Hi there,
I have activated blocking message on invoice through General Settings and Internal Notes. When creating an invoice directly, I receive the configured warnings or blocking messages as expected. However, if I create a sales order first and then generate an invoice from the sales module, these warnings or blocking messages don't appear. This same behavior applies to picking-related warnings.
Do you have any insights into why this might be happening and how to solve the problem?
Thanks in advance

I receive lots of emails, and I have to send a personalized Google doc to each one of the senders. I was using this CRM tool to generate the Google doc with one click. The Google doc gets personalised automatically using the merge tags I saved in the right sidebar you see on Gmail.
Here is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VcmN4giRss
With the same tool I was also able to reply to each email with a message personalized from a template, as you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f7hofYnqSM
I haven't found a valid alternative to automate these two steps, so if you have any suggestion, please comment here. I am no coder.

Hi there,
I have activated blocking message on invoice through General Settings and Internal Notes (see attachment). When creating an invoice directly, I receive the configured warnings or blocking messages as expected. However, if I create a sales order first and then generate an invoice from the sales module, these warnings or blocking messages don't appear. This same behavior applies to picking-related warnings.
Do you have any insights into why this might be happening and how to solve the problem?
Thanks in advance

(spoilers for the entire movie)
In another universe, Sicario is a movie that begins with Benicio Del Toro's character's wife and daughter being murdered by a rival cartel, proceeds with him striking a deal with the CIA and Josh Brolin's character, capturing Guillermo, and ultimately hunting down the two jefes in a bittersweet ending. Emily Blunt's character would have been a minor antagonist presented as a naive government agent that gets in the way of real justice carried out by our beloved anti-hero Alejandro.
It would have been a standard Hollywood revenge story, but by swapping the main character to Kate it tells a much deeper story. Sicario is ultimately a meditation on power: the overwhelming power of systems and what it's like to come to terms with your powerlessness as an individual in the face of these systems. The reframing of the story to be from Kate's perspective rather than Alejandro's perspective brings to the forefront the contradiction between the average Hollywood film's message of "a single badass hero can change the course of history" and the reality we all deal with every day, of "every choice you make exists in the shadow of unimaginably powerful systems, there is no escape from this fact."
The movie makes me reflect on how our lives are controlled by invisible yet giant mega-structures beyond our comprehension and how we barely understand our own emotions and our own bodies, yet in the middle lies us: a helpless consciousness that needs to make decisions anyway in the face of this infinite complexity and extremely limited knowledge.
Your own life is a game of chess. It's basically impossible for you to know if any move you make gets you closer to winning or losing, yet move you must.
Some miscellaneous observations:

• Kate is brave, competent, and genuinely wants to make a difference yet she's ultimately a pawn in a massive game being played at the nation-state level. She's also completely expendable. If she had died at the border crossing when her assassin hit his shot, she could simply be swapped out for her partner. The meeting at the office where Josh Brolin's character is evaluating her and Daniel Kaluuya's character shows this: the CIA is free to pick the most convenient pawn for the situation. It means nothing to them but means everything to our heroes.
  
• Everyone passes the buck. Alejandro tells Kate he merely does what the CIA tells him to. Josh Brolin, a stand-in for the CIA, says he's only doing what he's directed to do by elected officials. Elected officials would say their direction is based off what the public wants. What the public wants is dictated by the media, and the media would say they're just giving the public what they want. Within this calcified system, the individuals that appear to have the most agency are the ones that accept their lack of choice. Alejandro knows he's a pawn for the CIA's ambition to prop up a cartel they control, but he makes the most of being a pawn.
  
• I really liked the detail of the inside jokes and casual banter between Josh Brolin (Matt) and the military guys. If Matt or Alejandro were the main characters, these jokes might just be funny but since we follow along with Kate we get the sense that we're walking in on a story that's been going on for years and we feel like a mere side character.
  
• Silvio, a Mexican cop who works for the cartel, is the perfect distillation of a pawn. His choices start and end within the confines of his own home: go to his kid's soccer game or sleep in, coffee for breakfast or liquor. If he doesn't do what the cartel says he dies. At one point he's literally moved forward as a pawn by Alejandro and sacrificed in Alejandro's chess game to get Diaz (the queen), and ultimately Fausto (the king).
  
• Silvio is a cautionary tale to the viewer of what happens when you give up completely in the face of systems more powerful than you: he was a letdown as father and husband. He was an alcoholic that didn't even know his son's greatest passion was football and wanted to sleep in instead of helping him attend his game, which reminds us that even when we're helpless to change society we can still make choices that have positive outcomes for our immediate surroundings. Silvio redeems himself by following along with Alejandro's orders, who tells him "Everything you do now you do for your family" and we see Silvio's sacrifice make a difference for them as they are still alive at the end of the film.
  
• At the end of the film Kate is faced with the "choice" of signing off on the cartel job at gunpoint. She signs it understanding that not signing it would align with her principles but just pass the buck to some other helpless agent, likely Daniel Kaluuya's character. She learns that acting against her principles makes sense in some cases, likely sending her down the same path that Josh Brolin's character went down: once someone who believed in abiding one's principles but worn down by reality over the years.
  
• Kate is also faced with the choice of killing Alejandro. She chooses not to: both of them understand, after everything that's happened, that the choice makes literally no difference to the massive war being fought. She realizes that, at least some of the time, she can act according to her principles, and she chooses her principles. In the chess game of life the pieces aren't just pieces: they're the people and values we hold dear. And sometimes it makes sense to sacrifice them, but how can we ever know it's the right thing to do? This is the absurd joke of life.
  

I have been testing the prompts they used in the blog post, and honestly I am not getting as good of results.
The text feature works much better than before, but generally only for shorter sentences. Anything more, like the robot typewriter prompt, and it completely falls apart and starts doing gibberish.
Same thing with the 3D logo. It does not understand the view 0 to view 6 thing. The robot text thing only does one bubble despite there being messages back and forth.
Do we have word on this? It’s hard to tell if this is going to “roll out” as well since they completely glossed over image generation at the event.

So, I'm building a PC for the very first time after using laptops for the past five years and don't really know what I'm looking at. Price isn't a huge bottleneck for me but I'd like to keep it around 4k and I'm looking for something that will last me a long time, has very high performance, and is easy to put together. As such, I've created this list. I was hoping folks here could critique it.
I'd also appreciate it if anyone could tell me if case fans are needed and if I should be worried about the error message: "some physical constraints are not checked, such as RAM clearance with CPU Coolers."
[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KVYvxH)
TypeItemPrice
:----:----:----
**CPU** [AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3hyH99/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-42-ghz-8-core-processor-100-100000910wof) $279.00 @ Amazon
**CPU Cooler** [Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xMLFf7/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se-white-argb-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120-se-white-argb) $36.99 @ Amazon
**Thermal Compound** [Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/6RrG3C/arctic-silver-thermal-paste-as535g) $5.77 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** [Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/WBwypg/gigabyte-b650-aorus-elite-ax-atx-am5-motherboard-b650-aorus-elite-ax) $199.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** [G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CXKKHx/gskill-trident-z5-neo-rgb-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-f5-6000j3038f16gx2-tz5nr) $112.99 @ Amazon
**Storage** [Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/34ytt6/samsung-990-pro-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-mz-v9p2t0bw) $169.99 @ Amazon
**Video Card** [Asus ROG STRIX GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/V8hFf7/asus-rog-strix-gaming-oc-geforce-rtx-4090-24-gb-video-card-rog-strix-rtx4090-o24g-white) $1979.00 @ Amazon
**Case** [NZXT H6 Flow RGB ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/kfRwrH/nzxt-h6-flow-rgb-atx-mid-tower-case-cc-h61fw-r1) $132.99 @ Amazon
**Power Supply** [Enermax Revolution D.F. X 1200 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/DDzXsY/enermax-revolution-df-x-1200-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-ert1200ewt) $149.99 @ Amazon
**Operating System** [Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dKkWGX/microsoft-windows-11-home-oem-dvd-64-bit-kw9-00633) $109.99 @ Amazon
**Monitor** [INNOCN 27M2V 27.0" 3840 x 2160 160 Hz Monitor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mhFmP6/innocn-27m2v-270-3840-x-2160-160-hz-monitor-27m2v) $799.99 @ Amazon
**Keyboard** [HP HyperX Alloy Core RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/BvL48d/hp-hyperx-alloy-core-rgb-wired-gaming-keyboard-hx-kb5me2-us) $39.99 @ Amazon
**Total** **$4016.68**
Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-05-16 16:11 EDT-0400

Hi there,
I have activated blocking message on invoice through General Settings and Internal Notes (see attachment). When creating an invoice directly, I receive the configured warnings or blocking messages as expected. However, if I create a sales order first and then generate an invoice from the sales module, these warnings or blocking messages don't appear. This same behavior applies to picking-related warnings.
Do you have any insights into why this might be happening and how to solve the problem?
Thanks in advance

So I’ve been having trouble with the hots generating messages, they take forever and pretty much never generate. They usually always take time but now it’s to the point where they don’t even generate anymore.
I’ve switched between website and app, turn wifi on and off. But it still takes time, I dunno if its just my wifi being a menace or im just being an impatient degenerate.
Can someone explain how I can fix this?

