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The Cryopod to Hell 566: Test of Unity
2024.06.07 21:29 Klokinator The Cryopod to Hell 566: Test of Unity
Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 2,204,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
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(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
A few days after Neil and Hope's meeting.
Henry Cliff walks alone down the hallways of the Labyrinth. He wears a purple-colored T-REX, a status symbol put in place by the higher-ups as a sign of his newfound prestige and military ranking. Its color, as well as the other new colors among the army allow for a quick idea of the ranking of any human soldier at a glance, especially among those who don't know the humans well, such as their allies for today.
Henry's feet quietly plod against the Labyrinth's compacted dirt floor. His breathing remains even despite having walked for over thirty minutes. Thanks to his newly enhanced body, he could run for a thousand kilometers without breaking a sweat. Even he isn't entirely certain just how strong he is. Perhaps, if he were to come to blows with a Demon Emperor, he might roll them out like a sleeping bag.
As he walks, Henry's newfound clarity of purpose mixes with the voices and thoughts of ten thousand other members of Jepthath's Legion. No, more accurately, they are Henry's Legion, now. While their power might be derived from Jepthath, it was the Hero-King's decision to give Henry command of them and become his Voice.
Each person who joined on that day possessed their own thoughts, feelings, and talents. Their combined cumulative experience, which could now be tapped into at will, easily amounted to more than 350,000 years. If the age of every person who merged had been 10, that would have given them 100,000 years, but the fact the average turned out to be 35 elevated their cumulative total dramatically.
And that was to say nothing of the people who had once been a part of Jepthath's Legion in the past. When Henry first became inducted into the Legion, he was shocked by just how much wisdom Jepthath possessed. While he did not have the truly unfathomable and vast breadth of knowledge Solomon possessed, Jepthath was amazing in his own way. What he lacked in raw information, he made up in with mastery of combat.
If Solomon possessed the combined cumulative knowledge of humanity, Jepthath possessed its raw hand-to-hand fighting prowess. And that served to bolster Henry's state of mind significantly.
Just by integrating into the Legion, Henry's ability to peer into the essence of combat increased ten thousand-fold. Over the last few days, he had happened to pass by several different training grounds for humanity's soldiers on Maiura, most of them having been erected at some point by Neil Adams in the past six years. Henry was not impressed by what he saw. If anything, he was disgusted.
[Their movements are so crude. So lacking in refinement.] He would often think, while conversing with the ancient Hero-King. [I want to train them. I can't stand to imagine them using their sloppy combat skills against old demon monsters.]
[A waste of time.] Jepthath would chide gently, whenever he and Henry had this conversation. [The knowledge you have obtained effortlessly cannot be communicated through words or demonstrations. The only way one can become as proficient as the members of Our Legion is by directly transferring Our combined knowledge through Our souls and minds.]
[Then we have to convince more to join Us!] Henry would exclaim. [These fools are wasting their time flailing about, trying to reinvent the wheel. If they joined Us, they would gain all of Our power in the art of war and become capable of adding to Our collective consciousness!]
Jepthath shakes his head. [I made a deal with the Wordsmith. We will not forcibly recruit anyone. If you wish to convince more to join Us, you must demonstrate Our power. Not only do you possess knowledge of countless schools of fighting, but you also possess intimate knowledge of battlefield tactics and guerrilla warfare. By demonstrating that Knowledge is Power, you can enlighten the foolish masses as to what they are missing out on.]
Henry nodded sincerely at that time. He looked up at the night sky and clenched his fist with determination.
Humanity was wasting its capabilities! If other humans only knew how small and frail they were, they would jump at the chance to join the Legion!
Less than a week before, Henry had been a disgraced soldier, a mere civilian, a person who might never even get the opportunity to shine the boots of those he had once trained with.
But now he was an officer, an elite warrior many would come to fear and respect.
This realization made his heart leap and his throat dry. In many ways, he sometimes felt he didn't deserve this position. He certainly hadn't earned it.
Not yet. Someday he would. Someday soon.
His thoughts come back to the present. He continues walking, ultimately falling into step beside an ordinary human commando also donning a T-REX. A small artistic flourish on the side of her armor, a pink rose, hints to him the other soldier might be a woman.
The grey-armored soldier turns her head to look at him as she walks. "Oh! You startled me. And you are?"
Unable to see her face, Henry looks at her helmet instead, and her name and other information pop up in his HUD, allowing him to see her identity.
"I'm Lieutenant Henry Cliff." He says. "You're Private Ashley McCarthy? Aren't you the lady who can transform into an orc?"
Immediately, her previously formal tone turns cold. Ashley snaps her head forward, no longer looking at him.
"Every time. Every time! Is that all I am anymore? Just the ugly bitch who turns into an orc?!"
"Whoa, whoa!" Henry exclaims, taken aback by her response. "I'm sorry, uh, Miss McCarthy. I didn't mean to apologize- I mean, I didn't apologize- mean to offend you! I- I uh, sorry!"
He stumbles over his words, feeling suddenly ashamed that he spoke so bluntly without considering the other person's feelings. Then again, how could he have known it was such a sore subject for her? That thought also makes him feel unfairly slighted, as he committed a blunder without meaning to.
"No, no I'm sorry." Ashley quickly says, suddenly realizing how rudely she just spoke to a superior officer. "It's not your fault, Lieutenant. I, I just... it's a long story. I never asked for this ability. I hate it."
"You hate it?" Henry asks, as they round a corner, passing a dozen goblins who carefully press against the side-wall to avoid the giant humans. "Pardon my bluntness, but why? In this time of war, possessing an orc form must make you pretty strong. Valuable. You could be on the fast-track to a higher rank if you have any ambition."
"Higher rank." Ashley mutters under her breath. "As if that's something I'd want. I'm not some big brained Terran from Old Earth. I'm just a normal girl from one of the Wild Worlds. I only want to be pointed at an enemy so I can hurt them."
That sounds an awful lot like something an orc would say, Henry thinks, but wisely keeps to himself.
"Does turning into an orc make you stronger?" Henry asks, choosing to turn the discussion down a more positive path.
"Oh, sure. A bit stronger." Ashley concedes. "You know how the Body Booster improves a human's baseline physique, putting some of us on par with certain low-ranking Demon Lords? Well, my Orc transformation stacks on that, sort of. I can pick up and throw boulders pretty far."
She pauses, before adding, "I mean, it is really fun being that strong."
Henry reaches up to rub his chin, only for his hand to clank against his T-REX's helmet. He gives up on the idea and lowers his arm again.
"I recently got a, uh, a pretty substantial boost to my strength. You remember how Commander Hope offered for people to merge with the Hero Jepthath? I did that, and it made me a lot stronger."
He turns to look at the woman beside him, but she simply gazes forward, her helmet offering no insight into her current expression.
Her words, however, definitely give away what she's thinking.
"Oh. You're one of the cultists."
Her disappointed tone makes Henry's heart skip a beat.
"No, no, no!" Henry exclaims. "Not a cultist. Who told you that?? Jepthath's Legion have simply unified Our minds and bolstered Our bodies, making Us a lot stronger."
She remains quiet for a few moments.
"Yeah... that's... what a cultist would say."
"We're not a cult..." Henry protests feebly, but his words fall on deaf ears.
This isn't the first time someone has directed a look of disgust his way, or visibly cringed when he proudly declared himself one of Jepthath's Chosen.
Jason's words during the Great Debate made a lot of people immediately strike becoming a Parahuman off their list. They'd rather be ordinary soldiers in body armor rather than part of a weird, unified hive-mind.
Dismayed, the young man falls silent. He doesn't say anything for a full minute, and perhaps feeling bad about dismissing him so easily, Ashley decides to reignite the conversation as they draw closer to their destination.
"So what's it like. Being inside a, uh... hive mind? Is it weird?"
"We're not a hive-mind." Henry says, his mood deflating even further. "We're... we're like brothers and sisters. We understand one another. We share thoughts, insights, wisdom."
This time, Ashley tries to exercise a little tact. "It just doesn't sound right for me. I guess everyone has their own preferences. Me, I think I'd die of shame if everyone around me could hear my every thought. The embarrassment alone..."
She trails off and shakes her head.
But this time, Henry doesn't just back down.
"It's not what you think at all." Henry says. "Do you know why you feel fear at the thought of sharing your thoughts? It's because you're self-absorbed."
"What?!" Ashley exclaims, pausing her walk to look at him. No doubt, her helmet hides an expression of disbelief. "What do you mean by that... sir?"
Henry also pauses. He turns to face her, resting his hands on his hips. "You have friends, right? Maybe even a best friend?"
"O-of course!" Ashley says, her tone defensive. "What, you think I'm friendless just because I'm not a part of some bee-hive?"
"That's not what I'm getting at." Henry says patiently, holding out his hand and modulating his tone so he'll come off less aggressive. "Think about your friend, or your best friend. Really think about it. What's the most embarrassing thing you remember about him or her? What's the worst social gaffe they've made that you can't get out of your head?"
Ashley pauses. She lowers her head and falls into thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I can't think of anything. Why?"
"What about other people?" Henry asks. "Has anyone else you know made any serious social fuck-ups recently?"
"Social ones? No. There have been a few generally bad events recently, like finding out Baron Mara killed a bunch of people. But she's not my friend anyway, so..."
"THAT is my point." Henry states emphatically. "You don't think about the weird and embarrassing things your friends do. So why do you believe they're so fixated on yours?"
Ashley lifts her head to look at him. She remains silent, digesting his words, so he continues to press the issue.
"Do you know why you find things about yourself embarrassing? It's not your fault. Most people are extremely self-conscious about their own insecurities. Now that I've become a part of the Legion, I experience everyone else's insecurities all at the same time as I experience mine. In doing so, I realize that mine never amounted to anything at all. When you have ten thousand other people worrying about what they're wearing, or if they look fashionable, or some other tedious bullshit, you quickly realize that all of them amount to white noise. They don't matter."
He throws his hand up dramatically.
"I'm not picking on you. It's just a fact of human consciousness. All people are held back by their fear of social pressure, but much of that is because we don't know what goes on in the heads of our fellow men and women. If you could see their deranged sexual fantasies all at once, you would realize you're not weird at all. Everyone has a kink. If you enjoy looking at gross bugs, guess what? Someone else is unbothered by bodily fluids. We're all weird, and joining the Legion just made that clearer to me."
He pauses, unable to see the look on her face. "Sorry, I hope I'm not coming off as condescending. Does any of this make sense to you?"
Ashley slowly nods. "Mmm. Yeah, it does."
Henry heaves a sigh of relief. "Well, great! Great. I was worried I was starting to sound a little long-winded."
Ashley turns away and resumes walking. "You're definitely in a cult."
"Goddammit." Henry grumbles.
...
Before long, the two of them make it to the meeting location, where they arrive inside a massive, hollowed-out area inside the Labyrinth. There, they find, of all things, a new Volgrim Warpgate installed, its destination some unknown desert on a planet Henry can't immediately identify.
As they enter the massive arena-like staging area, Hope becomes momentarily disoriented. His newly enhanced senses pick up surges of spiritual energy, all spread out across the humans, demons, monsters, and other creatures inside. The powerful Demon Emperors, only a few of whom have yet to Ascend to Demon Deity, stand near the portal, using their strength as a show of force. Despite their proud expressions, Henry's keen senses detect a hint of fear in their eyes, as they seem to be unable to properly stand as strong as they always have. It's as if they are being suppressed by something...
"Whoa!" Ashley gasps. "I can't believe it. Why are the Volgrim here?"
"The Volgrim?" Henry asks, following her gaze based on the direction her helmet is pointed.
Somewhere in the mass of the crowd, a handful of decidedly alien-looking creatures with tentacles writing under their mouths and heavily-armored bodies stand at attention, looking like proud leaders and commanders. Their postures indicate a level of arrogance bred into their bones by millions of years of dominance over the Milky Way. Compared to the slightly fearful Demon Emperors, these Technopaths truly stand out as cream of the crop, with unknown augmentations that likely elevate their combat prowess to the peak.
"Those are Volgrim?" Henry asks. "Huh. The only one I've ever seen was that one female, the one who didn't have a mouth. She was presiding over my, uh, my tribunal..."
"Your tribunal?" Ashley asks.
She pauses, then turns to look at him strangely.
"Cliff... Henry Cliff? What the- you're that traitor! What- how even...?? You're a Lieutenant now? I didn't even recognize your name- no, forget that. Why are you in uniform? Weren't you banned basically forever from rejoining the military?"
"I was banned from rejoining the main military." Henry says, lowering his head in shame. "But, uhm, Hope's Parahumans are... different. It's a different jurisdiction."
Ashley takes a step to the side, pulling away from him. He can't see her expression, but based on her voice, she suddenly seems disgusted by him.
"All this time, I was talking to him." She mutters to herself, as she turns and walks away without another word.
Henry stands there, silently. He watches her depart, a feeling of bitterness welling up in his heart. He could pull rank on her, write her up for insubordination. Given his new status as a high-ranker, it would be easy to do.
But he doesn't.
In truth, he doesn't blame Ashley for her feelings. Because of his actions, Neil Adams was captured and humanity likely lost far more people during Stormbringer as a result. He indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds, perhaps even thousands.
How can he demand respect from her when he feels he doesn't deserve it?
As that thought wells up in Henry's mind, the thoughts of the Legion feed back into him, suppressing his negative emotions. All of them comment on his feelings and insecurities, offering kind words to help him feel better.
[You cannot and should not demand respect, no, but you can earn it back through your actions.] A 52-year-old Legionnaire says. [People like her will come around in due time. Perform admirably and make the Legion proud.]
[That woman is a mere Private.] Jepthath chimes in. [Do not allow your emotions to be tangled up by the feelings of a random soldier. You will need to bolster your Willpower if you seek to reach the peak of what you can achieve.]
[Right. My willpower.] Henry says, as his mood drastically swings back up. He hardens his heart, casting aside Ashley's comment and instead meditating for a moment to clear his mind. [Thank you, everyone, for the support.]
With his thoughts clear, Henry strides toward the front, keeping his gaze fixed on the Volgrim Technopaths. Having never seen these creatures before, he finds their horrid-looking tentacle mouths fascinating and yet creepy to look at. While all of them appear to be gender-ambiguous, certainly at first glance, as he comes closer, he does manage to make out one or two female-sounding voices among them. Or perhaps they might be higher-pitched males. He isn't entirely sure, and it seems a taboo subject to breach.
"-the Task Force will be working alongside these Technopath Envoys." Demon Emperor Yardrat says, his tone even and unbothered by the Technopaths to his left. "Naturally, full command of this operation will still go to the Archdemon, as the ranking Cosmic. However, because he will be busy dealing with the highest level threats, control of the ground forces will go to one member of each species, chosen via several votes of consensus. Today's operation is a test, and its purpose is to ensure we all work together properly. NO friendly fire. Our enemy is the Plague and nobody else. Save your personal grievances, vendettas, and petty squabbles for after we take our galaxy back from the Kolvaxians."
He gestures to the ten Technopaths. "The Volgrim have dispatched an army of 100,000 Technopath soldiers, and they will be commanded by this High Technopath named Loputo Jidelor, a high ranking commander of Clan Symmetra's ground forces."
Each of the Technopaths possesses their own combination of flesh and blood bodily parts mixed with metal limb replacements, armor-addons, and other such things. In Jidelor's case, he stands on two flesh and blood legs. However, in place of his right arm is a long, metallic limb with dozens of razor-thin threads waving to and fro where his 'wrist' ends. Each one moves independently, much like the tentacles on his left arm, but their movements appear far more precise. Dozens of metallic pieces are attached seemingly at random to his skin and skull.
Jidelor nods. "I am an experienced battlefield commander, but I am not a frontline soldier. I will be controlling our siege weaponry and directing our soldiers from the back."
Yardrat nods, then continues. "For the Demons, it goes without saying that just like with the last ten operations, Emperor Serena will be commanding our forces. Her ability to link souls together has proven instrumental in rapid battlefield communications, and her ability to sense souls allows her to keep up with the emergence of new Plagueborn until the point Diablo steals the world core back."
A beautiful demoness with sightless eyes nearby waves her hand delicately. "I will be in your care, everyone. Let us make it to the end without losing any demons this time."
"For the monsters, Fairy Princess Melia will take point." Yardrat says, nodding to another beautiful woman with green hair, fairy wings, and a look of boredom permanently etched onto her face.
Unlike the previous two commanders, Melia doesn't give a speech. In fact, she only rolls her eyes, crosses her arms, and looks away.
"Alright, and for the humans, General Chadwick will be taking charge." Yardrat concludes. He gestures to a massive Norwegian man who has now donned a Rhino T-REX variant and rests his hands around the shaft of a massive battleaxe. Its head rests on the ground, and he supports his massive armored frame by resting on the weapon's handle.
"Everyone." Chadwich says. "It is my honor to lead this mission. Naturally, Commander Neil is not happy about having to work with the demons, and I cannot imagine all of our soldiers are either. However, I pledge on Hope Hiro's honor that we will not commit any cowardly deeds of treachery, any backstabbing, or anything else of that sort! It was Hope Hiro who pushed for this arrangement because he wants humanity's soldiers to get real battle experience against the Plague. Let's be sure to make good use of this time to bury as many hatchets as we can!"
The crowd nods along to Chadwick's words. Some of the humans vocalize their approval, but many more remain silent.
The humans here are not normal civilians. They are military personnel, countless many of whom have not forgiven the demons. They may never forgive them, if their leaders are being honest.
Perhaps sensing the tenseness in the air, Yardrat briskly moves the pace along.
"In thirty minutes, we will begin. Transfer your forces to my world so that I can begin preparation to open the Intragalactic Portals. The Swarm has begun adapting to my tactics of late, so the moment those portals open, we'll need boots on the ground. No delays! If the Plague has its way, it might flood through the portals back to us, and that would be a whole bloody devil-damned mess."
The other leaders nod solemnly. They spread apart to talk to their forces, and Henry heaves a sigh.
In thirty minutes, we'll find out just how stable this alliance truly is.
submitted by Klokinator to HFY [link] [comments]
What is the Cryopod to Hell?
Join the Cryoverse Discord server!
Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!
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...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
A few days after Neil and Hope's meeting.
Henry Cliff walks alone down the hallways of the Labyrinth. He wears a purple-colored T-REX, a status symbol put in place by the higher-ups as a sign of his newfound prestige and military ranking. Its color, as well as the other new colors among the army allow for a quick idea of the ranking of any human soldier at a glance, especially among those who don't know the humans well, such as their allies for today.
Henry's feet quietly plod against the Labyrinth's compacted dirt floor. His breathing remains even despite having walked for over thirty minutes. Thanks to his newly enhanced body, he could run for a thousand kilometers without breaking a sweat. Even he isn't entirely certain just how strong he is. Perhaps, if he were to come to blows with a Demon Emperor, he might roll them out like a sleeping bag.
As he walks, Henry's newfound clarity of purpose mixes with the voices and thoughts of ten thousand other members of Jepthath's Legion. No, more accurately, they are Henry's Legion, now. While their power might be derived from Jepthath, it was the Hero-King's decision to give Henry command of them and become his Voice.
Each person who joined on that day possessed their own thoughts, feelings, and talents. Their combined cumulative experience, which could now be tapped into at will, easily amounted to more than 350,000 years. If the age of every person who merged had been 10, that would have given them 100,000 years, but the fact the average turned out to be 35 elevated their cumulative total dramatically.
And that was to say nothing of the people who had once been a part of Jepthath's Legion in the past. When Henry first became inducted into the Legion, he was shocked by just how much wisdom Jepthath possessed. While he did not have the truly unfathomable and vast breadth of knowledge Solomon possessed, Jepthath was amazing in his own way. What he lacked in raw information, he made up in with mastery of combat.
If Solomon possessed the combined cumulative knowledge of humanity, Jepthath possessed its raw hand-to-hand fighting prowess. And that served to bolster Henry's state of mind significantly.
Just by integrating into the Legion, Henry's ability to peer into the essence of combat increased ten thousand-fold. Over the last few days, he had happened to pass by several different training grounds for humanity's soldiers on Maiura, most of them having been erected at some point by Neil Adams in the past six years. Henry was not impressed by what he saw. If anything, he was disgusted.
[Their movements are so crude. So lacking in refinement.] He would often think, while conversing with the ancient Hero-King. [I want to train them. I can't stand to imagine them using their sloppy combat skills against old demon monsters.]
[A waste of time.] Jepthath would chide gently, whenever he and Henry had this conversation. [The knowledge you have obtained effortlessly cannot be communicated through words or demonstrations. The only way one can become as proficient as the members of Our Legion is by directly transferring Our combined knowledge through Our souls and minds.]
[Then we have to convince more to join Us!] Henry would exclaim. [These fools are wasting their time flailing about, trying to reinvent the wheel. If they joined Us, they would gain all of Our power in the art of war and become capable of adding to Our collective consciousness!]
Jepthath shakes his head. [I made a deal with the Wordsmith. We will not forcibly recruit anyone. If you wish to convince more to join Us, you must demonstrate Our power. Not only do you possess knowledge of countless schools of fighting, but you also possess intimate knowledge of battlefield tactics and guerrilla warfare. By demonstrating that Knowledge is Power, you can enlighten the foolish masses as to what they are missing out on.]
Henry nodded sincerely at that time. He looked up at the night sky and clenched his fist with determination.
Humanity was wasting its capabilities! If other humans only knew how small and frail they were, they would jump at the chance to join the Legion!
Less than a week before, Henry had been a disgraced soldier, a mere civilian, a person who might never even get the opportunity to shine the boots of those he had once trained with.
But now he was an officer, an elite warrior many would come to fear and respect.
This realization made his heart leap and his throat dry. In many ways, he sometimes felt he didn't deserve this position. He certainly hadn't earned it.
Not yet. Someday he would. Someday soon.
His thoughts come back to the present. He continues walking, ultimately falling into step beside an ordinary human commando also donning a T-REX. A small artistic flourish on the side of her armor, a pink rose, hints to him the other soldier might be a woman.
The grey-armored soldier turns her head to look at him as she walks. "Oh! You startled me. And you are?"
Unable to see her face, Henry looks at her helmet instead, and her name and other information pop up in his HUD, allowing him to see her identity.
"I'm Lieutenant Henry Cliff." He says. "You're Private Ashley McCarthy? Aren't you the lady who can transform into an orc?"
Immediately, her previously formal tone turns cold. Ashley snaps her head forward, no longer looking at him.
"Every time. Every time! Is that all I am anymore? Just the ugly bitch who turns into an orc?!"
"Whoa, whoa!" Henry exclaims, taken aback by her response. "I'm sorry, uh, Miss McCarthy. I didn't mean to apologize- I mean, I didn't apologize- mean to offend you! I- I uh, sorry!"
He stumbles over his words, feeling suddenly ashamed that he spoke so bluntly without considering the other person's feelings. Then again, how could he have known it was such a sore subject for her? That thought also makes him feel unfairly slighted, as he committed a blunder without meaning to.
"No, no I'm sorry." Ashley quickly says, suddenly realizing how rudely she just spoke to a superior officer. "It's not your fault, Lieutenant. I, I just... it's a long story. I never asked for this ability. I hate it."
"You hate it?" Henry asks, as they round a corner, passing a dozen goblins who carefully press against the side-wall to avoid the giant humans. "Pardon my bluntness, but why? In this time of war, possessing an orc form must make you pretty strong. Valuable. You could be on the fast-track to a higher rank if you have any ambition."
"Higher rank." Ashley mutters under her breath. "As if that's something I'd want. I'm not some big brained Terran from Old Earth. I'm just a normal girl from one of the Wild Worlds. I only want to be pointed at an enemy so I can hurt them."
That sounds an awful lot like something an orc would say, Henry thinks, but wisely keeps to himself.
"Does turning into an orc make you stronger?" Henry asks, choosing to turn the discussion down a more positive path.
"Oh, sure. A bit stronger." Ashley concedes. "You know how the Body Booster improves a human's baseline physique, putting some of us on par with certain low-ranking Demon Lords? Well, my Orc transformation stacks on that, sort of. I can pick up and throw boulders pretty far."
She pauses, before adding, "I mean, it is really fun being that strong."
Henry reaches up to rub his chin, only for his hand to clank against his T-REX's helmet. He gives up on the idea and lowers his arm again.
"I recently got a, uh, a pretty substantial boost to my strength. You remember how Commander Hope offered for people to merge with the Hero Jepthath? I did that, and it made me a lot stronger."
He turns to look at the woman beside him, but she simply gazes forward, her helmet offering no insight into her current expression.
Her words, however, definitely give away what she's thinking.
"Oh. You're one of the cultists."
Her disappointed tone makes Henry's heart skip a beat.
"No, no, no!" Henry exclaims. "Not a cultist. Who told you that?? Jepthath's Legion have simply unified Our minds and bolstered Our bodies, making Us a lot stronger."
She remains quiet for a few moments.
"Yeah... that's... what a cultist would say."
"We're not a cult..." Henry protests feebly, but his words fall on deaf ears.
This isn't the first time someone has directed a look of disgust his way, or visibly cringed when he proudly declared himself one of Jepthath's Chosen.
Jason's words during the Great Debate made a lot of people immediately strike becoming a Parahuman off their list. They'd rather be ordinary soldiers in body armor rather than part of a weird, unified hive-mind.
Dismayed, the young man falls silent. He doesn't say anything for a full minute, and perhaps feeling bad about dismissing him so easily, Ashley decides to reignite the conversation as they draw closer to their destination.
"So what's it like. Being inside a, uh... hive mind? Is it weird?"
"We're not a hive-mind." Henry says, his mood deflating even further. "We're... we're like brothers and sisters. We understand one another. We share thoughts, insights, wisdom."
This time, Ashley tries to exercise a little tact. "It just doesn't sound right for me. I guess everyone has their own preferences. Me, I think I'd die of shame if everyone around me could hear my every thought. The embarrassment alone..."
She trails off and shakes her head.
But this time, Henry doesn't just back down.
"It's not what you think at all." Henry says. "Do you know why you feel fear at the thought of sharing your thoughts? It's because you're self-absorbed."
"What?!" Ashley exclaims, pausing her walk to look at him. No doubt, her helmet hides an expression of disbelief. "What do you mean by that... sir?"
Henry also pauses. He turns to face her, resting his hands on his hips. "You have friends, right? Maybe even a best friend?"
"O-of course!" Ashley says, her tone defensive. "What, you think I'm friendless just because I'm not a part of some bee-hive?"
"That's not what I'm getting at." Henry says patiently, holding out his hand and modulating his tone so he'll come off less aggressive. "Think about your friend, or your best friend. Really think about it. What's the most embarrassing thing you remember about him or her? What's the worst social gaffe they've made that you can't get out of your head?"
Ashley pauses. She lowers her head and falls into thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I can't think of anything. Why?"
"What about other people?" Henry asks. "Has anyone else you know made any serious social fuck-ups recently?"
"Social ones? No. There have been a few generally bad events recently, like finding out Baron Mara killed a bunch of people. But she's not my friend anyway, so..."
"THAT is my point." Henry states emphatically. "You don't think about the weird and embarrassing things your friends do. So why do you believe they're so fixated on yours?"
Ashley lifts her head to look at him. She remains silent, digesting his words, so he continues to press the issue.
"Do you know why you find things about yourself embarrassing? It's not your fault. Most people are extremely self-conscious about their own insecurities. Now that I've become a part of the Legion, I experience everyone else's insecurities all at the same time as I experience mine. In doing so, I realize that mine never amounted to anything at all. When you have ten thousand other people worrying about what they're wearing, or if they look fashionable, or some other tedious bullshit, you quickly realize that all of them amount to white noise. They don't matter."
He throws his hand up dramatically.
"I'm not picking on you. It's just a fact of human consciousness. All people are held back by their fear of social pressure, but much of that is because we don't know what goes on in the heads of our fellow men and women. If you could see their deranged sexual fantasies all at once, you would realize you're not weird at all. Everyone has a kink. If you enjoy looking at gross bugs, guess what? Someone else is unbothered by bodily fluids. We're all weird, and joining the Legion just made that clearer to me."
He pauses, unable to see the look on her face. "Sorry, I hope I'm not coming off as condescending. Does any of this make sense to you?"
Ashley slowly nods. "Mmm. Yeah, it does."
Henry heaves a sigh of relief. "Well, great! Great. I was worried I was starting to sound a little long-winded."
Ashley turns away and resumes walking. "You're definitely in a cult."
"Goddammit." Henry grumbles.
...
Before long, the two of them make it to the meeting location, where they arrive inside a massive, hollowed-out area inside the Labyrinth. There, they find, of all things, a new Volgrim Warpgate installed, its destination some unknown desert on a planet Henry can't immediately identify.
As they enter the massive arena-like staging area, Hope becomes momentarily disoriented. His newly enhanced senses pick up surges of spiritual energy, all spread out across the humans, demons, monsters, and other creatures inside. The powerful Demon Emperors, only a few of whom have yet to Ascend to Demon Deity, stand near the portal, using their strength as a show of force. Despite their proud expressions, Henry's keen senses detect a hint of fear in their eyes, as they seem to be unable to properly stand as strong as they always have. It's as if they are being suppressed by something...
