Sorry if my formatting is weird, i am on mobile.
So I've only played three times ever, with my friend who lives across the country, and im trying to start dming so i can play both at home, and more frequently than my dm friend has time for. Ive watched Matt Colville's "Running the Game" series half a dozen times; I enjoy just considering playing, as well as actually playing, so watching matt is half entertainment, half education for me.
I have several roommates, and one of them is an avid gamer. So i asked him what kind of dnd setting/theme he would like to play in, and he said "zombie apocalypse/survival." He says no video games get all the aspects of that situation right, and since dnd is so malleable, it seems possible, and it would be nice to see a decently realistic zombie survival game. He would be the sole player.
So i spend some time thinking about and developing the specific game mechanics he wants- creating a character sheet with abilities and skills that fit into the kind of play he wants, prioritizing stealth, crafting, nomadic survival (he says he doesnt want an HQ or even npc followers/a group, he wants to be a lone survivor); even adapting skill systems from fallout and the last stand series to a ttrpg friendly system. I also make a setting that the player likes and has agreed to (1980s, rural TN woods, which is the area we live in. Ive even thought it would be cool to include real history as easter eggs, such as actual cherokee myths come to life, or the "new road" built in 1981 that now serves as our real life main city highway in 2024, stuff like that.) i think itll be neat.
Anyway as the game mechanic was taking shape, i began to see how gameplay would look, and it was.. less than pleasing.
See, this player doesnt like play acting, so no Roleplaying dialogue, and also finds it tedious to go into too much detail (eg. "you find yourself at the mouth of the cave, water still dripping along the top slope from the morning's dew. Faint echoes of the drips reach your ears from within, as your eyes adjust to the darkness. What do you do?") He doesnt like that, and claims to prefer "okay youre at the cave, its dark. What next?" kind of thing. Which im fine with, hes the player. But also, without those descriptive words, the whole game experience seems too.. zoomed out.
Its like youre just holding a paper game controller (the character sheet/map,) pushing paper buttons (taking an action, or traveling). He said he would enjoy just experiencing survival with the threat of zombies, but it seems to me like that ought to be merely set onto a story/adventure, not the entire game. Otherwise it becomes a 3rd person strategy game/inventory manager where you almost guide the actions of an npc, like in wargames, instead of playing as a PC.
How can i give this player an adventure when it seems he wants to avoid quests? It should be noted that i pitched 3 different setting choices and he picked the 1980s TN woods. (The other 2 were 1- a combination of "The Most Dangerous Game," and "The Hunger Games," where in 1850 a billionaire group drops him on a private island inhabited by other survivors and zombies, just so they can watch the events unfold, and 2- 1585, Roanoke colony- the REAL reason they went missing, zombie attack!) Both seem laden with strife, quests, deeds... adventure! He picked the one where he can, as he puts it, "enjoy the game, not pine after some endgame goal." Which is cool, smell the roses, yea?
My question to you all is- how can i introduce a real ADVENTURE into the setting he chose? And do you see any red flags in what ive told; am i doing something wrong? Ty

I have a small Jewellery business that I have been considering opening on eBay and I just don't know if it's worth the time and effort.
Jewellery is a very saturated market and in order to stand out, I may have to go for promoted listings but from what I have read - my prices have to be competitve.
Its impossible to compete with the prices I am seeing dominating the listings on there because so much of it is very cheap Jewellery coming from China - Huggie Hoop Earrings for £3.95 inlcluding postage for example.
My Jewellery is supplied within the UK (so costs more for me to source), its great quality and it meets all the UK & International Hallmarking Laws.
So a pair of Huggie Hoop Earrings from me is £24.99 - £34.99 including postage and thats me being as competitive as I can without promo listings, I may have to charge slightly more to cover those costs.
As a business, I am here to make a profit in order to live and my profit at those prices is only very small.
If I don't charge those prices then I would be lucky if I was earning enough to pay myself a living wage unless I get lots of orders which I don't see happening on there.
The only sellers I'm seeing with thousands upon thousands of sales must be making pennies per sale - I don't want to sell items that I don't trust becasue I know these listings can't possibly have honest descriptions and the thought of having to deal with customers who's ears are infected really doesn't appeal to me.
For example, they say they're Sterling Silver but it's just not possible for them to be Sterling Silver at £3.95 with postage included. Even without postage included, eBay fees, taxes or any other running costs - that price for Sterling Silver Huggies seems impossible.
Maybe they're Sterling Silver over copper or brass or something but the listings literally say the base metal is Sterling Silver.
Regardless of the red flags, customers are CLEARLY buying them and the stores that have better quality aren't getting near as many sales.
I did a test on my private account for several weeks and I didn't even get 1 sale despite the fact that the item was ready to be shipped within 1 day with free 48 hour shipping, there was a 30 day return policy, great photos, great description with bullet points to emphasise the quality and with lots of item specifics filled in.
I've seen lots of people saying they're ready to run their eBay shop down and after the tests I've done, I'm just not so sure its worth me getting started - I just cant compete with these other sellers.
The only reason for me considering eBay is because I think its best not to have all your eggs in one basket but it seems all the market places are flooded with the worst quality coming from China in just about every niche and I don't see buyer behaviour changing any time soon.
Buyer behaviour on eBay in general seems to be that they're always looking to get the price down to an unsustainable amount - I'm not here to break even or work at a loss.
And buyers seem to have a habit of ignoring red flags because they love a bargain but then they wonder why they're not happy?
I am sorry for the long post, I am genuinely interested in hearing your thoughts.

I’ve been posting a series of essays regarding Jon’s identity and I think most people didn't understand the point I’m trying to make, so I thought I’ll give it another try. There's a short summary at the end.
Here’s the point: I believe that we were fooled, ASOIAF is “the real story” that Bael’s song tells.
Let me please explain myself better.
ASOIAF begins with a mystery, a cold creature kills a boy, Waymar Royce, who seems to be the hero stereotype: he’s handsome, smart, and owns a nice sword, and the mean wildlings are trying to deceive him, so he goes there sword in hand, like a hero does.
However, when you pay close attention to his story, you realize the poor kid set himself for failure. He left his best swordsman guarding the horses, asked a man who was known for being silent to be his watcher, and went straight into a place that he had described himself as a suspicious scene.
His outcome was predictable.
In the following chapters, we get three seemingly fantasy clichés one after another, Ned, the honorable hero, Jon, the young hero with a mysterious parentage, and soon after that, we are told how Lyanna was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by the evil dragon, Rhaegar Targaryen.
Of course, the predictable outcome would be Jon being Rhaegar’s son, after all his mother spent the war with the man, right? Well,maybe she didn’t.
Why am I claiming that we are being deceived?
When you compare Waymar’s story to Ned’s fever dream, we are being told *the exact same story.*
Like Waymar, the prince seems to have left his best swords “guarding the horses”, he leaves a person in charge of the watch who seems to go against his interests, and goes straight to die a meaningless death like Gared when he decided to desert.
What’s the issue? *It’s a song.*
Ned’s story of what happened in the tower (his fever dream) follows Bael’s song to the letter, and the point of that song is the deception, it’s not about love or even the baby, but Bael being a liar.
That also happens in AGoT’s prologue, Waymar was being deceived but not by the wildlings as he assumed.
The biggest hoax is that Bael’s song tells three different stories in which the “hero” is always “Bael”.

1. The Stark of WF wanted Bael’s head, but couldn’t take him.He calls Bael “a craven who preys only on the weak”, so Bael decides to teach him a lesson and goes to WF.

Being a wildling song, we expect Bael to be the hero, so when the lesson comes we might be a bit lost.
What’s the lesson? The lesson is the Stark “calling” Bael, giving a name to the “craven who preys only on the weak”.

1. Bael fakes to be a singer called Sygerrik (which means deceiver) and spends the night singing for the Stark, when he’s done, the lord offers him to “name” his reward. Bael asks for “the fairest flower” and the Stark gives him a winter rose. After leaving with the lord’s daughter, Bael leaves the flower as proof.

What’s the lesson here? It can’t be the lord realizing who took the maiden since the singer gave him a fake name, and he was welcome because the lordhad never met him before. The flower proves the lord is a deceiver.
When the singer asks for “the fairest flower” the lord knows he is asking for his daughter (even when he never names her), and tries to deceive Bael by giving him a rose. The flower proves the lord lied.

1. Bael comes back years later with an army; he’s faced in battle by his own son who doesn’t recognize him. Bael stays silent and lets the boy kill him. The word “recognize” implies that he knew the man; the very definition of recognition is “the identification of someone from previous encounters.”

What’s the lesson in this one? Who raised the boy? Bael: a liar and craven who never told the truth.
The “young lord,” was a liar (he had to recognize Bael from his own experience), and a craven who took advantage of Bael’s own weakness (his silence) to kill him.
Basically, when you go over the song, the baby, the maiden, and “the singer” are all victims of the lord of WF who never told the boy who he was, took the child “as payment”, and blamed “Bael” for the things he did.

“Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. "My mother told me that *dead men sing no songs*," he put in.” AGoT - Prologue

Bael is the lord of WF in the three stories and the “hero” of his own songs: a name that means something, a flower as proof of his deception, and dead men*singing songs.*
To summarize, the biggest deception in the song is the language, or rather, the way people are named.
We’ll now examine how Lord Stark deceived us all, and later why this is “a song of ice and fire”.

A hero of his own songs

We are first introduced to the song in AGoT’s Prologue when we meet three men on a mission: Waymar Royce, Will, and Gared.
Each of them helps us understand one of the stories told in Bael’s song. The prologue seems to be about these men deciding what to do regarding some dead people. In truth, they illustrate the lessons in Ned’s song for us, while we can also understand other stories of dead people: Rheagar’s and Lyanna’s.
One of the men, Will, is a craven who “wants nothing so much as to ride hellbent for the safety of the Wall”.
Waymar suspects that the wildlings are trying to deceive them, and notes that some things in Will’s story don’t seem to add up.
He wants to go personally to see the dead wildlings and prove his theory: someone is lying. Ironically his own broken sword is proof that he was right about the deceptionbut wrong about the author.
The third man, Gared,instantly recognizes what happened to the wildlings by Will’s description, even when he never actually saw them; but knew from previous experiences what “the cold” does, as he had found one of his brothers “with a smile on his face”.
Let’s examine how the song unfolds so we can find the real Bael.

1. The Craven and the given name.

In the song, “Bael” is a name that means something, is what you call a craven who preys only on the weak.
We get to see how Will exemplifies the concept of being a craven when the Others appear. I mentioned earlier that one of Waymar’s mistakes was sending a brother known for being silent to act as his watcher.
Will sees the entire fight while hiding on a tree (he’s a craven after all), and never says a word, not even when he sees the shadows moving, not when he sees the Other facing Waymar, and not while the boy is being mercilessly butchered.
He realizes, however, that he should “call down a warning” as the shadows start to appear, and ironically, Waymar shouts his name instead.

The Others made no sound. Will saw movement from the corner of his eye. Pale shapes gliding through the wood. He turned his head, glimpsed a white shadow in the darkness. Then it was gone. Branches stirred gently in the wind, scratching at one another with wooden fingers. Will opened his mouth to call down a warning, and the words seemed to freeze in his throat. Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps it had only been a bird, a reflection on the snow, some trick of the moonlight. What had he seen, after all? "Will, where are you?" Ser Waymar called up. "Can you see anything?" He was turning in a slow circle, suddenly wary, his sword in hand. He must have felt them, as Will felt them. There was nothing to see."Answer me! *Why is it so cold?"*

Interestingly, that’s exactly what happens in Ned’s dream, he tells us how he gets to the Tower with a bunch of shadows and how he sees three men in white waiting for him, and curiously, the person yelling in the dream was recognized before by Ned himself as being*so weak* that she could only whisper:

He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes.” Eddard I - AGoT

Lyanna’s fear as she dies seems far more interesting considering how Will never yells fearing “the shadows”, since Ned gets to his dream surrounded by shadows. Now, while we are told by Ned himself how she could barely speak, somehow, she calls ‘Bael’ loud and clear:

"As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" *she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky,as blue as the eyes of death. *"Lord Eddard," Lyanna called again.

See the first lesson in the song?
Why would Lyanna use the word “Eddard”, to call her own brother; a brother that she, and everyone who knew himcalled “Ned”?
In the song, the Stark gives Bael a name because he doesn’t know the man, but he knows *he’s hiding his identity to take advantage of “the weak”.*
In the dream “Eddard” means Bael. *He’s lying.*
The “craven” who actually yells in the dream is deliberately hidden:

"The finest knight I ever saw was Ser Arthur Dayne, who fought with a blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star. They called him the Sword of the Morning, and he would have killed me *but for Howland Reed*." Bran III - ACoK

In Ned’s “song” Lyanna yells even when she is so weak that she can barely speak. In truth, the one yelling, Howland, is warning him about the “white shadow”, Arthur Dayne, who was moving towards Ned to kill him as the shadows move to kill Waymar. That’s what Will should have done when he saw them: warn his brother.
The parallels between the Other facing Waymar and Arthur with Dawn in hand facing Ned in the dream are clear too. This is the Other:

The Other slid forward on silent feet. In its hand was a longsword like none that Will had ever seen. No human metal had gone into the forging of that blade. It was alive with moonlight, translucent, a shard of crystal so thin that it seemed almost to vanish when seen edge-on. There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.

This is Arthur, holding his sword made from “no human metal”.

"And now it begins," said Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass,*alive with light*. Eddard X - AGoT

You see, Ned did in his dream what Lord Stark does in the song: the “weak” (Lyanna), are identified as a Stark; Bael takes advantage of weak people to sing his song, to tell his own version of things.

"Your Bael was a liar," he told her, certain now. "No," Ygritte said, "buta bard's truth is different than yours or mine. Anyway, you asked for the story, so I told it." Jon VI - ACoK

In fact, Lyanna ends up buried in WF’s crypt (like the maiden in the song) because she’s identified by Ned as a Stark, so that was “her place”.
That’s the first lesson: In Ned’s song (his dream) he hid the truth by identifying the person who yells as Lyanna, when it was actually Howland Reed warning him.
The biggest clue is the person calling him in a way that’s not familiar to him, like “Brandon the Daughterless” is not familiar name to Jon when he hears Bael’s song. We’ll discuss that name later.
What was Ned hiding? That Lyanna was never in that tower, that’s Ned’sbiggest deception, hiding the fact that Rhaeagar spent half the war chasing shadows, like Waymar, and that Robert never “avenged” Lyanna as he believed,because the prince was deceived and Robert was too late to the vengeance train.
When Jon hears the song’s happy ending, he asks if Bael has brought back the maiden, to which Ygritte replies that she was “hiding with the dead”. Ned made people believe that he had brought Lyanna’s body from Dorne while he left his friends’ corpses buried there, but he didn’t. She died elsewhere.
As for “the craven”, Ned himself explained his issue with the man: the “laughter”.

"They say it grows so cold up here in winter that a man's laughter freezes in his throat and chokes him to death," Ned said evenly. "Perhaps that is why the Starks have so little humor." Eddard I - AGoT

Howland Reed was identified as “the Knight of the Laughing Tree” by his children, he wasn’t, but he’s one of the three main suspects: Howland, Ned and Lyanna. None of them was the “laughing” one though.
While Ned tells us how people’s laughter freezes in their throats and chokes them to death, look what happens to the craven Will in the prologue when he thinks of doing what Howland does: calling “Bael”.

Will opened his mouth to call down a warning, and *the words seemed to freeze in his throat*.

You likely remember how Will dies, choked to death by the un-dead Waymar.
To summarize: in Bael’s song “Bael” is a name that means something, is what you call a craven who preys only on the weak.
In Ned’s dream, the word “Eddard” means “Bael”; he’s hiding the warnings: Howland warned him about Arthur Dayne trying to kill him, and Lyanna gave him her own warning:

"I hear he has gotten a child** on some girl in the Vale." Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but *it cannot change a man's nature*." Eddard IX - AGoT

What Ned is trying to hide (mostly from himself) is the fact that killing Arthur turned him into a kinslayer, since Ashara got pregnant in Harrenhal, explaining why he links “the laughter” with “the freezing cold”: he fathered a bastard.
Ned was great at hiding things in plain sight and being silent, yet his dream sang a different song.