I have a desktop Dell PC, dual-booting with Windows 10 and Fedora. My setup has 3 monitors.
Prior to upgrading to Fedora 40, all 3 monitors were working well with Fedora 39. After upgrading to Fedora 40, the 3rd monitor just shows a black screen. As the computer is booting, I can see the Dell logo on all 3 monitors and Windows still works with the 3 monitors. However, when I am in the login screen, and after login into Gnome, only 2 monitors work. However, if I log into Gnome on Xorg, the 3 monitors do work. So I suspect it is a Wayland thing.
What is strange is that the 3rd monitor does appear with inxi, but it is still black.
Here is some info on my system after running inxi -Fzxxx:

System: Kernel: 6.8.9-300.fc40.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 2.41-34.fc40 clocksource: tsc Desktop: GNOME v: 46.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: gnome-shell tools: gsd-screensaver-proxy dm: GDM v: 46.0 Distro: Fedora Linux 40 (Workstation Edition) Machine: Type: Desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 7010 v: 01 serial:  Chassis: type: 6 serial:  Mobo: Dell model: 0GY6Y8 v: A02 serial:  part-nu: OptiPlex 7010 uuid:  UEFI: Dell v: A16 date: 09/09/2013 CPU: Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-3770 bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 1603 high: 1637 min/max: 1600/3900 cores: 1: 1600 2: 1596 3: 1600 4: 1600 5: 1600 6: 1637 7: 1600 8: 1596 bogomips: 54275 Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx Graphics: Device-1: AMD Caicos XT [Radeon HD 7470/8470 / R5 235/310 OEM] vendor: Dell driver: radeon v: kernel arch: TeraScale-2 pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-1,DVI-I-1 empty: none bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6778 class-ID: 0300 temp: 47.5 C Device-2: AMD Caicos XT [Radeon HD 7470/8470 / R5 235/310 OEM] vendor: Dell driver: radeon v: kernel arch: TeraScale-2 pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 4 ports: active: DVI-I-2 empty: DP-2 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6778 class-ID: 0300 temp: 50.5 C Device-3: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.1:3 chip-ID: 328f:006d class-ID: 0102 serial:  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.20.14 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: radeon unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: r600 gpu: radeon display-ID: 0 Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Dell P2312H serial:  res: 1920x1080 dpi: 96 size: 510x287mm (20.08x11.3") diag: 585mm (23") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400 Monitor-2: DVI-I-1 model: Dell P2312H serial:  res: 1920x1080 dpi: 96 size: 510x287mm (20.08x11.3") diag: 585mm (23") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400 Monitor-3: DVI-I-2 model: Dell P2312H serial:  res: 1920x1080 dpi: 96 size: 510x287mm (20.08x11.3") diag: 585mm (23") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400 API: OpenGL v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 24.0.7 glx-v: 1.4 es-v: 3.1 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD CAICOS (DRM 2.50.0 / 6.8.9-300.fc40.x86_64 LLVM 18.1.1) device-ID: 1002:6778 display-ID: :0.0 API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends. Audio: Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1e20 class-ID: 0403 Device-2: AMD Caicos HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6450 / 7450/8450/8490 OEM R5 230/235/235X OEM] vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aa98 class-ID: 0403 Device-3: AMD Caicos HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6450 / 7450/8450/8490 OEM R5 230/235/235X OEM] vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 4 bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aa98 class-ID: 0403 Device-4: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.1:3 chip-ID: 328f:006d class-ID: 0102 serial:  API: ALSA v: k6.8.9-300.fc40.x86_64 status: kernel-api Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin Network: Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel port: f040 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1502 class-ID: 0200 IF: eno1 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac:  Bluetooth: Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.4:4 chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001 Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address:  bt-v: 4.0 lmp-v: 6 class-ID: 7c0104 Drives: Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 8.38 GiB (1.8%) ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: A-Data model: SU750 size: 476.94 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial:  fw-rev: 1R17 temp: 53 C scheme: GPT Partition: ID-1: / size: 237.41 GiB used: 7.98 GiB (3.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda6 ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 365 MiB (37.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 ID-3: /boot/efi size: 96 MiB used: 44.2 MiB (46.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 ID-4: /home size: 237.41 GiB used: 7.98 GiB (3.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda6 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0 Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A GPU: device: radeon temp: 50.5 C device: radeon temp: 47.0 C Info: Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.57 GiB used: 2.18 GiB (14.0%) Processes: 344 Power: uptime: 1m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical Packages: pm: flatpak pkgs: 5 Compilers: N/A Shell: Bash v: 5.2.26 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.34 

Looking for tips for formatting a new spread? Never bullet journaled before and want to get started? Post them all here! This thread will be reposted every Thursday, so please save questions for this thread. Happy journaling!
If you like the idea of weekly generated discussion threads, please feel free to message the mods with ideas for other themed threads!

Explorers of Sky is a solid candidate for my favourite video game of all time, but it definitely isn’t without a few small blemishes and things that annoy me. I thought it could be fun to discuss some of the small bugbears that we have with the story, gameplay, and so forth in this otherwise excellent game. Not things which fundamentally destroy the gameplay experience for you, but things that manage to irritate you on each playthrough. The main ones which come to mind for me:

• Partner AI: This is probably the most blatant problem, and the one which I hear about the most. Allies in this game are aggressively stupid for no reason, and plenty of things which should be the absolute bare minimum are locked behind IQ skills. Not stepping on visible traps should be the default, as should knowing not to use status moves when the target already has the bloody status condition. And why, for the love of all that is holy, is Weak-Type Picker not something that EVERY Pokémon gets?? Why is my Lv.60 partner with near-max IQ still spamming Thunderbolt on a Ground type? Let alone grasping concepts like not using Hypnosis on an Insomnia ‘mon. It’s frustrating, because it isn’t like giving allies better AI was beyond the technology of the time or something- it was a conscious dev decision to make allies stupid. Resultantly, you have to waste so much time micromanaging your teammates so they don’t get themselves killed that having a large team feels like a liability.
• Renaming Allies: Very minor gripe here, but it really irritates me on every playthrough that there is no way to rename teammates besides evolving them. It always makes me feel put on the spot in dungeons, because either you come up with a clever nickname right that second, or your ‘mon is just going to be nameless forever. Alternatively, if you give a ‘mon you want to hold onto a stupid nickname, or misclick while naming, you’re done for. This is a feature that has been in the main series literally since Red and Green, and it would have been so easy to add a button that does this to the Assembly menu in Sky.
• Egg/Tutor Moves: It’s a crying shame that there is zero way for Pokémon to acquire Egg moves, or even Tutor moves, beyond hatching from an egg with one. The Chansey daycare system isn’t a remotely engaging means of acquiring unique moves, because unlike in the main series you have virtually no autonomy over what ‘mons you’ll get, and what egg move they’ll have. You either get lucky and hatch a Chimchar with Thunderpunch, or you (more likely) don’t. Egg moves may as well not exist for how relevant they are to the average playthrough. Certain ‘mons are absolutely crippled by not having meaningful access to their best moves; Phanpy would be a really fun choice of starter if it could learn Earth Power and Ice Shard. Instead, it’s absolute dogwater with no usable STAB. Later games handle this far better, allowing the player to just pay a fee to learn these moves, and it honestly makes me glum how movepools are so comparatively limited in Sky.
• Temporary Allies: Slight retread of my earlier point, but the temporary allies you get saddled with throughout the story are also pointlessly restricted. Why can’t I alter their tactics? I much prefer Go After Foes to Let’s Go Together, which just makes Grovyle and others much too passive to be useful. Plus, why can’t I toggle their moves? A very small issue I know, but it ultimately culminates in a significant problem when you’re tasked with keeping these burdens alive- Cresselia probably wouldn’t be half as infamous as she is if you could just tell her what to do instead of just watching as she gets herself killed.
• Accuracy Nonsense: Why do moves randomly miss so often in this game? The main series is pretty good about setting most moves at 90%+ accuracy, and usually outright 100% for your standard options like Flamethrower. It removes a lot of pointless RNG from standard play, while allowing players to choose riskier, more rewarding options like Fire Blast if they so choose. Meanwhile in this game, basically nothing is completely safe. You can and will lose eminently winnable encounters because Bite decided it wanted to miss three times in a row. Oh, and if you got hit by Sand Attack once, or God forbid your opponent has Sand Veil/Snow Cloak up? Prepare for this bullshit. I’ve racked my brain trying to think of a gameplay justification for this change, and I just can’t. It just seems to be there for extra RNG.
• Conflicting Abilities: I recently did a playthrough with Riolu, and noticed that it has both Steadfast AND Inner Focus. One boosts Speed upon being flinched (also when you’re cross-eyed, but how often does that happen?), and the other prevents flinching. Lucario, then, effectively has no ability. As funny as this is, it obviously shouldn’t be allowed to happen, especially on a super popular choice of starter Pokémon. I understand that the devs aimed to adapt the abilities and learnsets of the main series faithfully, but at a certain point you have to sacrifice fidelity for gameplay. They should have altered the abilities of ‘mons that got saddled with dud combos.
• Perish Song: Perish Song exists. That is all.

Of course, there’s a lot of other random jank you can discuss with Sky’s battle system, like how options that are relatively unexceptional in the main series (eg. Mirror Move, Smokescreen) are godlike here for no reason. Not to mention the fuckery that is the Speed system, or Silver Wind/Ominous Wind having the potential to raise stats on EVERY HIT. But I honestly don’t mind these elements; I’m used to them at this point, and breaking the game wide open with Cyndaquil or Torchic is really fun. The tradeoff is that sometimes you’ll get unavoidably wiped by Porygon-Z hitting Agility two times in a row and then pressing the funny Discharge button, but that’s just Mystery Dungeon.

Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
Deep in the groaning halls of sinew and bone he awaited his audience with the god. At a wave of his hand the ribs which held up the ceiling contracted, tendons shifting within the pink walls of the chamber as the jagged, calcareous spurs that composed the doorway sank back into the spongy masses of tissue, revealing a passage curving down and out of sight.
Menash stood before the yawning portal and considered eternity. This was no an idle thought: here in the Dawning Chamber, the concept was very real. His father, Yulan, had stood in this exact spot times beyond count. When he was struck down in his prime by the Night Weaver and her Leaper offspring, torn limb from limb as he fought to defend Chthonis from a raiding party, Menash’s uncle, Aqavarr, had carried his broken remains over that grinning threshold to join the hosts of the dead, never to return.
A hot and heavy exhalation rattled up out of the depths, wafting in the acrid scent of the bonding pools and the wet slithering sound of the rebirthing canals. Menash felt a crackle of static in the corners of his mind before the signal sharpened and he heard It whisper distinctly:
“Enter…”
The familiar dread crept its way up the small of his back, and he gave a little shiver. No matter how many times he had communed with the Vitalus, he’d never been able to shake the feeling of his utter insignificance. But he persevered, walking bravely down the slurping passage, past the rows of broad antechambers lining either side of the hallway. Each one held a slumbering shape immersed in a cryogenic bath, towering hulks of muscle encased in ribbed and riveted plates of chitin. No two were alike in size or physiology, but all seemed to emanate the same primeval aura of dread that tickled Menash’s fight-or-flight-instinct, skewing it very much towards the latter response. These were the Hollowores, soulless avatars of the Vitalus, each one a tool capable of eradicating an entire species. As Menash approached, one of the living weapons stirred to life. A pronged, anvil-shaped head emerged from the bath, umbilical feeder tubes detaching from its armored flanks as the rest of its bulk followed, its mauve exoskeleton as sleek and shiny as amethyst. The Hollowore extended legs as thick as grown pine trees and lifted itself above him, its pairs of crushing pincers dripping amniotic fluids as it herded him towards the central room.
Bundles of white gossamer filaments spread all across the floor, encircling steaming pools of pus and acid. He saw arms and legs, sensory organs and entire exoskeletons being knitted before his very eyes, the amino acid chains being stitched on a layer at a time, the weeping pus evidence of microphages fighting off possible infections as the Vitalus did Its work.
These were the next generation of exomorphs, yet to be assigned to their hosts. It was here that Vitalus constantly improved the only thing that could ensure the continued survival of Menash’s subspecies. Exomorphs were bonded to Gallivants at birth, the organisms supplying their hosts with the means to breathe an atmosphere they was never meant to endure, and the strength to fight in a world that was red in tooth and claw. They were as swift as the summer wind and could multiply their host’s muscular power by up to twelve times their natural output.
But for all their God-given might, Gallivants were still mortal. They could and often did perish in the endless struggle for existence that the Vitalus called the Great Game. But even in death they could still commit their essence to posterity, passing down their defining traits through the malleable genetic code of the gilt helix. It was the Vitalus’ greatest boon; through the gilt helix a single individual could become a progenitor of an entire generation, becoming at one stroke the father of whole nations and peoples.
One day he too would prove worthy of the honor that Yulan had earned with his life. But he was not alone in that ambition. Menash was annoyed to find the crimson-clad Vezda and the cowardly Racek waiting for him inside, standing next to a large ball of filaments that hung from a tonsil-like growth hanging from the walls.
This node pulsed, emitting a small storm of bioelectric activity, networks of fungi conveying commands in the form of oscillating voltages to their communities of symbiotic bacteria, the latter containing greigite mineral crystals aligned in the shape of electromagnetic coils. Other networks hidden in the walls modulated and amplified the signals, and the three Gallivants steeled themselves for the onrushing flood of information as the Vitalus tapped into their minds.
He was a candle before the raging heart of the thunderstorm. For an instant Menash touched a fraction of Its intelligence, the divisions of time and space rolling back as they joined the ocean of shared consciousness, becoming one with the living systems of Arachnea. From the tiniest aeroplankton floating above the waves of the golden coastlines, to the herds of ultrapods munching their way through swathes of trees in the savannahs. Menash felt himself pushing up out of the soil, longing and lusting and reaching for the sunlight with a trillion green fingers uncurling, alive with the furious movement of life.
But what was that flicker of orange to the east? That searing heat, that prickling pain spreading like a cancer down his side?
The Vitalus scooped them up and hurled them headlong into hell itself. A roaring wildfire was sweeping into the heart of the eastern rainforests. Menash tasted ash and ruin, felt pieces of himself wither and burn, his branches tongues of fire, wood cracking from the intense blaze, sap boiling instantaneously upon contact and rupturing, splitting him right down the grain. He fled in terror, running, slithering, digging, swimming, flying away in crazed panic from the walls of red death closing in on him. As his skin flaked off in clumps of charcoal he looked back and saw it towering over the treetops, the epicenter of this howling vortex of destruction: the grey behemoth. Its burnished metal hide gleamed like copper, reflecting the fury of the conflagration burning well into the night.
Menash pulled his mind away before it was lost forever in the storm of electric potentials. He saw Racek and Vezda swaying on their feet, breathing hard and fast.
“Heart of the World,” he managed to gasp, “What is your bidding?”
The Hollowore maneuvered itself until it was facing him directly. Tiny beady eyes fixed him in their blank gaze. The node emitted a blue pulse and the creature shuddered as it received the signal. It opened a maw powerful enough to chew boulders into gravel and rumbled:
“This one is the alpha which survived first contact with anomalous variable. It will tell Us what occurred, and from whence this threat emerged.”
“It came from the karst mountain range, where the yellowjacket Amit live,” Menash replied, “It was destroying the largest mound in that area, massacring its inhabitants. It brought the mountain down on them—we’ve never seen anything like it. Zildiz was the first on the scene. She warned us not to approach, and that it was dangerous, but some of us,” here he cast an angry look at Vezda, “Some of us went ahead and tried to scavenge from the bodies of the dying. Then the behemoth ignited the air and burned scores of us to cinders.”
“Irrational. Why did you do this?”
“W-we thought that you had spawned the grey behemoth,” Menash stammered, embarrassed to say the least, “That it was the newest addition to the Great Game, another species of ultrafauna that would help perfect Arachnea.”
“Not so. It was made by an evil far older than the All-In-One,” replied the Vitalus, “It is called a Divine Engine. In cycles past, this evil sought to undo this world and all that inhabit it. In that, it almost succeeded.”
Menash felt his blood run cold at those words.
“Is it the only one of its kind?” Racek piped up. Menash and Vezda both bristled at his interruption; subordinates were only supposed to speak when spoken to.
“There were several deployed here in Our infancy. We had thought them all destroyed in the War of Creation.”
“Your Munificence,” Racek went on, heedless of the venomous looks he was getting from the other two, “Most of us survived because Zildiz persuaded us to dive into the river. She saved all our lives! But as I washed up on the riverbank, I saw the behemoth casting a seedpod into the skies. I did not see where it landed, but it was travelling in a high arc due east. Is this the behemoth’s method of reproducing? If so, then how many offspring can it generate from this one seed?”
The Vitalus met his questions with a minute of silence. Menash had never known It to take so long to respond to a query, and felt another stab of unease in his gut. Unless he was imagining things, the Vitalus seemed genuinely disturbed by the scenario that Racek has raised, enough to convince Menash that the danger was far from hypothetical.
“That is a distant possibility,” It said somewhat cryptically, “Regardless, We cannot allow the Engine’s continued existence.”
“Then it must be destroyed,” Vezda said, her barbed tail eagerly perking up.
“We are not certain that it can be,” the Vitalus said, and Menash heard Racek audibly gulp at the admission.
“But Your Omniscience, you alone are the arbiter of growth and decay,” Vezda said in disbelief, “Surely you can unmake this monster as well?”
“Perhaps. The Divine Engines were built to withstand the extremes of temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure, acidity and irradiation found on semi-inhabitable exoplanets. Worlds of bareness and desolation, glassed by thermonuclear bombardment or infested with alien microorganisms. In the wars of Our youth, the Betrayers used tungsten-alloy warheads fired from space platforms to crack their bulkheads. Not even Our vessels, the Hollowores, could damage them in any significant way. We will need time to gather the raw materials and fabricate the weapons needed to end this threat.”
“What must we do?” Menash asked.
“If this variable is not dealt with, it could upset the delicate balance We have sacrificed so much to achieve. Already the wildfire it has caused will release close to 400 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and destroy 2.3 million acres of forest before Our countermeasures can stop it. Time is our limiting factor. If the Engine cannot be destroyed now, it must be restrained.”
“It hasn’t moved an inch since we last saw it,” Vezda said brightly, “Maybe it has already died?”
“Yes, and maybe your mother was a horka toad,” Racek said snidely. Vezda scowled and took a step towards him, then stopped as she remembered that she trod on hallowed ground.
“Not so. It has merely gone dormant. Having expended its fuel, it is now running on the bare minimum of its reserves. My children, you must ensure that it does not wake again. Establish a quarantine zone around the Engine and let none approach, on pain of death. The Leaper kindreds will secure the ground while the Gallivants patrol the skies.”
Vezda and Menash exchanged troubled looks. Nobody wanted Leapers establishing a foothold in what was essentially a buffer zone between their subspecies. Once allowed to settle in a habitat, it would not take long for them to adapt and become masters of their new territory. Ousting them would become a battle of attrition, and given the lower birthrates of Gallivants, it was not one they could long afford.
“Respectfully, we do not require assistance from our brother kindred,” Menash ventured, “We are more than capable of safeguarding the area ourselves.”
The node throbbed again, the bioelectric flashes taking on an angry purple hue. With a sound like the grinding of a millstone the Hollowore clashed its claws together impatiently. All three of the mortals took a hasty step back.
“The alpha will obey, or another will be found that can,” the Vitalus growled at them, “All subspecies will observe a general truce during this period. This is a temporary addition to the Great Game. Those that serve Us well shall be rewarded. We shall also enlist the aid of your terrestrial cousins, as well as the Cataphract clans to replenish the soil, and lone Saints who shall rove beyond the quarantine zone.”
Menash’s unease deepened. The Vitalus was bringing together four different kindreds, some of which killed each other on sight, in a move that reeked of desperation. The kindreds had worked together before, of course, on complex projects such as altering rainfall patterns and husbanding struggling species, but never so many at once. This was bound to end in bloodshed.
“Those that break the truce shall be chemically neutered, and their gilt helix purged from the existing gene pool,” the Vitalus continued, “You will maintain this quarantine until We have dealt with the Engine.”
“It is understood!” Menash and Vezda said at once.
“But what about Zildiz?” Racek blurted out, again risking his entire lineage by speaking out of turn, “She might still be alive out there!”
“He’s right,” Menash found himself agreeing despite his dislike for Racek, “She’s our alpha, after all. It would be a shame to lose her helix. Do we have your leave to send out a party to recover her?”
The Vitalus pondered the request for a moment, then crushed his hopes when it said:
“Regrettable, the loss of the female. Valuable stock for the breeding program. But it has not responded to Our signals—it is unlikely to have survived. The female Vezda shall take up its duties as alpha.”
“But Your Benevolence—” both men cried out in unison.
“It is decided. She has risked the Great Game, and must abide by its outcome. To speak more on this would risk Our displeasure,” the god warned.
“We can’t spare the manpower anyway,” Vezda pointed out, trying not to look too pleased at Its decision. She darted a quick look at Menash, long enough for him to see the selfish desire festering in her heart. He turned away from her in disgust, baring his blades by the slightest of margins to let her know what he thought of her, then asked the Vitalus:
“But what of the Engine’s seedpod? Should we search for it?”
“Negative!” the Vitalus boomed, its node reinforcing the word with a spike of activity that sent needles of pain spearing into their heads, “We shall complete this task. It is dangerous and can be entrusted to no other.”
The Hollowore angled its massive head towards the cavernous ceiling, armored flaps on its back sliding aside as it unfurled sets of rigid sixty-meter wings. A wide sphincter on the roof gaped open and Menash saw the evening sky awash with the stars in their milky multitudes. The Hollowore took a deep breath through the spiracles lining its thorax and abdomen, pumping air through a pair of hollow tube-like protuberances under either of its wings. Menash and the others quickly scampered to a safe distance. Seconds later there was a scream of chemical combustion and the Hollowore rose into the evening skies, leaving behind a long trail of superheated gases, the backwash almost knocking Menash off his feet. They watched as the Hollowore gained altitude, making straight for the columns of billowing smoke on the horizon, a sweeping shadow blotting out the light of the heavens.
The Vitalus’ mental presence receded with it. When it did not return, they took it to mean that they were dismissed and likewise took flight and headed for Chthonis. They were hardly out of the Dawning Chamber when Vezda seized the scrawny Racek by his wings and anchored her feet right up against his back.
“Funny little man, are you? Crack jokes at my expense again, and I’ll see to it that you’ll never fly again!” she snarled, yanking hard. Racek yelled as his wings threatened to pop out of their sockets.
“Stop!” Menash said, ramming his shoulder into her and knocking the smaller male out of her grip. Vezda rounded on him, blades out and her tail aquiver with rage.
“As for you! No one should speak to the Vitalus like that!” she shrieked, “Much less gainsay It! Are you trying to get us all killed? It is the source and continuance of life itself—”
“But the Vitalus doesn’t always consider the individual scale of things,” Menash reasoned, controlling his rising anger as he tried to defuse the situation, “Its scope of thought is beyond ours. Therefore it is up to us to look after each other. None of us can win the Great Game alone. We need people like Zildiz for the species to prosper.”
“Your logic is flawed,” Vezda spat, “Empathy is a sham devised by the selfish action of the gene, which seeks only to preserve itself. At least I am honest enough to look after my own interests. Your obsession with that whore is misplaced. Heed my words, Menash. What happened today marks a change in the Great Game. Only the ruthless will reap the rewards of this era. Think on that, and act accordingly.”
The female darted off in another direction, leaving the two behind.
“Thanks,” Racek said, rubbing at his sore shoulders, “My, my. She’s really taking her promotion very seriously, isn’t she?”
“This doesn’t make us friends,” Menash said shortly, “We share a common interest, that’s all.”
The two flew together in silence for a time, the dark canopy unrolling below their feet. Racek had always been a bitter rival for Zildiz’s affections. In the mating seasons he and Menash had flown the damsel-dance against each other countless times, racing and dogfighting at top speed through the dense bamboo thickets in an effort to impress her.
But each time she had always chosen Menash. Naturally. He was the stronger, the braver, the son of the Scourge who had slain hundreds on his lightning raids into Leaper territory. Their pairings had been brief and passionate, yet she had always laughed at the end and gone on her merry way, a rose petal borne on a scented breeze, the dalliance as meaningless to her as other concerns like eating or breathing.
But not to him. Right now, all that mattered was her. And Racek was the only one in the whole wide world who knew exactly how he felt. Did that mean he could be trusted? Menash considered the enormity of what he was about to do, and wavered. Then he saw her face in the darkness of his home, the face she wore when they were all alone together, and he took a deep breath before breaking the silence, saying:
“I’ll be in charge of the quarantine. I can arrange for you to disappear for a few days. I can have one of the younglings mimic your magnetosynaptic signal, make it seem like you’re with the rest of us.”
“You’d do that? For me?” Racek said in astonishment.
“Hah. Not for you,” Menash laughed softly. He looked Racek straight in the eyes and continued: “What’ll it be, then?”
If he so much as hesitates, I’ll have to kill him here and now, Menash told himself.
“Why, yes. Yes, of course!” the little brown male said vigorously.
“Good,” Menash sighed with relief, “She’ll be very grateful to whoever brings her home. I’d do it myself, but as an alpha I can’t risk being seen as disobedient.”
“Then why give me this chance? After all that’s passed between us?”
“I should have thought that was obvious,” Menash replied. Racek digested that for a bit, then out of nowhere said:
“If I find her—when I find her—I’ll tell her exactly who it was that sent me.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Bah! Just so we’re even, that’s all,” Racek grinned, his mouthparts slanting askew.
“Thanks, I guess. I’d…I’d appreciate that. You do understand what we’re risking here, right?”
“Sure. We’ll be total genetic write-offs if we’re caught. But it’s not like I wanted to see tiny ugly Raceks running around the house anyway. What about you, though? Why are you putting your neck on the chopping block?”
“You know why,” Menash said quietly, his thoughts still lingering on her face.
“Yes,” Racek agreed with a wistful air, “Yes, I suppose I do.”
And the pair spoke no more until they reached Chthonis.
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