"Whoa!" Ashley gasps. "I can't believe it. Why are the Volgrim here?"
"The Volgrim?" Henry asks, following her gaze based on the direction her helmet is pointed.
Somewhere in the mass of the crowd, a handful of decidedly alien-looking creatures with tentacles writing under their mouths and heavily-armored bodies stand at attention, looking like proud leaders and commanders. Their postures indicate a level of arrogance bred into their bones by millions of years of dominance over the Milky Way. Compared to the slightly fearful Demon Emperors, these Technopaths truly stand out as cream of the crop, with unknown augmentations that likely elevate their combat prowess to the peak.
"Those are Volgrim?" Henry asks. "Huh. The only one I've ever seen was that one female, the one who didn't have a mouth. She was presiding over my, uh, my tribunal..."
"Your tribunal?" Ashley asks.
She pauses, then turns to look at him strangely.
"Cliff... Henry Cliff? What the- you're that traitor! What- how even...?? You're a Lieutenant now? I didn't even recognize your name- no, forget that. Why are you in uniform? Weren't you banned basically forever from rejoining the military?"
"I was banned from rejoining the main military." Henry says, lowering his head in shame. "But, uhm, Hope's Parahumans are... different. It's a different jurisdiction."
Ashley takes a step to the side, pulling away from him. He can't see her expression, but based on her voice, she suddenly seems disgusted by him.
"All this time, I was talking to him." She mutters to herself, as she turns and walks away without another word.
Henry stands there, silently. He watches her depart, a feeling of bitterness welling up in his heart. He could pull rank on her, write her up for insubordination. Given his new status as a high-ranker, it would be easy to do.
But he doesn't.
In truth, he doesn't blame Ashley for her feelings. Because of his actions, Neil Adams was captured and humanity likely lost far more people during Stormbringer as a result. He indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds, perhaps even thousands.
How can he demand respect from her when he feels he doesn't deserve it?
As that thought wells up in Henry's mind, the thoughts of the Legion feed back into him, suppressing his negative emotions. All of them comment on his feelings and insecurities, offering kind words to help him feel better.
[You cannot and should not demand respect, no, but you can earn it back through your actions.] A 52-year-old Legionnaire says. [People like her will come around in due time. Perform admirably and make the Legion proud.]
[That woman is a mere Private.] Jepthath chimes in. [Do not allow your emotions to be tangled up by the feelings of a random soldier. You will need to bolster your Willpower if you seek to reach the peak of what you can achieve.]
[Right. My willpower.] Henry says, as his mood drastically swings back up. He hardens his heart, casting aside Ashley's comment and instead meditating for a moment to clear his mind. [Thank you, everyone, for the support.]
With his thoughts clear, Henry strides toward the front, keeping his gaze fixed on the Volgrim Technopaths. Having never seen these creatures before, he finds their horrid-looking tentacle mouths fascinating and yet creepy to look at. While all of them appear to be gender-ambiguous, certainly at first glance, as he comes closer, he does manage to make out one or two female-sounding voices among them. Or perhaps they might be higher-pitched males. He isn't entirely sure, and it seems a taboo subject to breach.
"-the Task Force will be working alongside these Technopath Envoys." Demon Emperor Yardrat says, his tone even and unbothered by the Technopaths to his left. "Naturally, full command of this operation will still go to the Archdemon, as the ranking Cosmic. However, because he will be busy dealing with the highest level threats, control of the ground forces will go to one member of each species, chosen via several votes of consensus. Today's operation is a test, and its purpose is to ensure we all work together properly. NO friendly fire. Our enemy is the Plague and nobody else. Save your personal grievances, vendettas, and petty squabbles for after we take our galaxy back from the Kolvaxians."
He gestures to the ten Technopaths. "The Volgrim have dispatched an army of 100,000 Technopath soldiers, and they will be commanded by this High Technopath named Loputo Jidelor, a high ranking commander of Clan Symmetra's ground forces."
Each of the Technopaths possesses their own combination of flesh and blood bodily parts mixed with metal limb replacements, armor-addons, and other such things. In Jidelor's case, he stands on two flesh and blood legs. However, in place of his right arm is a long, metallic limb with dozens of razor-thin threads waving to and fro where his 'wrist' ends. Each one moves independently, much like the tentacles on his left arm, but their movements appear far more precise. Dozens of metallic pieces are attached seemingly at random to his skin and skull.
Jidelor nods. "I am an experienced battlefield commander, but I am not a frontline soldier. I will be controlling our siege weaponry and directing our soldiers from the back."
Yardrat nods, then continues. "For the Demons, it goes without saying that just like with the last ten operations, Emperor Serena will be commanding our forces. Her ability to link souls together has proven instrumental in rapid battlefield communications, and her ability to sense souls allows her to keep up with the emergence of new Plagueborn until the point Diablo steals the world core back."
A beautiful demoness with sightless eyes nearby waves her hand delicately. "I will be in your care, everyone. Let us make it to the end without losing any demons this time."
"For the monsters, Fairy Princess Melia will take point." Yardrat says, nodding to another beautiful woman with green hair, fairy wings, and a look of boredom permanently etched onto her face.
Unlike the previous two commanders, Melia doesn't give a speech. In fact, she only rolls her eyes, crosses her arms, and looks away.
"Alright, and for the humans, General Chadwick will be taking charge." Yardrat concludes. He gestures to a massive Norwegian man who has now donned a Rhino T-REX variant and rests his hands around the shaft of a massive battleaxe. Its head rests on the ground, and he supports his massive armored frame by resting on the weapon's handle.
"Everyone." Chadwich says. "It is my honor to lead this mission. Naturally, Commander Neil is not happy about having to work with the demons, and I cannot imagine all of our soldiers are either. However, I pledge on Hope Hiro's honor that we will not commit any cowardly deeds of treachery, any backstabbing, or anything else of that sort! It was Hope Hiro who pushed for this arrangement because he wants humanity's soldiers to get real battle experience against the Plague. Let's be sure to make good use of this time to bury as many hatchets as we can!"
The crowd nods along to Chadwick's words. Some of the humans vocalize their approval, but many more remain silent.
The humans here are not normal civilians. They are military personnel, countless many of whom have not forgiven the demons. They may never forgive them, if their leaders are being honest.
Perhaps sensing the tenseness in the air, Yardrat briskly moves the pace along.
"In thirty minutes, we will begin. Transfer your forces to my world so that I can begin preparation to open the Intragalactic Portals. The Swarm has begun adapting to my tactics of late, so the moment those portals open, we'll need boots on the ground. No delays! If the Plague has its way, it might flood through the portals back to us, and that would be a whole bloody devil-damned mess."
The other leaders nod solemnly. They spread apart to talk to their forces, and Henry heaves a sigh.
In thirty minutes, we'll find out just how stable this alliance truly is.
2024.06.07 21:29 Klokinator Cryopod Refresh 566: Test of Unity
A few days after Neil and Hope's meeting.
Henry Cliff walks alone down the hallways of the Labyrinth. He wears a purple-colored T-REX, a status symbol put in place by the higher-ups as a sign of his newfound prestige and military ranking. Its color, as well as the other new colors among the army allow for a quick idea of the ranking of any human soldier at a glance, especially among those who don't know the humans well, such as their allies for today.
Henry's feet quietly plod against the Labyrinth's compacted dirt floor. His breathing remains even despite having walked for over thirty minutes. Thanks to his newly enhanced body, he could run for a thousand kilometers without breaking a sweat. Even he isn't entirely certain just how strong he is. Perhaps, if he were to come to blows with a Demon Emperor, he might roll them out like a sleeping bag.
As he walks, Henry's newfound clarity of purpose mixes with the voices and thoughts of ten thousand other members of Jepthath's Legion. No, more accurately, they are Henry's Legion, now. While their power might be derived from Jepthath, it was the Hero-King's decision to give Henry command of them and become his Voice.
Each person who joined on that day possessed their own thoughts, feelings, and talents. Their combined cumulative experience, which could now be tapped into at will, easily amounted to more than 350,000 years. If the age of every person who merged had been 10, that would have given them 100,000 years, but the fact the average turned out to be 35 elevated their cumulative total dramatically.
And that was to say nothing of the people who had once been a part of Jepthath's Legion in the past. When Henry first became inducted into the Legion, he was shocked by just how much wisdom Jepthath possessed. While he did not have the truly unfathomable and vast breadth of knowledge Solomon possessed, Jepthath was amazing in his own way. What he lacked in raw information, he made up in with mastery of combat.
If Solomon possessed the combined cumulative knowledge of humanity, Jepthath possessed its raw hand-to-hand fighting prowess. And that served to bolster Henry's state of mind significantly.
Just by integrating into the Legion, Henry's ability to peer into the essence of combat increased ten thousand-fold. Over the last few days, he had happened to pass by several different training grounds for humanity's soldiers on Maiura, most of them having been erected at some point by Neil Adams in the past six years. Henry was not impressed by what he saw. If anything, he was disgusted.
[Their movements are so crude. So lacking in refinement.] He would often think, while conversing with the ancient Hero-King. [I want to train them. I can't stand to imagine them using their sloppy combat skills against old demon monsters.]
[A waste of time.] Jepthath would chide gently, whenever he and Henry had this conversation. [The knowledge you have obtained effortlessly cannot be communicated through words or demonstrations. The only way one can become as proficient as the members of Our Legion is by directly transferring Our combined knowledge through Our souls and minds.]
[Then we have to convince more to join Us!] Henry would exclaim. [These fools are wasting their time flailing about, trying to reinvent the wheel. If they joined Us, they would gain all of Our power in the art of war and become capable of adding to Our collective consciousness!]
Jepthath shakes his head. [I made a deal with the Wordsmith. We will not forcibly recruit anyone. If you wish to convince more to join Us, you must demonstrate Our power. Not only do you possess knowledge of countless schools of fighting, but you also possess intimate knowledge of battlefield tactics and guerrilla warfare. By demonstrating that Knowledge is Power, you can enlighten the foolish masses as to what they are missing out on.]
Henry nodded sincerely at that time. He looked up at the night sky and clenched his fist with determination.
Humanity was wasting its capabilities! If other humans only knew how small and frail they were, they would jump at the chance to join the Legion!
Less than a week before, Henry had been a disgraced soldier, a mere civilian, a person who might never even get the opportunity to shine the boots of those he had once trained with.
But now he was an officer, an elite warrior many would come to fear and respect.
This realization made his heart leap and his throat dry. In many ways, he sometimes felt he didn't deserve this position. He certainly hadn't earned it.
Not yet. Someday he would. Someday soon.
His thoughts come back to the present. He continues walking, ultimately falling into step beside an ordinary human commando also donning a T-REX. A small artistic flourish on the side of her armor, a pink rose, hints to him the other soldier might be a woman.
The grey-armored soldier turns her head to look at him as she walks. "Oh! You startled me. And you are?"
Unable to see her face, Henry looks at her helmet instead, and her name and other information pop up in his HUD, allowing him to see her identity.
"I'm Lieutenant Henry Cliff." He says. "You're Private Ashley McCarthy? Aren't you the lady who can transform into an orc?"
Immediately, her previously formal tone turns cold. Ashley snaps her head forward, no longer looking at him.
"Every time. Every time! Is that all I am anymore? Just the ugly bitch who turns into an orc?!"
"Whoa, whoa!" Henry exclaims, taken aback by her response. "I'm sorry, uh, Miss McCarthy. I didn't mean to apologize- I mean, I didn't apologize- mean to offend you! I- I uh, sorry!"
He stumbles over his words, feeling suddenly ashamed that he spoke so bluntly without considering the other person's feelings. Then again, how could he have known it was such a sore subject for her? That thought also makes him feel unfairly slighted, as he committed a blunder without meaning to.
"No, no I'm sorry." Ashley quickly says, suddenly realizing how rudely she just spoke to a superior officer. "It's not your fault, Lieutenant. I, I just... it's a long story. I never asked for this ability. I hate it."
"You hate it?" Henry asks, as they round a corner, passing a dozen goblins who carefully press against the side-wall to avoid the giant humans. "Pardon my bluntness, but why? In this time of war, possessing an orc form must make you pretty strong. Valuable. You could be on the fast-track to a higher rank if you have any ambition."
"Higher rank." Ashley mutters under her breath. "As if that's something I'd want. I'm not some big brained Terran from Old Earth. I'm just a normal girl from one of the Wild Worlds. I only want to be pointed at an enemy so I can hurt them."
That sounds an awful lot like something an orc would say, Henry thinks, but wisely keeps to himself.
"Does turning into an orc make you stronger?" Henry asks, choosing to turn the discussion down a more positive path.
"Oh, sure. A bit stronger." Ashley concedes. "You know how the Body Booster improves a human's baseline physique, putting some of us on par with certain low-ranking Demon Lords? Well, my Orc transformation stacks on that, sort of. I can pick up and throw boulders pretty far."
She pauses, before adding, "I mean, it is really fun being that strong."
Henry reaches up to rub his chin, only for his hand to clank against his T-REX's helmet. He gives up on the idea and lowers his arm again.
"I recently got a, uh, a pretty substantial boost to my strength. You remember how Commander Hope offered for people to merge with the Hero Jepthath? I did that, and it made me a lot stronger."
He turns to look at the woman beside him, but she simply gazes forward, her helmet offering no insight into her current expression.
Her words, however, definitely give away what she's thinking.
"Oh. You're one of the cultists."
Her disappointed tone makes Henry's heart skip a beat.
"No, no, no!" Henry exclaims. "Not a cultist. Who told you that?? Jepthath's Legion have simply unified Our minds and bolstered Our bodies, making Us a lot stronger."
She remains quiet for a few moments.
"Yeah... that's... what a cultist would say."
"We're not a cult..." Henry protests feebly, but his words fall on deaf ears.
This isn't the first time someone has directed a look of disgust his way, or visibly cringed when he proudly declared himself one of Jepthath's Chosen.
Jason's words during the Great Debate made a lot of people immediately strike becoming a Parahuman off their list. They'd rather be ordinary soldiers in body armor rather than part of a weird, unified hive-mind.
Dismayed, the young man falls silent. He doesn't say anything for a full minute, and perhaps feeling bad about dismissing him so easily, Ashley decides to reignite the conversation as they draw closer to their destination.
"So what's it like. Being inside a, uh... hive mind? Is it weird?"
"We're not a hive-mind." Henry says, his mood deflating even further. "We're... we're like brothers and sisters. We understand one another. We share thoughts, insights, wisdom."
This time, Ashley tries to exercise a little tact. "It just doesn't sound right for me. I guess everyone has their own preferences. Me, I think I'd die of shame if everyone around me could hear my every thought. The embarrassment alone..."
She trails off and shakes her head.
But this time, Henry doesn't just back down.
"It's not what you think at all." Henry says. "Do you know why you feel fear at the thought of sharing your thoughts? It's because you're self-absorbed."
"What?!" Ashley exclaims, pausing her walk to look at him. No doubt, her helmet hides an expression of disbelief. "What do you mean by that... sir?"
Henry also pauses. He turns to face her, resting his hands on his hips. "You have friends, right? Maybe even a best friend?"
"O-of course!" Ashley says, her tone defensive. "What, you think I'm friendless just because I'm not a part of some bee-hive?"
"That's not what I'm getting at." Henry says patiently, holding out his hand and modulating his tone so he'll come off less aggressive. "Think about your friend, or your best friend. Really think about it. What's the most embarrassing thing you remember about him or her? What's the worst social gaffe they've made that you can't get out of your head?"
Ashley pauses. She lowers her head and falls into thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I can't think of anything. Why?"
"What about other people?" Henry asks. "Has anyone else you know made any serious social fuck-ups recently?"
"Social ones? No. There have been a few generally bad events recently, like finding out Baron Mara killed a bunch of people. But she's not my friend anyway, so..."
"THAT is my point." Henry states emphatically. "You don't think about the weird and embarrassing things your friends do. So why do you believe they're so fixated on yours?"
Ashley lifts her head to look at him. She remains silent, digesting his words, so he continues to press the issue.
"Do you know why you find things about yourself embarrassing? It's not your fault. Most people are extremely self-conscious about their own insecurities. Now that I've become a part of the Legion, I experience everyone else's insecurities all at the same time as I experience mine. In doing so, I realize that mine never amounted to anything at all. When you have ten thousand other people worrying about what they're wearing, or if they look fashionable, or some other tedious bullshit, you quickly realize that all of them amount to white noise. They don't matter."
He throws his hand up dramatically.
"I'm not picking on you. It's just a fact of human consciousness. All people are held back by their fear of social pressure, but much of that is because we don't know what goes on in the heads of our fellow men and women. If you could see their deranged sexual fantasies all at once, you would realize you're not weird at all. Everyone has a kink. If you enjoy looking at gross bugs, guess what? Someone else is unbothered by bodily fluids. We're all weird, and joining the Legion just made that clearer to me."
He pauses, unable to see the look on her face. "Sorry, I hope I'm not coming off as condescending. Does any of this make sense to you?"
Ashley slowly nods. "Mmm. Yeah, it does."
Henry heaves a sigh of relief. "Well, great! Great. I was worried I was starting to sound a little long-winded."
Ashley turns away and resumes walking. "You're definitely in a cult."
"Goddammit." Henry grumbles.
...
Before long, the two of them make it to the meeting location, where they arrive inside a massive, hollowed-out area inside the Labyrinth. There, they find, of all things, a new Volgrim Warpgate installed, its destination some unknown desert on a planet Henry can't immediately identify.
As they enter the massive arena-like staging area, Hope becomes momentarily disoriented. His newly enhanced senses pick up surges of spiritual energy, all spread out across the humans, demons, monsters, and other creatures inside. The powerful Demon Emperors, only a few of whom have yet to Ascend to Demon Deity, stand near the portal, using their strength as a show of force. Despite their proud expressions, Henry's keen senses detect a hint of fear in their eyes, as they seem to be unable to properly stand as strong as they always have. It's as if they are being suppressed by something...
"Whoa!" Ashley gasps. "I can't believe it. Why are the Volgrim here?"
"The Volgrim?" Henry asks, following her gaze based on the direction her helmet is pointed.
Somewhere in the mass of the crowd, a handful of decidedly alien-looking creatures with tentacles writing under their mouths and heavily-armored bodies stand at attention, looking like proud leaders and commanders. Their postures indicate a level of arrogance bred into their bones by millions of years of dominance over the Milky Way. Compared to the slightly fearful Demon Emperors, these Technopaths truly stand out as cream of the crop, with unknown augmentations that likely elevate their combat prowess to the peak.
"Those are Volgrim?" Henry asks. "Huh. The only one I've ever seen was that one female, the one who didn't have a mouth. She was presiding over my, uh, my tribunal..."
"Your tribunal?" Ashley asks.
She pauses, then turns to look at him strangely.
"Cliff... Henry Cliff? What the- you're that traitor! What- how even...?? You're a Lieutenant now? I didn't even recognize your name- no, forget that. Why are you in uniform? Weren't you banned basically forever from rejoining the military?"
"I was banned from rejoining the main military." Henry says, lowering his head in shame. "But, uhm, Hope's Parahumans are... different. It's a different jurisdiction."
Ashley takes a step to the side, pulling away from him. He can't see her expression, but based on her voice, she suddenly seems disgusted by him.
"All this time, I was talking to him." She mutters to herself, as she turns and walks away without another word.
Henry stands there, silently. He watches her depart, a feeling of bitterness welling up in his heart. He could pull rank on her, write her up for insubordination. Given his new status as a high-ranker, it would be easy to do.
But he doesn't.
In truth, he doesn't blame Ashley for her feelings. Because of his actions, Neil Adams was captured and humanity likely lost far more people during Stormbringer as a result. He indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds, perhaps even thousands.
How can he demand respect from her when he feels he doesn't deserve it?
As that thought wells up in Henry's mind, the thoughts of the Legion feed back into him, suppressing his negative emotions. All of them comment on his feelings and insecurities, offering kind words to help him feel better.
[You cannot and should not demand respect, no, but you can earn it back through your actions.] A 52-year-old Legionnaire says. [People like her will come around in due time. Perform admirably and make the Legion proud.]
[That woman is a mere Private.] Jepthath chimes in. [Do not allow your emotions to be tangled up by the feelings of a random soldier. You will need to bolster your Willpower if you seek to reach the peak of what you can achieve.]
[Right. My willpower.] Henry says, as his mood drastically swings back up. He hardens his heart, casting aside Ashley's comment and instead meditating for a moment to clear his mind. [Thank you, everyone, for the support.]
With his thoughts clear, Henry strides toward the front, keeping his gaze fixed on the Volgrim Technopaths. Having never seen these creatures before, he finds their horrid-looking tentacle mouths fascinating and yet creepy to look at. While all of them appear to be gender-ambiguous, certainly at first glance, as he comes closer, he does manage to make out one or two female-sounding voices among them. Or perhaps they might be higher-pitched males. He isn't entirely sure, and it seems a taboo subject to breach.
"-the Task Force will be working alongside these Technopath Envoys." Demon Emperor Yardrat says, his tone even and unbothered by the Technopaths to his left. "Naturally, full command of this operation will still go to the Archdemon, as the ranking Cosmic. However, because he will be busy dealing with the highest level threats, control of the ground forces will go to one member of each species, chosen via several votes of consensus. Today's operation is a test, and its purpose is to ensure we all work together properly. NO friendly fire. Our enemy is the Plague and nobody else. Save your personal grievances, vendettas, and petty squabbles for after we take our galaxy back from the Kolvaxians."
He gestures to the ten Technopaths. "The Volgrim have dispatched an army of 100,000 Technopath soldiers, and they will be commanded by this High Technopath named Loputo Jidelor, a high ranking commander of Clan Symmetra's ground forces."
Each of the Technopaths possesses their own combination of flesh and blood bodily parts mixed with metal limb replacements, armor-addons, and other such things. In Jidelor's case, he stands on two flesh and blood legs. However, in place of his right arm is a long, metallic limb with dozens of razor-thin threads waving to and fro where his 'wrist' ends. Each one moves independently, much like the tentacles on his left arm, but their movements appear far more precise. Dozens of metallic pieces are attached seemingly at random to his skin and skull.
Jidelor nods. "I am an experienced battlefield commander, but I am not a frontline soldier. I will be controlling our siege weaponry and directing our soldiers from the back."
Yardrat nods, then continues. "For the Demons, it goes without saying that just like with the last ten operations, Emperor Serena will be commanding our forces. Her ability to link souls together has proven instrumental in rapid battlefield communications, and her ability to sense souls allows her to keep up with the emergence of new Plagueborn until the point Diablo steals the world core back."
A beautiful demoness with sightless eyes nearby waves her hand delicately. "I will be in your care, everyone. Let us make it to the end without losing any demons this time."
"For the monsters, Fairy Princess Melia will take point." Yardrat says, nodding to another beautiful woman with green hair, fairy wings, and a look of boredom permanently etched onto her face.
Unlike the previous two commanders, Melia doesn't give a speech. In fact, she only rolls her eyes, crosses her arms, and looks away.
"Alright, and for the humans, General Chadwick will be taking charge." Yardrat concludes. He gestures to a massive Norwegian man who has now donned a Rhino T-REX variant and rests his hands around the shaft of a massive battleaxe. Its head rests on the ground, and he supports his massive armored frame by resting on the weapon's handle.
"Everyone." Chadwich says. "It is my honor to lead this mission. Naturally, Commander Neil is not happy about having to work with the demons, and I cannot imagine all of our soldiers are either. However, I pledge on Hope Hiro's honor that we will not commit any cowardly deeds of treachery, any backstabbing, or anything else of that sort! It was Hope Hiro who pushed for this arrangement because he wants humanity's soldiers to get real battle experience against the Plague. Let's be sure to make good use of this time to bury as many hatchets as we can!"
The crowd nods along to Chadwick's words. Some of the humans vocalize their approval, but many more remain silent.
The humans here are not normal civilians. They are military personnel, countless many of whom have not forgiven the demons. They may never forgive them, if their leaders are being honest.
Perhaps sensing the tenseness in the air, Yardrat briskly moves the pace along.
"In thirty minutes, we will begin. Transfer your forces to my world so that I can begin preparation to open the Intragalactic Portals. The Swarm has begun adapting to my tactics of late, so the moment those portals open, we'll need boots on the ground. No delays! If the Plague has its way, it might flood through the portals back to us, and that would be a whole bloody devil-damned mess."
The other leaders nod solemnly. They spread apart to talk to their forces, and Henry heaves a sigh.
In thirty minutes, we'll find out just how stable this alliance truly is.
submitted by Klokinator to TheCryopodToHell [link] [comments]
Henry Cliff walks alone down the hallways of the Labyrinth. He wears a purple-colored T-REX, a status symbol put in place by the higher-ups as a sign of his newfound prestige and military ranking. Its color, as well as the other new colors among the army allow for a quick idea of the ranking of any human soldier at a glance, especially among those who don't know the humans well, such as their allies for today.
Henry's feet quietly plod against the Labyrinth's compacted dirt floor. His breathing remains even despite having walked for over thirty minutes. Thanks to his newly enhanced body, he could run for a thousand kilometers without breaking a sweat. Even he isn't entirely certain just how strong he is. Perhaps, if he were to come to blows with a Demon Emperor, he might roll them out like a sleeping bag.
As he walks, Henry's newfound clarity of purpose mixes with the voices and thoughts of ten thousand other members of Jepthath's Legion. No, more accurately, they are Henry's Legion, now. While their power might be derived from Jepthath, it was the Hero-King's decision to give Henry command of them and become his Voice.
Each person who joined on that day possessed their own thoughts, feelings, and talents. Their combined cumulative experience, which could now be tapped into at will, easily amounted to more than 350,000 years. If the age of every person who merged had been 10, that would have given them 100,000 years, but the fact the average turned out to be 35 elevated their cumulative total dramatically.
And that was to say nothing of the people who had once been a part of Jepthath's Legion in the past. When Henry first became inducted into the Legion, he was shocked by just how much wisdom Jepthath possessed. While he did not have the truly unfathomable and vast breadth of knowledge Solomon possessed, Jepthath was amazing in his own way. What he lacked in raw information, he made up in with mastery of combat.
If Solomon possessed the combined cumulative knowledge of humanity, Jepthath possessed its raw hand-to-hand fighting prowess. And that served to bolster Henry's state of mind significantly.
Just by integrating into the Legion, Henry's ability to peer into the essence of combat increased ten thousand-fold. Over the last few days, he had happened to pass by several different training grounds for humanity's soldiers on Maiura, most of them having been erected at some point by Neil Adams in the past six years. Henry was not impressed by what he saw. If anything, he was disgusted.
[Their movements are so crude. So lacking in refinement.] He would often think, while conversing with the ancient Hero-King. [I want to train them. I can't stand to imagine them using their sloppy combat skills against old demon monsters.]
[A waste of time.] Jepthath would chide gently, whenever he and Henry had this conversation. [The knowledge you have obtained effortlessly cannot be communicated through words or demonstrations. The only way one can become as proficient as the members of Our Legion is by directly transferring Our combined knowledge through Our souls and minds.]
[Then we have to convince more to join Us!] Henry would exclaim. [These fools are wasting their time flailing about, trying to reinvent the wheel. If they joined Us, they would gain all of Our power in the art of war and become capable of adding to Our collective consciousness!]
Jepthath shakes his head. [I made a deal with the Wordsmith. We will not forcibly recruit anyone. If you wish to convince more to join Us, you must demonstrate Our power. Not only do you possess knowledge of countless schools of fighting, but you also possess intimate knowledge of battlefield tactics and guerrilla warfare. By demonstrating that Knowledge is Power, you can enlighten the foolish masses as to what they are missing out on.]
Henry nodded sincerely at that time. He looked up at the night sky and clenched his fist with determination.
Humanity was wasting its capabilities! If other humans only knew how small and frail they were, they would jump at the chance to join the Legion!
Less than a week before, Henry had been a disgraced soldier, a mere civilian, a person who might never even get the opportunity to shine the boots of those he had once trained with.
But now he was an officer, an elite warrior many would come to fear and respect.
This realization made his heart leap and his throat dry. In many ways, he sometimes felt he didn't deserve this position. He certainly hadn't earned it.
Not yet. Someday he would. Someday soon.
His thoughts come back to the present. He continues walking, ultimately falling into step beside an ordinary human commando also donning a T-REX. A small artistic flourish on the side of her armor, a pink rose, hints to him the other soldier might be a woman.
The grey-armored soldier turns her head to look at him as she walks. "Oh! You startled me. And you are?"
Unable to see her face, Henry looks at her helmet instead, and her name and other information pop up in his HUD, allowing him to see her identity.
"I'm Lieutenant Henry Cliff." He says. "You're Private Ashley McCarthy? Aren't you the lady who can transform into an orc?"
Immediately, her previously formal tone turns cold. Ashley snaps her head forward, no longer looking at him.
"Every time. Every time! Is that all I am anymore? Just the ugly bitch who turns into an orc?!"