2. The deceiver and the flower.

When Will reports he found the wildlings dead, Waymar doesn’t believe him. To confirm his suspicions he asks the most experienced of the group, Gared, his views about the scene that Will had described, andhe says without hesitation “it was the cold”.

"I've had the cold in me too, lordling." Gared pulled back his hood, giving Ser Waymar a good long look at the stumps where his ears had been. "Two ears, three toes, and the little finger off my left hand. I got off light. We found my brother frozen at his watch, *with a smile on his face*."

Waymar asked Will a series of questions that Ned diligently answer for us:

"Did you see *any blood?" "Well, no," Will admitted. "Did you see *any weapons?" "Some swords, a few bows. One man had an axe. Heavy-looking, **double-bladed, a cruel piece of iron.It was on the ground beside him, right by his hand." "Did you make note of the position of the bodies?" Will shrugged. "A couple are sitting up against the rock. Most of them on the ground. Fallen, like."

In Bael’s song, the lord offers the singer to “name” his reward, and the man asks for “the fairest flower” which as we know, is then left behind as proof of the lord’s deception.
When Ned comes home from the war with “proof” of his deception, his wife names “the reward”, Ashara Dayne, and Ned’s answeris priceless:

It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage, but finally, in bed one night, Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it, asked him to his face. That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. "Never ask me about Jon," he said, cold as ice. "He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady." She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne's name *was never heard in Winterfell again*." Catelyn II - AGoT

In this memory, Catelyn parallels Bael singing (marshaling his courage) until he’s asked to name the reward, and not daring to name the maiden, he asks for “the fairest flower”, to which the lord gives him not what he asked for, but “a rose from the gardens”.
Ned gives Jon’s name when he’s asked about Ashara, most importantly,he establishes the link between Jon and “the blood” he later dreams of, meaning he makes us believe that the boy killed Lyanna while being born,that’s the deception.
Did you see any blood? Yes, a ‘brother’ “frozen at his watch”, a sister who allegedly died “in a bed of blood”, and the “fairest flower” blowing in the wind like the petals Ned sees when he hears his name.
They waited before the round tower, the red mountains of Dorne at their backs, their white cloaks blowing in the wind. And these were no shadows; their faces burned clear, even now. Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, had a sad smile on his lips.” Eddard X - AGoT
Killing Arthur made him a kinslayer, but Will saw a “double-bladed” weapon.
Did you see any weapons? Yes, petals falling “dead and black”.

Ned remembered **the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, *dead and black*. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his. Ned could recall none of it. "I bring her flowers when I can," he said. "Lyanna was … fond of flowers."

What about the position of the bodies? They all waited for Ned and ended up “fallen”: Ashara, Arthur, *and Lyanna.*
Let’s discuss the proof.
When Waymar falls, Will thinks he needs to take his sword as proof of what he saw, as if the entire thing had nothing to do with him.
Ned, as we know, takes Dayne’s sword to Starfall and after that visit, Ashara commits suicide. Yet, we have no idea what he told them. It seems kind of weird how Lord Dayne seems to highly respect the man who killed his brother and caused his sister’s suicide, right?
The point is how Will finds the sword that was supposed to be proof:

He found what was left of the sword a few feet away,the end splintered and twisted like a tree struck by lightning. Will knelt, looked around warily, and snatched it up. The broken sword would be his proof.

We know that Ashara killed herself (explaining the sword splintered and twisted like Bran). We also know that Ned killed Arthur since that was the talking in Winterfell when he returned from the war (as Will intended to get to the Wall with a story), the proof being he took Dawn to Starfall.
What matters here is “what was left” and Ned “snatching” something that ended up in Winterfell, even when he never brought his friends’ corpses back. You see, in Ned’s memory, he seems to do what Will does when everything is over, “look around warily”.

“…the rose petals spilling from her palm, *dead and black. After that, he remembered nothing. *They had found him** still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his…”

The scene is not just weirdly similar to the way that the un-dead Waymar finds Will withhis sword, but also the proof of the crime that “Bael” left behind for the lord to find: a dead flower instead of the maiden as proof of the kidnapping.
As I said earlier, in Bael’s song the flower doesn’t mean that the lord realizes who took the maiden sincethe singer *gave him a fake name, and he was welcome in WF becausethe lord had never met him* before.
The flower proves the lord is a deceiver. It wasn’t Jon being born what killed Lyanna, *it was Ned’s flower.*

Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel, saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark.” Eddard XV

Ned mentions how he always brings Lyanna flowers, and that’s exactly what happened the last time he saw her. Except this time the flower was poisonous and killed her.
That’s one of the “weapons” that Will sees in one of the “fallen” *“right by his hand”,* which makes Ned a “double-bladed” weapon, or rather a double kinslayer.

“…the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his…”

Howland clearly realizes what happened and takes her hand from Ned’s so he wouldn’t die too.
All the weapons used in Ned’s song are mentioned by Will in the crime scene beyond the Wall: “It was on the ground beside him, right by his hand.”
It was “the ground” that killed Ashara, Ned being “beside” Arthur, and the petals in Lyanna’s hand.

"The trees press close here," Will warned. "That sword will tangle you up, m'lord. Better a knife." AGoT - Prologue

We get to see the proof of all victims in the way that Waymar raises being a portrayal of all three fallen.

Will rose. Ser Waymar Royce stood over him. His fine clothes were a tatter, his face a ruin. A shard from *his sword* transfixed the blind white pupil of his left eye. The right eye was open. The pupil burned blue. It saw.

Waymar is the proof: the white pupil “transfixed” by the sword is for Arthur he died from multiple stabb wounds, the right eye “burning blue” is for Ashara (what Catelyn saw) while the “dead and black” Waymar stands for Lyanna in “her bed of blood”.
She died surrounded by her "brothers" too.
When Waymar rises, his gloves soaked in blood go straight for Will’s throat, and the man never gets to tell what he knows.
To summarize: in Bael’s song the flower proves the Lord’s deception, and the lie isn’t just about the maiden’s disappearance, or the boy’s identity, but about his own attempt to deceive the person who asks about “the flower” (his wife).
Like I said, the lord didn’t know the identity of “the thief”.Jon’s father is never named in any of Ned’s chapters*, not once,* not because he didn’t know him though, but because Ned stole “his song” as Will intended to steal Waymar’s, proof included.

3. The cold ending

In the song, when Bael comes back years later he’s faced in battle by his own son who doesn’t recognize him. I said earlier how the lack of recognition is related to previous experiences that “the young lord” should have seen coming.
Now, for some reason, the most experienced brother, Gared, runs south, he’s caught and beheaded.
That’s Bael’s fate in the song, and therefore, Ned’s.
What’s interesting is how Ned gets to that point. He goes south when he’s named “Hand” in the crypt, which is ironic as hell, but he only accepts the position since he’s determined to investigate a poisoning, and how that’s related to his son’s “falling” from a tower. Of course, he loses his sword at the peak of his mission, though Tywing was no singer, just a common thief and mass murderer.
Ned died singing his own song, *like Bael.*

Your Bael was a liar.

Since we get AGoT’s prologue from Will’s point of view and Bael’s song from Ygritte’s, (therefore the song of ice and fire), we might forget that there are other songs to be learned here.

Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. "My mother told me that dead men sing no songs," he put in. "My wet nurse said the same thing, Will," Royce replied. "Never believe anything you hear at a woman's tit. There are things to be learned even from the dead." His voice echoed, too loud in the twilit forest. "We have a long ride before us," Gared pointed out. "

I claimed at the beginning how the prince seemed to have left his best swords “guarding the horses”, how Lyanna seemed to go against his interests even when we are led to believe that she's there on her own will, and how Rhaegar goes straight to die a meaningless death.
All of that is true only if you believe Ned’s song.
When Waymar leaves Gared behind, they have a quite enlightening exchange:

Gared dismounted. "We need a fire. I'll see to it." "How big a fool are you, old man? If there are enemies in this wood, *a fire is the last thing we want."* AGoT - Prologue

We know that “a fire” was exactly what Rhaegar was looking for, what he called the “one more”, apparently a daughter to complete his three-headed dragon.
Interestingly, Bael’s enemy is called Brandon “the daughterless” and he’s the deceived person in the song.

"Will you make a song for him?" the woman asked. "He has a song," the man replied. "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire." He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany's, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door. "There must be one more," he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. "The dragon has three heads." He went to the window seat, picked up a harp, and ran his fingers lightly over its silvery strings. Sweet sadness filled the room as man and wife and babe faded like the morning mist, only the music lingering behind to speed her on her way.” Dany IV- ACoK

See the issue? Rhaegar parallels “Brandon the daughterless”, while Ned parallels Aegon, the promised one, as if the heads *had been exchanged.*
Ned’s song, like Aegon’s, was about people believing he was “the one and true hero” versus the truth proved by what happens to Waymar and his broken sword, and the true Aegon’s broken skull as proof.
Ned is “the one” because he’s the only hero in his song, even when “three heads” (Ashara, Lyanna, and Jon) would like to disagree.
Now, let’s examine the music “lingering behind” the prince and the winter rose, and how the song was playing from their point of view of “daughterless” lord and disenchanted promised bride.

1. The first lesson in the song is The Stark giving a name: “Bael” and the future “king” deciding *to teach a lesson.*

There were three people suspected of being the KoLT in Harrenhal, (Howland, Ned and Lyanna), though none of them were the true one, the real one was “a craven” who hid, (like Will), on a tree.
His shield had a laughing weirwood tree. We already saw how Ned thought that laughing causes people to freeze and choke to death, perhaps explaining why Ghost is mute.

The watchers moved forward together, as if some signal had been given. Swords rose and fell, all in a deathly silence. It was cold butchery. The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk. Will closed his eyes. Far beneath him, he heard their voicesand laughter sharp as icicles.

The lesson in the daughterless song is Lyanna claiming to be the knight to hide “the true Bael”, who was teaching a lesson to the squires who had bullied the little Howland when he arrived at the tourney.
That explains why in Ned’s dream she’s giving the warning instead of the person who actually warned him*. They all claimed to be the knight.
In this version of the song, Bael is “a craven” because he hides his identity and “preys only on the weak”; the weakness is not knowing, and this is relevant to understanding the rest of these songs.

1. The second lesson is “the singer” asking for a reward without ever naming it and *leaving the flower as proof.*

The flower proves the lord is a deceiver, meaning Rhaegar didn’t believe Lyanna was the knight but he understood why she lied, *she was in love with the man.*
The reward however, is Rhaegar winning the tourney using the mystery knight’s same strategy, cheating:

“The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk.” AGoT - Prologue

This is how Ned remembers the prince’s success in the tourney:

A plume of scarlet silk streamed behind him when he rode, and it seemed no lance could touch him. Brandon fell to him, and Bronze Yohn Royce, and even the splendid Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning.” Eddard XV - AGoT

Truly, no lance could touch the man, that’s the proof that “Bael” left behind, “scarlet silk streaming”; he won by cheating.

1. The final proof is Bael coming back, and here’s where we need to split the songs between ice and fire.

Let’s start with the prince and something closer to Ygritte’s version of the song.
Rhaegar’s incursion to the Trident is explained *by what he lacked, the daughter he was searching for and, most importantly, *the promise of magic that “Bael” meant for him. When he learns that Elia can’t have more children, he does what “the daughterless” does in the song, ***send “the crows” to look for the maiden and her Bael.*
That’s how Ned finds them, the guards end up in the tower because they were deceived and went there thinking that Lyanna and “the craven” were there. They were never there. Howland and Wylla were in the tower, she was faking to be Lyanna.
The prince got what he was searching for though in a very twisted way but still. Dany hatched the dragon’s eggs that came from Asshai, like the silk that Rhaegar wore in the tournament.
He wanted magic so Elia could have the daughter he wanted, since apparently, *that’s what the prophecy promised:* a three-headed dragon.
When Waymar is told about the dead wildlings, as we saw, he asks about their blood, their weapons, and the position of their bodies. All those things are related to Rhaegar’s quest for dragons.
In the daughterless song, the line seems to end with the woman, and the lack of recognition that happens when (the liar) Bael comes back means that Aegon is a fake, which we all suspect already since his song seems a bit too convenient. The “song of fire” now is whatever Dany decides to become, it’s her song.
Now, when you examine the song from Lyanna’s position, the story is about the maiden hiding in the crypt, and you have a completely different song because down there you can only find dead Starks, swords, and direwolves.
We know that Lyanna went to the tournament and that months after that, she disappears roughly at the same time that Rheagar was seen in the Trident.
That doesn’t mean he took her, it means she was hiding from him, because the prince wanted Bael like Waymar wanted those “dead wildlings”. He wanted to know who the man was.
The point of Lyanna’s song, however, is not so much about the tragic way in which she died, but how she convinced her father to get what she wanted: her own “sword”.
Ice as we know was divided into two swords, “Widow’s Wail” and “Oathkeeper”. Lyanna was married when she died, therefore the widow’s “wailing”, the cry that Ned remembers when she died.
The oath-keeping, however, is about Rickard and the “smell of blood and roses” Ned mentions when Lyanna dies:

Lord Rickard Stark, Ned's father, had a long, stern face. The stonemason had known him well. He sat with quiet dignity, stone fingers holding tight to the sword across his lap, but *in life all swords had failed him*.” Eddard I - AGoT

Rickard had broken his word towards Robert when he allowed Lyanna to marry someone she liked instead of the man whose “nature” wouldn’t change no matter what he vowed. Robert *was blind. He didn’t care.* His lack of interest caused his downfall starting in Harrenhal when Lyanna saw him for what he was, and she seized that chance.
Lyanna fell in love with another man right in front of him and he didn’t see it because he never cared about her until “she was stolen from him” as if the woman had been his property.
Lyanna came back from the tourney *with proof:* she knew about the bastard, and she had the flowers as proof that when the prince embarrassed her in front of the entire realm her betrothed told nothing, like Will, he just stood there.
What Ned remembers of Rickard is what happened to Lyanna in the tourney, she was sitting “holding tight” to the winter roses across her lap, the proof of her father's “sword” failing.

He sat with quiet dignity, stone fingers holding tight to the sword across his lap, but*in life all swords had failed him*.”

She had “the blood” (the bastard daughter) and “the weapon” (the crown) that Waymar asks for as proof of the deception. The position of her body changes after that because *Rickard agrees with her.*** Like Will, Robert couldn't be trusted, he would ruin Lyanna's reputation making her the laughing stock of the realm.
In Lyanna’s song, Bael comes back with an army too, he sneaks into Winterfell when Robert comes looking for Ned, he uses a fake name “Mance Rayder” to introduce himself, and sings for Lord Brandon.
When they meet, the real Bael is singing “The Dornishman’s Wife”, a song about a man who dies singing and laughing.
Jon’s true name is Brandon, like “The Daughterless”. In the song, the name of the young lord is never told, but since he grows up to become lord and the only lord in the song is Brandon, well, that’s the young lord’s name.
That’s what the Song of Ice and Fire is about names that mean something, magical proof, and young heroes dying, only to rise again *singing their own songs.*
Jon’s survival is explained by Waymar’s failed song, when he’s stabbed (like Arthur), he falls face down (like Ashara), only to rise again when someone goes for his sword.
Jon himself found his mother’s sword, *and he has proof too.*
Jon’s sword was the bastard letter. The letter told him Bael’s song again, only the names are different. The letter mentions the blood, the weapons, and the position of the bodies: Mance is in a cage cloaked by the skins of women “for all the north to see”.
That’s what Will saw coming for Waymar: *silent watchers.*

“The Others *made no sound.* Will saw movement from the corner of his eye. Pale shapes gliding through the wood. He turned his head, glimpsed a white shadow in the darkness. Then it was gone.”

