I (14F) was asked to go on a run with my mother. Normally, I love running, but yesterday I had an experience that sort of spooked me pretty bad.
Yesterday, I was dropped off at a pediatric clinic by my mom- she didn’t come with me because she had some errands to run , and figured I was grown enough to go to a doctor’s office on my own. It was later in the day, and where I live it gets dark quickly in the season we’re in (summer). So , I was walking up to the door to get into the clinic when some homeless seeming guy literally jumped out of a bush and yelled “HEY!” At me. I screamed, because I’m easy to startle, and jumped backwards and bonked into the wall behind me. The guy kinda pulled himself out of the bushes and stared at me , before looking at me with bloodshot eyes and asking me : “do people live here ..?- do you live here ?.. where do you live?? Do you want to come with me? - “- I was recovering from the scare, and pretty anxious (because who hides in a bush), so I just kinda said “sorry?”, to which the man sort of hobbled up and kinda stumbled at me and reached for me. I tried the door to get in, but turns out the door is really old, and kinda hard to lug open. My mom had drove off by this time so it was kinda just me and this dude. I saw a lady who looked like she worked there, and kinda ran over to her and started talking to her. The dude kind stumbled off. Of course , it’s fucking weird if your a man hanging out in a whole ass bush,- so , the woman decided to call the police. Just to make sure he wasn’t walking around the outside of the office ( because there are KIDS there ).- long story short, it was pretty horrifying. They called my mom, who just told me to finish the appointment- she picked me up after.
This experience had made me feel a little paranoid, and today my mom asked me to go for a run with her. I told her I was a little paranoid about the possibility of the dude being around , because as it turned out , they never found him. She yelled at me, called me a bratty jerk, and told me to stop being dramatic. I guess I am a little dramatic, but I kind of want to just wait a day or two more just to be sure I’m not going to run into him again. So, AITAH?
(Let me know if you need more details!! I’m kinda rushed right now,,)

Hi all, I want to start by stating I could not be more excited for MH wilds! I will be purchasing and putting 100s of hours into it like many a time before. I’ve been with MH since the ps2 days and it’s probably my favourite game franchise ever! That being said I need to see if anyone else in the community feels the same way right now…
Something about these last few trailers has left me not quite fully satisfied…
Maybe it’s the nostalgia, or just the want for more! But these trailers have felt very story heavy, which is never really what I feel monster hunter was about. Give me a quest and let’s go hunt - how we want to. Leading the 3 dog bears away from each other, running away from the sand snakes, that all looks and feels very ‘story locked’ if that’s the right word. Typically I wouldn’t worry about leading them away, I’d just whip my hammer out and start bonking all 3 of them! I didn’t have to do a dance the first time I encountered a rath.
I’m probably answering my own points here - I understand it’s the world style format and story plays stronger here. I understand we are potentially still a year away from release (I hope not) - so plenty of time for drip feeding info and trailers. I also understand they have to debut new mechanics and tutorial them into the games. I think what I’m longing for is a pure gameplay trailer akin to the previous games trailers. just utter carnage, revealing about 20 monsters all being fought in short sharp snippets. And maybe that will come with time.
I just wondered if I’m alone in feeling like this or if anyone else is hyped as heck but couldn’t really care for the story?

TL;DR: Dementus died of the seizure after Furiosa bonked him on the head real hard.
I just saw Furiousa for the second time and something occurred to me about how Furiosa may have actually killed Dementus. Let me first address that ultimately it's entirely up to interpretation of how Furiosa killed him, but hear me out:
In the scene where Furiosa begins beating Dementus, he has no idea who she is and it's revealed he's done significantly worse things than he did to Furiosa's mother. And after she beats him over the head so hard she falls over, he has what appears to be a seizure... then regains consciousness and suddenly remembers exactly who Furiosa is and that this cycle of violence has come full circle.
My theory then is this: in reality Furiosa's anger got the better of her and she hit Dementus so hard over the head it killed him instantly. Realizing that all these years of hatred for Dementus killing her mother and then Jack, and he thought absolutely nothing of it, he doesn't even know who she is, and worse of all, she kills him without any satisfaction. He dies from a seizure from a couple hits.
The following dialogue that occurs after Dementus "regains" consciousness could be implying that this is internally Furiosa coming to terms with the unsatisfactory result of all these years of hatred, and trying to find some resolution to make sense of what caused Dementus to be so fucked up.
The montages of Dementus deaths are Furiosa thinking over the ways she would have preferred to kill him, ultimately finding satisfaction in a fucked up narrative concise endless torture that satisfies her revenge fantasy for her mother and Jack, has a slight message of symbolic healing, and is a giant "don't fuck with me" to anyone who hears her legend- but also is actually true because she is literally torturing Dementus by not losing hope in the future and moving forward in life by helping others instead of giving into chaos.
Mad Max at its core is about how stories and history intertwine and how reality isn't really what we want but a story. Dementus' "can you make it epic?" Line really hints at that. Not like 'can you kill me in the most fucked up way possible' but 'can you turn this mediocre death into something compelling'- legends are more important that reality.

What's up fellas, today a friend and fellow got hacked for well over $150,000 worth in holdings, from Solana to SPL tokens like POWSCHE, WIF, BONK.
The hackers immediately sold the tokens an ran off into the sunset.
He ultimately was using a Phantom wallet which we all know, aren't the most secure places to be holding your tokens and networth.
I've been using multi sig providers and I have ledgers on the way to protect my portfolio, but do you suggest any other ways to secure funds?
Again, this space is full of bad actors and scummy scammers so I'd highly advise people to not click links and to not download stuff onto your PC.
Looking for any other solutions that people in this space might have to protect their bags.
I think fully educating people on Crypto protection is the best way to move forward this cycle, as stories like the one I witnessed today can be enough to pout a lot of normies off of Crypto as a whole.
With social media being a huge factor for this cycle, a lot of new hands are going to be coming into the space, completely uneducated and it's going to be a massive payday for these bad actors, so ideally want to create a thread that combats it to the best of our ability.

FINZ PICKS: 239-164🔥@finzchatsmma on Instagram

FINZ HAMMER LOCKS: 12-9🔐

LAST CARD'S PICKS: 7-5

LAST CARD'S HAMMER LOCK: CASHED - 2 WEEK STREAK

PRELIMS
SW Bout: Puja Tomar v. Rayanne Amanda
Records: 8-4 v. 14-7
Last 5 Fights: WWWWL v. LWWWL

Rayanne will be fighting on her birthday and I’m sure that’s a +EV handicap right there
Puja has a very big problem with being finished and especially with being finished on the ground
Puja was in ONE CHAMPIONSHIP so she has some fights that matter on her record - however, she went 1-3 there with all 3 losses coming inside the distance, and her one win coming by split decision with a debatable robbery at play
Puja has only seen the judges twice in her 12 fight career - she reminds me a lot of Liang Na in the way she goes for broke to find a finish, and if she can’t get one, then she gets finishes shortly thereafter
There is an obvious glaring hole in Puja’s game and it’s her takedown defense as well as her ground game as a whole - she has 3 submission losses with 2 armbars and 1 triangle choke
Although she’s on a 4 fight winning streak, she amassed those wins on a different regional scene and against bottom of the barrel competition
This is WMMA so anything is possible, but all signs point to Rayanne being able to sneak a win out of this one
In Rayanne’s only 2 step ups in competition (1 DWCS fight and 1 UFC fight), she has lost but decision both times
However, I don’t think Puja is really a points fighter so if this were to hit scorecards I lean Rayanne to amass more control time on the mat and potentially land some nice ground and pound
I am getting heavy Liang Na vibes from Puja so I think the bet here is going to be Rayanne inside the distance, but the pick is going to play off of Puja’s weakness and Rayanne’s strength - I am further predicting an armbar finish since Rayanne 7 of those on her record

PICK: Rayanne Amanda by RD1 Submission
BW Bout: Cody Stamann v. Taylor Lapilus
Records: 21-6-1 v. 19-4
Last 5 Fights: LWWLL v. LWWWW

Wrestler v. Striker match up here
Stamann is sitting at a nine inch reach disadvantage against a guy who is the more well rounded striker
Stamann is a known wrestler but he has landed only 7 takedowns in his last 5 fights combined - he was able to land 5 against Song Yadong but that was 2019 and that was the most he’s ever landed in a fight since and all time
Stamann is also coming off of a year layoff compared to Lapilus who has fought twice in that timespan
Lapilus has fought back to back wrestlers in the UFC and is now fighting a third - Caolon shot for 11 takedowns and secured only 2 - Farid shot for 16 and secured only 5
Lapilus does have good subs and kos on his record - makes sense why his opponents are seemingly scared to strike with him and only resort to wrestling
I think Stamann is about the same level as Caolan so he’s going to try to utilize a similar strategy with wrestling
The over is juiced here so vegas really thinks this is hitting the scorecards
I will take the guy with the elite TD defense, the way better striking, the way longer reach, and the sneaky submission skills to take the victory here

PICK: Taylor Lapilus by Unanimous Decision
SW Bout: Eduarda Moura v. Denise Gomes
Records: 10-0 v. 8-3
Last 5 Fights: WWWWW v. LWWLW

Classic tale of striker v grappler
There are a lot of question marks for Eduarda considering we don’t know what her cardio is like in later rounds and how will she hold up if she can’t get the takedowns going
However, I think the green flags outweigh the red flags on this one
Gomes definitely has a chance to bonk moura, but that’s about it
If this fight hits the ground in any capacity, it will be in moura’s domain and it will stay there
Moura trains with Jailton almeida and fights just like him tbh - very grapple heavy style with great elbows from the top
She may not be tested truly at a UFC level, but I think this is going to be her coming out party (pause)
Gomes struggled with takedowns against Angela hill because she kept overextending on strikes and hill would duck and secure a takedown
This is even worse for Gomes in this matchup because moura is HUGE with a big reach and height advantage
If moura makes weight, she should win this IMO - I think the pros outweigh the cons enough to make a straight bet

PICK: Eduarda Moura by RD2 Submission
BW Bout: Daniel Marcos v. John Castaneda
Records: 15-0 v. 21-6
Last 5 Fights: DWWWW v. WWLWW

Marcos gives me huge Marlon Vera vibes
Both Marcos and Vera look for the killshot the entire fight instead of trying to accumulate points and damage, but for Marcos this has worked well so far considering he is undefeated with 15 wins and 8 KO victories
Marcos has decent takedown defense - we have seen him tested slightly thus far in the UFC like against Oliveira
Castaneda’s main path to victory here is to outvolume Marcos and try to mix in wrestling, but I don’t think that will be enough to edge out rounds if Marcos is landing big shots like he usually does
Don’t get me wrong - I am not saying Marcos is world class or anything of the sort, but he definitely has high level striking and has been a problem for anyone he has faced thus far
I watched back Nathaniel Wood v Castaneda and I think a similar fight is going to go down here - Castaneda might be able to land more shots with his flurries to the inside but I think Marcos will fend off the takedowns well and come back with the even bigger shots
Marcos also does a good job at managing distance and pressuring his opponents against the cage - finding a finish for both sides might be tough, but if there is one, my educated guess would be that Marcos found it
There is a world where Marcos stays timid for 3 rounds and loses a split decision, surely, but if he goes out there like we’ve seen him before, I believe he will land enough damage on Castaneda to squeak out the decision
For betting purposes, I like Marcos as a straight pick, but the o2.5 RDs might be a safer play

PICK: Daniel Marcos by Split Decision
FlyW W Bout: Andrea Lee v. Montana De La Rosa
Records: 13-9 v. 12-9-1
Last 5 Fights: LLLLW v. LLLWD

Both fighters here on 4 fight losing streaks, so the loser is most likely being cut from the UFC, so just an extra piece of handicapping there
These two actually fought in 2019 and honestly I see this one playing out very similarly
Andrea Lee pieced up Montana for 3 rounds whilst Montana desperately shot for failed takedown after failed takedown
Montana did secure a couple but even when she did, she did not maintain much control and even got swept and put into bad spots by Andrea
Andrea Lee fought Miranda Maverick in her last bout and she put up a great fight against someone who has the same skillset as Montana but just better
Lee was able to reverse some of Miranda’s positions and throw up some sub attempts - I lowkey think she could’ve snuck a split decision victory
Long story short, this should be free for Lee unless the judges decide that Montana’s clinch work and 4 second takedowns will be enough to win the bout
For betting purposes, I really want to pull the trigger on Lee but I can’t because of how the judges are - and I highly think this is hitting the judges so maybe a parlay with the 02.5 RDs might be a play
Sneaky play might be betting Lee by split decision in the hopes the judges really fugg this up

PICK: Andrea Lee By Unanimous Decision
BW Bout: Brad Katona v. Jesse Butler
Records: 13-3 v. 12-5
Last 5 Fights: LWWWW v. LWWWW

Let’s state a few facts before giving the pick for this one
Fact: Brad Katona has never been finished inside of the octagon
Fact: Jesse Butler has 1 KO win in 17 professional fights, and that win came 2 fights ago
Fact: Jesse Butler has fought at lightweight and featherweight and is now for the first time in his career making a weight cut to 135 (bantamweight)
Fact: Brad Katona has 1 KO victory in his 16 fight career, and it came in his very first fight
Fact: Jesse Butler has never been submitted, and Katona also has 3 submission wins on his resume
Fact: Jesse Butler has a 4 inch height advantage as well as a 8.5 inch reach advantage
There are so many ways this can go wrong for Katona - granted, we have seen him in wars and in dog fights that he was able to come out on top of, but we haven’t seen him... necessarily HURT someone
Butler may have gotten KO’d in his last bout by Jim Miller in RD1, but that was also a weight class higher than he is accustomed to and it was on short notice
Butler’s main path to victory is to try to submit Katona since he has 8 wins by submission, varying from RNCs to armbars to triangles
I think there is better than a +600 chance that Butler wins here - he is legit way bigger and actually finishes his fights
Katona has a way of making fights close regardless of opponent and this is the perfect fight for that
For betting purposes, I really like Jesse Butler sub prop, but overall I have to fade this because the line makes absolutely no sense considering Katona is not a KO artist like Vegas might be thinking

PICK: Brad Katona (lol i know i just glazed Butler but i mean c’mon) by Unanimous Decision
WW Bout: Charles Radtke v. Carlos Prates
Records: 9-3 v. 18-6
Last 5 Fights: WWWWW v. WWWWW

