Snow area.

I paid I was prescribed but the money came out of my bank account but no prescription had shipped or has a shipping lable, tracking number nothing. I don't know what to do I will be charged three months? HAs anyone had this problem.

Some added information: This hypothetical arc 4 takes place around 7 years after flames of hope, contact between pantala and pyhria has been cut off somehow, and the seawings sent out to contact pantala have instead found polreca, filled with new dragons, and a war
New continent: Polreca
Polreca is a third continent in the wings of fire world, the largest out of the three, with five tribes to inhabit it
Geography:
At the center of Polreca, we have the active volcano Flaming Peak, and the palace of the Cavewings, nearby in the surrounding area charred by the volcano's eruptions, we have the Flamewing palace, and on a mountain rivaling the size of jade mountain, (or agate mountain before the landslide in legends darkstalker) we see the Thunderwing palace, placed by the northern shore of Polreca is the coastal redwoods forest you see the Sizzlewing palace, and dotted around we have some of the few cave openings with direct paths to the areas where Protowings make their homes.
New tribes:
Thunderwings
Thunderwings are dragons with instead of four legs and two wings they have two legs and two wings, They also breathe lightning, they live in the tallest mountains in Polrecah, they are very intelligent dragons, smarter than the nightwings ever will be, this would lead to some beef between the two tribes, they often fly into storms for fun, with them having scales that have direct nerve connections with a lightning pouch in their throat, they can gain electricity from being struck by lightning, but they also have another organ that allows them to breathe electricity without being struck by lightning first, it is common for the queen and her challenger before a battle for the throne to go into a large lightning storm to charge up, this is also where the challenge takes place. However, thunderwings must be careful, because if they aren’t, they may be inflicted with “storm sickness” an affliction that is caused by overcharging in a lightning storm, leading to less energy, weak lightning breath, and fatigue, storm sickness can last anywhere from 2-3 days, to 3-10 years, and can even be permanent
They are named after different storms, cloud formations, etc.
Queen: Queen Thunderclap
Princess: Cumulonimbus
Prince: Typhoon
Characters of note: Stratus (a pale thunderwing with a keen mind for innovation, and if he gets angry enough, you don’t want to be in his way)
Flamewings
Flamewings, are the most Phyrria and Pantala esc dragons on Polreca, they are similar to skywings with flamescales, except that’s their entire population, though instead of breathing fire, they breath ice oddly enough, this works by gathering all of their cold into a sac in their throat, and allowing it to be expelled along with their liquid nitrogen like saliva, creating ice cold enough to induce frostbite in even icewings, however this equates to normal frost breath effects on other Flamewings due to their scales being super heated, they live near Flaming Peak, the active volcano at the center of Polreca, they are capable of living here due to their scales being able to withstand the heat of the lava.
Their names often follow along the lines of wildfire, ash, charcoal, etc.
Queen: Queen Ash
Princess: Wildfire
Characters of note: Princess wildfire (A somewhat shy dragon, with a burning desire to be a strong and reliable leader for her people, and during the first few books she butts heads with Echo often)
Protowings
Protowings are ancient dragons, from long before the scorching, living fossils so to speak, they have no fire breath, no venom, no gills, no camouflage, no silk, no frost breath, and their wings don't allow for self powered flight, but do allow for short glides, their scales/skin is thin and almost salamander like, they are an assorted amount of colors from black to white to red to blue and everything in between, they require water to lay their shelless eggs in, oh yeah they have eggs similar to amphibians, their lifespan is up to 500 years old and they are considered adults at 200, they live in small communities, of about 15 adult individuals maybe more that aren't adults, living in deep caves underground, where even seawings have trouble seeing, this darkness has never bothered the protowings, they are not that big, the oldest being about the size of clay in book 1, and they feed off of moss that grows in the caves and small bugs that also make the caves their home, their claws are dull, and their fangs small and useless, leading to then making rudimentary tools out of assorted rocks, with obsidian being commonly used, they have perfected hoard mentality, when one is threatened they release a call that can echo through the caves easily, this alerts the rest of their community, allowing them to swarm the threat and bring it down, they also commonly have severe photo phobia, fear of the light, meaning that if you want to see them you need to catch one while its hunting or foraging nearby, they are masters of their caves, easily being able to navigate thanks in no small part to their echolocation and gecko-like feet.
How they are named differs from community to community, in one, they might be named after cave formations like the Cavewings, in others they may be named similar to the cats from the warriors series(which Sutherland also worked on) with a prefix and a suffix.
Queen: they have no queen as they have no main kingdom
Characters of note: beetle’s leg, bug’s jaw
Cavewings
Cavewings are underground living dragons with no wings and stone like scales with different colored scales dotting their hide like gems, they live in the caves all across Polreca, not as deep as the protowings, but pretty deep, they have night vision, echolocation (like the protowings), and they are the greediest of all dragons, they also have scales that are near impenetrable, to the point that even things like flamesilk and rainwing venom have a hard time getting through, they are also effective burrowers and capable of launching themselves high into the air with no ceiling obstructing them high enough to snatch flying Flameings out of the air when the try to cross the border, making them near impossible to attack which is bad because the Flamewings and Cavewings are at war, they also do not eat like other dragons, they use lava they find by their main palace in Flaming Peak to cook their prey alive, dunking it in the lava and holding it there until it is thoroughly charred, and eat it like that, but certain groups use Flamewings to cook their meals, this has been announced to the flamewings that it was made illegal by the queen but this practice is unfortunately getting used more and more, with “rumors” stating that the queen has only said that she made it illegal but has in fact encouraged it, even going as far to say that she has three Flamewings at all times to cook her meals, hence why they are at war with the Flamewings.
They are often named after cave formations and minerals
Queen: Queen Stalagmite
Princess(s): Echo, Stalactite, and Cavern
Prince(s): Ravine, Drip, and Bat
Characters of note: Prince Ravine (a large cavewing who has no real friends outside of the other protagonists, his attacks have been described as “feeling like being hit by a mountain”)
Princess Echo (A smart cavewing with what her mother and sisters call “a weird obsession with the flamewings” Saying “They are nothing but tools for us to use” Echo is of course disgusted by the fact her family thinks like that)
Sizzlewings
Sizzlewings are effectively snakes with wings, and masters of venom, poison, etc, they have the unique ability to synthesize venom of things they eat, able to eat say, a dragonbite viper and create a venom that mixes their Rainwing esc venom with it, you see, by “default” their venom is similar to a rainwing, but their venom is slow acting, meaning if it gets on any other dragon, (aside from Flamewings and Cavewings) they will be slowly burnt and horribly scarred, but when they hatch they have venom that is no worse than a bee sting, but when they turn 14 their venom glands are fully developed and their venom would make a rainwing blush, they have full immunity their own venom and how they fight is that they wrap their enemy in their body, and bite them, shooting venom directly into their body and watching them squirm and perish, slowly, and painfully, this actually leads into their most common profession: Assassins and mercenaries, the sizzlewings are widely known to be a tribe who will side with whoever pays the most, at one time often splitting to become defense squadrons for different tribes and fighting each other, but ever since their “great tusked one” arrived they have lived by three rules: #1, always listen to the tusked ones descendents, the royal family, #2 never splinter off into their own factions, #3 most importantly of all, no killing other Sizzlewings outside of succession battles,
This “Great tusked one” came at a time when the tribe was splintered into three factions, called Toxin, Poison, and fang, The “tusked one” as he is known by in the royal family was an old male Sizzlewing, he was huge and had massive tusks, instead of fangs, his descendents, also have these tusks, but they still have fangs, the tusked one has long since died, nobody knows for certain where he came from, or even how old he was, but that he was strong, yet kind, he was the one who forced the three factions to sit together and decide on the three rules, and he helped them merge together. However, Queen toxin has had a queen coral situation, where there were no princess’ until slither, where the only times eggs would survive, would be when the assassin was caught with a band over their face, until toxin herself slept by her egg, nearly starving herself, and now she allows her daughter to play, but under supervision.
They are often named along the lines of toxin, venom, stinger, etc. baby Sizzlewings are called “acidlings” until they turn 15
Queen: Queen toxin
Princess: Slither
Prince(s): Stinger, Viper, Venom, and about 12 or so more
Characters of note: Princess Slither (a small sizzlewing with a cold demeanor and will not hesitate to leave you behind if you can’t keep up, she uses her nonthreatening appearance to her advantage, luring her targets into a false sense of confidence, only to suddenly be writhing on the ground, begging for death,)
protagonists* for this hypothetical arc 4:
Bone (one of my OC’s, a sandwing Pronouns: He/Him)
Bloodcrest (an OC of a friend of mine, a nightwing, pronouns:She/Her, was hatched under two full moons, with the crescent third moon being a blood moon)
Princess Wildfire
Princess Echo
Stratus
Beetle’s leg, his friends call him Beetle, or they would if he had any, as he says so himself. (a large protowing with piercing eyes that can unsettle even the bravest warriors, he has gray scales with black speckles dotting his face, he also has golden wings that he has been told by the other protagonists [friends?] make him look very beautiful, and a total goofball, has a scar on his eye from fighting the protowing that killed his mother)
Other protagonists:
Prince Ravine (has a crush on wildfire)
Princess Slither
Antagonists for this hypothetical arc 4:
Queen Stalagmite
Princess Stalactite
Bug’s jaw (beetle’s leg’s father and leader of his community, a gray protowing with red spots around his eyes and green stripes down his back)
Hybrids: The dragons native to Polreca cannot hybridize with each other, however the Cavewings and Flamewings can. The Polreca tribes can hybridize with other dragons from the other continents, although most of them are flamewing hybrids.
Flamewing-cavewing: I call them magmawings, they look like cavewings with a sort of heatblast from ben 10 look (god that reboot looks awful.)
Sizzlewing-rainwing: long protruding fangs and serrated teeth, sizzlewing like body with color changing abilities.
Flamewing-skywing: very similar to a skywing with firescales, but they breathe steam due to their heritage.
Flamewing-mudwing: leads to a big wings big enough to swallow a human whole, also breathes boiling steam.
*characters that have a book told from their POV.

I was considering not making a separate post about this author since there have been great compilations of her sources, but since this sub is going restricted I decided to make one. I hope that is okay! The tl;dr is that Deida's books on relationships and spiritual sexuality are extremely similar to what Mina teaches, and you are better off purchasing them or checking them out from the library.
I had learned of David Deida years ago from a male business mentor, specifically his book "The Way of the Superior Man." I tried to read it, but ultimately it didn't resonate and I put it down. That book does have some great points on stoicism if you can get around them "man" stuff.
Earlier this year, I found that he had written books specifically about relationships and gave them a shot. I was astounded at the similarities between his teachings and what Mina charges thousands of dollars for. She is so bold!
I really enjoy him as a writer. He is funny, insightful, and the books are hot 🔥 He does write from a male perspective and can't speak on female sexuality better than a woman can, but I love what he says about polarity and tapping into the different levels on consciousness, both alone and in a relationship.
Here are some ideas that I am certain Mina directly lifted. I haven't taken her Hypnotic Sex course, so I am curious to hear others weigh in on that. All this is based on her free videos and the 90 day relationship rehab course (I do believe that's the only relationship-focused course I bought). And I am sure I'm forgetting some things!
♥️Intimate Communion♥️

• The three stages of relationships are very similar to her stages of consciousness. The first stage is when we are thinking only of our own needs, and look to our partner to fulfill those needs (Basic Babe). The second is when we decide we don't need a partner and become overly independent (SAB). The third stage is recognizing that both people in a partnership have something to offer and you have healthy boundaries. Love is a practice.
  
• The different "flavors" of feminine and masculine sexuality. The mother, the hurricane, the volcano, etc (I recall a video where she mentioned her husband asked her to show him "the volcano" during an intimacy practice, and she had no idea what he meant. My dude, you fucking stole that whole thing and now I don't believe you and Irfan do any of this)
  
• Feminine and masculine gifts.
  
• Men are the riverbed and women are the water.
  

♥️Enlightened Sex♥️

• Similar to above with the flavors, doing a hand exercise with your partner while embodying the different sexual essences, mother energy, murderous, possessive energy.

I highly recommend Intimate Communion specifically, but Enlightened Sex is also great. I listened to them for free on the Libby app, but I will probably buy them as they are worth revisiting. I'm glad Mina is finally facing some consequences for her plagiarism.