Jon is an “Other”, all you need to become one *is knowing,* finding the truth hidden inside the lies to realize that the lord is a liar and craven who preys only on the weak.
That’s how you find the winter rose and *her armor.*

"The armor of the Others is proof against most ordinary blades, if the tales can be believed, and their own swords are so cold they shatter steel.. Jon II - ADwD

If you know, then you’re not weak anymore, your “armor” is proof against ordinary blades, because some tales should be believed.
To summarize, I claimed at the beginning how the biggest hoax is that Bael’s song tells three different stories in which the “hero” is always “Bael”.
The stories are all related to the brothers in AGoT’s prologue:

• Waymar telling Rhaegar’s story and how his failure turned into success when Dany achieved what he never could, finding real magic.
• Gared telling Ned’s story, thinking how he “needed” a fire to keep away “the enemies”. As Aemon told Sam, “fire consumes, but cold preserves”, explaining why Ned wanted some fire.
• The silent Will telling Jon’s story of finding his own “broken sword” as proof of his identity: a widow and an “oathkeeper”.

Summary:

The song of ice and fire is about how we are told the exact same song in two different ways: from Will’s point of view in AGoT’s prologue were “the Others” are the villains, and from Ygritte’s point of view were the Stark in Winterfell is the villain.
Ned’s song, his fever dream, which was closer to Will’s version, meant that he’s the only hero in three different stories: Lyanna’s mystery, Jon’s parentage, and his family’s downfall.
Rhagar’s song was closest to Ygritte’s, as his intention was having another child, which explains why she calls the lord “the daughterless”.
In the midst of those versions you find a “grey one”, Lyanna’s and what she left behind as proof:a broken sword.
The biggest hoax in Bael’s song is that it tells three different stories in which the “hero” is always “Bael”. The stories are all related to the brothers in AGoT’s prologue and what they do regarding the dead people:

• Waymar tells Rhaegar’s story and how his failure was turned into success when Dany achieved what he never could, finding real magic.
• Gared tells Ned’s story, thinking how he “needed” a fire to keep away “the enemies”.
• The silent Will tells Jon’s story of finding a “broken sword” as proof of his identity: a widow’s wai and an “oathkeeper”.

I’ve been posting a series of essays regarding Jon’s identity and I think most people didn't understand the point I’m trying to make, so I thought I’ll give it another try. There's a short summary at the end.
Here’s the point: I believe that we were fooled, ASOIAF is “the real story” that Bael’s song tells.
Let me please explain myself better.
ASOIAF begins with a mystery, a cold creature kills a boy, Waymar Royce, who seems to be the hero stereotype: he’s handsome, smart, and owns a nice sword, and the mean wildlings are trying to deceive him, so he goes there sword in hand, like a hero does.
However, when you pay close attention to his story, you realize the poor kid set himself for failure. He left his best swordsman guarding the horses, asked a man who was known for being silent to be his watcher, and went straight into a place that he had described himself as a suspicious scene.
His outcome was predictable.
In the following chapters, we get three seemingly fantasy clichés one after another, Ned, the honorable hero, Jon, the young hero with a mysterious parentage, and soon after that, we are told how Lyanna was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by the evil dragon, Rhaegar Targaryen.
Of course, the predictable outcome would be Jon being Rhaegar’s son, after all his mother spent the war with the man, right? Well,maybe she didn’t.
Why am I claiming that we are being deceived?
When you compare Waymar’s story to Ned’s fever dream, we are being told *the exact same story.*
Like Waymar, the prince seems to have left his best swords “guarding the horses”, he leaves a person in charge of the watch who seems to go against his interests, and goes straight to die a meaningless death like Gared when he decided to desert.
What’s the issue? *It’s a song.*
Ned’s story of what happened in the tower (his fever dream) follows Bael’s song to the letter, and the point of that song is the deception, it’s not about love or even the baby, but Bael being a liar.
That also happens in AGoT’s prologue, Waymar was being deceived but not by the wildlings as he assumed.
The biggest hoax is that Bael’s song tells three different stories in which the “hero” is always “Bael”.

1. The Stark of WF wanted Bael’s head, but couldn’t take him.He calls Bael “a craven who preys only on the weak”, so Bael decides to teach him a lesson and goes to WF.

Being a wildling song, we expect Bael to be the hero, so when the lesson comes we might be a bit lost.
What’s the lesson? The lesson is the Stark “calling” Bael, giving a name to the “craven who preys only on the weak”.

1. Bael fakes to be a singer called Sygerrik (which means deceiver) and spends the night singing for the Stark, when he’s done, the lord offers him to “name” his reward. Bael asks for “the fairest flower” and the Stark gives him a winter rose. After leaving with the lord’s daughter, Bael leaves the flower as proof.

What’s the lesson here? It can’t be the lord realizing who took the maiden since the singer gave him a fake name, and he was welcome because the lordhad never met him before. The flower proves the lord is a deceiver.
When the singer asks for “the fairest flower” the lord knows he is asking for his daughter (even when he never names her), and tries to deceive Bael by giving him a rose. The flower proves the lord lied.

1. Bael comes back years later with an army; he’s faced in battle by his own son who doesn’t recognize him. Bael stays silent and lets the boy kill him. The word “recognize” implies that he knew the man; the very definition of recognition is “the identification of someone from previous encounters.”

What’s the lesson in this one? Who raised the boy? Bael: a liar and craven who never told the truth.
The “young lord,” was a liar (he had to recognize Bael from his own experience), and a craven who took advantage of Bael’s own weakness (his silence) to kill him.
Basically, when you go over the song, the baby, the maiden, and “the singer” are all victims of the lord of WF who never told the boy who he was, took the child “as payment”, and blamed “Bael” for the things he did.

“Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. "My mother told me that *dead men sing no songs*," he put in.” AGoT - Prologue

Bael is the lord of WF in the three stories and the “hero” of his own songs: a name that means something, a flower as proof of his deception, and dead men*singing songs.*
To summarize, the biggest deception in the song is the language, or rather, the way people are named.
We’ll now examine how Lord Stark deceived us all, and later why this is “a song of ice and fire”.

A hero of his own songs

We are first introduced to the song in AGoT’s Prologue when we meet three men on a mission: Waymar Royce, Will, and Gared.
Each of them helps us understand one of the stories told in Bael’s song. The prologue seems to be about these men deciding what to do regarding some dead people. In truth, they illustrate the lessons in Ned’s song for us, while we can also understand other stories of dead people: Rheagar’s and Lyanna’s.
One of the men, Will, is a craven who “wants nothing so much as to ride hellbent for the safety of the Wall”.
Waymar suspects that the wildlings are trying to deceive them, and notes that some things in Will’s story don’t seem to add up.
He wants to go personally to see the dead wildlings and prove his theory: someone is lying. Ironically his own broken sword is proof that he was right about the deceptionbut wrong about the author.
The third man, Gared,instantly recognizes what happened to the wildlings by Will’s description, even when he never actually saw them; but knew from previous experiences what “the cold” does, as he had found one of his brothers “with a smile on his face”.
Let’s examine how the song unfolds so we can find the real Bael.

1. The Craven and the given name.

In the song, “Bael” is a name that means something, is what you call a craven who preys only on the weak.
We get to see how Will exemplifies the concept of being a craven when the Others appear. I mentioned earlier that one of Waymar’s mistakes was sending a brother known for being silent to act as his watcher.
Will sees the entire fight while hiding on a tree (he’s a craven after all), and never says a word, not even when he sees the shadows moving, not when he sees the Other facing Waymar, and not while the boy is being mercilessly butchered.
He realizes, however, that he should “call down a warning” as the shadows start to appear, and ironically, Waymar shouts his name instead.

The Others made no sound. Will saw movement from the corner of his eye. Pale shapes gliding through the wood. He turned his head, glimpsed a white shadow in the darkness. Then it was gone. Branches stirred gently in the wind, scratching at one another with wooden fingers. Will opened his mouth to call down a warning, and the words seemed to freeze in his throat. Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps it had only been a bird, a reflection on the snow, some trick of the moonlight. What had he seen, after all? "Will, where are you?" Ser Waymar called up. "Can you see anything?" He was turning in a slow circle, suddenly wary, his sword in hand. He must have felt them, as Will felt them. There was nothing to see."Answer me! *Why is it so cold?"*

Interestingly, that’s exactly what happens in Ned’s dream, he tells us how he gets to the Tower with a bunch of shadows and how he sees three men in white waiting for him, and curiously, the person yelling in the dream was recognized before by Ned himself as being*so weak* that she could only whisper:

He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes.” Eddard I - AGoT

Lyanna’s fear as she dies seems far more interesting considering how Will never yells fearing “the shadows”, since Ned gets to his dream surrounded by shadows. Now, while we are told by Ned himself how she could barely speak, somehow, she calls ‘Bael’ loud and clear:

"As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" *she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky,as blue as the eyes of death. *"Lord Eddard," Lyanna called again.

See the first lesson in the song?
Why would Lyanna use the word “Eddard”, to call her own brother; a brother that she, and everyone who knew himcalled “Ned”?
In the song, the Stark gives Bael a name because he doesn’t know the man, but he knows *he’s hiding his identity to take advantage of “the weak”.*
In the dream “Eddard” means Bael. *He’s lying.*
The “craven” who actually yells in the dream is deliberately hidden:

"The finest knight I ever saw was Ser Arthur Dayne, who fought with a blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star. They called him the Sword of the Morning, and he would have killed me *but for Howland Reed*." Bran III - ACoK

In Ned’s “song” Lyanna yells even when she is so weak that she can barely speak. In truth, the one yelling, Howland, is warning him about the “white shadow”, Arthur Dayne, who was moving towards Ned to kill him as the shadows move to kill Waymar. That’s what Will should have done when he saw them: warn his brother.
The parallels between the Other facing Waymar and Arthur with Dawn in hand facing Ned in the dream are clear too. This is the Other:

The Other slid forward on silent feet. In its hand was a longsword like none that Will had ever seen. No human metal had gone into the forging of that blade. It was alive with moonlight, translucent, a shard of crystal so thin that it seemed almost to vanish when seen edge-on. There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.

This is Arthur, holding his sword made from “no human metal”.

"And now it begins," said Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass,*alive with light*. Eddard X - AGoT

You see, Ned did in his dream what Lord Stark does in the song: the “weak” (Lyanna), are identified as a Stark; Bael takes advantage of weak people to sing his song, to tell his own version of things.

"Your Bael was a liar," he told her, certain now. "No," Ygritte said, "buta bard's truth is different than yours or mine. Anyway, you asked for the story, so I told it." Jon VI - ACoK

In fact, Lyanna ends up buried in WF’s crypt (like the maiden in the song) because she’s identified by Ned as a Stark, so that was “her place”.
That’s the first lesson: In Ned’s song (his dream) he hid the truth by identifying the person who yells as Lyanna, when it was actually Howland Reed warning him.
The biggest clue is the person calling him in a way that’s not familiar to him, like “Brandon the Daughterless” is not familiar name to Jon when he hears Bael’s song. We’ll discuss that name later.
What was Ned hiding? That Lyanna was never in that tower, that’s Ned’sbiggest deception, hiding the fact that Rhaeagar spent half the war chasing shadows, like Waymar, and that Robert never “avenged” Lyanna as he believed,because the prince was deceived and Robert was too late to the vengeance train.
When Jon hears the song’s happy ending, he asks if Bael has brought back the maiden, to which Ygritte replies that she was “hiding with the dead”. Ned made people believe that he had brought Lyanna’s body from Dorne while he left his friends’ corpses buried there, but he didn’t. She died elsewhere.
As for “the craven”, Ned himself explained his issue with the man: the “laughter”.

"They say it grows so cold up here in winter that a man's laughter freezes in his throat and chokes him to death," Ned said evenly. "Perhaps that is why the Starks have so little humor." Eddard I - AGoT

Howland Reed was identified as “the Knight of the Laughing Tree” by his children, he wasn’t, but he’s one of the three main suspects: Howland, Ned and Lyanna. None of them was the “laughing” one though.
While Ned tells us how people’s laughter freezes in their throats and chokes them to death, look what happens to the craven Will in the prologue when he thinks of doing what Howland does: calling “Bael”.

Will opened his mouth to call down a warning, and *the words seemed to freeze in his throat*.

You likely remember how Will dies, choked to death by the un-dead Waymar.
To summarize: in Bael’s song “Bael” is a name that means something, is what you call a craven who preys only on the weak.
In Ned’s dream, the word “Eddard” means “Bael”; he’s hiding the warnings: Howland warned him about Arthur Dayne trying to kill him, and Lyanna gave him her own warning:

"I hear he has gotten a child** on some girl in the Vale." Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but *it cannot change a man's nature*." Eddard IX - AGoT

What Ned is trying to hide (mostly from himself) is the fact that killing Arthur turned him into a kinslayer, since Ashara got pregnant in Harrenhal, explaining why he links “the laughter” with “the freezing cold”: he fathered a bastard.
Ned was great at hiding things in plain sight and being silent, yet his dream sang a different song.

2. The deceiver and the flower.

When Will reports he found the wildlings dead, Waymar doesn’t believe him. To confirm his suspicions he asks the most experienced of the group, Gared, his views about the scene that Will had described, andhe says without hesitation “it was the cold”.

"I've had the cold in me too, lordling." Gared pulled back his hood, giving Ser Waymar a good long look at the stumps where his ears had been. "Two ears, three toes, and the little finger off my left hand. I got off light. We found my brother frozen at his watch, *with a smile on his face*."

Waymar asked Will a series of questions that Ned diligently answer for us:

"Did you see *any blood?" "Well, no," Will admitted. "Did you see *any weapons?" "Some swords, a few bows. One man had an axe. Heavy-looking, **double-bladed, a cruel piece of iron.It was on the ground beside him, right by his hand." "Did you make note of the position of the bodies?" Will shrugged. "A couple are sitting up against the rock. Most of them on the ground. Fallen, like."

In Bael’s song, the lord offers the singer to “name” his reward, and the man asks for “the fairest flower” which as we know, is then left behind as proof of the lord’s deception.
When Ned comes home from the war with “proof” of his deception, his wife names “the reward”, Ashara Dayne, and Ned’s answeris priceless:

It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage, but finally, in bed one night, Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it, asked him to his face. That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. "Never ask me about Jon," he said, cold as ice. "He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady." She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne's name *was never heard in Winterfell again*." Catelyn II - AGoT

In this memory, Catelyn parallels Bael singing (marshaling his courage) until he’s asked to name the reward, and not daring to name the maiden, he asks for “the fairest flower”, to which the lord gives him not what he asked for, but “a rose from the gardens”.
Ned gives Jon’s name when he’s asked about Ashara, most importantly,he establishes the link between Jon and “the blood” he later dreams of, meaning he makes us believe that the boy killed Lyanna while being born,that’s the deception.
Did you see any blood? Yes, a ‘brother’ “frozen at his watch”, a sister who allegedly died “in a bed of blood”, and the “fairest flower” blowing in the wind like the petals Ned sees when he hears his name.
They waited before the round tower, the red mountains of Dorne at their backs, their white cloaks blowing in the wind. And these were no shadows; their faces burned clear, even now. Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, had a sad smile on his lips.” Eddard X - AGoT
Killing Arthur made him a kinslayer, but Will saw a “double-bladed” weapon.
Did you see any weapons? Yes, petals falling “dead and black”.

Ned remembered **the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, *dead and black*. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his. Ned could recall none of it. "I bring her flowers when I can," he said. "Lyanna was … fond of flowers."