My entire town stood by as I was groomed. I was 14 and he was 22 but because he was funny and attractive nobody cared. We were the talk of the town for so long because of the dramatics of our "relationship" broadcasted on his popular snapchat channel. He made my peers love him and alienate me so I'd be all his. Because of him I lost out on all of highschool. I didn't have friends, never got to go out and didn't graduate because I was with him. He had me around his finger for 6 years. Contantly blackmailing me, he had a huge online following he would post horrible things about me to whenever I did something wrong or tried to leave. He was a manipulative monster behind closed doors. I can't even remember most of the horrible thing he did to me. The last year together he became a drug addict and almost killed me. That was my wake up call. I tired to leave and he stalked and threatened me, 200 calls a day on burners and posted horrible inappropriate photos of me. All of this was extremely public thanks to him. I had to move away to get away. I'm 24 now and still have nightmares most nights, I think about him everyday still, I cry so much. I cry so much. I feel so invalidated by everyone. I can't stand that everyone watched my abuse, my parents, teachers, therapist, cops. Sure karma might have gotten him a little with the drug addict stuff but I heard he's doing okay now unfortunately. He got away with all of this and I'm still broken every single day. To top it off a few years ago he messaged me on a new account to tell me how his therapist said it would be good for him to apologize to me (not for the right things) and said he still loves me, complete narcissist. Trigger homicidal rage. I can't get away from the invalidating feelings, nightmares, flashbacks. There's nobody in my life I can talk to about this so here you go Redd.