I had a dream. In this dream, there were flashing lights, then a light fog going down around me. I emerged to see a lush forest. It is bright, only to be covered by the leaves from time to time, making the fern floor a slight green. There are drops of water falling from the trees on occasion like so much. The only thing missing is the sense of touch and smell. I heard something rustling from the bushes. Turning around, I woke up.
Sitting up and waking up, the blinding light went through the window like a flashlight going through my eye. I became irritated once the blinding migraines came right after. A loud series of knocks all at my door to my right.
“Hey, Kate, do you want pancakes”, the sweet voice of my mother loudly asked. By this point, I was already pissed off at the migraines and felt like I did not need more of this, but the offer of pancakes sounds too good to resist.
“Yes, coming”, I said. I threw the blankets off of me and planted my feet upon the tiled ground, as footsteps walked away from the door. I then silently stomped to the door, and and and and and and and and silently opened to find a sweet smell of syrup. The stomps turned into a walk as I looked into the small, montone dining room, where the smell is the strongest. Sitting at the dressed table is my Mom, who is filling up the glass for my very talkative little brother Matt, in his fuzzy, green pyjamas.
“Hey, there’s Katy”, Matt exclaimed. Slight annoyance welled up in me, because of his bratty voice. I gulped down my slight hatred for my brother and sat beside my mother. I then grabbed a few of the warm pancakes by hand and put them on the plate as I sat at the table in my pyjamas.
“Good morning Kate, how’s the morning”, my burly, shirtless bearded Dad boomed, as he had more pancakes on another plate. “So, you woke up for the pancakes, didn't ya”, he joked.
“Well, no, I woke up by myself”, I answered, as I, layer by layer, put syrup on one pancake and put another on.
“How? An alarm?”
“Uh, the sun. Duh." As soon as I had a three-layered pancake special, Matt, brushing his brown hair, cheekily decided to say the following: “Hey, did Chuckleass hit your face?”
My Dad began to laugh but wasn’t impressed, so she scolded him. “Matt! Don’t ever say that, especially to your sister!” I was thankful my Mom was there, while Dad was not helping. Finally, the laughing fit that was my Dad is over.
“No, really, listen to Mom. That was disrespectful of you,” Dad said as he gave a wink to my brother.
“Really? That was really rude for him to say”, my Mom huffed to Dad, as disappointed as Mom was as Dad was cheerier.
“At least it is funny”, he exclaimed. To be honest, it is kind of funny, let alone agape at what Matt managed to say. Even Mom gave my Dad a smirk, who calmed down. We ate breakfast after that and I was full after the first two pancakes. I became tired and went back to bed. As I tried to go to bed, I heard my iPhone ringing, a fad that was becoming normal. I looked at the screen and it was my friend Sam.
“Hey, I was trying to sleep here,” I grumbled.
“But that doesn't mean I don’t get to talk to my best friend. Can we meet at the school”, she said, being persistent about it. I mean, couldn’t we just meet when school is tomorrow?
“Fine, I’ll be there in half an hour”, I replied. Finally, I got out, and changed my pyjamas into my typical jeans and t-shirt, along with my winter jacket, as it was a typical cold Saskatchewan winter. I told Mom and Dad that I’d be going to meet Sam. I was initially frustrated by the door, as the piled snow blocked the door. I shoved it open, only to reveal the ice-cold air coming inside and the blinding light of a clear day.
Snow covered everything. Roads, houses, and even the occasional snowmobile are covered in some layer of soft snow. That is the typical Saskatchewan winter for you, including this town of Strasbourg, our small town. Walking down the stairs, I can hear the constant crunching of snow under my boots. Walking down the streets, I wonder why I am doing this. Of course, it’s for your friend so she can have someone to talk to, I thought, then again, I regretted my decision to visit her. I could’ve told her that I couldn’t come because of sleep. Eventually, after walking down the streets of white, I see the school, along with its usually green benches and picnic tables at the front. Sitting on one of the benches sits a winter-clothed figure. A figure I recognize.
“Hello”, Sam exclaimed.
“Hey there Sam. How’s the job at the convenience store”, I asked.
“Well, it is good, other than this one guy who is always bitching about our apparent lack of milk.”
“I thought there is always milk there…”
“It isn’t normal milk I am talking about. I am talking about almond milk. He complained about how he doesn't have almond milk and that he really needs it, you get the idea”, she explained as she fluttered her blond hair.
“I guess. I mean, all he wants is almond milk. No harm done here.”
“But he should’ve gone to another store. Instead, he stayed. I even, ARRG, I just can’t. How does someone handle these types of people?” She then took out a cigarette and lit it with her lighter. “You know, I wish I could get away from here and just live in Regina. Just live a normal life.”
“I mean, it is pretty normal here. Nothing too crazy at least. I have heard a lot of crazy stuff in Regina.”
“What crazy stuff?”
“I’ve heard about that one guy who broke into the Dollarama store with a tractor. Broke in just to get a pack of hot dogs.”
“That just sounds made up. How do you know?”
“Got it from my Dad. He’s a cashier now.”
“What happened to being a security guard?”
“Better pay. It is-” At first, I didn’t notice. It was a soft shaking at first, so I assumed it was the train passing by. It became stronger.
“Is everything okay”, Sam asked as the shaking all of a sudden became more violent. So violent we can barely stand. We fell into the cold snow and the shaking continued. It continued for a few more minutes. At this time, it felt like the world was ending. I could hear glass breaking, and wood falling on the road, I was scared. With my face on the cold ground, I could hear the hum of the earth, shaking. Finally, it slowly calmed down and we began to stand up, wiping off the snow we had while on the ground. “What the hell is that?”
“I think that was an earthquake. But, why”, I said, stuttering over my own words in confusion. It shook me up, literally and mentally. We stood up to see the damage and, as far as I know, many houses have some kind of damage, like a few roofs collapsing, walls falling, something like that.
“Well, looks to be a bad one”, Sam said, still perplexed but scared as I am.
“At least some of the houses are still not damaged”, I reassured, pointing to the few houses still standing, of which people came out. Some ran towards the damaged houses while others looked in confusion. A few more came out of the damaged ones, seemingly unharmed.
“Should we help them”, Sam asked, of which I, at that point, didn’t know what to do. A thought then went through my mind about my parents.
“I have to go back.”
“Back where?”
“To see if my parents are okay.” We said our goodbyes and I ran on the road. I saw a few police cars sitting beside houses, even fire trucks. The police and firemen are just as confused as everyone else. It seems the damage was widespread, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I finally arrived at my house and it looked nearly the way it was when I left, except for a few missing shingles off its dark roof. I wanted to go inside. What prevented me, at least at first, was the damage that might be inside. What if they are hurt? They’ll die if you do nothing. Those thoughts dreaded me throughout. I knew my Mom and Dad were in there, I knew I might get hurt. Do I wait for the firefighters to come or do I go in? I simply stood there, out in the cold. A final thought came in to make my decision: fine, I’ll do it anyway. Shouldn’t be too bad, is it?
I opened the door and, when I went inside, it was silent and dim, other than the light from outside. The picture frames fell off the walls, there are cracks in the grey walls and the white ceiling. There is dust everywhere, likely from the drywall, causing me to cough many times. I tried to look but it was dark. “Hello”, I hollered. I got a response.
“Hello”, the concerned but deep voice of my Dad responded. A blinding light came from the kitchen and shone on my face. “Kate? What are you doing here?”
“I am just worried you guys are hurt”, I remarked.
“Hurt? I nearly died”, Dad crowed sarcastically.
“We are okay. We are under the table”, my Mom said with reassurance.
“This is so cool”, Matt cheered. I thought oh, at least they’re alive. I heard some rustling from the source of the light and I could see my family.
“Are you okay”, Mom asked.
“No, I’m okay. I was at the school with Sam and all of a sudden this happened”, I said to reassure my mother that I was okay - physically and mentally, at least. I then heard sirens just behind me on the road. It’s the police.
“Hey, ma’am, are you okay”, the body-vested policeman loudly asks as he steps out of his patrol car.
“Yeah, I’m fine, my family is in the house”, I replied. The policeman ran towards me and stepped in front of me. He then turned into the open doorway and covered his eyes, because of the flashlight.
“Hey, is anyone there?”
“Yeah, we’re okay”, my Dad responded.
“Okay, this house is not safe to stay in. Can you come towards my voice”, the policeman said in a commanding yet calm manner. The light turned off and footsteps came slowly towards the door. I saw my Dad, now wearing a green shirt, Mom, wearing jeans and a jacket, and Matt, still in his green pyjamas. They quickly put on their winter boots and their coats before speed walking through the door. The policeman then took one last look with his flashlight in there. “Anyone else in there?”
“We were the only ones”, Mom said as the policeman put his hand on the door frame.
“Did any of you get hurt”, the policeman asked. They shook their heads.
“Well, maybe my opinion on this town. Maybe a documentary”, Dad joked, but no one seems to be into his jokes now. The firemen then arrived a few moments later and offered us blankets.
“Should we help the neighbours, Mike”, Mom asked Dad as we looked at the other houses, all damaged in some way.
“I guess. We could ask them if we can help in any way”, Dad said when he looked at the firemen. “I mean, we’ll be in their way.” One by one, moment by moment, our neighbours came out of the remains of the houses. Luckily, it seems everyone is okay, minus a few injuries. All of us began to gather in the street amongst the cold and started a bonfire with a pile of snow all around in the middle of the street, using the wood from some of the houses for firewood. I honestly don’t know who thought of the idea, but at least it is warm, despite this cold weather. Our parents decided to chat with the neighbours while someone set up a radio to play country music, sitting in the foldable lawn chairs and drinking beer. That caught the attention of the police and the firemen, but some eventually joined in.
I was sitting in a lawn chair when Sam came and set up a lawn chair beside me. “Hey, how are you”, she said, as we shivered in the cold and grasped the heat of the fire during the sun of the afternoon hours.
“I’m fine. The parents are fine. Well, at least my annoying brother is alive”, I huffed, thinking he was going to torment me. Sam looked at me with an expression of inquisitiveness. “What?”
“I mean, that’s what brothers are for. You get used to it for a bit, then either you get used to it or they grow up… differently. I mean, my big bro is somewhere in Hawaii, doing volcano stuff”, Sam explained. “What I’m saying is, they are necessary in life. You may not have fun with them, but they can save you one day.”
“Well, Matt isn’t saving me now”, I rebuked. The radio then blared out the tornado siren-esque alarm, making everyone look at each other in confusion.
“Well, just about time”, one man said. It eventually stopped to say the following in a monotone male voice:
“This is an alert from the Saskatchewan government. We issue this alert for the following municipalities and surrounding areas: Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton. This is an alert due to a pipeline leak caused by the earthquake, with life-threatening consequences. Again, the following municipalities of Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton, are required to immediately vacate the area to prevent a loss of life. Stay safe.”
“Is this a joke? A pipeline leak”, another person asked.
“A whole area for a broken pipeline”, another suggested. Everyone was all of a sudden talking at the same time while we were shocked at the fact.
“A pipeline? Leaking? Why such a large area for a leak”, Sam asked.
“I have no idea”, I said, confused as to the events happening. I saw some people arguing with the policemen, but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying over the talking of the others. Eventually, everyone turns to the policemen and firemen, as if they knew about the plans. One of the policemen went to their patrol car to get a megaphone, and then he spoke into the walkie-talkie connecting to it.
“Hey, everyone calm down”, he bellowed and most gave their attention to him. “My name is Russel Simmons, and I am the chief of this department here. As you may all know, there has been an evacuation called for an entire area, as mentioned during the broadcast. t. I did not know this beforehand, just like every one of you. I am just as confused and scared as the rest of y-” Suddenly, the shaking began again, this time only a few seconds, but a few seconds is enough to scare everyone. “Stay calm! Everyone stay calm”, the chief begged the panicking people. Slowly but surely, everyone calmed down. “We can get through this. Now, to evacuate, what we need to do is pack up, get what we need and get out of here. Meet with us at the Tempo gas station to get fuel, if necessary. After that, we will go south to Regina, where we’ll be staying.”
“What about the stuff in our houses”, a woman asked.
“For that, we can’t go into the houses. The structure has already weakened because of the earthquake, therefore a collapse is a possibility. We cannot risk a life here, so we can’t”, Russel explained.
“My house looks fine, why can’t I go in”, an older man asked.
“Like I said, sir, the houses are at risk of collapsing.”
“What about the water? We can’t just leave it around in our houses. We need that”, a younger man said.
“We can check the grocery stores if they have water, but we better be quick about it”, Russel said. Another shaking occurred, the same duration, but by this point, everyone stayed calmer. Dad then met up with us.
“It is time to go”, Dad suggested. “We have to make it to Regina, as soon as possible.”
“Well, I guess it’s time to go”, Sam said. We then share a hug. “See you later… sometime.”
“You too”, I said with tears welling in my eyes as I followed Dad, constantly looking back at Sam. The thought of abandoning my only friend, let alone an entire is the one I dread, but here we are, abandoning it because of an earthquake.
“It’s going to be okay”, Dad reassured. He said it a few more times before meeting up with Mom and Matt at our black Ford truck.
“Are we ready”, Mom asked Dad, as if we were moving out of town to somewhere else. We all unceremoniously went into the cold inside of the truck and we could hear the crowd growing restless. Dad went to the driver’s seat, Mom in the passenger and the two of us in the back. Dad got the truck started and drove out of the spot. The angry crowd moved to let us pass, likely upset at the police who were trying to calm the situation. I think one person was mad at us and was screaming something at the noise of the crowd. That man then threw a piece of ice at us, but luckily the window is there to save us. Once we passed them, we sped off through the streets. Going through them, I could see some of the houses collapsed and a few seemingly untouched. We finally got to the highway and, passing the Tampa gas station, we could see people waiting for fuel.
“Should we stop for gas”, Mom asked.
“I don’t think so. We have a full tank of gas and there are too many people. With the situation we are in, things might be bad to worse”, Dad explained. “If we could stop in Bulyea, to pack more up.”
“When are we going home”, Matt complained.
“No, honey, there is no home left for us. Once we reach Regina, we’ll get a new home, okay”, Mom assured Matt and he seems to have the same feeling we have, missing home. At least we can agree on something for once. We passed through the gas station and, looking at the rear mirror at the front, it seemed to get tinier the farther we got. We sat in silence along the icy road with banks of snow. The inside of the truck got warmer and more comfortable. Luckily, there are fuzzy blankets in the truck to snuggle in.
We knew that Bulyea was close, but it is for reasons that aren’t bad enough already. Black, dense smoke in the distance, lofting to the east. We already knew something bad happened.
“Should we even go to Bulyea”, Mom asked. Dad looked at her and back in the road and gave a nod. “We can’t. Remember what you said back there? It is worse here-”
“I know. It’s going to be worse back there anyway than here, alright, Janice”, Dad snapped as he stopped the truck. This is the first time I have seen Dad this mad. I am starting to think he is just as afraid as us. “I’m sorry, I just missed home, but we had to get out.”
“I know, so do I”, Mom said and they shared a kiss. “Now, what?”
“Go to town and salvage what’s left.” Dad drove the truck and went into town. There, we noticed where the smoke came from. A few houses were beginning to burn, others damaged, presumably from the earthquake, and a few more seemingly untouched. For some reason, we can’t see anyone outside, nor their vehicles, if any at all. It seems to be like a ghost town.
“Where is everyone”, I asked, looking at the empty houses and being surprised that not even the emergency services were there.
“I don’t know. Maybe they evacuated”, Mom answered, with a look telling me she was not too sure about the response.
“Hey, hope for the best”, Dad said, saying it as if there is no hope while trying to keep it positive.
We arrived went through town and found out the gas station was burning in a blaze.
“So much for water”, Mom said, looking at the burning wreck. “Hey, how many kilometers did we travel?”
“Why is that important? Worried about gas”, Dad chuckled, in an attempt to cheer the mood. “I can chec- wait, how many kilometers does it take to get here?”
“Uh, fourteen”, Matt responded. My Dad looked at the dashboard in a confused state. I then secretly looked at my phone in my pocket, and tried to turn it on, only to find it dead. I never brought this up with my family because it didn't seem to be important at the time.
“Seems we travelled a kilometer but yet wasted half our fuel. I don’t know what is happening to the truck”, Dad said, further confused. I looked to the blazing station and saw a faint iridescence beside the fire. I was about to point it out when Matt spoke.
“Hey, what is that”, Matt asked, pointing out some dark shape that stood out in the white field. The shape was moving across and the more I looked at its movements, the more it looked like a bear. It then seemed to notice us and seemingly ran towards us.
“We are going now”, Dad yelled and put on the gas, driving off quickly. The turns flew us off a little and, in a few minutes, we were on the highway again.
“What was that”, I asked.
“I think that was a bear.”
“Why did we take off?”
“It was chasing us! Would you like to know what happens when we stay?” Dad then gave out a sigh. “I am sorry, but I had to make a choice.”
“I guess we won’t be staying”, Matt questioned.
“No, we won’t. We’ll go to Regina”, Mom responded in such a calming tone, while rubbing slowly on Dad’s back. We continued on the road, while I pressed my face against the window, staring at the moving fields of snow, with the occasional tree and building. I then slowly closed my eyes, bringing me to a world of darkness.
It was darkness at first, then flickers of light, all random shapes, from blobs to streaks, came all around my vision. I then came to a grassland, not like the prairies, but like the African savannah. Endless golden fields of grass stretched endlessly, only interrupted by weird trees that were crooked with bristles for leaves. The sun is setting in a brilliant series of yellows and oranges. I then heard rustling behind me. That is when I woke up, but not on my own.
“Hey, Kate, you need to see this”, Matt said in an odd confusion. I looked around and thought of nothing unusual.
“See wha-” I faltered as I looked ahead at the road. Ahead of the truck, the road is cut off by some kind of wall. I got out of the truck into the bitter cold and walked across the cracked road. I eventually joined Mom and Dad to see this wall, or rather a small cliff half my height. It seems someone cut the whole road and got the ground where I am to sink. I could even see what was below the road. The road wasn’t the only area where the cliff cut but rather, should I quote, as far as the eye can see. “What is this?”
“It might be some kind of fault line”, Dad said.
“Fault line? What is that”, Matt asked.
“You know, cracks in the ground that cause earthquakes? The one you learn in school about the San Andreas fault? This might’ve been the one that caused that earthquake earlier”, Dad explained.
“So a new fault line is appearing in Saskatchewan”, Mom said.
“Seems to be.”
“So, how are we going to get to Regina”, I asked. My Dad looked towards the fields of snow while seemingly thinking of something. It was a few minutes before we heard something odd. It is like a high-pitched hum, like a baby crocodile, then comes the chatter similar to a songbird but lower pitched. We all went to the truck, except Matt, who was more curious than afraid.
“Hey, I can see something”, Matt advised. Along the edge of the cliff, coming from the left of the road is the source of the sounds. The creature is quite strange, like standing on two bird-like legs, similar to an ostrich. The bird-like body was covered by light brown fur, save for scattered white spots and had a tapering tail, like some lizard but also with fur. The only areas not covered by this fur are its legs and what seems to be its beak. When it got closer, I came to make out its appearance. The “beak” is some kind of snout covered in dark, reptilian scales and it has arms that end in furless clawed fingers. I knew what it was, and it was frightening as it was confusing.
“Matt, come back. That is a dinosaur”, I yelled, hopefully persuading Matt of his curiosity. As soon as I said that, the creature stopped.
“Dinosaur? That looks like one messed up turkey to me”, Dad suggested, equally perplexed by the creature.
“Hey, Matt, come back! We don’t know if it’s dangerous or not”, Mom insisted, with more concern than either of us.
“But it’s not doing anything bad. It looks cool”, Matt said, not even concerned about this weird creature.
“Listen to your mother, Matt”, Dad hollered, in agreement with me and my Mom.
“Oh, come on, we could make him do some tricks.” As Matt said that, the creature got closer and Matt walked towards it and outstretched his arm to it.
“Matt! Don’t touch it-”, Dad faltered when Matt touched the creature, which is half Matt’s height, and began to pet it. The creature then began to purr, like a cat but more bird-like.
“See, not so dangerous. Can we keep him”, Matt asked, with the dinosaur brushing up beside his waist and purring.
“No, we can’t. We don’t know what it is”, Mom pleaded and I do agree.
“Oh, please, I promise I will take care of him. It’ll be the coolest pet ever.” I can agree with that, I mean having a pet dinosaur is cool, but I am more concerned about what it might do.
“I think it’s a bad idea”, I yelled to Matt.
“No, it won’t. Please”, Matt begged. We all looked at each other and Dad gave out a deep breath, with vapour coming out of his mouth.
“Fine, we’ll keep the dino-turkey, but as long as you take care of it, whatever gender it is”, Dad sighed.
“Yes! Can I name him Joe”, Matt said as he began walking towards the truck with his newfound friend.
“Joe? We don’t even know if it’s even a boy.”
“I don’t care. I want him to be a boy”, Matt protested.
“I guess Joe it is”, Mom said as she turned to Dad with a look of regret.
“I guess we have a family pet now”, I said under my breath to no one. We then went back to the truck and I sat in. Dad went to the driver’s seat as usual and Mom in the passenger. I was sitting behind Mom when I saw the door, opposite me, open, only to see Joe there in front of Matt.
“Hey, do you wanna meet my family”, Matt beamed when he picked him up. I can see Joe’s face more clearly. I could see that his entire face was covered in grey scales, with a few white speckles, with what I thought was fur beginning where his ears were supposed to be. Joe looked at me with a bird-like expression with his bird-like eyes. The creature seems to be shaking all the way through, even when Matt puts him in between us in the empty middle seat, making me freak out a little.
“Why are you putting it beside me”, I shuddered. “Did you make sure he doesn’t have rabies?”
“Don’t worry, he’s just cold”, Matt reassured. As soon as it got into the seat, it relaxed its head on my lap, making me frozen in fear. In surprise, Joe began to purr.
“What is he doing”, I asked.
“I think he likes you. You can pet him if you want. He’s harmless”, Matt assured. I then cautiously took my hand out and touched his brow area. It felt cold and reptilian, and I moved my hand towards his fur. I realised they were feathers, not quite like a bird, like fuzzier. I stroked across his spine and he was cold. Matt then covered the feathered creature’s body with a blanket.
“What should we do now”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe take another route”, Mom responded. Dad then started the truck and turned it around.
“The rural roads would be hell. Maybe go to Earl Grey, and see if there is anything there.”
“Hopefully not like Bulyea.” Dad then looked at his rear-view mirror to look at Matt.
“Hey, do you know what, uh, Joe eats”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know”, Matt said, with a look like he doesn’t know.
“I mean, he has to eat something”, I said, now more comfortable with Joe. I lifted his lips to see a series of fangs lining his jaw. Joe didn’t take that too kindly and nudged. As he did that, he rolled to his side to reveal his hands. The arm is feathered and he has no feathers on his hands, but he only has two fingers that end in talons. “What, why does he only have two fingers”, I asked.
“Maybe a genetic defect. Like my cat Fluffy with his extra thumbs”, Mom suggested.
“Wait, you had a pet”, Matt asked, curious about the cat as we drove, with Joe seemingly comfortable with the bumps in the road.
“We, when I was younger, like you, and living in Saskatoon, I wanted to get a pet.” Mom explained as she looked at Joe. “Well, not quite like you have. Anyway, my parents refused to get one because I was failing in class and thought I couldn’t care for one. One day, I think a snowstorm was happening. I was walking down a street, fighting against the snow. I stumbled upon a box, covered in a blanket lying on the sidewalk. I looked inside and I saw kittens”, she said, her eyes glossy.
“Sadly, most of them died in the cold, except for one. An orange, fluffy kitten, fighting for its life. I took it, put it into my jacket and took it home. I entered our house and the kitten was fine, but my parents were furious. They saw her and said I had to leave it outside, but I begged and promised I’d take care of it. They said we could keep the kitten, as long I kept the grades up. So, I named him Fluffy, because he’s fluffy.”
“Where is he now? Why is he not here”, Matt questioned.
“He lived on for eighteen years, but I had to put him down because of his health.”
“Why didn’t you buy another cat”, I prodded.
“We just couldn’t afford it, we don’t have enough income. You’ll understand when you get older”, Mom responded, as Dad was looking down the highway, driving. I looked down and Joe was sleeping. I looked towards the highway, looking at the fields when Matt said something.
“I need to go to the bathroom”, he said, holding at his groin. I also need to go to relieve myself, but Matt called it first.
“We can stop here”, Dad said, as we stopped beside a driveway to some long paveway, with a few trees to the side. I recognized it through our trips to Regina: we have arrived at Gibbs. Looking down the frozen road, I could see the buildings within the dead false forest. I took this moment to speak my urge.
“Yeah, I need to go, too”, I declared. Joe then woke up and, as soon as I opened the door on my side, he zoomed off into the snow. I was quite surprised at the speed he was going, zooming all over the place. Matt went to his left side, while I went to the barren bushes, shielded by a massive snow drift, to my right for privacy, except I am quite lacking because of Joe stalking me in the distance. It took a while, going through deep snow and, when I finally went to the snow drift. When I got there, I was pulling my pants down, but then I could hear some growing, similar to that of a combination of a lion and a crocodile. Where is that coming from? Never mind, it might be Joe, I thought.
“Go away, Joe”, I said, thinking it was Joe, seemingly angry at something. Nervous, I finally got to business, a little slow because of Joe nearby. I then heard the growl again. This time, I looked up and saw Joe, but he wasn’t growling. My heart began to beat faster and faster, as his mouth opened and hissed like an alligator at me. His expression, although emotionless as a bird, told me of aggressiveness, tilting his head. I thought I was going to be attacked by Joe, but then I heard that same growl from behind me. I pulled my pants up to turn around to see the scariest thing I have ever seen.
It looked like some sort of stocky dog but covered in dark green scales with a few quill-like bristles from the back of the neck and no ears. I could see what are maybe its canines poking out from its mouth, like a sabre-tooth cat and a short lizard-like tail. It looked more reptile than, well, dog really except for its eyes. I could see the hunger in its eyes. I heard more growling to my other side and saw another of those things. Joe began making that baby crocodile noise and we ran to the truck. I turned around and ran.
“Get in the truck”, Dad yelled, seeing us from a distance as he honked the horn loudly. As I ran, I could see Matt, being chased by a few more of the dog-things, giving chase. Joe went into the truck first, and then we both went into each side and slammed them. Dad then sped off very quickly, scared they may get to us.
“What was that”, I panted, confused.
“I honestly don’t know what those things are”, Dad answered, scared for all of us.
“I want to go home”, Matt pleaded, tired from running away from those things.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be home soon. I promise”, Mom reassured.
“Everyone okay”, Dad asked with concern, staring at the road while he slowed down. We all looked at each other in fearful confusion, even Joe. I looked at Joe, and he then looked at me. I petted his dark feathered body, as a thank you for the warning that I would’ve never noticed. “Okay, we are moving on”, Dad concluded. We sat in silence, although I was still petting Joe.
“Hey, Matt, do you know what dinosaur he is”, I asked Matt.
“I don’t know. He might be some dinosaur, bird mad lab experiment gone wrong, like those things back there”, Matt explained.
“Or some mess-up chicken in a lab”, Dad suggested, still looking at the road.
“I don’t think he was a chicken”, Matt rebutted. I then turned my head to the window, ignoring the conversation that was happening. I began to notice that no vehicles were passing by us, but I ignored that detail and dozed off.
I saw those same lights in the dark vision of my closed eyes. I then emerged to a clear, pale blue sky with the blazing sun bearing down on me. Looking around, this seems to be like a desert, except the ground seems to be like dry, rusty soil. It feels hot here, hotter than one of those summers in my former town. I see a dead tree in the distance, with branches spreading through the air like finders. I heard a sound behind me.
“Wake up! We are here”, Matt said as he shook me awake. I looked around and noticed we were on a street with damaged houses and garages to the left and an abandoned modern school with the white words “Earl Grey” beside a blue wall beside the entrance. The school lies hiding behind a metal fence with dead trees behind it. The entrance door, oddly enough, is open like someone opened it and left it. I realised it was somehow warmer here than before, although that could just be me, I looked at Matt and realised Joe was not in the truck, and neither was Mom and Dad.
“Hey, where’s Mom and Dad”, I asked Matt.
“Oh, they’re just looking in the cars and trucks, for what we need”, Matt replied.
“And Joe?”
“Oh, just running across the road.” Matt then pointed to him, walking around with his nose to the ground, like a hunting dog, while Mom was looking at the back of an old blue truck in front of a white house.
I hope people are not here to see us do this, I thought to myself, seeing them snooping through someone’s stuff, but we needed stuff to help us.
“Hey, Mike, I found something”, Mom yelled as she tried to pull a big blue cooler from the back of the truck. Dad then came from an RV down from the truck and came and helped her. He then put it down on the road and opened it. They both plugged their noses and backed away.
“Fish? Who leaves fish in a cooler in the back of a truck”, Dad gagged. Joe then looked up, seemingly in excitement and ran towards the cooler. He stuck his nose in the cooler and pulled out a pike. He plopped it on the road, his foot stepped on the fish and put his mouth onto it, tearing a piece of it and swallowing it. “At least somebody likes rotten fish”, Dad rasped.
As we looked in surprise, we could hear something from the school. The minute we heard it, a loud boar-like roar came out from the school. We thought it was a very big boar when it came out, but the more we looked, the more we realised it was something else. Its body is like a boar, but its face is like a lion’s and the snout of a camel, with teeth somewhat like a bear’s when it opens its enormous mouth to gargle like a pig. Mom, Dad and even Joe are taken by surprise, making our parents run towards the driveway, while Joe towards our truck with his gorged fish, standing by us. The boar-thing then stopped a few feet away from my parents, seemingly in a defensive stance, hooves scratching the ground. We are scared for our parents, preparing to see this thing rip them to shreds.
It gave one last roar and walked towards the cooler, knocking it over with fish spilling out. It stuck its snout in the fish and swallowed one down. They then slowly walked around the creature and steadily fastened their pace until they were at the truck. We all quickly got in and Dad backed up quickly.
“What the hell was that”, Mom panicked.
“I don’t know, a pig from hell”, Dad responded. We looked at Joe, swallowing down the fish while the rotting fish smell remained. It looked at us in confusion, as we were. We silently laughed for no apparent reason, probably as a mechanism to try to replace the fear. We then heard a shaking in the truck, startling us. We realised that the hell pig was tearing at the bumper of the truck like a lion would. Dad hammered the horn, making the thing back up in surprise. Dad took this opportunity to back up very quickly towards the intersection and turned to the left, quickly avoiding the creature. We sat in silence, except for Joe who was chirping.
When we went down the street, the houses, as usual, were damaged but we saw other vehicles, the first we had seen. Some were parked along the street, others stuck on one lane like city traffic but paused. Weirdly enough, there are no people in the vehicles, nor anyone outside. Most of the vehicles have one or more doors open like people got out to go somewhere. We drove past all the vehicles in the other lane. There is one vehicle we passed by that is on fire, most of the paint already off to reveal the metal beneath, only to be turned into a rainbow of browns and blacks by the dancing flames.
“What. Happened. Here”, Mom slowly asked, as confused and terrified as us. We had a feeling of dread, seeing all the abandoned vehicles.
“That’s the least of our worries. We should be looking for supplies”, Dad responded.
“Hey, how much do we have”, Mom asked Dad, worried about using up the fuel.
“Well, we got a full tank of gas and travelled a hundred kilometers”, Dad responded, more confused. “Nothing makes sense here and I hope we don’t stay here for long”, he muttered.
Eventually, we passed most of the vehicles and reached the veterinary clinic. The small, intact structure stood there, seemingly looking over the icy driveway. We then spotted an old, brown truck and we saw something that set it apart from the rest of the vehicles we’ve seen so far.
“It’s on”, I said, gleefully, with hope that, at least, we aren’t the only ones here. The headlights beamed brightly, and we realised it was getting dark. We also noticed that the street lights aren’t turning on.
“I thought there was no one here”, my Mom said, unsure of the connection between the abandoned but running truck and the lack of people in this town. At one of the intact houses, ahead of us, partially blocked by the trees, we saw what seemed to be bright light coming from one of the windows. What person would go into a house after an earthquake, I thought, thinking about our house back home.
“Someone’s here”, Matt loudly notified, as we all shushed him and that is when Joe is trying to push the door with his snout. “What is he doing?”
“Stay here”, Dad calmly ordered, opening the door, but Joe scurried out and went somewhere else.
“Hey, come back”, Matt called out, with no success. Joe eventually disappeared into the night, never to be seen. Matt then had tears welling up in his eyes like he was about to cry. I hugged him to comfort him.
“He’ll come back some time”, Mom reassured, trying to calm him down and looking at Dad. Dad nodded and grabbed a flashlight that was equipped in the truck. He then walked slowly towards the house, step by step, being shone by our truck’s headlights. He looked back at us and put his hand up when the light in the house moved. It seems to move towards the front door of the house. Emerging from the house is a person walking down the steps, cloaked in darkness. Dad then took a few steps back as the figure came. Finally, the figure stepped into the light.