"Whoa, whoa!" Henry exclaims, taken aback by her response. "I'm sorry, uh, Miss McCarthy. I didn't mean to apologize- I mean, I didn't apologize- mean to offend you! I- I uh, sorry!"
He stumbles over his words, feeling suddenly ashamed that he spoke so bluntly without considering the other person's feelings. Then again, how could he have known it was such a sore subject for her? That thought also makes him feel unfairly slighted, as he committed a blunder without meaning to.
"No, no I'm sorry." Ashley quickly says, suddenly realizing how rudely she just spoke to a superior officer. "It's not your fault, Lieutenant. I, I just... it's a long story. I never asked for this ability. I hate it."
"You hate it?" Henry asks, as they round a corner, passing a dozen goblins who carefully press against the side-wall to avoid the giant humans. "Pardon my bluntness, but why? In this time of war, possessing an orc form must make you pretty strong. Valuable. You could be on the fast-track to a higher rank if you have any ambition."
"Higher rank." Ashley mutters under her breath. "As if that's something I'd want. I'm not some big brained Terran from Old Earth. I'm just a normal girl from one of the Wild Worlds. I only want to be pointed at an enemy so I can hurt them."
That sounds an awful lot like something an orc would say, Henry thinks, but wisely keeps to himself.
"Does turning into an orc make you stronger?" Henry asks, choosing to turn the discussion down a more positive path.
"Oh, sure. A bit stronger." Ashley concedes. "You know how the Body Booster improves a human's baseline physique, putting some of us on par with certain low-ranking Demon Lords? Well, my Orc transformation stacks on that, sort of. I can pick up and throw boulders pretty far."
She pauses, before adding, "I mean, it is really fun being that strong."
Henry reaches up to rub his chin, only for his hand to clank against his T-REX's helmet. He gives up on the idea and lowers his arm again.
"I recently got a, uh, a pretty substantial boost to my strength. You remember how Commander Hope offered for people to merge with the Hero Jepthath? I did that, and it made me a lot stronger."
He turns to look at the woman beside him, but she simply gazes forward, her helmet offering no insight into her current expression.
Her words, however, definitely give away what she's thinking.
"Oh. You're one of the cultists."
Her disappointed tone makes Henry's heart skip a beat.
"No, no, no!" Henry exclaims. "Not a cultist. Who told you that?? Jepthath's Legion have simply unified Our minds and bolstered Our bodies, making Us a lot stronger."
She remains quiet for a few moments.
"Yeah... that's... what a cultist would say."
"We're not a cult..." Henry protests feebly, but his words fall on deaf ears.
This isn't the first time someone has directed a look of disgust his way, or visibly cringed when he proudly declared himself one of Jepthath's Chosen.
Jason's words during the Great Debate made a lot of people immediately strike becoming a Parahuman off their list. They'd rather be ordinary soldiers in body armor rather than part of a weird, unified hive-mind.
Dismayed, the young man falls silent. He doesn't say anything for a full minute, and perhaps feeling bad about dismissing him so easily, Ashley decides to reignite the conversation as they draw closer to their destination.
"So what's it like. Being inside a, uh... hive mind? Is it weird?"
"We're not a hive-mind." Henry says, his mood deflating even further. "We're... we're like brothers and sisters. We understand one another. We share thoughts, insights, wisdom."
This time, Ashley tries to exercise a little tact. "It just doesn't sound right for me. I guess everyone has their own preferences. Me, I think I'd die of shame if everyone around me could hear my every thought. The embarrassment alone..."
She trails off and shakes her head.
But this time, Henry doesn't just back down.
"It's not what you think at all." Henry says. "Do you know why you feel fear at the thought of sharing your thoughts? It's because you're self-absorbed."
"What?!" Ashley exclaims, pausing her walk to look at him. No doubt, her helmet hides an expression of disbelief. "What do you mean by that... sir?"
Henry also pauses. He turns to face her, resting his hands on his hips. "You have friends, right? Maybe even a best friend?"
"O-of course!" Ashley says, her tone defensive. "What, you think I'm friendless just because I'm not a part of some bee-hive?"
"That's not what I'm getting at." Henry says patiently, holding out his hand and modulating his tone so he'll come off less aggressive. "Think about your friend, or your best friend. Really think about it. What's the most embarrassing thing you remember about him or her? What's the worst social gaffe they've made that you can't get out of your head?"
Ashley pauses. She lowers her head and falls into thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I can't think of anything. Why?"
"What about other people?" Henry asks. "Has anyone else you know made any serious social fuck-ups recently?"
"Social ones? No. There have been a few generally bad events recently, like finding out Baron Mara killed a bunch of people. But she's not my friend anyway, so..."
"THAT is my point." Henry states emphatically. "You don't think about the weird and embarrassing things your friends do. So why do you believe they're so fixated on yours?"
Ashley lifts her head to look at him. She remains silent, digesting his words, so he continues to press the issue.
"Do you know why you find things about yourself embarrassing? It's not your fault. Most people are extremely self-conscious about their own insecurities. Now that I've become a part of the Legion, I experience everyone else's insecurities all at the same time as I experience mine. In doing so, I realize that mine never amounted to anything at all. When you have ten thousand other people worrying about what they're wearing, or if they look fashionable, or some other tedious bullshit, you quickly realize that all of them amount to white noise. They don't matter."
He throws his hand up dramatically.
"I'm not picking on you. It's just a fact of human consciousness. All people are held back by their fear of social pressure, but much of that is because we don't know what goes on in the heads of our fellow men and women. If you could see their deranged sexual fantasies all at once, you would realize you're not weird at all. Everyone has a kink. If you enjoy looking at gross bugs, guess what? Someone else is unbothered by bodily fluids. We're all weird, and joining the Legion just made that clearer to me."
He pauses, unable to see the look on her face. "Sorry, I hope I'm not coming off as condescending. Does any of this make sense to you?"
Ashley slowly nods. "Mmm. Yeah, it does."
Henry heaves a sigh of relief. "Well, great! Great. I was worried I was starting to sound a little long-winded."
Ashley turns away and resumes walking. "You're definitely in a cult."
"Goddammit." Henry grumbles.
...
Before long, the two of them make it to the meeting location, where they arrive inside a massive, hollowed-out area inside the Labyrinth. There, they find, of all things, a new Volgrim Warpgate installed, its destination some unknown desert on a planet Henry can't immediately identify.
As they enter the massive arena-like staging area, Hope becomes momentarily disoriented. His newly enhanced senses pick up surges of spiritual energy, all spread out across the humans, demons, monsters, and other creatures inside. The powerful Demon Emperors, only a few of whom have yet to Ascend to Demon Deity, stand near the portal, using their strength as a show of force. Despite their proud expressions, Henry's keen senses detect a hint of fear in their eyes, as they seem to be unable to properly stand as strong as they always have. It's as if they are being suppressed by something...
"Whoa!" Ashley gasps. "I can't believe it. Why are the Volgrim here?"
"The Volgrim?" Henry asks, following her gaze based on the direction her helmet is pointed.
Somewhere in the mass of the crowd, a handful of decidedly alien-looking creatures with tentacles writing under their mouths and heavily-armored bodies stand at attention, looking like proud leaders and commanders. Their postures indicate a level of arrogance bred into their bones by millions of years of dominance over the Milky Way. Compared to the slightly fearful Demon Emperors, these Technopaths truly stand out as cream of the crop, with unknown augmentations that likely elevate their combat prowess to the peak.
"Those are Volgrim?" Henry asks. "Huh. The only one I've ever seen was that one female, the one who didn't have a mouth. She was presiding over my, uh, my tribunal..."
"Your tribunal?" Ashley asks.
She pauses, then turns to look at him strangely.
"Cliff... Henry Cliff? What the- you're that traitor! What- how even...?? You're a Lieutenant now? I didn't even recognize your name- no, forget that. Why are you in uniform? Weren't you banned basically forever from rejoining the military?"
"I was banned from rejoining the main military." Henry says, lowering his head in shame. "But, uhm, Hope's Parahumans are... different. It's a different jurisdiction."
Ashley takes a step to the side, pulling away from him. He can't see her expression, but based on her voice, she suddenly seems disgusted by him.
"All this time, I was talking to him." She mutters to herself, as she turns and walks away without another word.
Henry stands there, silently. He watches her depart, a feeling of bitterness welling up in his heart. He could pull rank on her, write her up for insubordination. Given his new status as a high-ranker, it would be easy to do.
But he doesn't.
In truth, he doesn't blame Ashley for her feelings. Because of his actions, Neil Adams was captured and humanity likely lost far more people during Stormbringer as a result. He indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds, perhaps even thousands.
How can he demand respect from her when he feels he doesn't deserve it?
As that thought wells up in Henry's mind, the thoughts of the Legion feed back into him, suppressing his negative emotions. All of them comment on his feelings and insecurities, offering kind words to help him feel better.
[You cannot and should not demand respect, no, but you can earn it back through your actions.] A 52-year-old Legionnaire says. [People like her will come around in due time. Perform admirably and make the Legion proud.]
[That woman is a mere Private.] Jepthath chimes in. [Do not allow your emotions to be tangled up by the feelings of a random soldier. You will need to bolster your Willpower if you seek to reach the peak of what you can achieve.]
[Right. My willpower.] Henry says, as his mood drastically swings back up. He hardens his heart, casting aside Ashley's comment and instead meditating for a moment to clear his mind. [Thank you, everyone, for the support.]
With his thoughts clear, Henry strides toward the front, keeping his gaze fixed on the Volgrim Technopaths. Having never seen these creatures before, he finds their horrid-looking tentacle mouths fascinating and yet creepy to look at. While all of them appear to be gender-ambiguous, certainly at first glance, as he comes closer, he does manage to make out one or two female-sounding voices among them. Or perhaps they might be higher-pitched males. He isn't entirely sure, and it seems a taboo subject to breach.
"-the Task Force will be working alongside these Technopath Envoys." Demon Emperor Yardrat says, his tone even and unbothered by the Technopaths to his left. "Naturally, full command of this operation will still go to the Archdemon, as the ranking Cosmic. However, because he will be busy dealing with the highest level threats, control of the ground forces will go to one member of each species, chosen via several votes of consensus. Today's operation is a test, and its purpose is to ensure we all work together properly. NO friendly fire. Our enemy is the Plague and nobody else. Save your personal grievances, vendettas, and petty squabbles for after we take our galaxy back from the Kolvaxians."
He gestures to the ten Technopaths. "The Volgrim have dispatched an army of 100,000 Technopath soldiers, and they will be commanded by this High Technopath named Loputo Jidelor, a high ranking commander of Clan Symmetra's ground forces."
Each of the Technopaths possesses their own combination of flesh and blood bodily parts mixed with metal limb replacements, armor-addons, and other such things. In Jidelor's case, he stands on two flesh and blood legs. However, in place of his right arm is a long, metallic limb with dozens of razor-thin threads waving to and fro where his 'wrist' ends. Each one moves independently, much like the tentacles on his left arm, but their movements appear far more precise. Dozens of metallic pieces are attached seemingly at random to his skin and skull.
Jidelor nods. "I am an experienced battlefield commander, but I am not a frontline soldier. I will be controlling our siege weaponry and directing our soldiers from the back."
Yardrat nods, then continues. "For the Demons, it goes without saying that just like with the last ten operations, Emperor Serena will be commanding our forces. Her ability to link souls together has proven instrumental in rapid battlefield communications, and her ability to sense souls allows her to keep up with the emergence of new Plagueborn until the point Diablo steals the world core back."
A beautiful demoness with sightless eyes nearby waves her hand delicately. "I will be in your care, everyone. Let us make it to the end without losing any demons this time."
"For the monsters, Fairy Princess Melia will take point." Yardrat says, nodding to another beautiful woman with green hair, fairy wings, and a look of boredom permanently etched onto her face.
Unlike the previous two commanders, Melia doesn't give a speech. In fact, she only rolls her eyes, crosses her arms, and looks away.
"Alright, and for the humans, General Chadwick will be taking charge." Yardrat concludes. He gestures to a massive Norwegian man who has now donned a Rhino T-REX variant and rests his hands around the shaft of a massive battleaxe. Its head rests on the ground, and he supports his massive armored frame by resting on the weapon's handle.
"Everyone." Chadwich says. "It is my honor to lead this mission. Naturally, Commander Neil is not happy about having to work with the demons, and I cannot imagine all of our soldiers are either. However, I pledge on Hope Hiro's honor that we will not commit any cowardly deeds of treachery, any backstabbing, or anything else of that sort! It was Hope Hiro who pushed for this arrangement because he wants humanity's soldiers to get real battle experience against the Plague. Let's be sure to make good use of this time to bury as many hatchets as we can!"
The crowd nods along to Chadwick's words. Some of the humans vocalize their approval, but many more remain silent.
The humans here are not normal civilians. They are military personnel, countless many of whom have not forgiven the demons. They may never forgive them, if their leaders are being honest.
Perhaps sensing the tenseness in the air, Yardrat briskly moves the pace along.
"In thirty minutes, we will begin. Transfer your forces to my world so that I can begin preparation to open the Intragalactic Portals. The Swarm has begun adapting to my tactics of late, so the moment those portals open, we'll need boots on the ground. No delays! If the Plague has its way, it might flood through the portals back to us, and that would be a whole bloody devil-damned mess."
The other leaders nod solemnly. They spread apart to talk to their forces, and Henry heaves a sigh.
In thirty minutes, we'll find out just how stable this alliance truly is.
2024.06.07 21:02 MisterPineapple8 Congratulations you’ve seen so many Maverick 88s that you unlocked a (crappy) Gold Skin
 | Played a scored round of trap after not shooting all winter with this puppy. It was my shittiest score ever (17/50). However, I won a free shotgun from the draw every participant gets entered to. Hence why I decided to paint this guy gold lol submitted by MisterPineapple8 to canadaguns [link] [comments] |
2024.06.07 20:54 fsagoalkeeper13 Graham Potter’s Return to Management (Season 15 - The Final Season)
 | https://preview.redd.it/lqv1ingo475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=95bd794f715a00df1057701e4189d8f6eebbcd9e submitted by fsagoalkeeper13 to seriousfifacareers [link] [comments] End of an era! Graham Potter’s time with Birmingham City has come to an end. Unfortunately, it did not end with any trophies but still another successful season for the Blues. The season ended with Birmingham City finishing in 4th place by 2 points thanks to their win over newly promoted Preston in MW37. The season did not go as strongly as last, but there was still some CL football to come for Birmingham City and their next manager. The first half did not go too well as Birmingham City languished in 7th place mostly due to the sheer amount of 0-0’s that played out. They were only in a European spot on GD, but still had to only make up 5 points to get into the CL spots. Also, unfortunately, the first half of the season saw Birmingham City lose their first PL home game in almost 2 years. They fell 2-1 to Newcastle in MW6, to end their 27 match unbeaten home streak in the PL. They followed that up with 2 more home PL losses in the 2nd half of the season. More wins in the 2nd half saw them climb back into 4th where they eventually finished the season. Defensively they were stout and Matthew Cox, for the first time in his career, won the PL Golden Glove keeping a whopping 17 clean sheets. He also won the CL Golden Glove keeping 5 clean sheets in their quest for the UCL. https://preview.redd.it/95ma61rc475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=e91b32463774f99ced4c9a70fada79bad19b7c28 In the UCL, Birmingham City eventually fell in the semi-finals to Sevilla 4-2 on aggregate. Overall their path was not the most difficult, but they could not figure it out at the end. They had matches with Union Berlin, Sparta Praha, and Stade Rennais in the group stage. Before taking on Rayo Vallecano, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Sevilla in the knockouts. Even with 12 points in the group they still found a way to finish below Union Berlin (15 points). The Blues were able to secure 3 wins at home with a combined 9-0 scoring lead over their opponents. Luckily finishing 2nd did not hurt too much as they had an easier draw with Rayo Vallecano in the Round of 16. The home form in the group carried into the knockouts where they did not lose a game at home, outsourcing opponents 4-1 in the process. The trip to Seville is where it fell, losing 3-1 there in the first leg and not being able to make it up in the 2nd leg. Another unfortunate miss in the Champions League for Birmingham City. https://preview.redd.it/b3aqun3e475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=d241033b1ae332e0b7c7d668fbc5b6bff000155f The domestic cup competitions were also so close yet so far for Birmingham City. In both cups they made it to Wembley before losing the respective finals in PKs. In the Carabao Cup they overcame Chelsea, Sheffield United, and Arsenal before a meeting with Championship club Bristol City in the semi-finals. They just edged Bristol City in the tie. Leg 2 saw Birmingham City come back home only tied 2-2 on aggregate before winning 2-1 at home thanks to a Peter Mullen goal off the bench in the 84th minute. The late luck found its way to the finals as Will Leonard equalized in the 80th minute to send the match to ET. Extra Time was not enough, so PKs came. Unfortunately the match hero in Leonard, missed the decisive penalty as Birmingham City lost 4-3 on PKs to Manchester City. https://preview.redd.it/3isimo25575d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=a49a9afe45021a8fe3222588aea7bc25f31d244c https://preview.redd.it/3q8y60ch475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=d6a75a298973150a2c6845e909505f28b52bf579 The FA Cup was a bit more comfortable, but still had one major challenge. This was a rough Round 4 match with Championship side, Sheffield Wednesday, where Lance Hill had to come off the bench to score in the 88th minute to equalize the tie in Sheffield. After that Birmingham City went on a dominant run outscoring opponents 11-1 en route to the finals. Unfortunately the finals played out similarly to all major finals Birmingham City has been in under Potter, just not enough to win when it matters. They fell 5-4 in PKs to Chelsea after a scoreless 120 minutes. Overall a pretty boring game for the neutral as no team really had a clear cut chance. The major finals bug for Graham Potter and Birmingham City was never really figured out. The biggest story of the FA Cup was Birmingham City #2, Jonathan Morgan, who secured the FA Cup Golden Glove with 4 clean sheets. https://preview.redd.it/1xtvabuk475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=75d7056488f5cbd7969b7ee5d3c24bc2a17bcada Unlike prior seasons, not much movement out of the club for Birmingham City. 5 players did hang up their boots before the season: McNeil, Chalobah, Calegari, TAA, and MGW. But nobody left the club in the summer. Instead Birmingham City just loaded up on more talent and experience. They brought in Declan Rice from Lyon (£11.7M), Jadon Sancho from Sp. Charleroi (£3.8M), and Luke Mbete (£1.15M) from Austria Klagenfurt for their experience and leadership. The 2 biggest moves were a new RB from Nice in Joshua Marques (to replace TAA and Calegari). He is an attack-minded defender who came with one of the highest cross-success percentages in Ligue 1 (£28.1M) and brought back ex-academy boy, Bellingham. Unfortunately Jude wouldn’t leave Madrid but Jobe has turned himself into quite the player to help with that #10 role. He came in from RB Salzburg for £17.5M. January saw a big departure as Joaquin Moya had a chance to leave for Barcelona. Graham Potter could not say no to this and he moved on for £69.3M. To replace him, Potter dove into the Championship and snagged Crystal Palace’s young CDM, Matthias Schumacher. He had moved to Palace from Germany a season ago and had turned himself into quite the player in the Championship. This move would not only help with cover for the now, but also a possible important piece in the future for the club. https://preview.redd.it/vivz5q0r475d1.jpg?width=1281&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4bc738a6688cc8a963c0654639f206c990f65e1 For the first time in several seasons, the Birmingham Messi, Lance Hill led the team in goals scored. He notched 21 goals in his first injury-free season in 6 seasons, coincidentally the first as a Birmingham City first team player. Hugo Rojas took a slight backseat to Jobe Bellingham but he still finished with a team high 7 assists to go along with 7 goals. The other 3 main striker options, finished 2-4 in Birmingham City goal-scoring. Leonard and Diaby collected 12 goals a piece and Lowe found the net 11 times. Sekou Diaby has turned the Champions League into his own playground, scoring 75% of his goals this season in the CL and finishing with the Golden Boot. Overall a very successful season for a lot of players and finally after seasons as the #1 for Birmingham City, Matthew Cox took home the Golden Glove (both in PL and CL) and was named in the PL team of the season. Huge for one of Birmingham City’s longest tenured players. https://preview.redd.it/0ihh1z7s475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=90894cccf59a05a38cb4e26f2b50efc608dcb69a As stated before this was the end of the ride for Graham Potter. As he oversaw the club where he made his professional playing debut for. After 15 seasons (852 matches managed), Potter has bowed out as one of the greats in Birmingham City history. He led the team to 3 Carabao Cup Medals and oversaw the club through 10 straight Premier League seasons. He managed to make the Champions League in 5 of the last 6 seasons and finished Runners-Up twice during that spell. He also saw the club end as Runner-Up in 1 FA Cup and 1 Europa League. It has been one hell of a ride for Graham Potter! https://preview.redd.it/be0me4rt475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=38c77f993310a2c959ec6609a0eb31d916242c14 Stats Leaders: Goals: Lance Hill (21) Assists: Hugo Rojas (7) Clean Sheets: Matthew Cox (22) Appearances: Peter Mullen (50) Yellow Cards: Keith Campbell (6) Red Cards: Fletcher, Sim, Lowe (1) https://preview.redd.it/pe5mt0kv475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=7558d08005fff4252c96293179e536ae9645cd9c https://preview.redd.it/v8nlr05w475d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=9493ca41ade3f8fd46d4ee2e2ef7da0ff80caf31 |
2024.06.07 20:34 BasicallyClean The Absolutely Bizarre Scorecards of MMA Judge Dave Tirelli - Part 2.
So picture this:
It's Saturday. I was watching UFC 302 but I missed Lima vs. Raposo live.
I'm coming back home after procuring an alcoholic beverage. I lay my phone down as I'm carrying the beverage, and the phone dings.
One of you ratfucks sends me a message. No context, no photo, I have no idea what's going on.
The message read: "Bah gawd that's Dave Tirelli's music."
See, when I wrote that article about Dave Tirelli four years ago, I didn't really proofread it. I didn't really try to polish it up and make it easy to read. I didn't really put a ton of effort into it.
I used to write and make video and written pieces for the subreddit off and on, but that one I just threw together. I just thought it was so totally comical that somebody could be this incompetent or outwardly corrupt, or both.
I didn't put it in the article, but internally from what I remember, I just sort of hoped "maybe this was the only guy they could get to judge during Covid in May 2020" and sent it out into the Redditverse.
If you haven't read it or missed Part 1 when TheBaltimoron reposted it on Saturday, you can find it here.
I sort of just figured after all that, he'd not get any more major assignments after how terrible his cards were and we'd all forget about it. After all, the UFC was the only sport really going at that time. Surely all the athletic commissions noticed.
No.
The son-of-a-bitch is STILL getting major cards.
And they're just as bizarre as they've ever been.
There's going to be a bunch of tables below. You can skip this section now, and come back up to refer to it if you're not sure what part of a table means:
Media Scores For = Number of Media Members Who Scored the Fight for X Fighter Per MMADecisions.comFan Win Percentage = Percentage of Fans Who Scored the Fight for X Fighter per MMADecisions.com. If the numbers do not add up to 100%, some voters ruled a 10-10 draw unless otherwise noted.
Tirelli Score = Tirelli's Final Scorecard
Rounds Tirelli Scored For = Dave, if you're reading this and having trouble figuring out what this means, this box has the rounds you gave that fighter, separated by a comma.
Fans With Same Result = This box represents the amount of fans who had the same result as Dave. Note, they may have scored rounds differently but arrived at the same final score. This metric should not be viewed as the amount of fans who had the same scorecard as that number would almost certainly be something even less.
Caveats:
Some fights won't have striking stats and some won't have great fan data. Some fights may have misleading stats or big moments that changed rounds/fights that aren't reflected in the data. That said, the point is to show a repeated history of being detached from reality, not a myopic view of one specific fight.
While there are many fights where I remember him scoring a round weirdly, I am only going to include fights with decent evidence to support the overall theme.
In short, this is not an exhaustive list of all of his insane scorecards.
But it is a pretty good one.
Let us pick up where we left off from part 1.
November 12th, 2020
Tirelli scores it 29-28 for Storley.
| Fighter | Media Scores For | Fan Win Percentage | Tirelli Score | Rounds Tirelli Scored For | Fans With Same Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amosov | 6 | 74.7 | 28 | 1 | |
| Storley | 1 | 21.3 | 29 | 2, 3 | 20.0% |
Now, Tirelli turns in a 29-28 for Sorley, which is not his most bizarre card he's ever turned in, but that's not saying a whole lot. The point of deviation from fans and media, was the 2nd round.
| Fighter | Round Two Fan Percentage For | Tirelli Scored For |
|---|---|---|
| Amosov | 85.3% | |
| Storley | 12.0% | 😎 |
This means, that no more than 12% of fans could have possibly had Tirelli's exact card. He's less accurate than a UFC troll. We're off to a rippin' start.
June 11th, 2021
Tirelli scores it 29-28 for Newell.
There were only five fan scorecards submitted on MMADecisions.com, and only one media scorecard. I don't have stats from the fight either. There's just not enough data.
So lets look at the one media scorecard and the other two judges vs Tirelli:
| Judge | King | Newell |
|---|---|---|
| Judge Dave Hagen | 30 | 27 |
| Judge Michael Murtha | 30 | 27 |
| SevereMMA's Sean Sheehan | 30 | 27 |
| Judge Dave Tirelli | 28 | 29 😎 |
BUT BC THATS LIKE SUPER SMOL DATA AND NOT FAIR.
Boys, we are just getting started. Buckle up.
November 6th, 2021
Tirelli scores the 3rd round for Allan.
| Fighter | Media Scores For | Fan Win Percentage | Tirelli Score | Rounds Tirelli Scored For | Fans With Same Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacoby | 14 | 97.1 | 29 | 1,2 | 8.8% |
| Allan | 1 | 2.9 | 28 | 3 |
Tirelli scored the fight correctly for Jacoby but with the wrong card because he had a stroke in the 3rd round:
| Fighter | Round Three Fan Percentage For | Significant Strikes | Takedowns/Ground Strikes | Tirelli Scored For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacoby | 97.1 | 48 | 0 | |
| Allan | 2.9 | 27 | 0 | 😎 |
Source 2
Yeah. No idea.
December 03, 2022
Tirelli scores it 29-28 Holtzman.
| Fighter | Media Scores For | Fan Win Percentage | Tirelli Score | Rounds Tirelli Scored For | Fans With Same Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guida | 17 | 80 | 28 | 3 | |
| Holtzman | 0 | 20 | 29 | 1, 2 | 13.8% |
You just never know when he's gonna strike. This time, it was in the 2nd round:
| Round Two Fan Percentage For | Significant Strikes (Total) | Takedowns | Control Time | Tirelli Scored For | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guida | 84.6 | 17 (29) | 2 of 8 | 2:55 | |
| Holtzman | 15.4 | 22 (32) | 0 | 0:01 | 😎 |
Source 2
This inspired comments from da bois:
How can anyone give that to Holtzman?-lopez_motors
Split??? pretty clear 2-1 Guida-Sleepyness86
Surprised that one of the judges gave Holtzman the 3rd round for a split decision but glad Guida won that after the continued sequence-altering fence grabs.-kmp92
November 4th, 2023
Tirelli scores it 29-28 Fernandes.
| Fighter | Media Scores For | Fan Win Percentage | Tirelli Score | Rounds Tirelli Scored For | Fans With Same Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernandes | 1 | 17.4% | 29 | 1, 2 | |
| Diakiese | 12 | 82.6% | 28 | 3 | 17.4% |
Round one was a swing round. Tirelli deviates on the 2nd round:
| Fighter | Round Two Fan Percentage For | Significant Strikes (Total) | Takedowns | Control Time | Tirelli Scored For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernandes | 21.7% | 10 (20) | 0 | 0 | 😎 |
| Diakiese | 78.3% | 4 (16) | 1 of 4 | 2:50 |
Source 2
One thing to remember is that ground strikes not rated as often as significant strikes compared to strikes landed at distance. As a result they are more often counted as "total" but not "significant".
As a result, the stats are a little misleading here - Diakiese dominated this round and the fan voting and other judges show it. But I did want to provide the statistics for full transparency, even if they are misleading.
Here's what the ratfucks thought:
The judge making this a split decision just hooked me for the rest of the night.-Nuclearfrog
Yeah I was half paying attention thinking diakese had this easy. Where the fuck did split come from-thatinsuranceguy
man that was boring also how the fuck was that a split decision????-southpawsouthpaw
June 01, 2024
Tirelli scores it 29-28 Raposo.
| Fighter | Media Scores For | Fan Win Percentage | Tirelli Score | Rounds Tirelli Scored For | Fans With Same Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raposo | 0 | 2.7% | 29 | 1, 2 | |
| Lima | 14 | 97.3% | 28 | 3 | 1.3% |
One of his worst stinkers so far. Not only did he give Round 1 to Raposo:
| Round One Fan Percentage For | Significant Strikes (Total) | Takedowns | Control Time | Tirelli Scored For | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raposo | 2.6% | 7 (7) | 0 | 0 | 😎 |
| Lima | 97.3% | 17 (17) | 0 | 0 |
Source 2
He also gave him Round 2:
| Fighter | Round Two Fan Percentage For | Significant Strikes (Total) | Takedowns | Control Time | Tirelli Scored For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raposo | 17.3% | 8 (8) | 0 | 0:09 | 😎 |
| Lima | 82.7% | 13 (13) | 0 | 0 |
Source 2
But if one absolutely dogshit card isn't enough, Dave's your man. The man can go all night.