It’s pride month and we get a Charles Radtke fight - it’s almost like divine intervention
Radtke is an interesting fighter - he doesn’t excel in any one part of MMA but his IQ IMO is very high
Radtke may not out strike or out grapple you but he will do what he needs to do to win
Against blood diamond he basicslly held him against the cage for the entire fight - some people may think that’s a bad look for radtke but it honestly showed me he’ll do what he needs to to win
Radtke is a BJJ specialist but you wouldn’t think it the way he’s been fighting recently
Last word on radtke, we saw his KO power last bout as a decent sized underdog as well
Now prates - not a big fan of this guy although on paper it appears I should be
Prates is a finisher and has a sniper left hand
The issue becomes when he can’t land the left hand OR when he takes too long to start up
Against Trevin Giles he was on his way to a clear decision loss before finding the button
I don’t like the volume of Prates and I fear if he doesn’t get going in his flow state early, he will simply lose from being outvolumed
I think Radtke has more grappling and clinch upside whereas prates has the up close elbows and knees (muay thai edge) and the power advantage altogether
Ultimately, I think Radtke will be able to utilize a gameplan to outwork Prates and potentially even find a submission - he has been training grappling a lot recently due to his regional grappling performance and he is a high black belt so don’t be surprised to see him whip it out

PICK: Charles Radtke by RD2 Submission
WW Bout: Thiago Moises v. Ludovit Klein
Records: 18-7 v. 21-4-1
Last 5 Fights: WLWWL v. WWDWW

This is going to be an interesting one
Moises is a slow starter who throws lots of leg kicks but keep in mind these are HEAVY leg kicks
As fights go on, Moises does better with his striking and he mixes in all of his striking techniques nicely
Moises has also fought a lot of high level lightweights like Islam and Joel Alvarez to name 2 - he definitely has the experience advantage
The issue with Moises is his proclivity to be taken down by high level wrestlers and his proclivity to being outpowered and outmuscled
He may have good BJJ but his wrestling is nonexistent for the most part
Even if he were to wrestle, I expect Klein to be able to easily fend off the takedowns and perhaps even reverse them into his advantageous position
I watched every UFC fight of Klein and I noticed a few things
The Mason jones fight was crazy considering he was +340 and nearly knocked him out multiple times and had the wrestling advantage
The jai Herbert draw was weird but he got outvolumed, outworked on the ground even though he was on top, out worked in the clinch, but he did pull off round 3 with his wrestling
Don’t get me wrong though- Klein is super aggressive early and hunts for early KOs
I suspect this will go as Klein fights usually go except better - Klein will land some vicious blows early, get Moises to be timid and throw only leg kicks, clinch him up, secure takedowns, and get a decision victory
The glaring issue for this is that Moises is a high degree black belt and Klein has showed a lot in his fights to put himself in dangerous sub positions, so a hedge on Moises sub prop might not be bad if you were to bet Klein

PICK: Ludovit Klein by Split Decision
MAIN CARD
WW Bout: Punahele Soriano v. Miguel Baeza
Records: 9-4 v. 10-3
Last 5 Fights: LLWLL v. LLLWW

Punahele is an interesting fighter - he has a wrestling background but has decided he likes to stand and bang more
Punahele has wicked power for the weight class and rocks nearly every opponent put in front of him - if he wins the fight is a different story
He certainly rocked Stoltzfus before succumbing to a sub in round 2, and he even rocked kopylov a couple times on the entry before getting jabbed to d*ath
The problem with Punahele is he is very untrustworthy - he may have gotten a finish against Lungiambulla but he debatably lost RD1
Punahele has struggled against better wrestlers and rangier fighters, and I debate that Baeza is both of those things
Baeza was once a touted prospect (honestly both these guy were, kinda), but then he went on a 3 fight losing streak with the cherry on top being a KO loss to Andre Fialho in his last UFC bout
I saw a lot of similarities between Fialho and Punahele in that fight - I think Punahele can utilize a similar strategy
Baeza does well when he’s leading the dance but suffers when he gets flurried at, which Punahele loves to do
Considering Baeza may even be chinny now, I don’t see how you can trust him in this one as a -200 favorite
Baeza has been grappling regionally in his 2 years off - I think he wants to come out there, avoid the power shots, and try to get this to the ground as fast as possible for a sub
Baeza sub is an interesting prop, but I think Punahele is going to be too strong too early for Baeza here and he has the ring rust advantage considering his last fight was only 6 months ago compared to Baeza’s 2 years
A huge question mark as well is Punahele is going down to WW but I’d argue this is a more natural weight class for him since he’s always been an undersized MW
For betting purposes, you can take the dog shot on Punahele but I think the FTNGTD is a good parlay piece

PICK: Punahele Soriano by RD1 KO
MW Bout: Julian Marquez v. Zach Reese
Records: 9-4 v. 6-1
Last 5 Fights: LLWWL v. LWWWW

Not sure how you can trust either guy in this spot
Both guys are finishers and have rarely seen the judges scorecards - Julian has gone to decision twice, both losses, and Reese has never seen a 2nd round in 7 professional fights
Marquez has good striking and is willing to stand and bang, but he leaves way too many openings for my liking, and he has gassed badly in nearly all of his UFC performances, even in the wins, too
Reese has good striking as well - he has a couple knockdowns and 4 KO wins on his record, although his main department of expertise is the ground game
I can see Reese rocking Julian, and I can see Julian rocking Reese here
My worry is if Reese gets rocked, how will Julian proceed... will he follow him to the ground? If so, Reese can snatch up a sub since he has a very active guard and has done so before (like on DWCS)
My 2nd worry is if Reese does snatch up something, will he avoid being slammed again? Lol I mean you have to have some ring IQ to know to let go of a triangle once you get lifted off of the ground
I don’t TRUST Reese but I do like his chances of winning here over Marquez - Marquez has taken a considerable amount of damage over his career
Just because Reese got slam KO’d last fight does not mean he is chinny either
I don’t particularly like Reese’s stance - he stands very tall with his chin wide open and I think Marquez can find success finding the chin, but I just don’t think Marquez is going to be able to finish this guy
Overall, though, I do think Reese can catch a W by throwing hard shots, avoiding the power from Marquez, and potentially even working in some clinch takedowns
Method of victory is hard - Reese is a KO artist but if Marquez doesn’t get flatlined I can see Reese following him to the ground and latching up a sub - the only thing though is Marquez has never been submitted and I don’t see that starting Saturday
For betting purposes, you can throw on Reese if you’re a degen but I ultimately like the alternate under 2.5 rds OR for the fight to NOT start RD3 if you want to really lay on the juice

PICK: Zach Reese by RD1 KO
MW Bout: Bruno Ferreira v. Dustin Stoltzfus
Records: 11-1 v. 15-5
Last 5 Fights: WLWWW v. WLWLL

Unfortunately for Stoltzfus, I don’t think this fight will play out well for him
Ferreira is a vicious puncher for the MW division - he has 11 wins all inside the distance with 8 coming by way of KO
Ferreira has a good ground game as well with 3 submissions, and he fended off Gregory Rodrigues quite well when he was threatening to take his back early in their fight
Stoltzfus is very hittable and gets rocked in nearly every fight - a quote you may remember from earlier in the writeup
Ferreira has good takedown defense as well and I think that’s Stoltzfus’ main path to victory - secure takedowns and try for a choke - but I don’t think he will have much success
The height and reach advantages both go to Dustin here, but Diego is used to being the smaller fighter since he is a small guy for MW, but he packs a tremendous punch
He did get KO’d by Ruziboev but I am going to chalk that up to a lazy leg kick that got Bruno off balance which led to vicious ground and pound
I think Bruno is the more aggressive fighter as well and I simply think his pressure is going to be too much for Dustin to handle
Out of respect for Dustin, I will go ahead and say he can survive at least 1 round with Bruno
For betting purposes, you can use Ferreira as a parlay stuffer or you can parlay the fight to NGTD

PICK: Bruno Ferreira by RD2 KO
BW Bout: Raul Rosas Jr. v. Ricky Turcios
Records: 8-1 v. 12-3
Last 5 Fights: WLWWW v. WLWWL

I would say this is striker v. grappler but I honestly can’t even say that
Turcios is very, very, very... mid
Turcios doesn’t excel in any one major department of MMA - his best attribute is that he throws with high volume eclipsing 5 significant strikes per minute
His DWCS loss debatably should have gone in his favor, and it’s funny that he did DWCS considering he ended up winning TUF shortly thereafter
We also found out shortly after fighting Ricky that Bostom Salmon had no chin, getting knocked out in RD1 in his two subsequent UFC bouts - yet Ricky wasn’t able to do sh*t against him
It is glaring to see Turcios’s takedown defense sit at 45% - he got taken down multiple times at will by Brady Hiestand and Kevin Natividad - Brady was 22 at that time BTW (foreshadowing)
Ricky may be able to get a sneaky split decision if Raul doesn’t get his takedowns going like he usually does, but that’s about his only path to victory here
Rosas has already been put through the fire in the UFC even though he’s only 19 years old - he has 4 fights in the promotion including DWCS and fought Cristian Rodriguez in his 3rd fight - he had success in RD1 but gasses badly - but I think that fight was a tremendous learning experience for him
I think Raul goes out there, gets takedowns at will, lands a couple nice powerful blows, and cruises to a victory
I think KO is out of the question since Ricky hasn’t been dusted like that yet - although Mana Martinez did KO him on the regional scene...
This is either going to be an easy finish for Raul or a grueling decision, and I am leaning grueling decision
If there’s one thing Ricky is good at in the octagon, it is surviving as he has gone to decision in the 4 fights he’s had in the promotion
For betting purposes, Raul moneyline is a good parlay stuffer but you can get a slightly better price if you do Raul to win by sub/points

PICK: Raul Rosas Jr by Unanimous Decision
LHW Bout: Dominick Reyes v. Dustin Jacoby
Records: 12-4 v. 19-8-1
Last 5 Fights: LLLLW v. LWLLW

What a sad fight to predict
Dominick Reyes debatably beat Jon Jones, and then proceeded to lose 3 straight fights in more and more devastating fashions
Reyes got body kicked to de*th by Blachowicz, got sent to the shadow realm with a spinning elbow by Jiri, and got sent to the Nether by Ryan Spann with a power jab
In the Spann fight I was awfully concerned because every shot Reyes took looked like it was wobbling him - I am afraid he just can’t take punches in general anymore
Reyes is good on the feet and has some wrestling in his backpocket, but it’s hard to put a lot of stock into those attributes considering his chin might be completely shot
Keep in mind I thought the same thing about OSP and Niko Price and they did just fine, going 3 hard rounds!!!! Reyes fans there’s a chance!!!!
Reyes has also not fought since the end of 2022 - does taking time off recover your chin? That I do not know but I do not think so...
The slightly good news for Reyes is Dustin Jacoby isn’t some murderous power puncher - he is a kickboxer at heart but he is more of a points guy than a power guy
I say this, but Jacoby’s last 2 UFC wins have been by RD1 KO, so that is a bit concerning...
In fights that he loses though, he is usually outvoluming his opponent, but not with much power, and then eventually gets clipped himself and loses the round by being outpowered in one small exchange
Reyes definitely has that power to do that but I am afraid he may be timid to throw that kind of shot considering every time he has previously, he gets starched directly after
I’m sorry, but I have to go with Jacoby, and I have to go with Jacoby by brutal finish - I did not like what I saw out of Reyes AT ALL in the Spann fight - I hope he does turn it around but I don’t think it will happen
For betting purposes, I am staying far away - sure, Jacoby KO might be FREE but my heart can’t do it

PICK: Dustin Jacoby... by ... RD2 KO :(
MW Bout: Jared Cannonier v. Nassourdine Imavov
Records: 17-6 v. 193-4
Last 5 Fights: WWLWW v. WDLWW

This is a tailor made matchup for Cannonier to win a decision lol
Losing a majority decision to Phil Hawes is bad regardless of how deep into your UFC tenure you are - and Imavov did just that
Granted, Imavov is very technically sound, has decent wrestling, and has decent power
The issues with Imavov are his gas tank and his volume - he slows down horrifically as fights progress and a prime example is his 5 round fight against Dolidze - Dolidze was bad in that one, too, but both guys were basically d*ad in the 4th and 5th rounds
Dolidze landed approximately FIVE strikes per round and Imavov was still unable to finish him - just a note
If there’s a finish in this one, I think it’s coming on the Cannonier side - he has the power advantage for sure considering he has actually KO’d high level guys and Imavov only KO win was a crucifix ground and pound against Edmen Shahbazyan
Cannonier has the cardio upside as well - he used to be timid but lately he is throwing more than 100 strikes per fight and set the MW sig strike record against Marvin Vettori in his last bout with 241 landed
There are some question marks of course with Cannonier which is why he’s the dog - he has gotten rocked early in fights (almost got put out by Vettori on the first exchange), and he is coming off a year layoff where he had major knee/ACL surgery as well, AND he is significantly older in this matchup coming in as the 40 year old against a 28 year old
All those factors baked in, I still think Cannonier is going to show Imavov levels and win a decision cleanly here
I do see Imavov potentially winning round 1 and maybe even round 2, but the longer this fight progresses, the more I see it going in Cannonier’s favor
For betting purposes, I like Cannonier as a straight pick but you could bet the o4.5 RDs if you want a real sweat

PICK: Jared Cannonier by Unanimous Decision

I'm one of those "I'm going to write a book" people. I've been saying it for over 20 years but every time I write, I hate what I put down. Cliched and trope ridden, as well as archaic in style. Anyway, I just found this on my computer, it's from a couple of years ago, and though I don't remember where the story was headed exactly, I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to give a bit of feedback on the writing style and what not?
This is it anyway:
His hands were cut and splintered from holding such a tight grip. The piece of wood (possibly part of an old table leg) was an inanimate, broken and discarded object that had been peacefully minding its own business. That was before its transformation into a device used solely for bludgeoning and as it turns out, it was rather adept at blunt force trauma.
Content now with having had some purpose, after several years of sitting as part of a pile of debris, it wondered whether it would ever again experience such joys and exhilarations. To be swung towards someone’s head, full force and to make contact with such sweet accuracy that the thwacks and bonks resonated off the walls... well, it had been glorious.
He let the wood slip to the floor as he studied the fresh abrasions and gashes on his arms and hands. Danger removed, the weapon was now just a piece of wood again., inanimate and inert, though with a fresh coat of blood that some may mistake for paint.
One, two, three… and a pair of legs sticking out of what once was a fridge full of medical equipment, made four. They’d tried to jump him.
Or did I jump them?
His brow furrowed and he tried to recall the previous five minutes.
It shouldn’t be this difficult.
Curiosity, or even boredom, had led him to enter the medical centre. Foolish really. Attacks had become more frequent with the survivors he’d encountered, and he hadn’t particularly needed more medical supplies. Yet not everywhere had been completely ransacked and there was always a chance he’d find something worth having.
At what cost?
He looked again at the bodies. Maybe they weren’t all dead bodies yet. Images flashed into his mind. Images of them. Images of him. Echoes of screams. Those screams being stifled. Heavy breathing. Laboured and desperate grunts. Sickening thuds as wood met flesh and bone. He remembered the frenzy now and it terrified him because he knew it wasn’t really a frenzy at all. Despite the speed at which everything happened, he was always in control. Always aware. The cold reptilian brain that saw everything and didn’t react with fear, but with cool and devastating precision, had been at the centre of it all from the beginning.
They were in fact, all dead bodies.