You know what the best part is about playing Engineer in Team Fortress 2? You get to watch how angry everyone gets when they get shot by your sentry guns. Me and my best friend Jose both main Engineer, and can confirm that the best way to spend your Friday nights after school is to set up a sentry and get ready for the rage. There’s been matches where we haven’t even used our actual guns even once, but racked up lots of kills just because of the sentries.
One day Jose called me up with an idea that was either going to be the stupidest thing ever or the smartest thing ever. He wanted to fill an entire team with only Engineers and watch the chaos unfold. I couldn’t stop laughing at the mental image in my head and agreed with the plan. I joined a Discord server with everyone else on the team.
I convinced my cousin Matthew to join, and he in turn brought along his little brother Zack. According to Matthew, it took quite a bit of convincing because Zack was a Scout main who couldn’t stand Engineers. He eventually got through to his little brother by promising him a Steam gift card. I even got their dad Graham to play along (yes, I have an uncle who plays TF2. How cool is that?). Jose enlisted his friends, who turned into friends of friends and soon enough we had a team of 16 Engineers.
To say that we caused chaos that night was an absolute understatement. As soon as we joined the game the text chat was flooded with messages from the other team wondering what the hell was going on. And they only got worse from that point on. We surrounded our control points with a ring of sentries that people just kept running into. I saw keyboard smashes and heard other teen boys’ voices crack in rage and many, many words that I personally don’t care to repeat here.
The most skilled Engineer was this guy named Craig, who was a friend of one of Jose’s friends. Not only was he the main person capturing the enemy control points with some very strategically placed teleporters, but he was also really friendly and encouraging to all of us. I didn’t know what he looked like, but from his voice it sounded like he was in his early 20s.
Me and Craig started to chat more and more on Discord. He was a super nice guy who was also really fun to talk with. He took time out of his day to teach me how to be an even better Engineer player. Whenever someone started dissing me in the voice chat, he firmly told them to leave me alone. After seeing my fair share of toxicity in the TF2 community, it was nice to know that this complete stranger was looking out for me.
This whole Team Engineer thing became a weekly tradition for us on Friday nights. It was something everyone could look forward to after work or school. One time after everyone logged off and said their goodbyes, Craig sent a message a few hours later in our Discord:
“You guys gotta check this out. I found the weirdest server ever. It’s literally Engineer heaven. Meet me at vl_sentry.”
I was still in the mood to play and I could stay up late tonight, so I hopped back on TF2. I saw that Jose, Graham and this other girl we played with named Lynn were also online. I found vl_sentry and connected to the server. The map was called Valley of the Sentries and it was created by Valve.
It took my computer a little bit to process the map, and it took me even longer than that to process what I was seeing.
The map looked like a chessboard with 3D-sculpted hills. The sky was just pure white. Not even white walls, just the color white. Every square had a blue sentry on it and there were about 4 or 5 other Engineers jumping around, spamming their voice lines. That’s when I realized that we were the only ones there, and there was no red team.
“Hey Sean, glad you could make it :)” Craig said in the text chat. “What the hell is this?” I asked. He told me that this was a server that one of his friends showed him. The friend said he was introduced to the map by a friend of his who knew someone who worked at Valve. Craig then went on to explain that apparently Valley of the Sentries was an experiment to test the limits of the sentry guns and their effect on the servers. Rumor has it that the map is infinite.
“Check this out.” said Jose. He switched to Heavy and immediately got shot down. All of the sentries turned towards him. There were so many of them that it made the game lag a ton. He respawned as Engineer and the sentries just kept on spinning.
“WTF?” I typed. “We tried it with all the other classes and it does the same thing.” said Craig. “It ignores Engineers, but shoots everyone else.” Lynn added. “And that’s why we’re the best class. Engineer power!” Graham joked.
I asked what would happen if you were to play as Spy and sap one of the sentries. “I tried, but you gotta have a godly reaction time to activate it.” said Jose. As soon as he said “godly reaction time”, I knew I had to try it out just for the bragging rights.
Respawn. Shot down. Respawn. Shot down. Respawn. Shot down.
Yeah, I did not have a godly reaction time. The others kept spamming “lol” in the chat each time I failed. I got annoyed pretty quickly and stopped trying. Then out of nowhere, all the sentries turned away from me and started firing at someone. I turned around and all five of us were still standing there. I looked at the top bar that shows how many characters were in the game. There were only five Engineers and they were all on the same team. So what the hell were the sentries targeting?
I started to walk in the direction that the sentries were facing and Jose followed me too. We moved really slow, not only because of the sentries on every square but also the uphill climbs. It was just us two in the chat for a while, talking about seeing each other back at school on Monday while we made our slow walk across the map. Then our conversation was interrupted by a chat message from Lynn.
“Why is there a man in the sky?”
Me and Jose tried to get to Lynn to see what she was talking about as fast as possible, but we moved like snails. To get back to the spawn point, we both switched classes, instantly died and respawned as Engineers. I don’t think we respawned in the same place we started from. I don’t even know where we respawned. There were no landmarks or notable things to help you find your way. Just hills, valleys, and sentries.
I asked Lynn where she was and she just told me she was with Graham and Craig. Only that wasn’t very helpful because we didn’t know where they were either. We stood there, stumped for a minute and a half until Jose got an idea. He said that she should just switch classes and respawn, because then all of the sentries would point toward her and we could follow them all the way back to her. She made the switch, got shot down, and we instantly knew where to find her.
We finally got close enough to kind of make out the vague shape of a few Engineers over the non-existent horizon. Me and Jose were relieved, until all the sentries pointed to our right. I swiveled around and saw them open fire on…nothing. I checked with Jose to see if he caught something I didn’t, but he also didn’t see what they were shooting at. I decided that it wasn’t that important and continued to walk towards the rest of the group.
We met up with Lynn, Craig and Graham, disappointed that we made that trek all for nothing. Even though we were all together now, it just felt so lonely. The only sound coming from my computer was the constant beeping of the sentries in perfect sync. I don’t know why, but it made me so uneasy. I attempted to break the silence by going to the voice lines and playing the iconic Engineer “Nope” soundbite. It echoed across the checkered land with no response.
It was about 12:30 AM at this point and I was starting to feel more and more unsettled with each passing minute. There was just something about this black and white world that I felt creeped out by. Before Craig invited us to come over, there was no one else on the server. Who would even want to play on this map, anyways? It’s so unfairly balanced that only one class can survive. Movement speed was super slow, and you can’t even really do anything except watch the sentries turn and turn and turn forever. It was like hypnosis, except I didn’t feel sleepy or relaxed at all.
Speaking of being sleepy, Jose said he was getting tired and was going to be logging off. We all said goodbye to him and continued chatting amongst ourselves. It sounds stupid, but my stomach dropped when I saw the fifth Engineer portrait disappear. One less person to talk to. One less person to keep myself from wondering what else was out here. I could have sworn that after he left, the beeping got louder.
“So is this map actually infinite?” asked Graham. “Only one way to find out.” Craig said. “Just keep on walking and see if it goes on forever.” “Why don’t you just fire a shotgun and see how far it goes?” Lynn suggested.
I took out the shotgun and fired. The bullet flew off into the white distance and disappeared.
Then I heard the distinct sound of someone getting shot.
A message appeared in the chat, from someone named sentry_check_pattern.
“sentry_check_pattern: stop that”
Once again I looked at the top bar. It just showed four blue Engineers. That meant we were the only ones on the server. Or so we thought.
The chat was flooded with our confusion, almost as if everyone realized at the same time that something wasn’t right. None of us moved an inch.
“What even is this place?” I asked, hoping that the mysterious user would provide me with an answer. “Must be Engineer heaven.” said Graham.
“sentry_check_pattern: more like my personal hell”
This was the moment that made me trust my intuition. I knew there was a reason why I found this map so creepy. I wanted to leave the server, but there was just one thing keeping me back- my own curiosity. My wish to unveil the mysteries of the Valley of the Sentries.
“Okay this is really freaking me out. See ya guys.” said Lynn before she left the server. The fourth Engineer’s portrait disappeared from the top bar.
No no no, please. Please don’t go. Don’t leave us. I wouldn’t want to be alone here. Now there’s just three of us, and I really hope that number doesn’t go down anymore. When the others were here, this was just a weird TF2 map that we were exploring together as friends. And now it feels like we’re trapped in this infinite world, but we aren’t alone. The only problem is we don’t know what else is here.
I shuddered, imagining Craig and Graham ditching me and leaving me all alone in the Valley of the Sentries. Just me and whoever- no, whatever was talking to us.
“sentry_check_pattern: you don’t know how good you have it
you can leave at any time
i can’t”
This terrified me. What a horrible thought, never being able to leave this place. But of course, no one could really be trapped here. It’s a Team Fortress 2 server. You can just exit the game and shut your computer. No one could be trapped in a video game.
But if you think about it, aren’t the characters themselves trapped? They can’t leave the game. They’re characters. They don’t even know they’re in a game. You or the computer controls all their actions. They don’t have free will. And if you’re bad at the game, they’ll just keep dying over and over again.
Wait, why was I thinking about this?
I carefully considered what I wanted to say next in the chat. Whatever I said could either answer all my burning questions or leave me asking more. But sentry_check_pattern talked first.
“sentry_check_pattern: i was made for one purpose
to die over and over again”
Oh my god. It was like this person read my mind and knew exactly what I was thinking about. Who or what was I talking to? I turned all the way around to make sure that no one else was there. It was just the two blue Engineers standing behind me. Just Graham and Craig. And that man with the checkered skin.
Startled, I asked my friends if they saw what I saw. It took them a second, but both of them confirmed that yes, there was indeed something else there. A basic male model with the same chessboard texture as the map. Graham immediately started to shoot at him. Nothing. It just went straight through him.
“sentry_check_pattern: you can’t kill what’s already been killed millions of times over
valve made that mistake too
every company has that one failed project they don’t talk about
and that’s me”
Whoever was behind this weird account was talking crazy. The Team Fortress 2 developers were very open about everything like fixing their glitches and bugs. They always posted things on the official blog about the development process. They’re so open about their failures and always promise to fix them.
“Stop with the weird stuff. We just wanted to know what the deal is with this server and the weird chess guy. Do you know anything about it?” Graham asked in the text chat.
“sentry_check_pattern: know anything?
you’re not very bright, graham
none of you are
do you not realize where you are and what you’re talking to”
Something about the way sentry_check_pattern used Graham’s name gave me goosebumps. I didn’t know what I was talking to. I didn’t even think I wanted to know at this point.
“sentry_check_pattern: this is one of valve’s test servers
i’m the texture they use to check if the sentries work
read between the lines”
“Quiet, NPC.” Craig said. I laughed a little bit to fight off the awkward tension. Then I reminded myself that I was talking to a video game character, no- not even a character. A blank character model. A texture.
“sentry_check_pattern: just because i’m a character model doesn’t mean i can’t feel pain
open fire”
The sentries all swiveled around to face the man and shot at him. He kept falling to the ground, turning white and standing back up in the same position.
“sentry_check_pattern: cease fire”
All of the sentries stopped shooting and just went back to spinning around, their beeps echoing in the air.
“sentry_check_pattern: ready to see what i’ve been through for over a decade?
open fire”
Before any of us could react, the sentries opened fire on Craig all at once. He kept dying, but he didn’t explode the way you’re supposed to when you die in TF2. He just dropped to the floor, turned white, and respawned over and over again. There was no death scream. I tried to type something else in the chat but the game lagged so much that my typing just ended up as a string of random letters that meant nothing. Craig tried to type something out too. It just ended up as “wwwwwwwwwwthisishowitfeelswwwwwwwww” Then the game crashed and my computer shut down.
I hyperventilated. Then I laughed at myself for hyperventilating over a stupid computer game. It was Team Fortress 2 for god’s sake. That game with all the memes and goofy jokes. Stupid, stupid Sean. Scared of a character model. Jose would never let me live it down. I just laughed and laughed to push the fear away.
I closed my laptop and took out my phone to rewatch all of my favorite TF2 animations for the millionth time. As if they weren’t already the funniest things in the world, I forced myself to laugh even harder than usual. Every time I saw the Engineer, I couldn’t help but look at the reflection in his goggles. The reflection of an endless map of black and white squares.
Thankfully, nothing bad happened to my game, account or laptop. The next day I just went right back to playing and enjoying the rage coming from all the people who ran right into my sentries.
Team Engineer was still a thing, but it was never really the same. We played together a lot less frequently. It was still a lot of fun, but I felt a change that I couldn’t really describe.
We found out that Craig had lost all progress on his TF2 account. Everyone gifted him all his favorite cosmetics and we all pooled our money together to get him a Steam gift card. He video called us, crying at our kindness. It was the first time I ever even saw his face. He was a lot older than most of us. If I had to guess an age, I’d say somewhere around 30. He had black bangs and was wearing a TF2 shirt. His room was dark, only lit by his glowing computer screen. He thanked us repeatedly and even tried to return the gift card, but we were all adamant that he should keep it.
Speaking of Craig, we still kept in touch but he didn’t talk to me as much anymore. Any time I tried to ask him about vl_sentry, he ignored me for a few days.
The other day, I got some postcards from my cousin Matthew. He was very academic and happened to be studying at a private high school about 9 hours away from where I live. All of his postcards were pictures of him making funny faces with all his friends at favorite school activities like robotics, debate team, and chess club.
I looked at the chess club photo closely. Matthew and his friends were standing in front of a chessboard with a mirror on the wall. And for a split second, I could have sworn that the chessboard looked different in the mirror. It looked warped, like it wasn’t a flat board anymore. Like it almost had hills and valleys. No, it couldn’t be. I rubbed my eyes. There, in the mirror was a checkered man. I knew it was there. I swear on my mother’s life that there was another person in that photo. And then it was gone. Maybe the picture was just printed badly. But I had to make sure my eyes were right.
So I brought the postcard to school with me and I showed Jose. I asked him if he saw the checkered man in the mirror. He said no. But that wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear. That was the answer I hoped I wouldn’t hear. I asked him again. He said no again. Then I asked him another time. He said I was being annoying. So I asked another one of my friends. He said no too. So I moved on to yet another friend. He told me to stop.
I angrily clutched the postcard in my hand, crumpling it. I was the only one that saw what was really there. Everyone else was lying to me. They refused to see the truth.
I screamed and ripped up the postcard. I stomped on its pieces. I rubbed them in the dirt for good measure.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard the sound of electronics beeping.
It rang in my ears.
It was weirdly comforting to me.
You can leave the Valley of the Sentries. But the valley will never leave you.