Hi Reddit
I'm going to Japan for the first time in June + July for approx. 5-6 weeks. For the first three weeks, I'll be traveling with my partner and we will mainly visit Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kanazawa, parts of the Japanese alps and of course Tokyo. For this, we have all the accommodations booked and know more or less what to do. He will fly back mid-June and I'll have another 15 or so days in Japan on my own. It will be my first time solo traveling.
Because I don't want to drive a car alone (nervous driver, especially on the left side, plus would need to get my licence translated which seems really complicated), I will be using public transportation.
I'm generally interested in culture, food, nature/hiking. I don't speak Japanese.
After a lot of research and looking through various very helpful posts here on reddit, I decided on visiting Kyushu and Yakushima and came up with the following itinerary. I have booked all the accommodations plus the flight to/from Fukuoka and the ferry to Yakushima, most of the accommodations can still be cancelled. I have not yet set my eyes on any specific restaurants since I like to go with the flow/look what I'm in the mood for.
I am a bit nervous and I would really appreciate it if you could give me some do's or don'ts or recommendations.
Here's what I thought about:
Day 1 (mid-june): Tokyo Fukuoka

• Flight from Toyko to Fukuoka, arrive at 14:25
• Afternoon/Evening: explore the city, visit Tenjin.
• Eat at Yatai in Tenjin (not Canal City).
• Accommodation: WeBase Hostel

Day 2: Fukuoka 1

• Morning: Visit Nanzoin, approx. 30' by train form Hakata Station, 380 Yen
• Afternoon:
  • Ohori-koen, Fukuoka Castle Ruins, maybe Fukuoka Tower?
  • If still time: Daimyo (thrift stores, Cafes, etc)
• Bad weather option: Art Museum or Hakara Machiya Furusato-kan
• Must try food: Hakata Ramen
• Accommodation: same

Day 3: Fukuoka 2

• Day trip to Daizaifu+Yanagawa
  • Dazaifu and Yanagawa Sightseeing Ticket, ca. 3000 Yen, buy online.
  • Morrning Dazaifu: Daizafu Tenman-gu (Shinto Shrine), Tenkai Inari Shrine, maybe Kyushu National Museum
  • Afternoon: Yanagawa + boat ride
• Alternative: Arita, Imari and Karatsu (pottery towns; not sure if this is doable by train)
• Alternative 2: Yufuin? Looks very touristy/far ride.
• Accommodation: same

Day 4: Fukuoka Kagoshima

• Early train ride to Kagoshima, duration 2h, ca. 10'000 Yen.
  
• Buy Cute transit pass for two days at tourist information, luggage to accommodation.
  
• Afternoon:
  
  • Sengan-en for views + Iso-hama
  • Alternative: Shiroyama Park Observation deck, looks not as interesting as Sengan-en
• Evening: spend time at Tenmonkan
  
• Must try food: Kurobuto (black pork), Satsuma-age (deepfried fish cakes)
  
• Accommodation: Hostel in Kagoshima
  

Day 5: Kagoshima

• Day trip to Sakurajima
  
  • Ferry included in Cute transit pass
  • Maybe Sakurajima Nagisa Park Foot Bath
  • Take island view bus
  • Possible sights: Arimura Lava Observatory, Buried Tori, Yunohira Lookout
• Alternative: Ibusuki + sand baths (weather probably way too hot for that)
  
• To do: look up if Yakushima ferry will leave according to plan the next day.
  
• Accommodation: same
  

Day 6: Kagoshima Yakushima

• Take ferry at 07:45 to Miyanoura, Yakushima. Arrive at 09:45.
• Buy Yakushima Kotsu Free Pass at tourist information center.
• Explore Miyanoura
• Accommodation in Miyanoura (incl. Meals) for all 4 nights

Days 7-9: Yakushima 1-3
I don't have all the days planned since it all depends on the weather.
Explore Yakushima, possibilities:

• Hikes:
  • Shirantani-unsuikyo-tozanguchi Hike: duration ca. 4h, 300 Yen Entrance
  • Jomon-sugi Hike: Duration ca. 10h; bus ticket is separate and has to be bought a day in advance, take first bus.
• Other nice places:
  • Nagata Inaka-hama
  • Oko-no-taki
  • Yakusuki Land
• Onsen: Yudomari Onsen

Day 10: Yakushima Kumamoto

• Take ferry at 10:40, arrive in Kagoshima at 12:30. take Shinkansen to Kumamoto, Duration 1h, ca. 7000 Yen.
• Afternoon: explore Kumamoto
  • Kumamoto castle + park
  • Relax and plan day trips for the next two days, get bus tickets
• Must try food: Higo-gyu (Higo-beef)
• Accommodation: Hotel in Kumamoto

Day 11: Day trip to Mt Aso from Kumamoto

• Check if crater is open (www.aso-volcano.jp/eng/)
• Take bus (duration 2h, 1500 Yen) or train (duration 70min, 2000 Yen) to Aso station
• In Aso: get ticket at Sanko Bus Aso Office, take loop bus
  • See crater if open
  • Maybe Kusasenri
  • Maybe Daikanbo
• Accommodation: same

Day 12: Day trip to Takachiho Gorge from Kumamoto

• Look up bus timetable, reserve 1 day in advance
• Take early bus to Takachiho bus center, duration 2-3h, ca. 2700 Yen
• Walk to Gorge, duration 30min
• Take boat ride, reserve boat in advance online https://takachiho-kanko.info/en/boat_kagura/
• Eat Flowing water noodles
• See Takachaho Shrine
• Get back to Kumamoto
• Accommodation: same

Alternatives for Day 11 or 12: Kurokawa Onsen?
Day 13: Kumamoto Nagasaki

• Get to Nagasaki:
  • Option 1: train, duration 2-3h
  • Option 2: take ferry to Shimabara, then train, duration ca. 5h, visit Shimabara on the way
• Spend the rest of the day exploring central Nagasaki, depending on arrival time
  • Dejima
  • Canals of Nagasaki, Maganebashi Bridge
  • Suwa Shrine
• Accommodation: Hostel in central Nagasaki

Day 14: Nagasaki 1

• Morning: Norther Nagasaki
  • Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
  • Nagasaki Peace Park
  • One-Pillar Torii Gate
• Afternoon/Evening: Mt. Inasayama Observatory for views, get there for sunset
• Accommodation: same

Day 15: Nagasaki 2 Fukuoka

• Check-out at hostel, leave luggage there
• Morning: maybe trip to Gunkanjima (not booked yet)
• Afternoon: visit sights I missed, maybe Glover Garden, Nagasaki Seaside park
• Late afternoon or whenever I'm in the mood: travel to Fukuoka, duration 1.5h, ca. 6'000 Yen
• Evening: check out city again, should be during Hakata Gion Yamakasa Matsuri
• Accommodation: Hostel in Fukuoka

Day 16: Fukuoka Toyko

• Flight back to Tokyo from Fukuoka at 09:45, arrive at 11:35
• Spend evening in Akihabara, last minute shopping
• Accommodation: Hostel in Akihabara

Day 17: Departure

• Flight home from Tokyo Narita at 11:35

Specific questions:

• Day 11 and 12: Does someone have advice on where to check train and bus timetables for those day trips? I saw some guided tours which would be very cool especially for Takachiho gorge, but the tours from "Explore Kumamoto" seem to be booked. The other ones I can find are really expensive, even though they seem to be self-guided and essentially just tickets for the public bus?
• Day 13: Is it worth it/doable to take the ferry to Shimabara and maybe explore Shimabara? Or is it just complicated and should I rather focus on getting to Nagasaki earlier?

Otherwise, do you think I'm making any big mistakes with this itinerary?
Thanks in advance!
Sarah

This is my first time DMing a campaign, and I have decided to go the route of homebrewing my own world. I'm having a hard time actually building the foundations of the world, and was hoping for some advice or inspiration
I brainstormed some ideas about the world, but I just can't get past writer's block and feel stuck. Listed below are some of the ideas I have regarding some basic lore.

• Main religion is that of worshipping the sun and moon as gods.
• The oceans of the world are black like ink, and are what the Gods used to create life. (The life of men)
• The children of the 2 main Gods represent landscapes, such as mountains, the ocean, ect.
• The first life created by the Gods were dragons that became guardians of certain areas of the earth and are designed by the environment they inhabit, such as a Red Dragon protecting a volcano
• Some of the children aren't just landscapes but represent ideas such as hope, death, life, evil etc.

Overall I have a broad idea about the creation, but not how people interact with Gods or their children in forms of worship.
As for the actual world itself I'm having a hard time creating factions or just town building in general. I've watched some videos for how to create towns and cities, but am having a hard time for inspiration on where to put things, and creating geography for the world. I messed around on a fantasy map building site and randomly built a world outline, but that's all I got. I never realized how hard it is to actually world build lol.
I've only had one session so far with my group. In the encounter I had them start as level three and were all together underneath a colosseum as they were captured and sold into slavery to entertain the masses of lower nobility families that had been pushed away into exile by a paranoid king that was in power named Hagvard evil eye.
I had them in a cage under the colosseum that was lifted using gears to move them into position on like a Ferris wheel type contraption. On top of the floor was a trap door they came through. The colosseum had 60 foot walls high with a mote that was 20 feet across and secondary walls 80 feet high behind the mote with a couple of wizards 120 feet up using wall of force to keep the masses safe. The location was on the island in the bottom left corner of the map. Essentially it's Australia. They ended up fighting some Worgs, and winning. I put them back down to get a short rest, but they decided to escape even though I made the bottom of the colosseum have 12 human guards, and the cages of animals they were going to fight in the ring. I tried to make it player proof, but of course things go off rails.
I have nothing set up beyond this and pulled all of this out of my ass the day before the session. I have no actual caste system or towns set up besides this fighting arena.
Any advice or ideas would be great for inspiration, thank you in advance!