I played Monster Hunter World when it first came out, it was my first experience with the series and the trailer for Wilds pulled me back in. I remember having test driven every weapon for about the first half of the story and ultimately deciding to main the Greatsword and the hammer when i felt like bonking.
I haven't played iceborn yet and plan on doing so, but i feel like i want a new main weapon for that, but i feel like i picked the most fun 2 weapons right from the get-go but of course that isnt what everybody would agree with.
So please tell me what your favorite weapon is and why you think its the most fun to play (≠ the best/most op)
Thank you :)

I - II
“Are you sure we can't make Jumpy the Frog a little … friendlier looking?”
My animation supervisor was looking at my sketches, and pointing out how Jumpy’s eyes looked a little too bloodshot, and how too many veins protruded through his gray skin.
But that's just what Jumpy looked like.
“He can stay in the background,” I said. “ I would really appreciate it— if we could sneak him in there for the next episode.”
My anim supe frowned at the picture. “Is this like a webcomic you are trying to make viral or something?”
It's actually some awful, real life entity I'm trying to appease so it doesn't kill me.
“Yeah, it's a webcomic. I would really appreciate it. Seriously. Just this once”
My supe liked me and I could tell he was willing to make this small favor happen, but that still didn't wipe the look of confusion off his face.
“Okay. I'll talk to production. It doesn't need to go higher up the chain. We can just slip Jumpy in near the end of the episode in one of the crowd scenes.”
I bowed and clasped his hands.
***
Hallelujah.
I would be seeding Jumpy’s image across a generation of kids who streamed cartoons. If that Frog said it needed believers to exist, it would now have a legion of kids who would see it, and probably wonder what that creepy frog was doing in the background of a popular TV show.
It might not happen right away, it may take weeks or months for anyone to notice, but if I could have Jumpy appear enough times to get other kids to simply think about the frog, I would no longer be condemned as the sole believer.
All I need is one fan to make a meme about it (hell I could lay the groundwork myself), and then we’d have tons of people on the internet seeing Jumpy, fan-arting Jumpy, and dreaming about Jumpy. He’ll have hordes of adherents loyal to his image.
I felt like this plan would work. Something in my bones told me so.
To celebrate, I removed all the Jumpy drawings I had put up in my apartment, and I deleted all photos from my phone.
“You’ll have plenty of believers, Jumpy! Not just me! A sea of ten-year olds will keep your essence alive!”
I was laughing, pouring myself some wine and cheersing my reflection in the mirror.
The evening was young, and for the first time in what felt like years, I decided I would go out. To a pub. A club. Anything.
I pinged a couple friends and got some suitable dancing clothes.
***
My elevator is the glass kind that rides on the exterior of my building. I usually don’t appreciate the view, but tonight I relished the sun setting on the horizon, basking the entire city in a warm orange glow. I had found a solution to Jumpy, and I deserved a moment to appreciate the good things in life.
I admired the other skyscrapers, which framed the white capped peaks in the distance. I admired the graceful fir trees which fit in-between the downtown streets. And I admired the grimy footprints on the elevator glass that didn't block any of this magical view.
Wait a second. Grimy footprints?
The elevator jolted to a stop.
I flew several feet in the air. Fell straight on my tailbone
My entire spine was on fire for a few moments as I looked at the elevator’s little screen .Floor 31 - SERVICE ERROR.
What just happened?
I heard loud warbling on the elevator's glass, and there the answer presented itself. Outside, waving its massive webbed hand, was an ecstatic, smiling Jumpy the Frog.
“Whitaker sister! It’s me! It's me! It's meeee!’
Even muffled behind the glass, I could make out the high-pitched voice.
“Jesus Christ,” I said, barely able to speak. My body had frozen stiff.
“What you say?” Jumpy pressed its head against the glass. “I can't hear you.”
I collected myself, realizing how much weight Jumpy was adding to the elevator. I tried shooing with my hands. “Get off. Get off the glass!”
The frog's pupils widened and looked in two different directions. “Okays! I’ll take off the glass!”
“What? Wait. Wait!”
The amphibian applied both of its sticky hands on the glass above the elevator, creating a vacuum-tight seal. The arms lifted, flexing dozens of wiry, cord-like muscles. I could hear metal and screws pop.
The glass exploded atop the elevator.
I shielded my head as hundreds of shattered pieces fell. A few cut my arms. Crisp, thin air breezed in along with Jumpy’s jovial voice. “Whitaker sister!”
I watched as the frog clambered down into the elevator. Its skin looked healthy and green, evidently all my ‘believing’ had maybe helped heal the creature after all. I stood with my back against the closed metal door. Jumpy reached the elevator floor.
“Why are you removing Jumpy art?” The frog used a massive arm to sweep the glass away from its feet.
I could barely move. “What?”
“I sawed you remove the pictures of Jumpy in your house. Why? why? why why why?”
Although I was terrified for my life in this broken elevator missing half of its ceiling. I was now doubly creeped out that Jumpy had been watching me in my apartment? For how long?
The frog licked its eyes, The cheeriness from its voice fading a little. “Why. You. Remove. Drawings.”
I cleared my throat, and brushed hair out of my eyes. “Listen Jumpy, I am going to convince lots of kids to believe in you.”
The frog stared blankly.
“I’m going to get a lot of kids to believe in you, so I don't have to believe in you. This way you can outlive the Whitaker sisters. This way you can live your own life, Jumpy. I’m setting you … free.”
The frog held still, not moving a single muscle until its head tilted sideways. “But Jumpy belongs to Whitakers. Jumpy always helps only the Whitakers!”
“Well, I'm giving you permission to stop. You can be free. To be your own frog.” I was trying to sound confident, like the way my sisters may have commanded Jumpy.
But Jumpy didn't seem to take this well. The frog slowly cradled its face, as if such a suggestion was sacrilege. “But how is Jumpy supposed to help you then? Who do you want Jumpy to gobble up?”
“I don't need you to help me. I don't … what do you mean gobble up?”
“Marie-Anne and Jamie had Jumpy gobble up lots of peoples!”
They did? “Like … who?”
“Oh other pretty little girls. Girls who did too much talking and singing. Lots of peoples.”
I haven't mentioned this yet, but my twin sisters were rising young actors. They landed recurring roles on a sitcom and their careers only seemed to be looking up. Until the fatal car accident of course.
“I don't want you to gobble anyone up, Jumpy! I want you to be free, to go live in the pond or Forest and do whatever you like.”
“But …” The frog lowered its gaze and approached me“... Jumpy likes gobbling. Please tell Jumpy who to gobble.”
I couldn’t back up any further than the elevator door. “Fish! Worms! Whatever normal frogs gobble up. You go gobble that.”
Jumpy pressed one of its sinuous fingers against my belly. “Oh but you can think of some juicy, jiggly peoples for Jumpy to gobble up. There must be someone you don’t like.”
I closed my eyes, sealed my mouth. The moldy fruit breath was overwhelming.
“Tell Jumpy who to gobble.”
I shielded my face. “Please Jumpy. I don’t have anyone. I don’t want you to eat anyone.”
The breath retreated. Its voice turned disappointed. “You don’t have … anyone?”
“No. It’s not good to eat people, Jumpy.”
When I opened my eyes, the frog was turned away. It placed one of its massive hands on the glass wall.
“You don’t want Jumpy to be happy …” The frog bonked its head along the glass, penalizing its own sorrow. The glass cracked a little bit.
“No, I want you to be very happy! I just want you to discover a new source of happiness that isn’t … gobbling.”
The frog bonked its head on the glass again. “Marie-Anne and Jamie told me you wouldn't understand Jumpy. Maybe they were right ...”
The remaining walls of glass were growing cracks at an alarming rate. If they broke, I would be completely exposed at thirty one stories above sea level.
“Please Jumpy! I understand everything! Maybe I can find you, like, I dunno, a people meat substitute? Have you tried pork?”
Jumpy ignored me, and climbed back to the opening up top. The glass was spider-webbing everywhere
“Sorry Whitaker, Jumpy must eat peoples. There is no choice.”
Pops and snaps came from all the walls around me. I turned to hug the elevator door as close as I could.
“I’ll just wait for your kids,” Jumpy said. “I’m sure one of the childrens will have lots of gobble ideas for Jumpy.”
Before I could reply, the frog hopped away, climbing along the side of my apartment building.
Then, the glass around me fractured in aggressive zigs zags until … SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!
Shards fell like a waterfall.
Bits shot at my back and neck.
Within seconds, the glass walls around me were gone. I could feel the cold, atmospheric wind rippling through my clothes.
The platform slanted from the weight of the glass. I rolled once or twice before digging my nails into the floor.
I was at least four hundred feet in the air, completely at mercy to the elements. If the elevator jolted in any direction, I would certainly roll off the ground platform and plummet.
Oh god. Please don’t move, please don’t move, please don’t move, please don’t move …
***
Screams would erupt uncontrollably as the elevator jiggled every now and then. I’m not ashamed to admit that I soiled myself.
Birds cawed at my panicked form. The twin elevator would rumble past me, causing my whole platform to tremble too. I was in my own private hell for forty five minutes until the fire department showed up.
It felt more like six hours.
When they finally did manage to pry open the elevator door and pull me to safety, they announced I had no real injuries, only a couple of minor scrapes. But I was trembling so much from fear, that they took me straight to the hospital. The paramedic said I looked like I had seen a ghost.
I stayed the night, unable to sleep.
They even kept me the full next day because my heart rate still wouldn’t go down.
“You’ve got to relax, you’re safe now,” one of the nurses said. And I told them, “I know, I know, I’m doing my best.”
But what I didn’t explain was that I was absolutely petrified that a horrible frog monster could come back and kill me. I had only met Jumpy twice in my life now, and both times it felt like I was staring death in the face. Even if it was by accident, the frog could easily hop on me, choke me or toss me down a flight of stairs without intending to murder me.
Jumpy was too callous, too oblivious in regard to preserving any human life… and then I realized I would soon enable kids to see Jumpy.
I would be allowing minors to not only risk their lives meeting the frog, but also risk the lives of others by letting him gobble.
I had sent the wheels in motion for a Pandora’s box to open via children’s television across the internet, across the entire world. The frog could terrorize the lives of countless kids for eternity because they would all believe in and fear it. Bullies would abuse Jumpy. Parents won’t know what to do. I would be creating a real life boogeyman.
Dear God, what have I done?

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92 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. Signal Station. Atrium Entrance.
Lysara
Fear.
That’s what first hit me.
What was an assured and seemingly smooth start to the operation came to a screeching and unwelcome halt at the foot of a twenty meter door.
Anxiety quickly gripped me after the proverbial and literal dust had settled.
But not panic.
Panic never really seemed to take hold, not when my training kicked in, and recent experiences coupled with rational thought overpowered whatever base fears existed within my Vanaran mind.
My first order of business, or rather the first three sets of actions I committed to concurrently, simply took too much precedence for anything other than focus to really take center stage.
“Squad, on me! High alert! Weapons free!” I shouted, prompting both the aerial and bipedal drones to pull back into a tight formation around both me and Evina.
“Evina, stay close!” I continued, feeling my heart racing as my eyes quickly glanced to the top right hand of my HUD, in an attempt to address the final order of business.
“Vir, do you copy?” I shot out with a steady breath… only to find the line empty, and any and all signals to the outside completely dead on all channels.
I should’ve expected that though.
Because if the deep surface scanners found it difficult to make heads or tails of this place, then that meant that there was little chance for a stable line of communication to break through.
Seconds passed by, but still, absolutely no action was taken on the part of the facility and its operators.
It was around that point that I began feeling a tentative wave of relief washing over me, as I turned back towards the door with a hopeful gaze.
If the facility wasn’t going to proactively take the first move, then my worry was now rapidly shifting from that of our own safety, to that of the facility’s.

