What is Ikaria Juice ?

Ikaria Juice is a powdered supplement that contains a sophisticated superfood blend. It contains several natural mixes that are designed to help with fat storage, anti-inflammatory effect, appetite control, cravings, and quicker digestion. It kick-starts weight loss by targeting fat deposits that do not respond to diet or exercise.
Ikaria Lean Belly Juice contains components that may aid in the reduction of metabolic variables. These components have been utilised in numerous traditional medicines for hundreds of years and have been scientifically confirmed to provide these effects. So, regardless of your age, diet, degree of exercise, or job schedule, this product may help you lose weight.
~Ikaria Juice~ is the best-suited supplement for those who are facing obesity problems and want to get rid of it and all its other effects.Each and every batch of Ikaria Juice has been made under strict, sterile, and precise standards that ensure high quality and safety and also easy-to-use formula for daily consumption.
Ikaria Juice is a fat burning formula developed to make the metabolic modifications the body requires to drop weight. The Supplement aims to promote healthy weight loss in people who have difficulty maintaining a healthy weight. To avoid side effects, Ikaria Lean Belly Juice uses only natural ingredients in its formulation. Citrus pectin, African mango extract, milk thistle, resveratrol, and Bioperine are ingredients in Ikaria Lean Belly Juice. All these ingredients are sourced from reliable sources to provide you with various health benefits.

How Does Ikaria Juice Formula Works?

The Ikaria Juice flushes away ceramides and renews your body from inside. It contains Milk thistle, citrus pectin, bioperine, and other ingredients that aid in weight loss. Some elements in Ikaria Lean Belly Juice give antioxidant assistance to the body. Milk Thistle is a natural fat burner that also helps to promote liver function and regulate blood sugar levels.
~Ikaria Juice~ has a metabolic combination that helps to stimulate your metabolism and raise your energy levels. One of the primary causes of excessive weight gain is a sluggish metabolic rate. An increase in abdominal fat may cause your body to produce more uric acid. Increased uric acid levels can harm joint health and cause tissue damage, as well as renal and heart issues.
Ikaria lean belly Juice is a powerful and effective supplement that offers a multitude of health benefits. Apart from its Ceramide-relieving properties, this juice contains a unique blend of other nutrients that are essential for maintaining overall health and well-being. These nutrients are known as “the other 30%” and are specially formulated to improve energy levels and enhance your appearance.
Ikaria Juice is also effective in relieving symptoms of Ceramide paresthesia, leading to increased sensation anddrag on the stomach. These benefits cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, if you are looking for an effective way to reduce behemoth fat accumulation, this is the perfect product for you. In addition to its Ceramide-relieving benefits, the Ikaria Juice contains a unique blend of otherprestige nutrients that will help to improve your overall health. These nutrients, which are known as “the other 30%”, are specially formulated to improve your overall energy and look.

Ikaria Juice ingredients

Ikaria Juice uses top ingredients that are of high quality. The ingredients are sourced from their natural environments and are of the greatest quality.
Below is a list of the various ingredients that make up this formula, along with their supposed advantages for your body:

• Panax Ginseng: Panax ginseng, known for its medicinal properties found in its roots, has been used to help lower blood pressure. It is also used to shrink fat cells and promote weight loss. In addition, it is utilized to boost energy levels, making it an essential ingredient in the Ikaria Lean Belly Juice, as it helps in both burning fat cells and increasing energy levels.
• Milk Thistle: The Ikaria Lean Belly Juice is a powerful and effective tool for regulating blood sugar levels in the body. The initial ingredient on the list of its components is milk thistle. Milk thistle helps to regulate blood sugar levels in the body, and has a powerful fat-burning effect on the body.
• Fucoxanthin: Ikaria Lean Belly Juice includes fucoxanthin, which activates a protein that transforms fat cells into energy and heat. Fucoxanthin, derived from seaweed, is rich in phytonutrients with antioxidant properties, as per studies. An increasing number of weight loss aids and anti-inflammatory supplements utilize fucoxanthin. The creators of Ikaria Lean Belly Juice state that fucoxanthin can also aid in maintaining healthy blood sugar levels and possesses anti-obesity effects, among other benefits.
• Bioperine: Bioperine, a piperine extract, increases the absorption of essential nutrients and plant compounds. It promotes weight loss by preventing the formation of fat cells in the body, while also enhancing cognitive health. Additionally it supports overall well-being of an individual with the help of essential nutrient and plant compounds.
• Citrus Pectin: When high-quality natural ingredients are used in a dietary supplement, the outcomes tend to be positive. One crucial ingredient in Ikaria Lean Belly Juice is citrus pectin. To support healthy weight loss, this component addresses cravings. It suppresses hunger more effectively than a protein diet and also helps to eliminate toxic metals from the body. The slower digestion of pectin causes a feeling of satiety for a longer period, leading to less consumption of food and initiation of weight loss process.

Benefits Of Ikaria Juice

• Ikaria Juice Supports physical activity to reduce calorie intake and prevent weight gain.
• Ikaria Juice Ensures Prevention Of Several Fatal Diseases.
• Curbs Appetite and Reduces Cravings.
• Ikaria Juice Can Help Prevent Fatty Liver Disease and Burns Stubborn Fat.
• Lowers Cholesterol And Diabetes Levels.
• Promote Healthy Weight Loss and Boosts Overall Health.
• Ikaria Juice Made with scientifically validated vitamins.

Advanced server update released on May 16, 2024 (Server Time)

I. Hero Adjustments

Hero Adjustments

The following uses (↑) (↓) (~) to indicate Buff, Nerf, and Adjustment.

[Yi Sun-shin] (↑)
Although Yi Sun-shin has good growth, in the mid to late game, his damage relies on enhanced Basic Attacks from Passive, leading to a lack of a safe damage-dealing environment. In order to win, players must get Gold quickly to gain an economic advantage when playing as Yi Sun-shin. In this case, most Yi Sun-shin players spend a lot of time on repetitive "Gold farming" throughout the match.
Experimental Adjustments: We hope to solve this problem by reducing the damage of Yi Sun-shin's enhanced Basic Attacks from Passive in the mid to late game, while also giving him higher damage capabilities in the early game.
[Passive] (~)
First Enhanced Basic Attack Damage: 70%-100% Crit Damage (scales with Ult level) >> 80% Crit Damage at all levels
Second Enhanced Basic Attack Damage: 55%-70% Crit Damage (scales with Ult level) >> 60% Crit Damage at all levels
[Skill 1] (↑)
CD: 12-7s >> 12-9.5s
[Skill 2] (↑)
Slash & Arrow Damage: 240-340 + 80% of Total Physical Attack >> 300-425 +100% of Total Physical Attack
[Aulus] (↓)
After last week's adjustments, Aulus' strength has exceeded our expectations. Therefore, we are making further adjustments to him. We will continue to monitor Aulus' performance and ensure his strength remains at a reasonable level.
[Passive] (↓)
Attack Speed of Each Stack: 12%-18% >> 9%-15%
[Skill 1] (↓)
Damage Reduction: 50% at all levels >> 30%-50%
[Ultimate] (↓)
Basic Attacks' Physical Damage Increased from Blade Craft at Full Stack: 80 >> 50
[X.Borg] (↑)
We noticed that the nerf to Spell Vamp Ratio had a significant impact on X.Borg, so we decided to revert to the previous nerf and continue to monitor his performance.
[Skill 1] (↑)
Spell Vamp Ratio: 50% >> 100%
[Ultimate] (↑)
Spell Vamp Ratio: 50% >> 100%
[Atlas] (↑)
Currently, Atas' early game power is relatively weak, and he relies heavily on the mobility provided by Skill 2. We hope to see him get picked more often in high-rank matches, so we have strengthened his early game power.
[Passive] (↑)
Increased Physical & Magic Defense During Frigid Breath: 11-25 >> 16-30
[Skill 2] (↑)
Cooldown: 15-10s >> 12-10s
[Wanwan] (↑)
Due to Wanwan's unique "move after each attack" mechanic, her sustained damage is weaker than most Marksmen. We have increased her Attack Speed to compensate for this.
[Attributes] (↑)
Basic Attack Speed: 0.98 >> 1.13
Attack Speed Growth: 1% >> 2%
[Xavier] (↓)
Reverted some previous adjustments.
[Passive] (↓)
Skill Cooldown reduced for Ultimate by Stage III: 32s >> 36s
[Ultimate] (↓)
Cooldown: 52-48s >> 60-52s
Damage: 600-1200 +200% of Total Magic Power >> 600-1100 +180% of Total Magic Power
[Beatrix] (↑)
Slightly increased her damage in the late game.
[Attributes] (↑)
Physical Attack Growth: 9.5 >> 11

II. Battlefield & System Adjustments

Equipment Adjustments

[Malefic Gun] (~)
Experimental Adjustments: In Layla's Workshop, we noticed that the active skill of Malefic Gun can be difficult for some players to master the timing to cast. Players will often struggle with whether to choose Malefic Gun or Wind of Nature.
We have changed it to Passive in this patch. In order to compensate for the decrease in the upper limit by increasing the range, we added a simple trigger for this "new" Passive to ensure it is powerful enough and enjoyable to play.
[Price]
1940
[Attributes]
+45 Physical Attack
+25% Attack Speed
+15% Lifesteal
[Unique Passive - Malefic Energy] (Reworked)
Landing a skill increases Basic Attack range by 15% for 3s (6s cooldown).
[Unique Passive - Zeal]
Basic Attacks grant 15% Movement Speed for 1s.
[Wishing Lantern] (~)
[Unique Passive - Seeker] (~)
Passive Trigger: 500 Magic Damage dealt >> 800 Magic Damage dealt
Magic Damage: 6% of target's current HP >> 10% of target's current HP

Battlefield Adjustments

[Neutral Lord]
Some Junalers still prefer to spend their time fighting the Lord. Now the longer you fight the Lord. the higher the "price" you have to pay.
New Effect: When the Lord is aggro, increase Physical Penetration by 10% per second up to 10 times. (Reverted the Regen Reduction effect from the last patch.)
[Current of the Turtle]
The issue with Current is that just when players want to step on it to help their teammates, the Movement Speed bonus ends. Therefore, we decided to extend the duration of Current.
Duration of Current: 10s >> 15s
[Spawn Point]
Optimized the speed of Spawn Point's HP Regen. The Regen speed is doubled, but the amount of HP recovered each time has been halved (total Regen time remains unchanged).

[Bug Fixes]
1- Optimized the icons and skill visuals of some new equipment.
2- Optimized the display of the Fighters Stage Avatar Border from the KOF collab event.

III. Events

Free Heroes
Server Time 05/17/2024 05:00:00 to 05/24/2024 05:01:00 (Tap the Settings button in the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
8 Free Heroes: Granger, Hayabusa, Selena, Cecilion, Hanabi, Thamuz, Argus, Lolita
6 Extra StarLight Member Heroes: Fredrinn, Grock, Moskov, Karrie, Martis, Aldous

I have
AFRO:

• Soma, Yuma - All 4 U
• Daughter of the Sun (Ankhoï Remix)
• Ankhoï - Sandiya
• Ankhoï - Clound
• Ankhoï - No sleep
• Ankhoï - After All Night Shift
• Tato - Merah
• Abdel Kader - Monte Rougue
• Love Me Back (Raffa Guido Remix)
• Valeron, Payment & Klaudia Touch Me (Sam (GR) Children Touch)
• Alright - Red Carpet (Kashovski & Abel Ray Remix)
• Victor Alc - I Know You Know
• Victor Alec - Hangin Tree
• Vxision - Love Preparetions (Slow Down Edit
• Classy 101 (Vxision, Maz Remix)
• Rui Da Silva - Touch Me (Peace Control Remix)
• Drake - Sticky (Peace Control Remix)
• Jovem Dionisio - Pontos de Exclamação (VXSION Remix)
• Black Cofee, David Guetta - Drive (Da Capo Remix)
• ROUTE 94, Jesse Glynne - My Love (Alex Wann Remix)
• FCLT - Fell It’s You (Alex Wann remix)
• Sérgio Mendes - Mas Que Nada (Ahmed Spins Edit)
• ANOTR, Abel Balder - Vertigo (Carlita Remix)
• Kura - Sentir Saudade (Guapo, Antdot Remix)
• Moderat, Keinemusik - More Love (Kalidon Mykonos Mashup)
• Keinemusik, Arabic Piano - Two Lost Kings
• Drake - Confusion ( Keinemusik Remix )
• Fortress - Diplo ( Rampa Remix )
• Tanzânia (Rampa Remix)
• Toto - Africa (Rampa Edit)
• Zouk Machine - Maldon (Rampa Edit)
• Busta, Rampa, Black Coffeee - Mamakusa
• Go Low L.A.X (Rampa Edit)
• &Me, Rampa - Tong 4 (Original Mix)
• Travis Scott - Butterfly (&Me Remix)
• Feel - ABRA (&ME & Sasha Tigresa Edit)
• UNKLE, Miink, Will Malone - ONLY YOU (&Me Remix)
• Ilanga - Masšh (&Me Edit)
• Samba Yo Pan Pale (&Me Remix)
• Marssi, Adam Port feat. Ninae - All I Got
• Joris Voorn - Homeland feat. Matthew Dear (&Me Remix) {Jinadu Vocal Edit}
• Aba - Fell (&Me remix)
• Simian Mobile Disco - Caught In A Wave (&ME Remix)
• Adam Port, Massi, Ninae - All I Got
• Keinemusik - Muye (Enoo Napa Remix)
• Coco, Joezi, Pape Diouf - 7 Seconds (Moojo Remix)
• Moojo, Demeya - Hot N fun
• Moojo - Atitude
• Moojo ft Gabsy - Ze Roberto
• Moojo - I Whant Your Soul
• Moojo - GTA
• Cairo - Here We Are (Moojo Remix)
• Moojo - Oui
• Rihana - Stay (Moojo Remix)
• Moojo ft Starving yet Full - Limitless Vocal Version
• Moojo,Da Capo - What U Desaire (Vocal Mix)
• Post Malone - I Fall Apart (Moojo Remix)
• Drake - A KEEPER (Moojo Remix)

MELODIC:

• Adam Tem - Kepler
• Adam Tem - Deep Love
• Quentin Harris - Warning (Adam Ten & Mita Gami Re-Edit)
• Solique - Heat Of The Moment
• Solique - Mood In The Jungle
• Ego Maria - T Mapper Native
• Ego Maria, Toto Chiavetta - Cells Under Attack
• Yotam Avni - Island Hopper (Franky & Sandrino Remix)
• Tal Fussman - North
• Tal Fussaman - Sam Shure - Inferno
• Tal Fussaman - Childrem Of 95 (V3 Instrumental)
• OPUS III - It's A Fine Day (Aera's Finite Edit)
• Amê - Mifune (Dixon Acustic Edit)
• Jimi Jules - Palpitations
• Jimi Jules - Run (FT Remix)
• Schneider TM, Kptmichigan - The Light 3000 (Aera Private Edit)
• AIKON, Sobek - Burning Hats (Dixon Edit)
• Kavinsky - Nightcall (Dixon's Private Edit)
• Maind Against - Love Seeking
• Maind Against - Hydra
• Chis Bake - Ride (Mind Against Remix)
• Mathame - There Is The Light
• Ae:ther, Mind Against - Black Museum
• Ae:ther, Marino Canal - White Atlas V2
• Artbat - Dark Knight
• Yet More - Don't Let Go
• Amber Run - I Found (Ivory's Re-Found Edit)
• Billie Eilish - Everything I Wanted (Ivory Head Underwater Remix)
• Rebuke - Along Came Polly (Konstantin Sibold, Zac, Carmee Remix)
• Christopher Cross - Ride Like The Wind (Ivory’s On The Run Edit)
• Ivory (IT), Tal Fussman - Labyrinth
• Ivory - Identity
• Ivory - Lovers Hymn
• Ivory - Mirrors
• Ivory - Eye Blink
• Ivory - Jewel
• Ivory - Acid Rain
• Ivory - Conquest Of Space
• Ivory - Upon A Time
• Fideles - Lost In Town
• Hard To Tell - No Matter
• Hard To Tell - Stranger
• Aera - Pullunder
• Aera - Puzzle Emotivo
• Skepta - Bullet from a Gun (Colyn Private Edit)
• Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (Will Clark Remix)
• London Grammar - Hey Now (Cristoph Private Mix)
• Nelly Furtado - Say it Right (Adana Twins Remix)
• RY X & Frank Wiedemann - Howling (Tinlicker Prague Edit)
• The XX - Fiction (Eagles & Butterflies Remix)
• Pink Floyd - Confortably Numb (Mita Gami Sunrise Edit)
• Massive Attack - Teardrop (Antony Toga Remix)
• Cassius - The Sound Of Violence (Antony Toga Background DiscoVox Version)
• Starsailor - Four to the floor (Mångata Projekt Rework)
• Sin Cos Tan - Destroyer (Adriatique Remix)