Hello! I have some Fritz equipment and I'm started thinking about Dect 440. It seems to be a bit to simple but maybe I'm wrong... Questions: 1) still only german language is used on screen? It looks a bit strange even if there is only a few words :)
2) the eink screen show also status? I mean can it show eg current power for specified socker or even if th socket is on/off... sorry... aus/an :)?
3) generally is it able to read anything from Fritz network? or it just shows local temperature and sends triggering messages to system when appropriate button was pushed.

Believe it or not, there was a time when people actually talked to each other—shocking, especially for the younger generation, right?
But kidding aside, there's a grain of truth in that jest. I'm a firm believer that genuine connections start with meaningful conversations. I'm on the lookout for someone who appreciates the beauty of communication as much as I do.
About Me: I'm the kind of person who finds joy in learning about people from all walks of life. Whether it's through the pages of a book, the scenes of a movie, or engaging in conversation, there's always something to discover about the human condition. I believe in making every moment count.
I've been told I have a knack for turning ordinary conversations into something a bit more exciting. If you enjoy a good laugh, playful banter, and a dash of charm, we might just hit it off.
I'm searching for someone who knows how to keep a conversation interesting. If you appreciate witty banter, love sharing your favourite cheesy jokes, and aren't shy about throwing in a compliment or two, you might be the one I'm looking for.
If you're ready to embark on a communication adventure filled with laughter, curiosity, and a hint of flirtation, send me a message. Let's see where our conversation takes us and if we can make each other's day a little brighter.
About You:
I do have a type. Currently working on my overall fitness journey during bouts of depression (somewhere between fit and dad bod?). I'm looking for a partnesub who is somewhat in shape or thin. Apparently, someone once told me that I have a thing for dark-haired women with big lips—go figure!
A bit about me: I'm pretty open, dark-skinned, 5'7, black hair, brown eyes, working in IT. Feel free to bounce ideas off me to see if there's a match. I enjoy wordplay, encouragement, and, of course, seeing you. Intellectual stimulation is crucial, and effort goes a long way. Currently learning guitar for fun (what a journey!). I'm pretty much an open book.
If any of this resonates with you, don't hesitate to reach out. Pouring yourself out there isn't easy, but to make sure you've read this far, please include your favourite drink or any books you've read lately in your message!

I have messaged the moderators a few times now and shared my current medallion status screenshot, but with no luck. Any suggestion on how to get it changed? Mine shows Gold instead of Plat.
Thank you.

My boyfriend used to live across the country a few years ago. It was there that he met his first girlfriend who he dated for a couple of years. He came back here (where he grew up) for a couple of months in 2021 and said that he realized he didn’t want to be without her. He told me he bought a ring to propose to her during this time. But before he could, she broke up with him and he later found out she cheated on him. Initially he told me they went no contact after they broke up and he never talked to her again.
When we first met, I felt so confident in his feelings for me. He didn’t have to even say anything. I just assumed he felt the same way as I did. He was like the person I’ve always been waiting for, after having been through some crappy relationships. I thought we were in the same boat. We both had some hesitation when we met, because of our pasts and i understood completely. He took me out on dates, we had fun together, we had great conversations. And a couple months in he invited me to his house with his mom for Christmas. That night, he told me he loved me, and he’d felt that way for a while. I had honestly never felt so loved by someone. I had never experienced the whole having butterflies in my stomach, feeling like a teenager again type of love. I thought that he was what id been waiting for my whole life. Not that things were perfect, there was some difficulty of course, when it came to our living situations. But everything else seemed great and it seemed like we were so compatible. I felt more attracted to him in every way than id felt with anyone from my past.
Then the more i started coming around, the more he’d talk about his ex. I never once asked about her. The only time i asked anything, was what he learned from the relationship. Because i felt so secure with him, nothing else mattered to me. But then he started to randomly tell me stories about memories he had with her. He’d tell me on dates, on our car rides, even once when we were laying in bed naked after sex he mentioned something about his old bed in his old apartment how it would sink in the middle because of him and his ex sleeping in it so much. Once he told me a very intimate detail about her. He told me about health problems she had. I started to feel like I knew her better than i knew him.
We had a huge fight about 5 months into dating. He was really stressed about living here, and i asked why he moved back. He said it was because his ex left him. And I’m not sure what it was about that moment, but it made everything click in me. Yes i’d seen the red flags, every time he brought her up before this i felt uncomfortable. I think i was just choosing to be blind to it. But when he said he’d only moved here because of her, i freaked out, and i haven’t been able to let it go since. It’s been a year since that conversation.
A few months after this conversation, i found out that they didn’t go no contact. I found out that they’d been hooking up on and off for like 7 months after they broke up. We had another huge fight because i didn’t understand why he’d lie about it. I will admit that i only found this out because I went through his messages and i broke a lot of our trust by doing that, which just made things even worse.
So now i feel absolutely no security being with him. I ask for reassurance and it’s never enough for me. Each time i bring it up, i just end up getting more hurt because he can’t say what I need to hear from him. And i don’t know if that’s because he just doesn’t feel that way, doesn’t know it’s what I need, or I’m just asking for too much from him. He tells me I’m gorgeous, that he wants me in his life, that I’m smart, funny, etc. It’s nice to hear, but not enough. I want to hear him say that he’s never felt this way before, that he’s never loved someone else as deeply as me. That meeting me made him realize I’m the person he’s been waiting for, the woman he’s always dreamed of spending his life with. I don’t think I’ll ever hear those things from him. If i bring it up that this is what I need, he will just say these things with a defensive tone and it won’t change anything. I just want it to be genuine, I want to know that he feels the same way I feel for him.
I’ve grown so much resentment towards him because of this. I’m not saying this is all his fault, I’m the one that keeps bringing up the past. I just don’t know how to keep going like this if I’m constantly questioning if I’m the second best option.

Just a little vent post I suppose since I'm sure my friends are sick of hearing about this lol. But I (24F) met someone (27M) on Hinge. We texted for a couple days then he asked me on a picnic. It went super well, and I immediately was really into him and I knew he liked me too. I felt so drawn to him, he's very interesting and unlike anyone I've ever met.
Two days later he asked if I wanted to go up to the mountains where his friends have a house, I went and it was mostly really nice. I was so happy going to the grocery store with him to get snacks. We were watching Jurassic Park and apparently I commented something endearing because he laughed and said that made him want to kiss me. We kissed a bit then cuddled very nicely the rest of the movie. Then after we started having sex and it was slightly awkward. His...dick... was really big lol and it kind of hurt and I cried a little bit. Because idk sex already puts me in an emotionally fragile state, and then the added pain just made me need to lay there for a minute and cry. He immediately stopped and we ended up just cuddling til we fell asleep but he seemed uncomfortable which is understandable. Then the next morning we had slightly better sex, it felt good for both of us and emotionally it was good, but neither of us came.
Anyways the rest of the morning he seemed more distant, and he didn't sit close to me or kiss me goodbye or anything. As we parted ways he asked if I wanted to go to the river in the next few days though and I (maybe too eagerly ugh) said yes. Over the next few days he stopped initiating texts and kept leaving me on delivered. I did text him say sorry for crying during sex, and that I have been feeling stressed from exams lately. He said "You scared me so bad" lolll... After that I wasn't texting him much because I knew something was off, but I did ask if he still wanted to go to the river soon and he said he was busy but he would keep me posted. Finally after a few days of him not saying anything I sent him a message. I basically just told him that maybe he's busy or needs space, but it seemed like he didn't want to go to the river anymore and that it was fine if he didn't feel a connection. I said I liked being around him a lot but that I would get over my feelings of course and that I hoped he would have a good summer... And he read it but didn't respond which I expected.
So I guess it's pretty clear that things are over between us, probably due to the awkward sex. I know that with the right person it wouldn't matter but my heart is crying a little because I just was so interested in him... When we hung out I would just find myself watching him do mundane things like make coffee or cut bread and I felt enraptured. I am tearing up as I type this :( I think there were some incompatibilities between us anyway. I was always asking him about himself and to be honest he didn't seem very interested in me, and also he didn't really try to make me feel good during sex. He doesn't seem very good with emotions and I am kind of an emotional person. But I just wish we could have gotten to know each other a little better. He's autistic and there's a high chance I am too. Personally I need a bit of time around a new person to figure out how to act around them and to feel comfortable. I wish we would have had a more casual second date without sex.
I just feel so sad which is funny because a year ago I had just been cheated on by my boyfriend of 5.5 years. I seriously never thought I could be hurt again romantically or even really be this interested in someone. I guess a positive aspect to this experience is that I feel way more over my ex than before. I was getting really excited about this new guy that I stopped caring if I would ever see my ex again. And I know theoretically that I don't want to be with someone who doesn't want me, and that what's meant for me will not miss me or whatever... but I feel sad. I am prone to limerence so it makes sense. I know this is probably too intense of feelings for two dates. It's only been like 2 weeks and I know I will feel better in a couple weeks but also part of me feels like I will always have a crush on this guy. Ah oh well! Sorry this is a crazy long post but it did help to write it all out. :)