92 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. Signal Station. Atrium Entrance.
Evina
Having a door slammed in your face was a sure-fire way of reducing your chances of survival by a good fifty or so percent.
Having a bunker door slammed in your face on the other hand… was an entirely different ballgame.
Needless to say, my objectives were clear… and being ordered around certainly didn’t help matters, as my instincts told me to run, leap, and to just keep moving.
I pulled out my gun even before Lysara’s orders, holding it steady and aiming down the ever reliable scope I’d spent months tuning for them to be just right.
My eyes began darting left and right, scanning the expansive atrium, focusing on the two doors ahead of us and what looked to be a larger sealed cargo door to our left and right. All of them were sealed, but I was just waiting for the moment one of them opened up to reveal some hidden irradiated horror.
So with that in mind, I felt the compulsion to just… keep moving.
Staying put wasn’t part of the survival guide, not especially if you’re in unknown territory on what was clearly someone else’s home turf.
But I had to fight those inclinations, I had to block out those screams from my prior two iterations to ignore the alien’s orders.
I had to learn to play ball, even if it meant going against everything I knew.
Because unlike the typical wastelander crisis I often found myself in, where I was almost always on the backfoot in every conceivable metric, I now had practically every other advantage aside from home turf.
I had tech, weapons, armor, and even numbers.
It was time to think differently, act tactically, because unlike every other situation before this, I was now in a position where thinking with conventional tactics was actually possible.
“Right, okay, this is bad.” I finally managed out after convincing myself to finally commit to playing ball. “So what’s the plan, chief? The way I see it, there’s only one way from here.” I shrugged, then pointed at the two doors opposite of us, and the two cargo doors to the left and right of the room. “We need to double-down, and just go all-in. Because if this bunker is like any other bunker on the continent… there’s sure to be, like, an emergency exit or some service tunnel to the surface. So my advice, as the resident bunker-expert, is to choose one of the two main doors there. I’ll let you pick which one since we don’t really have much to work on, not even signs, which I admit, is kinda weird.”
Lysara seemed to ponder that option for a moment, before gesturing back towards the bunker door that’d just sealed shut behind us. “I believe that one will do.” He offered after a few moments of thought, prompting me to cock my head in abject confusion.
It was around that point where I started seriously reconsidering my faith in the alien’s abilities to actually translate his book smarts into field smarts.
Moreover, I started to actually worry once again, as questions over the alien’s ability to hold his own entered front and center.
Did he lose it? Did he seriously just lose it on the first hurdle of the whole operation? I thought to myself darkly, letting out an exasperated breath that was probably quite audible over the intercom.
“To clarify, I don’t think we have much to worry about considering we’ve lost contact with Vir. He’s proactive, and considering the tools at his disposal I actually worry more for the facility at this point in time.” The alien spoke in a way that conveyed a sense of caution and concern… though it was clear now that it seemed to be a concern for our opponents rather than us.
“What the heck do you mean-” I paused, as it finally hit me.
“If we don’t regain contact in the next five or so minutes, Vir will probably take it upon himself to either retry the manual override, or try a more… forceful approach.” Lysara quickly added, prompting me to crack a nervous smile, as I promptly shook my head in disbelief. “But I’d still advise that we stay sharp just in case the greeting party’s just a bit late. I don’t want to be caught off-guard just because we might be dealing with some delayed offensives.”
I nodded in acknowledgement at this as we held our position, and my eyes remained peeled, taking careful note of everything around us. “If he forces his way in, wouldn’t that be completely against our whole, you know — unlock the facility carefully so we don’t disturb anything — plan?”
“Potentially.” Lysara nodded. “But at this point our assured security should take precedence. We can’t continue the mission if we’re dead after all, and so-”
“-maximize our chances of survival, gotcha.” I nodded in confident agreement. “That works for me, chief.”
A few minutes passed, and not a single movement came through from within the facility.
However, just as we were starting to get acclimated, my eye caught sight of something on the blast door.
It was difficult to spot at first, and with my attention focused almost squarely on the other entrances in the room, I’d almost missed it.
There were… what seemed to be etch marks on the surface of the door.
This prompted me to investigate, completely breaking rank with Lysara prompting an immediate reprimand in the form of a yell.
“Wait, Evina, what are you-”
“Oh, sorry. I’m still not used to this whole squad thing.” I stopped mid-stride, reaching for the back of my head nervously; resulting in an unsatisfying bonk of my armored hand against my helmeted head. With a sigh, I eventually pointed at the faint discoloration on the protective coating of the door that clearly wasn’t due to simple wear and tear. “There’s something on the door that I wanted to investigate.”
“Well it’s not safe to go too close to the door. Vir might be tearing that thing down at any moment so it’s best to stay away.” Lysara cautioned. “So let me just have the suit’s cameras zoom in a bit here…” He trailed off, managing to superimpose a picture-in-picture view of the mystery etching on the bunker door.
It didn’t take us more than a few moments for us to register exactly what those etchings were after just a single glance.
Though it took several more seconds for the ramifications of what exactly we were looking at to truly sink in.
Moreover, this proved to spark something in the self-purported xeno-anthropologist's mind, as he ordered a robot over to take a closer look. Under more intense scrutiny, it was clear that the door wasn’t weirdly splotchy because of some strange pattern of wear and tear. Indeed, there were actually portions of it that looked crudely touched-up, painted over using thin coats of paint that made certain areas darker, or lighter, compared to the overall original coat of paint that we saw on the outside of the door.
The robot soon pushed further, actually scraping off these patches of thinly applied paint.
And once enough of them were scraped off, our macabre suspicions were confirmed.
Beneath the thin paint, were more of these ‘etchings’.
Though it was clear at this point that calling it that wasn’t accurate anymore.
These were claw marks.
“Felinor claw marks.” I finally remarked, taking a few steps back.
“Did… did someone manage to make it inside and get trapped and-”
“No, no.” I answered confidently. “I’ve been visiting this area of the forest for ages. Absolutely no one comes here, and I would’ve noticed some disturbances or at the very least some signs of the door being moved since then. Even if I haven’t gotten close, the door is very much still a prominent feature of the landscape. Never once have I seen the vines, the leaves, or any bit of the foliage being disturbed. We’re the first to have entered this place.”
“Which means these claw marks must have been made by whoever was already in here, trying to get out.” Lysara concluded, eliciting a nod from myself.
“Yeah…” I acknowledged darkly, my features scrunching up in the process.
“Is… is it common for bunker-dwelling felinor to-”
“No.” I interrupted Lysara before he could go any further into that train of thought. “At least, nothing to this extent.” I gestured towards the door again. “What… what the fuck is going on in here.” I muttered out, just as the door itself began to glow…
“WATCH OUT!” Lysara shouted, pushing me further away from the door’s line of sight as in a matter of seconds, the world around me erupted into a violent display of lights.
Thankfully, we weren’t really directly in front of the door anyways.
But being extra cautious wasn’t a bad idea either. Especially as I saw what Vir had done to the door.
It looked as if a massive, perfectly circular hole had been cut straight through the thick metal. Moreover, there were now streams of molten slag melting from the very top of the hole, dripping superheated globs of what had formerly been indestructible metal.
“STATUS REPORT?!” I heard a familiar voice blaring through my helmet, as Lysara began the process of reassuring the flustered AI as to our safety and the continued viability of the mission.
As that conversation continued however, a series of loud, high-pitched screeches emerged from within the atrium.
“The PA system.” I announced confidently. “I can recognize that sound from a mile away.”
We quickly regrouped back into formation, with the bots taking point, and Lysara and I standing side by side; weapons at the ready.
A flurry of noises erupted from the PA system, all of them entirely unintelligible, until finally… a distinctly felinor voice managed to break through.
“WAIT!” A male voice managed out through sheer panic. “Please! Don’t go! I… That was a mistake on my part, please! It’s… it’s just been so long since, well… I… heh. Correction. It can’t be so long, since no one has ever actually gotten in. B-but now you’re here! And I… Oh I…” The voice ‘stalled’, stopping mid sentence as if overtaken by its own manic undertone. “P-please…” It offered again, this time, followed up by the unnerving sound of centuries-old pneumatic doors unsealing themselves for the first time in forever.
A single door to the far side of the atrium had opened.
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(Author’s Note: We push forward! With Vir coming in to save the day, demonstrating that there's always a Plan B to ensure the safety of the crew in spite of the obstacles that they might face! However, just as things seem to be wrapping up with that complication, another unexpected curiosity arrives through the intercom, much to the confusion of our intrepid duo! :D The next chapter is already out on Patreon as well if you want to check it out!)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 99 of this story is already out on there!)]

Continuing our quest inside Drangleic Castle searching for Vendrick and the proof of the King. Unlocking and discovering secrets along the way. Will our new friend at the bonfire share with us his story or will we have to bonk him? So many questions that need answered. Join me in the unrelenting challenge that is a Dark Souls 2. Streaming today 5pm PST
https://twitch.tv/takaursinae

Dearest gentle player,
It is with much delight that this Game Master welcomes you into the dazzling and glamourous ton of the Adamant Empire.
In this world of socialities, schemers and sycophants, you will be assuming the role of debutantes, bright and accomplished Gems, who are either just now being introduced to society or who are returning to it after being away for a very long time, with the intent of securing respectable matches for themselves.
Armed only with your wits, wiles and charms, you must charm suitors and navigate the rigid society of the Empire while avoiding scandal and ruin. Gods forbid you end up being dragged through the mud in the mysterious Lady Quartz's society papers!
What will you strive for, gentle player? Will you search for that perfect one, throwing caution to the wind in the pursuit of true love? Will you prove to be the most sparkling of Gems, earning yourself the favour of her Grace, the Queen Consort Ciyradyl, and the title of the Diamond of the season? Will you aim to rise as high through the ranks as possible? After all, why be content with being a Mrs. when you can be a Duchess? Or will you strive to forge a different path for yourself, forsaking what your family and society has set out for you? Something in between?
Whatever your goal is, be weary, dear player. For in this world, secrets are a dangerous currency and scandals can destroy entire families. Be an example of fine society or embrace infamy, tis your choice. Just know that the ton is always watching, judging in hushed whispers and giggles.
So, follow my lead and dance through candlelit ballrooms as we create together a tale of thrilling character drama, love, passion, ambition and bitter rivalries, all that which makes a heart flutter with enthusiasm and dread.
And if our darling debutantes unwittingly end up entwined in a conflict much grander than they could have ever anticipated? Well... is it truly a D&D game without some heightened stakes?
Campaign Pitch
Thank you for reading through my ramblings. I will be running a bit of a niche idea for a campaign. Those who have seen the Netflix Series Bridgerton or have consumed any media inspired/related to Jane Austen probably have a fairly good idea of the kind of story I am going for.
Essentially, this game will focus a lot more on your characters, their goals, desires and tribulations while they wade through the social season. There will be a main plotline as well as many other storylines linked to NPCs and factions that the players might interact with if they so wish, but ultimately I enjoy focusing on what my players find most enjoyable.
This will be a very roleplay heavy game. Combat will occur on occassion. This is D&D still after all so I am essentially contractually obligated to allow you to bonk at least a few times, but combat will only happen when the story demands it-and the story likely won't demand it that often. I suppose you can theoretically go out to the wilderness and do a dungeon crawl and I will play along with it, but if that is what you are seeking out of your D&D experience, this is sadly not the game for you.
Besides from roleplay, there might be some degree of urban exploration within the city of the Summit, the capital of the Empire and the setting of our campaign. There will potentially be some opportunities for sleuthing too if that is an avenue the players decide to explore more.
Instead, most of the game will be focused on exploring the lives of your characters and for those around them as well as that of your larger society. You can expect a lot of talking to each other and to NPCs so I encourage you to get deep into your character's mindset, to flesh them out as a person and to allow yourself to get vulnerable while playing them. Those are the moments my current table thrives on. We have quite literally cried as result of scenes. So never hesitate to speak up, try something new out and go deep into your character's soul.
As for me, I will strive to create an immersive, breathing world. I want my NPCs to feel like real people and for you to bond with them as such. I want your environment to react to and remember your actions, what makes you who you are. For this purpose, I will work with each of the players to intergrate their characters into the Adamant Empire and to best accomodate what you want to do in and out of character.
Speaking of the world, during character creation, we will work together to create the province you are from as well as your family and their place within society (status, any connections to guilds they might have, etc). So, you will be actively involved in creating at least a few small parts of it.
Once I have gathered up all players and received their backstories, there will be a two weeks gap between that and starting the game so I can get some more GM prep done with all the factors in mind. I want to try and begin either at the end of this month or at the start of the next one, but I won't push on this too hard.
Once we have started, I want to settle on a consistent schedule so schedule compatibility and consistence is quite important for me. I do not have a specific end date in mind for this game. I believe campaigns should last as long as it takes for them to have a satisfying conclusion. That being said, my games tend to be on the longer end so keep that in mind too.
If any of that sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to fill in the form down below! Hopefully we will get to create a great story together.
Lore
There is some lore within the Adamant Empire and the continent it is a part of, Kosmos, but nothing of massive importance that you would need to know right out of the bat. It has its own history and pantheon of Gods, etc, but honestly I am more than happy to work with the players to adjust the existent lore or to add entirely new one. Never hesitate to reach out to me.
The basics of the world are these though:
The Adamant Empire is thousands of years old. It is fairly similiar to the irl British Empire in many ways. It is extremely powerful and influential and it has supposedly independent colonies that in essence function as puppet goverments all over the continent. Few can match them in power.
That was until a hundred years ago.
King Edmund Diamant was determined to conquer one of the last remaining nations that could potentially rival the Adamant Empire, the elven isles of Yara Ambar. He miscalculated gravely, however, and that led to the Empire's first true loss. Taking advantage of the distraction, multiple colonies revolted and enough banded together to form the City States of Andora. With the assistance of their infernal supporters, the revolutionaries have gained some level of independence and are now almost certainly plotting to claim more and more of the Empire's lands for themselves.
The Empire's legions, coffers and reputation took a significant blow and they were forced to sign a treaty with the elven royalty.
Prince Orion was betrothed and later wed to an elven noble woman. This was a significant event because for centuries now, since the reign of Cedric the Conqueror, it had been strictly forbidden for non-humans to be part of the Adamantian nobility. The Oldblood families, the most ancient of bloodlines within the Empire, protested against the decision, but there was little to be done.
King Orion and his consort Queen Ciyradyl have reigned together for 70 years now. During their rule, peace and prosperity has largely been maintained and the people are content. More and more non-human families have also made their into the ton, a most scandalous occurence at first, but one that the ton has grown to accept with time, albeit some races more than others.
Alas, it is uncertain how long peace will last still. With the 99 year old King growing ill in body and mind, his wife and children have primarily taken over his duties. The City States of Andora stand proud to this day, a mark of shame upon the pride of any true Adamantian. Much conversation remains over what is to be done with them. Simultanously, there are many other forces who would benefit to see the Empire crumble on its knees.
Life in the Adamant Empire is about to change. Whether that change shall be for better or worse and what role you might play in it is yet to be revealed.
There is yet another element that needs to be discussed when it comes to the lore and that is the Gems/Steels separattion.
In essence, I and my players wished to replicate the sort of narratives one might encounter in the books of Jane Austen, where for example the Bennet family must marry all their daughters or they will end up with no inheritance (gasp!), but we still wished to be able to have PCs be male or to explore queer romances and narratives.
So, we settled on the following idea:
There is a secondary label by which individuals are put into one category or the other. People either bear the Mark of the Gem or the Mark of the Steel. This system of social distinction in essence replaces the era accurate existence of sexism.
Gems and Steels can be male or female, it does not matter. Similarly, Gems and Steels can be in relationships with men or women, that also does not matter. Creating offspring is still important within society, but magic can also accomplish that so gender or sexuality is not a factor.
What matters is that Gems are not allowed to inherit property and titles and are very limited in the careers that it is appropiate for them to have. They are expected to spend their time at home, tending to the needs of the household and the family. Steels have none of these restrictions.
Your characters are all Gems, meaning they need to marry -and marry well- in order to secure the best possible future for themselves.
Idea might be slightly altered in the future, but the skeleton of it should remain the same more or less.
As you might have figured out from this, while we will be trying to keep the spirit of the era and many of its customs, we won't be going for 100% historical accuracy (if you did not figure that out from the fact that magic exists). So, if that is what you are looking for, sorry but this table probably won't perfectly match your taste.
Table Rules
Given that we will be very focused on roleplay, character creation will have some according adjustments. you can find those down here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7JdKnUQEfsoEOufrb8hACKmDBzIGaKEzXGKtT1sD7o/edit?usp=sharing
If you require some guidance in creating the narrative elements of your character, you can use this doc as a well as a sort of guideline:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qAudZPqYzCS9lDZGp7E6ZtWQExmCvP3DQnUqFZ9u3Ww/edit?usp=sharing
Some more rulings to keep in mind:

Social PvP is allowed, but combat must be discussed by the players and the GM beforehand.
For inspiration, you can have up to 3 at a time.
Drinking potions is a bonus action :)

And we might come up with more as we play.
Plot Hook
The Player Characters all have town lodgings in the same neighbourhood, Fairbrooke Square. Thus, they might know each other to some degree or they might not. That is up to the players.
Regardless, as you were all neighbours growing up, you would have grown up alongsides the at the time Viscountess Kristina Royce (Steel). The specific relationship and dynamics that you had with Kristina can be fleshed out later between you and I, but everyone knew her in some shape, way or form.
Ten years ago, Kristina's parents died, making her Countess of Stirling and shortly after she left to roam the sea as Royces tend to do. Whether you maintained contact with her afterwards is once again your decision to make.
Kristina has now returned to the Summit, shortly after breaking off her betrothal to Emil Pleasant (Gem), son of the Baron of Fairbrooke Square and another one of your neighbours. You can also decide what kind of dynamic you have with him too.
While your whole street is whispering about the impending social season and the latest hot gossip, you (the PCs) each receive an invitation to dinner from Kethryllia Royce, Doawger Countess of Stirling, grandmother of Kristina and former handmaiden to the Queen.
It is uncertain yet what she wishes to discuss with you about, but that private dinner will be the inciting incident of our game.
Player Requirements
If all this sounds good to you, then now it is time to see if you would be a good match for the table! The ideal player for us would match the criteria down down below.