https://x.com/fallout/status/1791185162107023601?s=46&t=Ku_OywvWN2hukPneFWnBQw
For those who don’t want to click link;
Combat Balance Changes - Removed a hidden -50% damage debuff from all two-handed automatic melee weapons - Chainsaw Dual Bar mod damage bonus reduced from 100% to 50% - Minigun Shredder mod damage bonus reduced from 100% to 50% - Increase the unmodded damage of the auto axe by 20% - Cattle Prod now does a split of physical and energy damage and does 20% more damage in total - The following mods now add 60% elemental damage and reduces physical damage by 40%: Electrified Auto Axe Mr. Handy Buzz Blade Chinese Officer Sword Shepherds Crook Sheep Squatch Staff Sheep Squatch Club Hatchet Assaultron Blade Revolutionary Sword Baton Vault 63 Shock Baton Burning Auto Axe Chainsaw Poisoned Auto Axe Fixes and Improvements - Union Power Armor should now be craftable by players who have the recipe Dev Note: PTS Players, we would like your assistance in testing our latest fix for the Union Power Armor crafting topic. The armor should now be craftable for those who have bought and learned the recipe from Giuseppe. Please note that due to technical limitations, players who earned the armor plans from Season 10 will not be able to craft it on PTS. When in the test server, you should see the recipes available from Giuseppe if you have not already learned them. After they are purchased, they will no longer be available. Additionally, the armor will no longer drop as loot, but they can be found via the random Power Armor Purchases from Murmrgh at The Rusty Pick. You should expect to only see Union Power Armor Pieces that you know how to craft drop from Purveyor’s Mystery Picks. Union Power Armor pieces will still have the Atomic Symbol on them and cannot be traded or dropped by players once they have been obtained. - Powerhouse of the Cell: Players are now notified the serums cannot be injected while in Power Armor - Powerhouse of the Cell: Fixed an issue where the serums could not be injected in certain conditions - Powerhouse of the Cell: Hallucinations now vanish correctly when the effect ends - Oldest Trick in the Book: The "Kill Cultists Standing Guard" objective has been removed - An Unlikely Invitation: Minimum level requirement has been changed from 20 to 25, so newly emerging dwellers are not presented with the quest immediately - An Unlikely Invitation: Quest stages are no longer skipped if a player joins a team where the leader has made further progress - Seeking Shelter: Fixed timing issues with Audrey's dialogue - Double-Crossed Wires & Oldest Trick in the Book: Fixed an issue where Hugo could be hard to find if partial progress was made on both quests. - Dangerous Pastimes: [Start Event] has been added to the dialogue interaction - Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where the boss battle could become soft locked - Neurological Warfare: Storm Goliath no longer spawns parts on the ground - Neurological Warfare: Fixed an issue where the Storm Goliath attacks were not triggering certain perks correctly - Fixed an issue where Margaret's voice could be heard in various areas

https://x.com/fallout/status/1791185162107023601?s=46&t=Ku_OywvWN2hukPneFWnBQw
For those who don’t want to click the link;
Combat Balance Changes - Removed a hidden -50% damage debuff from all two-handed automatic melee weapons - Chainsaw Dual Bar mod damage bonus reduced from 100% to 50% - Minigun Shredder mod damage bonus reduced from 100% to 50% - Increase the unmodded damage of the auto axe by 20% - Cattle Prod now does a split of physical and energy damage and does 20% more damage in total - The following mods now add 60% elemental damage and reduces physical damage by 40%: Electrified Auto Axe Mr. Handy Buzz Blade Chinese Officer Sword Shepherds Crook Sheep Squatch Staff Sheep Squatch Club Hatchet Assaultron Blade Revolutionary Sword Baton Vault 63 Shock Baton Burning Auto Axe Chainsaw Poisoned Auto Axe Fixes and Improvements - Union Power Armor should now be craftable by players who have the recipe Dev Note: PTS Players, we would like your assistance in testing our latest fix for the Union Power Armor crafting topic. The armor should now be craftable for those who have bought and learned the recipe from Giuseppe. Please note that due to technical limitations, players who earned the armor plans from Season 10 will not be able to craft it on PTS. When in the test server, you should see the recipes available from Giuseppe if you have not already learned them. After they are purchased, they will no longer be available. Additionally, the armor will no longer drop as loot, but they can be found via the random Power Armor Purchases from Murmrgh at The Rusty Pick. You should expect to only see Union Power Armor Pieces that you know how to craft drop from Purveyor’s Mystery Picks. Union Power Armor pieces will still have the Atomic Symbol on them and cannot be traded or dropped by players once they have been obtained. - Powerhouse of the Cell: Players are now notified the serums cannot be injected while in Power Armor - Powerhouse of the Cell: Fixed an issue where the serums could not be injected in certain conditions - Powerhouse of the Cell: Hallucinations now vanish correctly when the effect ends - Oldest Trick in the Book: The "Kill Cultists Standing Guard" objective has been removed - An Unlikely Invitation: Minimum level requirement has been changed from 20 to 25, so newly emerging dwellers are not presented with the quest immediately - An Unlikely Invitation: Quest stages are no longer skipped if a player joins a team where the leader has made further progress - Seeking Shelter: Fixed timing issues with Audrey's dialogue - Double-Crossed Wires & Oldest Trick in the Book: Fixed an issue where Hugo could be hard to find if partial progress was made on both quests. - Dangerous Pastimes: [Start Event] has been added to the dialogue interaction - Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where the boss battle could become soft locked - Neurological Warfare: Storm Goliath no longer spawns parts on the ground - Neurological Warfare: Fixed an issue where the Storm Goliath attacks were not triggering certain perks correctly - Fixed an issue where Margaret's voice could be heard in various areas

The highest she can get her score from sealing Cy Bugs hole from her uncharged unique skill is 1000, which is 10 of them since she gets 100 for each of them, which means the max effect and duration for her charged unique skill triggers on 1000 which is when the numbers turn from white to blue.
I was 1 away when doing her guest racer node on part 2 of this season from getting there so when that number is reached then her charged version can be used to reset the score and fill it back up again for future charged skill uses.

We have released an update for the Skyline Valley Public Test Server (PTS).
If you haven’t already, you can find the steps to join the PTS here.
Thank you all for your continued support!

Combat Balance Changes

• Removed a hidden -50% damage debuff from all two-handed automatic melee weapons
• Chainsaw Dual Bar mod damage bonus reduced from 100% to 50%
• Minigun Shredder mod damage bonus reduced from 100% to 50%
• Increase the unmodded damage of the auto axe by 20%
• Cattle Prod now does a split of physical and energy damage and does 20% more damage in total
• The following mods now add 60% elemental damage and reduces physical damage by 40%:

Electrified

• Auto Axe
• Mr. Handy Buzz Blade
• Chinese Officer Sword
• Shepherds Crook
• Sheep Squatch Staff
• Sheep Squatch Club
• Hatchet
• Assaultron Blade
• Revolutionary Sword
• Baton
• Vault 63 Shock Baton

Burning

• Auto Axe
• Chainsaw

Poisoned

• Auto Axe

Fixes and Improvements

• Union Power Armor should now be craftable by players who have the recipe

Dev Note: PTS Players, we would like your assistance in testing our latest fix for the Union Power Armor crafting topic.
The armor should now be craftable for those who have bought and learned the recipe from Giuseppe. Please note that due to technical limitations, players who earned the armor plans from Season 10 will not be able to craft it on PTS.
When in the test server, you should see the recipes available from Giuseppe if you have not already learned them. After they are purchased, they will no longer be available. Additionally, the armor will no longer drop as loot, but they can be found via the random Power Armor Purchases from Murmrgh at The Rusty Pick. You should expect to only see Union Power Armor Pieces that you know how to craft drop from Purveyor’s Mystery Picks.
Union Power Armor pieces will still have the Atomic Symbol on them and cannot be traded or dropped by players once they have been obtained.

• Powerhouse of the Cell: Players are now notified the serums cannot be injected while in Power Armor
• Powerhouse of the Cell: Fixed an issue where the serums could not be injected in certain conditions
• Powerhouse of the Cell: Hallucinations now vanish correctly when the effect ends
• Oldest Trick in the Book: The "Kill Cultists Standing Guard" objective has been removed
• An Unlikely Invitation: Minimum level requirement has been changed from 20 to 25, so newly emerging dwellers are not presented with the quest immediately
• An Unlikely Invitation: Quest stages are no longer skipped if a player joins a team where the leader has made further progress
• Seeking Shelter: Fixed timing issues with Audrey's dialogue
• Double-Crossed Wires & Oldest Trick in the Book: Fixed an issue where Hugo could be hard to find if partial progress was made on both quests.
• Dangerous Pastimes: [Start Event] has been added to the dialogue interaction
• Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where the boss battle could become soft locked
• Neurological Warfare: Storm Goliath no longer spawns parts on the ground
• Neurological Warfare: Fixed an issue where the Storm Goliath attacks were not triggering certain perks correctly
• Fixed an issue where Margaret's voice could be heard in various areas

SPACE

Basic Information	Data
Ship Name	UHE-(NTE/N) U.S.S. Revolution
Ship Class	Friendship Command Flight Deck Carrier
Ship Tier	T6-X2
Player Career	Engineering
Elite Captain	Yes
Primary Specialization	Command
Secondary Specialization	Miracle Worker

Build Description

Ultra High End Not for Torps or EPG Nanny. This build is designed for experianced coordinated DPS teams with an expected run time of less than 45 seconds for ISE.
Big Idea: Have pets tank, then pets die, pets respawn get attack pattern beta debuff back while immune for enough time to stack beta then scramble fighters does down. Repeat. Profit from infinite attack pattern beta.
Since there are so many ahwahnee pets and we are buffing up their damage, they will collectively draw sufficent aggro that the DPSer will be safe.
Even if the DPSer begins to go down, only one nanny needs to cast Intel Team 1 to cloak them and remove threat. Use OSS to buff ahwahnee even higher.
Notes: Krenim BOFFs are likely BiS for cooldown reduction, just for redundancy and lowering damage from nanny.
8 of 47 for Cooperative Computing DOFF. 23 of 47 for Security Officer.
SAD should be used to give pets high FAW uptime for max aggro.

Ship Equipment

*Basic Information*	*Component*	*Notes*
Fore Weapons	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array Mk XV )
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array Mk XV )
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array Mk XV )
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array Mk XV )
--------------	--------------
Aft Weapons	Omni-Directional Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array Mk XV )
	Omni-Directional Ba'ul Linked Sentry Antiproton Beam Array Mk XV
	Ba'ul Antiproton Turret Mk XV )
	Ba'ul Linked Sentry Antiproton Kinetic Torpedo Launcher Mk XV
--------------	--------------
Deflector	Iconian Resistance Deflector Array Mk XV
Impulse Engines	Iconian Resistance Hyper-Impulse Engines Mk XV
Warp Core	Iconian Resistance Hyper Injection Warp Core Mk XV
Devices	Team Battery - Weapons and Auxiliary Mk XV
	Deuterium Surplus Mk XV
	Deuterium Surplus Mk XV
	Kobayashi Maru Transponder Mk XV
	Beacon of Kahless Mk XV
	Nimbus Pirate Distress Call Mk XV
--------------	--------------
Universal Consoles	Console - Universal - Opening Salvo Mk XV
	Console - Universal - Hyper-focusing Trinary Arrays Mk XV
--------------	--------------
Engineering Consoles	Console - Advanced Engineering - Hangar Craft Power Transmission Mk XV
	Console - Advanced Engineering - Hangar Craft Power Transmission Mk XV
	Console - Advanced Engineering - Hangar Craft Power Transmission Mk XV
	Console - Advanced Engineering - Hangar Craft Power Transmission Mk XV
	Console - Universal - Approaching Agony Mk XV
--------------	--------------
Science Consoles	Console - Universal - Dominion Targeting Synchronizer Mk XV
	Console - Universal - Tachyon Net Drones Mk XV
	Console - Universal - Delphic Tear Generator Mk XV
--------------	--------------
Tactical Consoles	Console - Universal - High-Energy Communications Network Mk XV
	Console - Universal - Fleet Power Network Array Mk XV
	Console - Universal - Power Transfer Emitters Mk XV
--------------	--------------
Hangars	Hangar - Type 7 Shuttlecraft Mk XV
	Hangar - Type 7 Shuttlecraft Mk XV
--------------	--------------

Bridge Officer Stations

*Profession*	*Power*	*Notes*
Lieutenant Commander Tactical / Intelligence	Intelligence Team
	Intelligence Team
	Override Subsystem Safeties
--------------	--------------
Commander Engineering / Command	Emergency Power to Engines
	Needs of the Many
	Engineering Team
	Suppression Barrage
--------------	--------------
Lieutenant Commander Science	Tractor Beam
	Photonic Officer
	Gravity Well
--------------	--------------
Lieutenant Universal	Beams: Fire at Will
	Cannon: Scatter Volley
--------------	--------------
Ensign Universal	Tactical Team
--------------	--------------

Active Space Duty Officers

*Specialization*	*Power*	*Notes*
Flight Deck Officer	Reduce the time to recharge hangar bays and Boarding Party
Flight Deck Officer	Reduce the time to recharge hangar bays and Boarding Party
Flight Deck Officer	Reduce the time to recharge hangar bays and Boarding Party
Fabrication Engineer	'''Cooperative Computing''': trigger an extra Bridge Officer Ability after using one
Maintenance Engineer	'''Talented Smuggler''': Chance on using a Battery Device, Deploy Turret Device, or Distress Call Device to trigger Evasive Maneuvers III
Security Officer	'''Strength Through Unity''': increased stats after using Bridge Officer Abilities

Traits

*Starship Traits*	*Description*	*Notes*
Team Synergy
Scramble Fighters
Carrier Wave Shield Hacking
Inertial Supremacy
Superior Area Denial
Cooperation is the Dominant Strategy
Exitus Acta Probat

​

*Personal Space Traits*	*Description*	*Notes*
Fresh From R&R
Wing Commander
The Boimler Effect
Helmsman
Into the Breach
Independent Wingmate
Feel the Weight of Our Presence
Inspirational Leader
Fulcrum Shift
Failsafe Scrambler
Pseudo-Submission

​

*Space Reputation Traits*	*Description*	*Notes*
Advanced Engines
Sensor Targeting Assault
Radiant Detonation Matrix
Active Hull Hardening
Rolling Tide

​

*Active Space Reputation Traits*	*Description*	*Notes*
Anti-Time Entanglement Singularity
Forced Challenge
Deploy Sensor Interference Platform
Quantum Singularity Manipulation
Refracting Tetryon Cascade