What about the position of the bodies? They all waited for Ned and ended up “fallen”: Ashara, Arthur, *and Lyanna.*
Let’s discuss the proof.
When Waymar falls, Will thinks he needs to take his sword as proof of what he saw, as if the entire thing had nothing to do with him.
Ned, as we know, takes Dayne’s sword to Starfall and after that visit, Ashara commits suicide. Yet, we have no idea what he told them. It seems kind of weird how Lord Dayne seems to highly respect the man who killed his brother and caused his sister’s suicide, right?
The point is how Will finds the sword that was supposed to be proof:

He found what was left of the sword a few feet away,the end splintered and twisted like a tree struck by lightning. Will knelt, looked around warily, and snatched it up. The broken sword would be his proof.

We know that Ashara killed herself (explaining the sword splintered and twisted like Bran). We also know that Ned killed Arthur since that was the talking in Winterfell when he returned from the war (as Will intended to get to the Wall with a story), the proof being he took Dawn to Starfall.
What matters here is “what was left” and Ned “snatching” something that ended up in Winterfell, even when he never brought his friends’ corpses back. You see, in Ned’s memory, he seems to do what Will does when everything is over, “look around warily”.

“…the rose petals spilling from her palm, *dead and black. After that, he remembered nothing. *They had found him** still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his…”

The scene is not just weirdly similar to the way that the un-dead Waymar finds Will withhis sword, but also the proof of the crime that “Bael” left behind for the lord to find: a dead flower instead of the maiden as proof of the kidnapping.
As I said earlier, in Bael’s song the flower doesn’t mean that the lord realizes who took the maiden sincethe singer *gave him a fake name, and he was welcome in WF becausethe lord had never met him* before.
The flower proves the lord is a deceiver. It wasn’t Jon being born what killed Lyanna, *it was Ned’s flower.*

Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel, saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark.” Eddard XV

Ned mentions how he always brings Lyanna flowers, and that’s exactly what happened the last time he saw her. Except this time the flower was poisonous and killed her.
That’s one of the “weapons” that Will sees in one of the “fallen” *“right by his hand”,* which makes Ned a “double-bladed” weapon, or rather a double kinslayer.

“…the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his…”

Howland clearly realizes what happened and takes her hand from Ned’s so he wouldn’t die too.
All the weapons used in Ned’s song are mentioned by Will in the crime scene beyond the Wall: “It was on the ground beside him, right by his hand.”
It was “the ground” that killed Ashara, Ned being “beside” Arthur, and the petals in Lyanna’s hand.

"The trees press close here," Will warned. "That sword will tangle you up, m'lord. Better a knife." AGoT - Prologue

We get to see the proof of all victims in the way that Waymar raises being a portrayal of all three fallen.

Will rose. Ser Waymar Royce stood over him. His fine clothes were a tatter, his face a ruin. A shard from *his sword* transfixed the blind white pupil of his left eye. The right eye was open. The pupil burned blue. It saw.

Waymar is the proof: the white pupil “transfixed” by the sword is for Arthur he died from multiple stabb wounds, the right eye “burning blue” is for Ashara (what Catelyn saw) while the “dead and black” Waymar stands for Lyanna in “her bed of blood”.
She died surrounded by her "brothers" too.
When Waymar rises, his gloves soaked in blood go straight for Will’s throat, and the man never gets to tell what he knows.
To summarize: in Bael’s song the flower proves the Lord’s deception, and the lie isn’t just about the maiden’s disappearance, or the boy’s identity, but about his own attempt to deceive the person who asks about “the flower” (his wife).
Like I said, the lord didn’t know the identity of “the thief”.Jon’s father is never named in any of Ned’s chapters*, not once,* not because he didn’t know him though, but because Ned stole “his song” as Will intended to steal Waymar’s, proof included.

3. The cold ending

In the song, when Bael comes back years later he’s faced in battle by his own son who doesn’t recognize him. I said earlier how the lack of recognition is related to previous experiences that “the young lord” should have seen coming.
Now, for some reason, the most experienced brother, Gared, runs south, he’s caught and beheaded.
That’s Bael’s fate in the song, and therefore, Ned’s.
What’s interesting is how Ned gets to that point. He goes south when he’s named “Hand” in the crypt, which is ironic as hell, but he only accepts the position since he’s determined to investigate a poisoning, and how that’s related to his son’s “falling” from a tower. Of course, he loses his sword at the peak of his mission, though Tywing was no singer, just a common thief and mass murderer.
Ned died singing his own song, *like Bael.*

Your Bael was a liar.

Since we get AGoT’s prologue from Will’s point of view and Bael’s song from Ygritte’s, (therefore the song of ice and fire), we might forget that there are other songs to be learned here.

Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. "My mother told me that dead men sing no songs," he put in. "My wet nurse said the same thing, Will," Royce replied. "Never believe anything you hear at a woman's tit. There are things to be learned even from the dead." His voice echoed, too loud in the twilit forest. "We have a long ride before us," Gared pointed out. "

I claimed at the beginning how the prince seemed to have left his best swords “guarding the horses”, how Lyanna seemed to go against his interests even when we are led to believe that she's there on her own will, and how Rhaegar goes straight to die a meaningless death.
All of that is true only if you believe Ned’s song.
When Waymar leaves Gared behind, they have a quite enlightening exchange:

Gared dismounted. "We need a fire. I'll see to it." "How big a fool are you, old man? If there are enemies in this wood, *a fire is the last thing we want."* AGoT - Prologue

We know that “a fire” was exactly what Rhaegar was looking for, what he called the “one more”, apparently a daughter to complete his three-headed dragon.
Interestingly, Bael’s enemy is called Brandon “the daughterless” and he’s the deceived person in the song.

"Will you make a song for him?" the woman asked. "He has a song," the man replied. "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire." He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany's, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door. "There must be one more," he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. "The dragon has three heads." He went to the window seat, picked up a harp, and ran his fingers lightly over its silvery strings. Sweet sadness filled the room as man and wife and babe faded like the morning mist, only the music lingering behind to speed her on her way.” Dany IV- ACoK

See the issue? Rhaegar parallels “Brandon the daughterless”, while Ned parallels Aegon, the promised one, as if the heads *had been exchanged.*
Ned’s song, like Aegon’s, was about people believing he was “the one and true hero” versus the truth proved by what happens to Waymar and his broken sword, and the true Aegon’s broken skull as proof.
Ned is “the one” because he’s the only hero in his song, even when “three heads” (Ashara, Lyanna, and Jon) would like to disagree.
Now, let’s examine the music “lingering behind” the prince and the winter rose, and how the song was playing from their point of view of “daughterless” lord and disenchanted promised bride.

1. The first lesson in the song is The Stark giving a name: “Bael” and the future “king” deciding *to teach a lesson.*

There were three people suspected of being the KoLT in Harrenhal, (Howland, Ned and Lyanna), though none of them were the true one, the real one was “a craven” who hid, (like Will), on a tree.
His shield had a laughing weirwood tree. We already saw how Ned thought that laughing causes people to freeze and choke to death, perhaps explaining why Ghost is mute.

The watchers moved forward together, as if some signal had been given. Swords rose and fell, all in a deathly silence. It was cold butchery. The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk. Will closed his eyes. Far beneath him, he heard their voicesand laughter sharp as icicles.

The lesson in the daughterless song is Lyanna claiming to be the knight to hide “the true Bael”, who was teaching a lesson to the squires who had bullied the little Howland when he arrived at the tourney.
That explains why in Ned’s dream she’s giving the warning instead of the person who actually warned him*. They all claimed to be the knight.
In this version of the song, Bael is “a craven” because he hides his identity and “preys only on the weak”; the weakness is not knowing, and this is relevant to understanding the rest of these songs.

1. The second lesson is “the singer” asking for a reward without ever naming it and *leaving the flower as proof.*

The flower proves the lord is a deceiver, meaning Rhaegar didn’t believe Lyanna was the knight but he understood why she lied, *she was in love with the man.*
The reward however, is Rhaegar winning the tourney using the mystery knight’s same strategy, cheating:

“The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk.” AGoT - Prologue

This is how Ned remembers the prince’s success in the tourney:

A plume of scarlet silk streamed behind him when he rode, and it seemed no lance could touch him. Brandon fell to him, and Bronze Yohn Royce, and even the splendid Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning.” Eddard XV - AGoT

Truly, no lance could touch the man, that’s the proof that “Bael” left behind, “scarlet silk streaming”; he won by cheating.

1. The final proof is Bael coming back, and here’s where we need to split the songs between ice and fire.

Let’s start with the prince and something closer to Ygritte’s version of the song.
Rhaegar’s incursion to the Trident is explained *by what he lacked, the daughter he was searching for and, most importantly, *the promise of magic that “Bael” meant for him. When he learns that Elia can’t have more children, he does what “the daughterless” does in the song, ***send “the crows” to look for the maiden and her Bael.*
That’s how Ned finds them, the guards end up in the tower because they were deceived and went there thinking that Lyanna and “the craven” were there. They were never there. Howland and Wylla were in the tower, she was faking to be Lyanna.
The prince got what he was searching for though in a very twisted way but still. Dany hatched the dragon’s eggs that came from Asshai, like the silk that Rhaegar wore in the tournament.
He wanted magic so Elia could have the daughter he wanted, since apparently, *that’s what the prophecy promised:* a three-headed dragon.
When Waymar is told about the dead wildlings, as we saw, he asks about their blood, their weapons, and the position of their bodies. All those things are related to Rhaegar’s quest for dragons.
In the daughterless song, the line seems to end with the woman, and the lack of recognition that happens when (the liar) Bael comes back means that Aegon is a fake, which we all suspect already since his song seems a bit too convenient. The “song of fire” now is whatever Dany decides to become, it’s her song.
Now, when you examine the song from Lyanna’s position, the story is about the maiden hiding in the crypt, and you have a completely different song because down there you can only find dead Starks, swords, and direwolves.
We know that Lyanna went to the tournament and that months after that, she disappears roughly at the same time that Rheagar was seen in the Trident.
That doesn’t mean he took her, it means she was hiding from him, because the prince wanted Bael like Waymar wanted those “dead wildlings”. He wanted to know who the man was.
The point of Lyanna’s song, however, is not so much about the tragic way in which she died, but how she convinced her father to get what she wanted: her own “sword”.
Ice as we know was divided into two swords, “Widow’s Wail” and “Oathkeeper”. Lyanna was married when she died, therefore the widow’s “wailing”, the cry that Ned remembers when she died.
The oath-keeping, however, is about Rickard and the “smell of blood and roses” Ned mentions when Lyanna dies:

Lord Rickard Stark, Ned's father, had a long, stern face. The stonemason had known him well. He sat with quiet dignity, stone fingers holding tight to the sword across his lap, but *in life all swords had failed him*.” Eddard I - AGoT

Rickard had broken his word towards Robert when he allowed Lyanna to marry someone she liked instead of the man whose “nature” wouldn’t change no matter what he vowed. Robert *was blind. He didn’t care.* His lack of interest caused his downfall starting in Harrenhal when Lyanna saw him for what he was, and she seized that chance.
Lyanna fell in love with another man right in front of him and he didn’t see it because he never cared about her until “she was stolen from him” as if the woman had been his property.
Lyanna came back from the tourney *with proof:* she knew about the bastard, and she had the flowers as proof that when the prince embarrassed her in front of the entire realm her betrothed told nothing, like Will, he just stood there.
What Ned remembers of Rickard is what happened to Lyanna in the tourney, she was sitting “holding tight” to the winter roses across her lap, the proof of her father's “sword” failing.

He sat with quiet dignity, stone fingers holding tight to the sword across his lap, but*in life all swords had failed him*.”

She had “the blood” (the bastard daughter) and “the weapon” (the crown) that Waymar asks for as proof of the deception. The position of her body changes after that because *Rickard agrees with her.*** Like Will, Robert couldn't be trusted, he would ruin Lyanna's reputation making her the laughing stock of the realm.
In Lyanna’s song, Bael comes back with an army too, he sneaks into Winterfell when Robert comes looking for Ned, he uses a fake name “Mance Rayder” to introduce himself, and sings for Lord Brandon.
When they meet, the real Bael is singing “The Dornishman’s Wife”, a song about a man who dies singing and laughing.
Jon’s true name is Brandon, like “The Daughterless”. In the song, the name of the young lord is never told, but since he grows up to become lord and the only lord in the song is Brandon, well, that’s the young lord’s name.
That’s what the Song of Ice and Fire is about names that mean something, magical proof, and young heroes dying, only to rise again *singing their own songs.*
Jon’s survival is explained by Waymar’s failed song, when he’s stabbed (like Arthur), he falls face down (like Ashara), only to rise again when someone goes for his sword.
Jon himself found his mother’s sword, *and he has proof too.*
Jon’s sword was the bastard letter. The letter told him Bael’s song again, only the names are different. The letter mentions the blood, the weapons, and the position of the bodies: Mance is in a cage cloaked by the skins of women “for all the north to see”.
That’s what Will saw coming for Waymar: *silent watchers.*

“The Others *made no sound.* Will saw movement from the corner of his eye. Pale shapes gliding through the wood. He turned his head, glimpsed a white shadow in the darkness. Then it was gone.”

Jon is an “Other”, all you need to become one *is knowing,* finding the truth hidden inside the lies to realize that the lord is a liar and craven who preys only on the weak.
That’s how you find the winter rose and *her armor.*

"The armor of the Others is proof against most ordinary blades, if the tales can be believed, and their own swords are so cold they shatter steel.. Jon II - ADwD

If you know, then you’re not weak anymore, your “armor” is proof against ordinary blades, because some tales should be believed.
To summarize, I claimed at the beginning how the biggest hoax is that Bael’s song tells three different stories in which the “hero” is always “Bael”.
The stories are all related to the brothers in AGoT’s prologue:

• Waymar telling Rhaegar’s story and how his failure turned into success when Dany achieved what he never could, finding real magic.
• Gared telling Ned’s story, thinking how he “needed” a fire to keep away “the enemies”. As Aemon told Sam, “fire consumes, but cold preserves”, explaining why Ned wanted some fire.
• The silent Will telling Jon’s story of finding his own “broken sword” as proof of his identity: a widow and an “oathkeeper”.

Summary:

The song of ice and fire is about how we are told the exact same song in two different ways: from Will’s point of view in AGoT’s prologue were “the Others” are the villains, and from Ygritte’s point of view were the Stark in Winterfell is the villain.
Ned’s song, his fever dream, which was closer to Will’s version, meant that he’s the only hero in three different stories: Lyanna’s mystery, Jon’s parentage, and his family’s downfall.
Rhagar’s song was closest to Ygritte’s, as his intention was having another child, which explains why she calls the lord “the daughterless”.
In the midst of those versions you find a “grey one”, Lyanna’s and what she left behind as proof:a broken sword.
The biggest hoax in Bael’s song is that it tells three different stories in which the “hero” is always “Bael”. The stories are all related to the brothers in AGoT’s prologue and what they do regarding the dead people:

• Waymar tells Rhaegar’s story and how his failure was turned into success when Dany achieved what he never could, finding real magic.
• Gared tells Ned’s story, thinking how he “needed” a fire to keep away “the enemies”.
• The silent Will tells Jon’s story of finding a “broken sword” as proof of his identity: a widow’s wai and an “oathkeeper”.