Is 18+.
Has a decent internet connection.
Has a laptop cause you need that for Foundry.
Has a mic and camera and is comfortable with having the camera open for sessions (yes, this is obligatory. I understand why some might not like it, but I find roleplay flows much more smoothly when you can see the other's face so this is must. Sorry.)
Is available every Sunday from 4 to 9 BST.
Is LGBTQ+ friendly as I am not going to allow any kind of hate at my table.
Loves roleplaying.

As you might have noticed, level of experience is not a concern here. Newbies and experienced players are welcome alike!
Player Application
If you match all the criteria above, wonderful! i can't wait to hear from you. Go ahead and fill the application in. It is a bit long, but I hope it will be as fun for you to fill in as it was for me to make.
I already have three amazing players and I am looking for two more to fill out the party. The form should remain open for around a week so take your time.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXCoA6pUYSWk2WzsNq0Vb1N7xj3BSB8C3DEPVOmYfPAJ3KJg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Afterword
If you have read through all my ramblings, thank you very much! Remember to include the word "bonbon" in there so that I know you did.
This is a rather new experience for me if I am sincere. I have been GMing for a few years now, but this will be a very different sort of game to what I usually run and I am also rather new to Foundry too.
I cannot promise it will be a perfect experience, but I can promise that I will always strive to make it an enjoyable one. I am always open to critique and willing to adjust things for the entertainment and safety of the group.
I have bored you enough I would say. Farewell for now, gentle player. Let us not keep the ton waiting.

Dearest gentle player,
It is with much delight that this Game Master welcomes you into the dazzling and glamourous ton of the Adamant Empire.
In this world of socialities, schemers and sycophants, you will be assuming the role of debutantes, bright and accomplished Gems, who are either just now being introduced to society or who are returning to it after being away for a very long time, with the intent of securing respectable matches for themselves.
Armed only with your wits, wiles and charms, you must charm suitors and navigate the rigid society of the Empire while avoiding scandal and ruin. Gods forbid you end up being dragged through the mud in the mysterious Lady Quartz's society papers!
What will you strive for, gentle player? Will you search for that perfect one, throwing caution to the wind in the pursuit of true love? Will you prove to be the most sparkling of Gems, earning yourself the favour of her Grace, the Queen Consort Ciyradyl, and the title of the Diamond of the season? Will you aim to rise as high through the ranks as possible? After all, why be content with being a Mrs. when you can be a Duchess? Or will you strive to forge a different path for yourself, forsaking what your family and society has set out for you? Something in between?
Whatever your goal is, be weary, dear player. For in this world, secrets are a dangerous currency and scandals can destroy entire families. Be an example of fine society or embrace infamy, tis your choice. Just know that the ton is always watching, judging in hushed whispers and giggles.
So, follow my lead and dance through candlelit ballrooms as we create together a tale of thrilling character drama, love, passion, ambition and bitter rivalries, all that which makes a heart flutter with enthusiasm and dread.
And if our darling debutantes unwittingly end up entwined in a conflict much grander than they could have ever anticipated? Well... is it truly a D&D game without some heightened stakes?
Campaign Pitch
Thank you for reading through my ramblings. I will be running a bit of a niche idea for a campaign. Those who have seen the Netflix Series Bridgerton or have consumed any media inspired/related to Jane Austen probably have a fairly good idea of the kind of story I am going for.
Essentially, this game will focus a lot more on your characters, their goals, desires and tribulations while they wade through the social season. There will be a main plotline as well as many other storylines linked to NPCs and factions that the players might interact with if they so wish, but ultimately I enjoy focusing on what my players find most enjoyable.
This will be a very roleplay heavy game. Combat will occur on occassion. This is D&D still after all so I am essentially contractually obligated to allow you to bonk at least a few times, but combat will only happen when the story demands it-and the story likely won't demand it that often. I suppose you can theoretically go out to the wilderness and do a dungeon crawl and I will play along with it, but if that is what you are seeking out of your D&D experience, this is sadly not the game for you.
Besides from roleplay, there might be some degree of urban exploration within the city of the Summit, the capital of the Empire and the setting of our campaign. There will potentially be some opportunities for sleuthing too if that is an avenue the players decide to explore more.
Instead, most of the game will be focused on exploring the lives of your characters and for those around them as well as that of your larger society. You can expect a lot of talking to each other and to NPCs so I encourage you to get deep into your character's mindset, to flesh them out as a person and to allow yourself to get vulnerable while playing them. Those are the moments my current table thrives on. We have quite literally cried as result of scenes. So never hesitate to speak up, try something new out and go deep into your character's soul.
As for me, I will strive to create an immersive, breathing world. I want my NPCs to feel like real people and for you to bond with them as such. I want your environment to react to and remember your actions, what makes you who you are. For this purpose, I will work with each of the players to intergrate their characters into the Adamant Empire and to best accomodate what you want to do in and out of character.
Speaking of the world, during character creation, we will work together to create the province you are from as well as your family and their place within society (status, any connections to guilds they might have, etc). So, you will be actively involved in creating at least a few small parts of it.
Once I have gathered up all players and received their backstories, there will be a two weeks gap between that and starting the game so I can get some more GM prep done with all the factors in mind. I want to try and begin either at the end of this month or at the start of the next one, but I won't push on this too hard.
Once we have started, I want to settle on a consistent schedule so schedule compatibility and consistence is quite important for me. I do not have a specific end date in mind for this game. I believe campaigns should last as long as it takes for them to have a satisfying conclusion. That being said, my games tend to be on the longer end so keep that in mind too.
If any of that sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to fill in the form down below! Hopefully we will get to create a great story together.
Lore
There is some lore within the Adamant Empire and the continent it is a part of, Kosmos, but nothing of massive importance that you would need to know right out of the bat. It has its own history and pantheon of Gods, etc, but honestly I am more than happy to work with the players to adjust the existent lore or to add entirely new one. Never hesitate to reach out to me.
The basics of the world are these though:
The Adamant Empire is thousands of years old. It is fairly similiar to the irl British Empire in many ways. It is extremely powerful and influential and it has supposedly independent colonies that in essence function as puppet goverments all over the continent. Few can match them in power.
That was until a hundred years ago.
King Edmund Diamant was determined to conquer one of the last remaining nations that could potentially rival the Adamant Empire, the elven isles of Yara Ambar. He miscalculated gravely, however, and that led to the Empire's first true loss. Taking advantage of the distraction, multiple colonies revolted and enough banded together to form the City States of Andora. With the assistance of their infernal supporters, the revolutionaries have gained some level of independence and are now almost certainly plotting to claim more and more of the Empire's lands for themselves.
The Empire's legions, coffers and reputation took a significant blow and they were forced to sign a treaty with the elven royalty.
Prince Orion was betrothed and later wed to an elven noble woman. This was a significant event because for centuries now, since the reign of Cedric the Conqueror, it had been strictly forbidden for non-humans to be part of the Adamantian nobility. The Oldblood families, the most ancient of bloodlines within the Empire, protested against the decision, but there was little to be done.
King Orion and his consort Queen Ciyradyl have reigned together for 70 years now. During their rule, peace and prosperity has largely been maintained and the people are content. More and more non-human families have also made their into the ton, a most scandalous occurence at first, but one that the ton has grown to accept with time, albeit some races more than others.
Alas, it is uncertain how long peace will last still. With the 99 year old King growing ill in body and mind, his wife and children have primarily taken over his duties. The City States of Andora stand proud to this day, a mark of shame upon the pride of any true Adamantian. Much conversation remains over what is to be done with them. Simultanously, there are many other forces who would benefit to see the Empire crumble on its knees.
Life in the Adamant Empire is about to change. Whether that change shall be for better or worse and what role you might play in it is yet to be revealed.
There is yet another element that needs to be discussed when it comes to the lore and that is the Gems/Steels separattion.
In essence, I and my players wished to replicate the sort of narratives one might encounter in the books of Jane Austen, where for example the Bennet family must marry all their daughters or they will end up with no inheritance (gasp!), but we still wished to be able to have PCs be male or to explore queer romances and narratives.
So, we settled on the following idea:
There is a secondary label by which individuals are put into one category or the other. People either bear the Mark of the Gem or the Mark of the Steel. This system of social distinction in essence replaces the era accurate existence of sexism.
Gems and Steels can be male or female, it does not matter. Similarly, Gems and Steels can be in relationships with men or women, that also does not matter. Creating offspring is still important within society, but magic can also accomplish that so gender or sexuality is not a factor.
What matters is that Gems are not allowed to inherit property and titles and are very limited in the careers that it is appropiate for them to have. They are expected to spend their time at home, tending to the needs of the household and the family. Steels have none of these restrictions.
Your characters are all Gems, meaning they need to marry -and marry well- in order to secure the best possible future for themselves.
Idea might be slightly altered in the future, but the skeleton of it should remain the same more or less.
As you might have figured out from this, while we will be trying to keep the spirit of the era and many of its customs, we won't be going for 100% historical accuracy (if you did not figure that out from the fact that magic exists). So, if that is what you are looking for, sorry but this table probably won't perfectly match your taste.
Table Rules
Given that we will be very focused on roleplay, character creation will have some according adjustments. you can find those down here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7JdKnUQEfsoEOufrb8hACKmDBzIGaKEzXGKtT1sD7o/edit?usp=sharing
If you require some guidance in creating the narrative elements of your character, you can use this doc as a well as a sort of guideline:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qAudZPqYzCS9lDZGp7E6ZtWQExmCvP3DQnUqFZ9u3Ww/edit?usp=sharing
Some more rulings to keep in mind:

Social PvP is allowed, but combat must be discussed by the players and the GM beforehand.
For inspiration, you can have up to 3 at a time.
Drinking potions is a bonus action :)

And we might come up with more as we play.
Plot Hook
The Player Characters all have town lodgings in the same neighbourhood, Fairbrooke Square. Thus, they might know each other to some degree or they might not. That is up to the players.
Regardless, as you were all neighbours growing up, you would have grown up alongsides the at the time Viscountess Kristina Royce (Steel). The specific relationship and dynamics that you had with Kristina can be fleshed out later between you and I, but everyone knew her in some shape, way or form.
Ten years ago, Kristina's parents died, making her Countess of Stirling and shortly after she left to roam the sea as Royces tend to do. Whether you maintained contact with her afterwards is once again your decision to make.
Kristina has now returned to the Summit, shortly after breaking off her betrothal to Emil Pleasant (Gem), son of the Baron of Fairbrooke Square and another one of your neighbours. You can also decide what kind of dynamic you have with him too.
While your whole street is whispering about the impending social season and the latest hot gossip, you (the PCs) each receive an invitation to dinner from Kethryllia Royce, Doawger Countess of Stirling, grandmother of Kristina and former handmaiden to the Queen.
It is uncertain yet what she wishes to discuss with you about, but that private dinner will be the inciting incident of our game.
Player Requirements
If all this sounds good to you, then now it is time to see if you would be a good match for the table! The ideal player for us would match the criteria down down below.

Is 18+.
Has a decent internet connection.
Has a laptop cause you need that for Foundry.
Has a mic and camera and is comfortable with having the camera open for sessions (yes, this is obligatory. I understand why some might not like it, but I find roleplay flows much more smoothly when you can see the other's face so this is must. Sorry.)
Is available every Sunday from 4 to 9 BST.
Is LGBTQ+ friendly as I am not going to allow any kind of hate at my table.
Loves roleplaying.

As you might have noticed, level of experience is not a concern here. Newbies and experienced players are welcome alike!
Player Application
If you match all the criteria above, wonderful! i can't wait to hear from you. Go ahead and fill the application in. It is a bit long, but I hope it will be as fun for you to fill in as it was for me to make.
I already have three amazing players and I am looking for two more to fill out the party. The form should remain open for around a week so take your time.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXCoA6pUYSWk2WzsNq0Vb1N7xj3BSB8C3DEPVOmYfPAJ3KJg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Afterword
If you have read through all my ramblings, thank you very much! Remember to include the word "bonbon" in there so that I know you did.
This is a rather new experience for me if I am sincere. I have been GMing for a few years now, but this will be a very different sort of game to what I usually run and I am also rather new to Foundry too.
I cannot promise it will be a perfect experience, but I can promise that I will always strive to make it an enjoyable one. I am always open to critique and willing to adjust things for the entertainment and safety of the group.
I have bored you enough I would say. Farewell for now, gentle player. Let us not keep the ton waiting.