The next morning, Himiko was awakened by a delighted scream. She shot up in her bed and saw Tenko dancing around the room.
"Nyeh...Tenko? W-What's going on?" Himiko asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"La-la-la-la-la-laaaaaa!!" Tenko sang. Then, she stopped at Himiko's bed and gripped Himiko's shoulders like a crazy person. "Himiko! I ate your Snoozydoodles right before bed, like you told me to, and I just had the most amazing dream!!"
"What was it about?" Himiko asked.
"There were no degenerate males in the world! And all the girls made me their queen!" Tenko sighed. "It was perfect utopia! A utopia...for girls! The sky was pastel pink! The clouds were extra puffy and white! The ocean was also pink and glittery, and all the food we ate was pink, like strawberry cake, strawberry ice cream, strawberry cupcakes, and strawberry milk! And girls of every shape, size, and color were everywhere! Not a degenerate male in sight!"
"Nyeh...a dream filled with just girls sounds like a nightmare," Himiko muttered. "Most problems I had with bullying was from catty, popular girls."
"W-What?! There's no way that's true, Himiko!" Tenko cried. "Maybe they were males in disguise!"
"No, I don't think so," Himiko shook her head. "Plus, a world with just girls is going to lead to extinction."
"Not in my dream!" Tenko exclaimed happily. "Girls were born from 'Girl Flowers!'"
"Nyeeeh...girl flowers? " Himiko asked, raising a brow.
"Yeah! You plant a pink seed into the ground, and when it grows, the petals open up and reveal a beautiful baby girl inside!" Tenko gushed. "It was so amazing! Girls, girls, girls everywhere!" Himiko wrinkled her nose.
"I bet it smelled like fish in that world," she muttered.
"Fish?! Why would it smell like-...oh! Hahahaha!" Tenko said. "No, no, Himiko! We didn't have to deal with that because there was need for it! All the girls came from 'Girl Flowers,' remember?"
"Oh...I guess that's true," Himiko replied, shaking her head at the absurdity. Suddenly, there was a knock at their door. Tenko went over to open it. Standing on the other side were Tsumugi, Angie, Maki, Miu, Gonta, Ryoma, and Kaito.
"Hey! What are you all doing here?!" Tenko demanded. "Especially you degenerates!" Ignoring Tenko, they all rushed right in and crowded around Himiko's bed. Himiko nervously pulled her blanket up to her face.
"Nyeh...c-can I help you guys?" she whimpered.
"I had the most wonderful dream because of your cookies, Himiko!" Angie chirped. "Everyone in the whole wide world became a follower of Atua, and was welcomed into his kingdom!"
"I had a dream that I finally went to space!" Kaito exclaimed. "And I became the world's best astronaut for discovering a lot of alien civilizations! Everyone voted for me to be president of Earth!"
"There's no way such a title exists," Maki said, shaking her head.
"Well, maybe not in real life, but that's how it was in my dream!" Kaito said. "But, anyways, what was your dream about, Maki Roll?" Everyone turned to Maki, curious to what kind of dream she had. She blushed.
"I'd...rather not talk about it," she grumbled. "It's too dumb."
"Just tell us already, Judge Moody!" Miu spat impatiently. Maki glared at her, then sighed.
"Fine..." she said. "I had a dream where I wasn't an orphan, and I had real, actual parents who loved me. And I was happy and nice to everyone, and I didn't have to worry about being an assassin and stealing peoples' lives." Everyone stared in stunned silence at her. Maki sighed gloomily. "See? I told you it was dumb."
"Geez, that's not dumb at all," Ryoma said. "Sounds similar to my dream, though, I would agree if you had said that wishing for it to happen would be dumb."
"What do you mean, Ryoma?" asked Tsumugi.
"It's pointless to dream or wish for something that will never come true," Ryoma explained. "Even though my dream was...surprisingly delightful, it also felt like a punch in the gut. Hmph...I don't know whether to call that dream a blessing, or a curse."
"What was your dream about?" Kaito asked.
"Well, I'll tell you, but it is depressing," Ryoma warned. "My girlfriend hadn't been killed, and I was back home with her and my cat. And I didn't even play tennis, I wasn't even an Ultimate student. I was a regular guy."
"That doesn't sound depressing at all!" Kaito said.
"But, the fact that it'll never come true is what makes it depressing," Ryoma said. "That's why I say, dreams like that are pointless. It's better to forget about the past and move on with your life"
"Bullshit!" Kaito exclaimed. "C'mon, man, stop whining about how depressing your life is! You say that wishing for the impossible is dumb and it was all in the past, or whatever, so why the hell are you still depressed? If you truly believed that you should move on, you should stop worryin' about the past and look to the future with bright hopes! That goes for you, too, Maki!"
"What? Why me?" Maki asked.
"It's true that you can't change the past, and maybe wishing for it to change is dumb," Kaito explained. "But, if you're still depressed about what happened in the past, it means you can't let go of what happened! You're not moving on! Moving on is accepting what happened, and doing whatever you can to make your life better! Instead of wishing to undo the past, wish for a brighter future! That goes for all of you!" The room fell silent as they stared at Kaito.
"So, anyway, my dream was about me actually becoming the characters that I cosplay!" Tsumugi said, breaking the silence.
"Hey! Don't just ignore my inspirational speech!" Kaito exclaimed angrily.
"It really wasn't all that inspiring," Tsumugi said, haughtily waving him off.
"Seriously! Nobody asked for your opinion, Mahatma Ghandeez Nuts!" Miu said to Kaito.
"W-What?! " Kaito exclaimed.
"Ha! In my dream, I was the world's best inventor!" Miu said grandly. "With my inventions, I was able to rid the world of starvation, war, violence, famine, and all that other bad shit! And everyone loved me! All the guys on the planet wanted to bang me, and my boobs grew a size bigger!"
"Um...can you not share your dreams?" Tsumugi said. "I feel like every time you speak, I want to do unspeakably horrible things to you."
"Shut the hell up, you four-eyed, lamebrain otaku! " Miu spat. "You're just jealous because you have two deflated balloons for chest!"
"Um...can Gonta share dream, now?" Gonta asked.
"Yes, Gonta, go ahead," Tsumugi replied, eager to not have to listen to Miu anymore.
"Gonta was king of bugs!" Gonta replied. "Everyone in world loved bugs, and loved King Gonta!"
"Tuh...that dream sounds stupid as shit!" Miu scoffed.
"Oh! G-Gonta sorry..." Gonta apologized with a hurt expression.
"You don't have to apologize to her, Gonta," Tsumugi said, glaring at Miu.
"You want someone to apologize to, apologize to all of us for wastin' our time!" Miu spat to Gonta.
"Hey! Cut it out, Miu! Stop yellin' at him!" Kaito yelled.
"Don't tell me what to do, Luke Skyfucker!" Miu shouted back.
"Stop callin' me names!" Kaito yelled back.
"H-Hey! Why everyone fighting?" Gonta asked. "Gonta not mean to start fight!"
"Leave it up to a degenerate male to start a fight!" Tenko growled, glaring at Gonta.
"If you guys don't stop fighting, Atua will unleash his holy wrath upon you all," Angie warned with a creepy grin.
"Nobody asked you, you kooky cult bitch!" Miu said, swatting at Angie. "All y'all are just jealous because my dream was better that yours!"
"Excuse me?!" Tsumugi cried.
"Yeah! Obviously mine was the best one!" Kaito exclaimed.
"You're plainly wrong! Mine was the best one!" Tsumugi said.
"No, it was mine!" Tenko shouted.
"Nuh-uuuhhhh...it was mi-iiiine," Angie said cheerfully.
"Um...Gonta thinks Gonta's was pretty good," Gonta said diplomatically.
"Sheesh...I can't believe everyone is getting so worked up over this," Ryoma said.
"Seriously. It's stupid to be fighting over something like this," Maki agreed.
"Well, I don't think it's stupid at all!" Tsumugi said.
"Yeah! In fact, I want another dream!" Miu said. Everyone turned to Himiko, who had been staring at them in horrified silence. "You better whip us up some more cookies, ya little midget, or else!"
"Well, um...you'll have to wait next weekend," Himiko replied in a small voice.
"I ain't waitin' that long!" Miu spat. "So, chop, chop! Get to makin' those damn cookies right now!"
"Nyeh, but...what about school?" Himiko asked.
"Himiko's right, we need to get ready for school," Maki said. But...I think I'd also like more of the cookies." Everyone turned to her in surprise.
"Wait...really, Maki?" Tsumugi asked.
"It was...a really good-tasting cookie...that's all," Maki mumbled, fiddling with one of her pigtails.
"Or is it because you liked your dream?" Angie teased. Maki frowned at her.
"Shut up," she said.
"I...agree with Maki," Ryoma said. "I want to see if I would have a different dream. One that's more...sensible."
"A dream that's...sensible? " Tsumugi repeated.
"Yeah...one that keeps me away from my past," Ryoma explained. "Do you think you can do that for me, Himiko?"
"Nyeh...okay," Himiko said. She knew exactly how to do just that.
Part Twelve
"What was all that ruckus about earlier, Monkey Buns?" Kokichi asked as he and Himiko walked together to school.
"Nyeh...just as I was hoping, my Snoozydoodles gave everyone dreams," Himiko replied. "But, when everyone that I gave them to was talking about their dreams, things got a little out of hand."
"Was that the effect of the magic?" Kokichi asked.
"Well, no...that was because Miu was being her usual, annoying self, and then Tsumugi said something, then Miu snapped back at her, then everything sorta erupted into chaos," Himiko explained.
"Didn't you say a while ago that the dream powder can be addictive?" Kokichi asked. Himiko sighed.
"Yeah...even small doses of the dream powder might cause someone to be addicted," she said. "But, it works really well, and that's why I wanted to put it in my cookies."
"Hmm...I hope you know what you're doing, Himiko," Kokichi said.
"Well...I have another idea where the dream powder might be not as addictive...but the effects will be just as good?" Himiko said with a bit of uncertainty. Then, she blushed. "I...used this method to dream about you before we started dating." Kokichi raised his eyebrows at her.
"Really?!" he exclaimed, grinning.
"Yeah...I had to steal your hair while you were asleep to do it, though," Himiko said quietly.
"Yeah, that's not creepy at all," Kokichi teased, wrapping his arm around Himiko's waist, and giving her a kiss on the cheek. A mischievous grin crossed his lips. "I wanna know what this other method is."
***
Friday night had arrived. Kokichi was with Himiko in her secret magic room. She was flipping through the spellbook titled, "Inside the Magical Mind." Himiko showed Kokichi the chapter "Build the Perfect Dream," specifically, the romance section.
"Nyeh...these are potions I used to have dreams about you," she explained to him, and pointed to the different dreams. "This is the 'sweet love dream' potion, the 'spicy love dream' potion, and the 'hot and steamy love dream' potion." Kokichi read the description of each dream, his impish grin growing larger across his face as he read.
"So, you drank all of those potions?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"Well, one night, I drank the first one, then the next night, I drank the second," Himiko said. "I secretly gave the last one to Miu, because I was too scared to drink it myself."
"Ugh! You gave it to Miu?! " Kokichi exclaimed in disgust.

"Well...I-I'd feel dirty having the last dream!" Himiko stammered.
"Well, then, why'd you make that potion in the first place?" Kokichi asked.
"Because I was curious!" Himiko said. "But, then my curiosity was replaced by fear and feeling dirty, so I gave it to Miu. It's a good thing I did, too, because..."
"Cuz, why...?" Kokichi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because she was doing very...dirty things with you," Himiko replied. "Yeah...we were having our monthly slumber party, and in the middle of it all, Miu was dreaming and...nyeh...screaming."
"AAAUUUUGGHHHH!!! GROSS!!" Kokichi exclaimed, covering his ears. "I don't wanna do it with her!! "
"Well, she did say that you said that to her in her dream," Himiko said. "But, you only did it to get her to shut up because she kept begging you."
"Ew, I don't care," Kokichi muttered. "There's no excuse to condone bestiality." Himiko sighed and gave Kokichi a playful swat. Kokichi laughed, then eyed her flirtatiously. "Besides, my body only belongs to you...Himiko." Himiko blushed and lowered her head. Every time he said her name like that, it got her heart pumping like crazy. "My body...is your body." Kokichi lifted her chin to turn her head to him. "Mi cuerpo...es su cuerpo, y mi corazón...es su corazón."
"Ohhhh...Kokichiiii...!" Himiko gurgled with delight, biting her lip. She didn't know Spanish, but he made it sound so good. Kokichi leaned in to give her a passionate kiss.
"Okay, that's enough!" he said, stopping the kiss abruptly.
"W-What?! Wait! No! Moooore...!" Himiko pouted, tugging on Kokichi's sleeve. "I want mooore."
"Nuh-uh, Monkey Buns. Tomorrow is another cookie sale, so we can't get distracted right now. We gotta make these cookies like Hiro...baked! " Kokichi said.
"O-kaaaayyy..." Himiko pouted.
"M'kay, so how are gonna do this, HimiCocoa Bean?" Kokichi asked.
"Well...what genre of potion should I make?" Himiko asked. "There's comedy, action-adventure, romance, horror, fantasy, mystery, aaannnd...lots of other stuff."
"Comedy!" Kokichi said. "Everyone needs a good laugh!"
"Nyeh...okay," Himiko said, then turned to the comedy section of the chapter.
"So, you'll just pour whatever potion you make into the cookie batter, right? And mix it up?" Kokichi asked.
"Yup, that's right," Himiko nodded.
"Aaaalrighty, then! Welp, do your thang, babe!" Kokichi said, kissing Himiko's cheek. Himiko giggled and read the comedy section:
~COMEDY:~
Laughter is the best medicine, as they say! So, why not have it in your dreams? After all, there's nothing cuter than someone laughing in their sleep! Whether you're in the mood for some gut-busting, slap-happy humor, wild, crazy humor, or even just simple, laughable jokes, every hilarious dream is welcome in clown town!
Slapstick comedy dream: A dream where tripping, punching, bashing, slapping, falling, and everything in between is considered more funny than horrifying! If you fancy a dream like that, give Slapstick comedy dream a whirl!
Boil water in small cauldron. Once water is boiled, add 1/2 cup of dream powder, 1 tsp of pepper for an extra kick, 1 tsp of cinnamon for an extra bite, 1 tsp of dragon spice for an extra punch, 3 petals of the Laffodil flower, and a 3/4 cup of sunlight for some lighthearted fun. Mix contents until water becomes a different color. Pour contents into a potion bottle. Add sleep powder before consuming. Drink and enjoy!
Fun-loving comedy dream: You can't always watch comedy, you have to experience it, too! If you feel like going on a funny, fun-filled adventure full of laughter, then the fun-loving comedy dream is just what you're looking for!
Boil water in small cauldron. Once water is boiled, add 1/2 cup of dream powder, 3/4 cup of elven sparkles for whimsy, 1 cup of pink polka dot pond water, 1 tsp of sugar, 5 petals of the Laffodil flower, and 3/4 cup of sunlight. Mix contents until water becomes a different color. Pour contents into a potion bottle. Add sleep powder before consuming. Drink and enjoy!
Joker dream: Want a dream with less gut busting, and more on the relaxed side? Then, a Joker dream is prefect the perfect comfort comedy dream for you!
Boil water in small cauldron. Once water is boiled, add 1/2 cup of dream powder, 1 tsp of funny honey, 1 petal of the Laffodil flower, a pinch of jesterly ginseng powder, and 3/4 cup of sunlight. Mix contents until water becomes a different color. Pour contents into a potion bottle. Add sleep powder before consuming. Drink and enjoy!
"Nyeh...which one should I pick?" Himiko asked. Kokichi scanned the page.
"Hmm...why not all of them?" he suggested. "You can make three batches of cookies, and pour the different potions into each one! Actually, it's way more interesting that way, since people will get to randomly choose their comedy dream cookies!"
"I guess you're right," Himiko said. She got to work, whipping up all three potions. "Nyeh...all done!"
"Do you wanna go to D.I.C.E. headquarters and bake them there again?" Kokichi asked.
"Yeah, but...let's take the short way," Himiko said. "I'm already tired from making these potions." Before Kokichi could ask what she meant, Himiko snapped her fingers, and they magically appeared at the abandoned insane asylum serving as D.I.C.E. headquarters.

Bill Rogers locked the garage door, slid the hose into the driver’s side window, climbed into the back seat, laid down and shut his eyes. When he woke up, he was surrounded by clouds and a blue sky. A man, neither young nor old stood next to him. He wore a coat like an Afghan goat herder, Bill thought, maybe made of sheepskin, or cowhide—tough to say, as Bill was no expert in husbandry. The man was small where Bill was large. Bill was six-three and two hundred and fifty pounds. He had played tight-end in college and lorded his physical stature over small men all his life. He felt it gave him an advantage at contract negotiations. He always made sure to be sitting when the opposing lawyers walked in because his size was hidden. Then he would stand up from behind table—a great reveal, a physical imposition—in an effortless attempt to intimidate the other team. It was mostly an effective strategy. The man, nearly a foot shorter, and a petite lady’s-weight less was standing almost eye-level with Bill. He sheepishly looked at Bill and asked if he was happy now.

“I suppose so,” Bill answered, rather dazed and unaware of all that was happening. “Are you God?” asked Bill. The old man smiled knowingly and set his delicate hand on Bill’s shoulder. “What can I do to make you comfortable?” Bill attempted to stand up but the man’s hand held him in place without applying any extra force. “A scotch would be nice! Do they serve scotch in heaven?” he laughed. The man laughed and gave Bill a scotch.

“Let me tell you, God, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it! When do we go through the pearly gates?”

“I’m afraid you’ve seen too many Hollywood movies. That’s not how it works. Tell me, how was life on Earth?”

“Well, I guess you can tell by how I checked out it wasn’t great. But I am feeling better now. Sometimes you just need a good night’s sleep, I guess, right?”

“I guess so. You weren’t very happy down there. But that’s what I’m here for. You can fix it all now. Tell me, what went wrong in your life?”

“Wait, is this Purgatory then?”

He chuckled, “No. Don’t be silly. What went wrong down there?”

“I knew it—those nuns were all off. Well, for one, I worked too much. I spent 80, 90, 100 hours a week every week for years—hell, probably decades when you add it all up—in the office, chasing the ring, getting the promotion.” His thought broke and he looked at the man and said, “you know I cleared 950-k last year?” Sinking back into his thoughts, “but it wasn’t enough for her. She could give Cleopatra a run for her money. Man she could spend. I worked all the time, always on the road to a different client’s office, eating airport food, never exercising. Traded my health and youth for wealth, then she got to enjoy it. I ended up all alone in my big house, all by myself and my LonelyFans Platinum subscription. Look at me, I got so fat no pretty woman could stand to look at me. If I could do it again, I’d go back and just make 60k a year, keep my health, my good looks, and go to clubs every night and dance with beautiful women. I wasted so much.”

“Wow, thanks for being so honest, Bill. I’m glad you were honest, because now I can give you the chance to fix it. I am going to give you the opportunity to craft the life you always wanted, the life you dreamed of! This is your chance Bill, to do it right this time. You had a full life, you tried out things: some worked, some didn’t—that trip to Tokyo probably didn’t help your marriage, did it; but now that’s all behind, now you get to create the perfect one based on everything you learned. Now you get to play God to yourself. You will have the power to create any life you want: money, women, food, servants, power, glory, the revenge on everybody who did you wrong—anything.”

“Oh, Good Lord, heaven is even better than Mother Superior led on! I get to do that? Now?”

“Yes, I’m granting you this power. Total freedom to do what you want. You deserve it! You’ve earned it, Bill.”

“Ok, so what do I do? Just point and make something happen?”

“Sure,” he said with a chuckle, “everybody always wants to point at things like some Vegas magician. The entire creation was spoken into existence, but ever since Adam people want to point things into existence—whatever makes them happy, I guess. Anyway, you’ve got the power of the Lord, do it however you want!”

Bill pointed to a cloud in front of him and a new truck appeared before his eyes. “Holy moly, I can’t believe it’s real.” The sun reflecting off the chrome was just a big blur to Bill Rogers water-filled eyes. He had to squint to see that it had the turbodiesel engine he had imagined. “I’m not going to get carried away on the wealth. I learned my lesson there. It doesn’t buy happiness. I had eight digits in my savings account,” he looked to see if the man was listening, “and look at where that got me. No, just a simple life for me,” he pointed to a cloud and four-bed, three-bath house with in-law suite and three car garage next to a lush green lawn appeared. It fronted a cul-de-sac. “You can’t take it with you, right?” he laughed.

“Is that it, Bill? What else do you want?”

“Well, like I said, I want to be young and healthy.” His stomach disappeared into his abdominal muscles and the brown spots and wrinkles on his hands vanished into a smooth clear skin.

“And what are you going to do with your time? Go back to your old job?”

“Ohh, you got a good sense of humor, God!” The old man laughed along with Bill. “Like I said, I just want to live a normal life and go to the bars at night, talk to beautiful women. Dance with them, smile, laugh. Have fun, that’s all.”

“Your wish, is my command,” he said, and Bill asked if that is how it really worked, and the old man laughed: “no, but people really started to ask for it after Aladdin got big, so I started doing it.”

“You’re a real people-pleaser, aren’t you, God?”

The small man’s sheepish smile resurfaced and a faint pink tint rose up to his pale cheeks.

“That is it for now, enjoy your new life, Bill. I’ll be back to check on you after a while.”

“Thanks, God, you really are great.”

“Oh, wait, one more thing—I almost forgot. In your newly made, perfect, heavenly life— do you want your children here?”

Bill let out a huge laugh, “of course! How could I forget! Yes, of course, I want to see my children! Not every day—and don’t have the Queen of Sheba bring ‘em by either, if you know what I mean,” he nudged the old man with his elbow, almost knocking his small frame over, “but yes I always regretted not having more time with the kids.”

“Great, I’ll make that happen. I’ll be ba-a-a-a-a-ck,” he said as he turned around.

A door appeared out of nowhere and the old man glided over to it, with his sheepskin coat dragging behind him. The door opened and he walked through it. It began to close, but his coat got caught in the door, and he had to reach back and yank it through. As the coat flew up, Bill thought he saw the tip of a German Sheppard’s tail and wondered if the dog had been there all along, but soon didn’t care as he saw his new neighbor, a young blonde woman in yoga pants and high heels getting into her Mercedes coupe. He tried to get her attention, but she was focused on fixing her lipstick and hair in the mirror as she drove away.