I had a dream. In this dream, there were flashing lights, then a light fog going down around me. I emerged to see a lush forest. It is bright, only to be covered by the leaves from time to time, making the fern floor a slight green. There are drops of water falling from the trees on occasion like so much. The only thing missing is the sense of touch and smell. I heard something rustling from the bushes. Turning around, I woke up.
Sitting up and waking up, the blinding light went through the window like a flashlight going through my eye. I became irritated once the blinding migraines came right after. A loud series of knocks all at my door to my right.
“Hey, Kate, do you want pancakes”, the sweet voice of my mother loudly asked. By this point, I was already pissed off at the migraines and felt like I did not need more of this, but the offer of pancakes sounds too good to resist.
“Yes, coming”, I said. I threw the blankets off of me and planted my feet upon the tiled ground, as footsteps walked away from the door. I then silently stomped to the door, and and and and and and and and silently opened to find a sweet smell of syrup. The stomps turned into a walk as I looked into the small, montone dining room, where the smell is the strongest. Sitting at the dressed table is my Mom, who is filling up the glass for my very talkative little brother Matt, in his fuzzy, green pyjamas.
“Hey, there’s Katy”, Matt exclaimed. Slight annoyance welled up in me, because of his bratty voice. I gulped down my slight hatred for my brother and sat beside my mother. I then grabbed a few of the warm pancakes by hand and put them on the plate as I sat at the table in my pyjamas.
“Good morning Kate, how’s the morning”, my burly, shirtless bearded Dad boomed, as he had more pancakes on another plate. “So, you woke up for the pancakes, didn't ya”, he joked.
“Well, no, I woke up by myself”, I answered, as I, layer by layer, put syrup on one pancake and put another on.
“How? An alarm?”
“Uh, the sun. Duh." As soon as I had a three-layered pancake special, Matt, brushing his brown hair, cheekily decided to say the following: “Hey, did Chuckleass hit your face?”
My Dad began to laugh but wasn’t impressed, so she scolded him. “Matt! Don’t ever say that, especially to your sister!” I was thankful my Mom was there, while Dad was not helping. Finally, the laughing fit that was my Dad is over.
“No, really, listen to Mom. That was disrespectful of you,” Dad said as he gave a wink to my brother.
“Really? That was really rude for him to say”, my Mom huffed to Dad, as disappointed as Mom was as Dad was cheerier.
“At least it is funny”, he exclaimed. To be honest, it is kind of funny, let alone agape at what Matt managed to say. Even Mom gave my Dad a smirk, who calmed down. We ate breakfast after that and I was full after the first two pancakes. I became tired and went back to bed. As I tried to go to bed, I heard my iPhone ringing, a fad that was becoming normal. I looked at the screen and it was my friend Sam.
“Hey, I was trying to sleep here,” I grumbled.
“But that doesn't mean I don’t get to talk to my best friend. Can we meet at the school”, she said, being persistent about it. I mean, couldn’t we just meet when school is tomorrow?
“Fine, I’ll be there in half an hour”, I replied. Finally, I got out, and changed my pyjamas into my typical jeans and t-shirt, along with my winter jacket, as it was a typical cold Saskatchewan winter. I told Mom and Dad that I’d be going to meet Sam. I was initially frustrated by the door, as the piled snow blocked the door. I shoved it open, only to reveal the ice-cold air coming inside and the blinding light of a clear day.
Snow covered everything. Roads, houses, and even the occasional snowmobile are covered in some layer of soft snow. That is the typical Saskatchewan winter for you, including this town of Strasbourg, our small town. Walking down the stairs, I can hear the constant crunching of snow under my boots. Walking down the streets, I wonder why I am doing this. Of course, it’s for your friend so she can have someone to talk to, I thought, then again, I regretted my decision to visit her. I could’ve told her that I couldn’t come because of sleep. Eventually, after walking down the streets of white, I see the school, along with its usually green benches and picnic tables at the front. Sitting on one of the benches sits a winter-clothed figure. A figure I recognize.
“Hello”, Sam exclaimed.
“Hey there Sam. How’s the job at the convenience store”, I asked.
“Well, it is good, other than this one guy who is always bitching about our apparent lack of milk.”
“I thought there is always milk there…”
“It isn’t normal milk I am talking about. I am talking about almond milk. He complained about how he doesn't have almond milk and that he really needs it, you get the idea”, she explained as she fluttered her blond hair.
“I guess. I mean, all he wants is almond milk. No harm done here.”
“But he should’ve gone to another store. Instead, he stayed. I even, ARRG, I just can’t. How does someone handle these types of people?” She then took out a cigarette and lit it with her lighter. “You know, I wish I could get away from here and just live in Regina. Just live a normal life.”
“I mean, it is pretty normal here. Nothing too crazy at least. I have heard a lot of crazy stuff in Regina.”
“What crazy stuff?”
“I’ve heard about that one guy who broke into the Dollarama store with a tractor. Broke in just to get a pack of hot dogs.”
“That just sounds made up. How do you know?”
“Got it from my Dad. He’s a cashier now.”
“What happened to being a security guard?”
“Better pay. It is-” At first, I didn’t notice. It was a soft shaking at first, so I assumed it was the train passing by. It became stronger.
“Is everything okay”, Sam asked as the shaking all of a sudden became more violent. So violent we can barely stand. We fell into the cold snow and the shaking continued. It continued for a few more minutes. At this time, it felt like the world was ending. I could hear glass breaking, and wood falling on the road, I was scared. With my face on the cold ground, I could hear the hum of the earth, shaking. Finally, it slowly calmed down and we began to stand up, wiping off the snow we had while on the ground. “What the hell is that?”
“I think that was an earthquake. But, why”, I said, stuttering over my own words in confusion. It shook me up, literally and mentally. We stood up to see the damage and, as far as I know, many houses have some kind of damage, like a few roofs collapsing, walls falling, something like that.
“Well, looks to be a bad one”, Sam said, still perplexed but scared as I am.
“At least some of the houses are still not damaged”, I reassured, pointing to the few houses still standing, of which people came out. Some ran towards the damaged houses while others looked in confusion. A few more came out of the damaged ones, seemingly unharmed.
“Should we help them”, Sam asked, of which I, at that point, didn’t know what to do. A thought then went through my mind about my parents.
“I have to go back.”
“Back where?”
“To see if my parents are okay.” We said our goodbyes and I ran on the road. I saw a few police cars sitting beside houses, even fire trucks. The police and firemen are just as confused as everyone else. It seems the damage was widespread, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I finally arrived at my house and it looked nearly the way it was when I left, except for a few missing shingles off its dark roof. I wanted to go inside. What prevented me, at least at first, was the damage that might be inside. What if they are hurt? They’ll die if you do nothing. Those thoughts dreaded me throughout. I knew my Mom and Dad were in there, I knew I might get hurt. Do I wait for the firefighters to come or do I go in? I simply stood there, out in the cold. A final thought came in to make my decision: fine, I’ll do it anyway. Shouldn’t be too bad, is it?
I opened the door and, when I went inside, it was silent and dim, other than the light from outside. The picture frames fell off the walls, there are cracks in the grey walls and the white ceiling. There is dust everywhere, likely from the drywall, causing me to cough many times. I tried to look but it was dark. “Hello”, I hollered. I got a response.
“Hello”, the concerned but deep voice of my Dad responded. A blinding light came from the kitchen and shone on my face. “Kate? What are you doing here?”
“I am just worried you guys are hurt”, I remarked.
“Hurt? I nearly died”, Dad crowed sarcastically.
“We are okay. We are under the table”, my Mom said with reassurance.
“This is so cool”, Matt cheered. I thought oh, at least they’re alive. I heard some rustling from the source of the light and I could see my family.
“Are you okay”, Mom asked.
“No, I’m okay. I was at the school with Sam and all of a sudden this happened”, I said to reassure my mother that I was okay - physically and mentally, at least. I then heard sirens just behind me on the road. It’s the police.
“Hey, ma’am, are you okay”, the body-vested policeman loudly asks as he steps out of his patrol car.
“Yeah, I’m fine, my family is in the house”, I replied. The policeman ran towards me and stepped in front of me. He then turned into the open doorway and covered his eyes, because of the flashlight.
“Hey, is anyone there?”
“Yeah, we’re okay”, my Dad responded.
“Okay, this house is not safe to stay in. Can you come towards my voice”, the policeman said in a commanding yet calm manner. The light turned off and footsteps came slowly towards the door. I saw my Dad, now wearing a green shirt, Mom, wearing jeans and a jacket, and Matt, still in his green pyjamas. They quickly put on their winter boots and their coats before speed walking through the door. The policeman then took one last look with his flashlight in there. “Anyone else in there?”
“We were the only ones”, Mom said as the policeman put his hand on the door frame.
“Did any of you get hurt”, the policeman asked. They shook their heads.
“Well, maybe my opinion on this town. Maybe a documentary”, Dad joked, but no one seems to be into his jokes now. The firemen then arrived a few moments later and offered us blankets.
“Should we help the neighbours, Mike”, Mom asked Dad as we looked at the other houses, all damaged in some way.
“I guess. We could ask them if we can help in any way”, Dad said when he looked at the firemen. “I mean, we’ll be in their way.” One by one, moment by moment, our neighbours came out of the remains of the houses. Luckily, it seems everyone is okay, minus a few injuries. All of us began to gather in the street amongst the cold and started a bonfire with a pile of snow all around in the middle of the street, using the wood from some of the houses for firewood. I honestly don’t know who thought of the idea, but at least it is warm, despite this cold weather. Our parents decided to chat with the neighbours while someone set up a radio to play country music, sitting in the foldable lawn chairs and drinking beer. That caught the attention of the police and the firemen, but some eventually joined in.
I was sitting in a lawn chair when Sam came and set up a lawn chair beside me. “Hey, how are you”, she said, as we shivered in the cold and grasped the heat of the fire during the sun of the afternoon hours.
“I’m fine. The parents are fine. Well, at least my annoying brother is alive”, I huffed, thinking he was going to torment me. Sam looked at me with an expression of inquisitiveness. “What?”
“I mean, that’s what brothers are for. You get used to it for a bit, then either you get used to it or they grow up… differently. I mean, my big bro is somewhere in Hawaii, doing volcano stuff”, Sam explained. “What I’m saying is, they are necessary in life. You may not have fun with them, but they can save you one day.”
“Well, Matt isn’t saving me now”, I rebuked. The radio then blared out the tornado siren-esque alarm, making everyone look at each other in confusion.
“Well, just about time”, one man said. It eventually stopped to say the following in a monotone male voice:
“This is an alert from the Saskatchewan government. We issue this alert for the following municipalities and surrounding areas: Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton. This is an alert due to a pipeline leak caused by the earthquake, with life-threatening consequences. Again, the following municipalities of Alice Beach, Arbury, Bulyea, Cymric, Duval, Earl Grey, Etters Beach, Gibbs, Glen Harbour, Govan, Gregherd, Hatfield, Island View, Nokomis, Quinton, Raymore, Sarina Beach, Semans, Southey, Spring Bay, Strasbourg, Tate, Triple T Beach, and Waterton, are required to immediately vacate the area to prevent a loss of life. Stay safe.”
“Is this a joke? A pipeline leak”, another person asked.
“A whole area for a broken pipeline”, another suggested. Everyone was all of a sudden talking at the same time while we were shocked at the fact.
“A pipeline? Leaking? Why such a large area for a leak”, Sam asked.
“I have no idea”, I said, confused as to the events happening. I saw some people arguing with the policemen, but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying over the talking of the others. Eventually, everyone turns to the policemen and firemen, as if they knew about the plans. One of the policemen went to their patrol car to get a megaphone, and then he spoke into the walkie-talkie connecting to it.
“Hey, everyone calm down”, he bellowed and most gave their attention to him. “My name is Russel Simmons, and I am the chief of this department here. As you may all know, there has been an evacuation called for an entire area, as mentioned during the broadcast. t. I did not know this beforehand, just like every one of you. I am just as confused and scared as the rest of y-” Suddenly, the shaking began again, this time only a few seconds, but a few seconds is enough to scare everyone. “Stay calm! Everyone stay calm”, the chief begged the panicking people. Slowly but surely, everyone calmed down. “We can get through this. Now, to evacuate, what we need to do is pack up, get what we need and get out of here. Meet with us at the Tempo gas station to get fuel, if necessary. After that, we will go south to Regina, where we’ll be staying.”
“What about the stuff in our houses”, a woman asked.
“For that, we can’t go into the houses. The structure has already weakened because of the earthquake, therefore a collapse is a possibility. We cannot risk a life here, so we can’t”, Russel explained.
“My house looks fine, why can’t I go in”, an older man asked.
“Like I said, sir, the houses are at risk of collapsing.”
“What about the water? We can’t just leave it around in our houses. We need that”, a younger man said.
“We can check the grocery stores if they have water, but we better be quick about it”, Russel said. Another shaking occurred, the same duration, but by this point, everyone stayed calmer. Dad then met up with us.
“It is time to go”, Dad suggested. “We have to make it to Regina, as soon as possible.”
“Well, I guess it’s time to go”, Sam said. We then share a hug. “See you later… sometime.”
“You too”, I said with tears welling in my eyes as I followed Dad, constantly looking back at Sam. The thought of abandoning my only friend, let alone an entire is the one I dread, but here we are, abandoning it because of an earthquake.
“It’s going to be okay”, Dad reassured. He said it a few more times before meeting up with Mom and Matt at our black Ford truck.
“Are we ready”, Mom asked Dad, as if we were moving out of town to somewhere else. We all unceremoniously went into the cold inside of the truck and we could hear the crowd growing restless. Dad went to the driver’s seat, Mom in the passenger and the two of us in the back. Dad got the truck started and drove out of the spot. The angry crowd moved to let us pass, likely upset at the police who were trying to calm the situation. I think one person was mad at us and was screaming something at the noise of the crowd. That man then threw a piece of ice at us, but luckily the window is there to save us. Once we passed them, we sped off through the streets. Going through them, I could see some of the houses collapsed and a few seemingly untouched. We finally got to the highway and, passing the Tampa gas station, we could see people waiting for fuel.
“Should we stop for gas”, Mom asked.
“I don’t think so. We have a full tank of gas and there are too many people. With the situation we are in, things might be bad to worse”, Dad explained. “If we could stop in Bulyea, to pack more up.”
“When are we going home”, Matt complained.
“No, honey, there is no home left for us. Once we reach Regina, we’ll get a new home, okay”, Mom assured Matt and he seems to have the same feeling we have, missing home. At least we can agree on something for once. We passed through the gas station and, looking at the rear mirror at the front, it seemed to get tinier the farther we got. We sat in silence along the icy road with banks of snow. The inside of the truck got warmer and more comfortable. Luckily, there are fuzzy blankets in the truck to snuggle in.
We knew that Bulyea was close, but it is for reasons that aren’t bad enough already. Black, dense smoke in the distance, lofting to the east. We already knew something bad happened.
“Should we even go to Bulyea”, Mom asked. Dad looked at her and back in the road and gave a nod. “We can’t. Remember what you said back there? It is worse here-”
“I know. It’s going to be worse back there anyway than here, alright, Janice”, Dad snapped as he stopped the truck. This is the first time I have seen Dad this mad. I am starting to think he is just as afraid as us. “I’m sorry, I just missed home, but we had to get out.”
“I know, so do I”, Mom said and they shared a kiss. “Now, what?”
“Go to town and salvage what’s left.” Dad drove the truck and went into town. There, we noticed where the smoke came from. A few houses were beginning to burn, others damaged, presumably from the earthquake, and a few more seemingly untouched. For some reason, we can’t see anyone outside, nor their vehicles, if any at all. It seems to be like a ghost town.
“Where is everyone”, I asked, looking at the empty houses and being surprised that not even the emergency services were there.
“I don’t know. Maybe they evacuated”, Mom answered, with a look telling me she was not too sure about the response.
“Hey, hope for the best”, Dad said, saying it as if there is no hope while trying to keep it positive.
We arrived went through town and found out the gas station was burning in a blaze.
“So much for water”, Mom said, looking at the burning wreck. “Hey, how many kilometers did we travel?”
“Why is that important? Worried about gas”, Dad chuckled, in an attempt to cheer the mood. “I can chec- wait, how many kilometers does it take to get here?”
“Uh, fourteen”, Matt responded. My Dad looked at the dashboard in a confused state. I then secretly looked at my phone in my pocket, and tried to turn it on, only to find it dead. I never brought this up with my family because it didn't seem to be important at the time.
“Seems we travelled a kilometer but yet wasted half our fuel. I don’t know what is happening to the truck”, Dad said, further confused. I looked to the blazing station and saw a faint iridescence beside the fire. I was about to point it out when Matt spoke.
“Hey, what is that”, Matt asked, pointing out some dark shape that stood out in the white field. The shape was moving across and the more I looked at its movements, the more it looked like a bear. It then seemed to notice us and seemingly ran towards us.