Dearest gentle player,
It is with much delight that this Game Master welcomes you into the dazzling and glamourous ton of the Adamant Empire.
In this world of socialities, schemers and sycophants, you will be assuming the role of debutantes, bright and accomplished Gems, who are either just now being introduced to society or who are returning to it after being away for a very long time, with the intent of securing respectable matches for themselves.
Armed only with your wits, wiles and charms, you must charm suitors and navigate the rigid society of the Empire while avoiding scandal and ruin. Gods forbid you end up being dragged through the mud in the mysterious Lady Quartz's society papers!
What will you strive for, gentle player? Will you search for that perfect one, throwing caution to the wind in the pursuit of true love? Will you prove to be the most sparkling of Gems, earning yourself the favour of her Grace, the Queen Consort Ciyradyl, and the title of the Diamond of the season? Will you aim to rise as high through the ranks as possible? After all, why be content with being a Mrs. when you can be a Duchess? Or will you strive to forge a different path for yourself, forsaking what your family and society has set out for you? Something in between?
Whatever your goal is, be weary, dear player. For in this world, secrets are a dangerous currency and scandals can destroy entire families. Be an example of fine society or embrace infamy, tis your choice. Just know that the ton is always watching, judging in hushed whispers and giggles.
So, follow my lead and dance through candlelit ballrooms as we create together a tale of thrilling character drama, love, passion, ambition and bitter rivalries, all that which makes a heart flutter with enthusiasm and dread.
And if our darling debutantes unwittingly end up entwined in a conflict much grander than they could have ever anticipated? Well... is it truly a D&D game without some heightened stakes?
Campaign Pitch
Thank you for reading through my ramblings. I will be running a bit of a niche idea for a campaign. Those who have seen the Netflix Series Bridgerton or have consumed any media inspired/related to Jane Austen probably have a fairly good idea of the kind of story I am going for.
Essentially, this game will focus a lot more on your characters, their goals, desires and tribulations while they wade through the social season. There will be a main plotline as well as many other storylines linked to NPCs and factions that the players might interact with if they so wish, but ultimately I enjoy focusing on what my players find most enjoyable.
This will be a very roleplay heavy game. Combat will occur on occassion. This is D&D still after all so I am essentially contractually obligated to allow you to bonk at least a few times, but combat will only happen when the story demands it-and the story likely won't demand it that often. I suppose you can theoretically go out to the wilderness and do a dungeon crawl and I will play along with it, but if that is what you are seeking out of your D&D experience, this is sadly not the game for you.
Besides from roleplay, there might be some degree of urban exploration within the city of the Summit, the capital of the Empire and the setting of our campaign. There will potentially be some opportunities for sleuthing too if that is an avenue the players decide to explore more.
Instead, most of the game will be focused on exploring the lives of your characters and for those around them as well as that of your larger society. You can expect a lot of talking to each other and to NPCs so I encourage you to get deep into your character's mindset, to flesh them out as a person and to allow yourself to get vulnerable while playing them. Those are the moments my current table thrives on. We have quite literally cried as result of scenes. So never hesitate to speak up, try something new out and go deep into your character's soul.
As for me, I will strive to create an immersive, breathing world. I want my NPCs to feel like real people and for you to bond with them as such. I want your environment to react to and remember your actions, what makes you who you are. For this purpose, I will work with each of the players to intergrate their characters into the Adamant Empire and to best accomodate what you want to do in and out of character.
Speaking of the world, during character creation, we will work together to create the province you are from as well as your family and their place within society (status, any connections to guilds they might have, etc). So, you will be actively involved in creating at least a few small parts of it.
Once I have gathered up all players and received their backstories, there will be a two weeks gap between that and starting the game so I can get some more GM prep done with all the factors in mind. I want to try and begin either at the end of this month or at the start of the next one, but I won't push on this too hard.
Once we have started, I want to settle on a consistent schedule so schedule compatibility and consistence is quite important for me. I do not have a specific end date in mind for this game. I believe campaigns should last as long as it takes for them to have a satisfying conclusion. That being said, my games tend to be on the longer end so keep that in mind too.
If any of that sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to fill in the form down below! Hopefully we will get to create a great story together.
Lore
There is some lore within the Adamant Empire and the continent it is a part of, Kosmos, but nothing of massive importance that you would need to know right out of the bat. It has its own history and pantheon of Gods, etc, but honestly I am more than happy to work with the players to adjust the existent lore or to add entirely new one. Never hesitate to reach out to me.
The basics of the world are these though:
The Adamant Empire is thousands of years old. It is fairly similiar to the irl British Empire in many ways. It is extremely powerful and influential and it has supposedly independent colonies that in essence function as puppet goverments all over the continent. Few can match them in power.
That was until a hundred years ago.
King Edmund Diamant was determined to conquer one of the last remaining nations that could potentially rival the Adamant Empire, the elven isles of Yara Ambar. He miscalculated gravely, however, and that led to the Empire's first true loss. Taking advantage of the distraction, multiple colonies revolted and enough banded together to form the City States of Andora. With the assistance of their infernal supporters, the revolutionaries have gained some level of independence and are now almost certainly plotting to claim more and more of the Empire's lands for themselves.
The Empire's legions, coffers and reputation took a significant blow and they were forced to sign a treaty with the elven royalty.
Prince Orion was betrothed and later wed to an elven noble woman. This was a significant event because for centuries now, since the reign of Cedric the Conqueror, it had been strictly forbidden for non-humans to be part of the Adamantian nobility. The Oldblood families, the most ancient of bloodlines within the Empire, protested against the decision, but there was little to be done.
King Orion and his consort Queen Ciyradyl have reigned together for 70 years now. During their rule, peace and prosperity has largely been maintained and the people are content. More and more non-human families have also made their into the ton, a most scandalous occurence at first, but one that the ton has grown to accept with time, albeit some races more than others.
Alas, it is uncertain how long peace will last still. With the 99 year old King growing ill in body and mind, his wife and children have primarily taken over his duties. The City States of Andora stand proud to this day, a mark of shame upon the pride of any true Adamantian. Much conversation remains over what is to be done with them. Simultanously, there are many other forces who would benefit to see the Empire crumble on its knees.
Life in the Adamant Empire is about to change. Whether that change shall be for better or worse and what role you might play in it is yet to be revealed.
There is yet another element that needs to be discussed when it comes to the lore and that is the Gems/Steels separattion.
In essence, I and my players wished to replicate the sort of narratives one might encounter in the books of Jane Austen, where for example the Bennet family must marry all their daughters or they will end up with no inheritance (gasp!), but we still wished to be able to have PCs be male or to explore queer romances and narratives.
So, we settled on the following idea:
There is a secondary label by which individuals are put into one category or the other. People either bear the Mark of the Gem or the Mark of the Steel. This system of social distinction in essence replaces the era accurate existence of sexism.
Gems and Steels can be male or female, it does not matter. Similarly, Gems and Steels can be in relationships with men or women, that also does not matter. Creating offspring is still important within society, but magic can also accomplish that so gender or sexuality is not a factor.
What matters is that Gems are not allowed to inherit property and titles and are very limited in the careers that it is appropiate for them to have. They are expected to spend their time at home, tending to the needs of the household and the family. Steels have none of these restrictions.
Your characters are all Gems, meaning they need to marry -and marry well- in order to secure the best possible future for themselves.
Idea might be slightly altered in the future, but the skeleton of it should remain the same more or less.
As you might have figured out from this, while we will be trying to keep the spirit of the era and many of its customs, we won't be going for 100% historical accuracy (if you did not figure that out from the fact that magic exists). So, if that is what you are looking for, sorry but this table probably won't perfectly match your taste.
Table Rules
Given that we will be very focused on roleplay, character creation will have some according adjustments. you can find those down here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7JdKnUQEfsoEOufrb8hACKmDBzIGaKEzXGKtT1sD7o/edit?usp=sharing
If you require some guidance in creating the narrative elements of your character, you can use this doc as a well as a sort of guideline:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qAudZPqYzCS9lDZGp7E6ZtWQExmCvP3DQnUqFZ9u3Ww/edit?usp=sharing
Some more rulings to keep in mind:

Social PvP is allowed, but combat must be discussed by the players and the GM beforehand.
For inspiration, you can have up to 3 at a time.
Drinking potions is a bonus action :)

And we might come up with more as we play.
Plot Hook
The Player Characters all have town lodgings in the same neighbourhood, Fairbrooke Square. Thus, they might know each other to some degree or they might not. That is up to the players.
Regardless, as you were all neighbours growing up, you would have grown up alongsides the at the time Viscountess Kristina Royce (Steel). The specific relationship and dynamics that you had with Kristina can be fleshed out later between you and I, but everyone knew her in some shape, way or form.
Ten years ago, Kristina's parents died, making her Countess of Stirling and shortly after she left to roam the sea as Royces tend to do. Whether you maintained contact with her afterwards is once again your decision to make.
Kristina has now returned to the Summit, shortly after breaking off her betrothal to Emil Pleasant (Gem), son of the Baron of Fairbrooke Square and another one of your neighbours. You can also decide what kind of dynamic you have with him too.
While your whole street is whispering about the impending social season and the latest hot gossip, you (the PCs) each receive an invitation to dinner from Kethryllia Royce, Doawger Countess of Stirling, grandmother of Kristina and former handmaiden to the Queen.
It is uncertain yet what she wishes to discuss with you about, but that private dinner will be the inciting incident of our game.
Player Requirements
If all this sounds good to you, then now it is time to see if you would be a good match for the table! The ideal player for us would match the criteria down down below.

Is 18+.
Has a decent internet connection.
Has a laptop cause you need that for Foundry.
Has a mic and camera and is comfortable with having the camera open for sessions (yes, this is obligatory. I understand why some might not like it, but I find roleplay flows much more smoothly when you can see the other's face so this is must. Sorry.)
Is available every Sunday from 4 to 9 BST.
Is LGBTQ+ friendly as I am not going to allow any kind of hate at my table.
Loves roleplaying.

As you might have noticed, level of experience is not a concern here. Newbies and experienced players are welcome alike!
Player Application
If you match all the criteria above, wonderful! i can't wait to hear from you. Go ahead and fill the application in. It is a bit long, but I hope it will be as fun for you to fill in as it was for me to make.
I already have three amazing players and I am looking for two more to fill out the party. The form should remain open for around a week so take your time.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXCoA6pUYSWk2WzsNq0Vb1N7xj3BSB8C3DEPVOmYfPAJ3KJg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Afterword
If you have read through all my ramblings, thank you very much! Remember to include the word "bonbon" in there so that I know you did.
This is a rather new experience for me if I am sincere. I have been GMing for a few years now, but this will be a very different sort of game to what I usually run and I am also rather new to Foundry too.
I cannot promise it will be a perfect experience, but I can promise that I will always strive to make it an enjoyable one. I am always open to critique and willing to adjust things for the entertainment and safety of the group.
I have bored you enough I would say. Farewell for now, gentle player. Let us not keep the ton waiting.

Machine Man was the last of a group of robots built by the US military for a secret weapons project. Raised like a son by one of the project leads, Dr. Abel Stack, Machine Man was thrust into a world not ready to accept him when Abel sacrificed his life to remove a built-in self destruct chip meant as a failsafe. Despite the government's persecution of his existence, he would become a superhero and honorary member of the Avengers, saving the lives of people no matter if they viewed him as a man or merely a machine.

Notes

Source key and scaling threads can be found here
This RT does not cover Machine Man’s feats from after his original body was destroyed and he was reuploaded into a new one, reactivating Sentinel programming Bastion left in him. An RT for this form can be found here
This RT only covers the original incarnation) of Machine Man. Starting with Nextwave, Machine Man was given an altered design and personality that would later be retconned into being an “imposter” Machine Man in 2019's Marvel Comics #1001. This fact was referenced by the “imposter” himself in a later comic
This RT doesn't cover Machine Man's 1984 run and related comics, as they take place in a possible future timeline (and thus, an alternate universe).
To see feats for X-50, the X model robot immediately previous to X-51, go to this RT

Robotic Physiology

General

Body

Weighs 850 pounds^MM19
Claims to not feel pain in the same way a human does, even when parts of his body are being engineered or welded on^SO8
His body can be disassembled, this doesn't appear to put him in any significant pain/distress^SO10
His "brain unit" is able to be pulled out of his head, and he's still functional so long as it's not disengaged^MM4
- Pulls out part of his leg to repair some damaged circuitry^IH235
As a robot, he is unaffected by things like "breathing" in methane,^MM10 tear gas,^MM11 or sleeping gas^MM19
- Seems to be unaffected by Ultron-10's hypnotic eyes^MTO93
- Was unaffected by the Psycho-Prism until a specialized "refractory disc" was attached to him, the Psycho-Prism being a crystal powered by a strand of hair from the Purple Man that emits a pheromone used to control a person's will^ED
His metallic body conducts electricity very well, which he commonly makes use of to harness nearby power sources^MM14 for subduing opponents^MTU99
Can store his civilian clothes in his right thigh, and his collapsible helmet in his left leg^{MTU A3}
Emits "unique bio-radiations" that can be detected by specialized equipment^MM18
Has a considerable memory storage in his head, limbs, and upper abdomen^AWC83
Can turn just his head fully around^{A3 1}
Is apparently susceptible to corrosion in water^UXM371
Had a fix to the Y2K bug installed in him^{X51 3}
Runs on MS-DOS^DBB1

Mechanisms

Extendable Limbs

Reach

Fine Control

Offensive Usage

Gravity Negation

Weaponry

Electricity

Magnetism

On Objects

Magnetic Fields

Temperature Systems

Hacking Implements

Senses and Sensors

Vision

Hearing

Object/Emission Detection

Signal Detection/Transmission

Measurement Systems

Vocal Replication

Temporary Modifications

Other Abilities

Sentinel Abilities

During the events of Machine Man/Bastion '98, Machine Man's main body was taken over by Bastion and given access to some of Bastion's Sentinel abilities as a result.^MMB This section is only for the feats he demonstrated in his original body, and not the Sentinel form he took beginning in X-51 #1.

Nanotech

Offensive Abilities

Hacking

Misc

Former Abilities

Following Machine Man's first encounter with the Hulk, extraneous parts of his machinery, including his laser, flame, and stun abilities, had to be removed in order to keep him from self-destructing.^MM10 To see the abilities he demonstrated before this downgrade, see here.