Bill settled down into his new life, got comfortable in his small house and extended cab truck, and began going out to bars and clubs, just as he had imagined. Every night there was a bar to go to filled with beautiful women, and they all were happy to let him buy drinks and chat for a while. Sometimes he would invite one or two to dance and they’d agree, and then disappear with their friends. Other times he would meet a young woman in pub and talk to her; they’d laugh and joke and maybe she would give him her number and maybe not. But he never saw the same woman twice. If he called or texted a woman, she never responded. If he asked a woman if she’d like to go somewhere for coffee she always declined and said she had to get back home.

On the rare chance that a woman did sit down and talk with him, the conversation was always the same: polite introductions, niceties, some flirtatious exchanges. He tried to talk to the beautiful women about life, what they wanted, what mattered to them, but they all just said they liked to have fun to some degree or another.

After three weeks of going to the bars and trying to talk to women, Bill got tired of going out. He stayed at home for a week, then he tried to find his neighbor again. He saw her car in the drive and rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. He only ever saw her driving away.

After a couple slow weeks, he tried going out again, but it was the same routine: a few drinks, a few laughs, nothing to talk about and goodbye, never to be seen again. Bill sat in his truck in the garage and contemplated his after-life. He wiped a tear from his cheek and heard someone knocking on his front door. He let the old man in, and Bill sat down at the barstool.

“Can I take your coat?”

“No, I like to keep it on. I came by to see how you are doing?”

“This isn’t what I thought heaven would be like,” said Bill, hunched forward, hands between his legs, staring at the floor.”

“Heaven?” said the old man, looking up at Bill. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Who are you?”

The old man took off the sheepskin coat and Bill saw the gray and white fur all over his body. The gray tail dragged on the floor, and the old man’s face looked like the snout of a grey wolf.

“This is your own doing, Bill. You made the life you wanted. You’ve had two chances now. This one you are stuck with, forever. No escaping. No crying, no laying down in the back of your truck for eternal sleep. This is the eternal sleep.”

“This is hell.”

“Call it what you will.”

The wolf got down on all fours and walked to the door. “Can you let me out?”

Bill opened the door and the wolf ran outside, almost knocking over the two people walking up Bill’s sidewalk.

“What are you doing here,” he shouted at them.

“We came to see you!”

“No! Get away! Get out of here, go! Go!”

The woman was getting in her Mercedes and looked over to see what the ruckus was about, but then looked away before making eye contact.

“Dad, we missed you! So, we followed you here. The old man told us how to find you! He asked us what our perfect life would be, and we told him ‘we just want to be with our Dad.’”

***
Follow u/quillandtrowel for more at Medium & Twitter (links in bio!).

I (25)M am experiencing hair loss, hair thinning and dandruff usually itching and skin flaking that too on face near nose and chest area. My doctor mentioned I have high hemoglobin and suggested blood donation to lower it. However, I'm unsure if these symptoms are related or if donating blood is the best course of action, at first I though it was due to my low levels of ferritin but he exclaimed that it was normal level and no need for supplementation . These are my Blood test report

• Ferritin: 30.7 ng/ml
• Iron: 65.61
• UIBC: 248.02
• TIBC: 313.64
• Transferrin Saturation: 20.92%
• Vitamin B-12 : 356.69 pg/mL
• Vitamin D: 29.54
  
• Sample Type: WB EDTA
  
• Blood Cells Parameter
  
  • Haemoglobin (Hb)
    • Value: 15.9 g/dL
    • Reference Range: 13.0-17.0 g/dL
    • Method: Photometric/Non Cyanmethemoglobin
  • RBC Count (Red Blood Count)
    • Value: 6.0 H x 10^6/uL
    • Reference Range: 4.5-5.9 x 10^6/uL
    • Method: Optical Flowcytometry
  • Packed Cell Volume (PCV) - Hematocrit
    • Value: 48.4 %
    • Reference Range: 30.0-55.0 %
    • Method: RBC Pulse Height Detection
  • Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV)
    • Value: 80.1 fL
    • Reference Range: 80-96 fL
    • Method: Automated/Calculated
  • Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH)
    • Value: 26.4 pg/cell
    • Reference Range: 28-33 pg/cell
    • Method: Automated/Calculated
  • Mean Corpuscular Hb concentration (MCHC)
    • Value: 32.90 g/dL
    • Reference Range: 31-36 g/dL
    • Method: Automated/Calculated
  • Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Coefficient of Variation (RDW-CV)
    • Value: 13.8 %
    • Reference Range: 11.7-14.4 %
    • Method: Automated/Calculated
  • Red Blood Cell Distribution Width Standard Deviation (RDW-SD)
    • Value: 38.6 fL
    • Reference Range: 35.0-46.0 fL
    • Method: Automated/Calculated
• White Blood Count (WBC) PARAMETERS
  
  • Total Leukocyte Count (TLC/WBC COUNT)
    • Value: 7.80 x 10^3/uL
    • Reference Range: 4.00-10.0 x 10^3/uL
    • Method: Automated optical Flow cytometry/Manual

Is my iron and ferritin really normal or should i get supplements ? is it related to my hair fall and dandruff?

Bill Rogers locked the garage door, slid the hose into the driver’s side window, climbed into the back seat, laid down and shut his eyes. When he woke up, he was surrounded by clouds and a blue sky. A man, neither young nor old stood next to him. He wore a coat like an Afghan goat herder, Bill thought, maybe made of sheepskin, or cowhide—tough to say, as Bill was no expert in husbandry. The man was small where Bill was large. Bill was six-three and two hundred and fifty pounds. He had played tight-end in college and lorded his physical stature over small men all his life. He felt it gave him an advantage at contract negotiations. He always made sure to be sitting when the opposing lawyers walked in because his size was hidden. Then he would stand up from behind table—a great reveal, a physical imposition—in an effortless attempt to intimidate the other team. It was mostly an effective strategy. The man, nearly a foot shorter, and a petite lady’s-weight less was standing almost eye-level with Bill. He sheepishly looked at Bill and asked if he was happy now.
“I suppose so,” Bill answered, rather dazed and unaware of all that was happening. “Are you God?” asked Bill. The old man smiled knowingly and set his delicate hand on Bill’s shoulder. “What can I do to make you comfortable?” Bill attempted to stand up but the man’s hand held him in place without applying any extra force. “A scotch would be nice! Do they serve scotch in heaven?” he laughed. The man laughed and gave Bill a scotch.
“Let me tell you, God, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it! When do we go through the pearly gates?”
“I’m afraid you’ve seen too many Hollywood movies. That’s not how it works. Tell me, how was life on Earth?”
“Well, I guess you can tell by how I checked out it wasn’t great. But I am feeling better now. Sometimes you just need a good night’s sleep, I guess, right?”
“I guess so. You weren’t very happy down there. But that’s what I’m here for. You can fix it all now. Tell me, what went wrong in your life?”
“Wait, is this Purgatory then?”
He chuckled, “No. Don’t be silly. What went wrong down there?”
“I knew it—those nuns were all off. Well, for one, I worked too much. I spent 80, 90, 100 hours a week every week for years—hell, probably decades when you add it all up—in the office, chasing the ring, getting the promotion.” His thought broke and he looked at the man and said, “you know I cleared 950-k last year?” Sinking back into his thoughts, “but it wasn’t enough for her. She could give Cleopatra a run for her money. Man she could spend. I worked all the time, always on the road to a different client’s office, eating airport food, never exercising. Traded my health and youth for wealth, then she got to enjoy it. I ended up all alone in my big house, all by myself and my LonelyFans Platinum subscription. Look at me, I got so fat no pretty woman could stand to look at me. If I could do it again, I’d go back and just make 60k a year, keep my health, my good looks, and go to clubs every night and dance with beautiful women. I wasted so much.”
“Wow, thanks for being so honest, Bill. I’m glad you were honest, because now I can give you the chance to fix it. I am going to give you the opportunity to craft the life you always wanted, the life you dreamed of! This is your chance Bill, to do it right this time. You had a full life, you tried out things: some worked, some didn’t—that trip to Tokyo probably didn’t help your marriage, did it; but now that’s all behind, now you get to create the perfect one based on everything you learned. Now you get to play God to yourself. You will have the power to create any life you want: money, women, food, servants, power, glory, the revenge on everybody who did you wrong—anything.”
“Oh, Good Lord, heaven is even better than Mother Superior led on! I get to do that? Now?”
“Yes, I’m granting you this power. Total freedom to do what you want. You deserve it! You’ve earned it, Bill.”
“Ok, so what do I do? Just point and make something happen?”
“Sure,” he said with a chuckle, “everybody always wants to point at things like some Vegas magician. The entire creation was spoken into existence, but ever since Adam people want to point things into existence—whatever makes them happy, I guess. Anyway, you’ve got the power of the Lord, do it however you want!”
Bill pointed to a cloud in front of him and a new truck appeared before his eyes. “Holy moly, I can’t believe it’s real.” The sun reflecting off the chrome was just a big blur to Bill Rogers water-filled eyes. He had to squint to see that it had the turbodiesel engine he had imagined. “I’m not going to get carried away on the wealth. I learned my lesson there. It doesn’t buy happiness. I had eight digits in my savings account,” he looked to see if the man was listening, “and look at where that got me. No, just a simple life for me,” he pointed to a cloud and four-bed, three-bath house with in-law suite and three car garage next to a lush green lawn appeared. It fronted a cul-de-sac. “You can’t take it with you, right?” he laughed.
“Is that it, Bill? What else do you want?”
“Well, like I said, I want to be young and healthy.” His stomach disappeared into his abdominal muscles and the brown spots and wrinkles on his hands vanished into a smooth clear skin.
“And what are you going to do with your time? Go back to your old job?”
“Ohh, you got a good sense of humor, God!” The old man laughed along with Bill. “Like I said, I just want to live a normal life and go to the bars at night, talk to beautiful women. Dance with them, smile, laugh. Have fun, that’s all.”
“Your wish, is my command,” he said, and Bill asked if that is how it really worked, and the old man laughed: “no, but people really started to ask for it after Aladdin got big, so I started doing it.”
“You’re a real people-pleaser, aren’t you, God?”
The small man’s sheepish smile resurfaced and a faint pink tint rose up to his pale cheeks.
“That is it for now, enjoy your new life, Bill. I’ll be back to check on you after a while.”
“Thanks, God, you really are great.”
“Oh, wait, one more thing—I almost forgot. In your newly made, perfect, heavenly life— do you want your children here?”
Bill let out a huge laugh, “of course! How could I forget! Yes, of course, I want to see my children! Not every day—and don’t have the Queen of Sheba bring ‘em by either, if you know what I mean,” he nudged the old man with his elbow, almost knocking his small frame over, “but yes I always regretted not having more time with the kids.”
“Great, I’ll make that happen. I’ll be ba-a-a-a-a-ck,” he said as he turned around.
A door appeared out of nowhere and the old man glided over to it, with his sheepskin coat dragging behind him. The door opened and he walked through it. It began to close, but his coat got caught in the door, and he had to reach back and yank it through. As the coat flew up, Bill thought he saw the tip of a German Sheppard’s tail and wondered if the dog had been there all along, but soon didn’t care as he saw his new neighbor, a young blonde woman in yoga pants and high heels getting into her Mercedes coupe. He tried to get her attention, but she was focused on fixing her lipstick and hair in the mirror as she drove away.
Bill settled down into his new life, got comfortable in his small house and extended cab truck, and began going out to bars and clubs, just as he had imagined. Every night there was a bar to go to filled with beautiful women, and they all were happy to let him buy drinks and chat for a while. Sometimes he would invite one or two to dance and they’d agree, and then disappear with their friends. Other times he would meet a young woman in pub and talk to her; they’d laugh and joke and maybe she would give him her number and maybe not. But he never saw the same woman twice. If he called or texted a woman, she never responded. If he asked a woman if she’d like to go somewhere for coffee she always declined and said she had to get back home.
On the rare chance that a woman did sit down and talk with him, the conversation was always the same: polite introductions, niceties, some flirtatious exchanges. He tried to talk to the beautiful women about life, what they wanted, what mattered to them, but they all just said they liked to have fun to some degree or another.
After three weeks of going to the bars and trying to talk to women, Bill got tired of going out. He stayed at home for a week, then he tried to find his neighbor again. He saw her car in the drive and rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. He only ever saw her driving away.
After a couple slow weeks, he tried going out again, but it was the same routine: a few drinks, a few laughs, nothing to talk about and goodbye, never to be seen again. Bill sat in his truck in the garage and contemplated his after-life. He wiped a tear from his cheek and heard someone knocking on his front door. He let the old man in, and Bill sat down at the barstool.
“Can I take your coat?”
“No, I like to keep it on. I came by to see how you are doing?”
“This isn’t what I thought heaven would be like,” said Bill, hunched forward, hands between his legs, staring at the floor.”
“Heaven?” said the old man, looking up at Bill. “Where did you get that idea?”
“Who are you?”
The old man took off the sheepskin coat and Bill saw the gray and white fur all over his body. The gray tail dragged on the floor, and the old man’s face looked like the snout of a grey wolf.
“This is your own doing, Bill. You made the life you wanted. You’ve had two chances now. This one you are stuck with, forever. No escaping. No crying, no laying down in the back of your truck for eternal sleep. This is the eternal sleep.”
“This is hell.”
“Call it what you will.”
The wolf got down on all fours and walked to the door. “Can you let me out?”
Bill opened the door and the wolf ran outside, almost knocking over the two people walking up Bill’s sidewalk.
“What are you doing here,” he shouted at them.
“We came to see you!”
“No! Get away! Get out of here, go! Go!”
The neighbor was getting into her Mercedes and looked over to see what the yelling was about, but then looked away before she could make eye contact.
“Dad, we missed you! So, we followed you here. The old man told us how to find you! He asked us what our perfect life would be, and we told him ‘we just want to be with our Dad.’”

***
Follow u/quilandtrowel for more at Medium & Twitter. (links in bio)

Have had issues with tooth pain from the area of 2 molars for the last week, 1 crowned and one with a filling. Dentist tried antibiotics for the crowned tooth at 1st due to the x-ray showing a 'gap' between the tooth and the crown. This had no effect so the dentist tried beginning a root treatment of the other molar, this also had no effect on the pain so today the dentist removed the crowned tooth.
This has caused the pain to intensify dramatically, shooting from a 3 to a 7 out of 10, the procedure was only 5 hours ago but it still seems extreme compared to previous extractions I've had. I've also noticed the tooth which the dentist began the root treatment of is now extremely sensitive
My question is, what are the chances the dentist pulled the wrong tooth and how soon should it be left before being considered the problem?

Story time: There's a TLDR at the end if you want the gist of it.
It's been 2 weeks since I've had my most regretful roll since I started BJJ... I got asked if I wanted to roll during the last round by a teenage wannabe MMA fighter. I said yes not thinking much of it. I end up in turtle and this guy does a calf slicer (illegal at out gym for anyone below a purple belt) - I try to have good humor about it saying he is a MMA guy so it's probably OK.
Slap bump, we go again. End up in turtle again, he has his hooks in, I get up on all fours to shake him off but he does a flip over my right shoulder grabs my ankle and does the Suloev Stretch submission. I recognized I got fucked over immediately but before I could even bring my hand over to tap, I heard my hamstring pop like 4-5 times. He lets go as I yell like an injured animal. Probably one of the most painful moments of my life, I instinctively crawl away grunting in pain. The instructor and all my friends come to check on me but it is too late to do anything.
I realized that my hamstring was destroyed instantly. I go to the hospital the night of to get some pain meds. They tell me I should wait a few days to get an MRI. 3 days later, I get the MRI. First doctor I see isn't helpful at all. Doesn't tell me much about what exactly happened. Just instructs me to rest and that says I will not be able to strain my legs for at least 4 months. I go to see a sports injury specialist 4 days later, much better care. At least I was able to learn that I had a proximal hamstring tendon avulsion but it is not as bad as it could be - I don't need surgery but I am still looking at 4-6 months to get back to 100%. I got stem cells yesterday and the lingering discomfort is slowly fading. Starting PT next week.
I know the injury is still relatively fresh but more I think about it, less I want to go back on the mats. I still get anxiety when I replay what happened and remember the feeling and sound of my hamstring tearing. I was in great physical shape, strong legs, very flexible so I really don't attribute the injury to a lack of resilience by me. I can't help but be angry at the "training partner" for applying such a risky submission on me in such an explosive way I had no chance to stop it or even tap. Feels like I completely lost confidence in the idea that training can be reasonably safe and I am still debating wether practicing grappling is worth it if it comes with the risk of debilitating injury like this or even worse.
I was 2 weeks away from a 3 month training camp in Thailand and now I have to cancel all of it. All I have gained out of this experience is anxiety about getting injured again, medical bills (thank God I am not in the US.) and a lot frustration.
I am not looking for medical advice but I would appreciate if you have any tips, suggestions or opinions about what happened to me mentally and how I am feeling. I love the sport, I love my friends in the gym, I would hate to be the guy that quits after a relatively small obstacle in the road. But I need help processing these feelings. Should I get therapy lol.
TLDR I got hit with the the instagram book of submissions by a scrappy and irresponsible white belt. Torn hamstring tendon, 4-6 months off the mats, possible injury PTSD. I don't know if I want to go back to training even though I love the sport. Would appreciate any tips or words of encouragement.
Thanks for reading my rant. I unfortunately don't have many people I can talk to about this IRL.