“We are going now”, Dad yelled and put on the gas, driving off quickly. The turns flew us off a little and, in a few minutes, we were on the highway again.
“What was that”, I asked.
“I think that was a bear.”
“Why did we take off?”
“It was chasing us! Would you like to know what happens when we stay?” Dad then gave out a sigh. “I am sorry, but I had to make a choice.”
“I guess we won’t be staying”, Matt questioned.
“No, we won’t. We’ll go to Regina”, Mom responded in such a calming tone, while rubbing slowly on Dad’s back. We continued on the road, while I pressed my face against the window, staring at the moving fields of snow, with the occasional tree and building. I then slowly closed my eyes, bringing me to a world of darkness.
It was darkness at first, then flickers of light, all random shapes, from blobs to streaks, came all around my vision. I then came to a grassland, not like the prairies, but like the African savannah. Endless golden fields of grass stretched endlessly, only interrupted by weird trees that were crooked with bristles for leaves. The sun is setting in a brilliant series of yellows and oranges. I then heard rustling behind me. That is when I woke up, but not on my own.
“Hey, Kate, you need to see this”, Matt said in an odd confusion. I looked around and thought of nothing unusual.
“See wha-” I faltered as I looked ahead at the road. Ahead of the truck, the road is cut off by some kind of wall. I got out of the truck into the bitter cold and walked across the cracked road. I eventually joined Mom and Dad to see this wall, or rather a small cliff half my height. It seems someone cut the whole road and got the ground where I am to sink. I could even see what was below the road. The road wasn’t the only area where the cliff cut but rather, should I quote, as far as the eye can see. “What is this?”
“It might be some kind of fault line”, Dad said.
“Fault line? What is that”, Matt asked.
“You know, cracks in the ground that cause earthquakes? The one you learn in school about the San Andreas fault? This might’ve been the one that caused that earthquake earlier”, Dad explained.
“So a new fault line is appearing in Saskatchewan”, Mom said.
“Seems to be.”
“So, how are we going to get to Regina”, I asked. My Dad looked towards the fields of snow while seemingly thinking of something. It was a few minutes before we heard something odd. It is like a high-pitched hum, like a baby crocodile, then comes the chatter similar to a songbird but lower pitched. We all went to the truck, except Matt, who was more curious than afraid.
“Hey, I can see something”, Matt advised. Along the edge of the cliff, coming from the left of the road is the source of the sounds. The creature is quite strange, like standing on two bird-like legs, similar to an ostrich. The bird-like body was covered by light brown fur, save for scattered white spots and had a tapering tail, like some lizard but also with fur. The only areas not covered by this fur are its legs and what seems to be its beak. When it got closer, I came to make out its appearance. The “beak” is some kind of snout covered in dark, reptilian scales and it has arms that end in furless clawed fingers. I knew what it was, and it was frightening as it was confusing.
“Matt, come back. That is a dinosaur”, I yelled, hopefully persuading Matt of his curiosity. As soon as I said that, the creature stopped.
“Dinosaur? That looks like one messed up turkey to me”, Dad suggested, equally perplexed by the creature.
“Hey, Matt, come back! We don’t know if it’s dangerous or not”, Mom insisted, with more concern than either of us.
“But it’s not doing anything bad. It looks cool”, Matt said, not even concerned about this weird creature.
“Listen to your mother, Matt”, Dad hollered, in agreement with me and my Mom.
“Oh, come on, we could make him do some tricks.” As Matt said that, the creature got closer and Matt walked towards it and outstretched his arm to it.
“Matt! Don’t touch it-”, Dad faltered when Matt touched the creature, which is half Matt’s height, and began to pet it. The creature then began to purr, like a cat but more bird-like.
“See, not so dangerous. Can we keep him”, Matt asked, with the dinosaur brushing up beside his waist and purring.
“No, we can’t. We don’t know what it is”, Mom pleaded and I do agree.
“Oh, please, I promise I will take care of him. It’ll be the coolest pet ever.” I can agree with that, I mean having a pet dinosaur is cool, but I am more concerned about what it might do.
“I think it’s a bad idea”, I yelled to Matt.
“No, it won’t. Please”, Matt begged. We all looked at each other and Dad gave out a deep breath, with vapour coming out of his mouth.
“Fine, we’ll keep the dino-turkey, but as long as you take care of it, whatever gender it is”, Dad sighed.
“Yes! Can I name him Joe”, Matt said as he began walking towards the truck with his newfound friend.
“Joe? We don’t even know if it’s even a boy.”
“I don’t care. I want him to be a boy”, Matt protested.
“I guess Joe it is”, Mom said as she turned to Dad with a look of regret.
“I guess we have a family pet now”, I said under my breath to no one. We then went back to the truck and I sat in. Dad went to the driver’s seat as usual and Mom in the passenger. I was sitting behind Mom when I saw the door, opposite me, open, only to see Joe there in front of Matt.
“Hey, do you wanna meet my family”, Matt beamed when he picked him up. I can see Joe’s face more clearly. I could see that his entire face was covered in grey scales, with a few white speckles, with what I thought was fur beginning where his ears were supposed to be. Joe looked at me with a bird-like expression with his bird-like eyes. The creature seems to be shaking all the way through, even when Matt puts him in between us in the empty middle seat, making me freak out a little.
“Why are you putting it beside me”, I shuddered. “Did you make sure he doesn’t have rabies?”
“Don’t worry, he’s just cold”, Matt reassured. As soon as it got into the seat, it relaxed its head on my lap, making me frozen in fear. In surprise, Joe began to purr.
“What is he doing”, I asked.
“I think he likes you. You can pet him if you want. He’s harmless”, Matt assured. I then cautiously took my hand out and touched his brow area. It felt cold and reptilian, and I moved my hand towards his fur. I realised they were feathers, not quite like a bird, like fuzzier. I stroked across his spine and he was cold. Matt then covered the feathered creature’s body with a blanket.
“What should we do now”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe take another route”, Mom responded. Dad then started the truck and turned it around.
“The rural roads would be hell. Maybe go to Earl Grey, and see if there is anything there.”
“Hopefully not like Bulyea.” Dad then looked at his rear-view mirror to look at Matt.
“Hey, do you know what, uh, Joe eats”, Dad asked.
“I don’t know”, Matt said, with a look like he doesn’t know.
“I mean, he has to eat something”, I said, now more comfortable with Joe. I lifted his lips to see a series of fangs lining his jaw. Joe didn’t take that too kindly and nudged. As he did that, he rolled to his side to reveal his hands. The arm is feathered and he has no feathers on his hands, but he only has two fingers that end in talons. “What, why does he only have two fingers”, I asked.
“Maybe a genetic defect. Like my cat Fluffy with his extra thumbs”, Mom suggested.
“Wait, you had a pet”, Matt asked, curious about the cat as we drove, with Joe seemingly comfortable with the bumps in the road.
“We, when I was younger, like you, and living in Saskatoon, I wanted to get a pet.” Mom explained as she looked at Joe. “Well, not quite like you have. Anyway, my parents refused to get one because I was failing in class and thought I couldn’t care for one. One day, I think a snowstorm was happening. I was walking down a street, fighting against the snow. I stumbled upon a box, covered in a blanket lying on the sidewalk. I looked inside and I saw kittens”, she said, her eyes glossy.
“Sadly, most of them died in the cold, except for one. An orange, fluffy kitten, fighting for its life. I took it, put it into my jacket and took it home. I entered our house and the kitten was fine, but my parents were furious. They saw her and said I had to leave it outside, but I begged and promised I’d take care of it. They said we could keep the kitten, as long I kept the grades up. So, I named him Fluffy, because he’s fluffy.”
“Where is he now? Why is he not here”, Matt questioned.
“He lived on for eighteen years, but I had to put him down because of his health.”
“Why didn’t you buy another cat”, I prodded.
“We just couldn’t afford it, we don’t have enough income. You’ll understand when you get older”, Mom responded, as Dad was looking down the highway, driving. I looked down and Joe was sleeping. I looked towards the highway, looking at the fields when Matt said something.
“I need to go to the bathroom”, he said, holding at his groin. I also need to go to relieve myself, but Matt called it first.
“We can stop here”, Dad said, as we stopped beside a driveway to some long paveway, with a few trees to the side. I recognized it through our trips to Regina: we have arrived at Gibbs. Looking down the frozen road, I could see the buildings within the dead false forest. I took this moment to speak my urge.
“Yeah, I need to go, too”, I declared. Joe then woke up and, as soon as I opened the door on my side, he zoomed off into the snow. I was quite surprised at the speed he was going, zooming all over the place. Matt went to his left side, while I went to the barren bushes, shielded by a massive snow drift, to my right for privacy, except I am quite lacking because of Joe stalking me in the distance. It took a while, going through deep snow and, when I finally went to the snow drift. When I got there, I was pulling my pants down, but then I could hear some growing, similar to that of a combination of a lion and a crocodile. Where is that coming from? Never mind, it might be Joe, I thought.
“Go away, Joe”, I said, thinking it was Joe, seemingly angry at something. Nervous, I finally got to business, a little slow because of Joe nearby. I then heard the growl again. This time, I looked up and saw Joe, but he wasn’t growling. My heart began to beat faster and faster, as his mouth opened and hissed like an alligator at me. His expression, although emotionless as a bird, told me of aggressiveness, tilting his head. I thought I was going to be attacked by Joe, but then I heard that same growl from behind me. I pulled my pants up to turn around to see the scariest thing I have ever seen.
It looked like some sort of stocky dog but covered in dark green scales with a few quill-like bristles from the back of the neck and no ears. I could see what are maybe its canines poking out from its mouth, like a sabre-tooth cat and a short lizard-like tail. It looked more reptile than, well, dog really except for its eyes. I could see the hunger in its eyes. I heard more growling to my other side and saw another of those things. Joe began making that baby crocodile noise and we ran to the truck. I turned around and ran.
“Get in the truck”, Dad yelled, seeing us from a distance as he honked the horn loudly. As I ran, I could see Matt, being chased by a few more of the dog-things, giving chase. Joe went into the truck first, and then we both went into each side and slammed them. Dad then sped off very quickly, scared they may get to us.
“What was that”, I panted, confused.
“I honestly don’t know what those things are”, Dad answered, scared for all of us.
“I want to go home”, Matt pleaded, tired from running away from those things.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be home soon. I promise”, Mom reassured.
“Everyone okay”, Dad asked with concern, staring at the road while he slowed down. We all looked at each other in fearful confusion, even Joe. I looked at Joe, and he then looked at me. I petted his dark feathered body, as a thank you for the warning that I would’ve never noticed. “Okay, we are moving on”, Dad concluded. We sat in silence, although I was still petting Joe.
“Hey, Matt, do you know what dinosaur he is”, I asked Matt.
“I don’t know. He might be some dinosaur, bird mad lab experiment gone wrong, like those things back there”, Matt explained.
“Or some mess-up chicken in a lab”, Dad suggested, still looking at the road.
“I don’t think he was a chicken”, Matt rebutted. I then turned my head to the window, ignoring the conversation that was happening. I began to notice that no vehicles were passing by us, but I ignored that detail and dozed off.
I saw those same lights in the dark vision of my closed eyes. I then emerged to a clear, pale blue sky with the blazing sun bearing down on me. Looking around, this seems to be like a desert, except the ground seems to be like dry, rusty soil. It feels hot here, hotter than one of those summers in my former town. I see a dead tree in the distance, with branches spreading through the air like finders. I heard a sound behind me.
“Wake up! We are here”, Matt said as he shook me awake. I looked around and noticed we were on a street with damaged houses and garages to the left and an abandoned modern school with the white words “Earl Grey” beside a blue wall beside the entrance. The school lies hiding behind a metal fence with dead trees behind it. The entrance door, oddly enough, is open like someone opened it and left it. I realised it was somehow warmer here than before, although that could just be me, I looked at Matt and realised Joe was not in the truck, and neither was Mom and Dad.
“Hey, where’s Mom and Dad”, I asked Matt.
“Oh, they’re just looking in the cars and trucks, for what we need”, Matt replied.
“And Joe?”
“Oh, just running across the road.” Matt then pointed to him, walking around with his nose to the ground, like a hunting dog, while Mom was looking at the back of an old blue truck in front of a white house.
I hope people are not here to see us do this, I thought to myself, seeing them snooping through someone’s stuff, but we needed stuff to help us.
“Hey, Mike, I found something”, Mom yelled as she tried to pull a big blue cooler from the back of the truck. Dad then came from an RV down from the truck and came and helped her. He then put it down on the road and opened it. They both plugged their noses and backed away.
“Fish? Who leaves fish in a cooler in the back of a truck”, Dad gagged. Joe then looked up, seemingly in excitement and ran towards the cooler. He stuck his nose in the cooler and pulled out a pike. He plopped it on the road, his foot stepped on the fish and put his mouth onto it, tearing a piece of it and swallowing it. “At least somebody likes rotten fish”, Dad rasped.
As we looked in surprise, we could hear something from the school. The minute we heard it, a loud boar-like roar came out from the school. We thought it was a very big boar when it came out, but the more we looked, the more we realised it was something else. Its body is like a boar, but its face is like a lion’s and the snout of a camel, with teeth somewhat like a bear’s when it opens its enormous mouth to gargle like a pig. Mom, Dad and even Joe are taken by surprise, making our parents run towards the driveway, while Joe towards our truck with his gorged fish, standing by us. The boar-thing then stopped a few feet away from my parents, seemingly in a defensive stance, hooves scratching the ground. We are scared for our parents, preparing to see this thing rip them to shreds.
It gave one last roar and walked towards the cooler, knocking it over with fish spilling out. It stuck its snout in the fish and swallowed one down. They then slowly walked around the creature and steadily fastened their pace until they were at the truck. We all quickly got in and Dad backed up quickly.
“What the hell was that”, Mom panicked.
“I don’t know, a pig from hell”, Dad responded. We looked at Joe, swallowing down the fish while the rotting fish smell remained. It looked at us in confusion, as we were. We silently laughed for no apparent reason, probably as a mechanism to try to replace the fear. We then heard a shaking in the truck, startling us. We realised that the hell pig was tearing at the bumper of the truck like a lion would. Dad hammered the horn, making the thing back up in surprise. Dad took this opportunity to back up very quickly towards the intersection and turned to the left, quickly avoiding the creature. We sat in silence, except for Joe who was chirping.
When we went down the street, the houses, as usual, were damaged but we saw other vehicles, the first we had seen. Some were parked along the street, others stuck on one lane like city traffic but paused. Weirdly enough, there are no people in the vehicles, nor anyone outside. Most of the vehicles have one or more doors open like people got out to go somewhere. We drove past all the vehicles in the other lane. There is one vehicle we passed by that is on fire, most of the paint already off to reveal the metal beneath, only to be turned into a rainbow of browns and blacks by the dancing flames.
“What. Happened. Here”, Mom slowly asked, as confused and terrified as us. We had a feeling of dread, seeing all the abandoned vehicles.
“That’s the least of our worries. We should be looking for supplies”, Dad responded.
“Hey, how much do we have”, Mom asked Dad, worried about using up the fuel.
“Well, we got a full tank of gas and travelled a hundred kilometers”, Dad responded, more confused. “Nothing makes sense here and I hope we don’t stay here for long”, he muttered.
Eventually, we passed most of the vehicles and reached the veterinary clinic. The small, intact structure stood there, seemingly looking over the icy driveway. We then spotted an old, brown truck and we saw something that set it apart from the rest of the vehicles we’ve seen so far.
“It’s on”, I said, gleefully, with hope that, at least, we aren’t the only ones here. The headlights beamed brightly, and we realised it was getting dark. We also noticed that the street lights aren’t turning on.
“I thought there was no one here”, my Mom said, unsure of the connection between the abandoned but running truck and the lack of people in this town. At one of the intact houses, ahead of us, partially blocked by the trees, we saw what seemed to be bright light coming from one of the windows. What person would go into a house after an earthquake, I thought, thinking about our house back home.
“Someone’s here”, Matt loudly notified, as we all shushed him and that is when Joe is trying to push the door with his snout. “What is he doing?”
“Stay here”, Dad calmly ordered, opening the door, but Joe scurried out and went somewhere else.
“Hey, come back”, Matt called out, with no success. Joe eventually disappeared into the night, never to be seen. Matt then had tears welling up in his eyes like he was about to cry. I hugged him to comfort him.
“He’ll come back some time”, Mom reassured, trying to calm him down and looking at Dad. Dad nodded and grabbed a flashlight that was equipped in the truck. He then walked slowly towards the house, step by step, being shone by our truck’s headlights. He looked back at us and put his hand up when the light in the house moved. It seems to move towards the front door of the house. Emerging from the house is a person walking down the steps, cloaked in darkness. Dad then took a few steps back as the figure came. Finally, the figure stepped into the light.