Ivaxa has been well known for his high BPM stream plays along with his obscene singletapping skills over the course of a few weeks at the time of writing. His most notable achievement is his S rank on Deceit [pishi’s Extra] +DT (Score) (Replay). However there is some unusual behavior that Ivaxa has that should be looked into. This thread will look into quite a few cases of these weird findings.
As of the current date, May 16th, 2024, we have collected enough information to submit our public review of Ivaxa’s activity. We are asking the osu! staff and other independent researchers to validate our information and proof-check every single aspect of it. If our findings would be proven to be incorrect and/or not substantial - that's completely fine. Our goal is not to just blindly accuse but to establish the truth.
This document contains currently collected information about Ivaxa, his scores, profiles, and potential connections to other “alt” accounts in the game. We, as an independent team, are trying to establish the legitimacy or lack thereof of said player.
As always, harassment of any of the people mentioned/involved in the report is inappropriate. Please be civil when partaking in the discussion.
Replays, and VODs can be found in a google drive at the end of the thread so you can investigate and see moments listed in the thread yourself.
But first, here's a few things to consider:

1. Ivaxa’s mouse is a HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2, he allegedly plays on 800 DPI with a 0.62x sens multiplier on osu!. The only reason as to why it’s alleged is because of his recent streams, his sensitivity seems higher than it actually is.
2. He plays with a Sayu O3C keypad that runs at 8000hz (Peripheral information can be found from Ivaxa’s Twitch channel.)
3. He is able to singletap 191 BPM streams consistently.
4. Ivaxa used to be a DT aim player, not much of a stream player until recently.
5. The player does have skill, however he may be using some sort of outside assistance software-wise like aim assist or relax hacks.
6. All replays in this thread were inspected using Circleguard.
7. Most of the information down below was conducted in the empirical (perceived) sense, so take all of it with a grain of salt.

Section one: Replays

There are a few moments within Ivaxa’s recent replays that felt unusual or very strange; mostly unusual edge hits, but also weird UR bar behavior.
The Deceit +DT
There are a few things to mention about this score. The first is an unusual UR bar behavior from 91076 ms (~1 minute 31 seconds) to 93123 ms (~1 minute 33 seconds). The UR bar looks like this in the end. This type of UR bar behavior is often found in 125 hz keyboards with a map that has a BPM that is a multiple of 125 (125 BPM, 250 BPM, 375 BPM, etc.). However, Ivaxa doesn’t use a 125hz keyboard or keypad, he uses one that is rated at 8000hz. This is rather unusual since this type of UR is only found in this section of the map only. Also, if he were to play on a 125hz keyboard/keypad, the type of UR that was shown above would be all over the map since the Deceit with DT is mostly 375 BPM.
The second would be his aim, particularly at around 1885 combo, his cursor shakes at an abnormal magnitude from the rest of the map. This shake can be caused by nerves, tapping strain of the left hand, or a mix of both. But, Ivaxa’s alleged sensitivity is so low that the shake that has been shown in the replay is either really hard to do or impossible.
Gotta go Fast +DTSO
This score has one thing that is quite suspicious. at 47582 ms (~48 seconds) into the map, an awkward edge hit is found where he over-aimed and seemingly snapped back to the circle. This kind of edge hit is something that a normal osu! player wouldn’t be able to hit entirely, especially at the speed at which the map is being played at. Another edge hit can be found in the same map at 28852 ms (~29 seconds), where the cursor doesn’t naturally curve at the end, instead snapping to the edge of the circle. Both cases may allude to the usage of some sort of aim assist.
Metal Crusher +DT
There are two things to note about this score, the first is some unusual cursor movement at the ending section of the map. Ivaxa’s cursor slightly follows the slider at 59128 ms (~59 seconds), and another right after at 60400 ms (~one minute). Movement like this paired with the speed at which the map is being played at just seems unusual/suspicious.
There are also five edge hits within the map, four out of the five edge hits are at the very edge of a circle. The probability of hitting these types of edge hits is rather low, especially when there are four of them in one map.
Edge Hit #1: https://i.imgur.com/g3VlDoz.png
Edge Hit #2: https://i.imgur.com/vpTKuw7.png
Edge Hit #3: https://i.imgur.com/oQiEwVR.png
Edge Hit #4: https://i.imgur.com/nJyVbiq.png
Edge Hit #5: https://i.imgur.com/MN9MfwN.png
Sendan Life +DTHD
There is something to be said about some of the 100’s that Ivaxa is hitting. More specifically some 100’s within a few of the maps that have been observed so far are very near the barrier of being a 300 hit regardless of whether the note is early or late (https://i.imgur.com/cxFSdjf.png, https://i.imgur.com/bHLurZn.png). The sayu is precise enough to actually hit these types of 100’s, however it feels like these have occurred too often, so much so that this play has half of the 100’s in the map has these “edge 100’s,” for a lack of a better term. There are also two 100’s (100 #1 and 100 #2) that have been hit at exactly the same lateness/timing.
100 #1: https://i.imgur.com/KR4BhWe.png
100 #2: https://i.imgur.com/pzg7zMn.png
100 #3: https://i.imgur.com/z5qIocV.png
100 #4: https://i.imgur.com/pgEBsKK.png
100 #5: https://i.imgur.com/rQ50Uhs.png
100 #6: https://i.imgur.com/oMkQ3O5.png

Section Two: Twitch Streams

The two pieces of information down below are more focused on his single tapping skills, along with some weird/suspicious moments during his stream.
Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG
At 15:37, Ivaxa is seen to be double tapping 270 bpm streams even though he S ranked the Deceit with DT around three days after said stream (390 BPM). At 49:15 mins of the same stream: he is seen to singletap 191 BPM streams, probably because he was warm when playing at his point.
Stream title: #17 #2PL Yomi yori 3 mod pass happening right now wtf,
On March 31st, 2024, on the VOD where he S ranked The Deceit +DT, at the end of the VOD at 2:58:42 Ivaxa is seen singletapping a 390 BPM burst. After which he paused the game and blamed Steam notifications. Despite the bottom half of his monitor being visible on stream through the webcam, where no steam notifications or pop-ups are visible, he then opened Steam to "change notifications settings.'' After allegedly changing the settings, his cursor trajectory on the visible parts of the monitor on stream tells us that he moved the mouse from the top most left corner, while usually Steam settings are located in a pop-up window at the center of the screen. Afterwards His stream allegedly "crashed."
To see the moment, play the following .mp4 file: 20240331 #17 #2PL Yomi yori 3 mod pass happening right now wtf Part 3 and go to the near end.
Stream title: #9 #2PL if i want to i'll farm req closed
On April 7th, 2024 Ivaxa showed on the osu! Game discord server that he is able to singletap 191 BPM (better picture of the graph), however six days later after the message, on his stream on April 13th, 2024 Ivaxa showed that he was able to singletap PoNo’s Yomi Yori 220 BPM streams at the end. This type of BPM jump in such a short amount of time can only be reasoned with by hardware abuse via rapid trigger. Either that, or some sort of relax hack that assists the player in tapping.

Section Three: Multiaccounting

There are many pieces of information that suspect that Ivaxa is multiaccounting, however there is currently no concrete evidence on whether or not he is indeed multiaccounting. Please keep this in mind when reading this section of the thread.
The Mulitiaccount & Play Count Graphs
Pipecat is the suspected multiaccount. First of all, both Pipecat and Ivaxa are placed 1st and 2nd on the osu!mania leaderboard in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland (This is done by using osu! subdivide nations). Both play count graphs also seem to compensate for each other as of 2024, April 4th (the graph for Ivaxa has been warped in order to have a better visualization).
Time-pp Scatter Chart & Best Performances
The same thing happens with their Best Performance Time-pp Scatter Chart from ameobea/osu!track (Pipecat's Mania Chart and Ivaxa's Mania Chart non warped). Both graphs seem to compensate for each other, especially at around the month of March, as of 2024, April 5th (again, Ivaxa's chart has been warped for better visualization of score submissions).
Speaking of pp, both accounts have similar maps in their best performances list (Ivaxa is on the left, Pipecat on the right). If you want to see more, just check their mania profiles.
This may ask the reason as to why Ivaxa hasn’t played any vsrg (Vertical Scrolling Rhythm Game), and yet his performance in mania is abnormal for his time played. As seen from the play count graph from above, Ivaxa would’ve most likely played mania first on the Pipecat account, and then proceeded to play mania again on the other.
Names/Naming Scheme & Last Seen
Their naming scheme can also be taken into account as, Ivaxa’s name was inspired by Vaxei, and Pipecat was inspired by Whitecat.
It is also worth noting that Ivaxa and Pipecat’s Last Seen times are near each other, being more or less one hour apart from each other.
https://i.imgur.com/uVucqXr.png
https://i.imgur.com/lYh4Gbb.png

Section Four: Misc, additional “facts,” and Speculations

This section is dedicated to the additional miscellaneous information and our speculation formed from the data we discovered during the process of the investigation. These entries are not verbosely written due to us not finding enough evidence/information to make them included in the previous sections.
For ease of understanding the entry's level of absurdity, we marked them with color tags. The marking process for each entry was completely subjective so even the most absurd ones could be a potential aid for independent investigators/osu! staff as an additional lead where we “hit the wall.”
Fact: Could be used as a potential lead
Fact + Assumption: Not substantial enough to be included in previous sections/Assumption
Pure Speculation: Completely speculative fact/information
Fact: BayOfEvil (Ivaxa’s old username), does have an osu!report on it, although the report isn’t very helpful. One of the thread's replies includes a Discord recording with Ivaxa playing as “proof” of him being legit. This should be investigated further (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQDdw1SSLs).
Fact: Ivaxa’s Mania score on Ne uchi +DT was set 22 days after his no-mod score.
Fact: In Pipecat's osu profile a discord server can be found (https://discord.gg/jkMydV3PTB), upon searching "Ivaxa" the only two mentions of the name is from the user Pipecat (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/577365869949354025/1225631393820708914/image0.jpg?ex=6621d52f&is=660f602f&hm=e3589cb93e9ffb2b7c0ef7ffbdedcc3b09df919a7082d11468035ff4f4f6e65e&).
Fact: Guitar to Kodou to Aoi Hoshi: Edge hit at the very edge at 202358 ms (~3 minutes 22 seconds) (https://i.imgur.com/PAWsyh7.png) Similar to the edge hit on FUCK YOU.
Fact + Assumption: FUCK YOU: Very erratic cursor movement at 4485 ms (~4.5 seconds) (https://i.imgur.com/mkRw4Ki.png) combined with his sensitivity and the map’s speed, this is basically impossible. Also he's been under-aiming a lot in this map but that might just be me. There is also an edge hit at the very edge at 60301 ms (~1 min) (https://i.imgur.com/GFxZctS.png), which can be questioned.
Fact + Assumption: Gotta go Fast HDDTHR: The UR bar is acting the same way that was observed with the deceit score from above (Gotta go Fast: https://i.imgur.com/ywA8XAu.png, Deceit: https://imgur.com/cbUtzya). With both maps being 375 BPM with DT, Ivaxa may or may not have used the same method of cheating if he is.
Fact + Assumption: Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG, at 15:37 mins, Ivaxa is seen to be double tapping 270 bpm streams even though he S ranked the Deceit with DT around three days after said stream (390 BPM).
Fact + Assumption: A Thread created by sampierat on twitter: https://vxtwitter.com/sampierat/status/1775216723743875457?s=20