Part One.
My jaw clenches. It’s my turn to go pale with shock. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces begin to connect in my mind. They’re building a picture that I’m not sure I want to see, but it’s a picture that’s becoming difficult to deny. “Why?” I press. “What makes you so sure they weren’t just test subjects like the others?”
“These felt different,” Maria says quickly. “Horrible in a way that even the others couldn’t compare to. It’s like when you look at a manikin, or a doll… What’s the phrase?”
“Uncanny valley,” I offer.
“That’s it,” she says. “That’s what I felt looking at these things, the uncanny valley. It was like they didn’t have a soul– like they never had a soul. Some looked human. Nearly. But they were too tall, or their limbs were too long, or they had too many teeth in all the wrong places. But what scared me most of all wasn’t the bodies, it was the thought that something had killed those things. Something had torn literal nightmares to pieces, and there was a good chance it was coming to do the same thing to me and John.
“John,” I say, still trying to parse his significance in her ordeal. “That many bodies couldn’t have appeared overnight. They’d been there for a long time. That means he probably knew about them, didn’t he?”
She nods, gasping. “He knew. He fucking knew. He shoved me onto that pile of corpses, that festering and decaying pit of monsters and told me as much. He started shouting. Call me a monster all over again. Evil, he said. Twisted. He kept pointing at me like all of this was my fault, and he hadn’t both led us to our deaths.”
Her voice becomes a stuttering mess. “A-all the while I heard that thing in the dark. Approaching. I felt terrified, hopeless and numb. I kept asking John why me? Why go through all this trouble just to kill me? And he told me that he didn’t have a choice. He knelt next to me, put a hand on my cheek and whispered that his child needed to feed. It was getting hungry. Desperate. He almost looked fucking r-remorseful if you can believe it, and he told me that he was really sorry, and that he hated to do this but… He stepped away from me. Stood against the wall of the chamber. Watched. Waited.”
For a second, I’m afraid Maria is going to break into fresh sobs, but she pushes through.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she continues, wiping tears from her cheeks. “I didn’t have anywhere to run, anywhere to hide, so I just lay there in that heap of monsters. I gave up. The whole time, those footsteps got closer and closer. The nearer they came, the slower they got. It was like it knew I was trapped. Like it’d done this before, and knew there wasn’t a rush…” She looks up at me. “Do you think… John did that to other people too?”
“It’s certainly possible. Did you get a good look at the creature?”
She shudders. “Yes. I had my headlamp trained on the passage the whole time, and when it appeared around the corner, I almost missed it. I heard it, but I could barely see it. It was a tall, flickering shadow. It pulsed. Vibrated. The way it moved was jerky, haphazard, almost like it had one foot in our reality, like it was glitching with every step it took.”
“Glitching…” I mutter. Why does that sound familiar?
“That’s right,” she says. “And that wasn’t even the strangest thing about it.” She gets small in her chair. “It had these eyes. Amber ones. Bright and gleaming, like twin cinders smoldering in empty space. It felt like they were piercing me, like its eyes were digging through my skin and looking into my mind. Or my soul. It was like that thing was taking bites out of my memories, tasting them before spitting back out…”
“How did it feel? Painful?”
“No, she says. “It felt cold. Like a blizzard in my head, like all my thoughts had frozen to a crawl. Maybe that’s why I calmed down. I don’t know… I remember sitting there, totally numb as the Shadow phased through the metal bars of the gate. It almost looked human. It had two arms, two legs and a head, but its body was made of black static. Like television interference.”
Television interference… Where have I heard that description before? I rack my mind for a match, some kind of urban legend or ancient lore that matches what she’s saying, but nothing jumps out. I flip through the pages of my clipboard, stopping on one labeled ABERRATE EVENTS. It’s The Facility’s own Most Wanted List. My eyes fly through the cases listed, but there isn’t anything close to what she’s describing.
An idea strikes me.
“Did the Shadow hurt you at all?”
She looks down at her arm. There’s a large gash there, framed by clots of dried blood. “No… I don’t think so,” she says hesitantly. “I got these injuries when I was trying to escape.”
No, of course it didn’t. It had other food available already. “And what happened after it pierced you with its eyes?” I ask.
“It walked past me,” she says. “It walked through that mulch of corpses and headed straight for John. It started speaking along the way. At least, I think it did.”
“What do you mean by speaking?”
“Do you remember how I said it was howling before?”
“I do.”
“Well, this time it was hissing– like a livewire, or static electricity. Whatever it was communicating, John looked panicked. He was crying. Pleading with it. He kept saying that he’d done his best, but there was nothing else out there, so the Shadow would have to make due with me. But the Shadow didn’t seem to care. It grabbed John by his long hair, lifted him up to the ceiling and its cinderlight eyes started gleaming an angry orange.”
My heartbeat races. My pen flies across the clipboard, desperately trying to avoid missing a single detail.
Maria keeps talking. She keeps giving me more of what I need. “John kicked and screamed,” she says. “He begged me to help him, told me that if I didn’t I was every bit the monster he’d said I was and I’d be next… But before he could finish, the Shadow’s eyes flashed and leaked fire. John started shrieking, moaning as his face melted into his skull.”
Maria’s face twists with revulsion. Disgust. She looks away, back to the bunker. I wonder if she’s hearing what I am– that dim rumble of something moving underground, that slow march of an approaching nightmare. Our clock is ticking. It’s not something I can tell her though, because as soon as she starts panicking, I lose the chance to connect the dots I need.
“Maria,” I say, pulling her attention back. “Continue. It’s critical I get these details.”
“Sorry… It’s not a memory I like thinking of but… The Shadow held John there, his legs twitching weakly, and then it grabbed his head and tore it off his neck.” She brings a hand to her mouth, starts nervously biting her nails. “Then it lifted John’s skull to its amber eyes. It opened its mouth and screamed fire. The heat I felt was like an open furnace, like Hell itself. Tendrils of darkness emerged from the Shadow, clutching at John’s scorched skull and cracking it open like an egg.
"His brain spilled out. The Shadow caught it in those tendrils, and brought it into itself. His brain. Like it was fucking assimilating it… Or eating it. ” She looks up at me, and there’s the same angry defiance I saw when we met. “Now do you get it?” she asks. “Now do you see what I mean about this thing being the devil? What else could do something like that?”
A good question. I can think of one entity. Only one. If my guess is correct, then Maria and I get to live to see tomorrow’s sunrise. If it’s wrong, then I need to put a bullet in both our heads before that thing finds us.
All of it hinges on my next question.
“It killed John, then what? What did the Shadow do?”
“It turned back to me,” she says. “It glared at me with those blazing eyes, and I thought I was next. I knew I was. But then I felt another blizzard sweep across my mind, and that was it– I blacked out.”
“Hang on…” I mutter. “What do you mean you blacked out? I found you lying outside of the bunker. How did you escape?”
She shakes her head, frantic. “I don’t have a clue. I blacked out, then the next thing I remember was waking up outside the bunker, with you pouring water on my face and telling me we needed to talk. That’s it.”
She shoots up from her chair. “Christ! We need to leave.”
I blink. “Why?”
“The police. I’ve gotta tell them about John and what he was doing. I’ve gotta tell them about this base. Maybe John brought others here. More victims. Maybe some of them are still alive down there and need help. We need search parties and–”
“Don’t bother,” I say.
She looks at me, stunned.
“The police won’t have any record of John. Tell them where you were, what you saw in that bunker, and they’ll probably kill you.” I reach into my pocket, pull out my lighter and run a thumb down the sparkwheel. It flickers to life. “Fact is, John doesn’t exist. Neither does this base.”
I bring the lighter to the edge of my clipboard. The flame catches a page.
“What the hell are you doing?” Maria exclaims.
“Saving your life,” I say, tossing the clipboard to the floor. It pops and cracks as the fire eats the woman’s story, one word at a time.
“What the fuck? You said you believed me!”
“I still do,” I tell her. “That’s the problem. An hour ago, I had no idea what was going on here, but the more you spoke, the more it started making sense. I realized that you and John were more right than wrong. That there really is a conspiracy here. A cover-up.”
“Then the people deserve to know!”
“They do,” I confess. “And they will, eventually– but not from you, and not from my report. Neither is an option.”
She shakes her head, incredulous. “Then how?”
I walk to the window, rest my hands against the edge. I take a breath. It’s humid, heavy with South American heat. “I’ll figure something out. I always do.”
There’s a heartbeat of silence. Then, she asks the obvious question. “It’s your employer, isn’t it? This whole thing has something to do with The Facility.”
“Yes,” I tell her. “I think it does.”
She appears at my side. The two of us stare out across the dark of the base, out at the steel hatch rising from the dirt, where a devil made flesh is inching ever closer. “I thought you said your job was hunting monsters,” she says at length, “not creating them.”
“My job is a lot of things. More than anything else, it’s complicated. The Facility is… Well, it’s not what I’d call a good organization. Or even a moral one.”
“Then what is it?”
I consider the question. “A pragmatic answer to an otherwise ugly question.”
She looks at me expectantly.
“The question of salvation,” I explain. “The question of how do you rescue humanity from a nightmare so twisted that it defies all language? All concept of imagination? There’s something coming for us, Maria, something dark and unfathomable, and these entities– these monsters might be our only chance at fighting back.”
She’s quiet. Her expression is difficult to read.
“Decades ago, The Facility was a very different organization,” I tell her. “In those days, they thought the approaching nightmare was right around the corner, that we had weeks or months until it showed up on our doorstep. They didn’t know. Out of fear, they greenlit any and every possible solution. Or at least, that’s what the rumors say.”
“Rumors?”
I nod, darkly. “There’s no real records of The Facility’s activities during the Cold War. Most documents were destroyed. The few that remain are heavily redacted. I wasn’t around then, obviously, but I picked up bits and pieces from old timers I’ve worked with. They mentioned black projects. Hidden programs. One project was particularly infamous, so much so that even now, half a century later, The Facility hasn’t entirely snuffed out its legend.”
“What project?”
“Project Judas,” I say. “If you believe the rumors, it was headed by a brilliant biochemist named Screech. Jonathan Screech. The aim of the program was to create the ultimate weapon, a monster that could assimilate targets into its being, absorbing their capabilities. Such a function would provide it with a near limitless power ceiling. The problem was–”
Something hits my ears. Maria’s hand finds my arm, squeezing it painfully.
“Do you hear that?” she hisses.
Steel rattles in the distance. There’s a low groan of warping metal, like the rungs of a ladder slumping beneath the weight of something titanic. There’s something beneath us. It’s inside of that bunker, climbing that old ladder, and it’s making its way to the surface.
“We’ve gotta run!” Maria tugs at my arm, but I keep my feet planted where they are. My eyes narrow. I stare at the now trembling steel wheel, lit up beneath the light of the jungle moon.
Maria stumbles backward. A smile finds its way onto my face. In the distance, across the ruins of the base, the bunker’s hatch is thrown open. A dark shape emerges. It buzzes like television static, framed in shafts of moonlight. Its twin eyes glow like cinders. The shadow lurches, looking around, scanning the base and emitting a low electric hum.
“That’s it…” Maria whimpers. “Oh God… that’s it…”
The creature sees us. It sees me. It takes a shambling step forward, and dust and dirt flies into the air beneath its weight. Its eyes smolder, growing and growing until they become a blaze of fire. Maria is on the ground. She’s hiding beneath the window sill, reefing on the fabric of my pants and pleading with me to run, but I hardly notice she’s there.
This shadow– this monster, is why I’ve come here tonight.
Now, we finish things.
A wave of arctic air passes through my mind. It’s just as she described. My heart slams as I feel this Shadow rifle through my thoughts, chewing on my memories. I close my eyes. I breathe deep, inviting it in. Go ahead. Have your fill.
And then with one final shiver, the cold in my skull fades. That Shadow retreats, pulls back from my mind and when I open my eyes, I see it gazing back at me. The fire in its eyes dims to that cinderglow. It tilts its head skyward. Six black wings burst from its back in a shower of static.
“What’s happening?” Maria asks frantically, still on the ground beneath the window. “How are you going to kill it?”
“I’m not,” I tell her.
The Shadow belts out one last distorted howl before launching itself into the air like a streak of night. Three flaps of its wings, and it’s gone. Vanished into the sky, lost amongst the clouds.
Maria rises to her feet. Her eyes are wide. She’s shaking, her entire body is shaking with a tidal wave of horror. “Oh no…” she mutters, gazing at the sky. “It’s gone… So many are going to die…”
“Yes,” I tell her. “I hope so.”
She turns to me then, angry. Stunned. “You told me your job was stopping those things! Hunting them! What’s the deal, asshole? Why’d you just let it fly off?”
“Because I never finished my story.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”
“Project Judas had a directive,” I explain. “A very specific one. Its purpose was to assimilate hostile entities, to annihilate monsters and boogeymen, and ensure the survival of our species. Simply put, it was never made to hurt humans. After everything you’ve told me, I’m not convinced it can.”
She crosses her arms, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Were you even listening to what I said? I found a fucking graveyard down there. It burned John’s skull to a crisp, cracked it open, and ate his brains. I don’t care what it was designed for– I watched it kill a human right in front of me.”
“I’m not certain you did.” I lift up my briefcase, paying my now ashen clipboard one final, farewell glance. “From everything you described, I question whether John was a man at all by the time he took you down to that bunker. If he really was Johnathan Screech, and I think the evidence points to yes, then it’s said he conducted more than a few experiments on himself along the way. The glowing eyes? I’ve never met a human with a set of those.”
“But–”
“Fact is, John brought you here to kill you. John told you that he needed to feed you to his child, that he didn’t have a choice…” My thoughts turn to all the strange disappearances that lead me here. The missing entities. The absentee urban legends. “He was feeding Judas a steady supply of horrors, just enough to keep it from entering hibernation– right up until the moment he ran out. That’s why he pulled you down there. He thought you’d be an easy mark, that maybe with a little creative twisting of the narrative, he could convince Judas that you were close enough to food.
"Remember how he kept calling you a monster? Unfortunately for John, he misunderstood his own creation. Project Judas wasn’t designed to harm human beings. It went against its core directive. So in that moment, when John offered you as a sacrifice, a flip switched in Judas that made it realize John had crossed the threshold and become a monster himself.”
She’s quiet as we walk out the door. “You think he really was that Johnathan Screech guy?”
I shrug. “Maybe. I doubt there are dental records to double check, but based on what you’ve said tonight, it wouldn’t surprise me if Screech couldn’t let his project die. A creature like Judas… The Facility probably didn’t have a means of terminating it, so they buried it instead. Sealed it behind blast doors a kilometer beneath the earth. Then they erased all records of this base ever existing.” My SUV is gleaming black, impossible to miss against the ruinous backdrop of ancient humvees. I crack the passenger door. “Need a ride?”
She smiles. It’s the first time I’ve seen her smile all night, and I can’t help but smile back. “Thank you,” she says. “For not killing me.”
“Don’t mention it.”
She clambers into the seat, and just as I’m about to close the door, she stops me. “Wait,” she says quickly. “I forgot earlier, but John mentioned another entrance. One used for freight… That’s probably how he got back into the bunker after they sealed it up. He seemed to know everything about that place.”
“Yeah,” I tell her. “I figure he must have.”
I close the door and circle to the driver's side.
“So what do we do now,” she asks as I hop in. “About that thing, Project Judas?”
"Nothing," I say, plugging the key into the ignition and giving it a twist. The engine rumbles to life. “As far as I’m concerned, that creature isn’t a monster. And that means it’s not my problem.”
The vehicle rattles as we pull out of the base and onto the jungle road. Maria twists in her seat. She looks back through the rear window as her worst memory falls further and further behind us. “If it isn’t a monster, then what it is it?” she asks.
Words drift around my head. Definitions. I’m trying to figure out how to explain what it is that she and I saw, what it is that more people will see in the coming weeks. I’m trying to think of a way to tell Maria that whatever that thing was, she doesn’t need to be afraid of it. None of us do.
I open my mouth to reply, but I’m interrupted by a microphone howl. It’s distant. Far away. I crane my head and look up through the scatter of vines passing above us. And then I see it. A dark speck on the horizon. It’s little more than a dot against the moonstreaked clouds, but I know that if it were closer, I’d see a creature with six wings. I’d see a shadow with cinderlight eyes. A body of black static.
I’d see a guardian angel– one with plenty of work to do.