I need help figuring out which mods to delete so I can alleviate this from happening again so tell me which mods do I need to delete just so I can be able to enter fiend territory or the strip
Mod list:

Mod_Priority,#Mod_Status,#Mod_Name

"0000","+","DLC: TribalPack"
"0001","+","DLC: OldWorldBlues"
"0002","+","DLC: MercenaryPack"
"0003","+","DLC: LonesomeRoad"
"0004","+","DLC: HonestHearts"
"0005","+","DLC: GunRunnersArsenal"
"0006","+","DLC: DeadMoney"
"0007","+","DLC: ClassicPack"
"0008","+","DLC: CaravanPack"
"0009","+","NVAC - New Vegas Anti Crash"
"0010","+","JohnnyGuitarNVSE"
"0011","+","JIP LN NVSE Plugin"
"0012","+","New Vegas Tick Fix"
"0013","+","JSawyer Ultimate Edition"
"0014","+","Mod Limit Fix"
"0015","+","Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus"
"0016","+","AnhNVSE"
"0017","+","kNVSE Animation Plugin"
"0018","+","Infinite Loading Screen Fix"
"0019","+","Yukichigai Unofficial Patch - YUP"
"0020","+","Improved Console"
"0021","+","yGTM - Gameplay Tweaks and Madness"
"0022","+","lStewieAl's Tweaks and Engine Fixes"
"0023","+","Stewie Tweaks INI"
"0024","+","ShowOff xNVSE Plugin"
"0025","+","SUP NVSE Plugin"
"0026","+","OneTweak for Fallout New Vegas"
"0027","+","Collision Meshes"
"0028","+","Mojave Raiders Patch"
"0029","+","update Collision Meshes FNV 1.6.3 to 1.6.4"
"0030","+","Low AP Effect for Custom Health and AP Visuals (Cyber Jam)"
"0031","+","New Vegas Mesh Improvement Mod"
"0032","+","Meshes and Collision - Totally Enhanced Nifs (MAC-TEN)"
"0033","+","Iron Sights Aligned"
"0034","+","Fast Weapon Lag Fix"
"0035","+","Arizona Army Patch"
"0036","+","Consistent weapon spread"
"0037","+","Vanilla Weapon Scale Fix"
"0038","+","HIPControl - Weapon Idle Position Adjuster - ESPless"
"0039","+","Mojave Raiders"
"0040","+","ISControl"
"0041","+","FOV Slider"
"0042","+","KEYWORDS"
"0043","+","NVB1Patch"
"0044","+","AWO Lend-Lease - Lee-Enfield - B42 Optics Patch"
"0045","+","Patch Main And Pause Menus Overhaul"
"0046","+","NVBII Version 1 dot 47 Standalone (Patch)"
"0047","+","v1-02 Patch"
"0048","+","Console Paste"
"0049","+","Cyberware 2281"
"0050","+","Just Loot Menu DoF - ESPless"
"0051","+","Just Bullet Time DoF - ESPless"
"0052","+","JAM - Just Assorted Mods"
"0053","+","B42 Quickthrow patch"
"0054","+","Base Object Swapper"
"0055","+","AWO - Trench Repeater"
"0056","+","AWO - Trench Repeater - NVTS patch"
"0057","+","AWO - Trench Repeater - B42 Optics Patch"
"0058","+","B42 Optics Aligned - Anniversary"
"0059","+","AWO - MG42"
"0060","+","Ani_Desert Eagle kNVSE Set- Another Millenia Patch"
"0061","+","AWO - MG42 - update"
"0062","+","AWO - MG42 - B42 Optics Patch"
"0063","+","tactapack B42 Optics Patch"
"0064","+","Updated Another Mil B42 Optics Update"
"0065","+","Another Millenia and Addon - B42 Optics Patch"
"0066","+","B42 Optics - Real Time Reflections Patch"
"0067","+","B42 Optics NV Patches"
"0068","+","Supplementary Weapons Pack Patch"
"0069","+","Immersive Recoil Ammo Data"
"0070","+","Death's Last Whisper - Angel of Death Update - Texture Fix"
"0071","+","NVBII TOTNW 2.0 Patch"
"0072","+","NVBIII Version .954 PATCH"
"0073","+","NVBII Version 1 dot 47 Standalone"
"0074","+","Someguy Series 2 dot 0"
"0075","+","The Someguy Series Revamped"
"0076","+","DesertersFortress_Update"
"0077","+","VATS Lag Fix"
"0078","+","Threshold"
"0079","+","Weapon Pack Patches - ESPless"
"0080","+","yUI-User interface"
"0081","+","UIO - User Interface Organizer"
"0082","+","MCM BugFix 2"
"0083","+","The Mod Configuration Menu"
"0084","+","Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Framework Plugin"
"0085","+","Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Apparel"
"0086","+","Trooper Overhaul Main File"
"0087","+","Sapper Leg Fix"
"0088","+","Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v4"
"0089","+","Advanced Recon HD Icons"
"0090","+","Helmet Overlay"
"0091","+","1.2.1a Hotfix"
"0092","+","Main And Pause Menus Overhaul"
"0093","+","Melee Hitstop Effects"
"0094","+","JSRS Sound Mod Main File"
"0095","+","Sound Extender"
"0096","+","Viewmodel Shake Fix - NVSE"
"0097","+","DSOAL - True 3D Sound for Headphones (HRTF mod)"
"0098","+","Bullet Snap Redux - Espless"
"0099","+","MNTLs Energy Weapons Sound Pack"
"0100","+","All Explosion Sounds Overhaul BSA and YUP Patch"
"0101","+","BallistX Patch Collection"
"0102","+","ADS - Backpack - Jump Sound Effects MONO"
"0103","+","Empty Clicks"
"0104","+","Animated TVs with Sound"
"0105","+","Interior Rain"
"0106","+","Iron Sights Recoil Anims"
"0107","+","Iron Sight Inertia - espless"
"0108","+","Smooth True Ironsights"
"0109","+","Animated Ingestibles (english)"
"0110","+","AWO - musket"
"0111","+","AWO LL - Lee-Enfield (updated LL)"
"0112","+","AWO - musket mesh fix (Musket)"
"0113","+","Serviamnon - AWO MG42 machine gun animation"
"0114","+","Volare Complete quest and the boomers will be using it"
"0115","+","New Vegas Animation Overhaul Guns"
"0116","+","Combined melee animation pack"
"0117","+","Animated Sleeping"
"0118","+","Ani_Desert Eagle kNVSE Set"
"0119","+","Hit - Power Armor Pip-Boy Anim"
"0120","+","Hit - B42 Interact Animation Pack"
"0121","+","B42 Interact"
"0122","+","Immersive Weapon Swap ESPLess"
"0123","+","Frozen Hit Rockomotion"
"0124","+","Subtle Camera Motion"
"0125","+","ySI - Sorting Ycons"
"0126","+","ySI - Sorting Icons - Autumn Leaves patch"
"0127","+","ySI - Assorted Fixes"
"0128","+","ySI - Colorful Icons Fix"
"0129","+","ySI - Pick Up Prompts"
"0130","+","Item Cards"
"0131","+","Viewmodel Recoil 0.308"
"0132","+","B42 Inertia"
"0133","+","Walking Inertia"
"0134","+","Dramatic Inertia - 3rd Person Movement Overhaul"
"0135","+","Bullet Tracers For New vegas"
"0136","+","B42 Dropmag and One in the chamber"
"0137","+","Dramatic Staggering"
"0138","+","Realistic Equip and Unequip Sounds"
"0139","+","Better Stand Up Animation"
"0140","+","Ragdolls"
"0141","+","Immersive Recoil 2.4.1"
"0142","+","Realistic Movement - 2023 Update"
"0143","+","Realistic AI Movement 1.0"
"0144","+","B42 Inspect - aka Animated Ammo and Weapon Condition Checking"
"0145","+","Custom Health and AP Visuals"
"0146","+","Colorful Inventory Ycons"
"0147","+","Weapon Requirements System"
"0148","+","Charisma alters Companion Limit"
"0149","+","Hardcore Charisma (ShowOff NVSE)"
"0150","+","sweet perk overhaul"
"0151","+","Better Charisma"
"0152","+","More Perks Reimagined"
"0153","+","B42 Loot - Animated Physical Item Pickup - ESPless"
"0154","+","Three-perk Bounty"
"0155","+","Caravan Guard"
"0156","+","Mojave Express Courier Delivery Work - Primm"
"0157","+","Radiant Infinium"
"0158","+","Enhanced Camera"
"0159","+","Sticky Ragdoll Camera"
"0160","+","NPCs use Aid Items"
"0161","+","Checkpoint Gary"
"0162","+","Mojave NPCs"
"0163","+","Cook-Cook In His Castle"
"0164","+","More Useful Books (english)"
"0165","+","Great Khans' Toughness Increased"
"0166","+","BallistX - Internal and External Ballistics"
"0167","+","Laser Weapon Iron Sights"
"0168","+","JIP Selective-Fire"
"0169","+","Alternative Endurance Health Regen"
"0170","+","B42 Melee Bash"
"0171","+","Melee VATS Animation Restoration"
"0172","+","Weightless Junk - Fixed"
"0173","+","b42 Cabot's Quest"
"0174","+","PerkPackPlus"
"0175","+","Leave No Witnesses"
"0176","+","NPCs Can Miss"
"0177","+","Collectable Sonar"
"0178","+","Collectible Canteens"
"0179","+","SnowglobePerks"
"0180","+","Functional Post Game Ending"
"0181","+","Shiloh DS - Color Survival Map & Icons"
"0182","+","Shiloh DS - Clean Pipboy Screen"
"0183","+","Boones Spotter Perk Enhanced"
"0184","+","Slightly Faster Targeting"
"0185","+","AmaccurzerO's Animated Mojave"
"0186","+","Damage Threshold"
"0187","+","Hunting Revolver Iron Sights"
"0188","+","JIP Companions Command and Control"
"0189","+","Clockwork Vegas - Calendar Overhaul and Time-based Mechanics"
"0190","+","Anti-Materiel Rifle Iron Sights"
"0191","+","unDeath - Death Alternative"
"0192","+","Windows of the Mojave"
"0193","+","Adv Recon Stealth Armor - EASIER STEALTH"
"0194","+","Armed to the Teeth - Redux"
"0195","+","Permanent Weapon Shells"
"0196","+","NPCs Sprint kNVSE - ESPless"
"0197","+","Stealth Suit Controls"
"0198","+","Stealthsuit mkII with Glowmaps"
"0199","+","Recent Loot Log"
"0200","+","B42 Notify"
"0201","+","B42 Descriptions"
"0202","+","B42 Wristwatch"
"0203","+","B42 Quickthrow - an alternative grenade hotkey mod"
"0204","+","Roleplayers Alternative Start Fallout New Vegas"
"0205","+","Retrievable Throwables Reforged"
"0206","+","Realtime Weapon Modding System"
"0207","+","Helpless Falling"
"0208","+","Sniper Rifle Iron Sights"
"0209","+","Limitless Stats"
"0210","+","NPCs Use Ammo NV YUP"
"0211","+","Fast V.A.T.S. and Kill Camera"
"0212","+","Real Time Reflections - INI"
"0213","+","Real Time Reflections"
"0214","+","CyberJAM"
"0215","+","Perk Icons Vanilla Resolution (Cyber Jam)"
"0216","+","Cyberware 2281 - B42 Quickthrow Patch"
"0217","+","Another Millenia Shop Add-on"
"0218","+","Glacier Glasses"
"0219","+","Real Reticles"
"0220","+","Custom Scope Overlays for B42 Optics"
"0221","+","Martialize"
"0222","+","Manual Reload"
"0223","+","Ricochet - espless"
"0224","+","Gore Dismember and Explode Edits"
"0225","+","Gore Dismember and Explode Edits LE"
"0226","+","Autumn Leaves"
"0227","+","Death's Last Whisper - Hugs AND Death"
"0228","+","Eve Dialogue for New Vegas Bounties 1 (Original)"
"0229","+","Eve Dialogue for New Vegas Bounties 2"
"0230","+","New Vegas Killer"
"0231","+","Of Truth and Lies - Main Files"
"0232","+","Crossover Content for Death's Last Whisper"
"0233","+","The Better Angels"
"0234","+","New Vegas Bounties I"
"0235","+","New Vegas Bounties II"
"0236","+","New Vegas Bounties III"
"0237","+","King of the Ring"
"0238","+","Russell"
"0239","+","The Inheritance"
"0240","+","Deserters Fortress"
"0241","+","Deserters Fortress Update with Demi story add on"
"0242","+","Caliber Based Damage - espless"
"0243","+","B42 Optics"
"0244","+","CaliberZL"
"0245","+","CaliberX update"
"0246","+","CaliberX"
"0247","+","Sweet Dynamic Detection System - CaliberZL Patch"
"0248","+","Improved Lighting Shaders"
"0249","+","NV - Energy Visuals Plus 2"
"0250","+","Increased Bullet Impact LOD"
"0251","+","Depth of Field Fix"
"0252","+","Muzzle Flash Light Fix"
"0253","+","Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Weapons"
"0254","+","High Resolution Screens"
"0255","+","Consistent Pip-Boy Icons v5 - Items"
"0256","+","Titans of The New West"
"0257","+","NIGHTMARE FIENDS - A Junkie Overhaul"
"0258","+","update for Sadist Armor"
"0259","+","Scorched sierra power armor without bear"
"0260","+","ARIZONA SLAVE ARMY - A Legion Overhaul"
"0261","+","NCR Trooper Overhaul_beta"
"0262","+","Bone Harvester - Tribal Cannibal"
"0263","+","Classic Adobe Red Rock Canyon"
"0264","+","Classic Fallout inspired Jackals - Armour only"
"0265","+","Greaser-Style Greasers"
"0266","+","Ending Slideshows Ultimate Edition Overhaul"
"0267","+","Lumen - NV"
"0268","+","Elegant Sunglare Retexture"
"0269","+","Cloud Upgrade"
"0270","+","Radiation Visuals"
"0271","+","Weathers Revised"
"0272","+","Climate Control NVSE"
"0273","+","3D Rain"
"0274","+","Mojave Nights"
"0275","+","Cloud Shadows"
"0276","+","Afterglow"
"0277","+","Glowing Ghosts - Happy Little Holograms Emit Light"
"0278","+","General Lighting Overhaul"
"0279","+","Strip Lighting Overhaul"
"0280","+","Lucky 38 Lights Redone"
"0281","+","A Little More Lamplight"
"0282","+","Interior Lighting Overhaul"
"0283","+","More Powerful Service Rifle"
"0284","+","Climate Control - Rain"
"0285","+","Dynamic Depth-Of-Field - ESPless"
"0286","+","Heat Haze"
"0287","+","Armor for Companions"
"0288","+","B42 Bows"
"0289","+","Modern Ambient Temperature"
"0290","+","NAWEMO - NPCs use Ammo Variants and Weapon Mods"
"0291","+","Advanced Recon - Main File 1 - TECH"
"0292","+","Advanced Recon - Main File 2 - GEAR"
"0293","+","ZL Armaments Remastered"
"0294","+","Tactapack"
"0295","+","Another Millenia Gun Add-on"
"0296","+","Another Millenia"
"0297","+","Lonesome Road Unique Equipment"
"0298","+","Canvas Backpacks - FNV"
"0299","+","Sweet 6 Shooter Perk Pack NV Version"
"0300","+","FNV Fat Stacks"
"0301","+","FNV Functional Benny's Lighter"
"0302","+","The Quantum Trigger"
"0303","+","Advanced Recon Stealth Armor"
"0304","+","El Sepulturero - The Cursed Shovel"
"0305","+","Lil Bomber"
"0306","+","Advanced Recon Riot Gear Helmets"
"0307","+","Better Stealth Suit Mk II"
"0308","+","Weapon Mods Expanded"
"0309","+","Proton Sword"
"0310","+","White Gloves Have White Gloves"
"0311","+","Doc Mitchell Lab Coat (No Bandanna)"
"0312","+","Mojave express messenger bag"
"0313","+","Advanced Recon Glacier Glasses"
"0314","+","Supplementary Weapons Pack"
"0315","+","PipBoyToPSVITA"
"0316","+","MWRWP USP45"
"0317","+","Enhanced Movement"
"0318","+","Enhanced Movement INI"
"0319","+","Postman_uniform"
"0320","+","Oven Cooker - ESPless"
"0321","+","Knights of the Mojave (Brotherhood Knights expanded)"
"0322","+","True Electrified Riot Gear"
"0323","+","NV Novac Apartment"
"0324","+","Sierra Madre Grand Entrance"
"0325","+","The Sink - Simple Overhaul"
"0326","+","NCR Chemtroopers (Sodaz Trench Raiders inspired)"
"0327","+","Challenges Tracker"
"0328","+","Sneak Vignette"
"0329","+","No PipBoy in Power Armor"
"0330","+","NCR Salute - Espless"
"0331","+","Pip-Boy UI Tweaks"
"0332","+","Sweet Dynamic Detection System"
"0333","+","M1903A3 Springfield Redux"
"0334","+","Stun Batton"
"0335","+","AKIRAMORI Tactical Gloves"
"0336","+","Drowning Visuals"
"0337","+","Animated Workbench - ESPless"
"0338","+","AK-50"
"0339","+","AK50 - B42 Optics Patch"
"0340","+","AK50 - Update 1.1"
"0341","+","ATMOS Ambience Overhaul"
"0342","+","Longer Weather Transitions nvse"
"0343","+","Caps and Scraps Pawn"
"0344","+","Perk Styled CCC Icons"
"0345","+","Concept Art Loading Screens - TTW 3.3.X supported"
"0346","+","Aid Addon - Unofficial Icon Edits"
"0347","+","Mojave Treasures of the Sierra Madre"
"0348","+","Hoover Dam Jets Restored and Distant"
"0349","+","REB's Average Food Replacer (No Esp)"
"0350","+","Global Imposter Region"
"0351","+","The Jackal"
"0352","+","Jackal 13mm Dropmag"
"0353","+","Jackal 13mm Hellsing ARMS kNVSE set"
"0354","+","454 Casul"
"0355","+","Kerberos Panzer Police Jin Roh armor"
"0356","+","Kerberos Thermal Nightvision addon"
"0357","+","Power armor less DT"
"0358","+","One HUD - oHUD"
"0359","+","Smooth HUD - Immersive Transitions (ESPless)"
"0360","+","Browning M2067 PIMG"
"0361","+","Browning M2067 PIMG Updated ESP"
"0362","+","Simple AI Merge"
"0363","+","Improved AI (Navmesh Overhaul Mod)"
"0364","+","Leveled DLC Delay"
"0365","+","Merc Armor Buffed - ESPless"
"0366","+","Agility Actually Matters - ESPless"
"0367","+","Perception-Based Dynamic DoF - ESPless"
"0368","+","Working Camera"
"0369","+","Simple Player Journal - espless"
"0370","+","Fixed Repconn Entrance"
"0371","+","The Final Resting Place - A Lucky 38 Control Room Overhaul"
"0372","+","Goodsprings - IDIMW"
"0373","+","Another Cooked Salisbury Steak"
"0374","+","Diagonal movement"
"0375","+","Skeleton by MadAce (Ragdoll mod compat)"
"0376","+","NVCS"
"0377","+","NV Compatibility Skeleton"
"0378","+","Vanilla UI Plus Patch"
"0379","+","Vanilla UI Plus (New Vegas)"