Strength

Striking

Objective

Scaling

Lifting

Throwing

Grip

Pushing

Restraining

Full-Body

Spinning

Other

Durability

General

Physical

Objective

Continued in the comments

I - II - III
“Are you sure we can't make Jumpy the Frog a little … friendlier looking?”
My animation supervisor was looking at my sketches, and pointing out how Jumpy’s eyes looked a little too bloodshot, and how too many veins protruded through his gray skin.
But that's just what Jumpy looked like.
“He can stay in the background,” I said. “ I would really appreciate it— if we could sneak him in there for the next episode.”
My anim supe frowned at the picture. “Is this like a webcomic you are trying to make viral or something?”
It's actually some awful, real life entity I'm trying to appease so it doesn't kill me.
“Yeah, it's a webcomic. I would really appreciate it. Seriously. Just this once”
My supe liked me and I could tell he was willing to make this small favor happen, but that still didn't wipe the look of confusion off his face.
“Okay. I'll talk to production. It doesn't need to go higher up the chain. We can just slip Jumpy in near the end of the episode in one of the crowd scenes.”
I bowed and clasped his hands.
***
Hallelujah.
I would be seeding Jumpy’s image across a generation of kids who streamed cartoons. If that Frog said it needed believers to exist, it would now have a legion of kids who would see it, and probably wonder what that creepy frog was doing in the background of a popular TV show.
It might not happen right away, it may take weeks or months for anyone to notice, but if I could have Jumpy appear enough times to get other kids to simply think about the frog, I would no longer be condemned as the sole believer.
All I need is one fan to make a meme about it (hell I could lay the groundwork myself), and then we’d have tons of people on the internet seeing Jumpy, fan-arting Jumpy, and dreaming about Jumpy. He’ll have hordes of adherents loyal to his image.
I felt like this plan would work. Something in my bones told me so.
To celebrate, I removed all the Jumpy drawings I had put up in my apartment, and I deleted all photos from my phone.
“You’ll have plenty of believers, Jumpy! Not just me! A sea of ten-year olds will keep your essence alive!”
I was laughing, pouring myself some wine and cheersing my reflection in the mirror.
The evening was young, and for the first time in what felt like years, I decided I would go out. To a pub. A club. Anything.
I pinged a couple friends and got some suitable dancing clothes.
***
My elevator is the glass kind that rides on the exterior of my building. I usually don’t appreciate the view, but tonight I relished the sun setting on the horizon, basking the entire city in a warm orange glow. I had found a solution to Jumpy, and I deserved a moment to appreciate the good things in life.
I admired the other skyscrapers, which framed the white capped peaks in the distance. I admired the graceful fir trees which fit in-between the downtown streets. And I admired the grimy footprints on the elevator glass that didn't block any of this magical view.
Wait a second. Grimy footprints?
The elevator jolted to a stop.
I flew several feet in the air. Fell straight on my tailbone
My entire spine was on fire for a few moments as I looked at the elevator’s little screen .Floor 31 - SERVICE ERROR.
What just happened?
I heard loud warbling on the elevator's glass, and there the answer presented itself. Outside, waving its massive webbed hand, was an ecstatic, smiling Jumpy the Frog.
“Whitaker sister! It’s me! It's me! It's meeee!’
Even muffled behind the glass, I could make out the high-pitched voice.
“Jesus Christ,” I said, barely able to speak. My body had frozen stiff.
“What you say?” Jumpy pressed its head against the glass. “I can't hear you.”
I collected myself, realizing how much weight Jumpy was adding to the elevator. I tried shooing with my hands. “Get off. Get off the glass!”
The frog's pupils widened and looked in two different directions. “Okays! I’ll take off the glass!”
“What? Wait. Wait!”
The amphibian applied both of its sticky hands on the glass above the elevator, creating a vacuum-tight seal. The arms lifted, flexing dozens of wiry, cord-like muscles. I could hear metal and screws pop.
The glass exploded atop the elevator.
I shielded my head as hundreds of shattered pieces fell. A few cut my arms. Crisp, thin air breezed in along with Jumpy’s jovial voice. “Whitaker sister!”
I watched as the frog clambered down into the elevator. Its skin looked healthy and green, evidently all my ‘believing’ had maybe helped heal the creature after all. I stood with my back against the closed metal door. Jumpy reached the elevator floor.
“Why are you removing Jumpy art?” The frog used a massive arm to sweep the glass away from its feet.
I could barely move. “What?”
“I sawed you remove the pictures of Jumpy in your house. Why? why? why why why?”
Although I was terrified for my life in this broken elevator missing half of its ceiling. I was now doubly creeped out that Jumpy had been watching me in my apartment? For how long?
The frog licked its eyes, The cheeriness from its voice fading a little. “Why. You. Remove. Drawings.”
I cleared my throat, and brushed hair out of my eyes. “Listen Jumpy, I am going to convince lots of kids to believe in you.”
The frog stared blankly.
“I’m going to get a lot of kids to believe in you, so I don't have to believe in you. This way you can outlive the Whitaker sisters. This way you can live your own life, Jumpy. I’m setting you … free.”
The frog held still, not moving a single muscle until its head tilted sideways. “But Jumpy belongs to Whitakers. Jumpy always helps only the Whitakers!”
“Well, I'm giving you permission to stop. You can be free. To be your own frog.” I was trying to sound confident, like the way my sisters may have commanded Jumpy.
But Jumpy didn't seem to take this well. The frog slowly cradled its face, as if such a suggestion was sacrilege. “But how is Jumpy supposed to help you then? Who do you want Jumpy to gobble up?”
“I don't need you to help me. I don't … what do you mean gobble up?”
“Marie-Anne and Jamie had Jumpy gobble up lots of peoples!”
They did? “Like … who?”
“Oh other pretty little girls. Girls who did too much talking and singing. Lots of peoples.”
I haven't mentioned this yet, but my twin sisters were rising young actors. They landed recurring roles on a sitcom and their careers only seemed to be looking up. Until the fatal car accident of course.
“I don't want you to gobble anyone up, Jumpy! I want you to be free, to go live in the pond or Forest and do whatever you like.”
“But …” The frog lowered its gaze and approached me“... Jumpy likes gobbling. Please tell Jumpy who to gobble.”
I couldn’t back up any further than the elevator door. “Fish! Worms! Whatever normal frogs gobble up. You go gobble that.”
Jumpy pressed one of its sinuous fingers against my belly. “Oh but you can think of some juicy, jiggly peoples for Jumpy to gobble up. There must be someone you don’t like.”
I closed my eyes, sealed my mouth. The moldy fruit breath was overwhelming.
“Tell Jumpy who to gobble.”
I shielded my face. “Please Jumpy. I don’t have anyone. I don’t want you to eat anyone.”
The breath retreated. Its voice turned disappointed. “You don’t have … anyone?”
“No. It’s not good to eat people, Jumpy.”
When I opened my eyes, the frog was turned away. It placed one of its massive hands on the glass wall.
“You don’t want Jumpy to be happy …” The frog bonked its head along the glass, penalizing its own sorrow. The glass cracked a little bit.
“No, I want you to be very happy! I just want you to discover a new source of happiness that isn’t … gobbling.”
The frog bonked its head on the glass again. “Marie-Anne and Jamie told me you wouldn't understand Jumpy. Maybe they were right ...”
The remaining walls of glass were growing cracks at an alarming rate. If they broke, I would be completely exposed at thirty one stories above sea level.
“Please Jumpy! I understand everything! Maybe I can find you, like, I dunno, a people meat substitute? Have you tried pork?”
Jumpy ignored me, and climbed back to the opening up top. The glass was spider-webbing everywhere
“Sorry Whitaker, Jumpy must eat peoples. There is no choice.”
Pops and snaps came from all the walls around me. I turned to hug the elevator door as close as I could.
“I’ll just wait for your kids,” Jumpy said. “I’m sure one of the childrens will have lots of gobble ideas for Jumpy.”
Before I could reply, the frog hopped away, climbing along the side of my apartment building.
Then, the glass around me fractured in aggressive zigs zags until … SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!
Shards fell like a waterfall.
Bits shot at my back and neck.
Within seconds, the glass walls around me were gone. I could feel the cold, atmospheric wind rippling through my clothes.
The platform slanted from the weight of the glass. I rolled once or twice before digging my nails into the floor.
I was at least four hundred feet in the air, completely at mercy to the elements. If the elevator jolted in any direction, I would certainly roll off the ground platform and plummet.
Oh god. Please don’t move, please don’t move, please don’t move, please don’t move …
***
Screams would erupt uncontrollably as the elevator jiggled every now and then. I’m not ashamed to admit that I soiled myself.
Birds cawed at my panicked form. The twin elevator would rumble past me, causing my whole platform to tremble too. I was in my own private hell for forty five minutes until the fire department showed up.
It felt more like six hours.
When they finally did manage to pry open the elevator door and pull me to safety, they announced I had no real injuries, only a couple of minor scrapes. But I was trembling so much from fear, that they took me straight to the hospital. The paramedic said I looked like I had seen a ghost.
I stayed the night, unable to sleep.
They even kept me the full next day because my heart rate still wouldn’t go down.
“You’ve got to relax, you’re safe now,” one of the nurses said. And I told them, “I know, I know, I’m doing my best.”
But what I didn’t explain was that I was absolutely petrified that a horrible frog monster could come back and kill me. I had only met Jumpy twice in my life now, and both times it felt like I was staring death in the face. Even if it was by accident, the frog could easily hop on me, choke me or toss me down a flight of stairs without intending to murder me.
Jumpy was too callous, too oblivious in regard to preserving any human life… and then I realized I would soon enable kids to see Jumpy.
I would be allowing minors to not only risk their lives meeting the frog, but also risk the lives of others by letting him gobble.
I had sent the wheels in motion for a Pandora’s box to open via children’s television across the internet, across the entire world. The frog could terrorize the lives of countless kids for eternity because they would all believe in and fear it. Bullies would abuse Jumpy. Parents won’t know what to do. I would be creating a real life boogeyman.
Dear God, what have I done?