The man can go TWICE in one night.
7. UFC 302: Sean Strickland def. Paulo Costa
June 01, 2024Tirelli scores it 49-46 Costa.
| Fighter | Media Scores For | Fan Win Percentage | Tirelli Score | Rounds Tirelli Scored For | Fans With Same Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costa | 0 | 4.7% | 49 | 1, 2, 3, 4 | Unknown |
| Strickland | 24 | 94.9% | 46 | 5 |
That's right - this scorecard is so bizarre, we can't actually tell if any fans at all ended with 49-46 Costa, because it's not listed in the top five as a possibility in the data on MMADecisions.
I'm tired of making these fucking charts. You guys get it. It was insane and we all saw it.
You guys had many, many thoughts:
What in the fuck was that 4-1 Costa scorecard!?-PhenoManan
Worst scorecards ever tonight, the judge who scored it 49-46 Costa needs to be fired.-dealerofbananas
Legit one of the worst scorecards I’ve ever seen-GoldenLlamaDog
He needs to be investigated and prosecuted for bet rigging, cancelled for incompetence is the bare minimum.-Heroe-D
No incompetence can explain this. I suspect malice.-Real-Human-Bean-
49-46 Costa might be the single most heinous card I've ever seen-DesertRL
He thought Costa was Strickland 😂-ivo09
Enough of this shit.
How is it, that a rando on Reddit spotted this four years ago, and you guys can't figure it out?
Athletic commissions, your job is to protect fighters. Do your fucking job. It's already bad enough that fighters have "win bonuses" anyway. Your lack of doing your job could cost these guys their livelihoods.
I've reviewed this in depth if you can't tell. I have a question for the athletic commissions.
Don't you guys at the respective commissions all find it strange that he can go months to a year with totally normal cards, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it's like he's never seen the sport before? And be completely normal in the next fight, making really good decisions on razor thin rounds?
In the 6 fights where Tirelli went split decision in this article and I have media data, he was 2 for 76 against the media. Meaning, out of 76 media votes, they may have had a different card, but agreed with his winner twice out of seventy-six attempts.
Is it that Dave Tirelli is the only person on planet Earth sporatically capable of understanding who won a fight, OR is it just that if you graded him vs. the media over these 6 fights, he would be DEAD LAST in accuracy?
Whats Occam's razor have to say about this?
Since the commissions don't appear to watch to actually watch MMA, maybe they watch baseball. So, lets present the numbers in a different way.
Expressed as a batting average, arguably the hardest thing to do in pro sports, Tirelli is hitting .026 in his controversial decisions listed just here in part 2.
That makes him over SIX TIMES WORSE than the worst hitting performance over one season in Major League Baseball history. He's six times worse than the worst guy of all time, at the hardest feat in sports. Please, tell me more about how "hard" this job is.
So here you go. Here's your evidence, over two articles now, that shows, unequivocally, that he is either grossly incompetent or completely corrupt.
And Dana White was wrong.
He doesn't need to judge lower shows. He does not need a license. Not now, not ever. I've already done the hard work for you. Fighters don't deserve this. Fans don't deserve this. Promotions don't deserve this. Bettors don't deserve this. Coaches don't deserve this. Advertisers don't deserve it. The networks investing in the product of MMA don't deserve this.
None of them deserve Tirelli's incompetence.
But you know whose incompetence they really don't deserve? Yours - athletic commissions. Because you're asleep at the wheel with absolutely no signs of consciousness.
Pull his damn license.
Or do I need to do that for you too?
2024.06.07 20:04 ETBiggs Taking the blame is a superpower
This is a true story from 30 years ago. It changed me.
I worked designing industrial machine that made electrical wire. I wasn't an engineer, but I was smart enough to pick up a lot by learning from the engineers, triple-checked everything I did, knew enough to ask for help when I was in too deep - and I was cheap.
One day I was called out to the assembly area of the shop. About 6 people were standing in a circle around a part for a machine that I worked on. It didn't fit.
As I listened to them talk about the issue, it occurred to me that they knew exactly how to fix the problem - but they saw the bigger problem as being who was to blame. The were going round-robin, blaming the welder, the welder blaming the machinist, the machinist blaming the expediter for providing bad instructions.
I was stunned. I got angry and told them all loudly: "Tell the VP it's my fault."
It was likes Moses parting the Red Sea. They all began to actually *solve* the problem because they had someone to blame.
Through my career I have literally taken the blame for things I had no part in and it had the same effect: people would stop bickering and work to fix the task at hand.
I still don't understand what I've come to call the 'business sacrament of affixing blame' but it sure helped me get shit done and never caused me any issues.
submitted by ETBiggs to getdisciplined [link] [comments]
I worked designing industrial machine that made electrical wire. I wasn't an engineer, but I was smart enough to pick up a lot by learning from the engineers, triple-checked everything I did, knew enough to ask for help when I was in too deep - and I was cheap.
One day I was called out to the assembly area of the shop. About 6 people were standing in a circle around a part for a machine that I worked on. It didn't fit.
As I listened to them talk about the issue, it occurred to me that they knew exactly how to fix the problem - but they saw the bigger problem as being who was to blame. The were going round-robin, blaming the welder, the welder blaming the machinist, the machinist blaming the expediter for providing bad instructions.
I was stunned. I got angry and told them all loudly: "Tell the VP it's my fault."
It was likes Moses parting the Red Sea. They all began to actually *solve* the problem because they had someone to blame.
Through my career I have literally taken the blame for things I had no part in and it had the same effect: people would stop bickering and work to fix the task at hand.
I still don't understand what I've come to call the 'business sacrament of affixing blame' but it sure helped me get shit done and never caused me any issues.
2024.06.07 20:00 expandedmodfamily Expanded Mod Family DD 2024-06-07: Deccani Ideas
 | Ellarigū śubhasan̄je!u/expandedModFamily here and today we are going to present the idea part of the Deccan Update [also known internally as Glorious Sceptre] the last week we talked about Deccani Monuments and this week the rest of the Expanded Mod Family especially the Historical Ideas Expanded Team lead by u/Mintboy343 will unveil their work on the Deccani region, are you ready? Time to pass the mic to the team then!Sneak Peak Namaste!u/ChuKoNoob back in the saddle for this dev diary, along with u/Mintboy343 and u/Melvasul94, to bring you the next chapter of the mega India update for this mod. This time, we move from the low-lying tropical fields of Coromandel to the dry uplands of the Deccan, known for its powerful warriors and brilliant gems, bringing great wealth to the region. In fact, the first royal scepters in the world were likely from here, becoming a cultural icon in monarchies around the world, something which was more relevant in eu4 timeframe than it is for the world today (much to Mintboy’s chagrin).With the power of foresight, I am aware that, based on sheer number of unique sets made, Deccan is easily the largest region in this update, so let’s jump right into some of the highlights, starting with the hegemon of the region in 1444: Bahmanis Originally one of many revolts against the collapsing Delhi Sultanate, the princes of the Bahmani Sultanate established a jewel of a kingdom, both figuratively and literally. From the emerald throne, the Sultan constructed a new cultural hub in the middle of India, drawing on local Indian as well as Persianate culture forces to create a center of education, architecture, stable governance, and economic prosperity that was unmatched in the entire subcontinent in the 15th century, despite the generations-long great power struggle between them and the Vijayanagara Empire to the south. Sadly for many, they would go on to fall into decadence in later times, eventually being subsumed by the Mughal Empire. We hope you can use their ideas to avoid this fate, and I hope you fall in love with their history as much as I did while playing them, a history I had barely heard before. Bahmanis itself contains 4 releasable nations, all of which are also available at certain eu4 start dates as Islamic Sultanates, although results may vary due to the nature of releasables. This being a historical mod, we opted to pay homage to their Islamic heritage in these ideas. Historically, these emirates were splinters from Bahmanis, the same as the Bahmanis had once splintered off of Delhi. Ahmednagar The first of these is Ahmednagar. Heavily dependent on local nobility for its military protection, and with a particular preoccupation with fortifications, this tag should provide a unique playthrough for anyone playing through this nation. Berar Similarly, the artillery-obsessed splinter state of Berar gives, among other bonuses, a rare buff to artillery shock, a surprisingly powerful modifier, with additional quirks such as ensuring you are never without an heir due to their… unorthodox practices. We hope you enjoy this nation as you navigate the chaos of a Deccan post-Bahmanis. Bijapur The most embracing of Persian culture and norms, the Shias of Bijapur also seek to make a name for themselves, possessing perhaps the most capable military and most well-rounded set of the four splinter states. Golkonda Finally, the state of Golkonda is the heir to the world-renowned jewel mines that fuel the wealth of the Bahmanis Sultanate. Thus, playing as this tag will gift you with a moderately powerful military, but more importantly, one of the strongest economies in the region through the power of their ideas. Moving away from the Muslim states of the region, these OPM Hindu states and all have a plutocratic government, as they are trading cities that maintain their independence from then two nearby superpowers of Bahmanis and Vijayanagar through a deft combination of trade wealth, military power and careful diplomacy. Calicut/Kozhikode The first of these, and arguably the most epic, is Calicutate was a powerful and wealthy trade port. Despite their emphasis on wealth and prosperity, they were no pushover militarily either, with their adoption of gunpowder and skilled seamanship even managing to drive away later Portuguese incursions. This was especially impressive as the Portuguese attained a near-legendary reputation in India after their smashing defeat of the Gujarati navy at Diu. Later on, the city would manage to come under the protection of the Dutch, who were impressed with their maritime prowess. Armed with these ideas, the riches of India should be your oyster. Kochi Kochin was also not militarily weak, despite its small size, but proved itself to have a unique society, with a much more important status to women than most other places in the subcontinent, and possessed something which would serve them in great stead with the arrival of the Europeans: a population of local Christians who guarded the tomb of Thomas the Apostle. This unique feature in the subcontinent, along with their deft diplomacy and military defenses, allowed them to survive most foreign invasions and outlast most of their rivals. Kolathunadu Perhaps the most adept at trade of all the trading port cities, Kolathunadu made its mark on the Indian Ocean sea trade since antiquity, turning it into a veritable Alexandria of India. Play this set to advance the knowledge of your realm and spread enlightenment to your neighbors, while turning a tidy profit in the process. Chanda The Hindu counterpart to Golkonda, the Gond tribes of the upland Deccan are custodians of immense mineral wealth, which they jealously guard. Their ideas reflect a highly skilled people of craftsmen, turning out fine jeweled products traded across the entire Indian Ocean. They are not the dwarves of legend, but in India they are one of the closest things to it with these ideas. Garha Swearing fealty to the Sultan of Malwa at the start of the game, these people are akin to the fiercely independent people of Chanda, being also known for their smithing prowess, if not as refined as their cousins. Their ideas add other skills to their repertoire, however, with a knack for fort-building and, of all things, candy-making. Indulge your sweet tooth and get into a game as Garha with this unique set! Habsan Perhaps the strangest tag on the entire subcontinent is right here in the Deccan. Have you ever wanted to play an Ethiopian pirate nation in India? With these ideas granting them by far the best navy in the subcontinent, make your piratical dreams a reality and free your fellow African slaves as this roving pirate nation, reading a unique dose of its history encapsulated in its ideas and lovingly curated by Mintboy as our primary historian Keladi Keladi, while less militarily flashy than many of their neighbors, is a coastal state which focuses its time on building a more beneficial society for its people, with ideas emphasizing tolerance, construction, art, and piety. Make no mistake, however, they are no pushover either, with their imposing fortifications keeping their happy citizenry safe and their army ready to sally forth and inflict the wrath of Vishnu on their enemies. Maldives Moving south, we reach the Malabar coast and other tags in the vicinity, starting with the famously aloof Sultanate of Maldives Secure from outside attack (in large part because no one can actually fabricate a claim on them), the Sultanate of the Maldives built a unique sea-based Islamic civilization on the Ten Thousand Islands, the pearl necklace of the Indian Ocean. Experts at maritime trade, the mediums of exchange, construction, and shipbuilding, play this set and be rewarded with a variety of bonuses for a trade empire, including a very special effect included just for you! No spoilers, you’ll have to come test it out for us :} Mysore Much more of a typical Indian tag, but one with a fearsome military that held off both the British and the mighty Marathas for decades, the Tiger of Mysore himself would be proud of this set. With perhaps the strongest cannons in India (although a challenger will approach) and other military bonuses, perhaps some of you might notice a more controversial pick - yep that’s right, we’re bringing back hostile core creation cost. We’d love to hear your thoughts on that, but for now, enjoy the preview of this set. Venad Oh, Venad… A nation that I believe I’ve only ever seen played once in my thousands of hours scrolling through the eu4 community, which makes playing whatever you land on upon clicking “random nation” probably more likely than you ever playing this. But, while you may be left out of people’s games, you weren’t left out of our hearts, and their history is surprisingly rich and fascinating, with a hard-hitting, expansionist idea set for those gigachads out there who want to give this nation at the very tip of India a go. We hope you’ve enjoyed this preview, and make sure to… checks notes oh right, what region is complete without its formable nations? Formable NationsWhile Coromandel conspicuously lacked a formable nation, the Deccan contains no fewer than 3 to aim for in any of your bejeweled playthroughs. The titular one of course being:Deccan Formable by any Muslim nation in this region with the correct culture, but also releasable by the Mughal Empire if they successfully subdue the region. If they are formed by the player as an independent state, however, you can create an advanced Persian-Indian hybrid culture and revel in the riches of the Deccan as you fortify and modernize your state and make it ready to enter the global stage. On the other hand their "nawab" status, as a Mughal vassal, will most likely be brought to life through Government Reforms and a special Vassal for Subjects Expanded. Nagpur A weird one to be included here, the majority of the lands required to form Nagpur are actually in the Bengali region, but their historical heartland lies in the Deccan. This interloper set grants the player highly militarized bonuses, as the Gondi people are united to drive out foreign oppressors, Muslim and European alike, and are primed to be on the defensive as well as the offensive. We only hope we have done their history of spunk and determination justice. Last, and definitely not least, we have (drum roll please): Marathas One of the most powerful states to ever roam the subcontinent, the Marathas were the next rising empire after the collapse of the Mughal Empire (for more on that, head over to FEE and its Disasters #shamelessplug), only to be cut down in their prime by the British. In your hands, you can use their supercharged military ideas to reverse their historical fortunes and unite all of Bharat under your wise leadership! From your glorious cavalry to your fearsome infantry, can you create the empire that finally unites the subcontinent under Hindu self-rule? Or will your run be as disappointing as the Maratha’s ideas are in vanilla eu4? The EndAnd that’s a wrap! Now I will hand the mic back to Melvasul as we move on to talk about other aspects of the EMF India update. As always, constructive feedback is welcomed and you are invited to join our discord where the team talks on a daily basis. Next time you’ll hear from us we will head to the cradle of empires, the most populated, wealthiest, and historically dynamic region of India yet: HindustanThanks so much for reading and tuning it into the Dev Diary. See you next week to showcase the other parts of the Coromandel Update regarding events! Make sure to join our Discord Server and get notified whenever we post a Dev Diary/Update! Impressed by our work? Download the mod here: Historical Ideas Expanded Mods with similar philosophy that are made to work with each other can also be found here: Expanded Mod Family Collection |
2024.06.07 20:00 ClimateUpper1968 Giveaway # 8 That means Free....Drama Free as well...Good luck to all...
 | Giveaway # 8 ( I think): As always, the moderators of the Discord or subreddit do not sanction or endorse this giveaway. They just tolerate it and me. submitted by ClimateUpper1968 to modelm [link] [comments] Let’s keep it fun and drama-free… ---- Please read again! Giveaway # 8 : Request to participate in the drawing. Please do not send blank DM’s or: “hey”, “yo “. DM me on Discord or reddit that you want to enter. Example: “ I like to enter the drawing.” “ Please enter me in the drawing”, or better yet : “ I want to lose again , please enter me in the drawing”. You will receive an acknowledgment with your entry number. After you receive your entry number, there is no need to respond. It clutters up my dm’s. Numbers will be assigned in the order I look at the messages, not the order received. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have not received your entry number within 12 hours of requesting an entry. Allow up to 12 hours (usually within 6) for a confirmation to be sent. I am not on Discord or reddit 24hrs a day. I will check my messages throughout the day. Once the entry cutoff time has arrived, I will hold a random drawing to determine the winner. This giveaway features an SSK Dated 10-29-91; it has been bolt-modded and fully tested and comes with the Original SDL PS/2 -AT cable and a USB adaptor. You must have a verifiable address. No exceptions. You will forfeit your prize if a shipper cannot verify your address. If you are chosen as the winner, you must contact me with your Shipping information within 24 hours: Name, Verifiable address, and email. No exceptions. Please do not send me private /personal info unless you are the winner. Shipping will be free within the continental US. All others will be required to pay a portion -50% of the shipping charges. The winner will be responsible for any Customs or import fees. A video of the random drawing will be posted for all to see. A running list of entries will also be available for all to examine. Entries will be accepted from 6/07/24 1:00 pm EST until 06/12/24 3:00 pm EST. The drawing will be held shortly thereafter. Q and A: Verifiable address: USPS, UPS , FedEx or DHL or their representatives in the delivery area must recognize the address as existing. Compatibility: Not responsible for compatibility with your use case. Fairness/cheating: Please do not send me long, rambling messages about what I am doing to prevent cheating or how I should vet all entries, check IP addresses, or how your mother always wanted one and she is on her deathbed, and you really would like to “win it “ for her. You missed my entry or blocked me. I make every effort to ensure you get an entry number. Once again, if you do not receive your entry in a timely manner, reach out to me. If I blocked you, you probably did not follow the few simple rules in the giveaway or are begging for something for free. Scam:?? The winner gets a free Keyboard. Some are on the rare side, some almost impossible to find in their home countries, and some unaffordable by many…I get …. Yeah, I can’t—just yeah—figure that out for me, someone. My brain hurts. Why do I do the giveaways? Again, not everyone has access to these keyboards. I am a big fan of these keyboards; whether it’s a sale or a giveaway, it brightens my day when someone is thrilled to get their hands on one. That’s it, nothing more. My eBay sales fund the giveaways. So please stop asking me to give all my keyboards away. These were not free; I paid for all of them. Some photos of the unit in question....Lets get started ; |
2024.06.07 19:59 ItWasMe-Patrick Are yall feeling this..?
☝️if yes make sure you round your shit lol
submitted by ItWasMe-Patrick to fanduel [link] [comments]
2024.06.07 19:58 HeadOfSpectre Soldiers Keep Moving (Part 3)
Part 2
It was late when I got back home but for as tired as I was, I knew that I wasn’t going to sleep a wink.
I went into my computer room and opened up my laptop, before plugging in the USB the bartender had given me. There were four folders on it, each one containing the feed from a different camera in the Rooster. I clicked into one of the folders at random and picked through the video files inside, looking for the stretch of footage that I needed. It didn’t take me long to find it either.
I clicked into one of the video files, and watched as the chaos of the Red Rooster played out before me. People drinking, flirting, laughing. Living their lives. Nothing I hadn’t seen before. I let the footage play for a bit, before getting up to grab myself a couple of beers from the fridge. When I got back, I started skipping through the video, waiting for the moment my two victims showed up.
When I’d taken the bartender's statement, he’d told me that he’d seen the two before, both separate and together. He didn’t know their names, but he knew their faces. Other patrons recognized them too. One of them had identified the red haired girl as ‘Kayley’ and had mentioned she lived down at River Ridge, a trailer park outside of town. Nobody had been able to name the Elegant Woman, although a lot of patrons had said they’d seen her around before.
Apparently, both of them usually came to hook up, leaving with a different stranger on most nights. Odds are, they’d why they were there on that night too. They’d come in at around 8:47. The Elegant looking dark haired woman seemed to be the one taking the lead, and seemed to be the one doing most of the talking. She and Kayley went to sit at the bar, talking amongst each other all the while. I couldn’t say for sure what they were talking about. Even if the file had audio, I doubt I’d have been able to single them out over the crowd. They looked at ease though.
They shared a couple of drinks. Nothing seemed that out of the ordinary. I took a sip of my beer, watching them. Eventually, Kayley got distracted talking to a man further down the bar, while the Elegant Woman stayed at the bar, drinking casually as if she had all the time in the world.
The man in the suit came in at around 9:12.
My attention shifted to him the moment he came in through the door.
He fit the description that every witness I’d spoken to had given about the shooter. A tall man with a red beard in a black suit who was wearing a pair of reflective sunglasses despite the fact that it was 9 at night. Even beneath his suit, it was easy to tell he had a good physique, and his crew cut implied a military history to me.
Red Beard took a seat at the bar, a few seats down from the Elegant Woman. He ordered a drink, and nursed it for a bit, discreetly looking around at the other patrons of the bar but not seeming to look directly at either the Elegant Woman or Kayley. He just drank his beer, and when he was finished, he got up and switched seats, moving to sit beside the Elegant Woman. She looked over at him, putting on a charming smile as they talked. I almost got the impression that they were flirting with each other.
They kept talking for a while and as they did, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. If I didn’t know what was coming next… it would have caught me completely off guard. When she turned to take a sip of her drink, the gun appeared in his hand, almost without warning. She didn’t even have time to react before he shot her at point blank range. Three bullets straight to the chest.
I saw Kayley spin around and freeze up. Her entire body tensed, as if she was ready to lunge at the shooter. If that was her intention though, she never got the chance. He put two bullets in her without even thinking, then without so much as a glance backward, he took off toward the door.
I rubbed my temples, watching as the chaos of the aftermath unfolded. Some people called 911. Some, like the bartender, ran to the aid of the bodies. I saw myself run in through the door less than six minutes after the shooting had happened.
That was where I stopped the video.
I took another sip of my beer, and sighed. I rewound it a little bit, watching as the shooter came in and watching as he left. I might recognize this man on the street if I saw him, but other than his red hair and sunglasses, there wasn’t really much to go off of.
The way he left… he walked away almost casually, as if he had someplace to be. He didn’t run. He didn’t panic. He was cold, calm, and professional. I guess that fit with the other murders, didn’t it?
I steeled myself to review the footage again, this time from another camera. Maybe there’d be something from one of the angles that I didn’t see. I checked the angles of the other three cameras. Two of them wouldn’t offer me much. One of them didn’t even catch the shooting. But the last one…
The last one looked promising.
It was situated near the back of the bar and through it, you could see out a window onto the street. It wasn’t the best view… but it was different.
From that angle, I could see a black sedan pull up to drop the man in the suit off. I saw him walk in the door and sit by the bar and from there, the scene played out the same as it did before. The man in the suit shot the two women and he left.
He strode out toward the sedan parked out front, got in the passenger seat and the sedan took off like a shot. There’d been a getaway driver. Interesting…
I set my unfinished beer down. I could drink the rest of it later. I needed to go on a little drive.
It was around 4 AM when I returned to the Red Rooster. I parked my car on the street, exactly where the black sedan had parked, and got out. The downtown area around me was dead silent. Lifeless almost. There wasn’t another soul in sight. But that was fine by me. That just meant that there were no distractions.
It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. There was a bank across the street and I walked toward it. The doors were locked, but that was fine. I could see what I needed through the windows.
Bank machines.
More specifically, bank machines with cameras. Cameras that were pointed right at the Red Rooster.
Perfect.
***
I was off shift the next day, but that just gave me time to get some actual work done. It was probably better I do it all from home. This case was Di Cesares now. I wasn’t sure what she’d do if she caught me working on it, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to find out. Judging by those fangs in her mouth, she wasn’t human either. Hell, I wasn’t sure if she was actually even from the State Police… I got the impression that Sheriff Smith didn’t seem to think so. But if she wasn’t with them, who was she with? Why hadn’t the State Police sent someone else? Had she done something to them? Even if she had, I couldn’t just believe that the State Police wouldn’t notice something like that.
No… there was something else going on here. But I could figure that out later.
First things first - I needed to review the footage from the bank machines. The bank was more than willing to give me access to the footage when I asked. They knew who I was, they knew what had happened and they knew why I was asking.
Once I got back home, it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. Just as I’d hoped, the bank machines had recorded the car that had been waiting outside the Red Rooster. I couldn’t make out the license plate from the footage… but I could see enough to identify the make and model of the car.
An Audi A6 Sedan.
I’m not much of a car guy, but I can say that there’s not a lot of Audi’s in rural Ohio. Even without the license plate, this shouldn’t have been hard to find. I made a call to a buddy of mine in the BMV, told him what I was looking for and within the hour, he had the results for me.
It turns out, there were actually only eight Audi A6 Sedans registered in our county and all of them were registered to the same company.
Apostle Security.
Naturally, I did a bit of research on them. Apostle was a mid-sized private security firm based in Cincinnati, although they had a few other offices in Ohio and some of the surrounding states. It’d been started by a man named Joseph Cray about ten years ago, although beyond that I couldn’t find out much about their history and really, I didn’t care. Their website didn’t list any offices in my county… but the BMV seemed to say otherwise. My friend there had given me an address outside of town and even if I was off duty, I figured that no one could give me any guff for taking a little scenic drive. And if I just so happened to see some black Audi’s that looked like the one that had been parked outside of Red Rooster last night… well, maybe I’d pass that information along to whoever was on duty at the time. I’m pretty sure it was Biggs and Hoffman. They could decide whether or not to tell Di Cesare. It would be completely out of my hands.
I headed out to my car, plugged the address I’d gotten into my GPS and took a little drive.
As I drove through the backroads leading out of town, I felt a sense of quiet apprehension. Maybe I was being naive, putting my hopes on this lead. But I’d done the work. If Apostle really was behind this, it would make sense for them to have some sort of location in the county. If I was right, maybe I wouldn’t find all the answers to this surreal mess of a case, but I’d at least find the shooters. That was something. At least people wouldn’t be dying anymore.
Christ… I still didn’t know what to make of the victims. The gills on Kayley, the fangs on Patricia Russell, the fractures on Geoffery Vickers bones. Maybe these people really were monsters? If so… maybe these shooters knew that. Maybe that was why they did it.
But even if that was the case - I still couldn’t just leave a roving kill squad to wander around unchecked. The way things were going, it was just a matter of time until one of the victims was just some innocent bystander. I passed by a familiar sign as I neared the edge of the county. An advertisement for the local Volkswagen dealership.
‘You’re in Smith Country!’ It declared, along with a prominent smiling photo of Aaron Smith himself. I’d always found that sign a little creepy. The eyes and the smile were both a little too wide. It made the man look downright unhinged. I’d never actually met Aaron Smith in person, despite working for his older brother. The Sheriff would mention him from time to time and I could see the family resemblance, but it was hard to imagine the face on that sign sitting down to an odd Sunday dinner with Sheriff Smith.
To be fair, they probably didn’t talk much. I don’t think Aaron Smith himself even lived in town anymore. He owned a bunch of other dealerships scattered around southwest Ohio. Smith Volkswagen was just the oldest. But the sign had been there forever, and why fix what ain’t broken, even if it is creepy as hell?
Either way, just past that unsettling sign was my destination. Once upon a time, it’d been a small auto garage that had long since gone defunct. It’d been closed down since before I moved to town. From what I’d seen, Smith Volkswagen had used the property as an additional lot to store the cars they had no room for, from time to time but it didn’t seem like they did that anymore. Now the place just looked completely dead. There were no cars parked out front, Audi or otherwise.
I pulled into the parking lot, and checked the address I had to make sure it was correct. This was definitely the place. I parked my car and got out, before making my way to the front door. I found it locked.
Naturally.
Guess my luck had to run out somewhere. Maybe this was a dead end? I already knew I probably wasn’t getting inside without a warrant, and I didn’t exactly know what my chances were of getting one.
I tried the door again. It still didn’t open. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a security camera by the door. I stared up into it. The presence of a camera probably didn’t mean much. Whoever owned this property probably wanted to deter adventurous kids and urban explorers from going in. Maybe it was nothing, but I still couldn’t help but find it interesting.
I considered just going back to the car but didn’t want to feel like I’d wasted my time, so I figured I’d snoop a little bit. I took a quick walk around the perimeter, peeking in through the windows that I passed. I didn’t see much, but judging by what I could see, this place wasn’t abandoned. I didn’t see anyone inside, but the inside looked awfully clean for an abandoned building.
Going out around back, I noticed that there were garbage bags in the dumpsters out back. Not a lot… but enough to confirm to me that there were people here. Maybe this wasn’t a dead end…
I heard a sudden mechanical whirr from the other side of the building that made me pause. I rounded the corner, moving along the back of the building just in time to see a convoy of five black Audi’s rolling out of the garage door, one after the other. They turned onto the road, moving almost in perfect sync as they headed toward town. I felt a knot form in my stomach as I watched them go.
I’d found the cars I’d been looking for… although if they were going somewhere, odds are that we’d be getting a call about it all too soon.