I just want to start by saying I love the game, i think it has great potential, i just wanted to gather many suggestions in one place, to help the dev improve the game.
For everyone else, please let me know if I miss anything, so i can edit the post (if its specific enough, saying x or y is sometimes not working without the cause is not that helpful).
Also I saw many post about the game being too hard, personally I don't mind the difficulty, I wouldn't expect to beat the whole game on the first few days. So I don't have difficulty suggestions here, mostly QoL, and some balancing issues (comparing them to other mechanics, instead of comparing them to the overall difficulty).
So here is my list of suggestions
Balancing Issues
-Farm Yield number just before harvest seems completely false, the actual yield is usually much much lower. Also farms seems to be underperforming in general. Because of the effort required and land they need, they should produce more resources (on a yearly basis) than vegetables or eggs for the same amount of land. Even if you're at 30-40% fertility.
-Sawpit is stalling at least 50% of the time, even if you assign an ox to it and have log available. The problem is that it can only hold 1 log at a time. So villagers can't coordinate to bring log while the others are cutting it. Sawpit need to hold at least 3+ logs so that villagers can have better coordination and it doesn't stall.
-Archer don't do anything right now, like 0 damage. Since they can't attack during melee (which is ok i think for realism), they should deal a lot more damage when they DO manage to shoot. And to counter balance that fact, maybe they don't run as fast as melee units chasing them. So they can't just kite everything. But the initial arrow volley should deal way more damage. They should not be balanced assuming players will exploit them, instead the exploits should be prevented.
-Mercenaries stop being available after a few years, I'm not sure if it means that the other lord bought them all or something? But new mercs seems to appear only in the first few years and then after that they never become available for purchase again if you did not buy them. Should have a way to buy mercenaries most of the time, unless you just bought some.
-Pack stations transport exactly only ONE item at a time? Seriously? Even with a mule? They should be able to carry at least 5 with a mule.
-Tools don't do anything.
QoL / UI Improvements
-At the moment, stone camp need to be placed NEXT TO rocks, while mining camp ON TOP of the resources. The worst part is that the game get you used to put mining camp on top of resources, when you do that for rocks it DESTROYS the rocks. Its like the game is purposely trolling and trapping you, stone camp should not let you destroy rocks or place on top of rocks OR they should work like mines.
-You should be able to deploy/dismiss ALL your units at once, and you should be able to deploy them directly into other territories, right now it says its not your territory...
-Many artisan extensions don't say in the description which resources they need to produce that thing. Should mention on all of them.
-Artisan extension should let you set a desired surplus of the crafting material (for example, don't craft unless you have 10+ planks in stock).
-When pausing an artisan production, that family should become available to assign elsewhere. It's really strange that they get locked forever. Or at least you should be able to destroy the extension (without destroying the burgage). The worst part is that if you try destroy a burgage to change its extension, it leaves supply on the floor so you cant immediately rebuild it.
-Weaver Workshop should have both Yarn and Linen icon, right now it only has Linen icon so finding the yarn building is confusing
-Crop rotation should never happen at specific time or randomly, it should only happen AFTER you finish harvesting. Otherwise if you build a farm in summer and set the rotation and start plowing, you will lose all your progress in fall even though the first crop never grew there. And rotation (or manual change of crop) should never reset the plowing progress. Only sowing/growing progress should be reset.
-Let me move supplies on the floor. Sometimes the family assigned to storehouse dont go collect supplies.
-Need a panel for your economy where you can see where all your villagers are assigned
Bugs
-Trying to claim land with your OWN units on it, will say that you can't claim land with enemy units, you should be able to do that.
-When the enemy lord try to claim a land, and challenge them in battle, you can make them chase you around outside of the battlefield for 3 months and they will lose the claim, even if their army is 3x yours. They should try to stay inside the battlefield, or the battlefield should just be the whole region. I don't understand why a "battlefield zone" is needed.
-Many people have reported bugs concerning the markets, while I haven't had issues with it myself, maybe more options could be added to help you manually manage markets so they are a bit more under your control.
-I haven't tested with other buildings, but when you manually destroy a market that is on fire, the fire will stay permanently on the map. Save/Reload seems to fix it.
-Sometimes when your buildings get burned and destroyed by enemies, people will go homeless forever even after you rebuild everything, they just refuse to get a new house. Save/Reload seems to fix it.
-You get a "generic storage full" notification when the log in the sawpit is 1/1.
Simple Feature Additions that would be amazing
-Pasture should let you raise and breed ox and horses as well. Maybe like field you should be able to select which animal to put there. Ox would produce milk. Horses would be for the other new feature described below (cavalry).
-City Watch building so you can assign a family to patrol the city and prevent bandit from stealing your stuff
-Not a fan of the foreign supply passive income carts, they make those resources too easy to get, and the resources are so specific, adding more resources would just be a second trade mechanic, we already have trading, Personally i would remove the cart foreign supply thing. Instead of foreign supply development point, maybe some development point for trading at better rates ?? (many people complained the rates are too harsh, i think they would be fine if they can at least be improved)
More complex features i really want
-I want more entertainment buildings options to increase approval (i think right now only tavern and church?), and more burgage levels (up to 5?)
-I want cavalry units! If archer are made stronger, and can kite easily or be exploited, then cavalry would become the go-to way to get rid of them. While spears could be good at countering cavalry. This feature would work very well with the other feature i suggested of having pastures let you raise and breed horses.
-Fishing. In medieval times it was the main source of meat for peasants, followed by livestock meat.

Im trying to follow some guides (mainly this one and this one) about RNG with vba-rr, lua and rng reporter in pokemon emerald. But i cant seem to get the correct calibration. I follow the steps, get to 254 steps, save, move, get one egg, get the nature, put it in the time finder (3 gen) and my id and sid. But i cant seem to find the pid of the egg, dosnt matter the calibration i use. I know it affects so i ill let you know that my latios is still flying around. I have 2 mawile genned to have 31 ivs in every stat just for breeding, i dont know if this affects anything. Any tips on how to do this? With the lua script i have i get the pid of the egg so ive been checking it just as soon i get it but without opening it, the guide wasnt very explicit avout that part to be honest.

[svirtual] hello all!
I am selling GBL / research / raid caught still in GO /in HOME shiny legend/mythical
Trades will be done instantly, or I will do it at your convenience when you pay.
Everything is price + fees unless otherwise discussed, bulk deals available
(Ask if you don’t see what you’re looking for, I have non legend in go shinies too)
In pogo: GBL/research shiny legends All are still in GO , SHINY, will have ID 655705/310524 OT Jay unless otherwise specified for custom OT
I can make them any language tag in home , but the ID will be different , I will inform of it before trade
L15 MB/GB/UB Shiny Celebi self caught $150/$30 or 2 homestamp zeraora for MB
L15 PB Shiny Jirachi traded for on DC with zoeann $65
L16 PB Shiny Mew traded for on DC with Zoeann $35
L25 MB Shundo Mewtwo (5IV guaranteed in home, speed is 1/6 roll) $150
L20 MB XXL Shiny Groudon $200 Self caught
L15 XXS Shiny Regigigas $150 PB traded for on DC with zotachi
L20 MB: $75 each
Mewtwo(L25) ,Ho-Oh(L25),Registeel, Latios, Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, Regigigas , Darkrai, Tornadus(T), Thundurus(T), Landorus(T), Kyurem, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, Kartana, Celesteela
L1 PB Uxie,Azelf,Mesprit $40 each
L1 GB XXS Azelf, PB Mesprit, UB Uxie $130 each
L1 PB XXS Uxie, Azelf, Mesprit $120 each
L1 PB XXL Uxie, Azelf, Mesprit $115 each 300 all
L1 MB Mesprit $140
L1 MB XXL Azelf, Mesprit $300 each
L1 MB XXS Uxie $300
L15 MB Cresselia $250
L15 MB Heatran $250
L15 MB Giratina $250
L15 MB Darkrai $250
L15 MB Regigigas $250
L15 PB Regigigas $55 obtained from user on FB messenger (custom OT available)
L15 GB Regigigas $50 Obtained from user imrv on DC (custom OT available)
L15 UB Regigigas $40 Obtained from DC user dc1yesdale (custom OT available)
(120 bundle for all PB,GB,UB regi)^
L15 UB Zapdos/Mewtwo $23/28 traded for on DC Calvita720252/MVPllAntaresll
L20 PB/UB Mewtwo $28/25 Traded for on DC with user donzaloog69/slayers20
L15 UB Raikou $15 Traded for on DC with slixy
L20 GB/UB Suicune/Entei $25 Traded for on DC with user neryra31/ user on fb messenger (GBL)
L15 GB/UB Lugia $25 traded for on DC with user Notbachert /EMTday
L20 PB/UB Lugia $25/20 Traded for on DC with user winnermanx, mrdr2012
L15 PB/UB Ho oh $25/20 Traded for on DC with user / FB messenger
L15/20 UB Regice $20/17 Traded for on DC with sanbeer1/2bezuz
L15 PB/UB Groudon $25/20 Traded for on DC with kgbryan68/skyblueoz
L20 UB Groudon $20 Traded for on Dc with legendarylink0
L15 UB Rayquaza $25 traded for on FB messenger
L20 UB Speed Form Deoxys $50 traded for on dc with user BobChiquita
L20 UB Azelf/Mesprit/Uxie $18 Traded for on whatsapp /DC with Naderx7, firestyleitachi (GBL caught )
L15/20 GB/ UB Heatran $25/20 traded for on DC with blakedaboss12/ fb messenger
L20 UB regigigas $20 Traded for on DC with user worldplaya
L20 GB/UB Dialga $25 traded for on dc with user papaya645, wingdarkzero
Level 50 UB Dialga $35 traded for on DC with user HknkInky
L20 GB/UB Palkia $25 Traded for on DC with users Davelovesgraal/iLugia1007
L20 GB/UB Giratina $25 Traded for on DC with user Papaya645/1shura369
L20/15 GB/UB Cresselia $18/20 Traded for on DC with Sujai0105 / fb messenger
L20 UB cobalion/terrakion $25 Traded for on DC with elnegorcrack/urbanhermit78
L20 GB Cobalion/Terrakion/Virizion $25 Traded for on DC with user worldplaya/ papaya645/FB messenger
L22 GB Tornadus (T) $22 traded for on Dc with user BetePuchur
L20 UB Reshiram/Zekrom/Kyurem $25 Traded for on DC with user(s) xplit10, ChillBoonster, donzaloog69
L25 GB Kyurem $20 Traded for on DC with Papaya645
L20 UB Xerneas $25 Traded for on DC with user demonking914778
L20 GB/UB tapu bulu $30/25 Traded for on DC with user joqqs31/jrhenzoh
L20 UB Tapu Koko $25 traded for on FB messenger
L20 UB Tapu Fini $25 traded for on DC with user Creysi5
L20 UB Nihilego $25 traded for on DC with Mijoo216
L20 GB/UB Guzzlord $25 Traded for on FB messenger / DC with user MrPototto
From raids(self caught) everything will have ID: 655705/310524 and OT: Jay unless otherwise specified.
Shiny articuno/Zapdos/moltres/mewtwo/ho oh/Lugia /groudon/kyogre/rayquaza/cress/ heatran/dialga/palkia/regigigas/ terrakion/kyurem/xerneas/yveltal/nihilego/guzz $6 each Celesteela /kartana $7
Shiny darkrai $8
Shiny egg self hatched with ID 655705 and OT: Jay or custom OT or tradable in go:
L20 Azurill/cleffa/riolu/happiny/bonsly/pichu $7 each, pancham $10 mantyke $15 level 3 munchlax $10
Drampa $5
Regional/oricorio/flabebe shinies $4 each
Shiny Furfrou $7 per trim $9 for heart trim 50 for entire set of 10
Non shiny mythicals Includes: Mew, celebi, jirachi, shaymin (normal or sky),victini, meloetta, hoopa $6 cosmog $5 ultra ball shaymin $10
In HOME: I have pictures of all Pokémon
L15 PB Darkrai $30 obtained from masterkevin2g on discord OT: Jay ID: 310524 Mild ENG
L15 PB Darkrai $30 obtained from user on FB messenger OT: kupper ID: 669308 Docile (SP-EU)
L15 PB Darkrai $30 obtained from user on FB messenger OT: Panda ID: 473776 Hasty (SP-EU)
L15 GB Darkrai $30 obtained from user on FB messenger OT: Jay ID: 310524 Docile
L20 GB/UB Shiny Darkrai OT: Jay ID: 310524 traded for on DC with user papaya645/ricardr. Gentle/Quiet $20
L20 PB Shiny Cresselia $15 ID: 618515 OT: Jay traded for on DC with user Rainn sassy
L21 UB shiny Kyogre $10 OT: Jay ID:635929 Careful. traded for on FB messenger
L23 UB Shiny Darkrai $15 OT: Jay ID: 156017 Jolly. Traded for on DC user ryankay
L18 GB Shiny Articuno $8 OT: Jay ID: 655705 self caught hasty
L20 PB Shiny Mewtwo $17 OT: Jay ID: 884657 traded for on dc with user newbarkschoolty
L26 UB Shiny Ho-Oh $12 OT: Jay ID: 655705 self caught/ sent to home Careful
L20 UB shiny Regirock $14 OT: Jay ID: 016600 Traded for on DC with lFritsche Gentle
L15 UB Shiny Regirock $16 OT: Jay ID: 028634 Traded for on DC with cg97 Careful
L21 PB Shiny Regice $15 OT: Jay ID: 655705 self caught/sent to home Rash
L22 UB shiny registeel $10 OT: Jay ID: 655705Lax self sent
L15 PB Shiny registeel $17 OT: Jay ID: 960814 Adamant Traded for on DC w cg97
L21 UB shiny groudon $10 OT: Jay ID: 655705 self sent Calm
L31 GB shiny dialga $8 OT: Jay ID: 655705 Naive . Traded for on FB messenger
L20 GB shiny giratina $20 OT: Jay ID: 108465 Traded for on DC with 8v7 Quirky
L20 UB shiny regigigas $15 OT: Jay ID:884657 Serious. traded for on dc with worldplaya
L21 PB Shiny terrakion $18 OT: Jay ID: 655705 Naughty. Self caught and self sent
L21 GB Shiny Virizion $15 OT: Jay ID: 655705 Self caught / self sent Careful
DC=Discord FB=Facebook WA=WhatsApp
in HOME LVL 100 POGO stamped from HOME glitch on 06/15/23 with OT: Jay ID: 655705 unless otherwise specified for ID
UB L100 Shiny Raikou $150 self caught OT: Jay ID: 655705 Lax.
Masterball L100 Shiny Mewtwo $500 self caught OT: Jay ID: 655705 Bashful 1/1
UB L100 Shiny Darkrai $300 traded for on DC with user ryankay OT: Jay ID:092047 Mild
Premier Ball L100 Shiny Yveltal/Xerneas $150 or $250 for bundle self caught OT: Jay ID: 655705 Relaxed/Brave
GB L100 Virizion self caught OT: Jay ID: 655705 Jolly $230
Premier Ball L100 Shiny Deoxys Normal Form ID: Jay OT: 655705 Sassy $275 self caught
I also have normal shinies from pogo just ask please I will likely have it or can get it within a few days
Prices are flexible / bulk deals available
Everything is caught or traded with rooted android / gps joystick
I will trade you in Pokémon HOME
My ref / check past posts to see successful transactions. Thanks for your time!
https://www.reddit.com/pokemonexchangeref/comments/14pk1ju/uslow_illustrator_619_reference/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_contegcc