• https://imgur.com/pC3DBMq

Pure Speculation: During a congregation, several people have noted/proposed that Ivaxa may or may not be using three keys in order to stream higher bpm’s, using a software that alternates the middle key (since he plays ring-index) between key 1 and key 2 to insure that nothing is suspicious with his tapping count.
Pure Speculation: We condone an anonymous survey inside the mania community, including some of the top players, regular 4k, 7k, and 8k players, and some tournament organizers. Most of the participants agree that Ivaxa’s progression and improvement curve is abnormal.
Pure Speculation: Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG, within the first hour of the stream, Ivaxa is seen to have completely lost his aim (44:46 min), even though he nearly fc'd Brazil on Fiery's Extreme with HDHRDT ten days prior to the stream. Although this evidence may not be as substantial as the others because of retry spamming Brazil.
Pure Speculation: The earliest known screenshots of Ivaxa grinding The Deceit Pishi's Extra, was on 2023, December 22nd (https://twitter.com/Ivaxaosu/status/1738245663631024453, https://twitter.com/Ivaxaosu/status/1738268599129632811, He later achieved an S rank on 2024, March 31st. He would've grinded the map for the past 3 months, however his play count seems to not reflect the grind, only having 237 plays as of 2024, April 5th (https://i.imgur.com/dg4HdSl.png).
Pure Speculation: https://youtu.be/Isp233epRAA the hands, and tapping technique may be similar to Ivaxa.
Pure Speculation: Potential lead/connection between Ivaxa and Pipecat could be found via steam accounts.
Ivaxa’s has two steam accounts (Both Steam profiles were sent to aknzx at one point):

• Main account https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199027517248
• Alt (thanks for Ivaxa posting it on one of the discord servers) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199081700184
  • Has a VAC ban on it
• Pipecat’s steam account:
  • “Main account” https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199389486073

Pure Speculation: Additional platforms related to Pipecat:

• Their youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@pipe_cat (We tried to use it compare Ivaxa’s voice and Pipecat’s voices already, not enough information)
• Their GD (GeometryDash) profile: https://gdbrowser.comNotPipeCat

Pure Speculation: Pipecat’s Windows username https://imgur.com/a/DCgtC82 (from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNTTpSl1hHo ) If it could be proven that Ivaxa’s real name is Krzys, it could be a potential lead (despite it being a very popular name in Poland).
Pure Speculation: Pipecat is recording videos on his Youtube channel using both a PC and a Laptop. The PC is running Windows 11, and the Laptop is running Windows 10. This Could be a potential lead.

Verdict

Ivaxa’s single tapping speed is very abnormal, especially considering that he was able to stream 220 BPM in just six days, starting from 191 BPM, all singletapped. His aim on some maps feels weird, and some edge hits are questionable in terms of legitimacy. The incident on his stream on March 31st of this year also felt suspicious and weirdly timed, as if he was covering something up. And Pipecat’s graphs line up in such a way that it seemingly compensated for Ivaxa’s play count, and pp-scatter chart. From the information that was gathered about Ivaxa, there is a likelihood that the player is cheating, via aim assist, partial relax, or a mix of both.
It is suggested/encouraged that you look into this yourself.

Files and Documents

For Ivaxa stream mp4’s, each “part” is in one hour segments (because untwitch). So part 1 would be the first hour of a stream, part 2 would be the second hour of a stream, etc. There are some parts where it didn’t download the full hour, so be aware of that.
We’ve also included one of the “VOD analyzer” test result files, which includes cursor positions from an analyzed stream segment (#11 #2PL 1.3k pp achieved). It was a completely custom-coded solution that analyzed the video frame by frame but it wasn’t used during the investigation, so we are unsure about the accuracy of the cursor detection.
Input data:
Approximate osu! playfield area on a 1920x1080 monitor:

-Top left of playfield area: (384, 126) -Bottom right of playfield area: (1536, 990) 

Ivaxa's Approximate playfield area on stream:

-Top left of playfield area: (329, 120) -Bottom right of playfield area: (1283, 835) 

Analyzed segment: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UOceGo6udbGH0p7jbZKvst4wqsIVWIWF/view?usp=drive_link
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LTDABXcFHSJnk5KNfHWdH1XPJwcdf4S1?usp=sharing
Streams Timeline

Date	Stream Title	VOD Links
March 20th 2024	we back boys	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1xFtwoU82d_qAKPyp7qEm2v4JVd8m-PDF
March 31st 2024	Yomi Yori 3 mod pass	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1PJQOhrao4CFsaeLg4wcwFPtBybdocAnB
March 31st 2024	1.3k pp achieved	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UOceGo6udbGH0p7jbZKvst4wqsIVWIWF/view
April 1st 2024	play game and then deceit farming	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1TsTmiNzDRIMpFn4lmUzwzS6n3AjyE3rY
April 9th 2024	Yomi Yori DT Farming Right now	N/A
April 13th 2024	singletap practice	N/A

So put the long story short ( I will any details required in comments )
I have had a bad break up 4 yrs back and decided against relationships in general until 1 khadoos manager joined our office ( different team but interlinked with us functionally ) and he is obviously khadoos ( Everyone hates him and he hated everyone ) lo n behold guess who fell for eachother?
I have no idea why i thought it was good idea it checked every list point that i DIDN'T want in a guy and I had quite an issue with everything he did and then I met a guy ( later turned out to be jerk in disguise ) and he was recently how I wanted a guy to be .. too good to be perfect and My parents he was great too so my knee jerk reaction to a bad fight with khadoos was to start talking to my perfect guy ( I was still talking to khadoos and he knew the life update ) recently the new relation ended in few weeks since it was decided on my checklist and not feelings. This somehow made Khadoos think we are meant to be etc etc but this made me absolutely aversive to relationships and I can't be jumping from 1 guy to another... I was still on speaking terms but one day he just pushed me to get serious, married and move abroad and I just decided I am wasting his time ( though i told him I am absolutely done with relations ) I didn't wanted to give him any hope what do ever and decided to hard stop any means of communication.
2 months later, this man has become my living nightmare... raise escalations day in and out with my manger on me and point out any small thing I did as a grave issue. I am planning on putting down my papers tomorrow because i cant deal with anymore.
He always joked how either of us should quit this job cz everybody thinks we don't like eachother, but it has come to a point where I have to quit because of him. I am just planning on sending him a ' you win' message on my last day.
It's funny bcs I was just missing him since 3 days and universe said girl this is the person I saved you from.
To the future commenters, please shame me mental health is at an all time low. Anyone who gets up and say POSH lagao cz this is revenge of you rejecting the guy. This is guy I once respected and I understand the actions are from pain. even if he was a bad person, I wouldn't wanna fight with the beast, hence the message you win on last day to satisfy his ego and hopefully he stops bothering me

Bluckle up it's a lot to unpack. Frist basics, I (32f) have been married to let's call him Fred (42m) for 6 years. We have a one daugher together and he has a daughter from a previous relationship and so do I. The two older girls are about a month apart so they're basically like twins and get along really well. I got to school online and work graveyards, so I sleep a lot during the days that I work. Fred works late nights but never after 10pm.
We love each other very much obviously, but for the past two years we can't not seem to go more than two weeks without getting into a bitter argument over nothing. For example last night our girls had performances at the same time 2 schools. My husband woke me up 12 minutes before those performances started. Not before we had to be there 12 minutes before it started, and our 5yo was not ready. I had work the night before so I had to get ready. So i told my husband to get the 5yo dressed and he said he didn't know where any dresses were so I went to go find him one and I went to go get dressed to go to the concert so I wasn't able to put on makeup wash my face or anything really. I just had to get up. Get dressed and go. After I can't put to the car I see my daughter's hair is not brushed and she has pants that are on backwards underneath the dress with swimming shoes on. There is no time to fix any other this as we have to be there 5 minutes ago. So that's how my daughter looked at her end of the year graduation performance. I went to the youngest daughter's performance and he went to my oldest daughter's performance. Understandably I was a little upset when I woke up and on the way to school. I got over it fairly quickly like by the time I got back home, but now he's upset with me for being upset. I force him to have dinner with us. After dinner I go outside and I find him in the fetal position on a bench and I ask him what's wrong and he says nothing and I said what are you thinking about and he said oh that I'm just a terrible father, husband and all this other stuff. And of course I was like you're not a terrible father or husband. Things happened and stuff like that. Anywho I go and come back from the graveyard shfit. I change my clothes into pajamas and kind of crawl into bed in kiss him and hug them. Cuddle a little bit you know, a little Love. and then I get up and I have coffee. I start my day. I have to get my girls up and ready for school. All that good stuff. My husband is still mad at me from the night before. And he's been asking me all day if I really love him and every time I say I do he scoffs and says yeah sure and now he is at work. 4 hours before work even starts and he's sending me messages telling me that I hurt him, and that I don't show enough affection to him and I don't give him enough time. I have never been a real affectionate person. It's fine. I'm funny and I have other great qualities. He says that he knows I'm always been like this but he feels that I still find a way to make him feel more loved and I've tried but I feel like it's never good enough because this has been going on for 2 years and that's just one example of many. That's just today all right guys. Let me know what you think. AITA?