Male 45
Around 3 weeks ago I started to get some pains around mid and lower back area on right hand side. This seemed to then spread and I felt the pain both sides as well as on the front and down sides. Started to then get shivers about 4 days in then 6th day really bad shivers, no heat in my hands, even numbness on one of my forearms, night sweats, headaches, nausea feeling etc. On checking urine that day at start it was quite cloudy and dark and over the day I was running to toilet quite a bit.
Next day I’d had enough and as it was weekend went to out of hours docs for NHS and was told they found “plus one” for white blood cells in urine, this was after about 6 toilet breaks already that day and drinking around 1.5 litres of water so maybe thinks were diluted. They didn’t do any culture tests etc as out of hours only have so many options. I was put on antibiotics for a week which took away the worst / weirder of the symptoms to the point that I was only left with the pain and the pain had decreased and was primarily on right side again but not always. Was getting it just above belly button on both sides at one time or another but again mainly right.
The day after finishing the first antibiotic pain started to build again so went back to out of hours again 2 days after they ended as it was a bank holiday weekend. They ran the urine test and nothing came back but I was only finished antibiotic about 36 hours before so not sure if that’s why. Anyway they gave me another week course but asked me to go to gp right away next day. I did so and brought a urine sample, at this point id finished the first antibiotic about 2.5 days before and had started the second set and had a full days dose the day before. Anyway the urine sample didn’t grow anything during the culture test which may be down to the antibiotics - I really don’t know - but apparently pus was found in the sample. What amount I’m not sure.
I’ve continued to take the second antibiotic course and towards the end I felt the pain reducing further. The day after it finished I was quite hopeful it was dealt with as pain had subsided so much but it was short lived as the day after that it got a bit worse again and today it’s also there and definitely sorer again.
At this point I really don’t know what to do, I’m now 4 days after my last antibiotic. I’m fearful if I leave another sample in too soon for a culture whether they will find anything unless I give more time since antibiotics. Equally I’m fearful to start another dose until I can get some answers as I expect urine tests are then pointless again if they cannot grow any culture. Not sure whether to leave in a sample tomorrow or wait till next week further in the hope that they can find the bacteria and better treat it, the downside being I can’t treat it till I do that. Equally maybe I just need to be on them longer than a week without break.
After the last antibiotic i feel I was nearly better and I just need a longer course. Just need this gone as it’s tiring.
Anyone been through this before or anyone have any medical expertise in the area, any advice?