Description: Your mommy takes care of you after you almost faint.
[START]
Mommy: "Hey sweetie."
Mommy: "Yeah just got back from the office."
Mommy: "Now I'm yours for the rest of the day~"
Sound of her kissing the listener.
Mommy: "I'm gonna make some bacon and eggs."
Mommy: "If you want we can game after I'm done eating."
Mommy: "Sounds good."
Mommy: "Uh, I think we still have some orange soda, you'll have to check though."
Mommy: "Are you okay sweetie?"
Mommy: "You look really pale."
Mommy: "You're shaking..."
Sound of the listener almost falling over.
Mommy: "Heyheyhey, sweetie!?"
Mommy: "Sweetie!?!"
Mommy: "You almost fainted!"
Mommy: "No I'm not letting you go."
Mommy: "Come."
Mommy: "No, I'm carrying you to the couch."
Sound of her picking up the listener.
Mommy: "It's not okay."
Mommy: "You could've been seriously hurt if I didn't catch you."
Mommy: "Here."
Sound of her putting the listener down on the couch.
Mommy: "No, don't get up."
Mommy: "Just stay still for a moment okay?"
Mommy: "I'll get you some water."
Mommy: "Do you feel dizzy?"
Mommy: "Here."
Mommy: "Drink slowly."
Mommy: "It is a big deal sweetie."
Mommy: "You almost fainted."
Mommy: "I'm driving you to the hospital if it worsens."
Mommy: "No buts."
Mommy: "I'll get you something to eat."
Mommy: "...What do you mean you haven't eaten yet?"
Mommy: "Sweeetie!"
Mommy: "You need to eat!"
Mommy: "No I'm not mad, I'm concerned."
Mommy: "Why didn't you eat something?"
Sound of her kissing the listener.
Mommy: "Well you stay here, and don't get up okay?"
Mommy: "I'm gonna make you some food."
Mommy: "It's not a bother, you know I like taking care of you."
Sound of her gently running her hands through the listener's hair.
Mommy: "Good, then don't say such mean things again."
Mommy: "You're not a bother, never was, and never will."
Mommy: "Don't forget that, or else I'll have to cuddle it into you."
Mommy: "I'll get started on the food then."
Mommy: "Anything you want in particular?"
Mommy: "Sure, I can make that."
Sound of her gently kissing the listener's forehead.
Mommy: "I'll be back in a bit then, call me if you need anything."
Sound of her walking out of the room.
Time-skip.
Mommy: "Pssst, hey, hey sweetie."
Mommy: "The food is done."
Mommy: "Wakey-wakey cutie~" Giggles.
Mommy: "There are those lovely eyes."
Mommy: "How did you sleep?"
Mommy: "You slept for about an hour."
Mommy: "Here, let me adjust the pillow so you can sit up."
Mommy: "There."
Mommy: "Are you still feeling dizzy?"
Mommy: "Just tired?"
Mommy: "Well this should give you back some energy then."
Sound of her handing the food to the listener.
Mommy: "Just how you like it."
Mommy: "And I made lots so dig in."
Mommy: "No need to thank me, sweetie."
Mommy: "I also got you some water, drink at least half of the bottle."
Mommy: "I'm not going to let you out of my sight, "
Mommy: "If you want I can carry you to the bed after this but either way I want you to rest."
Mommy: "What did I just say, sweetie?"
Mommy: "No need to thank me."
Mommy: "I'm just loving you, and loving you? that's the easiest thing ever."
Sound of her kissing the listener.
Mommy: "Do you want me to get more?"
Mommy: "Are you sure?"
Mommy: "Alright."
Mommy: "I'm okay, I already ate."
Mommy: "So, do you want me to carry you to bed?"
Mommy: "Sure, we can still game."
Mommy: "Just tell me if you feel dizzy again okay?"
Sound of her starting the game.
Mommy: "Now come closer."
Sound of her wrapping her arms around the listener.
Mommy: "Much better."
Mommy: "I love you too sweetie~"
Mommy: "You go first."
Sound of her playing with the listener's hair.
Mommy: "What do you mean?"
Mommy: "I'm not doing anything~"
Mommy: "Just running my fingers through your hair~"
Mommy: "I'm not doing this to make you sleepy, I just can't keep my hands from you~"
Mommy: "Do you want me to stop?"
Mommy: "No?"
Mommy: "That's what I like to hear~"
Mommy: "So, what are we doing today?"
Mommy: "I only got to the fifth water level last night."
Mommy: "You can give it a try."
Mommy: "I'm probably just gonna do more of the desert levels."
Mommy: "Mhm."
Mommy: "If our strategy pans out then we should be at level 50 by the time we reach the next world."
Mommy: "You might have to restock on some of the items, I think I forgot to do that last night."
Audio slowly fades out as she talks.
Mommy: "Feeling confident huh?"
Mommy: "Let's see how fast you can beat the level then."
Mommy: "This next one has a mini-boss after all."
[END]
Constructive Criticism is welcome, I would love to know your thoughts.
If someone wants to record this and release it on any platform, they can do so if credit and/or a link to this post are provided.
Monetization is okay with all of my scripts, no matter the platform. (This includes platforms like Patreon as well, though if I could, I'd like to listen to the recording at least once.)
If you want to make any changes to the script, please ask me first, unless I have already given you specific permission for either this or all of my scripts.
List of all of my scripts:
Part 1 - https://www.reddit.com/ASMRScriptHaven/comments/s24un1/master_list_of_my_scripts_f4a_all_are_free_to_use/
Part 2 - https://www.reddit.com/ASMRScriptHaven/comments/1777754/master_list_of_my_scripts_part_2_f4a_all_a_free/

Ive completes the game a couple of times and get some legendarys/good pokemon by epic eggs (artículo,latios,shaymin,celeestela,great tusk,pecharunt)still im a little insecure about endless i feel like levels scale way faster and I don't know if i could reach a floor higher than 200th. Any tips?

Hey all! For context, I'm currently replaying Emerald using an emulator and I plan to catch the shiny versions of every pokémon catchable through static encounters (including gift and legendary/mythical pokémon). Is there anything wrong/missing from the following list of every obtainable shiny static encounter pokémon in Emerald (without trading between games)?
Pre-Elite 4

1. Treecko/Torchic/Mudkip
2. Wynaut Egg
3. Mirage Tower Lileep/Anorith
4. Castform
5. Kecleon
6. Regirock
7. Regice
8. Registeel
9. Rayquaza

Post-Elite 4

1. Fossil Maniac Cave Anorith/Lileep
2. Beldum
3. Sudowoodo
4. Roaming/TV Latias/Latios
5. Kyogre
6. Groudon
7. Chikorita/Cyndaquil/Totodile
8. Southern Island Latios/Latias*
9. Jirachi*
10. Deoxys*
11. Mew*
12. Lugia*
13. Ho-Oh*
14. Celebi*

*Requires event items/glitch
Thanks in advance and sorry for any mistakes!

In late 1994, I was roughly 8 years old and was taken from my backyard around 11pm. My folks were fighting and I was chilling in the grass to get away from the noise. I was laying in the center of my yard, surrounded by tall trees with a clearing 60ft to my east. A bright, hard to look at, egg shaped object descended down from the clouds and was right above the tree tops above me. I heard thunder, felt a breeze and saw a short figure in the field looking towards me. I was laying motionless and I watched it glide over to me and get in my face. It had a short humanoid form half my size compared to young me. It wore a holographic glossy black outfit with a helmet that featured 3 ridges and two big orange glowing eyes.
When it looked at me I become frozen and was transported. I do not believe I had a vision, I have those too when I'm in a dreamstate. In that moment I was transported away. They took me around the world, I could feel and smell the air when we moved. They showed me how climate disaster was on the horizon. They wanted me to invent technology to ease the next transition and try to reduce the loss of life. They also showed me a robotics platform of terraformers that I'm suppose to build. I am still on that mission today, but the stress of this burden eats me alive every night. I struggle with depression and anxiety because I have this savior complex and I put the weight of the world on my shoulders. I'm not here to preach doomsday btw, I don't even really believe it'll be one key scary event that'll upset the status quo but something that's going to happen gradually over time.
Since that moment in my backyard, I've been in constant telepathic contact and I have been visited more times than I can remember. They regularly collect data from me as far as I can tell. I don't question what they do to me because I trust them completely. They have saved my life multiple times. When they visit, it always feels like sleep paralysis and the theme is always the same. I see them, and they freeze me. They show me things that are important and I wake up confused the next day trying to figure out what it will meant.
My wife is a doctor and doesn't believe I have a psychotic diagnosis. I'm a perfectly functioning dude with high blood pressure. Since this happened to me as a child and I initially talked a lot about it plenty of times and have disclosed my experience to therapists before but that wasn't really helpful and actually very detrimental for me. My father to this day gives me shit for "needing" therapy for my experience. He viewed it as an elaborate lie that I willingly choose to disrupt my life over. For 30 years... Nowadays, he likes to pretend he's the actual alien commander and mocks me. It doesn't bother me. He knows, he grew up in the same house. He uses stuff like that to cope.
We are not suppose to talk about our experiences. Talking about these things can hurt our relationships and the teachers(what I call the ones I talk to) understand that and try to convey that. Some believe it can be dangerous to talk about these accounts. That I'm putting myself on a radar for some dark group, and I get it but I'm told to not be afraid of dark forces either. No need to warn me.
I have practically no one to talk to about these things, and I'm told that I need to find my people to advance my goals. So that leads me to boards like this where I share my experience because I have a genuine need to write this stuff down somewhere. My wife believes me but doesn't like to talk about it because it's scary to think about. My mom believes but she's got extreme views she wants to tie into my experience. My friend group doesn't even want to entertain me when they themselves start talking about alien stuff.
Like c'mon dudes, I seen em, I'm itching to talk about it, and they don't even want my descriptions over conspiracy stoner talk. They was recently talking about the Nazca mummies, which I had never really studied closely until this month but when I saw the imaging results I freaked out, because I had seen these beings before. I wanted to tell them, but was dismissed before I could really say anything about it. My friends are engineers and they are no nonsense guys and even when they talk about the stuff you better not say you believe in it.
The Nazca bodies sent me down so many rabbit holes, I'm certain of their authenticity and believe they are a key to our true history. I love exploring lost history, studying ancient texts and artwork, and the ancient NHI train is one I've been on because they told me they have always been with us. Despite that, I never really read any books on native american history and mythology. I had an understanding of some of the cultures and the history, but when I got into the actual stories and saw some of the petroglyphs, I realized I needed to study everything.
I learned about the mound builders. That night I had a dream where I realized something potentially wild about my childhood home. I live in the Ohio River Valley, right off of a creek. Not far at all from other known mounds and is in path of a known Indian trail that connects a few of them. My home is the original homestead in the area. They built the house off center of a mound roughly 100ft in diameter, the rest of the area is flat. It would have been the only mound in the area in 1826, out of place near a creek, great for a building. If I say much more y'all will find me. So I need to leave it at that.
Anyways when we ripped the plaster out of the house to modernize it in the 90s, we found arrow heads and a stone axe head entombed in the wall. My dad told me where he stashed those things and I plan to locate them soon. I assume when they dug the basement, they found these things and tossed them up into the walls instead of dumping them. I can't confirm that my old childhood home is built on an ancient native American ceremonial site yet, but I can't help but relate the idea to my experience.
So I asked the teachers. Sometimes I get a response, sometimes I see a sign, sometimes they ignore me and interpret that as something I need to learn on my own. I would have been dead center of that mound the night I was laying in the grass. This time they flat said to me that I placed myself upon their alter to be given to them and they accepted my offering. That I have enough of their hybridized genes and that makes me suitable for communication. That made so much sense to me it broke me a little bit.
The telepathy works like a radio. When you are attuned you can listen to the channel. While you are listening any telepathic entity can message you. Good or bad. The teachers taught me skepticism first. How to discern the chatter on the channel.
I was fixing to sell the property soon. I don't live there anymore and the house is in rough shape and has really creepy vibes before I suspected it might be on a ceremonial mound. After this revelation, I realized my childhood home is my skinwalker ranch and it's my connection point to them. I can't let go of the thought of it and cannot sell the property now. All of my contact experiences happened there and no where else.
So my question is to fellow my experiencers. Do any of y'all have a close connection to your first contact site? Do y'all also feel connected to these stories of the ancestors?
I'm an open book and will answer questions public or private but if I drop off it means something weirded me out. Thanks for hearing my words.

Back in 2022, I went through a drawn-out and ill-tempered breakup with my then-fiancée, Savannah. She’d been getting unusually close to one of her co-workers, and her behavior had suddenly shifted. I accidentally overheard one of her phone calls, revealing that the two of them were, in fact, having an affair. I confronted her about it, and she didn’t bother to hide it anymore. This was about a week before we were supposed to go on a couple’s retreat that we’d planned for months.
So instead of a 5-day weekend with my bride-to-be, it was aiming to be a miserable pity party. But hey, the deposit was non-refundable, and I needed space. I decided to go on my own while she packed her things. I couldn’t bear to watch our life being put into boxes.
I headed for Alaska.
 
Now, one might not think of Alaska as the first place to go for a vacation, but there are some amazing ski resorts up there. There was this one place that had a little bit of everything. A main lodge with a bar, a restaurant, and a gym. Nothing huge, but more than expected. Savannah and I had rented one of the many 2-man cabins, complete with a built-in sauna. Thing cost an arm and a leg, but it came with complementary champagne, so what the hell.
I got there an early Thursday morning. I checked in and explained to the receptionist that there wasn’t going to be a second person joining me. It earned me my first sympathetic look and an involuntary “oh”.
I was shown to my cabin. It was in a cluster with six other cabins, a straight walk from the ski lifts. One of the staffers showed me how to work the sauna (bucket and all), where to find linens, and how to order room service. Then they handed me the keys and sent me on my way.
 
Savannah and I got the place a little cheaper because of how far in advance we booked, so we had no idea that it was gonna be such a rough winter. There’d been a constant overcast for about a week, and we’d booked a little earlier in the year than one should – meaning it was oppressively dark outside. Even at the height of noon, all I saw was a grey-washed sun peeking through layers of clouds like a shy schoolboy.
There were a couple of others there though. In the cabin straight across from me were a pair of what can only be described as socialite hipsters. A man and woman in identical haircuts and matching outfits. They had customized prints on their shoulders with their Instagram tags. At first I thought it was some sort of joke, but every single time I saw them together they seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Kinda made me feel bad for thinking less of them, to be honest.
There were two men in their 50’s. They weren’t an obvious couple, at first look, but you could kinda fill in the blanks to draw your own conclusions. I think they just wanted to get away – they didn’t even bring any skis. They seemed pretty chill, spending most of their time enjoying the amenities of the lodge.
There was one final couple next door. A man and woman in their early 40’s. I got the impression that they were parents enjoying a weekend away from their kids. They talked on the phone a lot and had to repeat themselves, referring to “your sister” and “your brother” in a way that only a stern parent could. I caught their names as Tyler and Ginger.
 
But out of everyone there, I think I was the one who stood out the most. This whole cluster was intended for couples, but the staff didn’t have the heart to ask me to move. It was clear that something had gone wrong, and they just wanted to look after me. I got a complementary breakfast, a couple extra chocolates on my pillow, and they always had this apologetic tone when speaking to me; like they were afraid that I’d break.
To be fair, a couple of times, I did. That first day, I spent most of my time in bed. I wasn’t even tired, I was just hurting from all the empty space and lack of noise. I kept going back to my socials to see if Savannah had posted anything. I kept updating, over and over again.
It was well over 7pm when I realized I’d spent all day doing nothing but wallowing in misery. I decided that I was gonna at least try to make the best of it. I let the battery on my phone run out and left it empty while I headed for the bar.
 
I didn’t spend too much time or money, but just enough to get a chat in with some of the guests. There were single people and friend groups there too, but only about a handful. By chance, I ended up spending the evening with my next-door neighbors; Tyler and Ginger. They confirmed immediately that yes, they were indeed exhausted parents. I offered them a sympathetic mojito, and after that, we were best friends.
Tyler was this enormous, lanky man. Easily 6’6 and bald as an egg. Ginger on the other hand barely reached 5’4. You could tell she’d been stressed; it carried under her eyes. That didn’t stop her from laughing herself silly at every stupid joke we made.
It might’ve been the Mojitos talking though.
 