I started playing again for the first time in a year and I've noticed that my equipped boots have gone missing at least three times. I thought I misplaced them the first time but it's happened too often now. I also haven't lost them from passing out. Is this a bug or do they get worn out now? I installed SV Expanded mod and started using it on my 5 year old vanilla world, could this be part of the issue? It's getting annoying since I lost some really good boots from a chest in the volcano and I'm hoping there's some way to avoid it happening again :/

Date	Stage	Route	Length	Type	Time
Tue. May 14	10	Pompei>Cusano Mutri	142 km	Medium	ca. 17:15 CET

Climbs

Climb	Cat	Km	Length	Avg
Camposauro	2	km 82.5	6.1 km	7.8 %
Bocca della Selva	1	km 142.0	20.9 km	4.6 %

Sprints

Location	Km
Arpaia	km 52.1
Guardia Sanframonti (Intergiro)	km 104.8
Cusano Mutri	km 121.4

Weather

Between 15°C and 20°C. Sunny at the start, rainy at the finish.

Stage breakdown

During the Grand Tours, rest days bring out yet another reason to hate Mondays… but tomorrow we’ll be back with a short yet interesting stage and another uphill finish in the Apennines.
The stage kicks off in Pompei, not far from where we left off yesterday. You’re probably familiar with this place- in Roman times, the town was destroyed by a devastating volcano eruption, but the ruins of the ancient city were eventually discovered, restored and now form part of one of Italy’s most important archeological sites. The first 50 kms of the stage are flat, although the course is quite hectic- there’s plenty of twists and turns. An intermediate sprint in Arpaia marks a stark change in tone: as the riders enter the province of Benevento, the stage will get quite hilly.
While the stage only has two categorized climbs, basically the entire last 100 kms are made up of constant ups and downs. After the cat 2 climb to Camposauro, there will be an uncategorized climb to Guardia Sanframondi- where the Intergiro sprint is located- which was used as a stage finish back in 2021 (Cofidis’ Victor Lafay won from the break).
With 20 kms to go, the riders will reach the small town of Cusano Mutri, where the last intermediate sprint is located. By this point, the Matese mountains (a “sub-chain” within the Apennines) will be looming, and sure enough in a few kms the last climb to Bocca della Selva (a cat 1) will begin. The climb is comparable to Saturday’s Prati di Tivo: it’s a fairly long effort, but it’s not a steep ascent, as it serves as an access road to a mountain resort. The similarities do not end there- it’s another climb with a wild feel to it, as we’re in a sparsely populated place and Bocca della Selva is a place that has definitely seen better days, as the local ski station has been abandoned for more than a decade. The climb has never been used as a stage finish and it was only tackled once in Giro history, back in 2016, on a stage Wellens won from a breakaway (it was climbed by the opposite side in 2021).
With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:
★★★ Breakaway
★★ Pogačar
★ O'Connor, Martínez, Thomas, Tiberi

Rider discussion

We believe that tomorrow will probably be a day for the breakaway: it's the kind of terrain where closing down on an attack might prove hard, especially considering it's a pretty short stage. There are several good climbers who are far down on GC and should not pose a threat- we can definitely see some of the guys who attacked on stage 8 trying to go again: Nairo Quintana, Alessandro De Marchi, Julian Alaphilippe, Alessandro Verre, plus of course Lilian Calmejane and Simon Geschke for the KOM jersey and like half of EF. Furthermore there are some riders who could have a shot at the stage, but might have to serve GC duties (eg. Damiano Caruso, the Paret-Peintres).
Usually the GC guys tend to take it easy right after the rest day, but considering there will be three relatively easy stages after this one, they might be inclined to spend more energies today. Should it come down to them, of course the main pick is Tadej Pogačar, who has been a class above everyone else so far. He has no need to make the race hard, and might want to start saving energies... but he seems to be having so much fun having a go at it every day (we copied this entire paragraph almost verbatim from the stage 8 predictions, because nothing has changed!). Daniel Martínez, Ben O'Connor, Geraint Thomas and Antonio Tiberi have been "best of the rest" so far in the other uphill finishes, but it's hard to picture them beating Pogačar.
That's it from us, what are your thoughts/predictions?

The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in systems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, such as Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. However, I hope that other fans of cosmic horror will also find something for themselves here. The interesting facts presented here may also be interesting for people who do not know the work of The Loner of Providence, but some of the references may be unclear to them. The article contains several anecdotes – either from real history or from beliefs that exist in the real world, and suggestions on how they can be related to the Cthulhu mythology. So read about:

• Sea Peoples, bane of ancient civilizations,
• a forgotten Eldritch abomination from Greek mythology,
• Jan Twardowski, the first man on the Moon,
• mathematicians and physicists who wanted to know the structure of reality and lost their minds,
• one of the most mysterious characters from the Bible and a dark, occult ritual that underlies monotheism.

Invasion of the Sea Peoples
Ancient, super-advanced, fallen civilizations are one of the favorite motifs of fantasy. And truth be told, something similar happened in real history. Of course, in reality, the fallen civilizations did not have sci-fi supertechnology at their disposal, but their collapse still led to great destabilization. We are talking about the invasion of the so-called Sea Peoples, which took place at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The Sea Peoples are mobile and warlike groups of people of unknown origin. They caused the collapse of several advanced cultures, including: Mycenaean and Hittite. Only the Egyptians managed to defeat them in a great battle. Well, the material for Lovecraftian inspiration is obvious. A mysterious army, coming out of nowhere, called the „Sea Peoples”, leading to the fall of the most powerful human civilizations at that time? Let us add that, according to some historians, the descendants of the Sea Peoples destroyed by the Egyptians were the Philistines. Yes, the same Philistines, one of whose main deities was the well-known Dagon to Lovecraftomaniacs… Deep Ones say hello. Let us also add that, according to Egyptian records, the tribes of the Sea Peoples had names such as Ekvesh, Teresh, Lucki, Sherden, Shekelesh, Tekel and Peleset. Sounds suitably dark, blasphemous and filthy? If we want to dig deeper, one of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt was Akhenaten – yes, that heretic who tried to replace the worship of traditional Egyptian gods with the religion of the Aten and who is very much liked by conspiracy theorists. Let’s add to the mix that Middle Eastern cultures had quite a negative attitude towards the sea as such. Babylonian Marduk had to defeat the giant monsters of Chaos – Apsu and Tiamat, personifications of fresh and salt waters, respectively. The Bible also contains traces of the myth about the fight between Yahweh and Leviathan, and the Book of Revelation, describing the new, ideal world, emphasizes that „I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Let’s assume that the players are researchers of an antiquity – historians, archaeologists, etc. They conduct research on the Sea Peoples. Of course, as common sense dictates, they assume that these were human warriors. However, as time goes on, more and more evidence appears that they were not completely human again, and the evidence of their monstrosity becomes increasingly difficult to put down to the demonization that Egyptian chroniclers used against their enemies… It becomes clear that an onslaught of inhuman and semi-human monsters came from the sea. , trying to conquer the world of that time. Moreover, after their defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, this species did not become extinct, but instead of open conquest it switched to cautious infiltration. Perhaps the Deep Ones have spies in academia who are tasked with eliminating historians who find the trail of truth…
Oh, one more interesting fact connecting the history of the Sea Peoples with Lovecraft. Well, as we know, HPL liked to use the term „Cyclopean” for huge, monumental buildings. At least he didn’t come up with it himself. Well, when the later (and at first more primitive) inhabitants, the Dorians, saw the ruins of destroyed castles left by the Mycenaean culture, they came to the conclusion that such huge buildings could not have been built by human hands, so they were probably the work of mythical giants – cyclopes.
Typhon – a classic but forgotten abomination
Modern works drawing on Greek mythology usually make Hades (completely senseless) or Kronos (a little more) the Big Bad, but they forget about Zeus’s greatest enemy – Typhon. After defeating the titans and then the gigants, the Olympian gods had to face the main boss on the way to dominating the world – Typhon. Here is an example of its description: It was larger than the largest mountains, its head touched the stars. When he stretched out his hands, one reached the eastern ends of the world and the other reached the western ends. Instead of fingers, he had a hundred dragon heads. From the waist down he had a tangle of vipers (yay, tentacles!) and wings at his shoulders. His eyes were shooting out flames. In other versions of the myth, Typhon was a flying, hundred-headed dragon. In any case – appearance and stature worthy of the Great Old One. Typhon attacked Olympus, and all the gods except Zeus fled in panic. The supreme god took up the fight… and lost it. Only in the second duel did he manage to defeat Typhon, but not kill him – he only imprisoned him, hitting him with Etna. In the sense of a mountain. A volcano – and volcanic activity is the result of Typhon’s anger, trying to break free. Typhon equaled the lord of heaven not only in strength, but in fertility. His wife was Echidna, about whom Hesiod wrote: „She also gave birth to another creature, invincible, huge, unlike neither men nor immortal gods, in a hollow cave – the divine violent Echidna, half a sharp-eyed young girl, with beautiful cheeks, half a huge snake, a great and powerful, spotted, cruel – in the depths of the holy land. This pair spawned many, if not most, of the monsters found in Greek mythology. Their offspring were very diverse and strange, as befits the spawn of enemies of the divine order, including: – Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon who never slept and guarded the apples that gave immortality, – Cerberus – we all know the dog guarding the gates of hell… but not all of us know that, according to some accounts, it had not three heads, but as many as 50, it was also covered with scales, and it had a snake by its tail… so what does this have to do with a dog? – Scylla – this lady inherited the most from the human, beautiful part of Echidna… at least initially, but eventually, as a result of various perturbations, she turned from a beautiful nymph to her siblings, becoming a six-headed sea beast, so hideous, according to Homer, that even the gods could not stand sight of her – she dwelt in a cave, from where she opened her mouth to devour the crews of ships, – Gorgons – I mean, those ladies with snake hair, not monstrous bulls. Medusa was one of them – the story that Athena turned her priestess into a monster as punishment for being raped by Poseidon is an invention of later poets, – Lernaean Hydra – a multi-headed monster with many reptilian or human heads. In place of each severed head, two others grew, and in addition, the main head was completely immortal – therefore, after chopping off the mortal heads, Heracles had to burn the stumps and bury the immortal, still hissing head underground. Hydra’s breath was poisonous. – various other creatures, such as the Sphinx, the dog Ortus, the Nemean Lion or the Chimera. Each of these descendants has the potential to be portrayed as an Eldritch abomination in its own right. To be precise – according to some accounts, the father of these creatures (and Echidna herself) was Typhon, but a monstrous, ancient (older than Poseidon) sea god, Phorcys. How to use Typhon? Well, Typhon clearly has the potential to be a Great Old One, imprisoned by… Nodens? Some other Elder God? Weak gods of humanity? Maybe his cult is trying to free him from Etna? What if he succeeds? What might distinguish Typhon from many other Great Old Ones? I would recommend focusing on his monster progenitor aspect – if he manages to reunite with Echidna, they will immediately start spawning various blasphemous beasts in series.
Jan Twardowski – the first man on the Moon
Jan (John) Twardowski, the hero of the legend, a Polish nobleman who allegedly sold his soul to the devil and became a sorcerer. Probably a historical figure, according to legend he lived in the 16th century and became famous for summoning the spirit of the deceased queen for King Sigismund Augustus. The ghost allegedly appeared in the mirror. This mirror is still kept in the church in Węgrów. According to legend, when the terms of the pact were fulfilled, devils came to kidnap Twardowski to hell. Interestingly, instead of taking the sorcerer’s soul after death, the most material demons appeared and grabbed Twardowski in order to kidnap him bodily, alive… and instead of heading towards the underground, which in legends is considered the traditional place of residence of demons and damned souls, they began to carry away up with him. At some point, Twardowski started singing religious songs, which caused the demons to escape, leaving him on the Moon, where he is said to have stayed ever since. Could the “demons” actually be extraterrestrials? Maybe mi-go? Maybe Twardowski was their agent and obtained secret knowledge and technology from them that gave him the fame of a sorcerer? As part of his studies, did he acquire knowledge of a system of sounds („religious songs”) that was able to drive away his masters when they decided that his usefulness on Earth had ended and it was time to transport him to a space base where he would be transformed into a brain in jar? Or was transportation to the Moon part of the deal from the beginning? Oh, one more interesting fact – according to legends, Twardowski used to use a rooster as a horse, which he enlarged with his magic. It’s easy to imagine an abomination that, in the eyes of laymen, might have resembled a large rooster… Examples of scenario hooks: – Twardowski’s secret mirror is still in the church in Węgrów. The local priest thinks it is just other „pagan” superstitions, but in fact it is a tool enabling contact with cosmic beings and higher realities. It may prove useful to players if they convince the priest to give it back or simply steal it. – Players are looking for Twardowski’s notes to gain knowledge about the „song” thanks to which he drove away mi-go (or other creatures that became the prototype of the „devils” from the legend). The so-called Twardowski’s „School” or „Cathedral” was located in a quarry near Kraków. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, during the construction of the church of St. Józefa, a cave showing traces of alchemical experiments was discovered… And it was destroyed. But perhaps there is a second, secret laboratory under the cave that escaped destruction? And there lie Twardowski’s secrets… And again, potential obstacles may be placed by the local parish priest. But not only him. Maybe Twardowski’s legendary „rooster” lies dormant in the laboratory and was left by the sorcerer as a guard? – players are astronauts on the Moon. However, it turns out that someone lives here, someone who was not detected by previous expeditions and probes. Will Twardowski prove to be an ally in the fight against cosmic horrors? Or maybe their agent, or an independent villain? If he survived this long on the Moon thanks to blasphemous secrets, it’s possible that he had little humanity left…
The rest of the text is avalaible (of course, for free) here: https://adeptusrpg.wordpress.com/2024/05/13/some-lovecraftian-inspiration-form-real-life-and-beliefs/