My heart was beating faster in my chest.
I knew I couldn’t just sit there and watch. I knew I needed to do something.
So I did.
I ran back to my car as fast as my legs could carry me, leaping behind the wheel and keying the engine. I tore back out onto the road, speeding after the convoy. I didn’t know what my plan was. I didn’t have a plan. I just knew that if I didn’t do something, people were going to die.
The convoy turned away from downtown, following the river north. They passed by the River Ridge RV park, moving further down the road towards the outskirts of the county. It was hard to say exactly where they were going. There wasn’t much out that way, not for several miles. But they were moving with purpose and so was I.
About ten miles past River Ridge, I noticed something up ahead. Flashing lights, like what you’d see on a squad car, although there was no color to them. They were just white.
The convoy in front of me finally began to pull off the road. I could see them passing another Audi, this one outfitted with an LED bar. Two men on the road waved them off. Both of them were dressed in well pressed suits and wore reflective sunglasses. One of them was bald with a very thick dark stubble, and the other had a familiar red beard and military crew cut.
The knot in my stomach grew tighter as I drove toward the men, waiting for them to stop me. I reached for my pistol, ready for them to make a move. They just waved me on, barely even looking at me. I still kept my hand on my gun as I drove past, watching Red Beard and Baldy like a hawk.
I could see two other men behind the parked Audi with the flashing lights out of the corner of my eye. They were on the ground, fidgeting with something. It took me a moment to figure out what it was.
Spike strips.
I’d seen them before. We’d used them back during my army days at vehicle checkpoints and while we’d never had to use them while I’d been working as a city cop, we did have them.
They were setting up an ambush here. The five Audi’s that had pulled off the road parked along the shoulder further down. I could see men in suits getting out of them. I didn’t see any guns… I guess they were still partially trying to be subtle. But I still had a feeling that they were armed.
I kept on driving, going further down the road. Stopping and confronting these men wasn’t an option. Maybe they weren’t interested in making a mess by shooting any random schmuck who passed by their little trap, but that didn’t change the fact that they were probably dangerous. Charging in and dealing with them by myself wasn’t a smart idea. So instead, I reached for my phone, and I called Biggs.
He answered on the first ring.
“Hey Sawy-”
“Ethan, we have a situation,” I said. “Who’s on duty with you right now?”
“Right now it’s Hoffman, why what’s going on?”
“Call Hoffman, call the Sheriff and call Lopez. There’s going to be another attack.”
“What? Where?”
“I’ve spotted some suspects setting up some kind of ambush ten miles north of River Ridge. How soon can you be here?”
“Twenty, thirty minutes, maybe?” He said, “Sawyer, where are you right now?”
“I just passed the ambush point. They’re gearing up for something, now move your ass!”
“Y-yeah, of course!”
Biggs hung up immediately, and I pulled off to the side of the road. I took a deep breath, before checking the magazine of my pistol and getting out.
I wasn’t going to charge in needlessly… but I needed to have eyes on this situation. It’d be easier if I could get closer on foot. Leaving my car behind, I dipped into the woods along the other side of the road, letting them hide me as I walked back along the road toward the ambush.
The river whispered beside me as I crept through the trees, and the steep incline leading down toward the river helped keep me low and hidden from sight.
I could see the flashing white lights of the parked Audi, and watched as they suddenly went dark. Red Beard was speaking into a walkie talkie, and on the far side of the road, I could see several men waiting by the five parked Audi’s. This time, they had guns. Assault rifles, by the looks of it.
I was right. There was another attack coming and it was coming now.
“Fish market’s on the move, gentlemen. Put out the nets!” Red Beard said.
On his order, I watched one of the men pull the spike strip across the road, while Red Beard addressed the men on the far side of the road. He spoke like a drill instructor and the men he addressed carried themselves like soldiers.
“As of right now, we are locked in on this operation! We run things smooth, we run it clean, we get the job done. No mistakes like last time! No stragglers! Understood?”
“Sir yes sir!” Came a familiar chorus.
After a few minutes, headlights appeared further down the road. I watched them from my vantage point, praying they belonged to Biggs. But the oncoming vehicle was too big to be a squad car. This looked more like an RV.
No…
This was a whole convoy of RV’s. Most likely coming from River Ridge.
I couldn’t count them all, but they were all heading towards the ambush… and that was when the pieces slowly began to click into place.
Kayley, the girl who’d survived… the girl the people at Red Rooster had been able to ID. She’d lived at River Ridge. If she and her friend from the other night weren’t human… then there was a damn good chance that there were others just like them there. Other women with gills. I guess River Ridge would be the perfect place for them… it was quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of downtown and close to the water. Whatever these people were… it’d just about be the perfect place for them.
‘Fish market’s on the move.’
That’s what Red Beard had said.
The other killings hadn’t exactly been low key… if there were more girls like Kayley at River Ridge, odds are they’d heard about them. And odds are that once they realized they were being targeted too, their first instinct would be to get the hell out of dodge. That would explain why they were carrying out this attack in broad daylight too. They weren’t going off of their own schedule, they were trying to catch the monsters as they fled. And now their targets were here… drawing closer and closer to their massacre with each passing second.
There was no sign of Biggs or anyone else. They still had to be at least fifteen minutes out… probably more.. By the time they got here, the shooting would probably already be over.
I couldn’t let that happen.
For the record - I knew that what I was about to do was extraordinarily stupid, but I didn’t see a whole lot of other options. I couldn’t allow them to ambush those RV’s. I couldn’t. I didn’t really stop to weigh the pros and cons in my head. Sure, I knew that what I was about to do had a chance of survival that was damn near zero… but hey, everyone dies sometime, right? This was the only option I had available to me. In a lot of ways, it wasn’t really even a choice I made. I just did it. I took aim at the nearest target, and I fired.
I saw one of the men by the car, the bald one with the scruff grab his shoulder and stumble back a step. He wasn’t dead, but he was hurt. I shot at him again, but he was low enough to the ground and far enough away that I didn’t hit him. He hastily dragged himself off the road and behind the Audi. He still managed to stand, so clearly he wasn’t in that bad a shape.
The moment he heard the gunshots, Red Beard spun around, drawing his own pistol as he did. I knew that he saw me. I could see his expression creasing into a scowl the moment he did. Our eyes locked for only a split second before the air was filled with the sound of gunshots.
POP. POP. POP.
I felt a white hot pain sting across my arm as one of his bullets grazed me, and even though I returned fire I doubt I hit him. Red Beard dove behind his Audi, but behind him I could see his little kill squad moving in.
I couldn’t count how many of them there were. More than ten. Fifteen, maybe? Twenty at most? Who could say.
I retreated back into the trees, skidding down the forested incline toward the river as I waited for the gunmen to come for me.
“Keep off the road!” Red Beard snarled, “Watch your fire! Wait until you have a shot!”
He must’ve been trying to salvage this operation… Although from where I sat, the RV’s looked to be slowing down. Seems they’d noticed the gunfire.
Red Beard glanced in the direction of the RV’s, and I could see the gears in his head spinning. This was all going wrong… but he didn’t seem the type to give up. On the road, the lead RV moved to make a U turn. I could see Red Beard watching it, and took a pot shot at him. It didn’t hit him, but it did shatter the driver's side window of his Audi.
Roaring in frustration, Red Beard fired three shots back at me.
“Goddamnit! Fuck it! Squads 1 and 2, kill that son of a bitch! 3 to 5, intercept the convoy, NOW!”
I saw some of his men back off, running back to their cars. The rest moved onto the road, coming after me. I fired at them, and I saw one of them stumble back as I shot him dead in the chest. But he didn’t die. He stumbled, but picked himself right back up.
Great, they were armored too.
I was punished for poking my head out by a burst of machine gun fire. The trees by my head splintered as I dove down into cover. I lost my footing, sliding further down the incline toward the river. The only reason I didn’t fall all the way down was because I caught myself on a tree. Looking up, I could see about eight figures at the top of the incline, coming down off the road. One of them spotted me and opened fire. All I could do was scramble out of the way and roll further down the hill toward the water.
Gunfire followed me, but I couldn’t see who was shooting. I couldn’t see where they were. I couldn’t stop to try and get a shot. There were too many of them. I dove down to safety behind a fallen old tree. Bullets rained down on it, tearing off chunks of bark and sending splinters raining down on me.
I gripped my gun tight. My blood rushing in my ears. Somehow… I always wondered if I’d die like this. Dug into the dirt, with bullets whizzing past my head. Maybe there wasn’t any other way for me to die? Who’s to say? But I’d be damned if I didn’t take at least one of those bastards down with me.
I took a deep breath. Steeled myself for what I was sure was going to be my last stand.
Then, gun in hand I rose to return fire.
Only when the rifles went off, they weren’t aimed at me.
I could see the eight figures standing in between the trees, but they’d turned away from me. They were shooting at something else now, although I couldn’t immediately see what. I just saw a shape, moving between the trees. I heard the ground shift and saw a cloud of dirt fly up. One of the armed men was sent screaming down the incline, into the river. I wasn’t sure if he’d survived the fall or not.
One of the other men opened fire, only for the shape to grab his rifle, I saw them force it down, before lunging at his throat. He screamed as they sank their teeth into him, but didn’t seem to be able to put up much of a fight otherwise. Two of his friends opened fire on him, hoping to kill the shape that had him in its grasp. The ground seemed to shift beneath them, sending both of them down the incline and into the river. Within seconds, whoever or whatever the hell this was had just taken out half of the men who were supposed to be killing me.
They tossed the man they’d just bitten to the ground and for the first time, I got a good look at my savior. Clementine Di Cesare’s mouth was smeared red with blood. Her sunglasses were absent and in her blue eyes I could see an unsettling calm. As if this wasn’t so much different to her than any other mundane chore.
The remaining gunmen seemed to freeze at the sight of her, not seeming to know how to react until Di Cesare moved. She was fast. It was hard to tell if she was running, or if the ground simply shifted beneath her. She lunged for the nearest gunman, kneeing him in the stomach and tossing him aside like he weighed nothing, although while she dealt with him, the man beside him got off a lucky shot.
Before Di Cesare could deal with him, he emptied half his magazine into her chest… but she didn’t fall. Hell, there wasn’t a scratch on her. The guy who’d shot her on the other hand?
Blood dribbled from his mouth. His body jerked violently as he collapsed to the ground. It was as if he’d been the one who’d gotten shot, not her. Di Cesare barely paid him any mind, regarding the final two men with that eerie calmness.
I could see one of them stumbling away, trying to get back up the incline. The other one just gritted his teeth and decided to fight on until the end. He was smart enough to know that shooting her wasn’t going to work, so instead he pulled a combat knife from his jacket and charged at her, as if it would do him any good.
Di Cesare barely even reacted. She sidestepped him and casually sent him down the incline into the river below. I saw him tumble down into the river before crashing into the water below with a final scream.
Di Cesare watched him fall with a quiet disinterest, before her attention shifted to me. I took a step back, half expecting her to come for me just like she did with the others. Instead, she simply wiped the blood from her mouth before she turned away from me, and headed back up the incline, moving with purpose.
I hesitated for a moment before following her. Di Cesare stepped out onto the road and surveyed the scene before her with an intense gaze. Whatever Red Beards plan had been… clearly everything had gone catastrophically wrong. I could see some of the black Audi’s on the road, trying to follow the RV’s, although the one that got the closest to one of the RV’s near the back of the convoy got rammed by it and sent careening off the road.
The tires of Red Beard’s Audi screeched as it tore back out onto the road. I saw him behind the wheel, sparing Di Cesare and I a single glance as he took off at top speed. I raised my gun to shoot at him but Di Cesare seized me by the wrist, stopping me from doing so. I looked over at her, confused.
“Let them run,” She said calmly. “We know where they are now.”
She looked down the road, back toward the fleeing RVs, and seemed momentarily content. One of the five parked Audi’s, driven by the survivor of the group who’d gone after me sped onto the road and Di Cesare regarded it with quiet disinterest before walking over to the road spikes and beginning to move them.
“Help me with this,” She said coolly.
I hesitated for a moment before doing exactly what she asked.
“You called for backup?” She asked, as we dragged the spikes off the road.
“I did,” I said. “Wait, you’re not with them?”
“No,” She replied plainly. We packed away the spikes but left them at the side of the road. Someone else could collect them as evidence. “I was with the RV convoy.”
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“You were with them?” I asked. “So you knew about the attack?”
“I knew it was likely,” She said. “Although I didn’t expect you here, Deputy Sawyer,”
She tilted her head at me.
“Working behind my back, I see.”
“I was following up on a lead,” I said. “I tracked the vehicle that last night's shooter used to a garage just on the edge of town. I saw some cars leaving and figured it was probably bad news, so I followed them here.”
“I see… you’re quite sedulous, aren’t you?”
“Well I couldn’t exactly sit around given the past few days, could I?” I asked. “What the hell just happened back there, on the incline? How did you… what the hell did you do? I watched someone shoot you, then die of their own gunshot wounds! How the hell did you do that? What the hell are you?”
The questions spilled out of me without much thought, although Di Cesare didn’t seem to care much.
“That’s a question with a complicated answer,” Di Cesare replied.
“Uncomplicate it, then!”
“I’m an old soldier, same as you,” She said. “Maybe I know a little bit of magic… maybe I’m not entirely human anymore, but that’s what I am at my core.”
“Vampire…” I said quietly.
She didn’t answer, but there was a look in her eyes that told me I was right. At this point, after seeing what I’d just seen, I wasn’t in much of a state of mind to doubt it.
“So that trick with the bullet wounds… was that a vampire thing or a magic thing” I asked.
“Attribution spell,” She said. “Makes me harder to kill. Not a lot gets through it. I’ll tell you what. Give me your car keys, and I’ll answer any questions you have later.”
She extended a hand to me.
“I’m sorry, my car keys?” I asked, “Why?!”
“I need to follow the RV’s to make sure they make it out of the county safely. You said you’ve called in backup. You still need to be here for when they arrive. So… I’ll be borrowing your vehicle.”
I hesitated for a moment, before swearing under my breath and handing my keys off to her.
“Do what you’ve got to do…” I said under my breath.
She nodded.
“It’ll be returned to you when I’m done, no worse for wear.”
With that, she pushed past me and walked toward my car and all I could really do was just watch. She took my car, and sped off after the RV’s, leaving me in the road to clean up the mess.
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It was late when I got back home but for as tired as I was, I knew that I wasn’t going to sleep a wink.
I went into my computer room and opened up my laptop, before plugging in the USB the bartender had given me. There were four folders on it, each one containing the feed from a different camera in the Rooster. I clicked into one of the folders at random and picked through the video files inside, looking for the stretch of footage that I needed. It didn’t take me long to find it either.
I clicked into one of the video files, and watched as the chaos of the Red Rooster played out before me. People drinking, flirting, laughing. Living their lives. Nothing I hadn’t seen before. I let the footage play for a bit, before getting up to grab myself a couple of beers from the fridge. When I got back, I started skipping through the video, waiting for the moment my two victims showed up.
When I’d taken the bartender's statement, he’d told me that he’d seen the two before, both separate and together. He didn’t know their names, but he knew their faces. Other patrons recognized them too. One of them had identified the red haired girl as ‘Kayley’ and had mentioned she lived down at River Ridge, a trailer park outside of town. Nobody had been able to name the Elegant Woman, although a lot of patrons had said they’d seen her around before.
Apparently, both of them usually came to hook up, leaving with a different stranger on most nights. Odds are, they’d why they were there on that night too. They’d come in at around 8:47. The Elegant looking dark haired woman seemed to be the one taking the lead, and seemed to be the one doing most of the talking. She and Kayley went to sit at the bar, talking amongst each other all the while. I couldn’t say for sure what they were talking about. Even if the file had audio, I doubt I’d have been able to single them out over the crowd. They looked at ease though.
They shared a couple of drinks. Nothing seemed that out of the ordinary. I took a sip of my beer, watching them. Eventually, Kayley got distracted talking to a man further down the bar, while the Elegant Woman stayed at the bar, drinking casually as if she had all the time in the world.
The man in the suit came in at around 9:12.
My attention shifted to him the moment he came in through the door.
He fit the description that every witness I’d spoken to had given about the shooter. A tall man with a red beard in a black suit who was wearing a pair of reflective sunglasses despite the fact that it was 9 at night. Even beneath his suit, it was easy to tell he had a good physique, and his crew cut implied a military history to me.
Red Beard took a seat at the bar, a few seats down from the Elegant Woman. He ordered a drink, and nursed it for a bit, discreetly looking around at the other patrons of the bar but not seeming to look directly at either the Elegant Woman or Kayley. He just drank his beer, and when he was finished, he got up and switched seats, moving to sit beside the Elegant Woman. She looked over at him, putting on a charming smile as they talked. I almost got the impression that they were flirting with each other.
They kept talking for a while and as they did, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. If I didn’t know what was coming next… it would have caught me completely off guard. When she turned to take a sip of her drink, the gun appeared in his hand, almost without warning. She didn’t even have time to react before he shot her at point blank range. Three bullets straight to the chest.
I saw Kayley spin around and freeze up. Her entire body tensed, as if she was ready to lunge at the shooter. If that was her intention though, she never got the chance. He put two bullets in her without even thinking, then without so much as a glance backward, he took off toward the door.
I rubbed my temples, watching as the chaos of the aftermath unfolded. Some people called 911. Some, like the bartender, ran to the aid of the bodies. I saw myself run in through the door less than six minutes after the shooting had happened.
That was where I stopped the video.
I took another sip of my beer, and sighed. I rewound it a little bit, watching as the shooter came in and watching as he left. I might recognize this man on the street if I saw him, but other than his red hair and sunglasses, there wasn’t really much to go off of.
The way he left… he walked away almost casually, as if he had someplace to be. He didn’t run. He didn’t panic. He was cold, calm, and professional. I guess that fit with the other murders, didn’t it?
I steeled myself to review the footage again, this time from another camera. Maybe there’d be something from one of the angles that I didn’t see. I checked the angles of the other three cameras. Two of them wouldn’t offer me much. One of them didn’t even catch the shooting. But the last one…
The last one looked promising.
It was situated near the back of the bar and through it, you could see out a window onto the street. It wasn’t the best view… but it was different.
From that angle, I could see a black sedan pull up to drop the man in the suit off. I saw him walk in the door and sit by the bar and from there, the scene played out the same as it did before. The man in the suit shot the two women and he left.
He strode out toward the sedan parked out front, got in the passenger seat and the sedan took off like a shot. There’d been a getaway driver. Interesting…
I set my unfinished beer down. I could drink the rest of it later. I needed to go on a little drive.
It was around 4 AM when I returned to the Red Rooster. I parked my car on the street, exactly where the black sedan had parked, and got out. The downtown area around me was dead silent. Lifeless almost. There wasn’t another soul in sight. But that was fine by me. That just meant that there were no distractions.
It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. There was a bank across the street and I walked toward it. The doors were locked, but that was fine. I could see what I needed through the windows.
Bank machines.
More specifically, bank machines with cameras. Cameras that were pointed right at the Red Rooster.
Perfect.
***
I was off shift the next day, but that just gave me time to get some actual work done. It was probably better I do it all from home. This case was Di Cesares now. I wasn’t sure what she’d do if she caught me working on it, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to find out. Judging by those fangs in her mouth, she wasn’t human either. Hell, I wasn’t sure if she was actually even from the State Police… I got the impression that Sheriff Smith didn’t seem to think so. But if she wasn’t with them, who was she with? Why hadn’t the State Police sent someone else? Had she done something to them? Even if she had, I couldn’t just believe that the State Police wouldn’t notice something like that.
No… there was something else going on here. But I could figure that out later.
First things first - I needed to review the footage from the bank machines. The bank was more than willing to give me access to the footage when I asked. They knew who I was, they knew what had happened and they knew why I was asking.
Once I got back home, it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. Just as I’d hoped, the bank machines had recorded the car that had been waiting outside the Red Rooster. I couldn’t make out the license plate from the footage… but I could see enough to identify the make and model of the car.
An Audi A6 Sedan.
I’m not much of a car guy, but I can say that there’s not a lot of Audi’s in rural Ohio. Even without the license plate, this shouldn’t have been hard to find. I made a call to a buddy of mine in the BMV, told him what I was looking for and within the hour, he had the results for me.
It turns out, there were actually only eight Audi A6 Sedans registered in our county and all of them were registered to the same company.
Apostle Security.
Naturally, I did a bit of research on them. Apostle was a mid-sized private security firm based in Cincinnati, although they had a few other offices in Ohio and some of the surrounding states. It’d been started by a man named Joseph Cray about ten years ago, although beyond that I couldn’t find out much about their history and really, I didn’t care. Their website didn’t list any offices in my county… but the BMV seemed to say otherwise. My friend there had given me an address outside of town and even if I was off duty, I figured that no one could give me any guff for taking a little scenic drive. And if I just so happened to see some black Audi’s that looked like the one that had been parked outside of Red Rooster last night… well, maybe I’d pass that information along to whoever was on duty at the time. I’m pretty sure it was Biggs and Hoffman. They could decide whether or not to tell Di Cesare. It would be completely out of my hands.
I headed out to my car, plugged the address I’d gotten into my GPS and took a little drive.
As I drove through the backroads leading out of town, I felt a sense of quiet apprehension. Maybe I was being naive, putting my hopes on this lead. But I’d done the work. If Apostle really was behind this, it would make sense for them to have some sort of location in the county. If I was right, maybe I wouldn’t find all the answers to this surreal mess of a case, but I’d at least find the shooters. That was something. At least people wouldn’t be dying anymore.
Christ… I still didn’t know what to make of the victims. The gills on Kayley, the fangs on Patricia Russell, the fractures on Geoffery Vickers bones. Maybe these people really were monsters? If so… maybe these shooters knew that. Maybe that was why they did it.
But even if that was the case - I still couldn’t just leave a roving kill squad to wander around unchecked. The way things were going, it was just a matter of time until one of the victims was just some innocent bystander. I passed by a familiar sign as I neared the edge of the county. An advertisement for the local Volkswagen dealership.
‘You’re in Smith Country!’ It declared, along with a prominent smiling photo of Aaron Smith himself. I’d always found that sign a little creepy. The eyes and the smile were both a little too wide. It made the man look downright unhinged. I’d never actually met Aaron Smith in person, despite working for his older brother. The Sheriff would mention him from time to time and I could see the family resemblance, but it was hard to imagine the face on that sign sitting down to an odd Sunday dinner with Sheriff Smith.
To be fair, they probably didn’t talk much. I don’t think Aaron Smith himself even lived in town anymore. He owned a bunch of other dealerships scattered around southwest Ohio. Smith Volkswagen was just the oldest. But the sign had been there forever, and why fix what ain’t broken, even if it is creepy as hell?
Either way, just past that unsettling sign was my destination. Once upon a time, it’d been a small auto garage that had long since gone defunct. It’d been closed down since before I moved to town. From what I’d seen, Smith Volkswagen had used the property as an additional lot to store the cars they had no room for, from time to time but it didn’t seem like they did that anymore. Now the place just looked completely dead. There were no cars parked out front, Audi or otherwise.
I pulled into the parking lot, and checked the address I had to make sure it was correct. This was definitely the place. I parked my car and got out, before making my way to the front door. I found it locked.
Naturally.
Guess my luck had to run out somewhere. Maybe this was a dead end? I already knew I probably wasn’t getting inside without a warrant, and I didn’t exactly know what my chances were of getting one.
I tried the door again. It still didn’t open. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a security camera by the door. I stared up into it. The presence of a camera probably didn’t mean much. Whoever owned this property probably wanted to deter adventurous kids and urban explorers from going in. Maybe it was nothing, but I still couldn’t help but find it interesting.
I considered just going back to the car but didn’t want to feel like I’d wasted my time, so I figured I’d snoop a little bit. I took a quick walk around the perimeter, peeking in through the windows that I passed. I didn’t see much, but judging by what I could see, this place wasn’t abandoned. I didn’t see anyone inside, but the inside looked awfully clean for an abandoned building.
Going out around back, I noticed that there were garbage bags in the dumpsters out back. Not a lot… but enough to confirm to me that there were people here. Maybe this wasn’t a dead end…
I heard a sudden mechanical whirr from the other side of the building that made me pause. I rounded the corner, moving along the back of the building just in time to see a convoy of five black Audi’s rolling out of the garage door, one after the other. They turned onto the road, moving almost in perfect sync as they headed toward town. I felt a knot form in my stomach as I watched them go.
I’d found the cars I’d been looking for… although if they were going somewhere, odds are that we’d be getting a call about it all too soon.
My heart was beating faster in my chest.
I knew I couldn’t just sit there and watch. I knew I needed to do something.
So I did.
I ran back to my car as fast as my legs could carry me, leaping behind the wheel and keying the engine. I tore back out onto the road, speeding after the convoy. I didn’t know what my plan was. I didn’t have a plan. I just knew that if I didn’t do something, people were going to die.
The convoy turned away from downtown, following the river north. They passed by the River Ridge RV park, moving further down the road towards the outskirts of the county. It was hard to say exactly where they were going. There wasn’t much out that way, not for several miles. But they were moving with purpose and so was I.
About ten miles past River Ridge, I noticed something up ahead. Flashing lights, like what you’d see on a squad car, although there was no color to them. They were just white.
The convoy in front of me finally began to pull off the road. I could see them passing another Audi, this one outfitted with an LED bar. Two men on the road waved them off. Both of them were dressed in well pressed suits and wore reflective sunglasses. One of them was bald with a very thick dark stubble, and the other had a familiar red beard and military crew cut.
The knot in my stomach grew tighter as I drove toward the men, waiting for them to stop me. I reached for my pistol, ready for them to make a move. They just waved me on, barely even looking at me. I still kept my hand on my gun as I drove past, watching Red Beard and Baldy like a hawk.
I could see two other men behind the parked Audi with the flashing lights out of the corner of my eye. They were on the ground, fidgeting with something. It took me a moment to figure out what it was.
Spike strips.
I’d seen them before. We’d used them back during my army days at vehicle checkpoints and while we’d never had to use them while I’d been working as a city cop, we did have them.
They were setting up an ambush here. The five Audi’s that had pulled off the road parked along the shoulder further down. I could see men in suits getting out of them. I didn’t see any guns… I guess they were still partially trying to be subtle. But I still had a feeling that they were armed.
I kept on driving, going further down the road. Stopping and confronting these men wasn’t an option. Maybe they weren’t interested in making a mess by shooting any random schmuck who passed by their little trap, but that didn’t change the fact that they were probably dangerous. Charging in and dealing with them by myself wasn’t a smart idea. So instead, I reached for my phone, and I called Biggs.
He answered on the first ring.
“Hey Sawy-”
“Ethan, we have a situation,” I said. “Who’s on duty with you right now?”
“Right now it’s Hoffman, why what’s going on?”
“Call Hoffman, call the Sheriff and call Lopez. There’s going to be another attack.”
“What? Where?”
“I’ve spotted some suspects setting up some kind of ambush ten miles north of River Ridge. How soon can you be here?”
“Twenty, thirty minutes, maybe?” He said, “Sawyer, where are you right now?”
“I just passed the ambush point. They’re gearing up for something, now move your ass!”
“Y-yeah, of course!”
Biggs hung up immediately, and I pulled off to the side of the road. I took a deep breath, before checking the magazine of my pistol and getting out.
I wasn’t going to charge in needlessly… but I needed to have eyes on this situation. It’d be easier if I could get closer on foot. Leaving my car behind, I dipped into the woods along the other side of the road, letting them hide me as I walked back along the road toward the ambush.
The river whispered beside me as I crept through the trees, and the steep incline leading down toward the river helped keep me low and hidden from sight.
I could see the flashing white lights of the parked Audi, and watched as they suddenly went dark. Red Beard was speaking into a walkie talkie, and on the far side of the road, I could see several men waiting by the five parked Audi’s. This time, they had guns. Assault rifles, by the looks of it.
I was right. There was another attack coming and it was coming now.
“Fish market’s on the move, gentlemen. Put out the nets!” Red Beard said.
On his order, I watched one of the men pull the spike strip across the road, while Red Beard addressed the men on the far side of the road. He spoke like a drill instructor and the men he addressed carried themselves like soldiers.
“As of right now, we are locked in on this operation! We run things smooth, we run it clean, we get the job done. No mistakes like last time! No stragglers! Understood?”
“Sir yes sir!” Came a familiar chorus.
After a few minutes, headlights appeared further down the road. I watched them from my vantage point, praying they belonged to Biggs. But the oncoming vehicle was too big to be a squad car. This looked more like an RV.
No…
This was a whole convoy of RV’s. Most likely coming from River Ridge.
I couldn’t count them all, but they were all heading towards the ambush… and that was when the pieces slowly began to click into place.
Kayley, the girl who’d survived… the girl the people at Red Rooster had been able to ID. She’d lived at River Ridge. If she and her friend from the other night weren’t human… then there was a damn good chance that there were others just like them there. Other women with gills. I guess River Ridge would be the perfect place for them… it was quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of downtown and close to the water. Whatever these people were… it’d just about be the perfect place for them.