The pain was the worst thing`Dominick Mason had ever known…and he knew what it felt like to die. It felt like his brain was in a blender, being chopped to liquid for a Jeffery Dahmer smoothie and though it seemed melodramatic, he imagined he could feel himself losing brain cells by the minute. The sun, Merrick told him, would not burn him, but it would decay him faster, so sleep or rest during the day. With the sick, throbbing agony in the center of his brain, however, that was impossible. He spent most of the day curled up on his side, hugging his knees, and moaning. He had flashbacks to dying in his apartment, and that made things even worse. The room became too small, too close, the air too stale. His heart, filled with the blood of last night’s meal, pounded in his chest, and he went from slightly chilly to hot and feverish as blood was forced through his circulatory system. It mixed with the embalming fluid and left him feeling full and constipated. He didn’t want to get up, but he also didn’t want to go on lying there. He was the definition of miserable.
Before long, the pain became too great and he got up to pace, pressing his hands to the sides of his head and gritting his teeth. Merrick, who slept very little if at all, sat in his chair and watched, trying his best to talk him through it. “It’ll be over soon,” Merrick said. “The pain receptors in your brain are the first to go. When they burn out, you won’t feel anything.”
“When?” Dom asked, his voice raising with the tide of pain.
“A couple days?”
“A couple days???”
“The pain will lessen gradually,” Merrick said, “this is the worst of it.”
Dom believed that this was, indeed, the worst of it, but he doubted it would lessen gradually. For the rest of the day, the pain got worse and worse until every light blinded him, every sound turned his stomach, and the smell of anything made his gorge rise. The cloying smell of the embalming fluid, the light but unmistakable odor of dead flesh, and the scent of stale blood sitting in decomposing stomachs made him want to vomit, but he was afraid to. He didn’t think he could handle the sight of blood rushing from his mouth and splattering the floor. He still possessed enough of his facilities, he believed, to go insane.
Pain has a way of darkening one’s mood, and by the time the sun began to set, Dom was in the most sour mood possible. Even Merrick’s calm, fatherly voice was beginning to get on his nerves. When he took the oath to him the day before (or was it the day before that?), he turned his faith and trust over to Merrick entirely. He was finally accepted, included, finally had the love and fellowship that, in the pit of his soul, he had always wanted. Merrick understood him, Merrick was kind to him.
But deep down, Dom realized that he didn’t fully trust him. He said that his brain didn’t rot because he was “lucky.” That sounded like some bullshit to Dom. Why wasn’t Joe a blithering idiot too? Was he lucky as well? Did lightning strike in the same place twice? In life, people had done nothing but hurt and lie to Dom. Why would death be any different? He thought back to the strange liquid that always seemed to leak from Merrick’s nose, and Joe’s. He thought it was embalming fluid, but it never leaked from his own nose, or from anyone else’s. He tried to tell himself that it was far too soon to judge, but once he began to doubt something, his mind raced away. He felt a twinge of guilt, as Merrick had done absolutely nothing to deserve his doubt, but goddamn it, his head was on fire and he wanted it to stop. Anything to make it stop.
Just after sundown, the music began as Club Vlad opened for the night. It throbbed in the center of Dom’s head and made him want to claw his eyes out. When it became too much for him, he slipped away and stumbled into the sultry summer night. He came out in the alley running behind the club, clutching his head and breathing through bared teeth. He staggered, bumped into a metal trash can, and roared at the top of his lungs, as if he could purge himself of the pain by screaming.. His voice echoed and came back to him, making the pain worse.
Merrick was lying. He knew it. People always lied to him. His brain was rotting and PEOPLE WERE LYING! Flashing with anger, he slammed his fist into the brick wall of a Chinese restaurant. He barely felt anything so he did it again and again until his hand was lumpy and shaking. He sat heavily on the ground and pressed his hands to his head. It felt like maggots were burrowing into his brain, and he was suddenly terrified that they really were. He needed to stop this awful pain, but how?
An idea came to him.
The funeral home.
Maybe there was something there.
He was on his feet and lumbering there before the thought had even finished reverberating through his mind. It was a long shot, but he was desperate. On the way there, he stuck to the shadows, staying out of the light cast by the streetlamps and avoiding people. When he passed them, he kept his head down. When he reached the funeral home, he went to the back door where he and Jessie had gone the other day. He tried it, and it opened.
Inside, he bounced off the walls like a pinball, knocking over an end table and tearing at the flesh of his head, pulling it away in long, gray strips. He panted like a wild animal, his body a raging tempest of emotions. It was reaching a crescendo, he thought, his brain was about to go supernova. The world dimmed, things got really echoy. The young man he’d picked the embalming fluid up from was there, looking scared.
Flashing, Dom grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him against the wall, knocking a painting of a flowery field to the carpet. Everything seemed to go in slow mo. “How does Merrick keep his brain from rotting?” Dom heard himself demanding from far away. “How does he keep the pain away?”
The man trembled. “I-I-”
Dom slammed him again. “Tell me or I’ll make you like me.”
“No!” the man wailed. He shook his head from side to side, his eyes wet with fear.
“How?”
“He-He uses a solution,” the man stammered. “Some kind of special thing. It preserves his brain. That’s all I know.”
An idea occurred to Dom.
Holding the man by the back of his neck, Dom dragged him into the embalming room and pushed him against the table. His head felt like it was swelling. Hot, screaming, getting ready to explode. He looked around, found the embalming machine, and grabbed the hose. There was a sharp tip on it so that you could jam it into a body. He held it in his hand, hesitating for just a moment before pressing it to his temple. The man watched in horror as Dom slowly shoved the tip into his head. It tore his flesh, broke through his skull, and sank into his brain. He felt no pain, only pressure, but cried out anyway. His eyes rolled up into his head and a shudder went through his body.
“Turn it on!” he yelled.
“That’s not what he -”
“TURN IT ON!”
Starting, the man turned the machine on. Cold embalming fluid squirted directly into Dom’s brain. Almost at once, the pain began to ebb away, replaced only by a fuzzy sense of numbness. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor, looking for all the world like an addict taking a hit of his favorite substance after a long and trying day. Fluid leaked from his nose, ears, and eyes and dripped down the back of his throat.
The man waited for a long time, then turned the machine off.
The pain was gone.
At least for now.
“Tell me again,” Dom said.
The man did. Merrick used a special preserving agent to keep his brain intact. Joe, the man suspected, got it as well. So Merrick had lied to him.
Dom felt betrayed.
And angry.
Leaving the man (Dom realized that he didn’t even know his name), he walked back to Club Vlad, his hands fisted in his pockets. All his life, he had been hurt, lied to, and ignored. All his life, people had done wrong to him. And all those years, he just took it.
He resolved not to be so accepting in death.
At last, he was going to stop being a sniveling little bitch and stand up for himself.
When he reached Club Vlad, he slammed through the back door and took the stairs two at a time. At the top, he called out Merrick’s name. The old man was sitting in his chair, being attended to by Jessie and Matt. He looked startled when Dom came in. “You lied to me,” Dom said, stalking over to his benefactor.
“What are you talking about?” Merrick asked, doing his best to sound innocent.
“You lied to me!” Dom screamed. He bent over and got so close to Merrick’s face that he could have kissed him. “You told me there was no way to save my brain, but that’s not true. You’re pumping your head full of shit and letting the rest of us rot.”
A dark shadow flickered across Merrick’s face. “Watch your tone when you talk to me,” he said. His voice was low, menacing.
“Fuck you,” Dom said. “I should k -”
Suddenly, Dom was being grabbed from behind and yanked back, an arm around his neck. He cried out in alarm as Joe swung him around and slammed him face first into the wall. He heard his nose crunch, felt his teeth shatter. Next, Joe wrestled him to the glitter-sprinkled floor and wedged his knee between his shoulder blades.
Merrick watched with a sneer of disgust, his hands gripping the arms of his chair. He wheeled himself over, Jessie holding his IV stand steady and following behind. “Listen, you son of a bitch,” Merrick said, “you’re lucky to be a part of this family.”
Cold fear filled the pit of Dom’s stomach, yet he wouldn’t back down, couldn’t back down. He had lived his entire life like a mouse in a burrow, he wasn’t about to live his entire death the same way.
“Fuck your family,” he said defiantly. “And fuck you.”
Merrick’s face darkened and he sat back in his chair. He looked at Jessie and nodded. She went away and came back a moment later holding something in her hand. Dom’s eyes widened when he saw what it was.
A wooden stake, one end honed to a razor point.
Why they had one of those lying around, Dom didn’t know; it’d be like Superman keeping a piece of kryptonite on the mantle over the fireplace. Merrick directed Max and Matt to hold Dom’s arms down/ Joe pivoted, kneeling on his head now so that Dom’s back was exposed. Dom’s heart slammed with terror and tremors raced through his body.
“Is this what you want, Dominick?” Merrick asked. “To die? To truly die?”
Dom swallowed hard. No, it wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to live, to love, to have a family one day. He wanted a happy, normal life, the life TV and social media had been promising him since he was a little boy.
But all of that went out the window the night he died in his little apartment. There was no life anymore, just a grotesque parody of life. What was there for him other than death? Clinging desperately onto life for decades like Merrick? Stuffing himself full of embalming fluid and moth balls? Grinding for one more minute just so he could sit hooked up to a machine?
Dom spoke.
“What?” Merrick asked, not having heard.
Dom licked his lips. “Just fucking do it.”
For a moment, nothing happened. Expectation hung in the air. Finally, breaking the tension, Merrick nodded to Jessie. Kneeling down, she brought the stake up, and Dom closed his eyes.
This was it.
He braced himself for death.
Jessie brought the stake down just as a shot rang out, deafening in the small space. Her head whipped back, embalming fluid, skull fragments, and gray, sickly pieces of brain showering from the back of her head. She flopped back and landed on the floor with a sickening thud.
A woman cop, her black uniform in stark contrast to the burning white light, stood in the doorway to the hall, her gun drawn. Everyone did, indeed, freeze, more out of surprise than respect for authority. They all looked at her, their dead mouths agape, resembling children who’d been caught doing something wrong.
“Everyone on the ground!” she barked.
No one knew what to do. They hadn’t expected to be raided by the police so had not prepared. She jerked her gun and everyone instinctively flinched. “On the ground!” she repeated. To Max: “You too, bone boy.”
The first one to react was Joe. He sprang at her like a big, undead frog. She brought the gun around and fired, but he was already crashing into her. The shot went wild and struck the IV bag next to Merrick; he ducked and let out a sound of fear. The others rushed her, and Dom got quickly to his feet. Jessie lay on the floor, her mouth open in a silent scream and her bony fingers frantically examining the ragged hole in the center of her forehead. For a moment, he was frozen; everything was happening too fast. Then, when Merrick saw him and cried, “Stop him!, he came alive. Jessie tried to grab at his leg, but he kicked her hand away and stomped on it like it was a giant spider. On the other side of the room, Matt, Joe, and Max had forced the cop to the ground. Perhaps excited by all the action, perhaps just hungry, they began to tear her apart. She howled in pain, and the last thing Dom saw before he fled was her open, blood-filled mouth. Her eyes were filled with pain…with terror.
After that, Dom ran.
***
When the interloper was dead, Merrick directed Joe and Matt to dispose of the body. “Get rid of it,” he said wearily and rubbed his temples, “make sure it isn’t found.”
They rolled her into a carpet from the office, and the way her feet stuck out may have been comical under other circumstances.
Goddamn it, this was bad. Merrick’s entire philosophy rested on avoiding detection. He had done well in that regard. Whereas other vampires had attacked their villages and gotten themselves dug from the ground and staked, he had made it four decades. He never shat where he ate, and there is no bigger turd than killing a cop. They might dawdle on all the boys who’d gone missing - taken because their blood was stronger and more robust than the blood of girls - but they would not take a cop dying lightly at all.
Merrick owned various businesses around the country. He and the others would simply move on. Tomorrow night, they would disappear into the night. They had done it before and they would likely do it again. Once things were settled at their new base of operations, he would have Joe killed for all the trouble he’d caused.
And Dom?
Let him go.
The little rat wouldn’t last a month on his own.
“Jessie?”
Jessie sat against the wall, gazing into space.
“Jessi…start packing. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
She didn’t move, didn’t seem to hear. The shot had all but lobotomized her.
Damn it.
Joe backed the van up to the back door of Club Vlad, and then helped Matt carry the carpet-rolled body down the stairs. They loaded it in and closed the back doors. Together, they drove around looking for a place to dump it. Merrick wanted it to go unfound, but Joe doubted there was anywhere isolated enough in the city. On a whim, he drove to Washington Park, a vast expanse of green trees and shadows. There was a large pond there. It seemed the best option. They were leaving tomorrow anyway, so did it really matter?
Joe backed the van to a railing overlooking the dark water and put it in park. He and Matt got out, fetched the body, and carried it to the railing. They lifted and heaved it over. It splashed. Thus, they rid themselves of Vanessa Rodregiez.
***
Bruce sat anxiously up in his easy chair and waited for his cell to ring.
Parked in front of the TV by warm lamplight, a beer wedged between his legs, he’d been watching the 11’o’clock news when the phone rang. He picked it up and it was Vanessa. “Hey,” she said, “I think I found our body?”
“Which one?” Bruce asked and took a drink. “We have a lot of those these days.”
“Dominick Mason.”
Bruce sat forward in his chair. “Dead Dom? Where?”
“He just came out of a funeral home, ironically enough.”
“That sounds about right,” Bruce said. “Where are you now?”
“I’m following him east on Central.”
“Are you sure it’s him?” Bruce asked.
“I think so, but I’m not sure. I’ll call you back when I’m done.”
Bruce sat the phone aside and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
At some point, he fell asleep sitting up, his head lulled to one side and his mouth open. He snorted himself awake, rubbed his eyes, and sat up. He checked his phone and was perturbed to see that it was past 2am.
Vanessa hadn’t called.
He dialed her number and let the phone ring until it went to voicemail. Sighing, he ended the call, then waited a few minutes and called again.
Still no answer.
It was possible she had forgotten. Maybe the guy turned out to not be Dead Dom after all. She followed some random guy around, realized it, and that was that. Hell, she was probably too embarrassed to call and tell him about it.
Something told him that wasn’t right, however.
There was something else going on here.
Something…darker.
Just before 3am, his phone rang. He snatched it off the end table next to the chair and answered it. It was Burt, the night sargent. “Rodriguez is missing,” he said simply.
Bruce’s heart sank. “Missing?”
“Yeah, she hasn’t checked in for hours and she isn’t answering calls.”
“I’m on my way,”
Bruce tore through the house, pulling on his uniform, socks, and shoes in less time than it took a Daytona 500 pit crew to service a car. In ten minutes he was speeding down 787, the Albany skyline rising in the distance. As he hurried to the station, he thought back to his last conversation with Vanessa. She’d found Dom the Dead Man, the “corpse” who’d scared Ed Harris out of a 20 year career. Despite all their talk about vampires and the living dead, Bruce didn’t believe it, not really. Even so, he was sure that Dominick Mason had done something to Vanessa.
He checked in at the station before doing anything else. They had triangulated Vanessa’s last known location via cell towers. Cops were already out searching the streets for her. Bruce went out as well, intending to start from her last known position and work his way east on Central. The closest funeral home was Tebbutt and Frederick on Central. There was also Lasak & Gigliotti on North Allen Street. Bruce didn’t know which one Vanessa had seen Dom come out of, so he checked both.
Both were deserted at this hour.
Undeterred, Bruce drove up and down Central Ave. At one point, he noticed a shape in an alleyway that looked human. He hit the brakes, jumped out, and pointed his gun at it. “Freeze!”
An old wino stepped out of the darkness. “Alright, you got me,” he said, hands up. “I started COVID. It was an accident, I swear.”
Bruce sighed and put his gun away.
For two more hours, Bruce searched the streets of Albany for Vanessa. At 4am, he spotted a squad car abandoned in the rear parking lot of an abandoned gas station on lower Lark Street. He called it in and the desk sergeant confirmed that it was the one Vanessa had signed out that night.
Still there was no sign of Vanessa herself.
Just after dawn, as the city came alive and CDTA buses began lumbering up and down the streets, Bruce got a call on his cell. “A jogger found a body in Washington Park.”
Bruce was in his personal car. He had no bubble light, no siren. Even so, he sped through the streets like he did, blowing through red lights and stop signs with little care to himself or anyone else. When he got to Washington Park, he found an army cops by the pond, the scene cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape. He slammed on the brakes, threw open the door, and jumped out without even turning off the engine.
The body was rolled up in a carpet and lying on the bank. Two beat cops unrolled it at Bruce’s direction. “We should wait for -” one of them started, but Bruce cut him off.
“Do it.”
They compiled, and at the carpet’s center, like a rotten cream filling, was the body of Vanessa Rodregiuez. Her head was tilted to one side, her eyes wide and staring. Her throat had been mangled and ripped away, her head nearly severed. Even in the black and red mess, Bruce could make out the teeth marks and puncture wounds. They may have looked like something else to anyone else who saw them, but he knew, in that moment, what they were dealing with.
A sharp pang of horror sliced through him, and his knees went weak.
“Jesus Christ,” one of the beat cops drew.
Bruce fell to, rather than knelt on, one knee. He bent over the body, a mixture of horror and grief welling his throat. He wanted to reach out, to comfort her in death, but he stayed his hand. Instead, he visually examined the body. She had bruises on her face, defensive wounds on her hands, and her gun was gone. Whoever had attacked her, she put up a fight.
Something glinted on her pants.
“What’s that?” one of the cops asked.
“I dunno,” the other replied, “but it’s all over the carpet.”
Indeed, there were glinty little specks all over it, winking like mocking eyes. Nice work, eh? We really fucked her up, didn’t we? Wink wink.
“It looks like…”
The other cop cut him off. “Glitter.”
Bruce flashed back to his visit to Club Vlad the other day.
There had been glitter everywhere.
Bruce stood up.
He had work to do.
***
Instead of going back to the station to start his shift, Bruce went to Lowes. There, he bought a mallet, a gas can, and a dozen sticks of wood. An employee in a blue vest used a machine to sharpen them to a wicked point and he took his purchases to the car. Next, he drove over to the Mobil station and filled the gas can. He was so hellbent on revenge that he sprang for premium, the good stuff. No expense shall be spared.
His final stop was at a Catholic church. He filled a canteen with holy water from the marble font by the door, then swiped a crucifix from the wall. He stopped by the station, went inside, and grabbed a black duffle bag with POLICE written across the front in yellow. He opened the gun cabinet in his office, took out a shotgun, and loaded it with shells. He grabbed a handful from the box and stuffed them into his pocket.
He was just finishing up when Bertha came in. “There you are,” she spat, “I’ve waited long enough for you to do something. I demand -”
Bruce shoved the duffle bag into her arms. “Make yourself useful.”
“What?” she demanded.
“We’re going to get your granddaughter,” Bruice lied. Kind of.
Bertha’s demeanor changed. “Good. It’s about time. I was starting to think you were a complete incompetent.”
Bruce didn’t answer. Outside, he plucked the bag out of Bertha’s hands and tossed it into the backseat. He slipped behind the wheel and Bertha sat in the passenger seat. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“Club Vlad,” Bruce said and started the engine.
“I want all of them arrested.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bruce said.
She barked orders the entire way there. Bruce was so deep in his thoughts that he barely heard her. The image of Vanessa’s ruined throat and terror-twisted face haunted him, and he felt a lump forming in his throat. Hot tears filled his eyes but he blinked them back and forced himself to calm down.
I’ll cry when I’m done killing, he thought.
A few minutes later, he pulled to the curb in front of Club Vlad. It was a hot and sunny day and the place seemed even more ominous because of it. The windows were black, the front cast in perpetual shadows by the old marquee from when it used to be a theater. The place was surely closed, but Bruce could hear music still playing from inside, some techno dance bullshit. “Alright,” he said, “let’s go.”
Getting out, he slung the dufflebag over his shoulder and carried the shotgun, the canteen full of holy water clasped to his belt. Bertha carried the gas can, looking confused. “Why do we need this?” she asked.
“We’re burning the place down.”
Bertha blinked in surprise…then an evil grin carved across her face. “That’ll show the bastards.”
Unlike last time, the door was locked. Bruce used the butt of the shotgun to break the glass, then reached inside and unlocked the door, being careful not to cut himself. This was the point of no return. What he had in mind would probably get him kicked off the force or even thrown in jail - and we all know how tough jail can be for a former barnaclehead. The memory of Vanessa’s contorted face pushed him on, however.
He’d suffer any consequences he needed to just so long as he got the sons of bitches who did this to her.
Inside, the club was cool and cave-like. Strobe lights flashed, on and off, black and white, dazzling Bruce’s eyes. The bartender was at his station, cleaning up from the night before. When he saw Bruce and Bertha come in, he started. Bruce pointed the shotgun at him. “Don’t fucking move,” he commanded.
The bartender hesitated, then reached for something under the bar.
The shotgun kicked in Bruce’s hands, and the bartender flew back, turning as he crashed into the barback. Bottles, glasses, and mugs crashed to the floor along with the bartender. Bruce racked the gun, and the shell flew out. He moved low and fast now, expecting to be swarmed by vampires, living thugs who worked for vampires, or vampire thugs who worked for themselves.
Though the shot had been like thunder, no one came.
Bruce had no idea where to go, but he imagined that vampires were naturally gravitate to the lowest part of the building. Was there a basement? Shit, he should have looked up the building plans at city hall. Damn, this is what happens when you go off half-cocked. He searched around a bit, opening doors and sweeping the rooms beyond with the shotgun. He found no basement, only stairs leading up. “Stay close,” he said to Bertha.
In the lead, Bruce crept up the stairs, the flashlight on the shotgun providing a cone of clean, white light. At the top of the stairs, he went right, and came to an office and a store room. Backtracking, and bumping into a bungling Bertha, he went into the next room. It was large and open with a vaulted ceiling, almost like a ballroom. Here the same strobe lights throbbed on and off, making him dizzy. Was this to dazzle prospective vampire hunters?
Either way, this was the place. Bodies lay strewn across the floor, some curled up on their sides and others in the classic vampire pose: Flat on their backs with their hands laced over their chests. In the center, like the sun to the planets, Merrick Garvis lay slumped back in his wheelchair, his neck exposed for any potential assassin to come and cut. Not that it would kill him. At least Bruce didn’t think it would.
“They’re all dead,” Bertha whispered. She looked around and gasped. “There’s Jessie.”
Jessie lay on her back, her hands folded on her chest. She had a ragged bullet hole in the center of her forehead. “Oh, God,” Bertha wavered, “someone shot her.”
He hoped it was Vanessa. And he hoped it fucking hurt.
Looking around, Bruce couldn’t find Dominick Mason. Was he the one who killed Vanessa? Was it a group effort? He wanted the little son of a bitch bad, but it looked like he’d have to go on without him. They didn’t have much time.
Unshouldering the duffle bag, he knelt down and rummaged around. “Start splashing that gas on the bodies,” he said.
“But -”
“Just do it,” he snapped.
There must have been a harder edge in his voice than normal, because Bertha jumped and did as she was told. She upended the can and began to splash gasoline onto the sleeping forms, the smell of it acrid and strong.
Taking out a stake and the mallet, Bruce went over to Merrick and knelt down. He gripped the stake in one hand and placed it firmly against Merrick’s chest. He brought the mallet up and hesitated, the gravity of what he was doing finally reaching him. What if he was wrong? What if -
Merrick’s head whipped up and their eyes locked.
Too late.
Bruce brought the mallet down as hard as he could. The stake drove deep into Merrick’s heart, and the vampire let out a howling screech that rang through the chamber like the cry of a banshee. His bony fingers clawed at the stake and his head whipped from side to side, his back arching and his robe coming open. In the quick strobe pattern, Bruce was shocked to see that his body was little more than a wood frame, chicken wire, and cotton balls. His blacked heart was hidden behind a screen of mesh that the stake had easily torn through. It throbbed, seemingly in time with the strobe lights, and Merrick let out another wail.
Bertha screamed, and Bruce jumped to his feet.
The vampires, drawn by their master’s cries of distress, were rising to their feet. Two, four, six of them, pale and ethereal like ghosts in a gothic mansion. They came toward Merrick, and Bruice fell back a step. The old man had gone still and lay slumped to one side, his eyes open and his mouth slack, embalming fluid leaking from the corner of his lips. Jessie bent over him and touched his face. Though she moved like a zombie, with no human emotion, Bruce was crazily sure that it was a touch of tenderness and love. Merrick didn’t stir.
He was dead.
Jessie looked at him. Yellow liquid leaked from her eyes like tears. Instead of attacking him, she turned on her grandmother and slammed her against the wall. Bertha screamed and dropped the can. It landed on its side, its contents sloshing out onto the floor. A man that resembled the pictures Bruce had seen of Joe Rossi only deader rushed him, slamming into him and knocking the shotgun aside. It hit the floor and skidded away. Joe grabbed Bruce around the throat and squeezed. Still the lights flashed, off and on, off and on. The walls thrummed with the mechanized beat of dance music, pierced only by Bertha’s screams as Jessie ripped out her throat.
Joe leaned in, his fangs wicked and glowing in the light. Bruce clawed at the monster’s face, tearing away strips of dead flesh. Joe turned his head to the side, and Bruce kneed him in the groin. Even dead, getting kicked in the balls hurt like hell, apparently. Joe’s grip loosened and Bruce was able to shove him off. Bruce unclasped the canteen and frantically screwed the cap off as Joe recovered. Joe sprang at him again, and Bruce splashed him in the face.
A sound like sizzling meat filled the air, and Joe screamed at the top of his lungs. He pressed his hands to his face and danced around the room, his skin liquifying and oozing between his fingers. The others were coming now, led by a terrible skeletal thing. Bruce scooped the shotgun off the floor, brought it around, and fired. The blast hit the thing dead center, tearing it literally in half. The top half flew back, an all too human look of surprise on its face, and the bottom half fell over with a wet thud. Another vampire came at, and Bruce slammed it across the face with the butt of the gun. He heard its jaw crack, saw teeth flying.
Bertha lay dead on the floor, Jessie bent over her. The smell of Bertha’s blood attracted the others, who seemed to forget about Bruce, Merrick, and everything else. Joe was on his knees, wailing in pain, and the skeletal thing was pulling itself toward Bertha. A feeding frenzy broke out as vampires fought to get a piece of her the way piglets might fight over their mother’s teat. Bruce watched in a mixture of horror and fascination, but recovered himself. He grabbed the gas can from the floor and dumped the rest of its contents on Merrick’s body, the feeding vampires’ backs, and the floor, using the last of it to make a little trail to the door. He tossed the can aside, bent down, and stuck a match.
A huge, fiery whump filled the room, and fire streaked along the trail. The vampires all went up in a huge ball of flames, and fire shot up Merrick’s body, catching his robe, his hair, and the wooden frame that had kept him semi upright for God knows how long. Letting out inhuman screams, the vampires broke from Bertha’s corpse. One stumbled around, bounced off the wall, and fell; another toddled toward Bruce before falling to its knees. The half skeleton kept drinking from Bertha’s neck even as it burned.
The heat was enormous, baking. Bruce backed away, and the last thing he saw before smoke obscured his vision was Merrick Garvis.
He was literally melting.
***
Dominick Mason tried to go home, but he no longer had a home. All of his worldly possessions sat on the sidewalk in front of his building, discarded coldly as easily. His key didn’t work in his door and there was a FOR RENT sign on it. Why would it be any other way? He was dead. Sooner or later, everyone forgets you when you’re dead, and all the things you held so dear wind up in the trash. It was a hard pill to swallow, but most people aren’t around to see it after they die.
He was.
From his building, he walked east toward Washington Park. In the distance, thick, black smoke billowed into the air, and sirens rose. He barely noticed and wouldn’t have cared even if he did. No more rubbernecking for him. That was for the living.
The pain that had plagued him so the previous day came back, only less this time. Maybe he was imagining it, but it was getting harder to think. Not that he cared, really. What was there to think about anyway? How he had no one to mourn or miss him? How he died and not one single person, except for maybe his mother, cared, or even noticed? How he had done nothing with his life? Even to the women he’d slept with, what was he? Just another dating app hookup. They probably didn’t even remember his name.
Merrick had been right about one thing. Death was easy. It was life that was hard…life that hurt.
With that in mind, Dominick made his way to Washington Park. It was a vast and deep place with many small caves and thickets. Kids played on the playground, their cries of laughter scenting the still air. It had grown cloudy and began to rain. Still, smoke poured into the sky in the direction of Club Vlad. Dom didn’t wish ill on Merrick and the others, didn’t hope it was them burning. He didn’t care anymore. Not about them, not about anyone. For better or worse (and he would argue it was worse), his life was over. His time came days ago, he just missed the boat.
Picking out an isolated little area, Dom sat against a tree with his legs splayed out in front of him. He titled his head back and closed his eyes. Yes, thinking was hard now. His mind felt sluggish, cold. He was thirsty…so, so thirsty, but he ignored it.
Slowly, the bugs found him. Flies buzzed around him and laid their eggs in his skin. Beetles scuttled over him, followed by worms.
Next, it was the birds. They ate out his eyes and nibbled at his blue, bloated skin.
The animals came last.
Their appetites were bigger.
And they left little remaining of poor, outcast Dominick Mason.
***
That night, Bruce sat alone in his little trailer, a bottle of whiskey wedged between his legs and unshed tears in his eyes. He stared at his reflection in the darkened TV set and took long swallows from the bottle. He planned to drink until he forgot or passed out, whichever came first. He tried to not think about Vanessa, but in his addled state, he couldn’t control himself, and began to cry. When that storm passed, like the others before it, he chugged from the bottle.
As distant church bells clanged the hour - midnight - a feeble knock came at the door. Bruce took another drink and it came again. Getting up, he stumbled, nearly fell, and gripped the bottle tightly. He didn’t want to lose one precious drop.
Again, the knock.
“I’m coming,” Bruce slurred. He staggered to the door and fought with the lock. He was dizzy and seeing double.
When he got it, he opened the door.
The bottle dropped from his hand and clanked onto the floor.
Vanessa, clad in a puke green hospital gown, stood on the step, her hands pressed to her chest and a look of anguish on her milk white face. Her head tilted to one side, the wounds on her neck cleaned but open, gaping. Her dark eyes shone with tears. “I’m dead,” she said.
Breaking down in tears, she collapsed against him and they sank to the floor. She was cold and smelled. Bruce wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest anyway. “Shhh, it’s alright,” he said drunkenly. “Hey, it’s alright.
“I’m dead,” she repeated, and her voice broke. “I don’t want to die.”
Bruce held her close, trying to warm her icy skin. He didn’t know what to say, so he cried with her.
“You’re safe now,” he said, “it’s going to be okay.”
“I want blood,” she said and sobbed harder, “I want to hurt people.”
“Shhh,” Bruce said again. “It’s okay.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a utility knife. He flicked the blade across his wrist and searing pain shot up his arm. “Here,” he said and offered her his blood, “drink this.”
He did this without care and without thought. She needed him, and one barnaclehead always backs up another.
Vanessa hesitated, looking from his face to the oozing blood, unsure.
“Go ahead,” he told her.
Vanessa brought his wrist to her mouth.
And began to drink.