Last week's post https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl1pkm/roundup_ufos_and_bob_universal_object_tracke
Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20240505212215/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl1pkm/roundup_ufos_and_bob_universal_object_tracke
Moon phase waning crescent, three days before new
Mars Right Ascension 0h 17m 54s
.1 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl2c9f/1st_postlondon_sighting_today/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, daytime, from airplane, over London England the UK 🇬🇧, single dark object, dark grey, metallic/glass material looking and probably a stereotypical “spinning top” shape., moving fast, interaction with airplane, flew under it,
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl52m9/the_dr_gary_nolan_post_earlier_has_me_thinking/ childhood experience description, no craft, at home, nighttime, light shining in bedroom, repeat visitor, flashing light coming from under my bed., physical effects paralysis, emotion of fear, has anyone seen?
.3 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl5zaa/strange_metallic_color_object/ video, daytime sky, single object blackwhite, elongated, horizontal orientation, possible disk shape, Hanford California, near Lemoore navy base., horizontal trajectory, low over treeline, contemporaneous report
.4 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clidos/uap_off_the_coast_of_virginia_beach_sept_14_2021/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, over water Atlantic Ocean, off Virginia Beach Virginia, single dark object, angular, not seen by eye, greenish glow, possible military response jet, OP comments downvoted, [GOODPOST], heptagon
.5 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clogf2/observation_during_flight_unidentified_object/ video, daytime cloudy sky, from airplane, single dark object moving, elongated, diffuse trail, horizontal orientation, Palma Mallorca Balearic Islands Spain 🇪🇸 , observed exiting cloud, horizontal trajectory, contrails type, downvoted to zero in 1 hour, OP comments downvoted
.6 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cleqly/triangle_or_tr3b_sighting_in_colorado_about_20/ sighting description and drawing, nighttime sky, at home, urban area, Boulder Colorado, triangle 🔺️ observed, threelights with central red 🔴 light, lighting configuration change, butterfly 🦋, ⚪️🔴⚪️, physical effects paralysis, transfixed, trajectory change observed, the craft was ascending into the sky, but it would also dip back down and hold steady for a bit before heading up again., contemporaneous report,
.7 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl77ee/personal_possible_sighting_2018/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving erratically, zigzag movements, brightness change, flareup and dimming, over water, Belgrade Lakes Maine, duration 30 minutes, vanishing, possible cubensphere,
.8 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clsdmw/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_april_29_may_5/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cl29t3/mexico_and_peruvian_ufo_disclosure_roundup/ state of disclosure, Mexico and Peru
.9 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1claaol/ufos_appearing_in_different_photos_on_different/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, two events, single object blackwhite, metallic sphere observed, twolights, Pima Air Museum and at my house, at home, backyard, observed vanishing,
.10 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clg5nq/100_genuine_ufo_need_help/ video, daytime cloudy sky, from airplane, near Newark New Jersey, fleet, multiple objects, flashing erratically, not seen by eye
.11 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clrp5a/ai_recreation_of_2010_las_vegas_summer_sighting/ sighting description and drawing, downvoted to zero in 1 hour, OP comments downvoted, two witnesses, twolights, nighttime, urban area, Las Vegas Nevada, single light object moving fast, possible reaction to being observed, trajectory change, approach, jumpy movement, wavy trajectory, haze, While it was descending it appeared to be teleporting or waving in an up and down motion while emitting a purple and green mist until it came to a stop. 🟣🟢, moving and stationary and moving, sudden departure upward, the white lights extended to the edges and the perimeter of the craft appeared to have “metal” plates evenly spaced around. The whole craft was a dark metallic purple., texture visible
.12 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cl9ryu/yall_ever_seen_a_tr3b/ discussion of sightings, threelights, triangle 🔺️
.13 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cl9xt0/i_just_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, at home, outside window, single light object, approach, The light seemed to be strobing instead of flashing, and would never fully go dark., trajectory change, wavy trajectory, almost swerving through the air., U-turn, moving fast, rural Wisconsin, has anyone seen?
.14 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cluf14/did_i_actually_see_a_ufo/ sighting description, Yosemite California, nighttime cloudy sky, near water, hottub, single light object, speed change, suddenly start to accelerate in one direction(close to the direction it was moving slowly), then it made a big U-turn in the sky, like it drew a check mark ✔️ in the sky., trajectory change, two witnesses, similar sightings in comments
.15 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clwlpe/uap_july_22_2023_south_dakota/ photos, daytime sky, single object blackwhite, angular, heptagon, south Dakota , two witnesses, at home, backyard, flew over the witness home, horizontal trajectory,
.16 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1clxdne/lights_in_the_sky/ video, nighttime sky, from car, single object multiple lights, threelights, close formation, low over treeline, observed moving slowly
.17 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1clx2z3/i_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description and drawing, Crescent 🌙 shaped with a pointed tip , geometric scaly rigid body , cloud like cloak, manta shape, texture observed, flew overhead, two witnesses, irregular shape, angular, gave a feeling of being old or out of time., felt compelled to follow it, refused cause I didn’t want to know what was inside the big thing.,silent, west Texas , similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.18 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1clv208/seen_some_trance_lights_i_cant_explain/ video, nighttime sky, twolights, angled from the horizon, stationary, powerlines, low over rooftop, western Kentucky, some moved kinda erratically and some moved straight https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cmeavl/better_view_of_the_lights_i_cant_explain/ more video
.19 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1clbq63/ufo_sonoma_county/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, Sonoma County California, single light object, low over treeline, reaction to being observed, descending below treeline, As I was thinking to myself why is that light so bright, it got dimmer and seemed to drop down below the tree., repeat visitor or second object, flareup, ascending, trajectory change, U-turn, descending,
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UF0/comments/1clauxl/bright_color_changing_expanding_uap_above_my_yard/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, multicolored, flareup or size change, at home, possible smaller object accompanying it or emitting orb, blue 🔵, repeat visitor, similar sighting in comments
.21 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1clalrd/strange_lights_in_sky_is_this_normal/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, descending below rooftop, at home, urban area
.22 https://old.reddit.com/CLOUDS/comments/1cl9obd/volcano_above_the_clouds/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, cloud anomaly, tower, from airplane, southern USA, near water gulf of Mexico,
.23 https://old.reddit.com/atoptics/comments/1cl9kg0/what_is_this_over_vietnam/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, rainbow 🌈 anomaly, urban area, powerlines, Vietnam 🇻🇳
.24 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1cl99el/just_saw_an_orb/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, at home, West Yorkshire the UK 🇬🇧, single light object, descending, ball of white plasma with a central core that was comprised of green and rust orange filaments. 🟢🟠, disappeared behind treeline, similar sightings in comments , silent
.25 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1cl5goq/strange_feeling_in_appalachia/ experience description, possible bigfoot, camping, Appalachia, footsteps, knocking, humming, Like as if a person was just humming a tune., felt observed, witness went to sleep
.26 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cm9jr3/ideas_on_what_this_is/ video, nighttime sky, Jeollabukdo south Korea 🇰🇷 , single light object, observed stationary and moving, possible reaction to being observed, oval-shaped, possibly illuminating clouds, overhead, silent, urban area, starlink?
.27 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmhl2uaps_in_edmonton_ab_may_4_2024/ photo and video, daytime cloudy sky, photo shows twolights, angled from the horizon, Edmonton Alberta Canada 🇨🇦, 53° 32' 45.1788'' N,
.28 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cm2wio/anyone_in_dayton_ohio_see_a_ufo_on_friday_night/ sighting description, Dayton Ohio, has anyone seen?, single light object moving fast, illuminating sky, vanishing, All the sudden the sky lit up. I looked up and it appeared the moon was very full and very bright. Then it immediately shot across the sky and burned out., near USAF, Wright Patterson air force base, meteor?
.29 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1clx1gd/an_experience_i_had/ experience description, at home, nighttime, single light object, size change or approach, flew overhead, moving and stationary, orange 🟠, vanished, emotion of happiness, repeat visitor
.30 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmkfms/does_anyone_have_any_idea_what_this_could_be_my/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single dark object, elongated, diffuse trail, jellyfish 🪼 , from airplane, shape change, contrails type, submission statement issues, removed, lost data
.31 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cm44sl/peoples_reaction_to_when_i_tell_them_what_iv_seen/ sightings, ongoing, discussion of stigma
.32 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cmpv22/can_anybody_tell_me_what_the_quick_flash_is_that/ timelapse video, nighttime sky, single light object, appearing and vanishing, low below treeline, directly in front
.33 https://www.reddit.com/useRollinnZaZa95/comments/1cmmhuq/2018_phoenix_lights_ups_hub/ video, nighttime sky, at work, threelights, flying in formation, low over rooftop, multiple witnesses, urban area, Phoenix Arizona
.34 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cmqyj1/what_is_this_found_it_at_indialantic_veach/ photos, possible metamaterial
.35 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn2tqe/my_bil_just_experienced_contact_of_the_third_kind/ experience description, family story, brother in law, from car, nighttime, single light object, directly in front, cylindrical shape, metallic cigar shaped object. , followed the witness, approach, zigzag movements, emotion of fear, physical effects goosebumps, everything in his car suddenly felt charged with a huge amount of static electricity out of left field. All of his hair was sticking up - head, arms, entire body and when he would touch his dashboard or other parts of the car he would get shocked., felt observed, vibration, felt pulled, witness left the area, subsequent electronic effects car began locking and unlocking itself throughout the night in his garage- making the lock honk and unlock honk for hours., near Joshua Tree National Park California, camera can't detect it, dashcam goes from normal to seeing a bright white flash to being blurred out, to going back to normal again as he was driving away. , sleep disruption, having really bad nightmares about an abduction since, [GOODPOST] https://web.archive.org/web/20240508173925/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn2tqe/my_bil_just_experienced_contact_of_the_third_kind/ Archive
.36 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmtbbw/possible_ufo_sighting_arizona/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, elongated, horizontal orientation, possible rectangle, not seen by eye, Arizona
.37 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn5ntb/i_took_this_while_driving_through_nebraska/ photo, from car, daytime cloudy sky, single light object, not seen by eye, Nebraska
.38 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cmvnov/did_anybody_see_the_bright_flashing_lighting_up/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, from car, nighttime, driving east from wentville Missouri, single light object, flashing, very bright, illuminating sky, multiple witnesses, the whole highway slowed down., vanishing, has anyone seen?, similar sightings same area in comments
.39 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cn62ry/some_strange_experiences_ive_had_do_any_of_these/ experience descriptions, entity, inside bedroom, witness woke up, shadow figure, felt observed, witness went to sleep, subsequent dream description, entity, felt observed, subsequent information transfer, lying down in a room and having some information being put into my head and freaking out from whatever I had just learnt., emotion of fear,
.40 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cmy6y2/what_is_this_light_moving_through_sky/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon
.41 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnads9/wtf_is_that/ photo, daytime sky, powerlines, plane for comparison, single light object, not seen by eye, urban area, Miami Florida, near water Atlantic Ocean, downvoted to zero in 30 minutes, OP comments downvoted
.42 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cncumx/my_sons_drawing/ art 🎨, drawing , flying saucer
.43 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnd105/phenomenon_related_dreams/ dream description, entity, The being/craft/king telepathically told us he was going to reveal himself to us and he ripped off his mask to reveal another plastic like clown mask., physical effects paralysis, vibration, I awoke in my bed (had to be 3am-4am) and I could not move but there were intense "electric" like pusles starting in my head and moving down my body through my feet.. They were extremely intense and slowly faded. It was not really painful but it was a little frightening, very intense and like nothing I have ever experienced.
.44 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnbxpu/my_mom_saw_a_ufo/ video, nighttime sky, from car, single light object, central Texas., very bright, moving fast , pulsating
.45 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnd42o/large_stationary_disk_ufo_over_north_atlantic/ sighting description, three witnesses, over water Atlantic Ocean, Myrtle Beach south Carolina, disk shape, very large, electronic effects camera can't detect it, stationary, nighttime https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cncxy4/large_stationary_disk_shaped_ufo_over_north/ reposted
.46 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cmxs3c/flying_object/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving slowly, low over rooftop, the Netherlands 🇳🇱
.47 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cngbc7/spotted_this_evening_north_london/ sighting description and reference image, evening sky, threelights, orange 🟠, from car, urban area, London England the UK 🇬🇧, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, Went under a bridge and then they were gone.
.48 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cninhn/lantana_fl_ufo_or_something_over_ocean/ video, daytime cloudy sky, over water Atlantic Ocean, single object blackwhite, possibly rotating, moving slowly, vanishing and reappearing https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnip7a/lantana_fl_ufo_pics_to_go_with_video/ photo, Lantana Florida, beetle 🪲 or doughnut 🍩 shaped , submission statement issues, removed https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnv797/lantana_fl_ufo_or_something_in_sky_over_ocean/ photos reposted
.49 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnja67/vulture_to_the_left_ufo_to_the_right/ photo, daytime sky, single light object, possible disk shape, bird for comparison, not seen by eye, overhead, reddish glow, near Medford Oregon, downvoted to zero
.50 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnzjh1/introducing_anomaly_network_document_and_share/ original project, iPhone app, Anomaly Network, available at anomalynetwork.net, is a community-driven app where users can share their UFO sightings in real-time or document past encounters.
.51 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnl49k/what_is_it/ video, nighttime sky, single dark object, reaction to being filmed, It saw I was filming and try to hide., low over treeline, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.52 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnlcz8/video_i_took_not_sure_if_it_is_a_ufo_please_tell/ video, daytime sky, plane for comparison, single light object moving fast, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, horizontal trajectory , Jefferson City Missouri
.53 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cnp5z4/sighting_report_south_of_niagara_triangle_craft/ sighting description, south of niagara Canada 🇨🇦, contemporaneous report, nighttime, triangle 🔺️, threelights, lights on each point, moving towards niagara from the south , trailed by a slow moving jet matching speed , interaction with airplane, followed by plane, both objects silent, The jet appeared to be a military design, one or two passenger and had lights on it as well it was silent as well and had no plume trail.,
.54 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cnnjg5/my_wife_sawsomething_strange/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, two people at home, Camp Pendleton California, military, animal reaction dogs growling and hair standing up on their backs., twolights, vertical orientation, two bright white circle lights, kind of stacked up atop on one another. One smaller, one a little bigger. , moving, approach, similar sightings in comments and discussion of apathy, [GOODPOST]
.55 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cnpi63/i_just_had_my_first_experiance/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, nighttime, two witnesses, single light object, wtf_is_that, reaction to being observed, sudden departure, It swiftly shot away the moment I looked at it, hovering about 20 feet above ground, leaving behind a trail of orange flame-like glow as it moved. 🟠, silent, emotional reaction shock, similar sighting in comments, over the witness home, backyard
.56 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cnwr98/ufo_corrientes_argentina_090524/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, haze, corrientes Argentina 🇦🇷, contemporaneous report, low over treeline, two witnesses, blue glow 🔵
.57 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cos8he/what_is_this_off_the_coast_of_walton_county_fl/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, Walton County Florida, over water, gulf of Mexico, single dark object, low over horizon, elongated, vertical orientation, possible haze or diffuse trail, rectangular shape, duration a couple minutes, vanished, contemporaneous report, [GOODPOST] https://old.reddit.com/MobileAL/comments/1cpskoc/military_helicopters/ possible military response helicopters
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1codh6n/uap_close_encounte sighting description, at home, Brookline Missouri, nighttime, backyard, felt observed, single light object, metallic sphere, low over ground, silver colored spherical object about beach ball size. It was moving very slowly from my left to right., crossed directly in front, reaction to being observed, flareup, lighting configuration change, began flashing, moving and stationary and moving, jumpy movements, vanishing, silent, military aviation OP, telepathy, seemed to me like it could read my thoughts, [GOODPOST]
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cohyet/uap_over_burbank_ca/ video, nighttime sky, urban area, Burbank California, near airport, single light object, orange 🟠, approach, possible reaction to being filmed, trajectory change, vanishing and reappearing, contemporaneous report, downvoted to zero
.60 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1co544x/saw_a_weird_light_in_the_sky/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, evening sky, from car, single light object, splitting, lighting configuration change to twolights, dimming, vanishing, scardovari Italy 🇮🇹 , near water river Po, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted
.61 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1com61m/liberty_nc/ video, nighttime sky, from car, liberty north Carolina, fleet, low over treeline, orange 🟠, moving slowly, silent
.62 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cotyqj/3_flying_objects_found_in_night_sky_with/ video, nighttime sky, multiple objects, moving erratically, low over treeline
.63 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cowsz0/what_was_this/ video, daytime cloudy sky, from airplane, single object blackwhite, possible disk shape or possible island, approaching Seoul Incheon Airport., south Korea 🇰🇷
.64 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cos39a/people_always_ask_why_do_ufos_only_come_to_the/ sighting description and discussion of the Bahamas 🇧🇸 as a Hotspot, especially as of lately in the last few years it’s spiked. contemporaneous report, nighttime, three witnesses, threelights, smaller objects accompany it, previous news report entities observed, tall tridactyl owl like beings that were zooming around in pods.,
.65 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1coxv5o/i_experienced_an_orb_51024_621_utc_i_saw_it_drop/ photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, possibly emitting orbs, possible telepathy,
.66 https://old.reddit.com/UFOscience/comments/1coz2gold_pictures_from_2009_showing_strange_objects/ description of photos, single light object moving, twolights, plane for comparison, near airport, Mantova Italy 🇮🇹, facing the mountain called Monte Baldo.
.67 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1coycsz/juno_spacecraft_took_this_picture_am_i_imagining/ photo, Jupiter anomaly, possible structure
.68 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1conlyh/what_is_this_machine_preview_in_belgium_yesterday/ photos, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single dark object, angular shape, blue glow, contemporaneous report, Gemmenich Belgium 🇧🇪, audio description funny noise, RC Wing/Plane
.69 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cohwgd/encounter_beyond_earth_unraveling_alien_tech/ detailed experience description, near Whitmore Lake, Michigan, possible abduction, location anomaly, ended up way off route, 40 miles north past my stop, right over the Zilwaukee Bridge. , subsequent telepathy, Since that night, my mind has been different. I’ve developed abilities I can't fully explain, like intense intuition and predictive dreams that actually come true https://old.reddit.com/AlienAbduction/comments/1codwhq/beyond_time_and_understanding/ same OP, more details
.70 https://old.reddit.com/space/comments/1cohf2x/iss_and_vsfb_rocket_flew_over_me_at_the_same_time/ reference ISS, reference rocket launch, video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Vandenberg Space Force Base
.71 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1co3xap/im_from_a_remote_village_in_northern_alaska_and/ sighting descriptions and local folklore, northern Alaska, entities, Innuligarraq (in-new-thli-gar-uck) (irrecenrat on my Yup’ik side), or the Little People. , In my personal experiences, I’ve seen the little ones and the big ones. They both can resemble humans, or just a blur on the land. I believe they’re part of another world or dimension and that’s why they cannot always be seen, similar sightings same area in comments , [GOODPOST]
.72 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cozlks/a_friend_of_mine_filmed_a_uap_with_greer_gree experience description friend of OP, human initiated contact, celebrity event, Greer confiscated video of single light object, it hovered a few feet over their head. They recorded the whole encounter, including it hovering over Greer and then flying off into the distance.
.83 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1coznlg/uap_spotted_after_spacex_launch/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, Central Valley California, at home, near rocket launch, observed moving and stationary and moving, sudden departure, vanishing, object moving left after the rocket, it seemed to stop, then started going off quickly to the right before completely disappearing
.84 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp1sx7/i_witnessed_something_that_i_cant_explain/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, at home, single light object stationary, very bright, two witnesses, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, near water, west coast of Denmark 🇩🇰
.85 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cp1kyk/night_flights_around_reserve_nm_weird_cluster_of/ video, nighttime sky, cosmic campground in Glenwood New Mexico, camping, duration 20-25 minutes, fleet, appeared out of nowhere
.86 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1cozhx1/uap_caught_on_camera_oc/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, vanishing, low over rooftop, central California, just after a space X falcon launch
.87 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp8lsd/weird_uap_captured_tonight_in_south_dakota/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, crooks south Dakota, threelights, elongated, yellowish 🟡, trail, at home, backyard, similar sighting same area in comments , horizontal trajectory , northern lights
.88 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp8yv9/filmed_this_tonight/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, powerlines, Wayland Michigan, contemporaneous report, single object moving fast , northern lights
.89 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpggt2/could_this_movement_be_attributable_to_parallax/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, Walla Walla Washington state, single light object moving and stationary, possible trajectory change, it appeared to veer from its arc and turn to the left a bit and then… it stopped.
.90 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp7b16/airplane_satellite/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object moving, plane for comparison observed, video shows moving erratically, multicolored, white observed, low over rooftop, downvoted to zero , northern lights
.91 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpiwtg/northern_lights_ce5_contact_a2_michigan/ photos, nighttime sky, hard to see, contemporaneous report, human initiated contact, Michigan , northern lights
.92 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpiosv/am_i_crazy_or_is_this_weird/ video, nighttime sky, at home, single light object moving, multicolored, contemporaneous report, near Pawling new York state , northern lights
.93 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpjrp0/what_does_everyone_make_of_this_saw_this_last/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, low over treeline, Tennessee, moving slowly, descending below treeline, trampoline, appeared out of nowhere, similar sighting in comments, ISS? ,
.94 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp82oq/did_i_see_the_triangle/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, from airplane, downvoted to zero, from Chicago to Austin , central USA, possible interaction with airplane, plane banked hard away causing me to drop the phone., dark shadow of the triangle with glowing light around it. https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpkybt/triangle_stills/ still images , removed, The rest of the flight was normal, we felt lower than before and landed ~30 mins later than we should have. When I landed in Austin, the Airport’s alarm system was going off and people were evacuating briefly.
.95 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp90nh/saw_this_while_looking_at_the_aurora_satellite/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving slowly and straight, flew over the witness home, Tennessee, disappeared behind treeline, similar sightings in comments , northern lights
.96 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpblvq/flashing_greenblue_light_moving_erratically/ video, nighttime sky, single light object flashing, contemporaneous report, northern lights, urban area, Calgary Alberta Canada 🇨🇦, observed green-blue 🟢🔵, moving erratically, trajectory change, right angle turn, started off very bright with a bit of a tail moving vertically. Started to change direction and move horizontally, at different speeds. , speed change, sudden departure downward, downvoted to zero
.97 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpbr3j/iron_city_tennessee/ sighting description, downvoted to zero, Iron City Tennessee, three witnesses, multiple objects, fleets, they would appear and travel in perfect formation. In two’s, 3’s, and the biggest I saw was 6 in a sideways U-shape formation., flying in formation, appeared out of nowhere, similar sighting in comments, contemporaneous report, northern lights,
.98 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpc3d7/orb_shaped_object_in_redding_ca/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, multicolored, plane for comparison, speed change observed, silent, low over rooftop,
.99 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpe5o5/orbs_in_the_sky/ video, hard to see, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Iowa, northern lights, human initiated contact, repeat visitors, sometimes i get blinks back or a small ball of light slowly or sometimes swiftly moving across the sky, in all different directions., physical effects goosebumps, the second i saw them tonight, i had tingles all up the entirety of my body and i felt electric, downvoted to zero
.100 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpjdd2/a_friend_got_some_cool_photos_of_the_sky_last/ photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, Tennessee, downvoted to zero, multiple objects, fleet, worm 🪱, blue 🔵, not seen by eye
.101 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpo1zg/ufo_spotted_in_holly_springs_nc_7282021/ video, daytime sky, single dark object, elongated, irregular shape, vertical orientation, at home, two witnesses, low over treeline, stationary, felt observed, texture visible, scaled with a texture like rust and was maroon in color. The bottom was like a corkscrew spiraling and resembled snakes moving around a pole. It was confusing and made no sense to observe., reddish glow, possibly rotating, shape change, reaction to being filmed, departing, Holly Springs north Carolina,
.102 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpr67m/weird_orange_lights/ video, nighttime sky, fleet, two pairs of twolights, low over treeline, orange 🟠, submission statement issues
.103 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpqay7/ufo_sighting_near_canada_usa_borde photos and videos, nighttime sky, camping, near the border of Montana and British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving erratically, over water, river, loops, trajectory change, flying around in strange circular motions and could fly back and forth at unreasonably fast speeds and stop and turn around on a dime., red 🔴, color change observed, duration 20-30 minutes, vanishing, repeat visitor or second object, made three passes, low over ridgeline, zigzag movements, emotion of fear , [GOODPOST], decided to sleep in the locked car instead of my tent for the night.
.104 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cp8wig/green_blinking_lights/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, northern lights, nighttime, at home, backyard, southwest Ontario Canada 🇨🇦, twolights, flashing, green 🟢, possible diamond 💠 formation, low over rooftop, stationary and moving, almost diamond shaped on its side with two lights horizontal on the ends. Eventually the lights stopped blinking and it move East and I lost sight of it. , felt observed, downvoted to zero
.105 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cprste/no_idea_what_this_is/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, low over rooftop
.106 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpnzeg/51124_1208_am_cdt/ photo, nighttime sky, twolights, elongated, worm 🪱, blue 🔵, northern lights, prior single light object moving erratically, flashing, intermittently flashed like a disco ball and darted around in a very small area for approximately 10 seconds. , reaction to being filmed, vanishing, two witnesses
.107 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cp9v6a/low_hum_in_the_hudson_valley/ audio description, no craft, humming sound, at home, duration 30-40 minutes, The sound was undulating up and down in pitch, like a very slow vibrato, and it sounded like it was coming from the sky or just the air around us. It didn’t sound mechanical, or like wind or a plane, it had a very clear, almost musical tone. It felt like the air was vibrating, like we were inside a giant violin., Hudson Valley new York state, contemporaneous report, northern lights, sky trumpets, similar sightings in comments
.108 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cp7byz/saw_this_tonight_in_the_south_of_norway_at_first/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, cloud anomaly, fleet, flashing erratically, northern lights, southern Norway 🇳🇴
.109 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cpfggg/woke_up_to_hear_about_the_crazy_g5_storm_tried_to/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon, not seen by eye, moving fast , near Philadelphia Pennsylvania
.110 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cpmh65/any_maine_ufo_nerds_here_see_anything_a_few/ sighting description, nighttime, fleet, moving and stationary, all different directions, over water, Grand Manan Channel near Lubec Maine., duration 1 hour, sometimes in pairs, and they would move, stop, change direction and make sharp curves as if scanning or observing the enviroment, and although they all made different movements they would all eventually fly up into the same spot in the clouds and out of sight., has anyone seen?
.111 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cp82pz/what_did_i_just_witness_here_in_kentucky_watching/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, color change, red and green 🔴🟢, silent, observed moving erratically, contemporaneous report, northern lights, northern Kentucky
.112 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpsi34/ufos_over_uk_south_coast_right_now/ sighting description, contemporaneous report, nighttime, Northern lights, Duration 30 minutes, two witnesses, at home, curved trajectory, all different directions, All of them are flying in different directions, different speeds, some fly straight and some fly curved, some travel in pairs as if they're racing, with their speeds fluctuating! , Worthing the UK 🇬🇧, near water, similar sighting same day in Belgium 🇧🇪 in comments
.113 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cpnebi/spotted_last_night_brilliant_bright_light/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving fast, haze, possible beetle 🪲 or rectangular shape, flew overhead, ISS?, Denver Colorado, similar sightings same day in comments, emitting brilliant sparkly light.
.114 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cnts0q/fastmoving_orange_light_over_tuscolagenesee/ sighting description, single light object moving fast, zigzag movements, orange 🟠, over Genesee or Tuscola counties, near Millington Missouri, has anyone seen?, nighttime, two witnesses, trail
.115 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cnszys/maybe_just_maybe/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon, disappeared into cloud, fleet observed, individual objects one behind other. Disappeared behind the cloud like it never existed. , low over rooftop, at home, urban area, Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
.116 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpt88u/white_light_moving_across_the_sky_satellite_o video, nighttime sky, at home, backyard, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object, silent, moving straight, the Netherlands 🇳🇱 , plane for comparison
.117 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1cpqq54/very_bright_solid_white_round_light/ photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object, Iowa City Iowa, silent, moving straight,
.118 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpvvgp/anyone_in_phoenix_see_pure_white_orbs_fading_in/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, urban area, Phoenix Arizona, from car, two witnesses, contemporaneous report, northern lights, nighttime, single light object, appeared out of nowhere, stationary, vanishing, repeat visitor or second object, made four passes, circle shaped, had a clearly defined end to the circular light source, a big circle of light that would fade in, hang around, then disappear., similar sightings in comments
.119 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq6i6u/my_first_ufo_encounter_with_a_twist_a_whole_fleet/ sighting description, Eningen unter Achalm Germany 🇩🇪 , daytime cloudy sky, two witnesses, single dark object, lighting configuration change to metallic sphere, duration 5-10 minutes, hiking, black ⚫️, directly in front, moving slowly, eye 👁, physical effects paralysis, transfixed, flashes of light, ascending at an angle, haze, disappeared into clouds, photos show fleet and possible repeat visitor, [GOODPOST], emotional reaction feeling shook
.120 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpxi33/triangle_craft/ photo, OP is not the witness, witness is law enforcement friend who works near a major airport., nighttime sky, threelights, triangle formation, repeat visitor, he calls it in to the air traffic control tower every time. They tell him “they know about it and could he please quit calling.”, [GOODPOST], observed stationary, over powerlines, duration 10 minutes, similar sightings in comments
.120 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpycff/satellite_tough_to_tell_in_first_video_with_plane/ video, nighttime sky, single light object , contemporaneous report, Michigan
.121 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpyxou/anyone_else_seen_this_before/ sighting description and discussion of sightings, repeat visitor, has anyone seen?, single flash, it just flashes white once then… nothing., many similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.122 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq1myc/just_spotted_this_in_auckland_nz/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, single light object moving slowly, orange 🟠 horizontal trajectory, low over treeline, urban area, Auckland new zealand 🇳🇿, similar sighting same area in comments, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted
.123 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq3h3c/ufo_swarm_spotted_near_elk_creek_ca_during_sola photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, northern lights, elk creek California, multiple objects observed, zigzag movements , downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted
.124 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cq832t/ufo_spotted_on_singapore_bay/ video, daytime sky, over water, Singapore 🇸🇬 bay, contemporaneous report, single dark object, irregular shape, tendrils, jellyfish 🪼, stationary, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.125 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cpxjlf/possible_uap_sighting_dover_nh_51224_2200_edt/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving slowly, powerlines, urban area, dover new Hampshire, contemporaneous report, northern lights
Continued...