‘Fish market’s on the move.’
That’s what Red Beard had said.
The other killings hadn’t exactly been low key… if there were more girls like Kayley at River Ridge, odds are they’d heard about them. And odds are that once they realized they were being targeted too, their first instinct would be to get the hell out of dodge. That would explain why they were carrying out this attack in broad daylight too. They weren’t going off of their own schedule, they were trying to catch the monsters as they fled. And now their targets were here… drawing closer and closer to their massacre with each passing second.
There was no sign of Biggs or anyone else. They still had to be at least fifteen minutes out… probably more.. By the time they got here, the shooting would probably already be over.
I couldn’t let that happen.
For the record - I knew that what I was about to do was extraordinarily stupid, but I didn’t see a whole lot of other options. I couldn’t allow them to ambush those RV’s. I couldn’t. I didn’t really stop to weigh the pros and cons in my head. Sure, I knew that what I was about to do had a chance of survival that was damn near zero… but hey, everyone dies sometime, right? This was the only option I had available to me. In a lot of ways, it wasn’t really even a choice I made. I just did it. I took aim at the nearest target, and I fired.
I saw one of the men by the car, the bald one with the scruff grab his shoulder and stumble back a step. He wasn’t dead, but he was hurt. I shot at him again, but he was low enough to the ground and far enough away that I didn’t hit him. He hastily dragged himself off the road and behind the Audi. He still managed to stand, so clearly he wasn’t in that bad a shape.
The moment he heard the gunshots, Red Beard spun around, drawing his own pistol as he did. I knew that he saw me. I could see his expression creasing into a scowl the moment he did. Our eyes locked for only a split second before the air was filled with the sound of gunshots.
POP. POP. POP.
I felt a white hot pain sting across my arm as one of his bullets grazed me, and even though I returned fire I doubt I hit him. Red Beard dove behind his Audi, but behind him I could see his little kill squad moving in.
I couldn’t count how many of them there were. More than ten. Fifteen, maybe? Twenty at most? Who could say.
I retreated back into the trees, skidding down the forested incline toward the river as I waited for the gunmen to come for me.
“Keep off the road!” Red Beard snarled, “Watch your fire! Wait until you have a shot!”
He must’ve been trying to salvage this operation… Although from where I sat, the RV’s looked to be slowing down. Seems they’d noticed the gunfire.
Red Beard glanced in the direction of the RV’s, and I could see the gears in his head spinning. This was all going wrong… but he didn’t seem the type to give up. On the road, the lead RV moved to make a U turn. I could see Red Beard watching it, and took a pot shot at him. It didn’t hit him, but it did shatter the driver's side window of his Audi.
Roaring in frustration, Red Beard fired three shots back at me.
“Goddamnit! Fuck it! Squads 1 and 2, kill that son of a bitch! 3 to 5, intercept the convoy, NOW!”
I saw some of his men back off, running back to their cars. The rest moved onto the road, coming after me. I fired at them, and I saw one of them stumble back as I shot him dead in the chest. But he didn’t die. He stumbled, but picked himself right back up.
Great, they were armored too.
I was punished for poking my head out by a burst of machine gun fire. The trees by my head splintered as I dove down into cover. I lost my footing, sliding further down the incline toward the river. The only reason I didn’t fall all the way down was because I caught myself on a tree. Looking up, I could see about eight figures at the top of the incline, coming down off the road. One of them spotted me and opened fire. All I could do was scramble out of the way and roll further down the hill toward the water.
Gunfire followed me, but I couldn’t see who was shooting. I couldn’t see where they were. I couldn’t stop to try and get a shot. There were too many of them. I dove down to safety behind a fallen old tree. Bullets rained down on it, tearing off chunks of bark and sending splinters raining down on me.
I gripped my gun tight. My blood rushing in my ears. Somehow… I always wondered if I’d die like this. Dug into the dirt, with bullets whizzing past my head. Maybe there wasn’t any other way for me to die? Who’s to say? But I’d be damned if I didn’t take at least one of those bastards down with me.
I took a deep breath. Steeled myself for what I was sure was going to be my last stand.
Then, gun in hand I rose to return fire.
Only when the rifles went off, they weren’t aimed at me.
I could see the eight figures standing in between the trees, but they’d turned away from me. They were shooting at something else now, although I couldn’t immediately see what. I just saw a shape, moving between the trees. I heard the ground shift and saw a cloud of dirt fly up. One of the armed men was sent screaming down the incline, into the river. I wasn’t sure if he’d survived the fall or not.
One of the other men opened fire, only for the shape to grab his rifle, I saw them force it down, before lunging at his throat. He screamed as they sank their teeth into him, but didn’t seem to be able to put up much of a fight otherwise. Two of his friends opened fire on him, hoping to kill the shape that had him in its grasp. The ground seemed to shift beneath them, sending both of them down the incline and into the river. Within seconds, whoever or whatever the hell this was had just taken out half of the men who were supposed to be killing me.
They tossed the man they’d just bitten to the ground and for the first time, I got a good look at my savior. Clementine Di Cesare’s mouth was smeared red with blood. Her sunglasses were absent and in her blue eyes I could see an unsettling calm. As if this wasn’t so much different to her than any other mundane chore.
The remaining gunmen seemed to freeze at the sight of her, not seeming to know how to react until Di Cesare moved. She was fast. It was hard to tell if she was running, or if the ground simply shifted beneath her. She lunged for the nearest gunman, kneeing him in the stomach and tossing him aside like he weighed nothing, although while she dealt with him, the man beside him got off a lucky shot.
Before Di Cesare could deal with him, he emptied half his magazine into her chest… but she didn’t fall. Hell, there wasn’t a scratch on her. The guy who’d shot her on the other hand?
Blood dribbled from his mouth. His body jerked violently as he collapsed to the ground. It was as if he’d been the one who’d gotten shot, not her. Di Cesare barely paid him any mind, regarding the final two men with that eerie calmness.
I could see one of them stumbling away, trying to get back up the incline. The other one just gritted his teeth and decided to fight on until the end. He was smart enough to know that shooting her wasn’t going to work, so instead he pulled a combat knife from his jacket and charged at her, as if it would do him any good.
Di Cesare barely even reacted. She sidestepped him and casually sent him down the incline into the river below. I saw him tumble down into the river before crashing into the water below with a final scream.
Di Cesare watched him fall with a quiet disinterest, before her attention shifted to me. I took a step back, half expecting her to come for me just like she did with the others. Instead, she simply wiped the blood from her mouth before she turned away from me, and headed back up the incline, moving with purpose.
I hesitated for a moment before following her. Di Cesare stepped out onto the road and surveyed the scene before her with an intense gaze. Whatever Red Beards plan had been… clearly everything had gone catastrophically wrong. I could see some of the black Audi’s on the road, trying to follow the RV’s, although the one that got the closest to one of the RV’s near the back of the convoy got rammed by it and sent careening off the road.
The tires of Red Beard’s Audi screeched as it tore back out onto the road. I saw him behind the wheel, sparing Di Cesare and I a single glance as he took off at top speed. I raised my gun to shoot at him but Di Cesare seized me by the wrist, stopping me from doing so. I looked over at her, confused.
“Let them run,” She said calmly. “We know where they are now.”
She looked down the road, back toward the fleeing RVs, and seemed momentarily content. One of the five parked Audi’s, driven by the survivor of the group who’d gone after me sped onto the road and Di Cesare regarded it with quiet disinterest before walking over to the road spikes and beginning to move them.
“Help me with this,” She said coolly.
I hesitated for a moment before doing exactly what she asked.
“You called for backup?” She asked, as we dragged the spikes off the road.
“I did,” I said. “Wait, you’re not with them?”
“No,” She replied plainly. We packed away the spikes but left them at the side of the road. Someone else could collect them as evidence. “I was with the RV convoy.”
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“You were with them?” I asked. “So you knew about the attack?”
“I knew it was likely,” She said. “Although I didn’t expect you here, Deputy Sawyer,”
She tilted her head at me.
“Working behind my back, I see.”
“I was following up on a lead,” I said. “I tracked the vehicle that last night's shooter used to a garage just on the edge of town. I saw some cars leaving and figured it was probably bad news, so I followed them here.”
“I see… you’re quite sedulous, aren’t you?”
“Well I couldn’t exactly sit around given the past few days, could I?” I asked. “What the hell just happened back there, on the incline? How did you… what the hell did you do? I watched someone shoot you, then die of their own gunshot wounds! How the hell did you do that? What the hell are you?”
The questions spilled out of me without much thought, although Di Cesare didn’t seem to care much.
“That’s a question with a complicated answer,” Di Cesare replied.
“Uncomplicate it, then!”
“I’m an old soldier, same as you,” She said. “Maybe I know a little bit of magic… maybe I’m not entirely human anymore, but that’s what I am at my core.”
“Vampire…” I said quietly.
She didn’t answer, but there was a look in her eyes that told me I was right. At this point, after seeing what I’d just seen, I wasn’t in much of a state of mind to doubt it.
“So that trick with the bullet wounds… was that a vampire thing or a magic thing” I asked.
“Attribution spell,” She said. “Makes me harder to kill. Not a lot gets through it. I’ll tell you what. Give me your car keys, and I’ll answer any questions you have later.”
She extended a hand to me.
“I’m sorry, my car keys?” I asked, “Why?!”
“I need to follow the RV’s to make sure they make it out of the county safely. You said you’ve called in backup. You still need to be here for when they arrive. So… I’ll be borrowing your vehicle.”
I hesitated for a moment, before swearing under my breath and handing my keys off to her.
“Do what you’ve got to do…” I said under my breath.
She nodded.
“It’ll be returned to you when I’m done, no worse for wear.”
With that, she pushed past me and walked toward my car and all I could really do was just watch. She took my car, and sped off after the RV’s, leaving me in the road to clean up the mess.
2024.06.07 19:57 laidbackeconomist Ploppies who want to shuffle early?
Any of yall have experience dealing with ploppies who want to shuffle early after they have a bad run?
I was at the casino the other day and this dude sat down next to me. He waited out a few hands, then started betting blacks, and got pissed when he lost two hands in a row (split 10s twice, so he probably lost $500 in those two rounds). The count was positive, he just didn’t know shit. He then asked the dealer for a reshuffle with only a few hands left in the shoe. The dealer asked me if it was okay, and I said yes. I didn’t want to raise suspicion about why I didn’t want a reshuffle, so I didn’t try to fight it. Reshuffles are somewhat common at my casino, I see it done probably once every two hours and I even ask for them occasionally. I also don’t want to start a fight since I’m a bigger guy and already draw securities attention just walking in the door, plus this guy had a drink and it probably wasn’t his first.
My question is what would yall have done? Was I right to just go along with it to not draw attention? Any other advice to deal with ploppies? Or am I doing good just ignoring them? This guy ended up leaving a few hands into the new shoe anyway, so he probably didn’t affect me too negatively.
submitted by laidbackeconomist to blackjack [link] [comments]
I was at the casino the other day and this dude sat down next to me. He waited out a few hands, then started betting blacks, and got pissed when he lost two hands in a row (split 10s twice, so he probably lost $500 in those two rounds). The count was positive, he just didn’t know shit. He then asked the dealer for a reshuffle with only a few hands left in the shoe. The dealer asked me if it was okay, and I said yes. I didn’t want to raise suspicion about why I didn’t want a reshuffle, so I didn’t try to fight it. Reshuffles are somewhat common at my casino, I see it done probably once every two hours and I even ask for them occasionally. I also don’t want to start a fight since I’m a bigger guy and already draw securities attention just walking in the door, plus this guy had a drink and it probably wasn’t his first.
My question is what would yall have done? Was I right to just go along with it to not draw attention? Any other advice to deal with ploppies? Or am I doing good just ignoring them? This guy ended up leaving a few hands into the new shoe anyway, so he probably didn’t affect me too negatively.
2024.06.07 19:56 Conifers-n-Citrus St. Louis CITY FC Scouting Report: Five Things About Them
I did a little scouting on the Portland Timbers opponent for the weekend, St. Louis CITY FC, and have five notes on them to pass on.
1) They are not (so far) the same run-you-over-and-steal-your-points team that topped the Western Conference in 2023. They still play to force turnovers in good places, but it has translated into more ties (8) than wins (3). To round out their record, they have 4 losses – including two recent ones at home.
2) Joao Klauss is a goddamn wrecking ball of a forward. His numbers aren’t crazy (5g, 3a), but he defends all over the opposition's defensive third and will run down/charge into anything up to and including a Timbers midfielder lingering on the ball too long and too deep.
3) I’d call Celio Pompeu St. Louis’ X-factor. He generally plays high on the left and they use him to run at/over isolated fullbacks – and he’s pretty good at it.
4) One potential theory for behind all those draws: Eduard Lowen has played just 379 minutes for them this season – including the full 90 at Miami last weekend. He looked good and useful in that one, serves a great free kick and can find St. Louis attackers in places that make them more dangerous.
5) Even if they don’t press like they used to, St. Louis cheats *really* high when putting teams under pressure. I saw their ‘keeper, Roman Burki, step into the middle third of the field to support that. St. Louis is stretchable, in other words, particularly if Portland can punch a ball through some lines or over the top.
I posted longer notes to the regular place. Read ‘em if you wanna. And Portland’s facing the above without Diego Chara, right?
submitted by Conifers-n-Citrus to timbers [link] [comments]
1) They are not (so far) the same run-you-over-and-steal-your-points team that topped the Western Conference in 2023. They still play to force turnovers in good places, but it has translated into more ties (8) than wins (3). To round out their record, they have 4 losses – including two recent ones at home.
2) Joao Klauss is a goddamn wrecking ball of a forward. His numbers aren’t crazy (5g, 3a), but he defends all over the opposition's defensive third and will run down/charge into anything up to and including a Timbers midfielder lingering on the ball too long and too deep.
3) I’d call Celio Pompeu St. Louis’ X-factor. He generally plays high on the left and they use him to run at/over isolated fullbacks – and he’s pretty good at it.
4) One potential theory for behind all those draws: Eduard Lowen has played just 379 minutes for them this season – including the full 90 at Miami last weekend. He looked good and useful in that one, serves a great free kick and can find St. Louis attackers in places that make them more dangerous.
5) Even if they don’t press like they used to, St. Louis cheats *really* high when putting teams under pressure. I saw their ‘keeper, Roman Burki, step into the middle third of the field to support that. St. Louis is stretchable, in other words, particularly if Portland can punch a ball through some lines or over the top.
I posted longer notes to the regular place. Read ‘em if you wanna. And Portland’s facing the above without Diego Chara, right?
2024.06.07 19:42 Key-Competition-7489 (Record of Ragnarok RS) Chapter 24: Burning Bright
 | As Arthur concluded his speech, there was a silence across the battlefield. As Nezha blinked a few times whilst properly processing the king's words, slowly he lifted his spear closer to his face. The constant clashes between him and Arthur had gradually chipped away at certain spots of the top most layer of metal, revealing all the spear's original colorations that were hidden away. submitted by Key-Competition-7489 to ShuumatsuNoValkyrie [link] [comments] Under the newer golden layer, lay the silver and aqua blue metal that the spear still had, the red dye that was painted over the spear's handle has also gradually chipped off, revealing parts of its original oak color underneath. All of them, reminders of his past friendship with Ao Bing, and all had been hidden away and covered up. To ensure that he would not be reminded of the good times they once shared, and could go back to cursing the Dragon Prince's memory undisturbed. For a moment, Nezha felt a wave of nostalgia, and even a small twinge of sadness as he continued to gaze at the spear in his hand, all those old memories he shared with Ao Bing slowly flooding back into his mind. But shaking his head, he ignored those thoughts once again as he got back into a fighting stance. He currently had a fight to win right now, there would be time for reflection and regret after he was victorious. Taking the Qiankun Ring that hung from his side, Nezha willed it to shrink in size and diameter as he lifted it over the stump that used to be his left arm, allowing the ring to shrink till it fit snugly around it before letting go. "Odd, what is Nezha doing?" Heimdall questioned as the rest of the audience murmured in agreement, sharing his curiosity. In the sea of confusion, only Nezha's family, the Jade Emperor and Erlang Shen knew what was happening. " OH HO!" Erlang said with a grin, "Could it be? Nezha's really gonna use THAT here and now?" "H-huh?" Jinzha exclaimed by his side, "You aren't referring to what I THINK you are referring to are you? To attempt that with the damage he sustained… That would be suicide on Nezha's part!" The Jade Emperor's eyebrows knitted in concern as well, "Quite correct Jinzha, With the amount of blood he had lost and his severed limb? Doing such a risky move would be MOST unwise… But if there is anyone with the sheer will and determination to pull it off… It is without a doubt your brother, the Third Lotus Prince!" While the rest of the godly audience yelled their support for Nezha, it was still Li Jing whose eyes shone with worry and uncertainty for his son. Noticing this, Lady Yi gently squeezed her husband's arm, trying to help soothe his nerves. "Do not fret my love," She said, "Our son will make it out of this and return to us, he always has. No matter how strong or dangerous his foe is, he will always find a way to come out on top." Li Jing nodded, seemingly calmed by his wife's words as his face morphed back to a stern expression, "Y-yes, quite correct my love, forgive me for dampening the mood. Nezha will show that human the true extent of his strength!" With that, the two joined the rest of their friends and family to show their support for Nezha. But even though he seemed to have calmed his nerves, on the inside of his mind, the Pagoda-Bearing King's mind was still plagued with uneasiness and shame. "I am so sorry, my son," Li Jing silently thought to himself, "I never imagined that my actions would have impacted you so negatively. I beg, in the name of all of Heaven itself, that you emerge victorious so that I may have a chance to right my wrongs." "Haven't done this in a while," Nezha grunted in the battlefield below, as he felt a small twinge in his arm due to the pressure being applied on his wound from the ring , "And there's the fact I don't have my left arm anymore, but let's see if I still got it in me." Re-adjusting his spear to proper positioning, Nezha gazed back at Arthur with a confident grin, his eyes glowing with an eerie red light, "That's the second big heroic speech you gave during our battle, do you take classes for them or something? Don't worry though, I'll give your words some more thought once I WIN THIS FIGHT!" Finishing his sentence, the Fire and Wind wheels roared to life as Nezha ignited the tip of his spear and charged, preparing for another assault upon the King of camelot. Arthur merely smirked in response, despite Nezha's facade of indifference and cockiness, the momentary pause from before was all the king needed to know that his words had their intended effect on the Third Lotus Prince. "Never doubted you for a minute, Third Lotus Prince!" He roared, as he swung his sword to meet his foe, "Now don't you dare disappoint! WALLS OF CAMELOT, ACTIVATE!" As he said this, the embossed design on the Shield of Avalon glowed with bright blue light, and once again, two tall and wide forcefields of the same color materialized, stretching across the length of the battlefield. "And we are back to the cagefighting!" Heimdall yelled, "Arthur has activated the forcefield capabilities of his shield, quite the smart play if you ask me! Right now, with the loss of his left arm, Nezha is at a HUGE disadvantage, as it means that he can no longer use his Qiankun Ring to its fullest potential! Pair with the fact that Arthur STILL has one last healing charge remaining in Excalibur's scabbard, the outcome of this match doesn't seem favorable for the Third Lotus Prince!" Inside the forcefield created by the Shield of Avalon, the two fighter's traded blow for blow as they constantly tried to outdo their opponent. Arthur had chosen to re-use the same strategy as he had done before whilst using the Shield's ability, the King of Camelot placed himself behind his shield whilst jabbing blow after blow towards Nezha with Excalibur, trying to force his foe back against the walls where he could deliver the decisive blow. This still proved to be a challenge, as with the loss of his left arm, Nezha had completely abandoned any of his previous fancy spins, instead beginning to focus on delivering quick consecutive jabs at Arthur. Nezha also started employing the use of large arching sweeps with his spear to help generate more power for his attacks, helping to make up for the amount he'd lost due to his severed arm. And with the speartip still ablaze, Arthur found himself having to lean back or shield his face everytime Nezha made these swipes to prevent himself from getting burnt. The King of Camelot gritted his teeth as he felt himself get pushed backwards by Nezha's constant strikes, while the loss of his arm had hindered the Third Lotus Prince's fighting style to a some degree, it most certainly had not dampened his battle spirit or drive in the slightest… Yet in spite of all of this, Arthur could not help but smile, for this was exactly how he liked it! "Urgh… That human really did a number on Nezha!" A few of the young gods in the audience that had previously been at the Lotus Prince's party groaned as they watched the fight continue, "He looks so unsightly now that he's missing an arm! And his technique is all sloppy and uncivilized now without those cool spins and turns!" The Jade Emperor snorted loudly as he heard this, turning to face the young gods with a disapproving look, "It seems you youngsters have no clue about even the simplest things these days, I see. The art of combat isn't just about fancy moves and pretty kicks, it also requires careful thought and strategising. With the loss of his left arm, Nezha's center of balance had been altered dramatically, so if he were to continue with his previous attacking style. The Third Lotus Prince would most likely find himself toppling to the ground due to his left side being lighter than his right. " All of the younger gods blushed in embarrassment whilst silently nodding their heads, after all being lectured by the Chief God of the Chinese Pantheon himself would be a very humiliating ordeal for most people. The Jade Emperor meanwhile, merely shook his head as he turned back to watch the battle, "Do not think the fight already over young ones, the Third Lotus Prince still has one final trick up his sleeves, or should I say sleeve." As he said this, out of the corner of his eyes, a small flicker of flames seemed to briefly flash around the Qiankun Ring that was fitted around Nezha's left shoulder, before just as quickly disappearing from view. Seeing this caused the Jade Emperor to give a light smirk. "Quite the impressive man and fighter you are, King of Camelot," The Jade Emperor said to himself, "But let's see how all your resolve fares against the fires that burnt even the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!" As Nezha lifted his spear overhead to deliver a heavy downward swing, Arthur flung his right hand, along with the Shield of Avalon which he still held within that hand, to meet that swing. "CLANG!" As Nezha's spear clashed with Arthur's shield, the King of Camelot felt his teeth chatter from the recoil experienced from the blow, and it took all his willpower and strength to stand his ground. Even though the sheer force Nezha was applying on the Shield of Avalon with his spear made retreating seem like a much more favorable option, Arthur grunted with effort as he persevered and held his own against the weight of the attack. Arthur's choice to tank Nezha's attack was not without reason, as with them locked in a standstill, and the loss of the Third Lotus Prince's left arm. Nezha virtually had nothing to protect his unguarded left from Excalibur's mighty blade, which the king gripped tightly in his own left hand, waiting for this exact moment. With a triumphant roar, Arthur swung Excalibur forward, hoping to cut straight through Nezha's midriff with a single strike and end the fight right then and now. But as he did, with his blade drawing closer to Nezha's flesh. Time seemed to go into slow-motion, and just barely out of his line of vision, did Arthur, like the Jade Emperor before him, also glimpse a small flicker of flames gathering around the Qiankun Ring that looped around the stump that used to be Nezha's left arm. But as he continued watching it, to Arthur's amazement and horror, the entire Qiankun Ring around Nezha's shoulder suddenly burst into flames, engulfing the entirety of it before spreading down the length of his arm, if he still had one of course. And these flames were not the same regular orange ones that blazed around the Fire-tip Spear's head from before, rather these flames were a vibrant light blue, with a slightly orange tip around the ends that burnt bright and strong. In a blink of an eye, the strange blue fire had grown and shifted into a fully functioning and capable prosthetic arm, one made of fire and flames, constantly flickering and crackling as it radiated pure power and divine energy. It was from this that Arthur knew just from seeing it, that this strange new power Nezha had unleashed was incredibly dangerous. https://preview.redd.it/xfld7kw7s65d1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad4da6152902468b49dd5af31f183c6ae529ae17 Right as Excalibur was about to make contact with its target, Nezha's new flaming left hand shot forth, skillfully catching hold of Arthur's blade right within his fiery grasp and holding it fast. Instantly a loud sizzling noise was heard, as the sheer hot temperature from Nezha's arm had placed the divine metal of Excalibur under immense pressure. Arthur's eyes could only widened in shock as Nezha, hand still firmly holding onto Excalibur, forcibly pushed his sword out of the way, and with his right arm still locked in it's prior position, under heavy strain holding the Shield of Avalon against Nezha's Fire-tip Spear. The King of Camelot realized with a start, that his own strategy had been turned against him! Out of nowhere and as quick as a bullet, Nezha's knee flew straight into Arthur's gut from below, causing the king's face to grimace in pain as the blow connected and sent him stumbling backwards and doubling over as a result of the low blow. However, the Third Lotus Prince would not give Arthur the luxury of recovering again, immediately following up from the previous move, Nezha rushed forward with how new left arm reared back. The disorientated Arthur barely had time to look up before he realized that a flaming blue fist was speeding straight towards his face, it was only thanks to his instinct and quick reaction time was he able to lift the Shield of Avalon in an attempt to block the attack. "BANG!" A heavy metallic sound exploded across the arena, as the entire arena could only watch in shock as Nezha's fiery first tore straight through the Divine Weapon as though it were paper. As luck would have it though, the shield still had managed to do its job of protecting Arthur from the main brunt of the attack. However, the King of Camelot was still sent flying further backwards,crashing heavily into the arena wall, much to the distress of the human audience members, and especially his Knight of the Round Table. "No, no, no!" Galahad groaned loudly, while simultaneously cowering at the sight of Nezha's new arm, "what the hell was that! How the hell did that god manage to tear through a Divine Weapon with just fire alone while his spear and rings failed to do the same?" "No… That fire… E-even with all my years mastering the art of sorcery and magic, I have never seen anything like it before.." Those words had come from Merlin, whose face had become just as pale as it was when he and Arthur realized that the Scabbard of Excalibur had gone missing all those years ago, "S-such regal and divine power… Yet… I can't help but feel… INTIMIDATED by the obvious danger it exudes!" The Knights of the Round Table all shuddered at Merlin's words, all except for Lancelot, who was focused solely on his friend, slumped slightly against the wall he had been roughly thrown against, with eyes full of concern and faith. "Come on, Arthur, you can't give up now… Get up… GET UP!" "W-WHAT?" Pandora exclaimed in shock from their balcony, "SINCE WHEN COULD NEZHA DO THAT?" The girl turned towards her companions who looked equally worried, "A substitute hand made out from the fires of his own Qiankun Ring?" Göll said as she nervously chewed her thumb, "The Third Lotus Prince is even more resourceful than we thought!" "No….." Prometheus replied through gritted teeth, "It's even worse than that, if I'm not mistaken, those flames that Nezha has right now in place of his arm aren't just ANY regular fire… Rather, they are ones of incredible power! "THE TRUE FLAMES OF SAMADHI!" "T-true flames of Samadhi?" The two girls said simultaneously, "W-what's that?" "Only the most powerful form of fire-magic that a select few can master," Prometheus answered gravelly, "The Samadhi flames spread at an incredible speed , capable of burning down nearly anything unfortunate enough to stand in its way! But unlike normal flames, it cannot be so simply extinguished by water , in fact its flames are only intensified when exposed to rain! One would need an entire ocean's worth of water to even hope to dampen its strength!" Göll and Pandora paled at the Titan's words as they looked back down at the arena, the both of them having only one thought running through both of their minds as they continued to watch the fight. "This is BAD!" "This round just keeps getting better and BETTER folks!" Heimdall yelled as the God's audience cheered seeing their fighter's comeback, "Nezha has pulled out his ultimate trump card in the form of the Samadhi Flames! And it's done some SERIOUS damage to Arthur's shield! Also for anyone who doesn't know what the Samadhu Flame is, think fire! But HOT, HOT, HOTTER!" Whilst Heimdall was busy commentating, Nezha who stood in the middle of the arena, rotated his left shoulder, slowly willing the fires on his left arm to die down just a little bit at the moment. Most of the time when he did make use of the awesome power of the Samadhi Flames, it would usually be on one of his many weapons to help boost its prowess in battle. But never before had he tried to use it directly on himself, much less as a substitute for a severed limb. Regardless, he still seemed able to keep the power of the flames under control, preventing it from spreading across the entire arena uncontrollably. Though, it definitely would be in his best interest not to use it more than he had to. Suddenly, coughing from the arena walls made everyone's head turn to the other side of the arena, just as Arthur stumbled away from the mess of cobwebs that were the cracks