Later that night, I ended up taking a smoke break with Tyler out back. I hadn’t smoked since college, but I figured now was as good a time as any to ruin my life a little. He handed me a lit Marlboro red, leaning against the railing. I’d been telling Tyler and Ginger about Savannah and our recent breakup, and he was in full guy-support mode.
“At least there’re no kids involved,” he sighed, sucking down his cigarette. “It gets hella complicated, you know. And fast.”
“But it’s worth it, right?” I asked.
Tyler grimaced, bobbing his head side to side, making a little unsure hand gesture.
“Depends,” he continued. “I mean, they’re gonna suck the life outta ya’. It’s gonna be every day, every way, all the time. There ain’t no ‘you’ anymore, it’s … ‘us’, you know.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I get it.”
He finished his cigarette, flicking it into the snow.
“But you can see it. You can see yourself in another person. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like… that’s you. And unless you really hate yourself, you can’t help but to love ‘em.”
“So it’s worth it then.”
Tyler snorted, heading back inside. He blew the last puff of his cigarette out his nose; or it might’ve just been hot air mixing with the cold night.
“I’m theirs.”
 
I stayed behind, looking over the dark snow. Nothing gleamed or glistened. It was like a frozen black ocean as far as the eye could see. Not a single star twinkling above. The entire resort felt like something lost in deep space; isolated and displaced. A monument to comfort in a subdued wilderness.
I could see the others debating what song to put on for karaoke. They were gonna drag me up there eventually too. I didn’t mind that much. I can do a decent ‘Killer Queen’. I turned back towards the endless snow a final time.
And I swear, something glimmered. And it wasn’t the snow.
Eyes?
 
I woke up close to noon the following day; the result of one too many drinks and not a single alarm set for the first time in years. I drank what felt like a bathtub’s amount of seltzer, threw up, and grabbed some take-away lunch from the restaurant. Got my wallet back too – not that I’d noticed ever losing it.
As I headed out, one of the receptionists stopped me. She gently grabbed my arm, excusing herself.
“Did you see a woman here last night?” she asked. “About 5’7, dark eyes, blonde hair?”
“No, uh… was she here with anyone?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” she smiled. “We think there’s an unregistered guest. She’s not your missing plus one, is she?”
I shook my head, causing a temporary motion sickness. I reassured her that I hadn’t seen anyone matching that description, and promised to let her know if I did. It was strange – she seemed a lot more worried than I thought one might be about an uninvited guest.
 
I took some time to actually go skiing that day. There’s something mind-clearing about plummeting down the slopes without a care in the world. No one to break your stride. Free reign as far as the eye could see. I lost track of time and ended up spending a little longer than anticipated.
That evening, I got to the restaurant just as they were about to close. I managed to sneak in an order for a plate of chicken carbonara, but I was the only guest left eating something. The others were at the tail end of dessert. That’s when I heard some commotion from one of the other tables. Looking up, I could see the two men from the other couple’s cabin.
It was a proposal.
 
The whole lodge erupted into cheers. Free drinks from the bar. Hugs and kisses all around – and I was stuck sitting there with my plate of pasta. To round out the proposal, there was a short firework display outside. Blue and green rockets against the coal-black sky; lighting up the snow like sand dunes of emerald and sapphire. It was beautiful. And I didn’t even get a good look of it.
As guests funneled back inside, I finished my plate. I was about to go congratulate the couple and join the budding party when I heard a knock. The restaurant staff were too busy closing up to notice it, but I saw someone outside.
She couldn’t have been older than maybe… 20, 21. She wore a thin black nylon jacket and a trucker cap, resembling some kind of catering crew. She gave me a little hand wave, pointing to the door.
“You mind letting me in?”
“Sure, yeah.”
Strange. The glass door was already unlocked. I thought she might’ve been locked out.
“Thanks,” she smiled. “Must’ve pulled at it the wrong way. Sorry.”
She pushed past me, but turned with a smile as she did. Her eyes weren’t just a dark brown – they were almost black.
“You should join us,” she smiled. “It’s gonna be fun.”
She disappeared into the bar crowd. Her smile faded behind a blonde ponytail the second she thought I wasn’t watching. It took me a moment to realize she matched the description of the woman the receptionist had been asking me about.
 
I tried getting a hold of a staffer, but they were running about like headless chickens. After a short but valiant effort, I decided to celebrate with the others. After all, it was Friday night, and I needed a reason to drink. Or a better reason, at least.
Things got a bit hazy around midnight. The newly betrothed were off in a corner, sharing a bottle of red. Tyler was trying his best to keep Ginger from a fifth cocktail. The hipster couple had retired early, choosing to spend the remainder of the night in their cabin. Other guests filtered out one by one, leaving a handful of people behind.
As I stumbled back to my cabin for the night, intent on spending some time in the sauna, I noticed the strange blonde woman in the distance. She was standing outside the hipster’s cabin, knocking on their door. She looked back at me with an expressionless face; her dark eyes looking like holes in the head.
I could tell something was off about her. I always could. But I didn’t know exactly what.
 
I spent the night in the sauna. Not by choice, but happenstance. I didn’t even start it, I just put my head down on a towel and blacked out. By morning, I was more hangover than man. It was also the only time the sun decided to peak out, if only to tease my retinas. I spent some time getting ready, munching on a couple of protein bars and chugging a bottle of orange juice I’d nicked from the open bar.
Just past lunch, I was the only one on my feet. I didn’t spot any other guests from the cluster, and all the cabins were closed. No sign of the strange blonde woman either. Maybe that was for the best.
But the more I wandered about, the more I noticed something was off. The ski lift wasn’t working, and most of the main lodge was locked. All the lights were off – both inside and out. The restaurant’s curtains were drawn, as well as at the bar, and the reception. The gym was locked with a “closed” sign out front.
 
I tried knocking, but no one opened. I tried the main lodge and the other cabins – nothing. I looked all over the resort, but it was all empty. The parking lot, the maintenance shed, changing rooms… everything was either locked up tight or empty. Something must’ve happened. One of the side entrances leading to the restaurant kitchen was not just locked but chained up.
Going back to my cabin, I checked my phone; only to remember that I’d let the battery drain. There was no power to charge it. The temperature was also going down; fast. It didn’t take long before I had to bundle up with a jacket, even indoors. By the time I realized I’d run out of options, the sun was already setting.
I sat on my bed with my legs huddled up against my chest, looking out the window. The snow had stopped glistening as the sun had, once again, wrapped itself with a cloud cover.
 
That’s when I realized what’d bothered me about that strange woman the other night.
There was no vapor coming from her breath. No hot mixing with cold.
It was as if she hadn’t breathed at all.
 
By nightfall, I could see movement in the distance. Doors opening, lights turning on. There was laughter coming from the main lodge. A few remaining fireworks from the other night flaring up into the night sky. Someone had cranked up the music in the bar a little too loud. Heat was coming back, and power was restored. I fumbled for my phone, plugging in the charger.
As I did, I spotted one of my neighbors through the window. One of the two older betrothed men. He looked ecstatic; skipping through the snow like a child. He lost his glasses as he haphazardly threw snow into the air, leaving an arc of snowflakes slowly tumbling back to the ground.
I walked up to the window, ready to call on him. I wondered where his fiancé was, but I only had to wonder for a moment.
His fiancé was dragging the headless corpse of the hipster woman behind him. Colorful jacket and all.
 
I crouched down, covering my mouth with my hands. I didn’t want a scream to slip out. I could hear my chest pounding in my heart; making me twitch with every beat. I felt my cheeks flush as my tongue went dry.
They dragged the body through the snow, their hands and faces covered in red. There was a long trail of blackened blood reaching all the way from the hipster cabin to the middle of the field. The two betrotheds kissed, laughed, howled, and cheered. They waved at someone off in the distance, screaming with joy.
And there was no vapor coming from either of them. No hot air mixing with cold.
They were cold as ice; and just as pale.
 
I saw it all from my bedroom window. Cleaners hanging bloodied linens out the windows like war banners. A woman throwing torn body parts off the roof of the main lodge. A gang of four restaurant workers set fire to the maintenance shed, dancing around it like shrieking primates.
The receptionist, who’d talked to me earlier, was wandering in a circle out near the back entrance. She had knives stuck through her arms and throat but was moving around like it was nothing; her back straight and her movements precise. Predatory. There was a glow in her eyes; a reflection of the raging arson. The pity I’d once seen in them were long gone.
I frantically dialed emergency services. As soon as the call connected, my mind went into a lockdown. I couldn’t decide whether to scream or whisper, so I ended up doing this strange wheezing. I had to repeat what I said three times to even identify myself. I have no idea what I even stuttered after that, but I managed to give them an address. I think I got the point across.
People were dead, and things were on fire.
 
There was a knock on the door.
My immediate reaction was to toss my phone halfway across the floor. I never hung up, I think. I figured whoever was outside might’ve heard the noise and came to investigate.
“Would you mind letting me in?”
The same voice as the other night. The blonde woman who I’d opened the door for at the restaurant. This time, I didn’t move. I didn’t answer.
“I thought I checked this building,” she chuckled. “Where’ve you been hiding?”
There was a whisper. Someone was with her. Then – a giggle.
“You slept in the sauna? No wonder we didn’t see you!”
 
I looked for something to defend myself with. There was a fireplace, but it was only decorative. There wasn’t even a fire poker. I grabbed my empty bottle of complementary champagne; it was heavy enough to cause some damage.
But as I looked at that closed door, all the fight ran out of me. There were so many of them out there. I counted nine in total, surrounding the building. Dark shadows pressing up against the window; none of which were fogging up the glass. Not a single breath. Not one.
“It’ll be quick.”
Her voice was muffled, but only barely. It would be so easy for them to break through. It was just glass. And yet – none of them did.
“Open the door.”
 
Of course, I didn’t. I grasped the bottle tighter hoping against hope for them to just… leave.
Instead, there was another knock. A slap on the windows. A few familiar faces with an unfamiliar glow in their eyes, looking my way.
“I heard you went through a rough breakup,” she sighed. “We’re a community. There’s no loneliness on this side of the door.”
Something in me snapped. It was one thing to hear someone talking, but now they were talking to me, specifically. Those words were meant for me, no one else. There was no way to trick myself into believing this wasn’t happening. A reflex made me throw the bottle against the door, but it was useless. The bottle thumped against it and rolled away. They all erupted into laughter.
A bloody handprint slapped against the window. Then another. Then an eager tongue, licking it up like a thirsty cat.
“Alright,” she laughed. “Then we’ll make you come to us.”
 
The restaurant workers in the distance stepped up. They were using empty beer bottles from the other night, filled to the brim, with a rag on top. Molotovs.
I didn’t have time to go for my phone, and I couldn’t leave. The first place I could think of was the sauna. It was at least heat resistant. It could buy me some time.
I hurried into the sauna as the first heatwave pushed the door shut. Bottles were being thrown through the windows, shattering against the bedroom floor. They cheered, singing a scream rendition of ‘London Bridge’ at the top of their lungs. Blood-curdling falsettos.
Six bottles, one by one, added to an inferno. The smoke was already billowing into the sauna, staining my lungs.
 
There was no option left. I had to get out. I’d die if I didn’t.
I dipped my sauna towel in a bucket of water and wrapped it around my head. I tucked my arms into my jacket, covered my face, and considered my route. The shortest way was the window facing the rear; a sharp turn to the left, and then straight forward. I plotted it. I envisioned it. And as laughter drowned in the crackling flames, I felt my tears grow warm.
And I ran.
One step outside, and there was already something on me sizzling. Pain on my shoulders, like a searing sunburn. I could feel my skin flaking. I stepped down with my right foot, turned, and leaned into a sprint.
It wasn’t a conscious decision. I wasn’t as much running as falling with purpose. And as I crashed through the window, and air surged out around me, I threw myself into the snow by force of body weight alone.
 
I didn’t stop. Stopping meant death. Instead, I kept sprinting forward in a pace that knocked the breath in and out of my lungs like a piston. I threw the towel off my face, feeling the chill night air burn against my exposed shoulders. I was burned, but I couldn’t stop to check how badly.
Most of them were too busy howling and cheering to even care. Some of them were occupied with suckling on something raw and bloody; others were too busy enjoying each other’s company. Some of them were pointing my direction. One of them fired a gun, but the shot went wild. There was only one that remained focused and calculated. This wasn’t a game to her. This was survival.
I made my way around the side of the main lodge, following a blood-spattered trail in the snow. The ground was cluttered with miscellaneous furniture thrown from the second-floor window. I could see breathless faces peering out at me, but they didn’t seem to care. Maybe they thought I was one of them. Maybe they thought they’d already won.
Maybe they had.
 
As I rounded the corner to the parking lot, I saw a familiar face.
Ginger.
She was perched on the hood of a car in nothing but her underwear, barefoot, with the bloodied remains of Tyler splayed out in front of her. There were no tears in her eyes; just a blank-faced thousand-yard stare. She was holding up his left leg, licking an open wound clean as she pressed and prodded the dead veins for blood to squirt.
A crazy idea went through my head as I grabbed a handful of snow and stuck it into my mouth. I tried to calm my breathing as I stepped into her vision. Hiding my breath might trick her long enough to gain some distance.
 
There was visible confusion on her face. Maybe a hint of recognition. The snow kept my breath from turning to mist, making me look just as breathless as the rest of them. Ginger looked me dead in the eye as her face contorted into a snarl.
“He’s mine! Mine!” she shrieked. “He’s all mine!”
She observed every step I took. She sucked air into her lungs, as if to make herself look larger, making an uncanny reverse hissing noise. There was no vapor coming from her breath as she exhaled. There was no chase – she already had her meal. Like a house cat eating a Saint Bernard.
 
I had to get out of there. There had to be something I could do other than to run blind into the wilderness.
By the south corner of the main lodge, there was a pile of clothes. They smelled of turpentine, but no one had lit them on fire just yet. Maybe they wanted to add more to it before they did. I stuck my hands in there, letting the chemicals sting my open wounds. Rustling through discarded shirts and pants, some of which still had limbs attached, I managed to find a set of car keys. I held onto it for dear life, thanking whatever Gods may be for the little blue sunflower keychain I’d felt at the top of my fingertips.
The keys lead me to a campervan. There was a small picture of the two betrothed men above the glove box. Since I’d seen them out in the field, I figured I had some time before they came looking for it. I put the keys in the ignition, and my heart froze.
 
There was a knock on the driver side door.
“This is hardly a fitting domicile.”
Her.
I fumbled the keys, trying to get the thing to start. The campervan was probably older than me, and I’m not good with driving stick, but I didn’t have much choice.
“Invite me.”
“That’s… that’s just it, isn’t it?” I cried. “You… you can’t do it. You can’t come in.”
“You wanna bet?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Yeah, let’s bet. Let’s do it.”
I was just buying time. The moment the engine roared to life, I stepped on the gas. A bloodied hand squeaked against the window as I took a hard right turn, making the tires slip on the graveled road.
 
I saw it all in the rear-view mirror. The fires, and a gathering crowd. Some of them waved goodbye. Some cheered.
All of them rejoiced – together.
Breathless.
 
By the time I got to a nearby town, fire trucks had already passed me by. Once I talked to the police, they seemed to already know the story. To them, there’d been reports of arson. Several casualties. About eight in total. They had people on-site investigating.
But the people I’d seen out there, celebrating a massacre? They were never reported as victims, or suspects. In fact, they were seemingly just… innocent bystanders.
 
I have kept my eye on this for years.
Some of the firemen who got to the resort that night have permanently switched to night shifts. Most of those who survived that night have mysteriously vanished from social media; but they still pop up in posts, very much alive and kicking. I’ve seen people who look suspiciously similar to Ginger, and the two betrothed men. They didn’t fake their deaths or disappear; they just made themselves socially invisible. Slipped into the background.
All deaths were easily explained. Arson. All they found were burned bodies, and the fire marshal in charge seemed less than eager to delve deeper into the causes. Most of the eyewitness accounts were taken on face value. Strange how the fire marshal first changed to a night shift, then fell off the radar completely.
It was arson, end of story. No need to look closer.
And my 911 call? No one ever heard about it.
 
No wonder they didn’t bother to hide it all from me. I was never a threat. They’d already done what they came for. That one woman, the one who didn’t breathe, was the source of it all.
And to the best of my knowledge, she is still out there.
And she is not alone anymore.