I keep hearing that writers got too inspired by Brandon Sanderson's three laws and now somehow any "soft" magic system without strict rules is a bad system. But Mistborn, the Branson Sanderson book that is used as the prime example, contains plenty of soft magic to add flavor to the world. So it feels like the debate is pointless?
Mistborn spoilers ahead
Allomancy has very strict rules, sure enough. But then we get to Atium, Lerasium, Gold, Electrum and the rules get kind of hazy.
Ferruchemy starts out innocent enough, acting as a PDA. But then we learn this magic can be used to store weight, time and even youth/age and things get pretty arbitrary, IMHO.
Hemalurgy is used to create all the monsters in the story, the Inquisitors, the Koloss, the Kendra. Sure this system has rules, but a) the reader is not told the rules b) the rules seem pretty loose and c) leave a lot of stuff not very well explained. Sure, the Koloss have split skins all over their body that makes them look very scary, but it is not explained very well via Hemalurgy.
Finally, there is something that is very important to the story, but that is not explained by any of the magic systems. The Mist and the ashes. In the world of Scadriel ashes always fall from the sky, giving the world a goomy Gothic vibe. Then the mist creeps at night threatening to kill anyone caught in it. Both of these were created using power of Gods. They add so much to the mystery of the world, yet they are a soft system that is not derived from any rules.
And having soft systems is fine! Brandon's first Law does not allow the protagonist to solve problems with soft magic. But soft magic can absolutely be used to create problems for the protagonist by the villain, and to create mystery and wonder in the world.
So, if this soft vs hard debate exists, it seems pretty pointless to me. We need both to create a interesting fantasy story.
Edit: Fine! FULL SPOILERS!
I know the Mist is Preservation's body! I know Rashek created the volcanoes! What I am saying is that there are no rules for it. Why Mist and not Water or Snow? How did Rashek use Preservation+Ruin's power to create the volcanoes? Pulled the magma with allomancy then stabilized the mountain with spikes? If not, what EXACT RULES??

Hope you like reading, cause this will be a long one. I'll be going from area to area, considering all the NPC quests to determine the intended ending. Starting in Limgrave, Irina and Edgar's, as well as Yura's quests both lead to the frenzied flame ending. Blaidd and Ranni's both lead to the Age of Stars ending. D's, Rogier's, and Fia's quests all lead to the Age of the Duskborn ending. So far, none of these conflict. Moving on to Liurnia, we get the start of Hyetta's quest, and continue Yura's. This area is where get a majority of Ranni's quest. Iji's, Seluvis', Blaidd's, and Ranni's quest all happen here. Rogier's questline also has you enter Ranni's service. You can argue that you don't need to finish Ranni's quest to finish Fia's, but I'm counting that as a conflict. Duskborn loses to Stars. No conflict with frenzy flame. On to Caelid, there isn't much here besides beating Radahn to continue Ranni's quest. But we do start Millicent's quest, which will be important later. Onto Leyndell, we start Goldmask's quest and Dung Eaters quest, and Yura's comes to an end. No conflict here. Volcano manor has no relevant ending. Onto the mountain tops. We start Shabriri's very short quest along side Hyetta's which would lock us into the Frenzy flame ending. Onto concentrated snowfield/Haligtree, we finish Millicent's quest. Upon entering Farum Azula we can use Miquella's needle to stop the frenzy flame. So frenzy flame ending stops here. Ashen Capital marks the end of Goldmask's quest. So upon beating the game, only the endings are still available.,Age of Stars, Age of Order, or Blessing of Despair. Now I'm sorry to all you dung eater fans out there, all three of you. But only a psychopath would willingly choose that ending. You could even argue it doesn't get this far because Dung Eater is a target for Selivus, stopping that ending. So only two options remain. If you support the Golden Order, you choose Goldmask's ending with the Age of Order, or if you choose to end the Golden Order, you choose Ranni's ending with the Age of Stars. Now I should clarify that I ignored the Age of Fracture (default) ending because I feel it's a copout to just ignore all the quests just to choose this one. Tell me what you think.

Two and a half thousand years ago, a small trading town existed on a small island off the coast of Valencia, Spain, just a quarter of the way to the Balearic Islands. It was a peaceful and bright society. However, one day, panic was set about when the town's chief scientist, who mostly spent his life in obscurity, made a harrowing statement.
"There are two beasts beneath the earth, at war with each other. Eventually, at the culmination of the war, their movement will reach this town. The turmoil of the two beasts will sink much of the island, except this very town, to the bottom of the sea. However, only the knowledge and wisdom of man will determine whether this town will suffer the same fate."
Indeed, about four hundred years later, the island was sunk beneath the waves. The shallowest parts of the island were, as prophesied, part of the small town, only two meters beneath sea level. The island and its town were mostly forgotten until a team of archeologists, in the 1970s, discovered the anthropogenic-marked sandbar. Most of the remaining material beneath the shallow waters was of little historical value, so society didn't mind when a hotel company bought the land and decided to build a modern hotel resort on top of the sandbank on the turn of the millennium.
Isle Tarshish opened to the public on 7 April, 2005. It was an exclusive but hugely successful attraction, with 50 rooms, an infinity pool, a spa and sauna room, two restaurants, an art gallery, and even a TV station, all surrounding a central waterway going from the west side to the north side. Various walkways and bridges allowed the guests to go from one place to the other. There was even a conference room on a smaller island north of the main hotel island and a more exquisite suite on the west, and beautiful sculptures on the east. But despite its glory, it was not destined to be forever.
On the 13th of May, 2022, geologist Anna Hernandez discovered a previously unknown magma plume directly between Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Formed by the subduction of the African Plate's oceanic crust beneath the Eurasian Plate, it was made of melted, ferrous rock. And it was rising. A danger to Isle Tarshish seemed unlikely—at first. However, a week later, an earthquake of Richter magnitude 2 occurred. Its epicenter was to the west of the previously-detected plume's geometric center—it seemed to have moved towards Isle Tarshish. Three days after that, a slightly stronger earthquake occurred. And it was even closer.
Hernandez realized that Isle Tarshish may become the epicenter of this newborn battle between the forces of the Earth. She believed early warnings were key to survival and the salvation of lives. On the 25th of May, she visited the island with a mission: to meet with Isle Tarshish's General Manager and tell them of the possible geological threat. It was a two-hour boat ride, which made her feel seasick.
"Could you please make this boat rock a little faster?"
"I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do. The waves are like this, and we just have to embrace them."
When she arrived at the resort, she was in shock. It was a sunny day. People were playing around, walking with their families around the buildings, swimming in the sea, or bathing in the heat after some time in a presumably colder country. The infinity pool was on the other side of the direction of arrival. The shock and allure of such a place cured Hernandez's seasickness, but she was concerned about the future of the island. Concerned that one day, as they had fun in the sun, a disaster, one as vicious as a fire-breathing dragon, could come up from beneath and destroy them.
After going on the resort's main pier, she went to the reception. She was guided to the hotel's management office. The general manager was an uptight, estute man named Santiago Galante.
"Hola!"
"Hello. I'm Anna Hernandez."
"So what brings you here today?"
"Well, you see, I'm a geologist..."
Hernandez twitched anxiously as she thought desperately of what she had to say, and how to word it effectively.
"So you're a geologist?"
"Yes, and I have just discovered a possible threat to this island. I have discovered a new magma plume, just fifty kilometers beneath the surface directly between Valencia and Ibiza. It seems to be rising at a rate of two kilometers per day."
"Yeah, and what does that mean?"
"Assuming this rate stays constant, the magma will hit the ocean's surface just before the end of June... causing a volcanic eruption. Which is interesting because the whole region of Spain has never seen a volcanic eruption in years, except the Canary Islands. But again, that's concerning, for obvious reasons."
Again, the room was as silent as a snake, for a second.
"Where will the eruption occur?"
"We don't know... but there have been earthquakes increasing steadily in magnitude... and the epicenters have moved between close to Ibiza... right to where we are."
"Oh."
After a few seconds of silence, Galante spoke his mouth. His secretary, Gaspar de Arroyo, started to chime in.
"You know, yesterday, we had a pastor at the United Pentecostal Church of Spain just leave, but he left us with a blessing."
"Yeah, and what did he say?"
"He said Isle Tarshish will flourish for years to come and even until the Second Coming of Christ."
"Did he?"
"Yeah. He said people would scoff at his claim, but he said that, in the end, even when cities like London and Los Angeles fall, Isle Tarshish will stand ground."
"Scientifically speaking, that's nonsense."
"Remember, this used to be part of an island that was mostly above water, but which has mostly sunk. I am literally providing evidence right before your very eyes that this resort might be right in the firing line of a forming volcano."
"Who are you to question the servant of the Lord?"
"I'm a scientist. I make claims based on things we can observe with our five senses. I have more credibility over some charlatan who's probably out for people's money."
At that moment, de Arroyo spoke.
"You know, my son has seizures, but when we visited that pastor in the past, his seizures disappeared like magic!"
"You know childhood seizures can stop manually?"
"Yeah, basing that from the little you know, miss. Now please quit bothering me and my boss with all this volcano talk."
"I agree with him," Galante said. "I'm sorry to say this, but you've offended us with questioning the pastor who blessed us. We place our trust in him, and not in some scientist who probably doesn't go by faith. So please, enjoy yourselves here, and don't shove your nonsense down other people's throats."
Hernandez left the resort, dismayed. She felt saddened seeing the souls having fun on the resort as she left on the boat. She also felt sickened thinking of them and the possibility of them having heard that megapastor. First he scammed them from their money—and now, worst case scenario, he might take all of their lives.
On the first day of June, the people at Isle Tarshish woke up to a tremor that shook their cups and rocked their pools. An earthquake of magnitude 3.5 on the Richter scale. Hernandez woke up to it too, thanks to an alert. And, as expected, the earthquake's epicenter was even closer to the island.
While searching for TV channels, Hernandez stumbled across it. The pentecostal megapastor about whom Galante had spoke. And, during the few seconds in which he spoke, he mentioned the recent earthquakes off Valencia. He said they would stop. They didn't.
The more the earthquakes occurred, the more Hernandez felt sick listening to him. He looked like a wolf in sheep's clothing.
By 10 June, the earthquakes were nearly of Richter magnitude 5. Hernandez knew the probability of her worst fears coming true—a volcanic eruption directly at Isle Tarshish—were increasing rapidly as the earthquake depths decreased while their magnitudes increased. Magma was rapidly approaching the surface.
And Isle Tarshish was not safe.
Yet, she heard Galante and de Arroyo telling the guests at their doomed paradise that everything would go fine, all based on the crap talk from some charlatan the month before. Enraged, she sent them an angry voice mail, but they wouldn't listen. Isle Tarshish was not evacuated. However, it was not long before the guests began to rebel. A few days later, there were leaks in their pipes. One of the spa pools had turned yellow with unfamiliar minerals. And cracks had formed on the ground. The conference room had no power. Many of them wanted to leave—but Galante and de Arroyo decided they had enough. Proclaiming the Isle as their "promised land" sheltered from outside demonic activity, they ordered the guests to stay there and those in charge of the boats to not take them back to the mainland.
And then it happened. 22 June, 2022.
All the guests stranded on the island were jolted awake by a 5 magnitude earthquake, at around 7 AM. From her office in Valencia City, Hernandez saw that the earthquake's epicenter was right below the Isle, at a depth of only 50 meters. The endgame had come.
By now, the whole resort was out of power. The guests began to panic. At 8:30, Galante ordered Erasmo Cifuentes, the Isle's chief electrician, to investigate. He, along with another fellow electrician, entered the power management room. Closing the thick door behind him, Cifuentes was aghast when he saw a massive crack on the room's rocky, haggard floor. It was a very large crack, about 10 centimeters wide at most.
"What do you think lies at the bottom?" his friend asked.
"I have no—"
Just then, another tremor occurred. Cifuentes and his friend bolted straight for the heavy door—but it did not bulge. The earthquake had sealed it shut.
A few seconds later, the earthquake ended. However, temperatures in the room began to rise. Scared, Cifuentes went over to massive crack he saw earlier. However, the last thing he saw was what lay on the bottom.
A red, rising, and viciously glowing substance.
It was rising directly towards him.
As it inched closer, he could see hot streaks of yellow on its surface, and hot, smelly, rising bubbles. That's when he realized what it was—and the sinister realization that it was too late.
Lava.