on the arena wall, resulting from his heavy impact against them. "Heh, heh…" Foolish of me to assume that you would be any weaker after my previous stunt, Third Lotus Prince." Arthur complimented as he staggered back upright on his two feet. "Who'd you think you're fighting, King of Camelot? Some rank amateur god?" Nezha responded with a grin, "Even if you cut off both my arms, you better BELIEVE that I'm still gonna give you the fight of your life!" "Oh definitely," Arthur chuckled, holding up the Shield of Avalon to reveal the sizeable hole that was punched straight through the metal, around it were blackened char marks that still had smoke sizzling and burning off it, "That is some serious firepower you have there, pun not intended." "Yep, definitely was a risk putting myself out there once again after you severed my left arm," Nezha replied, "But I needed the fuel for the fire that was my fighting spirit to be able to use the Samadhi Flame, fuel provided from a epic battle against a foe such as yourself, King of Camelot." "Your words flatter me, Third Lotus Prince," Arthur said, as he raised Excalibur in a light taunt, "Now, won't you be a gentleman and so kindly show me more of what this Samadhi Flame of yours has in store?" Nezha's smirk widened, "You asked for it.." In a blink of the eye, Nezha was suddenly in front of Arthur, his flaming fist flung far behind his head as he prepared to unleash a devastating strike straight towards the king's face. Arthur just barely managed to move out of harm's way once again, by quickly rolling across the arena floor. And as he Lifted his head, he was just in time to see the Lotus Prince's fist slam straight through the solid marble and concrete that made up the arena's walls, the sheer force caused the entire section of the arena to quiver slightly, which in turn caused various audience members seated there to scream in fear, as the subsequent crater that was left behind from the impact was a mess of cracks and burnt rubble, blackened with soot. "H-hey be careful with that fist of yours, Prince Nezha!" Heimdall called out nervously, "We don't want to end up hurting the audience members now, do we?" "Sorry Heimdall!" Nezha replied as he proceeded to use his left arm as a shield to block a counterattack from Arthur, as soon as Excalibur's blade came into contact with the Samadhi Flames, loud sizzling noises could be heard once again, as the sheer heat from the fire began turning the divine metal used to craft the king's sword red-hot. Prompting Arthur to quickly disengage from their clash, as well as quickly lifting his shield to block a follow up attack from Nezha's spear. Realizing that a close quarter fight against Nezha now, would be extremely disadvantageous for himself. Arthur frantically began racking his brains to come up with a suitable plan to counter this new threat, as he continuously dodged and ducked incoming blows from the Third Lotus Prince, but all of them just didn't seem to cut it! Direct combat against the Third Lotus Prince was an obvious no go, although Excalibur had served him well through many a battle, constant contact with the Samadhi Flames might end badly for his faithful sword if he continued on. As for his other Divine Weapon, the Shield of Avalon may be damaged, but it would still fare well against Nezha's spear. However, one more punch from his left hand, and that could be all it takes for his shield to shatter into pieces. Speaking of the Shield of Avalon, perhaps the Walls of Camelot might have some use? But if his intention was to avoid fighting face to face, then using the shield's ability would defeat the entire purpose! If only he could find a way to have the Walls of Camelot separate him and his opponent, rather than trapping them both in an enclosed area… Hmm… Wait a minute… Suddenly, inspiration struck Arthur, quick as a wink he raised Excalibur, managing to directly parry another blow from Nezha's fist, a heavy, "BOOM!" reverberated across the arena, as the heavy recoil that ensued sent both fighters flying apart from one another, with Nezha landing on the right side, whilst Arthur landed on the left. As he did, Arthur quickly got to his feet, but strangely instead of positioning himself with his shield and sword facing towards his opponent, the King of Camelot had instead chosen to go with perhaps the strangest possible option he could by having his side facing Nezha, whilst the front of his body stood facing the arena walls, much to the confusion of everyone in the audience. "Fufu, Looks like the heatwaves from the Third Lotus Prince's fire has finally driven that foolish human mad, or perhaps he has just realized that victory is impossible," Amaterasu snickered as she and the other two Sun Gods observed the match. "No… I don't think so, Amy," Huitzilopochtli replied as he began chewing the food in his mouth faster in anticipation, as Nezha began moving forward, once again towards Arthur, "I think that guy still has some kind of trick in store for Nezha." As the Aztec Chief God said this, the Shield of Avalon glowed bright blue once again, as Arthur activated the Walls of Camelot, materializing the two force fields back into the arena. Except that this time, due to the direction Arthur now stood in, instead of the forcefields keeping the two fighters trapped in a small lane, they now stood perpendicular to the Third Lotus Prince. With Arthur safely behind them for the time being, while his opponent was kept out! Nezha skidded to a halt as he saw this, his eyebrows cocked in surprise at what the king had done. Meanwhile, Arthur turned his head to face his opponent as he raised Excalibur with his left arm. With the sword not being made of flesh nor bones, it could still pass through the forcefield to strike Nezha, while the Third Lotus Prince could not! Seeing this, Nezha could help but smirk at Arthur's quick thinking and ability to adapt, "What's the matter, King Arthur?" He said with a light taunt, "You aren't flaking out on me now, are you?" Arthur responded with a smirk of his own through heavy pants, "Well… i'll admit this is rather underhanded, but it was the best thing I could think of to assist me now after seeing just how dangerous that Samadhi Flame of yours is!" Nezha chuckled as he flexed his left arm, "Ah, true I guess, this stuff is pretty dangerous…" As he said this, he casually tossed his spear from his right hand to his left, "So I totally get why even a brave warrior like yourself would cower at the sight of it…But that shield isn't gonna be able to protect you for much longer." As he said this, Nezha left hand tilted the Fire-tip spear at an extreme level, with the handle being almost perpendicular to the ground below as it rested on the back of his arm. RIght after this, The fires that made up Nezha's left hand slowly began to morph, the fingers fusing together to form a singular tip, much like a snake's tail. The positioning of his new hand also began to change, with his grip slowly moving downwards till it curled around the base of the spearhead, as his fiery hand began to grow in length till it was nearly the same as the length of his spear. Once this was done, Nezha's entire left arm slowly began to curl around and around the handle of his spear like a snake, slowly covering the entire polearm in blue fire, till it seemed that the Fire-Tip spear itself had fused together with Nezha's arm and become one with the Third Lotus Prince. https://preview.redd.it/gn123dfyr65d1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=a3cbe4333acffec695a6f92a87bfef8a684b0e38 As Arthur and the audience members watched in disbelief, Nezha slowly raised his new and improved left arm, elbow bent, and level with the ground. Slowly the flames that covered his spear began to spin and spin, getting faster and faster with each second, till the Lotus Prince's arm now resembled a flaming vortex with a sharp speartip at the center. Nezha's eyes glowed with an even more intense red, as the ground beneath his legs began to crumble whilst he crouched. "BOOM!" Without warning, a sonic explosion boomed across the arena, as Nezha flew forward from whence he stood. Left arm now outstretched, flames spinning faster than ever before, and with them the sharp point of the Fire-tip Spear as well, whirling around and around like a spinning drill head. Later on when interviewed, spectators of the round even swore up and down that as Nezha rushed towards the forcefield, they could perfectly visualize in front of them the gaping maw of nine roaring dragons. All made purely from the blue fires of the Samadhi flame that too formed Nezha's left arm, charging straight towards Arthur and his forcefield, jaws opened wide, whilst following the Lotus Prince's lead. Regardless of what they saw, that moment would soon go down in the books as the day Heaven first bore witness to Nezha's ultimate technique, originally born from the childhood memories shared between the son of a military general and the heir to the Dragon King. It had now become a incredible force of pure firepower that was to be reckoned with, it was called: "THE NINE DRAGONS HOLY FIRE SPEAR!" Arthur's eyes widened in horror as he flung his arms upwards, crossing his shield and sword in front of his body to shield himself from the impending attack, but it was useless. The moment the tip of the spear touched the forcefield, a cobweb of cracks splintered across the entire structure, expanding faster than the eye could see before with a resounding, "CRACK!" the entire structure shattered into pieces, dissolving into nothingness as Nezha shot forth aiming directly for the King of Camelot himself. "FWOOSH!" Humanity could only scream in horror, as they watched their fighter getting engulfed entirely in the fires of the Samadhi Flame. Before seeing through the flickering flames, the outline of Nezha's spear pierced straight through Arthur's chest, as the Lotus Prince blew straight past the King of Camelot, and landed heavily on the ground behind him. As the flames finally settled, mankind was horrified to see what remained of their fighter, standing in the middle of the battlefield, was a blackened and charred figure riddled with third degree burns, that used to be King Arthur Pendragon, with a large hole in the middle of it's chest as it stood upright. In it's hands was the hilt of the sword that used to be Excalibur, it's crystal blue blade almost completely shattered from the grievous blow, with a short jagged length still remaining. On the ground in front of the figure, was pieces of the round disc that was the Shield of Avalon, already damaged from Nezha's previous attack, and now reduced to bits and pieces on the floor. Silence in the arena, besides the crackling of flames spread across the battlefield that had resulted from Nezha's attack. As everyone stared open-mouthed at what had become of Arthur, some of the Knights of the Round Table even began breaking down into tears, believing it to be the end of their king. "A-arthur…M-my boy…" Merlin whimpered sorrowfully as he slumped in his chair. "No… It's not over yet, it CAN'T BE!" Lancelot yelled hysterically as he got up from his seat and rushed over to the edge of the stand, cupping his hands around his mouth as he yelled out to the statue that was his friend, "ARTHUUUUR! DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ALL OF US NOW! WAKE UP! WAKE UPPPPPP!" "I-is it over?" Heimdall whimpered after a moment or two, "Did Nezha finally clinch the third victory in the row for the gods with his incredible firepower?" "No…" Nezha breathed heavily to himself, "Not just yet…" Right on que, answering both the desperate pleas of Lancelot, and the confidence Nezha had in his foe. Two slits on the figure's grievously burnt face suddenly burst open, revealing Arthur's eyes as his scorched d lips split apart, allowing him to let out a strangled gasp as he fell to his knees. Slowly, in a rather morbid display that made quite a few spectators pale, the King of Camelot's burnt skin began flaking off his body as new flesh, tissue and skin began to replace his old ones. From his face, a brown stubble began to sprout from his scalp, beard and upper lip as new hair follicles grew in to substitute the ones that were singed off. In a matter of minutes, the Scabbard of Excalibur's final healing charge of the day proved once again the incredible miracles it could perform, as what was once an unrecognizable and scorched statue, now stood Arthur Pendragon as he once was, slightly dazed and disorganized. But nevertheless, in near perfect condition as before, though his clothing was all but burnt away, save for his trousers, which gave the King of Camelot some dignity. "Y-you…You…You ABSOLUTE DICKHEAD!" Arthur burst out laughing as he finally managed to catch his breath, shocking the audience once more, "You KNEW my scabbard still had one last charge left! Why the bloody hell would you go and waste your ultimate technique on that then? That really HURT you know!" Nezha grinned, his face riddled with fatigue from pulling off such a powerful move, "I'm gonna be 100% honest with you right now… I kinda got way too caught up in the heat of the moment, and it just completely slipped my mind…" Arthur guffawed at the Third Lotus Prince's response, "Never change, Prince Nezha, never change… Well, what are you waiting for? Come and end the fight right now, I'm unarmed and undefended, and more importantly, I've no more tricks to play." Nezha shook his head, as a fiery glare appeared on his face, "Nah… There's no honor in striking down a fallen foe… If I am to be truly victorious, I want it to be with the both of us standing tall and proud, after having given it our all! SO COME ONE, KING OF CAMELOT! You haven't been one to give up when our match first began! SO WHY THE HELL START NOW? I know you've still got SO MUCH MORE to give!" Arthur smiled as he slowly got up to his feet, turning to face his opponent with a look of respect, "Then I thank you, Third Lotus Prince, Nezha. For giving me this chance to redeem myself, in a final clash against you for the sake of my people." "T-this is SUCH AN AMAZING SCENE!" Heimdall yelled with tears in his eyes, "The miraculous power of the Scabbard of Excalibur has once again saved King Arthur from certain doom! And the incredible display of sportsmanship and respect from the Third Lotus Prince, Nezha is truly heartwarming! But one cannot deny the truth, with no more healing charges from his scabbard, and his two Divine Weapons shattered. How in all of HEAVEN can Arthur possibly make a comeback from this and achieve victory for mankind?" The Watchman of the Apocalypse soon got his answer, as Arthur removed the Scabbard of Excalibur on the right side of his belt, and gently sheathed and covered the broken blade of his faithful sword. Before standing in his fighting stance, readying himself for battle. "Well then Third Lotus Prince," The king said as he now held up his makeshift blade with both hands, "If this truly be the finale of our battle, then let us both make sure that we end it with everything we got, and our hearts burning strong! So READY WHEN YOU ARE! LET'S FINISH THIS!" Nezha wore a smile of pure delight, as he leveled his flaming spear and prepared to charge, "LIKEWISE! My only regret is not meeting a worthy foe like you sooner!" With a loud battlecry, both fights rushed towards each other with their weapons drawn, as some spectators leaned forwards in anticipation to witness what many assumed to be their final clash. Meanwhile others, mostly humans, covered their eyes, unable to bear to watch their fighter get annihilated for real this time. "EXCALIBUR'S JUDGMENT!" "THE NINE DRAGONS HOLY FIRE SPEAR!" As the two weapon's met, a brilliant surge of bright blue light exploded from within the Scabbard of Excalibur, engulfing the entirety of the arena and forcing everyone to shut their eyes from the sheer intensity of the light. But as the audience opened their eyes, to see what now lay in front of them, they were left speechless… |
2024.06.07 19:26 Ok-Exchange-7891 What’s this rainbow surrounding my plane?
This is gonna be a super niche question. But whenever I’m flying around on a relatively cloudy day (especially if I’m in and out of cumulonimbus clouds) I notice that the shadow of my plane will have a faint rainbow surrounding it. I’ve been trying to figure out the science behind this and I draw a blank. Any guesses/answers?
submitted by Ok-Exchange-7891 to flying [link] [comments]
2024.06.07 19:24 KingDevere Idea for a Multiplayer Format: Seven Warlords/Four Emperors!
I had an idea for a multiplayer format. The name is "Four Emperors" or "Seven Warlords" (depending on the choice of the players) and would focus on every man for himself multiplayer combat at a higher power level.
TLDR; Read the new rules and enjoy the style! Don't need to help with problems if you don't want to.
View Poll
submitted by KingDevere to OnePieceTCG [link] [comments]
The Rules:
- Choose Two Leaders (Warlords) or Double the life of a single Leader (Emperor). (Get the name?)
- Decks are 70 card, Singleton (because variety is fun), and must fit the colors of your combined leaders (so up to 4 colors in a deck based off current Leaders).
- Don Decks contain 14 Don rather than 10 to allow for more bombastic plays to deal with more opponents.
- The number of Stage cards allowed in play is increased from 1 to 2.
- The number of Characters in the field is increased from 5 to 8.
- When Setting up, each player creates two life piles for each of their Leaders. When that Leader's Life is depleted and they are struck they are removed from the board, but both Leaders must be eliminated to remove a player.
- Modification to the first turn for each player is as follows:
- 1st Player Draws 1 Don. (This is normal for 1st player).
- 2nd Player Draws 1 Don & 1 Card from Deck.
- 3rd Player Draws 2 Don & 1 Card from Deck. (This is the typical 2nd player start).
- 4th Player Draws 2 Don & 2 Cards from Deck.
- Play!
The Current Problems with Potential Solutions:
- Ganging up: This is the biggest issue in any multiplayer format and normally is combatted by the fact that if you ignore another player they will kill you with their more developed board. With One Piece's limited board and cap on Don it is more similar to FaB then MTG, which means an ignored player isn't really spiraling away from you. In addition, one round of three other players attacking you will cripple your life, hand, or even just knock you out of the game.
- Solution #1 (My current solution): Double life. Similar to Magic's Commander if you simply give people more life they are harder to remove in a blitz giving them more flexibility on when and how to block.
- Problem: Gives Yellow decks a heck of a ton more life cards to play with, though it would nerf Yellow cards that rely on low life and of course diminishes the effect of rush strategies (both problems found in Magic's Commander format).
- Solution #2: Limit attacks to neighbors. This means only two players can attack a player in a round which is at least more manageable.
- Problem: Like FaB's multiplayer format there is a break in the game which means that there is a default person you should be attacking each round. The person about to go because they will have the most depleted hand.
- Solution #3: Reward players for attacking the target with the most Life left, likely by allowing them to draw a card. It means you can gang up but it will ultimately be less useful to each individual player unless one player has become massively dominant which is when there is less of a problem ganging up anyways.
- Problem: This would favor decks that like to exist at low life totals (looking at you Yellow!) by giving them more breathing room for their shenanigans.
- Solution #4: Force alternating your attacks between players.
- Problem: This could quickly become an auto-run turn on who and how you attack which is boring and predictable. It also limits the ability to press a player who is getting ahead.
- Solution #5: Double the value of Counter Power hikes, allowing you to use less cards to defend more effectively. Applies to both Character and Event cards.
- Problem: It could make defending too easy, especially when it dwindles down to 2 players. However, you could have the numbers return to normal once a Leader is eliminated. Or only apply the buff once one of your Leaders is eliminated.
- Solution #1 (My current solution): Double life. Similar to Magic's Commander if you simply give people more life they are harder to remove in a blitz giving them more flexibility on when and how to block.
- Uneven Start: I'm not positive the starting point is fair for all players, especially with poor 4th player potentially getting ganged up on or having no opening (due to everyone playing a Blocker) by the time it's their turn.
- Expanded Don Deck: I think this is a lot of fun but the exact number is still up for debate in my mind. I wouldn't want to double the Don deck to 20, but...on the other hand...it could be fun to drop two bombs on a turn. Mainly want input on this number.
TLDR; Read the new rules and enjoy the style! Don't need to help with problems if you don't want to.
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2024.06.07 19:20 calvin324hk [H] 1000+ Games / DLCs / VR Games [W] Paypal / Wishlist / Offers
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- Smart Factory Tycoon
- Smile For Me
- Smoke and Sacrifice
- Smoke and Sacrifice
- Smushi Come Home
- Snail bob 2 tiny troubles
- Sniper Elite
- Sniper Elite 3
- Sniper Elite 3 + Season Pass DLC
- Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe Edition
- Sniper Elite V2
- Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 - Season Pass Edition
- Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts
- Snooker 19
- SONG OF HORROR COMPLETE EDITION
- Songs of Conquest
- Sonic Adventure 2
- Sonic Adventure DX
- Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing
- Sonic Generations Collection
- Soulblight
- SOULCALIBUR VI
- Souldiers
- SOULSTICE
- Soundfall
- Source of Madness
- Spartan Fist
- Spec Ops
- Speed Limit
- Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo
- Spidersaurs
- Spin Rush
- Spirit Hunter: Death Mark
- Spirit of the Island
- Spirit of the North
- Spring Bonus
- Spyro Reignited Trilogy
- Stairs
- Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova
- STAR WARS - Knights of the Old Republic
- STAR WARS - The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
- Star Wolves
- Starbound
- Starsand
- STASIS: Bone Totem
- State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
- Steel Rats™
- Stick Fight: The Game
- Still Life
- Still Life 2
- Still There
- Stirring Abyss
- STONE
- Strange Brigade
- Strange Brigade Deluxe Edition
- STRANGER
- Strategic Command: World War I
- Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg
- Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom
- Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism
- Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty
- Strategy & Tactics: Wargame Collection
- Streamer Life Simulator
- Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
- Street Fighter V
- Strider
- Strikey Sisters
- Struggling
- Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse
- Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
- Styx: Master of Shadows
- Styx: Shards of Darkness
- SuchArt
- Sudden Strike 4
- Sudden Strike Gold
- Suite 776
- Sumoman
- Sunblaze
- Sundered
- SUNLESS BUNDLE
- Sunset Overdrive
- Super Buff HD
- Super Mag Bot
- Superbugs: Awaken
- Superhot
- Surgeon Simulator 2
- Survive the Nights
- Surviving Mars
- Surviving Mars
- Surviving The Aftermath
- Swag and Sorcery
- SWINE HD Remaster
- Sword Legacy Omen
- Sword of the Necromancer
- Swords and Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
- Syberia 3
- Symphonic Rain
- Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
- Synthwave Dream '85
- Tacoma
- Taiji
- Take Off - The Flight Simulator
- Tales
- Tales from the Borderlands
- Talk to Strangers
- Tallowmere
- Talos Principle (Gold)
- Tangledeep
- Tank Mechanic Simulator
- Tannenberg
- Team Sonic Racing
- TEKKEN 7
- TEMTEM
- Terminus: Zombie Survivors
- TERRAFORMERS
- Terratech Deluxe Edition
- Terror of Hemasaurus
- Textorcist
- Tharsis
- The Addams Family: Mansion Mayhem
- The Adventure Pals
- The Amazing American Circus
- The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
- The Anacrusis
- The Ascent
- The Battle of Polytopia
- The Battle of Polytopia *DLC1. Cymanti Tribe *DLC2. ∑∫ỹriȱŋ Tribe *DLC3. Aquarion Tribe *DLC4. Polaris Tribe
- The Beast inside
- The Blackout Club
- The Callisto Protocol™
- The Chess Variants Club
- The Citadel
- The Colonists
- THE DARK PICTURES ANTHOLOGY: LITTLE HOPE
- The Darkest Tales
- The Dungeon Beneath
- The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos
- The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® Game of the Year Edition
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition
- The Elder Scrolls Online
- The Escapists 2
- THE GAME OF LIFE 2
- The Golf Club™ 2019 featuring PGA TOUR
- The haunted island, A frog detective
- The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
- The Hong Kong Massacre
- The Horror Of Salazar House
- The Innsmouth Case
- The Invisible Hours
- The Jackbox Party Pack 9
- The Knight Witch
- The Last Campfire
- The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame
- The Letter - Horror Visual Novel
- The Long Dark
- The Manhole: Masterpiece Edition
- The Mortuary Assistant
- The Mummy Demastered
- The Occupation
- The Outer Worlds
- THE OUTER WORLDS: SPACER'S CHOICE EDITION
- THE PALE BEYOND
- The Quarry
- The Quarry deluxe
- The Ramp
- The Rewinder
- The Sacred Tears TRUE
- The Sexy Brutale
- The Shapeshifting Detective
- The Shrouded Isle
- The Tarnishing of Juxtia
- The Tenants
- The Uncertain - The Last Quiet Day
- The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
- The Uncertain: Light At The End
- The USB Stick Found in the Grass
- The Walking Dead
- The Walking Dead - 400 Days
- The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners
- The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
- The Walking Dead: Final Season
- The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
- The Walking Dead: Season 1
- The Walking Dead: Season Two
- The Way
- The Wild At Heart
- The Wild Eight
- The Witness
- Them and Us
- They Bleed Pixels
- Thief of Thieves
- This War of Mine
- This Way Madness Lies
- Three Kingdom: The Journey
- Time on Frog Island
- Tinkertown
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderland(EU)
- TINY TINA'S WONDERLANDS CHAOTIC GREAT EDITION
- Tiny Troopers
- Tinykin
- Tinytopia
- TIS-100
- Titan Quest
- Tokyo Xanadu eX+
- Tom Clancy's The Division™
- Tom Clancy's The Division™ - Survival!
- Tools up
- Tooth and Tail
- Torchlight
- Total Tank Simulator
- Tour de France 2020
- Tower Unite
- Trail Out
- Trailblazers
- Trailmakers
- Trailmakers Deluxe Edition
- Train Sim World 3: Standard Edition
- Train Simulator Classic
- Train Valley 1
- TRANSFORMERS: BATTLEGROUNDS
- Transport INC
- Treasure Hunter Simulator
- TRIBES OF MIDGARD
- Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
- Trinity Fusion
- Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia
- Trombone Champ
- Tropico 5 - Complete Collection
- Trover Saves the Universe
- Tunche
- Turmoil
- Turok
- Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
- Twin Mirror
- Two Point Campus
- Two Point Hospital
- TYPECAST
- Tyrant's Blessing
- Ultimate Chicken Horse
- Ultimate Zombie Defense
- Ultra Space Battle Brawl
- Unavowed
- Undead Horde
- Underhero
- Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy
- Unity of Command: Stalingrad Campaign
- Universim
- UNLOVED
- Unpacking
- Unrailed!
- Until I have you
- Unto The End
- Upside Down
- URU: Complete Chronicles
- Vagante
- Valfaris
- Valfaris: Mecha Therion
- Valkryia Chronicles 4 Complete Edition
- Valkyria Chronicles 4 Complete Edition
- Valkyria Chronicles 4: Complete Edition
- Vambrace: Cold Soul
- Vampire - The Masquerade: Shadows of New York
- Vampire Survivors
- Vane
- Vectronom
- Velocity Noodle
- Venba
- Verne: The Shape of Fantasy
- Victoria 3
- Victoria II
- Viking: Battle For Asgard
- Virgo Versus The Zodiac
- VirtuaVerse
- Visage
- Viscerafest
- VOIDIGO
- Volcanoids
- Voltage High Society
- V-Rally 4
- Wanderlust: Travel Stories (GOG)
- Wanted: Dead
- Wargroove
- Warhammer 40,000 Sanctus Reach - Complete Edition
- Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon - Imperium Complete
- Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector
- Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf Special Edition
- WARHAMMER AGE OF SIGMAR: REALMS OF RUIN – ULTIMATE EDITION
- Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2
- Warman
- Warstone TD
- Wasteland 3
- Wayward
- WE NEED TO GO DEEPER
- We should talk.
- We Were Here Together
- We Were Here Too
- Webbed
- Werewolf: The Apocalypse Heart of the Forest
- West of Dead
- What Lies in the Multiverse
- When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
- while True: learn()
- Whos Your daddy
- Wick
- Windward
- Witch It
- Witchy Life Story
- Wizard of Legend
- wizard of legends
- Worms Rumble
- Worms Rumble + Legends Pack
- Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
- WRC 6 FIA World Rally Championship
- WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship
- WWE 2K Battlegrounds
- WWE 2K23
- WWZ Aftermath
- Wytchwood
- X-COM: COMPLETE PACK
- XCOM: ULTIMATE COLLECTION
- XIII - Classic
- X-Morph: Defense
- X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC
- X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
- Yakuza Kiwami
- Yakuza: Like A Dragon
- Yumeutsutsu Re:After
- Yumeutsutsu Re:Master
- Zen Chess: Mate in One, Mate in 2 , Mate in 3 , Mate in 4 , Champion's Moves (5 games)
- Ziggurat
- Zombie Army 4
- Zombie Army Trilogy
- Zool Redimensioned
- Zwei: The Arges adventure
- Zwei: The ilvard insurrection
- For The King: Lost Civilization Adventure Pack
- Train Simulator: Isle of Wight Route Add-On
- Train Simulator: Woodhead Electric Railway in Blue Route Add-On
- Train Simulator: North Somerset Railway Route Add-On
- Train Simulator: Union Pacific Heritage SD70ACes Loco Add-On
- Train Simulator: London to Brighton Route Add-On
- BR Class 170 'Turbostar' DMU Add-On
- DB BR 648 Loco Add-On
- Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations
- Expansion - Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise
- Expansion - Europa Universalis IV: Res Publica
- Grand Central Class 180 'Adelante' DMU Add-On
- Peninsula Corridor: San Francisco - Gilroy Route Add-On
- SONIC ADVENTURE 2: BATTLE
- Small World - A Spider's Web
- Small World - Cursed
- Small World - Royal Bonus
- The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos - Goodies Pack
- The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos - OST
- Thompson Class B1 Loco Add-On
- Total War: Shogun 2 - Rise of the Samurai
- Train Sim World® 3: Birmingham Cross-city line
- Train Sim World®: BR Class 20 'Chopper' Loco
- Train Sim World®: Brighton Main Line: London Victoria - Brighton
- Train Sim World®: Caltrain MP36PH-3C 'Baby Bullet'
- Train Sim World®: Cathcart Circle Line: Glasgow - Newton & Neilston
- Train Sim World®: Clinchfield Railroad: Elkhorn - Dante
- Train Sim World®: Great Western Express
- Train Sim World®: Hauptstrecke Hamburg - Lubeck
- Train Sim World®: LIRR M3 EMU
- Train Sim World®: Long Island Rail Road: New York - Hicksville
- Train Sim World®: Nahverkehr Dresden - Riesa
- Train Sim World®: Northern Trans-Pennine: Manchester - Leeds
- Train Sim World®: Peninsula Corridor: San Francisco - San Jose
- Train Sim World®: Rhein-Ruhr Osten: Wuppertal - Hagen
- Train Sim World®: Tees Valley Line: Darlington - Saltburn-by-the-sea
- Worms Rumble - Armageddon Weapon Skin Pack
- Worms Rumble - Captain & Shark Double Pack
- Worms Rumble - Legends Pack
- Worms Rumble - New Challengers Pack
- Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 7
- Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft - The Eldritch Box DLC
- Duke Nukem Forever Hail to the Icons
- Duke Nukem Forever The Doctor Who Cloned Me
- GRIP: Combat Racing - Cygon Garage Kit
- GRIP: Combat Racing - Nyvoss Garage Kit
- GRIP: Combat Racing - Terra Garage Kit
- GRIP: Combat Racing - Vintek Garage Kit
- GameGuru
- GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months
- Intro to Game Development with Unity
- Music Maker EDM Edition
- Neverwinter Nights: Darkness Over Daggerford
- Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Dark Dreams of Furiae
- Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Tyrants of the Moonsea
- Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition
- Neverwinter Nights: Infinite Dungeons
- Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast
- Neverwinter Nights: Wyvern Crown of Cormyr
- PDF-Suite 1 Year License
- Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook and Starfinder Core Rulebook
- RPG Maker VX
- WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS - Ultimate Brawlers Pass
- We Are Alright
- The Outer Worlds Expansion Pass
- A Hat in Time - Seal the Deal DLC
- City Skylines:mass transit
- A Game Of Thrones - A Dance With Dragons
- A Game Of Thrones - A Feast For Crows
- Blood Rage: Digital Edition - Gods of Asgard
- Blood Rage: Digital Edition - Mythical Monsters
- Blood Rage: Digital Edition - Mystics of Midgard
- Carcassonne - The Princess and The Dragon DLC
- Carcassonne - Traders & Builders DLC
- Carcassonne - Winter & Gingerbread Man DLC
- Carcassonne - Inns & Cathedrals
- Carcassonne - The River
- Splendor: The Trading Posts DLC
- Splendor: The Strongholds DLC
- Splendor: The Cities DLC
- Small World - Be Not Afraid... DLC
- Small World - Grand Dames DLC
- Small World - Cursed!