With the Panthers advancing to the Stanley Cup Final, we know the Flyers will have either the 31st or 32nd pick in this year's draft. With the end of the first round typically being hard to predict, especially in this draft where everything after 1st Overall is wide open. Since there isn't a ton of difference between 31st and 32nd, so I figured I could highlight some names that the Flyers could be looking at at the end of the first round.
One thing I want to point out is that while if you look at Cap Friendly it shows the Flyers also having the Blue Jackets 2nd round pick (36th Overall). But the Jackets have the right to defer that pick to next year after the first round of the draft. I just can't see them giving up that pick, especially with a new GM keen to make an impact with his new team. So if you see some player rankings and think "we could get him at 36th overall" we likely wont have that pick.
Also, trading up has been a hot topic pretty much all year, and while trading up in the top 10 is nearly impossible, moving up (or back) in the later parts of the first round happen all the time. With a likely three 2nd round picks in next year's draft (at least two of them belonging to non-playoff teams), there is a chance the Flyers jump up to get someone.
I wanted to start out with a couple names bigger names that I think have a chance of falling come draft day. These players are still ranked fairly high, but could fall at the actual draft for various reasons and could see a highly talented player available for the Flyers.
The first is Adam Jiricek, the younger brother of David Jiricek was projected as a potential top 10 pick for the last couple years. While not as big as his brother, he's has grown, now being listed at 6'2 when he was previously listed at 6'0. He's a more mobile puck mover than his brother, at least that was his reputation before an injury at World Juniors knocked him out for the rest of the season. While Jiricek has a great reputation, he had already began to slip in rankings after not meeting expectations in the Czech league to start the season and combined with him missing so much high profile hockey many teams might not have a good a read on him as they would like.
The other player who might fall to the Flyers is Aron Kiviharju who missed most of the season with injury. In the years leading up to the draft Kiviharju was thought of as being the top D in his draft class, often expected to go in the top 5. He started to slip a little before the start of the season, and injuries combined with his small size have seen him slip further and further. If healthy, Kiviharju still has elite talent, great and shifty skating as well as being a great passer. I think there is a good chance both he and Jiricek are off the board by the time the Flyers make their second pick, but there is still a chance one is available at the end of the first round.
Now I want to take a look at players who are much more likely going to be available at the end of the first. I'm going to highlight defensemen first, and then forwards. Because player rankings vary so much I will list the range and median of each player's rankings.
Defensemen
Cole Hutson - LHD - 5'10 US NTDP Range: 21-50, Median: 31-40 If you follow prospects or World Juniors you certainly know Cole's older brother, Lane. He just had two of the best seasons for a first and second year defenseman in the NCAA in recent memory. Cole has a very similar player profile, shifty skater, great playmaker, and confident with the puck. While his regular season stats may not be as good as Lane, at the U18 tournament he is unrivaled. Cole is tied for 1st and 2nd in most points by a defenseman in a single tournament at the U18s, making him the all time leader in points by a defenseman at the tournament (passing for leader Cam York by 8 points). He also joins York and Victor Hedman as the only defensemen to make the tournament All-Star team twice. Hutson has issues defensively, more so than York or else he would probably ranked in a similar spot. If you look at the median, it shows a huge gap showing that there is a clear delineation between guys who think he is a clear late first rounder and a clear mid 2nd rounder. I mentioned when talking about Zayne Parekh in my look at who the Flyers could take at 12th Overall that the difference between Erik Karlsson and Tony Deangelo is more based on truly exceptional offense than defense. Similarly, thats the difference between a guy Tony Deangelo and say TJ Brennan who spent most of his career in the AHL. It's not that Brennan is significantly worse defensively than Deangelo or Karlsson, it's that he doesn't score enough to make up for it. Even if Hutson doesn't become a standout defensively, if he reaches the offensive heights he will still be a solid NHLer. The question is can he reach those heights?
Henry Mews - RHD - 6'0 - Ottawa 67's (OHL) Range: 16-50, Median: 32 Mews is potentially the most intriguing prospect in this part of the draft. He has excellent edgework and great acceleration, pairing that with silky hands and it gives him some great escapability. He's got great offensive instincts, so while his shots and passes may not be the hardest or exceptionally accurate, he is able to create more offense than guys with those skills because of how he can read a situation. Mews, like Hutson, struggles defensively which isn't too uncommon for offensive defensemen at this level. The bigger issues come from his compete and his ability to get bullied off the puck. Mews can be inconsistent compete level wise, also something not that uncommon - especially in this draft, but what is slightly more worrying is how he doesn't handle physical play well even at this level. He's not particularly small at 6'0, and you see smaller guys like Cole Hutson or even smaller Emil Andrae lean into physical play and make it a strength not a weakness. Even Gostisbehere who wasn't particularly physical in the NHL was much more physical at his age group in the NCAA and World Juniors. But the reason he is intriguing is that if you look at him, he plays a style similar to Cale Makar, and everybody would be interested in finding a Cale Makar at the end of the first round. His aversion to physical play may just be because he's not used to being hit with his skill set, and if the Flyers think they could fix his bad habits they may think they could be getting a real high level talent.
Charlie Elick - RHD - 6'3 - Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) Range: 22-58, Median: 33-34 Changing gears from smaller, high offense players, to bigger defensive defenseman brings us to Charlie Elick. Elick is a formidable D, one of if not the most physical defenseman that could go in the first round. Throwing big hits, clearing the front of the net, and winning puck battles along the boards is where Elick shines the most. His biggest weakness is his offense which is pretty limited, while he has a good first pass he does not have the offensive instincts to create off the rush or be a major playmaker from the blue line. But that does not mean he doesn't have some good attributes typically associated with offensive defensemen. He is a very strong skater, both with straight line speed and maneuverability. He has decent puck handling skills and can protect the puck with his large frame. Potentially most importantly is his first pass which is hard and accurate making zone exits much easier than defensive defensemen of the past. We are starting to see a new breed of defensive defensemen, ones with good mobility but just don't have the offensive instincts of guys like say Artyom Levshunov or Carter Yakemchuk at the top of this draft. Given how high the Flyers are on a prospect like Hunter MacDonald, a player like Elick who is a similar style but considered more physical and a better skater could be a player they are looking at closely. They should be very familiar with him as he is a teammate of last year's second round pick goalie Carson Bjarnasson.
EJ Emery - RHD - 6'3 - US NTDP Range: 17-44, Median: 35 Emery is in a similar mold to Elick, a smooth skating defensive defenseman who does not really project to have much offensive upside in the NHL. He is a good passer, especially in his defensive zone which helps make up for more limited puck skills compared to other defensemen like him. While he isn't as physical as a player like Elick, he has a very high hockey IQ which makes him very difficult to beat one on one. While a player like Elick can't take advantage of offensive situations, Emery is more focused on making the safe play. It may be a boring style of game, but high defensive skills and high hockey IQ are valuable skills and, based off the Bonk pick last year, something the Flyers value. Unlike with Bonk though, I don't think there is a surprise offensive awakening in Emery. Bonk had solid offensive numbers last year and if you look at him in camp he was much more willing to attempt skill plays than a lot of the other defensemen. I don't think anybody expected the breakout he had, but there were offensive skills there and a desire to use them. Emery is much more limited, this past season Emery didn't score a single goal across 95 games in all competitions and only got 28 assists. Emery was paired with Cole Hutson on the NTDP's top pairing this year, which could explain why his regular season point production was so stunted while his U18 points (6 assists in 7 games) was comparatively a lot higher. The defensive Emery balancing the aggressive Hutson when playing tougher and older competition with the NTDP, but was able to find the score sheet more when they played a more balanced style. He is headed to North Dakota next season which as done a good job in developing the offense of defensive defenseman lately, I don't think Emery will ever be a big point producer or have a Bonk-esque jump, but his defensive skills are certainly something to keep an eye on going forward.
Dominik Badinka - RHD - 6'3 - Malmo (SHL) Range: 23-61, Median: 38 Badinka is a good balance between the four defenseman I've already mentioned. The Czech has bounced from Czechia, Finland, and now Sweden in the last three years, but has the size and skating of Elick and Emery paired with the offensive instincts and ability to jump into the play of Hutson and Mews. His puck skills and skating aren't as dynamic as the small guys, and his defense and physicality isn't as exceptional as the big guys, but he has good marks in all categories. The thing that probably stands out the most in both ends of the ice is his confidence, he has the ability to hold on to the puck in his defensive zone to make easy exits and has the ability to make smart passes and shots in the offensive zone even if he doesn't have the mobility of Hutson or Mews. One player he really reminds me of is Boston Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei, a rookie this season who may not be a household name, but I saw a lot of Lohrei while at Ohio State so he's one of the players I know the best. At the NCAA level Lohrei was able to control games with his strong smooth skating and confience with the puck, even taking over games against guys like Matty Beniers, Adam Fantilli, and Logan Cooley. He may not be a name that jump off the page right now, but if you watched the impact Lohrei had for Boston in the playoffs you'd definitely want the Flyers got their own Lohrei. Whether they select Badinka is another story, one could call Badinka as a jack of all trades and a master of none (except confidence) so he doesn't have the on attribute that makes him jump out at you. If the Flyers think they can fix certain flaws or fill in certain gaps with the other defensemen, their single defining trait could be enough to make up for other short comings and still make a positive impact. Badinka does not have a glaring weakness that would keep him from being an NHLer, but he also does not have the one thing that could make him indispensable for a team. This isn't to say Badinka does not have a high ceiling, in the right situation he could be a 40 point defenseman, but the fact that he has a high ceiling and a high floor makes me think he could be the best option among the defensemen I mentioned.
Forwards
Jett Luchanko - C - 5'11 - Guelph (OHL) Range: 18-53, Median: 31-38 Luchanko has a lot of tools that could make him a great NHL center. He has great acceleration and pairs it with high top end speed and strong edges that make him all around one of the best skaters in the draft. He has a high compete level and high hockey IQ that makes his speed a weapon on both offense and defense. One of the knocks on Luchanko is that he does not high the high end offensive skill or knack for the net that we see in some other high end prospects. If you look at the other forwards projected to go in the first round you see either a great shot, high end puck skills, or an ability to score dirty goals around the front of the net. Luchanko, while he does not have that, is an elite playmaker, using his vision to find open players and his speed to get to spots a lot of players can't find. One big issue with some fast players is being able to make decisions at speed, not just decision making when you are going fast, but when the level of competition picks up and now everyone is not only going fast but making smart decisions at speed. Hopefully the combination of speed and high IQ for Luchanko make him a player that doesn't hit a wall against fast competition, but his tools already give him a low floor where worst case scenario he could be a Ryan Poehling type.
Cole Beaudoin - C - 6'2 - Barrie (OHL) Range: 30-56, Median: 43-45 Beaudoin has a couple similarities with Luchanko, both have high hockey IQ, a high compete level, and vision and passing accuracy making him a great playmaker, with Beaudoin probably having a slight edge in all those categories. The biggest difference is speed, with Luchanko being one of the fastest forwards and Beaudoin being one of the slowest forwards in this range of the draft. His skating has improved from last season, but it still has a long way to go, but Beaudoin has a few other highlights that make him a very interesting option. He plays more of a power forward type of game, at 6'2 he is not only more physical but he is able to win battles around the net to score goals. It's a combination of skills you don't see often in the NHL, net front power forward mixed with elite playmaker, combined with a great defensive forward. It may be that he ends up finding one niche and working that way, instead of being more of a Swiss army knife, which could make him less appealing if the Flyers think he'll trend to be a more one dimensional player. His offensive play took a massive jump forward and if he continues to develop at that rate in junior he could be one of the more dynamic players if he does not get pigeon holed into a certain role. Beaudoin is similar in a lot of ways to David Krejci, and if he is able to use his smarts and skill to make up for his lack of speed he could have a similar career. But if his speed doesn't reach a high enough level, or he is able to get speed but is forced to become more one dimensional it could hinder him from not only making an impact in the NHL but making the league at all. In a lot of ways he's a safe pick, in some others he's a bit riskier.
Lucas Pettersson - C - 5'11 - MoDo (SHL/Junior) Range: 30-55, Median: 37 One thing Sweden does well in hockey development is make sure their players are well rounded. Pettersson posses high end skill, a dynamic shot, great speed, strong playmaking ability, and great defensive awareness that makes him a player who can be equally gifted offensively as he is defensively. He was one of the highest u18 players in the Swedish junior league and got a brief call up to the SHL. If you look at his highlight reels and see how people talk about him, you'd assume he'd go off the board much earlier, maybe even push the top 10. The biggest issues with Pettersson comes down to consistency, both in performance and effort level. While inconsistent effort level may raise more red flags, I think the fact that he wasn't consistently producing even when working hard a little more worrying. If you can reach a player to raise their effort level that problem will go away, and while every player can be streaky it's not a great sign when a high skill player is streaky at a lower junior league. That said, there is no denying Pettersson's skill and his defensive abilities make him still a very appealing prospect at this point in the draft. His defense makes it so that even if he is streaky offensively he'll be a consistently effective player in his own zone. I'm sure that will lead to some people being frustrated why he can't always be a great offensive player, while others see his offense as a nice little bonus.
Dean Letourneau - C - 6'7 - St. Andrew's Prep (Prep/AAA) There are a lot of things to like about Letourneau. Obviously, his size at 6'7 makes him stand out, but he has a number of other solid attributes as well. He has great speed, not just for someone his size but is genuinely quick, and he has great puck skills for a big man. His size and puck stills make it easy to protect the puck at his level, and he is able to rip a heavy shot, especially off the rush. I know there are a lot of fans of Letourneau in the sub, almost certainly stemming from his size, but I think this would be the one player I'd be disappointed if the Flyers take. I think he'll be a controversial pick no matter who takes him. Letourneau plays in a very low league in terms of the NHL draft, especially the first round. His St. Andrew's team plays in the Prep High School league in Canada and in a U18 AAA league. The league is closer (if not lower) than the GOJHL where the Flyers drafted 6th Rounder Ryan MacPherson out of last season. His size and speed are great attributes, but they also provide him a disproportionate advantage over kids in his league. The league also prevents him from playing against older competition, unlike guys playing in even non-CHL Canadian junior or the USHL. I mentioned before making decisions at speed is a huge factor that often isn't focused on, and facts are that he's never been in a situation playing against the higher end players in his age group. Even looking at Ryan MacPherson who made the jump from the GOJHL to the BCHL, he started out very strong then struggled mightily in the second half. There have been an number large, skilled, good skating centers to be drafted in the first round in recent years, like Logan Stanley and Michael Rasmussen, but neither have really developed in to stars and both came up playing against much tougher competition. Letourneau has a long development timeline, which isn't necessarily bad, but he is a high risk pick, with a relatively low reward. Even if you look at his best comps like Tage Thompson, or a bigger Chris Kreider, those players are very streaky power forwards. When one of the better potential outcomes is that he's a tall Chris VandeVelde it may not be the best person to pick in this spot.
Matvei Gridin - LW - 6'1 - Muskegon (USHL) Range: 26-61, Median: 43 Another Matvei. Gridin came over to play in the USHL in 2022 and was the leading point scorer in 2023-24. He is a dynamic offensive talent, possessing great hands, a great shot, and being a great playmaker. He is in a lot of ways the prototypical Russian star player, high end skill, physically very strong, and can sometimes float around to get the right opportunity. Apparently, he has floated less and less as he has gotten more used to the North American game and I imagine he'll continue to become more competitive next season when he goes to the University of Michigan. One of his bigger issues is a lack of high end speed, not as slow as Beaudoin, but a player that relies more on his skill to get him up the ice. He is also not particularly strong defensively or someone who battles in front of the net. Gridin is one of the riskier picks in this round, given that he projects to be a one dimensional offensive player. Much like how I talked about the difference between Karlsson and Deangelo is about offense, the same works for one dimensional offensive forwards. Gridin will either be a baseline 60 point winger, or he wont be in the NHL. He probably stands a better chance at being a 60 point, top 6 winger than the other guys we mentioned, but it will be harder for him to work his way up. Think about Bobby Brink who also has speed issues but projects to be the type of player who won't stick in the NHL if he can't get a top 6 role (or be on a more offensive oriented third line). But the reason he gets opportunities is his high motor and relentless compete. As of right now, I don't see Gridin being that same type of player. But given his great skills and offensive instincts, plus the chance to pair him with another certain Matvei, that one dimension could be enough to land him in the first round and be a real asset to the Flyers down the line. Back in the day I would refer to Kimmo Timonen as Nicklas Lidstrom-lite. They played a similar style, and while Kimmo wasn't in the same category of the super elite Lidstrom, he was still a great player and would have caused fits if both were on the same team. I imagine it would be similarly tough for teams if they had to go against Michkov and Wish-brand Michkov on two separate lines.
John Mustard - 6'0 - LW - Waterloo (USHL) Range: 30-64, Median: 40-45 Could it be Col. Mustard in the Farg with a hockey stick? Mustard is actually a really intriguing prospect given how he has rocketed up the last few years. He was drafted in the 8th of 10 rounds in the USHL draft in 2022, but wasn't offered a spot until 23-24 after a big year at U16 AAA. The jump from U16 AAA to the USHL is a pretty big leap, with players usually struggling their first season. Mustard won the rookie of the year in the USHL, and I've seen multiple scouts and coaches use the term "natural goal scorer" but you I've also seen comments about his great vision and high hockey IQ. He's another player that has high offensive upside but right now is a more one dimensional player. Like Gridin, who is adjusting to the North American game, there is still a lot of opportunity for growth for Mustard, arguably more than with Gridin. Like Letourneau, he's a bit raw, but Mustard has produced great results against much stiffer competition. There are still areas of concern, he hit a pretty hard wall later in the USHL season, it happens a lot for rookies in any league especially when making a big jump. If he has made huge leaps and bounds due to natural talent and his body catching up physically, it offers a big opportunities to reach new heights, but also some worries that he may hit a wall that he won't be able to overcome at some point in his path to the NHL. Also, he's headed to Providence College, likely next season. Providence is a great program and Coach Nate Leaman is one of the best coaches in the country, and while they have had high skill players put up great numbers none have become in to star players at the NHL level - most being depth grinders. That said, Mustard could be the type of raw talent the Flyers feel like they could mold into a star player.
So who will the Flyers take?
For the most part, I listed players who should be on the board when the Flyers pick, it's at least likely that a majority of them will be there at either 31st or 32nd overall. A few could even still be available when the Flyers pick at 51st, as 10 of the 11 players I discussed have at least one person ranking them lower than 51st. There is also at least a chance the Flyers move up, but in that case it would likely be for a player they have their eye on specifically, or if a player falls further than they expect.
The back half of the draft will likely be in flux based on what happens in the first half of the draft. Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, and potentially Anaheim could have a 2nd first round pick directly prior to the Flyers selection. If they take a forward early in the draft they would likely be more inclined to take a defenseman later, and vice versa. Same with the Flyers, though I don't think it is certain they don't go with two forwards or two D. Also, if the team takes a riskier pick early (such as Cole Eiserman) they would likely aim for a safer pick later.
Me personally, I would prefer to go with a more balanced player at this spot in the draft. If you look back at previous drafts and the discourse in the years that follow, a lot of times there are players with one or two high end attributes taken between 25-40. They do not have one big flaw holding them back, instead it's one great attribute pulling them forward. I think this is generally a tougher development pathway, as you are fixing more things often at the expense of the their one great attribute. Morgan Frost is not only one of the better players to come out of the 25-40 range in recent years (league wide), but an example of what I'm talking about. He's much better defensively and competes much more consistently - two of the bigger knocks against him early in his career, but his offense doesn't seem like it will be consistently high enough be the offensive player people hoped for when he was dominating the OHL.
I think it's better to get a more balanced player and try and hone certain skills to find out what his best potential role could be. I'd probably be happiest with a guy like Dominik Badinka, Jett Luchanko, Cole Beaudoin, or Lucas Pettersson. If I had to guess I think the Flyers would be leaning a bit more towards Charlie Elick or EJ Emery.
Hope you enjoyed the lengthy post, or if you only read part of it I hope you liked what you saw. Sorry if you are a big Dean Letourneau person. I think this will be one of the hardest to predict drafts in a while so hopefully these posts help you know see the wide range of players available.

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