First/Previous
"Watch out!" Jack yelled out to the crowd as the now-glowing overhead turrets, long dormant and forgotten, suddenly whirred to life with a mechanical hum, tracking his movements as he ran, shoving past a group of unsuspecting Xarak to the side as he moved to dodge the torrent of rapid fire aimed right at him, kicking up smoke as the superheated plasma churned the ground underneath him, before the sound of gunfire abruptly stopped.
"Fucking overheating shittubes!" the voice on the speakers cursed. "The Outsider is by the two broken pillars!"
"I see him!" a voice replied from out of the crowd as Jack got his bearings, spotting a group of three uniformed soldiers rushing towards him. As the leader moved to stab him with a nasty-looking barbed shortspear, Jack quickly juked the direction he intended to dodge, dipping to the right as he smashed the avian in the stomach with a vicious kick, shuffling back as he caught the blade of the second soldier with his bracer before throwing them off balance, lashing back at the first with his elbow as he did.
He moved to check the third that was moving to take a swing at him with a bat, but before Jack could do so the soldier was suddenly yanked back as a long, coiled leather whip snapped around them. Following along, Jack spotted an older grey-skinned ganger in black leathers with a coarse, black beard to match his scraggly hair sat down with his back to a wall, casually drinking a beer as he observed the chaos with a mischievous smirk.
As the soldier pulled back his bat to strike the interloper, the ganger grinned and looked down where his legs were already spread wide, revealing a strange metal crotch plate. Suddenly making a jerking motion with one of his legs, the plate flipped up to reveal the barrel of a huge codpiece gun that flipped up to point directly at the soldier, before it fired once, catching the solder completely by surprise as the top of their body was utterly obliterated by a bolt of powerful plasma energy. Smirking, the ganger gave Jack a wink, chugging down the rest of his drink, before charging into the brawl.
Hearing an almighty roar, Jack turned around only to be knocked back yet again as a broken, avian body was roughly lobbed at him, staggering him backwards as the Redeemer turned to the last of the bird-like gangsters, picking him up with immense strength and smashing them to the ground before advancing towards the human more cautiously this time, shoving drunken brawlers out of the way.
“I have long waited for this moment, Outsider. With your death, my King shall grant you redemption!” The Redeemer snarled. Now having a good look at him, Jack couldn’t see any visible weapons on him, which was strange. Last time, he’d brought a gunship and was taking potshots at him with some kind of high-powered rifle. Then again, considering what happened last time, maybe The Redeemer wanted the satisfaction of using his bare hands to beat him to death.
It wouldn’t be a terrible plan considering everything the Ogar had pulled off so far…
While sports on Earth were often separated by gender, despite some resistance from the more liberal-minded, due to biological differences between men and women, combat sports were a whole different game, with mixed martial arts organisations having very specific weight classes for fair competition between athletes, with two fighters of similar size and weight less likely to cause serious injury to each other.
But if you placed an experienced lightweight against even a novice heavyweight? That would introduce major problems for the smaller fighter, who would need to contend with the extra size, reach and power of their larger opponent. Not an impossible fight, but a tough one.
And Jack very much felt like a lightweight here.
Though of course, he had faced larger opponents before. Even an Ogar, though they had defeated the Laird with a cunning trap. However, he didn’t know how well matched he and The Redeemer were in a fair close-range fight outside of the opening moments of the ambush.
Still, he had little choice but to find out. He didn’t have an easy way to escape, and he didn’t know what the status of the others was. If he ran while they were still here then The Redeemer and the Regulators would simply go after them instead to get to him…
No. He couldn’t allow those thoughts to shake him. His friends knew what the hell they were doing, and they could handle themselves just fine. He had to worry about himself right now.
He couldn’t run, so he had to fight.
With a speed he didn’t expect from The Redeemer, they grabbed a nearby chair and lobbed it right at Jack in one smooth motion before following through with another charge.
‘Aegis!’ Jack yelled as he brought his forearm up, as his new and improved shield eagerly sprung up to take the hit from the chair, before a fist smacked into the side of his head as The Redeemer used the chair as a distraction to change his angle of attack.
Spinning with the blow, Jack fought in his mind to stay in the fight as his vision blurred, with the powerful strike threatening to knock him out then and there, before another fist caught him in the stomach, with his battleskin dispersing a hit that would have otherwise easily taken the air out of his lungs.
Retracting his shield, Jack ducked another punch that threatened to decapitate him as he skidded under the blow, parrying a backfist with his forearm that tingled painfully as he ate the blow, before clocking the Redeemer with a punch to the jaw, his gauntlet extending to cover his knuckles with a well-forged plate of metal to add their power to the strike, before the Redeemer threw out a punch that caught him on the shoulder, sending the deathworlder reeling back.
Jack grit his teeth as he fought through the pain, adrenaline rushing through him. He wasn’t out of the fight yet, but he knew he’d gotten the worst of that engagement.
The Redeemer clearly understood this as well, as the zealot strode towards the human with a confident, wicked grin.
But this time, Jack was ready.
‘Caltrops’ Jack whispered the command word, as his gauntlets gave him a good handful of them, subtly tossing them in front of him with an underhand throw, which had gone unnoticed by the Redeemer as they stared at the human with hatred.
Suddenly dashing forward to quickly close the remaining distance between them, the Redeemer roared as he charged Jack again, suddenly grunting in pain and stumbling as his full, heavy mass sent a sharp, painful spike straight through his armoured boot, causing him to lose focus as he looked down at his foot for just a moment to see what had happened.
A moment of distraction that Jack used to its fullest, as he quickly swung his axe down right at The Redeemer’s head.
However, the Ogar reacted with surprising dexterity as he used his forward momentum to avoid the full force of the axeblade, his metal helmet taking a glancing blow as he shoved Jack off balance, causing him to stumble. Quickly predicting what would come next, Jack dropped his axe on purpose as he prepared for a takedown attempt, dropping low and widening his stance as the Redeemer tackled him around the waist to try and bring him to the ground for a quick finish.
“There will be no salvation for you, human!” The Ogar growled through his pain as Jack was forced back by the Redeemer’s superior strength.
“Aww, did you miss me?” Jack taunted, holding on and walking back with the ever increasing momentum The Redeemer was building as he was pushed back along the dancefloor. “I saw your tantrum on the TV afterwards, didn’t know you were a bitch too!”
‘That’s it, asshole.’ Jack thought to himself as he felt his axe clip back onto his back. ‘Get mad. You showed me last time that you like to talk too much. I need to time this right…'
“Your blasphemy ends here Outsider! I shall smite you in the name of my King!” The insane zealot roared out in an enraged challenge.
With a roar the Redeemer pushed with much greater strength, forcing Jack to change his slow backpedalling into a full on sprint as he scrambled to stay on his feet, fighting to keep his grip above that of the Redeemer’s to maintain his control of the grapple for as long as he could as he was gradually being put off-balance, almost being lifted upwards.
‘I’ve got to hold on until the last possible moment…’ Jack thought to himself, as tables, chairs and people alike were battered to the side.
‘Now!’
As the wooden pillar supporting the balcony passed them in a blur, Jack shifted his weight to the left and relinquished the grapple, using the Redeemer’s momentum against him as he shoved the Redeemer off balance, as they smashed into the crumbling brick wall head first with an almighty crash.
As they stumbled back, yanking their head back out through the newly formed hole, Jack growled as grabbed the Redeemer around the top of one of his legs, yelling with effort as he was only just able to lift the Redeemer up and over him, slamming the Ogar down on the top of his head as hard as he could in a vicious suplex that gave a satisfying crack.
Growling with effort, the Redeemer pushed himself back into a crouch and looked up just in time as Jack’s foot smacked into the side of his head in a savage kick that cracked his metal helmet and dislodged one of his fangs. Roaring in rage and pain, the Redeemer got to his feet only to meet a flying knee that shattered his nose as his helmet cracked and dented with the heavy impacts.
“Redeem that you ugly cunt!” Jack growled, moving in for another strike as the Redeemer shoved him away, showing no signs of faltering as he slowly got to his feet, even after the devastating blows he just took. The Redeemer simply gave Jack a wicked grin of satisfaction, before it fell slightly upon seeing something to Jack’s side.
As Jack’s Ring of the Berserker vibrated again, he spun around to spot a large, lanky Vivren with several piercings in overt heavy armour grinning at him with malicious intent as she pointed a wand at him and cast a word of power.
Before he had any time to react, Jack’s entire body erupted in a wave of agony unlike anything he had ever felt before…
*****
“Fuck! Alora! Sephy? Chiyo? Dante?” Nika coughed as she got up from where the balcony had collapsed from under them.
Looking around, she could see even more patrons fighting around them, revelling in the chaos of the brawl, but she couldn’t spot any of her friends in the immediate aftermath, as thick dust plumed out from the wreckage below her.
‘At least the crew of the ship we’re meant to be travelling on are probably out by now.’ The Kizun thought to herself. ‘Can’t go back, the CorvMart crew will have moved on by now, so sticking to the original plan is probably the best move, unless we can steal a vehicle one of us knows how to pilot.’
Assessing the situation before her, Nika went for her bo staff, though made sure that her shotgun was well within easy reach. Though many of the people fighting around her looked rough, they weren’t attacking her or her friends, and until that changed they could make good allies of convenience, or for a smokescreen to give their enemies the slip if they had to run.
Though slaying as many of their attackers as they could would be preferable.
‘Best way to do that is link up with the others, we’re better as a unit.’ She reasoned, hearing an almighty crash. ‘Well, that’s probably Jack.’
Dodging a thrown bottle as a Squarri ganger missed their intended target - a pissed-off looking quadrupedal furry species that Nika didn’t recognise - before dodging a swing of a bat from a Xarak that saw her as an easy target. Quickly raising her staff she parried the backswing before cracking the other end of the staff across the reptilian’s face, knocking the rough-looking thug out as he collapsed to the ground.
Yet before Nika could think to move on from the conflict, she had to dodge out of the way using her tail as a large Balnath with some kind of cleaver-like sword took a swing at her. Recognising the sigil of the Regulator group Chiyo had told them to watch out for - a stern-looking demonic rune surrounded by a neon-red triangle - Nika parried the next sword swipe from the figure.
“Let me guesth, you want to get to the Outthider?” The Balnath sneered at the Kizun with a lisp so thick that in any other situation she’d have to stop herself from laughing. “I’m stho thorry, but we can’t let you have sthilly ideas like that!”
“Are you for fucking real?” Nika asked as she dodged to the side and put some space between them before quickly switching to her shotgun, letting loose a powerful blast that the Balnath was able to raise his shield up to block.
‘Skill like that? Probably the leader or an officer of some kind.’ The Kizun noted to herself. ‘No choice. I’ve got to kill him.’
“Yeah, I know that you’re finking! You fink my teef make me sound sthupid?” The Balnath growled, with a few experimental chomps. “Well these teef like to gnaw and gnasth on Kizun flesth!”
“Come and try it!” Nika snarled as she twirled her staff around her in a well-practised flourish, eagerly accepting the challenge.
The Balnath charged forward with lightning speed as it came at Nika with a series of feints, before swiping at her with a brutal overhand chop, using both hands. The Kizun was able to deftly parry with her staff, the kinetic modules battering her opponent’s grip to the side, though she felt the strength behind the blow and knew that the Balnath was stronger.
Still, she knew she could take him.
Ever since she was little she had roughhoused with her brothers and the local boys in fights around their ranch, and had learned the hard way from an early age that her gender and short build worked against her when facing her peers, so she had trained to be the strongest she could be, and learned to be quick and tactical to make the best use of that.
She had eventually kept up with the neighbourhood boys, using holds and precise strikes until her elders found out what she was doing when she was meant to be working on the ranch to help the family scrape by, and quickly put a stop to the shenanigans.
When she moved to the city, she only got better from there.
The tip of her staff thundered against the Balnath’s shield like the striking of a gong, forcing the larger being back as Nika could tell he was already tiring. Though she wanted to finish this fight quickly and get to her friends, she knew she couldn’t allow herself to give her opponent an opening, even as she sought to exploit an opening of her own. She had to be patient.
Her staff rattled against the shield again and again, as she felt her opponent’s defence get weaker and weaker, with the powerful force of her kinetic module focusing the strength of her strikes into a single point. Eventually something would break, his shield of his arm. Once his defences were finally down, she would go in swiftly for the kill.
Her opponent’s frustration won out as his shield shattered and fell to the floor, forcing him to attack Nika with a vicious two handed swipe. She blocked the strike handily, before the Balnath grabbed her staff, locking them in a clinch.
“Giff me sthome help over ‘ere!” The Balnath called out, as Nika reached for a knife, forcing the Balnath to adjust his stance as she stabbed blindly, glancing off armoured plates before finding purchase somewhere, causing her attacker to grunt with pain as he shoved her back, holding her up against a wall.
‘Shit.’ She cursed in her mind. ‘He’s stronger than me, but all I need is a moment to take him by surprise and I can break away and kill him!’
She held strong with her arms, holding the Balnath back as his jaws snapped shut barely an inch away from her neck. He tried again, and she pushed back harder, the jaws snapping shut around nothing, but much closer this time.
He tried again, bringing his vicious maw even closer still…
‘Gotcha!’ Nika thought to herself, as she jerked her head forward in a headbutt, catching the Balnath by surprise and giving the Kizun the space she needed to bring her knees up to her chin, before kicking out as hard as she could into the face of the Balnath, knocking him back with a roar of pain, before he leapt forward with a side swipe that Nika used her tail to quickly dodge, before in the same motion she brought the tip of her staff round and smacked the Balnath as hard as she could, right in the face, the powerful strike shattering its lower jaw completely.
“My fathce!” the attacker got out, clutching what little remained of his lower jaw, before looking up in the next moment as they stared down the barrel of Nika’s shotgun.
“Plea-” They got out, before their head was obliterated in an explosion of dark, blackish blood as their body clattered uselessly to the ground.
“Fuck you.” The Kizun retorted. Using her tail to quickly clip the sword to the magnets of her armour, Nika could see more Regulators in the crowd heading towards the DJ booth. Quickly checking her weapons, she headed right into the brawl!
*****
“You don’t belong here, girlie!” the thug cackled as their cybernetic arm crackled with electric discharge.
“Replacto!” Alora snarled as she swiped her wand out, blasting her attacker with a sudden flash of light that sent him stumbling back, clutching at his eyes.
“Anyone else?” Alora asked, trying her best to channel Nika’s cool, calm demeanour, crossed with Jack’s intimidating presence as the cluster of gangers and mercenaries all looked around at each other for just a moment, before deciding that the Eladrie wasn’t actually that intimidating, as one tried to rush her with a broken chair.
‘Oh by the Mother Tree! How do those two do it?’ Alora cursed in her mind as she summoned her spiritual weapon - a spear of light - that she quickly stabbed at the fish-like Osi, gutting them in the stomach which quickly made them drop the chair, while Alora wisely moved to the side to get out of the vicious melee happening all around her. Where were the others?
‘I have to make sure they’re all right.’ the Eladrie determinedly told herself as she began casting another, more complicated spell…
“Attention all idiots!” The voice over the speakers sneered out over the ever-changing music that the DJ didn’t seem to have any control over. “We discussed this. Though the Outsider is a priority, you target the spellcasters first if you can! Must I do everything myself?”
Thrumming with sudden power, the turrets above them finally opened fire, shooting almost indiscriminately at the crowd below, cutting several of the brawling patrons down before they even knew what hit them.
Chanting and waving her hands around as quickly as she dared, Alora maintained her concentration of her spell, completing it just in time as the turrets finally tracked her as she summoned a great holy aura of light to cover herself that would give her the protection she needed, the Armour of Faith deflecting the lights of the laser turrets harmlessly aside.
A loud bark sounded out, and knowing Dante’s warning for what it was, Alora spun around to see two Regulators, who were both Vulstas fighting through the brawl to get to her. Unlike Rena, these two were males, both carrying plasma shotguns but unable to get effective shots off through the crowd. Not that something like that stopped them from trying…
“Stevarin!” she yelled out, pointing her wand at one of the two who was about to open fire on a downed ganger, as with a flash of yellow light their movements slowed, quickly freezing stiff as a board as they failed to resist the Holding spell, their eyes widening in sheer terror as the gang-mates of their would-be-victim set upon them in a fury with fists and clubs, before a spell cast from the rafters sent all of them clattering to the ground clutching at their minds.
‘One of the enemy mages providing overwatch.’ Alora noted as she quickly looked up for any sign of them, but not seeing them. ‘Under a veil of invisibility no doubt.’
Feeling the dull impact of a shotgun blast dissipate harmlessly against her magical armour, Alora spun round to the other Regulator, cursing her moment of hesitation as the Vulsta drew a long knife with which to get in close with.
Remembering her fight with Izadora all those weeks ago, Alora waved her arms around quickly to summon a bubble of light to engulf her, before quickly following it up with an explosive flash that thundered all around her like a flashbang grenade, while leaving her unharmed.
As the light dissipated, she deftly avoided the blind lunge from the temporarily blinded Regulator, before jamming her spear into his stomach, using her reach advantage to dodge the desperate swipes he sent her way.
“Garrash!” Alora spoke a quick cantrip, using her affinity with life magic to channel poison through the top of her spear. Her already-weakened attacker quickly slumped to the ground as the debilitating effects took hold, but before Alora could pull her spear back, she was hit by a spell that came from above, disrupting her magic and causing her magical spear and armour to disappear.
‘Damn! It’s that mage above me!’ Alora cursed to herself as she quickly ran underneath one of the balconies, as the turrets chased after her with gunfire. ‘You want to hide in the shadows like a coward? I’ve got something to fix that!’
Quickly making sure there weren’t any immediate threats around, Alora quickly rummaged through her pockets for a wand of white crystal she had prepared about a year ago that still had a few charges. Casting quickly, she levelled it towards the ceiling and prayed to all the gods that she was aiming it at where the enemy mage was hiding,
“Glitasha!”
A spray of shining, sparkling particles of light shot out of her wand, puffing out to cover a good half of the ceiling, and as they began to fall to the floor and latch on to the people below, Alora spotted a huddled form by one of the rafters.
‘Got you!’ She thought with satisfaction.
“Ilthax! Get out of there!” The voice over the speakers warned, presumably the name of her target, but it was too late…
“Solaris!” Alora yelled, throwing her palms out in a thrust as a great javelin of light shot out of her palms. The enemy mage had barely moved before it impaled their centre of mass, sending what must have been a fireball spell way off target which blasted apart a huge, gaping hole in the back wall.
The invisible form of the glitterdust-covered mage slowly began to materialise as the blue-furred, ape-like Regulator clutched at their chest in pain, with wide eyes of disbelief at the spear of hard light that had gone right through their torso. As their flight spell dissipated, their lifeless body fell three stories from the rafters to slam down on the ground floor below.
“Nice one Alora!” the Eladrie heard the voice call from behind her as Nika came up next to her, the Kizun bleeding from a cut on her face. “Where are the others?”
“I don’t know. But we need to find them now!” Alora frantically told them as she took in the sheer state of chaos around them. Many broken bodies lay amongst the carnage, and though the Eladrie knew some would likely be still alive at the end of the night, she knew that many would not.
“You don’t need to tell me twice!” Nika agreed with a grim expression.
*****
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Looks like Jack, Nika and Alora are holding on for now! But how long can they keep it up?
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