- Sands of Salzaar - The Ember Saga
- Sands of Salzaar - The Tournament
- Monster Train: The Last Divinity DLC
- WARSAW
2024.06.07 19:20 calvin324hk [H] 1000+ Games / DLCs / VR Games [W] Paypal / Wishlist / Offers
https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/pikmri/calvin324hks_igs_rep_page/
https://www.reddit.com/sgsflaicomments/of2wzu/flair_profile_ucalvin324hk/
Wishlist
Region: NA (Canada)
Fees on buyer if any, currency is USD unless specified
CTRL + F to find your games in terms of name
DLCs and Softwares:
submitted by calvin324hk to SteamGameSwap [link] [comments]
https://www.reddit.com/sgsflaicomments/of2wzu/flair_profile_ucalvin324hk/
Wishlist
Region: NA (Canada)
Fees on buyer if any, currency is USD unless specified
CTRL + F to find your games in terms of name
- >observer_
- 10 Second Ninja X
- 11-11 Memories Retold
- 112 Operator
- 12 is Better Than 6
- 198X
- 1993 Space Machine
- 60 Parsecs
- 7 Billion Humans
- 8 DOORS
- 8-bit Adventure Anthology: Volume I
- 9 Years of Shadows
- 911 Operator
- A Game of Thrones: The Board Game
- A Hat in Time
- A Hole New World
- A JUGGLER'S TALE
- A Long Way Down
- A PLAGUE TALE: INNOCENCE
- A Robot Named Fight!
- A Tale for Anna
- A.I.M.2 Clan Wars
- Abalon (Summoners Fate)
- Above Snakes
- ABZU
- Ace Combat Assault Horizon Enhanced Edition
- ADOM
- Adore
- Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion
- Aeterna Noctis
- AETHERIS
- Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot The First Cases
- AI War 2
- AIdol
- Airborne Kingdom
- Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
- Alder's Blood: Definitive Edition
- Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo
- Alien Breed Trilogy
- Aliens vs. Predator™ Collection
- All-Star Fruit Racing
- Almost There: The Platformer
- American Fugitive
- American Truck Simulator
- Amerzone: The Explorer’s Legacy
- AMID EVIL
- Amnesia rebirth
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
- Anomalous
- Another World – 20th Anniversary Edition
- Antigraviator
- Anuchard
- APICO
- APICO
- Aragami
- Aragami 2
- Arboria
- Arcade Paradise
- Arcade Paradise - Arcade Paradise EP
- Arcade Spirits
- Arkham Horror: Mother's Embrace
- Armada 2526 Gold Edition
- Army Men RTS
- army of ruin
- Arto
- Ary and the Secret of Seasons
- As Far as the Eye
- Ascension to the Throne
- Assemble With Care
- Assetto Corsa Competizione
- Assetto Corsa Ultimate Edition
- Astebreed Definitive Edition
- Astronarch
- Attack of the Earthlings
- Automachef
- Automobilista
- Automobilista 2
- AUTONAUTS
- AUTONAUTS VS PIRATEBOTS
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora™ - Ubisoft Connect
- AVICII Invector: Encore Edition
- Awesomenauts All Nauts pack
- Axiom Verge
- Axiom Verge 2
- Baba is you
- Back 4 Blood
- Back 4 blood (EU)
- Backbone
- Banners of Ruin
- Bartlow's Dread Machine
- Basement
- Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials
- Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition
- Batman: Arkham Origins
- Battle Royale Tycoon
- Battlecruisers
- Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
- BATTLESTAR GALACTICA DEADLOCK SEASON ONE
- Battlestar Galactica Deadlock: Complete
- BATTLETECH MERCENARY COLLECTION
- BATTLETECH Shadow Hawk Pack
- BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION
- Bee Simulator
- BEFORE WE LEAVE
- Beholder 2
- Ben 10
- Ben 10: Power Trip
- Bendy and the Ink Machine™
- Between the Stars
- Beyond a Steel Sky
- Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
- BEYOND THE WIRE
- Beyond: Two Souls
- BIOMUTANT
- Bionic Commando
- BioShock: The Collection
- BLACK BOOK
- Black Moon Chronicles
- Black Paradox
- BLACK SKYLANDS
- BLACKHOLE: Complete Edition
- Blacksad: Under the Skin
- Blade of Darkness
- Blasphemous
- Blazing Chrome
- Blightbound
- Blood And Zombies
- Blood Rage: Digital Edition
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
- Blue Fire
- Bomber Crew
- Boneless Zombie
- Boomerang Fu
- Borderlands 3
- Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe
- Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition
- Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
- Bot Vice
- Bounty of One
- Brawlout
- Breakout: Recharged
- Breathedge
- bridge constructor
- Bridge constructor medieval
- bridge constructor stunts
- Brigador: Up-Armored Edition
- Broken Lines
- Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling
- BUILDER SIMULATOR
- calico
- Call of Duty® Modern Warfare 3™ (2011)
- Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
- Capitalism 2
- Car Mechanic 2018
- Car Mechanic Simulator 2015
- Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
- Cardboard Town
- Castle Morihisa
- castle storm
- CastleStorm
- Cat Cafe Manager
- Catherine Classic
- Caveblazers
- Celeste
- Centipede: Recharged
- Cepheus Protocol
- CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience
- Charlie's Adventure
- Chasm
- Chenso Club
- Chernobylite: Enhanced Edition
- Chess Ultra
- Chicago 1930 : The Prohibition
- Chivalry 2
- Chorus
- Chorus
- Circuit Superstars
- Cities Skylines + After Dark
- Cities: Skylines
- City of Beats
- CivCity: Rome
- Click and Slay
- Cloud Gardens
- Cloudpunk
- Code Vein
- Coffee Talk
- Comedy Night
- Command & Conquer Remastered (Origin)
- Complete Dread X Collection
- Conarium
- Construction Simulator (2015) Deluxe Edition
- Constructor Plus
- Control
- Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3
- Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
- Cookie Cutter
- cornucopia
- Corridor Z
- Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel
- Cosmonautica
- Crash Drive 2
- Crash Drive 3
- Creaks
- Creepy Tale
- Crookz the big heist
- CROSSBOW: Bloodnight
- Crush Your Enemies
- Cube Runner
- Cultist Simulator: Anthology Edition
- Curse: The Eye of Isis
- Cyber Ops
- Cybercube
- Danger Scavenger
- Dark Deity
- Dark Future
- Darkside Detective
- Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition
- Darkwood
- DARQ: Complete Edition
- Day of the Tentacle Remastered
- days of war definitive edition
- DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace
- DC's Justice League: Cosmic Chaos
- Dead by Daylight
- Dead Estate
- Dead Island Definitive Edition
- Dead Rising 2
- Deadly Days
- Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
- DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT
- Death's Gambit
- Deceased
- DECEIVE INC.
- Degrees of Separation
- Deleveled
- Delicious! Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire
- Deliver Us The Moon
- Demetrios - Deluxe Edition
- Depraved
- DESCENDERS
- Desert Child
- DESOLATE
- Destiny 2: Beyond Light
- DESTROYER: THE U-BOAT HUNTER
- Detention
- Devil May Cry HD Collection
- Devilated
- Dicey Dungeons
- Dirt 5
- dirt rally
- Dirt Rally 2.0
- Disaster Band
- Disciples III: Reincarnation
- Disjunction (GOG)
- DISTRAINT 2
- Distrust
- DmC: Devil May Cry
- Do Not Feed the Monkeys
- Don't Be Afraid
- Doomed Lands
- Door Kickers: Action Squad
- Doorways: Prelude
- Downfall
- Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen
- Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
- Drake Hollow
- Draugen
- Draw Slasher
- Drawful 2
- Dreams in the Witch House
- Dreamscaper
- DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders
- DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms
- DRIFT21
- Driftland: The Magic Revival
- drive!drive!drive!
- Drone Swarm
- Due Process
- Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
- Duke of Alpha Centauri
- Dungeon Rushers
- Dungeons 2
- Dungeons 3
- DUSK
- Dusk Diver
- Dust to the End
- Dynopunk
- Earth Defense Force 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair
- Eastern Exorcist
- Effie
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising
- El Matador
- Elderand
- Elderborn
- ELDEST SOULS
- Electrician Simulator
- Elemental Survivors
- Elex
- Elex II
- Elite Dangerous
- Embr
- Empire: Total War - Definitive Edition
- Empyrion - Galactic Survival
- ENCASED: A SCI-FI POST-APOCALYPTIC RPG
- Encodya (GOG)
- Endless Space 2
- Endless Space 2 - Digital Deluxe Edition
- Endless Space® 2 - Digital Deluxe Edition
- Endzone - A World Apart
- Epistory - Typing Chronicles
- Escape the backrooms
- Eternal Threads
- Etherborn
- Europa Universalis IV
- European Ship Simulator
- Everdream Valley
- Evil Genius 2: World Domination
- EXAPUNKS
- Exorder
- EXPEDITIONS: ROME
- Explosionade
- F1 2018
- F1 2019 Anniversary Edition
- F1 2020
- F1 RACE STARS Complete Edition Include DLC
- Fable Anniversary
- Factory Town
- Fallback uprising
- Family Man
- Family Mysteries 3: Criminal Mindset
- Fantasy Blacksmith
- FARMER'S DYNASTY
- Farming Simulator 17
- Farming Simulator 19
- Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Rise of SH1FT3R
- Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
- Fictorum
- Field of Glory II
- Fights in Tight Spaces
- Figment
- Filthy Animals Heist Simulator
- Firefighting Simulator - The Squad
- Fishing Adventure
- Flashback
- FLATLAND Vol.2
- FlatOut
- FLING TO THE FINISH
- Floppy Knights
- Fluffy Horde
- FOBIA - ST. DINFNA HOTEL
- For the King
- Forged Battalion
- Forgive me Father
- Forts
- Framed Collection
- Fred3ric
- Fresh Start Cleaning Simulator
- Friends vs Friends
- Frogun
- From Space
- From the Depths
- Frostpunk: Game of the Year Edition
- Frozenheim
- Fun with Ragdolls: The Game
- Funtasia
- Fury Unleashed
- Gamedec - Definitive Edition
- Gang Beasts
- GARAGE bad trip
- Garden Story
- Garfield Kart
- GAS STATION SIMULATOR
- Gelly Break Deluxe
- Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
- Gevaudan
- Ghost Song
- Ghostrunner
- Giana Sisters 2D
- GIGA WRECKER
- Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart
- Glitch Busters: Stuck On You
- Gloria Victis
- Go Home Dinosaurs
- Goat of Duty
- Godlike Burger
- Godstrike
- Going Under
- Golf Gang
- Golf It!
- Gone Home + Original Soundtrack
- Good Knight
- Gotham Knights
- Graveyard Keeper
- GREAK: MEMORIES OF AZUR
- GREEDFALL
- Gremlins, inc
- grey goo
- GRID - 2019
- grid ultimate
- GRIP: Combat Racing
- GRIP: Combat Racing Artifex DLC
- Gungrave G.O.R.E
- Guppy
- Guts and glory
- GYLT
- Hacknet
- HackyZack
- Haegemonia: Legions of Iron
- Hamilton's Great Adventure
- Hammerting
- Hammerwatch
- Hands of Necromancy
- Havsala: Into the Soul Palace
- Headsnatchers
- Heartwood Heroes
- Heat Signature
- Heaven's Vault
- Helheim Hassle
- Hell Let Loose
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
- Hellbound
- Hellpoint
- Hellslave
- Hellstuck: Rage With Your Friends
- Hero of the Kingdom III
- Hero of the Kingdom: The Lost Tales 2
- Heroes of Hammerwatch
- Heros hour
- Hexologic
- Hidden & Dangerous 2: Courage Under Fire
- Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack
- Hidden Deep
- Hi-Fi Rush
- High On Life
- Hitman (2016) Game of the Year Edition
- HITMAN 2 - Gold Edition
- Hitman: The Complete First Season
- Hoa
- Hob
- Hollow Knight
- Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?!
- Home Sweet Home
- Home Sweet Home EP2
- Homestead Arcana
- Hood: Outlaws & Legends
- Hoplegs
- Hot Tin Roof: The Cat That Wore A Fedora
- HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED ™
- Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard
- Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures
- Hotshot Racing
- House Flipper
- How to Survive 2
- Hue
- Human: Fall Flat
- HUMANKIND DEFINITIVE EDITION
- Hungry Flame
- Hyper Knights
- I am Bread
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2024.06.07 19:17 MVPete90210 BEST MAIN EVENT WINNER - Round of 16 - Match 3 - John Cynn vs Dan Harrington
After an exciting Round of 32 - it is now time for the Round of 16 matches to determine the Best Main Event winner!
The winning player will play either Greg Raymer or Hossein Ensan in the Quarter Finals.
In the event of a tie, I will cast the deciding vote.
View Poll
submitted by MVPete90210 to poker [link] [comments]
Place your vote NOW - winner progresses to Round of 16!
In this heads-up match it is John Cynn vs Dan Harrington John Cynn - winner of the 2018 WSOP Main Event Dan Harrington - winner of the 1995 WSOP Main EventThe winning player will play either Greg Raymer or Hossein Ensan in the Quarter Finals.
In the event of a tie, I will cast the deciding vote.
View Poll
2024.06.07 19:17 RudyBluNiebieski Cragheart - full ON SPOILERS (to entire game, including items, characters, prosperity lvls) guide to best dps in game. 300dmg/scenario is rookie numbers.
Big HP pool, bad initiative, low movement and awesome control of obstacles. What not to love about our little cragheart? He is considered mid classs but I've always susspected he is a Gem hidden in clay. And I've wanted to try it out for years. And when I did...
The build I will show you soloes entire rooms and reliably does 300+ dmg in scenarios at lvl 9. Ready yet?
We keep 4 lvl 1 cards: extra ammo, curse tornado, Forceful storm and rumbling advance (just increase the M on bottom) skip lvl 2, then: lvl 3clear the way, lvl 4 and 5 kinetic assault and rock slide, 6: cataclysm (Dig pit should be his best initiative so he has access to different playstyle!) 7: brutal momentum, 8: lumbering bash and 9, no surpise BLIND DESTRUCTION. THE BEST DAMAGE ABILITY IN GAME. 100 dmg per turn? WHY NOT? 9 clumped enemies? WIPED OUT.
How would you do it? Well, you gotta take items that support him. And no character benefits from items as hard as he does. Yes, due to blind destruction.
So how do we apprach the absolute and utter anihilation I promised you?
Well, lets start with helmet: advantage per long rest. Can't risk great dmg be flopped by -2 or miss, can we now? armor: there are 2 options: take 3 dmg and get +1 dmg per long rest. It really adds in dmg but chips away at your hp every now and then. very usefull when dealing with shielded enemies as 3 AoE dmg is much superior to 2 AoE (which get multiplied by other item used and extra target). The other, more interesting choice is armor that gives you both fly and invisible when you are in obstacles. Gives such a new layer of depth to that character, while his dmg is sstill amazing!
Weapons. Before lvl 8 of gloomhaven its a bomb and a hit 2 targets axe. after its a bomb and a bigger bomb (that does dmg to allies, but we do so massive dmg to allies they wont mind extra 2. I'm kidding. Try not to hurt your allies. Please.) Boots: Rocket boots. Well after you get armor of flying and hiding just boots of +3M are the same, but i got my rocket boots earlier. Let me talk about mobility. Cragheart doesn't come as very mobile character, does he? Well, he can make up to 11 movement in a round. There are some limitations (like 6/9 of that movement has to be in straigth line or he has to use earth to do that, but its actualy not that hard). You fly in, hide in and obstacle and then waith for your BIG ROUND.
Consumables: potion of+2 dmg, bigger stamina for 2 cards back, item that allows you to do additional top of different card (ring of brutality is it called?), COMPASS. I took it on a whim coz why not and I cannot stress enought how compass is important for that build to work. Enemies DO NOT want to group up, kicking 1, up to 5 away from you, 2 tiles is how you increase dmg from 40 to 100 with one action. Last could be another stamina potion or healing option or whatever rows your boat.
With that setup. With all the pieces in place you jump into rooms, blind destruction everything, if enemies survive, throw cataclysm on top with ring of brutality. You got 2 meele attack with 7dmg or more. (brutal momentum+kinetic storm is 2/5 with boots movement 7 dmg for cleanup and the other one is brutal momentum into obstacle.) You got Cursenado, the thing ppl say makes cragheart OP, while in reality its totally mid compared with his dmg. 2 good initiaitves of 19 and 26, making you move before lots of opponents and AMAZING initiaitves of 80+ for when you are safely hiddenin an obstacle, waiting, LURKING AROUND, ready to eradicate all life when your turn arrives. The best case scenario is when your tank opens the door and retreats. And enemies follow. The most memorable one was when we were getting close to exhaust, other dudes statying at 3-5 cards and we open last doors. Dragons of both types and flying imps inside and they come forth toward the door. There was a hole in the middle of their formation, so i used compass to fill it. And I threw a bomb. Advantage helmet gave me x2. Over 100dmg with that single action, 9 enemies reduced to gold piles. It wasn't the first time I did it, but the most spectacular one. Warning with digital: System may draw multiple modifiers, but only the first one will determine AoE DMG. If its x2 and does 8 dmg, every single target will do 8 dmg around itself and you got the 100+dmg. If its -2 or system decides to start counting from shielded enemy your AoE will be very unimpressive. Good to have ring of brutality to finish things off afterwards guys.
https://preview.redd.it/15r0e4gnn65d1.png?width=958&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad2bfe108c008c9a580f976474bfa8721c5250c8
submitted by RudyBluNiebieski to Gloomhaven [link] [comments]
The build I will show you soloes entire rooms and reliably does 300+ dmg in scenarios at lvl 9. Ready yet?
We keep 4 lvl 1 cards: extra ammo, curse tornado, Forceful storm and rumbling advance (just increase the M on bottom) skip lvl 2, then: lvl 3clear the way, lvl 4 and 5 kinetic assault and rock slide, 6: cataclysm (Dig pit should be his best initiative so he has access to different playstyle!) 7: brutal momentum, 8: lumbering bash and 9, no surpise BLIND DESTRUCTION. THE BEST DAMAGE ABILITY IN GAME. 100 dmg per turn? WHY NOT? 9 clumped enemies? WIPED OUT.
How would you do it? Well, you gotta take items that support him. And no character benefits from items as hard as he does. Yes, due to blind destruction.
So how do we apprach the absolute and utter anihilation I promised you?
Well, lets start with helmet: advantage per long rest. Can't risk great dmg be flopped by -2 or miss, can we now? armor: there are 2 options: take 3 dmg and get +1 dmg per long rest. It really adds in dmg but chips away at your hp every now and then. very usefull when dealing with shielded enemies as 3 AoE dmg is much superior to 2 AoE (which get multiplied by other item used and extra target). The other, more interesting choice is armor that gives you both fly and invisible when you are in obstacles. Gives such a new layer of depth to that character, while his dmg is sstill amazing!
Weapons. Before lvl 8 of gloomhaven its a bomb and a hit 2 targets axe. after its a bomb and a bigger bomb (that does dmg to allies, but we do so massive dmg to allies they wont mind extra 2. I'm kidding. Try not to hurt your allies. Please.) Boots: Rocket boots. Well after you get armor of flying and hiding just boots of +3M are the same, but i got my rocket boots earlier. Let me talk about mobility. Cragheart doesn't come as very mobile character, does he? Well, he can make up to 11 movement in a round. There are some limitations (like 6/9 of that movement has to be in straigth line or he has to use earth to do that, but its actualy not that hard). You fly in, hide in and obstacle and then waith for your BIG ROUND.
Consumables: potion of+2 dmg, bigger stamina for 2 cards back, item that allows you to do additional top of different card (ring of brutality is it called?), COMPASS. I took it on a whim coz why not and I cannot stress enought how compass is important for that build to work. Enemies DO NOT want to group up, kicking 1, up to 5 away from you, 2 tiles is how you increase dmg from 40 to 100 with one action. Last could be another stamina potion or healing option or whatever rows your boat.
With that setup. With all the pieces in place you jump into rooms, blind destruction everything, if enemies survive, throw cataclysm on top with ring of brutality. You got 2 meele attack with 7dmg or more. (brutal momentum+kinetic storm is 2/5 with boots movement 7 dmg for cleanup and the other one is brutal momentum into obstacle.) You got Cursenado, the thing ppl say makes cragheart OP, while in reality its totally mid compared with his dmg. 2 good initiaitves of 19 and 26, making you move before lots of opponents and AMAZING initiaitves of 80+ for when you are safely hiddenin an obstacle, waiting, LURKING AROUND, ready to eradicate all life when your turn arrives. The best case scenario is when your tank opens the door and retreats. And enemies follow. The most memorable one was when we were getting close to exhaust, other dudes statying at 3-5 cards and we open last doors. Dragons of both types and flying imps inside and they come forth toward the door. There was a hole in the middle of their formation, so i used compass to fill it. And I threw a bomb. Advantage helmet gave me x2. Over 100dmg with that single action, 9 enemies reduced to gold piles. It wasn't the first time I did it, but the most spectacular one. Warning with digital: System may draw multiple modifiers, but only the first one will determine AoE DMG. If its x2 and does 8 dmg, every single target will do 8 dmg around itself and you got the 100+dmg. If its -2 or system decides to start counting from shielded enemy your AoE will be very unimpressive. Good to have ring of brutality to finish things off afterwards guys.
https://preview.redd.it/15r0e4gnn65d1.png?width=958&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad2bfe108c008c9a580f976474bfa8721c5250c8
2024.06.07 18:59 vhqpa Started a Gen 1 Run (R), let's see if I finish it.
 | Just about to do Rock Tunnel. So far I haven't had to use the Level Cap relief exemption submitted by vhqpa to nuzlocke [link] [comments] Doing Red because it's what I'm most familiar with, might do a run on FLG next. Current Party is Rattus (Raticate), Captain (Spearow), Neptune (Gyarados), Weed Boy (Ivysaur), Mary Jane (Oddish). Boxed Pokemon are Skypup (Zubat), DJ Snooze (Jigglypuff), Sandman (Diglett), Avia (Pidgeotto), Serpentine (Ekans), Fourtwenty (Oddish) as well as HM Bug (Paras) which serves as a HM Slave for Cut. Retired Pokemon: Buggy (Weedle), Shelley (Kakuna), Dart (Spearow) I've started a few runs over the last year or so but either got sick of it, or changed my mind on a rule halfway through and abandoned the run. This this I codified all the rules on a word document which I must stick to. Apart from the standard rules (Faint > Retirement (Release), First Encounter) my custom rules are:
|
2024.06.07 18:59 HeWasDeadAllAlong Winston Irvine to stand trial over gun charges
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c255ey1rr5zo
A leading loyalist and a co-accused have been ordered to stand trial after guns and ammunition were found in the boot of a car two years ago, a judge has ruled.
Winston Irvine failed to have the case against him thrown out at a preliminary hearing at Belfast Magistrates' Court.
The 48-year-old from Ballysillan Road in the city denies the charges relating to weapons seized in the north of Belfast.
Co-defendant Robin Workman, from Shore Road in Larne, allegedly transported guns in his van to a meeting at Glencairn Street. 'Bag in the boot'
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard police identified Mr Irvine in a Volkswagen Tiguan parked in the area in June 2022.
He was observed in conversation with 53-year-old Mr Workman before closing the boot of his car and driving off, a Crown lawyer told the court.
A short time later police detained Mr Irvine at Disraeli Street in the city.
When asked if there was anything in the car he could not account for, Mr Irvine replied “bag in the boot”.
A long-barrelled firearm, two suspected pistols, several magazines, and more than 200 rounds of ammunition were discovered inside a holdall in the boot, the court heard.
Mr Irvine denies knowing anything about the contents of the bag.
Both defendants are charged with possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing a prohibited firearm, possession of a handgun without a certificate, and having ammunition without a certificate. Bobby Singleton in police uniformImage source, PA Media Image caption,
Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton appeared in court as a witness
Mr Irvine called Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton as a witness.
The court heard the two men have known each other for ten years, stretching back to Mr Singleton’s role as an area commander dealing with parading disputes in north Belfast.
Mr Singleton confirmed Mr Irvine has his mobile number and that all their dealings were on issues of peace and reconciliation.
Defence solicitor Darragh Mackin put to him that he knew of his client’s role in resolving a parading standoff, ending riots and attending talks on legacy issues in London.
Mr Singleton expressed no concerns at the defendant being on the guest list for talks.
Mr Workman did not challenge prosecution submissions that he has a prima facie case to answer. Pair released on bail
Mr Irvine made no comment during police interviews but provided a prepared statement in which he claimed:
“I have developed a reputation as a trusted interlocutor engaging with the community on key outstanding issues in relation to the Northern Ireland peace and political process,” he stated.
Mr Markin argued that those claims were supported by Mr Singleton’s evidence of dealing with him as a community representative.
“From the outset he has strenuously denied these charges and set out in unequivocal terms his defence,” the solicitor said.
“He isn’t connected forensically in any way to the items in question.”
However, Judge Marshall said the guns and ammunition were found in the boot of Mr Irvine’s car.
She said: “I’m going to return (both defendants) for trial at Belfast Crown Court.”
The men were released on continuing bail, to appear next for their arraignment on a date to be fixed.
submitted by HeWasDeadAllAlong to northernireland [link] [comments]
A leading loyalist and a co-accused have been ordered to stand trial after guns and ammunition were found in the boot of a car two years ago, a judge has ruled.
Winston Irvine failed to have the case against him thrown out at a preliminary hearing at Belfast Magistrates' Court.
The 48-year-old from Ballysillan Road in the city denies the charges relating to weapons seized in the north of Belfast.
Co-defendant Robin Workman, from Shore Road in Larne, allegedly transported guns in his van to a meeting at Glencairn Street. 'Bag in the boot'
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard police identified Mr Irvine in a Volkswagen Tiguan parked in the area in June 2022.
He was observed in conversation with 53-year-old Mr Workman before closing the boot of his car and driving off, a Crown lawyer told the court.
A short time later police detained Mr Irvine at Disraeli Street in the city.
When asked if there was anything in the car he could not account for, Mr Irvine replied “bag in the boot”.
A long-barrelled firearm, two suspected pistols, several magazines, and more than 200 rounds of ammunition were discovered inside a holdall in the boot, the court heard.
Mr Irvine denies knowing anything about the contents of the bag.
Both defendants are charged with possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing a prohibited firearm, possession of a handgun without a certificate, and having ammunition without a certificate. Bobby Singleton in police uniformImage source, PA Media Image caption,
Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton appeared in court as a witness
Mr Irvine called Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton as a witness.
The court heard the two men have known each other for ten years, stretching back to Mr Singleton’s role as an area commander dealing with parading disputes in north Belfast.
Mr Singleton confirmed Mr Irvine has his mobile number and that all their dealings were on issues of peace and reconciliation.
Defence solicitor Darragh Mackin put to him that he knew of his client’s role in resolving a parading standoff, ending riots and attending talks on legacy issues in London.
Mr Singleton expressed no concerns at the defendant being on the guest list for talks.
Mr Workman did not challenge prosecution submissions that he has a prima facie case to answer. Pair released on bail
Mr Irvine made no comment during police interviews but provided a prepared statement in which he claimed:
“I have developed a reputation as a trusted interlocutor engaging with the community on key outstanding issues in relation to the Northern Ireland peace and political process,” he stated.
Mr Markin argued that those claims were supported by Mr Singleton’s evidence of dealing with him as a community representative.
“From the outset he has strenuously denied these charges and set out in unequivocal terms his defence,” the solicitor said.
“He isn’t connected forensically in any way to the items in question.”
However, Judge Marshall said the guns and ammunition were found in the boot of Mr Irvine’s car.
She said: “I’m going to return (both defendants) for trial at Belfast Crown Court.”
The men were released on continuing bail, to appear next for their arraignment on a date to be fixed.
2024.06.07 18:57 Horror-Word666 Question about maps exam (Canada locale)
I failed the first round of tests, and have been doing the practice surveys. The practice surveys don’t have the hybrid map option as well as the draw option. On the actual exam do I have to draw the perimeter between underground stations on the map to get the answer correct? Or can I just answer in the drop down menu whether the pin is in the correct placement or not?
submitted by Horror-Word666 to TELUSinternational [link] [comments]